A/N: Don't know how many are still reading, and I get it, my long pauses due to life and COVID hurt this one, but thanks for staying with it. We're getting close to the end.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

Sitting in his car in front of the hospital, Chuck realized that Sarah was working. He had gotten so caught up in his head, he hadn't even thought about what anyone else was doing. He let out a deep sigh. He had been so nervous he had changed clothes multiple times. He had been so nervous he got lost in his head, something that was the norm for him.

He was going to have to wait until she got off work to talk. Nodding, he reached for the keys to start the car, when there was a knock on the window. Startled, he nearly jumped through the roof. He looked up to find the concerned face of John Casey.

}o{

"How's Gertrude?" Chuck asked, sitting down in the cafeteria with Casey. Both cradled steaming cups of coffee.

Casey raised an eyebrow, amused. "She's fine. We're fine… actually, we're good."

"Good," Chuck said, nodding. "I did worry you staying with me like you did might affect the two of you."

"Oh, it did," Casey told Chuck. "The more I stayed with you, the more I realized what she meant to me. How much I missed her while alone. How quickly life can pass you by."

"It can," Chuck said softly. "Life's fleeting as it is, and we get so lost in our daily lives, we sometimes don't appreciate what we have. What we could lose. How lonely it can be."

"So, you're saying your lonely?" Casey asked.

"I'm saying I've learned that just because you're with someone, doesn't mean you're not lonely," Chuck admitted. "I'm saying that once you meet the person… that when you meet the right person… the right one… you learn that every other relationship, while it may have been fulfilling, didn't satisfy a craving in you. One of which you may not have even been aware."

"That's pretty deep, Bartowski," Casey said, chuckling. "But I don't think I'm the one you should be telling."

"Yeah, but she's working," Chuck muttered, frustrated. "I just want to talk to her, for her to know… you know?"

"Careful what you wish for, Bartowski," Casey said, rising. He turned and walked away, leaving Chuck by himself.

"Hey, sailor," came a voice from his right. He whipped his head around to see Sarah, lowering into the chair beside him. She reached over and put her hand on his. "I've got some free time… wanna go for a walk?"

}o{

"I knew I should have taken today off," Sarah said softly, as they walked the exterior grounds of the hospital.

"Don't you have to-" Chuck began.

"Stop," Sarah said gently, smiling at him. "I have one patient to see later, but the rest of my schedule is clear. I just didn't want to reschedule my patient."

"Sarah, your job come first," Chuck began.

"Hey," Sarah said, stopping and turning him where she could look directly into his eyes. "I need you to hear me; you are important. I need to make this relationship a priority."

"You do," he said, squeezing her hand. "And I know what doctors go through." She nodded. "I also know that a patient's health is more important than something I finally figured out. My problem could wait until tonight."

"Chuck," Sarah began.

"I've… I've been unfair to you," he said, looking down at the ground. He lifted his head to hold her gaze. "I'm doing this thing where I'm thinking about what you arethinking, instead of asking you what you're thinking. That's what I realized."

"So what are you thinking that I'm thinking?" Sarah asked. She watched him turn a tad bit red. "Oh, this should be good." He saw the amused smile on her face, and shook his head. She squeezed his hand. "Tell me."

"I have to wonder, if we were to… you know," he began.

"You mean when, right?" Sarah asked, the amused smile growing.

"Yep," Chuck replied, his voice a little higher than normal. He cleared his throat. "I worry that… uh… in the throes of passion…" He trailed off.

"Oh, please do keep going," Sarah said.

"That's what she said," he blurted out, making her laugh. "Anyway, if I were to say your name-"

"Buddy, I promise you will," Sarah cut in. Chuck's eyes widened. "We should be having this discussion at home."

"What would the hospital administration say if I went and jumped in that fountain to cool off?" Chuck asked.

"That you had a relapse, and you'd have to be put in my twenty-four-hour care," Sarah told him.

"Hair of the dog, huh?"

"Did you just call me a dog?" Sarah asked.

"We have veered so far off topic," Chuck began.

"You worry that if you say my name, that I will worry you're talking about her and not me," Sarah told him. He gaped at her. "Chuck." She stepped towards him, leaving little daylight between them. "Forgive me for being forward, but she's a dream. I'm real, and real Sarah… she's going to make you forget all words but my name."

Chuck turned and headed toward the fountain. Sarah grabbed his arm, laughing. He turned, saw her smiling face, and couldn't stop the words that shot out of his mouth. "I love you," he blurted out. His eyes went wide, as he realized what he said.

Sarah smiled at him, stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips. "I love you," she told him. "I have to go back to work. Stay out of the fountain."

"Cold shower?" Chuck asked, as she turned and headed back toward her office.

"Probably two," she called back.

"More like four," he muttered to himself.

}o{

She loved him. She, Sarah Walker, DoctorSarah Walker, loved him. Chuck was sitting at his desk at work, trying to accomplish anything work related, but all he could do was stare at the wall across from his desk, and replay that moment in his mind when he blurted out I love you. She hadn't run. She hadn't even been shaken. She had kissed him, and told him she loved him.

