AN1 The idea for this story first came to me at the end of 2012. I bounced dozens of ideas off the wonderful Esardi, who is sadly no longer with us :(
Those ideas quickly developed into a story about hurt and comfort, but most importantly, New Beginnings is a story about love—pure unconditional love. This story will have multiple dark elements (an abusive starting relationship for Sarah that brings old wounds back to life), but they will be counterbalanced, and the light will shine through the dark.
Esardi liked the idea of this story so much, we ended up co-writing it together. Unfortunately, we only managed to get around five chapters deep when the issues of life took their toll on both of us, and we decided to put the story on the back burner.
I always swore I would pick this story up again in honour of easily the biggest sweetheart I have ever met on fanfiction.
AN2 Nothing is owned here. I am just retelling a story using the characters of Chuck in memory of a very close friend who is no longer with me (and us, because he was a devout Chuckster). This one is for you, Esardi!
New Beginnings
Chapter One
Echo Park
Sarah Walker entered the large park with her close companion Charlie at her side. Charlie was a one-year-old golden retriever, and he had been given to Sarah as a gift by her boyfriend to celebrate their first year of being together.
Charlie was exceptionally well trained, owed entirely to how Sarah had raised her loveable and energetic best friend. So, due to the canine's discipline and loyalty to its owner, Sarah could safely let him off the lead without fear of him ever running away from her.
Sarah simply couldn't imagine her life without Charlie if anything serious were to happen to him. The dog had given Sarah so much love and joy in the year she had been with him. Charlie's love and affection he had shown towards Sarah had gone a long way to helping to heal the mental scars she had suffered growing up in an abusive household where her mother was beaten regularly by a violent, alcoholic husband who hated to lose when he had gambled.
Unfortunately for Sarah, her sister Molly, and her mother, whom she cherished so dearly, her father had lost far more times than he had won on the many times he had chanced his arm.
Even the reason that Sarah was here today, in Echo Park, Burbank, California, instead of at her family home in Chicago with her mother, Emma, and with her sister, Molly, was because of her father. Five years ago, after yet another unsuccessful stint at a casino where he had lost a substantial amount of money, Jack Burton had returned home heavily under the influence of the vast quantities of whisky he had consumed. On that night, Emma had attempted to console her husband, but identically like so many times before she had tried it, Jack hadn't wanted her comfort. Instead, he had wished for somebody to take his anger for losing his money out on, which had so happened to have been his wife. Jack had proceeded to let loose yet another violent attack onto his faithful wife, and once more, like every other time, Sarah had been forced to heartbreakingly endure the cries and screams of her mother as she had cried and begged Jack to stop hurting her that had been the torment of so many nightmares of Sarah's young life.
On that night, something inside Sarah had snapped. She had grown up with her mother being beaten by her father whenever he had lost at gambling for five painstakingly long years since she was ten years old, and she could not take any more.
Sarah had quickly rushed out of her room, and she had run down the stairs to her mother's aid. When she had gotten to her, the sight that Sarah saw was still a sight that haunted her even to this day. Her mother was lying on the floor in the living area in a flood of tears, and she was in a dire state after the savage attack at the hands of her husband.
Sarah had shouted to her father to leave her mother alone, that she didn't deserve to be treated that way by him. But her father had taken no notice of her, and turning his anger towards Sarah, he had raised his hand towards her, and Sarah had cowered in fear. However, he didn't have a chance to hurt her as Emma picked up a poker from their fireplace, and she had hit him over the head with it. Emma's actions to protect her daughter caused Jack to fall to the floor unconscious.
In all the attacks on Emma before, she had never filed charges against the monster that was her husband. She had been dependent on him and could not have given her two daughters the life she had desperately wanted for them without him. Emma had hoped he would change back to the man she loved when she first married him, but he never did.
