A/N: Originally, this story was going to be a "what-if" story about Chuck and Sarah, after The Honeymooners, where they decided to quit the CIA. Their relationship was in a rut, and one night, Chuck got bored and decided that he wanted to be a superhero. What he didn't know was that Sarah was already dressing up as a superhero (guys, keep calm!). The main villain was going to be that Stanley Fitzroy guy because he's angry that Chuck and Sarah made him lose his job. I thought it would have been funny, but that might just be me. Anyway, there's a fun fact for ya.

So, as usual, thank you for everyone who has been reading, and keeping up with this story!

And a big thanks to mxpw for betaing. He really is awesome, and he's helped me a lot. In fact, he gave me a fun idea for the next chapter that I think people will find funny.

Casey's Hotel Room
October 1, 2007
11:34 AM PST

The three of them sat in the large sitting area of Casey's penthouse. Chuck and Sarah were sitting next to each other on the loveseat, while the larger man had his own arm chair.

"Explain," said Casey, glaring at Chuck.

Chuck guessed that Casey's glare was his default expression. "Explain…what?"

"Casey wants you to explain your company to us," said Sarah. "How many departments do you have on the main campus?"

"Well, we have five," replied Chuck. "There's software development, engineering, mostly computer stuff; we're working on our own gaming consoles, but yeah. Anyway, then there's the cellular telecommunication department, the military tech department, and then there's the chemical department."

"Is that where Roberts worked?"

"Yeah. The chemical department branched out to pharmaceuticals as well."

"Who's in charge of the pharmaceutical branch?" asked Sarah, scribbling down notes on a notepad.

"Dr. Guy LaFleur," Chuck replied. "He used to be the head biochemical research scientist over at Oxford."

"When it started, did he bring in his own people, or did he bring in new people?"

"A bit of both."

"Was Jill a new hire, or was she already a part of LaFleur's team?"

"She was a part of LaFleur's team," said Chuck.

Casey grunted, and turned to Sarah. "Looks like you can start there."

Chuck scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to work in the finance department," said Sarah. "I'm going to suggest that your company needs to make some budget cuts, and review all of your employees in different departments, so that we can see if there are any more people from Jill's organization."

"Uh…I know I'm new to this, but wouldn't it be easier for you to work in Human Resources?" asked Chuck. "You can gain access to everyone's files with ease that way."

Sarah scratched something off her notepad, and looked up at Casey with a thoughtful expression. "He's got a point," she said.

Casey grunted, and rolled his eyes. "Fine, Walker will work for HR. I'll notify Beckman and Graham later, but it shouldn't be a problem." Casey leaned forward, and tossed two folders to Chuck. "Moving onto the mission tomorrow…"

Chuck listened as the big man grumbled about their plans to use him to copy data from some Russian playboy named Stavros Demetrios who owned a bunch of clubs and was the son of Yuri Stavros, a shipping magnate. He wanted to tell them that their plan was pretty flawed. Why would a billionaire want to purchase part of a nightclub when he could easily just build his own? But he kept his mouth shut, and listened while Casey grunted his way through the plans.

The plan was that Chuck and Sarah would enter Club Aries. They were to make contact with Stavros Demetrios, and Chuck was supposed to act as if he was interested in investing in a new club that Stavros was preparing. At Casey's insistence, Chuck was to remain quiet during the meeting. Sarah was going to pose as his personal finance assistant. It seemed easy enough.

"Then Walker's going to set up a meeting for the next day," Casey continued. "You'll go with her to the office, and again, you won't say anything. Is that clear? You. Will. Not. Say. A. Word. Clear?"

"What if Stavros asks me how I'm doing?"

"I meant what I said, Bartowski," said Casey. "Don't say a word to him. You'll probably slip up."

"So, I'm supposed to be one of those jerk billionaires?" asked Chuck.

"You need to be a prick, yeah. That shouldn't be so hard for you," Casey sneered, "Let Walker do all the talking, and you just sit and look bored."

"Can I ask another question?"

"No."

"Wouldn't it be, I don't know, a little weird that I want to invest in a nightclub when I can just build my own if I wanted?" No wonder Omega has so many people inside the CIA, he thought. "Wouldn't that come across as suspicious to this Stavros fellow?"

Sarah and Casey exchanged looks.

"Fine, then you'll play a dumb, prick billionaire," said Casey.

"How about we tell Stavros that I'm thinking of starting up a nationwide nightclub chain, and I want him to be a partner?" Chuck suggested, flourishing his hands. "I mean, think about it. The dude owns half of the nightclubs in LA. He knows he's good at what he does. That's why we flatter him by making him think he's good enough to run a nationwide chain of clubs!"

