I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything.

I'm not really un-retiring… not yet anyway. This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old.

This is the third of four stories in the Real Relationship arc rewrite.

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.

Sensei

x-x-x-x-x

Team Chuck was gathered in Chuck and Sarah's apartment after the party. By mutual unspoked agreement, they hadn't discussed the mission on the drive. Finally Casey couldn't stand it any longer. "Sarah," he said. "How do you know John Marsh?"

"He was the L.A. Police department liaison with the CIA," Sarah said. "It was usually Bryce, but I've briefed him a couple of times on upcoming missions, intelligence on threats, things like that."

"Are you sure that he'd remember you?" Casey asked.

"I'm pretty sure," Sarah said. "I certainly remember him. I think that I still have a full set of his fingerprints on my ass. I slapped his face pretty hard. I imagine that moment is burned into his memory." She turned to Chuck with a grin. "Only criminals and husbands get to grope me uninvited," she said. "Law enforcement is off limits."

Chuck returned her grin. He knew enough about Sarah to know that if she slapped your face in anger, you'd remember it… once you remembered where you were. "Good to know," he said. "Although technically, he's probably a criminal."

That got Sarah laughing. "True," she said. "Maybe I should find him and apologize for slapping him."

"I'll bet Bryce kicked his ass," Chuck said.

Sarah shook her head. "Bryce couldn't have cared less," she said. "Chuck, this is another perfect example of how you have always misunderstood Bryce. He wasn't my boyfriend. His jealousy was very selective. He liked Marsh. They hit it off. To Bryce, sex is currency. Had I been at all willing, he would have used me to make some deposits in his account. If anything, Bryce encouraged me to rock people like Marsh's world from time to time. He said that you could never have enough friends in important places. Bryce had a long list of men he wanted me to 'make friends' with."

Chuck just shook his head sadly. She was right. He didn't understand their relationship… probably never would. "But why in the hell was he at that party?" he asked.

"Because he's dirty," Carina said. "Think about it. Joel Matlin magically knows whenever the DOD has someone undercover targeting him. This liaison guy shows up at his party. I'll bet he knows every time someone is under cover in his jurisdiction, doesn't he?"

"Of course," Sarah said. "The L.A. Police Department gets a briefing on when and where undercover agents are assigned in their jurisdiction so that they can broadcast an 'undercover on scene' warning in case they get a call. Marsh is the one who gets that information."

They all pretty much came to the logical conclusion at the same time. "Marsh is the sonofabitch who tipped off Matlin that Carina was undercover," Casey said.

Carina nodded sadly. "It sure as hell looks that way," she said.

"We have some serious problems," Casey said. "Walker is our ticket into that party. But if Marsh ID's her we're in big trouble. How are we going to keep him away from her?"

Chuck raised his head. "Are we sure that he doesn't already know?" he asked.

Sarah shook her head. "He only gets briefed on the exact day the undercover officer is in place," she said. "As far as anyone knows, we canceled our assignment. Even Beckman doesn't know what we're doing. In fact, we're going to have to be very careful. When we call in our raid, they won't know that undercovers are on scene. We'll have to be out of there or they will assume we're part of the gang."

Casey paused for a moment. "Larkin is buddy-buddy with this guy," he said. "That would be very helpful. Maybe he can feel him out. Walker, do you know how to contact him secretly?"

Sarah saw the look on Chuck's face that said it was a very good question. The last thing she wanted to admit was that she did have a way… not until she could talk to him alone about it. It was a given that he'd jump to the wrong conclusion. So she deflected. "We don't need Bryce," she said. "We don't have time anyway."

"I know," Carina said with a sudden smile. "Trust me. I know exactly what to do. I just got the idea remembering our previous discussion about that night in Pittsburgh. We're going to do the same thing."

Sarah was relieved for the change of subject. "I'm not sure that Casey is going to be wild about that," she teased.

Carina's smile became a broad grin. "Well, maybe not exactly the same thing," she said.

"I don't know," Sarah said, her face growing serious. "Carina, that's pretty dangerous. Are you sure that you're up for that given your history with this bunch?"

Carina started laughing. "How long have you been a spy?" she asked. "You're talking to me about dangerous? Besides, I want these guys, in a totally different way."

Casey looked around. "Someone care to tell me what the hell happened in Pittsburgh?" he asked.

Chuck agreed. "You took the words right out of my mouth," he said.

Sarah grabbed Chuck's hand. "I'll tell you the story as soon as we're alone," she said.

"Sounds pretty unprofessional to me," Casey said.

Now it was Carina's turn to grab Casey's hand. "It was," she said sadly.

"Very unprofessional."

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as they were alone, Chuck put his arms around Sarah and kissed her.

Sarah certainly made no move to stop him. "What was that for?" she asked. "Not that I'm complaining in any way."

