Port of Los Angeles Tuesday 11:30 p.m.

All seems well until heavy footsteps stomping on asphalt are heard, as well as the sound of a loud male voice echoing in the night air.

"Bryce, where's Chuck!?" screamed Casey running across the dock at full sprint. He's holding a handgun in his right hand, a MK Sniper Rifle strapped on his back, and wearing black tactical gear.

The burly NSA agent runs up to Bryce who is assisting Travis in order to keep him on his feet as they, along with his family, are running towards him. Casey sees that the 4th member of Team Chuck Travis Riley is badly injured and looking considerably weak as he has trouble standing upright. His wife Shannon, who is carrying their baby son Wesley, is following close behind with her two daughters in tow exuding a look of fear, disbelief, and uncertainty as to what is happening around them.

"He's not with you!?" screamed back Bryce. "Chuck told me he was going to find you!" he added.

Casey quickly reaches Bryce who immediately stops and slowly eases Travis on the ground in between the two men. As the two men kneel down to check on him, Travis' wife and kids hover over them greatly concerned about his health and well being. Shannon comforts her two daughters as tears stream down their cheeks all-the-while rocking her baby son Wesley who is crying up a storm.

Shut the kid up he repeated over and over again in his head. The sound of baby Wesley just added to the all out chaos that has been happening not only at the Port, but all around Los Angeles. Casey places his left hand on Travis' left shoulder as he scans him over for any additional injuries. From the sound of his heavy breathing, he assesses that he may have suffered several broken ribs.

Travis, even in his severely weakened and injured state, tries to get up but Bryce stops him from doing so. As he tries to get up, he keeps repeating the same sentence over and over again. "I got to go help Chuck." he painfully responded in his disoriented state.

"No, you're not." Bryce firmly stated. "We're going to get you some help man. Just stay still." he quickly added glancing up at Travis' wife.

Things have most definitely not been going well ever since Chuck got the call this morning and with Sarah and now Chuck's whereabouts unknown the situation has gone critical. A number of innocent people have either been injured or killed and all because of one man. A man who was released or should I say was busted out of a C.I.A. detention facility by he, Sarah and Chuck because all other options didn't pan out.

The series of events that have led up to this moment have been both physically, mentally, and emotionally draining. From the word go Team Chuck has been running through hoops in all different directions throughout the city in order to rescue one of their own. Casey shakes his head knowing not only how exposed they were individually and that by separating the team it gave the perp a big advantage.

Casey's thoughts are suddenly interrupted by Bryce who quickly points up behind him.

As he turns around, he spots Chuck in the distance frantically running up an orange crane that has two arms extending above the water. From the look of how high the monstrous structure is he surmises that its around 50-100ft high and that is where Chuck is possibly going to end up.

"Stay with him!" ordered Casey looking directly at Bryce.

The adrenaline is pumping in Casey's veins as he gets up, turns around, and sprints towards the nearest large metal crate, which is just a few yards ahead. He sprints towards the crate with purpose all-the while locating Chuck who is being chased up the stairs by the perp who deviously planned the entire operation. An operation that would have succeeded if wasn't for Chuck's quick thinking.

The newly appointed Colonel reaches the large metal crate in question and immediately climbs up and inevitably rolls on top of it all in one fell swoop. When he gets up, he rushes over to the end and kneels down inevitably reaching around him in order to ready his MK Sniper rifle. He readies himself and looks through the scope searching for not only Chuck but also the perp who is chasing him.

As he's searching, gun shots are heard causing him to tense up a bit. Stay alive Bartowski or I'll kill you myself he thinks to himself. After a brief moment, he has Chuck in his sights and from the looks of things his location is on the orange extended crane arm above the water. From his scope, he can make out Chuck taking cover as shots are fired at him but thankfully miss.

