Posted April 10, 2022

A/N: It was all going so well for Chuck and Sarah—slow, but the right direction. What just happened? Remember that we have to get through the bad to get to the good Charah.

"Chuck vs the Truth" (1x08) Recap
Here are a few things you might need to know in case you forgot.

A sweaty and suffering man was being asked questions about "codes" by another man keeping him captive. The victim had been poisoned with a Pentothal derivative. He had to get the codes for an antidote to the poison.

In the Wienerlicious storage closet, Sarah and Chuck went over their plan for their next "mission," a cover-double-date with Ellie and Devon. Chuck and Sarah had said they were at a movie when presumably they were on a mission or talking about something related to the CIA and the Intersect. They talked about little details to solidify the "movie date" cover, like Chuck's snack choices and Sarah's clothes.

The door of the small room started to open, so Sarah acted fast, undoing a couple buttons of her Wienerlicious top, taking Chuck down to the ground, getting up top of him, and kissing his ear. The intruder was Scooter. He admonished Sarah for making out with her "boy toy" during work, but the ruse worked. Chuck was in shock, but happy with Sarah's actions.

Daydreaming at Buy More, a woman walked in with a broken phone. She started freaking out about losing everything she used to organize her life. Chuck calmed her down and said he'd fix it. To calm herself down, she described a sandwich. Her name was Lou, and she was the owner of a deli in Buy More Plaza.

On the date, Chuck ordered for Sarah because he "knew what she wanted," helping solidify the cover. Devon pointed out how "slow" Chuck and Sarah were going because Sarah never slept over. After dinner, they stood on the sidewalk, with Ellie affectionately thanking Devon. Chuck and Sarah didn't mimic the real couple in public, but Sarah leaned into Chuck. When he left to get the car, the man who had been poisoned collapsed on the sidewalk. Unbeknownst to everyone, the man had retrieved the codes on something hanging from a chain and was being tracked by the poisoner. As a doctor, Ellie took control and left with the ambulance. He dropped the codes, hanging from a neck chain, into the pocket of Ellie's sweater. Ellie handed his wallet to Chuck in case there was important info about an allergy. Chuck flashed on the man's ID, Mason Whitney, seeing a connection to nuclear weapons.

Back at the apartment, Chuck was freaking out because Ellie was with the "nuclear guy." Sarah stayed to keep him calm. Devon was also there, and he misinterpreted, thinking Sarah was staying over because of his "pep talk." Ellie returned and revealed Whitney hadn't survived, and they didn't know why. Sarah privately told Chuck she was concerned about their cover, so it was time for them to "make love."

Lou came back to Buy More to get her repaired phone. Chuck had fixed it, and Lou brought him a sandwich—the one she invented when talking to Chuck the day before. She was going to name it the "Chuck Bartowski." Sarah showed up and met Lou and introduced herself as Chuck's girlfriend. Lou left upset because with their flirting, she had thought Chuck was single.

Casey and Sarah took Chuck to the morgue to inspect Whitney's body. They discovered he had been poisoned with a Pentothal derivative.

Disguised as a police officer, the poisoner interviewed Ellie to see if she knew anything about the codes. He planted a tracker on her and poisoned her with his Pentothal cocktail, in case she had more information from Whitney about how to get the codes.

At a table outside Wienerlicious, Chuck and Sarah went over the mission in which she was going to sleep over at Chuck's to strengthen their cover. She was only going to pretend to sleep with him. It was an awkward conversation.

That evening, Sarah came to Chuck's room for the mission. Chuck had lit candles and put on music, which Sarah criticized because the mission was "for the cover." Then she took off her coat, revealing lingerie, which she said was "for the cover." Chuck said she was acting like someone in the "world's oldest profession." They got in bed mad at each other. Hearing Ellie and Devon argue in the other room, Chuck asked Sarah what the rules were for their cover. Sarah figured out he was talking about whether he could ask out Lou. She said any prospective girlfriend would have to be thoroughly vetted.

