Chapter 14

A/N: I hear you…I hear you. David, did you really make them sleep in the same bed? Are you really doing that?

I’ve written how many stories and you guys are shocked? Really? Commmeee oooonnnnn.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck

He felt himself waking, which was nothing new. What was new was the weight on his left side. It wasn’t heavy, it was…comfortable. It was firm…yet soft. There was a light scent near his nose that he didn’t know the name of, but he knew the scent. The scent had only been around for a short time, but his brain had already cataloged it. He didn’t know the shampoo name, or perfume name, or body wash name, but he knew who wore it.

Sarah Walker.

The memories of yesterday came crashing back and he involuntarily held his breath.

And that was when he felt it. The slight smile against his chest.

“You should probably know that I know you’re awake,” Sarah said softly. He realized now what had woken him. It had been her hand gently moving against his chest. “Didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I…I don’t think you did,” Chuck answered, his brain running a million miles a minute and not running…all at the same time.

“Yeah, I probably did,” Sarah said. She raised up and he opened his eyes to see her. The amused look from the day before was back on her face, and God did he love seeing it. “I apologize. I was comfy and…” she shrugged. “I just felt like rubbing my hand across your shoulder where it was.”

“It’s totally okay,” Chuck replied.

He was soooooooooo out of his depth. He was drowning. And yet….yet he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s really not,” Sarah said, shaking her head, looking back at him through her lashes, that amused look almost becoming a smirk. “I mean, I tortured you all day yesterday and now…now I woke you and I’m sure you hardly slept a wink last night.”

“I mean it couldn’t have been easy for you to have slept last night,” Chuck told her. She didn’t say anything, just held his gaze, the almost smirk still on her face. “You have all this training about protecting yourself, and I’m sure you were on alert all night.”

“Nope,” she replied shaking her head. “Might have been the best I have ever slept in my life.”

Chuck’s. Brain. Broke.

She watched it happen in real time and the smirk that had been held at bay for this entire conversation showed itself.

“I mean…that takes real trust,” Sarah continued.

“Uh,” Chuck managed to get out.

“Chuck,” she said softly, but in a tone that jerked him out of whatever fog his brain was in because of the dust and smoke of his brain breaking. “I trust you.”

“I won’t break that trust,” Chuck said. He thought for a second. “If I can help it,” he added. She gave him a curious look. “Damn it,” he muttered. “This is your mom’s fault.” She couldn’t stop the giggle that came out of her if she had wanted to. He shook his head. “I have to know the parameters of said trust, so I don’t break it,” he continued, unable to stop the grin on his face at her. She made him happy. A happiness was in him that he didn’t know he missed. A happiness had returned that made him have real hope.

“I know,” Sarah said softly. “And, I’m not sure I know how to do that.”

“There’s only one way,” Chuck told her. “And it’s not easy.”

“It’s not,” Sarah agreed. She was silent and then plowed ahead. “We have to be honest. And I know that sounds clique but being honest…is scary as hell.”

“It is,” Chuck agreed. “Too many…” he swallowed, took a deep breath and continued. “Too many live life giving up little pieces of themselves to make others happy and then they get lost…they don’t even know what they need out of life…their partner.”

“Yeah,” Sarah said. She was silent for a moment. “I’m going to tell you something and please don’t laugh at me.” She looked at him and he nodded. “When I first got here, dad made me watch a movie.” Chuck didn’t say a word. “It was Runaway Bride.”

Chuck thought about that for a moment. “Because she was you,” Chuck said. Sarah was a little surprised with that answer. “In the movie, Julia Roberts’s character doesn’t know how she likes her eggs. She doesn’t know herself.”

“Yeah,” Sarah said, nodding.

“You’ve been….is conditioned the right word?” Chuck asked.

“Not exactly, but I get what you’re saying,” Sarah said, nodding. “Everything I did in the CIA was planned out. I was trained how to sleep, how to cook using whatever I had around me. It was never…”

“For joy?” Chuck offered. Sarah nodded. Chuck was silent for a moment. “So…do you know how you like your eggs?”

She grinned. She knew what he was asking. Was she ready? Was she still in her discovery stage? “Maybe,” she said. “But here’s the thing.” Chuck sat there, his heart racing. “While I think you need to know who you are and not get lost in someone else, there is a also a place where it’s okay to discover who you are with someone else.”

Chuck was silent. She could see him mentally doing the math in his head, trying to carry the “one”.

“Chuck, people change, people grow,” Sarah said. “We are not who we are at five, at twelve, at twenty, at forty. We are always changing.”

“But there’s a part of us that doesn’t,” Chuck said softly. “Are you talking about…” he trailed off.

“Soul mates?” Sarah asked. Chuck nodded unable to look at her. “I have no idea,” she admitted. “But…here’s what I do know. There are some people who I know that I was very close to as a kid or a teen that I wouldn’t want to be now, because I changed.”

Chuck nodded, thinking about some people he knew and how they had grown apart. And then…then he thought about Morgan. “And then…” he looked at her, trailing off.

