A/N: Hello and sorry for the delay. Been a little unwrapped up…plinking away at this and swimmer and TRFW and this chapter dropped first…hope it passes approval…thank you to everyone who has given up a little of their valuable time and reviewed…it really means a lot to me…so, man o man, she's really gonna quit acting…the tears that I've shed…wait, that wasn't me, that was P.B.B….come on man, toughen up…you got the nice weather…big thanks to STN for all of the help…one of these days I'll actually get one to you first, until then, all of the mistakes contained here-in are mine…that's right, I claim all of these errors as my own…if they distract from your reading pleasure…what, is this the first chapter of mine you've read?…pffffftttt!…I wallow in my faults for they are many…but at the end of the day?…I'm still having fun doing this…thank you, Jim, for the nudge.
I don't own Chuck…or any of the characters in the Chuckverse…and, surprise, surprise…I'm not making money doing this.
Um...about the title. I've had some great suggestions but haven;t found the one yet that just makes me kick the one foot up and go...ahhhhhh. Plus, I'm lazy.
Hey you…yeah you…go ahead, give it a try. Hell, if I can cobble this stuff together, you can to…give it a try…trust me, it's a lot of fun…just promise me that you won't fall for that Nigerian Prince scam…that's right, Prince Boo Boo isn't Nigerian and you won't receive anything if you send him photos of your toes…trust me that…I know! JT
Bryce Larkin - Douche Bag At Large - Chapter 7
Sarah looked down at the corner of the display of her laptop, took note of the time and realized that the video conference with both Director Graham and General Beckman had lasted almost an hour. It had taken most of that time to convince her boss that Chuck shouldn't be taken to a secure bunker as soon as the conference was concluded. It seemed that CIA Directors really disliked being called on their private, unlisted phone number. The General had sat quietly while Sarah had explained that she hadn't really been trying to kill Chuck, that she'd simply been testing a theory. She admitted that her testing method may have been a bit extreme but that the results spoke volumes.
"Let me see if I have this right" the General had said, finally getting into the discussion. "You threw a knife at the mark and he caught it in mid-flight and you believe this action was a by-product of the intersect upload?"
"Yes ma'am."
"And the mark seems to be able to access all of the intelligence files that were also contained in the intersect as well?" the look of disbelief on her face easy to read.
"Yes ma'am" Sarah had answered and then waited while the two people on the other end of the video link seemed to be considering their options. It didn't show on her face but Sarah Walker was worried. She knew that a secure holding facility was a very real possibility as was a termination order but she was hoping for the third option, that Chuck would be allowed to remain where he was with a security detail assigned to keep him out of harms way.
As the silence seemed to stretch on, she found herself thinking about what happened that morning. She thought about how tender yet delightfully bruising Chuck's kisses had been and how his hands had felt right as they held her to him. She remembered feeling embarrassed when she'd woken up to find him smiling at her as she floated back to earth after the orgasm she'd ground herself to on his thigh. She almost smiled when she realized that if Ellie's entrance had been a couple of minutes later, she would have been grinding against him again, this time without clothes in the way. Before she could lose herself to more thoughts of what she and Chuck might have been doing if his sister hadn't walked in, the voice of General Diane Beckman snapped her beck to reality.
"Agent Walker, Major Casey has rented an apartment in the same complex as Mr. Bartowski and we would like to have his assessment before we make the final determination concerning the intersect" the general finished and then abruptly cut her video feed. The split screen disappeared, leaving her face to face with Director Graham.
"Agent Walker…Sarah, I need your best game on this. The NSA will be looking for any excuse to limit Mr. Bartowski's 'exposure' and I'm sure that Casey has been told to look for a reason to take control of the asset. I need you to stay as close to Bartowski as you can. Will that be a problem?"
"No sir, not a problem at all." Sarah answered with a straight face as she struggled to keep the smile she was feeling from breaking through.
"If you're correct about the upload, Mr. Bartowski could very well be the most important intelligence asset we've ever seen and I don't want to lose him to the NSA. I would also appreciate it if you would make sure he doesn't call me in the middle of the night…again."
"Yes sir" she answered only to realize that she was talking to a blank screen. After double checking to make sure that the connections were in fact cut, she allowed the smile she'd been fighting for the last fifteen minutes to take over her face. Making her way into the bathroom of her motel room, she got herself ready for a shower , peeling off the clothes she'd been wearing since the night before and tossing them into a pile in the corner. Stepping under the warm water, she reached for her body wash and soon found herself lost in the memories of earlier in the morning as she ran her lather covered hands across breasts. Imagining Chuck's hands, she soon found herself on the edge and when she thought of his lips and tongue and how she'd like him to use them on her, she came in a rush that left her knees shaking and she had to reach for the wall so she wouldn't slide to the floor. As she struggled to get her breathing back to normal, she found herself trying to remember the last time she'd been affected by a man this way and she couldn't.
