Chapter 11
Her eye lids twitched, her breathing rate increased and her eyes slowly fluttered open. Sarah looked up to see Chuck staring down at her, her clear blue eyes filled with confusion. She looked around to find she was on a train and looking out of the window she saw that it was dark.
"Chuck?" Sarah whispered, "where are we?"
With a deep breath he filled her in on the whole story and she didn't once interrupt, she watched his face as it grew more and more anxious watching her reaction. The corners of her lips perked up and broke into a smile.
"I can't believe you did that and carried me all that way!" She exclaimed.
"Well - I - uh, yeah I guess I did." He stuttered.
"Chuck where does this train go?" She asked.
"San Francisco."
"When we get there," she paused "we're going to go to the airport and fly to.. Erm, name me a place in Europe, Chuck, any place."
"I'm not too good at geography." He smiled. "Britain."
"Britain? Well I guess Casey will never think of going there .. Okay."
"You don't want to go there, do you?" His face fell a little.
"No, of course I do, its just it's along way away. But as long as I'm.. uh .." She looked down for a moment and clasped his hand and squeezed it.
"With me?" Chuck tried.
"Yeah." She smiled, "sorry, its hard for me to -"
"I know." He interrupted. "You don't need to explain."
Early the next morning
They were already on the plane - first class. It was going to be a long journey so a few hours previously Chuck bought some provisions for Sarah and himself, and he secretly hoped that one of these bags of sweets would cure his hangover - one of the worst he had ever had.
His head was pounding, his mouth was dry and he felt nauseous every time he lifted his head. The plane reared up its engine and it sped off down the runway and Sarah's stomach span at the speed of it, she felt like she was on a rollercoaster.
Chuck was surprised that his cheeks didn't start flapping like skydivers did. When they finally took off in the air they both breathed out a sigh of relief, they were safe from Casey and the CIA for now.
"Sarah is it me or do you have a really bad hangover too?"
"Yeah." She sighed, rubbing her forehead forcefully. "My throat feels like a desert."
"Same here." He sighed. Just then an air hostess walked past wheeling a tray full of treats.
"Excuse me?" He called softly to her. "Can I have.. Ah.. Two waters?" He looked at Sarah and prayed that he had got it right and she nodded to confirm it. "And.." He licked his top lip. "Can I have a bag of Haribo's and that bar of chocolate there?"
"Wow, a hangover really brings out your hungry side huh?" She whispered softly into his ear. "Get me some Starbursts, please?" She said with a devilish grin.
"Some Starbursts too, please."
The air hostess looked at them both, her cheeks hurting from smiling so much, "certainly, Sir." Greedy bastards! She thought in disgust.
With big old fashioned headphones on, they were both engrossed in the film Pretty Woman which was playing on the flat screened DVD player above them. Sarah had a pile of wrappers next to her and Chuck was still working his was through his sour Haribo's, his face wrinkling every time he reached a new sour one
Sarah watched Chuck in amusement every few minutes or so and he was oblivious to her watchful eyes.
"Chuck." She called, tapping him lightly on the arm.
"Huh?" He jumped, snatching his eyes away from the screen. "Yeah?" His face softened.
"Can I have one?" She pointed to his packet of Haribo's?
"Oh." He looked down at the packet and saw that he only had one left, with a deep sigh he handed her it.
"Thank you." She put it halfway into her mouth and sucked of it sexily as Chuck watched, entertained. Oh no! Not now, not now, I beg you please not now! He told his crotch angrily.
Grandma's feet, Morgan's beard, John Casey. Anything, come on! It seemed to do the trick, he exhaled deeply.
"What?" She said, looking at his red face and clenched fists.
"I, uh, got really turned on then." He mumbled.
She laughed and turned back to the movie, she desperately wanted to tell him that she felt the same, every single time she laid eyes on him, but there was such a thing as going to far, every spy has their limits.
After they got off the plane, they sleepily got into a taxi, too tired to take in the sights of being in a new country, damn jetlag.
"Are we in London, Sarah?" He asked, he didn't know this country at all.
