A/N: Hey guys, so I've been having computer troubles so I apologize for delay but I hope you enjoy chapter 4. I'm gonna try and get chapter 5 up as soon as I can, but no promises. Furthermore, thanks again to uplink2 for being an extremely helpful beta and catching a few small details that ended up making a big difference. R&R, looking forward to hearing what you guys think!

April 1st, 2010

Prime Minister's Palace (Rome, Italy)

8:25 P.M.

*BZZZ*

"Amazing performance Sarah." Sarah could hear Shaw clapping his hands through her earpiece. "The look on your boyfriend's face was priceless. I think it worked. Now meet me back at the van. We're going to lead Chuck right into-"

The feed was cut off before Shaw could finish whatever he was saying. Sarah was blindsided as she felt two familiar arms wrap around her and lead her quickly out of the hallway and into the kitchen.

April 1st, 2010

Prime Minister's Palace (Rome, Italy)

8:21 P.M.

*BZZZ*
"Hey Grimes, time for you to earn your place on the team."

"No need to sneer Casey, I'm more than happy to do whatever it takes to help this team. Want me to come in there and do some kung fu? Show them a little bit of Jackie Cha-"

"Hey numbnuts, shut up and listen before you take out another monitor. We need you to disable the security feed. Disable all communications in and out of the palace."

"Oh. Yeah no problem I can do that." Morgan sounded slightly disappointed but Chuck and Casey could hear Morgan typing away furiously at the keyboard.

*BZZZ*

"Listen Chuck, we need to talk to Sarah, but we have to get her alone. Knowing the ring, they've got someone watching the place and we can't be seen talking with her."

Chuck hadn't said anything, he just stood in place. He was still processing everything that he had just seen. Sarah. His Sarah. His Sarah exchanging intel with a ring elder. His Sarah who was supposed to be missing and kidnapped and trying to escape from Shaw and the ring. But no, there she was. Attending a party with a ring elder. It didn't make sense. Maybe because he couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that she had actually left, that she had purposely chosen to leave with Shaw.

It was happening again. He felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him and his knees went weak. Chuck grabbed onto Casey as his knees dropped to the floor.

"Whoa whoa." Casey lifted Chuck back up and Chuck could feel himself losing consciousness, it was written all over his face and Casey stared a hole through him. "Listen Bartowski, we need to get to the bottom of whatever's going on here and your lady feelings can't be interfering with this. So just pull it together until we're out of here."

Chuck closed his eyes and tried to center himself, after what felt like hours, Chuck let go of Casey and managed to stand up on his own, he shook his head and finally said "Ok. What's next?"

*BZZZ*

"Hey guys, so as I was trying to disable the communications I noticed that there was a firewall up on one of the incoming connections into the palace. The thing is, it wasn't just any firewall, it had encryption and coding like I've never seen before. So I started trying to trace it back to the owner and once I figured that out, I saw that-"

"We're losing time here Grimes. Get to the point." Casey let out a low growl that he made sure made its way across the comms.

"As I was saying, the signal was coming from somewhere nearby. A few blocks from the palace."

"Great so the only thing you've confirmed is that there is someone else, the ring, doing exactly what you're doing right now."

"That's not all though. I hacked into a security camera of a nearby café that was right next to where the signal was coming from and when I was looking through the tape I saw something. Well someone-"

"Buddy, we're losing Sarah, what?" It was the first time that Chuck had spoken up in a while; he was getting impatient and started to get slightly dizzy again.

"Shaw is the one with the incoming connection into the palace. He's here Chuck. Like a few blocks away from the palace here."

"WHAT? What do you mean he's here?" Chuck turned to Casey with alarm all over his face. Casey was typically the rock of the team. The one who was always sure of their next move and although he would never admit it to Casey, Chuck relied a lot on Casey whenever he felt in danger. He knew that with Sarah and Casey on his team, he was the most protected person in the world. But at the moment they were one team member down so it was all on Casey to calm Chuck down. As Chuck stared back at Casey the only thing he saw was his own alarm and panic mirrored all over Casey's face.

"He's the one who's putting up the firewall. I can take down his signal but it'll stay down for a few minutes at the most. It's got really advanced encryption Chuck…"

Chuck started to think. He needed to get to Sarah without alerting Shaw or anyone other ring members that may have been planted as guests or staff in the party. He finally spoke and his confidence started to slowly creep back.

