A/N: This is a modestly expanded and (hopefully) much improved version of my story "Chuck and Sarah vs the Hello" published in 2019. After publishing, oversights in the story began to bother me, as did some of the sequencing choices I'd made and some clunky dialog and wording. This first chapter is little changed relatively speaking; the additions, revisions and natural progression improvements to the story will be more significant in later fluffy Charah will be more significant in later chapters as well. The author note immediately below is the same note that accompanied the 2019 version; not *everying* needed to be fixed. :-)
A/N: This story picks up a few hours after the closing moment of the series finale. In between, the events of WillieGarvin's short story "Sarah vs The Kiss" occurred (and are recalled in my story). I am very grateful to WillieGarvin who gave me his blessing to launch this story from his. If you have not read "Sarah vs The Kiss" you absolutely should. Right now. It should enhance your understanding of where this story starts. More importantly, you should read it because it is wonderfully written and delivers oodles of warmth. That's right, oodles. It's a very quick read (less than 1k words long). I've read it a few times; it's practically therapeutic.
Reviews of the chapters/story and PMs to discuss "Chuck" are welcome and strongly encouraged! Hearing from readers is the highlight of writing fan fiction for me.
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Chuck woke up. More accurately, he opened his eyes, he had never really fallen asleep. How could he? Only hours ago all had seemed lost; Sarah had seemed lost. The words were synonymous, "all" and "Sarah," because he was not sure if he could have gone on for very long without her. What losing her for good might have meant for him, where it would have led, scared him. His fall would not have bottomed out on the sofa, in a bathrobe, inhaling cheese puffs. No, his fall would have been deeper, absolute. But he found her at their spot on their beach and she asked him to tell her their story.
Then she asked him to kiss her. For a few heartbeats after their lips parted there was nothing –and the despair that had stalked him from the moment her train car had separated from his coiled itself to pounce, to drag him over the edge and into utter emptiness. And then another heartbeat and someway, somehow the kiss –Morgan's magical kiss– had worked! Or at least it had to a degree: her feelings for him, if not her memories of him, returned. She told him she loved him. She said it. She repeated it. To Chuck it had felt like he was able to finally take a full breath of air, the tightness that had gripped his heart for the last few weeks had been released. The second kiss that followed, Oh boy! Magic or no, Chuck would never forget it.
From there much of what happened was a blur. He drove them back to Echo Park. In the car, Sarah described the memory she had glimpsed, and Chuck remembered asking her if she had suffered from any migraines, or if she had flashed in the time following Quinn abducting her. There had been no headaches, no flashes, nothing that suggested to her that she still had the Intersect. For the remainder of the trip the two barely said a word. Just a lot of smiles exchanged when he dared take his eyes off the road to make sure Sarah was really there, that she still wanted to be there. It was late when they arrived and quietly made their way into their apartment, then into their bed.
Now he laid in bed gazing at Sarah, who was deep asleep. He thought she must be exhausted. His ego chiming in at that moment, Oh, I bet she is, lover boy. Chuck quickly whisked that juvenile thought away. What had happened in their bed had been exhausting and, ah, marvelous. It might also have been foolishly impulsive, he thought. There was so much to sort out. He had tried to rein things in, to demure at Sarah's obvious intentions, but she had been so insistent. There were many things these last few years with Sarah had proven to Chuck; one was that he was powerless when she deployed her full wiles on him.
Yet as marvelous as that had been, at this moment he found himself thinking only about the first kiss back on the beach. What if he hadn't told Sarah of Morgan's kiss theory? Would they have kissed anyways? Maybe not. Hell, if not for Morgan, would Chuck have stopped overthinking his dilemma and let his heart point the way to her at the beach? Almost certainly not. Morgan. That lovable bearded goof was a savant when it came to Chuck and Sarah.
The urge to see his best friend, to speak with him and tell him what happened, hit Chuck sharply. He stole one more glance at Sarah –God, she's so lovely– and seeing her still sound asleep, slipped from their bed and into a t-shirt, jeans and a pair of Chuck Taylors.
A few moments later Chuck was through the courtyard and rapping at Morgan and Casey's door. "Morgan, I'm back." Conscious of the time, his voice started as a stage whisper but grew, as did the force of his knocks. "Buddy, I know it's really late, or really early. Whatever. But I'm back. I found Sarah." The door swung open, revealing a shirtless Morgan with an Empire Strikes Back towel wrapped around his waist. Chuck let out a small sigh, grateful that a sleeping-in-the-buff Morgan had had enough wits to grab something to cover up with.
"Chuck!" Morgan said, surprisingly alert. "You found her?"
"Yeah."
"What happened? You kiss her?"
"Yeah."
