Ch. 16 Meeting of the Mamas
A/N: Well, we've hit the home stretch. One more chapter and an epilogue.
With Chuck still safely ensconced in his version of Khazad-dum but away from her, Sarah poured herself into her studies, re-discovering a love for languages for the sake of learning rather than for a con or mission prep.
She returned from the first final of the semester tired, but proud of her work. With tradecraft ingrained into her very being, she checked her apartment door for any sign of entry. As expected, everything was in place. The hidden markers that only she knew about to tell if anyone got into her apartment while she was in class were undisturbed. Her apartment, as always was secure. Weary from her self-imposed pressure to excel on the test, she hung up her messenger bag and slumped down on the sofa. In the blink of an eye, she'd pulled a Smith & Wesson from a hidden cache built into her CIA sofa and she was on her feet. As her gun tracked around her empty apartment, her eyes kept coming to rest on the brightly wrapped present sitting on the island between the living room and kitchen.
She studied it, and gave another glance around. Was there a camera? She found herself muttering out loud. "Where did you come from? More importantly, how in the hell did someone get past my safeguards? Who could get past my safeguards?"
As she cautiously approached the gift, Sarah spotted a card resting against the far side. She eased the envelope away from the gift and used a ceramic knife camouflaged to look like part of her belt buckle to slice it open. After verifying that the envelope only had a card, with no sign of poison or boobytrap, she uses the tip of the knife to ease the card out onto the counter. The somewhat messy handwriting read, "for the sake of others you dwelt in the shadows for long enough, now you can enjoy some light and laughter" "Your Secret Santa". She opened the gift to find a leather-bound set of Shakespeare's comedies. No tragedies were to be found in the exquisite set of books.
The worry on her face evaporated. The smile that had come unbidden to her lips, she felt with her whole body. She touched the books gently. "Still looking to protect me, huh?" She asked quietly. She selected one carefully and studied it. "Even when it's just from works of fiction?" Sarah walked back over to the couch, cradling the book. curled her feet underneath her as she opened it to start reading, the finals fatigue a distant memory.
}0{
Mary and Emma had a laptop open in front of them, knit caps covering their hair, as Mary used the mouse to direct the security cameras to follow Sarah as she neared the student union. "She's good. Really good," Mary murmured. "She senses that she's being watched, but it's nearly impossible to tell."
Emma watched the screen closely. "I don't see anything."
Mary pointed to the screen. "Watch when she gets to that point. She'll stop to discreetly look around."
Emma watched in amazement as Sarah stopped within a foot of where Mary had pointed, then removed the band from her ponytail and shook her head from side to side as she ran her fingers through her hair, before gathering her hair back into another perfect ponytail and sliding the band back in place.
Emma watched her daughter, as if seeing her for the first time, and in some ways, this was the first time. "If you hadn't told me, I would have never guessed. What kind of world does she…do you…live in?"
Mary gestured towards the screen. "To us, that world makes sense. Constant vigilance. Don't trust until after you verify." She sat back and looked at the students milling around their table. "This world is chaos. Totally unpredictable. Here the kids are wondering 'will mom and dad really take away my car if my GPA drops any lower?' Or 'can I sweet talk Nana into buying me a plane ticket to Ibiza for spring break?' That kind of life is completely foreign to a field agent. And from what I've seen and heard, your daughter is one of the best we've ever had."
Mary slipped an ear bud in and made a short phone call. "This is Frost. The target is in a blue blouse, white buttons, and she's got…" a smile blossomed across Mary's face, "pale blue chucks for shoes. Make the pass but do not engage. Acknowledge."
Emma looked at Mary, clearly wondering what the other woman was up to. "I'm just having a bit of fun at your daughter's expense."
The two women watched as a young woman walked up to Sarah, left a gift bag with her, and quickly walked away. They watched the video feed as Sarah looked from the bag to the CIA trainee quickly walking away, clearly struggling to make a decision. Finally, Sarah ignored the trainee so that she could see what Chuck had sent her. They could see her biting her lower lip as she clutched the card to her chest, the gift itself still unopened.
"Wow, she's got it bad," Emma remarked.
"She'd better," Mary shot back. "I had to deal with Chuck moping around after she left the cabin, even though…enemy agents were still after him. I love my son, but lovesick doesn't come close to describing him after that road trip with your daughter."