Casey is unable to get a clear shot because of obstacles blocking his way. He feels a sense of immediate frustration as he's helpless to do anything at this point. All he can do is keep the perp and Chuck in his sights until he can find a clear opening to get a shot off. The situation is intense as he sees through his scope Chuck suddenly being held at gun point by the way he is holding his hands up but the perp is not in sight.

Come on show yourself. As Casey grips his MK Sniper Rifle tighter every part of his body tightens up to the point where he's breathing harder through his nose. He watches as Chuck backs up to the edge of the arm crane and as he does looks down at the water below. Casey keeps his scope trained in that area where the perp is in relation to the location of where Chuck is standing and waits for his chance to take the shot.

After much waiting, he has his chance as the perp steps out and takes action by pulling the trigger. In a matter of seconds, the perp goes down from a pinpoint head shot but his victory is short lived as he sees Chuck's body fall to the water below. Casey springs to his feet, jumps off the metal crate then runs full force, drops his weapon upone reaching the edge of the dock, and dives into the water frantically swimming over to the area of the water where he fell into.

He takes a deep breath and dives down. Seconds pass by but there is no sign whatsoever of Casey or Chuck for that matter. The stillness of the water is eerily haunting but is suddenly disrupted as Casey's right hand shoots. He has his left arm under his lanky teammates left arm and over his chest as he swims him over to a wooden dock just below the concrete dock.

"Hold on I got you!" he stated considerably tired and out of breath.

Casey eventually reaches the wooden dock. As tired as he is, he pushes with all his strength Chuck's body up on to it. He pulls himself up and immediately checks his life signs and for breathing, which there are none. He does see a bullet graze to the right side of his forehead near his temple. Its at this point, he begins C.P.R. since there is no pulse and he's not breathing. As this is happening, Casey is screaming at Chuck.

"Don't you die on me Bartowski!" he screamed. The chest compressions and breathes continue as a number of sirens are heard in the distance.

XXX

Seaside City of Santa Monica Tuesday 5:30a.m.

Its peacefully quiet without hardly anyone around except for 2 people. Chuck Bartowski and Travis Riley are jogging side by side on a 5 mile run from The Santa Monica Pier Stairs to The Pier, down to the beach path and then turning around heading back to The Santa Monica Stairs. It's become a daily ritual for the two men ever since Travis became a member of Team Chuck.

He was a bit hesitant at first because Chuck never really considered himself a runner. Granted, he would run to and from dangerous situations but that didn't really count as exercise. In any case, after the first couple of days experiencing cramped legs he grown used to it to. Chuck and Travis always kept a nice comfortable pace with each other neither one having the mindset that it's a competition in order to see who can get to the location first.

Chuck is wearing a his light blue faux pas shirt with the picture of a dog above the 2 words. He also has on Adidas black track pants with white stripes running down the side, always sporting his favorite pair of chucks on his feet, and on his head a ball cap turned backwards with the dodger logo on it. Travis, on the other hand, is wearing a black shirt with the words Kneel Before Zod and the picture of Zod's head above it. Grey Nike track pants and running shoes to match. He isn't wearing a hat but he does however have two ear buds in both ears connected to his Ipod that is strapped to his right arm.

As Travis is jogging along listening to selected tunes from his Ipod, Chuck reflects back on the events of the past 2 months since he and Sarah got engaged. They first person they informed was Ellie who was so ecstatically overjoyed jumping up and down hugging Chuck first then Sarah. While she was in her embrace, Devon, in his own awesome way, gave him a side hug and then gave the obligatory fist tap to which Chuck reciprocated.

After Ellie and Awesome were informed Sarah shared the news with her own family. They too were ecstatic to where her father Jeremiah Wexler said its about time as he slapped him on the shoulder giving his soon to be son-in-law his hearty congratulations. Its was at that point word spread like wildfire to the point where Sarah and Chuck received phone calls, as well as text messages from their friends congratulating them on the getting engaged.

