Chuck VS The Cliffhanger P4
NOTES: Thanks as always for the kind words, glad people are enjoying this. And for those who have asked, yes I intend to continue on to Season 5 through VS The Bullet Train. I am not going to tackle VS Sarah and this whole journey started in Your Lips on Mine as post –ep VS The Good-Bye. So while it is the home stretch it is not quite done yet.
***555***
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Chuck asked as he laced his hiking boots that Sarah had somehow packed without his knowledge.
"Yes," Sarah nodded as she rearranged things in her backpack.
"I'm not very outdoorsy," Chuck pointed out.
"We're going for a walk, Chuck, not discovering a new continent. We'll be back here in time for our spa appointment and dinner reservation."
"A walk near a volcano. What if it erupts? What if someone throws us in as a sacrifice?"
"They only do that to virgins and trust me Chuck, you have nothing to worry about," she arched an eyebrow at him and enjoyed the blush that colored his cheeks quickly.
"We could stay in and insure that I am never at risk for being mistaken for a virgin," he waggled his eyebrows at her.
"Remember when Roan questioned your virility?" Sarah giggled.
"Yes," Chuck frowned.
"Remember how spectacularly you kissed me to prove him wrong?"
"Yes," the frown flipped back to a smile.
"I want you to kiss me like that again…." Sarah held out a hand to staunch his approach … "at the top of the volcano."
"Let's go," Chuck grinned and ushered her out of the suite before he changed his mind.
"Mr. & Mrs. Bartowski, we have everything ready," the concierge greeted them as they approached the elevator.
"Thank you, Mark," Sarah said as she took the bagged lunch he offered and put it in her pack, Chuck took the bottled water in his.
"The van will be waiting for you. The weather forecast is perfect, you should have an amazing hike," Mark grinned.
"Thanks," Sarah smiled and waved as the elevator arrived and she and Chuck headed down to the lobby.
"You should have a great day," the van driver reiterated.
"It really is gorgeous," Chuck mentioned as he noticed the perfect blue sky and the pleasant breeze coming in the van's open windows.
"Your hike in should take about an hour, even at a leisurely pace. When you are about half way down give a shout on the walkie and I will head back to get you. You familiar with trail marking?"
"I know a thing or two," Sarah grinned, underplaying her survival skills.
"You will likely encounter other hikers, it is a pretty popular spot, but there are lots of little secluded spots along the way if you want to have your lunch in private," the driver well aware these two were honeymooning.
Sarah smiled wider as she reached out and squeeze Chuck's thigh, the smile on his own face indicating he was warming to the whole hike idea.
"You look good in a pair of shorts, Bartowksi," Sarah mentioned as she lagged back enough to enjoy her husband's hiking outfit.
"Oh yeah?" he turned to look at her.
"Yep, really good," she reached out and patted him gently on the butt.
"It really is gorgeous here," Chuck smiled as he took in the flora and fauna on the trail and beyond as they started reaching higher elevations.
"There are some good trails around home too, we could become hikers," Sarah suggested.
"You're just trying to get me in shorts more often," he faux-accused.
"Whatever it takes, babe," she sidled up beside him and despite their bulky packs he got an arm around her and pulled her close.
"I love you," he felt like maybe he hadn't said it enough these past days, he certainly felt like he had showed her how much he loved her, but the words had been different.
Sarah stopped, halting both their progress as Chuck kept his arm around her.
"I've never doubted that. Even when we weren't together. Even when we were with other people, and no disrespect to our other relationships, but even when we were with other people I knew you loved me and I loved you. It was how I survived the hard times."
"Me too," he held her hands now, both of them and found her wedding rings with his thumb.
Sarah mimicked his movement, running her own thumb over his wedding band. The screech of a bird broke the moment as Chuck ducked and Sarah laughed.
"It's Larry, he followed us," Sarah pointed out a bird similar to the one from their balcony.
"You named the bird Larry?"
"I did, he seemed like a Larry," Sarah shrugged.
