A/N: So my laptop's battery decided it doesn't like charging anymore. It all happened late last night and I thought I wouldn't get this out today. Alas, here it is! I rushed it out and hopefully the edit session I did yesterday was successful.

As I said when I put out the first chapter, there were some continuity issues but I handled them. I happen to think I handled them really well, tough as it was. And I'm sure some readers won't be satisfied. Dems da breaks. I'm pretty happy with what I did, and dettiot thought it worked. Thank you again for supporting me and pre-reading and helping me talk things out, lady! You da best!

Thanks to everyone who left me their reviews and concerns. Hopefully I've successfully addressed those concerns in this chapter. If not, maybe I will in the next seven chapters! You never know!

Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck. And I do not own Santa Clara University. But with the money I pumped into that school over a four year period, I should have at least some rights of ownership. Alas...

Enjoy, sneakers. I'm sticking to this even if some of you sneaky sneaks don't like it. Deal with it. ;)

Sarah peered to her right as she drove along the Santa Clara streets. Chuck was slumped against his window, his face set in a morose pout as he held an ice pack against his swollen eye. Next to him, shoved into the middle seat between Chuck and Sarah, was an equally morose and definitely still angry Captain Awesome, who held an ice pack to his knuckles.

They would most likely look quite the sight to an outsider. Especially with the way Devon's long legs were smashed against the dashboard so that his knees were almost at his chin. It would be funny if she wasn't so confused, and by extension incredibly annoyed.

Neither Chuck or Sarah had planned for a third person to end up in the van, so they had filled the entire back of it with supplies for their mission, meaning the jockish doctor had to sit in the middle of them. It was probably a good thing he was sitting here instead of his brother-in-law, though, because this way she couldn't reach Chuck and throttle him the way she wanted to for lying to her and keeping such a huge secret for over a year now.

He was funneling money through a fake foundation to help pay his sister's way through med school. It was such a sneaky thing to do. The complexity of such a plan cemented in her mind that Chuck truly was brilliant, but it was also so foolish. And she could only hope there wasn't a paper trail that would eventually lead to them.

God, what a mess.

What an unholy mess Chuck had caused. And she really wanted to punch his other eye right now.

Finally, she heard Devon take a deep breath. "I, uh, guess I was holding that punch inside for a few years."

"That was five year's worth of resentment in one punch, huh?" Chuck mumbled.

"Sorta."

"Sure as hell felt like it."

"Sorry to knock you out in front of your girlfriend, though, bro."

"I'm not his girlfriend," Sarah snapped immediately, glaring daggers at Chuck as his eyes darted to her before he turned back to look out of his window.

"You're not? Uh…Oh. Sorry. I just assumed…"

"S'okay," she waved him off with one hand, then put it back on the wheel.

He bobbed his head a little, then she saw him double take a bit in her peripheral. "Then who are you, if you aren't his girlfriend?"

"She's Sarah," Chuck replied. "My partner."

"But not your girlfriend." Devon sounded dubious enough for her to step in.

"I'm his partner," Sarah repeated. "Nothing more."

"Oh. And you're partners in what, exactly? Because I still don't know what the hell is going on."

The interior of the car was absolutely silent save the tick tick tick tick of the turn signal as Sarah swept the car to the left and continued driving.

"There's, uh…There's something you need to know, Devon. About me. About what I do."

"Chuck." Sarah leaned a little forward to fix him with a steely glare. "Don't you say another word. This is not happening, you jerk." The frustratingly altruistic ass head.

He looked a little miffed, but she didn't care. What about her? What about the fact that he'd lied to her for over a year? And this after she'd come clean in that hotel room on Christmas six months ago.

"Sarah, I have to."

"No, Chuck! You don't! Not right now! I get that you wanna come clean, but you aren't the only one involved here. You're risking me, too. And maybe I'm not too happy about that!" she barked across Captain Awesome who, to his credit, had kept silent so far.

She saw Chuck's eyes cloud for a moment, before he shook his head. "I know, Sarah, but—"

He stopped as Sarah quickly yanked the wheel and turned into a small parking lot for an all-you-can-eat Mongolian grill. "Devon, stay in the car. I have to talk to your brother-in-law here for a second," she said through a clenched jaw.

