Chapter 22

"You okay?" He asked as she rubbed her arm up and down with her hand.

"I'm fine." She smiled unconvincingly.

He noticed that she was cold. "Here." Chuck said, draping his jacket over her shoulders.

She held it close and imagined it was him holding her instead, confused still by the disappearance of her father and still swimming in a sea of newfound emotions. Half of her wanted to walk into the sunset with Chuck but the other half wanted to be back sitting in the back of her father's car and singing along to his stolen radio.

He looked into the distance and saw her father peeping behind the bush and he put his arm around her as they walked back inside.

"He'll be back soon." Chuck said hopefully.

"No, he won't." Sarah said sadly.

Chuck didn't answer as they silently walked inside. He liked seeing her more venerable side but didn't like seeing her so upset. She wasn't upset physically, but he could see her mind anxiously ticking away. He wanted to hold her close and tell her that it would all be okay, but what could he say to make it better? He was already without a father, so he really wasn't an expert in that area.

"Come on let's go out." Sarah said, an hour later, tired and withdrawn after explaining everything to the General. Her face was bruised internally from when Casey had 'arrested' her and slammed her down on the car bonnet.

Chuck's heart swelled with hope and anticipation. He tried to keep himself grounded mentally but he could already feel himself wrapping his arms around her - he got so lost in his daydreams sometimes, in which he would just walk up to Orange Orange one day and she would be there, his visit would be both wanted and unexpected. He would stare into her eyes intensely for a few moments and then he would move quickly towards her, his lips searching for hers and they would be lost in one another's embrace and nothing else would matter.

"Chuck? Why are you just gazing at the floor like that?" She asked, shaking his arm.

"What? Oh sorry, what did you say?" He apologised, turning to face her ashen face.

She sighed inwardly. "Do you want to go out somewhere, I've had a really.. bad day. You don't have to I mean.. you could always go home. We're not really at work now.." She felt herself almost turning into a babbling, female version of Chuck.

He pressed his hand on her arm and she felt a hot sweat overcome her. "Don't you know by now Sarah, that we're friends?"

She had never really thought of it like that before, it was usually just 'for the cover' but she supposed not everything had to be down to that and they just could actually be friends, in theory. Deep down she knew they could never be friends, she was too head-over-heels in love for that.

"It's been a while since I've actually had a friend in the spy game." She admitted. "Someone who wasn't lying or scheming."

He took her hand in his. "I'll never hurt you, Sarah, I promise."

He searched for his keys in his pocket and held them out in front of her. "Where would you like you go m'lady?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to.." She said, feeling like she had pushed him into it, she felt strange like she had to force herself to get words out, what the hell was going on with her? As if being in love hadn't already taken away her ability to walk straight when she was with him, taken away the smoothness of her skin and replaced it with a constant tingling sensation and gone was her good, sturdy stomach, it was now continuously flipping and filled with butterflies.

"I do, Sarah." He said, as though he was saying his vows.

"I know we always go there.. Well, not always but whenever we go somewhere. How does the beach sound?" She asked.

"But it's freezing. It's almost December.. But hey, it's America. Let's go." He didn't want to protest, that was their place. A place where they weren't constantly under surveillance and could just be themselves, but obviously with their own personal restrictions. Chuck was always hoping that something would happen between them, he thought about it first thing in the morning, throughout the day and he laid about for hours at night thinking about it, his thoughts viciously circling around his head.

A short time later they stepped out of the car, still half asleep from the drive but when the cool sea air slapped their faces they were suddenly wide awake again.

"Do you want to walk.. Or..?" Sarah asked.

"I'd rather sit, if you don't mind." He replied, sitting himself down and embracing his knees to his chest.

"That would have been my answer too." She added, placing herself beside him.

They had come at the perfect time, the sun was setting on the horizon before them and the tide was getting further and further away. Sarah didn't even throw a thought towards her father, when she was here she and Chuck were in their own world. She felt as though they were the only people on the planet (except for the crowds of people towards the other end of the beach) .

He turned to look at her, hopefully without her noticing, but he found that her shining blue eyes were gazing into his. She couldn't fight it anymore, why should stop this to herself from coming to her desires? What was she gaining, denying herself the love of this man? He couldn't control himself either, a strong force was pulling him closer… closer until his lips locked on hers and nothing on earth could have pulled them apart.

It was almost as if stars were dancing around them, she held his face as if it were a precious gift and he ran his hands through her hair as his tongue explored the new depths of the mouth. They parted for a moment, fixing their eyes on one another and passion exploded between. Now both of them knew, they could never go back from this.

"I'm only going to say this once, Chuck. I've got my savings card and we have a car, we can go now and never look back." Sarah whispered into his ear.

He nodded as they ran towards the car park only leaving sandy footprints behind.

I decided get them together now not like the end of season 2 like I was planning, and start a new project in the new year one of which I will work hard on and I'm actually make up my own story again, look out for it and REVIEW! Less than two months until I'm 15 yay!