Stripped Bare

Chapter 7

Unfortunately I still don't own Chuck.

Sarah grinned at Molly, who hadn't been able to keep still the whole morning before meeting Chuck for the first time. She could understand that her sister was nervous. She would be too. In fact, she had been when her mom first introduced her to Molly.

She wondered what Chuck would think when he met her? One thing was for sure; Emma Walker's girls looked very much alike, both tall and blonde, although Molly was taller and better built than Sarah (or Sam or Jenny or Kate, as she had been known) had been at her age. Molly was big into sports so had filled out a fair amount, while Sarah had been conditioned by her life on the run to be a grazer when it came to food. It was only as she'd got older that she'd filled out a little and grown larger breasts. Before that she'd been tall and very thin.

Also, to be fair, Molly's hair was truly blonde while Sarah had to admit that her current platinum shade owed much to a bottle. Her natural color was more of a dirty blonde, which she'd never really liked.

But even though they physically resembled one another, mentally they were quite different. Sarah, conditioned by her upbringing and her experiences, was a loner who struggled to trust others and let them in. Molly was a team player, laid back, and the life and soul of the party. Both Sarah and Emma had worked hard so that Molly could have a better upbringing that Sarah. They'd both learnt their lessons and Sarah had continued Emma's legacy, seeking to give Molly all the love and support she needed to grow into what Sarah thought was a fantastic young woman.

She wasn't worried that Chuck might not like Molly, as Molly was. She also wasn't worried that Molly might not like Chuck, like Chuck was. She knew that there was so much goodwill there, and similarities, that they should both get on well.

But she was worried about whether Chuck's sister Ellie would like her, and she was deathly worried about that. Because Ellie was such a stalwart in Chuck's life, and she desperately wanted to be a part of that life. And whose sister-come-mother was going to be happy if their brother shacked up with a stripper? Especially one with a criminal record. Chuck had assured her that it would be OK, but she genuinely didn't see how it could be. Sure, she could give up her job, but then she'd be worse, she'd be a freeloader, relying on Chuck's goodwill to support her and Molly. That wasn't her either. She was no freeloader. She wanted to work and, if it wasn't for this goddamn criminal record hanging over her, she'd have a better job than this. She still hoped she'd be able to get one when she finished her business course. Maybe it would be easier in Canada than the US? She'd have to see.

One thing that the sisters also had in common was that they preferred to be in motion than still. Sitting here in the apartment was killing her as well as Molly.

"Come on," she told her sister, "Let's go to the park. It'll be better than sitting here. Bring your frisbee."

"Thank God!" Molly said, "I was gonna go mad if I had to sit here one more minute!"

So they'd probably be a bit sweaty when they met Chuck, but at least they'd be sane! "He's gonna love you honey," she tried to reassure her sister, as they walked down the stairs. There was an elevator, but they normally used the stairs. It was only the fourth floor, after all.

"I just don't wanna screw this up," Molly said seriously. "I can tell you really like this guy."

"Just be yourself and he'll love you," Sarah told the girl. Her sister was normally so confident with people, so she was genuinely surprised that Molly seemed so nervous about meeting Chuck. She'd never seen this reaction coming in a thousand years.

She knew Chuck was very nervous as well. He'd been worrying about whether he should bring Molly a present or not. She'd recommended not; Molly got presents for her birthday and Christmas, beyond that not really cos there hadn't been a lot of free cash about since Emma had died. She didn't want it to seem like Chuck was trying to bribe the young woman, since she thought he had enough to offer on his own.

They arrived at the park, which was actually quite close to the burger joint where they'd arranged to meet Chuck, and started throwing the frisbee around. This was much better than sitting in the apartment waiting for the clock to tick down. They were still twenty minutes early for lunch when a mild male voice next to her asked, "Is this a private game or may I join?"

"CHUCK!" she yelled, turning and launching herself into a hug. He wrapped her up, and gave her a warm kiss on the cheek, obviously wary about PDAs in front of the park in general, but Molly in particular. She revelled in the feel of his arms around her and his lips on her cheek after a week without seeing him.

