A/N: Thank you to all of you who are reading, and to all who have taken the time to review. It is greatly appreciated.

Special thank you to JoeltotheD, and quistie64.

Also, thank you to mxpw, beta extraordinaire. You should go vote for him at the Awesome Awards. He's awesome.

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Chapter 6: The Component

December 2, 2009

"That's the door to Level Two," Casey said, pointing with his finger.

"A hallway," Chuck observed. "Well, seems easy enough."

"Ah." Casey extended his arm to block his way. He showed him a coin, before throwing it across the corridor.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Chuck wasn't sure what it was exactly that gushed out of both walls, but it definitely seemed like it would be painful to be on the receiving end of it. "Oh," he winced.

"Here's where you flash."

"Okay." Rolling his shoulders a bit to relax his body, he focused on the hallway. The acrobatics flash came to him easily, and he sprang into action. He dashed forward and tumbled through the passage, landing perfectly on his two feet. "Mission accomplished," he said, and pushed on the entrance panel to open the door.

"Pace yourself. We've still got fourteen more levels," Casey reminded him.

Indeed, Casey and Chuck were currently on a Trace Cell mission. That's what Beckman had called it. In other words, they were spy-proofing a subterranean vault that held some of the CIA's most valuable assets at their Los Angeles facility. They needed to break through fifteen levels of security to get to the vault.

With Shaw in D.C.—between Shaw's off grid covert missions and his meetings in D.C., it was hard to keep track, so Chuck had no idea what Shaw was doing—the tension was palpable between the two partners. Well, it was palpable on Chuck's side, anyway. He had been on edge all day. Sarah had told him via text messages to stay put until they could talk about Casey's old commanding officer, and that there wasn't any reason to believe that Casey would suddenly do anything against him. Still, while Chuck was ultra-observant of his teammate, he wasn't acting any differently.

Using, in addition to acrobatics, athletics—the triple jump had been handy—and various parkour techniques—the double tic-tacs he'd done on Level Twelve had been awesome!—they went through the different levels, some of them really nasty. The one with lasers had been inspired. He'd have to remember to congratulate the designer in his report.

"Ugh. That was manageable," Casey said, once they got to the last level. "Now, Bartowski, watch the door."

"Uh, shouldn't we stick together?"

"No. Always gotta have somebody watch your back." Before Chuck could protest, Casey had already disappeared inside. He kept watch as instructed, even though he didn't think anybody was coming. They had been pretty good during the exercise.

A few minutes afterwards, Casey came back. "Here," he said, flattening a piece of paper against Chuck's chest, with a little more force than necessary. Chuck looked down at it while his partner was already leaving.

It read: "From the desk of Gen. Diane Beckman, USAF. Job well done."

––––o–––––o––––

"Unfortunately," Beckman said, while taking off her glasses, "your mission at the CIA facility was too late. The vault had already been compromised, and a secret component was stolen."

"A secret component, General?" Chuck asked as he shot glances at an impassive Casey across the conference table.

"The information is above both of your pay grades, Chuck," Beckman answered sharply. "It's a highly sensitive item, and we need to get it back. We think this might have been an inside job; only a handful of our people knew it was being kept in box 102311. Did you notice anything unusual?"

Since he hadn't stepped inside the room, Chuck turned to Casey.

"No, everything appeared in order," his partner answered.

"Very well. I'll keep you updated as soon as our analysts find out more. Stay on alert tonight." And as usual, she abruptly disconnected the feed.

Chuck turned his gaze to Casey and asked with curiosity, "What do you think this super-secret component is?"

"You heard the General," Casey said. He stood up, and started walking into the armory. "It isn't for us to know."

The timing was really suspicious. Just the day after Chuck had seen a Ring operative talking with Casey, something went missing from the CIA facility they'd been assigned to check on. It was a hell of a coincidence. Chuck tried not to let his mind wonder excessively on the subject as long as he couldn't talk to Sarah, but that conversation needed to happen soon.

