AN1 I have a new story — 'The Spy and the Soldier', I didn't want to publish it until I had completed this, but the plot bunnies in my head demanded that I began typing it out as soon as the idea came to me.

Sarah vs. Redemption and a Navy War Hero

Chapter Forty-Three, Welcome to Afghanistan

January 2007

FOB Chapman

USSOCOM/CIA Base

Khost Province

Near Pakistan border

12:00 hours

Chuck pauses from discharging his FN SCAR assault rifle at one of the targets lined up on the open gun range on his base to gather his water bottle placed near to him, and he takes a long swig from the bottle. With it being January, the heat in Afghanistan is negligible. In the summer months, the temperature can be as high as Fifty Celsius, so it's a lot cooler now. But, Chuck is still reminded that he is now in the desert because he can taste the sand of the desert on his tongue, and he can smell the desert in the air.

Chuck, together with Sarah, had arrived on base early hours this morning on a military flight. They had made a stopover in Japan briefly before then flying direct into Afghanistan and landing at Kandahar International Airport. From there, they had boarded onto a helicopter, and they had completed the remaining distance to their base of operations. All of Chuck's gear from when he was in Iraq several months ago had already been shipped directly to Gold Squadron's new base of military activity with their three-month stay in Iraq over.

"How are you, Chuck?"

Chuck glances to the right of him at his best friend and XO, Morgan Grimes, to query the intrusion.

He grins as he responds, "Jet-lagged, buddy."

Morgan chuckles and nods approvingly. "I'm glad you're back with us again, Chuck. We've tortuously missed you for the past three months since what happened to you on that horrible day in Fallujah."

"I'm glad to be back," Chuck declares as he continues to hold his smile towards his best friend.

"How does it feel?" Morgan asks.

"Different," Chuck admits.

Morgan sinks his eyebrows into a frown. "Different how buddy?" he queries.

"Those weeks in Los Angeles with Sarah, I felt like a normal person again for the first time in seven years."

"But your head is in the game again?" Morgan asks.

Chuck nods. "It is. But there is more to my life than the Navy now. I now have something to live for. I now have somebody to live for," he declares.

Morgan grins. "I'm so happy for you both that you found each other and that you guys made it up with each other again. I didn't know her or you for that matter before the Navy, but from everything you have told me about her over the years, I knew that she was the one and only one for you," he declares.

"Thank you. I am happy too. And you're right, Sarah is and only ever was the only girl for me. But I will miss the Navy once my final year is up," he admits as his lips crease in sadness.

"You're definitely going then?" Morgan asks.

Chuck nods. "Morgan, I have to. I am proud to have served but the reality is that I only joined in the first place because Sarah left me and I wanted to find something to do with my life without her. But now Sarah is back in my life again, and we can both see marriage and children in the not too distant future. I nearly died in Fallujah because I couldn't shoot a little boy, and I'm not being fair to Sarah if I put a life in the Navy before a life with her. Plus, if my desire to start a family with Sarah isn't a big enough incentive, then there's Hollie to think about now too."

Morgan nods. "Yeah, Chuck, we all heard about it. We all miss Bryce, arguably as much as Jill missed him. None of us can believe what Jill did. It wasn't fair on Hollie."

"Oh, Morgan, I know. What Jill did was very selfish. And I'll never be able to forgive her for what she has done to Hollie. But Red Eye caused all of this. It's an injustice that he is still breathing, while Bryce and his wife are now both in a graveyard."

"Amen, Chuck. But we'll get him," Morgan declares with conviction.

"Morgan, I can't move on until we do," Chuck admits.

"None of us can, Chuck. We're all with you on that."

-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-

Sarah enters inside of a large open tent on her base. This makeshift operations room is one of the locations on the base that the CIA conduct their operations from. Glancing around the room containing around a dozen people, Sarah connects her gaze onto Carina, her best friend, who is standing, but she is arched over a computer.

