This is not an original story. It was written during the middle of season 2. The original story assumed a sequel that never happened. So there will be some brand new content in this rewrite and several new chapters at the end.

I still don't own Chuck.

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The Fiancé

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah were lying in bed in their normal position, had been for some time. Chuck was on his back. Sarah was, as usual, on her side with her head on his chest. The top of her head was tucked in just under his chin. Her hair slightly tickled his neck each time she moved. Although they were sorta covered by a sheet, they were otherwise naked. It was odd. The most beautiful woman in the whole world was lying with one bare breast smashed into his chest while the other was clearly visible and about two inches from his hand… without him being tempted to grab it.

Maybe that was a good sign. Maybe they were getting into a routine where sex wasn't the only thing they could do. Lying there was pretty special too. It was the most peaceful feeling that Chuck had ever experienced in his life. Time seemed to have no meaning as he mindlessly rubbed Sarah's bare back. He was reluctant to speak because he feared breaking the spell. Since he couldn't see her eyes, he couldn't tell if she was asleep or if she was simply enjoying the moment in the same way he was. Finally, Chuck had to find out. "Are you awake?" he asked.

"So you can speak," Sarah said as she turned her head to look into Chuck's eyes. He could see that unmistakable sparkle. "I was afraid that I had rendered you mute."

"Not yet," Chuck replied in a teasing tone with his own sparkle. "Don't get me wrong. The negligees were nice. Did you realize that you can see right through them? The girl on top thing was another new experience for us. You're very athletic. I'm impressed. But if striking me mute was your goal, I'm afraid that you've failed. Would you care to try again? I'm not sure how you're going to top that. After all, I'm pretty sure that you were every bit as turned on as I was."

"I wouldn't want to damage you permanently," Sarah said with a laugh. "So I've been holding back a little. Trust me. I still have some tricks up my sleeve that would make a lingerie show look like a trip to day camp. I just don't think you're ready for full power yet."

"Okay," Chuck said in mock seriousness as he conspicuously examined her naked form. "I'm going to have to take your word on the sleeves. It must be some kind of metaphor that I'm not getting. Let me know when you think I'm ready."

"And just why would you think that I'm sleeping anyway?" Sarah said with a grin. "It's only one in the afternoon. Do you really think that I'd be so exhausted from your strenuous lovemaking session that I'd need a nap? Pretty full of yourself, aren't you?"

"I'm full of myself?" Chuck replied incredulously. "Says the girl who was just wondering if she had struck me mute with her magical thighs. Besides, you seemed to be doing most of the work."

"Fair enough," Sarah replied with a laugh. "Why did you ask in the first place?"

"Well," Chuck began softly. "When I was at Ellie's last night, she asked me if we could go out tonight and celebrate our engagement. I really didn't know what to tell her because of this whole Seth thing. And then you two went out last night. So I was wondering if you talked about it."

"We definitely talked about it," Sarah said with a grin. "She is jumping up and down excited."

"Good," Chuck said with a smile as he kissed Sarah's forehead. "We could use a night out. This will be our first time as a couple."

Sarah just nodded. After a long moment she looked back up at Chuck. "Can I ask you for a favor?" she asked.

"Of course," Chuck replied.

"It's not a little favor," Sarah said. "It's a big one."

"Shoot," Chuck said quickly. "I can't imagine you asking for any favor that I wouldn't do. Although I did just allow you to seductively strip off five negligees in front of me without once complaining. That was hard."

Sarah laughed and slapped his chest playfully. "It was very hard," she said. "It was as hard as I've seen you." But then she got serious again. "Sweetie, I need a night off."

Chuck quickly jumped to the wrong conclusion. "Okay," he said. "I wasn't thinking. Now that Ellie knows, maybe it's not the best time to hang out with her. I'll call her and let her know we'll make it another time."

"No," Sarah said quickly. "I didn't mean that at all. I mean I need a night off from being a spy. Tonight I just want to be a girl out having a good time with the love of my life and my new family. I want to get crazy on the dance floor. I want to show off my hot fiancé and tell off any girl who takes more than a two second look. I don't want to have to worry about … umm … things."

