Julie Andrews said it more perfectly than I can, but this chapter is about Sarah 'getting to know' Chuck. The Honeymooners 2 story is going to take three chapters to tell, so this is the first chapter of a three chapter story.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Chapter 3 Getting to Know You
To the docks / Saturday, January 28th, 2012 / 11 am / on the freeway
Sarah and Chuck were driving to the Los Angeles pier on the first leg of their vacation.
"Chuck, I made a mistake when I said the Bahamas. That was my original plan, but we could not get to Miami in time to make the departure. So we're heading to the pier here in town, for a 4pm departure to Puerto Vallarta & Cabo San Lucas." Sarah was so excited she remembered about the Charlesssss, that she got the vacation destination wrong earlier in the morning.
"The place is irrelevant Sarah, all that matters is the girl. Casey once told me that. Can you imagine, hard nosed Casey coming up with such touching words of wisdom?" Chuck fondly recalled how nice Casey could be.
Sarah shook her head, "No I can't imagine that, the John Casey I know would not say that."
Then she shifted the subject to something that was bothering her. "Chuck, for the life of me, I can't remember, why did I buy this car? I miss my Porsche?" Sarah had been wanting to ask Chuck about the Lotus for the last few weeks, ever since she realized he was not the enemy, long before they got back together as husband and wife.
"I don't know, Morgan, Ellie and I were a little surprised by the choice. Maybe you bought the Lotus because you thought the Lotus was a little less conspicuous than the Porsche, under the radar of terrorists and such." They both laughed. Chuck loved teasing Sarah about her not so modest taste in cars.
"Who cares, it's only a car I guess. Just, so you know, in my mindset of five years ago, pre-Chuck, my car WAS family. Obviously, things changed for the better since then, I guess the Lotus reflected that." Sarah looked sort of grumpy about this subject.
"True Sarah, you told me that about the 'car being family' connection before too. You also said to me you worked so hard, that you deserved one guilty pleasure, an indulgence so to speak." Chuck knew when to back off teasing. His wife was after all very dangerous, and she knew where he slept.
"I have a feeling, not a memory, that I know exactly what my guilty pleasure changed to once we married. Memory or not, I know I like my new guilty pleasure much more than the old one." Sarah said those words in a very sultry manner.
"You and me both, you and me both, Sarah." Chuck kicked back and relaxed, enjoying the ride.
Sarah too, was quite content to drive and enjoy the day, lousy choice in car or not.
Chuck snapped out of his day dream, and said to Sarah, "I'd better let everyone know that we are going to be gone all week long, and that we are back together. I'm going to make a few calls." Chuck already was texting Morgan as he said those last words. Then he dialed Ellie.
"Ellie, it's Chuck. Wanted you to know, Sarah and I are back together, for real. We decided to go on a cruise to celebrate, we'll be back in Burbank next Saturday. Love you."
"Couldn't get thru?" Sarah asked.
"No, I texted Morgan, and left Ellie a message. I am going to try my mom last, then I am all yours."
"Hello mom."
"Hi Chuck."
"I have some great news for you, Sarah and I are back together."
"That's wonderful, does that mean her memory has returned?"
"Not exactly, Sarah only remembers bits and pieces."
"So, she's going to try to be your wife even though she doesn't know who you are?"
"Mom, the new her fell in love with the old me after being together the past weeks, in spite of not remembering me. Plus, like I said, she does remember little parts of the past, mostly about me actually."
"That's great Chuck, you two lovebirds have a great time. And get some sleep, neither of you sleeps at all, and I can imagine it being ten times worse if you are back together. She had serious brain trauma a month ago, let the poor girl get some sleep."
"Yes mom, I willllll. Love you mom."
"Love you too, both of you. Have fun, the two of you deserve some fun. Good bye." Mary hung up, but began to think about her son's words.
Sarah was listening intently to Chuck's side of the conversation. "Sounded like she lectured you about something at the end?" Sarah asked.
"Yea, she told me to let you get some rest, that neither of us sleeps enough." Chuck answered with a sly smile.
"Ain't going to happen Mr Bartowski, not on this trip. We still have some catching up to do." Sarah had a big smile on her face, as she and Chuck sped down the road.
Back in Burbank, Mary was holding her phone against her cheek, deep in thought, "I wonder?" She said out loud to herself. "I wonder if HE can help?" Mary looked like she had a major decision to make, and wasn't quite sure how to proceed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The Send Off / Saturday, January 28th, 2012 / 4 pm / deck of the cruise ship
Chuck and Sarah were locked arm and arm looking over the deck of the ship, smiling and waving to everyone on the dock below with their free hands.
"This was a great idea Sarah." Chuck looked down at his wife's laughing face as she waved to nobody in particular and yet everyone in sight.
"Chuck, I'm so happy. If you could only imagine." Sarah squeezed her grip around Chuck's waist so tightly, he thought he might have to flash to breathe.
The horn blasted 3 long blasts, signaling the ship was ready to depart.
"Until you have experienced this cruise ship departure moment, you can't quite know what it is like, it's thrilling, even for geek who is married to the most beautiful woman in the world." Chuck observed to his wife.
"Why thank you Mr Bartowski, this is also thrilling for an an ex-assassin married to the bravest, smartest, nicest, most considerate, most handsome man in the world too." Sarah quickly added.
"I'm blushing Mrs Bartowski, but keep it up" Chuck felt he didn't deserve compliments, but he enjoyed them none the less.
"Chuck, I am not recalling any cruise ship experiences, did we ever go on a cruise?" Sarah asked as the ship was pulling away from the dock.
"No we didn't Sarah, this is a virgin voyage for both of us." Chuck smiled at his clever choice of words as well as the residual smile from all of Sarah's compliments.
"I'm glad. A new experience for both of us. You don't have me at a disadvantage here, we are on equal footing. I love this. Thank you for indulging me." Sarah stepped up on her toes and kissed her husband on the cheek, a simple kiss, yet the kind of kiss that could last a lifetime.
"Baby, anything for you. And I should be thanking you, it was all your idea." Chuck was pretty much in awe of everything going on around him. Somehow he knew the fun was only starting.
"How about we go check out our room Mr Bartowski. I noticed that we have twenty four hour room service, and I think I found us a nice room, maybe we'll never even leave the room." Sarah was excited about how this adventure had come together, especially the part where she remembered some things from the past to spur her into planning the cruise in the first place.
"Sarah, speaking of our room, I noticed the man collecting boarding passes was shocked when he saw what room we were in, you didn't do anything illegal or threaten anybody to get this room, did you?" Chuck sounded a little whiny even to himself, yet he did have a point, given what his wife was capable of in the past.
"I did no such thing Charles Irving Bartowski." Sarah scolded back.
"Oh boy", Chuck blurted out as he thought, "Now what did I do?" he murmured under his breathe.
Sarah continued. "The travel agent said the cruise was all booked. So I used a few old contacts of mine to dig up the phone number of someone who knew someone who they thought could help us. I was put in touch with this wonderful, friendly man on the phone. His name was Fred. He told me his boss had a room permanently saved, but was not using it on this trip. I guess his boss is a big wig in the cruise line. Then I talked to Fred a while and he gave me the room." Sarah's eyes were wide open looking right at Chuck as she telling the story. She was looking for confirmation from Chuck that her actions were appropriate.
"What exactly did you tell this Fred fellow?" Chuck was not sold yet.
"The truth. I told him I had amnesia for the past thirty days. I couldn't remember my husband or anything from the past five years. Then, yesterday morning, I realized from the moment I saw my husband that I loved him and I told him so, even though I couldn't exactly remember him from the past, I realized I loved him in the present. And finally, that I wanted to surprise my husband with a cruise to celebrate, since I seemed to recall a train ride the first time we got together." Sarah's eyes got even wider as she looked at Chuck and continued, "Did I do OK?"
Chuck got that genuine look going again, one of the many Chuck looks that Sarah could not resist. "You did more than OK baby, you did 'Awesome'. I love you. Let's go find that room." Chuck grabbed Sarah around the waist, half picking her up in the air sending her flying forward. They both turned to steal a kiss on the other's cheek, causing them to clash into one another's lips, causing each to giggle with delight. Then, they picked up the pace and headed for their quarters.
