"You're going on a date...with Tyler," Sarah's mouth dropped open as she stared at Tyler and Anna.

They were in Tyler and Chuck's kitchen, having their morning coffee. It was quickly becoming a morning tradition.

"When did THIS happen?" Sarah exclaimed, recovering from the shock.

"What's a date?" Chuck asked, pouring himself a second cup of coffee.

"It wasn't planned," Anna said to Sarah, "It just kind of…happened. You know. You and Chuck went and had that fun day together. You weren't home yet and so we decided to get something to eat…"

"What's a date?" Chuck repeated, looking from face to face.

"So, you went out and bonded? Good thing I ended up spending the night here!" Sarah was grinning widely. The new development was a shocker, but a welcome one. She loved Anna and she just wanted her to be happy, "I mean if I had gone home, that could've been awkward."

Chuck tried again, "What's a date?"

"We didn't sleep together," Tyler said pointedly, "Well, we did, but we didn't do anything...yet." he shot a look off at Anna as she smacked his arm, "It was coffee and a movie, then sleeping. No big deal. This time we're going to Boston. We'll be gone overnight…so you two stick together, okay?"

"WHAT'S A DATE?" Chuck asked again, much louder this time.

"Hey Sarah – you can explain that to him, right?" Tyler asked, his eyes sparkling as he winked at her with an unsaid 'have fun with that'. He wrapped an arm around Anna's shoulders, "We're outta here!"

Sarah turned red.

They left both Sarah and Chuck in the kitchen, mouths agape, and escaped out into the hallway.

Immediately, Anna dropped Tyler's arm from her shoulders, "I want to get one thing straight right now, mister…we are NOT dating and you cannot casually touch me."

Tyler snickered, "Yes m'am. But the cover story worked and we now have a full day to go see what's going on in Boston. Have you got the keys?"

She nodded, "Wasn't easy. Sarah was restless last night and rolled around in her sleep a lot. She was keeping them between her mattresses."

"And you're squared away with work?"

"Yeah. Emmett wasn't happy, but he'll get over it."

"Well, let's get going."

Anna nodded, following after him, still smirking over Tyler insinuating to Sarah and Chuck that they could sleep together in the future. Chuck wouldn't get it, but Sarah...Sarah wasn't going to leave her alone about it.

Back in the kitchen, Chuck sat next to Sarah at the kitchen table with wide eyes.

"I'm not going to tell you, Chuck," Sarah said, continuing to read her paper, "I have a very hard time believing you're completely clueless about this."

"I am though!" Chuck exclaimed, "I seriously don't have a clue!"

She glanced at him, then went back to her paper.

"Please?" Chuck asked, putting on his best puppy dog look. Sarah wondered who had taught him that.

He put his hand down overtop of her paper and stuck his puppy dog eyes in her face.

"Pretty please?"

"OKAY FINE!"

She pondered the best way to bring up the concept.

"Well, you know Tyler is a man…and Anna is a woman."

"So far you haven't impressed me with your explaining skills, Sarah…I already knew that."

"YOU HAVE TO LET ME FINISH!" she hissed.

She glanced at him, still in very close proximity to her. She could feel the tops of her ears going red.

"Go sit at the other end of the table."

"What for?" he asked.

"If you want me to tell you, you'll do it."

Obediently, Chuck sat at the other end of the table, watching her expectantly.

"Okay…I can't believe you don't know this already...but here goes. Tyler is a man and Anna is a woman. Sometimes when a man and a woman spend a lot of time together, they get feelings for each other. Like they really like spending time together, even more than other people…and so they go on a date. A date is an outing to determine if maybe there could be love between those people. Sometimes after a period of dating, they decide to get married. Sometimes they realize that they're not good together and break up."

"So, Tyler and Anna are getting these feelings?"

"Apparently."

"But how do they know they have feelings for each other?"

"That's why they're going on a date, Chuck…to see if they have feelings for each other. They enjoy each other's company and they're exploring to see if there could be more."

"What do you mean more?"

"I mean they're deciding if they like each other enough to live together and spend the rest of their lives together."

Chuck considered this for a moment.

"What do they feel like…the feelings?"

