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Chapter 10: Unpredictability

Chuck had been around Sarah and Casey long enough to figure out that their job was based on statistics and probabilities garnered from decades of data, carefully collected, sorted, tabled, and analyzed well in advance of their missions by trained experts. Everything that the two spies did in their investigations was triggered by knowledge of the way bad guys usually reacted in any given situation.

Chuck's specialty was in not behaving according to the rules.

At first, this would make Sarah crazy. Staying in the car was a good example. Chuck didn't. But by the time it was expected that he wouldn't, he did, for which he got a resounding "Dumbass!" from Casey as their mark sprinted by the van and out of sight around a corner. Chuck just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at the infuriated and confused agents, reminding them that he was just following their instructions.

When Sarah asked Chuck why he was all of a sudden obeying orders, he kept his counsel, all the while knowing that the layout of that particular neighborhood would only allow the fleeing criminal one path, and that was straight into the arms of the backup team that Casey had called in.

Why would Chuck do this, you ask? Because he knew the value of unpredictability when dealing with someone like Sarah.

She had gotten used to ordering him around, telling him what to do, and in its own way, Chuck found that quite fun, but from time to time he knew it was good for her to see she was dealing with someone with a mind of his own who wasn't afraid to disobey her. From a practical standpoint it had saved them all and, on more than one occasion, many thousands of others on various missions. From a personal standpoint, it kept Sarah from becoming too complacent where Chuck was concerned.

So Chuck would run when he was told to stay, sit when he was told to move, talk when he was told to be quiet, and be generally annoying for Sarah to deal with. She would glare at him, fists on hips, exhaling sharp breaths through her nostrils as she tried to figure out how to get him to do what she wanted. And none of it would work.

And then all of a sudden it would work and Sarah would lose the pattern, the predictability, the probability and become very disoriented and much more inclined to pay attention to what Chuck was saying or doing at any given moment.

Chuck could keep Sarah off balance in other ways as well, such as by leaning in front of her to grab a handful of popcorn, turning his face just slightly as his lips slid by close to hers, and then quickly sitting back to continue to watch the movie while munching on said popcorn, grinning to himself as Sarah tried to control the disappointed look on her face.

And then he'd be all over her, getting slapped back and reminded that it was only a cover relationship. He would whine and beg, finally giving up after a carefully calculated amount of time, which always coincided with small signs that Sarah was about to cave and throw herself at him.

He hated frustrating her like that, as he would much rather be holding her close, softly and slowly kissing her anger away, but it was much better to be doing something that would result in a lot less frustration for Chuck down the line. And if Sarah thought he was being unpredictable now, just wait until they were in a real relationship. She most definitely wasn't going to be able to catch her breath or know what to do about him then.