I still don't own Chuck. I'm not sure who does at this point.

Time to close up some loose ends.

First I'd like to say a last goodbye to some friends who are no longer with us.

PassionOverMind reviewed my chapters so quickly that I would get them at almost the same time I got the chapter notice. I always wondered how she could possibly read them so fast. She was killed in a horrible car accident a couple of years ago.

Esardi passed away a few months ago. His was also almost always the first review I'd receive for a chapter. He was uncanny at guessing where the story was going to go several chapters in advance.

I really, really miss you guys. There were many times when your support kept me going.

I would still appreciate your comments. The worst thing for an author is silence. You can't tell if you're connecting with your readers, if they're getting where you think the story is going or not. And those comments don't have to be praise. Of course, I'd be lying if I tried to say that I don't enjoy the praise. But I actually learn more from the critical comments. Just as long as you're respectful and allow me to respond, you can say anything.

Happily Ever After

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah Bartowski wasn't exactly a 'relaxing' type person. That was fairly ridiculous understatement. She worked hard. She fought hard. And now that she actually had a life, she even played hard. But most of all, she worried hard. It's just the way she was wired.

Boarding The Enforcer docked at that obscure port in the French countryside was perhaps the most tense she had ever been in her whole life. They were so close to having it all. Yet Volkoff was still out there. Until his line of credit wore out and he missed a payroll, he still wielded enormous power. With the entire family on the ship at dock, it would be the perfect opportunity for an attack. Indeed, she could see the tenseness in Steven's face from a mile away. Carina was taking no chances. She had Joey and Josh deployed in their strategic positions with missiles ready to instantly take out any threat. As soon as Casey and Laura were aboard they were also given positions… and enough fire power to attack a small country.

Steven knew that they were vulnerable. So he planned to stay docked for the least amount of time possible. He had already arranged for supplies to be waiting. As soon as they were loaded and the fuel tanks toped off, he instructed the captain to make sea as soon as possible. It was a very tense scene.

But even Sarah had to admit, the threat was now greatly diminished. They were in the Atlantic proper, well out of sight of any land, had been for a while now. They would be able to see any approaching ship for miles, and on radar even farther than that. They were finally relatively safe.

Sarah had to admit something else. She maybe wasn't a relaxing type person. But it felt so good to sit on the deck with a cup of coffee and relax for once while the wonderful ocean breeze took away the heat from the mid-afternoon sun.

"Where's Chuck? Did you finally screw him to death? What did you do with the body?"

Sarah was so wrapped up in her relaxing that she didn't notice Laura before she was sitting next to her pouring herself a cup. "He's taking a nap," she said.

Laura did a clear double take. "Okay," she said. "Who are you and what have you done with Sarah? You're letting him take a nap? By himself? Are you guys fighting about something?"

That got Sarah laughing. "He's tired," she said. "We had… umm… sort of a long night. The poor guy moved more than one mountain. So I'm letting him actually take a nap."

"It's not so bad of an idea," Laura sighed. "I suspect that we're going to have quite the late night again tonight. Everyone will have some serious celebrating to do. It's going to get pretty wild."

Sarah couldn't get a read on Laura's mood. She didn't seem nearly as happy at the prospect of a wild celebration as she normally would. That was a little disconcerting. "Let's be clear about something," Sarah said. "I've already kicked Carina's ass. I have a left foot with your name written on it if I witness anything over the line tonight."

Laura knew that she was mostly kidding. "I'll make you a deal," she said with a sad sigh. "I'll stay away from your guy as long as you stay away from mine."

Sarah finally noticed Laura's mood. And for a horrible moment, she thought that it meant Laura was talking about Devon. After all, they had just spent a few rather intimate nights together. It wasn't all that unusual for a cover to develop into real feelings. It happened all the time. It had happened to the most hard core agents. It had happened to her. Chuck was living proof of that. And Devon was incredibly attractive. More important, he was exactly Laura's physical type. So she needed to find out, hopefully as a joke. "First off," she said. "I assume you're talking about Casey. But even more important. Eww. I mean really eww. Since when is he your guy? What does that even mean exactly?"