He unclasped her before she was ready, and turned slightly away and she heard him say. "You must be Molly. I'm Chuck. Sorry to cut into your game, but I got here early and saw you playing." She turned to see Chuck holding his hand out to Molly which she accepted nervously, shaking. They smiled at one another timidly.

"I'm always worried about being late for a date with your sister, so I try to get there early," he confessed and there was something endearing about the way he said it that made both of them smile. "But then I just end up standing around getting nervous." He smiled self-deprecatingly. "Can I join in?" he asked Molly, who nodded shyly, as he looked at Sarah.

"If you think you can keep up?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe you won't be able to keep up with me Walker?" he fired back at her, grinning. "Did you ever think of that?"

"Nah not really, Nerd boy," she replied, returning his grin with interest. "But I'll help you out. I'll go in the middle to start off."

He cracked his fingers and looked at her appraisingly. "Get used to it," he said grinning and then facing Molly. "Ready, teammate?"

She grinned at him and scampered off so that there would be enough distance between them and Sarah assumed her position in between them, keeping an eye on her sister, who turned and threw the frisbee well to the right. She turned but Chuck was already moving in that direction, and she had no chance of catching him as he loped past her and caught the frisbee easily right handed, then he threw it back to Molly in one move, handily passing her.

Molly caught the frisbee at chest height right in front of her, a perfect throw, and they both looked at Chuck, surprised. "Stanford Ultimate team," he grinned back at them. "For two years!" he tilted his head at Sarah challengingly before giving her a shit-eating grin. "You really should check out the opposition before giving them a free ride!"

For five or six minutes Molly and Chuck gave her the runaround, keeping the frisbee out of her reach, and she would have kind of enjoyed the peels of Molly's laughter and Chuck's deeper laughs if she hadn't been the one being run ragged. Calls of "Loser!", mostly from Molly, echoed around her. As she was leaning on her knees trying to catch her breath, Chuck jogged over to her.

"Is the dancer out of breath?" he asked, grinning at her.

"Fuck you Bartowski!" she grunted as he gestured for Molly to come in.

"How long til lunch?" he asked, and Sarah looked at her watch.

"Ten minutes," she panted. "Take us five minutes to get there."

"Fine," he grinned. "I'll go in the middle for a while," and he handed her the frisbee. "Let's see what you've got Walkers!" He made bring it on motions as he ran towards Molly.

Sarah regarded him disbelievingly. They'd had her totally at their mercy and he'd just completely surrendered the advantage. What kind of man did that?

"Are you gonna throw that or shall we just go to lunch?" he called.

She launched one at her sister and her heart was in her mouth as he nearly intercepted it to the right. Molly returned it, curving the disk around Chuck just out of reach and she tried to do the same thing back. She would plead fatigue, but he closed the distance faster than anyone she'd ever seen and snatched the frisbee out of the air.

"Oh dear, Sarah!" he called. "Looks like you're back in the middle!" and he loped around behind her, tossing the disk back to Molly.

She glared at him for his temerity but then turned around to shoot a worse glare at her sister who threw the frisbee back to Chuck, bending it away from her. "Show off," she muttered.

"Loser!" shouted Molly, making the "L" sign with her right hand on her forehead. She turned round to focus on Chuck who was clearly trying to hide his grin.

Deciding that whether she got the frisbee or not, he was going down, she started to close the distance on him. Obviously sensing danger, he tossed it to Molly and went to dodge her, receiving the frisbee back as she closed in. He made to throw it to the left and she made herself big to block it, but then he threw it to the right as she made a last-ditch effort to block him and then dove towards him.

She tackled him to the floor. "Cheater!" he shouted before she started tickling his sides.

"I'll teach you Bartowski!" she exclaimed as she tickled him despite his laughter. What she wasn't expecting was him to fight back and then a separate set of hands to join in.

"No!" she screamed as her own sides were tickled. "Stop!"

"It's a lesson you gotta learn Walker," he observed, grinning. "Cheaters never prosper!" and the assault continued.

"Stop it!" she screeched. "Get off!"

"Payback's a bitch isn't it Sarah!" Molly's voice giggled. Just as she got her sister's hands off her, she felt Chuck's start to tickle her again.

"No!" she screeched, capturing his hands, as Molly started on her again.

