A/N: Last chapter, Chuck decided he would take Sarah back into his life. In this chapter we'll see how they get on.

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Still betaless, but ready to make corrections, if you let me know of any mistakes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or the lyrics I have used. An excellent song by Frankie from the early 80s, this time.

Chuck – After You

Chapter 16 – The Power of Love

This time we go sublime
Lovers entwine, divine divine
Love is danger, love is pleasure
Love is pure-the only treasure

I'm so in love with you
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

The power of love
A force from above
Cleaning my soul
The power of love
A force from above
A sky-scraping dove

Flame on burn desire
Love with tongues of fire
Purge the soul
Make love your goal

I'll protect you from the hooded claw
Keep the vampires from your door

"The Power of Love"
Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Sarah moved back with Chuck as soon as she left the hospital. Miami Beach. The property is lovely and sitting by the beach, the view is breathtaking.

They don't share a bed straight away. Sarah is more ready than Chuck, but doesn't want to push him.

The power of her attraction to him is a bit frightening, but her memories of making love to him are so wonderful and push that fear away. She wants that again, but it's not likely to happen again soon.

However, that's not the only problem. Chuck is still having trouble readjusting and believing she will stay. For Sarah, the bad times are being reinforced by his behavior, but she wants to let him work this out on his own, so doesn't push.

She knows he will protect her from ever getting hurt by others again, as she would him. For her that is not just a resurgence of her protective role from their early days together. It is protecting the love of her life. She is sure the same is true for him. He does love her, but he just isn't showing it.

Sarah has told him everything about her time away from him and how she had felt. Him to do the same just isn't happening. She has tried pushing on this, but he just shakes his head and walks off.

After a fortnight, she has gotten to breaking point. He is being "nice" to her, but seems no closer than when she first arrived. His eyes still look haunted.

She'd been noticing him watching her when he thought she couldn't see, right from the start. He's an awful spy! He can't stealthily watch her at all, but when she noticed him doing it, he almost seemed tearful.

Today, Sarah decides she will have to initiate some changes.

Over a coffee together, she tentatively suggests, "Chuck, why don't we see your family, so they can see we are back together. I'm sure they are wondering."

She also hopes it will make him realize she wants not only to be with him, but to be around his family too.

The suggestion does seem to brighten him up a bit, but then he thinks about how he had abandoned them all. "God! El!"

She has to stop herself from laughing at that. She knows he calls his sister 'El' rather than 'Ellie', but this sounded like "God. Hell."

She places her hand on his arm. "Chuck, she loves you," she starts and then decides to emphasize her feelings for him. "Almost as much as I do." She gazes into his eyes trying to convey all that love.

That does bring a slight smile to his face, He could gaze into her eyes forever and what he could see there, did make it feel like she loves him. "Thank you, Sarah."

She nods. "We should see Ellie first, then."

He nods back, but looks hesitant.

Sarah knows he will probably stall, so pushes him. "Chuck, ring her. Make the arrangement."

She can see the dread in his eyes, but he agrees. "You're right. Here or Chicago?"

She knows that he hadn't been to Chicago, but they obviously haven't been here either. Going to Chicago will take him out of his comfort zone, away from where he feels safe. "Invite them here. It can be a holiday for them and they'll all love this beach. And they'll love seeing where you now live."

He appreciates her doing this and gets a sudden urge to tease her about it. "You're right again. Should I let you make all the decisions?"

This is the first time he has teased her since they had been back together. It feels so good. She wants to say 'yes, about everything', but decides to just tease back. She lowers her head, looking at him through her lashes and says, coyly, "Maybe."

Chuck can feel himself falling for her charms and gulps. He has a mission now, though. Not one he wants, but an important one. "I'll call her right now."

He picks up his phone and makes the call. It's Saturday afternoon and he realizes he has no idea of Ellie or Devon's work patterns in Chicago. Maybe she's at work and can't take calls.

Then she answers. "Chuck?"

She doesn't sound mad at him, just unsure. "Hi, El." He looks at Sarah as he puts it on speaker.

"God, it's good to hear you voice, little brother."

To Sarah, he looks ashamed. "Sorry I've not called before, El."

There's a pause, then Ellie replies. "I'm not going to lie. It's been hard, but I am so glad to hear you now. Mom's been telling me how you've been getting on."

Chuck gets a sense of hurt from the way she says the last sentence, but decides to just ignore that. "Good. So, you know I found Sarah."

Ellie sighs. "Yes. I'm so glad. How are the two of you getting on?"

Both Chuck and Sarah can tell she isn't just asking a general question, but also 'getting on with each other'. He ignores that and replies, "Fine." He doesn't want the interrogation to start, so rushes on. "Sarah has suggested we should see each other. How would you all like a holiday down here?"

"Where's here, Chuck? You've never told me and Mom is keeping that secret too." She definitely sounds hurt.

Chuck's face is bright red. "Sorry, El. Miami Beach."

