Sarah was lost. She was SURE the office was supposed to be on this street but it was clearly a residential district with an endless supply of tract homes. People watched her Porsche crawl by with suspicion and she was sure she saw at least one angry mother stab her phone three times and glare at her. Suddenly there was a scream and an ugly crunch and she slammed on her brakes, throwing the car into park and jumping out to see what happened. A mangled bicycle was stuck under her left front tire and a young girl lay on the ground. The girl coughed up a sickening amount of blood and a suburban mom pulled out a handgun with a silencer screaming, "Murderer!" Sarah dove for cover as the mom fired at her. She heard her car start up, then screech to a halt right next to her hiding place. The injured girl was behind the wheel smirking at her. She pulled a bag out of her shirt with a residue of fake blood and threw into Sarah's face yelling, "Sucker!" The tires squealed, covering her in mud and her car was gone. The gun wielding mom was suddenly there screaming at her but somehow the sound coming out was "Beeep, beeep, beeep."

Sarah realized she was in bed and she leap out, slamming the clock and silencing the alarm. She yawned, stretched, and cracked her neck. Then it was into the bathroom to get ready for her day. She left her hotel room in her running clothes and crept up to a door down the hall, quietly sliding a card into the reader and silently entering the room. She picked up a wooden katana and made her way to the bed. Suddenly she screamed and brought the blade down next to the head of the sleeping man. His high pitched shriek brought a smile to her lips and she lightly tapped the blade down his body as if she were cutting a carrot. "Good morning, Chuck!" she chirped brightly.

The man groaned and rolled out of bed, opening one bleary eye and saying, "Another day, another death at the hands of my deadly lady. How did you sleep?"

Her grin faltered and she admitted, "I had another nightmare. I'm still having trouble adjusting to civilian life."

Chuck nodded and thought for a long moment before saying, "You know, Morgan had an idea about how to deal with that..."

Sarah rolled her eyes, saying, "Let me guess, we need to find my fairy godmother?"

Chuck laughed and shook his head. "No, this one has nothing to do with the magic kingdom. We'll discuss it at the office."

Sarah shrugged and gave him a peck on the cheek. "See you downstairs in 10?"

Chuck nodded and shuffled off to the bathroom as Sarah headed downstairs to the hotel's breakfast room. She put together coffee and breakfast for both of them. The morning run was her favorite part of the day. It was the one time she was the leader and Chuck struggled to keep up. She was the Chief Operating Officer of Carmichael Industries. If it was still a security company, that would have been an adjustment. She knew what it took to run a mission but she was used to being at the tip of the spear, not handling logistics. Unfortunately (and this was supposedly HER idea) Carmichael Industries was transitioning to a cybersecurity company. She was quite comfortable USING computers and even using programs that bypassed the security of target systems. Figuring out what tools the nerds they were hiring would need would have been a huge challenge even if she were NOT recovering from traumatic brain injury. She hadn't felt this lost and terrified since the day she met Graham.

As she ran with Chuck, occasionally pushing the pace just to hear him beg her to slow down, she considered her feelings for him. There was no question in her mind about leaving him. She may have TALKED about disappearing from his life but the thought of having to live without him felt like losing both legs and a lung. On the other hand, she wasn't ready to be his wife either. She needed her own space, even when she'd lived with Bryce there was always a sharp line between her space and his. What puzzled her was her resistance to the idea of making love to him. At first she thought it was because she didn't want to send the wrong message and make him think she was ready to be the 'old Sarah' again. But that wasn't really it. Guys were constantly trying to get into her pants. Once a guy she was interested in got to a certain trust level with her, sex followed naturally. She already trusted Chuck well past that point but the idea of making love to him scared her.

They finished their run, showered and Sarah drove them to the office in her Lotus. Damn, she loved that car! Morgan was his usual happy self, managing the CI office was a lot less aggravating than managing the Buy More. Josie had the nerds in the conference room. Sarah had serious reservations when Chuck suggested mounting an aggressive campaign to recruit her from the CIA but she was turning out to be a highly effective leader. At first she was truly frightening but when she told Chuck she couldn't work with Bill Collins, he fired the DevOps legend immediately. After that, Josie mellowed out considerably.

Sarah had an hour of sorting through mundane tasks before a meeting led by Morgan with the ominous title 'New Direction.' When she asked Chuck about it he said it was the thing he mentioned before breakfast. She entered the conference room warily.

The big screen at the front of the room split as one, then two people joined the meeting remotely. Sarah was surprised to see John Casey and Mary Bartowski. Morgan cleared his throat, "OK, now that we're all here let's get to the matter at hand. Carmichael Industries is now getting a steady stream of cybersecurity contracts since certain parties *cough, Josie, cough* let it leak that we were the anonymous security firm that stopped the Omen Virus." He brought up a slide showing steady healthy growth in contracts by dollar value. "But it cannot have escaped the attention of those present that certain CI assets have been woefully underutilized."

