Author's Note - Thank you for the wonderful response to chapter 1. I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter, but I wrote it while I was on vacation, with no wireless Internet access.
When I first thought of this story, I wasn't sure how much of the action part of the show I would bring into my story. Mainly because I didn't think I'd be able to write that aspect- I still don't. However, I went for it anyway, because it'll help move Sarah and Chuck's thought processes along.
That being said, the inspiration for some of the action aspect of this story comes from the great novel by Andre Dubus III called The Garden of Last Days, which incidentally takes place where I vacationed.
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Sarah Walker knows how to be a spy. She knows how to throw a knife so fast, you don't see it until it stabs you. She knows how to seduce her mark until he's putty in her hands. She knows how to kick, to punch and to choke. What she doesn't know is how to be a woman. She's never had a best friend, never gone to college and drank so much that she puked until she blacked out. She's never had a real boyfriend.
But now, she has to be a spy and a woman. She has to protect her asset and protect the life growing inside of her. No one can know that second part yet, though. She's too afraid to tell anyone else besides Chuck. She still hasn't had a doctor confirm it, so she doesn't know her exact due date. The morning at the motel was nine weeks ago, so maybe she's nine weeks along? But she doesn't know how doctors count these things.
She's too afraid because it's still possible that she will lose the baby. Sarah's too afraid because there's still a part of her that's not sure that she can even have this baby to begin with.
But then she looks at Chuck, her asset and the father of the life growing inside of her. She sees his smile and wonders if their child will have that goofy, happy grin as well. Sarah wonders if the child will have Chuck's curly brown hair or her straight, pale blonde.
Will her child be like her? Or will her child be like Chuck? Will the baby be happy-go-lucky like its father, excited by the world but secretly cynical at the same time? Or will the baby be stoic and damaged like its mother?
These thoughts have kept Sarah's mind running nearly 24/7. She's even dreaming about these questions. But when Chuck flashes for the first time in weeks, it's time to go back to what she knows- how to be a spy.
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Mohammed el-Sayyid has been in the United States for three weeks. He's been given $16,000 and instructions written in the margins of the Quran. He knows what he's to do and for three weeks, he's been working to transform himself until the day that he's to be reborn, to be brought back to his leader.
He's been able to lay low, moving from New York City to Miami to Los Angeles before meeting up with his three associates. They know their mark and now they prepare.
He's been able to lay low until he discovers a problem with his laptop and comes to the Burbank Buy More to have it looked at.
Chuck's flash is short but frightening. It's the Quran, pieces about jihad popping out from the pages. There's Osama bin Laden and Ramzi Yousef and there are airplanes. And for some reason, there's also an image of pie.
When his flash ends and the customer is still standing in front of him, Chuck shakes his head and gulps, promising to have the laptop returned to tip-top shape by the next morning. When the man finally leaves, Chuck nearly runs over everyone in his wake until he finds Casey trying to yet again, move a Beastmaster. Their subsequent conversation is short and leads them straight to Castle, grabbing Sarah as she cleans the counters of an empty yogurt shop.
General Beckman's presence through the video monitor is intense and the team knows that an important mission lay in front of them.
"Chuck, your flash represents just some of the intelligence we have gained in the past 8 years regarding a resurgence of the Taliban in various Middle Eastern countries and their renewed vigor to strike the United States again. Homeland Security has been sent intelligence from multiple nations about more plane strikes. The man you met is named Mohammed el-Sayyid. He is an Egyptian national who is part of a plan to take down the United Nations."
"General, if I may interrupt", Sarah says as she takes a seat at the table, paper in hand for note-taking. "If el-Sayyid is part of a mission to take down the UN, what is he doing in Los Angeles with a broken laptop?"
"That I don't know the answer to. It is up to your team to not only determine the nature of his mission, but to bring in Mr. el-Sayyid at any cost. A tail was set up on his vehicle this afternoon and his car has been parked in front of Dirty City for the past thirty minutes."
"The strip club?" Chuck asks.
"Yes, Mr. Bartowski. The strip club. It seems as if he has not left his car since pulling into the parking lot. Your mission is to infiltrate the club."
Chuck looks to Sarah because he's afraid he knows what this mission will entail and Sarah responds by looking down at her notes, trying to avoid his concerned gaze and her racing thoughts.
"How exactly will we infiltrate, General?" the Nerd Herder asks, stumbling on his words.
"Agent Walker is to pose as a stripper, doing anything she has to to get Mr. el-Sayyid alone."
"I'm not, uh, quite sure if that's a good idea…" Chuck says, mumbling the end because he sees that Sarah has lifted her head and is glaring at him.
"What's the problem?" Casey asks, looking back and forth between Sarah and Chuck. General Beckman is doing the same.
"No problem", Sarah says too quickly. "It's okay. It's okay."
Casey and Beckman are still as confused as ever, but the General continues.
"This assignment needs to begin immediately, before the mark leaves the parking lot. I'll check in in a few hours."
Just as fast as she appeared, the General's image is gone and the three members of Team Bartowski are left silent.
"What is up with you two?" Casey asks. "You nervous about your girl being drooled over by a bunch of drunk, sweaty men? It's nothing that hasn't happened before."
Chuck and Sarah both look up from their spots at the table and glare at the major.
"But now it's diff…" Chuck says but is unable to finish his sentence before Sarah jumps on him, metaphorically speaking.
"Can I talk to you upstairs, Chuck?" Sarah gets up from the table and walks to Chuck's side, pulling him up.
"Well, you see, you phrased that like a question and I don't think…"
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Sarah's not dumb, she knows the Orange Orange is bugged so she continues to pull Chuck upstairs, through the shop and out into the parking lot.
"Sit", the blonde woman says as she gets to the yogurt shop's patio chairs.
"Okay, okay", Chuck says, conceding. "I'm sitting."
"You and I had decided, well…I had decided that we're not telling anyone yet. It's still early and I can still do my job."
"But this is a dangerous mission."
"They're all dangerous, Chuck."
"I'm just afraid that you're going to lose the baby…", the man says as he rests a hand on the belly of the blonde agent standing above him.
Before Sarah can even register what Chuck has done, she grabs his hand and pulls it off of her abdomen. Not even ten seconds has gone by but that quick moment says enough.
"I'm sorry", Sarah says. "I'm just, I'm not used to being touched like that and I just don't know…"
"…if you want the baby", Chuck says, finishing Sarah's sentence with a sad tone and his puppy dog eyes.
"It's more that I'm not sure how to have it. The agency will…"
"Forget the agency for one minute", Chuck says, exasperated. "Just try to think of what you want."
"I have. I am. Every second since I found out. But right now, I need a break from the constant chatter in my head. I just want to do my job again, something I'm good at. I'll be fine tonight, Chuck. G-d knows that you'll be there because you'll refuse to stay in the car. And Casey will be there, too. Me and your baby will be fine."
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