A/N: Welcome back. If you're here, you've probably read Sarah vs. Asking Chuck Out and want to know more about what happens to them. I hope you enjoy where their journey takes them as much as I enjoyed penning it.
Special shout-out to WillieGarvin for his pre-reading assistance.
As Sunday evening transitioned fully and completely into Sunday night, Sarah was officially over the hunt for a new apartment. As she and Chuck walked into the fourth apartment they'd seen that day, the seventh one in the last two days, she realized that all the previous ones had started to blur together. Most of the apartments were fine but since this was the first place she was really going to be living in, she had set the bar pretty high. She wanted something great, not just fine.
As they had walked around the various apartments together, Sarah couldn't help but visualize Chuck being there, living there with her. She found herself mentally cataloguing where his stuff would go, how they would arrange the furniture together and a thousand other details that made her happy to think about. As a result, she was second guessing her conversation with Ellie just a few days earlier about asking Chuck to move in with her. The timing was more than a little insane, yes, but as she'd mentioned to Ellie, their insanity worked for them. Part of what made them so wonderful together was how ridiculous their connection was over such a short span of time. She knew moving forward that she'd never, or very rarely ever, be spending the night at Chuck's with his sister and Awesome in a bedroom right across the hall. Last night's unfortunate event had solidified that in her mind as she blushed, remembering.
She and Chuck had snuggled on the couch to watch a movie after Ellie and Awesome went to bed, and of course they had started fooling around. Ellie had gotten up to get a glass of water more than an hour after going to bed, walked up to ask them if they wanted anything from the kitchen and caught them in a most compromising position. Chuck, hearing her coming had quickly pulled a blanket over them but with his feet sticking out of one end and hers sticking out the other, it didn't take much imagination to realize what was going on.
Ellie could barely look at them the next morning without blushing and simultaneously apologizing while chastising Chuck for choosing to mess around in a shared space of the apartment. Sarah she seemed to hold blameless, even though she'd seduced Chuck into it. The poor man just couldn't say no to her it seemed, and she smiled at the thought. So, no, probably not a lot of sleeping over at Chuck's place in the future, which made her a little sad.
They'd spent Friday night together at her hotel, which had been perhaps the most wonderful night of her life. In her mind, it was a run-off between Friday night and last Sunday night on the beach in Carmel. By that point, she knew they'd both been in love with each other, but she'd been too obtuse to recognize it and Chuck wasn't going to reveal that to her so early on. While the emotional bonding they'd done that night had been truly breathtaking, and their physical connection had defied the laws of physics, she was of the mind that Friday night was ever so slightly better. A little bit because of everything coming to a head with Stanford, but mostly because of their earlier conversation and the fact that they were both done holding back the depths of their feelings for each other.
She'd taken him to work Saturday morning, and as promised he gave Big Mike notice of his intent to quit once they found a replacement Nerd Herd Supervisor. He told her that Big Mike had not been pleased but wasn't as surprised as Chuck thought he'd be. "I always knew this day would come, Chuck." He'd seemed genuinely upset for a moment, then told him gruffly to get back to work as he turned quickly to shuffle random papers on his desk.
She had picked him up after work Saturday afternoon and they'd spent the rest of the evening looking at apartments in the Echo Park Neighborhood, not far from where Chuck lived. They were repeating the process again today, once again looking at available apartments since she'd picked him up from work. Since nothing they'd looked at so far had really done anything for her, she had decided to step up the price point and they were currently looking at one of 7 penthouse apartments on the 20th floor of a recently renovated building. It was stunningly beautiful.
It was a corner unit with 18 foot ceilings and huge windows that wrapped around two sides of the main living space, providing a breathtaking view of downtown Los Angeles. The main floor living area had beautiful Brazilian hardwood floors and an expansive kitchen that was open to the main living space with professional grade stainless appliances and lots of cabinet space. Since it was a corner unit, it had a balcony that matched the windows, wrapping around the outside of the apartment. It included a small outdoor kitchen and provided a spectacular view of the ocean in the distance to the west. While there was a decently sized guest bedroom and full bathroom on the main floor, a second story loft contained a master bedroom suite with a private sun deck, separate master bathroom with dual vanities, a jacuzzi tub and a huge Roman shower. Everything about the place was truly stunning. She thought it would be an amazing place to entertain if she had any friends to invite. It made her think of Carina, who she knew would love this place.
She loved it too, but it was very expensive. It wasn't so much the money, but rather the optics of it. The rent would represent well more than half her annual income, at least as it was reported on her tax returns. She had yet to find the right time to tell Chuck that she had millions stashed away in various accounts in the Caymans and elsewhere. In the past she wouldn't have cared about optics. She would have simply used any one of the numerous off-shore shell corporations she already had setup and leased the apartment that way, funding it in advance for however long she thought she'd need it. Her name wouldn't be anywhere near it.
Now however, since she was leaving the CIA, she felt like maybe she should take a different approach to how she moved through life. Work more within the boundaries that other people followed. When you leased an apartment, you leased it in your own name. She had to admit, the thought was a little uncomfortable. She had a lot of enemies in the world after all and she'd never before leased a property in her own name.
She could tell Chuck was blown away by the place just like she was. It would be impossible not to be overawed by the views alone. "Sarah, this place is crazy!" He said breathlessly, his mouth open in wonder as they walked in, saw the massive ceilings and downtown LA glowing in the night sky outside the huge windows. They toured the apartment together, hand-in-hand almost the entire time, even going so far as to walk into the huge shower and sit in the massive tub together. They were both very impressed with the attention to detail from the renovation. When they walked out on the wide balcony, she almost decided to just close the deal right at that moment, but she wanted Chuck's opinion first. She wanted to talk to him about how she should approach leasing it, or if she even should. She also wanted to at least have the conversation with him about moving in, get his thoughts on whether that level of insanity was pushing boundaries, even for them. She didn't feel right not at least talking to him about it. She was determined to be honest with him about her thoughts and insecurities as they moved forward in their relationship. The thought both terrified her and warmed her heart that she had someone she actually wanted to talk to and share these things with.
