Chapter II

Setting Off The Quirk

It was already 10 pm. Sarah was sitting next to Chuck on the couch. They were holding hands and watching a movie together with Ellie and Devon. It was just about to finish when Devon got up.

'Some light dinner guys?' He pointedly winked at Chuck to follow him to the kitchen.

'Hey, bro', Devon said to him once they got there, 'here is one of my magic cocktails. It never lets you down, Chuck, … if you know what I mean.' He winked at him again. 'Stuff's empirically proven.'

He had one of his horrible green fluids or rather a semi-fluid there in a really, really large cup right under Chuck's nose.

It smelled like the very worst thing anywhere within the Amazon jungle.

'Thank you, Devon, but I have full confidence in my own …. potential.' Chuck hissed quietly. But Devon had heard him.

'Oh, c'mon bro, it won't hurt, it can just help you even further …'

Chuck was about to go on with the dodging but then he realized that Devon might become suspicious again so he took it without further resisting.

'Thank you, … bro,' he laughed awkwardly. "Great!" he gritted to himself. 'Another round of torture. God knows how this devilish mixture would affect me,' he wondered looking at it. Dark green and semi-liquid. He sipped. "Ugh!"

Ellie offered them to have some dinner as well but before Sarah could say anything Chuck blurted out:

'Oh no, we ate pizza on our way home, … a really large pizza," he showed them with his hands, I personally removed all the olives, …. for my sweetie.' He turned to her, 'right …. sweetie?'

The spy in Sarah, as hungry as she actually was, had realized that he needed her to play along.

"Right, …. you are the best, … sweetie, … at handling the olives for me, … and everything.' She smiled back at him gently.

She had been standing next to him so now she pressed herself to his body and gave him a light kiss on the lips.

Devon had opened his eyes wide, grinning against them. He turned to Ellie and blurted, 'Let's go babe, there's a lot of 'handling the olives' ahead for some people.'

Sarah and Chuck, already used to his teasing, were still standing there, in front of his bedroom door.

'Now what?' she mimicked with her mouth without letting any sound out. Her head was tilted ahead so Casey couldn't see from any of his cameras. 'And I was a bit hungry by the way.' She thought to herself.

Chuck didn't say anything but pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it for her while looking around.

'Play along, I have a plan." He folded the paper and then it was back in his pocket.

She nodded.

He let her in his bedroom and pressed the play button on the remote of his music system.

"Oh, no!' Sarah said smiling.

'Oh, yeah!' Chuck grinned back, nodding.

Those were the first and quite exciting tango motives.

'Remember,' he stared at her, 'we have this mission ahead, … the cover, that we are not supposed to blow …., he looked at her, 'you know what I mean, right?'

'I got it Chuck.'

"On the contrary, we are supposed to harden it further, …. the cover I mean,"

I got it, I got it, Chuck, don't worry.'

'You know, I practiced this as I thought I was gonna do it with you …. '

'Rrrright' she said.

'And not with La Cuidad. I really didn't want to do it with some crazy international nuclear arms dealer. But there's where life took me.' he sighed.

'Close your eyes now, I have a surprise.' he said.

She looked up at him but he winked again and nodded. 'Part of the plan.'

Okay, she closed her eyes. The music was still going. Oh God, she loved to tango so much!

Chuck had jumped to his closet and took out something from there.

'Open your eyes, soldier!'

She opened her eyes and there it was. Her dark red evening dress she wore during the La cuidad operation, at the Wilshire Grand.

'What? Have you stolen this from my closet?'

'No, no, no. nooooooo! I bought it, … actually.'

'What?' She smacked him.

Ohhhhhh, Casey was shaking his head and took the headphones off. He raised his right hand and pointed it at his temple imitating a gun. Bam!

'Congratulations Chuck, You're officially the greatest schmuck on this planet. …., noo, in the solar system …. nooo in the universe …. Nooo…. Since Casey's knowledge in astronomy had reached its apogee, he just stood up and started looking for the oldest and strongest bottle of whiskey the NSA had supplied him with.

Sarah was holding now the dress turning it around. Yeah, it was exactly like hers.

'What!,' she shouted real loud and slapped him again. " ... Armani? ... Are you crazy?"

Hers was government issue. The CIA's technical department had a subdivision preparing clothes for all sorts of mission, equipping them with the necessary gadgets.

She had no idea how much this piece had cost Chuck.

'How much is it, Chuck?' She shouted , 'ah?'

Her yelling had finally reached Ellie's bedroom.

'Wow,' Devon exclaimed. He was having his third beer. 'Angry sex. The most powerful one in my book. 'Yo-hoooo!' he tried to cheer them, hoping his cheering will really reach them.

Slap!

"What, babe, what was that for?'

'Congratulations Devon! You've just entered the most powerful period of your angry celibacy!'

Devon's yelling had just reached them, indeed.

