A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews for the last chapter. It's so encouraging to receive them.

Beta thanks to my friend, Capt Lil. He had a mammoth task this time, as he received a double-length document with two chapters covering the replacement for the episode in question.

So, this and the following chapter loosely cover the events of "Chuck Versus the Honeymooners."

Don't Walk Away

Chapter 15: ETA Encounter

Sarah thought a train ride through Europe was a great idea. She had let Chuck make the arrangements. Going on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, the Orient Express that still ran, was the height of luxury and she knew that was why he'd made that choice. It was what everyone thought of as the ultimate train experience.

They were lucky to get on the five-night journey to Istanbul that was running for the first time. She thought it would be fully booked months before. She didn't ask how he managed that, suspecting General Beckman's intervention.

The only sad thing was that the train wouldn't stop anywhere before it got to Budapest, where they would stay overnight. The same would be repeated in Bucharest. So, the first night and following day would just be on the train. Overnight they would travel through France and Germany, so there'd not be much to see outside, and then during the following day they would be able to look out at the changing views of Austria and Hungary. That wasn't what Sarah had expected of their "exploration of Europe," but it did sound enjoyable.

They were led to their cabin by a white-haired steward and left to settle in.

It was a suite, rather than just a cabin. Sarah looked around. It was actually fitted out more luxuriously than many of the amazing hotel suites she'd occupied during her time in the CIA. It felt like they'd been transported back into 1920's decadence. "It's stunning!" she said. "This is going to be great."

"It will," he replied. She turned to him to give him a thank you kiss and saw he had his eyes focused in one direction.

She followed his gaze and grinned. "We're not spending all our time in that very desirable bed!"

He looked at her. "The most desirable woman in the most desirable bed. Sounds perfect to me."

She loved that he thought that about her and closed the distance between them. Standing on tip toes she gently kissed him.

"Hmm," he hummed into the kiss.

"Is this why we're on a train that doesn't stop until tomorrow evening?" she asked, her amusement obvious in her tone.

"Maybe," he replied and the smoldering look he gave her melted her. "Just imaging that we've only just made love for the first time, here in Paris. We wouldn't be able to keep our hands off of each other."

She raised a brow. "And has that diminishing in your mind?"

"Never."

"Good, because I want to make love with you just as much as I did back then. Maybe more." She kissed him more passionately this time.

He suddenly picked her up and threw her onto the bed. She couldn't help but giggle until his body landed on her and his lips crashed down on hers. They were still fully clothed, but she had no doubt that wouldn't last long.

They'd made love twice since the train had started to roll. Sarah was lying beside her lover thinking his plan was perfect. They might not even emerge from that cabin until they reached Budapest.

She had put on a bra and panties and a matching flimsy nightgown because room service was likely to arrive with their evening meal soon. Chuck had put on a t-shirt and pajama pants for the same reason.

"I wish we didn't have to eat," Chuck muttered.

She chuckled. "We can't just make love all the time without sustenance."

"It's not the food itself, it's you having to cover up."

She leaned over and kissed him. "Well, after it's delivered, we can both strip off to eat it."

"Yes, please," he replied, which made her laugh again.

There were three very loud knocks on the door. "As if on cue," she said, getting up out of bed.

She opened the door. Outside was the same white-haired steward. She pulled her nightgown closer together as he said, "Compartment service. So sorry to bother you..."

He had a trolley beside him and lifted a tray off of it. It included a crown of meat on a platter.

She reached for the tray. "Right. I'll take it from here. Thank you."

He looked confused and pulled a large carving knife from his side. "But wait. Uh, wouldn't you prefer for me to carve?"

She took the knife off of him. "I'm pretty good with knives."

"Ah. Will there be anything else?"

Chuck appeared beside her. "Actually. You know what? I think we have everything we need."

"Ah, the man repeated. "Very good, monsieur. Eh, for your information, we have a full dining car at the rear of the train."

That flustered Chuck. "Yes. Uh, we're just... We quite like it in here."

The steward nodded and the look in his eye showed what he thought they'd be doing in there. He was absolutely right, of course. "Very good, monsieur. Bon soir."

As Chuck closed the door, she burst out laughing.

She put down the tray and approached the beef with the knife.

"You know, I'm sure we aren't the only ones doing this on the train."

She looked at him, as she rapidly sticked the meat. "Maybe not as well."

He gulped and then thought of what they'd been doing in the bed and a glazed look came over his face. "No one could be as perfect as you!"

She grinned and started plating the meat.

