Chuck and Sarah Ch. 03

When Sarah woke up from the scent of freshly brewed coffee and voices from the living room, she discovered her anniversary gift on the pillow next to her. Every now and then Chuck was giving her charms for the charm bracelet, he had given her on their second shared Christmas Eve – a token from his mother, what made the gift even more valuable to Sarah. This time the pendant was a tiny silvery playing card. As she looked closer, she realized it being the queen of hearts and smiled happily.

She got up and wrapped herself into her bathrobe, when she recognized the voices coming from the living room as the ones of Elli and Chuck. In the mirror she quickly checked, if Chuck had left any telltale signs during the last night, and found a tiny hickey above her pubes.

"You little animal..." she smirked, tied her robe, left the bedroom – still reeking of the passionate sex, they had the last night – and joined Elli and Chuck in the living room.

"Good morning, late riser." Chuck greeted her, kissed her – gently slapping her tushy in the process – and went to the kitchen to get her coup of coffee.

"Good morning, tiger." she answered him and blinked sassy at him.

Then she turned to Elli, who had followed the scene with a knowing smile. Though her smile wasn't only knowingly, there was something more to it, Sarah could sense. Elli beamed from within, and seemed to be incredibly excited and cheerful about something.

"Sarah... Devon and I are going to have a baby!" she blurted out. "I only told Chuck a few days ago, but I wanted to be the one to tell you."

Sarah hugged her sister-in-law-to-be heartily and pulled her close.

"I'm so happy for you, Elli. The child will be so lucky to have loving parents like you and Devon."

Elli looked from Sarah to Chuck and back again.

"But there's another reason, why I'm here... I wanted to ask you and Chuck something."

Chuck stepped closer and gave Sarah her cup of coffee, then looked at his sister.

"What do you want to ask sis?" He sipped on his coffee.

"I'll say it straight. Devon and I... We want you to be the baby's godparents."

Chuck choked on his coffee and looked at his sister.

"We... Em... We feel honored, Elli... If this is your wish..."

Sarah looked at him and with a smile turned to Elli.

"We'd love to do it."

Chuck had put his cup down by now and hugged his sister.

"Right Elli, Sarah and I would love to be the baby's godparents." and after sharing a glance with Sarah he added: "We love kids."

For a moment, Sarah tried to imagine Chuck being a father... And the very idea pleased her much. But instantly there were doubts if she could ever balance having a family of her own and being a spy – and whether she really wanted this to happen?

When she saw Chuck and Elli beaming in race, she pushed her doubts aside.

'What am I thinking about? We weren't even engaged, let alone married... And none of us has even thought about that at all.'

She let them pull her into their hugging and enjoyed once again somehow being part of a family. She could fully understand Chuck and would help him find his mom. Deep inside, everyone longs for a family – a community to belong to – and Sarah was no exception.

The next moment, Morgan came – without knocking as usual – through the front door, in his hand a bag with bagels and on his face a wide grin.

"Devon has told me the good news. Let me hug you, mommy!"

Before Elli could even think of defending herself, the bearded former pest had hugged her and squeezed her gently.

"I'm so happy for the both – the three – of you! Any idea, who's gonna be the godfather?"

Chuck softly tugged at Sarah's sleeve.

"Follow me. This is going to be very dramatic. You don't want to see this." he explained, slightly grinning.

When they entered the kitchen, a languorous wailing sounded from the living room, and Chuck gave Sarah a knowing look.

"He can't deal well with rejection."

When they returned to the living room about five minutes later, the visibly cracked Morgan sat on the couch, while Elli had her hand comforting on his arm.

"... didn't know, this would mean so much to you. But Chuck is my brother."

Morgan looked up and straight into Chuck's and Sarah's faces.

"You couldn't have picked two better persons, Elli, and I'm happy for you. So I'll only be the nice uncle Morgan then." he stated, still sniffing.

"More likely the funny, wacko and spaced out uncle Morgan." Chuck whispered at Sarah.

He heard his cell phone ringing in the bedroom and went to check it out. When he returned, he mouthed "Casey", "Castle" and "Immediately" to Sarah and Morgan.

"C'mon Chuck, Buy More's waiting for us." Morgan said apparently calmer, and finally rose. He once again hugged Elli and even kissed her on the cheek.

