The Trapped Assassin
By SarahsSupplyCloset
Author's Note: I really apologize for not getting back to this for, like, years. I had a lot of real life stuff happen with jobs and relationships and the general state of the world, in particular the US, and it's been really bad for me mentally so I stepped back. I hope those of you who've stuck around still give a crap, and if not, well...I get it. Haha.
To anyone who is new to this story and is looking at this chapter first, look out for sex. It's everywhere in this story because that's kind of all I write. Sorry not sorry. Just want you to be warned if that's not your thing. I guess there's some plot too.
Disclaimer: I don't own CHUCK. I don't make money writing CHUCK fan fiction.
Sarah slid her gaze around the lobby and finally spotted the brunette she was looking for. She hurried over and winced as Ellie turned and saw her. "I'm so sorry. I don't usually…I mean, I'm late I know. I saw Chuck's text asking where I was. I, um, I enjoyed my shower a little too much after being in that cold water."
That wasn't true in the slightest, Sarah thought to herself.
What had happened was that she'd gone down to Chuck's room, had raised her fist to knock…and then she'd chickened out. But she'd changed her mind at least 4 separate times on the way back to her room and it had taken a good 10 minutes for her to actually get into her shower.
"Oh, trust me, Sarah. I get it. I would've taken longer, but unfortunately, I have to share my shower with another person," she said, rolling her eyes.
"Babe, that's, like, a lot of extra info about our bathroom life than this woman who's only known us a few days needs to hear," Sarah heard Devon say from behind her as he joined the conversation. She turned to see Chuck tailing him with a slightly traumatized look on his face, like he'd wandered into something he definitely didn't want any part of.
"Um whoa…" Chuck said, stopping dead in his tracks, eyes wide.
"Devon, shut up. I had to cut my shower time in half because you took a 20 minute shower," Ellie drawled. "That's what I meant by sharing a shower. God."
Devon grinned in a way that revealed he knew exactly what his fiancée had meant the first time and received a light smack in the back of the head for it, even as Ellie sniffed in amusement and shook her head.
"How does everyone feel about seafood?" she asked then, leading the foursome through the lobby.
"Seafood? In Nice? Gross."
"Devon, I swear to God, I'm going to push you in front of a taxi."
Sarah laughed as the two bantered in front of her, and she felt Chuck sling his arm over her shoulder and squeeze her to his side. "Have a good shower?" he asked as they followed his sister and her fiancé out of the doors and down the sidewalk towards the main street in front of the hotel.
"It was amazing. Probably too amazing and that's why I was so late. Sorry about that. Hope you guys weren't too hungry."
He dismissed her with a wave of a hand. "Pfft. It's vacation. There's no such thing as late. We're all good. We're chill. Although I am hungry. Ellie picked out a place that has ceviche and I cannot wait to chomp down on summa that."
She laughed. "A place with ceviche, huh? In Nice?"
"Nice has everything," he said, waving his arm through the air and gesturing out at the coastal city that stretched before them.
"Did you tell her about the ceviche, bro?" Devon asked over his shoulder. "I cannot wait for the ceviche, Sarah. Have you had ceviche?"
"Mmmhm. I have. I had ceviche in Iquitos, Peru, actually."
"Oh, great. Well, this is gonna taste like dirt compared to ceviche in Peru," Ellie giggled.
Sarah laughed. "I'm sure it's gonna be great."
"They have calamari, too. Oooh and I read about the swordfish online." Chuck beamed. "You don't have to get Niceviche. See what I did there?"
She found herself smiling the entire four block walk to the restaurant Ellie had picked out, but there was a moment as they were crossing the street halfway there…
A chill had come over her. And not the kind of chill that came from a cool breeze or a gust of wind. She recognized it all too clearly, and she waited for Chuck to be distracted, talking to his family, before she whipped her head around and quickly scanned the streets behind her, ahead of her, everywhere, even looking up at the buildings' windows just in case.
She was out of the spy game for good.
So who in the hell was watching her?
It wasn't until they arrived at the restaurant that he stepped out from an alleyway a dozen feet or so ahead of her, past the entrance to the seafood place. He pressed his lips together in a semi-smile and nodded his head once.
Something inside of her jumped. She widened her eyes. …That really wasn't enough, was it? A quick head nod…
So she stopped before they got to the door and diverted her gaze from the man down the sidewalk, grabbing Chuck's wrist and pulling back a bit. He turned to face her, curiosity in his handsome features and she quickly fished her phone out of her bag.
"Hey, sorry. I'm so sorry, I have to take this call. It's my boss." She winced.
"Oh. Shit, yeah. Everything okay?"
"Yeah. I'll be right in to meet you, okay? I'm so sorry."
"Hey, no. Take it. Take your time. Call me if you can't find us in there."
He squeezed her hand and he disappeared inside. Sarah bit her lip and watched him through the glass door as he slung his arms over both Ellie and Devon's shoulders, squeezing between them, and she put her phone to her ear, pretending to answer it, just in case any of them looked back.
Then she rushed out of eyesight and made a beeline for him, putting a hand on his chest and pushing him back into the alley.
"Whoa, whoa…hands off the merchandise."
"What merchandise?"
He grunted in amusement. "Just came to check on ya. One more time. To make sure you know what you're doing."
