Ch 10 The Threat Is Gone
A/N: Another post slightly ahead of schedule again by request. Several of the storylines running right now involve angst and oof- and this story has neither. I know many of you were hoping for Sarah to be the one to end the Cruz threat- believe me, I had so many ideas on how she could take Javier down or out-but my self-imposed task was to avoid the action theme crutch. I've started to map out a sequel story to this one, and the plan is for it to have plenty of action, while hopefully more romance as well.
My plan had been for this story to be 13 chapters and an epilogue. But I got some sage advice and have decided to expand to two epilogues. Not sure if that is permissible with regular stories, but it's happening here. I've only started a partial rough draft of the first epilogue, but I'm hoping to keep up the weekly updates and still finish on schedule. No promises on when the follow on story will start to be written.
I'm starting to wonder if Chuck owns Chuck, because no one else seems to be taking credit. Enjoy.
Sarah wandered through the campaign headquarters in New Castle, feeling like it was a ghost town now that the campaign was over. The televisions were still tuned to the various new stations, most of which were still talking about Jed Bartlett winning the Democratic primary. It had been a little over an hour since Chuck had stood in the lobby of a hotel in Philadelphia conceding the Pennsylvania primary to Bartlett. With Bartlett locking up the Pennsylvania delegates, he now had secured the nomination for the national convention. For Bartlett, the hardest part lay ahead.
For Chuck, the race was over. No more crisscrossing the country for breakfast meetings, town halls, and debates. He had left early the morning following the debate to fly to Pittsburgh, then on to Harrisburg before returning to Philadelphia in the evening. While clearly tired from the brutal travel schedule immediately following a debate where he had known that he was being targeted by an international assassin (Sarah hadn't been able to tell Chuck about Cruz's capture until after he left the stage at the end of the debate), Chuck had been equal parts humorous, grateful to his supporters and volunteers, and gracious to his opponent in his concession speech. He had lauded the accomplishments of Jed Bartlett, not only pledging his own support but urging his supporters to turn their support to Bartlett. He was genuine. He was eloquent. Frankly, Sarah hadn't expected anything less from him. Though she had only known him a couple of days, between their time together and her background research, she hadn't been at all surprised by how well he carried himself even in defeat.
Morgan had been standing by Chuck's side during the concession speech (as he had been throughout the campaign), and insisted that Chuck wouldn't be taking any questions. Sarah clearly heard a reporter ask Chuck what his plans were now that the campaign was over. Her heart had been in her throat when she watched Chuck pause, then turn back to the microphones. He simply stated that for now he would be spending some time getting caught up with his family and friends. There had been some good natured laughter when the same reporter asked if that was code for his beautiful, yet mysterious girlfriend. Chuck had merely flashed the infamous Bartowski smile in response, although Sarah noticed that this one didn't quite reach his eyes. She was stunned at the hurt that she felt from recognizing Chuck's sadness.
Forcing aside the melancholy that the news conference had evoked, Sarah wandered through the headquarters where volunteers still wandered around in their "Chuck for President" t-shirts. Seeing the volunteers packing up signs, stickers and mailers, Sarah decided that she should lend a hand. One last "good for the cover" act on her part, as her time as Chuck's cover girlfriend had come to a close. Before helping the campaign volunteers, Sarah reached into her pocket and pulled out her burner phone.
"Let me guess: you need help hiding a body, you need help hiding your body, or you decided that you are finally ready to get out," Zondra said when she answered the phone. No greeting, no pleasantries, right to business. Some things never change, even if I'm changing so fast that I can hardly keep up.
Sarah let out a genuine laugh. They seemed to come so much more naturally after spending time with Chuck. "Zondra, why can't it be that I just called up to ask you to be a bridesmaid at my wedding?"
"Wait…WHAT?! Hold on a second," Zondra said as she recovered from her shock to realize that Sarah was giggling on the other end of the phone. "You are totally messing with me. Since when did the Ice Queen crack jokes? Or giggle for that matter? What is going on here?"
"People can change," Sarah responded, a bit more defensively than she intended.
