A/N: Eleven chapters have built to this moment. I hope you're ready. No bluffs, no run arounds, I give you pure absolute fluff that only I can write. Premedicate if you have to. (I hope I haven't overpromised….I don't think I have.) I give you Pros and Cons Ch 12, It's About Time!
Disclaimer: Don't own Chuck, don't speak Klingon.
Sarah awoke, blinking. There was a noise…there it was again. She picked up the phone that was making the offending noise. She thought about throwing it, but decided against it, especially since her…she looked over at Chuck…boyfriend, she thought, firmly. He was her boyfriend, and he was going to know that before the day was over. She slid her finger across the screen, and saw the text. She looked back over at Chuck, reached over, and shook him.
"Chuck, I hate to do this to you, but Bryce told Carina to text me this. jill naDev." Chuck shot up and looked at her. He then pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes and fell over on the bed.
"How did I get here?" Chuck asked. "And who performed brain surgery? Badly."
"You decided to drink," she said, handing him some pain killers. "I dragged you up here." He took the medicine in his hand, downed it, and looked at her.
"Uh, the look on your face, do you know Klingon?" Chuck asked.
"I recognize the word Jill," she said, a grin growing. "You nerds aren't that smart."
"No, we're not," he said softly, looking down at the bed.
"Hey, I'm just kidding, Bartowski," she said, putting her arm around him. He gave her a sad smiled.
"I don't know how to-" he stopped because there was a banging on the door. "That was uncalled for." Sarah kissed him on his forehead.
"I'll get rid of whoever it is," she said. She got up and disappeared. Chuck slumped. He then heard voices, two distinct angry voices. The first was Sarah's. The second was…and that's when he saw her in the doorway. He pulled the covers up over his chest.
"So, you're sleeping with her," Jill said.
"I thought I said to get out," Sarah nearly growled.
"You work for me," Jill snapped.
"No, I don't," Sarah snapped back, clinching her hands into fists.
"Jill, knock it off," Chuck growled. "What the hell do you want? Why are you here? You're going to blow the operation."
"No, I'm going to this gala as your girlfriend," Jill said. She turned and looked at Sarah. "Unlike some people around here I actually care for you and am not using you for your money." Chuck shot out of bed and grabbed Sarah before she attacked Jill.
"She's not worth it," Chuck whispered into Sarah's ear. Sarah looked at him, nodded, and calmed, just a bit.
"See, he still has feelings for me," Jill said. Chuck laughed. Not just laughed, but had a deep belly laugh like he had heard the funniest thing ever. He turned to Jill.
"You're an idiot, do you know that?," Chuck asked. Jill's mouth dropped. "I thought I knew what love was. I didn't until I met Sarah." Chuck didn't see Sarah's eyes. Last night when he said this he was hurt, but now, now he was telling off the woman who hurt him. Now he was telling Jill about how he felt about her and Sarah was feeling things. The best part was he didn't know that. He wasn't aware that right now he was making things inside her jump, dance, and become delirious. "Did you know I was going to propose to you?" Jill's eyes softened. "Luckily someone stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life. Did you even notice?"
"Notice what?" Jill asked.
"When I stopped making love to you?" Chuck asked. Jill stared at him.
"I mean, you didn't stop, it was more that I wasn't around, and Chuck I made a huge mistake, I was scared. Your love was too much, it scared me," Jill said. Chuck turned and took Sarah's hand, and moved next to her.
"You both need to hear this, you both need to know, what Jill and I had, it ended the night I met Sarah," Chuck said more to Sarah than to Jill. He turned to Jill. "Jill, I felt horrible. I was emotionally cheating on you with her, I know I was, but I didn't care. I had found her, and I couldn't do anything about it, because she was into my friend. I was in love with my best friend's girl, and it took me a long time to realize I was mistaken. On both counts."
"Chuck," Jill said, trying to cut in, but Chuck kept going.
