A/N: *DC locks himself in room* ANGST! SC you tricked me into writing angst! And we got an oof! I don't do oof! What have you done to me?!
(Y'all can't see me but I'm over here putting a monocle over my eye. It's gonna be woooorth iiiiiit. -SC)
I would like to apologize for the last chapter…..there was supposed to be more Michael Bolton but we realized it didn't fit so it's been cut and stored in the fluff cut folder. (IT'S A THING) It will be back. I promise. As to the chapter…Guys...it's us. A little more pain now a lot less later. And yeah, it's different, Chuck knows the truth so how's he going to deal? We deal with that this ep (not chapter, but ep).
Disclaimer: We don't own "Chuck" and we're mad about it.
(Sarah retail voice) Enjoy!
"Enjoy!"
She kept the saccharine smile on her face until the young family left with their corndogs and French fries, and the moment the bell jingled at the shutting of the door, the smile died. She glanced at her watch. Technically, she wasn't supposed to be off the clock for another fifteen minutes, but she'd had enough hotdogs, oil, and potatoes, and Scooter's constant hovering was making her feel a bit homicidal.
She thought maybe she should make a bit of a dossier on her boss and figure out if he had family. That might make it easier for her not to kill him the next time he wordlessly pointed at a spot on the window after she'd just cleaned them, that sniveling look on his face.
It was the Wienerlicious, after all, not Buckingham Palace.
Throwing the cloth in the Dirty Things Bin, she went into the tiny break room and grabbed her purse.
"Uh, Miss Walker…? You're still on the clock for fifteen minutes. Where are you going?"
Oh. She hadn't seen Scooter there. Damn.
"I, um...doctor's appointment. Didn't I tell you? Can't be late for that."
"Didn't you have a doctor's appointment the other day?"
"Mhm...Yes. I did." Woops. "Um, thing is...Well, I can't really tell you, can I? HIPAA and all. Bye."
As she rushed out of there, she heard him mutter in a confused voice, "I'm...not a doctor…"
She hurried across the parking lot towards the Buy More, but stopped halfway there as the conversation a few nights ago washed back into her mind. She'd seen Chuck since then and they'd kept to the cover, quietly eating lunch outside of the Wienerlicious together. But then he'd hugged her quickly and rushed back to the Buy More.
At least he hadn't been awkward before that. Lunch had been comfortable, neither of them seeming to want to chat too much. They'd joked around. He seemed all right, in spite of her having to lay down some rules the night before.
He was Chuck, though, wasn't he? Understanding, listening...that was what he did. And maybe that was part of the reason why she'd said those things in the courtyard, let herself get too comfortable. As though every last aspect of this man's life didn't literally hang in the balance. As though he didn't depend on her to keep him alive, to keep him out of a bunker. As though she was a regular girl, instead of an agent in the CIA. As though he didn't have some sort of insane program full of secrets in his head somehow.
At least she felt better now that she'd talked to Chuck, now that she'd been honest with him. She wasn't sure he felt better, but she hoped he could at least appreciate that she wasn't keeping everything from him, that she was being as honest and forthcoming as she was capable of without putting him in even more danger.
Though part of her wondered if she should have told him her fears about not being in the loop, where she felt Casey had been brought in. Did she needlessly give him a sense of dread as a result? That hadn't been her intention.
As Sarah stepped inside of the Buy More, she spotted Chuck standing on top of the Nerd Herd desk, looking like an absolute giant up there, a pair of pliers dangling from his mouth as he reached up to fiddle with some wires in the Nerd Herd sign.
She stopped and looked at him for a moment. She'd done the right thing, admitting the worry she had about her superiors and Casey. Specifically, the fact that she'd told Chuck felt right. She not only trusted him with that small admission of her suspicions (perhaps even paranoia, but when you were in the CIA whatever you were paranoid about was probably real), but it felt important that he understood why she'd put her hand on his chest, why she'd stopped him. So much hung in the balance. There were so many unanswered questions.
And anything that might conflict with her ability to keep on her toes, see things coming before they arrived—especially if they were dangerous things—couldn't happen. Not that it really would've happened.
That was what she told herself as she walked down the aisle towards him.
"Hey…" she called up to him quietly, trying not to startle him.
Thankfully, he wasn't startled. No necks were broken.
Instead he looked down over his shoulder and grinned around the handle of the pliers, taking them out of his mouth and waving with them. "Hi. Um. Girlfriend."
Sarah bit the inside of her cheek as he hurriedly slipped the sign back over the wires. "Need this screwdriver down here?"
She asked him right as he was pulling the small recognizable one from his pants pocket. He froze, looking down at it, then at her, then at the screwdriver she held. "No, I—Um. Yes." He shoved the little screwdriver back in his pocket. "Yes, thank you."
He reached a hand down and she put the screwdriver in his palm, unable to keep from smiling. Why was he so genuinely sweet? Why did he insist on doing these small things, completely unintentional which made it all the sweeter? Like she cared whether he used his own screwdriver or the one she'd offered to pass up to him. It was such a stupidly small kindness and she'd never met anyone like Chuck Bartowski ever in her entire life.
