A/N: Double chapter today, won't have time to update until at least Monday.

I don't own Chuck

"Come on," she said, tugging at him gently. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the passenger seat of a Porsche.

"Where are we?" Chuck asked.

"Your apartment," Sarah replied. "I've got one rented here as well." Chuck nodded, finally seeing Mason 23 and getting his bearings. He didn't know how long he had cried. He had lost track of everything. All he could think of, was him killing his girlfriend, the woman he was going to propose to, because Bryce Larkin had lied to Langston Graham. Because Bryce Larkin had faked information on Jill. He thought back to that day.

}o{

Then

"Come on, we have to go," Bryce said, pulling him away from her body.

"I just…I need a second," Chuck told Bryce.

"Listen, Chuck, I know this is your red test, I know you are sanctioned to kill her, but the less that is known about either of our involvements, the better." Chuck nodded, but still didn't move. Bryce grabbed his arm and pulled him back to the vehicle. They took off. How long they drove Chuck didn't know. He lost track of everything.

He found himself sitting at a diner with Bryce. "I've lost someone too that betrayed me," Bryce said softly. Chuck looked up at him, saw the sorrow in his eyes. "I never told you this, but there was someone, and she betrayed me." He paused for a second. "The same way Jill betrayed you." Chuck nodded. "We gotta have each other's backs. The Carmichael brothers."

"Yeah," Chuck said softly, nodding, staring off into space. He shook himself and locked eyes with Bryce. "We have to have each other's backs."

"Brothers," Bryce said, holding out his hand.

"Brothers," Chuck replied, clasping it.

}o{

"The sonofabitch broke me," Chuck blurted out. Sarah turned to him. He had been silent in the elevator. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts. She couldn't blame him. How would she have felt if she had killed the man she loved, or was dating and in a relationship with. She assumed he loved her, she didn't know, but Bryce believe Chuck did.

"No, he didn't," Sarah replied softly. Chuck turned to her. "I misspoke earlier. He tried, but he failed, Chuck. If he had broke you, then I would have never gotten through to Chuck Bartowski." Chuck didn't say anything. He pressed his lips together, staring off, his eyes unfocused, nodding. "Chuck." He looked up at her. "He didn't break you. He may have hurt you deeply, but he didn't break you."

The elevator door opened and she led him to his apartment. He fished out his key, and stood there a second. "Thank you," he said softly. "I need some time alone to process this." Sarah nodded. "In the morning, do we call Graham?"

"We do," Sarah said. She hesitated for a moment. "There's more to talk about."

"Later," Chuck said. "I just…" he trailed off. She reached down, took his hand and squeezed it. "Thank you."

"I'm here if you need me," she told him. He opened the door and stepped through. He paused before he shut it.

"Thank you, Sarah," he told her, looking back over his shoulder at her. She nodded, moved toward her apartment, and he shut the door. He didn't turn on the light, instead walked to the bed, sat down and sank his head into his hands.

He was in the exact same position he was that night. The night Bryce had told him his target, the woman who betrayed him…supposedly. The woman that had begged him not to kill her, that there had to be some mistake. He killed her as Bryce encouraged him to, a sanctioned kill.

He found himself, hurt, confused, and in so much pain he just sat on his bed, and cried. He had felt the mattress move as Bryce sat down beside him. Bryce had put his hand on his shoulder, as Chuck wept.

"Come'ere," Bryce had told him, and Chuck had fallen into his embrace as he wept. He was hurting so bad.

"I killed her and she begged me not to," Chuck told him. "She was a mole, and used me!" Chuck remembered just shaking in Bryce's arms. "It hurts, Bryce," he had said in a soft voice through the tears. "It hurts so much."

"I can make it go away," Bryce said softly. Chuck pulled away, blinking. Bryce moved a curl of Chuck's. "Just for tonight, whatever you need."

Chuck shook his head, trying to get the memory out of his head. "ARRRGH!" he screamed, standing and shoving everything off of the nightstand. He watched it all crash to the ground. He stared at everything, lying on the ground, in bits and he thought back to the next morning.

He was lying in bed, alone, when Bryce walked in, dressed for the day. Chuck had sat up, looking nervous. "It's fine, Chuck," Bryce told him, a smile on his face. "Last night, was last night. I told you, whatever you needed. We're brothers. You were at the worst point of your life. I would do whatever you need to help you through this. I just need you to help me, get revenge on those that have hurt us."

Chuck nodded. "I can do that." He cleared his throat. "Uh-"

"As far as anyone knows, last night, you passed your red test, came home, drank Johnny Walker, and fell asleep." Chuck nodded.

"Sonofabitch seduced me," Chuck muttered, staring at the electronics broken on the floor and realizing how ironic it was. Those electronics was his life from that moment forward. Bryce had been true to his word. He had never mentioned it again, he had never made an advance.

Chuck crawled onto the bed, and wept. He had been used. He had been turned into Bryce Larkin's personal weapon. What would Sarah say if she knew? Not that he was ashamed of what happened, but the way it did. He had been called Graham's personal enforcer many times, but the truth was he had become Bryce's personal enforcer.

He heard something in the lock, and turned over in the bed, but he didn't care. If it was Bryce, let him kill him. Let him end the pain. He saw her there as the door opened, the light behind her causing an angelic like aura around her.

"Chuck, it's okay, I know," she told him, hurt on her face. "I need you to know it's okay, he fooled everyone. I know what he did."

"I don't know what-" Chuck began, praying she didn't.

"Bryce confessed to all of it on the recording," Sarah told him. Chuck still refused to say it. "He told Graham how he seduced you." Chuck felt like he had shattered just like the lamp and electronics on the floor.

}o{

She was by his side in a split second, but she hesitated. "I don't know what to do," she told him. He looked up at her, pain in his face. "I don't want you to think I'm doing the same thing he did." He buried his head in the pillow. "Fuck it," she muttered. She ran around the bed, crawled on from the other side, and pulled him into her arms. She held him until the tears stopped. He was asleep. She thought about leaving, she thought about how she might be invading his privacy, but as she started to leave, his arm moved across her stomach, pulling himself closer to her. She placed a gentle kiss on his head and shut her eyes. She was asleep in seconds.

}o{

He was running down the beach, trying to stay as disciplined as he could. Part of him wondered, how many innocents had Bryce gotten him to kill? He blew out a frustrated breath, and nearly screamed as he noticed the woman suddenly running beside him, her blond ponytail bouncing.

"I swear I'm a better agent than this," he muttered. Suddenly she wasn't beside him because she stopped running and was laughing. "I don't know that it was that funny," he said, jogging back up to her.

"The line itself, no, the fact that you think you can't be human, the fact you think no one else wouldn't have reacted the way you did or worse." She shook her head, still chuckling. "I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at the absurdness of it all. How the hell are you functioning? Seriously? You are here. And yes, Bryce did terrible things, but you are here, and if you want, you can do something about it."

"If I want?" Chuck asked.

"There is no way Graham, or I, or anyone can make you take this one," Sarah told him.

"I'm not so sure about that," Chuck said, before he could think. What the hell was wrong with him? No one had affected him like this before. He was just saying whatever popped into his head. What had she done to him?"

"No, Chuck, no one will, I'll make sure of it," she told him, misunderstanding what he was saying. She was silent for a second and tilted her head. "Do you want to talk about?"

"No," he said. "Walk with me." He gave a head nod toward the direction he had been running, and she began to walk beside him. "But maybe I should."

"I can listen, no judgments," she promised.

"You must think I'm the worst agent ever," Chuck said, blowing out a frustrated breath.

"No, I think a human being is trying to be a person again, learning about how he was betrayed," Sarah replied. "And make no mistake, Chuck, you were betrayed."

"I am so ashamed," Chuck said, shaking his head. "At every turn he used me, he played me, he…"

"He conned you," Sarah finished for him. "He waited for the perfect moment that you were at your lowest. He waited until you thought you had absolutely no one, and then…then he took advantage of you, and played it off like what he did he did for you."

"He made me think I had no one," Chuck said softly. "I had been cut off from my friends, my family. I had killed Jill…well, murdered."

"No, Chuck, maybe she was innocent, but you didn't murder her. There was no intent there to take an innocent life. The CIA gave you a kill order." Chuck said nothing, but she could see him listening, trying to process what she was saying. "What he did to you was wrong on so many levels. Every step of your journey, he tricked you. He violated your trust, Chuck."

Chuck looked up and blew out a breath. "He laughed when he told Graham what I'd done, didn't me?" Sarah didn't answer. Chuck turned to her. She sighed and nodded. "Damn it."

"I promise you, if you'll let me, we'll take him down, together."

"I still think you should run," Chuck told her. "I think all you'll do is catch a bullet if you stay with me."

"Let him try," she told him with a wink. "Listen, I've learned a lot about you, your past, and I feel the only way this partnership is fair is if I tell you mine."

"Sarah-" he began to protest.

"No, that's the only way this works, no secrets no lies," she insisted. Chuck nodded. He was silent for a second.

"I don't understand," he blurted out after a moment. Sarah glanced at him. "I've never felt anything for men before, never have since, not even him, but in that moment…." He shook his head.

"Come on, Chuck," she said, bumping his shoulder with hers. "Think about it. How many times have you heard of someone in their darkest moments, hooking up with someone else? Now, add in how he was controlling you with what he had you doing, and then setting you up to trust him."

"Perfect storm," Chuck said, nodding. He snorted. "He dude bro'd me." Sarah couldn't help but laugh.

"I suspect you aren't the first person he did that way," she said gently. He nodded, thinking about what she was saying. "Knowing who his parents are, how they were taught, how he is willing to anything-"

"So I'm a thing," Chuck muttered. Sarah couldn't help herself. She stopped walking, closed her eyes, trying to control her laughter. She couldn't and she heard Chuck laughing as well.

"Chuck, I promise, no one else will ever hurt you the way he did."

"I get that you could see where you owe me a Wookie life-debt from me saving you from this life, but Sarah, all of this isn't necessary."

"I disagree," she countered. "I've seen your file, and even with everything he did to you, where there was a place you could save someone, you did, to the chagrin of Bryce Larkin, may I add." Chuck couldn't help but grin at that. "Chuck," she said in a lower voice, that seemed to be filled with something. He wasn't sure what, but he liked whatever it was. "I had to see if you were for real. If Chuck Bartowski was really in there, and he is, and he shines. I like you, Chuck."

"Thanks?" Chuck replied, making her laugh again. "This is really fucked up, Sarah."

"Yes it is," Sarah agreed. "But if you'll let me, I'll help you." She held out her hand. She realized that this was a move similar to what Bryce had done, and she started to pull it back, when Chuck's hand clasped hers.

"Just don't seduce me," Chuck dead-panned.

"Promise," Sarah said, a sparkle in her eye. Chuck swore that meant more, but what, he didn't know.