A/N: Hehehehe…Look, we end with a slight cliff hanger, I mean nothing like someone FINALLY getting together and then they're shot…(you're great halfachance, but dang I'm hanging on a cliff) (Go read May Your Walls Know Joy!) Trust me, this one, you've seen all the angst, this is fun fluffery, and it's just….funffery….Just made that word up, you're welcome Webster. Welcome to Hotel California Ch 9, Bryce Strikes Back
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, and it helps if you listen to, hum, whistle, or bring in John Williams himself and have him conduct the Imperial March Theme when you read this chapter.
"So we need an office for her," Carina said, trying to hide behind Zondra as she said it.
"That's my office," Sarah replied, smoke rolling off her head.
"We thought you could move downstairs and use all of that work space since you get along so well with the current natives." Carina was grinning. Zondra was fighting laughter and was currently winning….barely. "Besides, you wouldn't mind it that much if it wasn't Amy."
"So you want me to just move downstairs with Chuck Bartowski and no one warn him?"
"Warn me about what?" Chuck heard his name, and stuck his head into the conversation, although years of serfing in nerdom told him sticking his head into the middle of three women talking might not have been the best tactic.
"They want me to move in with you, permanently." Sarah said it in such a way she was sure Chuck would turn red. However, for Chuck there was a side-effect to spending a weekend with Sarah Walker. It took more than a suggestive comment to make him blush now, not much more maybe, but by itself it wasn't enough.
"You know I think that has to be some type of HR infraction, but since they are HR, and in charge of my bread..."
"Bread?" Carina asked.
"Leave him alone," Sarah rebuked her quickly, with a grin. "He has a speech impediment." Carina looked around, lost.
"I guess you're moving in. It would make more sense for me to move into your house, but if they want you to move in with me, Ellie and, Devon, then that would be boss."
"Oooo, two for the price of one, twice as nice" Sarah said, her grin widening. "Actually, they meant me move permanently into your workspace."
"Oh," Chuck replied. He turned, and walked off, his ears red. He was muttering the words 'bread' and 'boss' to himself, shaking his head.
"He's adorable," Carina said, shaking her head.
"He didn't have to leave, but I do like watching him go," Zondra added.
The other two turned to look at her, Sarah's eyes narrowing, but they saw Bryce enter the room. Sarah headed to sit beside Chuck, giving him a little shoulder bump. He smiled back at her.
"Good morning everyone." Bryce was smiling. Chuck felt a little sick inside. Usually when Bryce was that happy, he was about to do something diabolical. "We have many things to talk about. Most of you know about the huge account Sarah Walker got for us with the US Government." There was applause. "Anything she requests, please see it as a direct order from me, and get it done asap.
Chuck leaned over and whispered to Sarah. "Didn't he leave an 's' out of 'asap'?" She almost choked on her suppressed laughter.
"The delegation will be here in two days." Bryce continued, sighing. "Moving on to our next piece of business, I'm afraid we need to implement a company-wide no-dating policy for all staff, effective immediately." Chuck nearly sprang out of his chair, but a hand touched his arm, calming him. Sarah leaned into him, whispering it will be fine. Chuck sat there glaring at Bryce as Bryce noticed his look, but never acknowledged him.
Chuck tuned out the rest of the meeting. When it was over, Sarah whispered for him to go back to the office, that she had something to take care of, and that she would see him later. As he walked away, Bryce finally made eye-contact with him, and lifted up a water bottle in his direction. It took everything within Chuck to not signal back at him with a single finger.
-ooooo-
Zondra strolled into her office and nearly jumped out of her skin. Sarah was sitting silently on her couch. "Walker?"
"One question, did he ask you or ignore you?" Zondra grinned. "We both know how you had to talk me off the ledge after the fiasco he and I had." Zondra nodded kindly. "Say, what was that lawsuit's name?"
"Barbee v. Household Automotive Finance Corporation?" Sarah nodded. "Bryce can spout any policy he wants, but he's not firing you two over that. Date, do, whatever you want."
"Oh, we're not dating," Sarah replied with a wolfish grin on her face. "He's my partner."
