This chapter was getting very long. So I'd rather post a bonus chapter on Monday rather than one really long chapter. In the past when I've done that, I've gotten complaints that the ending was abrupt. So if you feel that way, there is a 2nd half to this chapter coming on Thursday.

Warning: Just like the show, there are going to be significant character deaths still coming. I don't want to spoil any specific chapters so I'm going to post this warning in every chapter.

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

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The Lake

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A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. - Henry David Thoreau

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Sarah really didn't want to go down to the lake. It's not that she didn't like lakes. She enjoyed being by the water, a lot actually. And it was a hot summer day, perfect for lying by a cool lake. It's just… well, she was newly married. In fact, if she was anything approaching a normal bride, she would only be in the middle of her honeymoon. And she was more in a mood to take her cute newlywed groom back into their room and… well, you do the math.

That's when she figured that maybe she should give in and spend some quality time with the gang down by the lake. After all, they would be splitting up in a few days for the mission to save the President. And honestly all she was thinking about lately was sex with Chuck. That couldn't be totally healthy, right? For another thing, Misty was sort of pleading with her. It also occurred to Sarah that someone might have to referee between Carina and Misty. No telling what Carina would wear to swim in and in front of Casey that might not go over so well. Actually knowing Carina's propensity to shock, not wear was probably closer to being accurate. She could very easily find some ridiculous excuse to turn this into an adult version of show-and-tell. Maybe she should also warn Chuck about that.

Besides, she was starting to develop this vague worry that poor Chuck might start to wear down soon if she didn't begin to ease up on him a bit. Although in fairness, he had shown absolutely no sign of that so far. He was proving to be surprisingly durable. Maybe he wasn't so great at making the first move, but he certainly didn't lack for any participation once she began things.

And actually Sarah quickly found out that she was wrong, about a lot of things. First, Carina's bikini couldn't be mistaken for chaste, but it certainly wasn't overly revealing. In fact as long as she didn't drink too many of the beers that filled the cooler and could be talked into keeping it on, it was actually more conservative than the white number from Cancun that Sarah was wearing. Misty was the only one who didn't have a bikini. She was wearing an orange colored t-shirt, which for some reason made her look sexier in a girl-next-door way than a skimpy bikini would have anyway. Go figure. Sarah didn't ask beyond the t-shirt but she strongly suspected not much, if anything, was under it. At least it wasn't horribly revealing, until it got wet anyway. They'd have to cross that bridge when they came to it. Besides Chuck was beyond cute conspicuously trying hard to not look at her. Especially given that Misty was plainly the type of woman that Chuck would normally be very attracted too. He was clearly taking his promise to be sensitive around other woman to heart. That alone was adorable enough to make Sarah want to drag him into the woods and… Well, that was about enough of that kind of thinking. She was here to spend some quality time with the team.

Another thing that Sarah was wrong about was how much fun she was having. It all started on the drive here with the impromptu four-wheeler race between her and Carina. Okay, so maybe Chuck's stern lecture later was technically correct, that narrow two wheel path winding through the hills probably wasn't designed with racing in mind. But come on, Chuck, these vehicles were designed for off-road stuff. Besides, he really didn't have much of a gripe coming. He knew how competitive she was when he married her. His girlish screams as he hid his eyes from death were actually kinda cute.

That led to the other thing that Sarah was wrong about. This lake was simply fabulous. No wonder that Ellie had raved on and on so much about it. Chuck and Sarah were certainly used to the beach. Hell, they practically lived on one. And there was the two weeks they had just spent in Cancun. But this was completely different. In fact, there wasn't even technically a beach. The grass extended all the way to the water. But it was so much better. This was their own personal lake, completely hidden from the rest of the world. It was a place where all their troubles didn't seem to exist. The Ring, Fulcrum? They seemed so impotent here.

It was one of those perfect mid summer days where there was not a single cloud in the sky. The temperature was somewhere in the nineties so when you were in the sun it was hot. But there were plenty of shade trees around where the soft breeze coming off the water felt simply wonderful.

