A/N: Hola! First of all... thank you all for your kind reviews. As I said before, it really pumped me up to continue this story. This piece was still beta-ed by Fire From Above. I added little things here and there, so there might be some errors and it's all mine. I just realize, I'm not really good with summary, because usually I just end up telling all the story. So just start reading and don't forget to click the 'review' thing :) You know you want to, right?
Oh yeah, I don't own Chuck. Not even the shoes. Darn!
Chapter 2: What's My Name?
Echo Park
"Devon, have you heard anything from my brother?" Ellie asked as her husband entering their apartment with groceries in his hands.
"Uh...no. Why, babe?" he answered placing the groceries at the kitchen counter.
"I tried to call him since like an hour ago, left him voice messages and he hasn't called me back." She was now pacing back and forth in the living room with the phone in her hand.
"Babe, I'm sure he's fine. Maybe he just forgot to bring his phone," Devon said. He looked at his worried pregnant wife in the living room, decided to ignore the groceries, and walked toward her.
"Devon, Chuck never forgets his phone. This is my brother we're talking about. There's something wrong with him. I can feel it," Ellie said with a more worried tone than before.
"Have you tried Sarah's?" Devon asked.
"I have. And she didn't answer hers, too. Devon, what happened to my brother?"
Devon approached his wife giving her a soothing hug. "Look El, I'm sure he's okay," he said comforting her.
"Morgan!" she suddenly said. "I haven't tried Morgan." She then punched his number on the phone.
"Morgan, this is Ellie. I can't reach Chuck or Sarah. And apparently you, too. Look, I'm worry about you guys. Please give me a call as soon as you get this. Bye" she sighed.
"Where are they, Devon? Does this have something to do with spy world? Is he back with his spy job again? Do you know anything about that?" Ellie asked.
"No, babe. As far as I know, your brother is off from the spy world. Sarah is still with the CIA, but he said to me that he's not with the CIA," Devon said.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Ellie said hugging her husband again.
The ride home was excruciating. Eighteen hours on the plane with uncertainty. Nobody talked much. Everybody went silent. Sarah never let her sight off of Chuck. Her eyes were still red from all the tears she had shed. Cuts and bruises began to appear clearly. She fought her desire to break down and cry. She needed to be strong. She had to be strong for Chuck.
Casey and Morgan spent most of their time looking out through the window. Morgan kept thinking about his best friend and about Ellie.
Is he gonna be okay? What about Ellie? This is just a dream, right? How should I tell Ellie?
Those questions were repeating inside his head.
When they arrived, Morgan turned his phone on and noticed that there were 7 missed calls, 5 voice messages and 3 text messages, all from Ellie. Just as he was about to listen to the voice mails his phone went off. It was Ellie. With a loud sigh he answered.
"Um, hi El. Uh, what? Chuck? He's...he's...um. Yeah, he's with me. What? You wanna talk to him? Uh, he can't talk right now Ellie..."
Morgan approached Casey in the VIP waiting room at the airport. They were waiting for transportation to bring them to a CIA facility where Chuck would be treated. "Hey, Casey. Um, Ellie just called and asked about Chuck." he said looking nervous.
"What did you tell her?" he asked, sensing something was not good judging by the look on Morgan's face.
"I sorta...kinda told her the truth." he said with a guilty look on his face.
"You did what?" Casey gritted.
"Well, I wasn't prepared. She intimidated me with her tone. Ellie is always good with her intimidation skills, and I kinda slipped my tongue and couldn't stop talking. She caught me off guard," Morgan explained, begging for forgiveness that he knew he won't get.
"Moron!" Casey said as he left him.
"Casey, Casey, Casey," Morgan said as he chased him. "There is another problem. Ellie insisted that we take Chuck to Westside Medical so she can monitor him herself." Morgan added.
"What? That's a negative. We've got our orders." As he was about to leave Morgan, Casey's phone went off. It was Ellie. He grunted.
"Stay here! And don't do or say anything to anyone. Sit!" He ordered Morgan, pointing at the chair just beside him.
Morgan looked at Casey talking on his phone from the distance. Casey occasionally shot him various version of his famous "I'm gonna kill you" faces to him. Casey gave him a look a bit later. The look he always give when he's about to do unbearable thing to him.
