A/N: I know; my lack of updating sucks.

Chapter 2

'This is bizarre' thought Sarah as they were driving back to Chuck's apartment. Searching her memory it wasn't difficult to come to the conclusion she had never enjoyed any 'date' as much as this one. Granted it was far from perfect; they would get lost within their conversation, but something would eventually come up to remind them both about the circumstances around their pairing. At that a look would come upon his face that she couldn't exactly identify: a combination of concern, guilt, trepidation, fear, and lust all would flash on his face. The fact she blushed when noticing that last feature intrigued rather than concerned her.

She was trying to convince herself that she was merely immersed in her character, but his good nature and self deprecating humor somehow appealed to her. Enough that a part of her mind mockingly created a countdown clock to gauge his ability at thawing the heart of the Ice Queen. A quick glance to the passenger seat had her gaze linger longer than she wanted causing her to swerve around some hybrid going ten miles under the speed limit. She caught Chuck's amused, yet slightly concerned, look and tried to play it off with a shrug, but found herself blushing under his scrutiny and tried concentrating on the road.

Soon her mind began to drift again; when she actually felt her heart flutter at perhaps a second date she had to forcibly release a breath and shake her head. Taking another look at Chuck she saw him staring out the passenger window and for the first time since she had met him that surprising connection was absent or at least sedated. Sarah started to reach over and grasp Chuck's hand, but saw they were nearing the last turn before they were back at his apartment and quickly retracted her hand placing it back on the steering wheel.

Pulling into the parking lot gave Sarah an initial shock as Chuck darted out just as she was putting the gear in park. Her worry that she had completely misread the evening was quickly averted as Chuck raced over to her side of the car; gently pulling open the door and offering his hand to help her out. Sarah felt the tips of her ears start to burn and most definitely felt a spark as their hands connected while she exited her vehicle.

That spark began to lessen as the quiet which had been quite comfortable at first, given her learned inclinations from both her father and Graham, 'the less you have to talk the less likely you'll make a mistake', now had her senses telling her something was clearly wrong. Her spy ability could not find a trap in case she completely misread Chuck and was being played or tailed and the sensors she set up had not been triggered so she was lost in her mental checklist as the sudden stop forced her back long enough to see they were at Chuck's front door. She shook her head slightly which gave Chuck the opportunity to slide inside and use the front door as a barrier between them.

"Chuck, I was… uh hoping to uh…" Sarah did not need her Harvard degree to read Chuck's body language and positioning, "Didn't you have a good time?" She added with far more emotion than she had intended.

Chuck briefly looked into her eyes started to say something then stopped before taking another quick peek at Sarah he then blurted out, "Too good of a time."

At Sarah's dumbfounded look he quickly continued, "Sarah, you are perfect… That's too general. You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, but more than that you are smart, witty, and although you deny it funny. I would guess this happens to you all the time, but the longer we are together the more difficult it is for me to remember this is just a job for you." Chuck's face crumpled a little and the door quickly closed.

At Chuck's look Sarah completely froze, the rejection bringing images up from her past that she tried to lock away now came flooding forth. The Jenny Burton years, or her ugly duckling period: the braces, the growth spurt that left her gangly and slightly uncoordinated, but recognizing the look on Chuck's face matched the one on her mirror after she had been the recipient of another cruel joke her classmates would play on her. At that moment she realized 'It never rains in Southern California' was merely a song and not a truth as the clouds completely opened and the rain came down in sheets.

The sheer amount and force of the water wasn't enough to snap Sarah out of the stupor she was in as it took her over fifteen minutes to walk across the courtyard and another few minutes in the entry before her teeth chattering forced her synapses to reconnect. Jumping into an almost scalding shower both to warm her and as an act of self flagellation accomplished the first, but failed to improve the sour mood she found herself in. She began replaying the night trying to figure out how things went so wrong… or was this merely another sign a 'normal' relationship was the one thing not in her skill set.

As she was weighing the consequence of laughing then scowling when Chuck suggested eating the ice cream they picked up on the hood of her Porsche. Seriously, not less than a minute after his idea his top scoop plopped unceremoniously onto the sidewalk. Although he did become noticeably more quiet after that they still talked and laughed as they walked. Somehow the sound of a sniffle pulled her back to her duty. Turning to the monitoring equipment she could see Chuck in his bedroom with a few, presumably empty, beer bottles sitting on his desk. The thing that captured her attention was how he folded himself into the chair with his arms wrapped around his legs and head lying on his knees rambling about all sorts of things, but it mostly came back to their date and the cruelness of the universe. The next half hour Sarah was completely spellbound as Chuck revisited his unfiltered life history to the monitor. By the tone of his speech Sarah could tell he was not drunk, but he was despondent.

