Chuck slipped his hand through Sarah's as they went into their bedroom for a rare moment of peace. He smiled at her, came closer to her and kissed her slowly on the mouth, he loved the feeling of her in his arms - even after so long together, and she was still his world. And he was still hers; Sarah didn't understand how married couples everywhere claimed that the magic went away. There was a fire forever burning in her heart and Chuck never failed to reignite it, every time she looked into his eyes. Certainly, they'd had their ups and downs, but the downs never lasted very long and the ups were always worth it.
Sarah was a hundred percent sure she had made the right choice marrying Chuck, she was still very much in love with him. It brought back so many memories, a day like today, Christmas. It was a day she'd never want to spend with anyone else, just her and him and their family. Chuck pulled away from her slightly and rested his nose on hers and gazed longingly into her crystal eyes. He never wanted to leave her eyes, but he had to look away for a second to catch his breath.
"It's nice to have a second to ourselves." Sarah read Chuck's mind, just like she always did.
"I know. It doesn't happen often these days." He sighed, wrapping his long, tanned arm around her slender frame. He held her tightly, as though he was savoring her precious scent.
"It's just because it's the holiday season. Our house will be a lot quieter once New Years is out of the way." She replied, feeling safe in his embrace.
"I don't really want it to end yet though, I love Christmas." He smiled to himself, he had always loved Christmas and his age hadn't changed a thing about that fact.
Every day Sarah got to spend with Chuck, they were the best days of her year... so far this year she'd had nearly three hundred and sixty five of them. "You're worse than the kids." She teased him.
"I know that, too." Chuck noted. "As far as Christmases go, this one has been pretty uneventful."
"Remember when we went to Paris for the holidays? I think that's one of the best Christmases I've ever had, and it was by far the funniest." She looked up at him and saw his eyes glint at the memory.
"Yeah.. God that seems like a million years ago!" He raised his hand to his head and brushed back his spiraling hair.
"Well, it was at least seven years ago now." He felt his mind drifting back, his mind filling with a thousand pictures slowly forming into hilarious, wild memories.
"I can't believe we're going to Paris for Christmas!" Sarah uncharacteristically squealed, clenching her fists in excitement.
"A whole week alone!" Chuck grinned as they pulled their suitcases through the airport.
It was the twentieth of December and they had decided to take some time away from it all and John Casey with his prying eyes. As much as they liked Casey, they needed a week alone together to be just them and explore the true depths of their love together. Ever since they had gotten married, their life together had been one exciting, amazing rollercoaster. They had taken a week off of their 'work' and they had grasped their golden opportunity to get away.
They got on to the plane a short while later. As the plane flew out of Burbank, Sarah exhaled a deep sigh of relief and contentment, she loved her home, she really did, but she needed Chuck to herself, even if it was only for a week. She rested her head on his shoulder and felt the love radiate through her like a storm raging through her body, it was pure feeling of exhilaration. She couldn't wait for this week to begin.
She rested her head on his shoulder and he placed his hand on hers, it didn't matter that there were so many people on the plane. When they were together, it was just the two of them. Words didn't have to be exchanged between them, Chuck could read the silent messages in her eyes, she was content and her love very much mirrored his.
Soon, she fell asleep and not long after, so did he - before they knew it they were in Paris. A million miles away from home. They got a taxi from the airport to a hotel, and during the journey, Chuck got very excited when they passed the Eiffel Tower, he was in his element.
They pulled up outside the hotel Belle, Chuck dove out of the taxi and pulled Sarah by the hand, she squealed excitedly and hopped enthusiastically behind him, she stopped when she saw the hotel... She was lost for words. It was magnificent... No, heavenly... Perfect. It was exactly the type of place she had imagined. The floors were a glorious sheen of white marble and the walls were rose-red. A spiraling staircase led up to numerous different floors above and a transparent glass lift was next to the small check-in desk, with a small silver significant bell.
Chuck strode over to the desk, pulling his suitcase behind him, and Sarah. A rather, small dumpy man stood behind the desk, tweaking his measly, thin mustache. He gave the impression that he was unamused.
"Hey!" Chuck said brightly. "Oh! Err... Bonjour!"
"Salut." Replied the man shortly, his frown continuing to drop.
"Chuck Bartowski." He said as the man stared at his computer screen.
"Je suis Pierre." The man replied.
"No, we need our room key, please." Sarah interjected.
"Oh." Pierre searched through his rather large array of keys and sighed. "No one ever listen to me. Not my wife... Not my children... not even my dog."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Chuck said as Pierre handed him the key. He took Sarah's hand and whispered, "Au revoir."
