A/N: same disclaimers apply, I own nothing and make no money from it.

The next few weeks were more of the same for Chuck and Sarah; they would meet each morning at the park and run together. As the days past by Chuck and Sarah began to open themselves up to each other about what went on in their daily lives. They began to learn more and more about each other's jobs, what types of music they enjoyed listening to. Chuck would hang back with Sarah for most of the run but at the end he picked up his pace and finished well ahead of her. Despite her competitive streak she saw the logic in why he ran ahead. After each run they would each go their separate ways. Chuck would head to the gym for his work out and several days a week Sarah would go to a dojo and work on her martial arts skills.

Sarah was getting ready to head to work when her secure phone rang.

"Cole secure"

"Cole its Grimes, I have a project you may be interested getting in on."

"What is it?"

"Project Omaha, the goal is to load all of our secrets into an agent's subconscious. When they see certain cues it triggers the program."

"Wait! You're talking about the intersect project? I worked on that when I was in training."

"I didn't know you were involved with the project."

"During my time off from the DLI they brought me back to help with it. I told them it sounded rather dangerous. What if it bakes their brains or something?"

"I'll send you all the information we currently have and update you as needed. If you opt in I'll make sure to pair you with a good agent."

"Send me the information and I'll look it over"

Second week Oct 07

It was an even more boring Wednesday than normal when Chuck got called into his supervisor's office.

"Morning Chuck, have a seat," Mr. Bowden said, motioning to the chair on the side of his desk. Chuck sat down and waited for his boss to continue. "Normally I wouldn't ask you to do this but we have a chance to make a major sale. First Bank of America is looking to upgrade some of their software. The job you did for that company in Germany earlier this year seems to be the key. Word got out about how good our firewall and virus software is and they used your name as the sales person. So I need you to go over there and see if we can land the account."

"Mr. Bowden, I'm not a salesman I'm just a guy that checks software for bugs. I don't think I'm the best person for the job."

"I'm not worried about you doing a sales pitch; they contacted us, our foot's already in the door. Here's your contact, you're expected there at one."

"I'll give it my best try Sir" replied Chuck as he rose from his chair and left the office.

After a quick lunch and a cab ride later Chuck was being escorted to the IT department manager's office. Chuck caught a glimpse of legs and a flash of blonde hair turning into one of the offices. Once inside the office he went over the firewall and demonstrated how fast he had breached the one they had in place. He opened a file he had created earlier in the day from his office and showed it to them. It contained various bits of financial data and copies of several employees' emails. After about an hour the crew emerged for the office and filtered away. Chuck was shown to the executive lounge to wait as the powers to be went over his proposal. While he was there, several of the females from the floor stopped in to get things out of the refrigerator and left shortly after they came in. That trend did not keep up for long as more and more women came to retrieve items and hang around chatting. When one of the woman brought up a subject chuck was familiar with he joined in the conversation.

Down the hall a pissed off Sarah was pulling up all of the bank's financial records making sure the intrusion was limited to just the one area and had not gone anywhere else. With all her CIA training and the skills she learned while working, she was concerned that something more devious was going on. With Sandy on break and her need for coffee increasing she made her way to the lounge. The closer she got she could hear the laughter of several women coming from the now open door. When she walked in she was startled at what she saw. Standing in front of her with his back to her was a tall man in a suit surrounded by her fellow female workers. He was moving his arms making some kind of animated motions, each one bringing more laughter from the sea of women surrounding him. As she stepped into the lounge she was greeted by a call from her assistant.

"Sarah! Sarah, come here you have got to meet this guy," Sandy was practically squealing as she made her way towards her. She grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the man. Sandy the tapped Chuck on the shoulder to get him to turn around, and when he did he got the shock of his morning. Standing before him was Sarah, looking more beautiful than he had ever seen her. All he could do was stare into her eyes and smile. Sarah was just as dumbfounded as he was as she returned his gaze. Her breath hitched when she noticed who the center of attention was. She had seen lots of men in suits before, but damn he looked good. Sandy noticed the intense looks passing between the pair and spoke up first.

