AN - And Chapter Three. In which some things have happened off screen. And Casey enters the story.
Sarah woke slowly, as was normal for her when she wasn't in the middle of a mission. She felt different and took a moment before she opened her eyes to catalog. Instead of her normal cranky, angry, desire to murder her alarm clock… she felt rested, warm, and happy? Her feet were warm and her eyes shot open. She smiled as her brain caught up and she remembered why her feet were warm. The weight of the arm that rested around her waist registered then, as did the steady breathing of the full size body heater she was snuggled to. As she moved she felt his breathing change.
"You snore." he said, sleepily. "Its a cute ladylike snore. More like a moped than a motorcycle, but a snore nonetheless."
"You could have gone home after, you know..." she said with a smile in her voice.
His voice sounded more awake, but he hadn't moved. "First, you snuggle like kudzu. Getting away wasn't possible, even if I was stupid enough to want to. Second, who said I minded your moped snore? It makes the rest of us mere mortals feel better about our inadequacies."
"I thought you were somewhat more than adequate." Sarah replied primly.
"Not cool." he whispered in her ear, making her shiver.
Sarah tried hard to focus. "Exceeded all expectations, five stars, would use your services again?" she said, smiling and turning her head to look up at him.
"Better." he replied, and ran a hand up her side.
She was about to mention the need to brush her teeth before they got much farther. Then her phone rang. Fuck.
"Chuck, hey." she said, squirming. Oh god, that felt… focus Walker. Dammit. "Chuck!" she said, quite a bit louder and he looked up, smiling.
"Yes?"
She was breathing hard. "Chuck, hand me my phone and don't you dare make a noise!"
He smiled, a bit too readily, she noted with suspicion. Then he rolled to the side of the bed and grabbed the buzzing and beeping device. "That's a terrible ringtone, Sarah." he said as he handed it over. Then he ran a hand up her side… again.
She glared at him as if to say 'not now'. Well, she tried to glare and answered, "Walker." Chuck grinned as if her look bounced right off, and she had to bite her lip hard to keep from making a noise. I swear if he doesn't stop I'm going to make noises that will give the wrong impression…or the right one I suppose.
"What the hell are you doing, Walker." Casey's angry growl came over the speaker.
"What?" she interrupted in almost a panicked squeak. Did he have her place bugged, she'd checked… She thought quickly and coughed. "Sorry, just took a drink."
Casey grunted and continued. "We're supposed to be on the same page with where the asset is at all times. He was supposed to debrief with you, and head back. He's not here. Where is he."
She took a deep breath and focused, which was much much harder than usual, taking his hand from her ribs and then pointing at the phone and shaking her head.
Chuck smiled, then nodded and stood, backing off and going to the mini fridge. He grabbed two bottles of water after he looked back and she nodded. She watched him walk, thinking how he might benefit from wearing a better fitted shirt from time to time. The Buy More uniform did not accent those arms. When did he have time to work out, she wondered. And I'm guessing all that work on a keyboard actually does strengthen fingers and improve manual dexterity….
"Walker! You there?" Casey demanded and she shook herself.
"Huh? Yeah. He's still here. You didn't think about his GPS? Should have shown you that. We had pizza, and talked through… Well, we ended up getting some background so we could try to come to some agreement on mission protocol and such. Anyway it was a long talk." she said, and shrugged at Chuck's expression, then mouthed 'Casey'
After taking a drink of water, Chuck nodded and set both bottles down on the nightstand. Then he stepped back, and sat on the edge of the bed waiting.
"So send him home, we have to get to the Buy More." Casey grumbled. "Enough letting him talk though his ladyfeelings."
"Yeah, we finished talking last night." Sarah said, absently doing some mental math and considering the box in her nightstand. We're going to need to make a run to the drug store. Or Large Mart. Hmm...
"What's that supposed to mean"
She shook herself and firmly closed her eyes. Be an agent, agent… professional Walker. "I meant to say, when we finished up I thought it was too late to send him back. So he stayed here. Besides, at some point we needed to do an overnight, probably more or less regularly. It would be expected after this long. He's… getting ready, in a bit we'll head to your place."
"Ugh". Casey grunted. "Next time try to plan these excursions better."
"Oh yes, I think you're right." Sarah said, rising from the bed. "We'll have to sit down sometime and work out some things. Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't ever wander off into the night."
"Uh,huh." Casey grunted again and cut the call.
Sarah almost broke out in laughter. Then she deliberately turned the phone off and dropped it on the dresser. "Well, a call from the NSA does tend to dampen the mood." Chuck was just kind of staring. Sarah looked down and giggled. "So should I put a shirt on?" The staring continued. "I should put a shirt on."
It was a week after the massive change in direction that she'd undertaken with Chuck and things were pretty good. They hadn't managed more than getting lunch together and a few movies at his place, but that was surprisingly OK with her. She'd had relationships that were mostly physical. Well one. Kind of relationship. It was different to have one that was mostly emotional. It felt… right, real.
Sarah was already in her never to be sufficiently accursed Wienerlicious outfit and leaning on the counter in Casey's apartment. They'd grab Chuck and drive him to the Buy More in about an hour, but had stopped in to cross check schedules and new intel alerts. For now most of the coms and support equipment were here for now.
