Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Pairing: Chuck/Sarah

Summary: Chuck works on his five-year plan. And not just the font. Chuck centric. AU

-cs-

For most of his life he had been waiting.

For Jill to notice him…

For his hair to stop misbehaving…

For Stanford to realize it was all one giant misunderstanding…

For his dream girl to walk right through his door…

Things happened to people around him and he was still the one that waited for things to change, to get better, unwilling to accept that Stanford was maybe the best of him. It irked him more than he thought it would. Maybe this was the down side of being the better man - after being judged so wrongly by the society one finds himself thinking how it can get better than those glory days.

Ellie was at the start of her new chapter in life. She and Awesome went to Chicago with their carriers and open doors for whatever they may deem as right for them. He on the other side, had spent most of his time moping about his college dropout days and living on a minimal wage just to be doing something in his brand of interest. Not really a dream job but it paid his bills.

Ellie was fantastic, the big sister he would wish for anyone and she had left him this apartment. She has left him with something more – a responsibility he couldn't avoid any longer. The need to sit on a couch and feel sorry for himself was overcome by the need to eat (the trip to the store was mandatory, he couldn't live on cheese balls much longer) and so he takes that first step and buys his first bag of groceries (sneaking in a few items from the fruit isle that Awesome would approve of and a bag of cheese balls just in case).

Still he returns to an empty apartment, surrounded by nothing but boxes and it all seems a little too real. So much so that he walks to the box labeled 'Junk' in a poor attempt to escape it, even if just for one night. His Nintendo is plugged in and he knows there must be some old classic like The Duck Hunt in there. But then his hand stumbles onto a relic almost – the first game he ever made. Zork. Or at least his version of it.

For the first time in so long a smile forms on his lips.

He looks around the apartment and then glances at the game in his hands, an idea forming.

All the fear he feels now can maybe serve to pull him forward and do something. With newfound determination he grabs one manila folder that was never far away, even if he knew its contents by heart. He had to, because he wrote it. On the front it was written with thick, black marker 'The unnamed project/game in development'.

Maybe it was time to step towards that dream a little bit closer.

-cs-

Placing a heated cup of coffee on his small table in the living room he let out an exhausted sigh. He never would've thought things would be so hard. Most of the apartment was still unfurnished, some pictures of him, Ellie and Devon adoring the picture frames. Besides them also a picture of him and Morgan, his life partner that had went to become the chef he always wanted. They weren't in constant contact as before, now a couple of e-mails every now and then kept their friendship going.

Somewhere to the side stands a picture of a younger looking Chuck and his college friend Bryce. Even though he had been the reason he got expelled from Stanford, a year later they bumped into each other and somehow Chuck couldn't help but to forgive the man. He just had that quality about him and he offered an explanation even if it was years too late. Bryce even went out of his way to help him by pulling connections with some banks so he could get his little business of the ground.

Still, he spends his days in his apartment, surrounded by books, folders and papers of code. To clear his mind he runs, somehow making his mind calm as if he could outrun any obstacle that finds itself before him.

Sometimes he even delves into some small talk while buying groceries and people ask him what he does to stay in shape and he is still baffled that there is actually anything about him that's noticeable.

He doesn't mind that they can't comprehend how a person that spends most of his time in front of a monitor can still look after themselves. The truth is he can't. Most of the time, he has to will himself just to order take out or even cook in his kitchen that is equipped by bare necessities. The closest he has come to actually inventing something was the alarm on the oven that's set up to ring every six hours just so he doesn't lose himself in his work.

He doesn't regret it. The strain and the stress of failure that looms inside his head are vast but he won't let it overpower him. He realizes that when Ellie left him this apartment it was her way of saying that she believed he can make it on his own, living how he always wanted and doing what he loved.

The flat screen before him rolls the endless lines of code while he sips on his cold coffee and contemplates how much more of this before things finally start to turn his way. Sometimes he stares with annoyance at his screen while reading the latest e-mail from his friends saying that that's not the way to live, not understanding that while doing this, perusing his dream, he feels the most alive.

Thankfully they are not here to distract him. His sole focus is before him. Looking at the Tron poster on the wall behind the flat screen television he knows that he will see this to the end. It is how his father worked and so will he for he sees no better way to follow this path to the end.

-cs-

Exhausted he sets himself on the couch, sinking into the cushions. These days really had him losing hope. He had found that not many people believed in his product. After months of going from a publisher to publisher he was starting to lose that light at the end of the tunnel he saw so clearly before.

His eyes fall on the stack of folders, that lay on the table before him, explaining how his product worked and what was it about while many more copies of it are scattered around the apartment, some neatly in form and some just thrown about what from rage and frustration and some just laid there in complete helplessness of the situation.

He still remembers that day when he knew he should do this and he holds to it, like a dying flame on a candle that is left to an upcoming storm. He will not quit. In general he is a positive person, people seem to like him, yet because of his goofy ways and a childlike smile he believes they won't take him seriously.

Days meld into one another, but he still moves forward. Spends nights correcting, improving some things that somehow never seem to be good enough in his eyes. If he ever though he would have this belief after he left Stanford he would just laugh in disbelief and probably make a joke about how that person obviously wasn't him.

Now, he laughs at the situation he has come to know as his life and that disbelief of how far he had come makes him grip harder and push towards that goal for he knows he is there. Just a little more. He will get his break, no matter how small it is, he will make it seem like it is an abyss of never ending potential and opportunity.

This place around him seems as tired as he is, yet is there with him through everything. The couch he sits on already battered from all the late nights spent working, his favorite coffee mug chipped (he knocked it over once while on a pursuit of one particular page of Java code buried on his desk). He doesn't mind because all of that, this apartment, every part of it tells a story. His solace and peace that keep his work are all here and he knows that anywhere else it wouldn't have worked.

A knock on his door snaps him out of his thoughts and back to the present. Hopefully it isn't Casey, his neighbor, who somehow became his friend. Always finding an excuse to come and check on him, making sure he at least goes out and helps him clean the front yard, set up the beast master, the cable or whatever. During that time they have drinks, exchange stories about life, weather and that sometimes makes them closer than he feels to his best friend. Casey seems like a man who appreciates effort and work to achieve what you want rather than be gifted that luxury.

He has grown to respect the man and even admire his hardships as a man who dedicated his life to military. Crossing the small distance from his couch to the door he exhaled ready with an excuse for whatever Casey had planned for he needed to work tonight. There were things that still needed improvement, but he thinks his big break will blow him away in the most unusual of ways.

But it wasn't Casey that was standing there, but someone else entirely. It was a woman, breathtakingly beautiful one at that with eyes that stilled his entire frame but made his heart pick up a pace. Taking a deep breath in order to compose himself while whipping his sweaty palms on his jeans he asked.

"Yes, how may I help you?"

Her eyes seemed to study him for a moment as all semblance of thought fled his mind and a smile spread on her face making her light up and make him believe that she was some otherworldly being send down on Earth to be his end.

"Hello, my name is Sarah Walker and I am with Orion, software development and publishing company. We got the copy of your game you send a couple of days ago and the upper staff loved it. If you haven't considered other offers, we would be willing to give you a generous incentive to put your trust in us and become a part of our team. So, are you willing to consider our offer?"

She really did come here to be the end of him, of that he was sure. He somehow couldn't believe that the luck would turn his way and that after months and months of fruitless tries somebody actually took notice.

Seeming to sense his absence she asked, "You are Charles Bartowski are you not? Because the address you gave us said it would be this apartment in Burbank."

He tried to compose himself, as he was no doubt standing there looking like a gaping fish and so Chuck cleared his throat, ending up with a very high vocal word of confirmation.

