A/N A final thanks for reading, reviewing, PMing

Think of this as a small parting gift.

Don't own Chuck

CODA

Notes from the Overground

A short while after the long train trip to San Diego and the return to Burbank...

Sarah was on the bed, her hospital gown up over her stomach, a light blue sheet covering the lower half of her, ready for her first ultrasound. The doctor was making final preparations for the procedure, explaining everything to Sarah.

The door opened, closed. Sarah and the doctor stared, their mouths hanging open. Chuck was standing there, wearing nothing but a hospital gown and a pair of argyle socks. Chuck started to speak, saw their faces, shut his mouth.

Carina slipped into the room behind him, unnoticed. Chuck turned bright red, panicked, staring back at Sarah and the doctor. He unconsciously lifted the hem of his gown a bit. "Carina said I needed to put this on…"

Sarah watched Carina look pointedly at the open back of Chuck's gown. And smirk. Then Carina spoke: "'Thus cracks a noble heart. Good-night, sweet prince'." She grinned mischievously at Sarah, winking.

Chuck whirled, but Carina has slipped back out the door. "Damn her," Chuck grumbled, shaking his head. Then he realized his continued exposure, whirled back around and backed out the door. When he was gone, the doctor grinned at Sarah, raising her eyebrows and shaking her head.

Carina.

Sarah knew the payback wasn't over, but it had officially started. She reclined and sighed, laughing softly, running her hand through her once-more blonde, but still-short hair.

ooOoo

Ellie had performed the removal of Chuck's pristine Intersect. When she finished, Chuck took her computer and carefully deleted all of the files, destroying them.

He sat and gazed at the blank computer screen for a long time. He swallowed. Without looking up, he said, simply, hoarsely, "It's finished."

Ellie nodded at him and turned to Sarah. "So, Sarah, let me tell you what I'm thinking. To remove your Intersect, it has to be re-started. I propose we take the equipment to a research lab at UCLA and put you in a sensory deprivation tank while we do it, so as to minimize the possibility that you will flash. Just think of it as a sci-fi-ish outpatient procedure. You beat it, you know, Sarah, you beat the Intersect. On your own. Your mind and heart were stronger than it. But still, I'd feel better if it were gone..."

Sarah glanced at Chuck and he motioned for her to answer. They talked it through already. "Ok, Ellie, when?"

"Tomorrow? I know you have the ultrasound scheduled for today."

"Yes, tomorrow. Dinner tonight still on?"

Ellie nodded excitedly. "Yeah, everyone will be there. Morgan and Alex, Casey and Gertrude. Carina is putting off her return to Mexico for one more day so that she can come." Ellie stopped, her eyes widening. "She's bringing someone. Al, I think."

Sarah nodded once. She'd met Al. She and Chuck really liked him. After Carina's op ended, they were going to go away together, to a cabin Al owned in the mountains outside of Bozeman, Montana. It would make or break them, a few weeks in isolation. But Sarah was not pessimistic. "Yeah, she's driving us to the hospital for the ultrasound."

Ellie walked to Sarah and took Sarah's hands in hers. "It will be ok. There's no reason to worry about the baby."

"I know," Sarah offered, "but I really want to hear the heartbeat. It'll be...I don't know...completely real."

Ellie hugged her.

ooOoo

Ellie and Devon had requested and gotten a postponement on the positions in Chicago. Ellie had let folks in LA know that she and Devon were re-considering. It now looked like UCLA would make them both an offer, and they planned to take it. Ellie had decided they were not going anywhere, not with a new Bartowski, niece, or nephew, about to enter the world. Devon was only too happy to stay.

ooOoo

Beckman and Roan were back in DC. Beckman had gotten the President to agree to wipe all the records of the Intersect and of Team B. He'd thanked Chuck and Sarah by video conference for all they had done, not just for him, but for so many. He'd also forced Samuel Gordon to step down quietly, citing health problems as the reason. The Rebecca Franco-DARPA story got quietly walked back, dubbed a case of mistaken identity, forgotten. Archeus claimed the headlines, but the true story of her end was not told.

The wiped records meant that no one would remember the Intersect or Team B. There were no longer any official CIA or NSA records of the Intersect, or of Sarah or Chuck.

Their lives were theirs.

Casey had talked Gertrude into staying in LA and not returning to Russia. They were actually looking for apartments since Alex was going to move in with Morgan. Casey hated that arrangement; Casey loved that arrangement. He spent all his time grunting, then smiling.

No charges had been brought against Janice Huntaker. The information that Madeline had sent to her was crucial in bringing down Olin Huntaker's accomplices. Huntaker had left Janice very well off. She was planning to move back to North Carolina. At least, that's what Beckman had heard.

The business that Sarah and Chuck had envisioned was coming to be. Casey was going to work with them. They'd been able to get the offices Sarah had wanted, windows, and above ground, and Beckman had seen to it that the money Decker had tied up was released. They did not need to work, but they would, as they wanted.

For themselves.

ooOoo

The doctor moved the ultrasound wand around on Sarah's stomach. After a moment of white noise, a high-pitched, fast heartbeat could be heard. Sarah reached for Chuck just as he reached for her. Together, they listened.

His heart was her heart.

Her heart was his heart.

The baby's heart was their heart.

Sarah could feel her heart and could feel Chuck's pulse as she grasped his wrist.

Three hearts beating in concert.

End of Coda

"But even now it is manifest and clear that there are neither times future nor times past. Thus it is not properly said that there are three times, past, present, and future. Perhaps it might be said rightly that there are three times: a time present of things past; a time present of things present; and a time present of things future. For these three do coexist somehow in the soul, for otherwise, I could not see them. The time present of things past is memory; the time present of things present is direct experience; the time present of things future is expectation." Augustine, Confessions, Book Eleven