A/N: Normally, I don't supply epilogues for novellas, but since this one strayed over into novel territory...

A Normal Madness?

Epilogue:Futurely

Chuck and Sarah, the Porsche parked, stood at a distance from the restaurant.

Each was eyeing the sign: Sushi and the Banshee. After a moment of individual disbelief, they turned to each other and their distinct disbeliefs merged into one mutual disbelief.

Sarah gazed at Chuck. He gazed back. They both turned and stared again at the sign.

"Tell me, Chuck," Sarah enunciated, "tell me again about Morgan and food. Trust without qualification?"

Chuck's head dropped. "Yeah, that's what I said. But I hadn't expected this." Beneath the lettering on the sign was a cartoon picture of a woman in a luridly colorful harlequin costume, holding an empty plate, a smile on her face that seemed at once alluring and lethal.

Sarah shook her head. Chuck shrugged, chuckled nervously. "If they have a special called Happy House, I'd advise against ordering it."

They got to the door and Chuck opened it for Sarah. She gave him a small bow and a smirk and went in first. "Action heroes before beauty," Chuck quipped as he waved her by. "Pearls before swine," Sarah quipped back, as she punched his shoulder without even turning, her hand snapping out and back before Chuck even registered the movement.

"Hey. Ouch! And ouch! No fair, a rapid-fire, verbal-physical combo."

Sarah turned to look at him, theatrically narrowing her eyes to slits and sharpening her tone to razor. "You got no chance, boyfriend Chuck."

He looked at her in mock-terror, and then sighed happily. "It's so true, girlfriend Sarah. I'm putty in your hands."

She raised one eyebrow above her still-narrowed eyes. "I hope not."

Chuck's eyes grew and he looked around involuntarily. Sarah dropped the theater and gave him a giddy smile. Chuck shook his head in defeat.

The restaurant was not crowded. But before Sarah had seen her party, she heard Ellie: "Chuck, Sarah!" Ellie and Devon, Carina and Morgan, were at a large table in one corner. They left two seats unoccupied. Ellie and Carina were on one side, Devon and Morgan on the other. Sarah took Chuck's hand and they walked to the table. Sarah noticed that one of Ellie's feet was resting beneath the table on one of Devon's. Then Sarah recalibrated. It was one of Carina's feet on one of Morgan's. Above the table, however, neither Carina nor Morgan betrayed any sign that they were in contact beneath it.

Sarah glanced at Chuck to see if he had noticed, but he was still shaking his head, grinning to himself and enduring an aftershock blush. Sarah felt such a rush of affection for him that she pulled him to her, almost as if he were dancing the female part of the tango, and, when his body contacted hers, she gave him a brief, passionate kiss.

While she was lost in Chuck, she heard Carina snigger. "Told you the champagne would get used tonight. Hoist the mainsail! Anchors, away!"

"Shiver his timber!" Morgan added.

The two of them rollicked with laughter, joined by Devon's unrestrained booming chuckle. Ellie laughed too, but with more restraint, then scolded: "Leave them alone. They're new to this, new to them."

Chuck pulled back, but, to Sarah's surprise, he did not look to the table. He looked at her. Right at her, into her eyes. He waited for a second, to make sure that registered on her.

Then, in a voice only she could hear, he said. "I love you, Sarah." He held her gaze. "You don't have to say anything, nothing at all, but I am done hiding my true feelings for you."

Sarah's heart swelled. Her throat grew tight; tears formed in her eyes. "Chuck, I…" I love you too. I know it. She kissed Chuck again, then she turned to the group, blinking back the tears. "Hey, everyone!"

Each of the people at the table was pretending not to have been watching, pretending not to have known what had transpired, even if they had only inferred it, not heard it. Ellie and Carina were both blinking in time with Sarah. Even Devon and Morgan were moved, if not to tears, then to goofy grins.

Sarah sat down alongside Ellie and Carina, across from Chuck. Carina bumped Sarah's shoulder once she was seated. "Good day?" Sarah nodded enthusiastically.

"How about you?" Sarah asked.

She saw Carina glance at Morgan and saw him glance down, his blush about the same color as Chuck's was earlier.

"I've…maybe…had better," Carina said, slowly, still watching Morgan, "but I can't remember when…"

Sarah saw Morgan smile although he did not raise his head for a moment.

