Hello friends! After a horrible year, I have returned to fanfiction to continue my commitments that I have previously made. This chapter was meant for January/February by the latest so yea, it's long overdue! I don't want to make a huge AN, I just want to get straight to work so the short summary is that it's been a long year of constant health problems and some serious health issues for my mother who is in really dire health right now too. I wasn't able to open my mind to writing fiction and video games have been my primary distraction instead - as they pretty much have been for about twenty years now :P
The good news is that I haven't been 100% idle. I've still been typing up notes and further still, I have remastered everything published thus far. Chapter One at last count has the addition of 1,000 new words, CH2 has 600 new words, CH3 500 and CH4, a few hundred. No plot has been altered in any way. The story still has the same vision, it should just be more rewarding and engaging to read.
Thank you for the kind messages and for the new readers that have interacted in all of my stories in the year that I have been gone. However, I'm not going to bite off more than I can chew. I will just be working on All Roads Lead Back Home exclusively until it says 'Completed' and maybe if I get around to that in the coming weeks then I can start to tell you about a post-apocalyptic Chuck AU that I have planned. But I won't begin to document my ideas on that one, nor any of my other active stories until this one is done. That I pledge to you now :)
Word Count for this Chapter: 11,000
All Roads Lead Back Home
Chapter Five
Four days since the beach
Echo Park
It had been several hours since there was last any form of activity inside this particular home in Echo Park, Los Angeles. The only activity, if you could call it activity was a husband and wife in a peaceful sleep together on their sofa with the only activity from the two being that of the usual sounds of complaint from two sleepers, and the slightest of movement via the subconscious repositioning of limbs.
The last time that Sarah had woke in this particular home, she had been brainwashed and deceived into believing that her husband was her enemy. It was totally different this time around however, as Sarah had entered into the apartment willingly with no malice or deceit or any form of interior motive in doing so. Sarah is now beginning to come to her senses slightly as she mumbles a brief, standard, customary slight moan of complaint like most do when first waking. Raising her hand up from where it was resting slightly to connect with where her face is located, she begins to rub her cheek as she gingerly opens her eyes and she takes in her present surroundings before starting to arch her head in motion to look upward until her eyes lock onto the face of the very same man she had thought her enemy: her husband. He is completely unconscious and he looks so peaceful from where he is sleeping. Sarah closes her eyes in discomfort briefly, as her head is hurting probably from where she has been laying for however long since she fell asleep in this position hours previously. She can remember Chuck starting to tell her a story of their past life together only for her to quickly fall asleep. The briefest of smirks begins to form on her elegant young face before it quickly fades once more as the young woman begins to feel drowsy once more.
After sleeping so little for the past few weeks because of everything that had happened with the terrible ordeal that she has faced, she is still exhausted and without any inner thought at all over the position she is presently in with her estranged husband, she readjusts herself and props her self back down to her former resting position. It would probably be more comfortable if she had returned to the bedroom by herself. And if she wasn't so drowsy and exhausted, a spell of anxiety may well have hit her that may have tried to talk her into putting some distance between herself and Chuck. Because of the level of commitment required in a marriage and how terrifying the prospect of commitment still petrifies her deepest, inner thoughts, a sudden scare causing her to distance herself from him once more could have been a very real possibility, but she is here because she wants to be and she feels happy here, where she is right now, in this exact moment, in this exact place...
Sleep quickly overcomes her once more…
A few hours later
It is now daylight and early Morning in Los Angeles. After an emotionally devastating two weeks that had culminated in his wife losing all known living memory of him, this has probably been the best sleep that Chuck had, had in weeks. The young man's brain begins to start for the first time today and he keeps his eyes closed for an extended moment to revel in the memory that his wife had returned to him yesterday - albeit changed and an entirely different version of her than before the fateful culmination of incidents that had erased her memory of him. Chuck isn't naive, he knows that right now at a best case scenario, his wife is not presently that, a wife. Instead, at best, she is likely to be that of a girlfriend. At this exact moment, in her mind he knows that he is a stranger to her as if they had only known each other for just a few weeks, which is a depressive and sobering thought in its own right, and that's not even the inclusion of the stark, blunt fact that his wife could decide at any moment that it's too much for her and she could take off and leave him at the click of a finger...
Chuck suddenly gulps with a deep throb of anxiety over his mind's depressive thoughts which instantly awakens him and removes all further hopes of any further sleep this morning. And that's when he feels it. He can feel warm air breathing onto his neck. He keeps himself frozen in place for an extended moment as he feels the warm air connect with the very bottom of his neck every few seconds. Slowly, and without moving any part of his body he begins to open his eyes to take in his surroundings. On his eyes opening, he adjusts them downward slightly until his eyes connect onto hundreds of strands of long blonde hair.
A smile instantly starts to take shape on the young man's face.
She's still here with me. Exactly how we fell asleep together however long ago. I thought I would wake up with her no longer here. I thought that she would spook and return to the bedroom for her own comfort instead...
Chuck continues to bask in the moment for a short while longer until glancing at the clock. It reads: 9am.
Hmm, not bad. I've slept a lot longer than this before but about seven hours is the most sleep I have had in weeks. I can work with that.
Chuck pauses in contemplation for a brief moment as he exercises most of his muscles ever so delicately to remove the slight discomfort he's presently experiencing stemmed from the position he'd fallen asleep in with Sarah last night.
Now, how am I going to move out of the grip of my beautiful wife whom is or was a deadly spy who I do not wish to wake because she looks so peaceful even though I can't see her face…
He spends the next minute or two until finally he has a plan of action. Slowly, he begins to execute his plan with the ultimate goal of escaping his peaceful wife's loving grip without waking her up. Carefully, he begins to slide to his immediate right, which is closest to the door to exit their apartment. He feels some slight friction and resistance from his wife who is attempting to keep him in place and he pauses until she settles once more.
Baby steps, Chuck. I'll be here for an hour if I have to. I don't want to wake nor startle her.
