I decided to post the rest of this story. I'm not expecting reviews.

We don't own Chuck. Actually, we don't own much of anything.

Team Bartowski

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck didn't say anything. But the sadness in his eyes was very plain to Alan as he stood in that conference room watching that graphic video of his wife's surrender. It almost made up for the humiliating defeat yesterday… but not quite.

Alan was actually having a very good day in general. So he made no effort to keep the gloating smile off his face as he watched Bartowski witnessing his wife's 'sacrifice.' As they stood in the conference room, he closely examined the agents from Chicago that had delivered him, a man and a woman. He had never seen either before. But that probably wasn't that unusual. After all they were stationed two thousand miles away. "Thank you," he said to the man. "Your assignment is complete. You can return to Chicago."

The woman made no effort to hide her disgust at his assumption that the man would be in charge. "Are you Eric Gold?" she asked sarcastically.

"No," Alan admitted. "Eric is otherwise engaged."

"Our orders are to deliver Mr. Bartowski to Agent Gold," the woman growled. "Not to his clueless, sexist assistant."

Alan ignored the not so subtle shot. "He'll be a while," he said in a last effort to get rid of them.

No sale. "That's fine," she replied. Her tone left little to argue with. "Until then he doesn't leave our sight. We'll wait."

Alan decided to not allow her snarky attitude to bother him. After all, he had just won a huge victory. He was in a very, very good mood. So he turned to where Bartowski was standing listlessly. "Your wife is very beautiful," he said in a faux attempt to sound friendly. "You must be very proud. I wonder what she's doing right now." Alan's voice then became much more sinister. "It didn't have to be this way, you know? This is a dangerous business. You should really be careful about the enemies you make. The only thing that your silly resistance accomplished is that now I'm enjoying this. Let's be crystal clear. Until we have a working intersect, Agent Walker will regularly be subject to similar assignments. It might be in your best interest to make sure that happens before she learns to enjoy them, maybe even to look forward to them."

It was hard to imagine the speed that being the Intersect gave Chuck. It was almost super human. He had Alan in a submission hold arm bar before he could even move. He made no effort to keep the disgust out of his voice as he watched Alan writhe in pain. "Fine," he snapped. "We have a deal. So let's get this over with. But you should also be careful of the enemies that you make. After this is over, you and I now have a date. Disrespect my wife once more and I'm not going to wait. Our agreement was that Emma and Molly would be released. I'm not doing anything until I talk to them and make sure they're okay. As soon as they're released show me to my quarters and I'll get started."

x-x-x-x-x

The guards who escorted Chuck into the cell were making no effort to be quiet. It would have been hard to stay sleeping with so much noise so it was no surprise that Molly woke up.

As soon as she saw who it was she sprung off the bed and threw her arms around his waist. "I knew you'd come," she said, her voice equal parts of laughing and crying. She turned to her mom with a gloating look in her eyes. "I told you he'd come." But then she lifted her face back to Chuck. "What took you so long?"

Chuck kneeled down to look Molly in the eye. "Sorry," he said as he grinned at her genuinely annoyed scolding. "I got here as fast as I could. You're being very brave. I'm very proud of you. Don't worry, this is almost over."

"Are we still going to Disney World?" Molly asked.

"Absolutely," Chuck said. "We had a deal. You promised me you'd go, right?"

Emma wasn't nearly as giddy. Alan's threat was still ringing in her ears. But she also was quick to embrace him. "They showed you that horrible video," she whispered in Chuck's ear. "Didn't they?"

Emma clearly misinterpreted his slumping shoulders and the tears that were forming in his eyes. So she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "I know that it looks bad," she said almost frantically. "But sweetie, please give her a chance to explain before you make any judgments. Please. Maybe, I don't know, maybe it's not as bad as it looks. I know that she loves you. You're so close to having it all. Please don't let this destroy you."

Chuck squeezed her back every bit as hard. "I'm sorry, mom," he whispered. "I never thought that even these bastards would stoop so low as to show that video to you. It was fake, all part of the plan. That was actually Sarah and I. Don't worry, Sarah was fully clothed. We weren't really doing anything. It was just a diversion, designed to let them think that they're winning a little and get their mind off how we're going to attack them."

