A/N: After the last chapter I saw a bit of an opening for some Charah, but it needs some explaining before ya'll get out the pitchforks and torches and chase me from the village. I did contemplate a whole other direction with that particular story-line, but decided it would simply be too early... I know, I know, very cryptic but you'll see... In the series, it was pretty clear from the get-go that Sarah did a lot of pull-push with Chuck in their cover relationship. She's tempting him into acting like a boyfriend one moment, only to act the cold agent herself the next. Which confused the heck out of poor Chuck. Since this is a mirror story of the kind, it was to be expected for that 'aspect' to make its appearance, so this will be one of the very few times I'll give into my mean streak. Plus it serves as a set-up for a later chapter.

A huge, huge thank you to the readers and the reviewers, and a warm welcome to all those who have recently favorited and/or started to follow this story. You all are awesome!

charahkids: Thanks... And is this soon enough? ;-)

Toos: Thanks. I try to keep the story close to the original characters in the series, which makes twisting cannon a challenge. Beckman knows about Sarah's training (it was mentioned in chapter 11), so I would think Graham does as well, lol.

sevenrez: Thanks. Though Versus the Baby wasn't a bad episode, the placement on the time-line simply sucked in my opinion... To me it felt like 'hey wait, we need to address Sarah's mom, let's do it before we run out of time', making it pretty forced. But it took me a while to decide whether to keep Molly in or not, and how I were to do so.

uplink2: Thank you. And you've got a point with the family calling Sam Sarah, so I've referenced to it in this chapter, but weren't you the one who refused to call Sarah Sam? ;-P

Jimmy_144 & fezzywhigg: Thanks, :-)

Nomadic Nerd: Thank you. Awww, that's so not like Carina, ;-) Oh wait, that's exactly like Carina, lol. I had a paragraph containing a dinner conversation, but somehow it just didn't want to fit so I scrapped it for benefit of the chapter's flow.

So unless ya'll do bring out the pitchforks and torches, and I will have to hide like Frankenstein's monster, there should be a new chapter next week.

As always, reviews are most welcome and very much appreciated... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Chuck'.

After Chuck had come downstairs again, the three of them had moved to the living room where her mother had taken to the recliner, leaving the couch to Chuck and her. It was a little awkward at first with her mother looking at them with great interest, but soon she decided 'Oh what the hell' and had curled up to the man.

"Guess you two haven't been dating for very long," her mother chuckled at the obvious conclusion.

"Just a couple of weeks now," she defended the lack of seamless and effortless.

Her mother studied them and smirked: "I could tell. There's still that cute awkwardness. It's nice to see the two of you taking the time to get to know each other. Everything's so rushed nowadays."

'If only you knew the truth,' she thought sadly, keeping a smile plastered across her face. But her mother was buying her cover and the story that came along so far. She hated it; it just felt completely wrong.

She felt Chuck nod before he said in a kindly voice: "Sam's very special."

Barely able suppress the snort, she cleared her throat to cover it up. She wanted to protest the name, but since her mother had already claimed that she would always be her little Sam, she figured that it would be pointless so she kept quiet.

As the evening progressed, she found herself burrowing deeper into his side, not for the cover's sake, but because he was a quite comfortable and warm human pillow. She listened as her mother and Chuck talked about this and that. The odd thing was that it felt like Chuck was open and honest towards her mother, avoiding the dangerous topics that would force him to lie, sidestepping them if they came up. 'Why?'

"Wait, you call Devon 'Captain Awesome'?" Her mother asked intrigued.

"You've met the guy, right?" Chuck countered with a big grin to which her mother nodded. "Then you know... Everything he does is awesome: climbing mountains, jumping out of planes, flossing."

Her mother laughed, and she found herself smiling as well. At least she did not have to sell some jackass as her boyfriend to her mother. Chuck was funny and engaging, and her mother as well as Molly seemed pretty taken with him. Not that it made things any easier.

He looked up from the computer when his cell phone chimed. Already past midnight, worry rose. It was standard for a field operative to be on-call twenty-four-seven, but anything after midnight never bode well. Had the CIA-nerd finally gone and done it?

He held a grudging but growing respect for his CIA-colleague, but that did not mean he had no reservations about the man's capabilities. In principle, Bartowski was not an expert in the field. His now unsealed, unredacted file had told him that much, but when he was out in the field, the results were remarkable, if not rather unorthodox.