"OK! OK!" she yelled, "I give!"

The tickling stopped. "What do we think?" Chuck observed, above her, "Do we believe her?"

"Nah!" Sarah could hear the grin in her sister's voice before the assault renewed. She twitched and flinched under the renewed assault for another minute, struggling to control her laughter and giggles.

"I'm gonna pee!" she screamed as it all got too much.

"I guess we'll stop then." Chuck said, matching actions to words and lying down next to her on the ground. Molly, who'd been on top of her, lay down next to her.

"I guess so," she said grinning.

"I hate both of you," Sarah growled, trying to get her breath back.

"Well, we love you," said Chuck, and Molly agreed quietly. They lay for a few more minutes, before Chuck clambered to his feet. "Guess we should go to lunch then," he said, reaching down a hand to pull Molly to her feet. The girl let him pull her up and he extended a hand to Sarah.

Deciding she forgave him, she let him pull her up, not stopping as her sister had and wrapping him up in a tight hug.

"Lovely," Chuck observed. "A handful of sweaty Sarah Walker!"

"Whose fault is that?" she asked, leaning in for a quick kiss.

"Not saying anything," Chuck said, pretending to zip up his mouth with his finger.

"That would be yours," Molly chipped in, gesturing at her. She glared at her sister with a betrayed expression.

"Et tu Brute?" she said (Molly had read Julius Caesar at school that year) and they all cracked up.

The ice was well and truly broken. Lunch was a boisterous and fun meal as they all set about getting to know one another better.

"Wow, he really is a great guy, isn't he?" Molly said as they walked in the door of the apartment late that afternoon.

"He is," she agreed grinning.

"How come he wants to go out with you?" her sister quipped, and she sent her an old-fashioned look. "Just kidding!" Molly held up her hands, but then moved in for a hug. "But seriously Sis," she said, "I'm really happy for you."

They hugged for a second. "So when you meeting tomorrow?" Molly asked.

Sarah took a deep breath. "12.30," she replied.

"You worry too much, Sarah," Molly told her. "She's gonna love you. When you're not being all serious you are quite lovable!"

"You watch it, young lady!" she exclaimed, actually rather grateful to the younger girl for not letting her dwell on her worries.

"How come you didn't ask Chuck to stay here?" Molly asked.

She grinned. "I did," she replied. "Your new best friend told me he wanted you to have your space. Didn't want to crowd you after the first meeting."

Molly looked at her appraisingly. "What did you say?"

"I was disappointed at first, but I could see where he was coming from," she replied. "I was pleased that he was looking out for you," she confessed.

"Have you told him about your history?" Molly asked.

"Yeah," Sarah replied, suddenly feeling a little weak kneed and sitting on the sofa.

"And?" Molly asked, sitting next to her.

"He told me he thinks there was a miscarriage of justice," Sarah said, tears coming at the memory of that emotional afternoon.

"And the cons?" Molly asked. Her sister knew all about her history; Sarah had insisted on telling her everything when she'd moved in with her mom.

"He told me…" she sniffed, as Molly's smaller hand sought hers. "He told me that my father was a con artist, but the fact that I'd stood up to him meant that I wasn't."

There was silence for a little while. "You should know," Molly said, squeezing her hand, "If you fuck it up with Chuck, I'll be asking him to go out with me. So you better not fuck it up!"

Sarah giggled as she reached out to wrap the younger girl in a hug. "I'll try," she said.

"You'd better," the younger Walker told her.

"Sarah!" It was 9am the following morning when Sarah answered her phone.

"Chuck!" she gasped. "Is everything OK?"

"I just got a call from Ellie. There was a bus crash this morning and they've got six people with serious spinal injuries. She won't make lunch. She sent her apologies," Chuck explained. "I wanted to call you early cos I knew you were nervous. I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No," she replied, touched by his forethought, "I didn't go back to bed after Molly left."

"What do you want to do?" he asked. "Do you still want to come into town for lunch or shall I come over to you? Or do you want to cancel altogether?"

"No way!" she replied. "I definitely want to see you," she considered it. "Why don't you come here?" she paused. "I was gonna go for a run before lunch."

