Chapter 15
I don’t own Chuck
There was silence for a moment, and then Chuck asked the question he was pretty sure he knew the answer to.
“So, you left the CIA?” Chuck asked. “You chose to leave the CIA.” Sarah nodded. “And now, you work for the NSA?” Sarah nodded again. “Because you wanted to protect the Intersect.”
An amused smile covered her face. She knew what he was doing. “No, Chuck,” she said softly.
“Because Beckman asked you to?”
“No, Chuck.”
“Because Ellie asked you to?”
“No, Chuck.”
“Then why, Sarah?”
She looked down and then back up at him. “Because I choose you.”
“I see,” Chuck replied. “What fulfills the requirements of this job? Not what they say fulfills them, but what do you say fulfills the requirements?”
“You can protect yourself, and I’m not talking about the Intersect, I’m talking about you have the skills and tools to protect yourself.”
He was silent for a second, processing that. “And once that’s done, what happens?”
She grinned at him. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
“So, you will be here in danger, because of me.” She started to protest and he held up his hand. She gave him a look but didn’t say anything. “So, I need to listen to you, and learn what you’re here to teach me, so that if, once I learn everything you teach me, you decide to stay, then at least it would be of your own free will, and you wouldn’t be distracted by me and my safety.”
“I think you still aren’t getting it,” she said, standing and walking toward him, not able to help herself from grinning. “IF I chose to stay after your training is sufficient, in my opinion.”
“The only opinion that matters,” Chuck said quickly. She twisted her lips at that, amused.
“I will most definitely be concerned about your safety because that is MY choice.”
“Then my choice,” Chuck began.
“Your choice?” Sarah asked.
“My choice,” Chuck said, leaning down, their noses inches apart. “Is that I will not feel sufficiently trained until I can protect you, should you make the choice to stay and not fly off to some sunny coast.”
“What if it’s my choice to fly off to some sunny coast and take you with me?” she asked softly. She watched as his smile grew.
“I like that choice,” Chuck admitted. “However, we have a ton of work to do both physically…not like that!” He was beginning to blush and she shook her head. “With my physical development?” he offered. She nodded. “AND, I think more importantly, some actual talking.”
“Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
“We’re kinda talking around things,” Chuck pointed out. “It’s kinda what we do.”
“It is,” Sarah replied. “So, what do we do first?”
“We come to a decision,” Chuck told her. He could see the nerves radiating off of her. “Meat sauce, or just red sauce?” She blinked, confused. “With the pasta.” She tried to look irritated but she couldn’t stop the grin. “Sarah, let’s be honest, it’s gonna take a bit to get me in shape.” She began to chuckle and then break into full on laughter. “I don’t know that it was that funny.”
}o{
For the next week, Sarah began working with him, cardio for endurance, yoga for flexibility, and his chopping wood was his weight training…plus, she was sure it would be cold soon enough and they were going to need a fire…maybe a lot of fire.
She had caught him doing yoga yesterday, by himself, and blinked a little at how flexible he was becoming. She knew that was good, because if the Intersect ever worked again, and he was to do some of those moves she saw him do long ago, when she thought they were going to die in that white room with Bryce, he wouldn’t be as sore as he was after the adrenalin of the Intersect wore off. Plus his flexibility would just help in general. She grinned at that though and pushed those thoughts aside.
Neither had mentioned the physical aspect of their relationship they could now….partake in. They hadn’t partaken, which she had opinions about both ways. Chuck had given her a few high fives after he had completed a new physical fitness milestone. They had hugged a few times, and of course they had sat very close to each other while watching TV some nights.
While he hadn’t said anything about them, he hadn’t shied away from her. She noticed he carefully listened to what she told him, and not only accepted her points as she taught him things, but welcomed it. She was teaching him fighting stances, walking through it slowly. She knew at some point she was going to have to spar with him, and she didn’t think he would be upset if she beat him, but she did worry he might become disappointed if he didn’t progress as fast as he thought he should.
She watched him walk into the room and shook her head. “What’s up with the beard?”
“Up in some part of the northern US,” he began, and paused as if looking for confirmation. She shrugged her shoulders and grinned. He chuckled and continued. “I’m being practical. Less supplies needed, better chance of confusing someone looking for baby-face smooth, Chuck Bartowski, and to help keep my face warm.”
“We can handle the cost of razors and shaving cream,” she teased.
“Fine,” he said, grinning. “It’s to keep you from attacking my face with yours while we do all of this.”
“Excuse me?” Sarah asked.
“Sarah, we need to be focused, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed but in certain…shall we say…heightened situations…we have a habit of making out.”
She was silent for a second, an amused look on her face, thinking about what he said as she slowly stirred her tea bag in the hot water. “Okay, you have a point, but you need to know something…Chuck.” He gulped as she emphasized the “K” in his name and stood.
“And whatever is that?”
“That if I choose to attack your face with my face as you so delicately put it.”
“Not sure it was that delicate,” Chuck muttered.
“There’s nothing you can do about it.”
Chuck swallowed. “Uh, I could say no.” She just held his gaze, a slight grin on her face. “I could.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” she said, walking past him, into the kitchen.“I could!” he said loudly. He heard her snort from the kitchen. “Not that I would,” he said softly to himself.“I heard you,” she said in a sing-song voice.
“How?” he asked, shaking his head at her. He had no doubt he had messed up in Prague…but maybe…just maybe…it wasn’t the end of them.