A/N: Took a little writing break, sorry. My kid is about to enter her junior year of high school and I wanted to enjoy the last bit of summer with them. I have no idea where this fic is going. It was one of the reasons I was so reluctant to start it, but it remains my most requested so…..let's give this a whirl.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck


"Is the doctor I'm going to see Dr. Dreyfus?" Chuck blurted out, a memory of the dream resurfacing. Zondra and Sarah shared a look. "He was my psychiatrist in my dream… coma… coma-dream."

"I don't know a Dr Dreyfus," Sarah admitted, looking over at Zondra, who shook her head.

"He really reminded me Christopher Llyod in Back to the Future." Chuck was silent for a moment. "I liked to call him 'Doc'. I don't think he cared for it."

"No, the doctor I was thinking of having you see is Dr. Stephen Freeman," Zondra told him.

"Ooo, I like him," Sarah said. She turned to Chuck, a smile on her face. "He's really good."

"Okay," Chuck told her nodding. "Do I need to set it up or…?"

"I'll have my nurse get on it," Zondra told him.

She paused for a second, looked at Sarah, and then back to Chuck. "I want you to understand, Chuck, these seizures you had… if you don't deal with what set them off, they could come back at any time."

"She's right," Sarah told him. "You need to get to the root issue."

"My mom," Chuck said, shaking his head.

"Not just your mother, Chuck, but what it has done to you," Sarah said gently. "The choices you've made, the things you've done. How many of them are rooted in either pleasing her, or defying her?" Chuck nodded. "I'm not saying this will be easy, but it has to be dealt with."

"And if not, you'll be quite upset," he said, a grin on his face. He found the grin leaving him as the look she gave him reminded him of what he called the mask that his dream-Sarah wore.

"Thank you, Zondra," Sarah said, turning to her. "Lunch tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Zondra said. "I have a few meetings, so…" she trailed off and raised her eyebrows as if to say what do you do?

"Text me," Sarah said.

"Thanks again, doc," Chuck said to Zondra. He followed Sarah out of the room. As soon as they were out of earshot of the door, he decided to go ahead and say what was on his mind. "I am taking this seriously, you know." Sarah glanced at him, but said nothing, letting him continue. "My default my whole life has been trying to make others comfortable by making jokes in bad situations."

"I understand," Sarah told him, never breaking her stride. "But there's something you need to understand… I am invested in this, Chuck Bartowski. You don't get to just saunter into my life, and then out of it because you made stupid medical choices. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Chuck replied.

Sarah stopped walking, grabbed his arm, gently, but firmly, making him stop and face her. "Chuck, I am not mad. But you need to know if you do get involved with me, you're damn right that I will be quite upset if you don't deal with this."

"Wait," Chuck said, shaking his head. "I'm not making a joke here. What do you mean if I get involved with you? Aren't I involved? Are we not involved?"

She gave him a smirk that he swore he had seen before. It was when he was talking to her about the 'Bartowski Curse,' and she reminded him that she was a spy. "So, is that the designation you're going with? Involved?"

Chuck grinned and found himself wetting his lips, because his entire mouth had gone dry. "I wouldn't want to presume anything," he said, shrugging.

"No, we wouldn't want that," Sarah replied. She turned, looped her arm through his, and continued their walk down the hall. "Now, what do you say we do have this conversation? And soon."

"You have to work," Chuck said, knowing how many times Ellie had to say something similar.

"I do," she replied, sighing. "Also, I have found someone to spend the night with you, tonight." He swallowed, unable to look at her. "It's not Carina."

"Thank God," Chuck muttered. "Sarah… were you jealous?"

"Was I jealous?" Sarah parroted. "Let's add that to the list of things we should talk about."

"Oh, Lord, there's a list," Chuck said, making her chuckle. "It's not right that Casey has to be there all the time."

"Oh, I know," Sarah said, waving toward someone down the hallway.

Chuck looked to where she was waving. "Ah-ha," he said, laughing at her. She hip-bumped him. "So, I know of three women you trust to be alone with me."

"Okay," she said, stopping him and spinning him towards her. "You used to sleep with Carina," she reminded him.

"Wasn't a lot of sleeping," Chuck mumbled, and then his eyes went wide. Sarah burst out laughing. Chuck blew out a breath, thankful that hadn't backfired in his face. "Can I be honest with you?"

"You haven't been?" Sarah asked, making him laugh. "Please do."

"I'm not saying that what Carina and I were doing was purely physical, but… Sarah… being with you – both in the dream and here in real life – I realized there was more. Not that Carina and I were bad together, it's just…"

"It wasn't enough," Sarah finished his sentence softly. Chuck nodded. "I understand that, more than you can ever know."

"Listen, I've been through a few things, so, I'm just gonna flat out ask. Are we doing this?"

"Buddy," she said softly, reaching up and cupping his face. "We are most definitely doing this. But I think you need to know what comes with dating this Sarah Walker."

"Besides a lot of happiness?" Chuck asked.

"You don't know that," she reminded him.

"Here's what I know," Chuck told her. "You asked me, when I was unconscious, to trust you. And I did, Sarah. I don't trust easily, given what all happened with my parents, and just life in general." She nodded. "But in that state of unconsciousness, I did trust you. I do trust you. You made me feel safe. You were my rock, and right now, you are my rock. And maybe that's a lot. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this stuff. Someone may think that this is all because of what I dreamed or whatever, but you want to know what I know?"

