I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point.

Warning: Well, actually the worst is over. Any Charah Shipper who is still with us can breathe easier. There is still some fairly significant implied sex.

What happened on Sarah's mission with the Giles character in Pink Slip? It's an invalid question. The true answer is nothing. They are fictional characters. They only exist to the extent that we see them on the screen. That's where fanfic writers come in. We fill in those gaps and give our interpretations of stories the show couldn't or wouldn't tell. So based on what we saw, you could write a story where Giles was Sarah's Sunday School teacher and the pool scene was him inviting his class over for some friendly swimming and lemonade. Nobody could tell you that you're wrong. If anyone couldn't accept the premise, they'd be unlikely to enjoy the story, but would have no basis to say it was wrong.

Likewise, this is my interpretation. I think it's a reasonable explanation of what we saw but I fully recognize that's in the eye of the beholder. It's neither right nor wrong. It's a fictional story. If any 'beholder' can't accept the premise, they are unlikely to enjoy the story. I have zero problems with that.

I'm… well surprised isn't the right word. I expected it. But I scratch my head at some comments. People either say that Chuck will never forgive her or that he is a doormat and blaming himself. What I don't get is what these people think it is that Sarah has done wrong that needs to be forgiven? She is on a legitimate infiltration assignment, one she's been trained for, one her CIA sisters routinely do.

Moreover, at this point if she decided that she wanted to move to San Diego and make it her life's work to hump the entire U.S. Navy, one or more sailors at a time, who is Chuck to object? Yes, she was hurt and lashed out. She took this mission hoping he would learn where she was and why. She imagined him watching the tape. She probably imagined him staked out naked on an ant hill. But isn't that what heartbroken people do? And yes, she fanaticized about Chuck watching the tape. She used that to get back in Giles good graces. But she never actually wanted him to see it. She was mortified when it happened.

So Chuck is pissed at her. She's equally pissed at him. They are going to scream at each other. They have a ton of things to work out. Both have good points. But whatever she did with Giles isn't one of those things. That comes with being a spy. I think the show was pretty cowardly ignoring that once they were together. Bottom line, they are in love with each other. They just need a push to admit it and start acting like it. Enter Carina.

I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge my friend VSC here. There are a couple of key scenes coming that we wrote over a series of emails, each tweaking things until it was right.

I would still appreciate your comments. The worst thing for an author is silence. You can't tell if you're connecting with your readers, if they're getting where you think the story is going or not. And those comments don't have to be praise. Of course, I'd be lying if I tried to say that I don't enjoy the praise. But I actually learn more from the critical comments. Just as long as you're respectful and allow me to respond, you can say anything.

The Dusty Road

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah sat silently in the back seat until Carina had driven the car safely out of the compound. "We're clear," she finally announced.

As they traveled silently down the road Sarah could feel the emotions of the past weeks build up in her. Finally, she burst. "What the fuck was all that about?" she demanded hotly. "You show up in the middle of a serious assignment? Are you trying to blow my cover? Do you really want to find my mutilated body beside the road someplace?"

"Relax," Carina said with a heated glance into the back seat. "Based on what I just watched, you were doing a bang up job of blowing your cover all on your own. We were following orders. Beckman wants to talk to you."

"Orders, my ass," Sarah said. "Did Beckman tell you to feel me up in my room for five minutes?"

"Okay. So maybe I wasn't completely following orders to begin with," Carina admitted. "That was… my own intelligence gathering. I'll explain later."

"WHAT?"

Carina slammed on the brakes. The car came to a sliding stop with a cloud of dust from the dry road in the middle of nowhere in the desert. "I'm following my orders now. We might was well get this part of them over with," she growled as she slammed the car into park. "Get the fuck out." She turned to Chuck who was sitting in the passenger seat. "You, too."

