A/N: Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter. Their happy time with Emma and Molly was definitely well received.
Beta thanks got to Captainrick944, once again.
This chapter is a rewrite of two episode from season 2: "Chuck Versus the Suburbs" and "Chuck Versus the Best Friend."
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Chapter 19: Relationships
"What can We do for you, General?" Casey asked as the three of them faced her.
She said, "LAPD just picked up one of ours. The agent's name is Jim Yeager." A picture of the man appeared on the screen. "He's been missing for over a year, although he was presumed to be on a covert domestic assignment. Unfortunately, we have no record of this assignment, and so far, the subject has been... uncooperative."
"Cat's got his tongue, huh?" Casey replied. "You want me to take a crack at him?"
"As you can see, his mental state is fragile enough already." They all saw the man twitching in the bed in which he was strapped down. The general continued, "The subject's last confirmed location comes from a phone call traced to this LA cul-de-sac." A picture appeared showing an urban street named "Meadow Branch."
Casey scoffed. "Yeager was living in the Valley? Huh... no wonder he went nuts, right?"
Beckman ignored him. "We took the liberty of purchasing a home there to serve as a base of operations."
Sarah spoke up, "Zoom in on that, please. What's that he keeps saying?"
The man was muttering something, but it wasn't clear what, even close up.
The general told them, "Salamander. Possibly a code name for his enemy contact. Our best guess is that he chose this location for its proximity to a sleeper cell. I need someone to resume Yeager's assignment, identify his contact and infiltrate their terrorist network."
Casey replied before the other two, "I don't know how well I'd fit in with those people, General." Both could tell he was playing a game, knowing he wouldn't be asked to do that.
"Not you, Major Casey. We need a normal couple." General Beckman then rolled her eyes and looked at Sarah and Chuck. The latter was grinning. "You two are the nearest to that! For the mission, you will pose as a married couple living there." She gave them a hard look. "Remember, this is a mission not a trial run for when you are married."
Chuck and Sarah looked at each other and grinned.
Sarah looked back at the woman on the screen. "But we'll have to sell it, General."
Beckman groaned and ended the call.
Sarah turned to their NSA agent partner. "Sorry, John. We'll try not to be too noisy!"
"Oh god!" Casey said before letting out a groan.
Chuck just told Ellie they were going away.
"So, where are you guys going?" she asked.
"Uh, Sarah and I are just house-sitting. Her boss at the Orange Orange is out of town, so..."
Ellie beamed at him. "Oh, Chuck, that's... that's great."
He smiled. "Spending a week in the suburbs?"
Ellie stifled a squeal. "This is like a dry run for you two, isn't it?"
He gave her a flat look. "Ellie, Sarah and I have been living together for a while now."
"But not in the full suburban setting," she argued.
He thought about that. A house with a garden with kids playing in it. He and Sarah on the veranda looking at them while sneaking kisses. It was his dream come true, for sure. "God, Ellie! It really is. I hope I don't blow it."
Chuck was given a car to use. He set off later than Sarah partly because she wanted to supervise the place being set up but also because he took longer to decide what to wear. He ruefully now wished that he had taken Sarah up on her suggestion that she could select what he should take.
He finally set off for the trip into married life.
He stopped on the way there to slip on the wedding ring. It wasn't exactly like the one he and Sarah selected for him, but it did bring that wedding to mind. It wasn't that long now!
Her pulled onto the driveway of the detached house they were going to live in. Sarah was supposed to be a stay-at-home housewife, so she didn't have a car. It was probably the only thing that irritated her about the mission.
Chuck entered the house. "I'm home, dear," he called out, mimicking 60s sitcoms.
Suddenly, he was pushed back against the door and had a beautiful blonde wrapping her arms around him as she crashed her lips into his.
They continued this for a minute before she pulled back and looked into his eyes. "I can't wait until this is us for real!" she gasped before starting another kiss.
He picked her up and started carrying her toward the stairs to get to the bedroom, but she stopped him. 'I really want that, Chuck. You know I do, but the neighbors are coming over this afternoon.'
Chuck was a bit irritated that the mission started immediately but knew it had to.
He followed her further into the house and found CIA-manufactured photographs of their "wedding" along with vacation pictures all over the place. It wasn't surprising to him that Sarah looked absolutely stunning in the wedding ones, and they brought tears to his eyes. 'That'll be us soon.'
She looked at them, feeling just as tearful. She put her hand on his neck and pulled him down into another kiss. 'I know. I can't wait either, my love.'
Sarah walked back into the kitchen and retrieved a huge bowl of potato salad.
"Wow! Are you cooking for the entire neighborhood?" he asked on seeing the quantity she had prepared.
"No, Chuck. You are," she replied. "Barbecue man."
He looked outside to see people already out there with beers. "Hey, there's the grill-meister!" called out one of them. "Welcome, neighbors."
'I love a barbecue, but only with people I like,' he thought at Sarah.
'Sorry, babe,' she replied. "Don't forget, one of our new neighbors is a suspected terrorist," she muttered to him.
"You heard the little lady," said Casey, who was connecting up the telephone. "Get out there and mingle."