"In six months?" Zondra shot back. "That's all its been since they broke up the band. Hmm, it's a guy isn't it? Who is he? What's his name?" A hint of suspicion colored Zondra's voice, "Is he the reason why you are suddenly interested in private sector security work?"
"Why does it have to be a guy?" Sarah retorted with a bit of sass.
"Either you forgot to duck and the medics have you all hopped up on happy pills, or you've met someone. C'mon, just tell me his name. When do I get to meet Prince Charming? Ooh, wait. Is he an actual prince?"
"Chuck is a lot of things, but a prince isn't one of them," Sarah replied.
"Chuck? Who in the hell names their kid Chuck?"
"What? It's not as though he had any choice in the matter," Sarah grumbled under her breath, or so she thought.
"Hmm, protective of this guy. You must really be serious about him."
Sarah smirked, "It's not like I had much choice on being protective."
"So," Zondra said in a tone devoid of any trace of banter, "I assume from the fact that you are twisted up about some guy that you were serious about getting out the last time that we spoke?"
"I can't get into too many details, but things weren't the same after they disbanded the CATs. My last mission wound up being run by a rogue handler. At least, I think…I hope that he was rogue. Graham told me that the guy was rogue and now has a sanction order out on him. But you know Graham. He and honesty are passing acquaintances at best. Was it really a rogue mission, or was it a Graham off the books special? I'll probably never know."
"I've gotten to the point where I can't decide if I'm being too paranoid or not paranoid enough. Once I ended the last mission, Graham farmed me out to a domestic agency. Said it was to let the heat die down from the rogue mission. Said he lined this up as a way to keep things under wraps. The thing is, my new supervisor came right out and said that he had sought me out and pulled a bunch of strings to get me on temporary duty with his agency. I've known the Agent in Charge less than seventy two hours and I trust him way more than I've ever trusted Graham."
"Ooh," called out Zondra in a light, teasing tone. "Is Chuck your new supervisor? C'mon Sarah, you have to give me something here. You've never mentioned a guy before. And your emails are practically sitreps. Now when Carina calls-"
"Wait," Sarah blurted in a shocked tone, "Carina's thinking of getting out? She's never said anything to me."
"Hell, no. Carina's not resigning. She loves the rush way too much. What other job could she doe where she gets to do all this crazy stuff without having to worry about getting arrested? No, she either calls to tell war stories or to boast about her latest hookup. Come to think of it, most of her calls start with a war story and end with a conquest. But the question isn't whether Carina's retiring. The question is: are you?"
"I don't know. I just don't. I was burnt out before this assignment started. Questions keep popping up-are the orders legitimate? Is this going to make the country a safer place? A better place?" Sarah paused for a moment before continuing, "Just how much blood can I get on my hands before I become just as bad as the people I'm trying to stop?"
"Does this Chuck guy know what you really do? Is he behind all of these questions?" Zondra asked, concerned that someone might be influencing or manipulating her friend and former teammate. Sarah Walker was the strongest person Zondra knew, hands down. After all of these years doing Graham's dirty work as his Enforcer, she had to be emotionally fatigued. Add dealing with a rogue handler on top of that? Even for the legendary Sarah Walker, that would be a lot to take on. But if there was some guy out there trying to manipulate her emotionally, he would be facing a sticky end. The fact that Zondra wasn't as experienced in Sarah at wet work didn't mean that Zondra couldn't make someone disappear without a trace if she wanted.
"Yes and no," Sarah enigmatically responded to Zondra's question, then let out a light laugh at her word choice. "Yes Chuck is aware that I'm CIA. And, yes, he's at least somewhat aware in general terms of what I can do-what I have done. But no, he doesn't know any specifics. No, he doesn't know how much blood is on my hands. And no, he's not behind the questions or the job fatigue. I've only met the guy a couple of days ago."
Zondra's fears of emotional manipulation vanished, and were replaced with good natured frustration. "Man, the Ice Queen finally opens up about a guy, and you've known him for less than three days? Seriously? I'd say you're killing me here Walker, but in light of our discussion about your job, I won't. I mean, I may want to, like really, really want to, but I won't."
"Thanks," responded Sarah dryly. "You're quite the martyr."
