A/N: I couldn't shake this one from my mind, so I decided to write it and finally managed to finish it. Not much else to say, except that standard disclaimers apply.
Chuck & Sarah vs the Memories
Many years ago…
The boy walked towards the waiting school buses, but it wasn't his intention to board one, not just yet. He paused, looking around for one particular person that he had been following and had just lost in the crowd of junior high school students. Mentally flipping a coin, he turned to the right. Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed him and pinned him against a wall.
"Why are you following me?" The person asking the question was a tall blue eyed girl with her blond hair in a braid. The boy thought that he could easily break free, but he had something else in mind.
"Look, it's not what you think," he said.
"What is it then?"
"Let me go and I'll tell you," he said, in the same calm voice. It didn't have the desired effect, quite the opposite in fact.
"I can beat it out of you," she warned.
"Hey buddy," a tall, curly haired boy interjected. "What did you do this time? I thought you didn't want to get into trouble with girls any more." He then turned to the girl. "You are Katie, the new girl, right? I'm Chuck. You can let him go. I'll take it from here. And I apologize for my friend's actions."
"I want an explanation for his actions," the blonde insisted.
"Well, Morgan?"
"Dude," the boy called Morgan began, "I was working for you."
"You put him up to this?" Katie hissed, her eyes narrowing with anger as she glared at Chuck.
"What? No!"
"Maybe I should rephrase that: I was acting on his behalf, only he didn't know it."
"Morgan, please explain. Katie, just let him go." Incredibly, the girl let the shorter boy go and crossed her arms, tapping a foot impatiently as she waited for an explanation.
"OK, here goes: Chuck, you need a date for the junior prom. I wanted to see if Katie here was free, so I could suggest that you ask her to the prom. And she's free."
"That's it?" Chuck asked.
"That's it," Morgan confirmed.
"Buddy, I appreciate it, but next time, ask me first."
"I know you, my friend. You would put off trying to find a date and then it would be too late. I'll leave you to work it out between yourselves."
"This is kind of awkward," Chuck said.
"Tell me about it," Katie agreed.
"I think Morgan was right. It's worth a shot. So, Katie, would you like to be my date to junior prom?" Chuck asked shyly.
"Okay," she replied. Being the new girl at the school, since she and her father had just moved into town, she didn't really know anyone, but she had a feeling she could trust this Chuck boy.
On prom night, she and Chuck met at the entrance to the school gymnasium, as arranged.
"You look great," he said, taking in her long one-piece blue dress.
"Thank you. You look dashing, too," she replied. He smiled, took her left hand and slipped the corsage he'd gotten for her over her wrist. She also had a bright smile on her face as she pinned a matching boutonnière to his tux lapel.
"Shall we?" He offered her his arm.
"By all means."
They had a great time at the school's junior prom. Not long afterwards, Katie moved out of town. She had told Chuck that she couldn't stay in one place for too long due to the requirements of her dad's job. But still Chuck had something to remember her by: A photo captioned 'Me with Katie O'Connell at Junior Prom'…
Present day…
"Wow, you weren't kidding," Sarah said as she entered the basement storeroom of Casa Walkertowski. "This place has not been cleaned in ages. I won't be surprised if we find an ancient Egyptian mummy in here, preferably one without a curse."
"Very funny, Agent Walker/future Mrs. Bartowski."
"What can I say? I'm funny too now."
"It's definitely an improvement."
"How come Ellie never cleaned this room?"
"She did try once or twice before she moved out, but she didn't have the time to do more than, um, scratch the surface. But since today is housekeeping day, I figured that we could take a crack at it, especially since Morgan and Alex volunteered to help with the upstairs rooms."
"I should have brought a Hazmat suit."
"Come on, it's not that bad."
"Not bad?" She ran a rubber gloved finger through the thick coating of dust on a box. "We'll suffocate in here two minutes after we start dusting."
"Ye of little faith," he said mockingly. "That's why I brought the vacuum cleaner. It'll do the heavy lifting, leaving very little for us to do."
"Let's get started then."
"Just tell me if you come across any photo albums. Mom said something about wanting to see the parts of our lives she missed."
"OK."
About an hour later the storeroom was reasonably clean and Sarah had also found a box of old photo albums, which she carried upstairs. She contemplated calling Mary, but since she would be coming over for dinner anyway she decided to surprise her.
-o-
"Sarah, I must say it, I love your cooking."
"Thanks, Mary," Sarah beamed. "I had a good teacher." She smiled at Ellie.
"Coffee, anyone?" Chuck asked.
"I'd love one," Mary said.
"Me too," Sarah and Ellie said in unison.
"I'll give you a hand, bro," Devon said, getting up and following Chuck to the kitchen.
While the men were in the other room, Sarah turned to her future mother in law. "Mary, we were cleaning up the place today and Chuck mentioned something about old photo albums. We found a box full of them in the basement."
"You did?"
"Yes. Would you like to take a look at them?"
"Of course, Sarah dear," Mary replied. Immediately, the three women moved to the couch, Sarah and Ellie sitting on either side of Mary, who eagerly took the box in her hands and opened it. She set the albums she was already familiar with aside, fully intending to browse through them later. Devon kissed his wife and bade goodnight to his mother in law and Sarah before heading next door to relieve Morgan and Alex from babysitting duty. Little Clara had been having a blast with Uncle Morgan, by far the funniest person she knew.
They were halfway through one of the albums when Sarah let out an audible gasp. One of her hands clutched Mary's tightly, while the other flew to a spot over her heart.
"Sarah, what's wrong?"
"Look," she said simply. Ellie and Mary focused on the photo Sarah's finger indicated.
"I remember that day," Ellie said. "Morgan took my pillow as his date to Junior Prom."
"I must say it: This Katie O'Connell bears a remarkable resemblance to you, Sarah."
"Mary, it's because I was Katie O'Connell."
Chuck's head snapped up so fast it was a minor miracle it didn't fly off his shoulders. "What?"
"Chuck, I was your date to Junior Prom." Sarah showed him the photo.
"You were Katie?"
"Yes."
"So that's why you seemed somewhat familiar when we first met."
"Ditto here," Sarah said, still looking at the photo in disbelief, as the memories of that day came flooding back.
"I think I fell in love with you back then."
"Uh-huh…"
"You do realize what this means, right?"
"What?"
"We were fated to be together, Sarah."
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
"I love you, Sarah Walker."
"I love you too, Chuck Bartowski."
They shared a loving kiss under the approving looks of Ellie and Mary.