Chuck asked Sarah, 'Have you read any of them yet?'
She mentally growled. 'No! I've been spending all my time on the damn potato salad!'
Chuck stifled a laugh. He knew Sarah was not the best at cooking.
He wandered out. He didn't flash on any of the people, but their thoughts were another matter entirely. 'Sarah! They're all checking us out, wondering whether we're ordinary citizens or spies!'
Sarah came out with her bowl and 'read' a few of them. 'Chuck! They're all Fulcrum!'
'We've got to find out what they're doing here,' he replied.
She put the bowl down and headed back into the house. She let Casey know.
Chuck wandered over to the barbecue and started cooking the meat. He briefly 'read' the thoughts of each of the men near him, but none seemed that interesting on the first scan..
One of them walked up to him while he was taking cooked burgers off the barbecue. "How you doing?"
Chuck was still reeling from what he had realized about all these people. "I'm good. I'm... My name is Charles."
"Oh, I'm Brad. I live next door." He gave Chuck a business card. "There you go."
"Sorry. I don't have any," Chuck replied.
Brad claimed to be in the stationary business and could get Chuck some. However, as Chuck didn't seem interested, he just took him to meet the other guys.
Chuck had 'read' who the man actually was after a deeper dive into the man's mind. Brad White was a former conman but had joined Fulcrum in 1997. His skills enabled him to fool people into thinking he was their friend. He planned to befriend Chuck and Sarah to lull them into a false sense of security.
"Guys, this is Charlie," Brad said to the other men. That irritated Chuck. He didn't like being called that. 'Did all conmen rename people?' he wondered. Brad proceeded to introduce the men.
Mark Holloway had flown operational assignments in the F-4E fighter and was later involved in the space shuttle program as a project engineer. He also served with the AF Inspector General. He was disenchanted with his career in 1999 and joined Fulcrum.
Mitch Merryman was the Assessments Division Chief for Strategic Command and the first Chief of Assessments for the CIA. In 1998 he became a member of the Senior Executive Service, serving as Associate Director for Modeling Simulation and Analysis. He joined Fulcrum the following year.
Dennis Berry was also in the Senior Executive Service, and Director of Chemistry and Life Sciences at the CIA Office of Scientific Research. He joined Fulcrum in 1999.
Brad then looked over at the women talking. "Hold on a minute. Who is that talking to my wife, Vanessa?"
Chuck 'read' this as a feed question as Brad knew everyone but him and who he was living with. However, he played along. "Oh, that's-that's my wife. That's Sarah."
Brad looked at him. "Well... Well done, Charlie. You want to trade sometime?" Chuck knew this was just a line but painted a shocked expression on his face. "I'm kidding! No way the PTA would stand for that."
Chuck cast his mind back to the only other conman he knew, Sarah's dad. This guy was a lot less likable. Obviously, some conmen were better than others.
Meanwhile, Sarah was talking with some of the women.
Vanessa White was a Fulcrum operative pretending to be the wife of Brad White. She wasn't that bright, and Sarah virtually discounted her.
Samantha Merryman, however, was a CIA operative, a member of the Senior Executive Service, and the Deputy Executive Officer for Command and Control and Combat Support Systems. She was bright with a BS in math and psychology and an MS in engineering management.
Sarah waved to Chuck when she saw him and the men with him, looking over at her. She couldn't help thinking she just wanted to get all these people out of there and take Chuck to that luxurious king-sized bed in the master bedroom.
They continued to socialize with these people for over an hour. Chuck was able to hang back when they all congregated around Sarah. 'Don't worry. I'm fine,' she thought at him.
Chuck looked at his watch, wondering when all these people would leave and he'd have Sarah all to himself. As he did that, he sensed a woman approaching him before she said, "My sentiments exactly."
He turned to see a very attractive blonde. Sylvia Arculin, it appeared, was also the man catcher of the team and acted as a flirtatious and unfaithful housewife. She enticed men to her house, and the team tested them against an early version of the Fulcrum Intersect.
That shocked Chuck, but he guessed he was the next target and sensed what was coming.
"Can I let you in on a little secret about your neighbors, Mr... ?"
He replied, "Carmichael. Charles."
She leaned a lot closer. "They bore me."
They didn't bore him, but he hadn't been enjoying himself. He replied honestly, "It's not really my scene either."
She turned on the charm. "Perhaps the two of us can, uh, get together sometime. Maybe engage in something a little more... stimulating?"
Chuck wondered if that line ever worked. He also wondered if it would have worked with him if he wasn't with Sarah. He doubted it but was sure that someone like Lester would immediately.
He replied, "That's very kind of you to offer, and it sounds like a lot of fun, but I am very, very married."
She smirked. "Congratulations, Mr. Carmichael. But who isn't?" She pointed to a guy he hadn't seen earlier who was talking to Sarah. "My husband's right over there."
The guy looked frightening to Chuck. "He's a big fella, isn't he? What line of work is he in? Lumberjack?"
She replied, "The kind that keeps him out of town."
Sarah spotted him with the woman. She loved that she could see him talking to a beautiful woman and not feel jealous. How strong their bond was! However, she could see that he was uncomfortable. "Charles!" she called to him.
