I still don't own or work with/for Chuck.

Thanks to sharpasamarble and wendolf at for their beta reviews and comments.

The camera opens on Beckman's office, with a view of the general. Beckman is laying down the law in her normal authoritative voice. "Agent Walker, your new assignment is to work with Agent Brown. He is the most promising of the new Intersects." The only other person in the office is Sarah, who is the obvious recipient of the orders.

Sarah's eyes are puffy, but her look is calm and determined. Her voice, too, is very level and metronomic. "Ma'am, with all due respect, I would like to request some time off. I have not had any vacation in months. I have not had time to learn a new cover. This is too sudden." Sarah does not whine. If ever she would, though, this would have been the time. Yet, her spy mask is intact.

"I'm sorry, Agent Walker," General Beckman says, without a hint of sympathy in her voice, "but you are uniquely qualified to develop a new Intersect asset. At least Agent Brown is a trained agent, so you won't have to hold his hand, unlike your last mission."

"A new Intersect, who's an agent?" Sarah has just now put all the information together. And she's distinctly not happy about it. Her eyebrows pull together, a sign of impending mayhem to those who know her well.

Beckman replies with a curt "Yes. A field operative with that knowledge is too valuable to ignore. And too valuable to let dangle on his own. I will not be questioned on this. You will meet with Agent Brown and you will work with him. He is your new partner."

"Yes, ma'am," Sarah replies, very stiffly and formally and turns and marches out of the room, shutting the door behind her, just a trifle harder than is strictly necessary. The camera follows her out of the room without a good view of her face. The door shuts on the camera.

We cut to a picture of Chuck in his cell. He looks terrible, with bags under his eyes, and his hair even wilder than normal. His eyes aren't opened particularly widely – he looks tired, haggard, and depressed.

Cut to a view from over Chuck's shoulder. Chuck is viewing a monitor. All kinds of things are scrolling across it, at a reasonable speed – press clippings, still images taken from who-knows-where (but with odd backgrounds), short video clips (with bad clarity – like they were taken on a cell phone), etc. Chuck says after each item "Nothing".

When the sixth item is displayed (a picture of a man dressed as Santa), Chuck starts to flash. His eyes get the familiar look. A flash begins. The flash music starts, but it is off-key – something is definitely wrong. The flash only gets three frames in and stops. The visuals are extremely brief, but the atonal music continues. Chuck furrows his brow and closes his eyes. "Wait, stop." Chuck takes a deep breath and lets it out. He swallows visibly. He opens his eyes. "OK, let's start up again."

We again see the images changing. The man with the Santa suit appears again as the second image. Chuck just says "Nothing" in the same monotone he was using before. After the third image, we cut back to seeing Chuck's face. It is completely blank and his eyes are unfocused. The shot fades to black.

The scene cuts to Casey in the facility in the basement of the Orange Orange. He is sitting alone at the table normally occupied by all three members of Team Bartowski. General Beckman is on the screen.

"Good afternoon, Major Casey. I have good news for you."

Casey grunts cynically. "What's that, General?"

"Operation Bartowski is closing. You are in charge of cleaning up all the loose ends before returning to Washington. You have three days."

Casey raises his eyebrows at this news. "What's happening with Ch … the Intersect, then?"

The general does not take apparent notice of his slip. "Mr. Bartowski is remaining here in our care full-time. It seems he has quite a talent for this activity." She pauses and delivers a withering glare at Casey. "I'd say it's a good thing, too, as it appears both agents were becoming overly fond of their asset."

Casey matches her glare with one of his own. "What I am supposed to tell his family?"

"Tell them he went missing in an avalanche while skiing. That he died in a terrible car accident. Anything. You know the drill." Beckman has signs of additional annoyance creeping into her voice.

Casey is sitting quite still. "With due respect, ma'am, you don't know these people. They will demand a rescue mission if he's lost. They'll organize a drive to fund a mission to find him. And if I tell them he's dead, his sister will want to do an autopsy. She's a doctor, for crying out loud."

"Well, then, Major," Beckman is now giving a direct order. Her tone suggests that Casey has overdrawn his backtalk budget for the next three months. "I suggest you figure out what you're going to say, and do it quickly. I expect you in my office in 72 hours. We have a new assignment for you. Beckman out."

