A/N: Ownership of Chuck is ...well, it just is. Deal with it.
Welcome to the eighth arc of New Day. I'm calling it the Larkin Arc. Let's get going, huh?
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Sarah said, "I hate it."
Chuck and Sarah stood in Lou's Gourmet Italian Deli and looked at the sandwich list on the wall behind the counter. At the moment, the store was closed and they were the only ones in the front. His arm was over her shoulders and hers was around his waist, her hand tucked into the back pocket of his pants.
Chuck said, "Well, it's better than 'Saruck'."
"I know, but 'Charah'? The Charah sandwich? Are we really to be immortalized in a sandwich? And our whole complicated, wonderful relationship has been reduced to a cutesy portmanteau? What are we now...Brangelina?"
"Wow. Portmanteau. What a great word. You're really smart. Did you go to Harvard or something?" She smirked and bumped him with her hip. "And anyway, it's not just any sandwich, babe. Mozzarella, prosciutto, and pesto with sundried tomatoes. On focaccia. It's a pretty great sandwich."
"I know, but what about keeping a low profile? I mean, we're supposed to be …" said Sarah.
"Shh, here they come," said Chuck.
Morgan and Lou came out of the back room together. Lou said, "Well? What do you think?"
Sarah plastered a huge (convincing) smile on her face and said, "I love it. I think it's fantastic. I have a sandwich named after me, well, half of me, I mean half of us, I mean...it's great." She was laughing. "Thanks."
"Well, you two are so cute together. Morgan thought we just had to do it." said Lou, looking satisfied with herself.
"And it's only fair. I have a sandwich named after me too. I don't want you two to get jealous of the honor that Lou has bestowed on me," said Morgan, as he made a grand sweeping gesture with his arm.
"Well, no chance of that now, buddy. We're good," said Chuck.
"Sorry to keep everybody waiting," said Lou. "I just had to close up."
"No worries," said Chuck. "We have plenty of time."
Morgan looked impatiently at his watch. "I don't know. I don't want Beowulf to kill Grendel without us. That would be totally uncool," said Morgan.
"No risk of that. There are at least a half dozen trailers before the movie starts. And it's only like a four minute walk across the mall," said Sarah.
"I love trailers," said Morgan.
As they all turned to leave, Lou stopped by the door to turn off the lights for the evening. As she did so, Chuck glanced at the cork board on the wall. His eye was drawn to the flyer for Club Ares. He wondered why anyone would name a club after the God of War. Wouldn't "Club Eros" be a better name? Nobody goes to dance clubs to fight. He was just about to look away when he flashed on the name of the club owner. Seems the man came from a shipping family involved in smuggling from the Middle East. 'Well, thought Chuck, 'guess I know how Lou gets her olive oil smuggled in.'
Lou said, "You okay, Chuck."
"Oh, yeah. No problem," he said as they were leaving the store. Watching her lock it up, he said, "What's with the flyer for Club Ares? You go there often?" Sarah had seen him flash and would understand that he was asking for a reason.
"Oh, God, no. That place is owned by my ex. He's a jerk. I don't see him any more than I have to," she said.
Morgan said, "Ah. A bad ex-boyfriend. I understand. If you ever choose a new boyfriend, I know you will do a better job of it. Now that you have the experience of what bad is, I mean."
Lou put her arm through his as they walked and said, "I intend to be more picky the next time around. I'll have you know that I have very high standards." She looked at Morgan with a cute smile.
"What was your ex like? Why was he such a jerk?" asked Chuck.
"Possessive. Controlling. Jealous. Spoiled. Hot tempered. He doesn't like me with anyone else, even now. Even though we're over as a couple. The last guy I dated after him he trashed his car. He threatened to kill the guy," she said.
Morgan nodded and said, "Well, I don't own a car, so I guess that's good, right? But, yeah. That sounds like he's a jerk alright. Better to leave him be."
Lou said, "I don't want to talk about him. The last thing you want is that lunatic swimming around in your head. If I think about him too long, it will ruin the movie for me."
"Well, that's it then. I will not mention that dude's name again. Wait a second. I didn't mention it the first time. What's his name? So, I know not to say it by accident."
"Stavros Demetrios," said Lou, with a laugh.
"Hummm," said Morgan. "Not likely to say that name by accident."
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The next morning, Chuck, Casey and Sarah were in Casey's apartment. They had finished a pancake breakfast and the newspapers and gone through the files and information that Beckman and Graham had sent for Intersect review. Chuck had just put all the information from his flashes into a message to Beckman and Graham. Almost as an afterthought, he added that they had come into contact with the ex-girlfriend of Stavros Demetrios, whose family was involved in smuggling through their international shipping company.