Chuck pulled back a little to let her see him smile a little. "I know that you're worried about the future and if Sarah and I are going to end up together," he said. "Mom, you don't have to be. As it turned out, Sarah losing her memories was the best thing that could have possibly happened. It was like going to really intense counseling for a month. It forced us to be honest with each other, stop hiding our fears, and made us both realize that we were uptight for really silly reasons. We have it all. Our marriage is perfect. We both understand that we belong together. The truth is we're much closer now than we ever were."

Emma held her son-in-law close as she allowed the relief to wash over her for a long moment. It was the best news she had ever heard, on both fronts. "That's so great," was all she could finally get out. "I was so worried for you."

Chuck didn't say anything for a long time and just allowed then to enjoy the moment. "You helped a lot," he finally said. "Thank you for going to bat for me."

"I really didn't do anything," Emma protested. "I just pointed out the obvious. I've never seen her like that. She's totally head over heels, almost like a different person. She didn't even make any attempt to deny it. She would have eventually figured things out."

As great as this feeling was, Emma knew they were still in trouble. So now maybe she could concentrate on her other problems. "I don't know how to tell you this," she finally sighed. "But that one creep told me that he expects me to help him make a return video to taunt Sarah. He started to unbutton my blouse."

Emma could feel Chuck noticeably shake with anger. Fortunately Alan was smart enough to not be there or the plan would have needed some serious revision. "Don't worry," he was finally able to whisper. "I'm very sorry you had to go through that. It's not going to happen. I promise. Here is what is going to happen."

Emma stopped him with an anxious look towards the guards who were still standing there, clearly within earshot.

Chuck smiled as he recognized her concern. "Don't worry, mom," he said. "They are actually with me, also part of the plan."

Chuck motioned them over with a waive of his hand. "Emma," he said. "I'd like you to meet the bravest man I've ever known, Sarah's and my partner for the past five years, Colonel John Casey and our good friend Gertrude Verbanski. They are helping us."

Emma really didn't know what to think. This was still clearly a dangerous situation. Of course it was a tremendous relief to see three friendly faces. But there were still only three, against the dozens of adversaries surrounding them. Yet they all looked so confident. So she tentatively stuck out her hand. "Colonel Casey, Miss Verbanski," she said. "It's nice to meet you."

Casey smiled as he recognized her apprehension. "Call me Casey," he said as he shook her hand. "Everybody does. Don't worry. Things might look grim but everything is under control."

Chuck picked up Molly who was still clinging to his leg. "And this very special young lady is Molly." He touched his forehead to hers affectionately. "Since you're now part of the team, I have a very important assignment for you. When you see Sarah in a few minutes, give her this message for me."

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah was making no effort to hide her nervousness. Agent Walker always hated situations where she didn't have control. Losing her memories hadn't changed that one iota. And when Sarah was nervous, the best course of action was to stay out of her way. Everybody knew that.

So Morgan buried himself into his computer monitor as Sarah paced the floor. Ellie decided that maybe it was time to check on her patient.

But finally the message that they were waiting for came through. "Chuck is in position," Morgan reported.

Sarah was in no mood to be gentle. "What is the situation?" she snapped.

Morgan didn't respond. He just grabbed the paper off the printer and allowed Sarah to read Chuck's decoded message for herself.

Situation about as anticipated.

Mom and Molly are fine, understandably a little anxious for this to be over and to see everyone.

Proceed with next phase as planned. Make Alan suffer. Ask Mom to explain.

Someone tell Sarah to try and relax a little.

For the first time since Chuck left, she was able to take a deep breath. She could feel the involuntary smile tugging at the corners of her mouth at Chuck's clear teasing. She honestly expected even more, an 'I love you' maybe. And even though it wouldn't be appropriate in the middle of a mission, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't disappointed at some level. But they still had a job to do. "Are you ready?" she asked Morgan.

"Yes, ma'am," Morgan replied with a grin. "Contact me as soon as you're ready to transmit."