Laura clearly wasn't in the mood to joke about this. "I'll be dammed if I know," she admitted with another huge sigh. "I do know that I'm not crazy about you casting aspersions his way. Didn't your parents ever tell you that you don't knock something until you've tried it? From where I'm standing that makes you look pretty ignorant. You crave clarity. Here is some of mine. I don't have your left foot. I'm not as quick as you. I may not even win. But trust me on something. I'm not Carina. If I am forced to defend his honor here today, I'm confident that my right cross fueled by my righteous indignation at your arrogant yet totally fucking ignorant attitude will do some serious damage."

As relieved as Sarah was that she was definitely talking about Casey, after all a catfight between Laura and Ellie was all they needed, she was definitely taken aback by Laura's mood. She most definitely wasn't kidding. And they had been in the ring enough times at the academy to know that Laura wasn't idly boasting. Her right cross was a serious weapon.

"I was teasing," Sarah said softly. "Come on, Laura. There is no need to defend his honor. I think Casey is great. I'd put my life in his hands in a heartbeat. Under the right circumstance I could maybe even tell him that I love him. Honesty forces me to admit that I don't quite understand what you see in him in the romance department. He doesn't seem like your type at all. But that's totally your call."

Laura glared at Sarah for a long moment. She finally allowed her shoulders to slump. "I'm sorry," she said. "I get that you were teasing. I'm just… a little on edge."

"No kidding," Sarah said sarcastically. "I'll take your word on Casey's prowess between the sheets. That's one area where I prefer to remain blissfully ignorant. I honestly don't get what's behind all of this misery you're shoving in my face. Did he do something? Talk to me. Things are great. We've won."

"What have we won?" Laura snapped. She quickly responded to Sarah's stunned look. "Okay, I get the money," she said. "Sure, twenty billion dollars… but so what? Great for you. You get to live the life you want, have the dozens of babies with your soul mate. What about me?"

"What about you?" Sarah asked, honestly confused.

"My life is over," Laura snapped. "The only thing I've ever been is a spy. And now I can't even do that because I have something to lose. I'd be a lousy spy."

In spite of the tenseness in her oldest friend's voice, Sarah couldn't help but smile. "Here's the deal," she said. "Take this from an expert. Having nothing to lose is never a good thing. You have to tell him."

"Tell him what?" Laura asked sadly. "I'm not sure myself."

"Again, no fucking kidding," Sarah said sarcastically as she stood up suddenly, sending her chair flying. "Come with me."

Laura just looked at her. "Where are we going?" she asked.

"To fix this once and for all," Sarah said, with very little humor. "You've destroyed my good mood one too many times. If you're going to act like emotional two year olds, I'll treat you that way. Maybe I should look on the bright side here. If I want to have my own two year olds someday, I suppose I may as well start with dealing with you and your emotionally stunted boyfriend."

"It'll be good practice."

x-x-x-x-x

"You're sure that nobody can see us."

You didn't even have to know Carina very well to notice the smirk. "Come on, Ellie," she said. "This is the private deck. It was designed for this. You don't want tan lines, do you? Besides, what do you care? Who on this ship wants to see you topless anyway? I'm sure that your dad and brother would rather claw their eyes out. Josh, well enough said. And Casey has already seen a years worth of surveillance in your bedroom. Besides sharing a bed for those couple of nights. I'm sure that he has your tits memorized by now."

Ellie was clearly unconvinced. "I'm not an uptight prude," she insisted. "That's not it. Get Sarah to tell you the story of Agent Elise sometime. You're also dead wrong about Casey. He was nothing but respectful on our mission. He went way out of his way to make sure that things weren't tense. It was sweet. He promised that he never watched any of the surveillance. He told me those cameras were put there only as a last resort. He says all of the tape of our bedroom is sealed."

"Okay," Carina said dismissively. "Just a heads up. This is the CIA we're talking about. There is no such thing as completely sealed. But if what Casey said helps you sleep better at night, who am I to argue? So if you can also scratch Casey off the list, who is left? What's the issue?"

Ellie looked to Joan for support. After all, the spies could care less who saw them without clothes. Joey and Carina had long ago taken their tops off and were on lounge chairs soaking up the sun.