Sylvia looked over at her. "Is that your wife?" Chuck nodded. "She seems very... pretty."
'God, she is so much prettier than you!' he thought. "Well, got to run." He felt he should add, "You know, ball and chain." He would never think that of his gorgeous fiancée, though.
Before he could get away, she leaned closer, turning her back on where Sarah was. "Listen, Charles. I just live right across the street. So, call me... when the honeymoon's over. I've got a chain, too."
He laughed nervously. "I bet you do. Excuse me."
He walked quickly over to join Sarah, who was walking away from the others.
Sarah thought about the man she had just been talking to.
Cliff Arculin was formerly a top CIA neural scientist assigned to CIA Psy-Ops, but his experiments were deemed to be torture rather than science, so he left to join Fulcrum.
"Sarah, they have the Fulcrum version of the Intersect here. They are testing it on people they come into contact with," said Chuck. "Sylvia was flirting with me to try to get me to go to their house when her 'husband' is away!"
Sarah frowned. Even though she wasn't jealous, she still didn't like women doing that! "If she touched you, I'd rip her arms off!"
"God, that is such a turn-on!" he replied.
She laughed but then got serious again. "That must be what happened to Yeager."
"There must be something wrong with it!" Chuck stated. "And they plan to test it on us!"
"Well, that's not going to happen, is it!" she replied.
Chuck considered that for a moment. "But it would be good to see what they have in it."
"No!" she exclaimed. "You are not putting yourself at risk like that!"
He looked at her, and she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm not losing you, Chuck," she said into his chest.
He put his arms around her. "Ok, my love."
"We need to decide what to do, however. First, we need to pass on what we know to General Beckman via Casey."
Chuck nodded. "I wish we had a connection we could use."
She beamed at him. "Look on the bright side. We get to be a married couple for a little longer."
He grinned at that thought.
"Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael?" They looked around and saw Casey leaning out of the window, still pretending to be an electrician. "Would you come inside, please? There's a slight problem with your cable."
When the walked into the kitchen, Casey pulled a bug from underneath one of the dishes.
Both Chuck and Sarah flashed on it.
"Looks like one of ours," Sarah commented. "But that particular one was stolen from a CIA substation in Omaha in '06."
"Now it belongs to Fulcrum," Chuck added.
"I'll do a full sweep on the house before I leave," Casey replied.
An hour later, the neighbors all finally left.
The couple sat in the living room and talked to Casey.
"I think Bartowski might be right about finding out what is in their Intersect, but I agree with you, Walker. It's too dangerous." They saw his frustration. "I'll contact the general."
"Emphasize that it is too dangerous to try downloading it, Casey," Sarah said. "And that Chuck is not going to do that."
He chuckled. "Ever the protector!"
"Of course!" she replied.
"I'll get in touch with her. Do you know where this Intersect is stored?"
Chuck said, "Yeah. They have a lab underneath the buildings. We can get into it from the Arculin house."
"Ok. I'll let the general know that, too," Casey replied.
After he left, Chuck and Sarah spent some time clearing up. By the end of that, both felt tired.
"Socializing with the enemy is tiring, isn't it?" he said.
She gave him a flirtatious look. One that worked on him instantly. "I still have plenty of energy," she said. He swept her off her feet, causing her to squeal. "Where are you taking me, Mr. Carmichael?"
He chuckled as he carried her up the stairs. "You know exactly where, Mrs. Carmichael."
He threw her down onto the bed. "Ooh, I love this assertive husband of mine!" she said, grinning.
"Hmm!" he replied. He quickly helped her out of her clothes and then stripped.
This was what both of them had been wanting all afternoon. Well, ever since the mission was suggested, really.
Sarah looked at his lean form, liking what she saw just as much as she always did.
Chuck still found the fact that he was engaged to the most beautiful woman amazing. Seeing her on the bed naked really was a dream come true.
She lay back and said, "Assert away, Charles."
And he did. Several times. As the evening turned into night, Sarah did too.
Eventually, they tired themselves out and fell asleep in each other's arms.
Chuck woke to an empty bed. His gorgeous fiancée had already risen.
He popped into the bathroom, and then put on some pajamas and wandered down the stairs.
He found Sarah in the shortest, sexiest nightie he had ever seen, standing at the cooker, facing away from him.
He walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and leaned down to kiss her neck.
She moaned and said, "You know how that turns me on! Please don't when I'm cooking."
He chuckled and stood back but couldn't stop himself from looking down at her bare legs. "God! All I want to do is pick you up and take you back to bed, Sarah. You can't stand there in that without knowing I'll just want to undress you!"
She grinned at him. "You have to eat first!" She plated the omelet and put it in front of him.
"Aren't you having any?"
She picked up a half of a strawberry. "Not today. Today I'm the perfect housewife."
"You know for me, you're perfect in every way."
She blew him a kiss. "Thank you, Husband."
"I can't wait until I really am," he replied.
She shrugged a shoulder. "Well, you're going to have to." After eating some another strawberry, she added. "You can still keep practicing being one, though."