Emma had wanted her two daughters to have as much of a normal life as possible. Therefore, she had put up with the abuse from him despite what few friends that she had left telling her to do something about it. Jack Burton had made sure that Emma didn't have many allies. He had turned everybody against her. There had been times when Emma thought about ending her own miserable life, but she would never have done that because Sarah and Molly needed her love more than anything. And there was no way she would ever allow her children to be taken away from her and into foster care. So Emma had done the only thing she could think of. She had quietly suffered the abuse of the narcissistic monster for their children's sake.
That had all changed the moment Jack had raised his hand to his daughter. Taking the abuse herself was one thing, and she had accepted it as a sacrifice to further her children, but once he had raised his fist to her darling daughter, is when Emma had finally had enough of the sickening abuse. She had suffered for five whole years, and it was time to end the suffering once and for all, so she had dialled 911. When the police arrived, they relocated Emma, Sarah and Molly far away from Jack. Jack was an extraordinarily wealthy man and had connections. While at the police station, agents from the FBI had come, and they had spoken to Emma about the links her husband had. They had been keeping them under surveillance, and they knew they were not good people, so the only way to keep Emma and her two daughters from Jack Burton's reach was to give them new identities and a new life in San Diego.
Moving to San Diego had been like a breath of fresh air. Emma had gotten her degree in business, and she opened a small consulting firm and became a natural. Sarah and Molly flourished. No longer under the tyrannical thumb of their father, they slowly started to open up. Sarah even made friends. Two of Sarah's better friends were Carina and Zondra. It allowed her to heal and become stronger. To become more independent.
Three years later, Sarah decided to move away from her mother and sister. Sarah wanted to be free from the scars of everything that had happened, and the only way for her to do that was to freely live her life. Her mother was very disappointed. She always thought that her girls would be with her through thick and thin. However, Sarah still suffered from nightmares of those horrible nights. She still heard the screams of her mother's agony, and it was simply too much for her. She had been seeing a therapist who had suggested a trial separation from her mother as a form of healing those deep wounds.
Therefore, she began her new life in Burbank. Sarah quickly found a job working at the Orange, Orange, and she found a nice apartment, and she finally began to enjoy life more.
The first year had gone great for Sarah, she had met several friends, and one of her friends had even introduced her to a guy, Daniel Shaw. He was charming, there was a seven-year age gap between them which offered her safety, an older daddy type figure in her life, and he did and said things that her father never did, so Sarah decided to begin a relationship with him. Their relationship moved forward, and they eventually started living together.
Their second year, much like their first, had progressed their relationship. Sarah was not in love with Daniel Shaw, but he gave her security, and he showed a genuine intimate interest in her, which made her feel happy and fulfilled because nobody else ever had.
Right now, as she walked through the park, Sarah loved life more than she ever had.
Smiling down at Charlie, with his favorite ball in her hand, she said, "Go fetch, Charlie!" as she threw the ball off a long distance inside the park, and she watched with great satisfaction as Charlie sprinted to catch the ball.
However, he was beaten to the ball by another dog that had arrived before Charlie, and it quickly ran off in another direction. Sarah observed the breed of dog that had stolen Charlie's ball to be a German Shepherd.
Sarah was not afraid of Charlie reacting violently towards the German Shepherd that had just stolen his favorite toy—simply because he had not been raised that way. There was not a single ounce of violence within Charlie, of that Sarah had never been more sure. Nevertheless, she could not be so sure about the other dog that had just stolen Charlie's ball, as they hadn't encountered it before.
Charlie instantly gave chase after the German Shepherd, who was sprinting in the direction of its owner.
Deciding she needed to follow after Charlie and the German Shepherd, Sarah paced quickly in the direction of Charlie, his new companion, and its owner.
Arriving at their vicinity, Sarah paused as the owner leaned over the dog.
"Drop that ball, Lucy! That's not nice. It's naughty. I have told you this before," she heard him say in a commanding yet soft and oh so gentle tone.
