I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point.
I did a story a while ago called Upper Hand. The premise was that there were things we didn't see on the screen that changed the story. From WT/WT, it became the story of them being secretly together and trying to hide it.
This won't be exactly like that. But we'll see some things happen that we recognize from the first part of season three. We've already seen Sarah slap him. Those things will just be in a context of them being fiercely in love and willing to fight the world for the right to be together.
So, I'm getting lots of comments that Chuck and Sarah got together too soon. I scratch my head a little at that. In fact, I think in the show, they artificially stretched it our far too long. A lot of people think it's going to take some time for Chuck to forgive Sarah. My basic question is, what has Sarah done wrong that needs forgiving? She's on a legitimate infiltration mission, doing what spies do. And yes, what Chuck saw was a little jarring. But he expected to see something like that. Carina fully told him what to expect. I think that Chuck can separate Agent Walker from Sarah.
Sarah had already come to the conclusion that she would always be in love with him, needed to find him, and work things out as soon as possible… up to and including groveling.
Chuck was there because he was in love with her.
So okay, Sarah was heartbroken and did some childish things. I don't think that bothers Chuck. He's too happy that they are finally together after two years.
For those of you who want to see Chuck upset at her, be careful what you wish for.
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 New Team
x-x-x-x-x
They were back in the main room at Castle… ready to learn how to properly conduct an undercover orgy. Sarah was trying hard to keep the mood light. Chuck was plainly nervous. So she assured him that Carina was an expert at this and quickly had him laughing at some of the outrageous things she had seen from their years together.
Yesterday, Carina had said that clothing was optional. Sarah also assured Chuck that she wasn't kidding at all. Knowing Carina, she was going to push Chuck farther today than would be required. She might even insist that he include her in some activities. After all, Giles thought they were in the middle of a kinky threesome. So, at minimum, they should expect to lose their clothes soon enough. It was an odd place to be naked. There were cameras pointed at them from every possible angle. More hopefully Casey wasn't somewhere watching. That would be a little creepy. Most hopefully Beckman or her staff leads wasn't watching. That would be a lot creepy. So although being naked would probably earn them some points with Carina, they decided to stay dressed until she insisted.
It was funny. Going on an assignment that included public sex plainly wasn't Chuck's first choice. He was going to do his best and get through it. That was his promise to her. If Sarah had any hangover doubts from Prague, they were long gone now. He was proving how much he loved her with every breath.
It was actually now Sarah who was most concerned. Oddly she wasn't tired at all. That was unusual. They hadn't gotten much sleep last night. There was no question but that her outlook on life had dramatically changed. She always knew that making love with Chuck would be great. It was one of the main things that thinking about got her to sleep almost every night for the past two years. She simply wasn't prepared for how great it actually was. It blew away her already sky high expectations.
Okay, first times were always special. It was natural that the first time would be exciting… especially since she had daydreamed about it so often. Sex had a different meaning for Sarah. It had always been a weapon, a bargaining chip, at best a momentary feel-good release of tension. But this was fundamentally different for her… and she knew it. To the old Sarah, this feeling would have been uncomfortable, scary even. Not only wasn't it scary, she couldn't get enough. And the sex… the truth was that each time kept getting better and better as they became more comfortable with each other. Chuck was unlike any other man she had ever known. He was perfect. He took charge. He gave her assignments, yet he was tender and loving. Where ever he went, he made sure that she was right there with him. He instinctively knew what would excite her. Okay… maybe that wasn't so impressive since most everything excited her… still. Even the cuddling between love making sessions was magical.
There was now zero question. Sarah knew she could never go back to the way it was before. If anything, she felt foolish for wasting two whole years. This was her new life. So now the only place she wanted to be was back in her room figuring out how much better it could possibly get. It was sad that it probably would be some time before this mission was over and that could happen. Hopefully she wouldn't wear him out, although there was no sign of that happening yet. He was proving to be surprisingly durable.
But they had to get through this mission. She wasn't exactly sure what Carina had in mind… and that scared her. Giles had expectations. The last thing she wanted was to go back to that compound and put unpleasant thoughts in Chuck's head about her with other men. He was being sweet about it. Did she expect anything less from him? Still, he had already seen one too many examples of that. She also wasn't crazy about having to look Giles in the eye, even if Carina was going to be able to get her out of any more sex with him. If he insisted on… well, anything, there would be no way to refuse.
