A/N: Today, 30th July 2022, is the 40th birthday of Yvonne Strahovski, the amazing actress who played the part of Sarah Walker. For me, her acting, and particularly how she could 'say' so much with expressions and no words, was the best thing about the show. She won't hear this, but happy birthday, Yvonne.

Us usual, thanks for the reviews and PMs. I read all of them and reply to those I can. The interaction, although it doesn't drive me, is really appreciated. The action and Sarah's help were popular in the last chapter. No more missions for a while, though. A few chapters of life in and around LA. Hope you like them.

Beta thanks to MarkeyDaSad who found time in his busy life to help me again. I hope you all had a chance to read his fun "Let the Music Play" he released a little while ago. Fingers crossed for more of that and his "Revenge of the Fish" at some point (I keep asking for that, but he has so little time available).

So, returning from San Francisco…


The Novelist
Chapter 14: A New Normal


Sarah hadn't thought about her mom being home when they returned to her house after the flight from San Francisco, but seeing her car parked next to Sarah's own on the drive made it clear that she was.

Being dropped off by a black SUV would probably freak her mom out in itself, if she noticed, but being dropped off with a man in tow, certainly would. Sarah winced as she stood with him at the start of the drive.

"Sorry, I forgot Mom would be back from her research trip. You are about to get the mom visit. I have to confess that I've not told her about us because I haven't spoken to her since I went on the book tour." Sarah bit the left side of her bottom lip once she finished telling him that as she looked up at him.

"I'm looking forward to meeting the amazing woman who brought you into this world and brought you up," he said with a grin. He took her hand and started walking to the door.

Sarah opened the door and walked in first after suggesting Chuck hold back initially. "Mom, I'm home."

"Hi, Sarah," her mom called from the kitchen. Sarah winced, the kitchen faced the drive, so they will have been watched walking to the door. "Are you going to let him in?" her mom asked.

Sarah turned and waved Chuck into the hallway. After shutting the door behind him, he put his case next to hers and turned to her. She took his hand and led him to the kitchen.

Chuck could have done some research of his own and searched for the author Emma Walker, but he hadn't, so it was a surprise to see another beautiful blonde in the kitchen gazing at him. She was obviously older, and a couple of inches shorter than her daughter, but it was easy to see they were related. Their face shapes were virtually identical and her mom had very similar eyes.

"Wow!" he said, "It's like looking at you, Sarah, just slightly older."

Emma Walker grinned on hearing that and raised one eyebrow. "Well, you're a charmer, aren't you?"

Sarah looked up at her boyfriend. She loved that he had already started to win her mom over, even before she had introduced them. She grinned up at him and he looked down at her wondering if she was going to speak or whether he should introduce himself.

Sarah realized she had paused for too long and turned back to her mom who was smiling at the looks they were giving each other. "Mom, this wonderful man is my boyfriend, Chuck Bartowski," Sarah said, blushing. "Chuck, this is my mom, obviously."

Chuck reached out his hand to shake her mom's. She took it and pulled him to her so that she could give him a hug. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear.

Sarah was surprised at the display of affection. Her mom was normally more reserved than that.

Emma released Chuck and turned to her daughter, pulling her in for a hug too. She didn't whisper to Sarah, but held her away after the hug and said out loud for both to hear. "We are going to sit down and you're going to tell me all about how the two of you met and how you became boyfriend / girlfriend, all while I was away, including where you've just returned from." She then released Sarah too.

Her mom stepped back into the kitchen. "Coffee or something cold?"

"Coffee for me, please," Chuck replied. "Black, no sugar."

"Yeah, me too, Mom."

Her mom shooed then into the living room, saying, "Get ready to be quizzed."

"She's not like your sister," Sarah assured Chuck.

He smiled. "Few people are."

Emma walked in and placed the tray on the coffee table in front of them and sat in the chair opposite, taking her coffee with her. "So, spill," she said, but with an air of expectation.

Sarah smiled at Chuck, checking he was ok with her taking the lead. He nodded and waved for her to go ahead. "We met in Washington, but Chuck lives here in LA, Mom. He's Ellie's brother."

Her mom, looked shocked. "She's been hiding him?"

Chuck laughed. "We don't see each other that often these days, Mrs. Walker."

