A/N1 A quiet, shorter chapter, mostly of conversation, as we take the first slow steps that will lead to the final sprint.

Time moves herky-jerky in the chapter.

Don't own Chuck.

Sarah vs. Omaha

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Double Vision

Sea creature/sex creature, woman in love
A slip of the tongue or the hand in the glove
Kiss me and wound me again and again
Faster than beauty our beast is unchained
-Bill Nelson, Flaming Desire

Sarah and Bryce sat in tense silence as their cab took them back to the hotel. Bryce paid the driver and Sarah got out. She was still trying to come to grips with the conversation she had with Josephine. Sarah believed Josephine. And she could not prevent Josephine from watching Garland in the house.

Sarah had made a decision in the moment. She had decided to trust Josephine. Sarah smiled a little inwardly: trusting Josephine was such a Chuck thing to do. Sarah was annoyed with herself; she had not realized how dreamy she had let herself be during dinner. She ought to have been subtly outraged by Bryce and Garland, but instead, she replayed her time with Chuck: on his bed, his hands on her body, over her clothes-although she had unbuttoned her blouse a few buttons and invited him to touch her more beneath it. That touch was all either of them could stand, and left them both gasping. In memory, she had felt his hands tender on her flesh again throughout dinner. His text came back to mind, about her wearing him. She had sat damply for much of the meal, her legs crossed, and, she now realized, her pupils likely dilated.

She needed to get herself under control, take charge of her actions and reactions. She was expecting a lecture from Bryce when they got to the room.

She got it.

Inside the room, Bryce whirled on her. "What do you think you are doing? Getting Garland pliable requires not only that she believe I want her, but that she also believes it all is tormenting you. What part of that do you not understand? Tonight was saved by the old woman. Gretta was beginning to notice that you weren't noticing. What is wrong with you? Is it...Chuck? Can you really not get your mind out of Burbank and back in New Orleans? Our lives are at risk. Not our love lives. Our lives. Get your head in the game, Walker!"

Bryce tossed his sports coat on the bed and stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door. Sarah stood there, blinking. He was mostly right, although she knew he was exaggerating a bit; he had been angry before they had gone to dinner. Josephine had noticed Sarah's drifting attention. Now that Sarah thought about what Bryce claimed, she realized that Josephine had intervened at a key moment; she owed her: Josephine was sharp, observant, vulpine.

She wanted Chuck, and that was creating problems. Physical longing often flared into an overwhelming ache. But the deeper problem was that she wanted to know that he had forgiven her, forgotten his anger and hurt. She wanted to know that when he thought of her, all he felt was love, oceans of it, as was true when she thought of him. The likely imbalance distracted her. Of course, she knew that she had kept Chuck on the worst side of an imbalance for her whole time in Burbank, letting him believe he was falling in love alone.

Being so far away, she could do little except text him. But she knew Chuck; Ellie was right; he recovered. She really just needed to do everything she could to keep channels of communication between them open, to let him know how she felt; and she had to wait for time to do the rest.

She would do better. Get focused. But she knew the truth: she was not the spy she once was and she had no desire to be, although she would try for the sake of the mission. Bryce was right. This was potentially life-and-death, no matter how...debauched and disgusting the mission was at the moment. Fulcrum was looming; Fulcrum was the goal. She needed not to allow Garland's repugnant plan to bed Bryce to make her forget that Garland was a killer in charge of other killers.

Josephine was supposed to visit the hotel tomorrow. Sarah sighed. When Bryce finally left the bathroom, she would have to tell him about Josephine. He was going to be pissed.

ooOoo

Earlier that day

Chuck had texted with Sarah while June was finished in the bathroom. He had put the burner away well before she came into the room. With the bathroom unoccupied, Chuck grabbed his bag and took his turn. He was exhausted. He had gotten to sleep late, waiting to see how June seemed when she emerged from the bathroom. She had not looked at him. She had gotten in the bed without a word. He fell asleep soon afterward.

It seemed that June woke him mere seconds later. She was leaning over him, her grin crooked, edgy. "Wakey, wakey, Intersecty…Rise and flash! An exciting day of files ahead…"

Chuck took a quick shower. He got out and got dressed. He took the small box from the side pocket, the box with the circlet of Sarah's hair. He gave it a kiss and put it away. As he did, a tongue of desire flamed in him so intense he thought he would melt. God, he loved her. He wanted her so much. Missing her was going to drive him crazy. After splashing some cold water on his face, he leaned against the sink until he steadied.

He felt better about things between them today. Yes, she had run, and she had hurt him. But he had been considering her explanations and he was beginning to understand. More than anything, though, more even than the explanations, there was the fact that she came back. She came back. She told me she loves me. Those were massive, massive. Sarah Walker returned. He had to find a way to her.

He left the bathroom and joined June. They walked to her Jeep and, sooner than Chuck wanted, they were at the strip mall. She unlocked the door. They went inside. Everything was as before. Table, files, plastic chairs, the old couch, television. June told him to sit down and she left. A few minutes later she returned, with a briefcase and a cup holder with two cups in it.