"Yeah it doesn't sit well with me that my title is 'Head Googler'", Casey cut in dryly. "I appreciate the retainer but the Caseys have always worked for a living."

"Hey buddy, your the nameplate can change to whatever you want if you're willing to come by and replace it in person," Morgan said. "But you bring up a good point. We have have made the transition to cybersecurity a bit too abruptly. The plan was always to continue field ops, we just need to build up the intelligence gathering muscles to generate that kind of work internally. In the meantime, there ARE external opportunities." The next slide was a list of people and the bounties on them. He continued, "We now have the revenue to properly equip field agents and move them anywhere in the world. We also have a consultant with a deep knowledge of the criminal underground." He nodded to Mary.

Sarah sat forward in her chair. This was something she could really sink her teeth into. Adrenaline surged through her body and she started going down her equipment checklist in her head. Why hadn't she thought about this sooner? It was so obvious. Suddenly her train of thought jumped the rails and came to a crashing halt.

"I really resent being pandered to," Sarah said icily. "We're talking about setting up a whole new division of a company that's just getting off the ground just to make me feel less useless."

There was an uncomfortable silence before Chuck carefully responded, "Sarah, you DO remember that Josie's 15% came from my stake, don't you?"

Whatever Sarah was expecting this wasn't it. Was he trying to change the subject? "What the hell are you talking about, Chuck?" she spat.

Chuck took a deep breath and said, "I realize we haven't had a board meeting lately but if we take it to a vote, I have 25%, Josie has 15%, Casey has 20% and you still have your original 40%. If you and Casey decided you were sick of working with nerds, you have the votes to close down the cyber division."

"I'd be willing to consider that proposal," Casey said with a smirk.

Sarah was completely at a loss for words. "On the other hand," Chuck went on, "If you and Josie wanted us to make a corporate contribution to the Women's Reproductive Rights Alliance..."

"Watch your mouth Bartowski. I know where you live and I know hundreds of ways to silence you permanently," Casey countered.

"I realize I'm just the hired help here but could we return to the subject of this meeting?" Morgan said patiently.

The conversation returned to missions and they quickly settled on two strong leads in Europe. They assigned tasks and suddenly Sarah's schedule was busier than it had been in some time. Before she knew it, she and Chuck were back in her Lotus and headed to Morgan's latest dumpling place. They met up with Morgan and Alex and at one point when she and Alex were in the ladies room, she said, "You know your boyfriend gave me a new lease on life today. I hope he knows how much I appreciate him."

"I'll be sure to pass that along," Alex said, then sighed adding, "Most of the time he still feels like a loser whose buddy gave him a job out of pity."

"Believe it or not I know just how he feels," Sarah said ruefully. "Do you think a 5% stake in the company would make him feel more appreciated?"

Alex's eyes widened, "Are you talking about just GIVING him 5% out of the blue?"

"Not really," Sarah said thoughtfully. "My schedule just got a lot tighter and I'm going to need help with my COO duties. I want to send a clear signal that he's an executive, not an errand boy."

Alex gave her a big hug, saying, "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," Sarah said warmly. "I'll schedule a meeting tomorrow with him, don't spoil the surprise."

Later that evening she told Chuck about her plan and he heartily approved. He complemented her on her leadership and she felt a warm glow because she felt she'd earned it. Then she turned to a more serious topic. "You realize that when I go on missions with Casey you're not going to see me for weeks at time. Are you OK with that?"

Chuck laughed, saying, "When you're married to the best covert operative in the world, that comes with the territory. I'd gladly go months without you just to see that sparkle back in your eye."

He sounded sincere but how could a guy so clingy that he rented a hotel room on the same floor just be closer to her go that long without insisting on seeing her? She'd had guys obsess over her before and NONE of them had been able to go a full week without trying to contact her. "OK," Sarah said. "I've got a proposition for you. If you can go one month without contacting me, seeing me in person, or surveilling me starting next Monday when I leave for Europe, I'll come back and make love to you."

"Done," Chuck said immediately. "I'll even give you the option of changing your mind on the incentive. I treasure every moment I get to spend with you but if a Chuck free month will make you happy, it's yours."

The night, just before she drifted off to sleep, Sarah had a moment of doubt. What if Chuck could actually do it? Could she really go through with her promise? And why did part of her revolt at the thought of accepting his invitation to change her mind? What was that lurking at the back of her mind? It all came into sudden focus and she realized it was excitement. She shivered. It was going to be an interesting month. That night there were no nightmares.