She smiled. "You're swinging by to give me a chance in case I woke up today regretting my decision, aren't you, Casey?"
"Uh. Maybe. Just wanna make sure. It's a big decision you made."
"I know." She sighed. "And I'm not fully sure that I know what I'm doing, to be honest with you. But I'm feeling really good about what I did. Deciding to leave. I have no idea where I go from here but I don't want to go back to the CIA. I know that much."
"You sure you can kick it out here in real life? With real life people?" He nodded towards the restaurant, and she knew he meant Chuck, Ellie, and Devon. Or maybe he just meant Chuck.
Either way…
"I'm not positive I can, no." She bit her lip. "But I want to try."
He grunted and smiled, as much as John Casey could smile. "Proud o' ya, kid. Maybe I'll see you around somed—" He stopped when she stretched out a hand towards him, straightening her back. "Heh. Right."
They shook hands and she smiled quietly. "You've been a life-saver, Casey."
"Now don't think this makes us even. 'Cause it don't. I still have your back, Walker."
"And I still have yours."
He narrowed his eyes a little. "Don't say that 'less you mean it, kid."
"I do mean it. Just because I'm ducking out of the spy life, doesn't mean I'm gonna abandon you, big guy."
He scoffed and shook his head. "They're gonna think something's wrong with your work if you don't get in there soon," he mocked.
"Shut up." She backed out of the alleyway then and gave him one last look. "Be well, Casey. 'Kay?"
"I'll do my best. And hey…"
"What?"
"You trust him?"
She frowned in question.
"The tall lanky kid you're attached at the hip to." She tried not to blush, but he most likely saw it anyway. "You trust him?"
"Yeah."
"With this though?"
As vague as he was, she knew immediately what he meant. She sighed. "I'm not sure. No, maybe not. Not yet."
"If you want it to last, the way mine has, you should. Maybe not right away. It's, uh, a lot. But…eventually. I know what I'm talkin' about." He shrugged.
"Okay." She felt a little unsure then as she shifted her weight. "See ya around, huh?"
He nodded and she went back into the restaurant, but she paused before she walked in, for just a few seconds. She had to push the melancholy away. Because while she was glad to leave the CIA behind, while she was glad to never have to assassinate another person ever again… she'd miss John Casey. That one was going to sting.
She willfully pushed his last bit of advice out of her mind. She wasn't ready for that. And she knew Chuck definitely wasn't. This was so good. She wasn't ruining it like that.
Chuck, Ellie, and Devon weren't at the front of the restaurant anymore when she walked in and she couldn't spot them, either, as she glanced around the nearby tables in the front room, so she pulled her phone out and called Chuck.
"Bonjour. Merci de votre appel…Sexy Homme Hotline."
Sarah could hear Chuck's voice in the background as Devon answered his phone. "SERIOUSLY? Give me my phone! Give it to me!"
She cracked up.
"Oh, sorry. Is this Sarah? I was just helping Chuck out with his second job. Did he tell you? That's how he's picking up a little extra side dough while on vacation."
"Is it? I had no idea."
"It's true."
"IT IS NOT!" Chuck said in the background. "Can you just freaking tell her we're outside?"
"Are you outside?" she asked.
"Yes. We're out on the patio. Just walk all the way back," Devon chuckled.
"Kay."
She hung up and walked through the restaurant, pushing through the door and stepping out onto the patio. Ellie waved at her from their corner table against the railing and she crossed the patio to sit in the chair next to Chuck.
"Sorry, um…That was my boss. I sort of had to take it."
"That's okay! Everything alright?" Chuck's sister asked.
"Oh. Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine."
"I hate that, people calling you when you're on vacation. Never fails," the other woman said, shaking her head. "Like, they don't understand what vacation means."
"Ugh, riiiight?" Chuck drawled, teasingly.
"Shut up, Guy Who Owns His Own Company."
He spun on his sister with a faux-offended shrug. "What? What'd I do?"
Ellie and Devon eventually picked up their menus and leaned together to discuss, and as she picked up her own menu to figure out what to order, she felt Chuck's arm drape over the back of her chair. He leaned in close and lowered his voice.
"Your boss mad at you for ignoring him so much?" He eyed her carefully. "I mean, are things really okay?"
She smiled at him. "Yes. He was just checking in. He's, erm…" She bit her lip, looking down at her menu, "an attentive boss."
Now she was just lying outright, and she felt legitimately terrible about it. So she kept her eyes on the menu. "I think I'm sticking with the ceviche."
"Saaaaame."
By the time their food was brought to the table, Devon was regaling them with another one of his stories.
"—Turns out he actually meant we were buying, like, a pot for plants to go in. Not marijuana pot. So that was a disappointment."
Sarah wiped tears from her eyes, laughing so hard she had to fan herself a bit.
"In your defense, honey, I think everyone would have assumed what you did. Especially in college," Ellie said, shaking her head in mirth.
"Right? God, that was a trip."
"But how fun was the potting plants thing, inquiring minds would like to know…" Chuck said with an inquisitive smirk.
"Bro, it was surprisingly fun."
They all laughed again, and a comfortable silence settled as they worked on eating their meals.
"So Sarah…I never really asked you…" Uh oh. "Is this your first time in Nice?" Thank God.