As they arrived at the room, they both noticed several staff members staring at them as they opened the door, kind of whispering to each other. They opened the door, and were flabbergasted at what they saw. Their two story entrance had a sky light. As they walked forward to the main room, a wet bar was tucked underneath the stairs to the right, which lead to the master bedroom on the second floor. To the left was a sitting area, with a fireplace to the far side, and large windows overlooking the ocean easily seen from the couches. Straight ahead, was a large dining room table, past which were doors which led to an outdoor balcony, that overlooked the ocean.
"Sarah, seriously, is this our room?" Chuck's jaw had dropped so low he could hardly enunciate his words.
Sarah was already up the stairs, way ahead of him, as usual, "Chuck, get up here, check out this view."
Chuck nearly flashed as he ran up the stairs, he was in such a hurry. As he got to the top of the stairs, he found the view Sarah had asked him to check out, and it had nothing to do with architecture or ocean views or windows.
"Wow", was all Chuck could manage, as he quickly got out of his clothes and joined his wife on the bed, giving her a nice view to take in as well. Neither Chuck nor Sarah noticed the sixteen foot wide, wall sized window overlooking the ocean until morning. Our happy couple was indeed honeymooning!
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Morning after 2 / 6am / Sunday January 29th, 2012 / 2nd floor loft aboard cruise ship
Just like their first night together, Sarah woke up first this morning. Although, this time she slept at least a little bit during the night. Sarah was awestruck by the view from their bed overlooking the ocean, their window was facing east, the sun was rising over the ocean's horizon, letting the first glimmer of sunlight into their room.
Sometime during the night, Sarah remembered Chuck placing an order for breakfast room service. Sarah was sure she could smell freshly brewed coffee. She followed her nose to find that the breakfast cart was set up downstairs next to the dining room table. Judging by the hotness of the coffee, the cart could have not been there for more than a few minutes. Sarah thought she must have slept better than she first realized, as she must have slept through the steward's entrance and exit into the suite's dining room.
Sarah prepared a tray for Chuck and her, and was excited by the prospect of serving her husband breakfast in bed. She wondered if Chuck knew how much she relished pampering him, then again, she wondered if she always relished pampering him? Who cares she thought? I love pampering him today, that is all that matters. She walked up the stairs into the posh bedroom, the ever increasing amount of light entering the room had already woken Chuck up, as he rolled on his side to great her.
"Good morning gorgeous", Chuck said with the enthusiasm of a man who had won the lottery the previous evening. "What did I do to deserve this?"
"Let me count the ways" Sarah replied as she smacked Chuck on the lips, after setting the tray down beside Chuck. "Eight is my count. Eight? Is that even medically possible in one night, Mr Bartowski?" Sarah whimsically asked as she burrowed herself into his chest nearly toppling the tray over.
"I think it is, Mrs Bartowski" Chuck replied as he seemed very satisfied with himself. He started sipping coffee and working on his breakfast while his wife was busy cuddling. In between bites, he finished explaining his understanding of medical possibility, "The day is only half over Mrs Bartowski, so don't sell me short."
"That is one thing you will never have to worry about Sweetie, me selling you short." Sarah then stopped and sat up on the bed. She thought to herself, Sweetie, who says sweetie to their husband? I've been using that word obsessively since I returned to Chuck. I wonder why?
Chuck, ever observant of his wife's facial expressions, noticed Sarah's odd reaction to her own words. "Sarah, do you remember why you call me that?" Chuck teasingly asked as he continued eating his breakfast.
"No, not really. That name Sweetie, it sounds sort of dumb, doesn't it?" Sarah made a look that almost resembled her 'flash face' thinking about the word Sweetie, as she joined her husband and started devouring her breakfast.
"Exactly, it used to be your code for 'last night was perfect'. At first, you would call me 'Sweetie' as an inside joke once we became a real couple to get under Casey's skin. He could never figure out why a veteran spy would use such a word or why you would giggle like a schoolgirl when you said it. It used to drive Casey bonkers, a bona fide three grunter. Later, it became code for us, even when Casey wasn't around."
"A three grunter? I don't get it?" Sarah looked as confused as ever.
"Casey grunts instead of talks." Chuck then did a series of Casey impersonation's, using grunts in place of words. He finished his story with, "...And three grunts are usually reserved for political issues, or things Morgan does, or when you call me Sweetie. Make sense?" Sarah was laughing profusely as she tried to mimic the grunt for yes.
