Chapter 9

A/N: Onward

Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck

Breakfast had been anti-climatic that morning. While Ellie had tons of questions, she also was on the end of her third straight twelve hour shift that ran from six p.m. to six a.m. Devon guided her to bed and the two fell into a coma, but not before Chuck promising to tell her everything at a later date.

He was now sitting on the fountain ledge, his thoughts on a recording of Bryce that now seemed to be haunting him. Chuck had told Sarah he didn’t think her bringing him to see the lawyers was the right move given that he didn’t “need to know”. Sarah agreed, told him to pack a bag, and she’d be back after the lawyer’s visit to pick him up. The video he was thinking about came back into his mind.

}o{

“Sarah Walker is a simple woman, yet complicated,” Bryce had said in one of his videos. “She reciprocates what she receives. Those that are honest, she believes and lets in. Those who are not….” he looked away from the camera and blew out a breath. He turned back to the camera, a sad smile on his face. “Well, that’s why we’re not together any more.”

“You sure it’s not because you were sleeping with other women?” Chuck muttered.

“That and the way I chose to run her off,” Bryce added sheepishly.

“You’re such a dumbass,” Chuck muttered.

“If you lie to her she’ll never trust you,” Bryce said, spreading his hands. With that he shut off the video.

}o{

“‘The most powerful form of a lie is the omission,’” Chuck muttered to himself.

“What’s that?” he heard a voice ask, and looked up, shocked to see Sarah standing there.

“Uh, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm author,” he began. “He said that. That omission is the most powerful lie.”

“Yeah, my dad would agree with that,” Sarah agreed. “That and letting someone assume something and not correcting them. I guess that’s kind of the same.”

“Yeah,” Chuck said, nodding.

“But, why were you saying that out loud?” Sarah asked.

“I was thinking…” Chuck began. He looked up at her and locked eyes with her. He knew in this moment, this was where everything mattered. If he told the truth, she might walk away, and he might have nothing for the rest of his life. But if he didn’t tell her, everything he hoped to ever build, would have been built on a lie. A lie of omission but a lie nonetheless. “You okay?” Sarah asked.

“No,” Chuck said. “There’s something I got to tell you, and-and…it may…Sarah…I knew Bryce Larkin. He was my roommate in college. He…he told me about you, and your dad and…listen…Ellie finding you, that was all accidental, but….I knew. I know. I know who you are.”

Sarah stood there, a stunned look on her face, and he watched as a mask slowly slipped over her. His stomach fell. She sat down. Not right beside him, there was some distance. He couldn’t look at her. He felt awful. She had been used by so many people, and here she was, again, believing that she was being used. He had to make her understand. He wasn’t. He started to speak, when he saw her shoulders moving. Oh, God. She was crying. He looked over to her.

“Sarah,” he began, frustration in his voice. “You have to know, I was…n’t….” He trailed off.

She wasn’t crying.

She was laughing.

“Bryce,” she got out through her laughter. “You dumbass.”

}o{

Some time ago, in a place that doesn’t exist or if it does you’d be shot knowing the location.

“I need you to hold on, Bryce,” Sarah said, putting pressure on the wound. They were being extracted, and the medical center was ten minutes away. Sarah wasn’t a doctor, but she didn’t think the wound was that serious. However, the way Bryce was acting….either he was a bigger Diva than she thought or….

“Sarah, I’ve got to tell you something,” Bryce began.

“Don’t you dare say you’re dying, or this is some declaration of love,” Sarah muttered. “We don’t do that.”

“You…” he said. “You don’t do that.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“But, there’s something I have to tell you,” he continued.

“Your married,” Sarah said, trying to get him to stop with what sounded like he thought he was dying.

“No,” he said, sputtering laughter. “I am not, and let’s be honest, probably never will be.”She didn’t know what to say to that.

“Look, this is important, and there’s no one I trust with this more,” Bryce told her. She saw the sincerity in his eyes.

“You’re not dying,” Sarah told him. It wasn’t a question.

“Please, humor me,” he begged.

“Okay, and when you’re better, will ignore this conversation and act like it was because of fear, or adrenaline or..”

“Okay, fine,” Bryce agreed. She nodded. “There’s someone in my life who I have screwed over and….he was…is my best friend.”

Sarah kept pressure on the wound, but the look of sorrow on his face caught her off guard. Bryce never seemed to be sorrowful about anything. Even when he was wrong, he thought he always did what was right, and he never felt bad about it.

“It was in college,” Bryce continued. “He was being recruited by the CIA and…and I had to make sure he didn’t get brought in.”

“What did you do, Bryce?” Sarah asked. She feared the worst.

“I got him expelled from college his senior year,” Bryce said. “OW!”

“Sorry,” Sarah said, not realizing she had pushed down on the wound after he had told about getting someone expelled. “Wait, didn’t you go to Stanford?”

“Yeah,” Bryce admitted. “I got someone expelled from Stanford that…Oh, God.”

“What?” Sarah asked, concerned.

