A/N: Hey there, chapter two of this little tale. Just a side note, this story counts nine chapters, including the epilogue. Now, the epilogue will set some stuff up for a possible sequel, but will also serve as a nice ending to this tale, should I decide to not write one.

Once again a tremendous amount of thanks go to ShinyJayne19 for beta'ing this chapter like a boss and helping me out in sticky situations (not those kinds of situations…). A major 'thanks' goes out to everyone who has reviewed, added the story to his or her favorites or simply added it to their story alerts. I was truly overwhelmed by the amount of positive reviews I've gotten and I hope you continue to review this chapter as well. Hope you all enjoy it. Also, do not worry about the Scrubs characters; they merely serve as backdrop for this story. Also, if we're to purely look at the timing on the chapter, Scrubs would be in season 4, where J.D. and Elliot are nowhere near becoming a couple. But since they're discussing a season 8 topic, I figured their relationship would be in season 8 as well.

DISCLAIMER: Don't own Chuck or Scrubs. Glad I don't own Scrubs; I thought that show was amazing. Kind of bummed I don't own Chuck. If I did, I would've probably changed some things in vs. the Zoom. Don't have ANY medical expertise whatsoever. If facts are off they're done so because they either suit the story or I don't know the correct procedure.

The Good Samaritan, Chapter 2
The Waiting

Waiting room, Washington Hospital Center
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
20:45

Please just say something, anything!

She stood in front of the surgeon whose attire had been similarly doused in blood. It reminded Sarah of her own clothes, not a few hours ago. She waited for what felt like an eternity. He slid his mouth cap down at an agonizing speed, but then again it seemed that the entire world had slowly ground to a halt.

Her heart started to flutter when she saw a small smile on the man's face. Oh thank God. "Miss Walker, the patient is…"

"Please, call him Chuck. Patient sounds so… formal… He's Chuck."

The surgeon smiled. "Very well. Chuck is alive. He survived the surgery, but he's lost a lot of blood. However, we managed to repair the artery in time. The fact that you instinctively reacted to the situation definitely helped save him." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. "Furthermore, we managed to repair the damage to his lung. We've hooked him up to an IV and hope for him to wake up in roughly five hours or so. I suggest that you go home and get a nap. We will call you when he wakes up."

Sarah shook her head. "No, not going to happen. He asked me if I was going to be there when he woke up and I said yes. So I'll be staying by his bedside until he does."

The surgeon sighed. "Well, then at least let us provide you with a bed. We'll set it up next to him."

Sarah nodded her thanks and continued walking along with the surgeon. They approached a room with a massive glass window. As she peered through it, she could see him. His chest was rising and falling and even through the glass she heard the comforting beeping of the ECG, to let her know that he was still there. The tension that she had felt slowly started to melt and her shoulders started to relax. She turned towards the surgeon and stuck out her hand. "Thank you."

The man smiled and shook it. "You're very welcome."

Almost reverently, Sarah slid open the door and tiptoed her way to his side. His mouth was completely covered by what she figured would be the fan to regulate his breathing. Wires connected the multiple machines to Chuck's body, but she didn't care. He had survived and she would keep her promise.

She smiled at his supine body before turning around. The surgeon had moved away; probably to find a second bed. She took the time to look through the room. It would only hold one patient. The walls were painted a sterile white, which didn't do anything to improve the depressing mood that reigned in those kinds of rooms. It had a privacy curtain surrounding the bed that Chuck was lying in, as well as a TV that was positioned over the bed. There was a window overlooking the courtyard that the hospital owned. There was also a small desk on the left side of his bed that had a cup of water next to it. Sarah figured that it would serve to clear out his throat when he woke up. She rummaged through the little desk and found a notepad and pen. She quickly wrote a note for the surgeon to explain that she went home to grab a change of clothes and she would be right back. She tore the paper from the pad and put it on the top of the desk before turning towards Chuck again. She grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze before picking up the duffel bag, turning around and walking out of the room.

She crossed the waiting room where she had been sitting for a couple of hours and she felt lighter. The weight that had been pressing down on her was finally relieved and Sarah gave a happy sigh. He wasn't out of the woods yet, but at least now he was well on his way.

