A/N: Greetings everyone and thank you all for the following of this new improved version of my story "Chuck vs A New Beginning". For those who don't know, I'm an Over The Road Truck Driver and lately haven't had much time (if any) to be home. Also note that my beta had an unexpected issue pop up, so now it's just dahlemann helping me out. Since I have a little down time at home, I'm taking advantage by getting this done ASAP before heading out again. Please enjoy the ride.

CHUCK VS A NEW BEGINNING

EPISODE 4A: AS CHUCK'S WORLD TURNS

BURBANK BUY MORE / BURBANK, CA

Hailey had shared her news, and was trying to gauge Chuck's reaction. He was shocked, and his mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water. It was quite comical.

Tenderly placing a hand to his cheek and giving him a soft kiss on his lips, she hoped that it would pull him out of his misery. The contact broke him out of his trance, as he automatically started to return the kiss. Once the kiss was broken, out of instinct he leaned his forehead against her's.

Chuck asked, "Is the baby the reason why you're not in Hawaii?"

Hailey had that sparkle in her eyes. She loved how, no matter what, Chuck cared for other's needs more than his own. She knew he'd make an excellent father for their children one day, but not yet. Time to come clean.

Hailey smiled, "Sweetie, I'm sorry about that. Truth is I'm not pregnant. Besides we haven't done anything that we were aware of, at least when we were lucid."

Chuck was confused, "How could that happen if we're not aware of it? Unless we somehow rivaled Jeff's daily amount of beer intake one night?"

Hailey laughed, "Chuck. My lovable and adorable sweet Chuck. It can happen while we're not aware of it. Remember all those nights we spent together cuddled up?"

Chuck remembered all the nights they spent in the huge beds at the resorts. He never wanted to get out of bed those following mornings because he felt at peace.

Hailey continued, "While we were asleep, our bodies were in such close contact that nature could take its course. Yes, I know it sounds far-fetched, but believe me, it can happen."

Taking a breath, she continued. "A few years ago, two of my friends, Johnny and Sonya, flew into a huge storm cell. It was big as a hurricane. Their Tomcat was struck
by lightning twice, and it shorted-out all the systems. They had to eject into the Atlantic."

Chuck asked, "How did they get out of it?"

Hailey sighed, "Sonya was rescued within a few hours. But the storm had separated them and the current took Johnny in the opposite direction. He'd been in the water for twelve hours when they finally found him. He was in bad shape."

Chuck could tell that this story was affecting her, "You don't have to go on if you don't want to, babe."

Hailey looked up into his eyes, "I know baby. This is what you need to hear, that way you can understand how the other thing can happen."

Chuck nodded for her to continue; taking a breath she did.

"Johnny was in bad shape. He was suffering from hypothermia and his body temperature was dangerously low. Ship doctors tried everything to get him talking and warm him up, nothing worked.

Sonya asked to try. She whispered in his ear that she needed him to be there, that he promised to be there. He somehow heard her voice and regained consciousness, but was still weak.

They were still concerned about his body temperature, so she offered to stay the night and use her body heat to warm him up. The doctors reluctantly agreed, they couldn't see any other way. Next morning Sonya felt something was wrong, and little Johnny had wormed his way inside her during the night while they were spooned together sound asleep."

Chuck was shocked, "That really happened?"

Hailey nodded, "Yes, it did. About a month went by and they were getting their flight physicals. He was cleared to fly, but she wasn't because they found out she was three weeks pregnant."

Chuck asked, "What happened afterwards? To them?"

Hailey answered, "She went into the reserves. Johnny proposed to her afterwards, because he said it was the honorable thing to do. They were married two months later, and had a baby girl named Angel."

As he was processing what Hailey just told him, Chuck looked around the store. He saw Sarah and Casey exit the home theatre room. No doubt they had talked to Beckman and Graham after he left. Chuck quickly ushered Hailey towards the storage cage, where the Nerd Herders were doing computer repairs.

Morgan noticed their arrival, "Hailey? Whoa, what are you doing back in town? I thought you were in Hawaii?"

Hailey explained, "I was supposed to be there for six more weeks. The base command decided to send me back because I was plucking their pilots out of the air like a turkey shoot."

Anna praised, "You go girl!"

Hailey laughed, "Thanks, Anna. My Dad started teaching me how to fly when I was a teenager, and taught me everything he knew. I learned all of his tricks by the time I graduated from the academy."

Morgan looked at Chuck, "If Hailey's here, what's that gonna mean for you and Sarah? I mean you've been dating her for the last three weeks."

Everyone turned to stare at Chuck. He started sweating and his hands were getting clammy. Hailey grabbed his hand and gave him a reassuring squeeze, before answering, "That's something we're going to discuss. In fact, we can discuss it tonight. And I hear there's an art auction tomorrow."

