A/N: I don't own Chuck. Just a little warning, not happy like my other two fanfics. But it kind of works out in the end, hopefully. Enjoy.

September 25, 2008

Chuck walked out the front door towards the Buymore parking lot. He turned around and looked back at his two guardians, Agent Sarah Walker and Major John Casey. After that life-changing day when Bryce sent him the email packed with top level government secrets, these two were sent to make sure he lives and the data stays out of bad guys' hands. But now they were much more to him than bodyguards; they have become friends and maybe even family. Giving a quick wave goodbye, he continued to his nerd herder parked in the far corner of the lot, away from most of the other vehicles.

It's been a year since his world turned around. Suddenly, as he sat behind the wheel of the Yaris, he felt a need to take inventory of his life: who he met, what he did, where he's been. Of course Sarah is the first, and usually the last, thing that pops into his mind.

Ellie and Captain Awesome. Chuck thought back to their wedding in July. They had both decided to have it in San Diego at the Hotel Del Coronado, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He was asked to be one of Awesome's groom's men after hearing that Ellie made Sarah one of her bride's maids. Awesome told him later "Seemed only right Chuck. I think you of as one of my brothers anyways. Besides, I didn't want you to be jealous throughout the whole wedding watching someone dance with Sarah." They both laughed.

The day of the wedding, Chuck found himself holding his breath when he saw Sarah walk out of their hotel bathroom in her bride's maids dress. So beautiful, he thought. Sarah had noticed all the attention she was getting from him and proceeded to spin herself around to give him a full view. He knew that she saw him looking and gave her a wink.

"Let's go Chuck. I think they're getting ready."

"Huh? Oh yeah" said Chuck as he broke out of his gaze.

Ellie and Devon's wedding went perfectly. They planned it so that their first kiss as husband and wife happened right when the sun set in the horizon. Chuck saw that even Sarah was teary eyed as she watched the couple embrace and kiss, backlit with reddish and purplish tones against the dark blue sky. He looked over and wondered what it would be like to see her face as the pronounced them man and wife. Move on Chuck, move on.

Morgan. His best friend and honorary brother. Things have changed significantly for him over the past year as well. He now had a girlfriend, Anna. He started taking his work more seriously, saying that he was inspired by Chuck's increased responsibility for life and career. "I don't want to be left behind man. I gotta keep up with where you are in life."

Chuck smiled and knew Morgan's life would turn out better than he planned. "Don't worry buddy. I anticipate great things for you. Besides, I told Anna to beat you up if you get out of line."

They both laughed until Morgan realized that it could actually happen.

His career. After getting shot at several times during missions finally pushed Chuck to seize the day and finish things left undone. The first was college. He was a few credits shy of getting his degree, so he decided to take night classes to finally receive it. Of course he received nothing but support and praise from Sarah who was actually the one who kept bugging him about it.

He finally received his degree in computer engineering in February. Ellie held a large party at her apartment and was gushing throughout the night about her brother the graduate. Several times throughout the night he had to explain that he was still feeling out the job market and had several resumes out there already.

Chuck thought of the best part of the evening. It was when Sarah pulled him aside and handed him a box. "This is for you Chuck."

"You didn't need to get me anything." Chuck gave her a big smile. "I should actually be giving you something. It was you who kept pushing me to go back to school you know."

"I know. All I did was get you to go, you're the one who actually went to the classes and aced them. Now open it up."

Chuck smiled and opened up the box which revealed a titanium watch. She motioned for him to flip it over. He saw an inscription: To CB, The world's most knowledgeable man. Love, SW

"I just thought that the last watch I gave you wasn't really a gift. This one is really from me. I hope you like it."

"I love it. Thank you Sarah."

Casey. What could Chuck say about Casey? On the outside, he seemed like a robot: following orders to the letter, always quoting protocol. But that all changed when the termination order went out on him.