"Sarah this is Chuck Bartowski, Chuck this is my boss Sarah Walker."

Chuck continued to stare into Sarah's eyes as he reached out to take her hand in his, "Should I call you Sarah or would you prefer Miss Walker?" Chuck asked remembering the conversation they had when they first met. Chuck felt the same tingling feeling he had the last time he held her hand only this time it spread upwards and into his chest. Sarah wasn't doing much better than Chuck was, the tingling sensation had also spread to her chest but along with that she felt a sudden warmth that she never felt with her ex boyfriend. Slowly they let go of each other's hands and for some reason both got a small chill when their hands finally separated.

The conversation finished Sarah made her way to her office where she flopped down in her chair. Her mind was racing as she went over the last half hour. She was thrown off by how much an effect Chuck had on her today. Sure they were running with each other on a regular basis, nothing like that should lead to the powerful reaction she had today. She debated her options for several minutes then picked up a phone she hadn't used for several months. She dialed one of the analysts she knew at Langley.

"Hey Joe, its Andrea Cole and I need a favor."

"Sure what do you need?"

"I need you to run a complete back ground check on Charles Irving Bartowski, he works at Vanguard Software in San Diego."

"You got something on him? Should we send somebody out to keep an eye one him till you get what you need?"

Sarah let out a small chuckle before she answered, "It's nothing like that Joe, I just need to make sure he's clean and not on anybody's radar. We have a tentative date scheduled and before I accept I need to be sure."

"It's about time you started dating again, that last guy was a dud."

"Come on Joe you know how hard it is for us in this business. The good thing about this guy is he travels like I do so he'll understand when I have to go away. Send anything you find to my secure email and I'll check it when I get home."

"Will do and best of luck."

Meanwhile across town another similar conversation was taking place.

"Waltrip secure."

"Bradford Secure, I need you to run a check on a Sarah Lisa Walker. I want to take her out this weekend and she needs to be clean."

"No problem Sam, it's about time you got back in the saddle. I'll let you know when I have something."

"Thanks Brian, Bradford out."

The next morning the couple could be found running as they did everyday during the week. About a quarter of the way through the run Chuck began to speak.

"Sarah, do you have any plans for the Friday after next?"

"Nothing is on my schedule that I know of why?"

"I know this great Italian place near my house and I was hoping you would like to have dinner with me."

"Only if you throw in a movie afterwards," Sarah replied.

"Great, I'll let you know next week what time I'll pick you up. Are you ready to pick up the pace a bit?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Besides getting to know a great guy I'm in the best shape of my life.

The week continued on, both of them waiting for the weekend and the end of another week. Chuck was looking forward to playing in a two man beach volleyball tournament on Saturday while Sarah was anxiously waiting for the spa day she planned with several of the women from work. Saturday ended well for both parties with Chuck's team coming in fourth and Sarah having a great day at the spa. Sarah's week ended on a down note, she was contacted by her handler that she would be needed for a short two week mission. Her mission was to review the books and make sure the bank was no longer funneling money to terrorist cells, like they had in the past. Her cover was she represented a larger bank interested in taking over the struggling smaller firm. She would be leaving the next morning, but did not have to be at the building till Wednesday, allowing her some rest after the long flight. She began packing her bags in preparation for her trip, making a quick call to Chuck's office leaving him a voice mail explaining she need to go on an unexpected trip for her job to the east coasts main office.

First week of Nov 07

Chuck arrived at the running park like he did every morning only today he had an air of happiness around him. He had received word from Dennis that Sarah was clean as a whistle with no ties to any known agencies nor did she have a criminal record or shady past. When she didn't show up he began his run at a slightly faster pace than usual wondering if the events of last week were too much for her and she wanted to tone things down until after they had dinner. He pushed himself through a grueling workout after the run as well. When he finally arrived at work and found one message on his voice mail. He picked up the phone and listened to what it had to say.