“I was an ass,” Bryce admitted. Sarah was stunned. Maybe he was dying. “His parents left him, his sister helped raise him, and he got in by way of scholarship. OW!”

“Sorry,” Sarah said, but she wasn’t.

“Get my phone,” Bryce told her.

“Why?” Sarah asked.

“His picture is one there,” Bryce said. Sarah stared at him. Bryce Larkin…had a picture…of someone not in his cover…a personal photo…in his phone? She reached over to his bag and grabbed it. He messed with it a second and turned it to her. There he was, younger, a beer in his hand, his arm around another man. She noticed his smile before she noticed anything else. She noticed his hair that was….everywhere. Curly, and untamed, and….

“That’s Chuck. Chuck Bartowski,” Bryce said. Sarah’s eyes never left the picture. “It was a party. One of the best times of my life was on that campus with him.”

She looked at him, hearing the regret in his voice. Bryce was good at selling stories, but this…this was beyond him. His voice was betraying him.

“You two look so happy,” Sarah said softly.

“We had just passed a final,” Bryce said. She looked down. His eyes were far away, and he was back there. “He was so happy. I had introduced him to his girlfriend…she broke up with him after he was kicked out. OW!”

“Okay, I’m not sorry for that one,” Sarah told him. “How the hell could you, Bryce?”

“I know, I know,” Bryce said. “I knew what this life would do to him.”

“What is he doing now?” Sarah asked. Bryce wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Bryce.” She said in a low growl.

“Working at the Buy More,” Bryce said. “Living with his sister.”

“Did he finish college?” Sarah asked.

“No,” Bryce admitted softly. He braced himself, his eyes closed. He opened one, surprised she hadn’t pushed into the wound. “Sarah?”

“Bryce, you’re an ass,” Sarah said, looking straight into his eyes.

“A well intentioned ass?” Bryce asked. Her looked flattened. “Yeah,” he said, blowing out a breath. “I told you it was bad. Look, if I don’t make it…”

“Why would he want anything to do with me?” Sarah asked. “The girlfriend of his….”

“Nemesis,” Bryce offered. “He’s a nerd so…he’d like that term.”

Before she could respond, the van stopped, and the back door opened, medics getting in.

“Please,” Bryce said. “Just…just check on him.”

“You’re going to make it,” Sarah said, as they wheeled him away and she was led to another part of the facility to clean up. That was the last time she saw Bryce Larkin.

}o{

A few days ago

She really began to wonder if her dad was truly out of his former con life. He hadn’t noticed her being…not worried. Sarah Walker didn’t get worried. She examined threats, prepared accordingly, and accomplished the goals in front of her. But today…today she had bolted…and her father hadn’t even noticed. But, to be honest, he would have been the only one who would have. For two days now, she couldn’t help but wonder, Chuck Bartowski…was it him? Was this guy the friend that Bryce had told her about?

She had never seen Bryce after she left him with the medical team. She had no idea what he did after that, but some time thereafter…he was dead. Bryce was the most complicated person she had ever met, and he didn’t have to be that complicated. He just…was. He did things…almost for drama’s sake.

She didn’t understand the big deal about why she was so bothered about Chuck. Yes, Bryce had screwed him. Yes, she had found Chuck’s records and she was very bothered by how he seemed to just…exist since then. She had seen the man’s work in college, and for him to be a Buy More employee…

And, there was the whole she felt guilty for not finding him before now. But why should she have? Bryce’s sins were not hers.

But it ate at her.

There were nights as she started to go to sleep that she found herself thinking about Chuck Bartowski. The man who lived with his sister, Eleanor Bartowski, aka Ellie. This…thing, her and her father were building…Chuck was the perfect symbol for what her and her father were trying to do. A fresh start. A second chance in life.

She knew why she had never reached out. She had looked through is records. She knew all about him and his family, and she was scared. It was one thing to try and rebuild that life with her and her father, but to help out an absolute stranger? No. She wasn’t built for that. She did not have that in her. Not like this. Now, if he had needed someone to steal a computer or some spy work, she was his woman, but to be…what?

A friend?

Sarah Walker didn’t know how to be anyone’s friend.

And that’s why, even though she had run through in her mind how today was going to go when she met Chuck, and she had three different plans ready to go, she took the option to bail.

She was a proud woman. Sarah Walker knew who she was and what she could do, and this…this she had no qualms about. She had bailed, and she wasn’t even a little bit sorry.

She was sure Chuck would be gone by now. From what she knew about Chuck her father would think he was a schnook. Jack would give Chuck the avocados, and that would be it. When her and her father had the farm up and running, then….maybe…okay, then, she would go see Chuck.

She didn’t owe him or Bryce anything. She didn’t. And she knew she didn’t.

But why did she keep wondering about him?

She shook her head, and then came to a complete stop in the road. Only for a split second, but come to a stop, she did. She quickly began walking again before either man had seen her, but something her father said danced its way through her mind.

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.

She had just been punched in the mouth.