A hand was raised. "I'll have none of that Mrs. Walker crap, thank you. You can call me, Emma." Sarah was shocked and just gaped at her mom who looked at her. "What?"

"You've never let my previous boyfriends call you that," Sarah replied.

"Boyfriends?" Emma snorted. "You've only brought one home before, that Bruce. I never liked him. Always looked like he was going to steal something. Smarmy and oily."

Chuck laughed again. The expression on Emma's face suggested she would have spat on the floor if she'd been outside. Sarah looked at them both. Chuck shrugged. "Well, he was."

Emma's gaze shot to him. "You knew Bruce?"

Sarah interjected, "It was Bryce, as you know, Mom, and yes they met at Stanford."

"Poor you," Emma muttered.

"He never stole anything of worth," Chuck joked.

Sarah swatted Chuck's arm. "Bryce stole Chuck's girlfriend."

"Your win," Emma pointed out.

"No, mine, Mrs- Emma," Chuck stated. "I would have never met your wonderful daughter."

Emma looked at her daughter. "Is he for real?"

"Mom, we love each other. It was love at first sight." Sarah explained.

That made Emma smile. "And you've been here before. The place is immaculate."

Chuck blushed. "Yes, I have."

Emma put her coffee down. "He gives the game away, Sarah. That blush told me what happened."

Sarah held her mom's gaze. "Yes, Mom, and he's staying tonight too."

Emma nodded. "So, tell me more."

Sarah and Chuck between them described their first meeting, which made Emma laugh. Then they went on to their second meeting at the bookstore and how that went.

"So, you work with this woman, Zondra, but didn't want to tell her secret?"

Chuck responded, "And Sarah shouldn't have told you, Emma. It's Zondra's to tell."

Sarah blushed. "I did, didn't I?" She looked at her mom. "I shouldn't have told you."

"Why?" Emma asked, frowning. "Why all the secrecy? After all, California legalized domestic partnerships between same-sex couples in 1999, that was ten years ago."

Sarah almost smiled. Trust her mom to remember a fact like that. "Mom, it's frowned on in her workplace. Full of misogynistic men."

"Where-" Emma started.

Chuck answered, "Government."

"Oh," Emma replied, as if all government branches were like that, which he was sure wasn't true. "And you work with her?"

"My company provides IT services to some of the government agencies. I have always worked with hers and go off site with her and her male partner sometimes, even to other countries."

Emma nodded. "Benefit of the job, huh?"

"Used to be," Chuck replied. Both women looked at him. He blushed. "I don't seem to want to be away from here so much now."

Sarah beamed at him, knowing she was the reason. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. When she looked up again, her mom was smiling at them. "Young love," she commented.

"Not so young, Mom," Sarah pointed out.

""Hey, I think under thirty is young, youngster," Emma replied. "So where have you come back from?"

Sarah wasn't sure how much to say and was happy to let Chuck take the lead. "I had to go to San Francisco for a few days, so I invited Sarah to join me."

"Work trip?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, so accommodation was already covered, they always provide larger rooms than a single person needs." Then he realized who he was telling he'd shared a bed with Sarah. He blushed.

Emma swiped a hand his way. "As Sarah says, you're sleeping with her tonight. I'm not that old fashioned."

"We saw the sea lions, Mom. I've always wanted to see them," Sarah said to deflect the conversation away from her sex life.

Emma grinned and nodded. "We just never had time, did we?"

"I loved seeing the Golden Gate bridge in and out of the fog," Chuck commented.

Sarah thought about that for a second. "Yeah, seeing it in both ways was special."

"Did you go to Alcatraz?" Emma asked.

"I probably should have, as I do write Rebecca being taken to prisons like that, but we didn't," Sarah confessed.

Sarah then decided the questioning needed to be turned around. "That's enough about us, Mom. How did your trip go?"

Emma became animated talking about her research trip and the scientists she had met. She was able to talk and talk about this, so the next hour was filled with her expounding the benefits of research trips.

Sarah sat listening to this thinking about her trip to San Francisco, her equivalent, and what she had learned. Both the talks with Zondra and watching her in action had been useful, but watching the attempted raid and the real one made her realize just how dangerous it all was. She would have something like that happen in the book, for sure.