“And then, there are those that stay with us through thick and thin, and when we meet them in our lives, we know deep down, that we would have been friends with them if we had met them sooner,” Sarah continued.

“Met anyone like that recently?” Chuck asked, his mouth dry.

“Hey!” they heard a voice from outside. “Sun’s up!”

“We’re on our way!” Sarah bellowed back at Jack. She turned to Chuck. “Yes,” she said, and with that, she hopped out of the bed, and headed to the bathroom.

Chuck sat there, just taking in what they had said.

}o{

She left their place and headed over to the main house. She had heard the front door close while she was getting ready and figured Chuck was with Jack. She was trying to calm herself. She had never been this open with someone…of course, she wasn’t sure if this was open for most people, or just being normal.

She entered the house, and was assaulted with the smell of eggs and coffee. She headed to the kitchen and saw the two men in her life talking, looking at some papers, and drinking coffee.

She paused and realized what she had thought. The two men in her life.

“So, rebuild the bunkhouse?” Jack asked.

“Most of the wood is rotten,” Chuck said, with a shrug. “I don’t want to save a few pieces, use them, and find out in a few weeks or months, we have to replace something or it’s not structurally sound because we tried to skimp.”

“He’s right, Dad,” she said, as she walked over to get a mug and make her own cup. She stopped short when she saw one there poured. She looked over at her dad, who was grinning. He said nothing as he took a sip of his coffee. She looked over at Chuck who was studying the papers in front of him with an impressive amount of concentration. She glanced at said papers. “You can read upside down?” she asked Chuck.

He looked up at her and then back to the paper. He reddened a bit, turned the paper as she picked up the mug and took a sip. She let herself hum in contentment as the coffee tasted perfect. “Well, that would explain why some of this didn’t make sense,” Chuck muttered. Jack laughed out loud.

“Charlie is totally right,” Jack agreed with Sarah. “So,” he said, looking from one to the other. “When is the delivery of your furniture?”

“Two weeks,” Sarah said, watching Chuck study a number on the paper like he was trying to see it at a molecular level as the redness continued to climb his neck and head to his ears. She shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as she was, but she could not help herself.

“Does he snore?” Jack asked. Chuck’s head dropped against the table with a loud thunk making both father and daughter laugh out loud.

}o{

“We can sell those Saturday,” Jack said to Sarah as they watched Chuck working on picking the avocados. “Probably do you some good to come down to the market and both of us see how it operates tomorrow.”

“What are you doing?” She asked softly.

“I might ask you the same thing,” Jack replied. “But, perhaps we shouldn’t be doing this while he is up there. We don’t want him falling.”

“You’re right,” Sarah said. “We don’t want him hurt.”

Jack was quiet for a second, watching his daughter watch Chuck. “If he fell you wouldn’t let him get hurt,” he said, a grin on his face. He then turned and headed toward the bunkhouse.

She turned as he walked away. “I know what you’re implying,” she yelled after him. He turned and shrugged as he walked backwards. He pointed up to Chuck as if to say, ‘watch him.’

She quickly turned back to watch Chuck. His ears were red again. She couldn’t help herself. “Do you need a hat? Are you getting sunburnt?” His ears got reader and her grin grew.

}o{

It was the middle of the afternoon and Sarah and Jack were standing by the tailgate of the truck, having a drink of zero sugar Gatorade from the heavy duty watercooler.

“Darlin’,” Jack said, the two of them watching Chuck working, tearing down the bunkhouse. The two of them were taking a break. When they asked Chuck he said he was fine. “You need to talk to him.” She gave him a look. “Not about that…I mean, you probably should, but you’re enjoying yourself too much.” Her eyes widened. He pointed at Chuck. “About…that.”“Is he doing something wrong?” Sarah asked.

“Oh, God, you don’t see it,” Jack said, shaking his head. “He’s worked in retail for years,” Jack reminded her. She gave Jack a look of confusion. “Nothing against that job, but it uses different muscles.”

“You think Chuck is too proud to tell us when he can’t do any more?” Sarah asked.

“Proud?” Jack replied. “No,” he said shaking his head. “Unable to tell his….what are you two?”

“Hell if I know,” she muttered, and then her eyes went wide as she realized what she had said.

“THAT…I believe,” Jack replied, chuckling. “And able to tell me, the father of…whatever the hell you two are….”

“Oh, God,” Sarah said, groaning.

“Yep,” Jack said.

“I wonder what’s going to be worse tonight?” she asked, heading over to Chuck. “Your snoring or his complaining about how bad he hurts?”

“Hey!” Jack yelled after her. She waved her hand at him, never turning around. “She’s not wrong,” he muttered. “She didn’t have to say it like that, but she’s not wrong.”

}o{

He woke the next morning, not smelling the smell he had the previous morning. He wasn’t sure if it was because the smell was not around or he had lost the ability to smell with how bad everything hurt. He wanted to open his eyes but his eyelids hurt…but they also hurt from not opening his eyes. He opened them, and slowlllllly turned his head to where he had last saw Sarah the night before. She was lying on her side, already dressed for the day, her hand under her head, propping herself up, grinning.

