Here's the next chapter! A new chapter to start a new month! Hmmm... let's see... I still need to sometime update April Fools Finn, hmm... yay! my b-day is coming up in 7 days, on which I shall update SOMETHING.

Please R&R!

Disclaimer: Chuck (c) Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak
Claimer: Lara and everything else (c) me

Chapter Nine: The Truth About Dart AY-63

"Major Casey, you are to act the role of supportive, over-protecting and caring boyfriend for the time while Agent Clark recovers. That shouldn't be too hard for you, I'm sure," General Beckman ordered, "So I suggest that you get over to the hospital right away. I've alerted Special Agent Dr. Mark Lawrence of the CIA to tend to Agent Clark, he should be arriving any minute now at the hospital."

"Thank you, General," Casey sighed in relief, "I'll report back to you if I hear any more news."

She nodded and the screen went blank. The NSA agent immediately grabbed his coat and his keys, booking it out the door and towards his car. He had to get to the hospital as soon as he could. How was he to play the over-protective boyfriend if he didn't have a girlfriend to be over-protective about?

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Sarah and Chuck paced worriedly as Lara was brought into the emergency room. Devon and Ellie had to be supporting doctor for the operation, and they had to sustain her until the professional surgeon came in. No one else was with them in the room at the time.

Suddenly, a tall, shaggy brown-haired man walked over to them, dressed in operating clothes and he tapped Sarah on the shoulder. "Agent Walker, it's good to see you again," he greeted.

She turned around and her eyes lit up, making Chuck feel a little bit jealous. "Dr. Lawrence! It's good to see you again," she greeted back, "What are you doing here?"

"General Beckman ordered me to take care of Lara after she got a call from Major Casey. I took the express way here and hopefully I'll figure what's wrong with Agent Clark, not to mention take care of her wounds. I've assembled a medical team to assist me, and they're already inside. Now, without further ado," he explained quickly before entering the emergency room.

"Who was that?" Chuck inquired in a curious and yet suspicious voice.

She sighed in relief, "That was Special Agent Dr. Mark Lawrence. He works for the CIA, and as a cover, he's a world-class surgeon, in which he actually is. Apparently we were right, Casey called the General, and she sent Mark to help. At least now we know that Lara will be in good hands."

"Um... okay then," he replied, "If that's the case, where's Casey now?"

As if on cue, the major ran towards them, a forced cheeky grin on his face as he looked at them. "Hey, did you miss me?" he tried to joke casually.

"Where have you been?" Sarah pretended to scold as Ellie and Devon walked out of the emergency room.

"Yes," Ellie spat, glaring at him, "Where have you been?! You should have been following the ambulance immediately after it left!"

"I had some... business to take care of," Casey half-lied.

"Dude, what could be more important than taking care of your girlfriend?" Devon asked coolly, "She could be like... your future wife or something. Chuck mentioned during dinner that you two were tight. As in... really tight."

Chuck looked nervous as the NSA agent glared at him, a low growl in the base of her throat. "He told you that, did he now?" he hissed quietly. Then he shook his head. "Any word on Lara? How is she? Is her condition any better?"

Ellie sighed, her anger all simmered out. "Apparently we were called out after Dr. Mark Lawrence arrived. You know, the world-class doctor-surgeon? Yeah, he just happened to be in town, and was working the night shift, and so he saw the emergency call and came in. I didn't know that he was actually in town," she informed.

Casey sighed, knowing that the CIA doctor would take good care of his 'girlfriend'. He sat himself down into a chair and sighed again, closing his eyes momentarily.

"I wonder what happened that caused Lara such terrible wounds," Devon thought out loud, "It must have been pretty terrible."

The NSA agent tensed, thinking the all inevitable things that could have happened to Lara. His hands clenched into fists and all he wanted to do was to take her into his arms and never let her go. But then he scrunched up his eyes as he remembered that they were both spies, and there was no way that they could ever have a true relationship. They could never get married, never have kids, and maybe never even be together till the end.

Ellie and Devon sat across from him, and Chuck and Sarah sat down next to the Major.

"I'm sorry," Chuck said quietly, only meant for Casey's ears.

He sighed, "Just forget about it, Bartowski. What's done is done, there's nothing you nor I can do to change the past. So just drop it."

"Let's just hope that Lara's okay," Sarah stated, "That's what's important now. I know Dr. Lawrence will take good care of her."

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Two hours later, Chuck, Casey and Sarah managed to convince Ellie and Devon to go home, and Dr. Lawrence finally walked out of the emergency room, sighing tiredly. Team Bartowski stood up abruptly.

"How is she, Lawrence?" Sarah demanded of the CIA doctor.

"She's stable but... dying," he admitted gravely, "Apparently there's some sort of poison in her body that's slowly killing her."

Casey placed a hand on his chin. "If I remember correctly, Fulcrum was talking about this... dart thing. It was called a AY-63 dart," he recalled out loud.

Immediately, Chuck flashed on the AY-63 dart, and he exclaimed quietly, "Dart AY-63 is made up of the deadly toxins Cyanide, a very weak dose of Ricin and Sarin. There's also a sleeping draught included in the dart so the victim will fall unconscious within the first 30 seconds of being shot. One dart will kill the victim after four days from the first shot. If Lara was shot with two and one day has already past..."

"She only has one more day to live," Casey figured out, his eyes wide with shock as he felt pain clutch at his chest, "But why would they give her back and possibly try to ransom the Intersect for the antidote?"

Chuck's eyes widened. "Because they want to see us squirm. If we have Lara with us, we see her in pain, and we are tempted all the more to try and save her. More or less, James and Jason want to see Casey squirm at the sight of his girlfriend dying," he figured out.

Mark took out a disk from his back pocket. "I found this on Lara, I'm not quite sure what it is, but I'm pretty sure it's from Fulcrum," he said.

Sarah took the disc from him. "Do you have-?"

"I have a TV inside the ER, so just come on in, and please try to react too bad at Lara. She's resting. I'll have my team take her to the ICU, where we'll do all we can to find an antidote," the CIA doctor stated before hesitating a moment before he continued, "If it comes the case that we cannot find a cure within the next 12 hours, we will do all we can to ease her pain before her death."

"No, Lara's not going to die," Chuck said disapprovingly.

He turned to the asset and forced a smile. "Ah, you must be Charles Bartowski, the human Intersect," he guessed, "I'm Mark Lawrence, world-class surgeon, but in truth, I'm with the CIA." Then he turned back to Casey and Sarah. "In any case, agents, I'll stay here to take care of Agent Clark until either an antidote is found or until her time of death. Now... come this way." He led the team into the ER.

Chuck couldn't help but gasp in shock at Lara's very still body on the operating table, a ventilator hooked up to her, helping her breathe for the time being. Instead of her originally white dress, she was wearing a blue patient's shift. Bloodied medical tools sat beside her, and the only sound in the room was the beeping of the heart rate monitor. Her heart was beating at only 58 BPM. They knew it was just a matter of time before the line would go flat.

Mark sighed as Casey gently touched her hand, trying not to shrink back at how cold it was, "She'll probably wake up early tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I'll just pop in this DVD." He put the DVD into the player and switched on the plasma screen TV.

Immediately, James' picture showed up. "Hello there, agents. I'm sure you're wondering about Miss Clark," he greeted before stepping aside, showing Lara tied up against a pole, her hands tied behind her back. Her body was already littered with injuries. "Now, I'll leave you and her to my brother."

As the older Wilson walked out of camera range, Jason stepped in, an evil grin on his face. "Hello, agents," he hissed, "Say hi to Lara." He walked back to her, grabbing her face as the camera zoomed in. Then he viciously punched her in the face, causing Chuck to wince.

"You know, you're a real pain," she groaned, "I'm afraid your brother is a lot more charming than you. Not to mention at least a little bit better looking than you." Casey could not help but smile at her familiar stubbornness.

Jason, however, was not amused and slapped her, which she ignored the pain and glared at him. Jason turned back to the camera. "If you want to see your precious Lara well again, give us the Intersect. She has the poisons Cyanide, Ricin, and Sarin flowing through her veins, and she will die within the next day or two. Agent Casey, would you really risk her life? Or would you rather keep the Intersect and let an innocent woman die? Then again, Lara isn't really that innocent."

"Casey, don't do it, don't exchange the Intersect. I've lived a good life, though it may not have been very long, but nevertheless, good," Lara tried to reason, "Don't even think about exchanging the Intersect for my life."

"Silence!" Jason snapped, drawing a slender knife from his belt. He lashed out at her before stabbing her in the gut, twisting the blade evilly.

Lara's eyes widened in pain before he pulled it out, then her eyes fluttered close and she collapsed against the pole, slipping onto her knees before falling limp.

"This is terrible," Sarah commented, though more or less stating the obvious, "She doesn't deserve any of that pain."

I swear, Lara, when I get my hands on Jason, I'll make him pay for what he's done to you, Casey thought, his hands balling into fists, I swear that I'll never let him harm you again. It's my promise to you.

Jason wiped the blood off the blade before sheathing it again, then smiled as blood began to soak into the fabric of Lara's white dress. Then he looked back into the camera, aka, the agents watching. "Now, as I was saying, if you want the antidote to save Agent Clark, bring the Intersect at 2:00 PM inside the Burbank Opera House. No backup, or else we'll destroy the antidote. If you don't come, however, then, well... I guess we'll find another way to get the Intersect. It's not like Lara's life is actually worth anything, anyway. Goodbye."

Then the screen went black, just as Mark's CIA assistants rolled Lara out of the ER and to the ICU. One assistant walked over to Mark and whispered something into his ear and the surgeon nodded before he left.

"What is it?" Chuck inquired, trying to forget about Lara's wounds.

"They're taking her to ICU Room 218, where she'll have two guards standing outside her door to protect her in case any Fulcrum agents want to come and try to finish the job," he explained before his eyes dimmed, "In addition... our scientists can't create a cure for the poison, I'm sorry. The only way we can save Lara's life is with the antidote that Fulcrum has."

"What should we do? We can't risk Chuck's safety," Sarah said, "Even the General said so."

"But we can't risk Lara's life," Chuck disagreed, "If she hadn't pushed me out of the way that would be me lying on the stretcher dying. Plus, what about Casey? His outlook on life would never be the same again."

The major looked back at the shorter nerd and said, "You're a good person, Chuck, but I've got a job to do, and that's not to protect Lara. Even though she's a very important person in my life, my mission and the asset come first. It's something we agreed on after we confessed our love for each other."

"I-It's still hard to imagine you confessing your love," he commented.

Casey sighed and shook his head. "Can we go see Lara now? I know she won't regain consciousness for a few hours, but I just- want her to know that I'm there for her till the end," he said. Damn... did I really just say that? Man, Lara has been getting under my skin' it's like she's really changed my personality. What the hell am I talking about? Of course she's changed my damn personality She's practically nearly broken down my Major's façade. I find myself apologizing to that moron Bartowski and I'm panicking over my old-time partner. What next? I'm going to cry and sob if Lara dies? Wait... damn... she is my lover; I probably would shed tears for her if she died. Wait a sec, no! That's- argh! Damn... something's seriously wrong with me!

Mark ejected the DVD and put it back into its case, handing it to Sarah. "Of course," he said.

As they followed the doctor to the Intense Care Unit, Chuck couldn't help but feel pain and sadness tug at his heartstrings. Lara was going to die because she saved his life, and the one opportunity he has to save her, his request to do so is denied. If Lara died, how would he ever be able to look into Casey's eyes ever again?

"Chuck," Sarah said, "I know you want to save Lara's life because she saved yours, but you also have to know that Casey and I can't allow you to do that. As we've said before, your life is a lot more important than hers. Lara will understand, even as she lay dying, it's part of her duty."

They stopped outside Room 218, and Mark opened the door, gesturing them inside. The team walked in and stood quietly beside her bed. Casey sat down on her bedside, brushing away locks of black hair away from her face.

"Do you know around what time will she wake up?" Sarah queried.

The doctor/surgeon shook his head. "Not sure. Should be about in a few hours. In the meantime, we should all be getting some sleep. We'll have to begin preparations for the funeral."

Chuck flinched. "We're not going to do anything to help save her?" he asked, his eyes wide in shock.

Mark sighed and shook his head once more. "No, as Agent Walker has emphasized before, we can't risk your safety. The only way we could help Agent Clark is to ease her pain by killing her now, but I can't allow that to happen unless the Director orders me to."

"Director of the CIA?" Casey inquired, "Who is it now, anyway? Since Director Graham died?"

"Director Chris Clark," he answered.

"Clark?" Chuck pointed out, "Isn't that also Lara's last name?"

Both Sarah and Dr. Lawrence nodded.

"Director Clark is Lara's older brother," Sarah informed, "He took over after Director Graham died in the explosion of the sabotaged Intersect."

Casey looked back at the CIA agent who was bedridden. He didn't know that Lara had an older brother, more or less, a brother that was the Director of the CIA. He leaned down and kissed her brow. "I regret that I cannot save you, Lara, but I promise your death will not go without vengeance," he swore quietly.

At the same time, Chuck swore in his own heart that he would find a way to save Lara before time ran out. He would make sure of it. Even if it means getting screamed at by Sarah, Casey, and the General.

Darn... If I do this... they're going to practically kill me, he thought, trying to force a mental grin before thinking unsurely, I don't know... what would Casey say? Um... This might be fun?

Well... I hope you're right, Chucky-boy, or else there's two words for ya: You're. Screwed. hahaha.

Chuck: *rolls eyes* thanks...
me: you're welcome.
Casey: She's right ya know, Bartowski.
Sarah: You're not going ANYWHERE, Chuck.
me: yeah he is, or at least he's gonna TRY.

Anyway, I hope you've liked this chapter!

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