A/N: I'm making more minor (yet significant) changes to each chapter. I wasn't quite sure where to take this, but now that I know, I'm going to make everything fit together. Sometimes my ideas get jumbled, and I don't know how to make them fluid. But alas, I'm gonna try anyway! Enjoy.
Present Day 2019
"Get up, lazy." Emma Bartowski shook her mother, who was still asleep underneath the covers.
"Go away." Was the reply. Emma giggled. The five year old loved her mother more than anything in the world. She still didn't understand why her mom and dad didn't live together anymore, but at least she still got to see them both.
"But mommy, I wanna play." Emma whined. Sarah Walker groaned. Sometimes having a small child was a pain. 37 hit her fast, she still felt as if she were 30, married and full of energy. She still had energy of course, but not as much as she had in the past. It was only seven years ago that she had almost died from the intersect, seven years ago that she had been married to Chuck Bartowski. Now everything was different, and she was losing herself just like she had before. Not everything that had happened in these past few years had made sense to her, but there were some things that she had to do for herself in order to get to where she wanted to be.
"Give me a minute." Sarah pulled the covers over her head. Emma climbed up onto the opposite side of the bed, and slid underneath the covers as well.
"It's dark in here." She laughed. Sarah turned her head to look at her daughter. She pulled Emma in close, and took a deep breath.
"Yes it is." She smiled, while resting her eyes for just a few moments more. They stayed there for a good fifteen minutes, when they heard a knock at the door. Beckman had agreed to certain working hours so that she could still spend time with Emma, but the mission she was working on required much time away from home. It hadn't exactly been easy, but it was worth it. Sarah had moved back to Echo Park, letting Chuck keep the house, as she wasn't usually home. The only time she really stayed at home was when she had Emma. And that was normally only for a week or two at a time.
"Daddy!" Emma got up, and rushed out of the room to open the front door. Sarah rolled her eyes and got out of bed. She walked to the door to see her ex-husband and daughter laughing furiously.
"Oh, hey Sarah." He put Emma down, and smiled.
"Why don't you go and get your bags?" Sarah said to her daughter. They always packed the day before.
"So, uh, I'll have her back by next Sunday." Chuck said. Conversations had never been their strong suit. Or at least they hadn't been since Sarah had lost her memories. That was the main problem with their second time around, the lack of communication killed all feelings.
"Okay, whenever is fine. I may not be back for a few weeks anyway." Sarah leaned against the doorframe, with her arms folded. Chuck swallowed hard at the sight of his gorgeous ex-wife. She was wearing very short white shorts, and a form-fitting red tank top. She had let her hair grow out again and her blonde curls fell perfectly below her chest. But what always got him most were her beautiful, striking, bottomless blue eyes. The sunlight hit her face perfectly, and Chuck definitely heard the Hallelujah chorus sounding in his head. He hadn't been the one to ask for a divorce, but it didn't shock him to learn that Sarah wanted one. She really hadn't ever come back to him, even though she tried her hardest. He was amazed at how great she was with Emma, however. They hadn't meant to get pregnant, but it happened when they were at their worst. Fighting every day, ignoring each other when they returned home from work, you name it. They tried to stick it out once Emma was born, but it just didn't work. They divorced when Emma was just barely two, and they only shared awkward conversations when one came to pick her up from the others' home.
"Crazy new mission?" He asked.
"You know I can't say anything…Beckman would kill me." Sarah gave him a hinting look.
"How is Becky?" Chuck laughed, looking around the room.
"Still demanding as ever." Sarah smiled uneasily, shaking her head at him. The two both knew something that neither of them could say out loud.
"And uh, Derek?" Chuck forced out the words, referring to her new partner and boyfriend.
"Fine." Sarah didn't go into detail. They had been dating for about six months, partnered for three years, and Chuck had just recently found out thanks to Emma who loved to talk.
"I'm ready to go daddy." Emma came back out to the main room, a Hello kitty backpack strapped to her shoulders.
