AN1 This story is pretty much complete, being one of my shorter ones at ~ 20 chapters. So I'm posting it again because I've missed having it in my fanfiction portfolio.

Prologue

North Kensington

London

United Kingdom

It was a lovely breezy summer evening in the United Kingdom. The weather was fine, the location was beautiful, and two friends were once more enjoying the company of one another as they had done for so many days and nights previously in the many years they'd been friends.

At the homes of 16 and 18 Riverside Road in the borough of Kensington, London, England, the two sets of parents didn't see much eye to eye with one another. However, unlike their parents, Chuck and Sarah hit off immediately from the first day they met.

What followed afterwards was a friendship between the two now 18-year-old young adults that had been unbreakable for nearly 15 years—ever since the two toddlers caused havoc together at Nursery school.

Sarah and Chuck had been through trials and tribulations in their short lives thus far. They'd seen friends come: friends go, family members pass away and taken to the heavens, with Chuck suffering the grim realities of life in losing both his father and older sister to a terrifying car accident that had been the root of his nightmares ever since, while Sarah had suffered bereavement with the untimely death of her father.

However, what never changed was the absolute commitment between the two greatest of friends. Sarah had been there for Chuck's lows and his highs. Chuck had been there for Sarah's lows and also her highs. She'd been with Chuck on the day his mother broke the news to him that his father and sister had gone to the heavens to be with the angels. Chuck, likewise, had been there for Sarah when she arrived at his door with tears in her eyes, telling him that her daddy had died.

Sarah had been there for her best friend when he found it hard to cope with being without his influential father, who had first taught him about computer technology, and they'd sit playing games while his older sister would annoy him in a lovingly bothersome way that many older but young sisters would do.

Right now, Sarah was still here on this lovely summer evening as she played indoor Tennis at their local leisure centre, which had been the focal point of so many joys that these two young adults had experienced in the years gone by.

Their home, the home of their friends, their families, everything they had was right here, in this area.

But sadly, it would not last...

"I'm going to miss you so much when you leave," Sarah shouted loud enough so that her best friend—and so much more in her mind—could hear her as the young adults played indoor Tennis together inside a lavishly beautiful all-purpose leisure centre.

"It's not for another month or two. We still have the whole summer before I start university at Stanford," Chuck shouted back loud enough for his companion to hear as he fired a tennis ball in the direction of Sarah from the racket he'd first purchased at the same time as Sarah in what felt like an eternity ago.

Sarah didn't bother responding to Chuck's sporting actions, now losing interest in playing the game.

Giving up entirely, she walked to one side of the netting.

"I wish you wouldn't go," Sarah said in a much quieter whisper as Chuck had also now joined her to the side of the indoor playing surface. She'd been unable to hide a touch of neediness and disappointment in her voice as she disagreed with his decision to apply and be accepted (of course he would, he's Chuck) to a university in Stanford, USA.

"Sarah, we'll always be best friends, and I'll write, and we'll talk all the time, I promise," Chuck said with great sincerity, his voice in a soothing whisper as he put one hand comfortingly in reassurance on his best friend's shoulder. "If the phone calls aren't too expensive, that is!" Chuck added in with a joke and a smile as he gazed into Sarah's eyes in an attempt to cheer up his best friend's deflated persona.

Unwilling to register the joke as she didn't think the topic was funny, Sarah adjusted her eyes and met his gaze. "It's not the same," she replied dismissively, shaking her head in irritation to reinforce her disappointment.

"And I'll be back home for the holidays," Chuck responded in a very meek tone, trying to reassure Sarah that his relocation would not compromise their friendship.

The two best friends gazed at each other in a long moment of awkward silence, with Sarah looking as though she was about to burst into tears and Chuck looking anxious and nervous, unsure of what to expect.

"Come on, let's go do something else," he said eventually, trying to lighten the mood from its present dark state.

"I'm not really in the mood," she said, sighing, shaking her head in dejection.

She then put down a tennis racket that had given her many years of joy—or was it because of the young man she was using it with?

"Sarah, don't be like this, please, you know it's what I want..." Chuck said, pausing briefly, trying to connect and have his best friend meet his gaze. "I've always wanted to start my own software company, like Dad... Stanford gives me the best chance of that. Sarah, you're my best friend, and nothing will change that. But if I don't go, what else am I gonna do with my life? 'cause I can't think of nothing... Stanford is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me," he said with a pleading voice and a begging look, hoping to have his best friend reason and support his choice.

"I know..." Sarah sighed, hanging her head down in shame for a long moment. She knew it was selfish of her to want him to give up all of his dreams for her: they were best friends, not lovers, and even if they were lovers, asking him to give up his dreams for her would have been a stretch.

