A/N: I know, I know, lame title. But I've been trying to find a decent one for like three weeks now… obviously, I failed. So, funny story. I was going to sleep the other day and this idea hit me. I couldn't get it out of my head, so I had to give it a shot and see how it turned out. Well, this is how… I hope you like it. Also, no beta, so every mistake is mine.

Thanks to both charahtwins (Javi & Maca) for reading this –at least the first draft- and helping me with some ideas; and to Aerox, who helped me with the computer stuff. By the way, I'm sure you've already read their stories, but if you haven't, you need to check them out.

I don't own Chuck, Fringe or any other TV show –or character- mentioned here.

Chapter one

It was a hot afternoon. The neighborhood was silent and there was nobody on the street, except for the young, good looking couple who was pulling their stuff out of the moving truck and taking them into their brand new home. Theirs, like every other in the neighborhood, was a big, two-floor house. It had a front yard with green grass cut short and even. The couple's minivan was parked in front of the garage door. The only thing missing was the white picket fence and a few children running around.

"Hey, honey, can you help me with this?" Kyle Anderson asked his wife. He was a tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed, classically handsome guy. A man every woman would look twice if she saw him on the street.

"Sure, babe," answered Eva Anderson, approaching her husband with a broad smile as she tied her long blonde hair in a loose ponytail. The two of them took the chairs from the truck to the dining room. After a few trips, they were done.

"I think that's it, isn't it?" said Kyle, scanning the room and going to check the truck.

His wife followed closely as she commented, "Yeah, I believe it is. I can't believe we're here. I never thought I'd be living in the suburbs."

Her husband chuckled. "Well, I never thought I was going to be able to convince you to move in here in the first place."

Laughing, she replied, "I'm still not sure how you did it." She looked at him with a smile and kissed him sweetly on the lips. "What do you say if we go inside and have some rest? We can order some food and maybe watch a movie…"

He nodded. "Sounds great, let's do that. And then we get to try our brand new bed in our brand new bedroom," he said with a smug smile.

She smiled again and bit her lower lip, her blue eyes sparkling as she started to walk backwards towards the house. "I can't wait," she said as she turned around and kept walking, sensually swaying her hips.

"Man, it's good to be home," Kyle mumbled, following her and locking the door behind him.

After their first night in the new house, Eva woke up early and went downstairs to make breakfast for her husband, as any good housewife would do. She also fed Rex, their golden retriever, who barked and swung his tail happily when he saw her coming. When the omelet was almost done, Kyle entered the kitchen.

"Perfect timing, sweetheart, I was just finishing your breakfast," she smiled and put a plate in front of him as he sat down. He rolled up the sleeves of his plaid pajamas and thanked her, while she poured him a cup of coffee and handed it to him.

"Honey, this is delicious. I think you get better at this every day," he said, winking at her.

She just chuckled and, stifling a yawn, asked him, "So… are you nervous about starting this new job?"

He shook his head. "You know me, I don't get nervous. It's a great opportunity and I'm glad we got a fresh start. This job is much better paid than the one I had back in Chicago, and this way, you get to stay at home." He smiled broadly and added, "And hopefully, soon you'll be taking care of our kids."

She returned his smile. "I'm sure I will. I'm really happy too. I think I needed the change of pace. And I bet our neighbors are great people, I can't wait to meet them."

"Well, maybe we can host a barbecue on Saturday. That would be a good way to socialize," Kyle suggested.

"That's a great idea, Kyle. I knew there was a reason why I married you," she teased as she seductively put a strawberry in her mouth.

"Hey, now, I also give the greatest massages and I can burp the whole alphabet," he said, pretending to be offended.

"Yeah, I remember now. It was definitely the burping thing that made me fall for you," she stated, and they both laughed.

"Well, I should go take a shower and change, I don't wanna be late on my first day," he said. "There's room for one more if you're interested," he added with a mischievous grin.

"Maybe tomorrow if you're a good boy. I still have a lot to unpack," she answered, pointing at the boxes piled in the corner of the kitchen.

"Ok, babe. I'll leave you to it, then." And with that, he climbed the stairs and headed to the bathroom in their bedroom.

Twenty minutes later, Eva was still pulling things out of the boxes when Kyle came down again, this time wearing a dark suit and a white shirt, his hair wet and brushed back, and a dark blue tie in his hand.

"Would you mind giving me a hand? You know I've never been good with this," he shrugged and gave her a sheepish smile.

"Oh, of course, come here." She arranged his tie expertly and straightened his collar. "Done. May I say you look very handsome in that suit?"

"Well, of course you may. I'm glad you like it. I got it for my first day, I wanna impress the boss."

"You will, honey, just be yourself and everybody will love you," she said encouragingly. "I know I do," she added.

Kyle smiled at his wife and kissed her. She put her arms around his neck and moaned, as he deepened the kiss. He pulled her closer to his body, but she stepped back and, out of breath, reminded him, "Honey, new job, remember? We'll have plenty of time for this tonight."

He licked his lips and ran a hand along her back. "Right, you're right." He took a step back and, still having trouble to breathe, told her, "It's just hard to resist you when you look so damn good in the morning."

She smiled at the compliment and walked him to the door. She opened it and they both got outside.

"Have a great day, sweetie," she said, giving him a peck on the lips.

"Thanks, honey, I will," he replied, getting in the car. He waved at her as he drove away.

Eva waited until her husband's car was out of sight and then got into the house again, a smile still plastered on her face.

"I don't think this is a good idea, Langston," the woman said from behind her desk.

The man who was standing in front of her answered, "Think about it, Diane. If this goes right, we both get the commendations."

"And what makes you think it's going to go right? There are a thousand variables here and it also could be nothing at all."

The man lifted a single finger and pointed out, "First of all, the intel we've got is good. And, come on, it's not like I'm asking you to lend me an army… I just ask for one man. I'm sure you have at least one doing useless paperwork; I'm just requesting you to send him to work with my agents." He paused, letting the red-haired woman take in his proposal, before he continued. "In the worst case scenario, he'll get a tan. That's never bad, is it?" he charmingly asked.

