A/N: I was surprised at the response to restarting this story, so thanks, everyone. Know that Shaw will not ruin their now very real relationship, so don't fret about that.
Beta thanks, once again, go to my friend Capt Lil. Much appreciated.
As mentioned in the last update, I'm not sure how long I'll keep this one running, but for now, here's chapter 3, which completes the retelling of "Chuck Versus the Pink Slip."
Don't Walk Away
Chapter 3: Gilles
Their lovemaking lasted well into the night and took both their minds off of everything else.
The following morning, Sarah had never felt so replete. She lay in bed gazing at the naked form she'd woken next to. Chuck Bartowski was now her boyfriend. The cover was totally abandoned, this was real. And how real it got last night was wonderful.
Chuck was a very attentive lover and had wanted everything to be centered around her desires. And was it!
When they'd finally stopped making love, just before 3 am, she lay on top of him for a further half hour, just reveling in the naked bodily contact, before she slid off of him and they settled down to sleep.
She knew she had a difficult conversation ahead of her. The general was not going to like her refusal to go on that long-term mission, but the damn woman should know from her records that she never did that type of mission. She had done short-term seductions. She had here. The awful one with Lon Kirk had caused problems in itself, but she would not do a mission where she was likely to have to let the mark screw her in order for the cover to be believable. No way.
And it wasn't just for her now. She looked at her boyfriend. He had enough trouble with Lon Kirk. God knows what such a mission would do to him, let alone their relationship.
She would talk to Chuck about the mission. After all the lack of communication in their past and the ensuing problems, she wasn't going to hold anything back from now on. It wasn't that she was giving him the chance to change her mind. Her body was not for use in that way. Well, not by anyone other than him.
And that circled her back to the night's activities. She'd done things with him, or he'd just done them to her, that she'd never experienced before. She blushed just thinking about some of them.
There was a lot more exploring of possibilities ahead of them and she looked forward to them all.
Chuck started to wake up. He was facing her and she waited with bated breath.
His eyes fluttered open. He saw her beaming smile and grinned back at her. "I woke up each morning to one of our photos, but this is so much better!"
She leaned over and kissed his lips, noticing that he closed his eyes.
"Hmm, lovely," she said as she pulled away. "Chuck, I have something that's troubling me that I want to discuss with you, but first, we need to brush our teeth and shower."
His eyes lit up at that last word. She guessed what he was thinking and nodded her agreement.
They both leaped out of bed to head to the bathroom.
Once they were finally clean and dressed, Sarah made coffee and then sat at her table to talk.
They'd had some good times sitting here. She remembered the conversation after the school reunion where he said that he didn't need to know more about her because he knew her now. It was one of those moments where he'd made her heart flutter.
"Chuck, I'm going to have a difficult conversation with the general later and I wanted to share it with you."
He clasped her free hand. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
She loved this about him. "No, but I need to tell you a bit more about my past for you to understand my position."
He nodded in encouragement.
She explained the mission General Beckman wanted her to go on. "In a long term mission like that, it is highly likely that I would have to submit to sex with the mark or a cover would be blown."
"You didn't with Kirk," he said immediately.
"That wasn't a long term cover."
"But that's awful! She can't order you to do that!"
"She won't but nor will she prevent it. The phrase, "whatever it takes" springs to mind."
"But you-"
She cut him off. "I've never done that. I've never gotten close to that. I don't do those sorts of missions." She held his gaze. "I won't do them."
"Hence the difficult conversation with Beckman."
She nodded.
"There's always another way," he said.
"Yeah, but you're out now, so your slippery mind can't get a handle on this."
He raised an eyebrow. "Slippery mind? Did that word come to you because of the shower?"
She groaned. "I loved having that shower with you, but no. You seem to slip around the spy-oriented solutions and devise totally new ones."
"Point out to her how I helped before, without the Intersect, just with my brain. You always pointed it out before."
She nodded emphatically. "I will."
"Are you calling from here or Castle?"
"Castle," she replied. "I should go now."
"I'll listen in if you drop me home on your way."
"Ok, fishy," she replied, grinning and knowing exactly what he planned.
"Agent Walker, I expected a call from you earlier." General Beckman was sitting at her desk in DC.
"You could've called me directly rather than using Major Casey as an intermediary, General," Sarah replied, trying not to let her irritation seep into her tone.
