Sarah vs covers, lies and ticking time bombs
A/N: I don't own Chuck. And the angst is from canon. I've done my best to catch all errors, but most of this was written in the early morning hours, so please forgive anything that might have slipped through.
Chapter 10
Sarah couldn't believe she had to work a bloody hotdog shift. When her phone rang she hoped it was Casey, informing her that they found the marlin and the receiver. Something they could use to get the order to bring Chuck in revoked. No such luck. She had the irritating voice of Scooter in her ear, threating termination if she didn't walk through the Wienerlicious door in twenty minutes. That put her in the mood to eliminate a few things, if not people, herself. She considered ignoring him. She wouldn't need that cover job much longer anyway, but her rational side prevailed. If she was to pull off her plan, she couldn't raise any alarm bells.
Sarah, with her phone practically glued to her hand, was waiting for any news. She decided to give it another thirty minutes before making that call. Sarah Walker the girlfriend won the internal battle and Sarah Walker the spy would just have to deal with it.
There were no customers in the Wienerlicious, allowing Sarah time to run over her checklist in her mind. She nearly jumped when the email came through on her phone. She breathed a sigh of relief when she opened the attachment. Chuck had just identified the enemy operative. It was the break she was hoping for. The video clip had barely finished when Lizzy walked through the door. At least that saved Sarah the trouble to track her down.
But things did not go as planned. Ten minutes later Sarah found herself locked in the walk-in freezer, wondering how she let the pita girl get the upper hand. Lizzy got away with the receiver. She tried really hard not to think about the consequences of what just happened. She failed and Chuck was out there, defenseless against Fulcrum and the CIA. A noise from the front of the store snapped her back to the present. She heard Chuck's voice and yelled for help. Seconds later he appeared. She'd never been so relieved to see him in her life. That was until she realized Chuck could barely hold onto a gun.
Another fifteen minutes passed before Sarah stiffly walked out of the freezer. Chuck was arrested before he could free her, but Casey finally showed up. She informed him through a nearly frozen jaw that Lizzy was the mole. If they could track her down, all that remained was to bail Chuck out of jail and they'd be home free. Then she was going to have a chat with Scooter about the length of her skirt. She wondered how long it would take for her legs to thaw.
Sarah had barely lost that human popsicle feeling when she went cold again, this time from the inside. They briefed Director Graham and General Beckman on the status of the situation. The order was expected. Track down the enemy agent and take her out. It was Beckman's response to her suggestion that someone needed to go fetch Chuck that pulled the rug from under her.
"The Intersect is no longer your concern, Agent Walker."
"I…I don't understand." Surely her superiors realized that they were close to ensuring Chuck's identity had been contained.
"Detective Conway is CIA," General Beckman explained.
"Chuck is on his way to the extraction point right now. We've decided to transfer him to lockdown immediately." Sarah could almost feel Director Graham's stare through the monitor. "Is there a problem?"
"Uh, no. No. I just thought I would handle his transfer." She had counted on that should they ever need to run. Chuck was her asset. It was her job to burn him. Or at least to receive the order.
"Forget about Chuck, Agent Walker. Focus on catching that Fulcrum agent."
"We're on it," Casey responded when Sarah didn't. He terminated the link before continuing. "And 'we' meaning I go get Lizzy while you find Chuck." That was the second last thing Sarah expected. She shot him a questioning look. Then she realized. He knew. Before she could verify that, Casey preempted her. "Don't make me change my mind."
For the first time in two days things went Sarah's way. Detective Conway, slash Agent Longshore according to the CIA database, hadn't removed Chuck's watch. The GPS signal led her straight to them.
Sarah ran up the stairs, praying she wasn't too late. That was her first concern. It was laid to rest when she spotted them making their way across the roof. "Longshore!"
"Is there a problem, Agent Walker?" Now she had to face her second dilemma. She didn't exactly have a plan.