Zondra shook her head. "Ok. Make sure Chuck answers the same way." Sarah got up, and left Zondra's office, smiling in satisfaction. Bryce had stepped in it this time.
-ooooo-
Bryce Larkin was an asshat, Chuck thought, but then felt apologetic. That was demeaning to other asshats. It was late when Chuck got home. He and Sarah had not talked all day about the announcement. Chuck had finished all the patches on his security system and, of course, Bryce was about to get credit for it.
Chuck was furious at himself for having erased the security tapes for Bryce when he and Amy had done God-knows-what in his office way back when. Chuck didn't know how much more of this he could take. He and Sarah had FINALLY gotten past all of their issues and now….Bryce….he sighed. A tapping on his window pulled him out of his thoughts. He turned around and saw Sarah there, smiling. He walked over, opened the window, prepared to help her in, but she just handled it herself, because she was Sarah Walker.
She looked around his room for a second, turned, and studied him. She looked extremely serious. "Chuck, are you mad at me?" His eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "You barely said a word to me all day, you stormed off after you were done working, and you didn't even make sure any mugger was warned I was coming so I wouldn't kick his ass on the way to the car."
"That's very unfair, Sarah." She raised an eyebrow. "Women can mug to." She burst into laughter. "No, it's just Bryce Larkin-" he stopped because a finger was on his lips. Sarah moved close to him. Not even a shaft of light could have passed between them.
"Screw Bryce Larkin, well, not literally." Chuck laughed behind her finger. There was a look on Sarah's face. She looked over his shoulder and something made her grin. He turned and looked behind him. The only thing there was his bed. He turned around and saw a look on her face that looked like, "Why the hell not?" Suddenly two hands, gently, but firmly, pushed him, and he fell onto the bed, she landed beside him, grabbed his head and pulled him into a kiss.
Chuck thought he had been kissed before in his life, but he was wrong. He thought he had kissed Sarah in the past few days, but that was wrong as well….unless…this really wasn't a kiss. That made the most sense, because he knew of no word to accurately describe what was happening. This was so much more than just a kiss. It was a kiss the way a butterfly was a caterpillar. This was a promise, a thank you, and a preview of the future. If there had been a bomb about to explode beside him, he wouldn't have cared. If a marching band Sousa-ed through his bedroom, he wouldn't have noticed, because Sarah Walker was kissing him, and she really sounded like she was enjoying it. She finally broke the kiss and gazed dazedly at him.
"Remember the fountain, when you said you weren't very good?" Her breath was ragged. He nodded. "You lied, Bartowski." She attacked his face again, and a few minutes later she was done, a smirk on her face.
Chuck still couldn't get over what happened today and how that affected them. "But what about Bryce?"
She didn't even fight the eyeroll. "Are you wanting to kiss Bryce?" He shook his head. "Don't worry about Bryce. Now do you need me to tuck you in?" Chuck's face turned red. She raised an eyebrow. "Chuck, have you thought about me tucking you in? Do you wonder if I am good at tucking?" He swallowed hard as she chuckled suggestively. She scooted to where her lips were less than an inch from his ear. "Don't tell anyone but I have wondered about you."
"HIYO!"
His door opened. "Chuck, are you okay…Sarah?" Both parties on the bed turned to see Ellie Bartowski in the doorway. Ellie was one part grinning, one part biting her bottom lip so she wouldn't laugh out loud. "Joining us for...dinner, Sarah?"
"It's pot roast," Chuck added. Shaking her head, she gave him grin and smiled at the elder Bartowski.
"If it's no trouble, I'd love a home-cooked meal."
"No trouble at all," Ellie reassured her.
"When we're done, can I borrow this one?" She was pointing to Chuck. "He rushed out today before I understood we are on operation Christmas-Threw-Up-On-My-House."
"Chuck," Ellie warned. He looked up at her and shrugged. "Sarah, you have to set boundaries, very clear boundaries, otherwise, he'll decorate everything. He knows no limits. He's the Santa's helper from hell. You need any tips of how to deal with him, or if he gets out of line, tell me and I'll help you out. Of course, he means well."
"Thanks, Ellie, but I have my own way of making him behave." Chuck turned red and Ellie left, laughing.
