Ellie and Devon weren't back from the hotel by the time Chuck and Sarah had to leave to meet up with Casey and the real estate agent to start looking at the CIA/NSA approved offices for their new covers. The first few looked nice and could meet their needs suitably, one was even near the BuyMore Plaza which gave them easy access to not only BuyMore, but Large Mart, and Lou's. Of course, the downside was that if Morgan discovered that Chuck's new office was so close to BuyMore, he would be over at the office constantly, so after some discussion, they decided to pass on that location.
After stopping for lunch, they had one more property to look at. The real estate agent, Chelsea, was a woman about Chuck and Sarah's age with brunette hair that was cut in a cute pixie cut with big green eyes, tan skin, and soft curves, met them at the office space. Sarah had noticed how much attention from the fairer sex that Chuck seemed to attract to himself with his kind eyes, wide smile, and congenial nature, not that he noticed, but why did they always seem to be brunettes?
"So," Chelsea's voice cut through Sarah's thoughts, "Like the others, this space meets all your requirements from security, as you saw there is a fully staffed security desk; all visitors must check in before being allowed to pass beyond the lobby. There is also a secure parking garage underground with private tenant entrance that requires keycard access."
They rode up to the third-floor office that had a "for lease" sign in the front window. "Each office is fully customizable to your needs, this one is currently configured with a small reception area, private offices, a conference room and lounge, as well as a large area that can be used for storage."
"When you say fully customizable, does that include allowing us to install stronger security?" Casey inquired, looking around the space, making mental notes of what measures to implement where.
Chelsea looked confused as to why such a question was being asked. She had not been available that morning to meet with them, so one of her colleagues had done the showings. The other agent had neglected to pass on that particular concern when he'd handed the file for the founding members of Carmichael CyberSecurity over to her after lunch.
"Sorry, we're a cybersecurity start up," Chuck explained, "So, we require stronger security than the usual business."
"I can assure you the security here is top notch, there have not been any security breaches or issues here, aside from the occasional trespasser who never got past the security desk, since the days that Ronald Reagan had the building built." Chelsea reported.
"I'm sorry, did you just say Ronald Reagan used to own this building?" Chuck checked, noticing the subtle widening of Casey's eyes upon hearing his hero's name.
"Until the day he died," Chelsea nodded, "It's technically still owned by the Reagan family but is managed by their estate. Why, is that a problem?"
"No," Chuck shot a sly look at his teammate, whose posture had already stiffened to full military posture, "I don't think that's going to be an issue, at all."
Sarah caught her boyfriend's eyes as they both tried to hold in the snickers so as to not offend Casey… at least until the real estate agent could leave and they could taunt him mercilessly. They continued to tour the space, found the offices to be an acceptable size for each of them with enough space to add some cubicles if they needed to add some auxiliary support. The large back room gave them enough space to create a server room to support the high volume of data they would need on a daily bases, build a small armory that satisfied Casey, as well as a couple holding cells and a research and medical lab that would come in handy, assuming Ellie and Awesome were willing to lend their services as needed.
Chelsea gave them a moment more to look around before speaking again, "There is a freight elevator tucked into the alcove just past suite 330, for when you need it." She waited a moment for the three prospective tenants to finish looking around. "So, what do you think?"
"We saw several great properties today," Chuck hedged, "Can you give us the night to discuss it and we can call you in the morning with our choice."
"Sounds good," Chelsea nodded, I'll show you out."
They boarded the elevator to descend to the lobby and Chelsea walked them to the doors, offering her hand to each of the partners in turn. "I look forward to hearing from you, Mr. Casey, Miss Walker, Mr. Carmichael."
"Thank you for taking the time to show us around," Chuck gave her a smile which caused a slight blush to rise to the real estate agent's cheeks.
"The pleasure is all mine," Chelsea practically cooed, "I'll talk to you later?"
"Later then," Chuck nodded before gently placing his hand at the small of Sarah's back and guiding her back to their rental car, Casey following close by.
