I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything.
I'm not really un-retiring… not yet anyway. This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old. It's the fourth and final installment in the Real Relationship arc.
Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well.
Revenge
x-x-x-x-x
Sarah had to pause for a second to understand what the doctor had just said. "Oh, please God, no," she whispered to herself.
The words hit Angel like a ton of bricks. As much as she was devastated, she knew that Sarah would be worse. She actually had to catch her to keep her from collapsing to the floor. Tears were flooding down her face. Her mouth was open and it looked as if she was wailing but no sound was coming out. She had gone so limp that Angel was having a hard time keeping her from falling. Finally Angel saw a nearby chair. She was able to navigate Sarah to it and set her down gently. Angel had to put her arms around Sarah as she sobbed to keep her from falling over. Of course, Angel had her own problems. She could barely see from the tears filling her own eyes. Finally she composed herself enough to speak. "Excuse me," she said through her sobs. "Can we see his body?"
The doctor was plainly surprised. "See what?" she asked. "I told you. He's gone." For the first time she looked up at Angel and Sarah. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the scene and realized what they were thinking.
"Oh my God," she said quickly. "I'm so sorry. Mrs. Bartowski, Chuck is fine. When I said gone, I meant he was treated and released. The gunshot only caused a flesh wound. We gave him eleven stitches. He had a mild concussion from losing consciousness when his head hit the ground. We normally would have kept him overnight for observation, but we're swamped. His sister came and picked him up. She's an ER attending physician at another hospital, isn't she?"
Angel just nodded. It was the best news that she had ever heard. Looking at her friend, she plainly didn't understand what the doctor was saying and was sitting there numbly. Trying to talk to her in this condition probably wasn't going to work. She fished out Sarah's phone from her purse and searched for Ellie's number. Ellie answered the call on the first ring.
"Sarah, oh my God. Thank goodness. Are you okay?"
"Um, Dr. Bartowski," Angel said shakily. "This is Angel. We met yesterday."
"Hi, Angel," Ellie said, the concern evident in her voice. "Where is Sarah?"
"She's right here," Angel replied. "She's sort of having a hard time right now. We're at the hospital and they mistakenly kind of told us that Chuck was dead. I'm not sure but I think Sarah might be in shock. I'd have them look at her, but they're really busy. What should I do?"
"Don't move," Ellie said firmly. "I'm sending Devon to get you right now. He'll be there in ten minutes."
Angel had to take a moment to gather her composure and keep her voice from breaking. "Thanks," she said. "How is Chuck?"
"He's going to be fine, Angel," Ellie said reassuringly. "He's right here."
Of course Chuck had no idea what had happened, so he had no reason to be concerned. "Hi, Angel," he said. "Where is Sarah?"
Angel couldn't help the sob. "She's right here," she said. "You need to say something to her. She's really messed up. They accidently told her you were dead."
"Hi, Sarah," Chuck said softly as Angel held the phone up to Sarah's ear. "Are you okay? Don't worry everyone's fine. It was just a mistake."
Sarah still wasn't thinking all that clearly. "Chuck," she whispered with a sob of her own. "I thought you were dead."
Chuck took full note of the shakiness in Sarah's voice. "Take a deep breath," he said soothingly. "I'm fine. I have a bit of a headache. I'll see you in a few minutes."
It was really only a few minutes after Angel ended the call, when Devon came bursting breathlessly through the door. He scanned the room and when he spotted Sarah, came rushing over and extended his hand. "Hi," he said with a smile. "You must be Angel. I'm Devon."
Of course it barely registered that she was currently looking at the best looking man she had ever seen. She was happy to see him for other reasons. "Hi, Devon," Angel said softly as she took his hand. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you. Sarah is really messed up."
Devon took one look at Sarah and smiled. "I can see," he said. He knelt to where Sarah was sitting and grabbed her hand. "I wasn't buying the tough-girl act anyway," he said. He took her hand in both of his and rubbed it lovingly. "He's fine, Sarah. He has some stiches and a slight headache. They are probably not the best looking stiches I've ever seen, but they were busy and it got the job done. In a couple of days he'll be good as new. You're going to see him in ten minutes." He turned back to Angel. "Please help me get her into the car."
