Published December 29, 2020
A/N: Prepare to be heartwarmed in this final chapter.
In chapter 1, Sarah was fed up with the Buy More hostage situation and ended it. In chapter 2, Sarah tried to explain the modified cover to Chuck as they drove home to his apartment. Part of that modified cover was more PDA, including kissing Chuck when no one was around and sitting in his lap while running her hands all over him. To Chuck, this seemed to be a great turn of events, until Lt. Mauser showed up.
Devon's face was filled with confusion as he opened the door to Lt. Mauser fully to show Chuck, sitting on the couch in front of the TV with a beautiful blonde on his lap.
Mauser being there didn't make sense to Chuck, either. Back at the store, before they left, he had already given a statement to a different police officer. Sarah voiced the concern he had been thinking, "Chuck already gave a statement."
The police lieutenant said, "I know. We need a few more details in a signed statement."
"On Christmas Eve night?" Ellie protested.
"I know. This was a big news story on TV. Something like this on a holiday is bound to go national. We're trying to get all of our ducks in a row. If Chuck comes with me, I can have him back in an hour. Two tops." Lt. Mauser looked at the TV and saw the paused movie. Recognizing what it was, he grinned and said, "The rest of you should go ahead and watch the rest of the movie. I'll let Chuck know that it snows at the end. Big surprise. A Christmas movie ends with snow. It ends up being a white Christmas after all." That was rude. Sure, three of them know this movie well, but Sarah hadn't seen it. A spoiler alert would have been nice.
Ellie and Devon looked at Chuck. He was a little surprised the NSA didn't make this go away. They did things like dig a top secret based under a shopping plaza without anyone knowing. Why would the police still be questioning him? He supposed he would have to get this out of the way so he could come back to this great new cover in which Sarah would sleep next to him. When he was little, he had trouble sleeping on Christmas Eve because he was listening for Santa. Tonight, he'd be pinching himself that the woman he wished was his real girlfriend would be at his side all night. When got up to leave with the police officer, Sarah maintained a strong grip on his hand and pulled herself up. She didn't let go and started towards the door at his side.
"Miss, you should stay here," Mauser said. "We won't be long."
"You can stay here with us, Sarah," Ellie said. "We're going to have hot chocolate. We'll hold the movie for Chuck, put on some Bing Crosby tunes, and put a fake fireplace on the TV."
Ellie had a point. As Chuck's protector, it would make sense for Sarah to stay with Chuck. As Chuck's girlfriend, it wouldn't make sense for her to go to the police station with him. Sarah had a cover-reason to stay with him. "You saw what I did. I actually have a black belt. That means what I did can be considered deadly assault. If that hostage taker died, what I did could be considered manslaughter in some states."
"Really? Does she need a lawyer?" Ellie asked Mauser.
"No. She's fine. There were enough witnesses to what she did that we don't need her statement."
Sarah ignored the opportunity to get off the hook and stayed with Chuck as he finished going to the front door, which made him happy. "Better safe than sorry," she said. Going with the police should be safe, but he always felt safer with Sarah at his side.
Initially, Lt. Mauser had tried and failed to dissuade Sarah from joining them. Outside and with the door closed, he changed his tune. His entire demeanor was different. "Well played, but it doesn't matter. Now, you both are going with me." Chuck looked at Mauser's hand where he held the two of them at gunpoint.
"I don't understand," Chuck said. "You're the police. You're supposed to protect us."
"Chuck, Fulcrum knows your 'girlfriend' here is CIA. We know John Casey is NSA. We knew they were here protecting someone. We just didn't know who. So we caused a little ruckus, and sent someone inside to see who they'd rush to protect. Turns out… they're protecting you. I now know you're the one we were looking for. Don't bother yelling for help. All you'd be doing is giving me more people to shoot and kill before I take you in."
"You are Fulcrum," Sarah stated. "And you're holding your gun close, out of my reach. Smart."
Chuck looked from the gun to Sarah thinking she might do something anyway. Even witnessing it earlier today, he didn't know how she did what she did to Ned. She was simply amazing. She could be amazing, again.