He didn't want to believe it. Casey was his partner, his friend. Before the flash, he would never have believed any accusations against Casey. He was the spy he trusted the most beside Sarah. One of the most loyal people he knew. Casey betraying his country seemed completely ludicrous. However, yesterday he and Sarah had trapped one of her ex-partners. Not only was Amy a traitor, but she'd been trying to kill Sarah for several months. What kind of person did that? Was there anybody he could really trust?

Also, not helping matters was that he hadn't had time to verify if the FBI had arrested Amy. Sarah said that Mike Fulton was a good guy, and there was no reason to think otherwise. But who exactly was he anyway, for Sarah to trust him like that? And she had barely given Chuck any details about what the ex-CAT Squad member had told her. Sometimes dating—or whatever it was they were doing—a woman that embodied the secretive part in secret agent was challenging, and frustrating. It was even more difficult when she was off the grid hiding from both the government and a major criminal spy organization.

Chuck decided to head home. It was already late, Casey was still at Castle so he couldn't check on the FBI, and Sarah might call.

––––o–––––o––––

She didn't need to call. Sarah was already waiting for him.

She made Chuck jump as he closed his bedroom door. "Sarah?" he said, keeping his voice low.

"Hi, Chuck," she answered, from his desk chair by the window.

One day, he hoped that finding Sarah waiting for him in his bedroom would be a source of something other than alarm or worry. Today wasn't that day. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to talk about Casey."

"Why didn't you call?" Chuck removed his messenger bag and dropped it at the foot of his desk. "I shouldn't have left you that message," he said, more to himself than her. "What if they find you?"

"Chuck, relax," she said. "It's gonna be fine."

"But I thought you couldn't come back to California."

"I won't stay long, don't worry." Chuck couldn't help but frown a little. That wasn't exactly what he meant. He was always glad to see her. "You seemed a little stressed out about this Casey thing—"

"I'm sorry," he cut her off, and he sat down abruptly at the edge of his bed, facing her. "I'm fine, you don't need to worry."

"I know," Sarah said. "That's not what I meant. It's just…" She rolled the chair to him, and put her hands on his knees. He could feel the cold through the fabric of his slacks. "It's Casey."

Casey had been Sarah's partner too. He should have known she'd come to clear things up. He reached out, and joined their hands between them, finally calming down. Sarah was here.

The parting kiss he had given her the day before at the warehouse wasn't that far away, and yet it already seemed like ages ago. Chuck took a minute to look at her, really look at her. Although she seemed a little embarrassed by his scrutiny, Sarah let him watch her in silence. He was amazed she could still look this great when she was obviously exhausted. Small bags had started appearing under her eyes. Her complexion was really pale. She wasn't wearing any make-up, and he could see the bruise on her jaw she had developed the day before. Her loose hair was stuck under the collar of her jacket. She was wearing a zipped black jacket and a simple pair of jeans. She was beautiful.

"It's good to see you." He pulled on her hands to make the chair roll and swivel a little bit. He moved in for a hug, and squeezed his arms around her. Her scent had always been intoxicating, and even though it was mixed with the cold, this time wasn't any different. He felt his body relax at her contact.

After a little while, she broke the silence, and asked if anything else had happened. Chuck explained the Trace Cell mission the team had gotten earlier—probably with more details than necessary about the flashes he'd used, but Sarah didn't seem to mind—and Beckman's following debriefing.

"It's a hell of a coincidence," she said when he finished. "If Casey's up to something with this, we need to find out."

––––o–––––o––––

"Two years. Two years of missions, training, I'm his friend. How could all of that have been a lie?"

Chuck and Sarah had decided to keep watch on Casey. He was still in Castle, so they were in Sarah's car—a black Chevrolet Impala. Chuck didn't see what was wrong with it, but considering the care, or lack thereof, Sarah had for the car, it seemed that she didn't like it much. They were parked at a reasonable distance, where the parking lot cameras couldn't record them.

