A/N: Can you say the poop is about to hit the fan?

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

"What's wrong?" Bryce asked, pulling Chuck out of his thoughts about Sarah. Chuck gave him a confused look. "Dude… like it or not, we were best friends, and I know when something is bothering you."

"She's not answering," Chuck told Bryce.

"It happens," Bryce replied with a shrug. "Sometimes you can't answer your phone. You gotta trust your partner."

"Yeah, you do," Chuck agreed.

Bryce was silent.

"Okay… so for now, we'll assume she's okay, and just can't answer her phone."

"Chuck," Bryce began.

"Nope, you're right," Chuck admitted. "There are times she can't answer her phone, and I trust her."

"Glad to hear that," Bryce replied. "She seems like she's good at what she does."

"She the best," Chuck said, with no hesitation.

"Chuck, I know I'm the new person here, but if they are keeping Steven there indefinitely, Derek must be paying somebody on the inside to keep him under heavy sedation," Anna pointed out.

"It's got to be the same person that changed Kayla's report that Sarah discovered," Chuck muttered. He sat down at his computer, began to type a bit, and came up with nothing.

"Can you not get in?" Anna asked.

"He can get in anywhere," Bryce said.

"You can't when it's an intranet," Chuck replied. "Not without physically being on site." Anna frowned. "If there is in fact a copy, I won't be able to recover it without direct access to their data center. Which, like everything else of value there, is locked inside the med station."

"How do you know that?" Bryce asked.

"Sarah told me that's where everything is kept. That's where she's headed next. The last text she sent me said she managed to swipe a key card off one of the nurses."

"So, that's why she can't talk," Bryce pointed out.

"Yeah," Chuck said. Anna gave him a look. "She was waiting outside the med station for the shift change."

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," Anna told him. "I'm going to talk to Jeff, and you two are going to the hospital to check on Sarah. We need the re-done tox screen to be sped up, if we are to have a chance of arresting Derek or whoever else is involved with this." With that, she left.

"Chuck, I can't go," Bryce said. "I'm not supposed to be operating on US soil."

"You can't help someone who might be in trouble?" Chuck asked.

"If my cover gets blown-" Bryce began.

"You hired us, Bryce!" Chuck reminded Bryce.

"I know, and you may have to take the L on this, and I'm sorry. But I cannot be involved." Bryce studied Chuck. "Oh, God, tell me you haven't fallen for her."

"What does it matter if I did or didn't?" Chuck asked. "I'd do this for anyone."

"She knows the risks, Chuck," Bryce reminded him. "She's former CIA."

"And I'm her friend, and partner," Chuck replied. "Perhaps you forgot who I am?" Chuck turned to leave, but Bryce grabbed his arm.

"Chuck, you can't do this," Bryce told Chuck. "You aren't trained."

"I hear you, and what you think. But as usual, it's not your decision. Even though you think it is," Chuck told Bryce. He walked out of the room, leaving Bryce standing alone.

}o{

Meanwhile, earlier, back at the ranch… err, hospital…

Sarah watched the nurse leave the med center. Walking over to the door, she used the stolen card, and slipped inside. Checking her surroundings and finding no one, she slipped the hacking USB drive that Chuck had made for her into the USB slot. In seconds, she was in.

She ran a search for the patient in question, and found the report prepared by Kayla. Her eyes locked on the sentence that read patient should be receiving 400 mg of thorazine a day, but his vomit contained 1200 mg of thorazine.

As she stared at the sentence, realizing what she found, she felt a prick in her neck. She looked over to see nurse Tanaka holding a syringe, the needle in her neck, and the contents slowly being pushed into her. Sarah collapsed to her side as Nurse Tanaka muttered, "I really wish you hadn't made me do this."

}o{

Sarah found herself sitting in a fancy restaurant, looking out over the water. "Sarah?" The voice sounded far away. She realized she was lost in her head, overthinking something. "Hey, Sarah?"

Sarah turned to Chuck and gave him a smile. "Sorry. I think the champagne's going to my head," she told him. Something… something wasn't right.

"That must mean you're relaxed, and believe it or not, I think that is a good thing," Chuck told her.

"Yes, I suppose you're right about that," Sarah admitted. She studied him for a second. "How did we get here?"

"Well," Chuck began, laying down his fork. "We, uh, got in a shiny car. You pressed on the thing that makes it go, and..."

She swatted at him and chuckled. "No, I mean, how did we find our way from where we started to... this?"

"Oh, that," Chuck said. Sarah nodded. "Well, I think it was a combination of things. Some very good luck on my part, and some extremely bad decisions on yours."

"This doesn't feel like a bad decision," Sarah told him.

"Well, if that's the case, then maybe we should make another one," Chuck said, wiping his hands on his pants. Why were his hands sweating. Her eyes widened as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small box… a ring box.

"Chuck, you can't be serious!" Sarah said. She was one part scared, and one part… excited. She was excited. She knew she loved him, but this… this took her by surprise.

"Look," he said, smiling, "I know it hasn't been long. I think we both know where this is going, and I figure, why not make it official?" Chuck opened the box, and inside there was… a bullet. She looked up at him and he began to cough. Small drops of bright red blood were on his lips as he coughed.

"Chuck?" she said, concern growing on her face as a spot of blood appeared on his shirt. "CHUCK!?" He fell off the chair, as the box rattled on the table, the bullet falling out.

Sarah looked down, finding her hands covered in blood. Chuck was dying in front of her, and she was covered in blood. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. Just when she thought she couldn't take anymore, her eyes popped open. She was in a dark room, and she couldn't move.

She looked down and her wrists were strapped to a gurney. Sarah looked up and saw Nurse Tanaka.

"Hi," Nurse Tanaka said. Sarah was fighting to gain control of her limbs, but it felt like she was swimming in goop. "What you're experiencing right now is six hundred milligrams of l-dopa crossing your blood-brain barrier. We don't stock sodium pentathol, so I had to improvise. I've been doing a lot of that lately. Hey, hey. I'm gonna need you to tell me who you really are, and what it is you think you know."

Sarah looked around, trying to ignore Tanaka, which wasn't too difficult because she was… what did Morgan called it? High AF? What did the AF even stand for? She couldn't focus.

"Look, the sooner you talk, the sooner I can make this stop," Tanaka told her.

"You think you're the first person to drug, and interrogate me?" Sarah snapped at Tanaka. "You're a fucking amateur." That's what the F stood for in AF! Wait, she shouldn't have told Tanaka that, that Sarah had been interrogated before. Her superiors in the CIA would be quite upset with her…except she wasn't in the CIA any longer… she was with Chuck… where was he? Where was her Chuck?

"Yeah, you're right," Tanaka said, pulling Sarah out of her thoughts. "I am. I didn't want any of this, okay? But Dr. Brooks was right. They don't pay us enough, and I really needed the money. Kayla started getting really nosy about Steven, and then you started getting really nosy about Kayla, and then..." Tanaka was cut off by Sarah's cellphone vibrating.

Tanaka looked over at it and saw the message Call me or text me when you can. She saw the name, Chuck.

"Chuck Bartowski," one of the three Tanaka's that sometimes merged into one, and there were sometimes three, said. "Oh, Derek warned me about him. That must make you Sarah Walker, right?"

Sarah tried to answer, but she was having issues. On one side of the room, she saw Chuck, in his tux, stumbling towards her, bleeding from his chest. On the other side of the room, near Tanaka, she saw Zondra, staying out of sight of her tormentor, slowly moving towards Sarah and Tanaka, staying out of sight behind shelves. Shit. Zondra was coming to kill her. She really didn't have time to deal with that right now. She was high AF… what did the AF stand for, again?

"He's probably gonna come looking for you, so that's one more person I have to deal with now," Tanaka said, pissed. "You know, if you can get Kayla behind the wheel of a car, you can do pretty much anything, right?"

Chuck moved closer to her, he was more in focus. She saw Zondra… and Zondra shook her head. So Zondra wasn't coming to kill her, just watch her die?

"So... I'm gonna need your help," Tanaka said. She went and began to fill another syringe. We're gonna set a little trap for your partner. Let's see if six hundred more milligrams encourages you to be a little more compliant."

Chuck tried to move toward her, but collapsed to the floor. "CHUCK!" Sarah screamed out. The needle went into her arm and Sarah felt the world slip away.

}o{

Chuck was hurrying to the hospital when his phone went off. He hit the button to answer it, sending the call to bluetooth and his car's speakers. "Chuck," he said, not slowing down.

"Chuck, it's Anna," she said. "Jeff found it, Chuck. Kayla's blood came back positive for high levels of a drug called l-dopa. Her death is being reclassified as a murder."

"Can you call Casey and Carina?" Chuck asked, slamming his foot down on the gas.

"Already have," Anna told him. "Did it when I left the agency. I'm guessing pretty boy didn't come with you?"

"Nope," Chuck told her. "I'm going to save her, Anna… I have to."

