A/N: A new chapter: old challenges and new for our heroes.

Continued thanks to all those who are reading, and especially all those who have taken the time to leave a review. My sincere thanks to atcDave for his kind mention of this story on today's Chuck This! Blog fan fiction post.

Don't own Chuck.

Book Two: The One Ring

CHAPTER 6 Return Engagement

It had taken two weeks, but Beckmann's Casters had found a promising lead. A dark Caster they suspected of being a member of The One Ring was planning to meet a contact. The protocols favored by the contact matched those of the unknown member Team Bartowski was especially interested in, the member with the list. The meet was on the docks, at midnight.

Casey had done recon on the location during daylight, and now he and Sarah and Chuck were outfitted in black and in position as midnight approached. Casey was on a nearby roof, operating a directional listening device. Chuck and Sarah were tucked away between a crate and a shipping container. The hope was to capture The One Ring agents, particularly the one who set up the contact. The list might allow them to finish the group once and for all, or at least to have a better handle on its size and intentions.

Sarah reached over and took Chuck's hand as they crouched behind the crate. She laced their fingers together, turning the back of Chuck's hand toward her. She brushed the back of his hand with a kiss. Chuck smiled at her, freshly shocked as usual by how good she looked in anything and everything.

"You are rocking that black watch cap," Chuck whispered. She put up her index finger in front of her smiling lips, gesturing for him to be quiet while acknowledging the compliment.

Chuck kept talking, but softened his whisper: "Do you think our guy will show?"

Sarah shrugged and put her finger to her lips again. Chuck stopped talking and marveled at the woman beside him, the woman in his life. The woman. Sort of like Sherlock Holmes' Irene Adler - but without the angst (well, maybe with a little of the angst). Her presence in Chuck's life was undeniable and unimaginable. He shook his head: she boggled him. She was Sarah Walker, a mysterious and powerful Caster, but she was also his best friend and his lover, a budding sister to Ellie and Devon, and a new pal of Morgan's. She and Lou had developed a real bond, although, for understandable reasons, Chuck was not often with them when they spent time together.

After their first night together, she had begun to open up to him about herself more and more. It was slow, and sometimes a fraught business. He was still in the dark about much. He suspected there might be some things he would never know. But he wasn't particularly worried about that for his sake. He loved this woman, loved her now. Not knowing her past did not prevent him from knowing her presently. He did think her talking about her past was important for her sake. Each time she did it, it seemed to Chuck like she came into fuller focus, like she seemed more trued to herself.

He knew she was the daughter of a conman, and that she had chosen her father and his life when he and her mother ended their marriage. Her parents were both Casters. They had met very young and fallen for each other before fundamental differences between them became clear. Her mother was uninterested in living the life of a Caster, and she eschewed the use of her powers. She wanted to raise her child in the mortal world, as a mortal. Her father would have none of it. He thought all mortals (and most Casters, too) to be nothing but opportunities for easy money. His abilities as a Caster made the money even easier. Her mother and father began to fight, mostly verbally, but sometimes even physically.

The ending was slow and very unpleasant, and it had lacerated Sarah deeply. She had blamed the hurt on her mother, perhaps because she could not, at her age, understand that her father was, in the last analysis, a bad guy, that his way of life was wrong. Sarah had instead glamorized that life and idolized her father. Eventually, after a few stormy years shuttling her back and forth, her mother realized that her father's hold on her was too strong to compete with, that Sarah was taken with Casting and with her own developing powers. Her mother also knew that, in his own twisty way, her father did love Sarah, and would do his best to take care of her: she would be clean and fed and safe. And so her mother stopped the tug of war. At one level that pleased Sarah. She got what she thought she wanted, to live a life of adventure with her father. But at another level, it was a blow to Sarah. Letting her father take her seemed like her mother was rejecting her, giving up on a relationship with her. Sarah and her mother saw each other very few times after that.

By the time Sarah was old enough to sort it out, and to realize both who and what her father was, and why her mother had made the choices she made, it was too late. Her father had little by little, con by gyp, been turning dark. She tried desperately to turn him around, but he refused, believing that he could chisel destiny, cheat the dark, as well as other people. Sarah and her mother had been estranged for so long, there had been so little contact, that it seemed like a reconciliation was more effort, and would involve more pain, than it was worth. She was not sure her mom was interested in reconciling. Her mother was also so deeply embedded in mortal life that Sarah had feared ruining that for her mother if she sought her out.

