AN: Sorry for the long wait but on top of being a junior in highschool, I'm also the stage manager at a community theater. Needless to say, very busy. But thanks sooo much for the reviews!! They were all wonderful
On to the story...
"Page her," Sarah said simply. "That's her brother in there."
The woman gasped and her face temporarily lost its professional demeanor. "Chuck?!," the woman exclaimed, apparently familiar with Chuck Bartowski. Sarah nodded in response, seeing that the computer geek affecting more people than just her. Within a second, the woman had turned and jogged off in the direction of the ER desk, no doubt to inform Ellie of the terrible news.
Sarah, however, stood in the middle of the hallway, unsure of what to do with herself. She was about to attempt to find the waiting area when she felt her phone vibrate against her leg. She pulled it out and saw Casey's picture on the front.
"Yeah."
"You at the hospital yet?"
"Yeah, we just got here. He was taken to the ER but I don't know anything yet."
"What about his sister or her fiancé? Their doctors, aren't they? They could get some information."
"They're paging Ellie now and when she gets here, yeah, I'm sure she can get some information," Sarah replied numbly. "But until then, I've got nothing. Did you debrief?"
"Yeah. They know everything."
Sarah felt her heart rate pick up, knowing that the incident could be enough to get Chuck extracted from his own life, as well as hers. "And…"
"And they thought it was a freak accident that they didn't even see coming. The kid stays," Casey answered, causing relief to fill Sarah's body. For now, at least. "I assume you came up with a cover story…?"
"Mugging."
"Ah, scenario C. Simple, but solid. Alright, I'll be there soon," he said before Sarah heard the click of the line ending. She hung up her own phone and looked around the hospital. Oh, how she hated them. She had spent many a time in them, be it for herself or for someone else. Either way, she did not have anything close to happy memories in them.
She found some empty chairs off to the side of the large, busy room and took a seat. She felt numb all over and was dreading the moment she would have to explain what happened to Ellie, especially because it had never really happened at all. But, they had always known that Chuck would get hurt at some point or more and so she and Casey had come up with several scenarios to explain Chuck's injuries, or in a worst case scenario, his death. In fact, Sarah was surprised she hadn't had to use one earlier. For Chuck being an innocent, never-been-in-a-fight-before-in-his-life computer geek, they had figured protecting him from everything would be nearly impossible. Still, the thought didn't make this situation any easier.
After hearing some commotion a little ways down the hall, Sarah looked up to see Ellie practically running in Sarah's general direction, her eyes searching the people in the waiting area. Sarah quickly stood up and took a deep breath, preparing herself for what was about to come. As expected, the moment Ellie's eyes locked on Sarah, the young doctor was racing towards her.
"Sarah! What happened?" she asked, her face full of fear and her eyes already leaking tears.
"We were mugged," Sarah choked out. She knew she needed to sell her story to make it believable, and honestly, it wasn't that hard. She hadn't noticed until now just how shaken up she was and it startled her when she realized her own eyes were dangerously watery.
"Mugged? Where?"
"It was in Miller Square. We were going to get some ice cream when these guys… they just came out of nowhere and…," she trailed off, but not only for dramatic effect. Every time she pictured Chuck lying on the ground, beaten to a pulp, her stomach twisted painfully.
Ellie was shaking now and Sarah had no idea what to do. "Well… what did they do? Is he… how bad is it? They won't let me in."
"I-I don't know," Sarah said truthfully. "They just wouldn't stop kicking and punching and I think there was a… a gun shot," she added silently, knowing that it was going to have a major effect on her. Again, as expected, Ellie practically collapsed on herself. Sarah immediately reached out and lowered Ellie to the ground, her small body shaking as she cried. And whether it was the heat of the moment or simply how she felt, Sarah joined her.
"I'm so sorry," she said over and over. "I tried to stop them b-but I couldn't."
She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but eventually, Sarah felt strong, warm arms wrap around them and guide them to a standing position. Sarah looked up and saw the somber face of Devon, or Captain Awesome as Chuck referred to him.
Once Ellie and Sarah were settled into the waiting room chairs, Devon began to fill them in, apparently having just come from wherever Chuck was.
"They're taking him up to surgery now," Devon said, his arm slowly making circles on Ellie's back. "He's got internal bleeding from a gunshot wound, they think one of his ribs might have punctured a lung and he's got a pretty bad concussion."
Sarah was no doctor, but all of that seemed like plenty. Besides, she knew for a fact that whether his injuries was life-threatening or not, he had several cuts, lacerations, bumps, and bruises for being beaten like he was, so that in and of itself would make for a few very long, very painful weeks. All in all, even if Chuck survived - and he simply had to - he would be out of commission for weeks. But that wasn't important now; they had to make it to the recovery stage first.
"But why?" Ellie asking, tears streaming down her face. "Why Chuck? He wouldn't hurt anyone…"
"I know," Devon said, pulling her into his arms. "But he's going to be okay. Now, we should get up to surgery, okay?"
Sarah and Ellie nodded and next thing Sarah knew, she was in an elevator going up to the level where Chuck was being operated on; the thought made her sick. Worst of all, she didn't know what to do with herself in the presence of Chuck's sister and soon-to-be bother-in-law. Especially because only she knew the truth of what had happened to Chuck.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing a much calmer environment as opposed to the Emergency Room. It both calmed and upset Sarah; at least the ER matched the frenzy of pain and worry that was going on within her, this place just seemed to mock her.
