Chuck? Kiss me.
Charles Irving Bartowski wasn't about to give up on that girl. The one who had captured his heart and made him fall in love day after day after day. Surely, if they had fallen in love once, they would fall in love again, right? He wasn't so sure anymore. While part of him wanted to write it off as 'just his luck' and move on - especially on the days in which he could see her struggling to learn their affection once more. Would it just be easier for them both if he let her go, if he let her fall in love with someone else? His heart ached for her, especially on her bad days. He longed to say those three little words - "I love you,"; to let her know that she didn't have to go through the bad days alone, but he was afraid he would scare her off. She wasn't the best with emotional moments, after all. (Spy training. Love it.)
She rented an apartment in the same complex he resided in, taking Ellie and Awesome's when they left. It made life both easy and a little harder. They saw each other every day, and could talk whenever they wished; but he could also see the days when she struggled with her memory loss and didn't want to be touched or be around anyone, really. As of late, those days seemed to be increasing in numbers. She'd only forgotten six months ago, but for the past month, the 'bad' days far outweighed the good.
So he started writing little letters to her every day when he had the time. And he had a lot of it, now, since Team Bartowski was no more and the Buy More was just the Buy More. He always wrote little stories about them - dates they'd gone on, things they'd done together, their first fight...you know. The stuff of sad movies. He still didn't really believe that something as fictional as this could have really happened to them. Who lost the majority of their memories from the past several years over a completely off-the-wall program installed in someone's brain? But regardless, the letters seemed to help her. He'd always leave the letter bright and early in the morning. He had her patterns down pat: she'd leave for work to the cheesy food shop near the Buy More at approximately eight-o-three (he didn't know why she stayed in that job); she'd spend a few extra minutes reading the letter outside of her door, and then leave. He'd leave for the Buy More at about eight thirty so she wouldn't know he was spying on her...in case she hadn't figured it out already, rather. She was still sharp as a tack, even after retiring from the CIA business after the whole Team Bartowski ordeal.
But after some time, he ran out of memories to remind her of. Between the letters and talking to one another over the past six months, they'd covered all bases, pretty much. He wasn't about to go to Morgan for more help, since he'd been hung up on the Disney fairytale thing lately. Although, maybe those fairytales had it right. Singing a duet between the prince and the princess was typically a must have for Disney princess movies.
I'm officially losing my mind. Sarah doesn't sing, Chuck reminded himself with a shake of the head and a grimace as he imagined that scenario. Not that she didn't sing WELL, she just wasn't exactly a fan of impromptu singing. And he was fairly certain that she wouldn't appreciate a random solo as he burst out of the bushes in front of her apartment, either. That's one way to ruin an already fragile relationship.
Grumbling to himself about his inability to think of a way to continue the letter thing -since it usually brought a smile to her face, and he didn't want to let that end - he crawled into the Buy- More-mobile, randomly pressing the first button on the radio that his fingers grazed. A slow country tune filled the car, but he left it on. He was no huge fan of country, but he didn't want to distract himself changing the station as he drove. About three minutes later, genius struck. Well, maybe genius had already struck upon the writer, who had written the song years ago, but Chuck Bartowski's mental lightbulb lit up. As Johnny Cash crooned the lyrics to You Are My Sunshine, he almost swerved off the road as he thought about his idea. Oh, and of course this idea would pop in his mind when he had a full day of work ahead of him! Typical. As soon as he hit the parking lot at Buy More, he pawed around for a notepad and scribbled his idea down on it.
He wouldn't sing. He'd send it in a letter, though.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; you make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you...Corny, yes, but I'm pulling the old songs out.
Sarah, I know you're still recovering and struggling with it. You're making amazing progress, and I'm so proud of how brave you've been. I know it's scary sometimes, when someone comes up to you all like "hey, remember that time.." and you don't. And I know you're not a huge fan of emotions and especially not showing them, but I'm here for you. I know we talk already, but you can come to me if you need to vent, too. We don't just have to talk memories or what we did today- although your tales of working at a donut shop or Wienerlicious are certainly amusing, don't get me wrong - you can talk with me about your frustrations, how you feel, everything. I want to help you, Sarah. You're everything to me and even if you don't feel the same way about me, I don't care, I just want to help. I'm not being nosy or looking for something to gossip about - no, that'd be Morgan - I want to know what's going on in your pretty head just for the sake of knowing you're okay.
Your nerd, Chuck.
With a nervous breath, he immediately went to her door to tape this enveloped letter to her door. It was risky, deviating from his pattern, (darn spy training, once more) but he'd do it. Her curtains were drawn; he assumed she was still away. Overtime maybe. He patted the first bit of tape firmly down on the door -
But then the door flung open, a gun pointed directly at his nose.
"Chuck!" Sarah hissed. "What are you doing?!"
He dropped the roll of tape and gulped, removing the letter from its' half-secured position on the door. "Uh, deviated from my pattern. Bad spy move. Right?" he joked weakly.
Her jaw went slack, and she pushed her gun into the waist of her jeans before taking the envelope from him. He stood awkwardly as she read it -geez, he'd watched her read other ones from a distance, so why was this so embarrassing? He felt like a tenth grader asking the popular girl out. He wasn't even asking her out. He was bringing up emotional things, though, and that was worse.
When she stopped reading, she took a deep and shaky breath, but glanced up at Chuck nervously. "Um...I'm a little busy in here, ah, cooking dinner..so I can't talk right now. Good night, Chuck," she said before shutting the door.
Well, that hadn't gone well at all. Chuck went back to his apartment and crashed on his couch with a stack of video games to distract him. Had he rushed things? Stupid brain, stupid Bartowski.
The next morning, he waited until eight thirty, as always, so she wouldn't catch on that he'd been spying on her. When he turned to make sure his door was locked, he caught sight of a small piece of paper, folded up and taped haphazardly to his door. Probably Morgan, catching on to what he'd been doing for Sarah and deciding it would be cute to do it for Chuck. Or maybe he was annoyed because he was paying so much attention to Sarah. He rolled his eyes, but opened it anyway.
I remember, Chuck. You helped me so much; are helping me, I suppose I should say. But I remember. I haven't for long though, and I'm still processing it. But Chuck, I know I'm yours and I'm happy I didn't end up with just another guy. You're a pretty great person, Chuck, and I'm blessed to have you in my life. And if you're worrying, which I have an idea you are worrying that this is leading to some sad-movie ending, it isn't. I love you, Chuck Bartowski, and I remember that I did before. -Sarah.
His eyes widened as he took all this in. Immediately, he glanced up at her apartment...and saw the blinds snap back shut, concealing binoculars and a certain blond ex-spy who had deviated from her pattern. Truth was, she'd only been leaving early because she knew Chuck waited, and she didn't want him to be late to work. He wasn't the only spy in this complex, after all.