I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything.

I'm not really un-retiring… not yet anyway. This is not new content. In fact, it is almost ten years old. It's the fourth and final installment in the Real Relationship arc.

Look, I get that interest in things Chuck has waned. That's as it should be. So, while I'd always love to hear from you, I'm not doing this for hits or reviews. I'm doing this for me. Hopefully you can enjoy it as well.

Crossroads

x-x-x-x-x

Angel knew that she had to get out of here. There was no way they would let her live if she was discovered. She listened carefully for sounds that the meeting had broken up and it was safe to leave. More accurately, she was listening for the silence that indicated that it was safe to leave. She was just about ready to come out of her hiding place when the door on the other side of the room flew open. From her vantage point where she was hidden she could see most of the room. Angel watched in horror as Sarah and Carina where pushed roughly into the room. Their hands were bound behind their backs and then each tied to a wooden chair. Their legs were securely fastened to the legs of the chair.

Once they were secured, Scott Wilson stepped up to Sarah. Even from across the room, Angel could see the rage on his face. "Agent Walker," he said. "I can't tell you how much I've been looking forward to this."

With that he took his right hand and backhanded Sarah across the face with all of his might. Even though Sarah could see the blow coming and tried as best she could to turn away from it to minimize it's force, the slap nearly knocked Sarah and the chair she was tied to over. All Sarah could see for a long moment was stars. She could taste the blood from her lip.

Wilson leered at her struggling to regain her bearings. "You see, Agent Walker," he said. "You were part of a mission sponsored by your evil government three years ago. You murdered many of my people. Unfortunately for you, one of the people that you murdered was my brother."

With that, Wilson took his left hand and backhanded Sarah on the other side of her face. This time Sarah was unable to deflect any of the blow. It knocked her and her chair onto its side. After a taking a moment to admire his handiwork, Wilson indicated for his men to pick her back up. "I miss him terribly," he said. "So, I'm sure that you'll understand that I'm going to enjoy listening to you beg me to allow you to die for a long while."

Carina was just as secured. Watching her partner take that beating without being able to help was one of the worst moments of her life. "Scott, please," she said. "You'll never get away with this. Do you really think we would come in here without backup?"

Wilson wasn't finished. He unloaded a right hand into Sarah's gut. "Exactly," he said with a grin. "And that's why we're not staying here. Your 'backup' probably isn't aware of the hidden channel. Once our boat is out of sight, they will have no clue where to look. We will take you to our secure ship. That's where I'll be able to deal with you slowly."

Sarah was dazed and barely conscious. She could see the punch coming. Even if she was alert there wasn't anything she could do about it. It was more instinct than anything that caused her to tense her stomach as much as possible… but the punch was still devastating. For a long moment, all Sarah could do was try her best to pant for breath.

Of course, right on cue, Bryce burst into the room with his gun drawn. It was uncharacteristically sloppy. Say what you want, Agent Larkin knew what he was doing on a mission. Plainly he was consumed about the 'reward' for rescuing her that Agent Walker always willingly paid. Unfortunately, as rescues go, this one didn't quite measure up. He clearly wasn't thinking clearly and quickly found himself surrounded by the wrong end of four rifles. If the situation hadn't been so deadly serious, it would have been comical. There was no choice except raise his hands in surrender. Just as quickly he was relieved of his weapon, tranqed, and similarly secured.

Sarah's head slumped down to her chest as she was trying to catch her breath and recover her bearings from the blows. She was still semi conscious when Wilson turned to her again. He pulled her head up by her hair until he could look into her glazed eyes. Finally he picked up a large knife and used the point to draw a red line up and down Sarah's neck and chest. "So much for your backup," he said sarcastically. "He's lucky. We're just going to kill him quick. On the other hand, you and I are going to have some fun. Well, probably me more than you. As soon as we get to the ship, our party will begin. I'm sorry. I have to leave you lovely ladies for a few minutes. I know that you're probably anxious to get started but I must be a good host and bid farewell to my guests. Don't worry though. I'll be right back. To kick off our party you can watch your friend, Carina here, provide some entertainment and then slowly bleed to death."

With that, Wilson threw the knife into the wooden door and slammed the door as he exited the room. He left two men to guard the outside of the room.

x-x-x-x-x

Angel continued to hide crouching in the closet. She listened in horror while Wilson described in gruesome detail, the rape and torture session that would happen on their ship. When they finally killed Carina and Sarah, they would be doing them a favor. If she was discovered, she would almost assuredly join them on that ship. She knew there were guards just outside the door. The only smart play would be to stay hidden until they left.