"I'm really happy for the both of you. You'll be great parents."

Chuck put an arm around his friend's shoulder and led him out. Outside, they hid and waited for Elli to leave the house, and five minutes later also Sarah left.

"Casey is waiting for us. He got new orders from Beckmann."

Chuck explained, and they went to the newly opened Buy More – now under new CIA-management.

"We got a new assignment from Beckmann. We're leaving tonight."

Casey was packing his stuff and nodded at Sarah, Morgan and Chuck as they entered "Castle".

"Our objective is a Volkoff Industries facility in Ðakovo... near Belgrade."

All three looked stunned at the chunky NSA-agent.

"How...?"

"What...?"

"How I made it, you ask? Plain simple... I've just told the truth."

They still didn't get it.

"You've told Beckmann, we're looking for Chuck's mom?" Morgan asked incredulously.

"No, moron! I've told her, we have found another of our mysterious Volkoff's facility due to your help. Now Beckmann wants us to learn all we can about both the facility and the operatives involved. Oh... Chuck...She insisted on you being in. She'll give us plenty of rope as long as we stay under the radar and don't raise to much dust."

Chuck grinned widely, while Sarah just looked at her colleague from the NSA with amazement and amusement. It was Morgan, who cut to the point.

"Well... You can't do anything about it. An order is an order. If Beckmann demands of you to check the facility and the computer main frames inside thoroughly, you have to do, what you're supposed to, Chuck."

In his excitement he even patted Casey's shoulder.

"Perfectly plotted, Casey."

"Do that again, and I'll rip your arm off, idiot."

Due to Casey's grim face, it didn't show whether he was only joking or dead serious, but the little bearded man didn't want to risk his health and murmured a silent "Sorry" in his beard.

"Our plane leaves at 10.30 tonight, and I already informed Ðorđe Orahovac, your father's contact. He's picking us up at the airport with all intelligence the SUP has about Volkoff." Casey explained, while he kept on packing the equipment.

"Walker, with your knowledge of Polish, you can handle the language, don't you? You will also have no problems with it, Chuck, I know."

He threw two books in Morgan's direction, without looking.

"Make yourself acquaint with them... It might be of use, like back then in Switzerland."

Morgan retrieved with the dictionary and the tourist guide, Casey had gave him, and soon Casey was busy in another part of "Castle" himself.

Chuck shook his head in wonder.

"It seems like he's really into me finding my mom..." he mused when Sarah put her arms around him.

"Don't forget, he's a marine AND a field agent. His saying is: "No one is left behind.". This also goes for your mom. She was one of us, just like you, he or me. Casey likes you and has a very strict codex of honor. Besides he can kill two birds with one stone. We really have to learn much more about Volkoff and his organization, and If searching for you mother does additionally motivate you, this could only be of use."

Chuck could have felt hurt by his friend – and he considered Casey as a friend – being so manipulative, but being a spy, he realized, he wouldn't have done it differently. The mission always has the highest priority.

That Chuck off all knew the best, because that's the reason he hadn't took his chance to elope with Sarah, back in Prague about a year ago.

"We should get ready now, don't you think? He asked. "It's going to be a long flight."

Chuck kissed his girlfriend and partner, then he stepped back.

"They don't grant us even a moment just for us, do they?" he smiled at her. "I'll be at home, waiting for you and packing our bags. Should I pack something special?"

She seemed to think a second, then she answered.

"Yes... The camera with the pictures from Costa Gravas..." a smile flashed on her face. "... and the white dress I bought in Paris – just in case."

Her lips met his, when she kissed him and whispered: "See you later, darling."

She went on compiling a brief mission file, including the most important information they might need, while Chuck went home to pack. It was going to be a long flight and she looked forward to rest at Chuck's shoulder.

"Dobro došli u našem lepom Beogradu!"

They were greeted to Belgrade at their gate by Ðorđe Orahovac, who turned out to be a vivid and cheerful man, after they had landed in the late evening. Especially Casey liked the 6ft. tall, brawny and poised ex-bodyguard from the start.

"I've compiled a file, summarizing all of our intelligence, as far as we have any. Volkoff Industries hasn't put any negative light on itself in our country, and due to the current state of corruption I have to be careful not to stir things up to much."

