summary: Exhausted from the events with her mother, the baby, and Ryker, Sarah takes a break and turns down Graham's next assignment. With her not there to intervene, Casey's Intersect plan is realized- Chuck is thrown into a bunker. When she learns the truth through a twist of fate, Sarah realizes all she missed out on in not taking that mission, and the gift she never got to know. Discovering the bunker has isolated Chuck and shut down the Intersect, she decides she only has one choice: to fix it. What she finds in him, and he in her, might just change both of their lives.
note: A mid-week update courtesy of Annual Leave. Proof I'm more productive when I'm not working, but hey, gotta survive. Repeating my end note from chapter 7 in case you scrolled right past it: while this fic is now in canon territory, it will not be a full canon rewrite. But for now, for this, we're here, and in some familiar and some slightly different territory for Things To Happen. Please review!
disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, couches, headaches, or snuggling.
In a flash, she's pulled out another knife from her waist, brandishing it his way.
"You have thirty seconds to explain what the hell you're doing here or this goes through your throat."
Bryce smirks a little, playing confident, but she knows him too well, still. She can see the worry in his eyes, the confusion. He lifts his hands, showing them empty but for the knife she threw. Damn, his reflexes always were the best.
"Relax, Sarah," he soothes, but she just straightens her back, stares him down. After a beat, he frowns, more confused, still. "What are you doing here?"
She scoffs.
"You're asking me? You're the dead guy, why are you here?"
"I came to find..." He trails off, looks at the man still sleeping by her side, on the bed, curled up happily. Bryce's eyebrows knit together a curious way, for just a second- hurt, she thinks, or pain of some kind. But she doesn't trust it. Pressing her eyes shut for just a beat, she sighs, sending Bryce a look to force him to stay where he is. He obeys, still perplexed.
She's really stunned him by being here, she realizes, which is good, for her. He isn't in the loop.
Reaching down, keeping her knife levelled at Bryce, she reaches for Chuck's shoulder, shaking it gently.
"Chuck."
He smiles in his half-sleep, rolling over and nuzzling into the pillow adorably. Trying not to smile at the sight, she nudges him again.
"Chuck."
It works a little. He tenses beneath her touch, waking if not opening his eyes, and then stretches out a little like a cat.
"Sarah...?" he asks sleepily, and her heart warms a little at the softness of his voice. Before her, Bryce frowns, more confused, still unmoving.
"Wake up," she murmurs, and Chuck flops over, propping himself up on his elbows and peeling open an eye. He stares at her fuzzily.
"What's..." She sees the moment he looks across the room, in time with his voice fading out. "...up?"
Bryce, still by the window, smiles almost disarmingly. Almost.
"Hi, Chuck."
"Gah!" Chuck almost yells, scurrying backwards to sit up, tugging the blankets with him, and Sarah tenses, reaching for his shoulder again and squeezing reassuringly. "What the hell?"
"Yeah," Sarah glares across the room. "My sentiments exactly."
Bryce raises his hands, goes to step forward.
"Look, I-"
"Hey, we can't talk here." Chuck interrupts, and both agents pause, turn to look at him. "Ellie and Awesome are still awake, they'll hear us."
Bryce pauses, tilts his head.
"You... live with your sister, still?" he asks, a hint of a tease in his tone. Sarah thinks idly that Bryce is sure it sounds like it once did, when he and Chuck were actually friends, a teasing jibe. Now it just sounds hollow. A little mean.
Chuck glares, scrambling out of bed, Sarah shuffling to the side to let him out, her knife still Bryce's way.
"No." Chuck states, heavy. "I live in a bunker in D.C., thanks to you, but today is Thanksgiving, so-"
"Chuck," she interrupts, before his tone can get too heated, loud. "The apartment across the courtyard is still empty. It's barely furnished, the CIA are holding it for the operation for now. We should go there."