With Angel and Devon on either side of Sarah they were able to slowly walk her to the car. Devon gently helped her into the passenger's seat and buckled her seat belt. Angel climbed into the back seat. Sarah continued to sob as Devon drove.
x-x-x-x-x
Casey and Carina were about finished with the cleanup. Well, that wasn't technically true. The forensic team would spend the next few months tearing the complex apart looking for information about who else was behind this. If, as expected, they could prove any foreign involvement, some country's base was about to get a real good look at a bevy of cruise missiles. At least the Hazmat team had finished securing the Sarin. They had already determined that the lab was being used to produce it. Casey had just gotten off the phone with Beckman. She asked that they video conference in an hour to debrief. All of the escorts and businessmen that were at the party were taken downtown for questioning, except for the few that were injured in the battle and were at the hospital. Maybe they knew nothing about any terrorism, but the IRS was standing by to have some very serious discussions.
Finally Carina walked up to Casey. "Are we about done here?" she asked with a slight smile.
Casey nodded. "We're done," he said.
"Good," she said as she launched herself into his arms.
"Wow," said Casey softly as he held her tight. "I think this is the first time I've ever seen you cry."
It wasn't actually crying. He was just teasing. "Don't get used to it," Carina said as she released her pent up emotion, finally gave in to the relief, and sobbed into Casey's chest. "I didn't think I was ever going to see you again."
"It's been a long two days for me too," Casey said with a sigh. "What do you say we go rent a convertible?"
It was one of their favorite things. They would rent a convertible and drive in the mountains as fast as they could go before finding some secluded spot to break in the back seat. It was their hottest sex. Casey wasn't really serious, but it broke the tension and got them both laughing. "I have a better idea," Carina said. "Why don't we just drive home real fast and spend some time in our own bed?"
"You're right," Casey said with a laugh.
"It is a better idea."
x-x-x-x-x
At least the ride gave Sarah some opportunity to recover. As soon as Devon stopped the car, she jumped out and ran into the house. Chuck was standing in the living room waiting for her. She quickly ran over to him and threw her arms around his neck. "I thought you were dead," she sobbed as she tightened her grip.
Chuck knew that he needed to calm her down. "About three more minutes of this and I will be," he teased.
There was just something about Chuck Bartowski. No matter the situation, he could always make her laugh. This was no exception and it came out pretty wet. Sarah ignored her hurt lip and she crushed her mouth against Chuck's.
"Wow," teased Chuck with a grin when she finally let him up for air. "I'm feeling a lot better. Did you ever think of going into the medical field? Men would be lining up for treatment."
Sarah snuggled comfortably into him. "I'm trained in first aid," she said. "Does that count?"
Just then Devon and Angel entered the house. "Sarah," Devon said. "Let me look at your face. I don't like the looks of that swelling."
Sarah didn't want to break the embrace. "I feel great now," she said as she continued to snuggle contentedly in Chuck's chest.
"Really," Devon said. "Let me look at it."
It was actually Chuck who broke the embrace. "You're hurt," he said. "Let the good doctor examine you. He sounds serious. It's the first time I've ever heard anyone say that they don't like the looks of your face."
Well that got Sarah giggling. Reluctantly she pulled herself away from Chuck to allow Devon to examine her.
Ellie walked up. "Just how were you at a party with a bunch of terrorists anyway?" she asked.
Chuck and Sarah just looked at each other. There was no good explanation. "Bad luck," Chuck sighed.
Thankfully, Ellie didn't press it. She pulled a bottle from the cabinet. "Anyway," she said. "I have the temporary cure for all of our troubles."
Three minutes later, Ellie was pouring glasses of margaritas for everyone except Chuck. Ellie wouldn't let him have one due to his concussion.
Chuck just laughed. "That's fine with me," he said. "I've seen this movie before. I'll take a concussion over a tequila hangover anytime."