She then realized she'd zoned out with those thoughts, but the other two hadn't noticed. Chuck was explaining how he set up his company and how it had grown to what it was now.

"So, based in Los Angeles, but customers across the states. And your government contract takes you further afield," Emma concluded. "Impressive."

Chuck nodded, but thanked her for the compliment.

Emma turned back to her daughter. "And how was the mini book tour, Sarah?"

Sarah groaned. "I really don't like them, Mom."

"Well, this one was worthwhile," Emma replied.

Sarah looked at Chuck, who was nodding and looking at her. This trip had indeed meant meeting the love of her life, so that was great. "Yes, it was, but if my editor had introduced me to him anyway, I might have known Chuck for a lot longer."

Emma nodded. "I wonder why she didn't." Then she shook her head. "And how's the book going?"

Sarah started to tell her, but then looked at Chuck. "You've only read the first, so I don't want to spoil them for you. Do you want to take your case to my room and unpack while I tell Mom?"

He nodded and set off.

When he got upstairs, Emma leaned forward. "I like him, Sarah, but I love how he has made you look so happy. I have never seen you like this, well… alive."

"I've never been so happy, Mom, but about the book…" Sarah proceeded to outline the plot and how she was working through it.

"And Ellie has told you to include a love interest for Rebecca?"

"Yeah, a real one not just someone to have sex with like Bruce had been," Sarah replied.

Emma grinned, "Modeling him on someone?"

Sarah grinned. "Maybe."

As it was now time for dinner, Emma and Sarah got started on preparing that. Fortunately, Emma had bought things earlier for the next few days, so there was plenty to stretch three ways.

Chuck joined them and asked if he could help, but both women shooed him out of the kitchen.

"Ok, I have an excellent book to read," he replied. Popping upstairs, he brought down the second book in Sarah's series. She grinned seeing it and took a glass of wine to him, then returned to help her mom.

Dinner went well. Sarah was amazed at how Chuck kept the conversation going. She often found herself gazing at him, just listening to what he was saying. Such a conversationalist. Emma listened, obviously, but she also watched Sarah and how she looked at the attractive, tall man. So utterly in love.

When Sarah went to the bathroom, Emma leaned towards Chuck and thanked him again for how much he made her daughter happy.

"She makes me so happy too, Emma."

"I can see that," she replied, eyes twinkling.

After the meal, all three cleaned up and Chuck offered to sort out the pots and pans to go into the dishwasher.

Emma looked at her daughter. "He's definitely a keeper, Sarah. So domesticated."

Chuck laughed. "Thank my sister for that."

After coffees in the living room, the couple both started yawning. Emma chuckled. "Long day?"

"Well, we did spend the morning walking up to the Colt Tower," Sarah told her.

"Why didn't you get a bus?" Emma asked.

"I wanted to walk, holding her hand," Chuck explained. "It seemed romantic when we started."

Emma laughed. "And when you got there?"

I was glad not to have to walk up the tower," he confessed.

"You two head upstairs then," Emma said.

Chuck did and Sarah followed after giving her mom a kiss.

Emma hugged her. "I'm so glad you found someone, Sarah."

Sarah nodded, but saw the twinkle in her mom's eye. "No talking about grandkids, Mom!"

Emma nodded, then teased, "But I will be asking about a wedding soon. You both look ready for that now."

Sarah walked up the stairs thinking about that. She had never thought of getting married, but now the thought was a lot more attractive.

When she climbed into her bed, she was still distracted by such thoughts.

"I'm assuming we won't be making love tonight, not with your mom just down the hall," Chuck commented.

That snapped Sarah out of her thoughts. She looked over at the gorgeous man in bed with her. She got out of bed, stripped off her pajamas and pulled the bedclothes off of her boyfriend who had frozen looking at her naked form. It took her no time to strip him as well and she climbed on top of him, whispering in his ear, "Quietly."

They made love slowly and quietly and it was just as wonderful as before.


After breakfast with her mom, Sarah drove Chuck to his home in Echo Park. She was surprised to find it was in the same apartment block as his sister's place. "Didn't move far when you left, huh?" she commented with a smirk.

He smiled. "I have good memories in this area, so, no, I didn't want to go far. All the way across the courtyard."

