Chapter 17
Song Recommendation – I Want to Know What Love Is – Foreigner
A/N1 –There is some brief adult, but not explicit, content in the second half of this chapter (it is clearly marked); some might consider it T plus (+). This is the only T plus (+) portion of this story, so you can read the rest if you don’t want to read the T plus (+) portion of this chapter.
I thought it was needed after all of the angst and everything else that Chuck and especially Sarah had been through in this story.
A/N2 – Thanks to my pre-reader. Kookykrumbs gave me some great feedback on the entire story. It helped a ton to get feedback from a woman’s point of view, so much so that I added six more chapters because she made me do it. If you like the story, it’s largely because of her. If you hate the story, then it’s my fault.
A/N3 – For all of the Charah fans out there, which is probably 99% of us, this makes up for the whole Lou Palone arc, but the whole Lou arc gave Sarah time to get in touch with her true feelings for Chuck and admit them out loud, which didn’t happen in canon because Lou was written out after only two episodes.
Disclaimer – Unfortunately, I don’t own Chuck.
Chapter 17 – Sanctuary
Burbank, CA
A few weeks later, they had spent an entire day wandering through bookstores, sharing lunch at a small café, and laughing over how surprisingly competitive Sarah had become at miniature golf. It had been another wonderfully ordinary day, exactly the kind of day neither of them had experienced together before.
Their dates were beginning to develop a rhythm of their own. Simple plans, unexpected detours, and long conversations that had nothing to do with intelligence work. Each one gave them another piece of the ordinary life they had once thought impossible.
By the time the evening came to an end, neither Chuck nor Sarah was eager to say goodnight. Chuck had learned that saying goodnight no longer felt like ending a mission. It meant walking away from Sarah when neither of them wanted the evening to be over.
Chuck walked with Sarah to her Porsche 911 outside the miniature golf course, expecting that the evening was coming to an end. Instead, Sarah remained standing beside the driver’s door, her fingers resting lightly on the handle. She looked at him with a small, almost shy smile.
“You know,” she said quietly, “I…I don’t have to take you home yet.”
Chuck looked up. “You don’t?”
She shook her head. “I’d like you to come back with me.”
His eyebrows lifted in pleasant surprise. “To your apartment?”
Sarah held his gaze. “Only if this is what you want, too.”
Chuck hesitated for just a moment, studying her face. He wanted to be certain; not because he doubted Sarah, but because this mattered too much to him to misunderstand. He had spent years afraid of crossing a line she hadn’t invited him to cross.
“Sarah… are you sure? I don’t want you to feel like you have to rush anything. This isn’t a one-night stand for me.”
Sarah met his eyes without looking away. “I’m sure. It’s not a one-night thing for me either.” She smiled softly. “This isn’t about rushing. It’s about not pretending to anyone anymore.”
Chuck felt something settle in his chest. For years, pretending had been necessary. Tonight, honesty was enough. He squeezed her hand, quietly grateful that Sarah had chosen to trust him with something this important.
Chuck felt the last of his uncertainty disappear. “I just wanted to be certain we’re both doing this because it’s what we want.”
Sarah reached for his hand, her fingers slipping naturally between his. “We are.”
Chuck smiled. “OK, in that case I’d like that.”
Sarah smiled back. Neither of them said anything for a moment. They didn’t need to. The decision had already been made, and for once it didn’t come from an order, an assignment, or a cover story.
A short drive later, they stepped into the lobby of the Maison23. Chuck noticed how different the familiar building felt tonight. He had been inside Sarah’s world before, but usually with a mission waiting at the other end of the elevator ride. Tonight was different. There was no cover story, no CIA or NSA business, and finally no urgency. There was nowhere they had to be except together.
Sarah switched on a few lamps, filling the emerald green apartment with a warm golden light. For a moment, they stood together. This wasn’t a safe house. This wasn’t an assignment. It was home.
Sarah looked around the apartment as if seeing it differently herself. For years it had been a place to sleep between assignments. Tonight, she was inviting Chuck into the part of her life that existed when no one was watching.
Sarah slipped off her shoes and laughed softly. “I guess this is the first time I’ve actually invited you over without there being a mission involved.”
Chuck looked around with an easy smile. “I was just thinking that as well.”