They stepped into the lift.
"Well, wasn't he just a ray of sunshine?" Sarah beamed.
"Not really. Are all French people like that?" He wondered.
"Maybe, it's not like we're going to talk to people when we're here, is it?" She curled her arms around his torso and held him close, pressing her body to his. Wishing that she could feel his own heart beating with hers. Sometimes she felt as though they were on such a similar wavelength, she wanted to believe their hearts beat in exactly the same way, too.
Chuck smiled down at her, feeling as though the muscles in his face were about to burst, he was beyond happy.
A little while later, they had found their hotel room. Chuck opened the door and pushed their luggage inside before they went in. He strangely took Sarah by surprise when he wrapped one of his arms around her waist and the other underneath her legs, so that he was holding her in a perfect honeymoon-entrance position.
"Chuck!" She giggled, as he staggered into the room and managed to kick the door closed behind him. He soon found the bedroom and dropped her on the double bed; he let out an exhausted, jetlagged sigh and fell down beside her.
"What?" He raised a perfect, sexy eyebrow that Sarah found difficult to resist.
"It's not our honeymoon!" She protested weakly.
"I know, but it seemed like a good idea."
She rolled over into his arms and fell asleep there, she had no idea why she was still tired but she didn't really care, they had a whole seven days left alone.
Over the next few days Chuck and Sarah barely left their hotel room, it was like the rest of the world had vanished and it was just them, on their own planet. It was just how they liked it. When Chuck was with Sarah, he felt like he didn't need anyone else, it may have sounded cheesy but she was literally his other half, half his heart. Without her, he was a lost, empty, endless void of despair. He'd never experienced falling in love like this before, he had thought he was in love with Jill, but of course he hadn't had been. When he was with Jill, his heart hadn't had skipped several beats when he looked at her and neither did he feel euphoric like he did with Sarah. It was like magic.
They did, however visit the Eiffel tower and Chuck was extatic the whole time. Finally he had gotten to visit his favourite monumental landmark. He kissed Sarah passionately at the top of it, just like he had always imagined himself doing when he had got up there, and then, they stood together and gazed at the astonishing view.
A few days after they had arrived, this happened to be Christmas eve, Chuck and Sarah decided to go for a night out in the French city. In the evening, when they were getting ready to leave, Chuck had thrown on a checkered blue shirt, teamed with black jeans and his brand new pair of converses. Sarah was dressed in a short crimson dress; her shoes were the pair of Louboutin's that Chuck had bought her the previous Christmas.
She stepped out of the bathroom and his jaw dropped. She never failed to amaze him with her beauty. Even at her worst, she looked like an angel. Sarah appraised Chuck with her eyes, his hair was ruffled sexily to the side and his eyes followed hers like a magnet.
"Wow." They said together, and then laughed.
"Ready?" Chuck said, offering his arms to her.
"Yeah, let's go!" She replied.
On their way out of the lobby, they bumped into Pierre, perched miserably on the edge of a chair. He sniffed loudly, somehow managing to do even that in a classic french way.
"Hey, Pierre!" Chuck said as they walked past.
"Hello ." He wrongly said.
"No, it's Bartowski." Chuck mumbled.
"My life is oveeer!" He wailed. "My wife, she is having affair, with the nanny."
"A male nanny?" Sarah asked, inquisitively.
"No." He sniffed again.
"Err... oh... Sorry to hear that." Chuck said apologetically. "See you later." They walked away quickly and breathed a sigh of relief when they were outside.
"Well that was interesting!" Sarah said sarcastically.
"Certainly was."
They climbed into yet another taxi, and found a nice area within the city that held a circle of clubs and bars. They stood in the middle of all the buildings and wondered which to go into. They soon decided on a rather charming small bar that was crammed with young couples and tourists like themselves.
"Merry Christmas!" Sarah said when they were inside; she touched her drink to his and beamed inwardly, before downing her drink in one.
"Err... Merry Christmas. Thirsty, are you?" Chuck asked her, still looking down at his full glass of G&T.
"Well it's been a long time since I've been 'merry', so I think I deserve to let my hair down, don't you think?"
"I think we both need to let our hair down.. I mean, not that I have much." He grinned.
"Yeah." At that exact moment, the bar seemed to transform into a club, music blasted through the bar and Sarah felt as though the music was pulsating through her, making her come alive. They ordered two more drinks and downed them in record time. She pulled him onto the dance floor, but he was reluctant to move his feet.
"Come on, Chuck." She whispered, seductively into his ear, making him automatically melt.
He pulled her back to him. "I can't dance, Sarah, you know that."