She turned off the car, unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the car door and slid out onto the pavement. As she faced them, she saw Devon's confused look and shook her head. "What?" she snapped.

"It's just that…Uh…I'm not his brother-in-law. Yet, at least. Ellie and I made a pact that we wouldn't get married 'til she…What? Why—Chuck? Why does your girlfr—erm, partner—Why's she look like she's about to snap me in half with her bare hands?"

"You aren't the one she wants to snap in half, Devon," Chuck gulped.

"Yeah, bro, but I'm in between her and you, and with that look, I'm worried she'll go through me to get to you and I can't really move, man. Like, it's physically impossible for me to get out of the way—"

"Chuck!" she snapped.

"Yes, Sarah?"

"Get out of the van. Right now. We have to talk."

"Right now right now?" he asked, the terror in his voice giving her more pleasure than was probably mentally normal.

"Chuck, get the fuck out of the van or so help me…" She didn't have to finish, because he literally stumbled his way out before he remembered to unbuckle his seatbelt, half-strangling himself in the process before his not-brother-in-law squeezed his hand between their bodies and undid the belt himself.

"Thanks," Chuck rasped as Sarah watched on. As he gingerly eased himself to the pavement beside the van, Sarah reached in to poke Devon in the shoulder.

The poor guy looked ready to wet himself as he spun to look at her like she was a hungry lioness ready to tear him to shreds. She supposed he had every right to look at her that way. Because she was pissed.

"Stay here!" she growled through her teeth. He raised both hands defensively and nodded so frantically his cheeks wiggled. "Good."

She slammed the door in his face and heard Chuck shut his as she walked around to his side of the van.

As she rounded the vehicle and saw Chuck standing there waiting for her, all she saw was a red haze, her anger and hurt getting the better of her as she charged on him and shoved both hands into his shoulders. He slammed into the side of the van and she closed in on him, ready to wallop him good, when the red lining her vision disappeared. She got a good look at him, at the way his eye was swollen, a bruise forming on his cheekbone…

She stepped back, the anger still pulsing so powerfully through her that she could feel it throbbing in rhythm with her heartbeat.

"Chuck, what the hell is going on?" she asked through her teeth.

"I—"

"You lied to me."

"I did."

"About how much, exactly? Because you told me that guy in there was your sister's husband. And apparently that's not true, according to him. He doesn't look like much of a liar, either. I used to think that about you, too, but apparently I was wrong, Chuck."

"I'm not a liar."

"You lied. You're a liar. That's how it works." She knew her voice sounded extra harsh, but it was better than letting him know how hurt she was. "And now you want to tell this guy who isn't even your brother-in-law and who you've only met once that you're a fucking con artist?" she said, dropping her voice towards the end, in case anyone could hear them, Captain Awesome included. The guy could have awesome hearing for all she knew, on top of all of the other awesome things about him that Chuck had once listed.

When Chuck looked up at her, his brow furrowed, she saw a speck of guilt in his brown eyes and she stepped in front of him, putting a hand on his chest and leaning close. "You lied about that, too, didn't you?"

He just nodded.

It took everything she had not to slap him, but the dark bruise forming on his face stilled her hand and she kept it at her side, the other one still holding him against the side of their van. "I told you the truth about me that night because I trusted you. I didn't ask for anything in return, Chuck. But you gave me something. And now I'm finding out that the something you gave me isn't even true?"

"I didn't mean to—"

"What? Lie to me? That's obviously exactly what you meant to do. We're partners, Chuck. Did you just make shit up out of the blue, or what? Thought it was fun to jerk me around?"

"Sarah, of course not. I wanted to protect them."

"From me." That hurt.

"No." He stood up straight, the guilt gone, replaced by determination. And sincerity. But she didn't trust that sincerity now. "No, not from you. I've gone five years keeping all of this wrapped up so tightly to keep Ellie safe that I—Gah, I just couldn't say it. Not the full truth. I made a vow to myself and I just couldn't bring myself to break it. Not all of it. Not even for you. But then I didn't want to hurt your feelings—"

"You didn't have to say anything, then! Why even bother if you're going to lie about it? And how ridiculous are you, lying about your sister being married? Of all things? Come on, Chuck!"