The screen goes dark. Casey sits quietly for a moment and then crashes his fists onto the top of the table, nearly breaking it.

Cut to a cheesy American restaurant – it looks like a slightly lower-class TGIFriday's or Applebee's – where Sarah is standing near the front door. She is dressed in nondescript clothes that neither flatter nor fully disguise her figure. She is wearing a large hummingbird pin on her chest. The maitre d' is seating a couple when a man walks in. We recognize him as Neckbeard. He looks up at Sarah (she's a good two inches taller than he is) and focuses in on the hummingbird. He leers at her, up and down, a couple times, before walking over. He leans in unnecessarily close and whispers in her ear, "Exquisite pin. Absolutely exquisite." The word 'exquisite' is emphasized both times, despite Sarah's slight nod at the first use of the codeword.

Sarah shudders and shies away from him a bit, but she is wearing her professional mask. "Thanks. It was a gift from my Oma." At the word 'Oma', Neckbeard nods.

Neckbeard extends his hand. "Agent Brown. Matt Brown." He announces this like he was announcing the winner of a major award.

"Sarah Walker." Her voice holds no warmth.

He aggressively takes her hand. "Well, let's eat and find out more about each other." As they walk to a table, Matt again ogles Sarah. A flash goes off, capturing the two of them together. Neither one notices.

After they sit, Sarah speaks again, coldly. "Well, Agent Brown, can you brief me on this mission? I have had insufficient information."

He raises his eyebrows cockily. "Why, certainly, darlin'." Brown has a southern drawl which he is only occasionally successful at disguising. "You have expertise in a certain area and I am the newest and greatest version to come out. I'll spot the bad guys and take 'em down." Matt is exuberant about 'taking them down' – he even makes a gun with his fingers and fires when he talks about it. He concludes, "You can just keep me happy."

Sarah growls at that – it sounds like she's nearly perfected her imitation of Casey. "And what's our cover?" she bites off through clenched teeth.

"Our cover?" Brown glances left and right quickly. Then he licks his lips. "Why, boyfriend and girlfriend, of course."

"Oh? Really?" Sarah is unconvinced.

"Certainly. And I'm supposed to take that pin back to my supervisor to indicate your willingness to follow your mission." His voice has taken on a bit of an edge. He reaches towards Sarah's chest, with both hands, and a determined expression.

Sarah is far too quick for him, though. She slaps his hands away before they get anywhere close to her. "I'll get it," she hisses at him. While she's casually removing the pin with one hand, Brown stiffens. He looks from side-to-side and shakes ever so slightly. After a second or so, he lets his tongue loll out of his mouth a bit. Sarah is nonplussed, but she asks, "What was that?"

"That man," he says, pointing to TwoChins, who had just entered the restaurant, "is a Fulcrum agent." Matt Brown shakes his head quickly, as if shaking away cobwebs. "I'll arrange for him to have an accident on his way home tonight."

"What?" Sarah asks. "No. That's not right. We need to report this in and …"

Matt interrupts. "No. It's too dangerous. If he makes me, I'm a goner. Don't worry your pretty little head about it." He reaches out and pats her hand, once, at which point she yanks it away, disgustedly. "Matt will take care of everything."

Cut to an exterior of the Buy More. It looks normal, except there are almost no cars in the parking lot.

Go inside the Buy More. It's pretty empty. The TV wall is an utter mess – about half are showing static and half are blank. Only one TV is still working. A ladder blocks the main walkway, near nothing which would require a ladder.

A customer is standing at the Nerd Herd desk, ringing the bell. "Hello…" she calls. "I need help here." Nobody comes. The camera follows over her shoulder to the one TV which is working.

The TV is showing a picture of a mangled automobile. The camera zooms in on the picture, while the news announcer is commenting, "A terrible accident on the Parkway claimed the life of 23 today. According to witnesses, it started when this vehicle started weaving out of control. It struck two cars going northeast before crossing over to hit three southwest-bound cars. Police are still investigating the cause." A picture of TwoChins has been growing in the top right corner of the TV. The announcer continues, "The driver is believed to have been Arthur Milner of Baltimore, who…." The TV then flashes and burns out, going black.

Commercial break #4