Beckman nodded. "Yes, I fell back on traditional lines." She didn't actually apologize. Sarah realized she looked tense. "I take you're calling about the Gilles mission."
"I am, General." She rushed ahead. "I don't do that sort of mission."
Beckman tightened her lips. "You're refusing an order?"
"You've seen my records. I have always refused that sort of mission, and Director Graham knew better than to ask."
Beckman leaned forward. "This is of critical importance in our fight against The Ring."
Sarah had no intention of backing down. "Then get someone else more willing to sleep with a mark."
"We're not asking you to have sex with him," the general replied quickly.
"So, you think I can be his girlfriend for months without him expecting that?" Sarah questioned.
"He can expect it, but-"
Sarah never interrupted a superior officer, but this was going too far. "Just how many nights of me feigning headaches will it take for him to throw me out, or just force me to have sex with him anyway?"
General Beckman's lips closed with a snap. "This is about Bartowski, isn't it?" she asked. Sarah's jaw dropped. "I've seen the recording from the platform at the station in Prague."
Sarah was surprised at that, but also pissed now. "Trying to save the taxpayers' money and him from the humiliation you forced on him," she replied.
The general spluttered. "You dare?"
"How much money did you spend on that doomed project?" Sarah coldly replied. She was in Ice Queen mode now. Even Graham avoided this.
Beckman just glared at her.
"You know your best team included Chuck Bartowski, and it was never the Intersect that solved our problems," Sarah said. "The team should be back to full strength with us using him in an analyst role. Between us, we can work around this Gilles problem without me having to let him screw me."
The general didn't reply, but cut the feed.
Casey walked in and grunted. "She'll be pissed."
"Well, I'm pissed at her for daring to suggest I should do that!" Sarah snapped.
"I agreed with your last comment; she even suggested it when he no longer had the first Intersect in his head. However, she may be too pissed to consider it now," he said.
His phone started to ring. He checked who the caller was. "Beckman?" Sarah asked. He nodded and walked away as he answered the call.
Sarah sighed and tried to calm down. She received a text on her phone and knew exactly who it would be. She picked up her phone and headed up the stairs. She'd make the call outside, away from surveillance.
Sarah had almost broken down when she talked to Chuck about her call with the general. He was, however, totally supportive, and managed to calm her down. Just hearing his voice helped. She needed him to work with her, for sure.
When she walked back down into Castle, Casey was waiting for her. He handed her a mug of coffee.
Sarah wasn't going to quiz him on his call from the general, but he seemed to want to talk about it.
Once they were seated, he said, "She asked me what I thought of the mission." He sounded incredulous.
"What did you say?"
"I said that it would be better to consider what such a mission would be like for a female agent."
She laughed. "And you think she's woman enough for that?"
He smirked and then looked serious. "She was surprised by that comment. I think she sees herself as more general than a woman."
"Not when Roan is around, I hear," she commented before taking a sip of coffee.
He continued, "She didn't say anything for a while. I wasn't sure if she was still there. Then, she said that she'd never had to do that when she was in the CIA and may react as you did if asked."
"Wow. I wished she'd been that honest with me," Sarah said. "So, what's she gonna do?"
"She also asked what I thought about Bartowski. Whether he was analyst material."
"So, she did listen to me."
He looked at her. "I reminded her that she suggested it before he downloaded this new Intersect."
She was pleased that he'd said that. "What did she say to that?"
He grunted. "She seemed to ignore it." Sarah wasn't surprised. "She later said that if he was still an asset, you'd be sent away for being so compromised, but getting back to the kid, I said that he'd effectively been a field analyst for the last two years, and a damn fine one. She asked how much he could contribute with a dud Intersect." He stopped to drink some coffee.
Sarah could see he was now deliberately pausing, whether for effect or just to get to her, she wasn't sure. She knew he wouldn't say more without something from her. "And?"
"And I said that he only used the Intersect for information, that most of his crazy solutions were all him, and they usually worked." He took another drink.
Sarah felt like kissing him for that. She wouldn't, because he'd hate it, but he deserved one. She just repeated her earlier question, "So, what's she gonna do?"
"Think about it overnight," he replied.
"D'you think she'll bring him back?" Sarah asked.
"I think she will," he said quietly. "After all, him being an analyst was her idea in the first place."
"I never thought I'd be allowed in here again," Chuck said as he walked down the stairs into Castle behind Sarah.
