A/N: Guess what gang…two stories, two updates, one day….wow, and the crowd goes mild…hey, esardi and uplink2 were being mean and I had to do this…if they're not as full of magic as usual(the updates, not esardi and uplink2), well, I think we know who to blame…right?…right?…yeah, that's right, Prince Boo Boo…seriously, hope ya like 'em…got some TRFW coming soon…once again, thanks to STN for all of the help…if I actually improve, it's mostly your fault…some others have also had things to say and I'm forever grateful…I know, that darn title…ah, go on, admit it, it's starting to grow on ya, ain't it? No? Well, I'm still accepting suggestions…and before you ask, no P.B.B., I refuse to consider 'Nando, My Everything' as a title…and I won't send you the link for the Abe Vigoda candid toe shots…man, therapy, please.

No Beta, No Chuck Ownership, No money made for all of this magic…no shit!

Thanks for the nudge, Jim. JT

Bryce Larkin - Douche Bag At Large - Chapter 8

If anyone had asked, Sarah Walker would have to admit that she couldn't believe what had just happened. She'd seen it with her own two eyes and she still couldn't believe it. Major John Casey, NSA agent and all around bad-ass, had just been taken out, right in front of her. A tall, gangly looking nerd had dropped John Casey like a bad habit, leaving the highly trained and, truth be told, justifiably feared agent unconscious on the ground in front of the apartment he'd just rented.

She looked over at Charles Bartowski as he stood against the wall of the apartment, gently rubbing his throat that, moments before, John Casey had been trying to crush. The young man was staring down at the large man at his feet with a look of remorse and that threw Sarah Walker for a loop. She would not have been surprised to see anger or fear or even a combination of the two but instead, Chuck looked like he felt guilty for what he'd been forced to do. He looked up and when he saw that she was staring at him, the guilt seemed to disappear only to be replaced with a look of embarrassment which left her feeling even more confused.

Stepping closer, telling herself it was only to make sure that Chuck was alright, she tentatively reached out a hand and placed it gently on his shoulder. She felt herself starting to slip into the same brown eyes that had captivated her the other day and she quickly withdrew her hand before taking a step backwards. She couldn't understand when the look of embarrassment seemed to morph into shame before he dropped his eyes from hers, choosing to stare at the man lying unconscious at his feet.

"Chuck, are you ok?" she asked, honestly concerned about whatever was going through his mind and finding herself wanting to know what was bothering him, if for no other reason than a desire to take away whatever concern he had. When he didn't answer right away, she stepped closer again and put her hand back on his shoulder. "Chuck, what's wrong?"

"I didn't want to hurt him. That was the only thing I could find" he said as he tapped a finger against his temple, "that wouldn't do permanent damage. He is going to have a nasty headache though."

Sarah struggled once again with what she wanted to do and why she wanted to do it. Pulling him into a comforting hug was her first instinct but she fought against it, worried that he might take the gesture the wrong way, thinking that she was invading his personal space as some sort of 'play' to gain some sort of control over him. She knew that he'd read the manual on 'inducement' and would probably think she was 'playing' him so she resisted the urge, settling for the feel of her hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok, Chuck. You didn't do anything wrong. You simply defended yourself from an unprovoked attack" she said and watched as the guilt started to slip away, not as quickly as she would have liked, but quick enough. "John Casey is a highly trained agent and I can't understand why he attacked you like that. 'Sugar-bear' hardly seems like some sort of life altering curse word, something that would warrant such an extreme reaction." She watched as Chuck closed his eyes briefly and when he re=opened them, the guilt was back, in force. "What is it, Chuck?"

"When I first flashed on Major Casey, I found 'sugar-bear' in a letter in his file but I didn't look any closer. It seems that a woman he was dating and who he thinks died in a car bomb explosion, used to call him that. They were pretty close. He almost left the agency afterwards, even went so far as to submit a letter of resignation but General Beckman evidently talked him out of it" Chuck finished and then fell silent again, his eyes drifting downwards again. "Yesterday was the four year anniversary."

Sarah suddenly understood what had caused one of the NSA's most respected enforcer's to snap. 'John Casey broke the rule and fell in love' she marveled to herself, finding it hard to believe that General Diane Beckman's top agent was, deep down, a human being. She was sure that he'd deny it and she decided that she would have to tell Chuck that he should never reveal what he'd learned because Casey would take it as a very intense breech of his own personal history.

"Chuck, I want you to promise me that you'll never bring that up again. John Casey would not he happy to find out just how much you know…"

"But Sarah, she's still alive. She works for the French Secret Service" Chuck said, interrupting Sarah. "Don't you think he deserves to know? Wouldn't you want to know?"

Sarah honestly didn't know how to respond. Mainly because, if she was honest with herself, she wasn't sure that she'd ever been in love. She also didn't like having this knowledge because, as far as the whole 'spy game' went, knowledge was power and she now knew something that might be very valuable to John Casey. She doubted that she'd ever use it and she was pretty sure that Chuck would never use it, at least, not in the way that someone from her 'world' would.

"Well, wouldn't you?" Chuck asked again, breaking into her thoughts, snapping her back to reality.

"I honestly don't know, Chuck. I can't tell you not to tell him, all I can do is ask that you wait. You don't know John Casey. He may not be the same man he was back then and maybe, just maybe, he doesn't want to know. Unless you're sure that knowing she's still alive would be the best thing for him, maybe you should wait. You can always tell him but you can't un-tell him, if you know what I mean."

Chuck looked into her eyes and she felt herself starting to slip again so she took a step back and waited for Chuck's actions to help her decide what the next move should be. While she waited, Sarah stepped over the fallen man and swung open his apartment door. With her back to the open doorway, she bent down and hooked her hands under his arms and, with a grunt, started to drag the unconscious form backwards into the apartment. The sound of Sarah's exertions snapped Chuck out of his thoughts and he moved to grab John Casey's feet, grunting himself when he strained to pick up the lower half of Sarah's burden.

"Holy crap, this guy weighs a ton" Chuck wheezed out as he struggled to follow Sarah's lead.

"Yeah…the three 'M's" she replied with a small smile on her lips.

"Three 'M's?" Chuck asked as he kicked the front door shut behind him.

"Muscles, meanness and mayhem" Sarah responded as she got closer to the couch where she had planned to drop John Casey, if she didn't drop him on the way there. She heard Chuck's snorted response to her description of the 'three Ms' and could help feeling pleased with herself for getting such response from him. She'd spent her life convinced that her sense of humor was next to non-existent and the fact that Chuck Bartowski had almost laughed at something she'd said made her feel good.

She nodded towards Chuck as she stepped to the side of the couch and after seeing his recognition of her signal, she gave a quick heave and then they both managed to drop John Casey onto what looked to be the only piece of furniture in his apartment. While Chuck stepped away from the big man's feet, Sarah gave him a quick pat down and Chuck was surprised to see her remove two pistols and one very sturdy looking switchblade.

"Any idea how long he's going to be out?" Sarah asked and watched, fascinated, as Chuck accessed the intersect. His closed eyes were all that indicated that he was getting information that the upload provided and she waited for his answer. It scared her a little that he could, if he chose, find out everything about her, well, everything that he hadn't seen the last time he looked she reminded herself. In the space of a heartbeat, Chuck's eyes opened again and he smiled.

"He should already be awake…isn't that right, Major Casey" he said and smiled when the NSA agent's eyes blinked open. Chuck watched as Sarah stepped back quickly, one of the guns she'd removed from Casey suddenly gripped firmly in her hand and pointed at his head.

"How long have you been awake, Casey?" Sarah asked, the gun in her hand held rock steady as the big man slowly sat up, obviously being very careful about his movements, not wanting to give the wrong impression.

"Muscles, meanness and mayhem…really?" he asked as he slowly turned to get a better look at the man that he last remembered being in his grip. "What the hell did you do to me, if you don't mind me asking?" he growled and was secretly pleased when the man seemed to flinch, just a little. "Figures that some geek would know how to do some sorta 'vulcan' nerve pinch"

"Actually, I prefer the term nerd and, no, it wasn't 'vulcan'…I believe it may be Tibetan in origin, if you really want to know" Chuck answered, taking note of the small smile that seemed to appear and then vanish from Sarah's face. He also watched as John Casey slowly raised his left hand to his neck and gently began massaging the area around where Chuck had delivered the nerve strike, his eyes holding several unasked questions. "Listen, Major, I'm sorry about calling you…well, what I called you" Chuck said, glad that he'd decided at the last second not to repeat the word that seemed to have triggered this whole situation when he'd seen a very brief flare of the anger that had preceded Casey's earlier attack.

"That's alright. No harm , no foul" Casey answered as he reached a hand towards Sarah, a silent request for the return of his weapons. He almost smiled as he watched Sarah slowly set the guns and the knife down on the table, not out of Casey's reach, just far enough away that he'd have to telegraph any move to get them. "What's the matter, Walker? Don't trust me?"

"To be honest, John…not right now. You did try to murder Chuck when he called you a name" she said, her eyes never wavering as they watched Casey slowly uncoil from the tensed position he'd been in for the last few moments.

"Look, I already apologized to the kid for the misunderstanding. It won't happen again" he added, turning his head slightly to look at Chuck. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get up and find some aspirin because my head is fuckin' killing me. I promise, no 'mayhem', at least until we've had us a little chat, ok?" Seeing Sarah give a brief nod, he got to his feet and walked towards his kitchen.