Besides, by that time Sarah had sorted it out, she was under Graham's tutelage, and he dissuaded her particularly from re-establishing contact with her mother. Sarah knew that an important reason for that was Graham's knowledge that her mother had chosen to ignore her powers and live a mortal life. She now knew that Graham, even then, had seen that Sarah was not just her father's child. He could tell that the mortal world and mortal life had an as yet unrecognized appeal to her, and he worked to keep her from recognizing that appeal. He pushed her hard and kept her busy.

Chuck knew that she now recognized the appeal, and had been coming to that recognition even before she had been tasked with him. He teased her gently about it, from time to time: "Careful, Sarah Walker, or you might just become a mortal girl."

She did not look so mortal tonight though, in her dark shirt and pants, with a gun in a shoulder holster and, he knew with a knowledge both frightening and arousing, knives strapped to her calf. Who knew knives, Sarah's knives, anyway, could be erotic? Chuck was both thrilled by the thought of them and a little, just a smidgen, concerned about himself and his reaction to them.

Chuck was dressed as she was, minus the suite of exotic weaponry. Despite Casey and Sarah's attempt to teach him to use a gun, and despite the fact that he had quickly learned to do so, he wanted nothing to do with guns in any situation in which he might have to take aim at a person. He did have a tranq gun in his belt, but that was a concession to Casey and Sarah and not something he had active plans to ever use - all prop, no pop.

The dark Caster who had been their lead walked slowly into view, carefully examining the dock area around him. Sarah and Chuck both crouched as low as they could while still keeping the man in view.

{Casey. He's here.}

{I see him. Everything is ready here. I have a view of the entire area. He's alone.}

{Ok. Let me know when the contact appears.}

{Will do.}

The man reached a yellow shipping container and stopped. It suddenly struck Chuck that it was the only container of its color on that part of the dock. The man stood still for a few minutes, looking around him and listening intently. The man gave a slight, involuntary start, and then stepped back, looking at the container.

Sarah shot Chuck a look. "Did you hear something?"

"No, I think he heard something from inside the container."

The man walked to the front of the container and pulled down the handle, opening it. A strange green smoke wafted out, glowing here and there like it was full of lightning bugs. Chuck felt, rather than saw, Sarah go tense.

"What is that, Sarah."

"It's smoke sometimes created by teleportation. Someone or something has been teleported into that container."

After a few seconds, a figure was discernible in the smoke, walking slowly from inside the container. As the smoke cleared, the man walked to her. Then, Chuck went tense.

"Jill."

Sarah heard Chuck say the name. She looked more carefully. It was indeed the woman in Shaw's photograph. She was wearing a trench coat and had her hair down, loose. She was wearing glasses. She and the man began talking. It was clear that Jill was the superior. She was in control, the man in the position of underling. Jill was demanding something from him. He was refusing, clearly looking for a reward or for a greater reward.

{Casey, can you hear any of this?}

{Yeah, the woman…}

{It's Jill Roberts.}

{Well, well, the ex! Anyway, the guy has information she wants. Not clear what yet. He wants her to double the payment. She's...ah...not enthusiastic.}

{Let me know when you are clear about the info.}

The man was now gesticulating a bit wildly, his temper clearly getting the best of him. Then, Sarah noticed something strange: Jill was only half-listening to the man. She was looking around expectantly, waiting for something to happen.

{Casey, is the area still secure?}

{Damn, no. There are armed teams coming toward the dock from both the north and south. 6, maybe 7 each. Casters. You and Chuck have no escape route. I hope they aren't here for you, but that's a lot of power for a low level schmuck, even if he is a dark Caster.}

{Keep me updated.}

Jill seemed to realize that what she expected was ready to happen. She turned her attention back to the man who was now nearly yelling at her. Jill's hand flashed out and she grabbed the man by the throat. She extended her other hand upward, to the moon, and Sarah and Chuck could hear her cry out in Latin. The man's body began to shake. His face reddened. After a few more seconds, he went lank in Jill's grip. He stopped shaking.

Sarah heard Chuck make a strangled sound, as if he had been the man. She peaked at him. He was open-mouthed in shock. Sarah looked back at Jill. Jill raised her hand in the air and made a circle, a signal to comb the area. Then Sarah knew. Their trap was itself a trap. Jill had known they were going to be there. The two teams were for Team Bartowski.

