A/N Hey all! Unfortunately, this is going to be the last chapter for a few weeks. I move in to the dorms tomorrow, and after that, I have classes that will literally make me tear my eyes out. Ah! No worries, though, I won't give up on the story. I made this chapter the longest one yet, just to make up for the longer wait it will be for the next one. It's not a cliff-hanger, so you can be happy about that!

By the way, I had an epic failure. It's supposed to be Larkin instead of Larson from the last chapter! I went back and changed it on my hard-drive, but I don't know how to change it on fanfic… If I use his name again, though, I'll make sure it's correct!

The 100th reviewer was *dun duN DUN* Fire From Above! Thanks everyone else for your reviews, too! They always make my day especially wonderful :) Now for the promised tid-bit about Ryan McPartlin: I was watching Sugarland's new music video Stuck Like Glue, and Ryan was the main character in the video! He had quite a few classy Devon faces, and it really made me want to watch a new episode of Chuck. Good thing September 20th is getting closer. I can hardly wait!

Talk to everyone in a few weeks!


RECAP

Sarah balked. "Wait, you were supposed to get the intersect?"

Jenn scoffed. "I was. Before Larkin and Chuck came into the picture. The CIA screwed me over. I'm thankful they did, though, because now I know what I want." Jenn's smile made Sarah's blood run cold. "Revenge."


"Jenn, don't be ridiculous. You can't take on the whole CIA system on yourself," Sarah said, trying to reason with her sister.

"Oh, I know I can't take them on. My group, SPI, can take them on," Jenn said, dabbing her mouth with a napkin.

Sarah was getting desperate. She hadn't found out anything about where Mr. Bartowski was. Chuck was going to be furious with her. No information on his father, and she hadn't left him a stupid note saying she was going to be gone for awhile. Stupid, stupid Sarah! She started grasping at straws.

"SPI? That's an interesting name for a rogue group. Why not SPY?" the younger sister asked, trying to get any information she possibly could.

"Seriously pissed individuals searching for personal insight while studying the phenomenal intersect." Sarah looked confused.

"Everyone in SPI has been wronged by the CIA. Daniel lost his first wife, I lost the intersect, and so on and so on and so on. Admit it, Sarah. The CIA has double crossed you and Chuck more times than I can count. They wouldn't let you be together at Prague, they ruined Chuck's ability to flash, heck, they ruined Chuck's life in general. If it wasn't for the CIA, who knows what kind of lives you and Chuck would have had by now. Three years of their meddling, and where has it gotten you?"

Sarah was looking down at her plate, trying not to listen to the truth her sister was saying. It was true. Every time she and Chuck started to go somewhere, the CIA interfered. Her thoughts were interrupted.

"Daniel and I want the government to know what they've done to us. We want them to suffer as much as we have. Most of us haven't ever even gotten a proper thank you for putting our lives in danger. "Sammy," Jenn's tone of voice caught Sarah's attention, making her look up, "Join us. With the intersect and the Iverson sisters working together, we'll be unstoppable."

Sarah thought it over. Yes, the CIA had been horrible to her and Chuck. They had meddled with their lives, and they constantly put them in danger without thoughts to their wellbeing. That was what you got when you signed up to be a spy, though, wasn't it? It's not like you didn't know what you were getting into when you joined the system. Yes, Chuck hadn't intentionally joined the CIA, but if he hadn't of been made the intersect, would she have ever met him?

What would life be like if Sarah didn't have Chuck to make one of her bad moods turn out good? Where would she be if she wasn't watching out for the adorable nerd who had captured her heart? If it hadn't of been for Chuck, she would still be the heartless, murdering spy who didn't think twice about doing her job. Chuck had changed her for the better. The government did a lot of things that made her angry, but she owed them for the tentative relationship she had.

She processed what she should say to her big sister. "And if I say I don't want to join?"

