Disclaimer: Chuck does not belong to me, obviously
//
Help, I'm alive
My heart keeps beating like a hammer
Hard to be soft
Tough to be tender
Come take my pulse the pace is on a runaway train
- Metric
//
"That's fantastic Chuck!" Ellie was so excited by the news that she practically knocked him to the floor in her hurry to smother him in her arms. "You and Sarah are going to have such a great time. I'm so happy for you two."
Chuck just nodded against Ellie's shoulder in lieu of a reply. Awesome came up beside them and pulled the two into a bear hug. "That's awesome, bro."
Chuck closed his eyes, trying to grasp hold of the moment, to protect it from hurt, atrophy, and the Intersect. He wasn't sure when he'd get to see them again, if at all. Reluctantly his arms fell limp by his sides and he took a step back. "Enjoy your honeymoon." He couldn't fully meet their eyes but flashed a warm smile, hoping they caught the sincerity in his voice. "I should go pack."
He heard Awesome's voice as he reached out to push open his door, "Take care of each other over there. Don't forget Amsterdam."
//
Chuck fell heavily onto his bed, gravity throwing him down. The last twenty-four hours were washing over him in waves like one of his flashes. Already there was a tightening in his muscles, a stiffness all over his body, like a taut elastic at its breaking point. Guys, I know kung-fu. He still couldn't grasp these new flashes, how they could suddenly infuse otherworldly abilities onto him, such skills once thought to him only capable with a video controller in his hands. Bloodshot eyes, chafed fingers and a sore ass were the extend of the physical toll on his body, but this, this was unlike anything his body had endured.
So far inside his own head, he didn't hear the window sliding open or the body clumsily stepping down onto the floor.
"Hey, Chuck!"
The voice pulled Chuck out of his reverie in a hurry. Opaque images flashed behind his rolling eyes, a surge of electricity shot down to his limbs, but the sensation died on Morgan's face. Chuck reached his hands up to wipe at his eyes, trying to erase the thoughts and the repercussions of what might have happened.
Morgan's gaze fell on the suitcase laid open on the bed. "Where ya headed buddy? Are you gonna come to Hawaii with me?" His eyes lit up at the prospect, but fell just as quickly when Chuck shook his head.
"Sorry, buddy. Sarah and I are actually heading to Europe... gonna travel around for a little while." He could feel the hitch in his voice as he finished. He had been lying to Morgan, Ellie, and Awesome for two years, but he could barely handle getting out this last lie... just one more time.
"Woah, chuck you out. You and Sarah getting serious?" Morgan plopped on the bed beside him, pushing the suitcase out of the way.
"Something like that," he said with a soft smile.
His mind swam back a few hours prior... Will you run away with me? The way she had said it, the way her face lit up, her eyes clouding with emotions he'd never seen from her had literally forced open his mouth, the "Yeah" falling off his tongue without hesitation. He wanted to be happy, really really ridiculously excited, ecstatic, overjoyed, at the idea of Sarah giving it all up to be with him... It was just... the timing... the extremes they had to undertake in order to be together, just to kiss her whenever he wanted to, without surveillance, without the government breathing down their necks. It was a battle of wills, of which part of his brain would take over his emotions: the part that was desperate for a relationship with Sarah; the part where he was loyal to his friends and family; or the part that housed the Intersect, threatening his lively hood and pushing him into the spy world.
The faint traces of blood under his fingernails jolted him back to the present. It would look like dirt to anyone else, but he knew it was Bryce.
"You oughta get packin' buddy boy."
Chuck sighed. "That can wait. We should play Call Of Duty one more time."
Morgan's face fell. "Hey, I'm not dying."
As Chuck opened his mouth to reply his phone started vibrating. "It's my dad."
"I'll give you a minute." Morgan slapped Chuck on the knee and stood up to leave. "Just go see what Ellie and Awesome are up to...," he mumbled as walked out of the room.
//
"What's up, Walker?" Casey plopped his gun down on the table beside Sarah, studying her face.
She didn't look up to meet his eyes, instead making a conscious effort to avoid him. The tone of his voice was probing, knowing she was up to something, like his neck was stretching out so to close to her ear that the words vibrated down her spine. Her hands furrowed farther into her duffel bag, hoping it would swallow her. "Nothing. Why?"
Casey quirked an eyebrow, leaning into the table. There was tension in her shoulders, in her eyes... a vulnerability in her voice. "Where you going with that?" he asked as she placed a gun into the bag.
