A/N: Thanks for the reviews. More than I usually get. Piranha is obviously popular.
Thanks to Captainrick944 who beta'd this again.
Sarah Walker is flying across the country to meet Chuck Bartowski There are several things for them to discuss…
Piranha vs The Intersect
Chapter 2: Arrival
"Come on, bud. Time to go to work."
Chuck woke up with Morgan shaking his shoulder. He groaned. "Day off. Forgot to tell you. Sorry."
"Oh, man. So, I need to cycle to work?" Morgan moaned.
"Sorry, Morg," Chuck replied.
Morgan stumbled off muttering to himself.
Chuck thought about trying to get back to sleep, but decided against it. He staggered into the bathroom.
After a shower and getting dressed, he wandered into the kitchen and was met by his sister. "How come you're not going to work today? You didn't drink that much."
Chuck couldn't lie to her. "I've been corresponding with someone and they're coming to LA today."
"Is that why you've been on the computer so much? I thought you were gaming with Morgan."
"I do that sometimes, but not all the time," he replied.
"So, who is it and where are they coming from?" she asked.
"Her name is Sarah Walker and she's coming from Washington DC," he said, and waited for the response.
He didn't have to wait long. "A girl?"
He chuckled. "No, El. A woman. A very beautiful one at that."
Her eyes lit up. "Did you hear that, Dev?"
"Sure did. Well done, bro!" Devon said as he carried a coffee mug over to Chuck.
"Thanks, Devon."
"And she's flying all the way over to see you?" Ellie asked.
"No. She's coming to see the Buy More," he sarcastically replied.
Ellie slapped his shoulder. "If that was the case, you'd be going to work."
"True. I'm picking her up from the airport at around 1pm," he told them.
"I'm sorry, Chuck. We're leaving the hospital at different times today, so both cars are in use."
"Don't worry. I've got one of the Nerd Herders," he said. Ellie looked dubious. He sighed. "El, I'm not going to pretend to be someone I'm not."
"Okay," she replied. She didn't look okay with it, but didn't say any more.
Chuck wasn't sure how to dress to meet an international spy arriving at LAX, so he wore a blue button-down shirt and black pants. He hoped he looked smart enough.
He was now standing in Arrivals waiting for Sarah. Her plane had landed on time, so she should be coming through soon.
Then, he saw her. Even at a distance, she stood out in a crowd. Their eyes locked and the smile that appeared on her face lit up the place.
She was pulling a small suitcase, so was obviously planning to stay for a while. When she reached him, she held out her hand. "Hi, Chuck."
He grasped her hand and both felt a jolt of static electricity. "H- hi, Sarah."
She smiled. "Do I make you nervous?"
He wasn't going to lie to her. "Sarah, you looked beautiful in your photo, but it doesn't do you justice."
She blushed slightly. "Charmer." Then, she looked at him. "You look better than your photograph, too. And you're tall. I'm impressed, Chuck." She smiled. "Looking forward to that date."
He was surprised by that comment. "Is that still on?"
"After we clear things up with the NSA."
He offered to take her case, but she declined. "How long are you staying?" he asked.
"I don't know. I have a booked room at Maison23. Do you know it?"
"Yeah. Not far from where I live," he replied. "Do you want to go there first?"
"Yeah. Maybe we can then go to your place and you can show me what you have on me?"
Sarah sounded nervous and he could understand why. "I'm sorry. You fascinated me. I just kept digging and digging."
"That's scary, you know?"
"I would never tell anyone what I found," he tried to reassure her.
She had always been good at reading people. "I don't think you would, Chuck, but the thought that you know what I have done makes me extremely uncomfortable, and that does not happen to me often."
He stopped and took her hand. "Sarah, I don't have details of many of your assignments or missions. They were redacted, but what I know leaves me in awe of your accomplishments. My interpretation of your most recent one convinced me that deep down inside, you are a very good person."
Sarah froze. "My most recent?"
"In Budapest," he replied.
"We need to talk about that. Somewhere private," she said. This was even more troubling than anything else.
He nodded. As they reached the parking lot, he said, "I'm afraid your chariot is a Buy More Nerd Herder." He led her to the garishly branded car that looked like a giant Tylenol capsule.
As he drove to her hotel, Chuck commented. "I still can't believe you were willing to come all this way to see me."