Mauser saw where Chuck was looking and called him on it. "I'm not going to do something stupid, like Ned did, letting your fake girlfriend take me out by extending my arm to where she can hit it. I'm going to bring both of you in, or if you cause any trouble, I'm going to leave her bleeding on the pavement and bring you in alone. So let's go." He motioned with his gun for them to move out of the courtyard to the street.
Chuck and Sarah walked several feet ahead, with Mauser holding the gun on them. Sarah held Chuck's hand, subtlety sliding her hand up to his wrist. Chuck knew what was on his watch. Sarah pressed the emergency alert button, and Mauser didn't see it. He popped the trunk of his car and told them to get in.
Chuck tried not to freak out from finally having Sarah about to sleep next to him in bed again only to have Fulcrum find him, so he tried a joke. "We know from experience that we will fit, but I get nervous and babble and suck out all of the air."
Mauser didn't think it was funny. "Don't cause a fuss." With his hand on the trunk, he repeated his order. "Get in."
Chuck went first because he knew Sarah would want to be first out when the trunk was opened to face whatever was there. He sat in the trunk and was about to bend his knees and lie down when everything happened.
Looking back at this day, he'd be hard-pressed to select the most amazing thing he saw all day. Not every day does a car drive directly into a retail store. Later, he saw Sarah do something that no one would believe unless they saw it. Unarmed, she walked up to a crazy man with a gun and won. It was more unbelievable than the car driving into the store. The difference this time was he'd never be allowed to repeat anything about it to anyone because it'd be classified.
First, Mauser was distracted by a sound coming from the arch to the apartment courtyard. He quickly turned and fired a quick gunshot without taking time to aim at the noise. Fortunately, he had moved too fast and didn't hit his intended target. The noise had been made by Casey on crutches.
Before the detective could line up a second shot, Sarah clocked him on the head. Mauser bent over and staggered to the side. He turned back to the CIA agent who was right next to him making her the more immediate threat. Since Sarah was next to him to hit him, she was close enough now that she could push his gun hand to the side. Mauser took a step back, out of reach, and aimed his gun at the closer target. Chuck's heart skipped a beat as he feared the worst.
Chuck's team had this man outnumbered, though. It didn't matter that Casey had been shot earlier in the day. In fact, it helped. Casey used one of his crutches as a javelin, and with a missile-like throw, he knocked Mauser off his feet, making his gun slide across the sidewalk.
Sarah darted to the ground, claiming the dropped weapon and aiming it at Fulcrum agent. Sarah told Chuck to stay in the car as she held Mauser at gunpoint. Chuck was still sitting, amazed at the sudden turn of fortunes, so he wasn't going anywhere to jeopardize it. Casey was down to one crutch, but that didn't stop him. He pulled a small gun from his ankle holster and hobbled over to stand with Sarah.
Sarah forcefully said to Mauser, "You're going straight to a CIA detention facility, never to be seen or heard from again."
The Fulcrum agent actually smiled as he said, "You go right ahead, Agent Walker. Arrest me. But say 'goodbye' to Chuck. I'm not like those other Fulcrum agents. They'll do whatever it takes to find me. And when they do, every Fulcrum agent we have is going to know Chuck's one we want to help us find Bryce Larkin. We're going to torture it out of him. Eventually, everyone talks. It's going to be the end of his pathetic existence."
The idea of Fulcrum coming after him all the time sounded beyond horrible to Chuck. Before he could start to wrap his head around this proposed reality, there were two gunshots. Both Sarah and Casey shot at the same time and killed him, even though it sounded like he was surrendering… sort of… considering he was threatening him. He was unarmed.
"Chuck, are you ok?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. The worst thing that might have happened is this trunk is dirty. I have nothing to worry about with you both protecting me." They both had thought the evil grinch ruining Christmas should be dead. Who was he to say otherwise? The only reason he wasn't dead a year ago was those two.