Diane thought about it. She wouldn't mind to share the credit for catching a terrorist. She wouldn't mind having the Director of the CIA owning her a favor. And, to be honest, she wouldn't have to make a great sacrifice either. She had the perfect man in mind. He'd been pulled out of the field a month ago because of what she secretly referred to as the "Yves Saint-Laurent incident". He definitely had anger management issues, but this was the suburbs; it wasn't like he was going to have the opportunity to stab anyone with a stiletto. Again. "Ok, Langston, but I'm doing this as a personal favor."

"And I'm grateful, Diane. I won't forget it. Now, I'd like to meet your guy. We're sending him to pose as a gardener."

Diane couldn't help herself as she burst out laughing. Langston smiled and inquired, "What's so funny?"

Trying to catch her breath and wiping her eyes, she managed to said, "I was just picturing Colonel John Casey going undercover as 'Johnny the gardener'." As soon as those words left her mouth, she started laughing again.

Director Graham joined her, understanding her amusement now that he knew who she was talking about. He thought that they might arrest a terrorist; but even if they didn't, they were going to have their fun.

Sarah Walker was fuming. After getting back into the house, she collapsed on the couch. She had closed the curtains so the neighbors wouldn't see her as she tried her best not to scream. Graham was punishing her, she was sure. Otherwise, she didn't understand why on earth he would send her on a mission to the freaking suburbs. Not only the people there creeped her out, always smiling and snooping around each other's business, but she had to pretend to be married to that Larkin jerk. And Graham knew she couldn't stand him, so that had to be it. The bastard hadn't missed a chance to stick his tongue on her throat every time he could; to protect the cover, of course. But there were no cameras in the bedroom –she had checked- and that pervert had spent the night trying to spoon her. As a result, she hadn't slept at all, her back was killing her –because there had been a point in time when he had occupied her side of the bed too and the only thing she could do was tense her body not to fall off the bed, because Bryce fucking Larkin didn't know a thing about sharing-, and she was pretty much furious with everyone and everything.

She wrecked her brain trying to figure out why her boss would do something like this to her, one of his best agents. Maybe it was because she had refused to go on that seduction mission that last time. But there was no way in hell she was going to make out with a 76 year-old, international arms dealer or not. Only to think about it made her cringe.

Or maybe it was because of her last mission with Carina. Things had gotten a little out of hand, but they always did when Carina was involved. If he insisted on sending her on missions with the DEA agent, he should be used to it by now.

She growled internally, barely restraining herself from kicking the coffee table in front of her. In case that being in a mission in the suburbs and with Bryce Larkin wasn't enough, she also had to be careful to never break character, because they hadn't had swept for bugs yet. Graham had told them he was sending a NSA guy to do that. She didn't understand why he had felt the need to involve another government agency on this assignment, but she had stopped trying to comprehend his motives after he sent her to that hell hole. She just hoped they would be able to locate and apprehend this terrorist before she lost her mind and ended up strangling her partner and setting the whole neighborhood on fire.

She was still shaking her head and running her hands through her face when she heard the doorbell. Why does this happen to me? she wondered as she slowly stood up and dragged her feet to the door. Her cover also made her wear stupid clothes like the horrible dress she had on right now. She silently sighed and composed the best smile she could before opening the door.

"Oh, hello," a short, curly haired woman greeted her. She was in her forties, and her perfume was a little strong for Sarah's taste. "I noticed you just moved in and I thought I'd bring you something to welcome you to the neighborhood," she said, putting a plate in front of Sarah's nose, and pushing her a little, indicating her intention to get invited into the house.

Sarah swallowed, praying whoever was listening to give her strength. "Oh, thank you so much! Please, come on in. My name's Eva, Eva Anderson," she sweetly said, extending her hand, which the woman shook animatedly while almost stepping on her feet when she entered the house.

"I'm Lanie, and I live right across the street. My husband, Bob is an architect."

She wasn't going to analyze what was the relevance of Bob's profession to the conversation they were having, because she knew logic wasn't going to work in a place where everything seemed upside down. "Oh, that's uh, that's great. My husband, Kyle, is an accountant, and I'm a teacher, but I'm taking some time off now."

"Let me guess, you're trying to start a family, aren't you?" Lanie asked knowingly, as she made herself comfortable on the couch.

Sarah clenched her teeth, but managed to answer with a smile, "Yeah, we are. Kyle got a job offer that he couldn't refuse so we moved in here from Chicago. And it seems like the right time for us."

"Oh, sweetie, I totally get it. Before my Bob and I had kids, I was a graphic designer. But, you know how it is, women belong to the house and it's men's work to bring home the bacon."

Sarah almost choked when she heard that. However, she stopped herself from giving her a lecture about gender equality and the role of women in the twenty-first century; after all, she had a part to play. "Of course, I know. Kyle and I've been talking about it a lot lately and we both agree that it would be the best for everyone if I stay home and take care of the house and the kids." She was sure this mission was going to get her an ulcer, at the least.

Apparently, this Lanie woman had nothing to do, because she stayed for about forty minutes, talking about things Sarah had no interest on hearing. When she finally stood up and said she had to go back, it was near noon.

Sarah had lost her appetite. She felt like there was only room for the boiling anger she was feeling in her stomach right now. She glanced to the apple pie the woman had brought and she felt like she was going to vomit.

She had thought this mission was going to be difficult, having to pretend being married to a guy she despised and living in a place she could only compare to hell. But after her first morning in the suburbs, she knew it was going to be unbearable.