He pauses, turning to her, mouth a little agape. But when she widens her eyes, he gives in, sighing and even wilting a little. The fight leaves him that easily. Oh, she's sure he's pissed at Bryce, seething, even, still so hurt, too. But if it'll endanger his sister, let him almost expose her to his secret, he won't yell. He'll hold off, for now. His strength is something she can't help but admire. Nodding, he folds his arms over his chest, looks between them both.
"Go. I'll tell Ellie we're taking a walk before supper and the movie."
She nods, ignoring Bryce's curious stare once more, focusing on Chuck.
"You'll be okay?" she checks.
"Yeah," he says quickly, but when she catches his gaze deliberately, eyes him, he takes a moment, nods more sincerely. "Yeah. I'll be right over."
Smiling a little, she squeezes his arm briefly, turning back to Bryce after a beat.
"Move it." she says, and he gapes a little. But when she waves the knife, gestures toward the window, he scrambles to climb through it, and she holds off a smirk as she follows him across the frame, rushing across the courtyard and breaking into what will hopefully be Chuck's future apartment, when they get out here.
It's a nice place, she quickly sees, but she doesn't have a moment to process it before Bryce breezes past her, flopping onto the couch in a casual way. It's so oddly relaxed, like Chuck is sometimes, and she has to try not to stare at the movement. It's oddly not quite like her partner- as she knew him, at least. It's like being around Chuck even for a second has made some of his frat boy energy return.
"So seriously," he asks, leaning back comfortably. "What're you doing here?"
She sighs, not wanting to start without Chuck but knowing if she doesn't, Bryce'll keep pestering her.
"I'm Chuck's handler."
Bryce laughs a little.
"You, a handler? You hate getting orders, but you hate being stuck someplace more. You're bossing Chuck around? C'mon."
She glares, raising the knife again.
"I don't boss him around. I'm his handler. I handle him. And you don't know anything about me or how I work, Bryce."
"Oh, I knew you pretty well," he drawls, and she takes a step forward with narrowed eyes, tilting the blade so it catches the light.
He is not allowed to go there. Not now, not ever. Maybe once, maybe if this had gone differently somehow she could even think about thinking about that- but Chuck's life was torn from him, the life she's spent hours seeing return to him, that warmth and love and family. She can't even consider what she once had with the man before her now, who caused all of that. He relents, raising his hands once more.
"I'm just surprised, is all." he explains, and she shakes her head.
"You sent the most important piece of government intelligence to a computer tech in Burbank. You think they wouldn't put good agents on his cover detail?"
"Maybe," Bryce gives. "But you...?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asks, but perhaps thankfully the door behind her opens again, and Chuck rushes in behind her.
"I bought us about a half hour," he murmurs, and she nods.
"Good." She narrows her eyes at Bryce, straightens her shoulders. "Thirty seconds. Why are you here, and why did you escape?"
"I'm not rogue," he says tiredly, and she scoffs. Like she'd ever believe that.
"You left me on an op, then you disappeared and broke into the DNI, and then you blew it up."
"It was an assignment!" Bryce insists, eyes wide. "I was following orders."
"Come on. I would've known if you were." His excuse is so tired and unbelievable she just rolls her eyes.
But Bryce just sighs, looking between her and Chuck a moment before clearly settling on something.
"Turns out, they weren't CIA orders, I just thought they were." She frowns- okay, that is curious. And then he nods. "It was called Operation Sandwall."
Just like that, Chuck gasps, and she turns to him, seeing his eyes flutter that now-familiar way. He sways on his feet a moment, so lost in his mind, but she sees the moment the fog and information clears and his chest heaves a little.
"Sandwall..."
Bryce leaps up, eyes gleeful and wide.
"I knew it! It's in your head, it worked!" he says jubilantly, and Chuck gapes.
"It worked? What do you mean it worked?" Chuck asks breathlessly, but she has to press him, she must, just so she can even let Bryce remain in this room with them, just so she can even begin to believe his excuses.