Resuming his plan after his wife had settled again, he continues to edge his body further away from that of his wife's until he is now clear from her. He pauses for a moment as he can now see his wife's face who is sound asleep from where she is laying into the sofa.
She must be so tired. She has experienced a truly horrific ordeal. I wish I could help and comfort her in so many more ways than just being careful not to disturb her sleeping. I hope and pray that in time, she will allow me to take on those responsibilities once more. But until that day, I will go at her pace and I won't push her into a single decision because otherwise, she could decide it's too much and take off and leave me forever...
After gazing at his peaceful wife for a long moment, he reluctantly and delicately begins to move the blanket to cover up his wife as it's pretty chilly this morning. His reluctance to do so stemming from that he could look at his wife sleeping peacefully hour upon hour, and has done previously.
On covering up most of his wife so that only her face is now visible, he begins to tiptoe away from the sofa as he starts to backtrack himself to his destination being their kitchen while being extra careful so as to not clatter into something and undo all of his hard work and to startle her awake in a trademark Chuck Bartowski style way.
Arriving at the kitchen without incident, he opens the refrigerator in search of refreshment as he had built up quite a thirst in his sleep. On retrieving the morning beverage, he moves to delicately close the refrigerator door after him, being careful so as to not slam it as he then takes a swig of his drink. After a few more mouthfuls, he glances in the direction of where his wife is located to see if she is still sleeping, which she is, soundly, before he then departs to freshen himself up...
Sometime later.
Chuck had just finished freshening himself up and while in the process of doing so he had decided that he wouldn't eat breakfast in the apartment today. Knowing his wife, the smell of food would undoubtedly alert her and so he had decided to eat out this morning to give her some space when she wakes up.
Arriving inside their master bedroom, he seeks out his intended item as he moves to pick up a notepad and a pen.
Moving to then take a seat at the desk, he begins to compose a note addressed to his dearest wife…
A short while later...
Sarah is now well into the process of waking for the second time this morning. Only she wasn't as comfortable this time, far from it. The last time she had woke, she had felt deliciously snug from where she was resting into the chest of her husband. Though they were the furthest thing away from being husband and wife right now. Right now, he is only her husband by title and nothing more. Chuck is no longer a stranger to her. In fact, with their long moment shared together on the beach when they had reconnected with each other emotionally and everything after that he is somebody she has begun to like a lot, but they are quite a long away from Sarah storming to the dresser in their master bedroom and putting on her wedding rings as a show of commitment which she had noticed sitting idly by on the dresser when examining it yesterday. They may never even be able get back to how they were, she can't see nor predict the future and only time will be able to tell what Sarah and Chuck will mean to each other in the weeks, months or years from now.
Opening her eyes, this time her sight was met with the form of a sofa. Drawing a slight breath of air into her lungs, she starts to contemplate where Chuck is at presently. She starts to arch herself up slightly from her former resting position to look around their apartment with sore eyes but she can't locate him anywhere in her vicinity.
Distracting herself from her present thoughts momentarily, she glances at the clock in the room which reads: 10am.
A look of amazement forms as she then double checks the clock to make sure she had just read it correctly, which she had.
Wow, I really slept...
Shaking off her amazement at how well she had slept, she begins to yawn shake off the last bit of sleepiness. Sarah then moves to sit up further and she is about to stand in an attempt to search out where Chuck is located before her eyes fix onto a note left in her close vicinity on a table inside their living room.
Sarah then moves up to stand, and she feels a strange sense of anticipation and excitement build on being moments away from reading the message that her husband has left her. She's sure without doubt that whatever is written on it will put a smile on her face, as that is all she has seemed to do since rekindling herself with him at the beach when he told her their story, and in the conversations that had followed it immediately after.
Extending out her arm to take the note into the palm of her hand, Sarah takes in a moment of pause as she draws in another breath of air and she glances at the window for a moment to see the sun shining through the drawn curtains on a chilly morning in Los Angeles. Building up the courage and anticipation a little longer, she then starts to examine the note written to her.
I'm sorry that I crept out on you this morning. I didn't want to disturb you awake by moving you. You looked so peaceful and kind of slept on my chest, nothing new there, heh, as you've been doing that trick for years!
Sarah pauses reading the note left to her by her husband as a smile forms on her face. Her glance arches up away from the note momentarily as she looks up at the ceiling briefly in a subconscious movement of joy.
It has been just a few sentences into the note and he's made me feel happy already. He's a keeper, Sarah. I can certainly see how he changed me, and Carina. I'm still shocked over his revelation to me that he had appealed to Carina's emotions and feelings. Carina, emotions, feelings, they don't belong in the same sentence together!
Sarah snaps out of her brief momentary distraction as her focus shifts back to the note left to her.
Anyway, I thought I would give you some space and not be constantly in your vicinity with no room for you to breathe. I think the last thing either of us need right now is for me to be tripping over your feet all day long, heh.
Sarah's smile is replaced with brief laughter on reading his latest extract to her. She then continues to read the note once more.
I will be at Castle for most of the morning and well into the afternoon with Morgan so if you need me at any time for anything then please do not hesitate to call me.
Sarah pauses from note reading briefly to digest the information provided to her before continuing.
PS: I would have made breakfast, but I can't emphasise enough just how much I didn't want to wake you this morning. Besides, you probably wouldn't have missed out on much, as I am not as good of a cook as you are and you definitely didn't marry me for my cooking skills.
On reading her husband's latest words, Sarah immediately starts to snort as she is once more unable to contain her excitement and joy from his words to her. She continues.
However, I can make just one good dish and its your favorite, but more on that tonight…
Sarah pauses reading and instantly quirks her eyebrow. I don't like surprises. He should know that if he knows me just as much as I know that he knows me.
Her attention then focuses on the note once more as she begins to examine the next line located slightly below the former one.
