Epilogue 2

Disclaimer: Thank God I don't own Chuck and am in no way to blame for the crap they're putting out now.

A/N: Okay here is the much requested epilogue 2. You'd given up hope hadn't you? This is really really the end of this timeline. Probably.

Chuck hated the Valentine's decorations around the Buy More. The worst part was that as the de facto assistant manager it had fallen to him to organize the decorating team and direct them. Chuck watched a short, perky redhead skip her way to the Nerd Herd desk.

"Welcome to Buy More," Chuck said flatly. "How can we make you love us today?"

"Oh, that's cute!" The peppy girl gushed. She pulled a camera out of her bag. "This won't take pictures."

"Did it take pictures before?" Chuck asked.

"Of course, it just stopped working. The screen's all fuzzy and all the pictures come out as big blurs."

"Ah, your image stabilizer in on the fritz." Chuck nodded. He pulled out a long pink form. "Fill this out, the camera has to be returned to the manufacturer, it should be back in six to eight weeks."

"Oh, no, I need this for tonight! My boyfriend is taking me out to San Morino's."

"How perfectly fabulous for you, but the manufacturer requires that the part be replaced in house," Chuck droned.

"Weeelll, do you have a loaner camera?"

"We will call you when your camera returns."

"Oh, this is terrible, it's Valentines day!"

"Yes, Ma'am,"

"Chuck!" Chuck jumped. His head whipped towards the source of the outburst to find a very angry Sarah Walker glaring at him.

"Hi, Sarah." Chuck's stomach clenched as he saw Sarah's arm still tucked in it's sling. He couldn't believe it would be five more weeks until her arm was healed. At least Beckman had taken his threats seriously. Sarah was still here. It probably helped that he'd had a significant flash every day since the incident with the East Hills Strangler. Sarah was amazingly proficient with one arm. That fact made Chuck a little nervous as her glared burned into him.

"I can't believe you, I've never seen you so ambivalent towards a customer, especially someone in need."

"There's nothing I can do." Chuck shrugged. "The manufacturer requires depot repair."

"Oh, I don't believe that for a second."

"The image stabilizer is shot, what do you want me to do?" Chuck asked.

Sarah frowned at him. Even after her little speech about needing to concentrate on the mission and it being the wrong time and her claims about not being able to concentrate properly when she was trying to be his girlfriend, the frown killed him.

"What?" Chuck finally asked weakly.

"My Chuck is a hero, who always saves the day," Sarah replied emphatically.

"Your Chuck?" he demanded. She'd pretty much told him that he couldn't be her Chuck. Not until the intersect mission was over. She'd been really nice about it. She had said all the right things to take the sting out of it. It still amounted to the same thing. He and Sarah were alone…together. Only now they lived together and the crushing weight of having her so close was killing him.

"My Chuck," Sarah nodded.

"Is this your boyfriend?" the perky woman asked.

Sarah turned to the woman and nodded enthusiastically. "He is and he's a miracle worker, you'll see."

"Well, I suppose…" Chuck scratched his head. He wasn't actually the assistant manager and suggesting something like this could get him in trouble. Except Big Mike would never say anything and Emmett, well, nobody would quite tell him what happened to Emmett.

"He's got an idea." Sarah whispered conspiratorially to the woman.

"Well I guess we could sell you one of the camera's from the return desk, you could do a return after your date. If you take a preopened one, I'll wave the restocking fee."

"You'd do that?" the woman asked excitedly.

"Well it is Valentine's day." Chuck shrugged.

"Oh, thank you!" The woman threw herself at the Nerd Herd desk and launched herself up so she could give Chuck a hug around the neck.

Chuck was taken slightly aback and looked helplessly at Sarah who had a smirk on her face.

"Didn't I tell you, he was a hero?" Sarah asked the woman, who'd finally released Chuck's head.

"I guess he is."

Sarah gave a proud smile and a nod of her head. She kept talking to the woman while Chuck went over to the hole to explain the situation to the greenshirt on duty at the returns desk.

When he returned after getting the woman checked out Sarah was leaning against the Nerd Herd desk and smirking.

"What are you smirking about?" Chuck asked.

"You rescued her." Sarah beamed.

Chuck rolled his eyes. "Please…"

Sarah shrugged, although because of her sling the effect was muted. "You can't change what you are Chuck. You are a hero. Just as much as any hero on that TV show you make me watch every Monday."

"Right, fictional." Chuck nodded.

Rage flashed in Sarah's eyes and she cocked her one good arm and before Chuck could move she unleashed a vicious punch to the front of Chuck's shoulder. He staggered back one step and then landed hard on his butt. "Owe!" Chuck cried. "What was that for?"

The entire store had turned and was watching them. Casey took a step towards them, but Sarah waved him off. She bent down and helped Chuck to sit up so that she could whisper in his ear. "Don't you dare mock my feelings for you," she whispered angrily. "And I don't ever want to hear you talk about yourself like that. Don't think I won't knock you on your butt again."

Chuck looked at her like she was from Mars. Which was entirely odd, aren't women supposed to be from Venus? He rubbed the sore spot on his shoulder, but ultimately it was his tailbone that had taken the most vicious blow. He wasn't going to be sitting comfortably again anytime soon. "What do you want from me?"

"It's Valentine's Day," Sarah explained. Her expression calmed a little, but she didn't appear happy.

"Well that's true," Chuck conceded. "But that's only because it's February 14th."

"Yes, well as my boyfriend I expect you to take me on a proper date."

"Come on, Sarah," Chuck whispered. "It's just a cover."

For just a moment Chuck was sure Sarah was going to hit him again. She simply grabbed his wrist turned and started pulling him towards the exit. "Sarah, I've got work."

"Your shift ended thirty minutes ago," She growled over her shoulder.

"I still have work!" Chuck objected.

"Not today," Sarah stated definitively.

"Don't kill him toots, we're still going to need him tomorrow," Lester crowed as they passed he and Jeff on the way out of the store.

"You are my king," Jeff bowed deeply to him.

Sarah glared at them and pulled Chuck out into the California sunshine. "Sarah, I haven't punched out yet."

"Morgan will take care of it," Sarah assured him. She dragged him to her temporary car, an ugly old dodge intrepid and stuffed him inside. She'd been forced to give up her Porsche for a car she could drive with one hand. It still didn't seem right and Chuck was looking forward to seeing her behind the wheel of her sports car again soon.

He knew where they were going the minute they left the parking lot and the small sliver of hope that this was a romantic rendezvous dissipated. They were headed to a spot in Brand Park that Chuck had not so flatteringly named the training grounds. Chuck and Sarah had spent most of their time alone outside the house in that exact spot for the last couple of weeks.

Chuck sat back and closed his eyes as she made the drive up the dirt road to their "spot."

Sarah slapped the sleeve of throwing knives on the stump. "Let's see it."

"Come on, Sarah," Chuck whined. "I think we've established that throwing knives isn't in my skill set."

"I learned this when I was seven," Sarah huffed. "If I could do it then, you can do it now."

"I think you're forgetting how much more athletic and skilled you are than I am."

"No excuses," Sarah put a hand on her hip. "We've been over your form, you can do this if you really want to."

Chuck sighed and picked up the throwing knife. "Back straight, wrist above the elbow, don't forget your follow through."

Sarah continued to make small adjustments to Chuck's form as he threw knife after knife. When he'd depleted the supply for the second time they stopped to collect the knives and setup for a third round. Chuck had hit the branch target several times, but only four of the knives had gotten any kind of penetration. Sarah wanted all ten knives buried at least one inch in the target. Chuck only had two that qualified.

They hunted around on the ground until they found the tenth knife and then Sarah lined them up so Chuck could start again.

"Why do we keep doing this?" Chuck asked.

"You know why."

"You say I have to learn to defend myself. I thought that's what you and Casey were for."

Sarah scowled at him. "I thought you wanted to be together? We can't be together like we want to until you can defend yourself."

"Sarah, come on, no amount of throwing knives is going to make me equipped to fight the kind of people we run up against."

"Chuck, you can't learn any skill worth having in a day. One day at a time, one skill at a time. I'll teach you."

"You don't think this is a waste of both our time?" Chuck asked.

"I wouldn't be here if I did. I want what you want, but I can't until I know that if I let my guard down that you can defend yourself."

"Isn't Agent Casey supposed to be there when you let your guard down?"

Sarah shook her head. "That's not workable. You learn, I teach you and someday," Sarah shrugged. "Someday."

"And what if I'm not willing to wait?"

Chuck wished Sarah would make eye contact, but her eyes were fixed away from him. Currently, she was studying the rusty bumper of the FBI motor pool car. She didn't say anything for more than a minute, when she finally did speak her voice was measured. "That would make me very sad. Please don't say that."

Chuck sighed. "It's Valentine's day and I'm here with you throwing knives at a dead tree. Obviously, I still want more, Sarah. Do you know how hard it is to sleep next to you not knowing if we'll ever really get a chance?"

"Yes," Sarah nodded emphatically. "I know exactly what that's like. That's why I want you to master this."

"So, I learn this and then we can be together?"

"Chuck…"

"What? That's what you said."

"I said you have to be able to defend yourself. This is step one, mastering throwing a knife doesn't mean you know how to defend yourself."

"Well help me out here, Sarah. We could be doing this for years. Where's the light at the end of the tunnel?"

"Okay…" Sarah thought for a moment. "You go ten for ten, I'll give you one kiss."

"Ten for ten?" Chuck gaped. "I've never gotten more than five!"

"Ten for ten," Sarah squared her shoulders and quirked an eyebrow in challenge.

"Boy, you really hate getting kissed." Chuck muttered.

Try as he might he couldn't get all ten. They worked until the sun dipped over the horizon and it was getting too difficult to find the knives that missed. Sarah called the evening to an end.

"Come on!" Chuck cried. "I got eight…that's got to be good enough for a peck on the lips!"

Sarah shook her head. "Ten for ten, I'm not kissing you until you can do ten for ten."

"Not even a cover kiss?" Chuck asked.

Sarah smirked. "Nice try, if our lives are in immediate danger, I'll kiss you if it doesn't make things worse. Until then… ten for ten."

"May I remind you that it's Valentine's day?" Chuck asked.

"You may," Sarah nodded. "Where are you taking me for dinner?"

"You mean we're really going out?" Chuck sputtered.

"It is Valentine' day. I hope you're planning on wearing something more dashing than that."

"Hey, come on you're wearing capri's and a hoodie."

"But I look cute."

Chuck shook his head as it sat himself down in the old car. "That doesn't count, you'd look cute in an old burlap sack."

Sarah grinned at him as she started the car. It was the first real grin she'd given him since she told him she had to break it off. Things weren't great between them, but they were at least getting back to normal.

"Hey, I know, let's take a drive through a bad neighborhood. If I can flash on somebody then we could kiss!"

"No, Chuck, no bad guys… it's Valentine's day!"

"Spoilsport."

A/N: Reviews make me enjoy writing. Just…you know…keep that in mind.