I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything.

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This story immediately follows The Long Brick Road, the story that I had the privilege to co-write with BrickRoad under the penname BillAndBrick. Unfortunately, she is unavailable to help me write this, so it's only fair to her that I publish this under my own name.

This, like all of my stories, is ultimately a love story. Or more accurately, it is the story of love, how it inspires, drives, and sometimes hurts. And of course, it is mainly the love story of Chuck and Sarah, and what they will do for each other. But it isn't only their love story. In fact, some of the love I'm talking about isn't even of the romantic kind.

Warning: this story will have some adult themes. Since BR is not here to keep me in check, this might be a tad darker in tone than the original story. Naturally, all of my story rules still apply. That means you can count on the story being finished, a happy ending (at least if you're rooting for Chuck and Sarah to get together), and timely updates.

There will be some things that may make you squirm for a minute (or maybe ten). Nothing graphic or outside the guidelines for a T rated story, but proceed at your own discretion. I'll be sure to post a warning before any chapter that goes there. If you've read my stories before (and if not, WTH?) you'll know what I'm talking about.

The Betrayal

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah Walker really didn't need anything as complicated as a plane to get from Cancun back to Houston. She was pretty sure that she could have strapped Ellie and Chuck to her back, flapped her arms, and flown there all on her own. That's how great she was feeling. But they had the plane there already, and she had to drop it back off in Houston anyway. So she might as well fly it, right?

The Bartowski siblings, which were now her new family, were in exact opposite moods. Ellie was so eager to see Devon that she probably could have flapped her arms and kept pace with Sarah. Chuck, on the other hand, crawled into the back seat and was sleeping before Sarah had the plane on the runway.

Sarah grinned as she looked back at him as soon as the auto-pilot had taken over the flying duties. Well, that wasn't totally accurate. The grin was already there well before she looked. It had pretty much been perpetual for the past twenty-four hours. But she did look back at him… fondly. The poor guy deserved some rest after the physical effort he had just made. Sure, Sarah was tired too. But she had to admit, Chuck had carried more of the physical load last night. Oh, and again this morning.

Sarah had to admit something else… if Ellie hadn't been along for the ride, Sarah would have been seriously tempted to climb back there and sample some mile-high action. After all, they had to drive all the way back home from Houston with Casey. That would take all day, and them some. It probably wasn't going to be until late tonight in bed that they would be able to pick up where they had left off this morning. So, let the poor guy rest while he could.

Actually, that got Sarah thinking. Where was tonight in bed? Beckman had agreed to allow them to move in together, but they didn't have a place yet. It would be some days before they would be able to find one. His bed? That wouldn't work at all, too many damn cameras for what she had in mind. She was completely teasing him when she said that Beckman was rumored to be a voyeur, and Casey would gouge out his own eyes with a steak knife rather than watch… but there were still plenty of other people with potential access to those tapes who probably wouldn't turn down the opportunity to see Agent Walker naked and… umm… physically engaged in an intimate manner.

Her hotel room didn't have any cameras pointed at the bed. Of course, it didn't have any cameras anywhere. But that meant that it was also totally unsecured. Would Beckman be okay with the intersect spending the night in such an unsecured location? Sarah decided it was better not to ask and just do it. If she was questioned about it, she could always argue that she didn't want him out of sight of one of his handlers that first night. That really didn't explain why she couldn't have just spent the night at his place. But Beckman might buy it, at least enough to let it slide.

Sarah was finally brought out of her daydream by the sight of her best friend wordlessly grinning at her. "What?" she finally asked.

"What," Ellie repeated skeptically. "Sarah Walker, you should see your face. You finally got your wish. Was it as fantastic as you hoped?"

Sarah knew that any denial was pointless, even if she wanted too. And she didn't want too. After all, she was eager to share her great feeling with her best friend. "Oh my God," she said. "Ellie, it was ten times better than my wildest hope. Chuck was perfect. He did…"

"You're not going to get into any specifics, are you?" Ellie quickly interrupted. "You do realize that this is not just some random guy that you met at a bar we're talking about, it's my brother. I might just have to jump out of the plane."

Sarah reached over and playfully slapped her arm. "No specifics," she said. "Except for that one thing that he did with his tongue, I wonder where he ever learned how to do that. I didn't think it was even possible. Ellie, you're a doctor, explain this to me. He would take his…"

"Sarah," Ellie interrupted. "I'm not kidding. I'll really jump."