Joan grinned. Ellie couldn't have possibly given her a better present than asking for her advice. And bonding with the girls was a good thing, right? So she just shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe she's right," she said as she reached for the tie of her bikini top. "I've really never had an intentional tan before. So I've never had tan lines before. They don't sound attractive. I guess in this group we're probably going to have to become a lot more liberal about these things."

"Maybe it's time to lighten up a little."

x-x-x-x-x

When Sarah stomped into the stateroom, Casey was on the bed flat on his back staring listlessly into space. It didn't take long for him to get on his feet. "What the hell?" he growled.

Sarah didn't give an inch. "We need to talk," she growled right back.

"Okay," Casey said with a questioning glance at Laura… who was clearly just as confused. "I guess we…"

"Actually," Sarah interrupted hotly. "I intend on doing all the talking. Understood?"

Casey had heard that tone from her before. He knew what it meant. So he just nodded.

Sarah grabbed Laura's wrist and pulled her into the middle of the room. "She's in love with you," she said. "She wants to have a life with you. What that looks like, she has absolutely no fucking idea. She's probably willing to go as far or as little in defining what that looks like as you want. She's too chicken shit to tell you."

Sarah then turned to Laura. "He's in love with you," she said. "He wants to have a life with you. What that looks like, he has absolutely no fucking idea. He's probably willing to go as far or as little in defining what that looks like as you want. He's too chicken shit to tell you."

Sarah turned back to address them both. "You two are ridiculous," she ranted. "You both want exactly the same thing, yet you're walking around miserable because you're afraid of what it might mean. Normally I would just enjoy watching you be miserable for a month until you finally figured it out. But we're now family. Besides, your bad mood is bringing me down. So fix this… right now."

Laura was the first to find her voice. "What should we do?" she asked.

Sarah buried her face in her hands in frustration. "Oh my God," she said. "It's even worse than I thought." She took a moment to calm herself.

"Your relationship to date has been based on sex," Sarah finally said slowly. "At the risk of sounding like a hypocrite, you can't spend your whole life in bed. Now you're going to have to actually talk to each other about how your relationship works outside of bed. Since you're both clearly resistant, it looks like I'm going to have to punish you until you do the right thing, just like any child. I can't ground you here on the ship. So here's my punishment. You're not to have sex of any kind again until you've each come to me and satisfied me, absolutely no pun intended, that you've reached a suitable agreement which makes me not want to shoot you and throw your lifeless bodies overboard. Trust me on this. Disobey me at your great peril."

Sarah stomped to the door. And for as angry as she had just been a few seconds ago, their confused looks struck her as somewhat funny. "It's called tough love," she said. "Get used to it. It's going to be a Sarah Bartowski trademark."

As soon as Sarah slammed the door behind her, Casey broke the awkward silence. "Wow," he said.

"I know," Laura responded in the same stunned hushed tone.

"Her poor kids."

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah sat in the dining room listening to Steven. She was having a hard time paying all that much attention. He wanted to meet as a family and talk about their future before they were all distracted by the dinner feast that Chef promised followed by the night of dancing, tequila, and sex… not necessarily in that order, that the night promised. Of course Sarah recognized that was an important conversation. But she was clearly far too happy to worry about anything so trivial as where they were going to live their lives and raise their family.

As soon as Sarah left Casey and Laura she went to their room and got to do her very favorite thing. After watching him sleep for a while she reluctantly had to wake him up for the family meeting. But not before he plopped a kiss on her that made her tingle to the very tips of her toes. Chuck being aggressive was her very favorite thing. In fact if she could think of a good enough excuse, she was totally prepared to blow off this meeting, drag him back to the room, and get a quickie in… and perhaps more than a quickie.

Chuck definitely noticed. "Am I really going to have to scrape you off the ceiling here?" he asked.

Of course Chuck being cross with her was Sarah's least favorite thing. So she was relieved when his huge grin meant that he was teasing. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just really, really happy."

"I know," Chuck said. "You have nothing to be sorry for. But this is important. Can we just listen for an hour? I promise that we'll spend the rest of the night celebrating in any way you choose."

