A/N: Thanks to those of you that left reviews for the last chapter, with the Charah goodness pleasing people. A number of you are predicting complications. Well, here they come…
Caribbean Retreat
Chapter 9
Chuck and Sarah finally made it out to the beach after a light lunch. Spending all day continuing what they'd started in the morning wasn't something Chuck's body, at least, could sustain.
He was still amazed at the passion between them. So powerful. So intense.
Lying next to her on the beach as the sun's rays tanned her body, Chuck felt more confident about looking at her. He had shied away from staring before, but now he knew every inch of her after his explorations during the morning.
He had been surprised at all her scars and it was upsetting to find so many. They were each a record of a past encounter, and some showed how close she'd come to death. That was an awful thought.
The scar on her abdomen, just below her bikini line, was a long one. He'd asked her about that one and found out it was from a sword slash in Afghanistan. She'd managed to step back to avoid being sliced in two. Her assailant wasn't so lucky when she threw one of her knives into his throat.
The bullet wound hidden by her bikini top was another lucky dodge. It could so easily have punctured her lung or, a few inches lower, pierced her heart.
The other scars were less serious but still upsetting.
All of them brought tears to his eyes as he discovered them, and again now here on the beach. They were testimony to the dangerous life she'd led, and showed how he may have never been lucky enough to even meet her.
"I've had men lust after my body, but not cry over it," she joked. Her eyes were still closed, but she seemed to just sense him looking at her.
He wiped his tears away and said, "Oh, I lust after your body. I think you know that after last night and this morning." She chuckled and opened her eyes to look at him.
He looked into those amazing blue eyes that he could just get lost in. "I was just remembering the wounds that so nearly took you from this world. I would never have met the most important woman in my life."
She seriously looked at him. "Don't dwell on what might have happened, Chuck. Just think of what will happen from now on." She then smirked. "Hopefully, some of that'll involve this body."
He grinned. "Oh, it will. You can count on that!"
She stood and reached out a hand. "Come on. Let's go for a swim. That'll wash away those tears."
Bryce hadn't returned that evening, so they ate dinner alone.
Sarah asked Chuck if he knew where his friend might be.
"There's a woman on the other side of the island, Jane Freidman. She's a widow, lost her husband a while ago. I think Bryce likes her more than he admits."
Sarah looked surprised. Chuck smiled. "He doesn't sleep around like he used to."
She looked embarrassed. "I know. I have to get used to people being different."
"I think his wound and having to leave the CIA knocked his confidence, but then having to keep me safe also changed him." Chuck frowned. "I think I may have stopped him from getting together permanently with Jane, but he doesn't talk about relationships with me." He looked at her. "Because of Jill."
She reached across the table and held his hand. "Well, I hope you forget about her now that you're with me."
He grinned. "I have difficulty remembering my name when we make love."
She grinned. "Let's finish this meal, wash up and then forget about everything."
He loved that idea and started eating quicker to the lovely sound of her laughter.
Monday morning came around far too soon. Even more so because Bryce had the drive back from the town Jane lived, and then he still had to buy the fresh produce. It made him late.
When he finally reached the café, Chuck was working in the kitchen and Sarah was out taking orders, and serving up breakfasts and coffee. She was wearing a knee-length blue sundress, but with the notepad and pen with which she was taking orders, she really looked the part.
She looked up as he walked in and smiled. "Hi, Bryce." He instantly apologized. "Hey, no problem. I can do this."
He could see that. And the customers really seemed to like this attractive blonde looking after them.
He showed her what he'd brought. "Is it ok if I take this through to Chuck and discuss lunch and dinner with him?"
"Sure," she replied as she walked to where a new couple of customers had just sat.
He rushed through to the kitchen. "I'm so sorry I'm late," he said to his friend. "I underestimated how long it would take to drive into town first thing on a Monday morning."
Chuck just smiled. "How was Jane?"
Bryce grinned. "Fantastic!"
"Will it become serious now that I'm moving out?" Chuck asked, although he was looking away as he asked.
Bryce had told Chuck about Jane, but not how he actually felt about her. What was the point, she lived too far away for anything to become real, and he had to keep Chuck safe. Bryce sighed. "I don't know. She likes it how it is. No strings attached."
Chuck nodded. "You used to be like that."
"I did. Maybe you and Sarah have made me rethink my life." That wasn't strictly true. He'd already wanted Jane more, but their relationship did make things easier. "If she would move over here, I'd like it to be more serious."