She asked the leasing agent if she and Chuck could have a few minutes to talk on the balcony and the woman seemed to understand perfectly. "Take all the time you need, you're the only showing tonight. I'll head back to the leasing office. The front door will lock behind you so just close it when you leave. If you're interested in filling out some paperwork, just stop by my office."
"Thank you so much!" Sarah said sincerely.
"You're very welcome. I have a feeling about you two, and I'm rarely wrong," she smiled knowingly at Sarah as she left.
Sarah walked back out onto the balcony and wrapped her arm around Chuck's waist as he was standing at the railing looking out at the stunning nighttime vista of downtown LA spread out before them.
He put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Sarah, this place is worthy of you. I can totally see you living here, more so than any of the other places we've looked at. But holy crap, but it's expensive! It's more than double what I make at the Buy More!"
"Yes, it is expensive," she agreed. "Chuck, I have a couple of confessions to make," she said quietly.
He looked at her affecting a shocked demeanor. "You're not secretly married, are you?"
"Shut up, you nerd," she said laughing, smacking his shoulder. "No, I'm not secretly married. But there are some things I haven't really mentioned before because it's sort of understood in my former line of work that you keep this kind of thing to yourself," she said hesitantly.
"Is this one of those things you're not supposed to talk to me about? Because I don't want you to break any rules you might regret later."
"No, no, it's nothing like that. It's not really something my employer knows about. At least, not directly. It's more like, they don't want to know."
"Okaaay," he said slowly.
"So, one of things that's always a risk with my job, my former job, is that if my cover were to be burned while I was in the field, I might have to go it alone so to speak. In some places – most places really – I wouldn't be able to count on help from the Company, if you know what I mean. I would be left to my own devices to protect myself and get somewhere safe." Sarah explained evasively.
"That's terrifying," Chuck said with a shiver.
"Yeah, I suppose, but it's a big motivator to not get fucking caught," she said gravely. "And it's something we're made fully aware of going in. It's a risk we accept. But there's this other element to it."
"What's that?"
"Well, when a new field agent starts working solo, they're sort of encouraged to look for opportunities to sock away money so that if they ever do have to go on the run, they have financial resources," she explained guardedly.
"That makes sense. Plan ahead, better to have it and not need it kind of thinking, right?"
"Yes, exactly," she agreed. "Well, the thing of it is, when you're dealing with bad guys who are at the level to get my attention, meaning very successful, very dangerous bad guys, they often have lots of cash on hand. Well, sometimes it's cash, sometimes it's jewels or art or whatever. And when they don't need that cash anymore, well it's just sort of easy to pick it up and take it someplace only you know about it. Certain banks in the Caribbean love dealing with large unexplained cash deposits."
"I think you're rather obliquely trying to tell me that you have lots of money stashed in Caribbean banks," Chuck said frankly. "Sarah, I told you once that I don't judge you for any of the things that you did in your job, and I meant it. There's no way I could comprehend the terrible choices that you probably had to make every day. If taking money from a recently deceased bad guy to protect your future was one of those choices, then I don't judge that either. As far as I'm concerned, no one who hasn't been there has the right to judge the things you had to do in your job."
"Chuck, I don't know how I feel about you always letting me off the hook for these things, but that's a discussion for another day," she said, pulling him tighter against her side. "But, yes, I'm telling you that I have a lot of money stashed in various banks in the Caribbean as well as Europe."
"Can you tell me how much?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.
"Honestly, I have no idea. Like I said, some of its jewelry, precious gems that would need to be professionally appraised, some artwork," she sighed. "But I know the liquid cash value across all the accounts is probably somewhere around ten million?" she said uncertainly.
She saw his mouth fall open in shock. "Holy Bruce Wayne's fortune, Batman!" he exclaimed with a laugh. "I thought you were going to say like a few hundred grand or something!"
"Oh, Chuck. You're so pretty," she said laughing, stroking his hair. "How could that possibly help me survive a life on the lamb? I once actually had to buy a small aircraft to get out of a hostile country. Do you know how much small aircraft cost in third-world countries, Chuck? If you can find them, they are a few hundred grand!"
"Wait, you can fly a plane? You're a pilot?" he asked, distracted.
"Focus, Chuck," she said patiently.
He laughed. "Ok, but we're definitely putting a pin in that," he looked intent for a moment and seemed to catch on to her original line of thinking. "Ok, what you're telling me is that as expensive as this place is, you can afford it easily."
"Yes, that's one place I was going with this, but…" she looked at the deck chairs and figured why not. "Here, let's sit for a few minutes and talk because I'm interested in your thoughts about this. You have a way of digging through all the bullshit and getting to the root of mental problems I create for myself," she pulled him over to the chairs and sat in one next to him, holding his hand.
"So, in the past, whenever I would be on a relatively long term assignment somewhere, I would often need to find suitable housing. Sometimes it would need to be lavish, in which case the company would arrange that, in other cases it needed to be a slum, which is pretty easy. Other times it didn't really matter, and I was left to my own devices. In those instances, I would setup a shell company and then pay for the property I wanted through that shell company. Sometimes I'd even get reimbursed, but not always. Ultimately I didn't care because I had money to burn. I could do that here, and the idea gives me a certain level of comfort, but I find myself wondering if I should continue to live that way," she explained, feeling rushed at the end, remembering she didn't like admitting to these kinds of things. She was feeling vulnerable and exposed, but at the same time she was ok with it because it was with Chuck.
