Chuck vs. The Cerebral Assassin

Well, there has been a fair amount of criticism concerning the last the chapter and to be perfectly honest whether its good or bad I'll take it. Any criticism is constructive and I'm not an expert on memory loss. Even though I'm writing its mere speculation on my part on what a character does and doesn't remember. In my own thinking, Dr. Burke's phone in the chapter Worst Case Scenario pushed him towards her side. Anyways, hope you like this chapter.

Again, if you enjoyed reading my stories and left a comment please leave a comment for this this one as well. Tell me what you think and I hope you enjoy the read.

I don't own Chuck but I would like to own a piece of memorabilia

The Cerebral Assassin

XXX

The good news regarding Chuck's memory is that it has returned but unfortunately the bad news is that he doesn't remember everything. The sheer anger Sarah feels towards Dr. Leslie Burke is like a volcano about ready to erupt. Once she found out that she arrived back into town she made it a personal mission to get to her in order to get to the bottom of things the Sarah Walker way.

It didn't matter to her that Manoosh Depak is on the run from not only them but The Ring as well. All she wanted was to get her hands around the doctor's neck and she would have come close to succeeding to if it hadn't been for General Beckman, who was immediately apprised of the situation, ordering her not to physically harm the female doctor and if she did she would end up facing a severe penalty.

General Beckman forced her to take a leave of absence and ordered to stay way from Dr. Burke. It would be Casey, Bryce and a newly upgraded 2.0 intersect Chuck to find Manoosh before The Ring does. To Beckman, it became a matter of utmost importance to locate him without any distractions. However, before that would happen Casey and Cassidy would pay a visit at around 8a.m. to Dr. Burke at her office in order to get some answers.

"Agent Walker just needs to relax." she calmly stated sitting down behind her desk. A seemingly smug smile resonating on her face.

"Relax?" replied Cassidy. "My sister can't relax because the man she loves, said to her he has fallen for you." she angrily states pointing to Dr. Burke. "Do you know what she's going through right now?"

Instead of answering her questions, she poses a question of her own. Dr. Burke leans forward and poses a question to the two people standing in front of her. "Do you know what transference is?"

Cassidy is clearly agitated by the way she is asking the question towards her. Its as if she's baiting her into a war of words or quite possible a physical altercation. "No...I don't." responded Cassidy shaking her head.

Cassidy unfortunately couldn't answer Dr. Burke's question but Casey could as he immediately interjects. "Transference is when a person's emergent feelings fixate on the doctor." he firmly stated towards his former partner with disdain.

"Correct Agent Casey. You've possibly read one of my books concerning the topic of transference." nodded Dr. Burke. "Well, what we have here is a classic case of transference added to which amnesiac patients are particularly vulnerable to seeing their doctors as Saviors."

"Understood." stated Casey. The NSA agent furrows his eyebrows towards Dr. Burke and leans over placing his hands on her desk looking directly into her eyes. "However, is it unethical for doctors to eat food with patients in their room."

"More importantly…" added Cassidy. "…food that my sister bought and had delivered to his room Friday night but would later find out that you brought it to his room. What does that say about your morals and ethics not just as a person, but as a doctor as well?" she said.

There is brief pause as Dr. Burke sits there for a moment eyeing the two individuals standing in front of her. She slowly pushes herself out of her chair and stands behind her desk eye to eye to eye with Casey and Cassidy. "I can't help but feel like I'm being accused of something. What do you suspect me of doing exactly?" questioned Dr. Burke.

No words can describe what Cassidy is feeling at the moment. All she wants to do is jump across her desk and beat the living crap out of her but she restrains herself from doing so for Sarah's sake. "Chuck means everything to my sister and when something or someone…" she firmly stated eyeing Dr. Burke. She waves her initial statement and continues on. "Do you understand what you've done?"

The oldest Wexler sister tries to get her point across and unfortunately she doesn't think she's able to get through to her. It would have to take something pretty major for her to out right admit she purposefully did what she did in order to steal Chuck away from Sarah. It would only be a matter of time before she would make a mistake and pay for it and hopefully she would be there to see it.

"Of course I do…" she responded. "…and I know how hard this is for her. Trust me when I say everything is going to work out in the end." said the female doctor.

When it comes to Casey, he knows that idle threats won't work on her because she used to be an agent herself and it would be difficult to break her because she was taught by the best. "All I know…" grunted Casey. "…you truly are The Cerebral Assassin." he emphatically stated.

As he says that, there is a knock on her office door leading it to open. All 3 see Chuck enter with a look of surprise on his face because he didn't expect to see Casey or Cassidy standing in Dr. Burke's office.