Sarah wondered what was going on beneath the table. Morgan finally did raise his head and Carina bestowed a smile on him that was little short of divine grace. Morgan beamed at Carina.

Sarah noticed that Chuck was watching Morgan and Carina, and that Ellie and Devon were too. But neither Carina nor Morgan seemed to be aware of it: they were focused on each other, on a shared moment, a shared memory.

"So," Sarah interjected, "you and Morgan went to Large Mart together? Hard to imagine you in Large Mart."

Morgan grinned at Carina. "See, I'm not the only one." He turned to Sarah. " I told her that taking her into Large Mart was like taking a Rolex to a Timex Convention."

Carina shook her head, a teasing smile beginning. "Simile's aren't Morgan's strong suit. Though I award him two points for the repeated 'x's." Carina's finishing smile was mysterious.

Sarah wondered at it but she grinned; she heard Chuck laugh.

"No, the closest Morgan's ever gotten to a good simile was the time he told me that a simile I used was like a metaphor."

It was Devon who contributed this to the conversation, and everyone at the table turned to look at him as they tried to process the comment. — Everyone except Morgan, who had ducked his head again.

"So you helped Morgan pick out my bed?" Sarah asked Carina, dropping her voice.

Carina nodded. "I tried a few on for Morgan."

Morgan's head stayed down.

"You know," Carina whispered to Sarah, "I think he liked me in every one. I have to say, it surprised me to realize the security cameras in Large Mart, except for the ones at the exit, were fakes. But it made bed shopping a...more rewarding experience."

"Carina?" Sarah asked, her eyes widening for real at Carina's expression. "You didn't?"

Carina gave Sarah an incredulous stare. "Didn't what?"

Sarah heard Chuck choke on a drink of water. Morgan glanced up at Carina and they shared another look and smile.

Morgan faced Chuck. "So, where did you two go today?"

Chuck wiped his mouth with the maroon napkin at his seat. "Griffith Park. We looked out at the scenery. Talked."

Morgan nodded, Yoda-like, his eyes hooded. "Of our lives taking stock, were we?"

Chuck gave Morgan a flat look, glanced at Carina and then shot his glance back at Morgan. "Do or do not, Morgan, there is no try. Not even in the Bedding section."

Morgan looked at Carina again, his eyes pleading. She gave him a devilish smile.

Sarah had seen that smile before but never targeted on one man. It was normally scattershot, meant to affect as many men as possible at once.

Sarah still was not sure how to understand the situation.

This was uncharted territory for Carina: male friendship was unheard of, and romantic exclusivity more or less unimaginable. Even as recently as Sarah's arrival, Carina had been talking her old game, her complete lack of interest in emotional connection, intimacy. "I won't give him me." That had been what Carina said, in those or similar words. But maybe she had been talking to herself more than to Sarah, trying still to hold onto an old pattern of thinking and acting that had made sense before her last mission, but that no longer could carry conviction.

Carina moved in her chair. Sarah was almost certain Carina was again in foot-to-foot contact with Morgan. But as Carina finished her movement, she turned again to Sarah. She had an evil smile, and Sarah braced herself.

But: "Chuck?"

Everyone looked up at a small, attractive Asian-American woman standing by the table. She was wearing a jade dress and more make-up than the cartoon harlequin on the Sushi and the Banshee sign.

"Anna?…" Chuck said. "Anna Wu? How are you?"

The woman frowned, a red line below black eyeliner. "I haven't heard from you. I assume you still need my professional help…"

"Um...ah…" Chuck started.

The name finally clicked for Sarah: Chuck's previous dating coach — Anna Wu.

"I have worked on a whole series of remedial lessons, Chuck. I've reviewed your case. I have some exciting new suggestions."

Sarah looked at Anna. "So do I."

She moved her eyes from Anna to Chuck. Anna speared her with a look. "And who would you be?"

"My name is Sarah, and I am Chuck's dating coach. He's made remarkable progress in a short time. He had a date this very day!"

The table had gone quiet, waiting to discover out how this scene would end. — Except for Chuck: he looked like a man before a firing squad whose final cigarette had burnt out.

Anna made a skeptical sound. "That's impossible. What woman would accept a Chuck Bartowski invitation?"

"It just so happens that this woman called him and asked him out."

Anna laughed to scorn. "It must have been pretended, a woman who went out with him on a dare."