Bryce was having a great time in the office. Basically, his job was to do nothing and follow the leads he and Sarah got on the neighbors. But, because it was their first day, he could afford being seated in a very comfortable chair, with his feet resting on his desk and throwing a ball against the wall. He had brought his iPod and he was listening to the Black Eyed Peas while thinking about his partner. My smoking hot partner, he thought with a smirk. He had never worked with agent Sarah Walker before, but he had read her file, and there were some impressive, albeit scary stuff in there. What he knew for sure was that she was one of the best. And one of the best looking too. The first time he had seen her, a week ago, he'd decided he was going to get her. Bryce Larkin always got the girl. He was well aware of the way he looked and how much women seemed to like it. And, in case that wasn't enough, he had developed some charming ways that guaranteed his success in every attempt to get into somebody's pants. Until now, his record was impeccable. Agent Walker had been… reluctant, though, and even if that didn't happen too often –or ever, for that matter-, he wasn't worried about it. The woman clearly needed to loosen up a bit and learn to have some fun, but he was sure that, before they had caught the terrorist, he was going to be able to convince her. After all, he never failed a mission.

The cover they had been given couldn't be more perfect for his purposes, and he had to smile when he remembered the way she had looked the night before. She was wearing this sexy, pink nightie, which ended well above the knee. Her hair was loose and she smelled like heaven. Of course, she had tried to make him think she wasn't interested by turning her back to him and settling in the farthest end of the bed. However, he knew better, so, pretending to be asleep he had rolled over onto her side, until he could feel her incredibly toned body against his. Oh, yeah, Bryce Larkin knew smooth.

He smiled lasciviously as he thought about her… assets. She would definitely make his top three. He only hoped that, once she had succumbed to his charm, this terrorist took his time to make an appearance. He wanted to take his time with this one. And he was positive they were both going to enjoy the ride. He smirked at the analogy and turned the volume up. So far, he was loving this assignment.

Sarah had never been this bored in her entire life. She had watched TV, read a gossip magazine –and she hated those- and worked out in the room the CIA had turned into a gym. Graham had called and said the NSA guy would be arriving that afternoon. That was good because he was supposed to sweep the house for bugs, and if it turned out to be clean, she wouldn't have to put up with Larkin's groping anymore. At least from the door to the inside, she would get to be herself. And the real Sarah Walker was dying to put that pervert in his place.

She heard the doorbell and she almost ran to the door. When she opened it, she found herself standing face to face with a large man. He had blue eyes, dark hair and a small scar in his right cheek.

"Miss Anderson?" he asked.

She cocked her head and said, "Yes, that's me."

He extended his hand. "Nice to meet you ma'am, I'm John, the gardener?"

Although he was smiling –or at least, showing his teeth-, she could hear the disgust hidden behind those words. She imagined 'gardener' was to a Colonel what 'housewife' was to a CIA agent. Feeling sympathy for him, she shook his hand and invited him in.

When she closed the door, his demeanor changed immediately. He stood there proudly, and handed her a piece of paper. 'Colonel John Casey, NSA.'

Sarah nodded and helped him set the equipment he needed to do his job. While she followed him closely, they talked about plants, fertilizers and other stuff, in case anyone was listening. She watched as the Colonel swept every inch of the house, and she couldn't be less than impressed at his thoroughness. About an hour later, he finally said, "All clear."

She let out a relieved sigh. In fact, she didn't laugh out loud because that would've made her look unprofessional, but that was exactly what she wanted to do. "Thank God," she said, "that's great news. Now I can properly introduce myself. Agent Sarah Walker, CIA," she added.

He only grunted, and she lifted a single eyebrow, but didn't say anything. "So, how is this going to work?"

He lifted his chin and reluctantly told her, "I'm staying here, at the guest room outside the house, and we try to figure out which one of these freaks is a terrorist so we can arrest them and go home."

She nodded. "It works for me. My partner, Agent Larkin, should be coming back soon, and the three of us can discuss the plan together. Now I'll show you to your new accommodations. You may want to make sure there are no bugs in there too."

He grunted again, and she started to get pissed. It wasn't like she was enjoying their situation either, but at least she was polite enough to communicate with actual words.

She left him in his room to get comfortable and went back inside the house. A few moments later, the door flew open and a radiant looking Bryce Larkin announced, "Honey, I'm home!"

She clenched her jaw, but smiled a little. After all, she had been waiting for this moment since she had found out there were no bugs in the house. She just watched him as he tossed his briefcase on the couch and approached her with a smug grin. He grabbed her by her waist and gave her a hot, wet kiss. But this time, she was ready. Lifting her knee, she hit him in the groin and he let her go right away, with a painful cry.

"What… are… you doing?" he let out between agonizing pants.

"That's my way to inform you that there are no bugs in the house and I'm not going to stand your groping anymore. And tonight, you're sleeping on the guest room."

He straightened up and weakly protested, "But… the cover… we're supposed to be married!"

"Nobody's going to get in the house in the middle of the night just to see if we're sleeping together or not. And if someone does, it's because they already had their suspicions, so we would be screwed anyway. From now on, this is as close as we're going to be while in here," she said, pointing at the current distance between them. "Oh, by the way, the NSA guy is here. He's going to be staying at the guest room outside the house. Once he's settled he's coming in here to discuss our plan. The sooner we catch this terrorist the sooner we get to get the hell out of here," she added.

The meeting with Casey and Larkin was… interesting. Sarah could see she was not the only one in the room who couldn't stand her partner. Every time he spoke up, Casey narrowed his eyes dangerously at him, as he was waiting for him to say something that would justify strangling him. But that hadn't happened –yet- and the three of them had decided they would put the plan in motion first thing in the morning. The Colonel was just as desperate as she was to go home, and that was an advantage. If they were lucky, they wouldn't have to wait too long before finding out which one of the neighbors was a criminal. Until then, though, they would have to find a way to peacefully coexist. If she was lucky, she wouldn't lose her mind in the process.

The next morning was remarkably different from the first one. Bryce woke up and went downstairs, where there was no breakfast being made by no gleeful fake-wife. Sarah had made him sleep on the guest room. The bed was not comfortable like the one she had claimed as hers, and his bruised ego had made sleeping a little harder than it should've been. And now he had to make his own breakfast. Ok, so maybe Walker was a little more… unwilling than he had originally thought she would be. But the way he saw things, there were two possible reasons why she would make him sleep in another bed: one, because she was attracted to him and it was difficult for her to stay professional while he was around; or two, because she didn't want anything to do with him. Of course, throughout the night, he had convinced himself it had to be the first one. In the end, no woman was able to resist Bryce Larkin's charm, and Agent Walker was not an exception. He would just have to work harder on winning her over. He smiled as he started making breakfast. After he was done, she would be begging him to take her.

