Posted November 16, 2022

A/N: Imho, this break-up was needed so Chuck wouldn't "cheat" on Sarah with Jill. But why did they always have the need to make Chuck think less of himself?

"Chuck vs the Break-Up" (2x03) Recap

Flashing back to the streets of Bogota, Columbia, 2005, Sarah and Bryce made out against the side of a building. They ran through the streets because they were on a mission to escape with a metal case. When Bryce was captured, Sarah held it up, blocking the view of her slipping a gun out of her back waistband. Bryce gave his partner an order to shoot, and she shot the man who was holding him. Bryce thanked Sarah, giving her a long-stemmed rose he stole from a vendor.

Back in 2008, Chuck threw out his rose from the failed Montgomery to Sarah's apartment and returned home, where Ellie and Devon were on the couch. Chuck told them the date was over because Sarah's ex was back in town, wanting to be friends.

At Buy More, the Mighty Jocks, led by Mitt, had taken over the home theater room, playing Madden football on the TV. Lester ordered Morgan to kick them out. Morgan calmly told them that they needed to be quiet and clean up. Mitt sarcastically apologized and stuffed his burrito in Morgan's pocket. Then, he scared the beard green shirt so he wouldn't interrupt again.

In Castle, Chuck asked Sarah if Bryce was staying with her. Beckman suddenly appeared on the screen and asked what they were talking about. The general then gave them a mission to retrieve an encrypted microchip which would refresh the Intersect. Agent Larkin had given them a lead on Von Hayes, who Fulcrum hired to decrypt the chip.

Chuck said posing with Sarah as a married couple on the mission, sounded like fun, but Beckman said "a real spy" was needed. Chuck's nemesis showed up and gave Sarah a ring to be his cover-wife again.

Later at Orange Orange, Bryce hit on Sarah, saying they needed to keep up appearances because someone might be watching. Sarah refused his advances and said they needed to keep it strictly a cover. From outside, Ellie saw Bryce from the back, but didn't see him well enough to know he was alive.

Back in the home theater room, the Mighty Jocks had ignored Morgan's request to be quiet. Lester repeated his order to Morgan. This time, they turned off the power to the game, infuriating the ruffians. When Morgan said he had been ordered by Lester, Mitt threatened them both.

At Sarah's apartment, Bryce ribbed Chuck for bringing a rose to Sarah the night before. Chuck asked if Bryce was staying with Sarah. Bryce said he was for cover and then questioned if Chuck could keep the lines from being blurred between him and Sarah. Chuck denied there was anything under the cover.

Sarah emerged in a red dress for the mission and asked how she looked. Chuck said she looked good but salmon wasn't really his color. Sarah was unhappy about Chuck's reaction.

At the party, Von Hayes flamboyantly announced that everyone should have a good time. Bryce and Sarah cleared the dance floor when they started the Lambada. Bryce complimented Sarah's dancing, but complained that Sarah wasn't letting him lead. She said he was rusty.

As a waiter, Chuck was distracted by how Bryce and Sarah were dancing, so he accidentally poured on Von Hayes. Chuck apologized and went to get a fresh bottle. Chuck dropped the new bottle when he saw Bryce and Sarah deeply kissed at the end of the dance.

Because he had dropped a thousand dollar bottle, Chuck was fired. On the way out, he heard a Fulcrum agent tell Von Hayes they wanted the microchip. Casey got Chuck back inside, past a locked door.

Chuck hid under a table and heard the Fulcrum agent demand the decrypted chip. Von Hayes panicked and dropped his key chain. Chuck flashed on it, so he knew the microchip was on the key chain. He also saw the Fulcrum agent. When Chuck called on comms to Casey, the Fulcrum agent overheard and captured him.

Bryce and Sarah raced after Von Hayes, who had run off. Casey told them on comms that Chuck was being taken the opposite direction. Sarah started after Chuck, even though Bryce argued the chip was more important than the human Intersect.

Sarah rescued Chuck, but the Fulcrum agent got away and slid a grenade puck at Chuck and Sarah. Chuck was safe behind a car, but the explosion caused debris to hit Sarah on the back of the head, knocking her out.

