Disclaimer: Let me tell you a little story about a man named Chuck. His old best friend always tries to help, but just makes his life suck. He is owned by the National Broadcasting Corporation and they used him just to make a buck. I want to don't own his rights and I just write these stories because I wish Chuck and Sarah would …….. I better stop now…

Sarah's interlude:

Sarah walker threw another gummy worm at a cup on the table. It went long and landed on the far side of the cup. She really needed to find a more effective distraction. The three gummy worms in the cup that were surrounded by roughly 100 on the table and floor were a testament to that. She'd never realized how boring this job could be until Chuck had stopped visiting her. It was her own fault. She was trying to be sorry, but the CIA training kept telling her that it was necessary. That her craziness and sexual frustration had only provided the ammunition for what was necessary, she needed to distance herself from Chuck. She didn't want to, but Chuck's protection was the highest priority. He was safer if he wasn't thinking of her as his girlfriend. Pushing away chuck held the exact same appeal as amputating her left arm. She'd live, but she'd never be the same and she knew she'd regret it for the rest of her life.

Sarah was tired of the fight. She loved Chuck. It sucked, but she accepted the truth. Realization hadn't come easily. It was one simple comment Chuck had made after telling her she looked good. "Red's not really my color or salmon or whatever that is," he'd said. It was a stupid flippant throw away comment Chuck had made while under a lot of stress. It was stupid of him to think that she'd every choose Bryce over him, but that didn't change the fact that she hadn't worn a single piece of red clothing since. Not even underwear. Well…technically there was the mission where she dressed like a prostitute, but that didn't count she was trying to look like someone that Chuck would never go for. Chuck would never hire a pro, he was far too sweet. She loved that. Still red was her power color, she looked great in red. But if it wasn't Chuck's color she couldn't bring herself to wear it again.

She missed red, but now she missed wearing red and she desperately missed Chuck. She fiddled with her charm bracelet for a moment before her head slumped forward and thumped against the counter. It stayed there until next customer walked in.

"Welcome to Orange Orange how can I help you?" she asked morosely without looking up.

"You can tell me why you are holding my mistake against my brother."

Sarah looked up to find Ellie Bartowski standing across the counter.

"Ellie, hi," Sarah said as cheerfully as she could muster.

"Hi," Ellie replied "You look miserable."

Sarah frowned. "Well thanks. It's nice to see you too."

Ellie was visibly steeling herself to say something and Sarah wondered what had her so worked up. "I'm sorry. I noticed a few things that were going on with you and apparently jumped to a wrong conclusion. Why are you taking my mistake out on Chuck? He says you won't accept his apology."

Sarah looked up at the ceiling and blinked before looking Ellie in the eye. "Chuck has nothing to apologize for, he was correct. I was being unreasonable."

"Then why haven't the two of you made up?"

"It's complicated."

Ellie shook with frustration. "I am so sick of that."

"I'm sorry?" Sarah asked.

"Every time I ask Chuck about your relationship he says it's complicated. Every time you guys have a fight, it's complicated. Trust me, it's not." Sarah looked quizzically at Ellie. Ellie looked around the shop and the gummy worms littering the table and floor. "But clearly there is time for you to explain it to me, use small words."

"Ellie…" Sarah started. "Chuck and I…we aren't you and Devon."

"I know."

"We don't just fit together the ways you guys do."

"Uh huh," Ellie replied.

"It's hard," Sarah told her. "Chuck has such an easy time opening up and I have a hard time being intimate with people. It makes it hard, because Chuck's always looking for emotional validation and I'm not very good at giving it to him. I need space. Chuck isn't particularly good at giving it to me. We do care about each other, but it's hard." Ellie harrumphed. "What?" Sarah asked.

"I've seen the way you look at each other. More importantly I've seen how you look at each other when the other isn't looking. It's like you both don't want to offer too much encouragement. Chuck is miserable when the two of you are on the outs. And space? By my count Chuck just spent the night in your apartment for the very first time. How much space can he give you? What are you hiding? What is this? Why are you holding back?"

"I'm not!" Sarah replied defensively. "We're taking things slow."

Ellie rolled her eyes. "It's like each of you has one foot in this relationship and the minute one of you puts both feet in the other takes their foot out. Sarah, please, I love you. I like to think of you as my future sister-in-law. I really do, I like you that much. I'm not sure how you feel about me, especially after the whole pregnancy thing, but in whatever capacity you think of me, as a friend as sister, the crazy girl who lives with your boyfriend, whatever… Chuck needs you, that much is obvious. But the other thing is…you need Chuck, that's become way way more obvious over the last year. You need him and you're blowing this. Get both feet in and whatever you have to do to make Chuck keep both feet in, do it. You guys are really great together, but both of you are a mess without each other."

Sarah was starring at the counter, unsure of what to say. "I'll talk to him she finally mumbled."

"Well that's a start at least." Ellie took another step forward and put her hand on Sarah's. "Look, I'm really sorry that I jumped to conclusions. Can you forgive me?"

Sarah schooled her features and looked at Ellie. "Of course." She smiled lightly.

"Good. Listen, Devon's brothers are coming to town next weekend and are taking Chuck out for a few days of fun. I want you to come help me pick out bridesmaid dresses okay? Although I think you'd probably look divine in anything we pick, I think my friend Chloe is going to have a harder time…"

"Chuck hasn't said anything about that." Sarah frowned.

"Well Devon and his brothers only made plans after Christmas and you and Chuck have been on the outs…"

"Still… I'd have though Chuck would say something."

"So do we have a date?" Ellie asked.

"Let me check my schedule and get back to you."

Ellie gave her an odd look. "You don't have a date with someone else do you?"

Sarah laughed. "No nothing like that, I just don't want to say yes and then cancel only at the last second. I seem to do way more of that than I should already."

"Okay…well let me know. I'm gunna talk to Chloe and I'll ask Jen, but she's up in the Bay Area I don't think she'll make it."

"I'll come by and talk to Chuck after my shift," Sarah assured her.

"Good." Ellie nodded. "I really want you and Chuck to come to our New Years Eve party tomorrow. You know…together."

Sarah nodded in reply. "I'll talk to him."

Suddenly much to Sarah's surprise Ellie walked around the counter and hugged her. Sarah momentarily froze before she managed to return the hug. "Sorry to come bug you about this at work. We need to get better at hanging out just the two of us. Ellie indicated the gummy worms on the floor. "But maybe I should just come down here and chat with you on my days off, it looks like you could use the company."

Sarah laughed. "It's an economic downturn you know, people can't afford yogurt."

Ellie glanced up at the menu. "Well have you thought about flavors other than orange or raspberry? Maybe a chocolate?"

"Trust me, I couldn't work here if we sold chocolate frozen yogurt, I'd swell up like a balloon."

"I'm sure," Ellie deadpanned. "I'll see you tonight."

"Bye!"

Sarah watched Ellie walk out of the Orange Orange and wondered if perhaps she wouldn't have been better suited for hostage negotiator rather than becoming a doctor.

***

"Hi," Sarah said tentatively as Ellie opened the door.

"Chuck's not here," Ellie frowned.

"Oh?" Sarah asked.

"He wasn't here when I got back. I haven't seen him. I'm not sure where he is, probably with Morgan."

"Right." Sarah nodded.

"Can I wait for him?"

"Of course, come in and talk to me. I have to go to work in a bit, but I'd love to talk."

"Boy, I thought I hated my work schedule," Sarah joked.

Ellie shrugged. "ER Docs you know, we work all hours."

"Yeah, that has to be hard." Sarah smirked as she thought about the number of hours she worked in a typical week.

"It can be. With Devon getting called in for surgery every time someone has a heart attack, we don't get to spend much time together. You and Chuck are lucky that your schedules are so compatible."

"Yeah," Sarah replied with a thin smile. "Lucky."

Sarah talked with Ellie for a little while before she had to leave for work. Ellie left Sarah to wait for Chuck and the moment the door closed she pulled out her phone and brought up the application that told her where Chuck was. Chuck was in his room. "Chuck?" she called out. Sarah walked over and knocked on his door. There was no answer so she knocked again and opened the door slightly. "Chuck?"

