I still don't own Chuck.

This could have been the title of the last chapter. But I think you'll see that the meaning is completely different.

I understand that there isn't a review function on this site. But I would still appreciate your comments. The worst thing for an author is silence. You can't tell if you're connecting with your readers, if they're getting where you think the story is going or not. And those comments don't have to be praise. Of course, I'd be lying if I tried to say that I don't enjoy the praise. But I actually learn more from the critical comments. Just as long as you're respectful and allow me to respond, you can say anything.

Everyone Talks

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah weren't even comfortably in the bedroom yet when he grabbed her hand. "Let's talk for a while," he said. "I know you too well."

Sarah knew exactly what he wanted to talk about. What else could it be? It was really all she could think about since watching that tape. "Okay," she said, her voice no more than a whisper. "Let's get it on the table. Yes, interrogation is my specialty."

"Huh?" Chuck asked, now clearly confused.

"But I only used torture tactics when I had no choice," Sarah said defensively. "Sometimes you need to get information quickly or people die. I never enjoyed it. You need to know that."

Chuck had a bemused smile on his face. "Sarah," he said. "What are you talking about?"

"Your mom with Joey," Sarah said sadly. "I get that you thought it was horrible. You were shocked that your mom could be such a monster. So yes, I've done pretty much the same thing. I've been that same monster. That's what you wanted to talk about, isn't it?"

Now the fear and vulnerability was obvious. It broke Chuck's heart to see Sarah like this.

"Well, I sure do now," he said as he held her tight. "I need you to listen to me. When we first met, I was ridiculously naïve about how the spy world works. We both know that. Hell, I still am. And a lot of what happens in that world still bothers me. You also know that. We talk about it all the time. But that has never, ever, not once affected the way that I feel about you. I'll admit that it bothers me to think about you in those situations. But I don't think you're a monster, Sarah. I think you've made a huge personal sacrifice to do your duty. If anything, I think of you as a victim. I suppose I'll never get used to some of the things you've been asked to do. But I understand it. I maybe even understand that some of it is necessary. It breaks my heart that it was you that had to do it. But I never think badly of you. And do you know why?"

"Because you love me?" Sarah asked. It was actually much more statement than question. "And let's face it. That means that you're willing to overlook things."

"I love you," Chuck agreed. "I get that for some reason that I'll never understand you don't believe that you deserve love. I hope that we're past that, that you don't have any question about me loving you. But it's much more than just I'm willing to overlook things." He pulled back a little and placed his hand over her heart. "I know you. I know what's in here. You're a good, nice person. You're also my very best friend. And you have a defining characteristic. You're always going to do the right thing. I've never questioned that for a second, even when the right thing is hard for you. You pay a personal price every time you do one of those things. And I knew that from almost the first moment that I met you, well before I knew that I was in love with you. So, let's talk for a minute without that baggage. What does bad ass Agent Walker want to do about Volkoff?"

Sarah's face became clearly troubled. "There is no Agent Walker," she said, maybe a little harsher than she intended. "So she doesn't have baggage. As of yesterday she no longer exists." But then she responded to his hurt look and smiled. "But I know what you meant," she said. "I really, really, really need for you to listen to me here. This is as plain as I can say it. The Agent Walker part of my life is over. And you know what? I really don't regret her as much as some might think. I'm quite proud of most of the things I've done, the outcomes anyway, maybe not all of the details. It was the right thing for me at the time. I've made the world a safer place. The only thing that I honestly regret was allowing you to twist in the wind for the better part of a year without telling you how crazy I was about you. I regret that a lot."

Sarah paused and allowed her smile to grow into a grin. "So now my name is Sarah Bartowski," she continued. "I'm the lovesick to the point of being borderline pathetic, totally devoted wife of one Charles Irving Bartowski. He is my life. I almost lost him yesterday. I got a real good glimpse of what my life would be without him."

Sarah paused for a moment to gather her composure. "So now, I'm going to live every single day like it might be my last, holding nothing back," she said with her smile returning. "And that means whatever the good Mr. Bartowski needs from me, in any minuscule detail, that's exactly what he's going to get, in every part of our lives, not just in the bedroom. If that means taking him by the hand back to The Enforcer, helping him forget that the rest of the world exists, pouring tequila down him until we're totally drunk on our collective asses, then dragging him to the back of the boat to discover our favorite bench, and fucking him like bunnies under the stars, basically repeating some variant of that process day after day after day until we can't remember what year it is, I'd love that. But if that means helping him get the father back that he clearly misses while getting revenge on a very evil couple, I'd love that just as much. I'll be cheerfully standing next to him every single step of the way no matter which he decides. Hopefully either way we can still find some time to fuck like bunnies. Do we understand each other?"