He can hear Ellie stifle a squeal. "Oh, Chuck, that would be wonderful! When?"

He smiles at that. "Whenever you can, El."

"Well, both Devon and I already have a week off from next Saturday. We were going to spend the time getting to know the area better, but if that okay for you, we could come then."

Chuck looks at Sarah. She nods enthusiastically. He replies, "Perfect."

Ellie sounds happy as she says, "It will be so good to see you. Both of you. Tell Sarah, please."

Sarah speaks for the first time. "It'll be good to see you too, Ellie."

It takes Ellie a few seconds to respond and then sounds a bit tearful. "Oh, Sarah. It's so good to hear your voice."

With tears forming in her own eyes, Sarah replies, "Same here, Ellie. I've missed you."

Chuck is both happy and sad to see Sarah crying. She obviously means what she is saying, but he hates her crying. "Okay, El. I'll send our address to you. See you in a week."

They hear Ellie sniff. "Yes, in a week. Love you both."

Chuck and Sarah reply at the same time.

"Love you too, El."

"Love you too, Ellie. Can't wait to see you."

Ellie, Devon and Clara have just arrived.

Ellie leaps out of the car and wraps her arms around Chuck. Sarah has been holding back, but notices Ellie whispering to him and giving him a kiss. She notices him relax, the tension seeming to disappear.

Sarah has been worrying about how Ellie would be with her, in spite of the phone conversation, but is happy to find Ellie embracing her in one of her famous hugs. Crushing. That triggers happy memories, which she instantly tells Ellie.

"So, memories still returning, then?"

"Yes, Ellie. Most of them good ones, thankfully!"

The Woodcombs have settled in and Chuck is now playing with Devon and Clara. Sarah turns to Ellie. "Ellie, can I talk to you for a few minutes?"

Ellie nods and Sarah pulls her through to her bedroom.

Ellie looks at the set up. "You're sleeping apart still?"

Sarah nods sadly. "Chuck's not ready to share a bed yet."

"Oh. Is that what you want to talk about?" Ellie asks.

"No, it's not." Sarah pauses for a second. "He won't tell me about how he got on without me. I think he doesn't want to cause me any pain, but I need to know. I need to know the barriers to us being together. Can you tell me anything?"

Ellie just looks at her for a while, then nods. "Yes, you should know."

They sit on the bed and Ellie starts, "He was a mess, Sarah."

Sarah feels awful, but wants more than that, so she pushes. "I'd already guessed that from what Casey told me and how Chuck was behaving when he came to the hospital."

Ellie continues, "When you first left, Devon and I were getting ready to move to Chicago. When I saw him return to his apartment from the beach, I knew I couldn't go straight away. He was devastated. I stayed with him for another two weeks, trying to help him." She gives Sarah a flat look. "To help him get over you."

Sarah starts to cry, but just nods.

"He told me that you said you'd come back, but not until you got your memories back. Was that right?"

Sarah is having trouble talking, but nods, then shakes her head. "I actually said I needed to get my head together and understand how I felt. About everything. But I did say, as he mentioned, that I would come back once I got the memories back." She looks at her sister-in-law. "I meant that, Ellie, I really did."

Ellie just asks, "So, what happened?"

Sarah looks down. "Memories did start to come back. Very painful memories. All of Chuck hurting me, Ellie."

Ellie calmly asks, "How did he hurt you?"

A very quiet voice gives the reply, "He kept rejecting me."

"Tell me more," Ellie pushes.

"First there was Lou."

Ellie asks, "The deli girl?" Sarah nods. "But you weren't in a real relationship then, Sarah."

"I know that now, but in the memory, it felt real." Ellie's face was the perfect spy mask, giving nothing away. Sarah continues, "Then he got back together with Jill, pushing me out again. The memory was of finding them in bed together." She starts crying again.

Ellie shakes her head. "That would be painful. It was like what he saw with Bryce and Jill."

"Then I remembered being on a train platform waiting for him to run away with me. He had promised to come, but when he turned up I kissed him and he pulled away and said he wouldn't come. I was giving everything up for him, Ellie, and he rejected me. In public. He broke his promise and my heart."

Ellie nods her understanding. "Is that it?"

"That was all I remembered then, but since then I have also remembered him arriving on a plane. I was waiting for him and he turned up with another woman. Someone he was going to work with. I was rejected again.

"He kept hurting me, Ellie. He didn't seem to care about me, my feelings, at all! I knew that if I returned he would hurt me again. I couldn't let him do that to me again."

"So, you wrote that letter."

"Yes, Ellie, I wrote that letter. It was hard, I had these strong feelings for someone who just kept hurting me. I've had that all my life. With my mom, my dad, even with CIA partners. I couldn't let someone do that to me again."

Ellie sits quietly for a couple of minutes. Sarah was starting to think that the conversation was over, then Ellie speaks again. "Do you have any idea what that letter did to him?"

Sarah looks at her and nods. "I didn't know at the time, but Casey told me recently."

