Chuck vs. The Courtyard Bench
Well, in the previous chapter: Jill arrived at Bash At The Bench much to the surprise of Chuck and Team Bartowski. She immediately got roasted in a different way as the show got underway. The courtyard crowd and the viewing online audience were introduced Jill who was going to donate for a worthy cause. Before she did, Jill was introduced to Jeffster and needless to say it was an interesting meeting. In any case, after some banter between Chuck and Jill, she would donate 5k. Unfortunately, she would be upstaged by a 10K donation by Cole Barker. This would eventually lead to the surprise guest that Jill never expected to see. It was her fiance, Guy LaFleur. Needless to say, the relationship between the two of them was over after Team Bartowski talked to LaFluer. That was the last time Jill and Cole were ever seen again. So, what happens in this chapter? Here are the who, what, where, when, why, how's? Who do Chuck and Bryce reference musically when Bryce described how his rehab with Hannah was going? What did Chuck think his former Stanford roommate expect from him after his action that involved Jill? Where does Chuck go after Bryce encouraged him to find Sarah? When exactly does Chuck realize that he's going to do something crazy? Why does everybody start freaking out while standing out in the courtyard? How does Morgan end up nearly ruining what Chuck had planned to ask Sarah? Read and find out! I hope you enjoy the read and leave a comment to share your own thoughts on this particular chapters. As always, reviews are awesome.
Again, if you enjoyed reading my stories and left a comment, I truly appreciate it. Please continue to do so as it gives me the incentive to write more chapters.
I don't own Chuck.
All You Need Is The Girl
XXX
It had been two and a half weeks since Bryce's knee surgery and he was determined to get full mobility and strength back. He knew it wasn't going to be easy since he suffered minor knee injuries in the past, but this time it was a major tear to his ACL. When it came to those minor knee injuries, he was able to bounce back and although he wasn't at 100%, he fought through the pain. Unfortunately, he couldn't fight through the major pain of a torn ACL and was forced to put his Olympic aspirations on hold until he's able to fully recover. Of course, with any injury he had to deal with the aftermath of post-surgery such as stiffness, discomfort, and pain, which were considered highly unpleasant experiences.
Fortunately for him, he's got Hannah Lang who was considered an outstanding physical therapist that not only promised, but guaranteed she'll get him back to running full speed. Speaking of Hannah Lang, she has successfully laid out rehabilitation treatment plans for her past clients. Each focused on different levels of exercises. Of course, she developed a 10 exercise stages for Bryce that concentrated on restoring balance, range-of-motion, enhanced strengthening exercises, etc. The first few days, she had Bryce start off with exercise stage #1, which was a simple light range of motion walking on the therapy treadmill. Nothing too strenuous.
Hannah avoided pushing him to reach the point of his personal pain threshold for the time being, until she felt he was ready, even though he wanted her to push him. It was considered a point of contention for the both of them at first, but they would eventually come to an understanding, knowing they needed to work with each other instead of against each other. After the first couple of days, Hannah took into consideration that there weren't any noticeable signs of a limp or had to use any devices that assisted him to keep from limping. So, Bryce got his wish and was moved on to exercise stage #2, which was the bilateral squat.
Bryce was up for the challenge, as he had to perform a squat to 90 degrees with less than 20% asymmetry between legs. He was instructed by Hannah to do 8-10 sets of the squats and then move on the stage #3 of the exercises, which is the single squat leg press. She wanted him to do 8-10 single leg repetitions on the legs press machine. Needless to say, the Stanford track star and Olympic athlete not only felt the burning sensation in his legs, but certainly in his knee as well, especially in his right. She had him do this at least 3 more times and kept a watchful eye on not only him and how much pain tolerance he endured, but on the strength of his right knee as well.
Afterwards, Bryce found himself lying looking up at the ceiling completely out of breath. He's covered in sweat after his physical therapist certainly put him through the wringer and wasn't going to be handling him with kid gloves by any stretch of the imagination. The latter part was Hannah's words verbatim, he thought to himself. In his mind, he wondered if this was karma that caught up to him for what he put Chuck through and, if so, it was considered a cruel punishment to have a beautiful woman be the cause of his pain. However, he accepted his penance knowing what he had to do in order to save Chuck, even if it meant completely severing a strong friendship between the two of them.