Devon finished looking at Sarah's lip. "There's no damage," he said. "You'll be fine in a couple of days. You really need to get some ice on that lip."
That allowed Ellie to lapse into faux doctor mode. "And I have just the ice," she said as she handed Sarah a frozen drink.
It was actually a very good point and they all started laughing.
Sarah had only taken a couple of sips before she noticed that Angel was sitting in a chair staring at the floor. Ellie had handed her a drink but she just held it with a blank expression. So Sarah went over and sat on the arm of the chair that she was sitting in and put her hand on Angel's shoulder. "Thank you for saving my life," she said as she leaned in close.
Angel didn't look up. "Can we talk?" she asked softly. "In private?"
"Sure," Sarah said. She took Angel by the hand and led her to Chuck's old room.
Just as Sarah and Angel closed the bedroom door, Carina and Casey came bursting in.
"Carina, John," Ellie called loudly. "Come in and have a drink."
As soon as Carina had her drink she walked up to where Chuck was standing.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked softly with smile.
"I'm great," Chuck replied with an equal smile.
"Then come with me, will you?" Carina asked as she extended her hand. "I would like to talk to you for a second."
x-x-x-x-x
Carina took Chuck by the hand and led him to the opposite side of the room. Calmly she grabbed Chuck's finger and twisted it awkwardly.
"Ahh," Chuck cried as his eyes widened in pain. "Carina, you're hurting me."
Carina's smile was still warm. "I know," she said calmly. "Don't worry. I'm not going to do any permanent damage. This is a little something they taught us in training. It really hurts like hell, doesn't it?"
"Yes," Chuck quickly agreed. "Please let go."
"In a minute," Carina said softly, the smile never leaving her face. "But first I want to tell you something. And I want to make sure that I have your undivided attention. Do I have your undivided attention, Chuck?"
Chuck quickly nodded.
"You know that I love you," Carina said, her smile turning into more of a grin. "Yeah, you heard me. I said it. I even meant it. It's as sappy as I ever get. In a second I'm going to go hurl. Maybe Sarah's rubbing off on me. But you need to understand, it's also my job to protect you. I've dedicated my life to that job. I think that you get how seriously I take it. So when you do stupid things and put yourself in danger, like you did today, it pisses me off. You scared the crap out of us. So let's understand each other. The next time anything like this happens, Sarah is going to be helping you put on your shoes and socks for a couple of weeks. Do we understand each other?"
Of course, at this point Chuck would have said anything to get her to let go. "Yes, ma'am," he said as he eagerly nodded.
"Good," said Carina as she released Chuck's finger. "Now give me a hug. I was so afraid for you. Fair warning. When Sarah recovers, I expect she is going to be a little harsher than I just was."
x-x-x-x-x
As soon as Sarah closed the bedroom door, Angel started silently sobbing. "I'm so sorry," she said with tears flowing. "I need to tell you something. I don't know how to say this, so I'm just going to say it. I seriously thought for a minute about letting them kill you today so I could be with Chuck. I'm so ashamed of myself. I don't blame you for hating me. I think it's just better if we forgot that we ever met."
Sarah thought about how much she had changed in so very little time. A month ago, hearing another woman admitting that she wanted to be with Chuck would have sent Agent Walker on a three state killing spree. Also the admission of watching her being tortured and killed wasn't high on her list of good things. And yet she wasn't angry. If anything, she understood, and even felt sorry for her new friend. Angel wanted what she had. Sarah could certainly relate to that. "Well," she said. "It may be better, but it's not going to happen."
Sarah walked over and put her arm around Angel. "You saved my life today," she continued. "Not only that, you saved me from a horrible, degrading death. There's no way to spin that. No matter what you thought about, the fact of the matter is that you risked your life to do the right thing. And by saving my life you saved Chuck's life. So I'll always be grateful. Always. Chuck loves you. Maybe I have some work to do, but I'm not going to stop trying until I love you too."