He ate quickly before scooping her up and headed to the bedroom before he left for work.
Casey collared Chuck in the Buy More locker room.
"While you and Walker were busy playing house, I was doing some old-fashioned spy work. Pulled a fingerprint off the bug, ran it through the database."
He showed the person who had planted it, Cliff Arculin. "CIA Psy-Ops. Agency shrinks. A real bunch of weirdos." Casey's growled. "I also ran his bank records." He showed a picture of data cabling. "Turns out he bought enough of this stuff to stretch from here to Gardena. Infiniband data line. The same stuff we use to tap into the Agency's intranet." He looked at Chuck. "Can you guess what your neighbor was using it for?"
"Accessing data really fast," Chuck said. He looked at Casey. "An Intersect download or just hacking into government servers."
Casey grunted.
"So, we need to get into their lab. What did the general say?" Chuck asked.
"She's been thinking about all this. We'll have that conversation with her this morning." Casey looked at his watch. "In twenty-eight minutes."
Chuck hurried into the store to check up on all his team leads before the call.
"I agree that we don't want to risk Mr. Bartowski with a corrupt Intersect. However, we do need to find out what they have there." She looked at Casey. "Do you have men ready to storm the place?"
"I do, General."
Chuck thought this was a bad idea. "Hold on! The Fulcrum team may not have it on-site, General. If we storm the place, they will break the link, and we'll get nothing."
She looked at him. "So, what do you suggest?"
"Use me as bait, and Casey and Sarah follow up to make sure I don't get hurt."
She frowned. "Sounds risky."
Casey was thinking this through. Chuck could see that he understood the sort of thing Chuck had in mind. "We can do it, General," Casey said.
She looked dubiously at the two of them and then sighed. "This better not go wrong."
Chuck explained what he was going to do to Casey.
"Are you sure you can control a large number of them? It really caused Walker a lot of pain when she did it."
"I can do this, Casey. Just make sure you and Sarah are ready."
Casey scoffed. "I'm not telling Walker. You can do that, and if you're still able to walk, we'll do this."
Chuck drove back to the cul-de-sac, trying to work out how to sell this to Sarah.
When he got there, she was missing. That didn't seem right as she was supposed to be staying in the house, although he thought she might be bored doing that. He called her phone, thinking he should have done this before setting off.
The phone rang under the coffee table. "Shit!" He called Casey. "They've got Sarah!"
Casey was on his way over with a troop half a mile behind him. "How'd you know?" Chuck told him about the phone. "Don't you go in there before I get there!" Casey growled.
"I can't wait, Casey! They might force a download!"
Chuck ended the call and casually walked over to the Arculin house and knocked on the door.
Sylvia answered it. "Mr. Carmichael. I didn't expect you to come so quickly."
"Charles Carmichael always comes quickly," he replied and then thought how bad that sounded.
"Come on in," she replied with a smile.
Even before the door was shut, Chuck probed her mind. They did indeed have Sarah. Vanesa had knocked her out when Sylvia had distracted her. They had her in the basement, and when she recovered, they planned to test an Intersect download on her.
Chuck got ready to implant a thought in Sylvia's head. 'I'll take Charles straight down there. We can test him instead.' As he was doing that, the very same thought appeared in her head anyway. However, she was going to pull a gun on him first.
He sent a different thought. 'No need for guns. He'll be no trouble.'
She led him through the house and the stairs heading down to the basement. 'I've something to show him down there,' was the next thought he implanted.
She led him through a long corridor that must take them beyond the house above. Chuck heard voices coming from further down.
They walked into a room with a chair in the middle with a device above it. Eight of the others were in the room getting things ready. In a side room, another of the men stood with an unconscious Sarah strapped to another chair in front of him.
Chuck quickly took all this in because Sylvia's husband looked at the two of them walking in. "What the…."
Chuck commanded them all to freeze, which they did. He rushed to Sarah and untied her, lifting her up to carry her out.
When he got to the top of the stairs, he took her into the living room and gently set her down on the couch. He quickly called Casey. "Sarah's ok, but you've got to come to the Arculin house."
"Just pulling up now," Casey replied.
Chuck opened the door to let him in. They rushed back downstairs. The two of them investigated the room and paid particular attention to the terminal in there.
"This activates a download," Chuck observed. They saw a pile of sunglasses beside the terminal. "That's how they block the images."
Casey checked each member of the Fulcrum team. All had their eyes open. He handed Chuck a pair as he put some on himself. "Put them on!" he told Chuck. He then pressed the button to activate it.
Chuck only just got the glasses on in time.
The room was filled with images that neither of them saw, but they heard the effects. Screams from the women and cries from the men, along with bodies collapsing to the floor or slumping down onto the desks they were sitting at.
Everything went silent, but they both kept the glasses on for another five minutes, just in case the images were still showing.
Eventually, Chuck decided to take a look. The show was over, thankfully. "Can you deal with these people, Casey? I need to get to Sarah."
"Sure," Casey replied. The two of them looked around the room. All ten Fulcrum agents were down. "They're not gonna cause me any trouble."
