The story starts off glum concerning Charah for the prologue, but it's purely to build up a backstory that I can work with throughout the whole story. PLEASE do not let that put you off the story when you read the prologue and think oh god not a full story of angst! Because it's quite the contrary.

No beta readers were harmed in the making of this story. All grammatical errors are mine and mine alone. Sadly, I am far from perfect so you can expect the occasional error but I don't claim to be an award-winning author that has published one hundred previous novels. Instead, I'm merely somebody that enjoys writing stories about my all-time favorite TV couple in my spare time, and I hope that YOU will enjoy it too :)

All help received on this website is greatly appreciated. Whether that be a view to my story, a favorite, a follow, a review, or an offer to help me make the story better in any way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck. The idea in this story was formed inside of my brain, nowhere else. And any reference to a real or published person is purely coincidental.

Prologue

North Kensington

London

United Kingdom

It was a lovely breezy summers evening in the United Kingdom. The weather was glorious, the location was beautiful and two friends were once more enjoying the company of one another as they had done for so many days and nights previously in the many years that they had been friends. The two sets of parents of 16 and 18 Riverside Road in the borough of Kensington, London, England didn't really see eye to eye with one another. But Chuck and Sarah unlike their parents hit off immediately from the outset. What followed afterwards was a friendship between the two now eighteen years old young adults that had been UNBREAKABLE for nearly fifteen years since the very first moment the two toddlers had caused mayhem together at their nursery school that they had attended. Both Sarah and Chuck had been through trials and traumas alike in their short lives thus far. They'd seen friends come, friends go, family members pass away and taken to the heavens, with Chuck suffering the grim realities of life in losing both his father and his older sister to a terrifying car accident that had predominantly been the root of his nightmares ever since. While Sarah likewise had suffered bereavement with the untimely death of her father but what never changed, was the absolute commitment between the two greatest of friends. Sarah had been there for Chuck's lows and his highs. Chuck had been there for Sarah's lows and also her highs. Sarah had been there, playing with her dearest friend on the day his mother broke the news to him that his father and sister had gone to the heavens to be with the angels. Chuck had been there for Sarah, when she arrived at his door with tears in her eyes informing him that her daddy had died. Sarah had been there for her best friend when he found it hard to cope with being without his influential father who had first taught him about computer technology and they'd sit playing games together while his older sister would disturb him in a lovingly annoying way that many older but young sisters would do. And Sarah even now was here on this lovely summers evening as she played indoor tennis together with him at their local leisure centre that had been the focal point of so many joys that these two young adults had experienced in the years gone by. Their home, the home of their friends, their families, everything they had was right here, in this area. But sadly, it would not last...

"I'm going to miss you so much when you leave," Sarah shouted loud enough for her best friend and SO MUCH MORE in her mind to hear as the young adults played indoor tennis together inside a lavishly beautiful all purpose leisure centre.

"It's not for another month or two. We still have the whole summer before I start university in Stanford," Chuck shouted back loud enough for his friend to hear as he fired a tennis ball in the direction of Sarah from his racket he'd first purchased at the same time as Sarah in what felt like an eternity ago.

Sarah didn't bother responding to Chuck's sporting actions and had lost interest in playing the game instead choosing walk to one side of the court netting...

"I wish you wouldn't go," Sarah said in a now gentle whisper as Chuck had also now joined her to the side of the indoor playing surface, with Sarah not hiding a touch of neediness and disappointment in her voice as 1) she didn't want him to go and 2) she didn't support his decision to apply and be accepted (of course he would, he's Chuck) to a University in Stanford, USA. It was a massive decision and in Sarah's eyes it was the wrong call. Taking aside her absolute bias in not wanting to lose the closest person in her life, it was a monumental change and it had a real potential to backfire which would lead to Chuck having spent precious years on a doomed project. In Sarah's eyes, the safer option would have been for Chuck to attend a University in his home country and if things didn't work out he wouldn't have needed to start all over again and he would have had a safety net and fall back option. But Stanford was an all or nothing decision, a blinded leap of faith with no idea or clue as to how it would end.

