I still don't own Chuck.

Okay folks. Before I get tons of comments that Chuck and Sarah would never do this, I'd like to direct your attention to the episode titled Hack Off, lol.

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Healthy Choices

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Chuck and Sarah were snuggled in the back seat while Josh drove up the Hawaiian coast. They were still giggling a little from the concierge's warning. He said that the beach was fabulous. But that the area they were heading to was considered a little rough, from both the perspective of terrain, but also from a safety point of view. It was a known high crime area with a couple of gangs patrolling the area using the thick jungle as cover. It was always mostly only petty robbery type stuff, taking wallets and purses, scaring people with knifes but nothing actually violent. But lately the gangs had become bolder, had begun to flex their muscle. There had started to be a few more serious incidents, a few beatings and even a couple of horrible rapes. He told them that they were advising casual tourists to avoid the area.

Of course, Chuck and Sarah had no way to know that Bryce had slipped the concierge a hundred, convinced him that he was playing a joke on his friends, and that everything he just said was total crap. The area was much too rugged for any gangs to be running around. Josh and Joey played their part convincingly. They wondered out loud if perhaps they should cancel. Of course that worry was all for show. Bryce had assured them that Agent Walker would scoff at a few roving gang members, in fact would relish any confrontation.

And he was right. Sarah did laugh. She knew her experience and defensive fighting skills would keep them out of almost any confrontation, not to mention the half a dozen knives she kept in her bag. Hopefully nothing would get that far seeing as those were next to the stupid Intersect glasses Bryce had brought Chuck. Even knowing their time with the CIA was coming to a close, it'd be irresponsible to allow them out of her sight. What if they were stolen? No, she couldn't risk that, except that left her nice, expensive RayBan's bouncing around in her bag without protection as she gave up her fancy case to house the Intersect glasses. Oh well. At least now that she was comfortable that she didn't have to fear Fulcrum looking to capture the Intersect, let someone try anything. After her talk with Bryce this morning, working out some frustrations by kicking a little hoodlum ass might actually be a little fun.

The hidden secluded beach was beyond fabulous. It wasn't empty by any stretch of the imagination. But it also wasn't packed like the public beach in front of the hotel was. Sarah was looking forward to having kids with Chuck sometime soon. But she had to admit, the scores of little kids running through your legs every place you walked, their shrill screams always ringing in your ears, made Sarah pray that her and Chuck's kids wouldn't scream like that. The surf here was also much higher. You clearly didn't want to go into that water unless you were a very strong swimmer. That kept the kids away. This was clearly a favorite spot of the surfer community. You could see dozens of boards bobbing out on the water. Some of the surfers were actually quite good.

Another thing that kept the kids away was the fact that a fairly sizable amount of the women were topless, not all, but definitely a majority. Technically, it probably was against the rules here in the states. But they were ignored. Sarah purposely didn't tell Chuck but she guessed that this was almost assuredly going to be the case in such a secluded area. She wanted to see his reaction… and she wasn't disappointed. His mouth fell open as he realized the situation. His face turned several shades of purple as he desperately tried to find someplace to look that wasn't filled with pairs of bare breasts of almost every size and shape. Frankly most of them weren't all that attractive. But there were several pairs that, at first glance anyway, looked downright nubile.

Finally, in desperation, he settled for looking directly into her eyes. The look was far too pitiful, not to mention cute, to not inspire a little mercy. So she let him off the hook. "Don't worry, sweetie," she said as soon as she could stop laughing. "I ask you to put up with men looking at me. Well, it goes both ways. You're basically a normal red blooded human man. I get that. You officially have my permission to look all you want today. I'm fine with it. Please try and keep the drooling on our blanket to a minimum. That's gross. And just remember, tonight your ass is still mine."

That relieved Chuck, for a second as he watched her peel off her t-shirt and shorts leaving her standing there in her bikini. "Are you going to take off your top?" he asked.

It was a good question, one that Sarah considered for a long moment. It sure wouldn't be the first time. Lots of the beaches in Europe were like this. Sarah's philosophy had always been 'when in Rome…' And indeed the vast majority of the women weren't wearing tops. After all, skin was skin. In fact there were several that you wished would put one on, or at least cover themselves up with a towel.

Sarah looked at him for a long moment. And as well as she thought that she knew what made Chuck Bartowski tick, she had to admit, she currently didn't have a clue which he wanted her to do. The smirk he was flashing at her wasn't fear. Two weeks ago he would have clearly been horrified at the very thought of a beach full of men seeing her without a top. But now she wasn't so sure. Part of her knew that he was uncomfortable with nudity in general. Even now that they were married, he often blushed when she walked out of the shower naked and into the bedroom with the lights on. She often did that just for the sport. But this seemed different somehow. Nudity was all around them. It didn't seem like such a big deal. Then again, if she took off her top, all the men would have the same view that she had, up till now, officially reserved only for him. That probably wasn't his favorite idea either. "What do you want me to do?" she finally asked.

