A/N: And we're back. Thanks for the reviews.


Chuck stared at General Beckman and she stared right back, her arms crossed. She finally leaned back against her desk and sighed, but kept staring. She'd stopped him in the hallway, asking if she could have a word in her office before he left for the mission.

And now here they were, five minutes later.

Staring.

She cleared her throat then, giving him a searching look. "I need you to know that it isn't usually my habit to ask my agents these questions, but you are a...special case, Chuck." Thank you? "I need to know if you're comfortable going to Prague and working on this mission with Agents Walker and Rizzo."

"C-Comfortable?"

"Yes. Are you comfortable?"

"I...um… If you don't mind me, uh, asking, General, why are you asking?"

Beckman sighed tiredly. "We were all there in the room, Chuck. I'm certain you didn't miss the—well, to put it as politely as possible—tension between Sarah and Agent Rizzo."

"Oh, I didn't miss it. I was standing between them. I got a little singed in the exchange, a few times."

She looked slightly amused, but only slightly, because she sobered up just as quickly. "If it had been up to me, I wouldn't have picked Agent Rizzo for the job, even if she is a stellar agent with a fantastic success rate. She's prickly at times, but that doesn't matter a lick to me, because she does her job." Chuck nodded. "But Agent Shaw made the call and between us, the CIA hasn't exactly ironed out their leadership issues since the Intersect 2.0 mishap and the loss of Director Graham. I'd prefer not to ruffle feathers where I don't need to. But I also want to look out for my agents, and that goes doubly for my brand new agent who is still harboring the only Intersect in the world in his head." She gave him a pointed look. "Do you feel comfortable being on a team with two agents who are, for lack of a better word, at each other's throats?"

He nodded. "I do. I trust Agent Walker to have my back, and I have to believe that Agent Rizzo will, as well. Whatever it is that happened between them." He knew he shouldn't reveal he knew why they were at each other's throats. Beckman was a brilliant woman, and she'd put the pieces together quickly enough. She'd know that he and Sarah'd slipped away somewhere for her to tell him everything about the Gaez mission and the rub between her and Zondra. And then Beckman would start to wonder even further; that wasn't the type of thing that would happen between two people who, for all intents and purposes, had seemed very much at odds since his decision to join the NSA.

Nobody could know he and Sarah and worked their way through that and came out the other side...well, together.

And so he kept quiet, and then he felt something stir in him when General Beckman crossed her arms and reached back to grab a file. "I pulled this after Agent Shaw told me he was bringing Agent Rizzo on as the third to your Prague team. After reading it, I'm not sure Shaw really knew what he was doing with this. But it's done now." She shook the file in the air between them, then moved to slam it back down on the desk, pointedly not handing it to Chuck for him to look at. He wanted to... but he knew it wasn't his place. "Agents Walker and Rizzo were on a team together. The target they were after on their last mission escaped because someone—we still don't know who—was a double agent, feeding the target information. Somebody framed Agent Rizzo and stuck a transmitter in her heel, Sarah found it, there was a big dust-up, but the CIA cleared Rizzo of any wrongdoing, even gave her a lie detector test, which she passed with flying colors. She accused Sarah of planting the transmitter to frame her and claimed she was the double agent, but there was no evidence to back it up, and we still don't know who it actually was."

Chuck frowned. "Do you think it's either of them?" She gave him a flat look. "Obviously not Sarah. She would never—"

"Of course she wouldn't," Beckman cut in, giving him a frustrated look. "Agent Rizzo was just lashing out. But it wasn't Agent Rizzo, either. She was cleared. We take lie detector tests, especially the caliber of test the CIA gives, extremely seriously. You can't beat it. She wasn't lying. She wasn't the double agent."

Chuck sighed in relief. "I know. I know she didn't do it. I flashed," he explained when Beckman narrowed her eyes. Her eyes popped wide at that and she pushed off of the desk to stand up straight, rigid even. "Zondra just assumed when I went to get my bag that I'd heard about her from Sarah, and she said the name Gaez and…" He made an explosion sound and mimicked his head busting with his hand. "It happened. Just like that."