"Good luck, my friend," Chuck said. "But stranger things do happen. Look at me in love with an amazing woman who loves me back."
"I'm happy for you, Chuck." He really was. He pointed at the bags he'd put on the table. "Let's discuss lunch and dinner and then I can put it on the board out front."
Sarah had actually enjoyed helping out in the café and offered to do it again.
She was surprised when Bryce grabbed her shoulders and kissed her cheek after she said that. As he pulled away, he said, "That would be wonderful!" he said. "If you did breakfasts, I could leave a bit later to get the food for lunch and dinner, not worrying about rushing back."
She looked at him with some hesitation. "I'm not offering to do it every day."
He nodded. "I realize that. Just give me advanced warning when you will. Preferably more than just the night before."
She smiled and nodded.
This not only would be something she could feel was of use, and was quite enjoyable, but it also was a way to pay Bryce back for what he'd done for Chuck over the years.
"Would you stay on the other side of the island on those nights?" she asked out of curiosity.
His eyes visibly warmed. "If I can."
"Looks like I'm not the only one that's changed a lot. Are you in love?"
He frowned. "We've not called it that. Hell, she's not even ready for a permanent relationship."
She smiled kindly at him. "But you are."
He sighed. "I am."
"Well, spend more time with her. Make yourself part of her life more than the occasional night together."
He nodded. "I will. Thank you, Sarah."
She pulled him in for a hug. "It's what friends do for each other."
It had taken a week for everything Sarah needed to arrive for Chuck to move into her apartment.
She didn't mind. Staying with him had been great. However, she was paying for the apartment and it would be good to have room to spread out.
She served breakfast and coffee every day she stayed in Chuck's bed.
Fitting the security had been a job for the three of them on the Sunday after Bryce received that equipment. He offered to help before they even thought of asking, and that had definitely been needed.
So, at the end of the following Tuesday, Chuck stayed the night in the apartment for the first time and had no problems. Sarah, on the other hand, didn't get much sleep that night. Not because they stayed up having sex. Neither felt like that. She spent the night awake, waiting for Chuck to have a problem that never came.
She'd already warned Bryce that she wouldn't be helping at the café the following day. She'd wondered if he would smirk and comment about christening the bed in the apartment, but he didn't
"Try to get some sleep overnight, Sarah, but do sleep in, too."
Once Chuck arose and seemed fine, she kissed him and went back to bed, sleeping through the morning and missing lunch.
She was awoken by soft kisses on her shoulder.
She opened one eye and smiled at Chuck. "Love you," he said.
"Hmm. Love you, too," she replied and rolled onto her back, opening her arms to him.
After a while, he pulled back from her and asked, "Did you get any sleep last night?"
Part of her wanted to ease his conscience and tell him she did. It would be the kindest thing to do. However, that would be a lie and she'd vowed not to lie to him. She sighed. "No, I didn't. I kept vigil over you. I wanted to be there for you if you woke up in a panic."
"I suspected as much," he sadly replied, sitting and looking away. "I wish I hadn't mentioned that possibility. I'm sorry to be so much trouble."
She sat up, grabbed his face with both hands and forced him to look at her. "Don't you start thinking that! You've had problems that have left you with something like a phobia for sleeping out of your comfort zone. I will do everything I can to help you with that. I do not think you're 'trouble' at all!"
They stared at each other for several moments after that. His eyes seemed to bore into her. He seemed to accept what she'd said, so she added, "I love you, Chuck. I would do anything for you."
"As I would for you, Sarah."
Then, she tenderly kissed him.
That night, they made love for the first time in her apartment, which she regarded as theirs.
After a week of him staying there, they decided that it wasn't going to cause him any problems and he started moving his things in.
Sarah was overjoyed. This was now her home and she'd never leave it.
Their lives seemed perfect.
Sarah should've guessed that this wasn't something that could last.
One evening, Chuck received a message that shook him. She was instantly anxious. "What is it, Chuck?"
He looked up at her. "A text from dad! He hasn't been in touch for ages!"
"What does it say?"
He read it. "He wants a call and asks when."
She knew he'd set up a secure way of connection to the internet and that included conversations with his father. "I can leave you to it whenever you want."
He shook his head. "I want you there."
"Won't he be suspicious of me, being a CIA operative?" she asked.
He frowned again. "You're right. I haven't told him yet. I'll do that on the call and then bring you in."