She nodded, caught up in his words.

"If Love is a Con, I don't want to be right," he sang, making her snort laughter. "What? You don't like your dad's song."

"I thought you were being serious," Sarah said, shaking her head.

"Oh, I am," Chuck told her, taking her breath away. "In that moment in my head, in that place, I trusted you. Not dream-Sarah, but you. I know you have to work, but when you have time, if you could call or come by…"

"Missing me already there, buddy?" she asked with a grin.

"Desperately," he admitted with a shrug. "Sorry. I know I'm a lot."

"Or maybe you're just right," Sarah told him. She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I have to go, or it would have been more of a kiss than that."

"Saying you can't resist me?" he asked, bouncing his eyebrows.

Her face grew serious. "Damn it, Chuck Bartowski, you can't do that to me and expect me to work." She winked at him, and walked off. Chuck stood there, watching her go.

"You literally admitted you loved her, didn't you?" Molly asked, walking up beside him.

"Not literally," Chuck replied, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Come on, buy me lunch and tell me all about it," she told him, steering him toward the door.

}o{

Molly sat there, chuckling, after Chuck had finished telling her everything. "So, you think it's funny I don't have epilepsy, but could still have another episode?"

"No, I think it's funny you are worried that she isn't your girlfriend," Molly told him, shaking her head. She grabbed one of his fries.

"Why don't you order your own?" he asked, putting a few fries on her plate.

"Cutting down on carbs," she told him, putting the fries back on his plate, and then snagging one and eating it. "Besides, everyone knows if you eat fries off of someone else's plate, the calories and carbs and whatever in what you're trying not eat, they don't count."

"Everyone knows that?" Chuck asked. "So, if I asked Sarah…?"

"She's a brain doctor, she might not know," Molly replied, making him laugh. "Here's a freaking idea, how about you just be yourself with her and quit worrying?"

"I thought you said I should be myself," Chuck retorted. "How am I supposed to do these two diametrically opposed things?"

Molly sat back, her arms crossed, and glared at him. "If you keep this up, I'm going to take you back to Casey."

"Where is Casey?"

"On a date," Molly told him, making Chuck grin.

}o{

"Okay, I have scanned and sent everything to the team," Molly told him some time later. "Everyone is on board with the game."

"Awesome," Chuck said, turning his neck slowly, hearing it pop. "So, you on invalid-watch tonight?"

"Nope, got a hot blond to come watch you," Molly told him with a wink. The doorbell rang, and Molly got up to get the door. "I see he's here now."

"He?" Chuck said, turning to the door. He grinned as he saw Awesome enter. "Awesome!" Chuck said.

"Get your coat," Devon told him. "We're going out to eat."

"Awesome!" Chuck told him. Awesome pointed to him, as Molly rolled her eyes at the two.

}o{

"What's going on?" Chuck asked Devon a little while later, as the two sat in a booth in the back of a Mexican restaurant.

"Whatever do you mean?" Devon asked.

"You always order a margarita," Chuck began.

"I'm driving," Devon pointed out. Chuck gave him a raised-eyebrow, Spock-like look. They heard Devon's phone go off, and he pulled it out. "Oh, look, an emergency. Gotta run. Don't worry, I'll find someone to take you home and watch you."

"Devon," Chuck called after him, but suddenly he lost interest in the departing man. As Chuck had turned to call after Devon, another blonde had stepped into his field of vision. She was wearing a purple top, much like the one she had worn in his dream when they had gone on their 'first date.' She was smiling at him, and he would not have been able to stop the grin that crossed his face if his life had depended on it.

She walked over to the table, and he slid out of the booth. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," she replied, smiling. "I feel like maybe this isn't fair to you."

"You are having dinner with me, right?" Sarah nodded. "Then this seems an infinite distance from 'not fair'."

"Because I didn't want you thinking about the dreams," Sarah explained. "I wanted to have dinner with you. I wanted to have Mexican with you, but I was worried you would get too caught up in what you did then, and not be here with me."

"I've been thinking," Chuck began. "Would you like to sit down?" He gestured to the booth and Sarah nodded, sitting. Chuck sat down across from her. "Am I going to think about what happened in my dream? Probably. But usually, we find ourselves comparing the person we're with against other people we have gone out with, good or bad."

"Yeah, but you're comparing me with… well… me," Sarah replied.

"No," Chuck said, shaking his head. "That's what I've been thinking about. That's what Morgan was trying to tell me. I'm just getting to know you. Do I have some ideas about you from all our mutual acquaintances? Sure. Do you have some ideas about me? Of course. But, Sarah, you… you are you. And she… well… she's not you. She may look like you, and sound like you, and at times act like you. But, she's not you. I just ask that you give me some grace, if I get some moments confused from the two."

"I think I can do that," Sarah told him. "So, are you okay with me tricking you into going out with me?"

He held out his hand on the table, and she reached over and grabbed it, feeling a spark tumble through him into her. "Always," he answered softly. "Always."


A/N: I would LOVE to give you a preview. I'm still not sure where all this is going. If you care, I have a couple of chapters of CATS at beta, a couple of one-shots out there, and one one-shot….that probably isn't a one-shot. Take care see you soon.