Chuck pulled back to look at her skeptically. "What's gotten into you?" he asked. "Not that I'm complaining in any way."

"I finally figured something out," Sarah admitted. "I had another nightmare. I'm so tired of nightmares. Every time I sleep without you next to me I have one. I don't ever want to sleep without you again. It's where I belong."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Chuck asked gently.

Sarah paused for a long, long moment. "It was awful," she finally said, her voice no more than a whisper. "Bryce was an Intersect. I couldn't defend myself against him. No matter how hard I tried to fight he was ahead of me. I was helpless. When I wouldn't strip for him, he… he…"

"Forced you?" Chuck finished for her.

"Nothing really ever happened," Sarah said quickly. "You do realize that, right? It was just a stupid dream. In fact when I saw him, he realized I was shaken and asked what he could do to get back to being our friend. It's just that the dream seemed so real. When it was happening all I could think about was how to tell you, how horrible you'd feel. I felt so guilty for allowing myself to even be in that position. I'm taking that feeling to heart. So now I'm going to be a whole lot more sensitive to things like that."

Chuck held Sarah close for a long time. "Are you okay?" he finally asked.

Sarah pulled back a little to allow him to see her smile. "I am now," she said.

"What did you tell Bryce?" Chuck asked. "About forgiving him, I mean."

Sarah paused for a long moment. "I told him that getting me to forgive him had to start with getting you to forgive him. And that was going to be a challenge."

Chuck paused for a moment sadly. "What are we going to do about Bryce?" he finally asked softly. "He is in big trouble."

"What should we do about him?" Sarah asked. "He's not our partner, he's not our family, and he's currently certainly not our friend. Agent Larkin fully understood the risks inherent with being a CIA Agent and his latest assignment long before he volunteered. I'd say that he is Beckman's problem now. I care about him at all only to the extent that it affects you. I know that you don't totally believe that, but Chuck, you really need to start. It's completely true."

Chuck smiled… a little. "And if we go after Volkoff," he said. "I can still count on you to be bad ass, right?"

"Absolutely," Sarah said with a grin. "If you needed any proof that Agent Walker doesn't exist, here it is. She would have not given you a choice. She would already have you hidden on the Enforcer, well, most likely fucking like bunnies. But make no mistake. Sarah Bartowski is still a known hothead with some moderate fighting skills. Anybody who would be foolish enough to threaten you harm… well, they aren't going to know what hit them. As intense as I was as an agent, I'm afraid that I'm going to be every bit as intense as a wife, in some ways even more. Sometimes that may become a tad annoying. I'm sorry in advance about that."

Chuck smiled and drew her close again. "I'm pretty sure that's not something you need to apologize for. You do understand that I'm every bit as devoted to you, right?"

Sarah snuggled into him with a contented sigh. "It took a lot longer than it should have," she said. "But I do finally understand that. Of course I do. It's the best feeling of my life. Now I know that we came in here to take a nap. And maybe our current situation isn't the best mood for what I have in mind. But saying 'fuck like bunnies' so many times in the last few minutes suddenly has me in the mood to…"

"Fuck like bunnies?" Chuck finished her statement with a healthy dose of faux sarcasm. "I suddenly am struck with a certain amount of irony. I really don't know how bunnies fuck."

Sarah had no hope of keeping in the laugh. It came out pretty wet. "I actually think that's a good thing," she said as she fumbled with his belt. "Maybe I can show you some bunny love technique. I think I remember a CIAAcademy lecture on this once."

"Really?" Chuck asked. "A CIA lecture on bunnies? My tax dollars at work?"

Sarah gave him a skeptical smile. "Your wife is trying to seduce you here," she said. "In case you hadn't noticed. Maybe you could work with me a little, give me a little poetic license?" Once his pants were bunched around his ankles, she pushed him on the bed.

"Um, Sarah," Chuck said after a few moments. "Are you really trying to tell me that this is how bunnies fuck? It can't be. How do we get little bunnies?"