He grinned over to Sarah, who gave him an impressed look in response.

"Not a bad idea, Chuck," she said, looking over to Casey to see what he had to say. Casey growled.

"We need to establish a link into his network," he said. "How are we going to do that?"

"I'll have my guy work on a fake presentation," Chuck replied. "He'll have it done in two days, in time for the meeting, and we can use your Big Brother toys to link up to their network and take whatever you guys are looking for while Sarah gives the presentation."

"Who's your guy?"

"Larkin," Sarah replied. "Chuck knows that Larkin's ex CIA. He works at Chuck's company now as Bruce Leonard."

"He violated a lot of rules," Casey mumbled. "We should have him arrested."

"That's not necessary, Mr. Casey—"

"It's Major Casey!"

"Fine, Major Casey," Chuck rolled his eyes. "It's not necessary. I don't run around telling people, 'Dude! Guess what? I know an ex CIA spy!' And he didn't tell me anything other than he used to be a spy before he got in a car accident."

"Yeah, Casey, just let it go," said Sarah.

Chuck could already tell that it was going to be hard to recruit Casey. The man really was a freaking Boy Scout!

"Is my plan okay, or…?" his voice trailed off as Sarah and Casey exchanged another look.

"We'll go along with it," Casey grumbled. "But you're still going to keep your mouth shut during this operation, is that clear?"

"Okay," he shrugged. "I'm not cool with having to be a jerk though."

"Yeah, well, we can't risk you slipping up and giving away our cover," said Casey. "And seeing as everyone already knows who you are, we can't give you another identity."

"But don't worry, Chuck," Sarah piped up. "This will probably be the only time you'll be out in the field with us, and nothing dangerous is going to happen. They won't even know we stole their data."

"Oh, well, I'm a little worried now." Chuck scratched his arm. Hadn't it occurred to them, the CIA or the NSA, that if Fulcrum or the Ring found out that he was helping them, then Fulcrum or the Ring would come after him? "What happens if you guys get made?"

"What do you mean?" asked Sarah.

"What if your enemies see you with me? Wouldn't they assume that I'm working for you guys?"

"News flash, Bartowski, our enemies already know that you're working for us, remember?" Casey knocked his knuckles painfully on the top of Chuck's head. Chuck had to fight to restrain himself from flashing. "Did you forget about the telecommunication satellites that you've made for us?"

"Oh. Yeah," Chuck admitted.

"If our enemies do decide to make a move for you, we'll have an extraction plan ready," Sarah reassured.

"What about Ellie and Devon?"

"Them too," she replied, giving Chuck a tight lipped smile.

"Do we tell Ellie that you guys are spies?"

"We can't," said Casey. "Too risky. You have to keep her in the dark to keep her safe."

Well, that's just dandy. First, he had to lie to Ellie about what he does while he's out on his father's missions, and now he had to lie about how he's working with a bunch of government agents? They should really make a movie about his life.

He glanced over at Sarah. "So…we have to lie to her about our fake relationship?"

"I'm afraid so, Chuck," she replied grimly. "I'm sorry. I know this is hard—"

"Not your fault," he reminded her. However, she continued to look grim—almost guilty.

"When's your sister moving out?" Casey barked, causing Chuck to snap his neck toward him.

"I got her and her boyfriend, Devon, a house last week. You know, engagement gift," he replied. "I was going to wait until Devon proposes to her to surprise them, but I guess I can just tell her sometime this week?"

"Right, well, tell her that you hired me to be your…butler later tonight." Casey gave a shudder. "I move in tomorrow morning."

Chuck glanced at the pistol that Casey had holstered on his belt. "Do you have to bring your guns?"

"Yup."

"There's no way you can just leave your guns here?"

"I don't go anywhere without them." Casey patted his gun almost lovingly, causing Chuck to grimace at the sight.

"I don't know how I feel about having guns in my home. I have a very strict—"

For such a big guy, Casey moved pretty quickly. He had gotten up from his chair and was crouched down in front of Chuck; his face maybe an inch away from his. By this point, Chuck had forgotten that he had a super computer in his head as he let out a soft whine. "Well, I don't know how I feel about having to be your damn butler and not being able to snap your scrawny geek neck," spat Casey. "But I deal with it. Be a man, Bartowski," he added when Chuck gave a high pitched whimper.

"Casey!" Sarah snapped. "Calm down."

"I am calm," Casey retorted, patting Chuck roughly on his shoulder.

Sarah sighed in a 'Why me?' fashion, and turned to Chuck. "Casey has to bring his guns with him in case someone infiltrates your house, Chuck," she explained, flashing a quick scowl in Casey's direction. "I know you don't like it, but it's just the way it has to be."