"Yes, uh- I am Chuck. And I mean- I am very interested. I would be more than happy to be the part of your team."

His rambling only made her smile grow making him feel like he had won a lottery that nobody was playing and he knew all the numbers that were going to get picked.

A playful expression made itself known and he had to swallow again to not make his throat sound like a dying trumpet.

"Really, I didn't know people still named their kids Chuck."

And he felt like the weight that pressed on his chest had been lifted and he followed his statement with a smile on his face.

"Well, my parents were sadists-"

She laughed at that and he abruptly closed his mouth because he felt that if he continued he better be ready to jump into the oncoming traffic by the end of it. Her laugh made him feel at ease and he realized that maybe he really did win the lottery, for she was laughing at his stupid joke and was coming to save him from the future in which he still worked at a Buy More.

"Okay Chuck. So you can come tomorrow morning to our company so we could discuss this in detail or-" she looked down at her watch "How about dinner now? I haven't had time to eat anything yet so-"

He decided to believe in all kinds of fate and destinies in that moment for nothing else could explain how he felt and it made him turn around and trip over the stack of files that were behind him and he fell, head first to the floor. Underneath all the papers he retorted.

"Just let me get my jacket."

Her laugh echoed through his apartment and he couldn't help but feel that he wouldn't mind making himself a fool in the future if she would only keep that happy expression on her face. He wouldn't mind hearing her laugh in this apartment at all.

-cs-

Looking over the boxes that were scattered around the apartment making his couch and the little coffee table look rather lonesome, he couldn't help but think that all of this could have a better ending. That this place deserved someone else who needed help with their future that just needed to find the right way.

This was the place where he started of his idea and the need to be better for his future. Not all was good, many of the times, giving up was the only solution he saw and that light at the end of the tunnel kept getting further and further away. Maybe he was just a little late in realizing that he could make it on his own two feet and his skills and knowledge to keep him afloat.

Still, he found the right companion so to speak, one to listen to him while he went over his code in the dead of the night, hoping that that was the time where everything was alright and he didn't have to spend the following six night finding and correcting his mistakes. Maybe, all of that had made him a better person. Person that could rise to a challenge.

This apartment served as a place where a boy, who was afraid to live and thrive to achieve something in the world, became a man. A man, who knows what his strengths are and that he doesn't need to change himself to please others. That he was enough as himself.

A soft hand on his shoulder made him turn towards the person in question. A familiar kiss that followed still left him lost as the first one did.

"Chuck, did you pack everything? The movers are here, and I already gave them the address of our house. Told them when they get there, all they need to do was look for the red door." she said resting her head on his shoulder, eyes searching for his that were lost in the memories still. "Please don't forget anything and before you ask I already have your Tron poster in the car as I know that you would remember it when we would be half way out of here."

Yes, the memories of a boy were here, but it was time to move on and maybe someone else will have the luck that life gifted him.

"Oh and the board called. Supposedly they will manage somehow without you as we settle in our home. I hope you know that you will be setting up the nursery for I did enough of heavy lifting for today. Chuck, don't tell me you spaced out again. Really, it's like you have the world secrets in your head or something."

At their beginning he never would have thought Sarah was funny, well- Sarah Bartowski was very funny and he was always glad to witness it. As she headed towards the car he looked over the apartment one last time.

From a small beginning, an idea and the need to prove to his sister that he was more than his past mistakes made him out to be, to owning a software company and more importantly finding a woman who he loved above all else. A woman who had such deep impact on his life that truly he felt that his happiness only ever mirrors her own.

Casting a glance to the place that made it somehow all possible, he couldn't help but feel like he was saying goodbye to an old friend.

"I feel like I should thank you, but maybe that would make me seem weird and it's not like I don't have enough of that already in my life."

Still as he headed to close the door he couldn't help but say, "Thank you… for listening and being a home for me that I had grown to love."

With that he firmly closed it and nothing but the soft click of the door echoed through the now empty apartment.