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On the Road Again

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Sarah stood outside the door to Eric Gold's suite debating with herself. Her spy instincts were ringing off the hook. She knew full well that Eric was messing with her here to keep her off balance. That much was pretty obvious, even Chuck quickly figured it out.

He was pretty insistent that this just didn't smell right, pleaded with her to just forget the stupid roses ever happened and go home. And Sarah was pretty tempted. After all, this was only day two of her second-first honeymoon. That's what Chuck had playfully begun to call it anyway. He said that they had about a dozen first dates. They might as well have multiple first honeymoons, right? There was no place that she wanted to be more than home, figuring out a new first time memory type activity… or more accurately, a new first time place for an already familiar activity.

But ultimately, Sarah realized that she would never be able to relax until she knew Eric's news. Oh she was sure that he had something. He wouldn't press this hard and not have anything. That wasn't how this game was played… and he knew it. And unfortunately he knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be able to rest until she knew what it was. It gave him a huge advantage.

There was one other good thing about bringing Chuck along. He had been absolutely right this morning. She hadn't wanted to emphasize it in their discussion for obvious reasons, but Eric was almost assuredly going to try and parlay his information and the advantage it gave him into trying to get her naked. For some bizarre reason it seemed to be an obsession with him.

Maybe it was a holdover from his having struck out so many times after those dates years ago. Maybe it was just that alpha males like Eric weren't used to being turned down. But whatever it was, it was getting downright annoying. In fact a direct offer to trade his information for sex wouldn't be unexpected tonight at all. At least Chuck was going to hear every word of her shutting down that ridiculous, nonsensical, and totally insulting notion as brutally as she possibly could. Hopefully it would be therapeutic for him. And she had years of experience responding to being crudely hit on to teach her what words men simply hated to hear. That might be a little fun. So she took a deep breath, stepped up, and knocked on the door.

Sarah was surprised. When the door opened she was looking at a man who was most definitely not Eric, in fact she had never seen him before. "Hello, Agent Walker," the man said. "Please come in. We've been expecting you."

If Sarah's spy instincts were ringing off the hook a second ago, now she was on full alert. The fact that he knew her name told her that something was up. "I'm looking for Eric Gold," she said while making no move to actually enter the room. "Is he here?"

"I'm afraid that Agent Gold has a previous commitment," he said. "My name is Alan. Eric asked me to deliver a message to you. Won't you come in?"

"No thanks," Sarah said calmly. "Why don't you tell me Eric's message and I'll be on my way?"

"It's really not that kind of message," the man said. "It's something that I have to show you. Please come in for a minute."

Agent Walker had always been pretty fearless. All spies were really. It was how they were trained. And even now that she technically wasn't one any longer, Sarah Bartowski was confident that her training, defensive fighting skills, and the half dozen knives that were always strapped to her thigh on a mission could get her out of almost anything. But she also knew better than to enter that hotel room under these circumstances, with some strange man that she had never seen before, even without Chuck screaming it into her ear. "Again, no thanks," she said dismissively. "Have Eric call me if he wants to talk, maybe without the insulting games next time."

When Sarah turned to leave she heard the unmistakable sound of a handgun being racked. When she turned towards the sound, indeed her new friend was pointing a gun at her.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to have to insist," Alan said with something of a smirk. "Agent Gold really wants me to deliver his message. He left me with some instructions that left very little room for interpretation."

There was one very good thing about the dress that Chuck had picked out for her tonight, well besides the way it made his eyes light up when he saw her in it. The long slit was not only sexy; it made it easy to throw a kick. Alan's gun was quickly clanging on the floor. Alan didn't exactly clang when he hit the floor. It was more like a thud. But he quickly followed his gun courtesy of Sarah's second kick which landed flush on his jaw.

Sarah quickly stepped into the room to retrieve his gun that was still lying on the floor. And that's when all hell broke loose. Sarah wasn't sure how many men were hiding there waiting for her. But it was far many more than she could possibly fight.

It's not that she didn't try. Sarah got a couple of real good punches in. Not only that, once two men had her arms pinned she was able to use them as leverage and deliver an absolutely devastating kick to one poor bastard's groin, for all intents and purposes ending his night, and quite possibly his chances for fatherhood. He was rolling around on the floor in agony. Unfortunately, there were more than enough men left to secure her legs. Sarah quickly found herself standing there fairly helpless.

Alan slowly recovered enough to get to his feet. He was still gingerly rubbing his jaw as he faced her. "Agent Walker," he growled. "You really shouldn't have done that."

Sarah could see the backhanded slap coming from a mile away. And she was able to turn her face a little. That slightly lessoned the force of the impact to her cheek. But it still had her seeing stars for a long moment. She could taste the blood from the inside of her lip.

"It was really stupid," Alan said just before he reached back and threw a right uppercut punch directly into Sarah's gut.

Again, Sarah saw the punch coming. It's just that she couldn't do much of anything about it. Four men were holding her firmly in place. So it landed with full force deep into her stomach. All she could do was to try and tense up her muscles as much as possible. But still, the blow knocked the breath, and for the moment anyway, the fight out of her as she struggled to breathe.

Alan just stood there for a long moment gawking at her while she recovered her bearings. "You really are a beautiful woman," he said as he stroked her face with the back of his hand where the red spot was forming from the earlier slap. "No wonder Agent Gold is so angry with you. He wants me to tell you that he expects an apology. Of course that will begin with you talking your husband into cooperating with us. That's a given." Then he took a step back and overtly checked her out. "Yup," he said, more for his men's entertainment than anything. "You are one fine looking woman. It's a shame that we aren't friends."

The laughter that filled the room plainly said that the men were suitably entertained. Sarah had finally recovered enough to speak. "You sick sonofabitch," she groaned. "If you even act like you're getting ready to touch me, I'm going to splatter your brains all over that wall."

The next slap to her face wasn't quite as hard. It certainly wasn't gentle, but was more designed to get her attention. "Really?" Alan asked with a smug grin. "That would be a pretty good trick. You're not really in a position to be making silly threats. I'm in charge here. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to insist that you address me with the deference due. Let's both admit something. If I wanted to touch your more than marvelous body, in any place that I wanted, you'd have no way to stop me. It almost makes me want to call you on it. Maybe that's something you need to think about for a while, so not this time. But trust me, the next time we meet will be even more unpleasant… for you anyway, maybe not so unpleasant for me. We get what we want, Agent Walker. You of all people should know that. The only practical way out of this is to give it to us."

"Are you done playing with your friends so that we can go to dinner? You promised. I'm really hungry. After all, you made me get all dressed up."

When Sarah looked over, Chuck was standing in the open doorway with his hands on his hips. "Chuck, run!" she called. "I mean it! Right now! There's too many of them."

Chuck made no move to run. In fact he just smiled. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friends?" he asked. "I'm actually too hungry to run."

Alan looked over at him. "So," he said. "Mr. Bartowski, I assume. You did come along. I'm frankly surprised. I expected that you would be hiding under your bed at home. This is actually a good thing. Maybe you need to witness the price your wife is going to pay for her disobedience. Once you see her sobbing in pain pleading with us to stop, maybe you'll start to see things our way." Then he indicated with a nod of his head to the four men who weren't holding Sarah and were still upright. The man that Sarah had kicked in the groin was still unavailable, in fact was in the corner currently giving up his lunch. "Bring him over here," Alan said. "Give him something to wipe that smile off his face."

Chuck stood there calmly as the first man running towards him threw an overhand punch aimed at his jaw. To the Intersect, it looked to be coming in slow motion. Chuck allowed the punch to come tantalizingly close. Then at the very last instant, he dodged the blow. He firmly grabbed the wrist that had just whizzed past his face, twisted the arm, and brought his other forearm down directly into his elbow. The sickening crack as the elbow bent in the wrong direction told everybody what had just happened. The man instantly went down in a howling heap.

The next three men that were still running towards him didn't fare any better. In one fluid motion Chuck turned and delivered a back kick to the second man's chest, knocking him flying across the room. As he followed through, he spun and kicked the third man in the side of his knee. Another sickening crack and another agent was on the floor screaming in agony. He ended the night of the fourth man in a more traditional way. An overhand right directly to the point of his chin and it was good night sweet prince.

The fight had lasted about ten seconds so far. Two men joined their friend that Sarah had previously kicked in the groin and was still writhing in agony on the floor, except they were blissfully unconscious. Two others were perhaps still conscious but totally disabled, also moaning in agony, and headed for reconstructive orthopedic surgery followed by lengthy hospital stays and months of rehab.

The four men that were holding Sarah dropped her like a hot potato to go join the fray. That allowed Sarah, who was still clearly smarting and only at about half speed, to grab Alan and keep him from using the gun he had retrieved from the floor.

