Chuck vs. the Background Check

Song Recommendation – On Bended Knee – Boyz II Men

A/N1 – I warned everyone at the beginning of this story that my pre-reader rating this an 8.5 out of 10 on the Angst-O-Meter, and that if you made it through the first 10 chapters, the Charah-O-Meter was a 12 out of 10. If you like Charah, you have to “suffer” a bit more before I switch directions again.

Disclaimer – Unfortunately, I don’t own Chuck.

Chapter 25 – Forever Begins

Burbank, CA

The late afternoon sun painted the California sky in shades of gold and amber as Chuck pulled up in Ellie’s Mustang in front of the Maison23 complex where Sarah lived. Chuck slowed the car before stopping, suddenly aware that his hands were a little tighter on the steering wheel than they needed to be. He had faced armed men with less nervous energy than he was feeling now.

Later, they were about ten minutes away from the same drive-in theater where he had surprised Sarah months earlier. Sarah looked around and smiled immediately. “I know where we’re going.”

Chuck glanced at Sarah and smiled to himself. He had chosen the place deliberately. Some places became important because of what happened there, and this one had become important because of what had happened between them.

Chuck glanced at her with an innocent expression. “You do?”

After another ten minutes of driving, she laughed, “I’d recognize this place anywhere.”

Sarah looked around fondly. She studied the giant marquee near the entrance. For a moment, she seemed to forget everything waiting outside the drive-in. There were no missions here, no classified files, and no reason to watch the exits. It was a place where she had once discovered how much she enjoyed being ordinary with Chuck.

*Movies Under the Stars Since 1958*
*The Best Seat Is in Your Car*
*Tonight’s Double Feature*
*The Princess Bride*
*When Harry Met Sally*

Nothing had changed. The faded neon sign still welcomed moviegoers. The grass that never seemed completely even. Classic cars sat beside family SUVs. Teenagers wandered toward the concession stand holding oversized sodas while children chased one another across the grass before sunset. Chuck had remembered all of it because Sarah had remembered all of it.

The smell of buttered popcorn, grilled hamburgers, and fresh-cut grass drifted through the warm evening air.

She turned back toward Chuck. “You picked my favorite movie.” The smile on her face told him that she understood exactly why he had chosen tonight. He wasn’t merely repeating an old date. He was bringing them back to the beginning of something that had become the most important part of both their lives.

Sarah slipped her hand into his as they walked toward the concession stand. “I love this place.” Chuck squeezed her hand gently. He knew she wasn’t talking about the food or the movies. She loved what the place represented: a memory that belonged to them before either of them understood what they were becoming.

Chuck smiled quietly. “I know.”

XXXX

Dinner consisted of exactly what it had the first time they came. Chuck had insisted on recreating the meal down to the ridiculous quantity of snacks. He had even checked the concession menu twice before they arrived, as if a missing box of candy might somehow ruin the evening.

Sarah looked at the tray balancing in Chuck’s arms. “You know…”

“Hmm?”

“…This is still the worst-balanced meal imaginable.”

Chuck nodded. “I know, but it’s always been a tradition. Even now, more so.” There was something reassuring about keeping one small thing exactly the same while so much of their lives had changed.

She smiled, “I was hoping you’d say that.”

XXXX

They settled into Ellie’s Mustang just as the opening music from *The Princess Bride* filled the evening air. Chuck watched Sarah settle beneath the blanket and felt a quiet rush of affection. He remembered the first time he had watched her discover this place, and how impossible it had once seemed that she would eventually sit beside him here as the woman he loved.

Sarah curled up beside Chuck beneath the same old blanket he’d brought on their first drive-in date. The blanket was worn now, softer from years of use, but neither of them wanted to replace it. It had become one of those ordinary objects that carried an extraordinary history.

Sarah said. “You kept it.”

Chuck looked down. “Of course I did. It’s become my lucky blanket.”

She rested her head on his shoulder. “I like lucky.”

As the familiar story unfolded on the enormous screen, they laughed at every line they already knew by heart. Chuck occasionally glanced at Sarah instead of the screen. He knew the movie nearly as well as she did, but watching her reaction was still more interesting.

“Inconceivable!”

Chuck immediately whispered, “You keep using that word…”

Sarah finished with him, “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

They both laughed.

Several rows away, another couple repeated the same line at the same time.

Chuck grinned, “See? We’re not the only nerds.”

“I’ve accepted my fate as being an honorary nerd.”

“You have?”

“I’m dating the king of movie quotes.”

