Chuck vs. The Thing

Chuck paced around his apartment, phone in hand. His stomach was doing crazy flips and his hands clammed up from nervousness. He glanced at a picture of his arms wrapped around Sarah, and that gave him courage. With shaky fingers, he dialed a number on his phone. With all his might he prayed that no one would pick up. The phone was almost on its last ring, when suddenly, someone picked up.

"Hello?" a female voice answered.

Chuck cursed his bad luck. Of all the times she had to answer the phone and this was it. Finally, he responded in an overly cheery voice, "Hey sis!"

At the hospital, Ellie was still in her scrubs, having just finished her shift, and beyond ready to head home to her nice soft bed and take a peaceful, long rest before her next shift in the morning. Just because she was pregnant, didn't mean she was going to stop working, no matter how much Devon protested. "Hey Chuck," she replied. "Is everything ok?"

No. No it is not! "Yeah, everything's great! I was hoping you could swing by the apartment before you head off to your, ya know, apartment." He laughed nervously. "That is, if you're not too tired!" he quickly urged. "I mean, I know how much you've been working lately, and sleep is important for you, so if you just wanna head to your house without stopping by, that's fine! I totally don't mind-"

Ellie cut him off. "Chuck!" She laughed then continued, "Of course I'll come by. I'll be right there. See you soon," she said, and then hung up.

"Great," Chuck said sadly to an empty line. After the call, Chuck returned to pacing his living room. When the door opened his head snapped up, eyes wide. Obviously, it was only Ellie, but right then, that wasn't of much comfort. If he was this nervous to talk to Ellie about this now, he couldn't even imagine the paralyzing fear he would feel when he would have this conversation with Sarah. Just thinking about it made him nauseous.

"Chuck... What's this all about?" Ellie asked in an amused voice with a small smile on her lips. Chuck was a generally nervous guy, but rarely around her. Whatever he needed to talk about, it was big.

Chuck set his phone down on the kitchen counter and walked to the couch, his eyes trained on his clenched hands. "Ellie," he tried, but the words were just a rasp. He swallowed hard, coughed, and then tried again. "Ellie I, um, need your help on something. Something really really important…" He motioned for her to sit down with him. Ellie walked fully into apartment, suddenly nervous.

Please don't be spy stuff. Please don't be spy stuff, she found herself thinking. She sat down on the couch, her body facing her brother. "What is it Chuck?" All the playfulness was gone from her voice, and she stared intently at him, afraid of what he might say, but not wanting to be held in the suspense either.

Chuck looked to her, then back down at his hands. Keeping his eyes targeted on his fidgeting fingers, he spoke. "Ellie, I'm going to tell you something, and I really need you to not freak out." At this he looked at her, and saw the worry in her eyes. Looking down with his eyes clenched he said in almost a whisper, "I'm going to ask Sarah to marry me." Chuck peeked one eye open to look at Ellie.

At first, she was just frozen, her mind whizzing a mile a minute, making sure she understood what Chuck had just said. Then it was like someone took an axe to dynamite. Ellie exploded, jumping from the couch. Her smile was so big it reached from ear to ear and tears formed in her eyes. "Oh my god, Chuck! That's so great!" She pulled her brother from the couch and wrapped him in a tight hug. Well, as tight as she could, considering the 5-month bulge between them. She pulled back and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Sis, remember what I said about freaking out?" Though Chuck said this, he couldn't help a huge grin of his own at Ellie's excitement. It was as if a huge rock had been removed from his chest, and he could breathe again. Well, almost. He did still have to actually ask Sarah the question, and that scared the living shit out of him. That wasn't a rock. That was a mountain that was on his entire body. He got clammy just thinking about it. Instead he returned his attention back to his sister.

Ellie composed herself with a small cough. "Sorry," she said with composure then squealed, "I can't believe you're going to ask her to marry you! I mean of course I can believe it, you two are perfect for each other!" She looked back up at him, and saw that he was about to protest to her excited behavior again, so she calmed herself down. "I'm just so happy for you Chuck. We're both starting our families, and you're safe, and you're happy. I couldn't ask for a better life."

Chuck smiled at her, but when he hugged her again, his face fell slightly. The truth was, he wasn't safe, and no matter how much truth Chuck told Ellie about his life, he would always be lying to her, and that broke his heart. But he had tried the truthful route before, and no matter how convincing an argument she provided for him, spying was what he was meant to do. He couldn't just give it up, even if he already had Sarah. He had tried many times before to give up the spy life, but each time, something came up that pulled him back in. Then, he finally realized that he couldn't escape it, but that still didn't mean he was happy with lying about it all to his sister. That was thing that hurt him most about his career choice. Having to lie to the person, next to Sarah, he trusts the most in the whole world, his own sister.

Returning to the present, Chuck felt himself being pulled out of the hug. Ellie had a very excited and expectant look on her face. "Alright, show me the ring!" she declared.

Chuck hesitated. It wasn't big or extravagant, and nothing close to the ring Awesome had given Ellie when he proposed. "It's nothing great, but…" From his pocket, Chuck pulled out a little black box. Upon opening it, Ellie squealed again. "Ah ah ah! Freaking out," Chuck cautioned.

"Sorry, I'm sorry! But Chuck! It's so beautiful!" She grabbed the box and studied the ring. It was between one to one and a half karats. The marquise cut diamond was entirely flawless with little gold tendrils of the band holding it in place. "Wow, Chuck," she said almost quietly, her eyes still staring at the ring she was holding. "It's perfect."

Chuck smiled in relief. "Thanks El," he said. Then, his face slightly darkened, and his tone got nervous again. "There is one more thing I need your help with…" From his other pocket, Chuck pulled out his proposal plan.