I still don't own Chuck. Not sure who does at this point. Maybe Subway.

Who is supposed to have the God Complex? Chuck? Beckman? West? Sarah and Janice? Let's see how Beckman and Sarah deal with their conflicting agendas.

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God Complex

Las Vegas, Nevada – MGM Grand Hotel and Casino:

Chuck and Elise were huddled together at their table trying to figure out a strategy – quite literally. Elise was making them look like a couple necking – not an uncommon occurrence at all in a Vegas bar – to cover for Chuck's flashes. Chuck had spent the last couple of minutes pouring over the agent's records – trying to find a natural connection for Elise to exploit. Finally he – or more accurately the intersect -- had one.

"Okay," Chuck whispered into Elise's ear – while she made quite a show out of kissing his neck – his name is Josh Pearson. He was in Washington in 2008. He met with your Fulcrum contact, Joe and received an assignment to assassinate a Colombian diplomat named Juan Carlos. His mission was successful. You can probably claim that Joe introduced you on that trip and that you recognized him. Will that give you enough to go on?"

Elise paused kissing Chuck's neck and smiled. She then leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips. "Don't worry, sweetie," she said with a grin as she got up from her seat. "There are a lot of things I suck at. Picking up a guy in a bar is actually something that I'm good at."

Home Base – Communication Room:

"But, ma'am," Sarah said. "How can we allow them to contact Colson if the intersect is not working properly? They'll get killed – or worse."

Just then, Janice walked into the room. She was obviously responding to the alarm. But she was just as obviously still trying to wake up.

"We have a couple of serious problems," Beckman said. "First, we have no way to contact them. Their instructions were to go silent as soon as they made contact. And this is also our one main chance to engage Colson. Who knows when – or if – we'll get another?"

"You're not sacrificing Chuck," Sarah screamed as she stood up. "I'm going to go find him."

"Sit down, Sarah," Beckman said firmly. "Right now, you going to Vegas to look for Chuck would be the worst possible thing."

"But, ma'am," Sarah said. "He's helpless. I'm going."

"Agent Beckman," Beckman said.

"Ma'am," Janice replied.

"I'm issuing you a direct order," Beckman said. "Place Sarah under house arrest. She is confined to base until further notice. Get Agent West to assist you. I'm contacting Colonel Casey to also come and back you up. Until he arrives, cuff her. If she attempts to resist, tranq her. Do you understand? Acknowledge my order."

"Yes, ma'am," Janice said sadly. "I understand. I am ordered to use whatever force is necessary to keep Sarah from leaving the base. I do believe that Agent West may be unavailable. When I came down here, he was in the bathroom – obviously vomiting."

Beckman sighed. What more could go wrong tonight? "What's wrong with Agent West?" she asked. "Is he ill? Does he have a touch of the flu?"

"Something like that," Sarah growled. "My big toe 'flu' into his nuts."

Beckman had to bite her lip to keep the smile from her face. Smiling would be the last thing to do under the circumstances. "I assume there was another incident?" she asked with a sigh.

"Yes, ma'am," Sarah growled. "Apparently, Agent West misplaced his gun – so he decided to grab me by the hair and twist my head until I agreed to help him look for it – inside of my bra. Since he didn't find it inside of my bra, after an exhaustive search, I'm fairly sure he was about ready to next look inside my panties. If you incapacitate me, I'll be helpless against his next advance. If that happens, I won't be held responsible for my actions."

Beckman's voice noticeably softened. "Sarah," she said. "I'm very reluctant to forcibly subdue you. But I also can't have you running off to Vegas. That would be a disaster. Trust me, I'm trying to look out for your -- and Chuck's – best interest. Agent Walters' inside connection still is our best shot at this moment. We have no reason to believe that they are in any immediate danger. Is there some assurance you can give me that you'll follow my order?"

Sarah sighed. "Yes, ma'am," she said. "For the moment, anyway."

Beckman breathed a sigh of relief. "Agent Beckman, belay your previous order. Sarah is still confined to base. But as long as, in your judgment, she makes no attempt to resist – there is no need to restrain her."

"Yes, ma'am."

"And Janice," Beckman said. "One more thing…"

Janice knew that using her first name was no accident. This was now personal. "Ma'am?" she asked.

