So... to those of you that made the effort and reviewed my attempt at starting a chuck fic, I thank you whole heartedly. And to others who are here to just enjoy a possibly (hopefully) good story, I sincerely aspire to fulfil your aspirations.

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights on anything associated to Chuck, the tv show and the characters and storylines they involve. This is a purely fan-generated story from a different perspective if a few events were changed, and if attitudes were different.


Chapter 2: The Cynic's team and the good doctor - Part I.

Short assignments were Sarah's specialty. Get in, do the job, get out. If the assignment was longer than a week, then she always had her team. There was the CAT Squad (Covert-ops And Tactics Squad) first, and then with her ex-lover turned rogue-agent Bryce in the Andersons.

She was unsure on her feelings for Bryce. It felt like they could have headed for a true romantic life alongside their espionage careers.

Both understood the hardships of childhood and refused to pry open the can of worms they call, the past. Both were high achievers. Both knew the job very well and had the means to compartmentalize their feelings without compromising their ability to complete their objectives – whether it's through inducement and infiltration, or through undercovers and pulling the trigger. Both had freakishly terror inducing personas – okay, that last bit was a joke. She had a terrifying persona – Ice Queen - while he had a charming, clean, improvising persona – Bryce Larkin.

The last one hit her hard. She thought, they were honest with each other, in their own way as intelligence operatives. She was wrong. Neither truly acknowledged each other's feelings nor made an honest attempt at seeing if they had a future. All they did was burn-off adrenaline through mindless mind-blowing sex and return to the job. She had begun to hope that she could start thinking of a true life with him after their vacation at Cabo. Then she realized, that neither knew enough and him going AWOL without a single word to her, his partner, confidant, and lover guaranteed that as much.

That led her to Budapest and that is a story for another time. Hopefully, a time after that bastard was dead and her protectee can move about freely without the bounty on her head. All in all, the journey to Burbank had been an emotional drain until she met her supposed easy mark. She thought the job was at most a three-day job and now she been here two weeks. And she hasn't felt this much since her father was caught by the ATF and FBI.

The last two weeks hadn't been easy at all.

Charles Bartowski, Chuck as he implored her and the NSA barbarian to call him, had been a… cut above the cloth, so to speak. He kept both her and the NSA stooge on their toes. Before they could even have plans in place, he had quit the BuyMore, making her cover job way easier and harder at the same time. She received an earful from her boss and the NSA's top sho(r)t about not having a compliant asset. Oh… she wished she could rip him a new one about disobeying her explicit instructions, but the moment she tried to broach the subject with him, he had a solution to their problems.

A month back, he had created his own company – OSEST, short for Orion & Scorpion Enterprise Solutions in Technology. He had taken up numerous jobs to pay for all the business and legal framework of the company and six weeks later had a nice space in the BuyMore Plaza, with three rooms – one for client meetings, one for filing and one for a business manager. He had been searching for a business manager and he somehow gleaned that she had a business and linguistics degree (that she toiled for) from Harvard.

He suggested that he employ her for her business acumen, which can be her cover job while Casey can be the head of security, with his military experience, etc as a job reference. This also freed her from any commitments to her would-be cover employer as they could also convert the office into a proper base later. There is also an incentive to finance the entire operation by showing OSEST as a contactor making it much easier to hide their presence in Burbank.

She felt like she could kiss him for making the entire situation so easy to tread. But this wasn't the only thing that got her to think of a person to share her lonely life with. It seemed, he was genuinely as kind-hearted as she witnessed that day in the Buymore.

He was an interesting duality. He showed an honesty, compassion, and simple goodness of the heart every time he did anything. He wasn't afraid to let her know his feelings. It was like there was a light in him and it should have been shining brightly.

Yet, the darkness that she saw was much the same with her. He didn't believe that everyone was inherently good or as innocent as people think they are. He showed outright hostility to people who got under his skin, or he felt he had the right to be pissed off with. Sure. He always dampened the impact of what might have been excruciating, but he never stayed off from being direct. You could see it in his expressions and his eyes, the way they lit up one second and then darkened, kind of broke, the next. He tried to deny his paranoia by never looking for an ulterior motive, but he always assumed there had to be one without proof to the contrary.

That being said, he had done a lot of help for both her and Casey. He got her an apartment about 3 blocks from his place, not too far away but not too near while Casey moved in next door. His and Casey's neighbourhood was the high-crime one and Casey cursed him all the way to Mars and back for needing the extremely heavy security measures that resulted from this environment.

Not only did this save the CIA a lot on hotel expenses, she could now be sure her apartment won't be intruded by disguised hotel employees. A space that was truly hers.

Another thing he did was stave off all of Ellie's demands in getting to meet her. She was disappointed at first that he wouldn't let her meet his family. Later, he inadvertently revealed that he didn't want her to face an inquisition from Ellie about her past - her family, childhood, parents, where she grew up, what they are doing now – and at the same time, try to keep the interactions between his world and their world separate. That's why he moved out in the first place. He didn't know if and when any of those numerous friends or enemies would suddenly pop out from the big house he was residing in for three miserable years. He was desperate to keep them out of that, and now out of this. This helped a lot with their cover maintenance – no need to fake suck up to each other and a lot of that sort.

Finally, he gave an olive branch – metaphorically speaking – by giving her his collection of nearly 36,000 songs in four languages – Spanish, English, French and Hindi. The last one made her take a double take, but he said that those Hindi songs had a style of their own and were really good. The purpose behind this was to help her find her favourite genre, artist, song, album and give her the music taste she was missing out on. This was, in other words, a forgiveness for being deceived into a date and also the computer and car she shattered at his house – which fortunately the CIA reimbursed him for by setting him up with sweet upgraded setups for both. Now his car was truly one from the Bond movies, or so he said.

Her superiors were surprised to see him adapt this well and fast to something they didn't think he had in him, let alone a cover in a company he had setup and his ability to process the intersect data properly. It had taken him a few more days before the intersect assimilated into his brain and started functioning properly. At times he would casually ask her and the gorilla, questions from missions that weren't even linked to their official CIA and NSA covers, something which led her to be slightly disturbed about what he can get to know about all the things she had done. And she didn't know why she felt that way. It was infuriating to say the least.

On the intersect front, the intelligence their respective superiors were indubitably impressed. Project Omaha had been a failure with no successful candidates and only damaged operatives, their losses that significantly impeded their cause after 9/11. And here stood a convict, a loser, an idiot by all respects, who outclassed all of them with his impressive mental capacity. Mind you, she didn't know what to make of him professionally as they hadn't worked that long, but she knew he wasn't any of those.

With a successful implementation of the intersect inside human project, they were hoping to glean lots of information off of his brain why he was a specialty. It was clear, that he became their golden goose and they were going to exploit him to an extent that no asset had ever been before. It was rather tragic and even pulled on her heart a bit, but she was a trained agent and knew this was the way of the world. Surprisingly, so did he.

This week, Dr. Zarnow, an NSA creep who worked on the initial intersect project was on his way here, to establish and understand his baseline tests and results… She didn't trust that prick or the NSA and swore to herself, if even one hair on Chuck's head was harmed, they would not know what hit them. At the same time, she was annoyed with herself with the massive protective streak she had developed over two weeks and he wasn't even a baby. For fuck's sake, everything's so complicated. Ruminating thus, she fell into a troubled sleep awaiting the results the next day.


Major Casey was used to being in prickly situations. Yet, not until now had he been needed to protect an honest-to-good nerdy felon. At this point, he reached the conclusion that the asset was a joke. Nothing more, nothing less. And the CIA skirt they assigned to this case already got her claws deep into the asset. He growled at having to deal with the blemish that was the CIA. The audacity CIA had to send the partner of a rogue agent he shot dead to protect an asset of that rogue agent's creation. Frankly, if he gave his two cents, the CIA would be so far out of this case that they would need to climb Mount Everest and than dive deep into the Marianna Trench before they could even think about getting a hold of the asset. But, no. NSA and it's military training didn't equip him with the resources CIA had at their disposal – namely, pussy. Or rather pretty faces with deadly skills.

Oh he had heard about the Ice Queen alright. The perfect agent. Emotionless. Uncompromising. Absolute. An agent of perfect precision and destruction with the ability to topple governments with a fork. Ha. Been there done that. Maybe the skirt should try and achieve his mission completion rates. With over 215 missions, he had failed, just one. She would need another twenty years to even come close to that.

The asset actually intrigued him. And not a lot intrigued him these days. He thought that had seen it all. Then he came across the felon they had to house their nation's most prized intelligence in. If that bozo Larkin hadn't been shot dead by him, he would have turned the screws in just the right places to get him to sweat and then kill him pulling one hair at a time.

At the same time, he didn't think he would have been any less surprised to the asset for standing up at him when he and the CIA's peanut butter representative were discussing his future. That took some balls to stand up to certified killers who just waved guns at him no that long back. That got him some respect.

The next day however, he was back to wanting to strangle him. He, despite his best intentions, wanted nothing to do with the Buymore. But orders were orders and he couldn't refuse them. Damn his military training. And Bartowski fired him before he even got his probation badge in place. Hey may not have liked the job of a salesman, but he would have done it diligently… Like he did every other job.

His superiors' dressing down fuelled the raging inferno at his centre. He had gone over after the skirt to pummel the kid when he heard the news of his new cover. That actually helped him more than he would care to admit. In the Buymore plaza to preserve their cover, but not doing something as mundane as the salesman bit there. That sounded exciting. So, he left the asset hanging on a coat hanger as a warning. He noticed the CIA skirt all but glaring at him and smirked her way.

A few days later, he was once again cursing the asset. What the fuck did he do to get himself tortured here. Oh how he would give anything to be in the droll of the Afghani mountains waiting 21 days at a stretch to take out the Al-Qaeda bitches. But nooooo. He was stuck babying a 27-year old convict in ahigh crime neighbourhood needing to reinforce everything in his apartment. Torture, I tell you. This is not mentioning the loud obnoxious music playing all-day round, the need to socialize with criminals worse than the asset but not so bad they posed a threat to national security, the unhygienic living conditions, the poor building structure, numerous fire code violations and that's just scratching the surface.

But for the pretty face, he got her a great apartment with state-of-the art facilities three blocks from here. Argh. He couldn't even do anything about any of this without seeming like he was complaining about it (which he absolutely cannot do for the fear of being labelled a pansy), or drawing attention to a high-value asset in the dump.

The thing that surprised him the most is the asset's ability to process the intersect better than most did even in the trials. This was a positive indication for gunplay and he was thankful for atleast that. Now, if Zarnow could just establish the baselines and figure out the way to remove the intersect, all should be well and Burbank can go to hell.


Chuck's two weeks were joyful, relatively. He chose to replace himself with Lester as the nerd Herd Supervisor. He was going to give it to Anna, but she didn't want it right now. For virtually no more money, she had to basically run the store? No thanks. He was sure Big Mike had an aneurysm before the end of the next day.

Speaking of aneurysms, he saw the big NSA lug have one when he fired him and said he wasn't qualified enough to be a salesman, ex-military or not. Oh! The glare on his face was soooo worth. That should teach him to not shove guns in his face or connote him with property. For good measure, he got a couple of good shots in with the superiors dressing down and the apartment that he arranged for him. Not to miss, his witty and damaging replies to Casey's felon insults.

Prison helped him boost his confidence to an extent he never thought possible. He learnt to truly grow in prison. Metaphorically, he was forged in the hottest fires and tempered in the coolest chills anyone feels. In the initial days, his life was hell when people started roughing him up coz they were punks and he was the new nerdy fish. Easy bait for them to pick on.

The Morgan Defence never worked on them. So, he bulked up a bit and the next time one the big wigs came onto him, he landed up in the infirmary… Who would have thought that the horrible prison food with a little bit of the cleaning solutions would be enough to render the guy medically incapable for nearly a month? Science is amazing. The next time he was cornered he made a friend – as much as you can get friends in prison. More like a horrible schemer with a penchant for attempting murder to watch your back.

Those two became thick as thieves and stood upto everyone and everybody for each other. No matter the strength and numbers of the opposing pack, they always won. His new friend was basically the Juggernaut and with his acumen and scientific prowess, none dared to get in their way.

Unfortunately for them, some of the inmates had ties to the guards and thus arranged for a guard to put a knife through his associate. And so, with all his aversions to everything point, Chuck still took a knife to his stomach for his good friend, Brian "Tiny" Hernandez.

The guard got away with it but soon resigned for the fear of his life. As for the unfortunate felons who tried to have him killed, let's just say that if they so much as look the wrong way they would lose their only surviving limbs. Tiny and Chuck, brothers born in the hells of imprisonment and the terror of every inmate and guard. The next two years passed peacefully. Tiny helped him build himself into a fit person – not muscles and shit, but a lean, swimmer's body.

Tiny was going to be out in another year, but until then, he kept visiting and if he couldn't, he called. So, when he called Tiny and told him not to come around for and spread the word that the net was cast and he couldn't come, Tiny exploded. Tiny knew all about how Bryce framed him. How he fought back and won his case. Still, somehow he landed in jail for hacking when he hadn't even done that… And to hear the government was again harassing him and he had use their absolute worst case code to keep him and his other friends away from Chuck was absolutely infuriating.

He was in half-a-mind to get him out by force using his gang contacts. But when chuck assured him in their code that if he tried anything like that, only bad things will happen, he let it go. But, he made Chuck promise to write him letters. And so he did.

Coming to tomorrow, Sarah was finally going to meet Ellie and Chuck was a lot nervous. She was the first one he was bringing home after Jill. He had a lot of one-night stands with those Ellie fixed him up with, last being nearly 18 months ago after which he stopped going with Ellie's hooks and instead preferred night clubs. But it was it was, one-night stands to help cope with his intimacy problems with prison time.

Since then, he was on the lookout for anyone who would possibly be willing to take a chance on an ex-con and he felt Sarah was the one he should give it a go with. But, she had made it clear that nothing of that sort can ever happen between them. So, the golden fruit always within his grasp but still beyond his reach was really grating on his nerves.

At the same time, he was excited. He learnt something in prison and before, you can chip away at a person's defences and hesitancies by being yourself and just keep at it. So he did just that. He brought her a punch when he saw her reaching for refreshments and it was over. He really showed her all over LA taking her through the famous spots as he had promised on their first date… well their fake date numero uno. He didn't really have a hidden agenda anyway. All he wanted was to enjoy spending whatever time he can with her. He just connected with her on so many levels.

Still, it kept nagging him in the back of his mind that she was so far out of his league physically and professionally. It would be like the Queen of Olympus cheating on her husband with a beggar who she found in a drain filled with disgusting sewage. Right. Like that's ever going to happen. He looked up in the mirror and decided to stop catastrophizing and tanking his chances of a wonderful evening – after all he had a date with Sarah… a cover date but a date nonetheless and he needed to be the best version of himself.

With a bit of hair gel tempering the curls a bit, a sharp suit that made him feel like Bond and a really well made of bouquet of flowers with tulips, lilies, roses, gardenias and a lot of other flowers… he left for his date.


Well… that was a bust. A test masked as a date… Oh! How he longed for the days where he could just continue living as if they never existed.

Anyway, the date didn't go remotely as well as he would liked it to. First Sarah comes in a Porsche… He felt stupid taking her in a Corolla last date. But, that shouldn't matter right? With all the progressive nature our society incorporated over the last century, there was always going to be someone more welloff than him… So why did it bother him so much?

Then they took him to the BuyMore Home Theatre Room for an intersect testing process. He was completely secluded with screens and sound dampeners. The test completed and Sarah dropped him at his apartment saying that Dr. Zarnow reassured them that they could extract the relevant information from him. This filled him with hope and a little sadness… He and Sarah had hit it off. On the ride to and from, they laughed about all the cheesy lines that used… They practically bowled over for the "I am not sure if phone's working as I didn't get a call from you line" or the "I can be your very own personal baggage handler" one. Couple of laughs over the awkward dancing Chuck did at the night club with Sarah's sensuality stumping him through and through. It felt like they were a couple in love.

Yet, he couldn't deny the fact that he wanted out of this mess and if Sarah's lost to him than so be it. Not everyone can have a treasure and enjoy it too. So, he would remember these events as the principal launchpad that catapulted him from a second-rate BuyMore loser to a first-rate tech solutions provider.