As soon as they were all standing on the side of the deserted road, Carina started her rant. "You two are fucking incredible." She turned to her best friend. "You're a train wreck. Besides possibly breaking every rule in the book, I have no clue what you could possibly see romantically in this man. He is so far from your 'pretty boy' type that it's ridiculous. He's a fucking analyst-wanna-be-spy-washout who works in a damn Buy More for fuck's sake. Enough said?"

Carina turned to Chuck. "Likewise, I have no clue what you could possibly see romantically in this woman. You want her because she looks good naked? Really? That's far too shallow, Chuck. That makes you no better than the mark. She's a burnt out, emotionless robot who doesn't have a clue how to love. Sorry to pour cold water on your fantasy, but her reputation is that she's not even all that good in bed… maybe if she unclenched her ass for two minutes sometime. You're the type of man who, if she noticed you at all, she'd chew you up and spit you out like a sunflower seed."

Chuck and Sarah stood staring at her sadly until Carina took a deep, cleansing breath. "But here's the truth," she finally said. "You are both in love with each other. I can't claim to understand how or why. But it's obvious to anybody who bothers to look. Currently, you're both pissing something away that could be great. And all because you each have the maturity of a five year old. So if you're going to act like five year olds, I'm going to treat you like five year olds. You're not getting back into that car until you've worked it out."

Sarah paused for a long moment remembering the pain of Prague. "He doesn't love me," she said. "I don't believe it."

Chuck did a double take as they squared off on each other. "I don't love you?" he asked sarcastically. "I love you so much that it hurts. I always have. You're the one."

Blinking hard, Sarah's eye grew angry and large. She was too angry to try and be reasonable. And what she said next started an intense volley of words that grew quicker and louder as they shot back and forth.

"And that's why I had to watch you rolling around in bed with Jill Roberts… with that midget Deli Bitch Lou. What was she? Twelve? –"

"- like you would ever allow me in bed with you. Miss Ice Queen? Give me a break. I begged you every day for two years for one shred of hope."

"I offered to run away with you! Does that sound like an Ice Queen, asshole? –"

"- Oh yeah. I forgot. Right after you offered to run away with Bryce. If he hadn't been killed, you'd be in bed with him right now. Admit it… I was second choice. I'll always be second choice."

"Are you really this dense? I was never going to leave with Bryce. Come on, Chuck. You have to have known that. Bryce knew. Do you really think I was ever thinking about leaving you for Bryce? Are you really too stupid to see the impossible situation I was in? I was trying to protect you. -"

"- I'm not too stupid to realize that, larger than life, Agent Walker was never going to be happy with an asset who was stuck working in a Buy More or what it would mean if we ran off. What we'd both be giving up! Are you too stupid to see that I was doing this for you? That I was trying to become a spy so maybe we could have it all? Maybe really earn the privilege to be with you?"

"You're an idiot! That's not something that you earn! Even if it was, you earned it damn near the moment I met you! I don't want you to be a spy! I'd have done anything to make a living! I'd have waited tables. I'd have worked in a fucking Taco Bell! – "

"- Right. Maybe you could do porn movies. I don't know what they pay, but from where I'm standing, that's something you'd be good at."

When she stopped seeing red and could focus, all Sarah saw was the image of Chuck sitting on the ground holding his face. She had no hope of keeping the tears from streaming down her own face when it occurred to her what she had done.

But in a way it broke the tension between them. "I'm so sorry that I hit you," she said softly, slumping to sit next to him on the dusty road and burying her head into his shoulder. Sarah looked stricken. If they were going out to a fancy dinner, some serious dry cleaning and makeup repair would now have to be involved. "That was unacceptable. You're right. I haven't treated you very fairly. It was easy to hide behind the job. But the truth is; I was scared. Being in love is a first for me. Admitting it was hard, even to myself. I didn't handle it very well. You didn't deserve that."

"You never told me that… that you were in love… with…"

Sarah was fighting to gather her composure. "I know," she said. "It was hard enough admitting it to myself. I'm sorry. Sometimes, I'm a hothead. It makes me say and do stupid things. I should never have said those things. But I especially never, ever should have hit you."