"I was bored and you made me feel… happy." And he did. "But then you mentioned that mission, which I don't want anyone knowing about, so I had to come and discuss that. Of course, what Bryce sent you also meant I had come here officially."
"And the date?" Both of them sensed the desperation creeping through.
Sarah had been thinking about this on the flight over. If he was going to become an analyst, there was nothing against them dating, or taking things further, if they wanted to. "Let's talk about that, too," she replied.
"That sounds ominous," he said.
She smiled at him. "Hopefully not."
As they arrived at the hotel, he pulled her case from the car and brought it along for her. Once she'd checked in and they were in her room, she got him to sit at the table so they could talk. Personally, she wanted to talk about Budapest, but she focused on the Intersect as the CIA saw this as the top priority.
Sarah started, "My boss, Director Langston Graham, got his analysts to do some digging into what happened to you in Stanford."
Chuck hadn't expected this. "Why would he do that?"
"We are suspicious of everything Bryce Larkin has done," she explained. "The examination involved in the expulsion was actually a CIA assessment of suitability for a program that was running in the early noughties."
"What?!"
"The professor that expelled you is a CIA recruiter. He has admitted that you were framed and provided us with the results on that assessment."
"But that means I should get my degree," he said.
She nodded. "We can follow that up, but right now we need to focus on other things. Bottom line is that you may be the only person that can cope with the Intersect."
"What do you mean?" He asked, totally confused.
"Your scores are way ahead of everyone else's. Nearly 100%." She chuckled. "It was almost as if the Intersect was built with you in mind."
Chuck had a sudden memory return to him. He gasped. "Oh god!"
Sarah was shocked at how pale Chuck went. "What is it?"
"I think my dad built the Intersect human processor," he replied. "I think I downloaded a prototype when I was nine." He stopped talking as he remembered that time.
"Talk to me, Chuck," she demanded.
He looked at her. This woman who already meant more to him than any before. He had never told anyone about this, not even his sister, but he felt drawn to tell Sarah everything. "My dad was a computing and engineering genius. He would spend hours locked away in his home office, which was more like a lab than anything else, working on projects. He wouldn't let anyone else in there." He remembered being turned away on numerous occasions. "He was trying to perfect something and it was clearly getting him frustrated.
"One day, when he and I were alone in the house, he was in there working. Someone came to the door, apparently with something he needed. He rushed out of his office, and for once, he didn't lock the door. I was the typical curious nine-year-old. When a place you've wanted to go is suddenly available to you, you go there. I was drawn to his computer. There was a display showing text asking for a response to proceed. I just instinctively pressed enter. Images flashed in front of my eyes. I couldn't look away. I don't know how long it ran, but it couldn't have been long. My dad had gotten into an argument with the person at the door, so didn't come straight back, but it couldn't have been more than ten minutes. I passed out, and he found me slumped over the keyboard. When I came to, he was frantic. He ran a lot of tests on me and also took me to the hospital for a brain scan. In the end, he concluded that I was ok. He made me promise to never tell anyone about what happened, least of all Mom." He looked at Sarah for a moment. "Some of his tests were on things I hadn't known, including the scientific names for animals and trees. The download put that information into my head."
Sarah was stunned listening to his story. "You-"
He cut her off. "I think I was the first person to download an Intersect, and because I survived, I think he based his tool around what worked for me. The CIA must have taken that as the basis for what they created. I don't know if the test was created to find me or not, but it's possible."
sarah grasped his arm and held his gaze. "Chuck, I need to call this in. Are you ok with that?"
The fact that she asked rather than just doing it made him like her even more. He nodded.
She called Graham and relayed the information.
Graham said, "That makes it even more important for him to download it, Agent Walker. He always was the Intersect."
Sarah didn't like Chuck being called that, but he was right. "Yes, Sir." She ended the call.
She turned back to Chuck. "The CIA wants you to download what Bryce sent you."
He just stared at her, not believing what he had just heard. "But you said it contains all the CIA and NSA secrets."
She tried to remain calm while inside she was all churned up. "It does."
"And that would go into my head." It wasn't a question. The thought of that was shocking. Then, a different thought popped into his head. "You specifically said 'the CIA' wanted it, rather than 'we'. Are you personally against it?"
She should lie to him, but he was too perceptive and seemed particularly adept at reading her. She sighed. "I should say yes, but I am worried it could hurt you."