As he continued to lay there on the floor looking up at the ceiling lights sucking in air, an individual stepped into his line of sight. The individual in question is looking down on him and has a bit of a toothy smirk on his face.
Bryce shook his sweaty head and then spoke up. "I bet," He paused and exhaustively gulped in some air. Bryce laid there a few more seconds to gather himself then continued on. "I bet you're loving this," he added, completely spent from the first 3 exercises.
"A little," smiled the individual in the question.
Afterwards, both men heard the sound of a female voice, but the focus was one on the individual in question.
"What brings you to my domain, Chuck?"
"Him," he replied, pointing down to Bryce.
A few seconds later, Bryce saw Hannah and Chuck greeting each other face to face. They then turned their attention down to a man laying at their feet who looked and sounded like a beach whale that wanted to be taken out of his misery.
"Must be music to your ears, Hannah," said Chuck, with his trademark toothy smile. "These workouts you put together for him," he added, shaking his head.
"Torture is more like it," retorted Bryce. "It started out simple and easy like Olivia Newton John's "Let's Get Physical" and…"
"And by the end of it," Chuck chimed in, cutting off Bryce. "You feel like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana after surviving a brutal mosh pit Zumba class led by Hannah?"
Bryce doesn't say a word. Instead, he just nodded and breathed out an exhausted chuckle. Afterwards, the man determined to get his right knee back into Olympic fighting shape mustered all the strength he had and lifted his arm towards Chuck, but then directed it towards Hannah. Speaking of Hannah, what she received was Bryce flipping her off with the right index finger of his right hand. Undaunted, Bryce's intended target simply shook her head and simply smirked in response.
"Right back at ya, Bryce." Hannah didn't miss a step and flipped him back the bird. "Now get your ass up. You're stinking up my nice blue mats." Hannah walked off but not before she tossed Chuck a bottle of water.
"Not thirsty," Chuck declined, handing it back over to her.
"It's not for you, dork," she chuckled, tossing him another bottle of water. She then headed off towards her desk. "10-minute break, Bryce."
Afterwards, Chuck shook his head with amusement as Bryce's right arm dropped to the floor. He stood there for a moment as he and Hannah smiled at each other. He then directed his attention back to the man nearly passed out on the floor below him.
"Hey," Chuck bent down a bit. "You dead?"
A few seconds later, Bryce responded. He still had life left in him and used every bit of it. What did he do? He flipped Chuck off too with the right index finger of his right-hand inches away from Chuck's face. The nerd doesn't say a word. Instead, he straightened up to his full height. Once he did, Chuck reached down and grabbed Bryce's right hand and made sure to get a good grip. When he did, he then pulled Bryce up into a standing position and handed him the bottle of water that Hannah tossed over to him. Speaking of Hannah, she stood in sort of a flamingo stance with her right knee propped up on her desk chair. She heard the brief conversation going on between both men.
"Come on."
"You're going to kill me, aren't you? I'm dead already!"
"Glad I brought a shovel then? Man, you stink!"
Bryce mumbled something back incoherently. Hannah just shook her head, faintly smiled, and shook her head. She focused on the remaining rehab workout exercises she had planned on having Bryce do that were listed on her clipboard down on her desk.
XXX
Chuck and Bryce didn't go far to talk. They didn't even leave the therapy rehabilitation room located on the 4th floor of the Westside Medical Center. Both men stepped out into a medium sized terrace that overlooked the parking garage structure and the side street that led into the side entrance of the courtyard. As Chuck leaned over the rail and looked out off into horizon of the Los Angeles cityscape, Bryce sat down and continued to recover from his torturous ordeal that involved Hannah. After he poured the first bottle of water over his head and drank what little was left in the plastic bottle, he opened the other one and gulped it down the hallway before he lowered it.
"That hit the spot," Bryce sighed, with relieved satisfaction. He savored every moment of the sweet elixir of life. Afterwards, he lifted the half full bottle of water and placed it against his forehead to help cool him off. He then briefly closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he opened them and turned his attention to Chuck who stood by the rail. "What are you doing here?"