Chuck nodded to show that he understood. He didn't like the fact that there was going to be a small armory inside his home, but at least Ellie would be gone soon.

"Besides," Sarah continued. "He'll keep them well hidden."

Casey stood up from the couch. "I guess we're done for now," he grunted, making his way toward his desk. "Walker, you and Bartowski head over to Legend and fill out your paper work."

"C'mon, Chuck," said Sarah, getting off the couch as well. "Let's go."

He stood, and began to follow Sarah out the door. Before he stepped out, he gave Casey a cheerful wave. In turn, the larger man responded by cracking his neck and flashing Chuck the evil eye.

"We're going to be great friends, Casey and me," Chuck said, grinning to Sarah as they walked down the long hallway to the elevators. "I can just see it now: Me and Casey, staying up late at night, eating junk food, exchanging baseball cards and secrets. Should be fun, right?"

Sarah gave him a tight lipped, half smile, and shrugged. She pushed the button for the elevators. Chuck guessed that she was now in, "mission mode," as Bryce had called it. Thawing the ice queen was going to be tougher than he thought it would be.

"You want to go grab a bite to eat?" he asked. "Some brunch?"

The doors to the elevators slid open.

"Why, are you hungry?" she asked, stepping into the elevator.

"I had a bowl of cereal before I came here, so not really," he replied. "I just thought you might be."

"Don't worry about me."

He turned to face her, but she didn't meet his eyes. Instead, she just stared at the chrome elevator door, looking determined to not meet his gaze. He studied her briefly, and took the time to see just how exhausted she looked: her eyelids drooped, and her skin was devoid of the usual rosy blush.

"How could I not worry about you?" he asked. She finally met his gaze with a hint of sadness or regret in her eyes.

"I can take care of myself."

The elevator doors opened, and Chuck followed Sarah as she stepped out. They walked through the brightly lit lobby, and headed toward the parking lot. When he saw her car, he paused. An idea hit him.

"I need to go home and change," he said, gesturing to his casual t-shirt and jeans. "I can't go into the office like this."

Sarah stopped, and turned to give him a once over; a light look of disapproval began to etch on her face. "Okay, I'll drive you." She nodded toward her Porsche.

"I have my car." Chuck gestured toward his white M5.

"Fine, I'll follow you to your house."

"How big is the engine?"

"What?"

"On your Porsche?" Nodding pointedly toward her car, he grinned coyly.

"3.6 liter, H6 engine with twin turbo," she replied.

"How many horses?"

"460, give or take." She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I'll tell you what," he said grinning. He nodded over to his M5. "I'll race you back to my place. If I win, then you let me get you something to eat. If you win, then I'll just change and we'll head into the office."

Pursing her lips, she glanced up at him. Chuck could tell that she was fighting to keep a smile off her face. "C'mon, Walker," he teased. "I know you're hungry!"

"I don't think it's a good idea, Chuck," she said hesitantly. "Traffic's a bitch right now."

"Traffic's always a bitch," he retorted. "But I can see why you think it's a bad idea." He began to make a squawking noise, and flapped his arms up and down. "It's because you're a chicken, aren't ya? Afraid that you're going to lose?"

Her lips remained pursed, but they slowly cracked into a grin for the first time since he had arrived earlier that morning. "Your ass is so going down," she purred, flashing another coy grin before she sprinted over to her car.

Chuckling, he sprinted over to his car, but Sarah had reached hers first. Before he was even able to start the engine, she had already peeled out of her parking spot. Looking down at the steering wheel, he cleared his mind. A second later, he flashed. He grinned widely when it had cleared, and he suddenly sensed the environment outside of the vehicle. It felt as though his body was a part of the car, and when he placed his hands on the steering wheel, everything just felt right; comfortable. "Sorry, Sarah," he said aloud as he maneuvered the gear shift on the steering wheel to first gear.

As he pressed down on the gas pedal, and released the clutch, the V-10 engine roared loudly. The tires squealed as they spun on the pavement, sending gravel, dust, and smoke up in the air. The car jolted forward, pushing his back against his seat. Letting the Intersect do all of the work, he guided the car left onto the street.

Sarah was stopped at the light a good five cars ahead of Chuck. Luckily for him, there was a yellow H2 Hummer in front of her, and a white, Ford F250 to her right. Unfortunately, by the way the good citizens of Los Angeles drove, being five cars behind the person you were racing was the equivalent of being a mile away. He turned into the left turning lane, and once again, he pressed down on the gas pedal. What he didn't expect, as he zoomed past three of the cars, was the car behind Sarah decided to turn into the turning lane as well. He let his right foot off the gas, and tapped it on the brake, while turning the steering wheel to the right to get back in the lane.