Sarah nodded. Then she turned to Steven. "I'm sorry, dad," she said. "I'll pay attention. Please continue."

Sarah couldn't have given Steven a better present than calling him dad. So his grin was huge as well. "Don't be sorry," he said. Then he addressed the group. "Like I was saying," he continued. "We have some decisions to make. Please understand, I'm not doing anything other than presenting some options. Each person here is totally free to do whatever they want with their lives. I get that all of you have careers and prior commitments which are important to you to consider."

Seeing the nods, Steven put a picture on the monitor. "This is an island," he said. "Chuck, it fits the criteria we talked about. It's about five miles south of Puerto Rico, well into United States territorial waters. We can buy this island for about half a billion. It's more or less on the equator so the weather is always tropical. It's about twenty five square miles. There is plenty of beach and a spot to build a protected port to dock The Enforcer. We could also build an airfield for Sarah to fly into. It's big enough for all of us to live with plenty of private space, yet small enough to effectively secure."

"I was going to ask about that," Joan said. "We have enemies, both foreign and domestic."

"You're right," Steven said. "It's not only Volkoff. Most of us have made enemies in our lives. And there is always the CIA. I still don't trust them. This island could be defended. We would have plenty of resources to build a most formidable private security force that included land, air, and naval components. We'd be guarantied to be safe. Casey, Laura, maybe you would consider designing and commanding that force."

"Devon, Ellie," Steven continued. "I understand that you became doctors for a reason. I think that I can safely say that everyone in the room is proud of you for that. It so happens that region of Puerto Rico is in desperate need of a hospital. We could build one for you to oversee. Josh, Joey, you have CIA careers. I'm not suggesting what you should do, but at least you'd always have a safe home base."

Josh caught Joey's eye. "Actually, Steven," he said. "I think we're done with the CIA. I'm not sure yet about starting a family. Our medium range plans are to spend most of our time practicing until we can kick Chuck and Sarah's ass in volleyball. I assume that some portion of the beach is suitable to build a court."

"Of course," Steven said with a smile. Then he noticed Carina's look. "I'm not forgetting about you, Carina," he said with a smile. "You're a DEA Agent. We all get that. It's a noble thing. But we'd love to have you live on the island with us. And Puerto Rico has a massive drug issue. I'm sure you're aware that the DEA has a huge presence there. The hospital we build would give us a ton of loyalty from the locals."

Carina grinned. "It would give us access to inside information that we would never get through official channels," she said. "I could be the liaison."

"Exactly," Steven said. "You could do the noble work you've felt called for, stay safe, and have plenty of opportunities for… umm… male companionship."

Steven turned his attention to Sarah. "Chuck," he said. "Sarah… I don't know what to say."

Sarah really couldn't say anything. She was going to get the family she had always dreamed about. Chuck had asked his dad to plan this. And he had done it totally for her. She was having a hard time blinking the tears out of her eyes.

Her sister noticed her struggling and let her off the emotional hook. "Don't say much," Ellie said in mock sarcasm. "Just tell her that their house will include a big bed."

That got the whole room laughing. "As big as she wants," Steven said. "Look, I'm not expecting any decision today… from anybody. These are life choices we're talking about. It's perfectly valid to take some time and talk about it. If anybody is uncomfortable, that's perfectly valid. We can do lot's of other things. I guess that's all I have."

It was Joey who expressed the though all of them were thinking.

"I think it's time for that celebration we've talked about."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck could only grin as he watched Sarah dancing. She was a wild thing on the dance floor under normal circumstances. But the impromptu tequila drinking contest that all of the girls found them in had made its mark… on all of them, but especially Sarah. Now she was a blur of wild blonde hair and pure undiluted sexy. He was taking advantage of one of the very few breaks she allowed to catch his breath while she danced with Devon. But he knew that it was only a few short moments before she would drag him out there again.

The party had started with the meal. Chef had outdone himself. And okay, so the meal was clearly aimed to impress Sarah with the various ways to serve her lobster. There was no question but that he still had a huge crush on her. But that no longer bothered him in the slightest. In fact, if anything, Chuck though it was cute.

