Sarah Versus Getting Married
By Steampunk . Chuckster
Summary: Sarah Walker is getting married. Canon. Charah.
A/N: I just haven't seen any fics about the canon Chuck and Sarah wedding, and someone on tumblr pointed it out to me as well, so I thought I'd tackle it! Get cozy. This is pure feel-good.
Disclaimer: I don't own CHUCK and I'm not getting paid.
"Out! Out out out! Everybody give the bride a bit of space now. She needs some peace and alone time before it's go time."
Sarah didn't miss the side-eye Zondra flashed the matron-of-honor as she slowly rose to her feet, fixed the wrinkle in her bridesmaid dress, and slinked past her. But she also knew the other brunette had no choice but to begrudgingly accept Ellie Woodcomb's orders, not just because Chuck's sister was basically like the captain of the bridesmaids—at least, that was how Sarah had come to understand the way this whole thing worked—but because Eleanor Bartowski Woodcomb had been right there beside Sarah through everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours.
Ellie had not budged an inch from her bedside, doing everything she possibly could, basically pulling a rabbit out of a hat to keep her alive long enough for Chuck to come back with the antidote.
Both of the Bartowskis had worked tirelessly, one of them traversing the entire globe, the other staying right beside her, to save her life.
Zondra knew it.
So instead of saying something snippy or even glaring, she left the room. Of course not before she turned and winked at Sarah in the mirror. "I'm not catching the groom if he faints when he sees you."
Sarah just smiled slowly and rolled her eyes.
"Ruthless," Carina chuckled, leaning down from where she'd been hovering at Sarah's shoulder and wrapping her arms around the younger woman. She lowered her voice. "Listen, you still have time to run. St. Tropez is just a quick flight away. Plenty of nice men there." Her smile was just plain lecherous, Sarah thought to herself.
She looked down at the engagement ring on her finger, though, and she smiled. "Think any of 'em would ever do what Chuck did to save my life?"
"Well, you got me there." The redhead raised both eyebrows. "Okay, okay, I'm goin'!" she groused. Sarah missed it, but she imagined Ellie had given her a severe look for taking so long. Carina squeezed her from behind again and Sarah lifted her hands to wrap her fingers around Carina's forearms. "I'm happy for ya, Blondie. Really."
"I know. Thanks, Carina. Behave out there, huh? This is…kind of important to me."
"I guess so." She teasingly pinched Sarah's shoulder, causing Sarah to reach back to slap at Carina's hand even as she lunged away with a laugh.
When the door shut, Sarah was alone with Ellie.
She turned her head a little to look at the updo one of Ellie's friends rushed in to do last minute as a favor. Everything ended up being last minute as a favor, including the venue, which hadn't been their original plan either.
Everything had changed when Vivian Volkoff attacked her.
And that meant no reception, which they wouldn't be getting a refund for, unfortunately. That hurt. But not as bad as it would've hurt if Chuck hadn't gotten home in time, or if that antidote hadn't worked.
So many things could've gone wrong.
Sarah shivered.
"What? Is it the hair? Oh God, you hate the hair…"
Sarah laughed, looking up at her soon-to-be sister-in-law's stricken face. She reached over and held onto her write reassuringly. "No, no. I love it. Ruby did an amazing job." She gently patted the low side bun and nibbled on her lip a bit. "I was just thinking about…everything that led up to this."
"Oh." Ellie sighed and grabbed a nearby chair, moving it closer and sitting down, leaning in. "Sarah, that won't do any good, dwelling on what could have happened. Because this is what's actually happening. This is real, this moment. We're all okay."
She nodded, blinking rapidly to keep from crying.
"Oh boy. Oooh no. Nope. Not doing the cry thing. No, Sarah!" Her tone was so adamant and principal-like that it dried up the tears immediately. Sarah let herself wonder for a moment if that tactic might work for Ellie with Clara in the future when the little one hit her terrible twos.
Sarah held her hands up in surrender. "Sorry. No tears. I promise." She huffed, amused, dropping her arms to her lap with a comforting fwoof sound, what with the mounds of fabric covering her thighs. "He just did so much. You all did."
"Nobody did as much as Chuck did, Sarah. Nobody ever will. That's what this whole marriage thing is." Ellie slipped her hand over Sarah's and squeezed warmly. "And I'll be right here, too. For both of you. Always. Devon, too."
Nodding again, she beamed at Ellie and dropped her other hand over the brunette's, holding it tight. "Thank you, Ellie."
"Of course. That's what sisters are for," she said, winking.