He kissed the top of her head. “And yet you love me anyway.”

Chuck said it lightly, but Sarah heard the truth underneath the joke. Their lives had become complicated in ways neither had imagined, and yet the simplest part had always been this: they loved each other.

“I do.”

XXXX

When the credits rolled, the drive-in lights came on for the intermission. Families headed toward the concession stand. Children stretched their legs. Teenagers wandered hand in hand between rows of cars.

The sudden brightness made the lot feel different, almost like the theater itself was reminding them that the night was moving forward.

Chuck felt his nervousness return.

Sarah reached for the popcorn. “More?”

Chuck didn’t answer.

She looked over. He was staring at her. Not nervous exactly. Terrified. Extremely terrified. Sarah knew Chuck’s expressions better than almost anyone, and she immediately recognized the difference between mission nerves and something personal. This was the kind of nervousness that came from caring too much about the answer.

“Chuck?”

Chuck took a slow breath. “Would you…come with me for a minute?” He had rehearsed what he wanted to say so many times that the rehearsed versions had stopped sounding like his own voice. Now he knew he would have to speak from the heart.

She nodded. “Of course.”

XXXX

They walked away from the rows of cars toward the edge of the field; the giant screen behind them glowed softly while old concession stand commercials played over the speakers during intermission. The sky had deepened into a blanket of stars.

Sarah noticed Chuck had become unusually quiet. She slowed her steps until they were standing almost completely still. Whatever Chuck was preparing to say, she wanted him to know he had her full attention.

She said gently, “Chuck, you’re fidgeting.”

“I am?”

“You only do that when something is really important.”

“I know.”

She stopped walking and turned to face him. “What is it?”

Chuck remembered that first night with surprising clarity. At the time, he had been trying to give Sarah something normal, something harmless, something that had nothing to do with spies. He hadn’t known that the memory would eventually become one of the foundations of their relationship.

Chuck looked around the drive-in. “When I brought you here the first time, I thought I was introducing you to something that you might not have done before.”

Sarah listened quietly.

“But afterward I realized something.” The realization had taken time because Chuck had been too focused on making Sarah happy to understand why her happiness mattered so much to him.

“What?”

“It wasn’t really about the movies.”

She shook her head.

“No?”

“It was about watching you discover something completely ordinary, and seeing how happy it made you.”

Sarah had spent so much of her life around extraordinary danger that Chuck had wanted to show her that ordinary could be beautiful too. What he hadn’t expected was that she would teach him the same lesson in return.

His voice softened. “You told me that night it became one of your favorite memories.”

“It is.”

“You said it wasn’t because of the drive-in.”

Chuck had remembered those words because they had stayed with him long after the movie ended. He had carried them through missions, arguments, separations, and reconciliations.

Sarah stepped closer. “It was because I was here with you.” She could see the emotion in Chuck’s face and knew that the memory meant as much to him as it did to her.

Chuck nodded. “That sentence has stayed with me every single day.”

Chuck had spent years wondering whether he was enough for Sarah. Her answer that night had been one of the first times he understood that she wasn’t looking for a perfect spy. She was looking for him.

He took both of her hands. “I spent so much of my time wondering if I was enough.”

Chuck’s voice dropped. The question had been at the center of so many of his fears, before Sarah, during their missions, and even after they finally admitted how much they loved each other.

Sarah’s eyes never left his.

“I wasn’t a spy. I wasn’t fearless; I wasn’t the guy who always knew what to do.”

She smiled warmly. “You were Chuck. The man I fell in love with.” Sarah said it because, to her, there had never been a better answer. She had fallen in love with the person who worried too much, cared too much, and somehow kept choosing kindness.

“I was, and somehow that didn’t seem enough for you.”

Chuck looked at her with the vulnerability he rarely showed anyone else. He wasn’t asking for reassurance anymore. He was finally letting go of an old fear.

Sarah’s eyes began to tear up. “It was always enough.”

Chuck swallowed. “You’ve seen me at my absolute best, and my absolute worst. You believed in me before I believed in myself.”

He looked down for a brief moment before meeting her eyes again. “You’ve become my home, Sarah.” The words came from somewhere deeper than any mission or memory. Chuck had once thought home was a place. Now he understood it could be a person who made the world feel safe.

A tear slipped down her cheek.

“I don’t really care where we live. I don’t care what jobs we have. I don’t care if life is exciting or completely ordinary.”

Chuck had spent enough years having his future determined by circumstances that he no longer wanted to measure happiness by a particular address, career, or plan.