The next day at Westside Medical, Chuck took Sarah her favorite flower, gardenias. Ellie had told Chuck that she had a concussion. Sarah said it was minor. She was happy Chuck didn't get hurt trying because it was her job to protect him.

Bryce had sent Sarah dozens of flowers, which made Chuck feel inadequate. Outside Sarah's room, Ellie furiously told Devon that Sarah's ex was hanging around. Devon went to deal with him before Ellie did. While giving first aid, Devon told Bryce that Sarah was dating his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Chuck, and she was in love with him.

At Buy More, Anna found that Morgan and Lester had stayed all night to avoid Mitt. When Mitt came into the store, Morgan bribed him with PSPs.

Bryce surprised Chuck at the apartment courtyard and said that he was worried because Sarah chose Chuck over the microchip. Chuck argued it was her job to protect him, but Bryce countered that she had feelings and those were going to get her killed.

In the apartment, Devon gave Chuck flowers, which he had intercepted from a delivery to Sarah's room. Chuck called the phone number on the flower's note, but it was Von Hayes, not Bryce.

Chuck told Casey that he had negotiated the return of the microchip from Von Hayes in exchange for immunity and $4.5 million. At the hospital, someone from Fulcrum pretended to be a doctor and tried to kill Sarah, but she saw through the ruse and stopped him. At the train station exchange, Chuck tried to make the swap, but Von Hayes was spooked and ran off.

On the train platform, Chuck ended a standoff with Von Hayes, some Fulcrum henchmen, Casey, and Bryce by giving the exchange money to the henchmen. Von Hayes was happy he had been saved, but Casey wasn't because taxpayer money was lost.

Back in the main part of the station, the Fulcrum agent from the party captured Chuck. Bryce lowered his gun, but ordered Sarah to shoot the Fulcrum agent. She hesitated because she wasn't sure about shooting at someone right next to Chuck. Casey saved the day by shooting the Fulcrum agent in the back.

At Buy More, Mitt and the Mighty Jocks demanded another bribe. Morgan had no money, so they went to fight in the cage in the back. Before Mitt could beat down Morgan, Anna entered the cage to defend her boyfriend. She used a tripod to take down the much larger Mighty Jock.

Once again, Bryce surprised Chuck at the apartment courtyard. He said Sarah should have taken the shot (with a concussion). He said Chuck was going to do the right thing because he always did and someday he would realize Bryce was looking out for him.

That night, Chuck and Sarah sat outside by the fountain. He said she was the greatest thing that's ever happened to him: beautiful, smart, laughed at his jokes, and constantly saved his life. She was everything that he thought he ever wanted. However, he was a normal guy, and Sarah would never be normal, so they had to break-up. They then went into the apartment to help plan Ellie and Devon's wedding.

Later in Chuck's room, he found sunglasses and a note that said "For a real spy." Chuck tried on the sunglasses and pretended to be Charles Carmichael. A chip in the sunglasses triggered an Intersect update. After downloading, Chuck collapsed, falling flat backwards.

Songs (from 2x03):
- "Fake Empire" by The National
- "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver

www. imdb. com (8.5/10)
chuckthisblog. wordpress. com (28/91)

Monday, October 6, 2008

Sarah tightly clenched the bag of Bamboo Dragon take-out, steeled herself, and knocked on the door to Chuck's apartment. Early yesterday, she would have tapped on Chuck's window and slipped in through the Morgan Door. If Ellie had locked it, Sarah would let herself in the front. (Locks were not a roadblock for her.) But last night, Chuck broke up with her

It caught her by surprise again, and she hated surprises. It wasn't like the first time he did that, though, when he broke up with her at her cover-job and immediately asked someone else out. Back then, she wished she did what was necessary to stop him from going out with that food smuggler. They wouldn't have recovered Bryce, but that might not be a bad thing because Fulcrum wouldn't know about the Burbank Buy More.