"No, I-I mean…" Sarah squirmed then, suddenly uncomfortable. "Everything just went so quickly when I first woke up last night. You were sprinting around with Devon, taking my temperature and trying to make sure I was stabilizing, that my heart rate was normalizing and everything. Chuck was an exhausted, relieved, crying mess and wouldn't let go of me for even a second…"
"I know," Ellie said in that amused, sarcastic drawl of hers. "He was in my freaking way."
Sarah giggled. And then she sobered up quickly, slipping her free hand down to clutch onto her knee over the flowy material of her wedding gown. "I didn't have a chance to talk to you through everything. You all left Chuck and me alone so that he could tell me everything that happened. And I was so tired, I conked out. And right when I woke up again a few hours later, it was like this…explosion of everyone running around me like chickens with their heads cut off trying to figure out this wedding so that we didn't have to push it back. And everyone came through but I…I didn't get to talk to you at all."
"Hey, we all had things to do."
A slight smile tugged at the side of Sarah's mouth as she nodded. "Yeah, I just—God, Ellie, thank you." She looked Ellie right in her green eyes. "Thank you for taking care of me, for keeping me alive. I have a feeling if you weren't there, I would've already been long gone before Chuck was able to get back to me."
A hard determination came over the older woman's face. "No way in hell was I gonna let my brother lose the love of his life." She softened a bit then and moved her hand up to Sarah's bicep, her touch gentle. "And I wasn't about to lose someone who's become my best friend."
Sarah felt her chest seize. "Is there a way for me to hug you without messing up all this…stuff on me?" she asked, gesturing to everything she had on. Then she huffed and shook her head. "Never mind. I don't care."
She leaned forward and caught Ellie in a tight hug. The other woman's arms went around her torso and she hugged back just as tightly.
"I may not be a spy, Sarah, but I'll still protect both of you with everything in me," Ellie promised. "We're sisters now. Well, almost officially."
The realization of that flowed through her and she nearly cried again. She didn't do it, because she didn't want to get yelled at, so she just shut her eyes tight and let her chin quiver.
By the time they pulled back out of the hug, Sarah had composed herself. She snorted. "Four years ago, did you think we were gonna be here? You, my matron-of-honor, sitting here with me in my wedding dress a couple of minutes before I'm gonna walk down the aisle to marry your brother?" She shook her head in awe. "If Now Me went back and told Then Me about this moment, she'd—Well, I might punch myself for being a liar."
Ellie laughed. And then she made a face and shook her head. "I knew." The blonde raised an eyebrow, surprised at the quick and candid answer. "I absolutely knew. I didn't know when. I just knew my brother wasn't gonna give up on you." She tilted her head and widened her eyes. "Because I wasn't gonna let him."
Sarah chuckled, ducking her head, feeling shy like she usually did around Ellie when she got this warm wave of affection from the other woman. The Bartowskis were so damn sincere when they were kind, particularly to her, that it was sometimes intense, a little overwhelming. She'd gotten accustomed to it from Chuck, but Ellie still had a strong effect on her.
"No, but really?" Ellie giggled. "Really, it's that I saw how much you two love each other, even then. I didn't really know why it seemed like you were holding back sometimes. I get it now, of course. But I could just see it in your faces, your eyes. Even during the rough patches. I knew you two had it in you to get here. Before and after I found out you were a spy sent here to protect him."
Sarah ducked her head and fought against the onslaught of tears. "You can't say things like that and then yell at me when I get misty, Ellie."
Ellie laughed and quickly snatched a tissue from the vanity, handing it to Sarah. "I'm sorry. You're right. I won't yell at you," she said, amusement spilling from her tone as she watched Sarah sniffle a little and dab carefully under her eyes.
"You went to see Chuck earlier… Is he okay? Is he nervous?" Sarah couldn't help but ask then, letting Ellie take the tissue from her and toss it in the nearby trash can.
He'd been whisked away from her in the early morning, Morgan, Devon, and Casey bursting into her room where she was still resting in the hospital bed per Ellie's orders. They'd grabbed him by his arms and hoisted him up bodily from where he leaned against her bed, talking to her. They'd apologized to her but insisted they had to get down to business.
The poor guy had reached out towards her desperately with a "Sarah! I-I love—I love you!" And he was gone before she could even say it back through her giggles. That was the last time she'd seen him. She imagined he was a bit of a wreck wherever he was in this small church they'd found last minute, off the beaten path, the only place Devon had been able to find that would accept a same-day wedding. She had a sneaking suspicion Mary had threatened a pastor, but nobody had confirmed it to her for sure yet.