“Sore?” she asked sweetly.

“My hair hurts,” he muttered.

“Okay, there’s two ways this plays out,” Sarah began.

“Killing me would be a mercy,” Chuck told her.

“Nope, not an option,” she told him. He groaned. “So, we do nothing and you tough it out.”

“Would you think less of me if I didn’t do that?” Chuck asked.

“Why would I think less of you?” Sarah asked.

“Don’t know, can’t think, brain hurts,” Chuck replied, making her snort.

“Or, you can take a shower, dry off, and I mean DRY OFF,” she emphasized. “And I can put some stuff on you, and it will make you feel better.”

“What’s the downside?” Chuck asked.

“It’s going to burn and smell,” Sarah said. “And honestly, depending on which one we use is which one is going to smell the worst.”

“Let me guess the better it helps the worse it smells,” Chuck said. Sarah nodded. “I feel like I’m missing something.”

“I’m going to have to put it on you because some of the muscles that are hurting you, you can’t reach,” Sarah said. He nodded, his eyes half closed. She waited. She was grinning, just waiting for his brain to catch up. She saw the look on his face when it did. He jerked his head over to her, and then winced from the pain. The grin on her face grew and so did the red on his neck and ears.

}o{

“OH MY GOD!” Jack heard as he walked toward the door of Chuck and Sarah’s cabin to tell them they needed to go soon. Jack paused, turned and walked away without saying a word to either of them.

“It’s only halfway done,” Sarah told Chuck. He was in nothing but his boxers, lying face down on the bed. “And that’s only the back, I haven’t done the front.”

“WHY IS IT BURNING SO MUCH!?!?” he nearly squealed.

She sighed. “You did dry off your back, right?” Sarah asked. He looked over his shoulder at her. “Chuck…did you just…” He closed his eyes. Sarah sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand the chemicals in this enough to give you a scientific breakdown, but basically if your body is wet at all…even just a little bit damp…this stuff burns more.”

“This is why I could never be a spy,” Chuck whimpered. “I’d tell you anything to make the pain go away.”

“Anything?” Sarah asked, a grin on her face. “Like, how much you like sleeping with me?”

“You didn’t need Tiger Balm to find that out,” Chuck replied. “See! See! I’m just blurting things out.” He groaned as she put the gel on his leg. “But it does feel good also. It’s weird. The burn…the burn takes away the pain…but it BURNS!”

“It does,” she said softly. “Do me a favor, quit trying to impress me and my dad.”

He was silent for a second. “I’m trying to earn my keep, Sarah,” Chuck told her.

“Chuck, you’re my partner in this, there is no keep to earn,” Sarah told him. He started to respond. “Now, roll over.”

“I can do the front,” he said quickly.

“You sure?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah,” Chuck said. Sarah nodded, got off the bed and walked over to the door. “Sarah,” he said. She turned back and saw him sitting. “I’m trying to do right by you.”“I know,” Sarah told him. “But you don’t have to try, you do. You just do. You do by being here and believing in us and just…being you.”

“That’s never been enough before,” Chuck said softly. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him. “I smell of that stuff.”

“I know, it’s burning the hair out of my nose,” Sarah said, still holding on to him.

Chuck began to laugh. “Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.”

“I was told I wasn’t funny,” Sarah told him.

“They lied,” Chuck replied. He looked up and she was looking him right in the eyes. “Sarah?”

She leaned forward and gently kissed his lips. “Now, do the front or I will.” She watched the red creep up his neck and couldn’t help but grin. She gently lay her forehead on his. “Your here, Chuck. I’m here with you.”

“Sarah,” he began.“I’m here,” she said. “With you.” He nodded. She got up, walked to the door, began to close it, and paused. “Also, prepare yourself, Dad is going to bitch about the smell.”

“It’s pretty gnarly,” Chuck agreed.“If it makes you feel better, you’ve complained less than he did the first time I had to put it on him,” Sarah said.

“He was in prison!” Chuck replied.

“He was in a private cell every night because of his snoring,” Sarah reminded him. “I’m not saying it was Club Fed, but it wasn’t exactly hard time either.”

“Thank you, Sarah,” Chuck said softly. Sarah nodded. “Sarah.” She looked him in the eye, his voice had almost asked her to. “Thank you.”

“Nothing to thank me for,” Sarah told him. “But, I hear you, and you’re welcome. Now, lather yourself up, and come on, we have to get to the Farmer’s Market.”

“Okay,” he replied. She shut the door. He sat there a second, thinking about what had brought him to this moment. Stanford, his birthday party, the Buy More, and now…now avocados.

“When our needs are met we feel feelings,” Chuck said softly, reciting some of the things he had learned from his videos. “Must be why I’m feeling hope.”A/N: Yeah….there’s no shoe that’s gonna drop. Don’t get scared. See you soon.