A/N: This is the final chapter of this story. It's another one covering the downtime while the Wienerlicious is closed to be converted into the Orange Orange, and Castle is being set up.

Healing

Chapter 24: More Vacation

They'd bought their costumes for the San Diego Comic-Con themselves, not wanting the CIA involved this time.

When it arrived, Sarah was pleased with hers. Having worn the blue Fantastic Four costume to Ellie and Devon's engagement fancy dress party, she'd hoped that the new one wouldn't hug her body quite as much, or rather it wouldn't show as much. The leather-look material was thicker than that previous material, so even though tight, she didn't feel as though all her parts were on show.

However, the leather catsuit still made Chuck's eyes pop out when she first tried it on.

"My god, Sarah!" he gasped.

She grinned. "But with this mask, you can't see that it's me."

"That leather catsuit is so sexy on you. And the mask somehow adds to the effect. Mysterious AND sexy."

She loved that he thought that. Many, many years ago, at The Farm, the CIA had wanted her to look as good as possible. They'd removed her braces, obviously, and worked on her hair, but the main thing was improving her posture and teaching her how to apply her makeup to look her best. It had become an instinctual thing to do, even when she didn't want to be noticed. After the rape, she always hid in the shadows, and had resumed her slouch. Now, she stood tall once again. She didn't want the attention of others, but she wanted Chuck's. In fact, she craved his attention and wanted to look her best, for him.

"Only you will ever see the contents of this catsuit, Chuck," she said, as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"And to touch it," he whispered back. And shortly afterward, he demonstrated how. Sarah gasped as he did.

What followed completely took her mind off Comic-Con, crowds and contact with other people.

Having arrived in San Diego the night before, they were now heading to the convention.

The tough Agent Walker from the past had been buried under the pain and suffering from the rape. A vigilante Assassin Walker had emerged, exacting her vengeance on her targets, while imagining them to be her rapists.

Since arriving in Burbank, a softer Sarah Walker had become the norm. Still capable of killing when necessary, and crazily protective of those she loved. However, like her assassin persona, she was uncomfortable in crowds, such as the one she was heading toward today.

She briefly wondered why she was subjecting herself to this, and then, almost as if a telepathic message had gotten through to him, the reason squeezed her hand; her boyfriend who had suffered that hiking vacation for her benefit.

She looked over at him in his Batman costume. All this was a reminder that both of them would do anything for the other.

Back when he'd seen them both in his office, Langston Graham had again questioned her on her decision to go to San Diego for this event.

xxx

"Are you sure it's wise?"

She looked at him, aware that Chuck beside her had questioned it just as much. She chose to answer in her professional role. "Sir, apart from you, the general and Casey, no one knows that we're going. The Intersect's presence there will be unknown to Fulcrum."

He gave her a look that expressed his disappointment in her answer, but he responded, "I assume our costume department will be involved."

She shook her head. "They don't actually, but even if they did, they would only know that we have costumes to wear. We could be going to another fancy dress party."

He sighed and asked the real question that was in his mind, "Are you sure it's wise for you?"

She nodded. "I have to get over my fear of crowds and I'll have Chuck with me all the time."

"If I think it's starting to get to her, I'll quickly get her out of there," her boyfriend stated.

Graham looked at him for a moment or two before nodding. "I know you will."

xxx

Chuck had explained the relationship between Batman and Cat Woman to Sarah. She was another shady character, whereas he was a vigilante that worked with the local police commissioner. They were originally on opposite sides of the law, but both had fallen for each other.

Since then, Sarah had read some of the Bat and Cat comics that Chuck possessed and also read up about them on the internet. It seemed that the DC universe kept changing, altering both present and past stories of these characters, but she found enough to know that theirs was a complicated love story.

She laughed when she read the word complicated. Her relationship with Chuck was complicated. too.

She didn't like the idea that one of the Selena backstories originally had her as a prostitute, but found the one where she was a jewelry thief much more to her liking. She told Chuck about stealing jewelry when she was with her dad, so that felt like a connection. However, hers were from the owner's person, rather than from a store.

She even read about Earth-2 where Bruce and Selena gave up their capes and married. She was often imagining that for Chuck and herself. In the comics, Selena gave birth to their daughter, Helena. She subsequently died, but there seemed to be some confusion over that.

She pondered the idea of having a daughter and calling her Helena. It sounded nice. Then, she realized where her thoughts had gone and pulled them back. Even marriage seemed like a fantasy at this point in her life.

She'd watched the Batman movie with Michelle Pfeiffer as her character and acknowledged that she had looked sexy in the costume. "But you look so much sexier," Chuck told her, and she could see that he really believed that.

So, here she was walking into the San Diego Convention Center for Comic-Con 2008, along with hordes of others. Some were in costume, some not.