Jenn's hopeful smile turned menacing. Sarah felt a shiver go up her spine. "Then we won't have any use for you. You see, little sister, no one besides me knows about Chuck, and belatedly, Alex's special abilities. Can you imagine what would happen if, for some unexplained reason, the media had access to their files?"

"You wouldn't dare," Sarah seethed.

"Wouldn't I? It's not only their safety in jeopardy. You've read Parker's file, right? You remember how he went on those rampage murder sprees when his sister was murdered? How would you feel if I told you that you were the one that murdered her?"

"Jenn…" Sarah started. She was interrupted with the waiter bringing the check over to the table. Jenn politely thanked him.

"Did you want a box to put your leftovers in?" the waiter asked. When Sarah didn't respond, Jenn politely responded for her, "No, thank you," and he left.

As soon as the waiter was out of ear-shot, Jenn continued, "Can you imagine what would happen if you had an enemy working with you? Think about it, Munchkin. There's no way out."

Sarah's head swam with confusion. Could Jenn really blackmail her like this? What had changed since she had last seen that spunky, awkward teenager who made sand-castles with her on the beach? "What do you want me to do?" she finally asked, quietly.

Jenn's malicious smile returned. "I want you to use this to scan Chuck's brain waves." She handed Sarah a flash-drive looking object, "And use this one to scan Alex's," and she handed her another flash-drive. "I'll be in touch with you in the next week. Try and accomplish this simple task, okay, Lemon?"

Her little sister's eyes flashed. How dare she use her nickname! Sarah had considered her family, she had come to give her sister a chance to explain herself, and this was how she was treated in return. "Can you tell me if Chuck's father is alright?"

"Mr. Bartowski is perfectly safe. We have no reason to hurt him because he's our opportunity to create the ultimate memory enhancement program. Combine the intersect and PGMA together, and what do you get? Someone who can access any of the files stored in their brain at will. That's what. Brilliant, isn't it?"

Jenn signed her name on the credit card receipt with a flourished hand, and stood to leave. "Come on, I'll drive you to your house." When Sarah started to act like she was going to bail, Jenn grabbed her arm and hissed, "We have people everywhere, sister. Don't try anything funny."

Sarah, her pride hanging by a thread, stood to leave. It was then she noticed the van sitting out in the street. She squinted, and realized that it was her team. The look of surprise on her face lasted only seconds, but it was long enough for Shaw to notice.

He walked over to Jenn, and whispered something in her ear. Jenn glanced out the window, too, and her face hardened.

"Don't you understand simple instructions? Come alone. Alone means by yourself, not with backup," she growled in Sarah's ear. Jenn grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her towards the door.

"Jenn, I swear, I didn't bring them with me. I have no idea how they found me!."

"Stop groveling. My little sister doesn't brown-nose me. Ever. Do you understand?" By then, the trio had reached the back of the restaurant. "Get in the car," Jenn barked.

"I'm still going home, right?" Sarah asked. She was hoping her team hadn't seen her.

"You were going home when I thought we had a deal. Our cover has been blown, Sam. Do you know how dangerous it would be for us to take you home now? No, you're coming with us."

Sarah had gained a lot of valuable information. Information that could help them find Chuck's dad before Jeffster's concert. They only had a week, but it was possible. It couldn't be that hard to find a list of CIA agents who felt they had been jipped.

"They might not even be here for me. Please, just let me go and I'll get the scans like you asked. I won't say anything, just let me go."

Jenn looked at her sister, and realized that it wasn't an enemy agent before her, it was her little sister. She sighed, about to agree to Sarah's demands, but at that moment, a shot was fired from across the street, narrowly missing Jenn. Her demeanor changed instantaneously.

Sarah was roughly pulled in front of Jenn as a shield. Shaw had gone to get the van, and he sped up behind them. By this time, Sarah could easily distinguish Casey and Chuck coming towards her. She drew in a deep breath, holding her temper. She could have easily gotten away since it was just Jenn holding her hostage, but for the life of her, she couldn't stomach the thought of hurting her sister.