His calm smile and shrug surprised her, but pleasantly so. He was clearly making this her decision. But he was also clearly telling her that he wouldn't mind. It was perhaps even more than that. Maybe he was saying that he sort of hoped that she would. Maybe he was growing more comfortable. Maybe this morning's talk had finally even started to sink in a little. That would be fantastic. Maybe he was getting to the point where he even wanted to show her off a little. That would be okay too. She would love the opportunity to act like his trophy in public a little and maybe build up his self-esteem. So she shot a questioning glance at Joey.

Joey's reaction was immediate, as was the blush creeping up her neck. "No way," she snapped flatly, quickly ending any speculation about how she was leaning. "I had no idea this was going to be like this. There is no way I'm showing all these strange men my tits. It's not done. Next thing you know we'll be in the middle of an orgy."

Sarah was frankly a little surprised at her typical Midwestern reaction. She seemed to be a little wilder than that. With the yellow bikini Joey was almost wearing, she wasn't all that far away from showing her tits to everybody anyway. She was clearly being sarcastic, but she was right about one thing. After dark this beach would undoubtedly get really, really wild around the bonfire. There was already some really heavy necking going down on several of the blankets. If Joey was looking to be in the middle of a drunken orgy, she was definitely in the right place, maybe just a few hours early.

Sarah resisted the strong temptation to goad Joey into it. She knew that she could play the 'chicken' card with her any time she wanted. That might be a little fun. But her reaction did make the 'taking her top off' decision easy so Sarah just smiled and nodded in agreement. She grabbed Chuck by the hand and walked on the beach, looking for a good place to set down their blanket.

Josh grabbed his partner's hand and held her back for a beat until Chuck and Sarah were out of earshot. "You're not going to show all of these men your tits?" he asked skeptically. "Were you actually blushing? Who are you and what have you done with Joey? Hello? Wet t-shirt contest ten days ago? Dancing around the bar in nothing but an invisible thong? Remember that? I thought that you would relish the opportunity to flash your tits in his face all afternoon. Am I missing something?"

"Watch and learn how to seduce men," Joey replied playfully with a grin. "From where I'm standing you should be grateful for the pointers. For one thing, you know full well that the wet t-shirt thing was a mission. But there is one thing sexier than showing a man your tits. And that's showing them to him when he thinks that you don't really want to. In about an hour, my husband is going to make me. He thinks that it will be healthy for our sex life."

"There are so many things wrong with that statement that I don't know where to begin," Josh sighed in mock sarcasm. "But thanks for the pointers. I can use them all. I'm just not sure that my tits are up to it."

Joey's grin broadened. "One thing is for sure," she said.

"They can come in mighty handy."

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General Beckman was quite famous for not trying to hide her displeasure with other people. "What do you mean?" she growled into the phone. "Was I not clear a couple of days ago?"

"You were very clear," Bryce said. "I've delivered the glasses. They were… somewhat less than enthusiastic."

"Well then make them enthusiastic," Beckman growled. "Do I really have to tell you this?"

"No, ma'am," Bryce said. "I just want to make sure we think this through. If we use these extreme tactics, it could backfire. If they ever find out we set them up, we'll lose them. They could very well become our enemies."

"Agent Larkin," Beckman said sarcastically. "Forgive me. I don't remember asking for your opinion. Is there some reason that you're lecturing me as if I was a rookie agent?"

"No ma'am."

"Then I suggest that you get on with it," Beckman growled. "Things are starting to move faster than we anticipated. I need you and Bartowski back here ASAP. I need him to be at 2.0. I'm sorry if that means that we have to cause Agent Walker some discomfort. She knew what she was getting into. That's the game we play. We're making a huge omelet here. We can't be afraid of breaking a few eggs. The next time we speak, you'd better tell me what I want to hear. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Bryce said, although he knew full well that she had already hung up on him. This was working out well. He could make Sarah pay for her insults, accomplish his mission, and when push came to shove, blame Beckman.

Yup, this was working out very well.

x-x-x-x-x

Since Joan and Steven had spent the entire night in bed last night fully exploring each other's… preferences, they promised each other that tonight would be a work night. Of course, they were calling it work. The plain truth was that it was anything but work for either of them. Joan playfully put her foot down. She would run home, shower, get ready for work, and quickly pack a bag with enough clothes to last for a few days. She would pick up some particularly unhealthy fast food on her way back from the office, and there would be no sex until they had solved the current problem… or until they couldn't keep their hands off each other, whichever came first.

The way that it turned out the 'no sex' decree didn't last very long. Joan found herself in a constant state of arousal. Ten minutes after Steven would so skillfully put out her fire, she could feel it building again. Maybe she was wrong last night. Maybe she was a slut after all, a closet one. She was surprisingly fine with that. Maybe she was making up for the long celibate years. Or maybe she had finally found the right guy. She was also surprisingly fine with that. She forced herself to not ruin this by thinking too much about the future… or anything silly like love. She just knew that whatever this was, it was magical. There was no place else she ever wanted to be… and the second her lips touched his that the clothes were quickly coming off.

It turned out that Steven was not only funny, he was a pragmatist. He mumbled something about time management. Why get dressed when they were inevitably going to get naked again soon anyway? Joan wasn't totally sure she bought that. It sort of sounded like a teen's argument why they shouldn't be required to make their bed. Maybe his spare bedroom that had been turned into an office wasn't exactly a topless beach, but it sounded more like an excuse to continue to ogle her naked chest. But again, she was surprisingly fine with that.

In fact she made an obvious show out of posing for him for as long as he wanted to look. She even made sure that when they embraced that her chest rubbed across his provocatively, making no attempt to hide the fact that she was more than comfortable with their current state of undress. So they eventually found themselves huddled on the bench in front of his computer, naked except for the single flannel sheet wrapped around them keeping them warm. And yes, she sometimes caught him taking a peak at her chest when he probably should have been looking at something on the computer screen. But you guessed it… she was surprisingly fine with that.

They were looking at the specs for the CIA version of the Intersect that Joan had downloaded to her thumb drive this morning, specifically looking at the data flow solution her team had come up with. Steven quickly admitted that it was a good approach, definitely on the right track. But Steven was also clearly right, it needed some serious tweaking. Of course in showing him the specs, she had just committed several felonies. The very act of copying them to her thumb drive would surely cost her the career she had worked so hard for if she was discovered. Prison was an outside possibility.

She no longed cared, not even a little bit. She was tired of the abuse that was being inflicted on this nice, sweet, brilliant man that she had come to… well love might be too strong of a word. It had only been three days. She wasn't sure that she believed in love anyway. But whatever her feelings, she was tired of seeing him treated like this, his amazing inventions stolen from him without getting a dime. She was tired of seeing him not even getting the credit he deserved. He invented the Intersect. The government had taken it for their very own without so much as a thank you note. Not only that, they had taken it and fucked it up. The plain truth was that this solitary man with zero resources was much closer to a workable design that could be mass deployed than the high powered team of professional 'geniuses' that she headed. All they had come up with was something that worked on a single man, was more or less tailored for his brain. Who knew what would happen if someone else tried it?

Then there was that, the elephant in the room. She was part of the problem. She was the head of the entire project. This had happened on her watch. She had to stop thinking about it like that or she would soon be blubbering. And the very last thing that she wanted was to cry in front of him. She would find some way to make this up to him.

She already had a pretty good idea how to start. Last night's experimentation proved that she was, maybe no expert, but learning fast. His moaning was also a pretty good indication that this was something that he enjoyed. He gave every indication that he was willing to be very patient while she practiced and honed her skills. He was also clearly interested in performing the occasional experiment himself. That part was a wonderful first for her… yet another thing that she was surprisingly fine with. The only surprising thing was how much she herself was enjoying doing this for him. It was pretty damn exciting to feel him getting so excited. In fact getting a little practice time in during their next break was starting to sound like a good idea.

They were in the middle of one of their playful, mock bickering sessions over an obscure technical issue that they both enjoyed so much when they spotted it. Steven was always concerned about the effects on the nervous system. Joan constantly tried to assure him that they had fully vetted this issue with the leading medical people. She was pointing out the safeguards they had put in place. Then it happened. For a long time Joan and Steven could only stare at each other in shock. The obscure flaw hit them at the exact same time. It was left for Joan to say what they were both thinking. "Oh my God," she said, her voice little more than a whisper. "That would eventually be fatal."

Steven was the first to recover his wits. "You need to report this," he said. "Your Intersect is in big trouble."

Joan's heart was caught in her throat. "I have to tell you something," she said fighting to keep her composure. "Bryce told me not to tell you. But Steven, that was before I knew you. I should have told you before. I swear that I was going to. I was just waiting for the right time." She was panicked, rambling. She knew that.

Steven looked at her so obviously trying to blink away tears. "Joan," he said in clear concern. "What's wrong?"

"The CIA's Intersect," she whispered. "I'm so sorry, Steven."

"His name is Chuck Bartowski."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck waited until Sarah ran back to the car for the sun block, then he turned to Josh and Joey. "Thanks for being our friends," he said. "It really means a lot to us."

