Published December 27, 2020
A/N for in-progress readers: This is the consequence of rushing to post a Christmas story on Christmas Eve instead of planning ahead. This story was an idea for a one-shot that I didn't start drafting until the 23rd, very late in the Christmas season. When I posted the first chapter around 3 AM on Christmas Eve, the story was supposed to be a two-shot. I wrote half of the second chapter on Christmas, but I didn't post it because the story wasn't done. It turns out that chapter 2 could have been posted if I had known the story would end up being a three-shot. So, here is chapter 2 of 3. The conclusion in chapter 3 is drafted, so I'll hopefully post it tomorrow.
A/N for everyone: Christmas may be over, but not for Chuck and Sarah, so there's more to enjoy. They haven't yet fully realized their "best Christmas."
In the last chapter, Sarah was fed up with the Buy More hostage situation and blew her cover. Maybe she didn't blow it. She just least changed it. Sarah isn't just a food service worker anymore. This challenge during the holiday season presents an opportunity.
As Sarah drove Chuck back to his apartment Christmas Eve evening, he was having a hard time not freaking out. By taking out Ned, Sarah had just blown her cover. She was going to be sent away from LA—away from him. This morning, he was looking forward to making this Christmas a great one by fake cuddling with his gorgeous fake-but-he-wished-she-was-more girlfriend, but now, he didn't know how he was going to be allowed to remain in Burbank. They'd put him in a bunker. There was no way he and Sarah were watching a Twilight Zone marathon after the events of the day.
Before leaving the Buy More plaza, Sarah had debriefed to Beckman in Castle. When she finished, she said to Chuck, "Let's go home," so he got in her car. The statement didn't make sense to him, though. They lived in different homes. In reality, it didn't matter because Sarah was driving. He would go where she wanted to go; he was along for the ride. From the route Sarah took, he could tell that she had called his apartment "home," which made sense because he wouldn't be sleeping in her bed.
They were making good time, like usual when Sarah drove, weaving through LA traffic. She must have sensed Chuck's nervousness, so she asked, "Chuck, what's wrong?"
He voiced his mental spiral. "Sarah, I'm really thankful that you saved Ellie, Morgan, Devon, and everyone else at the Buy More. Now, though, everyone knows what you can do. I assume that means you can't be my cover girlfriend anymore. I have no idea what that means for me. Am I going to have to go into a bunker because that's the only place that I'd be half as safe as I am with you? I wasn't expecting something like this for Christmas. I—"
"Chuck, take a breath, It'll be ok. I didn't do what I did to protect everyone else. I did it to protect you. That man with the gun made me mad because he put your life in danger, so I stopped him."
She reached across from the gear shift to take the hand in Chuck's lap. "I know Rhyerson was acting like someone over his head, but I know a con when I see one. Considering how he took down Lester, he had some training. My theory is the event was staged by Fulcrum. The night you were almost taken away from me, we discovered that Fulcrum knows about the Buy More. We never should have done the Bryce hand-off there. "
She squeezed Chuck's hand. What was Sarah saying? He said, "I thought today was just another in a string of bad luck things in his life: getting kicked out of Stanford, the Intersect email, Jill being Fulcrum, and now someone crashing into the Buy More, causing me to lose you."
Sarah brought Chuck's hand to her lips for a kiss. Then, she released his hand to move across four lanes of traffic and move into the exit lane. Chuck maintained a white-knuckled grip on the car door's armrest, a habit he'd never been able to break when riding with Sarah. What was she doing? She was not only driving recklessly in LA traffic, but she was kissing his hand when she didn't need to for the cover. The driving wasn't really dangerous because Sarah always drove that way and was a skilled driver. But how she kissed his hand in reassurance… She never did something like that.
