Chapter 3:

I don't own Chuck, too much work.

(A/N:) I am sure the summary sucks but I didn't know what to say. Have a beta now but all mistakes are still my own. Enigmamdw has offered to beta this and hopefully make it more enjoyable. This is a work in progress.

Enigmamdw has indeed done the beta on this and offered much helpful advice and critical punctuation, many thanks to him. He has done so much work I should be paying him. He is AWESOME!! Anyone who likes this story it is because of his great work and anyone who doesn't it's my fault entirely. Thanks for reading.

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5 Days Prior

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Ellie and Sarah ran to the elevator as fast as they could. The P.A. had just announced a Code Blue in room 301 and since Chuck was the only patient in that room and they both wanted to get there as fast as they could. They were both worried about Chuck.

Sarah stabbed the elevator button repeatedly while looking up at the light that showed what floor the elevators were on. One was on the 6th floor heading down while the other was on the 5th floor heading up and neither had moved in what seemed an eternity.

"Come on Ellie, let's take the stairs. We need to get up there to make sure Chuck is ok" Sarah said worriedly while grabbing Ellie's arm and pulling her toward the stairwell door.

"Good idea Sarah, we could be waiting forever for the elevators" Ellie replied as Sarah pushed open the door and they raced up the stairs to the third floor.

When they got to the door for the third floor and pulled it wouldn't open.

Sarah screamed, "What is going on?" while pulling and kicking the door.

When the door wouldn't budge they looked at each other and decided to run back down and hope the elevators didn't take too long.

As they pulled the door for the first floor they saw the elevator doors just starting to close. The both screamed out to hold the elevator and someone put their hand on the door and held it while they ran to it.

"Third floor please," Ellie and Sarah huffed as they rushed into the elevator.

When Sarah looked at the panel of buttons she noticed that the third floor was already lit as was the second.

"Is nothing going to go right today?" Sarah whined.

Sarah was fuming as the elevator stopped at the second floor and several people got off and one got on. She just wanted to push them all out of the way so she could get to Chuck. He had to be ok. She didn't think she could go on if anything happened to him.

The elevator doors opened and they were the first ones off the elevator. They took off as fast as they could toward the room. As they turned the last corner they saw Devon coming out of Chuck's room.

"Its ok babe, he's going to be fine." Devon said as he took Ellie in a hug. "Chuck's self medicator malfunctioned, which caused him to flat line. We unhooked the medicator, gave him some Narcan and were able to resuscitate him. He's stable now. He's going to be out of it for a few hours but he will be fine."

"Can I go in and see him?" Sarah asked quietly.

"I just need to hold his hand. I…I almost lost him" she stammered

"Why don't you go and grab some coffee right now. He's stable now but they need to monitor him closely for a little while" Devon said.

"No, I really need to see him now" Sarah said with pleading eyes. "I just want to see for myself that he is ok."

Ellie echoed Sarah's sentiments and told Devon, "I think we both need to see him" as she looked a Devon.

"Ok, but just for a minute." Devon replied as he pushed the door open.

When they entered the room Chuck was hooked up to several machines that beeped and whirred. A doctor and a nurse were discussing the readings.

"It's just a precaution, Sarah. They just need to monitor him for a little while" Ellie stated when she saw the worried look on her face.

Sarah walked up to the side of the bed and reached for Chuck's hand and looked down at his pale face. His hand felt so cold. She turned to the doctors and asked quietly. "How long will he be like this?"

"Probably about an hour, then you can come back in and sit with him, but he probably won't be awake for a couple more." Devon said. "But for now we really need to stay out of the way."

"I need to go check on another patient but you two can go to the waiting room across the hall and I will bring some coffee and donuts when I'm done." Devon explained as he ushered them out of the room.

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Chuck drifted out of unconsciousness and into a deep sleep that included a disturbing dream.

He had keyed up the cash register monitor of the inside of Castle and he heard Cole ask Sarah how she put up with such a loser hanging off her all the time.

Sarah replied "It's my job and I get well paid for it" as she nibbled on his ear.

"I doubt very much you get paid that well" Cole laughed while lifting her chin up and kissing her fiercely.

When they broke for air Sarah said "You're right, I don't get paid enough" while kissing him again.

"How about we take a quick trip down to Mexico for the weekend? You look like you need a man." Cole replied.

"That sounds heavenly, maybe when I get back I can get back out in the field, we would make a great team." Sarah cooed before attacking his lips again.

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Chuck awoke with a start and sweating profusely; he opened his eyes and saw a brunette nurse shaking his shoulder gently. Was that a dream or was it a memory? He wasn't sure. He felt so disoriented; he looked at the nurse and asked where he was and what happened.

"You were having a bad dream but that is somewhat common after what happened." she said.

"What happened?" Chuck asked, concerned.