He actually took a few long moments to mull it over and she didn't want to rush him. Plus, the views were truly staggering. "Yeah, I can totally see where you'd get in your own head over something like that," he said finally. "Sarah, are you... in danger? I mean, are there bad guys out there like actively hunting for you, trying to find you just so they can get revenge or something? The words sound ridiculous but is there like a bounty out on you or something?"
She laughed a little at the last part but knew it wasn't as crazy as he might think. "No, nothing so dramatic as that. But to the other part of the question, that's a little trickier. I mean the answer is mostly no, but not fully and completely no. Does that make sense?"
He smiled. "Yes, surprisingly it does."
"So, yes, there are a few people out there who would love nothing more than to punch my ticket once and for all. But are they actively hunting me? No… I think the best way to describe it is that they are sort of passively paying attention. Think of it like an informal ten most wanted list that bad guys keep of the good guys that have worked to bring them down over the years. And there are certain Eastern European countries I really can't risk going into without a serious makeover. Like facial recognition fooling level makeover."
"Yikes, that's harder than most people realize. Wigs, beards, fake noses and glasses aren't going to cut it at that level," he said impressed and alarmed at the same time.
"Exactly. So, to answer your question, no I'm not really in danger. In a city the size of Greater Los Angeles, the odds of running into someone who knows me well enough to identify me on sight are so low as to be truly laughable. Plus, most of the people who would like to see me meet an untimely end are generally not welcome inside US borders. And the name Sarah Walker is a lot more common than you might think, in the US and Europe, so just tracking my name is not going to help."
"I don't know," Chuck said worried. "I mean, given that my level of anxiety just went up a couple of notches just at the thought of someone wanting to do you harm. My thinking is, take whatever precautions you would normally take." His anxiety did seem to be spiking.
"Chuck don't freak out. It's ok. Do a little risk analysis in that big brain of yours and you'll realize that I'm more likely to get struck by lightning right now. And the other thought is, aren't I trying to integrate a little now? Be a little more, I don't know, normal about how I operate in my daily life?"
"I'm not going to lie here, Sarah. I might not be the right person to ask about this, but I know you've got limited choices when it comes to that. Let's take an upside vs. downside approach. If leasing this apartment through a shell company could make you even point zero one percent safer, then why not? If the upside is ever so slightly safer, then what's the downside to doing it?"
"Nothing really," she said truthfully. "I mean if anyone ever got a court order to look at the lease, it could raise questions, but at that point, there's already other more uncomfortable questions being asked."
"Ok, then. I think we have our answer. Small upside to doing it that way, no real downside," he said, looking a little relieved.
"Ok, I'll go with your thought process on this one," she said smiling. "Now on to a slightly more uncomfortable topic." She paused.
"I don't know what could be more uncomfortable than talking about people wanting to hurt you, but ok," he said with a nervous laugh.
"I talked to Ellie about something the other night while you and Awesome were cleaning the kitchen," she said shyly.
"Yes, that was pretty obvious," he said with a grin.
"Chuck, for the past two days while we've been looking at apartments together, I've been agonizing over if we should move in together!" she exclaimed suddenly, looking tense.
Chuck didn't hesitate. "I think we absolutely should," he said immediately, a confident smile on his face.
Sarah was obviously stunned, her eyes wide her mouth open. A huge smile slowly grew on her face, replacing the stunned look with one of joy. "You really think so?"
He smiled right back at her. "Are you kidding me? How many times to do we have to say it? We're both completely barking mad! But that's our groove, baby!" he said, giving her a silly British accent on the last sentence.
He sat up in his chair, looking ecstatically happy. "Do you know how happy it makes me feel to know that I would get to come home to you, listen to you tell me about your day and tell you about mine? Eat dinner with you, go to bed then wake up with you? And make breakfast for you, and sit and watch tv with you, make love with you, wherever we want, whenever we want? What about any of that could make me think it's a bad idea?" he asked, infecting her with his delight.
However, years as a field agent had left a residue. She had to be realistic about things as well. "Chuck, we've only known each other nine goddamn days! What about when this madness wears off, and we're all farty and burpy around each other and I get my period and won't let you touch me. Or when I want to pluck your eyeballs out for playing video games at 3 am or you want to push me off this balcony for being so controlling all the time?" she asked, freaking herself out a little.
"Sarah!" Chuck said softly. "Sweetie, don't freak out! Take a breath." Sarah realized she had spiraled a little there and quickly calmed down. "All that stuff you just mentioned? That's called a relationship. You want more normal? You just outlined it. Is any of that stuff going to make us love each other less? Of course not! I want those things with you because that's just another level of intimacy. That's when the intimacy starts to get really honest about the reality of relationships.
"Humans are disgusting meat sacks with vile daily maintenance requirements, but that's part of the whole package. We couldn't possibly continue being around each other without that stuff happening anyway, so why not do it together in this fucking amazing apartment?" he finished talking and gave her a smile that made her scalp tingle with happiness.
Sarah jumped up out of her chair, suddenly unable to wait. She wanted to start living with this amazing, insightful, brilliant man as soon as possible. "Let's go do it right now. I came prepared to do this either way, through a shell company, or with my own name. We can close the deal tonight," she gave him a smile to match the one he'd given her. She saw him smile salaciously as he looked around at the buildings around them. Other than the downtown skyscrapers a few miles to their south, no other buildings had line of sight onto their balcony. They were surrounded by millions of people, yet completely isolated in the midst of them all, in a wonderful little oasis of privacy.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked, waggling his eyebrows at her.
"I absolutely am, and I'm right there with you, but not right now. I don't want the leasing agent lady to get weirded out and deny our application," she said with a knowing smile. "But I get the feeling it won't be that long until we're right where our imagination has us."
Sarah could tell that Anne, the leasing agent, was not at all surprised to see them walk into her office. "Hi guys," she said brightly. "So, since you're here, I'm guessing it means you want to put down a deposit and start the application process?"