She was far more surprised at the sheer amount her emotions were being exposed from his tale. As Chuck wove through both his parents' departures and the betrayals of Jill and Bryce; they had an air of familiarity to her life and the seed of protectiveness that came from discovering the baby was now germinating for the self described nerd breaking down a hundred feet away from her. She knew she was at a crossroads. One of the few pearls of wisdom her father passed along was that at any worthwhile con, or mission as she applied this to her current job, there will come a point where the logical and safe choice is to cut and run. Whether from risk of exposure or having it turn into something you weren't expecting if you believe and trust in yourself 'Sometimes you've just got to say what the fu… heck and go for it,' (being eight when he first chose to share this advice kept him from finishing with the colorful language he originally wanted to.

Sarah knew she was at this point, but for the first time this wasn't about a mission or a con, it was about something personal. The last time she had done anything for herself was sneaking into dad's car as he was pulling away from their home in what she knew was the final time. Since then everything else was about her fathers' wishes, both her biological and her pseudo-adoptive one that found her terrified in the preserve grabbing her go package. Then some silly comment Chuck made interrupted her introspection. Looking into the mirror and witnessing the stupid schoolgirl grin on her face she knew it wasn't much of a choice. Looking a little more closely she saw something on the bed that made her smile grow almost exponentially.

Making her way across the courtyard, the continued downpour gave a momentary pause to her conviction as the temperature had cooled considerably. Chuck apparently noticed that fact as well after sullenly opening the door his eyegasm brought his mood considerably up, but shocked into silence. Sarah took that as her cue to walk in and close the door behind her. The slight shiver triggered something in Chuck as he leapt away and reappeared with a towel and started drying her. Watching his eyes sent another shiver across her body as she felt undeservedly treasured.

The shiver made Chuck intensify his effort, but Sarah grabbed his hands and tossed the towel aside. "Your mission isn't to dry me Chuck." Sarah stated with not quite the confident tone she hoped.

Chuck responded with a gulp and softly added, "What is my mission Sarah?"

"To shut up and kiss me." So he did.

He poured all the emotions he'd been kicking around into the kiss. After a number of moments he pulled away with a slight look of shame not wanting to use her like this until he recognized the loneliness in her eyes and realized he wasn't the only person who felt that way. He sent out an understanding look which quelled the slightly panicked one she had as she was about to speak Chuck simply said, "You can kiss me too you know."

He was only able to revel in the glorious smile for a few nanoseconds before the blonde goddess launched herself upon him. In a circuitous route they were able to avoid most of the furniture; one of the dining room chairs got kicked over when Chuck found an especially sensitive area unbeknownst to Sarah. The subsequent look Chuck received let him know this was going to be an unforgettable experience.

Slightly before dawn Sarah stirred awake shortly after their most recent coupling and quickly realized her initial thoughts weren't a dream but reality and she had never felt as scared as she did at this moment. Just before her flight instinct kicked in the rest of her body added their insights and with that information the dichotomies entranced her. She had never felt as satiated, but yearned for more; her body feeling so tingly and electric, but completely in comfort; never felt so anxious to move, but more so not wanting to move at all. She did risk tilting her neck up slowly and being rewarded with the peaceful, yet joyous look on Chuck's face let her know that he was experiencing a part of what she was. Sleep called her back as she was just beginning to wonder how she was going to be able to not lose whatever she had found in Burbank.

The sun was well established the next time Sarah woke and she lightly admonished herself as she could easily feel the unabashed grin occupying her face. She hadn't moved from the initial spot and had no semblance of a nightmare or flashback judging by the look on Chuck's face. Her stomach chose that moment to gurgle slightly and she started to think whether to wake Chuck now, or with breakfast in bed when a slight sensation on her thigh gave her a more lascivious idea as she slid down under their covers.

Chuck surprising awoke fairly slowly as his mind was attempting to parse out what had happened last night to what he had just been dreaming about when the realization hit that his last 'dream' was actually happening.

"Oh God, Sarah," was all Chuck could croak out as he fell back onto his pillow. Chuck was not expecting a verbal response, but did get a different one as she was aware that he was fully awake. Neither one were able to notice the small creak as the window came open.

"Chuck, I though you said you were going to call me as soon as your date was over," came out in a slightly whiny voice.

A/N: I wish I had a better apology for making you guys wait so long for this chapter. I have been working on my other stories as well so hopefully I can get back to them quickly. I did get an email that suggested I should submit a story, Chuck vs Ellie in particular, to a contest on so I was trying to go through that story again to correct a number of flaws in it. As for this story there will be one more chapter and then back to my others that need to be finished. As always thanks for reading and reviewing.