Jenn hissed in her ear, "I still want those scans. Make sure their eyes are open, point it towards them a few feet away from them, press the button on the side, and the machine will do the rest. I'll be in touch." Jenn threw Sarah to the ground, and jumped in the car with Shaw, speeding away.

Chuck and Casey came running up to her. "You okay, Walker?" Casey asked.

"Yeah, fine," she responded. Casey, seeing that everything was in order, headed back to the van to check on Alex.

Chuck held his hand out to help her up, and she made a point of ignoring it. Sarah was angry, oh boy, was she angry. "How did you even find me?" she asked, seething. "I didn't tell you where I was going for a reason."

"Are you kidding me? Those goons were about to smuggle you off to who knows where, and you're mad at me for finding you?" Chuck's temper was starting to rise, too.

"Chuck, they were taking me home!" Sarah exploded.

His face was confused momentarily, but it was quickly replaced by suspicion. "Are you working with them?"

"What? No! We haven't found anything about your dad. I wanted to help, and this was the only way I could see to do that. Chuck, my sister did this. She has some stupid agenda, and I had to figure out what they wanted. They said to come alone." Explanation finished, her anger returned, "I could have gotten more information out of her, if you would have just stayed the heck away."

"Well what was I supposed to think when you didn't come home! The last time you didn't show up, I didn't see you again for six months."

"Are we really going to drag Prague into this, Chuck? Seriously? I thought we were past this. You know I left you so that we could have the chance to be together for real. I did that for us."

"That's your problem, Sarah. You never think past what's best for you. Did you ever think that we could have worked something out if you had just told Beckman you wanted to talk to me first? That you wanted to explain what was going to happen to me by yourself? You could have saved both of us a lot of trouble."

"I'm sorry, okay?" she burst out. "I did what I thought was best."

"Oh, and that's why you did just now? You met up with your sister. Your sister who happens to have kidnapped my dad? I thought you were on my side. I've always treated you like you were more than just another person in my family."

Sarah choked out, "She is my family, Chuck."

Chuck's anger was past its peak. "Yeah, well, if your criminal sister is family, what does that make me? Am I supposed to revert back to being just an 'assignment' now?" He wiped his hand across his eyes. "We kissed. We had that one, really great moment, and I thought we could make this work, for real this time. I was going to pretend that my dad was still hiding out from whatever delusion he thought was after him. I was going to pretend that your sister was still non-existent. I was going to pretend that maybe you felt the same way about me. I was going to tell you I lov-…" His face hardened. "Never mind, I can see I was wrong."

"Chuck, wait," she started, touching his shoulder.

The involuntary touch started Chuck's wheels in his brain. He flashed. A nice, ninja, take out the enemy flash. His anger took over his system, and he turned around to face Sarah. In minutes, he had flipped her to the ground, sprawled across her, about to punch her face, but then he looked down. He saw the anguish, the frustration in her face. She was going to let him hit her without a fight.

Chuck jumped up, more angry at himself than he was at Sarah for a moment. Had he seriously just let his emotions get the better of him again? He closed his eyes, breathing hard. His dad was missing. Sarah had just angered the hornets' nest, and who knows what they might do to him now. This was Sarah's fault. If she had just left her sister alone, and ignored whatever the heck feelings she had had about her, this right now wouldn't be happening.

Sarah still sat on the ground. How could she have messed up so much? Chuck had almost hit her. Yes, it had been instinct, his flash, but she deserved it. She wished he would have socked her. What was it about her that always made her act first, think later? Was it because she'd been raised to be a criminal her whole life? Was this the way things were supposed to be? Was she supposed to join her sister, her sister, who had just threatened hers and her friends' lives? Or was she meant to try and fix things with Chuck?

Chuck had been ready to try a relationship with her again. He had been ready to trust her. Like everything in her life, she had ruined it. She had ruined what she had with her dad, their easy-going con relationship. She had messed up by not staying in touch with her mom and sister when they had left. The one good thing she had had going for her in a long time she had destroyed. The flash-drives in her pocket felt like a dead weight. Was her sister right? Should she blame all of her problems on the government?