Recognizing the need to clear her head, she reached out a hand and quickly turned the shower control and gasped as the cold water began cascading down her body. After five minutes, she stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, her head clear and her body covered in goosebumps, both the direct result of the cold water that had dragged her back to reality. As she dried her body, she began planning the rest of her day, starting with the visit she would soon be making to Burbank Buymore in hopes of convincing Chuck Bartowski to let her take him out for lunch. She told herself that the visit was just to warn him about John Casey's impending visit but the truth was that she just wanted to see him. She wanted to look into those brown eyes again and stand near enough to him to breath in his scent.
'Oh crap' she said to herself when the realization struck that she was in trouble. Dropping the towel, she stepped back into the shower and made sure that the water was at it's coldest.
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Sarah walked through the sliding doors and stopped just inside the Buymore, scanning the store for the person she'd come to see. She noticed right away that he wasn't behind the counter where he'd been the last time she visited and the quick scan of the rest of the store had failed to find him. Tamping down a quick flare of disappointment and worry, she started making her way to the 'NerdHerd' desk, ready to ask the two people who were standing there. She had covered almost half of the distance when she got a better look at what was waiting for her at the journey's end and seriously considered turning around and leaving. It wasn't that the two men standing there were imposing or scary in any way. That, she could've handled, easily. The thing that gave her pause, possibly for the first time in her life, was the almost visible, 'skeevy' aura that both of the men seemed to radiate. Offering a silent prayer for Chuck to appear before she reached the counter, she actually slowed her steps as she fought against an urge to shudder. Reaching the counter without her 'miracle', she struggled to decide which of the two 'things' standing in front of her she would force herself to speak with. Before she could pick the lesser of two 'skeevils', the decision was taken out of her hands when the shorter of the two opened his mouth.
"Yes, miss, how may I service you…today?" the one with his 'Lester' name tag hanging askew asked while he making no effort to hide his attempt to look down her blouse.
"Yeah" the taller one added, his eyes seemingly unable to focus on anything.
"I would like to speak with Chuck Bartowski. Is he available?" she answered, still struggling to contain the shudder that she had been feeling since first noticing the two.
"Charles? Oh, that's not necessary. I'm sure that I can fulfill any needs that you night have…any at all" he replied, his eyes still straining to get glimpse down Sarah's shirt.
"I don't think so. Chuck was going to help me select a new laptop and offered to assist me in setting up a website, for my business." Sarah answered, deciding that she'd have to leave before she killed the little perv who couldn't seem to take a hint. Before she could turn to leave, Lester reached out a hand and gripped her arm.
"Trust me, miss, my friend and I have much more experience with adult web-sites than Charles. We've helped Jeffrey's sister and several of her friends get started and we are willing to work off part of the fee in trade."
"You should remove your hand from my arm before you lose it." Sarah said in a quiet, menace filled voice. She'd drawn back her free hand, ready to deliver a disabling blow when Chuck's panicked voice distracted her.
"Miss Walker" Chuck shouted as he came running from the back of the store. "Miss Walker" he said again as he closed the distance, hoping he'd get to the counter before Sarah knocked Lester's head off.
Sarah looked up at the sound of Chuck's voice and saw him as he hurried towards her. She immediately allowed her fist to drop to her side, suddenly aware of just how close she'd come to decking the irritating little man who still had his hand on her arm. Turning her eyes back to her current irritant, she noticed that he had stopped talking and was simply staring at her chest, a dazed look on his face. Looking down, she was embarrassed to realize that one of the buttons on her shirt had worked itself open and she was giving the small man standing in front of her more of a show than she ever intended. Shaking her arm from his feeble grasp, she quickly re-buttoned her shirt and then watched as Chuck Bartowski stepped up behind Lester and Jeff. She couldn't believe the anger she saw in his eyes and then just as quickly, it was gone, leaving behind a smile. He glanced at her and then winked an eye.
"Lester…Jeff…I believe it would be in your best interests to apologize to Miss Walker" he said, keeping his voice even. When it appeared that Sarah's chest had hypnotized the two men, Chuck simply gave each one of the a flick on the ear which managed to get their attention.
"Charles, what exactly do you think you are doing? You know you are not supposed to touch another employee. How many times have you heard Jeffrey being told that exact thing? Well, Charles?"
