AN Throughout my time on fanfiction, many people have given me some wise wisdom, which was: write for yourself. So this is me doing exactly that. If I had to pick a story out of all tales that I've ever had thoughts about writing that was purely for me, then this is it. I did not like in any shape or form whatsoever the way that Chuck ended - you don't make a wife forget her husband. The finale that Fedak gave us is not romance in any capacity whatsoever. So this story is my take on what happens to Chuck and Sarah after the beach. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Anybody expecting a prolonged dosage of angst beyond the first few chapters in this story should look away. Chuck and Sarah had so much anguish throughout the series, and I don't feel like they deserve any more. There's no more CIA, no more deception, just two young people with nothing standing between them as they work through their problems with the ultimate goal of falling in love again :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck. I wish that I owned Chuck because I would have given Charah the ending that they deserved. The whole Chuck cast minus Charah got an end. Great joke, Fedak!

All Roads Lead Back Home

Chapter One

So he had located her again. He had found her through Morgan telling him to follow his heart, and he did pursue his heart, and now he had found her once more. He had found her, and he had made her laugh, and he had made her cry as he passionately shared their life story with his wife once more for an indefinite period of time as they sat together on their spot on the beach. Chuck and Sarah had shared many bonding moments in the five years they had known each other at this spot. And, as it happens, him following his heart wasn't quite the only piece of advice from Morgan that Chuck had followed. No, instead, he had also suggested Morgan's crazy fairytale idea of one magical kiss that would bring back her memories to her and thus, their marriage, their happiness and their combined collective future that they planned to share with each other for the rest of their lives.

It was unquestionably a magical kiss that Chuck and Sarah had just shared. Now obviously, it will not go down on the Chuck and Sarah all-time best-kiss record books. But Sarah had told him to kiss her. It had taken almost two weeks, but it was the first real sign of hope for Chuck, that his wife may one day learn to love him again, as he will love her, until the end of his time. And he is now about to find out just how magical that kiss was as they had just pulled apart from the kiss. That magical, breathtaking kiss that lasted for quite some time. Sarah had even eventually reciprocated the physical action to him, in where she had moved her hand to caress his face as they kissed each other.

Breathing in a deep sigh to himself, he begins his hail mary, the last throw of the game with everything on the line, one gigantic leap of faith in where his future and the rest of his life may quite possibly be decided right here and now in where he will either get his wife back, or be given a chance to win her back, or be alone for the rest of his life.

Mustering up the biggest amount of courage he could possibly muster, he looks into the eyes of his wife. "So, did it work? Do you remember anything?" he asks as he then begins to feel nervous yet hopeful. He feels his body trembling deep inside in bated anticipation of her response to him.

He continues to look into the eyes of his wife who he has shared so many happy moments within the years he has known her but who yet now feels like a complete stranger, and he watches as she begins to shake her head no to him sympathetically.

"I remember that you're a good kisser," she says to him as a sympathetic smile starts to take form.

On hearing her response, his gaze immediately starts to shift away from his wife, and his gaze finishes as he starts to stare down at the floor in sadness and despair as his hopes and dreams begin to shatter and his anxiety starts to race as he begins to feel his heart start to palpitate on hearing his wife's dreaded words to him.

"It was a stupid idea," he admits after a long moment of silence and sadness as he then begins to breathe out a long, deep drawn-out sigh in despondence before then gazing right back at his wife once more with the faintest of smiles. This smile certainly was not one of the young man's trademark grins that's for sure...

"So, what happens now?" He asks eventually, feeling hopeful, nervous, vulnerable, petrified. He's not even sure if he wants to hear her answer to his question. She will probably leave him. She'd already previously told him that she didn't feel it, back at the fountain...

He watches as she begins to sigh for a long moment and she shifts her gaze away from him and out into the ocean with the sun shining brightly millions and millions of miles away as she begins to collect and gather her thoughts.

"Chuck... I like you," she says eventually, and she pauses to smile warmly at him. "I like our story. And I want to be around you. But I don't know what the future holds. I need time, to figure things out," she admits to him.