"It just came out! I don't know! I'm an idiot!"

"You are an idiot! We've been partners for over a year and you've never given me any reason to regret my decision. Until now." She saw how badly that hurt him, but she was hurt too. She was hurt more. And at the moment, she couldn't care less about his feelings. "This is the reason I don't trust people," she murmured, turning away from him.

"All of our issues aside, and you better fucking believe we're coming back to it, you're not telling him a damn thing." She spun on him again and fixed him with a glare to make sure he understood, slamming a finger into his chest so hard he winced.

"You said that night after we talked that I should try to tell Ellie the truth."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "The whole truth, you jerk? Or are you just gonna make something up?" she sassed, narrowing her eyes.

Chuck sighed heavily and shut his eyes. "Sarah, there's something you have to know."

"Now, is this going to be something real? Or is it going to be another lie? Because I can't tell the difference now." Which really pissed her off because before him, that sort of thing was a piece of cake. The ass hole.

It was easier to give him crap than to let him see the difficulty she was having dealing with the realization that Chuck wasn't the honest guy she'd thought all this time. He'd fooled her. And what did that say about how badly she'd been compromised by Chuck from the very beginning?

His supposedly inherent sweetness and honesty had apparently gotten under her skin enough that she felt safer with him than she'd ever felt with anyone else. She was weakened. And sure, that wasn't entirely Chuck's fault. She shouldn't have let herself get so comfortable. Yes, they were partners, but…

"You know what, Chuck? Let's just stick to the problem at hand. For now," she added meaningfully. They weren't done with this conversation. Not by a long shot. "When I told you to tell Ellie the truth, I didn't mean in the middle of a mission. And I wasn't talking about her boyfriend."

"He isn't just my sister's boyfriend, Sarah. He was like a brother to me. I looked up to him. He was a confidant. He's my family. We can trust him. I swear to you."

Sarah didn't want to believe him, but she did. Because even with the lies, and even though this whole thing hurt, she knew deep down that she could trust him. If she was wrong again, she'd made her bed, and she supposed she'd have to lie in it.

"Say you tell him, and he goes back to Ellie and tells her. And tells someone else. Like his parents or something. And then they tell people. We both end up screwed. Not just you, Chuck. But me too."

"If I tell Devon not to tell anyone, Ellie included, he won't do it."

"Oh, come on. Give me a break, Chuck." She gestured to the door inside which Devon sat at this moment. "This guy is not a good liar. I can see it written all over his face. He's not like me. He's not like you—because apparently you're a better liar than I thought." He winced. Good. "She's going to sense something's wrong, she's going to push, and he's going to tell her. She's probably already pretty floored that you work for the government or whatever it was you told—" Sarah stopped. "You didn't tell her you work for the government."

Sarah wasn't expecting the sting of tears, so she looked away and worked her jaw. She told herself it was just another thing that he'd lied about long ago. In that same conversation. It wasn't a new lie, but an old one. But she still wanted to strangle him for it. And kick herself. She bit down on her cheek instead.

"So," she pushed on, "they know nothing about your work. And that's why he was so confused by your telling him we're partners." She paused, unable to stifle her curiosity. "Why'd you lie to me about that?" As if the other stuff wasn't stupid enough.

His hands were on her arms then as he forced her to look at him. "I'm not excusing myself. I messed up with you. I've messed up a lot of things. I've gotten myself into a lot of trouble." She frowned at that. Trouble? "But when you walked in and saw me writing that letter to Ellie, I freaked out. And then I knew I couldn't let you think I was keeping something important from you. I could tell you were hurt."

Sarah shrugged his hands off of her. "Shut up. I wasn't hurt. Just annoyed." She was hurt.

"Okay, fine. But I told you about Ellie because I trust you. It was spur of the moment. And I felt comfortable in that room with you. And there was a—there was a thing between us right then. A—A certain warmth or something." Don't say that. Please don't do that right now. "And it all just tumbled out. And then I got scared, because I never told anyone else about her—I swear there's a reason why I'm so crazy terrified of something happening to Ellie, scared of letting people know things about her. So I told you she existed. And that I was helping her financially. Both true. And then I freaked and the lies came out. And they were stupid lies. Totally trivial and idiotic. And I felt like shit after but I did it. I couldn't take it back. And then I especially felt like shit after you told me about you and I'm just so sorry. I am."

