Warning: There is some adult content in this. Nothing major but please use discretion. I still don't own Chuck.

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Shippers, I have been giving you a heads up at the beginning of every chapter. I'm not sure what to say on this one. I think that you might be a little happier overall with this chapter. There are some things that might make you wince a little. I promise it'll all work out as it usually does. Thanks to Natty for the excellent beta. A very special thanks to Verkisto for teaching me about how guys talk about women when they're not around. I'm not sure how she knows, but, then again, I'm not going to ask. And, as always, thanks to BrickRoad for being the brains of the operation. It's her fault that the story has so much angst (no really).

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The Ring

- - - -

Sarah made sure that she was awake early so she could sneak into the bathroom and get dressed while Seth was still sleeping. Once she was packed she went back into the bedroom and gently shook Seth's shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Seth asked groggily as he saw that Sarah was fully dressed.

"I have to go, baby." Sarah said softly with a huge smile as she lay next to Seth and put her head on his shoulder. "I need to take care of some things if you want me to come meet you in Vegas in two days."

"So you are coming?" Seth asked as he turned to face Sarah.

"Of course I'm coming." Sarah said with a grin. "I have to follow my husband, don't I? You passed the test. I'm totally yours now. Where should I meet you?"

"I'm staying at the Monte Carlo." Seth said as he kissed her. "Why can't you just come with me now?"

"Seth," Sarah said between kisses. "I need to take care of some things here. If I go off the grid now, they'll catch me. You don't want that, right?"

"Let's celebrate." Seth said with a sly smile as he grabbed the hem of Sarah's shirt and began to lift it off her. "You're wearing far too many clothes."

"Baby," Sarah whispered softly. "I'd love that. But I just don't have time right now."

"I promise not to take long." Seth laughed as he reached behind Sarah and started to unhook her bra that he had already lifted out of place.

"I want this as much as you do." Sarah whispered as she rolled away and resituated her clothes. "Please don't make our first time in five years a quickie. I promise when I get to Vegas, I'll give you a night that you'll never forget."

"Ok," Seth grumbled. "But I'm holding you to that. I expect a lot."

"You'll get it." Sarah said with a smile as she held up a ring. "Do you know what this is?"

"Is that your wedding ring?" Seth asked.

"Yes, baby" Sarah said. "Would you put it back on my finger where it belongs? I've been waiting for this moment for five years."

It wasn't really her wedding ring. It was just a standard issue CIA ring that Sarah always carried in case her cover called for her to be married. She couldn't even remember where her real ring was. Probably in the bottom of her jewelry box in her apartment in Washington. As Sarah handed Seth the ring she hoped that he wouldn't notice the difference. Luckily he didn't seem to as he slid the ring on her finger with a smile.

"One other thing," Sarah said as she stood up and walked to the door. "When you set up the meeting with your Fulcrum contact, please don't tell them the name Sarah Walker."

"Ok," Seth said thoughtfully. "But why?"

"Sarah Walker has a reputation." Sarah said sadly. "One I really don't want to live with any more. I'm going to be Sarah Anderson now. Please let him know that Sarah Anderson is quite the party girl. She wants to do anything it takes to make a good first impression. And a second, and if he's up to it, maybe a third."

"Hey," said Seth with a smile. "I need you to save some of that for me. I've been waiting for five years."

"Trust me," Sarah said with a sly smile. "I have plenty to go around. When I'm done with this guy, he'll give us any assignment that we want. Then I'll meet you in the room and I'll make the rest of the night all about you. Sound fair?"

"I'll leave you a note at the front desk" Seth said with a sigh. "Don't keep me waiting."

"Don't worry, baby." Sarah said as she opened the door. "It will be so worth the wait. I'll make sure of that. I love you."

Sarah called on her professionalism to stay calm until she was on the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, she began to shake noticeably as the tears filled her eyes.

