Ed. note

Dear… person who wrote the review about why Chuck is justified in hating the intersect. I read your review and I see the validity in the points you made. I wrote this fic in response. I think it's more realistic than my last one. This one better represents the hate/love relationship Chuck has with the intersect, at least in my opinion. Keep in mind, I'm still biased towards him liking having the intersect because it brought him Sarah but, I try to address your points.

Enjoy!

Sarah and Chuck sat in the surveillance van , and Casey sat in the front ready to be a getaway driver if needed. Bryce was inside the building taking out guards, doing ninja flip, all the while making Sarah laugh with well timed quips.

Chuck's stomach churned at the sight. Bryce had the looks, the suave, the exciting career, and, most importantly, the girl. (Or so Chuck thought) All Chuck had going for him was his Quips, now Bryce was taking that from him too.

Quip stealer. Chuck thought.

He couldn't be mad though, Bryce was a great guy. Maybe he could be mad if Bryce had gotten Chuck kicked out of college to cover up Bryce's own cheating but, no, he had to get him kicked out to save him.

At this exact moment in time, Chuck was positively devastated.

At, least I get to be in the van with Sarah. He thought trying to cheer up. But, Sarah was paying no mind to him, she was focused on Bryce.

Chuck drew his attention back to the task at hand, The mission, 'the super secret mission where Bryce shows off his ninja-ness then runs away with Sarah into the sunset on the back of a griffin' was Chuck's current working title.

Chuck slouched in his chair and sighed under his breath when he saw Bryce do a back hand spring to take down the two guards in front of him.

Sarah watched Bryce parkour his way to wherever it is he was going. Beckman had been vague on the details, all she was told was to sit in the van and make sure Bryce completed his mission.

Sarah was a little bitter towards this particular assignment. She was offended that Beckmen felt she needed to call in Bryce all the way from Thailand, for what seemed to be a simple infiltrate and retrieve. Heck Chuck could accomplish a mission as simple as this!

Sarah thought about it a moment and mentally corrected herself. Only because Chuck isn't as well "equipped" to handle the various... difficulties thrown at an agent in the field... Not because he is so incompetent that he can only accomplish simple missions. She thought.

Sarah sighed, when you start protecting an asset from your own thoughts… That's when you know you've been working too hard.

She noticed Chuck sigh, albeit quietly, to himself. She looked at him looking at the screen and came to two possible conclusions for Chuck's suddenly melancholy mood. One, is that he is in love with the surveillance monitor and is gazing deeply into its electronic eyes. Or two, Bryce's presence is bringing out the worst of Chuck's insecurities.

Sarah placed her hand carefully on the table. She looked over to Casey, he was listening to Bryce's audio, oblivious to the world around him. Good. She thought. Next she checked if Chuck's hand was on the table as well, it was.

Hopefully this would cheer Chuck up.

She reached for her water bottle which was next to Chuck, took a swig and set it down as close to Chuck's hand as possible, quickly, as not to draw attention the ridiculous amount of care she was putting into this simple gesture, she let her hand fall off her water bottle and right next to Chuck's hand. The sides of their hands were barely touching.

Chuck felt, what he suspected to be Sarah's hand, graze his hand. He glanced quickly out of the corner of his eye to confirm, it was Sarah's hand alright. He waited for her to remove it, or apologize for being awkward and then remove it, Or something, anything. But, she didn't budge. Was she not aware of what was going on?

This is usually the time where Sarah explains why the gesture she just made is in no way an indicator of feelings of any kind.

Despite not moving her hand away from his, he knew better than to think that this gesture had any meaning behind it.

To save himself from further confusion he moved his hand away from the danger zone and back into the friend zone.

Sarah felt Chuck slide away. Clearly he was unaware that she was trying to comfort him. She tried another strategy. She tapped her knee against his and gave him a smile of reassurance.

"It will be over soon." She said warmly.

"What?" Bryce said over the Com link.

"I asked if this will be over soon." Sarah covered.