"If she sees me, I'm going to have to explain why I've not gotten far with the new book," Sarah replied.

"She'll be at her office in town," Chuck reassured her. "Besides, you're just dropping me off. I'll be heading to my offices straight away. You can get back home and write, write, write."

She laughed at the thought of that. "I have to think what to write first."

He grinned, "Think on the way home."

"I might be thinking of you," she said, looking at him suggestively.

He groaned, "Don't do that, I need to put my IT and company hat on, not get distracted by thoughts of you."

She grinned and leaned across the center-console and kissed him. As she pulled back, she commented, "I'll have to come and see you at work sometime."

He chuckled. "Then no one there would get any work done, after you dazzle them with that smile."

She blushed, but replied, "Maybe that smile is just for you." She loved that his eyes glazed over thinking about that. "Go on, get out. We both have work to do."

He started to get out when her phone rang. She looked at the caller's name and gasped. "Beckman."

Chuck sat back down as she accepted the call. "Good morning, General."

"Good morning, Miss Walker, although it's afternoon here in Washington. I have news. Can you talk?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Sarah replied.

"First of all, you passed the vetting, so…" she actually chuckled, "… the NSA has no problem with you and Mr. Bartowski being in a relationship, as if that was going to stop either of you."

Sarah grinned at her boyfriend. "It's good to get approval from the agency, General. We got it from my Mom today, too."

"Ooh, only thing stopping you is yourselves, then," Beckman observed.

Holding us back from what? Both Sarah and Chuck thought.

Sarah didn't take long and snapped her eyes at her boyfriend. They'd only been together a very short time. Her mom had been talking about this too. The next step may be engagement to be married, but that was something for much later, wasn't it?

Beckman added, "I'm not his mother, but I knew her very well. I think she'd approve too."

Sarah needed to know more about Beckman's relationship with Chuck's family, but now wasn't the time to ask. "Thank you."

"The other news is about what you can include in your fiction." Beckman paused to let Sarah move her thoughts onto that topic.

Sarah could just carry on as she had been, but was interested in what the general would offer beyond their previous agreement of nothing.

"None of the NSA technology can appear or specific techniques." That seemed fair to Sarah. "That includes anything your boyfriend brings to the party."

"Including his-" Sarah started, thinking of his ability to hack traffic cameras and the like.

Beckman interrupted her. "This is not a secure line, so please don't say anything, Miss Walker, but I mean everything he does for us."

"Thank you for the clarification, General," Sarah replied, and she was thankful. "So, surveillance techniques and fighting skills are OK? And what about interrogation techniques?"

"As long as you don't go into great detail, they will be allowed. They are pretty generic and you have them pretty much accurate already."

Sarah noted that neither of them had mentioned seductions and suspected they were a touchy subject, even on a secure line.

Sarah decided to ask for a bit more. "I might ask Zondra for assistance sometimes, General. Is that acceptable?"

General Beckman laughed, which surprised both Sarah and Chuck. Once Beckman stopped, she answered, "That fangirl will appreciate that. She knows what she can and can't tell you."

Sarah grinned at that. "Thank you for this, General."

"And thank you for your help," Beckman replied. Then her tone became more serious. "That will probably be the only trip you have with us, though."

"I realized that, Ma'am," Sarah replied. "I would like to know that my father is safe at some point."

"I will let you know through your boyfriend," Beckman replied.

The call ended and Sarah looked at Chuck. "So, you and Zondra can help me with my books!" she said with a sparkle in her eyes.

He leaned over and kissed her. "Call you later?"

She nodded as he got out. She watched him walk away, but didn't wait too long or she might leap out and follow him.

She drove home trying to think about her next novel, but spent most of it thinking about her wonderful boyfriend.


After a chat with her mom over coffee, mostly about the love of her life, Sarah had restarted work on her novel.

Having caught Paul Guttridge, the guy Sarah had written about with Chuck, Rebecca had proceeded to interrogate him to find out what he knew about her ex-partner. Unfortunately, it wasn't much, but he had heard about Bruce meeting someone later that day in a coffee shop in the center of the city. She had laughed because that was one of the places Bruce had taken her.