"No," Sarah said, "definitely not a dare. I would call it...a love match." She looked from Anna to Chuck, making sure he heard her words, that he heard her say them in front of everyone. "Yes," Sarah intoned musically, forgetting Anna altogether, "a love match."

"The poor woman. She must have no clue about love."

Sarah smiled but felt her heart lurch a little. "I don't think she knows much about it, but she doesn't have to know much about it to know that she feels it, and she can explore it as she goes. She plans to explore it with Chuck, to learn from him. They'll learn together."

"Where is this fabled woman?" Anna said, her voice dripping derision, looking around the restaurant. "Is she outside — parking her unicorn?"

A low growl, feral and involuntary, escaped Sarah.

Carina stood up and took Anna Wu by the arm. "Probably best for you not to meet her," Carina said, pulling Anna away from the table.

Sarah looked down to find that one chopstick from her place-setting was clutched in her hand like a dagger.

She slipped it back onto her place-setting. She looked up at Chuck.

He was smiling at her, a lighthouse. Only then did she recapture her words to Anna; she dropped her eyes. After a moment of self-collection, she glanced up at Chuck, glanced around the table. She could feel the happiness of everyone there.

Carina came back, shaking her head, and muttering about now knowing who the banshee was.

Sarah let the marvelous moment hold her, abide: these people — even Devon, who she had not yet gotten to know — made happy by her happiness. They wanted her to be happy and they were happy that she was. She had been a small child the last time she had known a moment like that.

A family moment.

Family.

And she knew that Chuck had entrusted her with his happiness, just as she had entrusted him with hers.

Just then, the waiter arrived to take orders, apologizing for being slow to get to them.

While everyone else listened to the waiter describe the specials, Sarah caught Chuck's attention. "I love you too," she mouthed. He nodded softly, and gave her a smile she had never seen before, but that she recognized as hers, as reserved for her, not for public display.

His smile was her secret.

They both then began to listen to the waiter. But Sarah's mind wandered, to her new apartment, to her brand-new bed.

She would make him smile that smile again later. As many times as possible.

The sushi — Sarah never figured out the banshee — turned out to be terrific. Morgan had been right. Everyone complimented him and Carina glowed at him.

There was lots of talk, lots of banter, lots of enjoyment. Sarah's feeling of belonging strengthened as the evening went on.

Her new friends, Ellie and Devon and Morgan.

Her new old friend, Carina, somehow still the same and yet somehow different.

Her new and first love, Chuck.

Family.

ooOoo

Fall became winter became spring.

The best seasons of Sarah's life.

She loved the job at Ex-AV, and she loved her boss. She really loved her boss. And as often as she possibly could.

Her boss. It was clear from her first day that he was her boss on paper only. From the time she arrived, he included her in everything, gave over the reins of the business to her, consulted with and listened to her. He talked of Ex-AV with the first-person plural pronoun, 'we'. She felt like a part of something good and something promising from the first day.

She found their new location, a lovely small building with sunny, windowed offices and with a large brightly-lit basement that Chuck used for the lab.

Sarah and Chuck met often in the stairwell for 'conferences'.

Sarah convinced Chuck that the best protection for his work was publicity, not secrecy. So, they featured the sale of the program to the Japanese company in the newspaper and in the LA business magazine that had profiled Chuck when he opened Ex-AV. In the interview, he mentioned no next-gen version of the program, talking only about the sold one and about some games he was developing.

Sarah had nearly fallen out of her chair when she saw the check, the fortune, the Japanese company paid for the program. Ex-AV and Chuck were awash in cash. But nothing changed with Chuck, other than the renting of the new office.

Almost nothing. He bought a car. A Prius.

But he had the dealership add an after-market spoiler to the rear, just so Sarah would not be embarrassed to be seen driving it. She had shaken her head at her boyfriend, reminding him that an added spoiler simply made it a spoiled Prius, but he was undeterred.

He remained smilingly unrepentant about it, and she usually let him drive it, enjoying the chance to watch the man she loved drive an unsporty car: Chuck could make a Prius sexy, spoiled or not.

A month before her sublease was due to run out, Chuck asked her to move in.

ooOoo

It became clear to everyone over time that Carina and Morgan were more than friends, but their friendship was not marginalized: it was at the center of what they were as a couple. Morgan was promoted to manager of the Buy More. Carina stayed at the DEA, working out of an office in LA. She refused to do more deep cover work, and, rather than lose her, her boss offered her a position coordinating and supporting deep-cover agents, those working near the border and in Mexico.