"Shut up, Lester. Not only did you touch a customer…"
"It was simply on her arm, which, I might add, she was holding up there for such a purpose…"
Sarah was about to object when she saw the subtle shake of Chuck's head as her caught her eye. He was definitely up to something so she decided to let it play out, promising herself that she'd jump in if it became necessary.
"Lester…not only did you touch a customer without her express permission, you also suggested that she was an adult entertainer and that you would be willing to exchange Buymore goods for sex…"
"Charles, that's just not true, besides, you were no where near hear when…um, if, such a thing was said." Lester explained, trying desperately to back-peddle out of this mess he made for himself. "Besides, it was all Jeff's idea…"
"It was too…" Jeff blurted out, picking that moment to emerge from his 'bra sighting' induced stupor, "…er, it was not" he corrected himself, still unsure what exactly was going on.
"Jeff, I'd advise you to shut up before Lester actually gets you into trouble. So far you're just guilty of leering and being, well, of being you. I think it would be best if you took your break…right now" Chuck finished by giving the man a gentle nudge towards the back of the store, aiming him, more or less, in the vague direction of the employee break room. Lester, suddenly feeling the attention on someone else, attempted to follow Jeff's lead and walk away, only to find Chuck suddenly blocking his way. "Lester, I believe you were about to apologize…"
"I didn't do anything wrong" he said, trying to look innocent and ending up with his usual look…the guilty of something look.
"Very well then, why don't you just stand there while I get the paperwork together so that Miss Walker can fill out the sexual harassment complaint. I keep them right here. Oh, and I suppose I should have Big Mike make copy of the surveillance video for the last hour, as well" he said as if the thought had just occurred to him. Reaching out, he pulled open a drawer and reached inside. Before he could pull anything out, Lester had turned towards Sarah and dropped to his knees.
"I'm so very sorry" he wailed, his lower lip trembling. "My blood sugar was low, and…uh, I had too much cough medicine and…uh, I forgot to take my mid-morning ADD meds and I…"
"Enough" Sarah said, trying to keep a straight face. Before she could say anything else, Chuck pulled some papers from the drawer and bent down to whisper into Lester's ear.
"I think you should turn around now and step over to the other side of the counter and keep an eye open for the next customer that you can be very nice to…sound good?"
"Why, yes Charles, that sounds like a brilliant course of action" Lester answered, suddenly very eager to get as far away from Sarah as he could, without actually leaving the nerd herd area.
Chuck looked into Sarah's eyes and gave a quick wink and a smile. "So, Miss Walker, if you'd like, I would be happy to go over your options vis-à-vis this paperwork and Buymore's very serious desire to provide as pleasant a shopping experience as possible. If you would like, I could take a break and go over these forms with you, just to make sure that you want to go through with this. Lester, I'll be taking a break now. I'm hoping, for your sake, that Miss Walker and I can come to an understanding."
Lester turned slowly and whispered, just loud enough to be heard, that he hoped that she would forgive him and that he'd be happy to reimburse them for the cost of their lunch, adding that he thought that Lou's had a lunch special and that they might try there. Chuck smiled, amazed that Lester, even when he had him by the proverbial 'short hairs', would still try and 'cheap' out.
Putting down a hand, Chuck vaulted over the counter and stood beside Sarah. Noticing that Lester was watching, he reached over and picked up the papers he pulled from the drawer and then, as if remembering something, he reached across the counter and turned his laptop towards him. He spent a few moments with his hands seeming to fly across the keys and then paused, looked at his watch, and then went back to typing. "There" he said with a final flourish on the keyboard, "all of the appropriate surveillance video has been saved to a special off-site server, just in case I can't talk her out of this". He desperately wanted to laugh out loud at the look of abject fear that he saw in Lester's eyes. "I'll be back soon. At least, I hope it's soon." he said as he looked at the small man standing across from him.
"Please Charles, take as much time as you need…I've got this covered. Once again, miss, please accept my deepest apologies" he said as he allowed his eyes to drift towards something he'd just discovered on the floor. "I don't know what I was doing I…"he stumbled to a halt when he looked back up and found that the object of his apology was walking towards the main exit, her arm laced through Chucks. "Crap, that was too close" he mumbled to himself as he watched a customer approach the counter. "What do you want?" he asked, making it clear to the person that he really didn't care. Glancing down at his watch, he looked back up at the customer. "Sorry, I'm on break. Someone should be here soon…ish." he said before turning around and heading towards the back of the store, leaving a very confused looking man standing alone at the counter.