The sunlight coming through the open curtains woke Sarah up. She was lying in the middle of the bed, enjoying the fact that she was alone. Which was weird, because, most of the time, it was the other way around. Better alone than in the wrong company, she thought. She was relieved she didn't have to share the bed with Bryce anymore, but they were still married for the cover. And even if they didn't have to pretend when they were inside the house, to find the terrorist they would have to come out and socialize with their neighbors. She growled thinking that if she knew him –and she definitely knew his kind- he was definitely going to take advantage of that. At least now she could beat him up once they got home. She wanted nothing more than staying in bed all morning, but she had work to do. And that work included getting to know as many lazy housewives as she could. She winced at the thought of spending any time with those pretentious little… individuals, but there was nothing she could do about it. She finally got the strength to drag herself out of bed, thinking that once this was all over, she was going to take a vacation. She would go to somewhere sunny where she would be doing nothing but sipping Mai Tais and working on her tan.

When she got to the kitchen, Bryce was waiting for her with that smile of his that made her want to shoot him in the knee.

"Good morning, Eva," he said.

She gave him a murderous look but kept quiet.

"Ok, ok, fine, I'll call you Sarah if that's what you want."

She just stared at him, contempt written all over her face. Even that idiot should be able to notice that.

"Fine, Agent Walker. I just wanted to apologize if I took our cover too far. But I'm a pro and I get things done. I promise that I won't touch you when we're alone, but we need to sell these people," he pointed to the front door, "that we're happily married, and that's not going to work if you get all Ice Queen around me."

Sarah thought the vein in her forehead was going to explode. She could actually feel the boiling rage inside her. Would it really be so bad for the mission if Eva Anderson suddenly turned into a widow? Who did he think he was to call her that? She knew that was the way some people in the Agency referred to her as. The truth was, she hated it. And it sort of hurt her too. But she had always told herself that you didn't get to work thirteen years for the CIA if you weren't cold and distant. She had spent almost half of her life doing this job, and she couldn't even remember how it was to be different. And she was one of the best, so that had to mean something. But the asshole had a point: they would still have to pretend being married in front of other people, so she should better figure out a system to do it without ending up stabbing her partner.

There was something she wanted to make clear first, though. Walking slowly until she was next to him, she swiftly grabbed his arm and twisted it in an unnatural way behind his back. He let out a yelp. She ignored him and said, "Don't think I don't know what you're doing, Larkin. I know your kind and I have no intentions to have anything to do with you, not now, not ever. I will, however, do my job, even if it involves pretending to care about someone I actually loathe," she eased up her hold and he let out a relieved breath. But she soon applied force again and, in a hiss, added, "But if you ever call me that again, I promise you, I'm going to make you regret it." She finally let go of him and, while he massaged his arm, she realized that Casey had been watching them.

When she looked at him defiantly, he just smirked and said, "I guess the honeymoon ended up a little sooner for the Andersons," and then turned around and headed outside to his room.

She tried not to smile at that and went back upstairs. She only came back down when she heard Bryce's car leaving.

She sighed heavily as she heard the doorbell. She knew this was bound to happen, but that didn't make it any better. She stood before the closed door and inhaled deeply. Knowing that she was as ready as she was going to be, she plastered a fake smile in her face and opened the door. Just like the day before, she was greeted by another cheerful woman with too much time in her hands. Once again, Sarah invited her in and prepared to hear a bunch of stuff she didn't even care about. But she had to do her job, so she paid attention to every word the woman said. And there were so many.

She was blonde, a little too skinny and she had obviously visited a plastic surgeon a few times. She was married to Craig, who was a successful lawyer in a very important firm. She had two kids, Tracy and Carl, both in college. Tracy was majoring in Art History and Carl in chemistry.

Sarah learned about this woman's routine, the names of her three Chihuahuas, but nothing remotely relevant for her mission. After an hour and a half, and just when she was getting so desperate that the thought of pretending to have a seizure just to get Vicky to shut up actually crossed her mind, she announced she had to leave to her doctor's appointment. Sarah was sure the nose was next.

She made herself a sandwich for lunch, as she read the files they had of the people living in the neighborhood. The truth was, aside from being insufferable, everybody seemed to be clean. She was starting to doubt there was any terrorist activity going on there.

She was thinking about this when Casey came into the house again, this time dressed with some old jeans and a white tight t-shirt. Her eyes widened at the sight, and before she could ask about it, he shrugged and said, "I have a cover to sell too."

She smiled a little as she watched him make himself a sandwich. "So, did you learn anything useful from you visit?"

Sarah snorted. "Oh, yes, I learned that, if you go to Dr. Whale's office, you get the second implant for free," she replied dryly.

Casey grunted. "I mean, anything useful for our assignment."

Sarah shook her head and sighed heavily. "No, not at all. I've only met two women, but I seriously doubt they have the brains to be terrorists."

"Well, then we have to keep looking," he said. "Hopefully you'll find something useful in that barbecue you're hosting this weekend."

She winced a little at his reminder, but still nodded. "Yeah, I really hope so. I know it's still soon to make any big developments, but at least we should be able to eliminate a few people from the suspect list."

After Casey finished his sandwich, he told her he was going to be working in the front of the house. He mumbled something about trees and bushes and headed out, leaving Sarah alone and with nothing to do again. She turned on her computer and, almost immediately, it started to make a loud noise. It had been giving her trouble for quite some time now, and she thought maybe it was time to get another one. For now, she would only check her emails. She was glad to find one from Graham, but just when she was trying to download the attached file, the laptop died. She tried to restart it, but nothing happened. She pulled the battery off and then on again, and nothing. She waited for about ten minutes and tried to turn it on. It didn't work. She was starting to lose her patience when she thought she could call someone to get it fixed. She grabbed the phone book and looked for a store of some kind that send people to costumers' houses. She found one and dialed the number. A female voice answered, and after greeting her, asked what she needed. She explained what had happened and the woman said someone would be at her house in about thirty minutes. She thanked her and hung up.

