I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything.
This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old. Like many of us at the time, I quickly fell in love with the love story of two unlikely people, Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker. We were all frustrated that the show's first season was interrupted by a writer's strike right at the point when it looked like they were just about to get together. In hindsight, that 'just about' took two more years. But anyway, I went looking for something to fill my desire to know more about this couple. I eventually stumbled onto this site.
I didn't know that anything like fanfiction existed. There was already a community of folks dedicated to telling the exact story I was dying to read. It was a match made in heaven. They were having so much fun talking about their stories, and life in general, that I wanted to join. So I decided to write a story, mostly as an excuse to join their conversation.
The thing is, I'm not a writer. As a result that first effort was… well, embarrassing. My hand was shaking so badly that I could barely click the link to post the first chapter. But something magical happened. I received my first review… and I was hooked.
The community quickly started helping me to grow as a writer. One of the first, LeeCan, sorta took me under his wing. I'm pretty sure that I still have the scars from BrickRoad teaching me grammar. BTW, English sucks. Anyway gradually, I got better. One of the things I learned over the years was to not be in such a hurry to tell the story, to allow it to evolve.
About the storyline. At the time this was originally written, between seasons one and two, we thought of Sarah as a reluctant spy. She really longed for home and family. Over time, we learned that she was a more complex character. I have always seen her (and still do) as in love for the first time in her life. At first, I was admittedly in far too big of a hurry to get her there. One of the things that I always loved about Chuck and Sarah is that they were so different. They look at things differently. They both had serious flaws. One is strong where the other was weak. It's actually recognizing those differences that make them such an unbreakable couple. Together, they fill in each other's gaps and depend on each other. So instead of WT/WT, I try and put them together and let them work out those differences as a couple.
So hopefully, I can fix those flaws here. When I first started writing, there were several teenaged girls, just a little younger than my daughter, who were my friends. Call me old fashioned, but I was uncomfortable writing anything about sex knowing they would be reading. Now those girls are grown women. So I'm not nearly as uncomfortable. This will always be comfortably T. But it will be more descriptive.
Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well.
The Test
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Chuck and Casey almost always drove to work in relative silence. Casey wasn't a big talker to begin with. And lately they had been working their shifts at the Buy More every day and then going on some mission almost every night. Burning the candle at both ends was starting to wear on all of them. Chuck usually didn't want to risk annoying him so he kept his mouth shut. This morning however, he couldn't help himself. His life had dramatically changed last night and would never be the same again. She loved him. That was almost too much to hope for. "Morning, big guy," he said cheerfully as he slapped Casey on the back. "Kill anyone since last night?"
Casey glared at Chuck. This was the one part of the day when the moron wasn't constantly talking. "Not yet", he growled. "I'm not a morning person. I don't usually like to kill anyone until I've had my first cup of coffee. Keep talking, and I might be willing to make an exception."
Chuck had learned long ago that this was just Casey's gruff exterior. So he laughed. "Come on Casey," he replied. "You couldn't kill me. It would violate your mission objectives. Imagine all of the paperwork you'd have to fill out. Who needs that? Besides, you'd miss this brilliant repartee way too much."
"Maybe," Casey grunted. "But you can't deny a person a little fantasy, can you? Lord knows, I've heard enough of your fantasies. Every night you're babbling in your sleep about something. Don't you see Agent Walker enough during the day? You have to dream about her too?"
Well, actually, he had a point. Sarah did star in a lot of his dreams. Some of them he might actually be able to tell her about some day. The others? Not so much. Chuck just laughed. "I'm afraid to think of what you might dream about. It must be disturbing."
Casey looked over at Chuck and narrowed his eyes. "What is up with you this morning?"
Chuck was dying to tell someone the wonderful turn of events of last night. The thing is, everyone he knew already thought that he was with Sarah… except Casey. But that would be fatal… maybe not literally to him, but definitely to his love life. "Can't a guy be in a good mood?" he replied.
"Whatever," Casey grunted.
x-x-x-x-x
It went without saying that Chuck was in a very good mood. Morgan noticed. Anna noticed. Even Big Mike noticed.
Of course, it was usually not a good thing when Big Mike noticed you. "Damn, Bartowski," he bellowed. "If you're going to sing out loud, at least learn to carry a tune. Not only are you scaring the customers, you're making me lose my appreciation for music."
After that Chuck decided it would be better to enjoy his good mood in silence. He waited a little later than normal to go see Sarah. He wanted to make sure the lunch rush was over so she would be able to talk.
