Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or any of the characters. I don't even own my house, yet.

Author's note: I wrote this a long time ago intended as a season finale. Enjoy.

Part I: Ain't no party like a Bartowski party...

Chuck Bartowski has never been one for the parties that his sister Ellie threw at their Los Angeles apartment. Not that he didn't enjoy talking to people or listening to their stories, it was just that she had always used them to hook him up with any and all single women she knew. Chuck shivered at the thought of past parties where he had to actually interact with them; asking him about his plans, his job, and whether he was going to a costume party as a nerd.

But now he found himself more relaxed as he mingled around at the New Year's Eve party Ellie always threw at their home. Well, relatively relaxed since he did have to maintain his cover as Sarah Walker's boyfriend, who was actually a beautiful CIA agent sent there to protect him and the top secret information stored in his brain.

He walked through the courtyard which was full of people from the party. After a several "hellos" and "how you doings," Chuck finally made it into his home where he saw Morgan and Anna, Captain Awesome and John Casey, Sarah and Ellie all paired up talking.

"Anna, I can explain about the alarm clock. Chuck told me…"

"No, Morgan this was your choice, don't bring Chuckles into it as well."

"But sweetie, this gift came from the heart. I just…wanted to help you out with your beauty sleep. Yeah, yeah, you can never have enough beauty sleep…"

Morgan's voice trailed off as he realized the magnitude of the statement he said. Even Chuck knew the danger of those words and grimaced at the pain that was going to be inflicted by Anna.

Sometime before Chuck told Morgan about the alarm clock he gave Sarah as a Christmas present. Thinking it was a romantic gesture Morgan did the same for his girlfriend Anna, not knowing that Chuck was actually replacing one that Sarah killed with a knife at twenty paces. Besides, he gave her a proper gift of a gold necklace with a locket picked out by his sister later on.

Saved by my guardian angel, Ellie…

"WHAT!!" Anna shouted as she stormed out the front door.

Morgan ran after shouting "Wait honey, that's not what I meant!"

Chuck knew that nothing was ever the way Morgan meant and laughed at the scene of Morgan chasing Anna, which probably happened more often than allowed in a relationship. Chuck knew that Morgan would be ok but if he ever did that to Sarah on the other hand, he'd have to be the one running away. For his life probably.

Now John Casey was also here at the party, not only was he Chuck's co-worker at the Buymore but he was also a NSA agent also sent here to protect the intersect. Initially, Chuck thought of him as a career spy: cold-hearted, serious, all business.

But after recent events, he saw what was once a tender side to Casey after they completed a mission which involved an old love that he thought was killed by a bomb. After that Chuck realized the reason Sarah frowned upon a real relationship between working partners, the thought of losing the other was probably too great, on top of all the difficult stuff spies had to do as well.

As he walked by, Chuck couldn't help but notice the littlest of smirks on Casey's face as he talked to Captain Awesome. Shaking his head and thinking he just saw a figment of his imagination, he looked again and saw it once more.

Hmm, who knew Casey was into life-threatening extreme sports, Chuck thought. But then he stopped when he realized the idiocy of his statement regarding a man who was a world-class spy and probably enjoyed taking out Afghani warloards.

"I'm telling ya Casey, nothing beats the rush of surfing in the shark infested waters of Australia. Awesome."

"Nice, Devon. But until you've jumped out of a perfectly working plane only to find out that you're main chute won't deploy and all you have left is your reserve, you haven't felt a real rush."

Devon nodded in agreement with a look of amazement and awe in his eyes. Chuck would've joined in the conversation, but his only real rush was when he was playing on his XBOX and four members of his Halo squad was killed and he had to go it alone for the rest of the mission.

Now Chuck was approaching a conversation he so desperately wanted to listen to, his sister Ellie and his "girlfriend" Sarah. As he walked closer, to his horror, he saw that Ellie had some old photo albums opened up and both of them were giggling. Even worse, it seems that Ellie had gotten a little tipsy from dipping into the eggnog one too many times.

Nothing good can come from this.