"Hey Cass…Casey." acknowledging them both in the room. He notices the seriousness I their faces as he stands in the doorway. "What's up? Something wrong?" he asked with curiosity.

"Nothing wrong Chuck. Agent Casey and Ms. Wexler were just expressing their concern about your well being and I just assured the two of them that everything is fine." said Dr. Burke walking towards Chuck. She then turns to stand by his side as he faces the two individuals in front of her.

"How are things Bartowski?" inquired a concerned Casey.

"I'm eager to get back into the swing of things." he said with a hint of excitement. "There's still a lot that I'm not able to remember in this Swiss cheese brain of mine but I know with Leslie's help I'll be able to fully regain it all one memory at a time." responded Chuck.

"That's good to hear." Cassidy said with a forced smile looking at Chuck. Her attention is then averted to Dr. Burke who has her right hand on his left shoulder.

"Is there anything you want me to ask or tell Sarah or the rest of the gang like Travis and Shannon who haven't seen you?" asked Cassidy.

"Just tell them not to worry." he says glancing over at Dr. Burke. "I'm in good hands." said Chuck with a wry smile.

As he says that, Casey's cell phone rings leading him to answer it. After a few moments, he hangs up staring straight at Chuck. "You'll get your chance to get back into the swing of things Bartowski." he stated. "Beckman wants to see us."

XXX

"It's nice to see you've recovered from your ordeal Mr. Bartowski."

"Thanks General." Chuck looks around the conference room in Castle to see Casey and Bryce but doesn't see Sarah. He wonders where she is since she's considered important to the team. "May I ask where Sarah is?"

There is a brief moment of silence as Bryce and Casey quickly glance over to their right where Chuck is standing. He waits for Beckman's response as to why Sarah is a no show. "She's taken some personal time off." she said. "With all that has happened recently I suggested that she take a break."

"I hope she's okay."

Casey knows that they have to tread very lightly when it concerns talking about Sarah around or to Chuck. He still hasn't regained all of his memory and mistakingly talking about such things as their wedding could quite possibly freak him out to the point where he has some sort of mental breakdown. It's a tricky situation indeed when it comes to the human mind he thinks to himself.

"Don't worry Bartowski." replied Casey leaning forward to look past Bryce. "She just needed some time to herself." the veteran agent added.

"Casey's right Chuck." responded Bryce. "Its been a tough few days for her…" He pauses briefly knowing that he has to choose his words carefully and knowing Casey he could very well just slap him upside the head or worse for saying something stupid. "…actually for all of us since you've not been yourself." he said turning to his former college roommate.

"If we could get down to business gentlemen concerning Manoosh Depak." she stated turning the subject back to situation at hand. A picture of the man in question appears on screen. "As far as we know he's in hiding and for good reason." she said. "We want to find him and I'm certain The Ring is doing the same. If they capture him, they have the ability to force Manoosh to building another intersect."

"The one thing we know about him is that he has an infinity for Nacho Samplers." she stated. Beckman expresses a look of seriousness as she asks the SITREP from Casey. "How many restaurants and bars have you, along with Agent Larkin, been to?" asked the red headed military general.

"We haven't even scratched the surface." grunted Casey. A disappointed look appears on Casey's face as he explains further why. "There's practically thousands of restaurants and bars out in the Los Angeles area. It's like finding a needle in a haystack." he firmly stated shaking his head.

"Don't worry guys…" responded a confident Chuck looking at the two men beside him. "…we'll find him like we always do. That's why we're considered the best team Beckman has." he said turning to face her on screen.

"For right now Chuck." she responded. Chuck could clearly hear the authoritative tone in her voice as she is possibly considering breaking up the team if they don't get results as of yesterday. Even though she's such a tiny woman, she's makes up for the lack of height with a pit-bull like attitude. "I need results and I'll take anything you can give me in order to find this man." she spitted out.

"Bartowski, didn't you form some kind of nerd gaming faction in the recreation room." questioned Casey.

"We called ourselves The Triad." he proudly said with a bright smile on his face. His smile suddenly falls flat as he turns to see Beckman not amused by the name. "Yeah, when we got together for the first time to play he brought a nacho sampler platter and it was awesome."

"Mr. Bartowski, I don't really care if it was delicious or not." she quickly spitted out. "What I want to know is did he mention where he got it from." wondered an authoritative Beckman.

"He might have but I can't really remember." he replied.

"Come on Chuck, you must remember something." questioned Bryce. "Anything at all?"