"Yes, absolutely," Sarah said. "I'm actually going to be leasing the apartment through my company. I'm prepared to pay the first six months in advance if that will help expedite the process?"
"That's not a problem at all and six months in advance is the minimum we require to waive the credit checks. We have a lot of apartments leased that way including a couple of the other penthouse units," she started sliding forms across her desk. "Just fill these out, and I'll need a one month deposit that we can take on a credit card, then you can bring in a cashier's check for the prepay amount."
"Yes, and I'll setup an auto-pay right away as well. I like to be ahead of the curve with the rent," Sarah added, to which Anne simply nodded her approval. Sarah could see her calculating her bonus for leasing one of the pricier corner units. Sarah had yet to encounter a leasing situation where money wasn't able to overcome all obstacles. She had been through this process many times and was familiar with most of the forms and had them filled out quickly. Anne seemed satisfied, and the deposit went through on the credit card. "Once you bring in the cashier's check for the balance, I can give you the keys and you can start moving in right away. As early as tomorrow, if you like," Anne said cheerfully.
"That's wonderful!" Sarah said, looking at Chuck who seemed to be a little in awe of how easy and smooth the process went. He looked at her and grinned with excitement. They finished things up with Anne and Sarah promised to be back by the end of business the next day with a cashier's check for the six months' rent. They left the leasing office and started walking back to her car.
Chuck took her hand and bumped her shoulder as they were walking. "Hey, roomie," he said, a contented smile on his face.
"Ellie is going to lose it a little isn't she?" Sarah asked apprehensively.
"What was her advice when you spoke to her last week?" he asked. They walked up to her car and Sarah got behind the wheel while Chuck slid into the passenger seat. They continued talking while she drove instinctively towards her hotel.
"She basically said that you'd likely end up spending most of your time with me, but that we didn't have to move so fast with actually making the commitment to move in together. At the time it made perfect sense, but since we started looking at places, all I could think of was you being there with me," she said honestly.
"I was thinking the exact same thing but didn't know how to ask. Part of me felt like this might be an opportunity for you to figure some things out about being in one place for a while and I didn't want to intrude on that. On the other hand, I have the money now to get my own place, and it totally makes sense for me to do that, but why would we both commit to separate apartments at the same time when I felt like we'd probably be spending the majority at one or the other's place any way," he sighed as he finished explaining. "As you can see, I was getting in my own head over the whole thing too."
"It didn't seem that way when I finally brought it up," she observed. "You said we should do it practically before the words were out of my mouth."
"Because as soon as I knew you had the same question on your mind, it just clicked right into place for me. It does make sense for me to move out and give Ellie and Awesome their own space now that I have the means. They've both sacrificed so much for me, and I don't want to do that to them anymore. But it just doesn't make sense for the two of us to get separate apartments. It feels silly. It feels like a denial of our craziness, and I don't like that. We have to own it.
"I don't know how to say this part exactly, but I'm not at all concerned about how this will affect our relationship. Will we have some issues and get frustrated with each other over trivial shit? Yes, of course. In a weird way I'm sort of looking forward to it," he was talking with a kind of quiet intensity that Sarah recognized he had when he was really digging into a question.
Sarah smiled at him. "I think I know what you mean. I want to learn more about those little Chuck quirks that I might be missing. I want to hang out while you and Morgan play video games. Spend lazy Sunday mornings while you read comic books and I… do whatever it is that I'm going to be doing," she added with a laugh. "It feels so silly, to be looking forward to even the irritating things, but I agree with you."
Chuck nodded enthusiastically. "Anyway, to answer your question about Ellie, I think she's going to be a little scared about how quickly we're moving, but ultimately I think she's going to be happy for us. And while she's going to act, and maybe even be a little sad about me leaving, she's going to be secretly elated about getting her privacy with Awesome back. And it's only about a 10 minute drive away, so I'm sure we'll see them all the time."
"Ok, so let's talk about tomorrow. I have my meeting with Coburn at nine downtown so I should leave about eight-thirty. That means that I should probably take you home tonight and go back to my hotel," she added with a little pout.
"What if I stayed with you and we just leave a little earlier so you can drop me off at home tomorrow morning?"
"I knew I was keeping you around for a reason, Chuck," she said with a sly grin. "You're such an effective problem solver!" He rolled his eyes at her. "I can pick you up after my meeting with Coburn and we can take care of a few banking related items. It occurs to me that you haven't had a chance to deposit your settlement check yet," she grinned at him.
Chuck laughed. "Yeah, that's been on the back of my mind. I'm thinking the first purchase I want to make is my own car," he shared proudly.
Sarah nodded. "Ok, that makes sense. Any ideas? You want to buy my Porsche? I've been thinking about getting a different car," she asked grinning at him.
Chuck laughed and said, "Ah, yeah, as nice as this car is, having a stick shift in LA traffic would drive me bonkers in about a week. I'll probably get something you consider conservative and boring. It's going to be a grandma car for me, I'm afraid."
"That's ok, I think my next car will be exciting enough for the both of us," she gave him knowing smile.
"Oh, dear lord, I'm afraid to ask," he said with a groan. "I'm going to have to get a prescription for Xanax to ride in your next rocket ship of a car, aren't I?"
"Calm down, I'm going to get an Audi," she said with a smirk. "A nice, safe, all-wheel-drive Audi."
"Oh. Okay," he said sounding surprised and maybe a little disappointed. "Well, that's probably a good choice then."
"I think so," she said knowingly. "Maybe you could look at Audi's too, while we're there? You might find a more upscale grandma car that you like."
He grimaced. "Don't those depreciate a lot? I mean cars are generally terrible investments, but aren't those really bad?"
