P/N: Oh yeah, ltsheppard(that's an L) and Uplink2 crosspollinated and you the readers are the lucky recipients. Remember, if you have soemthing you like to add, send it to me. I will post it and when the story nears it's completion, I'll go back and rearrange the chapters so they're in so semblance of order. JT

P.S. Made a couple of small changes as suggested by ltsheppard that should make this great chapter just a tad easier to read...no new words, just re-affirmed the breaks.

A/N: This chapter is a collaboration between me (Ltsheppard) and uplink2. He's been so inspired by my previous chapter that he couldn't wait for me to write the follow-up and did so himself. And if I'm allowed to say, I like it! Now, just for those who want to know, his part (the one that follows directly to what happened in chapter 8) was a bit longer than what I've combined with my storyline but I've edited a bit out and changed a word here and there, removed some typos, just so that the chapter would flow a bit more seamlessly (and that there were no contradictions). Now if you're confused by the timeline, that's deliberate. I wanted a bit of chaos in this one and hope it carries over (in a good way, if that's possible). If you got any questions, feel free to ask. I hope you'll like it!

Chapter 10 - Things are not what they seem

1 month BCD

This was hell. It had to be. Literal, damned, freaking hell. Sarah Walker was sure of it. Her mouth was dry, her whole body in flames, her heart beat like it was trying to jump out of her chest. Her hands were shaking, she couldn't speak, couldn't move. This was hell. Or at least some kind of preliminary stage. Limbo or something. Yes. That had to be it. She was going to die here. She knew that she'd be going to hell eventually. There was no doubt. She'd done a lot of bad things in her life, killed people, people she didn't even know and hadn't bothered to get to know. Criminals, assets, civilians. She didn't like it but it was her job. Something she was good at. The best. Even if the nightmares had made her want to quit since the very first time, she knew she couldn't. There was no redemption, no salvation. Not for people like here.

But she wondered why it had to be this painful. This was hell.

"Sarah?" No answer. "Uh, Sarah?"

She blinked. Once, twice, maybe a third time, she didn't know. And she was amazed that she had be able to.

"Uhm, while I appreciate... all... this, uh, could you, maybe, help me open this door now?"

"What?" Suddenly she began to regain consciousness again, the fog clouding her vision slowly lifting from her eyes. She was sitting in her Porsche, parked in front of the BuyMore. Leaning over to the driver's side, he had his hand halfway to the door, trying to help her prying it open, because for some reason it had decided to stay closed. His face was inches from hers and she could feel his breath ghosting over her neck.

"The door, Sarah. It's stuck and I can't get it open from my seat if you're not helping."

"Uh, right." She pushed and it swung open with a creak (she really wondered what the hell was wrong with her car), sending Chuck almost flying before he could stop his fall by grabbing her headrest.

"Sorry."

Chuck shook his head, smiled and got out on his side of the car.

Sarah leaned her head back for a moment, just where Chuck's hand had been a few seconds ago. She was going to die here, either from always having to be around this... guy, pretending to be his girlfriend, lying to his sister, his friends, to him, or because tonight Zarnow would "cure" Chuck, making her stay here unnecessary. Yes, Sarah Walker would die and whoever she had buried deep down, under all her training, unresolved childhood issues and compartmentalized emotions was incredibly happy and sad at the same time.

She was certain. This was hell.

She was wrong.

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"Major Casey, what in the name of god has happened down there?"

Casey was standing in General Diane Beckman's office, his muscles as tense as they'd never been before. He had known his superior for years, almost decades. This was the first time he was really afraid of her.

"General..." He swallowed. "One minute everything was fine. Then it all went to-"

"Hell." Beckman sighed.

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"His name was-"

"Do NOT finish that sentence, Walker!" The sound of five agents in full tactical gear accompanied the arrival of the NSA Major.

"Casey? What the hell?" Her eyes were still shining with tears.

"Carina, I told you this was a bad idea."

Sarah looked around and saw three agents pointing guns at her. Another two kept theirs on Carina.

"You set me up? How could you do this to me, Carina?" Sarah stood up as she reached for her cane.

"Walker, if you answer that question I'll have to place you under arrest for treason!" The sternness of Casey's voice told her he meant every word.

Seeing something ins his peripheral view, Casey looked over at a stunned bartender who was about to press the alarm button under the bar and alert the local police. "I wouldn't press that button unless you want a whole lot of government investigators crawling up your ass for the next year."

The bartender quickly put his hands up and backed away from the bar, leaning against the shelves stacked with bottles of liquor. The glass rattled at the sudden movement.

Holding up his badge, he continued. "This is a national security issue and everyone needs to kindly stay where they are while we deal with it. Walker, Miller, come with me."

"The names's Barstow now, Casey." Sarah glared at her former partner with disdain. Turning her attention back to her friend, the pain of betrayal was very evident in her voice. "I can't believe you set me up, Carina! I thought you were my friend." She stopped and glared at her.

Carina swallowed to clear her dry throat before she finally spoke. "Sar.. Christine, I'm sorry. This is not what it looks like."

"How could it not be what it looks like? I contact an old friend to get together and it turns out said friend is wearing a wire? What the hell could possibly be misinterpreted about that?"

Casey, standing next to the two (now probably former) friends interjected. "Walker, you were about to leak classified government secrets and I couldn't let that happen."

Ignoring Casey entirely, Sarah turned her attention back to the redhead. "Why were you wearing a wire Carina and why the hell do you have backup? Do I look like I would be a threat to you?" Sarah motioned to her cane and busted knee with her free hand.

"It's not that! You have to believe me!" Carina looked at Casey trying to gauge how far she could go. "Casey and I have been on a very sensitive mission and wherever either one of us goes as backup. That's all." There it was. A white lie.

"Damn it, Carina, this is me you're talking to. Do you really think this was necessary? And if you knew Casey was listening, then why the hell did you ask me a question you had to know Casey would react to unless you were trying to set me up?"

"I'm sorry, but you were obviously hurting and when I saw what had happened to you I thought maybe if you talked to me about it you might somehow feel better about whatever is bothering you. I didn't think you would say anything classified." Another white lie.

Casey, looking back and forth between the two female agents, felt conflicted. He was stunned to see the condition the legendary Sarah Walker still was in and it was clear that her belief that Bartowski was dead was causing her an impossible amount of pain and guilt but he had been ordered to keep Chuck's status and that of all of Team Intersect a secret. Specifically from the obviously broken agent in front of him. He couldn't let Miller incriminate herself by telling her friend that her guilt was unfounded and that Chuck was very much alive.

"Hey as much as you two seem to want to share all of your lady feelings and cause me to throw up, we need to get going. We have another mission to prepare for. But first we are going to have to have a bit of a talk with the General about your attempt to get a fellow agent to reveal classified information about a previous mission." Casey knew it was his duty to report his partner, but he didn't have to like it.

Carina looked over at the NSA agent and rolled her eyes. "Fine Casey, I'm sure it will be a real pleasurable conversation. Almost as much fun as the one we had in Prague."

Casey glared and Carina just smirked. Teasing the straight laced NSA agent about getting handcuffed to the bed in Prague just never got old.

Carina looked back at the blonde standing next to her. What she saw still disturbed her. It was obvious that the loss of her asset had damaged Sarah. She was nothing like the woman she had been partnered with a couple of years ago. It was obvious that her heart had been shattered and broken into a million pieces.

"Christine, I'm sorry about all this but we have to go. It was great seeing you again and I hope whatever you decide to do with your future you'll find happiness somehow."

Sarah looked at her best friend and saw empathy in her eyes. With all of Carina's faults (and there were many) she still tried to be a good person. And with what had happened, she was about the only friend she had left in this world.

Carina stepped forward and pulled Sarah into a hug. As Casey turned his head, Carina whispered into Sarah's ear quietly enough that the tall NSA Agent couldn't hear. "Saker är inte alltid vad de verkar i början. Kom ihåg Bali."*

Sarah stiffened slightly but held on to the redhead for a few seconds more, calming herself, before she let go. With a peck on her cheek the two friends let go, their hands lingering just a second, Carina's fingers lightly brushing the handle of Sarah's cane. Sarah blinked her eyes and Carina knew she had heard what she had said.

"Goodbye Carina, be safe." Turning to her all too short lived former partner she added a simple "Casey" and nodded.

Nodding minutely and turning to walk away, the gruff, by-the-books agent showed something he rarely did: He stopped halfway around the building, turned back around and looked at what was left of the once proud CIA agent he had been partnered with and told her: "Wa... Barstow, it wasn't your fault. I hope that someday you can learn to believe that."

He only got a small smile in return. It was the last thing he would see for a while.

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"This is what hell must feel like."

Smith snorted. "Oh, come on Carmicheal. Don't be such a wuss about it."

"You beat the living crap out of me! Look!" Chuck showed his sparring partner his bruising left arm and stomach. "And you hit me in the frigging nose too!" His cheek had already began swelling from the right hook he'd received just before the left had scraped his olfactory organ.

"I always thought it didn't fit your style. Distracted from your chocolate eyes, you know?" He was laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, man. I'm gonna get you one of these days." Despite the pain, Chuck was smiling as well. Well, as much as he could with a split lip and swelling cheek. And that damn nose bleeding on his shirt. "I just got this out of the dryer this morning!"

Smith made a grunt-y noise that reminded Chuck of Casey. Just as he was about to ask if he knew him, his colleague started to speak again.

"Come on. We should let the girls at the infirmary look at this. If you're not careful, you're gonna bleed on my shirt too, and I really don't need the guys to think that was me." With a smile he directed Chuck out of the gym and down the hall, towards the nurse's station.

"Carmicheal!" They turned around. An older looking brunette walked up to them and handed Chuck an envelope. "General Beckman wants to see you in her office ASAP."

"Really?", Chuck asked. "I'm bleeding from my nose, here. Can't I go and get it patched up first?"

The woman, one of Beckman's aides most likely, shook her head in the negative. "I'm sorry, but she told me that I'd have to kick your ass up there if you didn't see her immediately."

Chuck heaved a sigh. "I can not believe this. I'm in NSA hell."

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"Damn it, Miller!" Casey was running through a field of deformed chairs and tables, some of them still fuming or burning. He almost hit one that had been melted to almost half its size.

"Miller! Walker!" Nothing. Oh, hell.

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Slowly, she drifted back to consciousness. The first thing she noticed was that her arms hurt like hell and that she seemed to be standing. Opening her eyes, she saw nothing but blackness. Trying to walk, she felt something tug on her wrists, not letting her go further than maybe a feet.

"My wrists are chained to the ceiling," Sarah observed wordlessly. She wondered if this was one of her nightmares or if she finally went down to the pit. Her head hurt like hell and she couldn't remember anything other getting ready for a meet with Carina.

"So nice of you to finally grace us with waking up, Agent Walker.", she heard a male voice, coming from somewhere in the dark.

She didn't think she recognized the voice. "Who are you?" She asked more out of habit than anything else. She really didn't care.

"My name won't mean anything to you. But I have a name for you to think about."

Sarah staid silent. She did not like that voice.

"Charles Irving Bartowski, Chuck to his friends, as I've heard." The voice announced and she heard a weird, clicking, metallic sound echo in the dark space. She gasped and sucked in a breath, trying to ignore the pain.

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Carina was swimming. Everything felt like thick, gooey water. She was gasping for air and only felt herself drowning more with every tried breath. She remembered a sharp pain in the head and then... nothing.

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"What the hell is going on, General? I've been told I had to come to your office immediately. I couldn't even get myself patched up before!" Smith had shoved a few paper towels in his hand and had put one on his neck to stop the bleeding. Then he'd left to go find one of the nurses and send her up to Beckman's office.

"You should sit down, Agent Bar-... Agent Carmichael." Beckman answered, wearily.

"General?" Looking at Beckman's disheveled appearance, Chuck swallowed and sat down quickly.

The older woman sighed and took a moment to look at him. "We've lost contact with Agents Miller and Casey. They-"

"Was there a mission, General? Why wasn't I informed of this?"

"There... was no mission. Carina met with a... an old acquaintance and Casey came as backup, taking a handful of agents with him."

"An 'acquaintance', General? Whose friend is so dangerous that you have to take a dozen of government agents with you?"

"You know well what dangers we face. There is no black and white in this world, Agent."

Chuck just nodded his understanding, not really sure if he'd ever do. Taking a breath, he had to force himself to continue.

"What happened?" His voice sounded small and raspy, even to his own ears. He really didn't want to hear Beckman's answer. He didn't. He'd already lost his past life, his friends, his family, Sar-... no, he was not going there. He couldn't lose his damn partners as well. They were good people, he knew they were.

"They were supposed to meet in a small café downtown. We've received reports of an explosion-"

Chuck didn't hear the rest. He didn't need to. His last thoughts before passing out were:

"They didn't deserve this", "Whoever did this: Burn in hell!" and strangely "I hope the General thinks it's the blood loss".

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After a moment or maybe an hour, she didn't know, she heard the voice come from another direction, this time from behind her, or maybe on her left...

"I think you know just who I mean.", it whispered in her ear. "Where is he, Agent Walker?" She saw something light up in the dark, next to her ear but couldn't turn her head far enough to see what exactly it was.

"He's dead." She got out, barely above a whisper. "I lost him."

She heard laughter. It sounded... weird... in this place. "Then again," she thought, "I'm sure the devil's a laugher." For a second she wondered where that even came from.

"Very good, agent. You really are one of the best. Now tell me what I want to know, or I'll make your life-" He stopped for a second to clack his tongue. "- or what's left of it, very... unpleasant."

"No", she heard a voice in her head say. Surprisingly, it was calm, decided. "This is not a dream. You really are being tortured. There's a chain wrapped to your arms, just like last time. But this time, he won't save you." Sarah didn't know if she should be happy that she wouldn't have to see him die again because of her.

"Don't think you'll come out of here alive!" As if he'd heard her thoughts he added after after a short pause: "No one is coming to save you, there's no one left." The tone was angry, almost seething.

"This is hell, Agent Walker!"

"No", she heard herself say, her voice as calm and unwavering as the one she'd heard in her head. "Once you've been to hell, you never come back. And I'm already there."

She heard a growl and felt a dull pain in her head. She didn't care. No pain anybody could inflict on her flesh could ever be worse than what she was already feeling in her heart.

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*Swedish for: "Things aren't always what they seem at first. Remember Bali."

A/N²: If you find out what kind of object made that metallic noise, you'll get another chapter from me! :D