3. Chapter 3 (1/2)

the night of ellie's party came faster than he would have liked, but a deal was a deal. chuck was just about to pull on his shirt when he heard the knock at his front door. with a sigh, he headed toward the living room, slipping his arms through the sleeves as he went. "ellie, i am not twelve years old, i am perfectly capable of getting ready to be at your place by seven," he huffed, pulling open the door, "this is really… sam!"

sarah looked at chuck, who hastily buttoned up his shirt, but not before she caught a glimpse of well-defined pecs and abs. ignoring the twinge in her own stomach, she shook off her shock.

"i, erm," chuck stammered, having a harder time accepting the woman on his front step was more than a mirage, "what are you doing here? i'm sorry i didn't send you the email about my sister's thing, my computer crashed the other day and i haven't been able to find time to fix it. i didn't have any other way to get a hold of you." chuck rambled as sarah tried not to smile at him affectionately at the newly discovered nervous tick. this man standing before her, did not seem like the same quick thinking, charming, man she met a few weeks before on the flight over from paris.

"where are my manners? please come in; can i get you something to drink, water, coffee, soda, beer? i'd offer wine, but i'm fairly certain i only have the one bottle and that's meant for my sister's dinner, and i…" he finally caught himself as sarah stepped passed him and into the living room, "hi, how are you? how's lisa?"

"molly," sarah corrected gently, "i named her molly. lisa was just a name for the passport to get her out of the country without being traced… but that's not why i'm here."

"then why is it that you come to me on this, the night of my sister's dinner party," chuck impersonated the godfather, admittedly badly, before chuckling nervously when sarah didn't react to the joke.

"agent carmichael," sarah stood straighter, deciding that being direct with him was the best way to go, "my name is special agent sarah walker of the cia, langston graham sent me."

"you're cia?" chuck's eyes fluttered a few times, his face contorting like he'd seen a

ight light and tasted something sour at the same time. a moment later, his face relaxed and he sighed before he collapsed on his couch looking up at her "you're cia. wow… i wasn't expecting that… can i just say that sarah fits you better than sam does? you don't look like a sam."

"agent carmichael," sarah continued, not acknowledging his side comment as she took a seat beside him but leaving a cushion width between them, "did you receive an email from agent larkin in the past 72 hours?"

"yeah," chuck shrugged, "

yce sent me an email for my birthday, can't remember much about it other than it had a line from the version of zork we'd made in college, after that it's a little hazy. all i remember after is that i woke up yesterday morning with a hangover and no recollection of drinking. what is this about?"

"do you remember project omaha?" sarah inquired watching as the sour taste/

ight light look rushed over his face again.

"project omaha," chuck recited, "top secret government project, collaboration between the cia and nsa. combined intelligence database intended to eventually be uploaded into the human

ai… oh my god!" chuck exclaimed, realizing what he was saying. sarah watched as he paced in front of her, running his fingers through his, now slightly longer, hair, causing his curls to stand on end, "you mean to tell me

yce sent me that thing? it's in my

ain? i mean, of course it's in my

ain, how else would i know all that about it? they didn't tell us that was the goal before the project was mothballed!"

"agent carmichael," sarah stood and crossed to stand before him, "please focus. did you have any previous knowledge that agent larkin was going to go rogue and send you the intersect before destroying the console?"

"no," chuck shook his head dejectedly, it took all of sarah's will to not wrap her arms around his waist and pull him close to comfort him, despite how her fingers itched to trace the tension from his back. "i had no previous knowledge. what do i do now? i'm guessing graham wants me on the next plane to dc so that we can deal with

yce."

sarah stilled a moment, but not before chuck noticed, "what? am i missing something?"

"agent larkin was shot by john casey the same night he sent the intersect to you. he's in critical condition at bethesda." sarah informed him, "his prognosis isn't good. i'm sorry, i know he was a friend."

"he was," chuck nodded, "so what now?"

"well until we can figure out a way to get the intersect out of your head, i have been assigned to you." sarah shrugged.

"sam… er, sarah," chuck corrected, "i don't need a handler. i've done just fine the past five years without one. i'm a full-fledged, badge-carrying, agent, trusted with dozens of solo missions and teams who reported to me in both analytical and field ops."