"You're so dead Grimes." he said walking passed him. Morgan didn't know what she said to him, but all he know was that Ellie somehow managed to make a hard as rock NSA agent to do what she said, because now they were on their way to the Westside Medical.
When they arrived at the hospital, Dr. Ellie and Devon Woodcomb were already at the lobby. When she saw his brother unconscious, she couldn't control herself.
"Oh god, Chuck. What happened to him? Sarah, tell me?" she asked Sarah. When she didn't answer she turned to Casey. "Casey, tell me! What happened to my brother?" she repeated.
"Ellie, this is Dr. Mueller. He's the one whose responsible for your brother's condition." he said mentioning a long haired male in cuff beside him. "You can ask him anything you need to know. We will let him stay here as long as you need. We will have our men by his side 24/7."
They took Chuck to his room that had been prepared before. Ellie told everyone to leave the room except for her, Dr. Mueller, and Casey to keep an eye for Dr Mueller. When the door closed, she wasted no time and start asking the doctor questions. Sarah waited outside, worry starting to consume her. This was the first time she left his side after she had found him in Thailand. She didn't know what to do to make him better and that killed her. She was always a woman who knew how to deal with any difficult situation. She was a highly trained CIA agent who's trained to overcome fear and torture. But she was never trained to deal with love, and how to deal in a situation where loved ones was hurt. And it killed her inside. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear Devon approach her.
"Hey, coffee?" he said handed her a cup of coffee.
"Thanks," she said as she took the coffee.
"Ouch." Devon said looking at all the cuts and bruises on her face and arms.
"Sarah, what happened? Are you okay?" he asked mentioning her wounds.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she said.
"What happened, Sarah?" he asked again.
"It's a long story, Devon. I don't wanna get you into more trouble with Ellie. So I guess the less you know, the better it is for your relationship with Ellie," she said.
Devon knew she was right. He was a lousy liar. If he hid something from Ellie, she would know. Ellie could read him like an open book. "I appreciate that, Sarah. But Ellie will need an explanation for this, you know."
"I know."
"I think they will take a while inside, and I have a surgery scheduled in 15 minutes. I'll set you up with a friend of mine, we need to look at those wounds. Why don't you go into that room and I'll tell her to check you there."
She nodded. He rose from his chair and left.
The doctor had just put the last band aid on Sarah when there was a knock on the door. It was Ellie.
"Hey, Megan. Can I talk to Sarah for a minute?" Ellie said entering the room.
"Yeah, sure." The doctor smiled and walked outside.
"Ellie, I'm sorry..." Sarah started.
"What? Sarah, don't be ridiculous. Look at you! You're lucky you're still alive. Casey told me about how you went to the middle of nowhere in Thailand, alone, to save my brother. I thank you, Sarah. Thank you for saving my brother." Ellie hugged her gently, careful not to hurt her more. Sarah was relieved that Ellie didn't blame her for this. She hugged her back. Sarah let her tears fell down. Ellie sensed Sarah's soft sobbing and let her hug linger a little longer.
They broke the hug and wiped their tears away. Ellie told Sarah about her initial diagnosis. She needed another test to learned more about the Phase Three Dr. Mueller talked about. Ellie asked Sarah to go home and rest ,but she resisted. Ellie needed explanation for all this, but decided to wait for a while.
It's almost 6 pm, and everyone had left the hospital, except for Ellie and Sarah. Casey had gone to bring Dr. Mueller into CIA custody. Ellie had all the information she needed out of the doctor. Morgan was the last one who left the hospital. Sarah was asleep on the couch in the room. She woke up when she heard Ellie open the door.
"Ellie, any progress? Is he awake?" she asked getting up from the couch.
"Not yet. We think he's in a coma," she said looking at her brother.
"What? Oh my god." Sarah had her hands covering her mouth. Tears started to pool in her eyes.
"No, relax Sarah. We think it's a normal phase considering the treatment and the drugs the doctor gave to remove his memories. We did all we can. And now we just have to wait until he wake up to know whether our treatment is working or not," Ellie said messaging her neck. It's been a long day, and Ellie had been on one of her long shifts before Chuck arrived.
"I don't know whether it's a solid sign or not but this afternoon when I talked to him his brain activity increased." Ellie said. "I know it's just one time, but it's a hope, right?" Ellie smiled at Sarah.
"When will he wake up, Ellie?" Sarah asked holding his hand.
"We don't know, Sarah. I don't know," Ellie said caressing Sarah's arm.