Just when he thought he was good as dead, Casey refused the order. He would later say that the world has too few truly good guys in it and that by killing Chuck he would be tipping the balances to the wrong side. Luckily for both of them the beta intersect proved to be a bust and his safety and well being was once again paramount.

When it came down to the situation with he and Sarah, Casey turned a blind eye. He never mentioned anything about the affection he saw emanating from the two of them except for one time. Out of the blue when they were leaving an early morning briefing, he just blurted "Just keep doing the missions as well as you do and I won't say anything." He kept walking out and didn't wait for any response.

Sarah, finally Sarah. Was it providence that had guided Sarah to him? What else could it be? Chuck thought and imagined if any other woman were sent to him, would he have fallen in love at first sight with them too? Could it have been any other blond hair and blue eyed woman? Was he so desperate for love at that point that anyone would've sufficed? Laughing and shaking his head, Chuck knew the answer.

No. No one else could've taken her place. It had to be Sarah and only Sarah.

Chuck thought about their relationship. The thing under the undercover thing. After the termination notice Sarah had finally broken down and asked him out on their official real first date, not that they weren't flirting with each other every chance they got before that. He figured that she also decided to live for the moment since they wouldn't know what be coming around the bend. Their relationship was blossoming slowly, which Chuck assumed was due to the fact that Sarah hadn't had a real relationship before.

First it was holding hands, something simple but meant the world to both of them. Although they had held hands before, this time it was for real. There was more significance to the gesture and Chuck could see that Sarah knew it too. They spent the whole day walking around the beach holding hands; enjoying the closeness it afforded.

They had their first kiss (and more) after Sarah's birthday party. Well not a real birthday party but a made up one that he insisted on. He had asked her what her favorite number was between 1 and 31. Sarah said 15. So just like that, Sarah's birthday was June 15. They held a big party, of course, and Chuck went out of his way to keep her laughing the whole night through. The birthday cake came out with two candles lit with her age, 27. Her supposed age of course, Chuck didn't really know her age so he later told her he had to guess by looking at her. She just hugged him and thanked him for the compliment. She didn't mention she was actually a year older than him of course.

As the night ended he took her back to her hotel room, Sarah hugged Chuck and said "Here's your present Chuck."

Chuck, looking confused, asked "What presen..."

Before he could complete the sentence, Sarah pulled his head down by his collar and gave him a kiss. Chuck didn't know how many seconds, minutes, or weeks passed nor did he care. It wasn't the end of the world, bomb about to blow up kind of kiss but it did convey the same emotions and intent as before.

"That was my way of thanking you for a great time tonight." Pausing momentarily, "Now this is my way of thanking you for everything else" said Sarah as she pulled him into the room and quickly closed the door.

Chuck laughed to himself as he thought about the other stuff after kissing. Not going to forget that part.

The Intersect. The reason for all the changes in his life. He was both mad and glad that it came into his life. Mad because of the constant fear of torture and death. But glad because it brought Sarah into his life.

Chuck was made a special agent and the team was sent out on mission as always. One caveat was that he had to check into a CIA facility every two weeks to receive an update to the data in the Intersect. This luckily took no time at all since it was just an addition to the info already stored in his head.

Together they had way more successes than failures and even in failure they found a way to extract some good from it. The higher ups were in constant awe of the effectiveness of the team and never had anything but praise for them. The one thing that was a thorn in their side was Fulcrum.

Although team Chuck was able to thwart most of their advances, the organization seemed to grow stronger and larger by each passing moment. They still did not know where the Intersect was or who it was but they knew it had something to do with Chuck. Many of the recent Fulcrum operations had centered on the Los Angeles area and more specifically where Chuck lived.

Chuck received an update a week ago. One of the technicians informed Sarah that there was a slight glitch but everything was ok with him. Sarah was extremely concerned until he waved her off and told her he felt fine. Later in the week, Chuck received his latest flash on Fulcrum. They were planning a search and destroy mission. He gasped.

Back to reality, Chuck looked back towards to give them one last goodbye but found his line of sight blocked by rows of cars. He sighed.