Ellie burst in the room, with Devon behind. She had been arguing with Devon, telling him that she didn't like his "porno shorts" or the fact he always said "awesome," because if everything was awesome, then by definition, it means mediocre. She embarrassed her brother. Everyone thought something was wrong, and Devon pulled her away to give Chuck and Sarah privacy, thinking they needed it, not realizing Sarah was only pretending to sleep with Chuck.

Casey knocked at the door. As an NSA agent had been listening to the "mission" of Sarah pretending to sleep with Chuck, but he was getting "cross-talk." With everyone out in the living room, Ellie collapsed on the living room couch, and Casey found the poison and bug behind her ear.

The next day they were all at the hospital, where Ellie was being treated. The poisoner, Riordan Payne, came after Ellie, but because the tracker had been found, it was actually Sarah in a wig, so Sarah and Casey stopped him. Chuck had found the codes in Ellie's sweater's pocket, so he rushed in, providing Payne a distraction he used to escape. Payne's poison in gas form was released, poisoning all of them, but as Payne escaped, he dropped the antidote vial. Chuck gave the antidote to Ellie to save her, instead of saving himself. Chuck, Sarah, and Casey thought they were going to die, but Chuck found that Payne had also dropped his tracker when he was running away. They reversed the tracker to find Payne,

One the way, Chuck gave glowing compliments to Sarah about her beauty and Casey about his chiseled jaw. Casey admitted Sarah was better at picking locks. When confronting Payne, Sarah called Casey her partner. Payne tried to escape again, so Sarah shot him in the leg to force him to make the antidote.

Payne made enough antidote for everyone. Before they took it, Chuck asked Sarah, "Our thing under the undercover thing. Is this ever going anywhere?" She answered, "I'm sorry, Chuck. No." Chuck was devastated.

The next day at Wienerlicious, Chuck told Sarah that when he thought he was going to die, a list of things he wished he had done flashed before eyes. To start checking things off his list, he needed to break up with Sarah, breaking up their fake-relationship.

Sarah was shocked and didn't do anything to change his mind. After Chuck had left, Casey called and asked if she had compromised herself yesterday. She said no, but if she hadn't been trained to resist truth serum, she would have. Later, cleaning up outside Wienerlicious, she looked over at Lou's deli and saw Chuck inside talking with Lou.

Chapter Characters: Chuck, Sarah

Songs (from 1x08)
- "Fresh Feeling" by Eels
- "Toxic" by Britney Spears

www. imdb. com (8.7/10)
chuckthisblog. wordpress. com (12/91)

Thursday, November 15, 2007
Buy More Plaza
Burbank, CA

He'd actually done it! He'd actually asked a woman on a date. And she'd said yes!

This time, it wasn't a blind date setup from his sister. It wasn't a ruse of a beautiful CIA agent who wasn't interested in him. This time, a woman said she'd go on a date after meeting him more than once. It wasn't a pity date and wasn't because his nemesis sent him an email full of government secrets. He had a date with the cute woman who made sandwiches for a living. She didn't care that he was stuck in Buy More. She liked him the way he was—for being Chuck Bartowski.

It wasn't like he actually got Sarah to go out with him on a real date when it wasn't her job to date him. That was inconceivable. Asking out Lou was still a huge accomplishment in Chuck-world

This woman had even named a sandwich after him. He'd never imagined something like that was possible. What an honor! In high school, he thought a scholarship to Stanford was a big achievement, but what a waste that was. He was unrightfully expelled to save him from being drafted by the CIA, only to end up working for the CIA anyway. He couldn't talk about that. With no student loans and no degree, it was like it never happened. A sandwich-namesake was something that he could take pride in.

The sandwich was something that people would use for sustenance. A couple minutes ago, he had eaten a fresh one with the woman who invented it and named it after him. People would use it for more than survival. By eating a Chuck Bartowski, they would make their day so much better with a happy stomach.

