AN1 An update four days after my previous one :) If you've not read chapter ten yet, or even an earlier chapter since I returned, then make sure you do. If you choose to leave your feedback on those chapters you may have missed in addition, then you have my thanks :)


The Spy and the Soldier

Chapter Eleven, The Spy vs the Dilemma


Sarah's Hotel Room

Sarah came to a state of consciousness with the feeling of warm air connecting onto the back of her neck. Opening her eyes, the light of day shone through the drawn thin curtains, and it caused her eyes to squint.

Attempting to fight off the blinding sunlight, Sarah inhaled a sudden breath of air, and as her abdomen started to expand, she felt movement that had not been performed by herself against her stomach under the duvet.

Exhaling the breath of air she had taken, the movement followed her until it finished back in place.

It could only be… Chuck.

Sarah instantly entered a state of panic. When she had fallen asleep with him last night, they had both turned onto their sides, and they had fallen asleep a significant distance apart from each other. So how they could have ended up in this position they now found themselves in was a question that she could not ascertain the answer to.

He's spooning me. His warm air against my neck means he's close behind me also. Is he awake? Did he put himself in this position intentionally? Oh god! This should not have happened, but it feels so good

Attempting to receive confirmation of her analysis of the situation she now found herself in, Sarah closed her eyes, and she inhaled a breath of air once more. Like the first time she had performed the action, Sarah once more felt Chuck's hand expanding along with her stomach until it returned to its resting place against her abdomen after she had exhaled her latest catch of air.

Sarah swallowed nervously as lumps in her throat started to form.

We can't stay like this. The position we are now in is far too intimate. Only lovers sleep like this, and we aren't an item, so this is not normal. But what if he's already awake? I doubt he purposely placed himself into this position with me. But I need to call out to him just to make sure

Opening her eyes, Sarah took an extended moment as she built up the courage to speak. "Chuck?" she whispered to him eventually.

There was no response from Chuck.

Not feeling satisfied just yet that Chuck was not awake, she continued on, "Are you awake, Chuck?"

Once more, she received no response.

Now relatively satisfied that Chuck was asleep and that he had not intentionally placed himself into this position with her, Sarah twisted her neck, and she raised her face up from the pillow to glance behind her.

In her sight, Chuck was soundly unconscious, and he was sleeping with his face just inches away from Sarah's, and they were sharing the same pillow.

With her glance complete, Sarah returned her head to its place of rest onto the pillow, and she started to dance and play with her toes as she entered deep contemplation.

I can't stay like this with him... I need to think logically right now. He's my assignment. God, I'm so messed up to even contemplate staying like this with him. It's not natural. Neither of us intended to end up like this. Stop fooling around, and move before he wakes up because then it would be too late!

Sarah breathed out a nervous sigh as she built up the courage for what she simply had to do. Becoming intimate with and falling for a partner once was more than enough for her. She didn't want to play this game and repeat the same mistakes again—just like she had with Bryce.

With her sigh completed, Sarah moved to climb out of Chuck's grip, and she paused to sit on the edge of the bed with her feet dangling against the base.

Climbing fully out of bed a few seconds later, she turned around to look at the bed, and Sarah paused in place. Crossing her arms, she gazed down at Chuck. He was still asleep, and his head continued to occupy the spot just behind where hers was—like two spoons made for each other—just moments ago.

Changing her glance to the position of the bed she had been in, her mind began to visualize back to the feeling of him against her for a brief moment before she started to shake her head.

He's not my boyfriend. I didn't take this assignment to find another boyfriend. How we slept through the night was simply an accident that neither of us intended. I need to forget about it and move on

Sarah quickly abandoned her position at the bedside. Moving to collect some pieces of clothing from her suitcase, she departed for the bathroom.

Arriving inside, she closed the door and proceeded to lock it.

Moving to turn on the thermostat, she undressed from her nightwear as the shower started to heat.