She walked out of the hospital and hailed a cab. She gave the cabbie the address to her apartment and leaned back against the comfortable seat. The adrenaline had left her and she finally realized that she was exhausted from the worrying, the pacing and the fighting. She also realized that she had effectively stolen scrubs from the hospital. She couldn't find it in herself to care very much at that point in time. All she wanted to do… no, all she needed to do was be there for Chuck. The rest of the world could wait for a few days. Agent Sarah Walker was on leave now.

Sarah's Apartment
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
21:18

Sarah walked to her closet and yanked out various items of clothing—a couple of jeans, some shirts, blouses, a hoodie and a pair of tennis shoes. It would have to suffice. She wasn't planning on staying long, only until the sister had arrived. She mentally laughed as she remembered how implausible that sounded the first time she thought of it.

She emptied the duffel bag in the washer and stuffed the new clothes as well as a set of throwing knives in the bag. She shrugged herself out of the scrubs and donned the hoodie and jeans. Luckily, the nurse had left Sarah alone when she brought her the change of clothes, so she could stow her Smith and Wesson in the scrubs. She retrieved it and stuck it where it belonged, in the small of her back. She didn't bother putting her hair up so she simply let it down, her bangs framing her face. The shower had cleaned off Sarah's make up but she wasn't too worried about putting it back on. Instead, she grabbed her duffel and coat from her bed and walked back out of the apartment. The cab was still there as ordered. She got back in and directed him back to the hospital.

The trip didn't take too long and before she knew it, she was once again breathing in the stale air that was supplied by the air-conditioners and the copious amounts of bleach and other products meant to sterilize equipment. The fragrance sent shivers down Sarah's spine. She was never a big fan of hospitals, which given her chosen profession, would eventually end up being a problem. But she had bigger fish to fry, so she shook her head in an attempt to clear the fragrance from her nostrils and set foot towards the gift shop.

She knew that she wasn't the greatest conversationalist in the universe and figured that eventually the conversations that weren't being made on drugs would simmer down. So that meant that she had to prepare for the possibility of awkward silences. But if there was one thing that she was good in, it was preparation. She picked up stacks of magazines. She had no idea what Chuck would like but he didn't look like the kind of guy who would be hardcore into bodybuilding. And buying porno magazines just seemed creepy and not to mention, gross. So she bought a gaming magazine, a car magazine and a few gossip magazines. She didn't know how long his recovery period would be, but she figured that he would be able to kill some time with this. And if he didn't like some things, well than at least she had something to read. It wouldn't be the most social thing in the world to read while someone was in a hospital bed next to you but if worse came to wear, that's where it was headed.

She peered around and found some flowers. Her eyes immediately locked targets with the Gardenias. Sure, Gardenias were her favorite flower, but they made the room smell nice anyway, so she figured that Chuck wouldn't mind too much. She brought the flowers and magazines to the cash register and paid up. She was about to walk away when she saw a rack of cards. Sarah walked over curiously and looked at them. They were a plethora of get well cards. She figured they didn't have one that said 'Sorry you got stabbed', but the general thought behind it was nice. She picked up a card with a fluffy bear on it and a generic 'hope you get better soon' phrase on it. She paid for the card before stuffing it along with the magazines in her duffel bag and clutching the bouquet before trotting over to Chuck's room, intent on being there for him.

Recovery room, Washington Hospital Center
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
20:45

Carefully she put down the flowers and card, trying to angle them so that they were the first thing he saw. She had no idea how long he would stay out of it, but she hoped that he wouldn't for a while. He looked exhausted, even in sleep. She looked around the room and saw a second bed deposited next to his. She made sure to silently drop the duffel bag to the side of the bed and grabbed a chair to sit at his bedside.

She lost herself to thoughts of the enigma in front of her. There was something different about this Chuck guy. She had seen him twice, once in the corner of her eye and once when he was bleeding out in front of her. He had then proceeded to do what almost no one had been able to do for quite some time. He made her laugh. He made her laugh while he was dying. What was weirder was that she so easily agreed to his plea for her to be there when he woke up and even weirder; she actually went through with it.

There was a definite connection between her and this man. Sarah didn't know what it was, it all felt foreign to her. It felt oddly pleasant though, which had been the main reason for her to stick around.