"So out comes Chuck to receive his high school diploma, when all of the sudden he trips on his gown and falls on his face. And to top it all off, it comes flying over his head and we see this big rip open up in his pants" Ellie said right before they broke into laughter.

Chuck lowered his head in shame and tried to slink past them, only to be pulled in by a smiling and laughing Sarah.

"So hello there Mr. Underroos, we were just talking about you."

"Yeah, I could hear" Chuck smirked.

Chuck quickly turned to Ellie, "I thought you wanted me to have a girlfriend sis."

"I do, I do. But she deserves to know the real you that we all know and have grown to love."

"Well, revealing anymore of the real me will probably leave me single for life. And besides, I've graduated into the big boys' boxers now, thank you very much."

Chuck sat down next to Sarah while Ellie frantically turned the pages of the album. Both Chuck and Sarah looked on as she flipped back and forth and picked up other albums looking for something in particular.

"Wait wait I know its somewhere in here," Ellie slurred, "I want to show Sarah…the pictures of Chuck…playing with his weiner."

Instantly the blood drained from Chuck's face and he quickly jumped to his feet, adding "Dog! Weiner Dog! Dachshund actually. My other dog from when I was younger."

Chuck looked over to see a smile come from Sarah's face as she saw him panic and stumble for an explanation. "Ellie, I don't thing Sarah's interested in seeing any pictures my weiner…I mean dog."

"No, no it's fine. I'd love to see some more pictures that I can use to embarrass him with" Sarah added with a mischievous smile on her face.

Chuck just sat back down, shaking his head. How did it turn out to this??

"You know what, I'll let you guys get back to the Chuck historical tour and I'll freshen up Sarah's drink."

As he stood up, he heard Ellie say "You know what; I can't find that other picture I was looking for. Anyways, I wanted to ask you something. Something that I've been meaning to ask for a while now."

To emphasize the importance of her question, Ellie drew her face closer to Sarah's.

"What is it about Chuck that you love, Sarah?"

Almost immediately Chuck made a 180 degree turn and sat back down to where he was before.

"You know what? I should stay and listen in. Anyways you look quite hydrated to me. I think I'll get you that drink later."

Sarah's eyes narrowed as she shot daggers to the brown eyed man next to her. She knew he was hoping to hear some acknowledgement her feelings for him. Couldn't he read between the lines of what happened on the rooftop when Longshore was about to haul him away?

Suddenly Sarah was quite aware of the change in her view on life. Before this assignment, she was content to complete the mission at hand. Knowing that she did her job better than anybody else was more than enough to satisfy her. But now that old life seemed so cold and empty compared to this life with Chuck, where she was surrounded by friends.

Ellie, still waiting, snapped her fingers "Hello, anyone home?"

"Sorry Ellie, I spaced out for a second. Well, what is there not to like?" Sarah turned and ran her hands down the nape of Chuck's neck, who was clearly not complaining about the attention

Ellie, clearly looking for more, "As in? Examples please?"

Ok I better remember next time to avoid Ellie next time she's drunk. She's more intense than many enemy interrogators. "Well…every time I look into his face, I'm reminded of a little puppy. Cute, loving, playful, and loyal."

"Aww, that's so sweet" Ellie blushed.

Sarah continued, "But also like a puppy, he always gets into trouble and needs me to help him out of it. And he still has yet to learn the STAY command." She looked down to Chuck who clearly knew what she was driving at and now was shooting daggers back at her but after a few seconds smiled back and both shared a laugh.

They had overcome a lot in the past few months. In that short time they had their first real kiss as a bomb was about to go off, had an ex-boyfriend come back from the dead only to go back into hiding, had Sarah pushing him away for getting too close, and finally had the threat of seclusion in a bunker bring them back together again.

Let's see any of the real relationships accomplish that, Chuck said to himself.

Chuck was happy to know that things as of late have gone very well between him and Sarah; they were more casual around each other without the normal tension that had built up between them. They were able to enjoy each other's company once more and finally he got back to being able to make her laugh. Pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend didn't come so hard to each of them, although Chuck was still on the fence on whether that was a good or bad thing.

