AN: Here it is, the final chapter of Hedonism of the High Seas, and in a fraction of time it took to do chapter 2. It was probably made a bit easier by the fact that this chapter doesn't have sex in it.

Now onto other news, I am thinking to going back to writing one-shots and taking a break from the Bartowski at Large series, and I may be going back to writing Harry Potter and Naruto stuff as well as Chuck. Of course soon I'm going to have to go back to work soon, so I may not be writing much at all but if you have a pairing or idea you'd like to request, feel free to PM me. I'm not promising I'll do it quickly/at all, but I always enjoy hearing other people's ideas (I tried to write that in a way that didn't make me sound like an idea-stealing fiend, although i don't really think I pulled it off). Or alternatively, if you'd simply like to express interest in one of the stories I've posted on my profile page, then by all means.

Also, I will most likely start posting my more kinky stories on adultfanfiction, so you should check there time to time as well, just in case i have posted something new. Although I will alert you to these stories when I post on this site.

Now with all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the story and as always, feedback is appreciated.

The last week of Jill's life had certainly been an up and down experience. It had started when her boss had assigned her to 'look after' one of their new donors and accompany him on his cruise. By now she had fully realised that when her bosses said 'look after' someone, what they really meant was 'act as that person's sex slave until we save otherwise'. It was an easy enough job even if she felt it was demeaning to the years of hard work she had put in during college. Still it did amount to a working vacation where the only work she was required to do was to look pretty in a bikini and spread her legs when she needed to.

She was glad that Spencer, the man she was assigned to, said he didn't actually want to fuck her himself but rather watch others do the deed. It meant that maybe she could at least get someone handsome to screw her instead of the usual ugly old men. When the pair of them went out to search for potential bed mates and they witnessed a gorgeous blonde super model ride the daylights out of the well hung albeit lanky man beneath her, she thought she'd found someone fun to play with. It was to her great shock that the aforementioned well hung man was actually her old boyfriend from college and the blonde was his new wife.

To see Chuck again after six years was a tremendous surprise, partly given how she found him was way outside his usual behaviour, but mostly because she simply hadn't expected to see him again. It was also rather confronting to see him with another woman. She knew that he had every right to move on, given that she was the one who cheated on him, but she still couldn't help but feel betrayed. She had never intended for Chuck to find out about that one time with Bryce and if he hadn't walked in on him, they may even still be together. Even with her affair known to him, Jill had still hoped, however unrealistically it may have been, that when she was done with Fulcrum, she could try again with Chuck. Seeing him with Sarah, and seeing how he could barely look at her without rage and anguish, made her realise that there was little chance of that happening now.

Still Jill had been pleased when Chuck and Sarah agreed to 'play' with her and Spencer. Chuck was certainly more aggressive than she remember, but it still felt wonderful to have him inside her once again. Jill couldn't even complain about Sarah, as the blonde bombshell certainly knew her way around another woman's privates. The first evening was certainly enjoyable.

When she woke up the next morning however, she felt like she had the world's biggest hangover, and noticed that Chuck had actually came over her breasts, an action she vaguely remembered happening before she passed out. While men cumming on her was nothing new, for Chuck to do it, it showed just how little he cared and respected her these days.

Despite that, that encounter was merely the first, as Chuck and Sarah would have their way with her several more times throughout the course of the cruise, often for the entertainment of Spencer but mostly because they seemed to enjoy taking her. And she enjoyed it too, although she just wished they, and in particular Chuck, cared a little more about her feelings for him. After all, despite the hurt and time apart from each other, she still loved him. That had to count for something.

