I don't own Chuck

Several months later

"Kiss me Chuck"

They pulled away from each other, and Chuck knew it hadn't worked. He had been thinking about this for several days, how it would be to wake up, in a world he didn't know, no idea how he got there, people he didn't recognize. She didn't know how he could relate.

"I'm sorry, Chuck," she told him, real regret on her face. "I wanted it to work."

"I know," Chuck told her, a warm smile on his face. He gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Could I tell you one more story?" She nodded.

"So, I told you about how you saved me, but what I didn't tell you, and never did even back then, was what was going on with me, while you saved me," Chuck began. Sarah sat up with interest. "I didn't tell you how I failed you that day."

Sarah pulled her chin back, surprised. "Chuck, you said you were kidnapped, how did you fail me?"

"Let me back up a bit. While I was kidnapped, I thought I was in a world where my family was together, they loved me, and there was no intersect," Chuck told her. "That world was missing two things, my best friend, and the woman I loved."

"So it's kinda like me, except I'm not missing my best friend," Sarah said. Chuck grinned. "Oh, are you both?" she asked, grinning at him. Chuck shrugged, but then he nodded, she shoulder bumped him. "I can see that," she admitted shyly.

"But what was there was everything I had hoped for with my family," Chuck continued. "What was there was a way to get away from the pain. He paused, and looked her right in the eye. And what was there was a very important question; did you really love me for me?"

"So this world is your dream world in my case," Sarah realized. Chuck didn't answer, he just let her process what he had said. "So how did you mess up, how did you fail me?"

"When I woke up, you said, 'Without you, I'm nobody. I'm nothing but a spy. Come back to me, Chuck. I want to marry you,'" Chuck told her. She looked at him, gestured with her hands as if to say, "See." "That's not true."

"Chuck," she began to protest.

"Sarah, you are so much more than a spy," Chuck told her. "I didn't fall in love with a spy, I fell in love with you." She looked away, tears beginning to run down her cheeks. "I feel in love with your heart, the one you try to hide from everyone. I fell in love with your wit, your humor. I fell in love with you, regardless of what your name is, how much you remember, or where you are in your life's journey."

She wiped away tears and sat there, scared. "How'd you know you wouldn't get hurt?" she asked softly, looking out at the crashing waves of the ocean. "How'd you know that coming back was the right thing to do?"

"I didn't," Chuck admitted. "I'm not gonna lie, there was so much there that was everything I had dreamed of. And part of me, even knowing it wasn't really real knew it was safer. Physically, emotionally…for my heart. I don't know if you've noticed but sometimes," he paused as she began to giggle. "So you have noticed."

"Yeah," she told him.

"But the thing is, even though I knew the world I was in was a lie, there were parts of it that were so much safer," he admitted. Sarah nodded. "And then I had to make a choice, an active choice." She looked at him.

"What did you do?"

"You were there," Chuck told her. "I thought you were my subconscious, my Jiminy Cricket if you will. But you weren't. You kept saying over and over, you weren't her."

"Who was she?" Sarah asked.

"She was you, but she wasn't the person who I thought she was. I thought she was there to save me, to be my savior, she wasn't. She was there to get me to save myself," Chuck told her. "She told me that you, were my savior, but she was wrong as well, and I see that now." Sarah gave him a confused look. "See, that's what you and I do for each other. We keep saying we save each other." He shook his head. "We give each other strength, we give each other hope, we give each other courage, but at the end of the day, we save ourselves. Even when I shot Shaw to 'save' you." He made finger quotes at the word save. "You had saved yourself by believing in me, by giving me the confidence to go on, to do what was right, even when Beckman told me no. Sarah, that's why you're sitting here in your spot, in our spot. Because you have to make an active decision. It doesn't have to be today, but one day you have to decide to save yourself….if you want to be saved." She sat there quietly.

"And what do you do while I decide?" Sarah asked him.

He laughed. "I keep loving you, and believing in you," he said with a shrug. He looked her in the eyes. "It's all I can do."

}o{

Five years later

"Nice spot," he said, dropping down beside her on the beach.

"I rather like it," she told him, shoulder bumping him. "You doing okay?"

"I am," Chuck told her. "Lot going on in life, but I'm okay, you know why?" She grinned at him. "I have you by my side."

"Yeah, you do," she said.

"Seriously, you two," Morgan yelled from across the beach. "Quit looking at each other like that, isn't two kids enough?"

"He did offer to babysit and now he's complaining?" Sarah asked, chuckling.

"I think just for that we ought to have two more," Chuck said, as she leaned against him.

"At least," Sarah agreed. She turned to Chuck. "But not right now."

"Whenever Sarah," Chuck told her.

"Thanks, I mean, I could deal with the sand in places, but in front of Morgan and the kids…." She shook her head no as Chuck's jaw dropped.

"Woman," he said in a low voice making her giggle. "I love you Sarah Bartowski."

"I love you Chuck Walker,' she said, leaning over and kissing him.