Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck or its characters, and I make no profit.

Chuck put everything into the kiss with Sarah—his hopes, dreams, desperation, fear, affection, and love. He so wanted Morgan's theory to be correct, for this to be the thing that unlocked the memories and brought his wife back to him.

Real life doesn't have much in common with Disney though, and magic and miracles are in short supply. Sarah pulled away, her eyes soft and searching, but not the eyes of his Sarah.

Sarah sat thoughtfully. The kiss hadn't caused her to fall instantly back in love with Chuck. “Their” story still sounded like he was talking about some other couple that had nothing to do with her. Still...Sarah couldn't deny that the kiss stirred something in her. She felt warm and safe. She was drawn to this man, but she was more confused than ever.

“Sarah,” Chuck said quietly, “the last time we were on this beach, you asked me to trust you. I had just met you. I didn't know anything about you at all. But when I asked you what happened next, you said to trust you and somehow that felt right to me. I've never regretted that.”

He drew a deep breath. “I know right now you feel like you don't know anything about me. And you're wondering what's going to happen next. So I'm going to ask you to trust me. I know you're confused, but hopefully somewhere deep down inside, trusting me feels right to you too. If you really have to leave, I'll understand, but Sarah, please...trust me.”

Sarah stared at him, wide-eyed. Trust me . He was right, she didn't know him. She'd heard the story, and it had moved her deeply, causing her to ask for a kiss. The words had settled in her heart and created a longing to find Sarah Bartowski again. Somehow trusting him did feel right. Plus, didn't she owe it to him? He'd had far less reason to trust her when she'd asked him to five years ago. She had seen the videos. She had heard the story. She wasn't even really taking that much of a chance. Why should it terrify her?

Maybe the kiss had contained some sort of magical properties after all. Sarah leaned into Chuck. “Okay,” she answered softly. “I'll trust you, Chuck. Let's go home.”