He was on cloud nine because he had a date that wasn't mandated by the government or his sister. He couldn't stay up in the clouds all night because he had to get some sleep before the big date tomorrow. First, he had to go home before he made a fool of himself outside Buy More, due to his excitement. He didn't have a Herder and hadn't been dropped off at the Plaza by Casey, Ellie, or Devon. Asking for a ride from Sarah would be awkward, now. Even though they only broke-up their fake-relationship, it wouldn't be very nice to her. That meant a return ride home on the bus. He checked the clock on his phone and saw he had ten minutes, plenty of time to walk to the stop.

He couldn't help but look over at Wienerlicious, towards the great woman he gave up before asking out Lou. That wasn't the right way to think of it. He didn't "give her up." He knew the truth now; he never had her. How often can someone get the truth from truth serum? He'd never get such a definitive answer again.

Surprisingly, Sarah was outside Wienerlicious looking across the parking lot at him standing on the sidewalk outside Lou's. She quickly looked down and went inside. She must have been wiping the tables outside for her cover-job and happened to be finishing up right as he stepped out of Lou's.

It was an odd coincidence. Why was she looking at Lou's, right as he came out? She told him yesterday that they didn't have a future. She let him break up with her. She wouldn't have done that if she wanted to keep dating him. If there was the smallest chance that she wanted that under-the-cover, he would have stayed with her and wouldn't have asked Lou. Who would choose anyone over Sarah? He had someone no one else could have about such a momentous choice: absolute confirmation.

Some would take advantage of a fake-relationship when they got to pretend to date the most beautiful woman on the planet. Not him, though. He never wanted to take advantage of Sarah like that. She told him definitely, under the effects of truth serum, that there was no future for them. That's why he made this drastic move with her, so he could ask out Lou.

Chuck started absentmindedly out the window of the bus, watching Burbank pass. Eventually they entered the Echo Park neighborhood of LA. He'd have to be careful not to miss his stop, thinking about Sarah. It wouldn't be the first time thinking about the wonderful woman he wasn't dating—he was only fake-dating. It didn't matter what they were. Now, he wasn't even fake-dating her, but he still couldn't get her off his mind. Who could blame him for thinking about someone so incredible? He didn't deserve to be around her.

No more thinking about Sarah. From now on, he'd think about the woman he actually had a date with tomorrow. From now on, he wouldn't spend anymore time daydreaming about Sarah's wonderful smile, which he once thought was only for him because he never saw her smile at anyone else like that. He now knew it wasn't for him, so there was no point in thinking about it. From now on, he wouldn't get lost in her eyes at one of their cover-date lunches. From now on, he wouldn't try to figure out how Sarah's entire face lit up Buy More far more than the fluorescence lights in the store. It must have been a special superpower, like stopping cars with a knife. From now on, no thinking about any of it.

When Chuck got home, he wasn't as happy as he was when he left the sandwich shop. He was supposed to be filled with excitement. Instead, he spent the entire ride home thinking about the gorgeous enigma he had been fake-dating at the beginning of the day. It was pointless, though. He needed to accept that he'd never figure her out.

Instead, he needed to think about the woman he asked out on a date. Ellie told him that no girl wants to hear about another woman. At the time, his sister was talking about Jill. This was different. Lou had met Sarah. Forget talking. To be fair to Lou, he shouldn't think about Sarah. If he managed to not do that between now and the date, maybe he wouldn't blow it.

He wouldn't talk about Lou with Ellie before the date, either, because she wouldn't understand. Ellie liked Sarah and didn't know that she was a CIA agent. She was also just getting out of the hospital. After Chuck managed a few dates with Lou without blowing it and after Ellie had recovered, he'll consider telling his wannabe matchmaker.

For now, this was better. He didn't deserve Sarah.

Inside Wienerlicious, Sarah took a deep breath. She had been caught. She was a professional spy. When she started CIA training, she already had enough experience to teach the class. She knew how to watch someone without being seen. Yet, Chuck had seen her watching him ask out Lou. A civilian caught her. That was embarrassing.

Why was she watching? It shouldn't matter. Chuck wasn't her real-boyfriend. If she hadn't been dating him because the government mandated it, she'd never get someone as great as Chuck. He deserved so much better than she.