He smiled, “I just know I want every ordinary Tuesday…every holiday…every lazy Sunday morning…every ridiculous argument over what movie to watch…every Christmas…every birthday…”

He wasn’t promising that their life would always be easy. He was promising that he wanted to be there for all of it.

He took another breath, “…with you.”

Slowly, Chuck lowered himself onto one knee. Sarah’s breath caught. For one suspended moment, every sound from the drive-in seemed to fade into the background.

Sarah covered her mouth.

He reached into his jacket and removed a small velvet ring box. When he opened it, the diamond caught the glow from the enormous movie screen behind them. Chuck had imagined this moment in a dozen different ways, but none had felt as right as this one. The place where they had first shared an ordinary date would now become the place where he asked her to share the rest of his life.

His voice shook with emotion. “Sarah Lisa Walker, you once told me that trust was the hardest thing in the world for you.”

She nodded through tears.

“You trusted me. You loved me. You changed my life.”

Chuck’s voice shook because the words represented years of fear, growth, and love. Sarah had not become part of his life. She had changed what he believed his life could be.

He smiled through his own tears. “You are my best friend. My partner. My greatest adventure, and my favorite love story.” He smiled through the tears because, after everything they had survived, the most important part of their story was not any mission. It was the two of them choosing each other.

Behind them, the drive-in speakers began playing the familiar concession stand ads and instrumental music announcing the next feature.

Chuck looked into her eyes. “Sarah…will you marry me?”

For just a moment, she couldn’t speak. She laughed through tears instead. Then shook her head in disbelief. Sarah had faced danger without hesitation, but this was different. There was no tactical response to prepare, no mission objective to complete. There was only the overwhelming realization that Chuck was asking her to make permanent the future they had spent so long imagining.

She wiped her eyes. “You’re actually proposing in between ‘The Princess Bride’ and ‘When Harry Met Sally”

Sarah laughed through her tears because, of course, this was Chuck. Even the most important moment of their lives had somehow become perfectly, wonderfully Chuck.

Chuck gave a sheepish grin. “I thought it was appropriately romantic.”

Sarah laughed again. “It is.”

She knelt in front of him so they were eye to eye. “It absolutely is.” Neither wanted the question to feel like one person standing above the other. This was a choice they were making together.

She gently placed both hands on either side of his face.

“Chuck … I have loved you for longer than I was willing to admit. You are my safe place. My partner. My best friend, and the only person who’s ever made ordinary moments feel extraordinary.”

She meant every word. Chuck had shown her that ordinary life wasn’t something to fear. With him, ordinary could be the greatest adventure of all.

Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks as she smiled the brightest smile he’d ever seen. “Yes.”

His eyes widened. “Yes?”

She laughed, “Yes…yes, I’ll marry you, you wonderful, impossible man.”

The answer came with laughter because happiness had overwhelmed the fear. Sarah had spent years protecting herself from promises. Tonight, she was making one.

Chuck slipped the ring onto her finger with hands that trembled almost as much as hers. It fit perfectly.

He stared at it for a second, almost unable to believe that the future he had once been afraid to imagine was now real.

Sarah stared at it for only a second before throwing her arms around him. They laughed as they nearly lost their balance, ending up wrapped in each other’s embrace. Their kiss was long, joyful, and full of the promise of everything that lay ahead.

XXXX

As they slowly pulled apart, applause erupted from somewhere behind them.

The applause caught them completely by surprise. Chuck looked toward the cars and then back at Sarah, suddenly aware that dozens of strangers had witnessed the most private decision of his life.

Chuck blinked. “What?”

He and Sarah turned toward the rows of cars.

Several couples standing outside their vehicles had witnessed the proposal. A couple of women wiped away tears while another enthusiastically clapped above her head.

Then, almost as if on cue, a car horn sounded, “Honk!”

Another answered it, “Honk! Honk!”

Within seconds, horns echoed from every corner of the drive-in.

A chorus of cheerful honks filled the night as dozens of moviegoers celebrated with them, headlights flashing here and there while strangers smiled, waved, and offered thumbs-up from open windows. Sarah laughed, shaking her head at the unexpected spectacle. Chuck had spent years trying to keep their lives secret. Tonight, for once, being seen didn’t feel dangerous.

Chuck looked around in complete surprise. “I don’t think this was part of the plan.”

Sarah laughed so hard she had to wipe away fresh tears. “No…”

She slipped both arms around his neck and looked into his eyes, “…but it’s perfect.” The drive-in had witnessed their first ordinary date, and now it had witnessed the beginning of their forever.