Having half an hour to kill, she turned on the TV. She started surfing the channels until she found some movie about alternate universes or something like that. It was intriguing, and the old man was quite funny. She was really immersed on the plot when she heard a knock on the door.

It must be the computer guy. She walked towards the door and opened it. She wasn't ready for what she saw. She was kind of expecting a guy with thick glasses, plaid shirt and a pocket protector, but the man standing in front of her was nothing like that. Ok, so the pocket protector was there, but he wasn't wearing any glasses. He had short, brown hair, but she could see the light waves in it. His eyes were brown, and they shouldn't have been anything special, but she was having trouble to tear her own from them. He was very tall and thin, but his shoulders were broad and his white shirt clung in all the right places. A grey tie, black slacks and a pair of black Chuck Taylors completed the outfit. Combined with the short-sleeved shirt, they made him look quite attractive, in a cute, nerdy way.

He smiled brightly and lifted his briefcase. She could only look at him as he asked lightly, "Computer emergency?"

Sarah didn't know exactly how long she had been staring at him, but it must have been at least for a minute, because his smile faltered and he put his briefcase down again.

"Miss, are you ok?"

She was brought back by the sound of his voice, and blushing, she stammered, "Uh… yeah, yeah, I'm fine. And it's Mrs.; Mrs. Anderson. Please, come on in." What the hell, Walker? She chastised herself. She let him in and closed the door behind him. She walked towards the kitchen, but he didn't follow her. Instead, he stood there respectfully, waiting for her instructions.

She grabbed the laptop and signaled him to join her in the living room. She set the computer in the coffee table and told him what had happened.

"Ok, sounds like it over heated," he said. "Do you mind if I…" he trailed off, pointing to the blank screen.

"No, please, go ahead," she answered.

"Another Fringe fan? I love that show!" he said cheerfully, as he sat on the couch and pulled out a screwdriver.

She thought she had no idea what he was talking about while she watched as he started to disarm her laptop. Then she heard the voices coming from the TV and realized he must've been talking about that.

"Oh, no, I was watching it because I had nothing else to do. I thought it was a movie," she admitted, slightly ashamed.

He smiled and glanced at her. "Oh, well, you should watch it anyway. This is a season two episode, one of my favorites from that one. If you want to catch up, we sell the DVDs at the store."

She barely had time to read the newspaper every day, so catching up with a TV show wasn't exactly one of her priorities, as interesting as it may have been. "Uh, I don't really have a lot of time to watch TV," she said.

"Well, that's the beauty of DVDs, isn't it? You watch them when you can. And for the new episodes, there's DVR."

In an impulse, she gave in, "Well, maybe I get those then."

He looked at her with a giant grin that, in any other person, would have looked stupid, but it suited him. "Awesome! They're airing season four right now. If you think this episode is a little crazy, you won't believe the final episode of season three. After I watched it, I spent like half an hour yelling at the TV. It was amazing," he told her excitedly.

She quirked an eyebrow, convinced that anyone who yelled at a TV couldn't be in their right mind. She didn't say anything, though, and just waited until he spoke again.

"Oh, just what I feared. This model doesn't have a heat sink installed for the CPU. Your laptop overheated and the processor burned up," he said, shaking his head.

"Is that bad? Can you fix it?" she asked.

"Well, you would need to change the processor…" he paused as he kept evaluating the damages, "and the motherboard. This is an old model, from at least two years ago, is that right?"

"Yeah, I think so," Sarah said, not knowing what did it have to do with anything.

"Mmm… my advice would be to get a new one. There's no damage on the hard drive, so we could transfer all your files without a problem. If you decide to fix this one, it's going to cost you about the same money than a new laptop."

Sarah sighed. It seemed that nothing could go right in this mission. After all of this, she was sure she would never set foot in LA again.

"Ok, seems like I have no choice here," she said, with a tiny smile of resignation.

"Well, you can always come to the store, I could personally help you get one that suits your needs," he offered.

"I'd like that…" she read the name on his pocket protector, "Chuck."

He grinned again and gave her his card. "You can call me to make sure I'm not out in an install or something like that."

"Thank you."

"Well, I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help, Mrs. Anderson," he stated, heading to the door.

"It's ok. I'll call you tomorrow," she promised as she opened the door.

"Ok, have a nice day," he said, and she watched him walk towards a small car, painted white and red, with the words "Nerd Herd" written on the passenger's door. He got into the car and waved at her. She couldn't help but smile as she returned the gesture.

Once inside the house, it took her a few minutes to realize she was still smiling. She also noticed she was still holding his card. What left her completely horrified was the fact that she had promised to call him the next day. And she had meant it.

Some people could say she was ruthless, cold and implacable, and they would've been right. She was a spy, and that was all she had, the only constant in her life, the thing that kept her going. And she was a hell of a spy. So when she was on a mission, there wasn't anything that could distract her from her objective. Until now. The suburbs are already messing with my mind, she thought. Of course she wasn't going to call him. Why would she? She could get a new laptop in any other store and she didn't need anyone's personal assistance.

Against her better judgment, though, she kept the card.

Charles Bartowski walked into the store and headed to the front desk, where Jeff was helping a costumer who seemed to have a problem with his Mac. Morgan was trying to make a sell, although the short brunette seemed more interested in his jokes than the iPod touch she was holding. He smiled inwardly. Way to go, buddy.

"Hey, Chuck," he heard his father calling.

He turned around with a smile to greet him, "Hi, dad! I thought you weren't coming today."

Stephen waved his hand dismissively. "I already told your mother, I'm fine. It was just a cold, and I have a store to run."

"Dad, I can take care of the store if you're not feeling ok, you know that…"

"I know, son, but I'm fine, really. Your mother worries too much, that's all." Changing the subject, he inquired, "You just got here?"

"Yeah, we had a call today. Nice neighborhood, for a change. And the lady was pretty nice too. She's coming to get a new laptop one of these days."

