A/N: Okay, so I know these chapters have been coming slower now, but at least they're still coming right? Again I just want to thank all of you who have been sticking with this story and who continue to leave be reviews and encouraging words. They mean a lot. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 21

Sarah laid tangled up in the sheets, watching him intently. He had his back to her as he stared into the mirror at his appearance. He wrapped the thin gray tie around his neck and began his old morning ritual as he prepared for his first day back to the Buy More.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted her staring at him through the mirror.

"Enjoying the show?" he asked with a smirk as he turned around to face her.

"Kind of." She replied with a warm smile as she sat upright, the sheets wrapped securely around her as he advanced towards her. His knee hit the mattress and he moved in towards her greeting her with a soft kiss to the lips.

"Good morning." He finally said offering a proper greeting.

She smiled as she played with the gray tie that hung from his neck. "Good morning." She replied.

"Easy there on the tie, that's part of my uniform, it's regulation you know."

Sarah laughed, "Sorry, I guess I just can't help myself. I've always been a sucker for a man in uniform."

"Oh yeah?" Chuck pulled back and stood up once again. "You like this?" he gestured to his customary black pants and white nerd heard shirt. "Well brace yourself, because this might just send you over the edge." He walked across the room to his dresser and grabbed the final piece of his uniform. He turned to face her again as he tucked the pocket protector into his shirt pocket and proudly showed it off.

Sarah laughed hysterically. "You are such a nerd."

Chuck smiled in response. He moved back in and sat on the edge of the bed. "True, but you knew that before you got involved with me."

Sarah's laughter died down. "What can I say? I guess I have a thing for nerds."

She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. It didn't take Chuck long to respond to her and in a matter of seconds they found themselves in a heated lip lock.

The two were eventually forced apart by the incessant honking of a car horn outside the apartment. Chuck reluctantly pulled away with a sigh.

"Casey?" she asked.

Chuck nodded. "I guess I better go. Don't want to be late for my first day back."

"No, we wouldn't want that." She replied.

"Are you good here? Ellie and Awesome have already left for work."

"Yeah, I'm going to head out soon. Go home and shower."

"You can shower here you know." He offered.

"I could…If I had any clean clothes to change into.

"Oh right." He leaned back in and kissed her again.

Sarah abruptly pulled away. "Did you talk to Ellie about dinner with your dad?" she asked.

"Well I mentioned the dinner, didn't get into the whole dad issue, I didn't want to set her off before work. I'll talk to her at lunch or something."

"Alright, well good luck."

"Thanks, I'm going to need it." He leaned back in to kiss her one last time. He only intended for it to be a quick kiss on the lips, but once again the two found themselves getting caught up in the heat of the moment.

The honking started up again, followed by a "Let's go Bartowski!" grunt from outside his window.

"Aggghh! Dammitt Casey." Chuck jumped from the bed. He grabbed his black messenger bag and flung the strap over his shoulder.

"And good luck with that." She said referring to Casey.

"Thanks." He replied and ran out of the bedroom. Sarah heard the apartment door close, followed by a flustered Chuck as she heard Casey reaming him out for keeping him waiting. Seconds later she heard the screeching tires of a 1985 Crown Victoria peeling out of its parking spot.

Chuck took a deep breath as he stood outside the doors to the Buy More. After everything that had happened the last few months, he honestly didn't expect to ever step foot inside it again, yet here he was.

"Come on Bartowski, we're already running late." Casey grunted as he moved past him entering the store, mumbling something about the government coming up with better covers for them than working at the Buy More.

Chuck exhaled and followed him into the store. Casey stormed off towards the employee's locker room while Chuck made his way up to the Nerd herd desk, where he saw Jeff and Lester lounging about.

"Well well well, the prodigal son returns." Jeff commented.

"Hey guys." Chuck greeted them.

"Bartowski, we knew you'd be back." Lester chimed in. "Honestly, where else would you go?" he said with a laugh.

