A/N: This is a little different. Let me know what you think. Good or bad.

Born to Run

"Come on people, stay alert. I want that escape vehicle," Carina spoke to the team of technicians assembled around her. "We find out what she's driving and we find her."

"Agent Hansen, we've got the autopsy report on John Casey."

Carina turned to the middle aged, balding man who had just walked up to her. "Cause of death?"

Two gunshot wounds to the head, we don't know which one killed him because we can't tell which one hit first. It was a merciful killing. He never knew he died."

"What do you want to do? Make Walker a saint?" Carina turned to the group. "Find me that escape vehicle," she yelled as she slammed her hand down on the table.

"Agent Hansen."

"What! Do you have something?"

"Uh, the profiler's report is complete. I thought you might want to see it," another technician said.

She took the report from the young man and spent the next three minutes reading. "Very good, until we get something more to go on we follow these recommendations." She turned back to the young technician. "Have copies made and distributed to our agents in the field. Tell them to make their way to Indianapolis. If the profiler's are correct, she should be on I70 going through Indianapolis in two days."

"Agent Hansen, you wanted to know when we found agent Larkin."

"It's about time. Tell Larkin I need his ass here ten minutes ago."

"That's not possible Ma'am,"

She wheeled on the man. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Agent Larkin is dead."

Carina Hansen began to turn red. The longer she stared at the man the redder she got. "Goddamnit, I knew I should have put a tail on her. Goddamnit. She turned to focus her gaze on the latest messenger to suffer for doing his job. "Where was he?"

"He was at a hotel near downtown."

"Goddamnit." She was near the breaking point. She then addressed everyone in the room in a low but deadly voice. "We are going to find that escape vehicle…you got it. We are not leaving this room until we do. I don't care what plans you had or what emergencies exist. You got it. We are going to find that FUCKING CAR," she screamed.

Carina started to walk out of the room when she suddenly stopped. "Has anyone checked the airport?"

"For what?" a technician asked.

"Long term parking idiot. Look at LAX for her black Porsche. Then get a copy of the tapes. I can't believe you haven't done this already. If she gets away I will see to it that no one in the room gets a raise for five years."

All around the room people were hustling to get the information.

"Walker, when I get my hands on you…I swear, you will beg me to kill you." Carina sat down on a desk top and waited.

X-X

Sarah wanted to drive first. She just felt like she was more in control when she was behind the wheel. She knew Chuck was going to be full of questions and the time for dodging them was over.

Eight hours later she had answered all of his questions and had even volunteered some things as well. So by the time they reached Amarillo, Chuck was not a very happy person. What hurt him the most was finding out that Sarah was just doing her job when they got married. That and he still couldn't believe that Casey had planned to kill him. He looked at both Sarah and Casey differently.

"So you're telling me you love me now?" he had asked pouting.

"That's right. Chuck you have to believe me."

"Didn't you tell me you loved me then?"

"That was different. It was my cover."

"So you lied to me then for your cover?"

"That's right," she said emphatically.

"So how do I know that you're not lying to me now?"

"Because I'm risking my life to save yours. That's how I knew that I loved you. When you told me what love was, I knew I had never loved anyone…until now."

Chuck could not deny that Sarah had appeared to have left the CIA on some wild flight to keep him safe. Although he hated being suspicious of people, he found himself second guessing all of Sarah's motives.

"Look Chuck, I know you're hurt. And I'm sorry. I wish that I hadn't married you. I didn't want to because I knew it was a farce. At least on my part and at that time. But I was forced into it. Please give me a chance to make it up to you."

Chuck was silent for a while. "So you killed Bryce and Casey in cold blood?" he said changing to another unbelievable subject.

"No, I did not. I killed them in self defense. If they were alive right now, they would be looking for you and I can tell you they would not hesitate to pull the trigger."

Chuck found it hard to believe that his old college roommate or even Casey, who watched football with him on Sunday afternoons, would be capable of such cold blooded violence.

"I've already told you about that phone call I got from Casey Monday night. And I don't need to remind you how Bryce spoke about you the last time I saw him."

Chuck's anger flared at that. "Yeah, do me a favor and never speak about your adultery again. Would you?"

"That was not adultery. I never committed myself to you. I was just doing my job."

Sarah, surely you can see from my point of view how it might look like adultery. I mean if it looks like adultery and smells like-"

"Chuck, I get it. And no. I can't see your point since I've told you that I was not committed to you."

"All I can tell you Sarah is all of my friends would call it adultery."

"And all of mine would not."

"You mean all that you haven't' killed?" He knew it was a low blow but he was hurting and refused to apologize.

Sarah's eyes stung at that but she refused to look at him so he never knew. She could not remember being hurt so much by mere words. She had been impervious to them in the past. She knew that by falling in love with chuck something else had changed as well.

Chuck saw they were miles apart on this argument and that he would never get her to budge. What he didn't know was if that was her true feelings or was she just not willing to admit she was wrong.

"One more thing Sarah, you cannot kill innocent people to save our lives."

"For the last time, Bryce and Casey were not innocent," she said her voice loud.

"OK, I will give you that. For now. But I can't let you kill people who are innocent and just doing there jobs."

"What are you talking about Chuck?"

"I'm talking about the police, other CIA agents who are just following orders, people walking along the sidewalk when you decide you need to drive your car where they are. That's what I mean by innocent."

"Chuck, don't you want to live?" Sarah said with real curiosity.

"Of course I do. But I also want you to be the woman I married."

That's when it hit her. She was not the woman he fell in love with. It never occurred to her that by playing the role of Sarah Walker, the good spy that the person she really was might not appeal to Chuck.

She said with real fear in her voice. "I don't know if I know how to do both."

Chuck did not get her meaning.

"I don't know if I can keep you alive and be the Sarah Walker you married," she said with misty eyes.

"Look, just don't hurt anyone when you can avoid it, OK?" he said his voice softening.

She shook her head but the conversation left her with serious doubts about her ability to make Chuck happy. That is if they survived the next five days.

X-X

They repeated the same argument twice before reaching Indianapolis. But the ending was always the same. Chuck was unsatisfied and Sarah was convinced she was the wrong woman for Chuck.

As they drove on I 70 just west of the outskirts of town, the airport came into view and Sarah watched the huge FedEx plane taxi to the runway. She then slammed on her brakes seeing that traffic ahead had stalled..

"Damn it, we don't need this," she said looking out the drivers side window to see if she could spot why they had stopped. "You see anything?" she asked.

"Nope, just cars as far as I can see."

As she sat looking at the car in front of her, she noticed a helicopter flying low and driving right above the interstate coming their way. All of a sudden, she got a sick feeling in her gut. "Hang on Chuck," she yelled throwing the car in gear and driving down the huge embankment towards the airport property. When the car was at the bottom of the embankment she floored the gas pedal and crashed through the fence losing the muffler in the process.

"Is the helicopter following us?" she asked.

Chuck stuck his head out the window. "Yeah, their right behind us."

"Fuck…Chuck, if I don't lose that helicopter we're dead." She spotted a private hanger that was used for larger planes and drove towards it in at top speed. She slid the car to a stop just inside the hangar.

She quickly looked around the building taking inventory. "Chuck find me something about three feet long. A two by four, a pipe,…anything like that."

She climbed into the panel van that was inside the hangar to check on the keys and she smiled when she saw them in the ignition.

"Hey you…get out of there." I large man who was obviously a mechanic was walking directly toward her. She quickly got out of the van and began walking in his direction." I'm sorry," she said smiling. "We need to borrow you van for a second."

"Oh no you're not lady."

Sarah was right in front of the man when she motioned toward Chuck. "My husband over there-"

When the man looked toward Chuck, Sarah jumped on his back wrapping her right arm deep under his neck and pulled down hard. She knew what she was doing but he was a big strong guy and he started hitting her with his elbow in the same place over and over. He was not unaccustomed to defending himself she discovered.

He began to twist and turn wildly, trying to get her to loosen her grip on his neck as he struggled to get a new gulp of air. He suddenly backed up hard ramming her into the panel van using all of his massive bulk to get her to loosen her grip. She let out a gasp but fought with every ounce of strength she had to hang on.

"Chuck, get your ass over her and help me or I will have to take this guy out," she yelled at the top of her lungs.

The man just kept raining elbows to her ribs. But he was starting to slow down.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked running up to her.

"Hit him. Hit him in the stomach," she yelled wincing at the latest blow.

Chuck went to position himself to strike the man who was busy turning his stomach away from Chuck. Suddenly, he stopped and dropped to his knees, his eyes starting to bulge.. Just as Sarah knew, the additional effort would delete the air from his lungs quicker. She held him into he was out cold.

Releasing her grip, he hit the floor with a sickening thud. She looked up at Chuck in obvious pain. "Did you find something?" she asked hopefully and stole a look at the huge door of the hangar.

"Will this do?" he asked producing a piece of guttering.

"Yeah, you go over there and get some coveralls and put them on. Try to find a hat too."

Sarah ran to the van stopping on the way to get a five gallon can of diesel fuel. Sitting the can in the passenger's seat, she started the van. She put it in neutral and rammed the piece of guttering on the gas pedal collapsing it halfway to the floor. She turned the steering wheel slightly aiming for the fuel truck outside. She took a quick look around and rammed the van into gear. Without waiting to see the results of her work she ran towards Chuck, who had just finished putting on his overalls. She found herself a pair and quickly put them on and then tucked her hair under a hat that she found by the side door.

Just as she finished with the hat, the whole building shook from the explosion of the van colliding with the fuel truck.

"Follow me," she said going out the employee's entrance. She ran to the parking lot and stopped at the first car she looked at. She silently thanked whoever the owner was for leaving his keys in the car.

Get in," she yelled as she slid into the car wincing from the pain in her side.

The helicopter was hovering over the explosion and did not notice the two as they drove away.

She drove slowly not to attract attention. She took a back road out of the airport making sure to stay away from the interstate.

She traveled northwest. She had decided that she would eventually make her way to I 80 and then onto Boston.

She drove for about two hours until she saw an old farmhouse with a barn. It looked deserted. She pulled into the barn and got out of the car holding her side. The pain had gotten much worse and she let out a gasp with each step.

Chuck put her arm over his shoulder and helped her into the old farmhouse. He had to kick in the door but it opened easy enough. Sarah was surprised to find the house still had furniture. She made her way to the one bed she found and took care to lay down without causing too much pain.

"Ok, we've gotta take a look at your ribs," Chuck said after seeing the pain she wore on her face. She held her arms straight over her head and Chuck pulled the tee shirt over her head and arms as gently as he could.

"Oh shit, Sarah this looks bad." He looked from her ugly black bruising to her face. He was very concerned. "What do I do?" he asked.

"See if there's any Ibuprofen and tear up a sheet into six inch wide strips."

Chuck went about finding the items she asked for. He found the sheet and tore it into strips but the only pain medication he found was aspirin which she refused to take.

"I may be bleeding internally and aspirin is the last thing I need."

Chuck carefully removed Sarah's shoes and socks and then her pants. Sitting her up as gently as he could, he then wrapped the strips from the sheet around her body pulling it tight. She winced in pain but told him to pull even tighter. He then used two safety pins that Sarah had in her purse to keep the tension on the strips.

He went to the refrigerator but there was no ice.

Sarah was asleep when he got back to her. Although she slept very lightly she did get some sleep off and on. Chuck kept a worried eye on her throughout the night as he found it difficult to sleep through her moaning. She woke up early and insisted on hitting the road at first light.

Chuck drove keeping his general direction northeast. Sarah tried to sleep but the road was bumpy and she groaned every time she was jostled. Chuck became more and more concerned as time went by.

He eventually came to a small town in northern Indiana called Berne, a small Amish area.

Chuck drove to the local drugstore and was amazed to see the horse buggies tied to the post out front.

He went inside and bought a large bottle of Ibuprofen, a couple bottles of water and an ace bandage.

"Would you have a doctor in town?" he asked the pharmacist.

"Sure, but you got to wait until he's in town."

"When will that be?" Chuck asked.

"Next Tuesday."

"Next Tuesday? Is there anyone else?"

"Next Tuesday, my boy or you can drive into the city."

"OK, what city?"

The pharmacists looked at Chuck as though he was crazy. "What city? Ft. Wayne, of course."

"Oh yeah, right. My bad. I'll just take her to Ft Wayne then," Chuck said shaking his head as he left the building. "Ft Wayne? jeeze where the hell am I?" he whispered to himself.

Just as he was getting into the car an old Amish man came out of the building. "What kind o trouble do ye find yerself in?" he said in an accent so thick Chuck could hardly understand what he said.

"Uh, well it's my wife," he said acutely aware that it was the first time since all of this begin that he referred to Sarah as his wife. It felt good but odd in a way.

"Follo me to the farm then, okey?"

"Okay, yeah thanks," he said getting into the car.

Thirty minutes later they had traveled the five miles to the old Amish man's farm. Just as Chuck was about to get out, Sarah roused herself and said, "Car, hide the car."

"Uh, sir. Would it be OK if I put the car in your barn over there?"

The old man looked at Chuck then the car and then to Sarah. He looked around the countryside before responded. "Okey, close the door when ye come out."

Before parking the car, Chuck helped Sarah into the house following the old man into the front door. He had never seen sparser furnishings.

"Put her over zere on ye bed," he said and turned to a young man that was looking at the new guests in wonder.

"Don't jist stand zere with ye teeth in ye mouth boy. Go get zee Doc."

The boy looked at Chuck and then at Sarah. It was a good bet he had never seen as beautiful a woman before in his life and he just stared for a moment.

"Boy," the old man bellowed.

The boy was out of the house like a shot.

X-X

Three days under the care of the Amish doctor had done wonders for Sarah. She was up and walking with a no visible side effects of the horrible beating she had taken from the airplane mechanic. She was in no condition to get into another fight but she could walk

The last night they spent at the house of the old man named Zephaniah, they sat out alone on the front porch. They had reached a truce between them. Chuck had not forgiven her but put his issues behind him. He was still concerned about her injuries.

"Chuck, we have to ditch the car. They will find us within a day if we try to take that car to Boston," she said not attempting to hide the concern she felt.

"Ye need a nother car ye say?" Zephaniah said joining them from the house onto the front porch.

"Yeah, we're kind of in trouble, not from the police but from some other people…dangerous people," Chuck said.

"I get a car ye can have," he said as though he were offering Chuck a stick of gum.

"Really, what kind?'

"I don't know what ye call it, but it's purty. Ye can have it," he said getting up to go to the car. Both Chuck and Sarah followed him not believing that it could be anything drivable.

They could not have been more surprised when he open the barn door to reveal a nineteen fifty seven Chevy. Red with white tail fins.

"You gotta be kidding me. Zephaniah, you're not serious are you?"

"I get no need for ze car. Some young man traded it for ze gun I had once. Been dere ever since."

Sarah jumped into the car and fired it up. It purred like a kitten. Both she and Chuck looked at Zephaniah in wonder.

"Well I take care of her. One of my boys knows how to work on cars. He's gonna kill his mother with all of his new ways."

Chuck went over to the old man and shook his hand warmly. "If I can ever do anything for you, I will…I owe you."

"Ye kids just get yeself to where ye need to be. There's nothing here for ye except yeselves. As ye get older, ye come to understand that."

Chuck and Sarah looked at each other and then to Zephaniah. "Goodbye," they yelled in unison as they left the farm house on the way to Boston.

Sarah felt renewed hope. She might just get Chuck there afterall. Now if she could just do something about the feeling of needing to leave him…for his sake.