Chuck always had a pang of nostalgia whenever he entered the Orange Orange. Admittedly, it was probably a better cover for Sarah than the Wienerlicious had been. It was much quieter and closer to the Buy More. She had a lot more freedom. Castle was directly below them. Sarah was the most beautiful woman in the world no matter what she was wearing. But truthfully, he missed the old uniform… especially the pigtails. In an odd way, it was the sexiest thing he had ever seen.
Sarah's smile lit up the already bright room when she saw him. "I was starting to worry that you weren't coming over today," she said. "Were you too busy with urgent computer emergencies?"
Chuck grinned at her teasing. Obviously, he wasn't the only one in a good mood today. That was a very good sign. "No," he answered. "I just wanted to wait until after the lunch rush so we could talk."
That got Sarah laughing. "What lunch rush?" she asked. "Our lunch rush is when someone orders two toppings instead of one. So, what did you want to talk about?"
Chuck could feel his palms sweating. This was the first real test of how real their new relationship really was. "Well," he started. "I was hoping that, due to last night's change in our status, we could go on our first real date tonight."
If Chuck was worried, he needn't have. Sarah's smile was relaxed and she nodded. "What did you have in mind?" she asked.
The good news was that their cover was as a couple. They were forced to go on pretend dates about once a week. They were nice. But there was always a tension. Hopefully, that would no longer be true. "There's a new Italian restaurant that just opened down the street called Guido's," Chuck said. "It's a little nicer than the places we usually go. I've never been there but I've heard that the food is excellent. Then maybe we'll catch a movie. I'll even let you pick the movie."
If Chuck was worried that he was pushing things to fast… dinner and a movie was more of a date than usual, again, he needn't have. Her smile never faded. "That sounds like fun," she replied. "But I think you should pick the movie. You're more up on what would be good than I am. I haven't been to a movie in so long… I trust your judgment more than mine."
"Great," Chuck said. "I was hoping that you'd say that. I have the movie already picked out. How about I pick you up at 6:00?"
"I'll be ready."
"I'll see you then," Chuck said as he turned to leave.
Of course Sarah knew full well that this was a test. She had been expecting it. He'd want to know how much of this was real. How could she blame him for being insecure? It was a big change… and came with a ton of rules. Maybe it was time for his first lesson. "Chuck," she called. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Chuck looked at her questioningly.
"Come on, Chuck," Sarah said softly. "Cover boyfriends sometimes kiss their girlfriend goodbye but real boyfriends always do."
Sarah was torn. She knew that he was uncomfortable with PDA. But she also wanted to tell him something important… and words weren't her strength. So the kiss lingered substantially longer than a typical boyfriend/girlfriend goodbye. She put her hands behind his head and pulled him close.
"Sorry," Chuck sighed when the long, loving kiss broke. "I'm a bit rusty at being a boyfriend."
Sarah knew that she would love kissing him for real like that. She had imagined it thousands of times. But she wasn't prepared to lose this much control. The weakness in her knees was a new and wonderful sensation. He was such an amazing kisser. If that relatively short kiss had her this aroused, maybe they'd skip the movie and she'd take him back to her hotel, throw him on the bed, and have her way with him.
He had to know, didn't he? This stupid outfit didn't hide much of her figure, even under normal circumstances. Chuck always religiously avoided looking at her chest, but even so, how could he not feel her excitement poking into his? Certainly the group of teenaged boys that came in every afternoon after school to gawk at her were going to notice that she had her high-beams on… extra high. It was usually more cute than annoying. Sarah had long ago stopped being shy about guys gawking at her chest, even awkward teens. Sometimes she even intentionally teased them. In her current mood, it was going to be a red letter day for them. Maybe Chuck was just being sweet and not embarrass her by gloating about it. That thought only threw more gas on her already raging fire.
Suddenly Sarah began to think of places to drag him right now and get this real relationship thing started with a bang. She could probably turn off surveillance in one of the Castle conference rooms without generating too much suspicion. But that wouldn't be smart, not after her lecture last night. She was the trained agent. She was the one who was supposed to keep herself under control and insist that they be careful. But she had stopped trying to deny that careful was pretty much out the window when it came to Chuck. She had already waited for more than one very frustrating year. Then again, a few more hours wouldn't kill her… probably.
