A/N: This one took a little longer than I wanted to write. You don't even want to know why. Apologies for that. Things pick up in the next chapter, too, so let's hope that one doesn't take me forever to finish.
Thanks again to the amazingly awesome readers and reviewers from the last chapter. The standard McDuck disclaimers? They still apply.
-.-.-.-
Day 4: Monday
Chuck's shift officially ended in a little over an hour. He noted as much when he glanced at the clock before thumping his head on the counter a few times. The immediate feeling that he was going to pass out had abated some time ago, but he still felt a little sick to his stomach. All I want to do is go home, crawl into bed, and pull the covers over my head. The odds of that happening, or the odds of being able to leave right at the end of his shift, however, were slim. His premonition earlier in the day about paperwork stack size had proven to be correct: he could no longer see over the counter if he was sitting behind the desk.
The Herders' phone ringing startled Chuck out of his slight comatose state, causing him to jump out of his chair and knock a few stacks of paper over in the process, which he hilariously tried to catch and hold in place with various limbs as he dove for the phone. He ended up laying on top of two stacks of paper to keep them from scattering, used his left knee to keep another from tipping, and had both hands were spread wide on two others. The phone was wedged between his ear and shoulder as soon as he'd answered it, for lack of a free hand.
"Nerd Herd, Bartowski speaking."
"You wouldn't happen to know why my boyfriend isn't answering my calls, would you?"
Sarah's voice was light and teasing, but he could detect the tension underneath. He didn't know whether it made him feel better or worse that she was still as out of it as he was. Knowing that he had to play along, he gave himself a few metaphorical slaps to the face as he tried to find a more comfortable position that wouldn't result in any piles tipping.
"Well, ma'am, from what I hear, an extraordinarily beautiful woman commandeered his cell phone from him yesterday and did not return it."
There was a slight snicker on the other end. It sounded genuine, but it stopped as fast at it had started.
"Commandeered? I think 'fought him for it and he lost' might be a more accurate retelling of that story, mister."
She didn't want to tell him that she had completely forgotten that she had his cell phone. Damn it, it must still be in my jeans from yesterday. They were currently unceremoniously sitting in a pile on her hotel room floor. It bothered her that she'd completely forgotten about it. If I can't even remember that I have his cell phone, what the hell does that say about my ability to keep him safe? Her light tone became more forced to mask the worry.
"Why didn't you mention it when you stopped over during lunch? We could have run to get it, sweetie."
He'd realized that he'd forgotten to mention it when he went to call Symantec once he got back to the Buy More and was still cell phone-less. After the gravity of the lunch briefing, though, his cell phone seemed rather trivial.
"We were a little…busy during lunch. It slipped my mind."
She knew full well what they were supposed to be busy doing during his lunch break, and now had to respond appropriately. The fake phone conversation was killing her; in fact, she was considering killing whatever trustworthy soul Beckman had discretely looking into the security of the phone lines. How hard it is to discern whether or not the phones are illegally tapped? Not only the lightness of her tone was forced now, but so was the teasing.
"Only a little busy? That's a shame. I thought we were a lot busy."
Her forced delivery didn't escape Chuck's notice. He was starting to feel the same as Sarah, only instead of wanting to kill someone, he wanted to sleep: he was feeling more and more sick the more and more they talked. Hoooooooooooooold it together, Chuck, come on come on come on, here we go. He decided to expedite the conversation slightly.
"Hmm, sounds like we're going to have to compare our slightly different versions tonight and see which one of us is correct. Were you calling to request a reenactment for right this minute, or did you have something else in mind, too?"
If she had been standing next to him, she would have kissed him. That was opening she needed to get back to the point of her call. She let the nervousness she was holding in so desperately to come out a little—she needed it for this next bit.
"While the reenactment alone certainly makes the call worthwhile, I had a question, actually."
She paused, both for effect and to get ahold of herself.
"Are Ellie and Devon going to be home tonight?"
