CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #1: Hey everyone, so I'll be completely honest and admit that this may be my favorite thing i've ever written, it just made me giddy reading it after I had finished it. So this story takes place some time between seasons one and two, but I have made some small changes to canon involving Castle as you'll see. I find that as I've gotten more involved with the community, the tone of my writing has lightened considerably. I know I can write drama and angst very very well as evidence by "Contrition", but it just isn't very fun to be honest. Writing fun happy stories with witty banter and oodles of flirty one liners is just much more fun. This story is a bit of both; it's got some very interesting introspective moments and plenty of witty dialogue to satisfy both types of readers. I'm noticing that i'm very sex positive in my writing, and I just think it works with Chuck and Sarah; they're just both such charming and lovable characters that you can't help, but love them so it just seems to work for me. If you haven't figured it out by now, i'm a hopeless romantic and a total Charah lifer so you'll always be in good hands with me if you love reading Charah as much as I do. Anyways I hope you all enjoy reading "Chuck vs. the Limp" as much as I enjoyed writing it; it's about a fourteen minute read so it's not too long. This story is un-beta'd so any and all problems and mistakes are my fault.

Chuck vs. the Limp

A Story by

CharmingCharles2896

Tendonitis freaking sucks, it just freaking hurts for no freaking reason! Blame it on the missions, blame it on all the damn running, blame it on his worn out old Chuck Taylors; regardless of what you blamed it on, Chuck had gotten tendonitis in his right foot. The doctor said it was a "usage injury" meaning that a continual muscle weakness was causing his tendonitis in his right foot. Apparently his hips were weak, which was causing weakness in his right knee that made said knee rest too far to the inside compared to his left knee, which was then putting excessive strain on the tendons on the inside of his right foot. Walking wasn't fun, running was worse, and the missions didn't help things at all. He'd tried to keep it to himself, weary of the razzing he'd invariably get from Casey, but he just couldn't hide it any longer. All it took was one fall in front of Sarah, one lapse in concentration to expose the fact that he was walking with a limp. He'd been suffering in silence for at least three weeks now and finally his newest secret had been revealed. Sarah had noticed his limp and as soon as she was alone had called Ellie to ask her about it; of course this meant that Ellie finally heard about it too and went all mother hen on her idiot brother.

One referral to a foot specialist later and Chuck had his diagnosis; tendonitis was the verdict, not a broken bone, not a sprain, probably the most positive outcome all things considered. When General Beckman and Director Graham had learned about this news they were surprisingly okay with it. Director Graham had even offered Chuck some conciliatory words saying that field agents get injured all the time so it's not that big of a deal, all things considered. That had done a great deal to curb Chuck's humiliation, because even Major John Casey had to admit that Director Graham was 100% correct. The problem was that it was hard for Chuck to drive with his hurt foot and ankle so it was decided that he'd be driven to physical therapy. That solved one problem, but when it came down to deciding who would drive him to physical therapy twice a week in order to watch over him, he'd been surprised when Sarah had volunteered.

"My thinking is that as his cover girlfriend, if anyone is going to be taking Chuck it has to be me, otherwise we invite suspicion from Chuck's sister or his friends." Chuck didn't like the fact that she was only thinking of the cover, but the opportunity to spend some more alone time with Sarah was definitely a welcome one. The two leaders of Team Intersect had liked her thinking and that settled the matter. That had been two weeks ago, he still had six more weeks of physical therapy twice a week so that meant twelve more chances to be alone with Sarah Walker. The first four meetings had been brutal for Chuck, with his brilliant physical therapist Maryanne working him hard to get him back into tip top shape. He also had exercises and stretches that he was required to do every day to further his rehab. Sarah was a real taskmaster about it and had done her best to learn what the proper form was supposed to be for each exercise so she could observe and make sure he was doing them every day and doing them correctly. Everyday down in the newly built Castle Sarah would meet with Chuck in the dojo and watch him do his exercises for roughly half an hour or so. He was very grateful for all of her help to get him back to normal and he had to admit that he'd never been more in love with her than he was right now.