Chuck laughed, still shaking his head in disbelief. “I guess we just got the drive-in’s official blessing.”

Another round of horns erupted, louder than before.

Sarah leaned in and kissed him once more as the joyful chorus echoed across the lot, the giant movie screen glowing behind them, and a crowd of complete strangers sharing in one of the happiest moments of their lives.

XXXX

Chuck rested his forehead against hers. “So…”

“So?”

“Worth the surprise?”

Sarah smiled through happy tears. “It’s my favorite date, ever!”

Chuck raised an eyebrow. “Better than miniature golf?”

She laughed. “You are never going to let that go, are you?”

“Never.”

She kissed him once more. “Good.”

They returned to the Mustang hand in hand, Sarah’s engagement ring sparkling whenever it caught the light from the giant screen. Chuck kept glancing at it, still half-convinced that if he looked away for too long, the moment might somehow disappear.

As “When Harry Met Sally” began to play, Sarah rested her head on Chuck’s shoulder and reached out to Chuck’s hand without even thinking.

Halfway through the opening scene, she looked down at the ring again and smiled.

Chuck noticed. “No regrets?”

She looked up at him with all the certainty in the world. “None.”

Outside, beneath a sky filled with stars and the glow of a drive-in that had given them so many memories, the next chapter of their lives quietly began.

Chuck couldn’t stop smiling during the drive home. Every few minutes, he glanced over at Sarah’s left hand resting on the center console. The diamond caught the passing streetlights, sending tiny flashes of light around the car.

Sarah noticed him looking again. “What?”

Chuck shook his head with a grin. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t change your mind.”

“After a couple of hours?”

“You never know.”

She reached over and intertwined her fingers with his, deliberately turning her hand so the ring sparkled in front of him, and told him, “I’m still here”. The reassurance was more than an answer to his joke. Sarah knew Chuck sometimes needed to hear that the things he loved weren’t going to vanish without warning.

Chuck smiled. “Good.”

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “I’m not going anywhere.”

XXXX

Casa Bartowski/Woodcomb

Early the next morning, after spending the night at Sarah’s, Chuck and Sarah returned Ellie’s Mustang. They parked outside Ellie’s house.

Sarah looked at him. “You seem nervous.”

“I am,” Chuck replied.

“Why?”

“Because my sister has wanted this for me for ages.”

Sarah smiled knowingly. “I think she’s going to be excited.”

Chuck laughed, “‘Excited’ might be underselling it. It’s Ellie.”

They walked up the front path hand in hand. Chuck barely had time to knock before the front door swung open.

Ellie smiled brightly, “There you two are! Devon’s making cof…,” She stopped in mid-sentence. Her eyes dropped to Sarah’s left hand. The engagement ring sparkled in the morning sunlight.

Ellie’s mouth slowly fell open. “Oh…”

Chuck couldn’t contain himself anymore. “We’re engaged.”

For a heartbeat, Ellie stared at them. Then, she let out a delighted squeal that echoed through the house.

“Oh, my gosh. OH, MY GOSH!”

She threw herself at Chuck first, wrapping both arms around her little brother. “I knew it!”

Chuck gasped as she nearly squeezed the air out of him. “Ellie…”

“I knew this day was coming!” She pulled back just enough to cup his face in both hands. “I’m so happy for the two of you. So unbelievably happy.”

Chuck’s own eyes misted over. “Thanks, El.”

She immediately turned to Sarah, and without saying a word, she hugged her just as tightly.

Sarah hugged her back, smiling. “We’re officially sisters now.”

Ellie pulled away just enough to look at her. “You’ve been like a sister to me already.”

Sarah’s eyes glistened. “Well, now we are officially becoming sisters.”

Ellie laughed through happy tears. “Exactly.”

XXXX

Devon stepped into the entryway carrying two mugs of coffee. “What’s all the screaming?”

He looked from Chuck, and then to Sarah…to the ring.

His face broke into the broadest smile imaginable. “Finally!”

Chuck smiled. “I was starting to think everyone expected this before we did.”

Devon walked over and shook Chuck’s hand before immediately pulling him into a hug. “Congratulations, bro.”

He turned toward Sarah. “You picked a good one.”

Sarah smiled. “I think so.”

Devon grinned. “And welcome to the family.”

Sarah looked around the warm house, the family photos, the laughter, and the smell of fresh coffee and cinnamon rolls. For the first time in a long time, the word ‘family’ didn’t feel like something she was borrowing. It felt like something she belonged to.

