A/N: I have to say that while reading this story over, I fall in love with it all over again. It may not be the most well written thing on this site or even in this fandom, but it flows pretty well, in my opinion, considering we had 11 authors working on it. I hope you enjoy where we took it. I know we all did. :)

Please review! :)

Fulcrum? Are you sure?" hissed Sarah. It would be a blow to her if one of the few people she actually trusted had turned on her.

"Of course I'm sure, when has this" -he tapped his temple for emphasis- "ever been wrong?" responded Chuck.

"Dammit!" she mumbled to herself. This is what happens when I trust people. It just gets thrown back in my face, just like with Dad.

"So what do we do?" asked Chuck, looking to Sarah to come up with a way out of the situation, just as she always did.

"I will deal with Carina. She's probably not going to try anything, but you stay here where it's safe," Sarah ordered. "Call Casey and let him know we're coming over; I'll figure out a way to get rid of Carina."

Sarah walked back into the bedroom purposefully, but her head was swimming with doubts about everybody she'd met and trusted in the past and even on this assignment. Only Chuck was above suspicion in her mind. As her father had told her, he would never betray her. That was her only certainty in the world. She bit back a smile when she heard Chuck's muttering from behind her.

"Stay in the hallway, Chuck. Can't they mix it up for once? I'd like to see Casey get told that. Just once. Please. God?"

When Sarah re-entered Chuck's room, she found Carina calmly sitting on the bed, absent-mindedly thumbing through one of Chuck's old comic books.

"Hey, Sarah," Carina said casually, tossing the comic book aside.

"How could you betray your country like this?" Sarah asked, getting right to the point, her voice wavering with the betrayal she felt. "I trusted you."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Carina said, trying her best to look innocent.

"Liar!" Sarah spat, suddenly angry. "You work for Fulcrum!"

Carina actually smiled at this, which led to Sarah lunging towards her. Carina swiftly jumped off the bed and out of Sarah's way. Sarah tripped on the edge of the bed, but she recovered faster than Carina could prepare for the punch that Sarah delivered to her jaw. The punch was so forceful that Carina was actually knocked down. Carina stayed on the floor and used her leg to sweep Sarah off of her feet. Now both women were on the floor. Carina jumped up first, before Sarah could recover her balance and attack her again. She ran to the door and put her arms out in front of her to defend herself.

"Sarah," Carina said, "Wait! I can explain!"

Carina was lucky because Sarah had just started running towards her in an attempt to do more harm, to make her feel the pain of the betrayal Sarah had just experienced. Hearing Carina's plea Sarah stopped, but the look on her face told Carina what Sarah was thinking. Sarah was going to kill her, and she would probably enjoy it too. So, obviously, she needed one hell of an explanation. And Sarah wasn't going to be helping her out of this one.

"Okay, Beckman did send me here," she told Sarah. "But she didn't send me to watch you guys or to seduce whatshisname, Arthur McDowell. She said that she wanted to test something out and that I was the only one she trusted with the "sensitive information' because I've worked with you guys before. Of course, she only told me the necessary information. The nerd, Chuck, is special for some reason."

"Damn straight he is," muttered Sarah defensively to nobody in particular, while Carina continued without giving any indication she had heard.

"She said that certain things or words would give him information about terrorists or whatever," Carina began. "The General sent me here to try that out with what she called 'false flash clues'. Saying that if I said 'Global Positioning Systems' and 'CEO' and 'major drug corporation' Chuck would somehow think that this Arthur guy was dangerous, he's just a desk clerk by the way, and that I worked for something called 'Fulcrum' which is crazy since I work for the DEA. Plus, Fulcrum seems to be bad and while I'm not what anyone would call trustworthy in most things, I'm loyal to my country."

Sarah obviously believed the explanation. She knew that Carina wasn't smart enough to make it up by herself and she was loyal to her country, which was one reason Sarah was so mad when she thought that she was Fulcrum. She didn't know how she could have misjudged someone so badly. Of course, now she knew that Carina was still Carina. But that didn't make Sarah any less wary.

"So Chuck was wrong?" Sarah asked carefully.

"Yeah," Carina nodded, slowly lowering her arms, "he was."

"This is not good," Sarah said mostly to herself.

"That's what General Beckman said," Carina added. "And that if the 'test' proved successful or positive, I'm not quite sure which word she used, then I was to report the results to her and that she would move Chuck to a bunker."

"NO!" Sarah shouted, unable to control her emotions. "He can't go to a bunker! He has a family that needs him! Friends! Me!"

"I knew you liked him," Carina smiled. Then she realized what the situation meant for her friend. "Sorry, Sarah, orders are orders. You know that. I don't have a choice in the matter and neither do you."

"I know," Sarah sighed, "but it can't happen. I won't let it happen. Chuck means everything to me and he is not getting thrown into a bunker. And if he does, he's not going to be staying there for long."

"This is a new you, Sarah Walker," Carina said. "One I've never seen before. I like it. And whatever you decide, I'll support you one hundred percent."

"Really?" Sarah asked, surprised.

"Of course," Carina said with a smile. "Just don't get us killed."

"Thanks," Sarah said, returning the smile.

Sarah took a minute to compose herself before opening the bedroom door and motioning Chuck inside. He stepped inside and saw Carina simply standing there, looking at him.

"Sarah! She's Fulcrum!" he hissed as he jumped back in shock. "Why isn't she tied up or something?!"

"Chuck, it's okay, she's not Fulcrum," she put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

Carina had a smug look on her face, "You can still tie me up if you want to Chuck."

"Carina!" shouted Sarah, suddenly irrationally jealous of an innocuous comment by Carina, who really was just being Carina. She calmed herself down quickly and then set about trying to save face before another snide comment from her friend. "Come on, now really isn't the time to try and seduce my 'boy toy', as you so elegantly put it."

Carina at least had the good sense to look somewhat ashamed.

"Okay, so she's not Fulcrum? But I thought..." Chuck trailed off.

"Chuck, your, err, skills gave us bad intelligence. Beckman sent Carina here to test them out, it was all a fake. She's not Fulcrum. Arthur McDowell is a nobody pencil pusher. Chuck..." Sarah forced herself to look into his beautiful brown, trusting eyes. "Beckman wants to put you in a bunker."

Chuck's eyes started to flutter almost like he was having a flash. As soon as he started to faint Sarah caught him and lowered him tenderly to the bed.

"Well," Casey grunted as he climbed in the Morgan door, "at least this way we don't have to watch the moron deal with his lady feelings."

A/N 2: Okay, well, I didn't end it on a cliffhanger this time but it makes you wonder what will happen, huh? I will update when I get at least twenty reviews. I know I get at least twenty times that many hits, so that's my evil plan. Mwahaha!

Fine. Twenty reviews or next week. lol. I need time to edit the next chapter. :p

PS. I did a very quick edit on this so if you see any mistakes, please mention them in your review. Thanks. :)

Until next time,

SLWF