Chuck rushed back up the stairs just as armed men started trooping in. Chuck told them where to go and then rushed to Sarah. She was just starting to come around. "Chuck?"
He pulled her into an embrace. "Thank god you're ok!" He could feel tears starting.
She hugged him back. "You saved me again?" she said in a tentative voice.
"If I can, I will always save you, Sarah."
They sat and watched the bodies being brought up. Only three had survived, including Mitch and Samantha Merryman. None of the other main agents had.
"I know you'll think it bad of me, but I'm glad Silvia and Cliff didn't survive," Sarah told Chuck.
"After what they were going to do to you, I'm not upset about any of them," he replied.
"I guess that means our time in the suburbs is over," he sadly said.
She shook her head. "We won't start the clean up until tomorrow. The general owes us another night here. Besides, I have to fully recover from being knocked out." Her eyes were not only brighter now, but sparkling.
He helped her across the road and they shut and locked the door to the house. The listless blonde suddenly ran up the stairs with a laughing Chuck running after her.
They made love throughout the rest of the day, only stopping for the pizza delivery.
"You know, we're going to be shattered later today," he said at just past two in the morning.
"Worth it," she replied, pulling him down to her again.
The general had surprisingly told them they could stay for the rest of the week as the house had been booked for that long.
Casey didn't hang around, but they did observe NSA staff turning up to strip all the Fulcrum gear from each of the other houses. Sarah spoke to them and found out that the only one with anything significant was the Arculin residence and, specifically, the basement, although there was a terminal upstairs. The Fulcrum equipment and its link to remote servers was a treasure trove.
Meanwhile, in the Carmichael residence, most activities were not of a spy nature. They explored each other in every room and even the back garden. Their conclusion was that they wanted a house of their own after they were married. An apartment wasn't enough! Having said that, when they did get a house, neither expected to be able to have sex outside in the garden when they had neighbors!
They did chill out in that garden, though. The barbecue and salad they shared were so much more relaxing than the last one. Lying next to each other on sun loungers, holding hands while enjoying the peace and quiet, was just what they both needed.
"I can imagine us doing this in a few years, Sarah."
She looked over at him. "Sooner, if possible," she replied. She lay back down again. "In a few years, I can imagine kids running around on the lawn, demanding their dad play ball with them."
He smiled at that thought. "I hope the girls will have your hair and eye color, Sarah," he said. "They'll be almost as beautiful as you."
She smiled. "They might have your colorings. Whatever, we'll still think they're perfect." She shook her head at herself. "Two years ago, I would never have thought I would even have a real relationship, let alone the desire for kids of my own."
"Not even with Bryce?" he found himself asking.
She snorted. "I might have thought that would become a real relationship, but in my heart, I knew it wouldn't really. Neither of us would have put the effort in to keep us together. I certainly had absolutely no interest in having a family with him."
"So, it was just sex?" He cursed himself for asking this but couldn't stop himself.
She rolled over to face him. "Don't think about that, Chuck. I know you're jealous of my past with him, just as I am about yours with Jill, but that's all it is, the past. After meeting you, no one interested me. Even without the Intersect and our shared mind-reading ability, I would have wanted to be with you. It might have taken me longer to acknowledge it, but I was smitten from the start."
He pretended to look shocked. "Wow! Quite a speech, Agent Walker!"
She knew he was teasing her because he wasn't good at receiving compliments. "Shut up, Analyst Bartowski!"
He just grinned. "I love you so much, Sarah."
"I love you too."
It was sad for both of them to finally leave Meadow Branch.
When the men came to take away all that had been set up in the house, Chuck was back at work, and Sarah had to watch it all being removed.
The photo frames containing pictures of the Carmichael's lives together were quite upsetting to lose. She knew that was stupid, but she wanted to recreate every one of them in real life.
She finally removed the wedding ring and left to go back to work herself.
'One day,' she thought as she got a lift back to the Orange Orange. 'And not that long before it all starts.'
When Chuck got back to the Buy More after the few days off, he found that things were tense.
Morgan and Anna were no longer together. Chuck had no idea about this and felt bad about being oblivious to his best friend's situation. However, he pieced together what had happened, partly from Morgan's version and partly from reading Anna's mind.
Morgan hadn't committed to the relationship as she had hoped. She'd asked him to move in with her, and he'd freaked out at that. She had eventually given up on him and was trying to move on. It turned out that she now had a new boyfriend.
Chuck 'read' her mind when he talked to her to see what she thought of Morgan now. There was a mixture of anger and sadness. She clearly still had feelings for him but needed a relationship beyond the audio-visual room. Chuck desperately tried to block the images she had in her mind about what she and Morgan got up to in that room!
When Chuck talked to him again, Morgan wasn't happy that she was with someone else.
Chuck said, "You should have committed to her, Morg."
"Oh, thanks for the support, Chuck!"
Chuck looked at his best friend and said, honestly, "Morgan, you saw me committing to my relationship with Sarah. Why couldn't you do the same with Anna?"
Morgan shook his head. "I don't know, Chuck. It scared me. Now, I think I've lost her."
Chuck 'read' that clearly in Morgan's thoughts. "Would you try again? And commit this time?" he asked.