"Uh, yeah, actually. First time." She smiled a little and turned it a bit shyly towards Chuck's sister. "I've been to a lot of places around the world, some places more than once. It's, um, part of the job, you know?" They all nodded and she was relieved that at least that much wasn't a lie. "That said, nowhere has ever been this, uh, this nice." She paused. "I guess what I mean to say is this is turning out to be a really, really good trip for me."
She watched as Chuck's face softened, his brown eyes so warm as they met hers. "I'm glad."
The meaning wasn't lost on him, she could tell. And apparently it wasn't lost on his sister or her fiancé either. Because Devon let out a loud, "Awesome!" which earned a glare from Ellie.
The rest of the lunch went by without a hitch, and Sarah laughed more times than she could count by the time they were leaving the restaurant and walking back to the hotel.
Devon and Ellie goofed around ahead of them, the brunette ending up getting a piggyback ride from her guy as Chuck and Sarah walked behind them, chuckling.
She noticed his hands were in his pockets as they walked, and she found herself yearning for his arm to be around her, or maybe his hand enfolded into hers. And she knew she was being silly.
She just…didn't care.
She didn't care if she was being silly.
She also noticed that there wasn't as much awkwardness in the elevator this time when Chuck stayed on with her while his sister and her fiancé got off on his floor. Ellie had even kissed her cheek when she'd gotten out.
It had all felt…right.
And so normal.
So that by the time it was a half hour later and she lounged next to Chuck on the couch in front of the television, some French travel show on, she felt strangely restless. She didn't get why. Why would spending the day with his family make her restless? Why did Ellie and Devon just assuming Chuck would go with her this time make her feel…weird?
And she knew it was because she'd never had a boyfriend before. Not a legitimate one. Cover boyfriends? Sure. For a mission. And she'd even ended up sleeping with her partner on one of those missions. They'd let themselves get carried away and it was fun, but…there was no depth to it. No sincerity to it. This was real, genuine, sincere. This heat and simultaneous warmth…it was the real deal. Chuck was her…
But he wasn't her boyfriend.
And she needed to stop thinking that way. It wasn't really fair to him.
But everything today had been so…a day spent with her boyfriend and his family.
And that was a little strange to her, wasn't it? Different…?
Sarah spared a subtle glance to the side at Chuck's profile. His brow was furrowed in utter concentration and she knew it was because he was trying to decipher the words the narrator was saying as he guided them through Marseille.
It hit her in just the right way. He was so cute it was ridiculous. And she wasn't sure it was even possible to ever be as drawn to anyone else as much as she was drawn to him. Like a moth to a flame. God, she'd let it burn her up willingly, too.
"You know what he's saying?" she asked.
"Um." He blinked and turned to look at her. "I caught something about a château. And that's a castle. Or…wait…that looks like a fort. So maybe it means fort in this context? See? I'm a lost cause."
She giggled. "Nobody is a lost cause."
Sarah Walker wasn't even aware of the full meaning of what she'd just said, as caught up as she was in how comfortable she was in this moment.
"He is saying the Château d'If is where the famous novel The Count of Monte Cristo took place. By Alexandre Dumas." She paused listening. "It's a fortress, and then became a prison. It's from the 1500s."
"Ah. Cool. I never had to read that one for school."
Sarah sniffed in amusement. "Is that the only way to get you to read a book, Chuck? If a teacher or professor made you read it?"
"No," he said with a bit of a smirk. "I read all of the Star Wars novels, thanks very much." She laughed. "And War of the Worlds is one of my favorites. Also Frankenstein."
"Okay, I stand corrected." She held her hands up in surrender. She'd never read The Count of Monte Cristo either. But she had used a leather bound edition of it to crack someone's skull open once. In Prague. It had been in a very old, antique library. She'd apologized to the book, she remembered.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the screen. "I want to go there!"
"Ah." She smiled. "The Palais Longchamp. There's a museum, but it's known for its awesome gardens. Um…" She listened to the tour guide. "He says it used to be home to a grand zoo that had animals from all over the world. The zoo closed because people were upset about animal rights…I'm paraphrasing," she admitted. "But the structures for some of the animals are still on the campus. Oh! Like that."
"Whaaat?" He shook his head in awe. "It's crazy, coming to a place like France that has a thousand years' worth of history. In America, we're stoked about a building that's, like, from the eighteen hundreds."
Sarah snorted. "It is crazy."
As if of one mind, they leaned into one another's shoulders and stopped talking, turning to watch the destination travel show—Sarah understanding all of it for the most part, and Chuck likely understanding a word here and there.
When she felt Chuck's weight become heavier halfway through another episode of a house hunting show, she turned and looked to see that his head had slumped a bit to the side, and his eyes were shut tightly. The hand he'd casually laid on her thigh when they first sat down went limp while also seeming to get heavier against her leg.
Without realizing it, Sarah smiled at the sight, propping her cheek against the cushion and draping her own hand over his. She was filled with a feeling of contentment suddenly. She'd never experienced anything like this before. Just sitting down to watch mindless television with another person and one of them feeling comfortable enough and safe enough with the other to fall asleep. It felt so normal.
She never cared to be in a situation like this. Something so trivial and boring. Falling asleep watching TV with a significant other or spouse. Old retirees did shit like that, she thought to herself.