"You won't be able to on your own until you're set up as an analyst," Casey said as he watched them from the bottom of the stairs. "The paperwork is ready on the table."
Chuck visibly balked at the stack of papers waiting for him.
"You should be sent for training," General Beckman's voice sounded, and they all looked at her image on the large monitor. "But that can wait. These two agents think you can help with their next mission."
Sarah knew the thought of more training, even if it was for a different role, would be overwhelming for her boyfriend, so she was pleased it wouldn't happen just yet. Of course, she was also pleased for herself. She'd missed him so much while he'd been away, and now that he was back, hated the thought of him leaving again.
"If I can have whatever details there are of the man, this Gilles
I'll get on it straight away," Chuck replied.
"Paperwork, first," Beckman said. "You also need permissions on the systems to be set up."
"On it," said Casey as he turned away.
"Agent Walker has the details," the general said and with that, ended the call.
Gilles Robert probably wasn't the man's real name. It was a fairly common French name, easy to hide behind, but he may or may not be French.
Chuck read all the details that the general had provided to Sarah. Gilles Roberts was a minor drug offender. He hardly seemed significant until his connections with The Ring appeared. That was when he moved from a DEA problem to one for the NSA and CIA. His contact in that organization was significant but unknown. How helpful!
Once he had finished reading the notes, Chuck immediately hacked into the telephone system that fed the man's home, so that any landline calls could be recorded. He tapped into the broadband signal too, and traced that back to Gilles's computer. Accessing the file system on that computer didn't take a hacker of Piranha's skills very long.
Chuck soon found useful information which he passed on to the two agents stationed in Burbank. However, there was no record of who The Ring contact was.
In addition to all that Chuck had done, Casey got into a nearby disused building and set up a long range recording on the entrance to Roberts' estate, complete with a parabolic mic to record any conversations held there, particularly for anyone talking into the microphone to contact those within.
He could redirect that within the compound as required, but wouldn't be able to pick up anything within the house.
All they could do was wait now.
= ! = =
Three weeks later, all three of them were in Castle for a video call with General Beckman. Everyone was frustrated about the lack of progress.
"You should've been in there, Agent Walker," Beckman said.
Sarah tensed, but coldly replied. "So, you think pillow talk covers his contacts within The Ring before he fucks the woman trapped in there?"
Chuck winced and the general glared at her, but didn't reply.
"We all knew this was a long term assignment," Casey said. "We've got all his contact mechanisms covered."
"Beckman shook her head. "We need surveillance within the house." She looked at Sarah. "That needs to be planted."
Sarah knew how she'd have to do this. "He goes out on a Friday night. I could be 'found' and taken back to his place. Maybe I could persuade him to show me around." She avoided looking at Chuck as she said, "Including the bedroom."
Chuck clearly understood what she was implying. "We could distract him with an urgent call when you're there."
She did look at Chuck with a grateful smile. "Maybe I could receive an urgent call about my mother's health or something, and I'd leave."
"Sort out the details and make it happen in two days' time," Beckman said and ended the call.
"I don't like it, Sarah," Chuck grumbled.
She placed a hand on his. "Nor me, but it's what I've done in the past. I'll be fine."
The plan for that evening and night changed before they executed it. Sarah was happier with the new plan. Chuck seemed to be too, but he was obviously nervous for her. She loved that he cared so much, but hated that he was feeling like he did.
The CIA set up a party at the venue he would attend. He was a typically arrogant man from his drug running and forced his way into the party. In reality, he was allowed in as the whole set up was for his benefit.
She played the part of an already slightly tipsy bimbo. She'd played this part many times before, particularly in the CATS days. However, she hated it more now because of Chuck. She came on to the man in this state. He was obviously attracted to her and responded just as they needed him to. They drank together and danced too. He even groped her, which she suffered through.
When they were dancing, it reminded her that she hadn't done this with her boyfriend since his return. That would definitely have to change.
The short dress she was wearing to show off her long legs had a hidden pocket in which she was carrying several micro bugs. She planned to leave those in various rooms once there. When he groped her at the party, she'd been careful to steer his hands away from that part of her dress. That did mean her other ass cheek got a lot of attention, but she just had to accept that.
By the time they left the party, Gilles was quite drunk. Sarah wasn't because she was careful not to actually drink much. It seemed that she did, but that just involved the usual deception she was capable of.