Sarah walks the short distance towards her friend, and as she gets closer, she watches as her friend notices her presence, and Carina moves to stand straight, and she turns so that the two best friends are now gazing into the eyes of each other.

"Hey, Carina," Sarah greets her affectionately with a loving smile as she comes to a stop just a few inches away from her friend.

Carina returns the facial gesture before she moves into Sarah's proximity, and the two women embrace. "Hi, Sarah. God, I've missed you," Carina declares with joy inside of the embrace.

Sarah's smile continues from her best friend's words to her, and inside the embrace, she replies, "I've missed you too."

The two women then begin to pull back from the loving embrace.

"How have you been?" Carina asks as the two women hold their gaze.

"Um, for the past few weeks, great. Before then, not so much," Sarah admits as Sarah breaks the gaze momentarily to look down at the floor.

"I'm so sorry about what happened to Chuck. I wish I could have been there with you when you needed somebody most."

Sarah raises her gaze to meet her friend's gaze once more, and she smiles at her. "It's ok. We got through it, and the depth of our love for each other is stronger than it has ever been."

Carina returns Sarah's affectionate smile. "Sarah, that's great. I'm so glad you found him again. I don't usually believe in any of this, but it was fate that you met each other again just before this assignment first began."

Sarah nods. "You're right. I don't usually believe in it either, but it was."

The best friends continue to hold their loving smiles. "Are you glad to be back at work?"

Sarah shakes her head while replying, "Not really, Carina. I don't belong here anymore. I'm only here because Chuck has to be. And once Chuck departs from this world, then I am leaving it for good too."

Carina frowns her eyebrows, and she does a double-take. "I thought the CIA was your career? You have always loved your work."

Sarah nods. "It was, and I did. But Chuck is my life. And that is far more important to me than a career in the CIA. "

A half-smile forms on Carina's face. "I'll miss you," she declares, solemnly.

Sarah moves to touch the arm of her best friend and one of the most valuable people in her life. "God, Carina, I'll miss you too. But we'll always be friends, and you can visit Chuck and me anytime you want. And you can call me daily, too. I know I'll be tempted to calling you daily," she declares.

"I've always really cared about you, you know?" Carina states as the best friends continue to hold their loving gaze.

Sarah nods. "I know. You are the best friend I could have ever wished for," she declares emotionally.

"And I'm sorry that I couldn't be the one for you when you needed somebody for all those years of being without him."

"Carina..." Sarah protests.

"I know. Chuck always was the one for you. And I don't hold that against him. In fact, I love him for that because he has made the woman I love happy once more," Carina states as she affectionately touches Sarah's arm, and they hold their adoring gaze.

"Carina, you're about to make me cry," Sarah reveals as her eyes begin to gloss and water.

Carina laughs, and with her own eyes also glossy, she responds, "Don't do it, Walker. I don't want everyone in this room to know that I have a heart."

Sarah shares the laughter with somebody who means more than words can declare to her. "Carina, just so you know, I'll always love you too, just not in that way."

Carina nods. "And that's good enough for me. I learnt to accept that you could never love me intimately a long time ago. Now give me a hug," she demands.

A vibrant, loving smile forms on Sarah's face once more, and she moves into her best friend's proximity as the two women embrace tenderly once more.

-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-

Sarah arrives at a gathering of Navy SEAL's and some Delta Force and CIA personnel outside in the open air on their base. The group is here to welcome Chuck back to active duty officially.

"Hey, Sarah," Chief John Miller greets her on Sarah stopping in his vicinity.

"Hey, John. Where's Chuck?" Sarah asks as she glances around the group in search of her soulmate.

"He's changing into something with Morgan in one of the tents," Chief Miller responds to her.

"Changing into what?" Sarah asks as she continues her gaze at the seaman next to her.

Chief Miller smiles at her. "I can't tell you. It's a surprise. It's a Navy SEAL tradition when deployed on operations," Chief Miller then states.

