A/N: I promise we'll get back to more action soon. I'm just having way too much fun writing them in Paris and Sarah trying to convince Carina.
Please leave me a review if you enjoy it. It lets me know people are still actually reading this. I'd probably still write anyways, but it's still nice to know. Thanks in advance.
Enjoy.
Chuck actually managed to hold his tongue until he and Sarah were back into their hotel room. Once they were inside, however, he couldn't help himself.
"Are you serious about getting married?"
She turned and looked at him.
"Are you seriously asking me that?"
"No, I mean yes. I mean, are you serious about doing it here, in Paris?" He stumbled.
She just grinned at him.
"Yep," she nodded, padding over to him and giving him a kiss. "But there are a few things we have to talk about before that happens. Come on, let's go lie on the bed."
Once they were comfortable, Sarah wrapped up in Chuck's arms, he waited patiently for her to begin.
"I'm not sure how the Rabbi is going to feel about me marrying a goy," she started. "Sorry. Goy means a non-Jew."
"Got it."
"I'll try to explain everything. Let me know if you don't understand something."
"Okay. Go on, please."
"So like I was saying, I'm not sure how he'll feel. But I'm pretty sure I can convince him. I'm not going to lie to him, though. When we do get married, it will be under what we call a 'chuppah', which is basically four posts with a Jewish prayer shawl spread over the top like a roof."
"That sounds beautiful," he whispered. "But why?"
"It is very beautiful," she confirmed. "It symbolizes the home we're going to build together. But before we even get to the chuppah, we're going to have to sign the 'ketubah', or marriage contract. That's another thing I'm not sure about – whether you can even sign it or not."
"What if I can't?"
"We'll cross that bridge if and when we get there Chuck," she promised. "So under the chuppah the Rabbi will say some prayers, we'll say some prayers, and then he'll marry us. After we're married, you're going to smash a glass with your foot."
"What? Seriously? Why would I do that?"
"It's tradition," she explained. "It has a lot of meanings. It represents the destruction of our holy temple in Jerusalem. It represents that marriage has sorrow as well as joy. It represents that the people getting married will always be there for each other, especially during the hard stuff."
"I like that."
"Me too," she sighed happily. "Then, if we're even able to, we'll celebrate," she continued. "Another tradition is to lift the bride and groom up on chairs and dance with them while they each hold one end of a piece of cloth."
"Wow. I never knew there were so many traditions."
"Chuck, Jews have been around for thousands of years," she teased. "We've had some time to make traditions."
"Valid point."
"You're okay with all this?"
"What, the wedding?"
"Yeah. Getting married ASAP. Having a Jewish wedding. Not having either of our families here."
"It's what you want, right?"
"Yes," she quickly assured him. "But you have to want it too, Chuck. I don't want you to ever do anything you don't want because you think it will make me happy."
"I want to marry you," he assured her back. "I want to marry you so much it physically hurts me to sit here and not be married to you. I'm just having trouble believing all of this is real."
"Believe it, Chuck," she smiled wide. "It's happening."
"I think my sister might spontaneously combust when she finds out I got married."
"You never talk about her that much Chuck," Sarah lamented a bit.
"Ellie is incredible," he told her honestly. Sarah could see his love for his sister in his eyes and hear it in his voice. "I try not to think about her that much here, though. It's hard."
Sarah knew exactly what he meant. She tried not to think of her own family that much either. First, she had no idea whether she'd ever see her parents again or not. She was an only child, and it broke her heart just thinking about her parents finding out their only daughter had died on some battlefield a continent and ocean away. Second, she still had family somewhere in Europe. Europe, which until now, had been firmly under Nazi control. She had no idea if any of them were even alive anymore.
All thinking about her family did now, though, was reinforce her belief that she and Chuck needed to get married fast. They had no idea what the next day would bring, and if she could find a little joy in the middle of the war, she wasn't going to pass that up.
But, if Sarah was being one hundred percent honest with herself, she just wanted to be Chuck's wife. She was certain that if they'd met on the street somewhere in America, without the war going on, she'd still feel exactly the same way. She had begun to look at her career as simply a vehicle that led her to meeting him. She hadn't lied to Carina. The second she didn't need to be a spy to keep them safe anymore, she was quitting.
"I can't wait to meet her," Sarah quietly said.
"She's going to love you."
"Do you really think that?"
Chuck almost scoffed at the sheer ridiculousness of her question.
"Of course," he reassured. "If only for the fact that I love you. But you're incredible Sarah. And Ellie will see it, just like I do, and she's going to love you just like a sister."
"I've always wanted a sister."
"Well you're in luck then," he grinned.
"Chuck?"
"Yeah baby?"
"I was serious at Carina's."
"About getting married? I know. You don't have to prove anything to me."
"No, not that. I mean, yes, of course I was serious about that."
She paused for dramatic effect.
"I meant when I told her I wanted to have sex as an engaged couple again."
There was no need to explain it further.
Chuck lied in bed, Sarah sleeping in his arms, both of them exhausted from multiple rounds of lovemaking. He'd been awake for a little while, content watching Sarah sleep.
He was still in a daze. Somehow, he was engaged, and even that didn't seem to have a very long half-life. No, the amazing woman in his arms was intent on changing that at their earliest opportunity. That alone blew his mind.