'See?' Chuck scolded her. "They heard us fighting, so you just blew it! … Our cover."

Chuck exhaled deeply as he could see how angry she was.

'Sarah, … listen, … let's have our date now, we have to fix our cover. I already have a plan how to pay for it? OK?'

Yeah, she thought, it was a mission after all. She'd think of something later about this dress.

She signaled to him something with her eyes.

'What,' Chuck asked.

'Turn around, soldier, I need to change.'

'Sure, sure, I'll be outside,' he opened the door and was just about to go out when he halted for a second, thinking, and then turned the lights off.

'And why would you do that?' She whispered viciously at him. She was still so angry about the dress.

'Casey's cameras, remember?' He whispered back and closed the door.

'Ohh God,' she thought. He was protecting her from Casey's prying eyes. She had a really wide grin on her face now.

Sarah quickly changed in the dark.

Knock, knock. 'Sarah?'

'What?'

'Are you …"

'What … decent? No, I'm not,' she lied to him.

She was grinning in the dark.

3 minutes later he knocked again.

She opened the door and then turned the lights on.

Yeah, that was the image that had got burned deeply in his mind several weeks ago. His really hot and fake girlfriend in this really hot dress.

'Well?' She asked.

'That's … that's … nice.' He entered the room smirking.

Ooh, she was really mad at him now. He couldn't openly admit that he really liked it.

'Now what?' she asked. The tango had finished, so Chuck pulled the remote out of his pocket and played it again.

'And now we tango, of course,' he smiled.

But Sarah was still unconvinced.

"Chuck, … look at the space here,' she gesticulated with her hands, 'this large bed, …. we don't have enough room to do it, …. to do the tango. No, I don't feel like doing it here.'

'Oh yeah?' Chuck felt really annoyed now. After all, he had made this tremendous effort to find an exact replica of her dress and she wasn't actually 'playing along'. And she had promised!

Chuck remembered how he got to this idea preparing for this date. He had recalled her file from the Intersect. On one of the pages there was an entry "Personal peculiarities and quirks". Against it there were only two words for Sarah Walker: 'crazy dancer'. So he was dying out of curiosity to find out what was that all about.

He was really angry at her now for her hesitating.

'Are you telling me that you, Sarah Walker, the super spy, whose file,' he pointed at his head, 'says you are a magnificent and quite creative dancer, is afraid to do it? Just because there isn't enough room here? .... Chickening out, ha?" He challenged.

'I thought…', he tried to go on but was harshly interrupted by something.

Sarah had been staring at him with her nostrils flaring. He had never seen her looking at him like this.

And yeah, her left hand was now on his butt.

She was staring at him in a really menacing way. Nobody has ever dared question Sarah Walker's dancing abilities. She was sort of an uber-perfectionist in that department. Chuck had just succeeded in really offending her.

'Sarah, … what is your hand doing on my …,' he was about to ask, but then something even more outrageous happened to him.

She slid her right hand into his pocket looking for something. (Oh, my god!, Chuck screamed to himself).

She took out the remote from there and was staring at it, trying to figure out what button to press to start the tango from the beginning.

But she was somewhat distracted.

"Hmm, … Chuck,' she thought smirking and still furious with him, 'it seems like you had both something in your pocket and were really happy to see me.' She was smiling icily at him.

She had finally figured out the right combination, pressed it and the tango started from the beginning.

Then she slid the remote back into his pocket (Oh My God!).

'Let's do it, … Charlsh,' she shushed at him with a much better Scottish accent than his and dragged him into the tango.

The music was very loud and had already reached Devon and Ellie.

'Cool', Devon had exclaimed, throwing glances at Ellie. 'It's happening, I can tell.'

'C'mon, Devon, could you finally stop meddling into their privacy! They are grown-ups you know'

'I'm sure a lot had already grown up by now,' he said, glancing at his watch and trying to calculate something.

Chuck and Sarah were dancing around. She had put his hand on her hip, or probably a little lower initially, but Chuck had quickly restored it to the right place.

Sarah smiled to him, "Enjoying the dance, Mr. Carmichael?'

It was impossible however to dance such a passionate and dynamic dance normally, in such close and restricted space.

So they had bumped into the legs of the bed, falling there, pushing stuff down on the floor. But Sarah was forcing him back again into the dance.

The noise of the falling things reached Ellie's room again and this time it was Ellie who couldn't believe her ears. 'Wow", she gave them the thumb up.

Devon, as tipsy as he was, decided that was a sure sign that he will be forgiven, started approaching her.

Slap!

"Celibate, Devon! Angry and celibate! Get used to it!'

When it was finally over Chuck and Sarah lay on the bed, resting and still breathing heavily.

'Phew,' Chuck exclaimed, 'that was hard, … I mean tough, really tough, ... and also exhausting.'