"Alright," He smiled, "Say goodbye to mommy." Emma turned around, and let Sarah pick her up. She hugged her mother.
"Bye mommy. I love you." She wiggled down from her mother's arms, and took Chuck's hand in hers.
"Love you too Emma." Sarah waved goodbye to her five-year-old. She hated seeing Emma leave, but knew she was much safer with Chuck. She shut the door and leaned up against it, sighing heavily. Seeing Chuck never got easier. She thought that with time, maybe the awkward exchange of words would become more fluid. Maybe they could at least be friends. She hated the fact that she could never be the Sarah he had married in the first place, she always felt as though she was in a constant competition with herself. Even though she wouldn't admit it, she really did miss him. He was the one person that she knew she could trust and talk to whenever she needed an outlet. She just couldn't become what he wanted her so desperately to be.
"Higher daddy!" Emma screamed as Chuck pushed her on the park swing. They had stopped by their usual spot on the way back to the house, where he normally tired her out in time for her afternoon nap. He laughed and shook his head in amusement, pushing her higher.
"Wow, you don't see very many men with their children these days." A female voice sounded behind Chuck.
"Uh no, no you don't." He replied while turning around. The woman was petite, with short brown hair, and green eyes.
"I'm Taylor." She stuck out her hand. Chuck shook it reluctantly. It wasn't normal for a stranger to introduce themselves.
"Nice to meet you." He said back. He focused hard, trying to flash on the stranger, but couldn't get anything to go off in his head. He had spent so much time trying to get the intersect back, and hoped to use the last upload to save his wife, but couldn't. Now all he wanted was to get the dang thing out of his head but vied to use it only when needed, in order to maintain his family's safety.
"Daddy, push me again!" Emma demanded.
"Sorry, I should probably get back to spending time with my daughter." He said to the strange woman, pointing to Emma.
"Maybe I'll see you again, Chuck." She smiled and walked off. Chuck frowned, knowing for certain that he hadn't given this woman his name. He took Emma and left the park in a hurry, as he didn't want to stay there any longer with the unknown woman lurking around.
"I didn't want to leave." Emma pouted as she walked into the house, with Chuck trailing in behind.
"I know, but we needed to come home."
"Why?"
"Because I said so." Chuck said, using the oldest saying in the book.
"That's a bad answer." Emma said, sticking out her lower lip.
"Why don't you go upstairs and play?" He asked. Emma nodded and ran up to her room. He hadn't even put his keys down on the small table next to him, when the doorbell rang. Chuck turned around and opened the door, as he was still an arm length away.
"Yo, Chuck! Wazzup?"
"Morgan? What are you doing here?"
"We have some business to discuss." Morgan winked.
"I have Emma today, Morgan." Chuck sighed, as his best friend slid past him and entered the house.
"Well, we can work around that." Morgan entered the living room, picking up Chuck's movies and videogames and pictures and looking at them.
"Uncle Morgan!" Emma rushed into the room, hugging the short bearded man.
"Hey there, squirt." He hugged her back.
"Do you wanna play princess with me?" Emma gave him the famous Chuck Bartowski puppy eyes. Morgan turned to Chuck.
"We'll talk later." He rushed upstairs with Emma, talking about tea and dresses.
The new base was located in an abandoned warehouse just a few miles away from Echo Park. Sarah had met Derek there, so that General Beckman could debrief them on their new mission. It was their job to retain the information of the double agents working for the CIA and the Y Agency. Their target was Yance Gold, the creator of this new agency, as his goal was to bring down the CIA and rid the world of the agents altogether. They were to find his hiding place, hack into the computers, and copy the information onto a specific hard drive they had been given.
"We won't fail, general." Derek seemed a little too eager for this mission.
"Good. The private jet will be ready for you in two hours. Don't be late." Beckman's face disappeared from the screen in front of them.
