A.N. Normally I'm a bit more organised with multi-chapters. This idea is a little out of my comfort zone. Got sick (read 'Summer Cold' for the weird dream that gave me), and then my boss moved me to a smaller site for a 'promotion.'
Chuck vs Glimpses of the real Sarah
I don't own Chuck et al.
Warning: Nudity and sexual themes.
(Deep Voiced Man) Previously on Chuck the handler:
She snuffled, and wiped her nose unselfconsciously on one forearm before holding her arms out for him.
Bryce saw Chuck, and changed instantly. "Chuck!" he cried gladly. "I know a secret" he told Chuck conspiratively "and I saved you from project Om… Omm Omaha."
"Congratulations Mister Bartowski. You just got drafted."
-o0o-
August 2011.
"Chuck!"
He paused on his return to the room with the breakfast tray.
She simply said "I love you."
He looked down at the tray. Making sure he hadn't spilled anything. When he looked back up, all she wore was her trademark heart stopping smile.
"I love you too, Sarah Bartowski." He returned her smile.
When she threw the sheet aside, Chuck realised they would have breakfast cold. Again.
Some things were a lot better than pastries for breakfast.
-o0o-
September 2010.
He'd woken Sam up. She'd had a good few nights recently, and hadn't needed him. After making sure she showered properly, he brought in breakfast. Toast (Sam like it with just butter), juice and cereal. Hair and makeup would have to wait until Sarah turned up. Chuck was OK for an unplugged day, but on an Agent day? That needed a professional.
Yes, that ate into the Agent time frame, but the cost return? To have Sarah in full effect, it was worth the lost time.
The upload was planned for 1030 hours.
That meant he had almost three hours with Sam. Sam wasn't a morning news type of girl. Morning cartoons? Chuck knew his way around a few, but lately, they all just seemed to be advertising for some sort of toy. Sam loved her music, but this morning she dug out the game consol controllers and held them up with a hopeful smile.
It was one of the racing games. Sam loved to drive fast (and to smash into him when he linked the second unit to hers). She was evil on the race track.
A very cute evil. Especially when she sat there cross legged and her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, twisting the controller (and her whole body) in an effort to make it go better.
Chuck realised that part of him was 'living the dream.' Playstation and a naked girl. A, no THE most beautiful girl in the world. At eight o'clock in the morning.
It's just... not while Sarah was...
The guys in the watch tower let him know it was time. She tried to get one last lap done. And then one more…
"Sam, come on honey, its time." She pouted, and tried to sulk, and keep playing.
"Sam!"
"Oh, OK."
The microsoft was brought it. Chuck was qualified to insert them by now. The base 'Sarah' was kept on file, synched each time the 'soft was removed and backed up. The mission data was adjusted as required.
Chuck faced her, getting in close to open the dust cover. In the past, he'd opened the cover, and inserted the 'soft from behind.
With Sam/Sarah, Chuck found she preferred to have him face her. To be honest, Chuck found that was pretty nice. An extra excuse to get in close. If the situations were reversed, and she'd have worn a tie, he would have fiddled with it to 'straighten' it…..
"Chuck?" she asked as he opened the cover.
"I'll be with you the whole time. I'll be here when you get back, OK Sam?"
She nodded. She looked into his eyes hopefully.
"Be strong, Sam. Close your eyes now."
He eased the 'soft home. She stiffened, opened her dazzling eyes and found him.
It was the way she said it.
"Hi Chuck."
Her heart stopping smile helped.
He didn't trust himself past a "Good morning Sarah."
She looked down at her naked body, and back up to Chuck's face with a wry smile "Maybe I should get dressed?"
Chuck swallowed. "Uh huh."
After a moment, she said "Chuck, you need to move, so I can get up."
"Oh, right." As he backed up.
She asked "What's on the schedule?" while she dressed.
"Uh, hair and make-up"
"Right. What are we going for today? Business type? Party girl? Skanky ho?"
"Um..."
"Its OK Chuck. Business it is. It's all in here, right?" as she tapped the side of her head.
Compared to Carina, Sarah seemed to take longer dressed only in lacy (mauve/purple looked incredible on her, but then a used garbage bag would, too) underwear while she worked on her hair and make-up at the mirror. Chuck hoped he'd never get used to that.
Sarah grinned quietly at his pacing. He was cute when he was like this. Maybe just a little bit longer.
-o0o-
Late 2008.
Chuck was in the van with Sarah's handler, Adam. Their girls were working the room at the party. This was a dangerous time. Carina would find an opportunity to be creative.
She was fun, but God, she kept you on your toes. She did it again, embarrass Chuck "So, Walker, seen my new boy toy?" came over the secure radio. Adam grinned at Chuck, Chuck rested his forehead on the keyboard.
"It's the quiet ones you have to keep an eye on. Cute, in a tall geeky kind of way." Continued his red headed nemesis.
"Nerd." Said both Sarah and Chuck. Chuck never heard Sarah's correction, since they spoke at the same time.
Chuck tried to establish some control "Uh, ladies? Party? Bad guys?"
"Oh, relax Chucky. You'll hear the gun play when we find them. Although" Carina paused and looked at Sarah "I'm feeling in the mood for a knife fight."
Both Carina and Sarah had ID'd the head of the weapons cartel (the big give-away was the usual halo of henchmen). Carina began flirting with him first to organise "a more private location." That left Sarah hanging.
As henchmen go, the one with the bad teeth must have been smarter than the average thug. He pegged something was up when Sarah (now at the bar) fended off a third stray trying to hit on her.
Chuck had heard more cheesy pick up lines (and maybe three reasonable ones) in past few years than he cares to think about. The mission went south when the goon tried to escort Sarah away from the party. Chuck was advising Carina of the problem, Adam was preparing which extraction point and method would be needed.