They got very little sleep that night, having enjoyed themselves so much. Neither were in any doubt that their physical love for each other was as strong as ever.

After showering, they decided to go to the dining car for breakfast rather than have it in their cabin. A change of scenery inside to go with the one outside.

As they walked into the dining car, and found a table for two, their steward was serving in here and was the one to bring pastries to them. Another server had poured their coffee. "Well, I see you finally made it out of your compartment, Mr. and Mrs..."

Chuck clearly didn't want to say their real names, but had given different ones to normal when booking. He looked embarrassedly at Sarah. "Charles… Charles."

She rolled her eyes. He obviously had decided to stop using Carmichael as his last name, and she approved of that, but Charles Charles? No wonder he was embarrassed!

As he shook the man's hand, Chuck added, "We... we're on our honeymoon."

That surprised her. They hadn't discussed the cover. They were just on vacation. He didn't need to call it a honeymoon. She thought about it and wondered if it was because he was embarrassed at them spending so much time having sex.

The problem was that neither were wearing wedding rings. She always carried some in her case for sudden cover changes, but that was in the cabin. She hastily hid her ring finger.

Sarah had to say she was Mrs. Charles as she reached her hand out..

The steward took her hand. "Enchanté." He kissed her knuckle before walking away.

"I know. It's a stupid name. I just couldn't think of a better one when put on the spot."

Chuck looked at her. "I think the honeymoon bit might have been too much. I should have just said we were dating exclusively. I mean, that's a fair assumption, right?"

"Chuck, it better be exclusive!"

He nodded. "I just thought being married sounded better."

"Maybe you could've mentioned it before we came out here wearing no wedding rings."

He gulped. "Yes, I should've." He moved his left hand under the table, out of sight. Then, he looked at her. "I'd want you to have an engagement ring, as well."

She raised a brow. "Is that some kind of proposal?"

"N-no, no!" He then obviously noticed her grin. He sighed. "Another thing for after we take down The Ring?"

She chuckled. "Replacing The Ring with A ring."

He smiled. "Two rings, actually. THE engagement ring and THE wedding ring."

She reached across the table and held his hand. "Sounds wonderful."

They held each other's gaze for a few moments and then Chuck looked down at the table excitedly. "Man! Pastries for breakfast every morning. Europe is genius." His smile faded slightly as he said, "Of course you're probably used to this stuff, right?"

"Well, I may have a lot of stamps in my passport, but I think this is the first time that I'm actually seeing the place."

"We still have more time after this train ride finishes," he said. "We can go anywhere, do anything."

"Well, we could go skiing in the Alps."

Chuck shook his head. "Could be painful."

"You've never been skiing?"

"Uh, uh. Too expensive for me. And too dangerous."

He looked over her shoulder, seeing something. She looked too. "We could also catch a bunch of great concerts." There was a rocker leaning against one of the pillars looking down at his guitar. He has chains attached to his clothes and even handcuffs attached to a belt loop of his jeans. Strange gear these days. However, he must be some sort of punk rocker. What the hell was someone like him doing on a train like this?

She turned back. "We could do that in LA and, besides, we'll only have a week before we have to get back there."

She grabbed his hands across the table. "Let's just enjoy ourselves on the train and at the scheduled stops. We can decide when we get to Istanbul."

"Yeah. You're right," he replied. "No matter where we go or what we do... As long as we're together, right?"

She nodded and then noticed something as a man in a suit was walking past them. He had a gun inside his jacket. She tensed up. Two other men followed him, the one in the middle was older and shorter. She wrapped her hand around her knife, wishing she had brought her gun or her own blades with her. She looked over her shoulder and saw them sitting down on the other side of the carriage. The first man let the older slide in by the window facing her before sitting beside him, the third man sat opposite him.

She heard one of the men tell the server, "Charge this to room 47B, please." That was only two cabins from theirs.

She realized that Chuck had gasped while she was looking away and turned back to him.

"The older man is Juan Diego Arnaldo, Basque terrorist," he muttered.

Sarah replied, "The others are armed and look like they're guarding him."

Chuck looked at the one facing him and obviously flashed again. "They're Interpol." He looked at her. "I think they're transporting him somewhere.

She released her grip on the knife. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"We have to call the general," he replied. "God, she'll completely ruin the vacation."

"Let's just call her before we assume anything." She stood and the two of them walked back to their cabin.

When they got there, Sarah immediately made the call.

"You do know that it's 2:35 in the morning here," a groggy sounding general answered.