"Sarah we'll always be best friends, and I'll write and we'll talk all the time I promise," Chuck said sincerely, his voice also now in a soothing whisper as he put one hand comfortingly and reassuringly on his best friends shoulder. "If the phone calls aren't ridiculously expensive, that is!" he then cut in with a joke and a smile as he gazed comfortingly into Sarah's eyes in an attempt to cheer up his best friends now deflated persona.

Unwilling to register the joke as she didn't think the topic was in any way funny whatsoever, Sarah broke the gaze momentarily and hung her head in a moment of sadness, before raising her head again to meet his eyes with her own once more. "It's not the same," Sarah replied dismissively, shaking her head sideways to reinforce her disappointment.

"And I'll be back home for holidays," Chuck responded in a very meek tone as he continued to try to reassure Sarah that their friendship would not be compromised by Chuck's relocation.

The two best friends gazed at one another in a long moment of uncomfortable silence, with Sarah looking as though she was about to burst into tears, and Chuck looking anxious and nervous unsure of what to expect.

"Come on, let's go do something else," Chuck said eventually in an attempt to lighten the mood from its present dark state.

"I'm not in the mood," Sarah sighed back in a dejected tone of voice, whilst shaking her head no before putting down a tennis racket to the ground that had given her many years of joy, or was it because of the young man she was using it with...

Chuck also sighed, and in a pleading voice he spoke, "Sarah don't be like this please, you know it's what I want..." he paused briefly, in an attempt to connect and have his best friend make eye contact with him. Using the same previous tone but now accompanied by a pleading look in his eyes, he continued on, "I've always wanted to start my own software company, like Dad..." Chuck paused momentarily on a sore topic, before continuing again, "Stanford offers me the best chance of that. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity for me Sarah."

"I know..." Sarah sighed for a long moment and as she did she hung her head down once more but this time in shame. Before lifting her head back up once more, as she nervously proceeded to give a burning gaze into the eyes of her best friend, a longing now present in her eyes "But..."

"But?" Chuck then queried her response.

'But what about what I want?' Sarah pined to herself as she continued her longing gaze at him.

Opening her mouth as if to speak, Sarah changed her mind at the last moment and shook it off with her head, composing herself briefly. "Forget it... Let's go..." Sarah said as she finished with an audible deep sigh, a clear and obvious angst written all over her now depressed face as the best friends began to retire from their activity...

North Kensington

London

United Kingdom

A few days had passed since Chuck and Sarah had been with each other inside the indoor tennis hall at the enormous leisure centre that contained dozens of possible relaxing and physical activities. They had not avoided one another since then, but the air surrounding the two seemed completely different when they had been together. There was now a clear and present awkwardness and tension in the air that had never really been seen in the past. In fact, Chuck first began to notice tension in their friendship ever since Sarah had found out twelve weeks ago that he was exploring the possibility of applying to receive an invitation to study at the world-renowned Stanford University. It had all came about when Chuck's further education and careers adviser had spent weeks with Chuck asking his goals and desires after finishing his A-levels that he'd been studying at his privately educated school before suggesting to Chuck that as his grades in Computer Technology were quite literally off the charts, he would likely be accepted into attending Stanford as a Foreign Student and that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he should grab it with both hands. Initially, Chuck was reluctant as it would have meant he would need to leave his greatest friend Sarah. And Sarah, her mother Emma and Sarah's younger sister Molly were quite literally all that he had. He barely saw his own mother, she was always away for prolonged periods with work, but after a couple of weeks of indecision and his mind troubling him back and forth over the correct path to take, Chuck had decided to take the leap, he decided he wanted to do what he'd always dreamt of. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a successful computer engineer himself. Chuck wanted a career that his father would be proud of. In a way, he was doing it all for him.

