A/N: Someone asked how far ahead the interviews are from what is actually going on. My best answer, it's somewhere between four and five years from when Chuck and Sarah first met in his office.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

The camera cuts to Ellie in the interview chair. "I get accused a lot of doing things, but I promise, there was a medical emergency. I had to preform brain surgery. I didn't set this up." She paused and grinned. "I'm not saying I'm not glad it happened."

}o{

It was Wednesday at lunch. Sarah was sitting where she had been at lunch the last two days. The last two days Chuck would walk up and asked if she mind if he joined her. Today she was ready. She was turned, watching for him and when she saw him, she spoke before he could. "You know you're always welcomed to eat lunch with me. You don't have to keep asking."

"Well, I figured some days you might just want to be alone with your thoughts," Chuck explained sitting his plate down. "I have been known to blabber on and on sometimes." She grinned at him. He was silent a second, a worried look on his face. "Hey, I need to ask you something, and it's okay if you say no, okay?"

Sarah nodded, wondering what he was about to ask.

"Are you doing anything tonight?"

She couldn't form words. He was asking her out. She was excited, scared, wanted to scream "YES!" at the top of her lungs, but also be all cool and collective, because she didn't want to appear as eager as she was. He was ready. She was ready to dance she was so happy. He was ready!

"I'm supposed to go to the funeral home tonight to sign some papers, and Ellie was going with me, but she is having a medical emergency," Chuck explained. "Not her, a patient and she had to do surgery. Could take hours, and afterwards, a surgery like that…she's just not in a good place. Exhausting you know? Nerve wracking. I'm sorry, I'll shut up now."

She was glad he had spiraled like he had because it gave her a moment to compose herself. "Yes, Chuck," she told him. "Thank you for asking me. I know this is hard on you." She couldn't be too disappointed. Zondra and Carina had both been telling her that his anxiety would be fighting him and if he did want to go out with her, it would probably send his anxiety into overdrive.

"Thanks," he said softly. "It's gonna suck, just so you know." She nodded, not sure what to say. "I found mom this morning online," he added just as softly if not more so. "I wanted to reach out to her….but…she has a family." He looked up at her and they locked eyes. The sadness nearly destroyed her. She wanted to go hold him. "How could I do that to her?" Sarah reached over and took his hand. He chuckled. "For some reason I remember that she would always give me vanilla ice cream when things were bad." He smiled. "She would say, 'There's not much good vanilla ice cream can't cure.'"

"My dad always said Rocky Road," Sarah replied.

Chuck nodded. "You know before he lost it, Dad and I would go to the pier, play video games, watch sci-fi movies, like Tron, or Star Wars. It was just amazing. That's all been gone for so long, and I thought I had dealt with it all."

"Sometimes grief just comes back, Chuck, and it's okay to feel it." He gave her a sad smile. In her mind, she knew she was going with him tonight, and on Saturday. He wasn't going through this without her.

}o{

That evening had seemingly taken the life out of both of them. Sarah drove Chuck to the funeral home. She was with him as he finished signing all of the papers required and went over the arrangements one final time. The wife of the director had pulled Sarah aside and warned her that those that thought they were ready for burying their parents, especially in these types of situations were always the ones that tended to fall apart afterwards.

The wife of the director told Sarah to keep an eye on him at night, that sleeping might be difficult for him. Sarah didn't have the heart to tell her they weren't together. Sarah understood the worry the wife of the director must have felt. She had years of experience, and Sarah was sure she had seen those in a similar situation as Chuck was in.

They had gone to the pier, Sarah thinking it might buoy his spirits. The were standing on the pier, watching the waves. Chuck hadn't felt like playing video games, which she felt was significant. "Hey, we're friends, right?"

"Oh boy," Chuck replied, turning to her. "That's never a good way to start a conversation."

"No, it's nothing bad, it's just…I don't want to overstep, Chuck, but…listen, I'm worried about you, and I feel a lot of this is my fault. You're doing the show, you're dealing with feelings about your dad that you thought were long gone. I'm concerned about you being alone."

"Think I'll do something stupid?" Chuck asked her.

