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

Someone has to explain some things to me. What was the point of Sarah throwing her gun on the bed at the end of American Hero? To me, that was a fist pump moment. Sarah got the good news that Chuck hadn't killed anyone. She was done being a spy and was going to meet Chuck and run away with him. Clearly I was wrong. In fact, that event ended up having no story value at all. Sarah never told Chuck she had decided to run with him. She just wanted his help with the next mission. She only told him that she loved him (she really didn't even say it) until after he asked. I must have interpreted that scene wrong. So how should I have interpreted it?

And for the writers, there was an easy way out. All Sarah would have had to done, was instead of telling him "I appreciate the tank," tell him, "I was coming to meet you. But I don't feel right quitting with unfinished business. Let's do this last mission first. Then we'll be done."

Except you wouldn't have gotten that last half episode of cheap angst for angst's sake or the romantic DYLM scene.

So what was the theme of part middle part of Season Three? Again, I'm confused. I thought it was that Sarah loved him, yet she feared he was changing… turning into a spy.

There are two problems with that. One, if Chuck changed into a spy, Sarah was going to reject him in favor of… a spy… the main spy who was in charge of changing him in the first place. And two, the second they got together and they were going to quit, Sarah changed her mind. Now she wants Chuck to be a spy. Huh?

So obviously, again my interpretation is wrong. If you have an explanation for any of this that makes sense, I'll be very grateful to hear it.

I sorta get the writer's dilemma. The shelf life on the WT/WT storyline had long expired. The natives were getting restless. They had to put them together. Yet a story about normal couple Chuck and Sarah would be boring. So Sarah had to change her mind and they had to stay spies. I would have solved that another way. They were both pining to quit, yet they couldn't. Something always got in their way and made them take the next mission.

I would still appreciate your comments. Maybe you have a point of view that makes this better that I'm overlooking.

I haven't gotten an anonymous review lately. That's disappointing. I've been so entertained by the pretend coward-ness, the fake mean spirited biting sarcasm, jumping to exactly the wrong conclusions, simultaneously pleading for more explicit adult scenes while complaining about the ones that are there, and last but not least, playfully questioning my mental health. That's been a hoot. Some are so good that I delete them just to keep then to myself. Sorry if that sounds selfish. I really miss you guys (if there is actually more than one of you). Maybe this chapter will inspire you to jump to the wrong conclusion.

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 Other Guy

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"We're not doing this!"

Carina had seen her hothead friend like this… many times. The best way to handle it was to keep your head down, watch out for any potential flying projectiles that were possibly within her reach, and stay far, far out of her way until the smoke coming from her nostrils settled down. Of course Casey and Chuck would have known that almost as well. But they were already on their way to the warehouse where their mark was working.

That left Shaw.

"Think about it," Shaw said. "We're all staying in the same hotel as Hannah Watkins. If you insist on wearing that ridiculous engagement ring, she's going to assume that I'm your fiancé. What if she stumbles onto something? What if she's being surveilled? It only makes sense that we would share a room."

Sarah shook her head. "That's not a good idea," she insisted."

Shaw smiled. "I thought that we had an understanding," he said. "Okay, so this is a mission. It is the professional thing to do. But there's no reason why we can't enjoy that third date you promised, is there? We are in Paris. It is the romance capital of the world. Maybe you can go shopping for something nice to wear for our first night together. Put it on the expense report. I'm already looking forward to seeing it."

Sarah squared off on Shaw in what everyone but him realized was pure battle ready mode. "Agent Shaw," she said between her clenched teeth. "I'm not spending the night with you in your hotel room… tonight or any other night. What part of that don't you understand?"

At long last, even Shaw realized that his attempt at charm wasn't going all that well. "Is there a problem?" he asked.

As angry as Sarah was, his total and complete lack of a clue struck her as a little funny. She forced herself to calm down and lower her rancor a notch. Maybe he would listen to reason. "Look, Daniel," she said. "I'm sorry that things haven't worked out the way you wanted. I was never being deceptive with you. I admire your professional accomplishments. I honestly enjoyed dancing that night. We had a couple of nice times together. In your apartment, I was being honest. I wasn't leading you on. A big part of me was looking forward to it. But things have changed in my life. Chuck and I have had so many things get in our way. But we've finally worked them all out. Things are perfect between us. I'm in love with him. We are honestly engaged. I'm never going to hurt him again. So I'm afraid that spending the night with another man… even if it's only as a cover… is now off the table for me… forever. It's my #1 rule of engagement. I will go to dinner as your cover date as we planned. I do understand that I can't spend the night with Chuck in case he… um… gets lucky. If the mark does stumble onto something, we'll explain that we had a fight and I went to spend the night with my friend Carina."