He led them to a spacey, unmarked SUV, and let them enter.

"Therefore you have to understand, that our cooperation can only be unofficial... Unless you have solid evidences. That's, when my bureau can intervene – But you have my support."

He told the driver where to drive "Vladimira Rolovića 197" and started to talk to the four foreign agents.

"I've set up a temporary base of operations in a secure and low-key apartment, a friend of mine owns. He's living in Germany and only uses it during the summertime, if at all. So no one will know you're here and you can have an undisturbed look around.."

When they arrived at the house and unloaded the car's trunk, Orahovac gave Sarah the apartment keys.

"Make yourself comfortable and relax. If you happen to have questions... I'm in my office from 08.30 in the morning. And before you also can knock... I live next door."

He smiled and approached the house.

The SUV drove off and left the four of them behind at the square, where even at this late hour still kids of all ages were playing and fooling around. Some of the older boys, about the age of 12 or 13, admired Sarah with obvious interest, and a very snappy boy came closer and started to interrogate them in almost perfect English.

Who they were and where they came from, if they would stay for longer – and last but not least: whether Sarah has a boyfriend. At that point, the smirking Chuck had to intervene.

"To je moja cura." he claimed his "tenure" on "his girl" unmistakably in perfect Serbian and with ostentation took her in his arms, whereupon the boy mustered him, nodded in awe and assured Chuck of his envy.

"Zavidim ti, brate mili."

"Ostavljaite ljude na miru, kako ste tako bezobrazni!" the SUP-man blustered the – at least to him – sassy and intrusive kids from his neighborhood.

He admonished them not to pester the newcomers and not to be so brazen. Then he asked the four, that unbeknownst to him had stayed where they were, with an inviting gesture, into the house.

Chuck was sure, he had heard one boy saying to another: "Koja oštra maćka." and had to admit – smiling at the thought – that Sarah really was a "hot kitten".

While the kids returned to the activities they were occupied with before, the four spies, led by Orahovac, first entered the house and then the apartment, that was supposed to be their base for the next couple of days.

"The owner had inherited the apartment from his great-aunt, my former neighbor, and out of respect for her, he didn't change much of the interior. But the bathroom is newly made and both telephone and broadband internet connection are available. In the closet are two air mattresses with auto-inflation, and behind the door there is also a paravent."

He looked around and then consulted his watch.

"If you don't have any questions, I'll retire for today and we'll see each other tomorrow at ten in the morning for breakfast. My driver will pick you up. Have a good night."

When the door had closed behind him, Casey took a mustering look around. He quickly realized the apartment not being state-of-the-date in every aspect, but suffice for the beginning.

"If someone wants to shower, we should start the boiler first... And be economical with the hot water. These boilers don't have that much of a capacity, and it takes a while for them to heat up. We'll see tomorrow, what we can do about other quarters." he explained.

"I don't know, but I kind of like this apartment... It's kind of comfy."

Sarah was surprised herself, but she actually liked the small first floor apartment and it's 70s charm.

"A more practical question..." Morgan spoke up.

"Where are we supposed to sleep? I just see one bed." he looked around.

"Do we have to flip a coin to know who gets to sleep in the bed and who on the mattresses?"

Casey took the paravent and placed it before the bed to block sight.

"You and I will sleep on the mattresses, and Chuck and Walker will have the bed... If they promise to behave."

Sarah and – after Sarah had elbowed him – Chuck nodded sincerely and then laughed.

"We'll behave, Casey. Take our word for it." they promised and went on unpacking.

Two hours later, they had unpacked, freshen up and decided to call it a night, to be fit and rested the next morning. Both, Sarah and Chuck, had to focus not to burst into laughter, when they saw Casey and Morgan laying on their mattresses side by side. Casey dressed in rather conservative PJ's and Morgan wearing his favorite Star-Wars-PJ's – allover printed with the movies characters.

When she drifted into sleep, she shortly thought, how lucky they were, that Morgan had stopped sleeping nude.

Darkness surrounded him like an impervious curtain, and for a short moment Morgan didn't knew where he was, but when he heard the roaring snoring next to him, the memory came back to him. He was laying on an air-mattress in a small apartment in Belgrade – and next to him laid the man who scared him more than anything in the world: Colonel John Casey, NSA-agent and one of Uncle Sam's most valuable assassins.