"I had no clue what love was. I had no clue what it meant to want to be someone's everything. I had no idea what it meant to be scared because I could lose the person that meant everything to me. After the night I met her, I did. When I found out you cheated, I was heartbroken, because my dream was destroyed. Not because I lost you, but I lost my dream. You were what I thought I wanted. I realized later you weren't what I wanted, you were part of a fantasy, not the woman I needed. I got lucky and met the person that helped make me the best version of myself I can be, the person I actually need, so understand this, Jill Roberts, I don't care how you feel about me. I don't. There is no us, because I don't want anything to do with you. Even if Sarah and I weren't together, I wouldn't be with you. You're not the one. I need you to stop with this. I don't need this job, and Sarah doesn't need you pulling this stuff every five minutes. More importantly, I think she is the one, so please let us be happy." Chuck didn't notice Sarah, and the look in her eye. Some might call it a hunger, a lust, a passion. It had been there for a long time, on a slow simmer, but now it was raging, and Sarah knew if Jill didn't leave soon, she was going to see something Jill never wanted to see.
"What does she have on you?" Jill asked. Chuck looked at her like she was crazy. "I didn't want to do this to you but," she pulled out her cellphone and showed a text that said it was from Chuck. The text read, "Come to Madrid, there's still a chance for us."
"I didn't send this," Chuck said. Sarah looked at it.
"Jill, read the phone number, not the contact name, but the phone number," Sarah requested. Jill gave her a look, but did so. "Jill, that's not Chuck's phone number." Jill stared at her phone and then looked up at Chuck.
"Oh," she said. "I'm…I….I'm sorry."
"Wait, someone sent you that," Chuck began.
"It's not important," Jill replied.
"It might be," Chuck countered. "For the case." Sarah had the number written down. "We'll look into it."
"I'll be going," Jill said, and fled the room. Chuck walked over and locked the door. He turned around, and Sarah was right behind him, startling him. There was a look on her face he didn't recognize. If he was forced to describe it, it might be when a hungry lion saw a wounded gazelle that couldn't run.
"Sarah," he began, and she laid a finger on his lips.
"Do you remember last night?" she asked a seductive smile on her face. He nodded. "What exactly do you remember?"
"I remember you yelling at me about, well, cutting out the bullshit," he said. "I remember you made me take ownership that I was hurt and that you weren't leaving me. I remember I'd have to chase you off."
"Before all of that?"
"It's a little fuzzy, in fact, it's a lot fuzzy," he admitted. "I'm not ever sure how we ended in that conversation." A smile covered her face. She was going to enjoy this. She put a hand on his chest.
"You love me?" she asked. She felt him swallow, and he nodded. A mysterious smile played at the corners of her lips. "You've loved me since that first night?" He nodded again, she moved closer to him, and he noticed he was only in his boxers. She touched a finger to lips, grinned at his blush, and moved her hand to brush his hair lightly above his forehead. "Bartowski, we've done this dance for far too long. I'm tired of it. I've always been more of an action person." She took a step closer, and there was barely daylight between them. He realized she only had a tee shirt on and whatever was under it. The fingers of her right hand trailed down the left side of his face. Electric shocks were shooting through him. She trailed them to his jaw and then cupped his face with that hand. She slid that hand behind his head. "I love you, Chuck. Not Bryce, you. Not anyone else, you. Do you understand that?" Chuck nodded. "What are you gonna do about it, Chuck?"
"Try to love you the best I can, and treat you like you are the most important thing in my life, because you are," Chuck said. Sarah nodded, and caught his lips in hers. Chuck had been kissed before, but he had never been kissed by a woman who honestly, truly loved him and who he honestly, and truly loved. He had told Jill that before, but he didn't know what love was then, he thought he knew, now he did. For the first time in his life he didn't worry about someone leaving him, about someone using him. No, for the first time in his life he felt love, the kind of love that had been missing from his life. The kind that made him understand, what had been done to him all those years was wrong, and he was going to do everything he could to show her how much he loved her. Sarah pulled away from him, but not far. There was a teasing smirk on her face.
"You know what else you're gonna do?" Sarah asked. Chuck shook his head. "It's been a bit Chuck, since Bryce, and I've been waiting…well, it's past time. You can either take me over to that bed, or we can try to make it happen right here on this door." Chuck's jaw dropped. She leaned forward, kissed his chin, making her way across his jawline as his eyes were fluttering, and he was trying to process what she had said. She stepped forward again, and their bodies touched everywhere. His hands wrapped around her, and he clutched her sides, longing for this moment for so long, he hardly could believe it was here. Chuck dipped his head and attacked her exposed neck. The moan she made, sparked something in him and he gently, but desperately, made his way up her neck. One of her hands dropped to his chest, and slowly made it's way down, making Chuck's skin feel electric. His hands dropped, put them on the hem of her shirt, and paused. She grinned, nodded, and suddenly her shirt was gone, and his eyes were huge. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I've always dreamed of this," he began. "That sounded a little creepy."
