A/N: According to you guys the only likeable person in this story is chuck, so here is another in his POV.

Chapter 7:

Chuck walked with his hands in his pockets. Where? He didn't know. They were just walking. Just two normal people with ordinary lives taking a stroll down the sidewalk.

Yeah right. What a joke.

"Chuck, are you alright?" Jill asked, stroking his arm. Chuck shied away, moving to the edge of the pavement where the cement met with the grass.

"Yeah. Yeah, just fine," he said with a shrug that seemed more like a neurotic twitch. "Just fine."

Jill frowned. She trained her eyes on him but all Chuck could see was how they were the exact same shade as Sarah's favorite chocolates.

"I understand," she said. "You loved her."

Chuck bristled at her use of past tense. He was upset, yes, but that didn't change how he felt about his wife.

Jill approached him again. "I know you don't remember, but I loved you too." She pulled him close, looping her arm through the crook of his elbow as she rested her head against his shoulder. To the unassuming bystanders, it was an intimate moment between two lovers. "I never believed that you would steal those exams. It killed me to have to break it off with you."

She stopped him from taking another step and brought his face down close to hers. "You don't remember, I know, so just trust me." She shook her head, her eyes welling with traces of tears. "I never slept with Bryce. The only man I've ever cared about is you."

They were so close now their eyelashes almost tangled. Her rapid breaths heated his skin, making it burn with indiscretion. Why did she have to say those words now? Why couldn't she have said them years ago when it mattered?

But as she spoke again, he realized they did still matter.

"Chuck, please," she begged, her eyes so wide and innocent. "Please, trust me."

In so little as three words, Chuck felt himself grow weak under her spell. He had always had a soft spot for her; even after everything she'd done, he could never bring himself to hate her completely. Like the early days with Sarah, there was a sense of familiarity he felt with Jill. And her words...they felt familiar too.

Had she said them to him before?

Did that mean it was real?

If only I knew.

Chuck closed his eyes and wrenched free from her grip. He felt like he'd been run over by a truck or that his hair had been set on fire. It was just a feeling he had. Something terrible and awful, a gnawing frustration that ate him from the inside out.

He hated this. He really hated this.

"Chuck?"

He wanted to scream but fear of attention kept his mouth shut. He bottled his frustrations instead, chewing on his lower lip until it bled.

He needed to get away. He needed to get out of here.

"Chuck!" Jill cried in alarm, chasing after him. It only made Chuck walk faster.

"We got back together, Chuck. We were happy."

Chuck rubbed his hands together, twisting the golden band over and over again until he was afraid he would twist the entire thing off, finger and all.

"You're lying," he said. "I was with Sarah the whole time."

Jill ran beside him, grabbing his arm to slow him down. "Not the whole time," she said. She stared at him, daring him to say otherwise. "We got back together while she was gone."

When? When did this happen? Chuck gulped. "Gone? Where?"

Jill stopped in her tracks, letting her hand slip from his arm. Chuck noticed the change immediately and walked back to where she stood.

"Where did she go, Jill?"

Jill's lower lip trembled and she had tears in her eyes when she looked up at him. "I only wanted you to be happy, Chuck. I'd do anything if it made you happy."

Chuck didn't know what to say. Her emotions were so raw; how could he doubt her?

"You don't deserve to be with someone like her," she said; a bold declaration. "I'd give you up to anyone better, but not her."

The words hurt. "Where, Jill?" he repeated, resisting the urge to shake the answer out of her.

Jill closed her eyes, allowing the tears that had collected to fall down her cheeks. Chuck once had the callousness to think he would feel triumphant to see his cheating ex in such a state, but not anymore. He searched his pockets for a napkin but when he found none, he used his thumb instead.

Jill looked up at him, her lips trembling with the secret.

"Bryce," she uttered.

The name drove a nail into Chuck's heart. No.

"Bryce Larkin," she repeated, and the name hurt no less the second time around. "She went away with him."

The image was like a slow poison crawling through his veins, setting his entire body on fire. It was terrible; the pain was unimaginable, a thousand times worse than Stanford. The real killer though, was the familiarity of Jill's words.

"Sarah and Bryce?" Chuck asked, doing everything he could to hold himself together. Bryce was in on this too? Was everyone in his life a spy? Should he call Ellie and Awesome and check with them too?

"I'm sorry," Jill said, leaving no doubt that the two had been involved romantically. "She probably never thought you needed to know."

Chuck's thoughts raced back to the evening two nights ago when Sarah had greeted Bryce as a stranger. Neither had said anything; playing him like a fool.

He was a fool. Such a fool. Only now did he understand. Those looks across the table, Sarah's sudden detachment, it all made sense.

"Sarah never said anything," he said numbly. "He was standing right there in front of us and she never said a thing."

Jill's head snapped in his direction. "What?" she gasped. "You've seen Bryce?"

"Well…yeah," he said, admitting the fact with great reluctance. "He came over for dinner two nights ago." Worst idea he'd ever had.

Jill did a quick surveillance of their surroundings. Without warning she grabbed onto Chuck's hand and began to walk, yanking hard on his arm.

"We have to go," she said, her voice losing all its sadness and warmth in one fell breath.

"Go where?"

"Leave. We need to leave."

Jill was a head shorter than Chuck but she walked so fast that he was the one who was running to catch up with her. "Okay, Jill, slow down. Explain this to me. We can't just run away."

Jill looked at him, unfazed by his words. "That's exactly what we need to do," she said. "My car's in the parkade. I've got a full tank of gas. Don't worry, I have this."

"No! No!" he told her. Chuck put his foot down and shook free of Jill's hold. "This is crazy! I need to go back and talk to Sarah. I can't just leave like this."

Jill's eyes flashed with fury. "How can you still trust her after all these lies?" she demanded. Her anger alarmed him, and it made him realize he had never truly seen the depths of her rage. "What is wrong with you? She's not who you think she is. She can't be trusted."

Chuck looked down the long stretch of road. They'd walked a long distance from Sarah's bank—not that she was there. He had no idea where she was.

"Chuck!" Jill screamed. "We need to leave!"

Chuck just stared on. He couldn't do this. "Okay," he finally said. Jill was like a bulldog, once she wanted something; she was going to have it. Ten years had taught him that much, even if he didn't remember half of it. "I'll walk you to your car."

Jill's shoulders relaxed and she allowed a smile to appear on her face. In her haste, she failed to hear the emphasis. "Good, let's go."

She held out her hand, wholly expecting Chuck to take it.

"To your car," he clarified.

Jill was yanking on his arm again, walking as fast as her legs could carry her. "Yes, to my car."

Chuck held his breath, wondering if there was any hope of talking sense into her by the time they reached the parkade. How would she react when he told her he wasn't leaving?

His hand closed over the phone in his jacket pocket. Jill wasn't going to let him use it here, but when this was over, he was going to call Sarah and they were going to have the conversation they should have had two years ago.

He sighed; it was going to be a long day.