"Your self medicator jammed and you overdosed but you are fine now." she replied. "Just lay back and relax and go back to sleep."

Chuck laid his head back down and closed his eyes, he didn't want another dream but his eyes were so heavy that in seconds he was asleep again.

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Sarah had just come back from the ladies room where she had called Casey and given him an update on Chuck's condition. She saw Devon and Ellie in conversation with the doctor who had been in Chuck's room.

"He's resting comfortably now." The doctor was saying as she came within earshot. "You can go in and see him now"

"Thanks Steve." Ellie and Devon said in unison.

"Go on in Sarah, he's still asleep but you can sit with him" Ellie said with a smile.

"Thanks." Sarah replied as she walked as fast as she could to Chuck's room. When she walked in she quickly went to the side of the bed and looked down at him and took his hand in hers and placed a small kiss on his forehead before pulling up a chair and sitting beside the bed.

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Ellie looked in through the window in the door with a smile as she saw the small smile appear on Sarah's face as she held his hand.

Devon took Ellie by the hand and said "Come on babe, you just worked a double shift. You need to go home and get some sleep."

"I think I'll just go lay down in the doctor's lounge for a little while, just in case." Ellie returned.

"Ok Devon, if there is any change wake me immediately." She said before being led to the lounge by Devon.

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After they left Sarah laid her head down on Chuck's hand and drifted off to sleep secure in the knowledge that he was going to be fine.

After what seemed hours but in reality had only been 15 minutes Sarah felt her phone vibrate, she looked at the screen and saw Casey's face.

"Walker secure." she said.

"Casey secure. Get down to Castle now. Beckman wants a briefing in 15 minutes." He replied and hung up.

Sarah stood and looked down at Chuck's face. "Wake up soon Chuck. I'll be back as soon as I can." She said as she gently ran her fingers through his unruly curls.

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The screen lit up with General Beckman's face, "Agent Walker, Major Casey. Where is Agent Barker?"

"He left the night before last after he finished his reports and briefing" Sarah stated.

"He never made his flight and has not made been in contact with his superiors in thirty six hours." The General began. "We have to assume he has been taken. He knows Bartowski is the Intersect. We need to limit the damage he may cause"

"I'm sure he would never talk about Chuck" Sarah responded quickly.

"Everyone talks eventually." Casey retorted.

"I want 24/7 surveillance on the Intersect starting right now. Why is he not at this briefing?" the General demanded.

"He's still in the hospital, he had a malfunction with the pain medicator but he should be fine." Sarah replied.

"Then get back there and cover him like a blanket, if things go as wrong as they seem to have we will have to extract him." the General said. "Major Casey, I want you to look into the disappearance of Agent Barker. He must be found. That is all." The screen went black.

"I'm headed back to the hospital, get busy on finding Cole. We need to protect Chuck." Sarah pleaded.

The drive back to the hospital seemed to take forever for Sarah. All she could think about was what would happen if they tried to extract him again. She couldn't let them put him in a hole. He wouldn't survive. She wouldn't survive, she cared for him. He had snuck up on her, his smile, his warm eyes and his unruly curls that made funny animal shapes. She had told him to trust her and she meant that more now than before.

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Casey tapped into the surveillance outside the hotel Barker had stayed at and retrieved the video for the appropriate time. He had entered his hotel and remained for several hours before leaving with his luggage for his trip back home. He watched as he hailed a cab for the trip to the airport. Something didn't seem right, as soon as he closed the door it filled with smoke and he watched Barker fall over.

Casey followed the cab's progress with the street camera surveillance until it pulled up to an old disused warehouse. He quickly scanned through the remaining time. Noting that people arrived and no one left. I hope he's holding out Casey thought.

He called a team to meet him at the warehouse; they had to get this done quickly before something else happened or they broke Barker. Everyone talks in the end.

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When Sarah arrived at the hospital she was informed that Chuck was still asleep, so she entered quietly and sat by the side of his bed.

"Please wake up Chuck. I need to see your smile." Sarah whispered as her hand sought out his and squeezed it gently.

She was still very tired after only sleeping for an hour last night so she took off her shoes and gently climbed up beside Chuck and lay her head on his shoulder while draping her arm across his chest. Chuck instinctively put his arm around her and pulled her close. She was asleep in seconds. The steady beat of his heart soothed her mind.

She dreamt of a very awake Chuck kissing his way down her neck. He was nibbling on her ear and whispering sexy thoughts in her ear. Just his hot breath was enough to ignite her fire. He lifted his head and sought out her lips. His tongue touched her lips and she opened them to allow his to intertwine with hers. She was moaning softly as the kiss became more passionate. They parted after a minute both panting. She looked into his deep brown eyes and he looked into her bright blue eyes. They smashed their lips back together as she twined her fingers in his curls and he ran his fingers up and down her spine that left a tingling sensation spreading all through her body. The need of air again forced them to separate.