Sarah paused in her efforts for a moment to look up at him with a silly grin. "You're really determined to make this seduction attempt a challenge, aren't you?" she asked in faux annoyance. "Of course not, silly…"

"This is bunny foreplay."

x-x-x-x-x

Joan and Steven were barely in their room when the knock came at the door. In fact they were still fully dressed… which was saying something given that the newest Mrs. Bartowski was not quite yet twenty-four hours old, had already been dressed today for far longer than she anticipated, had become rather comfortably accustomed to being naked, and was still in full wedding night mode.

"Eleanor," Steven said in pleasant surprise when he opened the door. "Please come in."

Ellie shook her head and leaned against the door frame. "I'm not going to stay long," she said. "I just want to set the record straight." She turned to her new step-mom and looked her directly in the eye. "I was incredibly rude to you yesterday," she said. "This isn't an excuse. But I was under a lot of stress, I had a lot of build up anger over the years, and I took it all out on you. That wasn't right. Joan, I'm not that bitch you saw in the hospital yesterday. I'm frankly embarrassed. Whatever issues I may have with dad, all you've done here is work ridiculously hard to save my brother's miserable life. So… I'm very sorry. I'd really appreciate a second chance."

Joan didn't know what to do. She was so relieved that she wanted to run up and throw her arms around her. But she also sensed that it was too soon for that. So she settled for accepting the apology. "That was very nice," she said. "I appreciate it. For what it's worth, I never thought that you were a bitch. Watching your only brother dying before your eyes is a very stressful situation. Everybody gets that. I also understand that this isn't a typical situation. I was always prepared to be patient and give you every benefit of the doubt. But I'd love for us to work through it somehow and become a real family."

Ellie turned to her dad… and got a lot more serious. "I'm not emotionally ready to talk to you," she said. "I'm not sure when I will be. But I am working on it. For what it's worth, I'm sorry that my mother betrayed you so cruelly."

"Thank you, Eleanor," Steven said. "That means a lot to me. For the record, you have nothing to be sorry for. Whenever you're ready to talk, I'm here. I'm not going to stand here and say that I didn't make huge mistakes. But at the time I did what I honestly thought was best for you. I'm very, very sorry that it was so horribly painful. For what it's worth, I'm incredibly proud of what you and your brother have made of your lives."

"I have an idea," Joan said, more to break the building tension in the room than anything. "Maybe the Bartowski women could get together later for a drink or two and get to know each other. Do you drink? Maybe we can gang up and actually pry Sarah off of Chuck for an hour or so. I'll not try and hide that she scares me. But she seems to like you. Maybe you could protect me."

Whether Joan realized it or not, she couldn't have done anything much better to gain Ellie as a friend than to poke fun at Chuck and Sarah's constant fawning over each other. So she made no effort to hide the grin. "They're pretty sickening, aren't they?" she agreed. "It sounds like fun. I'll talk to Sarah. There is no reason to be afraid of her… unless you do something foolish like take the last piece of pizza that Chuck was reaching for."

That got them both laughing. "She's pretty protective of him," Joan was finally able to get out. "That's sweet."

x-x-x-x-x

After a fairly meticulous examination Ellie and Devon had determined that there wasn't really anything seriously physically wrong with Joey. The bruises and burn marks were only superficial and would quickly heal. She already looked much better. For now she mainly just needed to rest.

For her part, Joey had been drifting in and out of sleep for the past few hours. Whatever Chuck's sister had given her for the pain was working brilliantly. So it took her a long time to realize that her snuggling comfortably with Josh in only his underwear actually wasn't a dream.

"What?" he asked with a smile as he recognized the surprised look on her face. "We've slept in the same bed on assignments lots of times. Did you really expect me to sit on that chair all night and hold your hand while you slept in this big comfortable bed?"

Well, actually she kinda expected that he would go to his own room and sleep in his own big comfortable bed. But she quickly realized why he hadn't. It was beyond sweet. So she snuggled a little closer. "I'm not complaining," she said sleepily. "Did it sound like I was complaining? You actually smell kinda nice. In fact, I think that I could get very used to this."

Joey wasn't really kidding. But she saw the look that plainly came over his face. "Relax," she quickly said. "I'm not trying to make you feel bad about anything. I'm just saying that it's nice. I know that it isn't going to happen. Well I guess that I know anyway."

"You sound just like my dad," Josh replied in faux disgust. "Like it's a choice or something."

"Isn't it?" Joey asked. "Help me out here."