Sarah had forgotten about the time difference. "Sorry, General, but we have a situation here."

"Already? You've been gone less than a day."

"We were just having breakfast when a Basque terrorist came in, along with two Interpol agents."

That seemed to focus the general's mind. "I'll make enquiries and will get back to you… in the morning."

Sarah hated saying this but, "We don't know whether they're rogue agents, General. What if they stop the train somewhere?"

"Good point," Beckman replied. "See if you can find out what they're doing on the train."

"But we're on vacation," Chuck whined.

"Deal with it, Mr. Bartowski," the general stated and ended the call.

"Sorry," Sarah said.

He didn't get mad at her. "You were right to call it out. I just wish we could've had some time off."

"While they're at breakfast, I'll go to that cabin and have a snoop around."

"And I'll head back to the dining carriage and let you know when they move."

They walked together until they reached 47B, although she stopped briefly to grab a "Do not disturb" card from the door between them. He gave her a quick kiss and then walked on. She bent down and slid the card down the gap between the door and the frame. The locks were not that secure.

She dove in and started her search. There was a bag on the bed that she looked in first. Finding Arnaldo's passport, she knew this was his bag. The next thing she found was a notebook which was full of text.

"Names, dates and then a series of codes. What on earth are they planning?" she muttered to herself.

She then heard Chuck through her earpiece. "They're leaving the dining carriage and heading back to the room you're in."

"Damn it!" She quickly took some photos of the pages and then dropped the notebook back into the case, before rushing to the door.

She rushed to their room and then turned back, walking slowly, acting like she was sauntering back to find Chuck.

She passed them and walked around the corner before stopping to listen to them.

She guessed it was Arnaldo who spoke, in Spanish. "They're after me. They could be anywhere, anyone and you left the door unlocked?" She hadn't had a chance to relock it in her rush to leave. "Thanks, I feel very secure." The door shut after that and she heard no more.

That didn't give her any clues. Whether they were rogue or not, he would've said the same thing.

Chuck joined her and they walked back to their cabin.

Once inside, she told him about the notebook and showed him the photos.

He frowned. "A list of names?"

"Yeah, all of his contacts from the Euskadi Ta Askatasun."

He gave her a look. "Oh, my God, you even make terrorist groups sound sexy."

She slapped his arm. "It's the ETA. Heard of them?"

"Yeah. That doesn't sound as sexy." He scanned further through the photos. "Then a whole series of codes. Doesn't mean anything to me," he said. "Or to the Intersect."

"Damn!" she grumbled.

"Let's not let this spoil our time here," Chuck said. He pulled her to him and kissed her forehead. Sarah lifted her chin, pouting her lips, and he bent down and kissed them. The kiss deepened until she pulled away.

"I can think of something to distract me from it," she said breathlessly.

"Is that all it is? A distraction?" Chuck said after looking at the bed.

"So, so much more than a distraction," she said as she started undressing him.

Later, fully satiated, they dozed off with him lying on his back and her draped over him.

She woke and just luxuriated in the location, and the gorgeous man on whose chest she had her head resting.

Unfortunately, their situation crept into her head. Particularly what might happen if Beckman didn't get back to them before the train stopped .

She sat up, her brain in full planning mode.

"What's wrong?" he said.

"Sorry, my love. I didn't mean to wake you."

"But…"

"If we still haven't heard from Beckman when we get to Budapest, we need to act. We should subdue Arnaldo and his men, and leave them cuffed at the next station."

Chuck frowned. "But what if those men aren't rogue?"

"We deal with that if it occurs," she said.

"So, what's the plan?" Chuck asked. "We didn't bring any spy gear when we left Paris."

She looked sheepishly at him. "Well, I still have my knives in my case."

"You brought them on a vacation?" he looked genuinely surprised.

She shrugged. "They're part of me."

He shook his head. "Well, they won't be enough."

"No. We need handcuffs." Then she remembered something from earlier.

Luckily the rocker was still loitering in the dining car. Sarah wondered if he even had a ticket, but she wasn't going to ask.

She approached him and noticed his t-shirt had Polish words on it, so assumed that was where he came from. Thankfully, Polish was one of the many languages she knew.

In Polish, she asked him if he came from there. He seemed pleased to have someone who knew his native tongue. He said he was from Poland.

"Are you a professional musician or do you just play for fun?"

He'd clearly been drinking and slurred his reply, "Wish I could do what I love best, and get paid for it."