The money they'd pooled their resources to get really helped. She didn't know how much of it would actually end up going to the needy in the community, but today she had to be grateful and optimistic about everything.
She was alive. It was her wedding day.
And where in the hell was Chuck in this place? Already waiting at the altar, probably. She didn't realize the time was so late. God, it was almost time.
"Chuck? Nervous? The guy has never been this calm."
Sarah gave her a confused look. "We talking about the same guy?"
"I know!" Ellie laughed, eyes wide. "He was in there, cool as a cucumber. I've never seen him so calm and resolved and ready for anything in his life. He'd probably tell you it's because he's been ready for this for his whole life or something sappy like that, 'cause he's sappy." Sarah giggled, nodding. "But I think on top of that, he just knows. He knows this is the rest of his life and it's finally here and he's just relieved. This is the culmination of a lot of hard work. Neither of you made this easy. On any of us," she added in a drawl, giving Sarah a look. Sarah couldn't help wincing. They really had made this difficult, but it wasn't as if neither of them had good reasons.
"I'm not, either. Nervous I mean. Which is…insane. I think I've just had the worst forty-eight hours and I was in and out of consciousness, not sure if I was going to die before I saw him again…" She reached up and made grabby hand for the tissues and Ellie passed over the whole box immediately. She pulled one and dabbed again. "Sorry, I just… I'm trying to keep this all back until we get this wedding done. I need to suppress it just for an hour or so. That's all."
"You gonna let it all out on the plane to Hawaii?"
Sarah laughed. "Good point. So…maybe instead I'll suppress it for a few more hours."
"Don't want to scare the vacation crowd," Ellie giggled.
"Everything's just been such a flurry of panic and fear and worry and…desperation. I feel like none of us have had a chance to breathe. So I just…I don't have room to be nervous. I just want to be married to him. I want to put my ring on his finger and…" She let out a long, calming breath, looking at her engagement ring, the diamond glittering on her finger. "For the first time in my life, I'm going to have a name that's real. And mine. Be a part of…a family. For real. I'm just ready for it. I don't have time or room for nerves or butterflies. I just want my man, damn it."
Ellie reared back and widened her eyes. Her response made Sarah laugh and blush. "Wow. Well, okay, Sarah almost-Bartowski. Let's go get you your man." She leaned in and hugged Sarah then, and Sarah hugged her back, the box of tissues still in one hand.
Ellie pulled back and dabbed a few times under Sarah's eyes with a fresh tissue.
"Do I look awful now?" Sarah asked. "Puffy eyes?"
"Beautiful eyes. Beautiful bride. I'm going to give you five minutes to be alone and I'm assuming we'll get the show on the road. Ready?"
"Fuck yes."
Ellie cracked up. "See you out there."
She left the room and Sarah stared at herself in the mirror, poking at the skin under her eyes and trying to compose herself. Everything was threatening to burst out of her. She was slowly coming apart at the seams now that Ellie, Carina, and Zondra weren't here to distract her. The room was so silent. She couldn't hear anything but the buzzing in her ears, her heart racing.
She'd nearly died. She'd been so close to it. And while she hadn't had an out of body experience or anything that dramatic, she'd seen and felt the desperation in the room around her, the utter heartbreak, the panic, even while unconscious. Chuck had been there for a second, when she'd been in the ice bath for her fever. She'd tried to tell him everything would be okay. And then he was gone and she hadn't seen him again until after the antidote, her fever having broken, her body working again.
She had no idea what he'd had to do to get that antidote from Vivian Volkoff. When she saw him leaning over her, she was just too relieved to see him, relieved that he'd come back. And she hadn't doubted for even a second that he was back because he'd fixed it. He'd come back with the answer. It was what Chuck Bartowski did.
As much as the poison had begun to shut down most of her important biological systems, the antidote had worked even more quickly. And she'd felt so much better even just a few minutes after first waking up.
Ellie and Devon ushered everyone out of the room then and only the Woodcombs and Chuck remained, his lips against her forehead as Ellie and Devon checked her vitals and shuffled Chuck around so that he wasn't in the way but could still stick close by her.
It was when Ellie and Devon were sure she was going to be okay and just needed rest that they finally left her alone with Chuck. She'd asked him what happened. All she knew was that he was back and she was feeling better.
And he'd told her every last detail. She was no longer a spy with the CIA. Neither of them were. It was official. But she was too caught up in the fact that Chuck went into Vivian Volkoff's base, completely alone, no back-up, no weapons, and begged her for the antidote. She imagined the chances of Vivian just killing him on the spot had occurred to him, considering how much she despised him for what happened to her father. And he'd gone in anyway. To save her.