"Hey," she said, softly, wrapping him in a hug. "I've dreamed of this too." Her body pressed against his and she wrapped a leg around him. "I think this would work better on the bed." She took his hand and led him over to it. Chuck's brain was trying desperately to catch up to her. He wasn't paying attention, and she hip tossed him on the bed. It worked, he snapped out of his trance and laughed out loud. Sarah took a minute to admire him. He had told her he had worked out with the team to learn self-defense, and while he wasn't bulky, he was much more toned than she was expecting. She crawled on the bed and suddenly found herself flipped and under him. He looked a little panicked.
"I'm sorry," he began. She reached up and kissed him lightly, and rocked her hips against his. "Oh, we're gonna play that game are we?" He smiled down at her mischievously, and she realized his hand was on her belly.
"What do you think you're doing there, Mister?" she asked, with a challenging smirk on her face. He drug his fingers down her belly and she arched her back. He stopped at the waist line of her underwear, and she gave him a mildly irritated look. He gave her the eyebrow dance, and she couldn't help but giggle. He kissed her neck and started kissing his way slowly down her body. "Chuck, what are you doing?"
"Seeing if I'm better than those in prison," he replied. Her eyes got big as it dawned on her what he was saying, and then her eyes just big for other reasons.
"I need you to know I am SERIOUSLY pissed at you for not figuring out how we felt about each other sooner!" she said, as her eyes rolled back in her head.
-ooooo-
The group met in the conference room, Chuck and Sarah were sitting besides each other, both with satisfied smirks on their faces. They had been quiet the entire meeting. Jill had joined them, and the plan was being laid out.
"Remember, you have a week, so there's no need to rush, it's best to take it slow and see what we can find," Jill began. "There are other dates and places on that list if we strike out here."
"Jill's, exactly right," Chuck said. "Rushing things would only cause problems, nice and slow will do the job just fine." Sarah's smirk grew and Chuck thought he saw her run her tongue between her teeth and lower gum.
"However, if we find exactly what we're looking for, the best thing to do is for us to go after it," Sarah replied.
"Sarah's right, if we find that artifact we'll move in quickly," Casey replied. Carina was watching Chuck and Sarah trying not to laugh.
"If there are guards the best play is to hit them hard and fast," Carina said. "Unless you have any other ideas, Blondie?"
"Nope, I'm good with hard and fast," Sarah said.
"So to sum, take it nice and slow trying to find the artifact, and one we find it we move hard and fast?" Jill said, having no idea what was going on. Chuck and Sarah nodded, both afraid to speak. "Well, if that's all I'll be going." She left and Casey turned and starred at them.
"Christ, it was bad enough with you two longing after each other, but now that you've dipped your chocolate into his peanut butter, it's gonna be unbearable," Casey said.
"Anna, what did you find on her phone?" Chuck asked, catching everyone in the room off guard. "And for the record, nice work, if I hadn't had my head up my ass I would have had you done that sooner."
"No problem, Chuck," Anna said. "I've got it pinged so we can follow her. I figured since she was in Madrid, we needed to out her. Sorry about doing it that way. I'm tagging anyone she gets close to and running their background, but so far, she's stayed away from anyone too suspicious. I am trying to track down a couple of phones numbers though." Chuck nodded.
"Let me guess, all of our phones are tagged?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, for safety," Chuck replied. "Her's was bugged the second she logged onto our wireless network." He stood. "Now I have to stay up late, so I'm going to take a nap." Sarah stood.
"I'll have to be with you so it's probably best I do too," Sarah said, and they both began to leave.
"You're not fooling a soul little brother," Ellie called after him. "Not. A. Soul." They were gone. She turned to the table, smiling and vibrating. He looked happy, and it had been a long time since he could say that. "Anna, that was brilliant with the text." Anna shrugged.