The starry-eyed blonde was keen to see the whole of the house when they arrived. She cooed at the place, saying it was like a mansion. That fed his ego, as she expected. He shooed his men off and gave her the tour.
He was drunk enough that he didn't notice her planting the bugs around the place.
He was distracted by one of his men when they were in his study. He took the man outside and she could hear Gilles snapping at him, telling him that no one was to disturb them again. His voice was definitely slurred. She planted two of the micro bugs in the study during that distraction.
The tour ended in his bedroom, just as she expected. He obviously had planned it that way, drunk though he was. She saw the champagne chilling in there, clearly left by one of his staff. He poured them both glasses and she pressed the button on her watch indicating it was time for a distracting phone call.
She didn't know if it was Chuck or Casey who called him on his cell phone, but it was the perfect distraction. Included with the micro bugs was some high grade sedative which she added to his champagne.
He angrily ended the call, a wrong number, and tried to look suave again. He took a long drink from his fluted glass, at her suggestion. "Nothing calms you better than champagne," she lied.
He put his champagne glass down and took hers off of her, placing it next to his, before embracing her and pulling her toward the bed.
He was the only one who fell onto the bed.
She poured the rest of his glass away and rinsed it out before adding some of the champagne again. Then, she left the room. She was on her cell phone as she walked down the stairs and was met by one of his men in the foyer. "He passed out on me!" she declared angrily. "I'm not hanging around waiting for him to recover. I've called for a taxi!"
The taxi arrived a few minutes later. Casey being the driver. By that time, one of Gilles's men had checked on him, finding him unconscious on his bed. "Fucking drunk," he grumbled to the one with Sarah when he came back down.
As they drove away, Sarah said to Casey, "Mission accomplished."
"You better call Bartowski," he replied. "He's not coping well with you being in there."
She hastily called Chuck to put his mind at ease.
She ended the call by saying, "I need a shower to wash all traces of him from me, but he didn't get inside my dress." She grinned. "Only you'll do that, just before you join me in the shower."
Casey let out a disgusted grunt.
= ! = =
They heard about Gilles' meeting with a Ring courier from both the bug in his study and the call that Chuck recorded on his desk phone. She hadn't needed to suffer that visit, but she didn't point that out to the general. The woman obviously realized it and for once actually looked embarrassed when Chuck told her.
The restaurant was full of NSA staff when the meeting occurred. Chuck, Sarah and Casey were outside in Casey's Crown Vic, watching a feed from a camera that had been set up inside, which was fortunate because even with a room full of agents, the courier escaped as they caught Gilles.
Chuck flashed on the man that ran out into the parking lot. "Javier Cruz, international assassin and the leader of The Ring's cell in Mexico."
Casey and Sarah burst out of the car, guns raised and shouted at the man to stop. Of course he didn't and ducked down behind another car.
He would've escaped if it hadn't been for Chuck. He'd sauntered away from the car and when Javier was about to run in the opposite direction, Chuck shot him with a tranq dart.
"So, it seems that you can flash, after all," General Beckman said as she looked at Chuck standing between the two agents in Castle.
"Yes, General," he replied.
She looked at the two agents on either side of him. "If he's going to be out in the field with you, he will need to always have one of those pistols," she said. Sarah could see her distaste for the tranq pistol as she said it. "But he also needs to get fitter and to train in case of hand-to-hand fights. In Prague, he failed in those, and it's now up to you two to complete that."
As the video call ended with the usual abrupt nature of all calls with the general, Casey looked at Chuck. "I'll let Walker do that training," he said. "I know she won't make it easy for you."
Sarah would push him hard, both running and fighting. She'd want the best out of him. She took hold of Chuck's hand and when he looked at her, worry clearly visible in his eyes, she said, "Don't worry. I'll kiss any bruises and make them better." A smile started to form on his face. "Along with other parts of you," she added.
Casey stomped off grumbling.
A/N: Thanks go to Ironclad2022. The Gilles chapter in her "Sarah vs Her Life," while difficult to read, and very much M-rated, inspired some of what you read here. In fact, it spurred me on to restart the story. We never knew Gilles' last name, so I chose one for him, just as Ironclad2022 did in her story.
The next chapter will cover Three Words in one go, unlike Pink Slip which took three chapters.
I'd love to read your thoughts in a review.