The continuous hum of the ventilator pumping air into Chuck's lungs along with the soothing sound of the ECG showing a steady heart-rate slowly caused her eyes to droop. She reached for his left hand, the one that didn't have an IV sticking out of it and held on to it, before letting her head lull backwards and succumbing to her exhaustion.

Recovery room, Washington Hospital Center
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
21:12

Sarah's eyes shot open as she heard the door to the room slide open. A doctor walked in, engrossed in reading his chart. He looked pleasant enough, with light brown eyes and rumpled fair hair that had been brown but had begun to gray around the crown of his head. She shook herself awake and stood up, ready to give the doctor a proper greeting. She tousled her mussed up hair and straightened her shirt that had rumpled from the awkward posture that she was forced into to get some sleep while holding on to Chuck's hand.

"Oh, hi... I didn't see you there miss," the doctor admitted. He spoke with an Australian accent, something that Sarah found odd, given the fact that Australians were quite uncommon in D.C.

"Walker," Sarah replied. "And don't worry about it."

"Good evening, Miss Walker. I'm Doctor Spencer. May I ask how you're related to the patient?"

"Uh… I'm…" Crap, why didn't I think this through? Sarah stalled, trying to find a suitable answer that would appease the doctor and not get her kicked out. Finally, she relented. "I'm his girlfriend."

"Ah," the doctor said, before scribbling something on his notepad. Sarah hoped that little lie wouldn't come back to haunt her. It didn't happen a lot but for the first time in a very long time, Sarah Walker was flustered. Things that she hadn't experienced for quite some time seemed to be happening quite regularly ever since Chuck had literally fallen into her arms.

The doctor kept quiet and checked on Chuck's vitals. He made a lot of "hmm's" and "aah's" but nothing that could be discerned as actual words. Sarah relaxed a bit, but she still had a few questions. Doctor Spencer however, seemed to be content with what he saw and moved out of the room, with a simple "Have a nice evening." She sprung up from her chair and glided after him. She called him when she had left the room, having no intention of waking up Chuck prematurely. She didn't know whether Chuck could hear her, but she didn't want to risk it either way.

Upon hearing his name, the doctor turned. "Ah, Miss Walker. What can I do for you?"

"I just had some questions about my boyfriend. I was wondering if you could help me with that."

"Sure, fire away."

This is just for cover-maintenance. "I was wondering whether you could tell me about the recovery process. Is there something that he needs me to do?"

The man shook his head a little and laughed. "All you have to do is be there for him. He'll probably be here for a while to rest up. I'll also suggest physical therapy, but that's more or less to stimulate his legs again after being in bed for as long as he will be. He should wake up in a couple of hours. If he does, make sure that you alert the staff. Try and keep him calm until the nurses can remove his tube. After that, he should be lucid enough to talk but try and get him to go to sleep again. The surgery was invasive enough for him to hopefully be exhausted. And if you don't mind my saying, you should probably get a nap, if only for an hour. It'll do you much better and you will want to be awake enough to provide the proper support for him."

Sarah nodded. She could use a nap and would've happily kept sleeping had the doctor not come in. But her damn spy senses were working in overdrive so it wasn't like she could just let a potential threat pass. She knew how ridiculous it sounded to think that there would be a threat to Chuck in the hospital considering the fact that she had left two of his assailants broken and bloodied and the other had scurried away in haste, but there it was. "Thank you doctor, I'll make sure that I follow your advice."

"See that you do," he said with a grin before turning and moving on with his job. It made Sarah think about her own job. Time off really didn't suit Sarah too well. Hopefully now she could actually have something to do… or someone to talk to at least. And if he was boring, she'd just continue her daily routine after making sure that Chuck was okay. She estimated the chance of him being boring in the rough point five of a percent.

Sarah turned and walked back to the room. It was as she had left it, with Chuck looking ashen-faced, and exhausted. She was sure that her face mirrored the exhaustion. Gazing for a little moment, she decided that she would heed the doctor's advice and get some rest. She felt the beginnings of a crook in her neck from the awkward angle courtesy of the plastic chair and decided to lay down on the bed that had been graciously provided by the nurses.