Yet somehow, less than twenty-four hours after she got back from the cruise, she was arrested by the authorities and chartered off to god knows where, the ambiguity of her current location alerting her to the fact that she was not being held by regular law enforcement. Still it shocked her when she was placed in an interrogation room and it was her ex-boyfriend's wife that walked in. "Sarah," Jill said in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

Her question went unanswered as a rather ice cold Sarah sat down in the chair opposite her. Gone was the skimpy bikinis, revealing dresses and flirty expression she had worn during the cruise and replaced with a hard expression and dark grey suit and skirt. If Jill hadn't so much spent so much time with the other woman during the past week, she would have sworn that the woman currently in front of her was a different woman completely. "Jill Roberts," Sarah announced. "My name is Sarah Walker and you are here because of your connections to the terrorist organisation known as Fulcrum. This interrogation is to determine how deep that connection goes and whether or not you can work out a deal for a reduced sentence."

Jill's eyes widened in surprise and fear. If they knew she was with Fulcrum when that left only one organisation that Sarah could be a part of. "You're CIA?" she exclaimed, before her expression grew angry. "Does Chuck know? Are you using him for some stupid government conspiracy?"

"My relationship with Charles Bartowski is not the purpose of this meeting Jill," Sarah said coldly as she practically hissed her name. "You belong to an organisation which is attempting to overthrow the legitimate US government and has killed innocent civilians and federal agents in pursuit of this goal. If you don't provide us with information, then you will at the very least be looking at life in prison."

Jill's eyes narrowed. "I'm not afraid of prison," she boasted vainly. "You'll never get anything out of me."

Sarah snorted in derision at the other woman's bravado. "Spoken like someone who's never even seen the inside of a jail cell. Trust me Jill, it's something that should frighten you. And that's just American jails. Fulcrum has pissed off a number of several other countries, many of whom have extradition treaties with the US," the blonde agent paused for a moment before giving a sadistic smirk. "Countries that aren't as nice as we are to their prisoners."

Jill went still for a moment, seriously considering her predicament. It was then that Sarah went down another route. "Of course I'm not really sure why you're bothering to protect Fulcrum anyway," she said. "Given how I found you on that cruise, I think it's safe to say that Fulcrum doesn't see you as anything more than a fuck toy to woo donors to their side."

Jill's flinch, however slight, was exactly what Sarah needed to confirm her assumptions. She grinned maliciously at the other woman, spotting the weakness to exploit. "That's isn't it, that's all you are to them," she goaded. "You probably haven't even received any kind of training, have you? To them you're just a cunt to be fucked, a hooker who does it for delusions of patriotism instead of money."

The brunette across from her flinched again, but this time it was more obvious, as if she'd been slapped. "Hit a little too close to home," Sarah mocked, hopefully to trigger some kind of outburst.

However she was unprepared for Jill's next words. "W-What do you w-want to know," she stammered, as if struggling to stop herself from crying.

Sarah had been surprised that Jill gave in so easily, and unfortunately for her ego it must have shown. "What, surprised I was so quick to turn after my little declaration," Jill said spitefully. "Fulcrum has taken a lot from me, I'm not going to jail or the injection table for them."

The blonde quickly gathered her composure and pressed on with her interrogation. "Tell me how you first got involved with Fulcrum, how did they recruit you."

"It was through a family friend," Jill responded, having calmed down a bit. "My parents had a bit of a debt problem around the time I was going to college and my Uncle Bernie said his group Fulcrum would pay my tuition costs, I would just have to work for them to pay off the debt."

"You didn't wonder about this group your uncle was involved with?"

Jill shook her head in the negative. "At the time we were just thankful that'd I'd be able to go to college. It wasn't until the end of my first year that I found out what Fulcrum really was. Even then, they described it as a group of revolutionaries seeking to change things for the better."

"Do you know anything else about their recruitment methods?" Sarah asked.

Jill thought for a moment. "Mostly the recruit from colleges, like the CIA I guess and I'm pretty sure they have moles in most government agencies who keep an eye out for prospective recruits," she said, before pausing to remember something. "They also recruit through a front company called the Strength Leadership Corporation."

"And what about college?" Sarah asked. "Did Fulcrum have you do much while you were at Stanford?"

