Warning: There is some adult content in this. Nothing major but please use discretion. I still don't own Chuck.
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Ok Shippers, I'm sorry. We're really close to the Charah goodness. I know that I've been saying that for a while now. But we're really, really close. I promise. Just not quite yet, I'm afraid. Thanks to Natty for the excellent beta. And thanks to BrickRoad for being the sounding board. You can also thank her for the favorable treatment of Bryce and for the delay in the Charah goodness (not really but it makes me sleep better). I would like to blame her for the last paragraph but I'm afraid that was my own evil idea.
If you're a Chuck fan (and of course, you are), join us in the forum on this site. We would love to hear your thoughts on the show and where it's going. Since we've talked about every possible outcome, someone is sure to be right.
The Hospital
- - - -
As soon as Casey picked himself off the floor and cleared his head from the shock he hurried down the stairs. Bryce was right behind him. At first, it was a little hard to see because of the dust in the air. But after a few steps he could make out Chuck at the bottom of the steps. He was standing over Sarah who was obviously badly hurt. Chuck was focused so hard on Sarah's condition that he didn't recognize Casey's arrival. As soon as Casey put his hand on Chuck's shoulder he noticeably jumped. Once he recognized that it was Casey he turned to him.
"Sarah's hurt," Chuck screamed with tears running down his face.
"We need to get you out of here." Casey said firmly. "This is a dangerous place."
"I'm not leaving Sarah." Chuck screamed.
"Chuck," Casey said raising his voice. "You need to go with Bryce right now. No questions."
"I can't leave her." Chuck said but this time it was more of a whine.
"I should be helping Sarah right now." Casey said softly. "But instead, I'm standing here talking to you. Go with Bryce. I'll come right to you when I know something about Sarah."
"Do you promise?" Chuck said softly as tears started to flow.
"I promise," said Casey in a frustrated tone. "Now just go."
As Chuck allowed Bryce to lead him away, Casey knelt and checked for Sarah's pulse. He was relieved to find that it was strong and rapid. She looked to have hit her head against the wall. She had a small gash on her upper forehead, just below the hairline. Casey was interrupted from any further examination by the medics. Since there were several teams that were standing by, Bryce must have sent one down.
"What do we have?" asked one of the medics.
"Bomb blast victim," Casey said firmly. "It looks like the blast caused her to impact the wall."
Casey stepped out of the way to let the medics work. With amazing speed they called out Sarah's vitals. They quickly started an IV and had her loaded on a stretcher. Casey followed them as they carried Sarah's stretcher up the stairs.
"How is she?" Casey asked softly.
"Too soon to tell," said one of the medics. "Her vitals are good. That's a good sign."
"Where is she going?" Casey asked as they were loading Sarah into the ambulance.
"South General," the medic replied as he closed the door. "It's the closest trauma hospital."
With that he jumped in the ambulance and they were gone with sirens blaring.
- - - -
Bryce took Chuck to the large FBI van that was parked about a hundred yards away from the house. They were using the van as a command center. They had only been in the van long enough to grab a cup of coffee and sit down when Casey came bursting in.
"How's Sarah?" Chuck asked with the concern obvious in his voice.
"She's alive." Casey said with a sigh. "The medics said her vitals were good but she was still unconscious. She is on the way to the hospital. Let me tie up a few loose ends here and we'll head over there."
Greg was in the van directing the cleanup after the attack. He noticed Casey and walked up to him.
"Chuck," Casey said. "Let me introduce you to a good friend of mine. This is Greg Holden. Greg, this is Chuck Bartowski. He was the hostage."
"Greg was a fair field agent." Casey said with a smile. "He was a little whiney sometimes, but decent. That was until he came out here and they bolted a desk to his ass. Now he is in charge of the San Diego FBI office."
"I'm glad to meet you, sir." Chuck said as her shook Greg's hand. "I appreciate your help in rescuing me."
"The pleasure is all mine." Greg said warmly. "It's an honor to meet the man who could take Sarah Walker off the market. That is quite impressive. Have you set a date?"
"Date," Chuck asked in a confused tone. "Date for what?"
"Agent Walker was injured in the attack." Casey said softly in response to Greg's puzzled look. "She is in route to South General."
"I'm sorry," Greg said. "That was very insensitive of me. I feel terrible. I hope she is going to be ok."
"It's ok," Chuck said sadly as he tried to manage a smile. "You had no way of knowing."
"But I feel terrible anyway," Greg said. "Let me get someone to take you over there."
"Thanks, Greg," Casey said. "That would be great. But first, we have some business to take care of. Could you point me to where you are holding Becky Ivan?"
- - - -
Greg took Casey outside and pointed him to another van that was parked down the street.
"Come on," Casey said as he turned towards Chuck.
