I just wanted to thank everyone again for all the kind words and for reading my stories. I can't believe some of you even liked them :) Please check out Chapter 26 coming in a day or two. It is the conclusion to the story even though MOST of the action wraps up in this chapter. Thanks for pointing out the similarities between the car blowing up and the episode where Chuck saves Morgan. I had completely forgotten about that, but once you reminded me I remembered how much better the actual writers did it. Thanks again.

Chapter 25

Chuck slowly sat up trying to shake the ringing from his ears as he did so. His first action was to check on Sarah who was lying unconscious beside him. His initial panic at seeing her prone form only slightly subsided when he felt a strong pulse in her neck and saw her chest rise and fall evenly as she breathed. Her forehead had a small gash above her left eye where she had struck her head on the car next to them. Chuck turned away from Sarah, his head still fuzzy from the explosion, to make sure that they were not in any immediate danger or that the flames from the explosion had not spread in their direction. All of the vehicles that had been closest to the explosion were on fire now themselves.

Chuck turned back to Sarah and lightly placed his hand on her shoulder. "Come on Sarah, wake up. Come on Sarah we have to get out of here," a hint of desperation was creeping into Chuck's voice. Sarah gave a small moan but did not open her eyes.

"CHUCK! CHUCK!" A voice called grabbing Chuck's attention.

He turned to see an SUV come sliding to a stop between the burning car and him and Sarah. The driver's side window was down with Dr. Williams hanging out the window calling his name. "DOC! Over here!" Chuck waved his arms in the air.

"Chuck! Let's go! We have to get you out of here before the Director finds you!"

"Sarah is hurt, I need to..."

"Chuck! Director Graham is Fulcrum!" the Doc interrupted Chuck.

This finally got Chuck's attention, "What? He can't be. If he is fulcrum why did he never turn me over to them?"

Dr. Williams climbed out of the car and hurriedly approached Chuck, "He just switched sides. The new administration is replacing a lot of the top people in the CIA due to the whole water boarding thing, so he thought now would be a good time to jump ship. I will explain later, right now we need to get you out of here."

"If Graham is Fulcrum then that is all the more reason to get Sarah out of here. You are a doctor you can help her!" Chuck leaned down and went to lift Sarah causing her to stir.

"Chuck we can't trust her, besides there is no time," the Doc reached toward his rear waist band as the sound of approaching sirens grew louder.

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Approximately 100 feet away a few agents were slowly working their way between the cars in the parking structure. At the front of the group was Director Graham with his gun drawn. As he reached the open air of the top floor he could see the Doctor speaking to Chuck, but could not hear what was being said. He gave the hand signal for the agents to hang back as he increased his speed making a beeline towards the Doc and Chuck while staying low and out of sight.

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Sarah kept her eyes closed as she regained consciousness. She could hear a conversation between Chuck and another man. Although she was not certain of what all was going on she could tell that the man was trying to take Chuck, and that was all Sarah needed to know. She slowly opened her eyes enough to see what was going on without being noticed. After her eyes adjusted to the light she saw the Doctor standing there with his hand behind his back. It was obvious to Sarah that he was holding a weapon. The man's odd behavior now and at the weigh station was enough for Sarah to decide to take action. From her position she could feel that her gun and knives had fallen from her dress with the impact of her fall. She was already laying with her right arm behind her so neither Chuck nor the Doctor noticed as she slid her hand along the pavement looking for one of her weapons. The first thing she came across was one of the throwing knives.

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The director was only 20 feet away now, his movement hidden behind a row of cars. He was finally close enough to hear the conversation going on in front of him. The Doctor was trying to convince Chuck that he was Fulcrum and that Chuck's only chance was to go with him leaving Sarah behind. Damn!

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"What do you mean I can't trust her?" Chuck's look at the Doc went from one of pleading for help to one of suspicion. "She is my best friend and has saved my life more times that I can count."

"Chuck she is CIA, she doesn't really care about you. You can't trust any of them."

At that moment three things happened all at once. Sarah had heard enough, sitting up quickly to throw the knife she held in her right hand. Dr. Williams saw Sarah's movement and pulled the gun from behind his back, quickly squeezing off a shot. And the Director closed the last few feet separating him from the other three.

Just like every other life or death situation Sarah had ever faced everything around her slowed down. Upon sitting up she felt a sharp pain in her ribs, which she must have injured during her fall. The pain had caused her throw to be slightly off, striking the Doc in the left upper chest area, but not before he got a shot off in her direction. She was staring straight into his eyes thinking that her one chance at protecting Chuck had been lost when something unexpected happened. A large black man dove in front of her and Chuck, the bullet from the Doctor's gun striking him square in the chest.

