A/N:
This story is dedicated to GoldenGirl, who gave us "The words written on his chest" and inspired me to finally finish a chapter fic.
Many many many many x100000000 thanks to Erika aka Chuckaholic for her betaing skills. She is worthy of the title "awesome"
And also many thanks to Ikantdance05 (my sister Leighanne) for helping co-author and beta this fic. (Thanks for all of those nights sticking with me when mom said it was time to quit writing and go to bed)
This first chapter is Chuck's POV the rest is Sarah's POV. Without further ado, Sarah vs. the coping mechanism.
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It was all quite a blur. . .Sarah had promised to be careful on this mission, but I shouldn't have trusted her. She didn't need to be in the field. . . Didn't she have enough reason not to be?
We had almost taken down the Fulcrum agent, until we found out he had well hidden backup.
Sarah had told me to run, but I couldn't leave her behind. . . I jumped in the way to protect her when the Fulcrum agent pulled the trigger on his handgun. . .
The bullet hurt as it passed through my chest, but no pain was equal to hearing the sound of two more shots going off, and being pinned to the ground, unable to stop it. . . I was helpless.
I heard her body hit the ground. . . Nothing seemed real.
Everything I was living for had just been lost.
And the world around me faded to black. . .
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(2 months earlier)
I walked into the Orange Orange and saw Sarah frantically setting up the store. She saw me but didn't say anything. She didn't act this way unless something was wrong.
"Sarah, is everything okay?"
"I don't want to talk about it Chuck, okay?" She was being evasive. Even more evasive than usual.
"Sarah you know you can tell me anything."
"Just drop it Chuck."
"Sarah. . . " I hated it when I knew something was bothering her, and I couldn't figure out a way to get her to open up.
"Fine Chuck, you want to know? I'm pregnant." She said quickly, and continued setting up the counter.
"Sarah. . . It was just that one time. You can't be pregnant." Of course the one time we're together for real, no cover, things get complicated.
"Well apparently it is possible Chuck, and the three positive pregnancy tests agree. . . Chuck I'm pregnant." She repeated herself as she leaned forward on the counter.
Why was she acting like this was a bad thing? I mean sure this wasn't the ideal situation for bringing a child into the world but still. We were going to have a baby!
Us as parents. . . A frightening yet wonderful thought.
"Well. . . um wow. I know this isn't planned or anything but it's still. . . fantastic."
"Chuck." She sighed. "Chuck the timing is. . . It's just not good."
I looked into her ocean blue eyes. "What are you gonna do? I mean you are gonna keep the, um, baby, aren't you?"
It may not have been good timing, at all, but in the short few minutes I've known she was pregnant, there hasn't been a second where I regretted this baby's existence. . . The beautiful baby of Sarah Walker and Chuck Bartowski.
"Yeah. Chuck you don't have to worry about that. Unless Beckman finds out. . ." She said, running a hand through her hair.
."Should we like, get married or something?" I wanted to do the right thing, and be more of a father than my father was to me. But really I already knew the answer to that question.
"No Chuck, I don't think that is a good solution, right now at least." Her beautiful smile lit up the room for the first time today.
Sarah used to be my main reason for living. But something had awakened inside of me and now they were my reason for living.
And I knew that I couldn't live without both of them. . .
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