Just kidding! I know that you don't like surprises and as much as I'd like to surprise you, I wouldn't dream of doing anything like that right now so I must sadly concede and reveal your favorite dish to be: That's right, Chicken Pepperoni!
Sarah quirks her eyebrow once more.
"Chicken Pepperoni?" She queries aloud in bewilderment. I like Chicken Pepperoni? I'm not so sure about that…
She continues reading the tail end of the note.
I know you're probably doubting this as you are reading it by the way...But I'll make it and then we'll see if you were just saying that you loved it to make me feel better for being a lousy cook or if it really is your favorite dish, heh.
"You know me too well. Better than I know myself right now, Chuck, that's for sure…" she states glumly with a faint smile to herself.
Anyway, I'd better stop writing before you wake up and then that would be awkward even though I could write to you for hours. I won't push or make you feel uncomfortable by declaring my undying love to you in person for a while… But I can't hide how I feel in my thoughts about you. I'm not prepared to concede that Sarah, I'm sorry. You are always on my mind and I love you (more than anything).
Forever Yours, Chuck.
On finishing the note, Sarah's heart immediately begins to soar and she can feel her eyes getting glossy after reading probably the most perfect of notes ever addressed to her. She daren't look at a mirror right now, or else she might run to her car and speed off far away from all of these emotions. The Enforcer wasn't trained to be able to deal with this arsenal of emotions that she is experiencing right now. Sarah starts to move her thumb in motion, as she starts to delicately caress the note in her hand.
That quite possibly may be the most perfect note that anybody has ever written to me...
Sarah pauses for a long moment as she breathes out a deep long-drawn out sigh as she attempts to regain her composure. Her husband has just managed to touch every single string in her heart and she can't ever remember feeling like this before. She wouldn't have thought it possible. But it has just happened infront of her own eyes. Though she now knows beyond all doubt that she has indeed felt like this before, and if she had to put an estimation on how often she'd probably felt like this with him, she would guess that it has likely easily been hundreds of times...
I married a good one. Should I phone him? Why do I have a sudden urge and craving to hear his voice to accompany his words? He's only been gone for possibly a few hours at most. What time did he wake up? Though I'm not sure about this Chicken Pepperoni... I could kill for a medium rare cheeseburger with extra pickles. But Chicken Pepperoni? Anyway, I should freshen up and get ready for a morning jog. I really did sleep a long time!
After a final moment of reflection and thought about Chuck, Sarah begins to move in motion away from the lounge area and in to the kitchen to begin her own morning…
Later that Morning.
It is now late morning and Sarah had now freshened up, been out for a morning run and in addition she has just finished opening all of the curtains in their home but not before spending several minutes contemplating how far they should be opened as she cannot even recall the distance that they used to choose. At this exact moment and probably for the foreseeable future, Sarah is feeling like a complete and utter stranger in her own home. Not being able to know something as simple as to how far she should open her own curtains really did cement her belief that it's going to take a very long time for Sarah to be able to return to her normal life, whatever that may have been. She knows from her conversations with her husband and with her mother and through one of her only memories of him that she was in the advanced stages of planning a family with her husband. Well that idea is very much dead and buried until her car-crash life has been repaired. And who knows how long that may take.
Sarah begins to zone out, as she begins to glance out of the main window of their dining area and up into the clouds and out into space as she becomes lost in her own thoughts...
My life is such a mess right now. Nothing is clear to me. I hope I can get some clarity and find myself again soon. Without the CIA, I have nothing in this world. But I can never go back to it. It took too much away from me. Besides, they wouldn't have me back anyway. If I were on a mission and I was recognised by somebody whom recognised me from an earlier encounter I may have had with them, then I would be putting the mission and my own safety in extreme danger because of the very real chance that I wouldn't be able to ascertain our former connection or encounter with each other. I'm now expendable and useless to the agency. I don't know what Beckman was thinking when she suggested I could possibly return to work for them. I hope there is a plan for me that I don't know about yet. Because I certainly don't have one of my own right now…
It had been a few minutes, and Sarah has now recovered from her anxiety attack. Shaking aside all of her inner thoughts, she begins to turn away from the spot she had been gazing out of as she proceeds to walk back towards where she had came from just a few minutes previously as she departs out into the hallway before then heading into the master bedroom. On arriving inside the bedroom, she begins to search for her mobile phone for a brief moment before locating it on the drawer where she had placed it the previous night which was probably the location of where her husband had written the most perfect of notes to her this morning. Sarah is still in wonderment this morning over the most blissful of ways for her to start her day. Just reading his loving words to her had put her in the best mood that she can ever possibly recall being in. His kind, compassionate words despite the train-wreck that is her present life had soothed her and had made her feel like the massive issues presently facing her were non-existent and that all that had mattered in that moment was just her and him which had given her an immediately foundation of hope that maybe things may well turn out ok. It will be a long road back for them both if they are to get through what has happened to them. But when he had told her their story at the beach about everything that had happened to them in the time that they had known each other, she is sure beyond doubt that they had came through worse together. She will just need to trust him, as he had trusted her, all those years ago...
With her phone now in hand, Sarah moves to take a seat on the bed as a smile begins to form from her lips as she starts to then jab at her phone and she successfully navigates her way to the contact details of her husband. She pauses momentarily, as she debates between whether she should call him or if she should text him instead.
Opting with the former, she takes a final moment of pause in preparation for the upcoming call, before finally jabbing her finger once more and then moving the device up to her ear as she waits for her husband to answer the call.
He answers a few seconds later.
"Hi" she hears him say immediately after connecting the call with him.
"Hey yourself." she replies with her smile still formed, as she begins to dance and play with her toes from where she is sitting.
"How did you sleep?" He asks.
Sarah laughs into the receiver briefly on hearing his response, as it was part of the reason why she had wanted to call him in the first place.
"That's partly why I'm calling actually, you never told me in your note how you slept." she states playfully before continuing further, "Oh, by the way, your note was very sweet. Thank you."