If it hadn't been for the fact that they were waiting for their (ex)co-worker to reveal whether he was a traitor or not, Chuck would have considered the evening a great one. He had surprised Sarah with sizzling shrimp for dinner, and had played some music from his iPhone; they had had something akin to a stakeout-date. But they were spying on their (ex)co-worker, and Chuck still couldn't believe it.

"Sometime people change," Sarah told him. "You move forward as a spy, and the line between right and wrong becomes more and more gray. You don't know what to believe in, or who to believe in."

"What about you?"

Sarah fixated on Casey's Crown Vic through the windshield, and she seemed to be thinking about her answer for a second. "I guess it depends who you ask."

"What do you mean?" Chuck spun his shoulder towards her a little bit.

"Amy," she said and glanced at him. "I don't know, she said she knew what I did."

Chuck turned completely in his seat this time. "Did she tell you?"

"No, but," Sarah paused and bit her bottom lip, "given the insinuations she made, it sounded pretty bad. The CIA doesn't think I'm much better than her, if not worse." She looked away, focusing back on the Crown Vic.

That was to be expected. They had all but put a burn notice on her, after all. Comparing herself to Amy was a bit excessive, though. "You're nothing like her," he said firmly.

Sarah met his eyes, probably surprised at his vehemence. He held her gaze for a few long seconds; there wasn't any way he'd let her doubt about this. She was rogue because she didn't have a choice.

Eventually, she swallowed, and said, "Well, Casey isn't either." She paused. "Even if we thought it could be true, we should at least give him the benefit of the doubt before throwing him to the wolves, unlike what they did to me," she said. "But we both know that he must have a good explanation for Keller."

God, she was amazing. It was a little disconcerting that even in her situation she was still the one reminding him of his trust in people. It was fitting, though. If there was anyone he could believe in, it was her. A swell of affection came over him then, and before he realized what he was doing, Chuck blurted out three little words.

"I love you."

Sarah's eyes bulged, and she stiffened in the driver seat. Also, someone seemed to have removed all the oxygen from the car. They both had ceased to breathe. His statement had taken them by surprise, and they engaged in another one of their awkward staring contests. Her eyes seemed to shine more than usual in the darkness of the compartment, Chuck thought.

It was true, though. Of course, he loved her.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Wow, I'm not sure I could have chosen a worse moment than this. Forget that I said anything." Chuck thought about it for a second. "Actually, no, don't forget about it, because I meant it, just…" He pressed his fingers against his eyelids, searching his words. "Let's ignore it," he added, feeling completely lame. "For both our sakes." Sarah was still watching him intently, but hadn't reacted at all. He shook his head, perhaps hoping he would wake up. "God, I'm sor—"

Chuck was cut off mid-word when Sarah finally moved. Her hands came up to rest on both sides of his neck, thumbs brushing against his jaw. It made him shiver. She closed the distance, and just like when she had greeted him in Phoenix, it took Chuck a moment to respond. There was just something brain-melting about Sarah Walker unexpectedly kissing him.

A slow tingle of excitement ran through his entire body when he saw Sarah, her eyes still shut, moistening her lips and holding onto him as they parted. He squeezed her hips faintly, and gave her another peck, before turning his eyes back to check on the Crown Vic.

For once, his timing had been perfect. His partner was just sliding into his car.

"Casey's leaving," Chuck declared.

––––o–––––o––––

Casey hadn't been going home. They had rapidly found that out.

He had driven a long time for a simple night outing, Sarah's grip on the steering wheel had grown tighter, and Chuck had felt himself tense a little bit more with every passing minute. They had almost lost him a couple of times during their tail, but eventually ended up in the woods and next to what seemed to be a cabin.

"I think I prefer old warehouses in creepy industrial areas to the woods," Chuck said, and shifted his shoulders against his clothes to get more comfortable. He and Sarah were currently crouched down in the bushes, behind the cabin. It was a little chilly in the middle of the night, and humid, and silent, yet not completely without sound. It all reminded him that there was a reason he preferred video games to camping.

