Chuck and Sarah Ch. 02

Alone with his thoughts, Morgan stayed under the trees while Elli and Devon went to the chapel.

'She is cute, sexy and inherited her fathers temper...' Morgan mused. '... laughs about my jokes and thinks I'm nice... That's a good start, though.'

Lost in his thoughts, he gazed over the ocean to the horizon, and toyed with a twig he let run through his fingers, while in a distance, the boats of the coast guard and the navy patrolled. They were ensuring security for the guests of honor, attending the dinner party.

He suddenly straighten up, like someone who had an idea that needed to be realized right away.

Elli and Devon had already went deep down into the garden, and Elli kept pulling her husband towards the sudden abyss. There was a especially beautiful rose – Reaching far into the abyss.

"Elli, honey... This rose over here is surely as awesome as the on at the abyss..."

"But I want this one, the most beautiful rose... Am I not the most beautiful woman to you?" she asked challenging.

Devon smiled at her lovingly and hid the slightly annoyed sigh. He knew how useless any protest would be. He couldn't put his foot down, not when Elli is concerned – and they both knew it. "Awesome" yielded to his fate and brachiated carefully over to the rose tree, the rose, his sweetheart desired, hung on. Like a knight in medieval poetry or a hero back in ancient times, Devon fulfilled the task, his beloved one had set to prove his love.

'At least she didn't drop a glove into an arena full of tigers.' he thought, as he plucked the rose.

On his way back, he saw Elli standing at the rose tree, he told her of, examining two roses not being inferior, neither in color nor in scent, to the one he had already plucked.

Elli asked him: "Which one is better?"

"Elli... Here you have already a beautiful rose, what would you need a second for?" he wondered.

Elli cast the sort of gaze at him, women only use when they think a man had said something very stupid or was terribly dimwitted.

"It's for Sarah, of course. Sort of a pre-drawn engagement gift."

"Chuck and Sarah are going to get engaged! Why am I not informed?" Morgans voice arose, and Chuck's best friend looked very pissed, when he approached.

Morgan had already once assumed Chuck to have planed on propose Sarah. At that time Morgan didn't knew that Chuck led a double life. The ring, he had found in Chuck's locker, belonged to Devon who wanted to propose Elli. Back then Morgan was afraid of losing his best friend to Sarah, now though he was just offended by not being informed. Devon also seemed quite confused and looked like he'd missed something crucial.

While cutting off one of the roses, Elli patiently explained.

"Don't play possum. You know as well as I do, they are deeply in love and wouldn't spent a day without the other. When Sarah had deflected the bridal bouquet after the wedding, it was because of fear, not because she doesn't love Chuck... Them eloping to Switzerland was sort of a pre-drawn honeymoon. Both of them just didn't had the time to get this idea... At least they wouldn't speak the thought out loudly. It's only a matter of time for them to come to terms with it."

Morgan and Devon looked at each other. Of course Elli was right, and both of the men knew it. They only hadn't thought about it yet

Chuck and Sarah being together was like the sun rising in the east and water running downhill. It actually was only a matter of time for them to be more than "only" lovers. The smaller, black haired buddy of Chuck and his brother-in-law the tall, blonde athlete of a man hadn't wasted a thought about it as they hadn't ever thought about the sun not rising over the hills in the east.

"Your wife is..."

"... right, as usual." Devon finished Morgan's sentence, and they gave each other high five.

"The roses will suit both of you, for sure." Devon added and kissed her cheek tenderly.

While Elli packed the roses into a sturdy container and then in her backpack, preventing them from being crushed on the way back, Devon shouldered his backpack and they hit the road again.

"Just go ahead, I'll catch up with you. I need another minute." Morgan announced, while he went to his backpack, he left under the trees.

Sarah cuddled at Chuck's chest at the beach. The sun dried the sweat on their skin and the blessed tiredness capturing them just felt cushy.

When Chuck had caught up with Sarah and both had swam to the shore, they just had gave in to their desire. They had made love right there amid the rocks on a part of the beach being covered with fine sand.

Now they enjoyed the closeness and were silent, because words were obsolete. Chuck kissed her hair and lovingly caressed her neck, when a low clatter and rumble startled them. Immediately they turned towards the sound's source.

