Posted January 2, 2024

A/N: Some of this chapter refers to what happened in "Chuck vs the In Between," chapter 24, "Nightmares in the Twilight Zone." You don't have to read that first, but you can read any of its chapters randomly because they all have episode recaps as reminders and are set in between episodes.

What you need to know: That chapter was canon-compatible and was a continuation of Chuck and Sarah's early-season UST "dance." Set in between "Chuck vs Santa Claus" and "Chuck vs the Third Dimension," it had Sarah missing the Twilight Zone marathon, the start of Chuck's nightmares, and Sarah's "return" to Southern California. At the end of the chapter, Sarah tried to assert their cover, like she did in "Chuck vs the Truth." At the same time, she tried to thank Chuck for her Christmas gift, The Bracelet. After witnessing what Sarah did for him by killing Mauser, in his head, Chuck was freaking out that a partially-dressed Sarah would kill him as he slept, like his nightmares.

Before this story, at the end of "Chuck vs the Third Dimension," Chuck revealed to Sarah what he saw, and she came clean, so everything was "better" in Charah-land. (It's mid-season 2, UST "better." Better-better would be RST Charah.)

Maison23
Sarah's room

Chuck anxiously waited for the highlight of his evening. He hadn't expected to end up in Sarah's room, but now that he was there, he was excited about what was coming.

They came to the hotel so Ellie and Devon wouldn't hear him getting home at 3am, after they would've assumed he was out with her. For some reason, Castle beds were not a consideration this time, but he had learned it was better not to argue with real spies.

The highlight he was looking forward to was how amazing Sarah looked when she dressed for the cover. He dreamed about how she looked last time. Actually, it was a nightmare, but before it scared him awake, it was a wonderful dream. It almost seemed real, like it was 3-D.

This time, he didn't have an irrational fear she would stab him to death. It was going to be better than 3-D. After ending up in the closet on the mission, Chuck couldn't imagine anything bad. When Casey dropped them off, Chuck had been too shocked by the invitation to move. Now in Sarah's room, he'd try really hard to be respectful (but a man could only be expected to go so far).

Chuck was breathless, waiting for her to emerge from her bathroom. Calling the moment which was about to happen the best thing in the evening was saying something, especially considering what practically happened earlier, when Sarah threw him into the closet and "assaulted" him in the best possible way.

What was about to happen might be better, even if he thought he wouldn't get to touch. Unlike earlier that night, this time he could see. The last time he stood alone in Sarah's room waiting for her was his best memory in a long time, and that's when he was having dreams about her killing him. That time, he wasn't expecting to see so much Sarah!skin. This time…

Chuck wiped his mouth on his arm to make sure he wouldn't drool. Sarah had repeatedly drilled into his head that nothing could ever happen between Sarah and him, but did have a pulse. Nothing could happen, but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate an unforced, private showing of the absolutely gorgeous Sarah Walker.

When the bathroom door opened, Chuck couldn't help but be a little disappointed. Sarah was completely bundled up in flannel pajamas and a long lumpy bathrobe. Although… he couldn't be completely disappointed. While he couldn't see as much skin as he had expected, she looked all soft and cuddly. Her golden hair wasn't up in her spy do, like earlier in the evening. With it down, it hid the lovely column of her neck, but he really couldn't complain with her lovely locks loosely hanging at her shoulders. The angel in front of him was Sarah Walker. She always looked fantastic.

Sarah noticed his initial expression, though. "Sorry you don't approve. It's too late in the evening for you to go to Castle. Local police might think headlights at the mall were suspicious, so you need to sleep here. I figured wearing this would make you feel more comfortable, but if you prefer…"

She loosened her bathroom belt as if she was going to disrobe! Fortunately for the sake of his heart continuing to beat, she easily understood the goofy smile which had returned to Chuck's face, re-tightened her bathrobe belt, and twisted her mouth. "I probably shouldn't make you that comfortable." She then grabbed a pillow from her bed and proceeded to the closet where she pulled out a blanket, before heading to the coach.

"What are you doing?" Chuck asked.

"Last time, I needed to dress like I did for the cover. I had been 'gone' so I needed it to look like I was greeting my boyfriend after having been away for a while. We wouldn't have really done anything, but I went too far putting on a show for my neighbor in the hall. You did the right thing in going to Castle. Tonight, you're here after a different mission, but we don't need to behave a certain way for cover. I'm not going to make the same mistake as last time. I don't want you to run off again."

He didn't think he was "running off." Not really a question, Chuck wondered aloud, "Why would I ever leave you?" Last time, he was irrationally scared of Sarah murdering him in his sleep, but that he was crazy for thinking that, even Sarah admitted he was doing the right thing by going to Castle.

Now, he wasn't thinking about her as a murderer. After regaining a tiny bit of his wits, he said, "You said last time you thought you had to protect the cover. Wasn't that a mission, too?"

"I guess it was."

"You never make mistakes on missions."

"That time I did. It's what I get for multitasking. I needed to assert our cover in this hotel and wanted to thank you for the bracelet, but I overdid it and was wrong. See, I do make mistakes on missions."

Chuck didn't think that was a mistake, but he felt like too much of an idiot to argue. There was no point anyway. Sarah always made him feel safe. She would never wake him up in black lingerie and murder him with a knife. Because of his subconscious fears, she thought what she had done was unwelcome and she had made a mistake. She was never unwelcome. He didn't want to take advantage of her, though. She was simply intimidating because… Sarah Walker.

