Chuck and Sarah Ch. 03

They had hardly sat down, when a waiter approached them, put a class of water before every one of them and handed them the menu.

"Amerikanci?" he asked, watching them for a second carefully and continuing in a quite good english: "I can recommend you the mixed grill, with several fixings and fresh Kajmak."

Chuck looked briefly at Sarah and finally ordered for the both of them – considering Sarah's eating habits no mixed grill for her, but "Leskovačka Mučkalica", a serbian specialty made of steamed vegetables, tomatoes and eggs. For himself he choose the "Pljeskavica na Kajmaku i Luku", the serbian version of ground meat steak, very thin tapped and seared. Served on a bed of minced onions with a generous amount of Kajmak on top, slowly melting and keeping the meat juicy.

When they also had ordered the beverage, the waiter explained the meals would be freshly prepared and served quickly, and they only have to call him, if they need something.

"I'm terribly sorry for what I have said, Chuck... And I'm sorry we haven't found a trace of your mom..."

"No Sarah... I have to apologize... I was so obsessed and stubborn with finding my mom, I lost sight of everything else. That's what must have happened to my dad, too." He smiled at her. "What have I expected? My dad had been searching for her the last twenty years, without finding a trace... How could I have expected to find her in the blink of an eye?"

Their drinks arrived, and Sarah took the opportunity to change the subject.

"I was serious before, Chuck. You have become an awesome agent over the last few months. When Marco, Volkoff's hatchet man, had captured Casey and me, he only wanted to know, who the two spies were, that made his boss so nervous... And he showed us pictures of you and Morgan."

Chuck had to chuckle. He and Morgan as top spies... It was ridiculous to Chuck... After all, Sarah and Casey were the experts and top spies.

"Chuck, Volkoff is right to fear you, Charles Carmichael – aren't you aware of this?" Sarah seemed dead serious, because she didn't smile. "He can't predict you... He doesn't know who you are and what you want from him... Right now, you are the most dangerous man, Aleksej Volkoff ever had to deal with. And that's his weakness."

Chuck couldn't take his eyes from her lips. "So, what are you getting at?"

"Volkoff is going to do anything he can, to get you in order to eliminate what he considers the biggest threat to him... And that's how we gonna get him. If we get Volkoff, we'll also find your mom."

Sarah went silent, when the menu was served, and animated by the scent and due to the fact they both were starving after their mission, they enjoyed the unfamiliar delicacies. Every now and then they looked into each other's eyes or held hand, and as they were drinking a Turska Kafa after the meal, Chuck once again returned to the topic "Search".

"You are right, Sarah... My father couldn't find a trace for almost twenty years, and I have tracked her trace to Volkoff in only six month. If we capture Volkoff, we can learn from him, where my mom is."

Sarah bend over the table and pressed her lips on his and whispered: "We will find her, Chuck... Just relax."

This hadn't to be told twice to Chuck, and within moments they were passionately and longingly kissing.

"Let's go..." he whispered under his breath and took her hand. With his other hand he pulled out some Dinar-notes and placed them for the bill on the table. Sarah followed him out of the restaurant.

Both hadn't registered the pair of eyes, following every move of them the whole time.

Morgan and Casey were already asleep, when Chuck and Sarah entered the apartment, although Casey opened his eyes for a moment, but also closed them again, when his subconscious registered the lack of threat, and he went on sleeping.

They succeeded in avoiding any noise while they freshened up in the bathroom and went to bed.

"The evening was wonderful, Chuck... Thank you. I think we both just needed a break... The feeling of being ordinary people. Simply leaving all worries, disappointment and duties behind."

He leaned over her and kissed her lips, while his fingertips caressed her cheeks.

"I love you, Sarah, and I hate fighting with you."

"Then we shouldn't fight anymore... Just accept me always being right."

Chuck didn't need any light to see her broad grin and immediately started tickling her as a punishment for her sassy words. For minutes only muffled giggling and laughing was heard, till the giggling and laughing gradually turned into silent but delightful sighing and moaning, and the tickling and teasing turned into caressing and fondling...

"Rise and shine, you two love birds, or I'll send Casey over to wake you up!"