"agent carmichael…"

"chuck," he sighed, "please, with everything that has happened, i need something to be normal; please, call me chuck."

"very well, chuck," sarah gave him a small smile, "the intersect is a relative unknown, we don't know the long-term effects of the program on the human

ain. until we can remove it or more research can be found, the cia and nsa have asked that a field agent be assigned to you as your partner, not your handler, just to make sure you're safe."

"you mean to keep the general populous safe from me," chuck snorted indignantly. "fine, how are we going to go forward with this?"

"well for one, your request to head an analytical team here in la has been approved," sarah started, "the agency will be scouting office locations for carmichael cybertech to operate out of."

"what about us?" chuck asked, his eyes meeting hers, seemingly peering directly into her soul as if her eyes held all the answers.

"what about us?" sarah responded, "we're colleagues, partners…"

"you know that's not what i meant," chuck spoke softly, his hands reaching out to her, his long fingers wrapping gently around her biceps. "i have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot of each other, and we need to have some reason for that."

"like me being your personal assistant?" sarah suggested, deliberately ignoring his meaning.

"no," chuck shook his head, "that wouldn't give you enough access to me. i was thinking more along the lines of getting to know each other better." he inched closer, his voice lowering sexily, "if you catch my drift."

"dating?" sarah looked at him, trying to tamp down the nerves that fluttered in her stomach at his closeness, "are you sure that's really a good idea or are you just suggesting it to get ellie off your back?"

"i won't deny it does have that added benefit," chuck shrugged casually.

i bet he doesn't even know how incredibly sexy he makes that look, sarah thought to herself as chuck continued.

"call me selfish, but i think it would help us both out in a variety of ways. it would explain why we are around each other so often outside of work, it will give molly a stable male influence in her life -not that you asked me to fill that role but consider this my offer to do just that - i admit the prospect of ellie not pestering me about my love life will be a nice benefit. but when you get down to it, i really, honestly, do want to get to know you, and molly, better." his expressively warm hazel eyes met hers as she made a conscious effort to not swoon in his arms. "i mean, it was the reason i asked for your email in the first place."

"chuck…" sarah started.

"what?" chuck rubbed his thumbs over the swell of her biceps making shivers run down her spine at the sensation, "are you afraid that we won't be able to pull it off? because i gotta tell you, i think we have a good foundation to make this a pretty easy cover. i mean, we get along, your kid loves me, and we do seem to have good chemistry. granted you are way out of my league…"

"that is just the problem," sarah stepped back and took a deep

eath, trying to get a hold of herself as she walked across the room away from the window, not trusting herself to look at him. "not that i'm out of your league, because, trust me, i'm not. i like you, too, maybe a little too much. i mean if you were just a typical guy, a normal, sweet, kind, charming, computer consultant and i was just a flustered single mom who happened to catch your eye one afternoon, i think that those two people would be able to make it work, but… chuck, there is too much at stake here. i can't protect you if…"

"who says i need protection?" chuck challenged, his long legs carrying him to stand beside her, "what i need is a partner, more so the better, in my opinion, if it has layered meaning. in my experience, having skin in the game makes you fight harder."

"it also can compromise your judgement," sarah countered softly, "i'm already compromised enough with molly."

"somehow i don't think that will be a problem," chuck shook his head, "how about this, we take it slow and if it doesn't wind up working out personally or professionally, no harm no foul, we just request that i be reassigned. if it does work out as well as, or better than i'm hoping it will, we can decide what to do then. i'm not saying we'll be the next gen agents turner, but we'll never know if we don't try."

sarah stood silently, she could see people trickling into the courtyard through the window opposite them, mostly women and a few men, and knocking on the door of the townhome belonging to the woodcombs. she'd been overwhelmed,

ain working on overdrive since the moment chuck opened the door to her. if she were being honest with herself she'd be able to admit she'd been in the same state since they met on the plane from paris, him pretending to be her harried and much-delayed husband. she had to admit, despite herself, he was right; having a relationship as their cover was a good idea. "okay," she whispered.

