CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE#1: Happy Friday, TGIF indeed; it's been an interesting week and a busy one at that. I've never posted so many times in one week so this is new territory for me. So this is the second half of the "Save Chuck" arc that I started on Thursday; when we left off Sarah was in a tricky situation with a giant of a man so let's see what happens next.
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE#2: So the next chapter after this one is going to feature Dr. Dreyfus and intro some new characters and settings for our story as Sarah finally embarks on her journey to get her life back in order. Expect chapters 6 & 7 to both be long, i don't know how many more will be long, it all depends on if I need to do any more rewrites. Anyways enjoy the next chapter of Contrition!
Contrition
A Story by
CharmingCharles2896
Chapter 5:
Saving Chuck Part II
"Damn you're tall." Sarah said as she felt him pull her up off the floor and hurl her back through the wall from which she came. As Sarah's back slammed through the wall and impacted the adjacent wall across the hall she saw the big man step through the hole in the wall to finally reveal his true height. He must have been seven feet tall. Sarah got to her feet and assumed a defensive stance as a lone strand of blonde hair fell out of her ponytail. He simply smiled at her and lunged closing the distance between them quickly; Sarah blocked his first punch, but mistimed the block of his second and took a hard shot to the right side of her face. Her head snapped around quickly as she stumbled backwards; he wasted no time and tackled her from behind sending them both through the wall into another one of the offices. After the two of them hit the ground Sarah caught him in the ear with a backwards-left elbow just as he tried to get up. The man rolled off of her in pain allowing Sarah to get up and put some distance between them. She was cornered in this room with a towering mountain of a man; thinking quickly Sarah reached for her right ankle where she kept a collection of throwing knives under her long pants. As Sarah pulled out the knife she saw his swinging foot out of the corner of her eye and lunged to the left so that his foot missed her head.
With his stance compromised Sarah took the opportunity to stab him in the leg three times eliciting cries of pain each time. Sarah went to stab him again when he lunged once again desperately. The force of his lunge carried them both through the wall again into the first office where Sarah had kill the one man. As she flew into the room she saw a wall covered in blood splatters and a dead corpse in the corner. When she hit the ground she heard the clank of her knife as it left her right hand. Before Sarah had a chance to grab another knife the large man was on top of her with his large strong hands around her throw; with her airflow restricted Sarah struggled against him for a long moment, her world was getting dark as she frantically felt around for her knife.
"Die American bitch." The man growled angrily; suddenly Sarah's mind was filled with regrets, all the things she wished she'd done differently buzzed around her head like an angry beehive. She wished she'd supported Chuck, she wished she'd ran after him once he left her hotel room, she wished she'd tracked him down these last seven months. If only she could see his face again, hear his voice one more time, feel his lips on hers one last time before it was all over. For the last several months Sarah had wanted to die, to be rid of the pain, but in this moment she didn't want to die, she wasn't ready to go. There was so much she wanted to do in her life still; she wanted a family, to get married, to have kids, the whole suburban American dream. She wanted a future beyond the spy life, she had so many things she wanted… no needed to make right. She had to make things right with Chuck, he had to know that she still loved him, that she didn't care about any of the things he'd done, she just wanted him back. She needed to tell him that that she was sorry, that it was all her fault.
"I'm sorry Chuck." She thought to herself with tears streaking from her eyes as she went limp unwilling to fight any longer; as if by divine intervention her hand landed on the knife blade. She nicked the tip of her finger a bit, but the knowledge that she'd found the blade had given her new life.
"I'm not going to die here." Sarah said to herself as she grasped the handle of the small knife and quickly began stabbing at him. Sarah stabbed his arms, his neck, his chest, any spot she could reach with her knife she stabbed over and over and over. His blood was pouring out of him like a running faucet all over her body, but Sarah didn't care, she wasn't going out like this, she wasn't meant to die here. She could see the blood loss was getting bad until finally she stabbed him in the neck right at the base of the skull and felt his hands release from her throat. He collapsed on top of her as she gasped for breath, coughing and sputtering through a sore throat; for a moment she struggled to push his massive body off of her but eventually she managed to get the horse sized dead corpse off of her. Sarah simply laid on the floor gasping for breath for a long moment before she remembered why she'd come here in the first place.
