DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN CHUCK.

Chuck looked from his sister back down this fiancé. He got here on time. He had to. Sarah couldn't die right before their wedding. It wasn't supposed to end like this. He wasn't supposed to bury her. He had always thought that when the end did inevitably come, they would be side-by-side, like they had lived their lives. They had gone through too much, both in their relationship and in their professional lives, for it to end in a hospital room in Burbank.

The past twenty-four hours had been the craziest of Chuck's life. He went from a complete high, being at his rehearsal dinner with the love of his life, to a complete low, fearing that she would not live to see another sunrise. He had defied the Agency, came close to death multiple times, did some of the best spy work of his life to find Volkoff only to find out he was now Hartley, had the Intersect suppressed against his will, had convinced Vivian not to kill him and to help him, landed a full Spetsnaz team in the middle of LA, and quit the CIA. All of that didn't matter, though, if the woman he did it all for wasn't going to pull through.

She was the toughest person he had ever met. He had seen her take down guys twice her size with just her fists. He had seen her put her life in mortal danger to protect him time and time again. He had seen her transform from a cold, calculating CIA agent into a real girl, his girl. She always swore up and down that it was solely because of Chuck that she was who she was now, but Chuck knew that it had always been inside of her. It just took the love they had between them to bring it out.

He wondered if she could hear him right now. He decided he didn't care. He was going to talk to his fiancé.

"Sarah, baby, i'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm sorry I haven't been here in the past few hours, but I was out dealing with…wedding stuff. Baby, I need you to wake up. I can't go on without you. You're my better half, the half I need by my side to get through each day. You're the first thing on my mind when I wake up, and the last thing that runs through my head right before sleep overtakes me. I was nothing without you. Before you, I wallowed in self-pity and had zero confidence. You showed me who I could be. You showed me that I was meant for so much more. But, Sarah, without you, it all means nothing. I don't want to find out what this world is like without you in it. Please, Sarah. I know I say it all the time, but I love you. Those three words can not begin to describe what you mean to me, though. I think you know that. You and I have always been much better at showing each other anyways. I need you to wake up now, Sarah. I need to be able to give you the life that you want, the life that you deserve. You deserve to be loved every day. You deserve so much more than I can possibly ever begin to give you, but I promise that I will try my best."

Ellie had quietly began to walk out of the room when Chuck began softly speaking to Sarah, but she couldn't help herself. She listened as her brother poured his heart out. Ellie began to sob. It was all so surreal. Chuck had been gone for hours, then he showed up in full camo running through the halls, shoving the antidote into Ellie's hands. She had begged him for twenty minutes before he agreed to change. She told him when Sarah woke up, she wouldn't want to see him in the uniform of the Russian Special Forces. So now she watched her brother, grasping Sarah's left hand, wearing a pair of Devon's scrubs, pleading with her to wake up. It broke Ellie's heart.

Minutes passed, and still Sarah's condition hadn't drastically changed. She was breathing better, Ellie noticed. Her temperature was at least stable, and even began to drop a couple degrees. Ellie took this as a good sign, but didn't want to get her brother's hopes up too much just yet. So she silently let him continue his bedside vigil.

Chuck had run out of words, which was rare for him. He now found himself crying, his forehead resting on Sarah's left hand. He could feel her engagement ring against his eyelid. He had never felt so emotionally spent, and honestly didn't think he could mentally take this for much longer.

"Chuck….." He suddenly heard a weak voice just above a whisper. He would know that voice anywhere, the voice of his angel.

"Sarah, baby, I'm right here." Chuck looked up through his tears to see Sarah beginning to slowly open her eyes. He could tell it was hard for her. "It's OK, Sarah, rest now. I got the antidote, you're going to be fine. Rest, baby."

"I knew you'd save me." She said weakly. Chuck couldn't help but let a small smile escape.

He knew that he had to be calm right now, but his insides were doing flips. She was awake. She was going to be fine. SHE WAS AWAKE!

"Chuck…." She tried speaking again. He tried to tell her to rest, but she shook him off. "What happened?"

"Don't worry about that right now, sweetheart. You need to focus on getting better, for us. You need to rest."

"No, Chuck, I've gotten enough rest. I'll go back to sleep soon enough. Please…..just tell me what happened. I need to hear your voice right now." She spoke slowly, deliberately. She had her eyes open now, and he knew that pleading look. He wouldn't be able to resist it even if he tried.

"OK baby. Here it goes."

Chuck literally had no idea how Sarah was going to react to this. He knew he would have to tell her eventually, but he was hoping to wait until she was better to do it. He had hoped to wait for the honeymoon. You should know better, he thought to himself. You are marrying one of the world's best espionage operatives. She probably had figured most of it out by now anyways…..

"Vivian hit you with the Norseman, that much I think you know….." Chuck proceeded to lay out the past twenty-four hours for Sarah. She calmly listened, and tried to process it. She laughed at some parts, cried at others, and felt incredibly guilty throughout. Chuck had torn his life apart piece by piece to try and save her. And now he had. She was speechless. How do you tell someone you owe them everything that you are and will be? How do you tell someone that he is your hero, your savior, your partner, your lover, your life? Well, I could say that, she thought to herself. She decided to tell him with her eyes. She had always known, even when she was still his handler and he was still her asset, that no matter what came out of her mouth, Chuck knew the truth because he could see it in her eyes. She always could tell him more by locking gazes with him than she could ever express verbally.

They sat there, in a cocoon of silence and love, refusing to look anywhere but straight into each other's souls. Chuck knew exactly what she was trying to say.

After what seemed like a day but was probably only about ten minutes, Sarah broke the silence without breaking eye contact.

"Chuck, are we really out of the CIA?"

He knew this question was coming, and he still didn't know how to answer it, or how to deal with Sarah's expected reaction. So he went with blunt and honest. It's worked before.

"Yes." He broke eye contact, guilt racking through his body. He looked down at their intertwined hands, waiting for Sarah to respond.

"Good."

"What?" He almost shouted, snapping his head back up to find Sarah's eyes.

"I said, 'good'."

"Sarah, what do you mean? The CIA was your life. You've been a spy for a decade. It's your career, and you're one of the absolute best. And I took that away from you, and almost didn't have the guts to tell you. I'm so sorry baby, I know I screwed up, I was just trying to save you."

"Chuck, shut up." He had to look at her to realize she was smiling. What was going on? She continued.

"The CIA is not my life. You are, Chuck. What happened when I got hit with the Norseman? The CIA didn't care if I lived or died. You did. And you did anything and everything to make sure I came back to you. And you know what Chuck? I never doubted you. Not for a second. I knew you'd come. I knew you'd find the antidote. You're the only person in my life that I know will never abandon me. So no, I don't care that we're not spies anymore, because I have you. And soon, we're going to be husband and wife. And that's all I need in my life. Forever."

Chuck didn't know how to respond to Sarah. Instead, he slowly stood up. Sarah knew what he was doing. She silently moved to her side to allow Chuck room on the bed. He slid in next to her and wrapped her up in his arms, careful to avoid all of the wires and tubes still connected to her. He still couldn't believe his Sarah was here, in his arms, awake, and alive.

"Chuck…"

"Yeah, baby?"

"Never let me go."