Still don't own Chuck. Maybe ownership is on a floppy disk somewhere?
A Shaw for Sarah
Matt Bomer gently nudged open the large wooden door of his office. Being gone on assignment for so long usually meant some sort of welcome back hazing from his friends at the office, but this time all remained quiet as he lumbered over to his desk and rested his hat on the marble bust that sat on his desk. He planned to get rid of that weird white elephant gift, but how do you get rid of a custom marble bust of yourself? Who would even want such a thing?
He chuckled even as he shook his head. His friends were much like children in some ways; impossible to keep entertained and constantly touching everything. Which is fine if you are in the Creative License Department, but after they transferred to the Adjustment Bureau they needed to settle down and take their job seriously. Lives are built up or destroyed by the smallest of actions allowed by the bureau.
Josh, Chris, what am I going to do with you?
Matt knew he should go leave it alone and head out to relax and get some fresh air. Maybe even some good food with a special friend. But for him, coming back from long undercover assignments was always difficult. Somehow he always managed to form close attachments with his subjects and couldn't let go, so he acted like a workaholic and kept tabs on them even after he had delegated the case off to his subordinates. Which reminded him, he had not been able to check in on Chuck and Sarah in almost a year. Matt rose eagerly from his chair and opened the file cabinet designated to the Chuck case. When he had left the assignment, Chuck and Sarah had admitted their romantic desires for each other. With that development finally in place he figured the two of them should be ringing wedding bells by now, so he loosened his tie and sat back to enjoy catching up with his friends.
Five minutes later he sprang from his chair in surprise and confusion. Why were they separated? Why was Sarah seeing this new Shaw character? Who is this new Shaw character? There was no plan to introduce another player to the board, and Sarah was seriously in love with Chuck. The emotional trauma that would likely be inflicted by a dalliance would forge serious obstacles in matchmakin – reaching the goal of the assignment. Confused, Matt continued to scrutinize the reports yet found no further clues as to the reason for the troublesome complication.
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"Josh, Chris, what is going on?"
"Matt! You're back, how was the trip?" Tall, dark and handsome, the tension in Matt's face extinguished hope for a positive answer. He paused, hung his coat in the closet, and gently clicked the swinging double-doors shut. He intended to study the two occupants of the room who had paused a game of poker to greet him, but instead, his eyes caught on the walls – his walls – and widened in surprise.
"Did you have my apartment repainted?" he asked, shooting harsh glances around the room in shock at the change from the last time he had visited his flat.
Chris winced, prompting Josh to jump in and provide an absolutely foolproof defense for his friend's actions. "Oh yeah, we wanted to help you out, but we know you don't like to own much because you are never around to use it – you really should let someone else take those undercover assignments by the way. So we came up with a plan: repaint your apartment. And don't worry. We know how you feel about strangers being in your apartment so we did it ourselves."
"And the Chuck fiasco?"
"Yeah, we didn't want to risk anyone getting bored or the story stagnant, so we took decisive action to start a slight conflict between the two of them. Don't worry, I'm sure Charah will make it, it isn't as if they lost their memories or anything like that. We didn't do anything crazy or ridiculous."
Matt sighed, shock his on his face and stress lines across his forehead. "Guys, this is a terrible idea. They just spent two years learning to trust each other and you want to split them up for six months, have them forgive each other, and then date other people? Why? Who is going to want to watch that? The show is a spy-comedy, not a soap opera or rom-com."
"Look Matt, you were off taking care of that Burke family and we needed to keep the show running. We made a decision and it isn't in the past tense, we did it! Chuck dumped Sarah at a train station and she disappeared to deal with the pain and forget about him, not that that worked." Chris added defensively as Josh chuckled at the mess Chuck had made of the situation. "How were we supposed to know he would just not explain anything to her. He's supposed to be a genius!"
Matt couldn't believe it. He had been watching over Chuck ever since Stanford and had even been willing to get Chuck kicked out and accused of cheating so that he and Sarah would meet, and these two jokers he had left in charge had gummed up the entire plan. Now what was he supposed to do! Chuck and Sarah needed each other, they would not last through the events of the next few years if they didn't watch out for and rely on each other. But it still didn't make sense, he had outlined out plenty of trouble for the coming years, why did Chris and Josh think they needed to create more?
Matt pinched his nose and took a moment, focusing on a long, slow, deep breath to calm him down. He could get this back on track, he just needed to know why it had gone off of the rails in the first place.
"Alright guys, walk me through it. What happened to destroy everything we spent two whole years creating?"
Josh spoke up confidently, "Really, that was the easy part. All we had to do was have Chuck realize that people could die if he didn't stay and try to help – and therefore get trained as an agent – but we really didn't think he would tell Sarah he wanted to be a spy. We thought he would explain it to her and they would work it out together, like mature adults who care about each other should do."
"So you didn't mean to have them break up, Sarah hate slash ignore him for six months, and then just when it seems like they might start to work it out they start dating other people?" Matt asked.
Chris cut into the conversation, "Oh no, Chuck was supposed to seem out of his depth and Sarah was supposed to recognize that he just wanted to help people. Then she would passionately grab him and tell him she is never going to let him go and will stay with him no matter what."
Matt flicked his eyes from one member of the dynamic duo to the other. "Did you forget all the insecurities we gave Sarah? The trauma in her past that she was never able to acknowledge? She needed Chuck's stability to make decisions like that, otherwise she will run. And Chuck needed her strength in order to use the intersect. None of those pieces work without each other." Chris opened his mouth to break into Matt's rant, but was left at the station as Matt whizzed on in his harangue.
"And since when does anyone actually get things – especially communication – right the first time? Come on guys, we've got to give them some room to do it their own way without breaking the entire plan."
Chris and Josh had the good sense to wince in contrition. "We know it didn't work out how we wanted, but come on man, it's your fault it went at far as it did."
"Excuse me?" Matt capped off the momentary flare of anger. He had known Josh and Chris for years, they did not lie to him and they always had a good reason. "What flaw did you find in my plan?"
Josh and Chris glanced at each other in surprise before answering simultaneously.
"Shaw"
"What? Other than reading your reports I don't even know who Shaw is. I definitely don't know why he was introduced. How did I get him involved?" Matt's friends saw the confusion on his face and instantly knew some terrible accident must have taken place.
Josh spoke first, quietly trying to fit the puzzle together. "Matt, you ordered us to create him, don't you remember?"
Matt shook his head.
"I was right after you came back from your 'death' outside the intersect room. You were leaving for your trip to the Burkes, but as you left you told us to get Shaw for Sarah. We thought it was weird, but you had the last say and we couldn't exactly pull you out right after being inserted with the Burkes."
Matt groaned and shook his head, instantly remembering the rushed conversation.
"I take it you didn't mean we should add another character to the show?"
"No." Matt answered, "I didn't mean that. I didn't even say that. What I said Chuck should get a shawl for Sarah. Shawl, not Shaw. We know she tends to be cold, and I figured it would show her that he was trying to pay attention and be caring. I definitely did not want you to find her a new boyfriend."
"A shawl? That was it? Chris asked incredulously.
Matt nodded.
"A shawl, plain and simple."
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So I was trying to work on vindicator but this wouldn't leave me alone. So instead we get a strange little attempt at a humorous outlook on season 3 via a crossover of real life, The Adjustment Bureau, White Collar, and Chuck, with a side of the question "what if Bryce really did know enough to make the only choice that would lead to a happy ending for Charah?" I hope it brought a smile to your day.
Also, if you haven't heard yet, there is a wonderful facebook group just for Chuck fanfiction. You should totally check it out. You'll find a kind community of like-minded story aficionados. See you there!
