The sunlight hits Chuck's face which forces him to move rather awkwardly on the bed. As he kicks and moves his arms as if he was attempting to fight an invisible spy without the Intersect, he notices something different. Usually, he feels the warmth of Sarah, but today, well, for the past week, the bed longs only for Chuck's body heat. They had an argument about their relationship; Chuck had said that she needed to show her love more, because he felt that it was somehow missing; so stupid of him. Then it started with her saying that she needed time alone, and walked out of the apartment.
Slowly, he opens his eyes, still stretching and, his face now away from the beam of sunlight, sees the morose cliche of what had been his life everyday two years ago; no Sarah beside him, hell, no one beside him, really. After Jill broke his open heart and slept with his "supposedly" best friend (who, by the way, got him kicked out of Stanford!), Chuck let himself go.
Not the usual meaning of that term; but Chuck became different after the unexpected vicissitudes in Stanford. He became more.. sad.
Chuck, still in bed, ponders whilst staring at the cream-coloured ceiling. Again, he tries to recall where she could be, if he had missed any important details as to why Sarah still isn't beside him, her cheek usually finding comfort on his chiseled chest. They often had arguments about things similar to this, but she always came back home within a couple of days.
Finding enough courage to face the day, he walks out of his room, and takes in the emptiness in his apartment. He had moved out of Ellie's apartment and into the one across them, so Sarah and him could move in together. He was reluctant at first, moving in with Sarah to maintain their "fake relationship"; he feared that moving in with her would only make him fall in love with her harder; thus making it impossible to have something so fake with her, when his feelings were so real.
After a couple of months living together, however, he had slowly broken one of her self-centered walls, and she admitted it. She admitted her.. unusual feelings for Chuck Bartowski. When she said it with such awkwardness, Chuck felt hesitant in really believing it; his dubious brain created doubts that she only said that so he can finally be "normal" in their new home. After a week had passed, it was clear. His doubts had vanished, and finally realized her love for him. It was awkward at first, Sarah Walker, being the extraordinary spy that closed her feelings was not very well adapted to living with someone; nevertheless, she seemed to enjoy the presence of Chuck, and she made it so he realized her affection.
As Chuck walks in the hallway and into the kitchen, wearing a pair of vertically striped faded-blue and white boxers and a white V-neck t-shirt, he still seemed incredulous on what he had just woken up to; no one. Heading into the kitchen to take out a frying pan, he cracked two eggs and scrambled them together; composing a meal of scrambled eggs with green peppers.
It is 11:00AM, Chuck leaning on the Nerd Herd counter with his right hand under his chin, supporting the weight of his head. He had been daydreaming most of the time; and was still concerned about Sarah. She had not made contact with him yet, and her absence had left Chuck with nervous palms and a lot of peculiar, and dangerous scenarios in his head where she may have gotten hurt, or worse.
He usually heads to Orange Orange during his lunch break, but since she hasn't called or anything, he knew that she would not be working today. Instead, he hangs out with Lester in the Buy More staff room to eat his panini sandwich.
"So, what's up, Chuck? How's that beautiful blonde bombshell of yours," Lester asks as he sits across him with no lunch.
With his mouth full, Chuck chews vigorously to respond, "Nothin' much, same old, I guess. And Sarah's - erm..- she's fine, I guess."
"You guess? Dude, man. You can't guess how she is. Have you seen her?! Of course you have! She's a foxy lady," Lester says as he makes obscene hand gestures towards him. "You gotta know how she is at all times, man, or you might lose her. In fact, you should invite Jeffster to your house if you guys need a little, uh, bonding time with groovy background music."
Chuck laughs as Lester plays an air guitar while he finishes his last sentence. "Well, I don't know where she is right now, but I assume she is doing very well," Chuck says, completely ignoring his friend's advice with Jeffster.
"Okay, whatever dude. I'm gonna go get something to eat at, I don't know somewhere. I'll see ya later, alligator." Lester tells him as he stands up and does something between moonwalk-ing and cha-cha-ing to the door.
Chuck nods and smiles at him as he finishes up his panini.
Damn, he's kind of right, I guess. Maybe I should try calling her again, Chuck thinks.
He takes out his cellphone as it reads 12:26. He has four minutes left in his lunch break. He quickly goes through his contact list to find "Saaaaaaraaah" with a picture of a gorgeous blonde woman smiling. He presses the "call button" and lets it ring. And ring. And ring. No answer, again.