"I'm just teasing you," Sarah said as they shared a long laugh. "But he was so amazing. He is everything that you would hope for in a man. You should be so proud of him. After all, you raised him. He was everything that I ever dreamed about… and more. He was loving and gentle and patient. Wherever he went, he made sure I was right there with him. Ellie, it was the perfect night. It was by far the very best night of my life. He was… he was simply perfect."

Ellie looked at her for a long moment and then laughed. "Oh my God. You sound like you're ready to climb back there and wake him up."

Sarah grin turned sinister. "Why do you think I'm trying to get you to jump?" she asked.

"Wow," she said while still laughing. "You are, without a doubt, the most lovesick schoolgirl I've ever seen. It's almost pathetic."

"I know," Sarah sighed.

"Isn't it great?"

x-x-x-x-x

The Vice President had a few different offices at his disposal. Naturally, he had one at the White House. And since he was President of the Senate, he also had one in the Capitol building. But neither of those was suitable for this conversation. After all, all of the meetings in those offices, their participants, and the times and durations were carefully tracked. And who knew what conversations were taped and who might be listening? But political men as powerful as he was had many resources, like a campaign office perhaps. Someplace where it was perfectly legitimate for him to seen. Yet free of the 'rules' that came with the government offices.

"This is not good," the Vice President said. "The President is watching now. Fulcrum is getting close to building their own intersect. They're also getting close to this Bartowski. If they happen to capture him, the war would be in serious jeopardy. This is getting serious."

The man across the desk simply smiled. "Where you see problems," he said. "I see opportunity. We've always known that those Fulcrum morons were expendable. They've been valuable in keeping everyone's attention from our true objective."

"Yes," the VP replied. "But we can't let them win. That would be a disaster. Ted Roarke is a loose cannon. If he gets to powerful…"

"And he won't," the man said. "Don't worry. We'll just bring this Bartowski character in where he'll be safe. He may be able to provide us with a service."

"But what about his team?" the VP asked. "They are most impressive. They've planted anyone who has come up against them so far."

"There's an old saying," the man said with a grin. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Major Casey is easy. We'll just send him to Afghanistan and let him live in a cave for a couple of years. Walker is going to be the tough one. She's pretty bright. Did you know that she served in the Secret Service for a year? Assigned to the Vice President's personal detail would be very close."

"That's all I need," the VP said with a grin. "Have you seen her? If my wife got one look at her on my personal detail, all hell would break loose."

"Don't worry," the man said. "I don't expect Agent Walker to survive very long. First she has to get past the Psychological Team at Langley. She might have a harder time getting recertified than she thought. I might go there and see to it personally. After all, she knows far too much about things and she's much to smart to fool. She'd eventually put two and two together. She's probably figured some things out already. We can't have that. Fortunately, even if she convinces the Langley doctors of her loyalty, protecting the Vice President of the United States in war time is a very dangerous job. We'll set her up."

The VP got up from his seat. "This conversation never took place," he said.

"What conversation was that, sir?"

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah was having a very good day. Well, actually, the past couple of weeks had been pretty great. But today, everything was coming together.

First there was the kiss that Chuck planted on her just before they got out of the plane in Houston. Not only was it pretty sweet on it's own, it was always special when he made the first move, but it also was a great sign for tonight. Not that she really worried about the prospect of wearing him out or anything, at least not so soon, but you could never be too careful.

The next thing may have been a little petty, but it was still fun. Since Chuck had to endure her flirting with that nasty plane rental guy two weeks ago, a little comeuppance was due. She took great pleasure in slapping down his crude but totally expected come-on in front of Chuck with the expertise that years of practice in being hit on had given her. The jerk was pretty much left devastated… served him right. What was the moron thinking anyway? Couldn't he see she was in love?

The next thing was probably the best. She got to watch the scene as Ellie and Devon were reunited after being apart for two weeks. The look of joy on her best friend's face as he held her was quite moving. Of course, after rooming with Casey for two weeks, it was tough to tell what Devon was happier about, seeing his fiancé again, or eating a decent meal. After Sarah had spent a fair amount of time paying Ellie back for all of the lovesick schoolgirl teasing she had endured for the past two weeks, she finally hugged her and promised her a few days alone with him before she came to visit. But there still was that sloppy drunk thing that they owed each other.