"Take your weapon," Beckman growled. "Go upstairs and point it between Agent West's eyes. Tell him that if he ever so much as accidentally brushes Sarah's arm in the hallway, I've authorized you to pull the trigger."

Las Vegas, Nevada – MGM Grand Hotel and Casino:

Adam Colson took a few minutes to review everything the intersect knew about Elise Walters and Charles Carmichael. There was a lot on Walters. She was definitely Fulcrum. She had been for several years. A very mediocre career – for both the CIA and Fulcrum. Most of her missions had been between the sheets. She looked to have made a career out of being a highly trained escort.

And her story of meeting Pearson made sense. They were both in Washington at the same time. It was a little odd that Pearson didn't remember her. After all, she was stunning. But then again, it was years ago, agents met lots of stunning women, and Pearson wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

But he didn't like it that he had nothing on Carmichael. That made him nervous. Oh, his story checked out. If he had really only been recruited by Fulcrum a month before the attack, the intersect wouldn't necessarily have anything on him. And he did know all of the Fulcrum contact names in Bogotá. So it was very possible that he was there at the time of the attack.

"So, Pearson," Colson said. "They expressed an interest in joining our little group?"

"I'm not sure, sir," Pearson replied. "I didn't indicate that there was any Fulcrum presence except me here. They did indicate that they were interested in seeking revenge against the CIA. And that they were looking for allies."

"Where are they now?" Colson asked.

"Downstairs, sir," Pearson replied. "They are waiting for me. They say they are undercover as a couple. But it's clear that they have been playing house for a while. They were all over each other."

"Excellent," Colson said. "Get Cook in here. Go downstairs and invite them to your room for a meeting. If Walters still has CIA credentials, they may be of some value to us. Maybe we can send them on an assignment and see how much value they can bring."

Home Base – Communication Room:

As soon as the screen went dark, Janice turned to Sarah. "Call Ellie," she said. "Get her over her to watch Kate. We'll take Casey and drive to Vegas and find him."

Sarah smiled in spite of the tenseness of the situation. "You'd be violating a direct order," she said. "Not to mention disobeying your mom. She might ground you."

"Well," Janice said sarcastically. "It wouldn't be the first time that she's grounded me. Like she really thought I would tranq you. Chuck's in trouble. Let's go get him."

Sarah saw the desperation in Janice's eyes and realized – that's exactly how she had herself just looked to Beckman. So she grabbed Janice and wrapped her arms around her. "I know exactly how you feel," she said. "But actually, she's right – for now anyway. Us going to Vegas half cocked would blow his cover and probably get us all killed. Elise does have a shot at getting close to him. We need to trust her."

"Maybe," Janice said. "But how can we sit here and not know? We're talking about Chuck."

Sarah sighed. "I know," she said. "You've spent more time with Elise than I have. What is your honest opinion? What are her chances?"

Janice thought about it for a long moment. "It depends," she finally said slowly. "When it comes to infiltrating, she is probably the best at any of us. I have no doubt that she'll be able to get close to him. But it's after that where I have my doubts. She's the worst shot I've ever seen. Chuck is better."

"How did she ever graduate?" Sarah asked.

"Take a guess," Janice said with a grin. "She was certified by Chuck Wilson."

Sarah shook her head. "That horny old fart," she said. "The agency has to do something about him. He is going to get someone killed."

"Should we report her," Janice asked. "We could have her decertified for field work in a second."

Sarah thought about it for a second. "No," she said. "If it's what Elise wants to do, we'll give her a choice. Quit – or live with us in the shooting range until she's qualified. She's earned that much loyalty from us."

"Speaking of horny farts," Janice said. "What should I do with Agent West? Was he going to rape you?"

"I'm not sure," Sarah said. "It really never got close to that before he decided to take a bathroom break. But I didn't like the look in his eyes. He had been drinking. Did you tell him to shave his head?"

Janice couldn't help but grin. "I told him that men with shaved heads are your fetish," she said. "I never thought the stupid bastard would fall for it. What should I do? I'm supposed to point my gun between his eyes. The gun could accidentally go off."