Yeah, he'd jumped off of a building using nothing but a crappy plastic sign as a Tarzan vine to save her life before. He'd shot a man to save her life, too. But this had just felt so much bigger to her. She didn't know how long she sat on the hospital bed, unplugged from all the IVs and everything thankfully, clinging to her fiancé as hard as she could in her still weakened state, crying.
It would be so easy to hate Vivian Volkoff for nearly killing her to take her away from Chuck. But instead, she just felt a deep and intense gratefulness towards the woman. She hadn't murdered Chuck when he showed up at her compound in Russia. She'd given him the antidote. He'd somehow convinced her. He admitted he didn't even know how he managed it. But Sarah knew that he was probably the only person in the whole world who could do what he did to save her.
Nobody appealed to people's better natures better than Charles Irving Bartowski.
The fact that she was sitting here in her wedding gown, mere minutes away from walking down the aisle to marry him was evidence enough.
How was she supposed to get through all of this without crumbling today?
She was still a little tired from being rushed around today. The option was to put off the wedding for a little while to recalibrate and re-plan everything. Or every single person would have to pitch in to get it done today, on the same day they'd planned to do this, months and months ago. Everyone had agreed. They were making it happen. No postponing.
She didn't want to have to wait for this. She was fine. She was healthy. Getting healthier by the minute.
Honestly, she loved everyone, loved how the entire team had come together to make this happen as close to how they'd planned it as possible. And she was infinitely grateful she'd be sharing this moment with all of them.
But she just wanted to be locked away in a room somewhere with Chuck, alone finally, where she could let it all spill out. So much had happened and she hadn't had a chance to even grieve the end of her career with the CIA—something that had taken up her entire adult life so far, almost a decade and a half of her less than thirty years she'd been alive. It was over. And this whirlwind wouldn't let her breathe and really deal with it the way she probably needed to.
Before she could dwell on the fact that she was probably an hour or so away from death when Chuck had arrived with her cure less than twenty four hours ago, there was a light, tentative knock on the door to the room.
"Come in."
Casey poked his head in, then took one step into the room. "Uh. Hi."
"We doing this?" Sarah asked, sending him a smile as she waved him into the room all the way, climbing to her feet finally and letting out a rough breath. There were the butterflies. She felt them now. And damn Chuck for being so calm about all of this.
Casey grunted and shrugged. "Everything's in place. Ready. The nerd and the bearded moro—eh, ahem. Sorry, it's your wedding day. Chuck and Morgan are ready and waiting to get this show on the road."
Sarah took another deep breath. "Right. Okay. I'm ready."
"Nervous?" he asked, shuffling his feet.
"A little," she admitted. "Not that I don't want to marry him. It's just a big step I'd honestly convinced myself I would never get to take. Being a spy, a secret agent…I just never saw this happening."
"Hmng. I can relate," he said, raising his eyebrows.
He could, she knew. His daughter was sitting out there in the pews right now, a daughter he hadn't known about for her entire life, because the NSA had pulled him away from the woman he'd meant to marry over twenty years ago. Casey understood more than anyone else in this entire building.
"Well, uh, anyway, I come bearing a message from the groom himself." He cleared his throat. Sarah perked up, taking a step closer. "He says that since Morgan is doing the officiating now, any chance of this going normally is probably out the window. So to just follow his lead and prepare for the worst on the weirdness scale. He, uh, also said he loves ya." He made a grossed out grunt at that, purely for show, Sarah knew. She could see the emotion in the grump's entire being at the moment, and it was threatening to bring out the emotions in her too.
She nodded, giggling. "Oh yeah. The second Morgan stepped up to officiate, I knew it was going to be nothing like what we planned. As long as we get to say our vows and the rings are here and the deed is done, I don't care what weird shit the bearded guy says in the meantime. I just wanna be married."
"Heh." He shifted his weight. "Well…the, uh, funeral folks are all cleared out. Thanks to me."
"Oh God, Casey. Were you rude to people who've just lost a loved one?" she asked, wincing.
"No. I wasn't rude. Just…honest."
She shut her eyes and shook her head.
"I'm gonna go warm up the groomsman spot next to the best man, though, so—"
"Wait."
He paused. "Change your mind? Don't blame ya. The speaking Klingon thing is really just a lot for a person to deal with for the rest of their life."