-ooooo-
For that night, and the next three nights, Chuck found himself at Sarah's house each night helping her decorate. Although the last two nights, her needing his help to figure out how exactly how many candy canes were needed on a Christmas Tree might have been a ruse just to get him over there. Each morning they walked in together since Sarah gave him a ride to work. On Thursday, Chuck had his arm around Sarah, and she was leaning into him. Bryce saw and stared daggers at him, but Chuck said Sarah had told him she was cold and asked him to keep her warm. Chuck reassured Bryce that he would do the same for him if Bryce were chilly. Bryce kept showing up randomly, downstairs, trying to catch them in a compromising position, but hadn't. Friday they found themselves at the huge reception.
Chuck was adjusting his tie in the monitor, but was having no luck getting it right. Two hands grabbed him from behind and slowly turned him. He looked at Sarah in a red dress. Or was is salmon? Whatever it was, her hair was up, and there were no words to describe her. Not even any from the 40s or 50s.
She reached up to fix his tie, and then smooth his shirt. "You okay there, Chuck?"
"I'm afraid I'm dead," he said softly. She paused in what she was doing. "You are too much for any mortal man. You look beautiful, Sarah."
"You know that sounds like what a boyfriend would say to his girlfriend."
"Guess, it's good we're just partners?"
She looked at him through her lashes and kissed him. He lost the ability to count with letters and spell with numbers, or was it the other way around? She pulled away, looking back up into his eyes. "Is it?" she asked with a tone in her voice that almost brought him to his knees.
"I mean can't one partner tell his very close partner that he finds her more attractive than any other woman on earth?"
She brushed something off his shoulder. He was convinced nothing was there, but he wasn't going to argue. "Only if his partner can tell him he looks so good in this tux that she really wants to get him into a private, or not so private space and peel it off of him."
Chuck gulped. "That sounds handsy."
"There would also be supreme amounts of cuddling afterwards."
"To be clear,we're talking about the sex, right?" She grinned at him, took his hand, and led him upstairs to the function. Chuck headed to the security booth, where he joined Casey on camera duty. He watched the waiters attend to everyone. He noticed one waitress and her cart, she and it seemed odd. Something was off.
"Casey, see that waitress, keep an eye on her, but run her footage back to when she came into the building today."
"We can do that?" Chuck gave him a look, and jerked his thumb telling him to get up. Casey traded spots with Chuck and Chuck began his search. He found what he was looking for, and groaned. Bryce had let her in after she had flirted with him.
"I'm gonna kill him," Casey muttered. "You have to erase it." Chuck spun toward Casey. "If you don't, it ruins this, and that goes on Walker. The way things have been, who do you think the Larkins are going to blame Sarah, or Bryce?" Chuck was ready to explode. Casey put a hand on Chuck's shoulder. "Bartowski, we'll get him eventually, I promise. They have no idea that camera even exists. Put it offline and delete the footage." Chuck nodded, and scrubbed the tape. "Now let's go find out what's going on." The two moved toward the cart, and alerted Sarah. She joined them he three stood in front of the serving cart. Chuck lifted the lid, shut it quickly, and spun towards the other two.
"Sooooo, a clock counting backwards is bad, right?" Casey closed his eyes.
"What are you three doing?" Bryce asked, coming up behind them. Chuck took a step over, and opened the lid. Bryce's mouth dropped…and then he ran. Sprinted, really. Carina came over, took one look, and took charge. She began an evacuation. As she was giving out orders, a thought came to Chuck. He called her over, and whispered something in her ear. She gave him a look, chuckled, and turned to the keyboard. She began typing, laughing the entire time.
"What are you two doing?" Casey asked.
"Shh, my partner is saving the day, right, Chuck?" Chuck nodded. Sarah turned to Casey. "Get out of here."
"Are you crazy, we can't get people out far enough away for that payload. Out there is a slow death, at least here it will happen quickly."
Chuck turned to Casey. "You really missed a calling as a greeting card writer." Casey thought about it, grunted, and shrugged.
"Is that a porn site?" Casey asked.
"Furry porn," Carina answered.
"Does it matter?" Casey was one part disgusted, one part confused, but all parts ready to shoot the computer. He looked like a cat choking on a hairball.