This time Chuck and she weren't broken up in the cover. Immediately after the sweetest possible break-up, in which he did nothing but cover her with compliments, they went to dinner with Ellie and Devon. Last time, she staged a public break-up the next day at Buy More. She didn't want to do that in front of Chuck's sister, so she wanted Chuck to take the lead. He didn't. He never told them and pretended like they were still boyfriend and girlfriend. Chuck treated her the wonderful way he always did. She didn't think Chuck was a good enough spy to fake that. He broke up with her, but he was obviously still in love with her. Staying Chuck's cover-girlfriend to protect him as an asset who was in love with her was going to be really hard.

Technically, that's all they were before he broke up with her. Sarah didn't think their "thing under the under-cover-thing" was ever going anywhere, but it was nice to think they both wanted it. That wasn't true anymore. Chuck might think he loved her, but by breaking up with her, he told her he didn't want them to be a couple. She wasn't Chuck's "real" girlfriend, and "practice" was no longer an option, so she had to get past that and just protect him.

She wasn't Chuck's "real" girlfriend, but she had a cover-reason to do what she was doing at the moment. Last night. Ellie and Devon said they were both working, which Sarah had already known. Ellie pointed out that Chuck had the day off, which Sarah also had known, because it was her job as Chuck's handler. Sarah also knew Casey was at his cover job today, even though Chuck wasn't there. Casey had to work because the new Assistant Manager Lester was scheduling him when Casey didn't need to be there. Chuck wasn't at Buy More to make sure he stayed below 40 hours. The fact that Morgan was also working meant Chuck was home alone. That was the reason for Ellie's not-so-subtle hints.

Sarah wasn't worried about Chuck's safety in the apartment, meaning she wasn't there for protection. She wasn't almost a "real" girlfriend, but a "real" girlfriend would want to take advantage of an empty apartment with no one around, so Sarah was there for the cover. Prior to last night, it would have been the perfect opportunity to "practice." Sarah still needed to come to the apartment and leave proof that she was there so Ellie and Devon would notice. Empty take-out containers into the trash would serve as evidence for the cover. Plus, Sarah would get something good to eat.

Why hadn't Chuck answered the door? He always rushed to the door when she came over. Even if he was acting differently because they were broken up, he should have come to the door by now. Maybe he had his video game headphones on, even though no one was at home.

Sarah pulled out her pick set and made quick work of the lock. Inside, she called for Chuck. With no response, she pulled the gun from her waistband. Maybe something was wrong.

The door to Chuck's room was shut. That was surprising, considering everyone was gone. She nudged the door open, keeping her pistol ready in front of her. He wasn't on the bed, so she quickly opened the door the rest of the way. He wasn't playing a game on his computer, either. It was off. yellow note on his dresser in front of the cover picture of them from Comic-Con which they recreated this year. Considering they broke up, Chuck didn't need to keep that out, though Sarah supposed it was still good for the cover.

Before she panicked that Chuck was missing, she stepped into the room and saw the floor at the foot of the bed. Then, she panicked. Chuck was passed out on the floor!

She rushed to him and saw he was wearing sunglasses and the same clothes he wore last night. She took off the black sunglasses. One side was fatter and burned. It looked like something underneath the plastic stem had fried.

Sarah took hold of Chuck's jaw and tilted his head—no burn mark. He looked asleep. In the instant before she had found the glasses, she had thought maybe Chuck was passed out drunk. That didn't make sense for him because he was the dumper, not the dumpee. She's the one with a slight hangover from after she got back to her apartment last night. Being passed-out drunk would only make sense if Chuck regretted it, which she had to admit was a welcome thought.

Chuck was out because of the strange sunglasses, though. Sarah shook his shoulder and yelled, "Chuck, wake up!"

Chuck's eyes shot open. With a panicked voice, he asked, "Where are they?"

"You mean these sunglasses?" Sarah waved them up in the air above his head. "They were on your face when you fell asleep. You're also wearing your clothes from last night, even though it's noon. Did you sleep here all night?"