"Come on! You don't need to dance, just bob up and down a bit!" She grinned. It was like he was casting eyes on a new Sarah, she looked like a child on Christmas morning. He hadn't seen her this hyperactive. Well, ever.
He took one last swig of his drink as she pulled him away. He continued staring longingly at the bar as they walked away from it. A song came on that suddenly made the whole room erupt like a volcano, each individual person seemed as though they were having a seizure, according to Chuck. But, if that was what they called dancing these days, then so be it.
He threw one foot in front of the other, and somehow, he found he was dancing. Sarah smiled at him, and took his hand. A simple gesture between them that meant so much, for a moment, their eyes locked and their hearts sped up faster. It took all Chuck had to look away and to carry on dancing; they didn't need to do that kind of thing now.
Forty songs and numerous martinis later, they were, as they say, 'out of it.' Chuck was yelling in time with the music, mimicking a rock star with his hands. Sarah wasn't actually dancing anymore, her limbs were out of sync and her mind was elsewhere. She seemed to remember suddenly that Chuck was in front of her.
"Dance with me, Charles." She said in a feigned posh accent.
"Certainly." He bobbed his head and gripped her hand and twirled her around the dance floor. She flew straight into another couple and landed with a thump right on her bottom. She squealed in delight when she looked down at the floor and saw the woman's shoes.
"Oh... My God!" She gripped the heel of the woman's shoe; the lady almost lost her balance.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The woman said with a very heavy Irish accent.
"I have to try on these shoes, what size are you?" Sarah slurred.
"I'm a five, but that doesn't matter, get away from me!" She shouted.
"Sarah, honey. Stop trying to steal her shoes." Chuck knelt down beside her, somehow with a can of beer in his hand.
"I WANT THEM!" She yelled like a child.
"No." He pulled her away from the woman so that they were alone in the corner of the restraunt.
"I-I can't believe you, Chuck. That was my woman. I mean shoes. You know what that's it! I'm going home; I'm going back to Burbank right now." Her crazy blonde hair fell in front of her eyes.
"Sar-"
"TAXI, TAXI!" She started shouting.
"STOP!" He sighed and took her outside.
"Why?" Her expression suddenly bewildered.
"I need to.. I need to.." He let out a loud fart that continued for a few painful seconds.
"EW!" Sarah yelled.
"Thank God!" Chuck groaned.
"You're such a pig." She mumbled into her chest.
For a little while they both sat there, not quite remembering why they had come outside in the first place.
"Look, Chuck, someone left their scarf on that table!" She pulled the long red material onto her lap.
"That's tinsel." He sighed.
"It isn't!" She put it around her neck. "Chuck?"
"Yes babe?" He replied, his tone sweeter than honey.
"I love you." She smiled, her head bobbing from side to side.
"I love you too, now let's get a taxi." He smiled, and put his phone to his ear and started talking, before remembering that he had to actually dial it. Miraculously, he spotted a number for a taxi rank plastered on the bar door. He dialed it, and rang the number. Whilst he was on the phone Sarah continued talking.
"No, I know I always say it Chuck. But I reeeeally love you, like I can't think straight when I'm with you. I would do anything for you because you're my world. I'd go anywhere for you, honest to God I would. I'll advertise it to the world, if you want. I LOVE YOU!" She said, at the top of her voice.
Chuck was clutching the phone, and somehow managed to hear the taxi rank say down the phone that they would be there in the next ten minutes.
"I know, honey, I feel the same!" He turned to her, and let a slow, lopsided smile work its way upwards, Sarah found it irresistible. She came closer to him and planted her lips on his, the world around her was woozy, but she felt as though she knew what she was doing. She cupped her hands around his face and she let the electricity zing through her like a spark. The kiss intensified, and it left Chuck breathless.
Between kisses, he whispered, "Sarah.. You do... realize.... the taxi... is right there?"
"Oh!" She giggled. "Sorry!"
She managed to prize herself away from Chuck, she walked wobbled her way to the taxi and he followed closely behind.
When they got back to the hotel, Sarah showed off her brand new scarf to Pierre.
"It's tinsel, Miss." He said grumpily.
"JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS.. JINGLE ALL THE WAY, OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE-"
"Chuck, be quiet!" She said sharply.
"Sarah, it's gone midnight, it's Christmas!" He tapped Pierre's cheek lightly.
"Merry Christmas." She winked, "Now come upstairs so I can give you your present."
With that, he sprinted up the staircase.
I know it was a really random story; my mind must be very random, indeed. More to come on Christmas memories, only doing about four more installments though! Review, please!