For mxpw, who pertubed me

Christmas Crack

The courtyard
Echo Park
Christmas Party 

Honestly, she didn’t want to tell Chuck, mostly because she didn’t want to relive the memory of coming to only to find a piece of wood stuck down her throat.  God, she’d wanted so badly to bite him, but she’d been afraid of what she might catch.  An unpleasant shiver ran down her spine at the memory.  She watched Chuck carefully, gauging his reaction.  He merely nodded empathetically.

This was too easy, Sarah thought.  She trusted that Chuck would understand that it wasn’t her fault, but she’d expected him to be a little more upset. 

“Well,” he started, “as long as we’re airing things out, you should know…”  Chuck paused, his eyes flickering down for a moment causing a knot to form in her stomach.  She couldn’t begin to fathom what could be worse than Shaw kissing her.  “Beckman kissed me,” he finally confessed.

Sarah had to take a second to let the information sink in.  Her jaw dropped as she mentally recited The Pledge of Allegiance, translated into Polish, in an effort to not conjure up an image of Beckman telling her husband to ‘pucker up’. 

It worked only until Beckman spoke up beside her.  “Walker, a word?”  Beckman was looking at Chuck though, her eyes ordering him to give them a moment.  He gave Sarah a nervous grin in return and wasted no time fleeing from the conversation.

“Uh, General, I know about the uhm…”  Sarah wasn’t quite sure how to phrase it.  Hey, Boss, I know you kissed my husband?  She shook her head slightly.  Not going there.  “…with you and Chuck,” she concluded vaguely. 

“We all have to make sacrifices for the job,” Beckman replied.

Sarah’s retort – that kissing Chuck was not exactly a sacrifice – died on her lips.  She was no June Cleaver by any means, but even she knew better than to encourage another woman to make a play for her Ward. 

“He’s not the Bartowski I’m interested in,” Beckman informed her matter-of-factly. 

Sarah’s eyebrows rose in shock.  “I…wha…okay,” she stammered.  She was very familiar with the Bartowski family tree and the only remaining members were all…  “What about Agent Montgomery?” she cut off her own thought, but wanted to kick herself the minute the question was out there.  She’d just gotten her job back and she didn’t want to be fired again so soon, least of all for being politically incorrect.  The armed forces were more liberal now.  “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that, General, but keep in mind that Ellie is married and I’m not sure about my mother-in-law, but maybe…”

“Sarah,” Beckman interjected with a slight frown, “I didn’t break several rules of protocol to save either of them.  More than once, I might add.”

All Sarah could do was gape at her.  Truth be told, she’d wondered why Beckman would go to such lengths to help an Agent turned civilian, but she was not expecting this.  “General, I’m flattered…” Sarah started, a line she’d used on many men to thwart their unwanted attention, but this was Beckman.  A General.  Her superior.  A woman, for crying out loud.  “Why?  How?” she found herself asking.

“C’mon, Sarah,” Beckman chuckled lightly.  “You know how good you looked in that Wienerlicious skirt.”  Without waiting for a response, Beckman stepped forward, pushing herself up onto her toes.  Sarah watched in horror as Beckman’s face inched closer, her own limbs refusing to cooperate and back away. 

The brush of lips on her cheek felt…unexpectedly pleasant.

“Sarah.”  She was jostled slightly.  “Sarah, honey, wake up.”

Her eyes snapped open.  Chuck pulled back, a look of concern crossing his face.  “Baby, you had a nightmare.”

Sarah blinked.  “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Chuck frowned.  “Do you want to tell me about it?  Was it about Shaw?”

“No, no.”  She shook her head vehemently.  No way in hell was she going to pollute Chuck’s mind.  Instead she kicked off the covers and started gathering her clothes.  There was only one way to fix this.

“Where are you going?  It’s the middle of the night.”

“Jeff’s,” Sarah replied cryptically as she grabbed a sleeping bag from the closet.  “I need to borrow his van.”