"Today's homework. But I got you some coffee. I needed some." She put the briefcase and cup holder down. She handed a cup to Chuck and he took off the plastic lid, sniffed the deep aroma and took a sip. Good. He felt better. June opened the briefcase and took out a file. She put it in front of Chuck. "Get to work!" It was an order. She went, turned on the tv and sat down on the couch, sipping her coffee. The file was huge, thicker by an inch or so than the one he had worked through before. Chuck gritted his teeth and started.

Three hours of misery later, June shut the file. Chuck looked up at her, but he could not see her clearly. There were two of her, then one, then two. His head was throbbing, burning like all his teeth were abscessed.

June told him to rest. There was a knock at the door. She approached the door carefully, but it was just a pizza man. She paid him and brought the pie to the table. She grabbed a slice, folded it, and started eating it, grabbing a napkin to put beneath the folded slice. Chuck just sat there. He was in too much pain to eat. Maybe in a few minutes. He put the digital recorder down; he had forgotten he was still holding it.

ooOoo

Ellie walked out of the hospital, hunched over, beaten. It had been a long couple of shifts and she wanted nothing more than to get home, get in a hot tub and relax. She also wanted to think more about the return of Sarah Walker.

Before she got to her car, a familiar Crown Vic pulled into the lot and cut her off. Casey had the passenger window down.

"Ellie, how 'bout we grab some coffee? I won't keep you long, but it is important."

She grabbed the handle and got in as her answer. Casey popped open the glove compartment and Ellie saw a red wire-bound notebook there. Hers. She gave Casey a questioning look, and he motioned for her to take it.

She sighed, acknowledgment and apology together. "I'm sorry, Casey. I shouldn't have...I shouldn't have written any of my thoughts about the Intersect down...but it helps my process. I'm visual."

Casey checked his mirrors as he nodded his head. "I understand. And I know you tried to hide it. But it was found, Ellie, and not by me, not by Chuck. It was found by an enemy agent. A Fulcrum agent. He was after Chuck"

Ellie gasped. "What was a...Fulcrum agent doing in our apartment? How did he find Chuck? Oh, my God? Chuck!"

"No, no, Ellie, he's fine. Well, he's with Thorne. But he's fine. I saw him this morning, made sure he and June got to where they were going. There's a team posted outside the location. They should be good. But the guy, Ellie, the Fulcrum guy, found Chuck because he found the Buy More, and found Morgan and Jeff."

I'll kill that bearded troll with my bare hands. I'll let you kill Jeff for me."

Casey laughed soundlessly, his chest shaking. "They meant no harm, and at least they remembered talking to the guy. I reminded them that they ought not to volunteer personnel information to people they don't know. With those two, and Lester, hell, the whole bunch, you can only hope for the best. Of course, because that's true they've provided Chuck with good cover…"

"I guess. But Chuck? Is he really ok?"

"Yeah. Fulcrum guy, not so much." Casey pulled out of the lot and joined traffic.

Ellie gulped. "Was it Sarah?"

"No, Sarah left before any of it happened. She had to return to New Orleans. I talked to her as she left your place. She stayed around for a while after Chuck left."

"So, who was it?"

"Thorne. She shot the guy. Hell of a shot, really."

"Hearing that makes me less happy, somehow, John. But at least she turned out to be good for something."

Casey chuckled soundlessly again. They drove in silence, then stopped at a coffee shop. They got out and went inside and placed their orders.

As they sat down, Ellie shifted ground. "What do you think, Casey? Do Chuck and Sarah have a chance? I like her. I like her a lot. And Chuck, well, you know how he feels about her. She and I talked. I feel better about her...but I don't like their chances. The Intersect, the CIA, Bryce-Fucking-Larkin..."

Casey laughed once more but aloud this time. "Well, I am sure that BFL is not a player in the sweepstakes here. Whatever is between those two, it's deep, brute, rooted in the nature of things. They are open to each other, a part of each other. I don't get it, but I see it. I believe what I see. Does that mean they will make it? Hell, no; I wish it did. Goddamnit, I do. But time and chance, Ellie, time and chance, they happen to us all. But they are worthy of making it. Keep the faith. I have been. Some days the universe doesn't suck." Casey looked down at the table.

Just then, a woman brought their coffee. When she left, Ellie put the notebook on the table. "So do I need to destroy the notebook?"

Casey shook his head. "No, but keep it at my place. Far more secure. Work there, leave it there. At least for now. These folks, Ellie, Fulcrum. They are not playing. They want the Intersect. It is possible they'll be back. You can't give in to the temptation to minimize it all. Don't live in fear, but don't forget, either."

Ellie took a drink of her coffee. "Ok, John. I get it. And ok on the notebook too. I'll leave it with you now." She drank more coffee and then shifted ground again."What's June doing with Chuck, Casey?"