"Do you know who Larry Bird is?"
"Huh?" she asked confused.
"Never mind, let's keep going and remind me to file a restraining order against that bird."
"How's here?" Chuck asked about 30 minutes later when he found a mossy/grassy spot off the main trail with a gorgeous view of the valley and the ocean beyond it.
Sarah did a quick perimeter walk, instead of looking for bad guys though she was looking for critters or dangerous plants.
"Looks good," she surmised.
Chuck produced a blanket from his pack and shook it out while Sarah dug out their lunches.
"What sandwich would you bring to a deserted island?" Chuck asked with a grin as he took a bite of his lunch.
"Hmmm," Sarah pondered as she chewed her own bite, "well definitely nothing mayo based…"
Chuck nodded and listened as Sarah made the rational deductions he expected of her on such a silly question.
"Done?" Sarah asked as Chuck tipped the final crumbs of his chips into his mouth.
"Yes, I was hungry," he surmised.
"Me too, this is the most exercise we have gotten, outside of bed of course, since we got here," Sarah took another sip of water.
"There's some trail mix, but we should save that for the trip back," Chuck mentioned as he looked in the bags.
"Good plan. Now I need to relax for a bit and digest my lunch," Sarah informed as she scooted closer and smiled when he made his way behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her back against his chest.
"Perfect," she sighed.
***555***
"Wow," Chuck breathed the word when they finally made it to the top.
"Yeah," Sarah agreed.
"It is gorgeous, thank you for making me do this," Chuck was bouncing on his toes as he tried to decide which gorgeous view to take in, finally settling on his wife.
"Thank you for asking me to marry you," Sarah meant it as a joke, but Chuck turned to her with such devotion in his eyes her breath caught.
"Smartest thing I've ever done," he said sincerely.
Sarah told him with her eyes how very much those words meant to her, but she also spotted a young female hiker in their midst and pounced on the opportunity.
"Excuse me, would you take our picture?" Sarah asked.
"Sure," the girl smiled and took the phone Sarah had ready.
The girl snapped a couple shots from various angles and Sarah scanned them quickly before thanking her and turning back to her husband.
"I wanted to commemorate the moment," she shrugged.
"In case I never go on another hike?" Chuck asked.
"No. I wanted to commemorate the moment I realized I was going to keep falling more in love with you," she reached up on her toes and kissed him softly.
When she stepped away Chuck caught her hand in his and pulled her to him, cupping her face and kissing her as he had those years before at Roan's request.
***555***
"Oh god yes, Sarah, that feels so good," Chuck moaned, his voice echoing off the tile of the steam room they were in.
Sarah laughed at her husband, his foot in her hands as she massaged it after their hike.
"You are as good as that masseuse," he pointed back towards the door to the spa where they had just had a long and luxurious massage.
"I have very strong hands," Sarah admitted.
"Oh I know," he grinned.
"Today was fun," Sarah sighed as she finished the massage and proceeded to just run her hands up and down his calves, soothingly.
"It's not over yet. Thanks to your magic hands my feet feel like dancing the night away," he grinned at her through the steam.
"Yeah?" she placed his feet back on the bench and slipped out from under him, moving closer to his side.
"Yeah, I can't wait to get my new bride out on the dance floor."
"You never liked to dance much before."
"I never hiked before either, but hey this trip is all about trying new things. I mean you let me…"
"Sshhh," Sarah stopped him before he revealed all their private doings in a public place, albeit a public place with no one in it but them.
"I'm just saying, we are just Chuck and Sarah on this trip, not Ellie's brother or Morgan's BFF or Casey's partner. We aren't the Carmichaels, we are just us all alone doing whatever we want and tonight I want to dance with you," he finished by finding her lips and kissing her soundly.
"That sounds wonderful," she settled against his body to relax.
"Mrs. Bartowski?" a woman popped her head in.
"Yes," Sarah shook herself out of her reverie.
"We're ready for you, whenever you are."