Chuck held onto her hand and as always, she felt safe. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Love you," she whispered.

"How could I not love you, bringing me here," he quietly replied.

Still with his hand in hers, she clung to his arm with her other hand as they walked in.

It was amusing, in a way. When they were in the real world, Sarah was the main one providing protection. Chuck did his best to do it for her, and often succeeded in ways no one expected, but her role from the start had been to protect Chuck. Here, in Comic-Con, the roles were definitely reversed. She was the vulnerable one and Chuck the primary protector.

If anyone tried to attack him, she would react, but on the whole, Chuck was the one who kept her safe.

They were now in a queue, waiting to go into one of the halls for a presentation and panel for a tv show that had started showing in the last year. They'd not watched it, but there was a buzz at the convention with people raving about it.

To Sarah, it sounded a bit like their lives. The lead character had downloaded secrets into his brain and all manner of evil men were after him. It was almost as if someone had captured an aspect of their existence into a tv series.

She looked at her man. He looked down at her, his eyes sparkling. "I don't tell you often enough," she said. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Selina."

She grinned on hearing him use the name of the character she was dressed as, and replied, "Thank you, Bruce."

He grinned and then bent down to kiss her. Her mask wasn't a problem but his mask made kissing a challenge. However, that somehow made it more exciting. His lips on hers felt better because of that challenge.

After the kiss, she held onto his arm and rested the side of her face against his shoulder.

As the days passed, Sarah became less tense. There definitely had been crowds, but there wasn't much pushing and shoving, which was good. The people there seemed more polite than the general public. Sarah didn't know if that was how she was dressed or not.

She certainly got a lot of stares. She guessed that was due to the tight fitting costume. She wasn't vain, but knew her body was in good shape, even though she no longer flaunted it. Well, maybe she did when alone with her boyfriend.

Having more than one persona had been part of her life from when she originally left her mom. Always acting a part for the cons and then the CIA missions. But when away from others, she'd always reverted to herself.

She'd even needed that split as an assassin, as she still needed to play a part when on those missions, too.

She now had four personae. The one for missions, the one when alone with Chuck, which was her real self, one for the general public, and one for the bosses. She guessed she also exposed the real one to Dr. Dreyfus when she saw him. Maybe there was also one for Chuck's sister and fiancé that was close to real, but with the spy self hidden.

At Comic-Con it was her own self under disguise. Of course, if anyone threatened Chuck in any way, she would switch persona in an instant.

Thankfully, that didn't happen. In fact, nothing bad happened until the last day of the convention.

She normally lurked in the shadows when Chuck needed to use the restrooms, unless she did at the same time. On that final day, she hadn't done either of those and just waited for him in the main concourse.

People had no problem with where she was standing, so she was surprised when she felt a hand roughly grab her on her left butt cheek. Suddenly, a memory of that happening when she was suspended and about to be raped flashed into her head.

Sarah reacted instantly. She reached back and grabbed the man's thumb and twisted hard. He cried out, and his hand left her butt.

Turning round, she held onto his thumb, twisting it further and forced his arm up his back, while kicking the back of one of his knees.

He crumpled to the floor and in no time she had him face down, while still holding his thumb.

"Let go!" he yelped.

Clapping started from a group passing by in the opposite direction.

"No one catches the Cat off guard," one of the guys stated.

Security appeared and Sarah had to explain why she had a normally dressed man on the floor, his arm twisted, his thumb still in her grasp and he was moaning. The fact that his physique showed him to be some sort of muscle man made the scene seem bizarre.

One of the others watching had filmed the instance and showed security. Sarah looked, too. She tried to ignore the fact that the camera had been on her butt for a minute before it was grabbed.

The Security guard looked impressed. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

Sarah smiled demurely. "My local gym."

"Well, you can let him go and leave him with us."

She released the man and stepped back.

"What's going on?" Chuck's timing was almost perfect.

"Nothing I couldn't handle, Bat," she replied.

"They're better than in the comics," someone muttered.

"She's so hot, but deadlier than the real Cat," another said.

"She just defended herself. She didn't kill him," a third said.

"I think it was all an act," a fourth was skeptical. Sarah was ok with them thinking that.

As the adrenaline dissipated She started shaking as what had happened and how she'd reacted affected her.

Chuck pulled her to him. "I think we're done here," he said. She didn't argue and they left early.

As they drove away from San Diego, Sarah knew she still had some way to go with her healing. Sexually, she was there, as long as it was with Chuck. But just someone touching her butt like that had brought memories of being touched, and subsequently raped, while suspended in that room in Mexico.

She felt the need to talk to someone about it, and decided upon Dr. Dreyfus. This wasn't sexual, just contact.

