I don't own Chuck

"What does that mean?" Chuck asked, and then he blinked, realizing something. "Wait, this is my computer."

"Yeah," Ellie told him. "We needed something safe to communicate on."

"Ellie, I am no longer a CIA Agent, no one cares about me."

"CHARLES IRVING BARTOWSKI!" She hissed.

"EEP!"

"That woman loves you, not a word," she added quickly. Chuck mimed zipping his lips. "That woman is now a target because of all the leaks within the intelligence communities. That woman could be attacked because of you, and what is in your head."

"Shit," Chuck muttered. "Wait, who's telling you this, Beckman? She could be lying."

"Why, Chuck, why would she lie?"

"To get me to work properly so that she'll have something to fight her enemies with," Chuck told Ellie.

"Chuck, she wanted you to run with Sarah, because she saw what she was doing was wrong," Ellie said softly. Chuck managed not to groan…just. "Chuck, I know why you stayed." He looked down at the floor. "So, you have two problems, and both of them require the same thing to fix."

"And what's that, Ellie?"

"Put in the work you need to," she told him. "Start at the beginning and rebuild everything."

"She's mad, Ellie, she wants nothing to do with me," Chuck protested. Ellie nodded, agreeing with him.

}o{

Chuck walked around the yard, looking over the property. He had no idea where he was, and realized Sarah had his phone so he couldn't use the location to find out where he was. Given what Ellie had told him, that was probably smart.

"We have a land line," he heard Sarah, say, making him spin, startled. "For now, we don't use cell phones, we can use the computer to contact Ellie and General Beckman sporadically."

"Okay," Chuck replied. "Where did you come from?"

"The house," Sarah said, pointing back to it. "You didn't hear me?" Chuck shook his head. "So we'll need to work on that. I wasn't trying to sneak up on you. I'll teach you to work on that."

"Hell, you might as well teach me to use the force while I'm at it," Chuck muttered. "As much good as it will do me. I'm sorry you're in this mess, Sarah."

"Chuck, don't," Sarah began.

"No, let me say this, and I won't say anything about…that train station." Chuck watched her and she nodded. "You have been put in a terrible spot by my actions. Actions that I have no excuse for. Actions I can explain, but I'm not saying anything else about because you don't want to hear it." She shook her head at him. "I know that I've done a lot of damage to this." He gestured between them. "Us," he said. "But I am going to listen, because if I don't it might get you killed, and I couldn't live with myself if I did that."

"Good," Sarah said quickly, trying to push down her feelings. They were one part wanting to hug him, one part wanting to shake him until she screamed. She wasn't sure which she wanted to do more, and that worried her. "So, you say teach you to use the force…what I'm going to teach you kinda is."

"I'm sorry…what?"

"If I remember right, the force is feeling every living thing, right?" Chuck nodded, stunned. "So that's what I need you to do, become attuned to things around you. It's more about feeling…hearing small sounds when people move. That sort of thing."

Chuck was silent for a moment. "I have so many things I want to say," he said softly.

A week ago, Sarah would have turned and walked away from him, giving him a chance to say nothing. Today…today wasn't a week ago. "You get one, so make it good."

Chuck stood there for a moment, thinking. "Okay, does this make me your padawan learner?" She shook her head, disappointment on her face.

}o{

Chuck watched Ellie's face and his heart sunk. He had though she would give him words of encouragement, but that clearly wasn't happening. "Chuck, I've seen multiple videos of you two and do you know what I saw?" Chuck shook his head no. "Communication."

Chuck scoffed. "Come on, Ellie, we are the worst communicators in history."

"Worst talkers, yes. Communicators?" Ellie gave him a look. "Even when she told you no on the camera, it was clear what she was saying." Chuck looked away.

"Okay, say you're right, then why is this so bad? Chuck asked her.

"The kiss at the train station," Ellie told him.

"Exactly how much surveillance was I on?" Chuck muttered. Ellie gave him a look and he cleared his throat. "What about it?"

"That's not the kiss I was expecting," Ellie quoted. "Chuck, you communicated to her that you were choosing you over the two of you. I don't know if you can fix that."

"Shit," he muttered. "This isn't what I wanted."

"What isn't what you wanted?" Ellie asked. "Sarah being mad at you for choosing something over her?"

"Ellie, no!" Chuck protested. "I was only trying to better myself, so I could…" he trailed off.

"Be worthy of her or some bullshit like that?" Ellie asked. Chuck nodded. "Well, you were worthy…then."

"Now?" Chuck asked.

Ellie shrugged. "Chuck, what do you know about her past and her relationships with other people?" Chuck looked away. "Exactly. Have you ever thought the past is hard for her to talk about because the past was hard for her?" Chuck looked guilty. "I know, you can talk about your issues, but not everyone is like you. All you can do is start back from the beginning, on everything and try to keep yourself save, and by doing so, keeping her safe."

}o{

"So, tonight, we only have one bed," Sarah said. "The other one is being delivered tomorrow."

"Right, so like Barstow," Chuck replied. He saw the look on her face. "How's the couch?" Sarah just stood there a second and walked back inside. "I think I'm going to find out."