"No reason," Chuck said. "I just missed you."

That got Sarah laughing. "You missed me?" she asked. "We've been making out all night."

Chuck was serious. "I know," he said with a sigh. "But that was work. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am that you had to let that creep feel you up in front of an entire roomful of people."

Sarah's heart sank. "You saw that?" she asked sadly. "I was hoping that you didn't. You see stuff like that too often."

Chuck's face turned into his classic grin. "I was hoping that maybe you could show me what might have happened if Matlin had gotten you into his room," he said hopefully. Then he paused for a moment and shook his head. "I'm overdoing this," he said. "I'm sorry. It's just that the making out all night has me on fire. I'm really sorry."

Sarah put her hands on each side of his face and forced him to look at her. "I'm trying to stay calm here," she said. "You're just being sweet. I get that. It's hard to get mad at you. You can't help it with the nicest guy in the world thing. But I want you to look into my eyes and understand how serious I'm being. It's not possible for you to overdo something like that. In case you bumped your head and forgot, we're married. We should still be on our honeymoon. Your being on fire, whatever the reason, is my very favorite thing in the world. You're never to apologize for that, agreed?"

Chuck nodded his head.

"Playing a role like that is hot as hell," Sarah said. "It's an instant turn on for me. I can't believe you can't feel it suddenly poking into your chest. It's not even outside of a normal married sex life at all. And here is the honest truth. If you asked me to play the role of Matlin's helpless plaything with you ten times a day, I'd be just as on fire the tenth time as the first. Chuck, okay, so you're a nice guy. You're overly sensitive to treating me in any way that could be considered disrespectful. I get all that. It's well documented and sweet. What do I have to do to get through to you that we're married… and I love it when you do things like that?"

Chuck sighed. "I'm sorry," he said. "You're right. It's just that…"

"A bit of fair warning," Sarah interrupted. "If you're about to say that I'm out of your league, it's not going to go well for you. It would be much better if you just didn't say anything. I'm in no mood to hear something like that today."

Chuck didn't say anything. He just nodded.

Naturally, that got Sarah laughing. "Smart boy," she said. "So here is my advice. Instead of being sorry, embrace your game. Play it to the fullest extent. And as long as we're having this discussion, I do have one critique on your role playing. It's the same thing I would say about you collecting your bet winnings the other night. Men like Matlin aren't looking for love making. They're not even after sex… not really… that's an afterthought. They're looking for a conquest. They want a submissive performance to find out where your limits are and force you over them. They get off on seeing you squirm. Making you take off your clothes would only be the first, very, very small step. They know that you're afraid of pissing them off and they use that to see how far they can get you to degrade yourself. They're not generous at all. Your pleasure wouldn't even be on their radar. This afternoon was beyond fantastic. All of our love making is. But it wasn't really realistic. If you want to be Matlin, you're going to have to start demanding wilder things."

Chuck's shoulders sagged. "I know what you're saying," he sighed. "I just don't want to treat you like that. You get that all the time from men. You don't need it from me."

Sarah sagged into him. "I know," she said. "The irony here is that you're the one man who I want to treat me like that. I get it. I'm married to the nicest guy in the world… and I'm complaining about it. That kinda makes me sound like an ungrateful bitch."

Chuck shook his head. "You know that I don't like it when you refer to yourself as a bitch," he said.

Sarah looked at him. "You're always saying that you want me to open up more to you," she said. "I need to get better at that. So I have something to tell you. It's kinda a confession. Fair warning… it might sound silly but I'm being 100% serious. This is going to be very hard for me. If you laugh…"

Chuck looked at her eyes. Her unexpressed warning was very serious. She was right. It was going to be very hard for her. Hopefully it was a breakthrough. "Sarah, I would never laugh 'at' you," he assured. "Only 'with' you. Please don't worry about that. If something is bothering you then it's bothering me… no matter how silly you might think that it sounds. You can tell me anything."

Sarah paused for a long moment. "Here's the deal," she finally said softly. "Sarah Walker is an invention of the CIA. People look at me and see this trained seductress. Admit it. That's what you see. But the reality is that I don't really see myself like that. I mean, I get that I have a weapon. I've been trained how to use it. I can get almost any man to do almost anything by flashing a smile and showing him some skin. But inside, I'm still that shy teenager. People look at Carina and me and can't tell the difference. I think that you're maybe the only man in the world who realizes that we're night and day. The truth is, I really don't know that much about sex. You've had more sex partners than I have. The CIA always assumed you knew what to do and how to do it before you got to the academy. I haven't actually had much sex and what little I did have I always insisted it stay very vanilla. You're probably noticed that I'm aggressive, but once we get started, I always let you take the lead. Carina would tell me all of these wild stories of what marks demanded of her and I would shake my head and laugh. They couldn't possibly be true. Bryce was always trying to get me to do things… but he was disgusting. I shut him down so often that he stopped asking."

