Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck


Then

He lay on his side, hearing the rain come down. His left arm was under her, that hand grasped in her right. She shifted in her sleep, and he felt the need to move the hair that had fallen over her face. As he moved it, he saw the smallest scar on her bare right shoulder. He couldn't help but gently run his finger over it.

"I'm kinda surprised you're still here," she said, her voice full of sleep.

"While I'm not one to normally do….well…that," he began.

"What, have sex?" she asked, humor in his voice. "Because I must say, you did it quite well."

"Sleep with someone I just met," he said, kissing the aforementioned bare shoulder.

"Sir, there was little sleep, except for that nap I just took," she told him.

"Point," Chuck agreed. "Anyway, back to my point, I'm not one to just run off."

"Didn't think you were," she assured him. "I just thought you had to leave."

"Oh," Chuck said. He looked down at the bed. He felt her shift, and looked up at her, her eyes searching his. "I don't have to be back for a week." She raised an eyebrow. "I left…tried to leave because…well….ahem…I found myself quite attracted to you, and felt it was wrong to pursue it." An amused smile covered her face. "And yet I did."

"And yet you did," she said. "I don't know if you noticed but I found myself, and still do, quite attracted to you."

"Oh, I a' noticed. Boy, did I," he assured her, making her giggle. "I mean, at first, before I came to your hotel room…I wasn't sure, but I thought…hence why I came back to ask to kiss you."

"I didn't remember asking you to do the other things that you did," she said, a smirk on her face.

"No, you did not," Chuck agreed. "More demanded." A faux shocked look covered her face. "And I gladly did." She grinned at him. "Anyway, I thought it was a bad idea to ask you to forget about me, and then…and then…"

"Make love to me?" Sarah offered.

"That wasn't my plan," Chuck said. "I mean, I was totally fine with it…obviously."

"Obviously," she replied. He grinned. "So why did you come back?" He was silent for a moment. "You had a very logical reason not to come back. He nodded. "I get it, it's personal-"

"I've lived a life that has been dictated and laid out by a computer," Chuck told her. "The program thinks there is a woman at FE that is perfect for me. It believes that we have an intelligence that matches each other. It believes we have personalities that would match."

"So what's the problem?" Sarah asked.

"I don't love her," he said with a shrug. He looked up at Sarah. "And-and I'm not saying I'm in love with you, I'm just saying…I'm saying for the first time in my life I felt something. I'm saying that I have signed my death warrant, and I couldn't help myself. I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to kiss you, if you wanted to kiss me. I wanted to do something that damn computer didn't tell me it thought I should do."

"Are you forced to be with her?" Sarah asked. Chuck shook his head. "Good. And for the record, I'm very glad that you were selfish. In fact, if that's selfish, I'm going to have to ask if you would consider being more selfish, and stay here until you have to leave."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Chuck told her.

"Why's that?" Sarah asked.

"I think if I stay for a week, it might affect you and the decision you make about the island," Chuck told her.

"I promise you, it won't," Sarah told him. He just stared at her, like he didn't believe it. "If you stay, I'll even tell you about that scar you have been obsessing over."

"Knife fight in Jakarta?" Chuck asked.

"Ha, I wish," she snorted. "No, that was a product of my father's belief that a ten year old girl in pigtails could help him in one of his many scams."

"And that's why I can't stay," Chuck told her. She blinked. "I can't get you involved with this."

"You aren't getting me involved," she assured him. He shook his head and began to get out of bed. "You are seriously going to make me tackle you and tie you up until I can get ready and follow you?"

"You can't help me," Chuck told her. She got out of bed and stood in front of him, their noses inches apart. "You know the fact we're both naked makes this rather ridiculous."

"Not as ridiculous as you insisting that you staying will change me mind," she told him. She reached up, grabbed his head, and pulled his mouth to hers. "I had already decided I was going to save you, Chuck."

"You can't," Chuck tried to protest, but it was short lived as she kissed him. When she finished, he pulled away. "Sarah, I can't take away your agency the way everyone else has."

"For someone so smart, you're being quite stupid," she told him. "You aren't taking away my agency. I am making my choice. My choice is to save you, your family, and anyone else who wants the hell off that island. And, let me add, myself. One day, I want to leave this life, and according to you if I leave the CIA, I will find myself there."

"Sarah, listen…what you're offering-" Chuck began.

"Going to do," she corrected him.

"While I appreciate it," he continued. "You can't do it alone."

"Okay," she conceded. "But I won't be alone. I'll have you." He locked eyes with her, as she grinned. "And I happen to know that you and I do work quite well together. We can save your family." She glanced at the bed and then back to him. A pained look crossed Chuck's face. "What?"

"Well, you said you'll have me to fight FE, but you'll also save my family, but then you looked at the bed and that made me think about earlier, while I was thinking about my family…" he clamped his mouth shut as she shut her eyes, clearly having a brain cramp from what she just heard. "I just ruined the mood."

Her eyes snapped open and she grinned at him. "If you promise me you'll stay until you have to leave, I promise you I can fix the mood."

"How will you do that?" he asked. He then felt her hand on him, south of the border. "Oh!"