The fear of that commitment was still there, but also the desire to be with Anna. "I would try," Morgan replied.
Chuck 'read' the next thought. Morgan wanted people to 'spy' on Anna and her boyfriend. Chuck nearly laughed at that but said, "Morgan, what if I suggest to Anna that she and her boyfriend go on a double date with Sarah and me? We could find out just how serious it is."
Morgan's eyes lit up. "You'd do that for me?"
Chuck patted Morgan's shoulder. "It's what a friend would do."
Chuck caught up with Anna later that day. "So, I heard that you have a new guy, a new boyfriend."
She sighed. Definitely missing Morgan's attention, but… "Jason's great. Plus, an evening out doesn't involve me on his handlebars..." She paused in thought. "...and the Taco Bell drive-through."
He forced a chuckle. "I know what you mean. I rode on those handlebars for years." He wasn't going to criticize Taco Bell, though. "Hey, how would you like to go on a double date or something sometime?"
She looked shocked. "Really?"
He shrugged, not wanting to seem too pushy. "Yeah."
Her eyes lit up. "Jason's having a party tonight at his showroom. And the only thing more expensive than the champagne will be the cars. You and Sarah should stop by."
"Sounds great," he replied. "Can't wait to meet your new boyfriend. Give me the details, and we'll be there."
"Okay. Wow." She handed him one of her boyfriend's business cards.
As she walked away, Chuck looked at the card and flashed on the name Jason Wang. He was a car importer but somehow was also involved in smuggling drugs and weapons. Chuck knew he had to talk to Sarah and Casey about this.
He finished what he was doing in the Buy More and signaled to Casey.
When Chuck got to the Orange Orange, Sarah looked up and beamed at him. "Come to brighten up my day?" Then, she 'read' his thoughts about Jason. Sarah also flashed on the name.
He shook his head. "I thought we had a date to spy on Anna's new boyfriend for Morgan, but I think it might be more than that."
Just then, Casey walked in, and the three of them headed downstairs as Chuck told Casey about Jason.
General Beckman was quickly on the monitor. Chuck told her what he had found.
"So, you think this Wang is smuggling drugs and weapons into the LA?" she asked.
"That's what the flash implies, General," he replied.
"We will check up on it." She quickly ended the call.
Chuck looked at Sarah. "We can still treat this as a date, can't we?"
She saw his eagerness and grinned. "A date with guns?"
He shook his head. "Not for me, but maybe you can. Just don't shoot Anna."
She laughed.
They all headed back up the stairs.
As they walked over to the Buy More, Casey looked at Chuck. "You may have to focus on more than just your fiancée this evening."
"You know I always find that hard," Chuck replied with a grin.
Casey grunted and walked faster.
After lunch, Casey got the call for them to head back to Castle.
Beckman looked at them. "Jason Wang is indeed a car importer, and while he has no criminal record, he runs with a dangerous crew of local Triad gangsters."
"A gang responsible for smuggling drugs and weapons in and out of Los Angeles," Sarah commented.
"Correct, Agent Walker. We've been watching the local Triad for a while but didn't know about Wang before Chuck's flash."
Chuck told her, "He has a party at his showroom tonight. Sarah and I are going as friends of Anna Wu."
"Well done," Beckman said. "Determine the depth of Wang's connection to Triad."
When she ended the call, Chuck turned to Sarah. "Time to dress up!"
She grinned back. "I'll wear something you'll like, but we now have a mission, so you'll have to concentrate."
"Two missions, actually. Beckman's one is an additional one," Chuck replied.
"Focus on the important one, Bartowski," Casey growled.
Sarah thought, 'I know you think that's getting Morgan and Anna back together, but we do need to focus on this Triad connection too, Chuck.'
Chuck nodded, knowing that was right.
Chuck's conversation with Morgan, explaining what he knew now, ended with him having to command his friend. He hated doing that, but it was for his own good.
"So, Morgan, Sarah and I are going to a party that Jason, the other guy, is throwing at his showroom."
Morgan's eyes lit up. "I could go as well."
Chuck corrected him, "No, buddy, it's by invitation only. Anna invited us when I suggested the double date. This isn't as good, but beggars can't be…."
Chuck tried to avoid 'reading' Morgan's mind, but the thought that appeared couldn't be ignored. Morgan was planning to spy from the outside. Chuck knew that if the Triad were there and spotted him, Morgan would be in big trouble.
Chuck instantly sent the command, 'I will not go to the party. I will leave it to Chuck and Sarah.'
"Okay, Chuck. Thanks for doing this for me," Morgan said and walked off.
"God, you look gorgeous in that blue dress, Sarah," Chuck said as she walked out of their bedroom.
She chuckled. "You can stop thinking of taking it off me until we get back here."
"Do we have to go?"
She lightly swatted his arm. "You know we do. For the country and for Morgan."
"I'm so glad you are thinking of Morgan as well," he replied.
She nodded.
They set off for the party. Casey would be going with far more arms than the pistol Sarah had in her handbag.
When they got there, Anna spotted them straight away and rushed over.