Chuck again slowly kissed his way up her neck to her ear and said quietly. "I love you Sarah."

Another slow moan escaped her lips as she replied "Oh Chuck, I."

The sound of the door opening woke Sarah immediately. She lifted her head to look toward the door to see Ellie looking in and smiling.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I just wanted to check and see if Chuck was ok?" Ellie whispered.

"He's fine." Sarah whispered back.

"I'll check back later." Ellie whispered while pulling the door closed.

Sarah yawned and lay her head back down on Chuck's shoulder before closing her eyes and drifting back to sleep.

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Casey's team surrounded the warehouse and he took lead and breached the door slowly so as not to alert anyone. They took up positions inside making their way toward the lighted area. He could see Barker hanging from a pipe in the ceiling by hand cuffs, he could see the welts and bruises on his bare skin and knew he had been tortured severely. They had to take out the enemy combatants quickly so they could get him back to Castle and find out what he had told them. Barker would always be a loose end. The knowledge of the Intersect could become a problem and it might become his job to take care of it.

Casey signaled his men to take their shots. He regretted that he had to be the one using the tranquilizer gun. He always loved gunplay but he needed one alive and he couldn't leave that responsibility to anyone else.

It was over in a heartbeat, a well executed operation. He ran up and found the keys to the cuffs and let Barker down. He needed to know right away what he had told them so he slapped him awake.

"What did you tell them?" Casey demanded.

"I didn't tell them anything" Barker replied with a crooked smile.

"Are you sure you told them nothing Barker?" Casey again questioned.

He really didn't like this American Agent that was shouting in his face. Questioning if he was telling the truth? He could withstand a little torture. It wouldn't be the first time.

"You don't have to ask me twice Agent Casey." Cole chided Casey. "I wouldn't lie when it comes to the safety of the Intersect."

"Wait here." Casey grunted at Cole.

Casey went over to his squad of men and gave a salute before telling them the operation was a success and to wait for the NSA cleaners to get there. He then walked over to the kidnapper that he had tranqed and put zip ties on his wrists and ankles. He then lifted the man over his shoulder and called for Barker to follow him. They needed to get back to Castle and make their report.

Sarah woke when she felt Chuck stirring and looked up to his face. She waited for his warm brown eyes to open. His eyelids fluttered open for a second before closing again only to open again and look down at Sarah.

"What are you doing here" Chuck asked suddenly uncomfortable with her lying on the bed with his arm around her. He pulled his arm from around her on the pretext of scratching his nose and started to sit up.

She smiled at him but he didn't return the smile and his eyes had a look of sadness in them. Feeling cold as Chuck pulled his arm from around her. She had enjoyed the feeling and hadn't slept like that in a long time. She had also had a wonderful dream.

"You are under 24/7 surveillance for the moment. Agent Barker has been taken and he knows about you and the Intersect." Sarah replied. "He may talk."

Chuck scrunched his eyebrows down and asked. "Then why aren't you out there looking for him Sarah, you must be very worried?"

"Casey is handling it; he has a team at his disposal." Sarah replied.

"Does that mean you have to spend all day here babysitting me, I'm sure it will be very boring what with me sleeping a lot and you worrying about Cole, couldn't you just turn on the surveillance cameras?" Chuck stated.

"What are you saying Chuck? I said before being with you never feels like work." Sarah said. "I just needed to be sure you're feeling better."

"So this is all just for the cover? In case Ellie or Devon or someone else comes to visit me?" Chuck asked hesitantly.

"Chuck, we need to talk." Sarah started as her phone started to vibrate in her pocket. She got up from the bed before answering it, "Walker secure."

"Casey secure." Was the reply, followed by "Walker get over here, we have Barker. He was tortured and we need to access the situation and make a report to the General."

Sarah hung up and turned to Chuck while slipping on her shoes "Cole's been tortured and we need to debrief him and report to the General. I will be back later. I will have an agent guard the door while I'm gone." Sarah said as she ran for the door.

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Chuck lay there and thought. Finally an honest thing coming out of her mouth, she was worried about Cole and when she heard he was hurt she flew out of here. He then knew that Sarah wasn't really worried about the loser geek. After the morphine fiasco he had no self medicator so he was forced to call a nurse who would give him something for the pain and to help him sleep. He pressed the call button. His hip was sore and his head was very tender. Again he wondered why his head hurt so much as he had only been hit on the hip.

As he waited for the nurse he mused about his situation, unless Sarah left with Cole, which was a very real possibility he would have to see her every day and he knew that would be painful. Thankfully a nurse came in and gave him an injection of Demerol through his IV and he blissfully drifted off to sleep.

