ChuckParis18

Meeting & Greeting and Discouraging

US Embassy Steps
Paris

Chuck saw that Henri was driving the Ring limo when he got out and opened the doors for his passengers and he smirked just like Casey would have in a similar situation. Henri hoped the Director General was not holding a grudge for the incident in the parking garage.

Chuck raised the glass partition between them once they were out in traffic and turned on the jammer. The warning light blinked red rapidly indicating there was a device in operation that couldn't be thwarted.

Chuck lowered the partition and told Henri to 'turn off the fucking bug' but Henri turned and looked at him and shook his head. It wasn't one of his. 'Panzer! He never follows orders. He's the Casey of Bugs in his life.'

A few seconds later, "Henri, pull over here. We'll walk the rest of the way. Meet me at the Café Lafayette in 45 minutes. You'll drive the ambassador-designate back to his hotel and I'll go on to meet Hannah as originally planned. I'll walk, so don't give me any of your crap. I'm carrying and no one is going to shoot me, not this time."

Henri heard the flat tone and cringed. He was holding a grudge for the previous evening's events. Merde!

Ring Surveillance Van

"Hugo, why are they stopping? They're getting out of the limo! That's not the plan. Hugo, what's happening?" Hannah was nervous about the whole 'meet the enemy on ground of our choosing' thing that Chuck had insisted would maximize his safety. She'd almost lost her husband to a misunderstanding and now this!

"I don't know but you have to trust your husband. He knows something we don't and he's reacting to it and neutralizing it. Notice that the man is confused by the sudden change? That means Chuck is still in control of the situation."

Casey was also upset by the plan change. The route from the embassy to the Café Lafayette had been 'leaked' to him and he had two security teams posted on the ground and snipers on top of lower buildings so that any threat to their agent could be dealt with. "Get back in the damned limo, Chuck. There are too many blind spots between here and the café."

A few minutes later they'd reached a relatively crowd-free sidewalk and Chuck felt comfortable talking. "Well, Mr. Windsor, you seem unusually well informed. There hasn't been a word said about my nomination as ambassador to France. I haven't even made up my own mind about it. And then there's Senate confirmation hearings to get past."

"Haven't you, Mr. Stuart? I'd say that your meeting with the current ambassador was more of a Q&A than a courtesy call. I think you'll enjoy Paris if you lose the stick up your ass and relax. The French are horrible snobs and nothing pisses them off more than a 'stuffed-shirt American'."

"I need to discuss it with my fiancé and my kids. It's a big step for us all. I'm not sure if Sarah will want to leave the US."

"Enough of the pleasantries, Mr. Stuart. What is it you want? You are also 'unusually well informed'." He fixed him with the same stare that most recognized as 'Don't fuck with Chuck' as his wife had called it.

"General Beckman included me in some briefings and I've known about your mission and role almost since inception. She used me and my position on the House Select Intelligence Committee to grill certain members of the CIA in order to get to the bottom of several events such as what happened to her agent in Argentina and afterwards."

"That doesn't explain your phone call and your veiled threats against the security of my family, Congressman. Suppose you expand on that, please." The sarcasm was heavy enough to cut with a butter knife.

"I had to get your attention somehow, Chuck. It's important to me that we speak honestly."

Chuck snorted at the use of his first name in conjunction with 'honestly' from a politician. "You have my attention, congressman. Now what do you want."

"You and my fiancé have a history. I need to know if…I – I …shit. This is harder than I thought."

For the first time he felt something akin to sympathy for Stuart. He knew exactly what he wanted to know and exactly what he wanted to hear.

"I have no interest in rekindling anything with your fiancé, Mr. Stuart. I'm married and have children. It was love at first sight, Hannah and I. Nothing I ever felt could possibly have prepared me for that. I love my wife, Mr. Stuart. You want to know about Sarah and I, right? I mean that's who we're talking about, right?

Stuart just looked at him sadly and then nodded his head in the affirmative. The tone of Windsor's voice had changed, become almost bitter.

"She was a good friend, a long time ago, nothing more. Absolutely nothing more. And I believe even the friendship is dead now, knowing what I know."