"No," Sarah said. "That would scare Kate – and just make a mess. I think he might have learned his lesson. Let's give him one more chance."

Las Vegas, Nevada – MGM Grand Hotel and Casino:

Pearson led Chuck and Elise to his room. Elise's spy instincts were ringing off the hook. She had so firm a hold on Chuck's hand that it was beginning to hurt him. As soon as Pearson opened the door, they immediately noticed another man in the room.

"Hello," he said with a bright smile. "My name is Adam Colson. I'm pleased to meet you."

Elise let go of Chuck's hand long enough to shake Colson's hand. This is going to be easy. Neither man had any visible weapon. All she had to do is pull out her gun and shoot. She was so close that she couldn't possibly miss. But when she went to reach behind her back to grab her gun, she felt Chuck's hand grab her wrist.

"I'm so excited," he said. "I can't tell you how long we've been looking for a friendly face." Then he leaned in to kiss Elise's cheek. "Thanks, sweetie," he said. "I'm glad you recognized him in the bar. That was luck." But when he kissed her he also whispered so that only she could hear. "It's not him."

"Tell me," the man who had identified himself as Colson said. "You say that you are still loyal to Fulcrum. What if I told you that there are a whole group of us?"

Chuck answered. "We'd be excited, sir," he said. "We've heard rumors that there was a group reforming. We'd like to join."

"Would you mind proving that?" the pretend Colson asked.

"Yes, sir," Chuck said. "What do you want us to do?"

"Agent Walters," the pretend Colson said. "Do you still have CIA credentials?"

"Yes, sir," Elise said crisply. "They have never identified me as a Fulcrum agent. Probably because I've performed so few missions for them."

"Yes," the pretend Colson said. "You were designated as a sleeper agent. You do realize that they will eventually figure it out? They now have access to all of the old Fulcrum records. It will take them a while to get to that conclusion – but they will eventually get there. And once they do…"

Elise swallowed. "Yes, sir," she said. "I understand. Do you have an assignment for us?"

The pretend Colson smiled. "A real down to business type gal," he said. "I like that. Indeed, I do have an assignment. Do you know who Diane Beckman is?"

"Of course, sir," Elise said. "General Beckman? Head of the NSA? I've never met her in person – but I've participated in video conferences with her on several occasions. A real hard ass, sir."

He smiled again. "So I've heard," he said. "I haven't yet had the pleasure. But her personal plane landed at LAX seventeen days ago. We'd like you to poke around and try to find out why."

"Yes, sir," Elise said. "It sounds pretty easy."

"Indeed," he said. "Take Carmichael here. It sounds like you have established something of a working relationship. Report back in three days. We won't be here. We have to move around a lot. But meet Pearson in front of the Lion head at midnight Thursday. He'll bring you to me."

"Yes, sir."

Home Base – Chuck and Sarah's Bedroom:

Sarah was trying to fall asleep. She just wasn't having much success. After all, it had been a hell of a night. Usually something like an attempted rape would be at the fore of her thoughts -- but not tonight. She was consumed by one thought – was Chuck okay?

Janice must have gotten through to Agent West. Or maybe it was Sarah's big toe. Whichever it was -- he came and apologized. And he sounded sincere enough. Of course, that didn't come close to making up for his ridiculous attack. But it was nice – as far as it went.

Sarah finally resorted to her favorite tactic when she couldn't sleep. She relived her wedding day – actually both of them. They were entirely different days. The first one, Chuck was so nervous that he actually made her join him. But the second one, she was the one who was, by far, the most nervous. And it was actually Chuck who calmed her down.

Sarah was just nicely drifting off to sleep when she felt him slide into bed beside her. Okay, this is getting ridiculous. So much for his apology. She elbowed him in the ribs as sharply as she could and rolled off the bed. She turned on the light to find her gun. It was time to end this bastard.

But when the light came on, the sight was both simultaneously joyous and horrible. Joyous because it was Chuck. Horrible because he was writhing in pain holding his ribs.

Sarah ran over to him. "Sweetie," she said. "I'm so sorry. Are you okay? What are you doing here?"

All Chuck could do was groan for a long moment. "I live here," he finally was able to get out. "Did I leave the toilet seat up again?"

End of Chapter