Sarah let out a deep breath, "Falling in love is a beautiful feeling," she said, her voice low, "You feel warm inside and the other person makes you feel like you're important…and secure…and attractive. It needs to go both ways though…the people have to feel that way about each other."

He watched her, lost in her own little world, as she contemplated the feeling of falling in love.

"You get warm inside when you see the other person," she continued, "and you can't wait to see them when you're apart."

"Have you ever been in love?" he asked.

She paused; her face suddenly white.

"No," she answered finally.

"What did Tyler mean by 'sleeping together'? He told me a story yesterday and I didn't know why that could be a bad thing."

Her face felt like a volcano about to spew. She needed to change the subject…fast.

"Where did you grow up, Chuck, that you don't know any of this? I mean, most 12-year-olds know this stuff. You're what…23? 24?"

"23. And I grew up in an orphanage," he said immediately.

She nodded, remembering he'd already told her he never knew his parents.

"Didn't anyone teach you about how life works?" she asked.

He shook his head, "This is longest I've ever interacted with people."

"You've been alone for a good portion of your life, haven't you?" Sarah searched his face as a distinct expression of loneliness clouded his eyes.

"I've always been alone," he answered.

"But who looked after you? Who tucked you in at night? Who loved you?"

"Nobody," Chuck said, his face expressionless, "They all stayed away from me because I'd get into trouble from time to time…after a while I stopped trying to find a home that would love me. I decided that if nobody wanted to be with me and everybody just got mad at me all the time, maybe I'm just not lovable."

Something broke inside her. The look on his face was one of calm acceptance. He honestly believed he wasn't lovable.

She stood from her seat, circling the table and pulled him into a hug. It surprised him and he didn't know what to do at first. Slowly, he placed his arms around her waist, melting into her embrace. He loved the contact. There was something about being hugged by another person that brought calmness to him. The fact that the person hugging him was Sarah just made it all the more special. She sent tingles through his body even when she wasn't trying to.

"You didn't deserve that, Chuck," she said into his hair, "You're smart and funny and easy to be around. It seems to me that you're bursting with love for everything around you. You are completely lovable. One day, someone will want to share that with you. And she will be the luckiest person in the world."

She sat on his lap so that she could give him a full-on hug, burying her face in his shoulder. His emotions were in turmoil again. He hugged her back, not really understanding why there were tears streaming down her face. Was she crying…for him? Was it because he'd been alone for so long? Or because nobody had ever loved him?

She'd said such nice things about him. He didn't know if he could agree he was smart or funny or easy to be around, but he felt a surge of something swell in him as she spoke. You are completely lovable. If that was true though…would he have spent so long alone?

She pulled her tear-streaked face up. He watched her with wonder. She was so amazing. Sarah had grown up alone in a different way. But she was full of kindness and infinite patience.

"Chuck," she said softly, "What should we do today?"

She was still sitting on his lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. Another wave of that odd feeling he couldn't identify swept through him as he tightened his arms around her lower back.

"What do you want to do today, Sarah?"

THIS! Her mind screamed, but she forced herself to get composed and got off of his lap.

"We should do something fun," she suggested, "Let's take Bunny for a swim."

He nodded. He liked swimming. He'd had tons of practice when he was in the Animal Welfare Division.

"Okay," she said, kissing his cheek, "I'll go get my swimsuit on."

She disappeared out the door.

His fingers flew to where she'd kissed him, a warm feeling spreading through his body. That small kiss had warmed up his entire body. Hugging her was amazing. And she had initiated the hug. She had told him he was lovable. A sense of excitement surged through him. He was going to get to spend the entire day with her while Tyler and Anna were gone. And she wanted to be with him.

For the first time in his existence, Chuck Bartowski started to wonder if it was possible for him to love someone and have them love him back. He hoped so. Because the myriad of emotions running through him were not subsiding. And the only time these kinds of surges of emotion came was when he was with Sarah Walker.

"You're sure, right?" Tyler teased Anna as they approached a warehouse in the center of Boston, "Because the last 3 warehouses were duds and we were lucky we didn't get seen."

She sighed heavily, "I only read the letter to Sarah once when she was 8," she hissed back to Tyler, "She burned it because Emma said at the bottom to do so. Emma left an address, but since I can't remember it, we're going by my memory of the picture."