She steps closer, seeking his gaze.
"What's Sandwall?"
Chuck blinks, looking to her.
"It's- I saw files, orders. He's telling the truth, the break-in was ordered. Sending it to me wasn't, but..."
But it stopped whoever did put out that order getting hold of the Intersect. She frowns, turning to Bryce again.
"Who ordered it?" she asks, and he rolls his lips, folding his arms over his chest.
"Have you heard of Fulcrum?"
Once more, Chuck gasps beside her, and she spins back to see his jaw going slack, eyes glazing over.
But this one lasts, not rushing past, his frame loosening and relaxing until a stunned, almost drugged expression slips over his features, the information so clearly intense and detailed. Until once more, the fog clears, but this time his eyes drift shut, his knees give way.
"Hey!" She runs toward him, grasping his arms, and he groans as she manages to keep him upright. "Are you okay?"
"I..." he presses out, eyes still shut, and she guides him toward the couch, helping him sit, even as worry floods her. He's never flashed twice in such quick succession before, not since she's been with him, at least, and that second one seemed to have a lot of information in it. He gasps again as he meets the chair, sinking back into the cushions, and Sarah doesn't miss the concerned glance Bryce sends them both as she helps Chuck get settled.
"Chuck?" she tries again, and he nods slowly.
"I'm good. That was just- a lot of information, there."
Only a little reassured by his words, she nods.
"Fulcrum?" she checks, less because she needs the intel and more she needs to know quite what that heavy flash means for him. If it really was just a lot of intel, or something more- if he went through all that and something blanked out in his mind, leaving him without the intelligence? If the Intersect starts glitching like that, all within Chuck's brain, then what could happen to Chuck?
But, mercifully, he nods.
"They're a group of rogue spies in government. Every agency. They've infiltrated everywhere- and they wanted the Intersect. So they set up Sandwall."
Bryce hums.
"It was a legit op, real orders, priority one. By the time I realized I wasn't with the good guys, it was too late."
"They kept you alive?" Sarah surmises, since his even breathing here is kind of the elephant in the room, and he nods.
"I pretended I downloaded the Intersect, and they saved me. They think it's me, not Chuck."
And she supposes she has the extreme secrecy surrounding her asset to thank for that. And the fact that nobody seemed to expect the computer to fit into someone's head. Officially, of course. Unofficially, well, she's already had her doubts, and Bryce's lack of surprise at Chuck being the computer, his cover with this Fulcrum, it isn't helping her suspicions. But she can't bring that up right now, not with Chuck almost passed out on the couch. One blow at a time. Swallowing, she nods.
"So why are you here?"
"I couldn't be sure the agents who brought me in at the docks weren't Fulcrum. I couldn't be sure you weren't, Sarah."
Chuck huffs a little, and Sarah sees him peeling open an eye.
"Come on, Bryce. Sarah? Rogue, really?
Bryce shrugs defensively.
"This runs deep, incredibly so. I've been fifty/fifty on everyone, especially Graham and his followers." Which includes her. Or used to, until he tried to force her to admit she had a child in her possession who could make any agent a small fortune, until he said he couldn't guarantee that child's protection. Since then, well... Bryce sighs. "But I want to turn myself in. I just need to know it's to the real CIA, and not Fulcrum."
Chuck shifts, still so clearly drained, but trying to think.
"I- I might be able to do that. I flashed on Fulcrum itself, I could easily flash on other agents."
"It's risky," Sarah protests, but she knows the men before her too well, almost. The moment Chuck suggested an out, they'd both agreed.
"It's better than turning 'the Intersect' right into Fulcrum's hands."
"We'll need a location..." She trails off, the planning being something bigger, something she wants Chuck to rest before they have to get to, but Bryce doesn't pick up on her attempt to stall; if he does, he ignores it.
"Somewhere public would fit. Hell, tomorrow's Black Friday, lotta busy places." Bryce says, and Chuck snorts drily.
