Thanks again to my editor/proofreader Poa and to my 'story consultant' MySoapBox for their help on this chapter. Ladies, I am in your debt. Your suggestions made the chapter much stronger, as usual.

Sorry for the delay since the last chapter. Hopefully it was worth the wait (but I doubt it).

So without further ado, we bring you...

CHUCK VERSUS THE BUY MORE BOMBER

Chapter 16

Not By the Hair of My Chinny Chinchilla

"Moses has already been in contact with Mossad headquarters to get all the information he can on Agent Carmichael, here," Ari said. "Or should I say, Charles Irving Bartowski."

"What?" Casey asked.

"Moses can be… relentless when there is something he wants," Rachel offered.

"You know Moses Finkelstein?" Sarah asked.

"I was on his team," Rachel said. "I was one of those who helped track down Abdul al Fayed and Red Jihad. Moses was my superior."

"And when you said it was your fault that Ari, um, David was here…" Chuck said.

"I know how dangerous al Fayed can be. I know of what he is capable. When I heard that al Fayed was here, targeting Moses, I convinced Ari to take the mission…"

Ari sat up quickly in his hospital bed, which caused him to wince as it stretched the bandaged on his back. He exhaled quickly. Still, he hissed a warning to his wife, "Rachel!"

"It is all right, Ari," Rachel said. "I know Sarah can be trusted, and she needs to know everything. And if she trusts her team, then I trust them, too."

"You know what my superiors would say," Ari cautioned her.

"Yes, yes. They were once my superiors as well. Or men just like them. The faces change, but the bureaucratic mindset is a constant." She turned back to Sarah. "You must be careful with Moses. He is a dangerous, ruthless man. And there is no love lost between him and Ari."

"Why's that?" Casey asked.

"When I was on his team, Moses was... interested in me. Not professionally. I spurned him, and chose Ari instead. Moses was... not happy with the decision."

"Then why did you send Ari here to save Moses' bacon?" Chuck asked. When everyone turned toward him, he blushed a little. "Sorry. Poor choice of words."

Rachel smiled and ignored the faux pas. "I convinced Ari to come because I, of all people, know what a complete bastard al Fayed is. He cares about nothing and no one but himself. This 'jihad' of his was not about freeing Palestine, but about his own personal aggrandizement, his own power."

Casey furrowed his brow. Something Rachel had said had struck a chord. "Why you of all people?" he asked.

Rachel's voice was hard and flat. "My undercover assignment was to get close to al Fayed... by any means necessary. It is not something of which I am proud, but I did what my superior, what my country, required of me."

"Wait a minute," Chuck asked, aghast. "Moses was in love with you, but he still ordered you to... well, you know... with a terrorist?"

Rachel nodded. "Moses lets nothing get in the way of the mission. Besides, al Fayed was the most dangerous enemy Israel had, and what I did was... and is... acceptable and normal spycraft."

Sarah's eyes darted over to Chuck. As she expected, he turned ahd looked at her. The look in his eyes caused her to shrink a little from his gaze. By now, she thought knew Chuck's every look, every glance. But she wasn't sure. What that pain in his eyes, or accusation? It pained her to have Chuck think of her like that. But it would pain him even more if he knew the whole truth. She quickly changed the subject. "Rachel, if you know al Fayed so well, then perhaps you can help us. We have to stop him."

"I will do what I can, of course," Rachel said.

"No!" came a commanding voice from the bed. Four sets of eyes turned and looked at Ari. "No. I forbid it."

"Forbid it?" Rachel asked.

"Rachel, you gave up that life. You promised me. When our son Yitzhak was born, you promised me that you were out."

Rachel laughed. "Don't worry, old man. I'm not planning on trying to seduce al Fayed. I do not exactly turn heads the way I used to." She smiled, as if fishing for one of Ari's usual comments about her still being beautiful.

Ari, however, did not take the bait. "That is not what I am talking about, woman, and you know it," Ari said. "You have two sons now. You have no business being out in the field. Your sons need a mother, not an operative."

Sarah winced a little at Ari's comment and glanced over at Chuck. There was a tiny part of her that daydreamed about being a wife and mother, while still being a field agent. Fortunately, she noted, Chuck was focused on Ari and Rachel and didn't see her reaction.

"I am not planning on hunting down al Fayed myself, husband," Rachel said. "I merely meant that I could give Sarah and her team some insight as to how al Fayed thinks. Perhaps, with my help, they can determine his next move."