She couldn't help but laugh and roll her eyes as she pulled into the hotel parking lot. "Chuck, weren't you thinking you'd have to pay like half that money in taxes anyway?" He nodded grudgingly. "And as responsible as I know you are, you're probably going to keep meticulous maintenance records, and always have it serviced at the dealership, right?" He nodded again. "Well, all those things help a car keep a higher resale value. It won't hurt to look, right?" They stepped out of the car together and he immediately walked over and took her hand as they made their way inside.
"No, I guess you're right."
"Well, either way, we'll have a full day tomorrow after the bank. I want to drop off the check and get the keys so then we can go furniture shopping," she said excitedly. "Chuck, do you realize if we can get it arranged to have a bed and some other miscellaneous stuff delivered tomorrow, we could sleep in our first place together as early as tomorrow night?"
That brought him up short as he stopped walking and she turned to look at him. There wasn't an ounce of hesitation or doubt in his expression, only joy. "That would be so amazing, Sarah!" he said with quiet glee.
"It really would be, wouldn't it?" she asked, sharing his joy. "Let's go upstairs, make love in this hotel for the last time, order pizza and talk about tomorrow," she said excitedly.
He immediately started walking, almost pulling her along. "You just described what I imagine heaven to be like," he said grinning at her.
A couple of hours later found them lying on her bed, both shamelessly naked while they ate lukewarm pizza, drank wine, and talked. After their first round of lovemaking, Sarah had put on a robe to get the pizza, then immediately discarded it as she came back into the room with the box, Chuck watching her with awe, his eyes roaming her body, as if trying to permanently engrave her image into his mind.
"Ahem, Chuck," she'd said with a grin, holding the pizza box out to her side with one hand so it didn't hide her body. "Hello? My eyes are up here, Chuck!"
"And those eyes are every bit as stunning as the rest of you," he said quickly, but not looking at them. "However, the rest of you isn't as often available for my viewing pleasure, I have to take advantage while I can," he continued ogling her, so she set the pizza on the bed and started offering him discreet little poses, as if she were modeling clothes for him.
As was her plan, within moments he jumped off the bed and attacked her as their second round began. She reveled in his body as much as he did hers, though she didn't think he would believe it. He was slender but muscular, well-toned with wide shoulders and he was so much stronger than he gave himself credit for. She felt that strength now, her body responding to it as he held her pinned up against the bedroom wall, her legs around his waist.
She could feel him physically in a way that she'd never experienced with any other man. Her body responded to him in a completely unique way. She had an awareness of him, of his physical presence. She felt his body as she ran her hands up his back, across his shoulders, along his biceps and forearms, feeling his muscles in action, the veins standing out clearly along his lithe but masculine frame. At the same time, she was aware of his hands and his lips on her body, squeezing the muscles of her back, his lips wet against her skin, his tongue sending shivers of pleasure through her. It was this hyper awareness of him making love to her, touching her in ways she'd never experienced while she touched him, that caused waves of ecstasy to crash over her. She felt as if she were being electrocuted with undulating currents of pure ecstasy, the intensity of it nearly crossed the threshold from pleasure to pain.
She couldn't help but smile at him as he dropped her onto the bed and she gasped, "I think we leveled up!" he laughed into her shoulder as he lay on top of her, his weight a comforting presence rather than a burden. They lay together for several long minutes both of them panting from the exertion until he rolled over to lie next to her.
"Oh, my God, Sarah!" he said breathlessly. "I wish I could articulate how much I love giving you that kind of pleasure. To feel it and to see it in your face at the same time… it's almost too much for me to comprehend. As if that level of beauty experiencing such ecstasy is too much for a mere mortal man to look upon."
She rolled over to lay half sprawled across him in what was becoming one of her favorite positions to cuddle with him, where one hand could play with his hair while the other just roamed his body, as his hands did the same to her. "Chuck, If I told you (kiss) that I find you every bit (kiss) as physically beautiful (kiss) as you find me, (kiss) would you argue with me (kiss)?" She planted little kisses along his neck and the cleft of his collar bone as she asked the question.
"My first instinct would be to, yes, but I'm going to suppress that, and just try to accept it," he said with a grateful smile.
"You do that. Because it's absolutely true," she said sitting up. "Now move over gorgeous, and hand me that pizza box. I'm freaking starving."
He laughed as he sat up and moved the pizza over next to her. He stood up and walked over to a small counter top area and poured some wine into Styrofoam cups and brought them back to the bed.
"Ok, so I've been thinking about something and I'd like your opinion," Chuck said, pulling out a slice of pizza for himself.
Sarah was nearly done with her first slice. "Shoot," she said, covering her mouth with her hand.
"I'm betting that not long after I move out, Awesome is going to propose to Ellie. I'd like to pay for their wedding as a sort of thank you for putting up with me all these years," he said while getting out of bed to grab the wine and some plastic cups.
Sarah had to remember to keep chewing so her mouth wouldn't fall open. "Chuck, that's… that's like really incredible," she said, a little floored.
"Really?" he asked genuinely. "Because now that I have the money, I feel sort of like it's the least I can do. I mean five years, Sarah. Five freaking years I've been intruding into their lives."
"Chuck, you're family. You know they don't view you being there as an intrusion. Ellie loves you to death and I know Awesome does too. He treats you like a little brother," she said affectionately.
"Yeah, I know, Awesome is seriously the best," he said with a smile. "But here's the thing. I want to do this for them, but I can't tell them until Awesome actually proposes."
"So, don't tell them," Sarah shrugged. "I don't see the problem."
"Well, I mean we're going to be telling them probably Tuesday or Wednesday this week that we're moving in together, right?" Sarah nodded. "I want to let them know how much I appreciate everything they've done for me. Do I get them a smaller gift to start, then spring this one on them later?"
