Not the Way I'd Planned It

A/N: After some really nice and flattering reviews, for which I am eternally grateful, and calls for more of this story, I have decided write this as a continuation. I was asked to clear up a bit the timeline for this story, and hopefully have rectified this in the following... I hope you find it satisfying, and thanks again for all the kindly words.

I think I forgot to put this in last chapter, but, as you've probably guessed, I don't own Chuck.

Sarah had never been one for romantic fantasies, for visualising things to come through rose tinted glasses. She was a pragmatist through and through. She supposed she had her father to thank for that. But this one time, Sarah let her fantasies get the better of her, imagining her reunion with Chuck to be a slow motion affair, both of them leaping through daisy leaden fields towards each other, arms out stretched, like a bad movie. Or something like that.

The reality was the complete opposite. Sarah had seen awkward in her time, in a variety of different scenarios, but boy, this really cut the mustard. Chuck, who was standing mere inches from her after two years of oceans separating them, stared at her as if he had seen a ghost.

"So", Sarah began, licking her lips that had suddenly become dry, "how've you been Chuck?"

'How've you been Chuck? That's all you can say after leaving him without so much as a goodbye for two years. You really are pathetic.' Sarah shook her head, clearing her mind of the sudden onslaught of self-deprecating thought echoing its way around her brain.

"I've been… good", Chuck replied, his eyes glazed over, eyebrows scrunched - a tell-tale sign of pain, of suffering, one that was so blindingly obvious to any trained spy, it broke Sarah's heart.

The far away look in his eyes receded, refocusing to meet with her own with such a fiery determination, it took Sarah a minute to gather her breath.

"I've been working on that five year plan I told you about." Chuck continued, oblivious of Sarah's sudden bout of asphyxia.

"Oh?..", Sarah whispered in reply, troubled by the idea of Chuck moving forward, whilst leaving her stuck in this emotional limbo.

'I should have known he would be moving on by now, it's healthy, it's what a normal person would do', Sarah scolded herself. Why should she, of all people, feel betrayed by Chuck seeking happiness and fulfilment. She was the one who left him.

"Yeah, I've finally decided what font I want to use. I was originally thinking of going the classic route, you know Arial or Times New Roman, but I wanted to give it more of a Chuck feel, you know…"

Throughout their whole relationship/fake relationship thing, it had always been Chuck who had done most of the talking, and Sarah was more than happy with that unspoken agreement. She usually didn't have anything to say that she thought interesting or funny amongst normal conversation, and most of what she had to say was classified anyway. But the way Chuck spoke… So maybe he wasn't the most eloquent, and he wasn't going to win any awards as speaker of the year, but to Sarah Walker… His enthusiasm and sincerity never failed to captivate her, even when he was blabbering on about computer fonts Sarah couldn't even recall.

"…so I decided… StarVader. Yep, I downloaded it from the internet, and it's the exact replica of the title font for Star Wars, and Morgan was saying how awesome it was that I found such a good replica, and… I'm rambling. Again." Chuck finished, clamping a hand to his mouth before any more could slip out

Sarah chuckled quietly to herself. Despite her fears, he really hadn't changed. Despite being a grade A bitch to him and pulling him into the murky depths of the spy world, he still rambled when he was nervous, still dug his hands so deep into his pockets, it reminded her of a school boy searching for that ever evasive last piece of candy. Chuck was as sweet and caring as the day she met him.

To say Chuck was gobsmacked was an understatement. He'd known that pushing Sarah for validation of her feelings, true feelings, was risky, but when he felt such undying love for a woman, who, quite frankly, he knew very little about, even after just under two years of working together, of being a 'couple', how could he not ask her? But, he decided, almost the second after he learnt of her reassignment, after he learnt about Bryce's offer to her 6 months earlier, it was his fault she had left. He'd gone too far, dug too deep, been too greedy, and he'd lost her for that.

'Be cool Chuck', his internal monologue was insisting, 'don't let this opportunity slip through your fingers.'

So he rambled about the first thing that came into his head, about his five year plan, about his quest for the perfect computer font, about Morgan…

'Yeah, way to play it cool, Chuckster', a voice oddly reminiscent of the Captain reverberated through his skull, 'so not awesome bro.'

He'd stuck his foot in his mouth again, and for a guy of Chuck's stature, that was no mean feat. Yet here he was, doing it on a semi-regular basis, and especially in front of Sarah. He was pretty sure he'd blown his chance. Who knew if he'd ever get a chance like this again? Jack Burton was right, he really was a Schnook.

But, moments after he finally found the willpower to halt his verbal avalanche, he heard her laugh - only lightly, the blink and you'd miss it type, but her laugh had always been distinct to Chuck. After all, those times when they'd been together, out on cover dates, at dinner with the Captain and Ellie, he'd lived to hear her laugh. Forget ambrosia, Chuck reckoned the Gods could live off the laugh of Sarah Walker for eternity.

Bolstered by her response to his impromptu speech, which was definitely not the way he had planned it, and he had, many times, planned it, Chuck felt a surge of courage from somewhere, or everywhere, to the extent that when he looked back on this moment, he couldn't really pinpoint where it came from. So he did it. He asked her.

