Disclaimer: Chuck isn't mine. I'm just playing around with other people's characters.
A/N: The dialogue in this chapter comes from the second season episode Chuck Versus the First Date. I've changed Sarah's reactions a bit because I found her innocence a little hard to believe. Other than that, this chapter is according to canon, so that means no explicit Charah (yet). We all know how they really feel about each other, though, right?
A/N2: Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed last chapter. I was pretty amused by how many people said it was a good chapter despite Bryce; I think that's how we all feel. Extra thanks to coreymon77 for sending me a special welcome to the Chuck fandom. You all are amazing!
My Best Friend
By CountryPixie
Chapter Two
Standing in Casey's apartment, Sarah's mind raced with the information she had just learned. When Langley got the Cipher, the new Intersect would be ready. She and Casey had kept Chuck safe against all odds. Mission accomplished. All that was left was to tie up loose ends. She and Casey had each done this a million times; this wasn't any different. So why was she disappointed?
Looking over at Chuck, Sarah saw the hope and excitement on his face. He was an open book. Maybe finding the Cipher and bringing the new Intersect online was the best for everyone. He was too nice. A year of working with CIA and NSA agents and running from the bad guys hadn't changed him. He didn't suspect a thing. Well, she wasn't going to tell him. Even Chuck was learning that telling the truth wasn't always the best thing to do.
Leaving Casey's apartment, Sarah followed Chuck. Maybe he knew more than he was letting on. "Are you okay, Chuck?" she asked.
"Huh? Yeah. I'm uh…uh…I mean, I don't believe it, but…uh… I think I'm great."
Sarah felt the brief flicker of hope die. He would never see the containment team coming. He would trust Casey and her until the minute he died. A part of her wanted to scream at Chuck to run. He wouldn't get very far, but at least he'd have a fighting chance. Maybe she could go with him...
No. She was a spy. This was the life she chose. It was a hard life, it was a lonely life, but it was hers. And Chuck had his – for however much longer.
"You're going to get your old life back," she said, injecting as much enthusiasm as she could.
"Yeah. I was starting to think that you and Casey were going to be my spy protectors forever - or whatever the adult version of forever is."
One of the most important parts of being a spy is being able to read people. Sarah hadn't really had to exercise that part of her job since working with Chuck. He couldn't lie for anything. In fact, he was so bad at lying that he threw professional liars off balance. Presently company excluded, of course. She could tell that he had been starting to enjoy being a spy. Maybe she could still save him.
"Don't tell me you're going to miss all of this," she teased, thinking the exact opposite. If Chuck stayed a spy, he could stay alive. It wasn't the life he deserved, but at least it was a life.
"No. No, of course not. I don't think I'm really cut out for a job where you disarm a bomb, steal a diamond, and then jump off a building."
Just like Chuck to be so self-deprecating. He'd faced some of the most dangerous situations any spy could face, and he'd done it with almost no training. Spies were taught to be rational and unattached, but Chuck defeated the best spies in the world just by being him. With a little training, he could be the best.
"Well, you could have fooled me." She willed Chuck to hear what she was really saying, to hear that he was a spy. He didn't choose the spy life, but it had chosen him, and it wasn't going to let him go alive. She had to make him see that.
"That's very kind of you to say, but I'm pretty sure my girlish screams in the face of danger give me away."
Sarah smiled, finding Chuck's innocence both endearing and frustrating. He played fast and loose with the girlish screams, but when it really mattered, he always came through. She trusted him, and trust did not come easily to her. She couldn't lose him - not like this.
"So. What happens now? You're almost free. What are you going to do next?" Sarah was afraid she sounded like a broken record, but she didn't know what else to do. If she told Chuck the truth, he'd never trust her again. He had to save himself.
"Well, you know. I've got the Buy More…"
Sarah jumped on the opening. He didn't want to go back to the Buy More. He may not have loved his Nerd Herd position before the Intersect, but he'd hate it now.
"Chuck, can I tell you something?"
"Of course."
"You can do anything. I have seen you in action, and I'm not just talking about the bomb diffusing or the diamond stealing. I mean…anything you wanted, you could have."
She could see Chuck thinking about her words. He wasn't exactly catching her drift, but he was getting there. She still had a few days here. She could do this.
Sarah returned to her hotel room after her shift at the Orange Orange. She was conflicted, and she didn't like being conflicted. Hers had always been a world of black and white, but Chuck changed everything.
Chuck. Everything came back to Chuck. Before Chuck, she was a spy. What she wanted didn't matter. Before Chuck, she followed orders to the letter. Collateral damage was an unfortunate necessity. Before Chuck, she knew where she stood in the world. She was alone.
Now she had a date with Chuck planned for tonight. The spy part of her said that she had agreed so that she could put Chuck back on the right path. The rest of her was ecstatic.
Chuck was unlike anyone she had ever dated. Heck, he was unlike anyone she had ever met. He played the part of the awkward nerd, but he was so much more. He was sweet and funny, he was cute and charming, and he made her want to tell him things she couldn't even admit to herself. She looked forward to seeing him every day, and when they were apart, she was thinking about him. She had never felt this way, even with Bryce.
When she and Bryce had been together, it had never crossed her mind to feel guilty about keeping secrets. That was their job. She knew Bryce kept as many secrets from her as she did from him; the Intersect had proved that.
Bryce had told her about his best friend, 'Charles,' two weeks before he supposedly went rogue. Even as he had shared how much Chuck meant to him, he hadn't told her that he was working on a secret mission that revolved around Chuck.
Sarah smiled as she thought about how effortlessly Chuck wormed his way into the hearts of the world's hardest. Bryce was the consummate spy, but he had convinced Chuck's professor to conspire with him to protect Chuck. Casey was a super soldier, but he stood up to Director Graham and General Beckman on Chuck's behalf on a regular basis. And she… she was Director Graham's protégé, but she was willing to throw her training and her future out the window if it meant saving Chuck. She had to make him see reason.
Grabbing her head in frustration, Sarah let out a growl. This wasn't her. She didn't think about ways to circumnavigate the rules. Chuck was a liability. He was naïve, he was defenseless, and he had to be taken care of. And somewhere along the way, he had become important to her. What kind of person has to think about whether or not she should let someone close to her be killed? Worse, what if Graham and Beckman ordered her to kill Chuck?
Sarah collapsed onto the bed next to her. She couldn't do it. She could not kill Chuck. When it came right down to it, Sarah would rather die than hurt Chuck. Suddenly, Bryce's actions made a lot more sense. She couldn't hurt Chuck anymore than Bryce could when they'd been best friends.
'Friend.' The word had always seemed foreign to her. A friend is someone you tell all your secrets to, and spies don't tell secrets. Yet, Chuck knew her better than anyone. He knew secrets Bryce never knew about Sarah Walker. He knew secrets her father never knew about Jenny Burton. And he knew the truth about their feelings that they both pretended they didn't know.
The realization rolled over her in gleeful ways. Chuck was her best friend! She could be Jenny, Sarah, Sam, anyone – it didn't matter. Chuck would always be there for her. And so she would be there for him.
Resolute, Sarah stood up to start getting ready for her date. She would talk to Director Graham and General Beckman. She would make them see reason, and Chuck would be safe. If that didn't work, she would do whatever she could to save Chuck's future. That could wait, though. Tonight, she had a date with her best friend.