MISSING IN ACTION

A Chuck/Sarah fanfic :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Duh.

This turned out longer than I’d imagined. Hope that’s a good thing… thanks for all the reviews so far.

SIX

OUTSIDE BARTOWSKI APARTMENT – 13.21

Devon pressed a kiss to the side of his wife’s head as she climbed out of the car, and he took her bags from her with a gentle smile. Ellie levered herself out of the passenger seat, unable to keep the smile from her own face. Devon had nearly choked when he’d heard that Sarah was alive, and she couldn’t shake the happiness that seemed to be swathing them all. Of course, Ellie had no idea that the bomb had been targeted at Sarah; Ellie had no idea of the dangers that hovered over them every single day. Devon didn’t think he fully understood them…

Ellie rummaged through her bag looking for the door key, and then muttered something under her breath. Devon peered through the window, and the grin on his face widened at what he saw.

“Uh, honey?”

Ellie produced the keys triumphantly. “Yes?”

“We seem to have acquired a pair of teenagers…” he raised an eyebrow, and Ellie followed his gaze, through the window. She could just make out two shapes on the couch, her brother’s feet were hanging off, and she could just make out his dark curly hair emerging from the other end. On top of her brother, however, she could see a small, blonde woman, wearing Chuck’s shirt and not a lot else, quite firmly attached to her brother’s mouth. Her own smile widened, and she looked at her husband.

“Leave them alone, Devon, he thought she was dead this morning…”

But she knocked very loudly on the door, and opened it slowly, and somehow, by the time they walked through the door, Sarah had managed to re-clothe herself in Ellie’s robe, and they were sat on the couch, Chuck’s arm sloping around the blonde’s shoulders, but other than that… completely innocent. Ellie and Devon shared a smile, and she couldn’t help grin at the look of total adoration on her brother’s face. For about the thousandth time, she thanked God for saving Sarah Walker, for saving her brother.

Sarah leant her head back on Chuck’s shoulder, and though she snuggled into him a hundred times during the extent of their cover relationship, this time, seconds after he’d torn himself from her mouth, and his hands had been everywhere, this time it felt all the more real. He pressed a tiny kiss to her temple, and laced his fingers with hers, as Devon set Ellie’s shopping bags down and headed to take a shower, and his sister started to unpack the groceries.

Sarah’s heart was still thudding, and she could feel her lips tingling… she was sure, without looking, that they were swollen and red, could Ellie really not see? Chuck’s lips pressed against her cheek, and she thought that if he didn’t stop, she wouldn’t be able to think of anything that would stop her from ripping his clothes off there and then and… Ok, bad train of thought… she could feel every inch of his body against hers; she could feel his own racing pulse where her head rested in the crook of his neck…

“I got you some clothes, Sarah…” Ellie gave them both a sunshiny smile, “And something to sleep in… didn’t think you’d want to be stuck in Chuck’s… clothes… all the time…”

**

CHUCK’S BEDROOM – 22.14

Apparently Ellie’s definition of ‘something to sleep in’ was a lot of lace and very little actual material. As Sarah unpacked and laid it out on Chuck’s bed they both stared at it for a second, unsure of how to react. Sarah, laughing, broke the silence, and suddenly her hands had found their way into his. He’d always touched her when he could, when he’d had the opportunity, at an appropriate moment. But their little… escapade… earlier seemed to have broken a seal somewhere, crossed a line, and every touch set them both on fire, longing for so much more, hearts racing…

“I’ll… uh… I’ll just get changed…” Sarah whispered, kissing his cheek, grabbing the negligee and dashing into the bathroom. Chuck gave a small smile, staring after her at the closed door.

“Um… Chuck?”

Ellie. She was in her pyjamas behind him, hands folded over her huge belly.

“Yes?”

“Devon and I have been talking… we think Sarah should be good to get some sleep now…”

Chuck nodded, “Seriously, Ellie, could you have not bought her some real pyjamas?”

His sister let out a giggle that made her sound about twelve years old. “I was just… well… I didn’t think you’d be complaining…” she laughed, “Goodnight Chuck. Sweet dreams.”