A grim look appeared on his face as he put the key into the ignition. Chuck slammed his eyes shut and shook his head as if trying to build up the strength to continue.

Finally he whispered to himself, "Sorry Sarah, all good things must come to an..." He turned the key in the ignition.

An explosion rang out in the plaza. The shockwave caused the windows of nearby cars to shatter. Car alarms were set off throughout the parking lot. Pieces of debris rained down from the heavens. A fireball reached up into the sky before smoke started billowing out.

Sarah and Casey turned and felt the intensity of the heat coming from the blast. Sarah ran towards the fire, knowing already what had exploded. It was the nerd herder and its occupant, Chuck. She screamed "No! Chuck! No!"

Casey tackled her halfway to the car and shouted at her "Walker. Stop. There's nothing we can do."

Sarah was screaming with tears flowing down her face. She was clawing at Casey, hitting him with all her might to let her go and find Chuck. "He's in there Casey, I need to find him and help him. Let me go to him." She continued to beg and plead, all the while wiping the gushes of tears on her face.

"Sarah, he's gone. No one could've survived that. No one."

She looked up to see that Casey's eyes were tearing as well. She finally stopped and sat there in the parking lot, sobbing and weeping at the sight of the fireball where Chuck once was. For hours all she could say was "Chuck."

Charles Irving Bartowski was laid to rest on October 2, 2008. No body was ever found but no one thought that there would be one considering the intensity of the heat from the blast. Even the frame of the car had melted. All that was left to suggest that someone was in the car was little spatterings of blood on pieces of the car interior that had been blown far from the fire. The CIA identified it as Chuck's DNA. The police called it an accident; a natural gas leak under the vehicle had ignited and caused the explosion. At least the NSA told them as such. It was accepted since earlier the NSA blamed the evacuation of the Buymore on Thanksgiving on a similar gas leak.

Unofficially theCIA and NSA surmised that the explosion was an assassination committed by Fulcrum. They had known that Chuck was somehow in the center of the Intersect project but didn't know in what capacity. Fulcrum needed to eliminate the government's advantage in order to continue operating under the radar and in eliminating Chuck, they secured their anonymity.

The funeral itself was a quiet affair, involving only his closest friends and family. Sarah had stayed with Ellie and Devon for two weeks. Ellie instinctively knew that Sarah was hurting as much as she was, maybe even more. They spent their time talking about the good memories they had with him and how much he meant to both of them. Sometimes, Casey would show up and totally out of character, would chime in about the good times as well.

Morgan took it the worse. He was inconsolable for three days. He didn't bother eating or drinking during that time. He finally broke out of it when Sarah told him that Chuck would've been hurt to see him like this. Chuck wanted him to live a good life. Morgan thanked Sarah and told everyone that he promised to live his life how Chuck wished for it to be for him. Sarah smiled and thought Even in death you still help people.

Sarah and Casey were eventually reassigned; the higher ups had given them time to get over the loss but things still happened around the world. Casey was stationed somewhere in the midwest while Sarah was back in Washington D.C.

Even though she moved away, Sarah never broke contact with Ellie. As they were about to part ways in the airport, Ellie told Sarah that she considered her as her bestfriend, her sister. Sarah's eyes teared up and all she came up with was "Thank you." Every month, as her missions permitted, she would call Ellie and ask how she was doing. They would chit chat for a while and then say their goodbyes.

Another thing changed for Sarah, she no longer took missions that involved being close to a mark. It wasn't that she was shielding her heart from emotions but she felt that it would stain her memory of Chuck if she got close to anyone again. Luckily the agency was happy to oblige since there were more missions other than that available.

Sarah stood in her apartment looking at the last photo she and Chuck took together and realized that he would be the only one for her.

A lone black figure spied on Sarah from the rooftop of an adjacent building. He stood in silence as if deep in thought and then quickly disappeared into the night. Time to get to work. Time to payback Fulcrum for what they took. He logged onto to his computer after he stepped into his car.

His password: It's hard to say goodbye.