Sarah frowns as she then pauses in wait with the rest of the gathering for a few minutes until she notes activity in one of the tents in front of her. She watches as two men dressed in what appears to be a sand-colored worm emerge at the entrance of the tent, and the gathering suddenly becomes very loud as the worm appears further in view, and they begin to depart from the tent.

"Sandworm! Sandworm! Sandworm!" the Navy SEAL's present in the gathering all begin to chant loudly in approval as the worm begins to make its way around the crowd.

Because Chuck and Morgan are the only missing members of the troop of Navy SEAL's, Sarah has ascertained that it is both of the officers inside of the worm and that this act is likely the beginning of the official welcoming back of Chuck to active duty.

Chuck and Morgan in the sandworm costume continue circling the gathering of Navy SEALs, Delta Force and CIA personnel for several minutes until coming to a stop in the middle of the group. Sarah watches as Chuck and Morgan then begin to emerge from the costume, before placing it down onto the sand on their base. Sarah and Chuck share a glance at each other before she watches as the Navy SEALs all then begin to gather around Chuck, and she watches as they pick him up until he is hovering in a horizontal position up above them. They then begin to launch him into the air several times in succession, and the Navy SEAL's begin to emit loud cheers to their officer returning to active duty.

Sarah can't bear to watch anymore, and she quickly rushes off to the location of her quarters on base...

-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-

Chuck arrives outside of Sarah's quarters. After being launched into the air several times by his sailors, he had spent several minutes engaging in conversation with each one of them as they verbally welcomed him back onto the team. Chuck had noticed Sarah quickly walk away from the gathering, but he couldn't be rude or disrespectful to his men and leave until the activity had finished, which it now had.

Raising his hand, he knocks on the door of the cabin. He then pauses in wait for some seconds, until the door opens and Sarah emerges in view. She starts to gaze into his eyes and a loving grin forms on Chuck's face on meeting her gaze. "Hey," he greets her softly.

"Hi," she responds in despondence.

Chuck looks around where he is standing to make sure nobody is present, to which there is nobody, before asking, "Can I home in?"

She nods as she immediately then steps back into the cabin to allow him to enter.

Chuck quickly enters, and he briefly turns to close the door before turning to face Sarah once more. The soulmates and lovers gaze at each other in silence for a short moment, and Chuck can tell that his angel is conflicted by something presently. Sensing that, he moves into her proximity to hug her, and he wraps his arms around her back, and her own hands find their way up to his shoulders, and they connect their heads side by side inside of the embrace. The young lovers stay like this for a long moment, until Chuck begins to pull his head back and Sarah does the same. Remaining locked in the embrace, Chuck moves his lips to connect with her own, and the soulmates close their eyes as they passionately kiss until Chuck breaks their kiss for air. Touching his forehead to rest against her own, he asks, "What's wrong, Sarah?"

She takes a moment as the young lovers gaze at each other from where their heads remain touching before she replies, "Everything. I don't want to be here. I want to be somewhere in the United States in bed with you instead. But we're out here, in a desert, in the middle of a war. And you're now back in extreme danger and in the firing line and a mortar shell could land right where we stand at any moment, and I can't bear it."

He moves his head back away from her own slightly, and he smiles, consolingly at her. "You could have stayed at home," he declares softly.

They hold their gaze as she shakes her head at him. "I couldn't. I had to be here with you. I had to live without you for seven years. And then we found each other again. And there was no way that I could have gone back to being without you once more. I tried that once. And it came close to killing me on numerous occasions," she admits.

He continues his sympathetic smile towards the love of his life. "I'm sorry."

She smiles, adoringly at him. "Baby, it's not your fault. It's mine. You're only still committed to the Navy and back here right now because I left you."

His consoling smile continues to remain shaped. "Sarah, baby, please don't keep blaming yourself. You need to let go of everything that happened in the past. It doesn't matter anymore. All that matters is our future."

"I can't let it go," she declares and pauses as she moves to touch her forehead against his own once more. "I have to keep blaming myself. Until you leave the Navy, I can't move on from what I did to us," she declares.