His car came to a halt right behind the Porsche. Chuck guessed that he had been about four to five inches from unintentionally rear-ending it. Even he knew enough about women to know that if a woman drove a Porsche, then rear-ending her car, intentionally or not, would result with him in a full-body cast.

When the lights turned green, he and Sarah both moved into the empty, left turning lane, and sped past the yellow Hummer in time for both of them to slide back into the proper lane. He was surprised to notice that he wasn't too far behind her. By all means, with her car's twin turbochargers, along with it being a lot lighter than his, she should have been a good five meters ahead of him. Instead, he was right on her tail.

He turned into the middle lane, and shifted up to Fourth gear. He was right next to Sarah now. Glancing over to his left, he noticed a deep look of concentration on Sarah's face as she flicked her eyes back and forth from the road to Chuck. He quickly approached an old, slow moving, clunky, light blue VW Beetle. He flashed a wink in Sarah's direction, down shifted, and turned into the far, right lane. He shifted back up to Fourth, and flew past Sarah and the old VW.

For the next couple of minutes, he swerved throughout the three lanes of traffic; being cautious to the other cars around him, so he wouldn't cause an accident. Sarah followed closely behind, mimicking his moves. When he approached the northbound I-5 on-ramp to Burbank, an old, maroon Corolla turned into his lane, causing his foot to slam down on the brake, and allowing Sarah to speed past him.

Grumbling to himself, Chuck turned right into Sarah's lane. Once again, she was ahead of him, and was expertly maneuvering through traffic. But thanks to the Intersect, he was able to squeeze past the other cars, and was now by Sarah's side once more.

After nearly twenty minutes of weaving around traffic, he and Sarah were neck and neck with each other. Occasionally, he would gain the lead, but she was quick to gain it back. When they approached the nearly empty off-ramp toward Burbank, Chuck sighed. He didn't want it to come to this, but if he wanted to win, he had no other choice.

The M5 came installed with two modes: a city mode, and the M mode. When in city mode, the car had a horsepower of around 400. However, when the car was in M mode, it increased the horsepower to 500, sometimes even topping off at 507. As Sarah's car only had a horsepower of 460, and he also had the Intersect's help, he figured it would be extremely unfair to her to switch on the M mode.

But there was less traffic in Burbank, and it was pretty much a dead straight away from the I-5 off-ramp to his house. Without the M mode, Sarah would be able to beat him. There was no way that Chuck was going to allow that to happen. Not because he was competitive (the only time Competitive Chuck spawned was when he was playing Call of Duty, and even then, compared to everyone else in the CoD community, he was hardly combative), but it was due to the fact that he had a strong desire to get some food inside Sarah. Growing up with Ellie, who had always aspired to be a doctor since she was six-years-old, had taught him that everyone needed a good meal to start off their day. And Sarah, he knew, did not eat her breakfast this morning.

His thumb hovered over the M button on the steering wheel. Inhaling in a deep breath, he pressed it over the button, and immediately, his car roared into a second, more powerful life. With his right foot pressed down on the gas pedal, he once again sped past Sarah, and pushed aside his guilt. After all, it was for an excellent cause that he pushed the button.

When he was half a mile away from his house, he pressed down on the "Call" button on the left side of his steering wheel. He needed to call Ellie so that she could open the gates. With Sarah close behind him, if he had to stop in front of the gates so he could open them, she would just whizz by, and declare herself the winner.

"Who would you like to call?" a woman's monotonous voice sounded from his car speakers.

"Ellie Bartowski, cell," he enunciated, making a right turn into a smaller, paved road that led up to his house.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that," the woman droned, causing Chuck to roll his eyes in frustration. "Who would you like to call?"

"El-lee Bar-tow-ski, cell!" he said as clearly as his voice allowed (which in his opinion, was pretty damn clear).

"You want to call Ellie Bartowski, cell, is that correct?"

"Yes!"

The dial tone rang, and on the third tone, Chuck heard his sister's voice saying, "Hey, little brother, what's up?"

"Ellie, open the gates!" he called. It would be a minute before he would be at his house, and the gates took a good twenty seconds to open. "Open the gates!"

Fifty-five seconds…

"Chuck, what's going on—?"

"I'll explain in a bit! Just open the gates!" he yelled, glancing up to the rearview mirror, and seeing that Sarah wasn't too far behind him.

"Okay, okay! Sheesh!" Ellie exclaimed. "All right, I'm opening the gates now."