Carina had arranged for a couple of sofas to be placed in strategic positions in the open area. That obviously meant that Casey was around somewhere. That was a little disconcerting. After all, it was pretty obvious, in general terms anyway, what they were for. As it turned out, now Sarah was sorta hoping it would include some sex. As long as it was going to be required, hopefully she could look Chuck in the eyes and get him over any issues. Besides, she was already on fire and ready to prove something to the new team lead. They had even saved some things last night, including the now famous thing on that tape, knowing it would probably happen today. So even though they wanted to hold hands, they followed the instructions to the letter and stood next to each other with their arms at their sides.
"I hope you enjoyed your night," Carina said as she appeared in the room. "Are you ready to get to work?"
"Can I say something, first?" Chuck asked.
"Of course."
"We've talked about this. We appreciate what you're doing. You're absolutely right. We both need to learn some things to get through this assignment. So we're going to put our wants on hold, and honestly try and do everything you tell us."
Carina smiled. "That's nice, Chuck. If this works the way I hope, you're going to find that your wants and the mission are not necessarily mutually exclusive." She turned to Sarah. "What about you, blondie?"
"Chuck's right. We talked about this. I got us into this mess. So, while we'd love to have to some time to grow together as a couple, we understand that this assignment comes first. We have to get through it alive. I get that I'm not the perfect agent to play this sex toy role. I could use your mentoring. So I'll do whatever you tell me. If I could ask for one favor… I'm asking you this honestly as my best friend. I'll do anything you ask. But please, please don't ever make me be naked in front of Casey. That would be… going nuclear… for both of us."
Carina's smile turned thoughtful. "We'll see," she said, in a noncommittal tone. "Maybe we'll keep that possibility open… as a possible… um… incentive for you and Chuck to do your very, very best. Fair?"
It wasn't a fair punishment. Of all the things that were going to happen today, Chuck probably wouldn't mind her being naked in front of Casey… if only for the amusement factor. But challenging Carina was a bad idea. It was the fastest way to insure it happening. "Yes," Sarah said sadly.
"It's a shame," Carina said. "Really none of this is necessary. There is a much easier way."
Well, that certainly got Chuck's attention. "How is that?" he asked.
Carina looked at Chuck thoughtfully. "Why do you think we don't just kill him?" she asked. "We know exactly where Giles is. We've had someone on the inside of his compound for two whole weeks. I know enough about Agent Walker to know that she's already committed to memory where every guard is stationed, what weapons they have, how they communicate with each other, where exactly they are looking, when they change shifts, and probably what they eat for breakfast."
Chuck shot a glance at Sarah who just nodded with a sly smile.
"With Agent Walker talking to a judge about what she's seen, we could get a warrant in two minutes that would allow us to launch a joint air and ground assault on that compound and disable their defenses before they knew what hit them," Carina continued. "The ones not foolish enough to try and fight would all be in prison for the rest of their lives. The only sex they would be having would be with each other. At least the ones who did try and fight would get decent burials. So, Chuck, why don't we do that?"
It was actually an excellent question. "I don't know," Chuck said. "Why don't we?"
Carina shook her head. "Because it wouldn't do any good," she said. "Killing Giles wouldn't solve anything. He has upwards of three billion dollars in several offshore secured accounts. As long as that money is there, someone would replace him so quickly that the organization wouldn't miss a single shipment. So we're reduced to infiltrating his organization, sending agents to screw him senseless for six months while we're finding out his sources and methods, all so we can hopefully take them all out in one strike. And if we're successful, we'll have a big celebration. It will be a huge story in the press for a few days about the latest victory against the drug cartels. But the reality is that it will only put a dent in them for a few months until they regroup with someone else in charge… and we're back to where we started. It's the 'whack a mole' game we've been playing with them for the past fifty years."
"Okay," Chuck said. "What happens if we take their money?"
Carina's eyes lit up. "That would be a game changer," she said. "Giles would be finished. Being a drug lord is a highly capitalized endeavor. They really don't understand things like lines of credit. The first time he couldn't pay for the last shipment or make a payroll, his life expectancy would flat line. We wouldn't have to do anything. His creditors would quickly catch him. They wouldn't go to a judge and ask for a warrant. They'd leave him hanging from a tree someplace in the desert. There wouldn't be any assets for the next person to take over. They would have to start from scratch. It would take the next group years."