Chuck was lying on his stomach next to Sarah. They had spread a blanket on the grass up on the hill, just out of sight of the water. Since they had just been in for a swim, the warm sun felt good as they just relaxed and soaked up the rays. Misty had taken Casey for a canoe ride. Apparently she was a bit more experienced than Ellie in that regard. If Chuck stood on his tiptoes he could barely see them off in the distance floating on the other side of the lake. Misty had clearly taken them out of sight of Carina's bikini… and Sarah's for that matter. Carina was still in the water and promised to be for some time. Perhaps she was working off some excess energy, but more than likely she was giving Chuck and Sarah some alone time.

Chuck was actually about to fall asleep when he felt Sarah rubbing his back. "You don't want to get sunburned," she said with a sheepish smile while holding up a tube of sunscreen.

All Chuck could do was grin. Some people might have taken some offense. But why on earth would he do that? This was just his Sarah being protective of him like she always was. It was way too cute to be annoyed with. And her rubbing it in felt amazingly good anyway. Besides that, he did actually burn rather easily. "Thanks, Mom," he said. "Do you want me to put some on you?"

But she just shook her head. "I'm okay," she said. "My tan is kinda wearing off from Cancun and I'd like to get some sun anyway."

"Now," Chuck teased. "If you would just fetch me a cold beer from the cooler, I think your wifely duties would be complete for a few minutes."

But to his surprise, she got up. So he grabbed her wrist. "Sarah," he quickly said. "I was just teasing."

"I'm trying my best to be a good wife," she said with a sigh. "I'll admit I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing. I'm sorry about that. But if you expect me to fetch beer for you, if that's what a wife does, I guess I'd better learn to do it. The last thing I would want would be to disappoint you in some way. I'm already barefoot. We're working on the pregnant part."

"Oh my God," Chuck said in horror. "Sarah, I was just joking. I would never ask you to fetch…" Then he saw the look on her face and realized she was teasing. "Okay, very funny," he said in relief as they both started laughing.

"As it turns out, I'm thirsty," Sarah said as soon as she could stop laughing. "So I might as well fetch you your beer at the same time. Maybe I'll build up some wife cred."

Chuck really wasn't all that much of a beer drinker, but this one was ice cold and it really hit the spot. So he took a long chug. "This is great," he said. "Why are you drinking water?"

Sarah was clearly soaking in the cuteness that was radiating off her husband like a heat lamp. So she couldn't keep the giant grin from her face, not that she was actually trying in any way. "We're actively trying to have a baby," she said. "Remember that little talk? Hello? Saving a fortune on condoms? Does the word 'swimmers' ring a bell? Who knows when it will happen? I'd hate to wake up from a beer buzz one day and then find out I was pregnant."

"Of course I remember," Chuck said with a grin. "It was only a week ago."

"I thought that you would," Sarah sighed as she tossed the now empty bottle on the grass and rolled back over to her stomach. "You were so excited. You even made the first move for once."

Chuck followed her lead and rolled over as well. They just relaxed there in the sun for a long moment. "Sarah," he said softly. "If I ask you a question, will you give me an honest answer… without worrying if you're hurting my feelings?"

Sarah turned to look at him with a puzzled smile. "Probably not," she said. "I can't imagine ever saying something to you that I knew would hurt your feelings… unless perhaps it was to protect you. But I'll also never lie to you. Why don't you ask me your question? If I can't answer it, I'll just subtly change the subject while I lean forward and accidentally press my chest against yours. Then I'll pretend to stumble getting up and my top will catch on your chest and slip off a little. You probably won't even remember the question."

Chuck paused for a long moment. "Wow," he finally said. "Now I'm not sure which outcome I'm hoping for. But here goes. Is it really bothering you that I'm not aggressive enough when it comes to our love life? It must be. That's the second time today you've made a reference to it."

Sarah suddenly realized that he was being serious. So she rolled over to face him. "I'm sorry if you took that as me taking a shot at you," she quickly said. "I didn't mean it like that at all. I was mostly joking."

"But it does bother you, right?"

Sarah sighed as she snuggled into him. "It doesn't bother me," she said. "At least, not in the way you're inferring. It's not like it makes me question if you love me or if you find me attractive or anything. It's not that at all."

"Then what is it?"

Sarah did a double take at the sadness in his voice. "I just think that sometimes you're afraid of how I'll react," she said. "So you hold back and wait for me to make the first move. I don't know how to get through to you that you don't have to do that."