However, she soon lifted her head once more, nervously proceeding to give a burning gaze into the eyes of her best friend, a longing in her eyes. "But..."

"But what?" Chuck quickly interjected, querying her thoughts.

But what about what I want? she thought as she gazed at her best friend with an undisclosed romantic attraction towards him. Should I tell him? Maybe he might not leave if I do

Sarah opened her mouth as if to speak. However, she changed her mind at the last moment, shaking it off with her head and attempting to compose herself. "Forget it.. let's go..." she said, sighing—an obvious dejectedness and angst now written all over her depressed face and in the way she presented herself as the best friends departed their activity...

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Kensington

London

United Kingdom

A few days passed since Chuck and Sarah had been with each other inside the indoor Tennis hall at the enormous Leisure Centre that contained dozens of possible physical activities. They had not avoided one another since then, but the air surrounding the two seemed very different from when they'd been together since.

There was now a clear and present awkwardness and tension in the air that had never been present in their long-time friendship before. In fact, Chuck first began to notice tension in their companionship since Sarah had found out twelve weeks ago that he was exploring the possibility of applying to receive an invitation to study at the world-renowned Stanford University.

It had all come about when Chuck's further education and careers advisor had spent several weeks with Chuck asking about his goals and desires after finishing his A-Levels that he'd been studying at his privately educated school.

At the conclusion of those talks, his advisor had suggested to Chuck that as his grades in Computer Technology were literally off the charts, he would likely be accepted into attending Stanford as a Foreign Student and that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and he should grab it with both hands.

Initially, Chuck was reluctant as it would have meant that he would need to leave Sarah. And Sarah, her mother Emma and Sarah's younger sister Molly were all he had.

He barely saw his mother, who was always away for prolonged periods with work, but after a couple of weeks of indecision and his mind troubling him back and forth on the right path, he'd decided to take the leap. Chuck had decided that he wanted to do what he'd always dreamt of. He desired to follow in his father's footsteps, a successful computer engineer like Chuck aspired to be. He wanted a career that his father would be proud of. In a way, Chuck was doing it all for him.

Today, Sarah and Chuck were together again at an all-purpose swimming pool in the very same Leisure complex that they'd been at just a few days previously.

This particular part of the facility contained a relaxing jacuzzi pool, a whirlpool, diving boards and on weekends, inflatable assault courses in one of the two main pools, with a third pool being a child pool for below the age of eight and learners only.

It had taken Chuck until his early teenage years before he could swim. He was exclusively a shallow-end kid initially for a few years. Sarah, naturally a quick learner in all things physical, had learnt to swim several years before Chuck had. She'd teased him endlessly about his inability to swim on many occasions.

Chuck fondly recalled the moment he'd learnt to swim: his life had changed for the better as he no longer felt left out.

And in the case of Sarah, well, she finally had somebody to participate in the weekend's inflatable assault course with. Such activities were largely uninteresting on her own. Plus, she'd become quite bored of staying in the shallow water with her friend. Even though Sarah was an excellent swimmer, she had very rarely ventured into the deep areas until her best friend was able to with her.

Sarah and Chuck, now much older at eighteen, had just jumped into the deepest end of the pool.

The usual grunts and moans accompanied their immediate actions in complaint by swimmers who had found resting places along the top deep edge of the pool or were just casually floating in that end.

They came up out of the water several moments later for air, laughing and giggling away at one another, unconcerned about the rest of the people in the pool, so they wouldn't have noticed the sly looks on some of the swimmers' faces that they were giving Chuck and Sarah after having just been excessively splashed by the pair that had just bombed over their heads with waves of water soaking them.

"Crikey! The water is cold today!" Chuck complained as his body started to shiver.

"Don't be such a baby. It's like 30 outside, and in here, much warmer! I'm baking!" Sarah laughed before she extended both of her arms in front of her until her hands were touching, then proceeded to push them out and away from her and towards Chuck to cause a mini tidal wave which splashed all over Chuck's face.

"You're gonna regret that!" Chuck exclaimed in-between coughing fits as the splash caught him off guard and disorientated him.

"Yeah? Try and catch me!" Sarah laughed as she began high-tailing it away from the edge of the deep pool and swimming to shallower waters.

"I will!" Chuck stated with determination, likewise high-tailing right after his best friend.

He'd only been chasing her for a short moment and had almost caught her.

He knew she wasn't trying too furiously to escape him as Sarah could comfortably beat him in a swimming contest any day of the week.

He'd eventually caught her halfway up the pool, almost shallow enough for them to stand on their tiptoes.