"First thing's first: did she see it? Agent Rizzo. Did she see you flash?"

"Don't think she was looking at me so she didn't see it." Beckman's eyes shut in relief. "But I got outta there. Quick. And that's when you found me. Augusto Gaez had someone he was working with frame Agent Rizzo. I didn't get what I saw 'til you just...told me…" he tried.

But she was too deep in thought to suspect, he hoped. "So. That mission is in the Intersect, and it clears both of our agents. Interesting."

"Yeah, they're both in the clear. I just don't know—I-I mean, the Intersect doesn't have anything that shows who was the double agent. I'm afraid they're going to have issues with one another until that person is caught."

Beckman shook her head. "We don't have that kind of time. Those two need to be able to work together and trust each other for this mission. And that means you need to clear this up between them. Because neither of them gave a rat's ass that their CIA superiors cleared them both of wrongdoing."

"Me?" Chuck asked, eyes wide. "Wha—Why? Why me?"

"You have everything the Intersect gave you at your disposal. That's more than anyone else has. Use it."

"You make it sound so easy, General. Sarah knows about the Intersect, sure, but Zondra doesn't. And can't. How am I supposed to convince her? She's gonna believe some new NSA guy she just met 'cause he asks her to?" He shrugged helplessly.

"Figure something out, Agent Carmichael. You are a spy now, aren't you?"

He opened his mouth to argue, and then he huffed. He saw it clearly now. He'd given her the perfect fodder with which to test him. This wasn't a test of his computer skills or of his fighting skills. On top of everything else he'd be dealing with during this mission, he was going to be tested on his problem solving—particularly where two fellow agents ready to claw each other's faces off were concerned.

"Yes, General. I'll...do my best." He swallowed hard and folded his hands together behind his back.

"Good. Because it's your back that's gonna need watching." Then she paused and eyed him warily. "Do you think, Chuck, that with how little Sarah trusts Zondra not to be a double agent, that even with telling her you flashed on the Gaez mission, she might still distrust her?"

"I don't know," Chuck admitted. "She really hates Zondra—like, she looks at that woman in a way she didn't even look at me when I—right, well, you get it." He shuffled his weight and ducked his head.

"What I mean to ask is… does Agent Walker still trust you? You completed the mission retrieving the key. Does she trust you on these missions? Should I be worried that she won't take your flashes seriously? Or that the tension between you two will become a problem? I notice it seems like you still haven't...smoothed that over."

Chuck cleared his throat, frowning. "You don't have to worry, General. We're both professionals. But Sarah is especially. We're partners, above everything else, tension or no."

Beckman scoffed, shaking her head, bemused. "You seem uncomfortable even talking about it."

"Uh, I...am. But I can do my job. I will. And so will Sarah."

He decided not to give her anything more than that, for fear she'd see right through him. General Diane Beckman was way too smart for him to lie to. An omission? A secret? He could handle that, but lying to her face? It was better to just...say as little as possible. Sarah didn't have to include that in her rule book (a literal book, he thought to himself affectionately).

"All right, Agent Carmichael. Good. If that's all, you're dismissed." But Chuck stayed rooted to the spot where he stood. She turned back slowly from where she'd meant to walk around and sit at her desk, eyeing him curiously. "I take it that's not all, then." He shook his head. "Well? What is it?"

"It's about Agent Shaw, General."

She lifted her chin and faced him fully. "What about Agent Shaw?"

"Do you trust him?" Chuck locked eyes with her and watched as she shifted.

She didn't seem to expect that question. "I trust two...maybe more like one and a half agents in the CIA," Beckman said. Chuck furrowed his brow in confusion. "Agent Walker, I trust. No matter what weird...thing...you two went through, I trust she will keep you safe and train you to the best of her ability. Agent Shaw? I don't know him, I haven't worked with him before this, and I've always gone forward verifying everything that's within my power to verify. If there's something I might be able to teach you as your superior, Chuck, it's vet everything and everyone."