"So you made up lies because telling me the truth freaked you out. Okay. It's a really dumb ass thing to do, but okay. I guess. But why'd you make up that they think you work for the government? That can't be something that just tumbled out because you were freaked. It's way too detailed."

Unless he's such a good liar that details come naturally. She brushed that thought off. If one thing was obvious about this mess, it was that Chuck was a clumsy liar. At least with her. Apparently he was kind of good at lying to his sister.

Chuck's eyes slid shut and he took a deep breath, then opened them again and looked off to the side. "I was freaked out. But it wasn't just…Underneath all of that, I was ashamed of the truth. I am ashamed of the truth, Sarah. I guess I was trying to keep you from finding out that I'm not as good a person as you thought."

"So you lied to me instead. Good solution."

"I didn't say it was smart. I'm just telling you how it was. If I'd told the truth about leaving my life behind, you'd know how much of a rotten, no-good, shitty brother I am. And I didn't want you to think that about me because your opinion of me is important…to me…" His voice died off and she unconsciously leaned a little closer as his frown deepened. That was definitely the first time anyone had ever said they cared what she thought. About anything. And in spite of everything, that made her feel really good.

She had to look down and take a step back when she felt a rush of emotion, and she blinked desperately in case tears threatened. Because Chuck had no idea of the things she'd done, or the people she'd hurt, or the lies she'd told. And he was worried she would think he was a bad person?

Maybe he'd proven himself a little untrustworthy, and yeah, that hurt to the nth degree. And abandoning his sister, lying to her about so many things—all of it was pretty shitty. There were probably a lot of ways he could have handled all of these situations a lot better.

But Sarah realized suddenly that she'd been putting him on some kind of pedestal this whole time. A pedestal she could never reach because even though he'd chosen to be a con artist, he was too good of a person to be true, in so many ways. And now? Now, Chuck Bartowski was human. Just like everybody else. Just like her. He wasn't without his faults. That was oddly comforting.

He wasn't superhuman. He wasn't perfect. He wasn't flawless. Even then, he was still better than anyone she'd ever met. It was just that now he was relatable. Now she could reach out and touch him without feeling like she was tainting him somehow.

It was startling to feel this way about someone, to realize how much she'd made him into some sort of emblem of perfection, and to be relieved to find out that he wasn't an emblem of perfection after all. Since when had she been the type of person to care so much?

"Listen, Sarah. I'm sorry that I couldn't handle telling you the truth before. It was a mistake. But I'm telling Devon the truth now whether you approve or not." She must have made a face, because he stepped closer with his hands in front of him in a placating manner, rushing on before she could protest. "I'm not throwing you under the bus. I won't tell him your whole name. All he knows is that you're Sarah. You still have your wig on, after all."

That was right. She did. She'd forgotten.

"I haven't given you much reason to trust me. I know that." He straightened up and looked at her point blank. "And maybe you don't trust him. But you can trust that my sister is more important to him than his own life. He loves her. He always has, always will. Trust in that."

Trust in love? Really? That was what he was going to throw at her right now? At the moment she didn't trust anything at all. Especially if it was coming out of Chuck's mouth.

Nevertheless…

"Say I believe you, Chuck. That still doesn't mean he won't tell her."

She saw guilt flash in his eyes. "I just have to make sure he knows that she'll be in danger if he tells her. That they'll both be in danger."

"Then why tell him at all?" she asked, throwing her hands up in frustration. This was so illogical and stupid.

"Because I need someone to know. Why I left. And having Devon know the reason will…" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Someday, it's gonna be safe to go back to Ellie. I don't know when, but someday. And when it is, I'll have Devon there. And it's selfish, I know, but that'll be a comfort when I tell Ellie the truth. Because he'll already know and he'd be a buffer, you know?"

"That is a little selfish," she murmured, crossing her arms. "But I guess I understand the need for a little selfishness sometimes."