Only a couple of feet away a few pebbles moved, and a palm-sized lizard wiggled itself hectically and arduously from beneath a heap of stones. The saurian dashed their direction for a few steps, noticed the two human beings and suddenly stopped dead in it's tracks, paused motionless, just like observing both of them very intently.

Then it spun in it's heels and disappeared into a narrow crevice, a couple of feet away. Almost immediately the reptile's head reappeared, like checking out the area, registered them both still being there and pulled back in such a speed, a little pebble felt before the opening, like slamming a door shut.

Chuck and Sarah shared a look and burst into laughter.

"Obviously there's someone not fond of having company." Sarah giggled.

"It can't be me... I could spend the rest of my life holding you in my arms." Chuck assured her.

You could see in her face, how much she liked the idea. She snuggled in his chest and tenderly caressed the skin on his belly.

"This sounds nice, Chuck... The rest of our lives... I couldn't have imagined this before."

Sarah hadn't thought that much about having a relationship before, or planed for the future. Given her occupation, she was happy to be alive at the end of the day, and only planed her missions, not her life. But since she had met Chuck, this didn't work out anymore. She felt a longing... A longing for more... More but only the next day.

He tenderly kissed her forehead and looked her deeply in the eyes for a long while.

"You are no longer the one you had been before, either. Sarah... So much in your life has changed."

Sarah sat up and looked down at her boyfriend with a serious look.

"You really think, I've changed that much?"

"I think so, Sarah... You appear more secure and consolidated. And you're smiling much more than back then. Seems like a heavy burden is taken off your shoulders. Maybe it's because you don't have to protect me anymore and don't have to fear for me any longer."

Sarah shook her head. "No Chuck... It's not like that. I still fear for you and want to protect you the best I can... But I'm no longer afraid to love someone. Now I know, I can rely on someone and there is someone who cares for me."

"That's right... Casey likes you and does care a lot for you. After all we're a team."

As Sarah playfully elbowed him in the ribs, Chuck grinned widely and took her in his arms lovingly.

"Of course I care for you, my aggressive Amazon. After all I do love you from the depths of my heart and couldn't stand for you to get hurt. This makes us quite similar, doesn't it?"

There it was again! This boyish smile, disarming her every time.

Sarah loved Chuck. She loved his quirks and whims... She loved him for immediately memorizing her liking her pizza vegetarian and without olives... She loved him for not pestering her with questions about her past, but waiting patiently for her to open up... She loved him because he loved her the way she was and never had given up on her not matter how hard a time she had given him.

Deep down in her heart, she had always been aware of him being someone special . Someone, who wouldn't let himself being discouraged by her hard shell and her acting cool.

In his own way, Chuck had been the most dangerous that could have happened to Sarah at all. His almost daredevil courage, his determinate purposefulness to do it right, his inventiveness and his absolute candor were features, she couldn't have protected herself from. She herself had already admitted to him that she had fallen for him somewhere between him fixing her pretended broken mobile and him disarming a bomb in a hall full of NATO-dignitaries using a computer virus from an obscure porn site.

Instead of answering his question with words, she simply kissed him long and longingly. Undoubtedly they were similar in this regard, and not only in this. Each of them would have given his life for the other... Both actually had already put their life at risk for the other way more than once.

"I love you, Chuck." she breathed at his lips, when she cuddled up against him again and laid her head at his chest.

"I love you, Sarah." he whispered.

How soothing his heartbeat worked at her... How much she enjoyed his warmth and subconsciously adopted his rhythm of breathing...

"Darling... We should head back. We have to freshen up before going to the dinner."

A gentle kiss touched her lips, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the sun had already move quite a lot. She had fallen asleep, cuddled up at his chest. Sarah squinted at the sudden light hitting her eyes and returned his kiss with a smile.

"Very good idea... I'm hungry like a horse. Entertaining you is pretty draining." she teased him, and he got back on her by sensuously biting her neck.

"Hey ho... Whoa... Easy tiger... The dessert will be served after the dinner." she scolded him teasingly.

They rose and wanted to swim back to the boat when Sarah realized something.

