A/N: Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. I really appreciate every one of them and, apart from guest reviews, I reply to all. Thanks also for the comments on the Facebook Chuck Fanfiction page entry.

This shorter chapter includes, amongst other things, events from "Chuck versus the Marlin."

Healing

Chapter 20: Bugs

Casey was much more mellow after Ilsa left. She had to go for a new assignment after the previous one was unsuccessful. However, she wasn't going to Federov's bed again, so Casey was content. The sex he'd had with the French woman probably helped too.

All that made him more supportive of her relationship with Chuck, even to the point that he asked her when the two of them would announce it to Graham. Lady-feelings territory.

She hadn't discussed it with her boyfriend, so had to tell the NSA agent that she didn't know.

That relationship was all she could think about during the day. They now helped each other to release every night, lying naked together until sleep.

She was also healing herself now. Touching and caressing herself like Chuck had done was, as she expected, quite easy. The next step was more difficult.

The purchases arrived and shocked her. She'd only seen pictures online, but the reality was two devices that were much larger than she expected. She still hadn't faced using either and had chosen to use a single finger for her first time.

Not surprisingly, it was very upsetting and she spent time throwing up before washing her hand and cleaning her teeth. That night, Chuck's caresses were still needed but didn't feel as good. His embrace was, though.

The following night, she managed to get that finger in, and just sat on the toilet like that for a minute, before moving it. She didn't vomit, but nor did she get any pleasure from it and eventually got up, washed her hand and succumbed to Chuck's help. She was surprised that what she'd done must've gotten her closer because she finished much quicker.

Today, she was seeing Silvia again. It was the first time for many weeks. She had made progress, mostly with Chuck's help, but felt she was still falling short of the woman's probable expectations.

They'd not had another mission since Federov, four days earlier. The morning briefing brought nothing.

Chuck still received and scanned information, which resulted in a few flashes, but nothing significant enough to involve the team.

The next spy work they got involved in was again triggered by something Chuck discovered. This was more personal, though.

Chuck looked extremely troubled as he strode across the parking lot, so Sarah walked out to meet him.

He said nothing but grasped her arm to turn her around and marched them both back to her offer.

He slapped his hand down on her desk and when he lifted it, there was a bug left behind. She looked up, confused.

"The Pita Parlour delivery girl, Lizzie, who's been leaving spicy food for some of the guys daily for a few weeks, planted it in the store on her way out today."

The implication of what else he said made her realize that there were probably more.

"Shit!" she exclaimed.

"It sure is," Casey said, having just walked in.

"I flashed on it," Chuck said. "It's a CIA design."

She looked at him. "Graham wouldn't do that. We have to call him."

"Try not to involve the General," Casey said. "She'll just want to bunker him." As they looked at him, he added, "For his protection, of course." The sarcasm didn't take from the fact that it was true.

Graham agreed to a video call and was soon facing them.

Chuck explained the situation. "I found this bug in the Buy More after a woman planted it there. It's a GLG-20, a CIA bug."

Graham frowned. "We've stopped using those, but they've become a favorite with Fulcrum agents."

Chuck gasped. "So, Fulcrum has the place bugged?"

Sarah had suspected it, but being told was still painful.

Chuck looked more hopeful. Sarah wondered if he'd flashed again. "It is a low-power transmitter. In order to avoid detection, it has a maximum range of about twenty yards."

"Correct," Graham replied. "That limitation stopped the CIA using it."

Casey spoke next, "So, there'll be a receiver hidden somewhere in the store."

Graham nodded. "Correct. I suggest you find it quickly before the woman retrieves any recordings on it."

Sarah knew what was in store for her.

Chuck looked at her. "You and Casey look at the surveillance records you have. I'll check the store surveillance." He sighed. "This isn't going to be quick."

Chuck had set them up to work in Echo Park. Casey already had access to the NSA recordings on the computer in his apartment. Chuck quickly enabled the same for Sarah. He then did the same for the Buy More internal surveillance for his own computer.

Casey had taken a sick day and Chuck told Big Mike that Sarah had the same bug. It was believable as there was one going around. Chuck took the day off to look after her, which his boss had encouraged. That was probably to keep her bugs away.

So, they spent the day scouring through recordings. It took well into the evening, so Sarah had to postpone her sex therapy appointment. Just as well because she was not in the right mood for that topic. She was in a state of panic, worrying about Chuck.

They had divided the tasks up. Sarah looked at recordings from the left side to the middle of the store and Casey the opposite. She wondered whether he chose that because he mostly worked there.

Seeing the places they were covering, Chuck chose the areas they didn't cover at all. That was mostly the non-customer areas, which was a reminder to the two agents that their surveillance was inadequate. It also included Big Mike's office, or more specifically the safe in there. Sarah also had the outside front of the store, which made her think they should also have one at the back entrance too.

They wore earwigs to be able to tell each other what they found.

The woman had planted one every day from the first that they started receiving her food, but the two most significant and important sightings were both on the sixth night after her first visit. Chuck shouted out when he spotted the woman. Sarah stopped her playback and went to see what he was looking at. Somehow the woman had managed to open the rear door at around midnight.

Sarah realized that her boyfriend had been looking at recordings made after the lights were turned off and she commented on it.

"I scan through those several zones at a time, just looking for any lights."

"You must strain your eyes doing that," she commented.

"Yeah, hence the headache, but watch this." He'd zoomed in on the inside of the rear entrance as the woman moved in using just the light from her phone. She planted two bugs before reaching the shop floor, including one within the cage.

She left none on the shopfloor, which was interesting, but she entered somewhere else once, though. Sarah had seen her plant a bug in Big Mike's office, so was surprised she went there again. This had to be significant. She whooped when she saw the woman take a larger item out of her shoulder bag and drop it into the mouth of the large fish on the wall after fiddling with it first. "That's the receiver," she said rather redundantly.

"Yep," Chuck said.

"We should go and get it," Casey growled. "Tonight."

"I'll need to disable the store surveillance first," Chuck commented. "And wipe the recording of me entering the store and getting to it, but I can do that when we get home."

"Obviously," Casey grunted.

Casey had just left when Chuck brightened, which was a surprise. He pulled a ring out of his pocket.

Sarah gasped. She wasn't expecting this, nor was it an appropriate time. He saw her face and blanched. "No, no, No!" he cried. "It's Devon's for Ellie. He asked me to hide it for him."

Her heartbeat slowed down enough for her to say, "Hide it under my underwear."

He gave her an odd look. Sarah guessed what he was thinking and she smirked. She grabbed his hand and led him to their bedroom. She opened the drawer and lifted up her panties. He placed the ring down. He then looked at some of the panties in there. She'd forgotten that she'd bought some daring ones for when they were both ready for that sort of thing.

He looked her in the eye and said, "I may have to wait a moment or two before heading out."

She noticed why and gave him a quick kiss. "We'll enjoy those when we can," she whispered and walked out of the bedroom, leaving a frozen man behind her.

The three of them went in Casey's Crown Vic. Casey and Sarah were concerned that the woman might turn up again to retrieve the receiver, so both went. Casey was in a bad mood and Sarah guessed that was because he and Ilsa had been recorded in the AV room. That made it a personal affront.

When they arrived at the back of the store, Chuck led them to the door. It was unlocked, which got the two agents on edge. Casey led the way in.

When they got to it, Chuck didn't have to switch off the store surveillance. "She wouldn't have known this was here," he said.

So, it seemed that she had an insider helping her. That was somehow even more disturbing.

They found no one else in the store, nor did they find the marlin. It had been taken down and completely removed.

Alarm bells were going off in Sarah's head and visions of Chuck being captured filled her head.

"You're gonna be bunkered," Casey growled at the nerd.

Chuck glared at their partner. "I don't think this was her. She would've retrieved the receiver and not taken the marlin."

Sarah acknowledged that he had a point but replied, "She might not have been able to get it out that easily."

Chuck took them to look at the security footage. "I doubt anyone but me would know how to wipe the recordings."

Fortunately, he was correct. The two bumbling idiots that worked as Nerd Herders were captured by a camera pointing at the surveillance controls. They were arguing, but then Lester switched the device off and the display went blank.

Casey set off to round up the bugs and Sarah got Chuck to play the recording back. She was able to lip read some of what Lester said. The key sentence was, "… into the fridge in the Wienerlicious."

When she told the others that, Casey glared at her. "Don't you lock the place up?"

"If you recollect, I wasn't there this afternoon," she snapped. He huffed.

Before they left the Buy More, Chuck reactivated the surveillance and locked the back door.

Sure enough, the Wienerlicious was open. They found the fish in the freezers and on tipping it, the receiver dropped out.

"We're lucky it didn't fall out as they brought it over," Chuck commented.

The three of them watched the surveillance of the parking lot, seeing the two idiots carrying the fish across.

"Looks like you're reprieved, Bartowski." Casey said, then added, "I want to take out this pita girl."

Sarah looked at Chuck. "You can have words with Lester and Jeff. I'll talk to Tracey."

"Before all that," Chuck said. "We have to get the marlin back on Big Mike's wall."

The other two groaned, but in reality, both were happy that all this was coming to an end.

The following morning was eventful. Sarah had strong words with the junior NSA agent, who confessed that she'd been distracted by the two men when she was locking up.

"Distracted or harassed?" Sarah asked, getting confirmation that it was the latter. She agreed with Tracey that neither would tell Casey. Him killing the two Buy More employees would not be good.

Later that morning, she watched as the pita girl arrived and saw where she deposited the day's bug. Casey followed her out of the store back to her van and soon had her bundled into his car zip tied.

He drove her away to interrogate her before she would be taken into custody. They needed to know what triggered her arrival as well as what she knew. Meanwhile, Sarah called Chuck over, to keep him safe.

When Casey arrived back, he walked into Sarah's office. "She won't trouble us again."