"A bit," Jill answered. "I was assigned a handler at Stanford who would assign me tasks to complete, usually retrieving something and delivering it somewhere else."

The brunette woman then paused for a moment, causing Sarah to think that Fulcrum had the young college student do something else. And it turned out she was right. "You're CIA, right Sarah?" Jill asked and at the blonde's nod she continued. "So would you perhaps know a spy named Bryce Larkin?"

Sarah's eyebrows shot up in surprise. There was no way she should know that Bryce was a spy. "I know of him, yes," she responded, not letting on to the exact nature of her involvement with her former partner. "He was the one you cheated with, correct?"

Jill flinched again at the reminder of her infidelity. "Yeah, that was him," she said dejectedly. "My handler suspected several students to be recruits for the CIA. He assigned me a list of student he suspected and I had to seduce them to find out if they were actually spies. It was pretty easy actually. Despite their supposed secrecy, they were still college boys and more than willing to show off for a pretty girl. Bryce was the only one I knew beforehand and naturally the little jackass wanted to do it in Chuck's bed, in some stupid game of one-upmanship that Chuck probably wasn't even aware was happening."

Jill paused again and Sarah couldn't help but notice that she seemed sad. "Chuck wasn't supposed to walk in on us," she said, her voice tight with regret. "He wasn't supposed to find out my mission and he wasn't supposed to leave me."

Sarah was torn. On one hand she wanted to hate the brunette skank in front of her because of how she hurt Chuck but on the other hand, Jill had lived Sarah's own worst nightmare of losing what she had with Chuck and she couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman. Her experience at Stanford was also hitting a little too close to home. Still Sarah had a job to do and feeling sympathy for Jill, however deserved or undeserved it may be, wasn't going to get it done. "What were your duties with Fulcrum after you graduated?"

The brunette took a moment to compose herself before she answered. "Basically what you said," Jill said. "I was just a toy Fulcrum loaned out in order to garner favour or win support."

"Is there any chance you remember the names of these people Fulcrum was trying to bring to their side," Sarah questioned.

Jill gave a tight nod. "Yeah, I can probably give you most of their names and their jobs, but I wasn't really told more than that."

Sarah tried to comfort the other woman with a smile, although she wasn't entirely sure how sincere it came across. "That will be perfect Jill."

Meanwhile on the other side of the interrogation room, Chuck, Graham and Bryce all stood there, watching the exchange through the one-way mirror. As the two women talked Chuck turned an accusing eye towards his boss. "Did you know Jill was with Fulcrum?"

Graham shook his head. "No I'm afraid we didn't," he answered, shaking off Chuck's glared. "Had we known, we would have made her the focus of your mission and not Spencer. Still, she is turning out to be a wealth of information."

"You mean like how Fulcrum knows the identities of a bunch of agents who think too much with their little heads and not enough with their big heads?" Chuck queried, shooting a condescending look at Bryce.

The director of the CIA frowned and turned to glare at one of his best operatives, who was trying hard not to draw any more attention to himself. "Yes and on that note, Bryce until further noticed, you will not be participating in any operation against Fulcrum. You are also suspended until we can confirm that you are not a mole."

Bryce looked as if he was about to protest, but Graham quickly cut him off. "Its standard procedure Bryce, that's all, but we can't have a possible mole running about, however unlikely he might be a mole."

Chuck smirked at Bryce's reluctant resignation. "Yes sir," the male agent confirmed.

Nodding to one of his best agents he began making his way to the door. "I'll leave you two to observe the rest of the interrogation. I need to check on how Spencer's interrogation is going."

Just as he got to the door however, he was stopped when Chuck called out to him. "Before you go, Graham there's just something I want you to know," the hacker began, gaining his boss's attention. "The last time you tried to screw with me, you ended up having to explain to your wife why you were getting porn sent to your home and office. The next time you try to screw with me, you're going have to explain to a congressional hearing why your bank account is bigger than it should be."