Of course Sarah hadn't counted on the gleam in Carina's eyes. "I love this plan," she said. "Maybe we can go shopping for something nice for you to wear for our first night together. I'm already looking forward to seeing it."

Okay, so Carina knew exactly what she was doing. Besides the shot that had just landed between Agent Shaw's eyes, pretending to be a couple to confuse unwelcome suitors in bars had been a running joke between them for years. Sarah's laugh came out pretty wet.

Carina took full note of Shaw's mouth hanging open and his stunned look. "Screw the expense report," she said, still grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

"It'll be my treat."

x-x-x-x-x

Finally the dinner from hell was over and the girls were back in the hotel. It was the second time today that Carina saw her friend so angry that she was launching random projectiles around the room. Frankly, that didn't come close to setting any sort of record. "What happened?" she asked. Naturally, she had listened to the entire evening on comm. Hopefully, getting Sarah to talk about it would stop constantly having to dodge flying ashtrays. It was a long shot.

"That greasy bastard," Sarah finally spat. "It's bad enough that he insists on having dinner at the Eifel Tower. He knows that Chuck was dying to take me there. But then the sonofabitch starts kissing my neck. He came so close to feeling me up that he really might as well have… all right in front of Chuck.

Carina knew that laughing would be a mistake… quite possibly a fatal mistake. So she bit her lip. "Did you call him on it?" she asked. "What did he say?"

"He said that this was a serious assignment," Sarah said. "That we had to sell that we were engaged… and for me to be professional… for once."

"He has a point."

Carina quickly reacted to the look of blind rage she was getting. "Calm down," she said. "You know that I'm on your side. But this is one of those things that we were talking about in Castle the other day. Spies are asked to do uncomfortable things sometimes. When you're on assignment, you simply have to separate your personal and professional lives. That's what the job requires. Yes, Shaw is being a dick. He is intentionally pushing you. But he is in charge. This is a legitimate assignment. If he really wanted to, he could have demanded that you spend tonight with him in his room. I'm actually surprised that he didn't."

Sarah sighed. "He's not going to stop," she sighed in defeat. "Is he?"

Carina shook her head. "Nope," she said flatly. "It's how guys like that think. In his mind, you owe him something. You've made it a personal quest for him. He's going to take his time and make you come crawling. The longer it takes, the more crawling he is going to demand. He'll manipulate assignments to fuck with you… figuratively… until you finally surrender and make that literal."

"Where is Beckman in all of this?" Sarah asked hopefully. "Would she really throw me in prison?"

Carina shrugged her shoulders. "Beckman is for Beckman," she said. "She's not going to give up her new Intersect. I'm afraid that she won't see the problem with Shaw wanting to sleep with you. She'd just laugh and tell you to work it out. But you do have some leverage. You make him effective. Beckman needs you. I think, within reason, you have some room to negotiate with her… carefully. But none of that is the real problem here, is it? Now, why don't you take a breath and tell me the real reason you're so upset."

Sarah just stood looking at her friend for a long moment. "She's exactly his type," she finally said sadly. "Pretty… brunette… nerd… she hangs on his every word. You didn't see the way she was looking at him. She's ready to bear his children on the first date. And she's everything he would ever look for. He's probably going to seal the deal tonight. I get all that makes me the world's #1 all-time hypocrite."

Carina smiled. "#1 hypocrite in the history of the entire world is a stretch," she said. "Let's say top ten. I shouldn't have to say this, but I'm going to anyway. Agent Bartowski is on a legitimate infiltration mission. Right now they're just dancing. I doubt that any sex will be required tonight. If this is the tamest thing you ever have to deal with in your spy career, you'll be lucky. Mess with his head with a bunch of guilt and he's going to blow his cover. That might get him killed. Is that what you want?"