'Chuck,' Sarah started.

'What, what now,' he said with a fresh pinch of anxiety.

'It's time for you to learn something about me, something really private, remember? You asked me a couple of weeks ago, right?'

'Sarah, ….. aaahh, …. yeah,' he was stuttering and throwing glances at one of Casey's cameras trying to remind her.'

'I know that Casey is listening but this is our cover for Devon and Ellie, remember?'

'Okay.'

'I'm a dancing perfectionist, probably a moderate fanatic... maybe sprinkled with a pinch or two of reasonable radicalism.' She sounded so serious. 'I just figured out how to do it perfectly, you know,' she looked at him, 'but it'll need additional skills. We need to work on them a bit.'

'You know,' she went on, 'the second time is always better than the first. Much better.'

'I'm sure that'll be the case,' Chuck agreed still screaming inside.

'Up, Chuck' she ordered him.

"What?' he protested (and how much upper could he be, he asked himself).

But she had gotten up and pulled him in front of her. Then she again slid her hand into his pocket (Oh My God!) and pulled out the remote.

Chuck had just sworn that he would never let this remote back in his pocket, ever.

'I think I figured how to do it perfectly,' she repeated.

'You mean the tango, right?'

'Of course, I mean the tango, what else do you think I was talking about?' she played dumb just to tease him again. She was really enjoying this now.

'Nothing. Of course nothing. Just the tango.'

She was ready to press the play button again.

'Here is how we're gonna do it this time. So we fit into this ridiculous space.'

She started her instructions: 'First, .... our bodies need to be much closer almost all the time; second ... my waist needs to be much more flexible around you, and she demonstrated that in practice; and third, .... you need to be much nimbler with your hips. Got it? … Hello? … Are you listening to me?'

Chuck's eyes were rolling around, but it wasn't because of one of those flashes.

'I ... think, I … got it, yeah …. got it.'

'And of course, follow my lead. I'll be handling it from here.'

As Chuck had remained speechless, she pressed the play button and they started the dance.

As Sarah had correctly predicted, it was much better the second time. They had fallen on the bed only once.

After it was over, they were lying there on the bed trying to recover some of their breath.

'Phew, that was exhausting,' Chuck sighed.

Sarah got up, turned to him and said 'I'm sorry Chuck, but it's still not perfect, we need to do it one more time.'

'What, …. for heaven's sake, Sarah, … I'm totally spent here. No way. '

'But I can promise you,' he went on, 'we'll be doing it again and again until it gets really perfect. Just not now!'

Yeah, he really looked totally spent to her now.

'Okaaaay,' Sarah had finally felt sorry for him, melting a bit. 'Maybe you're right. I think I squeezed more than enough out of you already. Let's have a rest, okay?'

'Okay, thanks for the understanding.'

"But did you learn your lesson, Carmichael, ... Charlsh Carmichael? She was again imitating him.

'What?'

'Never challenge my dancing skills, okay?'

'Not in a million years, I promise.'

'Good.' She smiled. 'And what were your plans for the evening by the way?' she casually asked. 'We were not gonna finish on this, right?'

'Oh god,' now he remembered that he had had his own plans.

His eyes glistened. 'Ready?'

Sarah raised her hands, staring at him. 'Of course I'm ready. Why do you think I'm here with you?'

'Well, since we are so tired from all this crazy dancing, its time for us to sleep now,' he said loudly, winking at her.

Then he sat on the edge of the bed with his back facing her and started undressing. Then he slid under the covers. He turned his head to see what she was doing.

She was standing there already in a quite revealing dark blue underwear outfit, so Chuck's eyes were about to pop out. 'What?'

'What, what? This is part of my cover, remember?'

'And how much do you think it covers, from what is supposed to be covered? 1.3 percent?'

'Shut up Chuck,' she shouted. 'Or we are going for round three. Don't you lecture me how to be professional, OK?'

She turned the lights off, slid under the covers and turned to him, 'Now what?', she said playfully.

'And now we sleep I guess. I'm sorry if I snore a bit,' he said loudly. She figured it was for Casey's microphones.

'You snore? Oh, well, it's … still not the end of the world.' She shook her head.

'Yeah, … sorry, it's in the family. Passionate and snoring, … that's us, … the Bartowskis.'

'Smooth, Chuck,' Casey had exclaimed, with his headphones on. 'Your getting laid has just got postponed by another five thousand years.'

'And I like to sleep with my head covered, you know,' Chuck was staring at her.

'Head under the covers?' Oh, she saw he was trying to tell her something, 'Aaaand so do I. I always do that. Nighty night, Chuck.'

They turned back to back and covered their heads, pretending to sleep.

Casey was watching at the screen but once the lights were off, everything was blurred in black so he concentrated on the audio. Nothing.

He stood up to get another break for his tormented hearing. He could hardly stand this anymore.

Xxx