{Walker, I can take out a few before they get to you, but not all. What should I do?}

{Don't fire, Casey. No spells. There's no margin in this fight. We need you out there to find us if we survive. Hold your position.}

{Sorry, Walker. Take care of our boy - and yourself.}

Jill yelled out. "I know you are here. You followed this...ass. We planned on that, of course. And now you are surrounded. Surrender, and I will be...kinder than I will if you make me find you."

Sarah grabbed Chuck's arm and pulled him up with her as she stood.

"We are here. We surrender."

Several men raced to them, guns pointed. A couple stood back, ready to cast. Chuck put his hands up in the air and Sarah did the same. The men motioned for them to move to Jill. The whole group then walked to Jill.

Chuck watched Jill's face as he and Sarah neared her. She was looking at them with curious contempt. And then her face changed. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes clouded. She unconsciously mouthed his name. "Chuck?" Then she clamped her mouth shut. The men searched them, claiming all of their weapons.

Chuck had stopped a few feet from Jill. He now noticed that Sarah's body language had changed. Before, even in stressful moments, she held herself in relation to him. He was the fixed point in her environment. But, no longer, not now. He all-at-once knew he was standing beside the Enforcer Walker of the past. Sarah had changed herself. She did not want Jill to know that she and Chuck were together. Knowing that would give Jill an even greater advantage. Looking at Sarah out of the corner of his eye, Chuck knew this was as close to a glimpse of the old Sarah Walker as he might get. He had not realized Enforcer Walker could be reanimated so quickly.

Jill rallied herself. She wiped all recognition of Chuck from her face. Chuck stood between the two women of his life, and each of them looked like she had never seen him before, much less cared or had cared for him.

Jill instructed one of the men to call for transportation. As they waited, Jill stepped toward Sarah, recognizing her. "So, the famous Sarah Walker, Graham's wildcard enforcer. I must say, you are a disappointment. I would have expected more fight from you. And, may I ask, who is this with you?"

"His name is Bartowski. I'm his handler. He's my asset." Sarah's inflection was clipped, absolutely flat. She almost sounded bored. He understood her tone - but it also sent a jolt of panic through him. Could she turn her feelings off, just like that? But she hadn't, really, had she? She was pretending, acting.

"Fascinating…" Jill said as she stepped nearer to Chuck. As she did so, a change of expression flashed across her face - a warning. She was telling him to play along. "But isn't he a...mortal? Why would you be handling a mortal?" Jill stopped quite close to Chuck and put her hand out, resting it on his chest. "Well, perhaps with the right persuasion, he will be in a sharing mood."

The man who had called for transportation told Jill it would be there in thirty seconds. He asked what should be done with the unconscious Caster. Jill seemed to have forgotten about that entirely. She told him to throw him in the rear and, if he lived, to get him help when they got where they were going. When Jill finished, she flicked her gaze to Chuck, as if to gauge his reaction to what she had done and was doing.

Two SUVs and a large van roared to them. Most of the men piled efficiently into the van. The man who had called for transportation loaded the unconscious Caster unceremoniously into the rear of one of the SUVs. Jill motioned for Chuck and Sarah to get in the rear seat of the other. They did. Once Jill was in the passenger seat, the vehicles quickly left the dock.

Although Chuck had not been privy to Casey and Sarah's telepathic communication, he had been on enough missions with them to know that they would have been in contact that way. Chuck's ability to communicate telepathically was spotty, only really reliable just before, during or immediately after his use of his powers. Since Casey had not intervened, it was likely that he and Sarah had decided against him doing so. With any luck, Casey would be tracking them already.

Jill turned to Chuck and Sarah and told them to sit still. Then she waved her hands in the air. Suddenly, a glowing cord appeared around his hands and cinched itself together around them. He saw that the same happened to Sarah. "That should hold you. And of course, you cannot cast with that on, Sarah."

The SUVs and the van sped through the darkened city. Since the SUVs windows were tinted, Chuck could tell little about where they were. He looked to Sarah, but she was staring at the back of the driver's seat. She had been careful not to touch him at all or to look at him much since they had gotten in the car. Chuck knew what she was doing, but it continued to affect him at some level. They were so close to each other constantly now, and to be this close but to feel her at such a distance was difficult. He had to believe it was for her too, and so he turned away from her, so as not to tempt her into a response. Particularly since the difficulty for him took the form of sudden doubts, and he knew how much she dreaded him doubting her.