Chuck sat up and reached for the sunglasses, but Sarah pulled them away. Chuck must have realized there was no point in trying to overpower Sarah to get them, so he accepted her help into his computer chair. Chuck silently sat, and Sarah didn't waver her stare. Chuck finally relented, "I guess it's ok that you have them. They contained an Intersect update."

"A what?!"

"Last night, I found those on my desk with a note." Chuck pointed to the note Sarah had seen earlier. Sarah could see what it said now. In Bryce's handwriting, it said "For A Real Spy."

"These are from Bryce?!"

"Yeah. Bryce thinks I'm a real spy and should have them. I didn't know they were special. I put them on to see how I looked as 'Charles Carmichael.' I didn't know they were an Intersect update, or even that sunglasses could do that. I hate it that Bryce tricked me and gave me another Intersect."

Sarah was beside herself and didn't know what to say. How many times did Bryce have to turn Chuck's life upside down before he learned not to trust his nemesis?

Chuck looked out to the hallway and tilted his nose up. "Do I smell Sizzling Shrimp?" It figures that with something with important national security implications going on, Chuck would be thinking with his stomach.

Then, Chuck smiled at her, making it hard to stay mad at him. Sarah knew she should've been furious with him because he broke up with her yesterday and because he put on those sunglasses that she didn't understand. However, looking at his face when he was looking at her like he was, she couldn't help how she felt. He sweetly stated, "You brought me Sizzling Shrimp."

Sarah rolled her eyes and couldn't help but smile back. "You missed breakfast. We should eat it before it gets cold." She grabbed Bryce's note and wadded it into her pocket. Keeping possession of the sunglasses, Sarah went with Chuck to where she left the take-out in the kitchen.

Chuck worked on drinks. He asked, "What would you like? We have OJ, some green concoction Devon made, and water. I could make you coffee." He opened the fridge. "How did Grape Soda get in there? It must be one of those things Ellie put in. She doesn't like it when he comes by all the time, but she long ago learned that it's best to keep him docile by feeding him."

OJ would be like she had just slept over, and she had already had coffee. The green sludge… "I don't have a spastic colon, but water is fine."

At least Chuck looked a little ashamed for that stupid claim he had made. "I haven't apologized for that in at least a month, so let me say again. I'm very sorry for my lame cover-story. I've only used the story twice, and the last time was last year."

Sarah had heard the apology many times before, but Chuck broke up with her yesterday, so she wasn't going to let him off easily. "You know I had to report for a full CIA physical."

"I know."

"You told Graham. Do you know how long it took me to get your cover medical story removed from my records?"

"Months. I know."

"The worst thing was you told a doctor. I didn't know any of this until Ellie made me a special dinner back in January. Your sister is a great cook, but I didn't get the same thing as the rest of you. She told me I should not eat this." Sarah grabbed her Sizzling Shrimp container and took a seat at the table.

"I know, and I'm very sorry. I know you had to cancel that appointment with the specialist that Ellie set up for you. At least that meant when you were just in the hospital, they didn't have incorrect records and put you on a restricted diet. How's your head?"

Why did Chuck have to be so sweet and genuinely concerned all the same time? "I'm fine—no thanks to your so-called friend, Bryce." Sarah stabbed her chopsticks into her container and started eating. She was skillful with the wooden utensils, of course. It could only be called 'stabbing' because of how aggressive Sarah was being.

Chuck contradicted her assertion about Bryce. "I know he's not my friend, even though he's the reason I met you. I'm trying to be a better spy for you."

At least he wasn't disagreeing about the 'friend' part. She was mad that Chuck thought the other part. "You're not a spy, Chuck!"

"Bryce thinks I'm a real spy."

Sarah pulled the note out of her pocket and spread out the crumbled piece of paper on the table. "That's what this says. He only wrote that to trick you into putting on the sunglasses." Sarah didn't bother trying to keep anger out of her voice. "He showed you zero respect the entire time he was here. When Bryce and I were partners, he didn't show me the respect he should have, considering I constantly saved his life and we were…" She couldn't say the end of that out loud to Chuck, even though he had broken up with her…again. "But he didn't disrespect me a fraction of what he did to you. What led him to say you're a real spy?"

