Author's note: I wrote this story to the music "Don't give UP" by Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. This was done quickly and will probably need a rewrite. If you want to fix it up, be my guest. ) This is also my small attempt at the challenge that GCG and BR are engaged in.
BTW, most of the Chuck fanfic authors are at Fanfiction:/forum/TWoPKickedUsOutButWeStillLoveChuck/49974/
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck. All of the characters belong to whomever. I own the plot and theme in this story though. Enjoy it I hope! )
There are character deaths in this one.
Walking though the streets, I look at the people a bit differently. Most of the people are trying hard to get whatever they can to make their life better.
I see people begging, hustling, plotting to get ahead. It was not long ago that I would have passed them by without a second thought.
Now things have changed. I am one of these people for now. I was not prepared to be where I am now.
The Fates have dealt me another blow. Did I do something bad in a previous life? Was it so bad to try and be a good guy? Maybe it is all a test for something later in life.
Hell, I don't know but it sure has not been my decade. There have been so many ups and downs in my life in the last seven years, where did I go so wrong.
There was my Father and Mother, as if leaving Elle and I were not bad enough to begin with. After fighting back to get into Stanford, only to be kicked out by my supposed friend Bryce.
Sure, I ignored Jill's calls when I came back to LA. I never thought that she would shack up with Bryce. Maybe She was getting back at me for locking her out of my life, but I needed to be alone for a while.
Then I get that email with all the government data. My life took a turn for the better or at least I thought it did. I meet a beautiful woman that I had no right to thing had an interest in me.
I was sure that I had gotten through her walls, but then again I have always been clueless when it came to women.
I can still cannot believe how it all played out. How a single mistake put me here in some God forsaken Hell hole.
You seen Chuck aimlessly walking over to a darken corner and sit down. Cloths are dusty and wrinkled making him look like any other bum on the streets. His facial hair had grown out in a wild mountaineer style. Dull brown eyes and worn out shoes added to his hobo look.
He looks as bad as he feels. Having not eaten all day, the fatigue is getting to him. Chuck lays his head into his hands. Trying to fight off falling asleep, but losing the battle. His eyes drooping, closing against his wishes. His face looks twisted in agony as he starts to dream.
--
Overlooking a mountainous range, a small figure stands deep in thought. Slumped over shoulders with unbrushed hair, clearly not the normal for such a woman of class.
Looking at her face, there is a deep frown. Deep blue eyes with dark circles under them, aging her looks to add to her unkept appearance.
The confidence that once exuded her persona was no longer there. She had always been taught to win. Losing had never been an option for her before, but her loss had taken a heavy toll on her.
Times had been good to her up till that one mission. How had things gotten so out of control. She had no winning option. She still could not get her failure out of her mind.
Even Graham had seemed to have lost his faith in her, not like he had much of a choice. She had not been able to recover from that mission.
In a single night, she had lost everything. The adopted family that she had grown to like. The man she was happiest around. The partner that had finally treated her with respect.
After that one night, she could not trust her instincts any more. When an agent has no confidence in themselves, it was time to change jobs.
The problem was that she did not feel she had any other skills. There was no other job for her.
If it had not been for Casey, Sarah would have died on her latest mission. It was evident that she did not care if she lived or died. Casey was not about to stick around and watch her die.
She still received calls from Casey to check up on her. Ignoring how she had lost her way. There was no fight left in her these days.
Thinking about how she had changed her name to Lindsey, for a fresh start. Even changed her hair color to brown, but nothing seemed to make her feel different.
Moved on to several different locations, none seemed to be the right one. It's never been easy, but now there is no place where Sarah feels she belongs.
Lindsey/Sarah moves to the bed in the room. Feeling completely exhausted for no reason, she closes her eyes; knowing that when she did her nightmare would start all over again.
Slowly she drifts off to sleep, only to release the tears that she has refused to shed while awake. Not knowing if there is ever going to be a place where she belongs again.
--
Turning back the clock 6 months ago, back to the fateful day. To the beginning of the horrible mission that destroyed many peoples lives. The day Team Bartowski became no more.
It was a sunny day in LA, when Chuck was at the Burbank Town Center. He had been driving up Highway 5 to go to the IKEA store there.
He was looking for some items for his room, when he spotted a man with a unique tattoo. Instantly flashing on the man, it revealed that Lloyd was an FBI ten most wanted person for murder.
Calling Sarah, he explained the situation as he was tailing him. Sarah had told him to stop tailing the suspect, but in his usual Chuck fashion, ignored her.
Things would have been so much different, if he had just listened. Within fifteen minutes, Lloyd had realized that Chuck was following him.
It was easy for Lloyd to lose Chuck in the store, but he did not leave. Instead he was now the one stalking Chuck.
Disappointed in himself, Chuck got the items he was looking for and headed back to the Nerd herder. Still unaware that he was being followed, he drove straight back to his apartment.
Lloyd had followed him back and watched which apartment Chuck entered. He would be back to take care of this nosy person.
With a smile on his face, Lloyd drove his Harley back home. Making a few phone calls, the fates had stepped in again to bring tragedy to Chucks life.