Chuck stares at his wife as he then begins to nod his head in acceptance to her on hearing her words to him as he then musters every single ounce of hope and determination—and by god he has an abundance of that after everything that has happened to the young man— that he possesses to bring himself to smile faintly at her. I guess it's better than never seeing her again. I don't think I would be able to live with that. I can work with this. At least she is prepared to give me a chance

"Of course. Sarah, all that you have known for your whole life is living on the run with your dad, and then spying for the CIA. So I don't expect you to rush back into a marriage as much as it pains me to say it," he pauses as he has to choke back a sudden tidal wave of emotions that has suddenly drowned him in grief caused from him saying something that has quite literally just killed him inside. "Just know, I'm here for you always," he says as his emotions continue to threaten to overwhelm him and his gaze sinks to the sand once more in sadness.

"I should think so. You're my husband," she says in an attempt to lighten the mood with a warm, inviting smile on the young woman's face in an attempt to help perk him up from his obviously depressive mood stemmed from him being petrified that he may be about to lose his wife for good. She didn't need to be a spy to be able to read the body language of somebody, probably just a few seconds away from bursting into tears with grief.

"Heh," The young man says, and he lifts his face up once more on hearing his wife's words, and a humongous grin begins to form on his face on hearing her humour to him in his time of sadness.

On seeing the enormous, vibrant smile and his sad puppy-like eyes, Sarah's stomach begins to turn, and she suddenly feels as if she has been thrown into a burning oven as a sudden rush of heat flows through her body. Seeing her husband's grin has caused her to feel an instant attraction to his loving warmth. Oh, she can certainly see how she fell in love with him. That smile alone that he has just given her is enough to melt her strongest of walls. And then there was the kiss. That breathtaking magical kiss. Sarah can not remember ever kissing anybody like that before in her life. She could feel his emotions as he kissed her. She could feel his affinity towards her in the way that he delicately caressed her face with his hand. No, this man would worship her until his dying breath, of that she is sure. She may not remember him. But she doesn't need her past memories to be able to read him. Everything he has said to her in the just two weeks that she can recall knowing him has turned to be true. She cannot continue to doubt the intentions of this man she is sitting next to simply because there is no longer any foundation or basis on which to mistrust him. It was all a lie. Setup and orchestrated by Nicholas Quinn who is now deceased. And may he burn in hell

"Chuck, I believe everything that you have told me over the course of however long we have been out here on this beach." she pauses. "I have also watched and studied the mission reports." she pauses once more as the husband and wife gaze at each other on their spot, at their beach. "Everything that you have said to me ties into the reports. I believe you. I don't remember it, but I feel a strong attraction to you." she pauses once more to regain her breath and he waits patiently for his wife to finish talking as he takes in every single word that his wife is saying to him. "It sounds like we had some really great things and I really wish I could remember them, and it really sucks that I can't and that it was taken away from us because we don't deserve that." the young woman pauses once more, and he nods his head in agreement. "But Chuck, even if I don't remember and I hope one day that I do, but we can create new memories together. I just need a bit of time to figure things out. I need to see somebody. For their help," she finishes with a warm, encouraging smile.

Chuck begins to nod his head in acceptance on hearing his wife's admissions to him. "Your mom?" he then asks.

On hearing his words, a look of concern immediately forms on her face, and she quirks her eyebrow up in puzzlement and confusion as Sarah then begins to eye Chuck up warily for a brief moment and she tightens her guard so as not to give away or let anything slip after what he has just said to her.

"You know about her?" Sarah then asks him cautiously. Of course, he knows. He's my husband.

"Yeah..." Chuck admits, and he pauses to nod his head at her. "I didn't want to bring her up when I told you our story because I didn't want to spook you. I know about Molly too. Your mom has adopted her as her child, and she knows you as her sister. You told me about them recently. And I helped you with a situation and crisis that you had faced." he admits as he refreshes his wife's forgotten memories.