Convinced that all of the piles were no longer close to tipping over, he lowered himself back into the chair and thought for a minute. Crap, what did Ellie say their shift schedules were this week? He provided Sarah with his stream of conscious while he tried to remember.
"Uh, wow, I don't know, let me think. Oh, wait wait wait. We were supposed to have the wedding planning meeting tonight, remember? Tonight's the night that Ellie asked us about last Friday, so they should both be off, yeah. Why?"
Sarah hadn't remembered that Ellie had asked about rescheduling for Monday. God damn it, am I losing my mind? Her foul mood was becoming worse by the minute.
"I…I was wondering: can we have dinner with your sister and Awesome tonight? I have a surprise, and I really want to tell you all at the same time."
Chuck almost asked her if she was pregnant before he remembered what the surprise probably was. That would have been extremely smooth.
"Oh, sure—I'll call and tell them. You sure everything's alright?"
"Everything's fine: it's a good surprise, don't worry! Tell them that we'll be there around 6?"
It was just nearing 4pm now. Looks like I'm working late after all.
"I'll call them right after we hang up. I'm going to work right up until then, so I'll see you at the Orange Orange right before 6, and we'll drive over together?"
"Sure. I'll see you then, sweetie."
Both of them hung up in tandem and with small, forced smiles on their faces, pointedly avoiding saying the dreaded "l" word for as long as possible.
-.-.-.-
One of Sarah's former partners, Abigail Knox, was the president of a small, top-notch private security firm in Los Angeles. The firm was hiring a new vice president of operations and planning, and the job was the one that Beckman intended for Sarah after she quit the CIA. It was a typical job for former spies: the firm helped clients check and perfect the security of both physical and human capital, and provided the necessary security to rectify any deficiencies. However, because Sarah was supposed to be completely devoid of Agency assistance, she had to get the job the old-fashioned way: interviewing, with no strings pulled by the CIA or NSA.
Beckman had faxed Sarah's resume and the letter ahead to the security firm as soon as Sarah's private brief had ended. Abigail had called less than 10 minutes later, incredulous to see Sarah's job application sitting on her desk. She had insisted on an informal meeting that day, just to talk and catch up. The informal meeting was what Sarah was in the process of sitting through in the middle of the Orange Orange, and had ended up morphing into an impromptu job interview.
Between Knox's personal knowledge of Sarah's skill set from their time working together, and the CIA's "acquiescence" to provide a tersely worded letter of reference that obliquely referenced Sarah's "basic" competence and "above-average" abilities, Sarah knew she had a high probability of getting the job. That did nothing to quell the butterflies in her stomach—the fact that the interview was "real" in itself was unsettling.
What was more unsettling was Sarah's spy radar—it was acutely going off. Sarah sensed a slight bit of skepticism from Knox, and skeptical spies—or ex-spies—asked piercing questions. Talking shop and specifics had gone fine, but there was one looming question left that Sarah had managed to avoid all evening. After all these years, Sarah remembered Knox's tell well enough to notice it, and had the chance to prepare herself for the question that was coming.
"So, we've been dancing around this all night. Why are you leaving the Agency? I know you—you love the life, and you're great at it. Why now?"
That's the one I was waiting for. It was also the one she dreaded; she had two options: she could give a canned BS answer, or she could give an actual answer. The former spelled trouble—if the answer sounded too rehearsed, the entire plan would be all for naught as those in the intelligence community realized that everything was an elaborate setup. But, conversely, the latter hit far too close to home. Her current strategy was to channel a little of both and tweak the ratio of BS-to-actual as needed. Sarah gave a little smirk.
"It's a guy. I met him while I was out here…working. He's unbelievable."
OK, or don't add any BS in there. At least you didn't go spilling the entire thing. Christ.
"And he knows what you really do for a living?"
Sarah gave the answer her and Beckman had decided on.