"How 'bout the Buy More?" he drawls, and she holds off the wince.
"That... would actually fit pretty well," she admits, and he blinks. She knows Morgan works at the store; knows Chuck had planned on contacting his friend tomorrow. Risking him for this operation is certainly a danger, but as a location, it's perfect. A busy place, lots of people, general holiday chaos anyway, and a place Chuck would conceivably be. Before her he sighs, running a hand over his face, and something pained twinges in her chest. Enough of this. "But we'll figure out specifics tomorrow morning. Chuck, you should rest a while before we go back to your sister, she'll notice you're tired."
He sighs again, waving a hand and moving to lie down on the couch.
"I know."
"I should-" Bryce tries, but she glares at him, grabbing his sleeve and tugging him down to the kitchen. She can't risk the courtyard in case Ellie or Awesome spot them, but she is not done with Bryce Larkin right now.
Almost throwing him back against the counter, she folds her arms, glares at him.
"You tell me everything you know about The Intersect, right now."
He blinks. She sees the shift behind his eyes, switching to feigned confusion.
"I don't-"
Surging forward, she grabs his shirt collar in her fist, her hand other tightening, ready to be thrown.
"Now."
"I can't."
She rolls her eyes, anger rising in her. There is so much she's not being told about this, she already gathered that much, but Bryce clearly knows more. Knows things she's been left out of. And he doesn't have agency red tape or protocol or the greater good on his side anymore.
"Bullshit. When Chuck got this thing in his head everyone acted surprised, but you were counting on it. You were counting on him becoming the computer. What's going on here, Bryce?"
"Sarah, I swear, I can't tell you," he repeats, insistent. But something in his tone, his expression, is so pleading and desperate, lacking the bravado and arrogance of the last half hour, she's taken aback to find believes him. Whatever he's keeping from her, he truly thinks he can't share it, he truly has a reason for it. She lets go of his shirt, stepping back a little, but not fully. Bryce widens his eyes, lowering his voice. "As for how I knew it'd work... Chuck took a psychology and symbolism class at Stanford. He aced it."
"Psychology and symbolism?"
"Encoded images," he explains, and Sarah blinks. "It- it was the class I framed him for," Bryce murmurs, and something flares within her again, cold, cold fury. Anger, for her friend, the way he'd been so betrayed.
"So you got him expelled for it knowing he was acing it, and then when it suited you, you used it against him?"
"Sarah-"
"Bryce!"
"The CIA already had a bead on him!" Bryce hisses, and she pauses, startled, but covering it with a glare. What the fuck? When he continues, his voice is low enough she knows he's hoping Chuck won't hear it. For whatever the hell this is, Sarah's hoping Chuck will. "That class... Sarah, it was run by a recruiter. It was a direct pipeline right to the Intersect project. Chuck was perfect for it. But I knew they'd manipulate him into becoming the Intersect, they'd train him, they'd fuckin' brainwash him like they did to us. You know the kind of guy he is, he wouldn't have made it in this world- the things we see, the things we do? They wanted him to become a super-spy and a walking target all in one."
She sighs, swallowing, ignoring all the questions in her head, the aching way her heart is just pounding in her chest, god. She latches onto something to focus.
"But you made it happen anyway. You made him get stuck in a bunker."
"I didn't know that would happen-"
"He's an asset, that's what they do." she interrupts, and he gapes a little.
"I didn't think they would with the damn Intersect."
And, funnily enough, she completely believes that. How very Bryce Larkin of him.
"No. You didn't think, Bryce." she says, and his brow furrows. Despite herself, she laughs a little. "Can't you see that's the problem between you two? With everyone, all the damn time? You just- you act, you don't think, ever."
Bryce sighs, frowning a little but nodding the tiniest bit too, looking somewhat chastened. But then he must see something else- he tilts his head, expression curious.
"You like him."
He says it simply. Observation, not accusation. And, chewing on her lip a moment, she nods.
