Here's the final chapter! Thank you to my loyal fans, this was a fun ride! Leave me a fav/follow/review when you are finished!
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion for Sarah. One moment she was home free, she and Chuck running to their rescue helicopter hovering just a few feet away. Next, she felt a strong force pull back her hair, and an arm crush her throat. She saw Chuck turn around, eyes filled with fear as Seeley Jones made him walk to the roof's edge.
Her vision was turning red, her chest heaved due to lack of oxygen, but tears streamed down her face when she saw Chuck say "I love you." Then, he turned around, faced the street, bent his legs, and leaned forward.
Her fingernails clawed at Jones' arm desperately, but when she looked up, he was smiling with glee.
This was it, this was the last she'd see of her Chuck Bartowski. There was so much left unsaid, so much that she still wanted to do….
Sarah closed her eyes. She couldn't see it, she couldn't see Chuck jump to his death for her. Now, she'd die knowing that he'd sacrificed himself for his country and for her well-being. She didn't want him to die, she wanted him next to her, in his bedroom reading comics, at the Buy More with Morgan, or eating dinner with Ellie and Devon.
Her consciousness was fading as the suffocation blocked the flow of air to her brain. Black spots danced across her vision as she felt like she was inhaling acid.
Goodbye, Chuck, she thought sadly, I never told you this, but I lo-
The arm around her throat disappeared. Her world was no longer sluggish or in slow motion, but she seemed to absorb everything rapidly. Air filled her grateful lungs and she fell to her hands and knees, gasping. She looked up, but the world was still turning. She heard some yells and shouts behind her. She saw Chuck's body go falling over the roof's edge, but then she saw something else - more someone else.
Major John Casey went sliding across the gravel to the roof's edge. His upper body went diving over the concrete ledge as his fists clenched around Chuck's ankle. His legs were precariously dug into the gravel, but he was relatively stable.
Sarah went sprawling forward and grabbed John's shoulders, trying to pull him back up to safety. Casey's face was red with effort as he heaved the lanky Chuck back up onto the roof. Sarah grabbed her asset's hand and helped pull him to rooftop.
Chuck backed away from the edge like it was poison. His eyes were wide, shocked, frazzled, and scared. His curly hair was windblown and he looked frighteningly pale.
"C-Casey?" Chuck stammered, looking at his NSA handler in awe.
"Get him out of here, Sarah!" John shouted as he went back towards Seeley Jones who was crawling to his feet. Casey tackled him from behind, thus allowing Sarah to escape his chokehold. When Jones was down, Casey went lunging for Chuck and just managed to catch him before he went plunging to the street.
"Chuck, come on!" Sarah's voice was hoarse, but she helped him to his feet, "the helicopter is landing, I've got to get you to safety!"
Chuck was still rattled. He was looking at Casey approaching Seeley Jones like it was a riveting TV show, he couldn't tear his eyes away.
Casey stood over the crawling Jones, who was laughing and spitting blood. His thigh still dripped with the red fluid, but he made no motion to escape.
"Look at you, all of you!" he spat, "Beckman's little chew toys! You think she's trying to help you? Think again!"
"Shut it!" Casey growled.
"Chuck!" Jones looked straight at him, "I was trying to help you, Chuck! Beckman and the CIA will get rid of you the first second they can! Mark my words, Bartowski, mark my-"
A loud gunshot rang through the air.
Chuck flinched and snapped out of his stupor. Casey stood above him, his already fired gun still pointed at the dead ex-CIA agent's body.
A silence ensued for several moments, or maybe it was because Chuck's ears were still ringing from the gunshot.
John walked over to Walker and Bartowski. He looked Sarah up and down.
"You alright?"
"Fine," she cleared her raspy throat, "thank you for that."
"Anytime, partner."
Casey's eyes traveled to Chuck who was still looking at Jones' body.
"And him?" John looked back at Sarah.
"I don't know," she pursed her lips, "I can't tell…"
"Okay, come on," Casey went to Chuck's side and hauled him to his feet, "the helicopter is here, Chuck! Time to get ya back to the Buy Morons!"
"Casey, what about him?" Chuck looked back at Seeley's lifeless body sprawled out on the rooftop.
"Don't worry about it," Casey stopped his questioning further, "take your meds, get to sleep. When you wake up, it'll be like nothing happened.
Like usual, Chuck thought to himself. That's what his life had been like for the last two years. Something horrible would happen, like an attempted bomb threat. The CIA would interceed, and stop the bad guys. Then, they'd clean it up and blame the mess on a "power outage" or "faulty gas pipe". Nobody would question it, nobody turned a head. Was that going to be the situation in this matter? Was the CIA going to cover up their blemish, AKA Seeley Jones, and pin the fault on a "deranged ex-marine" or something of the kind?
They couldn't…, but Chuck wasn't too sure. This was a glimpse of a whole new villain the CIA and his team could be facing. Former agents like Jones were running underground syndicates like this one and actually making progress. What was that hospital? Why were they there? Who are they a part of? What are their goals?
Chuck sat down in a helicopter, now wearing some loose sweats provided by the pilot. Sarah sat next to him, her eyes constantly scanning him to make sure he was okay. She was worried, he was barely speaking, but he could not. He needed time to process, time to think, and time to figure out who to trust.
