A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and PMs on the last chapter. I'm glad people still like this gentle romance. I didn't really capture why Sarah reacted as she did to his 'proposal,' but hope I have addressed that in this chapter.

Beta thanks to Captainrick944 again. Especially the fast turnaround.

Sarah has now mostly moved into her apartment but has spent her first night in Echo Park with her boyfriend in the apartment he shared with Ellie and Devon. She has also made a decision about her future with him.

Shot
Chapter 7: What next?

Sarah didn't get a chance to have a deep conversation with Chuck after her shower. He had gotten up and headed to the kitchen and was holding a mug of coffee his sister had poured for him.

As Sarah walked in, Ellie asked how she took her coffee and quickly made that for her. She mock-growled at the blonde. "How can you look so good while still recovering? It's not right."

Sarah smiled at her. "Thanks, Ellie. I'm sure that due to how you and your brother look after me."

"Maybe," the brunette said, looking doubtful.

"I think being naturally gorgeous plays a part," Chuck chipped in.

Sarah grinned at him. She knew men found her attractive, but this one saying it made her feel she was. And how he'd made her feel last night was something else entirely.

Chuck put down his empty mug and said, "Time for my shower."

Both women watched him walk away. Ellie turned to Sarah and saw how she was watching Chuck. She smiled at the blonde. "You really do love him, don't you?"

Sarah turned to look at her friend. "I never thought I would feel this way after all my time in the CIA, but yes, I'm in love with your brother."

Ellie grinned at her. "He was obviously infatuated with you from the moment he met you. I wasn't trying to set you up together. I gave up doing that sort of thing with him some time ago, but I am so glad you gave him a chance."

Sarah shook her head. "I think it was more the other way around. He took a chance on me. I have never been treated so well in my life."

Ellie grinned. "Chuck and I are used to looking after each other. I took it on as a profession, but Chuck reserves it for people important to him."

"But he was like it with me from the start, before he even knew me."

Ellie smiled. "From what Jane Freeman tells me, Chuck walked into your room in the hospital unsure about you, but when he came out he was already a gonner."

Sarah thought back to that initial meeting and how she had been fascinated by this charming man. She hadn't realized how attracted to him she had been, but now she saw it. "The attraction was mutual, even then."

Ellie frowned. "Chuck told me how he had embarrassed himself yesterday."

Sarah groaned on hearing that. "I never meant for him to feel that way."

"He said something really dumb." Ellie looked annoyed with him.

Sarah had to correct her. "He said something I didn't expect. I never thought anyone would ever say that to me." She put her head in her hands. "I panicked when I heard it and totally overreacted."

Ellie just sat and waited for her to continue.

Sarah looked up. "I have to make him realize it's my fault, not his."

Ellie shook her head. "Oh god, that sounds like, 'it's not you, it's me.' Do not say it like that."

Sarah stared at her. She was right. That sounded like what someone would say if they were breaking up. She was definitely not breaking up with Chuck. The very thought of not being with him made her feel queasy.

As she refocused on the woman in front of her, she said, "I want to be with him as much as he wants to be with me."

Ellie squealed, leaped up, rushed to her, and bent down to give her a gentle hug. "You should definitely tell him that!"

"I realized this morning just how strong my feelings are. If he seriously proposed to me, I would say yes. It terrifies me, but I really want it."

Ellie was jumping up and down now and looking so excited.

Sarah put her hands in front of her eyes. "Stop, Ellie. You're just reminding me of what I can't do! I wish I could jump up and down!"

Ellie sat beside her and hugged her again, thankfully not too tightly. "I love you too, Sarah." Sarah hugged her back.

"Hey, El! She's mine. You can't have her."

Both women looked at Chuck as he walked in, rubbing a towel over his hair.

"Oh, so I'm your possession, huh?" Sarah said, keeping a straight face.

Ellie spoiled the tease by failing to control her laugh.

"Well, I admit that you possess my heart. So, maybe it's the other way around," he replied.

How could she not love him for saying that? "You have mine, too," she admitted.

"God, you're both as sickening as each other!" Ellie groaned. "Thank goodness you won't be staying here for very long, Sarah."

Sarah could see the twinkle in the brunette's eyes.

Ellie stood up. "Pancakes for breakfast?" Sarah nodded, and Chuck started to get up to help. "No, you sit with this wounded woman," Ellie told him. She winked at Sarah as she walked through to the kitchen.

Sarah turned and took hold of Chuck's hands. She looked into his lovely brown eyes and quietly said, "Chuck, you mean everything to me. I never want us to part. It's not just the amazing sex, but everything about you." She blushed. "Yesterday, you caught me off guard. I have to explain. Can we talk after breakfast?"