"Thanks, Elle!" Chuck released the call button on the steering wheel. He would be approaching the gates in less than thirty seconds.

Making a sharp left turn, he accelerated toward his house. The gates were halfway open, and in his mind, he tried to determine whether he could maintain the acceleration, or if he should let his foot off the pedal. Seeing that he would most likely tear the gates of their hinges if he maintained his speed, he released the gas pedal, and shifted down a gear. He just barely squeezed past the gates, but Sarah was right behind him. They still had another 200 yards to go before they reached his house.

The path was wide enough so that Sarah was on his right side. They shared a glance. Chuck had a panicked look on his face, while Sarah still had the determined look etched on hers. At the same time, they floored their gas pedals, and they both launched forward. Sarah accelerated ahead of him by a nose, but once Chuck shifted up to Third, he was in the lead by a whole car length. Seconds later, they squealed to a halt in front of the stairs that led to the entrance to Chuck's house.

As he stepped out of his car, he felt his flash fading into nothing more than a memory. He grinned at Sarah who was also stepping out of her car, and threw up his fists in the air. "I win!"

Sarah slammed her car door with such a tremendous force, that Chuck began to wonder how the car didn't topple sideways. "Are you crazy, Chuck?"

His grin faded. She must have not been that hungry at all if she was getting this furious over losing a race. "What? What do you mean?"

Sarah stepped up close to him; her face twisted in fury. She grabbed his shoulders tightly, and gave him a tiny shake. "You were driving like a maniac! You could have hurt yourself or somebody else!"

"Sarah, I—I'm sorry!" he sputtered. The Intersect wouldn't have allowed him to do anything too reckless, but Sarah didn't need to know that. "I just got…excited, I guess! I wasn't thinking—whoa!"

She swept his feet out from underneath him, and he fell to his back. His heart began to race in fear for his life as it flashed before his eyes. But then she did something that he never expected: she grinned playfully down at him, and turned to sprint up the stairs to his front door. When she reached the top, she placed her hand on the door, and turned to grin down at Chuck, who was still on his back, and was still extremely confused as to what the hell just happened.

Sarah bobbed her head side to side. "I beat you to your house, so technically, I win!" she called, still grinning.

Chuck stumbled up to his feet, still unable to comprehend the situation. He looked up at her at the top of the stairs. "What?"

"You said that we were going to race to your house," she called. "Technically, this is your house!" She nodded pointedly behind her to his house. "And you're still in the courtyard, and I'm up here, so I win!"

He slapped his arms down in defeat, and made his way up the stairs. "So you found a loophole, I see." Upon seeing the wild and playful look on her face, he couldn't help but grin back. "Good game, Walker."

"Well, you should remember how much I hate losing," she said, shrugging. "I am very competitive."

"Tell me something I don't know." Chuck reached over, and turned the doorknob. Technically, Sarah did win. After all, he never specified that whoever got to his house by car first was the winner. "Just give me a few minutes to change, then," he said. "Ellie's home. I thought I should let you know."

Sarah nodded. "Okay. Well, get dressed, and then we'll head out," she said. "You can buy me brunch before we head into the office."

After a moment of being completely flabbergasted, Chuck caught on to her words. His face broke into a grin.

"C'mon, Chuck," she said, grinning as she gestured to the door. "We don't have all day."

LAX
3:45 PM

No matter what day of the week it was, LAX was always crowded with people from all over the world. Chuck sat next to Sarah, who was once again in her silent spy mode, and he gazed around the baggage terminal at the hundreds of faceless people saying their goodbyes or hellos.

The last couple of hours that he had spent with Sarah had been like an epic rollercoaster ride. One minute, she'd be in her professional spy mode, responding to his questions with one word answers. The next minute would pass, and then she'd be cracking jokes with him, but the second she realized that her guard was down, she'd go back into her spy mode.

It couldn't be easy for her, he thought. From what Bryce had told him, handlers weren't supposed to get close to their assets. Even James Bond would have trouble trying to distance himself if he had an asset who just happened to also be his childhood friend.

Whenever the moments of Sarah letting her guard down came, her eyes would shine brightly. Whenever Chuck would make her laugh, her hand would always find a place on Chuck's arm, or his shoulders, or even his own hand. Before she would pull her hand away, she always made sure to give his arm, or his shoulder, or his hand a gentle squeeze. It was moments like that that made him wish that they had reunited under different circumstances.

It was hard for him as well. Chuck had never been a good liar. Although, technically, he wasn't lying to her, he was still keeping her in the dark. There was nothing he wanted more than to tell Sarah the truth. To tell her that he was Osiris, and why he had to be Osiris. But his father, as paranoid as he was, had a point. Sarah wouldn't understand. Not yet, she wouldn't. She would just think he was crazy.