Carina's fight with the boss provided Sarah's distraction. Bad teeth goon was momentarily distracted by his boss's screams over their radio, allowing Sarah to take his mind of reproducing offspring for the next few months.
Carina had the intel, so she was the priority. Sarah had to duck out though fire escapes, onto the street, and change location quickly. She'd gotten into a pedestrian mall section where they couldn't drive the van.
While Carina was getting into the van, Sarah called "Going to need help here."
Chuck answered the call "Sarah, we can't get the van to you. Can you..."
"Chuck, how close are you? I think we may need to do a Panama."
Adam asked "A what?"
Chuck was halfway out the door "Before your time." And he ran.
Strictly speaking, a Panama needed Bryce. But Bryce was... but Sarah knew that Chuck would remember. He slowed to a stroll and 'rounded the corner into the mall. Sarah was walking calmly towards him.
A couple walking arm-in-arm rounded the far corner. Sarah noticed. Reacting quickly, she grabbed him, as she backed against a wall, and dragged his face down to hers and kissed him fiercely.
At first he tensed up, but she wouldn't let go.
Then out of the corner of his eye, he caught the man and woman pause during their 'stroll,' and realised she was hiding their faces. So he relaxed, and kissed her back.
And then she deepened the kiss with a hunger he could feel.
And then, there was only her.
She filled the whole universe. Only Sarah.
(It's been so long…..)
Her body pressed up to his her full length. Their hands moving about, trying to remove any remaining distance between them. He'd pinned (although that wasn't the right word, she had actively participated) her to the wall.
And then they both realised that the other couple had gone out of sight quite some time ago. He straightened, and stepped back. He struggled for something to say.
He noticed her eyes were a little unfocused. 'Not just me, then.'
"Uh" it took three goes to get that far "What just happened?"
It looked like she was struggling too. She studied him. Hard. "Wow."
She grabbed his hand, and almost ran down the street. On the corner, she paused. "Chuck? I'm sorry, that was… I'm sorry. I ….damn it"
But he noticed she still held his hand in both of hers.
Back at the van, Carina greeted them with a cheerful "Way to go, Chucky. Pencil me in for the next 'Panama.'"
-o0o-
March 2011.
He'd lost Sarah at the LA docks. Because baddies were suspicious, she'd had to ditch the earwig. The van itself was compromised. Because of the feedback the radio gave, he had to assume that all comms were compromised as well. That included the cell phones and possibly the satellite line.
Chuck hadn't liked it. It was just the two of them this time. Gather data, that was all the mission was. Not any more. And she'd been Sarah now for ten hours. A couple more hours, and both Sarah and Sam would be gone for good. Twelve hours. That was the limit before the 'soft fried itself, taking the women he loved with it.
With seventy minutes to go, she hadn't made the emergency rendezvous. Chuck left the van, walked three blocks to find an internet cafe, so he could post an instant message (protocol if lines were compromised). The reply was 'wait.'
He got back to the van with fifty minutes to go.
With forty minutes left he risked the GPS tracker. Nothing. The screen told him that her signal had ceased about the same time the comms were compromised.
Each passing minute brought her closed to ... a nursing home, with tubes, wires and bedsores. And nobody home. His beautiful Sarah, gone. Sam, who loved him unconditionally, gone.
He was getting more and more frantic. He needed to DO something. And the best thing he could do for her was sit and wait.
Thirty minutes to go.
Twenty minutes left.
Ten. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
She was gone. Gone.
He sat there. He knew that this was the worst moment of his life, but felt nothing. She was gone, but he was numb. Just numb.
He waited half an hour past the deadline. Deadline. He'd never before realised what that word meant. Really meant.
Dead.
Line.
Past this line, you are dead.
Chuck eventually drove back to the base.
It hit him while he was on the freeway with nowhere to pull over. He just cried and drove. He would resign when he dropped the van off, and go back to Ellie.
Then the van com line opened up. Base Ops was on the line "Mr Bartowski? Do you know a Doctor Woodcomb? She's rung the cover number, and says she's your sister."
"Ellie?"
"She says it's an emergency. She's quite insistent."
"That's my sister. OK, I'll call her." Chuck found an exit, and pulled the van over in a side street. He wiped his eyes, and tried to clear his head. Be calm. He dialled Ellie.
Chuck! Oh thank God. Chuck, are you back in LA?
"Hi Ellie, yeah. Sorry I haven't called, but this..."
Chuck, you have to get over here. Now. It's really important, Chuck.
"OK, Ellie, I'll get there when I can. I just need..."
Chuck? Can you grab a pineapple on the way over?
"Pi... Sure Ellie. Just the one?" he started the van, and was mentally plotting the fastest route to Echo Park.
It took an hour, and two more calls from an increasingly frantic Ellie. Chuck suggested the police during the first call, but Ellie vetoed that immediately.
He parked outside his old home. Debated, and hid a tranq gun like he'd seen Sarah do a million times.
Ellie was oddly calm when she let him in.
"I think she's a mental patient. She's hysterical, but she's been demanding you, Chuck. She know you."
The woman he would know if he was blindfolded in a dark room stepped out of the hallway. Ellie said "She says her name is Sarah."
"Sarah!"
And she was in his arms. "I thought you were dead." He whispered into her hair.
After a while, he loosened up, and said to his sister "It's...complicated. I don't know how much time we have. I need get her back to..."
Sarah turned to Chuck. Her normally composed features showed pain, conflict and confusion. "Chuck? You know who … do you know Sam? I have a …message from her" she looked confused for a fraction of a second, and then she smiles, like the sun breaking through. "She loves you."
"….I know. I love …. I love her too." He paused, studying her "Can you tell her that, please?"
After a second, Sarah beamed. She almost glowed "Yes."