"Great job, Charles." His tone changed and became conspiratorially as he leaned closer and said, "So… you said the lady was nice, uh?"

Chuck groaned. "Oh, not you too!"

"What?" Stephen said, "It's just an innocent question!"

"It's not innocent, and you know it. I would've expected this from Ellie or mom, but certainly not from you." He shot his father a harsh look and then added, "And for the record, she's married."

"That's a shame." Seeing the look on his son's face, Stephen added, "Well, you can't really blame us, Charles. I mean, you're thirty and still single. When I was your age…"

Chuck interrupted him. He'd heard this speech too many times and he knew it by heart. "I know, I know, you and mom already had Ellie and me and you were happy. The difference is, you had already found the love of your life. I haven't."

"Ok, ok… but just so you know, your mother would love to have a few grandkids running around the house."

Chuck narrowed his eyes at his dad. "Then it's a good thing Ellie has a daughter and a son, isn't it?" he asked.

Stephen grinned. "Well, the house is pretty big, you know?"

Chuck sighed in resignation. He was never going to win this argument. "Ok, ok, I promise, dad. As soon as I find a nice enough woman I'll ask her to be the mother of the many, many children my parents want me to have."

Laughing, Stephen put a hand on his son's shoulder. "Just don't tell your mother that."

Chuck laughed too, "Are you kidding me? She'll have my ass. The woman has a freakishly accurate aim, I'll probably end up impaled to a door with a kitchen knife or something."

"I'm glad to know you're prudent. I'll be at my office. I was hoping to get some work done before your mother figured out I came here and dragged me back to bed. And not in a good way."

"God, dad, seriously?" Chuck said, wincing at his words.

Stephen just chuckled and headed to his office. Chuck was still shaking his head when he was startled by a cheerful Morgan. "Hey, Chuck!"

"Gah-Morgan! Hey, buddy, how was that sell?"

The short-bearded man smirked smugly as he showed his best friend the piece of paper he was holding in his right hand. "I'd say it went pretty well. She bought the iPod and she left me her number."

Chuck smiled approvingly. "Nice! Are you planning to call her?"

"Of course I am. That reminds me, Chuck, you're going to have to find yourself a girl so we can double-date," Morgan said, patting his back.

Chuck clenched his teeth. I can't catch a break. He smiled anyway, "Ok, buddy, I'll work on that. But right now I have to go and catch up with some work."

"Oh, sure. Go do your thing, I'll see you at home." With that, Morgan headed to the Nerd Herd desk and left Chuck standing in the middle of the store, wondering why everyone seemed so interested in his love life all of a sudden. Shrugging, he decided he didn't care.

He headed to his own office, and tried to focus in all the boring paperwork he had to do. But his mind kept drifting to his earlier visit to the suburbs. More specifically, to the woman who lived there. The married woman, he reminded himself, slightly ashamed of the thoughts that were crossing his mind at the moment. But, honestly, who could blame him? She had to be one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. And she seemed nice. He smiled at the idea of seeing her again when she came to the store to find a new laptop. And, again, he scolded himself for his excitement at the mere prospect of seeing her. Shaking his head, he just assumed his sudden interest was because of his family's –and now, friend's- pressure. Ever since Ellie had had kids, all eyes were focused on him. According to his mom, now it was his turn. And, to be honest, he didn't really have a problem with that. He had always wanted a family. But after a few failed relationships, he wasn't sure he would ever find a woman who could love him for who he was. After all, who would fall in love with a nerd like him?

Sighing heavily, he tried to concentrate in the new merchandise inventory he was supposed to go over. It was a hard task, though, when he kept thinking about a pair of blue eyes and the adorable shy smile their owner had been sporting as she waved him goodbye.

Sarah had been doing some spy work for the past two days. Even if spy work in this particular mission meant getting to know most of her neighbors. On the bright side, Larkin hadn't been giving her any trouble since the talk they had had two days ago. They had also invited the entire neighborhood to the barbecue they were hosting the next day. With any luck, they would finally make some progress. Nothing they had found until date was useful for their assignment, and they weren't any closer to find out who the terrorist was. If there was a terrorist in the neighborhood, something Sarah was starting to doubt. There was one thing that sort of worried her, though, and it didn't have anything to do with the mission. She had been able to read Graham's email through her cellphone, but she still hadn't gotten a new computer. And even if she tried to convince herself it was because she didn't have time to go shopping, she knew that was not it. She reached into her pocket and pulled the card out. Biting her lower lip, she debated if she should call the number printed on it for the millionth time in two days. She knew it wasn't a good idea; but she did need a new laptop, after all, and he had offered to help her pick one –which was a good thing, since she didn't know anything about computers. Making up her mind, she stood up and headed to the door, after leaving Bryce a note saying she was going out.

Standing in the middle of the parking lot after locking her car, she took a deep breath and walked through the automatic doors. Almost immediately, her gaze focused on the main desk, where the curly-haired guy was playing with a little girl. He has a child, he has a child, was all she could think while she stood there, frozen, at the entrance of the store. A thought crossed her mind: he was probably married too. She was about to leave, when common sense returned and she remembered that she was supposed to be married as well. And that she shouldn't care about his relationship status, at all. She was there just to get a new laptop, and that was all. So she plastered a smile on her face, and approached him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," she said, grinning at him.

Her eyes widened when he almost dropped the little girl he was holding. "Ah!" he almost shouted. Trying to recover, he repositioned the blonde child on his knees and looked at her. "I… no, no, you're not, of course you're not. Did you, uh… call? I've been having some phone troubles lately; maybe I should check my messages. Unless you didn't call, of course, which means I should stop talking now," he said, blushing a little at his last words.

She smiled again, this time genuinely. She found his little ramble adorable. "No, I didn't call. Sorry about that. I've been very busy these past few days, but now that I was in the neighborhood I thought I'd stop by and see if you were able to help me find that new laptop," she lied. She would never admit, not even under torture, that she had been thinking about him way more than she should've had. The creased card she held in her pocket served as proof of that.