"Has Bryce ever told you about Carina?" Sarah asked.

Chuck nodded. "He's mentioned her a few times," he replied. "After his accident."

"What did he say about her?"

"I know he misses her," he said. "But all he told me was that they were…dating, or whatever spies do."

"Is that all?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"So you don't know what she's like?"

Chuck laughed. "All I know is that she must be something special if a man-whore like Bryce was that crazy about her."

"Yeah, Carina's a good person," said Sarah. "But the thing about her is that she is unpredictable. She likes to improvise. Sometimes I would spend hours planning a mission, and Carina would just do her own thing."

"Okay…?" he asked, waiting for Sarah to finish.

"There will probably come a time when we have a mission that doesn't involve you," said Sarah. Chuck tried very hard not to roll his eyes. Every one of their missions would probably involve him in one form or another. "When that happens, two of us, it could be me and Casey, Carina and Casey, or me and Carina, are going to have to stay with you to make sure that you're protected. If Carina stays with you, just…be cautious."

He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "What? Is she like…going to try to kill me?"

She shook her head gravely. "She won't do that, but she'll probably try to…sleep with you."

He choked on a bit of spit, and began to cough. "Wha-what?" he gasped. "Why would she—? I would never—"

"That's how she is," said Sarah. She blushed a bit, and added in a quieter voice, "And she's also…pretty."

"So? C'mon, Sarah," he said, chuckling. "I couldn't do that to Bryce. We live by the Bro Code. We would never mess around with the girls that the other fancies."

Sarah nudged him with her elbow. "She's here," she said, nodding pointedly.

Chuck turned to where she was nodding, and he saw a tall, red headed woman walking toward him as if she were walking on a runway. She was wearing a black, tight pencil skirt and a grey blouse. When she approached Sarah, they exchanged words in what Chuck guessed was Elvish, and he noticed her cold, grey blue eyes.

Carina turned to him, and winked. "So you must be my boss, huh?" She stepped up close to him, and he felt her eyes scanning his body, sending a chill up his spine. "Maybe this assignment won't be so boring after all," she whispered playfully into his ear.

Chuck gulped. "Uh…hello, I'm Chu-Chuck," he stammered, backing away when Carina had brushed her hand along his arm.

"Well, nice to meet you, 'Chu-Chuck,'" she mimicked. "I'm Carina."

Sarah grabbed Chuck's arm. "You could just ignore her," she said, pulling him away. "She just likes to make guys nervous. Casey likes to call her Whorina, but she's harmless."

"I can see why Bryce liked her," he remarked softly.

Somehow Carina seemed to have heard him. Her eyes darted between Chuck and Sarah. "Did he just say Bryce?"

"Yeah," Sarah replied. "They've been friends since they went to Stanford together. Bryce works at his company."

"He goes by Bruce Leonard now, actually," he chimed in. "I feel that's really important to mention, seeing that we're all going to be working together."

"Larkin's on the assignment?" Carina asked.

"What? No," Chuck laughed. "Didn't you hear Sarah? He works at Legends. I say again, he goes by Bruce now."

Carina let out a sardonic laugh. "Fucking bastard," she spat. "Damn coward."

That was not the reaction he was hoping from her. He was expecting tears to well up in her eyes, and declarations of lost love found again. But the F-bomb followed by "bastard?" That couldn't be good. "I think he's an okay guy," Chuck defended.

"Oh yeah? Well, he's a coward."

He figured repeating something to prove a point was a spy tactic. Carina had called Bryce a coward two times in the last twenty seconds. Last night, Bryce kept telling Chuck that he had to be charming, but when Chuck asked how, Bryce replied, "Just charm her, Chuck." In Chuck's opinion, saying something over and over was a terrible way to make a point.

"Let's go," said Sarah, linking her arms around Chuck's.

"Marking your territory already, I see," said Carina, following behind Chuck and Sarah.

Chuck turned back to see that Carina had been staring at his and Sarah's linked arms.

"Our cover is boyfriend and girlfriend," said Sarah, not bothering to turn around. "We're just selling the cover."

"It's only me," Carina reminded, giving Sarah a knowing look.

"Chuck's a very important person," said Sarah. "We have to maintain our cover in case we run into someone who'd recognize him."

"Before this mission, I didn't know who he was," said Carina, adding, "No offense."

Chuck waved off her comment. "None taken."