"Sarah. Um, do you… I mean, would you like to… y'know, go on a date with me, sometime… maybe?", Chuck stumbled, even with his sudden spurt of courage, he was still a nervous wreck around her.

Chuck held his breath, awaiting her response. He didn't even know why she was here, was she on assignment? Was she picking up a drug lord, exposing a nefarious underground smuggling ring or simply here for a drink after a long day? Chuck hoped beyond hope that it was the latter; she definitely didn't look as though she was staking the place out. But Chuck had learned early on with Sarah Walker and the spy business in general, that looks can be deceiving.

He'd put his heart on the line yet again, hoping this time would be different, that she'd say yes, that all of the tension would evaporate in an instant. But, from the moment he asked, he knew she wouldn't, and things would only get more awkward.

"Chuck…", Sarah started, averting her eyes yet again from his intense gaze. "I don't know if that's a good idea, I…"

"Just one date, Sarah, just one night, and if it ends up being shit then, well, at least we tried." Chuck interrupted, too afraid of the words he knew were soon to escape the soft lips of his angel. "I just want to know, Sarah, that this thing we have or had, underneath the undercover thing, if it means anything. Y'know? So don't say no, say yes, say maybe, say I'll think about it, but, just don't say no.", Chuck pleaded with such ferocity, he surprised himself.

After what felt like an eternity in waiting, Sarah's lips began to move, Chuck's unfaltering gaze ever present upon her soft features.

"Okay…", Sarah replied cautiously, slowly bringing her eyes back to meet his.

"Okay?", Chuck replied, a trademark grin quickly taking over his face, mirroring the elation filling his chest, urging him to sing from the rooftops in glee.

"Mmhmm", Sarah mumbled, her mouth slowly forming a subtle smile. "But I'm only here for two days, Chuck, then I'm being recalled to Langley…"

Chuck heard what she said, heard the reservation in her voice, but he couldn't care less. The possibility of two days with Sarah compared with a lifetime of never seeing her again? That was probably the easiest decision Chuck had ever had to make.

"Okay", Chuck said with a warmth that had been absent for nearly two years now. "It's a date."

Sarah threw herself against the door of her old apartment, (which she had never released) the familiar green décor of Maison23 surrounding her, and exhaled a deep breath, a grin plastering her face in the process as she thought through the arrangements for her date with Chuck the following night.

However, her grin was quickly replaced by a frown. The reasons she hadn't pursued anything real with Chuck came flooding back to her. He was still a government asset and she was still an agent of the CIA, albeit a broken one. But it was more than that; those arguments were old, worn down and false. She was broken, not just as an agent, but as a person. She didn't know how to love, didn't know how to function in the world unless it involved conning innocent people out of their hard earned money, or protecting the nation from the threat of terrorism.

Sarah saw herself as a pathogen, highly infectious, transferring her disease with the slightest touch like swine flu on steroids. A pathogen she was sure that Chuck had no immunity against. Banging her head on the door behind her, Sarah let out a sigh of frustration. She hadn't even told him that she was going back to Langley in two days for a psych evaluation. An evaluation which she'd probably fail and then get put on another, longer period, of 'medical leave'.

'Coming back was a mistake', Sarah surmised, sitting on the floor with her knees pulled tight to her chest. 'I was being selfish, wanting it all for myself.'

Slowly gathering herself from her thoughts, Sarah pulled her body to her feet, using the door handle to steady herself upon shaking legs. As she slowly made her way to the small bathroom, Sarah resolved to give this date her all, because, despite her reservations, this was Chuck, and he deserved nothing less than her best.

Chuck closed the door to his bedroom, his Tron poster casting a pale shadow upon his face in the moonlight, and slid his back down the door as soon as it hit the frame. He felt like he was on cloud nine. He actually had to stop himself from laughing at how surreal the experience had been. From the time he met Sarah at the club, of all places, to the time that she actually agreed to go on a date with him, it felt like he was in a dream. He'd actually pinched himself multiple times on the cab ride home to ensure that this was all, indeed, real; the newly formed red marks that had appeared on his left arm were testament to that.

Sarah was in L.A. for two more days.

'I've got to pull out all the stops on this date', Chuck concluded. He knew that for Sarah to even contemplate going on a date with him, in her line of work and with her past, was a big thing for her.

Jumping up from the floor, Chuck grabbed one of the pens that had been littering his desk and pulled out a sheet of crumpled, yet serviceable paper from under a pile of Justice League comics.

'Two days to win a spy', Chuck thought, all evidence of the alcohol from earlier in the evening evaporating from him. With his pen darting from paper to mouth in contemplation, Chuck started his plan to win the heart of Sarah Walker. Only in this plan, the font wasn't StarVader. And it certainly wasn't going to take five years.

'Two days… she won't know what's hit her…'

A/N 2: So there you have it, the next chapter! I am surprised at how quickly I blurted this one out seeing as I had no idea where this was headed even this morning! I think I am going to try and wrap this up in about 4 chapters total (?), with more live action rather than introspect… Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope you are having a great day :)