Chuck set the laptop on the dining table and made the connection. Stephen Bartowski appeared on the screen and smiled at his son. "Hello, Charles."
"Hi, dad. I've got news for you."
"Tell me after what I need to say," his dad told him. He sighed. "I should've told you about this before. I created a piece of software for the CIA about fifteen years ago. When they tested it, it failed terribly and the whole project was scrapped. Or so I thought. I knew it wasn't the system but the people they tested it on. They obviously realized that and had their staff in some major universities to find people with the right aptitude." He looked at his son. "That was the test that got them interested in you."
"Hold on," Chuck said. "You mean I was tested for aptitude to cope with your software? What does that even mean?"
"This software was intended to load skills into the human brain."
Chuck's jaw dropped. "Programming them?"
"That's a crude way of putting it. I saw it as more supplying memories of how to do things."
"Skills aren't just memories, dad."
"No. They aren't, unless they include muscle memory too."
This was just getting bizarre, but Chuck latched onto what his dad had said earlier. "But it didn't work before, so why continue?"
"They decided skills weren't what they needed, but it could be used for other purposes. Data from their systems instantly available to an agent, along with the ability to cross analyze and solve problems, was what they went after. Creating spies that could assess situations, identify suspects and act on that. The ultimate spy."
"This is like science fiction madness," Chuck said, shaking his head.
His dad ignored that. "Bryce and I got you away from all that and they seemed to give up searching for you. I thought they'd abandoned the idea, which was only a theory at that time. However, it seems that they continued and it is now ready."
Fear set in. "And you think they're after me again?" Chuck nervously asked.
"No. And their second choice for it has been out just as long. Bryce apparently scored nearly as highly as you. His injury made him unsuitable, though. There is only one person with scores that indicate they could cope, but she's on leave at present, but Director Graham will be calling her back. I wanted you to know that if she gets this thing that they call the Intersect, you could become her target and she may well find you."
Chuck didn't need this thing or to be a genius to know what his dad's answer to the next question would be. His heart was sinking. "And who is this person?"
"The deadliest assassin in the CIA. She has changed her name so often that I don't know what she is currently called."
Chuck replied. "I do. Sarah Walker."
His dad frowned. "How do you know?"
"She's here with Bryce and I."
"WHAT?!"
"She's had enough of that life and is here. After a six-month sabbatical, she's going to refuse to rejoin the CIA."
"And you believe her?" his dad questioned, looking very doubtful.
"I do. I trust her completely."
His dad frowned. "That's foolish."
Chuck started to get angry. "You don't know her, dad."
"I've read her files, including the redacted ones. I know more about her than you, son."
"And she's told me her past, dad." That was only superficially true, but good enough for Chuck.
His dad looked surprised. "Why?"
"Because she's my girlfriend and we love each other."
Chuck watched as a jaw dropped on the screen in front of him.
"Not only that. Bryce worked with her and he believes her, too."
His dad was speechless.
"I'm going to bring her into this call now, dad." Chuck didn't give his dad a chance to argue, but stood and walked to the bedroom to get Sarah.
Sarah sat beside Chuck at the dining table. The man on the screen was his father. Her experience of fathers was not good, but she pushed such thoughts aside. "Hello, Mr. Bartowski."
He looked appraisingly at her. It felt like he was trying to decide what to make of her. More particularly, whether to trust her. Chuck had briefly told her that his father knew of her work in the CIA.
She decided to talk first. "I am never going back to the CIA. I'd decided that before meeting your son, but he's made that absolutely certain in my mind. I love him and never want to part from him."
He continued to stay silent. She didn't know what to say to convince him.
He eventually sighed and looked down. "You remind me of Mary."
That was the last thing she expected him to say. The same was true of her boyfriend. "Because of the CIA?" he asked.
His dad looked embarrassed. "Partly." He looked at Sarah. "She was a CIA operative. She left the agency to marry me and have a family."
Chuck hadn't told Sarah about this. She asked what was on her mind. "What was she called then? I've obviously not heard of Mary Bartowski."
"She was Mary Gunter back then, but changed her name for each mission." He paused and then added. "She was known as Frost."
Sarah gasped. "The deadliest assassin in the CIA! They talk about some of her missions at the Farm." She looked at the man facing her. "Is that why you think we're alike?"
He smiled, but still looked sad. "She wanted to get out and be with a Bartowski. She was also beautiful and I felt lucky to have her."