Sarah had been in a great mood all morning, laughing and joking with her partners. She was incredibly excited to be planning for the new apartment they were taking across the courtyard. While she engaged Chuck in discussions of the design and layout, she also engaged Casey in discussions of security and special spy modifications they were have to install.
Chuck and Sarah finished doing the breakfast dishes and, moments before they were about to leave for their cover jobs, there was a tone indicating that a video conference was commencing. Sarah pushed a button to accept the conference. The TV came alive and Graham and Beckman were facing them.
"Good morning, Team," said Beckman.
"Good morning, Ma'am. Sir," they murmured.
"This morning's report from Chuck included an item of urgent interest," said Beckman. "You have come into contact with a member of the Demetrios family, a family of wealthy ship owners from Greece. Their real business is smuggling, especially arms and drugs from and around the Middle East. We have picked up recent chatter with respect to the family. Our analysts believe that a very important, volatile, time sensitive package is being smuggled into the Port of New York by one of their ships. We don't know what the package is, but given their ties to the Middle East we are concerned that it's a weapon of some kind." A picture of Demetrios filled the screen.
"We need you to get close to Stavros Demetrios and find out whatever you can about this package. Maybe you'll flash on something, Chuck," said Graham.
"Sir, we didn't come into contact with him directly. As I said in my message, we know his ex-girlfriend," said Chuck.
"Chuck, to a spy that's as good as an engraved invitation and an open door," said Graham.
"He's right, Chuck. We'll manage, Sir. Do we know if Stavros is involved in the family smuggling business? Do we think he might know about the package?" asked Sarah.
"We don't know. Determining that will be part of your mission," said Beckman. "He might be merely a playboy and a club owner with unfortunate taste in parents." A picture of an older man filled the screen. "This is Yari Demetrios, his father, the shipping magnate."
"Do we know what ship the package is on? I presume the Demetrios family only has a limited number of ships on their way to New York at the moment," asked Casey.
"We don't know. The family has five ships making their way to that port right now. The package must be on one of the five, but we can't narrow it down further from the intercepts the NSA has collected," said Graham.
"Stop and search all five," said Casey. "Better than letting a bomb approach New York."
"Yes, but if we did that we'd let the opposition know that we are listening to their chatter. We need to protect sources and methods, Major."
"Coventry," said Casey.
"We won't let it get to that, Major," said Graham.
"This might be a bit of a long shot, Sir. Demetrios is physically removed from New York, and even farther from Athens. And you indicated that there's no evidence that he is connected to the shipping business, like his family. He might be a dry hole," said Sarah.
"Understood, Agent Walker. We have other teams working this problem. One in New York, and several in Europe," said Graham. "As successful as your team has been, we are not putting all our eggs in your basket."
"Well, I don't know if Demetrios will have any useful information, Sir, but if he does, we'll get it," said Sarah.
"I don't doubt that for a minute, Agent Walker," said Graham.
"Timing?" asked Casey.
"We don't know. Our intel isn't very clear. Impression is the package will be arriving any day. That makes the mission of the utmost urgency," said Beckman.
Chuck raised his hand slightly to forestall them ending the call. "General, Director, do we have a FISA warrant on Demetrios?"
"Not at the moment, Chuck," said Beckman.
"Is he even a citizen?" asked Casey. "That might not be necessary."
"No, Case. Resident aliens have FISA protection too," said Chuck. Casey gave him a look, and Chuck said to him, "What? After Fleming I read a book on FISA. I thought it might come in handy." Casey grunted.
Graham chuckled and said, "Chuck is right, Major. We'd need a FISA warrant to get at Demetrios' info."
"Well, if you are sending us in there, perhaps we want to try to get one. Be nice to read his emails and stuff before we try to get anything out of him. Do you think we have enough on him to make a request?"
"I don't know, but it's a good idea, Chuck. We'll look into it. I'll take care of that on an emergency basis," said Beckman.
"Thank you, General," said Chuck.
"Alright, good luck, team," said Graham.
The screen went black. Chuck sighed and started to take off his tie. "Well, no Buy More for me today. Casey, ok if I stay here to work?"
"Sure, kid," said Casey. "You know where the coffee is."
"I can do a complete work-up on Demetrios and his family, but we still have to get close to him. Lou is not going to be too happy inviting him to tag along on a date with us and Morgan."
"Leave that part to me, sweetie. I'm going to get us an invite to Club Ares tonight. To meet him."
"How are you going to do that?" Chuck asked.
Sarah said, "I'm a spy. I can be very charming when I need to be."
"She means manipulative," said Casey.
"There's a difference?," asked Sarah.
"Ok. You're not going to make me dance, are you?" asked Chuck with a small smile.
"We are going to be doing nothing but dancing, and let me tell you..." she leaned forward and whispered in his ear. He began to blush.
"Oh, for God's sake, Walker. Give the kid a break. He has work to do," growled Casey.