"Sarah, thank god you're here. I don't want to go yet. I can't." Sarah understood some of the fear Chuck must be feeling. He was about to lose his freedom, but more importantly, he was being taken away from the people he loved. The CIA was taking away the man she loved. She had to act and fast.
"Agent Casey is tracking the Fulcrum mole and he should have her in custody soon, so we can hold off on the Chuck transfer for the time being."
"If there was a change in the operation I would have been contacted. I have my orders." Sarah could practically recite the words before they even left Longshore's mouth. They had the same training after all, but she was not about to give up.
"We don't have to do this. It's a judgment call, okay. We can just hold Chuck here until we know for sure."
"His cover was blown. He's gone." She knew that one too.
"No. I will take full responsibility. Chuck is my asset. He's my guy. Just give us some more time, please?" Sarah knew her professionalism just slipped, but she didn't care.
"I'd appreciate it. I really would."
"Please don't do this."
Longshore seemed unmoved. Sarah slipped her hand behind her back, gripping her weapon. Bargaining and begging didn't work. She had only one option left. Longshore looked from her to Chuck and conceded. "Okay, you've got one minute. One minute." He stepped away, giving them some privacy, but not much.
Sarah made her way over to Chuck, keeping an eye on Longshore to make sure he didn't pull the move she almost did. Then she met Chuck's eyes and it broke her heart. "I'm not ready, Sarah. I'm not ready to disappear."
"I know." She wasn't ready for this either. She couldn't tell him words, not with Longshore watching.
"I need you to talk to Ellie and to Morgan and my friends and…and tell them…I don't know. Look, if I'm supposed to be dead just say something that will make it okay. That will make them feel alright. Just make sure they know how much I love them. You can do that, right? Of course you can. You're Sarah. You can do anything." Somewhere in the middle of his speech she felt her tears threatening to spill over. Chuck was innocent, he didn't deserve this. None of it. But it was his last words that were her undoing. His voice dropped to a whisper. "And you know how much I love you, right?"
Sarah couldn't hold back any longer. Closing the distance, she wrapped her arms around Chuck's neck. "I'm going to shoot Longshore and then we get out of here, okay?"
Chuck, still handcuffed, grabbed hold of her shirt to keep her close. "No. I can't let you do that. I'm already going into lockdown. They can't get you too. My family and friends are going to need you. And you are going to need them."
"I need you, Chuck." She pulled back, grabbed his hands and begged him with her eyes not to sacrifice himself for her. Before Chuck could respond, Longshore interrupted.
"Time's up."
Chuck squeezed her hands. "Goodbye Sarah." A tear escaped when he turned away from her. It wasn't supposed to end this way. It wasn't supposed to end at all.
"Chuck," she called him back. "Save you later?" When he gave her a lopsided smile and slight nod, she knew she would find a way.
Sarah paused in the bathroom door, watching Chuck who was standing by the window, gazing out over the city. This time last night they were on that rooftop.
She was battling to keep it together when she heard the silenced gunshot and saw Longshore go down. She snapped into agent mode. With Chuck's help, she managed to take Lizzy down. Sarah never felt the satisfaction before that she got from lifting her by the collar and delivering the final punch. It was payback for putting her and Chuck through this and it was not only directed at Fulcrum. Then she and Chuck spend the night digging through the dumpster for Ellie's engagement ring. Sarah tried to persuade Chuck to let the CIA replace it. All she wanted to do was to take him back to her hotel, crawl into bed and fall asleep holding him close. But even though she didn't get her way, she was relieved just being with him. Their efforts were rewarded a little while later when she and Chuck spied through the window as Devon proposed to Ellie.