"The children!" Sarah said urgently as she pulled herself to her feet and half walked half stumbled slowly out of the office and down the hall.
"Children, are you there?" Sarah managed to get out in spite of her sore throat as she hobbled down the hall; the faint sound of scared children guided her until she found who she was looking for. There they were all five children huddled scared in a corner, they screamed in terror as she walked in. Sarah flipped on the lights and pulled out her badge.
"Hey shh, shh, shh, it's okay; I'm a friend, I'm here to save you." Sarah said as she bent down to their level and showed them her badge. One by one the children walked towards her to look at the badge.
"It's going to be okay, you're safe now." Sarah said calmly to the scared children; one by one they all walked to her so she stood up to her full height and led them into the hall. Sarah saw Chuck turn to walk back to the main area, but Sarah stopped the poor boy before he saw even more terrible things.
"Chuck wait, don't go in there." Sarah said as she headed him of just before he would have been able to see the bloody scene she'd left behind on her quest to rescue the children. Sarah led the children out the back door and had them wait for a moment; she quickly jogged back inside and retrieved the Falkor Alpha and the belt of magazines she'd also gotten from the granny. Sarah put the belt back on and slung the rifle over her shoulder before returning to the children outside. As she emerged into the afternoon sun she was disturbed by how peaceful it seemed out here in spite of the chaos and death she'd just witnessed. Sarah led the five children around to the front of the building and had them all stop in a shady spot next to the warehouse.
"Are you all okay, is anyone hurt?" All of them were still crying or too scared to speak so she simply gave each kid a quick once over and determined that they were all relatively fine. Sarah could feel how hurt she was so she sat down against the brick wall exterior of the warehouse and pulled out her phone. The screen was cracked but it still worked so she dialed ops again. As soon as the phone picked up Sarah spoke not even letting the man on the other end speak.
"This is Sapphire, connect me to ops." The phone went silent for a moment before she heard Bridger's voice again.
"What's the word?" he could hear Sarah's labored breathing.
"Assets secured, send in the local police and medical. We're at Cumberland and 10th in an industrial park. There's a beige sedan parked out front of the warehouse." Sarah didn't even wait for a confirmation before she hung up and got back to her feet. "Come on kids, follow me." Sarah said as she herded the five children back towards the granny and her beige sedan. As Sarah and the kids walked into view her breath caught in her throat.
"Good heavens, are you okay!?" The granny said as she sprang into mother hen mode; Sarah simply waved her off and pointed at the kids. Sarah removed the belt and the rifle and placed them on the sidewalk next to the granny's car. Sarah was beat so she simply laid down on the sidewalk as the granny looked over the terrified kids. Sarah knew what her strengths and weaknesses were and tending to children was most certainly NOT one of her strengths. Sarah simply stared up at the sky and breathed hard through her sore throat; her body felt like she'd been hit by a car… twice. Then again that's what happens when you get thrown through several walls by a seven-foot tall behemoth of a man from Thailand. Meanwhile the granny was busy comforting all of the children with hugs and soothing words; these poor children were so scared, it just broke her heart. She looked over at Sarah laying there on the sidewalk and had to ask.
"Are you okay, because you're covered in blood?" The granny asked Sarah who lifted her head to look down at her body only to see that she was in fact covered in blood.
"His blood not mine." Sarah said flatly before she laid her head back down.
"Are you sure you're okay, you don't look okay?" The granny said to Sarah just as the sound of siren's appeared in the distance; Sarah sat up with much effort and looked over her shoulder to see the police approaching.
"I don't know, I thought I was making the battered and bruised look work." Sarah said with a smirk as she got to her feet and grabbed her badge from her back pocket. As the police parked and exited their vehicles Sarah spoke over her shoulder towards the granny. "Just relax and let me do the talking."