"Okay," Chuck protested. "But here's the deal. Do you really think I can see you wearing that bikini, or that silk nightshirt that clings to your every curve, or a suit of armor for that matter… and not want to grab you? If I made a move every time I wanted to, we'd be in bed all the time. So I guess that I wait sometimes until you let me know that you're in the mood. So far, I haven't had to wait all that long."

"And I'll admit that attitude frustrates me a little," Sarah said. "You should never worry about letting me know that you're in the mood. We're newlyweds. We've been married for a whole week. We should be on our honeymoon right now. If you want something from me, that would be very exciting. You should let me know so that we can do something about it."

"I know," Chuck said. "Look, it's just that I'm sensitive to not wanting to treat you like an object. I see how men look at you. I get that men have been treating you like that your whole life. You're probably pretty tired of being hit on all the time. You sure don't deserve that from me. So I always want to make sure that you not feel that way."

"You're not listening to me at all," Sarah said sadly. "An object? Hitting on me? Really, Chuck? Where is that even coming from? You're not coming on to me trying to pick me up in a bar. We're married. I've never ever once felt like you were treating me as an object. You're without a doubt the most respectful man I've ever known in that way. You're unbelievably attentive and generous in bed, almost to a fault. For another thing, it's hard to believe that I wouldn't be in the mood, almost no matter what the situation. I've spent the last six months walking around pretty much constantly wanting to rip your clothes off, and now that I can do something about it I find myself in a near perpetual state of arousal. If anything, I've been holding back because I was afraid of over working you. Trust me, sweetie. If you want to pick up the pace, I'm more than eager to fully carry my part of the load. And even if I wasn't, I'd do it anyway. Please help me out here. What is it going to take to get you to believe that?"

"Don't be mad at me," Chuck sighed. "It's just that I don't think you get it. I always want you, every time I look at you, from the first instant that I met you two years ago… until right now. Always. But that just makes me like every other man on the planet. I feel like you deserve more than that from me. I just want to make sure that you know that it's more than just sex."

Sarah sighed again. "I'm not mad at you," she said. "Not yet anyway. Just please look at me and tell me that this isn't one of those stupid 'I'm not the kind of guy people think you should be with' kind of things."

Chuck didn't respond, not really. But he didn't have to. His look said it.

"Okay," Sarah said as she stood up. "Now I'm mad at you. Seriously, Chuck. Fear? We're so far past you being afraid that it's getting ridiculous. This isn't some sort of fling. We're going to be married for the rest of our lives. You want me to say it? Fine. Here is as plainly as I can say it. I'm your wife. It's impossible for you to hit on me. Get that out of your head right now. If you ever want something from me, I'm going to make damn sure that you get it. Period. What more do you want… blazing letters in the sky written in fire? If unexplainably I'm ever not in the mood, I'll make myself get in the mood. And if I can't do that for some bizarre reason, I'll fake it. If that means we're in bed all the time… well, I can sure as hell live with that." Then she paused her rant as she thought for a moment. "Oh my God," she finally said as the epiphany sunk in. "So that's why you're always so attentive in bed. You're afraid of what I'll do if I don't have an e-ticket ride sometime."

"Come on Sarah," Chuck said. "Don't be mad. Where are you going?"

"Arrrrrg!" Sarah shouted to the empty woods in an unintelligible release of frustration. "I can't believe I didn't see that before. I… Chuck, I just can't talk to you about this right now. I'm going to go jump in the water and cool off. I'll be back in a while."

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Casey had to admit, these canoe things were much more fun when you could actually stay inside them. And Misty seemed to know what she was doing much more than Ellie. Of course, that wasn't exactly a tall mountain to climb. Ellie had the canoe upside down and them swimming inside of five minutes.

"I want to go to England with you," Misty said. "I'm going to ask Steven if I can go."

Casey was frankly surprised by that. Where was it even coming from? They hadn't talked about the mission at all since the meeting broke up after it was decided that Casey, Carina, Chuck, and Sarah would depart for England in a few days and that they would travel undercover as two married couples while Devon, Ellie and Mary would come back home. "That's not a good idea," he said. "It will screw up the cover." And why would she want to go anyway? It was a mission.