"God, Sarah, you're as bad as each other!" Ellie gets up and starts pacing up and down. "You are fantastic together. I've never seen a couple more in love, in tune with each other, but when you get hurt, you just focus on your own feelings and don't think what you are doing to the other." She plumps herself back down on the bed beside Sarah.

"He fell apart, Sarah. I was in Chicago by this time, but he called me. I came straight back."

She looks straight into Sarah's eyes. "He became suicidal."

She's heard this from Casey, briefly, but wasn't completely sure it was true. Casey would sometimes exaggerate to get a point across. Hearing it from his sister meant it was real.

Sarah puts her hands over her mouth. "Did he…."

"No. We stopped him from trying anything, but it's the closest he ever came to it, Sarah."

Sarah buries her face in her hands. "I did that to him! Oh, God." She can't stop sobbing.

"I stayed with him for three weeks. After a week, Devon brought Clara. She actually helped him quite a lot. And so did Emma and Molly."

Sarah is surprised. "Mom and Molly came?"

"Yes. Chuck used to see them a lot. They're his family now too."

She just says, "Chuck told me about them. I thought I'd lost touch with my mom before that. I still haven't contacted them. I wanted everything to be back to normal first."

Ellie shakes her head, "You should contact your mom. She'll be worried about you."

Sarah nods, but doesn't want to discuss that any further. Her relationship with her mom has always been a bit strained.

Then she remembers what they had been discussing. ""So, Chuck recovered?"

Ellie shakes her head. "I think recovered is too strong a word, but he agreed to stay alive. He left LA to get away from the memories and started a new life here." She pauses again. "He broke off contact with us, Sarah, wanting to be away from all of us."

Sarah could see the pain in Ellie's eye, so keeps quiet. Eventually Ellie continues, "Well, not all of us. He kept in touch with Mom."

Sarah nods, "She told me."

Ellie looks at her, shocked at hearing that. "She did? When?"

"When I was still in the hospital, before Chuck brought me here."

Ellie chuckles realizing what had probably happened. "Mary Bartowski, Marriage Councilor!"

Sarah smiles, "Yeah. She gave us both the pep talk each of us needed."

"What did you need, Sarah."

"To have faith. To believe there was hope for us. To trust him. But mainly to ask him what he wanted. To talk to him."

Ellie smirks at her, "You two? Talk?"

Sarah smiles, a bit sadly. "We've never been good at that, have we?"

"God, no!"

"So, you did talk?"

"I told him what I had remembered and how I felt as those memories returned. My thoughts and my fears. My insecurities. I was completely open, laid bare. I've never felt so vulnerable in my life, Ellie."

Ellie just nods.

"And I asked the question that had me most afraid." She looks down for a few seconds. "I asked if he could ever take me back. After what I'd put him through."

Ellie grasps her hands. "Sarah, you're all he wants. All he has wanted since he first saw you."

Sarah looks up at her. "I know that was true before, but after I hurt him so much, I thought he wouldn't want me."

Ellie can see the complete honesty in Sarah's eyes. "Chuck Bartowski is a very forgiving person."

Sarah gives her a small smile. "I know, Ellie."

Ellie shakes her head. "He's also an idiot sometimes."

Sarah doesn't understand and raises an eyebrow.

"Hannah. And that hell-spawn, Jill. I felt like dumping him as a brother when he read your letter to me."

Sarah chuckles at that.

Ellie sobers up. "You also wanted to talk about rooms."

Sarah shakes her head. "No. Not about rooms. We are living together, but he's not completely opening up. I thought knowing exactly what happened to him would help me, but I'm not sure it does."

Ellie remembers what Sarah had said earlier. "Have you talked to him about it?"

Sarah just looks at her for a while. "No."

Ellie frowns and, getting frustrated, says, "Why?"

"I don't want to push him, Ellie. I want him to have the time he needs."

Ellie groans. Looking up in the air, she almost shouts, "Oh, God! Give me strength!" She then brings her eyes back to Sarah. "Like you, he spirals. He also has his insecurities. He will probably be giving you your space. Not wanting to push you. You two are the worst communicators. In the world!"

Ellie glares at Sarah. "I feel like I should have a talk with him about it, but after last time I did that, he came here and hid from me. He won't want my advice."

Sarah instantly responds, "No, Ellie. Please don't. I don't want to cause any more problems between you."

Ellie smiles at that. "Thank you, Sarah."

A more hesitant Sarah then says, "So, I should talk to him about it?"

Ellie almost shouts, "Yes!"

Sarah smiles and looks determined. "Okay. I will. Thanks, Ellie."

Ellie looks at her dubiously. "Do I need to call the Marriage Councilor?"

Sarah sighs. "No. Mary doesn't need to intervene. Yet."

"Good."

A/N: So, Chuck's taken her back to Miami, but he's not opening up to her. Typical Chuck behavior. Next chapter, Sarah has 'the talk'.

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