"He's a good guy," she admits. "I figured out early why you sent him the computer, besides the- encoded images stuff. He'd never use this for bad, he's... he's a better guy than either of us. Than any spy."
"Exactly," Bryce murmurs, and she sighs, folding her arms over her chest as she realizes the impasse they've reached.
However Bryce knows all this, knows secrets to the Intersect she's so desperate to find, he's not gonna tell her. Not tonight, certainly, and maybe not ever. They've done all they can today. She straightens her spine, slips into agent mode.
"We'll meet at the Buy More tomorrow at 9. I'll call Graham on the secure line later. Until then I think you should go into hiding again- if Graham is Fulcrum, he'll find you here before we can check the agents he sends tomorrow."
Bryce nods, stepping back, casting a quick look over at Chuck, still dozing on the couch.
"Look after him, Sarah," he says, and she scoffs.
"What do you think I've been doing?"
He nods once more, clearing his throat, and she watches as he slips through the apartment, silently walking up the stairs and presumably escaping somewhere, she doesn't know where. Until tomorrow at the Buy More, she doesn't need to know, or care, really.
He isn't her priority. Chuck is.
And so she moves toward her asset, smiles when she sees him curled up on the couch, eyes shut. His frame is tense, though, and she sighs as she crouches beside the couch, ruffles his hair gently.
"How much of that did you hear?"
"Enough," he murmurs, and she bites her lip again, moving to sit on the floor. "He was protecting me."
"So he thought, anyway. Like I said- Bryce just does what he thinks is right. He doesn't think about how it'll affect you, or me, he just... does."
"I know. But I've spent the past five years thinking he was just an asshole who hated me, let alone these past couple months... But his motives were good, I suppose, even if his actions were..."
"Pretty terrible and invasive?"
"Yeah," he says with a smirk, and she grins.
"I need to call Graham. Do- should you maybe call Morgan to let him know you'll be in the store tomorrow?"
"If I do he'll come right over, I'm better waiting until morning," he says with a knowing laugh, and she chuckles too, standing and pulling out her phone.
After a quick phone call bringing Graham up to speed, and taking some heat for 'allowing' Bryce to escape again rather than keeping him in her custody, she hangs up. She hadn't mentioned Fulcrum by name, yet; she wants to wait until she's with Graham in person to do that. To see his reaction. See if he's in on it. Instead she'd just said Bryce was insistent he wasn't rogue, but also very paranoid about the agents collecting him, and needed Chuck's help for his extraction. It's a lie, sure, but after Bryce's revelations and Chuck's flashes, it's a lie she's okay telling.
The phone call done, then, she turns to Chuck, now sitting upright but still looking exhausted on the couch.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, just... headache."
She frowns, reaching out and feeling his forehead.
"Maybe we should mention this to the doctors when we get back to D.C.," she muses aloud. He doesn't feel feverish, but she's still concerned. "Have you ever had two flashes that close together? Or with that much information?"
He shakes his head, wincing a little at the movement.
"No. And the little information I have gotten from the scientists about this thing has never mentioned anything like this. But nobody's ever mentioned that someone getting a computer in their head was something that was supposed to happen, either, and with what Bryce said..."
"I'm sorry," she says, feeling guilty yet knowing she didn't know all that herself. "I- I had some suspicions but..."
"I know," he says with a shrug. "It's not your fault. Honestly I never expected complete candor from the US government."
She sighs, reaching for him again, her hand finding his arm once more, squeezing a little. She's not sure if the move is more for her benefit or his, anymore.
"Still. They weren't honest with you, and they used that to their advantage, to get you into the bunker, to get you to do what they said..."
"Until you," he finishes with a warm smirk, and despite herself she grins, bouncing her shoulders, taking the lighter opening.
"C'mon, we should get back. I was promised a leftover turkey sandwich."
Chuckling, he moves back, pushes himself off the couch, and though she lifts her hands to steady him if needed, he seems steady enough.