"Bash At The Bench tomorrow."
"Awesome," nodded Bryce. "Morgan?"
"Setting up and making preparations."
"Rockstar Rebel?"
"Special kid. 13-year-old girl."
"I'm sure whatever song you've chosen for her will have everybody in tears." After another pause and awkward silence between the two of them, he just blurted out a name, "Sarah?"
"In her office. I told her I was coming up here."
"Oh good," he replied. Bryce sat there not knowing what else to say or do. It got so awkward that he started lightly tapping the empty water bottle against the top of the terrace rail. A few seconds later, he shook his head and spoke up, "I heard about what happened with Jill."
There wasn't a response right away from Chuck. He stood there silently for a few seconds before he finally turned around and faced Bryce. Both men stared at each other before Chuck finally spoke up.
"Are you expecting a thank you? For your part in all this?"
"I don't," Bryce stopped mid-sentence after he attempted to stand up but failed. He sat there a moment and every fiber in his being successfully pushed himself up into a standing position. He gingerly moved his way toward the rail and leaned on it. As he stood there, he caught a soothing breeze that swept by the terrace, and he savored every second of it. Afterwards, he continued on with what he was going to say, "I wasn't, nor do I deserve a thank you, Chuck. I only did it to look out for you."
"By sleeping with her!?"
Bryce was momentarily silent before he responded back. "I figured you'd found the file I left for you and that would be my explanation."
"That didn't work out too well."
"No duh, McFly." Bryce retorted, shaking his head. Bryce took a swig of water from the almost empty 2nd bottle. After he finished off what remained inside the plastic bottle, he held it in both of his hands over the rail and stared at it for a few seconds.
In a way, the empty bottle represented so many things that involved his life, love, and relationships. When it came to his life, it was full but at the same time considered empty and fragile. It lacked any sort of solid depth to it and could easily be crumbled up if he didn't have anything to fill it with. Fortunately, his life was filled with training as he focused on the Olympics. He'd go over training videos of his past practices and competitions in order to get better. That was his life. Wake up, train, eat, sleep, and then repeat the process again the next day.
Although he dated countless girls during his time at Stanford, he never really was the type of guy who settled down and had a family. It wasn't that he wanted to settle down and set down roots in one place. Far from it. The fact was he was always considered a wild stallion and was born to run free. So, any female entanglements that had the potential to be serious were labeled distractions that kept him from achieving his primary objective. Those aforementioned entanglements were taken care of and ended after he hired Tommy Delgado as his manager and Alexander Winterborne as his Olympic trainer/coach. Both were part of the Fulcrum Management Team.
He recalled when he first met Tommy, he was about to enter the elevator he stepped out of. He resembled a live version of Scar, since the Disney character and his now manager had scars on their faces. Even though he lacked the voice of Jeremy Irons, Tommy shared something in common with the dastardly villain of the Lion King, which was his scary presence. As for his trainer/coach, Alex, he had that whole Lucifer from Supernatural vibe going for him, which made him such an intimidating figure that never lied or misled him. He stayed true to his word. Plus, he somehow had the ability to look into your soul, extract, and strip away any signs of doubt within yourself to get you confidently stronger in mind, body, and soul.
To him, what the empty plastic bottle mostly represented what it had been like for him these past few years. A lack of a strong, genuine, and stable friendship. His social life was sparse, especially in college. Sure, he was popular amongst the student body, but when it came to having that one true friend, he could only count them on just one hand. Unfortunately, when it came to his celebrity status, he's had trust issues of people wanting to get something out of their friendship with him. Chuck was the only guy who never wanted or expected anything in return except to be friends with him. Just two nerds nerding out on their love of video games, movies, music, etc.
Bryce's thoughts on what the empty water bottle represented are set aside as he lifted his head and looked out on the same horizon that Chuck did. As he did, another soothing breeze gave him momentary relief from all the sweaty perspiration that permeated all over him. Boy, do I need a shower. He shook his head and spoke up.
"Are you serious about Sarah?"
"Yeah," nodded Chuck. He turned his head to face Bryce. "I am. I know she's serious about me."
This time Bryce nodded. "I can tell by the way you smile when you say Sarah's name. It's different."
"Different?" responded Chuck, expressing a quizzical look on his face. "How?"
"It was far different than the way you smile talking about Jill. With her," Bryce paused. He took a moment and reflected back then gathered his thoughts before he continued on. "There was a sense of uncertainty hidden with your smile as you talked about your future together."
"And with Sarah?"
"You know you have a future with Sarah, and it shows in your smile that never goes away." Bryce noticed that smile gradually appearing. "Yeah, that's the one right there," he added, pointing to the smile on his face. There was a moment of shared silence between both men before Bryce continued on, "The big question is, Chuck, what are you going to do about it?"
Chuck let those words sink in. While he let them, someone else's words mentally resurfaced in his head. There's no such thing as a perfect moment or perfect spot. Forget about that, Bartowski. All you need is the girl. Those words were from Casey and with those combined together, it left an incredibly immense impact on him. So impactful in fact that he quickly exited the 4th floor terrace and entered Hannah's therapy rehab room. He was about to head out the door when Hannah stopped him after she saw Chuck suddenly run into the room in a hurry.
"Where are you off to in such a rush, Chuckles?"
The nerd was about to respond, when a visibly tired and sweaty Bryce finally entered the rehab room. "Why are you stopping? Run, Chuck! Run!"
No words were exchanged as Chuck expressed his toothy smile towards not only Bryce, but to Hannah as well. Both individuals watched as Chuck disappeared out of sight within a blink of any eye. A confused and perplexed Hannah spoke up.
"What's going on, Bryce?" Her client turned to look at her and smiled.
XXX
Chuck shot out of the stairwell into the 3rd floor hallway, nearly crashing into a few people that were walking by. Fortunately, he avoided a major catastrophe as he momentarily stopped, then headed directly for Sarah's office. He didn't use the elevator because it took too long. He was tremendously anxious and impatient so he made his way towards the nearest stairwell, dashing down the stairs as quickly as he could. At the same time, he made sure he was careful not to trip and end up severely injured.
Fortunately, he made it down safely, and by the time he shot into the 3rd floor hallway word was slowly but surely spreading thanks to Hannah. Granted, her reach and network weren't similar to the scale that Alex had, but it reached a certain number of individuals who were made fully aware of what was about to happen. As the nerd passed several nurses, doctors, and people working in their offices on his way to Sarah's office, they immediately reacted to the exciting news as they turned their attention to a Chuck who was completely unaware that all eyes were on him.
Speaking of Chuck, he carefully zig zagged and maneuvered his way through hallways of the 3rd floor, doing his best not to accidentally hit anyone in order to reach his intended location.
Although it seemed like forever to get there for the nerd, he finally reached Sarah's office. He took a moment and stood there in front of her door. Chuck calmly composed himself before he reached down for the office door handle to open it, but never pushed it down. Instead, he let his hand rest there for a moment. As much as Casey told him to forget about the perfect moment, he wanted the moment leading up to it to at least be memorable without any mistakes made whatsoever.
In any case, felt as if he was being watched and it caused him to look behind him. When he did, he saw a number of nurses and doctors smiling at him then talking amongst themselves. The people who were working in their offices had their heads stuck out of their doorway smiling at him as well.
Instead of wondering why everybody was focused on him, he directed his focus on what he intended to ask Sarah. After he took a deep breath, he pressed down on the office door handle with his right hand then opened it.
"Sarah!" he called out. A wide toothy smile from ear to ear expressed on his face.
The nerdy boyfriend was halfway in Sarah's office before he stopped and noticed she wasn't in there. His smile suddenly disappeared and was replaced with a disappointed look. Afterwards, he shook his head while he did a 360 degree turn around the office. Chuck placed both hands on the side of hips and hung his head. It only lasted for a few seconds before he suddenly lifted his head and then turned it to face the bathroom. It was the next place he believed Sarah was in.
Chuck was considerably exuberant as he quickly shuffled over, then planted himself in front of the bathroom door. He reached for the door handle and was about to open the door. However, he stopped himself and, as a proper protocol dictated, he knocked, but with more urgency behind it.
"Sarah, you in there?" he called out once again. His left ear pressed against the door and listened closely for her to respond.