She couldn't help laughing, even as she glared at him. "No. I'm pretty sure there isn't anything remotely possible that could ever make me change my mind about marrying that nerd." Then she took a deep breath, a slight sadness to the sweetness she felt in her chest as she made a decision she should've made a while ago.
"What is it?"
She lifted her blue eyes to his. "There's a part of me that was sort of maybe…waiting…for something from, um, from my dad. It's his style to just show up to my wedding out of the blue, somehow finding out about where it's gonna be and when and just being there to throw me off. But…" She cleared her throat. "He's not here. He isn't gonna be here. And he made that pretty clear, in spite of the money he left me and Chuck. He thinks I'm better off doing all this with people I can depend on. Chuck, Ellie, Devon, Morgan… You, Casey." He just stared at her, trying to figure out what she was getting at. "You've been the best partner I've ever had. You've had my back, not just on missions, but with the brass too. You covered my ass. You protected me and Chuck and helped with everything going on between us."
"Yeah well…" He sniffed and shrugged, looking off to the side. "You did it for me too. It's what partners do."
"I was just gonna go down the aisle on my own. Because I don't have my dad here, I don't have any family here. My side of the aisle are all literally standing behind me as bridesmaids. But I was wondering if you might want to walk with me." She shrugged. "We've been partners through a lot, you and me. And nobody else on the planet understands what it was like to deal with Chuck Bartowski the Asset the way we do."
His eyes widened slowly, and his hands fell to his sides. "Pain in the ass," he breathed.
"Exactly," she laughed. "Will you, John?"
"Right, uh…" He sniffed again, his eyes suspiciously misty. "Right, sure. Sure, I can do that. What're partners for?" He cleared his throat and fixed his suit jacket. "Friends."
"Friends," she said, nodding seriously.
"Anyway, you're probably a little weak from the, uh, ahem," he cleared his throat into his fist, emotions looking to get the better of him, "from yesterday. You could probably use someone to lean on, huh?"
"I'll let you think that," she said, grinning. And then she closed the distance and hugged him. He'd done so much to make this possible. So much looking the other way, so much lying to his general, to the CIA director, getting shot, benched, and a whole slew of other things.
The door opened then and they stepped back from one another as Alex snuck a look inside. "Hey, you two. Oh. My God. Sarah, you look absolutely stunning." She clutched her chest as she stepped into the room. "Oh I'm gonna cry…"
Casey grunted in annoyance. "Can we go out there yet?"
"Oh, right. That's why I'm here. Morgan sent me. Everything is ready. It's time."
It took another few minutes for them to arrive at the door that led into the nave where everyone was waiting. Alex went in before them, hurrying to her seat next in the front. And then the music began.
And the doors opened.
She slipped her hand around Casey's bicep and took a deep breath. "Here we go," she breathed.
She felt Casey's gaze on the side of her face. And then he surprised her completely when he said quietly, "You deserve this."
Sarah turned to look at him softly, beaming at him, and then he stepped forward to take the lead. Every single head in their sparse crowd of wedding guests turned to look at her, only a handful of them even knowing why there was a venue change and a time change and a reception canceled. She saw the emotions and the awe, and then she finally looked up towards the front of the rows of pews.
Morgan stood at the podium wearing…she didn't even know what. She bit her bottom lip to keep from showing her amusement.
"Where the hell'd he get that robe?" she heard Casey mutter, and it made it that much harder.
But then she shifted her gaze to the side and caught Chuck's eyes. Finally. Her feet kept moving forward even as her heart stilled. It was quite the moment, something she'd remember forever, she knew.
She'd never felt so in sync with him than she did in that moment.
It was a shared look of relief that all of the bullshit and the sickness and the stress and the what ifs and the dodging around feelings and prenup tearing and near-death experiences and other people coming between them and 49Bs and their own stupidity…all of it was in the past. They'd made it. They were here and alive and healthy (or at least getting there). And she was just so relieved to see him there, so ready to do this.
That sensation of being so close to crumbling, falling apart at the seams, being overwhelmed and overtaken by everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours… it dissipated. A sense of comfort and need was there instead.
She saw understanding and some of that pure Chuck sappiness on his face as he glanced meaningfully at Casey. She nodded.
And just like that, she let go of Casey, squeezing his arm and leaning up to kiss his cheek first, before she carefully stepped up to stop in front of Chuck.
He reached for her hands immediately and held on, both tightly and gently, like he needed to touch her more than anything but was also very aware of what she'd been through and didn't want to hurt her.