"Was that because we exposed how unfit you were yesterday?" he enquired facetiously.

"Fuck you Bartowski!" she exclaimed. She'd decided to go for a run to work off some of the nervous energy but that wasn't necessary now.

"Well, why don't you drop me a text when you're thirty minutes out and I'll grab a cab?" he asked. "That should give you enough time to have a shower before I get to you."

"Yeah, that could work," she replied. "I should be back by 11am."

They signed off and a few minutes later as Sarah pulled on her shoes, her cell phone vibrated again with a text message. "Forwarded from Ellie," it read. "Sarah, sorry to have to cancel at short notice. I was really looking forward to meeting the woman my brother can't stop talking about. Hope to see you soon. Ellie."

She smiled. She liked this family.

She was just warming down, strolling back towards her apartment when a cab drew up in front of it and a familiar tall, dark-haired man got out and took his bag out of the trunk.

"Chuck!" she called, running towards him. He turned after tipping the driver and she launched into his arms, kissing him smack on the lips.

"Wow!" he exclaimed, once they disengaged. "I get two handfuls of sweaty Sarah Walker in two days. Lucky me!"

"Shut up you!" she grinned, slapping him on the shoulder. "How come you're so early?"

"Would you believe the traffic?" he replied, grabbing his case and suit bag as she let him go. "It only took thirty minutes."

"That is fast," she grinned. "Still, more time for me." She opened the door of the building and gestured him in.

"Yeah, sorry I'm so early," he apologized. They took the elevator since he had his bag.

"That's fine," she replied. "You can take a seat in the living room while I have a quick shower."

"Or," he said and she could hear the grin in his voice, "I could help you with your hair." She swung around to look at him as the elevator arrived at their floor and a bolt of arousal shot through her. He gestured her to precede him and she did, opening the door of the apartment, and practically dragging him through it, before pushing it closed.

"Don't make promises you can't keep Bartowski," she nearly growled.

"How do you know I don't intend to keep it Walker?" he grinned, giving her an eyebrow dance.

"Leave those there," she ordered tersely, pointing at his bags and the sofa. He did and she kicked her running shoes off as he kicked his sneakers off.

"In a hurry much?" he asked teasingly as she reached for the top button on his shirt.

"Shut up and help me Chuck!" She ordered, and he undid his pants and slipped them down as she abandoned his shirt and grabbed her sports bra, unhooking it and pulling it off.

"Wow!" he gasped, admiring her breasts, "That's a good look."

She grinned. "It'll be an even better look once you get your top off as well," she told him, reaching down and pulling her socks off, before pulling down her leggings. He discarded his shirt and T-shirt and stepped out of his pants as she pulled down her leggings. He pushed down his boxers, and she couldn't help admiring his half erect penis before his hands joined hers, pushing down her panties.

"Mmmf," she moaned as she turned to speak to him only to be met by his lips. "Mmm," she moaned as she opened her lips and their tongues met, rubbing against one another. He reached behind her, crouching and lifted her up, supporting her ass with his hands as she hugged him, and then they were on the move. She could feel his cock brushing against her as he carried her, and relished the feeling of contact.

He pulled back from the kiss to order. "Door," as they got to the bathroom. She let one arm go and reached out to open the door, as he took them inside and then she slammed it shut. She reached up to undo her ponytail as he gently put her down and then he pushed against her, his kiss becoming needy. "Mmmm," she moaned into it, enjoying him taking the initiative. Then she pushed away, reaching to open the shower door. She reached down and gripped his penis, grinning at him as she pulled him inside with her, pushing the shower door shut.

"Watch it woman," he teased, positioning them and it was only as he flicked the water on that she realized he was positioning her to bear the brunt of the cold water.

"Chuck!" she yelped, jumping into him as she tried to get out of the cold stream.

He didn't move and just grinned at her. "That'll teach ya," he observed, pushing her hair out of her eyes as the water started to warm up and he leaned in for another kiss.

She decided to forgive him for now (although making a mental note to pay him back for his dirty trick at a later date) and leaned into him as well. Their tongues jostled as he cupped her cheeks and then ran his fingers through her hair. Then he bent down and gently kissed down her cheek, her neck and her shoulder. She took the opportunity to grab some shower gel and rub it into her body. He grabbed her hands. "No, my job," he said, "You just relax."