Wordlessly, Graham just glared at the hacker, who weathered his gaze with an unflinching determination. Finally the director turned and exited the room, leaving the former college roommates alone. "Has Graham really been stealing money?" Bryce asked curiously.

Chuck merely shrugged. "How the hell should I know," he responded. "It's not like anything I frame him with actually has to be true. It just has to be enough to get a bunch of backstabbing politicians to believe that he isn't the right man for the job. It'll be easy enough."

Bryce just looked at Chuck in disbelief. "Graham isn't exactly someone you should screw with Chuck."

The hacker simply snorted. "Please Graham doesn't frighten me and he knows it. Why do you think he puts up with me?"

"Because you're good at your job."

"Well there's that sure," Chuck conceded. "But there's more to it. Graham knows that I would have never entered into an agreement with the CIA unless I have some kind of leverage and until he knows how to nullify whatever advantage that leverage gives me, he's gonna be very careful with how he deals with me. Honestly, do you really think he'd let me get away with half the stuff I do if I didn't have some kind of leverage over him? For him this is a classic case of keeping your friends closer and your enemies closer, although I doubt Graham actually has any friends."

Bryce couldn't help but stare at his former roommate. "So wait, you actually have information that could hurt Graham or the CIA?"

The taller man just smirked knowingly at his former friend. "Now now Bryce, you of all people should know that you don't show your hand early."

"The CIA isn't your enemy, Chuck," Bryce said.

Chuck snorted again. "It sure as hell isn't my friend," he responded cynically. "The CIA views people as tools to be used, and if you somehow think you're the exception, than you're an even bigger moron than I thought. I mean hell Graham openly refers to people as 'assets'. If he decided that I've outlived my usefulness or I've somehow become a threat in even the slightest way possible, he wouldn't hesitate to give the order to have me 'liquidated'. And there's no way I'm gonna let that happen."

Bryce just shook his head at Chuck's suspicion. "Wow you really are paranoid," he quipped.

Chuck just glared at him. "It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you," he fired back. "If Graham thought for a moment that I was a threat and he could get away with it, he'd order you to kill me in a second. Same goes for you as well, we're all just tools to be used by that man, nothing more."

Whatever Bryce was about to say was cut off when they heard Sarah's next question for Jill from the next room. "So, and this is off the record," she started, her voice coming through the intercom. "But I'm currently dating Chuck and I used to date Bryce, so you and I are probably the only two women who have slept with both of them. So I was wondering just to validate my own opinion really, who do you think is better at sex?"

With just that single question, the entire discussion between the two men was forgotten as they paid very close attention to Jill's answer. "Oh Chuck without a doubt," she answered almost instantly. "Bryce is talented, sure, but it's was about him and you can't help but feel that you could be replaced with any other pretty face with a vagina and he wouldn't notice the difference. Chuck, on the other hand, it doesn't matter whether it's soft and intimate or hard and passionate, you always feel like you're the only women in the world. You know what I mean?"

"Yes I know exactly what you mean."

Chuck couldn't help but shoot a victorious grin at Bryce, who seemed quite flustered to hear that he wasn't the sex god he thought he was. Not wanting to hear any more in fear of his delicate ego shattering, he fled the room, leaving the grinning hacker to continue listening to the two women in the next room praise his prowess as a lover. However his grinned lessened when they started talking about something more serious.

"So what happens to me now," Jill asked as they finished their talk about who was the better lover.

"You'll go to a secure facility for a while," Sarah responded. "And wait until the information you gave pans out. I'll be honest with you Jill, it looks good for you. Your involvement with Fulcrum was mostly periphery and you've been a big help, so I'd say twelve to eighteen months in prison and you'd be free and clear. With a new identity of course, in case Fulcrum comes after you."

