"Absolutely not."

Bryce takes a deep breath and tilts his head up. "With all due respect, General-"

"The answer is no, Agent Larkin."

Bryce, for the first time in a long time, starts to lose his cool. "He's not a killer!"

Beckman pauses and loosens up slightly, it makes her seem more human through the screen. "Bryce. I know that Chuck is your friend, and that you want what's best for him, but he has been training to become an agent. Every agent has a red test, and Agent Shaw thinks Chuck is ready for it."

Bryce knows the truth. Bryce knows that you're never really ready for it.

He remembers standing over his own red test after putting two bullets in the man's back. The heavy feel of the gun; the eerie, deafening silence that had surrounded him.

"You sure about this, B?" his handler had asked the day before, calling him "B" because she had thought Bryce was a terrible name. "Once you take a life away you can't exactly give it back."

He repeats those words to Chuck the night before his red test. Sarah has already tried to talk him out of it. Bryce knows they fought a little. Chuck wants to be a spy; he wants to be competent and respected.

He's tired of being the punch line.

The problem is, Chuck's not a killer.

They're laying on the hood of the Nerd Herder, looking up at the stars, having parked high above and outside the city limits.

Bryce glances at Chuck and then back up at the sky. "What do you think things would have been like if I hadn't gotten you kicked out of school?"

Chuck blinks and takes a deep breath. "I used to think I would have started up my own software company...made video games...had a bowling alley in my basement...be retired by now."

"I remember," Bryce says. "What about now?"

"Now? Now...I guess...I think I woulda become a field agent or an analyst...Probably an analyst, actually." Chuck shrugs a little. "Doesn't matter much now."

They sit in silence for a few long moments.

"Don't do it."

"Oh, not you, too!" Chuck cries, sitting up. "Come on, Buddy. I have to do this."

"You don't actually have to do anything," Bryce replies, looking at him. "It's your life."

"Yeah, it is. And I want it to mean something."

"It doesn't already?"

"No! Okay? It doesn't! It doesn't mean anything! I'm the guy who works at the Buy More, who accidentally uploaded a computer to his brain! I get treated like, at best, a joke, and at worst, a little kid. Do you know what the worst five words in the English language are? 'Stay in the car, Chuck.'" Chuck waves an arm and then lets it slump down at this side. "I'm sick of it."

"That's fair," Bryce nods. "But I don't think you really get it."

"Get what?"

Bryce sits up. "How things are gonna change. Not just because you're gonna kill somebody tomorrow, but because after tomorrow, you're gonna be a real honest-to-god CIA agent."

Chuck says nothing. He just looks down at his hands.

"The CIA is gonna send you wherever they need you," Bryce tells him. "Anywhere in the world. They don't care about the Buy More. They don't care about your sister or Devon or Morgan. They don't care. They want a job done, they'll put you on a plane, no questions asked. If they need to disappear you, they will. They wanna send you and Sarah to opposite ends of the earth, that's what they'll do. They don't care if you're in love with her. You become CIA you are property of the United States Government, and let me tell ya, buddy. They keep a short leash. You don't wanna know how long it's been since I've even talked to my parents on the phone."

Chuck struggles with this. "Well...well maybe that's what I want."

Bryce lets him have it, because he knows how hard this is. "Okay. Let's talk about the whole killing somebody tomorrow, then. Let's talk about that."

"Bryce-"

"Let's talk about what it's like to see the life drain out of somebody's eyes. You wanna talk about that?"

"You trained me for this!" Chuck yells. "You came here to train me to do this!"

"Because you're my friend, and it's my job, and I wanted you to be trained right! But that doesn't mean I agree with it!"

Silence falls over them again and they look away from each other. Bryce back up at the sky and Chuck back down at his hands.

"Shaw and Sarah are going to oversee the opp tomorrow," Bryce says quietly. He slides off the hood of the car. "You'll be in good hands. We should get going though. You've got a big day tomorrow."

Chuck hops off and gets into the driver's seat. He glances at Bryce as he climbs in next to him.

"What do you think?" Chuck mutters quietly as he fastens his seat belt. They both know they're being listened in on. They know the car is bugged. They're always being watched and listened to.

"We'll see tomorrow, won't we?" Bryce says under his breath.

Chuck's no killer.

00000

They buy it.

It's terrifying for a long minute when Casey hesitates a little too long. Well, it's not a little too long it just feels that way to Chuck. It's terrifying and terrible and even if he didn't really pull the trigger it feels like he did.

He gets back, and he's congratulated by Shaw and Casey (who is damn stealthy. Wow), and Beckman, who pronounces him a full agent, who should be in her office in DC ASAP.

Pretending to be in a huge, knockdown drag-out fight with Sarah and Bryce isn't easy, though. They're very good at pretending they're not speaking to him, but Chuck turns out to be terrible at it.