"You doing okay?" Sarah turned to her boyfriend. Derek was a 6"4' blonde, with a fit body, and beautiful green eyes. He had been in the spy game almost as long as Sarah had. He was a great partner, but lately he had been a little distant.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He leaned down and kissed Sarah quickly, walking to the armory to get his gun ready. She followed him.
"I know that Gold killed your brother, but if that's going to get to you, I don't want you to go." Sarah said sympathetically. There was something bigger at play here, but she needed to stay focused on the task she had been given three years prior.
"Babe, I'm fine. Really." He replied while keeping his focus on finding the perfect gun.
"Look, you just got back from France and I've only seen you for an hour. I missed you." Sarah whined. This made Derek look back at her. Nobody could resist the whiny seduction trick of Sarah Walker's. He saw her hurt expression and walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist while she put hers around his neck.
"I know, I hate being gone so much, especially with my extremely hot girlfriend waiting for me here." He smiled and kissed her. She pushed her body against his, and deepened the kiss. He groaned with pleasure. They had a few seconds together, when Sarah's phone suddenly rang. They pulled apart, out of breath.
"Good lord, can I ever get just one moment of peace?" She unlocked her phone and answered. "Hello? What! Which one? Okay, I'll be right there Chuck." She hung up.
"What's up?"
"Emma has a high fever, so Chuck just took her to the hospital. They have no clue what's going on." Sarah left castle in a rush, and sped to the hospital where Ellie and Devon worked, which was where Chuck had undoubtedly taken Emma. She burst through the two front doors of the ER with Derek at her side. She saw Ellie immediately.
"Ellie!" She said hastily to the familiar brunette. "What's going on?"
"We don't know yet. Emma keeps slipping in and out of consciousness. She's in room 307 with Chuck." Ellie replied.
"Thank you." Sarah rushed to the room, and entered quickly. She saw her baby lying in the hospital bed, looking frail and sick. She couldn't understand. Emma had been completely fine just a few hours ago. What could've happened in that time?
"Sarah, thank god you're here." Chuck walked toward his ex-wife, but stopped when he saw Derek.
"You must be Chuck." Derek stuck out his hand. Chuck reluctantly took it.
"You must be Derek."
"Chuck, what happened? She was fine this morning." Sarah ignored the nice act of the two men. She walked up to the bed and sat down next to her daughter, stroking her small blonde curls.
"I don't know. Morgan came over and they were playing upstairs, and the next thing I know, he's bringing her down to me in his arms, unconscious." Chuck shook his head. Tears welled in Sarah's eyes as she looked to her daughter once more, but held them back as she refused to cry. Chuck looked away as Derek and Sarah shared a moment, not being able to stand the sight of Sarah with someone else. Ellie showed up just in time, knocking on the door softly.
"I'll uh, leave you guys to talk." Derek kissed Sarah's forehead and walked out of the room.
"Ellie, what's going on? How can she get sick like this all of a sudden with no warning?" Chuck needed answers.
"We don't know. We have a group of specialists looking at her tests. They did find a virus in her bloodstream, but we have no idea how to cure it."
"What kind of virus?" Sarah got up from the bed and stared at Ellie.
"A toxin called Ditorium. They've seen it once before but that was a male patient in his early twenties." Ellie explained. Sarah's face got grim, and Chuck noticed immediately.
"What? What do you know Sarah?" He asked.
"I think this has something to do with my assignment."She looked out the window of the room.
"Derek?" Chuck asked quietly.
"We're working on catching Yance Gold, and his main weapon of choice is Ditorium. Derek's brother died from Ditorium poisoning a few years back.
"What?"
"We need to call Morgan and Casey, it's time."
"How the hell did Emma end up a part of this?"
"We should've kept her a secret, I'm so stupid." Sarah rested her face in her hands.
"You're not stupid, Sarah. We can do this, just like we used to. We'll get the cure and finish your mission at the same time. We've been planning this for three years." Chuck assured her. The assignment that had taken his wife away was about to be finished.