"What you mean is that you might get sloppy drunk, isn't it?" Chuck asked with a laugh.

"It might happen," Sarah said with the beginnings of a smile. "Do you think that you could be the spy tonight, Agent Bartowski? Ellie is all over me to tell her sexy spy stories. I might just see if I can shock her. Just don't let me say anything stupid in front of Devon."

"Of course," Chuck said with a silly grin. "You spend all of your time worrying about me. Let me spend tonight worrying about you. I've actually never seen you drunk before. What kind of drunk are you anyway? Are you going to be picking a fight with someone again like you did last night?"

"Hey," Sarah protested with a laugh. "In fairness those guys started it last night. They were trying to mug us. Did you really expect me to just let them drive off with my Porsche? I'm not really sure what kind of drunk I am. I never get the chance to let go like that. I guess we'll find out. I might become more… affectionate."

"Good lord," Chuck said in mock horror. "I'm going to make sure you stay away from Devon."

That got them both laughing. "Very funny," she said.

"But I have to warn you," Chuck continued. "If you do get sloppy drunk, I'm not going to be held accountable for my actions when we get back home. Be prepared to be taken advantage of. Maybe it's time that I showed you the pig inside me."

Sarah openly laughed at the suggestion. "You're not a pig, sweetie," she said. "Not even close. You just don't have it in you."

Chuck was actually taken aback. "I can be a pig," he said, with perhaps a little more hurt in his voice than he intended.

Sarah's eyes widened in horror. "Oh my God," she quickly said. "I'm sorry if you took any offense at that. I wasn't challenging your manhood or anything. It was a compliment. Trust me on this one. I've been around enough pigs to last a lifetime. You're a nice, sweet, sensitive, caring man. You could never treat a woman as a sex object, especially me."

"We'll see," Chuck said. "Maybe it's time to show you."

"Fair enough," Sarah said as she slapped Chuck's chest playfully. "Do I have your promise on that?" Then she paused for a moment. "Look, I'm not saying that I want you to turn into a pig. I don't. I don't want you to turn into anything. I love what I have. But you also don't have to be afraid of letting me know that you want something."

Chuck ignored her suggestive question and changed the subject. "I'm putting the over / under on how many times Ellie hugs you tonight at twenty," he said with a smile.

"I'll take the over."

x-x-x-x-x

Laura Carter sat in the Miami airport anxiously waiting to board her flight to L.A. Getting a two week break from a boring mission would have usually made her giddy. It didn't happen that often. And make no mistake. She was totally ready for this mission to be over, or at least to move from the fucking stage into the shooting stage. But something was plainly gnawing at her. But why? For the life of her she really couldn't pinpoint why she was so anxious. Sure, she hadn't seen Seth in about eight weeks and she was definitely missing him.

It wasn't just the sex. It wasn't even mainly the sex. She was currently getting all she could handle from her mark. In fact, Rock, which was her new nickname for him, decided to send her off on her two weeks of 'celibacy' with a big bang this morning. And it wasn't that she was in love with Seth or anything. Love was for suckers. She was certainly not even exclusive to Seth, far from it. Laura was never bashful about hoping into bed when the mood struck her. And the mood struck her quite often, perhaps not quite often enough to earn her the slut label, but she also wasn't shy about letting a hot guy in a bar know what she wanted. It was a fact that many men inside the beltway could attest to. It was one of the benefits of being stationed in Washington. There were lots of horny men around. No, she wasn't in love.

So why was she so jealous?

It was a damn good question, one that she didn't have a good answer to. It wasn't like her… at all. She sure didn't expect Seth to be faithful to her. His bragging about his most recent conquest had become a running joke between them. Hell, she had even played wingman and helped him pick up an attractive female on several occasions. He had even pleaded with her to join them several times. To date she had resisted his begging, so fucking another woman for his voyeuristic amusement had stayed off her resume so far. But it was probably only a matter of time.

It had even become a game to them. They had something of a regular bet going where she would lay out a challenge to see how far Seth could get the bimbo of the night to go. In fact she was going to have to get a little more creative thinking up her challenges. He was winning far too often. There must not be too much that those west coast chicks won't do.