Chuck tries his best to think back on that particular night in question when he, Karl and Manoosh were playing in the recreation room before Captain Garrett showed up. He attempts to recall any conversation the 3 of them had but he has difficult doing so causing him to shake his head. "Sorry, its in there but it won't come out."

"What if I shake your head like a magic 8ball and see if you'll be able to remember." suggested the NSA Agent.

To Chuck, he never knew whether Casey is joking or not but when it involves an important situation such as this. Yet, he wouldn't put it past him to do so for the greater good and all. As he continues to try to recall the conversation, he suddenly realizes that he might be able to get the information they need in order to find Manoosh. "I think I know a way I can get the info we need General."

"Explain Mr. Bartowski."

"I'm going to pay a visit to Dr. Burke and have her put me under hypnosis." he quickly stated. "It's a long shot but what do we have to lose?" he asked looking around the conference area.

"Proceed and keep me updated on the situation." said Beckman as the screen turns off.

"Well you better get going Chuck." stated Casey.

"I will." he said. "I just have to make 2 quick stops first before I see her."

XXX

Sarah is sitting on the black leather couch at Casa Bartowski watching television. She's not wearing her engagement ring or the bracelet for that matter and just lounging around the house after being benched by General Beckman. To her, it was the right call to make because if she wasn't benched she wouldn't be capable of taking control of her emotions if she saw her.

Her television viewing is suddenly interrupted when she hears the front door open and what she first sees is a golden brown 4 legged blur with a white cone around its neck heading directly for her. The golden brown blur is Chuck's dog Peaches who has been at the vet recouping for the past several days after having surgery. As she is petting and rubbing her belly, she looks up to see Chuck walking in holding a box of pizza.

"Hey Sarah…" he said waving at her. He walks over setting the box pizza down on the coffee table in front of her. "…heard through the grapevine you're having one of those days so I got you your favorite."

She leans over with Peaches next to her and opens the lid of the box to find vegetarian pizza without olives. For her, he is able to remember that and yet he isn't able to remember how much he loves her. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever and quite frankly makes her want to not only scream at the top of her lungs out of sheer frustration but also punch someone in the face.

"Thanks but I'm not hungry." she retorted continuing to pet Peaches. She watches as Chuck walk over and plop down next to her with Peaches in between them. Her hand touches Chucks as they both pet the golden lab she bought for him causing her to quickly retract it placing it on her lap. "I just don't feel like eating anything right now."

"As your partner, I'm concerned about you." he said turning his head to look at her. Sarah response is to just look straight ahead at the television attempting to ignore him the best she can but its tough. It concerns Chuck causing him to wonder what's going on. "Is something wrong?" he inquired with curiosity.

"Nothing is wrong." she stated shaking her head.

Peaches is in between the two of them glancing back and forth at the two of them with her tongue hanging out happy as can be. Chuck reaches over scratching her back and then behind the ears all-the-while making baby noises causing a hint of smile to appear on her face to which Chuck notices. "There's a smile." he said leaning over expressing his oh so familiar Bartowski smile she knows and love.

Sarah catches herself and immediately stands up keeping her distance from him. "I appreciate the pizza Chuck but I'm fine. Really I am. " she said standing in front of the tv. "Its been a rough morning. As matter of fact it's been a rough few days."

"I know." he said standing up looking her eye to eye. "Like Bryce said at Castle, its been rough on everybody with what's happened in the past few days but we persevered like Team Chuck has always done in the past. My memory is still a bit hazy but I do know that we've been through a lot."

"Yeah…" she replied crossing her arms "…we have."

"You know what…" he stated waving his finger in the air. "…I remember landing the helicopter and you got my back guiding me safely down. You were so pissed at me when I jumped out of the helicopter doing my victory dance and…

Chuck doesn't get to finish his sentence when Sarah immediately interjects. "I can't do this Chuck." she said shaking her head and pacing back and forth in front of the tv.

"Can't do what?" he wondered

"I can't talk to you." she said with a great amount hesitancy in her voice. She walks over to the kitchen/dining area and stands with her back against sitting on the edge. "It's hard for me."

A look of concern once again appears on his face towards her. He can see that she has a lot on her mind and is struggling to keep it to herself. Chuck instincts are telling him that she's hiding something and doesn't want him to know. "Hey…" he said walking up to her putting both hand on her shoulder. "…like I said we're close friends and partners in a cover relationship and we're there for each…"

"Wait." she sadly stated putting her right hand up. Sarah breaks away from Chuck's grip and heads back to the front of the couch where Peaches is lying down stretched out. "I can't."

"You can't what?" asked with absolution confusion. "What is going on Sarah?"

"Nothing."

"Clearly its not nothing by the way you're avoiding eye contact with me. Just tell me."

"No!"

"Why not!?" he quickly replied.

"Because I love you!" she spitted out looking him directly in his brown eyes.

A look of disbelief appears on his face as he hears those words come out of her mouth. He backs up a bit trying to take in what she just said in. "But you're engaged."

"Yes, to you." she emphatically stated. "I'm engaged to you." repeated Sarah pointing at him. "You gave me that engagement ring in Poland remember. Its where you first proposed to me." She reaches up holding up the gold locket that's around her neck. "You gave me the gold locket on Valentine's day and remember the inscription… "

"Stop!" hollered chuck.

Sarah watches as Chuck turns around and reaches up with his right hand in order to rub the back of his neck. As he does, he's shaking his head muttering to himself. When he turns around he find his lips suddenly pressed up against hers. For a brief moment, he's taking it in but then his eyes widen causing him to quickly back off. He expresses of mixture of absolute disbelief, astonishment, and confusion.

So many thoughts are currently running through his mind at this point so much so it all too much to take in. He can't deal with it and does the only logical he can do. "I got to go." he said heading out the door leaving Sarah sitting on the black leather couch.

As she does, Peaches rests her head on her lap trying her best to comfort her.

XXX

"Sarah said she loved me." Chuck quickly said entering Dr. Burke's office heading straight towards the front of her desk. "She also said she and I are engaged." he frantically stated. "All I know is that I have feelings for you and that I like you."

"Okay, don't freak out." she replied. Dr. Burke stands up and heads towards the front of her desk and guides him to the chair behind him. She sits down on the other chair and tries to calm him down. "Did she do anything else?"

"She kissed me." he said shaking his head. Chuck is trying to deal with what just previously happened as Dr. Burke is holding his hand. "Do I love her? Do I have feelings for her? Did I enjoy the kiss?" he asked with a look of confused desperation in his eyes in order to find the truth.

"We can figure this out together." she said expressing a soothing and comforting tone in her voice. "We can do it now if you want."

Chuck knows that he came to Dr. Burke's office for a purpose and he would have to handle the situation with Sarah some other time but he didn't know when. "No, I can deal with this later." he said. "I need you to hypnotize me. You can do that right?" asked Chuck.

"Yes but why?"

"We need to find Manoosh Depak's hang out spot Leslie and I know its in my head somewhere. It's a matter of national security. " he quickly stated. "To be more exact, it's the last game night all three of us played together on Sunday night."

"That's the starting point then." she stated. Dr. Burke creates a comfortable atmosphere for Chuck as she uses the sound of her voice in order to put him in a trance like state. She repeats the following words: Get comfortable, try to clear you mind, and take several deep breathes. Everything is calm. No confusion. Once she has him in a very comfortable state she begins the extraction process by asking him a question.

"Chuck, can you hear my voice?"

"Yes." he softly answered.

"Okay, good. Chuck, I need you to go back to Sunday night where you, Karl and Manoosh were in the recreation room. Do you see it? Are you there?"

"Yeah."

"What do you hear?"

"I hear Karl farting." he said.

A hint of smile appears on her face when he says that. "Nevermind about Karl. Can you hear Manoosh?"

There is brief moment of silence as Chuck sits there with his eyes closed. "Yes."

"Okay Chuck, can you hear what he said his favorite place to eat is?"

Chuck winces as he turns his head slightly as if he's struggling to hear what Manoosh is saying. "I can't" he responded.

"Concentrate Chuck. Focus on Manoosh's voice and only on his voice."

It takes a few seconds but he is able to make out what he's saying. "Two & Half Amigos Restaurant and Cantina." he said softly.

Dr. Burke immediately writes down what he said on a piece of paper. She then looks at Chuck and is about to return him back to his conscious state but makes the decision to do something else quite differently entirely. "Chuck, do you hear me?"

"Yeah."

"You hear the sound of my voice and only the sound of my voice. I want you to listen to me. Can you do that?"

"I can."

"Chuck, listen to me. I want you to listen very carefully. What Sarah said about how she loves you and how your both engaged. It's a lie. Your thoughts of her they mean nothing. Absolutely nothing. Forget all of it." she says. "You know one truth and that is you have feelings for me and its time to move on. Do you understand?"

"Yes, move on."

"Move on. Sharing your life…" Dr. Burke pauses for a brief second. "…with me."

XXX