Morgan tore her gaze from his as he cleared his throat loudly. She sent him a side-eye without meaning to and he muttered, "Uh, sorry."
Then he let out a long, "Phhheewwwww am I right, people? Huh? We're here! We did it! We made it. These two crazy kids made it, and, uh—oh…We are…ahem, gathered here today…to…join my best, best, best buddy in the whole wide world and this very deserving woman."
She wondered if Morgan was bummed about missing out on the chance to do his toast at the reception like they'd planned what with there being no reception, so now he was working it into his officiating. She supposed she couldn't be too mad at him. He was right. They were here. They'd made it.
"And we welcome you!" Morgan chirped, outstretching his arms towards the audience. "All of you. Here on this day. In this really nice church. First Church of Saints, not the second, or the third, but the first," he said solemnly.
Sarah looked up at Chuck pleadingly and he merely pressed his lips together tiredly, shutting his eyes for a moment before slowly opening them again and blinking.
"Oh, wait! Y'all can sit," Morgan said then, waving his hand at the guests. "Have a seat. Especially you, Abuela. Love you." He blew a kiss to his grandma as everyone took their seats. "There. Good. Thank you. Everyone is cozy. Let's do this, huh?"
"Please," Chuck whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
She squeezed his hands reassuringly.
"I've known this man for almost twenty-five years of my life," Morgan said, looking at Chuck with no small amount of pride. "A lot of you sitting out there and standing up here, have known him for almost as long…" He jumped a little as he looked over Sarah's shoulder and she knew Ellie had probably given him a look like she was going to murder him. He cleared his throat, looking down at his sheet of lined paper, perfectly wrinkled and shaking as he tried to read it. "I knew he would end up with someone who deserved him, and when he met Sarah, I was there. Right there. The sparks, you guys don't even know! It didn't take long for me to get over my best-friend-jealousy, and when I did…" There were soft chuckles from the crowd and a quiet, "Oh my God," groan from Ellie behind her. Sarah just kept her eyes on Chuck's. They'd get through this excruciating moment together. "When I did, I realized that Sarah was it. A long time before any of the rest of you did. I knew she'd be the woman who'd deserve this great guy right here. The only one."
Sarah finally broke Chuck's gaze to smile at Morgan. It wasn't exactly the time or place for a Best Man speech, but it was sweet and kind anyway.
"That's why we're all here, though. These two deserve each other. They deserve all the happiness in the world, right? We all agree. That's why we're all here. I definitely just said that. What I mean is these two are here to make a promise to one another. It's remarkable. It's so pure. And soft." Chuck gave him a bit of a weirded out look and Sarah nearly broke.
"I was going to read an excerpt from the unrivaled Star Trek novelization by James Blish, Spock Must Die!, but the matron-of-honor threatened to murder me if I did. So I won't."
Chuck raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, as if he knew the excerpt Morgan was talking about and she could only shake her head at him.
"Instead, I will quote a few really good love quotes. I wrote 'em down here." He cleared his throat. "'The course of true love never did run smooth.' William Shakespeare. That's for sure. Oh this is a good one. 'The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.' That's Audrey Hepburn. 'Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart, and the senses.' Lao Tzu. Ahhh, oh yeah. 'You can't blame gravity for falling in love.' Haha, that was Albert Einstein. That one's my favorite…" Chuck subtly let go of her left hand then and lightly touched Morgan's wrist. He didn't even have to say anything as he looked at her and widened his eyes, before gently taking her hand again.
It was the nicest way Chuck knew how to tell his best friend to please fucking stop for the love of God, she knew, and she could kiss him for it. If Morgan hurried the hell up, she'd actually get the chance to.
"Uh, and I'll stop with one word of advice before we get to the vows…" Please no, Morgan, dear God. "'The ear is the avenue to the heart.' That's Voltaire. Meaning the foundation of a good, strong marriage is listening to one another. Listening." Morgan pointed to his ear. "That's…important."
Sarah could literally feel the annoyance emanating from Ellie behind her, and she thought this really shouldn't be as funny as it was.
It was her freaking wedding, the only wedding she was gonna get in her whole life, and she hadn't even anticipated this one happening. And he was rambling instead of officiating. And she just couldn't imagine her wedding to Chuck Bartowski being anything else other than this.
"But we're gonna do the vows, because that's what the people came for! Sarah? Your vows?"