That's how he found himself riding in Sarah's Porsche for the fifth time in three weeks after his latest physical therapy appointment. His physical therapy appointments had to be done late because of his work at the Buy More, but thankfully Maryanne was flexible and understanding about it. Maryanne had worked him hard and had shown him some new exercises to do at home that had collectively kicked his ass. His foot was throbbing and his legs were tired, but he was with Sarah so he was honestly okay with it. Chuck had been looking out the window at the night sky thinking about nothing in particular when he noticed that they were turning into Sarah's hotel parking lot. Chuck turned and gave Sarah a questioning look as he spoke.

"What are we doing here, I thought you were just going to drop me off at my place?" Sarah gave Chuck a comforting smile and turned off her car.

"I know todays session was harder than the last few so I've got something for your foot pain up in my hotel room. That is if you're interested?" Sarah asked with a hint of nervousness.

"Sure, that would be great, but how did you know the session was brutal?" he asked with visible confusion.

"Other than the fact that you just told me, you look exhausted, and I was listening through the microphone on your watch." Sarah said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out an earwig. Chuck just looked at the earwig as Sarah continued.

"Gotta make sure you're okay at all times Chuck." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Chuck simply nodded and followed her lead by exiting the car. He slowly hobbled along beside her as they both strolled into her hotel. Chuck was grateful that she was such a good person; she was sacrificing so much of her own personal time to chauffeur his nerdy ass all over Burbank. As they got into the elevator they both shared a look, she gave him a happy albeit concerned look, he gave her a slightly embarrassed look. Once they'd arrived at her hotel room she led him in wordlessly, he'd only been in her hotel room twice before and every time it felt like he was entering sacred ground, like he was venturing into the temple of the gods.

"Okay lose your shoes and your sock and sit down on the bed." Sarah said as she walked to the bathroom; Chuck did as she instructed as he heard the sound of the faucet turn on and Sarah begin to wash her hands. Chuck unlaced his shoes and removed his right sock and hopped up onto her admittedly extremely comfortable bed.

"I bet it would feel amazing to cuddle on this bed." Chuck thought before scolding himself; she was his handler and this was just a cover to her, he shouldn't be thinking things like that about her. Chuck shook those thoughts away as Sarah reemerged from the bathroom with an easy smile on her face.

"So what is this cure for my pain that you speak of, oh wise one?" Chuck said as he leaned back on his hands; Sarah simply chuckled at his words and hopped up on the bed before she sat down on the foot of it with her legs crossed. Sarah simply patted her thighs and looked at him expectantly, Chuck simply gave her a confused look.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Well I was planning on giving you a foot rub to relax the tendons and muscles in your foot." She said like it was obvious and she was unsure what his hold up was.

"Are you sure we should be doing that, isn't that kind of intimate?" he asked nervously, which only made Sarah let out a frustrated sigh.

"Stop being neurotic, what's a foot rub among close friends?" Sarah asked back at him dismissively, Chuck's eyebrows simply rose so she spoke again. "Tell me the truth; if after a long day I asked if you would give me a foot rub would you do it?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, she had him on that one and he knew it. Chuck knew without a shadow of a doubt that he'd do pretty much anything she asked of him if she gave him that look that always made his knees weak.

"Okay maybe you've got a point." Chuck conceded causing Sarah to simply chuckle and pat her thighs again; this time Chuck's extremely long leg extended towards her and his foot took up its rightful place in her lap.

"Good boy, now just relax and let me work." Sarah said as her warm hands began to massage his foot.

"Ooh your hands are warm." Chuck commented as he sat back on his elbows; Sarah simply nodded not looking up from her task.

"My hands and feet are often very cold so I washed my hands under some warm water to warm them for you." Chuck simply looked up at the ceiling unable to understand what he'd done to deserve having a woman like Sarah in his life.

"You're too good to me Sarah, you go so far above and beyond what is required of your job for me; there's got to be something you'd rather be doing than babysitting me right?" Chuck said looking at her.