"No!" She laughed slightly. "We're in Cardiff!"
"Where?"
"Oh come on don't tell me that you haven't heard of Cardiff! It's the capital of Wales."
"Ah, so we're in sheep land !"
"Sheep land, honestly Chuck we're living in modern times, you know."
"Shush now, I'm going back to sleep!" He put his finger to her lips.
"But -"
"Shut up!" He fell asleep almost instantly against the window.
Sarah felt a bit, well a bit shocked to be honest. She wasn't really used to people speaking to her like that, but then again was this their first row as a proper couple? They had been on a plane for ages and she knew that he didn't take well to lack of sleep.
She couldn't sleep, she stared out of the window at the green stooping mountains and at the silver sea that matched the grey sky. She'd have to get used to this weather, she saw on telly that the British people were always complaining about it. She saw a flash of white, and another and another. Sheep! Christ, they really were in Wales.
Then the countryside started to fade and the roads got more and more crowded, suddenly she saw huge sky scrapers and old fashioned houses crammed together, the streets were filled with people, most of them were pale and unfashionable. If anyone in LA saw how these people looked they would have a heart attack! She thought to herself.
At what seemed like hours later the taxi pulled up at the hotel she booked, The Hilton Hotel. She shook Chuck awake and they clambered out of the car. People rudely pushed passed then and in a flurry they heard the loud muttering of British accents.
"Come on." She pulled him inside.
"Crap!" He whispered to her. "We have no luggage!"
"I'll tell them that were getting it sent up to us later, okay?"
"Okay." He waited by the lift like a child for her to bring back the room key.
"Top floor!" She said to him, smiling.
"Hang on, this may be good news for you but I am extremely terrified of heights!"
There's my old Chuck. She thought In delight. "Don't worry, I've got you. She linked her arm around his.
They went to press the button on the lift but nothing happen, they looked to the left to see a sign reading 'out of order, take the stairs'.
"Damn, that's twenty four stories up!" Chuck said.
"We'd better go up then."
When they reached the hotel room Sarah was only slightly out of breath but Chuck was a panting sweaty mess and he was finding it the hardest task just to remain upright. She opened the door and he tumbled onto the bed, breathing heavily.
This room was much nicer than the last one, it was a honeymoon suite, it had a king-sized bed with a red duvet. There was a large lounge area with a plasma screen television and a double seated leather couch, the bathroom had a Jacuzzi like bath and the kitchen was surprising small, but modern.
"I guess we're going to be living here for a while, huh?" Chuck said between breaths.
"For now." She smiled at him, she moved next to him and snaked her arms around his neck, she pressed her lips against his, smiling as she did it. He brushed his thumb against her cheek and they fell back onto the duvet. For a while they didn't do anything but kiss like two loved up teenagers.
In the last hotel room it had been a mad passionate frenzy, but now it was slow and soft and tender. They eventually stopped kissing, both still tired out from the flight. They laid down and she pressed her head against his chest, her arms wrapped around the small of his back. They both fell into an easy sleep for once.
Late the next morning, Chuck felt around on the mattress for Sarah but he couldn't find her, he opened his eyes sleepily and smelt the faint whiff of eggs.
Following in the smell, like Scooby doo off the telly, when he smelt hot dogs or 'wrot dawgs' as the cartoon character called them.
He crept up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "Morning." He smiled, kissing her neck.
"Morning." She turned around to meet his eyes and they kissed for a few moments before they had to pop up for air.
"I need my credit card, Chuck." She said, stepping away from him slightly, but she still had a permanent grin planted on her face.
"Why?"
"I got to go and get some things for us, for this week, because I don't think we'll be going out much." She said meaningfully and then she blushed.
"Okay, eat breakfast first though." He indicated down at the two plates of egg on toast.
"Where's my card?" Sarah asked after they finished.
"In my coat pocket."
She went towards his coat and put her hands into the pocket and she felt something square and velvety.
"Shit! No Sarah, wait!" Chuck called frantically.
She pulled out the box and opened it and in it was a silver diamond ring, glistening innocently in her palm.