Angel knew that Sarah was a badass. She had witnessed that with her own eyes. She figured an ass kicking was the minimum she could expect. So to say she was surprised, was understatement. "Really?" she asked as she looked up into Sarah's eyes.
"Really," Sarah said. "Don't forget. Technically, you're still in my custody. So here's what's going to happen. We're going to go back out there and we're going to get sloppy drunk celebrating the fact that we're alive with our friends, and family. Next week we're going to take you to the rehab center. And when you get out Carina and I are going to be all over your ass to stay clean. Then we're going to start looking for your Chuck. We're not going to leave any stone unturned looking for him. We're not going to stop looking until we find him. And when we do find him, I expect to be your maiden of honor. Any questions?"
Angel couldn't have stopped the grin if she wanted too. "No, ma'am," she said through her tears. "That seems like a pretty complete plan."
"But as long as you're feeling guilty," Sarah said with a sly smile. "There is one favor you could do for me."
"I'll do anything." said Angel with her own smile.
Sarah's grin turned a little evil.
"Let me tell you my second plan."
x-x-x-x-x
When Sarah and Angel came back out of the bedroom, the impromptu party was well under way. The gang was on their third pitcher of margaritas. Casey had gone back to his place and retrieved his bottle of scotch. Ellie even let Chuck have a drink as long as he promised to take it easy. The group of friends sat and drank. They talked and drank. Then they munched on some snacks… and drank. Soon they were all in a very relaxed mood.
Suddenly Angel spoke up. "Oh my God," she exclaimed. "I just thought of something. Do you know what football game is at the Rose Bowl on Saturday? UCLA and Stanford."
"I know," Ellie sighed. "Devon and I are going."
"You and Devon are going to be in the Rose Bowl on Saturday?" Sarah asked incredulously.
"Sure," Devon said. "Do you like football? We go to most of the home games. Why?"
There was no good reason to go off on her typical rant about the foolishness of organized sports. "No reason," Sarah replied with a sly smile. "I hope you enjoy the game."
After a couple more hours of drinking, talking and the occasional card game, some of the folks started to yawn.
"I hope you know," Ellie said forcefully. "That no one is driving tonight. Chuck and Sarah can take Chuck's room. Angel umm…."
"Angel can take our guest room." Carina finished Ellie's sentence with a laugh. "Come on, Angel. If you hear any moaning tonight, you must be having a bad dream."
x-x-x-x-x
Chuck and Sarah quickly stripped down to their underwear. Chuck found a t-shirt for Sarah and they slipped into bed.
Sarah just allowed Chuck to spoon into her, enjoying the sensation for a long time. "Can I talk to you about something?" she finally asked softly.
Sarah wanting to talk was unusual. This must be serious. "Of course," Chuck said. "You know that you can always talk to me."
"It's important," Sarah said softly but firmly.
"I'm listening."
"I want to resign my position in the CIA."
Chuck knew how dedicated Sarah was to her duty. This was huge. "Are you sure that's what you really want?" he asked. "We've had a stressful day. Maybe you should take a few days and think it over."
Sarah rolled over to face him. "I've never been surer," she said. "This isn't a rash decision. I've been thinking about it for weeks. But as long as we're going to talk about stressful days, someday we're going to review your punishment for letting me think you are dead. I thought that I was fairly clear on that point. There was two different times today when I thought I'd never see you again. I'm tired of that. I'm tired of having some terrorist stick his hand up my shirt. I'm tired of Agent Larkin being able to manipulate me into allowing him to feel me up in front of you. I want to start that family we've talked about. It's time. I'm ready."
"But I'll still be the intersect, right?"
"Sure," Sarah agreed. "Of course. They are going to try and talk me out of it. In fact, they are going to use some serious pressure to get me to change my mind. They might want you to still stay active. I'm fine with that compromise as long as we can define the terms of engagement. I'm thinking that your flashes will start to diminish soon as the data in your head gets older. They'll probably keep Casey and Carina around as your handlers indefinitely. We'll still report any intelligence that you come up with. We'll just leave the active missions to someone else."
