A/N I don't own Chuck.

Another A/N: In hindsight this prologue really is unnecessary. You can skip it and lose nothing of the story, or it might be better simply to read it as a oneshot. The intent was to create a humorous way of showing that the story was taking place in between season 3 and season 4 so that I didn't need to make an authors note explaining this: Chuck quit spying because of Ellie yet still spying on his own, following up his dad's work. Chuck and Sarah are finally together as a couple but Sarah and Casey are off saving the world without him. However, this epilogue kinda flopped because I screwed up my buymore timeline, think something things happened at the end of Chapter 3 that were actually at the end of chapter 2. So now, you've read the A/N i didn't want to have to write, feel free to skip to the first real chapter, or read the following one in good humor. Carry On.

A Dangerous Business

Prologue: Going Out of Your Door

"Chuck quit." The statement, riding on a sigh of disbelief, came out of nowhere, lifting the eerie silence that had settled in the van for the past hour.

"Hmm." The grunt held a touch of sardonic humor and a touch of... something else. "That was something to watch though wasn't it? He walked right up to the short, squeaky voiced tyrant and said he wouldn't do it anymore. I still can't believe he pulled that off."

The silence attempted to settle back in and was beginning to make itself comfortable.

"Do you worry about what will happen to us? You know- After all this is over?"

"All what is over?"

"This... All this... The sitting for hours in the back of a van watching dark parking lots for threats. The constant eye on the rear-view mirror to see if we've lost everyone who might be tailing us. At some point it will end, right? And where will we be? Dead? Or locked away in some prison where no one will remember we even exist. Or do we just wake up one day and find our life is mostly over and we've done nothing with it but peer through these damned night vision goggles and watch it slip away."

A clamor filled the van as the discarded night vision equipment bounced off the floor of the van tumbling into the back doors.

"Hey! Careful! Those were expensive!"

Ignoring the interruption the monologue continued, "And for what? Because of one decision we made back when we were too young to know any better? When we thought our actions were noble. When we thought we could stand against the injustice of the world and make a difference! But no. Ideals, intentions, noble-icity... It all went up in smoke pretty quick didn't it."

"Well," a hesitant voice responded, "it takes time to make a thing go right."

Quiet filled the van.

"Two."

Silence.

"Two what?"

"'It takes two to make a thing go right'! Come on, even you should know that!"

Another pause.

"Well, it takes time to tango."

"Are you... I mean what... how does that even relate? Never mind, I don't care. I mean look at Chuck. He's going to go somewhere. He got out before it was too late and he'll make something of himself."

"Well, he also...hold up! Shh shh shh! Hand me the night vision! There's someone..."

Through the cracked lens a bright green figure could be seen hurdling a darker green hedge and sprinting into the parking lot. Glancing backwards it tripped over a parking stop, as gun shots rang out from the direction it had come. Tucking, rolling and somehow ending up on its feet again, the figure barreled toward the direction of the van.

"Holy... I think that's Chuck!"

"What? Why would he be here? How can you possibly tell? He's wearing a ski mask?"

"Trust me, I would know that sensual shape of that mouth anywhere?"

"Mm hmm"

The man darted past the van, sprinted across the street and ducked down into the ditch running along side the road. On the far side of the parking lot, where he had first appeared, several large, angry looking men now tore through the hedge brandishing a formidable arsenal of sidearms.

"Ack, we've been made! Lets get out of here!"

Swimming through a sea of empty beer cans and subway cups, Lester pulled himself up into the driver's seat, turned the key and squealed out of the parking. Behind him, wide-eyed and unmoving, Jeff opted to stay sitting on the floor of the van with his open 6 pack, and panic in his own, time-tested manner. The bewildered guards came to a halt and stared after the strange van fleeing the parking lot, wondering if there could possibly be any reason they should follow.

A/N So I was trying to establish the setting for the story as taking place at the beginning of Season 4 and this happened. No, its not going to be a story primarily about Jeffster. Yes it will eventually support the summary's claims. Yes it will revolve around the usual suspects: Chuck, Sarah, Casey, Grimes, and maybe even Bryce? But I liked what turned up so far so I will let it sit here to be read while I work out the rest of the story.

And before you ask, "How could a story set at the beginning of Season 4 involve Bryce?" I will believe that Jack Wagon is truly dead when Fedak exhumes his verified remains and has them tested to show the amount of decomposition is indeed consistent with the amount of time that has passed since his second supposed burial.

Hopefully I was able to deceive you into thinking Sarah and Casey were musing over spylife before the reveal. Question: Was Lester's dialogue true to his melodramatic character while still a convincing "Sarah-wondering-about-being-a-real-girl" possibility? Or was it too rambly to fit either of them well?