A/N: What next?
Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy vs. Spy
Chapter Twenty: Carpool
Sarah sat in the car.
Waited.
Sarah sat fidgeting in the car.
Waited.
Sarah sat, fidgeting, her hand on the door latch, but in the car.
Waited.
A terrible blank sense of uncertainty assailed her. This is what it's like to be Chuck — staying in the car.
She started to get out. She had watched as Chuck and Frost disappeared into the shadows, knew the building they entered.
What if I get Chuck killed? She took her hand off the door latch. But what if he gets killed while I sit here? — I love him. I told him so. I told Ellie's this was Chuck's mission. — But I'm the agent, one of the very best, even if I haven't been acting like it lately. — Yes, but he is the Intersect.
Chuck. For a few minutes, her drumming fingers counted out the time. She could not do it. She got out.
She was still wearing the black wig and black dress. But, then, Frost was still wearing her white dress. Both dressed for the wrong sort of party. Sarah hurried to the building she saw Chuck and Frost enter. The uncertainty she felt in the car was still with her. But now she was uncertain about what was supposed to be happening in the building. Ring stuff. Another upload of the Ring Intersect, an update or the next part or something. Her head was still spinning from all that Chuck and Frost had said, and all they left unsaid. Some of the things Chuck told Sarah were news to Frost.
Did Chuck not trust her? Those comments about shifting loyalties, tactics. And Chuck had been keeping his contact with Frost from Orion. What was that about? Maybe she made Chuck promise her that? Why?
Sarah was tired of being mixed up, uncertain. She had been, in one way or another, to one degree or another, since she left Burbank. It was time to get clear. She knew one thing for sure. She was in love with Chuck Bartowski. Does he love me? Maybe, but there's work to do there, hurt to undo, ...Amy, goddamn it, to undo. Frost to face. This whole Intersect mess to settle.
Sarah reached the section of the building where Chuck and Frost entered. Sarah had seen Frost's white dress disappear like a light turned off. But no door showed itself. She started to run her hands around the section of the wall when a hidden door opened.
She instantly pressed herself against the building, trying to use the black shadows to hide her in her black dress. Frost walked out, followed by Chuck. He was ramrod straight, his movements more odd and angular than after he took off the governor. Frost put her hand on Chuck's chest and he stopped. He stood perfectly still, straight, like a telephone pole. The hidden door clicked shut as Frost moved around Chuck to shut it.
"Frost," Sarah hissed. "It's me."
Frost looked at her. "You should be in the damn car. Do you want to get us all killed?" Frost hissed back. "Fortunately, I think they're gone. C'mon, Chuck."
Chuck began to walk, his legs stiff. He had never responded to Sarah's presence. They got to the car and Frost scanned the area. Then she helped Chuck get inside. Sarah went around and got in the rear door on the opposite side. She reached into her purse, took out the governor.
Frost, who had gotten back in the driver's seat, motioned for Sarah to stop. "Don't. He needs to find his way back to us first, if he can, otherwise, the shock to his system will be too great. It may take him a while to find his way out. He says each new download creates a new maze, each harder than the next, each obscuring his exit from the Ring's Intersect.
"If he can? You mean he might stay like this?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean."
"And you knew this, and let him do it?"
"He knew it and he did it. Who am I to tell Chuck what sacrifices he can make and not make?'
"His fucking mother!"
Frost started the car without responding and began to drive. Sarah scooted against Chuck, pressing herself to him. "Chuck," she whispered into his ear, "Chuck, come back. Come back to me. I'm here now and I promise — I'm here until you tell me to leave. I love you, Chuck Bartowski." She said the words with the tone she wanted, as a promise and an entreaty. "I do, Chuck, I do. I do love you."
Frost blew out a breath. "Let it go. He's past you. Moved on. Amy was good for something. She got him to concede that 'love' is just 'lust' with a soft 'u'." The hard-boiled cynicism of Frost's tone would have made Carina uncomfortable. Carina! I never called her back. But I've been busy.
"I don't believe that. Chuck would never believe that, no matter what this life forced him to do. He has a heart bigger than the spy world."
Mary sputtered a laugh. "I'm not going to argue with you about the size of my son's heart. I know what he is risking, what he's risked, and I know what you did to him…" Frost's eyes glared at Sarah in the rearview mirror.
"Don't you talk to me about abandonment...Mary, Frost. I saw Orion look at you, Ellie look at you. I was with Chuck and Ellie when they celebrated their version of Mother's Day, the anti-holiday you caused them to create, to contain their hurt. I made a mistake — but I'm here to fix mine if Chuck will let me."
Mary glared at Sarah but with dampening eyes. Sarah turned back to Chuck.
"Chuck, Chuck, come back to me. There's so much I want to tell you myself, even if you already know it. And there's so much I want to tell you about you, and how I feel, and the mistake I made. Come back to me, Chuck."
Sarah glanced forward. Frost was looking at the road, not into the mirror. Sarah picked up Chuck's hand. It was neither stiff nor rubbery. She carried it to her left breast and put it on her, his hand cupping her. She covered his hand with hers, using her hand to cause his to squeeze her gently. She leaned to his ear again, holding his hand in place on her breast, on her heart. The intimate contact stole her breath although she did not know if Chuck knew it was happening.
"I'm yours, Chuck Bartowski. Come back to me, forgive me, please, and it all can happen, me and you. I want it so much. Come back — and love me, Chuck."
Frost slammed the breaks.
The car went into a hard swerve, throwing Sarah against and across Chuck. The car slid sideways and then smashed into another car. Glass shattered. Engines screamed then died.
Sarah covered Chuck's body with her own. For a moment, the world was a crunching, shattering confusion, and then Sarah oriented herself. Chuck was okay, as far as she could tell. His eyes opened and she saw him in them.
She turned, looked forward. Frost was unmoving, limp, unconscious or dead against the deployed airbag. Sarah called her name but she was unresponsive. Chuck was blinking, lost. Sarah was unsure of the passage of time.
The car had stopped on the edge of a pool of light, near a streetlight. A distant hum of traffic was audible but the side street was deserted. Sarah was able to slide to her side and open the door. She needed to get Chuck and Frost out of the car.
As she got out, she heard his voice.
Shaw. He was standing in the center of the pool of light, bleeding from various wounds, favoring one leg. He had a pistol holstered to his side. On the ground, at Shaw's feet, Bryce was bound and gagged and covered in blood. Like Frost, Bryce was either unconscious or dead.
"Well, well, well, Walker." Shaw said, followed by a stagey villain's laugh, "I've found you at last. And how appropriate. You dressed for your funeral."
Sarah took a step toward him. He would kill them all. She could read it in the red riot of his eyes. She had to stop him, at least slow him down.
"Sorry, Shaw," she heard Chuck say in a steady voice behind her. "She dressed for yours."
Sarah whirled to face Chuck's shy smile as he got out of the car, stood. "I came back, Sarah."
His eyes flicked down to her chest and then back up to her eyes. His smile became less shy. She smiled back. It felt like her first smile in months.
A/N: A big showdown as we head into our zig-zag final chapters. Action and answers, answers, answers. Hope you've enjoyed reading this angsty craziness as much as I've enjoyed writing it. — Leave me a review, pretty please?