A/N: Short, very dialogue-centric, almost no description, possibly ooc, and me written. Please read and review. :D

"Sarah?" asked Chuck, walking into the very dark apartment.

"Go away, Chuck!" yelled Sarah from inside her room.

"No," Chuck said, determination in his voice. "Not this time, Sarah."

"Why not?" Sarah said. From the way her voice was muffled, it was obvious that she was now standing behind the closed door.

"Because," Chuck said as he walked over to stand close to the other side of the door, "I've left so many times before without telling you exactly how I feel."

"I think you made it very clear this afternoon," Sarah said, and Chuck could hear in her voice that she had been crying.

"No, Sarah," Chuck said, "I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. Please, just let me tell you how I feel. How I've felt for the past almost three years. Then I'll leave and you won't ever have to see me again. You can ask for a reassignment. Just, please."

"Fine," Sarah said. "But I'm not opening the door."

"Okay," Chuck said, then waited for Sarah to say something.

Silence. Minutes passed and Chuck realized that Sarah was not going to say anything. She was just going to let him talk and then wait for him to leave.

Well, here goes nothing, Chuck thought.

"Look, Sarah," he said, "the first time you walked into the Buy More, the first time I saw you, I knew that you were special. Different. And then later, on the date that wasn't really a date at all, I got to see you. And, I think that for at least part of the date, I got to see the real you."

Chuck paused. He waited a few minutes for Sarah to speak. When she didn't, he continued.

"Then Casey and those other NSA agents attacked," he said. "It wasn't until much later that I realized just how amazing you are at your job. You protected me then and kept me distracted all at the same time. And later, on the beach, you asked me to trust you. And I did ...to a degree. I mean, there was that incident later that was a mistake, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So, on the beach, you pretty much told me that I had to 'work' for the government. And I was scared – for my family, for my friends, for myself – but I was also scared for you. I know that you might think it's silly, but I was scared for you and your safety."

Chuck paused once more. He placed his head next to her door so that he could hear her better. Or hear if she said anything at all.

"Why?" she asked in a whisper.

Chuck knew that Sarah hadn't thought he could hear her, so he pretended that he didn't. Moving away from the door a little, he continued.

"And the main reason I was worried for you," he said, addressing her question in a way he hoped was not obviously answering her question, "is because the job seemed dangerous. And it was – is – dangerous. It wasn't that I didn't think you could handle it. It was just me being worried for the people I care about. And I know that we barely knew each other, but I tend to care about everyone. It's just part of who I am."

He stopped, pressed his ear to the door, and listened.

"I know," he heard Sarah say.

He straightened up once more and continued what he was saying.

"So, then, skipping some time, while under the truth serum, you said that we could never be together," he said. "And, by that time, I had developed very strong feelings for you. So, obviously, I was hurt by what you said. Later, much later, that day, Casey told me that you had lied. That you had been taught how to withstand the poison and lied because it was your job to. And that hurt, so I broke up with you. I didn't think you thought it was real and so I just did it. Looking back, it explains why you did what you did when I was dating Lou. Then we kissed. On the docks, we kissed. And it was amazing. But then later you said that it was a mistake. Then after that, Lou broke up with me and we had to go back to fake-dating. It was hard, Sarah. But eventually, we made it work."

He paused, but instead of trying to listen to see if Sarah had anything to say, he continued.

"And while we had a few problems," Chuck said, "I think we did pretty well. And then we went to your high school reunion and I got to learn things about you. Things that I didn't know. But you didn't really like that I was learning those things. And later, your father came and that was very...interesting. Then Jill happened. And I'm really, truly very sorry about that. I don't know what I was thinking. It was a mistake. You were right and I was wrong. I should have never trusted her, but I did. And, later, she proved herself not as bad as we thought. But, anyway, you stuck with me then. And more stuff happened. The 49-B, my dad, everything with the Intersect, Cole, your reassignment with Bryce, and my downloading of the new Intersect. And I know that those events aren't in order, but they happened so fast. The point, though, is that through all of that you stood by me. And you were going to. Even before I got the new Intersect. Then this morning, at the briefing, Beckman said that I was part of the CIA. An agent. And I thought – well, I thought that you would like that. For me to be like Bryce. A hero. But then you didn't talk to me. And so this afternoon, when I told you that I didn't want you to be my handler anymore, I was just doing what I thought you wanted me to do."

"Why would you think that I wanted that?" asked Sarah, opening the door.

"Um, hi, Sarah," Chuck said, surprised that she had opened the door.

"Answer the question," Sarah demanded, looking as though she might slam the door closed again at any moment.

"Because I'm stupid," Chuck said, "and it just seemed like you didn't want to see me...ever again."

"Did it ever occur to you that I might have been upset by Bryce's death?" asked Sarah, angry now.

"Yes," Chuck answered, "but then I got selfish and thought about me. About us. And....I was just stupid. But, look, I've rambled on enough. What I want to say, what I came here to say, is that I love you, Sarah or Jenny or whatever your name is. I love you."

"No, you don't," Sarah muttered. "You don't even know me."

"That's almost true," Chuck said. "I don't know a lot of things about you. But I think that I know who you are. On the inside."

"And what's that going to tell you?" asked Sarah.

"It's told me that you are sweet," Chuck said, "caring, dedicated, trustworthy, capable, amazing, and many, many more things."

"None of those things matter," said Sarah.

"Yes, they do," Chuck said. "They matter. You matter. And, so, because of those things and because of you, I came here to tell you that I love you. To beg you not to leave. And, more importantly, I need to ask you a question."

"What?" Sarah asked, and as she did, Chuck knelt down on one knee.

"Sarah, Jenny, or whatever your name happens to be," he began, pulling a jewelry box out of his pocket, "I love you with all of my heart, and so I came here today to ask you for your hand in marriage. I know that you probably won't accept because I honestly don't deserve you and I was a jerk, but there's a chance that you will. So will you marry me?"

The question hung in the air for a long time. Eventually Chuck decided that Sarah's silence meant "no". He started to get up, but Sarah stopped him by saying...

"Yes, Chuck, I'll marry you."

"Really?" he asked, obviously surprised.

"Yes," Sarah answered. "I love you too and I have for a while. You hurt me this morning, but by coming here, you've shown me that you're sincere. No one's ever done anything like this before. I know you're sorry and I know that we both love each other. Marriage is going to be hard, especially now with our jobs, but considering we made it through everything else, I think we can manage."

She smiled then and Chuck smiled back. After a moment, he remembered the ring. he slid it onto her finger and stood up.

He kissed her carefully. Sarah soon responded and the kiss grew. By the time they had to stop for breath, they had made it into the bedroom.

Neither really knew what to do by this point, but Chuck took control of the situation.

"Sarah," he asked, "why don't we just sleep? It's been a long day."

"Yeah," Sarah agreed, "it has."

They climbed into the bed and snuggled together, and because they each felt they had made the right choice by deciding to wait, they were asleep within minutes.

The End