Chuck had turned to her, and she saw that he was taken aback. She had used her looks for years to disarm men. It had made her feel…scummy. It had made her feel…icky. But this…this wasn’t that. This was a man who was truly taken aback.

She had seen his picture before. Hell, she had studied his picture, and…he was cute…fine, she liked the way he looked, but…in person…it wasn’t fair. It really wasn’t. She found herself forcing her way to them, acting as if everything was normal. Praying with everything in her, that her father never noticed.

And then, then Chuck took her hand to shake it, and it shook her world.

If THAT had been it, she truly believed she could have gotten past everything. She believed that she could have watched him drive off, and not sit in his courtyard at night and watch him through his window. (Okay, even that sounded a little creepy to her.) But no. Bryce was known to be dramatic, but the ONE time…THE ONE. TIME. He had downplayed something…it was Chuck Bartowski.

What he had done with Mrs. Lewis…God, it wasn’t fair. He truly was a nice, good man. A good-looking, nice, good, good-looking man….it wasn’t fair.

She wasn’t ready for this.

Not now.

She was trying to rebuild her life with her dad and she did NOT have time for this.

And there was a part of her that tried to convince her that if she never saw him again, it would be okay. She didn’t believe it, but she gave that part of her props for trying.

It was in the Buy More…where she thought her father was trying some scam on Chuck. She was so mad. And what…one day she was going to have to sit down and really think about what this meant…made her SO MAD was that she thought Jack was scamming Chuck. Not that Jack was scamming…but scamming Chuck.

But Chuck…he was Chuck…he told the truth, but not just about the situation or her dad. No. If that had been it, then MAYBE…okay, she couldn’t have but, she wasn’t ready to admit that part yet. Maybe she could have walked away.

And I see them trying. I see them trying something that is clearly out of their wheelhouse…and yet…isn’t. For the first time since Stanford, I took a chance. I went to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and sold all the left over avocados, put the money in your farm’s bank account and…and it felt right.

In that moment…she was done. Honestly, she was probably done before that, but at that moment, she was tired of trying to pretend that this man…that this man didn’t affect her and she wanted to see it out.

And then she found out he had a spreadsheet. So she did what she thought anyone should do. She invited him to dinner. And she might have picked a dress that she thought…might look good on a date. God, she was terrible at this. She didn’t even know what this was. And of course, that was the moment Jack saw through her…or maybe he already had and she missed it. Because of Chuck.

And then she walked in to the restaurant and heard Chuck trying to describe her. Yeah, she was going to try and figure this out. She had come to some decision and then John Casey came in like a bull in the figurative fine China shop.

She was sitting there, trying to figure out her next move…not just with the folder that Casey had given her, but with Chuck, when…well….he went full Chuck. He made it all about her.

She had decided on the beach that she had to tell him about Bryce…she just didn’t know how. She should have told him on the beach, but…she couldn’t, and now…now he knew. Now he knew, and how could he ever believe her? How could he believe everything she thought about him wasn’t something Bryce had told her or manipulated?

}o{

Now, after Sarah told him everything…well, not her feelings toward him or what he made her felt…I mean…she is Sarah.

She sat there, defeated. She had finally met someone she could trust, and now…now he couldn’t trust her.

“You know, it’s weird the person who hurt us the most told us about each other,” Chuck said softly. “A person…I wasn’t sure if anything he said was true after what he did to me.”Sarah looked over at him. “What I said on the beach was true.” Chuck looked at her. “Yes, Bryce told me about you, wanted me to meet you and check on you. But Chuck something in me…it said to trust you.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Chuck said. “I trust you, Sarah Walker.” He held out his hand to her.

She scooted over beside him, and gently hip checked him. “I trust you, Chuck Bartowski,” she said, looking him straight in his eyes and taking his hand. “And do me a favor, you feel free to listen to anything he said on those videos, and if you have questions, I’ll answer them, but don’t feel like you owe me anything.”

“Sarah,” Chuck began.

Sarah shook her head. “No.”

“No secrets, no lies, Sarah,” Chuck said softly.

She smiled at him. “Okay,” she nodded. “No secrets no lies.”

}o{

Some time ago, in a place that doesn’t exist or if it does you’d be shot knowing the location. After Sarah was hurried away.

“Man, do you bitch and moan,” the woman said as she entered Bryce’s room.

“Zondra! Did you have to stab me so hard and so deep?” Bryce asked.

“Look, you said you wanted it to look real,” Zondra told him. “Now, I held up my end of the bargain.”

“You STABBED me!” Bryce reminded her. Zondra spread her hands. “Fine, we have to take this assignment before Graham assigns it to Sarah.”

“And why would I care?” Zondra asked.“Cause Graham is sending her to her death, and if we don’t stop it, how can you fight her for what happened with the CAT squad?” Bryce asked Zondra.

“Damn it,” Zondra grumbled. “Fine.” She slapped him where she had stabbed him, making him yell out in pain, as she left the room laughing.

A/N: Hehehehehe.