Chuck had been quiet for awhile, but he turned around, a pained expression on his face. "I think you should move out for awhile, just until things blow over."

Sarah nodded her head in agreement, silently wondering where she should go. An apartment? A motel? She'd figure something out. And she'd leave Chuck out of her mixed up life, for good. "I think it's for the best," she agreed, softly.

Satisfied that they had worked that out, Chuck headed back to the van, not even offering to help Sarah up this time. Sarah stiffly got up, working out the kinks in her neck from being flipped, again. She sighed. Had it only been this morning things had been going so well with Chuck?

By the time she returned to the van, Chuck had already fastened his seat-belt in the front passenger seat. Alex was out cold in the backseat, softly snoring. Casey had turned on the oldies station, and it was playing softly.

*I've never seen a night so long…

It had been a long day, Sarah begrudgingly thought to herself, but an even longer night. It was going to be even longer without her being able to snuggle next to Chuck when she fell asleep.

When time goes crawling by…

Chuck just wanted to get home. This car ride was taking forever. The awkward silence was deafening, and all he wanted was to his mind off of Sarah. He looked over at Casey to see if he could telepathically tell him to drive faster. Casey looked over at him, scowled, and went back to driving. So much for that idea.

The moon just went behind a cloud, to hide its face and cry…

Sarah wasn't one to let her emotions get the upper hand of her, but at this moment, all she wanted to do was bury her head in a pillow and cry. She wanted Chuck to hold her, and tell her everything was going to be okay. She knew that wouldn't happen, though, not after the stunt she had just pulled.

The next verse went by, and Chuck and Sarah were both mournfully thinking along, I'm so lonesome I could cry…


After a painstakingly long car ride back, Chuck and Sarah headed inside, silently.

"I suppose I'll go grab my stuff and head for a motel…" Sarah said, trying to break the silence.

Chuck nodded in agreement, and headed in the opposite direction of his room. Sarah sighed. She didn't have much to pack, and she had too much time to think. Thinking was dangerous when you had a mission to do.

Chuck wasn't around when she left, so she let herself out, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Where are you going?" a voice said behind her.

Sarah jumped, about to grab her gun, but she visibly relaxed when she saw it was just Alex. "Um, Chuck and I had a fight. I thought I'd let him cool off for a bit."

Alex took one look at Sarah's bags, and then stated, "You're spending the night at my dad's and my place."

"Oh, no, I really should just go to a motel…" Sarah started.

"And what?" Alex interrupted. "Run away again? When are you going to learn you can't face your problems if you keep running from them?" She grabbed Sarah's bag, knowing she'd follow, and headed inside.

Casey was nowhere in sight when they walked in. Alex snorted. "Dad thinks if he goes to sleep fast enough he can recreate the dream he was having when Chuck woke us up." She led Sarah to a bedroom. "You can take the bed, and I'll crash on the couch."

"I'll take the couch. It's your bed after all," Sarah said, decisively.

Alex shrugged. "It won't matter either way to me. Once I fall asleep I'm dead to the world. Besides, Dad won't flip nearly as badly if I'm out there sleeping than if you are. You know how he gets sometimes," she said, smiling. She pointed down the hallway, and gestured to the nice, but now filthy, dress Sarah was wearing. "The bathroom is through that door, in case you want to shower or something."

She started to leave the room, but Sarah called her back with, "Hey, Alex, can I ask you something?" Alex returned and sat down on the bed, her face eager for some girl-talk. "Do you have any siblings?"

"Um, no, unfortunately. My mom never remarried. It's just me!" a smile lit her face, and she added as an afterthought, "And my dog, Ruffy. Well, I guess he's dead now, but he used to be the equivalent of a sibling."

"Oh," was all Sarah said back.