Sarah stopped Chuck's grin with a look. "It's not that easy, sweetie," she said. "He fully understands his weakness. So access to his money is protected better than our nuclear launch codes. He has a series of remote locations. There is no access from inside the compound. He has several of these secret locations. We're not even sure how many. Finding out was one of my key objectives."
Carina grinned. "But now we know where one is," she said. "Agent Walker did her job. Giles gave his newest sex toy an address. It's where we're supposed to take the ten million dollars today."
"Okay," Chuck said. "Let's go."
Carina shook her head. "It's still not that easy," she said. "The account numbers and passwords are kept on a laptop in a protected room. It's filled with a sophisticated laser activated intrusion detection system. If anything happens, if the power goes out, if the intrusion is tripped, the laptop immediately self-destructs. That's why they have several, in case they lose one. The only way to turn off the intrusion system when they need to get in is from outside with multiple concurrent encrypted access points. The only way to get to that laptop without them knowing and moving the money is to avoid the intrusion system. Only an Intersect 2.0 would have a chance. If we can get you to become a reliable Intersect, we can do that and avoid all of this sex nonsense."
Chuck grinned. "To brzmi jak dobry plan," he said. "Zróbmy to."
It took a long moment for Sarah to realize what had just happened. She looked at Carina in shock. "Since when does Chuck speak Polish?" she asked.
Carina's grin matched Chuck's. "He doesn't," she said. "His Intersect does. You did it. He's now the most powerful man in the world."
"Cokolwiek mu zrobiliście ostatniej nocy, działało."
x-x-x-x-x
Carina went running off to contact Beckman with the news leaving Chuck and Sarah alone.
Sarah sided into him affectionately. "You can control it?" she asked. "This is huge."
Chuck was still grinning. "It didn't occur to you that I stepped up eight times last night?" he teased. "I'm not sure what your expectations are, but before last night, after the fourth time, you would have been carrying me out on a stretcher."
Sarah could feel the red already running up into her face. "You're right," she sheepishly admitted. "It didn't occur to me. I was having too good of a time to think rationally. Sweetie, while we're on the subject, you were perfect last night. I've been dreaming about that for two years. I was worried that my expectations were unreasonable. But whatever they were, you left them standing in the dust. Just to put it on the table, it was twelve times for me. But who's counting?"
That got them both laughing. "That's good to know," Chuck said. "It's hard to tell."
Sarah buried her head into his shoulder. "It shouldn't be hard to tell," she said sadly. "I bit my lip last night to keep from screaming. The horrible truth is I'm trained to scream on an assignment. Giles has heard it even when I wasn't close, in fact when I was disgusted. That's fundamentally unfair. The last thing I would want is for it to sound like an assignment with you. That's just one more thing that you're getting cheated out of. You rocked my world last night. I felt things that I had never imagined. It's something you deserve to know. It's something that I have to work on. I promise you from now on, you'll be able to tell. Do you know exactly what triggered it? They are going to want to know. I'm afraid that they are going to insist that we do whatever it was over and over and over."
"Those slave drivers," Chuck teased. "Does this mean you won't be my sex toy this morning?"
That got them laughing again. "Tell me about it," Sarah said. "The things they ask us to do. For the record, I'm always your sex toy. All you need to do is say the word. I'm wearing the outfit under my clothes."
"You sound like Clark Kent," Chuck teased. "Do you need a phone booth to turn into Superman?"
"There's only one way to find out," Sarah replied. "Don't expect a red cape. Fair warning, don't try me unless you're serious."
Chuck's face turned red at her gloating. She wasn't kidding at all. "Actually, I don't think it was sex," he admitted. "They are probably wrong about that. I felt it kick in when you said that if we got through this mission alive, we'd have a wedding. That's still true, isn't it?"
Sarah's smile turned sad. "I have that coming," she said. "It's what I get from treating you so miserably for two years. You misunderstood me yesterday. Since I'm so bad at communicating, I'm afraid that's going to happen a lot. When I said that it wasn't important to me, I just meant that I don't see it changing anything. Love… honor… till death do us part… those things are already true. To me, we're as married standing right here as we'll ever be."
Chuck smiled at her. "As of last night you can add 'obey' to that list," he teased. "That's very important."