Chuck mumbled something Sarah couldn't understand. He stuffed his mouth with a shrimp and looked down. Chuck wasn't good at hiding his feelings from her, but that was bad, even for him. She realized he must have talked with Bryce.

In a flash, last night suddenly made sense. "Bryce told you to break up with me, didn't he?"

She didn't need to be a spy to read the guilt on Chuck's face. Wow. She nailed that reason. He admitted, "He said you didn't take the shot at the train station because of how you feel about me."

At least Chuck hadn't tried to lie to her. She calmly reminded him, "Didn't you hear what Ellie said last night when she yelled at me for driving here after a concussion?"

"That was just Ellie being my over-protective sister."

"She's also a doctor who specializes in the brain. That covers head injuries, like what put me in the hospital."

Unflinching, she paused and stared at Chuck a moment. "Ellie specializes in head injuries, so what she said concerned me. Before coming over here this morning, I called a CIA doctor for a second opinion. The CIA doc already had my medical records and scans from Westside. Without prompting, she confirmed what your sister said. While there's no law you can't drive after a concussion, most doctors recommend not driving for at least 24 hours. My concussion was mild, but I blacked-out, and was put in a hospital, meaning it wasn't mild enough to ignore. Last night was 24 hours since the explosion, but I had discharged myself AMA. Leaving when I did was riskier than the CIA doctor was comfortable with because it was less than a full day. She knows I take risks all the time, and didn't have a problem with me driving here today. However, she would not have cleared me to go to the train station or any other active mission so soon. The CIA doctor agreed with my leaving a civilian hospital AMA because the place was not secure and Fulcrum tried to kill me there. That didn't mean I was ready to take a precision shot across the train station towards you to take out the woman who was holding hostage. Not taking the shot probably saved your life. Casey saved the day and showed why it's good you have two protectors, not just one."

Without a pause, Sarah kept going. "The CIA doctor has ordered me to re-qualify firearms to prove I'm fully recovered. I'm doing that tomorrow. I can still use a weapon to protect you in an emergency, but I cannot go on any missions until after I re-qual."

Chuck looked surprised, but said what she needed him to do. "No flashing until you say it's ok. Got it."

"If only it was that easy. We have no idea what was in this so-called Intersect update."

"It contained Intersect images, just like the email," Chuck explained. "It was shorter this time. Last time, it was thousands of images, I didn't know what it was, and I remained asleep until Morgan found me the next morning. This time, I knew what had happened right away." He grinned at her. "You woke me up, which was much more pleasant."

Sarah wished he would stop saying things like that. It only made it harder to keep her distance. She took a hard line (even one that wasn't true): "If you download the Intersect again, I'm leaving you for Morgan because you broke up with me. He didn't."

Chuck looked chastised, but she didn't let up. "You told me last night that you're normal, and I'm not. Sorry to break it to you, Chuck, but you're not normal either, even without the Intersect. If you got rid of the Intersect, you would still be..." Sarah didn't finish that statement because she didn't want to compliment the guy she shouldn't be with too much. "If you got rid of the Intersect, you would be closer to normal. Instead, you updated it, making you even less normal."

"I didn't know the sunglasses were going to do that."

Sarah held up the sunglasses. "The side that burned out is thicker. How could you think normal sunglasses are like these?"

"Bryce was always up on the latest styles. I thought maybe those were the latest spy-style."

"They aren't. Even if they were, you're not a spy. You're better than a spy."

"You're a spy. There's nothing better than that." Chuck had spoken like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She needed him to stop with the compliments, so she contradicted him. "Hardly. Even not knowing what these sunglasses were, you ignored the fact that the message was clearly written by Bryce. After Stanford, why would you trust anything from him?"

"He's your boyfriend."

"We were together, but that was the past, and he was never what you could call my boyfriend. He was my partner. We were 'together' before he destroyed the Intersect, before he murdered a loyal employee of the US government, before he put a target on your back, before I knew what he did to you at Stanford, before he put Buy More on Fulcrum's radar, and before he thought the microchip was more important that your life." Chuck was her ex, too, but even the day after he broke up with her, she trusted Chuck a lot more than she trusted Bryce.