"Oh, sure, let me just return this little one to her rightful owners," he jokingly said, standing up and waving at a tall brunette, who was standing a few feet away, immersed in a conversation with an older man. The woman noticed and headed towards them. Chuck turned to the little girl and told her, "Uncle Chuck has to help this lady find a computer now, pumpkin. Would you like to stay with mommy?" The little girl smiled and nodded, and Chuck gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Sarah almost didn't notice the brunette standing next to her until Chuck introduced her. The truth was, a –not so- little part of her felt relieved when she realized the child was not his. And she still had this funny feeling on her stomach, after seeing their cute exchange. "Mrs. Anderson, this is Eleanor Bartowski, my sister, and Clara's mother."

His voice seemed to bring her out of her musings, and, turning to the woman, she quickly said, "Nice to meet you, and please, it's Eva."

Chuck's sister smiled politely and said, "It's nice to meet you too. Well, I'm leaving you with my brother then." Turning to face him, she added, "Dinner tonight, my place. Mom and dad are coming too." And, after shooting him a serious look, she walked away with her daughter.

Chuck swallowed. He had learned through the years that, if Ellie gave him that look, he was in trouble. He vaguely wondered what he had done this time to deserve it, but he suddenly remembered he had a… client.

"So, how about we go find you a laptop?" he said, grinning at her.

She smiled too. "Sure."

She followed him, and spent the next fifteen minutes trying to understand what he was saying. She ended up getting one that, in his words, "was totally awesome". Chuck led her to the front desk, and she paid for the laptop with her credit card. When she was about to say goodbye, though, he asked her to wait there and disappeared behind the shelves. He came back holding three DVD cases. She tried to hide her smile when she remembered the conversation they'd had about that TV show, feeling stupidly giddy because he had remembered it too. "You can have these too," he said, "for free. I thought you may want to catch up… you know, when you have some time," he finished awkwardly.

She smiled brightly at his gesture. "Thank you. I will."

He broke the awkward silence by saying, "Well, uh… you know, you have my card. If you ever need anything, just give me a call. And I hope you like the show, it's pretty awesome."

"Thanks. I really appreciate it. And I'm sure I'll love it." She swallowed. She realized she didn't want to walk away, because that would probably meant that she would never get to see him again. She also realized that she'd been having a good time with him, something that didn't happen to her very often. For the first time in her life, she wished she had a boring, normal life. She wished she could really be a teacher, or a dentist, or even a dog walker, and not a spy forced to lie about everything to everyone, including nice guys like Chuck. But she was aware that the best thing she could do was to disappear from his life. So she just ignored her instincts, that were screaming to her to do something, anything to make sure she'd see him again, and instead she looked at him and said, "Goodbye, Chuck." Before he could answer, she was rushing to the door, afraid that she might change her mind if she saw his eyes one more time.

Chuck stood there, shocked by her behavior. He could've sworn he had seen something very similar to regret in her eyes before she run away. After that, he was sure he wouldn't be seeing her again. And he hated to admit he was thoroughly disappointed by that prospect. He glanced at his watch and realized it was almost seven pm. When he looked around he was surprised to see he was the only one in the store, so he gathered his stuff and left. Twenty minutes later, he was knocking on his sisters' door.

Everybody was already there. After he greeted his parents, his brother in law and his niece and nephew, Ellie called him from the kitchen. "Hey, sis!" he cheerfully said, leaning in to hug her. The look she gave him made him stop dead in his tracks. "Ok, what did I do now?"

She snorted. "If you don't know, then I'm not going to be the one to point it out."

"Ellie, I really don't know what you're talking about. Would you please tell me?" Chuck was starting to worry. His sister rarely got that mad at him.

Ellie turned around to face him. "Seriously, Chuck? A married woman?" she almost screamed.

Chuck's eyes widened as his face blushed. Ok, so maybe he had thought about it. But he would never get involved with a married woman. He was a decent person, after all, and he was offended his own sister thought that little of him. "What? What do you mean 'a married woman', Ellie? I was only helping her. Last time I checked, clients didn't need to be single for me to help them!"

Ellie took a step closer and hissed, "Oh, please, I saw the way you were looking at each other." His eyes widened again. So he hadn't imagined that! He put that little piece of information away, and concentrated on his sister's little speech. She sighed, trying to calm down. "Look, it's your life, and nobody wants you to be happy more than me. But please, think about what you're doing, Chuck."

Chuck clenched his jaw. He was angry, and slightly ashamed, because she had obviously noticed he was attracted to Eva. Mrs. Anderson. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Ellie, I don't know what you think you saw, but I can assure you nothing happened and nothing will ever happen. I'm not that guy. And quite frankly, I thought you knew that already."

Ellie stared at her brother in shock. Of course she knew he wasn't that guy. And, yes, maybe she was overreacting. But she was only trying to look after him, and she didn't want him to get hurt. "You're right… you're right, Chuck, I'm sorry. I… I was just trying to protect you…"

Chuck smiled a little, his guilt increasing with every passing second. "I don't need you to protect me, Ellie, I'm a grown up, if you haven't noticed."

"I know, I know… I guess old habits die hard."

He chuckled. "Hard enough to feel the pain, yes."

She slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "So, we're ok?"

He nodded. "Sure." He was looking forward to change the subject, so he added, "But I'm getting hungry and people are wondering why we are taking so long. We better go if we want to avoid any questions. I know I do."

Aside from the earlier altercation, everything went smoothly that night. It was late when Chuck finally stepped into the apartment he shared with Morgan. He took a shower and went straight to bed. However, despite being exhausted, he couldn't sleep.

All the way across town, Sarah couldn't sleep either. She ran her hands over her face one more time. She couldn't stop thinking about Chuck. It was ridiculous, and a little pathetic, to be honest. Those things never happened to her and she was getting annoyed. She needed to focus on her mission, and she needed to do it now. Sarah Walker did not get distracted, especially by something as mundane and juvenile as a stupid crush. She growled again as she rolled over onto her back. Seeing that she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night, she got up and went downstairs. Maybe some work out would help her release her frustration.