But today, Sarah and Chuck were together again as usual at an all purpose swimming pool. Which was in the very same Leisure complex that they'd been at just a few days previously. This particular part of the facility contained a relaxing jacuzzi pool, a whirlpool, diving boards and on weekends inflatable assault courses in one of the two main pools, with a third pool being a child pool for below the age of eight and learners only. It had taken Chuck until his early adolescent years before he'd been capable to swim, Chuck was exclusively a shallow ended kid initially for a few years. Sarah naturally as a quick learner in all things physical had learnt to swim several years before Chuck had. She'd teased him endlessly about his inability to swim on many occasions. Chuck can fondly recall the moment he'd learnt to swim, his life had changed for the better as he no longer felt left out. And in the case of Sarah, well she finally had somebody to participate in the weekend inflatable assault course activities with as they were largely uninteresting on her own. Plus, she'd became quite bored of staying in the shallow water with her friend, even though she was an excellent swimmer she very rarely ventured into the deep areas until her best friend was able to do so with her, and they'd not looked back since.

Sarah and Chuck now being considerably older at the age of eighteen had just jumped into the deepest end of the pool, accompanied immediately by the usual grunts and moans of complaint by other fellow swimmers that had found resting places along the edge of the pool, or swimmers just casually floating in that particular end of the pool.

Their heads came up out of the water several moments later needing air but they immediately began laughing and giggling away at one another, unconcerned about the rest of the people in the pool so they wouldn't have noted the sly looks on some of the swimmers faces that they were giving Chuck and Sarah after having just been excessively splashed by the pair that had just bombed over their heads with waves of water soaking the idle swimmers.

"Crikey! The water is cold today!" Chuck complained as his body right on cue had got the shivers.

"Don't be such a baby, its like 30 celsius outside and in here much warmer, I'm baking!" Sarah laughed back, before extending both of her arms in front of her until her hands were touching, then proceeding to push them out and away from her and towards Chuck to cause a mini tidal wave that splashed all over Chuck's face.

Chuck being caught off guard unexpectedly by the big splash of water over his face began to cough and choke which disorientated him briefly as he floated in the water with just his legs as he shifted his hands to wipe his face and rub his eyes where Sarah had just splashed him. "You're gonna regret that!" Chuck exclaimed eventually after he had recovered and had got his bearings again.

"Yeah? Try and catch me!" Sarah laughed as she immediately began high-tailing it away from the edge of the deep pool and swimming to shallower waters.

"I will!" Chuck stated determinedly, likewise high-tailing right after his best friend.

Chuck had only been pursuing her for a few brief moments and had almost caught her. He knew she wasn't trying too furiously to escape him as Sarah could comfortably defeat him in a swimming contest any day of the week. He'd eventually caught her half way up the pool, almost shallow enough for them to stand on their tip toes. "Caught you." Chuck said as he grabbed hold of her arms as the two young adults had stopped dead right in the middle of the pool, blocking off a lane and forcing swimmers to divert around them.

"Hurt my leg, had to stop," Sarah laughed as she looked down at her leg pretending to be hurt.

Chuck wasn't having any of Sarah's lies as he shook his head not believing any of it. "Yeah right, and you owe me an apology."

"Make me," Sarah replied defyingly as she weakly attempted to break out of his grip.

"Oh so it's like that then is it?" Chuck retorted, before proceeding to push Sarah down and dunk her head under the water feeling ever so smug with himself for the briefest of seconds before he was rudely interrupted by Sarah in some martial art like move that Sarah always pulled on him every single time he'd done that to her before. Chuck was now no longer feeling smug with himself as he had been pulled underwater himself and he was on his back underwater with Sarah on top of him unable to help herself smirking at him as she fought with and held Chuck in a grip under the water, before allowing themselves to appear after at least twenty seconds, both of them now coughing uncontrollably for a few seconds.

