Chapter 6: Going Home

Sarah had just been released from the hospital. Ellie had told her to get a few days' rest before returning to her normal routine. Sarah agreed, and Chuck took Sarah home in his Nerd Herder car. It was a quiet ride home, and while Chuck tried to make small talk, Sarah mostly just sat in silence looking out the window.

Finally, they arrived home (it was only a quick drive, but with the awkwardness in the car, it seemed like forever). As Chuck opened the door, he looked at Sarah with a smile and said,

"Home sweet home."

To which she just gave the generic answer of "Mm hmm", set her bags down, and sat on the couch.

"So, what do you want to do now?" Chuck asked Sarah as he stuck his hands in his pockets. "We could watch a movie if you want…I have Star Wars in the dvd player if you want to watch that. I was watching it with Morgan the other night, but I fell asleep halfway through it…"

"Chuck, I've been lying in bed in the hospital for days. I don't want to just sit around and watch a movie." Sarah replied with a bit of a grumpy attitude.

"Ok, if you want to do something else, that's fine." Chuck said, with a tone in his voice that clearly showed he was hurt by her bluntness. "Remember, though, you promised Ellie that you would rest."

"I know Ellie means well, but I really don't think sitting around the house resting is the best thing for me right now." Sarah told him.

"What do you mean?" Chuck asked her, clearly confused about what she was trying to say.

"I mean that I don't just want to sit around the house alone all day!" she snapped as she stood up "After all, you may be able to get a couple days off work, but eventually it will turn into me being alone at the house all day thinking about just how much I can't remember."

"Ok, Sarah, calm down." Chuck tried to tell her gently. "I understand that you don't want to sit at home alone all day, but…"

"Home?" Sarah interrupted. "This place doesn't even feel like home right now! I want it to, but I just can't remember it being our home, ok?!"

"Oh." Chuck replied, not sure of what to say. "Sarah…I'm sorry." As he said this, he came to her, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her in close as he hugged her.

"Chuck, you have nothing to feel sorry for." Sarah told him in a more gentle tone as she hugged him back. "I shouldn't have overreacted. I just need to get back to work, and I'll feel better."

"Back to work?" Chuck asked as he stepped back a bit. "You don't mean going back to being a spy, do you?"

"Of course I do Chuck. What else do I know how to do?"

"Sarah, that's crazy! You can't just go back to being a spy after losing your memory. It's way too dangerous." Chuck told her as he started to pace around the room.

"I know how to handle danger. And just because I have lost some of my memories doesn't mean I've lost all of them. I still know how to be a spy. Besides, getting back into the field might trigger some of my memories to come back."

"But you don't remember how to be a spy, Sarah! If Quinn was able to convince you that I was the enemy, then who knows what else could happen. If you don't remember where your loyalties lie, then there is no way it is safe for you to be in the field. You know that."

Sarah looked at him quietly for a second before asking him, in a quiet but somewhat snide voice,

"Chuck, why don't you want me to go back to the spy life?"

Chuck sighed, and then answered. "Because…I can't stand to lose you. I know you don't really remember, but the two of us had turned away from the spy life. We were going to focus on what was really important. And I'm not saying you have to stay away forever…I just want you to be safe." As this point, he came close to her and put his arms around her. "I almost lost you once…I don't want that to happen again."

Sarah looked at him, gave a sad sigh, and replied, "But what can I do? After all, I can't just sit alone here day after day by myself."

Up to this point, Chuck hadn't had a clue as to what Sarah could do once she returned to "normal" life. However, when she asked this question, an idea popped into his head.

"I've got an idea," Chuck said hesitantly, "but I'm not sure you'll like it."

"What is it?" Sarah asked, not sure of what to expect.

"Well, I don't know if you remember, but we technically own the Burbank Buy More…."

"Ok…go on."

"Well, a couple of my Nerd Headers quit recently to pursue a musical career."

"Jeff and Lester, you mean?" Sarah asked him

"Yeah, them. I don't know how far they'll get in their career with their skills, but…wait, you remember them?"

"Well, they are kind of hard to forget." She replied, simply shrugging off the fact that another memory had come back to her. "But what does them quitting have to do with anything?"

"I was thinking that maybe you could come work at the Buy More with me. I mean, I know you don't know anything about computers, but I could teach you. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about interviewing anyone else, and you would have something to do, and you and I would be able to work together. And who knows, since it's a familiar place, maybe something there would trigger your memories." Chuck said all of this quickly and somewhat awkwardly, which made it clear that he was really excited and hopeful about the idea.

Sarah thought to herself for a minute, somewhat deep in thought. Finally she spoke.

"Me…working with computers?" Sarah said with a laugh "The idea is ridiculous…"

"I know, but…" Chuck answered anxiously.

"But at this point, I don't think that we have any other ideas…so we might as well go with it." Sarah finished.

At this point, a huge grin broke out on Chuck's face.

"Oh yeah, this is going to be great!" Chuck said enthusiastically. "You just wait, before you know it, I'll have taught you how to -"

"You seem really excited about this…" Sarah interrupted.

"Sorry," Chuck replied with an awkward grin. "I'm just…happy that we'll get to do something like this together."

"Yeah, I think I am too." Sarah said quietly as she sat back down on the couch. "I mean, this definitely is better than what we had a few minutes ago."

"What do you mean?" Chuck asked as he sat down next to her.

"I mean the way we were fighting. Has it always been like that? I don't really remember."

"No, of course it hasn't." Chuck answered in a gentle tone, but with facial expressions that clearly showed he was surprised by her question. "This tension is only here because we have so much to work through right now. But we'll get through it, Sarah. Don't worry."

"If you say so Chuck." Sarah told him in a gentle tone that showed she had no idea she how they would work through this problem, but that she was going to trust him anyway. "Maybe now would be a good time for that movie you were talking about…what was it called again?"

"You mean Star Wars?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's it. I don't remember anything about it, so —"

"You don't remember Star Wars?!" Chuck exclaimed, interrupting Sarah midsentence. "Oh man, we are so watching that movie tonight."

And before Sarah could change her mind about the movie, Chuck got it all set up and ready to play, while continuing to talk about the importance of Star Wars and other geeky things. When the movie began, Chuck gently took Sarah's hand, and she cuddled next to him throughout the film. The tension was still there, but Chuck and Sarah ignored it, as they began their journey of rebuilding everything that Quinn had stolen from them.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hi everyone! Sorry this chapter took me so long to publish. Things have been crazy busy with school and the Christmas season, but I definitely appreciate your patience. I hope you enjoy reading this next chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please comment with any praises or criticisms that you may have. Hopefully I will have more time for writing in the next few weeks, and I'm hoping to post a couple new stories with different themes as well as continuing this one. Anyway, I hope you all had a merry Christmas, and have a happy new year!

Oh, one other thing: I thought you would like to know that part of the inspiration from this chapter came from Yvonne Strahovski herself. I saw in an interview that she mentioned something about how it would have been interesting to make Sarah have to work at the Buy More with the guys, which is part of the reason I decided to incorporate it into the story. Hope you liked it!