Chuck mentally groaned, of all the times for him to get a mission he had to get it as Hannah was pouring her eyes out. A second message appeared sending fresh vibrations through Chuck's arm. "Go to Castle ASAP." it said. Chuck looked up towards Hannah; she had stopped crying but was still sobbing erratically. It pained him to see her like this and even more when he realized that they still could not be together. Nothing had changed since the last time they met, the Ring still existed; they still committed evil acts and the world was still in danger.

"Hannah," At the sound of her name, she looked up and met Chuck's gaze. "I – err… Well you see, since we were together… What I'm trying to say is that… "A dozen scenarios play in Chuck's mind. On one hand, he could bring her with him to Castle; tell her the truth and hopes that she will understand. But then either Casey or Sarah would tranquilize her and lock her up somewhere underground. On the other hand, he could leave her here; totally ignoring what his heart was telling him, finish the mission and drown his sorrows in alcohol later. Both options seemed to have rather bleak prospects.

"Chuck?" she prompted.

"Can I see you again?" he blurted out before he could stop himself. "It's just that I miss you so much, and the days after you left – well they seemed like a living hell to me. Or at least a deeper level of hell than working at the Buy More already is." Hannah chuckled weakly at Chuck's last sentence.

"How can I trust you again?" Her question was uttered in such a soft tone that it was hard to tell who the question was meant for, her or him. Watching her in such a vulnerable state, Chuck wanted to just hold her and let her cry it out. Protect her from every harmful thing in the world, kind of like what he did at the Buy More when she still worked there. But a better job this time, without all of Casey's 'yogurt time'.

"You can trust me." Chuck reassured. "I can say from the bottom of my heart that I would never intentionally hurt you." He attempted to pour as much feeling into these words as he could, hoping that somehow she would see the truth without him having to blatantly say it out.

"If so, why did you dump me after we had sex? That hurt me a lot Chuck, and I'm pretty sure it was intentional." Fresh tears were pooling in her eyes, they reflected the evening light like diamonds. Both of her fists were tightly clenched as she tried to compose herself, refusing to allow Chuck to see how much it truly hurt her. Her luscious lips were pursed tightly, stifling sobs and holding back cries.

"You have to know, that was not intentional. I only did that because it was in your best interests. It hurt me a lot too." Chuck said sadly. His vision was getting impaired by the tears forming in his eyes. Colors blurred and mixed together, shapes morphed; their lines no longer as defined. Purposely ignoring the vibrations his phone was creating, he waited for an answer.

"I don't know Chuck, we'll see." she said finally. Her tone was harsh but below all the hostility there were the barest embers of warmth. She walked off without hesitation, heading towards where they had parked. As her silhouette grew smaller and fainter in the distance, Chuck sighed. It was not a 'yes' but it was not a 'no' either. He knew then that he still had a chance.

Taking a moment to calm himself down, he whipped out his phone and answered the call. "Where are you Chuck?" Sarah questioned. Clearing his throat to remove all traces of shakiness, he told her that he would be arriving soon. A total lie considering he had no idea where he was and cabs in Burbank were never easy to find. But Chuck Bartowski was a man of his word; a promise was not taken lightly by him. Sadly, this proved to be one of his greatest traits and at the same time one of his greatest flaws.

He arrived at Castle quickly enough; inside the rest of the team was already sitting. Sarah absentmindedly chewed on a swivel stick, one of her idiosyncrasies. Casey was carefully cleaning out his favorite gun with an old rag. Shaw was idly flipping through the report he was no doubt going to present to them later. It seemed that without Chuck the other three agents did not have anything in common and silence was all that filled the time they spent together. Chuck cleared his throat loudly.

The three agents looked up from their respective activities; they actually seemed relieved to see him. Looks like the silence was more uncomfortable than they cared to let on, their shoulders dropped slightly; even Casey seemed a little happy to see him. "Hey guys - and Sarah, I have something to ask."

The three members sat up a little straighter, it was not often that Chuck used such a serious tone. "I wanted to know if - you know - there could possibly, maybe be a way for me to… ah never mind." Chuck threw his hands up to cover his face. His palms were clammy and they felt cool against his face.

"Let's just get the meeting over with," he surrendered. At his words, everyone's faces returned to Shaw, well…everyone except Sarah, her eyes never left Chuck. Shaw's voice was background noise to her, an occasional nod and mhmm, and Shaw would not suspect a thing. Chuck had on a dour expression; it looked like the face he would give if Ellie decided to move to another country. It was a reserved face, a face he put on to face the world while he reined in his emotions. For some reason, Sarah felt upset when she saw his look.

"Wait," Sarah interrupted. Everyone's gaze drifted from Shaw to the blonde agent. Even Chuck's eyes turned to her, the sudden change from Shaw's monotone mission voice broke through his chain of thought like a stone dropped into a pool of water.

"You have something to add, Sarah?" Shaw asked inquisitively. He was not accustomed to interruptions in his debriefs except from Chuck.

"No… it's just that I feel Chuck should finish what he was saying." Chuck's question had been haunting her thoughts, it was impossible for her to pay any attention whatsoever to Shaw's instructions when Chuck seemed so sad. She could ignore the surprised faces of her teammates, she could even ignore Chuck's look of questioning, but she could not ignore the sadness so clearly displayed on Chuck's features.

"Maybe, it would be better for us to focus on the mission for now." Chuck offered. The last thing he wanted was to be the centre of attention. No it would be far better for them to focus on the mission for now, as Shaw always said an unfocused spy was a dead spy. The last thing he needed was to have to handle Hannah and mourn Sarah at the same time. Hopefully his reply pacified Sarah's sudden insistence.

The rest of the meeting went off smoothly; Shaw shot Sarah several inquisitive glances which she promptly ignored. Chuck tried to compress himself into his chair so as to attract as little attention as possible, but failed to deter Sarah's gaze. Once the meeting ended, Chuck stood up to leave. Before Sarah could intercept him, Shaw intercepted her. "Hey, I was wondering if you'd like to get some dinner together, I know a great place down the street,"

"No thanks, I have plans." She replied waving him off. Not the most common girlfriend behavior.

She dashed up the stairs, her heels clanging loudly against the metal staircase. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she turned him around. He jumped slightly at her touch and gingerly allowed her to turn him around. "Hey," he started in an unusually high voice, one she recognized from whenever he tried to keep something from her.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to do something tonight?" she asked brightly.

"Uhm, aren't you and Shaw going out tonight?" he retorted. Without allowing her to speak, he continued, "Anyway our cover isn't boyfriend and girlfriend anymore remember? We don't have to go on cover dates to fool Ellie anymore." He finished.

"Friends go out too…" she countered weakly. Since when did getting Chuck to go out get so hard, normally all she would have to do is mention the word "dinner" and he would jump right off his feet.

"Come on…" she pleaded, batting her eyes. Her lower lip slowly pushed out until she was full-on pouting.

"Well… sure." Sarah did a mental cheer. "But not tonight, how about tomorrow?"

"Sure." As long as they went out, she did not mind if she had to wait for a month. Also this would give her some time to doll herself up, buy new clothes; get her hair done; go for a facial and a dozen other things. Thank goodness Shaw's briefing was not about a new mission, only a presentation on some of the new intelligence they stole. Sarah smirked; Chuck would not know what hit him.

"A date, great…" Chuck groaned once Sarah was out of earshot.