The Love Boat

A/N: Batten down the hatches…it’s Carina.A/N 2: If you enjoy this chapter, send some love to KaulfrStonemason. I wrote this chapter based on my thoughts. Then he read it and said, “Well, what if Carina did…this?” To which I said, “WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT!?!” He’s been the best. Thank you my friend.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck

They watched as the bar was raided and several people were walked out, cuffed.

“You take me to the nicest places,” Chuck said to Sarah. She tried to stop the laugh, but found she didn’t want to. “Okay, I have to admit, that’s from one of the Thin Man movies.”

She turned to him, an eyebrow raised. “The old black and white ones where he’s a detective and she’s rich and loves seeing him do what he does best?”

“Yeah,” Chuck said, nodding.

She smiled. “I get how she feels about watching her husband do what he does best,” she said softly.

“Sarah,” he said in a low voice.

“I would love to tease you unmercifully right now, I mean, you have no idea HOW much I want to, but-”

“SARAH! DARLING!” they heard from across the street. Chuck turned and saw a tall woman waving. A stunning woman. A breathtaking woman. And yet, she didn’t hold a candle to Sarah.

Chuck turned back to Sarah. “Sorry,” she mouthed. “CARINA!” she responded, and ran past Chuck towards her. The two crashed into each other in a hug like two long lost sibblings, and that’s when Chuck remembered her warning last night.

Sister Act is code for us playing sisters.

He saw Carina looking at him and knew deep, deep in his heart that while this was best for the case, for him…it was going to be, ‘To the pain’.

Carina pulled away from Sarah’s embrace and walked straight in Chuck’s direction.

Her eyes laser focused on Chuck. So much that he felt the urge to run, imagining Sarah screaming at him, “Run, Chuck, run!”

“And you are?”

Chuck opened his mouth, the image of him running on the deck still in his mind.

Carina held up a hand. “No. Let me guess.”

She looked Chuck up and down.

“New partner?”

Sarah answered first.

“Chuck.”

Carina looked at Sarah.

Then Chuck.

Then Sarah again.

“Chuck.”

“Yes.”

“Just Chuck? I can’t believe people still call their kids just Chuck!”

Sarah sighed. “He's my Chuck. We’re married.”

Carina froze.

Chuck froze.

Sarah froze, seeing Carina frozen.

“Your what?”

“My Chuck, my husband.”

Carina slowly turned toward Chuck.

“To him?”

Chuck looked slightly offended. “I’m standing right here.”

Carina ignored him.

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Yes, Carina. To him.”

Carina narrowed her eyes.

“And you like him?”

Sarah's expression changed.

Just slightly.

Carina caught it.

“Oh.”

Sarah frowned. “What?”

Carina smiled.

“Oh, you really like him.”

Chuck gave her an uncertain smile.

“Hi.”

Carina looked back at Sarah.

Sarah pointed toward the captain. “We have a job.”

Carina's smile grew.

“Later you have some explaining to do, Sis.”

}o{

Carina walked beside Sarah.

“Husband?”

“It's complicated.”

“I can see that.”

“We're undercover.”

“I figured that part out.”

Carina glanced at Chuck.

“Is the husband part undercover too?”

Sarah hesitated.

“It’s complicated.”

Carina's eyebrows went up.

“Interesting.”

Chuck watched in equal parts horror and fascination as the two women went to work on the captain. IF the poor captain had time to think, he might have found it odd how quickly Fred’s cabin was cleaned out and cleared.

IF.

Because he was assaulted, and that was the only word Chuck could use, by two women who called themselves sisters.

Chuck couldn’t keep up with the stories that were battering down the poor captain. It was an impressive tactic, and one that truly raised no red flags.

At one point, Carina turned toward Chuck.

“And you have never been to the FARM house, right, Chuck?”

Chuck froze.

Sarah's eyes widened for half a second.

Then Carina smiled.

“Of course, he’s never been to the farmhouse.”

Chuck looked between them. “There’s a farmhouse?”

Carina's eyes lit up.

Sarah lost some of her composure and immediately regretted asking for Carina’s help.

Carina turned back to the captain.

“Oh, not farmhouse-level relationship yet, hmmm. Chuckles!”

Chuck stared at Sarah.

Sarah mouthed, “Sorry.”

Carina smiled.

She had just learned something else.

They were two women whose families were joined when they were small and became besties. Not just besties, but BESTIES. Apparently they did everything together until two years ago when Carina, at the encouragement of her bawling sister, took a job as a museum curator in some country no one actually got the name of, and there wasn’t enough oxygen in the room to think to ask the question or ask the question.

This was the first time they had gotten to see each other, because Sarah was apparently a first-grade teacher and their family didn’t have a lot of money. This was Sarah’s first time out of the country, and yes, she had forgotten her luggage, but her boyfriend, now husband, was in tech and had money, and that’s why she had been so excited and forgotten her luggage at the airport.

Then Carina, looking sideways at Sarah, said, “Sarah always got this distracted when she is in love with someone.”

Sarah's head snapped toward her.

“Carina.”

“What?”

“We're talking about my luggage.”

“I know.”

Carina looked at Chuck.

“She gets very protective too.”

Chuck’s face immediately broke into a half-smile.

Sarah glared at him.

“Don't.”

“I didn't say anything.”

“Your face was saying it.”

Carina's eyes widened.

“Oh.”

She looked between them.

“This is going to be so much fun.”

Chuck still wasn’t sure why they had come on separate flights. He THOUGHT it was because he had been at a conference and she came and joined him for the cruise, and Sarah thought that the airport would take care of getting her luggage to the ship, but…he got lost during the stories.