He smiled. "See, you're a caring person."
She shook her head. "Not normally. I normally just follow orders." She knew that wasn't strictly true. Budapest demonstrated that, but in general she did follow orders..
"Well, thank you for caring." He thought a bit longer. "Did Graham think you could persuade me?"
She blushed. "I am supposed to seduce you into doing it," she confessed.
"And yet you told me that," he said, looking deep into her eyes.
"I struggle to lie to you, Chuck. I am a natural liar, trained by my dad and honed by the CIA, but I find I want to tell you the truth." She didn't understand this. It went against everything she was, and would cause problems, particularly with what was needed now. She looked at him. "Chuck, the Intersect needs to be in someone's head to activate it, and that person needs to correlate what it returns, interpreting the information. We are up against significant threats and it is felt that we need someone with it."
"That's why the CIA needs it, but what's in it for me?" he asked. "Sounds like I could download it and then be carted off to a bunker somewhere and forced to use it."
"Apparently, that wouldn't work. They tried to force it on someone and his brain couldn't take it." She shouldn't have told him this, but she was not going to hold back information he needed.
"Has anyone used it successfully? And if so, why do they need me?"
He was so very perceptive. "They couldn't use it, but had survived the download." She wondered whether she should add what had happened to them and decided she would. "However, their minds deteriorated the more they tried to use it and they are now in care."
"Not a great incentive for me," he commented. "You weren't supposed to tell me any of this, were you?"
She just shook her head.
"Thank you for being so honest with me, Sarah. I need to think about this. Overnight, probably."
"I would too," she replied.
He then surprised her with a grin and the words that followed it. "I'd like you to go ahead with that seduction, though."
His grin got to her. She really liked how his nose crinkled when he did it and how his eyes sparkled. Very appealing and also infectious. She grinned back. "Make your decision first. I don't want to influence you."
"So, you would do that, after I make the decision?" Chuck was surprised. He had also fallen for her a bit more seeing that grin of hers.
Sarah realized that she wanted to get more intimate with him. Certainly kiss those lips that beckoned to hers. She shouldn't have suggested that, though, but now needed to be honest again. See looked more seriously at him. "Chuck, I was going to come over here before you mentioned the mission that we need to discuss and all this Intersect stuff happened. I really like you and wanted to get to know you."
"I thought I was just a relief from boredom."
She smiled. "You were a wonderful relief from that over the phone, but even on our call, there was something about you that appealed."
"What would happen to me if I downloaded it?" he asked.
The shift in direction took her by surprise. She looked at him seriously. "You would work with me, and although that appeals to me, please don't let it influence you."
"What? To be working with the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Why would that possibly influence me?"
Sarah smiled. "You must have a limited set of women you are comparing me to, Chuck, but thank you for the compliment."
"Not just a compliment, Sarah. It's a fact."
"Well, what you see is a CIA construct. I didn't look like this before they got hold of me," she confessed.
"I had to confess to my sister that you were coming over to explain the sudden day off," he told her. "She wants to meet you already."
"Hey. We're not even dating and I'm supposed to meet the family?" she teased.
"When we're dating, she will definitely want to meet you," he replied without thinking. They both realized what he'd said at the same time.
"When?" she asked.
"Slip of the tongue," he replied. That wasn't a lie. He hadn't meant to say it.
"Chuck, I've never dated anyone." She hated having to admit it, but she'd neither had time nor the inclination for a real relationship before Bryce, and that hadn't worked out. "Besides, I won't be staying long enough for a relationship."
"Unless I download." And there it was again.
She gripped his hand and ignored the electrical jolt. "This is more than just about your feelings for me. Please don't let what I do influence your decision, Chuck."
He looked at her slender fingers around his hand. He liked the feeling of that. "I'll try not to, Sarah." He would try. To take his mind off that, he went back to an earlier topic. "So, would you be willing to come for a meal at my place?"
She sighed. "If you go ahead with the download and come to D.C. with me, your sister will blame me for separating you. I don't want to be the face that blame is pinned on." She didn't know why she felt that way, but she did.
He understood that meeting his sister on the first day would be awkward, so he dropped the idea. "So, I'll take you for dinner somewhere. Do you like Italian food?"
"My favorite."
He made a reservation and then turned back to her. "So, that's a date." He stopped himself. "Sorry, just a dinner for two."