"I never knew how you did that!" Chuck stated incredulously as he less than fondly recalled to himself how many times she'd been able to do it to him previously over the years gone by.

"You should have stuck with Taekwondo then, shouldn't you?" Sarah replied while laughing as the young adults even now continued to restore their respiratory systems after their underwater tussle.

"Yes, I should..." Chuck agreed.

"Do you yield?" Sarah asked while threatening to pull them under again utilizing all of her limbs once more as she had done just previously.

"Yes, yes, you win," Chuck said in surrender, not wanting to be forced and held underwater again.

"I always do," Sarah boasted laughingly.

"Show off," Chuck said while pulling an odd twisted looking face at her.

"Just being honest," Sarah replied as she continued to giggle away happily.

"Can you let me go now?" Chuck asked, while still being held in some expert Taekwondo grip in the middle of the pool by his best friend.

"Yeah, if you behave!" Sarah warned before releasing her grip and moving back away from Chuck's close proximity slightly.

"Ok Mrs Ainsley!" Chuck said mockingly as he had just referenced a teacher from their school, which caused Sarah's face to immediately light up in shock, followed closely by her using one of her fingers to poke at his chest over what he'd just said to her.

"How rude! I must be three times younger than her! Do I really look that old?" Sarah replied offendedly.

"Yes!" Chuck replied in a fit of laughter and feeling quite proud of himself.

Sarah shook her head disappointingly. "Oh, now you're gonna get it, I'm mad now!" Sarah stated as her eyes proceeded to lock onto Chuck's frame like he was a precision target.

"Your turn to catch me!" Chuck shouted as he began immediately swimming back to the deeper end that they'd initially came from.

"Not even a contest!" Sarah yelled back at him while giving chase.

After chasing Chuck for half the length of a 25-metre pool, Sarah apprehended him back in the deepest end of the pool. Chuck was hanging out and chilling in one of the four corners of the pool near one of the ladders used to enter or exit, not that Chuck or Sarah needed the ladder, they made more explosive entries and generally just climbed up one of the edges when they wanted to leave. Chuck was hanging lamely, regulating and restoring his airways after spending the last few minutes underwater. Chuck's head was above the water surface with the rest of him underwater when Sarah struck and attacked him from underwater and pulled him under by his legs as they grappled and tussled with each other once more as Chuck attempted to break free.

When they came up gasping for air they were both in coughing fits once more as they'd taken in too much water into their airways again and Chuck was now locked in the corner of the pool as Sarah had surrounded him.

"Crikey, are you trying to kill me?!" Chuck moaned disapprovingly at her.

"Baby!" Sarah replied back as she pouted right at him.

"Sarah I'm serious, I could have been dead," Chuck replied over exaggeratedly.

Sarah took no notice of his complaints. "Shut up, Chuck," she replied.

"You're the devil!" Chuck stated while shaking his head disapprovingly at her, before continuing in a tongue-in-cheek tone, "I'm beginning to question the abuse I get in this friendship."

"No one would believe you," Sarah laughed back while poking at his chest with a finger.

"What, with my good looks and a smile I'm sure I could be convincing!" Chuck said while imitating a persuasive smile.

Sarah laughed at the witty remark, she's sure he could be convincing too...

"Ok, you're right I should apologize," Sarah said with a wide grin.

"Good," Chuck agreed with a grin of his own.

Sarah leant forward as if to whisper something in his ear, before once more dunking his head under water but letting go after just a brief moment this time.

"That's the last time you do that! Chuck exclaimed determinedly.

Sarah giggled with a sly smirk. "Ok I'll stop now, I promise."

"You better, or I'm getting out of this pool!" Chuck mockingly stated while pointing his thumb at the ladder to demonstrate how he would do it.