"Ohhh, and I'll deliver, Sarah Walker, I promise."
With a giggle, she slips her arm around his, and quickly moves them out of the apartment before anyone might spot them, latching the door so it locks behind them. And as they chat and laugh on the short walk across the courtyard, walking back into Ellie and Awesome's apartment and greeting their knowing, happy smiles, she forces all worries about the secrets her own bosses might be hiding from her, the deception, the lies, and how much they might want to hurt Chuck. Because she knows, she'll do everything in her power to protect him. Even from the government, who've been lying to her the whole time.
Because if she has to, she'll protect Chuck Bartowski with everything she's got.
Later that night, he realizes one pretty big thing. They never figured out the sleeping arrangements.
Or, he thinks instead, they really just have to deal with the sleeping arrangements dealt to them.
As a relatively new couple, and a girlfriend meeting her boyfriend's family for the first time, Sarah had briefed him that they should establish a quiet, simple cover. That's what they've done. A few hand-holdings, which he realizes they've actually already done quite a bit, thanks to his struggles leaving the bunker, or other general panic. A few pecks on the cheek are a new addition, but they've been chaste, muted exchanges. He didn't wanna make Sarah uncomfortable, or Ellie and Devon- and he particularly didn't want to make them suspicious. Because he's certainly never been a big PDA guy before, and a change now might just fit with his general life changes, but he didn't wanna risk it.
Despite the muted cover, though, they are expected to share a bed.
So when they call it a night pretty late, all stuffed with leftovers and wine, movies watched and stories told, Ellie and Devon head down the hall to their room with smiles and calls to let them know if they need anything, and Chuck and Sarah head into their room. His old room. With just one bed.
He looks at his handler, awkward, just as she looks at him.
"I could... sleep on the couch," he offers, but he already knows that's a non-starter.
"The cover." she explains, and he nods. They have to at least sleep in the same room, he supposes, in case Ellie and Devon get up early, or walk through to the kitchen overnight.
"Yeah, I know. Um..."
"I'm fine with it if you're fine," she reassures him, smiling at him. He can see it's a bit more strained than her usual smiles- and he wonders, idly, when he began to recognize her usual smiles. He nods, though.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he half-lies. He's certainly comfortable around Sarah, but he can't imagine sleeping that close to each other won't be without some awkwardness. But they have no choice, and so, shrugging the feeling off, he moves to his bag, Sarah doing the same, and he quickly grabs his pajamas. He changes in the bathroom, and when he emerges Sarah's changed into pajamas too. Just some cozy-looking pants and a camisole, more suited to D.C. weather than LA... Again, he wonders where she's from. Wonders if he'll ever get to know her- be allowed to get to know her amidst protocol, rules and regulations.
He grabs a toothbrush, and Sarah smirks, doing the same and carrying some creams as well. They head to a sink each; he'd forgotten the bizarre domesticity of the tandem setup. She offers him some toothpaste, and the move is somehow heartwarming. They brush in comfortable silence before he leaves, and by the time she re-emerges a minute or two later, he's already tucked up on the left hand side, sitting upright and reading more Justice League. Just for the fun of it.
But also, he thinks, to calm him down. Familiarity and comfort in a world that's strangely not that, right now.
Because although he's tried his best not to think on it, he saw Bryce Larkin today. Alive. Pretty well. And it turns out that everything Chuck had thought he knew, about his past, about Bryce, was a big fat fucking lie.
The CIA had eyes on him in college. And Bryce got him expelled to protect him. It wasn't his choice to make, no, but Chuck knows now that, at the root of it all, it wasn't a decision he made out of malice. Like Sarah said, Bryce does what he thinks is right, so often to a fault. But it's never out of deliberate cruelty or to be hurtful, more just blissful ignorance. And so rather than telling him the truth, or choosing another way, Bryce framed Chuck, ruined his life, and then five years later, armed with the knowledge that Chuck was the perfect candidate for the Intersect's encoding, sent it to him anyway. At least, inamongst all the lies Chuck knows he's naturally entrenched in, Bryce was mostly truthful, today. With things they suspected all along. The CIA did know the Intersect could survive in a human brain, and vice versa. The Intersect was encoded with that in mind, he was tested in college for that very purpose.