"If this was Carina," Zondra laughed, "we would both know the guy would be ruined for any other woman, if not just plain ruined." At that point both women laughed. "But if it was Carina, there wouldn't be any discussion of being emotionally compromised. Seriously Sarah, how far could you have fallen that fast?"
"I don't really know Z. With the CATs, there was a guy here or there. But I was operating under an alias, and was usually on a jet out of whatever country within twenty four hours. Before the CATs, there were the Andersons. But I don't think Bryce ever formed an emotional attachment, and my attachment to him was more of wishing-it-were rather than a it-really-is or even a it-really-might-become."
"For ten years I've been living out of a suitcase, changing my name as often as my clothes. That lifestyle didn't give me much experience to tell whether this is just a crush or a really great guy, or maybe something more."
"Ten years! What in the hell do you mean you've been doing this for ten goddamned years," Zondra raged. In a quieter voice she uttered, "I know how old you are, Sarah. We celebrated your actual birthday on Mykonos the one time. How could you have been a field agent for ten years?"
Zondra was practically whispering at the end. She was stunned, and this from a woman who was never caught flat footed. This was unheard of. "What in the hell was Langston Graham thinking? There was no way that was legal. Where in the hell is he so that I can go kick his ass!" Zondra was practically shouting once again as she raged at the cruelty of her former boss. Graham had taken her friend when she was still practically a child and molded her into his own personal assassin. Zondra had known that Graham was a manipulative egomaniac, but even for him this was unfathomable, unconscionable.
And how had Sarah managed to last this long, not just physically, but emotionally, in this life? Sarah had always jumped from mission to mission, preferring little to no downtime in between. Zondra had admired, looked up to and emulated Sarah, when they were teamed up. But even still she had seriously underestimated her friend.
Exhaling loudly, Zondra searched for her calm center before talking to Sarah some more. The problem was that her calm center had been replaced with a burning ball of rage by the revelation of what a truly cold hearted bastard the CIA Director was. Reminding herself that Sarah was the priority at the moment, Zondra returned her attention to the call.
"Ok, Blondie. We definitely have to get you out of the Agency. Honestly, it would be best to get you away from the alphabet soup agencies entirely, but for now let's start with getting you out of the CIA."
The words 'out of the CIA' echoed through Sarah's head, over and over again. She knew that she was a burnout, disgruntled even, although certainly not rogue. She had known that Graham was a bit of a bastard at the best of times, but the vehement response when Sarah let slip how long she'd been doing Graham's dirty work- a sure sign that she was losing her edge and needed a break-still caught her by surprise. Plus, as depressing as it sounded, the CIA had been Sarah's entire life since she had graduated from high school. Somehow, she didn't believe that being the CIA's top assassin would be the best entry on a resume. Just what kind of career could she hope for after this?
"Let's start with the fundamentals, and build from there. You've said that you are on temporary duty. What are you doing and where are you?"
"I've been seconded to the Secret Service. They got intel that our old friend Javier Cruz was looking to hit one of the presidential candidates. I'm currently in Delaware with the advance team for the candidate."
"Wait. Wait one second. Candidate…Chuck…where did I see…Holy crap! That's you on the lead story for the Washington Post and New York Times! Damn, girl. You look so beyond happy in this photo that I didn't even recognize you. You are dating your protectee? Ooh, kinky."
"I think Carina's been a bad influence on you," Sarah drolly retorted.
"Please. Carina is a bad influence on everyone around her, including you. Hmm."
"What? What is it?"
"It's just…I'm a little surprised is all. I'd pegged you as more of the Abercombie & Fitch model type instead of the model train builder type."
"Hey! No snarky comments about my boyfriend," Sarah instinctively reacted.
"Does he know that he's your boyfriend," Zondra asked curiously. "Although judging by the look on his face in this picture of you crazy kids at lunch, I seriously doubt that he would be opposed to the title."
"Well, he seems to think we are cover dating. But, he'll learn," Sarah commented with a huge grin on her face.
A/N 2: I know most of you were expecting Chuck to win the day and wind up as President. It just wasn't were I saw this story heading. But that's not to say that in the sequel that Chuck won't get dragged into politics again. It's a family thing.