Sarah's gaze fell. A single tear ran down her cheek.
Westside Medical.
The next day
10.00 AM
It's now Morgan's shift in the hospital. Ellie went home last night to get some rest. Sarah had finally agreed to go home this morning as long as Morgan promise to call her immediately if anything happened. Alex dropped by to check on her boyfriend, but had to leave again for class. She told him she'd be back to bring him some lunch later on.
Morgan brought his PSP to accompany him. Ellie had told him that Chuck might hear his surroundings. So Morgan had been talking to him all day. Mostly about video games.
"...well, you can't blame the guy. Of course he's jealous of us. I mean we have a bi-weekly Duck Hunt tournament in our own apartment. How cool is that! And you know what dude, speaking about Duck Hunt. I have been practicing Duck Hunt lately. And I can tell you that if you woke up, I bet I can beat you. Easy," he said while still playing with his PSP.
"I doubt that," a sleepy voice answered.
"What? You don't think I can beat your a..." he stopped his sentence and turned his gaze from the PSP to the man sitting beside him.
"Chuck! Dude? You're awake!" Morgan screamed and hugged him.
"Hey...hey...hey. Curb your enthusiasm, will you Morgan" Chuck said hugging him back.
"Morgan! Morgan. Yeah! That's my name. That. Is. My. Name." he said poking his finger on his chest for every words. "Oh my God. You're okay, he's okay. You remember my name," Morgan kept mumbling 'you-okay and you-remember' thing to nobody in particular that made Chuck a bit confused. But he's Morgan, everything about his best friend sometimes, well most of the times, made him confused.
Ellie just arrived at the hospital and rushed to Chuck's room when she heard from the nurse that her brother was awake.
"Ellie, he knows me!" Morgan exclaimed happily as she entered the room
"Chuck! Chuck, oh my god. We were worried about you. Are you okay? How are you feeling? Do you know who I am?" Ellie asked hugging her little brother tightly.
"What's with all the questions you guys? Of course I remember you El. You're my sister. How can I forget you. And you're Morgan. And I still think you can't beat me on Duck Hunt. Not in a million years you don't," he chuckled. He was still a bit pale.
Ellie put her stethoscope on and checked his vitals.
"Okay Chuck, I'm going to ask you some simple questions, and I want you to answer them. If you can't or if it's hard to remember, just say so. Don't push yourself too hard, okay?"
"Okay, doc." He put his hand on his head just like a soldier in a salute position.
"What's your name?"
"Han Solo." he answered casually.
"And I'm Chewie." the two nerds then high five. That act received a death glare from Ellie.
"Morgan, don't encourage him." she said. "Chuck, be serious."
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry El. I'm Charles Irving Bartowski."
"Who am I?"
"You're my sister, Eleanor Faye Bartowski."
"And him?"
"My buddy, Morgan Guillermo Grimes. Although I still think he's relate to Chewie in some weird way."
"Do you remember why you're here?"
"Uh..."
Suddenly his head was hurt. Short blurry flashes shot through his eyes. He groaned.
"Chuck? Chuck it's okay. Don't push yourself." Ellie held his head in her hands. "It's okay. Just one step at a time."
"I'm sorry, sis. I don't know why. But my head hurt so bad," he said,
"It's okay. As long as you're awake and you still remember us." Ellie smiled to him and to Morgan.
"Yeah buddy. Thank god you're okay. You scared us for a while." They went silent for a while until Morgan interupted
"Oh, Sarah! I promised I'll call her." Morgan said. He took his phone out and dialed a number.
"Hey, Sarah. It's Morgan. Chuck is awake. He's okay. His memory is okay. He remembers us. Just come here when you hear this message will you?" He put his phone back in his pocket.
"She made me promise to call her ASAP. And I don't intend to disobey her," he chuckled. "Who knows what would happen to me if I forgot. Dude, you have no idea what she had to go through to get you out of there. You're lucky you have her," he shook his head.
"Her?" Chuck asked.
"Yeah, her. Sarah," Morgan answered casually.
"Sarah? Who's...who's Sarah?" Chuck furrowed his eyebrows.
Uh-oh, another cliff-hanger. What will happen next? Review and you shall know the answer. Hah! Cliché, huh?
Anyway, sorry for no Charah interaction in this chapter, but I can promise you there will be on the next chapter. Thank you for reading!