Jill nodded in gratitude, accepting the arrangement. Then she hesitantly asked Sarah the next question on her mind. "So you and Chuck, is it serious."

"Very," she said automatically, the fallen expression on Jill's face telling her where her mind was at. "I should probably hate you for hurting my Chuck, and I do, but I'm also grateful for what you did as well."

"How exactly are you grateful?"

"For two reasons actually," Sarah responded, holding up two fingers. "The first is obvious, that if you didn't cheat on him then we may have never have met, so thanks for that," The look on Jill's face showed she didn't really care for that kind of gratitude. "The other reason actually only came to my mind recently. You chose your duty, misguided as it was, over your love for Chuck and you lost him. When I was dancing with Spencer, I was facing that same choice and I was prepared to sacrifice the success of the mission for Chuck's love, because honestly, while I might love my job, I'm smart enough to realise that it will never love me back. Chuck's love though… it's worth a failed mission."

Sarah looked at Jill intently, seeing that the other woman did not seem happy with Sarah's words. Not that the blonde really cared, she was saying this mostly for Chuck, who she hoped was still in the observation room. "Seeing what happened to you, how Fulcrum treats you? I can see that choosing my Chuck over my duty was, and will always be the right move."

Several days later saw Chuck drumming his fingers on the table in the dining hall of the prison facility Jill was being held at. Sarah had told him that morning that Jill had requested to see him after they received a phone call from the prison. It hadn't surprised him that Jill wanted to see him again but it did when Sarah had voiced her being in favour of this idea. "You should use this opportunity to get come closure and tell her how you really feel," she had told him.

Chuck sighed as he continued to wait for the guards to bring Jill to him. He supposed Sarah was right, as usual. He had held off from telling Jill how he felt on the cruise for the sake of the mission, but now that was no longer a concern. He had been carrying this ever since Stanford, and despite his new relationship with Sarah and how happy he was with her, the memory of catching Jill and Bryce still burned like an inferno. Maybe talking to Jill wouldn't help, but then maybe it would, and if it did then it would be worth it.

His musings were interrupted as a rather gruff looking guard escorted a tired looking Jill to where he sat, the brunette talking a sat across from him and the guard retreating several steps back to allow them some privacy yet close enough for the sake of vigilance. Seeing that this was as much privacy as would be given to them, Chuck made a start. "So, Sarah said you wanted to see me."

"Um, yeah I did," Jill replied. "So I take it you know what she does for a living then if you're here?"

Chuck rolled his eyes at her attempt to drive a wedge between him and Sarah. "Yeah, I actually knew before we meet."

His words, while answering Jill's question only confused her more. "How did you two meet?" she asked her next question. "Because I've been thinking about it for ages and I still can't work out how you'd be in a position to meet and become involved with a CIA agent."

The hacker shrugged his shoulders. "People change, it's a fact of life. Don't assume that you still know me as well as you did," he said, before answering more succinctly. "Sarah and another agent from the DEA were sent to seduce me when the CIA learned that I had acquired information both agencies would want. What none of them knew though was that I was the one who told the CIA about the information and that I knew who was coming for me."

Again, Jill's confusion showed no signs of easing. "But I still don't understand, why would you have information that the CIA would want in the first place?"

"Because I am a thief."

The look was shock that appeared on the brunette's tired face almost made Chuck want to laugh. "A thief?" she practically shrieked, drawing the ire of the nearby guard. "How on God's green earth did you become a thief? I mean at Stanford you didn't even borrow someone's stationary for more than an hour, let alone stealing top secret information."

"Yeah, well that Chuck hadn't had his heart broken," he replied simply, causing Jill to flinch at his words. "Truth is Jill, after Stanford I was angry, and I had no way of letting that anger out. So I bought a one way ticket to Europe and started working as a hacker, taking my anger out of those who could afford take it. And after a while of taking from the rich, I began giving most of my ill-gotten gains away to various charities, which led to a more positive outlet for my anger."