"Ok guys, here's the plan. Morgan, you're gonna disrupt Shaw's communications in and out of the palace. You're also gonna take down the security feed inside the palace. Casey, you and me are going to find Sarah and find out what's going on. Morgan, we'll go on your signal."

"Alright Chuck, let's do this! Just gonna do a little of this… And some of that…" Morgan cracked his knuckles and started working away. "Ok bud, I'm in. You've got 4 minutes."

*BZZZ*

Chuck and Casey didn't waste any time and sped off in the direction to which they last saw Sarah. They spotted her lingering in a hallway and saw their opportunity.

"Ok Casey, you go find Shaw. I'm gonna go after Sarah."

Casey knew exactly what Chuck was doing. He had seen it before with Lou and the salami incident. If Sarah was going to say anything incriminating Casey knew that Chuck would be sure to leave it out of his report and briefing with General Beckman.

"Don't do anything stupid Bartowski."

Casey started off in the other direction and Chuck approached Sarah from behind. He wrapped his arms around her and led her off to the kitchen.

April 1st, 2010

Prime Minister's Palace (Rome, Italy)

8:26 P.M.

"Mfffmm." Chuck had placed his hand over her mouth and only took it off when they were in the kitchen. None of staff seemed to understand English so they looked safe for now. "Chuck! What are you doing here?"

"What surprised to see me? Hope I'm not interrupting your little date with the RING elder." There was bitterness in every word that escaped Chuck's mouth and it was clear that those words hit close to home. Sarah could feel the tears pooling up in her eyes.

"Chuck… Listen please we can't be talking. You need to get out of here before Shaw finds you." There was worry in her voice and Chuck could sense it immediately as she tried to push him out of the kitchen.

"Sarah I want an explanation. I don't get what's going on. Casey said that you were kidnapped. That Shaw found your red test. And… And… And that I wasn't supposed to know any of this. Even Beckman is trying to keep me in the dark about all of this. Sarah I need to know what's going on…"

*BZZZ*

"You got two minutes left buddy."

*BZZZ*

Sarah approached Chuck and placed her hands on his hot cheeks. Her cold palms felt reassuring on his own warm face and she could feel him relax just the smallest bit.

"Chuck listen, everything that Casey told you is true. I know that you're probably really confused but there isn't enough time to answer all your questions right now. I'm so sorry. Shaw is planning something. Something big and I need to stop it."

And there she was. The Sarah Walker that Chuck had known for nearly 3 years. Being an agent first and a person second.

"Sarah… You don't need to do anything. It's too dangerous. We could run. Morgan disabled Shaw's feed. We could leave right now and just start over." Chuck looked at Sarah with pleading eyes, she wanted to say yes. That's exactly what she wanted to do.

"They would just hunt us. Is that how you want to be? On the run for the rest of your life? You could never see Morgan or Ellie or Awesome ever again. You wouldn't be able to keep them safe either. Chuck, I know why you didn't choose to run away with me in Prague. You couldn't just abandon your family, I get that. You made the right decision in Prague. And as hard as it is right now, you have to make the right decision again now."

Chuck inched closer to Sarah; their faces hovering mere inches away from each other. As their faces got closer to each other he could smell familiar scent of vanilla escaping from her golden locks.

*BZZZ*

"Don't mean to rush you bud, but you've got a minute left."

*BZZZ*

"Prague was different. It's not the same now-"

"Yes it is Chuck! Listen to me, Shaw is threatening your family. Ellie, Awesome, everyone. I can't just leave. It's the only way they'll be safe." Chuck's hands balled into fists and he could feel the anger rush through his body. He had been inches away from having it all. From being with Sarah. From leaving the spy life for good. And then, Shaw had gone rogue.

Sarah lowered her hands and placed them onto Chuck's; he calmed down at her touch and sighed.

"It's too dangerous Sarah. I'm not going to risk losing you again." He grabbed her wrist and turned to leave but she resisted.

"Chuck…" She couldn't hold back the tears any longer and she just looked at him, hoping that he would be able to understand. "We have to stop Shaw and the ring. It's the only way we'll ever actually be free from the missions and spying and danger."

He knew she was right. And that's what killed him the most. He had his instincts telling him to listen to her, but his heart said something else. All he wanted was her. But at what cost was he ready to have it. At the cost of Ellie and Awesome and his friends' lives? Of course not, he could never live with himself knowing that he endangered their lives for his own selfish reasons.