The next few moments had passed by in silence as the young adults looked at each other in silence. Neither Sarah or Chuck had moved and Chuck could not move even if he'd have wanted to as he was cornered in the corner of the pool and their eyes had now locked upon one another, their bodies in close proximity to one another while a familiar song record played on the overhead speaker systems in the pool facilities that seemed to drown out all noise inside the busy pool. And what happened next, neither of them had expected or predicted, as Sarah's head began to move in motion towards Chuck's face, their eyes still locked in a gaze of intent to one another, Sarah's arms resting over Chuck's shoulders, her hands resting on the edges of the pool. Chuck's head for a brief moment also began to edge slightly towards Sarah's, their lips were now almost touching when Chuck backed his head away and snapped out of the trance like state that he'd shared with his best friend in which the whole world had seemed to slow down and almost freeze. Chuck shook his head as if to try and restart his brain before moving his frame delicately past Sarah's left arm where she'd had him trapped in the corner and he proceeded to climb up the ladder to exit the pool leaving Sarah to stay motionless rooted in her spot, unable to look up at Chuck in obvious embarrassment, both of them were.

A long moment of awkwardness passed, with both Sarah and Chuck confusingly attempting to work out and understand what had exactly just happened. In Chuck's part, nothing like that had ever happened before with Sarah or anybody for that matter and why had his own head moved briefly towards hers? And for Sarah's part, she couldn't understand why A) she did what she did and B) why did he back out at the very last second...

"Let's go diving before you try to drown me again," Chuck said after a long moment, his face still looking slightly flustered after the two best friends had almost passionately kissed one another.

Sarah still hadn't moved and hadn't been able to bring herself to make eye contact with the young man she'd almost kissed and she appeared to be struggling to compose herself, before finally less enthusiastically than she had previously been when they first arrived at the pool climbed up the ladder, to follow her best friend…

The next few weeks had passed pretty uneventfully, neither Chuck nor Sarah had spoken about what had happened at the pool together a few weeks previously. Though Sarah had came literally within mere inches of meeting Chuck's lips with her own and kissing him, neither of the two young adults had ever kissed anybody before. However, it had shook and rocked Chuck more than it had Sarah, as he didn't even have any idea what was happening. It was Sarah that had advanced on Chuck, and whilst he did for a brief second begin to move his head toward her, he quickly snapped out of the trance like state they'd had momentarily between each other and he got out of dodge before something happened that may have ruined and compromised their friendship. Sarah and her family was all that he had, and there was no way that he was going to risk losing them by doing something that they may come to regret. Chuck is not naive, he knows what love is, he'd seen more than enough expressions of love throughout his adolescent years and Sarah was absolutely beautiful but to him, Sarah was as good as family and he saw her as a sister, and not somebody in a romantic light.

But sadly, today was to be the most momentous day of all. Today, Chuck was spending his last moments with Sarah, for an undetermined time, as Chuck was at the train station preparing to get the train to take him to the airport and Sarah was with him, they were on the platform that his train was due to depart from. Sarah had barely made eye contact with Chuck since they had arrived and her body language was evidently dejected, her head had been hung, her gaze looking downward at the floor.

"Sarah, did you hear me?" Chuck asked softly after waiting a long moment of not receiving a response from Sarah. He'd told her it wouldn't be forever, just three or four years... Maybe sooner if things didn't work out.

But that was precisely it, she didn't want him to go. She didn't even want him to go for one second, nevermind four years! Sarah couldn't imagine her life without him. Sarah did not want to live without this young man talking to her. If only she could tell him how she truly felt. How she'd cherish and take care of him and make him happy here, in their country, their home. He didn't need to leave to another country to embark on a new life. He could live a new life here, with her, together… 'But does he feel the same way?' God knows Sarah had asked that question hundreds of times in the three years gone by since she'd first begun to develop intimate feelings for the boy next to her. Not much had ever fazed Sarah Walker, but the prospect of Chuck Bartowski rejecting her scared Sarah a million times more than anything ever had in her life, and as such she hoped that he would be the one to make the first move, but he never did... Sarah was also afraid of losing him, that it would drive them apart if they began exploring a passionate relationship with one another that didn't work out and ended sourly. Sarah could barely just about take not being able to be his lover, but she could never be without him... Just being with him was enough to make Sarah happy, but now he was leaving to go and study on a completely different continent...