"Voila!" he said, crouching down on the desk, reaching behind the counter, his tongue poking out between his lips and his eyes narrowing. And then she heard a switch flick and the Nerd Herd sign lit up. "S'it good?"
"Perfect."
"Nice." He set the screwdriver down, then shifted his legs so that he was sitting on the desk this time, his legs dangling down beside her. "Hi."
"Hi. Uh, and just so you know, you don't specifically have to call me 'girlfriend'. It could maybe sound sort of...forced…?"
His eyes widened. "Does it sound forced?"
"No. No, no… But it, you know, it could."
Sighing, he nodded. "Sorry. You're right." He looked at his watch. "Off already?"
"Uh. Yep." She raised her eyebrows and smiled. He didn't need to know she wasn't off for another ten minutes but that she'd lied about an appointment and just left early because she couldn't be bothered to stand there for an extra fifteen.
"Good. I, um, actually have a question."
"Oh?" Uh oh…
"You don't have to be nervous," he said, an amused look on his face.
"I'm not."
"Kay." He obviously didn't believe her, the amusement still there. "Well, I mean...maybe you should be a liiiittle nervous." He held his hand up, his thumb and forefinger close together. She gave him a dubious look. "We're thinking of maybe having a fun game night sort of thing tonight. Sort of a double date but not a date-date. Just, um, hanging out. Drinks. Games. Intense competition."
She laughed. "Intense, huh?"
"I know I seem super sweet, Sarah...and I am, mostly...but put Monopoly in front of me, and I become a monster. I literally swindled Morgan into poverty at least twice and that's just in the last year or so." He gave off a sinister chuckle that was just a little cute. "Oh, the hotels I manipulated off of him. Heh. heh. Heh."
Giggling, she shook her head. "Try that shit with me, buster, and you'll find yourself in the poor house."
He grinned. "So is that a yes on game night?"
"Oh, hell yeah! That's a hell yeah on game night! I'll be there, bro!"
Sarah winced at the sound of Morgan's voice. The guy really couldn't just do his job, could he? Instead he had to hover. He was the true definition of a helicopter friend, wasn't he? Always hovering...
Chuck turned as his best friend rounded the desk with his arms crossed. "Morgan, not to exclude you or anything, but I was asking Sarah specifically, 'cause—"
"No, no. I get it. I get it." Morgan held his hands up. "Only couples. Exclude the single guy. Sure. Makes sense." He crossed his arms again. "I got single guy stuff to do anyway."
"Morgannn…" Chuck groaned.
"Just seems kinda messed up, ya know? I mean, just 'cause you have a new lady...a good one. Of course." But with the way the bearded man eyed her, a small amount of something akin to protectiveness in his face, she wondered if Morgan actually thought she was all that good. Or was this just jealousy? A fear that this new woman in Chuck's life would mean he'd be spending less time with the one person who actually seemed to enjoy Morgan's company? That felt mean, but...it was kind of true, wasn't it? Morgan didn't hang out with anyone else.
Then again, neither did Chuck. He had Ellie, Devon, and Morgan. And of course his girlfriend now. Cover girlfriend.
"But good ol' Morgan can stay home, 'cause it's couples night. A little elitist. That's all I'm sayin'."
Chuck gave Sarah the flattest look she'd ever seen. "Buddy, it's not about whether or not you have a girlfriend. Ellie just asked Sarah because—"
"Don't explain. I'm fine. It's good."
Sarah bit her cheek and smiled a bit, almost amused by this situation. "I'm sure there are plenty of games out there that are good for five people."
Morgan gave her a surprised look. And then he pointed at her. "Yes! See? Chuck, she's right."
Chuck had a look on his own face then as he glanced at her. She thought she detected maybe some softness, but for the most part, she didn't understand it. He sighed and turned back to Morgan. "I'll work on Ellie, buddy. I'm sure it's cool if you come. But bring somethin' this time, huh? She'd be a lot more hospitable if you actually show up with some booze or snacks or something."
"Deal! Totally. Whatever I can fit on my bike, dude!" He clapped his hands together. "Awesome! This is gonna be awesome."
As he dashed away, Sarah turned back to Chuck and they shrugged at each other.
}o{
They spent the first half hour milling around the kitchen, drinking wine, talking, and sharing stories. Ellie took a poll on pizza toppings and called in the order, and they eventually broke out the chips and munched on those until the delivery guy arrived. She tried to offer to pay for it, and before Ellie or Devon could say anything, Morgan leapt into action, shoving money into the guy's hand, an unnecessary proud look on his face. She got the hint, as it was half-directed at her. And the what in the hell are you doing? look Ellie threw his way was almost funny.
They opened up the boxes, a few cheese and pepperoni, and then a few vegetarian with everything on it. It was a bit of a tough choice, as she really didn't like black olives, especially on her pizza, but she also found pepperoni to be a bit greasy at these chain delivery pizza places. She grabbed a few slices of the vegetarian anyway, grabbed her drink, and followed everyone out of the kitchen as Devon called out, "It's gaaaaame tiiiiiiime!"