Chuck asked, "So, Anna, what's the occasion for all this?"
"It's a car preview for an auction Jason's having tomorrow," she replied. "Sort of an open house for cars."
Sarah looked around. "Anna, these cars are almost the price of a house. Your boyfriend must be very successful."
"Although, the true measure of a man's success is not in dollars, but rather his ability to love," Chuck said.
'Don't say that Morgan is stinking rich on that basis, Chuck!' Sarah thought. 'It's ladling it on too much.'
He swallowed the words down.
Sarah looked at Anna. "I do miss you and Morgan together."
Anna looked surprised at her. "You do?"
Sarah smiled. "I'm sure Jason's a great guy. But I'll always think of you and Morgan as the perfect couple."
'Much more subtle!' Chuck thought.
Sarah noticed Wang walk in.
"Ha. That is so strange," Anna said.
The two looked at her to expand, although they knew what she was thinking.
"Strange you even thought about Morgan and me as a couple, Sarah. To be honest, I didn't think you ever really noticed me much."
'Got you on that,' Chuck thought.
Sarah ignored him. "That's not true, Anna. I have always thought of you as a friend."
Anna beamed at her and then spotted her boyfriend. "Honey, can you come here?"
Wang excused himself from the people he was talking to and wandered over.
Anna did the introductions. "Jason, this is Sarah and Chuck. They're my friends."
Jason smiled at them. "Well, any friend of Anna's."
Chuck left the mind-reading to Sarah and just interacted with the guy.
After talking to them for a while, Jason wandered off to talk to others and took Hannah with him.
'It's all a front,' Sarah thought.
'An expensive one, though,' he thought back. "I'll get us some champagne," he said and managed to catch up with a waiter who only had two left. As he congratulated himself, Chuck saw four people walk in, looking completely out of place. All dressed in black. The woman at the front took off her sunglasses, and Chuck flashed on her. She was the local Triad leader, alias "Smooth" Lau. The three men with her also triggered flashes.
He rushed back to Sarah and told her about them.
Sarah said, "Okay, let's follow them."
They were, however, accosted by Anna. She looked at Sarah. "Hey, uh, can I talk to you? I could really use a friend right now."
Sarah saw her confusion.
'I can do this, Sarah,' Chuck said.
'Don't you dare! Follow them and see where they go. But wait for me before you do anything!' He could almost sense the anger and fear in her thoughts.
'Okay, okay!' Chuck started to walk off and Sarah said, "I'll catch up in a second, Sweetie."
"Thanks, Chuckles," Anna called.
Sarah looked at Anna and smiled. "I'm all ears."
Anna launched straight in, "I like Jason, and, you know, on paper, he's everything Morgan's not. So that's good."
"No, no. That's bad," Sarah replied.
"Why?"
"Because Morgan's the guy you keep comparing him to." Sarah was surprised with herself. She, who only recently discovered what a real relationship was like, was giving advice. 'The world is really screwed up!' she thought.
Anna looked surprised. "Sarah, you're totally right. Oh, my God. Do you think that means I still love him?"
"Probably. Sorry, I need to catch up with Chuck," Sarah said and hurried off.
Unfortunately, she had no idea where he had gone. He was wearing his watch, though, so she used that to track him.
Meanwhile, Chuck had followed Wang and the Triad into the garage. The woman was arguing with Wang, but he was too far away to hear or to 'read.'
He took photos of the container that they were opening. The bill of lading indicated it contained a Rolls Royce. Chuck guessed that that was what they were using to smuggle drugs or weapons inside.
He didn't hang around but got out quietly.
Chuck and Sarah quickly caught up. He told her what he'd seen. She got her phone out and called Casey. After a quick discussion, they decided they didn't have enough information to just arrest them, so Casey took the task of waiting for the Triad people to leave, and Chuck and Sarah would try to read Jason's mind when he returned from talking to them.
When Jason returned to the party, they did just that.
Sarah grabbed Chuck's hand, and they left quickly. Almost as soon as they left the showroom, she spoke to Casey. "Chuck was right. It is a Rolls Royce, but it is intended for the Chinese Ambassador. They will plant a bomb on it before the ambassador collects it. Triads are gonna kill him."
"Smart," Casey said. "Wang's got a legitimate business. Ambassador doesn't know Wang's Triad."
"Exactly," Sarah replied.
"Have they planted the bomb yet?" he asked.
"Not yet. They will do that tomorrow, just before the ambassador arrives."
"So, we come back then. When will that be?" Sarah told him. "Okay. So, we all get the night off then."
"I was worried that you'd be waiting for a call all night," Chuck said to Sarah after the call ended.
She 'read' his mind but played along anyway because it was fun. "And why would that be?"
He smiled, knowing what she was doing. "Because I might not get to help you out of that dress."
She locked eyes briefly. "I would expect you to do that anyway, Mr. Bartowski."
He grinned at her as she looked back to the road.
The following morning, Chuck took Morgan to the audio-visual room. "Morgan, you need to step up. Sarah talked to her and thinks Anna still wants to be with you, but she wants more than this room. She wants to be with you, bud, but if you want to be with her, you need to go the extra mile."
