.............................
Chuck fell asleep within minutes, and I fell asleep shortly after, to the sound of his gentle rhythmic breathing. . .
I woke up beside his warm body. He had his arms wrapped around me like he used to. It was still dark outside so I knew it was early.
I laid in bed, lost in my thoughts of how things used to be. It seemed like an eternity had passed since the accident. I wasn't sure if Chuck would ever regain his memory, but I couldn't even entertain the idea that he would always be like this.
I couldn't tell how much time had passed since I woke up, but soon the sunlight filled the room and brought a glow to his warm olive skin. In all of my CIA travels, I was sure I had never seen a man as beautiful as Chuck Bartowski. . . Well, except for the few ultrasound photos I'd seen of our son.
Another few minutes passed and Chuck opened his eyes.
"Good morning Sarah."
"Good morning Chuck." I smiled.
"What time is it?" He yawned.
"It's almost seven. Why are you awake so early?"
"I have to go to Buymore today. Morgan has to work today and I want to get a chance to tell him about the baby."
"I think it's a bit early to go to Buymore. The store doesn't open until eight-thirty. You can sleep in some more if you want to."
"Oh. Okay." Chuck sighed, closed his eyes and fell back asleep.
.............................
About an hour later we both go out of bed. Around twelve-thirty I went to work at Orange Orange and Chuck spent the afternoon with Morgan at Buymore.
Around six o' clock I got off of work and walked across the street to Buymore.
As I walked through the store trying to find where Chuck and Morgan were, I saw Big Mike, who gestured for me to come into his office.
"Sarah, hows it going?" Big Mike asked nodding for me to sit in the seat in front of his desk.
"Alright I guess. Have you seen Chuck and Morgan?" I found it strange that Big Mike was randomly striking up a conversation with me considering we hardly, if ever, talk.
"Yeah, I gave my boys the home theater room for the day. I couldn't get any better employees than Morgan and Chuck. They are more like family. The store hasn't been the same without Chuck helping out behind the Nerd Herd desk for the past couple of weeks.
Those dimwits Jeff and Lester have had more customer complaints in the past week than Bartowski has his whole time working here."
"Yeah, I'm sorry Chuck hasn't been able to work."
"Oh come on, it's not your fault. I mean, you can't control a drive-by shooting now can you? If there is one thing I've learned in all my years as a Buymore manager it's that, some bad things happen that are beyond our control. Besides, it's kinda nice to see Chuck here and not stressing about the Nerd Herd, and just acting like a kid again." Big Mike saw a strange ray of hope in this situation.
"I say all of this to tell you that I'm not going to take Bartowski off the payroll. Skip Johnson is picking up the slack left behind by those two jokers, Jeff and Lester."
"Really?"
"Yeah, it's like I said, Chuck is family. I can't fire him because of something that happened beyond his control." Big Mike smiled.
"Thanks, really."
"Anytime. Besides, how can I cut off the main money supply to a Buymore employee's growing family?"
"How did you know?" If Morgan blabbed, I will use the most painful tactic I know to kill him.
"I've known you and Chuck were having a baby for months now."
"How? I mean I just now started showing enough to notice."
"I have a certain intuition when it comes to women."
"Um, okay?"
"Now as great as this heart to heart has been, I have some donuts that are calling my name." He said pulling a large box of donuts from underneath his desk.
"Do you like cream filled?"
He opened the box and sighed, looking on them with the same amount of pride that a proud father has when he sees his child for the first time.
"Boston cream with chocolate on top?"
"Mm mm mm. Chuck picked a lady with fine taste in pastry." He said standing up from his chair.
After I took Big Mike up on his offer for a donut, I walked into the home theater room where I found Chuck and Morgan playing Call of Duty. Chuck had learned the controls of the Xbox extremely fast.
Chuck and Morgan were so engrossed in their game that they hadn't even realized that I had walked into the room.
After lots of virtual gunfire, Morgan slammed his controller onto the table in front of them and yelled. "How did you beat me? I have played this game for years and you just started the other day. How did you beat me?!" Morgan ranted.
"He's a fast learner Morgan." I said, and they both turned around and saw me.
"Oh, um, hi Sarah." Morgan said, red-faced. "Can we just forget that little hissy fit just happened?"