Part of her was a bit glad he was capable of selfishness. And then she retracted that thought, because his selfishness had been what led to him lying to her. And that was not okay. No, but it wasn't selfishness, was it? It was that he hadn't trusted her back then. Back when she'd put all her trust in him like a foolish, naïve child. She didn't believe his attempt to persuade her otherwise. That was the long and short of it. He hadn't trusted her when she had trusted him. And that hurt a lot. Because it should have been the other way around. And she felt like such an idiot.

"Thank you." He smiled a little.

"Don't thank me, Chuck. Seriously. Because this discussion isn't over. We're on a schedule, so I'm letting it go for now. But we're not done."

Chuck nodded, his smile dimming a bit.

She turned to walk away from him and then spun back, pointing a finger in his face threateningly. "I do have one thing—just one thing—that I need to say. I don't even need to hear an answer from you. You just need to know. From now on, there better be no more lies. I don't care what it is. You are not to lie to me." She caught his eyes and made sure he was listening closely before she continued, dropping back a little and lowering her finger.

"Our partnership has been damaged. And if it's going to continue, you have to fix it. You have to show me that I can still trust you. This is all on you. Because I'm not going into a dangerous situation with someone who lies to me about the fucking relationship status of his sister, Chuck! That's not happening."

"No more lies," he said seriously even though she hadn't wanted an answer. There was nothing in his voice or his determined features that said he was just telling her what she wanted to hear, though. He meant it. And she would hold him to it.

"You have to prove to me that us being partners wasn't a mistake."

"Absolutely."

Sarah just bit her lip, looking down at the blistering hot blacktop beneath her feet. "So you're going to tell him, then."

"Yeah…"

They were both silent for a moment when suddenly the door on the passenger's side swung open and Devon stuck his head out. His face was red and his hair was a little less than perfect, which was probably out of the ordinary for him.

"Hey, guys? Pretty sure there are laws about leaving dogs in hot cars, and that probably applies to humans too."

In spite of herself, Sarah smiled a little. Even though Chuck and Devon weren't blood-related, she could see a few similarities here and there, evidence that they'd spent a lot of time together. It was a little cute.

And it made her feel empty inside.

Pushing that away, she stepped back from Chuck and nodded. "Yep. Let's get going. To the bank?" she asked in Chuck's direction.

Chuck took a deep breath. "Is it safe with…" he murmured, leaning extremely close to her.

She sent a cursory glance Devon's way. "He'll stay in the car."

"Maybe we can leave the AC on for him this time, huh?"

Biting her cheek to keep him from seeing her amusement, she rounded to the driver's side of the van and got back inside. Chuck got in on Devon's other side and Sarah started the car, cranking the air conditioning and purposefully directing the middle vent right at the poor guy's face.

"Okay, look. I'm done with this," the doctor finally blurted. "I'm not sitting in awkward silence, smashed in between you guys in this tiny front seat with my knees practically poking my eyes out anymore. Not until you tell me what the hell is going on."

Chuck nodded.

"I know, Awesome. I'm going to tell you. But I need you to give me your word that you won't—"

"I'm not keeping anything from Ellie, Chuck," he interrupted. Sarah glanced at him and saw how resolute he was. Maybe Chuck was right. Maybe the guy was a little awesome. At least Chuck left his sister with someone who was quick to stand up for her when she wasn't around to do it for herself.

"Look, Devon—"

"No. That's it."

She could see Chuck's guilt eating him alive. Because there was a chance he would have to be hard on his not-by-blood brother. Or maybe even freak him out unnecessarily to drive home the point that it wasn't safe for Ellie to know. She knew it would hurt Chuck.

Maybe he deserved it. Maybe he deserved to be overtaken by guilt. To be forced to wallow in it. Maybe he deserved to do this, because he got himself into it in the first place. If he hadn't been a lying liar, he wouldn't be in this situation. And if he wasn't so adamant about telling Devon everything, even when it wasn't necessary, they could just get out of here and he wouldn't have to deal with the pain.

So now he had to deal with it on his own.

She wasn't going to help him.

"Devon, this is—"

"No, Chuck!"

"Even if it means you'll both be safe?" Sarah interceded. Her eyes slipped shut for a moment in annoyance. God damn my mouth.

For all intents and purposes, this guy sitting in this car between them apparently meant a great deal to Chuck. And while bitter resentment and envy ate at her insides as she thought of their bond as something she would never experience herself, as vindictive as she wanted to be, as much as she wanted Chuck to face the consequences of his actions, just this once she wanted to protect him. In a small way.

