A Common Spy Problem

A/N: Once upon a time there was a story that went off grid for a while, but it's ba-ack. Now for those of you who can't remember, when we left off, Sarah had shot Mauser and lied to Chuck about it. Not awesome, Sarah. Also, you've left me bunches of reviews, so thanks for those.

Given the fact that Morgan is now zooming with the Intersect, it should be clear that I don't own Chuck.

Chapter 17

Mauser smirked. "It's gonna be the end of his pathetic existence."

Sarah raised her arm, took aim and squeezed the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the quiet night air as Mauser crumpled to the ground. She turned around to face Chuck, sitting on the edge of the fountain. The fear she saw in his eyes disappeared and a look of determination crossed his face. He shook his head slowly. "You and I can never have a future together. I'm a normal guy who wants a normal life and as amazing as you are, Sarah Walker, we both know that you will never be normal."

Sarah's eyes snapped open, her heart thumping in her throat. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, her hand searched the bed behind her, only to find cold sheets. She whipped around, scanning the room for any sign of Chuck. She was alone. She listened for sounds from the bathroom, but the apartment was quiet. Her heart started racing again. She jumped out of bed and was halfway to the door when she realized she was wearing only panties and one of Chuck's t-shirts. Pausing briefly, she grabbed a pair of his pajama bottoms from the drawer and pulled them on before making her way down the hall.

She found Chuck in the kitchen, cooking breakfast, and gave herself a mental shake for overreacting. He hadn't heard her approach, so she waited until he put the pan back on the stove after flipping a pancake. When he half turned to reach for batter he spotted her. "Hey, why are you up? It's still early."

Still shaken from her dream, Sarah crossed to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Don't scare me like that."

"Come on," he teased, "my cooking's not that bad." He pulled back to look at her, frowning slightly. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she answered breathily, running her palm across the side of his face to assure herself that he was real, that he was in fact standing in the kitchen, holding her. He didn't look convinced by her reply, but let it drop and stepped out of her embrace.

"The pancake's gonna burn," he explained and lifted the pan to let it slide onto the plate. "There's coffee," he spoke as he started a fresh pancake, pointing to the pot with his spatula.

Sarah poured them each a cup, added milk and sugar to Chuck's and slid it across to counter to him.

"Thanks," he said without turning. He reached for it with one hand while turning the bacon with the other.

Sarah took a sip of her own before putting the mug down and stepping up behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, needing the closeness, and stood on her toes to rest her chin on his shoulder. "I thought Devon usually makes breakfast."

"He and Ellie got called in early, something about a bus accident on the 101."

"That sounds horrible."

"Yeah."

Satisfied that the bacon was done, Chuck switched off the burner and turned his attention back to the pancake. He flipped it with a small flick of the wrist. Sarah watched, thinking that if she ever taught him how to throw a knife, he would be rather good at it. She shook off the thought. That was not something she wanted Chuck to learn. He didn't belong in the spy life, he was too good a person for that. As it was, he was in too deep already.

Chuck slid the last pancake onto the stack that was already threatening to tumble over. Sarah backed away, giving him room to move, then looked at the spread and groaned.

"After Ellie's Christmas feast I've promised myself I'd only eat fruit for the next week." Nonetheless she picked off a piece of pancake and popped it into her mouth, followed by another sip of coffee.

"Well, you're gonna need sustenance if you're going to keep punishing Emmett the way you do," Chuck spoke as he loaded two plates. Sarah nearly dropped her mug as she tried to not sputter all over the kitchen floor. "I mean your Emmett, not mine," he clarified.

"How do you know about that?" She'd been careful to avoid Chuck finding out about her sudden need to pummel the punch dummy in an effort to work through her guilt.

Chuck transferred their breakfast to the counter and followed Sarah to the other side of it where the stools were. "Casey made some comment in passing."

"What did he say?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"Something about you being frustrated because I'm hiding the peanut butter." He stuffed a fork full of food in his mouth, oblivious to Sarah trying not to choke for the second time in as many minutes. "I didn't even know you liked peanut butter all that much," Chuck shrugged after he'd swallowed.

When she didn't respond, he looked over at her and she felt a blush creep up her neck. His jaw went slack for a moment. "That's Casey's metaphor for… Seriously? Peanut butter?" His voice rose with indignation and he cleared his throat. "I wish he would just stick to his no talking about lady feelings policy."

Sarah shared the sentiment. Not only did Casey not possess the gift of subtlety, he inadvertently had an inside track on their love life, as he was responsible for surveillance on nights she didn't stay over. And she hadn't for the three nights following Christmas.