She waits in pause for a brief moment to respond, as he is probably feeling happy with himself over her compliment to him.
"Heh, well I slept better thank you. And how about you?" he says eventually.
She pauses briefly, as her mind starts to think about how well she had slept.
"Me too," she admits, her loving smile growing larger on thinking about her homecoming the previous night.
She's about to speak again but stops short when she hears him once more.
"Oh hey Sarah, by the way, I'm glad you called. I kind of realized a little earlier that I had kind of forced dinner on you in my note. If you have other plans instead that's..."
She cuts him off mid ramble "No, dinner is fine Chuck. I'm not sure about the choice though." she pauses, as it's her husband's turn to cut her off before she can say something else again.
"Heh, no trust in me, huh?" he asks. She can detect the playful tone to his voice. She smiles briefly at her husband's playfulness, before turning serious.
"Chuck, it's not that, it's just..." she pauses, as a brief awkward silence ensues as she is unable to describe in detail to her husband what she is thinking.
"I know..." she hears him say, as he then also pauses for a moment before continuing. "Well actually, I don't know what you are going through right now but I am trying to understand. I want to help you however I can. Look... If you don't like it, we can always order something else, no biggie. I've eaten with you hundreds of times so if it comes to it and you hate it, I'll beg for a best out of three and try your next favorite food on my list of foods that Sarah Bar…" She then hears him immediately pause what he was about to say as he is likely now chastising himself over his slip of the tongue and her smile fades and the mood in the conversation between husband and wife turns a little sombre.
He's tripping on eggshells around me and it's not fair on him.
"I'm sor," he starts after a long moment but she instantly interrupts him before he can apologize for something he doesn't need to apologize to her for.
"It's ok. Chuck, it sounds great. I'm really looking forward to it," she says, with pure enthusiasm attached to her words.
"Great! Dinner it is then. I'll head out to the store soon and purchase the ingredients."
With the mood swinging back to a happy state, her smile forms once more.
"Ok," she agrees, her tone happy and content.
"So what plans do you have until this evening?" he asks.
"I'm going to head to the apartment and gather some things," she admits. She wants to ask him what he has planned for his own day, but in fear of him attempting to talk about the spy life with her, she declines to continue the conversation further.
"Yea, um, that's probably a good idea. I'll see you late afternoon then?"
"Ok Chuck, I hope that you enjoy your day until this evening then," she says, warmly.
"Thank you, Sarah. I will and you too,"
"Thank you. Bye, Chuck,"
"Bye, Sarah." he responds.
Sarah then disconnects the call with her husband. On disconnecting the call, she caresses the phone for a brief moment before placing it next to her her on the bed.
Should I dress up for this evening?
Sarah spends the next few minutes contemplating her question to herself before ultimately deciding against it.
Potential intimacy will happen when it's ready to happen, not before. I'm not going to force it.
Sarah then moves to stand up from the bed, before collecting her car keys as she then departs the apartment to head to the hotel room to gather her things...
Echo Park
It is now late afternoon in Los Angeles and Sarah has just returned home after gathering her belongings from the apartment that she'd woke up in after the whole Quinn ordeal. She had taken some time to speak to the staff and she had been informed that the apartment was still leased for several more months. Sarah had then proceeded to insist to the staff worker that the lease should be cancelled immediately and that she fully understood the implications of that suggestion which was obviously that she'd be unable to return to it any further. She had also signed a waiver and stated her intentions in writing. Her reasoning for this course of action was that even if things do not work out with Chuck and they move on their separate ways, she couldn't ever return to there anyway, as it would just remind her of what was taken from her. Sarah had deemed it better to free up an apartment that somebody else could use and take rather than it just sit idle and wasted for the next few months. Sarah was quite tempted to recommend that it go to somebody less fortunate then her, such as maybe a homeless person, though she knew that the hotel staff would never agree to that. Because that's just the way that the world works. Sarah was certain that within minutes of her leaving it, it would be emptied out, refurbished and given out at the same price that was given when the lease had been signed whenever that had occurred. No, if things didn't work out with Chuck, she would need to go somewhere far, far away from California to find herself again. Maybe England. Sarah had always wanted to visit the United Kingdom as a little child.
Closing the door to their apartment after her, Sarah takes a moment before walking deeper into the apartment.
"Chuck?" she calls out in an attempt to see if he had returned home yet. In any case, he would be due back soonish as it is now well after 4pm Local Time.
On not receiving an answer from him, she continues further into the apartment with her belongings from the hotel apartment in hand "Are you home?" she asks out once more but receives no response.
Satisfied that he wasn't home yet, Sarah then walks into the master bedroom, before placing down her belongings inside the room.
She then moves to sit on the bed, as she takes a moment to decide what she will do until Chuck returns soon...
A short while later
"So, Chicken Pepperoni huh, buddy?" Morgan asks as he shakes his head approvingly and his eyes glance onto the bag of ingredients that his friend is holding as they stand together at the fountain at the apartment complex housing both his friend and himself.
"Yeah... She's very apprehensive about it about it though, buddy," Chuck admits to his best friend with a sad smile caused from the implications of his words.
On hearing his friend's words, a look of bewilderment forms on Morgan's face "Why in good heavens would she be apprehensive about it? It's her favorite," he replies in a confused tone of voice to accompany his present facial expressions.
"Morgan, she can't remember it being her favorite. Quinn has messed her up big time man," Chuck replies dejectedly on thinking about what that man has done to him and his wife once more.
Morgan's perplexed look continues. "But surely you can't forget your favorite food?" he asks.
"Morgan, you forgot your all-time favorite movies buddy," Chuck reminds and interjects in defence of his beloved wife.
On hearing his friend's latest words, Morgan begins to nod his head in acceptance. "Good point. Man, that Intersect has a lot to answer for. I know it was made by your dad but buddy, it has taken a really big toll out on your life. I feel so bad for you man," he states sincerely, from the deepest corner of his heart.