"You're totally over thinking this, Chuck," she said patiently. "They won't expect anything, but yes, get them something smaller. Pay for them to have a nice romantic dinner out, a weekend stay at…" Suddenly Sarah's eyes got really big. "Oh, my God. That's it!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Chuck, send them to Carmel for a long weekend! You could reserve the Devon Cottage – he'd so love that! Set it all up for them, see if you can arrange for them to have the time off without them knowing…" she suddenly starting clapping and bouncing on the bed a little as an idea occurred to her, causing Chuck to ogle her again. "Chuck, we could arrange for them to be flown up there by helicopter. Can you imagine how amazing that would be?"
He obviously loved the idea. "Ok, well you're hired," she looked at him a little confused. "You just signed on to be my event planner for their getaway. I never would have thought of the helicopter thing but you're right, that would be totally worth it. So, you're hired." Chuck said smiling at her.
A grin slowly spread across her face. "This is going to be so much fun. How hard will it be to arrange for them to have the time off without them knowing?"
"I don't imagine it will be that difficult, but they will eventually see the schedule. The hard part will be the on-call thing. We'll have to make it clear they're going out of town so there are no mistakes about their availability," Chuck said, giving it more thought.
"Ok, well it probably makes sense for you to handle that part of it. How long do you think it will take for you to set that up?" she asked excitedly.
"It's hard to say, but we're rapidly approaching the end of the season. It needs to happen soon, right. Otherwise it will start to be a little colder and not as much fun."
"Ok, well I guess that means we've got more calls to make tomorrow, huh?" she said with a grin.
"Hey, do you think it makes sense for me to move my schedule to a more traditional Monday through Friday?" he asked suddenly.
"Yeah, that probably would make sense. Whatever your next thing it, it's probably going to follow that type of schedule."
"That's kind of what I was thinking as well," he said thoughtfully. "Have you given any thought to your meeting with SAC McGruff tomorrow?" he asked.
She couldn't help but laugh at that. "SAC McGruff? Where did that come from?"
"Oh, come on, that's such an obvious nickname for him!" he said amused. "You don't remember McGruff the Crime Dog from when we were kids? It was this crime prevention and awareness animated dog they used to run on TV between commercials. He walked upright and wore a tan trench coat like Columbo. When you called Coburn this gruff old-school guy, that's right where my brain went. SAC McGruff. I'll never think of him any other way," Chuck said laughing.
"You are such an adorable nerd sometimes," she said laughing. "No, I do not remember those ads on TV. But I have to admit that it fits." She shook her head, picking up another slice of pizza. "As to the meeting, I've been trying not to think too much about it. I don't have enough information to form any meaningful opinions."
"Yeah, you're right. I have to admit I'm crazy curious," he said smiling.
"Chuck, you need to prepare yourself for the fact that I might not be able to talk to you about it," she said hesitantly.
He waved the thought off. "Oh, yeah, I completely understand that. I mean I'll eventually get some clue just through what happens after that. But I'm still curious."
"What about you? What's the plan for finding a replacement nerd herd supervisor?"
"We haven't put the word out yet, but my plan is to get in touch with corporate and see if I can comb through some of the other nearby stores to find a candidate. I wouldn't trust any of the talking monkeys that currently work there to do the job," he said ruefully. "Believe it or not, my position comes with a relocation package if we find someone out of state who might be interested in transferring here."
"You're kidding?" she said disbelievingly. "Why would someone want to transfer to one of the most expensive cities in the world to make, what thirteen bucks an hour?"
"Yeah, well it only pays that much because it is in LA. The stores in like Idaho or Alabama or wherever don't pay that much. They pay like eight or nine an hour, so it looks like a significant raise. Plus, it's LA. There's a certain panache to living here," he smiled. "I mean, this is where Sarah Walker lives after all."
She threw a pillow at him which he dodged but didn't see the second one that caught him right in the face.
They continued talking while they got ready for bed, neither of them feeling the need to cover up, then crawled into bed together naked, which had become their normal. They cuddled in together and talked quietly until sleep claimed them.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sarah Walker already had FBI credentials, and these were hanging on a lanyard around her neck as she stepped on to the elevator to go up to Coburn's office. She rode up with two agents who were obviously curious as to who she was. One looked to be a new recruit and the other was probably his training officer and he was better at ignoring his curiosity than the younger agent. She'd noticed him trying to surreptitiously check her out as they waited for the elevator. She knew he'd eventually talk to her and he didn't disappoint. "I don't recall seeing you around the office. My name is James Clarkson, this Agent Williams. Are you a new recruit?" he asked holding out his hand.
"Nice to meet you Agent Clarkson. I'm Agent Walker. No I'm not a new recruit. I'm just here for a meeting with the SAC," she said shaking his hand, adopting a strictly professional demeanor.
He was clearly impressed by the fact that she was meeting with the boss but trying not to show it. "Well, if you ever need company for lunch, Agent Walker, don't hesitate to look me up," he gave her what she felt was probably his best smile and thought that three weeks ago she might have found him somewhat compelling. He was handsome and fit, about six feet tall, straight brown hair cut short… and she was completely uninterested. His hair was boring, his eyes were dull, his face didn't have any character and his smile had no depth. Something about Chuck had clicked in her brain in the first five seconds of seeing him. Everything about him had been deeply intriguing and attractive to her. His crazy curly hair, his amazing whiskey brown eyes, and his smile had connected with something deep inside her. And later on, other parts of him had connected with something deep inside her as well, a thought she had to quickly suppress before her upcoming meeting.
She realized that she was being a little unfair to the young FBI agent but also knew that Chuck had ruined her. As much as he went on about not being in her league, he didn't understand that he'd set the bar ridiculously high for her now. Chuck could work as a Nerd Herder at the Buy More for the rest of his life and still be more interesting, more beautiful, more genuine, more wonderful than any other man she could even imagine. And, oh God, the sex! She honestly didn't think it was humanly possible for sex to get better. Of course, before Chuck, she hadn't known it could be as good as it was.