XXX
The next hour was a blur to Sarah as she and the granny were both questioned by police; the children were quickly attended to by medics and deemed to be okay physically. The police had tried to keep the press away to maintain Sarah's anonymity in the whole matter, but that didn't last long; it had taken the press only 20 minutes to see Sarah's face and interrogate the employment records of every government agency under the sun until they'd found a small shred of information, not her name but one of her aliases, which was now regrettably burned forever.
"Ms. Harper, Ms. Harper, why did you intervene? How did you spot the children? Who do you really work for?" Came the many voices of the press while an EMT looked over Sarah who winced in pain as said EMT poked and prodded a deep cut on her head.
"You need a trip to the hospital Ms. Harper, you have contusions and lacerations everywhere." The EMT said using Sarah's fake name for the sake of the press; the EMT was a CIA EMT, but if the press was going to call her Sloan Harper then so would the police and CIA personnel actually in the know.
"Not yet." Sarah said as she once again scanned the crowd anxiously; when the EMT went to voice her protest Sarah simply waved her off and hopped off the tailgate. The area was a hive of activity as police, investigators, medical personnel, and news media all buzzed around like angry vultures. It had been the first combat action Sarah had seen in at least the last three months since her suspension and if she was being honest she hadn't been sharp. That was a conversation for another time though, all that mattered was that all of the children had been rescued safely and would be able to return home to their families and live their lives. The trauma that those children had gone through was going to stick with them for years to come, but with some luck and a lot of love from the people who care about them they'll be able to heal and move past this horrible time.
"Chuck! Where's my baby?" Came the unmistakable voice of Mrs. Cameron, Sarah quickly searched the crowd with her eyes when she spotted Mrs. Cameron through the crowd.
"Mommy!" Came the voice of a little boy off to Sarah's left, Sarah watched as the mother and son found each other in the crowd. It was beautiful to watch the two of them embrace, reunited at long last. If Sarah got nothing else from the spy life this moment right here was more the enough repayment for her, and for once in the last seven months her life maybe wasn't so bleak. Sarah turned away from the teary duo and began to walk away with a small smile on her face.
"Wait, excuse me." Came Mrs. Cameron's voice behind Sarah who quickly turned around to face the mother who now had her son back. "I just needed to thank you; thank you so much." Mrs. Cameron said emotionally to Sarah who tried to brush aside the praise.
"You don't have to thank me Mrs. Cameron, it's my job." Sarah tried to say, but the mother before her wasn't having it.
"Call me June, and I really do have to thank you; you saved my little boy from a fate worse than death. You saved all of these children just because you could, so yes I really do need to thank you." June said to Sarah who blushed slightly and shook June's hand.
"Well I appreciate it, but it's really nothing; Sarah Walker by the way." Sarah said as she extended her hand towards the mother who shook it with a smile of her own. "So who's this handsome fella?" Sarah said as she looked down at June's son Chuck who looked away shyly; Sarah got down to look at the ten year old at his level.
"This is Chuck, Chuck say hello to Sarah." June said to the shy ten year old who looked at Sarah and simply waved; both June and Sarah laughed at his adorable behavior.
"Hello Chuck, my name is Sarah." Sarah said emotionally.
"Hey." Chuck said back to her.
"You remind me so much of somebody I used to know." Sarah said back with a hitch in her voice.
"Yeah?" Chuck asked her softly, Sarah simply nodded teary eyed and spoke.
"I know things may seem scary right now, but I promise it will get better." Sarah said emotionally to Chuck who simply nodded; Sarah stood back up and pulled out June's business card, she pulled out the pen she always kept in her pocket and wrote her information down on it.
"Listen June, if you ever need anything or simply have questions don't hesitate to call me. I may not answer, but I'll return your call I promise. I have experience helping civilians after a trauma like this and all I can tell you is that he's going to need you from time to time. It won't make sense, but there will be times where you'll just need to hold him and comfort him." Sarah said as she handed June the card and gave her hands a gentle squeeze. June nodded gratefully and slipped the card into her pocket.