"No Morgan, you're absolutely right. I wish the darn thing would never have been invented," Chuck admits, as a minor feeling of sadness over his and his wife's situation clouds his thoughts momentarily and he lowers his gaze.
"But then you'd never have met her?" Morgan interjects causing Chuck to raise up his head from where it had formerly dropped in sadness.
"True…" he pauses. "Gee to be honest with you buddy, I don't know what to think right now man. I know Sarah's life is a mess but mine's not much better. I've lost something too."
I've lost her. I need her back. Without her, I'm nothing...
Morgan nods his head once more in agreement, before moving his arm to pat his best friend's shoulder consolingly. "I know you have Chuck. Maybe you should you speak to somebody. If not me or Ellie, I don't know, maybe somebody professionally?" he suggests, the concern for the well-being of his best friend evident by his tone of blunt sincerity.
"I'll be fine, Morgan," Chuck replies with a reassuring, weak smile.
"If you're sure. I mean, Chuck, it's ok to talk..."
Chuck shakes his head dismissively as he cuts his best friend off from speaking "Honestly Morgan, I''l be fine. The only thing I could not live with is to not be able to see her again. At least I have that, at least I can see her," he admits, as his depressive frame of mind begins to perk up on finding something positive that he can cling and focus all of his energy onto.
Morgan nods his head acceptingly. "On that note, do you think she'll be up to see me any time soon? I know at times I have deeply annoyed her but she means a lot to me man. Almost as much as you. She's a part of you and thus me, now."
On hearing his friend's heartfelt words, Chuck moves to reciprocate his friend's earlier action, as he pats his best friend on the shoulder.
"Morgan, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you're doing for me and Sarah right now. She won't be able to tell you right now but I'm sure if one day at some point in time we get Sarah back, she will also thank and make it up to you," he replies to his best friend with a great deal of affinity felt towards him.
"I just want you both to be ok man," Morgan states as Chuck notices his best friend's eyes begin to gloss slightly, causing his own to now do the same.
"Thank you, Morgan,"
"But as to my point?" Morgan asks as he attempts to find out if Sarah is able to see him right now.
"Oh yeah, sorry. I don't think she is up to seeing many people right now buddy, she's finding it hard with me alone," Chuck admits.
Morgan nods his head in agreement. "Yeah, I get that..." he pauses, as he searches for the words he wishes to use. "Look, if she ever wants to talk to anybody except you for whatever reason, I'm here for her and tell her she need only knock and Alex would love to see her too."
Chuck nods his head as a vibrant, loving smile takes shape. "Thanks man. I'll tell her. Oh, by the way, she's kind of gunning for you at the moment so I don't think you're very high up on her contact list right now anyway. I kinda refreshed her memory about the iou in Barstow," Chuck admits, as he then immediately starts to chuckle on seeing his best friend's eyes light up in utter fear and complete dread.
"Oh Chuck, man! Why in the hell would you tell her about that! Are you trying to kill me?" he asks which furthers Chuck's laughter as he watches his best friend's eyes start to scan his entire surroundings in search of an assailant in the form of his wife.
"Morgan, not all memories are good ones," he then reminds his best friend once he had been able to stop laughing.
"Granted. But why the heck would you tell her about THAT one!" he replies in utter fear causing Chuck to be unable to control himself from laughing once more. Call it a little payback for yesterday when Morgan spent the whole day getting on Chuck's nerves in his attempts to get Chuck to prepare a romantic homecoming against Chuck's wishes for Sarah.
"Actually Morgan, that's not all. She called you a rotten, no good thief and I had to do some serious grovelling just to talk her out of removing any of your body parts or outright killing you," he chuckles to himself, feeling very proud of his winding up of his best friend right now.
On hearing his friend's latest comments, Morgan immediately starts to audibly shriek in fear, and his eyes widen further still.
"I'd better go inside Chuck, I suddenly don't feel very safe out here!" Morgan admits nervously as his new-found state of paranoia and anxiety threatens to overwhelm him.
A wide grin forms on Chuck's face on hearing his best friend's words coupled with the look of fear on his best friend's face right now.
I can be very evil at times, Chucky boy. That's what he gets for yesterday. Mwahaha!
"Ok buddy, enjoy your night, yeah? Oh and say hi to Alex from me."
A petrified Morgan Grimes nods his head in acceptance of his friend's request. "Ok man. I'll ring you later, yeah?" he suggests.
"Sounds good buddy, maybe we'll have a gaming night soon, give Sarah some space?"
Morgan nods his head once more. "Sounds good, but at my place!" he stresses.
A light chuckle emits from Chuck as he also nods his head in agreement. "Ok then. Bye Morgan,"
"Cya, Chuck," Morgan replies as Chuck then moves to embrace his best friend before they depart the vicinity of each other and Chuck can't help but watch as his friend near sprints to his door still in a petrified state of fear in anticipation of being ambushed by Sarah. He continues to watch as Morgan turns back and waves to him, to which Chuck responds in kind until he watches as Alex opens the door and Morgan quickly enters inside as the door then closes behind them.
Laughing out a brief final chuckle over the state of fear his best friend is now in, Chuck then turns himself until he's facing the door to his own home, and he takes a brief moment to compose himself and to build up his courage to enter. He's still feeling quite awkward and tense around his wife for the time being. As he doesn't presently know what she actually is to him. Is she an acquaintance, a friend, a girlfriend, a wife? Definitely not a wife, which is what is the most awkward thing about it all, because he is her husband and he will never stop behaving as such for one second for the rest of his life.
On composing himself enough and having built up enough courage to face the situation that the husband and wife are presently in, he then puts key in the door and enters the apartment with the bag of ingredients for tonight's meal.
"Sarah?" he calls out as he closes the door behind him.
On closing the door to their home, he continues deeper into their home. "Hone..." he pauses briefly on his second slip-up of the day "Are you home?"
Having not received an answer, he was now already close to their kitchen when he stops dead in place as his wife has just appeared from out in the hallway and had arrived into the kitchen.