Unable to stop herself from smiling at his voice and the scene taking place in front of Sarah's eyes, a vibrant smile took shape.
Lucy promptly dropped the ball, and her owner picked up the ball. With the ball in his hand, he turned to face her.
Sarah suddenly blinked multiple times, and her smile vanished in shock at the guy now just a few yards away from her. She was expecting maybe a middle-aged guy to turn around, but she couldn't have been more wrong. In her sight was a young adult who could not have been more than his early twenties. However, what had surprised and taken her back, was how attractive she found him to be. His facial features were well maintained. He had brown, chocolatey eyes, dark hair, which was relatively long, and full of curls, and he was grinning right at her.
"I'm so sorry. Is this yours?" he asked, outstretching his hand towards her.
Sarah lowered her gaze from his face for the first time, and her glance connected onto Charlie's ball in his hand.
A warm smile escaped her features once more, and she glanced up to make eye contact with him again. "It is. Well, it's his," she paused to laugh, and she nodded towards Charlie, who was looking expectantly up at the dog owner to get his ball back.
The beautiful man suppressed a laugh, and he nodded at her before turning his attention towards Charlie. "Here you are," he said, throwing the ball a short distance from Charlie, who instantly rushed to scoop up the ball into his mouth, and he ran off with it as the German Shepherd gave chase to its new friend.
An elegant smile erupted from Sarah as she shifted her glance back and forth between her companion and the guy stood facing her.
"I'm sorry again, by the way," he said, his tone conveying his sincerity towards her.
Sarah held her smile towards him, and she said, "It's really ok. There's no need to apologize. No harm done."
He grinned while nodding in acceptance at her. "That is one beautiful dog you have there, I must say," he said, nodding towards Charlie, still being chased by Lucy.
Sarah beamed a radiant smile towards him for his compliment. Charlie was Sarah's pride and joy, and she loved that dog more than she had ever loved anything in her whole life.
"Thanks. You too, she said, nodding in the direction of the German Shepherd before finishing back at him with her warm gaze.
"She's a character, heh. Always getting me in trouble. Not all dog owners are as forgiving as you are," he laughed to her.
Sarah laughed joyfully as she held her warm gaze towards the friendly dog owner.
"I'm Chuck, by the way," he said, grinning at her as he held out his hand towards her.
"Sarah," she replied as she moved to shake his hand.
"It's nice to meet you, Sarah," he said, his tone soft and welcoming.
"It's nice to meet you too, Chuck," she replied, as they held onto each other's hand for a second or two while gazing cordially towards each other until it turned slightly uncomfortable for the pair, and they released their hold of each other's hand.
"Well, Sarah, seeing as though our two companions are the best of friends right now, do you feel like walking them together for a short while?" he asked.
Sarah donned yet another smile towards him. "I'd like that, Chuck."
He grinned at her as Sarah started to stroll through the park together with him.
"Are you from around here?" he asked, making polite conversation.
Sarah shook her head. "I moved here a few years ago from San Diego, but it feels like home," she said.
Chuck grinned. "I'm glad you feel at home here, Sarah," he said.
Sarah returned his warm gaze. "Thank you."
"I've always wanted to go surfing in San Diego, though. Have you done it?" he asked.
Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I love the beach and being in the water," she admitted.
They held their warm glance. "Me too, and so does Lucy. Have you taken your friend to the beach before?"
Sarah shook her head, and her smile faded in sadness. "There's too much sand. I wouldn't be allowed to because I live in an apartment, and I wouldn't be a friendly neighbor if I left sand everywhere."
His lips creased in sympathy. "I'm really sorry to hear that, Sarah. All dogs love the beach. I guess it allows them to be free," he said.
Her warm gaze towards him returned. "I'm sure it does. Maybe one day I'll be able to take Charlie," she said with a sparkle in her eye as her mind raced with thoughts, and she pictured herself at a beach with her best friend and being able to give him the freedom of the water, and endless sand.
