Don't get too hooked on these frequent updates. I just happen to be on a roll right now. But next week is looking pretty hairy in Real Life and my turn is rolling around again in the Authors Intersect Round Robin project, so I'm going to be pretty busy.
Doctor Poa is back, both in the story and in her gracious editing of my work. Thanks, Dr. P.
CHUCK VERSUS THE BUY MORE BOMBER
Chapter 21
The Care and Feeding of Sarah Walker
Sarah felt like she was floating. She was a little confused to realize that she was actually lying on a bed, with an irritable little pain in her left arm and a dull, throbbing pain in her left shoulder. Slowly, cautiously, she opened her eyes. The room was dark, thankfully. She had woken up too many times to the blinding lights of interrogators not to appreciate the subdued lighting of… where was she?
Slowly, as she blinked away the fog shrouding her mind, memories started to flood in. al Fayed and his henchmen, Chuck tackling Hassan, getting shot, Casey carrying her to the Castle, Chuck running into the Buy More to keep the bomb… Chuck! Where was Chuck?
She tried to sit up, but her body didn't want to respond. As she struggled, she became aware of the feeling of something soft and warm pressing against her right hand and something else pressing against the blankets on the right side of her body. Blinking again and summoning her considerable will-power, she slowly lifted her head.
The corners of her mouth twitched up slightly. There was no mistaking the mop of curly brown hair splayed across her light blue hospital blanket. Chuck had evidently fallen asleep sitting in the chair next to her bed. He was drooped over the side of the bed, his head resting next to her stomach. Even in sleep, he was still clutching her hand with his own bandaged-swathed right hand.
Despite the discomfort in her left shoulder, she reached up with her left hand and caressed his wild mane before twirling a finger in one of his unruly brown curls. It was funny, she thought. For a man she had never 'slept with,' she certainly spent a lot of time actually sleeping with Chuck Bartowski.
She winced as her movements caused the stitches in shoulder to pull just a little, and she sucked in her breath. Chuck stirred a little under her hand and she held as still as she could until he settled down and his breath returned to its slow, steady rhythm.
"What am I going to do with you, Chuck?" she whispered. She gently stroked his hair. "Do you have any idea how hard you make it? How hard it is to treat you as just an asset?" She slid her fingers through his hair, reveling in the soft brown strands. "I've been on the arms of the rich and powerful, of dukes and dictators, and no one makes me feel as special as you do. And for a guy I'm supposed to be protecting, you have a nasty habit of saving my life."
She sighed as a single tear slipped down her cheek.
She felt Chuck start to stir again and quickly pulled her hand away. She dropped it to the bed beside her, lay back and closed her eyes, pretending to still be asleep.
Chuck gave a little groan and slowly sat up. Sarah felt Chuck's hand slip away from hers, and suddenly she felt very cold. Eyes still closed, she recognized the sound of Chuck stretching and yawning. This was followed by the smacking of his lips. In her mind's eye, Sarah could see the adorable way he scrunched up his face at his 'morning breath' and heard a 'huff', 'huff', 'sniff', 'sniff', as he no doubt tested his breath. It was hard to suppress a smile and pretend to still be asleep.
"Oh, man, I can't believe I fell asleep," Chuck muttered. "I wonder what time it is?"
There was a rustle as Chuck shifted in his chair. Sarah felt his soft touch as he gently stroked her hair. She wasn't sure why she pretended to be asleep. Perhaps because if she was awake, she would have to chide him for his most recent heroics. For now, it was nice to lay there and revel in his proximity without having to be 'the Agent' or 'the Protector.'
She felt something soft press against her forehead and realized, with a start, that he had just kissed her. It took all her agent skill and training not to open her eyes, wrap her arms around his neck, and pull him into a kiss of her own.
The soft stroking of her hair was back. "I was so scared," she heard Chuck whisper. "When Hassan shot you… I… I thought I lost you, Sarah. I don't know… I don't know what I would do if that happened. I…" She heard him let out a heavy sigh and felt him brush a stray hair back behind her ear. "It's made me realize something."
So softly that she wasn't quite sure she heard him correctly, he breathed, "I love you, Sarah Walker."
Startled, she gave a little jump and then quickly let out a little moan and yawned to hide the fact that she had already been awake.
Chuck started, and then grabbed her hand with both of his. "Sarah?" he asked. "Sarah, can you hear me?"
She made a show of blinking her eyes open and yawning. "Chuck? Where am I?" Her heart was pounding out a mambo in her chest and she hoped Chuck didn't glance over at the heart rate monitor to see just how excited she was. Sure, lots of men had told her that they loved her – usually to try and get her into bed. But none had spoken with such sincerity and intensity. None had been even remotely believable. Until now. Until Chuck. Until that quiet whisper he hadn't intended her to hear.
Part of her - the girly part she continually tried so hard to suppress but which Chuck seemed to draw out on a regular basis - wanted to squeal with delight. Wanted to shout from the rooftops, 'Chuck loves me!' Wanted to grab this wonderful, kind, caring man and take him in her arms and never let him go.
She allowed herself the briefest of moments to indulge in the dream. The Jenny Burton dream. The dream of the husband and kids and dog and house in the suburbs. The dream of being loved and accepted. The dream of a normal life.
And then she quashed it. Forced it out of her mind. She was a CIA officer. She had, as Casey was fond of saying, chosen something bigger than herself. It was her job to protect Chuck; to protect the Intersect, the Asset. She would never be normal. Hadn't Chuck told her that himself? Without the CIA, without The Job, what was she? Just some con man's daughter without any real family, without any friends, without a life. Graham and the CIA had given her purpose. Had made her who – what – she was. She had a job to do, dammit.