That night Chuck, Elle and Devon were to go out to dinner. They had decided to go to D'Antonio's Restaurant in Diamond Bar. It was a bit of a drive, but the Italian food was worth the drive.
Sarah was running errands and would have to meet them there. It was her way of driving there by herself.
She did not want Chuck or Casey know that she was meeting Bryce. He had called Sarah and she still could not turn him down. Not wanting to hurt Chuck, she thought it would be better to just be late.
Chuck, Elle and Devon arrived at the restaurant at around 6 pm. Their reservation was not until 6:30 pm, so they went to the bar for a few drinks.
As they were ordering drinks, they could hear a few motorcycles pulling into the parking lot. Not really paying it much attention, Chuck looks down at his watch wondering what is taking Sarah so long. Was she stuck in the traffic on Highway 60? He wanted to call, but felt a bit foolish; she was more than capable of taking care of herself.
As Chuck was looking at his watch, Sarah was at Bryce's hotel room. She felt that since it was only about 10 miles away, she had plenty of time.
Bryce had poured her a glass of white wine, as they sat on the couch. Talking about the past, the time seemed to escaped Sarah's notice. It was already 6:30pm and she should have been at the restaurant by now.
As the waiter motioned for Chuck that his table was ready, he reached into his pocket for his iphone. He was starting to get worried about Sarah, since she was rarely this late.
Elle, Devon sat down at the table, but Chuck could not get reception on his iphone. He decided to go outside to get better reception.
Opening the door, Chuck stepped outside and turned to his left. Taking only two steps, he was blocked by someone.
Without looking up, Chuck tried to walk around the man. When he move to the right, so did the man. Then he tried to move to the left and again the man stepped in front of him. Chuck hit send on his iphone and it started to ring Sarah.
Frustrated that he could not get around the man, Chuck looked up as the phone was still ringing.
Without warning, Chuck was struck in the face by the mans fist! Chuck bounced hard on the ground before he could even move.
Stunned from the attack, Chuck looked up at the man and realized that it was Lloyd. His eyes flew wide open, not knowing what to do. His iphone had slipped from his grasp and he had no idea where it had landed.
Without knowing what to do, he tried to turn and run back to the restaurant. Lloyd grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him backwards.
Chuck landed hard into the concrete barrier behind him, cracking two of his ribs. Lloyd and a few of his biker crew started kicking and punching Chuck as he lay there helpless.
Unaware of what was going on, Sarah finally picked up her cell phone. She saw the picture of Chuck, realizing that she was very late.
Taking her time trying to decide to answer it, she finally answered on the eight ring. Sarah only answered it because Chuck usually hung up by the fifth ring.
Placing the cell phone to her ear, Sarah spoke into the phone before waiting to hear Chucks voice.
"Chuck, sorry my errand is taking me longer than I expected", waiting for his reply. Instead of hearing Chucks voice she could hear angry voices and someone yelling,"Please STOP!!"
At first she could not make out what was happening. Like a bolt of lighting, Sarah placed that it was Chucks voice yelling for help.
Running out of the hotel room, she felt guilty that she was not there. She had told him to go ahead, so that she could meet Bryce. Now Chuck was in trouble and she was ten miles away, in LA traffic.
As Sarah was trying to rush to Chuck, Elle was wondering why Chuck was taking so long.
Elle got up from the table, where she was eating bread that had been placed on the table. She walked to the door, where she immediately saw Chuck being beat on.
Running out of the door yelling at them to stop, Devon came running after her. As Elle reached the men beating on Chuck, she jumped on the nearest man's back.
Devon was but a few steps behind her and hit the nearest man he came to. The punch was so solid that the man dropped like he had been shot.
Chuck was in no shape to help, but he was trying to kick and throw what punches he could from the ground. He was terrified that something bad had happened to Sarah, why else would she not be here to help him.
There were just too many of them, soon they had Devon surrounded. Two of them were holding Elle; one striking her hard in the face.
Devon had seen the man strike Elle and charged him. As Devon was beating on the man, he did not notice another man advancing on him with a knife.
Still fighting for their life, suddenly Chuck heard Elle scream,"NOOO!!" He could hardly see, due to all of the blood in his eyes from all of the cuts to his face.
Managing to turn towards Elle, he could do nothing as Devon laid there in a pool of blood! Crawling towards Elle, the last thing he remembered was being hit hard in the head. Everything went black and Chuck lay still on the ground.
Sirens could be heard in the distance, causing the men to jump on their bikes and head out of there. Leaving Elle crying on the ground, holding Devon in her hands; switching her gaze between him and Chuck.
--
As Sarah pulled up to the restaurant, she could see police talking to Elle. She didn't seen Chuck or Devon anywhere.
Rushing to Elle, Sarah asked,"Where is Chuck? What happened here?"
Through her tears, Elle replied,"It was horrible Sarah! Some men were beating on Chuck and Devon and I tried to help! There were too many of them." Not able to talk anymore, Elle embraced Sarah and cried.
"Elle! Is Chuck Okay? Where did they take him?"