Another thing that was funny. The spies were clearly conspiring to get Ellie drunk with the tequila contest. Little did they know that Ellie had years of practice hosting sorority parties. The truth was she could drink all of them under the table. She was sitting next to him keeping time with the music, her long dark hair bouncing to the beat, completely sober.

Joan… not so much. She was clearly on her way to a massive hangover tomorrow. But for tonight anyway, dad was the beneficiary of some alcohol inspired major league necking that was quickly approaching get-a-room category. Again, that no longer bothered Chuck. Even Ellie was saying how cute they were together.

Finally, Chuck's best girl was back from the dance floor and was sitting on his lap. You had to know her pretty well to see in her eyes that the tequila had begun to take effect.

Laura walked up to them. "Excuse me, ma'am," she said. "I'd really like permission to end my punishment."

That got Sarah laughing. "I don't know," she said. "You understand my criteria. What do you have to tell me?"

"We're together," Laura said, her grin threatening to break her face in two. "We're going to live the rest of our lives together. We're going to take Steven up on his offer and take charge of our defense. I'm not sure about marriage. I'm even less sure about kids. We'd have to grow into those things. But we've both agreed that whatever happens, us will be the most important thing in our lives."

"In that case," Sarah said. "I'll let you off. I trust that you understand that you got off really easy this time."

Suddenly Laura was on Sarah's lap with her arms tightly around her neck. And since Sarah was sitting on Chuck's lap, it was all he could do to keep them from falling over on the floor. "Thank you, sweetie," Laura said. "I never thought I would ever say this. But I'm truly happy."

Laura was squeezing so hard that Sarah was having a hard time breathing. "You're welcome," she said. "Now go take care of him before he explodes. If we make the crew clean up that mess, I'm afraid we'll lose some of them."

x-x-x-x-x

It wasn't all that long before Sarah had taken Chuck's hand and basically dragged him to their favorite bench at the back of the boat. "Carina," she called into the darkness.

To Chuck's surprise, she answered. "I'm not spying on you," Carina said. "In fact I'm pretty sure this is something that I don't want to see. So I'm leaving. I was just back here looking at the stars."

Chuck looked at his wife standing there. She had never looked so beautiful. "I'm surprised that you wanted to quit dancing."

"Who said anything about quitting?" Sarah asked. "The night is still young. We're just… umm… taking a short break. Our first of perhaps several tonight."

"There is no ceiling out here to scrape you off of," Chuck said laughing. "I'm going to have to tie you down or you'll float away."

"I'm happy, sweetie," Sarah said. "I have everything that I always dreamed of. A perfect husband. A perfect family. And now, a perfect life. It will even be more perfect once I'm out of these clothes." Sarah started to unbutton her shirt. "About round one, do you want to help? Or would you rather have the show?"

"I'll take the show," Chuck said. Of course, the question was rhetorical anyway. Sarah's shirt was already on the floor and she was teasing him by holding the now loose bra shyly over her chest for a moment before allowing it to sexily slide to the floor. "For the record, my life's perfect too."

"I know," Sarah said as she stepped out of her pants and assumed the model's pose for him. "On our second break, I'll take the show. I think that's fair."

Chuck paused in admiring his goddess wife standing before him in all of her natural glory to return her soft smile. "Here is the deal," he said. "I have no obligation to be fair. You'd willingly give me that sexy show whenever I ask. And that's not the half of it. You'd gladly perform any task for my amusement that I requested. We both know that's true. I think I'd like to hear you admit that."

Sarah knew that he was teasing. She also knew that Chuck taking charge was her very biggest turn on. So she was instantly so on fire that she was finding it hard to speak. "I admit it," she finally whispered. "Any time… any place… any task. It would make me very happy if you would spend some time tonight making me prove it."

Chuck pulled her onto his lap with somewhat of an evil grin. "Be careful what you wish for," he teased. "You might just get it."

Through the fog of her arousal Sarah had a sudden epiphany. They were here. The road had been ridiculously long. At times the journey was incredibly painful. But they had finally made it. Things were perfect. She had grown, but so had he. They were now fully Chuck and Sarah Bartowski ready to spend the rest of their lives together constantly striving to make each other happy and raising their family. It simply made her heart soar. She paused for a moment to wickedly grin at him. "We have something of a challenge," she said. "It's hard to improve on perfection. What should we do about that?"