"I know you will, Chuck. I know. I'm on my way as well," Anna said. "Go get her."

The thing that bothered Chuck the most – and he wished he had reacted to it earlier – was his last call had stopped after two rings. While that didn't seem like a lot, Chuck had been in the cellphone business while working at the Buy More. One thing he had learned, zero rings meant their phone is off, four or five rings meant they didn't hear it, but two rings meant you just got ghosted into voicemail with the sidebutton.

Chuck was so mad at himself. He hadn't listened to his gut. He had listened to Bryce, and he prayed to God it hadn't cost Sarah her life. Either she was really busy, or she was in some kind of trouble. Sarah knew her boyfriend. Sarah would have sent him something letting him know if she was really busy. Chuck pressed the accelerator to the floor.

}o{

Sarah opened her eyes. She was in a padded room, with white clothes on, seated in a chair. "I have to get back," she managed to say.

"And how does that make you feel?" she heard a familiar voice say. She looked over, and saw herself. Her doppleganger was sitting in the same chair, wearing the same clothes that Sarah had earlier, interviewing patients.

"You have to talk, Sarah," Dr. Sarah told her.

"There's nothing to talk about," Sarah insisted.

"You can lie to Chuck, but you can't lie to me," Dr Sarah said. "Why don't we start with what brought you here? First there was the murder of Dr. Good, and you saw how his wife reacted." Sarah shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Then you attack Chuck, to show him how he's not ready." Sarah sat there, quietly. "Finally, there's this case. Someone is taken again, for putting their nose into someone else's business… does that remind you of anyone? A person who constantly helps someone when it's not his business?"

"Listen, this is nonsense," Sarah replied, growing frustrated. "I took this case because our client needed our help. He was heartbroken."

"Um-hmm," Dr Sarah agreed.

"He was lost… confused," Sarah finished.

"You know just how that feels, don't you?" Dr Sarah asked.

"I don't have time for this," Sarah said. "I have to find Chuck. I have to warn him that he's in danger."

"Just one last question, Sarah," Dr Sarah said. "What were you hoping was in ring box?" Sarah didn't say anything. She got up and went to the door of the room, trying to turn the nob. It refused to move. She kicked the door, but it didn't budge. Sarah screamed in frustration. "Sarah?"

She dropped her head, her spirit broken. "An engagement ring," she said softly. "But I don't deserve it." The room seemed to dissolve.

Sarah opened her eyes, and saw Tanaka standing over her.

"I gave you a dose of atracurium," Tanaka told her. "It's a paralytic. And this is ketamine, it helps treatment-resistant depression. It's one of the big reasons we keep all the drugs locked up. Since you won't give me the information that I need, I'm afraid it's come to this. Everyone's gonna think that you faked your identity to come in here and get high, and unfortunately, you took too much."

Sarah couldn't move. Not like this, she thought. She couldn't go out like this. A movement behind Tanaka caught her eye. Oh great, Chuck was gone but there was Zondra. Zondra moved silently from behind her hiding spot and approached Tanaka.

Sarah had always thought that of the four of them, Zondra was lightest on her feet. Oh shit, she had a syringe as well. How many ways were they gonna make Sarah high AF… what did that mean again? The thing she was most upset about in these final seconds surprised her.

She wanted an engagement ring from Chuck.

Sarah watched as Zondra brought her arm forward, the syringe seemingly glistening. Sarah found herself confused. How was that going into Sarah's neck, or arm, or anything? Tanaka's eyes went wide as the syringe pierced her neck, and Zondra caught her as she tumbled to the ground.

Zondra laid the body down, and took the syringe out of Tanaka's hands. They both heard a commotion outside. "I wasn't supposed to be here," Zondra told Sarah. Sarah wondered how high she was. "You can't tell anyone it was me, okay?" Sarah did not have the ability to respond. "We'll talk." And with that, she slipped out of the room. Fuck! That's what the F in AF stood for.

}o{

Chuck entered the hospital, and was immediately stopped by a security guard. "Excuse me," Chuck said. "I'm looking for Dr. Kesey. Dr. Rachel Kesey. I believe she might be in trouble."

"Just take a seat while I page her," the security guard told Chuck.

"Listen, I said she's in trouble. Come with me, we need to find her," Chuck told him. "Her life could be in danger." Chuck saw the guard's hand go toward his baton. "I'm not… I'm not gonna say crazy, because that seems to be not okay here, but I'm telling you I think her life is in danger."

"He's right," came the voice behind him. Chuck spun and saw Bryce. "Agent Larkin, CIA," he said holding out his badge. "You need to let him go."