"He has a very general idea. He knows I work for the government, he knows that it's in non-pencil pusher capacity, he knows I'm in LA for work, and he knows that I could be 'transferred,' as he calls it, at any time."
Knox had listened appreciatively the entire time, but appeared no less skeptical than before.
"You're telling me he knows generally what you do and that you could leave at any point, but he's still around? Sounds too good to be true to me."
"You have no idea."
And there we go with the low ratio of BS-to-truth again. Stop it!
"Why now, though? Seems like kind of a rash decision. That's not like you at all."
Oh, believe me, I know. The only response she could really offer was coupled with a shrug.
"His sister's getting married soon and we're both in the wedding and have been helping out a lot with the planning. Just…it's put so much in perspective for me."
That sounded much more convincing in my head.
Before Knox could respond, Chuck came waltzing into the empty store. His mind had obviously been elsewhere, for he did a double-take when he saw Sarah sitting with someone.
"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize you had a meeting! You did say 6ish, though, right? Of course you did, I'm just early and didn't call before I came over, so that's my fault. I'll…," he pointed back toward the door with both hands from several angles while he backpedaled, "…yeah, outside."
Throughout Chuck's rambling apology, Sarah's smirk had grown to a genuine, full grin. She hadn't noticed that it was nearly 6:00 already, but she hadn't anticipated the meeting taking almost 2 hours. She also didn't realize how much she needed a dose of unfiltered Chuck until right then. The foul mood present most of the day was all but forgotten for the time being.
"No, it's fine. You don't have to wait outside. I think we're almost done…?"
Abigail just nodded, doing a poor job of concealing her surprise at the grin across Sarah's face or the mystery man standing just inside the door. Chuck was looking somewhat sheepishly at Sarah with a slight grin on his face before he seemed to remember something. It wasn't until he had crossed the small distance to where they were sitting to plant a light kiss on her lips that Sarah realized what it was that he remembered.
Shit, the surveillance. Ugh. The quick kiss at least served the purpose of continuing to mitigate the bad mood.
"You sure you're OK? You sounded really strange on the phone earlier."
The question was unnatural, but the underlying concern was real as he rested his forehead against hers for a minute.
"I told you, I'm fine. And now you can see for yourself, too, I'm fine!"
"Uhhhhhhhhhh huh, sure."
Rolling her eyes, Sarah made the introductions as Chuck straightened out.
"This is a friend of mine, Abigail Knox. She and I used to work together."
Chuck raised an eyebrow as he offered his hand.
"Another yogurt server?"
It earned him an elbow in the thigh from Sarah and a rare laugh from Abigail as she shook it while answering.
"Yes, another yogurt server."
"I'm Sarah's boyfriend, Chuck. It's so nice to meet you."
"You know, sweetie, I'm fully capable of introducing you to my friends."
Chuck turned his attention back to Sarah, who was shooting him a kidding glare after commenting.
"I don't get to meet many people you work with. I didn't know if you'd remember to introduce me."
"Excuse me, when have I ever forgotten to introduce you?"
…crap, has she ever forgotten to introduce me?
"Oh, you know. That time. When the guy was doing something with that thing and asked you about the what's-it-called. You completely forgot to introduce me."
"Because, clearly, you remember the exact circumstances."
Exasperated, he looked to Abigail for help.
"You see what I have to deal with, here? I think working with all this frozen food is making her memory selective. There's a reason I introduced myself."
The ex-spy had been silently watching the banter with increasing incredulity and was surprised to be roped back into the conversation.
"You know the yogurt industry. We're a crafty bunch."
So, Sarah's coworker: not a stellar conversationalist. Did she really used to be a spy? I thought all spies had to be good at small talk. Chuck was spared from having to wonder anymore when Abigail stood up and tidied the few papers she had brought.
"You guys obviously have your own craftiness to attend to tonight, so I'll just duck out now. And, Sarah, what we were talking about? It's absolutely yours. I'll call you tomorrow to firm up details."