"Thank you Sarah, I certainly will; now you should go to the hospital you look like… er… really bad." June said as she looked down at her son who was looking at something else absentmindedly. Sarah simply chuckled and nodded to June; Sarah grabbed a hold of June's arm before she could walk away and spoke seriously.
"June, before you go I need to tell you something; the press knows me as Sloan Harper, because of the work I do I need you to keep my real name to yourself." June simply nodded and got a cheeky look in her eye.
"You're a spy aren't you?" Sarah simply gave her a sly grin.
"Now June, you know I can't tell you that." June simply nodded knowingly.
"If you told me you'd have to kill me right?" June said with a laugh, which Sarah returned in kind.
"Wouldn't want that would we?" Sarah simply smirked and June who nodded and led her oblivious son away with a chuckle.
"Come on Chuck, let's go home to your sister, she's going to be so worried about you." Sarah simply laughed and watched the two of them go until they were out of sight. Once June and Chuck were gone Sarah turned her attention to finding the old granny who had helped her so much.
"I think they're going to be just fine." Came the voice of the old granny from behind Sarah who looked over her shoulder.
"Yeah so do I." Sarah said to her with a subtle nod.
"Are you going to be okay?" Sarah simply nodded to the old woman.
"Yeah I'll be okay, I'm going to go get checked out in a bit; but I just wanted to thank you for your help, I couldn't have done this without you." Sarah said gratefully. "I mean I don't even know your name and yet you've gone above and beyond the call of duty for me." The old granny balked at Sarah's praise.
"Oh hush up, this was all you, but I'll accept your praise anyway. If you really want to know, my name is Phyllis, Phyllis Anderson." Sarah gave Phyllis a bright smile and extended her hand, which Phyllis shook gladly.
"Sarah Walker."
"Take care of yourself Sarah, and don't worry about your name, people in our line of work know how to keep secrets." Phyllis said before she walked past Sarah towards her car. As Sarah watched Phyllis walk away into the crowd she couldn't help the feeling she had at that moment. It felt like the old days, those awesome moments after Chuck, Casey, and herself had a successful mission and put away some evildoer. She hadn't felt this good in months and it was all so out of the blue; when she'd left for work she had no idea what her day would turn into, but she was glad she listened in that one singular moment.
"Hey, if you need to go to the hospital this is your last chance." Came the voice of that same EMT as before; Sarah spun around and nodded to her.
"Yes I do, I'd appreciate a ride." The EMT simply nodded and motioned for Sarah to follow.
"We're taking those three little girls to Methodist for a rape kit." The EMT said casually to Sarah who gasped.
"You don't think…"
"No, but the police want to be sure; their mother is meeting us there." Sarah simply nodded her head as they arrived at the ambulance; the three little girls who Sarah had just noticed were triplets were all sitting silently in the back of the ambulance. Sarah silently climbed into the back and sat down adjacent to the little girls and waited for the EMT to close the door. As she felt movement Sarah grabbed onto something to steady herself; the triplets were simply sitting there silently, they'd all been through a tough time so she didn't blame them. Sarah sat back and took a moment, the adrenaline of the moment was fading away and she was just now starting to feel the pain from the fight she'd had. She didn't remember ever feeling this sore after a mission other than maybe after that fight with Smooth Lao… maybe, but it had been a while since she'd seen any action in the field so maybe Sarah shouldn't have been surprised. She hoped June and Chuck would be okay, a trauma like this could affect that little boy for the rest of his life. June was a good mother though and Sarah had no doubt she would do whatever she had to do to help her little boy. Sarah had learned the hard way about comforting civilians after a traumatic event; after the Pita Girl Crisis her Chuck had been really shaken up. It had been subtle at first, but as the days turned into a week it became obvious that Chuck wasn't sleeping well if at all.
Sarah could remember it like it was yesterday; she was exhausted after her long shift at the Weinerlicious and was getting ready for bed when there was a knock at the door. Sarah had answered it wearily, but when she did she was surprised to see Chuck. He looked haggard, like he hadn't slept in days.
