I still don't own Chuck. But one good thing. In this story there are no reruns for a week.

I just read the synopsis for Chuck vs The Ring and I'm excited to see how Chuck gets the intersect out of his head. It's going to be a race to see if I can beat them. It looks like the show has thrown down the gauntlet. It looks like I am really going to have to ramp up the fluffy Charah goodness if I want to stay ridiculously ahead of them. Needless to say, I accept this challenge. Thanks to Happydayz for the ideas and for holding my virtual hand through all the angst on the show. It looks like we may have weathered this storm. And, of course, thanks to BrickRoad for keeping me on the straight and narrow. And even though she likes Cole, I forgive her.

If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review. It's the only reward that we get for putting ourselves out there. I want to thank everyone who has sent me a review. I really appreciate the support that you've given me. It really helps me stay motivated.

If you're a Chuck fan (and if you're not, boy are you reading the wrong story), join us in the forum on this site. We would love to hear your thoughts on the show and where it's going. Since we've talked about every possible outcome, someone is sure to be right.

The Chosen One

- - - -

Chuck came running out of bedroom towards Ellie. Janice still hadn't relaxed her stance. Her gun was in both hands firmly pointed at Casey's chest.

"Chuck," Janice said firmly without turning her head towards him. "Stay behind me."

"Janice, Its okay," Chuck said calmly. "This is my sister and my handler Casey. He's one of the good guys. I trust him."

Janice paused a moment before finally lowering her weapon. As soon as she did, Ellie ran to hug Chuck.

"How are you here?" Chuck asked Ellie as soon as he had recovered from the crushing bear hug that Ellie laid on him. "We read that you had been arrested."

"I was," Ellie said with a sheepish smile. "I am. John brought me with him. I am in his custody."

"Where's Sarah?" Casey said as he looked around the house anxiously. "I've got some good news. Beckman canceled the termination order on you."

"She went to rescue Ellie," Chuck said sadly.

"What," exclaimed Casey? "When did she leave?"

"She left yesterday," Chuck said quickly. "She said that she was going to be gone for three days."

"Shit," Casey said quickly as he took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed. "We have to get back to L.A. and stop her. If she kills Beckman, it's going to make you two fugitives again. Get in the car and I'll arrange for a flight back."

As Casey was talking on the phone, Ellie pulled Chuck away from the group.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ellie asked.

"I'm great," Chuck said. "I'm just worried about Sarah."

"If you're worried about Sarah, then who is that?" Ellie whispered as she nodded her head towards Janice. "She is really beautiful. Should I be worrying about Sarah?"

"Don't be silly, that's Janice," Chuck said softly with a smile. "She is Sarah's friend. They used to be partners. She has been helping us."

"And you spent the night here all alone with her?" Ellie whispered in a lecturing tone.

"Do you have any idea what that looks like?"

- - - -

General Beckman was so shocked that she couldn't speak for a long moment. Almost all she could see was the barrel of Sarah's gun pointed at her. Sarah's face was taut and grim. Beckman, to her credit, stayed reasonably calm given the situation.

"Agent Walker," Beckman finally said.

"You're wrong," Sarah said slowly without a hint of humor. "Doubly wrong. I'm no longer an agent. And I'm no longer a Walker. You can call me Sarah."

"On second thought," Sarah said thoughtfully as she noticed the look on Beckman's face. "Call me Mrs. Bartowski."

"I'm sure that you remember my husband," Sarah continued as soon as she realized that Beckman was not going to respond. "You ordered that he be killed because he was an inconvenience for you. Do you know what that makes you?"

Beckman just stood staring at Sarah without responding.

"I asked you a question," Sarah said much more forcefully. "Do you know what that makes you?"

"No," Beckman whispered.

"It makes you dead."

- - - -

As soon as Casey ended his call, he quickly turned to Chuck.

"You have five minutes to pack a bag." Casey said. "We have to be at the airport in twenty five minutes."

When Casey threw Chuck's bag into the trunk, he was surprised by Janice throwing her bag next to it.

"What are you doing?" Casey asked in surprise.

"I'm coming with you," Janice said firmly. "I made a promise to Sarah to watch over Chuck."

"No way," Casey growled. "I've been watching over Chuck for the past two years. I think I've got this."

Ellie and Chuck were already in the car. Ellie was sitting in the front with Chuck in the back.

"And I see what shape he's in after those two years," Janice replied as she got into the back seat next to Chuck. "He's on the run and afraid for his life. I made a promise to someone who I owe my life to. I'm coming with you."

- - - -

Chuck was sitting in the plane looking out the window. They had just comfortably taken off from the Denver airport. Chuck wasn't sure what kind of airplane they were in. But it was obviously military. And it was just as obviously being under utilized. The plane would have seated fifty people very comfortably. And it didn't look like a commercial plane would at all. There were ten rows of seats, very similar to the first class cabin in a commercial plane. But in the back, there was a conference room of sorts. It was only a table with some seats situated around it with a series of large computer monitors mounted on the back wall. But it still was very impressive. And, after all, it was just the four of them. And once he could shake out of his thoughts of worrying about Sarah, he took a look around the cabin.

"Casey must have told Ellie to give me some space," Chuck thought to himself with a smile. There was no way that she was going to let him get away with not telling her every detail of his and Sarah's adventure. But there she was, sitting five rows in front of him and across the aisle, next to Casey. They looked to be having a very friendly conversation. Of course, it appeared that Ellie was doing most of the conversing. But there was nothing unusual about that. When Ellie got on a roll, it was hard to get many words in. But Chuck's eyes were drawn a couple of rows back. Janice was sitting in a seat staring out the window. Chuck could plainly see the tears on her cheeks.

"Hey," Chuck said as he plopped into the seat next to Janice. "Nice plane, huh?"

"It's a C-130," Janice said flatly without turning away from the window. "It's been retrofitted as a command center. This is probably General Beckman's personal transport. Sarah and I had one almost exactly like this assigned to us when we were on foreign missions."

"You really miss it," Chuck said softly. "Don't you?"

"More than you'll ever know," Janice said wistfully. As she turned her head to face Chuck for the first time, he could see that indeed, her eyes were filled with tears. "I hoped that maybe I could get back to active missions."

"I thought you were injured," Chuck said softly. "That's what Sarah told me."

"Sarah was being nice," Janice said. "My injuries were mostly psychological. I'm not up to telling the story right now. But ask Sarah and she'll tell you. I hoped that I was over it."

"Why don't you get back in?" Chuck said with a smile. "Sarah said that you were one of the best."

"I can't do it anymore," Janice said as she turned her head back to the window. Chuck could definitely hear her voice break. "I'm out of practice. I got careless and led them right to you."

"I'm sorry I let you down, Chuck," Janice whispered as she turned to face him again. Chuck could plainly see the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Hey," Chuck said firmly as he grabbed Janice's hand and intertwined their fingers. "Don't you ever apologize again. You risked your life for Sarah and me and I'll never forget it. With all the resources they had trying to find us, we knew that we couldn't stay in one place for very long. You're a great agent."

"How do you know?" Janice said with the hint of a smile as she looked at their hands clasped together but made no attempt to withdraw her hand. "With all due respect, you're not qualified to judge agents."

"Maybe not," Chuck said with a smile. "But I'm married to someone who is. And she trusts you with her life. So that means that I do too."

Janice responded by burying her face into Chuck's shoulder. Chuck took his arm and wrapped it around Janice's shoulder in a semi embrace.

"I can see what Sarah sees in you," Janice said softly with her head still buried. "It took a while to get past the nerd thing. But I can see."

"That's nice," Chuck said with a laugh. "I really can't but I'm happy if you can. And I get the nerd thing a lot."

Notwithstanding his concern about Sarah, Chuck was feeling pretty good about himself and life in general until looked up and saw Ellie looking back staring at them. The look on her face was definitely not pleased. Chuck had seen that look only a few times in his life but its meaning was unmistakable.

"I've got some explaining to do."

- - - -

"Why would you do it?" Sarah asked softly as a single tear made its way down her cheek. "Chuck is a true hero. After everything he's done for the country, how could you just order him terminated?"

Beckman opened her mouth to speak but Sarah didn't give her much of a chance to really say anything.

"You'll never know how much I admired you," Sarah continued. "I've always looked up to you. I've always tried to pattern my career after you. I can't tell you how excited I was when I heard that I would be reporting to you on this mission. So why would you do this? I need to know."

"We've been following you ever since you joined the agency," Beckman began softly. "You've been on the fast path for the past eight years."

"Fast path?" Sarah questioned.

"Think about it, Sarah," Beckman continued. "Since when does a junior agent get assigned to foreign missions? Colombia, Afghanistan, Rome? Those were all hand picked assignments designed to give you a global feel for the agency and everything we were into. Why do you think you were assigned to the Omaha project? Why do you think that you were kept in the dark when we assigned Larkin to steal the intersect? Why do you think we've entrusted you to watch over the most important asset that we have ever had even after we learned how vital he was?"

Sarah just stared ahead deep in thought.

"You were being groomed, Sarah," Beckman said with the hint of a smile. "And it was getting to the point where we couldn't afford to waste you babysitting Bartowski any longer. You were never going to go on any active missions with Larkin. It was going to be more like a working vacation. He was going to spend six weeks in the Bahamas debriefing you. Maybe in more ways than one. We know that you two had more than just a professional relationship. Please don't try and deny that. Then you were going to be brought back to Washington and promoted. You were going to be the Deputy Director of the agency in charge of directing the fight against Fulcrum."

"Did Bryce know about the Bahamas?" Sarah quickly asked in a suspicious tone as her eyes narrowed.

"Of course not," Beckman replied. "You were going to receive your orders after you were together."

"I'll not deny that Bryce and I had something once," Sarah said after a moments's pause. "It was a mistake and it's been over for a long time. But, even if you just wanted me reassigned, why kill him?"

"I didn't see a choice," Beckman said sadly. "Bartowski was still far too much of a threat to trust to a lesser agent. But we couldn't waste you any longer. I needed you to assist me in Washington. And since the new intersect computer was operational, Bartowski wasn't so critical."

Sarah took a deep breath trying to stay composed.

"I was trying to free you up to give you your dream job, Sarah," Beckman said softly.

"I did it for you."

- - - -