Sarah sat and read the scene in that coffee shop.

xxx

Rebecca knew that Bruce always liked to arrive just on time for his meetings, never early, never late. It was one of the fastidious things he did, To her, that had always seemed stupid as he was never prepared for the unexpected, but he stuck to it religiously. It did, however, give her the opportunity to check the location and prepare herself for his arrival.

As she reminded herself of the vicinity, she became more and more sure this was not a clandestine meeting at all, at least not one where the secrets he'd stolen would be exchanged. The coffee shop was in the middle of a large open plan shopping area with no secret entrances, other than probably through the kitchen to the back alley. Rebecca, of course, checked that and where the alley led.

Her plan, assuming Bruce came at all, was to capture a photo of the person he was meeting, then to follow Bruce out and shoot two darts from the gun in her pocket, one in each of his left limbs. This new tranquilizer was supposed to be fast acting. She would catch him as he started to fall and 'help' him to her car.

She sat at the back of the café in her black wig. She kept her cardigan on. The cool day outside was reflected inside, which suited her fine. She would be able to move quickly when needed.

She ordered a coffee from the waitress and sat back to wait.

Today she'd chosen to wear one of the false noses. As she'd looked at herself in the bathroom mirror before setting off, she hadn't seen herself. The brown contacts were important, as was the makeup which made or look gaunt. The effect, with the nose, was an unattractive woman that even Bruce would ignore.

Her coffee arrived and Rebecca insisted on paying for it then, giving the girl cash. Rebecca then scanned the room for possible contacts.

The twitchy tall man near the entrance was a possible, although maybe too obvious. The man built like a boxer in the middle was another. The beautiful redhead by the left wall was just Bruce's type. Tall, athletic looking, with eyes gazing around, almost checking out all the men, whether single or with partners. She looked almost predatory. Rebecca chuckled. Bruce in female form.

Two minutes later, exactly on time, Bruce sauntered in as if he owned the place. He walked to an empty table in the middle, ignoring everyone.

He was dressed in a light gray suit, but no tie. He made it look smart casual, as he always did.

Not surprisingly, he flirted with the waitress who took his order. Rebecca was pleased that it no longer hurt as it used to. She was over him, as she thought.

He had his side profile facing Rebecca. He didn't seem bothered that his contact had yet to arrive. The waitress brought his coffee and didn't stay long enough for him to make a comment, which seemed to annoy him slightly. Losing your touch, Bruce?

As he took his first sip, the redhead strolled over and sat opposite him. Was this his contact or did she just think he was the most interesting man in there? Rebecca had to admit, he was the most attractive man in there, by a long way

This time, Bruce looked disappointed. He shook his head, making the woman look disappointed too. She got up and walked back to her table.

Bruce looked at his watch. Now five minutes after his arrival. He looked up at the entrance just as an olive-skinned man in a dark blue suit walked in. He spotted Bruce and walked to him and sat.

Rebecca chose that moment to check her makeup using her phone as a mirror, but in reality taking a set of photos of the two men talking. She was lucky that the new man looked her way very briefly enabling a good photo. She would use that to identify him.

The new man slid a piece of paper across the table to Bruce and got up and left.

Bruce sat and looked at the paper while drinking his coffee. Rebecca was sure he was being instructed where to go next. That may or may not be the final destination to meet whoever he was to supply the information he had stolen to; Rebecca didn't understand why he was doing this the hard way and not electronically.

Bruce folded the paper and dropped it into his pocket. He waved to the waitress and stood. He left a note that more than covered the coffee and walked out of the coffee shop, not realizing Rebecca was following him.

He crossed the square, fortunately walking in the direction Rebecca had parked. This was really fortunate.

As he started down the road, in the shadows, Rebecca fired through her cardigan. As she'd planned, the dart hit his left calf near his knee and he tumbled to the ground. As she closed the distance she fired again; this dart pierced his lower left arm, again as planned. What she hadn't considered was he preferred to hold his gun in his right hand, so he was whipping that around to shoot her. Fortunately, a third dart in the wrist that was exposed as he swung his hand around took that out.

As she reached him and stood over him, he gasped, "You!"

"Yep, me." She bent down and relieved him of that gun and the one in the left holster. The knife he had in the left ankle holster she used to slice the back of that ankle. He gasped in pain. "Interesting that pain continues when the leg is useless to you otherwise," she noted.

