A/N: Hey guys. Sorry for the super late update (: School's been out, and I've been travelling. I unfortunately didn't get this chapter finished before I left...but it's done now :)
*SPOILERS- FLUFF TOWARDS THE END (: - SPOILERS*
Just to clarify - Chuck isn't dating Samantha. They're just friends. (:
Chuck vs the Baby was an awesome episode. It kinda reminded me of Phase Three...both Sarah-centric episodes. I love looking into Sarah's past...and Yvonne Strahovski is such an awesome actress. They're like my favourite episodes...plus a couple of others...(:
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck...but i wish i did. Then it wouldn't be ending in 3 weeks.
CHAPTER 7
It'd been exactly two months since Sarah had disappeared. Chuck searched everywhere, but Sarah was no where to be found. He was heartbroken and lost.
The one thing that kept him going was Samantha. In these two months, Chuck had started spending more and more time with her. She was the one that kept encouraging him and kept him going with his search. They were similar in many ways - they'd both lost their significant other, and were left to keep going themselves. Life was hard, but they fed off each other. Although she was good to him, all she was to him was a friend - he would never contemplate leaving or 'cheating' on Sarah, the love of his life.
In this time, Samantha became a frequent visitor of the Bartowski household. Everytime she walked through the arches of the courtyard, she felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her. Memories came flooding back. Every subsequent visit did the same to her. She felt sad because it was not her that was with Chuck, but her as 'Samantha'. She felt sad because she was treated as a guest in her own home.
In one of their casual conversations, Samantha let it slip that her birthday was on December 11th. Sarah didn't realize until she got back to her hotel room that night that the date she'd given him was the date of her real birthday - she hoped that Vivian wouldn't find out because it she did, she may add to her list of rules.
It was December 9th. 2 days until Samantha's 'cover' birthday (Sarah's real birthday). Chuck was never one to forget anyone's birthday. He immediately enlisted Ellie to help him plan a surprise birthday party for Samantha.
On the day of the party, Ellie and Chuck worked on decorating Chuck's living room. Throughout the day, Ellie began connecting the dots - she found it weird how similar Samantha and Sarah were. After a while, it suddenly hit her.
"Chuck. Chuck." She had to repeat his name twice to get his attention.
"Chuck, don't you think Samantha and Sarah are eeirly similar?"
"What, sis?"
"Don't you get it? Chuck. Come on. Sarah's birthday is on December 11th. Samantha's birthday is on December 11th. Sarah used to live in Maison 23. Samantha now lives in Maison 23. You said Sarah was pregnant. Samantha is pregnant."
It took Chuck a while to process this information. "Oh my gosh. Ellie. You're right. So all this time I've been searching for Sarah, she's been right beside me. No wonder Samantha seems so familiar. She's Sarah." He paused. "But why doesn't she just tell me. Why does she have to pretend she's someone else?"
"Chuck, she probably has her reasons."
"But I don't get it."
"Chuck, be patient. Observe her tonight. Let her come to you."
Two hours later, everything was ready. Chuck had told Samantha that this was going to be the normal Friday night dinner. Samantha didn't think Chuck would have remembered her birthday. Little did Samantha/Sarah know, Chuck had everything planned out.
As Chuck finished up the food as per instructed by Elie, there was a knock on the door. He left what he was doing and swiftly made his way towards the door. He looked throught the peephole: it was Samantha.
After making sure everything and everyone was in place, he swung the door open.
"Hi, Chuck."
"Hi."
There was a pause. No one moved.
"Can I...?" Samantha asked.
"Ohh...yes...I'm sorry...come in..."
"SURPRISE!" Everyone shouted. "Happy Birthday, Samantha!"
After dinner, everyone crowded around the TV to watch a movie - it was a birthday tradition. Ellie and Devon shared a loveseat with Clara on their laps. Mary sat with Stephen, Morgan with Alex and Casey with Kathleen. Chuck and Sarah (Samantha) sat separately, one at each end of the red couch. They were the only couple not sitting in close proxemity of each other. Sarah knew that if she got too close to Chuck, she would not be able to keep up her disguise.
Throughout the movie, Sarah snuck a few looks at Chuck. He looked sad, deflated and worried. Sarah's heart ached. She ached for him, and she ached because she knew he was hurt and that he still blamed himself for her kidnap. She averted her glance, but she felt her eyes beginning to well up - she could not hold it in any longer.
"Excuse me." Sarah ran to the bathroom. She closed the bathroom door behind her, leaned against it, and let the tears fall. She did not care about her contacts falling out or her wig falling off. She felt something inside of her move. It felt like a flutter - like butterflies. She placed her hand on her stomach, and lo and behold, she felt something moving again. It was the baby.
"Hey baby." She whispered in a quiet voice through her sobs. "Hey."
Sarah had been in the bathroom for more than 15 minutes. Chuck began to sense something was wrong, and decided to check up on her. He got up off the couch, walked towards the bathroom and gently knocked on the door.
"Hey. You ok in there?" He asked.
There was no reply.
"Samantha?"
He waited, then heard a muffled reply. "Yes?"
"You ok in there?"
"I'm fine."
"Sure?"
"Yeah. You can go back to the movie. I'm fine here."
Being the caring guy he was, he didn't go back to the movie. Rather, he decided to wait in the hallway for her to come out. He leaned against the wall beside the bathroom door as he begun processing everything Ellie had told him earlier.
After about a minute or so, the bathroom door opened, and Samantha stepped out. She had a tear stricken face and it was quite obvious that she was wearing a wig as there were wisps of blonde hair sticking out here and there.
Once Chuck saw this, he knew that Ellie's theory was right - Samantha was indeed Sarah. He watched as Sarah made her way into their bedroom. She hadn't seen him. He pressed himself against the wall, and inched towards their bedroom himself.
Sarah picked up a picture of them at the beach on their honeymoon. She took a seat on the edge of their bed and looked at the picture ever so dearly. Chuck watched from a distance. This went on for about 5 minutes.
Just as Chuck was about to make his presence known, Sarah stood up and exited the room through the Morgan door. Chuck followed, but made sure she didn't see him. He knew exactly where she was headed - the beach.
When Chuck got to the beach, he saw a silluhette of a woman standing, staring off into the distance with her boots in one hand and the photo in the other. She drops the boots, then reaches up to remove the wig. She drops the wig as well and begins caressing her stomach with one hand whilst looking at their photo in the other.
"Sarah." Chuck called out.
As he neared, he was fairly certain it was her.
"Sarah." "SARAH."
Chuck sprints towards Sarah and wraps his arms around her from the back as he pulls her in for an embrace. Sarah drops the photo and as more tears began streaming down her face. She felt the baby moving again. Chuck's hands were lightly perched on her slightly swollen stomach - the baby must sensed its father's presence.
"Sarah." He whispers into her ear. "Sarah. I'm sorry. I should have never gotten mad at you. I don't even know why I got mad at you. I was just having a bad day, you know. With the search of my dad and everything.." Tears started coming for him as well. "And when.."
Sarah turns around in Chuck's arms and presses her finger to his lips.
"SHH." She pressed her lips to his. They kissed for the first time in months. It tasted sweet, but also little salty at the same time from all the tears.
Neither wanted to stop, but they eventually had to break for air. Sarah placed her head on Chuck's chest and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"I love you Chuck."
Chuck thought he'd never be able to hear those words from Sarah again. He felt happy, relieved and content. He placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I love you too. And Happy Birthday."
Sarah smiled. He always remembers. "Thank you." She took her head off his chest and looked him in the eye. "You know, I missed you." She took his hand and brought it to her stomach. "We missed you." She let out a small chuckle. "Can you feel it?"
"Yes. Yes. Oh my gosh Sarah. It's amazing." Chuck had a huge smile plastered on his face.
"He or she started moving today. When I was in the toilet at the party. You know, during the movie...I ran to the toilet 'cause I couldn't stand being so far away from you." She laughed. "The movement got really intense when you called for me." She chuckled again; this time, Chuck joined in. He gave her another kiss.
Chuck and Sarah sat in the sand, cherishing each other's presence. He draped his arm around her as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Chuck remembered he hadn't asked her about the whole disguise thing. "Umm...Sarah?"
"Yes?"
"Why the disguise? Couldn't you just have told me it was you?"
Sarah remembered Vivian. "Crap. Chuck, we have to elope."
"But we're married."
"You have to ask me to elope with you."
"What?" Chuck was confused.
"Just ask me. Quick."
"Uhh. Umm. Ok...? Uhh Sarah, will you elope with me..?"
"Ok. Good. Now we have to find Vivian."
Sarah shot up and begun gathering her things. Boots. Picture. Wig.
"Sarah..I'm confused..can you explain? You still haven't told me why."
"No time, Chuck. I'll explain on the way."
"HUH?"
A/N: So what did you guys think? Chuck and Sarah's reconciliation part is my favourite part of this whole story so far (:
Ohh and I think a couple of you guys might be wondering how Vivian is able to track what Sarah is doing...you'll find out in the next chapter.
School's starting this coming Monday...so I don't know when the next chapter is going to come up...hopefully soon...:)