Angel sat with tears flowing down her cheeks and thought how Chuck would take the news of Sarah's death. He would be devastated for a long, long time. There was no question about that. But Angel knew she would be able to get him through it. She loved him, after all. And she knew that Chuck loved her. Well, maybe not in the same way he loved Sarah, but he would eventually. She would stay with him. She would dedicate her life to making sure that he recovered.

This wasn't something she had ever thought about before. Coke addicts didn't have futures. The vision came to her perhaps expectantly, but she could clearly see what their life would look like. Chuck would want kids right away. They would buy a house with a picket fence. In the back yard the kids were playing while Chuck was cooking burgers on the grill. That was her destiny, to be with Chuck.

Of course for that vision to become reality, Sarah had to die. Not only die, but die in a horrible way. Angel felt badly for Sarah. She really did. They didn't know each other very well, but that was quickly changing. Nobody would blame Angel. She wasn't a professional. The only smart play was to stay hidden… and survive. She wasn't the bad guy here, the terrorists were. Even the big shots at the CIA considered her expendable. Sarah knew the risks of this job when she signed up for it. Angel had one shot to make this happen. Those were her kids, hers and Chuck's. This was the only way. Chuck would never leave Sarah for her. She was sure of that. This was her one chance to be with him forever. All she had to do was stay hidden until they took Sarah and Carina away.

"Sarah," Carina called softly. "Are you okay?"

"Sarah," Carina called again a little more urgently. "Are you okay?"

"I guess," Sarah finally said groggily as her words were slightly slurred from her split lip. "It doesn't look good, does it?"

Carina took a moment to assess the situation. There was no panic. You didn't become a CIA Agent if you were easily panicked. You also didn't become a CIA Agent if you were afraid to die. Casey was outside with enough FBI to invade Europe. Unfortunately, he didn't know about the boat. They had ruled out any air surveillance. Once the boat was out of sight, they wouldn't have a clue where to look. Once they were on the ship, there were few less dignified ways to die. At least it was standard practice to make sure their nude bodies were found as a warning. So they would get proper funerals. "No," she admitted. "But at least I'm proud to go down with my best friend."

"I'm not afraid to die," Sarah mumbled as tears flowed down her face. "I just wish I could tell Chuck goodbye. I'm afraid for him. Who is going to take care of him?"

As Angel watched Sarah's uncontrolled sobbing her fantasy burst like a soap bubble. She immediately knew what she had to do. "Shit," she sobbed to herself. "I can't do this. It would fuck him up forever. I love him too much to make him hurt like that."

So Angel got up from her hiding spot and pulled the knife out of the door. Carina was the first to notice her through her tears. After she motioned for Carina to keep quiet, Angel went to Carina's back and cut the ropes tying her hands. Then she handed the knife to Carina who quickly freed her legs and then went to work on Sarah's binds. Once Sarah was free, Carina handed her the knife.

"Find someplace safe and make some noise to get the guards in here," Carina whispered to Angel as she took a position behind the door.

Angel went back to her hiding place. She wasn't sure what she meant so she just picked up a metal pan and flung it across the room. If she wanted noise, well that made a large racket when it hit the floor.

The fight, if you could call it that, only lasted a couple seconds. Neither Carina nor Sarah was in any mood to screw around. When the first guard entered the room, Carina used her favorite fighting tactic. She kicked him directly in the groin. The second guard went down just as quickly only he was not so lucky. Sarah still wasn't at full strength so she simply threw the knife into his neck. He made a gurgling sound as he quickly died. Sarah and Carina quickly disarmed the men. The living guard was still rolling on the floor in agony. Sarah knocked him unconscious with the butt of her rifle.

Once they had the room secure, Carina motioned for Angel to join them. Sarah turned to her. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

Okay, so Angel had never seen the fire that pouring out of Sarah's eyes. It was more than a little intimidating. "Casey sent me," she said with her voice shaking. "I have a message for you. Your cover is blown."

At least that got a smile… from Carina. "Thanks," she said. "I think that we had already figured that out."

Sarah wasn't close to being able to see any humor in the situation. "What about Chuck?" she asked frantically. "Have you seen him?"

Angel was still shaking. "No," she said. "I haven't seen him. But they don't think his cover is blown, just you two.

"Okay," said Sarah firmly as she rubbed her cheek. "Let's go get him and get the hell out of here."