But there was a subtle warming sensation inside of her ribcage, starting to slowly spread through her as she looked at Chuck. His long eyelashes brushed against his cheeks, his body loose and comfortable. People really had a way of looking younger when they fell asleep, but Chuck suddenly looked especially young and she was hit with an inherent need to protect him from everything.
Even herself.
Or, at least, whom she'd been before she quit the CIA. She wanted to protect him from that version of Sarah Walker, from that whole part of her life.
A commercial came on a little louder than was necessary suddenly and Chuck jerked a bit, blinking his eyes open and sitting up straight again, smacking his lips and looking a little confused as he turned to peer at her.
She giggled, the protective sensations spilling through her that much harder.
"You dozed a bit," she said quietly.
"Oh. Uh, sorry. I, um, the carbs at lunch."
"From the ceviche?" she giggled.
He gave her a flat look. "More like the 5 million chips I ate with the ceviche."
"That makes sense," she admitted with a smirk, reaching up to smooth a curl back from his forehead. She found she wanted to be able to do that always. Every day if she could. Small things like touching him, feeling his hair between her fingers, having him look at her like this…
Like the ten minute cat nap he'd taken had given him not just energy, but something else. Something she honestly hadn't thought of for a while today. At least, not since she nearly opted to join Chuck for his shower.
She was glad she hadn't done that. It wasn't something she was ready for. And she didn't know why. She didn't know why taking a shower with him felt like too much. And then she did. Like sleeping, it was a vulnerable time for a spy. It was a time when you let your guard down. And, well, even if she wasn't a spy anymore, even if she had no reason to suspect Chuck Bartowski was anything other than the incredible person he'd proven himself to be already, she couldn't get rid of that caution.
Maybe there were things she'd never fully be able to leave behind. It would never be perfectly safe for her.
Or for anyone in her life.
Could she live with that?
Was it worth moments like this?
Before she could think of the answer, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, slowly, softly. And as she slid her fingers through his curls, he oh so subtly increased the pressure. She felt his hands land on her lower back, his fingers dig into her waist.
They made out for a while, bodies pressed close together on the couch, hands wandering under clothes. And once their top layers were shed, she found him draping her over the couch cushions and laying over her, pressing her down with his weight.
Before they could go any further, Chuck tilted his head and pulled his lips from hers with a smack, dotting kisses down her jaw and pressing a heated kiss to her neck. "Mmm," he murmured. "Sarah…"
Grinning wildly, she let out a soft, "Hm?"
"This has been a really, really good day so far."
Still grinning, she nodded, wrapping her legs around his waist and arching herself up against him. "It has," she responded, her voice deep and scratchy. She ran a fingernail lightly down the back of his neck and felt him shiver over her. "But I have a feeling, it's going to get even better pretty soon."
He laughed adorably against the crook of her neck and began undressing her in earnest. "Is it getting better here? Or were you thinking the bed?" She felt him nip her jaw with his teeth and she jumped with a surprised yelp. Well, that had really turned her on, more than she'd been prepared for. "We could always try the floor again…"
"Already got a bit of a rugburn, you stud," she ground out between her teeth, loving the way he was beginning to rock his hips against hers, not in any sort of rhythm but sporadically, when she least expected it..and it was giving her an antsy feeling of need in her low belly. "Not really lookin' to get a rugburn on top of a rugburn."
"That's like Inception Rugburn. Rugburn within the rugburn… Which one is the real rugburn? Would the second rugburn have been a rugburn if the first one hadn't happened? Is there even such a thing as a rugburn?"
"Okay, wow. This is getting to be a little much there, nerd," she giggled, her voice cutting out with a soft gasp when he gave her a small bump of his crotch against hers. She moaned then, a full on moan, when he thrusted into her, long and hard.
"Still never answered my question," he informed her, his lips at her ear, once he'd stopped chuckling.
"I didn't, did I?" she gasped out when he thrusted again.
She could tell he really liked it when she bantered with him. A look came over his face and he bit his lip. It was so damn cute.
Feeling mischievous, she leaned up, craning her neck a bit, and she bit his chin, letting her teeth drag a bit over his skin before she lowered herself back down to the couch. Chuck groaned and smirked down at her. "Still no answer…" he teased, raising an eyebrow.
"You want an answer?" He nodded once, slowly, his eyes starting to really kindle the flame licking at her lower stomach. "Any horizontal surface—or vertical for that matter, I'm not picky—would be perfect. I don't care where you do it, Chuck. As long as you do it."
It looked like she'd just given him something of a heart attack by the look on his face.
Chuck's eyes crossed a bit and he pushed himself up, leaning with his palms on the cushion on either side of her head, the weight of his crotch pressed hard into hers. She could feel his hard cock jammed up against her sex, just some thin materials between them.
"You make me feel crazy," he breathed out through a clenched jaw then. His brown eyes flashed and he reached down between their bodies with one hand and started undoing his pants.
"Is crazy good?" she panted, giggling breathlessly. He maneuvered his clothing out of the way somehow, squirming over her, the shuffling of clothing and unzipping of zippers sounding in her ears as he got the most adorable look of determination on his face, his tongue poking out between his lips. And just like that, his fingers were under the hem of her sundress, which ended up bunched at her hips, and she felt him slip his digits under her panties to tuck them aside. In just as quick a move, he was inside of her. "Ooooh it's gooood," she answered for him, hooking her ankles just under his ass. "Crazy is so good…"
He laughed lightly and it became a groan as he thrusted deep inside of her, as deep as she thought he might be able to go. She shook beneath him for a moment, opening her mouth wide in pleasure and throwing her head back.
