Paris was as beautiful as Chuck had always imagined it to be. He just wished there weren't so many red, white and black Nazi flags flying everywhere.
Their trek from Normandy to Paris had been without major incident. Once they broke through the German front, it was relatively peaceful.
Their orders were fairly open-ended. Chuck had been told he and Sarah were to reconnoiter Paris, to find out the German troop strengths and locate high-value targets.
Sarah was still reeling a bit from Chuck's transfer to OSS. It made her unbelievably happy, sure, but she still had a feeling that Chuck had done it more for her and less for himself. She didn't want him to sacrifice his happiness for her, and she began to worry that he would start to build resentment in the long run.
She knew she needed to confront him about it now, before it had time to fester in either of them. They had a really good track record so far of being honest with one another, which gave Sarah a lot of hope.
Currently, they were sitting a cafe near the Seine river, just enjoying the relative calm of the city, even if it was still crawling with Nazis. Thankfully, their table was secluded, allowing them to speak to one another in hushed tones.
"Chuck?" Sarah finally worked up the courage.
"Hmm?" He took a sip of his coffee.
"I don't really know how to ask this," she began unsurely. His eyes widened at the obvious stress in her voice.
"What is it?" He asked, obviously concerned.
She let out a heavy breath.
"Did you transfer to OSS because of me? I mean, you didn't just do it for me, right?"
"No," he shook his head. "I'm not going to lie. Being your partner was a huge reason. But it certainly wasn't the only one. I loved being in the Army. The brotherhood, the friends I made, everything. But it's like I said. I did my time in the foxholes. I want to help in a different way. And I really feel like you and I can make a difference in this war, Sarah. We make a great team."
She nodded, processing.
"You thought I'd resent you," he correctly deduced the real question she was asking.
"Chuck," she tried, but he interrupted.
"It's okay, Sarah," he smiled. "I get it. Yes, being with you is a big incentive. I just found you and there's no way I'm letting you go. Not now, not ever."
"But you're not going to miss the Rangers?"
"Maybe," he shrugged. "I spent a lot of time in the Army. It was my life for a long time."
He paused, apparently in deep thought.
"Then I met you," he continued. "Sarah, I don't care if I never put on a uniform again. I just want to be with you."
"Really?" She sounded so little, unlike herself.
"Yes, really," he smiled again. "I love you. I'm in love with you. We're going to get out of this war, together. Then I'm going to take you back to the States, marry you, and spend the rest of my life showing you how much more I can love you every single day."
Sarah was stunned. Chuck had just laid it all out on the proverbial table. He wanted to marry her. He wanted to take her away from all this violence and death. He saw a normal, happy, loving life in their future.
"You'd – you'd really marry me?" Her voice was still timid, unsure.
"I'm kind of disappointed you even have to ask," he admitted with a small sigh. "But I'll say it as many times as you need or want. Yes, Sarah, I would marry you every day for the rest of our lives."
Her emotions were like a hurricane inside of her. She'd never even thought about marriage before Chuck. She never thought she deserved it, or that she really wanted it. But as soon as the words spilled out of his mouth, she knew in her heart there was nothing she wanted more.
"I'm sorry," he blurted out after a moment of silence from her.
"Why are you sorry?" She finally smiled wide at him. "I'm not. That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."
"You'd, um, be open to that?"
"Yes," she happily nodded with conviction. "I won't lie to you, Chuck. The thought of marriage makes me nervous. Not about whether we love each other enough or something like that. I'm worried about me."
"That's bullshit," Chuck immediately called her out. "You can do anything. What is marriage, anyways? Two people who love each other and have dedicated to being together forever. I think we're already pretty much there, aren't we? I've never been married, Sarah. I have no idea what it's going to be like. But the one thing I'm sure about is that there's nobody else I want to experience it with but you."
"You're right," she admitted. "We definitely have the love part down. Everything else will come in time."
"We have the rest of our lives," Chuck agreed.
"Wait," she almost exclaimed after putting her coffee down. "Are we engaged?"
"I'm not sure. I didn't plan on proposing when we sat down here. It kind of just came out."
"Well it kind of seems like a moot point now," she grinned. "But having said that, I wouldn't mind being asked properly."
"I don't have a ring," he lamented, his anxiety returning full force, only making Sarah smile even wider.
"I don't care."
"I can't realistically tell you when we can actually get married," he tried.
"Again, don't care."
"Sarah."
"Chuck."
He sighed, and her grin turned decidedly wicked.
"Just ask me already, Captain."
"Fine," he blurted out.