Sarah knew what that meant. The woman was dead. It was good that Chuck didn't realize that was what the NSA agent would do. He would've freaked out and probably wouldn't appreciate how glad Sarah was at the news.

They called Director Graham.

"It was the visit that we had from Larkin that triggered this," Casey started. "Or more significantly, the disappearance of Delgado and his team when they were here."

"So, they were just trying to capture information to know what was happening here?" Graham asked.

"Yes."

"They may try again," the director said. "We need to get bug detectors in place."

"Yes, sir," Casey replied.

"And more surveillance in places we haven't in the past," Sarah added.

Chuck groaned but didn't disagree.

"You've done well to contain this," Graham said. He looked at Casey. "The general knows nothing about it."

"Just as well," Casey replied.

Sarah had rearranged her appointment for that evening, but hadn't really thought about the topic. She and Chuck had not had any intimate contact the night before, just held each other in relief after they got to bed. However, she had a lot to report, so felt reasonably good.

Silvia James listened to what Sarah had to tell her before saying anything. "Well, what you two have achieved is quite impressive. Your boyfriend shows amazing restraint, too." She looked at Sarah and smiled. "He's a keeper."

Sarah beamed at her. "I know."

"As to your personal progress," Silvia started, and Sarah's smile disappeared, expecting that the doctor would be less impressed. "You're tackling that in your own way. These tools are just to help. They obviously reach much further than your fingers, and that will be significant, and they will feel more like the real thing, so don't give up on them. Take your time."

"I feel like I'm failing," Sarah confessed.

"No. Don't think that," Silvia quickly replied. "It takes different amounts of time for this, and leaving it to fester in your brain for years makes it worse for you, but you are making better progress than I expected, albeit in different ways to normal."

"Both of us want more," Sarah said.

"And that's significant," she replied. "Four months ago, can you imagine thinking that?"

"Absolutely not!" Sarah replied. "The very thought of what we do together already would've made me ill."

"My only concern is that you try to go the next step together too quickly. It could set you back a long way."

Sarah knew the woman was right. In fact, it was worse than she implied. If they tried to have sex and she reacted badly, it wouldn't just be Sarah that would struggle to move forward. She had to get through the self-healing part first.

Silvia surprised her with her next topic. "You told me that you were raped while suspended from your wrists. I assume your mouth wasn't involved at all."

Not sure where this was going, Sarah just said no.

"So, you and Chuck could try using your mouths."

Mindful of Silvia's warnings, Sarah was determined as she stepped out of the shower and looked at the smaller device she planned to use. She had to get herself ready by caressing herself until that wonderful feeling occurred. She then took the device in her hand and very slowly pushed it in.

It had been years since anything had gone there, other than her recent finger. This was definitely uncomfortable because of that, as well as the lingering memories of being raped. The slow insertion at least minimized the former.

She fought off the desire to pull it out and throw it away, and eventually felt that she had gotten it as far as it would go while she was still holding it.

She realized that she was quaking with what was in her, but she'd achieved it.

She slowly pulled it out. She'd done all that she could cope with for now. She certainly couldn't move it more, but she felt euphoric.

She cleaned it up and wiped herself, then ran through to the bedroom.

Chuck was in his pajamas, obviously assuming there would be no contact that night. He was reading one of his comics. He looked up and saw his naked girlfriend virtually jumping up and down in excitement.

Wonderful man that he was, he focused on her face rather than her body. "You succeeded?" he asked incredulously.

"Not completely, but enough to feel like I made progress," she happily responded.

She then remembered Silvia's other suggestion. She'd discussed it with Chuck over dinner. She'd laughed at the time about their meal-time conversations.

"Strip," she now demanded.

He allowed himself to look at her body, lust filling his eyes, but then he asked, "Are you sure?"

She wanted to just kiss him all over for his concern, but answered, "Yes!"

What they did after that blew both their minds as they did it at the same time with her lying on top of him.

What he'd done with just fingers before was so much better with his tongue and lips. He was careful to avoid entry, but everything he did was amazing, and she found that she could do the same. She'd never experienced oral sex, giving or receiving, so it was a brand new experience. However, it hadn't been part of the rape experience. That definitely helped.

She did the best she could while he attended to her. He warned her before he finished, and she managed to take everything he gave.

Afterward, lying next to each other, Sarah knew they would do that a lot more. She couldn't resist teasingly asking, "Was it good for you?"

He probably noticed the humor behind the question, but answered seriously, "Better than anything I've experienced before."

It was the perfect answer and she rolled over, draped her body over his and kissed him, ignoring the tastes on their tongues.

When she pulled away, he just said, "Panties and boxers."

She climbed off of him. He was right, but she now felt that such precautions wouldn't be needed for much longer.

She drifted off to sleep in her usual position with the man she loved behind her, holding her. Very happy dreams ensued.

A/N: More progress and another crisis averted. I decided to keep the whole bug situation from General Beckman. I found her desire to bunker Chuck overwhelming even if it did provide the impetus to find the bugs in the show.

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about Devon's ring. He'll ask for that back next time.

Thoughts on this chapter?