"And what about you Chuck? What is it that you like about Sarah?"

"What? Me? Well….I like how beautiful she is and how every man envies me when I'm with her. She has pretty hair, a wonderful smile, and a big beautiful pair of…." Chuck looked up, holding his hands up and saw Sarah staring him and Ellie with their mouths agape. "…blue eyes. Like the ocean."

Attempting to save himself from harm, he looked out into the distance and shouted "What's that Morgan? You need my help? I'll be right there! Sorry guys, duty calls." Luckily he slinked away before Sarah could grab his arm and let him know what she thought of his answer.

Sarah and Ellie both laughed and continued on the subject of Chuck.

"I don't think I've ever thanked you. Before he met you, he was either home in his room playing video games or out with Morgan playing video games or at work playing video games. Getting to actually talk to a real girl was just impossible. And if I ever hear about his five year plan again, I'm going to…."

"Actually Ellie, I think Chuck helped me out more than I did him. We're kinda made for each other" said Sarah. Helped me by showing me what normal feels like and how I would miss it if it was taken away.

"But seriously, I see a big change in my brother. He has the sparkle back in his eyes, he wakes up happy to go to work, comes home with a grin on his face, and he can't wait to answer his phone in order to see if you're calling."

Sarah blushes. But then remembers the conversation before Christmas with Casey concerning her and Chuck. Casey confronted her about her relationship with Chuck and wanted to know if she compromised herself and the intersect. Sarah grimaced as she remembered what she said next about wanting to have a normal life.

But she remembered that recent events revealed that Casey did the same exact thing with Ilsa. Maybe his concern was not only for the mission of protecting the intersect but concern for something similar happening to her and Chuck. Besides, if Chuck could break her down, getting Casey to like him shouldn't be that big of a task.

Looking back to Ellie, "I guess we're both lucky to have each other. Speaking of whom, I don't see him around. I'll go look for him."

"Good idea, knowing Chuck he's probably hiding out in his room killing some sort of dwarf or ogre."

They were right of course, but this time Chuck wasn't really hiding but instead just wanted a little time alone with his thoughts.

Interesting year.

Sarah quietly stood at the doorway to Chuck's room and saw him sitting down with his legs propped up on his window sill. He was listening to music, drinking his beer, and just staring out the window.

Sarah quietly walked up behind him and said "Penny for your thoughts."

Chuck looked up and saw her smiling at him and replied "Sorry lady, if you didn't know my mind is now filled with scary high level government secrets which cannot be sold off to the highest bidder. No matter how beautiful the bidder is."

Sarah laughs and sits down next to his legs on the window sill facing him.

"You're in an abnormally quiet mood Chuck. Anything wrong?"

"No no, nothing's wrong. I was just thinking of how I truly enjoy seeing my sister and my girlfriend going over my more embarrassing moments with each other. Good way to bond."

Sarah couldn't resist feeling happy at the mention of being Chuck's girlfriend. Although she had hesitantly agreed to be friends, she couldn't help but flirt with him every chance she could get. A little shirt fixing here, a little hair combing there and it almost seemed like they were in a real relationship. And don't mention the joy she felt whenever Chuck walked into the Wienerlicious for lunch, which he now started to do everyday he worked.

"And what ever she said happened with me and the jello in eleventh grade is totally …. Wait, she didn't tell you about that did she?"

Sarah shook her head.

"Uh ok, forget I said that and let's move on."

Sarah, now curious, decidedly moves on and asks "so really Chuck, shouldn't you be out and about mingling with everyone?"

"I should but I couldn't help but think about what's happened this year. All of these missions where people's lives hang in the balance, I can't help but think I might be in over my head at times."

"For someone who says they'd run away from a fight, you tend to do a lot of running towards the action" Sarah included. "Which part of STAY IN THE CAR has you the most confused?" she said laughingly.

"I know, I know. My mind says STAY WHERE ITS SAFE, but my gut tells me to GO IN AND HELP. Luckily I have you and Casey to guide me and save me. Speaking of which, I'd like to thank you again for all the times you risked you're life for me."