"Bryce?" Chuck asked.

"Go. Find her," Bryce told him. Chuck nodded, and took off. He raced down the hallway, and saw stairs chained off that said Closed For Renovation.

It looked like a perfect spot for some type of mischief.

Chuck jumped the chain and took the steps. He hoped he was right, because if he had to come back down these three flights of stairs to find Sarah he was going to be severely winded.

"Sarah!" he yelled, reaching the top floor and deserted hallway. "Sarah!" Chuck started throwing open doors, and looking inside empty rooms. He came to the last door, threw it open, and stopped dead in his tracks.

There lay Sarah on a gurney, and a nurse, on the ground, unconscious. He rushed over, and began to remove the cuffs that held her in place. As soon as he got her free, he pulled her into his arms, and held her tight. Chuck didn't even notice Bryce and the security agents entering behind him.

}o{

Sarah opened her eyes, and found herself on her couch. "Hey, you okay?" Chuck asked. She smiled at him, and nodded. "The EMTs gave you an antidote, and wanted to take you to the hospital, but I thought given everything you'd been through that was the last place you wanted to be."

"Yeah, good call," Sarah said, slowly getting herself to sitting position on the couch.

"So, I have a lot to tell you. Long story short, Derek and Tanaka have been arrested for murder. Stephen has been taken off the meds, and Miranda is flying in his family on her dime to help take care of him."

"Good," Sarah said, nodding.

"Hey," Carina said, coming into the room. "I thought I heard your voice."

"Why are you back?" Sarah asked. "I thought you and Casey were on a vacation?"

"No, you had a bet with Chuckles that I ran off and got married," Carina corrected.

"I mean, we did have a bet," Chuck admitted. Sarah gave him a look. "I didn't tell her the terms of the bet." Carina raised an eyebrow, amused.

"When Anna told us everything, Casey insisted we come back. And on top of that, he wanted to be part of the arrests," Carina told Sarah. "Casey has a bit of a thing now for putting people away that take advantage of others."

"You okay if I go get dinner for us?" Chuck asked.

"Chuck, you don't have to-" Sarah began.

"It's sizzling shrimp," Chuck cut in.

"Drive safe," Sarah said seriously.

Carina cackled.

Chuck came over and gave her a peck on the lips. Sarah grabbed his head and kissed him like he was the oxygen she needed to live. "Drive safe," she told him again.

"Right, drive safe," Chuck said, stumbling out the door, making the women laugh.

"Hey, I need to tell you something, and ask you something," Sarah said after Chuck left. "Do we deserve happiness? Do we deserve a happily ever after?"

"Hell yes we do, girl," Carina said. Sarah stared at her in shock. "We deserve whatever the hell we want and are willing to work toward. Now, have I chosen an interesting partner for that? Yes."

"But we deserve it?" Sarah asked again.

Carina got up from the chair and sat beside her on the couch, putting her arm around Sarah. "We do."

"We've done some things," Sarah said softly.

"Lord, have we done some things," Carina agreed. "And that… that is why we deserve happily ever after."

"That makes no sense," Sarah argued.

"We've done things to keep people safe. We've killed to keep people safe," Carina reminded her. "We deserve to be happy."

"Okay," Sarah said, unconvinced. "There's something I need to tell you, and… I'm not sure if it happened or not."

"You saw it while you were drugged?" Carina asked. Sarah nodded. "Sarah, you see crazy shit on those meds."

"Zondra saved me," Sarah said.

"That's not possible…" Carina began. "She hates you."

"I'm aware," Sarah told Carina. "But she took out the nurse and saved me."

"Okay, but why?" Carina asked.

"I don't know, but what is even more confusing is what she said," Sarah told her. "She said I wasn't supposed to be here."

"What the hell does that mean?" Carina asked. "And again, why would she save you?"

"I have no idea," Sarah admitted.

"No idea."

A/N: You think I know why Zondra saved her? I mean I do….

Next time:

She went into her office, closing the door behind her. She walked past Bryce sitting in the chair looking at her desk. She laid her bag in her chair and walked over to the window. She frowned. They were only on the third floor. "Maybe we should talk on the roof," Sarah muttered.

"Why, do you have something secret you want to tell me and don't want anyone else to hear?" Bryce asked, oozing charm.

Sarah turned to him, stonefaced. "You have CIA training."

"I do," Bryce admitted.

"Then I suspect you would have no problem surviving a fall from a third story window, but one from the roof…" she trailed off.

*winces* Come on back next time for the end of this episode. Feel free to leave a review. Take care.