She kicked off her shoes and laid herself on bed. Rummaging through her pockets, she pulled out her phone and set the timer for three hours. It would be enough to help Chuck when he woke up. She put the phone on the little desk, grabbed her gun from the small of her back which she then slid under the pillow and closed her eyes. She felt sleep overtake her as fast as it had done the first time and drifted off to a dreamless slumber.

Recovery room, Washington Hospital Center
Wednesday, December 15th, 2004
00:28

Sarah woke up to her alarm and rubbed her eyes. The nap definitely helped and she felt a bit better. She was still rather tired and would love to keep sleeping, but it was more important that she would be awake when Chuck woke. She racked her brain and remembered the instructions that the doctor had given her. But according to her estimations, it would still be some time before Chuck would wake up, so she had some time to kill.

She sat up and slipped back into her shoes. She made sure that Chuck was still out of it, before slipping her gun back in the waistband of her jeans and walking out of the recovery chamber. She decided to wander around the hospital to do something. She just had no idea what.

She walked out of the room and instinctively approached the lobby. She couldn't help but walk to the doors and step outside. The air was cold and she felt the goose bumps appear on her skin in record time. Still, she drudged on and walked outside. Outside, a group of three people in scrubs were huddled together around a heater. Sarah didn't know why, but she felt the need for some human connection. She walked over and decided to unceremoniously butt in.

"Good evening," she said, as she absentmindedly rubbed her arms in an effort to warm herself up. She noticed that there were three doctors there, a black man who was bald, a white man with hair that indicated he had spent quite some time on perfecting it, and a woman with long strayed blonde hair. All three looked like they hadn't had a decent night's rest in quite some time.

The black doctor and the stray-haired woman looked up. The other doctor however, had a faraway gaze. She noticed the black doctor glancing back before his gaze fell upon his companion. He developed a grin on his face. He surreptitiously nodded at gelled-hair doctor and got a grin in return. The stray-haired doctor took off her nametag and handed it to the black doctor who, with a dexterity that had matched Sarah's with her knives, switched the two tags. The two doctors chuckled, while gelled-hair doctor kept his glazed expression. It started to become unnerving and Sarah leaned to the blonde doctor. "What's happening?" she softly asked.

"Every time he sees a beautiful woman, he has to imagine her in slow motion with a wind machine. It sounds pretty weird but that's just how he is. We simply use the time that he's out of it to play pranks on him."

"Oh…" Sarah said, not really sure on how to deal with the information given to her. She started to get a bad feeling about approaching these people. How in the world are they doctors?

Finally, gel-hair as Sarah had dubbed him in her mind, snapped out of it. "Ha!" he triumphantly exclaimed. "I've gotten better at it. Now there is no chance that you guys can prank me whenever it happens."

"You're right, J.D.," the blonde doctor said, her eyes dancing with glee.

"So now that J.D. is back," the black doctor stated, "can we help you, ma'am?"

Sarah shook her head. "It's nice to be able to talk to some people again, that's all."

"Oh…" the doctor with the gelled up hair trailed off. His nametag, before being swapped read John Dorian, M.D. "Hey, by any chance, are you from around this area?"

"Uh, yeah, I have an apartment close by," she responded, confused as to why that would be of interest to the doctors.

"Great, could you help us solve a problem? Basically, Turk here thinks that Steak Maestros is the better restaurant, but I'm convinced that Steak Cookers is superior."

"J.D.," the stray-haired woman hissed. "You don't ask that to a random person!"

"It was a fair question, Elliot. I'm sorry if our questions bother you," J.D. defended.

Elliot puffed her bangs out of her face. "I'm sorry," she said and faced Sarah. "This is what I have to put up with every day."

"Yeah, but you love me anyway," J.D. cut in.

Elliot sighed, rolled her eyes and nodded. Sarah had to stifle a chuckle. These were by far the oddest three people she had ever met, and they were doctors. She hoped she would never have to be treated there. It probably wouldn't end well.

"For what it's worth, I think that Cookers is better," Sarah unevenly said. It was true, the times that she had gone to Cookers, her filet was broiled to perfection and the steak had retained its flavor perfectly. Maestros was good, but not as good as Cookers.

"Ha! In your face," J.D. said in a singsong. Turk looked defeated.

