A/N: It may be post Valentine's Day, but we can all still feel the love though, right? Suggested songs for this fic would be In My Head by Jason DeRulo and Wait It Out by Imogen Heap.
It was Valentine's Day. The absolute dumbest day of the year. At least to Sarah Walker it was. It was a day filled with hyperbole and stupid gestures. But the new man in her life had wanted to make it special, and because she was trying to forget the old man in her life and the new woman in his life, she had agreed to Shaw's plans. Nothing special, just dinner and a quiet evening. She had to admit, it was nice to feel the touch of a strong man, a confident man. If she had to be truthful with herself though, it was nothing compared to the way Chuck had always touched her. At least she knew then that there was so much behind that one touch.
So she was just working on finishing up some paperwork down in Castle when she heard Chuck slip in through the hatch that connected to the home theater room.
"Hey, Sarah," he said out of breath. "There is some sort of threat thing going on at the Buy More so Casey and Shaw are dealing with it, but I have to stay down here until it's all finished."
She was so glad to see him on this most romantic, yet stupid, of days that she let a smile sneak on to her face when he came into view, but she quickly got her head together and returned to her work.
"Do you think it's going to be long, because I have plans with Hannah later. I'm supposed to pick her up at her house in an hour."
Every time Sarah heard that name, Hannah, she was crushed. He just moved on, abandoned her in Prague and found a new lady.
"I don't know Chuck. I have plans too. Shaw is taking me out to dinner, so I really hope this won't take very long."
She knew that bringing up Shaw would affect Chuck, which is why she did it. If he was going to move on, then she could too. And judging by the look on his face, he was pretty upset, but he bounced back quickly. He could never stay mad at her for long.
"Another crappy Valentine's day, huh?" he asked, referring to the previous year.
"Yeah, I seriously hope that we don't end up married... I mean, like, today. Not, like, ever," she panicked. Smooth, Walker, real smooth. "You remember? Like last year. When we played that married couple. In the suburbs. With the dog. And potato salad." Pretty much the worst save ever.
She saw him laughing to himself. Sarah didn't like uncomfortable situations one bit. She always liked to be in control of what was happening. But around Chuck she just couldn't help herself. It was a miracle she ever got one sentence out when they were in the same room.
"Yeah, I remember. At least then you cooked for me," he replied, making the mood far more comfortable.
She looked up at him and smiled. She wished she could spend this day with him, as his girlfriend. She wanted to cook for him again and play with their dog. But she knew that it was over.
"Can I ask you something?" he started. She nodded. "How are things going with Shaw? I know it hasn't been long, but I just want to make sure you're okay. I mean, friends talk about these things and I believe we agreed that we are friends."
Sarah didn't want to talk about this, especially not with him. Why was it any of his business anyway? Why did he even care? He had a girlfriend and he should be paying attention to her feelings, not to Sarah's which he obviously didn't care that much about anymore.
"Why?" she asked.
"I just told you why. You're my friend," he replied. He sat down across from her. "Truth is, you don't look all that happy when you are with him, and I hate seeing you with someone who isn't making you happy. Especially on Valentine's Day."
She was done with his bullshit. He knew how she felt about him and he was just trying to make her feel bad. Sarah had to give that jerk a piece of her mind.
"What do you want me to say, Chuck? That I don't like Shaw that way? That I'm jealous of you and Hannah? That I wish she were dead? That I wish we had a do over for last Valentine's day? Yeah, I want all of that. I want to spend this day with you, not him. I want to spend every day with you, though, so that has nothing to do with this stupid holiday."
Sarah saw the frightened look on his face, and she knew what she had done was wrong. All of those feelings had been building up since Prague and she just had to let at least some of them out. And then she could also blame it on this day. This day when love is forced down ones throat. This day when couples are making out all over the place and single people are made to feel bad about themselves. It was all too much pressure for her, so she just let go and gave in to her emotions.
Chuck didn't know what to say. He liked... no, loved... to hear those things from her lips, but he still didn't know what to say. So he just stood there and stared at her, mouth agape. She looked right back at him.
"Well, are you going to say anything? Cuz, I kind of just put myself out there," she said, totally embarrassed at this point.
Once got his head out of his ass he was able to respond.
"Yeah, uh, why do you want Hannah dead?" was all he could think to say.
Sarah wanted to punch him in the face. That was all he had to say, after she had just poured her heart out?
"Whatever, Chuck," Sarah said, and she got up and went to walk towards the back of the Castle. But Chuck walked around the table and grabbed her by the wrist. She whipped her head around and gave Chuck the death stare.
"Let go, Chuck. I can still take you down, I know you won't ever try to hurt me."
He didn't let go.
"I can't let you go. I could never let you go. I want to spend every day with you, too, especially this day. This day when we could show everyone how in love we are. A day when I could show you off to everyone. And I already told you, I could never hurt you not again," Chuck said with such sincerity, it broke her heart.
She started to let the tears fall from her eyes.
"But don't you get it? You being with her, it kills me. It absolutely kills me," she replied.
"I had to do something. Something to take my mind off of how much I was hurting. I felt like you had just thrown me away. I didn't want to feel that way anymore. You were all I could think about, day and night. All I could think about was how happy we could be together, but I know, I know I let it slip away in Prague. But I want things to change between us," he said.
Sarah smiled. He was honest with her, he always was, but now he was being courageous about it. That was all she wanted. She wanted him to know he wanted it and tell her. And that was exactly what he did. They were both ready to have a real relationship.
"So, where do we go from here?" she asked, not knowing at all what he would say.
"Well, we need to first get rid of our significant others, I think," he began. "But, maybe, we could, I don't know, like..."
She beat him to it. She quieted him with a kiss on the lips. It was simple at first, closed mouth, but she quickly gained entry to his mouth with her tongue. As their tongues danced, she played with the curls at the back of his neck and he gently rubbed her back.
When they finally pulled away, it was only enough to look each other deep in the eyes. Sarah spoke first.
"This is a real improvement over last year."
They both laughed. Sarah's phone rang.
"Hey, Casey. Yeah, he's right here. Uh huh, I'll let him know. Thanks."
"That was Casey. He said the threat has been contained. Shaw is headed down and you are free to go."
"Are you sure that this is what you want: you and me? Cuz I would totally understand if you wanted to back out and like..." he tried to finish, but she wouldn't let him. She placed another kiss on his lips.
"Don't you dare chicken out on me, Bartowski. I'm in this. I'll talk to you in a little bit, okay? Call me when you're, you know, done."
Chuck smiled at his beautiful Valentine.
"Of course. Happy Valentine's Day, Sarah."
"Happy Valentine's Day, Chuck."
A/N: So this is how I picture the time during the Olympics going and we'll come back and everything will be happy and awesome. But I have nothing against the artistic license of Schwartz and Fedak. They have got to do their thing.