"Chuck!" he heard his name being called from across the store. He turned to see a green blur rushing towards him. "You're back?" Morgan pulled his best friend in for a hug.

"Morgan." Chuck greeted him.

Morgan placed his arm on Chuck's shoulder and guided him away from the Nerd Herd desk and towards the home theater room. Morgan didn't speak again until they were both inside with the door closed.

"Chuck. I'm so glad you're back. Listen I know you went through a hard time with this whole Sarah thing, but you're back now, and honestly who better to help you get over her than your best buddy. I have lots of plans for us. For starters, tonight we're going hit this new club downtown. Two single studs like us on the prowl. The ladies don't have a chance."

"Morgan." Chuck tried to intervene.

"I'm so glad to have my wingman back. You'll see Chuck. After tonight, you won't even remember Sarah's name.

"Morgan." Chuck spoke his name again.

"Yeah buddy?"

"Morgan, about Sarah and I."

"I get it Chuck; you don't want to talk about her. She burned you. I won't bring her name up again."

"No, Morgan, you're not listening…Look, Sarah and I…well we made up…We're together now."

"You're back together?" Morgan asked.

Chuck nodded.

"So you're not all depressed over her? It's not going to be a repeat of the whole Jill debacle back in the day?

"No." Chuck replied.

"Dude that's awesome." Morgan slapped Chuck a high five and pulled him in for a hug. "So everything is back to normal then?"

Chuck laughed, "Well whatever that is."

"Great, so, what do you say to a night of Call of Duty? We can grab some meatball subs, maybe some sizzling shrimp, whatever you feel like. Make a night of it."

Chuck laughed again. "Definitely Morgan. I'll have to take a rain check though. I have dinner plans with Ellie tonight. I can't cancel this."

Morgan pulled his friend in for a hug. "Alright buddy. I understand. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll get back to you on that."

"Sounds good." Morgan gave his friend one last pat on the back. "It's really great to have you back man."

"It's good to be back Morgan. You have no idea."

Sarah stepped out of the shower and wrapped her towel around her. She made her way towards her bedroom to search her closet. She no sooner made it into her room and her phone began to ring. She looked at the clock. It was nearly noon; Chuck must be on his lunch break she thought. She moved to retrieve her phone. She was a tad disappointed to see that it wasn't Chuck. It was a CIA encrypted line.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Agent Walker?" the voice on the other end questioned.

"Yes." She replied.

"Walker this is Director Johnson."

"Oh…Director….Hi…Is there a problem?" she asked.

"Not a problem really, but something that needs your attention. I need you in D.C tonight."

"Chuck why are you being so weird about this dinner tonight? What aren't you telling me?" Ellie spoke into her phone taking a seat at the table where Devon was already sitting waiting for her in the hospital cafeteria.

Devon looked at his fiancé, wondering what had her in such a tizzy.

"Look Ellie, there is something I haven't told you, it's just…well I don't know how you're going to react to it." Chuck's voice came through on her cell phone.

"Chuck, just tell me." She pleaded.

"Alright… Well we are having a special guest for dinner."

"A special guest?" she questioned. "Who? Why the secrecy Chuck?"

Chuck swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. "It's dad Ellie."

Ellie froze at his words. Several seconds passed and she had yet to respond to his revelation.

"Ellie say something."

Chuck was shocked to hear his sister erupt into a fit of laughter.

"Ellie?" he questioned.

"I'm sorry Chuck. I thought you said our father was having dinner with us."

"Ellie, I did. Dad's going to be to the apartment tonight at 7:00."

"No…Chuck, that is…how?"

"Look I spoke to dad yesterday. He contacted me. He's apparently passing through town and he wants to get together for dinner…Look Ellie, I know we both have a lot of feelings of resentment towards dad for leaving and all, but it can't hurt to hear him out. You can even tell him about your engagement. You always said you dreamed of dad walking you down the aisle one day."

"Chuck….I….I don't even know how to comprehend this right now."

"I know Ellie…This is big. I'm sorry I had to break it to you like this…I just…I wanted you to know before he showed up tonight."