"You know, you could turn the charm down from 11," Sarah huffed with a slight eye roll, "Take it down some where in the five to seven range, at least."
They heard the soft grunted chuckle of their partner and pointedly ignored him.
"And what was with her," Sarah continued, "Talk about unprofessional, giving your flirty eyes, every time I had my head turned, as if I couldn't see."
"She was not flirting with me," Chuck protested, "And even if she was, it would do no good, I already have the best gal, woman, in the world, why would I need anyone else?"
"Shoulda gotten her a ring Carmichael," Casey mocked, "A pretty bracelet won't scare away the vultures."
"Shut up, Casey," Sarah sniped.
"And what vultures?" Chuck challenged the older man, "There are no vultures. Trust me, no one is interested in some skinny nerd. Hell, I'm surprised Sarah even gave me the time of day in high school."
"Oh please," Sarah rolled her eyes, "Girls flirt with you all the time. Even back then, did you even see the looks that half the woodwinds used to give you? You were hot stuff even back then. You're even more handsome and charming now, you forget, we had to watch you before our orders came down to take you to Washington for training. At least twice," She saw Casey hold up three fingers in her periphery, "Okay maybe three times a day some girl or another would come in to flirt with you. I mean seriously, no one is that big of a klutz, there is no way that Lou girl's blackberry could go on the fritz on a near weekly basis!"
"How did Lou get involve in this?" Chuck's eyes widened.
"She was wanting to make a sandwich with your sausage," Casey grunted.
"You know, it's really disturbing how many food analogies for sex you can come up with, Casey," Chuck grumbled.
"Don't make it not true," Casey shrugged, "I'm parked over there. You two go finish your little lovers spat elsewhere, but make sure you turn off the surveillance when you get back to Bartowski's place. The last thing I need to hear is you popping his cork." Casey smirked to himself at the horrified expressions on his partners' faces as he strolled away toward the Crown Vic he'd rented. His highly modified '85 model was still being shipped over.
With a sigh, Chuck turned to face Sarah once again, taking her hands in his, his left thumb running over the back of her wrist where his mother's charm bracelet, with the new treble clef charm attached, sat. Sarah refused to take it off except to shower. "Jen, why is this even an issue?" He asked quietly, ducking his head until his forehead rested against hers, "I only have eyes for you. They can flirt all they want, but it will do them no good, because no girl in the 'verse can compare to my Jenny."
"You could at least try to discourage them," Sarah pouted.
"I'll do my best, okay?" He nudged her head with is to get her to tilt her face up until he could press a soft kiss to her lips. "I'm getting better at reading body language since our class with Roan, but I still sometimes miss the tells."
"Fine," She grumbled, giving into the soft kisses and nibbles her boyfriend was playing across her lips and jaw.
"Let's just go home," Chuck suggested, "We can talk to Casey about the offices later, right now I'm more interested in your cork popping abilities."
Sarah couldn't help the giggle that rose from her throat when he gave her his suggestive eyebrow dance. "Just get in the car, you big nerd."
The mood sufficiently lightened, they headed back to Echo Park. Upon arriving home, they greeted Devon and Ellie who were lounging in the living room watching Grey's Anatomy and made their way back to their room. Chuck watched in amusement as Sarah, a devious smile on her lips, deactivated the video bugs monitoring the door and window as well as all but one of the audio bugs.
"Can't let him miss all the fun," She said with a wink before raising her voice, "Oh God, Charlie Baby! Yes, right there! You feel so good!"
Chuck had to bite his knuckle to keep from laughing at her antics but couldn't help himself when she gave him a salacious wink, he had to join in on taunting their partner. "Jenny," He moaned, "You're so… I'm so close, I'm gonna… pop my cork in you!"
They heard a loud grunt of, "Bartowski!" Echo from across the courtyard, sending them into fits of laughter before they turned off the audio bug, locked the door, and indulged in little real play time themselves.