Sarah took a deep breath. Finally, she was going to be able to do something about these bastards. "Okay," she said as she bumped the fist that Morgan was holding out to her affectionately.

"I guess that it's show time."

x-x-x-x-x

Alan insisted that he take Emma and Molly to their new location by himself. After all, what was the risk? Anybody who could do anything to them was accounted for. Emma was cuffed in the back seat… and what could she do against an armed agent anyway? Besides, he wanted her alone. His taunting wouldn't be nearly as much fun with another agent in the car. He was going to make her pay full price for that painful and humiliating arm bar.

Alan was really looking forward to this on multiple levels. Of course Emma was a little older than his usual fantasy girl. But she was clearly once quite the babe. He really wasn't kidding when he said that it was obvious where Walker got her good looks.

It only took a few minutes to drive to the house they had acquired to hold the prisoners until they were convinced that Bartowski was genuinely cooperating. When Alan knocked on the door, it was opened by a woman that he had never seen before.

At least the woman appeared friendly. "Alan," she said as she stuck out her hand. "Please come in. We've been expecting you. I see that you have the prisoners."

Alan ignored her extended hand. He was understandably confused. "Have we met?" he asked.

"Well, no," she admitted. "My name is Agent Frost. Agent Gold thought it would be best if I took over here at the house."

As she led him into the house, it was immediately clear that something was amiss. The four agents that had been assigned to accompany Gold to the hotel and then return here were sitting on the floor in the living room gagged with their hands and feet securely bound. Alan tried to quickly reach for his gun. However Mary was waiting for him. She had her own gun pressed into Alan's head, right between his eyes before he got halfway there.

"Do us both a favor," Mary said so that only Alan could hear as she racked a round into the gun. "Don't make me shoot you in front of the little girl. You've put her through enough already. She really doesn't need to see your brains splatter against the wall. Me on the other hand, I might enjoy it."

Fortunately, Chuck had told Emma what to generally expect. But then she saw the best sight of her life. Her Sarah popped out from around the corner.

As soon as she had relieved Alan of his weapon, she took the cuffs off Emma and applied them, not so gently, to Alan. The instant he was secured Sarah stepped up to Emma and hugged her. She took her free hand and pulled Molly into the embrace.

It was a long moment before anybody said anything. Finally Sarah pulled out of her mother's arms. "Mom," she said. "I'd like you to meet Chuck's mom. Mary, this is Emma. Mary is also a CIA Agent. As I understand it, she is also currently retired."

"Semi retired," Mary corrected with a grin as she extended her hand warmly. "Emma, it's nice to finally get to meet you."

While Mary and Emma were saying their hellos, Sarah kneeled down to talk to Molly. "I'm very proud of you," she said. "Chuck says that you have been so brave. Don't worry, it's all over."

Molly stepped close to Sarah. "It's not over yet," she said with a pout. "Chuck gave me an assignment."

Sarah couldn't keep the grin from her face, not that she was trying in any way. "Okay," she said. "What is your assignment?"

Molly kissed Sarah on the cheek. "He told me to tell you that he loves you very, very much."

Sarah was honestly surprised. But after thinking about it for half a second, why should she be surprised at all? That was her Chuck, seemingly able to read her mind, knowing from miles away exactly what she needed to hear and delivering it on cue, her guy at his amazing best. Now she felt a little guilty for being disappointed by his note in Castle. It took a moment for Sarah to blink away the happy tears. And not wanting to appear emotional in front of the moms she hugged Molly tight and hid her face in her shoulder. "He loves you very much too," she was finally able to whisper. "So do I. I'm sorry that I haven't been around much lately. That's going to change. I'd like to get to know my sister a little better… maybe be a bigger part of your life." Finally Sarah was able to gather her composure. "Thank you," she said with a smile as she released Molly from the embrace. "You handled your assignment very professionally."

If Sarah's goal was trying to hide her emotional reaction and avoid being unmercifully teased by the moms, well she failed miserably. Both Emma and Mary had ear to ear grins. It was Mary who first expressed what they both were thinking. "Aw," she said. "Who'd have thunk it? Bad Ass Agent Walker reduced to a lovesick schoolgirl. How sweet is that?"

