A/N: It's been a while for this one. I lost my creative flow for a while, but I'm slowly finding it again. I can't believe I'm already on Chapter 9 with this fic! Seems like I just started writing it yesterday...anyway, enjoy this latest chapter of Chuck vs The Unexpected!
-Charahfan44
2005
Chuck and Sarah both had to work the day after the outing at the bar, although Chuck was fuzzy on the details of what had happened. Sarah, however, remembered everything.
"He kissed you? Like, full on?"
"Full on."
"And?"
"And what?"
"Was he good?"
"Seriously, Zondra?"
"What? Can't a girl get some details?"
"Let's just say I've never been kissed like that before. Ever."
"Damn! Bartowski has some game, who knew?"
"Can you keep it to yourself? I'm hoping we can just forget about it."
"Sarah. You two have had some serious sexual tension from day one. You really expect to just let it go?"
"We have not."
"Oh please. He practically undresses you with his eyes every day."
"He does not!"
"What're we talking about?" Chuck and Morgan appeared, side by side.
"Uh, nothing." Sarah stammered.
"Still hung over are we?" Chuck laughed.
"From what?" Morgan was curious.
"We went out for drinks last night." Chuck replied.
"Yeah, got drunk and went home." Sarah added.
"I still don't even remember leaving." Chuck rubbed the back of his head.
"I put you in a taxi and you left."
"Well thank you, I don't do that very often."
"Obviously." Sarah laughed.
"Hey! Would you quit screwing around and get to work?" Ellie's voice penetrated their conversation. The four scattered, but Ellie caught up with Sarah before she could make it very far. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure. What's up?" Sarah was fully prepared to be humiliated again.
"I wanted to apologize."
"What for?"
"Interns mess up, and as a resident I'm supposed to make sure it doesn't happen. I failed you, not the other way around."
"You didn't fail me. I don't mess up."
"You should get used to it, that way when it happens you aren't so hard on yourself. I was having an off day, and I took it out on you."
"It's fine, Ellie, really."
"Good." Ellie smiled. "Did I hear Chuck say that you went out for drinks?"
"Uh, yeah."
"And?"
"And what? We're friends."
"Friends? Really?" Ellie raised an eyebrow.
"What else would we be?"
"I'm not going to get involved, but I think we both know the answer to that question."
Every time Sarah needed to clear her mind of everything happening in her life, she used surgery as an outlet. Something about the feel of a beating heart in her hands soothed her, calmed her. Having Chuck in her life brought back more than just memories. The emotional Novocaine protecting her feelings was wearing off slowly but surely, and she wasn't sure how much she could actually handle.
"You okay?" Bryce appeared beside her, rinsing his hands off in the surgical sink.
"Fine." She smiled in his direction. "Good work in there."
"Really? We have a weird fight-like talk and you're going with a compliment?" He asked.
"It wasn't a fight."
"It sure wasn't an adult conversation either."
"You're right, and I'm sorry."
"So do you want to have a conversation now?"
"Not really." Was her short reply.
"I thought I understood you, but I guess I don't."
"What does that mean?"
"Why can't you open up to me? All I'm asking is for you to tell me what you're thinking or feeling, and you won't do it."
"It's not that I won't do it, it's just hard to revisit the past. It wasn't a great time for me."
"I get that, I do, but at some point you're going to have to deal with it. And I'm hoping that I'm the one who gets to help you through it."
"We'll talk later. I promise, okay? At home."
"Sure." He left the room, avoiding eye contact. Sarah sighed, not wanting to get into anything with Bryce. She liked being in a secure relationship, but knew that bringing up the past would undoubtedly shift things.
"What was that about?" Zondra was always lurking around after an important talk between Sarah and a beau.
"Nothing."
"Sure looked like nothing."
"I don't know if I can keep doing this."
"Again?"
"It's hard, Z."
"Who told you relationships were easy?"
"No one."
"Exactly. You love him, don't you?"
"Of course I do."
"Okay then. That's all you need."
"But what if it isn't enough? I don't know if I can give him what he needs."
Chuck knew he was built to be a dad. He loved helping the kids at the hospital, and had a special connection with every single one of them. But something about actually having a child was different. He was having a hard time connecting with Sydney, and the custody case wasn't necessarily helping.
"Sleep okay?" Chuck asked his daughter as she shuffled into the kitchen.
"Like a baby." She smiled.
"I hope you don't mind, but I have a meeting today and I have to leave you here alone. It should only be for an hour or two."
"It's fine, I'm basically an adult." This made Chuck laugh.
"You're fifteen, that's hardly an adult."
"I'll be fine."
"Great." He usually kept the small-talk early in the mornings.
"It doesn't have to do with the whole custody thing does it?"
"Actually, it does."
"Why? Why are you doing this to her?"
"You're defending what she did? I thought you of all people would agree with me on this."
"I don't."
"Why?"
"Because I spent fifteen years without a mom, please don't make me go without one again." Sydney pleaded.
"I know it's hard for you to understand, but I have to do this. And I'm doing it for you."
"If you were doing it for me, you wouldn't be doing it at all. I know she did something that you don't agree with, but it was so long ago. She's really trying now."
"What happens when she gets too stressed out or tired of having you around, huh?" The words hit Sydney like a freight train.
"She wouldn't."
"You're one-hundred percent sure?"
"Why are you being so mean? This doesn't just affect you, you know!" Tears welled in Sydney's eyes as she turned to leave the kitchen.
"I'm doing this for you." Chuck whispered. He couldn't bring himself to forgive Sarah for what she had done. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. "Just a second!" He called, walking through the main hallway outside the kitchen to the front door.
