The Love Boat

A/N: None of you all took my double dog dare. Don’t blame you….

Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck

They stood there, staring at each other. “So,” Chuck said softly. “What do we do?”

Sarah was at war. Not about what to do. Oh no. She was at war about how to do it. Did they go slow? Did they go fast? How fast? And then…then there was the eight-year-old in the back of her mind.

The precise rating of kisses is a terribly difficult thing, often leading to great controversy, because although everyone agrees with the formula of affection times purity times intensity times duration, no one has ever been completely satisfied with how much weight each element should receive. But on any system, there are five that everyone agrees deserve full marks.

Well, this one left them all behind.

He was watching her eyes, her face, and realized she had come to a decision.

“Sarah?”

She simply reached up, and pulled him down to her. If a bomb went off, she wouldn’t have cared. If a marching band had made their way into the room, she wouldn’t have cared. If someone had tried to take a shot at her, the bullet would have bounced off them. She. Was. Kissing. Him.

Eventually, they stopped. She didn’t know how much time had passed, but he was completely discombobulated and she wasn’t much better. He made eye contact with her, and she couldn’t stop the words if she tried.

“Do I love you? My God, if your love were a grain of sand, mine would be a universe of beaches.”

He stared at her. “It’s from-”

“The Princess Bride,” he finished for her. “For the record. I love you.”

“Fine, I said it first,” she told him.

“Okay, I’m going to let you have that,” he began.

“That’s what she said,” she retorted, the half smile returning.

“But what do we do?” he asked.

“Bed,” Sarah said. And she realized how he took it as he turned a lighter shade than normal of red. “Sleep, Chuck, sleep.”

“Good idea,” Chuck agreed. He looked like he now had his wits about him, and she couldn’t have that.

“Unless….” And there went his wits. She took his wrist gently in her grip. “We still need to talk and figure some things out.”

“I just need to know, is it your intent to tease me constantly?” he asked her. She loved the look on his face.

“Is it your intent to warn the bird about me?” Sarah asked.

“There is no warning about you,” Chuck told her. “To quote another space journey line regarding warnings about you, resistance is futile.”

“You keep saying the nicest things about me, Chuck Bartowski,” she told him.

“You keep doing things making me say nice things, Sarah Bartowski,” he replied.

She went quiet. Inside, she was telling the eight-year-old it was time to go to bed. Things were warm within her that…she didn’t know if these parts had felt like this ever. EVER.

“Oh, that is not fair.”

He grinned.

“Life isn't fair, Bill. We tell our children that it is, but it's a terrible thing to do. It's not only a lie, but it's a cruel lie. Life is not fair, and it never has been, and it's never going to be.”

Her mouth dropped open. “Did you….did you just use The Princess Bride against me?!”

“Well, you’ve been using everything at your disposal against me since we’ve met,” Chuck countered.

“And I’m going to keep doing it,” she told him.

“Good,” he replied. Her smile grew. “Hit me with your best shot.”

Sarah smiled. That was a dangerous thing to say to a woman who had spent her life planning for contingencies.

She leaned forward. Her lips were right by his ear. She said softly, not a whisper, but softly. “Do you want to see the new socks I bought?” He closed his eyes. He opened them and she was in front of him, smiling impishly. “And that wasn’t even in the top half of my best shots.”

“I’m going to die a happy man,” he told her.

“But not for a long, long time,” she said. He leaned forward and gently kissed her lips, closed mouth and then pulled away. “That was not fair.”

“I know.”

She couldn’t stop the grin on her face if she tried. She studied him for a minute. “You really do mean all of it, don’t you?”

“I do,” he said softly.

}o{

She awoke, her back to his front. His arms around her. Both of them modestly dressed. And she felt loved.

His thumb was tracing patterns on her hand.“Apparently I’m into thumbs rubbing my hand,” she muttered.

“And tall nerds,” came the voice behind her.

“Eh, maybe one in particular,” she teased.

He smiled against her hair. “Good.”

“I need to protect you, Chuck.”

“Feel pretty protected right now,” Chuck told her.

“I want this…us…and I don’t want you to one day question it,” she said. He started to move, but she gripped his arm around her, holding him in place. “I don’t want you to stay married because I’ve discovered your a sleep cuddler and I’m apparently okay with that.”

“I had to cuddle because you steal the sheets,” he retorted.

“Pffth, whatever,” she said, grinning at the teasing. “Slow, okay?”

“I mean…okay,” Chuck told her. “We are married.”

“Yes, and if we get a divorce…” Sarah trailed off.

“I feel like there’s a story there,” Chuck said.

There was silence for a moment.

“My dad was a con man,” she began.

}o{

“Okay, now I get it,” Chuck said, holding her tighter. She twisted in his arms to face him, and looked him right in the eye. “I get it.”

“I need you to be sure that…”

“Sarah, I love you for the person you are,” he told her.

“I believe you, just…”

“Be sure,” Chuck said, nodding.

}o{

Now

“So, you’re suggesting a partnership?” Sarah asked.

“I’m suggesting you work with me to analyze situations, decrypt things that need decryption,” Graham told them. “I need people I can trust. And it’s obvious you two trust each other. It’s not even the marriage, it’s what you two pulled off in that setting on the ship. You made it. You had no business making it.”

“We didn’t,” she said, squeezing Chuck’s hand.“Yes we did,” Chuck disagreed. “We were sure about each other. We are sure about each other.”“We are,” Sarah agreed.

A/N: Angstiest angst