Sarah smiled. “You know what I liked about tonight?”
Chuck looked at her. “What?”
“Nobody needs anything from us.”
XXXX
She watched him take in the room. He wasn’t searching for spy equipment; instead, he was looking at the framed photograph of her mother and her when she was younger, the bookshelf with a handful of books and a seashell he had given her during a mission. There was a soft throw blanket folded over the couch.
He was getting to know her, the real Sarah. That realization made her happy.
He didn’t ask questions she wasn’t ready to answer. He noticed the small details, and Sarah realized that was one of the things she trusted most about him.
Sarah said. “I want you to spend the night here, but only if you want to.”
There was no hesitation in her expression now. Only trust. Chuck recognized the importance of that trust. Sarah had spent most of her life keeping people at a distance. The fact that she wanted him to stay was more intimate than any grand declaration could have been.
Chuck’s frantic searching stopped; he was no longer panicking or freaking out. It was replaced by a warm smile. “OK, I’d like that.”
Sarah crossed the room until she stood in front of him, reaching out to take his hands. Sarah looked down at their joined hands. “Me too,” she whispered.
The words were simple, but Chuck knew they meant much more than Sarah would admit.
A little while later, they settled into bed. The quiet felt almost unfamiliar. They were both used to lying next to other in bed as part of a cover, or awake listening for trouble, or waiting for an encrypted call or wondering when the next crisis would begin.
But tonight there was nothing to wait for.
Sarah leaned comfortably against the headboard with a novel in her hands while Chuck stretched out beside her, absentmindedly flipping through television channels.
Chuck glanced over. “You actually read before bed?”
“Almost every night,” Sarah replied. “Unless a mission interferes. Usually a mystery.”
“I never knew that.”
She smiled without looking up from the page. “You never asked.”
Chuck smiled back because she was right. He had spent years learning what Sarah could do, what she liked and didn’t like, but not always who she was when she wasn’t working.
They’d known almost everything about each other’s professional lives, yet there were still countless ordinary things left to discover about each other.
He looked at her for a moment. “I guess there are still a lot of things about you I don’t know.”
Sarah closed her book slightly. “Good.”
“Good?”
“It means we get to keep discovering them together.”
A few minutes later, Chuck set the remote down on his chest and turned toward her. The question that followed wasn’t about missions, the Intersect, or classified intelligence. It was about something much simpler, and somehow much more important.
“Okay,” he said. “Now I’m curious.”
Sarah looked up from her book. “About?”
“Your favorite books.”
She blinked, almost caught off guard by the question. “My favorite books?”
“Yeah.” Chuck smiled. “I know your favorite coffee. I know your favorite movie. I know that you absolutely hate olives, and you always want extra pickles on just about everything.”
Sarah laughed softly. “I guess you do.”
“But I have no idea what you actually like to read.”
For a moment, Sarah looked almost surprised that Chuck wanted to know something so personal. Then she smiled. No one had asked her this because they wanted to know the real her.
She closed the book around a finger to hold her place. “No one’s ever really asked me that before.”
Chuck’s expression softened. “Seriously?”
Sarah gave a small shrug. “Growing up, books were usually part of one of my dad’s cons. I’d read whatever helped sell the story we were pretending to be.”
She looked thoughtfully at the cover in her hands. “Then CIA training became manuals, surveillance reports, foreign languages, and intelligence briefings. Reading was always for work.”
Her smile became gentler. “I didn’t really start reading for myself until…well…”
Chuck finished the thought with a grin. “Until me?”
She bumped his shoulder with hers. “You introduced me to bookstores that weren’t just places to meet other agents or assets.”
Chuck looked far more pleased with himself than he probably should have. “I’m counting that as one of my greatest accomplishments.”
Sarah watched him with quiet amusement. She loved this version of him. The enthusiastic nerd who could become genuinely excited about a book and somehow make her excited about it too.
Sarah rolled her eyes affectionately. “Of course you are.”
“So?” Chuck asked. “You haven’t answered my question. What are your favorite books?”
Sarah didn’t answer immediately, considering the question. She had spent so long defining herself through identities that choosing something because she liked it felt strangely intimate.
“‘And Then There Were None’ by Agatha Christie. I love how every clue matters, and everyone has something they’re hiding.”
Chuck nodded approvingly. “That’s a good one.”
“I also like Sherlock Holmes.”
Chuck pointed at her triumphantly. “I knew it.”
Sarah raised an eyebrow. “You did?”
“Observation, logic, and reading people.” He smiled. “That’s basically your superpower.”
She couldn’t argue with that. Chuck had always noticed things about people, even before the Intersect. Sarah realized that his greatest gift had never been the computer in his head. It had been his ability to see the person underneath the surface.
“I also liked ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ by Stieg Larsson. Lisbeth Salander survives because she’s intelligent, independent, and refuses to let people define her.”
Chuck studied her for a moment before smiling warmly. “That sounds exactly like someone I know.”
Sarah met his eyes. After a quiet moment, she added, “Although lately, I’ve learned it’s okay to let someone help once in a while.”
Chuck reached over and gently took her free hand. “I’m glad.”
“Non-mysteries my favorite is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane spent most of her life believing she had to be alone to be strong. Then she discovered that loving someone didn’t make her weak.”
Chuck looked at her for a moment. “You really believe that?”
“I do now.” Sarah intertwined her fingers with his. “You also got me to read ‘The Hobbit.'”
Chuck’s eyes lit up. “Really? What’d you think?”
Sarah wore an exaggeratedly thoughtful expression. “There was an awful lot of walking.”
Chuck laughed so hard he dropped the remote in his lap. “It’s a QUEST! Sarah, walking is part of the job description. That’s the entire book.”
Sarah couldn’t help laughing at him.
XXXX
“OK, nerd. So, your turn.”
Chuck looked puzzled. “My turn?”
“Favorite book.”
He groaned dramatically. “Oh, Sarah. That’s impossible. You can’t ask a first-class nerd to pick just one.”
Chuck grinned, leaning his head back against the headboard as he contemplated the sheer impossibility of the question. “Where do I even begin? If we’re talking classics, I have to go with ‘Dune’ by Frank Herbert. The world-building, the political intrigue, the idea of an ordinary person stepping into an impossible destiny- it just spoke to me.”
Sarah tilted her head, a playful smile touching her lips. “And what about non-classics? The ones you hide under your bed?”
“Hey!” Chuck protested, nudging her knee under the covers. “Comic books are legitimate literature! ‘Watchmen’ by Alan Moore is a masterpiece of modern narrative structure, and if we’re talking pure escapism, it’s ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.’ It taught me that no matter how ridiculous or terrifying the universe gets, as long as you have a towel and maybe someone great by your side, you’re going to be okay.”
Sarah smiled, resting her chin on his shoulder. “That sounds like a very Chuck Bartowski philosophy.”
“It’s served me pretty well so far,” he murmured, turning his head to press a gentle kiss against her temple. “Plus, every great adventure story needs a brilliant, stunning heroine to keep the hero from making a total fool of himself.”
Sarah smiled and rested her cheek against his shoulder. “I think the hero got pretty lucky.”
Chuck looked at her. “I think the heroine did too.”
Sarah raised an eyebrow, though her eyes were filled with warmth. “Is that what I am in your story?”
She had spent years believing that stories were distractions from reality. Chuck had taught her that sometimes stories were another way of understanding it.
“Every single chapter, Sarah, every single chapter, ” Chuck replied softly, squeezing her hand.
XXXX T PLUS (+) PART OF THE STORY STARTS HERE XXXX
They were comfortable next to each other. That simple comfort carried its own significance. Neither needed to perform, explain, or pretend. They could just be Chuck and Sarah… the real Chuck and Sarah.
A few minutes later, Sarah set her book down on the nightstand and turned off the television, shifting the room into a quiet, soft darkness broken only by the amber glow of the streetlights outside. The city continued moving beyond the windows, but inside the apartment everything seemed to slow.
Chuck looked at her, his expression softening as he reached up and gently brushed a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. His fingers lingered on her cheek, his thumb tracing the line of her jaw.
“Hey,” he whispered, the word carrying the weight of a prayer.
“Hey,” she replied softly.
Chuck smiled. “You okay?”