Chuck could plainly see Sarah wrestling with him for the gun, so he made short work of the four men running at him. Then he calmly stepped over to where Sarah was wrestling and grabbed the gun they were both trying to control. Once he had it pointed at Alan's head, he had no choice but to give up.

Chuck looked in concern at his wife standing there doubled over trying to catch her breath. "Are you okay?" he asked. Seeing her finally recover enough to nod, he took the gun, racked a round into the firing chamber, and handed it to her. "I guess you deserve this one more than I do," he said angrily. "I believe that I heard something about brains spattering against the wall. I'm not totally sure that this moron has any brains. Maybe it's time to find out."

That got a grin in spite of the pain she was still experiencing. It was simply one of those things. Even in this ridiculously tense circumstance in the middle of a battle with her gut on fire he could always make her laugh. "Well," she said thoughtfully. "He really didn't touch me, not like that anyway."

She turned to Alan. "If you had, I would gladly follow through on my promise. But I have a job for you. Allow me to also give you some instructions that leave little room for interpretation. Since you seem to be the messenger boy, go tell Eric that the next time he wants to tell me something maybe he might want to think about saving the stupid roses that are in the trash anyway, manning up, and coming to tell me himself. And about that apology he is looking for, umm, I don't see that happening either."

"You were surprisingly right about one thing. I guess it's true what they say, even a broken clock is correct twice a day. If we ever meet again, it is going to become much more unpleasant. I would suggest that if there is a next time, you might want to consider bringing a lot more men. This simple guy who works in a Buy More just went through eight of your big bads like a hot knife through butter. He's not breathing hard, his tux isn't wrinkled and he's not even sweating. Trust me, he won't be able to say any of those things later tonight when I'm thanking him."

Chuck wasn't in the mood to be quite so generous. "You hit my wife, you stupid sonofabitch," he growled. "She doesn't take threats from creeps promising to molest her very well. In fact I'm not totally sure why she is letting you live. But I promise you something. The next time we meet, be prepared to be staying in the hospital for a long, long time and in multiple casts for months after that."

Sarah then slammed the butt of the gun into the top of Alan's head, knocking him unconscious. "Have a nice day," she said sarcastically. Then she turned to her husband. She had clearly underestimated the power of the Intersect. "That was the most impressive display I've ever seen," she said. "No wonder we've been as successful as a team. Is the Intersect always that powerful?"

Chuck realized that this was the first time that new Sarah had ever seen it in action. But at this point he was far more interested in the pain in her voice. "It's okay," he said dismissively. "It took some time to learn how to control it." He shook his hand a little. "I'm a little rusty. I think I hurt my hand on that one guy's jaw. I'm so out of spy shape." Then he gently touched the red spot on her face. "You're really hurting," he said. "We need to get you out of here. Please let me carry you."

Sarah couldn't help but smile at his concern and the pleading in his voice. Sure she was hurting, especially her stomach. But it was starting to fade. She had certainly taken much worse punishment scores of times in the past. And there was something that surprisingly, Chuck clearly didn't know. Agent Walker would never allow anyone to carry her unless she was convinced that she was physically incapable of walking. That would be a sign of weakness she would never allow. And this situation wasn't anything close to that. But her sexy husband carrying her on the other hand, that sounded kinda nice. "Okay," she said. "I'm fine. Really. But if you want to carry me, that sounds sweet."

Chuck didn't wait around for her to change her mind. He just scooped her up and started walking. "I'm surprised you're letting me carry you," he said. "Thank you for the gesture. Are you sure that you're okay? That would have been a huge hot button for Agent Walker."

Sarah's smile quickly turned into a grin. Of course he knew her every thought. When would she ever stop underestimating him? So she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled as they stepped into the elevator. "I'm fine," she quickly assured him. "I'm just no longer Agent Walker. My name is Sarah Bartowski. And I think you're going to find there are a lot of things that you thought that you knew about Agent Walker that no longer apply. For one thing, I'm never going to turn down an opportunity to have you carry me. Now if I could only get you to carry me to bed. That would be a fantasy come true."

Chuck ignored her teasing. He took her to the car and opened the passenger door of the Lotus and helped her sit. "Where to?" he asked. "We probably can't go home, right? It's a good thing that we planned ahead and packed bags."

Sarah's head was swimming. Yeah, Chuck was right. They couldn't go home. In fact, they should probably get out of the area altogether as quickly as possible without causing a scene. Who knew what other agents were lurking around? But that wasn't currently at the top of her thinking… at all. "You're driving?" she asked. "Chuck, have you ever driven my car?"

Chuck simply wouldn't be Chuck if he hadn't misinterpreted her intent. "I didn't think you'd be up to driving," he said softly. "I was hoping that you could just sit there and rest for a bit while I drove. I'm sorry. I forgot that you don't remember teaching me how to drive it. If it makes you uncomfortable…"

Sarah's heart simply soared, so much so that the pain went away for a long moment. Okay, so there were things about Agent Walker that had made him feel insecure. Things she felt horrible about. She didn't unpack for a long time. Maybe she didn't tell him that she loved him very often. Yes, she resisted the idea of getting married, wanted to elope, asked him to sign a stupid prenuptial agreement. She still felt guilty about those things.

But she also let him drive her car, not only let him, encouraged him. Anyone who knew Sarah even a little bit would know how huge of a thing that was. It certainly trumped all of those other failures. Now she couldn't wait to see Morgan again and rub his face in it. Sarah allowed him to drive her car. Wow. She buckled her seat belt and placed her hand over his on the stick shift. "Don't be silly," she said as she gave the hand a quick squeeze. "I don't remember, but I'm glad you know how to drive it. It's every bit as much your car as it is mine. You're right. We can't go home."

Chuck started the car and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway. "With this car, we're only a couple of hours away from Vegas," he said with a grin. "As long as we're on the run again, why can't we do it in luxury? We're already dressed up."

Normally Agent Walker's spy instincts would have had her scoffing at the idea of having fun while they were in danger. But as she thought about it, she found that she couldn't come up with a good objection. This situation was clearly moving much faster than they had hoped. They needed to sit down and carefully plan what to do next. And a luxury suite on the Vegas strip was as good a place to do that as any. They could certainly afford it. Actually Vegas was a perfect place to be on the run. They would blend in, everybody was a stranger there. And if they also had some opportunities to make some new second first honeymoon style memories involving a Jacuzzi and the lights of the strip… well, what was wrong with that? "Okay," she said. "That actually sounds nice."

If Chuck was surprised by her agreement he hid it well. "As soon as we're a ways away from the scene of the crime, we'll stop at a drugstore and pick you up an icepack and some aspirin," he said as his grin turned into a look of concern at the clear look of pain on her face.

"Don't worry, Chuck," Sarah said. "He punched like a pussy. I've been hit a lot harder than that. The pain is fading pretty quickly. I can barely feel it. Let's just get to the hotel."

Chuck knew that she was putting on a brave face for him downplaying the pain. He also knew better than to try and call her on it. So he turned his head to give her another quick glance before returning his eyes to the road. "I hope that this doesn't sound inappropriate under the circumstances," he said. "But I just have to tell you something. You are head and shoulders the most beautiful woman in the world. I'm sorry… I probably don't say that to you nearly enough. You're beautiful no matter what you're wearing. But you look like a goddess in that dress. It simply takes my breath away."

Sarah looked over at her husband. He looked very comfortable driving the car. He had clearly done it more than just a few times. In fact he looked every bit the agent driving that hot sports car in that even hotter tuxedo, very James Bond. It was clear. The romance was his attempt to try to take her mind off the pain. That, more than the compliment, made a thrill run through her in spite of the still tense situation. "Thanks," she said in her teasing voice. "That was very sweet. Don't be sorry. This may be the first time I can remember, but I'm pretty sure you say it plenty. I'll never grow tired of hearing it from you. For the record, you're filling out that tux pretty well yourself. You might want to remember this conversation later tonight when this dress is lying on the floor, I've taken your breath away in a more literal sense, and instead of a goddess you're tempted to call me the devil."

Chuck also quickly realized that she saw through him. All he could do was to join her laugh. "You've got it," he said.

Sarah turned a little more serious. "I've underestimated you again," she said softly. "I seem to be doing that a lot. I'm sorry about that. I've seen plenty of fights. I've seen agents who were very good at it. But you were nothing short of miraculous up there. It was like watching a super hero cartoon. I knew that the Intersect gave you capabilities, but Chuck, I never expected anything like that. No wonder they want it so badly."