"It shouldn't be long now," Sarah replied.

Indeed, the guard who was patrolling around the place appeared at the corner. Sarah looked at Chuck, and waited for his nod to shoot him with a tranquilizing dart. Chuck immediately rose to his feet and caught the guard in time to break his fall, avoiding alarming the other guards. They grabbed his weapons, but didn't hide him. No time.

"We should synchronize our watches," Chuck said. Sarah tried to hide her brief smile, but failed miserably. "What?"

"Nothing."

"I like saying that," he said with a shrug, but he was smiling.

"I know." Sarah looked down at her watch. "Just activate the car in two minutes starting now."

Casey had entered the cabin a few minutes previously, so they had sprung into action quickly.

Chuck nodded to Sarah, and proceeded to get into position. They had counted five guards: two down the road, two at the door, and one on patrol. Now that the latter was out, the plan was for Chuck to take out the two guards down the road on the right, while Sarah went left to take care of the other two.

But first, they needed a diversion. That was Chuck's job. He squatted down; his back flattened against the wall, and dug out a rectangular remote from his backpack. It was the same remote that was in the glove box of his Herder. After he had come back to Burbank, Chuck had put together an emergency stash; equipment he kept in his room with him. The remote was one of them, along with his tranqs, and other various items. The beauty of it was that, with the right parameters, the remote could be used for his car and both Casey's and Shaw's.

It wasn't quite KITT yet, and unlike the Herder, he couldn't put it into gear and drive it. The CIA nerds hadn't worked on that yet, but the gadgets inside were fair game. Chuck pressed on several buttons, until he saw the Crown Vic come to life. Or rather, its left headlight. The guards reacted at the sound, searching for its source, but there was nothing they could do. The rocket launched from the car. The whooshing sound boomed out until the missile crashed into the SUV parked a little ahead in the yard. The explosion overturned it onto its right side, and it splashed loudly on the ground.

Chuck let the remote fall to his feet, next to his bag, and grabbed his tranq gun. He flattened instinctively even more against the wall and waited. As soon as the guards at the door would come into her range of vision, Sarah would start to take them out, and Chuck would move in from his side. What was taking her so long? Did it not work? Maybe the guards hadn't moved like they'd hoped.

Gun shots sounded in the distance. Putting aside his worry about Sarah, Chuck stood up and flashed. Despite the movements, it didn't take him long to take out his assigned guards, who had carefully gathered around the Crown Vic to inspect it.

Chuck crept around the corner getting ready to join Sarah, only to be abruptly stopped by a sharp pain in his chest. It hurt. His mind went blank for a second. The air left his lungs. Time slowed down. Chuck looked down at the bullet hole in his jacket.

He barely had time to wonder about where the sixth man came from, before a second shot hit him—harder. This time, Chuck fell backwards and crashed to the ground. He heard himself groan at the impact, and pain stabbed his entire body. The sixth man approached, and even as his vision blurred, Chuck saw the barrel of the handgun lifting to aim at his head, and end him.

It wasn't a gun shot that he heard next, however, and the whooshy dart wasn't meant for him either. Neither were the two others that followed it. Fighting to breathe and keep his eyes open, Chuck saw the man collapsed at his feet. He heard Sarah shout his name, and she rushed to him, lowering herself down to the ground beside him.

As she zipped opened his jacket, he finally felt air becoming available again, making him cough roughly. "I'm okay," he managed to tell her with a strained voice. "That vest was a good idea after all." She had insisted that he'd wear one. He felt very grateful for it at the moment—for her.

Sarah's hands came to his face, and she bent down to brush her lips against his forehead. "Yes, it was," she uttered. She kept close for a moment. He took one of her hands to reassure her, or maybe to reassure himself. Frankly, he wasn't sure who needed it more right now. The prickle emanating from his front was still strong, but Chuck's breathing eased.