"'okay?'" chuck echoed, his eyes searching her face for and indication of where her head was at.

"okay, your suggestion of a cover, it's good," she turned to face him, "but you're right, we should take this slow. ease your sister into it, it'll be a little suspicious if you suddenly have a serious girlfriend."

"how is this for a backstory; i met you and molly at buy more a week or so ago," chuck mused, "and after taking molly to the park and getting to know you two a little bit, i invited you for dinner?"

"dinner with the family is a little serious for two people who just met," sarah countered.

"trust me, ellie won't think so," chuck shrugged, "she'll just be happy that i met someone."

"if you say so," sarah shrugged, "can i ask you a small favor, though?"

"what's that?" chuck cocked his head a small smile on his lips.

"could you please just call me sarah?" she blushed, "it has been my name longer than any other i've had. samantha lisa novak may have been the name i was born with, but sarah walker is who i am now."

"i can definitely do that," chuck nodded and gave her a warm smile.

"thank you," sarah relaxed, offering her hand, "so partners?"

chuck batted her hand away and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her waist, "if we are going to sell this, you're going to have to get used to being in physical contact with me," he reminded her, "besides i don't think a handshake was quite enough to cement our partnership."

sarah couldn't help but smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck, thankful that, with her heeled boots, she was able to rest her head on his shoulder, "physical contact? what exactly do you have in mind mister carmichael?"

"bartowski, i wasn't lying about that on the plane," chuck corrected her before an impish smile eased its way onto his lips, "and if you play your cards right, miss walker, i just might hold your hand as i escort you to your car at the end of the night. i may even kiss you on the cheek if you're really lucky."

"be still my heart. you have yourself a deal," sarah grinned, taking a small step back, her hands resting on chuck's strong shoulders while his fingers traced seductive circles where they rested on her sides. "what time is this thing again?"

"seven…" chuck looked at his watch and groaned, "which was fifteen minutes ago. well might as well get this over with," he quickly turned and grabbed the bottle of wine from the kitchen table.

"just what every woman wants to hear," sarah teased, her eyes following his movements around the apartment as he continued on to grab his wallet and keys, when he turned back to her, she couldn't help but snicker, "hold it, before we go, we need to do something about this whole situation," she gestured to his shirt.

"what's wrong with it?" he gave her a quizzical look before looking down at the dark green button-down oxford shirt he wore, "bad color on me or something?"

"no, really good color, honestly, you should wear it more often," sarah smiled as she stepped toward him, taking the bottle from his hand and setting it back down on the table, "but if we want your sister to believe we're taking things slow, it might be helpful to not look like we just had sex."

for a minute, sarah thought she'd

oken chuck from the wide eyed, blank expression on his face as she moved closer to him. "all that flirting and that is what stops you in your tracks?" she smiled up at him.

chuck just stood, staring at her mutely.

"stay here," sarah directed him, leaving him nodding at her like an idiot as she stepped around him and into the kitchen. he heard the sound of the faucet being turned on and then off again, "lean down a bit," sarah instructed him, smiling as he did as he was told. she ran her fingers, which were damp from the sink through his hair, taming his curls into something more sexily rumpled than rumpled by sex. once he'd stood up to his full height, she slowly began unbuttoning his shirt. "you were in such a rush to button your shirt when you saw me, some of the buttons are in the wrong holes, and your hair was kinda a mess from you playing with it."

"why miss walker, if you wanted to see me naked, you just had to ask," chuck drawled, snapping out of his stupor, a sexy grin gracing his lips.

"truly, you are an enigma," sarah shook her head.

"i aim to keep you guessing," he shrugged, "adds to the mystery that is charles irving bartowski."

"good to know," sarah smiled up at him as she rebuttoned his shirt, leaving the top button undone, revealing his throat and just a peak of the dusting of hair on his lightly tanned chest. she had to restrain herself from lifting up on her toes and kissing the side of his adam's apple just to see what he tasted like, instead she turned her focus to the sleeves of his shirt, rolling them half-way up his forearm, "unfortunately, we both need to be on our best behavior tonight."

"drat, there goes my plan to seduce you into my bed," he pulled her closer, his hands resting lightly on her hips as hers settled on his chest.