He then instantly locks his eyes in place on her and he watches as she stops dead and she meets her own eyes with his. Just seeing her face alone is enough for a wide loving grin to form on his face and he watches as a similar facial expression begins to take form on his wife's.
He wants to walk right up to her and embrace her but he's caught in two minds on whether its appropriate. He averts his eyes slightly, as he places down the groceries onto the nearest worktop before concentrating himself back at his wife who is watching him intently.
"Hi," he says as he greets her.
"Hi," she replies, in what Chuck interprets as a warm, inviting tone which gives him the courage to follow through on his desire to embrace her, as the husband and wife move to embrace together in their kitchen.
"I missed you," he says softly and he watches as his wife smiles at him.
"I… Me too," she says, causing his grin to widen and they stay in the embrace for a short while longer until he feels it begin to get slightly awkward, and they pull apart from each other.
"How was your day?" she asks on them separating enough from each others proximity slightly.
Better for seeing you. I love you.
"It was good thank you. I'm just glad to be home and I'm looking forward to making dinner," he states passionately with a loving grin.
He watches as his wife laughs out a brief suppressed chuckle causing him to continue his loving grin at her.
"How was yours?" he asks, as the husband and wife continue to stand stationary and he folds his arms compactly into his body as he awaits her response to him.
"It was busy. The highlight of it being me returning to that hotel apartment." she informs him.
"Oh?" he enquires.
She nods her head. "Yeah. I actually closed down the lease and waived it off today. I won't be needing it any more. If things don't work out between us I can't go back there anyway. It would just remind me of a lot of the bad things that have happened to me the past two weeks," she admits with a sad smile.
But Chuck hadn't been able to register the final part of what his wife had just said to him. His brain had froze and is still stuck on 'If things don't work out between us'
He begins to feel his heart sink and his gaze shifts down at the floor in complete despair. He is so occupied with grief that he doesn't notice his wife enter into his proximity once more as she moves to touch his arm and only then when her hand connects with his wrist does his gaze look up to meet her eyes and he instantly can see sadness and regret in her eyes.
"Chuck, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that to you. I didn't mean it maliciously, it just slipped out," she admits in a deeply sincere and apologetic tone of voice.
He takes a big gulp and tries to breathe away all of his anxieties and fears over their situation before responding, "No, you're right. I can't force or make you love me again. If things don't work out it's your right to leave and I won't physically stop you. Just please I need you to know that I will do all that I can to avoid that ever happening."
He watches as his wife's lips crease in sadness in response to his words to her.
"I do, I know that," she then says as her mouth opens and a smile forms once more.
He nods his head weakly in acceptance. Still finding it difficult to overcome just how impactful her chosen words were to him.
"Chuck, I'm here to give it a chance. I owe it to myself and to you," she says in a continued attempt at reassurance, with her hand still placed comfortingly on his wrist.
He nods his head as her latest attempt at reassurance works and his nerves begin to simmer down once more."Thank you, Sarah," he replies as he then shifts his gaze to the direction of his watch.
"I should probably get started on dinner, it's already quite late" he then says, in an attempt to move on from what had just happened, and to perk up the mood of the couple.
"Ok," she agrees as she finally begins to let go of his wrist until they are separated once more.
Chuck then turns to his side and picks up the groceries he had purchased once more before moving to a different part of the kitchen as Sarah joins him.
"I tell you what, why don't you take a nice bath while I do the preparation and the cooking. The time will fly by. I don't know about you, but I'm hungry," he suggests with a smile.
He watches her smile in response ."I'm hungry too. But don't you want help?" she asks.
He shakes his head no before jokingly replying, "No, it's ok, really. Besides, you've never made it so you wouldn't know what to do."
She laughs briefly. "No, but I could learn and I want to help out," she says sincerely.
He smiles in response to hearing her sincerity and her invitation to help out. "Thank you for the invitation. But really, I'm fine," He stresses.
She nods her head in acceptance. "If you're sure,"
"I am," he quickly replies. "You really should relax and take a nice bath."
He watches as a mischievous smile forms on the face of his wife as he awaits in eager anticipation her obviously humorous response.
"Is this your way of saying I smell?" she asks eventually causing them to both snicker together.
He pauses for a moment, as he prepares his own humorous response.
"Deliciously? Why yes, you do smell deliciously," he jokes causing a beaming smile to form on the face of his wife.
"Oh, by the way, about that: I wasn't sure which washing soaps and gels were mine, and which were yours so I kind of just guessed," she informs him causing a brief chuckle from Chuck.
"Oh that was definitely yours. It's your favorite. But I love the smell of it on you too," he admits causing Sarah's loving smile to extend further.
"Yes, it's nice," she admits to him, before then moving into his proximity once more and he watches with great interest as his wife brings her head closer to his own causing a brief panic as he thinks for the briefest of moments that she's about to kiss him, until he watches as it turns and she starts to sniff his neckline slightly, putting the damper on those aforementioned thoughts.
On completing her mission, she backs back out of his proximity with a wide grin now formed on both the husband and wife.
"You don't smell so bad yourself by the way," she says to him on finishing her repositioning inside of their kitchen causing them both to laugh together once more.
"Heh, I'll smell of pepperoni by the time this is ready," Chuck says humorously which immediately causes a distasteful expression to form on the face of his wife, which furthers the smile on Chuck's face that has been present ever since they made up after their brief earlier misunderstanding.
"And on that note, I'm going to bathe!" she responds humorously, before turning and looking back at him occasionally as she walked off into the distance.
Chuck nods his head approvingly at her. "Ok, and take your time!" he shouts after her causing Sarah to freeze in place and turn to smile at him a final time, before disappearing from sight as she heads to bathe while he then begins dinner preparations…
A short while later…
Sarah is now presently inside of a lovely, warm, soapy relaxing bubble bath. Every inch of her body is relaxing and this is exactly what she needed to remove all of the built up tension and stress from her body. It's the first real time that she has relaxed in several weeks. Her husband had been entirely correct in his suggestion to take one to her, as he has been correct almost every time they had been together in the short time that she can remember being with him.
