A/N: Okay...this is just a little something that started rattling around my head after watching vs. the Colonel tonight. I started thinking about how things could take a 180 before the end of the finale (they damn well better...Season 3 (please?) will need the Intersect!). This is quickly written out ('ware the errors!) and unbeta'd...I apologize for any errors. For now it's a one-shot...but the future remains unwritten so that may change.
Chuck vs. Being Normal
Chaos reigned. Sirens wailed in the distance. Everywhere Chuck looked there were tears and screams. If he turned just a little to his right he saw Woody Woodcomb leaning back against a pillar, his daughter-in-law working furiously to staunch the blood that was creeping from the wound in his shoulder to spread a crimson flower over the starched white shirt he was wearing. If Chuck turned a little to his left he saw where his own father was stretched out, Devon kneeling over him in a simple undershirt pressing his tuxedo shirt against the gunshot wound in Stephen J. Bartowski's stomach. Chuck didn't even want to look at the two tablecloth covered bodies off to one side of where the head table was.
And then if Chuck turned further to his left he saw where Ted Roark was kneeling with a smug look on his face, his hands over his head with Casey standing over him with his sidearm held unwaveringly out to cover the Fulcrum madman.
"Chuck?" Sarah's voice cut through the storm of Chuck's thoughts. "Devon says your dad is going to be fine and Ellie has Woody stabilized. It's going to be okay."
Slowly Chuck turned from Roark to his father to Woody, his mind whirling. "How could this happen, Sarah? This was supposed to be the happiest day of my sister's life...and I did this to them."
Sarah reached out and grasped Chuck's hand in hers. "This is not your fault Chuck. Don't you dare take this upon yourself. You did not do this."
Chuck turned and looked at Sarah with haunted eyes. "But I did…don't you see? I brought spy world down upon them…I did this."
"Listen to me Chuck," Sarah said, her eyes compassionate and stern at the same time. "We all thought Roark died in the airstrike. There was no way we could have known that he would show up here. Roark did this, not you."
"He stepped in front of the bullet that was meant for my sister you know?" Chuck said, turning his eyes back to Woody. "How can I ever repay him?"
"He's a brave man," Sarah said simply. "And he loves your sister, she's his daughter now."
Chuck was silent for a moment, turning his own question over in his mind. How could he repay Woody for what he had done? He had taken a bullet so that Ellie could live. Chuck could never repay the senior Awesome for that. "I can't," Chuck said thoughtfully.
Before Sarah could respond, Chuck moved towards where Casey stood guard over Roark. "Where's he going to be going?" Chuck asked his gruffer partner.
"I'm going to be going to a beach somewhere I would imagine," Roark said with a laugh.
"Shut up, I wasn't talking to you," Chuck snapped out with uncharacteristic harshness. "Casey?"
"Langley most likely, at least first for some interrogation. Maybe Leavenworth after that, maybe someplace else," Casey shrugged. "Not my job to decide that. You okay Bartowski?"
A little shocked at Casey's concern, Chuck shook his head sadly. "No."
"He'll pay Bartowski, don't worry about that."
"Not enough," Chuck said sadly. After a moment's pause he continued in a brittle tone. "You know Casey, it's a good thing you never gave me a gun. I might be tempted to use it."
Without waiting for Casey's response Chuck turned and pushed past where Sarah was standing behind him, a shocked look on her face. With heavy feet he moved to where Devon was talking quietly to his dad. Placing a hand on his brother-in-law's shoulder he said simply, "Devon?"
"Hey Chuck," Devon looked up for a moment before turning his attention back to Stephen. "He's going to be okay man, but we'll need to get him into surgery pronto. I was just telling your dad about all the pretty nurses we've got lined up to look after him."
"Hey kiddo, I'll be fine," Stephen said, pain heavy in his voice. "Devon will get me right as rain soon."
"I know dad, Devon's awesome," Chuck said. Looking over to where Ellie was working on Woody, Chuck lifted his eyes to watch Honey as she moved back to help Ellie. Thoughtfully, Chuck let his eyes roam over everyone that was gathered for his sister's wedding reception. Then he turned his head slowly to look at Roark, and then Casey and last of all Sarah. He still hadn't managed to tame the storm of his thoughts, but one question stood out. How could he ever repay Woody for saving his sister?
And finally he knew the answer. He couldn't repay Woody but maybe he could stop something like this from happening again. Taking a deep breath to try and slow his now furiously beating heart, Chuck looked back down at his dad.
"Dad?" Chuck asked, his voice quavering.
"Yeah son?"
"Undo it."
"What?" Stephen and Sarah asked at the same time.
"Undo what you did. Give me…it…again."
"Excuse me," Sarah said as she grabbed Chuck's hand and pulled him away. "Chuck? What are you doing?"
"I'm asking my dad to give me the Intersect."
"Why?" Sarah's confusion was written all over her face.
"Honestly, I don't really know," Chuck ran his hands wearily through his hair. "Because maybe I couldn't have stopped this from happening, but maybe I can stop something like it from happening. Maybe that's how I can start to repay Woody for saving Ellie's life."
"But Chuck, all you wanted was to get rid of the Intersect, to have a normal life," Sarah said and then stopped, looking down to where her hand was still joined with Chuck's. "I thought…"
"I do," Chuck said emphatically, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "God do I ever. Sarah, you're all I ever think about…you know that. I've dreamed of us being together, really being together. But can I be that selfish? Can we be that selfish?"
"I don't understand," Sarah said.
"I'm not sure I do either, but Sarah, if I can stop this from happening again, I need to. Really, I'm not normal am I? I can become the Intersect. And if the Intersect will allow me to do that, well then…"
"I thought you hated being the Intersect."
"It wasn't really the Intersect I hated being…it's the fact that I didn't have a choice. Bryce sent me that email, I didn't ask for it. I guess this time I am. This time it's my choice."
"Chuck, you know if you go back to being the Intersect and I go back to being your handler…" Sarah left the words hanging, her eyes back on their joined hands.
Squeezing her hand lightly, Chuck lifted their joined hands to where he could gently kiss the back of Sarah's hand. "Sarah Walker, I love you. But I can't respect myself, I can't expect you to respect me if I let other people get hurt because I don't want to see anything other than that love. If doing something to help people means becoming the Intersect again, if that means we have to pretend to go back to what we were…I guess that's a price I'll have to pay. I guess I'll just have to hope that you don't wake up and realize that I'm a huge goof one day.
"I already know that," Sarah said with tears in her eyes. "It's part of why I love you. Are you sure?"
"Hell no," Chuck said with a violent head shake. "But I don't really see any other options. Wait...you love me?"
Nodding slowly Sarah turned to lead Chuck back to where his dad was now being tended by the paramedics who had arrived on the scene. Stopping, Chuck pulled on Sarah's hand gently to stop her. "Sarah?"
Turning, Sarah simply looked at Chuck, not trusting herself to speak without sobbing at the sacrifice Chuck was making.
"You love me?" Chuck said, unable to keep excitement out of his voice, no matter how inappropriate he felt it was at the moment.
Sarah nodded again, still silent.
With a wink Chuck said in his best Humphry Bogart voice, "Well, we'll always have that hotel in the middle of nowhere…"