"Chuck... You didn't happen to see my bikini bottoms? I had put them on this rock over there to get dry again."

"You mean this rock here, submerged by the tide?" He asked with a cheeky smile on his face.

"Oh no! It can't be gone!" she exclaimed slightly desperate. Chuck shrugged taking her hand.

"C'mon... We really have to hurry... Don't worry. There's no one to see you and you still have your pareo on the boat you can wrap around."

Sarah let him pull her and wailed silently: "Yeah... But... But it's almost See-trough."

After the engine's sound had waved off, the lizard dared to leave it's hideaway and again assumed it's vantage point on the hot rock, happy to be on it's own again. Finally the noisy, two-legged creatures had left it's territory. A dragonfly, flying around carelessly, brought back the reptile's good luck in hunting. While the saurian chewed the insect with pleasure, Sarah's bikini bottoms emerged from beneath it's rock swimming on the slow waves the boat had stirred, only a couple of feet away from where Sarah had left it.

If the reptile had looked to the other side of the cove instead of only following the leaving boat with it's gaze, it would have probably noticed the small wooden fishing boat, slowly driving at half throttle northwards – towards the palace. But even if the lizard had watched, it wouldn't have mattered to it. There had been plenty of boats coming and leaving the last days, delivering groceries, staff and equipment... What difference would one more boat make?

Two men sat in the library of the former presidents weekend-palace and now guesthouse of the current prime minister, having a drink together and smoking exquisite cigars from the prime ministers personal reserve, that would have stabbed each other to death only some time ago. On countless attempted assassinations during the last three decades, Col. John Casey – in Costa Gravas also known as "Ángel de la Muerte" – had tried to fulfill his orders to kill the prime minister Allejandro Goya – former Costa Gravan dictator.

But already for a while now, the two men were bound by mutual respect – and due to an assassin from the RING and some weird circumstances also by a certain amount of blood.

The grumpy NSA-agent and the playboy-like and a little arrogant prime minister still weren't the closest friends, but after a RING-assassin had tried to kill Goya and was stopped by Casey, and Casey's blood was, under the given circumstances, the only way to safe the ex-dictator, they were actually bound by way more than only their affection for good cigars.

"Colonel... I'm glad for you doing me the honor of visiting my beautiful country with your gorgeous daughter. I haven't had the opportunity to thank you personally for saving my life with your sacrifice."

"Excellency..." Casey almost choked at having to call the former dictator of Costa Gravas like this. Although he had held free and democratic elections for the first time and now was elected rightfully for prime minister, Casey couldn't see him differently out of habit.

"Excellency... I've seen the progress your democratization efforts have made. It's impressive that you've kept your word and attempt to make Costa Gravas a democratic free country... But I keep asking myself: Why am I... Why are we here?"

"Colonel... Ah... May I call you John? Colonel sounds so formal..." Goya gave Casey his version of a winning smile, and Casey had to upbraid himself to stay polite and to answer only a little ironic.

"I'd be honored to be called like this, Allejandro... After all we are some kind of blood brothers."

The prime minister looked a little stunned, and started laughing out loud. He seemed to be deaf for Casey's irony.

"That's what I wanted, John! We share the blood and both love a good cigar. When I look at your gorgeous daughter and guess about her mother, I even think, we share the same taste in women. Gorgeous, strong and courageous. Women like my late wife, like Señora Woodcomb or like Señorita Walker."

Goya raised his glass: "Just look, John. That's our domestic rum, you are also drinking right now. He is very sweet and smooth, isn't it?"

Casey nodded, wondering, where the prime minister tried to get at. Goya toke a long drag on his cigar, until the tip glowed in a bright red tone then held the ember over his glass. To Casey's surprise the rum started burning with a pale blue flame.

"You know, what I mean? Like this rum, so are these women... Sweet, sensual... but yet so incredibly explosive."

Lost in thoughts, the former dictator chuffed his cigar and continued after a while:

"Charles and Devon are really lucky men, you can see it in their faces. Aren't it the beautiful women, who stimulate us men to our best performances? Take a look at this young man... What's his name? Ah... Morgan Grimes..."