After there wasn't any response from his nerdy girlfriend, he opened it and stepped inside. It was dark, but it didn't last long as the light was turned on. A few seconds later, Chuck stepped out of the bathroom but not before turning off the light, because nobody was in there. It wasn't long before Chuck took out his iPhone and called Sarah. Fortunately for him, she picked up right away.
"Hey, babe, what's…"
Sarah wasn't even finished with her sentence when Chuck quickly cut her off. "Sarah, where are you!?"
"In the courtyard. Why?"
After Chuck heard that, he immediately turned his attention to the larger windows to his right that overlooked the courtyard. He quickly ended the call that he had with Sarah and made his way there in a matter of seconds. The youngest Bartowski sibling nearly made a costly mistake that could have knocked himself out on the floor and would have completely derailed his main objective. Essentially, when he reached the window, he lowered his head a bit and hit his forehead against the large pane of glass. It caused him to be temporarily disoriented, but he shook those mental cobwebs out and recovered quickly.
Chuck stepped forward once again and looked out the window down at the courtyard. What he saw was a perplexed and confused Sarah standing next to Morgan. His attention then turned to Chief Beckman who was being talked to death by Emmitt Milbarge. As for Casey, he and his security team were scattered about the courtyard as they were making sure the stages were set up correctly. Chuck briefly watched Sarah and Morgan talking to each other, then peered down and saw what looked like a window washing scaffold situation just underneath Sarah's window. The next thing he saw was the window latch that opened one of Sarah's windows. At that moment he decided what he was going to do, which was something absolutely crazy.
XXX
"What did Chuck want?" Morgan asked, standing next to Sarah.
"I don't know," she answered, shaking her head completely baffled.
After she said that, Morgan's phone started to ring, and he answered since it was Alex on the other end.
"Hey Alex…"
Just like Sarah, he was cut off instantly. Apparently, the conversation was short and to the point because the phone call conversation was over. A wide smile appeared on his face afterwards and he was about to face Sarah when he suddenly heard Sarah's name being called out.
"SARAH!"
"Chuck!?"
Morgan, along with Emmitt, Chief Beckman, Casey, his security team and those authorized to be in the courtyard were in absolute disbelief at what they were witnessing. Each one of them saw Chuck emerge from out of Sarah's office window and then dropped down to the window washing scaffold below, which looked to be at least 6 or 7 feet. When he landed, the impact made a noise that briefly reverberated within the courtyard. It all caused everybody including Sarah to be very concerned at the risky stunt that he was attempting to pull off.
"Are you crazy!?" she shouted out. Sarah was underneath the window scaffold, but a few feet back for her own safety if the scaffold collapsed with Chuck still on it, which she hoped didn't happen.
"I think what Chuck is doing is ill-advised," Chief Beckman bellowed. Casey stood there behind his boss, thoroughly amused and entertained by the stupid spectacle that was Chuck Bartowski.
"Bartowski has lost his damn mind, Chief!" spouted Emmitt. "The hospital could face a potential fine or lawsuit with his ineptitude," added the hospital's weasel attorney.
Chief Beckman was about to respond back when she heard Chuck's voice again. Her attention returned to the window scaffold.
"Don't worry," shouted Chuck again. His attention on Sarah 2 floors below him was turned to the control mechanism that lowered and raised the window scaffold. He quickly and carefully side stepped his way toward the control switch located to his right. After he reached the location, it took him a second to figure out the controls. Afterwards, he lifted up the control switch with his left hand in the air for Sarah to see. "I got it!"
Chuck pressed the button and was 100% sure it was the button that lowered the window scaffold. It was moving all right. It was moving in the wrong direction. The scaffold was moving up, which caused the nerd to let go of the button. Once it stopped, he looked at the control switch and chuckled a bit. He then looked down at Sarah and pointed at it.
"I had it upside down." He pressed the button again and it finally headed in the right direction, which was down.
After he said that, Chuck heard his full name being called out.
"CHARLES IRVING BARTOWSKI!"
The youngest Bartowski sibling instantly knew who called out his full name. "Oh, hey, Ellie." He waved as if he reverted back to that little kid that got in trouble with his older sister.
"Don't 'Hey, Ellie' me, little brother," Ellie angrily shot back. A mixture of fear, worry, and concern in the sound of her voice. "What made you think to even do this!?"
Chuck was about to answer when he saw someone else's head popped out from another open window from Sarah's office. "Hey, bro."
"Awesome," Chuck paused for a brief second before he continued on. "To see you, Devon. How did you even know I was out here?"
"Most of the hospital knows, Chuck," answered Devon. "Plus, Morgan is live streaming this whole thing on your YouTube channel." His attention on the awesome surgeon above him is directed at Morgan with his iPhone pointed straight at him.
"Morgan!?" the nerd hollered out.
"We're all rooting for ya, Chuck!" Chuck's bearded best friend shouted back. "Just don't die." he faintly muttered out, under his breath. He then briefly switched the view to face him. "Isn't that right, Bartowski Brigade?" Afterwards, he returned the view back to where Chuck was currently located.
Speaking of Chuck, his attention on Morgan is directed back up at Devon. "Good luck by the way, bro. You're awesome!"
"Devon! You're not helping!" responded a very concerned Ellie. She pointed at Devon to talk inside. A few seconds later, Chuck faintly heard the conversation between husband and wife from inside Sarah's open office window.
"I can't believe you, Devon."
"Come on, Babe. It's not every day…"
As Devon and Ellie were having a discussion between the two of them, Chuck pressed the button again. It started to lower again but as it lowered there was something significantly different. The difference was the right side that people in the courtyard saw from where they stood started to slowly lower down while the left side remained stationary. The good news was the window scaffold was just above the second-floor window as the right side was lowering more and more. The somewhat steep slope that resulted, because of the right side significantly lowering, caused incredible difficulty for Chuck to remain firm footed.
What happened next was Chuck slipped and ended up on his back. He clung to life holding the control switch, but because gravity was already working against him. While he continued to desperately hold on, he knew he was losing his grip on the control switch until he couldn't any longer. He lost his grip and slid down the flat surface of the window scaffold at a seemingly fast rate. So fast that there wasn't any time to actually reach out and grab the side rails of the scaffold.
Before Chuck realized it, he slid off the window scaffold and fully expected to hit the ground. So, he closed his eyes tightly and braced for impact. The sound of frantic screaming echoed within the courtyard. Unfortunately, he didn't, and the reason Chuck didn't get severely injured was because of John Casey. The hulking head of security caught Chuck, which the nerd realized after he didn't end up hitting the ground hard. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the face of the man who saved him.
"Casey, you caught me when I nearly fell to my death!?" He expressed a grateful and appreciative smile towards his savior. "I love you, big guy," he added, going in for a hug. He thought about kissing him on his forehead but decided not to for his own safety, health, and well-being.
"Keep it in your pants, Bartowski," growled Casey. The sound of disgust in his voice. "It was only 2 stories high, moron." Casey let go of Chuck and, fortunately for the nerd, he landed on his feet. As for the hospital's head of security, he walked off and shook his head. The following four words fainted under his breath: "I need a drink."
"For you maybe," retorted Chuck, shaking his head. He briefly looked up and mentally acknowledged what Casey said was actually right. In his mind, it looked higher from his perspective.
Chuck was about to continue on after he took a quick physical assessment but was suddenly enveloped with a tight embrace by Sarah. The nerdy couple shared a hug, but it only lasted a brief moment. The touching moment was suddenly replaced with Sarah slapping Chuck repeatedly in his left arm and everywhere else on his upper torso.
"What were you thinking!? You could have gotten yourself killed!" Sarah cried out, nearly shedding tears in the process.
It took a while for Sarah to calm down and when she did Chuck hugged her once again. This time the hug lasted longer. As the couple were locked in a hug, Ellie and Devon finally appeared in the courtyard and the eldest Bartowski sibling was able to give an older sister tongue lashing to her younger brother, when Devon stopped her. They weren't the only ones who joined in to witness the special occasion, as a number of the kids from the pediatric wing came rushing out with a handful of nurses that included Alex. They all watched as the hug shared between Chuck and Sarah was eventually over. The event that unfolded next left everybody captivated as Chuck escorted Sarah to where they first met.