Carina gave Chuck a knowing wink, and they continued walking to the baggage carousels. As usual, he was confused. When it came to women, he was always confused. Even if some magical, genius of a man wrote a book about women, Chuck knew he wouldn't understand them. Was Carina right, and Sarah was, as she had put it, "marking her territory?" No, she was wrong. Sarah was a professional, and she did make a good point. He didn't like to toot his own horn, but he was fairly well known. But they still hadn't told anyone that they were in a relationship, albeit a fake relationship, yet. They hadn't even told Ellie, and they had seen her about three hours ago.

They arrived at the baggage carousel just in time to see the first bag sliding down. Unlinking his arm from Sarah's, he pushed his way through the crowd. "What does your bag look like?" he called over his shoulder to Carina.

"It's a Louis," she called.

"Yeah, that doesn't mean anything to me."

"Louis Vuitton? You know, those brown suitcases with the 'Ls' and the 'Vs' all over them?"

Chuck thought for a moment, and then he remembered Jill being excited over getting one of those Louis Vuitton purses a couple of Christmases ago. He personally thought they were ugly, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he nodded to show Carina that he understood, and turned to the baggage carousel.

Ten minutes later, they were back on the road. For the first time, Chuck was riding in the passenger seat of his car. Sarah had insisted that she drive instead of him, saying that if he drove, Carina would just try to distract him. At first, he didn't know exactly how Carina would have distracted him. After awhile, however, he understood.

Whenever Carina spoke to him, she would breathe her words close to his ear. Whether she was doing this intentionally or not, it was quite distracting, as she caused chills to run down his spine (in a bad way). Chuck had always been afraid of overly bold women, but now, he understood why Bryce had settled down with Carina. She was his type. She was bold. Nearly every statement that came out of her mouth was an innuendo of some sort—the type of humor that Bryce enjoyed.

"So, Boss, what do I call you at the office?" Carina asked softly into Chuck's ear, causing him to cower away slightly. "Do you prefer I call you Chucky, Charles, or Mister," Carina clutched her hand tightly on Chuck's thigh, making him let out a high pitched squeal. "Bartowski?"

Sarah pulled Carina's hand away from his thigh. "Carina, come on!"

"What?" Carina cried innocently. "This assignment's boring! I just want to have some fun! I bet Chuckles here wouldn't mind?"

"Actually," he said, cutting off Carina. "I would mind."

"Oh, so you're gay?"

He felt his face flushing. "No!" he cried. "It's just…you and…Bryce have history, and…yeah. Bro Code!"

Carina snorted. "The two of us may have had history together, but we're history. He's just…a goddamn coward!"

Chuck glanced over at Sarah who just shrugged in response. If Carina didn't want to reconnect with Bryce, it could lead to a lot of problems, and Chuck really didn't want even more speed bumps added to the recruiting mission. Casey was going to be difficult enough, and he was just plain scared to tell Sarah.

"What do you mean, he's a coward?"

"He's a coward," said Carina bluntly, leaning back in the backseat and crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

"Yeah, you can keep saying that, but that doesn't help me to understand why you keep calling him a coward," said Chuck, causing Sarah to come out of her spy mode and laugh.

Carina waved a hand. "Whatever Bryce and I had, it's over now. It's been over for a long time."

Chuck sighed, and looked out his window. It seemed that Bryce wouldn't be able to recruit Carina after all, and it would be up to Chuck to recruit her. He guessed that Carina was the kind of woman who kept herself guarded. Sure, she made it seem like she was some nymphomaniac that preyed on men, but just by speaking to her for the last ten minutes, he realized that deep down, Carina was just a woman who had been hurt by someone she loved.

His thoughts slipped free from his mind as he heard his engine roar. All of a sudden, he was pressed back into his seat as the car began to accelerate faster. He turned to Sarah, who was glaring accusatively at him.

She pointed to the M button. "This was how you beat me in the race earlier, wasn't it?" she demanded, as she weaved his car quickly between traffic.

"Well, yeah," he admitted. "But it wasn't cheating. It came with the car!"

Santa Monica Pier
7:32 PM

When Chuck was a little boy, he always thought that being a billionaire would make life better for him. As he grew older, and became a teenager, he believed that if he had money, then he could impress any girl in the world. But the brutal truth was that it wasn't easy. Sometimes, he'd want to take a date out to a fancy restaurant, and they'd be immediately turned off by him because they thought he was being smug. Other times, he'd take another date out for a low profile, fast food and a movie date, and he'd be shut down because they believed that he was being cheap.

So he had spent the last four hours, sitting by himself on Casey's couch, silently wondering where he should take Sarah for dinner, while the spies tried to figure out a way to bait Osiris out of hiding. But as he and Sarah were leaving Casey's room, he realized that all he had to do was ask her what she wanted to do. Of course she said no, but that had given him the opportunity to suggest the pier.