"Then I should hurry up and leave the Navy," he states as they move their heads apart slightly before Sarah moves to connect their lips again.

On their lips, parting once more, Chuck asks, "Why did you run off earlier?"

"They were so excited and celebrating you being back in action, and in harm's way again, and my first thought was to seeing you in a coma in ICU, and I'm worried sick that it will happen to you again, or worse the next time you get sent out on a mission."

"Sarah, it's just how they cope with the stress of the job. They don't want to see me getting hurt."

She nods. "Chuck, I get it. But I can't be part of those celebrations," she states with distaste.

"Another year, baby, another year, and then we're gone," he states with a reassuring smile and glance.

"What will you do with your life once we leave?" she asks.

"I was a few credits short of completing my degree. Maybe I'll finish it off, and then we can take it from there."

"What about me? My job with the CIA is all that I have done for seven years," she anxiously declares.

"Sarah, you are so much more than the CIA. We could start a business together. You were amazing at business back in Stanford. Maybe we could start a security company and I could use my expertise from the Navy and you could manage the rest of the company. You would probably make the company so successful that we'd become billionaires," he declares with a loving smile.

Emotion began to seep out from Sarah's eyes. "Oh, how I've missed your compliments so much in all those years I was without you," she declares as she wipes her eyes with her hand.

Chuck removes his arms from around Sarah's back, and he moves to place them as he cups her face instead. "Baby, it's all in the past. This is a fresh start, and it has been for months; everything is all in the past," he declares as he continues to reassure his girlfriend.

Sarah moves her own hands to reciprocate his earlier actions. "I love you, Chuck," she declares with an adoring smile.

"And I love you, Sarah," he replies as he returns her smile.

The reconciled lovers then move to connect their lips once more in the middle of Sarah's quarters, and the kiss quickly heats up from a gentle one into a passionate one instead as Sarah's hands begin to lower from his face, and she runs them all over his frame. They continue to kiss as seconds turn into minutes, and they only part their lips to fight for air before connecting them right back in the place where they belong.

Sarah's hand eventually finds its way to Chuck's pants, and she begins to caress him through his pants.

Chuck breaks their kissing on Sarah's suggestive action towards him. "Sarah, we are on base," he protests, weakly.

She gazes at him with a longing in her eyes and a deep, yearning desire for him. "Chuck, I need you. It's the only way I am going to get through this," she declares.

Chuck smiles as the lovers hold their gaze. "Your infectiousness will see me court-martialled," he declares.

Sarah giggles adoringly. "I'd never let them do that to you, baby. I would fake a document that had you required to give me sex whenever I wanted it if necessary," she jokes as she continues to caress his upper frame with one hand, and his lower frame with her other.

Chuck suppresses laughter as they continue to burn a deep stare into the eyes of one another. "Your resourcefulness never ceases to amaze me, Sarah," he declares.

"That's why you love me, right?" she asks as neither of the two lovers yield their intimate stares.

Chuck nods. "That and a billion other reasons, beautiful," he states.

"Care to tell me some?" she asks as she finally breaks her stare into his eyes, and her glance shifts back to his lips briefly before she fixes her glance back into his orbs.

"Sarah, I could. But, words can't express the depth of my love for you, so I'll show you how much I love you instead," he retorts with a loving gaze.

Sarah giggles joyfully before the soulmates lock their lips together once more, and Chuck begins to back Sarah towards her bed. Arriving at the bed, they fall onto it together, and they start to undress until the lovers are left bare.

They pause for the briefest of moments in reflection and thought, until Sarah breaks the silence between them once more, "Baby?"

"Yeah?" he asks as he gazes down at her laying under from where he is hovering.

"Make me forget that we are even in this hellhole," she commands.

"I'm sure I can manage that," he replies, as they lock their lips together and Sarah throws the blanket over them as they express their love.

End of Chapter

Next Chapter: John Casey returns to the story for the first time in almost forty chapters!

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