A/N: First of all, I'd like to thank you yet again for encouraging me to continue the story.
In this chapter, I decided not only to give you something you wanted, but also indulge in a bit of character bashing (you'll soon see who I'm talking about, hehe).
As always, standard disclaimers apply.
Sarah vs. the Complications
Sarah Walker was on a tropical beach, her naked body wildly entwined with Chuck Bartowski's as they were welcoming the new day by making love just before dawn. They paused, looking in each other's eyes, and were about to profess their undying love yet again, when they were rudely interrupted.
"Walker!" Alex's voice sounded different as she woke Sarah up. Was the NSA agent… amused?
"Hmmmm? It's my day off, let me sleep."
"Sarah Walker, wake up." Alex playfully slapped Sarah's butt.
"Dammit, Alex, you woke me up at the best part."
"You were dreaming of Bartowski." It was a statement, not a question.
"Yes, I was." There was no use denying it.
"And you were screwing like bunnies. Admit it, I won't tell."
"XXX-rated, if you need to know," Sarah said, stretching like a cat. The hem of her camisole hitched up. Forrest gasped. For the moment she had totally forgotten what she wanted to tell Sarah when she'd come through the Morgan Door.
"Shit!"
"What?" Sarah turned and saw Alex pointing at the small of her back, just above the elastic waistband of her panties. "Can't see anything."
Forrest dragged her out of bed towards her full-length mirror and held the hem of the camisole up.
"Take a look Walker," she commanded. Sarah obeyed and did the classic double take. The image in the mirror was reversed, naturally, but she could clearly see a phrase written just above her ass, proclaiming said part of her anatomy (and, by extension, her whole body and soul) as being 'Property of Chuck Bartowski', in calligraphic lettering, no less.
"Crap!"
"Can you say 'just what the fuck did we do on that Saturday night', Walker?"
"Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't freak out," Sarah repeated the mantra to herself.
"Sarah, snap out of it! We need answers, dammit, now!"
"You mean you don't remember either?"
"No, I don't."
"We're screwed!"
"No, you are screwed."
"Really? Are you sure you don't have 'U.S. Government Property' tattooed somewhere on your body? Serial number included?"
"Fuck! You think so?"
"I don't know! We were really wasted."
"You mean we were one tequila shot short of alcohol poisoning."
"That's exactly what I mean. We need to talk to someone who remembers what happened."
"We can call your friends, Miller and Roberts."
"Uh-uh, no can do. They are back undercover now. We can't risk blowing their covers! I don't think they could help, anyway."
"Right… but we need answers! I mean, this has been on you for over a week now! And we only saw it today!"
"MORGAN!" they exclaimed together.
"Great! The bearded troll's gonna tell us about all the stupid things we did that night?"
"Do you see another option?"
"No…"
"Then let's call him!"
"Later. Right now, get dressed and come to my place. We have a briefing with the General in twenty minutes."
"I'll be right over. Just make sure you have coffee ready. Otherwise, I'm liable to be rather cranky."
"Coffee's waiting. C'mon."
Sarah quickly slipped on her sweatpants and followed Alex out the Morgan door and into the apartment across the courtyard. They helped themselves to steaming mugs of coffee and sat down to wait for Casey to contact them. Chuck joined them a few minutes before the scheduled conference.
"Good morning team," Said Casey after the communications screen came to life. "Congratulations for your last mission. And, Agent Bartowski, I trust you enjoyed your leave."
"Yes, sir, I did."
"And now, for the bad news; I'm afraid your team, specifically Agent Bartowski, will undergo a 49-B evaluation."
"General, what is a 49-B?"
"Care to answer Ms. Walker's question for me, Agent Bartowski?"
"An agent will come here to evaluate my performance as the asset's handler and determine whether reassignment is required. During the evaluation said agent will assume the role of the asset's handler as he or she sees fit."
"Sir, I thought you told me you didn't want to do a 49-B," Alex interjected.
"Oh, I'm still against it, Major Forrest."
"Sir, what's going on?"
"It's complicated; although the NSA has parentage and has assumed full operational control of the Intersect Project, and Agent Bartowski is temporarily seconded to my Agency, we still share intel with the CIA and he's still a CIA Agent. The acting director, who took over after Langston Graham's death, reviewed your mission reports and concluded that he may be compromised with the asset… Ms. Walker. So he decided to send one of his people to evaluate Bartowski up close. I tried to dissuade him, saying Bartowski works for me now, but the asshole found a way around it, based on the bureaucratic details of his attachment to the NSA."