"Don't be sorry, it was only a slap," he said, rubbing his red cheek. "Felt like a sledgehammer… but I had it coming. I shouldn't have said that. I was being an asshole. I broke your heart just when you were starting to trust me. You deserved so much more when we met at the Nadrazi station. I get that you were hurt. I should have found a way to handle it better. But I knew if I looked at you much longer… if we started talking, I wouldn't be able to go through with it. We'd run and you'd eventually resent me for it. But it wasn't that I don't love you. I can't tell you how awful you thinking that… all of this makes me feel."

"I trusted you long before that," Sarah said weakly. "Chuck, I fell for you a long, long time ago… sometime after you fixed my phone and before you started defusing bombs with computer viruses. I wanted to tell you every single day, but I never could. In fact, I told you the opposite. I was a coward. You're the only man I've ever… um. I can't tell you how awful you thinking differently makes me feel."

Slowly Sarah lost her battle with her composure until she was uncharacteristically sobbing into Chuck's shoulder. "I… really… miss… you," she sobbed. "Chuck, I'm so sorry."

Chuck put his arm around her and pulled her in. "I miss you too," he said. "I'm the one who is sorry."

Sarah was finally able to regain her composure. They sat there for a long moment, just silently holding each other. "I think that I just threw up in my mouth a little," Carina finally teased, her huge grin belying her gruff words.

Chuck lifted his head. "She sounds just like Casey."

That broke the tension and got them all laughing. Sarah's tears turned into a giggle, her face still buried in Chuck's shoulder.

"That went well," Carina said. "I thought that I was going to have to threaten to shoot you. I hope that you both know what you're getting into here, but I'm happy for you. I'm afraid we're going to have to move the makeup sex to the back seat of the car. We're on a schedule. Actually, maybe it's better if we keep it to makeup 'second base necking' for now. When I watch you get together for the first time, I'll want a much better view. And we really do have to meet with Beckman first."

Of course, it was no surprise when Chuck and Sarah got into the back seat of Carina's Cadillac with wary caution, like they were walking on broken glass.

The drive back to Burbank gave all of them time to think about what was happening. For all of Carina's teasing, there would be no makeup sex. Second base necking was a longshot. At first, it was even more than a little tense. Sarah was a hothead. Her emotions had just gone through the wringer. She had been pissed to the point of hitting him. And she wasn't the type of person to downshift that quickly. The first twenty minutes or so was made in relative silence until Chuck finally broke it. At the moment, they were sitting on their respective sides of the posh leather seats, both of them trying to figure out what to do with their hands. "So... you accepted this mission because of what I did in Prague?"

In the front seat, Carina hid her wince. "Idiot," she whispered under her breath.

Sarah glanced at Chuck askance and then directed her flat gaze out the window. "Partly," she said. "It was the only mission the Director offered when I said I needed one. I just wanted to forget. It seemed... perfect for that."

Carina shook her head. Sarah was being far less than truthful. She had picked this mission specifically, knowing exactly what it meant, and over her pointed objection, for one reason. Childish spite.

"I'm sorry... that it came down to this for you. I do love you, you know? I always have. Please don't forget... us."

"Do you? Do you really?" Sarah wasn't going to say the word. "It seemed like you were ready to forget us on that train platform."

"You're right. It did. I wish it didn't. I should have said more, but I couldn't. Sarah, I know you want normal," Chuck said making quotes with his clearly nervous fingers. "But we'll never have that. Not completely… at least not any time soon. If being a spy couple meant we could be together and help people, I was willing to accept that. At least that way we could have a little normal with our family and friends. Running wouldn't have given us that, not a real life. You know that you wouldn't have been happy for very long. I couldn't live with that."