She'd been up until early each morning filing overdue reports and afterwards headed straight to her hotel for a couple of hours of restless sleep. Chuck had finally convinced her the night before to take a break and join them for movie night, but somewhere in the middle of the fourth fast and furious drag race, exhaustion had caught up with her and she'd blacked out. She remembered him waking her up to brush her teeth, change and get into bed, but as soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep again. Casey would have noticed that too and probably kept the surveillance running.

The realization of what else Casey would have caught on tape, her in a weak moment, made her stomach churn and she pushed her plate away.

"What's wrong?" Chuck asked.

"I guess I'm not as hungry as I thought." Pushing down her concern about what Casey might or might not have seen, she met Chuck's gaze. "I'm sorry, I know you went to a lot of trouble."

"Don't worry about it," he replied as he attacked his own plate with gusto, "I'll take the leftovers to work. Morgan doesn't let anything go to waste." He winked at her and she conjured up a small smile for him. "Speaking of work," Chuck continued, "Casey asked if you could run a background check on the new green-shirt starting today. His name's Butterman and he's an old friend of Big Mike's, so personally I think he should be okay."

"Isn't that nepotism?" Sarah asked as she finished off the last of her coffee, trying not to think about the last background check she had run and how that had almost turned out.

"Big Mike's just helping him to comply with his parole conditions. He's being a good friend."

Sarah frowned, turning her attention fully to Chuck. "Parole? I thought you said he should be okay."

"Everyone deserves a second chance." Chuck jerked a shoulder. "Besides, he did time for insider trading, so I doubt he's dangerous." Sarah gave him a dubious look. "You don't have to take my word for it, run your check and see for yourself."

His comment put her on the defensive. "Chuck, I respect your opinion, I really do, but it's my job to make sure you are safe."

"I know."

He finished his last pancake and got up to start gathering the dishes. Sarah grabbed his wrist, forcing him to stop and look at her as she slid off her own stool. As she was barefoot, he looked down at her and one eyebrow arched when she didn't immediately say anything. Another beat of silence passed before she cocked her head.

"I think we need a night off. No spy stuff and no missions. We can do anything you want." It was a spur of the moment suggestion, but she figured they could use a time out. She needed to get her mind of the ghost of Mauser before she did irreversible damage to her relationship with Chuck.

Chuck's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Really," Sarah nodded.

He chewed his bottom lip, weighing his options. She saw his face light up, and half expected a light bulb to appear over his head, but just as quickly, it dropped.

"What?" she prompted as her hand slid down to his, giving it a squeeze.

"Well," Chuck started, a note of uncertainty in his voice, "you know Morgan has been down in the dumps over the Anna and Lester situation, and we haven't spent much time together since this crazy spy thing started, and even less after you and I started dating, for real I mean…"

"You want a boys' night with Morgan," Sarah cut in when it seemed Chuck was never going to get to the point.

"Game night," he corrected. "But only if that's okay with you. I don't believe in the whole bro's before ho…," he caught himself. "However," he quickly amended, "you are more than welcome to join us."

Sarah felt a stab of disappointment, despite the fact that she understood where he was coming from. Chuck might be the most important person in her life, but she had to share him with other people he cared about, though as an only child, she had trouble sharing. Seeing the now barely contained excitement on his face, she melted. She'd do anything for him. She had proven that already.

"That's sweet of you to invite me, Chuck, but I don't think we should be flaunting our relationship in front of Morgan."

"But you're okay with it?" he asked again.

"Of course," Sarah nodded. "I'll ask Casey to disable surveillance and give you guys some privacy." At that, Chuck beamed. "But only if you promise to keep your watch on and let us know if you get into any trouble."

"I promise."

She shot him a smile before letting go of his hand and glancing down at her watch. "I better go get ready." Standing on her toes, she brushed her lips over his cheek. "Thanks for breakfast."

"Sarah," Chuck called her back before she disappeared down the hall. With a hand on the doorway she turned. He was still smiling. "You're aces."

There was a knock on the bathroom door just as Sarah was putting her hair up in a clip. "It's open," she called and retied the towel that threatened to slip before she reached for her toothbrush.

Chuck's head appeared around the doorjamb and he pointed toward the shower. "Do you mind? I would let you finish, but Casey called, and I quote, 'we have to get our derrières to the store, as in yesterday'."

She waved him inside. "Derrières?"

Chuck's shoulders rose. "No idea. Maybe he's been reading Miss Manners."

"Doubtful. So, do we have a mission?" she asked before popping the toothbrush into her mouth.

"Nope, we have a rock star." His comment was muffled by the shirt he was pulling over his head.

Sarah shot him a questioning look in the mirror which he missed as finished undressing with his back to her. She rinsed, dabbed the corners of her mouth dry and turned, but Chuck was already in the shower.

"Chuck," she spoke loudly so he could hear her over the running water. "What rock star?"