"Not stupid, just…let's be real, most people if they're having a bad day would reach out to someone and say, 'Hey, things are going bad, can we talk?' With your anxiety…" she trailed off and gave him a look.

"You know what, that's totally fair," Chuck admitted. "But, I'm not your responsibility, Sarah."

"Who the hell said you were?" she asked him, making him chuckle. "How about for the rest of this week, and next week, you stay with me? Just until you get your feet back under you, and honestly, if you need to, you can stay longer."

"I don't know, Sarah, I feel like I'm imposing," Chuck admitted.

"I have my own beach," she reminded him.

"That's just low down and dirty," he said softly, making her laugh. "Okay, but if I am bothering you, you have to tell me, promise?" She held her pinky up to him, and he wrapped his around hers.

"Promise," she said softly. "Come on, let's go to your place, and you pack a bag."

"What will the paparazzi think?"

"Who gives a damn," Sarah replied. Chuck smiled at her.

"Thank you, Sarah," he said softly.

She wrapped an arm around his waist as they headed back to the car. "My absolute pleasure."

}o{

Thursday and Friday had gone fine, making Sarah wonder if she had overreacted. She was driving them home when she had remembered what day it was and the significance of it. "Uh oh," she blurted out. Chuck turned to her. "Uh, so, unless I tell him I have something going on, I have a standing dinner with Mark."

"Oh," Chuck replied. "No problem, I can-"

"No," Sarah cut in. "You will not whatever you were about to say, you can have dinner with us, I'm sure Mark will be fine with it." She hit a few buttons on her dashboard and the call began. "Mark, I just wanted you to know that Chuck has been staying with me, his dad's funeral is tomorrow."

"So tonight is off?" Mark asked.

"No, I was wondering if Chuck could join us," Sarah countered.

"Absolutely," Mark said. Sarah heard it in his voice. He was going to enjoy this, which meant Sarah might just regret it.

}o{

"So there she was, thirteen, knees, elbows, braces, and a black eye," Marc continued, Chuck grinning from ear to ear, Sarah ducking her head. "She throws a punch, and BAM, out he goes."

"He shouldn't have called you that," Sarah replied, shaking her head, lifting her head. "It wasn't nice."

"It wasn't," Mark agreed, love and appreciation on his face as he looked at Sarah. "But you didn't have to whip his ass, I know you had a crush on him."

"Didn't matter, he was a jerk," Sarah muttered.

"I'm sure he didn't even see her beauty then," Chuck added. The other two turned to him. "I mean, we're all a little gawky as teenagers, but I know she had to have those eyes. The ones that sparkle when she talks about the things she loves."

"She did," Mark agreed. "And the enthusiasm was there. She was a beauty even then."

"Do you need money?" Sarah asked, narrowing her eyes at Mark, making him laugh. "No, please, keep going, I love hearing two of the men who I respect most in this world wax poetic about her."

"Aw, you respect me," Chuck gushed.

"Not anymore," she said flatly, making everyone laugh. "Of course I do, Chuck. Why would I not?"

"So, settle something with me, Chuck," Mark began. Sarah shot him a look, knowing he was up to something. "Sarah is always dating other actors, because of her job. She doesn't think anyone who's not in the industry can handle dating her."

"Because of the long hours?" Chuck asked.

"That, crazy schedule, and sometimes my role that means I have to make out with hot guys," Sarah said with a shrug. "I mean, it's true."

"It is," Chuck replied, nodding. He was silent for a moment. "I don't know how to say this without it being weird."

"Well, now I must know," Mark said, putting his elbows on the table, putting his chin in the palms of his hands. Chuck cracked up.

"Don't go putting him in a spot, Mark," Sarah warned.

"I'm not, but he's a regular guy, who suffers from anxiety and I just want to know what he thinks," Mark argued.

"So you're saying if she was attracted to me, and I her…in that way, could I date her, and handle it?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm asking," Mark said. Sarah was glad Chuck was looking at Mark and not at him.

Chuck began to laugh. "Well, if my sister didn't explode because of how excited she was because of said dating, and didn't accidentally kill me in said explosion, yeah." He said it factually, and nonchalantly. Sarah's eyes widened, and again, she was thankful Chuck wasn't looking at her. In fact, he almost seemed to not be looking at her on purpose. Perhaps he was embarrassed, because of the question.