"Caught you," Chuck said as he grabbed hold of her arms as the two young adults stopped in the middle of the pool, blocking off a lane and forcing swimmers to divert around them.

"Hurt my leg, had to stop," Sarah laughed as she looked down at her leg, pretending to be hurt.

"Yeah, right, and you owe me an apology," Chuck said, who wasn't having any of it.

"Make me," Sarah said defyingly as she weakly attempted to break out of his grip.

"Oh, so it's like that then, is it?" Chuck said before proceeding to dunk her head under the water feeling smug with himself for an ever so brief second before he was rudely interrupted by Sarah in some martial art move that Sarah always pulled on him every single time.

Chuck was no longer feeling smug with himself, now underwater himself and on his back with Sarah on top of him. She could not help herself smirking at him as she fought with and held Chuck in a grip under the water, allowing themselves to appear after twenty seconds.

"I never knew how you did that," Chuck stated incredulously, recalling to himself how many times she'd been able to do it to him previously over the years.

"You should have stuck with Taekwondo then, shouldn't you?" Sarah laughed as the young adults fought to restore their respiratory systems

"Yes, I should..." Chuck agreed.

"Do you yield?" Sarah asked, threatening to pull them under again using her legs.

"Yes, you win," Chuck said, not wanting to be forced and held underwater again.

"I always do," Sarah boasted laughingly.

"Show off," Chuck said, pulling a weird twisted face at her.

"Just being honest," Sarah continued to giggle.

"Can you let me go now?" Chuck asked as she was still holding him in some expert Taekwondo grip in the middle of the pool.

"Yeah, if you behave," Sarah laughed and smirked before she released her grip and moved out of Chuck's proximity slightly.

"Ok, Mrs Ainsley!" Chuck said—mocking a teacher from their school—that caused Sarah to immediately use one of her fingers to poke at his chest.

"How rude! I must be three times younger than her. Do I really look that old?" Sarah asked, shaking her head, feeling offended.

"Yes!" Chuck said, laughing and proud of himself.

Sarah shook her head in scorn. "Oh, now you're gonna get it! I'm mad now!" she said as she proceeded to lock onto Chuck like he was a precision target.

"Your turn to catch me!" Chuck shouted as he began swimming back to the deeper end they'd originally come from.

"Not even a contest!" Sarah yelled as she gave chase.

Sarah caught him back in the deep end. Chuck was hanging out and chilling in one of the four corners of the pool near one of the ladders to enter or exit—not that Chuck or Sarah needed the ladder; they made more explosive entries and generally just climbed up one of the edges when they wanted to leave.

Chuck was hanging lamely, regulating and restoring his airways after spending the last ten metres underwater. His head was above the water surface with the rest of him underwater when Sarah struck and attacked him from underwater and pulled him under by his legs as they grappled and tussled with one another once more as Chuck attempted to break free.

When they came up gasping for air a short moment later, they were both in coughing fits as they'd taken in too much water.

Chuck was now locked in the corner of the pool as Sarah had surrounded him.

"Crikey! Are you trying to kill me?!" Chuck moaned.

"Baby!" Sarah pouted.

"Sarah, I'm serious. I could have been dead," Chuck exaggerated.

Sarah took no notice of his complaints. "Shut up, Chuck."

"You're the devil," Chuck said, shaking his head at her. "I'm beginning to question the abuse I get in this friendship," he said tongue-in-cheek.

"No one would believe you," Sarah laughed while poking at his chest with a finger.

"What, with my good looks and a smile, I'm sure I could be convincing!" Chuck said while imitating a persuasive smile.

Sarah laughed at the witty remark: she was sure he could be convincing too.

"Ok, you're right. I should apologize."

"Good," Chuck agreed.

Sarah leant forward as if to whisper something in his ear before she ducked his head under water but let go after a brief moment this time.

"That's the last time you do that!" Chuck exclaimed with complete determination.

Sarah giggled with a sly smirk. "Ok, I'll stop now, I promise," she said.

"You better, or I'm getting out of this pool!" Chuck mockingly exclaimed.

With their teasing apparently at an end, they paused as they shared a glance, their eyes locked upon one another, their bodies near one another, as a familiar song record played on the overhead speaker systems in the pool facilities.

And what happened next, neither of them had expected or predicted, as Sarah's head began to move in motion towards Chuck's face, their eyes locked in the gaze of one another, Sarah's arms resting over Chuck's shoulders, her hands resting on the edges of the pool.

For a brief moment, Chuck's face also began to edge slightly towards Sarah's.