He stared after her, exasperated, but was broken out of his reverie by the sound of the bathroom door opening, and Sarah was standing there… wearing almost nothing. The negligee was dark purple, came just above mid-thigh, and was made of that sheer, silky material that made him want to run his fingers over it endlessly. She leant on the doorframe, a small smile on her face, all long blonde curls and endlessly brown legs and bright blue eyes. His breath caught in his throat, but he didn’t try to hide it.

“What do you think?” she whispered, lowering her eyes and looking up at him through her eyelashes, completely aware of what she was doing to him, but enjoying it too much. It was erasing the events of the past 24 hours, it was dulling the pain, because that was love in Chuck’s eyes alongside the desire, she was sure, and that meant that right now, standing in front of her boyfriend in lingerie, she was any normal girl.

He couldn’t seem to get any words out, so she took a couple of steps over to him, taking his hands, and standing as close to him as she possibly could without touching where she could still feel the heat radiating from him. His eyes were darker than she thought she’d ever seen them, and suddenly there was something she couldn’t read in his eyes, and she was smiling, reaching up to curl her fingers in the back of his hair, pull him down to her, but he was frowning, there was horror in his face…

“Chuck?”

His eyes traced all over her, and suddenly she realised what was wrong. Being in the business she was, she was used to this, used to worse… hell, she’d been this bad after missions since she’d been part of Team Bartowski… but Chuck hadn’t seen her in this state of undress back then… She was covered in scrapes and bruises, ugly, black-blue bruises on her knees and shoulders and all over her back, and it didn’t bother her, not now she was safe and warm and clean and with him, but Chuck looked like he was going to be sick.

She shook her head. “It’s ok…” she whispered, taking his hand in hers, and pulling him even closer, her other hand cupping his face. “It doesn’t hurt that much…”

And she closed her eyes and kissed him, because she planned to get used to doing that. His arms wrapped around her tightly, strong, muscled arms, more so in the past two years they’d worked together, and she felt their bodies collide with such liquid clarity she thought she’d never stop being as happy as she was in that moment – he seemed to have that ability, to erase anything vaguely bad from her mind, just for the few moments they were really together.

And suddenly everything wasn’t moving fast enough, and Chuck was wearing far too many clothes. Sarah was backing him up against the bed, and he felt his knees buckle as he hit the mattress, pulling her down on top of him as they collided with the soft sheets. Sarah was hungry, mad, he’d never seen her quite like it, and the thought that it was just for him made him ecstatic. The taste of her was so vivid, so overwhelming as she tugged his T-shirt over her head with just a hint of her CIA-trained violence. He found himself laughed slightly as it got stuck on his ears and Sarah cursed under her breath in Russian, reminding him they’d never be normal, the pair of them, not in the way most people considered normal to be. He was drunken, delirious on her, and he was completely powerless to her advances – her soft lips, her wandering, wanton hands….

But it was as he flipped her underneath him and the lines of pain flashed across her face before she could put them in check, as she was so well-trained to do, that he rolled off of her and sat up, severing every inch of contact between them.

“It’s not ok…” he whispered, daring himself to reach out and tuck a flyaway blonde curl behind her ear, allowing himself that. “You’re hurt… you could have died…”

Sarah found herself rolling her eyes, and reaching for him. “How many times do we have to go over this today, Chuck? I’m trying to forget about it… just for a while…”

He gave her a small smile, keeping his hand on the cheek, where he had eased the curl back into place. “You’re hurting… and this, now, this is hurting you, whether you want to admit to that or not…”

Sarah opened her mouth to protest but he put a finger to her lips. “I’m not going to do anything to hurt you, Sarah… and I want this as much as you do… maybe more… but I won’t hurt you…”

His goddamned nobility was beginning to piss her off. Her entire body was screaming out for him, and he chose this moment to go and be all chivalrous?

“Chuck, I’m fine, I-”

“I’m not going to hurt you, Sarah, I love you, and I can’t see you hurt…”

For a moment she stared at him, considering how easily a reciprocation would flow from her lips, if she was any girl other than Sarah Walker. But she also couldn’t help thinking that Chuck understood, he knew Sarah Walker, he knew that she couldn't… that she just couldn’t say something like that to anyone, not now. And she knew that he also understood how much she wanted to. And that, she supposed, as she succumbed to the darned chivalry and wriggled under the covers, pulling his arm tightly around her and pressing herself back into him, soaking in his warmth, that would do… for now.

As always, review!