And the agency lied to him, and to Sarah, about the whole thing.
He sighs, trying to wrap his mind around it all. Bryce wasn't rogue. He was given orders by a rogue organization deep within the US government, but his actions were sanctioned. Which poses a major problem for the agencies Chuck is kind of a part of now. And he knows, such a risk could put the entirety of this new Burbank operation, this move, his return to real life, in danger. All of it.
The words on the page truly blurring together now as his mind runs riot, he shakes his head, closes the comic firmly.
"You okay?" Sarah checks, and he shrugs.
"Yeah," he deflects. "It's just pretty late... and we're at the Buy More kinda early tomorrow."
"Yeah," she agrees, shutting her book. "We should probably get some sleep."
"Yeah." he repeats, but she doesn't move, and neither does he. Until once more he realizes he's just staring at the comic book in front of him, and with a sigh, he sets down the Justice League copy and reaches to the lamp on the nightstand. "Right. Uh... goodnight."
"Goodnight."
With a hidden wince, he shuts the light off and slips down further into the bed in the darkness. He stays on his back, mind still running riot far too much to even consider actually trying to sleep. And also, if he did move to sleep on his side as he usually does, he has another problem- rolling away surely seems rude, but rolling toward Sarah feels far too forward. It's not a huge bed, he'd be right in her space. He notices she does the exact same beside him, staying right in place, and he can't help but wonders if she's thinking the same. Just for something to do, he folds his arms atop his stomach, drums his fingers idly together.
And yet again, his brain doesn't quiet. Just spins and spirals on.
"Can I ask you something?" he finds himself murmuring into the darkness, a few minutes later when it's clear neither of them are sleeping right at this moment, and she hums.
"Of course."
He swallows, sighing.
"Is- is it gonna be safe, tomorrow? Morgan, all my old friends, at the Buy More, will they be in danger? I-I mean, rogue spies possibly showing up..."
He looks over at her, and through the din, he sees her frown, roll onto her side. He meets her eyes in the darkness.
"It should be smooth and simple, the agents walk in, you walk past them and they're not rogue, they get Bryce and they leave."
"It should," he repeats with a wince, and she does the same.
"I know. Chuck, I'm sorry, I can't make guarantees, you know what this life is like. But I'll do everything I can to make sure it goes as planned, and to keep you safe, and make sure everyone else there is, too."
He curls his lips up in a soft, half-wry grin.
"Thank you. I-I know there are no definites in this game, and I know the Buy More is a really good place for the pickup. I just... Working there sucked, but it was a job. It kept me going, it- when I was so down and shitty after college, it was literally my only reason to get out of bed some days. And some of the people were, uh, unique, but I got to work with my best friend every day. And sometimes it was super rewarding, like, like helping a kid get their first cell phone, or seeing old people call their grandkids on Skype. Yeah you got shitty people like in any retail job, I guess, but it was good, in its own way. I was there for five years. If I put anyone there in danger..."
"You won't have put anyone in danger. Fulcrum, the bad guys, maybe even Bryce by association, they're the ones risking things right now. You, Chuck... I know you'd never hurt anyone."
He swallows, nodding again, but he has to ask the question they're avoiding.
"And what if I do flash? And they are Fulcrum?"
"Then I'll handle it. I'll apprehend them, safely and discreetly. Bryce will help."
Somehow, that does reassure him. But the way she mentions the Larkin elephant in the room gets him curious again. Seeing her just watching him expectantly, he tries not to bring it up, but curiosity wins out.