Sarah looked up with an empty expression on her face to meet his gaze, struggling to fight off her inner battle racing through her mind, unable to register what he was saying to her as her world was shattering and breaking into a million different fragments...

Sighing deeply and apprehensively looking between Sarah and the train dispatcher who was furiously blowing at his whistle, Chuck spoke, "Well... I guess it's time for me to go," He said dejectedly to his best friend, they had already properly said goodbye to each other the previous night as they took a long walk together and like now, Sarah had barely said a word, her body language on both days looking exhausted and deflated as if she'd cried herself to sleep for the past week…

"I don't want you to go," Sarah replied suddenly and in a brokenly meek tone, the hurt visible in her face as she said the words, a lone tear now beginning to drip from out of her eyelid.

Chuck breathed out a long sigh as he ran a hand through his hair as he took a moment to carefully plan his response. "Sarah, we have talked about this hundreds of times now. I have to go, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I promise you I'll come back."

"You don't need to go!" Sarah replied very sharply, shaking her head dismissively at him.

Chuck shrugged his shoulders in defeat, unable to make his best friend see reason. "Sarah, I'm sorry, I really am, but we've been preparing for this for months. Now really is not the time, I really need to go, the train is about to leave," he replied desperately as he glanced over and over between Sarah, the train dispatcher with his annoying whistle and the train parked next to him as it was preparing to depart to take him to begin the next chapter in his life, he was the last passenger left to board and the dispatcher was becoming tired of waiting for him as he continued blowing his whistle from the front of the train more agitatedly each time while looking in Chuck's direction.

Not getting a response from Sarah, who was still looking at the ground and experiencing the inevitable severe shock as her world was crushing all around her, Chuck tried one last time to receive an acceptance that this was sadly going to happen from Sarah. "I'll phone you and write you all the time, I promise. And I'll come back to visit at every possible opportunity." Chuck gripped his best friends hand briefly with his own for an extended moment before turning away from Sarah to go.

But Sarah was holding onto to his hand and refusing to let go of it as if it was the only thing left that would prevent her from falling into an abyss. She absolutely did not want to let go of his hand. Slowly, Sarah began raising her head up from its sloped state, she looked at him and spoke. "Chuck… I..." but Sarah couldn't complete her words as Chuck had already released the grip that their hands had held with one another and he had ascended onto the steps of the slightly elevated train. On reaching the top, he turned to look back briefly at Sarah, he'd been unable to hear her quiet, soft spoken words that Sarah had said over the background noise of the train and noisy, busy train station. "I'll write you, I promise," were his last words, as he disappeared out from sight to occupy his seat leaving Sarah alone on the platform, her world crushing and breaking all around her as tears streamed freely down her elegant young face…"I love you." the young woman kept repeating to herself as she stood alone, broken and inconsolable on the platform that the young man whom she loved more than anything in this world had just departed from, her life now sinking along with him without a trace as the train departed out of the station.

Eight Years Later...

Present Day

London

United Kingdom

A lone figure walked labouredly along a street he used to know so well, it was a little bit out of the way of his planned journey but he quite simply had to stop here in the place that had given him so many memories. Not much had changed in what felt like a whole lifetime since he had last been here on this street. The actual time? Almost eight long years of mostly difficulties and challenges at every single turn and very little success. In fact, he'd regretted ever leaving this place. He had sacrificed so much to attempt to start a life and make a name for himself to make his dad proud of him. He had abandoned somebody... He'd abandoned somebody that had stuck with him through many years of hardships, with many good times fitted in-between that they'd created together. He'd wished countless times that he could take everything back, that he could turn back the clocks, that he'd never left, that he'd listened to her pleas imploring him not to leave... But at the end of the day, what was done was done and he could not change the past no matter how much he'd give to do so. Actually, as he continued his long walk of recollection, he felt a great shame with himself because she was why he was back here again right now in a country he'd not stepped foot on for eight long years, he needed her help, and she was all that he had left...

