*Author's Note* Thanks to all who reviewed and gave me feedback for the new baddie! I have the next couple of chapters written, and hopefully, the baddie will be a surprise for everyone :) I apologize if I didn't respond to everyone's review, I really do appreciate you, it's just that I was using my friend's ipod and it was really confusing! To those who didn't have a reply link:

Lala – Thanks! :o) I understand the wanting a hardened Chuck, but for the way the fic is going, he had to be a basket case for awhile at least lol. No worries, he'll rebound soon!

Ll – He had to fail spy school because the intersect isn't working. Don't worry, everything will work out for Chuck soon! Thanks for reviewing! :)

I apologize for anything not medically correct in the next couple of chapters. I haven't started pre-med classes yet… But I did try to research everything! Enjoy!

"Sarah?" Chuck started, "What are you doing here?"

Sarah closed her eyes and started to sway. She reached her good arm out and grabbed onto the wall to steady herself. Chuck's eyes widened when he saw what her hand had been hiding.

"Why aren't you at a hospital?" he asked, his voice rising with worry. "Sarah, what happened?" He reached out and grabbed her as she started to sway again, carefully helping her to sit on the floor so that she wouldn't fall over.

"No hospitals" she said, forcefully, "it would blow my cover." She winced as Chuck tried to get her shirt to stop sticking to her wound.

Chuck winced as her arm started to bleed, "Your…cover? You're worried about your cover when you obviously need medical attention, or did you not notice the bullet stuck in your arm?" he argued.

Sarah opened her eyes and glared at him. "It's not that bad. Trust me, I've had worse." Sarah grabbed the bit of t-shirt Chuck had pulled from her blood-caked arm and pressed it to her wound.

They were both silent for a few awkward moments. Chuck cleared his throat and asked, again, "What are you doing here, Sarah?"

She sighed, "I don't want to impose, but I really need you to flash on something. My partner and asset were captured, and their tracking devices aren't working. I also need to contact the General; my handheld was confiscated when they captured me."

Chuck's face fell when she said 'partner.' That spy had been right; she had dumped Chuck for someone else. His heart in his throat, Chuck started to stand up before she could see the emotions playing across his face.

"Please, Chuck? You're the only one who can help," she added, softer.

Still not making eye contact, Chuck morosely told her, "I can't help."

Sarah raised her eyebrows in obvious confusion. "Chuck, I…" Chuck cut her off.

"It's not that I don't want to, Sarah, but… I can't flash. I'm no longer working for the CIA, and I have no way to contact the director. You'd have more luck trying to hunt down Casey. I still see him around Burbank every now and again."

Sarah gasped softly. "What do you mean you can't flash? Beckman told me you were still training! I.. If I had known our deal was off, I would have come back sooner."

"What deal?" Chuck questioned.

"She said that as soon as you were a spy we could be together, for real." Seeing Chuck's confusion, she stated, bluntly, "She didn't tell you." Angrily she shouted, "Damn it!" and punched the wall behind her, regretting it as soon as the anger passed. "Shoot. I forgot about my other arm…" she trailed off, closing her eyes and gasping in pain.

Chuck was beyond confusion. All the pent up emotions from the past months surfaced and were on the verge of exploding. The devastation of Sarah's leaving was slowly turning to anger at the CIA, at the General, at himself for being so stupid.

He sunk back to the floor and took Sarah's hand. He was about to say something, but was interrupted.

"I need you to flash, Chuck," Sarah repeated. She pointed to her backpack, lying on the floor next to the broken lamp. "There's a piece of paper written in code in the front pocket," she paused, and then corrected him as he went for the wrong one, "other front pocket," as Chuck unzipped it. "See if you can get a flash on their location. The asset is really important, almost more important than you are. Figure out where they are and then contact the General," she said hurriedly, in one breath.

Chuck held up the piece of paper and squinted at it. It was written in some sort of symbols. Since he hadn't gotten a flash from the first glance, he closed his eyes, trying to find his calm center. He had to center his emotions.

He slowed his breathing and tried to focus on Sarah's hand. It amazed him how well their hands fit together and how soft her hands were, even though she fought with them all the time. Slowly, his emotions stopped whirring and he felt himself go calm. He opened his eyes and looked at the piece of paper.

His eyes started to twitch and he felt the familiar sensation of his brain's wheels turning. Giving over to the intersect, he flashed.

A spinning top. A scientist at his lab. A crocodile. A military unit. A spinning top.

"Oy," Chuck said, enjoying the feeling of flashing. He shook his head and then exclaimed, "Sarah, Sarah I flashed!"

"Do you know where they are?" she asked, hopeful.

"Yea, yea I do! They don't like their pet crocodiles to be out of their natural habitat." He shuddered at the thought of a pet crocodile.

"Good job, Chuck," Sarah said, weakly. "Remember… no hospitals," Sarah's eyes started to glaze over before she shut them completely.

Chuck's exhilarating moment was shattered. He looked at Sarah's wound again and saw it was bleeding freely. His eyes widened and he started to panic. "Sarah!" he shouted. "Come on, you're stronger than that. You have to save your asset!"

"Contact… Beckman" she said, and faded into blissful oblivion.

"Sarah, wake up!" Chuck shook Sarah, trying to get a response from her. Panic engulfed him. He couldn't lose her, not like this. He jumped up and grabbed his cell phone, pressing speed dial #4.

"This is Dr. Woodcomb," Devon answered in his official hospital-voice.

Chuck was on the verge of a breakdown, but he managed to choke out, "Hey, bro, I need your awesomeness."

This is the LAST cliff-hanger I will make you suffer through for a while. PROMISE! To compensate for the awfulness I've made you go through, chapters 4 and 5 are almost double in length of what I usually write. I'll update again before the week is over. Happy reading :o)