"Tyler Martin," he half yelled back. "Apparently he had this huge promotion over at Large Mart, but they pulled the plug about the whole sex tape thing. I guess Big Mike heard about it and offered him the Buy More."

She imagined the Buy More was gonna need all hands on deck for crowd control, or more specifically, the hands that were actually sober and willing to work. She wanted to know more about Tyler Martin, personal curiosity mixed with some professional concern, but decided to wait until Chuck was done so they could have a conversation like civil human beings. Turning back to the mirror, she let her hair loose and fluffed it out with her fingers. Her eyes darted to Chuck's silhouette behind the fogged up shower door and she almost groaned. Avoiding him these past few days definitely had its drawbacks.

"So, Tyler Martin?" Sarah asked when Chuck finally emerged with a towel tied around his waist.

"Pfft," he waved it off. "That is one pop culture lesson we will be skipping. His music is overproduced, the lyrics are completely banal…I mean Facebook even has a group called 'I want to kill Tyler Martin'. Not that I'm a member," he added quickly in response to Sarah's quirked eyebrow. "That's just wrong."

Chuck reached around her for his toothbrush, absentmindedly dropping a hand on her shoulder for balance. He froze. "Hi-yo. Do you keep tennis balls back here?"

Sarah's brain scrambled for a response, but before she could come up with a suitable excuse, his thumb pressed down hard on a knot below her collarbone. She tried to suppress a grimace and failed.

"Sorry." He gave her a sheepish look in the mirror, but didn't remove his hand. Instead, his thumb started drawing gentler circles, working it's the way across to the back of her neck. "Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?"

Everything inside her went stock still. Their gazes in the mirror stayed locked and Sarah opened her mouth. To say what, she had no idea, but as if on cue, Chuck's phone rang in the bedroom.

"That would be Casey," Chuck said needlessly. They both recognized the ringtone.

"I guess we better hurry." She berated herself for sounding breathy, but if Chuck had noticed, it didn't show. He merely nodded when his hand dropped from her shoulder.

The drive had been fairly silent. Sarah kept her eyes on the road, Chuck on his phone. She'd sent surreptitious glances his way, but couldn't tell what he was thinking. He hadn't tried continuing their earlier conversation, and though grateful, it also bugged her. That was not like him at all. Perhaps he was giving her space, she thought as she pulled into her regular spot in front of the Orange Orange. That would be a Chuck thing to do. He sometimes had the uncanny ability to recognize what she needed. She almost sighed. She didn't want space, she needed things to be the way they were before, but that was not up to him. She had to fix it.

"Do you think you can get away for lunch?" she asked before she could talk herself out of it.

"Sure," Chuck replied. He locked his phone's display and slipped the device into his messenger bag before turning to her. "The crowd should've thinned out by noon. If not, I can get Morgan to cover for me. Or threaten Emmett with company policies. Mandatory rest periods are prescribed, you know."

That elicited a small smile despite the knot in her gut. She had four hours to figure out how she was going to explain what had happened on Christmas Eve. "Okay, good," was all she could manage for now.

"Sarah." Chuck stopped her when she reached for the door handle. He waited until she faced him again. The kiss was unexpected and it took her a second to respond. Catching up to Chuck was easy as his mouth moved slowly against hers, touching and almost not. Her mind had gone blissfully blank as she desperately tried to get more contact, but the console prevented her from moving closer. Instead she tangled her fingers in his curls only to have him pull back.

"I better get to the store before Casey comes looking for me, or worse – Emmett." He dove in for another quick kiss. "Have a nice day at work, sweetie."

When Sarah finally thought of a reply, Chuck was already rounding the hood. She threw her door open.

"Chuck!" she called him back. He stopped and turned. "What was that for?"

She felt silly for asking, but he was totally serious when he answered, "You're smart, Sarah, you'll figure it out."

Butterman's record came up clean save for charges Chuck had told her about. So she ran it again. While waiting for the various databases to retrieve every piece of information they had connected to his social security number, Sarah pulled up the surveillance from the Buy More and started scanning it for the subject in question. She spotted him carrying a home theatre system to the back of the store. Her eyes grew wide when he dropped the box, sped towards Morgan and extended an arm, causing the little bearded man to run straight into it and land flat on his back.

"Not dangerous, huh, Chuck," she muttered under her breath and opened a comms line.

"Casey, we have a situation." Her warning was met with dead air. She repeated herself. "Casey, we have a situation."

It was Chuck who answered. "We know, hence the game of hot potato with a grenade." He sounded only slightly freaked out.

"Grenade? I'm on my way." Checking to make sure her Smith and Weston was tucked into the back of her capri's, she pulled her jacket down to conceal it, grabbed an ear wig and headed out the door.