Morgan knocked at the paravent and irresistible forced Chuck and Sarah to leave the comfy bed – and even worse, each other's embrace – and to face the new day.

"You better get ready... Our plane is leaving at 12.55 pm, and we still have to return the car at the airport."

Chuck threw a pillow at Morgan, while Sarah checked the watch.

"He's right, Chuck... It's already past ten, and we also have to check in... Get up!"

You could really see, how reluctantly he let Sarah leave his embrace, and finally followed her out of bed, while she went to the bathroom. Totally tousled he gazed at Morgan and Casey... Both of them already dressed and packed – apparently they had risen early this morning.

"Grimes... Please remind me to never ever again sleep in the same room these smitten lovebirds are sleeping in, if we can avoid it."

Morgan just grinned.

"Tell me about it... I'm living with them!"

It slowly came to Chuck, that they might not have been that silent they had thought they were, this night – let alone being unnoticed. Sarah's slight blushing indicated, she might have overheard most, if not even the whole conversation, but she didn't show any reaction and instead grabbed her belongings, stuffing them into her bag.

"The bathroom is free, Chuck... You better hurry up."

Regardless of the setback, the mission meant to Chuck personally, the mission itself wasn't a failure at all, because one more government would have a guarding eye on Volkoff's activities. No matter how small the lead was, they had got from the data and observations, Morgan and Casey had made... It was a direction they could investigate in.

Due to this, the mood on the way to the airport was rather relaxed. Casey chatted with Morgan – who even was allowed to drive the car. Despite all other things, the mission was a success – at least the official part – and this was all that mattered.

Casey had approved Sarah's statement that the more they press Volkoff, the more likely he will make a mistake and the easier they will find Chuck's mother. He also agreed that Volkoff's interest would be strongly focused on Chuck – Charles Carmichael... And he wouldn't find any information about him, while Chuck still could operate beneath the radar.

Returning the rented car was a piece of cake, and the boarding was uneventful, so they soon could assume their places and rest.

Chuck and Sarah, who both hadn't slept much this night, leaned at each others shoulder and shared a pillow, so their heads almost touched, and they would see each others face the first when they wake up. Their hands were entwined into each other and both smiled in their sleep.

Of course neither Morgan nor Casey missed this facts, but refused to comment on this. Chuck and Sarah had deserved this moments together after all they had been through the last couple of years.

The airport JFK was pretty quiet on this early Monday afternoon, and the waiting and transition areas weren't crowded at all. The plane, Team Bartowski was on, had a longer halt in New York to gas up, and the passengers stretched their legs, drank coffee or – like Morgan – browsed through the newspaper stands.

Chuck and Sarah sat relaxed at the waiting area, and looked back at the last evening – and especially the last night – with a smile, but also still a little bit embarrassed because Morgan and Casey certainly had registered at least some of the fun they had together. They resolved to be more careful in the future.

Suddenly Sarah changed the topic:

"Chuck, the man over there is looking at us sort of confused and worried since we came in here. Do you happen know him?"

Chuck looked at the well dressed man at the other end of the hall, but even with help of the Intersect he couldn't get him identified.

"No idea who he might be. He doesn't look like an agent, besides no agent would observe his target in such a noticeable way. I'll go over there and just ask him... He maybe just confuses us with someone or even needs some sort of help."

While Chuck rose, the afternoon flight to Boston Logan International Airport was announced and the man hastily gathered his baggage and literally dashed to the gate.

Chuck sat down again, visibly confused and astonished.

"Odd guy... Almost creepy."

"Probably he just confused us with someone he knew, and when you approached him, he was just embarrassed..."

"Or he became nervous, because we registered him staring at you, and he became afraid, when I approached him. Maybe he thought, I'll have a word with him, being a jealous guy." he grinned and lovingly looked at Sarah. "And he would have been right, wouldn't he?"

Sarah laughed and playfully slapped his shoulder.

"We have to leave. The plane is fueled and we'll take off to Bob Hope Airport in half an hour. Where the hell is Grimes?"

Casey sat next to them and as usual took a suspicious look around.

'If the guy was afraid of me, he'd probably drop dead if he were faced with Casey.' Chuck chuckled, while watching his grumpy friend and colleague. A few minutes later Morgan returned – with a comic book in his hands.