He pulled off the kid leather gloves he always wore in public. He held up his hands with the backs facing Mike. "See these hands, these grotesque fingers? She is responsible although I doubt she knew that the man she ordered kidnapped in Argentina and 'vigorously interrogated' and then dumped in Iceland was me." He pulled the gloves back on.

"I – I don't know what to say. I've never seen…I am just speechless. Sarah ordered this? Sarah dumped you into Cold Storage? Surely your information is wrong, Windsor. It has to be wrong. She couldn't possibly order this…this…this torture, could she?" 'Certainly not to the man she loved…'

"Ask her. I quit trying to figure her out a long time ago. Too complicated, too full of denial and too rigidly in control."

He continued walking towards the sidewalk café where he knew Stuart would start asking more penetrating questions. He stopped when he realized that Stuart had taken his answer quite literally and was on his cell phone standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk in Paris. He quickly walked back and snatched the cell phone from his hand and disconnected the call before it could be answered.

"Asshole! She was a spy, an agent, an assassin and she did what she did to protect sheep like you from the real world. It's why she cries in her sleep, has dreams that make her wake up screaming. It's why she doesn't deserve someone who can't accept her service and sacrifice and just love her for who she is now. Go home, Stuart. Go home and thank God for the Sarah Walkers of the world who do the nasty things you do-gooders gnash your teeth and rant about on the 6 O'clock news."

"You're talking about…"

"You have no idea what I'm talking about. You think the world is black and white; well, it's not. The world she lived in was gray and dark and dangerous. She did what she did for the greater good. If you can't accept that then for God's sake end it with her. She doesn't need someone looking down his nose at her like she's filth." He turned and walked quickly away before he killed the man.

"Wait, Windsor. You can't just drop a load of shit like that on me and walk away!" He hurried to catch up to Chuck. He wanted to know more. He didn't doubt for one second that he'd heard the pure truth from this man he'd just met and felt he could someday call a friend. He also knew he was talking about himself as much as he'd spoken about Sarah.

They walked in silence after Chuck told him to 'shut up, we're almost there'. The Café Lafayette was open and friendly and the wait staff knew him both by sight and name and greeted him. He gave the waiter their order, not asking the Congressman his choice, again taking charge of the situation. After their small whiskeys had been served, he opened up the conversation again.

"What do you want, Congressman? I've told you what you came to find out. I've answered the question you haven't asked: 'Will I try and take her away from you?' No, whatever for? I don't love her. As for her feelings for me…those are your problems and hers, not mine. I'm meeting my wife in a few minutes. We've got some stuff to take care of for the kids."

"How many kids do you have? You haven't been here all that long? Did your wife have children before you married?"

He laughed and his face showed both pride and happiness. "We picked up our kids at a refugee camp in Thailand near the border. They're all orphan 'dust bin' kids and so was Hannah so it just seemed…right to take them out of that hell hole and give them a home and parents – us."

Stuart knew the tension was gone. They were on a safe subject. They both traded stories about their kids. "So how's Sarah getting along with them? Bet she bonds better with the girl than your son. She's probably more of a big sis than a mother-substitute, right?"

"How'd you know?"

"Experience. We were close for 3 years and you learn a lot about her if you just listen to what she says and doesn't say in certain situations. I also got to see her have her first 'BFF' in my sister."

"So. Three years. And in all that time…"

"No. I never made love to her. I wanted to more than anything I'd ever wanted in my life up to that point, but it just never happened for us. Looking back, it was the best thing that could have happened. For all three of us, Congressman."

"Listen, will us being in Paris put you in jeopardy? I'm sure people will know she was CIA from the newspapers…"

"The Ring and Circus hierarchy know she was my handler and that might be 'awkward'. And I'm not sure how she would handle finding out her fumbling, bumbling and incompetent failed spy/asset was still alive and in 'deep cover'. But again, that's your problem and her's."

"Why? Because it might lead them to question her presence?" He meant the Ring and it's operatives.

"No. Someone might be tempted to right perceived wrongs." He held up his fingers and wiggled them.

"Is that a real possibility?"

"Not really but you have a right to know the possible dangers your family might face. I'd want to know."

"Well, yeah, you're right. I don't think it'll be much of a problem, her bumping into you, do you? We won't exactly be traveling in the same social circles." He sounded smug so Chuck decided to set him straight – by example.