"But Beckman thinks—"

Sarah cut him off. "Who knows what the General thinks. She probably wouldn't have cared if I shot you to get the microchip."

"You think that Beckman would do something to me?" Chuck obviously wasn't happy with the thought.

"I don't know. She's always been for putting you in a bunker and was building a new Intersect to replace you. When the Cipher Trojan Horse blew up, my boss in the CIA and several CIA agents were killed. No NSA agents were killed. After the explosion, no one from the CIA was given oversight of this project like Graham had. I think she doesn't care what happens to you as long as she's in charge and you aren't working against her."

Sarah paused to make sure Chuck really understood what she was about to say. "My priority is to keep you safe. I think we shouldn't tell anyone about these glasses."

Chuck obviously didn't understand the threat they posed. "They're from Bryce. Why would that be a problem?"

"We don't know how Bryce got them. He went to Stanford in accounting. I know from missions that he didn't have half the technical skills you have and couldn't have built sunglasses to display Intersect images from an embedded chip. Where did he get the technical expertise to design a delivery system the government doesn't know how to build? Where did he get the manufacturing capability to create these? Where did he get the intel?"

"Are you saying we can't trust those sunglasses?"

Sarah sighed. Chuck was too naïve—too trusting. "We can't completely trust them, but that isn't what I'm saying. I'm saying if Beckman finds out, she will order you into a bunker, just in case, as is her right as the sole authority over the project."

Chuck's face was white as a sheet. Mission accomplished. She had scared him from revealing the sunglasses before they knew more, but she needed to reassure him next. "Putting you in a bunker isn't necessary, though. They should be safe"

Sarah was glad she was around to think like a spy for him. "We can't trust Bryce a lot of the time, but we can trust him to not burn bridges. He currently has one with the CIA and NSA. He obviously doesn't have one with Fulcrum and was willing to go head-to-head with them to retrieve the chip. That was not the action of someone working with Fulcrum. The 'Real Spy' note was him manipulating you, just like he did at Stanford and just like he did with the email. This time he played on your desire to be a hero to get you to download the update."

Sarah's instinct was to put her hand over Chuck's for reassurance, but after the break-up, they weren't like that anymore, so she forced her hands into her lap. "As long as the government doesn't know how to remove the Intersect, the Intersect shouldn't matter. They could figure out that a flash is because of newer intel based on the trigger, but the timeliness of the intel has never been a big concern before. If you keep saving the day with your flashes, Beckman won't care."

She still had Chuck's full attention, so she continued. "It appears that Bryce has developed another source for Intersect technology that neither the government nor Fulcrum knows about. That worries me, but revealing the existence of the Intersect sunglasses does not help us figure out what the source is. All we can do is wait for his next move or the source to reveal itself. Nothing is served by putting you in a bunker when it isn't necessary."

Chuck and Sarah stared at each other for a minute. She could tell he was processing and waited for his question. "So what's this mean for us?"

When Sarah came over, she wasn't sure what they should do. They had broken up under the cover, but after pretending to still be a couple last night during the wedding planning, she didn't know what to expect. Considering Chuck had downloaded an Intersect update from an unknown source, there was only one way to keep Chuck safe. She told him, "You and I are not going to try to go out on a real date again, but after the Intersect was destroyed, we couldn't really be together anyway. Last time you broke up with me, it was because of Lou. This time, you don't have someone else you're about to ask out. That means there isn't a good reason to break-up the cover relationship. By staying together in the cover, I can continue to protect you better. That means we still do things like cover-kisses, but only when we have to. You seem to have no problem not-kissing me, so that won't be an issue."

Sarah knew that was going to be hard, but it was hard before because she and Chuck always wanted more. Now… Chuck's fear of PDA was fortunate. She explained more of how it was going to work. "I'm still one of Ellie's bridesmaids, and I'll help with wedding planning, but no extra-circulars." That's how they should've been behaving anyway. No more sleeping in the same bed at Comic-Con and no more making out for "seduction training."