Emma's shocked look quickly changed into a smirk. "Well, in that case, we can tease her a bit more." Mary, her eyes watching every movement on the screen in front of her, let one side of her mouth curl into a tight smile. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine. Which is good, as I suspect we will be spending a lot of holidays and family events together for a long time to come."
Sarah reached into an inside pocket of her messenger bag and pulled out a small metal sleeve that protected the first two cards from her secret Santa so that they would be safe traveling with her when she came to campus. The books sat on her nightstand where she read from them each night before going to bed. The Tron DVD sat, sealed in cellophane next to her tv. Now the third secret Santa note would travel with her as well. The notes were a poor substitute for the curly haired Professor she longed to see, but they would do until she could find her way back to him.
She peered inside the bag, her rigid posture crumbling as she spotted the box set of Star Trek Voyager and a mint condition Seven of Nine action figure.
}0{
Sarah let her messenger bag slip to the floor as she entered the apartment that she had started to think of as her home. When had that happened? She had never had a home…not even when she lived with her parents. She knew it was only a matter of time before they had to leave and go somewhere else. She paused and realized this was the first place the she had actually unpacked her suitcase. She decided that she was to physically and mentally drained after her final to have such deep thoughts.
It had been an hour-long oral exam with her favorite literature professor. The woman had an unabashed love for the written word. But that final. Brutal. For every position that Sarah took, the professor attacked. Again and again Sarah was forced to defend her conclusions. Everything that Sarah said was challenged. It had been an intellectual battle royale.
Sarah felt confident that she had proven her mettle. But at the same time, she and her classmate Mei Ling had been neck and neck for the top spot in the class. As Sarah slumped down onto her sofa, she briefly wondered whether all of her classmates had experienced the same rite of passage. She doubted it. If that wanna-be beatnik poet from Long Beach had gone through that, he still would have been in the classroom curled up in a ball whimpering. The guy was gifted at standardized tests, but was practically incoherent when called upon in class.
Sarah's eyes were just about to drift shut when they flew open at the sight of the entertainment center in the far corner of the room. Directly in front of the tv that she may (nor may not) have used to watch more sci-fi movies than she'd ever seen before in her life, was a rosemary bush shaped into the form of a Christmas tree. There was even a small ornament on top.
Unlike the first time she had discovered a "Secret Santa" present in her home, this time a smile bloomed on her face. "Damn, Frost. You are good. I may have been tired, but I still checked all of my tell-tales to see if anyone had entered the apartment while I was out." Sarah was certain that there was only one person who could slip in and out undetected. A legend in the spy community.
Pushing herself to stand upright to walk across the living room, Sarah spotted a wrapped present under the "tree". If Mary is going to all of these lengths to help Chuck, or Santa, give me these presents, she must approve of me? Right? Right. God, she hoped so. Dating Chuck would be much easier if Mary approved. That made her stop in her tracks. "Are we? Are we…dating?" Her brain was still mush from the final and she found herself talking out loud, trying to work through everything. "Is what we are doing considered dating? Dating-ish, maybe?" Too brain-dead and wanting to see what her gift was, she shook her head and pulled the small, wrapped box out, while taking a deep sniff of the live rosemary.
Once the wrapping paper was removed, Sarah held the long, thin velvet box out in front of her. The fluttering in her chest let her know that she was both excited and terrified to see what was inside. There was just something about that curly-haired nerd of hers that made her spy shields crumble. As she slipped open the jewelry box, her vision went blurry from the tears welling up in her eyes.
It had to be the pollen in the air...or dust. Sarah glanced around, noting the spotlessly clean apartment. Damned allergies. She dabbed at her cheeks with the back of her wrist before reaching down to pull the necklace out of the box. In the back of her mind, she noted that the weight and quality of the chain meant that it was white gold.
But it was the pendant that captured and held her attention. A tiny hummingbird in flight. The head was diamonds, with emerald wings and a body that was a blend of sapphires and rubies. It was breathtaking, yet not ostentatious. Someone would need to look closely to realize the colors were jewels and the chain solid gold. Sarah was looking closely. But the reason why she cherished it so much had nothing to do with the jewels, the precious metal, or even the exquisite craftsmanship.
Chuck had remembered the small bird outside of the restaurant in Carmel. He had paid attention to her fascination with it. And then he'd found someone to make a custom replica of it. While stashed away in protective custody. "How much longer until I get to see you, Chuck Bartowski?" She murmured.