As Sarah sat down opposite the man who had supported her from the first time she'd met him, she had a mixture of feelings. Gratitude was definitely there, but she also felt that she was possibly wasting his time on this occasion. The other meetings had all contained much more significant topics to discuss.

He was sitting with his hands together, steepled as he'd done before.

"It's been a while," he said.

It had. "Over five months," she replied.

"Hmm."

He clearly wasn't going to push her, and was just waiting for her to open up. She sighed and let out a long breath. "This is probably a waste of your time."

"Seeing a patient who made such progress so quickly is quite rewarding," he replied.

He was right. Her life had changed so rapidly since her first rather confrontational session with him. Confrontational on her part, not his. He always remained calm. It was how she'd always been, before that awful time. She wanted that control back.

She sighed. "Emotionally I'm better. Relationship wise, too." She wasn't going to say sexually to this man. "But I'm still a mess around people, and contact with anyone I don't know still causes a problem." There, she'd got it out.

"And how does that make you feel?"

Feelings! Before coming to LA, being asked about feelings by someone employed by the CIA would've seemed impossible. It had certainly never happened in DC.

"Like a failure," she responded. Opening up like that would never have happened in DC, either.

"Does it affect your work?"

She sighed. "We've had no missions for months, and my cover job has been suspended since the beginning of June while structural alterations are in progress. So, I've not had work for some time."

"And you've done what?" he prompted. He wasn't really pushing, but obviously wanted her to open more.

She thought about how she'd occupied her time. "Since the start of June, I've had time on my hands. The other healing took some of that, and with Chuck's help, that's now complete. Two main things have happened. Recertification and vacations."

He smiled. "You're more open than when you first came to me."

She laughed. "I guess."

"I see that the recertification went well."

She smiled. "Still getting reports on me?"

"You're still my patient." She nodded. He then said, "During recertification, you will have been around people."

Sarah thought about that. He was obviously correct. She'd not really thought about it before. "I was so focused on what I needed to do, I didn't really notice."

"I assume you wore gloves."

She looked down at the ones she was wearing. "They only come off when I'm alone with Chuck."

"So, being around people while wearing gloves doesn't cause you problems, as long as you're focused."

She shook her head. "That's not quite right. When I'm focused and no one touches me."

He said nothing, but raised an eyebrow to prompt her to say more.

"We recently went to Comic-Con." He looked blankly at her. "It's a convention for people who like comics and associated media, such as tv shows and movies. Chuck wanted to go."

He looked surprised. "Sounds like somewhere with crowds. Touching must've been inevitable."

Sarah nodded. "Bumping shoulders was at times. Chuck held my hand most of the time." She held the doctor's eyes. "He grounds me. Makes me feel stronger, safer somehow."

He nodded. "Chuck's good for you."

She smiled. "He is."

"And when he wasn't with you?"

"The people that attend the convention are the most respectful."

"But?" It was almost like he was telepathic, sensing there was a but.

"One wasn't."

He stayed silent, letting her tell it her way. She told him about getting her butt squeezed and how she violently reacted.

"Did anything like that happen in Mexico?"

Sarah remembered being naked and suspended in that room. Being gripped like that was just the start of the horror. She'd been trained to withstand things like that, but not what it led to. "Yes," she replied.

He nodded. "So, you had flashbacks?"

"I did."

"Triggering your reaction?"

She nodded.

He sat back. "That's not surprising. Your reaction might seem extreme, but so's your training and experience. I'd say the man was lucky."

Sarah hadn't expected that, but asked, "Because of my past?"

"It shows that you're more controlled, even though you don't think so."

She sat speechless for several moments.

"Do you think I'll get better?"

He sighed. "Sarah, you suffered terribly, and the CIA sharpened you as a weapon. With Chuck's help, you're less of that now, but I doubt you'll soften completely." Then he asked, "Would you want to?"

Her response was immediate. "Not when Chuck is at risk."

Dreyfus smiled. "Very protective."

"I need to be," Sarah responded.

"And if that wasn't needed?"

"I'd still want to protect him," she confessed.

"And if the CIA needed you elsewhere?"

The doctor was asking about her fighting skills and reactions, but she answered a different question without thought. "I'd stay with Chuck. Leave the Company.."

Dreyfus just looked at her without saying anything. That made Sarah think about what she'd said. Chuck was more important to her than her career. At the back of her mind, she knew that, but this was the first time she'd said anything about it.

He finally spoke. "Do you really mean that?"

Having sat thinking, Sarah was able to answer. "Chuck is everything I never knew I needed. I need him more than my career."

"He may think differently."

She knew she couldn't talk about this with her boyfriend. He would think her career was more important than himself. They'd end up arguing. Everything was going so well between them, so she didn't want that.

Dreyfus shifted back to the original topic. "It'll take time for you to get used to being around others. Be patient with yourself."

