Time to Think

Something I came up with whilst re-watching Season 1. It's probably been done before, and buried in the thousands of stories on here (it always amazes me that such a small community manages to make so much. It's awesome :D).

Update 31 May 2012: Sorry about this false update. decided to delete all of my scene separators, rendering my stories very hard to follow.

~Disclaimer: Chuck belongs to NBC and Warner Bros., not me. If it is for sale, please let me know so I can buy it. However, until then, I make no money from this. Please don't sue me!~

It was nearing eleven when they found him; sitting on the wet beach, with water glistening in the gentle blue moonlight. His knees were drawn up to his chest, and his chin was resting on the apex, as he stared out into the starry night. Even from the inside of the van, which blended into the sky; its black paint and tinted windows shielding it from the outside world; she could hear the sea lapping the shoreline as it rolled out from the sandy edge, escaping far beyond into the barely visible horizon.

Casey grunted as he lowered his binoculars, and she turned to face him; the ghost of a smug smile placed on his face. "I'll go grab him," he said, picking up a black polished Glock and a pair of handcuffs.

"No," she replied, turning back to look at Chuck, still staring out into the abyss. "He needs time… to think."

"Walker," Casey began in a low growl, "we can't leave him here."

"I'll stay. You go," she paused, gauging his reaction. "He needs time to process it all Casey."

Casey regarded her seriously for a moment, staring into the hard blue eyes that gave nothing away, and were so different to the blue sea just metres away. For a moment she saw something that anyone else may have misconstrued as emotion flicker across his chiseled face. But she saw it for what it really was. Mistrust. Or maybe it really was emotion, and she was the mistrusting, paranoid one. Quickly, she shook the thoughts away. still staring defiantly at Casey, they hadn't bothered her for a long, long time, and they weren't about to start now.

He grunted again, and put down the Glock with a gentle clunk that reverberated through the hard outer shell of the van. "Fine. But you're staying here all night if you need to. Remember, if you leave him alone: I'm still up for those late night pancakes." With that, he slid open the side door of the van, allowing the cold sea air to invade the cocoon of the van. In the blink of an eye, Casey was out through the opening, and disappearing into the dead of the night, leaving Sarah to stew in her thoughts, and watch a wonderful man see his life falling apart around him.

|CHUCK|

The sand rolled under her feet as she made her way down to the bottom of the beach. Her hair wafted gracefully in the breeze as the Sun began to crawl over the horizon, sending rays of light glinting across the crests of the sea waves as they lapped gently at Chuck's feet. His arms were still wrapped around his knees when he lifted his head to glance up at her, and she smiled inwardly when his curls bounced lightly, making funny shapes.

"How long have you been here?" he asked, staring back out at the hazy horizon.

"All night," she replied, placing her boots in the sand and sitting down beside him, looking at the way the Sun reflected off from his shimmering eyes.

"There's no where I can run, is there?"

"Not from us."

He sighed and gazed out at the waves gently cresting as they hit the sand, before being dragged back out to sea.

"Talk to me Chuck," she asked. She wasn't sure why. She didn't have to ask.

"Yesterday I was making eleven buck an hour fixing computer," he began. "Now I have one in my brain, and… And I can't figure out why Bryce did this. Why he chose me."

She looked blankly ahead of her as she felt his gaze drift towards her, looking for some reassurance. The one thing she couldn't give, or successfully pretend to give.

"What are you gonna do with me? What happens now?"

"For now, you go back to your normal life. We'll protect you, and you'll work with us."

"My sister, my friends. Are they in danger?"

This was the part she was dreading. He had talked about nothing but his sister and his friends all night, now she had to tear them apart. "Tell them nothing to keep them safe."

He sighed, and she followed his gaze out to the ocean. After a moment she continued, "I need you to do one more thing for me."

"Yea?"

She turned to face him, looking into his warm brown eyes that were so open and so giving, and deciding right there that she would protect him. From anything. Of course she would, it was her job, was it not? "Trust me, Chuck." She continued to look at him, the wind drifting over and blowing her hair across her face as she looked into his eyes. Shifting over she gently nudged him with her shoulder, again, she wasn't sure why; it just felt… right. She smiled when she saw his lips purse at one side, in a sort of half smile, before he looked out at the horizon once more.

She knew what he was thinking. She had thought it many times. "Why can't I just escape?"

~Fin~

The next chapter of Best Laid Plans is nearly done, and I'm sorry for the slightly erratic updates. Who knew A Levels needed time and effort?