She placed her hand on his knee, and he put his on top of hers. That reassured her a little bit. Chuck looked at Casey who was chatting away with the pilot about their experiences in Vietnam.
His exhaustion caught up with him. That Flumenzil Sarah gave him wore off a little while ago, and, now that the ordeal was over, he was ready to knock out for a week. He didn't want to deal with Beckman's post-report. He didn't want to see Sarah's concerned expression. He didn't want to think about Seeley Jones.
He wanted his family, Ellie, Awesome, and Morgan. He wanted Burbank, CA. He wanted to be at the Nerd Herd fixing laptops and phones. He wanted to be a normal guy with a normal routine and a normal life.
That wasn't happening.
Chuck exhaled deeply, rested his head against the seat, and closed his eyes.
"What is the asset's condition at the moment, Major?" Beckman's stern voice echoed through Castle.
"Stable, General," Casey replied, "resting in the infirmary."
"What were his family and acquaintances led to believe?"
"His family thinks he was completing an install in San Diego. His work thinks he was ill."
"Good," she nodded, "run it by me again. How did you detain Seeley Jones?"
"Agent Walker rescued Bartowski from an operating room where Dr. Heinrich, presumably one of the organization's paid-off surgeons, was to perform a full frontal lobotomy on the asset. I was held under enemy fire, trying to avert their security detail from Walker's location. I was later informed that Agent Walker triggered the fire alarm and was able to take the asset to the roof to our waiting helicopter. When security dispersed in my location, as they had gotten word of the missing asset, I managed to make my way to the roof where Bartowski was standing on the roof's edge, presumably ready to jump off it and onto the street below."
"Was this decision by choice?"
"Absolutely not!" Sarah's tone was terse, "Agent Jones pursued us to the roof. I was apprehended by Jones who threatened to kill me unless Chuck jumped to his death."
"And you allowed this to happen under your watch, Agent Walker? Your sole priority is to protect the asset, not let it be taken and threatened."
"Chuck is not an 'it', General, he is a person who makes his own choices. I tried to reason with him, but he would not listen to orders."
"And that's always the problem, isn't it," Beckman sighed with frustration, "Mr. Bartowski's judgement seriously clashes with his function and role as The Intersect."
"Careful, General," Casey raised a brow, "you are starting to sound like Seeley Jones."
Her glare to John was frosty, but he stood his ground.
"I expect a full, detailed report on my desk by tomorrow morning, is that understood?"
"Yes, General," both handlers responded.
"Good," she nodded curtly, "when Mr. Bartowski awakens, I would like to have a word with him myself."
"Wait, General," Sarah interceded, "when I was inside the hospital, I saw a board of scheduled surgeries. There were many names on that list. What does the CIA knew about these names? Who are they? Are they other kidnapped assets taken by Jones' organization?"
"That is highly classified information, Agent Walker. The fact that you upturned this detail is significantly higher than your ranking. My agency is handling the matter."
"Just as they handled Chuck's rescue mission," Casey said sourly, "the mission that left my house full of bullet holes."
"An unfortunate turn of events, I assure you," she leveled Casey with another glare, "one that will not happen again. That's all for now, good night."
The monitor turned black.
Sarah slammed her palm against the table, "Something still doesn't feel right about all of this! Beckman is hiding something, Casey, and we've got to find out what it is."
"Walker, our mission is to protect Chuck, that's all. It is not to question the agency that directly gives us orders."
"What if it's much more than that, John? Jones was a gun for hire, right? Well, what if the CIA was the one who hired him, what if-"
"Enough, Walker," Casey's features hardened. She had crossed the line with him, "I will not stand here and entertain the idea that our superiors are conspiring and working against us. Chuck is back, he's safe, and that's it. End of discussion."
"Fine," she sighed, "I'm going to go check on him."
He grunted before retreating into the weapon's room, his quiet place.
Sarah walked from the main room to the infirmary. Chuck was sleeping on one of the cots. He wore black cargo pants and a white short sleeve shirt. His bruise was turning yellow at the edges, a sign of healing. She checked his vitals, happy he was recovering fine.
Sarah pulled a chair next to his cot and sat with him. After a moment, she reached forward and grasped his fingers.
"I'm glad you are safe, Chuck," she whispered, "I am truly sorry for letting this happen to you. I should have been more careful, I should have seen the signs, I should have never left you here alone that night. You should not have had to endure Jones' torture, but trust me, I am going to find out who he's working for, I am going to get to the bottom of it. Trust me," she took a breath, "everyday I worried that I would never get to tell you the things I've been wanting to since the day we met, Chuck. I didn't want to separate knowing that you'd never get to hear how I feel. On that rooftop, you looked at me and said it, and here I am saying it to you."
Here it goes….
"I love you too, Chuck Bartowski."
A warm feeling spread through her chest, and she smiled. At least she had said it, whether Chuck was awake or not. She sighed happily and stood up, dusting off her clothes. She gave one last look to Chuck and walked quietly out of the infirmary as not to disturb him.
She didn't realize when she left that Chuck opened his eyes, looked after her, and smiled.
The End.