"Where are we going?" Bryce said as they walked together towards the van.
When Casey didn't answer, Bryce grabbed his arm.
"Damn it, Casey," Bryce said angrily. "We're all worried about Sarah. But you killing her isn't going to help Sarah."
"I'm not going to kill her." Casey insisted as he continued walking.
"Then what are we doing?" Bryce asked as they reached the van.
"I'm going to let Chuck kill her." Casey replied as he opened the door. "He deserves that chance."
There were two guards in the van along with Becky. Casey turned to them.
"Men," Casey said firmly. "We need to interrogate this prisoner. Would you please wait outside?"
"Yes, sir," one of the men said as they quickly left.
"Ok, Chuck," said Casey as he clicked off the safety on his gun and handed it to Chuck. "Here's the deal. Sarah told Becky that if anything happened to you, she would kill her. I figure that after what you've just been through, you deserve that same chance."
"You think that I should kill her?" Chuck asked with the fear evident in his voice.
"I'm not saying that." Casey said softly. "I'm saying that you've earned the right. If you do, no one will blame you. If you don't, that's your decision, too. The gun is all set. All you have to do is point it between her eyes and pull the trigger. Bryce and I will wait outside."
"What do you think I should do?" Chuck asked Bryce as he took Casey's gun in his hand.
"That's totally up to you." Bryce replied with a soft smile. "Casey's right. No one would blame you."
"Would you do it?" Chuck asked. "If you were me, would you pull the trigger?"
"Does it matter?" Bryce replied as he looked Chuck in the eye. "The only thing that really matters is what you want to do. I have to say that it's definitely the spy thing to do."
As Casey and Bryce left the room, Chuck felt the rage build inside of him. Becky was the reason Sarah was hurt, or even worse. Becky had lied to him about how Sarah felt. She had intentionally tried to break him. She was getting ready to sell him to Fulcrum, to who knows what horrors. Chuck knew without a doubt that, if the roles were reversed, Becky would pull the trigger. And that wasn't even the worst part. Try as he might to block it, the thought crept into his consciousness. If Sarah didn't make it he didn't know what he was going to do.
"You deserve this, you bitch." Chuck whispered angrily.
But as Chuck raised the gun he took a good look at Becky for the first time. She was obviously in shock from having to identify the bodies of her gang that had been killed in the attack. That's when she must have seen Jimmy's body. Her eyes were glassy and didn't focus. Even though she was securely bound, she was visibly shaking. She wasn't afraid to die. Chuck was sure about that. You didn't become an undercover agent if you were. Chuck realized that she was suffering. She simply closed her eyes and waited for Chuck to shoot.
But by some intuition that he couldn't even explain, Chuck knew that Sarah wouldn't want him to do it. Sarah wouldn't be worried about Becky. She would pull the trigger without question. Sarah would be worried about him. If he did this, would he ever be the same person? Would Sarah love the new him? And even more importantly; would he love himself? In an instant, he knew the answer. Chuck slowly lowered the gun to his side.
"I forgive you." Chuck whispered to Becky as he turned and left the van.
- - - -
When Chuck went back outside he saw that Casey and Bryce were standing together off to the side. Casey was on his phone. Since Casey was busy, Chuck handed Bryce the gun. He knew that he didn't feel safe holding it. With Chuck being able to only hear one side if the conversation, it was hard to follow but he assumed Casey was talking to Beckman.
"Yes, ma'am," Casey said. "I guess that's good news."
"Yes, ma'am, I'll tell him."
"It should take us about two hours. I'll contact you once we arrive."
As soon as Casey ended the call he turned to Chuck and Bryce.
"That was Beckman." Casey said as Bryce handed him his gun. "I have some news about Sarah."
Chuck's heart leapt into his throat waiting for the news.
"They think that she is going to be ok." Casey said as a genuine smile broke out on his face. "She started to regain consciousness on the way to the hospital. They gave her some drugs to put her back out. They want her to sleep for a few hours. She has a serious concussion but there is no sign of any permanent damage. They want to make sure that there is no swelling. That's why they're keeping her under."
Chuck found that he had been holding his breath. "I want to go see her." he said as he finally exhaled in relief.
"They're taking her by chopper to Ellie's hospital." Casey replied. "She should be there in about twenty minutes."
"Why would they transfer her?" Chuck asked.
"For a couple of reasons," Casey said. "First, they have an excellent neurological center there. But most important, that's where the CIA doctor is that knows her cover."
"Ok," said Chuck. "Let's go. I really want to see her."
"Relax," Casey said calmly. "We're going right now. Beckman wants you to call Ellie and establish a cover for Sarah. You're going to tell her that you and Sarah were in a car accident and that Sarah was taken by helicopter to the hospital."
"Fine," Chuck muttered as he turned to Bryce. "I'll need my cell phone battery."
