I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point.

I understand that there isn't a review function on this site. But I would still appreciate your comments. The worst thing for an author is silence. You can't tell if you're connecting with your readers, if they're getting where you think the story is going or not. And those comments don't have to be praise. Of course, I'd be lying if I tried to say that I don't enjoy the praise. But I actually learn more from the critical comments. Just as long as you're respectful and allow me to respond, you can say anything.

The New Billionaires

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Sarah left the gym she went looking for Bryce. She found herself as tense as she had ever been in her life. The next few minutes would likely determine the shape of her future for several years, if not forever. Not that this was really a surprise in any way, but she found that she was desperately looking for all this drama to be finally over. Not only that, now that the adrenalin from the fight had worn off, she quickly realized that her ribs were on fire from Frost's punch. So much so that she found that she was having a hard time standing up straight. Of course she didn't have to look for very long to find Bryce. He was waiting for her. They quickly released Beckman from her room.

To say that General Beckman was patiently waiting to be released… well, that wouldn't be at all accurate. She still didn't have a clue exactly what was going on here. Agents Walker and Larkin sure as hell had some serious explaining to do. But she did know enough to realize that she couldn't say anything until they were safely out of the compound.

Chuck was waiting for them as soon as they walked out of the main gate. He was still wearing the fake facial hair from last night so Beckman had to do a double take to recognize him. "Is someone finally going to tell me what in the hell is going on here?" she loudly asked.

Chuck ignored Beckman for a moment. He turned to his wife with a grin. "I just got off the phone with dad," he said. "I have good news. Congratulations. You're now a multi-billionaire."

His grin, far more than his news, took away some of the pain in her ribs for a moment. So Sarah was able to smile back. "I have good news too," she said as she held up the envelope. "I know where the nuclear weapon is. We have to go get it before Volkoff realizes what just happened and moves to protect it."

Even though she was trying hard to hide it, Chuck could see the pain in her eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

Beckman had had enough. "Will someone tell me what in the hell is going on here!" she finally shouted.

Chuck turned to glare at her. "Shut the fuck up," he said dismissively. "You're used to being in charge. I get that. But fully understand something. We no longer work for you. We are currently doing you a huge favor by rescuing you. So that means you're not in charge of this situation. I am. I expect your immediate compliance to any order I or Sarah issue. We currently are in a critical juncture in our mission. Maybe when we get a moment on the plane, we'll brief you. But until then, I don't want to hear another fucking peep coming out of your mouth. Tell me, 'General.' Was that plain enough for you?" Without waiting for an answer he turned back to Sarah. "Tell me what's wrong."

Sarah winced, mostly from the pain in her ribs, but also because she struggled with how much to tell him. Oh, she knew that she owed him every detail, sooner rather than later. But hopefully that could come in a calmer time when they were alone. This wasn't the calm time or place she needed to tell him about the bet that she agreed to. "I got into a fight with your mom," she settled for. Hopefully he would let the details go for now. "She caught me with a pretty good punch to my ribs."

Fortunately Chuck was too concerned to press for further information now. He stepped up to her cautiously. "You're really hurting," he said. "Let me carry you to the car."

Bryce made absolutely no effort to keep in the wet laugh. Chuck clearly didn't know Sarah nearly as well as he thought. She would never, ever allow anyone to carry her while she was conscious. She would consider needing help as a sign of weakness. In fact, the surest way to start a fight with her would be by suggesting that she wasn't capable of looking out for herself or needed help in any way. Bryce had learned the hard way the lesson that this rookie obviously hadn't yet. He took a step back and waited with a grin of anticipation for the bitter dressing down, the kind that only Agent Walker could truly deliver, that his 'friend' was surely about to taste.

Except that Sarah wasn't cooperating… at all. "Okay," she said. "Chuck, I'm okay. Really. But if you want to carry me, that sounds very sweet."

You could have scraped Bryce Larkin's jaw from the floor. After Chuck had very gingerly scooped her up, instead of a stinging rebuke, she was actually snuggling with him. Was she really kissing his neck? For perhaps the very first time it honestly hit him. Bryce realized what she had been telling him for the past couple of weeks. This wasn't an act. She actually had changed.

And suddenly he wanted her back even more. But he also knew that it was never going to happen. So in desperation he turned to the only person he had available to talk too. "She's really in love with him," he said simply.

Beckman was a hard core hard ass, totally conditioned to ignore personal feelings when they got in her way. She was also still pretty confused about what was going on. And she was quite frankly pissed. Bartowski speaking to her in that condescending tone wouldn't be soon forgotten. But she also wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what Larkin meant. "She really is," she replied with a sigh. "She's turned from the very best field agent in the world into a doe eyed, lovesick schoolgirl. If I hadn't seen it happen with my own eyes, I'd think that she was pulling my leg."

"I know," Bryce said sadly.