So, what was so different about Sarah Walker? Why did the thought of Seth in bed with Sarah bother her when the scores of others before her didn't? Okay, she was competitive. And Sarah was hands down the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. But what did that matter? Seth was never going to be monogamous no matter who the woman was… or how hot she was.

Could it possibly be because they were married once? Seth didn't love Sarah, she was sure of that. Sarah had always wanted a faithful partner and Seth was never, ever going to be that. Laura tried to gently warn her about him before they were married but she would never listen. She was far too infatuated with the first man to be interested in her to see his faults. Laura had initially hoped that Sarah would eventually adjust to Seth's life style. It actually would have been good for her. After all, you really couldn't be a good agent if you were so uptight about who you were willing to fuck. It came with the territory. And if you were willing to fuck the bad guys for your country, why not be just as willing to fuck the good guys all for yourself? It had worked out perfectly for Laura. I mean, that's how agents lived, right?

But if it wasn't love with Seth, what was it?

It's just that he was so comfortable. She knew that anytime she was ready, he would come through for her in bed. It was amazing. Hell, Seth had his faults. Nobody knew that better than Laura. Even in bed, he wasn't big on foreplay, didn't have anything close to Rock's endurance, wasn't romantic in any sense, openly bartered sex acts like kids would baseball cards. But he always seemed to know just what she wanted in bed, had learned where her hot buttons were and knew exactly how hard to push each one. It was the one thing he was really good at. And while picking up some hot guy in a bar may be exciting, and some of the sex was interesting, she was always drawn back to Seth, back to good old comfortable Seth. One thing for sure, she vowed to find out what in the hell was really going on here. And she would be damned if she was going to let Sarah Walker waltz back into their lives after five years and take him away from her. She loved Sarah, but if she had to hurt her to stop that from happening, she was totally willing to.

But then Laura paused in the middle of her internal rant as the epiphany hit. It was so stunning that she could only sit there for a long while. It's the last thing that she expected. "Oh my God," she whispered to herself as she wiped the tears that were strangely forming in her eyes.

"I do love him."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah were still lying in bed when Sarah's cell rang. She could tell that it was Beckman.

"Walker, secure," Sarah answered.

"Yes, ma'am,"

"Yes, ma'am, we can be there in twenty minutes."

"Yes, ma'am,"

"Chuck," Sarah said as she ended the call. "Get dressed. We have to be at Castle in twenty minutes for a briefing."

"What's wrong?" Chuck asked in concern.

"I'm not sure," Sarah said. "But from the tone of Beckman's voice, we must have a serious problem."

Beckman was already online talking to Casey when Chuck and Sarah entered the conference room. They quickly took their normal seats.

"Thank you for getting here so quickly," Beckman said briskly. "I'm afraid that we have a situation. In front of you is a transcript of a cell phone conversation that we just intercepted between Seth Roberts and Laura Carter. I'll play the conversation.

Seth: Hi baby. When are you coming to Vegas?

Laura: I'm at the airport right now. But there has been a change in plans. I'm stopping in L.A. for a while.

Seth: Why in the world would you be going to L.A.? I just left there.

Laura: I've been doing some thinking about Sarah Walker. Don't you find it odd that she would just pop back into your life after five years?

Seth: Maybe. What do you think?

Laura: I've been doing some digging, talking to some people. The word back at the agency is that she just got engaged to her partner.

Seth: Engaged? She sure didn't act like she was recently engaged to me. She was all over me.

Laura: I know. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Something just doesn't ring true. The only partner that anybody knows about is some NSA agent named John Casey. Real burn out, hard core, hard ass type. Good looking, but in more of a rugged way. He would seem to be the last person in the world that Sarah Walker would fall for. She's more into the pretty boy type like you.

Seth: So what are you going to do?

Laura: Something just doesn't smell right. I'm going to find out the real story here.

Seth: And just how are you going to do that? You know that Sarah is coming to Vegas to meet me?

Laura: I know. I figured that. I'm going to find out from this John Casey character. He's probably going to be lonely for a couple of days anyway.

Seth: Don't tell me that you're going to seduce a hard core NSA burn out. I'm not sure that's even possible.