"Wow. Okay. I'll think about that," Morgan did seem to be taking this seriously for a change.
As Chuck started to walk out, Morgan said, "Thank Sarah for me, please."
Chuck smiled. "I will."
He was going over to join Sarah and Casey in a few minutes anyway, so he decided to go over there earlier.
As he walked into the yogurt shop, the two of them meshed their minds. 'Love you, beautiful,' Chuck fired at her.
'Love you too, my gorgeous fiancé,' she replied.
He grinned. "I wanted to congratulate you on your new role." She raised an eyebrow. He continued, "Matchmaker extraordinaire."
She grinned. "Not really what anyone would expect of me, huh?"
"You can do anything, Sarah," he replied. "Anything you try to do, you do better than anyone else."
She walked around the counter to give him a kiss. "Thank you, Chuck. I don't agree with you, but it warms my heart when you say it."
Casey walked in at that moment. "Time to work, you two." He headed straight down into Castle to get weapons. Sarah already had hers, so when Casey came back up, they got into the Crown Vic.
As they pulled up at the showroom, Chuck spotted one of the Triad guys drive past. He was heading to where the rest of his team was.
Sarah caught his thoughts and grabbed Casey's arm. "They're out the back with the Rolls Royce."
Casey switched the engine back on and raced around there. Both front windows were wound down.
"Get down, Chuck," Sarah called to him. He was in the back and dived down.
Sarah and Casey shot two of the Triad before the car stopped.
Sarah leaped out and fired a thought rather than a bullet at the woman and the remaining man. 'Drop the gun!'
Both did that, not understanding why. Lao reached for the nearest weapon she could find as Sarah approached her.
Sarah actually relished the thought of a fight, but didn't get a chance to do that because Chuck commanded Lao to go to sleep, and she slumped down in front of the blonde.
Sarah glared at him, but he just shrugged. 'I don't want my fiancée damaged in any way.'
She huffed. 'I'll have to wrestle with you tonight instead.'
'Can't wait!'
She shook her head and bent down to cuff Lao.
Chuck flashed on the Rolls' hood ornament. He pointed at it. "That's where they're going to plant the bomb." He turned to the remaining man that Casey had handcuffed and 'read' his mind. "But they've not done it yet." He pointed down to the case next to it. "It's in there."
"Okay. Bomb disposal should be here any second." Casey shoved the man to Chuck, grabbed the case, and took it outside, seeing them arrive and waving them over.
It was all over in seconds. The ambassador got his car. Wang was arrested, along with the two remaining Triad members, and the three set off back to Burbank.
"Good day's work," Casey muttered.
"Yup," Sarah and Chuck replied simultaneously and then grinned at each other.
When they got back to the Buy More, all three of them walked in to see Jeff and Lester performing, if that's what you could call it.
Casey shook his head and walked off. Chuck and Sarah, on the other hand, saw Devon and Ellie in the "audience" and walked over to them.
Ellie said to Devon, "Honey, you're not seriously considering this lame band for our wedding day?"
Chuck looked at them, horrified at what he was hearing, not just Ellie's words but the awful singing from Lester.
Devon shrugged it off. "No, but let a man have his dream, even if it is for five minutes."
Chuck breathed a sigh of relief and stepped back.
"We're not having them either," Sarah muttered to him.
"God, no!" he replied. "But, as Devon says, give them their five minutes."
She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder.
Morgan walked up and stood next to Chuck, and Anna stood next to him.
"Hey, guys," Morgan said. He looked up at Chuck. "Look at us, man. We both got girlfriends."
Chuck and Sarah both looked over at the smiling face of Anna Wu, who was watching the performance as she had her head on Morgan's shoulder.
"This is as good as it gets, man," Morgan added.
Chuck put his arm around Sarah. 'It is great, but it can get better, can't it, Sarah?'
'Do you mean tonight, or are you talking about our future?' Sarah asked. He wasn't sure how she got that flirty feel to her thoughts.
'Both!' he replied, hugging her a little bit tighter.
'Good answer!' she said and hugged him back.
When they got back to their apartment, Sarah did indeed wrestle with Chuck for quite a while. They both won.
As they lay on the bed panting, Chuck decided he loved her wanting it a bit rougher occasionally, just not all the time.
She chuckled. "Mr. Bartowski. Are you turning soft on me? Into a gentle and tender lover? Because, if you are, just like self-defense training, I'll have to toughen you up."
He leaned over and started to tickle her, causing her to squeal. However, she soon grabbed his hands and had him on his back again, this time with his hands pinned above his head.
"Am I in for some 'rough stuff' now?" he asked, looking a bit excited.
She leaned down and kissed him, then said, "No. We'll do tender. I do love that as well."
And she showed him. A couple of times…
A/N: Suburbs was one of my favorite episodes. People talk about how Sarah rejected the idea of staying in the suburb after the mission was complete in the show, but she was told it was over, and she looked really sad as the house was emptied. Here Beckman lets them stay as a reward for a job well done. Best Friend irritated the hell out of me, but that's for a different story.
Please drop me a review and let me know what you thought of this one.