Three hours earlier

Sarah's knuckles were white on the wheel of her car, every instinct in her wanting to accelerate even faster, but she forced herself to maintain the thirty yard cushion.

Her heart pounded in her chest so hard it hurt, and she could only thank god that she hadn't actually left when Chuck asked her to.

She'd left the apartment complex, but snuck into Casey's apartment to monitor the surveillance. She just still couldn't shake the paranoia of being away from him.

Sarah had thought the paranoia was brought on from the guilt of letting him get shot, but now she realized it was because somehow she knew something was off.

Chuck might even call it a Spidey sense.

She'd seen the Fulcrum team take him—and his sister, which was a concern all on its own—but there were too many agents to take on herself. She'd have been killed in seconds, or she'd have gotten Ellie killed. Ellie was collateral; Sarah could only hope Fulcrum wouldn't soon find no use for her. As far as Sarah was concerned, Ellie's rescue was just as vital as Chuck's.

Though it had physically hurt to keep herself from going to Chuck's aid at the apartment, at the very least, she now had the element of surprise. Fulcrum assumed she'd left him unprotected; they wouldn't expect to have been followed.

Sarah had just pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket to dial Casey when it buzzed. She answered it in half a second, not for the first time wondering if she and her partner had a telepathic connection at this point.

"Chuck's been taken," said Sarah before he could speak, her eyes glued to the van Chuck was in, jaw tight with guilt that burned hotter than ever.

"What?"

"Chuck asked me to leave, I was monitoring him from your place. A Fulcrum team took him. And his sister." She took an almost-shuddering breath. "I'm thirty yards behind them, track my GPS. We'll need backup."

She heard running from his line, and the slam of a car door. "On it. Ten minutes ago, Bradford was killed mid-transport to the holding facility. Sniper took him out."

Sarah's breath caught as dots connected, recalling the conversation between Chuck and the agent who took them. "The Fulcrum agent who took Chuck, Bradford's superior, Barlowe. He said that Bradford wasn't supposed to shoot Chuck; they wanted him alive."

"Dammit."

If Sarah wasn't mistaken, she heard the same anxiety she felt in Casey's voice.

"Get another team," said Sarah firmly. "Or three."

"Roger that."

She hung up, her hand returning to her white-knuckled grip on the wheel, her fingers shaking.

Sarah followed the van for nearly an hour before civilization began fading away.

She was only lucky that dusk was approaching. She'd had to hang back further away and shut off her headlights, but just when she was afraid she'd lost sight of them, she saw it.

A small building loomed ahead, looking like it was some sort of energy plant.

Clever.

She watched the van disappear into a garage that closed the moment it was inside.

Sarah stopped her car and grabbed her gun, cocking it as she got out of the car.

On any other mission, she would wait for backup.

But she couldn't wait for Casey.

Not this time.

She scanned the building, looking for a quiet way in, eyes catching a ladder leading to the roof on the far side of the building, with a single agent manning it, who was puffing boredly on a cigarette.

She clung to the shadows and ran toward it.

Sarah caught the agent completely off-guard, grabbing him in a chokehold, cutting off his airflow until he slumped against her. She patted him down until she found a keycard.

Dragging the man into bushes not too far away and handcuffing him to a branch of the tree, Sarah ran back and took the rungs of the ladder, the keycard between her teeth.

There was one agent on the roof, and once again using the shadows for cover, Sarah took him out the same way as the agent below. Cuffing this man to a pipe. Sarah grabbed his keycard as well. The ID cards might get flagged, but hopefully having two different ones will buy herself enough time to get in before it set off any alarms.

She let herself into the door on the roof, leaving it propped open slightly, just in case. The stairwell was quiet and ominous. She took a breath, starting down the stairs, fingers tightening around her gun.

She would not let them hurt Chuck again.

That was a promise she would die keeping.

Chuck was a spy.

A spy.

Ellie's head was spinning.

Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and she couldn't stop trembling with fear. The gun to her head would give her nightmares for years to come. She has never been more terrified than she was now—it was only second to when Chuck had been in emergency surgery.

Her eyes were on her brother now, and she couldn't tear them away.

Because he was a spy.

And he'd been a spy for a year.

"What are you going to do with your life?"

He'd hesitated at her question, taking a breath before saying, "Secret agent."

"See, this is what happens when you sit in front of the TV set too long."

She blinked.

They'd had that conversation only a few months ago.

He had told her the truth, and she hadn't even thought anything of it.

Chuck.

Chuck was a secret agent.

And from what he told her, not just any secret agent—he was some enigma, someone so important both good agents and bad agents would kill for.

For the past year, her brother, the same one whose most dangerous activity had been playing Call of Duty too long—she'll never forget prescribing him eye drops for the strain of too many all-nighters with Morgan—was now an agent. Someone who dealt with killers and criminals and the United States government.

The hurt was still coursing through her. He never told me.

But she could see it here in his eyes, and in hindsight, every single time he'd lied to her.

It had killed him not to tell her.

"Why won't you talk to me?"

She's lost count how many times she's asked him.

"It's… complicated. Can't we just leave it at that?"

He'd had to keep this all to himself.

Chuck, the same Chuck who told her everything.

Who'd had to tell her everything, and who went to therapy for years when she wasn't enough.

She was running through every single moment that didn't add up, that didn't make sense.

His disappearing on Mother's Day last year—the first Mother's Day he'd skipped out on.

The anguish in his eyes when he'd tried to explain himself…

…but couldn't.

So many things suddenly made sense in an instant, in horribly vivid clarity.

For one, Chuck's strange friendship with John Casey.

Casey, who was both their neighbor and worked at the Buy More, which Ellie had once thought maybe Chuck had mentioned to him that there was an open position when he'd moved in, to explain how it happened simultaneously. Not that John Casey looked exactly like retail material. And all the time Chuck spent at his apartment, the carpools to work…

Everything made so much sense.

So much crazy, never-would-have-believed-it-in-a-million-years sense.

The only other thing Ellie couldn't wrap her head around no matter how much she tried was Sarah.

Sarah Walker was a spy?

Thinking about it now, the timeline of Casey moving in and Chuck meeting Sarah did go perfectly hand-in-hand, but… Sarah? Sarah looked nothing like a government agent. She looked exactly like… like someone who would sell frozen yogurt.

Sarah and Ellie hadn't had many one-on-ones, but on all the ones they'd had, Sarah had seemed a little unused to being social, maybe a little self-conscious at times, but an undercover spy?

All this time?

Ellie tried to picture Sarah as a spy.

John Casey wasn't hard to picture as a spy—the harder picture was imagining Casey working for the good guys, if anything.

But Sarah?

It was almost like trying to picture Chuck as such a thing.

"Ellie…?"
Ellie looked up at Chuck's hesitant voice. She'd definitely zoned out, her mind racing with just a bit of overwhelm, and Chuck was looking at her nervously.

She had more than a million questions, but that would have to wait. All she wanted to do was go home. The desire to be safely wrapped in Devon's arms was painful.

Devon.

Her heart skipped.

How long has it been since they were taken?

Was he home from work?

Did he know they were gone?

What if they never got out of here?

Her tears sprung back to her eyes.

Before she could reply to Chuck, there was a thud outside the door.

Both she and Chuck whipped around. Ellie's heart jumped in her throat.

The door clicked and began to open.

Ellie crawled backward as far as she could, and she braced herself until—

Ellie and Chuck froze.

Ellie's eyes widened.

It was Sarah.

The moment Sarah saw them both, relief washed over her face. Chuck began to say something, but she put her finger to her lips.

Then, she dragged in a body.

Sarah pulled in either the unconscious or dead body of a man, and looked out of the door as if checking the coast, before closing the door again. She gracelessly dropped the man's body in the corner, and all-but ran to Chuck.

"Chuck!" she whispered, grabbing him in a hug tighter than Ellie has ever seen from either of them. "Are you okay?!"

"Sarah," gasped Chuck, hugging her back with his free arm. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

Sarah pulled back, quickly working on the handcuffs around Chuck's wrist. As she did, she turned to Ellie, concern etched into her brows. "Ellie, are you okay?"

Ellie blinked, utterly stunned.

She hadn't been able to picture Sarah as a spy before, and she still can't now, seeing it right in front of her. "Sarah?" she found herself whispering in shock.

Sarah winced a little. She managed to unlock Chuck's cuffs. As he got himself to his feet, Sarah quickly approached Ellie, unlocking her handcuffs. "I… I guess this is a lot to take in," she said with a winced smile. "We'll explain once I get you two out of here."

Ellie swallowed, very happy with that plan.

Her cuffs were unlocked, and Ellie quickly got to her feet, just for Chuck to grab her in a crushing hug. "Ellie!" She hugged him back just as tightly. "I'm so sorry," he whispered into her hair. "I'm so sorry."

"Chuck, we gotta go," said Sarah, and Chuck released Ellie, but kept a firm grip on her hand, that Ellie returned just as tightly.

"Is Casey here?" asked Chuck.

"He's… on his way," admitted Sarah. "I came in alone."

"Sarah," said Chuck quickly, dropping his voice. "They know. That I'm… the Intersect." Ellie felt his hand tighten around hers.

A grave look fell over Sarah's eyes. Setting her jaw, with a certain kind of dangerous resolve that Ellie would never expect from her, Sarah said, "Stay quiet and stay behind me."

Chuck nodded, tightening his grip on Ellie's hand, and Ellie's other hand held Chuck's wrist.

Sarah nodded at them, as if checking if they were ready, and she pulled a gun from the back of her waistband.

Ellie froze in shock.

Sarah.

And a gun.

Sarah was a spy.

God, if this was a dream, Ellie wanted to wake up right now.

Slowly, Sarah opened the door a crack, peering out. After a second, she said, "Clear. Let's go."

Ellie felt Chuck's already tight grip on her hand tighten even more, and he whispered, "It'll be okay. I promise."

Ellie met his eyes, seeing something so… so strong. So unlike the brother she's known her whole life. So… un-Chuck. Their whole lives, it was she who had held his hand during the hard times, who had talked him down from nightmares, who had fixed up his cuts and bruises.

And now, here he was, healing from a bullet wound he managed to handle without her, holding her hand through one of the scariest moments she's ever had.

"Ellie," whispered Chuck, tugging on her hand. She blinked, seeing Sarah a few feet in front of them, heading down the hallway. Swallowing her panic, Ellie followed, holding tightly to Chuck's hand as he pulled her along, following closely behind Sarah.

The hallway was all gray cement and endless silence. It was cold in every context of the word.

Suddenly a man walked around the corner, freezing a few yards ahead of them.

His mouth opened to yell as his hand reached for the gun at his side. Ellie's heart pounded, and she felt Chuck push her firmly behind him.

But before the man even reached his gun, Sarah was running, jumping on him, her arms crossing tightly in a chokehold around his neck. He struggled to throw her off to no avail, and slowly slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Shock was beginning to not be a strong enough word for everything Ellie's witnessed today.

Sarah quickly got back to her feet, whispering, "Come on. I have an exit on the roof."

Walking faster, Sarah led them toward a door at the end for a stairwell.

But suddenly footsteps sounded from the stairs, as if more than one person was descending them.

"Is there more than one roof?" asked Chuck nervously.

"Dammit," hissed Sarah. She tried the closest door to her, but it didn't budge. There was a keypad next to it. Sarah whipped out what looked like an ID card. She waved it over the device but nothing happened. She tried another ID card; still nothing. "Dammit!"

"Maybe—" began Chuck, turning to look when he suddenly went rigid, and Ellie could only describe his reaction as a very strange sort of seizure. He'd had the same episode when they were locked in the room.

Gasping, Chuck said, "The key pad!" The footsteps were louder now, nearly upon the hallway as Chuck hurriedly said, "I just flashed; the code is 53834."

Without hesitation, Sarah typed in the code. It glowed green and the hiss of a lock hitched, and she yanked open the door. "Quick!"

The door led to what looked like the atrium of the building; the size of a large warehouse. There were no agents in sight for the moment, but it didn't stop the crushing hold Ellie kept on Chuck's hand.

"What now?" whispered Chuck to Sarah.

"I'm improvising," she whispered back, hand tight on her gun. "Stay low."

They'd only snuck quietly a dozen yards when a loud alarm went off. Buzzing that rang Ellie's ears and flashing red lights above each doorway suddenly erupted at the same time Sarah cursed.

Doors crashed open, and yelling sounded over the alarms.

"There!" cried a yell, followed by a gunshot that shattered a light right above the three of them.

"Get down!" cried Chuck, covering Ellie with himself as glass rained down on them.

Sarah kicked over a shelf, using it for them to take cover. Ellie grabbed onto Chuck as they both covered their heads, and Ellie watched with wide-eyes as Sarah rose and fired shots, barely avoiding ones that almost hit her. By the sound of a few grunts around the room, Sarah's shots met their marks.

The gunfire ceased for a second, and Sarah quickly said, "Let's go!"

Chuck pulled Ellie to her feet and held her close to him as they ran through the maze of the room, seeing a doorway ahead of them. They ran for it.

Sarah turned her head as they did, and Ellie saw her eyes widen.

Not a moment later, she was tackling Chuck—as well as Ellie—to the ground, just as a gunshot went off.

They hit the ground behind the cover of another shelf, and Ellie's eyes shot wide. "Chuck! Chuck!"

Not again, not again—

But Chuck was unhit, looking worriedly at Sarah, whose hand was pressed to her side, her face in a grimace.

"Sarah!" breathed Chuck.

"It just grazed me," she said through clenched teeth. "Let's—"

"One more move and you're all dead."

The three of them froze, and panic lit like a fire in Ellie's chest as the agent—Barlowe—angrily glared down at them, standing in front of the doorway they'd tried to get to.

"Now, get up," he commanded.

Sarah got to her feet, one hand to her side, her other still tight around her weapon. Chuck pulled Ellie up, pushing her firmly behind him.

"Drop the gun, Agent Walker," snarled Barlowe, "or I'll give you a wound to match the one you've already got. And it won't be a graze."

With extreme reluctance, Ellie watched Sarah drop her gun. She kicked it to Barlowe, who picked it up. "That's a good girl," he said with a terrifying grin. "What a day for me," he said arrogantly. "The Intersect, and a CIA agent, all mine. Just wait until Fulcrum finds out I have everything they've been looking for," he drawled, flicking his eyes toward Chuck, "and I've taken out one of the CIA's top agents."

Sarah glared at him.

Ellie clutched Chuck's hand so tight it was sure to break.

Barlowe aimed his gun at Sarah, smiling something utterly evil. "Goodbye, Agent Walker. I'll take good care of him."

All three of them froze, dread consuming each of them.

Then, a gunshot fired.

Ellie flinched at the same time Chuck did, her eyes unable to look away, only to see Barlowe jerk, then crumple to the floor.

And standing behind him in the open doorway was Casey, still-smoking gun held high, rage in his eyes.

Suddenly, the roar of doors slamming open, glass shattering and yells and shots firing erupted in chaos as what looked like a small army stormed inside.

Chuck, Sarah and Ellie once again took cover behind the fallen shelf, and Chuck smiled. "It's okay," he said to Ellie, "the cavalry's here!" He let out a breath of relief as the gunfire ceased, the Fulcrum agents either taken out or surrendering to the NSA agents. "Told you they were the best," said Chuck breathlessly.

Casey approached them once silence descended. He looked at Sarah, whose hand was now red with blood where she pressed it against her side. At his questioning look, Sarah said, "Just a graze; I'll be fine."

"It could have killed you," said Chuck, worry bright in his eyes.

Sarah smiled a little. "Better me than you."

That statement seemed to hurt both of them at the same time.

Chuck helped up Ellie, grimacing with a hand to his own abdomen. "You're safe now," he said, pulling her to his chest. "We're going home."

Ellie shut her eyes, hugging him back, never more grateful to hear the words.

a/n: yay! Everyone's safe :) We've got some more sibling bonding and a bit of Charah coming up. I think maybe 2 more chapters of the story from here. Thanks so much to everyone reading, and for reviewing! It means so much!

~cosette141