A/N: Thanks to DanaPAH for beta'ing this chapter for me, battling through sickness to get it done – Dana, you're awesome. Thanks also to Crumbles and Nysa for all their support.

Also, Frea, you're scary.

Chapter 15

Much Ado about Nothing

19th October, 2007

Baskersville, California

09:15 PST

"His name's Special Agent Daniel Shaw."

"Shaw?" Chuck repeated, momentarily losing concentration as Sarah nearly crashed into – swerved around a motorbike. "I know that name."

Sarah shot a quick glance at him before turning back to the road. Her tongue was held tightly between her teeth.

"He's a top level Ring expert."

"Dammit," Sarah cursed as two patrol cars appeared out of nowhere dead ahead, sirens screeching angrily. Chuck braced himself as she spun the wheel right, taking them onto a side street and off the main road that led back to the highway, the only way out of Baskersville. "A Ring expert? How'd you know that? The Intersect?"

Chuck swallowed, shaking his head. "Cooper told me."

But before Sarah could reply, the two patrol cars appeared on the street behind them. They were gaining. "Shit," she muttered, glancing up in the rear view mirror. "It's too early in the morning for car chases. Chuck, we gotta lose these guys."

Chuck's eye fell on the bag containing the weapons that they'd stolen from the Range Rover, which they'd stashed behind the seats. He unbuckled his seatbelt and started to scramble between the seats, reaching into the back of the cabin, desperately trying not to press his, um, hind regions into Sarah's face. He unzipped the bag and saw what he was looking for.

"Chuck?" Sarah asked in between swerving through cars, sounding more than a bit concerned. "What are you doing? You can't shoot the cops!"

He gave a brief snort. "Says the person who crippled the SWATs with the Desert Eagle?"

"I didn't cripple them! They'll walk again…probably."

"Relax, I'm not gonna shoot the cops." Chuck pulled himself back into the passenger seat and showed her what he'd retrieved.

She grinned at him. "Next corner, okay?"

Chuck nodded before lowering his window, holding his arm in position. When the truck skidded around the next corner, Sarah slowed the truck down and he quickly pulled the pins out of the two smoke grenades he was holding, tossing them out of the open window. Barely a second passed before thick smoke started to fill the streets, sweeping across it and encompassing the buildings on either side. A wave of guilt started to pass through him as he heard people on the sidewalks start to scream, but he was jolted back to into reality – and his seat, very hard – as Sarah accelerated the truck. He could also hear that the sirens were more distant than they had been, and looking up in the mirror, the smoke was now flashing blue and red; the cops hadn't made it through.

"Nice work," Sarah said from next to him.

"There'll be more," he said, though not entirely managing to suppress the smile at her praise. "We need to get out of this town fast."

"I know," she agreed, and Chuck could've sworn he saw something sparkle in eyes, just for a moment.

"Sarah, what are you—?"

Only he was cut off as Sarah suddenly spun the wheel left, aiming the vehicle at a gap in between the buildings, taking them straight into the forest.

"There's no road here!" Chuck exclaimed, bracing himself against the seat as the truck started to bounce up and down on their new, improvised route. "There's not even a trail!"

Sarah looked at him again, grinning devilishly.

"Shortcut."

"Shortcut to where?"

"The highway. At least I –" She paused to wrestle with the steering wheel as the truck hit a rock – or what Chuck hoped was rock. "At least I think," she finished.

Chuck nodded to himself, unable to bring himself to object any further – partly because his eyes were too glued to the path ahead to focus, and the distraction of the bushes and branches scraping against the truck were proving too loud to think over.

"Is anyone following us?" Sarah asked.

Chuck shifted uncomfortably in his seat to get a clearer view of the dense forest they had ploughed through. "I think I saw a raccoon back there, but otherwise we're good. The smoke must have worked."

He watched as Sarah tried and failed to suppress a nervous smile, all the while not taking her eyes off the route in front.

"Hang on," she said, starting to accelerate the car up a ridge. "This could get a little bumpy."

"More bumpy?" he said nervously, very conscious of the ridiculous angles the truck was already swaying at. Only Sarah didn't respond, and Chuck pushed himself back into the corner of the seat, holding on tightly.

