Author's Note – I'm not even going to try to excuse myself.
-xx-
Sarah loathed being on desk duty. She hated being stuck in Castle. And she hated being told to stay in the car on the rare occasion that she was let out of Castle. Team Bartowski was able to compromise with the CIA and as a result, Sarah would spend the duration of her pregnancy doing the analysis work and then the "situation" (the agency's word, not Sarah's) would be re-evaluated once her maternity leave was over.
It's a completely new world for Sarah: relative normalcy. Relative because she still spends her days observing surveillance taps and researching criminals; still working out despite having almost totally lost her center of gravity.
Normalcy because when she wakes up next to Chuck, she still can't help but smile. Every morning he rests his large hand on her growing bump and he talks to the baby about video games and music, steering clear of talk about what Mommy and Daddy do for a living.
At eighteen weeks along, it is getting closer to when Sarah and Chuck can find out the sex of the baby. And her doctor said that Sarah should be able to feel the baby move soon. At this notion, the CIA agent is supremely freaked out. It's one thing that the baby still looks like an alien on the ultrasound monitor, but to feel it move around in her stomach is another matter altogether.
In the van on this rainy Tuesday, Sarah stares longingly at all of the monitors. Ah, to be in the field again.
A routine mission has Chuck and Casey trying to take down a Colombian drug cartel who is using a Los Angeles elementary school to deal drugs and weapons.
It must be the new, strange motherly instincts that Sarah still doesn't know what to do with, but the idea that dangerous criminals are using a kindergarten classroom to run drugs and guns disgusts her so much that she wants to vomit. And it's not because of the morning sickness that still has not gone away.
As she watches Casey and Chuck try to work a deal with the bastards, suddenly something happens inside her. Almost like something is tickling her from the inside of her stomach.
"Oh my g-d", Sarah whispers, though loud enough to attract Chuck's attention. He looks up at the security camera with a slightly terrified look on his face. He covers it well so the bad guys don't notice, but Sarah does.
"It's okay, Chuck", she says reassuringly. "Keep going, I'll tell you later."
The couple seems to have worked out some unspoken language so with one look, Sarah knows that Chuck is still concerned. He exchanges glances with Casey who also heard Sarah's exclamation.
"Guys", Sarah says firmly now, "I'm fine, the baby's fine. Keep going."
With that, Chuck and Casey return to their mission, agreeing to a trade that would go down the next day, culminating in a CIA bust.
-xx-
"What happened?" Chuck exclaims as he jumps into the van ten minutes later.
Sarah looks up at Chuck, pulling out her mic and earwig.
"The baby moved", she says calmly.
Chuck falls into a chair in near shock. "What?" he says.
Sarah's trying ridiculously hard to contain her excitement but it's just not possible. Her face breaks out into a wide smile. "I don't know. It was so strange. One minute I'm watching you two and the next it feels like I literally have butterflies flapping around in my stomach."
From the front seat, Casey grunts. "Thanks for that mental picture, Walker", he says.
"Shut up, Casey", Sarah and Chuck both reply simultaneously and they break into smiles again.
"Is it still moving?" Chuck asks as he moves his hand to rest on Sarah's stomach. She's used to this kind of contact from him but remains CIA Sarah-esque in that no one else is allowed to touch her bump.
"No, it was just that one time but I'm sure it'll happen again soon."
"You scared me shitless, by the way", Chuck says as he removes his hand. "My pregnant girlfriend cannot say 'oh my g-d" without expecting me to freak out."
"Honey, don't freak out. I told you I was fine."
"Still, I worry", Chuck says. "It's my nature."
Another signature grunt is heard from the front. "You guys are nauseating", Casey says.
"Oh, you love it, Uncle Casey", Chuck teases.
"Don't call me that."
This time it's Sarah's turn. "Do you prefer Grandpa Casey?"
'If you weren't pregnant…" Casey mumbles under his breath.
"What was that?" Chuck asks.
"Nothing. Just keep your gooeyness to a minimum. I'd rather not have to puke while I'm driving."
"We'll try", the couple says, smirking.