He'd already heard them, and his reaction then, after taking that silly doily off of her head, had been enough for her to deem it good enough. So she'd memorized what she'd written. "Chuck, you're a gift. You're a gift I never dreamed I could want or need, and every day I will show you that you're a gift that I deserve. You make me the best person I could ever hope to be, and I want to spend, and learn, and love…the rest of my life with you." But standing here in front of him, on the most important day of her life, after everything he'd done in the last few days to make sure they'd both be standing here in this moment, it just didn't feel half good enough. So she kept going. "You've saved my life, in ways most of the people in this room could never even begin to understand. And for as long as we're both on this planet, in this universe," she added, knowing it would get a rise out of him, and when he grinned at her for it she knew she'd been successful, "I'll protect you and this," she squeezed his hands and shook them a little, "with every last breath I have in my body."
Morgan seemed a little too choked up to say much more than giving Chuck a bit of a nod. Chuck was too busy giving her that dreamy look of his she'd grown to depend on over the last few years of her life to pay attention to the awkward silence that fell over everyone.
She gave a big sigh, and hit him with a meaningful look, and Chuck seemed to get the hint, looking down.
"Uhhhh…Right. My vows." His fingers stroked her palms as he loosened his grip on her hands just a little, seeming to collect his thoughts. "My turn for vows."
She knew he was stressed about them, about not saying the right thing, and when she'd read hers to him when they practiced a few days ago, he'd been even more intimidated by the prospect of saying the "perfect thing".
But then something came over his face as he lowered his gaze to their hands and furrowed his brow, shaking his head. "They just don't cut it, I'm sorry, Sarah." He lifted his gaze to hers and she felt the breath leave her body at the intensity in him, the passion. She had no idea what he was doing. Or saying. And she felt her heart slamming against her ribcage. "How do I express the depth of my love for you? Or my dreams for our future? Or…the fact that I will fight for you every day, or that our kids…will be like little superheroes with little capes and…stuff like that," he said with a small breathy chuckle. She felt the tears gathering in her eyes, threatening to fall as she giggled. He took a deep breath, catching her gaze again, his own eyes swelling up with tears. "Words can't express that, they don't do it justice, they just don't cut it. So no vows."
She felt pride blossom in her chest, and the greatest love she thought she'd ever felt in her life brimming inside of her as she took a deep, harsh breath and let it out, blinking at the tears.
"I'll just prove it to you ever day for the rest of our lives." She looked up in another attempt to stem the tears before she met his eyes again and smiled with every ounce of love she had. Chuck smiled back a little, and then he sobered up a bit, uttering the most sincere words she'd heard. "You can count on me."
She swallowed the lump in her throat, not caring if anyone else heard or not, because Chuck needed to hear it. "Perfect," she said, squeezing his hands tightly.
Chuck grinned hard at her, an ounce of pride in his handsome features, but more than anything, she just saw love, unending love.
"Oh," she heard Morgan squeak to her left, then, and she sent him a look. "Do you, um…" He sniffled, his voice tight with emotion. "Chuck Bartowski…" He sniffled again. And she couldn't help a quiet, one syllable giggle at the slightly concerned look Chuck gave their ceremony officiant. "Take this woman to be your, uh, um," Morgan blinked rapidly, "lawfully wedded wife?"
Chuck turned his furrowed brow back to her and his wrinkled forehead ironed out as he breathed an incredibly profound, "I do" like he meant it with everything in him.
She was ready. She was more than ready. She was chomping at the bit for him to be hers, officially, by law. She sighed.
"And do you take this man—?"
"I do," she said quickly, cutting Morgan off.
"Okay," he squeaked again. He lowered his paper then and folded his hands. "Well, by the power vested in me…by the Intergalactic Federation of Planets," he rushed, making her giggle as Chuck full-on lost all chill and rolled his eyes, "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Finally. Finally.
Chuck breathed a quiet, emotional, "C'mere" at her and she couldn't do anything else but step in against him and press her lips to his. Before she could pull back, his hand slipped in to cup the back of her head and he held her there, his kiss soft and full of promise.
And when she finally pulled back, blissful and overwhelmed by all of it, ready to face their friends and family as husband and wife for the first time, she was surprised when Chuck gave her a tug and swung her down to dip her. She squeaked in surprise, laughing as his lips pressed against her neck, his arms cradling her protectively.
And then he swung her back up to her full height again in front of him, tightening his arms around her to bring her back in for another kiss.
They finally stepped back and he let out a wet, bubbly laugh, his eyes full of tears. "Sorry," he chuckled, and she just shook her head at him, laughing with him, before she stepped in to hug him tightly.
Her husband.
She beamed at Devon as he gave her a thumbs up and mouthed, "Awesome", and then she turned her gaze to Casey beside him. The guy had tears running down his face as he clapped with everyone else, smiling as much as she'd ever seen him smile.