And yet…
The niggling little dream wouldn't die, no matter how hard she tried to strangle it. Maybe someday, a part of her insisted. If anyone could make you real, could make you normal, it would be…
"Chuck," she said, forcing aside the useless internal debate. She feigned confusion at where she was, not so hard to do considering the real confusion roiling inside of her. "Where am I?" she asked again, her voice scratchy.
"Oh… Here," Chuck said, reaching for a glass and spooning some ice chips into her mouth. "You're at County General. You were shot, remember?"
Sarah sucked the ice chips, stalling to gain time to compose herself. "I remember," she said finally. His broad smile seemed to send a wave of warmth running down to her toes that the ice in her mouth did nothing to supress. She sighed. They really needed to talk about this terrifying new habit he had of risking his life for her. "Chuck," she began.
The door to the room opened and Doctor Lynn Poa stepped in. She flipped the light switch, causing Sarah and Chuck both to blink rapidly as their eyes adjusted. Doctor Poa hurried across the room to Sarah's bedside.
"Agent Walker, you're awake," she said. She glanced at the heart rate monitor, and then picked up Sarah's wrist. "They called me because they noted a spike in your heart rate." She stood still for a moment, feeling Sarah's pulse. "How are you feeling? Any pain?"
Sarah looked up at her. "I'm fine. Perfectly fine. I feel great. When can I leave?"
Doctor Poa laughed. "Ms. Walker, I've dealt with enough agents to know that none of them like to spend any time in a hospital bed, and will lie through their teeth to get out. You've been shot. It wasn't bad… Well, getting shot is always bad, but at least you were lucky this time and the bullet didn't hit anything vital."
The doctor picked up Sarah's chart and made some notes. "The bullet passed through without hitting any bone or lung tissue. It nicked the subclavian vein and we had to do some surgery to repair the damage. It's a good thing that your partner brought you in right away or you could have bled out, even with his pressure bandage. We repaired the vein and some minor tissue damage. Barring infection, you should make a complete recovery. But I want to keep you for a couple days to monitor your progress."
"A couple days!" Sarah gasped.
"Are you sure that's long enough?" Chuck asked. "Shouldn't you keep her for a week or two, just to make sure she's recovering properly?"
Sarah shot him a nasty look and Chuck clamped his mouth tightly shut.
"I have medical training," Sarah said. "I know what to look out for. Surely I can complete any required convalescence at home."
The doctor looked skeptical. She had dealt with numerous agents and their belief that they were superhuman. "I'm keeping you at least for today," she said. "We can check tomorrow and see how you're doing and maybe, maybe I can release you then… provided you have proper care and supervision at home."
"I can take care of her," Chuck offered quickly. This earned him another look from Sarah.
A ghost of a smile flitted across Doctor Poa's face. 'Ah, young love,' she thought. It was not unheard of for agents to become romantically involved with their partners. In fact, it happened much more often than the Agency would care to admit. "We can talk about that when we see how you are doing tomorrow."
Sarah sighed. It was difficult enough sharing her hotel room with Chuck, without having him doting on her 24/7. Suddenly, a thought struck her. Maybe Chuck wouldn't be with her at all. If she was out of commission, no matter how temporarily, then there was a good chance that Beckman would question her ability to properly guard Chuck. In Beckman's mind, the Asset and the Intersect were all that mattered and an injured agent would not be an effective tool for protecting the asset. And she had no illusions that she was anything other then a tool to Beckman. A tool to be used and, when no longer useful, thrown away. God how she missed Graham. Graham always had her back, even after that awful mess in Guatemala. And if another agent was assigned in her place…
"Ms. Walker," Doctor Poa said again, breaking Sarah out of her reverie.
Sarah looked up at her. "I'm sorry, Doctor? I must still be a little groggy from the anesthesia."
A knowing smile crossed Doctor Poa's lips. She recognized woolgathering when she saw it. "I was just saying that you are going to require some physical therapy once you have the stitches out in order to regain full range of motion in that arm. I'll send in the Agency physical therapist to talk to you about it."
Sarah looked down at her shoulder and her vanity got the better of her. Much of her effectiveness as an agent, she believed, was tied up with her appearance. "Will I have a scar?" she asked.
Doctor Poa smiled and shook her head. "General Beckman arranged for Doctor Alvarez, one of the best plastic surgeons in LA, to assist me. As long as you follow our instructions, there should be little to no scarring."
Sarah glanced over at Chuck, who smiled at her. "Don't worry," he said. "I won't mind a little scar."
Sarah tried not to blush.
The door to the room swung open and John Casey stepped in. "Good," he said, ignoring everyone in the room but Sarah. "You're awake. We need to talk."
Doctor Poa looked Casey up and down. She'd noticed the tall, solidly built agent the day before, but had still been in 'surgeon mode' when she had seen him, and he had been preoccupied with his partner. Agent Walker was obviously involved with Agent Carmichael, so maybe that mean Agent Casey was available. He wore no wedding ring, but then even the married agents seldom wore a ring.
"I'll be going," she said. "I'll check in on you later, Agent Walker. And, um, Agent Casey, if I could talk to you later? I want to get some… background information for my formal report."
Preoccupied, Casey barely glanced at her. "Sure. I'll stop by and see you later."
Doctor Poa was smiling as she left the room.
Chuck looked up expectantly at Casey. Sarah was not nearly so eager to hear what her partner had to say. She suspected it wasn't good news.
Casey checked the door to make sure no one was listening. "I just got off the horn with Beckman," he began.
Sarah cringed and braced herself for what was coming.