"We can't stop the bomb, but we can stop the computer," Chuck explained. A big red button appeared on the desktop screen. Chuck turned to Sarah, grinning. "You know you want to push it."
Sarah smirked, double-clicked the mouse, and they all made a face at what appeared on screen, all over a bad electronic rendition of 'Muskrat Love'. But the countdown timer stopped.
Casey turned his head to the left, tilting it at a 90 degree angle, staring at the screen. "That's a little impressive," he muttered.
-ooooo-
"We caught her," General Stanfield told Chuck. It was nearing 2 AM by this time. Bryce had kept away the entire time, claiming important things he had to do. Chuck wasn't sure what was more important than the general, but he wasn't the GM, so who was he to say? Stanfield shook Casey's and Sarah's hand. "I don't know what we'd of done without you two."
"It was more Bartowski and Miller, Sir," Casey replied. Stanfield shook their hands and thanked them as well. "Go home, take the weekend; if he says a thing, I'll take care of him."
Sarah grabbed Chuck's arm. "Come on, I'll take you home."
"Mine, right?" Sarah shrugged. "Sarah?"
-ooooo-
He felt something beside him and looked over. She was there, all there, dressed in a black...thingy….no, not a black thingy, but the black thingy…all lacy and gauzy. "Sarah?"
"Hmmm," she hummed, a seductive smile on her face. "Don't you think we've danced around this enough, Chuck?" She emphasized the 'k' and Chuck lost all ability to speak. She rolled her weight on him. It was comfortable, warm, a feeling he'd love to enjoy every night.
"This is a dream. I know this is a dream."
Sarah gave him a look through her lashes and licked her lips. "No, Chuck, it isn't. I may have been inspired by a dream, but this, this, Chuck, is real. Welcome to your new reality."
Chuck was trying to keep calm. Was this really, FINALLY, happening? He needed to be calm. He needed to be cool…Sarah Walker was in his bed dressed like that, screw being cool! Wrong choice of words!
She swung a leg over him and was now atop him, straddling him, staring lovingly down into his eyes. "It's okay to look," she said softly. The smile she said it with nearly ended him. He began to sit up, to kiss her, but she put a hand on his chest, and slowly shook her head. "Scared?"
"Of you and your craziness? No." He ran his hands over the top of hers and up her arms. Her eyelids fluttered, and he grinned. "Scared of falling for you so, so hard and not being able to do anything about it but just to go with it…a little. But I think I can live with that."
She smiled down at him, and slowly lowered her face to his. Their lips touched, her tongue entered his mouth and he moaned. She pulled away slightly, smirking. He ran his fingers over her neck and jaw. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back, a look on her face that made him crazy. She wrapped her legs around him, and flipped him over, putting him on top. She grabbed his hair as he began an assault on her neck and collar bone. She shifted her hips. His eyes rolled back in his head. She wrapped her legs around him still more tightly, her breath was uneven, gasping, her hair a mess. She had never looked more beautiful. His hand found the gauzy bottom of her top, and ran his fingers across her bare back. She rolled him back over, a salacious grin on her face.
"For the record, we are having the sex, right?" Chuck nodded like Ed the hyena. She crossed her arms, grabbed the bottom of the thingy, and began to lift it skyward. It went past her belly button, up, up to the underside of…..wait, what was that noise? No, no, no…..she disappeared as Chuck reached for her. No.
His eyes opened, and he realized he was in his bed, and Sarah wasn't. He reached over, and slapped his hand on the alarm, not sure why he even set it on a Saturday.
"OH, COME ON!" he yelled, sitting up, frustrated at the universe
"Good dream, Chuck?" Sarah asked. She was perched in the chair by the desk. She was smirking, but her cheeks were flushed. Chuck yelped in surprise and fell out of bed. Sarah stood up, looked over at him, and raised her eyebrows, nodding. "Good dream. What I heard of it, anyway."
A/N: Evil Steampunk . Chuckster is my spirit animal….If you can handle a touch of sauce in your life, there is a M rated fic known as Chuck vs the Bodyguard that is very AU but very true to character…It's been a good one. Also Charah is burning it up right now as well, but of course, M, so buyer beware.…take care…see you soon…til next time.
DC