"So, anything new we need to look into today or is it just a normal day of perimeter security and… ugh grease." Sarah said, taking a drink of her coffee.
Casey tossed a folder onto the counter, then waved a hand. "I'll save you the time. Nothing. I'll try to move some Beastmasters, you get to ruin some more corndogs."
Sarah sighed. She wasn't sure she really wanted any missions, keeping Chuck out of danger had taken on a new level of importance for her. However, if another pimpled high schooler or worse some creepy Dad with his kids, asked her to get something from a low shelf she was going to hurt someone. A nice surveillance gig would be a welcome break.
"Maybe you should take the moron on another 'overnight', that seemed to improve your mood this week, Walker." Casey said with a sneer.
"What?" Sarah was a bit startled at the change in his tone. Then thought furiously about if she'd given anything away. "Casey, we have to maintain the cover so I can be expected to be nearby when he's not at work. Its…"
"Bullshit." Casey had lost the sneer and his tone was mater of fact. "You may as have jumped him in front of me. I mean 'I was taking a drink'? Walker, I'm a bit older than you. I've caught people 'In Flagrante' before."
"Casey!" she said sharply, slightly panicked because she knew his apartment was not surveillance free.
"Relax, Walker. Everything's off right now."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about anyway, but even if a rumor makes it back – this whole operation could compromised." she said, trying hard to suppress her immediate spike of 'oh shit'.
He snorted. "So you're trying to tell me Bartowski didn't have his chocolate in your peanut butter when I called?"
She stopped, thinking. If this was going to work, she needed Casey anyway. Time to handle this like Carina? Throw caution out and improvise? Fuck it, the truth worked with Chuck. "If you'd have called the night before… yeah."
He looked shocked, probably more at the fact that she'd admitted it than the manner. Like a simple statement of fact. She could see surprise, a bit of anger but wasn't sure if that wasn't just a default, disgust, and a hint of worry all work their way across his face.
"Dammit, Walker. This…" Casey was pacing angrily now and waving his hands.
"Was inevitable." Sarah interrupted. "It was inevitable, Casey. Its why you don't put agents in long term 'cover' relationships. If you're dealing with two even remotely normal people feelings will develop. And he's a far cry from normal, he's extraordinary. An actual good person – something we have very little experience dealing with in our line of work. And I had damn little resistance to it."
"What's that supposed to mean? Avoiding that is why you rotate handlers. Hell its why rule 49 stuff happens." Casey said, then waved at her. "Give me one gawdamm reason not to call Beckman right now."
"I'll give you more than one. First, Casey, 'asset' and 'subject' is a fucked up way to describe someone who's a victim of our mess." She controlled her voice, but it felt good to just let her anger over these events out. "For the past year and more I've been dealing with shit from rogue agents, 'handlers' running off books traitorous missions, and now we're stuck cleaning up the results of another screw-up. Second, he's helping us now because he wants to Casey. He won't let people get hurt, and so he puts himself out there. Often he's doing it for me, even though I didn't ask for that. On those alone – he deserves a hell of a lot better than no pay, constant surveillance, no real relationships, and a bullet to the head when its all over. Its not right, its stain on what's left of our… call it conscience or sense of honor, whatever either of us have left."
"Walker… it sucks but we've both seen, and done, worse." Casey said, uncomfortably.
Sarah nodded. "Then here's another reason. Where do we draw the line, Casey? If we're down to killing innocent civilians, we're the bad guys. And I'm done being that person." she sighed. "You know the worst part? He knows what you and I do… what I have done. He's seen… me. And he's still helping us." her voice hardened and the Ice Queen surfaced for a moment, "If they want Chuck, they'll have to go through me."
"What the hell do you want from me, Walker?" Casey asked and he shuddered slightly, she could see him try to hide it. She could also tell that appealing to a sense of right and wrong helped. He'd been a Marine. Its damn hard to take that out of a man, even in their line of work.
"Who's going to work harder to protect him than me?" Sarah said, and shrugged. "I think the biggest hurdle is that our bosses just see him as a computer full of intel with unfortunate organic bits." She took in his expression. "OK, maybe not Beckman. We could probably leverage Roan Montgomery there, its proof she's got a heart underneath. But, Graham? Casey, he's basically a sociopath and I'm seen evidence that at least one of the 'missions' I've been on were unsanctioned."
"You want to back-channel it, get him hired as field support, maybe an analyst?" Casey mused.
She nodded, Casey was an experienced agent, and not stupid. "Can I count on my partner, Casey?"
"You really think you can make a go of it. Be normal, or be enough for someone who is?" he asked, seriously and without his usual mocking tone, ignoring her question.
All in Walker. Her voice was soft and she looked down. "He knows me, and he still wants me. Maybe I don't deserve it, but I'm going to try like hell to give him something real. Maybe I'll never be normal, but I need to try… I want to leave something behind other than bodies and a star on a wall, John."
"Then I'll back you." he sighed. "I gave up a lot to this, too much maybe, it might not be too late for you." He grimaced in disgust at some thought. "Try to keep it out of the cameras while I make some calls. I've got enough nightmare fuel as it is without seeing the moron naked."