Sarah told herself that she was watching Chuck at an insecure location, so she was only doing her job as his protector. She originally got her cover-job at Wienerlicious so she could watch the exterior of Buy More. She was responsible for Chuck's security when he wasn't inside the store. It was a perfectly good reason for her to be watching.

She wasn't watching to see the chocolate pools in his eyes, because she couldn't see those across the parking lot. She wasn't watching because he was tall. While she liked a boyfriend who was tall enough that she could wear heels, everyone looked small from that distance. She wasn't watching because of the wonderful curls in his hair because she was nowhere close enough to reach them. (No matter what Ellie called them, Sarah wasn't calling them 'funny animal shapes,' even if she couldn't run her hands through them.)

She was completely off her game today. She blamed that on Chuck and his stupid list. The top of his list should have been to grab her and kiss her like they were about to die. That was at the top of her list. She wasn't going to do that unless they were about to die because she might be reassigned, never to see him again. By keeping him at arm's length, she could keep him safe.

To the CIA, she was protecting the US's most important piece of intelligence. That was true and made her assignment in LA seem important to the professional part of her. Also, she thought it was very important to keep an innocent US citizen safe. That was exactly the type of thing Casey should be behind.

At the personal level…she didn't know what to think. No. She knew what to think. Protecting Chuck from all of the bad things in the world—including herself—that was her duty.

Her duty was what she was going to do when she was going to sleep over two nights ago. She'd never compromised herself like that with a mark or analyst. The CIA would never order her. Some people thought they did, but it was always the agent's choice. The truth was, she wouldn't have minded Chuck, but that wasn't her orders. Chuck wasn't like that, though. He was so sweet, he'd never take advantage of her.

Now they weren't together in any way. Maybe she should have really seduced him. No, it was better than she hadn't. If she had, they couldn't have gotten Ellie to the hospital in time, and Sarah probably couldn't have done it anyway because it was too late. Chuck wasn't interested in her anymore. He was more interested in that Lou girl. When they all had been injected with Pentothal, he was blurting out all sorts of things, like how he thought he was beautiful. Hearing him say things like that felt really good, but it wasn't the first time he said something like that. He never hid his feelings.

Chuck didn't feel that way about her anymore, though. That was hard to stomach, but it was true. She was just doing her job as a CIA agent, but she failed. When he broke up with her, she didn't give him a reason not to break up with her. It didn't matter if Chuck saw her watching because he knew about her CIA job. When he saw her, she didn't blow it.

Counters clean and cups stacked by the register, there was nothing for her to do at Wienerlicious. Sarah hated her cover-job during this time of day. It was so boring in the middle of the afternoon. No one ate hot dogs this time of day. The people who were having lunch three hours late weren't out to get an overpriced, "gourmet" heart-attacks-on-a-stick. In ten minutes, Marcie would arrive so they'd both work the rush at dinner time. Afterwards, Sarah would go home before it was too late.

She hated days like this, when she had to be at her cover job but Chuck wasn't working. When he was working, she'd go over and see him during her break. Sometimes they'd go out for lunch. Sadly, that wouldn't happen anymore. So much for the highlight of most of her days.

She didn't like it as much when he came to see her. She loved to see him, but a lot of the time when he came over, it meant he had flashed so something was urgent or it meant someone was in Buy More, after him. If he came for lunch one of the rare, other times, they'd eat at Wienerlicious—the place that she had to smell all day. She preferred going someplace else. When they did, she got to practice the cover with him, and she got to hang out with Chuck. Someplace else felt more like a date.

A date. A cover-date. Chuck thought of them as fake-dates. They were never "fake" to her. If she didn't have to protect Chuck, she'd still like going out with him. She always felt special when with him. He made her laugh, and she appreciated the view.

They weren't dates, though. That was the problem. Chuck deserved to be able to go with someone on real-dates.

Sarah scrubbed the grill. When no one was coming in, it was a good time to take care of things like that. With her anger at the entire situation with Chuck, scrubbing hard was a good way to work out her frustration.