Readying himself for an intervention of some kind, he picked up his cell phone and read the message.

"Huh," he grunted, causing his guest to cock an eyebrow. "Looks like Walker and Bartowski aren't coming home tonight. Some personal stuff."

"Oh, I bet," Carina agreed with an ominous smile and a conspiratorial wink.

He rolled his eyes. If Bartowski valued his career, and quite possibly his life, he would keep a safe distance to the asset and act accordingly. The last thing this operation needed was a cleanup, because the CIA-agent had allowed himself to be compromised. However it was something that he had begun to fear. It was a complication, when true, that they did not need, but he lacked any real evidence to be able to confront and set Bartowski straight thus far.

"It also means," Carina smirked. "It's gonna be just you and me tonight."

"Ugh," he groaned annoyed. "Not gonna happen."

"What if I promise it won't be anything like Prague?" She offered with a seductive purr.

He shook his head vehemently. It was an even more worrisome prospect than a repeat of what had happened in Prague after he had let his guard down.

"Just go to your hotel, Miller," he grumbled, returning his full attention to the files he had open on the computer screen.

He rolled over to his left side and bumped into something warm and soft that was not moving. His eyes snapped open and he stared directly into her eyes. Her right hand under her cheek, she was looking at him.

"Oh, sorry... Did I wake you?" He said in a whisper, hoarse from sleep.

She answered with a quick shake of her head and smiled faintly. He blinked a few times and went to roll onto his back when her left hand came to rest on his cheek to stop him.

"Sa-rah?" He mumbled confused as the gesture was impossible to misconstrue as pretend.

"Chuck," she smirked, brushing his hair behind his ear.

His heart beat picked up a little and his senses told him to bail, before things got out of hand, but he could not move, his gaze captured by those hypnotic blue eyes.

"What... What are you doing?" He managed to ask, a desperate measure in the hopes it would snap her out of whatever she was thinking she was doing.

She inched closer and closer. This was not supposed to go down like this. For the sake of their cover, they had agreed to share her old bedroom and her bed, since it would look odd if he were to ask for a cot, but this was dangerous territory now.

He should have made the drive home, suggest that she would leave the car and that they would pick it up tomorrow. It had sounded like a good idea when her mother had concluded that it was very late and then had offered that they could spend the night. Even though she was dressed in old, flannel pajamas, and he in his T-shirt and boxers, it forced the thought 'What the hell was I thinking?' to the front of his mind.

She had only been awake a short while, snapping out of a dark dream, and had lain on her side studying her pretend boyfriend, slightly dazed from the vivid nightmare. Unlike how she felt, he looked so relaxed in his sleep, and it had made her heart jump in all directions to see him like that. Awake, he always seemed so tense.

With her mother's words echoing in the back of her mind, she was acting a little more bold than she normally would have under these circumstances. But did she really want this to happen? Or was she simply testing the water to see how far he would let her go before he would stop her? If he even did stop her, that is.

Instantly doubt entered her mind. What if he did not back away? What if he did? What if her mother had been completely wrong with her assessment? So many what ifs. Could she live with the consequences either way?

The adrenaline rush and her courage seeped away quickly, but she had put the ball in his court now.

"Sarah, uh, we... I..., eh," he stammered confused. "This... can't happen."

The hesitation had not been lost on her, and it sparked the tiniest bit of hope again. Nevertheless if she did not get on equal footing with him, they would never have a chance. It was another reason why she had gone to Casey for training. If she could prove herself to be a real spy, his equal, Chuck could no longer hide behind protocol, rules, guidelines and whatever else he would come up with.

"I'm sorry," he continued, breaking the dwindling spell sooner than she had liked by rolling onto his back.

He frowned up at the ceiling, something he had been doing a lot as of late. It had taken every ounce of his self-control not to give in. By putting a little distance between them, he could hide the toll the effort had taken on him. His muscles trembled and his heart pounded insanely fast in his chest.

Oh god, he really wanted this, but he could not, would not, should not allow it to happen. She was his asset. If he had allowed it, the lines would have been blurred and the consequences quite severe. Especially if his superiors were to find out. He did not care about all the official rules, but she might have a price to pay none should ever have to pay, either it be her freedom or her life. As long as he did not get compromised, he could keep her out and safe.

Still, the kiss they had shared the night before had been positively electrifying, confirming once more that he felt more than the standard protectiveness towards the asset. That the cover, without set boundaries, could turn out to be his undoing.

Yet he would not mind more of it, but he had to draw the line; innocent things like holding hands, hugging, cuddling and kissing were okay, probably even encouraged by his superiors, but it could never be more.

He looked at her from the corners of his eyes and noticed she had not moved an inch. She seemed lost in thought, with a look of sadness and disappointment on her face. It sent a sharp stab through his heart, knowing he had been the cause of it. He hated to see her sad like this.

Taking a steeling breath, he turned his head towards her. It was extremely dangerous territory he was about to enter, but he wanted, needed to fix this without crossing the line.

"Com'ere," he suggested in a whisper, stretching out his left arm.

Sex was out of the question, but he could hold her in her sleep. It was the only thing he could offer this very moment, no matter how vehemently his heart and soul protested against this clinical approach. Or how hard his body yelled at him for not chancing it. He chose to ignore it all and suppressed a grunt of deep irritation in the process.

Had she already been confused, she was now confused even more. He had drawn the line in the sand, that much was clear. No fooling around. And now he was asking her come over and then what? What the hell was she supposed to do with those mixed signals? One moment he was acting like a real boyfriend, the next he was putting up the agent shield. It was exasperating.

She swallowed hard as she tried to make up her mind. He was allowing her to curl up to him, and though it was an exciting prospect, it also felt like a cop-out. Maybe she should try and be more like him? Use the regulations, a shield to protect herself?

A deep sigh passed her lips and she turned over to her other side. As long as he did not understand it was all or nothing for her, she would have to choose herself over him. No matter how strongly she felt towards her handler.

She pulled the covers up to her ears and closed her eyes in a desperate attempt to fall asleep, so the milling thoughts would stop and she would find some peace of mind. Finally her mind slowed down and she drifted off to sleep.

Breakfast was silent and tense, with Molly being oblivious to it and chatting away. Which was something she considered to be a good thing. Anything to take her mind off the disaster last night had been.

Her mother looked in her direction curiously when she realized that she was scowling at Chuck, who was seated across the table from her, a little too late. Undoubtedly her mother would want to catch her alone and ask her about it. It was something she had to avoid from happening.

"Any plans for the weekend? The both of you are welcome to stay?" Her mother cut through the sudden silence when Molly invested her attention in eating her pancakes.

She looked at him and he answered with a quick shake of his head. Her thoughts exactly. There was no need for her to relive the events of last night. In fact she was dying to be rid of this particular shadow, and have some time to herself to put a few more things into perspective for herself, and the only place she could do that was her own bedroom.

Chuck's cell phone chimed and he took it out. She watched curiously as he frowned at the message.

"Sorry, Ms. W-" He began.

"Please, I told you to call me Emma," her mother cut him off.

"Sorry, Emma, but some thing's come up."

He looked at her sternly and she knew what the thing was. Their next mission. It sent a thrill of excitement down her spine. Still far from being a real spy, it could not hurt to get some field experience. Unless Carina would decide that she had to stay in the car or van or whatever other means of transport. Somehow she doubted that since Carina did not play by the book. Suddenly she wished Chuck would be more like Carina; more daring and less caring.

His front door opened and the two, who they had been waiting for rather impatiently, stormed into his apartment. He shook his head in anger and snorted.

"We're here," Bartowski felt the need to say with a warm smile.

He sent him a dark glare and a grunt in greeting before sparing Walker a faint but brotherly smile, only to pick on the sullen tension between. What the hell happened now? Another low grunt rose from his chest. He really did not like to be kept waiting and he really did not want to know what had occurred between the two of them this time. What had made it even worse was that he had been stuck with Carina and her antics.

Nevertheless they were finally here. At least now they could start planning the specific details of their Woolly Banker mission. He glanced at Carina who sat looking at the two with a thoughtful expression on her face, something that usually spelled trouble.

"So glad you could make it," he scoffed.

A wicked smile appeared on Carina's face before she got to her feet, sauntered over to Chuck and draped herself around him: "I missed you, Chuckie. Casey's just so... cold," she murmured loud enough to be heard by all present in the living room.

His groan of disgust mingled with a soft angry hiss, and he looked at Walker curiously. She sent him an innocent look with a tiny shrug of her shoulders. Like he would buy that. Not feeling the need to find out the specifics, he turned to the odd couple and stared at Carina.