Chuck's eyes opened wide on hearing that, he knew that La Ciudad might be showing up there. Why would Hailey want to go there, unless she didn't know?

Before anything else could be said, Hailey led him out the door by the loading dock. Looking around to make sure nobody followed them, she pulled him into a deeply passionate kiss.

Once they broke away, Hailey had some questions for Chuck, "Chuck, do you want to explain to me why you broke up with me? On top of that, why did you decide to date a spook?"

Chuck was somewhat expecting this line of questioning, but still paused before answering, "I was thinking about keeping us above ground and out of a bunker. They threatened to put me underground for the rest of my life. Not only that, but they would do the same to you if I didn't break up with you."

Hailey asked, "You're saying if you didn't break up with me, the CIA and NSA were going to throw us into separate bunkers for the rest of our lives?"

Chuck fired back, "Yes! Because of what happened to me on my birthday, that email from Bryce! I was gonna be in their custody in D.C. away from everyone. You, Ellie, Devon, Morgan, and everyone else."

He closed his eyes for a moment before lowering his voice to continue his reason.

"I was forced to accept having Sarah as my cover girlfriend to make it easier for her to do her job and monitor me. Which means the whole relationship is a fake. I chose to make my life miserable. Breaking up with you is something I never wanted to do. I sacrificed us, because I didn't want you to be stuck underground in a bunker for the rest of your life."

Hailey asked, "Are you done?"

Chuck blew out a breath nodding yes. He looked at the ground before she placed a hand under his chin to make him look at her. Softly, she spoke, "Chuck, have you forgotten that my father would never allow that to happen?"

Chuck weakly stated, "But what about the CIA and the NSA? This is the federal government we're talking about here. They can make us disappear."

Hailey shook her head, "Sweetie. There's something you've failed to realize, much like them. We're on American soil. You're not a terrorist, or have any ties to any foreign terrorist groups. CIA and NSA have zero jurisdiction. They were supposed to contact the FBI when this first happened."

Chuck grumbled, "What am I supposed to do now? I'm sure that they're going to have me go to that art auction tomorrow night."

Hailey whispered, "La Ciudad?"

Chuck looked wide-eyed at her, "How did you know about that?"

Seeing the expression on his face, she answered, "We had a briefing about that this morning". She went on to explain what was discussed at the briefing, and what they were doing about it.

Chuck was relieved that like previous encounters, someone else would be watching out for him.

Hailey concluded for now, "Meet me later okay? Don't want the spooks to know anything."

Chuck nodded in agreement. She gave him a quick kiss before heading to the parking lot. He headed back inside to finish working on the hard drives with the rest of his fellow Nerd Herders.

CASA BARTOWSKI / ECHO PARK, CA

Chuck wasn't even in the apartment two seconds when Ellie began beaming with 'Ellie-Joy'. Morgan had spilled the beans about the possible assistant manager position.

"Chuck, I'm so proud of you. Morgan told me about the assistant manager job. Congratulations."

Morgan walked over as Chuck tried to prevent being crushed by his sister's hug, "Team Bartowski moving up in the world, huh?"

Chuck clarified, "Okay, first of all. It's not mine yet."

He looked at Ellie, "Second, you can ease up on the enthusiasm. It's only a $2-an-hour raise at an electronics store. And it doesn't even give me my own parking space."

Ellie decided to bring up an old topic, one that he wished she would forever drop, "Does lack of interest mean you're leaving the Buy More for a real profession?"

Morgan asked, "Real profession? Sorry, I'm gonna need clarification on that."

Chuck thought to himself, "Here it comes."

Ellie didn't disappoint either, "He went to Stanford, for God's sakes."

Morgan pointed out the obvious, "Right, and was unceremoniously expelled his senior year. Sorry to bring that up, but we need to be realistic about our goals here."

Ellie fired back, "Right, his goals or your goals?"

Morgan responded, "Great question. I think we need to hammer out a plan for Chuck. Where do we seem him in five years? Ten years?"

Ellie asked, "We?"

Morgan clarified, "Fine, then just you and I."

They shifted to the living room still debating Chuck's future, while he stayed in the kitchen reading an issue of PC Gamer.

CASEY APARTMENT / ECHO PARK, CA

Casey and Sarah were standing in front of the television in Casey's apartment. It was the only truly secure connection they had to Beckman and Graham; definitely less risky than the Buy More's home theatre room.

They gave their report, then Beckman started the briefing, "Glad to hear that you've settled into Chuck's apartment building. If he's right, this is a high priority. La Ciudad is the world's most elusive and dangerous arms dealer."

Graham joined in, "Last anyone heard, MI6 had a drop on him in London. Unfortunately, he got away."

Sarah boasted, "Well if he turns up here, we'll take him down at the auction."

Graham poked a hole in that, "Not so easy as you think Walker. We have no idea what he looks like. There are no photographs because nobody's ever seen La Ciudad and lived to tell about it."

Casey supplied, "So we'll bring the Intersect."

Catching the surprised look on Sarah's face, he continued. "Everything we knew about La Ciudad was fed into that computer."

Sarah debated, "No way. It's too dangerous for him. He has no field experience or training."

Casey argued, "He'll be fine, it's an art auction. Besides, La Ciudad probably won't even be there."

Sarah gave one last point, "And if he is? Is it worth the risk?"

Beckman interrupted the debate, "All right. I've heard enough. Put him in the field. We don't know what he's capable of until he's been tested."

CASA BARTOWSKI / ECHO PARK, CA

The future of Chuck Bartowski was still be debated while he continued to read PC Gamer and ate a couple of frosted cupcakes.

He heard Devon join the conversation, "What he needs is something to challenge him, to test his limitations. A brush with his own mortality. You know what I'm
thinking?"

Ellie was on guard, "I have no idea what you're thinking."

Morgan agreed, "As far as I'm concerned, dude, you're way off the reservation."

Devon spelled it out, "Class 5 white water rapids. Just the two of us this weekend, near-death experience. Awesome."

Chuck heard that and immediately responded, "That sounds great, but my wet suit's at the dry cleaners." He left Devon hanging on a high-five.

At Devon's suggestion, Mama Bear Ellie came out, "That's a terrible idea! That's way too dangerous!"

Morgan was more honest, "I agree. I'm not comfortable with you guys spending that amount of time together."

Chuck started to walk away when Ellie asked him, "Chuck, you haven't said a word. What do you wanna do?"

Chuck stopped and looked at everyone. He couldn't tell them he was secretly going to meet up with Hailey, so he came up with a lie based on what he felt like doing, "I'm just gonna hit the sack. Good night, Team Bartowski."

He walked into his bedroom, turned on the light, and had the life scared out of him. Looking up and unexpectedly seeing John Casey standing outside your window would scare the Grim Reaper himself.

Casey congratulated him, "Congratulations Chuck. You just got your first mission. Tomorrow night. Hope you're ready for the real world." With that said, the burly NSA agent was gone back to his apartment.

SANTA MONICA PIER / SANTA MONICA, CA

Chuck made sure to keep things quiet. Once he knew Casey had gone back to his apartment to watch some Ronald Reagan documentaries and trim his bonsais, Chuck sneaked out his window and made it to the Herder.

Originally, he thought about calling a cab or taking the bus. However, the bus would take nearly two hours and a cab fare would cost quite a bit given the distance. Despite knowing the Herder was being tracked, he took it to the beach and would worry about the ramifications later.

Chuck arrived at his special spot. It had been his place of peace for most of his life. He always came here when he wanted to get away and think about things. It was here that he met Hailey on that fateful June day, and after that it became their spot. He hadn't been back to it since the events of his 26th birthday and the conversation with CIA Agent Sarah Walker the following night.

He wasn't waiting long when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck in a loving embrace. He relaxed into it, knowing exactly who those arms belonged to. Turning his head slightly, he gave her a kiss, which she immediately returned.

Chuck told her uncertainly, "They decided to have me go to the art auction and see if I'm able to identify La Ciudad. It's my first real mission and I'm not certain what to do."

Hailey sighed, "I can't believe they're expecting you to do this, even though they know you've never been trained in this sort of thing. Too many things can go wrong. With just those two expecting to handle everything, that's bad planning."

Chuck asked, "What are we gonna do about it?"

Hailey looked into his eyes, "You confirmed the high possibility of La Ciudad being there. We know La Ciudad is never alone; bodyguards or henchmen will be around. That would leave Agents Walker and Casey out-gunned and out-numbered. I'm taking this information to my father. He will probably have a few of the guys there to even things up."

Chuck agreed, "That makes me feel a little better. I'm nervous enough already."

Hailey cuddled into him before re-assuring him, "Don't worry my love. We'll make sure you don't get your sexy six blown off. You just worry about staying safe. Or else, you're answering to me Mr. Bartowski!"

Chuck smiled and simply answered, "Yes dear."

Hailey kissed his cheek and cuddled closer, "I see you still remember who's in charge, at least for things like this. I love you Charles Irving Bartowski."

Chuck replied, "Just as I love you Hailey Grace Smith."

They kissed before turning back to watch the waves crash against the shore, never ending their embrace.