Every so often, Jill would turn to look at them, but really at him. A couple of times her look had again flashed briefly in recognition and warning and...something else…that Chuck could not quite name.

The SUVs pulled into an underground garage. The van and the other SUV went in one direction once in the garage, the SUV that Chuck and Sarah were in went another. Soon, they stopped. Jill jumped out and she opened the passenger side rear door, where Chuck was seated. Chuck slid out in response to her order to get out. Sarah slid across the length of the seat and joined him standing between the car and an elevator marked Service. Jill turned to the elevator and pushed a button. She turned back to Chuck and Sarah, a gun now in her hand. It must have been in the trench coat all along. The SUV pulled away. They all got on the elevator after it arrived, and Jill punched the button for the second floor.

The elevator doors opened onto a long hallway with doors on both sides. Jill walked purposefully to the last one on the left, then she opened the door, stepping back. She pointed her gun at Sarah and waved her into the room. Sarah walked in. Jill closed the door and then waved her hand over it. The door went slightly out of focus for a second and then returned to its normal look. Jill seemed satisfied. She turned to Chuck, her face now completely different, soft and vulnerable.

"Chuck!", she sighed. The next thing he knew, she had pushed him against the opposite wall and was kissing him with desperation.

At first, Chuck thought she was attacking him. But, as her tongue forced its way between his lips and her hands ran down his back, he realized that she wasn't-or at least wasn't in the way he imagined. He did not respond, but his next thought was that she tasted familiar. Even after all this time, his mouth knew hers.

All that time. Five years that he has spent pining for her, regretting whatever it was that he had done to lose her, all those nights trying to suss out what had happened, and now she was here, in the flesh, her tongue on his, kissing him like she was trying to make those five years disappear. Chuck had fantasized this moment countless times, tormenting himself with a reunion that would never happen at all, much less follow this script. But now he was living the moment he fantasized - and he knew that the woman he loved had just been locked behind a door.

Chuck gently pushed Jill off him, forcing her to take a step back. She looked up at him through her eyelashes, and they were as long as he remembered. Her eyes were just as dark and they were now full of emotion and brimming with tears.

"Chuck. My God, Chuck. How are you here? What are you doing with Walker? It's been five years, Chuck. I have missed you so much."

Chuck eventually found his voice. "Jill? What is going on? What are you doing with a gun? What did you do to that man?" Chuck decided that his best choice was to play dumb and to play out the questions he genuinely had. What was going on? Was Jill a Caster? Chuck had never suspected such a thing when they were together or afterward, although Morgan had often enough commented that Jill was a witch.

"Let's go and sit down, Chuck. We need to talk."

Jill walked back down the hallway to the door next to the one she had sent Sarah through. She led Chuck in. Inside, it appeared to be a hotel room, one on the Spartan side, however. There was a small round table with two chairs, and a long, double chest of drawers, on the top of which was a small fridge and a small, flat-screen tv. There was a door open that led into a bathroom. Other than that, the room was dominated by a large bed, plainly and neatly made.

Chuck noticed Jill steal a glance at him and at the bed, but she walked past him as he looked around and she sat down at the small table. Chuck sat down opposite her.

"We don't have much time. I am a Caster, Chuck. That means I am a person who can do magic. So is Walker. I know this is a lot to take in, but you evidently saw what I did on the dock, and you saw me materialize the rope that binds your hands. You were always a quick study, Chuck. You must understand that I am telling the truth, that all this is real."

Chuck nodded slowly.

"Good. As a Caster, I made some...bad choices. After a while, they piled up and I was...forced to join a group of dark Casters, Casters who use magic, well, for power. I did not want that, but I had no choice. It happened during our senior year at college. I was...recruited on that trip I took to a molecular biology conference. I was forbidden to have a relationship with a mortal (that's what we call humans who cannot use magic). They knew that I was dating you and they told me that if I went back to you, they would kill you. So I had to end us, for your sake. I am so, so sorry about that. I've carried the guilt of it every day." She swallowed hard and gathered herself.