Morgan turned to the other side, and got off the mattress. When he came out from behind the paravent he saw the French door standing open, and Sarah sitting on a chair on the balcony. Because he had lived with her and Chuck for a while now, it wasn't new to him to see her only lightly dressed. He had met her way to often in the middle of the night in the kitchen or crossed her path when she left the bathroom after she had showered – she's even the reason he stopped sleeping in the nude.

"Can't you sleep, Morgan?"

He hadn't bothered to be especially silent, for he didn't had expected anyone to still be awake – therefore it was clear for Sarah to have heard him move.

"Casey snores – and he snores louder then me." was his answer. "Everything ok with you? Why aren't you asleep?"

Sarah looked up to him, in the street lamp's light, filtered by the trees in front of the house, she looked strangely vulnerable. As like she wanted to prepare for a threatening danger, she had pulled her robe closely around her body.

"What's up, Sarah? I know you well enough by now to tell that something is wrong."

"Morgan, what do you think about his quest for his mother?"

He grabbed a chair and sat across of her to look her in the eyes.

"Sarah... When Mrs. B. disappeared, a world ended for Chuck. Just a short time later his father left, and Elli had to take care of him. You know all of this. Can you imagine? He was even more nervous than me! He just started to recover when he thought, he had to take care of me."

Sarah watched him skeptically.

"Ok... It was good for me either that he took care of me, but that's not the point. I'd follow Chuck to the end of the world and even further, and I'd always be there for him, and especially now. I don't know, whether you're aware of how important his mother is to him now, now, after his father died. Chuck is a family guy, from head to toe..."

Sarah remembered the pictures in her mind: Chuck as a father, Chuck with a baby on his arm, beaming with pride and joy.

"... is also the reason for his strength. Right now, we are his family – above all you, Sarah – but he hadn't seen his mom since he was a little boy. Besides this, he needs answers. Answers, only his mother can give."

"I'm worried, Morgan."

Her voice was faint and insecure, and Morgan sensed her being scared of something.

"What, if we find Mary Elizabeth, and it turns out, she isn't the woman anymore, she was once? Just look, how Chuck had changed in this short time. I understand him, but I can't forget Prague..."

Morgan wanted to say something, but she cut him of.

"I know it, Morgan, and I also understand his motives. But this doesn't change my feeling that the things start to repeat. Mary Elizabeth left her family because she was a spy, and Chuck rejected me to become a spy – both wanted to serve the bigger good and were ready to sacrifice their personal happiness."

Morgan looked closely at her.

"You are afraid, he might leave you one day, don't you?"

"Since Elli had asked us to be the godparents, I keep thinking about how it would be to have a family, Morgan... A family with Chuck. But I'm scared, the family wouldn't keep him if he decides to risk his life, like his mother did – and like his father did. No matter how honorable his intentions had been, Steven had left Chuck with the marginal older Elli."

Morgan leaned forward and hugged her.

"Chuck is neither his mom, nor his dad and least of all your dad. He's your Chuck, the guy who even came up with a damn tank when he thought, you were in danger – He'd do anything to protect you."

"But she's his mother... How would he decide, if he has to choose between me and her?"

"I don't know, but I do know how he had decided back in Moscow... That's why we're here. He had chosen you without knowing if he could ever find his mother's trace again. This should be your answer, don't you think?"

Astonishingly Sarah actually felt better, after she had talked with Morgan, although he couldn't completely soothe her worries. Morgan was right, of course. Chuck would do anything for her and had sacrificed the data in Moscow to safe her and Casey, but she could only hope for him never to change. Everything was still new and unusual to her, and she was afraid of losing the sole good that had happened to her in her life.

"I don't think, Chuck ever has to know about this conversation. He wont learn it from me anyway... And if you ever need someone to talk, I'll be there for you, Sarah..."

Sarah knew, that he meant it like he had said. She even found herself considering this little bearded man a kind of... Well, not exactly little brother, but still some kind of freaky cousin.

She returned into the room, while Morgan remained on the balcony to catch some fresh mild nighty air, and watched Chuck in his sleep: Totally relaxed and peaceful. Cautiously she laid next to him and kissed his cheek.