"Damn! I knew he was a stickler for regulations, but this can really, really screw things up," remarked Chuck.
"Do we know who he's sending, sir?" Alex asked.
"No, Major, why ask?"
"He could have an accident," Alex said flippantly.
"Major, as much as we don't like dealing with the CIA, present company exempted, we can't go around killing their agents."
"Who said anything about killing him, sir? I was thinking of something more along the lines of busted kneecaps. Nobody screws with my team and gets away with it. Not even the acting director of the CIA and his stooge. And what if the verdict is that Bartowski has to be reassigned?"
"I'll try to talk some sense into Deputy Director Hicks. Or knock some sense into his thick skull if I have to."
"There is another way, General," said Sarah.
"I'm listening, Ms. Walker."
"If the CIA decides to reassign Chuck, he can just hand in his two week notice."
"But then they'll order me to go as far away from here as possible, Sarah."
"Chuck, I'm not finished here. The farthest you can go is DC. After you are done with the CIA, General Casey will hire you as an agent of the NSA. And assign you back here with Alex and me."
"Let's keep this as a last resort, Ms. Walker," said Casey. "As much as I'd like having Agent Bartowski on my Agency's payroll, he may still be uncomfortable with having to leave the CIA. Anyway, all three of you are authorized to use every means possible, save for those that may result in injury or death for the CIA evaluator, to steer the result of the 49-B in your favor. That will be all."
"General, wait!"
"Yes, Ms. Walker?"
"Is the evaluator to know about me? What I do and how?"
"No, not at first. He will have Top Secret clearance, but I expressly told Hicks to leave certain very classified information out of his man's briefing."
"Which means I will just pose as a lowly analyst if we have to go on missions while he's here."
"Precisely. Have a nice day ladies, Agent Bartowski." The General signed off.
"Aw, great! Won't we ever catch a break?" Chuck groaned.
"Chuck, never mind that now. We'll deal with it when the time comes. Tell me, how was your leave?"
"It was OK. I had a good time."
"Your parents?"
"Still celebrating thirty years of marriage and Dad's retirement. Occasionally in ways that make me cringe just thinking about them."
"Their love is like a perfectly aged whiskey, right Bartowski?"
"Ah, very… poetic, Forrest."
"At least you had a good time, as you just admitted."
"For the most part. But I could not avoid the Mom Inquisition."
"The what?"
"You know, the usual questions: 'When are you going to find a nice girl, settle down, have a family'…"
"Ugh, I have to suffer through the same every time I call my mother."
"You actually have a mother, Alex?" I thought you were manufactured by the U.S. government."
"Very funny, Walker."
"The worst part was when she found a bunch of photos from Ellie's last party. I'd had them printed and forgot them in my knapsack. And when she saw them… Let's just say that Tomás de Torquemada is a rank amateur compared to a certain Mrs. Bartowski. And most of the interrogation was focused on my relationship with Sarah."
"Don't blame her. You were all over each other at that party. But you really sold the cover."
"Yeah, Awesome gave us an Academy Award afterwards."
"He did?"
"It was made of chocolate. It didn't survive the night."
"Melted?"
"Eaten."
"OK, ladies, enough with the fun. Forrest, you stay with Sarah. I'll go open the store. Have a nice day."
As soon as they were alone, they tripped over each other in their mad rush to get a phone and call Morgan. They both fell tangled together on the couch, Sarah managing to grab her phone from the coffee table. She speed dialed her best friend and waited for him to answer.
"Hello."
"Morgan? Sarah here. Where are you?"
"I'm at the Buy More."
"Can you get away for about an hour?"
"Not with Emmett on the prowl. Can you think of something?"
"Who's got Mrs. Fisher's delivery?"
"Um, Fernando, I think."
"Good. Tell him you'll handle it. Wrap it up fast, and get over to my place ASAP. We need to talk to you."
"I see… Is it about your other… job?" The last question was asked in a really low voice to avoid being overheard.
"Yes and no. Right now, you're the only one who can help."
"Tell the moron to stop yammering and get his ass over here pronto!" Alex yelled.
"Tell her I heard her. I'll be over there in a few. Morgan out."