"Of course," he replied.

"It's nothing bad. In fact, better today as I have been thinking this morning," she said, not wanting him to worry.

He smiled at her. "After last night, I don't think anything other than you breaking up with me could upset me."

She beamed at him and leaned over to give him a kiss. She meant it to be a quick peck on his lips, but he laced the fingers of one hand into the hair at the back of her head and held her so the kiss could lengthen. She found she didn't want to pull away from one of his kisses and hummed into it.

"Okay, lovebirds. Breakfast is ready," Ellie called to them.

Sarah kissed Chuck on the lips once more and walked to the dining table. "Thanks, Ellie."

After eating breakfast, they excused themselves from his sister. Ellie looked at Sarah, who nodded, eliciting a beaming grin from the older woman. Chuck noticed none of this.

When they got to his bedroom, they sat on the bed, and Sarah took a deep breath.

"Chuck, as I said, you caught me off guard yesterday, and I reacted to it in a way I am embarrassed about now." She looked down at her hands. "CIA operatives are trained to see love as something unobtainable. It doesn't fit with the lifestyle. Marriage is even less viable. Not something ever to be considered. I didn't expect to ever be in a loving relationship and am still trying to get my head around that, as I said." He opened his mouth, but she said, "Please, can I say what I need to say? Then we can discuss it."

He closed his mouth and pretended to zip it up.

She nodded her thanks and continued, "That's not the only reason for my reaction yesterday, though. The only marriage I know is that of my parents. I guess that's true of most people in their early years. So, what I know is that marriages fall apart. I have never seen a happy one." She held his gaze as she said, "I don't want what we have to fall apart, Chuck."

She stopped there to let him speak.

"Sarah, my parents split up when my mom left, but before that, they were a very loving couple and the best parents. I know it went sideways then, but I focus on those happy times. However, you and I don't have to be like our parents. I can't ever imagine wanting to separate from you. Like I said, you are the one for me."

She nodded. "I know." She smiled at him but then continued, "The other thing is the relationships I have had before. They've not been good. They've not really been relationships. And, as I say, all those negative feelings hit me when you said what you did. It scared me. My fears of abandonment hit me, but I know you're not like that."

He held her gaze and replied, "I have abandonment issues, too."

She leaned over and gently kissed him. "I know." She paused for a moment. "Having thought about it when I woke, I see that I'm being ridiculous. To use your phrase, 'you're the one for me' too. I never thought there would be one, but you are most definitely it. If you seriously proposed to me, I would say yes in an instant."

He went to speak, but she grinned and held up her hand. "That doesn't mean instantly, Chuck." He closed his mouth again. She grinned more. "Tomorrow would be fine." He looked surprised, so she added, "Or next year or some time in the future." She closed her lips before saying, "But you better at some time, Mister."

His smile lit up the room for Sarah. "Maybe I should get a ring first."

She smiled back. "I don't need an expensive ring, either. Chuck, you have to know that I will only leave you if you don't want me. A ring doesn't change that, but it does allow me to proclaim to the world that we are together."

He pulled her to him and kissed her tenderly, lovingly. Sarah sank into that kiss.

"I love you so very much, Sarah," he said.

"And I love you, Chuck," she replied, resting her forehead on his.

"Should I get a ring and surprise you, or do you want to choose it?"

She looked at him seriously and then chuckled. "Well, I've got therapy on Monday and a bed being delivered on Tuesday, then therapy again on Wednesday, so I'm not available for shopping until Thursday."

"I'll take the day off," he said.

She looked at him, shocked at the suggestion. "Oh god, Chuck! I was teasing."

He seriously replied, "You know I want to proclaim to the world that the most beautiful and amazing woman in the world is my fiancée. And I would do that today if I could."

She kissed him. "Chuck, if you are serious about this, we can just say we are engaged, just not gotten a ring yet."

He slid onto one knee. "I'm really serious." He took her left hand and said, "Sarah Walker, would you do me the honor of being my wife."

Even though they had been talking about this, it still made her teary-eyed hearing him actually say it. She couldn't kneel herself, so she pulled him back onto the bed to kiss him. "Yes, Chuck Bartowski, yes!"

The kiss that followed fully expressed their love for each other.

"Oh my God!" Ellie stared at the two of them after Sarah told her. "You really are engaged?"

Sarah nodded, a tear creeping out. "We are. I've never been happier!"

Ellie grabbed her and hugged her so hard that it hurt her shoulder. "Ellie, my shoulder." Ellie released her and apologized profusely. "It's okay. I'll survive." Sarah chuckled.

"Ellie Bartowski hugs are fearsome," Chuck said.