"Why?" he said through gritted teeth.

"The ankle?" she asked coolly. "Can't have you running when the tranquilizers wear off." She pulled him up by the left arm, which she slipped under. "You'll need to use the other leg."

"No. You can't drag me!" He deliberately slumped.

She stabbed his knife into his side below his ribs. He cried out in pain. "Plenty more places I can stab if you don't cooperate," she coldly told him. "And stop making so much noise."

She led him to her car and pushed him into the back seat. Retrieving some tape, she bound both wrists together behind his back, then both ankles together, just above the wound, before she rolled him over and taped his mouth.

She sat in the driver's seat and called the local CIA office and was quickly passed to the security team there. "I'm coming in with a traitor. I want somewhere I can interrogate and then leave him."

She then remembered the note he had been given. She got out of the car and opened the back door and quickly retrieved it from his pocket. It was an address and a time, later tonight. The address was not another public location. She would arrange a raid at that time.

Today was proving quite rewarding.

She looked back at Bruce who was now facing her glaring. "Not a good day for you, Bruce. Before I set off, I will enjoy our little chat." And she would. This bastard had not only dumped her, but had stolen secrets, which she intended to retrieve, and in the process of stealing them had made their boss doubt her. She really hoped he resisted tell her what she needed to know.

xxx

Sarah was quite pleased with that. She might refine it more, but it was a good start.

She looked at the time. She'd missed lunch and it was now heading toward dinner time, but that wasn't uncommon when she was busy writing as that took all of her attention.

She got up and wandered in the direction of her mom's study. She knew Chuck would be calling later, but a meal with her mom would be nice too.


When he walked into the office, Chuck was surprised when a hush fell over the conversations in progress. All eyes turned in his direction. The only voices he heard were in the far corner where the help desk sat; those people would be talking to customers. The rest were staring at him with smiles on their faces.

He was about to ask what this was about, when Morgan grabbed him and dragged him to the meeting room by the entrance.

"Morg, what's going on?" he asked his friend.

"Josie and her boyfriend had a weekend up in San Francisco, visiting her parents. They headed to Pier 39 on Saturday and saw you."

Josie was one of the office gossips. It was now obvious to Chuck what was going on. "Saw me, huh? Just me?"

"No, dude. With the most beautiful blonde on the planet… apparently." Morgan's brows pulled together as he frowned. "Why haven't you talked to me about her, Chuck. We're supposed to be best friends."

Chuck knew he'd been remiss in not telling Morgan about Sarah. "I'm sorry, Morg. It's been a whirlwind romance. You know how I get when I focus on something; I can't think of anything else. This time it was Sarah."

Morgan saw his friend's eyes lose focus just saying her name. "Tell me about her, Chuck, before the inquisition team get to you and everyone knows."

Chuck smiled at his friend's label for the women in the office, including his own girlfriend.

"I love her, Morg, and what's amazing is that she loves me, too. Me! The least lovable guy on the planet."

Morgan hated this aspect of Chuck's personality. "Cut that out, Chuck. You're only 'least loved' by that stupid woman back in Stanford."

"Okay. Maybe. But this angel, who I only met when I went to Washington, wants to be with me and that's all that matters. I only want her, too. It's like a match made in heaven, as far as I'm concerned."

"Washington? Where did you meet her?" Morgan asked.

"I met her when I met Ellie for a drink," Chuck answered with a smile.

"I remember you saying you were going to meet up with her while you were there," Morgan recollected. "She was with some author wasn't she?"

Chuck's smile turned into a grin. "Yeah, she was. That was Sarah Lisa Walker, author of a spy novel series."

Morgan had always been quick to make connections, not always the correct ones, but this time he was right. "So, that's your girl? A spy novelist?"

Chuck nodded and pulled out the second novel from his bag. He'd brought it with him intending to read it during his lunch break. He opened the back cover where her photo could be seen on the sleeve. It wasn't the best photo of her, she looked serious, but she still looked beautiful. He handed that over to Morgan, then picked up his phone and found the photo Ellie had sent him, which was another one from the same shoot, but with her grinning. Apparently, that wasn't the sort of photo she wanted as the author's image for her books.