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As soon as they'd stepped through the front doors, Sarah pulled her arm from Chuck's, gave him a light punch to the shoulder and then re-inserted her arm. She started pulling away from the row of Nerd Herders which was apparently where Chuck had been heading. "I'm not riding in one of those unless you can promise me that Lester has never been in that particular vehicle." Looking at the man walking next to her, she saw him consider saying something and then abandon that idea in favor of allowing her to lead him where ever she wanted. She saw the brief look of awe when, with the push of a button on her key fob, the alarm chirped in the midnight blue Porsche she just led them to.
"So, you could find anything else that screamed 'hey look at me?' in the CIA garage?" Chuck asked with a smile.
"Sure I could have, but this was the only one that belonged to me."
"Wow, this car is beautiful" Chuck replied, swallowing his original thought of answering that he knew that because he'd read her files. He knew that she was uncomfortable with the level of his knowledge of her and he'd promised himself to avoid flaunting that knowledge whenever possible. "Want me to drive?" he asked with a waggle of his eyebrows thrown in, pretty sure what her response would be and being totally shocked when she simply tossed him the keys. He saw the brief look of hesitation when he asked her if she was sure but smiled when she walked around to the passenger side where he had been standing with the door open and slid into the seat.
"You're the first, Chuck" Sarah said when she caught him staring at her.
"I'm the first what, exactly?" he replied as he slid into the drivers seat.
"The first man I've ever let drive this car. Now, no scratches or dents! Start her up and let's go." She watched as Chuck briefly closed his eyes and then re-opened them before inserting the key into the ignition. She had the sudden feeling that the man sitting next to her had just accessed the intersect and, if she was right, he could now probably drive her car better than she could. She still couldn't figure out why she'd offered Chuck the keys in the first place but at least now she knew that her 'baby' was in good hands. For some reason that thought triggered a memory from the morning and she silently added, 'really, really good hands' while she took the time to admire the way Chuck seemed to fit just right into her car. As Chuck backed out of the parking space, Sarah reached for the AC controls and, telling herself it wasn't as effective as a cold shower but would have to do, she cranked the temperature setting to it's coldest and adjusted the vents near her to blow right into her face.
"Where to?" Chuck asked and had to repeat himself when Sarah seemed to be lost in thought. "Where to?"
"Oh, sorry about that" she said after giving her head a quick shake. "Your place".
"Why my place, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Well, you have a new neighbor and you need to meet him."
"Um, ok?"
"Trust me, Chuck. I could try and explain but I have a feeling the answer you get from the intersect will be a lot faster and more informative…ok?"
"Sure. Um, how about lunch?"
"After, I promise."
Chuck drove on in silence, enjoying the feel of the car beneath him and marveling at the skills and knowledge that where now at his command. He toyed with the idea of putting some of his new found abilities to the test but realized that he already had been when he glanced down and noticed the speedo had climbed into the triple digits. Taking his foot back out of the gas pedal, he down shifted and got ready for his exit which had crept up on him a lot faster than he could ever remember it doing before. Glancing towards his passenger, he took note of the smile on her face and decided he must have passed…at least, so far.
A few minutes later, he pulled into a parking space in front of his, well, 'actually Ellie's apartment complex' he told himself and, moments after he pulled the key from the ignition, he was standing at the passenger door, holding it open as Sarah slowly got out of the car. He had several questions ready for her but decided to wait, feeling pretty confidant that he'd have a whole lot more, soon enough.
Once again he allowed Sarah to guide him and soon they were standing in front of the door that Chuck remembered seeing the large man carrying the box towards earlier in the morning. He stood next to Sarah and waited while she knocked on the door. Moments later the door swung inwards and Chuck got his first look at Major John Casey. Sarah watched as Chuck closed his eyes and then re-opened them.
"Sugar Bear" Chuck said with a smile as he offered his hand. He never saw the hand that was suddenly wrapped around his throat. He saw the look of rage that contorted the large man's face and he closed his eyes briefly and the re-opened them and choked out, 'I'm sorry' before reaching his own hand out and grabbing at the side of Casey's neck.
Sarah couldn't believe that things had gotten so weird, so fast. Casey had opened his door, Chuck had offered some nick name as a greeting. Casey had grabbed Chuck's throat and before she could force herself to move, Chuck had mumbled something and reached a hand out and grabbed the side of the Major's neck. It seemed that as soon as Chuck had touched the other man's neck, Major John Casey had dropped like a puppet whose strings had all been cut. She didn't know what to do. Chuck was leaning against the doorframe, struggling to catch his breath and laying at her feet, the unmoving body of John Casey. "What the fuck just happened?" she asked, wondering just who would answer her question.
A/N: 2 Hey, hoped it was tolerable. Hit that button and let me know. Please.