He scraped the gel out of her hands and gently massaged the gel up her right arm, onto her shoulder and into her armpit. Then he did the same on her left arm. He held out his hands for more and she squeezed for him as he stole a quick kiss. Then he gently massaged the gel into her upper body, paying special attention to her breasts, which he massaged and then cupped before moving down to her sides and hips. He leaned in to kiss her again as his hand went lower still and she moaned into his mouth as his finger rubbed across and into her vulva and his thumb started to stroke across her clit. She leaned against him and he reached behind her to grasp her and pull him more against her as the water cascaded down her head and neck and his fingers and thumb massaged her pussy. He went back to kissing her, her lips, her cheeks, her neck and her ear lobes and she hummed in arousal as the pressure built up and up inside her and then, with one more stroke of her clit it released, and now he held her up as her legs suddenly weakened.

"Ohmygod," she moaned, opening her eyes and seeing a loving smile from him.

"Looks like I made you dirty again," he observed, sticking his fingers into his mouth and then rinsing them in the shower. "I guess I'd better do something about that, eh?" He held out his hand and she looked at it dumbly until he pointed to the gel. She squeezed some into his hand as he knelt down and massaged the gel into her feet and calves, her knees and thighs and then into her ass cheeks. Thinking he would come up she relaxed, which meant that she jumped with a squeak as his tongue made contact with her vulva. His hands came around behind her ass cheeks to hold her to him and his tongue flicked against her vulva and then her clit as she moaned, having to use her hands to brace herself against the side of the shower.

"Ohmygod," she moaned again as a finger gently entered her and started pumping her. His tongue continued to caress her clit as the pressure started to build inside her again. She reached down to stroke his head, desperate to touch him, as he carried on massaging her with his finger and his tongue and the pressure built and built. And then the wave broke, and she moaned in ecstasy as she found herself clenching around his finger.

"Mmmm," he hummed as he finished cleaning her out with his tongue. He pulled himself to his feet. "You taste lovely," he said, leaning in to kiss her.

She pulled him to her into a deep kiss, tasting herself on him, but desperate to have more of him as she hugged his body along her length. After a minute of heavy necking he pulled back, holding out his hand. "Shampoo," he said as she looked at him askance.

"Fuck," she growled at him.

"Nope," he shook his head. "Hair first, then fuck. I won't let it be said that Chuck Bartowski welches on his promises!"

"Chuck!" she moaned, desperate to feel him inside her.

"Hair first," he insisted, flicking her still-sensitive clit with his finger.

She moaned and handed over the shampoo. He squeezed out a huge dollop on her head and then proceeded to massage it in. "Shiiit," she moaned as her body turned to goo, and she rested her head on his shoulder. "Ohmygod." He proceeded down her head and finished the rest of her hair.

"Conditioner," he requested, and this time she just handed it to him, before going back to her serious resting. This time it was even more relaxing as he gently massaged her head, turning her around so that he could get to the front and the back, ignoring her moans as he continued his work. He eventually progressed down her head, rubbing the conditioner into the rest of her hair.

"Ohmygod Chuck," she groaned. "That's my new favorite thing."

She could hear the grin in his voice. "Good, my princess needs to be pampered." He fell silent as he brought his hands back to her head and gave her another massage, then he gently guided her head under the shower and washed the conditioner out with long strokes.

"Brush," he ordered. And she pushed her plastic brush into his hand as he gently drew it through her hair, working out the knots. Finishing up, he kissed her on the lips and reached over to turn the shower off. She pulled him into a hug.

"That was amazing," she told him, and she felt him smile again.

"I enjoyed it too," he told her, "I'll always be happy to do that." She wasn't sure if he meant the fingering, the oral sex, or the hair. She would be happy with any of them!

"You can do that any time you like," she told him, opening the door and grabbing some towels from outside. He gently wrapped one around her, drying her by touching the water off her skin and then he tied his towel around his waist. He wrapped her hair in a smaller towel.

"Beautiful," he observed.