And now, they walked along the mostly empty pier, munching on some tacos they had gotten by a nearby vendor in silence while they just enjoyed the cool night. He followed Sarah as she walked over to the railings, and leaned her elbows against them as she gazed out atthe ocean. Chuck took one last bite of his taco, and tossed the Styrofoam container into a nearby trashcan. He leaned over the railing next to her. As the wind blew, he breathed in the smell of the ocean, and her flower scented hair.

They stood in a comfortable silence. The only sounds were from the waves gently crashing against the shore, and some faint, folk music from a man playing his guitar across the pier. Chuck would steal glances at Sarah, and he would see a content expression on her face. Sometimes, she would close her eyes as if she wanted her other senses to take over, as if she wanted to properly feel the cool wind against her skin, to taste the salt in the air, to smell the scent of the food from the vendors around them, and to listen to the waves.

She opened her eyes, and turned to Chuck. "We should discuss our cover."

And just like that, spy mode Sarah reappeared. Although he expected her to show up sooner or later, he couldn't help but feel a little crushed by her sudden appearance.

"What is there to discuss?"

"When do you want to tell Ellie about us?"

Chuck shrugged. He didn't want to lie to Ellie. She would be ecstatic upon hearing the news, but it wasn't real, and she deserved to hear something real. "I don't know. Do we have to tell her?"

"People are going to talk soon, Chuck," said Sarah. "Wouldn't you rather have her hear it from you than from a tabloid?"

"I would rather tell her that it was real," he blurted out. He quickly added, "What I meant was, that…Ellie's been worried about my…uh…love life. It's a little weird, but it's understandable, I guess. I haven't really…dated anyone in a long time."

"I think you should tell her soon," said Sarah. "When you get home."

"Right," he said, deflated. He turned around to lean his back against the railing to face a closed pro surfboard shop. "So when we're out in public, we pretend like…we're a normal, happy couple, huh?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Like I said earlier, you're an easy person to recognize."

He let out a dry chuckle, remembering the day that Bryce had sent him a link to some gossip website with a picture of him and Ellie. The headline to that article read, "Has Charles Bartowski Finally Found His Legendary Love?" God, that was awkward. He wondered what would happen if he and Sarah were caught on camera, and their pictures were posted all over the internet. "What happens if the bad guys find out about our fake relationship? Wouldn't they know that it's for cover? And what about when you eventually leave? The bad guys will know who you are, won't they?"

"My missions here will be low maintenance," she replied. "If there are any more enemy agents at your company, and we find them, they'll be imprisoned immediately."

"What if there are enemy agents at my company, and they recognize who you are?"

"The thing about me is—" Sarah grinned over at Chuck. "I never leave witnesses. Perfect record."

He felt a cold tinge running down his spine as he remembered her shooting the man from the night before.

"Chuck?"

"Hmm?"

Sarah let out a breath. "I'm sorry."

Chuck rolled his eyes. "Sarah," he said, chuckling. "You've apologized to me a million times today, and I always say the same thing. It's not your fault."

"No, I'm sorry for…" her voice trailed off. "This situation, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you deserve something real," she said. "I've only been here for a couple of days, and already, it's obvious that you haven't changed too much since we were kids."

"Isn't that a bad thing?" he joked.

She chuckled and shook her head. "What I meant to say is that you're still you. You've always been a great person, even when we were kids. And you're still…great."

"Oh, please," he scoffed playfully. "I'm fantastic."

She adjusted herself so that she was facing him. She looked him in his eyes. "Yeah. You are."

His heart skipped a beat, as he felt his face begin to burn red.

"So what I'm sorry for is," she continued, "that I'll be holding you back from finding someone that you deserve. Someone that can make you happy…" her voice trailed off, and from the way she was biting her lower lip, he could tell that she wanted to say more.

After hearing those words, he couldn't help but feel hopeful. Not just in recruiting her for his team, but for their future together. Although her speech was based off the fact that she was a spy, he felt that despite that, she wanted something more. So he turned to face her, and he reached his hand out to brush a strand of hair away from her face.

"We should go," she said, taking a step back. "You still have to tell Ellie about Casey moving in to be your butler in the morning. You should also tell her about…us."

He felt like he had been stabbed in the chest by a knife upon hearing her words. But he put on a brave face, and he responded with a tight lipped smile. "Right."

"And tomorrow's a big night for you, Chuck," she said, leading the way back to his car. "You have your first mission. Get to bed early tonight, okay? Rest up."

"Yes'm," he said. As far as the mission tomorrow night, he knew it would be a piece of cake.

A/N: Thank you for reading! As per usual, reviews would be awesome!