Author's Note- This chapter is a little shorter than the others, but I thought that it would be best as a one-scene chapter and I like the way I ended it. I'm excited to read your reviews, as usual!

-xx-

When she enters her hotel room, the place she's attempted to make her home for the past three years, she's suddenly strike by its darkness. It's cold and it's lonely and after Sarah's conversation with Ellie, all the CIA agent wants to do is cuddle in bed. With Chuck.

After flicking several lights on, taking her gun out of its spot tucked into her jeans and kicking her shoes off, she climbs onto the bed. Sitting Indian-style in the center, she pulls her cell phone out and lays it in front of her. Sarah needs to call Chuck. She's fully aware of this. She's desperate to talk to him about what's going on in her head, what she wants now. Before hesitating any more, Sarah fiddles with the touch screen until she's pressed Chuck's name and she hears the ringing.

It's one and a half rings before Chuck answers.

"Hello?" he says.

"Hey Chuck, it's me. Listen, can you come by my place?" Sarah asks as she bites her bottom lip out of nervousness.

"Of course. Do you want me to bring anything? Chinese? Chocolate croissants?"

"Just yourself", Sarah replies.

There is a pause on the line until Chuck speaks up.

"Are you okay, Sarah?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. There's just some stuff I want to talk about."

"Alright. I'll be there in twenty."

"Bye…"

After hanging up, Sarah cautiously gets up off of the bed, still sore from the attack. She unbuttons her jeans and lets them fall to the floor. Clad now only in her shirt and underwear, she walks over to the mirror and studies herself. Hair in a mussed bun, make-up only haphazardly done several hours prior. The tears she shed on her drive home are still evident on her cheeks. Moving downward, she pulls her shirt up slightly, resting just at her ribcage. Sarah takes her hand and lets it rest on her lower stomach.

What…is that? She thinks. No, no – it's way too soon for her to be showing. But Sarah swears as she turns to the side, first right and then frantically to her left, that there is a bump. And suddenly, everything is so painfully real that the tears start flowing again. Sarah hasn't cried this much in…G-d knows how long.

Once she's gained some semblance of her composure, she moves back from the mirror to inspect her body again and the bump is gone. Could she be imagining things? Damn hormones.

This would be the worst part- not being able to control her body. Not that she's been able to control the last several weeks of exhaustion and frequent vomiting.

Sarah glances at the iHome on the wall, a thoughtful gift from Chuck, and realizes that she should put some clothes on before his arrival. Sweats? No, way too un-Sarah like. Work out pants? Not like she'd be able to do much of that soon. Finally, she reaches into her dresser and pulls out a pair of worn-in jeans: her favorite piece of clothing even among the evening gowns and expensive lingerie.

It's a few minutes of trying to make herself look more put together than she feels and then a knock at the door interrupts her thoughts.

"Come in", Sarah says as she walks closer to the foyer.

Chuck swings the door open and walks in, a bashful smile on his face and a box of pizza in his arms.

Sarah can't help but laugh, his smile is so infectious.

"You sounded sad on the phone and the best thing to combat sadness is a veggie pie with no olives", Chuck says as he sets the pizza on the bed.

"I couldn't agree more", Sarah says, her voice just above a whisper.

Chuck opens the box and then grabs the paper plates and napkins that he also carried in. He dishes out a slice and hands it to Sarah, smiling warmly as he does so. He then grabs himself a slice, staring at it while Sarah begins eating.

"Sarah?" he asks.

"Uh huh?" Sarah replies, taking a bite of the pizza.

"Why did you sound sad on the phone? Is everything okay?"

Sarah puts her slice down and then sets the plate on the bed. She puts her hands in her lap and begins fidgeting. That damn nervous habit.

"Everything is fine, Chuck. I just needed to see you."

Chuck grins and then takes a bite of his pizza. "I'm hard to resist, I know."

"I wanted to talk to you before I lost my nerve."

"This sounds serious."

"I'm just…" Sarah begins. "I'm tired of lying."

"What are you lying about?" Chuck asks, weary of her answer.

"I've been lying to myself for years…about how I feel about you, about us."

Chuck gulps. Okay, he thinks. Could this be it?

"I, uh, I love you, Chuck. And maybe this baby was conceived out of desperation and fear, but that morning meant a lot to me and I'm sorry that I couldn't say it until now."

"It's okay. I know how hard this is for you. Sure, the past few years having you as my fake girlfriend have been torturous at times, but you've had a rough go of it your whole life."

"You mean to say that I'm damaged?" Sarah replies, somewhere between serious and joking.

"No! Not at all. You just protect your heart. I used to do the same. Until I met you."

"You used to scare me", Sarah admits.

"Little, old me? I wouldn't hurt a fly! Well, only if he threw the first punch."

"Chuck."

"I'm sorry, go on."

"I don't know…you scared me because you loved me and I've been trained to be weary of that. You scared me because you made me feel emotions that I've been trained to suppress. I hate the G-ddamned CIA, Chuck."

"Then, leave."

"I can't do that."

"Let Beckman fire you. This can be your life now", Chuck says.

"I want to start a real relationship", Sarah says, ignoring the gravity of what Chuck is suggesting. Strange, moving from one terrifying proposition to another.

She's tired of lying, tired of pretending and tired of hurting. She wants to know love; real love.

Chuck is rendered speechless by Sarah's rushed comment. He should be ecstatic but at the same time, he thinks walking on eggshells may be a good idea.

"Sarah, are you sure?" he asks.

"Yes", she replies confidently. "I've been sure for a while but I've been too chickenshit to admit it. Life is too short. I see that every day. It's time for me to join the real world."

Sarah smiles at Chuck and he smiles back.

"This is the second happiest day of my life", Chuck says.

"Second?!"

"Well, the day you told me you were having our baby will always be number one."

The couple feels like the moment couldn't get any cheesier. They settle into a kind of silence as they resume eating. All of this is still so new to Sarah- could she have become a different person so quickly?

Sarah and Chuck look up from their plates at the same time and begin laughing.

"Speaking of the baby…" Sarah says.

"Is everything okay?!" Chuck exclaims, already the freakishly overprotective father.

"Everything is fine", Sarah replies as she gets up off the bed and stands in front of the father of her child. She picks up her shirt like she had done before Chuck's arrival tonight.

"Do you see that?" Sarah asks, pointing to where she saw the bulge earlier. She turns to the side to give Chuck a better look.

"Oh, wow. So, skinny Sarah is on her way to having a belly?" Chuck asks playfully.

"Shut up! You really see it? I'm not imagining it?"

"No, something is there…" Chuck replies, transfixed on the spot. "Unless you've been eating an abnormally large amount of pizza without me."

Sarah laughs. "Nope. Just tonight." She puts her shirt down and hops back onto the bed. Next to Chuck this time.

"We're really going to do this?" Chuck asks as he lays a hand on the little bump of Sarah's stomach. She lets him.

"We're going to try. This baby really brought us together."

"It's a story to tell the kids one day."

"Kids? Plural?" Sarah asks, looking at Chuck with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course", Chuck says. "Why stop at just one?"

-xx-