"Yurrrr, was that close to yes", asked Sarah.
"You need a little more practice, you have to get your face looking meaner and nastier, that deepens the grunt, like Yuuurrr" Chuck fired back at her with his most menacing face in play, causing her to jump, as the face was so un-Chucklike.
"That is awesome, I can't wait to see Casey to see if Sweetie works on him again, and see how grunting really works." Sarah's happy mood suddenly switched to serious when the meaning of the words hit her.
A silence all of a sudden overtook the joyful setting. Chuck got serious, "Do you remember much about Casey, Sarah?"
"Not much Chuck. Other than you, I don't remember much about anything, or anyone. But, once I have this week with you, I 'm going to face my past. I want to pick up right where I left off. I'm pretty sure that when I'm around Morgan, or Alex, or Ellie, or Casey on a regular basis, I'll see snapshots of the past with them too. Then, between you, me and even them if they are patient with me, we can all piece my past together. At least, that's my plan."
"Does your plan include coming back to work at CI? Not to put any pressure on you, but we sure miss you around there. You pretty much ran the place before your accident, and now that I have tried to pick up on my dad's intersect design work to help you, I have even less time to do the things you normally do?" Chuck tried to sound convincing, without sounding desperate.
Sarah thought for a minute. She had been applying for jobs already, mostly clerical in nature, without a great deal of success. Except of course for those where the boss was interested in something other than her work skills. "Chuck, my Harvard business professor's favorite saying was 'carpe diem'. I don't think I am going to get offered a CEO job anywhere else, so I accept." Sarah was clearly hitting on all cylinders.
Chuck looked startled, in a pretty good way, "Wa Wa Wait a minute, CEO, that's my job. How about President of CI with full authority and responsibility to make day to day decisions, while your CEO HUSBAND assumes full control of the laboratory, diligently working on the project to restore your memory."
"I think that's the best job offer I'm going to get, although that karate instructor job I applied for seemed pretty cool. OK, I'm kidding. I'll return to Carmichael Industries next Monday, along side my CEO husband," Sarah replied with a snarky smile.
She looked ready to pounce on Chuck. "Now let's get back to exploring the limits of medical possibility. I called in our order for lunch when I was downstairs, it'll be here in five hours. You think we can find something to do for the next five hours Mr Bartowski?"
"Indeed we can. As a matter of fact, I was I'm thinking, how much better nine is that eight, wouldn't you agree Mrs Bartowski."
"Or ten or even …..." the sound of kissing drowned out Sarah's last word's on the subject of medicine.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Lunch / noon / Sunday January 29th, 2012 / C&S's suite
In what seemed like a matter of minutes, Chuck and Sarah heard on knock on the door. "I got it Sweetie." Sarah threw on a robe and sprinted down the stairs, to meet their cabin steward at the door.
"Hello Mrs Bartowski. My name is Micheal, I am your room steward. Have you and your husband been enjoying your stay so far?"
"Thanks Micheal, yes we have." As Sarah was finishing her sentence, Chuck came strolling down the staircase to join his wife in the dining area. "Sweetie" Sarah giggled at the use and meaning of the word she just used in public. "This is Michael, he is our room steward. He brought us lunch, I'm so hungry, I think I could eat for three or four people."
"Great to meet you Michael." Chuck was all smiles, he loved when Sarah called him Sweetie in public. "I already filled out the dinner order for tonight, we are somewhat a private couple, if you haven't noticed."
"That would be excellent sir. I hope this does not upset you, but Mr Coleshaw, your host, was hoping you both would join his wife and him at the captain's table for dinner Tuesday night, cocktail hour at 8, dinner at 9, then a Salsa Band is performing from 10 to midnight, we even have a dance contest planned?" Micheal was very formal in his request, but the couple could tell he really wanted them to say yes.
"Honey, what do you think?" Chuck looked at Sarah as he asked.
"Sounds like a great idea, what is the dress code Michael?" Sarah looked excited, she secretly hoped that she could show off her handsome husband to the world on this trip. And dancing, Sarah could hardly wait, Sarah loved to dance.
"Formal attire, Mr and Mrs Coleshaw love that sort of thing, is that a problem? If so, we have a tailor who can come and fix either of you up?"