Sarah explained a little, "Don't worry about my cover. Last year, I was a failed actress who worked at the Wienerlicious. Because the government owns the Orange Orange, I now have more flexible hours to protect you, but for the cover, having a different food service job isn't any different. That cover job is basically the same. Nothing I did shows that I work for the CIA. The only concern is that Fulcrum would hear about what I did today, but it doesn't really matter, and Beckman agrees. The one person shot today was Casey, an undercover agent. That was too much of a coincidence. It only happened because we underestimated them. Fulcrum has infiltrated the CIA. The safest assumption is that they already know I work for the CIA. Even if that is the case, Fulcrum doesn't know the real reason that you're being protected. They have no way of knowing that you're the real human Intersect, not Bryce. You're just as safe today as you were the week before we took everything from the Buy More to search for bugs. Today was a bold move for them, but it still wasn't a direct move on you. It would have been easier to intercept you driving between home and work then it was to crash into a Buy More and force a response. They can't possibly know how important you are. All that happened this time was they failed once again. There's still value in my cover because your friends and family don't know you're working with us. If everyone knew, something could slip, and your real importance could become obvious to the wrong people."
Chuck tried to remember to breathe as Sarah left the expressway and raced through a yellow at the first light. She continued her explanation. "With Fulcrum already knowing something, it doesn't hurt if they know what I can do. It actually might keep them away from doing something as blatant as assaulting the Buy More again. If they try something, they are risking their agents without knowing the possible benefit. As for your friends and family, they simply won't think of me as the meek girlfriend anymore. That's ok. They think Casey is Reserves and no one would think of him as a pushover, even though he works retail. After today people will know not to mess with me, even though I work at Orange Orange. But we still want to maintain our cover as boyfriend and girlfriend. It simply will be different. The cover of me wanting to go slowly in our relationship doesn't mesh with a woman who takes charge of the situation we were in today. That means we need to be more overt with our relationship than we have in the past." Sarah's wasn't grinning anymore. In the dark Chuck could see her teeth in a full smile. "It means we can."
"Different? What do you mean by that?"
Sarah made a sharp turn without slowing down. It's a good thing her car was designed to handle turns like that because otherwise, they would have gone up on two wheels. Because of Sarah talking to Beckman, they had left the Buy More twenty minutes after Ellie and Devon. They would be at the apartment only a few minutes after them. Sarah said, "I'm going to push our relationship along. We've been dating for over a year… Well, for most of it. Good enough. Even going slow, we should be more than we are. After today, the 'going slow' story doesn't make sense. People won't see me as someone who would hold back. We need to ramp up the PDA."
"You shouldn't have to—"
"This is nothing I don't want to do. I admit I've done honeytrap missions—not for more than picking the pocket of a target at a club. The only times it was more, it ended with tranquilizing someone so I can take something from his room. I specialize in wet work, so I've never done anything more. I never worked long-term missions. A few agents do long-term honeytrap missions, but those are always voluntary. The government doesn't want to risk loyalty issues. A few women, like Carina, do a lot of honeytrap missions, but agents like her do it because they enjoy exerting that type of control. People like her don't want any long-term attachments. My mission with you is different."
"What do you mean?"
"You know that I'm a CIA agent. My mission isn't to seduce you. I'm here for your protection. I don't consider spending non-mission time with you to be work. If I need to be more affectionate with a fantastic guy to sell the cover, and the guy is you, I'm all for it." Chuck felt himself start to blush. He felt fortunate Sarah couldn't see. He couldn't believe what Sarah was saying about their new cover. "Tonight will be a good place to start. You invited me to 'fake' cuddle with you while watching a Twilight Zone marathon. I'm going to cuddle into you closer than I have in the past. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"
In the dark of the car, Chuck saw Sarah twist her lips in a little teasing smile. He felt bad saying, "Well, um. Bad news. We're not going to watch The Twilight Zone tonight, after all."
Sarah found a parallel parking spot across the street from the apartment complex. "Why not? I thought you were going to heartwarm me." Sarah actually sounded a little disappointed that they weren't going to be watching old, black-and-white sci-fi shows.
Chuck explained the probable change of plans. "Every year, we vote on what to watch. Morgan and I vote for the Zone. Devon says his vote is with Ellie, but instead of being locked in a 2-2 tie, I think both for tradition and to avoid conflict on Christmas, my sister goes along with our votes. However, this year, Morgan saw Lester and Anna kissing."
Chuck and Sarah got out of her car, and she immediately took his hand before they crossed the street to go to his apartment. There was no one around for putting up the cover. Chuck supposed this was part Sarah's plan of more PDA. He didn't expect her to hold him like this when no one was watching, which is why his hands weren't sweaty from nerves. It felt nice. Surprise PDA avoided his nervous perspiration problem.