"I'll keep it in mind Agent Clarkson," she said, clearly meaning 'Don't hold your breath', and the older agent coughed with suppressed amusement.
She stepped off the elevator at five minutes to nine am and saw Coburn standing near the reception desk, apparently waiting for her. The other two agents continued on down a row of cubicles and she smiled as she saw the older agent smack the younger one in the back of the head.
Coburn grunted what she presumed was a greeting. "Right on time, Walker. I like that," he said approvingly. He took her to a conference room marked, 'Conference Room B - Soundproof - Authorization Required' and used a keycard to open the door. He waved her in and as he closed the door, he said, "Take a seat. I apologize in advance, Walker. This conversation is not going to go the way that it was originally intended. Graham has briefed me on your mission to bring down Kieran Ryker and the discovery of the Fulcrum sub-group operating within the CIA."
She put her bag on the conference table, pulled out a chair and sat down. She was more than a little shocked at hearing that Graham had aired this particular load of dirty laundry with the FBI, even if he and Coburn did go back to the Corps together. "Well, I'll admit to being surprised Graham would do that. I'm guessing that next you're going to tell me he had good reason."
He grunted an affirmative, taking a seat across from her. "That's correct. The reason is that since our conversation in the lobby on Friday, some new information has come to light. I was brought in the loop Friday afternoon. A couple of the baddies you guys rounded up have decided that the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in a deep dark hole with no access to cable TV is not in their best interest. They've flipped and it turns out Fulcrum is more pervasive than previously thought. Potentially a lot more pervasive."
"They've infiltrated FBI haven't they?" she felt her heart sink. This meeting was going to suck.
A repeat of the affirmative grunt. "Along with the NSA and ATF as well. The two that flipped are actually not CIA employees, but contractors. The two of them together were able to point us to five additional agents that are now confirmed Fulcrum agents. They all have indirect ties to one or more of the agents in custody. Two of them are FBI from the New York office and the ATF agent is based in Chicago. The other two are NSA cryptologists, both working right here in LA. Just so you know, I joined the FBI by way of a cross-agency transfer from the NSA, so I take this as a personal insult on two fronts," he said angrily.
She thought about the implications and shivered a little. "Jesus, this is really bad. It's like a Venn diagram from hell. A secret terrorist organization operating within every branch of US Law Enforcement and National Security? I mean we have to assume DEA, Secret Service and Homeland Security are compromised as well. They could be cooperating at levels that would undermine us before we even got started trying to root them out." This was an intelligence officers worst nightmare. Who the hell could they trust?
"I have to ask, Walker. How tight was your codename work on the mission to take down Ryker? You were able to thwart a massive Fulcrum operation almost single handedly. Who knows what they would have been able to accomplish with the funding you denied them. This wasn't about Ryker; he was just the mission leader. You better bet they're looking under every rock to find out who tumbled on to them and how," Coburn said, adding a concerned grunt.
"What was the phrase you jarheads liked to use? Operational Security on that mission was tighter than a mosquito's asshole," Sarah said with a half-smile. "Graham is the only one who knew it was me and I don't think he has electronic copies of anything I took to him. He wanted this one off the books as it hit too close to home. And if Graham is Fulcrum, we're all beyond fucked anyway," she added with her own grunt.
"Truer words," he paused. "How'd you know I was Corps? You get access to my file?" he asked more curious than concerned.
"Please, Coburn," she said shaking her head. "I may have been born yesterday, but I've been here all day today. It's like the Marine Corps designed you on a computer."
He actually chuckled softly at that. "Well, I don't know about the computer part, but yeah, I was Corp to the core as the saying goes. I had to wash over to NSA for breaking a Light Colonels jaw when I was a mere Captain. They frown on that over there no matter your kill count."
"Force recon sniper?" she asked, already knowing the answer. He nodded. "Well, just the fact they actually let you wash over to NSA and didn't throw you in your own deep dark hole speaks volumes. That Light Colonel must have pissed off someone other than a gung-ho young Captain."
Another affirmative grunt. "Yeah, he pissed off a lot of people, but it still ruined me for the Corps. Going to the NSA was the only way to salvage my career. It was good for me though and coming here was even better. Saved my marriage, which I'm now old and sentimental enough to appreciate," he said. Sarah found herself surprised that he'd shared that much.
"Well before you and your lady feelings get into full swing, Coburn, maybe you want to tell me why I'm here?" she motioned around the room.
Coburn let out a resigned grunt and nodded. "Yeah, get to the point. Ok, you were right before. This is a nightmare scenario. Potentially, every Federal law enforcement and national security agency has been compromised by a domestic terrorist organization who's agenda is completely unknown to us. We only found out about them by accident. You were the one responsible for not only finding them but setting the stage for us to capture dozens of them and since you're still walking around without multiple large caliber holes in you this many months after the fact, it's safe to assume they don't know about you."
"Ok. I agree with that," she said, feeling suddenly very uneasy with where the conversation was headed.
"Keep in mind that this all started coming together Friday afternoon, after I spoke to you in the lobby. Once we had verification that what the Fulcrum agents were telling us was true, Graham had no choice but to take this directly to POTUS. Who else could he trust?"
Coburn paused here even though Sarah felt like the question was rhetorical. "I get it, but I'm not liking where you're going," she said evenly.
Coburn shrugged and grunted. "Well, as you can imagine, once presented with all the information, the CiC shat fluffy little kittens all over the Oval Office. He immediately signed a top secret, code-word only executive order authorizing the formation of a new task force, under the direction of the FBI, with the sole directive of finding and eliminating Fulcrum from our midst, root and stem."
Sarah closed her eyes. "Oh, my God, Coburn if you don't get to the point soon," she said ominously, putting her hands on her temples.
"Graham wants you to head it up," he said finally.
Sarah exploded out of her chair. "FUCK!" She screamed, slamming her fists down on the table. "GOD DAMMIT!" She kicked the chair. "FUCK!"
Coburn seemed unfazed by her outburst, as if he'd been warned to expect it. Sarah looked at him with thunderclouds in her eyes. "Is that why you brought me here? To a soundproofed conference room?" she asked, her voice low and furious.
He grunted an assent. "Partly. Also, because all discussions pertaining to Fulcrum are currently classified at a level to require it," he admitted. "Walker, you need to know that Graham didn't want to sandbag you like this. It wasn't the plan. The Fulcrum agents didn't flip until Friday morning and I didn't know about it until after I'd already met with you in the lobby. We were scrambling to verify facts all weekend, so Graham had enough to go to POTUS. They only just met yesterday afternoon. He meant it when he gave you that time off and I think he still does. Graham's been doing this for a long time, Walker. He knows a little bit of what you're going through. He realizes that you are burned out, but he doesn't want to lose you to the private sector."
She started pacing back and forth down the length of the conference room, once again working on her breathing in an effort to get her anger under control.
"For what it's worth, Walker, you can say no to this. He told me you've earned that right and from the information he's shared with me so far, I agree with him. But you weren't wrong a minute ago. We're flying blind here and the number of agents we can trust are limited to Graham, you, me, and some agency pretty boy named Larkin."
Sarah paused for a moment, still furious but slowly coming to grips with the reality of the situation. "I've spoken to Agent Larkin. I have to say, based on my brief conversation with him and other things I know about his history, I trust him," she admitted.
"Well, it's a start. Graham is in a bind here. I'm LA Division SAC, pulling me off to head up some mysterious task force would raise flags. Larkin sounds like a good agent but he's still too junior to head it up. That leaves you."
"If I do this, fucking IF mind you… I'd have some conditions," Sarah said heatedly.
Coburn grunted. "Graham expected as much. He knew how pissed you'd be. He knows you're going to want full autonomy, you report to him, but oversight of the team and how the investigation is run is up to the Task Force leader. It's spelled out in the Executive Order. I'm here as a resource but not technically on the team."
"God dammit. I came here thinking you were going to want me to consult on fucking background and security checks or something," she fumed quietly.
He grunted again. "As of Friday morning, that was basically the plan. He wanted me to pull you in on a few cases here and there, help us in whatever ways you were open to. From what I've read of your file, you'd be an extraordinary asset for us. We could use you for your language skills alone. Even if you do decide to leave the CIA, keeping you on the government payroll is only logical."
"How is this is even going to work, logistically? An FBI task force could theoretically be given authority over DEA or ATF resources as they're all under DOJ, but NSA reports to the Department of Defense, Secret Service is under Treasury and CIA is independent, reporting to the Director of National Intelligence. Any FBI task force given that kind of authority will set off alarms," she was mostly talking out loud and Coburn merely grunted noncommittally, giving her an opportunity to analyze things herself.
"We would need to narrow our focus, concentrate our efforts on one agency until we have a full team, we can't spread ourselves too thin at the outset," she looked at Coburn finally. "How would this be funded? You Fibby's count pens and paper clips to stay in budget. This is going to be fucking expensive. We're going to need to build our own infrastructure from the ground up. We can't piggyback off existing government systems because Fulcrum might have access. This could take years, Coburn, just to root out one organization. If this isn't done right, we could find ourselves in a civil war with our own intelligence and law enforcement services. It could cripple us, leave the US vulnerable and open to attack."
Coburn nodded and grunted. "Graham realizes this. Keep in mind, Walker, we have a couple days head start on you here, so you're about where we were late Saturday evening. Just the fact that you've already picked up on all those things is why Graham wants you to head it up. Even if there was someone else we could trust to take the lead, it would take them a month or more to get up to speed and still not really understand the full implications. You're already way ahead of the curve," he paused, obviously not enthusiastic about the next piece of information he had to share. "As far as the funding goes, it's another piece of information that Graham said you're not going to like, but he wouldn't tell me why. There's currently only one covert operation that has the funds to cover this, a joint CIA/DOD black-ops program," Coburn preemptively raised his hands in surrender. "He called it Project Intersect."
Sarah had started to calm down, but this information sent her back over the edge. She knew this wasn't Coburn's fault, but everything coming down like this was too much. Without saying a word, she grabbed her bag, walked to the door, yanked it open and stormed out into the hallway. She was walking quickly but Coburn's long stride caught him up within a few paces.
"Walk-" Sarah simply put a hand up between them to cut him off and kept walking. As they got to the elevators, she glared at Coburn, knowing it wasn't his fault but needing an outlet. He didn't even know what project Intersect was, so he wouldn't understand why it would upset her so much to still be caught in its orbit.
"I'll do it," she said as she jammed the call button for the elevator, the rage boiling through. She knew she ultimately had no choice. This was more important than her personal issues with the CIA, and she really was the most qualified person. She also felt like she needed to hold the reins on this because of the implications it had for Chuck. Whoever headed it up would eventually learn about his association with the encoded images project and she couldn't risk someone else gaining that knowledge. "I'll call Graham and tell him myself, but I need the day Coburn. I need to work some things out. In the meantime, put together a hardcopy on all the information the informants provided about the five individuals in question. Everything you guys have from the last three days you've been working on this," she said, calming down a little at the end.
He nodded and grunted an understanding. "I'll have it ready for you by end of business today. Call me when you're ready," he said simply, then turned and walked away.
Sarah stepped on to the elevator and wondered if she'd ever be able to break away from government service.
A/N: And we're off to the races. I've been working on this since I finished "Asking Chuck Out" so I have about nine chapters ready to go. I'll probably post a chapter every week.
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