With her clothing discarded and with the water now heated enough, Sarah entered the shower. And as the water connected onto her, her mind was still consumed entirely by the intimate position in how she had woken.

I can't get him out of my mind! Oh god, why did we have to wake up like that? I wish we had our own rooms and that I didn't have to fake a relationship with him. Sleeping in the same bed as him is extremely difficult. It would be so much easier if he was unattractive. Why do I always have to be attracted to the people I work with?

Puffing out a deep sigh as her mind continued to race with thoughts over how she had woken up with him, she began to wash and clean herself as she started her morning…

x-x-x-x-x-x

Castle

"That concludes my topics of the briefing this morning. Langston, do you have anything to add?" General Beckman said into the conference that was taking place between Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Beckman and Graham. The three partners were all at Castle, while their bosses were present at the conference via video uplink.

"Thank you. Yes, I do have numerous items of interest to bring to you," Director Graham started. "Since the security breach a week ago, our agencies have put all of their efforts into tracing who was responsible for the breach and the attempted theft of the Intersect. In the week since the events that unfolded at the Intersect facility, multiple developments have emerged. Firstly, the worm that attacked the Intersect we have managed to trace. The malware had infiltrated the Intersect via the cipher inserted on the day of the upload. Our analysts are in the process of tracing where the worm came from and where the information was being sent to as we speak. Furthermore, a secondary device has been located at the Intersect facility. The device had been planted externally, and it has come to our attention that whoever planted it did it to tap into our entire project. The persons responsible will very likely be the same who inserted the worm onto the cipher. Once they are found, we will be sending your team to make them answer for their crimes."

"Do we have an approximate location on where the attack originated from?" Casey asked.

"Our analysts have narrowed the location to somewhere in Asia. However, they had to have had inside help for the external device to have been planted inside the facility. This was not simply just a remote hack," General Beckman said.

"Do you want us primarily to capture or to kill those responsible for these acts, General?" Chuck asked.

"Project Intersect was a top-secret project, Captain Bartowski. It is paramount that we uncover just who was responsible for the conspiracy that has taken place. We need the perpetrators alive to find out what they know," General Beckman said.

Director Graham appeared to turn uncomfortable by what General Beckman had said. "The actions of these traitors have set our efforts back to keep this country safe by up to a year. If the option is there to terminate those who are responsible, then you will have my full backing and support on the action."

There was a brief pause before Director Graham continued on. "Is there any status that any of you wish to report since the last conference we held?"

"Yes, Director, General. There was an incident last night," Sarah started.

Director Graham frowned, while General Beckman became razor-sharp in her focus towards Sarah.

"What kind of incident, Agent Walker?" Beckman asked.

"Chuck and I were returning home last night, and we encountered an altercation. A woman was violently attacked by an armed man who was attempting to rape her. Ascertaining that she needed help, Chuck intervened to prevent the attack, and his actions were very heroic," Sarah said with pride oozing throughout her tone.

Director Graham glared towards Chuck. "We are not paying you to be a police officer, nor a good Samaritan on this assignment, Chuck," he said with distaste.

Chuck leaned forward in his seat. "With all due respect, Director, I could not stand by and do nothing! I'm not that kind of guy, and I will never be that kind of guy! I understand that this assignment is extremely significant. However, I will never, and I can never, cease from putting myself in harm's way to save an innocent life if I am to encounter that scenario on my mission!" he argued his case.

"Captain Bartowski, you are required to report any incident involving yourself immediately! Why are we only hearing of this now?" General Beckman protested as she burnt a glance straight towards him.

Chuck was about to speak, but he stopped once Sarah cut in. "General, the incident occurred very late into the evening, and we were exhausted because we spent the whole weekend here planning our cover at Chuck's request. I decided to wait until this morning to inform you because the incident was resolved very quickly, and I assumed you would also want to see the reports that both Chuck and myself will be writing up today."