"I figured all they needed was a push, and Jill seems to rub everyone the wrong way," Anna said. "Your text to him was genius, it gave them just enough time to be ready, but not be ready."
"Jill had no clue what you were saying," Ellie said to Carina. Carina turned to Bryce.
"I think I need a nap," she said, winking.
"CHRIST!" Casey said, and left.
-ooooo-
"I didn't know you were such a smirker," Chuck said, lying in bed with Sarah draped over him. The only thing they had on was a sheet haphazardly. Sarah was randomly tracing on his chest with her finger, and they both looked absolutely exhausted, and glowing. Sarah knew she was smirking, and she didn't care. She raised her head and gently put her chin on his chest.
"I've not had a lot to smirk about, now I do," she said, tilting her head a bit as she said it so matter-of-factly. Chuck turned a bit red with a blush. "Now, while the past little bit has been amazing we need to talk, while sober, and you know it's bad when I say we need to talk."
"Would you like me to go first?" Chuck asked. She shook her head, and Chuck found himself in shock. She shrugged.
"I know, right?" she said. She took a deep breath. "In vino veritas," she began. "In wine there is truth," Sarah explained. Chuck grinned and she bounced a shoulder. "What can I say, I might be a former con artist, but I'm an educated former con artist." She paused. "I need you to verify some things because last night while you may have told some truths, you may not have." Chuck nodded. "I'm assuming I said something after going out with the girls the other night?" Chuck nodded. "What did I say?"
"You told me there was no hurry to get home because I wouldn't, well, this," he said, taking the arm that wasn't trapped under her and gesturing toward their current predicament. "I mean you were wasted, sure, but deep down, you said some things that you thought were true." He paused. "That sounds bad, let me explain what I mean. My actions, led you to believe things about yourself that are not true. I think you're out of my league, I think you're amazing, and I don't give one good damn that you used to be a con artist." She smiled at him.
"Not one, huh?"
"Nope," he replied. "Furthermore, it is my issues with my mom and dad that I stayed with Jill way too long. That part I had worked out. I just couldn't wrap my mind around you would be interested in me because of what I've been through. I couldn't believe someone wanted me for me. And I knew if you wanted me for me, then it couldn't be true, because I'm unwantable as me, in my mind. You're dealing with a lot of baggage, Sarah."
"And you're not?" Sarah asked. "Chuck, part of being in a relationship is being with each other." She laughed. "I tell you what's funny. We saw and heard what we wanted from each other. Everyone else saw around us our actions toward each other and how we felt. How we loved each other. Chuck, you waited for me to get out of jail."
"Don't go making it some noble gesture, Sarah," Chuck replied. "I hid from the world. I hid from everyone, and I was able to have this amazing relationship with you, because I knew it couldn't go past a point with you in prison. I'm broken, Sarah."
"No, bent, maybe, but not broken, and if you are, I'm here to put you back together," Sarah said.
"Look, we've got work to do on us, but I'm here, Sarah, I'm with you, we're in love, together, right?"
"Right," she said, reaching up and gently kissing her lips. "To clarify, you do remember last night you admitted you were mad at me and Bryce." He nodded. "Good, so are we done with that, forever?" He nodded again. She ginned, winked and scooted where she was looking him in the eye. "Now, I do have one more thing to talk about, and talking is really the wrong word, I'm telling you what's going to happen." Chuck nodded. "I'm moving out of my room when I get back." Chuck sighed. She grinned. "I'm moving into yours." It took Chuck's brain a minute to catch up with what she was saying. The smile that covered his face made her happy.
"Nonnegotiable?" he asked.
"Nonnegotiable," she replied.
"Will you cuddle?"
"Absolutely," she said cuddling into him.
"Will you be…handsy?" he asked. She sit up quickly, her hand on her chest, the sheet falling away. Chuck's eyes crossed a little.
"Well, I never," she said, as a smirk covered her face. Chuck felt a hand on his leg working it's way up.
"Sarah? What are you doing?"
"Being handsy," she said softly, with a salacious grin on her face.
"I love you."
"I love you, Chuck," she replied, as she bent down to kiss him. "I think it's nap time again."
"We must get our rest," Chuck replied, his lips an inch from hers.
"Chuck, shut up," she said. He did.
A/N: Hoped you liked it, reviews and PMs are always welcomed…Take Care
DC