She had been inside the bath for a few minutes now as she moves to duck her head into the water. She stays in this position for a long moment until raising herself up slightly once more as she then begins to cough slightly to restore her airways as a wide, relaxed smile now forms as she now begins to pamper her skin up with lavender soap with the wet sponge. Sarah continues bathing herself for several minutes and she has now reached her long, golden legs and she is in the process of applying maintenance to her leg that is arched up into the air when she feels one almighty memory flash right before her eyes.
~~~ Sarah was sitting inside of a bathtub, in an almost identical position to the one that she was presently in. One of her legs was raised up into the air and she was bathing in soapy water, exactly how she is at this exact moment. Only something was different entirely, as Chuck was inside of the bathroom with her. He was wearing some orange, floral type shorts with a blue shirt and a beige suit jacket and they were locked in conversation together.
"Vegas… Vegas… What does a bachelor wear, in Vegas?" she hears her husband say.
"You're sure doing an awful lot of maintenance over there." she also hears him say.
"Oh I'm just reminding you of what you'll be missing out on in Vegas," she hears her response.
"Oh trust me, I'll remember..." she hears him say. ~~~
Was this a memory? Am I losing my mind and imagining things? No, this feels too real. It feels exactly the same as my memory of being in the Lotus with him when he defused the bomb. It feels exactly the same as my memory at my mom's where I remembered Chuck playing with Molly and thoughts about him being a great father to our children.
A huge rush of excitement, Adrenalin and anxiety immediately hits and begins to take hold of Sarah as if somebody has just thrown a brick right at her. She becomes instantly agitated as she tries to understand and make sense of the memory and piece together if it was actually even a memory that has just flashed right before her.
How do I know what's a memory and what is what I want to be a memory? Is my mind playing tricks on me? It flashed before me exactly like the others. I'm sure it was a memory…
"Chuck!" Sarah yells out to her husband suddenly in a high pitch loud enough for anybody in the whole apartment complex and probably all of Burbank to hear.
Sarah needs to get to the bottom of what has just happened inside of her mind immediately. She needs her husband's help to piece together if what she had just had is an actual memory or if it is her imagination and she can't wait a second longer and is about to call him again when the door comes flying open and her husband rushes and barges into the bathroom in a way that John Rambo would have been proud of.
Sarah doesn't even flinch or register that he is seeing her naked in the bathtub. Her subconscious state of mind is likely telling her it's completely normal and fine, or maybe she is just in too much of a frenzied state of mind to even register it.
"Sarah! Are you ok?!" he says as she watches him as he inspects her to make sure she's ok.
"I think I've just had a memory!" she shouts in her present frenzied, panicky, excited state of mind.
She watches as he then seems to visibly calm down likely due to him knowing she's safe and not in any present danger before he then moves to take a seat on the floor next to her.
"What was the memory?" he asks in a calm and composed manner which surprises her a little, as shes not sure how he can find his composure as she is certain that he is ridden with excitement right now just as she presently is.
"I was in the bath you were in the bathroom with me!" she states excitedly in a tone of voice as if she had just won a multi-milion jackpot.
She then watches as he coughs in slight embarrassment. "Um, that's kind of happened a lot," he admits causing Sarah to do a double take. Due to her frenzied state, that was the last thing she had expected to hear from him.
"Right..." she says on her brain registering that her husband is likely correct in that they had been in the bathroom at the same time together a lot.
"Is there anything else you can remember about it? So we can work out if it's a memory or not?"
Sarah pauses, as she contemplates her husband's question. "You were in shorts, I think? And we were talking about Vegas?" she elaborates the further information requested by Chuck.
She then watches her husband's face as he ponders the information provided to him for a brief moment until his face changes and his disorientation seems to clear and a wide grin begins to form.
"Ohhh, yeah! My stag party," he says excitedly.
Sarah does an instant double take and her jaw drops on Chuck telling her that his stag party had taken place in Las Vegas.
"You had your stag party in Vegas?" she asks as she quirks her eyebrows on finishing her question as her inner thoughts begin to hold an immediate inquisition into her husband's potential behaviour in the City of Sin.
What did he do in Vegas?
"Yeah," he admits, his wide grin of excitement over Sarah's new memory still ever present.
Sarah quirks her eyebrows one more.
"Did you do anything there that I should know about?" she asks, as a strange feeling of jealousy and a strong protectiveness begins to form over the possibility of other women being around him.
On hearing her response, she watches as her husband bursts into hysterical laughter.
The look on Sarah's face over her husband's outburst is a clear indicator that she is less than impressed. Her actions refine that point further still, as she reaches her hand deep into the bath until she finds the sponge she'd previously been pampering herself with. Taking a firm grip of the soaking wet and heavy sponge, she raises it up and proceeds to launch it in the direction of Chuck, and after a brief second, the sponge connects directly with the top of his head.
"Ow!" he screeches out in pain causing Sarah to snort briefly at the direct hit she had just landed.
"What the hell! Sarah, that hurt and now I'm soaking!" he complains as he raises his hands immediately to his head and attempts to rub the pain away while looking at his wife disgustedly for her actions to him.
"It will hurt a lot more if you don't tell me what happened in Vegas!" she retorts, the stern look on her face and the tone of her voice leaving no room for negotiation.
"Sarah, please allow me to explain the memory and hold off from the inquisitional death stares and the launching of objects at me for one second, ok?" he pleads.
"Make it quick, or else I'll find something else to throw!" she warns him in a deathly serious tone.
"Well um, you see, um," he pauses, now feeling evidently nervous over what his wife will do next "it didn't turn out to be actual Las Vegas. You know the place with the casino's, the hotels, that kind of thing..."