Chuck slapped his hand down on the arm of the couch and held on above her head. She felt the fingers of his other hand curl over her shoulder, as if to hold her in place, and he began to thrust himself into her, his strokes slow but hard. "Ah!" she gasped out. "Oh my God, Chuck…"
His fingers tightened around her shoulder after half a minute, and she felt him shift his weight. She glanced down her body and saw him dig his knees into the couch, and just like that, he went a little wild. Her body jerked with each of his thrusts and she cried out, needing to brace her hand against the arm of the couch in spite of him holding onto her, he was going so hard, so deep.
And when he moved his hand to grab onto her hip and lift her backside a few inches off the couch, the new angle made her see spots. She dropped her legs to either side of him and yelped in pleasure, slamming her free hand against the coffee table beside the couch to hang on for dear life.
"Chuck!"
The fact that they were both still wearing clothes was somehow making this even more delicious. She was filled with a heady ecstasy at the desperation and need in both of them, filling the air between them. And as he slowed down again, rolling his hips against hers, she let go of the arm and table and put both hands on the small of his back. He felt so good she twisted her fists in his shirt there and turned her face into the back of the couch, moaning, shutting her eyes tight.
"You feel so good, Sarah," he whimpered, and she felt him lower his torso over her, his lips pressing against her jaw. None of his weight was against her as he held himself up, but he continued his thrusts, kissing up and down her jaw.
Sarah let go of his shirt with one hand and unconsciously let it tuck under the back of his pants, beneath the waistband of his boxers, and she slid her fingers over one of his ass cheeks, squeezing him tight.
His hips jerked against hers as he gasped and she whimpered into his ear, pushing her other hand into his hair and holding on for dear life as he began to rock against her fast and hard again. His need was like a third person in the room, enveloping them, and it made her feel…as he said, crazy. She squeezed his ass tighter and he whimpered, speeding his pace even more. And she felt that tightness behind her belly button, the sensitivity between her legs ramping up…building…
"Yes!" she whimpered. "Oh, Chuck, yes!"
He groaned close to her ear, and still she heard it.
The knock on the door.
She froze beneath him as he kept going, but after a few seconds, he must've felt something was off and he slowed to a halt.
The knock sounded again.
"Whosat?" he panted, breathless, looking over his shoulder at the door.
"I…dunno. But we…we can keep going. Ignore it…" She pawed at his shoulders and started thrusting up against him, biting her lip, wrapping a leg around his waist.
He whimpered quietly and began to meet her thrusts again, making her gasp with pleasure.
And then there was a more persistent knock this time.
They both stopped and he pulled back to look down at her. "Might be hotel staff and they might come in if you ignore it."
She growled in frustration and nodded, biting her lip to keep from making a reluctant whining sound when he pulled out of her and swung himself up to his feet. He looked shaky as he stood there, trying to fix his pants, but he was definitely struggling as she easily fixed her panties and got to her feet beside him. "Go in there," she suggested as he blushed, still trying to put himself away with a pained look on his face.
And he finally nodded at yet another, louder knock. Who in the hell was banging on her door?
Chuck awkwardly hurried into the bedroom and she watched the door swing shut until it was just barely ajar.
When he was properly hidden away, she ran her hands down her hair to fix it as best she could and rushed to the door before whoever it was could knock again. She'd probably deck them if they did.
She opened it just a little, peering out to see it was hotel staff.
"Hello…" she breathed out, trying her best to keep from showing just how out of breath she was. She was sure her cheeks were rosier than normal. "Can I help you?"
He nodded and reached into the jacket of his uniform. She tensed. She'd seen this before, and his hand might come out with a gun. That'd be the end unless she could grab it first. She was ready…and then a room service menu was in his gloved hand instead. "Try the fish," he said, and a trigger went off in her brain.
"Salmon? Or halibut?"
"Halibut."
She nodded and took the menu from him, her heart racing as she felt the envelope he'd pressed to the underside of the menu as he passed it to her. A CIA errand boy, most likely. Graham wouldn't send an actual agent for something this menial.
They were her marching orders most likely. Maybe the tying up of a few loose ends.
Her situation was so different from the typical CIA special agent, her professional relationship with the Director different from others. He was her mentor. He'd sheltered her from the bureaucracy and red tape, though she was sure not just because he cared. It benefited him to have his own little assassin he could send out into the world to do his bidding, sometimes without the go ahead of his superiors.
But he was really letting her go. This easily.
And it concerned her.
He turned on his heel and walked away, then. Not another word was exchanged between them. They'd each identified the other as CIA, the exchange was made, and his task was finished.
She pulled back and shut the door, already wondering how she'd explain this interruption to Chuck. Hotel staff just randomly handing her a room service menu without her actively asking for it…
Sarah walked back into her suite, brow furrowed. She wanted to know what was inside of the envelope, but she couldn't now. Chuck was already opening the door a little and peeking out. She saw his messy curls first, then those wide, brown eyes of his. "They gone?" he asked.
"Yeah." She forced out a bit of a giggle, clutching the menu with the envelope under it tightly, tilting it just so to keep him from seeing the latter. "Seems someone asked for a room service menu and they brought it to me instead of the right suite. I just took it anyway." She shrugged.