He grinned at her. "I hope so, Sarah. You will both have a lot of fun there, and you won't regret it."
"Thank you," she said.
"You can tell me to mind my own business now, but may I inquire as to how old you are, Sarah?" he asked.
Sarah suppressed a laugh while continuing to hold a warm glance with him. "It's ok. I'm twenty," she revealed.
Chuck paused in place, and she stopped walking with him. Glancing up at him, as he was relatively taller than her, he appeared stunned.
"Wow," he said as he shook his head. "For someone so young, you represent yourself so well, Sarah," he said, as a grin returned to his face.
A titanic smile escaped from Sarah, but she broke her glance from him briefly in shyness. Returning her glance up at him a short moment later, but with her breath caught, she said, "Thank you."
He held his grin towards her, which gave her the confidence to speak more than two words to him. "How about you?" she asked, feeling glad that at least three words were better than two.
Still grinning, he said, "I'm twenty-seven."
Sarah did a double-take, and she suppressed a laugh as she shook her head. "Wow, no way," she said.
He laughed. "Yes, unfortunately. I know. I look much older than I am," he joked.
Sarah sharply shook her head. "That's not true. I actually thought you were younger," she admitted.
His eyes narrowed. "Wow, really?" he asked, shaking his head as he suppressed laughter.
Sarah nodded affirmatively, and they shared a moment of laughter together.
Pausing in place, Charlie and Lucy soon returned to the proximity of Sarah and Chuck.
"I guess they've had enough playing," Chuck said, gazing at her.
Sarah nodded. "Yeah, I guess they have."
"Well, it was lovely to meet you, Sarah," he said as he grinned at her before he turned his attention to Charlie. "And you also, can't forget you, Mr," he said as he moved to stroke Charlie, who licked away at Chuck's face, which caused Sarah to giggle sweetly, and a bright smile shone through her features.
"It was really nice to meet you too, Chuck," she said.
He nodded, and they paused for an extended moment in silence as they gazed at each other.
Sarah knew this was the end of their walk together, and she could not help but feel a rather concerning amount of sadness that they would now likely part ways.
The conversation she had held with Chuck had been one of the best she had experienced. He was a really nice guy, but even if she had wanted to continue to talk with him, and she very much did, she knew she was in a relationship, and that with some regret, this is where they must part ways.
It appeared that Chuck, too, had interpreted the same message between them. "I should probably head off now," he said, his tone unmistakably one of regret.
She nodded at him. "Yeah… Me too," she said, her tone identical to that of his own.
He returned her nod, and they attempted to smile at each other, but this latest exchanging of facial expressions was by far the weakest out of the previous ones they'd shared during their time at the park.
"I really hope you enjoy your day, Sarah. I'll see you around," he said his final farewells.
"Thank you. And I wish the same to you. Bye, Chuck," she said.
"Goodbye, Sarah," he replied.
They shared one final glance before they parted ways, and they started to walk away from each other. However, Sarah was unable to resist from looking back one last time in the direction of Chuck. He was putting Lucy back onto her lead. Once he had completed his action, he met her glance from a distance between them, and Sarah quickly turned away in embarrassment from being caught looking back at him again.
Sarah quickly exited the park, and she walked a short distance with Charlie before they came to a stop, now completely alone and Chuck no longer in sight.
Sarah swallowed a massive gulp of air as her mind began to race with thoughts, and she replayed the warm encounter with Chuck...
End of Chapter
AN3 Next Chapter: Sarah and Chuck encounter each other again but in totally different circumstances. I wonder what those circumstances will be? (there is no espionage or CIA in this story in any way. It's a realistic take on life story)
AN4 The first chapter to this story has more than doubled since I first attempted to tell it eight years ago. It's not the same story any more. And in my opinion, it's a far better one due to how far my ability to tell a story has advanced.
AN5 Thanks for reading today. Is there anybody who wishes to share this story with me? If you would like to, please leave a review and let me know :)