She grinned. "We can call it a pre-date and go dancing as well."
He looked more serious. "I'm not a good dancer, Sarah. I don't want to step on your toes."
"I can dance rings around you then, Chuck." She did a twirl.
"I bet you can, but I will probably have to hold onto you otherwise I'll lose you."
She stopped and looked at him. "Not tonight, Chuck." She then focused on her need to understand what he knew about her past, particularly Budapest. "Chuck, now tell me what you have on that mission, then everything else about me."
Chuck nodded. "Right. We need to go to my apartment for that."
They drove to Echo Park and Chuck showed her what he had captured. He had to explain what he had done, so didn't get straight to the Budapest mission.
Sarah was horrified at how much he had found, but worse than that was what he had inferred. He was very good at interpreting what he was reading. Most of her assassinations were classified and redacted. He couldn't get to those, which was a relief. "I suspect that what I can't see will be hidden in some place I haven't looked yet," he told her. "I found enough to get to know what you did." He looked seriously at her. "I know that most of your solo missions were terminations, even though I can't see the details."
Sarah was horrified that he had found that. "And yet you still wanted to get to know me?"
"You are obviously good at what you do and you follow orders….most of the time….and I don't like that you get sent out to kill people, but I assume that saves others. On not following orders, you have been wonderful with me, but I'm not the only one who has benefited. As I mentioned before, I know about your last mission."
She gripped his hand tightly. "Tell me what you know?"
Chuck looked down at his hand. It was like it was trapped in a vice. He looked up into her eyes. There was definite fear there. "I worked out that you saved the baby from falling into Ryker's hands, or the CIA's for that matter. I don't know where you took it, but I am sure it is safe somewhere, being looked after by someone you trust."
She just looked at him for about a minute. "You can't tell anyone this, Chuck. No one knows that, although I suspect Graham has guessed. If word gets out, Ryker will hear it and she won't be safe anymore."
"She? The baby is a girl?" he asked.
"God, I keep telling you things you shouldn't know. Yes, she's a baby girl."
"You're not a cold-hearted assassin, Sarah. You cared about her and I think you care about me, too."
She just nodded, unable to talk, with thoughts of her mom and Molly swirling around in her head.
"Would it help if I tracked Ryker down?" he asked.
Sarah was surprised by that question. "You could do that?"
"I could. It wouldn't be easy, but that just makes the challenge more interesting. If I did find him, would he get taken into custody?"
Without thought, she replied, "I'd kill him."
Chuck's shocked expression reminded her of who he was. "Chuck, If I don't do that, he may find the baby and everything I have done would be for nothing."
He could understand that, but didn't like it.
He showed her what he had found on Bryce, as well. "I can't believe he just abandoned you."
"It was the right thing to do," she said, but he could hear the tension in her voice. "He had what we came for, which was more important than me."
"But he made no attempt to get anyone to save you," he pointed out.
She nodded. That was what had hurt the most. In fact, even when she got away herself and back to Langley, Bryce never contacted her again. It was the abandonment that hurt the most.
They talked more but then he spotted the time. He closed down the monitor and stood. "Ellie will be back in about half-an-hour. Let me take you back to the hotel."
"Thanks, Chuck. What time have you booked the table?"
"At 8pm. I'll pick you up at 7:30," he replied.
"Great. I can have a shower and be ready by then," she replied.
Once Chuck got home, Ellie was there. "No girlfriend?" she asked.
"She's not my girlfriend… yet."
"I think someone who flies across the country for you, is well on the way," she said.
"I'm taking her out for dinner."
She grinned. "A date!"
He shook his head. "You think all of today is a date, El."
"I do. It's romantic."
He headed to his bedroom to work out what to wear before taking a shower. He thought about Ellie's last words. He would have thought the same if it hadn't been for the Intersect thing.
He decided to wear the same pants, but change his shirt. He then dived into the shower. He wanted to look good for Sarah, even if this didn't go anywhere. However, he really wanted it to turn into a real relationship. He'd not felt as strongly for someone for a long time.
Sarah didn't know if the NSA was still coming for Chuck, so she called Graham as soon as she reached her room. He answered immediately. "Walker. I haven't been able to get hold of my equivalent in the NSA. So, I don't know what they know. Be careful out there."
"Thanks, Director."
"Have you talked to Bartowski?" he asked.
"I have. He wants to sleep on it," she replied.