Finally Sarah was able to smile a little. "So now my life has dramatically changed," she continued. "I find that I have a soul mate. He was the last thing I was looking for… but here he is. I honestly worship him. It's almost funny. He thinks that he gets how strongly I feel about him, but the honest truth is that he doesn't. If he did, he'd be scared a little. He's changed my life in so many ways, but especially in how I think about sex. Carina's sex act performances that previously sounded made up and disgusting are suddenly sounding real and pretty damn exciting. There's only one man in the world I trust enough to try them with. Fortunately, I'm married to him. I'm dying to experiment."

Chuck was very careful to not laugh. But he did smile. "Permission granted," he said.

So now Sarah was grinning. "It's more than that," she said. "You know me. I want to be perfect for you. You deserve that from me. I'm not used to being the aggressive one. You're the only one who knows exactly what you want, so I need your help. When you're playing the role of someone like Matlin, I want you to push me… just like he would. Become my sex sensei. Teach me how to be perfect for you. If I don't do something exactly right, don't let me slide. Like any good sensei, make me practice over and over until I'm perfect at it. And I know you. You're going to tell me that I'm already perfect. That's predictable. It's sweet, but it's not true. We both know it. Chuck I know this is not something you're asking for. This is something that I want to do… for both of us. You're perfect. It bothers me to think you're getting cheated. It makes me feel inadequate. Sweetie, I need to know that I've made every effort to make you happy. I know that you think it's silly, but this is important to me. I'm honestly asking for your help."

Wow. Chuck still knew that he couldn't laugh. But the idea that he was getting cheated in bed wasn't silly… it was ridiculous. One thing was for sure, she was being serious. He knew her well enough to understand that she was a perfectionist. "I'm not really comfortable treating you like that," he said. "In case you haven't noticed, I worship you too. I'm happy with our sex life."

Sarah nodded. "It's been perfect," she said. "I'm sure not trying to change that. I love, love, love that you're so generous with me. It was a wonderful surprise. Now I get that's simply your nature. Chuck Bartowski isn't naturally comfortable with what I'm asking for. I get all that. I even think that it's sweet. I don't want to change you. You're too nice a guy. So I'm putting it in terms of asking you for a favor. That's the beauty of this game. You wouldn't be treating me like that… Matlin would. Sweetie, please don't let this be weird. We should both have fun with it. It would really help me."

"And you'd be okay with that?" Chuck asked. "I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do."

Sarah started laughing. "You're kidding, right?" she asked. "I don't know yet if there is something I don't want to do. It's all sounding pretty exciting. Chuck, sweetie, come on… this is getting a little ridiculous. You can't possibly be questioning that. It's a sexy game. You're the most respectful, generous man in the world. I trust your judgement. Later we'll talk about what was most exciting for us. If you asked for something that I found I didn't enjoy, I'll tell you… but I can't imagine what that would be. I'm eager to make some time all about you. I'd love the opportunity to prove that to you. I'm going to enjoy this on several levels. Look at me. Can you seriously not see that I'm on fire thinking about this? I've told you that until I'm blue in the face. You should have zero guilt. What's it going to take for you to believe it? Letters written in the sky in fire? Are you really going to make me beg?"

There was really only one possible answer. Chuck nodded. "Be careful what you wish for," he said with a grin. "You're definitely going to be begging. When a coke addict conquest begs for the opportunity to serve in exchange for her next fix, she should be naked and on one knee offering her panties for his trophy case, don't you agree?"

Sarah grinned and reached over to kiss him lovingly. "Thank you, sweetie," she said. "I owe you one. Don't hold anything back. If you think you're going too far… switch that thought off and go even farther. I hope that you have as good a time as I'm going to."

Chuck had to shake his head. She was being very serious. She was actually thanking him. When he blinked, it was no longer his wife standing there. It was a desperate coke addict praying that he'd allow her to use her body to pay for her next fix. And for a long moment, all he could see was red. Matlin was a disgusting animal. He prayed on defenseless women like this all the time. Sarah was next in his sights. If he ever had her in this position for real, it was hard to imagine what he'd demand. He couldn't be dead soon enough. On the other hand, his wife had just asked him for a huge favor. Oh, she was being very serious. In fact, her confession explained a lot that he was starting to wonder about. Sarah was an enigma. She was always the aggressive one, yet she wanted him to take the lead and push her. It's why she was always proposing bets. She had been trying to tell him something all along… and he was too self-absorbed to see it. That was something that had to be fixed. He reached for the hem of her shirt and slowly lifted it until it was over her head and on the floor.

Sarah was playing her role. She shyly covered her chest with her arms for a moment before finally lowering them to her side to give him the full view. "Thank you for this chance," she said. "I'll do anything you want."