Morgan had been looking at the book photo and whistled. "Quite a stunner, Chuck." Then he saw the photo Chuck had on his phone. "Wow! Yes, a real beauty indeed."

Chuck grinned. "She is that."

"Must be smart too, writing novels," Morgan mentioned.

"Have you read any of her books?" Chuck asked.

"No, but I will now."

"I'm only half way through her second one, but I'm hooked," Chuck said. Seeing how Morgan was looking at him, he added, "On the books as well as their gorgeous author."

"Wow! I thought you'd be single for life and now look at you; completely bowled over by this blonde."

Chuck grinned. "I am, Morg, so, so much. I can't stop thinking about her."

"Well, I'm hurt that you kept her a secret from me, but I'm happy for you," Moran said, with a smile.

"I wasn't-" Chuck started.

"Maybe not intentionally, but you still did," his friend emphasized. "And I can't believe Ellie knew before me."

"Ha. Talk about secrets, she hid Sarah from me for nearly four years!" Chuck exclaimed.

"Well, your secrets out now, so you are going to have to face that lot out there," Morgan said, grinning. "Make sure you know what you want to tell them, and probably more important, what not to tell them."

Chuck immediately thought about the missions and how the first affected Sarah and how the second pulled her in completely. None of that could be shared. As far as the San Francisco trip was concerned, it was just a mini-vacation with his beautiful girlfriend.

Chuck stepped to the door and took a deep breath before turning the handle.


He had managed to avoid talk of Sarah for the rest of the day because his head of design wanted to review the latest software plans and then the design agency creating the art for the next release had a meeting to review choices for the packaging cover work. It was 5:30 before he managed to catch up on emails and stagger out of his office. He'd missed lunch, but was ok with that as he might have been cornered if he had left his office. He was sure he would have to face it all when he came in the next morning, but at least he'd escaped today.

How wrong he was. As he walked out into the main office, four women were still at their desks.

"Don't you all have lives outside of this place?" he asked.

"And miss the goss?" Hannah Lee replied.

"How can Morgan manage without you?" he teased.

"He's cooking tonight," she quickly replied.

Chuck almost had to pick his jaw up from the floor. "Morgan Grimes? Cooking? What is the world coming too?"

"It is a strange world indeed. One where the lifetime loner gets a girlfriend," Jeanine Wainwright noted.

Chuck turned to her raising a brow. "Said the girl who has rejected more boys than I can count."

She shrugged and flicked back her long blonde hair. "I'm choosy."

He thought differently. "Working too hard."

"Look who's talking!" said Lou Palone. "You set a bad example for us all… when you're here, that is."

He looked at Lou. He'd once thought of asking her out but hadn't gotten round to it. He guessed now that it was because he wasn't really that interested. Or just that he didn't want to date one of his staff. "Sorry, Lou. I'll try to work less."

"We guess that you have an incentive to do that now," Josie Brewster commented.

He turned to the brown-haired beauty and narrowed his eyes. "You're the one spreading rumors about me, aren't you?"

She grinned. "Not rumors, boss. Facts and photos." She turned her photo around, horizontally. On the screen was Chuck and Sarah on Pier 39 completely ignoring the sea lion barking behind them as they kissed.

He grinned. "I guess that gives the game away, doesn't it?"

"Spill," Hannah said, with a grin nearly splitting her face.

"Sorry girls, you're all beautiful, but she is the most beautiful woman in the world." Even just thinking about her, he knows it's true. She completely outclasses these four.

None of the women looked upset. "Ahh," said Hannah. Three other sets of eyes twinkled.

"She must be amazing to draw you out of your shell, boss," Lou commented.

If there had been men around, he might have held back, but he said, speaking from his heart, "I fell in love with her from the moment I saw her."

Four sets of hands clasped together, each woman ringing her hand and cooing.

"Morg tells me you have photos of her," Hannah stated. "Please show us this beauty."

He brought up Sarah's photo, the one not from the book cover, and showed them all.

Two of the women gasped. "She is beautiful," Jeanine commented.

He looked at the one who hadn't gasped, other than Josie who had obviously seen Sarah before. Lou was frowning. "I know her, or at least I've seen her before."

He grinned. "She's an author."

