Chuck vs. The Cougars

"Isn't it supposed to be a raw steak?" Sarah giggled, looking downwards at the raw burger.

Chuck grinned. "Not on a Buy More salary, thank you very much. I did however, scrape together enough cash to get you a cooked one as well, medium rare with-"

"Extra pickles." They said in unison.

"Come on, who do you think you're dealing with here?" Chuck joked.

"Well, I never doubted you, Special Agent Charles Carmichael." She smiled.

Chuck sighed contentedly. "So I guess the big secret about you is that you used to be just a typical high school student. I wish I knew what happened to change that."

Sarah returned his smile and suddenly it all came flooding back to her. Racing through the forest and finding her father's money, then getting interrupted by the very man who put her father in prison and the same person who introduced her to the CIA. He reminded her of all her past names - never quite getting to her real one, but he was the person who gave her the name Sarah Walker. The person she was supposed to be now.

The funny thing was though, as parts of her past came back, Chuck kept at chipping her so that she was worse off emotionally, but better shaped as a person. She was like playdough, constantly being able to change and be reshaped but once she was left alone she would turn hard again. She was not being left alone though, she didn't realise it yet but she was becoming like her old self, but older, wiser and with more experience.

"Sarah Walker.. Hello?" Chuck called.

"Okay, fine. I'll answer one question about my past, you've earned that much." She replied as he looked thoughtful for a moment.

"No thanks." He paused. "I don't need to know more about who you were, because as much as you don't think so.. I know who you are." She smiled. "The girl I'd like to share a cheese burger with."

She rested her head on the back of her arm and smiled down at him, hoping that she wasn't giving herself away completely.

"Should I get a knife?" He asked.

"That won't be necessary." She replied, pulling a knife out from a strap around her leg.

"That's awesome." Chuck said sarcastically. "And a little disturbing." She giggled.

He cut it. "Do you want the bigger half or..?"

"No, you can." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm actually not that hungry."

"Oh, come on, you've hardly eaten all day, look at you, you're withering away into nothing." He half joked.

"Shut up." She hit him playfully but bit into her burger all the same.

She hated him watching her eat, she felt greedy and disgusting and she didn't want to destroy that perfect perception he hopefully had on her. She turned so that she was looking out of the window and staring down at the tiny people dotted about in all directions, each living out their own dramas. She didn't know why she was thinking that, maybe it was because she just wanted to be that, to be just another person in a crowd. But only, not when it came to Chuck, she wanted to stand out so that she was the only person in his world. That was what it was like for her, it was like everybody else in one section and Chuck in one of his own, brilliant, bright and shining - that's how he looked every time she saw him.

She knew that he had practically told her that they would never have a future together a few days ago - but she couldn't - wouldn't, let herself think like that because if she did there wouldn't ever be a point in carrying on. A year ago she would have snarled at herself now, a year ago she would only trudge from mission to mission without a second thought. How things change.

Sarah said something that had been playing in her mind for a while. "So, what were you like in school?"

"Me?" He twitched his nose a little bit. "I was your classic geek. I thought comic books and video games were my life, some kids had a go at me for being really lanky, surprise, surprise. Morgan and I stuck together through all of it."

"Short and sweet." Sarah smiled. "There's got to be more to it than that, surely? What about that girlfriend you had in tenth grade?"

Chuck blushed a little. "Ah, my first love." He brushed it off a little vaguely. "Yeah it lasted a couple of months."

"Come on!" She slapped him playfully. "How did you get together?"

"Honestly? I can't remember much about her, but her name was Sam.." He saw Sarah flinch a little but continued nevertheless. "I'd never really had a girlfriend before her. She used to live really close to me and we would walk home together and one day I was babbling on about a Spiderman comic - God knows she must have wanted to punch my face in. Christ - I was fifteen for god's sake!

"Then she reached out and put her hand in mine and I turned to face her because I was a little confused - she kissed me there and I remember thinking that I couldn't believe it was happening to me." He smiled at the memory.

"That's sweet." Sarah grinned a little forcefully. She didn't know why but she found herself regretting the fact that it wasn't her who was his first love, she wasn't jealous of something that had happened over ten years ago - was she? "Why did you ever break up?"

"We wanted different things, I wanted to stay in on a Saturday night and play video games whereas she wanted to go out. It was more than that but things just kind of frazzled out. Dare I ask about your first love?"

Sarah thought for a moment, she hadn't really been in love properly before this but she didn't want to say that, obviously. "Ah, there were a few boys in high school, nobody special.." She felt her mind drifting back a little. "My friends and I used to always go to the beach after school, chatting up all the boys.." She trailed off. She was remembering the best (of many) schools she had been to. It was when she was fifteen and she used to ride her bike all the way down to the seashore and stay out all night with her friends. It was the best summer of her life before her father had moved on to his next con.