He disappeared down the hallway, coming back a few moments later with a giant stack of games.
"Wait, what?" Morgan asked. "Board games? Dude, I thought we were, like, gaming." He stuck his pizza slice between his teeth and mimicked holding a video game controller.
Ellie rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Why would I ever invite Sarah over and then put her through that?"
She gave Sarah a flat look, as though they were sharing some sort of inside joke. Or a connection of some sort, a meeting of minds, maybe. It made Sarah smile.
"Morgan, keep dreamin', buddy," Chuck drawled.
Devon rushed right past the kitchen altogether and set the games on the table. "I got a good variety here, folks. All of them accessible to five people...Mr. Grimes." He beamed in that friendly way, pointing at the much shorter man as they all crowded around the table.
"Of course, I couldn't not add Monopoly to the pile. An oldie but a goodie, huh?" He threw his arm over Ellie's shoulder and tugged her into his side.
Chuck made a dubious sound and tilted to the side a bit, bumping Sarah's shoulder with his own. "I dunno," he teased when she looked up at him. "When I invited Sarah tonight and told her how I tend to play Monopoly, she basically threatened me, so maybe no on Monopoly."
"What?!" She laughed, knuckling him jokingly in the rib as he cracked up and dodged to the side. "I did not threaten you, you liar."
"You kiiinda did."
"I did not!"
Everyone laughed as Chuck set his hand on Sarah's shoulder that was furthest from him and squeezed. She smirked at him and shook her head. "Well, if Chuck's gonna be such a big baby about how competitive I am, maybe it's best we do one of these team type games so we can be on the same team."
"That is a good idea!" Ellie said. "And we can do this game!" She moved a few of the other games from the top of the pile and lifted the box for them all to see. "It's perfect for teams."
"Uh, sis...it's perfect for couples," Chuck said, his hand still on Sarah's shoulder, she couldn't help but notice. It was good cover work. "It's literally called 'Couples Conundrum'."
"Wow, Ellie," Morgan said in a flat voice. "Really subtle. Thanks. Thanks for that."
"Devon brought it out here!" the brunette defended herself, but she didn't seem all that sorry, which totally checked out.
"Hey, whoa whoa. Whoa. It was just in the pile, okay? I accidentally got it mixed in. No big deal, we can play...uh...Pictionary." He shrugged lamely.
"Okay except nobody here can draw. Unless Sarah can?" Ellie gestured to her and she nodded confidently, immediately.
"Oh yeah. I'm a regular Picasso."
"As in, she puts the nose up here on the forehead and the eye on the chin…"
Sarah cracked up at Chuck's addition, nodding. "Exactly." He held his hand up for a high five and she met it.
"No, let's do the couples one. That sounds good," Morgan interrupted. "We'll do the conundrum thing."
"Morgan, you'd need a sixth to be your partner," Ellie said, crossing her arms at her chest. "As in a girl who doesn't find you insufferable."
Devon winced. But Morgan seemed to take it in stride. "Whoa now. Whoa. It's fine. It's okay. We'll just, uh, we'll keep it to Ellie and Devon on a team."
"And Chuck and Sarah. What, are you gonna referee? Leave? The latter would be preferable."
He ignored Ellie completely. "And then me and Chuck can be a third team."
"Well, that's awkward," Devon said.
Chuck let out a nervous laugh. "Uh, Morgan. It's 'COUPLES Conundrum' not best friends."
"Dude. We might be two straight men, but you and me could beat the pants off of these three novices any day of the week with how much we know about each other."
"Uhhhhhh, au contraire, mon beardie. I think Ellie and I gotcha beat," Devon said, giving his girlfriend a side hug and kissing her temple. She seemed pretty sure of it, too, as she nodded and smirked proudly.
"Yeah? Well, we'll see about that."
"Hold on, hold on. Waaait a tick. Wait." Chuck snagged the game from Ellie. "This seems pretty unfair. I'm going to have to answer twice as many questions about personal stuff as the rest of you, and that outright sucks."
"Sucks to be you, bro," Devon teased. Ellie honked out a laugh and Morgan shrugged.
When her cover boyfriend gave her a pitiful look that clearly said Help me, all she could do was rub his arm and wince.
"Not to mention Sarah and I only met, like, three weeks ago. Morgan's known me since I was, like, five, and Ellie and Awesome, you've been dating for, like, seven years."
"Hey! Six and a half!" Devon corrected.
Sarah laughed. "I mean, I'm not sure how great we'll do, but uh, if everyone else is game, I am."
Morgan pushed past her and smacked Chuck on his chest with both hands. "Yes! We're gonna wipe the floor with 'em, man! Let's do this."
A few minutes later, they were congregated over at the seating area in the living room, Ellie and Devon sharing the couch, Morgan sitting in one of the chairs, and Chuck sitting opposite him in the other.