Laura: Stop laughing. I'm pretty sure that I can seduce anyone. At least I'm going to give it a shot.

Seth: Good luck. You're going to need it. Our regular bet that you don't seal the deal?

Laura: You're on. Seth, can I be serious for a minute? I need to ask you for a big favor.

Seth: Okay.

Laura: You know that I hardly ever ask you for anything, right?

Seth: I know.

Laura: This is really important to me.

Seth: Baby, what is it already?

Laura: Will you promise me that you won't hook up with Sarah until I get there?

Seth: Why? You know how much work I have put in already to get her in bed. She's already promised to show me how much she's improved.

Laura: I have my reasons. Will you promise me? Please. I'm asking you.

Seth: Laura, are you seriously jealous? I never thought I would ever hear that from you.

Laura: You're really going to make me say it, aren't you? Okay, yes. I know. I never thought I would feel this way either. But I do. I can't help it. So will you please promise me? I'll do anything you ask to make it up to you.

Seth: Really? You know what I'm going to ask for, right? You've only turned me down about a hundred times.

Laura: I know. It's probably been more like a thousand times. Okay, if you'll do this for me, I promise I'll do it. Just so we understand each other, getting the other woman is totally your responsibility.

Seth: Deal. I think I actually have that part covered. How long do you think you'll be?

Laura: I'm not sure. A lot of it depends on how cooperative this fiancé is… a couple of days tops. I'll call you as soon as I find out what the deal is with Sarah.

Seth: Okay, baby. But don't make me wait too long. She is really throwing herself at me. I'm not sure how long I can hold out.

Laura: So, you lost our bet last night? Good.

Seth: Yes, I'm afraid so. She is completely crazy. She won't fuck me until I do her some stupid favor. If I didn't know better, I'd say she's been talking to you.

Laura: I'm going to let that last crack slide. I'll call you in a couple of days. I love you.

Seth: You love me? Really? Where did that come from? That's the first time you've ever told me that. Have you been drinking?

Laura: I know. It's the damnedest thing. I'm not sure how it happened. But I do. I just figured it out myself. And, no, I haven't been drinking… but I think I'm going to start right now. I'll talk to you in a couple of days.

Seth: Goodbye, baby. I'll see you when you get here.

As soon as the conversation ended, Beckman cleared her throat. "What are we going to do about this?" she asked. "I'm afraid that if she does too much digging, she'll find out about Chuck. That would be disastrous. I think we should abort."

"How can we abort, ma'am?" Sarah asked. "Seth is expecting me in Vegas tomorrow. Wouldn't that just make them more suspicious?"

"It would be awkward," Beckman agreed. "But if you just didn't show up he might assume that you had reconsidered."

"Ma'am," Casey said. "Could I have a shot at this Laura Carter? Maybe I could convince her that Sarah and I are a couple."

"Do you really think that's possible?" Beckman asked skeptically. "You don't make a very convincing couple."

"Well, ma'am," Chuck said softly. "Neither do Sarah and I. But we are. I have to pinch myself to believe it myself, but it's apparently true."

"That's a fair point," Beckman said thoughtfully. "Okay, Major. We'll give you a shot. But I want Chuck away from the Buy More while Laura Carter is in the area. There is no sense in taking any chances."

"Yes, ma'am," Casey said.

Okay, so maybe Chuck had just stuck up for him, but that was no reason to not take a shot. "I love this plan," he said to Sarah as soon as the screen went dark. "It will be fun to see Casey on the business end of one of these seduction things."

"One thing is for sure," Sarah said as she smiled at Casey. "Laura's right about the last person on earth I would ever fall for."

"Come on, baby," Casey said in mock seriousness. "Don't be like that. If I could only set up a meeting between you and Fulcrum, you sure would be singing a different tune… from your knees."

That got them all laughing.

Sarah turned to Chuck. "Don't you ever even think about calling me baby," she said. "I hate being called that. It sounds like something you'd call your pet Pomeranian."

"One other side benefit of this plan," Chuck said when he could stop laughing.

"There's nobody I know that needs to get laid more than Casey."

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