Chuck could see she was regretting it already so he didn't say anything. It did hurt a little that she didn't trust him as much as she should. He looked at her now, her eyes shining with reminisce, so beautiful and blue he wanted to stare into them all day, these two things made him fall in love with her in the first place. He loved the way her eyes told him a story, he felt as if he knew her just in one glance. He remembered one of the first times he had looked into them - on the beach.

"Fancy a walk along the beach?" He asked curiously. Sarah looked at him quizzically for a moment. "No! Not like that, you know, clear the cobwebs and all that."

She smiled as he blushed. "Sure."

She stood up, pulled him by the hand and grabbed her keys before pulling the door shut behind her.

As easy as that, twenty minutes later they were strolling along the seashore. Sarah took off her shoes and let her toes slip into the cool sand as she gazed over at the sparkling ocean, contrasting perfectly with the suburban horizon.

"It's weird." Chuck announced, stopping midstep.

"What is?" Sarah turned to face him as her hair blew across her reddening face.

"You know, when we first came here together - it's so different now, I'm so different and you are."

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking into his eyes and feeling a wave of emotions shoot into her body.

"I had only just got the intersect into my brain and I was scared and alone, and also very nerdy -"

"You still are!" Sarah laughed.

"Shut up! I embrace my nerdiness with a passion. Anyway, now I feel like I know the world a lot better now and I've grown up a hell of a lot. And you, Sarah, you've become like a different person, you're so much more open now."

"I am?" She could already feel like she was sectioning him off again, her walls closing in and then being hammered, locked and barricaded shut.

"Definitely." He was worried for a moment, he could see her glancing downwards at the sand and shuffling her feet awkwardly from side to side. Suddenly, he grabbed her hands.

"Sarah, just because I know a bit more about you and you're opening up to me, does not mean you're going to get hurt." He pleaded.

She felt a lump rise in her throat but she couldn't fight it, she felt a prickling sensation in her eyes and had to look down at the floor.

"I know. I'm just not used to it." She said, her voice cracking slightly.

Her held her hands tighter and let himself feel what was happening to him, it felt good. He had never wanted anything more in his life, everything he ever wanted was in his hands right now and he was damned if he was ever going to let her go. She finally composed herself and looked up into his eyes, feeling like somebody had just shoved Pandora's box into her stomach. She felt like something magical was happening and somewhere above them there were stars whizzing and dazzling in celebration.

She sniffed and felt herself visibly shaking at his embrace. She had never felt so in love with anybody in all of her life. Love, a short four lettered insignificant word that could make one person feel so much. When she was younger she used to think, love is for suckers. She remembered back to times when she had felt low and wanted everything to go away, then she would think of Chuck and everything would feel worthwhile again. She didn't feel cursed anymore to be in love, she felt lucky.

Chuck let her hands fall back to her sides hesitantly, suddenly her mood switched and she felt deliriously happy, she gave him a devilish grin and headed in the opposite direction, sprinting frantically.

"Sarah?" Chuck tilted his head. She turned back and grinned at him again.

Oh, so that's how you want to play it? Chuck thought.

He knew he could be fast when he wanted to, he set off, his arms and legs pumping rhythmically and his heart beat speeding up quickly. Soon, he wasn't far behind her and the tide was coming in and the waves were crashing at his feet.

Sarah was getting tired but carried on relentlessly. She could feel him coming up behind her and tried to outrun him but suddenly he was right behind her, he grabbed her waist and they both fell into the shallow water in a tumble.

Chuck was panting on top of Sarah, his hair dripping and dots dancing in front of his eyes. He looked down at her and felt electricity fly between them, he stroked her cheek with his thumb and pushed the damp hair out of her eyes. He moved towards her and just as he was about to do something he may have regretted, a giant wave came crashing down on the both of them.

Shocked and with all the oxygen winded out of their bodies, they swam to the surface, laughing hysterically. Sarah swam towards Chuck and splashed him lightly.

"Come on!" She breathed heavily. "Let's get out of here."

"Okay." He agreed as he began to feel cold.

"Hang on.. I've.. Ouch! I've cut my foot on a rock or something!" Sarah gasped in pain, even though she had been injured a hundred time worse than this. "I don't think I can swim, it hurts too much." She admitted, pain surging through the bottom half of her foot.

He sighed sarcastically. "Come here then." He opened up his arms as she hesitantly put herself into his embrace. He picked her up, she was much lighter than he thought she would be. She put her arms around his neck and looked up at him. She mouthed the word thank you at him.

He looked down at her foot and noticed blood seeping down it and dripping into the sea, he winced. "Ouch, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She wanted to stay like this for just a moment, locked in his arms. He trudged towards the shore and gently lay her onto the sand, much to her chagrin.

His eyes met hers for a moment as he was trying to study her injury. Her pupils dilated and she felt the air slowly going out of her until she was almost gasping for breath.

And with only intense eye contact, she tried silently to tell him she loved him.

Thanks for all of your great reviews so far. Ugh I'm getting braces tomorrow - yay. Not. Please review! (: