A/N: Last chapter retold S3E11, with Chuck managing to identify Hunter Perry, a CIA mole, and seeming to kill him, but telling Sarah it was Casey, a civilian who did it. Neither of them shares that information with General Beckman.
This chapter is the retelling of S3E12, "Chuck versus the American Hero."
Thanks to those of you that left reviews. I do try to respond to them all.
Thanks also to my pre-reader, JohnnyRayChandlett, for checking this out. He found nothing to change in this one; I don't know if that's good or bad.
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck in any way.
Prove Yourself
Chapter 18 – Heroes
Her favorite pillow is missing when she wakes up. Not only that, he must have left the bed some time ago as his side is cold, as are her feet.
Her cold feet are what's woken her. All her life she had managed to get fitful sleep, in spite of having cold feet, but since being with Chuck, whose feet warmed hers, she's obviously gotten soft.
She rises and goes in search of her love.
He is sitting on a chair in the kitchen with a coffee beside him staring at the gun she'd given him. She knew she should have returned that to the armory in Castle, but she'd wanted to comfort him straight after the mission with Perry and had brought them straight home.
"Staring at it won't make it go away," she comments.
He looks up. "Sorry, Sarah, I couldn't sleep, thinking about nearly shooting Perry."
"It wasn't that gun, Chuck," she points out, while walking over to him.
"I know, but it was one just like this." He stares at it again. "I keep thinking the only difference between me being an analyst and being a spy is that I can't kill people."
He looks straight at her and says, "But I did do that under the Laudanol and I nearly did last night."
She sits next to him and puts her arm around his neck. "The Laudanol wasn't you, Chuck, and last night you didn't shoot him, Casey did."
He nods. "But, Sar-"
She stops him with a kiss. When she pulls away, he has his eyes closed. "But nothing, Chuck. You're not a killer or a spy. You're my Chuck, the sweetest, kindest guy."
Opening his eyes, he stares into hers. Her heart flutters, like it always does when they look at each other like this. "What would I do without you, Sarah?"
"I think you might be almost as miserable as I would be, without you," she says, honestly.
"I felt pretty miserable without you in Prague, Sarah. Now I know how wonderful life is with you, I don't think I'd cope."
The mention of Prague brings back memories of her time then. A time she doesn't want to think about. She leans forward and kisses him again, for both of them to stop thinking about that time.
When they need to breathe and separate, Chuck looks at her again, with tears clearly forming in his eyes. "Sarah, I never want to be separate from you, ever again."
The words fill her with warmth. She smiles. "I know." She looks into his bottomless chocolate brown eyes, feeling such love for him. "I couldn't live without you, either. Chuck."
She stands, takes his hand and pulls him out of his chair. "Come on, let's hold each other in bed and get some sleep."
She pulls him through to the bedroom.
Whilst waiting for the general, Chuck turns to Sarah. "I want to take you to a fancy new Italian restaurant, Sarah. Wine and dine you. It's been a long time since we last did that."
She smiles. "I'd love that, Chuck."
"Good. Because I booked us a table at 7PM this evening."
"Spending your new salary wastefully," she teases.
"Never wasted, if it's on you," he replies with such love in his eyes. She wants to kiss him, even here in Castle. Or just tell him how much she loves him.
Before Sarah can reply, the general's face appears. "Team…" she starts.
They both reply, "Good morning, General." They both look at each other with slight grins.
The general sounds almost like Casey when she grunts. "I can't see much that's good about it." The general seems to be much moodier than normal.
The general straightens her back and starts again. "Team, yesterday Hunter Perry's body arrived at the NSA medical facility you attended when over here in DC."
Sarah finds it amusing that Chuck can never seem to wait until an appropriate pause in the general's words before interrupting and asking questions. She used to think it just rude, but now believes his brain, even before being supplemented by the Intersect, just was desperate to soak up information and he just can't help himself. Today is no different. "Why would his body be taken there, General?"
The general is tolerant and answers, "Because we wanted to see if he was carrying anything."
Chuck frowns, "Carrying? In his body?"
The general glares at him this time, obviously getting annoyed at being interrupted again. "He might have swallowed some evidence before you got to him."
"Oh. Gross," Chuck replies.
The general continues what she wanted to tell them. "It seems he was carrying something and the Ring knew it."
Sarah speaks then. "Surely they didn't break into an NSA site to get it?"
Beckman nods. "They did."
A video recording starts on one of the other displays. It shows a man entering the room with Perry's body, lying down. He walks over to it and opens his case. The woman in there gets up to talk to him, probably telling him she needs to see his identification. She stands on the other side of the body. He looks up and says something to her. She steps back and he pulls a gun from his case and shoots her between the eyes.
Chuck and Sarah both gasp at that.
The recording continues. After putting the woman's body in one of the lockers, he walks back to Perry's body.
He runs a device up Perry's chest and stops at his neck. He then opens the corpse's mouth and takes something out. It looks like a large tablet.
The man talks into a Ring phone for a few seconds, then closes his case and walks out.
The general starts talking again. "We believe he took a data drive from inside the mole's body."
Chuck looks slightly sick. "The data was inside him?"
Beckman replies, "He was in the process of digesting it when he was killed. I'll spare you the gory details."
Chuck responds with some humor. "Lucky he was dead first."
Sarah smiles at that. Chuck always uses humor to cope with disappointments or troubling situations and conversations.
"We believe the stolen data drive contains highly sensitive case files. Your new mission is to bring back those files."
That doesn't sound right. Sarah asks, "Why us, General? It will take time for us to get to DC. Surely there are other agents over there who could track him down."
"If he was still here, that would be true. However, he was spotted getting on a flight to Los Angeles. He'll be there this evening."
As the general image fades from the screen, Sarah turns to Chuck. "We can still go on that date."
He grins. "We can. And we will."
Something had been bothering her during the call. "You didn't flash on that guy, did you?"
"No. I didn't, which was really strange," he admits.
She sat and thought about that.
Chuck then comments, "I'll talk to Casey about him; see if he knows who he is."
Thirty minutes later, Chuck is back. Looking perturbed.
"What's wrong?" she asks.
He frowns. "Casey didn't recognize the guy, but Morg did."
"Morgan?"
"Yeah. It was one of the guys that posed as senior Buy More staff coming to interview us all."
"So, he knows about Castle." She infers.
."Yeah."
"I'll tell the general," she notes.
"Wow, Chuck. This really is a romantic setting."
He looks at her. "Only the best for the best."
She gazes at him in his smart suit. He looks great, even though she had wanted to rip it off of him when he had come into the lounge wearing it earlier. Now she's glad she didn't. They would have missed this wonderful restaurant and what will hopefully be a wonderful meal.
When Chuck points to the wine he wants, Sarah is surprised. He didn't even ask her what she'd like. She sits back. Maybe this more confident Chuck will be a great addition to their lives.
The wine waiter comments, "1990 Chateau Latour. Excellent choice."
Chuck smiles, obviously feeling pleased with himself. "Thank you."
As the waiter walks away, Chuck turns to her. After a couple of seconds, he apologizes, "I'm sorry."
That surprises her. "What could you possibly be sorry for? This is amazing."
"It's just... I'm sorry that we haven't done this sooner."
She gives him a loving smile. "This is nice. No, it's perfect. Being here with you."
She swirls the wine in its glass. This really is a good wine. She takes another drink from her glass and Chuck does the same from his.
Looking deeply into each other's eyes, nothing should be better on a date. Being with the one you love, drinking excellent wine in such a wonderful setting. However, much as she loves the fact he's brought her to somewhere like this, thinking she will relish it, she would be just as happy in a burger joint, as long as he is with her. He makes the place special, not the décor or the wine or the food. It's him.
Chuck's cell phone rings, breaking through her thoughts. Chuck looks at it. "It's Morg." He answers the call. "Hey, Morg, I'm on a date with a beautiful blonde. Can't it wait?"
She smiles at his comment. "Morg?" He looks up at Sarah. "The signal is really weak in here. I'm gonna have to take this outside." He looks as apologetic as he sounds.
She waves him off, still smiling.
A minute later, instead of her love re-joining her, she finds herself facing Daniel Shaw.
"Don't reach for your gun, Agent Walker. I just want you to know I have found the Ring headquarters in Los Angeles and believe the Ring Director is there. I know you don't trust me, but this is an opportunity to take out the Ring leadership."
He explains, "I was cornered by a Ring agent. He shot me with a taser rather than a gun. He told me their director wants to speak to me, personally. The police arrived on the scene so he ran off, but left me this, so they could contact me." He shows her a Ring phone.
Chuck arrives back hearing the tail end of that.
Shaw continues, "If the Ring wants to take me, let them."
Even though they had thought he might be a Ring agent himself, he seems to be offering to help them.
"You can't go alone, Shaw," she urges. "You'll be killed and no one will know any better."
"You can track me," Shaw grins. "Keep me safe."
Shaw gets up and walks away from them. Chuck sits down. "I don't trust him, Sarah."
She looks at him. "I don't either, Chuck, but this is too good a chance to get back at the Ring." She grips his arms across the table. "We have to take the chance."
He looks at her balefully. "I'm not losing you, Sarah. We discussed this."
"And you won't," she declares, but she's not totally convinced, because she knows she will go with Shaw to take them.
The general is on the screen and questioning Shaw, who she agreed to allow in Castle. "You're volunteering to be a double agent?"
Shaw replies, "I'm volunteering to be a bull's-eye. I'll paint a target on the Ring from within. I can get close to the director and track his location."
Beckman frowns. "And then what?"
"It's your call, General, but I'd suggest you launch an airstrike." Shaw looks deadly serious.
Sarah asks, "Shouldn't we stop and ask what the Ring wants with you in the first place? And why they want you alive?"
Shaw looks at her, before replying. "It doesn't matter. We can decimate the Ring's command structure with a single attack."
Beckman comments, "I see the merits. But you do recognize the danger?"
"General. This is the moment I've been waiting for... we've been waiting for. A singular opportunity. Whatever the risk may be, I say it's worth it."
Beckman nods. "Very good. Make it work." She ends the call.
Shaw uses the Ring phone and waits for an answer.
"This is Daniel Shaw. I believe you've been looking for me. I'm ready to come in." Sarah can't help noticing the strange phraseology.
After a pause, he puts the phone down and says, "It's done."
He picks up a rather large tablet shaped object.
Sarah doesn't recognize it. "What's that?"
Shaw replies, "It's how you'll find me. This will give Beckman the coordinates for the airstrike."
Chuck watches him swallow the device. "Wow. You just... You just swallowed that thing whole, huh? No-No water to wash it down."
Shaw ignores Chuck's babbling. "You can track me too, Walker, Bartowski."
Sarah instinctively wants to go with him, in spite of who he is. She turns to get her gun. As she does so, the doors behind her close. She turns back and Chuck is on the outside.
She presses herself against the clear panel. "Chuck, what are you doing? Shaw needs help."
"I'm not letting you go there, Sarah. You mean too much to me. I can help him. With the Intersect, I can do this better than you."
"No, Chuck! The airstrike will be on its way. I don't want to lose you." She then begs him, "Please don't try to be a hero."
He smiles. "To quote from one of my favorite films, 'I'll be back,'" He turns and runs out.
Sarah spots Casey on the Buy More floor. If she can attract his attention, he can come and let her out. He hasn't been removed from the system access yet.
She thinks for a few seconds. How can I get his attention?
Then it hits her, Morse code. She dives into action and in no time is doing just that.
She watches Casey look up, and then run out of the store.
She relaxes and starts waiting for him.
Casey appears outside the reinforced glass doors. "Hey!"
"Oh, thank you, Casey. I haven't used Morse code since basic training."
He grunts in amusement. "I use it all the time to talk to my Marine buddies. What's up?"
"Shaw was here and has given himself up to the Ring Director, and Chuck locked me in here to stop me going after Shaw. Beckman's going to bomb the location."
Casey grunts, angrily this time. "Shaw dies an American hero?"
Trembling, she adds, "Chuck too. He's gone after Shaw."
He looks at her. "So, we're gonna save both? Or just Chuck?"
She answers honestly, "If only one, then Chuck."
"Okay."
On her laptop, they find the tracking signal on a map. Casey points to it. "Shaw's still on the move."
She gets up, picks up her gun and starts for the stairs, then looks back.. "Thank you, Casey."
"Want me to come?"
"No. I don't want you in any more trouble."
He grunts, but let's her go. "I'll monitor from here, then."
"Thanks, Casey. I really appreciate this."
Sarah follows the tracking signal to a warehouse district. She pulls up near to one of those warehouses and suspects the now stationary signal is either coming from the car across the street or in the building. She has no idea whether Chuck is in there as well, but as he had a significant lead on her, she suspects he is.
Casey tells her, "Tracker's gone subterranean. Location is stabilized and remains fixed."
Of course he would see that the tracker on her phone is less accurate than what he has in Castle. "Thanks, Casey."
She knows she needs to get in there quickly if she is going to help Chuck. She starts forward.
She is still walking towards the building, when a bomber flies over it dropping a missile.
The warehouse explodes with flames shooting out. She is knocked to the ground. God, I hope Chuck wasn't in there!
Then, as she is shaking from fear that he was. She can't move.
She sees him walk around the flames, carrying Shaw. Her relief is overwhelming and she bursts into tears.
= ! = =
Beckman is on the screen facing Chuck and Sarah. "Congratulations, Agent Walker. We destroyed a Ring compound, hopefully eliminating some of their leadership team, and you managed to rescue Agent Shaw. Once again, you and your team prevail."
Sarah shakes her head. "I can't take any of the credit, General. It was all Chuck. He saved Shaw by himself."
"Duly noted."
Chuck launches into the general. "How the hell was Shaw in LA? Last time I remember, you promised he would be locked up, never to escape."
Beckman winces. "I know I did. It seems that some senior government officials hold him in high regard. He was released."
To stop the increasing tension, Sarah asks, "How's Shaw doing?"
Beckman looks relieved. "He's still unconscious, but the doctors say he'll make a full recovery, thanks to you. I have him under guard. We'll be debriefing him when he recovers."
Chuck snorts. "Under guard? He seems to escape far too easily, General."
"I am aware." She ends the call.
This is the first opportunity to talk. "Chuck…"
"Look, I'm sorry. I know I did it again. Putting myself in danger because I wanted to save you, but I can't help it, Sarah. I couldn't live with myself if you got killed. I'd probably want to kill myself. I couldn't live without you. So, I chose to prevent you from dying. It's what I'll always do, Sarah." By the end he has grasped her hands in his and he's looking deep into her soul.
That long, rapidly spoken, litany takes her back. His vehemence and determination are more than she usually hears from him. She ponders that for a second or two, thinking of his earlier words, 'I couldn't live without you.' That was exactly how she felt when the building had been hit.
She looks at him, with tears now rolling down her cheeks, and quietly says, "I thought I'd lost you, Chuck. Again. I don't think I can take much more of this. I don't think I could live without you, either."
They hold each other. It's what they both need after the emotional conversation and the preceding thoughts. She sobs into his shoulder until she calms down.
Later that day, Sarah is on her own in Castle. Chuck is back in the Buy More.
She notices on the monitor showing the outside of the Orange, Orange, a black open-top car pulls up. Shaw leaps out. Not bad for someone who was in a coma a few hours ago.
She watches him walk into the yogurt shop.
She takes her gun and walks up the stairs. She is much more wary of him than in that hotel room.
As she exits the freezer, gun in hand, she feels a cloth placed over her mouth. Not again, she thinks!
Chloroform, again! I must be the most incompetent agent!
The darkness envelopes her mind.
She starts coming around and can sense she is in motion and can hear a car engine. She doesn't open her eyes, hoping she can find out more in her silence.
"Good afternoon, Agent Walker." Shaw, although probably driving, obviously noticed her waking. So much for staying unobserved.
She opens her eyes. They are travelling along a road heading into the desert. She doesn't recognize it at all.
Her wrists and ankles are tied.
She looks at Shaw. "What do you want with me, Shaw? Where are you taking me?"
He doesn't take his eyes off the road, but replies, " To settle an old score."
The grim look on his face tells her as much as his words. Somehow, probably through the Ring telling him, he's found out that Sarah is the one who killed his wife.
She realizes that he's taking her somewhere to kill her.
She knows she'll fight when she can, but he will probably overpower her.
As she sits there, awaiting her appointment with death, she thinks about poor Chuck. He won't know what has happened and will have to pick up his life again, without her. His words, only that morning, ring through her head. 'I couldn't live with myself if you got killed. I'd probably want to kill myself. I couldn't live without you.'
This isn't his fault, so he shouldn't feel any guilt, but he will have to live without her. She knows he will be devastated, just like she would if their roles in this were reversed. As they said in the morning, the one left behind would struggle to carry on.
Please don't kill yourself, Chuck!
A/N: So, a shorter chapter than some of the recent ones, containing a different version of S3E12; however, it still ends on a cliffhanger, with Sarah being driven somewhere by Daniel Shaw, who now knows she killed his wife.
I'd love to hear what you think of this, so please leave a review.