The top of the ridge was suddenly closer and closer and Sarah wasn't slowing down – she wasn't slowing down! She was speeding up! She was speeding up the ridge! The truck was going to –

"Sarah! You're going to –"

"Hang on, Chuck!"

Chuck's heart was suddenly in his mouth as the truck literally took off, slowly arcing through the air – and holy crap he couldn't see the ground! The spin of the wheels made a choking sound as they tried to find something to grip on to, but they found only air… Then they were falling. Faster and faster, coming around through the other side of the arc.

He barely had time to swear as the truck crashed back down to earth, sending a sudden jolt of pain up through his spine. He blinked several times in rapid succession before realising where they were, and

Sarah exhaled loudly from beside him. "Huh. That really did lead to the highway."

Too much adrenaline was running through his veins for him to try and process whether Sarah was joking or not. At least they were back on the highway and in one piece. And his heart was still beating.

Chuck wiped an errant curl from his forehead, where sweat was causing it to stick. "Damn, woman, you can drive."

"Woman?" Sarah said with a scowl. "Really, Chuck?"

Ah, crap.

And then his heart was once again back in his mouth. "No, no, no! I didn't mean it that way. I just meant that that was impressive driving and not to imply that there was anything wrong with you being a woman. I'd really never mean that sort of thing, you know, especially to women! I love women! Not to imply that I – besides, I think that's a movie quote anyway. One of the Matrix films, I think and I think I'll just stop talking now because I have to breathe."

Chuck sank back into his seat and felt himself turn red as he gasped for air. A couple of seconds later, Sarah chuckled. "Relax, I was kidding."

He choked out a laugh that was way too high-pitched to come out as normal.

"And it was the third one."

"What?" he asked.

"The movie quote," Sarah said. "It was from the third Matrix film. Bryce insisted on making me watch it."

"Really?" Chuck asked, sitting up in his seat, shaking his head in silent disapproval. "Bryce did that to you?"

"Yeah," she said laughing. "I hadn't seen either of the other ones, but he really didn't need to make me suffer through the terribleness that was that last film."

"Huh. Can't fault you there."

Sarah looked over at him and smiled, appearing way more relaxed than she had been at any time of the past few hours – well, they had escaped after all. That was almost enough to distract her from the non-kiss the night before. And her Red Test.

"So, umm, this movie with Bryce," he asked before he could stop himself. "Was it like a date?"

He immediately regretted the question as soon as it had left his mouth, for Sarah's smile dropped faster than the truck had minutes ago and she turned back to the road, her grip tightening on the wheel.

"Bryce and I were partners, Chuck. That's all."

# # #

19th October, 2007

Off Highway 49, California

10:34 PST

They'd been driving for almost an hour now and had yet to run into any highway patrols – or worse, Shaw and the FBI. They had left the highway behind as soon as the first opportunity had presented itself, which had been a small country road heading north. Sarah had turned onto it without talking to Chuck about it. He hadn't objected.

Silence had plagued the small truck cabin since Chuck had asked about Bryce and they hadn't discussed what their next move was – at all. They were meandering mindlessly north, and it looked like it was going to stay that way. She really should have put an end to the silence; Chuck was clearly waiting for her to. She wasn't angry with him, not really. If anything, she was angry with herself. She wasn't sure why she'd lied to Chuck about Bryce. He surely knew the truth anyway; that their relationship was more than professional. What was bothering her – and this was incredibly stupid – was that last night, Chuck may have stopped her because of some crazy, old school loyalty to Bryce – despite everything that Bryce had done to him!

But that was stupid.

And she wasn't going to think about that.

Instead, she'd let her mind reel over what had happened in Baskerville: how federal agents had shot at them, how Shaw had chased after them literally seething with anger, how someone had betrayed them…She wasn't holding any delusions; it had to have been either Chloe and Skinnard, and right now, she was leaning towards the latter. Skinnard had been the one that had recalled her from Italy. He had been the one who had set her on the path that eventually led her here. Chuck had told her the Agency was compromised; could Skinnard really have been the one to betray them? Had she really been so stupid?

There was, she knew, one way to be sure…

"Sarah, um, perhaps you should loosen your grip on the wheel a little?"

"Huh, what?" she asked, looking across at Chuck who'd finally broken the silence.

He gestured to her right hand. "The death grip you've got on the wheel there can't really be good for the bruising."

"Bruising?" she repeated, frowning before looking down and seeing that her right knuckles had already turn a blue-brown colour, from when she'd hit Shaw. She slackened her grip, suddenly realising how sore her hand actually was.

"That was one hell of a punch," he said, seeing her expression, before pulling a bottle of water and a piece of cloth out of the glove box. "Here."

She didn't object as he gently pried her hand off the wheel, taking it in his own. He set some of the water on the cloth and started to dab it against her hand. She shuddered at the feel of the cool water.

"Sorry," Chuck said quickly.

"It's okay."

Then, she felt him drop the cloth, and tentatively run his fingers around her sore knuckles, massaging them, carefully avoiding the bruised areas. A sudden instinct crept up on her to close her eyes, and simply relax in his touch…before she remembered she was supposed to be driving.

"Chuck…" she breathed, desperately trying to concentrate. "I have to, um…"

"Sorry," he said again, only this time he released her hand – somewhat reluctantly – and she slowly placed it back on the wheel.

"I need to make a call," she blurted.

"A call?" he repeated, suddenly turning serious. "To who?"

She looked at him, raising a nervous eyebrow.

"Oh," he said simply, taking her meaning. "Are you sure that's wise?"

Sarah shook her head. "No, but we don't really have another choice. Besides, we can use one of the disposable cells. Those can't be traced, right?"

"No, they can't. As long you keep it short."

"Got it."

Sarah pulled the truck over to the side of the road. Both sides were covered by dense woodland, and there wasn't another car in sight. Chuck passed her over the cell and she dialled the number.

It was answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Chloe," Sarah said nonchalantly. "How's everything going?"

"S-Sarah?" Chloe managed to stammer. "You're calling!"

"Yes, I'm calling. Skinnard never made it to the meet this morning."

"Sarah—"

"I'm thinking he sold us out," she said casually. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and she could hear Chloe sniffing slightly.

"Actually, yes," she said finally, her voice barely a whisper. "Only it wasn't Skinnard, it was me."

What?

It was Chloe?

Sarah heard her own voice suddenly turn cold. "It was you?"

"I'm sorry, Sarah," she said, opening crying into the phone. "I'm so sorry. They came to the house. Men, they came to the house, and they threatened Preston…I didn't have a choice."

"They threatened your kid?" Sarah asked, sitting up in her seat, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Chuck do the same. She'd seen a picture of Chloe's son once. It had been an accident. She hadn't meant to see the picture, but she had. He'd been cute, and had peanut butter stained all down his front. She wasn't sure why she remembered that.

"I'm sorry, Sarah. I just couldn't let –"

"Okay, stop apologising," Sarah interrupted, biting her lip in anxiety. "Have they come back? Did they hurt you?"

Chloe sniffed. "No, they haven't come back since. I've called my friend Jack. He's gonna help us go off grid for a while…"

"Okay, that's good," she said relaxing in her seat slightly – at least Chloe was all right, for now, and no-one else was dead. Chuck was still watching her intently. "Did these guys come to you before or after you contacted Skinnard?"

"After."

"Have you heard from Skinnard at all? Do you know where he is?"

Chloe paused, and Sarah clenched her jaw in anticipation, fearing the worst. Without Skinnard, she and Chuck would really be screwed. She hoped nothing had happened to him.

"I don't," Chloe said finally. "I tried to reach his office…after, but his assistant didn't know where he was. I managed to find a flight booked in his name to California, but it looks like he never made it to the airport…"

Sarah cast a glance over at Chuck, and she saw him swallow nervously before tapping his watch. They were running low on time. She had to hurry this up.

"So no-one knows where he is?"

"I don't – I don't know," Chloe stammered. "Look, Sarah, I'm so sorry. I saw the reports…If something had happened to you—"

"Save it, Chloe. You didn't have a choice. Is there anything else you can tell me? Did these guys work for the CIA? The Ring? "

"I – I'm not sure," she said nervously. "But listen, I put out a call to a mutual friend of ours—"

Chuck had started fidgeting awkwardly next to her, distracting her from what Chloe was saying. "Sarah, time!" he muttered. "C'mon."

She pressed the phone closer to her ear trying to listen, waving Chuck off. "—I didn't have time to explain everything. But they'll be in California within the next twenty-four hours and—"

But before Chloe could finish the sentence, Chuck had leaned over and grabbed the phone from her hand, killing the call. She cast glare at him. "What the hell?"

He just shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sarah. If the line was open any longer there's a chance they could trace it and—"

"You're right," she said, cutting him off, looking away. "I'm sorry. I was being careless."

"Don't worry about it," he said, shrugging it off. "Besides, it's rude to snatch anyway."

She looked back up at him, smiling slightly. "I would've given it to you, you know, if you'd asked."

Chuck shuffled in his seat, turning red, and she suddenly found herself blushing too.

Shit.

She hadn't meant that. Could Chuck really think that -?

Thankfully, he quickly cleared his throat. "Is the kid all right? Your friend's?"

"Yeah, he's fine," She answered in a quiet voice, thinking back to the conversation with Chloe, chastising herself for letting her mind drift to such stupid possibilities. "They're going to go off grid for a while."

Chuck ran a hand through back his hair, slowly shaking his head up and down. "That's good. Is Skinnard…?"

"Chloe doesn't know," she said carefully, answering his unspoken question. "I think we may have to assume the worst."

Sarah watched his reaction carefully as he pressed his head back against the seat, letting his eyes fall shut. She could see the bags again now; they were clear and visible, making him look all too old for his years. He didn't need to say anything; the guilt was written all over his face. Sarah had called Skinnard to help him, and now he was gone…

"Chuck…" She reached over to him, nervously taking his hand, just as he had before. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it, so she just pulled it closer to her, cradling it in both of her own. Chuck's eyes were still shut. He couldn't freak out right now. He couldn't. She needed him. If he did freak out, then she'd probably lose it, too.

"Chuck, please. There's no way either of us could have seen this coming. Let's not do this now, okay. I can't do this now. I don't want to do this now."

Then, without thinking, she lifted his hand and pressed it against her chin, letting it rest there a moment, simply enjoying the feel of it, before softly kissing it. Just as quickly, though, having realised what she'd done, she let it back go.

"I'm sorry…" she said.

When she looked over back at him, his eyes were open, wide with puzzlement.

"We should probably keep moving," he said.

# # #

19th October, 2007

Off Highway 49, California

16:17 PST

Chuck was really finding it hard to think as they continued northwards, climbing in elevation as they did so. The monotonous redwood scenery wasn't particularly helping, and so he was trying to distract himself by watching the growing storm that had been gathering for the past hour, winding aggressively around the mountains. It wasn't much of a distraction, though, not really, only serving to build his anxiety. The harsh reality felt so blindingly obvious that he couldn't really hope to hide from it anyway.

Skinnard was missing and the outlook didn't look good. Men had a threatened a kid – a kid – to get to him. Bryce and Graham and so many others were already dead. And then there was Sarah. She'd already been tortured because of him – he didn't care what she said, he would always feel responsible for that – and they'd both been shot at this morning.

Because of him.

He knew what he had to say; the phone call had only served as a reminder. Even if Chloe had sent help, they still couldn't compete with the combined forces of the Ring and CIA. He knew Sarah would object, and truth be told, he was reluctant to say it. She wasn't going to take it well, if any or her previous words or actions could foretell her reaction. But he needed to do this. He'd been putting off this conversation for way too long.

He wasn't going to let Sarah die because of him.

"Do you, um, want to listen to some music?" Sarah asked nervously, breaking the silence, starting to fiddle with the radio. She'd been acting flustered ever since that… moment.

"Sarah…" he started to say.

"I'm not really sure what's good, though, so you may have to help a little –"

"Sarah," he said again, louder this time.

She stopped messing with the radio. "Yeah?"

Chuck gulped. There was no going back from this.

"You need to leave me."

No sooner had he uttered the words than the brakes slammed on so hard that Chuck thought the seatbelt was going to rip straight through his shoulder – and it nearly did. The shrieking sound of the breaks ripped through his ears.

"I need to what?" Sarah repeated once the truck drawn to a complete stop, her jaw dropping in disbelief.

"You need to leave me," he repeated.

He watched as her jaw quivered a little, and she looked back and forth, the shock of what he'd said evident on her face when she looked back at him. "I – I…what?"

"I can't do this anymore, Sarah," he said, and looking at her was suddenly the most difficult thing in the world. The cabin seemed impossibly tight. "We – you nearly died this morning. It's me they're after…and I can't continue to put you in danger like this. I think it would be best if you just left me."

Sarah said nothing; she just continued to look at him, not even responding when the loud thunderclap tore through the sky, making way for waves of rain to start meandering downwards in the air – which even caused him to jump a bit in his seat. Sarah just stared passively through it all.

"I can't believe you," she said calmly.

Okay, that hadn't been the response he had been expecting.

"Sarah—"

Then, she just erupted, shoving him back against the passenger door, moving faster than he ever thought possible – even for her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she spat, her face contorting with anger before opening the driver's door and storming out into the rain.

Chuck blinked.

What just happened?

"Sarah, wait!" he said, before opening his own door and taking off after her.

For a Southern California native, the cold, heavy rain beating down on him was not something he was used to or at all comfortable with. That didn't stop Sarah though; she was powering through the rain, away from the truck and into the forest.

"Hey, Sarah, c'mon," he said, jogging after her. "Let's talk about this!"

He nearly slammed into her as she spun around on her heels, her shoes making little grooves in the mud.

"Oh, so you've decided you want to talk now?" she said through wet, tussled hair that was sticking to her face. "I thought this was what you wanted me to do."

"Sarah…" he said again, taking a step towards her, but she just pushed him back.

"What makes you think you have any kind of right to say things like that?" she asked, and Chuck noticed the moisture pooling around her eyes. That wasn't the rain. "It was both of us that they were shooting at this morning, Chuck. Both of us. I've been in this from the beginning, long before you ever you found me. Do you really think I'm just gonna let them throw you to the wolves after everything they've done?"

Chuck tried to move, to do anything, to say anything, but he couldn't.

She wasn't going to leave him.

Another loud bolt of thunder clapped through the sky. They both jumped this time.

"I've already lost one partner to these people, Chuck," she continued, jabbing a finger in his direction, "and if you think for one second that I'm gonna lose another one by letting you pull this self-sacrificing bull shit…then…then…" She paused to take breath, her voice softening ever so slightly. "Then you're wrong."

She took another deep breath. Her shirt was clinging to her as her chest moved up and down, and it was distracting enough that all he could do all but watch.

"Sarah," he said, wiping some moisture off his face.

"What?" she snapped, the anger quickly replenishing itself, and the scowl was back as if it had never been gone.

He didn't reply. Whatever he was going to say before, he'd forgotten and it was probably irrelevant anyway. He didn't want to argue with her; he didn't want to see her like this. If he'd been confused before, then now he was beyond lost – but still, something felt like it had just clicked.

It was her.

It was just her.

"I'm sorry," he said plainly. Then he moved.

In two short steps, he closed the distance between them and before she could hit him again, he pressed his lips to hers, which were all too soft and way too enticing. Wrapping his arms around her back, he pulled her into him, tilting his head down to get a better angle.

She didn't respond at first, clearly too shocked to do anything, and he almost tried to pull back, but then her hands were up in his hair, entangling themselves through his curls. He felt her mouth part, and her tongue started massaging his lower lip as he deepened the kiss. She mewed hungrily as he started to caress her neck with his hands, still holding her against him.

Her face felt cold against the rain – against his – but he didn't care. He didn't care about anything right now, and when both of them did finally pull apart for air, they had forgotten it was raining at all.

# # #

A/N: So, the show may be over now, but I'm still interested in continuing the story, and hopefully you guys will keep reading it. I can't promise an increase in the frequency of updates as my life is incredibly hectic – seriously, guys, America is so much work! How's a Brit supposed to write?