After another long, boring day, Sarah was getting ready for the barbecue. She had made enough potato salad to feed an army, and, after a sleepless night, she was ready to collapse in bed. However, their neighbors were going to be arriving soon, so a nap was out of the question. Casey had mowed the lawn of the backyard, not without some whining and complaining, but at least he had done it. And she didn't want to go outside to see how Bryce was doing. She figured he would be alright; after all, he was a trained agent, and this was only a barbecue.

A while later, guests started to arrive. Many of them had brought pies and the kitchen table was full of bottles of wine and desserts. I can always get wasted, Sarah thought, staring longingly at a bottle of chardonnay. Of course she wasn't seriously considering it, but she really needed a drink after the week she'd had. Instead, she forced herself to go to the backyard and socialize with her neighbors.

Ten minutes later, while she was talking with some of the women, she heard Casey calling her from inside the house. She excused herself and went to see what he wanted.

"Is everything alright?" she asked, stepping into the kitchen.

Casey put a finger against his mouth and showed her the bug he'd just found. Sarah's eyes widened. Someone was definitely spying on them, and it had to be one of their neighbors. Now they knew there was a criminal among them, but they still had no clue about who was it. She watched as Casey stepped into it. She gave him a questioning look. "What?" he said, shrugging. "You know any other fancy way to destroy it?"

She just smiled and went back outside. She spotted Bryce talking to a large group of men and made her way towards them. As soon as she got there, Bryce snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Suppressing a growl, she feigned a smile and rested her head on his shoulder. "Gentlemen, let me introduce you to my wife, Eva," he graciously said.

Some of them nodded approvingly, and some others just stared lustfully at her. One of them even gave Bryce a high five. Chuckling, Bryce turned and winked at her and it took her all her spy training not to punch him when she saw the smug grin he was sporting. "It's nice to meet you." Turning to Bryce, she said, "Can I talk to you in private, honey?"

He grinned at her. "Of course, sweetheart." And, taking advantage that they were in public, he gave her a peck on the lips. She grabbed his arm with more strength than strictly necessary, and dragged him until they were far enough not to be heard. She glared at him and said, "Casey found a bug in the kitchen. They must have put it on a tray or a bottle. Someone is definitely up to something."

"Ok, what do you want me to do? It's not like we can ask them who's trying to spy on us."

"I know that. I wanted to know if you'd discovered something useful."

"No, not yet. I'm trying to earn their trust first. It doesn't look like it's going to be so difficult, they seem to like me already," he said with a cheerful smirk.

"Yeah, they look like your kind of people," she replied dryly.

He smiled. "Thank you."

She smiled back. "That wasn't a compliment."

He rolled his eyes and walked away, leaving her standing there. He was on his way to the guys when he was intercepted by a blonde, attractive woman. "Hi, there. I don't think we've been introduced yet," she said, running a hand through his shoulder.

Bryce smiled. I still got it. "No, we haven't. I'm Kyle Anderson, nice to meet you," he replied, extending his hand to her.

She shook it while she introduced herself. "I'm Sylvia Arculin. Can I let you in on a little secret about your neighbors, Mr. Anderson?" He lifted his eyebrows in a questioning fashion. "They bore me."

"Oh, is that right?" he asked.

"Yeah. But you, on the other hand, seem very interesting." She took a step closer and looked up to him. "Perhaps you and I could get together sometime. Maybe engage in something a little more… stimulating?" she said in a sultry voice.

Bryce grinned. "I would like that very much, Sylvia. But there's just one little problem," he showed her his ring finger, adorned with a golden wedding band, "I'm married."

She chuckled. "Congratulations, Mr. Anderson, but who isn't? My husband's right over there. Listen… Kyle," she said, "I live just across the street. So, call me when the honeymoon's over." Shooting him one last look, Sylvia headed towards her husband. She put an arm around his back and turned around and winked at Bryce. He gulped. He had to admit, that was an enticing offer, but he was on a mission, and he couldn't risk its success just to get laid. So, sighing heavily, he grabbed a beer and went back to do his job.

The next day, Bryce was delighted to discover that he might actually have the opportunity to accept his neighbor's offer. For the mission's sake, of course. It was a nice Sunday afternoon and the three spies were now sitting at the kitchen table. Sarah was the first to break the silence, after Bryce told her and Casey about his plan.

"So you want to sleep with this woman," she said, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She couldn't believe this guy.

"I'm willing to do the sacrifice, yes, Agent Walker. It's a win/win situation," Bryce answered with a tiny smile.

"Well, excuse me if I'm too slow, but I'm failing to see one of the wins, Larkin," she dryly stated.

Casey snorted. "I thought the same, Walker, but he's got a point. This morning, I pulled a fingerprint out of the bug, and ran it through the data base. I just got a match. This," he said, showing her a photograph, "is the guy who planted it. Recognize him?"

"Yeah, he was here yesterday. What else did you find out?"

"He's a former CIA psi-ops." Sarah's eyebrows shot up at this last bit of information.

"And," Bryce added, "I ran his bank records. Turns out he recently bought a large quantity of this Infiniband Data Line. The same stuff we use to tap into the Agency's intranet. We think he's hacking into the government servers. So someone has to get into that house and onto that computer. I thought I'd do it myself, but if you want to do it, be my guest. I didn't think he was your type, though, he looks like a lumberjack."

Sarah glared at him. "No, it's ok. You can do it. She does look like your type, after all."

Casey rolled his eyes at their exchange. "Listen, Larkin, you do whatever you want to do with this woman, just don't forget you're on a mission. You need to get into her husband's PC and see if you can find anything to incriminate him. Once we get the proof we need, we're out of here."

Sarah nodded in agreement. She wanted nothing more than to finish this assignment and go back home. But you don't have a home, said a little voice in her mind, and she suddenly realized that was true. Swallowing hard, she thought that at least she would be able to leave LA. She closed her eyes and Chuck's smiling face filled her traitorous mind. Right now, she wasn't sure that even that was going to be so easy.

A/N: so? What did you think? Was this chapter too long? Should I split the next one in two? As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!