- - - -

Chuck and Casey were already in the conference room when Sarah arrived. Beckman was on line and they were just passing time waiting for her. Sarah quickly took her normal seat on Chuck's right. She flashed Chuck a quick smile as she grabbed his hand under the table. Sarah watched Chuck's happy smile turn immediately sad as he felt the ring on her finger. Chuck twisted the ring on Sarah's finger so there was no doubt that he noticed it.

"Shit," Sarah said to herself as she watched the tears start to form in Chuck's eyes. In her haste to get there she had forgotten to take off the ring. "What must he be thinking?" Sarah had to force her eyes off Chuck to be able to keep her composure.

"Agent Walker," Beckman said softly. "How did your assignment go? Do you have anything to report?"

"Yes ma'am," Sarah said after taking a deep breath to regain her composure. "My mission was successful. Seth Roberts believes that I am willing to defect to Fulcrum using my alias Sarah Anderson. Seth is going to set up a meeting with his Fulcrum contact He also believes that we are going to resume our marriage. We made plans to meet in Vegas in two days."

"Excellent," Beckman said. "I assume that Mr. Roberts doesn't suspect you. And what is your confidence level that this Fulcrum contact will agree to meet you?"

"Seth gave me no indication that he suspects anything." Sarah said softly. "I expect that the Fulcrum contact will meet me. Seth is going to offer me to him for the night."

At that point Sarah squeezed Chuck's hand for reassurance. When Chuck continued to play with the ring on Sarah's finger, she had to drop his hand to maintain her composure. As soon as she let go of his hand, Chuck grabbed the pencil in front of him and looked like he was taking notes. When he slid the pad over to Sarah, she could see what he had written."

"Are we still engaged?"

"Agent Walker," Beckman said in concern. "Are you ok?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Sarah replied after taking a moment to compose herself. "This was just a hard assignment for me. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Beckman said softly. "Do you need a minute?"

"Thank you ma'am," Sarah said while struggling to keep her composure. "But it would really help if we could keep going."

"Fine," Beckman said with a sigh. "Agents Casey and Bartowski, will you please excuse us for a moment? We just intercepted a call from Seth Roberts cell phone that we haven't had time to transcribe. I want to play it for Agent Walker and it has some embarrassing language. Out of professional courtesy, I would like Sarah to have the chance to listen to it first."

As Chuck and Casey got up to leave, Sarah spoke up as she grabbed Chuck's hand.

"Excuse me ma'am," Sarah said. "But I'm tired of keeping things from Chuck. And as hard as this assignment has been for me, I'm sure that it has been twice as hard on him. Would you mind if he stayed?"

"Are you sure?" Beckman asked. "There is some fairly crude language."

"I'm sure." Sarah said as she looked directly at Chuck. "I need for him to trust me so he needs to know how much I trust him. If we're going to spend the rest of our lives together, like I hope, we need that mutual trust. Casey is free to stay as well."

"Very well," Beckman said as she began playing the conversation.

The call was from Seth to his Fulcrum contact. He was setting up the meeting with Sarah. He was also describing in very graphic terms what a good time he could expect from Sarah. It was the kind of conversation that you might hear in a locker room.

As Chuck sat and listened to Seth brag about his night with Sarah and how many positions he had her in and how awesome she was in bed, he kept his eyes on Sarah. Even though she was trying her best to stay professional, Chuck could tell that she was struggling. Her eyes were starting to get glassy and there was a slight tremor forming in her hands. It broke Chuck's heart to see Sarah in such pain. To have to sit there and listen to this man who she hated, lie about her so crudely.

He just had to figure out the best way to help her. Getting mad wasn't going to help, that was for sure. And he knew that trying to comfort her in front of Beckman wasn't a smart move. The last thing she would want would be to break down in front of Beckman. She could probably live with Casey seeing her cry. But Beckman… No way. So that only left one thing to do.

"It's obvious that this Fulcrum contact is eager to meet Agent Walker." Beckman said in disgust. "I'm sorry that we had to all listen to that. Are there any questions?"