"Did she remember?"
"Yeah, well…"
"I knew it! That Walt Disney is a frickin' genius!"
"He is, buddy, but it wasn't exactly as I had hoped. All of her feelings about me are back. She told me she loves me. But her memories of the last five years –of me, you, everyone and everything since arriving in Burbank– still gone. I think her memories are there, somewhere –like her feelings were– but blocked. At least I hope so."
"Oh, man, that's great!"
"Great?"
"If she knows that she is head over heels for you, you kids will figure this all out, I'm sure of it."
"I hope so," Chuck said, anxiety creeping into his voice.
"Dude, I know so. You two are meant for each other, and no one is tougher than Sarah. I don't even think Casey would argue with that. And are you really sure she didn't get her memories back and just doesn't believe them?"
"What do you mean?"
"Chuck, when you think about it, the life you two have had together, come on. The Intersect. The adventure. Kickass hot blonde spy falls in love with computer nerd. It's like you two are in a movie or something. Or you should be."
In a movie? Chuck looked at his friend for a long moment.
"No," Chuck finally said, "She doesn't remember, or at least she mostly doesn't remember. When we kissed nothing seemed to happen at first, but she says a memory of her and me dressed up and me dipping her came to her, and then all at once seemingly every emotion for the past five years flooded back. She had remembered our wedding –sort of– at least I think she did. When a memory shows up she isn't getting much. It happened when we tracked Quinn to a Weinerlicious. Sarah was behind the counter and started arranging stacks of cups without giving it a thought."
"Like from her days working there?"
"Yeah! But she didn't realize it until I pointed out what she was doing."
"Ok, so, Sarah only has a few bits of her memories back, and she can't remember why she has the hots for you, but she knows she has the hots for you. Chuck, it's gotta be that damn Intersect crossing up her wires." Morgan's eyebrows pinched as he appeared to be mulling something over. Then he intoned, "I've got an idea forming in my head."
"What is it?" Chuck asked.
"Ellie's got the suppression program from Beckman." The pace of Morgan's words quickened and he pointed at Chuck. "All you have to do is MacGyver the hardware together –you did it on the train, right?– then plop Sarah down in front of it and, lickety-split, Sarah has her memories back."
"I don't have to build it. The General left the suppression device with me in case I wanted to use it on myself."
"That's awesome! So what are you waiting for? Have Sarah put it on."
"I'm not sure about that. Getting the Intersect out of your head didn't bring your lost memories back. Anyways, she says she hasn't had a flash or a headache since Quinn took her. I don't think she has the Intersect anymore. She no longer feels that sense of power the Intersect gives you. Quinn must have done something to her."
"Still, maybe it'll work," Morgan replied. Chuck knew his friend was trying to buoy his spirits.
"Don't get me wrong, buddy. Sarah and I will talk to Ellie today and see what she thinks we should do, but I'm not optimistic about suppression being the answer."
A wordless, worried moment passed between them. Chuck then asked, "Is Casey here? Maybe I should see what he thinks."
"Oh, sorry. He's gone. He came back here, but then took off. He's going to try to find Gertrude."
"Good for him."
"Alex is here, though. Me and Alex, we're moving in together."
"That's great news, buddy!"
"Yeah, we're excited. Casey gave me the apartment, which was really nice, but, I don't know. I think Alex and I need to find our own place, one that's right for us."
Chuck blinked a couple times, momentarily lost in thought. "'Our own place… that's right for us.' Morgan! You're a genius!"
"Of course I am. Um, how exactly?"
"I need to get the house!"
Morgan looked at Chuck skeptically. "The house? You mean the house where you took Sarah after kidnapping her while she was unconscious, where she tried kicking your ass and pretty much succeeded, and where Quinn shot you in the back? That house?"
Chuck rebutted, "Technically he was trying to shoot Sarah, and I jumped in front of the bullet."
Rolling his eyes, Morgan snarked, "Oh, that makes it much better."
"Morgan, I know it sounds crazy, but it's the first place I got through to her, the first place a memory of something we shared came back to her. It's her dream house from when she was young, she surely still remembers that. And it's the house she and I were dreaming of owning together just a few weeks ago. She had some memory of that return to her! With the memories of her childhood dream house and this real house as twin bookends, I think Sarah and I can work on restoring her lost memories in between. If Ellie doesn't have an answer for how to get Sarah's memories back, the house might be my best bet to help Sarah."
A switch seemed to flip in Morgan's head. "Of course! Chuck, you're absolutely right. I am a genius. You've got to get that house. Uh, how are you getting the house?"
"We've got the money for it now that the Buy More is sold. I'm calling the realtor first thing in the morning and hoping to God the house is still for sale."
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