"Is that why you don't want me to go?" Misty asked. "Because I'll mess up your cover with you and Carina as a married couple?"

"Of course not," Casey said. "At least that's not the only reason. It's dangerous. I want you to stay here where it's safe."

"Come on," Misty sighed. "It would be romantic. Together on a dangerous mission. Don't you think it would be romantic?"

"Romantic?" Casey asked incredulously. "It's a mission. People will get killed. What's romantic about that?"

Casey knew that when she got quiet he had probably said the wrong thing. The problem was… what to do about it? "I'll miss you," he finally said. "But I'll be back in a few days. A mission isn't the time or place to get romantic."

Misty didn't want to make this heavy. After all, they had only been a couple for less than a week. Probably a little too soon to get overly dramatic, so she took her paddle and playfully splashed some water on his back. "I'm not sure that you know what romantic is," she said with a teasing laugh. "What is your idea of romantic?"

"I don't want you to come on a dangerous mission and maybe get hurt," Casey replied. "Doesn't that count as romantic?"

"Not really," Misty said while still laughing. "But it is very sweet. I think I understand the problem now. It's not that you don't want to be romantic, it's that you don't know how."

"Misty," Casey said cautiously. "I've never met anyone like you. I want you to be happy with me. I absolutely do. And if there's anything I can do to make that happen, I'll do it. But I probably can't make myself romantic in the way you're saying. I'm not wired that way."

"I know," Misty said. "I'm not trying to change you. Casey, I like who you are. And I've tried hard to fit in with your world. I've gone to the range shooting with you over and over and sat with you and cleaned guns for hours at a time. You have to admit that."

"Absolutely," Casey said. "You've been so great. I know those things aren't exactly your ideal date."

"I'm not complaining," Misty said quickly. "Please don't take it that way. I had a blast doing those things… because I got to be with you. I love being with you. I think that maybe you just need to try a little too. So I propose a bet."

"A bet?" Casey asked. "What sort of bet?"

Unfortunately Casey couldn't see the wicked gleam in her eye. "We race again like we did the other night," she said. "When I win, I get a night of pure romance. We get dressed up and go to a nice dinner and then dancing. We'll take Ellie along to show you what to do to be romantic and you have to do every single thing that she tells you… all night… not one complaint."

"And what if I win?" Casey asked.

"You think that lust is so powerful," Misty said. "If you win, I'll give you your night of pure, no questions asked, zero consequences, unbridled lust. Whatever you want I'll enthusiastically do, with absolutely nothing off limits for the whole night. I'll promise not to ever hold anything that happens that night against you in any way. I'm pretty sure we won't need Ellie for this one so we'll give her the night off. Do we have a bet?"

"What makes you think you can win?" Casey said with a grin as he turned back to look at her, carefully as to not rock the canoe. "I've already beat you once."

"I don't know," Misty said with her eyes shinning. "For some reason I think I might have a shot this time. Or have you ever thought that maybe I want to lose and I'm just thinking of an excuse to become your toy for a night with no guilt? Sarah's played that card pretty effectively with Chuck. So what do you say?"

"Okay," Casey quickly said. "We have a bet."

"Good," Misty said with a grin. "Let's get one thing straight. If you do happen to win and you're not looking to give Ellie the night off… you're the one who has to talk her into it."

This time Casey almost tipped the canoe over turning to look at her with her cat-ate-the-canary grin. The red was already well into his face. It was unbelievably cute.

Misty just wordlessly turned the canoe back towards the dock and started to paddle in earnest, the grin never leaving her face.

That was too easy.

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Carina was swimming laps from the dock to the tree swing and back. Not only did the water feel delightful, it was a great way to get her workout in for the day. Of course she knew that something was wrong the instant she saw Sarah swimming next to her. That was a no brainer. For one thing, for Sarah to be not touching Chuck in some way probably meant something was wrong. She figured that they were probably naked on that blanket right about now. But she also knew Sarah well enough to know that it was pointless to ask. If she wanted to talk about it, she would soon bring it up herself. And if she didn't… well no amount of asking, or nagging, or torture for that matter, could get it out her.

Sure enough, they had barely done a lap when Sarah spoke up, well sort of. "Men," she snorted in clear disgust. "I will never understand how they think."

