A/N: Thought you should know, next chapter will be the last. We're almost done!

Chapter 22:

They caught the first flight out to D.C. and the five hour journey was unremarkable save for the fact Chuck and Sarah were the only ones on the privately commissioned plane. For the first time since everything began, Chuck realized he was involved in something far bigger than the domains of his simple life.

This was a part of his past he'd never revisited. The part that was supposed to go away. The thought of it still seemed like something contrived out of a storybook; it had never felt quite real—until now.

Beside him, Sarah seemed to sense his anxiety. "You okay?" she asked.

"Huh?" Chuck looked away from the window view and saw that she had her fingers firmly ensnared in his. By the telling arch of her brow, he knew he had no hope of passing with a lie. "You know, sometimes I sweat because I'm hot," he said, loosening the collar of his shirt.

She squeezed his hand, not minding the stickiness of his touch. "When we land, things might get overwhelming."

Chuck gulped. As if the suspicious looking cars with tinted windows and the private airstrip with military guards wasn't already enough.

"It's okay, just tell them what you told me and Bryce."

When Sarah looked at him that way, Chuck didn't think there was anything he wouldn't do for her. She could tell him to jump and he'd leap off the roof, no questions asked.

"You shouldn't have come," he said, running his free hand across her hollowed cheeks. "You should be resting."

Annoyance flitted across Sarah's features. "You're not leaving me again, Mr. Bartowski," she warned, an innocent tease. Still, her words elicited a deep pang in Chuck's chest.

"I'm—"

"Don't." Sarah's eyes eclipsed with darkness. "Don't," she repeated in a softer tone, but the warning behind her words was still just as fierce. "You promised."

Chuck looked down at their interlocked fingers. He didn't think he could squeeze her hand any harder.

"Never again," he swore and kissed the top of her head. He wouldn't make any more apologies for what happened, but he vowed to spend the rest of his life making up for it.

_

Chuck stepped off of the plane and into the blinding sunlight. He shielded his eyes with his hand, squinting at the line of somberly suited agents awaiting them. They were surrounded on all sides.

"You sure about this?" he asked.

Sarah gave him an encouraging nod and they walked together towards the man in charge.

"Walker, you look like crap," the stranger said, short on sentiments.

Sarah stood to her full height but she still came up short. "Come to welcome us back?" She smirked; the man could be as snide as he wanted but she'd pointed out the obvious discrepancy between his tone and his actions.

The man grunted once. Slowly but surely, he returned her smile.

"I see you haven't succeeded much in keeping him out of trouble," he said, finally acknowledging Chuck's presence. The man lifted his shades, revealing a pair of familiar blue eyes.

Chuck frowned. "Dr. Casey?" he asked. He hadn't seen the humorless physician since the launch of his game.

The doctor's eyes widened with genuine intrigue. "Wow, Walker, you really left him in the dark." He laughed dryly as he shook his head. "It's too bad he lost his memories, now he doesn't remember all the dumbass mistakes he's made. Looks like he's just going to make them all over again."

Somehow, Chuck sensed his relationship with the doctor had always been this way and that this kind of condescending talk was normal. What concerned him more was the look of annoyance in Sarah's cerulean eyes.

The tension between them was only barely concealed under the pretenses of professionalism.

"Did we work together, Dr. Casey?" Chuck asked, grabbing Sarah's arm discretely in the event she did something rash.

"Stop calling him that, he's not a real doctor," she hissed, shooting daggers at the broad-shouldered man.

"No," Casey said. "I'm just the guy who saves your life." When Chuck failed to express any degree of gratitude, Casey looked disgruntled. "You're welcome," he snarled with an accompanying grunt.

Casey turned his back and began to stalk towards the line of sleek black vehicles. "Come on, we going to stand in the sun all day?"

The cluster of suits mimicked his actions, moving like lemmings to their respective cars. Sarah and Chuck were the last to follow.

"Hey, Sarah," Chuck called as he caught up to his wife. "You and Casey…"

Sarah stopped in her tracks, the blood draining from her face. "Me and Casey what?"

Chuck glanced in the doctor's direction, assessing him more carefully. He was certainly not the refined, polished sort of man Bryce Larkin was, but Casey had a rugged, diamond-in-the-rough kind of appeal.

"Finish that thought and you'll find yourself on the couch for the rest of your life," she threatened, slapping him on the arm. For someone so thin, she had an incredibly strong hand.

"Okay, just a thought," Chuck said quickly, raising his hands in surrender.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Really? Casey?" She said the man's name as if he had just implicated her with the creepy middle-aged accountant at her workplace. "Have you lost your mind?"

Chuck smirked. The answer was too easy.

"I'm sure the guy has his good qualities," he reasoned. "I'll bet he's a big ol' softie underneath that tough-guy exterior."

Silence.

Chuck turned to Sarah, panic sweeping over his body as he caught her grimace.

Then her face split into a massive grin and he heard the unmistakable sound of laughter. She fell against him, nearly doubling over with hilarity. The sound drew Casey's attention and he snapped his head in their direction, his thin lips pressed firmly into a definitive frown.

Chuck smiled sheepishly and waved. He couldn't quite make out what the man said under his breath, but he had the distinct feeling it wasn't something that ought to be repeated.

_

"We've got Roberts detained but she hasn't been transferred to her permanent site just yet," Casey pointed out as they strolled down the immaculate halls of an undisclosed location. "Had an exchange with Bryce," he mentioned casually.

Sarah glanced up at him, her eyes betraying a look of alarm. Casey smirked. "Don't worry, no gunplay…not that I didn't want to." He winked at Chuck and Chuck managed a frightened smile. He was sure he had no idea what the man was talking about.

"Where are we going?" Chuck asked.

"To talk to his superior…our former superior," Sarah explained. "Don't worry," she was quick to add. "You've met before."

It did little to calm him. He might have shaken hands with the president of the United States but that didn't mean he was any more acquainted with him either. He tried to picture what Casey's superior would be like, but he couldn't imagine anyone more intense and intimidating than the good doctor.

"What about Jill? Can I see her?"

Sarah looked abruptly at him and Chuck could see he'd said the wrong thing.

"Sorry, it's okay," he said, trying to backtrack. "I…you know what? I don't even know what I'm talking about—"

"Yes." Sarah nodded casually, but Chuck saw the concern ingrained so deeply in her eyes. She didn't ask why, didn't accuse him of sympathizing with an enemy of the state. All Sarah did was look to Casey for confirmation. "She's still in the interrogation room, isn't she?"

Casey grunted but for once, kept his smart remarks to himself. He checked his watch for the time. "Make it fast. This better not be an afternoon matinee of the Titanic."

The odd reference made Chuck raise his brows but the scowl he was greeted with kept him from cracking a joke at the doctor's expense.

.

They changed course but one hallway looked the same as the next and Chuck wasn't sure they were moving anywhere but in a circle. Finally Casey stopped them at a door posted with heavily armed guards. The door itself was state of the art and Casey had to run through several scans to unlock it.

Chuck had no idea Jill could be so dangerous.

"Okay, make it quick." Casey held the door open and nodded inside to the second door. It was guarded by two more armed guards.

Chuck hesitated. All this security was making him queasy. Perhaps this was a mistake.

What was there left to say? Hi, I can't believe you lied to me--again.

And yet, stupid as all this was, he felt compelled to.

"You sure this is okay?" he asked, looking down at Sarah. The woman nodded, trying to hide her fears from him. "Do you want to come with me?"

For a second he thought she was about to say 'yes' but changing her mind, she shook her head.

"Do what you have to do, and come back to me," she whispered.

Chuck could hardly believe his ears. If they were in each other's shoes, could he say the same?

Chuck didn't think it was possible for him to love her any more than he already did. She understood him better than he understood himself.

"Thank you." Kissing Sarah goodbye, which elicited a fairly loud groan on Casey's part, Chuck walked into the room.

_

The room felt like a box; if Chuck stepped on his tip-toes he was in danger of hitting the ceiling. It had all the rudimentary furnishings. There was a table bolted to the ground and a long mirror that covered an entire wall length-wise. Then there was her.

The sight of her wrung his heart. She hung her head low; her once silken strands of hair now poured messily over the front of her face. They had Jill cuffed and bound to the chair, hands and feet. To Chuck it all seemed a bit excessive. She was just one woman.

Hearing his footsteps, Jill looked up, her eyes deep pools of loathing. When she realized who it was, they softened and tears began to well in them.

"Chuck?" she mouthed quietly.

Chuck stepped forwards hesitantly, afraid to maintain eye contact for too long. He had to remember that this was a power she had, manipulating those around her with just one look. In her eyes he was the gazelle with a limp in its step; the vulnerable creature in her predatory game.

"Chuck," she uttered again, her voice breaking. Chuck tried to avoid the siren call but she forced him to look at her, to look at the bleeding cut on her lip and the bruises on her cheeks. "Chuck!"

Chuck took a deep breath and took the seat opposite her. He steadied his breath and looked at her as she wanted, acknowledging that she was indeed a sight for sore eyes.

"Chuck, please," she sobbed. "Help me."

How could he say no? Jill was bound to the chair, bleeding and bruised; helpless...defenseless...Chuck's mouth felt so dry he could barely swallow his fears. "How?"

She leaned forwards in her seat. "Fix my hair?"

A terrible urge overcame him and his fingers itched to help her straighten the long bangs pressed over her sweat-soaked forehead.

"I don't know," Chuck said, looking nervously into his reflection against the wall. His realized his eyes were wide with bewilderment and his frame was shaking. He shook his head. "No, Jill, I don't think that's a good idea."

Jill began to cry, her shoulders heaving. "How could you, Chuck, I trusted you."

Chuck swallowed slowly. She was so compelling. If he hadn't discovered her lies earlier, Chuck knew he would be undoing her bonds by now.

"How could I?" he repeated, searching for his own voice. The look on Jill's face grated on Chuck's nerves. He felt her powers slipping away as the tides turned and he broke free from her emotional triad. "You preyed on me, Jill. I trusted you."

"You're wrong!" she wept. "There's still time to amend your mistakes—"

"Stop it, Jill!" he commanded, his voice rising over hers. "You knew I wouldn't remember anything. You played me, right from the start."

"No!" She shook her head fervently. "I wouldn't!"

"Then say it. Say you never lied." Chuck stared at her, thinking back to their first meeting. She'd been everything he'd ever wanted then, but being with her these last few weeks, he realized he wasn't the same guy he was ten years ago.

Whatever had happened in the time inbetween was irrelevant. Casey was right; he'd forgotten all his past mistakes and was making them all over again.

"Say it," he pressed. He was not going to make this mistake again.

Jill's lips trembled but she couldn't speak. They sat in silence and she told him everything with one pitiful glance.

"Please, Chuck," she begged. "I did it for you. For us." Her shackles clanged against the chair as she tried to reach for him. "Please, there's still time."

Chuck closed his eyes. He could still smell the faint scent of clementine's on the sweat of her skin. Her tragic eyes were still as brown as Cadbury's milk chocolates. But this was not the Jill he'd once known from the innocent days of his past.

"Not for us there isn't," Chuck said, his heart filling with sadness. "It's over."

He expected relief to wash over him as he said the words but there was no such thing. He felt like all their moments together were strung on balloons and he'd just let them go, all a hundred-thousand of them into the wind. Everything; the good, the bad, the hideous…just gone.

He felt a great emptiness carve its way through his chest.

He felt like he'd lost a friend.

"Chuck!" she pleaded, struggling against the chains. "Please!"

Chuck shook his head. Jill had tainted all the memories of their time together. Even if some were real, he had no way of knowing. It was simply safer to forget them all.

"Goodbye, Jill."

Chuck got up out of the chair and headed for the door. He told himself not to look over his shoulder, but even when he did; he felt unaffected by the shadow of a stranger weeping in the chair.