As the young man continued to walk for the next thirty minutes, you would be forgiven for mistaking this young man to be exactly that, a young man. He had a couple of weeks of unshaven stubble growing. His face was bruised with wear and tear that could only have been obtained through either a fight or a terrible accident. He wore dark sunglasses over his eyes and his clothes were untidy and stuck out like a sore thumb in this particular part of London, in where you would not see a single home that sold for less than one million pounds... Throughout the journey, he'd already had several glances of distaste at him, and if he was being true to himself, then he would have given those very same looks he was receiving under different circumstances if he'd have seen a stranger walking around looking like he did in this part of the city. This young man was from an upper-class background himself, but right now he felt the furthest thing from being that.

Finally arriving at his destination nearly an hour after he had started it, he was absolutely exhausted from the painful walk he'd embarked on after leaving the train station in where he'd spent the last of his money just to get to the area and he continued to walk down a South Kensington road for another minute before stopping outside of a gate leading to a detached home. As he stopped, the frail looking man looked over his shoulder once more for about the thirtieth time since beginning his journey before finally becoming satisfied that he could not see what he was specifically looking for. Taking an extended moment to breathe in a deep sigh, the young man proceeded to open a gate that led along the short pathway to the home. From the exterior, the house and the small front sided garden looked maintained. It did not look as good as the standards of most other front gardens in this road nor this area but it was far from the point of looking abandoned, it was just plain... The young man took a second deep breath of air, which he struggled for as his chest was heavily bruised like his face and breathing was not an easy thing to accomplish for somebody not being used to his bodies present state of disarray. After taking several small strides accompanied by breathing in the summers air, he'd arrived at the archway to the home. He hoped she still lived here, and they'd not spoken in several years and he'd never been to this address previously. Attempting to calm himself but not doing a very good job of it, he decided to take a leap of faith and knocked frailly on the door...

There was a prolonged pause before he heard activity, so much so that he knocked a second time. After still hearing no activity his mind began to think dejectedly that the person he was looking for no longer lived here, and he began to panic at the realization that he had nothing else in the world, she was all that he had left. He was about to turn away when he finally heard activity.

"Just a minute!" He heard somebody say in a voice that sounded very different than what he had remembered, though he was sure he could make out a portion of it still, but the voice he heard was very flat without emotion.

He saw movement now. A figure had appeared behind the door.

The lady took a minute behind the door, probably looking through a spyhole at who was calling and disturbing her, the young man was sure he heard a sigh, before the door opened.

The young man didn't get a chance to say anything as the lady had already began speaking "Look... I'm not interested in anything you are selling, so please leave me alone." The lady said in that exact same emotionless tone that broke his heart.

The young lady then turned back away from the intruder at her door and was about to turn once more to close the door after her when the man spoke, "Sarah! Wait... It's Chuck, I um, I need your help…"

End of Chapter

AN1 Well then! So many questions! What's happened to Chuck? How will Sarah react to him being back? What has happened in their lives since they separated from one another at that sad, depressing train station eight years ago? Find out more next chapter!

AN2, If it wasn't already obvious throughout this chapter, I'm a proud British girl myself. All of my previous stories had involved Charah being American, and I quite simply was not comfortable in the environment as I didn't really know how to explain certain American things. I hope that will not dissuade you from the story, as Yvonne herself is Polish/Australian and not American :P I just know some people can be a little picky about things like that but that's my reasoning for it anyway, plus I feel it makes for a great story and I just couldn't see any way how I could write this story that I want to write with Sarah and Chuck being Americans, it just would not fit the plot that I have in mind whatsoever.. :)