Devon walked them both over the waiting room which was another great improvement in comparison to the waiting room downstairs.
"I'm going to get us some coffee and see if I can find out anything," Devon said quietly once they were all settled in. "Is there anything else either of you need?"
Ellie and Sarah shook their heads and Sarah began to marvel at Devon's ability to adapt to the situation. She had always seen the famous "Captain Awesome" as a guy whose qualities were obvious: he was very handsome, obviously smart due to his profession, and seemed like a genuinely sweet guy, but he had never given off the sentimental vibe to Sarah. At least not like he was now. Sarah was actually glad to have him around at a time like this and suddenly lost all doubt of why Ellie would have chosen someone like him.
"I still don't understand," Ellie said quietly once Devon was gone, her tears still present but she was not nearly as hysterical. The statement made Sarah's heart jump seeing as how everything she had told Ellie was a lie. "How could anyone hurt him? I mean, he probably would have given up his wallet or whatever they wanted, so why did they… why did they have to hurt him too?"
Sarah remained quiet, unsure of how to reply.
"Well, d-did they take his wallet."
It didn't take Sarah long to reply to this because she and Casey had already decided on this plan over a year ago. "Yes, but the police caught the guys soon after and from what I understand, they found his wallet intact."
Ellie nodded and then let her head fall into her hands. They stayed this way for a few moments when Ellie lifted her head again.
"You know, this is only Chuck's second time being in the hospital."
Sarah frowned. This surprised her because Chuck seemed like the type that was pretty sheltered his whole life. "Second? What happened before?"
Ellie smiled sadly. "He's always been on the geeky side, even when he was younger. Smart," she added, "Very smart, but as you can imagine, many kids didn't like that when we were younger. But, Chuck was different. He got picked on here and there, but for the most part, people didn't pay him much mind. He's very likable."
Sarah let out a small chuckle. That description hit the nail on the head.
"Anyway, there was this one guy when I was in the fifth grade, Chuck in the fourth, that picked on everyone. His name was Mikey Roberts and he was the typical school bully with a tortured past. His parents were sad excuses for people in general and he didn't have anyone else who cared enough to raise him right. Either way, he would make fun of everyone and tease everyone, regardless of who they were or what class of people they were in."
Sarah listened, letting Ellie talk and thankful that this trip down memory lane seemed to be calming her.
"He never picked on me until that year," she continued. "Chuck had gotten it plenty of times, but he would always turn to Morgan and they would go back to their comic books and everything would be fine. But, when Mikey started to pick on me, that's when everything changed. He would make fun of my hair, knock the books out of my hands… silly things like that. And I had no idea what to do because I'd never been picked on before. I didn't understand what I had done."
Sarah nodded. Ellie was beautiful, smart, and sweet and Sarah figured the woman had always been that way. So the fact that most people liked her when she was growing up in addition to now did not surprise Sarah in the least.
"Well, one day I came home from school crying because Mikey had made fun of my brand new glasses that I was already upset about having to wear, and Chuck tried to comfort me all night. Of course, I was in no mood to talk to anyone. Well, the next day after school, Chuck went up to Mickey and told him to, and I quote, 'Please stop picking on my sister. You're hurting her feelings,'" Sarah explained, her eyes tearing up again as she continued to smile sadly.
"Mikey wasn't used to people standing up to him, especially not geeks like Chuck, so, he beat Chuck up pretty bad. He ended up with a mild concussion and a cracked rib. Because they were off school grounds, they couldn't expel Mikey, but they suspended him for a few weeks. Chuck got better and came back to school, and eventually, so did Mikey, but he wasn't the same. Over his few weeks of suspension, his dad had nearly killed his mom, and was hauled off to prison. Sad, isn't it?"
Sarah nodded, knowing how much a parent's lifestyle could affect their children.
"Not only did he not pick on anyone anymore, he wouldn't talk to anyone at all. Because the school bully was now weak, everyone else began to pick on him and he would just sit there and take. It was such a sad thing but we were kids and it was our chance for revenge. But Chuck didn't see it that way," Ellie explained and Sarah could see where this was going. "One day when the kids were being particularly nasty to Mikey, Chuck went over to where he was sitting for lunch, still sporting a big ugly scar from the stitches, and invited him to sit at Chuck's table with him and Morgan. You can imagine Morgan's opinion of this."
Sarah chuckled along with Ellie at this statement and was amazed to think that two people could remain friends for so long.
"Mikey didn't sit with him and eventually left the school when his dad got out of prison but no one ever tried to reach out to Mickey except for Chuck. Even after what happened, Chuck was still nice. I never understood it and was even mad at him for being nice to the guy that picked on me and nearly killed him. But that's just who Chuck is. Harmless, good-hearted…" she trailed off as the tears began to spill over onto her reddened cheeks.
Without thinking, Sarah leaned over and hugged Ellie, letting tears of her own flow. Damn Chuck for being such a good person. Damn him for being so likeable. It was her job to protect him, not to actually care for him. Why couldn't she be more like Casey whose only regret was that he nearly failed his mission of keeping the Intersect alive, not the fact that Chuck was a mangled mess? If she were more like Casey, none of this would hurt as bad.
But it did hurt. So much.
Sarah and Ellie continued to make small talk, but as the night wore on, Sarah felt herself getting more and more tired, and before she could stop herself, she fell asleep.