Sarah nodded. “Better than okay.” She reached for his hand again. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”
The weight of the last few years, the secrets, the danger, the constant underlying fear of losing each other seemed to melt away in the quiet of the room. There was no Intersect between them, no handlers, no assets, and no threat. For once, nothing was standing between the two people beneath all those labels.
What mattered now wasn’t everything they had survived. It was that they had survived it together.
Chuck leaned in, his movement slow and deliberate, giving her every chance to pull back, but Sarah didn’t. She closed the remaining distance because she wanted to, not because a cover required it. That difference meant everything. She met his lips in a kiss that started sweet and breathless, before deepening into something raw and filled with years of unspoken longing.
A soft gasp escaped Sarah’s lips as Chuck’s hand moved from her cheek down to the nape of her neck, his fingers tangling in her hair to hold her closer. The kiss grew hungrier, with a sudden release of all the tension they had carried for so long. Sarah pulled him flush against her, her hands sliding up his chest, feeling the rapid, heavy thud of his heart under her palms before wrapping tightly around his neck.
When Chuck shifted to move over her, the shift was seamless, driven by an intense, quiet passion that the two of them had bottled up since they first met at the Buy More. He parted his lips from hers for just a second, his breath hot against her skin as he trailed a line of kisses down her jawline to the sensitive dip of her collarbone. Sarah arched into the touch, a low sigh catching in her throat. Her fingers dug gently into the fabric of his shirt, pulling at it until he pulled the shirt over his head and tossed it aside.
Every touch grew warmer, more urgent, yet entirely unhurried. For the first time, they weren’t rushing against a clock or hiding behind an Asset-Handler dynamic. Sarah’s hands mapped the bare skin of his back, feeling the muscles relax under her touch as Chuck’s weight settled over her. He looked down at her in the dim light, his eyes dark with an intensity that made her breath hitch.
Chuck murmured, his voice thick with emotion. “I love you, Sarah Walker. I always have. I always will.”
She didn’t answer with words. Instead, she pulled him back down to her, her lips meeting his with a fierce, tender desperation. Their hands found each other, fingers intertwining tightly against the mattress, a gesture of unwavering faith, as they slipped beneath the blankets together. The rest of the world faded completely into insignificance.
His lips trailed down the pulse point at her throat, leaving a path of lingering heat that made a shiver run through her entire body. Sarah guided his hands to the hem of her top, and together they pulled it over her head, discarding it to finally erase the last barrier between them.
When Chuck pressed his chest back against hers, skin to skin, Sarah let out a soft, breathless gasp, her fingers digging gently into the smooth muscles of his shoulders as if anchoring herself to something divine.
He kissed her deeply. A slow, intoxicating rhythm that claimed her completely. Every touch was an unsaid confession, with every shared breath an anchor. As their bodies aligned beneath the sheets, the intensity shifted into a seamless, mesmerizing rhythm of rising heat, soft gasps, and urgent closeness, holding each other tight as if trying to make up for every moment they had been kept apart.
The heat between them grew, a silent conversation of skin against skin, breathless whispers, and a deep, shared warmth that broke through every wall they had ever built. It was passionate, heavy with desire, and entirely theirs.
Afterward, the apartment was silent except for the distant sounds of Los Angeles drifting through the slightly open window. The city sounded impossibly far away.
Chuck lay still for a moment, awake, letting the quiet settle around them, his arm wrapped securely around Sarah’s waist as she rested her head comfortably against his chest. He pulled the blanket up over her bare shoulders, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. Sarah let out a long, contented breath, her fingers tracing absent circles against his bare skin.
No missions, no danger, and definitely no pretending. Just the transcendent peace of holding the person they loved.
They both had spent years believing that happiness would always come with a price. Tonight, for a little while, it didn’t.
As Sarah listened to the steady, calming beat of Chuck’s heart beneath her cheek, she realized something that filled her with a quiet awe. For years, the apartment had been the place where she slept between assignments … a temporary sanctuary in a fallen world.
Tonight, for the very first time, it truly felt like home. Sarah understood that home had never been a particular address for her. It was the place where she could finally lower every wall, and tonight, Chuck was inside those walls with her.
XXXX
Later, the quiet hum of the Los Angeles night carried through the room, the warm stillness inside broken only by the steady rhythm of their breathing.