"We need to get to Casey," Sarah said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Yeah, I'm good."

Sarah helped him up, and they walked to the door, weapons ready. When they reached the entrance, the door swung open, revealing Casey and a gun.

"Walker?" he grunted more than asked. Judging by his current expression, he was pissed and very unhappy to see them. That was saying something, because Casey's expressions weren't pleasant by default. "What the hell are you two doing?"

Chuck put down his weapon and glanced inside the cabin. James Keller was lying unconscious on the floor. Likely dead, Chuck corrected.

"Uh." He exchanged a brief look with Sarah. "We should ask you. What are you doing with the Ring?"

"That's none of your business," he said flatly. "What are you doing with a fugitive?"

"Oh, cut the crap, Casey," Chuck heard himself say in an irritated voice. It always raised his hackles when Casey would doubt Sarah. Even more so since she hadn't questioned him, and they had much more information on his situation. He had clearly been in contact with the Ring. "We're here to help. What's going on?"

Casey squinted slightly at him. He must have taken in Chuck's appearance for the first time—a bit dishevelled, jacket opened, bulletproof vest with two apparent impacts—because he asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Chuck replied, a hand lifting up to touch his chest. It hurt like hell. "Why are you working for Keller? What's this component you stole?"

"I don't have time for this," Casey said. He started moving, gun still pointed at Sarah. She tracked his movement with her own weapon as well.

"You're not going anywhere," she said.

Casey's left hand fished a little box out of his pocket. "If that's what you're after, take it," he said, and threw it to Chuck. "I need to go." Casey didn't move further, though. Instead, he watched Sarah closely. It reminded Chuck of that time the other man had taken him to Silver Lake. The same expression was plastered on his face.

"Go where?" Sarah asked. "What do they have on you?"

It took another few seconds for Casey to respond, but he eventually relented and put down his weapon. "Before I became John Casey and was recruited for NSA Black Ops by Keller," he said, and glanced at the cabin, "I…I had a fiancée." Chuck felt his eyes pop open at the news. "Twenty years ago she was the girl I was going to marry. Love of my life. But to be a spy and protect our country I had to give up that life. Now, she thinks I'm dead. And if I didn't turn over the component to the Ring, Keller was gonna kill her. And now she's going to die because of a decision I made."

That was…unexpected. Sarah seemed as surprised as Chuck was. They'd have time to think about it later, though. "Okay, uh, where is she now?" Chuck asked.

"Home. That's where I'm going."

"Let's go then," Chuck said.

"You should have reported this, already," Casey told him. "You could be charged with treason, hell, you didn't know any of this until a minute ago."

Chuck looked at Sarah again, and remembered her words earlier during their stakeout. "I don't care who you were. I know who you are. And you're not in this alone."

"We're not gonna let anything happen to her," Sarah said. She looked around then, in hesitation. "I should clean up here. You go with Casey," she told Chuck.

"Maybe you should go," he replied. He hated himself a little for it, but he couldn't help the fear that coursed through him. Would she still be there once they'd saved Casey's ex-fiancée?

"Walker's right. Someone needs to stay," Casey said. "And, she shouldn't even be here," he added, turning to her. She rolled her eyes at him. "Let's go, Bartowski." He jogged to his car.

Chuck turned to Sarah with what were probably questioning eyes. "I'll join you when I'm done here. I can follow you with your cell," she said. Chuck had installed a tracking app on both their secure phones. When on, they could locate each other if need be.

"Okay," he said, somewhat reluctantly.

Sarah stepped forward, and brought her free hand to his vest. "Be careful."

"I will," he said and gave her a kiss on the cheek, before jogging to retrieve his backpack, and jumping into the Crown Vic.

As he and Casey pulled onto the road, Chuck turned around in the passenger seat to look at Sarah one last time, but she had already disappeared into the darkness.

A/N: Chapter 7 in a week or so. Maybe a little more.

Thanks for reading! :)