"Patience is a virtue Sarah. But, if I remember right your not all that-"

Sarah turned her com off annoyed. Bryce had been making sly remarks to the intimate details of their past relationship all day. Maybe he was reacting as a territorial thing. Maybe he was feeling threatened by Chuck. HAH! The irony. Chuck feeling insecure around Bryce, Bryce feeling insecure around Chuck. If only Chuck knew.

"What are you doing tonight?" Sarah asked.

"I don't know, maybe steal some high end cars, punch a hooker." He said nonchalantly.

"What?!" Sarah asked concerned.

"It's a video game, Grand Theft Auto. It's more than likely my night will consist of Morgan, Grape soda, and video games. Why do you ask?" Chuck said.

"I just thought… We haven't really been on a cover date in a while." Sarah suggested.

"Ellie and Awesome already think I'm out to dinner with you right now." Chuck said returning his gaze to the monitor where Bryce was stealing a microchip.

"That not what I-" Sarah was cut off when Chuck's eyes rolled to the back of his head.

A turtle on a lilypad.

A plane crash.

Images and files of a microchip.

Some sunglasses.

Files and files of information being stored.

A diagram of the glasses flashing information in front of a subject.

The plane crash.

The turtle again.

"Bryce, is that an intersect update?" Chuck started to worry. "It's the chip that goes in those sunglasses you gave me!"

"Not now Chuck, I'll explain in the van."

Bryce stood in the vault, the weight sensors had just noticed the microchip had been removed. The vault door was swinging shut. Bryce sprinted and slid into home base through the vault door.

He stood up to find a legion of guards in his way. He adjusted to a fighting stance. "Alright… Who's first."

The guards came swarming around him and Bryce took them out two at a time. Out of the corner of his eye though he saw bars coming down by the exit.

"Chuck." Bryce said through his com link.

"Are you going to explain what you plan to do with that microchip?" Chuck said.

"As soon as I get out of here. But, I need a favor first." Bryce spoke evenly as he took out a few more guards.

"Not until you tell me whats going on." Chuck said firmly.

"Chuck! Not now! I'm about to get locked in. I need you to stop the bars from locking into place." Punch, punch, kick, kick.

"You promise to tell me?"

"CHUCK FORGET THE CHIP. I'm running out of time!"

Chuck pulled up a window, typed a few lines of code in, hit enter and pesto ravioli, the gates lifted. "Done. Now hurry, because you have a lot of explaining to do." Chuck grunted. Chuck turned off his com link and stood up trying to stretch.

"Are you okay?" Sarah approached gently.

"No! I'm not okay. I thought we were all on the same side! I thought Beckmen was working on getting these secrets out of my head, not stuffing more in!" Chuck slicked his hair back and leaned over holding g his knees as he let out a Hugh of air. He looked up at Sarah. "I thought of all people you wanted these secrets out as much as I do." He said.

"Me?! Chuck I didn't know about this! I had know idea what we were retrieving, and trust me when. I say, if I had I would have NEVER taken part in this operation!" Sarah stressed defending herself.

"That's probably why Beckmen called in Bryce for this. She knows if either of us had known about the chip we would never let it get to Chuck." Casey chimed in from the driver's seat.

"Well she's right about one thing, I won't let that chip anywhere near Chuck." Sarah said.

Sarah looked to Chuck, he was sitting on the floor of the van looking distraught. She kneeled beside him, taking his hand. "I won't." She reaffirmed.

Chuck looked up to her beside him. "I don't want another update Sarah. This thing in my head, it's - it's keeping me from-"

"From having any of the things you want." Sarah finished.

"From having any of the things in need." He corrected, squeezing her hand. Sarah wondered if he meant her.

Bryce entered the back of the van taking carefully placed steps towards Chuck. Chuck stood up. "Bryce I'm not letting you update-"

Bryce had formed a fist with his hand, and clocked Chuck square in the jaw, effectively knocking him out.

"Chuck!" Sarah was startled. She feel the the ground next to Chuck and started attending to his quickly swelling jaw. "What the crap Bryce?" Sarah swung a fist at him but, he caught it.