Chuck paused for a long moment, so long that Sarah wondered if something was wrong with the car. Maybe he didn't know the way. "I don't know how to say this to you," he finally said. "It might come out wrong. But it's something that I have to say. So give me a minute to get this out, okay?"

Sarah looked at his face in the dark, the only lights coming from the road. He looked so troubled. "What is it, Chuck?" she asked. "You know that you can talk to me about anything."

"I know," Chuck said softly. "But it's just… last night, you were totally right. I haven't been being totally honest with you. That's something I just have to fix. Don't get me wrong. It was nice being a team again tonight. And, Sarah, I'm grateful to the Intersect for bringing us together. I am. And I've loved you almost from the moment I first saw you. I absolutely have. I'd feel terrible if I ever made you question that in any way. For a long, long time the idea of you and me was just too much to hope for. You were this amazing beautiful, bad-ass super spy who speaks seven hundred languages and I was a guy who worked in a Buy More with Jeff and Lester. So I stupidly tried to become what I thought you wanted. I tried to become Bryce, to take over for him when he was killed, to be more like what I thought you wanted in a man. And in doing that I almost lost you. It was a horrible mistake that it took a long time for us to get over. We almost didn't. I hurt you. I broke your heart just when you were starting to genuinely trust that I wouldn't hurt you. I feel so terrible about that. Nobody could have blamed you if you had just told me to go to hell and kept walking. I'm honestly glad that you don't remember it. It's a big reason why I'm so messed up."

Chuck took a long moment to gather his composure.

"But you just have to know," he finally continued. "This past week has been head and shoulders the very best of my life. You came through for me yesterday in a fundamental way, in a way that no one ever has before. You're right. I didn't trust you. You made me see it. I was a lousy husband. I didn't give you a chance to fix things because I just didn't tell you about them, because I was afraid that if I put too much pressure on you, you'd crack and leave me. That was more than insulting, it was beyond stupid."

Chuck paused for another moment again to gather his composure. "I actually started a business as a proxy for a marriage," he finally continued. "You just made me realize that. I'm embarrassed about it. This is not an excuse, and I know that this thought frustrates you. Sarah, I'm not trying to start a fight but you have to know something. You're perfect. You're totally out of my league. You just are, in almost every way that one can imagine. I'm more convinced of that than I ever was."

Chuck responded to her skeptical look with a soft smile. "But in my defense I'm also now more convinced than I ever was that in spite of all that you honestly, truly, completely love me," he said. "I don't know how to begin to thank you for that. Telling you that I worship you seems so weak that it's almost insulting. It just doesn't come close to how I feel about you. I'm sorry. I just don't have the words. But I promise, I'll work hard at being a better husband from now on."

Sarah had to pause for a long moment to gather her own composure. It was clearly the most overtly romantic moment of her life. And actually even his admission, as silly as it was, was nothing but good news. His admitting that he also made horrible mistakes was proof that it was now time to leave the past behind and move forward, for both of them.

"Chuck," she said firmly, but so softly that he had to strain to hear her. "You're not a lousy husband. Stop saying that. Stop thinking it. You have been a wonderful husband, nothing short of amazing through all of this, more than anyone could hope for. And sweetie, why do you think you have to tell me anything? Don't you really think that I know how you feel about me?"

After thinking about it for a moment Chuck nodded and smiled.

"I'm hardly perfect," Sarah said. "In fact without you I'm nobody. I'm nothing but a spy. Ten minutes after my luck finally ran out and I was inevitably killed, nobody would even remember that I ever lived. I get frustrated when you say that I'm out of your league because it's simply not true. You're right. I might be able to speak a lot of languages, but I could never say 'I love you' in any of them. You taught me how to say it. So if anything you're out of my league."

"Maybe we'll just have to agree to disagree on that," Chuck said with the beginnings of a grin.

"Maybe," Sarah agreed. "But don't you understand that it's been the best week of my life too? I don't have to try and tell you how I feel the same way, right? Because I wouldn't have the words any more than you do. And you have absolutely nothing to thank me for. Whatever I did was because I wanted to do it, what I still want to do, what you've been doing for me for so, so long."

"I guess," Chuck sighed. "I'm just so ready for all of this drama to be over. So we can start living our real life."

"Not half as much as I am," Sarah sighed. "But we're still going to be a team, just a different kind of team."

"That's funny," Chuck said. "One time early on I was complaining that we weren't really a couple and you told me that we were a couple, just a different kind of couple. I guess that's still true. We're not a normal team… or couple."

"We're not normal in any way," Sarah agreed. "Whenever we're together, we're extraordinary… in both senses. I'm not totally sure why we're sitting here in this dark car blinking away tears. We're the two luckiest people in the world. We're both young, healthy, ridiculously wealthy, fiercely in love, and going to spend the rest of our lives with our soul mate who just as fiercely is in love with us. We have it all. And the very best part is that this fairy tale is just beginning. We're on our way to Vegas to continue our second first honeymoon. I know that this is hard for you, not exactly in your nature. But maybe it's time to stop trying to analyze what we have to death and just learn to enjoy it. I will if you will. Deal?"

Chuck smiled with a simple nod. She had just nailed him again. He overanalyzed things. He always had. She was more than right. In fact, she was the lucky one. She didn't remember the doubts, the times when it looked hopeless. Maybe it was time to stop worrying about the past that she didn't remember anyway and just enjoy this incredible feeling.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asked as she gave his hand a squeeze. "As long as we're sort of on this topic, why didn't Morgan tell me that I had taught you how to drive my car? He would have had to have known how huge of a deal that was for me to let someone touch my car."

Chuck didn't take his eyes off the road. But that broke whatever heaviness there was in the mood of the car. He couldn't hide the huge grin. "He knew," he said. "He still makes fun of me all the time about how giddy I was the day you suggested it. I'm not sure why he didn't tell you. I suspect that you haven't allowed many men to drive your car."

"Many men?" Sarah asked facetiously. "Nobody has ever driven my car. That single fact should have told you everything that you needed to know."

"Not even Bryce?"

Sarah couldn't help the grin that automatically came to her face. He clearly was still a little jealous of Bryce. It was silly… but it was also cute beyond belief. "He asked once," she said with a laugh. "I don't think he appreciated the way that I laughed at him. He didn't speak to me for a long time after that. Normally your being jealous of Bryce would annoy me. Tonight's it's kinda cute."

Chuck stole a quick glance at her beaming. It would be pointless to try to deny that he was a little jealous, so he changed the subject. "You're in an incredibly good mood given the circumstance," he said. "This car thing is a really big deal to you, isn't it?"

"It really is," Sarah sighed. "The truth is that I was starting to not like old Sarah very much. She didn't treat you very well, didn't give you enough. She was a simply lousy wife. She didn't make enough effort to make sure that you knew how crazy about you she was, to make sure you were happy. She allowed her personal baggage to mess you up. She watched you hurt and didn't do enough about it."

"You're speaking of the woman that I worship," Chuck weakly protested. "Most all you've heard about so far are the bad things. And I just told you that I've made more mistakes than you ever did. So when you're making your rather harsh judgments and calling her lousy, please give her the same benefit of the doubt that I do. She is an amazing creature. So you just can't feel guilty about those things. You did your best under some not so good circumstances. Since we've been together you've always worked triple time to make me feel that you loved me. Whatever issues and insecurities that I may have had back then were far more my doing than yours. Besides, for the past week you've been absolutely perfect, more than I ever dared hope for. I'm afraid that I'm going to wake up and this past week will all have been a really, really good dream."

"That's sweet of you to say," Sarah said. "But the honest truth is that I should have done better. Maybe we both should have. I do feel guilty, just like you do. I'm not going to say that I'm sorry, just like I don't ever want to hear that again from you. I'm just going to be as 'all in' on us as you are. I'm going to work a lot, lot harder at being the wife you need, the one that old Sarah wasn't, the one I want to be. But old Sarah does have one thing going for her. She let you drive her car."

"That has to count for something."

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A/N: Okay guys, here's the deal. We're both burnt out. It's funny (well, more peculiar than funny) but a single mean-spirited, pointless review mixed in with the dozens of glowing ones takes all the joy out of this. That's sad but true. So while we're not abandoning the story, we're no longer going to keep posting on a regular schedule. We currently have no plans to post the next chapter. It's not going to happen anytime soon. If we find that it is unlikely to ever happen, we may post an epilogue type chapter that sums up what happened.

We did what we set out to accomplish. We got Chuck and Sarah off that beach and back together, indeed, stronger than they ever were.

We've now told the Chuck and Sarah love story in every possible way we can think of. It's time to move on. Since this marks the end of our Chuck fanfic careers, we'd like to say a big 'Thank You' to all of you who supported us, both individually and as a team. We appreciate it.

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