"Of course not," Sarah protested. "You heard her on comm. She's never met Roberts. She doesn't know why he constantly sends her to Paris. She's as creeped out by this as anyone. She's pissed that everyone assumes she is sleeping with him. This isn't a real assignment. Even if it was, it's a stupid waste of the most powerful agent in the world. Shaw is just using it to get to me."

"Yup," Carina agreed. "He is. For what it's worth, I believed her too. But the fact is that Shaw's got you by the short hairs. Well, if Giles had allowed you to have any short hairs, that is. When they grow back, Shaw will have you by them. He can spin this as a legitimate assignment that is well within his management discretion. We're talking about a known association with possibly The Ring's top echelon. Getting to him would be huge. Maybe the girl is lying. Maybe Roberts is watching her, waiting for his shot. Maybe Agent Bartowski can use that to get close. You know the drill."

"What should I do?"

Carina made no effort to keep the frustration from her voice. "Come on, Sarah," she said. "Are you being at all serious? You know exactly what you should do."

Sarah looked hopefully at her friend. "Could you talk to Shaw for me?" she asked. "He might listen to you."

That got Carina laughing. "You want me to take one for the team?" she asked. "You know that I'd do it… just to see him with his shirt off. That might be fun. But it's not me who he thinks challenged his manhood. It has to be you."

Sarah picked up her gun from the table and shook her head. "I could shoot him," she said.

That got Carina laughing harder. "I'm not timid about shooting people," she said. "You know that. I love watching the badass wildcard enforcer in action. But shooting someone over the crime of wanting to have sex with you seems a little extreme… even for me. I'm afraid it would apply to almost every man in the world. How many rounds do you have in that clip?"

Chuck already wants to kick his ass," Sarah said. "Maybe I should just let him. That would make us both feel good."

Carina stopped laughing and got instantly serious. "That's the worst thing that could happen," she said. "They're already worried about what the Intersect might do to Chuck psychologically. Having that much power would affect anyone. Your only leverage with Beckman is that she thinks you can control him. The last thing we need is for her to hear that he went nuts and beat up his team lead. That wouldn't go well. It would get her thinking of different ways to control him."

Sarah finally nodded her head in agreement. "If I held my nose and did this," she sighed. "What makes you think it will work? What would it do to Chuck?"

Carina looked at her as if she had just sprouted a third eye. "It'll work," she said firmly. "You know it will. You're wrong about Chuck. I've had some pretty long conversations with him. He's crazy about you, knows that you come with some baggage. He will be okay as long as he understands that it's Agent Walker doing her part of the mission. Maybe it's better if he doesn't know the lurid details. You put on the blue teddy that you bought today, show up in his bedroom, and negotiate. A few meaningless hours of whatever he wants, and in the morning he ends your assignment and you're done forever. He saves face and gets what he feels he's owed. You get out of an unpleasant situation with no scars. In the highly unlikely event it doesn't work, shooting him is back on the table."

"That all works for me."

x-x-x-x-x

"You shouldn't be here."

Chuck sighed and tried to look past Carina into the room. "Is Sarah here?" he asked. "I need to talk to her."

Carina just stepped aside and allowed Chuck to enter the room.

"Sweetie," Sarah said. "Carina's right. You shouldn't be here. You're on an active assignment. Who knows who is watching you?"

"Casey's standing guard," Chuck protested. "I just wanted to see you tonight. Is that wrong?"

"Probably," Sarah said. "But it's also pretty damn sweet. I'm sorry for the way Shaw acted at dinner. He was an ass putting on a lurid show for your benefit. I'm afraid that on missions, there's not much I can do about that."

That actually got Chuck laughing. "I think that you underestimate me," he said. "Now that I've met him, he's meaningless. The man borders on ridiculous. You two look like oil and vinegar together. I've seen the look on your face when he was kissing your neck. It usually immediately precedes a knife sticking out of someone's throat. If anything, now I'm sort of judging you that you willingly agreed to date him."

Sarah ignored his teasing. "I always seem to underestimate you," she said. "It's turning into my defining characteristic. I have to find a way to stop."

Chuck stepped up for an embrace but Sarah stopped him. "I'm sorry, sweetie," she said. "But I can't hug you when you're reeking of her perfume. That might immediately precede a knife sticking out of someone's throat."