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When Sarah entered the Castle Casey pointed toward the infirmary and grunted "Your new boy toy is in the back being patched up"

"Shut up Casey, you're such an asshole sometimes" Sarah said loudly. "What do we know; did he say anything about Chuck?"

"He said he held out, but we need to find out what these people know. How did they find Barker and who they were reporting to? All the bad guys are dead except for the one I am about to interrogate. I'll find out the truth soon enough." Casey gruffly replied.

"I'm going to go see how he is; maybe he knows something he wouldn't tell you." Sarah said.

"You go check on him, maybe kiss him better." Casey sneered.

"Go to hell Casey." Sarah glared back with fury in her eyes.

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Chuck was roughly shaken awake by someone he didn't immediately recognize. The man's face came into focus as he woke up and he knew it was the man who had said he was a doctor right after he was hit by the car. "You have a video conference with General Beckman in one minute." he stated. "Eyes open now."

He looked at the clock and realized it was one o'clock, he assumed it was in the afternoon, he couldn't have slept another day away. As he stared at the video screen that had been brought into his room it suddenly lit up and the General appeared on it with a look of disdain.

"Mr. Bartowski, it has come to my attention that you have had only one flash in almost three weeks and at that it was incomplete. I think it is time we updated the Intersect, the files that were to be in the new one will be sent to you" she stated in a cold voice.

The technician put on sunglasses and the screen lit up with thousands of images, he didn't know how long it lasted but when he next looked at the clock it was two o'clock. Wow, that was intense, he thought.

He stared at the screen for a moment longer through the pain in his eyes. The General reappeared and asked the technician if everything went ok.

"Download complete." replied the technician.

"Get back to D.C., you're job is done" Beckman praised.

After he had left the General looked at Chuck and said "You may notice, we have added a new search engine to the Intersect, you can thank Google for that. A thin, cold smile spread across her lips. You may now call up limited information as you need it. You no longer have to rely on only flashes. Good night. Mr. Bartowski." And with that the screen darkened.

Chuck pressed the call button continuously hoping for some relief from the pain in his head. It was like it was going to explode. His eyes were watering from the intensity of the pain. When the nurse came in she agreed to give him another injection even though it had not been the required time.

He thanked her profusely and asked that the LCD screen be removed; he didn't want to see the General again too soon.

Soon his eyelids became heavy and he drifted into another deep and hopefully dream free sleep.

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Sarah walked into the infirmary and saw Cole being treated by a medic; he had bruising and some angry welts. He also had a few cuts and swelling. Nothing substantial. He would heal but it would take a little time.

"Sarah…have you changed your mind about going away with me? I will be on leave for a few weeks but we could still make the best of it" Cole said smiling as she entered the room.

"I think we discussed this before. It's my responsibility to protect the Intersect. What I need to know is what you told them? Did you compromise the Intersect? Sarah asked.

"I didn't tell them anything. They were amateurs in the torture department." he replied with a laugh and a twinkle in his eyes.

"Thanks Cole, I'm sure Chuck appreciates it. The Intersect is very important and must be protected at all costs" Sarah said.

"Just the Intersect? Don't you mean Chuck is very important" Cole laughed again as a small smile grew on Sarah's face.

"Good bye Cole, stay safe. Chuck's life may depend on it." Sarah turned and walked out to where Casey was sitting pulling up the video feed from the hospital.

"Did you find out anything out from the man you captured?" Sarah asked as her eyes looked at the surveillance of Chuck's room.

"Never got the chance," Casey said rather dejectedly. "I was looking forward to a little interrogation after I never go to fire my gun in the warehouse."

"What happened?" Sarah demanded.

"Not sure, we'll have to wait for the autopsy. Probably poison." Casey grimaced.

The screen showed Chuck lying in bed sleeping. His eyes opened suddenly and started to sit up when a glazed look overtook his face and they instantly knew he was flashing.

"Casey, what could he be flashing on? He's all alone in the room." Sarah asked in a concerned voice.

The screen showed Chuck still flashing and he started to shake.

"How the hell would I know?" Casey grunted.

"Call it in. I'm heading over there now." Sarah yelled over her shoulder as she took the stairs three at a time. Please be ok, Please be ok became her mantra as she ran to her Porsche. She mashed the pedal to the floor and peeled out of the parking lot.

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(A/N;) Sorry another cliffhanger but you all know there are still 4 more days till he dies. I don't know much about morphine or other pain killers but I think it would probably be in a drip with his IV. He would probably be given something like Demerol but if you get overdosed with that you die or there are no quick antidotes so I took a few liberties.

Thanks to all the readers who left reviews and all who put alerts on it. I love you, not as much as I love Sarah but close, actually not even close but thanks.

I much prefer to read the great stories others write here, there are so many great writers here but sometime I have an idea that will not leave my head. I wish I could pass it on and then read about it.