P/N: As promised I'll post anything you want to send in…especially when it involves great story telling, like this chapter from Aerox…and does give us, and by us I mean anyone who wants to come play in this sandbox…a time frame to work in…so, how about you? Wanna tell the story of one(or two) of the guys Sarah actually dated?(of course they didn't measure up, now tell us why)...wanna tell the story of their second first date?(did it involve them moving from handcuffs and a radiator to hand cuffs and something else?)...wanna tell the story of how they almost ran into each other at some silly office Christmas party that neither one of them was actually invited to?...bring us(the Sarah Walker:Broken Beyond Repair gang) your story. JT P.S. I shortened the 'disappearnce' time by just a little, sorry Aerox.
A/N: So, this is what a few people have been waiting for. The beginnings of Charah... sorta. Pay heed to how far in the future this is, leaving plenty of wiggle room for things to come ;) Just thought I'd do us all a favor and mark a clear reunion spot.
712 days ACD/Three hours AFC (After Finding Chuck)
"You lied to me!" she shouted. "You all lied to me!"
"Ma'am, please stay calm."
"How can I be calm when the agency I had served for so long turned its back on me? How can you expect me to be calm when the man that I was sure was dead turns out to be alive and well? How can you?"
"Ma'am, you're not making a lot of sense. Please calm down."
"I don't care," she yelled again. "You all made me think I was a failure, a worthless agent, while all this time you kept him from me!"
The security agent grabbed his walkie-talkie. "This is agent Henderson, requesting back-up in the lobby, possibly unstable female, early thirties, brown hair."
"And tell them to send Langston Graham down too!" she yelled, loud enough to be heard through the walkie-talkie.
She kept in the man's face, screaming and shouting at the incredulity of it all. When the pounding of multiple synchronous footsteps broke through her tirade, her mouth clacked shut.
Three men, all in typical G-Men suits, and a woman in a business suit with her dark blonde hair in a bun, strode to her. "Miss Barstow, how nice to see you again. We didn't think we would see you here so soon. How long has it been? Over a year since you vanished?"
"Who are you?" she asked. "And how do you know who I am?"
"Did you forget who you were talking to… agent Walker?"
One of the G-Men blinked. "Agent Walker? Agent Sarah Walker? She's a damn legend! This is her?"
"Stand down, agent Marlowe. Yes, this is agent Sarah Walker, who after an unfortunate incident with her asset went off-grid. We ought to have you arrested for going AWOL." The woman regarded Sarah, or Christine as she had come to name herself, silently. Despite the threat that hung in the air, the woman didn't seem very interested in arresting her.
"An accident, that didn't turn out to be an accident but rather an extraction of which I was unaware. An 'accident' that made me feel like a failure. An accident that tore a family apart for no other reason than the CIA's belief that I was compromised with my asset." She spat the last few words, the venom in her voice unmistakable. "And who the hell are you?"
"Miranda Jones, DNI. I took over after Graham was assassinated a year ago."
"Was he in on it too?" she asked, her voice deceptively calm. She had no idea that her mentor was killed and despite the animosity she felt toward the man, it felt wrong to hold ill will toward the dead.
"He signed off on it, yes."
"Then I honestly don't see why I would care. I've spent the better part of my adult life fighting for this country, doing its dirty work. And you can't even have the goddamn courtesy to be straight with me? You couldn't have told me that you thought I was compromised? Instead, you decide to take matters into your own hands? Is that how it is?"
"That depends, agent Walker. Were you compromised?"
Make or break time. She could admit out loud what she had known for a while now, and finally make it official. She could tell them how wonderful he truly was, how those two weeks had turned out to be nothing but spectacular. How the normalcy of it all warmed her heart more than she had cared to admit in the first couple of months after his death, but was eventually forced to admit was true.
"Agents don't get compromised by their assets. I was an agent. That should answer your question."
Of course had she just admitted to being compromised, the chances of her being allowed to ever see him would shrink into the negatives.
"I see you choose to use the past tense there, agent Walker. Should we see this as your resignation letter?" she asked, stifling a chuckle.
"I handed in my resignation when it became clear that my only possible job opportunity would be to stand in front of a classroom where I would have to relive my failures over and over again."