"So…what? Now I'm supposed to go home tonight and cook this wonderful dinner for the man who walked out on us, leaving us to fend for ourselves?"

"No, Ellie...Look you don't even have cook anything. I'm going to order out, you don't have to lift a finger."

"Chuck, I can't believe you're springing this on me like this." She was clearly upset with him.

"I know Ellie, but would you have rather I waited and just let him surprise you by showing up tonight?"

Ellie sighed heavily into the phone. "No."

Chuck looked at his watch. "Look Ellie, my break is just about over; I have to get back to work. I'll see you at home okay."

"Yeah. I'll see you at home." She replied before hanging up the phone.

Ellie set her phone down. She rested her elbows on the table and held her head in her hands.

"Babe, what's the matter?" Devon asked, placing his hand on her arm and scooting his chair closer to her.

"You're never going to believe this." She replied.

The next four hours were probably the longest Chuck had ever spent at the Buy More. Once his shift was over he rushed back to the apartment.

Ellie and Devon weren't due home from work for 2 more hours. It only took Chuck 15 minutes tops to tidy up the place thanks to his sister's neat freak lifestyle that both he and Devon had now become accustomed to.

His father had texted him earlier to confirm the time for tonight and to make sure they were still on. Chuck replied back to him after he had broken the news to Ellie earlier.

Just as Chuck was finishing fluffing the couch cushions there was a knock on the door. He checked his watch and quickly moved to open it. He breathed a huge sigh of relief when he saw Sarah standing there before him.

"Oh. You are a sight for sore eyes." He said.

Sarah took note of his frantic demeanor. "Everything okay Chuck?" she asked stepping inside the apartment.

Chuck leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "Oh don't ask." He replied shutting the door behind her.

"I take it you finally broke the news to Ellie about your dad?"

"Yeah."

"How did it go?" she asked.

"Better than expected, but I have no idea what I'm in store for when Ellie gets home." Chuck looked at his watch again. "Which should be in about 1 hour and 55 minutes."

"Sounds like maybe you could use some air. How about a walk? We could hit up the beach or the pier."

"Sure, that sounds good. Just let me change first."

Sarah nodded and Chuck darted off to his room to change. He emerged minutes later wearing a pair of jeans, a form fitting long sleeve shirt and his converse sneakers.

"All set." He announced making his way into the living room. Sarah responded with a smile.

Chuck reached for her hand and the two made their way out the door.

Chuck and Sarah had opted for the walk on the beach. It was surprisingly quiet for this time of day, but then again it wasn't exactly beach weather.

The two of them walked bare foot in the sand, their fingers intertwined with one another as they took in the surf.

"So this is nice. I'm glad you suggested it." Chuck said breaking the silence between them.

Sarah gave his hand a squeeze and leaned into him.

"How was your first day back?" she asked.

"Long." He replied. "I don't think before today I ever realized just how much I dislike working at the Buy More. The only think that got me through the day was the thought of seeing you afterwards."

"You don't have to work there Chuck. You could do anything you want to."

Chuck stopped in his tracks. He turned to face her taking her free hand into his free hand. "You sound awfully sure of that." He said.

"Because I am Chuck. I wish you believed in yourself as much as everyone else does."

Chuck's gaze fell to the ground as he took in her words.

"What?" she asked giving him a nudge.

"Nothing, it's just…You have a lot of faith in me Sarah, I just hope I can deliver."

"You already have Chuck." She said stepping in closer to him.

She leaned up and pressed her lips softly against his. His arms circled her waist. When she pulled her lips from his, she nuzzled his neck as she leaned in to him pressing her body contently against his.

"Mmm, what was that for?" he questioned.

She looked up and met his eyes with hers. "I didn't think I needed a reason to kiss you anymore?"

Chuck smiled in response. "You don't. Feel free to kiss me anytime you want."

"Anytime?" she asked with a mischievous grin as her gaze shifted to his lips.