A mixture of bewildered confusion was expressed on Sarah's face. "What's going on Chuck? Other than giving me a heart attack,." she shared, placing both hands against her chest. Her pulse raced, nerves shot and the adrenaline that she built up started to wear off.
"You and I met for the very first time here in front of this bench." Chuck turned his head and tilted it towards the blue courtyard bench. "What we both didn't know was that it would change the course of both our lives forever. Before I met you, I felt like I lost myself emotionally and…"
As Chuck continued to talk, it suddenly dawned on Sarah what Chuck was about to do. That's when the tears started to form in her eyes and flow down her cheeks. It's a sight that didn't go unnoticed by everybody who was witnessing the special occasion, with the exception of Emmitt Milbarge. He was cursing under his breath, while he stood back in tortured silence. In any case, it felt so surreal as he attempted to look around but failed miserably. Her focus remained on Chuck and only her Chuck.
"I actually bought a ring, but I don't have it on me!"
"It's ok," she faintly breathed out.
That's when Morgan's voice was suddenly heard, and his presence was made known. "Wait!" his voice echoed within the courtyard for a brief moment or two.
Everybody groaned because it felt like the moment was ruined by Morgan Grimes. Speaking of Morgan, he suddenly shuffled over and handed his iPhone to Chief Beckman of all people. "Just hold it right there and I'll be right back." Beckman begrudgingly complied as she awkwardly stood there holding Morgan's iPhone that was at the moment going live on their YouTube channel. After everybody seemed like they were waiting there forever, Morgan finally reappeared with a box and stood in front of Chuck.
"How?"
"I secretly take it with me and put it in my bag whenever you and I go places. I'm always prepared just in case," Morgan explained, handing over the ring box to Chuck.
Chuck took the ring box and smiled at his bearded best friend. "Thanks, buddy."
With the ring box in hand, Chuck turned his attention back to Sarah who was already a blubbering mess. She patiently waited for her nerdy boyfriend to propose and now it was happening. She was most definitely freaking out on the inside. Unfortunately, the moment was interrupted by Morgan again.
"Is it too late to talk about me being the best man?"
As soon as Morgan asked that question, everybody in the courtyard yelled at him including Casey who threatened to throw him in a deep dark hole. Morgan quickly backed off and retrieved his iPhone from Chief Beckman. The Chief Administrator of Westside Medical Center, along with everybody in the hospital that were either watching on their phones, stuck their heads out of the windows, stood out on their office terraces, and/or watched via the YouTube channel, emotionally witnessed Chuck Bartowski about to express his love in a big way to Sarah Walker.
"Sarah Walker," Chuck couldn't hold back his own tears any longer. "Would you do me the honor of taking this ring?" He then opened the ring box, bent the knee, and offered it to Sarah. "Will you marry me?"
Although Sarah had her mouth and part of her face covered, everybody knew her answered when she nodded yes. Afterwards, Chuck removed the ring from the ring box and placed it on Sarah's finger. He then popped up into a standing position and enveloped his now fiancé into a tight embrace. Chuck and Sarah were now an engaged couple! A celebration erupted, not just in the courtyard and in the hospital, but online as well, especially on their YoutTube channel. A new journey was going to start for the nerdy couple who ventured onto the next step of saying their "I do's," which was planning the wedding.
XXX
NOTE: So what did you think of how Chuck's proposal went down? I didn't want to make easy for him and it actually fits with how it could have gone down on the show. There was actually an idea I had where Chuck and Sarah had argument hours before Bash At The Bench that involved Cole. He'd be on stage about to sing the dedication song. Sarah wasn't at her usual spot by the video camera and was in her office. Chuck came to his senses and called out to Sarah from the stage up to her office. Long story short, he jumped off stage, ran through the crowd and headed to her office. Morgan right on his tail in hot pursuit live streaming the whole thing on his phone. He stumbles a bit eventually getting to Sarah's office but gets there in time to catch Chuck proposing to her. Anyways, that was my 1st idea, but I think the other idea worked better. As always, leave a review and share your thoughts on the ending to the 3rd arc of the story. Tip of the hat to NEVR for doing the beta!