"Hey, Sarah, I know this is probably like, the 20th message I've left, but please call me back. I'm sorry. I really hope we could talk about this, I miss you a lot."
As Chuck walks over to his apartment, exhausted from work, and simply tired from Sarah's absence, he decides to visit Ellie for some sisterly advice. Changing directions and moving left, he walks to his sister's apartment door. It only takes a couple of seconds for Ellie to answer the door, with a welcoming smile on her face.
"Hey!" She says.
"Hey sis, can I come in?"
"Umm," she turns her head over her left shoulder to Devon, who is sitting down watching T.V., but staring at his wife. He gives her a shrug and continues to watch his football game. "Sure, I guess," Ellie says as she turns to him, "Why not?"
Chuck half-smiles and enters, with a "Hey, Devon."
"Sup, bro? Sit down, we can watch a bit of hardcore football," Devon booms while nodding.
"As much as I love watching sports, I think I'll just go to help Ellie make dinner."
Chuck drops his messenger back on the dining table and proceeds to go towards Ellie, who is putting chicken casserole in the oven. "Need any help?"
"No, I just finished, actually. But let's talk, Chuck. You're here because of Sarah?" Ellie says quietly while raising an eyebrow.
Chuck nods and follows Ellie to the dining table. He sits down and lets out a quiet sigh, "It's just," he stutters, "I don't know where she is. I'm really worried and I just want her to know how sorry I am and how much I miss her."
Ellie doesn't say anything, only gazes at her little brother. Chuck, noticing that she probably won't say anything, starts again. "Do you think she knows that? That I miss her? I'm so stupid, I should have never asked her for anything. I was fine with just being with her. Now I screwed it up, big time!"
After a couple of seconds of silence, he looks up at his sister to see her reaction; only to find that her eyes don't meet his. She is peering over his shoulder. He looks back to see what she is looking at and sees her.
The beautiful woman that he fell in love with the second she was in front of him at the Nerd Herd desk. Dressed in a plain white T-Shirt with short shorts; standing in the hallway with her hand on the wall, she meets his gaze. Her hair is a bit messy, which probably means she was sleeping. There's something different about her, from the last time Chuck had seen Sarah. Her eyes seem more, sullen.
"Sarah..." Chuck whispers in awe. She only gives a timid smile.
"Well, I know you guys have lots to talk about! Devon, honey, let's go to our room and let these guys work it out." Ellie says as she rushes off past Sarah, beneath the hallway and into her room. Devon also rushes up off the sofa and walks quickly to follow Ellie. He waves to the couple.
"Sarah.." Chuck begins again, louder this time. He attempts to speak but is interrupted when Sarah closes her eyes and raises her hand.
"Chuck.. I have to tell you something," she says with morose eyes. She walks towards where Ellie was recently sitting, and sits down, putting her hands on the table. Face to face, he could finally see her; she looked sad. Regretful.
Chuck only takes her hands in his and waits patiently for her to speak. He was just glad that she was here.
She was trembling now. Her voice quivering as she starts, "Chuck.. I..I.." she stutters, "I slept with another person.." she quietly says as she looks down. She is too afraid to look Chuck in the eye, afraid for his glare to penetrate her heart. Tears were coming out. As they streamed down her cheek, she started shaking uncontrollably.
Chuck, confused, and taken by surprise, manages to let out a "What?"
Sarah was sobbing now, gasping for air as she lets everything out. She was sniffling hard, and she wanted Chuck's arms. All Sarah wanted at this moment was Chuck's warm body comforting her because of her dumb mistake. But all she got was Chuck letting go of her hands quickly.
"You slept with someone else?! When?!" The joy of seeing her was quickly replaced with a burning rage in his eyes. "Sarah, what the hell?!" Chuck's quiet voice turned into a yell.
Sarah was still looking down, ashamed. She could see the large drops of tears falling on the dining table making a small mess. But she was too paralyzed by his words, his sudden anger at her. She had never seen him like this; maybe because she had never done anything like this.
"When?!" He repeats, demanding an answer.
She was still sobbing uncontrollably. She finally lets out "The day after I left last week!" in between big gasps of air and weeps of sorrow. "Chuck, you have to understand.. I didn't mean to..." she says with a trembling voice.
"Understand what?! I can't even begin to understand why.. Sarah, why?!" He almost pleads.
