"Devon!" Ellie shouts in the apartment, "Devon, where are you?"

"I'm here babe, what's up?"

"What's up?! We have an hour to get ready for this party and nothing is set up… Our guests are going to arrive and nothing is done."

"Don't worry babe, I have this handled. I will call the calvary." Devon looks around the apartment and notices how much needs to be done. There are no decorations hanging, there are no games set up, there isn't a pile of presents waiting to be opened. The snacks were missing and the cake hadn't been fetched from the baker. Devon thought to himself that Clara is going to have the worst birthday ever. Parents with children were about to arrive and his home looked messy. Devon started to breathe heavy, his daughter will have an awesome birthday he thought to himself. Devon reached for his phone, first on the list to call was Chuck. "Chuckles, I need you over now."

"Sure Devon, will be right over." Chuck had just gotten dressed for the day. He had a warm smile on his face because it felt nice to spend time with Sarah yesterday. Chuck didn't expect it to feel like old times, but yesterday, it felt as if Sarah had truly kept her guard down for some time. And that's what Chuck wanted the most, he wanted Sarah to trust him. With his Chuck Taylor's on, jeans and a grey t-shirt, he makes his way to Devon's apartment. Chuck hadn't reached the door yet, when Devon pulled the door open and said in a rushed breath, "Clara has her birthday party in an hour there are going to be children and parents and judgemental parents or children that don't have a nice time oh god crying children I need your help we need decorations, gifts, cake no one has fetched the ca…"

"Devon, slow down, that's more than enough time to get everything together. Clara will have the best birthday. We got this. Okay, I'm going to start with the decorations, you can wrap some presents and I will ask someone to fetch the cake." It is evident that Devon is trying to remember what remains on the list, which items were they forgetting? Devon shuffles his feet towards the presents and begins his task, while Ellie remains upstairs entertaining Clara until the guests arrive.

Chuck remains in the courtyard, he had wanted to phone Sarah all morning but at least he had an excuse now. He navigates to his 'Favourite Contacts' where her details were listed first. He takes a breath and notices his nerves, even though she is, technically, his wife, he still got nervous around her. Sarah answers the phone "Hello Chuck", Chuck can hear that she is smiling.

"Morning Sarah, how are you doing?"

"I'm feeling better, I'm feeling more me."

"Ah great! I have a favour to ask, do you have any plans for this morning?"

"And here I thought you were phoning me because you wanted to speak to me…" Sarah responds in a playful tone.

"I was actually going to phone you later to come over but it turns out that I need to see you sooner. Clara is having her birthday party today and Devon and Ellie underestimated how much they needed to do to get everything ready. Would you be able to pick up Clara's cake and meet me at their apartment where we can play with little kids and eat cake?"

"Sounds like a nice way to spend my morning, send me the details regarding the cake and then I can be right over?"

"Great, thank you, Sarah."

"See you soon," Sarah replies. Chuck makes his way inside of the apartment and starts blowing up balloons. Apparently, the theme is rainbows, so it needs to be transformed into a magical place and currently, there was just an apartment staring at him. He resumes blowing balloons at a rapid pace, and is careful to clow them up in sequence to ensure an equal proportion of every colour. Chuck moves over to placing streamers strategically all over the apartment – the decorations were taking shape in making the apartment look like a birthday party. Next, Devon and Chuck started hanging the 'Happy Birthday'. Devon had finished wrapping all of Clara's presents so they moved outside to set up places for the children to sit and chairs around some tables for the parents.

"Delivery for Clara Woodcomb," Sarah says to announce her presence.

"Sarah, thank god, I was getting worried about the cake. It says 'Happy Birthday Clara' on right?" Devon asks in a rather anxious voice.

"Yep, it's the right one Devon. The party is going to be great, the setup looks amazing."

"You staying right?"

"I wouldn't miss it," Sarah says with a smile. Devon makes his way inside to put the cake down. Chuck moves closer to Sarah and greets her, "Hey You." Sarah pulls him in for a hug and replies, "Hey You." Sarah liked the smell of Chuck, it is a smell that brings happy memories and makes her think of Chuck. Even though she couldn't remember anything from the past, she could feel a smile forming on her face every time she is reminded about Chuck. "Okay, so what must I help with?" asks Sarah.

"Well, I know it's a children's birthday party but I think the parents might need some alcohol."

"On it, maybe some very light alcohol with iced teas and Bloody Marys for the hardcore parents?"

"Sounds good." Sarah walks into the apartment and begins her tasks. Chuck feels good, it feels like things have picked up where they left things. Sure, they weren't living together but Chuck thought that they had made good progress given the time period since Quinn and how much was taken from Sarah. Chuck felt grateful for these moments – the ordinary moments that they could share together which will hopefully form part of what Sarah will remember forever.