"I'm taking Chuck to Prague... to protect the cover." That wasn't part of their plan with Beckman, but perhaps a reliable alibi, perhaps not. She was being careless. Agent Walker prepared for every facet, considered every detail, but "love-sick Sarah" had just exposed herself to Chuck. Still reeling with the high, she couldn't focus or think straight. She couldn't think like Agent Walker.
He waited a moment. Waited to see her crack, make a mistake. "I don't believe you."
Finally she looked up, stilling her hands, as their eyes met. She knew she was defeated. Casey had always known she'd compromised herself long ago. "What do you want me to say?"
Casey starred back, eventually shrugging his shoulders. He tossed a clip in her bag. "Good luck Walker. Be safe." He turned on his heel and left before he caught the faint smile stretching her lips.
//
"I'm fine, we're fine," Chuck reassured his Dad on the other end. The hand on the phone started to tense up. He hadn't thought to discuss this with Sarah. What was he supposed to say? Bryce's dead, and I have the new Intersect in my head? Well, that was the truth of course, but piecing together the right words, as not to alarm him, make him worried, was more difficult.
"Ah, dad," he interrupted. "I've got another call... it's Sarah. I'll call you right back." It was another lie, but he needed a moment to think things through, which he had been doing since he left Castle; all questions, but no answers.
//
At exactly 7:00AM their eyes met across the platform.
Sarah pushed aside Agent Walker three weeks ago, thinking first with her heart rather than her head for the first time in a very long time. The stopper pushing down on her stomach, halting any real emotions from surfacing, the ones she never needed as an agent, began to crack at her words, Will you run away with me? Those repressed feelings had been slowly penetrating her cold heart while they were apart, but at the same time she was plagued with worry, whether her actions were too spontaneous, too bold. Facing him now, their eyes locked in a silent dance, everything came rushing out, the emotions exploding like a geyser, releasing butterflies into her stomach and burning a warmth into her heart. It was the right decision.
Chuck's breath pooled in a circle on his exhale, his body literally steaming with anticipation. It wasn't even cold out. The bag he slowly pulled behind him felt like a thousand pounds. In three long unsteady strides he was standing before her.
"Are you ready?" She could feel her smile stretching to the limit yet it kept growing.
He nodded in reply, too anxious to grapple for the words in his head, his lips twisted in a steadfast grin. For the first time in a long time he was actually speechless.
She was reaching for his hand, a gesture she hoped to continually repeat not for cover but for real. His sweat transferred to her palms... he was nervous. Looking into his eyes, the butterflies fluttered around her belly, carrying her a step closer to him, and then she was pressing against his lips. The brush of his tongue sated her deep longing, he was so warm.
"Saaarah," he breathed into her mouth till she relinquished the hold on his lower lip. His forehead rested against hers, allowing his lungs to fill with air.
"It's actually Holly. And you're Hector... Hector Calderon." He glanced down at the ticket now in his hand. "We have to go now Chuck. They're boarding. Are you ready?"
He looked from her to the train and back, his hands gripping tightly around hers, his jaw clenching as his teeth mashed together.
"Chuck?" She waited for him to meet her eyes. Her tongue flicked across her lips trying to wipe away the smirk creeping up on her words. "Don't freak out."
//
The landscape whizzed by the window in a flash... just like a flash. Chuck blinked his tired eyes, leaning his head back on the seat. Sarah's hand was clasped around his providing a barrier between the two of them. His eyes fell upon her face. They had been quiet for the last ten minutes, since they had boarded the train and settled into their seats. "Hey, you okay?"
A grin followed his words, relaxing her grip on his hand just a little. She hadn't realized how tense she was. Now that they were on their way to obscurity, anonymity, nothing but the two of them, she didn't know how to act around him, didn't know what to say.
"Yeah," she replied meekly. "Just thinking."
"Where are we going?" He had so many questions to ask her, so many thoughts he just needed to get out in the open.
"Off the grid," she replied cryptically.
"And where exactly is 'off the grid'?"
She neglected his question, squeezing his hand tighter again. "Did you do everything I asked?"
"Yeah," he whispered. He suddenly couldn't escape the thought that this felt like just another mission, just another cover. He smiled, for her reassurance, but it fake.
//
A/N: Sorry for that rather crappy ending. Please review though!! Thanks for reading!