"I think we're even so far, you've saved me in more ways than one" Sarah replied thinking not of the physical events, but of how he saved her from being just another career spy.

"Well then, I guess it hasn't been that bad of year. Besides who would've thought that I would have also landed a great girlfriend…only it's too bad that this relationship is just a cover."

Sarah paused for a second. "Well Chuck, I'll let you in on a spy secret. No one, I mean no one, can live in a cover this long as I have without something real about the person coming out. The only way to make a believable cover is to be yourself, that way there are less lies to remember."

Chuck is clearly intrigued by this and asks her "so which part is the real part, Sarah?"

"That's for me to know…" Sarah says smiling.

"And for you to torture me should I ever find out right?" jokingly Chuck adds. "But truth be told, I think I know more about you than you realize."

"Oh really, like what?"

Chuck pointed into the ceiling, indicating that he didn't want to say anything into the bugs that Casey placed in the room.

"Don't worry Chuck, Casey told me he turned them off tonight. All the noise from the party will interfere with them anyways. So go ahead and impress me with your detective skills."

"You don't sound too confident in my skills Agent Walker. I guess I'll have to change that for you. Let's see, first I know that you don't like olives."

Sarah grinned, "oh, you got me there. It wasn't like I was picking the olives off in front of your face."

Undeterred, Chuck went on. "I also know that you cry at sappy romantic movies. You try to hold back the tears, but I saw your eyes watering."

"It was a touching movie ok?"

"It was the movie Stardust."

"Yeah and so? It was so sad when she woke up and thought the love of her life left her behind."

"It was Stardust. Stardust, the movie with Deniro as a gay pirate."

"Ok fine. I liked the movie anyways. Besides, I don't get to watch movies that much."

"Hmm, let's move on. Three, despite the fact that you try to portray yourself as the big, bad CIA agent, you still are a girly-girl who likes to dress up and put on make up. Which, now that I think about it, kind of fits in." Chuck smiled, showing his contentment in the observations he made.

"Are you complaining? Last time I noticed, your jaw was on the floor when I walked in this evening."

Sarah now leaned in closer to Chuck and teased, "Is that it detective? And here I thought you were going to impress me with your observation skills. Tsk tsk, nice try though."

Chuck now leaned in closer as well, "I didn't say I was done did I? Those were the easy ones. I just wanted to give you a way out before I started on the hard stuff."

Now Sarah was starting to worry. What does he know about me?

"I know that look. Don't worry Sarah, I don't know the exact details of your life but I do know what's going on up that noggin of yours. You ready?"

Sarah nodded and indicated for him to continue.

"Here we go." Chuck paused for effect and then continued, "I know that your desperately yearning for the real life, with me." Sarah was taken aback, knowing that it was the truth but kept her game face on to not give anything away to Chuck.

"I know that you lived an exciting, adventurous life globe trotting and saving people, but after a while it gets old, right? Now I think after all that you've done, the only thing you have left to accomplish is to live in the real world. I don't know why, but I get the feeling that you don't think you deserve to live out with the rest of us. Let me tell you now, no one deserves it more than you."

Sarah was still not giving any indications acknowledging or denying what he said. But deep inside she knew this was true. She longed to live with Chuck and enjoy time with the friends she made. Chuck was wrong about deserving it though, he doesn't know the things I've done, the people I've hurt.

"Don't worry about saying anything. I'm just tossing my thoughts into the wind. Should I continue?"

"Of course Chuck, I'm interested in hearing your deep insights."

Chuck now leaned in, bringing his face within inches of Sarah's. She couldn't help but blush now that his deep, brown eyes were staring right at her.

"I know that you're afraid of me."

Sarah's eyes popped wide open before she started to laugh. "Afraid? Of you? You know how many ways that I can kill a person?"

"Yeah yeah, I've heard that you know how to kill a man between 50 to 100 ways. The number varies. But still, you're afraid of me."

"Ok smart guy. Why am I afraid of you?"

"Easy, first I represent the real world and the agent inside of you is afraid of my influence. Agent Walker is afraid that I might be getting through to Sarah Walker and drive her into the real world. In spy world you're in the top of the food chain. No one else probably can match your skills. But in the real world, compared to you, I'm the top dog and that scares you."