Her claustrophobia got better. Morgan kept making her laugh.

ooOoo

On the day Sarah was due to move into Chuck's apartment, she got a phone call. It was from Irene.

"Hey, Irene. Sarah here."

"Hey, Long time, no talk — but that's good. I confess I worried you might end up back here. I know agents who tried to leave but just came back, they couldn't be...normalized. But, you, Sarah, you're okay?"

"Yes, Irene. I'm...I'm in love with a wonderful man, help him run his company. I'm moving in with him today." Sarah still could not believe all that was true — but it was.

"So, the competition, Jackie, she lost like I knew she would."

Sarah smiled self-consciously. "Yes, yes, she did. I found...the life I was looking for."

"Good. The invitation to visit still open?"

"Of course."

"This last DC winter was long; I'm feeling pasty."

"Then head out here, Irene, I'd like you to meet Chuck."

"'Chuck'? Huh, Well, he is a lucky man. I'll get back to you about a visit. I'm calling for a reason, not just to check in. A few weeks ago, a rogue CIA agent, only recently declared rogue, was shot and killed. His name was Ryker. — Wasn't he involved in that Budapest mission of yours?" The news, and way Irene asked the question, made Sarah's pulse race. How much does Irene know?

"Yes."

Irene cleared her throat. "Yes, well, Ryker was killed by an NSA agent named John Casey. You might have heard of him?"

"Yes, hard-edged. A killer."

"That's him. I don't know the details, why he was chasing Ryker or anything, but I...noted at the time of your leaving what your last mission had been and I...put some things together. Don't worry," Irene added, "I've talked to no one about...what I put together. And there are crucial bits I do not know and so could tell no one. But I thought knowing that Ryker was dead might...be of interest."

"It is." I can see Mom. Molly. They can meet Chuck. "Thank you, Irene."

"How about Easter? For a visit? Maybe I could meet this Chuck?"

"Yes, come, please."

"Okay, I will get back to you."

Sarah sat down, phone in hand, stunned. And then her racing pulse became excited, not frightened. She was about to call her mom when there was a knock at the door. Sarah walked to it and opened it. Ellie was standing outside. She had a funny look on her face.

"Sarah, can you come out here for a minute?"

Sarah was not sure what was happening. She stepped outside and saw Chuck. He was standing by the fountain, wearing his navy suit, a tie. He was pacing.

"Chuck?" Sarah walked toward him. He looked pale. She started to get worried.

As she got to him, he bent down on one knee and took out a small blue velvet box. It took Sarah a minute to understand. She looked over her shoulder, but Ellie had vanished.

"Chuck?"

"Sarah, let me get this out. I'm so happy you are in my life. I'm so happy you are moving in with me. And I want you to move in wearing this, to move in wearing a promise to be my wife, my promise to be your husband. I want a future with you. Sarah Walker, will you marry me?"

Sarah stood speechless. She and Chuck had talked about a future, marriage, talked about kids, but it had all been heart-warming someday talk. No definite dates.

But this was today. A definite date.

The man she loved was asking her to marry him. And all because he had been her successful, unofficial dating coach while she was his unsuccessful, official dating coach.

Thank God, I was unsuccessful.

Chuck started to look panicky.

"Yes!" Sarah whispered, tears falling. "Yes."

She extended her hand and he slipped on the ring. Sarah heard her door open and knew Ellie had come back to the courtyard. Ellie's door opened, and Devon and Carina and Morgan came out. Sarah got hugs from everyone. After the hugs were over, amid the happy hubbub next to the fountain, Sarah leaned against the man she would marry.

She held her hand out in front of her so she could admire the ring. She loved and she was loved. Her life now had the bow-shape of a welcomed promise, not the snarl-shape of a disavowed regret. She was not completely free, unsnarled, but she was freer than she ever imagined being, and there was more freedom to come.

What defined her now was in front of her, not behind her.

Sarah let Chuck pull her into a kiss and into that future.

Love to hear any final thoughts. Call it a trade: an epilogue from me for a final thought from you?

I've left doors open back into this story. If I write any more fanfiction, I might return to it.

We need more Siouxsie and the Banshees reference in fanfics, I think.

Thanks to Beckster1213 for pre-reading, and to WvonB and LetsGoRed.

— Zettel