He remembers Sarah, her mother Emily, Cassidy, Ellie and Mary going into full on wedding planning mode. It's something he gladly left those 4 women to handle. All he had to do is to show up at the wedding and pick a best man, which he instantly knew would be Morgan. However, upon asking Morgan to be his best men he declined much to his surprise and made his offer or in this case his plea to be the one to marry the both of them because he is after all an ordained minister. The role of best man went to Awesome.

It would be a tough sell for Sarah but she reluctantly agreed. In any case, after careful thought on when they would actually be getting married they mutually agreed for June 19th, 2010 on a Saturday afternoon. Plus, it would the same place that Ellie and Devon were married at. Speaking of Devon and Ellie, they informed Chuck he would be an uncle and that bit of news caused him to flip his lid upon hearing it.

The wedding plans concerning Sarah would be one woman short as she and Devon went up to visit his parents to not only inform "The Awesomes" they are going to be grandparents, but spend a week up there with them. He received a call from Ellie yesterday that they were having fun and coming home at the end of the week. When it came to his own business, he took 3 days off just because he can and when it came to leaving someone permanently in charge who better to choose than his secretary Beverly Kim.

Chuck's thoughts are abruptly interrupted by the sound of Travis' voice. He turns his head over to his teammate and friend as they are jogging back towards the Santa Monica Stairs. "You excited about getting married dude?" he asks a bit out of breath.

"What do you think Trav?" he responded back with a huge grin on his face.

"I think…" Trav pauses for a moment to avoid stepping on dog poop. "…I think you two are going to make the best married spy couple since Mr. and Mrs. Hart."

Chuck glances at Travis upon hearing the comparison to the fictitious tv couple. "Mr. and Mrs. Hart weren't spies. They were amateur detectives who solved crimes." corrected the pop culture aficionado.

"That's beside the point." replied back Travis. "All I'm saying is you two are so made for each other its ridiculous." he added.

Chuck could only responds with laughter at what Travis said. The two men eventually reach The Santa Monica Stairs and after a moment or two they reach the very top. Travis bends down to stretch his legs and as he does that Chuck puts his hands on his head in order to breathe in more oxygen. Chuck looks down and is about to talk to Travis again when someone grabs him from behind causing him to let out a girlish scream.

Travis quickly looks up to see a man dressed in black with a mask on holding Chuck at gunpoint. "Don't move or this man get's it." threatened the masked man in a low gravely tone.

XXX

Top of The Santa Monica Stairs Tuesday 6:00 a.m.

"Don't freak out Chuck." Travis calmly stated.

"That's easy for you say." he quickly blurted glancing at the gun that is currently pressed against the side of his head.

As the standoff ensues, Travis quickly assesses the size and build of the masked man. To the 4th member of Team Chuck, he surmises that he's the same size and build of Chuck. Travis stands there with his hands held in front of him and at the same time he does that he tries to calm down a very freaked out Chuck from getting shot in the head. He doesn't want to give the man any reason to shoot him and immediately tries to negotiate with the masked man.

"Hey, let him go…" Travis pleaded in a calm manner. "…he doesn't have any money and neither do I." Travis cautiously takes out his ear buds and slowly removes his Ipod from the pocket sleeve strapped around his right arm. "Here…her take my Ipod but please just let my friend go." he added holding out to him.

"Put it on the ground." the masked man ordered.

The masked man's gravelly voice sends a chill down Chuck spine being so close to his right ear and all. Chuck feels his entire body tense up and the perilous situation he's already in causes him to sweat even more. He didn't know what is about to happen as he stares frantically over at Travis who is trying his best to encourage the masked man to take his Ipod instead of potentially killing him.

Chuck knows one thing that worked for him and even though it only worked when it involves needles he decided to use it. However, before he could pass out the masked gunmen pushes him over to Travis who catches him. Chuck quickly turns around to stand next to his teammate inevitably facing the man in black who has his weapon aimed at the both of them. He slowly picks up the Ipod and puts it in his pocket.

"I want you to answer me this question." he said. "Do you think you can do that because if you don't the both of you die." he added.

Chuck quickly turns to Travis and has this look of complete fear in his eyes. In that instance, he knows that they may not make it out alive whether they answer the question right or not. The tall, lanky business owner suddenly realizes if he dies along side his friend and fellow teammate over an Ipod no less his dreams of marrying the woman of his dreams would not happen.

One thing is for sure, if he or Travis dies Sarah and Casey would stop at nothing to find the bastard who is responsible for their deaths. If he knew Casey at all after working with him for the past 3 and half years, he wouldn't let Sarah dirty her hands with the scum. He wouldn't arrest him either but instead make him disappear and erase any signs that he ever existed. It was something that he found quite disturbing and yet good to know.

He nodded at Travis telling him that they are going to risk answering the question even though they have no idea what the question is. As they both turn to their heads to face him, Chuck responds. "Okay…" He pauses to take one big elongated gulp. "…what is the question?"

Travis is totally baffled as to what is going on right now but doesn't dare make any moves for Chuck's sake. The former nerd leader has the most important piece of intelligence the government in order to stop potential threats from happening and he wants to keep it that way. He doesn't want to be the cause of Chuck's death and have her be angry at him and be blamed for the possibility of the team disbanding because of having an error judgment.

The death of Chuck Bartowski would haunt him for the rest of his life. If it does happen and he is left to live, he wouldn't be able to handle it to the point where he would walk away making the 3 person team a 2 person team. He doesn't want end up looking into Sarah eyes or be in her presence every single day knowing it would make it all the more difficult to handle. Travis shakes those thoughts from his mind as he prepares to her what the question is.

The two men being held at gunpoint listen very intently as they are about to hear the question from the masked man. "ghaj yoD wep?" Chuck and Travis have a confused expressions on their face to the point where they glance at each other wondering what is going on. They then hear the masked man continue. "Hija? Ghobe?"

There is a brief pause leading Travis to respond. "Ghobe." Travis slowly said.

As he says, that the masked man lowers his gun down and takes his mask off. "You know Klingon…" the man replied in a clear voice. "…I'm impressed."

Chuck's eyes widen looking at the man before them. "Bryce?"

XXX

Base of the Santa Monica Stairs Tuesday 6:15 a.m.

"Hey Chuck." he said expressing a smirk on his face. "You look good."

"Hey Chuck? Hey Chuck!" he responded in absolute disbelief. "You scared the crap out of me! What was all that about!?"

"You know I wouldn't have shot you."

"Oh really." he quickly blurted out. "I just about had a heart attack." he retorted holding his chest and then checking his pulse.

Travis is watching the supposedly friendly banter going on between the two men and decides to jump into the conversation. "So you're the infamous Bryce Larkin." he stated quirking his right brow. "I heard a lot about you."

Chuck lets out a hint of laughter as he bends down placing his hands on both his knees in order to compose himself from what just happened to him. As he is bending down, he hears Bryce respond.

"Good things I hope." replied Bryce with ere of arrogance in his voice.

"Eh." he responded shrugging his shoulders. Travis looks him up and down furrowing his eyebrows." You know…" he says with his arms crossed. "…you're a lot shorter than I imagined you to be." he added. "I thought you'd be taller."

"Funny." Bryce sarcastically responded.

"So Boba Fett…I mean Bryce." Travis purposefully said to him. "What reason are you here other than scaring the living the daylights out of Chuck."

"Yes, I would like to know that as well." responded Chuck still bent over.

Bryce glances at Chuck who is currently bent over trying to compose himself from his little prank he pulled on him. It amuses him that even after all these years he's still the same man he was when he first met him back in Stanford years ago. However, there was something about him that changed and even though he still screamed like a girl he seemingly exuded more self confidence the last time he saw him.

"Can't I visit an old friend?" Bryce asked. "Is that reason enough for you?"

"No…" Chuck said standing upright. "…I know you Bryce. What's going on?"

Chuck sees him brief pause and then respond. "Nothing…" he replied holding up both hands. "…I'm telling you the truth."

Travis glances back and forth from Chuck to Bryce as they head towards he and Chuck's vehicle. He knows there is history between the two after the stories he and Sarah have shared with him. "Are you here on a mission and need our help again?" Chuck wondered.

"No mission." replied Bryce shaking his head. "How is Sarah?"

I knew it! Chuck immediately knows why Bryce is in Los Angeles but more importantly mainly in Santa Monica. He must have gotten wind somehow of he and Sarah's engagement. He didn't know what his intended purposes is when it came to his fiancé and knowing him he would try something to get under his skin even though they buried the hatchet after he told him to take good care of her.

"Sarah is fine Bryce." he replied shooting him a look. "You do know we're engaged right." he said heading towards his car.

"Really? I didn't know that." he said with a innocent tone in his voice.

"Come on Bryce." he responded shooting him another look.

"Okay…" he said. "…I do know and I'm happy for Sarah. The best man won."

Chuck nods. "Cool, see ya later then." He gives a quick salute to Bryce and the turns to look at Travis. "Same bat time, same bat channel Trav!?" hollered Chuck.

"You bet." retorted Travis getting into his car.

Chuck is about to get into his car when Bryce leans over on the roof of the passenger side. "Let me just say hi and talk with her a bit and then I'll be on my way."

Bryce's request causes Chuck to laugh and shake his head in disbelief. He is truly astounded at the clear jealousy he's having because Sarah didn't chose him and that is bruising his over inflated ego. Chuck looks straight at Bryce and decides to cut him down to size. As he is about to speak up, he hears Travis' car engine not turning over. After hearing several more times, he sees Travis get out of his car looking straight at him."

"I guess my battery is dead. Can you drop me off at my house so I can take the mini van and get a new battery?" he asked looking at Chuck.

"No problemo." Chuck looks from Travis back to Bryce. He sees the desperation in his eyes and can't help but feel sorry for him. "Fine…" he said pointing his finger at him. "…you better make it quick though."

A smile appears on Bryce's face upon hearing what Chuck said concerning seeing and talking to Sarah. All 3 men get into Chuck's black 2 door 2009 Honda Insight with Bryce in the passenger seat and Travis sitting behind him. it's a relatively quiet car ride to Travis' house. Its around 6:30 when they arrive in Brentwood and after turning into several street they finally arrive at his house in a courted area, which allowed Chuck to easily circle around instead of turning into someone else's driveway.

Upon looking at it, he can see it a typical 2 story house with a white picket fence and a 2 car garage. Nothing really special he thinks to himself. Chuck stops in front of Travis' driveway, which has a green minivan parked in it.

"Thanks man, you're a life savor." Travis says getting out of the car.

Chuck sticks his head out the window looking up at him. "I always got your back buddy."

The two men exchange fist taps leading Travis to jog towards the front door of his house. Chuck circles the court and as he passes Travis' house he gives him a semi wave along with a head nod goodbye to which he reciprocates back as Travis steps into house. Back in Chuck's car, there is a brief moment of silence until Bryce opens his mouth.

"So when are you and Sarah getting married?"

Chuck is about to respond when all of a sudden an explosion occurs behind them that causes him to immediately stop the car putting in park. He and Bryce get out of the car leaving the doors wide open. They both see Travis's house engulfed in flames.

"TRAV!? SHANNON!?" Chuck yells as he runs towards the house quickly followed by Bryce.

Chuck is about to reach the house when a second explosion occurs knocking both pf them to the ground. A look of horror washes over Chuck's face as he slowly gets up with the help of Bryce who is totally shocked at what he just witnessed. As they both stand there, Chuck's Iphone begins to ring. He takes it out of his pocket looking at the number which reads unknown. He presses the accept button and places the phone to his right ear.

"Did you get my message Mr. Bartowki?" the digitized voice asked.

XXX

NOTE: Hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter of my new story. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think.