Chuck bounces from one foot to the next, bow-legged, and making noises like an orangutan. And this is definitely not a dream.

He and Sarah are at Ellie and Awesome's house on an at-home double date. Now that Awesome knows about Chuck and Sarah—and who they really are (or aren't)—these double date nights are a moot point. Ellie, though, still needs to have the wool pulled over her eyes, so the couples meet, and things are still, as always, pretend. The irony of the whole thing is that on this particular night of couple-y fun, they're playing charades.

He keeps bouncing, banging on his chest now and scratching the top of his head with outstretched fingers.

"White Men Can't Jump?" Sarah asks, and smiles deviously. She knows very well what movie Chuck is trying to act out and is only refraining from answering to give him a hard time. Chuck knows this too. But he won't give up.

Even though he hadn't smoothed things over with Sarah yet, Chuck jumped at the chance of going out with her again: it got them in the same room together, at least, and that was a step in the right direction.

Chuck puts out all the stops. He goes over to the coat rack and pretends to be climbing on it, then pretends to catch imaginary planes that fly about his head, then he bangs on his chest again.

"Karate Kid?" Sarah says, shrugging. She takes a sip from her wine glass and arches her eyebrows as if to shrug, can't guess.

Chuck sighs.

Ellie's brows furrow, aware that something's amiss.

Awesome notices it all.

"Yeah, you're not the only one who's stumped, Sarah," the handsome doctor laughs nervously. "I can't guess either, Chuck!" He shoots Chuck a look that says, what the hell is going on with you two?

These date nights have become harder for Awesome to maintain, especially when Chuck and Sarah are on the outs. Chuck feels sorry for the guy. On the other hand, he feels some weight lifted off his shoulders now that he's not the only one stuck in the lie.

"Oh, time, sorry guys," Ellie says, picking up the plastic hourglass on the coffee table.

Chuck drops his hands to his sides, defeated. "It was King Kong."

"King Kong," Sarah says. "It was right on the tip of my tongue."

Chuck sits beside her on the couch. He'd growing more and more upset over what happened between them at the sparring match. He had hit her in the stomach-- socked her, hard—and he'd slowly gone from rationalizing that she probably got hit a lot in her line of work to thinking, How could I have hit this girl that I love?

Though she looks fine now, with no telltale sign of injury, his mind harkens back to the very vivid dream in which he'd seen a purpling bruise right in the center of her. He wonders if it actually exists beyond the perimeters of his imagination. It's a dreadful thought.

"Should we tally up the points?" Ellie asks.

"I believe that's five us, zero the Bartowski-Walker team. Sounds like we won, Hon."

"Oh, we did, didn't we? Well Chuck, Sarah, you played a great game, but…. the two of you can suck it." The glee in Ellie's voice is pure and unabashed, and Awesome matches it with in his grin. He presents her with palms upraised and they high-five each other, delighting in their own smugness.

"Wow, ok, when you two have kids make sure to never, ever play any games with them. Things might get ugly."

"Speaking of kids," Ellie says vaguely.

Chuck doesn't even let her finish. "Ellie, are you trying to tell us something?" He has to sneak a look at Sarah, who he knew was thinking the same thing he was, and would be just as excited. And even if they aren't on the best of terms at the moment, he is happy to see her share an expectant smile with him, her features set in excited anticipation.

"No, no," Ellie says, quick to put out the flames of possibilities sparking in Chuck's mind. "We're not going to start a family just yet. But we have been talking about when we want to. We're thinking a year?"

"A year, wow! I get to be an uncle in a year. Plenty of time to prepare, I guess."

Awesome nods seriously. "Having kids is an important part of being an adult, little bro. But first you gotta lay the groundwork, then plant the seeds."

Chuck can't help the way his eyebrows scrunch whenever Awesome uses euphemisms like that. "Thanks for the advice, Devon. "

"What about you, Sarah?" Ellie asks, a warm smile on her face. "How do you feel about kids?"

"Whoa there sis, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Sarah and I are ta—"

"Let me guess, taking things slow? Yeah, I know, Chuck. You've been taking it slow for three years."

Everyone else seems to freeze at this highly suspicious fact. Awesome tries to chime in with a helpful, "Is three years really that long?" but Ellie goes on, as if having not heard him.

"Believe it or not girls think about having kids whether they're in relationships or not. But I'm sure you guys have discussed it all already."

Chuck, as he is prone to do, laughs nervously, his glance dodging furtively from Ellie to Sarah. "Of course we have! Why, yes, that is… something couples talk about. " He tries to think of something to say-- something that will get Sarah out of answering the original question-- when she surprises him by doing just that.

"Chuck and I feel the same way about kids."

She's so good at lying Chuck's almost fooled by it sometimes. They have never, ever discussed children. Why would they?

"I'd love to have kids some day," she continues. "Not too many but I always thought it'd be great to have a big family. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I only had one sibling growing up. I always wondered what it'd be like to have a brother. I know Chuck felt the same way sometimes."

She's looking at him to confirm this story, demanding him silently to corroborate and make it seem like it's something they talked about once and agreed on. It's hard to tell when Sarah's lying, but it's easy to know when she's telling the truth. Listening to her now, Chuck realizes he's getting something real about her. The real Sarah wants a big family. Just like he's always wanted.

"Yeah," he says, finally.

"Of course, Chuck really just wants a house full of fat babies."

"Ha ha, what?" He has no idea what Sarah's talking about but one look her way and he quickly realizes that this, much like her throwing the game, is about digging one into him.

"Remember?" she teases," you said all you really wanted were fat babies. Twins if you could manage it."

She knows he has to confirm it if he wants to keep up this charade of a united front. He gives her a look, but then turns to Ellie and Awesome and plasters on a smiles. With a straight face he says, "Yes, it is my dream to have a pair of fat baby twins."

\\\

That night Chuck dreams of blonde, curly-haired, blue-eyed babies. Really, really fat babies. But it's not too terrifying because Sarah is there, and she plays the role of his loving wife. He wouldn't mind staying in this dream and it's a testament to how much he misses her.

///

As soon as he wakes up he gets in his car and drives to her place. When she opens the door he says, "Can we please talk?"