He nodded, "And all these warehouses kind of do look the same. Good news is, this is the third. Only 700 – 1000 other possibilities."

She shot him a look that warned him to shut the hell up, then slipped into the shadows. He followed her.

This warehouse was easier to enter than the last one. The people working in the warehouse were having a meeting of sorts, giving Tyler and Anna the chance to flit across the room unnoticed.

They split up, checking the hallways. Anna had shown Tyler the unique design of the keys. It wouldn't be hard to spot the right doors if they could just find them.

Anna came to the end of her hallway and turned to go back the other way, not seeing anything worth mentioning. She watched with horror as the entire group of human employees entered Tyler's hallway. Flitting to the entrance of it, she tried to spot Tyler in the shadows. She caught his glint in the upper right-hand corner at the end of the hall. He was fine as long as they didn't turn any more lights on. But he was stuck.

Anna glanced around for something…anything that would get the men out of the hallway. They were observing one their bosses as he was pointing to a weld that needed some attention. She bounced into transparency, praying nobody was turned that way, then ran past a desk, sticking her hand out as she ran. The entire stack of welding molds fell off of the desk, clamoring noisily.

She flitted back into shadow and waited.

Some of the men came out to see what the noise was, but not all of them. Even so, it gave Tyler a chance to move, joining Anna in the shadows of the main room.

She glanced at him and he shook his head. It wasn't the hall they were looking for.

They managed to escape the warehouse with no further incident.

Going back to solid form, Anna took out the keys and examined them.

"I wish there was a clue of some sort on these keys to help us."

He took the keys from her and examined them himself, "There! Look – if you look really carefully, there's a faded symbol on this one."

She glanced at it, seeing what he meant.

"Let's look for a warehouse with that symbol," he suggested.

They glanced around. There were warehouses everywhere.

"We're going to need to split up," Anna said, "There's just too many."

"I left my walkie-talkies at home," Tyler dead-panned, "We're gonna need some way to keep in touch or to get each other's attention."

"Or, we could just meet back here every hour," Anna suggested.

"Go row by row. Seeya in an hour."

Anna nodded to him, slipping into transparency.

Tyler could be ridiculously bossy. She wondered if he knew he was shirtless. Not that she minded. He could be shirtless all the time for all she cared. Tyler had definite...eye candy attributes.

An hour later, Tyler returned to their spot, waiting nervously. He hadn't found anything. He waited another 10 minutes, checking his watch to be sure it was still ticking.

Where is she?

He glanced at his watch again. 20 minutes late.

At the half hour late mark, he started to get really concerned. He considered his options. Maybe he should go check her rows of warehouses and see if he could locate her. Or go check another row of his warehouses and just pray she forgot to come back.

He sighed. He knew he couldn't go check his own warehouses. He wouldn't stop worrying about Anna the whole time. Anna was feisty and smart and... well, let's face it - she was drop-dead gorgeous. She could handle herself and there was really no need to worry. But worry he would, so he started toward her warehouses.

He could use the shadows now instead of transparency. The sun was starting to set. Moving in the shadows was slightly faster. He made good time, flitting through warehouse after warehouse quickly. They were starting to close up the warehouses for the day and Tyler was seriously beginning to panic. It was a stupid idea to separate!

He came to the end of a row and flitted to the next, starting to work his way back.

"Tyler!"

He turned his head, spotting her in the shadow.

"Where the hell have you been! I've been worried sick!"

"Sorry," she muttered, motioning for him to follow her, "I got stuck in a warehouse when they locked up. Took a bit of maneuvering to get out. But I found the door we're looking for."

"Door? Aren't there multiple? There's 3 keys."

She flitted across the ground to get to the storage warehouse in question. Tyler glanced across the yard, then followed her. Jumping through a half-open window, they entered the building still in shadow form. She knew where she was going, leading them straight to a door.

"3 keys, 3 locks," Tyler whispered, "I suppose that makes sense."

"Let's just hope no one spots my open window and we can get outta here. They're almost closed. If we wait for a few minutes, everyone will be gone and we can open the door without interruption."

He nodded.

20 minutes later, the building was silent.

"Stay in translucency," Tyler warned, "We don't know if there's security cameras here."