Both women looked at him. "Sorry. I am a hugger," Ellie said to the blonde.

"I guess I'll have to learn how to cope," Sarah said with a chuckle. "You are going to be my sister-in-law, after all."

"So, it's a race, then," Ellie said.

Sarah frowned, totally confused. "Huh?"

Ellie just gazed at her. "Well, Devon and I are engaged, just not set a date. Now, you two could overtake us. You got engaged so quickly."

Sarah glared at Chuck. "He didn't tell me you were engaged, Ellie."

Chuck ignored that, focusing on what Ellie had said. "El, I haven't even got Sarah an engagement ring yet," Chuck gasped.

Sarah teased him, "Getting cold feet?"

He recognized her tone and looked at her seriously. "Shall we buy a wedding ring at the same time?"

Sarah hadn't expected that but challenged back, smirking, "Buy the rings on Saturday then drive straight to Las Vegas? Married by Saturday night?"

Chuck gasped again.

"Hold on you two," Ellie chipped in. "Devon and I are working late on Saturday!"

Sarah turned and grinned at the brunette. "I'm just playing with him, Ellie. I'm not serious. And Chuck knows that."

"So, it'll have to be the following weekend," Chuck said from behind her.

Sarah turned quickly enough for her knee to hurt and she staggered a bit, but caught herself. "You're serious?" she gasped out.

"The thought of being married to you excites me, Sarah," he replied. His face showed his absolute conviction that this is what he wanted. "The sooner the better, in my mind."

She staggered to him, her knee still hurting a bit. She reached her hands behind his neck and pulled him down into a kiss that she never wanted to end.

"Oh. My. God!" Ellie almost shouted.

The other two didn't even notice, being so wrapped up in each other.

Once her bed was delivered, on Tuesday morning, Sarah quickly made it up and finished unpacking her things. Once she had done this, she lay on her bed, just luxuriating in having a home.

She then started thinking about the next thing to focus on.

Trying to decide on what she wanted to do with her life had never been something Sarah had had to do while she was a CIA operative. She's had no choice. Just do whatever she was told.

Now, with no experience in anything other than spying and killing, her mind went completely blank.

When Chuck returned from work, she was still lying there.

"Shall I move my things into he spare bedroom?" he asked.

Sarah sat up and looked at him. "Including your bed?"

He nodded. "In case you throw me out of yours? I guess so."

She grinned. "We might want a change of scenery, sometimes. Besides, that is the bed in which we first made love. It has a special place in my heart."

He grinned. "Shall we christen this one tonight?"

"You better!" Sarah replied, her eyes sparkling.

Her knee was improving quickly, so they would soon be able to experiment in that bed, but she was very happy with what she'd already experienced with the love of her life.

He lifted his hand, showing her the takeout he'd brought. "First, we need to fuel that. Can't have us stopping because we're exhausted."

God, she loved this man!

As they ate, Sarah said, "I've been thinking I should stop using the injury as an excuse and actively try to find a job."

He looked up from his Chinese meal. "Doing what?"

She blushed. "That's part of what I need to decide. I don't think killing people, or even just spying on them, are transferable skills."

"You could become a Private Investigator. Then, the latter is definitely relevant," he replied.

"I don't want to do that sort of thing anymore," she stated.

He nodded. "I understand. So, what other skills do you have?"

She didn't have many. "Languages. I can speak a number."

"What languages?" he asked.

She counted them off, "French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Danish, Polish, Russian, Arabic, Mandarin and Japanese, although I can't write the last two. I also speak some Swedish, Norwegian and Finish, but I'm not anywhere near fluent in those."

By the time she had finished, Chuck's jaw had dropped and his mouth was open in amazement. "Wow!"

She smiled. "I pick up languages quickly."

"God! You must!" he said. "Have you worked in all those places?"

She nodded. "My ability with languages helped a lot."

"So, you could become a teacher of some sort," he said.

She had been thinking that earlier. "I have no educational training," she pointed out.

"Would you like to do that? Either in a school or to train immigrants in speaking English?"

She thought a bit more about it. The money wouldn't be anywhere near what she used to earn, but it would actually be helping people. She liked the sound of that. "Maybe," she replied.

"Then it's worth exploring," he said. He picked up his chopsticks and started eating again,

They finished their meal and talked more about this for an hour or so, then decided to go to bed early.

Sarah soon forgot all about languages and jobs. In fact, she forgot about most things.

A/N: A decisive Chuck Bartowski moving their relationship on very quickly. A new home for both of them and something for her to think about for the future. She will explore the latter in the next chapter, as well as them going on their planned shopping trip at the weekend.