}0{
Sarah double checked, and then triple checked her apartment to verify that there were no cameras or bugs anywhere. After all, the apartment had been both leased and furnished by the CIA (which explained the weapons locker inside of her sofa). Plus, Frost had seen fit to breach the perimeter repeatedly, and Sarah was under no illusions that the woman wouldn't do whatever she felt necessary to protect her family.
Once Sarah was confident that she was alone, she changed into a faded, mens Stanford t-shirt that somehow wound up in her bag after she left the Bartowski cabin. Crazy coincidence, she thought to herself with a smirk. Sarah then put on the hummingbird necklace, admiring it against the grey heather of the t-shirt and faded red lettering.
With her wardrobe in place, Sarah opened a bottle of Malbec and poured a healthy amount into a wine glass. She already had the book open to the start of The Taming Of The Shrew. A headstrong, obdurate, unwilling participant in a relationship. I can identify with that, at least for two out of the three. I'm definitely no longer unwilling…she paused as she thought about that. She felt out of her depth, and yet…not, all at the same time.
She began to reach for the book lying on the coffee table, but her hand strayed over to the metal sleeve next to it. One by one, Sarah pulled the notes out from her Secret Santa. She had no need to read them, having long since memorized each word. Instead, she focused on the handwriting, looking to glean any morsel of knowledge about the writer.
She noted that he was no Petruchio, trying to torment her into being a desirable, compliant, obedient wi…woman. She laid the book down, slightly bummed out. Not even in the privacy of her own thoughts did Sarah allow herself to consider herself in the role of a wife. Not with a background such as hers. Chuck didn't deserve that, she couldn't be what he needed. She sighed.
But then, her mind seeming betrayed her iron will. With crystal clarity, she recalled discretely watching Frost as she interacted with her husband and children. As Sarah had made her way through the Farm, the instructors had repeatedly compared her to Frost. Was it possible? Was it truly possible that someone with a background like hers….like Frost's…obviously it was for Frost, but her?
She shook her head. "Ok, Sarah. Getting a little ahead of yourself," she scolded herself, all while beginning to smile and feeling a warmth in her about the possibility of so much more with Chuck Bartowski. "You've only had one date with the guy-and he didn't even realize that he was on a date at the time…But Chuck would make for an incredible father some day." And that's when her mind betrayed her once more, showing her the image of a curly-haired, brunette little girl, and a blond-headed, little boy.
She shook her head, concerned she wasn't more concerned about these thoughts. She had to do something. Trying to distract herself, Sarah put away the Secret Santa notes. She turned on the tv and found herself drawn into a made for tv movie about an ad exec who has to run her family Christmas tree business. It didn't hurt that the female lead looked remarkably like a certain doctor at Westside Hospital who Sarah would be going to visit once the semester was over. She was already hooked on the story when she discovered that it was a Hallmark Christmas movie. Oh boy.
}0{
Sarah gave a fist pump as she looked over her grades for the semester. She had placed at the top of each class aside from one. She just didn't have the soul of a poet. She still managed to finish second in that class through sheer force of will. And she was certain who had bested her, Mei Ling Cho.
"What do you want?" Speak of the devil. But the tone had a hint of apprehension that Sarah had never heard from her academic nemesis before. Sarah whipped her head around. Sure enough, there stood Mei Ling, but she was surrounded by four idiots with her back up against a wall. It was obvious from their body language that they wanted their opponents to find their size imposing.
The head goon looked at his buddies, sneared at Mei Ling, and spoke. "We want you to go back to your country and get the hell out of ours." Sarah nearly groaned aloud as Goon 1 gave his best impersonation of a neanderthal. Mei Ling braced herself, clutching her backpack in front of her as a shield. The other three goons let out sycophantic laughs.
Sarah slowly bent her neck to the side, and listened to it pop. Oh, boys. You picked the wrong person to mess with. Sarah gave an evil grin, which was seen by Mei Ling, although none of the thugs realized the danger they were in. Mei Ling didn't know Sarah's background, but she knew that her friendly academic rival was not someone to mess with. Mei Ling placed her backpack at her feet and held up her hands towards the men surrounding her.
"What are you going to do? Show us that you know Kung Fu?" Goon 2 apparently was no smarter or wittier than his friend Goon 1. Mei Ling heaved a sigh of resignation as her hands dropped down and her shoulders slumped forwards.
"No," she said. "But she will."