"And you've vetted Shaw?" Chuck asked. Beckman raised an eyebrow. "I don't mean to be nosy, it's just...he is affecting my training here. Sticking me on a team with two agents who think the other is a traitor to their country."

"This will make the mission harder for you, it's true," Beckman agreed. "The world is not always the easiest place for an agent. Missions can be very difficult, and sometimes we have to work with those we do not like, those we have issues with, like Agent Rizzo and Agent Walker."

"I feel like you're trying to tell me something and I'm missing it," Chuck admitted.

"Listen to and trust Agent Walker," Beckman said, giving him a look.

"Got it," Chuck said, stepping back towards her office door. She left out Agent Shaw, didn't she? He heard it loud and clear. Perhaps she wasn't finished vetting him. "You miss Casey, don't you?" he asked then, turning to smirk at her.

"You have no idea."

}o{

Chuck felt the comforting rumble of the plane under his feet as he propped the laptop on his lap to get as much of a read on the situation they'd be going into as possible.

He was typing on the computer as fast as his fingers could fly, inspired by the last few hours.

And he felt Sarah behind him, watching him silently.

What she'd said on the cruise ship came back to him, how she liked watching him work. That seemed like a lifetime ago now. Last night even seemed like a lifetime ago. And yet, he remembered every last moment of it.

Thank God Beckman had asked him to work on the mission schematics because if he'd been stuck on this plane for multiple hours with nothing to focus his brain on, he might go nuts after everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

He and Sarah were together. In secret, under the cover, but together. Together together. It hadn't just been a snap of sexual tension, release, and pretending the next morning that none of it had happened. This was a genuine relationship now. They'd been forging something real since the beginning, but they were doing it with eyes wide open, and together, now. No suppressing of feelings. And she was so determined to make it a reality that she hadn't slept for writing down dozens of rules for how to work this in a way that would keep this, and them, safe.

Of course...they wouldn't be suppressing feelings, but he knew he was going to figure out how to suppress the showing of said feelings in front of...well, everyone except for her. It would be extremely difficult, but he would figure out how to fucking do it, damn it.

His mind kept going back to the rules she had given him, and for some reason, one of the last ones she gave him, something she'd actually written down in her notebook, stuck with him. Don't wear that dark button-up on missions, it makes it hard for me to concentrate. It hit him right between the eyes when she announced that rule. In the best way. Because he hadn't exactly noticed her ever checking him out, but "you look good in dark blue" had been a thing she'd said and he remembered it still in spite of the shit sandwich that hit a mere few minutes after she'd said it. So he had an inkling she liked him in dark shirts, but enough to make it one of her rules? He found himself dwelling on how often she'd noticed that, and how much it stuck with her that she thought of it early this morning while pouring over the notebook she'd written the rules down in. It was gratifying to know he wasn't the only one noticing things like that about her, that the whole time she'd been noticing right back.

He shook his head to clear it, took a deep breath, squirmed in his seat, clicked on the screen, and found what he was looking for.

"Is that our satellite?" Sarah asked, nearly making him jump. He needed to chill.

"Do you want me to answer that?" Chuck asked quietly, turning toward her. She just gaped at him for a moment, and then her eyes widened. He thought he could see something else in the look she was giving him but he pushed it out of his mind immediately. Maybe it had surprised her enough that she hadn't been able to hide it, or maybe Zondra being on the other side of the plane made her feel safe enough to let it show.

"Wait, what the hell is he doing?" Zondra demanded, marching over to the computer. The look was gone from Sarah's face immediately. "Don't we have a satellite over Prague?"

"Yeah, but I, um, found a better one," he got out quickly. "Has better resolution, and is better positioned to see what I want to see."

"Whose is it?"

"It's, uh, ours, and definitely not one of China's." He made a pop sound with his lips and went right back to it.

"Are you fuckin' crazy? They're gonna know you're using it, and this is the kind of shit that can cause serious issues between our countries," Zondra said.

Chuck couldn't help himself. He turned in his seat to give her a flat look, and sure, there was confidence in his abilities seeping out of him as well. "Trust me. They won't know a thing." A smirking Sarah put her hands on his shoulders and turned him back to the computer.