"Yes, ma'am," Chuck said in a hesitant voice. "Excuse me but I'm a little confused. What does it mean that Sarah is going to screw this Fulcrum guy's brains out? Is that some sanctioned form of CIA torture? It sounds really painful. And I thought we were trying to entice this guy, not scare him off."

As Chuck was speaking he looked directly at Sarah, smiled, and arched his eyebrows suggestively. Chuck could see that Sarah was fighting to keep a straight face.

"And another thing, ma'am," Chuck continued without waiting for a response. "What difference does it make to Fulcrum how religious Sarah is? Why would he care if she spends more time on her knees than the pope?"

That totally broke the tension in the room. For a long moment Sarah tried to hold her laughing in. Finally she gave up and joined the rest of the room as they exploded in laughter. Even the disciplinarian Beckman had tears running down her face. Casey could tell that she understood that this was a release that the team needed so he decided to join the fun. He turned to Chuck with his brow furrowed in mock confusion.

"And what did he mean," Casey said while trying to control his own laughter. "When he said that Sarah could suck a tennis ball through a garden hose? What's up with that?"

"I'm not sure." Chuck replied haltingly. "It sounds really hard. And actually kind of gross."

This sent the room into another fit of laughing. Sarah was laughing so hard that she had to lay her head on the table as the tears ran down her face.

Beckman let the laughter go on for a long moment before she finally tried to settle them down.

"Ok, people," she finally said. "We still have some decisions to make here. I think we can safely assume that Fulcrum no longer suspects the Buy More. We can simply deal with Seth Roberts and call it a day. Or we can follow up and perhaps catch some bigger fish. Since Sarah is doing the heavy lifting on this, I'm going to defer to her. Sarah, what do you want to do?"

"Well, ma'am," Sarah said. "Would it be ok if I talked to Chuck for a minute? I think that he deserves a voice."

"Of course," Beckman said. "You two take a minute and talk about it. Agent Casey and I will wait here."

- - - -

Sarah took Chuck by the hand and led him to a private room. As soon as the door closed she threw her arms around him and smashed her mouth to his.

"I'm so sorry about the wedding ring." Sarah whispered when she finally needed to come up for air. "I needed to make Seth believe that I was going to meet him in Vegas. I was going to take it off. I just forgot."

Chuck just smiled at her.

"No one could expect you to endure seeing their fiancé pretend to be married to another man." Sarah said softly. "So if you say stop everyone, me included, will understand."

"But that's not what you want," Chuck said with a smile. "Is it? Please be honest."

"My top priority is you." Sarah said firmly. "It always has been. You're safe now. So I'm not willing to put you through any more pain."

"What pain?" Chuck said. "You hate this guy, right?"

Sarah nodded.

"And you're not really going to have sex with anyone, right?" Chuck asked with a smile.

"Well," Sarah said with a grin. "You have a serious shot if you play your cards right. But no one else."

"Then I want you to listen to me." Chuck said as his demeanor turned serious. "You're my best friend in the world. I love you very much. And I'm so sorry that I freaked out a little when I saw you wearing a wedding ring. Forgive me?"

"Of course," whispered Sarah. "There is nothing to forgive."

"So," Chuck said softly. "Let's do what you've dedicated your life to doing. Let's bust these bastards."

- - - -

Sarah led Chuck back into the conference room. As soon as they sat back down, Sarah turned to the screen.

"We would like the chance to bust this Fulcrum guy, ma'am" she said softly. "It's what we do."

"Great," Beckman said. "If that's your decision, we have two days. Let's get together then."

"Yes ma'am" Casey said.

"I'm putting out a sanction on Seth Roberts and Laura Carter." Beckman said. "They can still connect Sarah to the Buy More. I assume that nobody has a problem with that."

"The only problem I would have," Sarah said with a smile. "Is if I don't get to pull the trigger."

"We'll see," Beckman said softly. "If there is nothing else, you're dismissed."

As soon as the screen went blank Sarah leaned over to whisper in Chuck's ear.

"Let's go home. I suddenly feel religious."

- - - -