Opening the door she found the room empty. Sarah harrumphed and called Chuck's cell phone. His desk starting playing the THx music. "Damn it!" Sarah barked.

She went over to his desk and found his cell phone and his watch placed in a drawer on top of a picture of the two of them. Sarah pulled the picture out. It was of the two of them at the Santa Monica pier. Chuck had his arm around her shoulders and they were posing for the camera. Chuck had asked a tourist to take the photo. Sarah stared at it, wishing for just a moment that it was of a real date. They'd gone as friends, just to spend the evening hanging out. They both looked happy.

Sarah very much wanted a copy of the picture, but there was no good way to ask. Disturbingly she was wearing red in the picture and Chuck didn't seem to mind then. Chuck can I have a copy of this photo? That would be good for your cover, Agent Walker. Sarah put it back.

She had two choices confront Chuck. That's what a friend would do. She could sit on the couch and watch TV and wait until he came back. Then confront him about disappearing. Casey would find out and put a leash so tight on him that he'd never breathe again or she could put another tracker on him to make sure she knew where he was going. It was probably a girl. Sarah wished to hell that the thought of Chuck sneaking out to see another girl didn't bother her so much, but it damn well did.

Where the hell was Agent Casey? He should have detected her here by herself by now. That meant one of two things. Casey already knew where Chuck was, or he wasn't listening. She snuck out the Morgan door and over to Casey's apartment. She'd worked her way most of the way around the apartment before she found a blind open enough to catch a peak inside. Casey was sitting on his couch in his underwear a video game controller in his hands. He had the most feral look on his face. He was obviously enjoying himself…

Sarah shook her head. She hadn't seen this one coming. Still, more the better for Chuck, she didn't need worry about word of Chuck's little tryst leaking out. That wasn't to say she wasn't pissed at Chuck for not telling her, but since she was quite literally insane, it made sense that he would seek comfort elsewhere. Sarah flipped her phone over to track the GPS units on the Nerd Herders. All three still showed at the Buy More, where she'd seen them when she left for work. It was possible Chuck was just at the Buy More, or even in the Castle. She hadn't checked before she came over. Sarah hopped in her car and sped aggressively over to the Buy More. Her personal best covering the six miles between the apartment and the Buy More was 3:52 seconds. She was just two seconds over that tonight. Sarah roared into the parking lot her tires squealing. Her car screeched to a stop in front of the double doors and hopped out of the car without opening the door.

Sarah unlocked the front door and performed a quick search of the Buy More. She found Lester watching a movie in the home theater room, with Jeff passed out beside him. Chuck was nowhere to be found. Sarah made her way down the Castle only to find it empty as well.

She ran back to her car and headed back to Chuck's. Sarah pulled up around the corner from the apartment where she could see the entrance to the complex, but wasn't obviously watching it. A quick check of the Morgan door revealed that Chuck still wasn't home.

It was past eleven when she saw Chuck's frame walking up the street by himself. Sarah definitely wondered what he'd been up to. He was dressed normally and had his backpack slung over his shoulder. Sarah left her car and took up a position where she could see the lights of the apartment. The lights in Chuck's room went out a few minutes after she arrived and an hour later she snuck into the apartment. It was difficult to see in the dark, but she found what she was looking for, Chuck's Ipod had returned to its dock

Sarah removed it and quickly left. She went' back to the Castle and spent a frustrating two hours taking apart Chuck's Ipod and loading a tiny GPS tracker in it. She couldn't figure out wiring it to the Ipod's battery pack without ruining it, so she was forced to use a small battery, but the battery was so small, that the GPS tracker would be dead after a day. Sarah had to hope that wherever Chuck was going he'd go tomorrow and that meant she was going to have to call in sick. If Chuck disappeared again and didn't take his Ipod…well, she'd just shoot him the next time she saw him.

She snuck the Ipod back into Chuck's room and replaced it on the dock. Then she dragged her tired body back to her apartment and set her alarm to wake her up at seven. It was 3:15 and it was going to be a long day tomorrow.

A/N: Sorry for the delay. Things are not good here and time for writing has been small. Couple that with not finding much motivation to write, it has slowed things down. The good news? I know how this story ends now...