Sarah was now getting uncomfortable. Was I that transparent? I was always careful to hide my emotions and to keep up the barrier I had placed to keep people out. How is it that Chuck can see right through the façade and see the truth?

"Second, in order to assimilate into the real world, you'll need someone to help out. But in order to do that, you'll have to do something totally out of character and something that will rock you world. You'll have to trust someone."

Chuck stood up and sat down on the window sill next to Sarah. "You once asked me to trust you and I did. I trust that you will keep me safe in spy world. Now I ask you the same thing. Trust me. Trust me to keep you safe in the real world."

No one asked her that before, Sarah was stunned. A single tear ran down her face as she hasn't been this touched before. Chuck was more observant than she thought and despite his lack of physical strength, he made up for it with his emotional strength. What should I say? What should I do? He's left himself out there for me to either embrace or crush.

Noticing that Sarah was wriggling around, looking uncomfortable on the windowsill, Chuck offered "Don't fret you pretty little head about confirming anything or answering anything. Let's just call this an exercise in observation and insight. I doubt that I was close to the truth though."

Almost to the point of being inaudible, Sarah whispered "closer to the truth than you think, Chuck." Sarah looked up with her moist eyes and smiled at him.

As they share a long, warm look into each other's eyes, they hear everyone counting down from thirty, signaling the coming of the New Year.

They both stood up and Chuck stated "well I guess for the sake of our cover, we should do what couples normally do when the clock strikes twelve. Don't you think?"

"For the sake of our cover then, I'll be forced to kiss you."

Chuck laughed, remembering a similar conversation in the past with Sarah.

"Forced? Would it be so bad?"

"I guess I could suffer through it" Sarah quickly replied.

As the count reaches one, Chuck drew Sarah closer until their lips were almost brushing each other. Finally a kiss without a bomb threatening our lives, Chuck thought. That is until Morgan made his ill timed entrance into his room.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, get a room you guys!"

Pulling away from the almost kiss; Chuck shouted "we did, until you came in!"

Sarah quickly walked away from Chuck and Morgan, who were arguing about his sudden entrance into his room and ruining the mood.

Although she did enjoy the tender moment with Chuck, still something inside of her held back all of which she wanted to say; about how she cares for him, how it was him she chose over Bryce and how she desperately wanted to have a normal life with him.

Once again her CIA training took hold a prevented the release of such vital information which could have compromised her. She kicked herself for once more missing the chance and could only hold back the tears that were forming.

Casey, now outside in the courtyard, received a call from Beckman on his cellphone.

"Hello, general. What can I do for you?" Casey asked, knowing full well what orders lay ahead for him.

"Casey, the time has come to take care of Bartowski. The beta intersect is up and running and all liabilities from the previous incarnation are to be terminated. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am" he replied with a hint of anger in his voice. He slammed his phone shut.

He dreaded the time when the order to eliminate Chuck would come. Although he tried to distance himself from the subject, he couldn't help but grow attached to him.

Throughout their time together, Casey grew to feel that Chuck had handled himself admirably. In difficult life threatening situations, he has shown himself to be a quick problem solver and an extremely loyal partner, something that was missing nowadays in the spy world. The worse part was that he didn't sign up for that kind of life and took no oath to lay down his life for his country. Yet Chuck took it all in stride when others would've crumbled.

And although Chuck and Sarah had grown closer than he would've liked, they never let it interfere with the mission at hand and it actually made their determination to complete missions in order to hide it even that much stronger.

Casey walked back into the Bartowski home and said goodbye to everyone. He eventually made it to Sarah and Chuck, who were now sitting in the living room.

Chuck, sensing something, said "leaving so soon buddy? The party's only started."

Looking to Sarah, Casey replied "I have some things to CLEAN up at home, you know WORK related things. Can't have them piling up in the New Year."

Casey hoped that she would read between the lines and get Chuck as far away as possible. But Sarah still looked unaffected as he walked back into his apartment.