The Doctor fell to his knees as the pain in his shoulder weakened his legs. He looked down at the bright red stain on his shirt, the knife still sticking out of his chest. His gaze rose back to those in front of him. The Director was laying on the ground struggling for breath, Sarah was reaching for his weapon, and Chuck sat there stunned into paralysis. Before Sarah could get to the Director's gun Dr. Williams raised his gun in her direction once again. A shot rang out, but not from the Dr. Williams' weapon. The shot had come from an unknown shooter standing somewhere behind the Doctor. The shot had been true striking Dr. Williams in the back and piercing his heart. Immediately his hand holding the gun fell to his side followed closely by the rest of his body following forward. As Dr. William fell to the ground Chuck and Sarah could see the figure of the tall man who had killed the doctor.

Sarah visibly relaxed leaning back against the car behind her while placing a hand over her ribs, "It is about time you show up."

"You're welcome Walker," the man stated gruffly as he walked towards them.

"Casey?" Chuck finally found his voice. Although he was truly astonished, all further questions were put off when he heard the Director cough as he struggled to breath.

Sarah's attention was also drawn to her former boss. She lifted Graham's shirt assessing the extent of his injury. When she turned a sad look to Chuck he knew that the Director's wound was serious. "Just a scratch Sir, nothing you haven't had a million times before I bet," Chuck tried to keep his voice cheerful.

As usual the Director ignored Chuck's attempt at a joke, "You saved... the President and all those people...when you could have...saved yourself...Good work...Chuck."

"See, calling me Chuck isn't so hard," Chuck tired to remain light hearted but the small smile he had barely been holding faded as the Director closed his eyes.

With that the other agents who had been standing nearby took over caring for the Director, and Chuck and Sarah were ushered to a nearby CIA SUV where they waited until an ambulance arrived a few minutes later. Casey who had been barking out orders and taking a lead role in place of Director Graham, even though he was NSA not CIA, made his way over to the ambulance where Chuck and Sarah were sitting.

"Casey, where in the world did you come from? I thought you would be out killing terrorists or protecting national security through the use of extremely large weapons," Chuck grinned.

"Blowing up the President counts as terrorism, and saving your ass seems to be a habit that it seems I haven't broken yet."

"When did you get here?" Chuck half smiled still impressed at his friend's return.

"He has been close since the CIA compound," Sarah jumped in causing Casey to nod.

"I had heard about a CIA mission being attacked by some unknown group. I knew the only group dumb enough to do something like that was Fulcrum and the only reason they would do it was for the intersect," Casey poked Chuck in the side of the head causing Chuck to wince. "I also knew that once they made a move that Walker here wouldn't trust the CIA to protect you and she would be making her move. I just came to make sure things didn't get out of hand."

"Does keeping things from getting out of hand include taking out a couple of the guards at the fence line of the compound. I am also guessing you slowed up the agents tracking us from the compound." Sarah grinned as she prodded Casey. Her only response was a trademark grunt.

Chuck looked from Sarah to Casey and back again, "Wait you knew?"

"I had a pretty good idea someone was helping us. Casey was just the best bet. I didn't know for sure until our names were on the VIP list at the convention center."

"You put our names on the list?" Chuck asked Casey incredulously, "but how did you know?"

"I am a real spy. I figure things out...and I was scanning the compound for any comm devices you two may be using when you dropped those oh so subtle hints."

"So you put our usual names on the list so we could get in," Chuck smiled and nodded before furrowing his brow, "but why did you put us down as engaged? We haven't used that cover before."

"Well let's see here. While Walker was your handler you somehow get arguably the best CIA agent in the world to fall for you and completely compromise herself to the point that she quits the CIA because they took you in, despite the fact that it is expressly forbidden to get involved with your asset. I figured, now that Walker here is no longer an agent, therefore free to do as she chooses, that engaged may be an understatement. Hell she could have been barefoot and pregnant by now," Casey laughed.

Chuck and Sarah nervously looked at each other causing Casey's laughter to increase. "Oh your kidding me, you two haven't even slept together yet," Casey continued to laugh out loud as he turned to walk away. "You two can get anything right!"

Sarah looked awkwardly at Chuck who was blushing himself, "wait right here," she said before jogging to catch up to Casey.

"Hey Casey," she called getting Casey to turn and wait for her. "You said that you heard that some group attacked a CIA convoy during a mission?"

"Ya," Casey knew where she was going but didn't offer up any further explanation.

"The CIA doesn't really share their mission plans with the NSA. The only story the NSA would have gotten was the story released on the news, at least for a day or two that is."

Casey looked around and huffed, "Alright, I may have had some feelers out trying to get whatever information I could about Bartowski."

Sarah smiled brightly and hugged Casey before turning to walk back to Chuck.

"Hey Walker," Casey called after her getting a nod in return, "not a word of that to your boyfriend."

"Not a word," Sarah promised as she approached Chuck.

"Not a word about what?" Chuck asked curiously, earning him a smile and a shake of the head for Sarah. "Come on Sarah, what were you two talking about? Sarah...Sarah?"

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