"About damn time... I don't want to miss my plane because of you, moron!" Casey snapped.

He grabbed his bag and went off to their gate. The others followed and Morgan silently murmured:

"If he knew what's going on with Alex, he'd probably kill me, if he is like that without knowing it..."

Nevertheless the flight to Burbank was uneventful and pleasant, and when they landed at "Bob Hope" at midnight, all were pretty tired. Although she had slept at the plane, Sarah dozed off at Chuck's shoulder in the cab to Echo Park. Chuck just enjoyed it, and carried her on his arms to their apartment, after the cab stopped at the building.

He let her sleep in peace, just laid next to her and put his arms around her. Both of them could use any rest they could get, because a new mission could appear at any time. Today, tomorrow... Next week – But it would come as sure as the sun rises over the mountains in the east every morning. They will never know in advance where the next mission will lead them. Maybe to a remote island in the south pacific, into the deepest Sibirian tundra, to the deserts of Iraq or Iran, to Milan or the darkest African bush... They could never know, but had to be prepared for everything.

"No! You don't understand me! I am scared!!"

Kenneth Richardson the third looked panic around the elegant office of his counterpart and his whole body trembled. Opposite of him sat an older man who's elegant suit matched the elegant interior of his office.

"Tell me once again what happened, Mr. Richardson. I have read in advance the report and the statement you've made, but I'd like to hear it from you in your own words... Only if you feel capable of telling it to me once again, of course."

Kenneth took a deep breath and started to retell the story.

"It all began on a warm day in fall during my vacation in Europe – more precisely in Belgrade. I unwillingly witnessed a CIA-operation and got away in time before I could see someone being executed. First I thought, I've got away, but the same evening I almost got killed – I have recognized one of the agents from the Café earlier the day driving the car that almost hit me. In order to calm down, I went to a restaurant to get some drinks and also to pacify my stomach with something to eat. I have no idea, how they have found me, maybe they have tracked me with satellite surveillance or something like that... I don't know, but about an hour after I've entered the restaurant, two of the agents – a man and a woman, pretending to be a couple – sat at a table near mine. They were clever... They pretended not to have registered me at all, but I was way smarter than that."

Kenneth's face showed some kind of triumph.

"I took the first flight from Belgrade to the states, and after I had landed in New York, I have called a friend of mine, working for the Boston Herald, and asked him to meet me after I've landed in Boston that day."

His eyes were unsteady and he flattened his pants with erratic motions of his hands.

"I don't know how they did it... Maybe the rumors about Echelon III, the NSA-surveillance system, monitoring all phone calls, radio frequencies, every e-mail and so on, were all true... However... Minutes before my flight to Boston was called, this agent-couple appeared, and the male agent was already on his way to get me, when I succeeded in getting on the plane."

He again sighed and took a deep breath.

"And ever since that day, I definitively know, the CIA wont leave me alone. They know where I live, where I work and whom I know... I know they are watching me... Suddenly I have a new mailman, unknown women try to interrogate me in bars... When I mentioned the incident to my superiors at Wolfram & Hart, they only laughed at me. I am not crazy!!!"

The gray-haired man in the elegant suit had listened silently the whole time and only made notes. Now he looked up and into Kenneth's eyes.

"It must be horrible, what you are going through right now, Mr. Richardson... Believe me, I can imagine it. But it's good that you are here now. The psychiatric ward of the Massachusetts General Hospital is specialized on even the most extreme kinds of burnout related psychosis. I can guarantee you that you are absolutely safe here."

The man – the psychiatrist – pressed a button on his desktop, and a huge male nurse came through the door.

"Lars... Be so kind and take Mr. Richardson to his room. I'll consider till tonight, what kind of medication will be necessary for his case. And take good care of him. He is such a dangerous man, the CIA wants to kill him."

When the door closed behind Kenneth and Lars, Dr. Gauser leaned back and chuckled.

'What ideas the people have nowadays... That's certainly a result of all this conspiracy theories that were spread by movies and television these days.'

He put Kenneth's file in a drawer in his desk and resolved to cure this disoriented young man from his delusion – even if this takes years.