"Beckman wants us to debrief with her at my place for a minute." Casey said. "Bryce, you can drive Sarah's car and we'll meet at my place."
"Don't worry." Casey said with a laugh as he saw the look of despair on Chuck's face. "I'll get you to the hospital before she wakes up."
- - - -
Chuck waited until Casey was on the freeway before he dialed Ellie. He looked at the clock on Casey's dash. It was three in the morning. Chuck hoped that Ellie was on duty so he wouldn't have to wake her up. When she didn't answer, he sent her a page with the emergency code that they had worked out. It wasn't three minutes before Ellie was calling him.
"Chuck," said Ellie breathlessly. "What's wrong? Are you ok?"
"I'm ok," Chuck quickly reassured her. "Sarah and I were just in an accident."
"My God, Chuck," said Ellie. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." Chuck said shakily. "I'm a little shaken up and my left hand is sort of hurting but I'm ok. The problem is Sarah. She was unconscious when they took her away. They took her in a helicopter to your hospital. She should have gotten there just a few minutes ago. Can you please check on her and call me back?"
"I'll go right now." Ellie said. "Where are you?"
"I'm on my way." Chuck said as his voice began to crack. "I have to deal with the police and I'm about an hour's drive away. So I probably won't be able to make it there for a couple of hours. But please Ellie, I have to know if she is going to be ok."
"You're sure that you're ok?" Ellie said with concern. "I'll go check on her and call you back in ten minutes."
It was actually less then five minutes when Chuck's phone rang again.
"Don't worry," Ellie said softly. "Sarah is going to be fine. She took a serious blow to the head. It looks like a moderate concussion. She also sprained her left angle so it looks like she'll be on crutches for a couple of weeks. Whenever someone is unconscious for over ten minutes it's pretty standard procedure to keep them sedated for six hours. That's just to guard against any brain swelling. But don't worry, Chuck. There's no sign of that. She is going to wake up in a few hours. She'll have a serious headache. But she'll be fine in a couple of days."
"Thanks goodness," Chuck said with a cry. "Thank you, Ellie."
"When you get to the hospital, come directly to the ER and find me." Ellie said firmly. "I want to check you over and make sure you're ok. Then I'll take you to see Sarah. Do you understand?"
"Yes mom," Chuck said with a giddy laugh that was caused by his overwhelming relief. "I'll see you in a couple of hours."
"Damn straight," replied Ellie as she ended the call. "I mean it. Come right to the ER and find me. Otherwise prepare to have your ass kicked."
"She is going to be ok." Chuck said to Casey with a sigh of relief.
"That's good." Casey said with a sigh of his own. "We're going to be on the road for a while. Why don't you try and get some sleep. It sounds like you're going to have a long day ahead."
"You know what?" Chuck said softly. "That doesn't sound half bad."
Chuck suddenly realized how exhausted he really was. He hadn't been sleeping well for the past few days anyway, worried about the Sarah situation. And he definitely had been on the edge for the past fifteen hours. Now that the adrenaline was gone from worrying about Sarah, he suddenly couldn't keep his eyes open. Within a couple of minutes, Chuck was fast asleep.
- - - -
Casey woke Chuck up just as they were pulling into the hospital parking lot.
"That's odd," he said to himself. "I thought we were going to Casey's for a briefing first."
But he was so anxious to see Sarah that he quickly decided not to complain. Maybe Casey had talked to Beckman while he was sleeping and made other arrangements. Whatever the reason, he couldn't wait to see her. He would have to carefully sneak up to Sarah's room. That was for sure. If Ellie caught him, he was in deep trouble. Her instructions left little room for interpretation. After he checked on Sarah, he could go back down to the ER.
When Chuck got to Sarah's room, he could see her through the window. She was wide awake and laughing. She looked like she had never been hurt. She also had never looked more beautiful.
"Great," Chuck thought to himself. "She's recovered faster than they thought. She looks fantastic."
Then Chuck spotted Bryce sitting in the chair next to Sarah. It made sense that he had gotten there first. After all, the Porsche was much faster than Casey's Crown Vic. Suddenly, Bryce stood up and began kissing Sarah. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him in passionately.
"I love you, Sarah." Bryce said between kisses.
"I love you too, Bryce," Sarah said with a moan as she attacked his lips again and again.
The words were like a knife had been stuck in Chuck's chest. He was having a hard time even breathing.
"No," Chuck whispered. "No, it can't be. Pleaseā¦"
Chuck was awakened by Casey shaking him. They were in the parking lot of Casey's apartment. Bryce had just pulled the Porsche next to him and was getting out of the car.
"Son," Casey said gently as he saw the tears running down Chuck's face. "There is one thing that you have to learn to survive in this business."
"You have to get used to bad dreams."
- - - -