Their lips were almost touching when Chuck snapped out of the razor-sharp gaze he'd shared with his best friend and shook his head as if trying to restart his brain.

He then moved his frame delicately past Sarah's left arm where she'd had him tripped in the corner, and he proceeded to climb up the ladder to exit the pool leaving Sarah to stay motionless, rooted in her spot, unable to look up at Chuck in obvious embarrassment: both of them were.

"Let's go diving before you try to drown me again," Chuck said after a long moment, his face slightly flustered after the two best friends had almost passionately kissed.

Sarah still hadn't moved and hadn't been able to bring herself to make eye contact with the young man she'd almost kissed.

She appeared to be struggling to compose herself before she less than enthusiastically climbed up the ladder to follow her best friend…

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The next few weeks passed pretty uneventfully. Neither Chuck nor Sarah had spoken about what had happened at the pool together.

Despite Sarah having come literally within inches of meeting Chuck's lips with her own and kissing him, neither of the two young adults had ever kissed anybody before.

However, in the aftermath, it had shaken and rocked Chuck more than Sarah, as he didn't even know what was happening.

It was, after all, Sarah who had advanced on him, and while he did for a brief second begin to move his head to her, he quickly snapped out of the trance they'd had between one another, and he got out of dodge before something happened that may have damaged their friendship which was far too important to compromise.

However, sadly, today was the most eventful day of all, as it was Chuck's last moment with Sarah—for an undetermined time—as Chuck was at the train station preparing to get the train to take him to the airport and Sarah was with him.

They were on the platform where his train was due to depart.

She'd barely made eye contact and looked at Chuck since they arrived. Her body language was dejected—her head hung, and her shoulders sagged, gazing at the floor.

"Sarah, did you hear me?" Chuck asked softly after waiting a long moment of not getting a response from Sarah. He'd told her it wouldn't be forever, just three or four years. Maybe sooner if things didn't work out.

But that was just it.

She didn't want him to go.

She didn't even want him to go for one second, never mind four years! Sarah couldn't imagine her world without him. She didn't even care to live without this young man talking to her. If only she could tell him how she truly felt—how she'd cherish and look after him and make him happy here, in their country: their home.

He didn't need to leave for another country to start a new life.

He could live a new life here.

With her.

Together.

But did he feel the same way?

God knows Sarah had asked that question hundreds of times in the three years since she'd begun to develop romantic feelings for the boy next to her.

Not much had ever fazed Sarah Walker, but the prospect of Chuck Bartowski rejecting her scared Sarah a million times more than anything ever had in her life, and as such, she hoped that he would be the one to make the first move: but he never did.

She was also afraid of losing him: that it would drive them apart if they began exploring a passionate relationship with one another that didn't work out and ended sourly. Sarah could barely just about take not being able to be his lover, but she could never be without him. Just being with him was enough to make Sarah happy, but now he was leaving to go and study on a completely different continent...

She soon looked up blankly at Chuck to meet his gaze, struggling to fight off her inner battle racing through her head, unable to register what he was saying to her as her world began to shatter and break into a million small fragments.

Chuck blew out a long sigh in apprehension as he looked between Sarah and the train ticket conductor, who was furiously blowing at his whistle. "Well... I guess it's time for me to go," Chuck said dejectedly to his best friend. They had already properly said goodbye to each other the previous night as they took a walk together. And like now, Sarah had barely said a word: her body language looked exhausted and deflated as if she'd cried herself to sleep for the past week.

"I don't want you to go," Sarah suddenly said in a broken, meek tone, the hurt visible in her face as she said the words, a lone tear dripping from her eyelid.

"Sarah, we've talked about this for months now. We really have... I have to go. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, and I promise you I'll come back."

"You don't need to go!" Sarah shouted sharply, shaking her head dismissively.

"Sarah, I'm sorry, I really am, but we've been preparing for months. Now really is not the time. I really need to go. The train is about to leave," Chuck said in desperation as he glanced over and over between Sarah, the train conductor, and the train parked next to him that would take him to begin the next chapter of his life.

He was the last passenger left to board, and the foreman was tired of waiting for him as he continued blowing his whistle from the front of the train, more agitatedly looking in Chuck's direction.

Not getting a response from Sarah, who was still looking at the ground, her world evidently crushing all around her, Chuck tried one last time to get an acknowledgement from Sarah. "I'll phone you and write you all the time, I promise. And I'll come back to visit at every possible opportunity." Chuck gripped his best friend's hand briefly with his own for an extended moment before he turned from Sarah to go.

However, Sarah held his hand as if it was the only thing left that would stop her from falling into an abyss.