"You're in complete charge."

x-x-x-x-x

It had been a long wild night and morning before they were finally able to get some sleep. Chuck and Sarah were still cuddling waiting at the apartment for Casey and Carina to pick them up. "Let's talk about tonight," Sarah finally said. "Assuming that you still can. You're going to be alone with Angel for quite a while."

"Yup," Chuck said with little enthusiasm. "And I suppose that means that you will be alone with Matlin. Please don't be mad, but I'm currently not interested in finding out how that could go."

That got them laughing. "I understand, sensei," Sarah said. "That actually exceeded my expectations last night, which is impressive considering that they were off the charts. You were an absolute pig."

"You said that we would talk," Chuck said. "Was there anything that crossed a line?"

Sarah was still laughing. "You were perfect," she said. "It was an excellent start. Thank you. It was the wildest night of my life. I can't wait for your next training session. Go even further next time. Having said that, sex, even with you in charge, isn't sounding all that attractive right now. But don't worry. I promise that he won't be having any fun tonight. You, on the other hand, have to convince Angel that you're interested… if you know what I mean."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Chuck asked. "I don't have an on / off switch, you know?"

That got Sarah laughing even harder. "I know that you don't have an off switch," she said. "I'm not sure about the on switch. It seems to be stuck. Sensei, I'm not kidding. I want to thank you for last night. It was important for me. I had a great time and learned some things. Making me pose for those pictures was a nice touch. It's exactly what someone like Matlin would do. I know acting like that isn't natural for you. But that's what made it so hot. We might have overdone it so soon before our mission tonight. But you have to find a way to make this work."

"Thanks," Chuck said sarcastically. "Here is where I could really use some of that super spy agent advice that you're always bragging about."

Sarah nodded. "You want my advice?" she asked. "Think of something sexy. I'm sure, given last night, you could think of something."

Chuck nodded.

Sarah could feel him against her leg. "Well done," she said with a grin. "Now I'm tempted to find out how many rounds are still left in that clip. What are you thinking about?"

"I'm not sure that I'm supposed to tell you," he teased. "Isn't it like the wish on the evening star? But it's easy. I'm going to think about the first night in Vegas, standing in front of the fountains at Bellagio."

To say that Sarah was surprised was understatement. That had been a very nice moment… one of the highlights of her life. But it really wasn't sexual. Chuck had just led her through a night of performances and hot sex acts that put anything that Carina constantly bragged about to shame. "Why so?" she asked."

Chuck shook his head. "Don't get me wrong," he said. "Ever since we've been together, I never doubted us. But it all seemed surreal somehow… like a really good dream. That was the moment that I knew in the core of my being that we were forever. It was the best moment of my life. How about you? What would you think about?"

Sarah couldn't have answered if she wanted too. She was too busy trying to blink the tears from her eyes. She could feel her lip trembling. She didn't want to totally lose it in front of him, so she buried her face in his chest. "My life is perfect," she finally said. "You're romantic when I need it and sexy when I need it. You constantly see things that no husband should ever have to see and you never complain. Chuck, how could you possibly be so perfect? It makes me feel…"

"A bit of fair warning," Chuck interrupted. "If you're about to say that you're inadequate, it's not going to go well for you. It would be much better if you just didn't say anything. I'm in no mood to hear something like that today, especially given the night you've just given me."

Like Chuck last night, Sarah didn't say anything. She just nodded.

Naturally, that got Chuck laughing. "Smart girl," he teased. "Here's the truth. I've been in love with you almost from the second I saw you. I knew that it was too much to hope for. You were larger than life… the most beautiful woman in the world… a badass who can kick anyone's ass and throw a knife into a flea's ass… a brilliant intellectual who can speak a million languages. I decided from day one, if I could get that girl to share her life with me, even if it meant that I had to share her with the greater good sometimes, I was getting a great deal. So now, I'm married to this Goddess. She asks me, as a huge favor to her, to think of wild things she can do to keep me on edge. I'm her sex sensei. It's too good to be true. I'm embarrassed that she's been trying to tell me this for over a week and I was too self-absorbed to see it. And, yeah, there are some things I never imagined would be part of my marriage. Tonight she's going to get felt up and maybe more by perhaps the most evil man in the world. But here's the truth. I'm having a blast. Even those not so good things aren't so bad… because I'm with you. What do I have to do to get that through to you?"

Sarah was desperately trying to hide the soft sobs. She just nodded.

Chuck pretended to not notice her sobs. He just affectionately rubbed her back. "I'm going to pull my head out of my ass and start listening to you and what you need," he said. "You're going to get better at letting me inside your walls and knocking me upside the head when I don't. Separately, we're both pretty flawed. But together, we fill in each other's gaps. Together, we're a force of nature."

"Together, we're unstoppable."

x-x-x-x-x