Angel couldn't have agreed more… on both points. "Can I show you something first?" she asked. She led Sarah to the other side of the room and pointed to the canisters. "Here are four canisters of Sarin. They must be for the attack on the Rose Bowl."

Carina indicated Bryce, who was still unconscious. "What do you want to do about him?" she asked.

Sarah wasn't in any mood to deal with Bryce right now. His intentionally groping her in front of Chuck wouldn't ever be forgotten. "Cut him loose," she growled. "We can't carry him. Maybe he'll wake up and escape on his own."

Carina was grinning. "That's not what I asked," she said.

Sarah was still in no position to see any humor in this situation. Chuck was in danger. "I know," she said tersely. "Cutting off his nuts will take too long."

"Maybe later."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck was getting frantic waiting in the bedroom. He had resorted to pacing up and down the room. Sarah and Carina had been gone a good hour and there was no sign of them. Suddenly they burst into the room.

Chuck did a double take when he saw Angel. "What are you doing here?" he asked in a shocked tone.

Sarah was on edge, so she made no effort to keep the tenseness from her voice. "Chuck," she said. "Not now, okay? All hell is breaking loose. We need our guns."

As Chuck was retrieving the guns from his legs, Sarah leaned into Chuck's chest. "Casey," she said. "Most of the Sarin is in Atlanta. It is in someplace called the Bakersfield Warehouse. There are four canisters here. We assume that is for the attack on the Rose Bowl. The Eastern attack teams are on a flight to Atlanta right now."

As soon as Sarah said the name of the warehouse, Chuck flashed. Of course, Angel didn't know anything about the Intersect. She saw the look on his face right away and assumed something was wrong. She went running to him. "Chuck," she cried. "Are you okay?"

Chuck shot a soothing nod to Angel. This was the break they needed. "Casey," he said. "The address of the warehouse is six eighteen Peachtree Drive in Atlanta."

"How could you possibly know that?" Angel asked, now genuinely curious.

Chuck reached out and touched her arm. There was no way to explain that. "Lucky guess," he responded with a smile as he handed Sarah and Carina their guns.

Carina also leaned in to Casey. "They have a boat with a secret passage to the ocean," she said. "That's how they plan to escape. Alert the Coast Guard."

Sarah smiled for the first time in a while as she traded the sniper rifle she had taken from the terrorist for the familiar feel of her Glock in her hand. She nodded to Chuck. "You probably already knew this," she said.

"It's show time."

x-x-x-x-x

Back in the car, Casey had sprung into action. He immediately called Beckman to let her know the address of the warehouse.

"I'm dispatching personnel to that location right now," Beckman said.

Casey had some serious adrenaline flowing. It was time to kick ass. He also knew to stay businesslike. "Yes ma'am," he said. "I'll instruct the team to move in."

"Not yet, Major," Beckman said sharply. "We can't move in until we've verified the location of the Sarin. It will take ten minutes."

Screw businesslike. Casey made no effort to keep the frustration from his voice. "But, General," he said. "Our team is in there. Their covers are already blown. They need support. What possible good could it do to wait?"

Beckman took a moment to assess the situation. "I guess you're right," she finally said. "We're no longer covert. All units move in. Major, monitor the situation and report any incident."

"Yes, ma'am," replied Casey crisply.

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah moved to the door with her gun ready to shoot. "Okay people," she said. "Let's get out of here. I'll take the lead. Carina and I are going to shoot anybody in the head that looks like they could possibly pose a threat and not bother to ask questions. Chuck and Angel follow me. Carina can take the rear. Stay close to the wall and hit the floor at the first sign of any shots fired. Everybody understand?"

Chuck noticed for the first time the swelling on Sarah's face and her bleeding lip. "What happened to you?" he asked in alarm.

Sarah knew her husband. He wouldn't move until he was sure she was okay. The truth was that she was still a little woozy. She couldn't tell him that so she forced the smile. "That will have to wait until we get out of here," she said as she grabbed Chuck's hand. "We're not safe here. I'll tell you everything. I'm fine." Okay, so maybe it wasn't a complete lie… at best a spin.