"What about Ryker?" she asks him in a very concerned tone of voice. If Chuck knows about Molly, then other people could possibly too. Sarah shifts back into agent mode once more.

"He's no longer a threat. Molly is safe," Chuck says reassuringly to his wife.

"Chuck, what happened to him?" Sarah asks him in a still concerned tone of voice.

"Um," Chuck pauses as he begins to cough on a sore topic. "You killed him," he admits. "You were both involved in a struggle. And he had tried to kill you inside your mother's home. He is dead and no further threat to your mom, or to Molly."

Sarah takes a long moment of reflection to register everything that Chuck has just told her as she tries so desperately hard once more to remember things, as she has been trying ever since she had learnt that her memory of the past few years had been suppressed or erased.

"I have been keeping in contact regularly with your mom ever since we met each other, and so have you. She will want to see you. I can take you there?" Chuck offers as he smiles, warmly at her.

Sarah shakes her head no before giving him her response. "No, Chuck. I need to do this on my own," she admits.

Chuck's body language then enters into a deflated state on hearing Sarah's response to him.

Sarah immediately caught on to his deflated persona, obviously. She might not remember her husband and his body language and how he behaves. But she's still Sarah. She can read anybody to perfection.

Sarah then decides to cut in once more to offer her husband some reassurance that she's not just going to take off and never see him again like he is obviously profoundly fearing right now. "I'm coming back, Chuck. I just need a few days to figure things out and to figure how I feel about you," she says and pauses to smile reassuringly at him. "Chuck, this is not easy for me to say… But I trust you."

On hearing Sarah's reassurances to him and her telling him that she trusts him, an enormous grin begins to form on Chuck's face. He knows how hard that was for Sarah to say to him what she has just said. His wife is not the Sarah Bartowski who he has known for five years right now. That Sarah had learnt to trust many people. But at this moment, she's back to being the Sarah Walker when he had met her for the first time. The Sarah Walker that shed and burnt identities more than a regular normal person would change credit cards. That Sarah doesn't know how to trust anybody, so for her to tell him that alone fills him with such hope and happiness that things may just work out, even if it is only the slightest glimmer of hope to cling onto, he will take it because it's all that he has to stop him from falling down a very dark hole.

"Thank you, Sarah. You don't know what that means to me to hear you say that," he says to her with overwhelming relief, and he begins to grin widely.

"I should probably get going though Chuck, while it's early. We've been out here for quite a while," she admits as she gazes into his eyes.

"Yeah, that is a good idea I guess," Chuck replies to her in a resigned tone of voice.

They then begin to stand up together, and on standing, the husband and wife begin to gaze at each other in a heartbreaking moment of silence.

Sarah then moves to hug him. "I will come back, Chuck. I can promise you that I will come back. I want to be around you. It's just for a few days," she says, reassuringly inside the embrace with him.

Chuck nods his head and emotion begins to fill upon his face, and he has to fight back his tears. "I will be right here waiting for you, Sarah," he declares powerfully.

A bright smile begins to form on Sarah's face on hearing his declaration, and they then start to separate from the embrace.

"I'll call you," she says while nodding her head at him to reinforce her words as the husband and wife continue to gaze at each other.

"Absolutely. Call me any time you want. Sarah, you are my life. And you always will be," he declares powerfully to her with an adoring smile on his face.

Sarah smiles a final time at him before turning, and she then begins to walk away as Chuck watches on as his wife continues to walk away from him. She turns back to look at him a final time, and they gaze once more from a distance before she turns once more and disappears out from sight.

Chuck starts to sigh deeply to himself, as he stands in the sand and his gaze for an indefinite period of time continues to lock in the direction that his wife had just departed from…

AN So, what do we think? Is there any interest from any of you to see my take on what happens after the beach? Leave a review and let me know!

The next chapter will involve Sarah heading to visit her mother. You can't beat a bit of motherly advice in a time of crisis! Also, there will be a long flashback to Chuck telling Sarah their story.