Hi all- Here is the first chapter of my first Chuck story. I hope you enjoy it!

Please read and review to let me know what you think and if I should continue. Thanks!

CSCSCSCSCS

It was two in the morning when the phone rang. Chuck startled awake, then rolled lazily to the side so he could reach it. He felt a flicker of annoyance but it only lasted a moment. Getting calls at all hours of the day and night was normal in his household. Between his jobs as a nerd herder and a spy, he'd had even more wake up calls than most on call doctors.

The only unusual thing this time was that he was alone. Normally Sarah would be there to nudge him awake, reluctant to answer the phone herself. But Sarah had gone on a mission with Casey earlier that evening, and he wasn't expecting her back for another few hours.

When Chuck saw Casey's picture pop up on the screen, his first thought was that maybe his teammates needed the intersect after all. He didn't mind being sidelined on this mission. It was fairly straightforward, and he knew his wife was more than capable of taking care of herself, but Chuck was still hoping to get in on the action.

"Yeah Casey?" he answered, his voice a bit groggy from sleep.

"Chuck? Where are you?" asked Casey.

The urgent tone of Casey's voice gave Chuck goosebumps. His body was immediately flooded with anxiety.

"I'm at home. What's wrong? Where's Sarah?" Chuck asked his questions in quick succession, hoping against hope that she was safe.

"Not sure. There were more guards here than we thought and they caught her. I don't want to go in until I have backup."

Chuck's blood ran cold. He pushed the button for speakerphone and hurried around, throwing on the first pair of pants and t-shirt he could find.

"Where are you?" he asked, searching for the keys to the Nerd Herder.

"An abandoned warehouse outside Santa Barbara. Beckman's trying to send backup, but there was a bomb threat at the state house and they're understaffed. Damn terrorists!"

"I'll be right there!" Chuck promised, rushing out the door while Casey gave him directions.

As he drove down the highway, faster than the legal limit, Chuck took deep breaths to steady himself. He was worried about Sarah, there was no question about that, but he knew she would get out of this. She'll probably have escaped by the time I arrive, Chuck told himself. There was no better fighter than Sarah, and he had the utmost faith in her. That didn't mean he was going to drive less than eighty miles per hour though.

When Chuck reached the address Casey had given him, he immediately spotted Sarah's Lotus, next to which stood the colonel. He grabbed his tranq gun and hurried over to his partner.

"Any word from Sarah?" he asked.

"No, but I think she's on the top floor. I heard voices coming from there but there were too many guards to stage an attack. Are you ready to fight?"

Chuck nodded, his face set, and followed behind Casey.

"When we get up there," Casey whispered, "we're gonna sneak in and shoot as many as possible before they see us. Your main job is to get Sarah free so she can help us fight. Got it?"

Chuck nodded his agreement. He had confidence in Casey's abilities and would do whatever he said, especially to save Sarah.

As the men approached the top floor, they heard the sound of angry voices. It sounded as though someone were being threatened, and Chuck felt sick knowing it was his wife. Casey took a quick glance inside of the room, and then whispered to Chuck,

"Nine guards. Three are armed...shoot them first."

As soon as Casey gave him firm nod, Chuck went in and aimed his gun at the first guard he saw, shooting him with two darts to be safe. He looked over at Casey and saw that he had taken down the other armed guards but was now fighting off three more men, apparently having lost his weapon..

Chuck looked at Sarah for a brief moment. She had a trickle of blood running down her face but seemed otherwise unharmed. Chuck couldn't reach her though, because two burly men were approaching him, fists clenched. Chuck shot the larger of the two, but the single dose of tranquilizer didn't seem to be strong enough. As he lifted his gun for the second time, the other man kicked it out of his hand.

Chuck flashed on some martial arts and took the heftier of the two men down fairly easily. The second man seemed to be more highly skilled though, because he was putting up a good fight. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that the last guard was untying Sarah from the heavy chair, already starting to drag her away. This made Chuck smile to himself, the guy had no idea that Sarah would have him knocked out on the floor within seconds of getting her hands free.