"Look at what you've created," Elliot said in exasperation. "Now he'll be gloating about it for days." She puffed the bangs out of her face that had fallen there when she chided Sarah.

"Sorry?" Sarah tried. This had moved into the category for weirdest conversation ever territory. Considering the fact that she had spent time discussing the merits of rat poison as a viable way to kill someone, it said a lot about the conversation that she was currently a part of.

"So why are you here? Someone needed to be sliced open?" the black doctor, she had learned his name was Christopher Turk, asked.

"Oh my God," Elliot shouted in an unnaturally high pitch. "Have you two never learned how to have a conversation with normal people?" Sarah had to fight a smirk at the notion that she was normal but she kept her cool façade.

"Something like that," she replied to Turk. She debated telling them that she was Chuck's girlfriend but decided it wasn't necessary. "I'm with Chuck Bartowski. He uh, got stabbed and I was there so I helped him out."

"That was you?" Elliot asked. "Nice job, I heard you saved his life."

"Uh, thanks, I guess. Just happy to do my civil duty is all. But how do you know about Chuck?"

"I checked in on him an hour or so ago. So it was you in that bed, huh? If you don't really have a connection to him, why are you still here, if I may ask?"

"I made him a promise that I would be there when he woke up and I'm honoring that promise." Elliot nodded and let the topic fade away. Sarah's curiosity however, was piqued. "How come I didn't notice you come in? I'm a light sleeper yet I wasn't roused."

Elliot pointed down to her shoes and only then did Sarah notice she was wearing roller skates. "Helps getting around quicker," she shrugged. Sarah nodded politely but her mind reaffirmed that these people were truly oddballs.

"Well," Sarah said, faking a yawn, "I guess it's time I go back. Thanks for allowing me to just… talk again." The three doctors all politely nodded and Sarah backed off. She shook her head in mirth and glanced at her watch. She had managed to shave off half an hour and by the surgeon's estimations, Chuck would be awake in forty-five minutes. She reached the doors when she heard the crescendo of three beepers simultaneously going off. A pit formed in her stomach and she hoped that it was unrelated, but somehow, she knew. The words that followed didn't do anything to quell her fear.

"Mr. Bartowski is coding!" Elliot called, before taking off and bursting through the doors. Sarah took off after her.

Oh no.

Recovery room, Washington Hospital Center
Wednesday, December 15th, 2004
00:59

"Blood pressure is dropping, fast!" Elliot called out.

"Heart rate is dropping and skin is paling. I think he's bleeding out," J.D. cried in response.

"Alright, Turk call the O.R., tell them we're coming in fast."

Elliot grabbed the head end of the bed while J.D. latched on to the foot end. Turk ran to the phone and dialed an extension. He waited a beat before barking orders into the phone. "Need an O.R. for a possible bleeder… They're on the way… alright," he finished and hung up the phone. He took off after the two doctors, but not before telling Sarah to stay in the room. They would update her on Chuck's status but she couldn't help him now. All she could do was sit back, let the doctors do their job and hope for the best. The anxiety that had run rampant earlier that day was back with a vengeance and Sarah quickly found herself pacing the room. She didn't wait very well, unless it was for a mission.

Of course! Just treat this like it's a mission.

She toed over to the bed and sat down. It's just a mission. Chuck is an asset and I don't have any sort of obligation towards him. If he dies, he dies. That's all. You've already burned assets before, this is just like that.

She felt a shiver crawl its way up her spine and it didn't have anything to do with the temperature. Her line of reasoning didn't have the soothing effect it used to have. Instead, it put her in a full blown panic. What was it about him that made him so different to her? Whatever it was, she wasn't about to let him die so she did the only thing she could. She wasn't religious; she had lost her faith a long time ago. But there was literally nothing she could do but hope and pray. She linked her hands and started muttering.

"I don't know if I'm doing this right, but please,God… let him be ok. Just let him pull through… please?"

Recovery room, Washington Hospital Center
Wednesday, December 15th, 2004
01:38

Dr. Turk walked in and swiped his head with the bandana that she had seen him wearing outside. "Miss…"

"Walker," Sarah automatically said.