"Were you... were you partners for a long time?" he asks, knowing she's said that very thing before, but feeling that the history between his handler and his once-friend is something he still knows so little about. He's not owed it, of course, but he knew Bryce. He knows Sarah. He has his own connection to them both, and they have their own together. She lifts a shoulder, shifting a little.
"Comparatively, yes, I guess. I've been in spy teams, had older teammates who were almost like handlers, I've worked in other government units with people for longer, but Bryce was my only solo partner who was actually my equal, I guess. We worked together a while, a lot of missions, long enough we... clicked." She pauses there, just a little. "I think that's why when he went rogue, I was so surprised. It felt like we were a team."
He rolls his lips, another question rising in him. And this time it's worry and just a dash of insecurity, he thinks, that forces him to ask. Even if he's not sure he wants to know the answer.
"If... if he came back, after tomorrow, if he's cleared by the agency once we prove he was following orders, will you go back? To working with him?"
She frowns, jolts a little.
"What? No, I won't." she says solidly, immediately, and he blinks.
"Oh. Okay."
"Why are you asking?" she asks somehow knowingly, and he gulps, shrugs.
"I'm sorry, I just... I don't want you to feel like I'm holding you down, or- or back, y'know? I know you were in the field, before, you were only in the bunker because you got injured, now you're like, stuck with me, your whole mission future is just Burbank, now."
"Chuck," she says, soft yet firm- deliberate. "I want to be here. I want this assignment."
"I know, but-"
She reaches out, hand curling around his, fingers tangling gently, and he quiets.
"Look, the reason I got injured is I was distracted. I was taking risks. And it wasn't because of Bryce, nothing like that, I was just... I felt disillusioned, with the entirety of the CIA, just all of it. I worked a- a tough mission, and it ended... with the CIA deciding to let someone be put in even more danger than before I was assigned it. I didn't let that happen, but the fact that Graham, the agency, was okay with that, it was enough alone to make me start to rethink a... a lot, really." She squeezes tight. "And then I found you, I realized you'd also been put in so much danger, in harm's way, thanks to the CIA, agents being reckless. If I ever meet Agent Jones..." She trails off, and he quirks an eyebrow, curious at the actual anger in her tone. She snaps out of it, shaking her head. "Anyway, Chuck, come on, I immediately liked you. I wanted to change things, like I did before. I don't want to be in the field anymore. I want... to be here."
He blinks, a little breathless, and quite a bit overwhelmed with... something, in his chest, racing and pulsing. He's so aware the weight of everything Sarah just told him, the privacy of it all, and yet she shared it. Trusted him with it.
He squeezes her hand in return.
"Oh." he breathes, not even knowing what to say. "I... Alright, then."
She chuckles a little, nodding.
"Alright."
"And just... for the record. I've said it before, but I am so fucking glad you're here. And I'm glad you want to be." He shrugs, light filling him. "I don't know what I'd do without you, now."
He just about sees as she grins a bit, all toothy. She loosens her hand around his, and he's confused only briefly- briefly, because she reaches up and fixes some of his hair, fingers drifting through his curls. He looks up to try and see what she's doing, and she giggles, but then she moves her hand down, strokes her thumb over his brow before finding his cheek, and the fun, light feeling ebbs away to something deeper. Instinctively, he raises his hand to hers, holding it against him, keeping her touch close, and to his surprise she just smiles wider, letting him. But then a strange need fills him, soft and affectionate, and he moves his hand after all to find her side, gently pulling her into him. She falls easy, her head pillowed on his shoulder, arms winding round his waist, and he holds her tight in return, hugging her, embracing her, and on this day so, so thankful for her.
At some point, they fall asleep, just like that. And when his alarm blares in the morning, disturbing them from their rest, they are curled up still. Close, soft, together.
note: Snuggling. Black Friday awaits! (Disclaimer: chapter likely will not post on Black Friday.) Anyway, please review! And my Bryce request from last chapter still applies- so please review the chapter, and not just your thoughts about canon!Bryce from 2007. Thanks!