Chuck turned his focus back to the man with whom he was fighting. His opponent was in excellent shape, but Chuck was confident that he would win the fight with just a little more time. The muscular man was already growing tired.

He chanced a glance at Sarah once more and grinned when he saw she had already taken down her opponent. She began making her way over to help Chuck, when one of the men Casey had been fighting made a run for it. He dashed up a nearby staircase, and Sarah followed him.

Less than a minute later, Chuck finally dealt a blow to his opponent's head that was strong enough to knock him out. He looked over at Casey and saw that he was battling one last particularly fit man, but seemed to be holding his own. Without another thought, he raced up the stairs to find Sarah.

He climbed up to the roof and was relieved to see her immediately, dealing a roundhouse kick to the muscular man's head. He felt the familiar swell of pride rise up in his chest as he watched his wife's physical prowess. He moved quickly to help her, worried because she was still bleeding a bit from the head, but as he approached, her opponent managed to give her a hard push towards the edge of he building. Chuck's breath caught in his throat. He wished he had his gun, but it was somewhere entirely unreachable on the floor below.

Sarah planted her hands on the low wall behind her and kicked her feet against the chest of the large man before her. He fell to the ground and for a moment Chuck thought he was down for the count.

Chuck looked at Sarah and was about to smile in relief, but then he noticed that the guard was still conscious. He shouted out something, he wasn't sure what, and Sarah realized that the man on the ground was moving. She went to kick him again, but he reached out one of his immense hands and grabbed her ankle, throwing her off balance. Then, with his other hand he grabbed Sarah's other foot and lifted both her legs up, causing her to lose her balance and begin to tip backwards.

Everything that happened after that seemed to Chuck to be in slow motion. He ran towards her, hoping to be able to grab her hand, but wasn't fast enough. Sarah grappled with the side of the roof, and for a second Chuck thought she would be able to catch herself. But to his horror, his wife's hand slipped from the wet edge, and she tumbled backwards, out of Chuck's line of vision, an expression of fear on her face.

"Nooooo!" yelled Chuck. He didn't even bother to look off of the roof, instead finding the nearest fire escape and climbing down as quickly as he could. The ladder was slick with rainwater as well, and he nearly slipped and fell himself. Somehow he managed to reach the bottom safely though, and he rushed over to where his wife's body lay, forebodingly still. A part of Chuck wanted to run away and never look back. He didn't want to see his wife lying so lifelessly. What if she's...he thought, but couldn't bear to finish the sentence, even in his own head.

But despite his fears, there was no way that Chuck would be able to avoid going to Sarah. He was drawn to her as strongly as he always had been.

Chuck finally reached Sarah's body, and he felt the panic within him threaten to boil over. He would never be able to forget the way she looked in that moment. One of her legs was angled in a way that made him feel sick to his stomach, and her hair was caked with blood and dirt. He got down on his knees beside her and slowly, soulfully, moved her hair away from her face. Her right cheek was already bruising and the rest of her face was white in the moonlight, but the only thing that concerned him was the spot on her neck, just below her jaw, that would tell him whether he still had a reason for living.

He felt around for a few seconds, getting more and more anxious, until he finally felt the slow but steady rhythm that was her pulse. Feeling a seed of hope, Chuck glance down at her chest and saw an almost imperceptible rise and fall.

Grateful beyond words that she was still alive, Chuck took out his phone to call for help. Once he had explained to the operator what had happened and where he was, he hung up and dialed Casey's number.

"Where are you?" Casey asked at once.

"I'm in the back of the building," answered Chuck, "on the lawn. Sarah...Sarah fell off the roof!"

"Be right there," Casey answered, and the call disconnected.

Chuck slid his phone back into his pocket and huddled over his wife once more, begging her to be okay.

"Help is coming, Sarah. Just hang on. Please, hang on. You're gonna be fine."

He hoped to God he wasn't lying.

CSCSCSCSCS

Thanks so much for reading! Please review!