"That would be very helpful, Rachel," Sarah said. She turned to Ari. "Don't worry. I'll keep her out of trouble."

"Wonderful. You keeping someone out of trouble," Ari said to Sarah. "If I recall, you were generally the one causing trouble."

Sarah shrugged. "That was Rebecca. This is Sarah. I'm not some wet being the ears, fresh from the Academy agent any more."

Casey snorted, earning him a dirty look from Sarah. Ari raised his eyebrows and gave Sarah a dubious look.

Sarah reached in her pocket and pulled out her card. "Stop by the Orange Orange tomorrow," Sarah said, handing the card to Rachel, "and we can go over the intel that we have."

"Good," Rachel said. "Nine o'clock?"

Sarah nodded. "That will be fine."

Rachel gave Sarah a hug. "It is so good to see you again. It has been too long."

"Yes, it has," Sarah said. "Take good care of… David." She gave Ari a look.

"Go," Ari said. "I have barely had time to have Rachel yell at me for being so careless." Sarah laughed and Ari winked at her. Chuck and Casey said their goodbyes and left Ari's room.

Once they were out of the room, Chuck turned to Sarah and Casey. "I thought the idea was to find out what else Ari knew about al Fayed. We didn't ask him anything."

Casey thumped him in the back of the head. "Think about it, moron. His wife just got there. How much information do you think we could get out of him at this point?"

"You know," Chuck complained, "one of these days you're going to knock something loose up there."

"You have to have something up there before it can be knocked loose," Casey replied.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "As long as we're here, Chuck, why don't we get Doctor Jennings to look at your hands."

Chuck sighed. "Okay."

Doctor Jennings was still at the nurses' station. "Agent Cohen seems to be doing well," Chuck said, remembering to use Ari's cover name.

"Yes," Jennings said. "I want to keep him tonight to watch for any infection, but he should be able to go home tomorrow, as long as he's restricted to light duty."

"Doctor, could you look at Agent Carmichael's hands?" Sarah asked. "I've been changing the bandages but I'd appreciate your opinion on how they're doing."

"Of course," Jennings said. "Come on in here." He indicated one of the examination rooms.

"You do good work, Agent Walker," Jennings said as he unwrapped the gauze. "You could teach some of my residents something about the proper way to wrap a bandage."

Chuck frowned. This was too reminiscent of Jennings trying to turn on the charm when he first met Sarah. He cleared his throat. "So how am I doing, Doc?"

"Fine, fine," Jennings said, turning back to Chuck's hands. "They're healing nicely. You still need to be careful, however." He re-wrapped Chuck's hands in new gauze and Chuck noted he used a little less this time. He took that as a good sign.

"Thank you, doctor," Sarah said when Jennings finished.

"Oh, it was my pleasure," Jennings said, taking her hand.

"We really should be going," Chuck said, 'accidently' bumping Jennings to force him to release Sarah's hand.

Casey smiled. The kid was finally learning some spy moves, even if he was just using them to keep Walker away from predatory doctors.

As they walked toward the car, Chuck looked down at his watch. "I need to stop by the Buy More and check on the chinchillas," he said. "If the store wasn't opened today, then I doubt Jeff and Lester were able to get in to give them food and water."

"You mean, were sober enough to do it," Casey replied.

"Yeah, that too," Chuck nodded.

"Drop us at my car, Casey, and I'll take Chuck over to the Buy More," Sarah said.

Casey drove them to Chuck's apartment complex, where Sarah had parked her car. She had chosen an unobtrusive location so Ellie or Devon wouldn't spot it.

Casey dropped them off. "I'm going to go check out the Beverly Hills branch, since it's the only one open," he said.

"Call us if you find anything," Sarah replied.

After he drove off, Sarah turned to Chuck and asked, "Do you need anything from your room as long as we're here?"

Chuck thought for a moment and then shook his head. "Not that I can think of. I think I've got what I need over at your place, and Ellie and Devon are probably home by now. It would still be kind of awkward trying to explain this," he held up his bandaged hands.

"Okay," Sarah said. "Buy More and then my place. Oh, and we probably should pick up some dinner."

Chuck smiled. "Sound good."

They hopped in Sarah's Porsche. Chuck fumbled with the seatbelt.

"Here, let me," Sarah said, reaching across him to grab the seat belt. He took in a breath as her body brushed against his. She leaned back, pulling the seatbelt, and clicked it in place. Then she smiled at him. "There."

Chuck sighed and looked down at his hands. "I'll be glad when I'm healed and I don't feel like such an invalid, having you do everything for me."

Sarah gave him one of her enigmatic smiles - the kind that turned his insides to mush. "I don't mind," she said. "After all, it's my job to take care of you."

"Protect me, not be my nursemaid," he grumbled.

"Is it so bad, having me as a nursemaid?" she asked.

Chuck blushed and looked over at her, but Sarah had started the car and was scanning the traffic, preparing to pull out.

"Not… not at all," Chuck said. "I just figure, you know, that you have better things to do than babysit a crippled nerd."

Sarah glanced quickly at him before turning back to watch the road. "Like I said before, it's the least I can do."

Chuck settled back into the seat and watched the scenery roll by, without really seeing it. Uncharacteristically, Sarah was taking it slow and easy, rarely getting the Porsche above second gear. His mind started to wander and he thought about what Rachel had said at the hospital, about pretend to be Abdul al Fayed's lover as part of Moses' operation to take him down the first time.

"Sarah," he began.

"Yes, Chuck?" she asked.

"I was wondering…" he started, then paused. "Never mind."

"What?" she asked.

"It's nothing," he replied.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"No," Chuck replied slowly. "No, I… It's just that I was thinking about what Rachel said. About Moses… using her to get close to al Fayed."

"Mmm hmm," Sarah said as the corners of her mouth started to droop. This was not the conversation she really wanted to be having with Chuck.

"I mean," Chuck continued. "She said that Moses was in love with her, and yet… I mean, how could he? It's just…" He paused, at a loss to even verbalize his conflicting thoughts.

Sarah kept her gaze firmly riveted on the road ahead. "Sometimes," she said slowly, "in this business, we have to put aside personal feelings for the greater good. Sometimes we have to do… things… things that are… distasteful… in order to fulfill the mission."

"But you haven't… You wouldn't…" His voice trailed off and he stared out the window.

Sarah glanced over at him, sighed, and then turned her attention back to the traffic.

They rode in silence the rest of the way to the Buy More. Afraid to even look at her, Chuck didn't see Sarah's eyes glistening with the tears that she fought desperately not to shed.

The Buy More parking lot was nearly empty. Evidently, shoppers were not only avoiding the Buy More, they were also avoiding the nearby stores, just in case.

"Well, at least Morgan is getting his vacation," Chuck said, trying to lighten the mood.

Sarah simply nodded and gave him a wan smile.

They walked up to the store. Chuck winced a little as he tried to reach into his pocket for his keys. "Here, let me," Sarah said. Chuck blushed as Sarah reached a hand into his pants pocket and fished for the keys. After a moment, she pulled out the familiar brain keychain.

Chuck gave her a nervous smile. "Um, thanks," he said.

"Which key is it?" Sarah asked, trying to act as if fishing in a guy's pants pocket was perfectly normal.

"That… no, the other… yeah, that one," Chuck said. "Wait, I have to put in the code." He punched the manager's code into the keypad by the door, and then Sarah unlocked it.

Chuck started to go in, but Sarah put a hand on his shoulder. "Wait," she said, reaching into her waistband to pull out her gun.

"Did you hear something?" Chuck asked.

"No, but with al Fayed and his men running around, we can't be too careful."

Chuck nodded and held the door for Sarah. He waited for a moment, just watching her. Once again, he marveled at her feline grace as she moved stealthily into the store. Chuck had to shake his head to snap himself out of his reverie, so mesmerized was he watching Sarah at work.

He stepped into the store and cringedas the door slammed shut with a bang. Sarah turned and glared at him. Chuck shrugged his shoulders and mouthed, 'Sorry.' Sarah shook her head and continued into the store. Chuck hurried to catch up. He looked around nervously. The store, his home away from home, now seemed silent and creepy. Instead of Emmett's ubiquitous animal videos, the video wall was black and dead. The standees of smiling Buy More green shirts somehow seemed silent and brooding. The store, usually full of life - human and electronic, seemed dead and cold.

A monitor flickered off to the side and Chuck's breath caught for a moment. 'Get it together, Chuck,' he told himself.

Sarah ducked into the back. She emerged a moment later and nodded at him, sticking her gun back in her pants. "All clear," she announced.

Chuck breathed a sigh of relief. "Good," he said. "Thanks."

Sarah smiled at him. "Just doing my job," she replied. Chuck sighed.