"behave, my babysitter charges by the hour," sarah teased, patted his chest, "and she trades in gossip on her daughter's love life. i would hate for you to become the topic of discussion so soon."

"okay, best behavior it is," chuck sighed dramatically dropping his hands to pick up the bottle of wine instead. he'd taken a few steps toward the door before turning back to sarah, "sarah," his voice soft as his eyes looked her over from the pale lavender blouse to the grey pencil skirt and black heeled boots, "i know i didn't say it earlier, but you look lovely tonight."

sarah couldn't stop the blush rising to her cheeks, "thank you."

"you're welcome," he smiled softly, offering his arm to her as she slid her hand to rest just inside his elbow, "let's get this show on the road."

as they stepped up to the large wooden door of ellie and devon's apartment, sarah let her hand slip from chuck's elbow, steeling herself for meeting his sister and

other-in-law.

"

eathe," chuck whispered, neither knowing if he meant it for just her or the both of them.

sarah just nodded as chuck raised his hand and hesitated before knocking, "oh one more thing you should know. my

other-in-law is awesome."

"i'm sure i'll like him, then," sarah assured her date.

"i mean i call him awesome, ellie hates it," chuck snickered, "but everything he does from rock climbing, to rafting, performing open heart surgery, even flossing is awesome… you'll see in a moment."

"noted," sarah smirked as chuck knocked on the door only to have it fling open a moment later. she couldn't help but notice the similarities between chuck and the woman who stood before her. it was clear that this was ellie, chuck's sister and their host for the evening.

"you're late," she scolded lightly, not noticing sarah at first, "i

ought all my friends to meet you and you're late."

"hello to you too, elle," chuck rolled his eyes good naturedly before turning his gaze to sarah, "i am sorry about my late arrival, but i think i had a pretty good excuse. ellie, i would like you to meet sarah."

"sarah?" ellie's gaze slowly tracked from her

other to the blonde woman who stood beside him. chuck's older sister slowly sized up the woman, with her heeled boots, she was just under a half a head shorter than chuck, making her an inch or two taller than ellie. she had never seen the woman before, it was almost as if she had appeared out of thin air, "you

ought a friend."

"yes, i

ought a friend," chuck shrugged, "i figured one more couldn't hurt."

"you

ought a friend… who's a girl." ellie stammered, still shocked that her

other had shown up late, and with a girl, no a woman, because that is clearly what she was.

"i figured you'd catch that," chuck grinned, "can we come in now or are you going to make us eat in the courtyard? we

ought wine." he held up the bottle as proof, waving it by its neck from side to side.

"oh, yeah, right, come in," ellie shook her head before calling to her husband, "devon! grab another plate and the spare chair from the office, chuck

ought a friend with him!"

"sure babe," came a baritone voice from the kitchen, "just let me pull the roast out of the oven first."

the sound of a pan scraping against the oven rack then being set down on a glass-top range could be heard from the kitchen before a tall man with tan skin and light

own hair, who was built like a football player, quickly made his way down the hall and ducked into what sarah assumed was the office.

sarah half listened to ellie as she introduced her co-workers and their respective significant others. some ellie had known in medical school, some she met at work, the single women all clearly there for chuck's benefit. sarah couldn't help but notice how the single women gave chuck more than a few good once overs, licking their lips like a hungry man staring at a steak, as chuck stood there awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable with the attention he was receiving.

he wasn't kidding about this being a set-up, sarah mused, barely repressing the urge to wrap her arms around chuck's waist and curl into him possessively before his

other-in-law returned with the requested chair.

"hey

o," the man who was the embodiment of the california beach bod guy, but with intelligent blue eyes, grinned at chuck before turning his head to take in the blonde who stood beside him. "ellie said you had

ought someone with you."

"devon, this is sarah," chuck introduced them, "sarah meet dr. devon 'captain awesome' woodcomb."

"that's not his name," ellie protested.

"babe, it's okay, i really don't mind," devon chuckled, rounding the table and clapping chuck on the back before extending his hand to greet sarah. "it's nice to meet you, sarah. welcome to our home."