It was frustrating that her impulse was to come to Chuck's rescue, so she pretended that wasn't the reason. She pretended it was because she had more experience threatening people to get what she wanted. And since Devon had no emotional ties to her, and had just had her blade against his throat not even an hour earlier, he would be more apt to believe her threats than if they came from someone he knew well and trusted.

"You don't understand what it is Chuck's involved in," she continued. "I get that. But you better believe it's incredibly important, and dangerous enough that we need absolute secrecy."

"I don't care. I don't keep secrets from my girlfriend, unlike this guy over here."

"Hey—"

"I'm not his girlfriend, Devon. For the last time." Sarah cut Chuck off, ignoring his pout. "I'm serious. You cannot tell Ellie. You cannot tell anyone. There's a chance either or both of you will get into deep trouble if this goes anywhere outside of this van. Do you understand me?"

He gaped at her silently. "Trouble?" She heard him gulp. "Trouble like…w-what?"

"Like some very bad men infiltrating your home and holding you and Ellie hostage to get to Chuck. Do you get it now?"

She felt more than saw him nod as she pulled out of the parking lot and began the journey to San Jose where the bank was.

"Good. So you won't tell Ellie. Not a word. You won't even tell her you saw Chuck."

She saw Chuck spin to look at her in his peripheral. She thought maybe he was smiling a little and she wanted badly to dispel him of the notion that she was doing this for him, even though she might have been. So she deepened her frown and he looked away again.

"Fine," Devon muttered darkly. "I'll play the game."

"This isn't a game," she said in a hard voice. "This is real. And if you value your life, if you value Ellie's, you'll promise to never say a word to her about any of what you're about to hear. Okay?"

"Okay! I got it! I won't tell her!"

There was silence for a longer period of time than made her comfortable so she cleared her throat. "Chuck?"

"Right. Right." She heard him swallow and braced herself. This was the con from hell, which sucked, because she'd thought less than an hour ago that they'd knocked it out of the park, so to speak.

"Devon, do you remember when I graduated from Stanford?"

"'Course, Chuck. Your sister was like a leaky faucet all day long." Devon turned to Sarah and she saw a bit of pride in his face. She smiled a little at him, because she knew this wasn't going to be easy for him to hear and maybe being nice to the guy wouldn't hurt anything. None of this was his fault. It was Chuck's fault. All of it. "She was in a state of perpetual tears all day."

"Yeah," Chuck breathed with a soft smile. "She really was. It was kinda embarrassing introducing her to my friends, but...Uh, that's not the point." Sarah could almost see Chuck losing himself in the moment even though she was keeping her eyes on the road.

Devon turned to Sarah again. "Dude, you should have seen poor Chuck, though. He looked like someone had stolen his puppy."

"Well someone did steal my girlfriend, Devon."

Sarah looked past Devon's knees in surprise. "What?"

She heard him groan a little, and then heard the telltale sound of his head thumping against the headrest behind him. "My, uh, girlfriend was cheating on me with one of my frat brothers. She'd just told me and broke up with me."

"She was a bitch anyway, bro. Your new girlfriend is a stunner."

Sarah sighed and opened her mouth to reply, but caught the teasing glint in Devon's blue eyes and smirked instead. This guy was just as disarming as her partner. "Continue, Chuck," she muttered in a monotone.

"You and Ellie helped me move my stuff back to Burbank so that I could stay with you guys until I found work. Which, uh, didn't happen."

"Hey. You were heartbroken and depressed. It wasn't hard to imagine why it was difficult for you to get out there and find work."

"Devon, I didn't leave the house for six months. I barely left my room."

"It, uh, was kind of annoying that you wouldn't even take the trash out, I'm not gonna lie," the doctor shrugged. "Never seen a guy so heartbroken." Sarah wasn't sure if Devon was talking to her or just saying it in general, so she kept her eyes on the road. "All you did was play video games and not even Morgan could get you out for sizzling shrimp. When you finally did get out of the house, we didn't see you until..." Devon's voice became quieter. "Well, now."

Sarah turned to glare at Chuck again. Yet another thing he lied to her about.

"Sarah, I told you there were a lot of things…"

"Forget it," she snapped. "We're at the bank."

As she pulled into the parking lot, Devon looked through the windshield, then glanced back and forth between Chuck and Sarah. "Wait, why are we at the bank?"

"Just need to make a withdrawal," Sarah answered, still clenching her jaw.

She hated this feeling, like Chuck was untrustworthy now. Because it also made her feel like a hypocrite. So he lied to her. She'd been lying to him about so many things since they began their partnership all those months ago in London. She was still lying, still keeping secrets.

But Chuck Bartowski wasn't her. He was an open book. He was sincere and honest. That was one of the things that made her trust him enough to take this whole partnership thing on in the first place.

God, her thoughts were all in a jumble and she hated how hurt she was and she just wanted to get out of the van and punch something.

Devon got to hit Chuck. But she would feel like she was kicking an injured puppy if she took a shot at him now. And hitting him wouldn't feel all that great in the long run. They would have a long talk after they finally got rid of Devon. When they were on their way, out of danger.

They were clearing the air once they got out of here. But she was so tired and cranky. And she was sick of this entire day. And she didn't want there to be any more lies today.

Which was pretty idiotic sounding, considering she was a con artist.

"Sarah, I know we don't have very much time, but…" Chuck swallowed and she turned in her seat to stare at him. He met her eyes solidly and she couldn't help but appreciate that, as upset as she was. "Can I have ten minutes alone with Awesome?"

"What?" she snapped.

"Just ten minutes!"

"And what am I supposed to do, stand outside of the van and play fucking hopscotch? No! I get to hear this. You don't kick me out of my van. You've already lied to me about everything. And I'm not being kept out."

"I know, but—"

"I'm your partner, Chuck. I have as much stake in him keeping his trap shut about this as you do! I'm not gonna let you tell him without me…" Her voice drifted off as he reached across Devon with a wireless comm earpiece between his thumb and forefinger.

"That's why you'll monitor us from the van," he said in a calm voice.

"What the fuck is this? Why can't you just talk in front of me if you're letting me listen in on it anyways?" She took the earpiece anyways, and put it in, despite her arguing.

"Because I'm not just gonna be talking for Devon's benefit, okay? This is something I want you to know about, too. The absolute, honest to God truth. About why I left home."

Sarah felt her jaw go slack. "You didn't answer my question. Why use this crap? Just tell the story right here."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Sarah, but it'll be easier for me to tell it without you there."

"I'm not supposed to take that the wrong way?" Sarah scoffed, legitimately offended. "Is there a right way to take that?"

"That was kinda messed up, bro," Devon piped up quietly.

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just…" He sighed and rubbed his temples. "Please, Sarah? Devon and I will go on a walk, and you can stay here in the van and listen. I want you to hear the story, but if you are around to interrupt, I'll—"

"I don't interrupt!" she snapped, belatedly realizing that she had literally just interrupted him to tell him that she didn't interrupt. You're a shit show, Walker. "You know what? Fuck it. Fine. I'll stay here in the fucking van. But I'm not fucking happy about it."

"I would be disappointed otherwise," Chuck said. She refused to look at him, but she heard his warm smile anyways. And she cursed herself for letting it creep under her skin and give her a bit of a thrill in spite of being irked and pissed and annoyed and frustrated and any number of negative things.

She knew he was right, though. She was sure as he told his story that she'd discover other things he had lied to her about and she wouldn't be able to resist throttling him. Once Devon was back at his hotel and they were on their way, she was going to let Chuck have it.

"You better get out of the van right now then, before I punch you in the throat," she murmured, pouting a little.

Sarah watched as Chuck and Devon climbed out of the van. Before he shut the door, Chuck peeked in and just looked at her for a moment. "Sarah."

"What." She glared at the steering wheel.

"Thank you. Seriously. Thanks."

She gave him a side-eye. "Whatever."

He smiled and shut the door. She readjusted her earpiece as she watched Chuck and Devon wander away from the van and onto the sidewalk in front of the bank, their voices drifting into her ear.

A/N: See you lot next time! In the ConVerse!

(exits to sneaky spy tunes)

(comes back awkwardly) Um...could you leave me a review? That'd be nice. Thank you! :)