Sarah had a feeling that today wasn't going to be a very good day. She noticed it this morning when she was running late for work and stumped her toe on her bed post. Then, when she arrived at work and got chewed out by her dorky boss for not cleaning out the grill just right. Later that day, she got hit on by a group of elderly man, one who also tried to pinch her butt. Then she got in trouble again for nearly shattering the customers hand. And then, when things started to calm down, Casey burst threw the doors with a dead serious glare on his face.
"Agent Casey," she said with a tight smile, "And what do I owe the pleasure."
"We need to talk Walker." Casey said, clearly not in the mood.
She rolled her eyes at him, turned around, and busied herself with the fryer. "About?"
"Bartowski flashed in the Buy More just now."
Sarah's body stiffened.
"What did he see?"
"Marcus Hampton." She whipped her body around.
"What!?!" Sarah hollered in the empty restaurant, her perfect completion growing pale, "Where Is He Now?! Did you obtain him? "
"No," Casey huffed; his hand combing threw his head "He left the store before Chuck could tell me who he was."
"So you just let that psychopath walk out?!" Sarah yelled, her head starting to pound. Oh yeah, this definitely wasn't a good day. "He's been hiding under our radar for years, and when he finally shows up in your area, you, mister cold blooded killer, couldn't stop him from leaving a BUY MORE!"
Casey gritted his teeth together, trying to keep from shouting, and glared at her. "This wasn't my fault Walker. If your little boyfriend-"
"Don't blame Chuck!!" Sarah yelled slamming her hands down onto the counter, "He wouldn't of hesitated to contact you or me if he had flashed on somebody!"
"That what I'm trying to tell you!!" Casey shouted, his face beat red "When the idiot flashed on Hampton, he noticed him. The bastard got to him before he could reach me! "
"What!" Sarah gasped, her eyes widening. She felt her skin go cold.
"Relax, Bartowski's fine," Casey said, noting her panicked look. "You'd think I'd just be standing here talking to you if he wasn't?"
Sarah gave him a hard glare and he continued. "Luckily he started screaming like a little school girl and caught the whole store's attention. But by the time I reached him, Hampton had thrown him on the ground and was half way to the door."
They both went silent; the only noise in the building was the turning of the ceiling fans, and the low hum of the radio playing in the back. The two agents stared ahead of them, both lost in thought. Chuck flashing on Hampton was both a good and bad thing.
Good, because Hampton has evaded them for years. Every time they thought they had cornered him, it always leads to a dead end or body. And with Chuck flashing on him, they finally might be able to catch him. It was bad however, because though he is brilliant and cunning, Hampton is a paranoid psychopath, and if he thinks Chuck knows something, well, that puts Chuck in more danger than usual.
Sarah finally broke the silence.
"Where's Chuck Now?"
"I left him in the entertainment room. He was a little shaken up but..."
"So you just left him there alone?!" She yelled at him, startling the older man slightly. "Did you ever think that Hampton might come back for him!?"
"Calm down Walker. Chuck's perfectly safe in there. Hampton is not stupid enough to go after him today after that scene they caused."
"I don't care if Hampton is smart enough or not!! Leaving Chuck alone after getting the hell scared out of him was irresponsible!"
"For god sakes, he's a grown man! He can look after himself for a couple of minutes! I don't see why you're getting so worked up-"
"Because I care about him John," She snapped at him. Casey looked at her; shocked by her statement. "And I want to protect him because I want to and not because I have to. He's a dear friend to me; not just an assignment. " She gave him a hard glare. "And it's time that you stop acting so damn tough and just admit that you care about him too." She jumped over the counter, landed right beside him, and quickly walked to the front door, slamming it behind her.
Casey stood rooted in place for a moment; his eyes following Sarah make her way speedily to the tech store. He felt his anger rising. The nerve of her! Saying that he, of all people, had a soft spot for one of his assignments; especially Chuck Bartowski! That nerdy little cry baby, who couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag, never obeys his orders, and can cause more trouble for him in three minutes than any terrorist or high rank assassin has done in years. After years of being a ruthless agent, why would one dork cause him to go soft!!