"So, Mr. Stuart, what are you plans for dinner? We're having some friends over and I'd love for you to meet Hannah and her friends and the kids, of course."

He didn't have plans so Chuck told him that his driver would pick him up at the hotel at 6pm. Dress was casual and if he hadn't brought jeans, 'just lose the coat and tie, Mr. Stuart, and the stick up your ass'.

"Let me make sure Hannah's OK with it. Americans are not too popular in her book right now." He dialed her cell and rapidly asked her if he could bring home 'a new friend, the US ambassador designate' for dinner and did she think Carla and Nick would have any problems with it?

"OK, Congressman. We're good to go. See you about 6:30. Bring an appetite and a good attitude. Dinner's at 8pm. Henri will pick you up at your hotel." He threw some bills on the table and walked rapidly away, glad for once that eyes were on him.

'I should have knocked that smug look right off his face and then beat the crap out of him. 'Same social circles, my ass! Typical self-absorbed politician.

Mike Stuart breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that he'd pushed Windsor almost to the breaking point with his behavior and his glib responses to some of his questions and comments. He was sure that at several points in the conversation he had come close to finding out if the reputation Windsor had was true of not. He had his answers and now he would be on his best behavior. He had no desire to end up in the River Seine.

Chuck walked rapidly through the crowded market street to Hannah's old apartment. He'd surprised her and bought it for her, explaining that it was now their 'safe house' and that this was where they'd come when life got too stressful. He grinned when he remembered how she'd 'relieved him of his stress' last night.

He unlocked the door and entered calling out her name. "Hannah?"

"Up here, Chuck. I've got everything for dinner. Are you sure bringing him out to the Chateau is a good idea?" She was standing in the kitchen, totally naked except for 4-inch heels and a saucy smile.

He sighed and looked at his watch. "Honey, we're kind of pressed for time and I don't want to rush through this. You know I prefer to savor you rather than just grab a quickie?"

His groan and then his grin made her laugh with delight. She loved surprising him. Well, they had time for a 'quickie' and later after their guests left, they'd take time to do it right. But the excitement and stress of the 'meeting' had gotten to her.

"Chuck, get naked. I'm so damned turned on. Listening to you put that turd in his place was…damn it, Chuck! Get naked!" His declarations about how much he loved her had made her almost cry in relief.

Post-mission sex was awesome.

Chateau Almandine

When Henri picked up Michael Stuart he decided to broach a subject that was on the minds of all of what was becoming known as the 'Ringleaders'.

"So, Mr. Stuart, first you threaten Director Windsor and then you ask him personal questions and then you are surprised he's asked you to his home, no? Well, I have a question, Stuart." The tone of his last sentence made Mike's stomach suddenly clench with fear. 'Was this how Bartowski lived? How did the man stay sane?'

"Ask away. I have nothing to hide."

"Why don't you stay in America and become governor of Virginia and leave him alone? Your woman will be nothing but trouble once she learns he still lives - trouble for you and trouble for us. She will know the truth and it will drive her to do something rash and dangerous. I think keeping her in America and becoming governor is the smart move, don't you?"

"I suppose Windsor put you up to this?" He hadn't expected the veiled threat in the little man's words but it was there, nonetheless.

"No. He will not do or allow what needs to be done. He is soft in some ways, especially about matters of the heart and honor. But his sister…she wants justice for her brother. If she ever learned that your fiancé ordered the kidnapping, well, there are many like her who believe a message should be sent…a strong and unmistakable message regarding the safety of our Director General."

"I see. Do you believe it would happen if she were to stay in the States, Henri?"

"Mr. Stuart, I can guarantee you that nothing will happen so long as she stays away from my friend, the Director. My word of honor."

The rest of the drive was made in silence. He wondered how much Charles Windsor had changed from the man Sarah Walker knew and loved. 'Governor Stuart' sounded almost as good as 'Ambassador Stuart' and there would be other opportunities in the future.

The final nail in the coffin of his 'Ambassador to France' dream was when he met 'Nick and Carla' at the Chateau. It was 'family movie night' which meant homemade Pizza and beer and relaxation.