"He'll be here soon," said Sarah.
"He'd better!"
The girls paced nervously all over the living room while they waited for Morgan to arrive. Alex had not noticed anything on her, but Sarah had her tattoo for over a week before anyone noticed. She resisted the urge to run to the bathroom, strip naked and carefully check her body in front of her full-length mirror. When she saw Morgan entering the courtyard, she went out, grabbed him and unceremoniously dragged him inside, shoving him into an armchair.
"OK, Grimes, start talking!"
"I'll gladly talk, Alex, but if you could please give me a subject…"
"How about this?" Alex spun Sarah around and showed Morgan the tattoo. Upon seeing it, he burst out laughing.
"Morgan, it's not funny!" Sarah said, grabbing him by the shoulders.
"Sorry Sarah, it's really funny, I mean, you only noticed it now, after more than a week!"
"Grimes, is she the only one with a-"
"No, all four of you had one done!" Morgan started laughing again at the girls' expressions. Alex looked like she was about to have a stroke.
"Morgan, we know mine. What about Alex?"
"Playboy bunny on her left as- ahem… gluteus," he replied. Alex gasped and ran at full speed to the bathroom. The agonized shriek that followed confirmed the existence of a tattoo on her left ass cheek. She stomped back into the living room and glared at Morgan.
"Grimes, you imbecile, you knew we were blind drunk and you didn't do anything to stop us? I'm gonna kill you!"
"Hey, Alex, you threatened to kill me when I tried to stop you."
"Oh?"
"Yeah… fortunately, the tattoo artist was a very understanding person."
"Meaning?"
"I told her I knew you'd regret it when you'd sober up."
"And…" Sarah encouraged.
"And she used brushes and waterproof ink instead of needles. Your 'tattoos' will be gone in about another week and a half." He saw that they both looked tremendously relieved when he said that.
"Morgan, what did Carina and Jill choose?"
"Jill wanted a Celtic motif, to honor her Irish heritage. Carina preferred something Nordic. A design inspired by Freya's necklace, the Brig-"
"Brisingamen, Morgan, it's called the Brisingamen."
"Yes, exactly. In fact she had me flip a coin in order to help her choose between it and a Valkyrie's wings."
"I wonder how they reacted when they realized what they'd done."
"Carina would take it in stride, I guess. Jill would have been annoyed, but not hysterical like you."
"I was NOT hysterical!"
"You were still horrified. Your scream can attest to that."
"Sarah," Morgan interrupted, "you did not realize that you'd never, ever have a real tattoo."
"Why wouldn't she, Grimes?"
"Because she's deathly afraid of needles. Even when drunk! You, Carina and Jill had to drag her inside that tattoo parlor."
"He's right," said Sarah. Alex snickered.
"Well, now that's all settled, I'll just go back to the Buy More. See ya later, ladies!" He left and went to the Herder he'd borrowed from the Buy More motor pool. A minute later he was on his way back to the store.
Sarah was returning to her room, Alex following her, holding a netbook computer. Sarah had promised to fine-tune it for her and now was an ideal time. They ran into Devon and Ellie by the fountain. The two doctors were on their way to work.
"Sarah, Alex, good morning," beamed Ellie.
"Hey little sis, Alex," added Devon. Sarah and Alex returned the greeting. "Sarah," continued Devon with a smile, "Ellie tells me you've been a very naughty girl."
"Huh?"
"Your tattoo." Sarah blushed when she heard Ellie's answer.
"I was drunk and it's only temporary. It'll be gone soon," she said sheepishly. "How did you know, Ellie?"
"I saw it when you fixed the modem a couple of days ago. Still, it's nice to see how much you love Chuck."
"I don't think Chuck and I will have much more to do to sell her our romantic cover," Sarah told Alex when the others were out of earshot. Alex replied with a Casey-like grunt.
Sarah was diligently working on Alex's netbook when the female agent spoke again.
"What should we do with Bartowski's 49-B, Walker?"
"We can't kill the 'CIA prick' they'll send."
"Yeah, the General made it clear. I was wondering if there is any way to help Bartowski come out of it smelling of roses. He's our partner, after all."
"Chuck must stay on the team. We can't afford to lose him and I'm glad you feel the same way. I guess we'll have to do it the Buy More way, with the necessary adjustments, of course," Sarah said with a devious smile.
"Please clarify."