"I can understand that. A big step for him. Interesting that it was his dad that created what became the Intersect."
"Did you not know the creator?" she asked.
"Before my time." He replied. "I still hadn't even started recruiting back then."
She nodded to herself. It was eight years after this that he had been out in the field and caught her, as part of the recruitment he mentioned.
"I will keep trying to get hold of Diane Beckman and will let you know once I have."
After the call, she stripped and showered. Once she was dressed again, she made sure she was armed. Her sheath of blades above her right ankle, hidden by her boot, a gun in her handbag, and pins in her hair that had been dipped in fast-acting neuro-toxin. She also put on a bulletproof vest. She was taking no chances. She had even brought one for a man in case Chuck needed one. She would get him to put it on.
She looked at herself in the mirror. In spite of the possible challenges, and her denial to Chuck about this evening, she did regard it as a date. She'd put more effort than usual into looking the best she could. Chuck was worth it.
She headed down shortly before 7:30. When Chuck turned up, she was already outside. She walked around the car and opened his door. "You need to come in before we go."
"Ok, but we might be late," he replied, getting out.
"Doesn't matter," she replied.
Once in her room, she said, "Take off your shirt."
He stood looking confused. She sighed. "Not for what you are thinking about. I have a bulletproof vest for you to wear."
"A bullet-" he started.
She cut him off. "Just take off your shirt and I'll help you put it on, Chuck."
He saw she didn't want to debate this, so unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. There was something intimate about how she put the vest on him. He almost forgot what he was having put on, with her being so close and overwhelming all his senses. her scent alone was a deligh.
"There. Now put your shirt back on and we can go." She turned. She released a quiet sigh. Being around Chuck like that had affected her. She was definitely drawn to him.
They quickly got to the car and climbed in. As he set off, he asked, "Why the vest?"
"Safety precaution" she replied. "Graham hasn't been able to get hold of the NSA yet, so, in case they come for you, I'm not taking any chances. I don't want you getting shot. I'm also armed."
"Well, that puts a damper on the date," he grumbled.
She gave him a tentative smile. "I hope your 'date' is interesting enough to make up for it."
He looked over at her. "Looking at you all evening will definitely help."
She swallowed. He was definitely getting to her.
He quickly glanced at her. "I didn't mention it before, but you look amazing, and you smell wonderful."
She smiled. She liked that he approved. "My usual scent, just freshly on, this time." She looked at him. "You look good too, Chuck." She remembered how he had smelled when she helped him with the vest. "And I like your aftershave."
He grinned. "I hope you also like the food."
"I'm sure I will," she replied. "And the company."
Once they arrived, they quickly got out of the car and hastened into the restaurant where Chuck was immediately recognized. He apologized for being five minutes late and that was brushed off.
"You don't normally bring beautiful companions, Chuck," he was told by the waitress when she took their orders.
"Lucky me tonight," he replied.
When the woman walked away. "I don't think we should tonight, Chuck," Sarah said.
He frowned. "Should what?"
"You said, 'Lucky me.' Not tonight, Chuck." She kept a straight face.
"I- I- I didn't mean it th- that way," he stuttered, then realized she'd started grinning at him. "Oh, good one, Sarah!"
She was trying her best to distract him from thoughts of the NSA. She wasn't a natural talker and certainly not a comedian, so she needed to push him to talk. "Tell me about your time at Stanford." He chuckled. "Why does that make you laugh?"
"Ellie told me not to talk about my ex on a date, and I'm going to end up talking about her now."
"This date isn't a make or break with me, Chuck." Then she realized how that sounded.
He smiled. "So, I still have a chance to be with you? Even if I talk about Jill Roberts?"
She really should squash these thoughts, but couldn't seem to. In fact, she may have made it worse, when she replied, "She won't make a difference, Chuck." The words were good, but the very open invitation in her eyes wasn't. What the hell! She was attracted to him more than anyone before.
He held her gaze for a few moments, so she looked down. If she wasn't careful, she'd be in bed with him tonight. That would definitely be influencing him. This talk may too, damn it!
"I got a scholarship to go to Stanford. Wouldn't have afforded to go otherwise. I always did well. I met Bryce there and we had a lot of common interests." He chuckled. "We even rewrote an old computer game so we could run it how we wanted. Zork. Do you know it?"
She shook her head. "I don't know any computer games, Chuck, unless you include Solitaire."