He tried to think back to his life before he had jumped into France. He had gone about his duty in much of the same manner as Sarah had – mission-oriented. He knew he always wanted to settle down, but he had always thought he'd have to wait until after the war to find someone.
That's really the part that was messing with his head. It seemed so random to him that he and Sarah had even met. There were literally millions of soldiers Eisenhower could have sent instead of him. Maybe the OSS could have sent Carina instead of Sarah. Even though he liked Carina, the thought made him shudder.
Sarah was everything. That much he was sure of before they even left the cafe they had met in. Chuck didn't lie to her – if he never put on a uniform again, he could care less. All he cared about was her. Keeping her safe. Making her happy. Loving her. Building a life together.
He knew what his main struggle was going to be. They were about to be married. And they were partners. How was he ever going to be able to do his job effectively if he was constantly worried about his wife? How could he willingly bring her into dangerous situations? He'd already almost lost her – multiple times – and that's something he knew he'd never come back from. He was fairly certain that if Sarah was killed in action, he wouldn't be far behind her. He'd tear the world apart piece by piece if he had to.
Yet, Chuck also knew Sarah had a job to do as well. She had almost watched him get killed. And he was going to be her husband. She was already protective of him, and he was sure that was only going to increase exponentially once they were married. He knew he had to trust that she knew what she was doing, and let her do her job. That didn't mean, however, he wasn't going to worry about her.
Sarah, meanwhile, was dreaming about the conversation she'd had with Carina when they went to get food and Chuck was waiting for them at Carina's. They had spoken French, since they were walking in public.
"Okay Sarah," Carina began, "now that we're alone, tell me what's going on with you. This isn't real, is it?"
"Oh it's very real," Sarah couldn't help but smile.
"This isn't you."
Sarah forced herself to pause and push down the anger she felt. She understood where Carina was coming from.
"This is going to sound really horrible because I consider you one of my only friends, but you never really knew me Carina. You know Agent Walker. She's no nonsense. She only cares about the mission. But that's not who I really am. I'm Sarah, and Sarah is in love."
"So that's it? You're done?"
"Yes," she nodded. "I may not have known it myself, but this is what I've always wanted. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life making it up to him that it took us this long to find each other."
"You can tell me if you're playing him." Carina still didn't get it. "Or just tell me it's a mission, and I'll understand."
"It's not a mission. It's not a cover. It's real. It's the realest thing I've ever experienced. Is it terrifying? Yes. Is it exhilarating? More so. I just saw him five minutes ago and I already miss him."
"You know he feels the same way about you, right?" Carina relented, Sarah's words finally having impact.
"I know," Sarah could only whisper. "I have a hard time believing it sometimes. But no matter what I throw at him, he insists it only makes him love me more. I can't even begin to describe how that makes me feel. He's the only person I've ever met, besides my family, that loves me for me. I'll kill anybody who touches him. I've done exactly that already."
"You did?"
"Yeah." Sarah lowered her voice. "We got in a situation with the Gestapo in Normandy. Chuck was wrestling one of them on the ground, taking some serious shots. As soon as I saw an opening, I put a bullet in that fucking Nazi's head."
"You were just being a good partner."
"Nope," Sarah shook her head. "When I saw him on the ground with that German, all I could think about was him. Losing him. And that wasn't the first time I've done that, Carina. There are a few Nazi pieces of shit in hell because they touched the man I love."
"He's destroyed you."
"No, Carina, he's giving me everything I've ever wanted or needed. Our love has proven, time and again, to be an asset in the field. We'll do anything to protect each other. Anything."
Sarah took a deep breath, ready to tell Carina about what had happened when she'd been captured.
"I got captured before D-Day. The SS took me into a basement. I don't remember anything after they knocked me out. I woke up twelve hours later in bed, Chuck sitting at my side."
"What did he do?"
"He saved me. He walked straight into the SS headquarters, killed three Nazis, incapacitated the other ones, and saved me and two French civilians."
Carina just fell silent.
"When I woke up in that bed, he had been sitting by my side for hours. He got shot, Carina, but he only cared about me."
"Wow," was all she could manage.
"I know," Sarah sighed again. "Well, Carina, what do you think?"
"I'm happy for you. Both of you. Seriously. It's not something I think I'd ever want or really enjoy, but I can see how happy he makes you. And that makes me happy."
Sarah couldn't resist, so she hugged Carina.
"Thank you," she whispered again.
"How's the sex?" Carina couldn't resist.
"I'm not telling you-" Sarah paused, looking over at her friend. "Fine. It's not really sex. It's hard for me to explain. Just know I've never felt anything like it before."
"What do you mean?"
"It's different when you're in love," she tried. "We're – connected. I knew from the first time we made love that we were compatible in bed, but I had no idea just how he can make me feel. I mean on the edge, on a fucking cliff, for hours. Then, when we've finally exhausted one another enough, I crawl into his arms, kiss him, and fall asleep knowing I'm exactly where I belong."
"You're like a different person," Carina mused.
"I told you, you never knew the real me. This is me. Hi, my name is Sarah Walker, soon to be Bartowski. Nice to meet you."
"Come on," Carina pulled her along, smiling and laughing. "Let's go get some food so you can get back to that handsome fiancé of yours."
"Carina," Sarah growled a warning, but ended up laughing too.