Emma immediately picked up on the teasing tone… and joined the sport. "I've never seen her like this," she said. "Chuck must have actually tamed her. I wonder if she will admit it."

Sarah could feel the blush quickly climbing up her neck at their overt teasing. But any denial was pointless. And suddenly she didn't feel like denying anything anyway. The best way to stop their annoying fun at her expense was to throw it back at them. In fact, she felt like bragging him up a little. So she stood up and put her hands on her hips in faux annoyance. "Why shouldn't I admit it?" she asked sarcastically. "I've bagged the greatest, the nicest, sweetest guy in the world. Every single day I think that he is perfect and every single day I find out something else about him that makes me fall even harder. We're going to spend the rest of our lives together. I can't wait to see him as a father. I'm the luckiest girl on the planet. Can anybody think of a good reason why I shouldn't be acting like a lovesick schoolgirl?"

Sarah's totally unexpected counterattack worked perfectly. Now it was the moms who were blinking away happy tears. "Let's get this over with and get you two back together," Mary finally said. "I wouldn't mind seeing him as a father myself. It means I'd have another grandchild to bounce on my knee." She paused for a moment. "I believe we have a video to make."

At the mention of a video, Emma's attention was suddenly returned to Alan who was still standing there with his hands cuffed behind his back watching the scene unfold in confusion. Her open fisted, more slap than punch, came from her hip with all of the pent up frustration of the past twenty-four hours behind it and as much force as she could muster. Alan never saw it coming. And with his hands secured, he had no way to protect himself. So the force knocked him against the wall and had him seeing stars for a long moment. "You classless bastard," she growled as she shook her hand against the stinging from the slap.

"That was for calling me a MILF."

x-x-x-x-x

The suits were squeezed into the same conference room as just a couple of hours ago. Again, the room was abuzz with anticipation. The second 'all hands' conference in the same day? Something must be big. The lab jackets weren't here this time. But the room was still full. All of the agents were asked to attend, even the ones on duty, leaving only a small skeleton crew to guard the front gate. The buzz in the room was clear. The confidence could only mean one thing. This period of high alert was over. The anticipation was that they were about to be treated to a second video, hopefully this one showing a little more skin from the lovely Agent Walker.

Indeed, suddenly without an announcement the projector turned on. And on the screen was the aforementioned Sarah Walker.

"Hi," she said with a smile. "My name is Sarah Bartowski. But then again, you already knew that, right? I understand from my talk with my new friend Alan here that my earlier video was a big hit."

The camera panned to where Alan was sitting on the floor with the other men totally secured. He clearly wasn't having a good day. His lip was visibly bleeding, his face was clearly swollen, and his eyes didn't seem all that focused. "I can't say that I'm all that flattered," Sarah continued. "Needless to say, it wasn't what it seemed. Almost nothing is as is seems."

The scene shifted to a picture of Eric still secured to his chair. He clearly wasn't having any better of a day than Alan. His finger was in a splint and an IV was visible in his arm while he groaned in pain. Then the picture changed to the twenty second video that had caused all the excitement in the first place, except it kept going. When the camera pulled back, the mystery of why Sarah was biting her lip was plainly answered. She was trying to keep from laughing. She was fully clothed with just her shirt pulled down over her shoulders. As soon as she unfastened the fake cuffs, she discarded the extra bra around her neck, sat up, and started laughing. Chuck who had been rocking the bed and providing the grunts waived at the camera. Then they fell together into each other's arms on the bed, giggling so hard that neither could speak.

The picture changed back to a calm Sarah talking. "Alan tells me this video was so well received that you have a pool going to see what I'm going to be doing in the next one. Well, allow me to clear that up for you. Whoever had 'placing you all under arrest' just won."

Sarah paused for a moment to allow her words to sink in… and her grin to grow. "Don't make any sudden movements but take a quick glance at the back of the room," she said. "The people holding those automatic weapons currently aimed at you are my friends. Anyone who doesn't have their hands face down on the table in front of them in three seconds will learn the hard way how good of a shot they are."

Indeed, when the men looked towards the back, there were four people, one man and three women in position all holding automatic rifles. They had no choice but to quickly comply.