She ran along the back of the strip mall towards the Buy More's loading bay to avoid attracting any unnecessary attention. Chuck and Casey were already down in the cage by the time she reached it. Chuck pulled a safe from its box, opening the lid for Casey to drop the bomb in. Instinctively Sarah grabbed the safe and stuffed it in the closest double door fridge which Casey shouldered into the supply closet. She shoved Chuck behind a stack of boxes for cover, keeping his head down with her hand. The blast was contained and once she was sure it was safe, she let go of Chuck and straightened.

"That was an explosive start to the day," Casey quipped. Both Chuck and Sarah ignored him. "Tough crowd," he grunted.

Casey stayed behind to do a sweep of the store, sending Chuck and Sarah to brief Beckman.

"Is it me," Chuck asked while Sarah was getting the General on line, "or is the Buy More suddenly the bad guys' electronic store of choice? I mean really, a hostage situation and a bomb in less than a week, that's got to be some kind of record."

"Yeah, I'm seriously considering installing a facial recognition scanner at the Buy More's entrance," she replied once she'd taken up her spot next to him. She was only half joking.

"And we could take fingerprints," Chuck suggested, "and also draw blood for DNA analysis and…"

"Given your aversion to both needles and blood, Mr. Bartowski, whatever you're planning doesn't sound feasible."

They both jumped to attention at Beckman's voice.

"General," Chuck blurted, "you really shouldn't sneak up on people like that."

"You called me," she answered drily.

Sarah immediately ran interference, filling Beckman in on what went down earlier. There was a brief exchange of information about the grenade Chuck had flashed on, the General issued her orders and disconnected the link without preamble.

"You know," Chuck spoke first, "I always thought video conferencing was invented to add that human touch. I don't think the General read the manual."

"She's a busy woman, Chuck."

"Yeah, but still." He took a backwards step and slid up onto the conference table, his legs dangling in front of him. "So we need to question Tyler Martin. How are we supposed to grab a rock star in broad daylight? Security is crawling all over the place."

"They're packing light," Casey answered from atop the stairs. He took them down two at a time and headed straight for the armory.

"Are you crazy? The store is packed with civilians."

"He's not serious, Chuck. That would blow our covers."

"Yeah, yeah," Casey grumbled when he reappeared, a gun tucked into his waistband nonetheless.

"Casey." Sarah gave him a warning look. With a roll of his eyes, Casey disarmed himself, placing the weapon on the table. Then he reached for it again and moved it out of Chuck's reach.

"Well that was unnecessary," Chuck mumbled. Casey responded with a predictable grunt and folded his arms across his chest.

Chuck stood up from the desk and Sarah didn't miss the way he straightened his spine and drew his shoulders back. She wasn't sure if he was preparing to go up against their partner or was trying to mimic him. Neither option promised a positive outcome.

"What's the plan, boys?" she intervened. Of course she knew what probably needed to be done, but she was open to other suggestions.

Casey lifted his chin. "Flash the cupcakes at him."

So much for other options, Sarah thought.

"I doubt there's time for baking, Casey," Chuck pointed out. "Besides, who says he's got a sweet tooth?"

"Oh believe me, Bartowski, when it comes to Walker's assets, anyone can develop a sweet tooth."

"Wait, what?" Chuck's head swiveled between the two agents. "You want Sarah to flash…" His expression went from confused to horrified as the meaning of Casey's words sunk in. "Oh, no, no, no, no." Sarah tried to intervene again, but Chuck was on a roll. "Did you miss me saying the store is full of civilians? No one will be flashing anyone anything and that goes double for my handler and triple for my girlfriend."

"You got any better ideas, moron?"

Chuck's face brightened as he snapped his fingers. "Pineapple."

"Great idea, Chuck." Casey's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Extracting someone from the middle of a crowd of panicked civilians scattering all over the place is a piece of cake."

Chuck's expression fell when he realized Casey was right. He sighed and rubbed his hands across his face before turning to Sarah. She could see the conflict in his eyes before he cleared his throat to speak. "How do you feel about giving Tyler a wink and a smile? That should be more than enough to lure him out and then Casey can rock-star-nap him. But only if you're okay with it."

Sarah nodded. She struggled to stay in agent mode after watching him stand up for her like that. "Are you okay with it?" she asked.

"No," Chuck replied honestly.

Casey rolled his eyes and muttered something about "killing me softly with lady feelings" under his breath as he shoved Chuck with a hand on his back in the direction of the stairs. "Wink, smile, lure, nap. Let's go."

Next time on A Common Spy Problem:

They broke off the kiss and Sarah turned to Casey. He looked a little green, but he was staring past them. She followed his eye line, and then suppressed the laugh that bubbled up just in time. Reagan had a tranq dart protruding from his left eye.