Alex looked at Sarah, studiously, and then said, "But if I did have an honest-to-goodness sibling, I'd probably do anything for them. They're family, you know?"

Sarah nodded her head in agreement. Alex continued, "When you're an only child like me, you have a lot of friends that sometimes take the place of siblings. For instance, I consider you and Chuck sibling-like people. It's hard to choose between actual family and pretend family sometimes."

She paused for a minute. "Take tonight, for instance. I could tell that Chuck really wanted help to make sure you were okay. If I hadn't of convinced my dad to go, we probably wouldn't have gone. Then again, I chose my dad when I decided to stay in the van instead of following him and Chuck to come rescue you. It's impossible to please everyone, but in the end, you have to make a decision that you can live with."

She smiled. "Not everyone has the government around to make them a new alias every time they screw up. You're lucky because you can usually run away from your problems in the form of a new identity. This time, though, Sarah Walker has made some mistakes, and you need to fix them like a normal person would."

Sarah thought over what Alex had said. "Have you thought about being a psychologist? You're really good at giving advice."

Alex laughed. "No way! My heart lies with Criminal Justice." Her head tilted a bit to the side. "I really like science, too. I just try to avoid that subject with Dad. He gets really confused when I start talking about it!"

Sarah chuckled at that. "I'm really glad you're part of the team, Alex. You definitely make Casey nicer to be around."

She shrugged her shoulders, "People like me." She winked. "I think they like the fact that I'm so short and adorable."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "I'm sure."

Alex bit her lip for a few minutes, started to say something, and then stopped. She studied Sarah's face for a few minutes before she said, "Don't let anyone else know this, but if I had been you, I would have gone to see your sister, too. I've read your files, Sarah. You used to kill people and perform missions without a second thought. I would have guessed Chuck to be more likely to do something like what you did, but since you spend most of your time with him, I think his personality is starting to rub off on you."

She pursed her lips slightly when Sarah didn't respond. "I like the new Sarah, and I'm hoping you listen to your heart more. It's good to think for yourself every once in awhile, even if other people don't like what your heart tells you to do. I know Chuck is mad at you now, but he'll come around."

Sarah had been twisting a loose strand of string on the comforter during Alex's speech, but when Alex had finished talking, she looked up at Alex and gave her a small smile to let her know she had been listening.

Alex muffled a yawn and stood up to leave. "I should probably let you get some sleep. Beckman is going to want a good explanation about this tomorrow. It might be easier for you if you aren't trying to think through a fog. Night!"

"Good night, Alex," Sarah said, softly. She looked around the room, then down at herself. She really needed a shower. She took her time getting her things ready, and took an even longer time showering.

Sarah had a lot to think about. Would Chuck forgive her for messing up this time? Was Jenn going to hurt Chuck's dad? Had she really killed Evelyn? She turned the faucet off and dried herself off. She wasn't going to get any of her questions answered if didn't get some sleep.

When she put her pajamas on, one of the flash-drives fell out of her pocket. Jenn's hasty instructions on how to use it came to mind. Sarah observed the object carefully. It would be really easy to take the scan. She didn't necessarily have to give it to her sister if she did…

Sarah gripped the flash-drive tighter, having come to a decision. Alex had said to listen to her heart, and this was what it was telling her to do.

As quietly as she could, she walked into the living room, making sure that both Casey and Alex were asleep. She could hear both of them snoring: Casey sounding like a giant bear and Alex making quiet snorts with hers. The fact that they both snored made Sarah smile.

She stood before Alex, several feet away from her head. Alex was out cold, just like she had said she would be. Gently, she lifted one of her eyelids and pointed the drive at it. It let off a laser-like light, and the little bar on the side of the drive went from 0-100 in seconds.

Mission accomplished, Sarah went back to Alex's room, feeling like a dirty traitor. She didn't have to give it to Jenn, she kept thinking to herself. Confident she had made the right decision, Sarah laid down, and after lots of plaguing doubts, eventually fell asleep.

*I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry by Hank Williams