Then there was the last, but certainly not least thing. Sarah had spent a fair amount of effort on her plan to get back at all the barbs Casey had aimed at Chuck and her over the past two plus years. The main gist of the plan was to tell him, in somewhat vivid detail, with perhaps even something of a practical demonstration or two, the new nature of her relationship with their asset. But she was starting to have second thoughts. She was even actually starting to feel a little guilty. Maybe she should go a little easy on the poor guy. After all, they had just spent two weeks in a luxury resort lying on the beach, drinking rum, and… well, having a good time in general. Poor Casey and Devon had spent the two weeks in a mountain cabin with no hot water eating army rations.

"Walker," Casey said with his usual smirk as he walked up. "Bartowski. What happened to Cole? Did Walker leave him so exhausted that he couldn't make the trip? Can he still walk?"

Well, that was settled. Casey was still Casey… and he had just unknowingly given her a great gift. Guilt was no longer going to be an issue. Sarah just smiled… and whispered in Chuck's ear.

"This drive is going to be so much fun."

x-x-x-x-x

General Beckman sat at her desk but it honestly felt a little odd. Whenever you were talking to this senior of an officer, it felt like you should be standing at attention, even if it was only on the phone. "Yes, sir," she said. "It's all set up. I've called the meeting for noon their time tomorrow."

"Yes, sir. She completely bought it. She won't run."

"No, sir. She's definitely not going to be very happy. Isn't there something else we can do? They have been a very effective team. And this seems a bit drastic."

"Of course, sir. I follow orders."

"Yes, sir. I'll call you when they are in route."

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah, at long last, was back in the bed that she had grown accustomed to, in the room she had called home for the past two years. Except that she never really thought of it that way. She didn't have a home, really didn't know what that even felt like. This was the place where she had lived for the longest amount of time in her whole life, and it was a stupid hotel room.

But tonight was completely different. In a lot of ways it was more exciting than last night. Sure, first times were wildly exciting, even second times were still new. But tonight she was getting ready for bed knowing that she would be sleeping along side the father of her future children. This was the start of the rest of her life. It was her dream come true. The only thing that would be better would be the first night in their new apartment.

Chuck was obviously pretty nervous about being here. Cancun had been neutral territory. This was different. It was the place that had always been off-limits to him. He had only seen the inside of this room a handful of times in the past two years. The last time was when he had comforted her after her dad left. If he only knew how close she had come that night to asking him to stay, that she had actually decided to ask him but couldn't get the words out of her mouth, it would have freaked him out.

"Poor Casey," he called through the partially open bathroom door where she was getting ready for bed. "Do you really think that he would have shot himself?"

"I'm not sure," Sarah laughed. "Don't feel too sorry for him. He's certainly had it coming with all the snarky comments he's directed our way. You were perfect, by the way. I was beginning to think that you were really going to go for it in that back seat. So did Casey."

Chuck shared her laugh. "Hey," he said innocently. "You said any time, any place. Didn't you mean it?"

"I absolutely meant it," she responded through the door. "I'm just surprised that you would pick that time and place."

"Yeah," he said. "Well you were right. He had it coming."

Sarah held the silk nightshirt she had bought in Cancun in her hand and showed it to him as she hid behind the slightly open door. "Is this okay?" she asked. "Now that we're home, I have some things that might be a little more… exciting." She regretted the words before they were totally out of her mouth. She hadn't thought that one through at all. Sure, she had a couple of very sexy sets of lingerie in her drawer. But other men had seen them. Marks had seen them. It suddenly didn't seem right to wear them in this situation. In fact, it felt downright awful. She would throw them away as soon as she could without him noticing. Ellie was right when they went shopping that very first time. She should have bought one. Of course she was right for the wrong reasons. She shouldn't have bought one to seduce him. It should have been just for Chuck, to show him how much she wanted to make him happy. She would the very next time they were out.

Fortunately, Chuck bailed her out. "Does it matter?" he asked. "Are you really planning on wearing it very long?"

"Good point," she said with a laugh. "Maybe I should just come out naked."

"It would save some time," he teased.

Chuck's eyes widened as he suddenly realized that she wasn't kidding. Sure, he had caught glimpses of her before. They were approaching double digits of times making love. But those other times had always been in the dark. This was the first time that he had really seen her in all of her glory with the lights on. And the sight was breathtaking. It was quiet possibly the most erotic sight of his life.

She was most definitely looking for his reaction, and was clearly very pleased when she saw the wonder in his face. So she actually posed there for a long moment to allow him to fully take in the view. But finally she had to smile at the redness that was now well into his face. It was so cute. "Let this be a lesson," she said as she climbed into bed beside him and turned off the light. "Don't ask for things that you don't really want. Because I think you're going to quickly discover that there isn't much that you could ask for from me and not get."