"Miss Walker. Mr. Bartowski pulled through again. His stitches popped but we were there in time and managed to stop the bleeding. We've re-sutured him and we also pulled him off of the vent. He should be able to breathe on his own. He will be wheeled back in soon but we had to put him under again. We're expecting him to wake up in around an hour or two. I suggest you get some sleep."

Sarah nodded her thanks and felt the tension melt away a little bit. Chuck had pulled through once again. He truly was a fighter. And it meant that she could still honor her promise. Turk turned and left the room and Sarah once again put her phone on a timer. She gave herself an hour of sleep before being there for him again. She settled down against the pillow but sleep was harder to come by. Thoughts of him dying kept flitting through her mind. Death had been a part of Sarah's life for quite some time. While she didn't officially become a spy until after her Red test, only two years ago, being a spy automatically meant that dealing with death would become a common occurrence. So why did it feel so different?

Sarah wasn't stupid, she knew she had gained some sort of connection with Chuck, she just didn't know what it was and what it meant. And worst of all, she wasn't sure if she really liked the way things would head if they would continue like this. Silently, she prayed for him to be a jerk so she wouldn't have to deal with it. But just like the pager incident, somehow she knew that he wasn't. She knew that she couldn't walk away just yet. She knew that it would be a difficult time for Chuck and she also knew that she was going to enjoy spending time with him. The only thing she didn't know was whether it was a smart idea. But she decided to throw caution in the wind and simply be around. That was all she had going for her anyway, so why not embrace it?

Satisfied, she settled against the pillow again and felt sleep overtake her once again. The nightmare was back.

Recovery room, Washington Hospital Center
Wednesday, December 15th, 2004
02:28

Sarah woke up with a short scream. They used to be long and drawn out and it would always be the same dream about that horrible night in Paris. But she had learned to control herself somewhat. She wasn't surprised when Chuck's bed was back where it belonged when she woke up. It seemed that the three doctors she had met outside had a knack for being silent. She turned off the alarm on her phone and shimmied back into her shoes. Once more, she sat down on the plastic chair and linked her hand with Chuck's.

"Hi," she whispered. "You gave me quite a scare you know…" she trailed off as she realized that she was talking to herself. Still, it felt somewhat comforting so she decided to continue.

"I don't know what it is, but somehow you've managed to become the highlight of my week. Obviously that's not meant to imply that I think what happened to you was good but… wow, I really am bad with words," she chuckled. "I suppose that I am in awe of you. There aren't a lot of people that can make me laugh and even less that can do it while almost certainly mortally wounded."

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't get scared a lot. It hasn't happened in a while and yet, I felt my heart beating a mile a minute when those doctors told me that you were crashing. I suppose I've grown attached to you, which is insanity in itself because I don't grow attachments. It's just not in my nature. And I've only heard you utter between ten and twenty sentences and already I feel like I can trust you implicitly." She sighed again and began softly drawing circles with her thumb on his hand. "Trust in my business is hard to come by, so you've got that going for you. Also, I think your family is on its way. I forgot to ask, but I hope they'll be here soon. I can't imagine what it's like to live on the other side of the country and hearing that your sibling is in danger of dying. Luckily, I don't have that problem… me and my sister; we haven't exactly been on speaking terms lately." She chuckled and amended her statement. "Actually, we haven't spoken in over fifteen years."

She released his hand and leaned on his bed, staring at his face intently. "I just wish you were awake, you know. Partly because it would mean that I've completed my promise to you, but mostly because even though I know it'll probably be a really bad idea, I just want to get to know you. You can pat yourself on the back again as that's the first time I've ever used that particular sentence…"

"Well, your wish has been granted. But could you get me some water first? My throat is killing me," she heard a voice croak.

Her eyes shot up and she was staring in his eyes and she swore she lost herself for a second. She regained her footing however and said the only thing that came to her. "Hi… I'm Sarah."

"Hi Sarah… I'm Chuck."

A/N 2: Okay, I'm going to try and get a weekly posting of this fic, starting in 2 weeks. Next week won't feature another chapter (sorry) because I will be using that week to pen another chapter of BUABS with ShinyJayne19. So look for that one to appear soon. Thank you for reading and please leave a review, so I know me slaving over this hasn't been for naught.