"It's the only way." Bryce said putting the microchip inside the sunglasses.

Sarah stepped in front of Bryce. "I won't let you."

"Get out of the way Sarah, this isn't about you." Bryce warned.

Sarah pulled her tranq gun. "And I'm warning you, step away from him." Sarah said firmly and furiously.

"I'd do what she says." Casey chimed.

"Sarah, the data in his head is wearing off." Bryce explained.

"What?" Sarah said deflated, and somewhat disappointed.

"That's an interesting reaction for someone who doesn't want the intersect in his head." Bryce noted. Sarah stiffened. "Just as I thought, you do want the intersect in his head."

"Sarah is that true?" A semi conscious Chuck asked for. The dirty van floor.

Sarah kneeled, yet again, beside Chuck. She took his jaw in her hands examining the quickly bruising point of impact. Chuck pushed her hand away feeling betrayed. "Is it true?" He asked again.

Sarah sighed. "Yes but-"

"But what?! I thought we were on the same side! I thought… I thought you wanted me to have everything I've ever wanted…" Chuck said sadly.

"Chuck, you don't understand. If you don't have the intersect then I get reassigned to the farthest place from here. Chuck, I want you to be happy so I'll support whatever decision you make but… I want to stay here, with you… The only way that happens is if you continue to be the most important intelligence asset in the world… if you stay the intersect." Sarah said.

Chuck looked into her eyes for a long moment.

"I'm not going to update…" he looked back at Sarah. "I'm sorry Sarah."

Sarah sat on her heels, her world falling apart. She stood up without saying a word and sat in the passenger's seat. "Let's go, we can talk over what to do next with Beckmen." Sarah said to Casey. Casey started the car and drove off.

They rode in silence.

Chuck looked at his hands, then at his feet. He felt the gravity of what he had said to Sarah.

"Hey, sorry for clocking you back there. My orders were any means necessary, I would have tranqued you but,... I know how much you hate needles so…" Bryce said

Great, even when Bryce punches you in the face he is still trying to save you. "Thanks." Chuck spat Sarcastically.

Chuck wasn't paying much attention to Bryce though. He couldn't stop staring at Sarah, he saw the cracks in the mask she wore. He could tell she devastated. What have I done? He thought.

Bryce followed Chuck's gaze to Sarah. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did." Chuck was being bitter. He didn't like it when he was bitter. He decided to switch to indifference. "What?"

"Why do you hate the intersect so much? Look at what it's done to your life! You have an exciting job, you're surrounded by friends and an extremely beautiful woman who is very into you by the way, and you get to do things that most people can only dream of. I've got to know. What makes it so bad?" Bryce said.

"The lying. The constant putting myself in danger. It really all comes down to Ellie and Morgan. I can't stand lying to them and I really can't stand that I'm getting good at it. You know me, I've always been mister honest and open, the talk-about-everything-and-anything guy. Now I'm a liar, and it's affecting my relationships. And going out every night, a new mission, a new cover, that's all fun until you realize that, if you die tonight the last words you said to your sister were a lie…" Chuck sighed. "I'm not built for this life Bryce, I'm not built for a double life."

Bryce nodded his head processing g what Chuck was saying. "You're an idiot." He said plainly.

"What?"

"You heard me. You're an idiot. The most beautiful girl in the world is falling head over heals for you and you're letting her go because you're sister thinks you're working an extra shift at the Buy More instead of saving the world?" Bryce said.

"Yes…" Chuck suddenly seemed unsure of his own logic.

"Chuck! If Willie were hear what would she say?" Bryce said.

"Holy crap Bryce is alive?" Chuck took a shot. Bryce face went sour. "She's say 'get off your but and go get the girl.'..." Chuck conceded. "Give me the glasses." Chuck huffed.

Bryce handed the glasses over to Chuck. "There's a couple things you should know. First, this version won't wear off, second you won't ever have to update again. The Information will be transferred via an implant."

"What implant?" Chuck asked.