Chuck had instructed Jeff and Lester to leave the chinchillas' cage in 'The Cage,' a chain-link enclosed workspace for the Nerd Herd (sometimes called 'Thunderdome' after Morgan's 'assistant manager competition'). Clearly, Jeff and Lester had not been by to clean the chinchillas cage, because the smell had gotten worse. Chuck sighed. "I guess we better clean their cage before the whole store starts smelling like chinchilla pee."

"Chuck, your hands. You don't want to get an infection. You shouldn't be cleaning the cage. I'll do it."

Chuck glanced around. The janitor's cart was nearby and Chuck stepped over and pulled out a new pair of rubber gloves. "There," he said, holding up his rubber-encased hands. "No problem."

Sarah looked at him dubiously and shook his head.

"C'mon," Chuck said. "Cleaning chinchilla cages isn't in the super secret agent spy manual. I had a hamster as a kid. Besides, I need you to watch the chinchillas while I clean the cage."

Sarah looked at him dubiously, but then shrugged. "Okay, but be careful."

Sarah looked around and found an empty cardboard box. She gently lifted the first chinchilla out of its cage and gently placed it in the box, then reached in and took out the second one. She held it up, rubbed its soft fur against her face.

Chuck flipped the latches and took the chinchilla's cage apart so he could clean out the old wood shavings from the bottom and put in a fresh batch. He glanced over at Sarah who had put the one chinchilla into the box and lifted out the other to gently pet its fur. "And which one are you?" she asked it in a sing-song voice.

Watching Sarah play with the chinchillas, Chuck couldn't help but grin. Sarah seemed positively excited about seeing the chinchillas again. She was so hard to figure out. Usually she was this hard-nosed, no-nonsense secret agent. But every once in a while – not often, but now and then – she let what Chuck thought of as her 'girly' side out to play. That was the Sarah who could laugh unabashedly while playing a game with Ellie and Awesome, or who enjoyed cooking, or who could be so gentle giving Chuck a bath. 'Okay,' Chuck thought. 'Don't start dwelling on that last one or this could get embarrassing.'

Chuck shook his head. Sometimes it was hard to wrap his mind around 'girly Sarah.' Not that he was complaining, mind you. At times like these, he could almost pretend that he was a normal guy and she was a normal girl and they were a normal couple – no guns or spies or crazed Middle Eastern bombers.

He was just about to put the cage back together when he heard a noise from the front of the store. He looked over at Sarah and whispered, "What was that?"

Sarah dropped the chinchilla into the box and whipped out her gun. Chuck felt his heart start to race and his breath quicken. Images of the other Buy Mores, smoke and fire and burned bodies flashed through his mind.

Sarah moved over next to Chuck and leaned in to whisper in his ear. He couldn't help himself; even with the fear and tension and uncertainty, the feel of her warm breath in his ear sent a pleasant shiver down his spine. "Call Casey," she whispered. "Tell him we have an intruder in the Buy More. Then hide."

Chuck nodded and slowly set down the top of the chinchilla cage. He pulled out his phone and hit the speed dial for Casey's cell phone as he watched Sarah creep out of the back room toward the front of the store. His fantasy of girly-Sarah and the normal couple shattered into a million pieces and then evaporated like smoke.

Casey picked up on the second ring. "Casey."

"Casey, it's Chuck. We're at the Buy More. I think someone's in the store," Chuck hissed. "We heard a noise. Sarah went to check it out and told me to call you."

"Find a hole and crawl in," Casey barked. Chuck could hear the squeal of tires and the sound of an engine being gunned in the background. "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Okay," Chuck whispered.

"Bartowski!" Casey barked. "Stay down. Don't try and be a hero."

"Wasn't planning on it," Chuck replied. With that, Casey cut the connection.

"Find a hole," Chuck muttered. "Find a hole."

He looked around the back room for a place to hide. First, he crawled under the workbench along the front wall, but looking around, he felt horribly exposed. He got out and started looking around for some other place to hide. There was a stack of boxes in the corner, maybe he could hide in the middle of them, like he and Morgan had done when those Triad thugs were in the store.

No, there was no opening in the boxes and moving them would make too much noise, even if he could manage it with his bandaged hands.

"Find a hole. Find a hole," he muttered again.

There was another noise from the front of the store, and his eyes widened. "Stay in the car, Chuck," he muttered. But the thought of Sarah confronting dangerous terrorists all by herself, without Casey for back-up, left him cold. He took a deep breath, grimaced, and quietly slipped through the door into the main store to see what he could do to help.