"Nope, there is nowhere I'd rather be than with you, going on missions, hanging out with your family; this is the best assignment I've ever had." Sarah said nonchalantly as she continued her work; Chuck simply smiled and shook his head in disbelief, this woman was just too good to be true. For several minutes Sarah simply worked silently, making sure she worked extra hard around the tendon that was the subject of so much consternation and hand wringing. She heard him hiss sharply after she found a particularly tender spot.

"Sorry, guess that's the spot to avoid then isn't it?" she asked with a small smile as she continued her work. For Chuck he was a man of two minds, part of him wanted to simply relax and go with it, to simply let the moment happen and savor it as a rare moment with the real girl that Sarah kept hidden so often. The other part of his mind was so confused by what he was seeing, she'd been laughing and joking so naturally with him on these trips to physical therapy that it made him wonder where they actually stood. She'd gone to such lengths to remind him that she had to stay professional, that this moment was down right puzzling for the Nerd Herd supervisor turned government asset.

"Just shut up Moron, all you need is the girl goddamn it!" The voice of Casey said in Chuck's mind; that's exactly what Casey would say if he could hear Chuck's current inner turmoil.

"Man what's got you so wound up, I can practically hear your brain working? In my head the sound your brain is making is that old late 90's dial up Internet sound." Chuck simply laughed as he remembered exactly what she was talking about. It was in that moment that Chuck made a decision, Casey was right… all you need is the girl.

"I'm not thinking about a darn thing; I'm just laying here wondering what I did in a past life that convinced God to send someone as amazing as you to Burbank." Chuck said as he sat back and simply focused on how great Sarah's surprisingly strong hands felt on his injured foot. Sarah simply smiled to herself and tried not to blush at his surprisingly honest and candid compliment of her. There was simply no doubt that he was completely smitten with her, not that she didn't already know that. They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity and Sarah had to admit that she was enjoying this quite a lot, it was something real and tangible that she could do to help take his pain away. She'd caused so much of his pain over the last year and a half and if this was something she could do to take some pain away for a change, then she was going to do it, because Chuck Bartowski deserved it. He deserved the best from her always; he was so good to her, so patient, so understanding, so much more than a broken killer like her deserved. She was going to hold onto these moments for as long as she could, because any moment could be her last.

Sarah knew she was developing feelings for him; he'd wormed his way into her heart, he was taking up a permanent residence in there and surprisingly she was fine with that, more than fine actually. It was okay for Sarah Walker to feel loved, it was okay for her to let someone love her, even if she wasn't allowed to return those affections. Sarah did her best to show him that he was more than a friend given her current situation and she hoped that at least on some level he understood that she cared about him.

Sarah applied pressure to a small knot in the arch of his foot and she heard a moan escape his mouth that she'd seldom heard from men during actual sex. His eyes were closed as he was no doubt reveling in the relief provided by her tender ministrations; she couldn't hide her smirk and the feeling of satisfaction she got from being able to elicit such a strong reaction from her asset.

"You okay over there?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smile; Chuck simply nodded lazily and smiled back at her.

"This is better than sex." The casual way he said it made her eyes grow wide and her cheeks blush, that was the last thing she'd expected to come from Chuck Bartowski of all people.

"Huh, I don't remember us ever having sex." Sarah said matter-of-factly as she looked down at the injured foot she was currently working on. She felt Chuck tense for just a moment before his foot relaxed once again. She had no idea where that had come from, but it felt right so she was going to roll with it.

"What?" His answer almost made her laugh, but she used all of her training to keep a straight face as she spoke.

"I was saying, I don't know about you, but I don't remember us ever having sex together. How could you know that what I'm doing right now is better than sex, you've never had sex with the best, which is me." She gave him a saucy smile and then applied some more firm pressure to his arch; his brain was no doubt rebooting so she simply waited for his response.

"Well that was just mean, Walker." He said in mock outrage; she was a bit surprised that he was going with it, but she was loving it nonetheless.

"Me, mean? Not a chance, Bartowski." She said right back to him in fake outrage.

"Yes you, I was perfectly fine over here thinking pure thoughts about this wonderfully amazing woman sitting in front of me and then you gotta go and get me thinking lewd thoughts about you. It's down right mean I tell you." Chuck said making Sarah giggle at his silliness.