"Even though I mostly dealt with money and artefacts, on occasion I'd be hired to retrieve information as well. One organisation that I would later find out to be a massive criminal spy ring wanted this information which I later realised they would use to hurt a lot of people. I sent an anonymous tip to the CIA about the information, they sent Sarah and Carina to seduce me, I ended up making a deal with the CIA where I'd partner with Sarah and work with them in exchange for protecting my sister, and here we are."

If Chuck thought this information would be things clearer for Jill then he was only partially right, as for everything he told her, she simply seemed to have another dozen questions. "So you're actually a spy like Bryce and me?" she asked, seemingly a little dazed by the data dump. "I can't believe it, you're honestly the last person I'd expect to become a spy."

"And you're the last person I'd expect to be a cheater, but there it is," the hacker shot back.

The woman in front of him look saddened by his words. "You're never going to forgive me for that are," she asked hopelessly.

Chuck just looked at Jill for a brief moment before sighing. "In way… I already have. I guess I'm just a little bitter."

The forlorn on Jill's face gave way to a more hopeful expression. "So if you've forgiven me, does that mean you'll wait for me and we can try again when I get out?"

This time the hacker looked at his ex-girlfriend in disbelief. "No chance in hell Jill," he stated firmly, causing the woman to deflate again. "Sarah and I may be spies, but I love her, and she loves me, and there is no way I'm going to lose what I have with her to get back with my cheating ex."

"But you said you forgave me!" Jill exclaimed.

"For me, not for you," Chuck snapped back. "When I first began my criminal career, I was so hurt and angry that it was always your face or Bryce's that I saw in the people in stole from. But that kind of anger… it was suffocating. I had to forgive you because I realised that I couldn't live like that. So yeah, I forgave you, but that doesn't mean I want anything to do with you."

"But…" Jill stammered, her voice thick with emotion. "What about all those special times we shared? Don't they mean anything to you?"

"I wish I could say they still felt the same," Chuck admitted. "But the truth is they don't; what you did, it tainted everything Jill. Every kiss, every date, every single moment of intimacy, I can't think of any of them without resentment." He paused for a moment, gathering his words before continuing. "Besides, you talk as if they never meant anything to me, and yet they clearly didn't mean as much to you as they did to me, seeing as how you slept with other men."

"I thought I was doing it for my country," the brunette defended automatically. "Your precious Sarah would have done the same thing, and will probably do it again in the future."

Towards the end of her statement her tone became venomous, alerting Chuck to where Jill might be going with her thoughts. "You couldn't be more wrong, Jill," he told her in a firm voice. "I know Sarah has done what you did, after all that's how we met, but she wouldn't do it to me. She could have on the cruise, before we found out that Spencer was a voyeur, but she decided not to. She put what we had together above whoring herself out for her country, and that's what matters."

The finality in his voice confirmed to Jill that they were well in truly over. "So that's it then," she said in resignation. "Our relationship is just another sad story for Cosmo. Did it honestly mean anything to you?"

Chuck frowned at her words. "Our relationship meant everything to me Jill," he shot back to his ex, his eyes narrowing angrily. "Hell I was planning on proposing."

The look on Jill's face showed that of everything she had been expecting him to say, that had not been it. "What?" she gasped, absolutely flabbergasted.

At the moment, Chuck, not for the first time, cursed his inability to control his emotions, something his boss constantly gave him crap for. Sighing at his slip, he pressed on. "I was actually going to tell you on the cruise, but didn't for the sake of the mission," he admitted. "I never told anyone that actually, not even Morgan or Ellie. I had bought the ring a few weeks earlier and was planning on driving to your parents' house to ask their permission before… you know."

"You were… seriously… going to… propose?" stammered Jill, still not having gotten over the shock.

He nodded in confirmation. "I was going to propose because the thought of being with another person never even entered into my mind," Chuck explained to his ex. "I just wished that our relationship meant as much to you as it did to me."