Sarah walked quietly up behind Chuck, wrapping her arms around his torso. He stiffened momentarily, but then relaxed just as quickly. He tried to turn around, but she stopped him with a soft "don't". Bringing her hands to his waist, she pulled his t-shirt out of his jeans and slipped it up and over his head. She tossed it somewhere behind her and curled her arms around his, grabbing hold of his shoulders. Starting at the back of his neck, she trailed soft kisses across to his shoulder. She paused. Her head dropped and she pressed her body flush against his. She didn't know how it happened, but all the feelings she had suppressed for the past few days rose to the surface. Chuck must have felt the moisture on his skin, because he tried to turn around again. Sarah tightened her grip to prevent him from doing so.
"I couldn't leave them yet." Sarah wasn't ready to relive what happened, so she steered the conversation in a different direction.
"Don't you think you should go in and congratulate them?"
Chuck glanced at her over his shoulder. "You coming?"
"In a minute." She spotted Casey making his way towards them and she knew she had to deal with him sooner or later. Sooner was probably better. Casey hovered in the background until Chuck disappeared into the apartment. Sarah didn't take her eyes of the scene inside.
"You know you can't keep him here forever." She didn't acknowledge his statement. Nor did she turn to face him.
"How long have you known?" She caught a glimpse of Casey's reflection in the window. His expression gave nothing away.
"A while. The amount of cover sleepovers at your place seemed a little excessive."
"Have you informed Beckman and Graham?" Sarah didn't have the energy to beat about the bush.
"And babysit a moping nerd by myself when you get reassigned? I'll pass. But I'm not going to cover for you when they find out." She suspected Casey might actually do just that, given that he encouraged her to defy a direct order the day before, but decided not to press the issue.
"Sarah?" When she didn't answer, Chuck's hands came up and rubbed soothingly up and down her forearms. That only caused her to sob harder. They stood like that for a while before Chuck spoke again. "I'm sorry I did this."
His unexpected apology forced her to regain some composure before she spoke against his shoulder. "Did what?"
"Pushed you into a real relationship. This would not be so hard for you if I hadn't done that." Sarah released her grip and grabbed his forearm so he would turn and face her.
She shook her head. "You're wrong, Chuck. It would have been harder." She took a shaky breath. "If the CIA took you last night and we never had the chance to…regrets are worse." She was never good at expressing her emotions, but Chuck always seemed to understand what she meant. "And you didn't push me into anything."
"So you don't regret what happened between us?" Chuck brought his hands up to frame her face, wiping the remnants of her tears away with her thumbs. Sarah's hands rested against his chest, but her eyes never left his.
"Not for a second. I just…I don't want to come that close to losing you ever again." Deep down she knew it was a promise he couldn't make. Neither of them could. So before he had the chance to say anything, her hand moved to the back of his neck, guiding his lips down to hers. She kissed him like it was the first time and the last time. One of Chuck's hands ended up on her hip, steering her backwards towards the bed. When the back of her knees hit the mattress, she pulled him down with her.
Chuck broke off the kiss and propped himself up on one elbow. His eyes roamed her face and she waited for them to settle back on hers. Her earlier words kept echoing through her mind. She didn't want any regrets. Her hand curled around his bicep and when they locked gazes, she wiped a stray curl from his forehead, tracing her finger down his jaw. The sincerity of Chuck's smile caused her last wall to crumble.
"It's Sam. My real name is Sam."
A look of awe crossed Chuck's face before he captured her mouth in a short, intense kiss. When he pulled back he gave her a full-fledged Bartowski grin, the one that made her heart flutter since the day they met.
"It's nice to meet you, Sam."
A/N: And so we come to the end of this. Thank you so much for reading and all your reviews. The jury is still out on a possible sequel. I have realized though that I've written only one story set in Season 2, which is odd as that was my favorite season to date (well, tied with season 4). Hopefully I'll get a chance to rectify that in the future, but for now I'm gonna finish The Wedding Gift. The odd one-shot may pop up (BTW is anyone interested in a Christmas story in March? I haven't published my WAY challenge story yet). And Inconvenient Truths isn't dead, it's just…it's complicated.