I had to contain my laughter, and I noticed Chuck holding back a burst of laughter as well.
"All is forgotten." I said. "So, Chuck it's almost seven o'clock, do you want to go get some dinner?"
"Yeah sure." He said, still holding back his laugh. "Thanks for hanging out today Morgan."
"My pleasure buddy. Oh, and I want a rematch." Morgan said as we opened the door to leave the home theater room.
"Okay sure. It's your funeral." Chuck said, sounding a lot like himself. He seems the most like himself when he's in a familiar environment, such as playing games with Morgan.
"Bye Morgan." We said in unison as walked to leave the store.
...................................................
Dinner was In n' Out burger, and of course my burger had extra pickles. Chuck noticed and took all of the pickles off of his burger and gave them to me.
"You like pickles a lot don't you?" He smiled, his bright smile lighting up the room.
"They're my favorite."
"I noticed." He laughed.
When dinner was over we went home to an empty house, yet again.
Got called in to another late shift,
We'll be home late tonight.
-Ellie and Devon
"Ellie works a lot." Chuck sighed.
"Yeah, she is a busy woman."
Chuck nodded. "You want to watch TV?" He asked, sitting down on the couch.
"Sounds like fun."
And after about four hours of G4, we decided it was time for bed.
After going through our nighttime routine, we got in bed.
Even though Chuck had seemed happy the entire night, I could tell he had something on his mind.
"Something you want to talk about, Chuck?"
"Yeah kinda. Being with Morgan today just has me thinking about some stuff."
"What kind of stuff?"
"What was I like before I lost my memory? I mean, was I nice, was I cool, was I funny?"
"All of that and so much more." I said, putting my hand on his soft warm cheek.
"Was I a good friend?"
"The best. All of your friends, even the, um, strangest ones, look to you for advice and they all love you a lot Chuck."
"Was I a good brother?"
"Chuck I think you are the best brother any sister could ask for. You take good care of Ellie, and you two are very close. You love each other."
Chuck sighed and laid on his back, looking up at the ceiling.
"What is it?"
"It's just. . . I want to be close with Ellie, but it's so weird with her having a job and a husband. Plus I think that if I hug her and stuff like we used to it'll embarrass her or something.
"And I mean I'm used to being shorter than her and now I'm way taller than her. And things are just so different." He said, his voice cracking slightly because he was holding back tears.
"Chuck, Ellie still loves you. That is one thing that will never change." I said. As hard as dealing with Chuck's memory loss had been for me and everyone else, I couldn't imagine how hard this has been on Chuck.
"I know." He sighed. "I just miss the Ellie I know. The one without a job or a boyfriend. Now don't get me wrong, Devon is awesome, it's just hard to get used to her being married."
"I'm sure."
We sat in silence for a few moments.
"So, is there anything else you want to know before we go to bed?"
"Yeah, um, a few more questions actually."
"I'm sure I have a few more answers."
"Okay. So, um, was I a good boyfriend?"
"Chuck, you are the nicest and sweetest guy I've ever known, and you are the best boyfriend I have ever had. " I smiled.
"Do you miss having a boyfriend?"
"I have you." Sure, Chuck is different from the Chuck I'm used to, but I wouldn't want to spend my time with any other guy.
"I know, but do you miss having a grown up boyfriend? Who takes you on dates and gives you gifts and stuff like that."
"Well, I do miss it. . . " Mostly because I miss being with grown up you ". . .But, I love you more than gifts or dates. I'm just glad I have you Chuck."
Chuck smiled shyly. "Thanks Sarah. I'm glad I have you too."
"You ready to get some sleep?"
"Mmhmm." He said. He seemed like he was still thinking about something important. . .
He repeated his nighttime routine from last night, telling me goodnight and then telling the baby goodnight, and then he turned over on his side and fell quickly asleep.
I turned over on my other side and fell asleep trying to figure out what Chuck had on his mind before he fell asleep. . .
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A/N I want to thank everyone for all reviews, whether they be old or new, positive or negative, they still help me out, so thank you.
We have 4 more to go, and I know some of you think I'm dragging this out but don't worry, I have a plan (just like the cylons haha) so just trust me lol.
Thanks again,
R&R