"Excellent," Sarah said from the screen. "Now two of the bridesmaids in my wedding are going to come to each of you and relieve you of your weapon. When they tap you on the shoulder you are to stand up slowly, put your hands behind your back, and allow them to secure you. Once they have you secured, they will tap you on the shoulder and you can sit back down. Trust me, any attempt at any resistance would be quite stupid. Neither is all that happy with your treatment of my mother and sister. They are both itching to show someone how they usually react when they are unhappy."

Sarah waited for a few moments so that the ladies could begin their tasks. She closed the 'show' with a smile.

"Have a nice day."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck was in the lab with the fifteen lab jackets. He was showing them the same feed that the suits had been watching. Naturally he made absolutely no effort to keep the gloating smirk from his face.

One of the lab jackets finally found her voice. "You're incredibly naïve," she said in a dismissive tone. "You may have stopped us for today. But you don't understand the CIA. When they want something, they'll figure out a way to get it. All you've done is buy some time and piss them off."

Chuck peered in to look at her name tag. "Well, Jo," he said. Clearly not all of the women employed by the CIA were as beautiful as his Sarah. He resisted the strong temptation to ask her if she had ever heard of makeup. But what good would that do? Besides, it would take a whole boatload of makeup. "I actually agree with you. That's why I've deleted the Intersect plans."

That got a grin from Jo. "You really are naïve," she said. "Do you really think that something as important as the plans for the Intersect are stored in a single place? They are backed up in three different data centers. They are…"

"Oh you mean Bristol, Salt Lake City, and Atlanta?" Chuck finished her statement. "Yeah, I may be naïve. But why do you think I went through all of the trouble to come here? Those three locations can only be accessed from inside the network. Go ahead and try to access them. I think you'll find that the files are overwritten with binary zeroes in each of those locations along with all of the backups."

Jo didn't respond. But her mouth hanging open and the color leaving her face was probably response enough.

"Good luck rebuilding the cube from scratch without plans," Chuck laughed as he pushed past her and out the door.

"I'll see you in about fifty years."

x-x-x-x-x

Cleveland Emery was waiting in his office for a status update. It was well after midnight. It really wasn't that unusual for Cleveland to be in the office this late. He practically lived here. That was the problem with being married to your work. You didn't have any other place to go.

So when Diane Beckman opened the door and walked into the office, he was only a little surprised. It would have been professional courtesy to have knocked. But the general was well known for not being big on professional courtesy. She was also well known for being married to her work. That meant she also clearly didn't have any other place to go. "Diane," he said with as much smile as he could muster at this late hour. "What a pleasant surprise."

Beckman made no effort to return the smile. "When were you going to tell me about reinstating the Intersect Project?" she demanded. "You've diverted a very large amount of assets, people, and money… under what authority? We made an agreement."

Cleveland could tell that she was pissed. But there really wasn't anything she could do about it. He had carefully covered all the tracks that would lead to him. "Our agreement with Bartowski was non-binding," he said. "The funds were out of my discretionary budget, Diane. I had the full authority to use them. When was I going to tell you about it? When I had some results to show you." Cleveland was confident. Yes, she might be pissed. But they had already spent enough money on this project that abandoning it would be an embarrassing thing she would have to explain. And once she calmed down and thought it through, Beckman would want the benefits of a working Intersect as much as anybody.

"I see," Beckman said calmly. "And under what authority did you kidnap private citizens to coerce the Bartowski family to cooperate?"

Cleveland could instantly tell from the tone of her voice that this was getting serious. She knew more than he expected. For the first time he noticed the two uniformed soldiers standing at attention in the hallway. It was time to cover his ass. "I don't know what you're talking about, Diane," he said. "Perhaps some subordinate went farther…"

"Don't even try it," Beckman cut him off. She grabbed his phone sitting on the desk. Sarah's video was still open. "What do we have here?"

Cleveland suddenly realized that maybe he had foolishly uncovered some of those tracks. Saving that video had been a huge mistake. But maybe he could still bluff his way out of this. "You can't prove anything," he said. "Come on, Diane. We both know how these things work, plausible deniability and all. That video doesn't prove a thing."