"I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry, Chuck," she whispers, still afraid to look into his eyes.
His voice suddenly rises again, "Sarah, I honestly.. Jesus! You're just like Jill, you know that?!" He yells, as he stands up and walks straight to the door.
He hears her pleading to come back, to stay, but his anger is controlling him right now, and walks out the door, slamming it on his way out. He had just left the woman he loved, alone, bawling her eyes out. He pushed the thought away. He didn't care; she deserved it, she slept with someone else!
Furiously, he sprints to his Nerd Herd car and drives. After 30 minutes of driving, he decides to go to a bar to get his mind off of things.
He still couldn't believe it. Sarah. Cheated. On. Him. Wow. He arrives at the bar which is filled with numerous individuals, and takes a seat on one of the stools and just ponders. His mind is everywhere right now.
Minutes go by before the bartender asks if he wants anything. Chuck just smiles and shakes his head. He doesn't drink. He never liked the way it tasted anyways; besides, Sarah hates the presence of alcohol. He's thinking about Sarah again, he just misses her, despite what she did.
As hard as he tries, he can never stay angry with her. And the way she looked when he walked out on her, the way her face were drenched with tears, the way she begged with a trembling voice.. It feels like he did something wrong. He closes his eyes and puts his hands over his face as he leans into the counter.
He just closes his eyes and thinks about how Sarah was always the one to help him; the one to make him smile. He reminisces about the time when they spent the night at a hotel room in Barstow, their first time sleeping on the same bed. Or the time where they were in a hotel room and Sarah insisted that they don't go home to L.A. yet because she wanted some time with him. She had always made him smile.
Now, he feels stupid. He told her that she was just like Jill, when in reality, she is the most amazing person in the world and can never even be close to what Jill was. So why did he leave her like that?
His tears are escaping his hands, revealing them to whoever looks at him in the bar. He quickly takes the sleeve of his Buy More windbreaker jacket and wipes them. Then, rushes out the door.
He's standing outside of Ellie's apartment at 11:30PM, hoping that Sarah hasn't left. He's so anxious on what she's going to say to him, and what he's going to say to her, so he violently paces around the courtyard fountain before knocking on his sister's door.
A sleepy Ellie opens the door.
"Is she still here?!" Chuck suddenly asks, unable to contain his worried look.
Ellie nods. "She's sleeping where your room used to be. I could hear here crying after you left," she looks at her feet as if she's recollecting a memory that happened a couple of hours ago.
Chuck disturbs her thoughts and rushes right into the apartment, finding an also sleepy Devon lying on the couch with a blanket. He greets Chuck with a slight nod.
Chuck sprints down the hallway to his old room to find that his feet have stopped working a couple of steps from his room. He is drenched with anxiousness. His palms are suddenly sweaty, but he takes a deep breath and slowly walks towards the room; opening it slightly.
He can see her back, and the way her body is shaking. She is still crying after almost two hours. He looks at her, his face filled with regret. How could he do this to someone he loved? He opens the door more and walks inside quietly.
Not knowing what to say, he unloosens his tie and takes it off, then climbs on the bed with her. She is taken by surprise, and lets out a non-stifled sob, looks over her right shoulder. Chuck, his head resting on his hand, just buries his nose at the back of her neck and slides his other arm around her.
"Hi." He whispers.
She sobs more quietly but turns her body so that she is facing him. He sees her wet face, and brings a hand to her cheek. He cups her face with one hand and cuddles with her, bringing her head towards his chest.
"Does this mean you forgive me?" She stopped sobbing now, but her voice, still shaky.
"Yeah. Only if you forgive me," he says. With this comment, Sarah pulls her head away to look deeply in his eyes.
"Forgive you for what? I was the one who.. did the thing.. I deserved whatever you did to me," she says boldly.
He gives her a caring but half smile, "I shouldn't have said the things I said. And, let's just forget everything, okay? At least, until we can talk about it tomorrow," while giving her a kiss on her temple.
"Alright, Chuck." She sighs, and smiles.
"I love you, you know that? I hope you never forget."
"I know," Sarah whispers, and leans into him to connect her lips to her soul mate's. Chuck's heartbeat rises; he can feel the palpitation caused by his love for her. He breaks away and slides her body towards his.
For a moment, he takes in her warmth, and in his mind, he is reminded that, Sarah Walker, will always be more than Jill.