He turned to Joey specifically. "I can't tell you how much Sarah needed a normal friend," he sighed. "She has a hard time sometimes relating to other women. Most of the other women in her life are… well, different. I've noticed her change right in front of my eyes because of being around you. She's more relaxed. More trusting. So thank you for that."

Joey didn't know what to say. It was nice, too nice. If he only knew the real situation. She knew damn well that an agent on an assignment couldn't allow emotion to interfere. But it was clear. She liked them. She was on the path to liking them a lot. And now she had to feel guilty.

Josh saw his partner struggling for words so he stepped up. The best way out of this would be to make it a joke. "Wow," he said with a laugh as he sided into his 'wife.' "Chuck, you actually have her speechless. I don't think I've ever seen that before."

Joey knew what she had to say. But it was surprisingly genuine. "Thanks," she said. "We're having fun hanging out with you guys too."

Chuck grinned at Josh. "I notice that you're not looking at the plethora of bare breasts on display either," he said approvingly. "I find it very refreshing to see another couple who is as in love as Sarah and I are."

That got Josh laughing. If he only knew the real reason. "Why would I look at other women?" he asked. "When I have the most beautiful one lying next to me?" Then he remembered his assignment. "Even if she refuses to take off her top for me."

Joey feigned embarrassed surprise. "Do you really want me to?" she asked shyly. "Josh, you know that I'll do anything that you really want. I'm just sensitive about my…"

"Joey thinks that her breasts aren't big enough," Josh finished for her with a laugh. Then he turned back to her. "We're on a topless beach. What better place? I think it will be healthy for you. I keep telling you that they are perfect. Let Chuck be the judge."

Before Chuck could protest that he had no desire to be the judge, or even turn his head, he was looking directly at Joey as her top slid to the sand. "Well," she asked with a shy smile.

Chuck honestly didn't know what to do. He sure as hell didn't want to give Sarah anything to be jealous about. He also didn't want to critique another woman's chest. On the other hand, his friend had asked for his opinion. And she certainly had nothing to be self conscious about. She maybe wasn't overly large, but that was the only thing that wasn't perfect. "You have nothing to be self conscious about," Chuck said. "They're perfect." He silently prayed that neither would ask him to detail exactly what made them perfect and that his brief time as female breast judge was coming to an end.

"See," Josh said playfully. "I told you he would like them. Like I said, the most beautiful woman on the beach is lying next to me."

That actually got Joey laughing like he wanted. "Sweet talker," she said sarcastically as she jumped on him and they started playfully wrestling. "Let's see how perfect you think they are once I'm standing next to Sarah."

They were still rolling around on the sand giggling when Sarah returned with the lotion. She smiled at the scene then turned to Chuck. "What did you say to them anyway?" she asked with a grin.

"I'm not sure," Chuck replied with his own grin.

"Come on, Sarah," Joey grunted from her position under Josh who was trying in vain to pin her to the sand. "I took mine off. Chicken?"

Sarah turned expectantly to Chuck. "Last chance to object," she said.

Chuck now knew that it would be unsporting to object. So he just smiled at her. "Totally your call," he said.

After Sarah took off her top, she sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder affectionately. "I'm very proud of you," she said. And it was the truth. She was very, very proud. The Chuck of just a few days ago would have made this a sexual situation and gotten all jealous the first time that a man glanced in her general direction. And while maybe he wasn't completely at ease, he was clearly making a huge effort to prove something to her. "You've really grown. It's very healthy. Tonight I'm going to think of a very healthy way to reward you."

Chuck smiled. "Maybe you should hold off on the pride talk," he said in mock seriousness. "As long as I have to allow men to look at you, maybe I might as well embrace it and get something out of it. The most beautiful woman in the world is sitting next to me wearing a smile. No other man on this beach can say that. It feels like I'm bragging somehow."

"Do you think that there is anything wrong with that?" Sarah asked. "I sure don't. It was very sweet, yet another thing to reward you for tonight. Until then, do you want to wrestle?"

"Um, yeah," Chuck said with a huge grin. "As much as the thought of rolling around the sand with the most beautiful woman in the world dressed like you are sounds attractive, we both know that I really wouldn't stand much of a chance wrestling with you. I think I'll save my humiliation for some time where there aren't a thousand people watching. I'll let you manhandle me to your heart's content tonight on the big poster bed. Maybe you could wrestle with Joey. That would be sure to draw a huge crowd. Besides, I'm going to be busy."

Sarah knew that he wasn't serious so she ignored the suggestion. He was right. Wrestling with Joey would surely draw a huge crowd, but for all the wrong reasons. "Busy?" she asked. "We're just sitting here."

Chuck started to laugh. "Yes, busy," he said. "Maybe you're not going to be quite so proud of me." He picked up the tube that Sarah had dropped on the blanket.

"Now you're going to need me to help you put on a lot more sun block."

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