Never Enough

I don’t own Chuck

“You see son,” Stephen said, pointing to the night sky. “Orion's Belt or-or the Belt of Orion, but sometimes called the Three Kings or Three Sisters, is an asterism in the constellation Orion.”

“What’s an asterism?” Chuck asked, peering up at the sky where his father was pointing.

“An asterism is a pattern or group of stars that can be seen in the night sky,” Stephen explained. “It consists of the three bright stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.”

“That’s so cool,” Chuck said, watching where his father was pointing. “Did you tell mom all of this?”

“I did,” Stephen told him. He was silent a moment. “She really enjoyed looking at the stars with me.”

“Do you miss her?” Chuck asked.

“More than you can ever know,” Stephen admitted.

“Sorry, Dad,” Chuck said, looking a bit upset.

“Do not be upset, son, you have nothing to do with what happened with me and your mother…that’s Wayne’s fault,” Stephen muttered at the end.

“Who’s Wayne?” Chuck asked.

“Never mind that,” Stephen told him son. He crouched down and pointed up at the sky. “The reason we are looking for Orion's Belt in the night sky, is because it’s the easiest way to locate Orion in the sky.” Chuck nodded. Stephen pointed to the stars. “See those stars?” Chuck nodded. “The stars are more or less evenly spaced in a straight line, and so can be visualized as the belt of the eponymous hunter's clothing.”

“Eponymous?” Chuck asked.

“Oh, that’s a fancy adjective to describe a person, place, or thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named,” Stephen explained.

“You’re really smart, Dad,” Chuck said. “I bet you find a way to find mom.”

“I hope so son, I hope so,” Stephen said, his arm around Chuck’s shoulders.

}o{

“Chuck?” Sarah asked, waking and looking around. She saw him on the floor and was to him in a second. “CHUCK!” She carefully rolled him over, she glanced at the computer, saw all the files and feared the worst. “CASEY!” she yelled as loud as she could. “Chuck,” she said, panicking.

She felt him breathing, his heart beating. “Hey, Chuck, come on, wake up,” she said, pleading. “Baby….” Tears began to form. “CASEY!” she screamed again. “Chuck…baby, come back to me. I can’t do this without you.” She cupped his face in her hands. “Please don’t do this to me, Chuck, please, wake up.”She opened one of his eyelids and saw no response from him. “CASEY!” she screamed for a third time. “Chuck…I cannot do this without you.” The tears began to follow. “Chuck…I love you.” She put her forehead to his. “Please come back to me.” She kissed him gently.

}o{

“It’s time to go,” Stephen said to Chuck.

“But I don’t want to, I want to stay here with you,” Chuck protested.

“I’m not really here,” Stephen told him. “You have to find me, find your mom.” They both heard something. “She needs you.” Chuck nodded. “I love you son,” Stephen said, cupping his hand around Chuck’s neck.

}o{

“Chuck, I love,” Sarah whispered, sobbing into his cheek, her lips brushing against it.

“I love you,” he muttered.

“Chuck!” she yelled, pulling back. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

“I’ll try my best,” he muttered, shaking his head. “What happened?”

“I woke up and found you on the floor,” Sarah said. “What did you do?”

“What the hell have you been bellowing about Walker?” Casey asked. Sarah glared at him. “What?”

}o{

Sarah helped Chuck back to the living area. Once there he recounted what happened after the flashes hit and he hit the ground.

“I don’t understand, Bartowski,” Casey said. “Why would Frost and Orion do that to you?”

“Orion is my father,” Chuck said softly. “I don’t get the part about Frost.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Sarah told Chuck. “Not today though, or even tomorrow. You need a bit to recuperate.”

“Out of curiosity, why after what you said earlier, does that feel even more order-y than it usually does?” Chuck asked. Casey made a disgusting grunting noise.

“Oh, and just where the hell were you?” Sarah asked Casey.

Casey sat there a second. “I was taking a call from Beckman,” Casey said. Sarah relaxed a bit. “She found out who is after you.”

“Who?” Sarah asked, her spine straight.

“Zondra Rizzo,” Casey answered. “Christ,” he muttered as Chuck began to flash, and Sarah grabbed him.

“I’m okay,” Chuck said, looking at Sarah.

“You sure?” she asked him.

“Yeah, are you?” Chuck asked, concern on his face. Sarah didn’t answer.

}o{

Chuck opened the bathroom door, having finished his shower, and saw Sarah sitting on the bed, staring lasers at him. “Listen, you coming in there…that was just asking for trouble,” Chuck told her.

She smiled. “I know,” Sarah said. “I just…worry about you.”

“Is that new for you?” Chuck asked her. She looked away. “I didn’t mean for that to sound…mean, or…Gah, Sarah, I was just-”“Hey, it’s okay,” she said softly. “But, yeah, it is. I mean, I cared about Bryce, and I worried about him, but I never reacted to him like I did you, and I’ve seen him shot.”

Chuck came over and sat down beside her. “Listen, here’s what I’m going to do,” he began. “You were in a very emotional place-”

“If you say I get to take back saying I love you, I will hurt you, Chuck Bartowski,” she told him. He gulped. “I do, I just don’t know what to do about it.”

“Just let it be,” Chuck said with a shrug. “What else can you do?” She looked at him. “Sarah, quit bottling in emotions you’re feeling because all you’re doing is setting yourself up for an emotional explosion, and that will just be messy.”

“Yeah,” she said, chuckling. “It will be.”

He reached over and took her hand. “But when it happens, know I am here, no matter how messy it gets. I do love you.”

She leaned over and kissed him gently. “I love you,” she said, pulling back. “Now is this where you ask me about Zondra?”

“Do you want to do it tonight, or tomorrow?” Chuck asked. Sarah raised an eyebrow at him. “Woman, I meant talking about Zondra.”

“Tomorrow,” Sarah said. “Tonight, I just want to cuddle with you.” Chuck smiled and nodded. “My boyfriend,” she said softly.

“Dead boyfriend,” Chuck told her. “Wait, you’re into some weird shit.” Sarah shoved him and he fell off the bed, onto the floor. “You could of hurt me.”

“Chuck, I know hundreds of ways to hurt you,” she told him. He got to his knees, his hands on the bed, grinning at her.

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t,” Chuck told her. She gave him a grateful smile.