"The mission?" He reminded her while he tried to keep his breakfast down as Carina played with a stray curl of Bartowski's hair.

"Right," Carina smiled and finally let go of the nerd before grabbing a pen and writing a few things on the transparent blackboard.

It was not that she had any real interest in the lanky CIA-nerd, but she loved seeing Sam squirm. The woman was in such deep denial, especially this late morning, that she simply could not resist having a little fun with them. Chuck was in no better condition, but at least he played along, well, a little. Always the good sport.

"Our mission is to acquire the Nadan-I-Noor diamond, so first we'll need to stake out the place. Find the potential weaknesses in Alahi's security systems and exploit them when we return to grab the diamond. Luckily for us, Alahi's having a party tomorrow afternoon, and I managed to get us invitations. Only three, so that will leave one of us with the car," she said, looking intently at Sam. 'Sarah,' she corrected herself in thoughts.

There was no way that Sarah would stay with the car. She already had the perfect candidate for that job, but she loved seeing the crestfallen look on Sarah's face appear. It brought an evil smile to her face.

"Casey, you'll be our driver," she continued.

"Fine," the gruff agent grumbled.

"You'd stick out like a sore thumb, with your overly aggressive demeanor," she explained.

"I can blend in perfectly fine. It's the company I keep," he sent her a meaningful glare without finishing his sentence.

"So that leaves the three of us to attend the party and find out what we can use. Alahi likes the ladies, so that will mean we'll have to put in a little effort to look presentable. Right, Walker?" She asked, earning an eye-roll from the woman. "With the both of us as arm candy, our boyfriend Chuck will assume the role as influential arms dealer Charles Charles."

A triple grunt ensued, she smirked, pleased that she had not lost her skill.

"Charles Charles?" Chuck asked. "Who in their right mind uses the same name for the first and last name."

"Maybe your parents were sadists?" She offered with a malicious smile.

"'Cause that makes it better," Sarah chimed in, obviously trying not to laugh.

She stifled a laugh as well; it was nice to see the newbie try and conquer her place on the team, as ragtag as it may seem at first glance, even if it had meant a cheap shot at her supposed boyfriend.

"We've increased the backchannel chatter on the elusive arms dealer Triple-C," she went on with the briefing.

"Hold on, Triple C?" Chuck interject.

"Charles 'Coldsnap' Charles. Three C's," she explained with a hint of annoyance. "Try and keep up, Chuckie... Anyway, we've put word out that he's in LA and looking to offload some of his more explosive merchandise. Alahi seems pretty eager to meet him and extended him an invitation, which confirms our theory as to why La Cuidad was here."

Casey guffawed: "And you want a nerdy-looking guy to pose as an arms dealer? Good one, Miller."

"It's not the first time we've used Triple-C. The last guy looked more like Chuck than the abominable snowman, but if we need one of those, we know where to look," she said with a sharp smile and angry look.

She did not mind input, if it aided their mission, but by questioning her decisions, it had made it clear she had picked the right man for the right job so far. Casey glared back at her.

The moment she had heard 'arm candy', she had become worried. Their team leader for this mission liked messing with all of them a little too much, or at least it appeared that way. Yet it had been surprising how serious Carina had been in her prep work.

Now that the briefing was over, she stood silently to the side, unsure what to do now, but Carina had asked her to wait, so she did.

"You didn't think I'd bench you?" The DEA-agent asked with a broad grin upon approaching her. "Stick you in a car? Wait for us? How will you learn if all you are is support?" Carina shook her head warily.

For some reason, being stuck in a car as support seemed very appealing;especially with the way Carina was sizing her up. 'This can't be good,' she thought worriedly.

"We've got a lot of work to do, Walker, but I think it can be done," the redhead grinned from ear to ear.

"This definitely can't be good," she mumbled under her breath.

"Oh, lighten up, Walker. It's gonna be fun!" Carina laughed, giving her playful jab on the shoulder.

In the meetings she had had with Carina so far, she had learned a few crucial things. And of those things was that Carina's kind of fun did not necessarily mean her kind of fun. Others were the woman's sharp tongue and the love for stirring up trouble.

"I don't know," she sighed a little overwhelmed by her partner enthusiasm.

The redhead laughed warmly: "Have a little faith, Walker. First things first... Show me your closet."

"Eh, what?" She nearly choked in alarm at the directness.

"Gotta see what I have to work with," Carina replied, shrugging her shoulders as if it was that obvious.