A/N: So this was a random thought I had while re-watching the show with a friend (it's her first time watching it, so it's extra fun to dissect every episode when she sees it for the first time). We just watched Chuck vs. The Living Dead, and I always thought the scene where Sarah gives Chuck her spy will was very powerful. So, I wanted to write a little post-series one-shot with that in mind. Please let me know what you think!

One week.

It had been one week since Chuck found her at the beach. He'd told her their story, they'd laughed, cried, and kissed. When, after Morgan's one magical kiss hadn't worked, she'd asked him to take her home, he'd obliged.

She'd so far stayed in the guest bedroom. 'Their' bedroom was still too much for her, not to mention the thought of sleeping in the same bed as Chuck. She was pretty sure she knew what she felt for him, but was still trying to make sense of everything.

Chuck, to his credit, had been a perfect gentleman. He'd tried to give her their bedroom, willing to sleep on the couch or really anywhere. Sarah was sure if she'd asked him to sleep outside by the fountain he would've done it without a second thought.

But, it was hard for him. Sarah could see that easily. He was in pain. He had his wife back, but not really. She was there, but both of them knew it wasn't the same, and it probably would never be. He tried to put on a brave face for her, but she saw his real emotions when he thought she wasn't looking. Like how he absentmindedly would finger his wedding ring. Or the fact that she'd gotten up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and heard him quietly crying in the bedroom twice.

Sarah knew, somewhere deep down, that being with Chuck and trying to work out whatever what happening between them was the right thing to do. She couldn't ignore the feelings inside her, the feelings the seemingly would erupt every time he walked into a room. Or whenever she thought about him. Or saw their wedding photos. Or looked down at her own ring finger, which was naked and bereft.

She found herself endlessly curious about this man that apparently was her husband. So, while he was out running errands, she decided to snoop around a bit in the bedroom. He had assured her numerous times that the apartment was hers too, and everything in it belonged to both of them. She figured he wouldn't mind.

The bedroom brought back a lot of memories. She saw glimpses of them, lying in bed, getting ready to go on missions together, making love for hours. She glanced at 'her' side of the bed, which had remained undisturbed.

Sighing, for some reason she found herself rifling through Chuck's clothes drawers. When she was embarrassed enough, she went to slide his boxer drawer shut when she heard something thud. Reaching her hand into the drawer, she pulled out a small red box with a white logo on it and gasped, her free hand shooting up to cover her mouth.

It was her spy will.

And it was in Chuck's drawer, which means she gave it to him.

Her knees failed her and she collapsed, luckily falling backwards onto the bed. Tears welled up in her eyes as her brain decided to take her back to the very moment she'd given Chuck her spy will. She'd told him if there was anyone she wanted to have it, it was him. And she'd meant it.

This was just further proof that everything Chuck had told her, well everything everyone had told her, was true. She was in love with him. She'd married him, not for a cover, not out of convenience, but for pure love.

Taking a deep breath, she decided she needed to read what she'd written. She honestly had no idea what was in this version of her spy will. She felt kind of odd until she realized it was hers anyways. Well, it was hers and Chuck's, she reminded herself.

Carefully opening the box, she took out the paper it held within and unfolded it. She wiped her eyes before she began reading.

My name is Sarah Bartowski. If you're reading this that means I'm already dead.

If this isn't my husband Chuck reading this, then I have no idea what to tell you. There's no way I'd ever be alive to change this if he were dead.

Chuck, I re-wrote this after we got married. So much changed since I gave you this the first time, right before your dad died.

I love you. I know it took me a while to actually say it to you, but it's the most honest and true thing you ever should remember about me. I love you. I even love writing it. I love you.

You saved me. I'm not talking about on all the missions – although I always knew you would. No, Chuck, you saved the little girl inside of me. You saw her from the very beginning, and I will never know how you had to patience to wait for me.

There's so much I still want to tell you. Hopefully you're reading this sixty years down the line, and we've had decades to share with one another.

The day I first walked into the Buy More changed both our lives forever. I didn't know it yet, and I tried so hard to deny it, but my husband was right there in front of me. My future. My life. You, Chuck Bartowski, you are it for me.

The vows I recited to you at our wedding are still as true as they were on that magical day.

You're a gift.

When she read those words, her head exploded with the memory of their 'dry run' vow recital. How she'd used a doily as a veil. How Chuck had looked astonished when she'd finished, telling her lovingly that her vows, and she, were 'perfect'. How nervous he got about his own vows, and how she reassured him. Then they tied string around one another's fingers.