Chuck looked like Sarah just kicked his puppy. He broke up with her, so he wasn't supposed to be like that. Voice full of disappointment, he said, "Does that mean no more lunches like this?"

"No. Ellie expected me to come over. There should be glasses in the sink and empty take-out containers in the trash. We need to be like we were before the Cipher. If you flash on anything that could not be derived from the original Intersect email, you tell me first, not Casey. If he's concerned, he will report it to Beckman without knowing it could be from this new update from Bryce."

Chuck brightened up. "A month ago, we were pretty good."

Sarah kept a reflective smile off her face and stayed serious, not thinking about what they shouldn't have. "It's just a cover. I'm not your real girlfriend. No fourth first date. Got it?"

Chuck nodded, but that smile of his, the one which always made her stomach do somersaults, didn't disappear.

She needed to focus on the cover. That made her think of something. She pulled her iPod out of her pocket. "You have a playlist to give me."

"Isn't that something a boyfriend would do for his girlfriend?"

Honestly, Sarah didn't know because no one had done something like that for her before. "It's for the cover. Last night, the topic of a song for the first dance came up. You said you have the song Ellie mentioned on MP3. Assuming you played it for me, she might ask me again if I like it and should use it for the first dance. I don't know anything about music, so I might need to ask you questions. That's only possible if I've heard the song first."

Chuck tentatively put his hand over the iPod between them on the table. "You really are thorough. Let me load this for you."

Chuck and Sarah were both mostly done eating, so she followed up to his bedroom. He fired up his computer, started iTunes, and found a playlist. Sarah saw several playlists: Jill Mix '03, Sarah Mix '07, Sarah Mix '07 - 2, Sarah Mix '08, Sarah Mix '08 - 2, Sarah Mix '08 - 3, Sarah Mix '08 - 4, Future with Sarah, and For Sarah '08. At least Chuck was only mostly hung up on her. He said, "It's on the last playlist, so I'll just give you the whole thing."

While the "For Sarah '08" list was loading onto her iPhone, Sarah admitted to Chuck, "You were right…what you said when you broke up with me. We need to stop thinking about a future together."

"We?"

"You know what I mean." She hoped he did. She hadn't meant for "we" to slip out. With her mess of a life, she didn't think a future like Chuck deserved could happen, and she didn't want Chuck to know that she had been thinking about it, too. "I don't want anything to happen to you. We still are together for the cover because that is the best way I can keep you safe. That's the only future we can have."

When Chuck finished loading the songs, he unplugged the iPod and gave it back to Sarah. "I understand." The way Chuck was looking at her, she really hoped so. It hurt her so much to deny him what she wanted too… every time she had to do it.

Sarah thanked Chuck quietly and said, "I should go. Casey will have footage of Bryce being here." She knew he hadn't seen it because he would have called her immediately to tease her about her two ex-boyfriends conspiring against her. He'd mean it as a joke and didn't know it was effectively true. Since Casey hadn't called her, she could still clear his recordings. "I need to break into Casey's place and wipe the footage."

Sarah barely held herself back from leaning in and kissing Chuck goodbye. Turning her back to leave, she chastised herself and reminded herself that she and Chuck had broken up, and there was no one around to maintain the cover for. It wasn't going to be as exciting as that thing they sort of had under the cover, but she could still do what she had to do to protect Chuck—with no kissing hello or goodbye.

A/N: When Chuck got the Fulcrum Intersect in Suburbs, they were concerned about the programming. The update at the end of Break-up, did not get the same reaction, though.

MyNameIsJeffNImLost AU stories:
- Ellie vs Bruce (chapter 1-2, "Orange Orange" and "Westside Medical")
- The Intersect Couple vs Flashing (chapter 2-4. "Standing Orders," "Mission Dancing," "Update")
- Chuck & His Roommate vs the Next Mission (chapter 3, "I Hate Bryce Larkin")
- Chuck vs Under the Cover (chapter 9, "No, we did not miss you.")