"This implant." Bryce said as he swung a syringe with a nano chip inside into Chuck's neck.

"Ow!" Chuck said rubbing his neck.

"Are you sure you want to do this? There's no turning back." Bryce said.

"Are you kidding me? You just spent the last ten minutes convincing me to do it and now you're trying to convince me otherwise?!" Chuck said.

Bryce shrugged. "What can I say, I love being the devil's advocate."

Chuck looked at the glasses, then he looked at Sarah in the front seat. He sighed and put the glasses on. The glasses bitter up, did a rental scan, then proceeded to flash I.aged across the lenses. After about twenty minutes of that, Chuck passed out.

Casey pulled the van into the Buy More Plaza parking lot. Sarah was stepping out of the van when Bryce called out to her. "Hey, Sarah can you help me with this?"

Sarah walked to the back of the van, she wasn't excited to see Chuck after what just went down. But, when equipment has to be unloaded, what can you do? She opened the back doors to find Chuck lifeless on the ground. "What the heck Bryce?!" Bryce handed her Chuck's feet. Together they carried Chuck all the way the passenger seat of the herder.

"He passed out after the update." Bryce said nonchalantly.

"You forced him to update?!" Sarah huffed. "Some friend!" She said sarcastically.

"I didn't force him. I may have tried to convince him a little bit but, he decided for himself that this is what he wanted." Bryce said had she put the seatbelt around Chuck's unconscious self."

"What did you say." Sarah said raising an eyebrow.

"I just told him some things are worth sacrificing everything to keep in your life… I just wish I had learned that for myself before you let me go." He said switching his gaze fro. Chuck to Sarah.

"Bryce, you're going to find someone special someday and forget all about me." Sarah said reassuringly.

"You think?" He asked.

"I know. Maybe you'll even find a cute little civilian to settle down with." Sarah said placing a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"You mean like you?" He suggested.

Sarah looked at an unconscious Chuck. "Yeah… like me." She smiled.

Sarah gave the Porsche keys to Bryce and they hugged goodbye. Sarah then got the herder keys from Chuck's shirt pocket and got in the driver's seat. She took another look at Chuck and thought about everything he had given up for her… she decided that maybe she should give a something back. She leaned in towards his face and gave him a soft kiss. His eyes fluttered open. "Thank you." He said drifting back into semi-unconsciousness.

Sarah tried her best to wake Chuck up. There was no way she could carry his 6'2" body into the living room without anyone noticing.

"Chuck, Chuck." She shook his shoulder. "Wake up we're home." Sarah reflected on her word. 'we're home' she mouthed. Chuck's place was the only place she had ever really felt at home. She suspected it had less to do with the place and more to do with the person. You're my home. She thought looking at a sleepy Chuck. "Okay, if you're not going to wake up I'm going to have to revert to drastic measures."

"The fun kind of drastic measures?" He asked with closed eyes.

"No. The kind where I use that little bit of information you gave me about Ellie being able to extract information at will… something about your toes being… extra ticklish." She said mischievously.

Chuck opened an eye "You wouldn't." Sarah nodded, eyes wide, biting her lip. "You crafty little minx." Chuck unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car as fast as he could.

Chuck knocked on the window. Sarah rolled it down. "Are you coming in?"

"No, it's getting late. I think I better get some sleep." She said.

"Okay but… um… you see. This is a company car and technically you aren't allowed to drive it." He said. "Plus how am I supposed to get to work tomorrow?"

Sarah understood. "You know nothing can happen right?"

"I know." He reassured her. "We can just watch a movie or something, I'll even sleep on the couch if you want."

"Well… we don't want Ellie and Devon to think we're fighting…" Sarah hinted. She contemplated the repercussions and found that there were none if nothing happened like Chuck promised.

Sarah got out of the car and Chuck wrapped a loving arm around her shoulders. She buried her head in his chest and they walked in the door. It smelled amazing. ELLIE MADE TACOS!

That's right. I'm ending it on tacos! If you don't like it, DEAL WITH IT. Tacos are friggin amazing!