"Hi stranger." Lou's smile greeted him.
"Hey you." He kissed her quickly.
"I come bearing food." Lou held up a bag of groceries, sliding past Chuck and into the apartment. "I thought you could use some chocolate chip pancakes before the meeting."
"That was really thoughtful." Chuck watched her place the bag on the counter by the stove as he entered the kitchen behind her.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Syd and I kinda got into it a few minutes ago."
"Why?"
"She's mad that I want full custody."
"Even after what Sarah did?"
"I guess so. I don't get it, Sarah basically abandoned her, didn't tell me, and to top it all off, a crazy sadistic Mrs. Hannigan type woman raised her."
"Maybe you should try listening to her side of it."
"I said some things."
"Chuck..."
"I should go talk to her."
"Good idea."
"Make sure you put extra butter on mine." He smiled, leaving the kitchen once more. "Syd?" He knocked on her door twice. "I'm sorry for-" As he pushed the door open, he realized she wasn't in the room. "Syd?" He yelled. No answer. His lawyer was going to have a field day with this.
After a morning full of patients, Sarah was beyond exhausted. Finding an empty on-call room to sleep in was becoming harder and harder to do with all of the new interns running around. She noticed the door open to the nearest one, and let out a sigh of relief.
"Doc, you've got someone waiting for you in the lobby." One of Sarah's favorite nurses ruined her moment of happiness.
"You're kidding." She whined.
"Sorry." The nurse gave her a sympathetic look. Sarah made her way to the lobby, choosing the elevator over the stairs. Te first face she noticed when she entered the main lobby was her daughter's. "Syd?" She asked, getting closer.
"Hey." The teen looked miserable.
"You okay? Why aren't you with Chuck?"
"I don't want to live with him."
"He doesn't know you're here, does he?"
"No..." She looked down.
"Sydney." Sarah used her "mommy-tone".
"He's going to take me away from you. Do you care?"
"Of course I do," Sarah sat next to her daughter, "I have one of the best lawyers in California. Look, he's not going to get full custody no matter how hard he tries. I won't let it happen."
"What if you get tired of me?"
"What?"
"This morning I kinda got into a fight with him and he said-"
"He said what?" Sarah interrupted.
"He was mad but it made me think. What happens if you get sick of me?"
"Syd, look at me." The two made eye contact. "I am not going anywhere. I promise. But I need you to start believing me when I say it. There's no way I could ever leave you again. Do you understand?"
"Yeah."
"Say it again."
"Yes I believe you." Sydney laughed.
"Good. Now call him and tell him where you are." As soon as Chuck got the message, he rushed to LA Hope. He didn't necessarily want to run into Sarah, but he needed to get Sydney.
"I didn't know she was coming here." Sarah stood up once she saw Chuck.
"I know." Was his short reply.
"Can we talk?"
"I don't-"
"Please." She looked at him with a certain sadness that made him cave.
"Yeah." The two surgeons walked away from their daughter.
"I've been thinking a lot, and I think you're making a mistake." Sarah started.
"Really? That's what you're going to say to me?"
"Just hear me out." She gave him a slight frown.
"Go ahead." He groaned.
"I think you're making a mistake because she needs us both. Have you talked to her about it? She doesn't want to be split up. Honestly, I don't know that I could be without her now that I know what it's like to have her at all. And I know I'm the one who gave her up, I know I should've told you, but I'm so tired of fighting."
"I don't think I can forgive you, Sarah."
"I'm not asking you to. We both have our reasons, we both see the story different ways. But I think we can at least try to get along, we've done it before."
"Yeah, when our biggest challenge was who could be the better surgeon."
"And now our biggest challenge is raising our daughter. We can do it. Please just drop the suit."
"Okay." He said after a long pause.
"Okay?"
"You're her mom. No matter how mad I am at you for doing what you did, she needs you. You're right."
"She needs you too, don't forget that."
"I'll talk to her tonight."
"Chuck?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you." Sarah gave him a slight smile. She didn't know why he changed his mind so quickly, but she wasn't going to argue.
2005
"Long day?" Sarah asked, seeing Chuck falling asleep while standing.
"You could say that. I'm just waiting for my patient's lab results." He smiled.
"You can't still be hung over?" Sarah laughed.
"Definitely not."
"You really don't drink very often, do you?"
"Nope. I don't have the time, honestly."
"Well, it was fun seeing you let loose a little." She started to walk away, but Chuck lightly grabbed her by the arm.
"I remember what happened." He said.
"I'm trying to forget." She joked.
"No you're not. I felt it too."
"Chuck-"
"No excuses. Admit it."
"There's nothing to admit." She looked into his eyes, realizing how close together they were.
"Yes there is."
"What happened was a drunken fluke. It shouldn't have happened."
"You really mean that?"
"Chuck, we can't be anything more than friends. We work together."
"Oh please, everyone dates their co-workers."
"Date? Who said anything about dating?"
"I want to take you out."
"I can't."
"Yes, you can. One date. If it's horrible, we can forget it ever happened and move on. One date, Sarah. And I promise you I kiss better sober than drunk." He laughed.
"Fine. One date." She looked down.
"See? I knew you felt it too."
"I have to go." Her pager started beeping.
"I'll see you later." He released her arm, and watched her run down the hall. He picked up his lab results, and started to look them over, when a voice made him look up.
"Just for the record," Sarah looked around quickly, then leaned into Chuck for another amazing kiss like the night before. "If this doesn't work out, I'm not talking to you ever again." She turned around and ran away once more. Chuck had no idea what he was in for, but he couldn't wait to find out.