They flitted down the hall in shadow, changing into translucency in front of the door.

Anna took the keys out, glancing at Tyler. He nodded and she proceeded to take them off the key chain.

Each key fit nicely, once they figured out which one went where. The door opened with a creak.

"Wouldn't you think someone would be curious what's behind this door?" Anna asked, "It's been untouched for years."

"I don't think humans care as long as someone is paying for the storage," Tyler replied.

Anna nodded, "And if Emma knew her death was imminent, she would have pre-paid it for decades, knowing Sarah wouldn't get to it immediately."

They entered as quietly as they could. There were some boxes. An old photo album sat on top of one of them. Unable to resist, Anna opened the book, smiling as she recognized pictures of baby Sarah. They were all pictures of happiness. Pictures of her mother playing with Sarah, sometimes her father. Anna knew she'd have to find a way to get Sarah out here one day so that she could view the album herself. It might be a good condolence prize for giving up her mother's keys in exchange for freedom…if Daniel would take that deal.

Anna also found some other items that Sarah would love to have: a doll with blonde hair and boxes and boxes of letters written from Emma to Sarah before she died.

"Anna," Tyler whispered, "THIS is why Daniel wants the keys."

She went to his side, peering over his shoulder. Her eyes widened.

Tyler had opened a box. Bricks of pure gold were stacked neatly inside.

"Open the other boxes," he directed.

"Tyler," Anna said, holding up a piece of paper, "It's a letter. From Emma."

When they were finished, they realized there 7 boxes with gold bricks in them. It was a multi-million-dollar room. The other boxes were simply keepsakes and letters, but they would mean more to Sarah than the gold boxes combined.

"Read the letter," Tyler sat on a box of gold bars to listen.

My Dearest Sarah:

By the time you find this room and its' contents, I'll be little more than a memory. I don't like speaking ill of your father, but this may be the only time I'll ever get to explain to you what's really happening. Tomorrow, the boxes will all be moved to a storage unit.

Your father got involved with a man name Ted Roark a few years back. I don't want to go into details, especially since Ted has now been put into jail with a life sentence. The story is irrelevant. What you need to know is that your father stole the contents of the boxes from Ted…and that I stole these boxes from your father, knowing if I didn't, the police would be by for him next. Don't believe that my death was due to my illness, Sarah. While it's true that I am ill, if I die soon, it will be because your father has figured out who stole the boxes from under his nose.

So why did I do it?

These bars are fake. They're counterfeit, except for one box. I guess I was angry at Jack for changing so completely. He's not the man I fell in love with. But I still couldn't bear the thought of him following Ted to jail with a life sentence. Mostly because I can't stand the thought of you growing up alone. Being that they're mostly counterfeit, I decided not to go to the cops, but to hide them from Jack and prevent him from using them illegally. Unfortunately, Jack is not the only one who wants these bars. I believe the counterfeit bars have something else hiding inside them. I can't think of any other reason Jack would be so enraged about their disappearance.

By the time you read this letter, Sarah, I hope you'll be a well-developed, confident woman. DO NOT let your father have the contents of this room under any circumstances. I know it makes him angry, but in my own small way, I was just trying to protect you both.

Always remember how much I love you,

Emma Walker

Tyler and Anna glanced at each other.

"I'm trying to decide if I respect Emma's decision or not," Tyler said slowly.

"I'd really like to take the keepsakes for Sarah," Anna said, "but we'll have to come back with a wagon or something some other time. The gold bars…I think they're better off staying here."

"I would agree with that," Tyler said, "We'll have to find a way to convince Sarah to come out here for the keepsakes. The storeroom is likely in her name and we won't have to sneak in again."

"We should break a bar in half," Anna suggested, "To see if Emma is right and there's something packed away in the counterfeit bars."

Tyler shook his head, "I'm all out of sledge hammers. Gold bars are dang near impossible to break in half. We'll have to come back."

She nodded. They boxed the room up the way they found it, blowing dust back onto the boxes so that they looked undisturbed and locked the doors again.

"Hotel room?" Tyler asked when it was safe to turn solid again.

She nodded, feeling tired after their day. Their investigation had taken all day, but it was worth it. For the first time, Anna had some answers.