She soon raised her head from her sloped state to look at him, who now had his back to her. "Chuck… I lo..." Sarah couldn't finish her words as Chuck had broken the grip that their hands had held with one another, and he had ascended onto the steps of the slightly elevated train.

Once he reached the top, he turned to look back briefly at Sarah. He'd been unable to hear her quiet, soft words that Sarah had said over the background noise of the train and the busy and very loud train station. "I'll write to you, I promise," were his last words as he disappeared out from sight to take his seat, leaving Sarah alone on the platform, her world crushing and breaking all around her as tears streamed freely down her elegant young face.

"I love you," the young woman kept repeating to herself as she stood alone, inconsolable on the platform that the young man whom she loved more than anything in the whole world had just departed from, her life now sinking along with him without a trace as the train left the station, and she cried her eyes out.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Seven Years Later

Present Day

London

England

A lone figure walked labouredly along a street he used to know so well. It was a little bit out of the way of his planned journey, but he quite simply had to stop here in the place that had given him so many memories.

Not much had changed in what felt like a lifetime and eternity since he had last been here.

The actual time? Almost seven long years of mostly difficulties and challenges at every turn and very little success.

Actually, he'd regretted ever leaving.

He had sacrificed so much to attempt to start a life and make a name for himself—he had abandoned somebody that had stuck with him through many years of hardships, with many good times in-between that they'd created together.

He'd wished countless times that he could take everything back, that he could turn back the clocks, that he'd never left, that he'd listened to her pleas imploring him not to go.

But what was done was done, and he could not change the past, no matter what he'd give to do so.

As he continued his long walk of recollection, he felt a great shame because she was why he was back in a country he'd not set foot on for nearly seven long years.

He needed her help.

She was all that he had left...

As the young man continued to walk for the next thirty minutes, anybody could be forgiven for mistaking this young man to be exactly that, a young man.

His face wore bruises, he had a couple of weeks of growing unshaven stubble, and he had noticeable wear and tear on his face that he could have only obtained through a fight or a bad accident.

He wore dark sunglasses over his eyes, and his clothes were untidy and stuck out like a sore thumb in this particular part of London, where you would not see a home that sold for less than one million pounds. Throughout the journey, he'd had several glances of distaste at him.

If he were honest with himself, he would have been an instigator of those very same looks he was receiving under different circumstances if he'd seen a stranger walking around looking like he did in this part of the city. This young man was from an upper-class background himself, but right now, he felt the furthest thing from being that.

Arriving at his destination, he was absolutely exhausted from an hour-long walk after leaving the train station where he'd spent the last of his money just to get to the area.

He continued to walk down a South Kensington road for another minute before stopping outside a gate leading to a detached home.

The frail-looking man looked over his shoulder once more—for about the thirtieth time since beginning his journey—before he became satisfied that he could not see what he was specifically looking for.

Taking a moment in pause, the man emitted a deep sigh before he took hold of and opened a gate which led along a short pathway to a home.

The house and the small front-sided garden looked maintained from the exterior.

It did not look as good as the standards of most other front gardens on this road and in this area, but it was far from the point of looking abandoned—it was just plain.

The young man took a second deep breath of air, which he struggled for as his chest was heavily bruised, so breathing was not easy for somebody not being used to his body's present state of disarray.

After taking several moments to breathe in the summer air, he arrived at the archway to the home.

He hoped she still lived here.

They'd not spoken in several years, and he'd never been to this address. Attempting to calm himself but not doing a good job, he took the leap and knocked frailly on the door.

There was a long pause before he heard activity—so much so that he knocked a second time.

With still no answer, his mind started to think in dejection that the person he was looking for no longer lived there.

Panic quickly started to consume him, realizing he had nothing else in the world.

He was about to turn away when he finally heard activity.

"Just a minute," he heard somebody say, in a voice that sounded very different than what he remembered, though he was sure he could still make out a portion of it, but the voice he heard was very flat, without emotion.

He saw movement now. A figure had appeared behind the door.

The woman took a minute behind the door, probably looking through a spy hole who it was calling.

At that point, the young man was sure he heard a sigh before the door opened.

The young man didn't get a chance to say anything as the lady had already begun speaking. "Look... I'm not interested in anything you are selling, so please leave me alone," the lady said in that exact same emotionless monotone that almost broke his heart.

The lady turned and was about to close her door again when the man spoke, "Sarah! Wait... It's Chuck. I Uhm, I need your help….."

End of Chapter

AN2 The story will start off with minor angst, but it's merely a tool to offer a new beginning for Chuck and Sarah—a fresh chance.

A Second Chance.

AN3 Thoughts? I will probably post one chapter per week.