Climbing out of the truck, he heard his sister's voice from the courtyard. "Chuck, Sarah, are you still here? Is everything ok?"
No one answered, but Casey softly said, "Walker, I'll take care of cleaning this up. You go deal with that. You debriefed with Beckman earlier. This man being Fulcrum matches your theory that Rhyerson wanted to talk to him before you took action, so there's nothing new to report that I can't handle. The important thing for you is to shore up that cover. Make Ellie think about something other than asking too many questions. Don't worry. The bugs will remain off whenever you are with Chuck in that room, so whatever you want to do is fine with me, as long as I don't have to see it in Castle or on missions."
Sarah nodded once at Casey and thanked him. Then she took Chuck's hand in a strong grip and said, "Let's go back and watch that movie, Chuck. I'll come back and get my bag from my trunk after the NSA cleaners have done their thing."
Chuck followed. The truth was that if she held his hand like that, he was willing to go anywhere with her.
Chuck and Sarah reentered the courtyard right as Ellie was turning to go inside and shut the door. Chuck spoke up first. "Hey, El."
His sister stopped. "Chuck, Sarah, you're back already. I thought you wouldn't be back for close to two hours but Devon and I heard some loud noises, so I thought maybe you hadn't left and would know more. What are you doing back already? And did you hear the noises?"
Sarah provided a cover story for the first question. "They wanted to ask Chuck what he knew about why Rhyerson did what he did. The LAPD lieutenant called back to the station and discovered that everyone else he thought would be there to conduct the interview had left because it was late on Christmas Eve. I'll go in with Chuck before noon on the 26th."
"That makes sense. Who works on Christmas other than people in the ER and Chinese restaurants? It was weird for a police officer to show up at home on Christmas Eve. It's not like he was responding to a 9-1-1 call. Since we did nothing wrong, I almost felt like he needed a warrant to disrupt a holiday." She repeated her second question. "Do you know what those noises were?"
Chuck had a plausible story for that one. "We also heard those, but we don't know for sure what it was. I have a guess, though. You know how some people launch fireworks on holidays? Normally it's for the Fourth or New Year's, but sometimes you hear them in the neighborhood on some holidays like Labor Day. Today is Christmas Eve night. I think it's the same thing. There's probably a bunch of people drunk around a backyard bonfire a block or two away."
Ellie looked between Chuck and Sarah. "So, does that mean you two are coming in so we can watch the rest of the movie?"
Sarah said, "Chuck and I need to talk about something. Ellie, could you give us a minute?"
In a teasing voice, Ellie looked up at the sky and said, "It's night. The sky is no longer blue, so don't take too long."
Chuck laughed at the reference to the song in the movie. Sarah didn't get it, so she said "Of course the sky isn't blue. It's dark."
Chuck knew Sarah's pop-culture knowledge was lacking, but that movie's a classic. He explained, "She's talking about the song 'Blue Skies.' We haven't gotten to that song in the movie."
"I know 'Blue Skies.' I didn't know that it was from this movie. I thought this movie introduced 'White Christmas'. Ellie, don't worry we're not going to stay outside waiting for a 'While Christmas' in Echo Park. That might be a few years. We'll be quick."
"You've never seen this movie?" Ellie questioned. Not waiting for confirmation, she said, "The song 'White Christmas' was originally in 'Holiday Inn.' It also stars Bing Crosby. We should watch that next instead of 'Miracle on 34th Street.'"
"I've seen that. I think I was seven or eight. Maybe next year for Christmas."
Chuck still didn't completely understand what Sarah was saying about the two of them. She had always been so careful not to talk about a future for them. Sometimes what they had seemed real, but other times it seemed like they might be separated at any moment. Now, she was making Christmas plans for next year. That was more than the two of them had been. Since the beginning, he'd wanted to be more. If her job wasn't a problem anymore, he wasn't going to stop her—not that he could stop her from doing anything. She really could do anything.
Sarah said, "We won't be long, Ellie. I've already learned tonight that 'The Best Things Happen While You Are Dancing,' but it wasn't completely true for Chuck and me. I was in love with him before we danced on our first date. I just need a moment with my boyfriend."