Beckman nodded at his logic. "Probably not by itself," she admitted. "But as it turns out kidnapping is a capital offense. It seems that Sarah Bartowski has talked the perpetrator into testifying against you to keep his own ass out of the gas chamber. I really like our chances of a conviction." She turned to the soldiers. "Take him into custody."

Once they had Cleveland cuffed and was ready to lead him away, Beckman stopped and put her face directly into his. "A six year old little girl?" she asked sarcastically. "Really, Cleveland? I should have stopped you years ago. I knew the kind of things you were into. I'm ashamed that I looked the other way. Well…"

"Consider yourself stopped."

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Chuck entered Castle, he went immediately to his sister and placed a gold chain around her neck with a flash drive attached. "Congratulations," he said. "You are now the sole possessor of Dad's invention. Be careful with it."

To say that Ellie was excited, well that didn't come close. "Oh my God," she said. "Isn't this dangerous? What if they figure it out and come take it from me?"

"It's encrypted," Chuck said. "And if they ever figure it out and demand the password from you, tell them my middle name. It will look like it worked, until they get a few years into the project and discover that the key parts are actually the specs for a riding lawn mower. It'll be the most expensive riding lawn mower in the history of the government. Don't tell Casey. He hates wasting the taxpayer's money."

That got Ellie laughing. "Do you have the other thing?"

"Yup," Chuck said as he handed her a bag. "Are you sure this will work?"

Ellie took the glasses out of the bag, connected them to her phone for a few moments, and handed them back to Chuck. "I'm sure," she said. "This is a one shot deal, so keep them away from Morgan… unless of course, you want your relationship with him to move to the next level."

That got Chuck laughing. "Eww," he said. "Why would you say something like that to me?"

Ellie waited until their laughing had died down. "You'd better go see her," she said. "She is absolutely wearing a path through the carpet."

"I've never seen anyone so lovesick."

x-x-x-x-x

As soon as Chuck walked into the room where Sarah was not so patiently waiting, they found themselves in each other's arms. Who was squeezing harder was up for debate. But whoever it was, not a lot of breathing was taking place.

"I told you," Chuck finally said, his tone clearly teasing. "My plans always work."

Sarah really wasn't in mood quite yet to be teased. "I'm sorry," she said as she held him tight. "I should have never doubted you."

"Don't be sorry," Chuck said, still clearly teasing. "Make it up to me instead. I thought that we agreed that some serious sex was involved. Are you all talk?"

So that finally got Sarah laughing a little. "Wow," she said. "I was thinking that you could wait until we got back to our suite in Vegas and called 'time in' on our second first honeymoon. But I forgot about the suite in the Grand Ambassador. That's probably closer."

"Or," Chuck said with the twinkle clear in his eyes. "We could do another video, this time for real."

Sarah noticed the twinkle… and decided to call him on it. "Okay," she said playfully. "Let's go. I have the handcuffs. Is Morgan going to be doing the filming again this time?"

Chuck had no choice but to admit defeat. "Okay," he sighed. "You got me. We'll go back to Vegas and dance."

Sarah's laughing was now fairly robust and totally genuine. "Let this be a lesson," she said. "Don't ask for things from me that you don't really want."

Naturally that got the red climbing up his neck in record time. "I have something for you," he said, more to change the subject than anything. "Ellie loaded your memories onto this pair of Intersect Glasses. She is confident that will reverse the effects of Quinn's flash cards. You can have your memories back."

Sarah just stared at the glasses Chuck was holding out to her for a long time. "Is something wrong?" he finally asked.

Sarah stood there for a long moment. "I don't want to take this the wrong way," she finally said cautiously. "You want your old wife back. I get that. I want to give her to you. And if it's what you want, I'll do it."

Chuck could see that she was emotional and was struggling with the words, so he just stood there patiently and allowed his wife the space to say what was on her mind."