That got them both laughing again. "That's true," Sarah said. "It's incredibly important. My new title is 'full time wife / part time sex toy.' I get that the wife part is important to you. It's even more important to Ellie. So I'm afraid that you're not getting out of this. I want to do it as soon as we possibly can. I want to see the look on Ellie's face when we tell her. I understand what this probably looks like to you. I'm not paying you off for your part in a successful mission like I did Bryce. I'm sorry that I phrased it like that. Anything that's important to you, almost by definition, becomes important to me. I get that you worry how permanent this is or what is my commitment. With our history, it's hard to fault you for that. We've only been a couple for less than a day. This is probably unreasonable but I'm begging you. Please stop."
"I'll try," Chuck said. "Maybe we shouldn't tell them what triggered the Intersect. I'm starting to get into the sex toy part far more than I feared."
Sarah playfully punched him in the arm. "We're most definitely not going to tell them," she said. "I think maybe we have the best of both worlds here. Using the power of the Intersect, you can have your sex toy anytime you want and I can seduce you anytime I want. It's perfect. Just so you know, I have two frustrating years to make up for. Expect me to take full advantage of your new powers."
"Fair enough," Chuck said. "Just so you know, I've just scratched the surface on thinking up tasks. Expect me to take full advantage of my new powers."
That got Sarah laughing. "Fair enough," she said.
"This might get interesting."
x-x-x-x-x
As it turned out, the mission was so easy that it was almost anti-climactic. Giles didn't want to draw any attention to his sites so he mostly depended on the electronic protections. It was a ten minute drive to the warehouse where there were only four guards on duty who were expecting them to show up with the money. All the girls had to do was to dress a little more skimpily than usual, insist that they count the money, put the dazed 'coke buzz' look on their faces, giggle and flirt like crazy, and occasionally shift to give them a good look down their top.
Chuck was back from the 'bathroom' with the codes before they had it all counted. Beckman had the accounts drained before they were back in Castle. Never one to pass up money, she sent a team right behind them to arrest the four guards and retrieve the ten million dollars in the suitcase. It was only mid-morning and the mission was officially over.
Beckman was beyond ecstatic. Not only was the mission a success. Not only did she get just a little short of three billion dollars to add to her clandestine slush fund. She now had a working Intersect 2.0. It was the hat trick of good results.
Sarah's main regret was that she wouldn't see the look on Giles's face when he realized that his money was gone and that he was a dead man, but at least they could look forward to a little down time. After all, this six month mission was over in two weeks. By her calculations, that meant she could have a few months of experimenting with the capabilities of her new fiancé.
Unfortunately, Beckman was eager to use her new weapon. "I need you in Paris," she said. "There is a situation with the Ring that could use Agent Bartowski's skills. Can you be on the plane tonight?"
Sarah groaned. The old Sarah would have wanted to jump into the next mission as soon as possible. Now she wanted to jump into… something else. She wanted to drag him back into her room and continue last night, alternating tasks and seductions until she ran out of negligees and then… well who knows? "We still have some things to figure out, ma'am," she said. "We're not sure yet which act exactly triggered the Intersect. Could we have a few days to work that out?"
Beckman shook her head. "This is important," she said. "You can work on those things in Paris. We can't wait more than one day. I'll give you twenty-four hours."
"We're getting married as soon as possible," Sarah blurted out. "I just wanted to make you aware in case it makes a difference in our assignments."
If Beckman was surprised, she sure didn't show it. "It doesn't," she said. "I expect the same professionalism from you as always if I grant you permission."
Sarah bristled. She still wasn't very happy with the way she had been treated yesterday. And with the most powerful man in the world by her side holding her hand, she was now calling some of the shots. Maybe it was time to mark her turf a little. So she made no effort to keep the tone from her voice. "With all due respect, ma'am," she said. "I really wasn't asking for your permission. I was informing you as a courtesy. This isn't mission related. It's personal."
So now Beckman was surprised. Agent Walker was probably the last person she expected to take that tone. That probably was significant. She'd have to think about what it meant in terms of loyalty. Maybe that needed to be tested. "Fair enough," she said. "Agent Shaw will meet you in Paris to take charge of this mission. Agent Miller, you and your team will report to him. Agent Walker, you can bring the team up to speed on Agent Shaw and his specialty. That is all." The monitor went blank.
Carina looked at her best friend. The general giddiness was suddenly gone, replaced with a look of concern. The color had left her face. Clearly something was wrong. "Who is this Agent Shaw?" she asked. "I've never heard of him."