"And you're not going to miss this?" Chuck asked skeptically. "Sarah, it is okay to admit that. You've been a spy your entire adult life. You love being a spy. You were a spy when I met you. I've always knew what I was getting."
Sarah knew that she wasn't good with words. This was important, so she took a deep breath. "Chuck," she said. "I really need you to clear your mind and hear me here. I seriously don't think you get how much I've changed… how much you've changed me. Okay, yes, I loved being a spy. That's over… and I'm glad that it's over. I don't regret it. It was the right thing for me at the time. Now what I love being is Sarah Bartowski. You were the poor guy who was in love with Agent Walker. Too many times, Agent Walker made you sacrifice. Today when I thought I had lost you, I took stock of my life. I thought of all the things that I regretted. And none of those things were about the job. They were all about you. They were all about how I hurt you or made you take second place to the job. How I made you watch me flirting with another man. How I made you watch my ex stripping me and feeling me up. It made me ashamed. No husband should have to tolerate that, especially one as wonderful as you. I never want you to feel that way again. So, no, I'm not going to miss it at all. I'm going to be too busy being your full time wife and taking care of you. I couldn't possibly ever begin to tell you how much I love you."
Chuck leaned in and kissed Sarah tenderly to avoid hurting her lip. "Fortunately," he said. "You don't have to tell me. I already know. Just like I think that you already know how much I love you."
As Sarah returned Chuck's kiss she could feel his hand snake under her t-shirt.
"Are you sure that you're up for this?" Sarah asked with a grin. "For the record, I'm all for this. I just think you're well aware of my 'be prepared to finish what you start' rule. You were unconscious a few hours ago. You have fresh stiches."
Of course there was a strong possibility that her question was rhetorical since she already had her arms in the air in a clear signal. Chuck spent a moment to slowly lift the t-shirt over Sarah's head. "We'll find out in a second," he said with a smile as looked at the incredible image of his beautiful wife who was making zero effort to hide her naked chest from his view. Once he had her blushing, he made a huge show out of lifting the sheet and examining himself. "Yup," he declared. "It appears that I am. I probably don't have to tell you this, you being trained in first aid and all, but all of that blood in one place isn't healthy."
It was just one of those things. No matter how tired or angry or depressed… or aroused she was Chuck could always make her laugh. "I suppose you're right," Sarah said as soon as she could get the words out. Don't worry. I'm pretty sure this is a wifely duty. I'm here to help get your blood evenly distributed."
"It's show time."
x-x-x-x-x
The terrorist teams were caught when their plane landed in Atlanta. Apparently planning a cowardly attack designed to kill a million innocent people wasn't a very sympathetic position to law enforcement types. As it turned out, a few terrorists accidently fell several times during their arrests. There were more than a few bruises. One unfortunate man even accidently fell down a flight of stairs and broke his ankle. The warehouse was raided and all of the Sarin was found and destroyed. Since the new administration was eager to brag about their success in fighting terrorism, the story was well publicized. Casey actually became rather famous for a few weeks providing terrorism analysis for cable news networks with the understanding that they would hide his face and disguise his voice.
Sarah resigned from the CIA the next day. Director Graham was disappointed but she really didn't give him any chance to try and talk her out of it… or get a word in edgewise for that matter. He was lucky that this conversation was a conference call. When Sarah used that language, she was really pissed. She made sure that she told him between obscenities that she was tired of being 'expendable'. Graham got the point, wisely just listened, and wouldn't meet her eye.
Sarah drudgingly let Chuck off the hook on his punishment. She made a conscious effort to calm down and not be quite so intense. She never missed being an agent but she did keep herself in tip top shape and in practice at throwing knifes. It was a skill that made everyone around her sure not to piss her off… although honestly there were other equally good reasons.
Chuck and Angel joined Ellie and Devon at the football game. Angel was able to take a great deal of pride as she looked around the packed stadium. After all, she had played a big part in keeping all those people safe. The gang spent a good deal of effort to fawn over her. After all, she was a civilian who risked her life and saved the mission. Even Beckman made a point of praising her. Having the President himself call and thank you was a life changing moment. Even better, UCLA beat Stanford by a late touchdown. It was a fact that Angel used for her amusement all year. They made it a yearly tradition to attend the UCLA / Stanford game together.