Sometime around three in the morning, Chuck stirred, pulled from a deep sleep by a subtle shift beside him. For a moment he didn’t remember where he was. Then he felt Sarah beside him and smiled.
Sarah was already awake. Resting her head on her hand, she was tracing the faint curve of his collarbone in the dim amber streetlight, feeling a profound sense of peace she so rarely allowed herself.
Chuck’s eyes fluttered open. Looking up at her, a sleepy, tender smile tugged at his lips. “Hey you,” he murmured, his voice rough with sleep. “Can’t sleep?”
He looked at her for a moment, still half asleep. “Are you watching me?”
Sarah smiled. “Yes, I like to look at you when you’re not talking. I get to see the real you.”
Sarah’s expression softened even further. After she admitted that, she let her fingers slide up to play with a stray curl on his forehead.
For the first time in as long as she could remember, her mind wasn’t running through threats or exits; it was completely centered on him. There was no calculation behind the feeling. She just wanted to be there, watching the man she loved sleep.
Chuck lifted his hand, wrapping his fingers over hers and bringing her palm to his lips for a long, quiet kiss. The simple gesture made Sarah’s breath catch.
Sarah smiled at the tenderness of it. Chuck had always been gentle with the parts of her that were hardest to expose.
A soft sigh escaped her lips as the last lingering traces of guard she kept up completely dissolved in the dark. Slowly, deliberately, she shifted closer, sliding her leg over his as she propped herself up on his chest.
Chuck looked up into her eyes, his pulse quickening at the heavy, unmistakable warmth looking back at him. There was no urgency, no external crisis forcing their hand … just a deep, magnetic pull.
“Sarah…” he breathed, his hands settling naturally against the bare skin of her waist, anchoring her to him.
She leaned down, her hair falling like a soft curtain around them as her lips met his. Where their first time had been an explosion of years of pent-up longing, this was slow, deep, and intoxicatingly deliberate. She tasted him, claiming him in the sanctuary of her home, while Chuck felt a surge of quiet wonder that this was real … that they were real. They had already crossed the emotional distance between them. This was another expression of the trust they had built.
Chuck groaned softly into the kiss, his hands tracing the curve of her spine to pull her flush against his chest. The sensation of his warmth against her sent a shiver through Sarah, her fingers tangling tightly in his hair as the kiss deepened.
She molded her body to his with an easy grace that took Chuck’s breath away. Lifting his head, he trailed a line of fevered kisses along her jawline to the sensitive spot beneath her ear, sending a wave of electric sensation through her that made her arch into his touch with a low sigh.
“Chuck,” she whispered, her voice thick with an emotion that almost frightened her in its intensity. “I love you too.”
Every touch felt heightened in the middle of the night. A private language spoken in soft gasps, quiet breaths, close embraces, whispered affection, tangled limbs, and rising heat. Chuck marveled at how completely she trusted him.
While Sarah reveled in the rare freedom of letting herself be vulnerable. They moved together slowly, entirely attuned to each other, sharing a quiet passion born not from the adrenaline of danger, but from absolute trust.
When the peak finally swept over them, it was a breathless, quiet crest. Chuck held her tightly against his chest, burying his hands in her hair, while Sarah rested against him. She held onto him like he was her anchor, feeling safer in his arms than anywhere else in the world. The feeling wasn’t about weakness. It was about finally knowing she didn’t have to carry everything alone.
As the waves slowly receded, Sarah collapsed softly onto his chest, her rapid breathing gradually slowing to match his. Chuck kept his arms wrapped securely around her, gently stroking her back in soothing sweeps as he pressed a tender kiss into her hair, overwhelmed by how right it felt. He knew this wasn’t the end of the story they had been writing together. It was the beginning of the life they had spent years trying to find.
“I could definitely get used to waking up like this every day,” Chuck whispered, his voice laced with sleepy warmth.
Sarah laughed against his skin, her fingers tightening on his shoulder as a profound sense of certainty settled in her chest. “Me too, Chuck,” she murmured. “Me too.”
XXXX
End Chapter 17
E/N1 – Thanks for the reviews and PMs. Nice to see people enjoying this. I do respond to all of them, unless you are a guest.