Chuck glanced over to Sarah, and as she met his glance, he grinned at her for her invention on his behalf. However, Sarah quickly turned her head away from him, which caused his smile to fade, and he focused his glance towards the monitors once more.

"The incident did not sound very minor, Chuck," Director Graham said. "I will expect to see both of those reports before the day is over. This concludes the briefing. We will have another at the same time tomorrow. Chuck, if you would be so kind as to remain behind, I wish to speak with you about another topic that we do not need a conference for."

Chuck nodded as General Beckman terminated her transmission, and Casey and Sarah stood.

Chuck glanced over towards Sarah briefly once more, in an attempt to display his gratitude over her act of friendship towards him, but she did not meet his gaze, and she quickly disappeared from sight.

Now alone inside the conference room, Chuck returned his glance to the monitor that Director Graham appeared on.

"I will be as brief as I can be, Chuck. Over the weekend, I have been in discussions with General Beckman, and she is in complete agreement with what I am about to convey to you. We have come to the conclusion that we require you to keep a log of all activities that you choose to participate in out of hours during the assignment."

Chuck scoffed as he started to shake his head.

This assignment just keeps getting better and better! Next, I'll be wearing diapers, and they'll soon have Sarah force me to suck on a baby's dummy!

"Does that include going to the bathroom?" Chuck asked sarcastically.

Director Graham glared at Chuck with hostility. "Very witty, Chuck! You are required to take this assignment seriously. If you do not like an instruction you have been given on this assignment, you are free to bring it up with the Director of National Intelligence. I'm sure you know how to contact him if you desire it. In fact, I would be glad to bring your concerns up with him at our weekly golf match, if you wish me to?" he said exceptionally smugly.

Chuck gritted his teeth as the Director of the CIA smirked through the screen towards him.

"Well, Chuck, if you have no further comment, then that will be all," he said, and with that, he terminated the transmission.

Chuck scoffed for a long moment.

I need a coffee! I wonder if I'm now required to make a freaking note of this development too?!

Chuck promptly departed Castle to head to a coffee shop, shaking his head the entire distance.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Castle

Sarah was at a computer terminal, and she was finishing her report of the incident that had taken place the previous night between Chuck, the criminal, and Rachel.

Requiring complete focus and composure to write up her report was a welcome addition for Sarah because it allowed her to put aside how she had woken this morning. She had also tried her very best to avoid looking at Chuck since she had departed the shower earlier this morning to avoid any kind of thoughts over how they had woken up together from resurfacing.

Sarah was, by all means, a consummate professional, and she would always be so. However, she was still a human being, and she still had her own thoughts, feelings and emotions. If she was attracted to someone, then she was attracted to them. No spy training in the world could allow her to cancel out that stark reality of the situation she was now in, but it didn't mean she needed to lose her composure and surrender herself to her feelings neither...

Sarah continued with her report for a few minutes more until she was alerted to some movement behind her. Pausing her attention from the computer screen, she arched herself to look behind her, and her glance connected onto Chuck and Casey.

Chuck had a coffee holder in his hand, and Sarah watched on as he handed one over to Casey, who nodded at Chuck, and Casey then departed to another area of Castle.

Gazing up at Chuck, he met her glance, and he grinned at her.

She returned his warm glance, and he made his way towards her.

Arriving at her person, he proceeded to hand her a coffee cup, which she graciously accepted. "Thank you," she said, smiling up at him.

He held his grin towards her. "You're welcome."

There was a brief pause as Sarah took a sip of the coffee she had just been given before she returned her glance up towards him once more.

He nodded towards the screen in front of her. "Whatcha doin'?"

Sarah followed his nod towards the screen before she returned to look at him. "I was filling out the report of the incident last night, but I'm just about finished," she said.

Still holding his warm smile towards her, he said, "I should probably fill mine out too. By the way, thanks for speaking up for me earlier. I really appreciate it."