Angel kept her promise to Sarah by helping her play a practical joke on Casey and Carina. They set it up to look like they had caught Chuck and Angel cheating on Sarah. Naturally it was all an act. Carina fell for it hook, line and sinker. It took a lot of convincing for her to believe that it was a joke. Chuck avoided her for several days after that to protect his fingers. Chuck had never seen Sarah laugh so hard. Naturally, Carina vowed vengeance. She tried several times and pulled many small pranks but could never top Sarah.
One down side about no longer being an agent was that Sarah would lose her apartment. Chuck kept his promise and went with her to Washington. They stayed there for two weeks and closed it out. And, although Sarah had a great time showing Chuck the sights, it no longer felt like home to her and she was very happy to get back to her own bed.
It goes without saying that Chuck did everything in his power to help Sarah get pregnant. It didn't take very long at all. The next fall, she delivered Kate to the world. Casey and Carina became the godparents.
Chuck decided against going back to Stanford and Sarah never got to meet Jill. That was one thing that she always regretted. They also never saw Bryce again. Sarah was torn on that one. It felt good not to have to constantly worry about him… but she did have a serious ass kicking to deliver.
Chuck was kept on the payroll, more as a reward than anything. He continued to have flashes occasionally but they were almost always old and outdated. Casey was permanently assigned to be Chuck's protector until he finally retired but they never went on active missions. Although Casey and Carina were never married, they stayed together for the rest of their lives.
Angel graduated from rehab. It was the hardest challenge of her life. She was one of only twenty percent who stayed clean after their first visit. Not that she had much choice. Most addicts have a sponsor. Angel had three. Sarah, Ellie, or Carina was with her pretty much every minute for the first month.
Carina was able to pull some strings with the DEA and got Angel a job. At first it was administrative but after a few months and a recommendation from the President, she was accepted into field training. She was an absolute natural. Her knowledge of the drug culture along with her athleticism, high intelligence and natural beauty helped her rise up the ranks until she was quickly considered one of the top field agents in the DEA.
She was offered the opportunity to take over for Carina when she retired. She seriously thought about it. It would have been fun to work with Chuck and Casey again but she felt called to be involved with drug enforcement. So, after spending a year as an agent in the L.A. branch, she was promoted to Deputy Director of the San Diego office. That's where she met Jim Fedderly. He was a special agent that was frequently assigned to cases in San Diego. After a whirlwind romance, Jim quickly proposed. Angel asked Sarah to be her maiden of honor but Chuck put his foot down. Since Sarah was due to give birth to their second child three weeks from the wedding, Chuck felt it would be better for Carina to fill in. Naturally, Chuck walked Angel down the aisle and gave her away.
At the reception, in between throwing the garter and cutting the cake, Angel and Sarah found themselves alone for a moment. Sarah hugged Angel, reminded her how much she loved her, and wished her luck. Finally she thanked her once again for saving her life those years ago. Angel replied that, "It was actually you who saved my life that day."
They were both right.
Eventually Chuck and Sarah were alone at their table. Since Sarah was due to give birth in eighteen days, she was at the point where she was pretty much always uncomfortable. Sarah looked around at all the beautiful ladies in the room in their lovely dresses and sighed that she no longer looked like that. Chuck smiled as he kissed her. "I know," he said. "Seriously, how does it feel to be the most beautiful woman in the room?" Sarah smiled to herself as she remembered all of the times that different men had said things like that to her over the years trying to pick her up. She looked into his eyes. It wasn't a line. She knew in her heart that he truly meant it. Maybe he was the only person in the world who would think so, but he was also the only one who mattered. It was today's reminder of what she already knew but never tired of hearing. That she was the most loved person in the world. "Actually," Sarah said as she smiled and gently kissed the love of her life.
"It feels great."
x-x-x-x-x
The End
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