She felt slightly sorry for him, but at the same time, knew what it felt like to have to do something other than what you wanted. "Hmm. Me too," she replied, just as Chuck walked up behind the rocker and deliberately bumped into him.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, man," Chuck said with a strong Texan accent. "Ride on the train's a little bumpy. You know, I've even had a couple drinks."

While the rocker turned to Chuck to listen to his monologue, Sarah reached down and unclipped the handcuffs from his jeans. When Chuck moved on, she had her hand holding them behind her back and Chuck quickly pocketed them.

They'd also spotted a woman with her leg in plaster drop some tablets and comment, in French she desperately needed them to dull the pain. Chuck was to acquire those too.

Sarah continued to talk to the rocker, distracting him so that he was unaware of his missing cuffs. In the conversation, she found out his name was Tyma and she told him hers was Sally.

Ten minutes later, Sarah decided she could now leave Tyma none the wiser. During their conversation, she'd seen him almost visibly falling for this beautiful blonde American talking to him. Sorry, Tyma. She placed her hand on the arm holding his beer and wished him success in all his future endeavors.

Back in their compartment, Chuck grinned and showed what he had acquired. "Next meal time, the Charles' will take out the Basque terrorists."

"Actually, the next meal is at a hotel in Budapest," Chuck pointed out.

She stared at him in surprise. "I hadn't seen the full itinerary."

"Yeah, we stop and leave the train for the next day. We stay at a hotel overnight and eat dinner and breakfast there."

"Then, we will have to tackle them in the cabin before we leave the train."

"We won't be able to drug the men, then," he said, frowning.

"No. We'll have to knock them out. You'll have to flash learn the fighting skills."

Just then Sarah's phone rang. She grabbed it and put it on speaker. "Can you talk?" General Beckman asked.

Sarah replied, "Yes, General. Chuck and I are on our own. You're on speaker."

"Good. Interpol has advised that Arnaldo is under witness protection. You are not to interfere."

Sarah saw Chuck's shoulders slump as he breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, General," Sarah said. "We were just getting ready to knock out the Interpol agents and cuff Arnaldo."

"Good job you didn't," Beckman replied. "You would've had to provide the protection until those men recovered."

"We'll keep an eye out for any threats at the station, though," Sarah said.

"Good idea, but be discreet."

Sarah felt insulted that the woman had said that, but then thought it might have been aimed at her boyfriend. She looked at him.

"We will, General," he replied, obviously thinking the same as her.

As the call ended, Sarah ruefully smiled at Chuck. "I guess it's time to return the tablets and cuffs."

Chuck followed the three men off of the train. Sarah hung back so that she could observe others on the platform or alighting from the train.

They'd decided that she was more situationally aware, so best for this role.

She had been scanning the platform as they arrived and the only people waiting were either station or Orient Express staff. The latter were there to guide the passengers to the coaches or to collect luggage to take to the hotel. It seemed that no one was waiting for Arnaldo.

However, as Sarah walked down the steps from her carriage, she noticed a woman stepping down from the next carriage. She was looking directly at Arnaldo. It could be that the woman recognized him, but Sarah needed to know. Sarah took a quick photo with her phone. The woman was going to walk past her so she waited and fell in just behind her. The woman ignored her completely and made a call on her phone. Sarah noted that she spoke in Spanish, "It's Elia. Arnaldo and the Interpol agents are currently still with the other passenger. I suspect they'll split off. Then, we should take them. You have men here?" There was a brief pause. "Good. Give me a number but also tell them to look out for my signal." Elia ended the call.

Sarah held back and made her own call once Elia was out of hearing range. "Chuck, ETA are going to take Arnaldo and the Interpol agents if they leave the other passengers."

"I'll warn them," he replied and ended the call.

She really wished they had their earpieces to interact with each other.

She caught up with Elia but kept her eye out for other people joining her.

Chuck obviously got the message across because Sarah saw him and the three men getting onto a bus ahead.

Elia made another call. "We'll have to take them in the hotel. I'll try to find out the room number."

Elia walked swiftly to one of the other buses, while Sarah hastened onto the one Chuck and Arnaldo had chosen.

She spotted Chuck first because he was waving to her. She grinned, waved back and walked along the aisle to him. He was sitting behind the three men. An Interpol agent, by a window, then Arnaldo, with the other agent in the aisle seat the other side. That last man was on his phone. They all watched her closely as she passed them.

Chuck moved to the window seat and she sat by him.

"Don't look around," she advised the men. "We might be under surveillance. I'm going to talk as if to my boyfriend."

The three men said nothing, which she thought was good.