"Yeah, I eventually figured that out. Blind rage has a way of turning to crystal clarity," Sarah said, turning back to Chuck with a wan smile. Her anger had faded. They had wasted two years. "But I hope you realize now what a huge leap that was for me, to throw it all away for you like that. I was ready to do it before you downloaded that dammed 2.0, too."

"Huh?"

"Uh huh. I was trying to tell you that at the wedding reception... before your damn dad interrupted with television soap opera-like timing. I thought for sure you got it anyway... that you saw enough in my eyes to put it together... that you see it now."

Chuck slowly blinked like he was trying to take himself back to that night. "So that was what that was about? Bryce told me you weren't going with him. Did that mean?..."

Carina's chin dropped as she growled low. "Pathetic. Dense. Like granite. Compromised... love sick..." Her words trailed off into a disgusted gurgle.

The two of them hadn't even been aware how they'd been inching closer to each other as they spoke. How their eyes were now finally seeing what they were trying desperately to convey when Sarah's hand came up and glided over Chuck's cheek made red by her slap. That first kiss was tender, filled with reconciliation and want; a portent for more. And it slowly became more.

But after a few moments of trying to ratchet the passion up even more, Sarah realized that despite everything Chuck had witnessed today he was still being frustratingly cautious with his hands; being the gentleman he always was. Damn it, why did he have to be this way now? Propriety be damned. There were times when it didn't have a place, and this was one of them. She wanted the Chuck she saw steaming the windows up with that girl Lou in a Nerd Herder. She wanted him now… partly to help erase the memory of Giles… but mostly because she found herself on fire. So Sarah took the initiative.

Somehow, her hand had wound up on his thigh. The sensation made her fingertips tingle. The tingle became electric as they slid up his leg and ghosted over the bulge in his impeccably tailored tuxedo trousers. Her breath then caught full in her throat. Sarah Walker pulled back from the kiss and stared at Chuck dumbstruck. Either he had a lead pipe strapped to his leg or this was a wonderful surprise. And it didn't feel like lead. Chuck sheepishly smiled.

The exact opposite of what any reasonable person would have expected under the circumstances then happened. Though they were still sitting as close as they could get, Chuck and Sarah had settled back in their seats with their hands in their respective laps, like two teenagers being chaperoned by a parent to the prom, reduced to fervent, longing glances.

In the driver's seat, Carina groaned as she shook her head and her eyes rolled in the rear view mirror. She pressed harder on the accelerator.

"God, I really have my work cut out for me."

x-x-x-x-x

It had been the best hour of Sarah's life, no close second. The relief of hearing the truth… of finding out how dead wrong about everything she had been. Soon enough there might be some guilt to work out. But for right now anyway… wow.

They were in the main briefing room at Castle, holding hands, and standing at attention… ready to face the music.

General Beckman was clearly exasperated by the situation. "Thank you for your brutally frank report, Agent Miller. You are now as fully up to speed on the Intersect and Project Bartowski as I can condense into the short time we have. You have your orders. You'll soon be learning more. I'm assigning Colonel Casey to give you the full briefing." The general then turned her cool gaze to Sarah. "Agent Walker; Agent Miller is now the team lead. If I was your boss at the CIA, I would have you in a cold dark cell after the treasonous stunt you pulled in Prague."

Sarah's mouth fell open.

"That's right; we knew all about it the minute you asked Chuck to run here in Castle. Fortunately, Chuck had enough sense to not get on that train with you. If he hadn't, we would have apprehended the both of you the moment you stepped onto it, and the aftermath would have been grim. Agent Miller has convinced me that you can still be an asset. She has a plan that can make you an effective team. That's the only reason you're even standing here. If she tells me that you resist her leadership, even a tiny bit, I'll gladly throw you in that cell and throw away the key. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Sarah didn't know what else to say. She was so beside herself that it felt like an out-of-body experience.