What? How long had Sarah been in love with him? Wait. That's right. Despite Sarah's actions tonight, it was still a cover story about their first date. His sister couldn't know about her throwing knives at NSA agents, the subsequent car chase, or stopping a bomb. He backed her cover story. "We know there's a lot left to watch, so we won't be 'counting our blessings instead of sleep.'"
Sarah questioned that reference. "That song is also from this movie? We definitely want to watch the rest of this one." She suggestively added. "I had other plans for tonight than counting. Maybe celebrating my blessings." She bumped shoulders with Chuck as she leaned in as she squeezed both hands around his upper arm. "We have to be extra quick because some sleep on Christmas Eve would be good. It's also getting chilly. Inside, I have Chuck to keep me warm."
Chuck gulped and smiled. Apparently, Sarah's new plan was more than acting like they were more. It was to be over-the-top about their cover relationship. He loved the extra affection and cuddling, but there were some things that were too much. They felt too real. He probably should ask her to dial it down. Faking a relationship with someone you loved was already too difficult at times. The lines probably need to be a little closer to where they were.
Ellie was convinced by the talk and fully teased them both. "Right. Remember. You're in public." She closed the door, leaving Chuck and Sarah alone in the courtyard.
He looked directly at Sarah, and she was staring back with a huge smile on her face. She said, "let's sit here over here and talk." With Sarah's entire face glowing, this didn't look like it was for one of those dreaded "we need to talk" conversations or one of their dreaded "fountain conversations." That fountain was a curse for the two of them.
Standing closer to the dreaded fountain, Sarah started, "I'm so glad you're ok, Chuck." She put a hand along his jaw and gave him a solid kiss on his lips. That wasn't a cover kiss. Before he could process what that meant she continued, "I know you probably didn't like seeing Casey and me shoot that Fulcrum agent directly in front of you. He was too much of a threat. He implied that the rest of Fulcrum didn't yet know for certain that you're the one they want. With Fulcrum inside the CIA, we couldn't risk the chance that he might pass along your identity. He was too much of a threat. Casey and I agreed."
Chuck realized they were both so certain about it, they both acted without a discussion. They both took their job of protecting him seriously. He shouldn't doubt the spies who regularly saved his life. He was concerned for other reasons. "Mauser came to my home. What's that mean? Does that mean I have to go into hiding?"
Sarah took both of Chuck's hands and held them loosely between them. "No. Fulcrum doesn't know anything today that they didn't know yesterday. Fulcrum knows that Casey and I are agents. It's public knowledge that you and I are dating, so Fulcrum knows that. Still, they crashed into the Buy More because they didn't know for certain what we are doing here in LA. Coming here tonight was an overt action directed at you, but Mauser had a short window with a plausible cover story to take you willingly to some place you'd think was safe."
That wasn't completely right, so Chuck said so. "I didn't think it was safe until I realized you were staying with me when I went to leave with him."
Sarah lifted her hand to Chuck's shirt and slowly smoothed it down his chest, only stopping with another quick kiss. This new cover was going to be hard, but it was going to be amazing. Sarah continued, "Mauser didn't know I already suspected him because of how Ned seemed to want him inside. As Casey said, I had told him and Beckman my theory that they might be working together."
"What about next time?"
"Next time, Fulcrum is less likely to do something than they were before today. They won't act outright without knowing the possible benefit of what they are trying to get. If they are just after Bryce, something like this is overkill to get information from you. There's still a chance they would do something stupid, but with Casey and me here and after their total and complete failure today, they won't want to sacrifice more agents. They've learned they'd lose."
"So now you have to—"
"It's not something I have to do, Chuck. It's something I get to do." She quickly kissed Chuck on the lips, again.
Chuck knew he was supposed to stay in the car, even though he often didn't do it when Sarah asked. It was never safe in the car. However, if she kept spontaneously kissing him like that, he'd believe and do anything she said. He needed more of an explanation about what this meant for Sarah and him. It sometimes seemed real before. Now what? "I thought you said it wouldn't be professional. Why is it ok in the cover now?"