XXXX

A few hours later, after breakfast and far too much discussion about wedding ideas from Ellie, Chuck and Sarah sat together by the fountain in the courtyard. Sarah turned the engagement ring slowly on her finger.

Chuck noticed her thoughtful expression. “Penny for your thoughts?”

She smiled. “I should call my mom.”

Chuck nodded immediately. “I think she’d like that.”

Sarah took a steadying breath and dialed the number. It rang twice. “Hello?”

Emma’s warm voice came through the speaker. “Hi, sweetheart.”

“Hi, Mom.”

Chuck smiled quietly. He still loved hearing Sarah say the word. It sounded more natural every time.

“Everything okay?” Emma asked.

Sarah glanced at Chuck. He gave her an encouraging nod. “Everything’s wonderful.”

Emma laughed softly. “That’s usually how people begin when they have big news.”

Sarah smiled. “I do have big news.”

There was a brief pause. “What happened?”

Sarah reached over and took Chuck’s hand. “Last night…Chuck asked me to marry him.”

Silence. For one long moment, there wasn’t a sound on the other end of the line. Then Sarah heard a small gasp, “Oh…”

Emma’s voice trembled with emotion. “Oh, sweetheart…”

Sarah smiled through gathering tears. “I said yes.”

“I figured you would.”

Emma laughed gently, the happiness unmistakable in her voice. “I am so incredibly happy for you.”

Sarah wiped away a tear. “Thank you.”

“No,” Emma replied softly. “Thank you.”

Sarah frowned slightly. “For what?”

“For letting yourself be happy after everything you’ve gone through, after leaving with your father when you were so little.”

Those words settled over Sarah.

Emma continued gently, “You’ve spent so much of your life protecting everyone else. I’ve always hoped you’d find someone who made you feel safe enough to be yourself.”

She paused. “I knew the first time I met Chuck.”

Sarah smiled toward her fiancé. “You did?”

“Oh, yes. There was a kindness in the way he looked at you. Not because you’re beautiful, although you are, but because he genuinely sees the real you. I think he always has.”

Chuck looked away, suddenly embarrassed by the praise.

Emma continued warmly, “Take good care of each other.”

“We will,” Sarah promised.

“And tell my future son-in-law congratulations.”

Sarah laughed, “He’s sitting right here.”

“Then put me on speaker.”

“Hello, Mrs. Burton,” Chuck said.

Emma laughed, “Chuck, you’ve just asked my daughter to marry you. I think you’ve earned the right to call me Emma.”

Chuck smiled, “Thank you, Emma.”

“I’ve never seen or heard Sarah as happy as she is with you.”

“I promise I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to deserve her.”

Emma’s voice softened. “I believe you already do.”

She smiled to herself before adding, “Now, when are the two of you coming to visit? I have a future son-in-law to hug and a ring to admire.”

Chuck and Sarah looked at one another and laughed.

“I think we can arrange that,” Chuck said.

“Just call me when you can come to San Diego, and I’ll put a pot of coffee on,” Emma replied. “And don’t worry, I promise not to monopolize Sarah. At least not for the first five minutes.”

Sarah chuckled, “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

After they ended the call, Sarah rested her head on Chuck’s shoulder. “That went well.”

Chuck slipped an arm around her. “I think your mom likes me.”

Sarah looked up with a playful smile. “I think she loves you almost as much as Ellie does.”

“I’m not sure that’s possible.”

Inside the house, Ellie called from an open window, “Are you two coming back in?” Chuck and Sarah looked at each other and laughed. They both knew that whatever happened next, Ellie was going to want every detail.

Chuck smiled, “What now? Ellie’s already found us an apartment for us to live in, and it’s in the same Echo Park complex as her and Devon.”

Now that the engagement was official, Chuck had a strong suspicion that Ellie would treat wedding planning like a classified operation requiring charts, schedules, and backup plans.

Chuck turned to Sarah and said. “You have to look for Ellie when she goes into planning mode. Now she probably has already started a list of possible wedding and reception venues, colors, dresses, and she probably has charts and graphs already made for our wedding. Just look out for the wedding board she’s probably preparing for you now.”

Sarah laughed and looked at Chuck. “We should probably rescue Devon.”

Chuck nodded. “Definitely.”

Hand in hand, they walked back into the apartment, surrounded by the warmth of family, knowing that the happiest chapter of their lives was only just beginning. Chuck looked at Sarah as they crossed the threshold and realized that forever no longer sounded like an impossible promise. It sounded like home.

XXXX

End Chapter 25