As they stopped, Chuck practically gurgled about his lovely second date. Berating himself, he kept thinking "Who does that? Fawning over a girl who clearly isn't into you?" Then remembering to remind her of their upcoming fixture with Ellie, he turned back to see her watching him with a smile on her face… not sure if it was from a condescending or appreciative amusement standpoint.

"So… tomorrow is a pretty big deal. If this wasn't a cover, than we would be having a huge step right now – meeting the family part. (heavy silence) Anyway… Fair warning. Ellie is kind of an accomplished interrogator." Sarah started laughing at that. "That was funny Chuck. Really good one," she said while wiping tears away.

When she looked at Chuck's face, there was a sad smile in place. "Oh! You naïve dolt. She isn't the CIA's version… No no no. She has this thing… She uses her… I don't know how to describe it really. It's like an Ellie thing. It won't be the harsh inquisitions you are trained to withstand for… (Sighing) Trying to explain it is like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill… Impossible. (Pause) Just be ready for every possible question. And if possible, send them over to me as well… I need to be prepped for the cover."

Sarah's amusement was practically dancing on her face and in her eyes. "Relax Chuck. I have faced off many a prominent and terrifying scum, so your sister, however non-threatening interrogation she performs, she won't break me. (Pause) Alright. See ya tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Sarah. (He turned to leave, but stopped and swivelled back) Continuing our tradition, this is the best second date I have had. Period. So, thank you for that. If this assignment does end in the near future, would you mind terribly if I attempted to stay in touch?"

Sarah's face turned stony. Like she couldn't believe he had the gall to ask her something as stupid as that. Or so he thought. "You can just say no, Sarah" came the dejected reply. "Alright… I think it's high time I take my leave. See you in the morning." Before she could get another word, he had hightailed into his apartment lobby, onto the stairs and gone.

Sarah was shocked. He had basically asked her to stay in touch after the assignment. His attraction towards her was plain as day, but she didn't think he would take a risk in even trying to stay friends with her… None even tried before with the exceptions of Bryce, Zondra and Carina… Although we know how two of those turned out. Well… he surprised her once again. Would it be inappropriate if she acceded to his request? (Pause) No. She couldn't do that to him. Her life was lonely for a reason. She had made a lot of enemies and no matter the infernal attraction she was feeling towards him herself, she couldn't risk it. She would clarify it in the morning, when the three of them had their usual "Breakfast Bonding Team Exercise" or Batty as Chuck referred to it. Yeah… That's going to be fun.

On his way to his room, Chuck was banging his forehead onto all hard surfaces – first the lift, than the walls and then the room door and finally his desk. He ruined any chance of keeping any form of relationship with Sarah alive – he would have love to hear from her, even if they were just friends… Could he? (Heavy Pause) Nah… He wouldn't put himself through that torture again. Why does he fall in love with women who never really reciprocate? First there was Rebecca Miller, then there was Madeleine Bishop. After that the infamous Jill. Finally, the greatest of them all, Josephine Matthews. Now, a sixth addition to this list – Sarah Walker (He didn't really know her true identity).

"Get a grip, Chuck. Stop swooning over unattainable women. (deep breath) Take another. (deep breath) Now… In the morning, apologize for your over eagerness. Tell her you haven't felt in-tune with someone as much as he did her and just wanted to keep that connection alive. Confess that you realized that it might affect her assignments down the lane and promise that you would curtail your enthusiasm in the future." With his four-point action plan ready, Chuck disrobed and got into nightwear hitting the hay the moment he touched the bed.


There was someone who recommended that I join the Facebook fan community… Unfortunately, I lost access to my account, and I am not really inclined to get that back on track.

This chapter is mostly to establish the prevailing feelings between Chuck and his team. I just wanted to setup the days immediately following Chuck's intersection. Notice that my timeline isn't really matching the chow right now. Let's see how it goes.

I hope you enjoy this instalment. Do leave reviews if you wish for some clarification or any critique. I hope that you give me valid concerns when critiquing and not just bashing.

On a personal note, while fictional, a lot of Chuck resonated with me and I hope to return that hope I got back to the incredible Chuck fan community as well. Until next time, Good Bye and take care.

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