When Ellie and Devon tried to scoot over to make room for Sarah, she insisted in full honesty that she preferred the floor, but that also put her closer to Chuck without the necessity of going overboard and smashing both of them onto his chair. She was glad when he didn't offer up that option. Because after three weeks, she wasn't sure she could say no without making it look like she didn't want to be that close to him and, frankly, that'd be a terrible look for them as a "couple".
So she took her position at Chuck's feet, took her paddle and dry erase marker, and quickly refreshed her mind of all of the things Chuck had shared with her in the last three weeks; the things they'd talked about during lunch breaks, little bits of his past he had told her, trivial things about his childhood…
His dossier that she'd practically memorized didn't have much that would help her here, she feared. And she'd have to be okay with losing this game bad. Especially since Chuck knew absolutely nothing about her. And this version of Sarah that Ellie, Devon, and Morgan knew...she didn't really exist, did she? God, how much was she about to lie?
Ellie rolled the dice. "Okay, ummm...I landed on childhood. Hand me the card." Sarah snagged the top card from the childhood deck since it was nearest her and passed it to Ellie. "Thank you...Annnnd...Name of my favorite stuffed animal when I was little." She wrote it out on her paddle.
"Uh, it was a stuffed crocodile and you named her Medusa."
"WHAT?!" Chuck exclaimed as Ellie turned her paddle to reveal Devon had gotten it right. "When did you two even have that conversation?"
"Six and a half years, bro," Devon said as he leaned in to kiss his girlfriend. "We've had sooooo many conversations."
"Okay well, that was gross and I'm rolling now."
Sarah laughed as Chuck poked her shoulder. "Our turn, Sarah. Get ready for this." He rolled and got a five, pumping his fist. "Yes. Okay, and I landed on orange. What cards are the orange ones?"
"Preference card! Here ya go!" Devon passed a card over and Sarah looked away so she didn't see it.
"Thank you, Awesome." He nodded diplomatically at his sister's boyfriend, then turned the card over, looked at it, then snorted and set it in the discard pile, already scribbling his answer on the paddle. "Which would I prefer? A beach getaway? Or a cabin in the mountains getaway?"
Sarah had no idea, but he'd grown up in Los Angeles and spent his whole life close enough to a handful of beaches, so she guessed, "Beach getaway."
He turned the paddle and she punched her fist into the air. "Yes! Ha! Give us a point, Morgan."
"Yeah, yeah…" he grumbled, marking a tally under their team on the small easel they'd set up to keep score.
The game continued for another half hour as they ate and drank, laughing, and Ellie and Devon seriously started wracking up points in a big way. It was almost a little intimidating how much they knew about each other.
"Okay, okay…" Morgan said, breaking through their laughter at Morgan's answer to a question about his first crush, which Chuck had gotten wrong because he'd assumed it was their kindergarten teacher instead of a girl named Heather. Apparently, Morgan's crush stemmed from the fact that she had a Gumby backpack. "Let's keep it goin', Chuck. Come on. Head in the game. Comeback time."
"Uh...Not likely," Ellie said, pointing to the score board. She and Devon were winning by over ten points.
Sarah and Chuck only had four, and there had been a good number of questions between them. It was verging on embarrassing, but she decided not to fret. The relationship was supposed to be new, anyway.
"Okay, card from the like pile." Ellie picked it up and smiled, setting it down again and writing on her paddle. "How do I like my eggs?"
Devon took a second to think. "What's up? Poached!"
"Yeah, baby!" She turned her paddle and leaned in to kiss him as he laughed.
The rest of them just shook their heads.
"I don't know why we're playing this game," Chuck murmured, biting his pizza. She looked up at him and saw he was laughing. She followed his gaze to where Morgan had written Kill me! on his paddle, turning it for them all to see.
"Gimme the damn dice," Chuck said, grabbing them and glaring teasingly at his sister. He rolled and moved their piece on the board, then picked up one of the purple cards. "Oh. Oh no. Um. Can I skip?"
Sarah raised an eyebrow. Everyone had gotten a purple card at least once. They were love life cards, and some of them were about sex, which had made both Ellie and Chuck act out and pretend to cover their ears as though they were disgusted, making everyone else laugh. But the questions were tame enough. Had Chuck found a less tame one?
"Nope!" Morgan burst out. "No skipping! Ask her the question!"
"It's okay," she laughed. "Whatever it is, I'll make myself forget about it right after."
Ellie nudged her shoulder. "That's if you don't know it," she said.
Oh, she definitely wouldn't. But that probably wasn't something she should say out loud about her cover boyfriend.
"If I could role play as anyone in the bedroom, real or fictional, who would it be? This isn't even cool." Everyone laughed and he covered his face with his paddle. "This is terrible and I hate this game."
"Okay, so I really don't know the answer to this one," Sarah said. But Chuck was writing something. "You have an answer?" She cracked up and put a hand on his knee, setting her plate that was littered with pieces of black olives that she'd picked off on the floor behind her.
"Of course he does!" Morgan said. "Can I answer? I know the answer."
Sarah sent him a look, then slowly turned back to see Chuck practically giving his friend a death glare.
"Let Sarah guess. Jesus, dude," Devon said.
"Go 'head and guess," Chuck finally groaned, peeking over the paddle at her with a wince.
"Um...I don't know. Is it somebody like...um...Leonardo DiCaprio or, um, Ryan Gosling or something?" Morgan groaned and threw his hands up as Ellie pitched a rolled up napkin at his face in Sarah's defense. "I don't know!" she exclaimed. "I really don't!"
"Nah, it's okay," Chuck said. "I'm glad you don't know and I genuinely wish I didn't have to tell you right now."
She laughed, but before he could turn his paddle around, Morgan yelled, "It's Aragorn! It's totally Aragorn."
Turned out he was right.
And that was a little...weird...that he knew that. Then again, who knew what sorts of freaky conversations teenage boys had late at night while playing video games or whatever? Or up in their treehouse… Did teenage boys still do the whole treehouse thing? She had no idea.
The dice finally came around to Sarah a few minutes later and she rolled a two, grabbing one of the cards from the favorite pile. She read it and took a moment to settle on her answer. "Okay, what's my favorite pie?"
"Oh, ummm…" Chuck narrowed his eyes as he concentrated on her, almost as if he was trying to read her mind. She'd written down cherry, but it was actually apple. It was a stupid lie. An incredibly trivial, stupid lie. But it was what she did. It was what she'd always done. Giving real answers to real questions felt...unsafe. Even something as harmless as her favorite pie. "I feel like you have this adventurous, fun, outgoing...I'd even go so far as to say, wild personality…" She tilted her head at him and raised her eyebrows. "...but instead of something like key lime or rhubarb or something crazy, your favorite is good ol' American apple pie."
Sarah found herself gaping at him for a moment.
"Did I get it right?" he asked when she didn't answer.
He did. He did get it right. And she felt ridiculous for how much that affected her—and she wasn't sure if the effect was negative or positive. "Nope!" she said, turning her paddle. "Cherry."
Chuck groaned and dropped his head.
"Oh, boooo! Must not know her that well if you don't know her favorite pie."
Everyone ignored Morgan and Sarah put a hand on Chuck's arm, squeezing in a way that everyone could see, smiling up at him.
When Morgan got the dice back, he landed on a purple space and grabbed one of the love life cards. "Oh. Easy. Chuck, we've talked about this millions of times. Favorite physical attribute of a romantic partner."
Chuck rolled his eyes. "Forearms."
"What?" Sarah laughed as Morgan turned his paddle around and pointed at Chuck triumphantly. He'd seriously written down forearms and Chuck had seriously gotten it right.
"Dude, that's really freakin' random," Devon said, shaking his head.
"Listen, I can tell when a woman is a gamer. And it's when she has strong forearms. All of this action right here…" He mimicked holding a controller, wiggling his thumbs around. "Thumbs are a close second."
"Oh my God, you're such a freak," Ellie droned, and Sarah had to cover her mouth to keep from literally chortling at the other woman's delivery.
More time passed in which Morgan managed to jam himself in between Ellie and Devon on the couch, claiming they were getting weird supernatural brain waves going back and forth which was totally cheating. But it also meant Morgan had spent five minutes with Devon giving him a noogie whenever he felt like it until finally Ellie made him stop so that she didn't have to hear the shorter man squeal anymore.
The dice came back to Chuck and it was her turn to guess something about his childhood, as he'd rolled a six, landing on the childhood space. She giggled at his celebratory antics, sipping her soda as he read the card silently and set it down again. "Easy, easy…" He started writing and then looked down at her. "My all-time favorite pet."
She got why he'd said easy. He'd just told her a story about a dog he'd had as a kid yesterday at lunch. And because she had a hard time not remembering all of the tidbits he felt comfortable enough to share with her—which was a lot, and all the time—she had it practically at the tip of her tongue.
"Uuuummm...cocker spaniel…"
He made a sound that egged her on as she thought, pressing his pen against his nose. It was cute enough that she leaned in flirtatiously. For the cover. And she grinned as she answered, "Peaches."
"Ahhhh!" He turned his paddle. "Who got Peaches?!" She reached up for a high five and he slapped her hand, a proud look on his face as she won them a point. She practically preened as he leaned down towards her and let out a cute little chuckle.
Morgan made a buzzer sound. "Wrong! It was a springer spaniel named Peaches 2." Sarah turned and gave Chuck's best friend a look. "Not to be confused with the original Peaches...who got hit by a car."
Ellie gave Morgan a look that was half murderous, and the other half embarrassed. "I think we can just give it to Sarah, Morgan." She itched her head awkwardly.
"Yeah," Devon chuckled mirthlessly, gobsmacked by how trivial and competitive the bearded man was being about the game. And frankly, he'd been a bit passive aggressive towards Sarah in particular throughout the game. Whenever she'd gotten something wrong, he'd guessed the right answer before Chuck turned the paddle and celebrated, ignoring Chuck's annoyed roll of his eyes. If she ever get something right, which was pretty rare, he rained on her and Chuck's parade with some comment like, "Well, I mean, that's an easy one."