The memory shifted something inside of her. She remembered. She remembered their wedding, reciting those same vows to him and hearing his beautiful words. How he dipped her when he kissed her, trailing his lips along her neck.

She knew there was something she needed to do before she continued reading. Getting up, she made her way around the bed to her nightstand. Opening the drawer, she retrieved a small velvet bag. Emptying the contents into her palm, she let out a wet, happy sob when the now again familiar weight of her engagement and wedding rings landed in her hand. She quickly slid them back onto her finger, where she now knew they belonged.

Sighing, she sat back down on the bed and continued to read.

You're a gift.

Every single day you have proven that to me. You have kept your vows too, Chuck. I have not gone a single day without you showing me how much you love me. I can't describe how that makes me feel.

I need to thank you. I know if I said this to you, you'd deny it. But I have to. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for taking all the shit I threw at you and staying. Thank you for giving me a family, a home, a life.

I truly hope you never have to read this. I never want to leave you, ever. The thought of that hurts me more than anything. As I'm writing this, you're a few feet away, fast asleep in our bed, and I miss you terribly. Actually, as soon as I'm done writing this, I'm going to wake you up and show you exactly how much I miss you.

In the event that you are reading this, and I'm really gone, I want you to do me a favor.

Stay the man I fell in love with. The man I married. Don't wallow, but I know that's asking a lot. Remember always how much I love you, how much I'll always love you. Remember everything we did together – the good and the bad – because it all led us right here, happier than I've ever been. Don't lose who you are – please remember me by being Chuck. My Chuck.

I will always love you, in this life or the next.

Love always,

I remain,

Your wife,

Sarah

The paper fell out of her hands, flittering down to the bed. The tears flowed freely now as she took in her own words. She'd seen her mission logs that Casey gave her. She'd listened to Chuck and just about every one else explain how they were in love. But now, reading her own spy will, realizing she'd given it to Chuck, it all finally sunk in. She remembered, maybe not as clearly as she'd like yet, but she remembered nonetheless.

She needed to talk to him. See him. He had suffered enough. Both of them had, but she found that her heart didn't hurt because of what she was going through. No, her heart felt like it was ripping into tiny pieces because of what her husband was currently enduring.

She heard the front door of the apartment open and close. He was home. Before she could react or even move, he appeared in the doorway to their bedroom. He found her sitting cross legged on the bed, tears streaming down her face, her spy will open on the bedspread.

"Sarah?" He cautiously asked quietly. "Is everything okay?"

"Now it is," she whispered so low he almost didn't hear. She reached up with her hand to wipe her tears, and that's when Chuck's eyes caught the glint of her rings. She was wearing them again.

"Are you okay?" He asked again, concerned. Feeling a bit brave, he sat down on the edge of the bed.

The next thing he felt were his wife's arms around him, holding him tighter than he could ever remember.

"Chuck," Sarah began, pausing to steel her nerves a bit. "You're still a gift."

"Wha – what?" He stumbled.

"I told you at our wedding, well actually during our dry run, that you're a gift," she explained. "I think I believe that now more than ever."

"Wait, Sarah, you remember?"

She just nodded.

"It's still foggy and kind of confusing, but I read my spy will Chuck. There's no way I would ever give that to you if this weren't real. If we weren't real. I remember our wedding. I remember our honeymoon. Both of them, actually." She blushed a bit, but resolved to go on. "I remember you tying that string onto my finger, and wearing it when we got married."

He was stunned into silence. Sarah decided to take the initiative. She got up off the bed, and before he could say anything, straddled him. She took his face in her hands so she could look him in the eye. She wanted him to believe what she was going to tell him. The coolness of her rings against his cheek calmed him. He didn't realize he'd missed that feeling so much.

"I'm your wife," she whispered, laying a featherlight kiss on his lips to punctuate her point. "My name is Sarah Bartowski." Another kiss. "I'm going to spend the rest of my life with you." A longer kiss.

"Sarah," Chuck was able to breathe out. "Oh, Sarah."

"Chuck, I'm going to tell you something, then we're going to stop talking and I'm going to show you."

"Tell me what? Show me what?"

The smile she gave him was the one he remembered best – it was her. His wife. It was Sarah.

When she spoke, he heard it in her voice. She was back.

"I love you."