"No problem Micheal, we came prepared. And speaking of prepared, here is a little something for you, thanks for all of your help. And maybe, if it is not too much trouble, could we maybe have a little chocolate something and some champagne, oh say around 3 pm, this cruising is rigorous business." Chuck said this to Michael as he walked him toward the door.
"I understand sir, my pleasure. Anything else, you I'm let me know." Michael seemed quite pleased.
You can I'm leave it outside the door, we might be a little preoccupied." Chuck whispered.
"Right sir. Your tray will be outside the door at 3PM sharp. I suspect that would be the best way to proceed from now on?"
"I think so" Chuck nodded up and down as he said those words.
"Very good." And off Micheal went.
"You think he was happy that we accepted the dinner offer from Mr Coleshaw, or at the tip I gave him?" Chuck asked.
"My guess is both." Sarah responded. "He sort of reminds me of someone, he is so on top of things, yet sort of annoyingly persistent." Sarah further added.
Chuck burst out laughing, "Sarah, I never thought of that, Micheal is this cruise ship's Morgan. How cool you thought of that!"
"Well, I didn't exactly think of that, we did together, that is sort of how my memory is going to work I am afraid." Sarah said with a frustrated look on her face as if something was troubling her.
They settled down to devour a much needed lunch, as they had expended a great deal of energy since arriving on the ship.
As they finished lunch, Chuck noticed Sarah was quiet the entire while they ate. At first he thought she was hungry, but it appeared to be more, she looked preoccupied in thought. "Everything OK, Honey." Chuck asked.
Sarah looked at Chuck very seriously. "Chuck, along the lines of tipping. How are we doing for money? I charged this trip on my credit card. Is that my credit card, or ours? And from what I could tell, I have an obscene amount of money in the bank. Is that mine, or yours, or ours? Chuck, do you even know I have twenty seven million dollars in my private accounts, or did I steal it, or do I have some other illegal things going on, arms sales, drugs, who knows? I'm so sorry, but I I'm don't know anything about my life." For the first time since the beach, Sarah started crying.
"Sarah, it's going to be all right. We're in this together. Look how far we've have come in only a few days, everything else will come back in that same way, all in its proper time and place. We'll be fine. You and I are already as good as we ever have been, maybe even better. Everything else will be too. You can trust me. I promise."
"Thanks Chuck, OK, I feel a little better. And you're right, had I not given us a chance, I would've missed the best couple of days of my life. I need to give everything and everyone in my life that same chance that I gave you if I want things to get better," Sarah started to cheer up.
"Those best days are only beginning for you Sarah, for us, and for you with all your friends and family." Chuck gave a small reassuring hug, and was happy to see her mood picking up.
Then Chuck continued, "OK you wanted to know about money, here is the scoop on our money. Right before you lost your memory, you and I liquidated everything we owned from a business point of view, except those assets required to run our technology company. So we got out of the spy business, we sold the Buymore, the jet, the satellite, the yacht Morgan wanted, and the secret CIA base underneath the Buymore. Then we relocated CI to a building close to the home we picked out. Remember, the one I took you to when Quinn tried to kill you."
"Chuck, that had to be the worst day of your life, I tried to kill you too, I was so mean?" Sarah was horrified to recall that day a few short weeks ago, and maybe for the first time really understood the context about what Chuck went through while she was away from him.
"That was a tough day, and a tough period of time. But look at us now, we overcame it. Come on, we will get through all of this, the hardest parts are behind us. We are together."
"OK, but I am so sorry Chuck." the realization of the impact of that day in the house with the little red door was still getting to Sarah.
Chuck then continued, "Your apology accepted. Now, where was I ….OK, almost immediately after that day at our house, I transferred half of what we had in our accounts and investments to your private accounts, so you had a safety net when you went on the run. So, if you looked at your accounts right now, you should have twenty seven million dollars in your name, less anything you've spent since I made the transaction. For me, since then, I have continued the CI business, with the focus on researching intersect technology, which will allow me to fix you memory to a complete recovery. Related to the work on your memory, it dawned on me what I want to do with the rest of my life. While at Stanford, I published a white paper on how to communicate optically from a computer screen to the optic nerve, in order to program the brain to stimulate cancer killing cells into action, essentially replacing chemo therapy as a treatment for cancer. Once we cure you, my plan is to use that work as a sprinigboard to cure cance. Pretty cool, huh?"
