A/N: Wow, it's been a long time since I posted. I hope you enjoy.
Sarah strolled into the Buymore and stopped at the entrance as she always did, but this day wasn't like her other days. Not since the revelation about a certain nerd that she fell in loved with. It also helped the day start out better when she found her body and limbs wrapped around the one she loved. She watched his slow breathing, the way his chest would rise and fall, along with her head which was lying on top. Apparently he was able to avoid all the sensors she had placed around the hotel and the booby traps in the room. Not that she minded the intruder in her bed; she would thoroughly enjoy waking up this way for the rest of her life.
She got onto her tippy toes and started looking around for the most important person in her life, the one and only Chuck Bartowski. She smiled because for once she finally felt at ease around him; there were no more games being played, no secret feelings. Everything was now out in the open and she basically got the go ahead for the relationship from General Beckman. Although it did take a little bit of time getting used to the idea of Chuck as a super spy, Sarah couldn't be happier with how it all turned out. She finally spotted him head down at the Nerd Herd counter which caused her some concern.
"Hey there sweetie, what's wrong?" asked Sarah flashing him a big smile.
Lifting his head up, Chuck answered "Hey there Sarah. Nothing's wrong, except that Casey is insisting that he test his skills against mine." He held up a plastic gun with a suction cup dart sticking out of the barrel. "Somehow he thinks that beating me at 'spy vs. spy' equates to something in the real world." Just as he finished the sentence, he cocked his head to the right, narrowly avoiding a dart which ended up stuck on his computer monitor. "See what I mean? All morning I tell you."
Sarah stifled the amazement she felt when Chuck dodged the dart; even she didn't know it was coming. She looked in the direction from which the dart came but didn't see Casey. But concerning matters at hand, Sarah knew that it would be hard on him to accept that nerdy Chuck is actually an elite agent with skills that outclass their own. Actually it was hard on her too finding out her boyfriend was basically the spy you always see in the movies; luckily Chuck never rubbed it in or made himself seem more important than them. "Don't worry; I'm sure he'll get it out of his system soon."
Chuck smiled and shot over his left shoulder, which confused Sarah until she heard a sad grunt come from the DVD section. She laughed as she watched a dejected Casey slink off to the breakroom, probably to regroup. "I know he will but I've had this secret for a while and I'm a little uncomfortable showing my skills, even to you guys."
"Well think of it this way, you're participating a team building exercise with us; the more we know about you, the more easily we'll work as a team. Right?"
"I guess so."
"Good. Now don't forget you said you'll have lunch with me today and we're having dinner with Ellie and Devon tonight."
"Don't worry, how could I forget something like that?"
Sarah gave him a quick peck on the lips before heading towards the exit. "Stay safe Chuck. You wouldn't want to get hit with one of those suction cup thingys and get a hickey. That honor belongs solely to me." She gave him quite the sinister smile.
"I will. But between you and me, I'm much better with knives than with guns." Just as he finished the sentence, he knew he said the wrong thing. Chuck hoped that she didn't hear the last part but as he looked up, he saw that Sarah had stopped dead in her tracks. A few seconds later, she turned around and walked slowly back to the desk.
"What did you say Chuck?"
"Uh, nothing? I said that between you and me, you have a nice set of buns?" Chuck tried to give her a big smile but he could see it wasn't working.
"Try again mister." Sarah's eyes narrowed to slits. "Did you say you were better with knives?"
Chuck was in for it now. He was kicking himself mentally for that slip; as Casey was obsessed with guns, Sarah was with knives. Now with that one little sentence, he ignited the competitive streak within Sarah. "Um, yeah? But not that much better. Certainly not as good as you. Heh heh."
"Sure you aren't Chuck. We'll see won't we?" Sarah let out a little chuckle. "We'll see. Don't be late to the meeting with Beckman."
Chuck dropped his head onto the counter again. Now he had two agents out to get him.
"So judging from the chipper mood everyone is this morning Chuck's explanation of his secret life turned out well. I see no one has killed anyone else, yet" said Beckman who was facing the seated members of team Bartowski.
"No ma'am. We understand the need for Chuck's secrecy and we'll help maintain both his covers" replied Sarah.
"Agent Bartowski, I'm also guessing you also explained the nature of the intersect to your partners?" asked Beckman.
"Well General, I was working up to that" stuttered Chuck. "Things got a little...hectic after the revelation about my training."
Beckman put her head in her hands while she shook it. "Charles, I thought you would also explain what the intersect is and what it can do to both Walker and Casey. Fine, we'll brief them now."
Casey and Walker glanced at each other, not understanding what else they needed to know about the intersect. They assumed they had the full briefing when they were assigned to Chuck.
"Ok, why don't you two tell me what you know about the intersect" asked Beckman.
Sarah started. "Well ma'am, the intersect is the accumulation of information from both the CIA and NSA. Visual or audio triggers bring up all information pertinent information to what the trigger was."
Beckman nodded. "That's close but not quite there. What Bryce stole from the government installation was not the intersect, despite his claims that it was."
Casey looked confused. "If it wasn't the intersect, then what did he steal?"
"All he stole was the database of government secrets which he encoded into images."
"I don't understand, if it was just a database then how can Chuck do what he does?"
"The intersect itself is not the database but a sort of search engine used to mine the data. As you recall, we tried to create a computer intersect which would use the latest discoveries in artificial intelligence in order to determine connections between the various sets of data. So what Bryce gave to Charles was a database, it was Charles' mind which turned it into the intersect."
Casey sat there with his mouth agape; he knew that Chuck was already special and now he was even more special.
Sarah understood what the General was explaining; Chuck wasn't given the intersect, he made the data implanted into his mind into the intersect. In essence, Chuck created the intersect all on his own. But still she thought it was splitting hairs. "That's all fine General but it doesn't really change anything about the nature of this mission, does it?"
"No, not really but I thought it would be good for both of you to understand the uniqueness of the situation. Before he died within his beloved beta intersect, Graham was determined to create a working computer intersect in order to replace Charles. But despite his claims and Fulcrum's assumption, the beta version never worked properly. It wasn't quite able to make the leaps in logic and deduction like the human mind could. Things like instinct and gut-feelings could never be fully programmed into a machine."
"Why didn't you try making another human intersect?" asked Sarah.
"Graham did; that was his first attempts. But after many failed experiments, they weren't able to create another one. According to the researchers finding someone with a brain that could become the intersect was like 1 in a billion. Therefore he pursued the computer based route."
"So Chuck is the only one able to mine the database and become the intersect?"
"We believe so, for now. But as you know in a world with billions of people, Chuck can't necessarily be the only one with this ability." She turned and looked directly at Chuck. "Charles, would you like to fully reveal the intersect's function to your partners like you should've done already?"
Chuck nervously answered. "Yes ma'am."
Sarah was thrown for a loop; she thought that Chuck had told her the full extent of what the intersect could do. "Excuse me, but there is more that the intersect can do than just retrieve data?"
"Well no not really. But it's the retrieval of data that is different" answered Chuck.
"How so?"
"As you know, flashes can be initiated uncontrollably by both visual and auditory means."
"Yes I know. I've seen you do it many times" replied Sarah.
"But these flashes don't necessarily need to be triggered by outside forces" said Chuck while he squirmed in his seat. He knew the next part wouldn't go over well with his bodyguards. "They can be initiated within."
"What? You can control your flashes?" shouted Sarah.
"Yes. I have full control. I can initiate a flash and start a search to see if there is anything within the database concerning my query. I can also expand the initial flash to include more data. Actually most of my flashes only come up with tidbits of info; it's up to me to push the intersect into revealing more info."
Sarah stared at Chuck and let the revelation sink in. "Does this mean that you know everything about me and Casey? Our past history...everything?" She and Casey both turned to and waited for Chuck's answer.
"No. No I don't."
"And we're supposed to believe that?" asked Casey.
"Like you said Casey, everyone has their secrets. Even you guys. I do have something called self control."
"But why not?" inquired Sarah. "Why not probe for more information about me and Casey? Your father's training should've told you that it would be the most prudent thing to do. You could've learned everything you needed from the beginning."
"Actually no I couldn't. I didn't really gain control of the intersect until a little bit later. But by that time I had already gotten to know both of you, so I didn't think it would be a good idea if I did."
Casey said "You could've gotten everything on us at anytime. What's the difference if we tell you about ourselves versus you just looking it up? You'd still get the same info."
Sarah nodded angrily; she realized that their pivotal night together where they revealed everything about each other was not as important as she thought it was. "Our night together was for nothing; you could've gotten the same information on your own!"
"That's true; I would get the same information and faster as well. It's not the speed at which I obtained the information that was important to me; what was important was the way I obtained. Whether or not you guys allowed me to get to know you that well." He turned to face Sarah. "When we talked in your apartment, I was hearing all the stuff about you for the first time. I promise. I don't only value the info but the fact that you trusted me with it."
Sarah and Casey both sat there stunned at what Chuck had said. He decided not to gain the upper hand on them and trusted them blindly just because he wanted them to willingly tell him about themselves. Unknowingly, they both thought the same thing: how in the world did Chuck ever survive in the world being so trusting, let alone be one of the best spies out there.
Casey shook his head in disbelief. "Well, thanks for not delving into personal information Chuck. I'll see you two later." As soon as he got to the top of the stairs, an evil looking smirk appeared on his face accompanied by a quiet laugh. "Not that much later. Heh heh."
Sarah couldn't help but wonder how a man like Chuck ever fell in love with her. As much as she was closed off about her feelings, Chuck was just as open with his. Where she believed she couldn't trust anyone, he changed her mind and earned her trust. She looked up and saw Chuck nervously waiting for her response to all that was just revealed. Luckily for him, she had prepared herself for anymore surprises ever since Chuck revealed he was trained as a spy. "I'll let you off the hook for now Chuck. But you better not have any more blockbuster secrets that needs revealing."
"No no. That's it." Chuck nervously added. "Umm, are we ok?"
Sarah smiled at how Chuck was still so unsure of himself when it came to her despite his confidence with everything else. "Yes Chuck, we're good." Sarah took his hand and pulled him as they walked up the stairs and out of the Castle. Chuck couldn't see the sinister smile on his girlfriend's face as they walked out.
A/N Extra: Sorry for the long long long delay. I've kind of lost my muse and it was a struggle getting this and the next chapter out. The next one drops us further into the Twilight Zone. Thanks for reading!