"Are you for real?" she asked as he led her to the bedroom. "You give me two orgasms, you do something to me that nobody's ever done, that's totally non-sexual but rocks my world, and now you're gonna put me to bed?"

"I just wanted you to be able to relax for a bit," he replied, before looking into her eyes.

"Sarah, I'm falling in love with you," he continued. "Giving you pleasure? That gives me pleasure. Doing something that makes a difference to this very hardworking and dutiful life you lead. That gives something back to you. I love doing that for you. I'm not a saint, by the way. I mean I hope we'll have sex today. I hope we'll have lots of it and I hope we'll need a shower later to clean off. But it in no way means that I didn't love giving you pleasure and I'm going to carry on trying to do that for as long as you'll have me."

She leaned in to hug him. "I'm falling in love with you too, Chuck Bartowski," she told him. And who wouldn't fall in love with a man that made it his life's work to please you? She'd never experienced anything like this before. She lay down on the bed and beckoned him to come in next to her. He did and grabbed her, cradling her against him. They rested like that for a long time.

They had made love afterwards. Of course they had. And once again, it had been amazing. It was like they kept raising the bar. She'd lost track of the number of orgasms he'd given her now in their relationship, but it was well in excess of the rest of her life put together.

They'd decided on take out for lunch and she'd ordered pizza. She'd had her usual vegetarian with no olives, and he'd ordered pepperoni. They'd talked about lots of things. That was one of the things she liked about Chuck. He talked to her like an equal; he didn't talk down to her because of her job like a lot of people did. They talked about her business course and his real estate search, his company, happenings at the club. Chuck was interested to find out about her relationship with Carina and she'd explained how she'd taught Carina kickboxing.

"You kickbox?" Chuck had exclaimed.

"Yeah," she replied. "I'm also pretty lethal with throwing knives," she told him.

He gulped. "I wish I'd known that before I teased you!"

She grinned at him. "Don't worry Chuck, I'd never do you any permanent damage!"

"Not reassuring Sarah," he said, grinning.

She'd given him a reassuring kiss. "Poor baby," she replied.

"So, changing the subject," he said, grinning, "are you planning to change jobs when you finish your business course?"

She'd grimaced. "That's a more difficult question than you might think, Chuck," she replied, going on as he raised his eyebrows at her. "Any other job would need to pay well, and that's really been the problem. It's been tough to get a well-paying job with my record. Stripping pays the best of anything I've been able to access."

"But why Sarah?" he asked. "I'm not blowing smoke but you're really smart. I would think any employer would love to have you?"

"It's not that easy," she replied. "Trust me, it's been tough." She gave a sad sigh, and he sat down next to her and wrapped her up in a hug.

"I'm sorry that you've had such a tough time," he told her, rubbing her back.

"It's just…" she trailed off, sniffling.

"What?" he asked.

"Chuck," she said, "I really like you, but how are you gonna explain to your friends that you're dating a stripper?"

He sat back, using his thumbs to wipe her tears away from her cheeks. He smiled at her. "Sarah, honey. Do I think you've got more to offer than what you're doing? Yes. Hell, yes! Do I understand and respect why you're doing it? Massively so. And let's face it. We wouldn't have met if you weren't, so it's not an issue for me. And if my friends have an issue with it, that's their problem, not yours and certainly not ours."

"I love you. I think you're a very special person and I want to be part of your life. What you do for a job is neither here nor there." He sighed. "Do I wish you didn't have to do it? Yes. But for you, not for me. And I hope you don't mind but I am looking into something that might give you more of a choice. I'm gonna wait to see if that pans out before I say anything else about it. But even if it did, it's still your choice. If you wanna carry on stripping, you will have my 1000 per cent support. If you wanna do something else, you will still have my 1000 per cent support. Because when you love someone that's what you do."

She looked at him. Truth and empathy shone out of his eyes, and she knew that he one hundred per cent believed what he was saying. That didn't mean that she didn't have doubts though. It was OK now, but would it still be in a few months, maybe a few years? She guessed she'd have to cross that bridge when or if she came to it. She hoped she wouldn't.

"Thank you, Chuck," she said tremulously.

He pulled her into a hug. "I love you, Sarah Walker," he told her.

There was only one response to that, and their pizzas ended up cold.

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