Chuck just leaned over and kissed her. Predictably, the kissing quickly turned passionate.

"Who said that I didn't really want it?"

x-x-x-x-x

It was twenty minutes later and Sarah was just beginning to catch her breath. She knew that this would eventually become a routine. In fact, in a very real way she was looking forward to it. But it clearly was going to be some time in the future. Until then, she had simply made up her mind to stop worrying why every time seemed better… and just enjoy the ride.

"Chuck," she said as she snuggled closer to him. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Hmmm," Chuck mumbled.

Taking that as a yes, Sarah continued. "Okay, I know that this sounds a little jealous. And maybe it is a little. But where did you learn to do that move? Did Jill teach you that?"

Chuck paused for a moment to figure out if she was being serious. Finally, he decided that she was. "Trust me," he said. "The only thing that Jill ever taught me about sex was how to beg for it."

"Then where?"

"That one was from Morgan," he said.

"Excuse me?"

That got him laughing. "Oh my God," he said. "Ewwww. Not like that. He didn't literally teach me anything. His second step-dad subscribed to Penthouse Forum. When we were teenagers, Morgan would steal them and give them to me after he was… umm… done with them."

"You're getting incredibly close to putting an image in my brain that I definitely don't want there," she said with her own laugh. "But let me get this straight. You learned that move… from porn?"

"Forum is not porn," Chuck quickly protested. "There are no pictures. It's just true stories from readers as they describe their experiences. I wasn't sure if it would work. But I tried it, and you seemed to like it, so…"

"It still sounds like porn to me," Sarah said as she continued laughing. "But it most definitely worked. And, yes, wherever you learned it, I liked it… a lot."

"That's good," Chuck said with his own grin. "Maybe I can tell Morgan that you don't dislike him quite as much now. He's pretty much scared to death of you."

"I don't dislike Morgan," Sarah protested. "You have to admit, he is a bit… out there. But, you're right. I like him a lot more after hearing that story." After lying there for a long moment, she continued. "Can I ask you something without freaking you out?"

"Well, not now," Chuck replied with a grin. "The first rule of not freaking someone out is not to tell them that you might freak them out."

"Duly noted," Sarah said.

"The second rule is to not leave them hanging," he said with a short laugh. "What are you going to ask me?"

Sarah paused for a long moment. "I want to get married," she finally said.

"I thought we already agreed…"

"No," Sarah interrupted. "I know we've going to get married someday. I want to get married now, this week. I know that we can't tell people. And it doesn't mean that we can't have a real wedding someday. I… Chuck, look, I know that I'm sounding pretty crazy. I just want to be married to you."

Chuck just shrugged his shoulders. "You're not sounding crazy at all," he said. "Okay, we can do that. As long as I'm the genie tonight, is there anything else you want?"

"Well," she said shyly. "As long as you're asking, do you have any other tricks that you learned from porn… umm, I mean Forum?"

"I might have a thing or two up my sleeve," Chuck said.

"Do you think that maybe we can try one?"

Chuck just grinned. "Be careful," he said as he grabbed her and rolled then over so that Sarah was on her back with him on top of her. "Don't ask for things that you don't really want. Because I think you're going to quickly discover that there isn't much that you could ask for from me and not get."

x-x-x-x-x

Casey was already in the Castle briefing room talking to Beckman on the monitor when Sarah walked down the steps. She had just dropped Chuck off for his first shift back at the Buy More. And okay, so maybe she put on a bit of a performance kissing him goodbye. She was tired of those morons always wondering what the problem was with their relationship anyway. It was time to put those worries to bed.

"Agent Walker," Beckman said with her usual sarcasm. "It's nice of you to finally join us."

Sarah looked over at Casey. He looked unusually tense. Was he still pissed about the show that they had put on yesterday in that back seat? Come on, Casey. It was all in good fun. "Ma'am," she said. "Chuck and I would like to begin looking for our apartment as soon as practical, this afternoon, if that's possible."

"I'm afraid that's not going to be possible, Agent Walker," she said. Then she nodded towards Casey. "I'm sorry this action has to appear to be so drastic, but we can't take any chances. This is for your own good."

When Sarah looked over, she noticed for the first time that Casey was holding a tranq gun in his hand. And that there was suddenly a dart sticking out of her shoulder. Just as she felt the darkness overtake her, she heard Beckman say something. It sounded like "there's been a slight change in plans."

Then Casey reached out to grab her to protect her from falling as Sarah's body collapsed and her world went completely dark…

In more ways than one.

x-x-x-x-x