The new unopened box of condoms was already sitting on her nightstand… intentionally placed where he would see them with his name written on it… and maybe get the hint. Chuck was a romantic. He'd want their first time to be romantic. He'd go slowly to set the mood. And normally, she would allow him to take the lead. She was looking forward to his being all sweet with all of the amazing foreplay… someday. But hopefully, for the first few times anyway, Chuck would be ready for her to take charge, keep the sweet talking to a minimum, and get much more action oriented.
"That was some goodbye kiss," Chuck said. "It was sort of ironic. Now I don't want to leave."
And there it was… today's reminder of why this was the first man she had ever been in love with. Charles Irving Bartowski was the one person in the world who could always make her laugh. He'd also be the last man that she would ever be in love with. How great was that? But that kind of thinking was still a little scary… even with Chuck. So she just grinned at him.
"See you tonight."
x-x-x-x-x
The rest of Chuck's shift was the longest he could ever imagine. Every time he looked at the clock, it had barely moved. His good mood evaporated as he became more and more frustrated with the clock.
Thanks to his secure phone, Casey knew some details about tonight's date before Chuck was even back in the store. Sarah always filed a report whenever she was taking the asset out of controlled areas by herself. Even though Bartowski complained about it incessantly, it wasn't all that unusual for her to insist that he spend the night at her place for cover reasons. Even though she put her foot down and insisted that there would be no surveillance in her private residence, Walker could more than handle anything that came up. Honestly, Casey was looking forward far too much to having the entire night off to think about the spectacle of them spending the night together dancing around their lady feelings. Walker was smitten even more than he was. That was pretty obvious. But she was also a pro's pro. She wouldn't do anything stupid.
Finally the clock hit 5:00 and Chuck's shift was mercifully over. Chuck set a new speed record getting home and into the shower. Just at the stroke of 6:00, he knocked at Sarah's door.
Chuck was simply not prepared for the sight of Sarah standing before him. Of course she was the most beautiful woman in the world. It went without saying that she always looked great. That was a given. But tonight, she'd out done herself. She had on a blue cocktail dress that matched her eyes perfectly. It was showing the maximum amount of cleavage that would still be considered respectable. The slit up her leg was provocative but still respectable. Matching shoes and handbag completed the ensemble. She looked like an angel… assuming, of course, that you could consider an angel being so incredibly sexy. Chuck had never seen anything so beautiful in his life. He wanted to tell Sarah how nice she looked.
Unfortunately, "Wow," was all that came out.
Fortunately, he was too cute to take any offense. Sarah just grinned. "I guess that means you approve," she said as she did a quick spin to give Chuck the total view.
"Wow," Chuck repeated. "Sarah, you look amazing. I mean you always look great but tonight… Wow."
Sarah was very careful as she leaned in to peck Chuck on the lips. Any repeat of this afternoon's kiss… with her bed only a couple of steps away and… well they weren't going anywhere tonight. Their dinner would be delivered pizza and soda. If it had been up to Sarah, she would have answered the door nearly naked, and that's exactly how things would have gone down. But this was important to him. A nice, normal date with his very real girlfriend on his arm was just what Chuck needed to feel comfortable. So she could wait a few more hours to rip his clothes off. "Thanks," she said. "I've been saving this dress for a special occasion." She didn't tell him the whole truth… that she had bought this dress months ago and had been saving it for this exact special occasion. "It might be a little dressy for dinner and a movie, but I wanted to make sure I looked nice for our first date."
All Chuck could do was to sigh. "Well, as President Bush would say, mission accomplished. Wow."
Guido's was a very nice place. It had a rather large bar and about twenty tables. Maybe it was a little out of Chuck's budget, but tonight was special. It was the kind of upscale place where you could have a casual conversation without being pretentious. Chuck always was self-conscious about being on a date with Sarah. Now that it was real, that feeling was magnified. He felt every eye on them as they entered the restaurant. Of course they were all asking themselves, what horrible bet did she lose? Chuck chuckled to himself as they were led to the table.
They ordered a glass of wine while they looked over the menu. Naturally, the waiter fell all over himself bringing the wine right away. "One of the many, many good things about being on a date with the most beautiful woman in the world," Chuck quipped. "Is that we can anticipate excellent service all evening." He responded to Sarah's look. "I'm not jealous," he quickly corrected. "I know that's not allowed. But who wouldn't want every possible chance to look down that dress? The thought has even crossed my mind."
That got Sarah laughing. Like Chuck would ever try and look down her dress. If anything, he was too shy about that. But that was okay. Later tonight, he wouldn't have to look down the dress. It would be lying on the floor. But first, she had an important point to make. "Boyfriends are allowed to get jealous," she said. "It's sweet. Chuck, I never said that you can't get jealous. There are times when I'm going to get jealous enough for both of us. Just not on missions. Agreed?"