Chuck smiled as the first of many incredibly hot kisses finally broke. "I don't know," he said mockingly.

"Maybe we should just live happily ever after."

The End

x-x-x-x-x

A/N: Wow. Seventy chapters. Of course Chuck and Sarah will always live happily ever after in our hearts. But there will also always be the next adventure to tell.

Maybe someday, I'll write the sequel I have in mind. It will tell the back story of Chuck's parent's history. Thanks to Jennifer Bowles, we'll find out that not everything we've thought to be true really was. Chuck, Sarah, and the rest of the new adopted family finally have the perfect life together that they fought so hard for. How much will they be willing to risk to do the right thing?

Some random musings.

People in the fandom debate if they want to see a Chuck Movie happen. A year ago, I would have said, "Hell, yes." Now I'm a little more cautious. I now only want a movie under the right circumstance.

Chuck was the story of a hero's journey. We get that. Chris Fedak never made any bones about it. And since this is his story, it's his right to do whatever he wants. And whatever you think of him, you have to admit that he created the characters we fell in love with so fully that we were willing to fight so hard to keep them on the air.

But many of us saw the show though a different prism. We saw it as the Chuck and Sarah love story, the story of the most unlikely couple one could imagine finding each other, fighting overwhelming odds to be together, and discovering the magic that they filled in each other's gaps and made the other a better person.

To CF, Sarah was a secondary character. She was used to show Chuck's journey. She was basically simply one of the important relationships in Chuck's life along with Ellie and Morgan. That's why he was perfectly content to end the show with Chuck being alone. Don't get me wrong. I fully believe he intended for the ending on the beach to show us that Chuck and Sarah were going to eventually be okay. But I also think he misjudged (because he's tone deaf, lol) how some of us would see it. I find it unforgivable that it ended without us being absolutely sure that the couple we'd invested so much into had a happy ending. That's why BrickRoad and I wrote The Long Road Home. We wanted to finish that (to us) central story.

So now the hero's journey story is complete. I'd have no interest in a movie that continued that storyline. I only want a movie that told the rest of the love story that CF left hanging on that beach. That means JS/CF being in charge of any possible movie would most likely be a show stopper for me. Sorry guys, I no longer trust you enough to allow myself to get invested in your story.

I do think that Zac gets it. If he got something going, I'd fully support it. But I also think the odds are long. He's never done this before. Will WB invest their dollars and reputation in a rookie? I'm hopeful but also enough of a realist to understand their hesitancy.

If this is the end, I wanted to share a little reflection. I've posted 454 chapters here. That's well over 2 million words. Those chapters have been read a million and a half times and I've received well over 6 thousand reviews.

Trust me. I'm not using these stats to boast. I fully understand that other Chuck authors have numbers that probably dwarf these. In fact, it's the opposite. I'm bowled over by the support you've given me over the years. So thank you.

For me, this is a hobby. I already have a good career. I think I've improved a lot technically over the years. But I have no illusions about ever being a professional writer. I think my strength is as a story teller more than as a writer. That's why I'm so proud of the stories that I co-wrote with BrickRoad. We were able to tell my story, yet apply the writer's description skills she is so good at and that I lack.

Chuck, Sarah, and by extension, all of you, have been a huge part of my life for the past… wow, almost 7 years. I can honestly say that I don't miss the show much. At the end I was watching out of loyalty more than because I was in love with what I was seeing. In retrospect, I'd have been perfectly content if the first 13 episodes of S3 had never happened and the show had ended in S4 with a newly married C/S in the limo finding out they were now rich. Morgansect? Won't miss it. Shaw? Won't miss him. Amnesia plot line? Won't miss it.

What I will and do miss is you. I've met and become friends with people that I would have had no other way to know. And I'll probably still stay in some sort of contact with a few. But for many, the thing we shared in common has gone away. That's a little sad for me.

So if you think about it, send me a line from time to time and cheer me up.

x-x-x-x-x