A/N: Numbers reading this story are still dropping - soon it'll just be me! Anyway, thanks to those that are still with me on this ride, and particularly those that left reviews, or comments against my Chuck Fanfiction Facebook post.

Thanks to MicroGirl1225 for pre-reading the chapter. Much appreciated.

This is the first chapter of the second arc, mostly Chuck adapting to his new existence, back on his home planet.

Far Distant Chuck

Chapter 6

Chuck sat morosely staring at his hands on the surface on the table in front of him on the spacecraft that returned him to Paldane.

He had managed to catch Sarah before he left, but the goodbyes just left him feeling hollow.

It was like a part of him had been scooped out, leaving a void behind.

Sarah was not the woman he'd spent time with, when they were on their own. She was formal and her responses were clipped. What was worse, the embrace and kiss he wanted to give her was substituted with an arm clasp, just like when they first met.

He was sure that if they'd managed to get away from everyone, it would've been different, but maybe he was fooling himself. He knew he'd fallen for her, and thought that she had feelings for him, too, but that may have just been in his head.

So now he was returning to his home world, missing her and wishing he'd just blurted out his feelings for her. It would've backfired, of course, when she rebutted him, but at least he would have shared his thoughts and, maybe, planted a seed in her head.

What he now faced was the extremely grumpy John Casey who was being ordered to take him in and protect him. That really wasn't going to go well.

Would Casey take orders now that he had retired? Would he even have a room for Chuck to occupy, and then let him?

There were even questions about himself. How was Chuck even going to be able to pay for his lodging and any food consumed? Would he be allowed to continue his studies? If not, what would he do?

Something that Chuck wanted to do was delve further into the Intersect system and make sense of it. Maybe even work out how to modify it.

Of course, there was still the search for his sister. That quest hadn't gone away.

As he left the shuttle that had taken him down to the spaceport, Chuck soon found himself looking at the grizzled face of John Casey. The scowl spoke volumes about how his arrival was viewed.

Casey didn't offer to clasp arms, nor did he greet Chuck, other than to look at him and grunt. He just turned and walked away. Chuck assumed he was to follow, so he did.

Chuck felt that he should say something, though. "Thank you for agreeing to let me stay with you."

Casey halted and glared at him. "No choice," he grumbled and then continued to walk.

Chuck was sure that Casey could've refused but he wasn't going to annoy him anymore by asking.

So, he silently followed Casey to his flier. When he saw it, he remembered his own, his only possession here.

"My flier must be at the farm," he said.

"Unlikely," Casey muttered.

Chuck shot him a surprised look. "What?"

"If the Republican Guard didn't take it for checking, the Scavenars would've got it." The damned Scavenars were always travelling around looking for anything they could salvage and sell. They were basically scavengers, a word so similar to their name.

"It's all I have," Chuck said, trying to hold back the tears.

"We'll go to the pound tomorrow, see if it's there," Casey replied. The first gesture of kindness from him.

Of course, Chuck didn't just accept that and, as they climbed into the flier, said, "Can't we go there now?"

"No."

As he stewed over that, Chuck realized that he had been ungrateful. He sighed. "Thank you, Casey."

That just got a grunt and they traveled in silence after that. It wasn't a comfortable silence, which took Chuck back to the times when he and Sarah sat quietly together. He had enjoyed that. Of course, remembering her brought sadness with it.

As they approached Casey's place, Chuck was struck by how unlike it was to his uncle's.

The six-foot walls surrounding it were only part of the military fortification. A force-field glimmered in the sunshine, providing an arc over the top of that circular wall.

Casey deactivated the field as they settled down into the courtyard within, next to two smaller fliers.

Chuck looked at Casey when he saw those. "Wife and daughter's," he stated.

Chuck hadn't known that Casey had a daughter. "What are their names?"

"Kathleen and Alexandra," he replied.

Casey looked hard at him. "Alexandra is not for you."

Chuck glared back. "I'm not interested in any girl on this planet."

Casey raised an eyebrow. "You found someone off-planet? You weren't gone that long."

Chuck looked away. "I don't want to talk about it," he snapped.

Casey grunted. "Good." He climbed out of the flier Chuck did too and looked around.

Off to his right was the main building and a smaller one stood off to the left. Both were two-stories high.

"Set up a room for you in there," Casey said, pointing at the small building. The way he said it, Chuck took it to be an instruction.

"Any room?" Chuck asked.