"You could've qualified as an agent. After all, your leg seems to be doing a lot better now. You haven't used your cane in over a year. That is very impressive."
"How do you even know that?"
"Please, agent Walker. Would you really think that we were going to let you go out unsupervised? We've seen people take their life for less guilt than that which would land on your shoulders. Of course, we hadn't intended for you to be captured by Zarnow, so that the eventual disappearance of the asset wouldn't land on your shoulders so heavily, but it is what it is." She walked up to Sarah, and leaned in. "We know much more about you than you truly think we do," she whispered and when she pulled back, a victorious smirk was on her face. "So let's try that again. Were you compromised by your asset?"
"Clearly, you already know the answer to that."
"I do."
"Then why ask?"
"Because despite the hostility toward us from you, we did what we had to. We did what we knew was right. If you had stayed on his protection detail, he would've eventually ended up in a ditch or a dark hole somewhere. Would you rather have that on your conscience? At least with this method, it could've been an accident. An unfortunate accident, sure. But would you rather have seen him shot right before your eyes? Watch as the life would drain out of him as his blood would spread over the concrete? I doubt you would've, agent Walker. And that's why we did what we had to do."
Sarah began to shake with repressed rage. Rage against the organization that had tricked her. Rage at Casey for keeping it a secret. Rage at Carina, at Graham, at the whole damn world. Yes, even rage against Chuck for not defying his superiors to see her. He had to know. He had to know how much his death affected her. And he didn't do a damn thing about it.
She turned and stormed off, leaving stunned employees and one smug Director in her wake. She hopped in her car and sped through traffic like a maniac, racing back to her hotel room. It was pure luck, finding him. He had shaved off his curls, opting for a smart look that suited him very well, but the moment she locked eyes with him, she knew. Of course, had she not run after Casey as she saw him walking down the streets, she would've never found him. Or the fact that Jeff had informed Ellie, who in turn had informed Sarah through email, that Chuck was still alive. They had both dismissed it at first. Sarah had shoved the thought off of her as the drunken musings from a rambling lunatic that Jeff undoubtedly was. But the thought had gotten stuck in her brain, and it had put her on edge, her finely honed spy senses working on overdrive, until finally she had seen Casey a few months later.
She entered her hotel room, to find things exactly as she left him. She grabbed some smelling salts and broke the capsule under Chuck's nose, who came to sputtering. He locked eyes with her, and a small grin played on his lips. "Hi."
"Explain," she said, her voice rigid.
"You know, I always thought our reunion would be a bit happier. And y'know, in my imagination, I wouldn't be chained up to a radiator."
"Do you have any idea..." Sarah started, "...how much heartbreak you've caused me? Do you have any indication at all?"
"Look, I'm sorry. It's just that..."
"I don't give a damn!" Sarah shouted. "I don't care about any of it at all. I hated myself, Chuck. And not the usual amount of self-loathing either! I shed everything I had, shed it because it reminded me of you."
"I know," Chuck sighed. "I read the emails."
"Then how could you?" she asked, and she noticed that her eyes were wet, but she pressed on. "I even told you about how none of my goddamn new boyfriends or flings or whatever you want to call them could never compare to you and you still didn't care enough to let me know you were alive." She furiously wiped at her eyes as Chuck sat still, not uttering a single word. "And the one person who I thought could be someone that would come within a mile of what you meant to me turned out to be Fulcrum, so obviously my internal radar was shot to hell and... and you!"
"Me?"
"You! You knew! You saved me."
"I... yeah... yeah, I did. I couldn't let him capture you, Sarah. I just couldn't."
"But you could let me continue to live in heartbreak?"
"I... I only did what they told me to, Sarah. You of all people have to realize in what position they had put me."
"I... I can't see you right now, Chuck. I have to go." She flung the small silver key that unlocked his handcuffs at him and stalked out. "If you're still here after I'm back, we'll talk. If not, you have a good life, Chuck."
The door slammed shut and the only thing Chuck could whisper in reply was, "I'll be here... I won't leave you anymore."
A/N2: So, I left this pretty open ended. People who want to pick up directly after this are more than welcome to. Hope you enjoyed.