Because he's your friend, Walker voice taunted him, causing his stomach to boil with anger. He slammed his fist into the counter, erupting the silence with an echoing bang.
"I have not grown soft," he said to the empty restaurant. "And I have no friends."
Sarah nearly sprinted across the parking lot to Buy More, not even realizing she dodged a car by flipping over it. She rushed threw the doors, ignoring the greeter and speed walking all the way to the back, toward the curtain drawn room. She opened the door, and her stomach clenched as she saw Chuck sitting on the ground with his head resting in his hands, his body tense.
Chuck had heard the door open, and his heart sped up. He guessed it was Casey, but then again it could have been the crazy bomber that now wants him dead, or any of his annoying co-workers. All of them didn't sound appealing at that moment. He gave a sigh of relief when he saw Sarah on the other side, looking down at him worriedly.
"Don't worry, I'm fine," he sighed reading her face, "I'm just a little rattled. Not every day a crazy bomber dude tries to grab you." He cracked a smile. "Guess that's the side affects of being a government secret huh?"
Sarah didn't say anything. She kept her blue eyes on him. Chuck coked his head to the side. "Sarah? Are you…" but was cut off when the young agent kneeled down and development him into a hug.
Chuck's body went still, unable to react. Sarah arms wrapped around his stomach, her face buried in his neck. She was holding him as tight as she could. He felt his face burn red.
"I'm so glad you're not hurt," she said into his neck, her breath sending warm chills down his spine. He finally regained control of his arms and hugged her back, pressing her closer to him. He felt himself smiling as he laid his head on hers.
"Of course I'm fine. I got you here to protect me," He whispered not knowing that the agent's heart sped up. "And Casey when he's not being a complete ass."
Sarah laughed silently into his skin. "He has his moments." Her smile fell as she pulled away from his body and faced him, "But I wasn't much help for you today tough."
"And that's where Goliath comes in." he gave her a reassuring smile. "Seriously, I'm fine. He didn't hurt me or any body else, so stop blaming yourself for not being around me all the time. Besides it's probably a good thing I flashed on him. Maybe this time you guys can catch him."
Sarah pressed her forehead to him. "I only reason I would even care to catch him is just to make sure he doesn't try to hurt you again."
Chuck felt his heart ram against his chest. His knew he had deep feelings for Sarah, and unfortunately knew she didn't share the same ones. He was just the assignment, and they weren't supposed to get involved. Besides, she still had feelings for Bryce. But still, he loved when she said things like that to him. Even though there relationship was a fake, her caring words made it easier to believe it was real.
Chuck let out a long sigh, catching Sarah's attention. She looked up and met his eyes. That's when she realized that their faces were only a few inches apart. Her face reddened. They sat there for a moment, not sure which one would pull away first. By the way it was going, it looked like neither.
"Kiss Her You Idiot!!" came a hiss from outside of the door. Both their heads snapped around to see Morgan with a video camera in his hands, crunched down low by the door frame.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Chuck asked relieved and angry that his best friend just killed the moment. Sarah stood up and moved away from him, her redden face going unnoticed by Chuck.
"I was going to film you getting your groove thing on and putting it on my blog; to show nerds every where that you can score a hot chick with patience, charm, and a hell of a lot of luck."
"Some times you make my brain hurt." He sighed standing up and walking towards his friend. "Well now all that video is going to show is for the nerd's friend to butt out and speak only when spoken to."
"You know that hurts," Morgan whined as Chuck walked out of the room and stood by his friend. "I was just trying to shout out some encouragement."
"It was unwanted but thanks anyway."
"BARTOWSKI!!!!" Chuck and felt his skin go cold as Casey stomped towards him; a serious looked on his face. "What in the hell did I say about stepping out of that room while I was gone?"
"Oh Come on! Sarah here, that protection right! It SHOULD COUNT!!!" Chuck hollered anxiously as he walked backwards into the entertainment room, tripping on his foot, and falling on the coffee table.
"Chuck!!" Sarah hollered.
"Ouch, that had to hurt." Moran hissed.
