A/N: Tonight's episode was awesome! I wish I owned Chuck, but I don't. Enjoy the story!
The man paused as a car raced past, the driver obviously ignoring that the light had turned red. He breathed a sigh of relief that he had waited and looked before stepping off the sidewalk. He was in a hurry, for many reasons, but not in so much of a hurry as to endanger himself or his special surprise for her. Thinking about it, he shifted the bag from one hand to the other. Even with the t-shirt and board shorts, he was still pouring out sweat. Quickly, but carefully he crossed the street with no further incident.
Only two more blocks. Almost home. Home to her. Thinking about her filled his chest with warmth and brought a smile to his sun chapped lips. He would have whistled, except doing so would probably have hurt not only his lips, but also his lungs as he breathed in the humid summer night air.
Despite the summertime humidity trying to drag him down, his spirits were soaring. Life was good. He had her, and she had him. And soon, very soon, they would have him. They were having a son. That thought gave him a warmth greater than the outdoors.
There he turned up the driveway. Normally, he would have opened the garage door, but then normally he would have driven his car. However, he hadn't wanted to chance the sound of the garage door waking her. So instead, he snuck around to the side, easing the gate open without a sound. As he stepped up to the side door that led into the kitchen, he almost dropped his keys on the ground. As quietly as he could, he slipped the key in the lock and opened the door.
Cool, welcoming air blasted him as he stepped in and quickly shut the door against the heat outside. Slowly, he could feel his body begin to cool down. He set the bag on the counter and then eagerly cupped his hands in the cool sink water and splashed it on his face. Dropping towel on a chair, he moved to the cabinet and retrieved a bowl and spoon.
So intent on putting his surprise together, he did not hear her enter the room. She lingered by the entryway from the living room and watched him as he pulled out chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a jar of maraschino cherries from the refrigerator. Her hand rested tenderly on her small baby bump as her eyes beamed lovingly at him.
She waited as he filled the bowl with two large scoops of rocky road ice cream and covered it with chocolate syrup and whipped cream. At last, he put two cherries carefully on top. He picked up the bowls and spoon and turned around. His jaw and the bowls almost dropped when he saw her.
"Uh, hi," he grinned, "I uh got you your favorite." He stared at her, dumbfounded by how lucky he was. He never felt that he deserved her, but always thanked the Lord that she, for whatever reason, loved him.
"You didn't have to," she moved forward, "Especially you didn't have to walk to the store. It's not worth you getting heatstroke."
He took long strides to close the gap between them, meeting her at the edge of the table, "Or getting hit."
She looked alarmed, "What?"
"Oh, no, nothing happened," he helped ease her into a chair, "I was very careful." He put the bowl down in front of her, "You've been craving ice cream for a while, and you didn't look very happy when you went to bed, so I wanted to do something to lift your spirits."
She smiled, taking his hands in hers, "You lift my spirits. You make me laugh when I'm sad. You make me smile when I'm hurt. You make me laugh when I can't," she paused as they both laugh, "Your love heals the cold, dark parts of my heart." She ran her finger over the wedding band on his hand, "I love you Chuck, for all that you are."
He knelt by her side and looked deeply into her eyes, "And I love you Sarah, for all that you are, and all that you bear." He gently touched her slightly swollen stomach. She put her hand on his hand. They smiled at each other for another moment and then kissed. A long slow, kiss that soon had them forgetting about the melting ice cream or the summer heat outside.