"I know that scent," Carina piped in. "It's called Ode De Trailer Trash. They sell it at Walmart for $10 a gallon."

That got them all laughing. "We've really never had this discussion," Chuck said. "I'd appreciate some honest answers. Just how jealous are you going to be? Am I allowed to notice that another girl is pretty?"

Sarah paused for a moment. "You want honest?" she asked. "Okay. The answers are insanely and no. You're never allowed to notice."

Sarah might have been laughing, but to his credit, Chuck realized that she wasn't really kidding. "Duly noted," he said. "At least you were honest. In my defense, I'd just like to say that Hannah is pretty… but she looks pretty plain standing next to you."

"Is that what you really think?" Sarah asked. "Or are you just trying to get out of trouble?"

"It's what I really think," Chuck insisted. After a beat he continued. "And I hope that it gets me out of trouble. Two birds… one stone."

There was today's reminder. No matter how angry or depressed she was, he could always make her laugh. "Well played," Sarah said. "Sweetie, I get that I'm sending you mixed messages. I'm sorry about that. But listen to me. You can't feel any guilt here. You haven't done a thing wrong. In fact you're doing great. As your partner, I'm very proud of you. But this has just started. When we get back home, Shaw is going to insist that you continue to romance her, to get close to her, maybe to even move in with her. As your fiancé, I'm struggling with that. With what you saw with Giles without complaint, I know it makes me a huge hypocrite, but it's a fact that we have to deal with. Carina and I were just discussing options that would allow Agent Walker to get us out of this assignment. What those options are, I'd rather not say… yet. I don't want you worrying about it while you're on an assignment. So I'm asking for a huge favor. Allow your partner to handle this without involving you."

Chuck looked at her. She was suddenly deadly serious. "Are you going to be in danger?" he asked.

Sarah shook her head. "No," she said. "I promise I won't ever knowingly put myself in danger without you knowing and there to protect me. That's not what this is about. I'm not even sure yet what I'm going to do. But if it all goes down, Carina agrees that you're better off not knowing. You need to stick to your assignment and not worry about it. Agreed?"

Chuck saw the gun lying on the table. He didn't have to ask how badass Agent Walker would solve a problem like this. In this situation it was actually Carina who was the wildcard. Who knew what she would come up with? "Agreed," he finally said.

"We can talk later."

x-x-x-x-x

One of the first things that a spy was taught in training was how to be a light sleeper. Still, Agent Walker was even better trained and very skilled at stealth approach. So he didn't see her until she was standing beside his bed. The room wasn't that well-lit, but it wasn't completely dark either. She had left the door open on purpose with the light shining strategically at her side. It was like she was standing in a spotlight. He could barely believe his eyes. The blue, whatever it was, hid nothing. If anything, it simply highlighted the fact that she was naked. "Sarah?" he asked. "What are you doing here? I thought that we had an agreement."

"I'm not Sarah," she protested. "I'm not Sam. I'm not whoever the fuck you think I am. My name is Agent Walker. I'd like to change our agreement and make a deal with you."

That got his attention. "What deal?" he asked.

Sarah smiled at his typical lack of a clue. Why would she possibly be standing in his bedroom basically naked wearing some invisible blue teddy, whore red lipstick, and high heels? "Simple," she said. "I owe you something. We both know it. I never meant to cheat you. Things just happened too fast between us. In fact it was tonight when I first realized that I had cheated you. I honestly feel bad about that. It just happened that way. So I'm here to pay off. If I do this, we need to agree that there is zero romance involved. I'm here willingly paying my debt using the only currency I have at my disposal. This is a onetime offer. Tonight is pure sex. Except possibly the occasional groan, I don't anticipate much conversation. I'll become your faux submissive toy and use my training to make this night all about you in every detail… for as many times as you're physically able. When the sun comes up, you drag your limp, sorry ass out of this bed and help me get us out of our current assignment. Deal?"

Okay, so maybe he was clueless, but what idiot would turn that down? "Deal," he said.

Sarah sauntered closer to the bed and raised her arms straight up into the air in a plain signal. "Good answer," she said.

"Maybe you'd like to get things started by unwrapping your new toy."

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