Josh looked for a long moment to see if she was kidding. He decided that she wasn't. "Yup," he said with a sigh. "You sound just like my dad."

"What are you talking about?" Joey protested. "Your dad is one of the nicest men I've ever met. He is nicer to me than my own dad ever was. He treats me like… like…"

"A daughter," Josh finished. "Joey, of course he's nice to you. Don't you get it? He has this fantasy that you'll actually become his daughter someday. It's me that he has the problem with."

Suddenly the light bulb in Joey's head went off. "That's why you became an agent," she said, her voice no more than a whisper. "So that your dad would be proud of you. So that you could make him love you."

Josh's non response was all the response she needed.

Joey mentally kicked herself… hard. For as long and as intimately as she knew him, she should have figured this out earlier. She should have been there for him more, the best friend she had ever known, the person she loved more than she ever thought possible. So she snuggled even closer. "Josh," she said softly but firmly. "Your dad loves you. Come on, you know that. You can't throw your life away on some stupid quest to earn something that you already have. I won't have it. He absolutely loves you. Any doubts about that you might have are simply stupid. It's just so incredibly obvious. It's just like you don't have to throw your life away going after Alexei Volkoff to earn my love."

Josh just stared for a long moment. "I can't believe Sarah would rat me out like that," he finally said.

"She totally threw you under the bus," she said softly. "We're absolutely done talking about you throwing your life away. Understand?" Then Joey's voice took on more of a teasing tone, clearly to lighten the mood. "I'll confess. I've actually shared your dad's fantasy a time or two myself so maybe I understand him a little better than you do. Don't judge him too harshly. He doesn't understand. He just wants what is the very best for the son who he loves."

Josh took a moment to allow her words to sink in, and then he kissed the top of Joey's head. "The very best?" he finally asked with a grin. "A little full of yourself, aren't you?"

That got them both laughing. They say that laughter is the best medicine. And whoever said that, well they were right… for both of them.

"I'll confess myself," Josh said, still laughing. "I've had that same, well maybe not fantasy, but thought a few times myself. It would sure solve a ton of problems." The laughing finally settled down to a series of contented sighs as they held each other.

"If it was only that easy."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck was right about one thing. Everybody was in a much better mood when they got back together. Casey and Laura had gone out and gotten enough assorted Chinese food to feed a small army, with plenty of Sarah's favorite, Moo Shu Pork.

By unspoken general agreement, they didn't talk any business during the meal. It was as much of a family dinner situation as Sarah had ever experienced in her life. Even Casey and Laura looked comfortable laughing at the good natured teasing. Joey feeling good enough to join the group for dinner may have been unexpected, but it had definitely lifted everyone's spirits. And naturally her husband made sure there were no awkward moments. He was at his funny, witty, charming best. It hit Sarah between the eyes just why Chuck missed this so much. It was warm and comfortable, surrounded by people you loved, and loved you in return. It was plain that everybody was eating slowly, to milk this feeling for as long as possible.

There was a certain level of irony. As it turned out Josh and Joey were the only couple who, for rather obvious reasons, hadn't used the 'nap' time to get some rather serious sex in. And yet they were the ones who were sitting the closest to each other never once losing some sort of physical contact. They were looking every bit like a romantic couple.

Naturally, Sarah was sensitive to not embarrassing him, but she also made sure that her and Chuck weren't very far behind. Normally Joan would have been more than willing to throw her hat into the public affection ring. But she was also very cognizant of her deal with Ellie to not show any affection in front of her. So she kept a respectable distance from Steven. Naturally Devon was clueless that there was an impromptu competition going on anyway, so he obliviously sat across the table from Ellie. Casey and Laura actually sat as far away from each other as possible to avoid being the target of Chuck's constant teasing. Nice try but it didn't work out for them so well.

The meal had officially been over for some time. They were just picking at their plates. Joan reached for the last lonely egg roll that had been sitting there for some time. Just before she grabbed it, she turned to Chuck. "You didn't want this, did you?" she asked with the twinkle in her eyes plain. "I don't want Sarah thinking I took something from you and gut me like a fish."

That got everyone, including Sarah, laughing. "Come on," she finally said. "I wouldn't gut you for taking an egg roll away from him. That's a tad harsh, don't you think? I would just break a couple of your fingers."

That got the room laughing even harder.

"Okay," Chuck said reluctantly after all the silliness in the room had finally died down.

"I guess that we need to talk about what to do next."

x-x-x-x-x