It was clear there was some jealousy about Chuck's new girlfriend there. Competitiveness, protectiveness...whatever it was, while it was sort of aggressive and even somewhat annoying in its disruptiveness, Sarah was semi-amused by the situation, especially everyone else's response, including how many times Morgan had been hit by something Ellie'd thrown at his forehead with wicked precise aim.
"Fine, fine. I'll just say anything next time and just...take a point," Morgan snarked around the pizza in his mouth.
"You told me that the original Peaches ran away." Sarah looked up at Chuck and inwardly winced. Well, this just got awkward…
"She did," Ellie said, her eyes wide, lips pressed tightly together. "She did."
"Way to go, Morgan," Devon muttered as Ellie gave Morgan a look that made Sarah wonder if she should maybe follow Morgan home tonight to make sure he wasn't murdered in his sleep by his best friend's sister. It wasn't really a part of her mission, though, was it? Maybe if he wasn't being such a tool tonight, she'd make an exception. Alas…
And Chuck seemed genuinely betrayed as he gaped at his sister. His eyes flicked down to Sarah's and then he went back to his board to erase. She momentarily thought she'd even help Ellie with the murder.
As fate would have it, most of the next ten or so questions were pulled from the purple stack, which had made for some hilarious moments, and other uncomfortable moments. But then it got back to Chuck again, Morgan seeming a little too sure of himself as he prepared to hear the question he'd have to answer. "My favorite sexual position. This is so...a lot. I don't...wanna...do this one. Please? Why am I getting all the raunchy sex questions? Seriously. Like, please."
Sarah rubbed his arm comfortingly and leaned in close as he dropped his chin to his chest and groaned.
"Them's the breaks, bro. You're on two teams," Devon chuckled.
"God damn it."
"I mean, I know the answer, though," Morgan said, shrugging, a can of grape soda in his hand. However, they'd all seen him empty half of the can into his mouth and then pour vodka into it. Which was just gross. But it also explained why he was getting a little louder. And less...filtered.
"Or you can not answer and we can sacrifice the point."
"What? Hell no. We're closing in on Team Elsome!" He set the soda down, burped a little, and raised both hands over his head. "Girl on top! Aka cowgirl! Am I right? I'm right."
Chuck turned his paddle. He hadn't written anything. "Woops. Guess we don't get a point. I wrote nothing at all."
"The hell, man? We both know I'm right. Why didn't you write it down?"
Sarah diverted her eyes, aware that Ellie was sneaking a peek at her. So she smirked a bit and faked a blush. She hadn't exactly expected sex questions to be a part of this night, but she'd acted her part well enough, even if she hadn't done very well guessing correctly, nor had he guessed correctly for a lot of hers, sex or otherwise. Because she'd made it all up.
"Next please!" Chuck chirped. "No point for Team Chuck and Morgan."
Ellie got a question right about the name Devon gave his first car—Tiki, after some football player.
The game went on for long enough that Sarah became hungry again. Chuck staggered up before she could to grab her another piece of the vegetarian, and she meticulously picked the olives off of the pizza before taking a bite out of it.
"Next!" Ellie called out from her spot on the floor where she'd moved to share some quiet conversation with Sarah between rounds. Sarah felt the way Ellie was trying to almost smooth over Morgan's behavior by telling her how glad she was that she'd come, and joking about learning so much more about her thanks to the game. The gesture was kind, but the kindest part of it was in Chuck's sister's sincerity. She could tell she was glad. And that she actually liked the woman she thought was dating her brother. It was...nice.
But then the dice came around to Sarah again and she picked up the card and saw what it said. Devon had since lowered himself to sit on the floor next to his girlfriend and they were chattering quietly to one another, so they most likely didn't catch the slight wince on her face. But Chuck might've.
"C'mon, ask. Can't be as bad as favorite position during sex, since I already took care of that card for everyone, you're all welcome," he droned.
She giggled. "Okay." She wrote down a lie answer again, even emphasizing it with a little exclamation underneath. "Most dangerous situation ever."
Sarah was careful not to look at Chuck as he cleared his throat a few times. She could see in her peripheral that he squirmed a bit. She knew inherently what was going through his mind. He'd literally flashed on at least one of those situations, hadn't he? A legitimately dangerous situation that had involved death. Not hers. But she'd certainly been the cause of someone else's. He was smart enough not to bring any of that up, of course. She wasn't worried about that. But what a crappy card.
She finally looked up at him and propped her chin on top of the paddle, raising her eyebrows, waiting for his answer. "I-I don't know, uh, fixing a flat tire on the side of a freeway?"
"Good guess." She turned her paddle for him to see.
"Sunbuuurn!" he drawled, giving her a look she understood in spades. There was almost amusement in it, she noticed. And she appreciated him for it.
"I was nine and we were on a family vacation and my sister and I put on baby oil instead of sunscreen. We ended up looking like two blond lobsters." Everyone chuckled at her made up story, and she could feel Chuck's gaze on her profile as she studiously avoided looking at him, instead erasing her paddle. She felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck, then. And it wasn't the same sensation she got sometimes when she felt Chuck looking at her. It was different.