Chuck wrapped his arms around Sarah's waist and pulled her into a kiss. She draped her arms over his neck and allowed herself to be embraced by him. Her tears spilled onto Chuck's cheek and it took all her might to pull away from him; she feared that if she didn't right away, she would never be able to.

"I promise you Chuck, it'll all be ok." Chuck knew that Sarah didn't make promises lightly and that was probably the only thing that stopped him from whisking her away right then and there. "You just need to continue with your assignment. And I'll continue with mine." She rested her forehead against his, not wanting to separate from him. There was something about him and his touch that made her feel so safe, regardless of the situation.

"Sarah…"

"When all of this is over. And Shaw and the ring elders are locked up somewhere, we'll finally be together." She pulled away from him and her teary cobalt blue eyes met up with his chocolate brown ones. "I promise."

*BZZZ*

"Chuck, buddy, you really need to get out of there. The van is gone and Shaw's feed is back up. Seriously dude, it's time to go."

*BZZZ*

It seemed that Chuck didn't have any more time. The kitchen door slammed open and there Shaw stood aiming his glock right at Chuck.

"Well isn't this a nice turn of events. Looks like you saved me the trouble of having to hunt you down Chuck."

"Shaw, you said you wouldn't hurt him."

"I said a lot of things. But you're both here. And no backup. Looks like I'll be able to kill two birds with one stone. Or one bullet actually."

By now the entire kitchen staff was frozen and no one dared to move.

*BZZZ*
"Hey Chuck buddy, you need to get out of there. Shaw is-"

"He's here Morgan."

*BZZZ*

It seemed that Chuck didn't need to say anymore, Casey came bursting through the door a few seconds later with his own gun pointed at Shaw.

"Game over Shaw." Shaw placed his hands in the air but didn't drop his gun. He let out a laugh and just continued to approach Sarah and Chuck.

"It's not game over until I say it is Casey. Go ahead and shoot me. I've left specific orders in case I don't make it. Sarah knows exactly what they are." Sarah's stomach dropped as Shaw turned to her and shot her an icy glare. Kill Chuck's family was Shaw's orders.

"Casey, don't! He's going to kill Chuck's family." Sarah couldn't help herself, she couldn't risk it. She had made it this far and she had made a silent promise to not only Chuck but his family as well; she was going to keep them safe no matter what she had to do to keep that promise.

"Ok Casey, how about this: I take Sarah and the nerd. The three of us leave, and you don't die today. That sound good to you?"

"Don't think that's going to work here Shaw." Casey could hear the prime minister's security approaching the kitchen and he knew that they had less than a minute before they stormed the kitchen and screwed everything up. "Here's what's going to happen. We're all going to leave out the backdoor and you're going to follow us back to our van. You're under arrest, it's over Shaw. Make another move and I drop you right here." Casey released the safety of his gun and took another step closer to Shaw.

It was clear that Casey wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger and Sarah knew this better than anyone.

"Not even close Casey." In an instant Shaw hooked his arm around Chuck's neck and held the barrel of the gun against his temple, releasing the safety as well. "Drop your weapon or the intersect dies."

"Qui, andiamo!" The security was right outside the door and they kicked the door open, causing Casey to stumble and lose sight of Shaw.

Sarah wasn't going to let any harm come to Chuck so as soon as she saw the security rush through the kitchen door she threw herself towards Shaw, hoping to at least make him lose his balance. As Sarah's body hit Shaw's with all her might, they both fell to the ground and there was a metallic clank as the gun left Shaw's hands and slid across the tiles. Chuck scrambled to get up but it seemed as if he was going back into another episode again; his knees gave out and the room started to spin. The security guards filled the kitchen with their guns pointed towards Chuck and Casey.

Shaw was still on the ground but he seized the opportunity to escape and he grabbed Sarah as he made his way out the back door.

Chuck started to chase after them but was quickly tackled to the ground by Italian security.

"Sarah no!" Chuck flashed and shook off the security guard atop him. He stood up and ran towards the backdoor, hoping to catch Shaw.

"Oof!" A heavier, beefier guard had launched himself at Chuck and they both fell down with crack as their bodies hit the stones in the pavement. Chuck had no more strength left in him to fight and all he could really do was let the security guard arrest him.

As he was dragged back inside he could hear the screeching of Shaw's tires and was left with nothing but a bruised body and the smell of burning rubber.