"I'm so happy you agree," Diane Beckman huffed derisively before closing the file in front of her and taking off her reading glasses. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, given all that has happened." Her sharp eyes shot to Chuck. "Don't say it, Agent Bartowski."

"Agent Bartowski?" a stunned Chuck softly replied.

"That's the part that is hardest to believe. I'm reinstating you as a probationary agent, pending further training to get you where I want you. I'm putting Operation Bartowski back into the field. Agent Walker, we should have had our heads examined for allowing you to attempt such an intimate assignment. We have no choice. Agent Miller, Agent Walker; I'm pulling you back off the CIA duty roster. You will work alongside Agent Bartowski and Colonel Casey and report directly to me. Your initial assignment will be to bring down Roberto Giles and his organization. That is all," the General finished, saying the last three words slowly and concisely.

Chuck couldn't tear his eyes away from the now blank screen. "Beckman put you in charge?" he asked vacantly. "Exactly what does that mean?"

Carina made no effort to keep the gloating grin from her face. "It means whatever I decide that it means," she mocked. "You heard her. My job is to get you two working as an effective spy team… using any and all means necessary. That means both your asses are mine. That wasn't figurative. If you're going to remain spies, you're going to have to get past me."

"Wait a minute," Sarah protested. "I've been a spy for ten years. I'm senior to you."

"Yeah," Carina replied. "You were... but get over it. We went through advanced training together. When you were in charge I followed your orders without question. I demand the same from you. And that was before you broke the first rule of being a spy. You've been demoted. You're actually the one I'm most disappointed in. Chuck here doesn't understand what being a spy means. You do. So explain to me why I had to save your cover from being blown four different times already today?"

Chuck could see the red climbing up Sarah's face. He quickly jumped in to try and defuse Carina's gloating. "What don't I understand about being a spy?" he asked. "I've been watching Casey and Sarah every day for two years."

Carina shook her head defiantly. "No you haven't. You don't have a clue what deep undercover spies do. You've been an asset in a very controlled environment. If we're going to take the training wheels off, you have to understand something. You're in love with her. That simply has to be factored into whatever we do. If you really understood her, you'd realize that she's got it ten times worse than you do and has for years now. She's just too emotionally stunted to say it. I get all that. In a way, I'm even happy for you. But I refuse to allow it to affect our performance. Spies don't get much personal time. When you're on assignment, which is most always, you become the role assigned to you. During an assignment, she is not your wife or fiancé or whatever the fuck you two work out. She is whatever we need her to be."

Carina's eyes bored in on Sarah before she continued. "She's now your partner. She assumes the role assigned to her on assignment. I'm afraid that includes your sex life. Now we have no choice. She was the best there was… until she fell in love. Chuck, you messed with her head. She foolishly volunteered for an assignment that she wasn't equipped to perform just to spite you. The morons at the CIA were so impressed with the great Agent Walker's history of success that they allowed it to happen. Similarly, you're not equipped to watch that happen. But now we're stuck. This is too important. It's vital that Giles' organization be crushed. He's far too savvy to play games with. So we'd better, pretty quickly, get you both equipped."

Chuck's voice was pretty unconvincing. "I think we're committed to do whatever is necessary," he said weakly.

Carina grinned. "Really?" she asked sarcastically. "That's good news. For the next few weeks, her role is that of a cocaine addicted sex toy… owned by another man." She watched for his reaction before twisting the knife. "You're going to watch her squirm with her face contorted in uncontrollable passion as he holds her down and screws her right in front of you," the wryly smiling DEA agent continued. "You're going to hear her scream out fake orgasms and tell him how much she loves him. You're going to believe that she really is into this… and maybe sometimes she will be. You're going to watch her perform every sex act you can imagine, and many that you can't, being passed around from one man to another, and all with a sweet submissive smile. So you're telling me that you're up for that?"

Chuck didn't answer. He just looked at her sadly.