She'd made a survey of every window and potential entrance or exit in the room when she'd first been in the apartment for the dinner that had utterly failed, so she knew there was a window over her shoulder. Sarah whipped her head around and looked at it, not seeing anybody there. She knew there was a chance it was Casey, checking up on things, maybe spying because he was just not very trusting of her still. But he had cameras on this place, didn't he? If he really felt the need, he could always just watch the surveillance.
For the moment, she pushed her strange feeling out of her mind.
The dice eventually got to Morgan and he let out an embarrassed moan. "Oh God, here we go. Heeere we go. Glad I don't have a date here now." He scrawled his answer on his paddle and climbed up to his feet. "Most humiliating childhood nickname."
Chuck chewed the chip he'd just put in his mouth and shook his head. "I promised Morgan I would never say it out loud."
Morgan gestured for him to just do it.
"Ummm...okay...Organ."
"BOOYAH! YEAH! ORGAN! SEE THAT? WHAT'S IT SAY?!" He thrust the paddle in each of their faces. "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! GIVE ME A POINT!"
Chuck gave him a tame high five with a partially embarrassed, "Okay." It was pretty clear to Sarah that everyone was having a little less fun with the game now that Morgan had gotten tipsy enough that he was becoming legitimately obnoxious—party-pooper levels of obnoxious.
Chuck was finally up to roll and draw a card, Morgan officially having gravitated over to sit literally on the arm of Chuck's chair, not exactly between the cover couple, but close enough to it. She ignored it, inwardly smirking.
Sarah waited patiently for the question.
"Okay…" A look came over Chuck's face, one she couldn't read. "Most hated person ever."
Morgan made a sound as though that was an easy one, and Devon chuckled, "Total gimme!"
She nibbled on her pizza, looking around at everyone, thrusting her hand out, palm up. "Harry Tang?" she asked.
Morgan groaned as if that was the stupidest answer ever, Devon laughed, and Ellie nudged her arm with a "Good guess!" but Sarah was too focused on the look on Chuck's face. He looked legitimately upset by the question. Or, maybe it was more the answer he was writing down that upset him.
She had no idea who it was. But apparently whoever it was happened to be a big villain, enough of one that Chuck was flushed (not in a good way) and looking down at his lap.
"I don't know, I'm sorry," she said, trying to keep amusement in her voice.
"It's okay," Chuck said, shaking his head. "It's a stupid game."
"Wait, no no! Hold on a second!" Morgan yanked the paddle out of Chuck's hand before he could erase what he'd written down, and it was crystal clear to her that Chuck wasn't happy about Morgan continuing to harp on it. "It's-It's Bryce Larkin. How could you not know Bryce Larkin?"
Sarah dropped her gaze from Morgan to Chuck. And he looked like he was in the throes of abject mortification, along with a side of misery.
Bryce was Chuck's most hated person ever? To the point where these people who didn't know about Bryce's email with the secrets stolen from the government, the secrets Chuck now had in his head, that were currently putting his life in danger, still knew Bryce as Chuck's most hated person ever?
What had Bryce done to him? She didn't have to wait long for Morgan to answer that question, in spite of the please stop look Chuck was giving him. And then Chuck looked right at her as Morgan said, "Dude pretended to be his buddy, sexed up his girl, then got him kicked out of Stanford."
She kept her eyes on Chuck as he dropped his head a bit, his shoulders slumping. And she not only hated this game, she found herself wishing it would stop. All of it. She felt an ache in her chest, for Chuck yes, and everything he was obviously going over in his head all over again… but also because the man they were talking about was dead. He'd been her partner. She'd slept with him enough times to have considered him more than a partner, even if they hadn't called it anything, even if it hadn't been particularly special or deep. And he was dead. A traitor to his country...and dead.
"If Chuck is Solo...Larkin is his Fett. Understand what I'm saying?"
"Okay!" Chuck broke in, looking upset but trying in vain to hide it. "Okay. No point. No point. Understood."
Needless to say, the game ended soon after that and it was late. Ellie began yawning so Sarah finally stood up and brushed off her pants. "Well, um...I should probably get home. I have work early. So…"
"I'll walk you out," Chuck said quickly, joining her.
Devon gave her a bear hug as Ellie walked with them to the door. Sarah slipped her hand into Chuck's for his sister's benefit, gave the other woman a one-armed hug with a thanks, and stepped out into the courtyard with Chuck. Sarah leaned in to kiss Ellie's cheek as the brunette did the same, and with one last wave, the door was shut, leaving the CIA agent alone with the Nerd Herd supervisor.
Sarah looked up at him, met his eyes, and when she saw him drop his gaze to their hands, a bit of a blush on his cheeks, she dropped her own eyes as well. She knew she'd held on a little long, and she diverted her gaze as they finally let go.
"Well, we did great tonight," he said, breaking the slightly awkward silence.
"Yeah, well I like to win, but uuuuh...Morgan clearly has an edge." She couldn't help the sardonic tone of voice. After Morgan's behavior, especially.