Sarah didn't seem to care about Chuck's unvoiced mistakes, instead focusing on her own. "If I'm making another mistake, and you want…" Sarah started to put the blanket back. "I could thank you properly."

"What? Are you saying?"

"Of course."

Chuck knew he wasn't hiding anything from the spy, but was she saying she was going to make his dreams come true? He had wanted it to be real with Sarah for a long time. A lot of the time, it seemed like she wanted the same... He definitely couldn't hide what he was thinking now.

Sarah chucked that beautiful little laugh. "Not that, of course, because we're… you know. It would be unprofessional. But we could sleep together in the same bed. We did that before—last summer, when we went to Comic Con." She took off The Bracelet, which had been hidden underneath her long PJ sleeves, and set it on her bedside table. "I normally sleep with this on, but I don't want to accidentally scratch you."

Chuck wouldn't be able to sleep a second next to Sarah, so he would never be in a position to be scratched. Since she'd expect him to actually sleep, he really shouldn't get in the same bed. He took the blanket and pillow from her hands.

Now it was her turn to ask, "What are you doing?"

"I'm not going to kick you out of your bed." He nodded in the direction of the pillow she didn't take, "and I'm not going to steal yours."

"The bed is big enough for both of us. It's almost as big as our entire hotel in San Diego."

That was a wonderful trip, back when he might soon get the Intersect out of his head and he hoped they could be more. That was no longer the case, so now the bed was not big enough. "Not with you looking like that."

"I'm completely bundled up. It's not like I don't have anything under this. Do I need to prove it to you?" she teased and slowly moved her hands. After a moment, she twisted her mouth in a sideways smile. "No offense, but if you try anything, I can easily defend myself." More quietly, he thought she mumbled, "If I chose to."

If she chose to? Why would he ever make Sarah defend herself from him? "Of course. I never would think otherwise, but you should be able to sleep well without having to worry about something like the closet. I'll just sleep over here."

Sarah mumbled, "That was nothing to worry about."

Chuck didn't respond to that because it couldn't end up someplace good. Instead, he looked at the sofa where Sarah was going to set up. "One problem… That sofa is not big enough, so I'll just sleep right here, instead" He dropped the blanket and pillow to the floor. "The carpet is clean."

"I shouldn't make you sleep on the floor, but you're too sweet to argue with." She thumbed at the bathroom. "Your right ear is completely clean, but you probably want to… Your toothbrush and toothpaste are in there." She went to her toes and kissed Chuck goodnight on the cheek.

Wow. It was just the cheek, but that wasn't a cover kiss. It was more than a peck, and she had seemed to linger. They had kissed many times before. Some of them were not for the cover and a lot more of a kiss, but every time, it felt like that.

Chuck no longer felt like an idiot. He felt like the king of the idiots. Two nights ago, he was having nightmares that Sarah would kill him where he slept. Since Sarah had come clean and then invited him to not be a gentleman and sleep in her bed, there was no longer any chance of a nightmare tonight. The question was whether he'd be able to sleep at all. If he did sleep, his dreams would be very different.

In the bathroom, Chuck saw Sarah had his brand of toothbrush and toothpaste waiting for him. He should have known she would know the exact brand of the peppermint he used. He should really think of getting spearmint to keep her on her toes. The brush was even Buy More green.

Back in the bedroom, Chuck caught a final look of Sarah getting under the covers. Her bathrobe was over the chair. He missed seeing her disrobe! Sure, she had full pajamas underneath, but he couldn't help but be a little disappointed he missed the opportunity to witness the start of that. It would have to come from his imagination… and that was probably a good thing. He sighed as he settled down to his floor-bed. "Good night, Sarah."

"Good night, Chuck. Sweet dreams."

Chuck didn't dare look the way of the promised land. He could hear Sarah move towards him on her bed and then softly sigh. Without moving his head, he chanced a look in the direction of her bed, where he could see the top of hers. She was lying at the edge so she could easily tilt her head up and watch over him. She was his guardian angel.

Unlike the past few weeks, he felt completely safe. In fact, he had never felt so safe. Chuck turned away so he wouldn't be torturing himself. There would definitely be no nightmares tonight. He only hoped the dreams wouldn't be too "sweet" because that would be embarrassing.

A/N: That's it for this story. The Chuck and Sarah saga continues with the adventures we saw in the show. If you want more gaps filled in than this "To Be Continued," see my big story "Chuck vs the In Between." It has recaps and a canon-compatible "in betweens," and it will continue for all 91 episodes of the show. You can read both recaps and original scenes, or you can read just the "in betweens." As of this posting, it's through 24 chapters, which is all of season 1 and half of season 2, up to "Chuck vs Santa Claus." This story is set right after "Chuck vs Third Dimension," so the next chapter of that story is in between this story and "Chuck vs the Best Friend." (That fanfic is using the originally planned episode order, Best Friend before Suburbs, so the overall story arc makes more sense.)

The next "insert story" like this one will be "Chuck vs the Super Plumbing Mission," a canon-compatible story set after the "in between" chapter that follows "Chuck vs the Lethal Weapon" and right before "Chuck vs the Predator."