Sarah's flying roundhouse kick caught Goon 2 in the temple as he stepped towards Mei Ling. Goon 2 was dropping to the ground as Sarah planted her right foot on the ground before spinning to thrust her left foot into the side of Goon 1's left knee. There was a sickening crunch, followed by Goon 1 rolling on the ground clutching his useless leg.
Goon 3 took offense at Sarah dispatching his two friends so easily, and lurched forwards, trying to grab Sarah with both arms. Sarah struck him in the throat with a ridge hand strike, bruising his larynx, causing him to gasp for breath. With both of his hands now grasping his throat, Goon 3 left his abdomen exposed. She thrust her hand into his beef filled gut, curling her hand up under his sternum. Goon 3 shifted his hands to his belly. Sarah then swung her leg up, before driving her heel down into the back of Goon 3's head.
"I don't think that this one is going to give you any trouble, Sarah," Mei Ling called out. Goon 4's eyes darted back and forth between the two women, his eyes revealing the terror he felt. Mei Ling caught Sarah's eyes and nodded her head in the direction of Goon 4's crotch. A large dark stain was spreading over the man-child's groin as he started making a whimpering noise while raising his hands in the air in surrender. "When it comes to friends," Sarah growled at Goon 4, "you chose poorly." An upper cut came out of nowhere under Goon 4's chin, lifting his body up off of the ground. The future career petty criminal was unconscious by the time he landed on the ground.
Sarah turned back to Goon 1, the leader of the pack. He was still writhing on the ground, screaming in pain from his demolished knee. "Would you shut up?" Sarah sneered in distaste. A quick jab of her elbow to his temple promptly silenced him as he too crumpled into unconsciousness. Sarah turned to look at Mei Ling.
Mei Ling stared at Sarah in shocked silence. She had experienced more than her share of discrimination and anti-Asian vitriol over the years. But she had never seen anyone unleash an explosion of violence like that before. She looked at the four unconscious men, then glanced back up at Sarah. "What was that?"
Sarah merely shrugged as she stepped over the four inert figures with complete disregard to their injuries. She looked over Mei Ling to ensure that she wasn't injured. "I do know kung fu?" Sarah held up her hands as if to say 'are you buying it?' "Look, I figured that if they hurt you or scared you off, I wouldn't have a chance at topping you then next time around in a poetry class. You ruined my otherwise perfect streak."
Mei Ling scoffed in good humor. "One out of five. That's it. I should be upset with you for hogging all of the glory in the other four classes." She looked down at the shattered men. "Besides, I can handle worse than these losers."
Sarah looked into the other woman's eyes. "I'm sure you can. I'm also sure that you shouldn't ever have to."
Just then, Sarah spy phone dinged from the hidden sleeve in her purse. She had a wry grin on as she reached in to grab it, not in the least surprised that her secret admirer had been keeping an eye out for her. "That's not the same phone you were using when we exchanged numbers in the fall," Mei Ling pointed out. "And what's with the dreamy eyes? A minute ago, you looked ready to kill."
Sarah blushed for a moment at having been caught mooning over a text from Chuck. Before responding to Mei Ling, she looked at the message on her phone. *Police are on their way. Are you ok? The other woman? Isn't she one of my students?* Sarah was about to type a response when another message popped up. *That was THE most amazing thing I've ever seen! So badass!* Sarah tried, and failed, to fight off the giggles, well aware that he would still be watching from whatever security camera he had taken control of. So many of her male fellow agents hated it when she showed her skills, their egos unable to handle being not only second best, but a distant second at that. But not my Chuck.
Turning back to Mei Ling, Sarah waved her phone in the air. "The police are already on their way. If I get involved, I'll have a ton of reports to fill out." The whole 'keep a low profile probably went out the window when I blew up the drive in movie theatre in Barstow. Although the NSA largely kept a wrap on that news. But no need to antagonize Roan even further. "If you need me to, I'll stick around. If not…" Mei Ling made a shooing gesture with her hands. "You go. I'll take care of this. But, who was on the phone? And how did they know to call the police?"
Sarah spotted a security camera trained their way. "Oh, just St. Nick."
A/N 2: Sarah's getting heartwarmed, whether she wants to or not. Hint: she wants to. These two would have a hard time not getting together with Roan matchmaking. Add Ellie, Mary and now Emma into the mix? They may as well give in and start dating exclusively.
Now, all we need is a happily ever after. Actually, first we need to get them in the same state, if not the same city. Tune in tomorrow for the final chapter. We'll post the epilogue on Wednesday, but it will be short and sweet- in a slightly naughty way.