"Hey Chuck, what's up?" she'd asked him with a small smile, but that smile faded fast as she heard him speak.
"Can I spend the night with you, I don't want to be alone?" His voice had been so small when he asked, like a child asking his mother to sleep in her bed after a bad dream. She'd barely heard him, but she agreed quickly and ushered her troubled asset into her hotel room. She'd watched him worriedly as he got ready for bed like a robot on autopilot and climbed under the covers. He was laying on his right side facing away from her almost as if he were ashamed to be doing what he was doing. She didn't remember why she'd done it, but the next thing Sarah knew she was spooned up against him with a comforting arm around his chest. He my have been a bigger person that she was physically, but in that moment, in that bed with Sarah as the big spoon, Chuck felt about two feet tall. He'd gotten so close to losing everything, he'd gotten so close to being sent to the bunker never to see the light of day again. His worst fear was almost realized, but Sarah saved him like she always did back in those days. In this moment though Chuck needed a different kind of attention, one that Sarah wasn't exactly well versed in. Regardless she did her absolute best to comfort him as he alternated between fitful sleep and silently crying.
The next morning Chuck was ashamed of how he'd acted the night before and quickly beat a hasty retreat from her hotel room. Sarah watched Chuck all day at work, watched him shuffle around like a zombie and she was not surprised when there was another knock on her door that evening. Once again he found himself back at her place needing the same comfort to sleep and Sarah had gladly given it to him. For three straight nights Sarah welcomed her asset into her hotel room with open arms and did the best she could to help him get through the pain and trauma of what had transpired. On the third night when she opened the door he tried to apologize, but she wasn't having any of it.
"Don't say you're sorry Chuck, this isn't your fault." Chuck simply nodded and shuffled past her; watching Chuck like this almost made her cry, she wanted to make all the pain go away but she didn't know how. Once the two of them were in bed snuggled up against each other as had become customary the previous two evenings Sarah couldn't help but think how amazing this would feel if it wasn't because Chuck was slowly being consumed by dark thoughts. Sarah was snuggled up against Chuck's chest when she heard the familiar sound of him crying. Whereas before she'd simply let him cry thinking he just needed to get it out of his system, this time she remembered exactly what she'd said to him as he wept.
"I won't let them take you away again I promise, never again." Sarah felt a bit emotional as she said it herself, it was killing her to watch such a happy and positive man as the terror of the past weeks events consumed him. Part of her felt like it was her fault for not seeing what was really bothering him sooner. It had been simple words, but it had meant a lot to Chuck at the time; the sheer terror of not knowing when his life as he knew it would end was consuming him from within. The thought that at any moment the government could simply decided to lock him away from his family without any warning; to simply throw him away with no friends, no family, just four walls and a computer screen to keep him company.
"You can't promise me that Sarah." The sound of his emotional voice sent a pang through her chest; Sarah spoke without thinking, she'd simply reacted and said what felt right.
"I just did, and if not I'm going to be right there with you in that bunker." That last part she'd said to herself in her head, but it was a promise nonetheless. She would never let this happen to him again, and that was a promise Sarah Walker intended to keep.
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #3: I'm so to hear that so many of you enjoyed my one shot celebrating the 13th anniversary of the debut of Chuck, titled Thirteen Years. That was a very fun story to write so i'm so happy that you all liked it. And for those of you who haven't read it what are you doing go read it!? Tell me honestly what did you think about this chapter and the last one? I know the whole younger Chuck and his sister are a bit forced but WAAAAAY down the line it's all gonna tie back in to a much larger point so bare with me.
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #4: So yesterday I got inspired to write another fluffy one shot that's quickly spiraling into a multi chapter story in my head titled "Stay Awake With Me" If I was to write that story too would you want it posted on a different day of the week along with Contrition or on an alternating week schedule with Contrition? Let me know either way I don't even know if i'm going to write it, but I want your opinion regardless.
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #5: Please let me know what you thought of this chapter by leaving a review, hearing from all of you really does make this all worth it for us authors.
UNTIL NEXT TIME :D