When she saw Chuck a few minutes ago, it looked like he was successful in asking out Lou because he didn't seem upset. Of course Lou said yes. She'd be crazy not to say yes to Chuck.

Not being boyfriend and girlfriend was going to complicate things. It was easier if she had an excuse to be around. No more showing up in the middle afternoon for a kiss—for a cover-kiss. Chuck didn't deserve to be held back, though. Still, she needed to be thorough about this break-up. Tomorrow, she'd make sure he really wanted to not be a couple anymore. If he was going to date Lou, everyone at the store would see that he was with her, not Sarah. No one would believe that she broke-up with him because he was too great of a guy. She'd have to sell the break-up. She could pretend to be upset. It wouldn't be that hard. Only after she was sure what Chuck wanted would she inform Graham and Casey.

It was a good thing she had Chuck help name Goldie. She didn't admit it at the time, but she had a different name in mind. She was never going to call her fish "Intersect." She had ruled out her other idea: Chucky. She thought of her job as protecting Chuck, so she thought "Chucky" would be a cute name for the fish. She looked it up online to make sure it wasn't the nickname of some third-world dictator, only to find out about the Child's Play horror film series about a doll that was also a serial killer. Calling her fish by that name wouldn't have been fair to Goldie.

Now though, she couldn't have a constant reminder of the fish she and Chuck named together. Every time she saw it she'd think of Chuck as more than an asset. Every time she fed it, she'd think about how she should have named a hot dog recipe after Chuck and fed it to him.

Sarah knew there were shelters for dogs. She wondered about fish. If she couldn't take care of Goldie, she wanted to give him a good home.

This entire mess was because of her answer to one question yesterday. Why did he ask about him and Sarah having a future? Of course they didn't have a future. The CIA would never let her have a future with him. She could have lied under the effects of Pentothal, but she didn't want to lie to him. Earlier today, Casey asked if she had compromised herself. She hadn't. She didn't have to lie. Her resistance to Pentothal only came into play when she didn't explain her answer after seeing Chuck's devastated look. She never talked much, and she didn't understand what she was feeling. She wouldn't have known what to say anyway.

This was better. She didn't deserve Chuck.

A/N: Yes, they were both spiraling. Chuck is spiraling about his ex-cover-girlfriend because he still has feelings about her. Sarah is spiraling about her ex-cover-boyfriend because it isn't professional to have feelings about her asset. Too bad they were crap communicators.

When in "Chuck vs the Coup d'Etat," Morgan said Chuck and Sarah were "crap communicators" the term surprised me, but thinking about it for a few seconds, that was definitely true. "Chuck vs the Truth" had a huge train wreck with the cover-sleep-cover in the middle of the episode and a bigger disaster at the end. It was all because of crap communication.

Chuck needed Sarah's wisdom from "Chuck vs the Best Friend." When Sarah was "bonding" with Anna, she provided relationship advice at a party for Jason's accomplishments:

Anna said, "I like Jason, and, you know, on paper, he's everything Morgan's not. So that's good."

Sarah provided her take, because of Chuck's unofficial request to stick up for his best friend by saying, "No, no. That's bad."

"Why?"

"Because Morgan's the guy you keep comparing him to."

If Chuck only knew what Sarah knew (!?) he could have saved the heartache. Sarah knew what she wished was true. She was always obsessing about Chuck and didn't know what to do about it.

MyNameIsJeffNImLost AU stories:
- "Chuck vs His Former Handler" (chapter 4, "Club Sandwich")
- "The Bartowskis vs the Spy World" (chapter 8, "Be Our Guest")
- "Chuck & Sarah vs Trust" (chapter 8, "Marking Her Territory")
- "Ellie vs the Ninja" (chapter 10, "Ellie vs the Truth")
- "Chuck vs Under the Cover" (chapter 1 "Fixing the Record Scratch" & 2 "Talking through the Problem")

The last one is a new parallel AU that will alternate posting with this story. It will start after 1x08 and continue with 10 chapters, until just after 2x04, "Chuck vs the Cougars." I consider it a more Charah-friendly "palate cleanser."