"Right. During our time together at the Buy More, we had to deal with annoying assistant managers, namely Harry Tang and now Emmett. We'll use similar tactics against the evaluator. Drive him nuts."
"I think I like your plan. One more thing: We won't tell him anything about your brother and Grimes being in the know."
"I agree. Just leave Devon and Morgan to me. I'll brief them."
With nothing else to do, Chuck was crunching some numbers at the store, when the bell above the door dinged. He looked up and saw a dark haired man enter.
"Agent Shaw," he said.
"Agent Bartowski," the man returned the greeting.
"So, you will do the 49-B?"
"Yes. I came here from my hotel."
"We can begin any time you are ready."
"Is now a good time?"
"As good as any. Make yourself comfortable if you'd like to do it here. It's secure."
"Fine." Shaw took some papers out of his briefcase and started filling out a form.
"Let's get over with it."
"OK, Agent Bartowski, how would you describe your relationship with the asset?"
"Her name is Sarah Walker. And she's a lot more than a mere asset. You can say she's sort of a partner."
"And?"
"And the team, which consists of Ms. Walker, Major Forrest and myself, has been really successful. All missions have been concluded with most favorable outcomes."
"It has come to our attention that Ms. Walker has a propensity for placing herself at risk. Would you like to comment on this fact?"
"She cares."
"Excuse me?"
"She's not content with the passive role of an analyst. She wants to do more for the team. Yes, she has taken risks, but they have paid off in handsome dividends. Basically, she knows we'll do our job and she's more than happy to do her part of the job and more, if she can. It's a win-win situation."
"Please characterize your relationship on a personal level."
"We are friends. Something which is to be expected of long term partners. Especially given our situation with the cover we had to adopt."
"The boyfriend-girlfriend cover, I know."
"Then you realize that for it to work we can't have friction between us. We make every effort to solve problems as they crop up amicably, without any detrimental effect on team performance."
"So you are saying there are no romantic attachments between you two."
"No. Apart from the 'attachments' required for cover maintenance, we have kept our relationship confined to the partner/friend level."
"The mission reports make it look like that sometimes your decisions are made with regards to protecting the asset's… sorry, Ms. Walker's feelings rather than adherence to protocol."
"General Casey never had a problem with it. You have to understand, Shaw, Walker is still officially a civilian. She was thrust into this situation-"
"How was she, as you say, 'thrust into this situation', if you'll forgive the interruption?"
"Can't tell you. It's classified way above your current mission pertinent clearance. As I was saying, she did not ask for all of this, but she rose to the challenge and came up money time and again. Therefore, the least I can do for her is try to make it easier on her, personally and professionally. Makes for a more effective team."
"So your goals are…"
"The positive outcome of the missions, period."
"One more question."
"Shoot."
"How come the NSA arranged for her to receive a college degree?"
"All this information has been redacted from her file. And you have certainly no need to know. Classified way above Top Secret. Maybe all you have to know is that she deserved being rewarded for her services this way."
"I'd like to hear your assessment as to what makes her so effective."
"Many things contribute to it. She has acquired some very special skills, of which you have no need to know, but she's also a very intelligent individual. She has repeatedly aided us without having to rely on her special skills, just on her brain and knowledge of computers."
"I'll also need to observe you in the field. Deputy Director Hicks said I won't take your place during the evaluation, but I can be granted observer status for missions."
"No way this happens."
"May I ask why?"
"Your clearance is not high enough. I could allow you to tag along, but then Major Forrest and I would have to kill you."
"You know this severely obstructs my evaluation, Bartowski."
"Suck it up, Shaw. You are only here to evaluate me. Not my partners. Focus on my actions. Got it?"
"Yes, I got it." Shaw continued jotting down notes. He asked a few more standard questions, some of which Chuck skillfully deflected and most of which he answered cryptically. The only interruptions were when Chuck had customers in the store. When Shaw expressed his annoyance at the interruptions, Chuck fixed him with a cold stare and bluntly told him he had a complex cover to maintain, which also included his cover job. When Shaw left, Chuck did a quick sweep for bugs and called Alex.
"Forrest, secure."
"Bartowski, secure. How soon can you and Sarah come over?"
"To your store?"
"Yeah. I'm buying lunch."
"Thirty minutes."
"OK."
It took less than half an hour for Sarah and Alex to get there. He already had lunch delivered and they sat down to eat and talk.
"I had a visit just before I called you."
"The 49-B?"
"Yep. And guess who it is."
"Just tell me, Bartowski."
"Daniel Shaw."
"The second-rate soap opera actor?"
"You know him?"
"I had the misfortune of meeting him at a joint seminar."
"Yeah, the guy's a drone. No personality whatsoever, save for a massive ego."
"You are being too kind to him, Bartowski. Me, I wonder why his wife hasn't killed him yet."
"She divorced him."
"She finally saw the light, huh?"
"She almost died because of him," said Sarah.
"You flashed?"
"Yes. Shaw botched an operation in Paris and Evelyn, his wife, was shot. She was in a coma for three weeks."
"I know Eve personally. She's a good woman. Shaw did not deserve her. I often wondered how she could ever fall for him."
"Back to the present; what did he tell you, Bartowski?"
"He asked the standard questions. I'll play you the interior surveillance video later."
"Chuck, did you tell him about Morgan and Devon?"
"Of course not. He has no need to know that. It's the NSA's business and Casey is OK with them knowing."
"Good job Bartowski."
"One more thing: Shaw's not to talk to Sarah unless one of us is with her."
"Agreed."
Some time later...
"Can we get this over and done with? I have a lot more important things to do on my day off," said Alex, regarding Shaw with undisguised hostility.
"I'll try and make it quick, Agent Forrest."
"Ask away."
Shaw asked Alex about the same questions he had already asked Chuck and got the same answers: Agent Bartowski was a consummate professional who would not let his feelings get in the way. He was the best partner an agent could ever hope to have and was also a good friend. Sarah Walker was getting better at the whole espionage business with every passing day and was praised for her devotion to her partners and her duty. Yes, she had developed feelings for her partners, considering them first and foremost her friends. She trusted them both with her life and they would never betray her trust.
When Shaw requested access to the available surveillance footage of Sarah's residence and the Castle the request was flatly denied. Orders from General Casey were given as the basis for the refusal to allow him to see anything that might compromise Sarah's secret.
Sarah's turn for an interview with Shaw came soon.
"Would you please leave us, Agent Forrest?" Shaw asked.
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"We have orders for one of us to be present while you are interviewing Ms. Walker."
"I am not aware of such orders being issued."
"Would you like me to call General Casey and tell him you are jeopardizing the security of this operation?"
"You wouldn't."
"I'd prefer to terminate you on the spot, but I don't think my partner here would like to help me clean up the mess, so either shut up and wait for me to call the General or suck it up and do your job. I'm staying."
"Fine." He turned to Sarah. "Please describe your relationship with Agent Bartowski, Ms. Walker."
"It is a pleasure, a delight even, to work with Agent Bartowski."
"Care to elaborate?"
"He's a very understanding partner, meaning he tries to make it easier for me, given my relative lack of field experience. And he's a great friend, too."
"So, your relationship is purely professional."
"Yes. It remains professional even when we have to fake intimacy in order to maintain our cover."
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
"No, I'd prefer if you kept this strictly business."
"Alright then, describe your job, please."
"She can't do that without revealing classified information you don't have access to," said Alex. At that point Chuck interrupted the proceedings.
"Hey guys, just got a call from the General. Video conference in five minutes."
"Which means you can't be here for the briefing, Agent Shaw. Scoot!" Sarah said. Chuck and Alex looked at her approvingly.
"The lady said 'get the fuck outta here' mister!" Alex growled. Chuck held the door open for Shaw who left immediately. The three teammates were left alone and right on the scheduled time, the General appeared on the screen.
"Good afternoon, team. How is the evaluation going?"
"I think we're driving him up the wall, General," replied Sarah.
"If I were you, I'd expect a call from Deputy Director Hicks, complaining about 'lack of cooperation', sir," added Chuck.
"General, just in case, please have your people run a security check on Agent Daniel Shaw, CIA," said Alex.
"Hicks sent Shaw? How stupid can the man be? Even if they decide to replace Bartowski with Shaw…"
"Shaw won't last a week. He's good for one-time missions, but long term assignments are not exactly his forte. He failed the most important one, after all."
"He lost an asset, Agent Bartowski?"
"No, sir, I was talking about his marriage." Casey grunted in reply.
"Anyway," the General continued, "I called to give you your next mission." Now he had their undivided attention. "There is a company in downtown LA which we suspect is a front for an international money laundering operation. Normally we'd leave it for the IRS, but since they are suspected of being involved with terrorist organizations, we decided to take a closer look. Your job is to place a bug on their server, so we'll know what they are up to at any given time."
"Shall we go in as repairmen or something, sir?" Chuck asked.
"This is up to you," Casey replied. "But you can bring Shaw along for the ride. The chances of Ms. Walker flashing on anyone in there are slim."
"Yes, sir."
About an hour later, Chuck and Shaw approached the suspect company's building dressed as Nerd Herders.
"Are you sure this is gonna work, Bartowski?" Shaw asked.
"Hopefully." They entered the building and went straight to the front desk.
"Hello, we got a call about a computer emergency."
"Listen, Nerd," said the man on duty there, "our techs are more than capable of handling it. And I was not told about anyone being called to fix it."
Chuck and Shaw had no choice but to leave.
"Plan B," said Chuck.
Within minutes, two more Nerd Herders made their way towards the building. This time it was Sarah and Alex, both dressed in really short black skirts, tight white shirts showing a lot of cleavage (shirt tails tied above their midriffs) and high heel ankle-strap sandals. Alex had also applied some concealer over Sarah's temporary tattoo. Chuck had laughed when he'd seen it and Sarah, supported by Alex, had insisted it was part of their cover. Shaw did not look as amused as the others.
"Can you believe what I'm wearing?" Alex asked.
"Don't worry and let me do the talking. There are people like me in there, computer geeks, nerds. And right now their network is being attacked by a particularly nasty virus; back in Stanford we called it the 'Walker Special'."
"Yeah, whatever." The moment the two women stepped inside, every eye was on them and their stripper-ific outfits. Sarah sauntered over to the front desk and smiled sweetly. Every male in the lobby was by now openly staring at the two beautiful Nerd Goddesses and many were unconsciously drooling. The only other woman there looked at them with undisguised envy.
"Hi. I hear you're having a computer problem," she said.
"Uh, yeah, we do… Right this way, ladies. Follow me please."
Sarah winked at Alex, who smiled. It had been really easy. In fact it was all thanks to the predictability of men. It took them only a few minutes to 'repair' the server, plant the required NSA software and return to the van. The ride back to Castle was quiet. Once there, the customary debriefing videoconference began. This time, however, Deputy Director Hicks of the CIA was on one of the screens in addition to General Casey. The Director of the NSA congratulated his team on the successful mission. He concluded by asking Hicks if he had anything to add.
"Yes, General," replied Hicks. "I'd like to formally complain about your team's attitude towards the evaluation and the agent performing it. He was stonewalled at every turn and you have not helped either. You insisted on too many restrictions be placed upon the evaluation process."
"I had a good reason for that, Deputy Director Hicks," Casey said icily.
"Anyway, Agent Shaw has reached a conclusion. Please share it, Shaw," Hicks said.
"Yes, sir. To all appearances the team functions in a professional manner. The ties between its members are not in any way unusual. But it is my considered belief that Agent Bartowski is seriously compromised with the asset, although they all tried to hide it."
"Can you substantiate the above, Agent Shaw?"
"Yes, sir. As I said, they almost managed to blindside me, and the obstacles they placed in the evaluation did not help either. But I discovered that Agent Bartowski broke regulations by using CIA resources in an unauthorized attempt to find the location of one Jack Walker, the asset's father, I believe."
"Is this true Agent Bartowski?"
"Yes, it is. Ms. Walker has done a great deal for the intelligence community. And I know she needs her father to be at her brother's upcoming wedding. Devon Walker would also like to have his father there. She deserves a breach of regulations and more, sir."
"You realize your admission gives me the right not to just reassign you, but to fire you and perhaps prosecute you?"
"Yes sir." Everyone in the room fell silent. Sarah was trembling. She didn't believe they would take Chuck away from her. Alex was furious. She wanted to punch Shaw's smug expression out of his face. Chuck appeared to be resigned to his fate, but dreading the moment he'd have to leave Sarah and the people he'd come to regard as family.
"Enough!" Casey said. "Hicks if you want to fire Bartowski, be my guest and do it. But the second you do it, I'm hiring him. And he gets to stay right where he is, because I don't want to break up my most successful team. Their accomplishments speak volumes. And if they manage to find Mr. Walker, I consider it a well deserved bonus for them. You rock the boat and I will take the matter to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. And when they are through with you, you and Shaw will be looking for a new job. You got it?"