"Why would you think that?" Mark pressed.

"Well," Chuck began. He turned to Sarah. "Please don't think me any weirder than you already do," he begged.

"This is a safe space, Chuck," Sarah told him. She turned to Mark. "Right?"

"The safest," Mark agreed.

"Okay, so I've watched all of Sarah's movies…it's not her up there on the screen. Getting to know her, hear her real voice, her accent, the actual words and phrases she uses. Knowing now the acting kisses, it's not her. It's the character, and she's that good."

"Yeah, she is," Mark agreed, looking over to Sarah, reaching over, taking her hand and squeezing it.

"Thank you, Chuck," Sarah said sincerely.

"I mean, it's the truth," Chuck said with a shrug. "I do think you did actually kiss a couple of those guys in the movies, but still…it wasn't you."

"There were two," Sarah agreed. "We both agreed to it to make the scene better, but…as hot as he was, I was NOT attracted to him."

"Oh, come on, you had to be a little attracted, you're human," Chuck replied.

"Are you attracted to Carina?" Sarah countered.

"Of course I am, she's beautiful, and kind…when she wants to be, but I don't need that crazy in my life, plus, I'm not attracted in a want to spend the rest of my life with her way, more of a one night of insanity, and I'm not one hundred percent sure I'd survive it kind of way." Sarah burst out laughing. "You can find someone attractive and beautiful, and not want to have sex with them. You can find someone attractive and beautiful and know that there's nothing there except hotness. It's what's in here," Chuck said pointing towards his heart. "That's what is beautiful and attracts me. But being attracted doesn't mean I'm throwing everything away for it."

"So you might be attracted to someone and not chase them because of what all you'd have to give up?" Sarah asked.

"If I'm in a committed relationship, no," Chuck replied.

"But what if you're not?" Sarah asked. "What if…well, take this exact scenario that he laid out for you, would you, with your anxiety? Would it be worth it?"

Chuck was silent for a moment. "I would hope so," he answered softly. "After really losing my dad, I've learned something." Sarah watched him, unable to take her eyes off of him. "I have regrets by not trying to repair things with us. I doubt it was possible to, given the damage done to his brain, but I didn't even try. I regret that, and if I felt strongly about someone, I would hope that I could find that moment, and the courage to say something."

"I would think that if someone knew you, and cared about you, they would understand how hard that would be," Sarah replied. The two locked eyes and stared at each other. Mark gently cleared his throat.

"I should do dishes," Chuck said, looking around, a bit of red on his cheeks.

"No," Sarah told him. "You need to get some rest, I've got this, and tomorrow, I am taking you, no arguments."

"Thank you, Sarah," Chuck said standing up. He gave her a look and started to speak, but stopped. Sarah stood, walked over, slipped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek.

"You're not alone in this, Chuck," she said softly.

"I know," he replied. They pulled apart, smiled at each other, and he headed down the hallway. "Good night," he called out. The other two said good night and as soon as Chuck's door shut, Mark thwacked Sarah on the arm.

"He all but told you!" Mark hissed.

"He's burying his father tomorrow, Mark," Sarah replied in the same tone. "Let him get through this, then…"

"Then what?" Mark asked. Sarah couldn't answer. She didn't dare dream the answer.

}o{

The camera cuts to the interview chair where Chuck is sitting.

"I should have said something," Chuck said, looking into the camera. "But, with Mark there…I just couldn't. We've talked about that moment at length over the years, and she doesn't blame me, but I felt like I chickened out. I was going to have to work up the courage…at least I thought I was…who knew this show would pull another rabbit out of it's hat to practically force us together."

A/N: Huh, we keep referring to something that happens that hasn't happened yet. It's like I'm teasing you. Oh.

Next time:

"No, I was hoping to watch Tron with someone and if I get confused, they explain it to me," Sarah began. She was looking straight out the window, but she could feel him gaping at her. She didn't fight the grin as she continued. "And then maybe some Star Wars movies," she continued.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" Chuck asked.

Uh….Sarah…you might be trying to seduce the nerd, just sayin. Come on back next time. Take care everyone.