A/N: Going on some of the reviews for Alma Mater, I know some of you disagree with my take on the last scene. What I was trying to get over was that Sarah was confused by the entire thing. I probably could have worded it better, but what I was trying to show is that she is already deeper in with Chuck than with Bryce, so she thinks in terms of Chuck when she sees the disk. Just my opinion. Now we've got that out of the way, time to see the Truth.
She should have seen this coming. She could see the frustration Chuck had with their cover/not cover relationship, and it was putting a strain on him. It probably wasn't the best choice to wear that nightdress for the cover "sleepover", but if she was being honest with herself, it was because she wanted him to take a shot. All it ended up doing was creating an extremely awkward situation for both of them, which further cemented in Sarah's mind that she wasn't really built for relationships.
This, in turn, made it easier for her to avoid compromising herself when he did exactly what she was expecting as soon as they got affected by the truth serum. He knew she wouldn't give him a straight answer while she was still in agent mode, and despite his best efforts, he hadn't been able to coax her out of that protective shell for more than a few seconds at a time. Still more than Bryce managed, Sarah's conscience warned her.
So when he asked her if their "under-the-cover" relationship was going anywhere, the answer in itself was easy. It was easy because she believed it to be true. Their relationship wasn't going anywhere. She was still a spy, and he was still her asset; even if they had got together, she'd be on a plane back to Washington faster than she could say "reassigned". Even without that, Sarah's past record wasn't particularly stellar when it came to relationships. She knew they weren't going anywhere because she would inevitably do something to sabotage it, no matter how she felt about him. Not for the first time since this assignment began, she cursed her childhood and the CIA for stunting her emotions to such an extent it would take a team of the world's most prominent psychiatrists to unravel her mind.
The "I'm sorry, no" was the easy part of her answer. What was difficult was biting back the part she so desperately wanted to add, and were it not for her training, she wouldn't have been able to fight it.
"I'm sorry, no," but I want it to.