Sarah returned his warm glance. "Chuck, you don't have to thank me. That's my responsibility as your partner to back you up, and besides, you acted very bravely last night. I know I told you not to get involved, but I didn't have a clear sight of what was happening. I assumed it to be an altercation between two men because of how dark and obstructed the alleyway's vision was. If I had known what was happening, I would have intervened without hesitation," she declared.

He held his friendly grin. "Sarah, I know that. You don't strike me as the kind of person to sit back and allow that to happen to a woman. To be honest with you, it looked like an altercation between two men for me also at first."

Sarah nodded as she held her warm glance up at him.

"Sarah, by the way, have I done anything untoward towards you since last night?" he asked suddenly in a change of topic.

Sarah started to frown, and her gaze towards him shifted into one of puzzlement and confusion. "Why would you think that you have done something wrong, Chuck?" she asked softly.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure. You just seem a little distanced from me this morning. I first noticed it when I woke, and on the journey here, you could barely look at me, and finally at the briefing a little earlier, it kind of happened then too," he informed her.

Sarah averted her glance from him briefly as she registered his words, and she became nervous. Swallowing air, she returned her glance up at him once more. "Uh, no, Chuck, you haven't done anything wrong. I'm just drained this morning, and that's why I'm distracted," she lied, feeling unable to share how she was feeling towards him and the position that they had inadvertently slept together in.

Sarah then took a mouthful of her drink.

Chuck nodded. "Ok. I didn't figure you out to not be a morning person. I guess I should watch where I sleep to avoid any kind of morning impalement if I get too close to you. Heh," he joked with a loving grin.

Sarah immediately spat the contents of the drink she had taken out on the floor, and she started to choke because some of it had entered her airways.

Frowning at her actions, Chuck said, "Sarah, are you sure you're ok? You seem dangerously on edge around me today, and it's making me feel uncomfortable. I'm not gonna lie."

Sarah took an extended moment to restore her composure from Chuck's unintended revelation of this morning's event. "Chuck, I'm fine, really. It just went down the wrong way. You have done nothing wrong. I would tell you if you had. So please stop asking me the same question repeatedly. I'm just not myself today, ok?" she said eventually, glancing up at him from where she sat.

He nodded, and he shot his arms out in confirmation. "Ok, I'll stop going on about it like a broken record. Consider the matter dropped."

She smiled. "Thank you."

x-x-x-x-x-x

Late Afternoon

Sarah's Hotel Room

Chuck and Sarah entered the room that they were staying at.

Moving to collapse onto the bed, Chuck puffed out a long sigh as he gazed up at the ceiling.

"Are you ok?" Sarah asked softly.

Chuck shifted himself to glance at Sarah as she gazed down at him with a sincere smile.

He shook his head. "Not really. I'm quite pissed off, actually."

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked as she moved to sit on the bed near to him.

"When Graham kept me back this morning, it was to order me to keep a log of everything I do off-duty. It appears that my non-existent free time has now had an additional layer of observation placed onto it!" he said in frustration as he started to shake his head.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, as she burnt a gaze into his eyes.

Chuck managed a reassuring smile towards her. "It's not your fault," he said.

Sarah held her warm gaze. "Though you have my sympathy all the same. But there must be a reason for why he did it, Chuck."

"Yeah, to get on my back every chance he has!" Chuck complained.

Sarah shook her head. "Chuck, you need to stay professional. This isn't high school. He's not your teacher. This is an important assignment, and you need to take it seriously," she stressed.

He nodded. "You're right about that. I do. But it's not you who is receiving the bullshit, Sarah," he reminded her.

"You're right. It's not. But if you need to talk, then I'm here to listen," she said with a smile of reassurance.

Chuck returned her warm glance. "Thank you. Though actually, I felt close to taking a stand against constant decisions imposed against me today," he declared.

"Oh?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah. I was close to demanding separate rooms. If Casey can have one, then so should we," he said with a grin.

Sarah suppressed a laugh. "That would be a good idea actually because you snore," she teased.