"Yeah, when he started to list my favorite thirty wonderful flavors of ice cream in descending order, that was a little much," he chuckled, having seemed to shuck most of the glumness that had been there ever since...that question.
"Yeah, it's like he's had information blasted into his brain, but secret information specifically about you," she drawled.
As they slowly strolled around the fountain, he muttered, "Yeah, I wish I could get access to your file, know more about you, but, uh, that isn't exactly how this works. 'Least I don't think so. Still tryin' to figure that out." He was trying to be as nonchalant as possible, she could tell, though it didn't quite work.
And she thought after the shit his friend had put him through, even if it hadn't been maliciously done, she could give him maybe a little something. Something to ease the discomfort from earlier, end his night on a better note.
"You could always just ask me," she said, shrugging, stopping and turning on her heel to face him. He gazed at her for a moment, his eyes softening, curiosity lighting them.
"R-Really? I—" He seemed genuinely surprised. And she realized he must've eventually figured out that all of her answers during that game were lies, things she'd made up for her cover as Sarah Walker, hotdog frier. It upset her for some reason. She didn't want to figure out the reason. "Um O-Okay. Yeah. Um...Well, I mean, I know that you and Bryce worked together but...how close were the two of you exactly?" Shit. Shit shit shit. Fuck.
And she just answered, no extra thought, knowing it was how she had to answer. She didn't want to give any other kind of answer here. For so many damn reasons, too many reasons. And she hated that he was looking at her like this.
"Uh, well...Bryce was my partner, but we were never really friends if that's what you're asking." That wasn't what he was asking and she damn well knew it. But fuck no was she going to acknowledge that. That was too much. This conversation was too much, and she needed to keep looking at him so that he didn't think she was lying to his face.
"Right," he said, and why did he have to show how relieved he was? He was broadcasting it so clearly and it was worse that he so obviously didn't realize he was. "So your relationship was more like, 'You, hey, get that bad guy'," he growled, "Or 'Nice judo chop', or 'How 'bout them Raiders?' or somethin' like that."
She smiled at him and looked away, fighting the sick feeling in her chest. "Yeah, well, you know...when you're under cover, you're still you but the details are different." She kept walking towards the gate, her back to him finally, and she closed her eyes a bit, then opened them again and rolled them at herself. She had to do this. She wanted to and she had to. Even if it felt...icky.
"Yyyyeah, speakin' of details, there were a couple of those questions we could've done better with."
Thank God he'd changed the subject. "Which ones?" she asked as they turned and he slid up next to her again.
"D'yuh um...those...those...questions...the...questions…" He had his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and wasn't looking at her.
A bit of a grin stretched over her face. "The sex questions?"
"There ya go!" he chirped, looking a bit embarrassed.
She giggled a bit at him. "Morgan did well with those, too."
He surprised her then. "Well, what exactly is our cover for that topic?"
Oh.
It was a legitimately good question. One she'd maybe not thought about herself for reasons she again decided not to think too hard on. She turned to him with a quick answer, keeping it as professional as she possibly could. "Uh," she turned to face him and stopped again. "We're taking it slow."
"Right! Yeah. We're being...prudent. Aren't we?"
She didn't know why he had to give her a bit of a crooked smile, or why he had to say the word prudent like that. And she didn't know what sort of a weird freaking vibe this damn courtyard had that these talks kept happening between them while they stood in it.
All she could do was give a small smile, nearly looking up at him through her eyelashes, but then there was a loud sound behind them. Sarah spun on her heel, that feeling from earlier never quite out of her mind in spite of how long ago it had been. But before she could go for the knife in her jacket pocket, she saw Morgan shuffle tiredly towards them. The alcohol had done a bit of a number on the idiot.
"Oh, you meant...walk Sarah to her car. Makes sense," he said sarcastically, pointing to his temple. "I don't...I don't have a car…" His path led him right through them, wedging a bit more space between them, which was probably his goal.
Sarah used that as an opportunity and followed after Morgan, feeling Chuck on her heels. When they stopped at her car, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a hug, squeezing a bit harder than was probably appropriate, but she felt he needed it.
And when she heard Morgan who was still nearby and most likely watching their goodbye, she gave Chuck a quick kiss on his cheek. "Good night. And thanks."
"Night. Thanks for comin'."
She smiled at him as she rounded to the driver's side of the car.
"Drive safe, huh?"
Agent Walker didn't allow herself to think about the Bryce question, or the other Bryce question, the lie she'd told, the dozens of lies she'd told, all of them tonight. She didn't even let herself be warmed by the kindness and genuine affection Ellie Bartowski had repeatedly gifted her with, even trying to save her from Morgan's jealous passive aggressive behavior. And even that was a lie, because that she did dwell on a bit as she drove home.
And in spite of the melancholy she felt, a small smile came to her face unbeknownst to her.
A/N: This is fine...perfectly fine...come back next time when we go off canon and have Casey...talk...not grunt, but...talk…(We gave him ONE feeling, right SC?)
What are feelings? I'm unfamiliar with this term. G'night and g'luck, friends. -SC