"I'm not staying all night for my job. My reasons are personal, not professional. The CIA has Rule 49, which covers asset agent relationships. 49-A explains what I was talking about after our second first date when I said that us dating wouldn't be professional. 49-B is a test in which the agent is tested to ensure that she wasn't compromised and could control the asset. 49-C covers different circumstances. With Fulcrum knowing where you work, it should have been recognized as the governing rule since we stole everything back in the Buy More months ago."
"Rule 49? It has multiple parts? The government has rules for everything. What does 49-C mean?"
"We're not a normal agent and asset. We've been together for much longer than the month which should have automatically classified this assignment as 'long-term.' My job is two-fold. I'm an agent, and you are effectively the team's field analyst. An analyst is not an agent, but the same 49-A rules don't apply between agents and analysts as they do between agents and assets. Second, my job is protection. Civilian doctors have rules about treating their loved-ones. However for protection, it's a good thing for protectors to care about their protectees. Many married couples in the State Department work overseas, both doing some work for the CIA, but their work is not always the same as each other. If one is classified as an agent while the other works an office job and is classified as an asset, they don't have to get a divorce. Rule 49 is to ensure their first loyalty is to the country. When the asset doesn't have suspect allegiances and is regularly a hero, Rule 49-C can apply."
Chuck nodded, but he still didn't know what 49-C was. "What you are saying makes sense, but I still don't understand what 49-C is."
"Of course. It means I can do this." She softly captured Chuck's lips, pulling away slowly and holding Chuck's bottom lip between hers as long as possible. That definitely wasn't a cover kiss. If that was what 49-C meant, he loved 49-C.
Sarah looked down a second and licked her lips. "This would be so much easier if 49-C was in the Intersect. I don't like talking much. I could keeping kissing you instead of explaining." Inside, Chuck completely agreed. CIA rules that let him kiss Sarah should have been in the Intersect. He guessed something like that wouldn't be considered secret or important enough to put into an Intersect image. Sarah smiled, but kept explaining. "We still have cover jobs and in a way, our relationship is a cover to everyone who won't know I'm a CIA agent and you have the Intersect. In other ways, it's real. Others can't know that we haven't been in a real relationship all along. As long as we're a committed couple, with clear loyalties, the CIA doesn't care what we do when we're not on a mission. You proved today what you think about me." Sarah held up her new silver Christmas gift that encircled her wrist. "When Beckman found out what I did today, that was all the evidence she needed. In the debrief, she said she wants us to follow 49-C. That means we don't hide if our real relationship has problems. If it gets in the way of missions, I'll be reassigned. That's no different than if we were only in a fake relationship. If problems in a real or fake relationship were getting in the way of missions, I'd be reassigned."
This was amazing. He couldn't contain the joy on his face. He could barely believe he and Sarah were allowed to be a real couple. Then a serious question bothered him. "Why not before? So many problems could have been avoided if we were really dating after that first night."
Sarah twisted her lips. "I know. With married couples, it's obvious when 49-C applies. Like I said, I've never done long term assignments, so it was assumed that it was something I didn't want. Honestly, I didn't know what I wanted. Right before I came to LA, I had a mission go sideways because my handler had me do an unauthorized mission. I realized what was going on, but afterwards, I was concerned I was tainted so Graham might consider me a liability. Honestly, the thought of requesting 49-C status never crossed my mind because the main thing in my mind before you turned my world upside down was finishing the next mission. By the time the thought should have crossed my mind, Graham was dead. Since you being the Intersect is so secret, Beckman took full control, and the CIA doesn't know what I'm doing in my current assignment for the NSA. That means I have no one in the CIA that could be an ally. It's Beckman's call. I didn't want to broach the subject with her because if she didn't agree, I'd be reassigned to go back to CIA missions, away from you." Sarah placed her hand around Chuck's ear and threaded the ends of her fingers through his curls. "I don't want to risk being away from you. After today, I didn't have to take that risk. Beckman realized what is already true and gave us a wonderful Christmas present."