"I'm CIA and my boyfriend is NSA. We know who you all are and our boss has been in touch with Interpol."

The man on the phone had ended his call and spoke, "We've been told about you. Tell us about the woman your partner mentioned."

Sarah pulled up her recent photo and nonchalantly passed the phone to the agent. "She was on the train. When she got off, she was following you. She made a call and said her name was Elia. She asked if there were men here and obviously got a positive response. She was going to signal to them when to take you assuming you would separate from the group."

"Let me see the photo," Arnaldo said. The agent passed him the phone. Arnaldo looked and said, "I don't recognize her."

"She was speaking in Spanish," Sarah said.

"Must be working for ETA," the other agent stated.

"I've advised the men we were passing him over to that they'll need to join us at the hotel," said the first.

Sarah told them what else she'd heard as the bus set off.

The first asked if he could forward the photo to himself. Sarah nodded, but watched as he did.

"I'll send this to the others. If this Elia is planning to take Arnaldo from the hotel room, we'll capture her and her men there."

"Arnaldo can join us in our room," Chuck suggested. Sarah looked at him in surprise. "You can come for him afterward," he added.

"It's a good idea," said the first agent.

They finalized their plan before arriving at the hotel.

They were lucky that Chuck and Sarah's room was on the same floor as Arnaldo's. They had two room keys and Sarah slipped one to Arnaldo in the elevator. Elia wasn't watching that closely, just keeping Arnaldo and the agents in sight.

As planned, Chuck, who had positioned himself in front of the woman, dropped his key as the elevator doors opened. He and Sarah dropped to reach it, effectively blocking Elia's way. She tried to get around them, but Chuck stood holding the key and in a pure Buy More clumsy fashion, tried to move out of the woman's way, but actually in the way again. He did this twice before the doors started to close on them. Both women reached for the button to open the doors and bumped into each other. The doors were almost closed when Sarah managed to press the button. As the doors opened, Elia rudely pushed past the two of them.

Of course, by this time, only one agent was visible looking up and down the corridor before entering a room and closing the door.

Elia walked past that room and made a call.

Chuck and Sarah walked to their room, which was in the opposite direction to that one. Chuck opened the door and they walked in.

They both let their laughs out.

"I take it that the scene in the lift was amusing," Arnaldo said, in perfect English.

"It could've been recorded for some comedy program." Sarah chuckled.

"I thought you and Elia were going to butt heads when you reached for the controls," Chuck said as he wiped his eyes from tears of laughter.

"So, now we wait for Raul to come and tell us they've been dealt with," Arnaldo confirmed the next steps. Raul Kocher was the main Interpol agent.

"That's right," Sarah replied, walking to the fridge. "Shall we have a drink while we wait?"

"Just coffee for me," Arnaldo replied.

Chuck walked to the coffee machine to work out how to do this. Sarah pushed him aside. "I'm used to these."

"Oh, from all the fancy assignments?" Chuck asked.

He sounded a bit put out, so she stopped and gave him a kiss. "Yes, but the coffee was usually the best thing that happened."

"Not the fancy wining and dining? Or the dancing?" The jealousy in his tone was stronger now.

He started to turn away, but she grabbed his chin to stop that. "The coffee was best, because my room was the only time I was alone."

He got the message.

"I take it you've only been together a short time," Arnaldo said.

They both turned to him. "About nine months," Chuck replied. "But we were apart for five of those."

Sarah was pleased that he said it was from the platform.

"Being apart is hard on relationships," the older man said.

"We're supposed to go for a fancy dinner in an hour's time," Chuck mentioned.

Sarah snorted. ""Is it all about your stomach?"

He gave her an affronted look.

Arnaldo had been listening to them and smiled indulgently. "How did the two of you from different agencies come to be together?"

"We worked on a joint assignment," Chuck replied.

"Interesting. You work well together."

Chuck wrapped his arm around her. "We do." She was pleased that he was confident enough to say that.

"You need to be careful, though," the Spaniard said. "You care for and worry about each other. Don't let that distract you so much that you slip up."

She knew he was right and looking at Chuck could see he did, too.

A/N: The retelling of Honeymooners was too long for one chapter, so I'm breaking it here.

I decided they would travel on the Orient Express. That had run from Paris to Zurich, as the train in the show, but did so with only one night on-board. I don't think any trains could possibly take as long as what we watched! However, in 2010, the company changed things. The new Venice Simplon-Orient-Express ran, as its name implies to Venice, but again, only one night on-board. However, once a year there was a five day run to Istanbul, which is what I used here.