"Pushing the Intersect, trying to find out how many flashes Chuck can take." Casey got a faraway look in his eyes. "You remember that commercial? 'How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?"

Ellie answered by adding: "The world may never know." They smiled at that, but then were caught again by the gravity of what they were discussing.

"How much Chuck can take? You mean, it hurts him? He left that out when he told me about it. He made flashes seem like just...I don't know, remembering…"

"It's not, Ellie. That's another reason I wanted to talk. You need to keep an eye on him. Headaches, dizziness, and double-vision. Let me know if it's getting worse. He won't tell us, like he didn't tell you. He jokes about screaming like a girl, and, well, sometimes he does, I guess" he paused as Ellie giggled, "but he screams running toward danger, not away from it. Some kind of Nerd Berserker." Ellie's giggles got louder; she suddenly felt self-conscious. When she stopped giggling, she fixed a serious stare on Casey and made him look at her.

"He admires you, John. You've sort of stepped in for the brother he never had, the father who abandoned him. Thank you."

Casey looked away nervously and took a drink of his coffee. Ellie took another drink of hers. Casey looked away, yes, but Ellie noticed he did not exactly look displeased.

ooOoo

Chuck was able to choke down some pizza after a while and drink some water. His vision cleared somewhat and his head throbbed and burned less horribly.

June had finished eating and was drinking Ginger Ale. She assessed him. "How much more do you have in you?"

"None. I want to stop. Can we please stop? What's the point of this?" He gestured at the recorder. "Is anyone going to listen to all this?"

"They've already listened to the first recording. It's already had positive results, Intersect, or so I've been told. I know it hurts, but you're putting bad guys away and keeping good guys safe." June actually sounded genuinely complimentary.

"Do you believe that? Do you believe in good guys and bad guys?"

June looked at him with her purple-black eyes for a while but only shrugged. "Don't you, Intersect?"

Chuck was silent. "I do, but I don't think you can tell them apart by letters, you know, CIA, NSA, etc. Bad guys work for the so-called good guys."

"Is that a shot at me?" June's tone hardened, sounding more like the tone he was used to.

It was Chuck's turn to shrug. "Do you think you are one of the good guys?"

"Guys? I'm not a guy, Intersect. Surely even you know that."

"Sorry, just a phrase, and you used it first, by the way. So do you?"

June's face went purposely blank. She pushed the file back to him. "Time to go back to work."

"Do you have any more of those gas station Excedrin packages?"

June went to the couch and grabbed some from her bag. She tossed them to Chuck. He opened several foil packages and took a handful, washing them down with water. Being government property blew.

ooOoo

Even earlier that day

Susie Lou did not know how to feel. Happy-sad?

She was sitting at her McDonald's, her burrito and her orange juice in front of her. But her stomach felt funny. She had too much wine the night before, but that was not the only explanation for how she felt.

She blushed as she thought about it, how good the company had been, Dan, how good the food had been. She never went out. He had carried her (He carried me! I was in his arms.) into her house and she had wanted him to stay so much she could hardly believe it, could barely breathe to ask. Her last time had been at the end of college, and it had been with a guy she did not really like much, it turned out, even if she had thought she did.

She worked too hard. She never went out. She met no one. But then Dan had shown up at McDonald's and talked to her. And taken her out. When she had too much to drink and asked (begged) him to stay, he had turned her down gently. Carefully. Gently. A gentleman. Not some patronizing man dressed like a dandy, but an actual gentleman. A man who put her wishes and needs ahead of his own. Someone who would not take advantage.

She hung her head. It was a foregone conclusion that she would never see him again. No computer was necessary to figure that out. She could not remember much of what they talked about, but she had no memory at all of talking about a second date.

Taking a pencil from her purse, choking down her disappointment, she started checking her receipt and began to eat her burrito, counting the number of times she chewed...until she lost count...She did a double-take...because Dan was standing in front of her, tray in his hand, smiling. At her. Susie Lou smiled back.

Very early the next day

Josephine rolled her chair quietly down the long, upstairs hallway. Garland was on the phone. Josephine stopped her chair and listened.

"I realize that the meeting is mandatory. I also realize that only I may attend the Executive Meeting. What I want to know is if I may bring a companion...so long as he does not attend the Meeting? Others will bring spouses, children…"

Garland was listening. Josephine had been watching her daughter-in-law for a long time. Not quite as she was watching her today, spying, but she knew Gretta's habits and her ways. She rarely asked anyone for permission for anything.

"Ok. I understand." Garland huffed in annoyance. She had been turned down.

Josephine eased her chair around and went back down the hallway. Maybe the spying game was like any other game. Maybe beginners are lucky.

A/N2 Tune in next time. Graham makes preparations. Josephine becomes part of the mission. Beckman gets more help than she deserves. And more. Chapter 16, "Espial" I'd love to hear from you, please leave a review or send a PM.