"Well, that is one, but Zork was an old game, from the late 70s. Text-based. You typed in instruction or made choices from those given to you. Bryce and I would play that for hours." He sighed.
"And Jill Roberts?" she asked.
"Bryce introduced her to me. I'd never had a girlfriend before her. We hit it off right from the start." He looked away. "I thought I was in love with her and that she was with me. I was going to propose to her after the final exams. Then, all that shit with Bryce accusing me of cheating happened. She dropped me like a stone. I guess I was no longer going to be the rising IT entrepreneur she expected. I tried to see her at her place, but her friends said she wasn't there and didn't want to see me anyway." He took a drink.
"Must have been hard," Sarah commented.
"It was, but worse was still to come. I went back to my room and there was Bryce in my bed with Jill. In my bed!"
Sarah had her hands over her mouth. She knew Bryce was a lot of things, but this seemed a lot worse than she would have expected from him. "What a shit!" she exclaimed.
He nodded. "I just called Ellie to come and get me."
"And since then?" she asked.
"I was devastated by both things. I couldn't get a job in an IT company without a degree and I certainly couldn't get investment money to set up a company of my own."
"Did you have any ideas of what you'd do if you did get investment money?" Sarah asked.
He smiled sadly. "I still have games I have been tinkering with over the years and I had started a cyber-security product while I was at college."
She leaned closer to him and asked quietly, "Is the latter related to your experience hacking?"
He smiled at her. "Yeah. Vulnerabilities I found needed something to tackle them, but there's still all the other types of attack."
"Maybe if we can get your degree, you could go for that funding," she suggested.
"Maybe," he replied but didn't look positive.
"So, instead?"
He looked at her. "I went back to the job I did during my vacations, at Buy More. I have never left it. Just festered there, I guess."
He was obviously not wanting to talk about that, so she asked a question for which she thought she already had the answer. "And girls?"
He snorted. "Every year, on my birthday, my sister invites girls, women now, to a birthday party in the courtyard. They aren't people I know. Most, if not all, are nurses at the hospital she works at. She must sell me as this real catch for them to come. She tells me not to talk about my ex, but when they ask, it all comes out. Needless to say, I don't get a girlfriend that way. Ellie has also tried to set me up with blind dates that were equally unsuccessful."
That confused Sarah. "Why'd you go on blind dates?"
"Oh, I never expected them to be that. They were supposed to be just Ellie, Devon and me. It got me restarted on hacking so I could check what she had booked. A table for three or four."
"So, no girlfriends?" she asked him to confirm.
He shook his head. "No. Sad case, huh?"
"Well, considering I've never been in a real relationship, you're ahead of me," she replied. She didn't want to talk about her time with Bryce, which she worried he would ask about, so she directed him to a different topic. "Tell me about the hacking?"
He had been thinking about his failure to get girls and wondering if that was about to change. He refocused on her and that question. "I have never stolen anything. I'm a white hat hacker."
"I know the term," she replied.
"I did it to see if I could. I hacked into significant sites like the FBI, CIA and NSA. I used to leave messages on how they could close the holes that I had exploited. When everything turned to shit at college, I stopped hacking. I only restarted with Ellie lying to me, different targets. Ironic really because Ellie was so upset when I admitted to the original hacking and got me to promise not to do it again. Then, she was the trigger for me to start again."
"You went back to hacking the CIA to find out about Bryce?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah." He looked around. "Lucky no one is near enough to hear us," he commented with a smile.
"Why dig up my details?"
He smiled. "Well, I wanted to find out if you had survived what Bryce had gotten you into, but also Mrs. Anderson seemed to be the smart one of the couple." She blushed. "The one who bailed them out of the messes Mr. Anderson got them into."
"That's not how the missions were reported," she said, but didn't deny anything.
"That was how both Graham and I interpreted the facts captured," Chuck told her.
That was quite a revelation to her. "So, why didn't Graham ever say anything?"
chuck gave her an 'isn't it obvious' look. "As a team, you delivered. Why put a wrench in the works?"
"Until we didn't," she grumbled.
"You did, right up to when he went rogue," Chuck pointed out. "Then you weren't a couple anymore."
"True." She looked at Chuck. "So, you saw me as the brains behind our successes and wanted to know more about me?" she asked.
"Yeah. At least that was until I saw your photo," he said.