"Lewd thoughts eh? Lewd thoughts about what exactly?" She said it with a challenge and a raised eyebrow that made him swallow loudly.

"About, you know, about us… doing the sex." Chuck said with a hint of unease as he stumbled his way through an answer; Sarah couldn't stop the laugh from exploding out of her, causing her to almost fall over.

"Doing the sex huh?" He simply nodded. "Trust me, nothing you could imagine would be better than the real thing." Sarah said with a hint of superiority as her posture straightened and her bust stuck out just a hint, grabbing Chuck's attention briefly.

"Thinking awful highly of yourself, eh Sarah?" He asked as he pulled his foot away and sat up on his knees just a couple feet from her now. Sarah simply nodded to him with a smile as she matched his posture. "I don't know Sarah, I think you underestimate the man you're looking at right now." That sounded like a challenge to Sarah and Sarah Walker never backed down from a challenge.

"Careful Curls, don't write checks your body can't cash." Chuck moved closer to her and pulled out a pen, his foot pain now long forgotten.

"Speak for yourself Blondie, I've got my pen right here; I'll write the check right now and you can go cash it." Their faces were mere inches apart; Sarah's eyes darted to the pen and then to Chuck's lips before darting back to his eyes. For an imperceptible moment, self-doubt about the consequences of her potential actions flashed through her mind, but her Chuck had challenged her and Sarah Walker wasn't going to let that challenge go unanswered.

"Fuck it." She thought to herself as she grabbed ahold of Chuck's Buy More issue Nerd Herd tie; Chuck's eyes grew great big as he felt Sarah's left hand circle around behind his neck and rest there. He looked nervously into his handler's eyes and saw only a predator about to pounce on its prey and he suddenly had a feeling he was the prey.

"Sarah?" He asked nervously as he saw the side of her lips curl up into a devilish smile.

"You issued a challenge Chuck, I never back down from a challenge so remember, you asked for this." As the meaning behind her words hit him his eyes could only grow large before her lips crashed into his own and he felt her fingers snake their way through his hair. Their tongues danced and battled for supremacy for a long moment before they both came up for air. Before Chuck could say anything she pushed him back down on the bed and pounced on top of him.

"Best challenge ever," they both thought before they lost themselves in each other… several times.

The End

CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #2: To be completely honest this story was written as a venting mechanism over my own frustrations with physical therapy. Like Chuck I currently have tendonitis in my right foot and for the same reasons as he did, albeit I can still run a little and drive so i'm better off than he is lol. That being said my physical therapy yesterday kicked my butt, my foot was so sore when I got into my car to drive home that all I could think about is how great it would feel to get a foot rub lol. The flirty banter at the end played out in my head almost exactly as you read it while in the car listening to the song "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas of all things. It was all I could think about on my way home so I made sure to write that part first to get it all down on paper exactly as it had played out in my head. Then I went about writing a story to connect to the ending lol.

CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #3: So what did you all think about that? I hope you all enjoyed that one as much as I enjoyed writing it. Regardless of my hopes for your reactions I want you all to give me your honest opinions, they keep me grounded and help me keep my work on the right track. Be constructive please, but if something bothered you let me know in a review. If you wish to opine please leave a comment, if you liked this story maybe think about giving it a favorite? I'm working on a project with my beta nevr about the lockdowns so look out for that in the future. It is his original story idea, thought up by him, but he asked me to put it to paper so we'll be collaborating on that, publishing it on my profile, but it will be regarded as a Charmr Project. Other than that expect another "Ew-niverse" one-shot for Christmas featuring General Beckman and Roan Montgomery paying our favorite former spies a visit. I'm still working on "Contrition" have no fear it isn't going away, I just want to get it right. I've got to finish "I Don't Want Your Desire" too so look for the remaining four chapters of that along with my thirty billion other projects. My god how does David Carner juggle this many stories at once? Anyways stay safe, enjoy the coming holidays, and always remember if you're in trouble the code word is "pineapple"

Until Next Time :D