While Sarah was blending the various drinks together, Ellie made her way down the stairs and was amazed that so much had been completed within the hour. "Sarah! Hi! Thank you so much for coming to help out, Devon and I would have never gotten it all ready in time."

"Of course, Ellie! What are friends for?"

"Apparently, day drinking Bloody Marys to get through a child's birthday party." Ellie was taking all of the platters from the fridge and placing them on the counter. "Seriously though, Sarah, thank you for being here today. I know that we don't feel like your family just yet – but you have always been ours and I am glad to celebrate today with you."

"Thank you. Ellie, I must say it feels easy and comfortable here." Sarah looks sincere and really appreciates that everyone in Chuck's family has been so welcoming and supportive to her. She isn't used to the warm reception but its something that she could get used to.

Devon calls out for Ellie, "Shit babe, they are here!"

"Coming!" Ellie shouts back and quickly fetches Clara from upstairs so that she can greet all of her friends.

Ellie, Devon, Chuck and Sarah all congregate at the courtyard to greet the guests and children. They give out hugs, smiles and high fives. Once all the guests have arrived and everyone is settled with a drink, the children start to settle down with games that have been laid out. The adults gorge on gossip and iced tea, the atmosphere is filled with laughter. After a while, Devon seats Clara at a table with presents and waits for Ellie to bring out the cake. The crowd gathers around Clara and waits for Ellie until they start to sing. Somehow without even noticing, Chuck and Sarah were standing beside each other holding hands, it wasn't planned but it just felt natural. Ellie enters the courtyard holding the cake and starts singing "Happy Birthday…" the guests follow her lead singing loudly. Clara smiles broadly and giggles, the look on Ellie and Devon's face is admiration for the child that they have and who she has already turned out to be. The cake has finally reached the table for Clara to blow out the candles. "Make a wish" Devon reminds his daughter, so Clara squeezes her eyes shut and blows the candles out with wonder.

Later that afternoon, once the guests have left and the clean up was largely completed, Chuck pulls out his phone to make a phone call, as Sarah's phone starts to ring she looks up at Chuck since they are both in the kitchen but answers the call anyway. "I told you that I was going to call you later to hang out. So, I guess it is my definition of later, do you feel like going for a walk?"

"I would love to," Sarah says with a smirk. She hangs up the phone and says, "You have moves, Mr Bartowski." Chuck and Sarah say goodbye to Devon and Ellie and make there way out of the apartment.

The couple start walking on the sidewalk in the direction of the sunset. Sarah reached for his hand and Chuck was relieved. He had wanted to reach out for her since they had started walking but did not want to be presumptuous. The sky was painted pink and orange in streaks. "Thank you for inviting me today, Chuck."

"Sarah, you don't need an invitation because you are family – regardless of what happens with us, you will always be family and we will always want to share these moments with you."

"As I'm holding your hand, you are wondering what is going to happen with us?"

"No, no I didn't mean it like that. I meant that we don't have to label what we currently are, in order for you to be apart of this family. Because your label is family and is not dependent on whether we are together."

"Thank you, Chuck, I appreciate how patient you have been with me." They continue walking along the sidewalk talking about children that ate way too much cake and might be sick in the car on the way home. They laughed about the parents that drank a little too much and said things that they shouldn't have. And just when the sun was setting, they found a bench to sit down on. "I think I'm going to remember today for the rest of my life." Sarah glows.

"That makes me happy." Chuck put an arm around her. "What stood out for you, today?" Chuck asks.

Sarah takes a moment and the relives the day in a couple of minutes. "Devon and Ellie still looking so in love after so long. I will remember Clara's face when she made her wish, she squeezed her eyes so tight – almost like her wish depended on how hard she closed her eyes." Chuck lets out a laugh. The two of them remain in silence until the sun sets. Once the colour has drained from the sky, they decide it is time to walk back to the apartment.

When they are outside Sarah's car, Chuck says "Thank you for coming today, Sarah" he smiles broadly looking deeply into her eyes, "It meant so much that you came."

"It was a lovely day." Sarah steps closer to Chuck and pecks him.

X

Chuck had just got out of the shower and put a tank and shorts on. The evening was so hot that he needed the shower to cool down. His apartment was really quiet but he was getting used to being by himself, it wasn't lonely but it wasn't the way that he would want it. Since he had no missions, Sarah was gone and Morgan was busy with Alex; Chuck spent most of his nights cooking a nice meal or watching a movie and getting a take out. Tonight, was definitely a takeout and movie night. Chuck always struggled to choose what takeout to get because he was rather indecisive. He knew which movie he was going to watch but was pondering about the food.

Sitting on the couch and scrolling through the food possibilities, he hears a knock on the door. Opening the door, he finds Sarah holding Chinese takeaway from the Bamboo Dragon. She is smiling, "I hope you feel like Chinese?", she asks holding the packet up.

Chuck moves to the side of the door allowing Sarah to come into the apartment and states, "It's exactly what I feel like".