Disclaimer: I don't own 'Chuck' nor the production companies nor the WB or NBC. No latinum has exchanged hands so y'all know the drill... not even the Ferengi are profiting off of this.

A/N: 'Chivalric Impulses' was going to be a one shot... end of story. And as soon as I posted it the question crossed my mind... Why didn't Chuck have the Intersect? How did it happen? A couple ideas grabbed my attention and then morphed into 'then what happened' questions... It's all AU non-canon which seems to be what I do...

one:

" Happy Birthday Chuck! "

Chuck gave his wife a toned down version of the Bartowski Grin... known to have women tearing their clothing off and throwing themselves at him. Actually it was just one woman and she seemed to be temporarily immune. " Thanks babe. I think you and Ellie really out did yourselves this year. "

" So you were okay with it? " Lou asked hopefully.

" You know I was. " At least he hoped her immunity was temporary. " We had fun today... all of us. Y' know... Ellie gave me a birthday party several years ago with a bunch of her nurse and doctor lady friends... It had Morgan and me trying to sneak out the Morgan door to escape... "

He briefly considered upping the wattage to the Bartowski Grin. Or he could add the tried and true Bartowski Eyebrow Dance in a rather potent combination. No, that might be considered over doing it...

" You were trying to sneak away from your own birthday party? " Lou really did love to hear about her husband's misadventures with his best friend.

" You had to have been there, " Chuck said defensively. " They were all very intimidating... real as Ellie called 'em... asking about my five year plan and what type of 401K plans did I prefer... They didn't get our jokes and their eyes glazed over when we talked about our gaming. Ellie sent Dad to find us before we could make our getaway... "

Lou yawned hugely, then gave him a sheepish smile. " Sorry... "

Maybe that was the problem. He'd been using the Bartowski Grin way to often so she really was building an immunity to it... " I'm going to let you get some sleep and I'll get some office work done... "

Chuck glanced at his watch. " It's after midnight so my promise to Ellie to stay off the computer is now null and void. I'm way to wired so I'm gonna go and check on my emails, make sure that Jeff and Lester haven't destroyed the Buy More... "

" You aren't mad at me or anything? " Her gorgeous brown eyes gazed anxiously into his.

Chuck frowned at his bride. " For what? "

" Well I know you smiled the Bartowski Grin and normally I tear my clothes off and throw myself at you... " Another large yawn interrupted her.

" Considering that all you have on are panties... er... do you need a tee shirt or something in case it gets a bit cool later? "

" Nope! I'm hoping that after an hour or two nap that my husband might wander back into the bedroom and be over whelmed by the naked beauty in his bed and... "

Chuck gave his wife another toned down version of the Bartowski Grin. Lou returned the grin with a wicked one of her own as she quickly shimmied out of her panties...

" Wow... it does work! "

" I did mention a naked beauty in your bed... "

Chuck nodded. " I must learn to use this power for good... "

" That smile is for me only, " Lou warned. " Fiery Italian remember? Now go get your work done... "

" Yes dear... " Chuck dropped a kiss on her forehead and turned the table lamp off. As he left the darkened room he could hear her nestle under the covers with a sleepy 'Night Chuck'.

He made his way into his office space and got his lap top up and running. He opened his personal account and considered an email address and subject matter. It appeared to be from his dead college roommate, Bryce Larkin and it had been dated for his birthday three years earlier. It had had his mind churning with questions and memories for most of the day.

He minimized the email window and pulled up his saved documents and after entering a security code, opened a particular saved email. That email had shown up in his personal account the day after he helped Sarah Larkin deal with the drunken British Accent in a bar...

Hi Chuck,

My name is Sarah Walker and I was an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. I'm from a future alternative universe from yours... is the best way to put it. I'm sure you think I'm crazy but it's true, and in my world I was in love with Chuck Bartowski... your other self. He was my partner, my friend and my lover and I'd hoped that one day he would be my husband and he was a spy too.

I met my Chuck about 9 years ago after Bryce Larkin stole some very important national secrets that were subliminally encoded in a neural computer program and all of this was uploaded into a human brain... one of the most unique minds on the planet, Chuck Bartowski, my Chuck.

A special team was created with an agent from the CIA, myself, and another from the NSA, Colonel John Casey, to protect Chuck and help him utilize the Intersect program in his brain. Chuck was able to flash on pictures... voices or other triggers and the neural computer program enabled him to retrieve the intel and understand it. Our mission lasted for almost 4 years, until Chuck was assassinated by an enemy agent, Mary Bartowski.

Chuck was the center of a very unique group of people, his sister Ellie and her husband Devon, Morgan, Casey and his daughter Alex, Jeff and Lester, Big Mike and others. These people became my friends and 'family' and that group fell apart after his death. My world, my dreams, my hopes ended with his death and I suppose I went a bit crazy.

I wanted Chuck alive and happy and I decided the only way that could happen was to stop Chuck from becoming a spy... the Human Intersect. I remembered some science fiction movies and books from living with Chuck and with Morgan's help I spent a couple years looking into the viability of alternative universes, if they existed and how they might be created. Morgan has become my best friend and a sort of colleague in this endeavor.

We discovered that were is a team of scientists working on a covert NSA project using alien technology to create a time travel machine. One of their scientists was a Dr. Jake Burroughs who posited that alternative universes were indeed possible if time travel could be made a reality.

With Dr. Jake's widget that he created based on his 'number of the beast' alternative universes formula and with Casey's help, Morgan and I 'borrowed' the time travel technology from Operation Back Step. By tweaking or adjusting a few historical things and incidents, we stopped the Intersect from being sent to you. Right or wrong I had to do this... I wanted... needed you alive. I know you are and that you are happily married to Lou.

Morgan has taken the time travel machine back to our universe... at least I hope it's still there. Dr. Jake wasn't sure if by changing things our universe would cease to exist, or it might simply be absorbed by yours into a unified reality, or if it would continue on it's own path just without Chuck and without me. If he makes it back, Morgan has promised to get his life back on track with Casey's daughter Alex and to be happy.

One last thing he did was help me get this email into your computer system. I'm not sure why I'm telling you this. Even though you aren't my Chuck... I guess I wanted you to know about a Chuck Bartowski who loved a Sarah Walker and she loved him in return... especially if Dr. Jake's worse case scenario does happen and my universe vanishes.

I was not a religious person during my spy life but I find myself hoping and praying for a heaven... some sort of after life and that my Chuck is there, waiting for me to come home to him... I miss him so much.

Have an awesome life Chuck Bartowski, enjoy your family...

Sarah

ps... If you should run into a gentleman who goes by the name of Jack Burton, keep a tight grip on your wallet.

If you should run into a CIA agent named Daniel Shaw, put him down like you would a rabid dog... preferably with a bullet between the eyes.

If you should run into a skinny, rapacious red head named Carina something... well you're on your own there.

My real name is Samantha Lisa Kent if you ever get a chance to meet her in your universe...

SW

After returning to his email account, Chuck gazed at the address and subject matter; deep in contemplative thought. He had a gut feeling that he knew what was in the recent email based on Sarah Walker's email. The 'Intersect' was something that had cost Sarah Walker's Chuck Bartowski his life if she was to be believed and for some reason he did.

He realized he was partly basing much of this opinion on his brief encounter with Sarah Larkin, and he was honest enough with himself to admit it may not have been particularly rational on his part.

He did not want to make Sarah Walker's actions... her death... be in vain. But something was going on within him... within his heart and soul.

It had started when he had stepped between Sarah Larkin and British Accent, when he had responded to his normally dormant chivalric impulses. Those impulses were no longer willing to remain dormant. Fortunately Lou had found it rather sexy.

He recalled the bed time stories his Mom had read to him before she vanished from their lives; stories of heroes, of brave knights doing brave and heroic deeds. He remembered reading superhero comics like Superman and Spiderman when he got older. And he remembered wanting to be a hero his Mom could be proud of... not an easy thing when you were a tall, skinny nerd...

He opened the email and found a brief note...

Charles:

I am Frost. I'm a deep cover spy working for the United States Government. And I am your mother, Mary Bartowski.

About three years ago a CIA agent, Bryce Larkin, broke into a secure government facility and stole a very special neural computer program that also had all of the nation's security secrets subliminally encoded within it. It was called the Intersect. It was meant to be embedded in a human mind to create a super spy.

Larkin was meant to send it to you in an email but some hacker interfered. My partner, Orion, was able to retrieve the email and send it to me. We were unable to trace the hacker, to ascertain their motives for blocking the email or uncover whether they were a private or government entity.

And why now? There is a joint CIA / NSA group, Team Intersect, who have been searching for the Intersect program and intel since Larkin stole it, and they have come dangerously close to finding me and the Intersect. We know there are rogue covert groups within the government and the various Intelligence agencies.

We feel that the time has come to create that super spy... you. Based on certain tests you took while at Stanford in Professor Fleming's class you may very well have the only mind that can handle the Intersect. I will be honest that others have tried and died. I know it will be dangerous. But I I know that you can do this. You can be a super hero like Clark Kent or Peter Parker.

If you chose to do this, after you've down loaded the Intersect, it will unleash a virus that will destroy your computer hard drive and it will also back track and destroy the computer hard drive on this end...

Chuck got very busy the next hour transferring the things he wanted to keep from his lap top to a thumb drive or two. He had been wanting a new one for a while and was willing to sacrifice his old model...

He returned to the encoded email from Bryce and clicked to the next page. He studied the challenge Bryce had there for him to solve. It was based on the old Zork game they had played around with in college...

The answer dawned and he typed it in... 'Attack troll with nasty knife' and hit enter...

tbc