When she stepped back from her husband, she didn't want to lose contact with him, so she grabbed onto his hand tightly and squeezed, giving him the signal. He squeezed back just as tightly as they turned to face everyone.
The rest of it was such a blur of people and sounds and rice smacking into her face, raining down over their heads. She tried to thank everyone she could, kisses and hugs, embracing. Even Mary Bartowski stepped in after wrapping her son up in a tight hug.
"I know you're gonna take care of him better than anyone else ever could," she said as Chuck moved to the limo and opened the back door.
Sarah just nodded before hugging her mother-in-law in a vice grip.
Chuck dashed over to hug Devon then as Ellie took Sarah away from her mom and hugged her, kissing her cheek hard. "I love you," she said.
"Love you too." But before she could be too overwhelmed by it, Devon swept in and gave her a tight bear hug.
"Welcome to the family."
She giggled. "Thanks, Captain Awesome."
She felt Chuck's hand slip into hers then, and she turned to allow herself to be pulled in close. He pressed his lips to her temple with a soft, "You're beautiful", and she just wanted to sit down, and be with him, alone…locked away from all of the overwhelming emotions.
As if he could feel her nervous energy, he guided her to the car and helped her get in first, before he dove in after her with a happy, tired sigh, shutting the door behind him. She was glad she wasn't the only one ready to get out of that skirmish of well-wishers.
She wrapped her arm up with his and held him close, leaning into his shoulder heavily.
"To the airport, my good man!" he called out to their limo driver.
And without missing a beat, he turned to smile softly at her, relief written all over him as he slumped over towards her. She giggled and tilted her chin up to meet his kiss, a light, loving kiss. But before it could go any further, she heard a quiet click! of a camera.
Spinning towards the front, she saw that the partition had been rolled down and there was Morgan, snapping a picture of them, a grin on his face and a driver's hat on his head.
What in the hell?
"Morgan, what happened to the driver?" Chuck asked.
Morgan gave him a look as if saying aren't you cute? "Oh no, I was always the driver, Chuck." He made a thoughtful face. "Having a little trouble letting go, I suppose."
Sarah couldn't help being heart warmed, even as she silently made a note to get that photo off of Morgan's phone and onto hers so that she could keep it forever. Chuck turned to look at her and she looked back, smiling.
And then he shook his head at Morgan. "Just roll up the partition, would ya, buddy?"
"As you wish." As he pressed the button, the partition slowly rising to close, he repeated it in a long, drawn-out cry: "As you wiiiiiiiiish…"
It finally shut all the way and Morgan took off, allowing Sarah to let herself to go limp and leaning even more against Chuck with a sigh. She couldn't wait to get out of this dress, put on some jeans or something more comfortable, and get onto the damn plane.
"Mrs. Chuck Bartowski," Chuck muttered then, reverently.
She turned her head lazily, a beaming grin on her face. "Mr. Sarah Walker."
She thought he might kiss her again and she'd welcome it with open arms, especially with that partition as tightly shut as it was and with a long drive ahead of them, but then they were jolted out of their bliss by a piercing ringing right behind their heads.
He made a confused face, then looked over his shoulder. There was a phone on the back dash behind them. Chuck moved to answer it, then snuggled in tighter against her. "This is Chuck Bartowski, happily married man. What do you want, Morgan?"
She felt her entire soul fill with unbridled bliss at hearing the happiness in him.
But then the happiness fell away from his face and she felt his body go tense against hers. She had the worst feeling, immediately.
"…Hartley?" her husband muttered, confusion and fear in his voice.
Concerned, she sat up a bit, holding onto Chuck's arm still as he leaned forward and slipped an envelope out from under their seat. Sarah stared at the names on the front of the envelope as Chuck moved to hang up the phone.
Chuck and Sarah Bartowski
A thrill went through her even as her heart raced in the worst way. They'd just gone through so much, they were here now and married, she was Sarah Bartowski officially, and she really just couldn't deal with anything bad right now.
But as Chuck opened up the envelope and slipped a paper out, her stomach fell down to her feet. This was not bad, it was…insane.
There were a lot of zeroes, and the legal paperwork to ensure those zeroes belonged to her and to Chuck. "What?" she asked, breathless, startled beyond measure.
"Oh, boy…"
A/N: OH BOY INDEED. Please review. I know things are getting scarier by the day. If this stuff I write and post is helping any of you at all with coping, I'm genuinely so glad.
-SC