Chuck watched Casey as he turned and then disappeared in to the kitchen area and then turned his eyes back to Sarah, silently asking her what he should do. Seeing her eyes flicker briefly towards the chair at her side, he walked over and took a seat, deciding that he would follow Sarah's lead since he really didn't have a clue what was going on. He listened to the rattling noises emanating from the general direction that John Casey had gone and wasn't sure just how he was supposed to feel when the big man returned with a bottle of Gatorade in his hand. He noted that Casey sat back down a little further away from his weapons than he'd originally been and he wondered about that.

"Don't want Walker getting all nervous like while we're chatting" Casey offered, obviously having seen the question in Chuck's eyes. "So, Bartowski, you're the intersect now?" Casey asked, not really needing an answer. He ignored Sarah, looking past her as he waited for Chuck's answer.

"Yeah, I guess I am" Chuck answered, realizing for the first time that he wasn't just the person who had an upload, he was in fact, the intersect. He knew that if someone else were to go through the upload, they would become their own version of the intersect, that because everybody was different, anyone who could survive the upload would, by that very fact, be a different intersect. This new found knowledge led to the realization that if his sister were ever to make good on her threat and she uploaded the copy of the intersect that she'd hidden away, she might turn out to be something very different than him. He now knew that he'd have to make sure that Ellie never had a reason to go through with it and that meant staying alive. "So, where does that leave us?"

Casey shook his head. "I have no idea" he answered truthfully. He'd come to California, not knowing what to expect and hoping that inspiration would strike. Bartowski was the wild card, in every sense of the word. If the kid could access half of the skills that he knew to be in the intersect, his potential as an agent would be immeasurable. His temperament would be the key. If he lacked the heart to use the skills, he would be better off in a heavily secured environment where he could be used as an analyst, made to sit behind a desk all day, reviewing reports and making recommendations based on the intersect's conclusions. But, if he had the heart, and if he could be convinced to 'join the team', as it were, his might very well prove to be the most important asset that they had in the coming battle with Fulcrum.

"Well, that's just super" Chuck said as he sighed and then got to his feet. "Nice meeting you, John. Sorry about the whole neck pinch thing and that other thing, as well. I've gotta get back to work so…" he paused, hoping that Sarah might pick up on the hint which she did, getting to her feet and backing slowly towards the door, never taking her eyes from John Casey.

"I guess I'll see you around" Casey said as he watched Chuck walk out the door, followed closely by Sarah Walker who hadn't taken her eye off of him since he'd sat back down. He hadn't expected a response and therefore, wasn't surprised when he didn't get one. He raised his hand to his neck again, still wondering how the kid had done it. He knew that the nerve pinch was theoretically possible but he'd never seen one actually used, well, that was no longer true because he'd seen one used earlier…at least, he'd seen the first part of it, the falling down after, he'd missed that entirely. 'This is going to be interesting' he told himself as he got to his feet, having decided that there was no time like the present to begin his surveillance.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Sarah had insisted on driving back to the Buymore and Chuck had been treated to a passenger's eye view of just what a Porsche could do. He was sure that he had several new gray hairs by the time Sarah had pulled up in front of the store and he'd climbed out. He started to walk away when Sarah called after him.

"Chuck, would it be forward if I asked you out to dinner?" Sarah asked, wondering why she suddenly felt so strange. She'd asked men out before, so that wasn't it. No, the difference was that this time, she actually cared about the answer. Before she could over analyze everything, Chuck had leaned down with a smile on his face and simply said 'yes'.

'What?' she asked herself. "What?" she repeated, this time out loud,

"Yes, you're being forward and , yes, I'd be happy to let you take me to dinner. My shift is over at six. Should I go home and get all gussied up or do you just wanna stop by here and drag me out to some fast food place?"

"I'll be by to get you at six o five and then I'll take you home so you can put on something pretty for me" Sarah answered with a smile. She couldn't believe it when Chuck laughed at her answer.

"Ok, Miss Walker. I'm just not sure if I have anything nice enough to wear if I'm going to be seen with such a beautiful woman."

"Don't worry, after I get you home, I'll help you pick out something nice. See you later, Chuck." she finished and then pulled away, leaving a dazed and slightly confused Chuck Bartowski.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Chuck had spent the entire afternoon trying to avoid Lester who'd been hounding him since his return from lunch, pleading for any information about the paperwork that Chuck had carried out of the store with him. Thankfully, the last half hour had been blissfully silent and when he glanced at his watch, he realized that Sarah should be pulling up out front at any time now. He looked towards the front door just as a customer approached the counter, a Prism Express laptop held in his hands. Chuck's eyes left the front door and focused on the man standing in front of him. He felt the instant flood of information that the man's face triggered and he silently cursed his luck. ' Just great. I've got a date and some Serbian demolitions expert, who is wanted in relation to several bombings, is trying to buy a laptop, just like the one he used in his last bomb. Just fuckin' great' he said to himself as he wondered just what he was going to do.

A/N: again- Second update in one day…my head hurts…please review…it's like a healing potion…(you can't see it but I'm pouting adorably) please?