Carina looked at her friend in amusement. What did she really expect? "I get it," she said as they reached the swing and turned around. "All he can think about is trying to get you naked? I wouldn't be too hard on him. Didn't you think that would happen? Poor guy probably isn't used to having such a hot woman so available to him all the time. It's like a fantasy to him. It's only natural that he over do it a little at first. He'll probably eventually settle down."

"It's not that," Sarah snapped. "In fact it's completely the opposite. Chuck always waits until I make the first move. It's almost like he's afraid of me or something. We're married for goodness sake."

Carina grinned. That explained a lot. If quantity was not the issue, it must be quality. "So it must be that his performance is not so good," she said. "That's pretty natural too. What did you expect anyway? Sarah, come on. You need to cut him some slack. This is a fantasy to him. He's not used to having to satisfy a smoking hot flesh and blood woman, especially one as fussy about men as you are. You're going to have to be patient and train him."

"Wrong again," Sarah snapped. "In fact, that's all he does. He's not happy until I'm helplessly moaning. He spends all damn night taking care of me. It's frustrating."

Carina did a double take. She actually stopped swimming and floated there, just treading water in place. "Yeah," she finally said sarcastically. "I can see how it would be. I'm frankly surprised you've lasted this long. That would be a truly miserable existence. Through absolutely no fault of your own, you wake up one day and find yourself married to a nerd. It didn't sound all that bad for a few days. Sure, he might be amazingly cute. It's even okay for a while, but then it all goes south. First you learn the horrible news that he's been hiding from you, the poor bastard absolutely worships you. That's bad enough. Then comes the final kick in the head, you can't get him to stop spending every waking minute attending to your needs in bed. The jerk is never happy until you're lying there moaning helplessly. Who needs that crap? I don't blame you for walking."

Sarah could only tread water next to Carina as her mocking words hit her between the eyes.

"What a fucking nightmare," Carina continued, her voice now dripping with sarcasm. "No way can you let him get away with this crap. You absolutely need to do something about it. Shooting him is probably a bit strong. I'd dump him. Don't worry, I'm sure we can find someone for you who'll insist that you be instantly naked for him whenever he wakes up and wants it… and who'll roll over and go to sleep ten seconds after he's finished even though you're only about halfway home. That's the kind of man that is more your speed. They're a little hard to find but we'll keep looking. Oh, maybe we could hook you up with my mark. That describes him perfectly. You two would be very happy together."

That got a grin, after a minute anyway.

"If you're going to dump him anyway, maybe you wouldn't mind if I went up there and broke the bad news to him?" Carina said with a laugh. "I imagine he's getting pretty lonely all by himself on that blanket. Maybe I could console him a little. I wouldn't mind a little rebound worship action… for a couple of weeks anyway, until it inevitably got tiresome. After all, I'm giving you the guy I'm sleeping with. A trade only seems fair. And I find that I have some needs that could sure use attending to. Tell me, what should I have him do for me first? What does he do best? What my guy does best is ripping my bra in his haste to see my boobs. He's already destroyed two. So, I'd make a quick run to Victoria's Secret and stock up before you hook up with him."

Now Sarah was grinning broadly as she swam over to where Carina was treading water and pushed her head under. She came up sputtering. "What was that for?" she asked in shock.

"That was for calling my husband cute," Sarah said with a laugh. "I thought that I had made myself crystal clear on this point. You're never, ever to think of him as cute." But then she wrapped her arms around Carina's neck and squeezed for all she was worth. Carina was too busy trying to support both of them and keep her head above water to protest, even had she wanted to. "Thank you, sweetie," Sarah whispered. "It's hard to believe that you would be the one giving out relationship advice, but that really helped. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some serious makeup sex to attend to of which I'll undoubtedly have to make the first move. Umm, I'd swim a few more laps if I were you unless you're looking for a show."

Sarah started to swim purposefully toward the dock. "By the way," she called over her shoulder. "Since you asked, he does everything pretty wonderfully. But he has this one thing that he does with his tongue that has me instantly not remembering my own name. Supposedly he picked it up from Morgan. So if we ever get back home, maybe you might want to rethink giving Morgan another shot."

"He might just surprise you."

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