"Chuck, its Sarah, I got a call last night and I have to go out of town on Monday. It seems Congress is trying to push through some new financial reforms and we're trying to be proactive on meeting their requirements. I'll be gone about two weeks and I would love to have dinner with you when I return. I'll call you when I get back." And the message ended. Just hearing Sarah's voice would have brightened up his day, but knowing that he had a date when she got back was like a ray of sunshine cutting through the clouds on a rainy day. Later that day Chuck's secure phone rang for the first time in months.

"Bradford Secure"

"Grimes secure, it's been a long time Sam. How's life been treating you?"

"It's going good Morgan, but I doubt that you called me to ask about my personal life. What's the mission?"

"Always straight to the point huh Sam, I always did like that about you. I reinserted one of my other agents where she got her start with the company. This agent is not to work alone so I always assign her to a team. One of the men that have been on site for years blew out his knee over the weekend and won't be able to assist if things go south. I need you to stay in the background on this one. If anything happens get her ass out anyway you can even at the cost of yours."

"You're sending an agent in that can't protect herself, seems kind of risky to me Morgan."

"I can't tell you much about her but she's the best at what she does. She has a unique skill set that few people do, and I have to protect that. She's more like an analyst than an agent. She hasn't even popped a guy yet, and I'm not sure if she can. That's why I need you there as back up."

"Not a problem Morgan, send her information my way and I'll look at it at home before I head out. On a personal note however, I met a woman and asked her out. I already ran the back ground checks and she's clean, not a mark anywhere on her records."

"It's about time Sam, I'm happy for you. You were dark for a long time so have a great time with her and I hope it works out for you."

"Thanks Morgan, I'm out." And he ended the call with a final thought, huh that was easy.

Almost two weeks later

Since his arrival in Denmark, Sam had been keeping a close watch on Andrea Cole. She was a tall brunet about five feet eight, with a very attractive build. Whenever she left the building and ventured around town he was always with in fifty feet of her. He was getting daily reports on how the mission was going and he sent in reports of anything he thought was suspicious. He was in constant contact with her team, even though he never met with any of them.

With the nature of his mission, Sam used a different disguise everyday to remain unnoticed. Andrea may not be a field agent in the true sense of the word, but he did not want her spooked if she saw the same man day after day following her. The disguise he chose for today was that of a middle age man with grey hair and slightly overweight build. He added glasses and a beard to further keep him unrecognizable. He was sitting on a bench watching Andrea Cole and company as they made their way across the open court yard. He noticed immediately that something was off, Andrea was not walking with the normal confidence she normally did. Instead she was shuffling along turning her head side to side as if she was looking for somebody. The two men she was normally with were standing closer than they did every other day.

Sam jumped off the bench and began making his way over to the trio. His earwig came to life and one of the agents assigned to Andrea came to life and a raspy voice saying they had been compromised and to get the extraction team there ASAP. A few short painful breaths later the earwig went dead. He quickly removed his favorite knife from its hiding place as he advanced toward Andrea and a quickened his pace. The knife was held in his right hand and covered by a news paper he was pretending to read on the bench. He decided quickly to take out the man on the right whose arm was wrapped around Andrea's waste pulling her along.

When he got close enough he feigned a stumble and came into contact with the first man. He tilted the knife to the correct angle and drove it into the man's back just above the kidney and below the ribs. The blade of the knife bisected the lung and perforated the pulmonary artery resulting in almost instant death. When she felt the man holding her suddenly let go she made her break and attempted to get away. She wasn't that lucky. The second man grabbed her arm and held on to her wrist spinning her around. She saw nothing but malice and hate in the eyes staring back at her. Suddenly the arm fell away and the man dropped to the ground on his knees. Blood was soaking through his jacket, around the area of his arm pit, at an alarming rate. She knew that the biracial artery must have been severed and she glanced at the man who went down first. A large pool of blood was already on the ground spreading in all directions from his prone form. The last thing she saw before her extraction team herded her into the waiting vehicle was the back of a middle aged man disappearing from the courtyard.

A few hours later Andrea was a plane back to the states and away from carnage she had seen a few hours ago. All she wanted to do when she got back was have a stiff drink and take a long soak in her tub. She debated calling Chuck but couldn't come up with a way to tell him two guys tried to kidnap her.