A/N: Oh, hi. You're back. I'm back. Ellie knows. This should be fine….right? Right? How come all I'm getting here is crickets? Don't freak out. Ch 13, Mojitos

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

Chuck floated around school the whole next morning. In spite of Ellie's surprise squeal and offer to watch Sam anytime, he and Sarah thought perhaps it would be better to take things slow. He found himself at lunch, talking to Sarah, her shaking her head and just snorting in laughter.

"Do I need to separate you two?" Lou asked.

"Lou, will you PLEASE do me a favor and ask this idiot out?" Sarah asked.

"But….I thought…you two…I'm confused."

"Trust me, Lou, you'll make his day," Sarah said, a grin on her face.

"Okaaaaay," Lou replied. "Chuck, would you go out with me?" She looked at Sarah, whose shoulders were bouncing from silently chuckling.

"I can't, Lou. I have a girlfriend," he replied, dreamily. Lou lowered her head. He was an idiot. "It's Sarah. Sarah Walker. Her," he said pointing at her. "I'm Sarah Walker's boyfriend."

"He's been wanting to say that all day, hasn't he?" Lou asked Sarah, ignoring Chuck.

"Yup," Sarah replied. "Thanks for playing along."

"Oh, there was no way I'd actually go out with him if he'd said yes, I don't need you beating me up," Lou replied, batting her eyelashes at Sarah and grinning.

"I wouldn't beat you up, Lou," Sarah replied. "Much."

"Annnnnnd there it is," Lou said as she walked off, laughing.

"Did Ellie call you back last night?"

Chuck groaned, and lowered his head. "I was enjoying my lunch."

"I'll make sure and tell her that when I see her," Sarah replied, rubbing her foot against his leg where no one could see.

"Wait, whaaaaa?" Chuck asked, brain misfiring for multiple reasons. "How are you gonna see Ellie?"

Sarah shrugged. "She has my email address when I gave her the info the first night you didn't show."

"I was late," he interrupted.

"Don't interrupt me, or I'll have to pull your stick," Sarah retorted. Chuck sputtered for a second.

"I know that's tracking for kids behavior problems, but good lord that sounded dirty," Chuck muttered.

Sarah just grinned. "So, she emailed me, and we're having drinks tonight."

"I see," Chuck replied.

"You wanted us to do something tonight?" she asked, grinning as he tried to look away and hide his disappointment.

"Always," he blurted out. She wasn't ready for that, and fought off the blush. "But you are your own person and we decided to take it slow."

"For the children," she reminded him.

"I'm beginning to not like the children," Chuck replied. Sarah just grinned.

}o{

"So what are Miss Sarah and Aunt Ellie doing tonight?" Sam asked as she and her dad cleared the table.

"Oh, they're at a club having a few drinks, letting their hair down," Chuck replied.

"Doesn't Miss Sarah know all she has to do is take the ponytail holder out of her hair to let it down?" Chuck gave his daughter a look, narrowing his eyes, as he bent down. He brought his lower jaw forward 'til it was bulging out a bit.

"Yes, she does…..MISSY!" he said in a scary-ish voice, making her squeal. He relaxed his face. "They are just dancing, and drinking. Although….it is a school night."

"Wish I could dance," Sam muttered. Chuck walked over to the stereo and turned on Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody'. "It's not the same," she protested.

Chuck went back into the kitchen, found the margarita mix, and poured them both a glass over ice. He brought both drinks into the living room, handed Sam hers, and they drank. She made a face. "OH! That's good!" Chuck raised his eyebrows but started dancing with his daughter when he heard a knock on the door.

"Were you expecting someone?" he asked Sam. Sam shook her head. Chuck opened the door, and his eyes widened.

"Hey, baby," Sarah slurred, and fell forward into his arms. He looked up at Ellie, who was trying not to laugh.

"What did you do?" he asked, pulling Sarah in, with Ellie following. "And why are you two here?"

"First, your girlfriend likes Mojitos," Ellie began.

"It's fun to say it," Sarah said to them. "Mo. Ji. Toes."

"Second," Ellie continued, smirking. "She said, and I quote, 'I wanna have a sleep over with Chuck.'"

Chuck looked down at Sarah, who was holding on to him, sighing contently. "I missed you, Chuck," she said softly. "And…and Ellie…your sister…who is very pretty." She paused and turned to Ellie. "You're so pretty."

"Thanks," Ellie answered, awkwardly.

She turned back to Chuck. "She started asking me…..things….and I started thinking about how nice it would be to have a family….and you've got one…and I like you…a lot…a whole lot…" She did her attempt at the Bartowski Eyebrow dance.

"Do you love him?" Sam asked.

"I, mphrphf!" she said into Chuck's hand.

"Sam, no. You can't trick her like that," Chuck told her gently. Ellie's eyes were huge. Chuck took his hand off Sarah's mouth. "You tell me when you're ready, not drunk, not forced, but ready, and if you never do…well…"

She pulled him in for a kiss. When she let go, she licked her lips. "You taste better than the Mo. Ji. Toe." Chuck turned red. She turned to Ellie, hanging off Chuck with one arm. "I'm going to stay here tonight."

"Okay," Ellie replied a knowing smirk on her face. She turned and walked toward the door. "But, Sarah, I know my brother. Kisses are all you're getting."

"Nope," Sarah replied. "I get love." Ellie's eyes went wide. "Sam loves me, Ellie."

"I do," Sam said wrapping her arms around Sarah.