"It sucks to be me."

x-x-x-x-x

Joey and Josh were getting ready for bed after a successful assignment, much like Devon and Laura before them. But there were several things different. First, they weren't in a quaint little town in Belgium. In fact they probably couldn't get much farther away from Belgium, not without the assistance of NASA anyway. And it wasn't a small town. Bogota was the largest city in Colombia, and one of the largest cities in the world.

The other major thing different was the mission. The General Manager of the Volkoff Industries Bogota facility, unlike his counterpart in Belgium, didn't spend every night in a bar. So they had to go to him. Fortunately, in that part of the country, it wasn't at all uncommon to supplement one's income by smuggling cocaine. And since the facility routinely made shipments to Los Angeles, he routinely used that fact to line his pockets.

Orion's intelligence was spot on. All they had to do was play the part of an up and coming L.A. drug kingpin and his omnipresent arm candy fuck toy looking to make a quick couple of million by packing some kilos of cocaine in with his auto parts. And since Joey had some recent experience with the drug lord fuck toy role… and she spoke fluent Spanish, she seemed the natural for the job.

And it worked just as Orion said it would. It was almost too easy. That he would make a pass at her as soon as Josh left the room with an upset stomach was so predictable that Joey had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at him. It was child's play to get his key card. She didn't even have to let him get all that far. No big deal. His hand certainly wasn't the first to find its way into her shirt, and if she stayed a CIA Agent, it probably wouldn't be the last. It was simply a reality of the job. At least what few clothes she was wearing mostly stayed on. It was a textbook assignment.

So why was Josh being so distant? Maybe his upset stomach wasn't all for show. That dinner wasn't exactly sitting on her stomach all that well either. "Are you okay?" she asked in genuine concern.

No sooner had his forced "I'm fine," passed his lips than the epiphany hit her. She made absolutely no effort to keep the gloating from her voice. "Oh my God," she said. "Are you actually jealous?"

But no sooner had the words passed her lips before she saw the devastated, embarrassed look on his face… and whatever euphoria she was feeling vanished like your breath on a cold windy day. "I'm sorry," she quickly said. "Josh, I'm not making fun of you." Of course that was a lie. She was totally making fun of him. It was fun for a few seconds. But now she felt about an inch tall.

"I'm being an idiot," Josh mumbled so softly that she had to strain to hear him. "You're a CIA Agent. You just did your job. I get that. I've seen you do much worse many times before. I'm sorry. I'm not proud of feeling this way."

Suddenly the euphoria was back strong as ever. It was a first for Josephine Lopez. Nobody in her life ever cared enough about her to be genuinely jealous. She really didn't know which feeling was stronger, the urge to laugh… or the urge to cry… or the urge to start ripping his clothes off. So she did a little of both, the first two anyway. "Why on earth are you sorry?" she asked. "Josh, you've just given me the best present anybody has ever given me in my whole life."

"Did you fuck him?" Josh asked. Then he immediately backpedaled. "I'm sorry," he said. "You were just doing your job. You're a CIA Agent. It comes first."

"No, I'm not," Joey quickly protested. "You need to listen to me. Okay, so maybe I'm a little more giddy about this than I should be. I'm sorry. You're wrong about my priorities. CIA Agent is only my title. And it's only even going to be my title for a very short time. What I am is Josh's fiancé, his life partner, perhaps even the future mother of his children. Nothing that I did today changes that in any way. And, no, I didn't fuck him… not even all that close. He had his hand inside of my shirt for a few minutes."

"I'm out of control," Josh sighed. "I get that. I'm honestly embarrassed. I have no right to be jealous."

Joey stepped up, threw her arms around Josh, and squeezed for all she was worth. "Of course you have a right to be jealous," she said. "I understand that our original deal was that our relationship wouldn't affect our job. But that never was very realistic, was it? And the honest truth is I'm glad. So you have every right. You just heard about someone putting their hand inside of your fiancé's shirt. I'm very glad that you're jealous. There would probably be something wrong if you weren't at least a little jealous. I should have been a lot more sensitive. I'm really, really sorry."

"You don't have to be sorry," Josh said.

"I do," Joey insisted. "If I want to be more than just your partner, I'd better start looking out for you… emotionally as well as physically. I just dropped that ball big time. I'm honesty very sorry. I can offer you mind blowing sex to make it up to you."

That got them both laughing… and all of the tension that had been in the room suddenly evaporated – like it had never been there. "You really are turning into Sarah," Josh was finally able to get out. "Nice try. That was actually pretty self serving."

"I know," Joey answered as soon as she could stop laughing enough to speak. "That tactic seems to work really well for her with Chuck. I was really hoping you wouldn't call me on it." Then after sharing the laugh for a long moment, Joey got a lot more serious. "I really wasn't kidding," she said. "I understand that I basically had to do what I did with that mark today. I'm not sorry about that. But I should have realized how you were feeling and been there for you. I do feel bad about that. And the mind blowing sex thing… I really wasn't kidding about that either. I know that our deal was I'd never pressure you about sex… and I won't. I just want to make sure that you know that I'm always here."