"You're pulling my leg. There's only one Vegas!" she interrupts as her eyes begin to glance for further weapons to launch at her husband if he's not telling her the truth and is being deceitful to hide something he may have possibly done in the city of sin.
"That's exactly what I thought!" He retorts and pauses briefly as the husband and wife stare into each others eyes "Which is why I was freaking out, as I'd never been to Vegas before, and still haven't fyi but this Vegas was actually Las Vecas national park, I swear on my life!"
Hmm, he seems to be telling the truth. I can tell by his body language. he is innocent. But I have never heard of this park.
"Ok, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," she concedes. "Tell me all about our story in that exact moment please."
Chuck nods his head and Sarah waits a short moment as he likely dips into his memory bank before he starts speaking to her again.
"Well um, obviously we were very close to getting married, otherwise it wouldn't have been my stag party, heh. But anyway, in this memory that you have just had about us, I was preparing to depart for my bachelor party orchestrated by Devon, the whole gang were excited for Vegas but like I said, it turned out that we ended up camping in Las Vecas, only it was short lived..."
"What happened to make it short lived?" she asks whilst continuing to fight hard to attempt to remember even more than she already had.
"Bad guys crashed the party, yours too actually, it was just one gigantic nightmare, which is kind of what usually happens to us whenever something is going great." he admits with a sad smile which she returns to him.
"Anyway, yea, so we end up camping which was kind of lame to be honest, as I really was looking forward to Vegas, heh," he pauses as he then starts to gulp on noticing the wide stare reemerge on his wife's face once more.
"But um, back on topic, the memory you had is very real, as real as you can get! I'm not sure how much you can remember but I was fretting over what to wear."
Sarah nods her head, as a smile forms on her face on discovering that she had, had another memory of her husband, and of their time spent together, and also another powerful one, as it had taken place just before their marriage.
"I remember that, I can remember you asking for guidance on what to wear," she then informs him causing a huge trademark Bartowski grin to form on his face.
"Heh, yeah turns out I didn't really need much guidance at all, as it was ruined by the bad guys that I mentioned, and plus the whole fact that it wasn't Vegas."
"Tell me about the bad guys and what happened at our two parties," she demands and he nods his head.
"Well basically, it all started when my sister, that's Ellie of course had access to my dad's computer. It was very powerful and contained vital information on the intersect. Oh, by the way, my dad invented the intersect."
"Your dad invented the intersect?" she interrupts him as a look of horror and shock forms on her face.
Chuck gulps on hearing his wife's question.
"Yeah, um, sorry about that. It's caused a lot of damage to a lot of people but it also has been a force of good many times also."
"But back to our pre-wedding parties?" she diverts the topic as right now her only concern is learning everything about the memory that had just taken place.
"Yeah, so anyway, bad guys working for Volkoff Industries find out the location of the laptop, which turned out to be at my stag party because Devon had mistakenly brought the laptop with him and they seek to acquire it for their own rogue interests. Our parties are ruined, I find out that Ellie had been lying to me. Anyway, we get through it and have our rehearsal dinner, only for you to become very sick as you had been poisoned and you almost died. It took the combined collective efforts of everybody you have met again thus far plus Carina and Zondra also just to save you from certain death. By the way, Carina's career in the DEA washed up after she helped you. I think it's best I tell you now that I have offered her a job with Morgan in recent days and we're just waiting to hear back from her," he informs her and refreshes his wife's suppressed memory.
Sarah takes a moment to process her husband's recollection of events that had previously occurred and she attempts to restore her composure as everything he had just said was a lot to sink in.
"Wow, when did I last see her?" she asks as her brain fights hard in search of the answer to that question herself.
Chuck then takes a moment to think before responding. "We saw her a few times after our wedding and spoke on the phone. It's been quite a while. I'm sure she'd love to see you but um, I should probably depart now and I'll give you some privacy because, you know," he pauses, as he extends out his arms until they're pointing at her in the bath and he begins to cough and that's when she realizes that she's naked in the bath with only bubbles surrounding her and Chuck is inside the bathroom with her and they aren't exactly intimate again yet...
"Oh!" she pauses in brief embarrassment.
How long have we been in here like this? How much of me has he seen?
"Right. Yeah, I didn't even think. Um, thank you," she manages to say, now feeling very flustered and is unable to make much eye contact with Chuck in embarrassment.
She watches as he begins to stand up from where he had been sitting on the floor of the bathroom. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner by the way, I just got so carried away talking to you. It didn't really register with me either." he admits.
Sarah smiles warmly. "Chuck, it's ok. I needed to know this. Thanks a lot. I'll be out soon. I don't think I'll be able to relax in here any longer after this memory. I need to get out and get my head around everything you've just told me," she admits.
Chuck nods his head as he backtracks towards the door slightly before stopping.
"Ok, I'll see you soon then," he then says.
"Yeah. See you soon," she replies as they smile at each other a final time, before Chuck then departs to give Sarah privacy once more.
On being alone inside the bathroom once more, a wide grin of happiness and contentment on Sarah's face forms. Her memories are slowly coming back to her. And she's having numerous of her husband. It gives her a newfound hope and determination that things will work out ok between them...
End of Chapter.
AN/ So then gang, I promised a year ago that this chapter would include Chicken Pepperoni and a Doctor's Appointment. But it just went on too long that I've decided to split it and include those two things in the following chapter.
So the upcoming chapter/s will include the following; Chicken Pepperoni, a Sarah and Morgan moment, a Doctor's Appointment for Sarah with a Buy More ballerina girl (very first episode of Chuck) esque moment and maybe a conversation between Sarah, Chuck, Molly and Emma if the chapter doesn't go on too long. We'll see. I could have included Chicken Pepperoni this chapter but I'm already at nearly 11,000 words and first I need to see if there's people still here to share the story with me after my absence :)
In closing, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, it may not have had chicken pepperoni but it contains a lot. If you could be absolute sweethearts and leave me a review, I will be eternally grateful. Thank you!