Waggling his finger at her, he said, "I do not snore."

Smiling right into his eyes, she said, "Yes, you do."

Chuck shook his head as a wide grin took shape. "Nuh-uh, no, I don't."

Sarah nodded, still holding her gaze. "Yep, you do."

Chuck suppressed a laugh, and Sarah quickly followed him in a period of laughter.

Once the dry laughter had calmed, Chuck cheekily said, "You know, there might still be a way for us to have our own bed without getting our own room."

Detecting the playfulness in his tone, she smirked widely, and she asked, "And how would we do that?"

"Maybe we can saw the bed in half, and then we'll have our own bed!" he chuckled with a massive trademark grin.

Sarah snorted multiple times as she held her loving glance towards him. "Wow, you really don't want to share a bed with me, do you?" she asked.

"What, are you kidding?" he said.

Sarah shook her head, holding her warm gaze.

"Sarah, I'll climb into bed every night with you, no questions asked. And also, for the record, while we're on this line of conversation, I find myself unable to stop myself from revealing that I would gladly engage in whatever freaky things that came to your mind in addition! But I know that's not what you want, so you have my word as an officer and a gentleman that I won't make any kind of move on you unless you did first," he said with blunt sincerity.

Sarah swallowed air, and her skin became somewhat clammy for the first time as the air inside the room suddenly seemed to deteriorate, and Sarah found it hard to catch her breath, almost as if somebody had sharply raised the thermostat.

Gazing at each other for several seconds from the positions they had taken on the bed, Sarah broke the brief silence to give her reply. "I guess I can think of worse people to share a bed with than an officer and gentleman."

Chuck grinned at her.

"Do you want to head out and share a nice evening?" Sarah asked.

Chuck nodded. "Yeah, that sounds nice," he said.

They shared a final cordial smile before the partners soon got themselves ready to head out for an evening in each other's company.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Later That Evening

A restaurant in Washington D.C.

"Sarah, do you happen to know where Graham plays golf?" Chuck asked, glancing at Sarah seated opposite him.

Sarah shook her head. "No. Why?"

Grinning, Chuck said, "Oh, I'm just planning the perfect assassination of someone who I don't like."

Sarah suppressed a laugh, and she shook her head once more, but this time in amusement. "First, you're a criminal mastermind wanting to turn Castle into your own evil spy base, and now you're a dangerous assassin. Should I be worried about having you as my partner?" she teased with a wide grin.

Gazing into her oceanic orbs, Chuck said, "Be very worried."

Sarah giggled sweetly, and Chuck suppressed laughter.

"But for the record, we all have a dark side, Sarah. I'll find out yours eventually. Personally, I'm rooting for you being a secret cannibal, 'cause I've never met one," he joked.

A bright smile lit up Sarah's features. "A cannibal? No. But I'm not very funny, and I come with a lot of baggage," she stated, gazing into his eyes.

Chuck held Sarah's welcoming gaze. "I heavily dispute you not being very funny. I'd also offer to be your baggage handler, but you'd probably kill me and dissolve my body in acid in the bathtub afterwards," he chuckled.

Sarah suddenly erupted with extreme laughter. Once she had composed herself enough to be able to speak, she said, "I only hurt people I don't like, Chuck."

Grinning, Chuck said, "I'd better make sure I stay in your good books then."

Beaming him a loving smile, she said, "Yeah, you'd better..."

The spy and the soldier soon ordered their food, and they spent the rest of the evening reveling in each other's company...

End of Chapter

AN2: Next chapter: The first mission for Team Intersect. Yes, it will be General Stanfield. Mission 2 will be Zarnow, Mission 3 will be La Ciudad, Mission 4 will be Carina, and Mission 5 will be the first AU mission of the series.

AN3 Thanks for the reviews for the story since the last chapter. I appreciate all of your feedback, whether positive or respectfully constructive. Please continue to do so, and in return, I will continue to keep the chapters coming :)