"I don't know if he is Okay! They killed Devon Sarah. They stabbed him in while he was trying to save Chuck and me." Elle just kept repeating the last sentence over and over again.
Elle was in shock and Sarah was trying to console her. Sarah needed to find out where they had taken Chuck still. It took her a few minutes to get the information from one of the police officers.
She put Elle in her car and drove them to Whittier Hospital Medical Center. It took them more than twenty minutes to find out where Chuck was.
He was in surgery and was not expected to make it. After six hours of surgery, the doctor came out and let them know that he had a sixty percent chance of survival. If Chuck made it through the night, his chances would greatly improve.
It took Chuck six days before he recovered conscience from his wounds. The first thing he asked Elle upon awaking was, "How is Devon?"
"He died Chuck. He was buried two days ago, while you were still unconscious. I am sorry Chuck.", Elle told him.
Tears were flowing down Elle's cheeks, as Chuck tried to hold her hand. They both cried for quite some time before they could stop.
Sarah was watching from outside of the door. Guilt from her not being there was tearing her up inside. She was supposed to protect him, but instead she was with Bryce when he really needed her!
Sarah had failed Chuck! She and failed to protect him and Devon died because of it. Her feelings had cause her to slip. She had never failed so completely before.
How could she face Chuck and Elle now. She would wait till he fell back asleep before she would go into see him.
--
Elle had finally left to go home. She was completely exhausted from the funeral and staying at Chucks side all this time.
Sarah was looking into Chucks room. She was pretty sure he was asleep, so she ventured into the room . It was at this time that Casey had come to see her and he was furious!
Casey walked straight up to her, but before speaking, he checked to see if Chuck was awake. Seeing the morphine pumping into Chuck's system, he was sure he would stay asleep.
Turning to Sarah, his eyes were ablaze. "He was your responsibility, where were you Walker!"
"I was running an errand and was running late." Dropping her eyes to the ground as she answered.
"Did that errand have to do with Bryce! Did you not think I would find out! So much for your feelings for Chuck. I guess you were playing him for a mark this entire time after all?"
"Don't you dare accuse me of not feeling for Chuck. I had no idea this would happen. I just stopped by as Bryce had requested." Sarah said seething.
"I guess it being there for over an hour is a quick errand? You still have feelings for Bryce and you let it effect your job! Now Chuck is lying in the hospital and Elle had to bury Devon. I hope your happy with yourself. I am not going to be the one to tell Chuck. But you had better tell him, before he finds out some other way, Agent Walker."
From out of nowhere, they hear a voice. "I already heard what you two said. How could you betray me like that Sarah? Not only did you lead me on, you got Devon killed while you played house with Bryce!", Chuck shouted. "Get OUT! Both of you just GET OUT and leave me alone!"
Turning to his side, Chuck closed his eyes as tears flooded down his cheeks.
Both Casey and Sarah left the room. Casey stopped just down the hallway, not going any farther.
"You need to figure out what you plan on doing now Walker! I will stay here and guard Chuck till he is well enough to get out of the Hospital. I would not show my face for quite some time, including Elle."
Sarah felt like something had died inside of her. She had made one small error in her judgement and everything is gone now.
She turned and walked out of the hospital. Upon reaching her room, she pulled out all the alcohol she could find. Starting with the hard liquor, Sarah drank until she could not remember passing out.
For the next several weeks, Sarah continued to drink as Chuck laid in the Hospital. Not knowing what may come when he got out of the hospital.
After being passed out for several hours, Sarah woke up to the feel of cold water splashing on her face.
Casey was standing over her, daring her to say anything. He knew that she had fallen apart over the entire incident, but was still having trouble forgiving her. Still, she was a good agent and he did feel sorry for her.
After cleaning her up, Casey let her know that Chuck was home from the Hospital. She was trembling from the news, not willing to move.
Casey and Sarah talked for some time before he had left her alone in the apartment. It was up to her to try and salvage anything out of this mess.
Chuck was lying in his bed when his iphone started to ring. He looked at the caller ID and saw it was
Sarah.
He opened the phone and said, "Sarah, I cannot talk to you yet. Please leave me alone for now!" Hanging up the phone before she could answer.
Chuck just looked up at the ceiling, but there was no tears this time. He was out of them and maybe, just maybe he was over Sarah as well.
Sarah put the cell phone down. It had taken ever ounce of courage she had to make that call. He had simply told her to leave him alone. What little hope she had was crushed in that one sentence.
She picked up the bottle next to her and started drinking. He hated her and he had good reason to. It is so strange how a simple error in judgement could get some messed up. Yea, relationships are not something she has ever been good at.
"I have got to get out of here, there is nothing left now. That river has flowed on. All my dreams have deserted me now.", Sarah is thinking to herself.
The last thing that she remembered that night, were Casey's last words to her. He had said,"Don't give up." But that is exactly what she was doing.
Times were rough for both Chuck and Sarah that night. Both would make mistakes that night that would effect their lives. There seemed to be no fight left in either one of them. Is there a place where they belong? And if there is, will they be together there?
Notes: If you want another chapter, please provide reviews.