"What's about Grimes?" Casey forced himself to remain calm, but since he had learned that his daughter Alex had given Morgan her number and it had shown that the both of them are making friends with each other, Casey wasn't actually Morgan's biggest fan.

"Señor Grimes seems to be a wholehearted man with integrity, just waiting for the right woman to help him develop his whole potential."

On the one hand, the topic of choice – even thinking about Morgan and Alex was kind of horror to him – annoyed Casey, on the other hand Goya had shown, that he was utterly good informed about the little odd community of theirs... As far as information was available.

"Of all women in the world, why has it to be my daughter?" Casey mumbled absentminded.

"Why not?"

Obviously the politician had quite a good sense of hearing, as Casey had to register sheepishly.

"As far as I can tell, Alex is pretty independent and determined. And it seems like she is seeing something in Grimes, she likes. How come, you don't like this young man, John?"

That's a question, Casey had often asked himself too. And yet he hadn't found a satisfying answer, besides being convinced that Grimes was a moron and a punk, causing disasters all around him, and being not able to follow any orders. To Casey it was only due to luck and coincidence Morgan hadn't had ruined a mission or even caused any deaths. Of course he formulated a slightly more polite answer for the minister, but in general this was what he meant.

"John... I know, you can't tell me, but considering you, agent Walker and agent Bartowski being spies, knowing that Dr. Woodcomb at least for a short while was involved into clandestine activities and guessing that Señora Bartowski-Woodcomb could hardly not been involved at all... To me it seems quite unlikely for Señor Grimes not to be part of it or even being a spy himself."

It adds to Casey's credit, he didn't burst into laughter at this point, although the sole idea of Morgan Grimes being a real spy appeared like the joke of the year to him. Nevertheless, Casey also remembered having to train Grimes to be that spy. Morgan was the type of guy, that went to action with way more enthusiasm and courage than reason and expertise – something, that made Casey crazy.

"Allejandro..."

"Don't answer, John. I know you are not allowed to talk about it, and I respect it. Just ask yourself, whether these really were the reasons why you don't want your daughter to be with Grimes."

Casey didn't dare to ask himself this question, too afraid of the answer.

'You don't want them to start something because despite of – or maybe because of – his mistakes, this damn Morgan Guillermo Grimes shows features and abilities of a good spy. And therefore he put himself in danger... Danger that could effect Alex too.'

Allejandro Goya was a clever man, although he very effectively hid this fact behind a facade of pomposity and arrogance and always was suggestive of not being fully informed about what went on around him. This was the reason why he still was only cuffing his cigar and so offered Casey the opportunity to arrange his ideas.

"Allejandro, let's just think for a minute, you were right... Purely hypothetical... Would you allow your daughter to be with someone with such a dangerous occupation? Would there be any man at all, being worthy?"

Goya slowly nodded and gave Casey a long glance.

"I really understand, what you want to say... It's the same with my daughter. I tried to protect her all her life. But I think, your daughter knows what and who Señor Grimes is and after all it's her decision. Don't forget, your daughter most likely knows exactly what you think of him – maybe even better than you do yourself. Our daughters are no longer naïve little girls, not matter how hard this is to us to cope with."

Goya raised his glass and said: "Just trust your daughter, and don't try to get between them. If she trusts you, she wouldn't have secrets from you. She's a woman with a sense of honor, and you can consider Señor Grimes being like that. He is a man of honor and wouldn't try anything without your blessing."

If Casey had took a moment to think about it, to reconsider and to be honest, he would have realized by now Morgan already respecting and admiring him and Goya being totally right. But Casey was way to confused to see it straight and he was also to overwhelmed by having a daughter. A daughter, making her own decisions and knowing what she was doing – even without his advice.

"You've asked my, why I had invited all of you to my country, John..."

Casey focused because the prime minister obviously wanted to cut to the chase.

"I wanted to thank you all – especially you. You've made me think. Although you've been in mortal danger, you did everything you could to safe my life – the life of your declared enemy."

Casey waived to explain to the minister that he had been unconscious himself and couldn't prevent Devon, Sarah and Chuck from taking blood from him to antagonize the poison in the prime minister's organism. It hadn't been his decision.