Posted November 14, 2022

A/N: In progress readers: sorry for the long wait. Chuck and Sarah had been "waiting" for longer…in this story…sort of.

Previously, in the story where Chuck and Sarah were almost together… under the cover… Or were they together? That depends on your definition. Chunk and Sarah didn't really know. It's a cover, in any case. Previously…

Sarah was mad about the Seduction mission, so she made Chuck strip and take a shower to decontaminate. Then she joined him.

Chuck knew he was still in trouble, so he deployed "The Montgomery" on Sarah. On his way home from gathering the supplies, he had a problem.

The door was in sight. Behind the door was the love of his life. Before he could get there, he was suddenly stopped by a man who came out from the shadows.

"Hello, Chuck."

"Bryce?"

"Miss me?"

October 6, 2008
Apartment Courtyard
Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA

Initially, Chuck was too stunned to know what to say. After a second, he did. "No, we did not miss you."

"'We?' You have another woman on the hook? You must have a revolving door. Good for you, Chuck. To think I had to introduce you to Jill in college, and later I had to boost your confidence to take her on that Ferris Wheel, where you first asked her out."

What was this guy's problem? Chuck thought Bryce was a friend back in college. Bryce was misguided, but probably thought he was being a friend. Chuck was a friend to Bryce. Bryce was the opposite of a friend to Chunk. "That didn't stop you from stealing her, right after you framed me and got me kicked out of college."

"I didn't steal her. At least I don't think I did."

How could Bryce not know?

Bryce explained, "She was upset after you left. I took her out to get drunk. I was as surprised as anyone when I woke up in her bed the next morning. I don't think anything happened, but…" He shrugged.

He didn't mean to steal her when he took her out, and he might not have actually "stolen" her. That depends on your definition of "steal." It didn't make any difference to Chuck. He didn't have to be an expert in the "bro code" to know you don't make the moves on your friend's girlfriend, unless you really don't like the friend. Taking out an upset woman explicitly to get drunk is a despicable move in any case. When Chuck first left Stanford, he and Jill had not actually broken up. It might have been implied, but if Bryce was a friend, he would've stuck up for his friend—not taken her out so he could end up in bed with her. Chuck only found out about Jill and Bryce from Jill's roommate, months later.

"Why are you here?" Chuck asked. "Why can't you leave me alone?"

"It's not about Stanford. I knew back then that you wouldn't fight back, but now I need to to pull yourself together and—"

Bryce suddenly stopped talking and crumbled to the ground. Sarah had come up behind him and clocked him in the back of the head. "Are you ok, Chuck?" she desperately asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm glad you were here. I don't think knocking out a rogue CIA agent with this wine bottle is in my skill set.

"No, it isn't. You don't need that in your skill set because knocking him out with whatever is at hand is in my skill set. I want you exactly how you are, and I'm not going anywhere, so I can take care of your nemesis and all other threats." She bent down to pick up Bryce. "Help me get him inside."

The two of them dragged the rogue spy into the apartment. With Bryce tied up and still unconscious, Chuck collected the wine bottle, and Sarah let Casey know they had a visitor. They had to find out why Bryce wanted to talk to Chuck and whether he had told anyone about Chuck having the Intersect.

After talking to Casey, Sarah explained to Chuck that the unconscious spy didn't seem to know about Casey or Sarah or he wouldn't have returned to Chuck's apartment. Because of the knife wound on Thanksgiving and head injury now, Bryce had to know Chuck had some kind of security. He was unconscious, but he was already in Sarah's home, making it virtually impossible to keep her presence a secret. However, hiding Casey's presence in the apartment complex was still possible. They decided it would be best to continue keeping the NSA agent a secret so Bryce wouldn't find out that the man who had shot him was a handful of yards away. Sarah was happy with that plan because she wasn't going to leave Chuck alone with his nemesis.

Back in their apartment, Chuck and Sarah waited for Bryce to wake up. Sarah accepted Chuck's offer of the wine and the rose that were part of "the Montgomery." She said, "You realize you don't need to seduce me. Don't you?"

Chuck thought that was the case…he hoped it was, but despite what Sarah had said about always being there to take out his nemesis, she still was acting like she was going to leave him when he got the Intersect out of his head. If he got it out of his head, meaning his life would no longer be in danger, he didn't want her to leave.

The scary thought from what Sarah said was that maybe there wasn't a point in trying to seduce Sarah because she was not seducible. He simply replied, "You deserve any special attention I can give you."

"Thank you. You're sweet. I knew you were doing an unnecessary move, but I wanted to show you that I trust you to be out of my sight. I do." Then she frowned. "Of course Bryce chose that moment to ruin our evening. I know he wasn't waiting for that exact moment, but still…" Sarah trailed off. It did seem like Bryce knew how to pick the worst possible times.

After a glass of wine, Sarah said she should stop so her inhibitions didn't drop to the point she shot Bryce in the head before they found out what he was doing there. The rogue spy started to stir a few minutes later, but Sarah was tired of waiting, so she filled a glass of water and threw it in her ex's face.

"Woah. I'm awake. I'm awake." He looked around where it was. "Where are we? Chuck, is this where you live?" He saw the angry blonde in the room. "Sarah! What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

"You live here? Why would you live here?"

Sarah rhetorically responded, "Why wouldn't I live with Chuck, his sister who is my best friend, and her fiancé? Stupid question. I supposed I should thank you for breaking up Chuck and his college girlfriend and for making it so I could meet Chuck. I was with Chuck back on Thanksgiving night, the last time you came here. Protecting Chuck after that night gave me a reason to move in."

"That was you?" Bryce looked to Chuck. "Not a revolving door after all." Back to Sarah, he said, "I bet you're happy you didn't aim a little higher."

Bryce didn't think that he had sex with Jill, but Sarah had been living with Chuck for months. They weren't doing that, but Chuck and Sarah weren't normal. What did Bryce think was happening? Trying to flirt with Sarah was definitely not something a friend would do. Whatever Chuck and Sarah doing was under the cover and was after Bryce was thought to be dead.

"I didn't have the angle, or I wouldn't have gone for your leg." Bryce's face filled with confusion, but Sarah explained more. "I didn't miss. With a better angle, I would have hit you between the eyes." Bryce was clearly shocked at the statement from the woman he stupidly thought he had a chance with.

Sarah kept going. "I have the authority to eliminate anyone who I think is a threat to Chuck. You're at the top of the list." Bryce's eyes widened even further. He had been implying Sarah was probably happy she didn't hit him right below the waist, and he was not expecting Sarah to say she wished she had killed him.

Sarah didn't hide her displeasure when she asked, "Why are you here this time? If you're planning on committing treason again, I will stop you. If you try to ruin Chuck's life again, I will make you regret it for the last few seconds of your life."

"I didn't commit treason. The Intersect was a mission. I was recruited by an outfit called Fulcrum, a special access group inside the CIA. "

Sarah didn't believe him. "You're lying. We would know that."

Chuck wasn't sure because he flashed on the name "Fulcrum." He told Sarah, "We need to hear him out."

Bryce explained, "They knew who I was…my activation codes…my record. They ordered me to shed my agency contacts and go deep. Only then did I realize it was an internal strike to download and destroy the Intersect. Fulcrum had plans for its intel."

"How can I trust you, Bryce?" Sarah asked.

"I didn't mean to hurt you, Sarah. I didn't know who to trust."

"Why Chuck?" she asked.

Chuck himself echoed, "Yeah, why Chuck?"

"I needed a friend who wasn't a spy—someone who wouldn't know anything about Fulcrum, or the Intersect, or 'Sand Wall.'"

Chuck flashed again. "Sand Wall. That was the name of the mission. Sarah, I think he's telling the truth." He reluctantly started untying his nemesis.

Sarah didn't stop Chuck, but she didn't let up on Bryce. "Even if that was the case, Bryce, why did you think it was a good idea to blow up the Intersect?"

"I didn't want Fulcrum to get their hands on its intel."

"Since Chuck flashed on the name Fulcrum and Sand Wall, information about the organization was in the Intersect. That means someone knew something about it, feeding the name into the Intersect. Instead of trusting me, your partner, you decided you knew best and carried out Fulcrum's mission, which included not revealing it to the CIA and the people who put it in the Intersect. Instead of simply destroying the Intersect, you emailed it to Chuck."

"I trust Chuck."

Sarah didn't give an inch. "You didn't trust him at Stanford."

Bryce didn't seem to know what she was talking about. He still said, "I was protecting him."

"Spies have to lie all the time. Just because you said that doesn't make it true. If you trusted him, why did you assume you knew better? I've seen a video of you conspiring with Flemming." That surprised Bryce, but Sarah charged ahead. "It shows that as a brand new CIA agent, you committed treason by conspiring with a CIA-employed, civilian scientist to lie to the Federal government. Years later, you committed treason again by destroying the Intersect computer. You downloaded it and kept it for yourself. Trying to escape with the intel, you murdered a guard who was simply trying to protect this country. When it was clear you might not escape, you put a bullseye on Chuck's back."

"I thought I was going to escape."

Sarah shook her head. "That makes no sense. If you thought that, then emailing the secrets to a civilian would have been unnecessary. That would only be done by someone who thought he was going to be captured.

"You know what? I don't want to hear more of your idiotic reasoning to justify the mistakes you made last year. Why are you here now?"

Chuck was a little turned on by how Sarah was sticking up for him. Although… In truth, he was a little turned on whenever Sarah walked in the room, so that wasn't saying much.

Bryce was clearly taken back that he wasn't more welcome, but he started to explain why he was there. "Fulcrum hired Von Hayes, a wealthy software magnet, to decrypt highly classified intelligence from the DNI. It was going to refresh content in the new Intersect. Hayes is throwing a fancy party at his Bel Air estate tomorrow evening. Chuck's on the inside, so I was thinking he could help me after I got the chip, but this is perfect. Sarah, you and I can go in as the Andersens and get the chip."

"That's not happening. I will retrieve it with Chuck."

Chuck and Bryce were both surprised at what Sarah had said. She explained, "Chuck and I have been dancing together a lot the past few months."

That…would be fun. Bryce wanted to go on a mission with Sarah, but Sarah's edict made Chuck feel great inside. His under-the-cover-girlfriend was choosing him for the cover, over a spy. Chuck was sure he could do anything with Sarah at his side.

Bryce realized the charm that he always relied on wasn't going to get him anywhere, so he simply said, "I have to go."

Sarah countered, "Not anymore."

"Fulcrum doesn't know I'm here. They think I'm the Intersect. They don't know I came here to talk to Chuck."

Still full of anger, Sarah fired back. "And they better never learn about our home. You've been here twice, which is two times too many. If you or anyone else from Fulcrum comes here again, you'll be greeted by something more final than a knife to the leg or a pistol handle to the back of the head."

Bryce said he understood and quickly left.

With the rogue CIA agent gone, Chuck checked with Sarah about her plan. "Are you sure you want me on a mission instead of in the car? That's where you always say I'm safer, even though that's not the case."

Sarah wryly smiled at Chuck's insulation that she thought the car was safer than he did. "With Bryce around, the safest place for you is at my side." Then she pecked him on the lips. Chuck wanted to continue, but they had to call-in the new mission and get ready.

That evening
Von Hayes' estate

Chuck couldn't believe it. Sarah wanted him on this mission. For once, she didn't tell him to stay in the car. Instead, for the first time since the Lon Kirk casino fundraiser, they were Chuck and Sarah Carmichael, a spy cover-couple.

Sarah said the plan was simple. They would make a spectacle of themselves on the dance floor. PDA would give Chuck and Sarah cover for finding a private room in the house, making no one think twice when they disappeared. Chuck thought the hardest thing was going to be getting over his own insecurities. They wouldn't really be finding a private room like everyone would assume. (Chuck didn't want to be fake with Sarah). Instead, Sarah would guide them through security to the mansion's study to acquire the chip.

Actually, that was the second hardest thing. The hardest thing would be to stay focused on the mission with Sarah looking like she looked in her red dress…or was it salmon? Whatever color it was, she looked incredible. She looked incredible in casual clothes at home, but the way she looked in her dress… He was sure she could take home anyone she wanted.

That night, they got inside the mansion easily, especially considering they didn't have invitations. Sarah told him on the way into any party on missions was "fake it 'til you make it." Chuck thought Sarah's looks probably had something to do with it. Bouncers at clubs would never stop her because if they had, they wouldn't be employed the next day.

Von Hayes came out and made a spectacle of himself—something about it being his birthday and everyone should have fun. Chuck didn't know exactly what was said because Chuck and Sarah were feeding each other at the edge of the dance floor, making their own spectacle for the mission. After the announcement, the live band started playing "Guaglione."

He whispered in Sarah's ear, "Tango?"

"No, the Lambada."

Oh boy. Sarah and Chuck loved dancing with each other. A lot of the time, he couldn't figure out how Sarah really felt about them under the cover, but when they were dancing, he had no question that she loved it as much as he did. He hoped she loved him as much as she loved dancing with him.

Early in their under-the-cover-relationship, Sarah made sure Chuck knew the boy's part of the tango. They got pretty good at it when watching Dancing with the Stars last spring. He said learning was good because he'd never make the mistake he made with La Ciudad again. Sarah corrected him, telling him he'd never dance with any arms dealer again.

One weekend over the summer, they watched Dirty Dancing. Chuck casually mentioned Sarah could teach him "dirty dancing." She said they could dance like the people in the movie did anytime, but "dirty dancing" wasn't a real thing.

She did teach him the mambo and most of the dance from the finale, but he refused to do the lift. While he loved the idea of holding Sarah, it was safer to snuggle every night, like they always did. He didn't want to risk dropping her.

With months of practice and a lot of sexual energy to work off, Sarah taught him the the closest thing to dirty dancing—the Lambada. That dance was always a lot of fun with Sarah, but they never did it in front of others. This time, they would do that dance for the mission, with everyone watching. He hoped he remembered it all.

Sarah stuck out her hand in front of them and took Chuck's. He spun her close. She crushed into his chest, and he caught her leg when she lifted it. Then, Chuck dragged her into the middle of the dance floor. The move worked because everyone stepped back to give them room. The two of them were in the spotlight.

She led, and he was perfectly fine with that. She spun a couple times, lifting their joined arms behind their heads. They opened so they were side-by-side with their arms behind each other. Sarah quietly said, "You're doing great, Charles." She never called him Charles. The mission! "The east and west cameras overlap for two seconds. That's our window. Stay close to me, and I'll lead us around the cameras."

Sarah was so amazing. The last time they went to a gala like this was the art auction—the La Ciudad mission. Chuck spent most of that mission away from Sarah, dancing and then being tortured by another woman. Never again. He only wanted to dance with Sarah. She could lead him in any dance and around any obstacle on a mission.

Following Sarah's lead, he spun her a couple times back to the initial position, where they faced each other. That didn't last but a second. She had her back to his front, or more accurately, she rubbed her rear into his front. He could hardly believe she was acting like that with him in public, even on a mission. The move made him about two seconds from blowing the cover and the mission.

They spun again, and he remembered this part of the dance. He spun Sarah away from him, and she tightly twirled into the wide and empty space in the dance floor. He followed her, and she raised her arms straight up. He squatted down her body, ghosting her sides with his hands and keeping his face close to her dress. During "dance lessons," they had to practice this a lot because most of the time, they would end up making out on the floor. Chuck resisted this time, but it was a prime example of why it was the "forbidden dance."

Sarah threw her arms up as Chuck stood. She lowered her hands and grabbed the sides of his face. The two of them started kissing right as the music stopped. A couple seconds later, Chuck and Sarah separated. She quietly said, "We have to go."

Right. The mission. After Chuck and Sarah's public display, everyone would assume they were finding a room (or a closet) somewhere in the house.

They passed through the gap in the security cameras surveillance and went down a hall that was off-limits. Right before they turned the corner away from the party, Chuck saw… "Um, Sarah. We might have a problem."

"We almost did have a problem. Do you realize how hard it is to stay on mission when doing that with you?"

Sarah misunderstood, but it was nice to hear they were equally affected. "I have some idea," he quickly agreed. "That's not what I meant. Bryce is here."

Sarah stared hard at Chuck for a couple seconds. "Chuck, you're too much of a distraction." She shook out her head and took a deep breath in and out. "You said Bryce is here. You're right. We might have a problem. He told us about the chip, but he did not tell us that he would be here. He originally found out about the chip from Fulcrum. We need to find out if something changed."

She pulled up her skirt and withdrew a gun from her thigh holster. Sarah's so hot. "Where to?" Chuck pointed. "Stay with me." She headed the direction Bryce went with Von Hayes.

They entered a side dining area just as the body of Von Hayes's bodyguard fell to the ground. Bryce had shot him!

Von Hayes was too distracted by the dead body to notice Chuck and Sarah. Bryce said, "Forget the 15 million. I'll just take my chip."

"It's in my vault. Um... I'll take you right there." He fumbled his keys and dropped them. Chuck flashed on them and knew the chip was in the keychain, not the vault.

Pointing her gun, Sarah took charge with an ultimatum. "Drop it, Bryce, or I'll drop you!"

Von Hays grabbed his keys and ran off in a panic. Bryce, on the other hand, pointed his silenced gun at Sarah. "You're not going to shoot me. We need to get the microchip."

On the other side of the door. There was a punching sound, and Von Hayes fell backwards inside through the double doors. Bryce looked, but before he knew it, he was shot with a high-caliber gun. The impact was forceful enough that Bryce flew across the room. Chuck fainted.

When Chuck came to, he was greeted by a Casey grunt. The shot from the other room had come from the big guy. "Get up, Moron. Sarah can take Pretty Boy, but I can't carry both you and Von Hayes out of here at the same time."

Chuck shook himself out and helped Sarah with Bryce. Her old flame had been wearing a vest, meaning Casey's shot hadn't killed him. Casey carried Von Hayes in a fireman's carry. They left the bodyguard behind, and Casey called for a team of NSA cleaners. Chunk wasn't sure how they were supposed to do that in the middle of a private party. They'd probably say someone at the party called in a gas leak.

Castle

Bryce sat unconscious in an interrogation room with Casey, and Sarah and Chuck watched through an observation window. In the spy van back at Von Hayes's mansion, they had tranqued Von Hayes and Bryce so they wouldn't know where Castle was. They had retrieved the chip in the key chain, so the mission was a success. Von Hayes was going to be tried and (easily) convicted for theft of government secrets and for treason. He was kept unconscious, awaiting transport.

The question was what to do with Bryce. Was he rogue or could he be a useful resource?

The rogue spy was embedded in a mysterious criminal organization, one which had members in several parts of the Federal government. Fulcrum was behind the destruction of the original Intersect. Bryce could be a valuable resource, but only if he could be trusted.

All evidence was that he could not be trusted. That meant they needed to find out what he had learned before, as Casey put it, they "took him off the board." Chuck wondered what that meant. Bryce was always bad at chess, and Casey never would have played with him without shooting him before the game was over. That could be exactly what Casey had meant.

Casey dumped a pitcher of water over the top of Bryce's head to wake him. Chuck couldn't find it in his heart to feel sorry for the man who had repeatedly tried to destroy his life. Bryce's attempts had failed because Chuck was lucky. Ellie had taken him in, Morgan had been the loyal friend he always was, and Sarah had made Chuck's life better than he thought possible.

Bryce woke up, sputtering through the water dripping down his face. When he saw who had almost drowned him, he said in shock, "Casey, what are you doing here?" Not expecting an answer, he said, "I assume you are the person that tried and failed to kill me again."

Casey emitted a low growl before saying, "I didn't know you were wearing a vest. Walker was right. I should have aimed for the head."

"That's 0 for 2," came the cocky reply.

"Only the last time needs to work. I could have done that before you woke up." Casey pulled the gun from his waistband and cocked it. "Now that you are awake, I still might."

Bryce gulped at the threat, but then with bravado, he asserted, "You're not going to kill an unarmed prisoner." Bryce looked up to the corner. "Not when there…" The cockiness disappeared. "Why is the camera unplugged? Where are we?"

Casey didn't say "Castle," not that that would mean anything, and he didn't say they were under Buy More. He only said, "We're someplace Fulcrum can never rescue you."

"I'm not working for Fulcrum. Are Sarah and Chuck ok?" At the mention of Chuck's name, Sarah gripped his hand tightly at their sides. She didn't say anything, and they continued to watch.

"Of course they're ok. I made sure of it. I shot you while you were pointing a gun at them."

"I wasn't going to hurt them. I did what I did for the cover."

Chuck was the only person who could quietly hear Sarah say, "What cover?"

In the interrogation room, Casey said the same thing. "What cover?"

"I brought you the mission. I'm working for the CIA."

Casey grunted. "No, you weren't. There was no one there to maintain the cover for. You were an untrusted informant who never said you were going to be at Von Hayes' party."

"Fulcrum told me to get the chip. That's how I knew about it. I still had to keep my cover as a double agent, so I did what Fulcrum asked me to do. If I didn't complete their mission, they'd get suspicious."

"No one ever authorized you to be a double agent. That means when you blew up the first Intersect and we knew you were alive, you were declared rogue. That never changed. When the new CIA Director of Special Operations was appointed, he didn't know about your so-called assignment as a double because you never were given one by Graham. You're just a rogue agent and traitor."

"I made sure Fulcrum didn't get their hands on the Intersect—both times."

"What do you mean 'Both times?'"

Completely confident in his reasoning, Bryce admitted, "You were there the first time. The second time, I intercepted and substituted the Cipher."

"That was you?" Casey growled.

"Fulcrum is all over the CIA and NSA. They can't be trusted with a working Intersect computer."

"So you thought you knew best and thought the best thing to do would be to destroy it, killing anyone nearby."

"They could have been Fulcrum."

"So could 300 million other people in this country. You always think you know best, but you never do."

"Is this about Chuck?" Bryce speculated. "If the Intersect came online, Chuck's life would be in danger because he'd be obsolete."

Sarah gripped Chuck's hand even harder. She asserted, "I'm never letting anything happen to you."

Casey continued, "Instead of reporting Fulcrum the first time, you thought it was ok to destroy a computer worth millions of dollars, put your former-friend's life in danger as a suspected traitor, and murder a patriot who was doing his job, protecting national security. Then, without authority, you knowingly started working for an enemy spy organization. That makes you a traitor. That was bad enough, but you came to the residence of the civilian who has all of our secrets in his head…twice. That makes you a stupid traitor. Before your second 'visit,' you decided you knew best and destroyed the Beta Intersect, murdering the CIA Director of Special Ops and several agents. Finally, after giving us a tip about the development of a chip that Fulcrum—"

"It contained all of our covers!" Bryce interjected. He seemed to care more about what was on the chip than the fact he killed so many people with the Cipher Trojan horse.

With a predatory smile, Casey said, "That explains your reasoning for thinking this was important to do. You weren't a double. At best, you're a traitor who double-crossed the other traitors. What was your plan this time, before Sarah got involved?"

Bryce kept talking, clearly thinking he had done nothing wrong. "I knew Chuck's on the inside, working for people who are not Fulcrum. I just didn't know Sarah threw the knife last year. I figured Chuck could disable the chip and secure it, after I retrieved it. Fulcrum still expected me to retrieve it, but I could've explained losing it, once they knew I had it. First, I had to get it from Von Hayes. After that, I could make it disappear, using Chuck."

"And that justifies shooting another person?"

"Von Hayes didn't deserve to be protected. Anyone who did that—"

"Should be arrested as a traitor, like you." Casey puffed out his chest. "Protecting the wrong person isn't a death penalty offense in this country unless that person is actively helping that person commit treason. The bodyguard could be killed if immediately necessary to protect someone or if the death penalty is authorized in sentencing."

That was a particular way of looking at it for an assassin, though he supposed assassination missions fit within that statement, if you took a broad view of protection and consider it authorized.

Bryce was undeterred. "Sarah shouldn't have been on the mission with Chuck. Her feelings are going to get him killed."

Sarah let go of Chuck's hand, pulled her gun out of her back waistband, released the magazine, and handed it to Chuck. "I'm sorry Chuck, but I've got to do this." Then she ejected the bullet already loaded into the barrel. "I would never put you in danger and can't stand for someone suggesting that I would." She left the room.

Chuck had no doubt that Sarah would never knowingly put him at risk. She didn't understand that some things like staying in the car were not safe, but that was not what Bryce was talking about. What was she going to do now?

The door into the interrogation room was thrown open. Bryce exclaimed, "Sarah!" but she ignored him.

Sarah asked Casey, "Do you have what you need?"

"Yeah. He bought that whole disconnected camera thing." Casey put a tape recorder on the table and clicked it off. "We know he hasn't told anyone, and he incriminated himself."

Still ignoring Bryce, Sarah said, "Of course he didn't tell anyone in Fulcrum. If Bryce had said Chuck had the Intersect, he would've been admitting he was expendable. Bryce was a bad spy that I had to save countless times, but he could always be counted on to do what was in his own selfish interest. Fulcrum might have wanted a CIA field agent to work for them, but they wouldn't have wanted someone they couldn't trust. Once Bryce claimed to be a human Intersect, he had to stick with that lie. Otherwise, his life would be forfeit."

She then harshly spoke about Bryce. "It was foolish to not realize that a smart NSA agent would have at least one hidden monitoring device that wasn't obvious. Bryce was like that as a partner, relying on me to make up for his shortsightedness."

Casey smiled in a way that scared Chuck. "This traitor is going into a deep dark hole, never to be seen again, unless he's tried and properly punished. Murder and treason are Federal capital crimes, meaning they don't need to keep feeding him in a pit."

Sarah handed the tape recorder, which was off, back to Casey. Bryce didn't know what was going on, so when Sarah smiled in his direction, he smiled back. Chuck knew Sarah's smiles, and that was not a friendly one, a cover smile, or anything but a threatening one. "I would never put Chuck at risk." Her intent was proven when Sarah pistol-whipped Bryce across the face and he fell forward onto the table, unconscious.

"I bet you broke his jaw," Casey commented.

Sarah shrugged and looked up at the mirror where she knew Chuck was watching. "Let's go home."

Chuck loved hearing Sarah say "home." Sarah moved in with him because Bryce was a threat. With Chuck's nemesis in custody, she might not stay. Sarah took a month to unpack completely, but that was a long time ago. He knew that she would live with him as long as Bryce was at large. Now, Chuck knew that with Bryce in custody, that didn't change. She still considered their place "home." He only needed her to think that it was "home" if he ever got the Intersect out of his head. Then, if he asked his question, maybe she would say yes.

A/N: Was this chapter too harsh on Bryce? Well, this chapter had him do things that he didn't do in the show, but his behavior was consistent with what he actually did in the show. In this chapter, he did what was in his self-interest to stay alive, without orders or authorization. On behalf of Fulcrum, he killed someone when it wasn't necessary. Those actions were completely consistent with the show.

In the show, Bryce put Chuck's life in danger more than he did in this chapter. He actually acted better in this story because he didn't let Fulcrum take Chuck nor did he order a person with a concussion to shoot at Chuck, which any doctor would tell you might as well be an order to shoot Chuck. (In the NFL, they take the decision away from the team and player because they can't be trusted to make good decisions. This isn't a matter of trusting Sarah to make the shot, she had a head injury.)

What happened to Bryce next? Well, he was left in NSA custody after killing someone (again). To fix his broken jaw, they won't send him to a European clinic.

Who cares about him? With Bryce Freakin' Larkin is out of the way, what about Chuck and Sarah, under the cover? They are the important part of this story.

This story has two chapters left, both set after the next episode of the series. (In progress readers: it won't be as long before the next two chapters.) If you are following along, the end of the next episode in the show is when Chuck got a free question, and Chuck's questions have been important in this story. It can't be that easy, can it?