A/N: So here's the next part of the story; it only took 7 months for me to update it. I have the next two chapters already planned out in my head and hopefully the will to type it out remains. I hope you enoy.
06:55pm John Casey
Casey sat in silence, completely hidden from view by the vegetation that surrounded him. He had been sitting silently there for two hours now; a small price to pay for the enjoyment he was about to receive. Pulling out a candy bar from his tactical suit's pocket, Casey did something foreign to him: he let himself smile. He knew he was now in his element: hunting and stalking his target.
Casey reminisced back to his days in the US Marine corps, specifically to a particularly fond mission he was assigned. He had been ordered to eliminate a prominent warlord who was hiding himself in the Afghani mountains. Previous attempts by the US to take care of him were unsuccessful due to the fact that he rarely left the confines of the mountain caves and when he did leave, it was for very brief moments.
It was one of those moments that Casey had waited three days for. Lying prone in some bushes far across from a cave opening, he waited patiently for his target to leave the safety of his cave. Lesser men would've given up after twelve hours, a day at most. But Casey knew the meaning of patience; nothing came easy but when it did, the payoff was all the more sweet.
As he stared at the opening on that third day, a smile had appeared on his face as he saw his target stroll leisurely out of his cave to take in the freshness of the mountain air. Casey noted that it would be the last thing on his mind as he squeezed the trigger of his rifle and the shot hit his target squarely in the forehead.
Of course Casey received commendations for his work and patience in taking out the high profile target but the thing that satisfied him the most was the fact that he did something better than someone else. He had stayed out there longer and was stronger willed than other agents.
But switching back to the present, Casey knew that his new target would not be that easy. No, this target would be smarter and better trained that even he was. Bagging this target would be as if a deer had suddenly attacked a lion; a hunter being hunted. But unlike his Afghanistan mission, this mission wasn't for the security of a nation or for the pride of its people; this mission was for his own pride. The pride in knowing that he took down one of the best.
Casey allowed himself to smile just a bit at that thought. Swatting a mosquito away from his neck he savored the thought of being able to rub this in Chuck's face, letting him know who was still top dog in this kennel. Casey yawned a bit and felt his eyes grow heavy; he had been there for a long time waiting for Chuck to come home. The last thing he remembered was the ground coming up to meet his face as he fell head first into the dirt.
06:55pm Sarah Walker
Sarah Walker often had to deal with opponents much larger than she was, to that end she was skilled in using their power against them and using numbers to subdue a physically superior opponent. It also helped that her size and stature often gave her opponents the wrong impression of what he was truly capable of. But this time the prey she was after was a different type of animal: better trained, heightened senses, and superior abilities. But the one thing she did have was the element of surprise and numbers, specifically two to one.
So here she was, slouched behind a bedroom door waiting for her target to arrive. Her partner in crime was in the kitchen in the same position. She knew that her prey would expect something from her, but not necessarily from her cohort. This would be his mistake, after taking her out he would get complacent and allow her partner to take him out. A small price to pay for her in order to outsmart one of the nation's best.
Sarah remembered when she had teamed up with Karina on a mission before this one. The only thing left to do was to leave the scene but a six and a half foot monster stood in their way. So what did she and Karina do? Team up of course and take down the physically superior man and make him eat the heel of their pretty red stilettos. His only error was believing that he could take down two well trained agents.
She smiled at the thought of getting the better of Chuck. Although it didn't bug her as much as it did Casey that he was an elite agent, part of her still felt a bit annoyed at the thought of it. Especially since she took great pride in knowing that she was his protector; but now it seems that she was the one being protected.
She suddenly readied herself as she heard the noise of footsteps upon gravel outside the Morgan door. Sarah waited patiently for her prey to come in before she implemented her attack. A dark silhouette came in the window and before it could reach the edge of the bed, Sarah fired a tranq dart into it's neck. She swatted at a mosquito biting her neck before she let out a little chuckle as she walked over to the figure now lying face down on the bed.
The last thing Sarah remembered before her eyes closed was seeing Casey's sleeping face on Chuck's bed and a pair of warm arms catching her as she fell.