"Yup," Josh said teasingly. "You are totally turning into Sarah."

"Okay. Let's see what you've got."

x-x-x-x-x

Devon was fairly careful as he felt around Sarah's ribs. After all, the last time she was his patient, the scene was fairly tense. The last thing that he wanted was for her to feel that she couldn't trust him as her doctor. And she was already protesting, as only Sarah could, that she was feeling a lot better.

Fortunately, the location where the nuclear weapon was located was very close to the German Volkoff Industries plant that Devon and Laura were about to sabotage tonight. That probably wasn't by accident. So it was fairly easy for Chuck to quickly contact dad, change the plans, and get a flight there to meet them. After all, Sarah's health would always be his top priority. But they also had to get the nuke.

"I think that you're fine," Devon finally pronounced as he pulled her shirt down from where she had pulled it up to allow him to examine her. "You're going to have quite a bruise. It's probably going to be a little sore for a couple of days. You should probably take it easy for a few hours, maybe take a nap."

Sarah smoothed down her shirt and stood up. "No time for that," she said briskly. "We have to go get the nuke."

Chuck stepped up. "You're not going," he said softly but firmly. "You're staying here and taking a nap like your doctor just suggested."

"Chuck," Sarah immediately protested. "This is too important. We have to get to that nuke before Volkoff figures out what happened and moves it. Don't forget. There is twenty billion dollars riding on this."

Chuck couldn't keep the concern from his face. "Three things," he said softly. "First, I fully understand how important it is. Second, Bryce and I can handle this. What could possibly be there that two Intersects couldn't handle. Beckman can come with us and formally take possession of the weapon. And third, do you really think that twenty billion dollars would mean a thing to me if something happened to you?"

Sarah took a long moment to simply stare at him trying to blink away the happy tears. It was today's reminder of what she already knew but never tired of hearing. "I know," she said with a grin that lit up the room. Then she stepped up and gingerly threw her arms around his chest. "Me too." They just stayed in their embrace for a long moment. "But you three can't go alone," she said. "You don't know what the situation will be there. Surely the weapon will be guarded. You'll need some experience at these kind of things with you."

Bryce did a double take. "I'm standing right here," he said. "If you're going to insult me, you could at least lower your voice. Let's just hear you say it. You don't trust me."

Sarah broke her embrace with Chuck. She didn't back down a bit. "Okay," she said. "You want to hear me say it? I will. Let's be honest. I don't trust you, Bryce. Not totally. Not yet. You still have some work to do with me to get back to having my trust. Especially not when you're reporting to General Stab-Her-Agents-In-The-Fucking-Back here. I trust her even less."

They stood glaring at each other for a long uncomfortable moment. "But that's not the only reason," Sarah finally continued. "You may very well get into a situation where distracting a guard with the tried and true technique of giving him a peek of some cleavage could come in mighty handy." She turned to glare at Beckman for a long moment. "I seriously doubt that your cleavage will do the job."

Chuck made no attempt to keep in the laugh. It came out pretty wet. "Okay," he said. "Point well taken. Maybe Laura can go with us. If we're not back in time are you going to be up to taking her place tonight with Devon?"

"You're not leaving me alone with Sarah?" Devon looked around uncomfortably as he realized that he had just said that out loud.

Laura stepped in to save her new friend from an awkward moment. "Why, Chuck," she said with a grin. "I'm touched. My cleavage thanks you for your vote of confidence. I really didn't think you were ever actually looking. Does Blondie here have anything to worry about?"

"Give me a break," Sarah said sarcastically. "You didn't think he was actually looking? What color is the sky in your world? You've pushed your tits in his face every chance you got since the moment you met him… just like you do all men. And to answer your question, no, I have plenty of things to worry about. But Chuck looking at another woman isn't one of them." She turned to Devon with a grin. "Relax," she said. "I think it's possible that you can come out of this assignment with minimal damage. I love to dance. It's my favorite thing. It's always when I'm in my very best mood."

"Well," Chuck said with his own grin. "Maybe not your very favorite thing."

That got the room laughing. "I suppose not," Sarah said. She turned back to Devon. "You'll have to settle for my second favorite thing."

Somehow Devon wasn't all that comforted. "You're taking Laura's place," he said shakily. "Please tell me that we won't be making out. That I don't have to reach over and cop a feel."

That got Sarah thinking. Her mind flashed back to the moment in the Orange Orange that time when Casey lectured her about how Chuck would feel about his hand on her chest. It had been less than a month ago, but it seemed like ages. Casey was the very last person on earth she ever thought would dole out relationship advice. He told her that she'd better start thinking more like a girlfriend and less like an agent. Well, she honestly didn't understand Casey back then. In fact, she thought that he was wrong. Why would Chuck mind some meaningless hand on her chest for a second to support a mission? But she sure understood him now. So her smile was warm and genuine as she sided into him affectionately. "No, Devon," she said.

"I actually think we can skip that part."

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