Casey stared at him for a moment. "Kathleen set up a room for you," he said, emphasizing his wife's name. "Top floor on the right, but don't go there yet. You need to see where else you can go." The implication that he couldn't go just anywhere was clear.

Chuck followed him into the main building and soon learned that all of the first floor was all available to him. The basement only if he was with Casey, and the top floor, not at all.

As they moved into the living room, a beautiful woman about Casey's age walked in. "You must be Chuck. I'm Kathleen," she said, and opened her arms.

Chuck hadn't expected such friendliness, but allowed Kathleen to embrace him. As she pulled away, she said, "I never knew your aunt and uncle, but heard that they were good people. I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Kathleen."

She looked at her husband and frowned. "You haven't made him a drink, have you, John?"

It was the first time Chuck had seen Casey anything other than gruff. "We've only just arrived!"

Kathleen grunted, just like he did, and looked at Chuck. "What would you like?"

Chuck had no idea what was available, but went for what he needed. "Just some water, please."

He sat down where Casey pointed and the man started to tell him how things would go. "First of all, if I'm to keep you safe, you can't leave here unless with me."

Chuck had expected this, but it was still unpleasant to hear.

"So, I'm basically a prisoner here," Chuck muttered petulantly. He knew that was being ungrateful, but it was how it felt.

"How do you think you can be kept safe unless you are out of sight or escorted?" snapped Casey.

Chuck didn't have an answer to that. He knew Casey was right, but it didn't feel good. He just sat sullenly, saying nothing.

Kathleen walked in and placed a glass of water in front of Chuck. She sat by her husband and held his hand. "Chuck, Casey's right and he's being expected to protect you. If you go wandering off, he can't do that.."

"I know," Chuck muttered. "But you can't expect me to be happy about it."

Casey was about to say something, but stopped when Kathleen squeezed his hand. "We aren't either. We didn't ask for this, you know," she said quietly.

Knowing he was unfairly blaming them was bad, but what she said brought it home to him. He sighed. "I'm sorry you both got dragged into this."

"You'll do all of your college schooling remotely from now on," Kathleen said.

Chuck hadn't thought about that, but she was right. However, there was a problem. "My datapad was in my flier. All my college work was on that." He heard Casey groan.

"And where is your flier?" Kathleen asked.

"Hopefully at the Republican Guard pound that Casey is going to take me to," Chuck replied.

She looked at her husband. "It was at the farm," he told her.

"Oh."

"I won't be able to do anything without my datapad."

"Don't you have it backed up?" a female voice asked.

Chuck turned to see a pretty teenager walking into the room. Of course he had it backed up, but he wanted his own datapad. He just nodded.

"So, burn another if you can't retrieve that one," she said, and then gave him a quick wave. "Hi, I'm Alex. I'm also sometimes a prisoner here."

Chuck grinned. He liked her and the fact that she'd listened in before entering and seemed to be baiting her dad. "Hi, I'm Chuck."

"I guessed," she replied and sat next to her mom, with her ankles tucked under her thighs. "So, you're the guy that's hiding from evil men, huh?"

He shrugged.

"No telling anyone where you are, obviously," Casey said, getting them back onto what was going to happen.

"I realized that," Chuck commented. Then, he had a thought. "Apart from anyone that already knows."

"And who knows?" Kathleen asked.

"The Republican Council at least," Chuck replied.

Casey scoffed. "They won't talk to you."

Chuck wasn't thinking of them, of course. "There's also Captain Walker."

Mother and daughter looked sharply at him and he guessed that his tone gave away more than he wanted.

Casey obviously noticed, too, and he groaned. "The girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend," Chuck replied stiffly.

"But she means something to you," Alex said, her eyes sparkling.

"That's none of our business," Kathleen said forcefully to her daughter.

"I'll probably never see her again," Chuck stated. "Nor can I contact her, but I would respond if she wanted to talk about what we saw together."

That got Alex another sharp look from her mother. "Again, none of our business."

Alex pouted, but looked at Chuck. "Would you mind telling me her name?"

He smiled. "Sarah."

Again, his tone and probably his expression spoke volumes. Alex looked sadly at him. "Got it bad, huh?"

"Alex!" her mother snapped at her.

Chuck didn't want her getting in trouble. He replied, even though he didn't want to focus his thoughts on the woman he was missing. "You might be right."

"That's enough talk about the captain," Casey said. "Tomorrow morning, we'll go to the pound and see if the flier is there."

"And his datapad," Alex added. Casey just glared at her.

The conversation drifted into more mundane things like the living arrangements, and meal times etc.

Chuck had stayed with them, and helped with preparing their dinner.

He'd told them about what they'd grown on his uncle and aunt's farm and wasn't surprised that this family ate very similar meals.

So, it was evening when he finally got to walk over to the other building. Alex went with him and showed Chuck his room.

"You'll need more than the clothes the guard gave you," she said. Chuck hadn't thought about that, "Mom will help," she added.

"I hope they're getting paid for all this," he replied.

"Oh, they are," she said.

Just before she left him, she placed her hand on his arm. "Don't give up on seeing Sarah again."

That drew a wistful smile to his face. "I see her every night in my dreams," he admitted. Then he wondered why he'd told this teenager that. "But meeting her again is very unlikely."

"Mom never thought she'd see Dad again after he joined up and disappeared off to the war. He came back, though."

Chuck smiled at the thought of Sarah doing that for him, but they'd never been in a relationship so it didn't seem even remotely possible. He wasn't going to debate it, though. "Maybe I should hold onto some hope, then?"

She nodded. "Hope is what keeps the world turning." She smiled. "Good night, Chuck."

"Good night, Alex," he said as she walked away.

He knew a certain blonde beauty was going to occupy his dreams again that night.

The following morning, after breakfast, Casey flew Chuck to the Republican Guard pound.

It took an hour to finally get to someone senior enough to be willing to listen to Chuck's request and that was only because Casey got fed up of waiting in his flier.

"I can't just release it without authorization from the investigating officer," Captain Phillips replied.

"And who's that?" snarled Casey.

Phillips checked his records. "It's a Captain Walker."

Chuck's heart started beating fast.

"Well, contact her!" Casey demanded.

The captain walked off to do that and after a few moments came back, looking surprised. He activated his computer and looked at Chuck. "She authorized the release, but wanted to talk to you, as well." He twisted his monitor around to face Chuck and Sarah's smiling visage appeared on the screen.

"Sarah!" he gasped.

Her smile disappeared and she frowned at him. "Captain Walker, please."

He realized his mistake, but noticed the twinkling in her eyes. She wasn't really upset with him. He straightened and said, "It's good to see you… Captain."

She smiled again. "Good to see you, too, Chuck."

"Oh, so I have to call you Captain, but you can just call me Chuck?"

She leaned closer to the screen and grinned. "Correct."

"I don't suppose you can tell me where you are," he said.

"Somewhere in the galaxy," she replied.

He laughed and she grinned again. "Thanks for letting me have my flier back."

"If it hadn't been taken, it would've been in the Scavenars' hands by now," she replied.

"I'm hoping my datapad is still on board." She narrowed her eyes, so he added, "For my college work."

She nodded, but leaned closer again, smile-free. "Don't do anything dangerous, Chuck."

He knew she meant his investigations. "I have to do my studies," he replied.

He was sure she knew he meant college work and Intersect studies. She just looked at him for a moment. "They'll hand over the datapad. I authorized that, too. Be careful, Chuck. You don't want to draw undesirable attention."

She was being serious, but just hearing her voice and seeing her was wonderful. He had to get away from the heavy discussion. "It's so good to see and hear you, Captain."

Her smile came back, but with a hint of sadness. He thought she might say the same, but then her lips twisted into a crooked smile. "Missing me?" she teased.

"Very much," he honestly replied.

She had obviously expected him to joke back, and her smile faltered. "Sorry," she quietly replied. He heard voices in her background. "I have to go," she said. "Good luck... and be careful, Chuck."

He didn't get the chance to say anything else before the screen blanked.

The on-site captain had left them to collect Chuck's keys and returned with them. He also handed Chuck his datapad. "That was all that they found in it. We didn't try accessing it without Captain Walker's authority."

Chuck had to stop himself grinning. They wouldn't have been able to access it anyway. "Thank you," he said.

Casey left him at that point and Chuck received directions to his flier.

Soon, he was heading back, just behind Casey's flier. The home wouldn't feel like a prison now. He was going to start his Intersect investigations and restart his search for his sister. He had purpose and Casey's home was as good a place for that as any.

Besides, the very brief conversation with the lovely Sarah Walker had significantly brightened his day.

A/N: So, Chuck is back on his home planet, but has still had contact with Sarah.

I would really appreciate a review, if only to reassure me that the story is liked or not. Reviews are very important to us writers.