Chuck nodded. He was about to take his first sip when his eyes met those of a man across the room. Then it happened. He flashed in rapid secession. A burning cross. A Convention floor. The skull and crossbones poison symbol.
Sarah had seen Chuck flash plenty of times. She knew what it looked like. She waited until it was over. "Did you just flash?"
Chuck nodded. "See that blond haired man two tables over?" he asked. "His name is Rick White. He is the head of the White Supremacy group named Pure Blood. The other three men are also group members. They are planning to attack the Democratic National Convention if Barack Obama wins the nomination. They're in the process of making Ricin to put into the ventilation system. It will kill over ten thousand people."
Sarah's heart sank. Of all the lousy luck. Why tonight? She had wanted this to be perfect for him. There would be plenty of chances to test the boundaries of their new relationship on missions… like almost every freaking night. Now there was no choice. "I'm so sorry," Sarah sighed. "I'm afraid that our date is on hold. We're on a mission now. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yeah," Chuck sighed. "I knew this was too good to be true. What are my orders?"
Sarah wanted to tell him how proud she was at how calm he was being. But this wasn't the time. Seconds counted. They couldn't allow this lead to get away. "Okay, here's the plan," she said, keeping her voice low. "I'm going to try and get close to White and see if I can get him to show me where they're making the Ricin. In a minute I'm going to get mad at you and throw my drink in your face. I want you to storm out of here, go to the car, and call Casey. Brief him on the situation and tell him I need a GPS tracking device. Wait for him in the car. Understand?"
"Yes. I understand", Chuck answered, trying hard to keep the mood light. "I just wish we had ordered white wine. It'd be a lot easier to get out of this shirt." Chuck paused for a second. "Actually, now that I think about it, you're sort of the perfect chick to pick up a White Supremacist. Blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect skin, long legs, nice big…"
"Chuck," Sarah interrupted.
"I was about to say nice big smile," Chuck corrected with a smile. "But what you were thinking works just as well. It looks like that dress is going to come in handy after all."
"Chuck, I'm so sorry," Sarah said softly. "I saved this dress for our first date. I wanted it to be for you."
"I know," Chuck said. "One last bit of boyfriend jealousy tonight, and then I promise I'm done. Do me one favor. Try and keep it on all night?"
Sarah really didn't know what to say. There was only one way she knew to keep this man's interest… and that was by allowing him to believe that he was on the fast track to getting very lucky. She would have to keep him interested long enough to allow Casey to get enough backup to whatever location they were going to be at… without giving up his ultimate objective. Not only was that personally unacceptable, once he had the conquest, her value would decrease dramatically and she would become a disposable complication. Thanks to seduction school, she had a bag full of tricks to stall him without making him frustrated enough to take matters into his own hands.
One of the main stalls was to neck with him and, as slowly as possible, allow him to think that he was talking her out of some clothes. Unfortunately, this wasn't the perfect outfit for that strategy. Her current dress didn't have many layers to slowly take off. So the necking wouldn't take long. One tug at her zipper, and she'd basically be naked. That was by design. Except that Chuck was intended to be the recipient. Of course, at some level, Chuck knew how these things went. He had never actually seen it happen, but he surely had listened on her wire numerous times while she was in the process of showing a mark some serious skin. He could probably figure out that in this situation she didn't have any time to prepare, and the odds were fairly high that she'd have to give in a little quicker than usual. At least he asked her to try. That let her off the hook a little, and he knew it. She could promise that. "I'll make it a top priority," Sarah said with as much of a calm smile as she could muster.
Now Sarah had to quickly get herself into mission mode. She had learned years ago to ignore men checking her out. It happened pretty much every where she went. Like most of the men in the restaurant, Sarah could tell that White was occasionally stealing glances at her. Once when she noticed that he was looking her way she flashed him a Sarah smile. She recognized the look on his face as she had dozens of times before. Message received. "Show time," she whispered and stood up.
It was indeed show time. "How dare you?" Sarah yelled. "What kind of girl to you take me for?" She threw her drink in Chuck's face as planned. "Why don't you just get the hell out of here?"
Chuck stormed out of the restaurant as instructed without looking back.
"Thank you, sweetie," Sarah said to herself.
"I'm so going to make this up to you."
x-x-x-x-x