"I didn't think so," Carina said. "There is only one way to get through an assignment like that, and that is to get into it. She can't do it, and you can't watch it. We're going to have to change the script. That's where you and I come in. We have one day to teach her how to enjoy sex with you… outside the bedroom. I know that you don't believe this right now, but you're going to enjoy your role."

Carina laughed at the look of shock on Chuck's face. She turned back to Sarah. "Agent Walker, your position on the team has changed. Chuck is the most valuable spy in the world, much more valuable than Casey and you and I and whoever else the fuck you can think of put together… as long as he learns to control the Intersect. That's why Beckman put me in charge. You are no longer his handler. We're hoping his being in love with you is the catalyst that makes him effective."

Agent Miller's finger pointed right between Sarah's eyes. "You're his partner, in every way. The Psyche guys say that sexual arousal may be one of the most effective forms of positive stimulus besides the repulsive emotional ones that we just got rid of. If we can make this work, we'll become the top team in the world. We'll get our choice of the plumb assignments. After this particular assignment is over, your new job is to figure out what inspires him to flash, experiment until you can make it happen on demand, and do whatever it takes, whenever it is needed. You're actually the one I'm most worried about, blondie."

Carina didn't give Sarah a chance to respond. She turned to Chuck. "Your role is as a drug lord. The mark plainly likes you. We're going to use that to try and get him into a controlled environment. We're going to work out swapping me for Walker. We're going to try and get out of her actually having sex with anybody but you. But we have to be prepared for any circumstance. At best that still means you and Agent Walker will have to perform for an audience to sell it. Just like her, the only way to get through this kind of assignment is to make yourself get into it. I'm going to teach you how to do that. This is no place to be a nice guy. We're not talking about making love here. You don't ask her for things. You just state your expectations and watch as she makes them happen. You need to make it a game with the mark to see which can come up with the most degrading activities. Make yourself get into it. Laugh and joke with him while we're performing. Make him your best friend. We're going to use that."

"How did you get Beckman to make you our team lead... read you in?" Sarah finally ground out, clearly trying to change the increasingly uncomfortable subject, her voice as flat as the expression on her face.

"Two reasons. One: because I took the initiative and came to get Chuck when it looked like you were going to more than blow it with Giles. Two: because when the General tracked me and Chuck down after we gave his security detail the slip, I told her I thought you and Chuck could still be a great team if you had a leader you could trust. I'm keeping your ass out of prison. Remember that."

Carina laughed derisively and rolled her eyes as she looked at their dumbfounded faces. "I know, the question is hanging in the air. Do you trust me enough? We can make this work," she said. "You're both going to discover that being in love will make this work… that playing a role with someone you love can be very, very exciting. We're going to be practicing some situations in a while."

She held up a single finger for emphasis. "I'm giving you one night of personal time on your own. Go back to Sarah's room. Make the most of it. It's the only time you're going to have to be Chuck and Sarah until this assignment is over. I'd suggest that you use it wisely. Talk about your future, screw, talk about your future while you're screwing, that's up to you."

Carina looked at her new team. They hadn't stopped holding hands once. She knew that she had to be harsh to get Sarah in line. Hopefully in time, she'd realize that it was out of love. Beckman was being intentionally harsh. She had been willing to go along and play matchmaker… to a point, but she was also itching to make an example out of them if this went south. Sarah's wasn't the only career on the line here. But Carina had been studying the girl for ten years. Given the right stimulus, which only Chuck could provide, Sarah could turn into the sexiest woman around. Ironically, more importantly given the right stimulus, which only Sarah could provide, Chuck could turn into the most powerful spy in the world. Ultimately this would make them all very happy… and the very best spy team in the world.

"At oh eight hundred, I want you back here standing at attention," Carina said. "Clothing is optional… and pointless. You're going to prove to me that you can handle what is coming without getting us all killed. Maybe that should factor into your decision on how many ways you consummate your new relationship tonight. You're dismissed. The clock is ticking."

"We'll start training immediately."

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