An hour or so later, they emerged from their room to see Ellie and Devon staring at them wide-eyed.
"What?" Chuck asked barely containing his grin.
"Are you seriously asking us, 'what?!" Ellie looked at her brother and his girlfriend in shock, "What was all that?"
"Seriously, Bro," Devon nodded, "These walls are like super thin. I mean congratulations on all you got going on in there, but I think John even heard you across the courtyard."
"He was supposed to," Chuck snickered, earning him a dual surprised look from his sister and brother-in-law-to-be.
"Didn't know you were into that kinda thing," Devon mused, "That's kinda awesome."
"Devon!" Ellie gave her fiancé a disgusted look, "That's my little brother!"
"Well…" Sarah drew out with a sly smile.
"Ugh!" Ellie huffed.
"Elle, we don't do that," Chuck rolled his eyes, "Casey was messing with us earlier and made some remark about Sarah popping my cork, he has a thing about making sexual quips using food… don't want to know why, to each his own." They all shuddered at the thought. "Anyway, when we got home, we opened our window a bit and started pulling a 'When Harry Met Sally,' routine."
"That makes sense," Devon nodded, "You two are usually much quieter than that," At the looks he received from them, he backtracked, "Not that I was trying to listen in, but like I said, thin walls."
"Uh huh," Ellie arched her eyebrow at him.
"And on that note," Chuck's eyes widened, "We have to go. We have some business to finish with Casey… actual business." He shared a look with Sarah, "…assuming he doesn't kill us for our little stunt earlier."
"Don't worry sweetheart," Sarah murmured to him as they made their way out the door, "Between your tranqs and my knives, we should be able to take him."
"That's a pleasant thought," Chuck groaned before knocking on Casey's door.
The man himself opened up the door, glaring daggers at his younger partners, "I thought I told you to disable all the bugs!"
"Oops, must've missed one," Sarah gave him an innocent shrug, "Sorry, not sorry, you had to hear all that, because, wow!"
Chuck and Sarah chuckled as Casey let out a growling groan and stalked off toward his living room, not waiting for them to follow. Wanting to get on with business, they shifted to a more professional tone as they discussed the various merits of the properties they'd viewed. In the end, they wound up with the Ronald Reagan Building, much to Casey's delight, even when they didn't consider that little factoid, it already had some established offices and the back space was moldable to their needs. Once they came to an agreement, Chuck fished his phone out of his pocket and found the contact info for Chelsea and pressing the call button.
"Chelsea? This is Charles Carmichael," He gave a small smile, as he had been taught to do when on the phone with a professional contact, "We've discussed it and we've decided to take the last space you showed us in the Reagan building… We already have a contractor and architect on retainer for the job, but thank you for the offer… Just let me know when the contract is ready to sign, and we'll come down to your office to take care of it." He listened a moment longer before his smile slipped a little, "Well that's a very kind invitation, Chelsea, but I'm afraid I'm not available… No, no, I'm sorry I wasn't clear, I mean I'm not available romantically. I'm very, very taken…" He turned to look directly at Sarah, "If you must know, her name is Jenny and she is the most amazing, beautiful, wonderful woman I've ever met. She's pretty much 'it' for me."
Sarah mouthed 'I love you' at him, a gestured he repeated back to her as Casey rolled his eyes and let out a disgusted grunt.
"It's quite alright," Chuck nodded, "Uh huh, uh huh, okay, yeah right, I understand." With that, he hung up.
"Don't tell me you lost us the office space," Casey grunted, "You couldn't have just suffered through one coffee meeting or dinner?"
"To what end?" Chuck quirked his eyebrow at the older man, "She understood, once I explained it to her. She said she'll have the contracts drawn up and ready for us to sign by 10 tomorrow morning."
Casey stared at the younger man, dumbfounded.
"If there's nothing else, we are supposed to be meeting up with Ellie and Devon to celebrate their engagement." Chuck smiled at the older man as he led Sarah out the door and over to their apartment to change for dinner and dancing.