Sarah paused for a long moment. Why did this have to happen now… just when things were perfect? "Daniel Shaw," she finally said. "He's an expert in the Ring. He's been working to track down the leadership for a couple of years. Beckman introduced us when I was in Washington last month preparing for my assignment with Giles."
Sarah turned to her best friend. "Can I have a moment with Chuck?" she asked. "Alone?"
Now Carina knew that something was wrong. She knew that Sarah would tell her when she could. So she left without saying a word.
As soon as Carina was gone Sarah turned to Chuck and grabbed both of his hands to force him to face her. "I want you to hear this from me," she said. "Please don't freak out. Look into my eyes and know that I'm not hiding anything from you. Agent Shaw and I went to dinner and dancing a couple of times."
That was probably the last thing Chuck expected. "You dated?" he asked. "Anything else?"
Any other time, it would have struck Sarah as cute the way he danced around what he was really asking. Currently she was far to freaked out to feel anything but dread. "No sex, if that's what you're asking," she said. "The first few times you couldn't even call them dates. We met a few times in a bar to talk about his history with the Ring. It was all business. I'm trying to be very honest here. There were also a couple of, what you'd have to call, dates. He was definitely putting on the full court press. He gave me some pretty expensive diamond earrings. We got a couple's massage once. He made me dinner at his apartment that he clearly was planning on lasting until morning. We had a session that you would probably call 'making out' for a few minutes. I had to peal his hand off my chest more than once."
Sarah looked carefully for Chuck's reaction. "I'm putting everything on the table here," she continued. "I'm telling you the total truth. There was no sex, but it was definitely heading in that direction. There was a point in the evening when I had decided to see what it would be like. When he started to unzip my dress, I panicked a little. I told him that I wasn't ready for a physical relationship yet, that I needed a little more time. He took that as a promise, said that he was going to hold me to it. That's really it. I intentionally put off the third date because I knew what that would mean and I wasn't ready for him taking my dress off. Thankfully, I left Washington to begin my Giles assignment. I'm not sure what his current expectations are, men like that don't easily take no for an answer, but trust me. I'll shut them down as brutally as I possibly can."
"Is he good looking?"
Sarah's look turned anxious. There was no way around this. Chuck was going to see for himself tomorrow. Even worse, he'd see that this man was exactly what he thought was her type. That would get his wheels spinning. She could tell him that to her he was better looking. It was true. But that would be counterproductive. There was no way he would hear that as anything but her blowing smoke. "Yeah," she admitted. "He is. Maybe not as good looking as he thinks he is, but still. Beckman showed me his file. She was clearly trying to hook us up. He's an amazing spy. Two years ago that would have impressed me. He probably would have gotten that third date and everything that it implies, especially with me being on the rebound. But, I still had my heart set on someone else. Besides, Chuck, the man has the personality of a cardboard box."
Chuck shrugged his shoulders. "Okay," he said. "What's the big deal? You went on a couple of dates with someone. So what? You were single. I certainly have no right to complain. You stayed fully dressed during dinner. Why are you so freaked out?"
Sarah was never so relieved to see his calm smile. "Thank you, sweetie," she said. "Why am I so freaked out? Things are finally perfect for us. I'm exactly where I want to be with you. So many things have gotten in our way. I don't want Daniel Shaw to be one of those things. We're going to have to work closely with this man. He's going to be in charge. He thinks that I owe him something. We're going to have to deal with it."
Chuck's smile turned into a grin. "I think that you might be underestimating me a little," he said. "I reserve the right to be jealous. I usually wait until I actually meet the man."
Sarah was wrong just a moment ago. Now she was never so relieved. "I know," she said. "It probably won't do me any good to tell you that you have no reason to be jealous… but I'm going to anyway. You are my soul mate. We're about to take a vow that includes 'forsaking all others.' We haven't said the words yet but they are already true. I underestimate you far too often. I have to find a way to stop."
Chuck's grin grew. "Getting back to a more pleasant topic, you need to be punished," he teased. "Expect some extra arduous sex toy tasks when we get home after talking to Ellie. Tell me, can you stand on your head?"
So now Sarah was wrong twice within a minute. Now she was never, ever so relieved. Here was today's reminder. There was just something about Chuck Bartowski. He could always make her laugh. "Sweetie," she said as soon as she could stop laughing. "I have talents you can't imagine. You're right. I absolutely need to be punished."
"Daj z siebie wszystko."
x-x-x-x-x