Once he took a moment to really think, he realized what he was about to do. He was about to ask her to marry him. If he'd been watching their relationship from the outside, he would think it was crazy. But he was on the inside, living it, and he knew she was as serious as he was. The look in her eyes told him as much.
Sarah waited with baited breath. She had no idea when they woke up this morning, they'd be discussing marriage. Honestly the thought still terrified her, but the sheer excitement far outweighed her reticence. She'd already done the math. She knew what marrying Chuck meant. She finally was going to get a shot at the normal life she'd wanted for so long. She'd tried to push that feeling, that urge, down deep inside her. Chuck brought it right back to the front of her mind, and it was dominating her thoughts.
"Sarah Walker, will you marry me?"
And now everything really was on the table.
"Yes," her firm answer came almost before he'd even finished the question.
"What?" Even though he knew her answer beforehand, it still surprised him.
"Yes," she repeated with a laugh. "Yes, Chuck. Yes."
"I love you," he mumbled, grinning like a fool.
"I love you," she echoed. "But right now, we really need to find a bed and a door that can be locked."
"Right away, Ms. Walker."
"Not gonna be Ms. Walker for much longer. I'm more looking forward to being Mrs. Bartowski."
Those were the only words Chuck needed to hear before he dragged her off in search of a hotel.
Later, they rested in bed, both of them overly satisfied.
"Engaged sex is amazing," Sarah mused, her head resting on Chuck's chest. She felt his laugh reverberate.
"This isn't a dream, is it?" Chuck asked, more to himself than to her he thought.
"Nope," she shook her head.
"You're really going to marry me?"
"Yup. The sooner the better, in my opinion."
"Why?"
"Besides the fact we're in the middle of a war? Because I want to be your wife, Chuck. I thought I made that plainly obvious on this very bed not too recently. Even if we weren't here, in a city occupied by Nazis, I'd still want to get married as soon as humanly possible."
"You're sure?"
"Okay," she huffed. "I'm going to let that one slide, but if you ask me that again I'm going to kick your ass." The look on his face told her he wasn't completely convinced. That was okay. She was willing to work every day to let him know how much she loved him. "Yes, Chuck, I'm sure. I don't think I've ever been this sure about anything before. I can't live without you anymore. That much is plain. There no longer is a me, there's only an us."
"I know," he sighed a bit. "That's not really what I meant."
"What did you mean then?"
"I'm not Jewish," he blurted out quickly.
"I know that," she rolled her eyes.
"You'd be okay marrying someone who's not Jewish?"
"Yeah, because it's you, Chuck. Okay, let me explain this a little bit. My Jewish faith means a lot to me, yes. But nothing means more to me than you. My mother always told me that if I ever was to get married, it had to be for love. Race, religion, none of that matters as long as the love is there. Do you love me?"
"More than anything," he confirmed.
"Right back at you," she smiled. "But there is one thing we need to discuss if we're going to get married."
"What's that?"
"When we have kids, Chuck, not if, by Jewish law they're going to be Jews. That's how it works. It goes through the mother. I'm not asking you to convert or anything like that. But it's important that our children know where they came from. I'd want to raise them Jewish."
"Of course," he quickly replied. "I wouldn't want it any other way, Sarah. You're just going to have to teach me about your faith."
"Happily," she agreed.
Later, they decided to take a walk around the city and start to map out the German positions. They strolled, hand in hand, the absolute perfect picture of a couple in love. Nobody bothered them, as they spent most of their time whispering to each other and smiling.
"I really hope we don't destroy this city with bombs," Chuck finally said. They were near Notre Dame, both of them admiring the sheer beauty of Paris. "There's so much history here."
"I know," Sarah nodded. "Hopefully we can do what we did with Rome. We saved most of that city."
"We need to find out where the Nazis put all their anti-aircraft and flak."
Chuck was right. There would be no taking Paris, and in turn no taking Berlin, if the Germans were able to put up a good enough fight. That was why Ike had sent them to the French capital.
"Let's go Chuck," Sarah tugged on his hand. "I have an idea."
"What?"
"I have a contact here. Well, I hope she's still here. She's been undercover for a long time. If anyone knows what's really going on in Paris, it's her."
"Okay. I trust you."
"Good," she grinned. "I have to warn you though, Chuck. She's probably going to try and get you into bed. Especially when she finds out we're engaged."
A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing. I want you to know I read every single review, so I appreciate when you take a couple minutes to let me know if you like my story or not. Please keep it up!
Another more emotional chapter after the action of D-Day. Can anyone guess who Sarah's contact is? Lol.