"Oh. That's kind of annoying…"
He was still just peeking around the door at her. So she decided to just go to him, gently pushing the door open to give him time to get out of its way and stepping into the room with him.
She couldn't exactly kick him out of the room to look inside of the envelope, could she? And she definitely couldn't open it in front of him. What was more, she didn't want to kick him out anyway.
Sarah stepped up against him and slowly rounded his shoulders with her arms, nibbling on her lip and lifting her blue gaze to his brown one. "We were…sort of in the middle of something…" She pressed her lips to his, slipping her fingers into his hair again, carefully holding the menu and envelope away from him with the other hand.
She tilted her chin back, slowly breaking the kiss. "Since we're in here already, what do you think about finishing what we started in my bed?"
Lowering her hand between them, she tugged at the front of his pants, opening it up and shoving her hand inside to hold him in her grip. His hips jerked. "God yes," he groaned.
She gave him a squeeze, his eyelids fluttering, eyes rolling to the back of his head, and then she pulled her hand out and led him towards her bed. She affected carelessness as she slapped the menu down on her nightstand, but she actually placed it perfectly so the envelope wasn't noticeable to her companion.
Even though curiosity and nerves pestered her, she let the tall nerd undress her, his lips covering her body. And when he laid her out over the mattress, completely naked, she watched him lower himself down between her legs, and just like that, his mouth was on her. Without even realizing what he was doing, Chuck Bartowski dove headfirst into the one thing that had a chance of pushing the envelope and its mysterious contents out of her thoughts.
He ate her out for a while, making it last, helping her over the edge a handful of times before he finally lifted his head from between her legs, licking his lips deliciously, and stood beside the bed. He allowed her to watch hungrily as he undressed until he was standing before her in not even a single shred of clothing.
They crawled under the covers of her bed and he spooned her from behind, reaching around her to let his fingers explore her breasts, her abdomen, dipping into her bellybutton, and then she felt him tease her sex, oh so lightly letting her feel the pads of his fingers rub up and down her slit. He had her melting into the mattress as she lifted her leg and propped it on his leg behind her to give him more access.
He slipped his digits over her clitoris then, making her whimper his name, a soft, surprised, "Chuck!" And just like that, he started churning it in slow, hard circles. Sarah shut her eyes and let her mouth fall open, turning her face into the pillow. "Keep going," she gasped, her voice muffled by the pillow, and she slowly began to thrust against his fingers.
This wasn't the desperate, frenzied, clothed sex they'd just been having on the couch. This was intimate, slow, delicious… She could stay like this with him forever, even if she was starting to ache for more of him. She wanted him inside of her again so that she had the chance to give back what he was dealing.
But he seemed completely at his leisure, sucking on her earlobe now as he continued to stimulate her clit.
Sarah lost herself in the sensations, settling into his rhythm, rolling her sex against his hand…so that she was rocked with surprise pleasure when his fingers stalled for just a moment to make room for his cock. He probed at her opening just a little, then inched in, so damn slowly.
"Ah!" she gasped. "More…"
He complied, his teeth nipping at where her jaw met her ear. A thrill went through her.
"Deeper," she breathed. "C'mon…"
Chuck seemed to push into her as deeply as he could in this position, and he shifted his fingers from her clit to hold onto her thigh, lifting her leg and pulling it back and up. She spread her legs as much as she could, taking his hint, and he sank even deeper, groaning.
Sarah's chest heaved as he began to slowly roll his hips. His thrusts became a little faster as she encouraged him, his grip on her so tight she wasn't sure there wouldn't be marks on her where his fingers were for a little while. But she wasn't thinking about that as he scooted even closer to her and began to jerk his cock into her from behind with swift strokes.
She was losing herself in the sensation, letting any semblance of control slip away from her. So much so that she yelped in surprise when Chuck hugged her close to his chest and rolled onto his back, bringing her with him so that she was lying flat on top of him, her back to his chest, legs splayed out on either side of their bodies.
"Oh, Chuck…What…?"
Sarah arched her back in ecstasy as he curled his fingers around her hips and began to bounce up into her. He moved fast, the angle sending him right up against her spot, and she cried out, reaching back to brace her hand on his shoulder and used it as leverage to start meeting his quick, hard thrusts.
Her climax fell upon her sooner than she'd expected, and she felt him sit up with his chest pressed to her back, arms hugging her tight, holding her safely, cradling her even, as the sensations went through her.
Sarah's head tilted back onto his shoulder as they stayed in the rather awkward position, and she turned her face into his neck as she tried to catch her breath. Chuck carefully dug his heels into the mattress and shifted them back to sit against the headboard, and with her still sitting in his lap, he pressed his lips against her jaw and began to thrust again.
It was such a comfortable, almost lazy position. But more than anything, it felt so intimate. He was hugging her tight to his chest and kissing up and down her face, dotting kisses along her neck, to her shoulder, all while rocking up into her. Sarah spread her legs more and braced her heels against the bed, letting him control the pace and strength.
And when his hand dragged up to cup her breast and begin massaging it in time with his strokes, she breathed his name and leaned her head back a little to press her cheek to his. As her eyes slipped shut, the ex-spy vowing to just let herself sit back and enjoy, she felt the fingers of his other hand drift down between her legs and they were suddenly pressing down against her clitoris.
When he started rolling it in time with rolling her nipple with his other hand, all while still thrusting inside of her, she began to pant his name against his face. "Oh God, Chuck…baby, yes…"
"Hnng!"
There was that desperation again. She felt as much of it radiating off of him as she felt in her own body. Maybe it was the whimper of her name in her ear, or the way he was grabbing onto her.
Either way, she slapped a hand onto his thigh and reached behind her to grab onto whatever part of his body was there, using it for leverage as she started to bounce in his lap. He groaned loudly and she heard a thunk, perhaps his head hitting the headboard or something. But she kept going, really throwing herself into him, gyrating her hips even as she slammed them down.
The springs of the bed squeaked beneath them and she kept going hard, taking deep breaths, feeling the pressure build behind her bellybutton.
"M'almost…almost there…oh my God, Sarah…"
She listened to him, shifting so she could brace her hands on him and starting to jerk herself on his cock hard and fast, tensing her body, her thrusts wild, unbridled.
She didn't slow down again until she felt his body shiver against hers and the heat of him releasing his seed inside of her. She rocked down into him to get as much out of him as she could, and then she slumped back against his chest as he fell into the pillows, cradling her tightly, wrapping his legs and arms around her body.
They detached themselves for just a moment before they fell into one another's arms again and in spite of not finishing that last time, a dull ache between her legs as a result, she fell fast asleep.
—
It was strange how quickly the storm seemed to be rolling in from the other side of the Mediterranean. Like it had some kind of malicious purpose to drown the entire sea city of Nice in a torrential downpour.
A little annoyed at the sight, she pulled her jacket tighter around her and turned away from the shore, starting to walk back up towards her hotel. She'd been planning on going on another dive, this time alone. Just to clear her head a bit, put things into perspective.
Something about being down there made…up here feel less important. And somehow that made her feel good.
Not that she was unhappy or anything. She just felt a little strange. Bereft.
She'd broken with the CIA and it was official. She didn't know how she felt about that now that it was all done. Where did she go from here? What did she do? That was all she'd known for a decade of her life, most of her adult life…No, all of it up until now.
It just felt so uncomfortable.
And there was that nagging worry in the back of her mind. The CIA wasn't going to loosen its grip on one of their best agents, best assassins, that easily. They didn't make it so simple, breaking ties with them. And if they had something else up their sleeves, she wanted to know about it now so that she could figure out how to avoid it, battle it. She'd made her decision.
She hurried up to her room, ready for a long, hot bath and a book or something equally peaceful. She'd be stuck inside with the rain that was sure to be coming in. And there was a bit of a storm cloud over her head now as she moved towards the elevator.
The doors slid open to reveal Ellie standing there, a bit of a worried crease in her brow. "Sarah! Oh, hey!"
"Hi, Ellie!" She accepted the other woman's hug as she came out of the elevator. "How are you?"
"Oh, I'm good. Chuck's, uh, not with you?" Sarah frowned and shook her head. Ellie looked confused. "Huh. He hasn't answered his phone for a few hours so I figured he was just with you somewhere. I was going to see if he wanted to do dinner. You're invited too, of course. But…I'll call him later. I have to meet Devon at the bar. See you soon?"
"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Ellie squeezed her hand and was gone. Still a little confused, Sarah got into the elevator.
He hadn't answered his phone in a few hours. That was a little strange. Unless he was in bed with her, he tended to have his phone right on him because he was a workaholic and wanted to take the phone call if it was from his company.
Knowing him, he was probably just napping heavily in his suite or something.
She brushed it off and exited the elevator on her floor, heading down the hallway to her own suite.
Something hit her about 15 feet away from her door, though. It was a feeling she was familiar with—all too familiar with. The tingling in her fingers, the hair raising on the back of her neck…
She slowed and stepped up close to the wall, sneaking nearer to the door, peeking down at the handle. There was a dent between the door and the frame. Someone had broken in. And they might still be there.
There was no way to get into her suite without alerting whomever it was. The door made a beeping sound when it was unlocked with the key. They would know that.
The ex-assassin couldn't do anything but walk right into this potential trap if she wanted to know who was in there and what they wanted. There was no way she was walking away from it. That wasn't how she operated.
Taking a deep breath, she swiped her key and walked in, pistol in hand.
She faltered as she took in the scene.
Because the first thing she saw was Chuck Bartowski, sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, staring at her with wide, terror-filled eyes…a gag in his mouth, wrists and ankles tied to the arms and legs of the chair.
"Chuck…"
"Hello, Agent Walker."
She spun, ready to shoot, but found a hand clamped down on her wrist, taking the gun right out of her grip. Before the man she didn't recognize could shoot her, she knocked the gun out of his hand and went in for a punch.
Someone she hadn't seen tackled her by her legs and brought her down, though. And between the two of them, it was easy for them to subdue her finally, dragging her up to her feet and turning her to face Chuck again.
Fear swept through her.
Because now there was a third man behind him, kneeling down with his face close to Chuck's. A gun was held to the curls covering his head. And that was when she saw the blood on his temple, the bruise on his chin. They'd roughed him up.
Fuck. Oh, fuck. Had they followed her around and saw how close she'd gotten to Chuck Bartowski and were now using him to get something out of her? Or had they broken into her suite and he'd arrived for a visit and knocked and they figured they might be able to get something out of him?
"Let him go," she said through a clenched jaw.
"Probably not," the man holding her arms painfully behind her back chirped. "We found out this is Charles Bartowski. He's worth a pretty penny. Is that why you picked him up?"
"I said let him go. Whatever beef you have with me…it's with me. Not him."
"True. But he'll help."
The other man twisted his fist in Chuck's curls at the top of his head and yanked on them, causing Chuck to grunt in pain and wince. Rage exploded through her and she jammed her elbow back into the ribcage behind her, tearing across the room towards them.
She heard the cocking of the gun, and then there was the blast, and before she could even scream, she felt something yank at her, tugging her away from it…
Sarah's eyes snapped open and she blinked rapidly at the ceiling, covering her face with her hands and turning onto her side, realizing she was in bed. Her heart was still racing as she pushed her fingers through her hair and took a long, calming breath.
She'd just watched Chuck Bartowski die. And yes, it was just a nightmare, a horribly cruel nightmare, and yes, she'd not actually seen the bullet enter his head before she woke up, but…God, she was so shaken up.
The ex-assassin pushed herself to sit up, wiping at her cheeks, taking another long, deep breath. Her hands were shaking a little and she clutched at the sheets that fell to her hips tightly to make them stop.
Chuck was fine. Her career—her life—hadn't come back to bite her in the ass.
Not yet.
She knew it could, though. That would always be there for the rest of her life.
And not for the first time, she wondered if keeping Chuck around meant inadvertently putting him in a lot of danger. Was his safety worth it?
Looking down, she realized that she was still naked—the way she remembered falling asleep after sex—only Chuck must have tucked her inside of her bed at some point while she slept.
And what in the hell had happened to her that she was comfortable enough with someone that she didn't wake up when he lifted her into his arms and deposited her inside of a bed?
The slightest sound used to wake her up, even if she was in the same room as a CIA partner. She'd never even trusted them.
And here was this guy she'd known for…a week? A bit more than a week? Her brain was still rattled by the nightmare. Either way, this level of trust with someone she barely knew was verging on absurd.
She heard a sound outside of the bedroom then and she frowned, her body going tense.
Oh, hell no.
Climbing out of bed, Sarah grabbed the robe she'd tossed over the back of a chair and threw it on over her cold, naked form, still shivering from the nightmare, her heart still racing, mind still on edge.
She went into her drawer, removed the false bottom she'd installed, and tugged her gun out, hurrying to the bedroom door and slowly but carefully opening it up.
As Sarah peeked out into the main room of the suite, she saw Chuck standing at the sliding door to the balcony, phone in one hand as he used the other to shut the door and lock it again, as quietly as he could.
Sarah rushed out of sight as he turned towards her, diving over her bed to put her gun back, replace the false bottom, and shut the drawer, just allowing herself to sit there for a moment and recuperate from yet another scare.
She needed to get her shit together.
When she finally felt like the signs of her nightmare were gone from her face, her hands no longer shaking, she strolled out into the room to find Chuck still standing there, just staring at his phone, his eyes wide.
"Hey…" she said tentatively, wondering what was going on.
Chuck jumped a bit and looked up at her, blinking. And then he shook himself. "Oh. Hi. Hey. You're awake. I, uh…Sorry, you were out like a light, so I just came in here and then I saw I had a missed call from—But then I went out there on the balcony to—And oh my God. Wow."
Sarah furrowed her brow. "Um. What?"
"Wow. Just wow."
"Are you…okay?" she asked, a little concerned as he stared, wide-eyed down at his phone again.
"Yeah! Yes. Wow. I'm so okay. I'm just…I'm in shock."
"Did…something…happen?" She felt like whatever it was was probably a good thing, but she wasn't sure. He was…being really weird.
Chuck laughed, pushing a hand through his hair. "Did something—? Yes. Yes, Sarah. Something…pretty crazy."
"What?" she asked, throwing her hands up in impatience.
"That was Warner Picoult. He…well, he's a big name among game developers, that whole industry. He just told me that…that Wallace-16 has been nominated for Joystick Award. Best video game of the year. I'm…holy shit." He let out another breathless laugh, disbelief in his face.
Sarah had no idea what any of that was, but she picked up the context, she thought. The video game she'd played, that she'd really liked a lot, a video game Chuck's company had created and programmed or whatever…developed?…had just been nominated for some video game award.
"Oh my God! Chuck, that's—that's great!"
He dropped his phone on the table and lunged across the room at her, wrapping her up in his arms and hoisting her off of the floor, spinning her as she giggled, clinging to his head.
The robe was coming undone, and she said as much, but he didn't seem to care, simply putting her down and hugging her to him tightly.
"This is the best day of my life," he murmured, and she heard emotion in his voice. It made her heart thud rapidly against her ribcage, and she shut her eyes tightly, hugging him back with everything in her.
She couldn't say anything else, because now that he was in her arms, she realized she'd needed to feel him against her after that horrid nightmare. She clung to him hard, burying her face in his neck, letting him think this was just about the award his game might be getting. Not letting him know that a man had put a bullet in his brain in her nightmare, not letting him know that the fear of that ever happening in real life was plaguing her heart.
Thank you! Please review! More to come, hopefully sooner than this one did.
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