"Idiot." Casey huffed. He looked at Morgan. "Shouldn't you be doing something?"
"No…" Morgan thought for a moment until he heard Casey growl at him. "Oh, yeah, I have that very critical, important thing to do…..very far away from here.., Bye Chuck!!" and he ran off.
Casey shut the door behind him and locked it. "Well now that one idiot's out of the way,"
Sarah gave him a quick glare as she help Chuck from up from the table and on to the couch. "You okay?"
Chuck was about to answer when Casey interrupted harshly. "Quick the pity party Walker, he can deal with a little bump. We've got business to take care of."
"Some one needs to change their tamp," Chuck mumbled rubbing his injured head. Sarah bit back a smile.
"You wanna repeat that Bartowski?" Casey snapped his nostrils flared in anger.
"I said, somebody should turn on a lamp, you know bring some brightness back into the room," Chuck swallowed nervously, Casey glare intensifying. "I'm shutting up now."
"Good Idea."
"Agent Casey, Agent Walker," General Beckman, along with Director Graham appeared on the screen; ending the conversation. Chuck gave a sigh of relief.
"Chuck has had a new flash I suppose," Director Graham said, watching the three on the monitor intently. He notice Agent Walker's muscle's tense.
"It appears," the female agent stated, turning her eyes towards the screen, "that Chuck flashed on Marcus Hampton earlier this afternoon."
The two head officers were silent for a moment, Chuck noticing that they stole a quick glance at each other, before Beckman commented, "That is a very strange…and lucky coincidence."
"And how's that?" Chuck asked sitting up a little.
"We have one of our field agents deep under cover in an underground terrorist organization," Graham elaborated to the three.
"Which ones?" Chuck asked.
"We are not a liberty to say."
"Course, forgot the whole secret spy rule."
Graham continued as if Chuck had never interrupted "Well only days ago, our agents sent us an update. In this, it describes a rumor that has been circulating like fire through the organization. Apparently, the plans of new explosive prototype are being sold to the highest offer."
"And you think Hampton is the creator." Sarah finished, feeling a sickness rising in her stomach.
"We don't just think." Beckman said rubbing the brim of her nose between her fingers. "We are for certain. And that does not make us feel any better."
"What's so great about this prototype?"
"The agent doesn't know much." Graham explained, "But what is for certain, is the power of the bomb. Is that it could take out your whole city."
"Oh." Chuck whispered, images of Ellie, Capt. Awesome, Morgan and the others all raced threw his head, thinking how fast he could lose them all in one fiery moment. His stomach dropped. "Wait! So what if this nut job has already built this thing, and were too late to stop it!?"
"Because he doesn't build them," Casey answered, his features hard, "Only designs them. He then sells them and lets the buyers use his creations and then they take the glory and blame."
"Why?"
"He's smart. He knows that it'll be a lot less likely to be caught if he just draws out the plans instead of creating and setting them off. Safer too. The only time he ever created and set off his own bomb..."
"Was in he bombed the CIA building." Sarah finished. Chuck looked at them both.
"Wow we're screwed."
"Not necessarily," Beckman said, drawing the three's attention back to the screen. "With this new flash, we have found out that Hampton is in your current location."
"And if you find Hampton, you find the prototype." Graham said, "The bid is not for another week. In that time, we want you to find him, and arrest him. Do Not Kill Him." He looked directly at Casey, "though he is a threat, he will have information on his buyers-"
"Wait a minute!" Chuck intervened, "You want us to find this guy in a week when you've been searching for this guy for more than a decade!!!"
"You are both are top agents and the interest. Plus Mr. Bartowski," Beckman said with a smug smile, "ever sense you came on the scene you've been attracting some very interesting characters. And if you can attract Hampton once, I'm sure you can again. Good luck." And the screen went black.
Chuck looked at Sarah and Casey, who stared back down at him, one with a look of concern, and the other with a smug grin. He sighed and slumped back onto the couch. "My life has officially hit rock bottom,"
Casey opened the door, "Well then, crawl out of that pathetic little hole and hurry up, we've got work to do."