"If he says they won't catch him, they won't catch him," Sarah said, Chuck hearing the pride and the assurance in her voice. "This is what he does."

"I see," Zondra answered, raising an eyebrow. "I just have one tiny question." Chuck stopped typing, waiting for the question. "How do you know where to look for Manoosh?"

"Oh," Chuck replied, his fingers flying on the keyboard. "He has a page on Friendster."

"I have one of those," Sarah piped up. Zondra gave her a look. "What? I know some computer things."

"She has no idea, does she?" Zondra asked Chuck.

"None," Chuck replied. Chuck kept typing, and Manoosh's profile pulled up on the screen. "As you can see, our boy here likes to take pictures of himself having some 'Hot Love.'" He felt both women do double takes. He looked at them with wide eyes. "IT'S A DESSERT!"

"Oh," Sarah said, looking away, twisting her lips to the side in an obvious attempt not to show her amusement.

"'Hot Love?'" Zondra pronounced slowly. "Hot… Love…? Are they serious?"

"Simple, really. Vanilla ice cream, hot raspberries, and whipped cream," Chuck explained. "The good news is that there is only one place that serves this dessert in Karlštejn. The Restaurace a Penzion Pod Draci Skalou. The guy seems to have a standing reservation there."

"Not bad," Zondra said, crossing her arms. "So we're going to Karistejn to find some 'Hot Love'?"

Chuck turned red and Sarah seemed to refuse to look at anyone at all.

}o{

Sarah didn't know why she always glanced at her watch when she was in planes. It required a lot of math to figure out what time it was in the time zone where she'd be landing that was so many hours ahead of the time zone she'd left. But she did it anyway.

At least she knew she'd been on this plane for five hours now.

She leaned to the side and looked towards the front and saw Zondra draped across a few seats, fast asleep. That was the smart thing to do. But she couldn't sleep. Would she ever sleep again? That was the real question.

If it was the same kind of no sleep that she'd gotten last night, she wouldn't mind it at all, but this was different. This was the kind of no sleep you got when your teammate was most likely a double agent who'd try to slit your throat if you slept. More importantly, she couldn't allow Zondra Rizzo to be alone with Chuck in any capacity. She might stick a knife in his back.

Sarah let herself sink lower in her seat so that she could prop her feet on the seat in front of her, but before she could shut her eyes to meditate, the seat beside her was filled. She jumped a little at how fast it happened. He wasn't there and then just like that, he was.

"Hey, hi, sorry," he said quietly enough that she thought Zondra wouldn't hear even if she was awake. He pulled an earbud out of his ear. "Were you gonna try to sleep?" She shook her head, eyeing him curiously. He was filled with nervous energy. "Oh, good. You sure?" She nodded. He took the other earbud out. "I've been listening to the Blade Runner score waiting for that one to freaking fall asleep. You wanna know how many times I've heard 'Rachel's Song' in the last three freaking hours? A lot."

"I don't...understand a word you're saying," she admitted, her voice scratchy with tiredness. She lowered her feet and sat up straighter. "Chuck, I know she's asleep, but we can't...risk it." As much as that sounded really nice right about now… "We have to be professional."

Chuck raised his eyebrows and pulled his chin back. "Wow, Agent Walker. So far you've been a lot worse than me. Can we just put that on the record?" She glared. "I didn't come over here to suck face. Jesus, Sarah."

She blushed. "I know that! I was...trying to lighten the mood," she tried. He just snorted and shook his head. "Shut up. What'd you come over here for anyway?"

"Her, actually." He pointed at Zondra. Sarah frowned. "I flashed."

That got her. She was fully alert, leaning in close. "What?" she whispered. "On Zondra?"

"No. After we...talked...in the armory," he said haltingly, his eyes darting back and forth. She gave him a flat look. "I went back to grab my bag from the conference room where I'd left it when I chased after you and Zondra was still there. She knew I'd gone to talk to you, so she assumed you'd told me all about Gaez."

Sarah's eyes widened. "I didn't tell you the target's name."