All Chuck had told her was that his mom had left when he was nine. He hadn't seemed to want to say more. She looked at his dad. "You said she left the Company. Why did she leave the family?"
Stephen Bartowski looked pained. "They persuaded her to go back on short missions. None were supposed to be dangerous, but she never returned from her last one."
"She was killed on it," Chuck said.
This was a lot to take in but Sarah wanted his dad to understand one thing. "Well, that's not happening to me. I'm not going back."
"You won't have a choice. You haven't actually left yet, have you?"
She didn't ask how this older Bartowski knew that, but she instantly responded. "I'm not going back."
"Graham will try to find you to force you to go back," Chuck's dad said.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because they want to insert something in your head to make you the ultimate spy."
Her jaw dropped.
Stephen continued, "Apparently, after the two men with you there, you're the next in line."
She instantly put two and two together. "Is that why they wanted Chuck after college?"
"Yes."
This started her panic. "Am I putting him at risk by being here?"
Before his dad could answer that, Chuck said, "You are NOT leaving to protect me!"
She glared at him and his dad said, "She's right, you know."
Chuck looked at his dad and demanded, "Can you tap into their phone systems?"
His dad looked offended. "Of course."
"How about any surveillance on Langston Graham's room?"
"No, but I can tap into his computer to capture any conversations he might have in there."
Sarah was stunned.
"We're going to need that," Chuck said. "Also, tap into his phone and when his assistant tells him he has a visitor, capture the conversation. Obviously capture recordings of phone calls too."
His father smiled. "I will enjoy this."
As the call ended, Sarah looked at her boyfriend. "What are you thinking?"
"Getting you early warning, but also finding out who they might be sending so I can track and divert them."
"Divert?"
"False trails."
She held his gaze to emphasize the next point. "You know that if they get close, I will leave to protect you. I will not risk your life."
He shook his head. "Bryce may be an ex-spy but he's still deadly, and I can use a tranq pistol quite effectively. You are not alone here."
She didn't like the sound of that, but decided not to argue for now.
Later that day, she got a call on her phone. She was now expecting it. She let it go to voicemail, not wanting to talk to Director Graham.
Afterward, she listened to the message. "Agent Walker, your leave is over. I need you back here. Call me."
She talked to Chuck when he finished work. "Are you sure the phone can't be tracked?"
"I'm sure," he replied.
"Next time I get a call from him, I'll answer it." She knew the director was not a patient man and would call again soon.
The next morning was when that call came through and she answered it.
"Agent Walker. You didn't respond to my message."
She responded, "I've only just switched my phone on. I'm on leave."
He replied quickly, "So why switch it on?"
"By accident. I was going for my personal phone."
He said, "I need you back here."
"I'm on a six month sabbatical," she reminded him.
"Something has come up," he said. No apology.
"Something always comes up. Get someone else to deal with it," she replied, and then added, "Sir."
He sounded annoyed now. "I am ordering you back."
Well, now was the time to tell him, "I'm never coming back."
He spluttered and then stated, "You at least need to come back to hand over your badge and firearms."
She was ready for this. "All in my old CIA apartment. Get someone to go there to collect them."
"I demand you come back!"
She replied coldly. "I am not coming back. Ever."
"I'll send someone to find you," he said. Then he said, "Why can't we track your phone?"
"Because I didn't trust you to keep your word," she responded.
"You think you can stay hidden?"
She laughed. "You know I can."
"We will find you and make you regret this," he said threateningly.
She responded as coldly as ever. "I'm also the deadliest woman alive. Do you feel safe?"
He gasped. "You're threatening me?"
"Only because you threatened me."
He abruptly ended the call.
Chuck stared at her aghast.
A video call came through from his dad that evening. Sarah was expecting this call, too.
Stephen Bartowski was all smiles. "You threatened the Director of the CIA Special Operations!"
"He did threaten me first," she said.
"I'm impressed, but I also have to tell you he responded immediately. He's told another of his enforcers to come after you."
"Who?"
"Nicholas Quinn. A bit of a wild one."
She laughed. "A total incompetent."
He looked seriously at her. "He's only the first."
"Chuck's going to help me send him in the wrong direction."
"Be careful, both of you," the older Bartowski said.
"We will," Chuck responded.
'We certainly will,' Sarah thought.
A/N: Langston Graham as reliable as ever.
Thoughts? Does this make the story more interesting for those not wanting just fluff?