They slowly inched their way down the hall. They were all careful to keep their backs pressed against the wall to make as small of a target as possible. Once they left the building and were on the terrace, Sarah gathered the group by a stone wall. They knelt behind it while Sarah carefully surveyed the scene. Suddenly, all hell broke loose. Beckman's agents were moving in. A tactical assault vehicle had rammed through the gate and a group of agents dressed in full battle gear followed into the grounds with weapons at the ready. Several agents had scaled the wall in different locations and were converging. Shots were being fired in almost every direction. As Sarah stood up to take a shot at a terrorist who was firing at the incoming agents, another terrorist appeared to her side with his weapon aimed at Sarah. Chuck jumped and pushed Sarah out of the way just as the terrorist fired. Quickly the man fell dead with three of Carina's rounds in his chest. Unfortunately, the damage was done. When Sarah looked back she saw Angel kneeling over Chuck. Chuck was lying unconscious face up on the ground. A growing red spot on his shirt told Sarah all she needed to know.

"Shit, Casey," Sarah screamed. "Get a medic in here right now."

"Chuck is down."

x-x-x-x-x

Casey was in the car directing the assault which was quick and precise. The few men with weapons were methodically overwhelmed and the survivors quickly surrendered. Within three minutes the grounds were secure. All of the known terrorists were either killed or in custody. Casey could hear over the radio that his team had taken some casualties. There were several medical teams. Then he heard the words over the radio.

"Chuck is down."

Casey immediately jumped out of the car and ran over to one of the waiting medical teams. "Let's go," he shouted as he climbed into the ambulance. "We have a high priority friendly down."

The medic drove the ambulance through the gate. As Casey looked around she spotted Carina standing on the terrace. When the ambulance pulled up, Casey and the two paramedics immediately jumped out and ran over to Chuck. Casey and Carina had to drag Sarah and Angel off of Chuck to allow the men access to him.

"I have a strong pulse," shouted one of the medics as he ripped open Chuck's shirt. With amazing speed and precision they loaded Chuck onto the gurney. Within seconds the ambulance roared off to the hospital leaving the rest of the team standing there.

The situation was still chaos. Shots were still being fired. As soon as the ambulance left, Casey took charge of the assault. "Walker," he shouted. "We need to get Angel somewhere safe. Can you take her to the car?"

Sarah nodded numbly.

"Okay, go. Wait for me there," Casey shouted to be heard. "Carina, do you know where the Sarin is?"

Carina nodded.

"Stay with me until the house is cleared," Casey shouted as he indicated to the assembled team to assault the house.

The team quickly moved into the house. After a couple of minutes of sporadic gunfire, the group leader announced that the house was secure.

'Okay, Carina," said Casey with a growl. "Show us where the Sarin is."

Carina led Casey and the Hazardous Materials team that was waiting to the lab where the canisters of Sarin were. The team quickly secured the area. Bryce was just beginning to regain consciousness.

Finally the fighting was over. As soon as Casey and Carina were outside of the house, Carina threw herself in Casey's arms. "Let me get someone to take Sarah to the hospital," she said. "And then I'll come back here and help you clean this mess up."

When Carina got to the car, Angel already had her clothes on. Sarah was sitting in shock shaking visibly. Carina knew that she was messed up watching Chuck lying there unconscious. "Come on sweetie." she said softly. "Let's get some clothes on you and get you to the hospital."

Carina led Sarah to the bus where they retrieved her clothes. Angel had to help Sarah put them on since she was shaking so badly. Carina found a police officer and asked him to take Sarah and Angel to the hospital. "Call as soon as you know something." she told Angel as the police car pulled away.

"I have to stay here and help Casey."

x-x-x-x-x

The hospital was chaos. There were far too many wounded to handle at once. There were some less seriously wounded lying in beds in the hall waiting for their turn to be treated. As Sarah and Angel rushed up to the front desk the clerk looked at them in surprise at their appearance.

"Chuck Bartowski?" Sarah asked in a rush.

"And you are?" the clerk asked.

Okay, so it was chaos. But Sarah was never patient in these types of situations… especially when it involved Chuck. She basically shoved her ID into the clerk's face. "Special Agent," she growled. Her hand shook noticeably. "Where is he? This is a national security situation."

"I'm not sure." replied the clerk as she pointed to the ER patient area. "The last time I knew he was back there."

Sarah and Angel hurried to the patient area. There were two doctors trying to attend to about twenty patients and they were swamped. Sarah walked up to a female doctor who was examining an unconscious patient. "Chuck Bartowski?" she asked urgently.

The doctor didn't look up. "And you are?" she asked.

This was getting ridiculous. Sarah made no effort to appear friendly. "I'm Special Agent Sarah Bartowski," she said. "I'm his wife."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Bartowski," the doctor said, again without looking up.

"He's gone."

x-x-x-x-x