"Are you telling me to turn a blind eye to such a blatant infraction, General?"
"Yes, because I'd also like to remind you that many of your Agency's recent successes were entirely due to intelligence generated by this team. Would you like to lose such an effective source of information?"
"No, I would not."
"The matter is considered settled then."
Hicks singed off. Casey dismissed Shaw and once again assured Chuck, Sarah and Alex that he would never allow anything to break the team up, given their string of unqualified successes, as long as it was within his power.
After Shaw left to return to DC, Chuck pulled Sarah and Alex into a team hug. There were smiles all around. They had gone through a bad scare and the relief was evident on all of them. Sarah felt a bit drained. She just wanted to go home and cuddle on the couch with Chuck until Ellie had dinner ready. He sensed it and led them all out to the parking lot. They took their cars, picking up Morgan as well, and returned to Echo Park. Devon was anxiously waiting for them by the fountain. Sarah had told him and Morgan about the 49-B and he was the only one who did not yet know the result.
"Hey guys, how did it go?"
"It was a close shave, Captain, but we got through it."
"You are staying with us then, bro?"
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Can't we talk later? Right now I'm dying for a pre-dinner movie," said Morgan.
"I'm with you buddy," said Sarah.
"Lead the way Walker."
"Sure. I'm positive you'll love the movie too, Alex."
"Right now all I can think of is a cosmopolitan and Ellie's cooking."
"I can't rival my fiancée's cooking, but I make mean cosmos," laughed Devon, "and I'd love to make you one right now. Chuckster, would you like one as well?"
"No thanks Devon. I'd settle for a cold beer right now."
The movie was great, as was dinner. They all complimented Ellie's cooking (again, as she never seemed to have a single failure in the kitchen). They also browsed through the photos that had gotten Chuck in so much 'trouble' with his mother. It was just past midnight when Alex and Morgan filed out to go home. Chuck was about to leave too, when Sarah grabbed him and kissed him tenderly but passionately, Devon and Ellie looking at them approvingly.
"Thank you," she whispered after breaking off the kiss.
"For what?"
"For all the effort you are putting into helping me find my dad."
"I know what it means to you. And to Devon. And since I could do it…"
"Shhh… Say no more." She kissed him again. "Goodnight Chuck," she said.
"Goodnight Sarah. See you tomorrow." He turned to leave and paused. He looked back at her and motioned for her to join him at the fountain.
"What is it, Chuck?"
"Your tattoo. You didn't really have it done for the cover, did you?"
"You want the truth?"
"Yes, please."
"OK. First of all, it's temporary. Morgan convinced the lady at the parlor to give us all temporary tattoos."
"What do you mean 'us all'?"
"Alex, Carina, Jill and me."
"Wait, Forrest's got a tattoo?"
"Yes. But I won't tell you what it is. Or where it is, for what the matter."
"Then I guess you had it done while you were plastered."
"Yes," she admitted with a twinge of guilt.
"I guess I should feel flattered. Thanks. But you realize…"
"I know. We're already skating on thin ice here. But we are still friends. I'll wait till the Intersect is out of my head before I try for anything more."
She hugged him and walked him to his car. He was about to get in and drive away when she latched on his arm.
"What is it, Sarah?"
"Chuck, please stay with me tonight. I need you beside me. I almost lost you today, to the stupid bureaucracy of all things. Do you know how scared I was?"
"I was too."
"Why?"
"For you. I was scared for you. I wouldn't know how good my replacement would be, or even if he would be on the up and up and not Fulcrum. And yes, I'll stay with you tonight. We both need it, I think."
"Let's get your bag and go back inside then."
"How do you know about my bag?"
"I'm not an entirely incompetent spy, Chuck."
"No, in fact you can do anything you want."
They were still holding each other when they got back inside and announced that Chuck would be staying for the night to an 'Awesome!' from Devon and an excited squeal from Ellie.
When they got in bed they instinctively sought out each other in the dark. Sarah spooned up against him, her back pressed on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tenderly. She placed her arms over his. Comforted, she quickly fell asleep. Chuck placed a kiss on her neck where it met her shoulder before settling his head back on the pillows and closing his eyes. He soon drifted off into a peaceful sleep.