She left his office thinking more about the topic of Chuck versus the CIA than about contact with others.

They spent two weeks back in Los Angeles before their next vacation.

Casey was back, too. He'd been with other ex-marines and they'd gone off into the wilderness somewhere with all they needed on their backs, and armed with rifles. Fending for themselves and shooting down their meals to cook on campfires seemed to have brightened his spirits enormously. He'd obviously needed the break as much as his partners did.

They got back into their usual routine with morning catch ups with the director and the general, held in Casey's apartment as the Wienerlicious no longer existed, Chuck reviewing files sent to him, and the two men working their covers.

No missions arose and life just continued.

Then it was time for Sarah and Chuck's next vacation.

Casey stayed at the Buy More as his friends, if that was what they really were to him, were all back in their normal roles.

The flight to Hawaii, sitting beside Chuck, holding his hand, was relaxing. Unlike their trip to DC, there was nothing to cause any tension. This was a vacation, nothing more.

She laughed at herself for that thought. It was as if she regularly had vacations.

The reality was that they were going on another adventure together. Nothing dramatic, and not as strenuous as their time in the forest, but this was still her first time going on a beach without having her body completely covered.

If they were lucky, after they left the airport, her gloves would come off until the return journey.

When they reached the residence, she would be down to a bikini, something she'd never expected to wear again.

She looked at the man sitting in the plane seat beside her. Of course, there would be times when she wore less than that, too.

When they'd arrived at their rental property, like the one in Arizona, it was just as they'd seen advertised. For some reason, she half expected that it wouldn't be as good, but it was perfect.

Walking through to the large floor to ceiling glass doors at the back of the property, they were able to slide them open and venture out onto a wooden patio. Steps led down onto the sandy beach set in a small cove that they knew was exclusive to this property. The beach ended on either side at rocks, which they'd read would contain rock pools.

The setting brought tears to her eyes. Although this trip was mainly for Chuck, she knew that she'd love the beach. In her youth, she'd always been a toes-in-the-sand girl, but she'd just avoided beaches since Mexico, as she wanted to remain covered all the time.

She straightened her shoulders. That ended today. "It's perfect for us," she murmured.

"We're so lucky to have found a place with a private beach," Chuck said. "No one should be able to get in. Not even by boat, because the water is too shallow, even at high-tide. They'd not get over the coral."

She wasn't sure about that, but doubted anyone would bother to try.

"Will you even bother with your bikini?"

She looked at him. "We want to do more than just make love while we're here, don't we?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

She chuckled. "Well, I want to swim in that gorgeous water and sunbathe, so you'll have to control yourself."

"You don't need your bikini for either of those things," he replied.

She looked at the love of her life, with her knuckles on her hips. "I'm wearing them because I bought them specifically for this vacation." She just wasn't sure how much she'd have them on.

They did more than Chuck had suggested. She swam so much, having discovered something Chuck was very good at. Racing each other from one side of the bay to the other, and back, became a daily morning activity. Snorkeling around the edge of the coral reef brought out the little kid in Chuck. He loved seeing all the wildlife there. The same occurred when they ventured onto the rock to look in the rock pools. She loved seeing that side of him.

They even tried scuba diving, but really needed to go beyond their bay to make that worthwhile. That wasn't something they wanted to do, especially as they would be more likely to encounter others. For that, she wouldn't feel comfortable in only a bikini.

She had worn one of the bikinis most of the time when swimming, but not always.

Making love in the water was an experience they'd not find anywhere else, so they certainly weren't going to miss it here.

Sunbathing nude, as she predicted, often resulted in them making love there on the towels which prevented sand getting anywhere it wasn't welcome.

By the end of the week, both had all over tans.

Both were somewhat muted on the return journey. Neither had wanted their time in Hawaii to end.

However, Sarah reminded herself that their time in Los Angeles was still going to be good. When not at work or on missions, they had each other. Madly in love.

She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss before settling down and resting her face on his shoulder.

Fulcrum and any other menaces they'd have to face going forward would be up against the best team in the US intelligence community. She was sure none would best them.

A/N: So, that's all for this story, folks. I have plans for taking them into season two, but not as an extension to this; it'll be a follow up story. Sarah has yet to cope with being around others without being completely covered up, and her mental scars are not fully healed, but her sexual healing is complete. In that next story, Fulcrum will be back in their lives and causing more trouble for the United States. The country needs healing from that threat. Not sure what to call the story yet. Maybe "More Healing" or even "Healing the States." We'll see.

I'd like to thank each and every one of you that has stuck with this story to the end. The reviews, follows and faves have been wonderful. And my friend, IronClad2022, has been invaluable, helping me through the challenging sections, so an enormous thanks to her.

I'd love to know your thoughts of this final chapter, and of the story as a whole, so please leave a review to let me know. Bye for now.