"I know that look," Molly said walking into his office and plopping down on his couch.

"Oh, do you?" Chuck asked.

"Oh, yeah," Molly retorted. "Seriously, I've never seen it on you before, but I've seen that look."

"And what look is that?" Chuck asked.

"A man in love," Molly told him. Chuck's jaw dropped, and Molly burst out laughing. "God, you are so easy. Sarah texted me to warn me what had happened between you two."

"Oh?"

"She worries about you, dumbass," Molly told him. "We all do, but she really worries about you." Chuck was silent for a second, and pulled a key out of his pocket. "Oh my," she said, sitting up, smiling. "Chuck Bartowski, are you going to ask her to move in?"

"No… I mean, she can, but… I just thought, seeing that she does worry about me so much that maybe… maybe she should be able to come see me when she wants."

Molly shook her head, stood, and walked over to the door. "She's leaving work soon, heading toward your house." Chuck jumped up, snatched his bag, ran to the door, ran back, grabbed the key, and bolted from the office. "You're welcome!" she called out after him.

"Girl is gonna eat him for dinner," she muttered, chuckling.

}o{

He was running around the kitchen, trying to decide what to make for dinner, when the front door opened. He stopped. She stood there, holding two bags. One with food, the other with clothes.

"Oh," he said, not knowing what else to say.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked.

"I was going to cook dinner for you," Chuck told her. She seemed to almost melt as she smiled at him. "But, I've screwed up and I… God, why am I so nervous?"

She sat down her bag of clothes. Walking over, she put the food on the bar, moved around it and cupping his face in her hands, kissed him soundly. When she pulled away, she held his gaze. "Chuck, if you weren't nervous, I would be worried."

"Wow, confident," Chuck blurted out. "Not gonna lie, really hot."

Sarah began to laugh. "No, Chuck, I'm not talking about me, I'm talking about us. I'm talking about your dreams. I'm talking about you being in therapy. There is a lot here between us."

"You know, there's an entire empty dresser in my bedroom, if you need to store those clothes somewhere so they don't wrinkle," he began. And then his brain betrayed him. "Or, or," he added quickly, "maybe you're a girl who likes to live out of her suitcase." She raised her eyebrow. "So, to sum up my putting my entire leg in my mouth, I have empty drawers in my bedroom. If you'd like to use them."

Sarah's naughty grin made his breath hitch. "The only empty drawers I want to see are the ones you are currently wearing." Chuck's eyebrows nearly shot off his head. Sarah burst out laughing. "Sorry, it's just I wanted to ease your tension." Chuck gave her a look. "Didn't even mean it that way."

Chuck reached into his pocket and pulled out the extra key to his house. "I'd like you to have this, for… whenever."

She took it, and gently kissed him on the lips. "Come on, let's eat. Then we can go lay on the bed, watch some shows, and you tell me all about what happened in therapy." Chuck nodded, and followed her as she took his hand and led him over to the food.

}o{

Sarah was cuddled against him, his hand slowly stroking her hair. "So, you're going to keep seeing Dr. Freeman?" she asked, a little while later.

"Yeah, I think," Chuck told her. "You know this is nice."

"Mmmhmm," she hummed. "While I do enjoy our sexual tension, this…this is nice."

"Would that be bang-xiety?" Chuck asked

"I'd throw you out, but I'm comfy," Sarah told him, trying not to giggle.

"And it's my house," Chuck added. She shrugged. "Oh, I give you a key and it's no longer my house?" She shrugged again, giggling. He began to tickle her, and that quickly devolved into a wrestling match. Somehow, he found himself underneath her, their noses, inches from each other. "Hi," he said softly.

"Hi," she replied, leaning forward to softly kiss him. The kiss grew, and she shifted over him.

"Sarah?"

"See, I've only kissed you, and you knew my name," she pointed out, making him grin.

"So, now you're saying there has to be tests run, to make sure your hypothesis was right?" Chuck asked her.

"I am a doctor, and that is how we do things… we test a lot," Sarah said with a shrug.

"Now is this a one-time test, or do we need a significant sample size?" Chuck asked.

"Now you're just talking dirty," Sarah told him, making him laugh. He stopped laughing and groaned a little as her lips found his neck. "Significant sample size," she added, between kisses.

"For science?"

She looked down at him and grinned. "For us," she replied. He grinned at her, and then his eyes went wide as he found his shirt unbuttoned.

"That was sort of impressive."

"You ain't seen nothing yet."

A/N: ….It appears he's figured some things out. Next time.

"Home?" Chuck asked, looking up at her, a grin on his face.

"Listen, you told me you loved me, and that opened the floodgate of me telling you I loved you," Sarah said with a shrug. "You're my home." He smiled at her. "I said that in your dream or something?"

"Yeah, but you know what, it sounds a thousand times better in real life," he admitted, a goofy smile on his face.

"Baby, you are trying way to hard."

What can I say….I enjoy a good banter. Take care of yourself. See you soon.