HI readers still dont own Chuck or Max.

Thanks again to my Awesome beta D-no

On with chapter 2.

Sarah glanced worriedly at the passenger sitting silently in the back seat of the car. Chuck hadn't moved since Beckman had sent over a replacement car for the now unidentifiable Herder, he just sat there staring into space. He had probably been more professional on a mission in the last hour than he had been during the last two years. He had simply stayed out of the way during the fighting, no Intersect 2.0 flashes, no classic Chuck one liners, hell he had even let the medics fix up his small injuries with no complications. All in all Chuck was finally acting like an agent should, and that scared her. They were half way back to the Castle when the oppressive silence got too much for her; she turned around to ask him what was wrong when Casey in his usual fashion, cut across her.

"We need to catalogue those damn papers," He said gruffly, staring straight at the road If she didn't know any better Sarah would have thought that Chuck's unusual behaviour was worrying Casey as well.

"Why? I thought we were going to send them off," She replied, her eyes still focused on the mirror view of the backseat and it's occupant.

"They're in some sort of numerical code and the General wants the Intersect to read over them and see if he flashes on anything. Also, Fulcrum can't be working alone on this one, so we're meant to try and find out who they are and take them out."

That was the longest sentence Casey had spoken in about a month, which only increased Sarah's feeling that Chuck's stillness was affecting their NSA associate

Why them? Why now? Why him? Why? Why? Why?!!

Those thoughts just kept running demented circles around Chucks head, things were bad enough for him recently; having to re-upload the Intersect, having the chance to be with Sarah and then losing it and now this! He had thought the past was behind him, he thought he and Ellie were finished with Itex, he thought the Flock was safe, but even after 16 years fate just loved to screw him over.

"Chuck?" Sarah's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Huh? What was that?" He asked shaking his head slightly.

"I said 'are you ok?'" she eyed him with concern shining in her azure eyes, "you've been acting kind of spaced out."

He paused; all the ways that he wasn't ok were poised on the tip of his tongue ready to spill out, but he simply smiled, mumbled something about just being a bit tired and expressed a wish to go home. Casey tried to order him to the work they had been assigned to them, but Sarah cut him off with a warning glare and soon Chuck was walking wearily into Casa Bartowski's warm living room then a realisation hit him hard. He had to tell Ellie!

He strode to the kitchen to find his sister and Awesome talking and laughing, they looked up when he came in.

"Chuck what happened?" Ellie said taking in his dishevelled appearance and the gauze strapped above his eye.

"Yeah, dude did you fall over on a date again?" Chimed in the Captain.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said quickly waving them away. "Hey, Ellie do you want to go for a walk?"

He stressed the last word hoping she would get the hint; she just looked at him weirdly.

"Chuck you just got back home, you're hurt and it's getting dark. Why would you want to go for a walk?" She raised her eyebrow as she questioned him.

"You sure you don't want to go for a walk, Nova?" He was pushing it a bit with Devon there but it was the only thing he could think of to get her to listen to him. Her eyes widened almost comically with understanding.

"Oh yeah! Now that you mention it a walk sounds great!" She said hastily.

"Hey babe, how come you never go on walks with me?" Devon asked but the siblings had already left.

Normally Chuck loved flying; it was something that allowed him to forget all the stuff he had to deal with, all the stress, but now the weight of what he was about to unload onto his sister pressed against his heart.

"So are you going to tell me what this is all about?" Ellie enquired swooping beside him as the lights of L.A swept beneath them. She nudged him when he didn't answer her. She hadn't seen him this quiet since they had moved in with their father and mother all those years ago. She remembered those days like they were only yesterday.

Flash back

"Hey Grey, why so glum?" The then 14-year-old Nova asked her younger brother. He had been distant since they had found their parents and left the Flock, she had been sad to say goodbye to the others too but it what was best for them, and it wasn't as if they wouldn't see the Flock again, Max had said they would visit a lot and call too. So what was up with Grey?

The boy in question just stared at the bare wall of his new room and sighed, nerves were showing in his big brown eyes. Nova stat down on his bed and stroked his hair, trying to tame his unruly curls that were making "animal shapes" as Nudge called them. He looked a lot younger than his 11 years at that moment.

"It's going to be fine you know, we're going to be fine here." She said reassuringly, in a way only big sisters can pull off.

"What if we get caught?" His voice was timid as he continued to stare at the wall.

"We're not going to get caught, ok?" He looked up at her, eyes wide and she continued. " Look, we can retract our wings completely. No one will even know we're different. Itex and the School are gone, our parents seem to be nice and if things don't work out we can always go back to the Flock, so what's to worry about?"

Grey smiled at her in a way of answer, it was a smile that lit up the room and she smiled back.

"Charles, Eleanor, dinners ready." Their newfound father called them from downstairs.

They just grinned at each other, bumped fists and raced to the stairs.

End Flash back.

Ellie sighed, that had been a long time ago, slowly Nova and Grey had become Eleanor and Charles and they in turn had become Ellie and Chuck. Now they only called each other their Flock names when the Flock came to visit or when they were in trouble. Now it was obviously the latter.

She glanced at her brother again, his face was calm but he was obviously fighting inside. His shoulders were stiff, tension rolled off them in waves and his chocolate eyes had turned ebony, heightening her worries of how much trouble was coming their way.

"Grey?"

He turned to her in the air and said with a resigned tone:

"We're in trouble."

She knew it.

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