Without waiting for her reply, Chuck stood up from his chair. "Goodbye Jill," he said to her honestly and he walked away from the table. "I hope you have a nice life."

With his final goodbye given, Chuck walked away without looking back, not even when he heard Jill start crying. He made his way through the prison halls and security measures, silently in deep thought and headed straight to the lone Porsche when he reached the parking lot. When he entered the passenger side of the car, Sarah was naturally sitting in the driver's seat, patiently waiting for him. "Are you okay," she asked concerned as he sat down.

Slowly Chuck nodded in the affirmative. "I think so," he answered. "I think telling Jill how badly she hurt me actually did help."

Despite what he said, Sarah couldn't help but notice that Chuck still seemed weighed down by something. "Then why do you still seem down?"

"It's just… this thing with Jill got me thinking, you know?" he answered with a heavy sigh. "Back at Stanford, Jill and Bryce were two of the most important people in my life and for them to betray me like they did, whatever their reasons, I can't help but wonder did I even know them at all?"

Sarah reached over to take hold of her boyfriend's hand and gently caressed it. "What exactly do you mean?"

"Like with Jill, she was the love of my life, the woman I was going to propose to and spend the rest of my life with," Chuck told her, noting a slight disruption in the rhythm of Sarah's stroking at the mention of the proposal. "But then she goes ahead a sleeps with several other guys, including my best friend."

"You were really going to propose to her?"

"Yeah," Chuck answered. "Had the ring and everything. Sold it when I got kicked out of Stanford and used it to pay for my ticket out of Burbank. Now I can't help but wonder, what if I hadn't walked in on them. Would my life continue on with me being the unknowing dupe as my wife had sex behind my back every weekend? And then there's Bryce…"

"Bryce is an asshole Chuck," Sarah said, interrupting her boyfriend. "You said it yourself a while ago remember? He's an asshole, has always been an asshole and will always be an asshole."

"I know that. But he was never an asshole too me, at least no more than friends giving each other a hard time. I can't help but wonder though, he was my roommate and so could have access to any of my stuff, including the draw I kept the ring in, so did he actually know that I was planning on proposing and slept with Jill anyway?"

Chuck paused to let out a heavy sigh. "Just… why did they do it Sarah," he sighed again. "I know I told Jill I forgive her but even still, their betrayal still hurts after all this time. I just don't understand how they could do that to me."

His head slumped down in an uncharacterised show of anguish from the usually upbeat hacker. However, on this occasion, Sarah knew exactly how to answer the hopeless question. "Because they're morons," she said with steel in her voice. "They're a pair of idiots who took their relationship with you for granted and felt that other things were more important. Jill prioritised her misguided duty to her sponsors while Bryce felt his own selfish desires were more significant and they were both fools to give up what they had with you."

Sarah stopped her diatribe and looked at her boyfriend, whose head was now staring at her. "We've been together for almost a year and I can easily say that it has been the happiest I have ever been," she told Chuck, whose fledging smile elicited one from her. "And I don't care whether it's finding out some crooked businessman's allegiances, stopping a terrorist attack or taking down an evil empire, I am not sacrificing what we have for anything. It means too much to me… you mean too much to me."

Sarah, not normally being one to give voice to her emotions, was not overly sure if she had said the right thing. However, looking at the now radiant smile on Chuck's face it was definitely the right thing to say. "You're absolutely right," he said, his spirits soaring after his girlfriend's speech. "If catching Jill and Bryce was the event that led me to you, then… I'm glad it happened."

His hesitation told her that the pain he felt on that day may always sting, but even so, Sarah knew how Chuck felt and his words only told her what she already knew. "Come on, let's go home," she said, settling herself properly in the driver's seat and starting up her Porsche, before continuing in a huskier tone. "I have plenty ideas about how to make you forget about the skank."

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, and remember to review.