"Nope. But if you had, I would've flashed in front of you and I could've told you this then, instead of flashing in front of Zondra which could have been an issue if she'd seen my flash face. So...let that be a lesson to you, keeping the names of ex-targets from me." She gave him her best 'can you not?' look and he wilted a bit. "Sorry. Trying to lighten the mood." Sarah couldn't help letting him see just a smidgeon of her amusement at him throwing her words back at her.

She sobered quickly. "What did you flash on? His name?"

"Augusto Gaez...terrorist-for-hire, member of the Gentle Hand, which...let's not even go into that name, like, what were they thinking? It's a prime target for sex jokes."

"Chuck."

"Sorry. It wasn't Zondra."

Her hand dropped onto his leg. "What? What do you mean?"

"The transmitter you found in her heel? Somebody else put it there. She was framed. Somebody put it there to pin this whole thing on her. If your team figured out that someone was feeding info to Gaez, if the transmitter was found in her heel, it'd be an easy enough conclusion."

"That was in your flash?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah." Maybe it was wrong, but she couldn't help wondering if Chuck was just saying that to ease the tension between them. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but he had a pesky habit of trusting people that didn't always deserve the benefit of the doubt.

She looked down at her lap. "Chuck, are you sure?"

"What do you mean, am I sure? It was in the flash," he whispered. He spoke in regular quiet tones then. "Not only did Zondra pass that lie detector test, her answers never changed over the three separate times they made her take the test. Not even slightly. Get this. The heels you found the transmitter in?" Sarah leaned in closer. "They were provided by the CIA and she didn't even wear them once. Nobody did. They weren't worn, Sarah. Brand new. Like someone had planted them in her suitcase. Why would she have a transmitter in heels she had no intention of wearing? You'd think she'd wear them every time you were all in the same room if she meant for Gaez to hear what you were up to."

Sarah furrowed her brow thoughtfully, nibbling her lip. She believed him. How would he have any of that information if he hadn't flashed? She squeezed his leg in apology even though he had no idea she'd doubted his intentions for a half-second, and then she pulled it away again. "Why didn't Zondra just say she hadn't worn them? That they weren't hers?"

"You didn't give me much of a chance."

Chuck and Sarah both spun to look up. Zondra was getting up from the seats she'd been sleeping on and she pushed a hand through her hair, yawning. Sarah glanced down to make sure her hand wasn't still on Chuck's leg, and it wasn't thankfully.

She crossed to them, a pissed look on her face. "But that was by design, wasn't it, Walker? Go ahead. It's just us three. Admit it. You took the heel right to the powers-that-be and accused me, not asking what I was doing with unworn heels, or why I'd just leave 'em outside of my suitcase like an idiot wanting the transmitter to be found." She crossed her arms and stopped in front of them. "Because you planted it. To frame me. Because you're the fucking double agent."

"I am not the double agent. But apparently…" She worked her jaw, fury rolling through her, and this time not at Zondra, but at herself. "Apparently, I was used. Like a fucking dupe. You weren't the double agent, Zondra." She forced herself to raise her gaze to meet Zondra's. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I accused you."

The brunette had no small amount of surprise on her face as she gaped at Sarah. Then she shook herself, and she was angry all over again. "Oh, give me a fucking break, Walker. This shit might work on the newbie over here…"

"Hey! I—"

"But it isn't working on me," she snarled, ignoring Chuck. Sarah let her have this anger. She felt like absolute shit, accusing Zondra, not trusting her, for years. "You planted the heels with the transmitter and tried to get me fingered for being a double agent, a traitor to my country."

"I didn't think about the placement of the shoes," Sarah tried. "And I didn't look to see if the heels looked worn or not. If I had, maybe I would've put it together, taken them to you first. But… I was pissed. We kept getting the wool pulled over our eyes, he kept slipping through our fingers, and I wanted it to stop. When I found that transmitter, it…" She huffed, pushing herself to her feet. "I'm sorry. I really am. Nobody told me the heels weren't worn, Zondra. They took it, shoved me off, and that was that. Next thing I knew, they said you were clear. Nobody told me anything."