The two were masterful; they would cut into each other's sentences like they had known each other for years, and go off on tangents that ended with each nearly crying and them both hugging each other.

As people walked by and heard bits of the story, Chuck would hear them comment things like, “The captain should let her on. It’s so touching to see family reunited like this.”

As he watched, part of him wondered- the part Jill had broken in him…had she played him the way she was playing the captain.

He was positive she hadn’t.

He was.

Deep down, he was.

However.

His brain.

Carina, while keeping the assault on the captain, noticed.

Sarah kept looking at Chuck.

Not checking on him.

Looking at him.

Carina had known Sarah long enough to know the difference.

Oh, this is bad.

Or, more accurately…

This is very, very good.

As Chuck’s brain began to wonder, he did all he could to not change his expression.

He was human.

And that’s when it happened. Right in the middle of her story, she turned just enough to see him, and the delighted expression on her face changed. She decided to do something.

Carina stopped for half a second.

Sarah caught her.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Carina.”

“I'm just learning things.”

“You don't need to learn anything.”

Carina smiled.

“Of course I don’t need to, but that doesn’t keep me from learning it anyway.”

She turned, walked over to him, took his face gently in her hands, and kissed him.

He thought he heard a “get it, Sis,” murmured, but he wasn’t sure.

Carina had been suspicious.

Now she was certain.

Sarah was gone.

Completely, hopelessly, adorably gone.

Carina was going to have so much fun with this.

Sarah pulled away, looked at him, and then back over to the captain and Carina.

“Can you give me a sec with him?” Sarah asked.

“I got this,” Carina replied, a smile on her face. The captain looked exhausted. Sarah took him by the hand and led him back to their cabin. Every time he started to speak, she gently shook her head, and he stopped.

She had him walk in first, and she followed. She shut the door and rested against it. “What you saw up there is not what happened between you and me.”

“I know that,” Chuck said. “You didn’t overwhelm me the way you two are.”

“No, Chuck,” Sarah said. She walked over and took his hands. “Up there, that…that was all fake. When I met you, something in me…something I thought was gone…the eight-year-old girl that believed in fairy tales and happily ever after, she told me, you have to tell him the truth.”

He was silent for a second. “That’s what she said?”

“No,” Sarah said, shaking her head. “She reminded me of a wheelbarrow.” He smiled at that. “Why do you think I’ve been so insistent that you be sure?”

He squeezed her hands. “Sarah,” he began.

“I told you I would never doubt again,” she said. “I need you to be there. I need you not to doubt me…us. I’ve had too much of that in my life, and I can’t…I can’t have another relationship wondering if someone is questioning my love for them.”

“Your…your love for me?” Chuck asked. “Sarah-”

She put a finger to his lips. “No, you work this out in your mind however you have to; I understand.”

He kissed the finger on his lips and gently moved it away. “I don’t doubt what I feel for you,” Chuck told her.

“Well, then I guess I need you not to doubt what I feel for you, and until I’m sure…I should probably stop teasing you about my socks,” Sarah said.“I see,” Chuck replied.

She grinned. “You don’t want me to stop teasing you, do you?”

“I don’t,” Chuck admitted.She closed what little space was left between them. “I need to tell you something very important.”

“What’s that?” Chuck asked.

“True love is the best thing in the world,” Sarah told him. She grinned, and his smile grew. “Except for cough drops.”

“Cough drops are criminally underrated,” Chuck agreed. Sarah nodded. “I mean, if your head or nose is clogged, you can take one, and it clears that up.”

“Multiple uses,” Sarah said.

“Sarah, I don’t think you're running a con or some op on me,” Chuck told her.

“I know you don’t think so,” Sarah replied. “I need you to know it.”

Chuck started to speak when the door opened quickly. “Damn it,” Carina muttered. “I was hoping to catch you two going at it. So, Chuck.”

“Yes?”

“How long have you been married?”

Chuck glanced at Sarah.

“That's complicated.”

Carina nodded.

“That's what she said.”

Sarah closed her eyes.

“Carina.”

“What? I'm gathering information.”

“About the case?”

Carina smiled.

“Sure.”

The two shared a glance and realized they would have to continue this at another time.

In spite of Sarah’s warning about the focus, Carina continued with her investigation. “What's her favorite pizza?”

Chuck answered, “Veggie, no olives”.

Carina blinked.

“Okay.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You asked.”

“I did.”

She looked at Sarah.

“He's been paying attention.”

Sarah tried not to smile.

Chuck noticed.

Carina noticed Chuck noticing.

Her smile grew.

“Oh, this is really fun.”

Carina asked Chuck to leave the “sisters” to improve their plan.

“So.”

Sarah looked at her. “So?”

“Chuck.”

Sarah sighed.

“What about him?”

Carina smiled. “How is he?”

Sarah narrowed her eyes.

“As a person.”

“Uh-huh.”

“As a husband.”

“Carina.”

“I’m just trying to understand the situation.”

“You understand the situation.”

“Not completely.”

Sarah stared at her.

Carina grinned.

“I haven't gotten to the important questions yet.”

}o{

Now

“And everything went smoothly with Carina there?” Graham asked.“Define smoothly,” Chuck answered.

“As smoothly as things can run with Carina,” Sarah replied. Graham sank his head into his hands. “He’s taking this well.”

A/N: David…seriously…is that angst? Did you do it? Did you give us…angst? *rolls eyes, walks away muttering*