"Goodnight you three," Ellie said softly, walking out the door.

"Now what do I do?" Chuck asked. Sarah's eyebrows bounced and Chuck's mind rebooted again.

}o{

Sarah woke up, naked, not in her bed. She panicked. She looked around and saw her go-bag on the chair. She took a sheet to cover herself, walked over, and looked inside. There was everything she had packed after last time. She grabbed the bag and went into the shower, where she saw towels there, waiting for her. What the hell had happened last night? She knew she was in Chuck's house, in his bed, but the other side didn't look exactly slept on. She showered, dressed, and came out into the hallway. She heard voices…four of them.

"I really don't know if you should've undressed her, Gertrude," she heard Chuck saying. A smile began to grow on her face.

"Bartowski, man up," Casey grumbled. "Walker wouldn't want those clothes slept in any more than they already were."

"How would you feel if you had to take my clothes off in the middle of the night?" Chuck retorted.

There was silence for a second. "Point made, Bartowski," he muttered.

"Where are you going, young lady?" she heard Chuck say.

"To give Miss Sarah her coffee and medicine for her head," Sam replied. There was no more discussion and Sarah saw Sam enter the hallway. Sam grinned up at Sarah as she gave her the medicine and coffee.

"You do know you're my favorite, right?" Sarah asked. Sam smiled shyly and nodded. Sam gently took her hand, and Sarah squeezed it. Sarah let Sam lead her to the kitchen.

"Hey," Chuck's voice greeted her. She looked up, seeing his soft smile and look of concern. "You okay?" She nodded. "Look, it wasn't me who got you out of your clothes, it was Gertrude."

"Your loss," Sarah muttered. Chuck fumbled the fork he was holding. "You're too easy."

"Look who's talking," Casey replied, making Sarah's eyes widen. Gertrude backhanded him.

"So, what did I miss?" Sarah asked, sitting down, preparing for the worst.

"Ellie wants the bridesmaid colors to be pink and purple," Chuck began.

"Stop it," she said, giggling.

"Oh, and live doves are to be released as we walk to the limo." Sarah was snorting now. "And Casey really wants there to be rice thrown because that makes the birds explode."

"UNCLE CASEY!" Sam yelled.

"I didn't do anything," Casey replied, trying to defend himself.

"Best I can tell, Ellie started in about us, you weren't ready the way you thought you were, and you tried to drink her under the table. Ellie drinks like a fish," Chuck added.

"Now you tell me," Sarah muttered.

"Maybe you were ready, you just needed some liquid courage," Casey groused. "WHAT?" he yelled, as Gertrude began to drag him to his feet. "I'm eating!"

"You know exactly what you are doing," Gertrude said. "We have to go."

Sarah watched them leave as it hit her. "Uh, Chuck, I need my vehicle."

"It's outside, Gertrude drove it," Chuck replied. She took a drink of coffee and looked over it at him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, Chuck," she replied. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Uh, hangover," Chuck said, grinning and pointing toward his head.

"Oh," she said taking a sip. She was smiling, Chuck was smiling, and Sam was smiling, eating her cereal. She put down her coffee and looked at him. "Is it okay, I'm really enjoying this?"

Chuck reached over with his right hand to take hers. "Is it okay that I'm really enjoying it?"

"We look like a family," Sam said, grinning. Chuck and Sarah glanced at Sam, and then at each other. There were nerves there, but neither let go of the other's hand.

}o{

For the next few days Roan watched the two of them very closely. He was aware of what was going on. He had been played, and he wasn't happy about it. He was about to make a phone call when he saw someone walk toward the front office that most definitely wasn't part of the school staff.

"What are you doing here?" Roan asked, his eyes flashing the closest thing to anger Carina had ever seen Roan show.

"We have a serious problem," Carina replied. "I've been working some of the men who used Roberts Pharmaceuticals. They are all part of a huge interdepartmental project."

"Okay," Roan replied. "What does that have to do with Jill?"

"Jill has not only been blackmailing them for money, but information," Carina explained. "The pieces of info, by themselves, are no big deal, but she's starting to get many of them and piecing them together. At least that's what her latest victim has figured out."

"Spit it out, Carina," Roan said impatiently.

"There's a project to build a piece of software to take all data received from intelligence agencies and combine it together to better tackle attacks on our country," Carina explained.

"Okay, but what good is that software without someone to understand it? Oh God, it doesn't go in someone's head, does it?" Roan asked.

Carina stared at him. "This isn't science fiction, Roan."

"Who told you about this project?" Roan asked, wanting answers.

"Ted Roark. It's called Project Omaha, and the builder of the project…Chuck Bartowski."

"And now, we have to protect Bartowski," Roan said, his hand on his forehead.

"Oh, it's worse," Carina replied. "Roberts has leverage over Bartowski." Roan looked up at her. "She has documents that show the little girl is not his daughter."

"Come on," Roan said, and hurried to the office. "Where is Bartowski and Walker?"

"They both took a personal day today," the office coordinator replied.

"Where could they be?" Roan asked. "I have to go after them."

Carina put a hand on his chest. "No. They don't know we're in play. Let's send someone who can help us that Jill would never expect."

"Larkin," Roan said. "What have I gotten myself into, and what have we done?"

A/N: I know, I know, I've used Mojitos before, but writing drunk Sarah…fun. Wow…there was an actual story in this fic…I know…weird, right? Reviews are wonderful, but not as wonderful as you readers.

David