"nice to meet you too, devon," sarah smiled up at the tall man, "dinner smells delicious."

"thank you," devon gave her an easy smile, "speaking of, i should probably get it on the table. chuck, do you think you could tear yourself away to assist?"

"sure," chuck shrugged, "i'll be right back." he promised before following devon into the kitchen.

"chuck, my man!" awesome crowed quietly, giving his younger

other-in-law a soft high five, "i couldn't believe it when ellie said you'd

ought someone with you. a hot someone at that, i mean muy caliente my friend. that's awesome!"

chuck pretended he didn't hear sarah snicker from the living room at devon's enthusiasm. "thanks, we met about the time ellie roped me into this glorified meat market, so i figured if she's going to try to auction me off to the highest bidder, i might as well have some input on the potential bidders." chuck gave his

other-in-law a pointed look, "sarah and i spent some time together the other day, we hit it off, and decided to get to know each other better. i figured in the guise of full-transparency, it would be a good idea to

ing her along to show ellie that i'm okay."

"you know ellie just worries about you." devon countered, slicing the roast on the plate while chuck set about opening a couple bottles of red on the opposite counter.

"i know," chuck conceded, "but she really doesn't need to, i'm a grown man, i can manage my own life and relationships. i know her heart is in a good place, but when it comes to this kind of stuff, i'd rather just let things happen than to force it, you know?"

"i feel ya,

o," devon nodded, hefting the platter of roast and vegetables into his hands and headed toward the dining room, chuck following with the bottles of wine, "can i just say that you look happier with sarah here? i think that's pretty awesome."

"i think so too," chuck grinned looking at sarah who glanced over her shoulder and gave him a small smile from where she stood talking to the women around her, "very awesome."

"alright everyone, dinner is served," devon announced. the group of adults made their way to the table.

chuck caught the approving smile that ellie sent his way as he pulled sarah's chair out for her, it was clear that she was pleased that her lessons in etiquette had stuck. both cia agents were aware they were being, not so subtly, watched through out the dinner, catching small looks that ellie and her husband exchanged, that ellie sent toward her

other, and the looks that ellie's single friends sent both sarah and chuck's way.

"so, sarah," ellie finally spoke up, "how did you and chuck meet? i mean it must have not been too long ago since he hasn't mentioned anyone until literally an hour ago."

"ellie," chuck warned his sister, nearly growling at her.

"it's okay, chuck," sarah placed her hand gently on his forearm and gave him a small smile to assure him that she had this. "we met a week or so ago, at the buy more, when i was shopping for a sound machine. i normally would have gone to the one in pasadena, but they didn't have the specific model i was looking for, so i wound up calling around and, lo and behold, the burbank buy more did!"

"what kind were you looking for?" devon piped in.

"the marpac dohm sound machine," sarah shrugged, sticking as close to the truth as she could since she did have to buy a sound machine for molly the other day to help the girl sleep, "i was so focused on finding the stupid thing that i ran, literally, into chuck. i was clearly frazzled, and he took it upon himself to be my champion and help me locate what i was looking for." she gave him an adoring smile.

"it helps that nothing has really moved in the 5 years since i used to work there," chuck shrugged humbly.

"so, pasadena, is that where you are from?" ellie asked.

"yes and no," sarah shrugged, "i was born here in l.a. but after my parents split up, i stayed with my father who moved around a lot for work. eventually, his work

ought us back to california for the last year and a half of high school. wound up graduating from james buchannan high in san diego before moving back east for college."

"where back east?" ellie probed.

"cam

idge," sarah replied calmly, taking a bite of the roast that devon had made and a sip of her wine while ellie processed the information.

"chuck," devon looked at his

other-in-law approvingly, "you didn't say you bagged an ivy leaguer, that's very awesome."

"why is that surprising?" chuck countered, "i graduated summa cum laude from stanford university which, may i remind you, is on-par academically with harvard university and would be considered ivy league were it in the same athletic conference."

"wow, so harvard," ellie started in again, "tell me about it."

"it was nice," sarah shrugged, "the winters were unbearably cold, though, give me a temperature of 73 year-round any day. there really isn't much to say, i went to class, studied, graduated."