Just when she thought Chuck (asset was long gone now) couldn't be any more surprising, he goes above and beyond the call of duty to help rescue somebody, as Casey so eloquently put it "not even the Chi cops care about". Sarah was starting to get used to her new-ish partner's, methods of communication, but she was worried that she found herself caring more about the downhearted look that crossed Chuck's face when Casey chose not to help than she probably should have. Looking objectively, it probably wasn't worth helping an off-the-grid Chinese agent with a rogue mission, but that look on Chuck's face wasn't something she wanted to see too often. Luckily, he gave her the perfect excuse to go along with the mission.
Going that far to help someone's family, Sarah was quickly learning, was a big part of Chuck's life. She felt bad that he had to continually lie about all of his heroism to the person whose opinion probably mattered most to him. And when she had gone over Casey's surveillance of the night Chuck had yet again ignored orders but still ended up saving them, she felt a pang of sadness for him. Not only was he being forced to lie, but his double life was leading him to miss important 'real-life' things, like the Bartowski Mother's Day. As she listened to that, Sarah had to physically control herself to avoid running in and telling Ellie that it was all her fault, just to let Chuck avoid any more pain at the government's, and by association, her hands. She was going to kill him for that spastic colon excuse too. Seriously? He couldn't pick something less disgusting like, I dunno, a stomach bug? Sarah wasn't looking forward to having to occasionally fake an attack, all in the name of that damn cover-maintenance.
Going back to Mother's Day, Sarah was again surprised at just how much she was being included in this family group. Even as a child, once her mom had left, she had never really had a family. It was just her and her Dad, roaming across America conning rich (and dumb) people out of their hard earned money. This feeling, this sense of normality, was alien to her, yet she was already beginning to feel like it was something she wanted. And it was all because of Chuck, yet again. Sort of. Sarah felt guilty that Ellie was looking at her as some sort of saviour for Chuck; the person destined to lead him out of the Buy More once and for all. It pained Sarah to know that it was all fake; the dates were missions, the PDA was forced, at best, on Chuck's side. Sarah, of course, didn't mind the cover dating part one bit; it let her experience normality, if only for a short time.
Normality. One word, yet it meant so much to Sarah.