Lou clicked her fingers. "She writes spy fiction." He nodded. "I love her books. She was reading from her latest the other week, but I missed it because I was visiting my parents that weekend."

"Maybe I could get her to sign a book for you," he offered.

She held his gaze. "You can do better than that, boss. You can bring her in to the office and I can meet her."

"Ohh, yes," cried the other women. He looked at all of them skeptically.

"Not just for the books, Chuck. We want to meet the woman who's swept you off of your feet. She must be more than just a beauty," Jeanine explained.

His eye glazed over thinking about Sarah again. "Oh, she's so much more than just a beauty."

Four voices rang out, "Ahh."


Her phone rang just as Sarah and her mom finished clearing the table after dinner. "You answer it, Sarah. I know you've been itching for a call from Chuck all evening," Emma commented. "I'll finish loading the dishwasher."

Sarah wandered away and sat on the couch. "Hi, Chuck. How was your day?"

"Apart from missing you since you dropped me off, great," he replied.

His words made her feel warm all over. "Missed you too."

"I got collared by Morgan as soon as I walked in the office. He told me off for not telling him about you."

This was puzzling. "If you hadn't told him, how did he know?" Sarah asked.

"A photo in San Francisco. it got it forwarded to me and I'll send it to you."

That worried her. Had someone seen then at the café with her dad? "Where?"

The answer put her mind at rest. "Pier 39." He chuckled. "I was PDA averse before I met you, Sarah Walker," he said almost accusingly.

"Someone caught us kissing?" This was a bit embarrassing, but she really didn't care.

"The office gossip. She'd shown everyone. There was a hush when I walked in, before Morgan drew me to one side." He heaved a sigh. "I had meetings for a lot of the day, then lots of emails to catch up on. The rest of the week will be the same, so long days. I won't get to see you until Friday evening at this rate."

That was hard to hear, but she guessed it would be good for her writing. "That's a shame but life is like that sometimes."

"Yeah," he replied. "When I finished, I thought everyone would have gone home but I was so wrong."

"Who was still there?" she asked but had guessed it would be women, waiting to quiz him.

"They're called the Inquisition."

She laughed out loud. "What, like that Monty Python sketch?"

He laughed. "No one expects…"

"That's right!" she laughed again.

"Well, I should have expected these four." He added, "They want me to bring you in to the office. The quote was, 'We want to meet the woman who's swept you off of your feet.'"

The warmth spread throughout her body. "You swept me off of my feet too, Chuck."

"I have a lot of meetings for the rest of the week," he told her. "What about Monday?"

Sarah was caught out by that. "Oh, you're serious about taking me to see them?"

"Well, you wanted to this morning."

She had indeed. "Okay. Monday it is."

She could almost feel his smile. "Great. Don't worry, I'll be with you. Oh, by the way, one of the inquisitors is a big fan, but missed you on your tour."

"Oh, okay," she replied. "I guess I will have one thing to talk about, at least with her."

"One of the other inquisitors in Morgan's girlfriend, Hannah. She has invited us to spend the afternoon and dinner with her and Morgan on Sunday. And Ellie has done the same for Saturday. Is that all OK?"

She wanted to meet his friends, especially this guy who was apparently his best friend. She should also be further with her book, so a meeting with her editor shouldn't be too bad either. "Yeah, that sounds good." She looked over her shoulder at her mom who was now making coffee. "Maybe we can spend the nights and mornings at your place?"

"Oh, wow! That sounds wonderful!" he exclaimed.

She grinned at his enthusiasm.

"I'll confirm the details," he said, then chuckled. "…and make the inquisitors happy too."

She chuckled as well. "You do that, my love."

"God, I love you, Sarah."

That felt wonderful. "I love you too, Chuck."

"Call you again tomorrow night," he finished.

As she pulled the phone away from her face, her mom placed a coffee cup in front of her.

"Anyone who can make you look that happy is definitely a keeper, Sarah," Emma commented.

Sarah beamed at her mom. "He so is, Mom."


A/N: Like Sarah here, I can get obsessed with creating something and am prone to missing meals and sleep. I did it when creating watch faces for the Pebble and Fitbit smart watches and I do it now with writing Chuck FanFiction. Does that make us obsessive characters or just focused?

Please drop me a review to let me know what you think of this gentler chapter.