"I woke up a month ago with a wedding ring on my finger," she said softly. "I knew that it must have been a mission. That's why what Quinn was telling me made sense at the time. Sarah Walker wasn't looking to fall in love. It was the last thing that she would ever do. Not only that, there was no way that anyone could honestly fall in love with her. She was a messed up, horrible person. She was a killing machine that the CIA created. All she lived for was the next mission. Who could love that? And this lovable nerd who wore his heart on his sleeve? He wasn't her type at all. It must have been an act for a mission."

Chuck smiled and nodded for her to continue.

"But this nerd was more cunning than I expected," Sarah continued. "He quickly proved that he knew things about me that no one else knew, personal things that I had buried deep down, things I would never have told anybody. Then the sneaky bastard moved in for the kill. He invited me to live with him for a while. He obviously knew what he was doing. Even though it was killing him, he kept me at arms length, went to great pains to not pressure me in any way. The more time I spent with him, the more I became convinced that it wasn't an act. This nerd was truly that amazing. He turned out to be the sweetest guy, he could always make me laugh, and he constantly set aside his own feelings and fears to look out for me. So as much as I tried to resist, and Chuck believe me I tried, it was hopeless. He saved me, pulled me out of my personal hell… twice. I quickly found that for the first time I actually liked myself when I was with him. He made me a better person. Before I knew what was happening I found myself helplessly head over heels in love with this amazing man, who I had just met a month ago, but also somehow happened to be my husband. It worked out perfectly. I'm the luckiest person in the world. It's like I won the love lottery."

Sarah paused to take a breath. "I know that you want your old wife back," she said. "The one who you fought so hard for. It's impossible to fault you for that. But Chuck, our lives are so perfect right now. I just don't want to risk anything to mess it up. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Are you upset?"

Chuck took the glasses out of her hand. "I have my wife back," he said. "And she's better than ever. And I love her even more. I know that you don't get this, but you saved me every bit as much. I was drifting though life working in a Buy More. Suddenly I was going on missions, defusing bombs, jumping off buildings. The only reason I survived was because I was always standing next to this blonde kick ass ninja who was so beautiful that she should be in movies but could also throw a knife into a flea's ass from fifty feet. She put up with years of crap from me without a single complaint. She is the best wife anyone could hope for, almost too good to be true. She makes me want to be a better person and a better husband. So you're right. Our lives are perfect. I'll give them back to Ellie to hold on to. And if we ever change our minds for some reason, we can always get them back."

At first Sarah feared that this was one of those things that Chuck would do, set aside his own wishes for her. So she looked carefully into his eyes. She was very thankful that she could see no sign of that. In fact, the twinkle in his eyes spoke of nothing but pure happiness. "Thank you," she sighed in genuine relief. "I love you."

"You have nothing to thank me for," Chuck said with the beginnings of a grin. "I love you too. Now let's say goodbye to everyone and get back to Vegas. It's about time that the ridiculously wealthy Chuck Bartowski showed his amazing wife a good time on the dance floor… among other places."

"We have to do one thing first," Sarah said.

"One thing?"

"Yeah," Sarah said with a grin.

"Just shut up and kiss me."

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A/N: BrickRoad and I talked a lot early on about the ending. I know from the discussions at before the finale aired that a substantial part of the fandom would be disappointed with any result other than Sarah getting her full memories back. I understand the argument, that five years of growth would be lost. But I think that this was the best of both worlds. The new Sarah might not be able to remember some details of those years. But she had grown much farther than old Sarah ever had and was now committed to not allow her past to affect her husband who she honestly adored. And she got to make the most romantic statement possible to Chuck. She didn't need memories to know that she was head over heels in love, thought that her life was simply perfect with him, didn't need any further proof that they belonged together, and was looking forward to making their own memories for the next sixty years.

As the story winds down, I'd love to hear what you thought. Silence is the worst thing for an author. So if you enjoyed this, or even if you didn't, there are tons of ways to give your feedback. I'm BillAtWork on LiveJournal, Billyatwork on Twitter (apparently there was already another Bill there who also works), and BillAtWork on . Or if you received this via email, you can just reply. BrickRoad is a little harder to reach. But if you would like to contact her, she is BrickRoad16 at . Or you can just send your comments to me and I'll make sure she gets them.

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