"Likely story," Zondra hissed.

"It's the truth! I didn't plant those heels. Somebody else did!"

"Oh, come on. You trying to pin this on Carina?"

Chuck sat up straighter at that. "Carina? Was she on the team, t—"

"Shut up for a second, dude!"

Sarah held up her hand silently to cut Chuck off right as Zondra spun and snapped at him. Sarah just barely resisted the urge to glare at the other woman. Taking that tone with him… Where in the hell did she get off?

"Of course it wasn't Carina," Zondra hissed. "If she did something like that, she would've been a lot better at it. She's smarter than you, and anyway, she would've boasted about it by now. You know how fucking gigantic her mouth is."

Sarah stopped, considered Zondra's reasoning, and shrugged. "Yeah. That's true."

"And Amy? Freaking bimbo."

Chuck was out of his seat then, spinning away from them. But he staggered and crashed into the floor of the plane hard.

"The hell…?" Zondra breathed.

"Chuck! Are-are you okay?" She followed after him her hand out, concern pricking her chest. She withheld showing too much of it, stopping short, catching herself.

He rolled onto his back, his brow furrowed, and she recognized the look. Oh, shit.

"Did you—Did you feel that turbulence? Or...uh...or was that just me? Turbulence," he muttered. "Threw me right onto the...floor…"

Sarah went to him then, pushing past Zondra who didn't seem to know what to make of Chuck, and she reached down to help him back onto his feet. "Flash?" she mouthed to him, and he raised his eyebrows, widening his eyes, nodding. A bead of sweat slipped down his temple as she held his arm to try to steady him.

"Sorry, I get… Airplanes and heights… you know… t-turbulence. Yeah," he tried.

"Okay." Zondra eyed him weirdly. "You need a drink or something?"

"Water. Water would be… Thanks."

She nodded and moved past them towards the back.

Sarah immediately sat him down in his seat and leaned close. "You okay?"

He licked his lips. "Fine. It was Amy." She gawked. "Amy did it. She planted the heels, the transmitter, all of it. She's an offensive counterintelligence specialist. That's her specialty with the CIA. She was also recruited out of a crime gang in Newark, New Jersey. Her specialty then was sleight of hand."

Sarah couldn't help it. Her shock at everything he'd just told her was superceded by amazement at everything he'd put together from just a momentary flash and a rush of gratefulness that he was who he was. She cupped his face. "You're amazing," she breathed.

"Here. Water."

Sarah let go of him and stood up quick. "His pupils. I checked his pupils. They aren't dilated at all." She grabbed the water from Zondra and shoved it at Chuck. "Here's your water."

He took it. "Thanks."

She was pretty sure he was hiding his amusement behind the paper cup Zondra had filled with water and brought back to him. Jerk.

"There's one other person it could be, Zondra," Sarah said. "If it isn't you, or Carina, or me. You called Amy a bimbo. And she's always seemed that way, even as handy as she was to have around on missions...like everything was always going over her head."

"She is a bimbo, Walker. Carina had to explain, like, every sexual innuendo that ever came out of her mouth to Amy. Every single time."

"Right, and what if all of that was an act to throw us off the scent? Because that whole time she was feeding information to Augusto Gaez. Because she had the actual transmitter. What if she planted it on you to get the whole thing pinned on you, to cover her own ass, knowing I'd find it, or Carina, and the rest of the chips would fall where they may?"

Zondra blinked. "What? Seriously?" She laughed in disbelief. "That weird, stupid kid pulling all of that shit? That's just… That's not her."

"Agent Amy Smith of the CIA is trained in offensive counterintelligence."

Sarah turned to look down at Chuck, trying to give him as much of a 'what are you doing?' look as she could while Zondra was standing right there. But he just stood up to his full height, looking fully recovered now. He crumbled the empty cup in his fist.

"That was what she specialized in before she was tossed onto your team. They'd send her into the lion's den to feed misleading information, or to turn enemies into double agents." He looked back and forth between Zondra and Sarah. "What, you think I didn't do my research on the people I'd be working with? Most important rule of being a spy: vet everything and everyone."

Sarah bit her lip to keep from smiling at him.

God, when he was on, he was really on.

"None of that is in Amy's dossier. I know, because I vetted her too," Zondra snipped. She really thought she had him with that one.

Sarah turned back to Chuck to watch him work.

He scoffed. "Come on, Agent Rizzo. Didn't you just see me hack my way into a Chinese satellite? You don't think I can get access to the actual dossier on Agent Smith?"

Sarah turned back to Zondra, lifting her eyebrows, as the brunette's jaw fell open. And there it was. He had her.

Once again, Sarah turned back to Chuck. "What else is in Amy's dossier, Agent Carmichael?"

"She was part of a crime syndicate in Newark, New Jersey. Specialized in sleight of hand. I didn't put this together until I did a little research on your testimony, Agent Rizzo. Only someone with that kind of skillset can manage to get those heels with the transmitter anywhere near a seasoned agent like you."

He was stroking Zondra's ego now. At every turn, Chuck was impressing the hell out of her. Not that Zondra Rizzo was the type on which that'd actually work, but his instinct to try was fantastic.

"She would've had to break in and out without my knowing…or somehow get into my bag while we were traveling."

"If she's good enough, you'd only have to look away for a second," Sarah said.

"Shit… It was Amy." Zondra spun to face Sarah, and the hatred was gone, just like that. "We both got thrown under a bus. That fucking little shitbitch!"

"Shitbitch. That's good. I like that. Can I use that?" Chuck asked, chuckling.

"Shut up," Zondra snapped, holding up a hand. And then she winced, giving him a reluctantly apologetic look. "Sorry. You were a big help. I don't mean to—I'm on edge. After realizing...all these years..."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Sarah groused, shaking her head. "I'm sorry I turned you into the brass without talking to you first. Without actually looking at the whole of the situation."

Zondra just shrugged. "I'm sorry I said you planted it yourself just to get rid of me and cover your own ass."

Sarah stuck her hand out between them. "We okay?"

Zondra smiled, then took Sarah's hand, shaking it. "Yeah, we are. But when I find that little blond piece of shit, she won't be."

"A-fucking-greed," Sarah said, adamantly. "I'll help."

Zondra let go of her hand and turned to eye Chuck with an increased amount of respect this time. It made her chest feel...full...somehow. "I misjudged you maybe. A little. ...Thanks."

"Oh, it's fine. Just a little research. You know, I—"

"Cool. I gotta pee." Zondra brushed past him to walk back towards the bathroom.

Sarah let out a quiet giggle at the affronted look on Chuck's face as he turned back to her. And then he blinked and shrugged, a 'what can ya do?' look on his face.

"I need some sleep before we land," she said, pushing the arm between the two seats nearest her up so that she could lie longways across them and rest. "But you should know that what I just saw is probably one of the most impressive, hottest things I've ever seen anyone do and you can take that to the bank, Chuck Bartowski."

She knew exactly what she was doing, saying that, as quietly as she made sure to say it… Just in case.

He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, a crooked smile growing on his face. "What sort of a bank are we talking, here?"

"One shaped like a bed, preferably." She made a kissy face at him just as the pop of the bathroom door at the back of the plane opening sounded, and she crawled down onto her seats, turning to snag a rolled up blanket and shoving it under her head, shutting her eyes tight as she heard Chuck make a choking sound.

"What's wrong with you?" she heard Zondra ask as she passed by.

"I'm—I—Nothing. Nothing at all," he said emphatically.

Sarah smiled into her makeshift pillow.

}o{

As they got off the plane, Chuck leaned into Sarah's ear. "I need to talk to you about something, and it's really important." She turned to give him a look. "Listen, I know what you said, but there is something I need from you..." Her jaw fell open, eyebrows raised. "When we get back, can I please get that Mario Kart rematch?" With that, he scooted past her and moved to get in the backseat of the vehicle that was waiting for them.

"Nope, string bean," Zondra called out to him as he headed towards the back. "Go ahead and sit shotgun, I'm assuming Miss Control Freak has to drive." Chuck didn't say anything, as he grabbed the handle to the passenger side door. "What?" he heard Zondra ask defensively at the look he knew Sarah had to be giving her.

"I'm not a control freak," Sarah muttered.

"Sar, come on girl, we both know you like to drive in everything you do." She paused for a second. "Shit," she muttered.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"That's the kinda of innuendo we would've had to explain to that shitbitch." Both women had a murderous look on their faces. Chuck shut the door, and noticed Zondra going towards the trunk as Sarah opened the door and sat down beside him.

"You do like to drive, and I'm totally okay with it," he said softly, looking straight ahead, refusing to look at her as she slowly turned and stared at him. She was going to murder him, he was sure of it. The only question was whether it would be now or later.

The door slammed and the car shook as Zondra got in. "He call you out for always driving?"

"What did she drive on missions with you guys?" Chuck semi-changed the subject, feeling the heat of her glare intensify against the side of his face as he looked up to the rearview mirror to watch Zondra.

"Pffft, what didn't she drive?" Zondra replied. "Sports cars, vans, planes, tanks—"

"Wait, she drove a tank?" Chuck asked, his jaw dropping. Sarah started the car and pulled away. "SHE DROVE A TANK?!"

"Carina and I were trapped taking heavy fire in a place I can't tell you about legally." Sarah snorted, but didn't verbally disagree with any of it, he noticed. "So Sarah here is in their motor pool, and finds an old tank, hot wires it—"

"WAIT!" Chuck said, turning towards Zondra, seeing a mysterious smile on her face. "Sarah Walker hot wired a tank?"

"Yup," Zondra replied. Chuck turned to Sarah, knowing there was awe on his face, and then remembered the rules. "She is pretty badass."

"I'll say," Chuck muttered. He sat quietly listening to the rest of the story, wondering how he was ever gonna play things cool enough to not break every rule of Sarah's.

}o{

Chuck offered to carry both of his mission partners. Neither objected, and that left him time to think.

Karlštejn was a beautiful town. Trees were everywhere, making Chuck wonder what it would look like when the leaves turned. He was already in a little bit of trouble with Zondra, but he felt like that was the norm with anyone and Zondra. She had gotten out of the car and saw the castle that was above the town.

"Thank God we don't have to infiltrate that place," she muttered.

Chuck just gave her a look, and she was hot on his heels demanding to know how in the hell only three agents were supposed to pull that off.

Sarah finally told her Chuck was messing with her, which meant that Zondra had been glaring at Chuck consistently since then.

Their actual target, while not as large, was still an imposing building. It had stone walls, guards, and just the enormity of it made Chuck wonder if the plan that had been drilled into them by the general before they left would even work.

"This will work," he heard softly beside him. Chuck turned to look at Sarah, realizing she'd been watching him.

He closed the trunk, grabbing the last of his stuff and headed toward his room. She walked beside him, silent.

Two rooms had been procured for them, Sarah and Zondra getting one, Chuck the other. They had decided to use his room as the war room, as Zondra had called it, because he was by himself.

He wasn't sure about the logic behind that, but yet another Agent Rizzo glare had made him decide questioning it was an exercise in futility.

"Don't doubt yourself."

"Sarah, if I screw this up—" he began.

"Hey, listen," she said, grabbing his arm. "First of all, you won't screw this up. Secondly, if this goes south, then we screwed up as a team, and Beckman and Shaw aren't going to break up our team no matter what happens. I won't let them."

Chuck looked around, not seeing Zondra anywhere. "I need you to know that is more than a little hot." She grinned at him and gave him a shoulder bump. "Thanks. I needed that."

"Is it as hot as me hot wiring a tank?" she flirted.

"God, no," he said, shaking his head, making her laugh as Zondra walked into his room, without knocking. He made a note of that. "Come in, Zondra, welcome."

"What?" she asked. "If you wanted privacy, you would have locked the door, plus Walker is in here, so I knew you were decent."

Chuck refused to respond to that.


A/N: Please review! Thanks!

-SC and DC