She both blushed and smiled. "You really like how I look, don't you?"
"Sarah, you really are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. When I saw that photo, it took my breath away." He watched the blush increase. "Want any more compliments?"
She shook her head. "No, but thank you. You make me feel beautiful." She looked down, gathering her thoughts. When she looked up, she'd made a decision that might be a mistake. "Chuck, I want us to be together. I know I said I didn't want to influence your decision and thought this might, but try not to let it. I want us to be a couple. I can't resist you."
She looked down and found her hand enveloped in his. "I want that too, Sarah."
There was a throat being cleared that pulled their attention off each other. "Your lasagna and salad," stated the waitress.
As they started eating, both were hardly paying attention to the food as their eyes gazed into each other.
He stopped eating to say, "I just want to kiss you, Sarah."
She smiled. "Hunger for pasta replaced by hunger for my lips?"
"God, yeah!" he said looking at those lips.
"Well, my lips feel the same about kissing yours." she pointed at the lasagna. "However, it's gonna be a bit garlicky."
"We're both eating it," he replied. They had both chosen the same dish.
"I still want to dance, though," she said.
"Of course."
They finished their dinner, but Chuck only had one glass of wine, because he was driving, so Sarah decided to finish the bottle before they left.
As they walked out, Chuck noted that the wine had had no effect on his blonde companion. She noticed him looking at her. "Learning how to consume alcohol is essential for a spy, Chuck. We have to be able to outdrink the bad guys."
Chuck didn't want to think about why. They walked down the street and to the nightclub. The music was loud. "Oh, they have a live band on," Chuck noted..
She narrowed her eyes. "Did you know? Did you bring me here to listen to a band you like?"
He was keen to deny it, but she wasn't sure.
Fortunately for her, by the time they had gotten to the dance floor, the band were on their last number and the normal music would start shortly afterward.
They stood and watched the band play, and she interlinked the fingers of her left hand with those of his right. He looked down at their hands. "I still haven't had that kiss," she said.
She didn't know of Chuck's aversion to PDA's, but fortunately it was dark so he felt less inhibited. He leaned down to kiss her and she stood on tiptoes. The kiss started gently and both moaned into it. Both of them were loving the feel of the other's lips on theirs. Neither wanted the kiss to end and pressed themselves harder into it.
When they had to breathe, they parted. Sarah just stared at him for a moment. "Wow, Chuck!" Sarah found herself almost breathless. "That was some kiss...wow!"
"Probably depends who you're comparing it to," he replied.
Well, admittedly, many of her kisses had been part of seductions and involved bad guys, but even Bryce wasn't a patch on Chuck.
"Maybe. It did confirm my feelings for you," she said.
"I've never felt this way about anyone, Sarah," he told her.
She leaned up and kissed him again.
"Ok, folks. Back to the dancing," the DJ said, and started the first song.
Sarah dropped down and started to dance. Chuck joined in but found it hard because he was mesmerized by the way Sarah moved. When she got close and started rubbing her body against his, he felt like he'd gone to heaven.
They stayed for two hours before leaving. Sarah had two more drinks during that time. It did affect her a bit when they left and the night air hit her.
He drove back to her hotel and walked with her to her room.
"Stay?" she asked.
Chuck was too much of a gentleman to do that. "Sarah, you know I would like nothing more, but you've had quite a bit to drink tonight."
She stood straight. "I am not drunk!"
He shook his head. "I just don't want you to regret anything when you're fully sober. Or that you can't even remember it."
She huffed. He pulled her to him and gave her a tender kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow, Sarah."
There was something important that she should remember, but it eluded her. She watched him walk away and then closed her door and prepared to go to bed.
Chuck drove home. On the way, he came to a decision. When he reached the apartment, he didn't want to wake Ellie or Devon, so he entered via the Morgan door.
He turned on his monitor, and stayed standing in his eagerness.
Although he'd copied the email from Bryce, he hadn't deleted it. He clicked on it. The screen went black and green letters appeared. He laughed at what he saw:
The terrible troll raises his sword
Trust Bryce to make sure he was the one to open what was behind the email. The line out of Zork was perfect.
He quickly answered:
Attack troll with nasty knife
The dark display was replaced with a series of flashing images that held his gaze. When it stopped, much later, Chuck fell to the floor.
A/N: I am planning to update this story weekly.