Once they're on the plane to DC, though, the three of them (Shaw and Casey are left behind to monitor the Ring), they relax.

Sarah can't help but laugh incredulously as she watches the two of them with their portable video game systems.

"Chuck. I've had to pretend to be angry at you for almost a week, and the first chance we get to talk to each other again, all you do is play video games with Bryce?"

"What?" Chuck asks, slightly panicked. "What? No! It's- but-"

"He'll be with you in a second, Sarah," Bryce says quickly.

"And when that second turns into an hour, I'll kill both of you," she tells them.

"You think she means it?" Chuck asks Bryce, not looking up from his game.

"She usually does," Bryce says.

"Sarah, we just have to get to a save point," Chuck tells her.

This is when Sarah pulls out her secret weapon.

She leans back in her seat, stretching her arms above her head, tilting back a little like a cat, and it does the trick. Chuck can't help but get distracted, eyes wandering from the small screen to Sarah's tall form.

Bryce groans. "Chuck. Buddy."

"Whu...?"

The sad, disappointed sound that comes from both their games indicate that they've lost whatever level or round they were on and Bryce sighs, and smacks his friend upside the head.

Chuck flinches and turns back to him. "Ouch!"

Sarah merely laughs and cuddles up to Chuck. His arm wraps around her and he sets the game aside before closing his eyes.

"Okay?" she asks.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course, I...well...no. No, I'm not..."

Sarah gazes up at him. "You feel guilty."

Chuck nods. "I may as well have pulled that trigger," he says quietly.

Bryce listens even if he's not watching them. He wonders if they did the right thing here; if they shouldn't have stayed out of this and let Chuck do his red test. As a member of the CIA, he's going to have to sooner or later.

Bryce wonders why he keeps meddling in Chuck's life.

When they land in DC, and head to NSA headquarters, it occurs to all three that not one of them has ever been to Beckman's office before, and therefore they have no idea where it is.

"Three CIA agents walk into a bar," Bryce says as they wander down a hallway.

"One ducks, one shoots it and one says 'ouch!'" Chuck finishes.

Sarah rolls her eyes as she opens up, finally, the General's office door.

Bryce stops her. "He should go in alone."

Sarah frowns back at him, but Chuck nods.

"I'll call you guys when the meeting is over."

Sarah takes a deep breath but then kisses his cheek. "Good luck."

He grins at her and then turns to Bryce. "You wanna kiss me too?"

"Go away," Bryce tells him.

00000

They find a coffee shop, and Bryce realizes that this is the first time in a very long time he and Sarah have really been alone together. No Chuck, no Casey or Morgan or anybody.

Bryce Larkin, Sarah Walker, and two cups of coffee.

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about what we did," Bryce admits.

Sarah frowns at him. "Bryce..."

"I keep doing this," he says. "I keep screwing with his life, and screwing things up for him."

"He's not a killer," Sarah tells him quietly. "Somebody else's life would have to be on the line for him to take that step. Ellie's or...or Morgan's. 'Because the CIA says so' is not a good enough reason for him to execute someone."

"It wouldn't have been-"

"The man was on the ground, begging for his life," Sarah reminds him. "You probably know Chuck better than I do. If Casey hadn't been there, he would have failed his Red Test. He didn't even pull the trigger and he's feeling guilty."

She's right. Bryce knows that.

Sarah's phone rings and she puts it on speaker.

"How'd it go, Buddy?" Bryce asks.

"They wanna send me to Rome!"

Sarah's eyes widen, shocked. "W...Italy?"

"Italy! Rome in Italy! In a villa and there's a car and...clothes and...Year Stipends?"

Bryce can't help laughing. "That's awesome. Rome is great."

"Where are you guys? We should talk," Chuck says. "Oh! and, Bryce, the General wants to see you."

He blows out a breath. Of course she does.

00000

After Chuck informs them that he has the week off to get all of his neurosis out of his system, Bryce steps into the General's office.

"Agent Larkin."

"General Beckman."

She gestures for him to have a seat, and he eases into the chair slowly.

"Don't think I don't know what happened," she tells him. "Just because Shaw was fooled into thinking Agent Bartowski killed that mole, that doesn't mean I was."

"So why the act?" Bryce asks.

She sits back in her chair. "Because Chuck is going to make a very good agent anyways. And because Shaw needs to believe that he is at least a little bit of a threat to the Ring."

Bryce stares at her silently for a long moment, stewing.

"Yes, Agent Larkin. You were right about Agent Shaw. He is working for the Ring. We've known for some time, and your finding out nearly blew his cover, and the fact that we know. We placed him in Burbank to keep an eye on him, because we know the Ring has been making attempts to assemble their own Intersect."

"You know," Bryce sighs, rubbing his eyes. "There are some days I hate this job."

Beckman smirks, just a little.