"I'll be right in," Sarah smiled and then kissed Chuck again.
"I'll meet you up in the room. Dinner is at 8:00," he reminded her.
"I'll have my dancing shoes on," she promised as she slipped out of the steam room.
***555***
Sarah returned to the suite in her sweats, but with gorgeous hair and nails to find a glass of wine awaiting her and soft music playing. Chuck was clearly still in the bathroom so she took her wine and moved about the room collecting her clothes and shoes for the evening. She rummaged through her jewelry for her accessories of choice and was all ready when Chuck emerged from the bathroom.
"Wow," she said it with the same awe he had used at the top of the volcano earlier.
"You're back," he smiled at her.
"You are very hot," she assessed as she walked around him in his incredibly well-tailored suit.
"Thanks, remember when the only suit I owned was my dad's," Chuck laughed.
"You looked very cute in it, but this is something else entirely," Sarah continued to sip her wine and check out her husband.
"I'm glad you like it."
"I feel very under dressed," Sarah grinned and collected her garment bag and whatnot and headed for the bathroom.
"More wine?" Chuck followed after her with the bottle.
"Ooohhh, thank you," Sarah held her glass out for a refill.
"Anything else I can help with?" Chuck offered.
"I think I will have more luck getting dressed alone," Sarah surmised.
"Probably," Chuck agreed and left her to her own devices.
When she emerged 20 minutes later Chuck was moving around the room in step with the music playing.
"Practicing your dance moves?" she teased.
"In fact, yes," he said as he turned around and dropped his jaw at the sight of his wife.
"You like it?" Sarah turned around on her very high silver heels, her blue dress the color of the water at the beach the other day moved like water over her skin, stopping just above her knees leaving just enough of her strong legs for him to ogle.
Chuck just nodded, snapping his jaw shut.
"You can thank Ellie, she picked it out."
"My sister picked out that incredibly sexy dress?"
"She did. I don't want to alarm you but she also picked out that black lingerie I wore the other night."
"You went lingerie shopping with my sister?" Chuck's voice was a little high pitched.
"Yes, and I will spare you the description of what she bought," Sarah widened her eyes as she made fun of him.
"Please, I never ever need to know that."
"Well, the last thing I want to do is ruin the mood," she approached him and his eye caught the delicate silver charm bracelet on her wrist.
He took her hand when she got closer and raised her arm so he could kiss her wrist, right on her pulse point.
"This is the kind of gift you give a real girlfriend," Sarah reminded him.
Chuck placed warm wet kisses all along her arm to the bend in her elbow.
"I didn't get you a wedding gift," Chuck realized.
"I beg to differ, that antidote definitely counts as a gift and if you listened to my vows, you are my gift Chuck. So much more than I ever thought I would get in this life," Sarah twined her arms around his neck and kissed him softly, trying to preserve her make-up but still needing to feel his lips on hers.
Sarah's stomach grumbled loudly reminding the pair that dinner was next on their agenda.
"Time to go," Chuck withdrew hesitantly.
"Feed me," Sarah smiled brightly.
Four courses of food and quite a bit of wine later Sarah was lost in her husband's eyes.
"Good?" Chuck asked, his eyes a little shiny from the wine.
"Everything was perfect," Sarah was playing with his wedding band again.
"Enjoy the rest of your evening Mr. & Mrs. Bartowski," their server appeared with the requested bill.
For a quick moment Chuck blanched at the total, but then he remembered the money they had now, he added a generous tip and signed the room charge slip.
"Still feel like dancing?" Sarah asked.
"You know I do," he stood and offered her his hand.
"I'm actually a little bit drunk," Sarah admitted as she leaned a little on Chuck's tall frame.
"We had some wine," Chuck pointed out.
"Sarah Walker does not let her faculties diminish."
"Well, apparently Sarah Bartowski is a lush," Chuck laughed.
"Do you know what this means?"
"You're going to be hung over tomorrow?"