06:55pm Chuck Bartowski
Chuck parked his nerd herder across the street from his sister's place. Although he had his hands full all day with customer questions and the incessant attacks from Casey, which he successfully fended off each time, he felt quite content. The will they/won't they game that he and Sarah had been playing for the past year was now solved and it greatly eased the tension between them, which Diane also finally admitted that it annoyed her to no end. Casey seemed happier now that he didn't need to "babysit the nerd" anymore.
Chuck smiled as he walked across the street and headed to the rear of the apartment complex instead of to the courtyard. With hardly any effort at all, he scaled the fence and jumped onto the roof without any noise heard. He slowly walked over to the edge of the roof overlooking the courtyard where he, his sister, and Devon held many epic parties. Luckily it was a moonless night and so his shape was invisible against the dark sky.
Slowly and carefully scanning the area, he saw a hint of movement of a shadow illuminated by a passing car move from within the bushes. Pulling out a CO2 powered dart gun, Chuck fired a tranq into said bush. Waiting a few seconds, Chuck heard the inevitable thud of a body dropping to the ground. Quickly jumping down he found what he knew what there, the sleeping body of Casey.
Chuck pulled out his cell phone and placed a call to his girlfriend. "Hey Sarah, just wanted to let you know that I'll be a few minutes late. I hope you don't mind."
....
"I see, you and Ellie have been drinking eh?"
....
"Yeah, you're slurring a bit there. How much did you two have?"
....
"A whole bottle and Ellie's already gone?"
....
"Snoring you say?"
....
"Well ok, leave some for me. I'll see you soon."
Chuck stood in the darkness hovering over Casey while he slept as he formulated his next move. He knew something was up and Sarah definitely had a surprise planned for him. Looking down, he decided that he would play the numbers game and recruit said sleepyhead into his plan. Dragging the limp body of his partner to the Morgan door, Chuck pulled out the antidote to the tranq he administered to Casey and pricked him with it. Knowing that he would probably still be groggy and disoriented for the first few minutes upon waking, Chuck used it to his advantage to get Casey to do what he needed him to.
Chuck pulled Casey up by his collar and whispered to him "Major Casey. Insurgents at the gate. Take them out."
Casey's eyes were drifting a bit until he heard the word insurgents. One of the things he hated the most was insurgents. "Yes sir. I'll take care of those lowlifes."
"Good soldier. Give me one minute and then commence attack."
"Affirmative."
Chuck quickly rounded the corner to the back of his sister's apartment. Looking through the sliding glass door he could see said sister crouched behind the couch probably waiting for him to leave his room. He smiled at the plan that his girlfriend and sister concocted and had to admit that it could've worked if Sarah didn't slip up a bit earlier. Quietly jimmying the lock, Chuck snuck in and fired a single dart into the rump of his hiding sister. He smiled as she turned around and saw him waving goodnight as the room got darker until it was completely black.
I'm going to pay for that one, thought Chuck.
Listening at his door, he hears Casey coming in through the window and the sound of a puff of air and then a collapse. Opening the door, Chuck watched as his proud girlfriend Sarah walked to her prey. Giving her a moment to savor in her 'apparent' victory, he fired one of his own darts into her neck. Running quickly to her side before she hit the ground, he smiled and shook his head.
Yup, this isn't going to end well for me, thought Chuck as he prepared to clean up his mess.
The next day
Chuck strolled into the Orange Orange as he usually did for lunch with Sarah. But this time he knew that it wasn't going to be any ordinary lunch. He tried to look for an apology Hallmark card for what had happened but he couldn't find one that properly expressed his sadness for tranqing his girlfriend.
"Hey there beautiful, how's work?" said Chuck with his trademark smile.
Unfortunately his blond girlfriend did not provide him with an equally bright smile. Barely giving him a glance, Sarah went about cleaning the countertops.
"What's wrong babe?" asked Chuck. "You left early this morning; I was hoping to catch a ride."
Sarah finally looked up. "Seriously? You seriously don't know what's wrong?"
Chuck shook his head, trying to feign ignorance.
"You TRANQ'D me Chuck! What kind of boyfriend tranqs his girlfriend?"
