AN ---I like this one a little better then the last, but not much - I wasn't sure about the exact quote, because I couldn't find any Chuck transcripts. Anyone know of any? Review and earn my eternal love.

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He has set it up so carefully, so cautiously, at least three times by now. He's silly to ask, silly to hope and put his heart on the line when there's nothing to gain, no chance of getting what he wants, no chance that Sarah can ever love him. Even if he isn't so, so far below her, Bryce still lingers on the edge of her mind, omnipresent, and it annoys the hell out of Chuck that he won't even let him get the girl in death.

But still, time and time again, he does it. Might as well; he knows that Sarah can't possibly think any less of him. He's already the weak one, the stupid one, the vulnerable one, so it doesn't really matter what he does, anyway.

"Well, you know, if we were a real couple,"he always seems to add, and he pauses and prays that she contradicts him. Say, no, no, we are a real couple, no ifs, ands or buts about it. But she doesn't, she just smiles and nods, patiently waiting for him to get out of the car, and really, he doesn't expect her to do anything more.

---Cayenne