Sarah's laugh was almost musical.
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Lou's Deli was quiet when Sarah entered. The countermen were still setting up for the day and no customers had yet come in for lunch. One of the men gave Sarah the cup of coffee she'd ordered. Lou saw her and waved. Sarah waved back and took a seat at a table by the window. After a little while, Lou joined her with a cup of coffee of her own.
"Hey," said Lou.
"Hey," said Sarah brightly. "Have fun last night?"
"I did. It was a good time. I liked the movie and that dim sum place Morgan took us to afterwards was great."
"If there's one thing I've learned about Morgan it's that he's the hands down best authority on good, cheap food. He's a bit of a foodie. Chuck says he's a great cook too. There's another Chinese place he introduced me to, the Bamboo Dragon, that you just have to try sometime."
"I will," Lou looked at her coffee cup for a second or two. "You like Morgan, huh?"
"Yeah. I started dating Chuck just a few months ago and we're getting pretty serious, pretty quickly..."
"No kidding," said Lou. "You two are just so adorable together. So much in love. It's an absolute pleasure to see. Hence..." she gestured over her shoulder at the new sandwich listed on the board, "...the Charah." Lou laughed.
Sarah joined in her laughter and said, "Yeah, thanks again for that. But back to your question, though. I do like Morgan. He and Chuck have been best friends for twenty years or something. And suddenly I step in and monopolize Chuck. Morgan could have ...been difficult. Could have been jealous. But he wasn't. He was just happy for Chuck. Happy for us. That's really nice. Unselfish. Good hearted. Just nice."
"And he's pretty cute, in a goofy way," said Lou, with a bit of a smirk.
"Well, I like goofy. In case you couldn't tell."
"I guess we both like goofy a bit," said Lou, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Lou, can I ask a favor?" asked Sarah.
"Sure. What's up?"
"How close are you to your ex? The guy who owns the club. Club Ares."
"I still deal with him sometimes," Lou said. Sarah had been confident that she did. The fact that she had her olive oil smuggled in and her ex-boyfriend's family was into smuggling could not be a coincidence.
"Cause Chuck and I have a friend, John Casey. He works with Chuck and Morgan at the Buy More, but he'd like to get part-time work as a DJ. He's made a demo tape of himself DJ'ing a party a few months back. He's been handing it out to club owners, but hasn't been able to get it to Club Ares."
"Sure. Give me the tape and I'll get it to Stavros. Not a problem at all," said Lou.
"Thanks. I was wondering though, if I could give it to him. Myself, I mean. If I could meet him and give him the tape. I figure if I bat my eyes and look appreciative, I might get some reaction from him. He might pay attention to Casey's tape rather than throw it away or drop it in a desk drawer."
Lou started to laugh. "Oh yeah, he'd pay attention alright. He'll pay attention to trying to get into your pants. The guy's a hound, Sarah. You're gorgeous, but even if you weren't and only had a pulse, he'd still hit on you. Even if you tell him you have a boyfriend. That won't stop him at all."
"Oh, I wouldn't go without Chuck. I'm not going behind Chuck's back or anything. I wouldn't do that."
"Ha. That will be funny to see Stavros hit and miss with you. That won't be a problem, Sarah. I can easily take you in some night and introduce you to him so you can give him your friend's tape. No problem. Just let me know when you want to go. Morgan and I will go with you and Chuck. I don't look forward to having him meet Morgan, but Morgan will have safety in numbers with you and Chuck there, I guess. Better that way than alone."
"How about tonight?" asked Sarah.
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A/N2: Ok, let's talk about the package coming in to the Port of Los Angeles in canon. Here's the canon story – Bryce leaves Helsinki on a container ship and arrives in Los Angeles 73 hours later, presumably having gone through the Panama Canal. Ummm. No. I had to fix that. A TV show has a limited budget and tight schedule for shooting so everything in the story happens in Los Angeles, where the studio films. However, a written story like this can be set on Mars if I could provide a rational explanation for locating it there. Anyway, New York (it's actually called the Port of New York and New Jersey, as almost all of the container facilities are located on the Jersey side of the harbor) is closer to Helsinki than Los Angeles is, it's the third largest container port in the US, and the largest on the east coast. This makes much more sense.
A/N3: Casey's "Coventry" comment is from an event during World War II. The British allowed the city of Coventry to be bombed rather than reveal the fact that they had the ability to read the German codes. It's the textbook example of the potential cost of protecting sources and methods.
A/N4: In the prior chapter, during the gunfight with Payne, Chuck was protected by a bulletproof clipboard he carried in his messenger bag. Several readers asked me about that in PM's, so I thought I'd mention it here. That's a real thing. A few years ago, I bought a half dozen of them and gave them out to family and friends at Christmas.