Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck whatsoever if I did, Shaw would have left the show in a pine box.

Warning: There will be Shate LOL! XP Its AU after Chuck´s red test and before vs American hero.

Burbank, California

Chuck rubbed his eyes as the drowsiness from a fitful night of sleep wore off. Ordinarily he could survive on six good hours of shuteye, and sometimes even less. But last night he had a hard time getting to sleep. It wasn't hard to fathom the reason: Chuck had a lot on his mind. Trying to be a good spy, the stress of his Red Test, breaking up with Hannah the way he did, and trying to repair his relationship with Sarah were weighing heavily on his mind. And as if Sarah pushing him away wasn't bad enough, she seemed to find comfort in working with Daniel Shaw, an expert on the Ring, they even had begun dating a short time ago right after he broke up with Hannah. It was taking more and more effort just to get out of bed, much less keep working as the government's most important asset.

He sighed as he threw the white sheets aside, climbing to his feet and taking a look at himself in the mirror. He had bags under his eyes from all the training and even his shorter hair looked disheveled. Maybe Ellie was right; he was seeing a few funny animal shapes in it. He took a quick shower and was in his Nerd Herder within fifteen minutes listening to some program on NPR while munching on an energy bar that qualified as breakfast in his book.

Chuck pulled up into the Buy More parking lot when he saw Sarah and Shaw pull up near the Orange Orange. He sighed in sadness. All of the events from these last few months weighed down on him, particularly losing Sarah to a guy built like Superman. The turmoil with the Intersect and how treated Hannah made coming here these days almost unbearable. That was the worst part because he should have known better. He never should have gone into a relationship with her. He felt useless.

Near noon that day, Chuck was sitting where he usually sits in deep thought. His iPhone vibrated. Chuck picked it up and saw Beckman was calling the team to Castle. Chuck walked down the steps of the Castle finding the team already assembled. Arriving last drew the usual looks from Casey and General Beckman: complete derision.

"Chuck, so good of you to join us," Beckman said in her usual stern voice.

"Intel has discovered a warehouse outside the city that could a front for the Ring. We believe they stored important material there, including their own intersect."

"We should investigate right away," Shaw said crisply, which generated nods from Casey and Sarah. Chuck did his best to not react in any way, but Shaw was a constant reminder of his place in life, or at least the one he was fated to occupy since receiving the Intersect.

The ride to the warehouse was uneventful as the team pulled up to the structure. It seemed quiet from the outside but inside was a whole diffferent matter. Chuck entered a darkened room at the Ring hideout. The team had split up to cover more ground, but they kept in touch through their earpieces. Sarah initially protested Chuck going all by himself but Shaw said he needed to gain experience.

Chuck found the room mostly empty and solitary, musing it was a fitting metaphor for how he felt these days. However, the laptop sitting by itself in the middle of the room caught his eye. He looked at it for a second and wondered if it contained any valuable information for bringing down The Ring.

"Guys, I found something." Chuck said.

"We'll be right there. Don't touch anything." Sarah replied over his earpiece. It might have been good advice had Sarah said it five seconds earlier. But when Chuck opened the laptop, it booted itself up automatically. Chuck took a step back, but static appeared on the screen as if there was no signal.

Something was definitely up with this laptop. Suddenly, images appeared on the screen, dark and disturbing images. Chuck couldn't look away as whatever was on the laptop continued to flash and Chuck saw every one of them.

After several moments, the images stopped and the screen went blank. Chuck felt the world slip away from him, and he collapsed to the ground.

"Chuck!"

The lanky nerd heard the familiar and pleasant voice the darkness tinted with fear. His eyes fluttered open to see a very distraught Sarah Walker looking down at him like an angel from heaven. But the glow soon faded as he saw that piece of wood Shaw also looking down at him and Casey as well.

"Are you alright?" she asked breathlessly as she checked him all over.

"Yes, Sarah. I'm okay," he replied as he tried climbing to his feet.

"No, Chuck. Someone has to check you out," she said nervously as she put a hand on his shoulder to keep him on the ground.

Casey rolled his eyes but avoided any commentary about Sarah's 'lady feelings.' Shaw raised an eyebrow at Sarah's reaction. Sarah said she didn't love the nerd anymore, but it was apparent to Shaw that was a lie she said at the shock of seeing Chuck kill that mark on his Red Test. Sarah Walker is irrevocably in love with Charles Bartowski.

"Leave it alone, Sam!" he growled as he all but jumped off the ground and walked away from her, enraged enough where the use of the name Sam was spat out in ignominy. Sarah flinched at his reaction and stared in shock. Chuck never snapped at her before.

"Chuck, I'm worried about…"

Chuck whirled around to face her. "Why do you care? Do I look like your boyfriend or husband or something? The asset did his job," he growled as he left the room.

As he walked away, a horrible feeling washed over Chuck. He furrowed his brow as he realized what he said to Sarah. Why did I say that?

As he walked to the van, a flash overcame Chuck. But this wasn't a normal flash. He grabbed his head in pain.

A floor full of corpses

A man colored in a grayish hue screaming but there was no sound

A crow with a human eyeball in its beak

An explosion of a downtown building killing many people

Vultures ripping apart a rotting carcass

A man aiming his gun and shooting someone between the eyes

Chuck sat frozen for a moment until the pain ebbed before climbing into the back of the van, inelegantly slamming the doors shut.

The team sat in Castle waiting for Beckman to debrief them. Sarah was very concerned withChuck. It was obvious something was wrong with him. Perhaps the Intersect was malfunctioning.

Beckman came on the screen videoconference screen. "The laptop you found is encrypted so we sent it to your father for analysis, Chuck," Beckman said.

"That was good work, Chuck. Be proud."

The screen went black and Chuck instantly got up from his seat. Sarah grabbed his arm.

"Chuck, that laptop did something to you. We should have told Beckman," she said with considerable worry.

In sharp contrast, Chuck stared at her with as ice-cold of an expression as she had ever seen on him. He shook her hand off of his arm. "I think you should go back to your latest plaything, Sam."

He walked up the stairs and headed back to work, leaving Sarah to stare at him as he left. More than just being worried about how the Intersect was affecting him, Sarah felt like she was just slapped in the face by his words. She conceded things were not the status quo between them, but never had she seen such a negative reaction from him. Chuck didn't have it in his nature. At least, that's what she always believed.

There was no question in her mind something was wrong with Chuck. She intended to get to the bottom of it if it was the last thing she ever did.

TO BE CONTINUED...