"I trust you. I mean, I know I trust you in theory, but there are certain baser instincts that I inherently suppress without even realizing it. I rarely allow myself to get truly drunk and um, well…"
"What?" Chuck was truly curious.
Sarah leaned in close.
"In bed, I trust you, in bed. I've never had as much fun in bed as I do with you and it is because I trust you," Sarah admitted.
"Yeah?" he smiled widely.
"Oh yeah," she kissed his neck then, felt his pulse race a little.
"We could dance tomorrow night," Chuck skimmed a hand over her back and down to her ass.
"No way, buster, you are not getting out of the dancing," she giggled.
"Dancing requires a lot of trust too," Chuck mentioned as they moved towards the beach club with the thumping music and the multi-colored lights.
"True," Sarah agreed.
"Want a drink?" he asked as they passed the bar.
"No, thanks. I want to actually remember tonight."
Chuck and Sarah found a little spot on the crowded dance floor. Sarah reached out and tugged Chuck closer by his belt buckle. His warm big hands found her hips and they moved to the beat. Sarah's hair flowed behind her as she dipped her head back, her arms over Chuck's shoulders. Each song fed into the next and Chuck and Sarah tuned out everything and everyone around them.
Finally Chuck pulled Sarah closer than before and she could feel just how much he was enjoying their time on the dance floor. She moved against him just enough to let him know she noticed and she saw his eyes flash at her.
"Time to go," she whispered loudly to be heard over the bass.
"Yeah," he agreed, breathless from the dancing or the desire.
They wound their way along the twinkle-light lined paths of the resort getting a few feet forward before having to stop and reattach their lips.
"Why is this place so big?" Chuck lamented as they kept passing building after building that was not theirs.
"We could get a different room. In this building," Sarah joked as they approached one of the main resort buildings.
"All I need right now is a flat surface and some privacy," Chuck admitted.
Sarah tugged him by his hand into the building in question. She found the stairwell and took him down one flight, sure enough she located a locked laundry room. In seconds Sarah had her phone out of her bag, removed the back panel and extracted a lock pick.
"You're picking the lock?" he whispered in a combination of incredulity and passion.
"Done," Sarah replied as she flipped the light switch on a small but clean room full of shelves of sheets and blankets.
She pulled Chuck in and locked the door behind him, certain no housekeeping staff would be working at 1:00 am. Chuck was spurred in to action once he heard the lock snitch.
"That was really hot," Chuck said as he slid a hand up her thigh and under her dress.
"I couldn't wait any longer," Sarah confessed as she reached for his belt again as she had on the dance floor, but this time she slid the leather through the buckle.
"I want you so much," he buried his nose in her neck and inhaled the combination of her sweat and perfume and the fancy shampoo they used at the spa and an underlying smell of fabric softener from the linens surrounding them.
"Me too," Sarah agreed as Chuck lifted her up against the door.
"God Sarah," Chuck groaned against her temple.
"Faster, Chuck, please," she encouraged.
"Wow," the word held the same level of awe from him this time as it did at the top of the volcano.
"Yeah," Sarah panted for breath.
"We found our very own supply closet in Hawaii," Chuck laughed.
Sarah joined him in laughter as she gently lowered her legs to the floor. Chuck held her close as she insured those legs were steady under her.
"That was phenomenal," Sarah kissed him gently as she helped him get his pants done back up.
"Earlier, when you were talking about trust…"
"Yeah," she looked up at him her blue eyes as bright as her dress.
"Did you mean that when we … and you…you know," he twirled his hands around in a random flutter.
Sarah had to laugh, with all the sex they had had, especially on this trip he still was embarrassed to say the words.
"Yes, Chuck."
"That's because you trust me?"
"Those moments are the most vulnerable I ever allow myself to be, completely at your mercy."
"Thank you," Chuck looked at her honestly.
"Really I should be the one giving thanks," Sarah kissed him again.
TBC… One more honeymoon chapter….Also, I am off to NYC tomorrow to see the very first performance of Zac's new Broadway musical, She Loves Me….So excited!