"Mmm Hmm." He replied shifting his own focus to her lips. The two of them leaned in slowly until their lips finally came in contact with one another. The kiss was soft and sensual and sent shivers up both their spines.

"I love you Sarah." He rested his forehead against hers. Sarah clasped her arms around his neck and toyed with a few stray curls.

"Sarah, this isn't moving too fast for you is it? I don't want to freak you out or anything. I just…I don't want to mess this up."

Before Chuck could get another word out, Sarah had captured his lips once again. She kissed him slowly and passionately. It didn't take Chuck long to respond to her. His hands moved from her waist up her back, caressing her gently.

"Does that answer your question Chuck?" she asked with a smile.

His hand moved to her cheek and he caressed her silky smooth skin. "Come to dinner tonight?"

Sarah pulled away from him, she turned and the two of them proceeded down the beach.

"Chuck I can't. Besides it's a family thing."

He reached for her hand as he walked alongside her. "Sure you can. Devon will be there too. Ellie won't mind. I could really use your support tonight."

Sarah came to a halt. She turned to face him once again. "No Chuck, I really can't."

He looked at her with confusion.

"That's why I wanted to take a walk. I wanted to tell you." She continued.

"Tell me what?" he asked.

"Director Johnson called me earlier."

"Okay…What did he want?"

"I have to go to D.C."

"What? Why?"

"Apparently there is some paperwork I need to complete before my reinstatement can go into effect. And while I'm there he wants me to take a couple refresher courses in domestic allegiance and proper mission protocol."

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Unfortunately." She replied.

Chuck snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her into him. "When do you have to leave?"

Sarah looked at her watch. "In about an hour and half. There's a private CIA jet waiting at the airport for me even as we speak."

Chuck sighed. The look of disappointment more than evident on his face. "How long will you be gone?"

"I'm not sure yet. Could be a couple days, maybe a week. Johnson said I would be back to help start your training next week."

"A whole week?" he said with a pout.

Sarah smiled. "What's that saying? Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Chuck forced a smile.

"Come on. I still have to go pack." She broke their embrace and reached for his hand.

"At least let me take you to the airport." He said as they continued their walk on the beach as they headed in the direction of Sarah's car.

"Oh no. You have a dinner to get ready for. That is far more important."

"Sarah, nothing is more important to me than you."

After Sarah had dropped Chuck back off at his apartment and the two said their goodbyes, Chuck went inside to finish preparing for the dinner with his father. He had placed an order with one of Ellie's favorite restaurants who he knew delivered. He already had the table all set when Ellie and Devon arrived home from work.

"Wow Chuck, the place looks great." Ellie said looking around the apartment.

"Thanks." He averted her eyes. He knew she was still upset with him for springing all of this on her.

"Is Sarah joining us tonight?" Ellie asked.

Chuck sighed. "No, she actually had to go out of town for a few days."

"Oh. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. She just had some business to take care of out of town. She'll be back by next week."

"Oh…well as long as everything is okay." Ellie didn't want to push it with him when it came to Sarah, given everything the two of them had recently been through."

"So, what's for dinner Chuck?" Devon chimed in changing the subject.

"Oh, I uh…I ordered from Giovanni's. I know how much Ellie enjoys their food." Chuck turned his attention to Ellie and offered her an apologetic smile.

She smiled in return. She knew he was trying his best to make things right between them and the more she thought about it, she really had no reason to be upset with Chuck. She was forgetting who she was really upset with here.

Ellie was just about to say something when she was interrupted by the doorbell.

"Speaking of food." Chuck said. "That must be it."

Ellie grabbed her wallet and moved to the door. "I got it Chuck."

Ellie swung the door open expecting to find the delivering boy instead she came face to face with the man who had abandoned her.

She swallowed hard and her breath caught in her throat. "Dad."

"Hello Ellenore."

Alright so not much going on in this chapter, it was more of a filler, but there were some sweet Charah moments and we are all set up for the reunion between Ellie and her dad. Hope you enjoyed it. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading.