A/N: Another short chapter before I go back to work. I will try to update as soon as I can this week.

Sarah vs The Missing Asset

Chapter Ten

"Hello."

"Chuck?"

Sarah waited for his response and her excitement grew with each second that passed before he responded.

"Sarah? - Is that you?"

She smiled through the tears and shook her head in response. "Yeah, it's me."

"I don't understand. How did you know to call this phone?"

"Chuck, we only have five minutes and there's something I need to tell you."

At that moment Sarah's heart pushed up to her throat and she felt like throwing the phone and running. She had many years of defense mechanisms she fought to overcome. Closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath, she continued. "Chuck, I have to tell you this before I say anything else." She took another deep breath. "I love you. I've loved you ever since the first time we kissed." She felt like she had been under water and had just come up for her first breath of air.

At that moment Sarah felt like her heart was a piece of glass. Not one of those thick pieces of glass that you could not see through. No, hers was the thinnest kind of glass. So fragile it looked and felt like a rose petal. The kind of glass that would shatter if dropped. She waited as Chuck held her heart in his hands.

The time it took for him to respond was in truth only a couple of seconds but Sarah felt like she had lived her entire life within that span of agonizing, wonderful time.

"Sarah, I've loved you since about fifteen minutes into our first date. "I've never known someone as beautiful, intelligent, caring, and as fun to be with as you."

Sarah had never known such joy before in her life. She had known exhilaration, exhilaration from conning a rich mark. Exhilaration from succeeding in a mission that was dangerous and beneficial. But this was pure joy. She felt as she…she actually had no words to describe it. She remembered their limited time.

"Chuck, we don't have much time. I know you're working. But as soon as we can, I want to get together. I have to go back to work soon too but you will be able to get a message to me through Director Mella."

"Sarah, I'm not supposed to talk about this mission but I think it's almost over. You couldn't guess where I am right now."

Sarah smiled. He would die if he knew I was in the house across the street from him right now, she thought.

"Look, Chuck. You just keep your head down and do what you're supposed to do. I need you to come back to me."

Sarah could almost hear his smile coming through the phone.

"I'll call as soon as I can. I promise," he said.

Sarah heard him hesitate.

"Uh, they're telling me our time is up. Sarah, I'll talk with you soon."

"I love you. Just know that I love you with all my heart. I've never loved anyone like I love you Chuck."

"I never thought I'd hear you say that…you don't know how I hoped I would."

"Come home to me and I promise you that there will never be a day go by that you don't hear me say that I love you…not even an hour," Sarah said with tears of joy streaming down her face.

"Uh, I gotta go. I love you Sarah Walker."

"I love you too. Goodbye"

"Goodbye."

Sarah pitched the prepaid cell phone that she had just purchased on the bed. She felt as though she were someone else, someone better. She could not keep from smiling. She broke into a dance as she moved around the bedroom. Sarah was a good dancer but this dance was choreographed by love. It was the movement of pure joy. She was breathless before she stopped.

There was nothing left to do but pack what little belonging she had in the back seat of her rental car. She used the phone to order a one way ticket from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Washington, DC.

Thirty minutes later she was in her car driving to the airport. She had waived to the two men in the car when she left.

Six and a half hours later she had opened the door to her Washington DC apartment. She slept soundly through the night and awoke refreshed, alert and with a smile on her face.

Sarah Walker loved DC. She loved everything about it. She lived on the west side to be closer to Langley. But she loved the hustle and bustle of the city that powered her countries turbines. She liked knowing that she was a part of the generator that made her country great.

But today as she walked into her favorite coffee shop to get a cup of coffee and a bagel, she loved everything. She couldn't have been happier.

After eating her bagel, she carried a cup of coffee out of the store and proceeded to stroll up and down the quaint little shopping area near her apartment building. She smiled at everyone she met. She even said hello to people who looked her in the eye.

It was a mild day for this time of year and she wore a light coat. She wore black pants with a red long sleeved pull-over top that barely met her slacks. Her coat was black leather. She looked like any other person walking the sidewalks of the area. To all she passed, she was just another person going to work in a store or at the service shops that littered the area. Little did they know that she was a highly trained government operative that after ten hears, had seen more and had been in more situations than they could even imagine. None of that ever occurred to Sarah, and especially not now. She had one thing on her mind now…Chuck.

Sarah thought of her father. She remembered that he had known that Chuck loved her. She had not believed him when he told her that. She wished she could talk to him now. She would like to tell him how she felt about Chuck as well.

That's when she thought of Bryce.

As happy as she was the thought of Bryce dying just so she could find Chuck made her sad. She realized that there would most likely be repercussions from the whole incident. But she pushed those thoughts away. There would be time to deal with all the negative reactions to her not following orders. For now, she would enjoy knowing that halfway across the country their was a lanky young man with a goofy smile and wonderful heart that loved her. That was enough.

Sarah eventually came to the small park a few blocks from her apartment. She always ended up here when she took a walk. She sat on her favorite park bench. She watched a couple with a two small children.

For the first time in her life she felt satisfied. When she looked at the happy couple, she could actually empathize with the woman. She could see herself with Chuck walking with their children in the park. She had never done that before. Sure, she had thought about it but this was more real. It made her happy and it scared her a little.

Out of the blue, her phone rang. She looked at it for the second time just to make sure. She wrinkled her brow when she knew for sure it was her official CIA issue phone.

"Walker."

"Walker, this is Director Mella. I need to see you in my office as soon as you can get here. How long will that be?"

"Thirty minutes." Sarah said thinking that the shit would hit the fan in thirty minutes. She was indirectly responsible for the death of one of the best agents in the CIA. There was probably going to be repercussions from the death of Yuri Karlanov as well.

"Get here in twenty if you can."

Sarah waited for more but the director had already hung up. Sarah walked back to the busy road that ran past her apartment building and hailed a cab.

"CIA headquarters in Langley," she said to the cab driver as she got in.

She announced her presence to Director Mella's personal assistant and was sent directly in.

Sarah Walker had felt dread before, many times before in fact. But as she walked into the Director of the CIA's office and saw General Beckman sitting in the office with him, her legs lost all the strength she had. It was all she could do to make it to the closest chair in the office. It wasn't just the fact that the General was here. It was the look on her face. Director Mella wore a mask of concern too.

"Agent Walker, we have a problem," the director said.

Sarah raised her eyes from her lap to look into his but she said nothing.

The Director then looked to the General.

"Agent Walker, we've lost contact with Major Casey and his team which included among others, Chuck Bartowski and a CIA operative named Amanda Irving." The General hesitated for an instant before continuing. "We can only conclude that the operation was a failure and that three high level agents have been taken…We need your help in getting them back."

There was not enough air in the room. Sarah found it difficult to get a deep breath.

"What do we know?" she managed.

"Nothing, our people on the scene now have found no evidence except the dead bodies of two low level agents in a car."

For reasons that she could not explain, her strength returned and her fear left her. Her mind began to work through every detail she knew about the players involved. She remained focused and detached.

With a look on her face that actually startled the General, Sarah turned to her superiors. "Get me everything we know about their mission parameters. Leave nothing out."

Sarah Walker once again had to use the skills she had learned over the last ten years to find the man she loved.

"I want to talk with anyone connected to the case," she said as she got up to leave the office. "Today, not tomorrow."

She didn't bother to listen for the reply.