-xx-
A week after Baby Bartowski's first kick and with a mission successfully completed, Chuck and Sarah have just one more mission on the horizon: finding out if "Baby Charah" (as Morgan has deemed it) is a boy or a girl.
The pool at Buy More, naturally organized by Lester and Jeff, has boy in the lead by a landslide. Devon and Ellie have their money on girl and Casey insists that he doesn't care which everyone knows is a lie.
But like every cliché of expectant parents, Chuck and Sarah just want a healthy baby; albeit maybe with brown curls and blue eyes.
On this day, the day when the couple is to find out the sex of their baby, they sit unusually quiet in the doctor's office. Sarah, sitting on the edge of the cot, is thinking about how it's still weird to her that she's on leave from her position as a deep cover field operative and having a baby on top of it all. Chuck, sitting on a stool next to the cot, is still in disbelief that he's landed the girl and that they're starting a family.
"Hey Sarah", Chuck says as he looks up from the comic book he brought.
As Sarah turns her head to look at him, she smiles and lays her hand on her stomach. "You made the baby kick", she says.
"Sorry?" he says, apologizing for something, though he's not quite sure what.
"No, no- the baby knows your voice and they like it. Man, this baby is really moving in here", Sarah says, looking down at her hands clasped over her stomach.
Chuck smiles wistfully and says to no one in particular, "I'm gonna be a dad."
"Yeah, I think that's pretty evident from this huge bump."
Chuck scoots closer and puts his hand on top of Sarah's. He leans up and kisses her softly on the cheek, whispering, "You look beautiful", in her ear.
Sarah smiles and playfully swats her boyfriend away. "You did this to me; don't think you won't pay", she teases…maybe.
"And thus begin the mood swings…"
"Excuse me?"
With impeccable timing, the doctor knocks and opens the door to the exam room, revealing a man caught like a deer in headlights and a blonde with a death glare.
"Good afternoon", the doctor says to the couple, familiar with their antics.
"Hi Dr. Wilson", Sarah says.
"You have excellent timing", Chuck remarks.
Getting right down to business, the woman in the lab coat asks, "You're here for the anatomy scan today, correct?" When the couple both nod, the doctor continues, "and you'll be wanting to find out the sex?"
"Yes."
"Absolutely."
"Alrighty then, let's get started. Sarah, I just need for you to lie down and pull your shirt up to rest by your bra." As Sarah does what the doctor has instructed of her, Chuck leans his chair in closer and Dr. Wilson readies all of the equipment.
When the transducer makes contact with Sarah's stomach and the grainy images begin appearing on the screen, the couple quietly gasps.
"Wow…" Sarah says. "The baby has gotten so big."
"Yes, much bigger since your last sonogram. The features are more developed. Can you see the head?" the doctor says, pointing to the screen.
"The baby definitely has your giant head", Sarah says to Chuck, giggling to herself.
"Hey! You love my head", Chuck replies.
"Now is neither the time nor the place", Sarah says, smiling again, her attention returning to the image in front of her.
"Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?" Chuck asks the doctor who continues to move the transducer around Sarah's stomach.
"Just waiting for the baby to stop wiggling", Dr. Wilson says as she points to the monitor. "It's like he or she is kickboxing in there."
Chuck cracks a smile and now it's his turn, "That's all Sarah."
Just as Sarah turns to glare at Chuck again, the doctor stops moving the transducer and says, "Okay, then. We've got visual."
The couple's glances both return to the screen but hell if they could make anything of it.
"What is it?" Sarah says, anxious and excited.
"It's a girl", the doctor announces to the waiting parents to be.
The room is quiet as Sarah and Chuck take in the new information and try to process it. As they do so, Dr. Wilson cleans up Sarah's stomach and begins to close up the machinery.
"Wow", Sarah finally says, pulling down her shirt and turning to Chuck.
Chuck, in turn, finally removes his attention from the now blank screen and looks to his girlfriend, softly grabbing her hand in his own. "Wow", he repeats.
"This is so real now."
"She's going to be wrapped around my finger, isn't she?" Chuck asks.
"Oh yeah", Sarah replies, reaching up to kiss Chuck as they both rest their hands on their baby girl, tucked safely in her mother's belly.