Sarah said, "Yeah, I saw Anna and Lester, too. Morgan's weird, but he's very loyal. She doesn't deserve him. What does that have to do with the vote?"
"Morgan's too upset to come over. Without Morgan's vote, I'll be the only person voting for The Twilight Zone."
"I'll vote with you."
"Thank you, but no one would believe you'd vote for that show. You haven't even seen it, have you?"
"Not since I was twelve staying up late in a motel room while my dad was out conning someone."
"I figured. Ellie will probably pick something else. After today, it might be a good idea for all of us to watch a more 'feel-good' Christmas show."
"Will we still watch something? I'm looking forward to cuddling with you, because it's no longer fake."
Did Chuck hear that right? Sarah was looking forward to non-fake cuddling with him. What did she mean? "Sure. We'll probably watch something like White Christmas or Miracle on 34th Street—maybe both. We can still cuddle in front of those."
They stopped in front of the door to the apartment with Sarah facing Chuck and taking hold of both of his hands to get her point across before they joined Ellie and Devon inside. "Good. Afterwards, I'll spend the night so I'm here Christmas morning."
"What… Spend…" Is this what Sarah meant by adjusting the cover? Since the disaster last year, when Ellie had been poisoned, Sarah had never stayed over again. For the cover, Chuck had said he was staying over at Sarah's, but in reality, he was going on missions. Chuck could go on missions when he was "at Sarah's." If she stayed with him, they couldn't go anywhere else for a mission, because Ellie and Devon would know they left.
If Sarah were to start staying over more, Ellie would completely forget about today, instead being excited about the escalation of Chuck and Sarah's relationship. It would probably be very effective for the cover. Sarah shouldn't have to do it, though.
Sarah smiled and surprised Chuck with a peck on the lips—in front of nobody. "You're sweet. This isn't a burden. Earlier today, you said I was a 'real girlfriend' to you. I should act like it. Don't worry about what I sleep in. I'll just borrow one of your T-shirts tonight. I have personal items in a go-bag in my trunk. If I'm staying over here a lot, I should probably do more here. Devon walks around without a shirt, but I shouldn't do that." She raised and lowered her eyebrows a couple times.
Chuck was having trouble forming words before, but now his brain was stuck. If he didn't know better, Sarah was flirting with him. Sarah could tell what she had done, so she lightly laughed and pecked Chuck on the lips again. That second kiss started the brain reboot process, not that anything made more sense.
After they settled in the apartment for the night, a few things were clear. First, Chuck had guessed correctly about the non-violent movie choices. Second, Sarah's idea of more PDA when snuggling meant she was fully on Chuck lap before the movies started. Finally, that new more affectionate cover was so effective on Ellie that she was excited for them and completely forgot about Sarah disarming the hostage situation.
About a half hour into White Christmas, the group on TV was singing about looking forward to snow in Vermont that wasn't there. It wasn't going to be a white Christmas, just like snow in LA never came and like the song when Bing originally sang it for Holiday Inn. In this movie, the characters made the best of the situation and had a great Christmas. He didn't completely understand this more affectionate change in Sarah, but he thought she was also making the best of the situation. She was so happy as she was draped over him, it seemed to be the best Christmas for her, too. It was a good thing that Chuck has seen the movie several times before because he couldn't concentrate with his nose filled with the vanilla scent of Sarah's shampoo and the wonderful feeling of Sarah running her fingers through the curls at the back of his head.
There was a knock at the door, so Devon paused the movie. "It seems like Santa Claus arrived early," he joked as he got up to answer the door with a bombastic, "Merry Christmas!"
On the other side of the door was that LAPD hostage negotiator, Lt. Mauser. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Woodcomb. It's good that all of you got out of the Buy More ok, today. Since Mr. Bartowski was the person that took charge of communication from inside the store, I need to take his statement."
A/N: Uh oh. Sarah never killed this Fulcrum agent. Fortunately, he doesn't know Chuck is the Intersect.
Even if you didn't have your best Christmas this year, I hope you had a great (and safe) one, despite the world's circumstances.