"So this—you and me—this is a cover, but this is also real?"
Sarah leaned in and kissed Chuck hard on the lips. "Yes. The cover is that we've been together since last year, but this is also real. It will remain real as long as we both want it to be real."
Chuck didn't think he could smile bigger. He stopped, though, to kiss Sarah again. This time the kiss wasn't a quick one. They both put their hands on the sides of each others' cheeks and deepened the kiss. It didn't stop for a minute... two... three… Who knows? They weren't counting. The kiss did end with a throat clearing. Chuck and Sarah slowly turned their faces to see the source of the interruption.
Chuck's sister stood in the doorway to her apartment with her hand on her hip. "We're holding the movie for you. It would be nice if you were to come in to watch the end before Christmas is over. You can always get back to…" She flicked her hand towards the couple she caught. "To that, after we finished watching the movies."
Sarah hummed and said, "That sounds like a good plan. I'm so glad I'm staying here all night. Chuck and I have all night."
With the twinkle lights throughout the courtyard, Chuck was pretty sure both women could see his growing blush. Ellie confirmed it. "Well, come in. I'm starting the hot chocolate. It's getting a little cold out here, so the warmth inside will help prevent Chuck from turning blue… or is that red… whatever." She laughed again and shut the door as she went back inside, once again leaving Chuck and Sarah alone.
Chuck reluctantly nodded his head towards the apartment door and said, "We should probably go in, even though I don't want to. I want to stay out here with you."
Sarah pecked Chuck on the lips and said, "We have all night, and the next, and the next. This is why I was so happy about Casey telling me the bugs would be off as long as I'm in the room with you. I know you don't like PDA, but I figured you wouldn't like NSADA either. We're going to have complete privacy."
"Really? I can't believe this, so I'm checking again. This is completely real? If this is a dream, I want it to be real, so much. If this is really real, this is the best Christmas ever already, and it's only Christmas Eve."
Sarah leaned it for a soft kiss that she ended with a toothy grin. "Yes, that feels real to me. Let's…" She swung their joined hands towards the apartment for them to go inside.
"Are you sure about this? This is so great that we can, you know, but sleeping in my bed… You don't have your clothes here to sleep in. You can't really want to sleep in one of my T-shirts."
"That's what I sleep in most of the time anyway." Sarah saw the confusion on Chuck's face and came clean. "I've been 'procuring' one of your T-shirts for months. I get a different one of your shirts from your laundry whenever your smell starts to go away. Tonight, I get the real thing."
"You've been…"
Sarah shrugged and put on a cute, fake innocent face that admitted guilt. She kissed Chuck quickly and confirmed the truth. It didn't matter if she wanted to sleep in clothes that smelled like him. With those lips, she could have anything she wanted.
Chuck put his hand on the door, but Sarah covered it and stopped him from turning the knob. She said, "Chuck, you said I should prepare to be heartwarmed tonight. You said a Twilight Zone marathon would be involved, but that isn't happening. I'm just guessing, after real snuggling into you all night in front of the TV, I'm pretty sure you are the best way to keep me warm. I expect you to keep doing that job, whether or not I'm wearing your T-shirt."
Not wearing… Sarah had nothing else to wear… He looked up to the sky and said, "Best Christmas ev-ah!"
Sarah turned the doorknob through Chuck's hand, which she would not release. She quietly agreed, "Yes, this is the best Christmas."
A/N: I saw Holiday Inn almost thirty years ago, but I didn't see White Christmas until last year, when I both watched the movie and saw the show on stage. My point is that not seeing that movie is possible, even when you're not a spy.
That's all for this one. Even if you didn't have your best Christmas this year because of the world's circumstances, I hope you had a great and safe one.
Songs from "White Christmas", by Irving Berlin:
- "Blue Skies"
- "Count Your Blessings"
from "Holiday Inn", by Irving Berlin:
- "White Christmas"