Surprised by Abigail's sudden acquiescence, Sarah quickly rose to shake the now proffered hand. She could find no hint of Abigail's previous skepticism. How the hell did we just go from near interrogation session to job offer?
"That's great! I'll talk to you tomorrow, then."
Abigail soundlessly left the store, looking back only once to confirm that she didn't imagine what she'd just witnessed. Once the door clicked shut, Chuck spun fully toward Sarah with a panicked look on his face.
"Please please please tell me that you aren't mad at me for introducing myself. It just…happened."
She had to laugh, despite her mood.
"No, I'm not mad at you. It was just funny, that's all. Relax."
The last word hung in the air, unbidden and unwelcome. The stifling tension from earlier was back: Chuck started to shift from foot to foot again before he remembered that they were probably being watched, and had to settle for drumming his hand against the back of Sarah's chair. Ready to cut off his fingers after only a few seconds of the drumming, she got up to gather her things with a fake smile plastered on her face the whole time, her tone emotionless as she give Chuck the details about tonight.
"Tonight I'm announcing to Ellie and Awesome that I'm leaving the CIA, essentially. The idea is that if someone's eavesdropping on your place, announcing that sort of news to civilians signals that the plan is no joke. For the story I'll be telling them, you only have a general idea of what it is I do: you don't know that I really work for the CIA, and you don't know what I do. You only know that it's for the government and that I could be reassigned at any time. You need to act appropriately surprised and play along with whatever comes up."
"…oooooooooooooooook, I can do that. Why can't you just tell me everything now?"
She slightly smiled at the answer before giving it.
"Because you being surprised is a reaction that can't be faked, even by you."
Chuckling, Chuck leaned on the table Abigail and Sarah had just vacated and watched Sarah move around the store. After doing so for a few seconds, he spoke up.
"What's really bothering you about tonight?"
Focusing on the store security procedures, she wasn't sure she'd been able to mask the pause she'd unconsciously taken once he'd finished speaking. Something was indeed bothering her about tonight, but she didn't have time to explain. I still can't have this conversation with him now. It's still going to result in me being a mess.
"Can we talk about this later? Now's still not a good time."
He sullenly nodded, impressively managing to toss in a twist of "oh, this sooooooooooo isn't over" as he pushed off from the table. It was her turn to look at him for a few seconds before she spoke up as they walked toward the door.
"Promise me something, though, Chuck."
"Anything, you know that."
She gave him a sad look and took a deep breath, making sure that her back was to the windows when she spoke.
"Remind me that I still work for the CIA tomorrow morning."
-.-.-.-
"Would you sit already? You look like you're trapped in a game of Pong!"
Sarah had been pacing back and forth from the kitchen to the front door since they'd gotten back to his place. Ellie and Awesome had gotten off shift at the top of the hour, but the inevitable traffic and commute meant they weren't home yet. The waiting was driving her mad. Chuck was in his room, checking on the virus code. From the dearth of news, she assumed that he had still found nothing.
"You can't even see me right now, how do you know what I look like?"
When she turned around again to walk back toward the kitchen, she was startled to find him a few feet away, standing right where she'd been a moment ago with a smile on his face. Damn it, I didn't even hear him. Either he's getting sneakier or I'm totally out of it. She was willing to bet it was a bit of both, which didn't improve her mood.
The doctors walking in the front door interrupted the glib remark undoubtedly coming from Chuck. Both were surprised to see takeout waiting in the kitchen and the other couple standing near the front door. Ellie was the first to move, hugging Sarah while talking.
"Sarah…hi! It's great to see you as always, but did we have dinner plans for tonight? I'm just making sure I'm not forgetting anything…this is spontaneous, right? I feel like this wedding's making me lose my mind!"
No, it's me that's been forgetting everything lately, don't worry. That mantle is solidly mine for the foreseeable future. Sarah felt Chuck step closer behind her as the hug ended so he could whisper without being blatantly overheard.
"Sorry, I did call them both—I got their voicemail and left them each a message. Neither must have checked it."
Silently processing this, Sarah compensated.
"No no, you're not forgetting anything. This is completely spontaneous. I just had a surprise—a bit of news, really—and asked Chuck if I could come over tonight so I could tell you all."
The words "surprise" and "news" made Ellie's ears perk up. Takeout food long forgotten, she pulled Awesome toward an armchair and motioned wildly with her hands that Sarah should continue with whatever she intended to say. Sarah's plan had been to get everyone to eat first—and get them slightly intoxicated—before she announced anything to make it a little easier, but from the way Ellie was gesturing, that plan was gestured out the window. Fine—telling them before dinner works. Let's get this over with. Pulling Chuck along toward the couch, Sarah did as she was implicitly being ordered.
"You all have to promise not to interrupt until after I get all the news out. Chuck doesn't even know what it is."
Ellie and Awesome shot each other a puzzled look before turning back to Sarah and nodding cautiously as Ellie sat in one of the chairs and Awesome perched on its arm. In the meantime, Sarah was looking at Chuck as they settled in on the couch side by side, silently pleading with him to trust her on this one. He moved closer to her on the couch, left arm stretching behind her, right hand finding hers as he nodded his assent. I can't believe I'm really doing this. Now or never. Taking a deep breath, she took the plunge.
"I'm not really a yogurt worker. I work for the government, and while I can't tell you what it is that I do, that alone should be a pretty big hint. That can't leave this room, or else I'll be in serious trouble."
Ellie and Awesome's faces were priceless—the beginnings of shock and awe were beginning to form—but Chuck was starting to freak out again. …I can't believe Beckman cleared Sarah to tell them that much. Oh my God oh my God oh my God… Sarah could feel Chuck tense up and squeezed his hand before Ellie and Awesome noticed. With the way he squeezed back, they'd be lucky if they both had functional fingers tomorrow. She continued before the atmosphere she'd managed to create was broken.
"I've been on assignment here in LA for the past two years for a project. Pretty soon, that project's going to be done and I'll be transferred somewhere else, or at least how that's how it's supposed to go."
Panic now crossed Ellie's face, and she looked like she was ready to say something. Sarah noted as much and preempted her.
"BUT, things have…changed. I quit my job today."
She said it so matter-of-factly that Chuck would have missed the punch line if he didn't already know what it was. It took Ellie and Awesome a few seconds to catch up, but once they did, Ellie let out a squeal that no one could have suppressed; Casey was probably deaf. Awesome looked at Chuck and Sarah and mouthed "AWESOME!" while the squeal continued. Once it stopped, Ellie bounced up and down in the chair, barely able to contain her excitement.
Sarah was debating how much more to say. As it was, the story she'd decided on with Beckman was a little too close to the truth, but she'd at least avoided saying anything that was extremely true. …and we're going to keep it that way—screw orders. Wrap it up with something vague, Walker.
"I've already found a new place to work here in LA and I start soon, so I'm kind of excited. And that's…it. I just really wanted to tell you all at once."
…that was so anti-climatic. They're going to be all over me.
Instead of wrapping Sarah up in a hug, Ellie stopped bouncing long enough to look accusingly at a surprised and speechless Chuck.
"CHUCK! Did you know Sarah worked for the government!"
He was still trying to get his mind around the fact that Sarah had a new job already. When did that happen? Ellie had to yell his name again before he snapped out of his trace. Looking over to Sarah for support, their talk at the Orange Orange suddenly came racing back. Oh, right, playing along…
"Yeah, I kind of knew. She tol…"
A throw pillow thumping across his face shocked him into silence. Ellie continued the assault, with Sarah trying to stifle her laughter as Chuck reacted as any younger sibling would: he instinctively curled into a ball with an impulsive girlish scream.
"YOU KNEW! How could you let us think that Sarah was only a yogurt server when she was doing something VERY VERY IMPORTANT!"
Thumping him a few more times to drive home her point, Ellie sat back down, pillow at the ready. She was expecting a very good explanation. Cautiously peering out from between his arms, he slowly uncurled once he saw Ellie had retreated and shot her a look. Unable to contain it any longer, Sarah burst out laughing and came to his aid, her right hand absently moving to the back of his neck to play with his hair.
"It's not his fault, Ellie. I told him he couldn't tell anyone—he wasn't even supposed to know, but he has a way of being…disarming."
As soon of the words were out of her mouth, she knew it was a mistake. Ellie was gleefully bouncing again and had the "time for girl talk!" look on her face. Sarah didn't really do girl talk (nor did she want to partake in any girl talk), particularly about this topic…and especially did not want to do girl talk when the topic of the talk would most certainly be the man sitting next to her. At least if Chuck wasn't sitting RIGHT here it wouldn't be as bad.
"Just how disarming is my adorable younger brother, hmmm?"
Oh. shit. Here we go with the extremely true answers. Damn it, why didn't you just give a little more to deter them from THIS particular line of questioning! Stubborn to the last, Sarah managed to hedge a bit, though the sizeable smile that snuck out spoke volumes.
"Disarming enough to make a career government worker quit so she could stay here with him."
His voice was quiet and awe-filled as he spoke as if they were the only two in the room.
"You quit…for me?"
She could only nod, trying her best to swallow the lump in her throat. Chuck was playing his part—if he's playing anything at all right now—too well. This is not going in a good direction. Leaning over so their foreheads touched, his voice was still a whisper.
"You know you didn't have to do that. I know how much you love your job, and we talked about this exact issue before we dated."
Shit. This is EXACTLY what I wanted to avoid. She had a funny suspicion that this would be exactly how the conversation would sound if it happened for real.
"I know. I wanted to."
Comprehension dawned on Ellie's face, saving them from themselves as the words gushed out of her mouth.
"Oh my God! That's what Chuck meant yesterday when he was talking about the 'things beyond our control,' wasn't it? Sarah's job…that's why you guys couldn't get engaged!"
Both Chuck and Sarah had the same thought: leave it to Ellie to make that connection in no time at all. Rather than responding directly, the small smiles on both of their faces as Sarah buried her blushing face in Chuck's shoulder seemed to confirm it, sending Ellie into another round of the squeals, coupled with rapid clapping.
"Looks like you two can get engaged after all!"
Chuck's eyes went wide, and he could hear Sarah kiddingly mutter "unbelievable" into his shoulder before kissing his jaw lightly. He had to agree—only Ellie. Making direct eye contact with Awesome, Chuck clearly communicated his message without so much as a head tilt as both men watched Ellie bounce higher and higher out of the corner of their eyes. If she went much higher, she would go through the ceiling. It also didn't bode well for her next set of questions: Chuck wouldn't put it past her to ask about nieces and nephews. Awesome placed his hands on Ellie's shoulders to stop the bouncing, if only temporarily.
"Well you two, that. is. AWESOME. How about we have dinner while we talk about the rest, hmm?"
Without being prompted, Ellie bounced out of her chair and was prancing around the kitchen in no time, occasionally breaking out into song. The others shot one another worried glances before tentatively heading toward the kitchen to help. Dinner—with copious amounts of alcohol to stem any more questions—was followed by a movie ("NO WEDDINGS," Chuck and Sarah had practically yelled simultaneously when Awesome had asked if they had a movie preference, causing everyone to laugh after a beat had passed). An intoxicated Ellie and Awesome were spread out on the couch, and Chuck and Sarah had taken up residence in one of the armchairs, managing to find a somewhat comfortable position with Sarah curled up against Chuck's chest. Half of the movie had passed before a sober Chuck leaned over to whisper to a just-as-sober Sarah.
"I don't think I've ever seen you relaxed this before."
She raised her head off his shoulder enough to look at him before snuggling closer with a smile on her face. The person peering in the front window, clad in different shades of black, took note.