"Umm, one that knew his girlfriend was trying to do the same?" Chuck said with a grin.
Truthfully Sarah wasn't mad; she knew well enough that it was all in fun. Well as fun as one can have with guns and ambushes. But one thing did annoy her. "You could've at least given me the antidote instead of letting me sleep till this morning."
"That's true but there's this new game that just came out and I kind of wanted to play it uninterrupted..." said Chuck, as he let the last few words trail off quietly.
"So you wanted to play your game instead of playing with me? And I emphasize 'playing with me'."
"I didn't say that..." Chuck started to squirm. "I just saw that you were having such a peaceful rest that I didn't want to wake you."
Crossing her arms in front of her, Sarah accused "Who knows what you were doing with me while I was incapacitated."
"Sarah, you know I wouldn't do anything to you" quickly replied Chuck.
"For all I know, you could've been taking compromising pictures of me."
"Of course I wouldn't do that." Chuck whispered with a smile, "Not many anyways."
"Chuck!"
"I'm joking, I'm joking. There were no cameras involved."
Sarah smiled at Chuck; it was quite refreshing to have this sort of verbal exchange with him. She had been so serious about her work for quite a long time that it was nice to have someone in her life who could break down her barriers so easily. What continued to amaze her is how Chuck is an agent like her, but unlike her he continued to have such a great view on life. For all that has happened in his life, no one would blame him if he developed a cynical take on everything around him. Although he was depressed for a while (who wouldn't be if your best friend stole your girlfriend and kicked you out of college) it didn't seem to faze his desire to see the good in people. "Too bad Chuck. With your camera skills and my flexibility, it could've been quite interesting" smiled Sarah sinisterly.
"Wha..?" spat out Chuck as he turned bright red.
Laughing, Sarah asked "So are you going to tell me how you caught on to everyone?"
Chuck slowly shook the visions that were popping in his mind (reluctantly of course) and answered, "well Casey was easy; when hasn't he been after me?"
"Ok that's true."
"As for you, I knew something was up when I talked to you on your cell before I came over."
"Really? What did I say?"
"You told me that you and Ellie had one bottle of wine and that she was already knocked out asleep. I know Ellie and that it'll take more than one bottle to knock her out. Sheesh, even Casey would have a hard time drinking her under the table."
Sarah shook her head, "so you sent Casey in as a decoy and came in through the back door."
"Yup, pretty simple eh? One thing I learned from my father was when you're an agent and you're working alone, deception and misdirection become your best friends." Chuck started fidgeting with his tie, "so am I forgiven?"
"Of course Chuck" smiled Sarah.
"Well I better get going before things get too out of hand at the Buymore."
"Hold up there buddy, did you have anything to eat?"
"Uh no, we had a sudden rush of customers this morning. Didn't have time."
Sarah quickly turned around and oozed out a cup of vanilla frozen yogurt. "I'm sorry it's not a sandwich but I hope it can tie your over."
Raising the cup in salutation, "no it's great. Thanks Sarah. I'll see you later."
"Bye Chuck" replied Sarah as she watched him walk out the store. To her surprise Jeff had run up to him in quite a panic; probably another one of Lester's schemes gone wrong.
A sinister smile grew on her face as she watched her boyfriend slowly stir the yogurt she gave him. A bigger smile replaced that one as she watched him bring the spoon up to his mouth. But just as quickly, the smile was replaced by shock as Chuck quickly shoved said spoon into Jeff's mouth and they both watched the frizzy haired man's eyes roll up into his head as he fell backwards like a plank.
Sarah couldn't believe that he had caught onto that one as well and she gave a little apologetic wave as he turned and mouthed 'nice try' through the window. With her eyes still on him, she watched as Chuck placed Jeff onto one of the outside patio chairs and started his triumphant walk back to the store.
Just as he left her field of view, he came running back the other direction with a look of fear on his face. Assuming the worse, Sarah started to reach for her gun until she saw an extremely angry older Bartowski storm from the opposite direction.
"CHARLES IRVING BARTOWSKI! GET OVER HERE NOW!" screamed Ellie.
Sarah laughed and suddenly the loss to Chuck didn't have the same sting to it as before.