With that, Sarah grabbed Chuck's laptop which was sitting close to her, and handed it to Chuck. "Transfer our money back to our accounts Chuck. Now. I want our money back together, where it belongs. Please. Right now." Sarah said those words in a tone that was both most seriously adamant, yet most vulnerably pleading at the same time. "Please. Make things like they were. I don't know what that is exactly, but that is how I want it."
Chuck gently grabbed the laptop, hit a few keystrokes, and began patiently explaining all of their accounts and investments on screen to his wife, consolidating them back the way they were. "There, is that better?" Chuck asked as he finished explaining everything, where the money was, what their personal investments were, a quick summary of the company finances, and everything else related to money or assets they had as a couple.
"Thank you Chuck, for everything. You took care of me from a distance, even when I tried to kill you. Wow, I am the luckiest woman in the world to have you. I'm so glad you waited to explain all this to me until I asked. It's a little hard to digest. But I think I got it. Anything else?"
Sarah seemed in pretty good shape emotionally, all things considered, so Chuck thought he'd lay the last of the money related cards on the table.
"Well, one little thing I didn't mention, it is mostly good news, but something I have to warn you about too. The CIA owes us forty million dollars, plus interest. Since you have not been around to help me, I hired an ex CIA employee to do CI's books, as our Director of Finance, reporting directly to our President. He has gone after the CIA for what they owe us. I think he will get them to pay us back in the next week or two. He is so annoying, I am pretty sure they will write him a check, just so they don't have to see him ever again. So we'll have forty some extra million dollars in our bank account by the middle of next week. He's also looking at taking our stock public, which will bring in some R&D money to help figure out how to cure you, as well as look into curing cancer."
"Chuck, that sounds wonderful, what's the bad news in that story." Sarah looked happy, yet confused.
"The bad news is you don't like the guy I hired. Well, honestly, he doesn't like you is more the case. Well, that is putting it mildly, he actually is deathly afraid of you. You won't remember him, but you punched him in the nose, more or less for no reason, other than he annoyed you while we were training at the CIA headquarters. So, if you could, when you meet him, would you please be nice to him? He really has been a big help around CI, we haven't had a money, rules, and regulations expert around before." Chuck watched for Sarah's reaction as he said the name, "Our new employee's name is Stanley Fitzroy."
Sarah started laughing, "OK then, it's a deal. Stanley Fitzroy is my new best friend." Sarah couldn't contain herself, she started giggling, "Stanley Fitzroy, that is his name? Really? Is the image that name conjures up anything close to reality?"
"Pretty much spot on Sarah." Chuck shook his head, thinking that new Sarah and Stanley were not going to get along any better than the old Sarah and Stanley did, but he did ask "Any mini-memories of Stanley?"
"No Chuck, sorry. Well, maybe in this case, I am glad I didn't remember him. Stanley and I will be fine Chuck."
Then Sarah switched gears, "Come on, I'm bored, let's see if the view from our room got any better since we last were there?" With that, Sarah ran off toward the staircase and she yelled, "Last one in bed has to go get the food at three."
For the next two days, the cruise ship was on the open ocean, heading for the first landing, in Puerto Vallarta on Tuesday morning. During those forty eight hours Chuck and Sarah spent time getting to know each other, interrupted only by visits outside the door by Michael with the food cart. Sarah asked lots of questions in their free time, when Chuck and her were not making love that is. Chuck was able to fill in many of her missing memories. The pupil had become the teacher in this case. She also got to know how charmingly gentle and honest Chuck was. She was surprised by how much she liked the Chuck who was with her every minute of these two days, and by how incredibly devoted he was to her. Those little things that Sarah noticed in the first weeks when they were not a couple, were proven to be the real deal when Sarah saw Chuck up close and in action. Sarah was smitten, with what to her mind's eye was 'her perfect cup of tea'.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Two more chapters remain in the Honeymooners 2 story. The next chapter is titled Meet the Coleshaws. Among things to look for in the next chapter, several conventions for how Chuck and Sarah will behave in public are established and Mary requests a meeting with Beckman, which will reveal some small clues about the big conspiracy.