"Even worse, I never managed to get over you." She turned her gaze down for a second, evidently touched by feeling. "I just couldn't believe it when I realized you were the one with Walker. I'm sorry about the sneak-attack kiss, I just reacted. I need to know about why you were with Walker, but there isn't time right now. My...ah...my boss will be here soon. Don't let him know that we know each other. Do what he says. Give him what he wants, if you can. I believe I can keep him from hurting you. You can still get out of this. I want to get you out of this. Maybe it will go some way toward making up to you what I did to you at Stanford."

With that, Jill got up. "Stay here. I'll be back in a little while. I'm afraid I have to leave the rope in place." She started to leave, then stepped back to Chuck quickly. "Oh, my God, Chuck Bartowski!" She said it with such feeling that Chuck smiled in spite of himself, and she bent down and kissed his smile. He watched her leave. He wondered if he could access his powers.

Sarah stepped into the room. She felt Jill place a holding spell on the door. She looked at her surroundings. Table and chairs, chest of drawers, fridge, tv, bathroom, bed. Sarah did not move, she stood next to the door, listening. A holding spell might keep her in, but it did not keep sound out. She leaned toward the door just in time to hear Jill sigh Chuck's name, and to feel something bump the opposite wall of the hallway.

Sarah noticed that the door had a standard hotel peephole, so she put her eye to it. She saw, in a slight fishbowl distortion, Jill kissing Chuck, she had him pinned to the wall and had her open mouth over his. Sarah was suddenly full of power, tingling like she had touched an electric fence, but there was nothing she could do. The binding spell on her hands made it impossible for her to release any power. Helplessly, she watched the man she loved be kissed by the woman who had held his heart for five years even after she had mercilessly dumped him.

Sarah knew how she had been treating him since they surrendered to Jill. It made her queasy but it had to be done. Putting on Enforcer Walker again was like putting on dirty clothes after taking a shower. She rebelled against it. But she had to gain whatever advantage she could, so as to keep Chuck safe. But to be so cold to him just before Jill was so...warm?

But as her heart sank, she noticed that Chuck was being kissed; he was not kissing. And he pushed Jill away. And he looked at Sarah's door. And Sarah knew for sure: Chuck really had chosen between them. He had chosen her, chosen Sarah. The tingle of power was replaced by a surge of warmth. He had not chosen Sarah over just the shadow of Jill, over just her memory. He had chosen her even when the flesh-and-blood Jill was pressing herself against him. He chose Sarah even while she was being Enforcer Walker.

Sarah let go of the vortex of jealousy that had been whirling in her ever since Chuck recognized Jill on the dock. She needed to concentrate. Casey would be coming. She needed to be ready.

Chuck, predictably, could not access any power. He tried. He concentrated. Narrowed his eyes. Held his breath. Nothing.

But then he heard his name. He thought it was Sarah speaking to him telepathically, and he tried to answer that way, but, again, nothing. Then he heard his name a second time. Heard it with his ears. Sarah was speaking to him through the wall between their rooms.

"Chuck, don't freak out. We're going to make it. Casey will find us. No matter what happens, don't provoke them. And don't let them know we a couple They may use me against you or you against me. Ask questions, stall. If you have to, make Jill think you are still...interested."

"I am not interested, Sarah. I'm not."

"I know that, Chuck. I do. And I don't want you to have to do this. Don't take it far. Just act like you might be interested in reconciling. I take it she is interested?"

"I guess," Chuck said. He wasn't sure whether now was the time to tell Sarah about Jill's attack or not. But how did Sarah know Jill was interested? Before he could ask, Chuck heard footfalls in the hall.

"I love you, Chuck," he heard Sarah say, just before the door opened. A moment later, Jill came into the room, followed by Shaw. Chuck knew him from photographs supplied by Beckmann. He wasn't surprised to see Shaw, really. The picture of Jill had put the two of them together in Chuck's mind. Shaw had had his hand on Jill as they came in, but dropped it as they reached Chuck.

Shaw was bigger than Chuck expected. Morgan, whose flirtation with the inappropriate never ended, would have said the guy knew how to fill out a pair of pants. He was tall and dark, black hair and black eyes.

Chuck noticed that he had a Zippo in his hand. A Zippo? A second look confirmed it: it was the Zippo Chuck had seen glow black in Shaw's apartment. Shaw walked to the table where Chuck had re-seated himself after his quick wall-talk with Sarah.

Shaw sat down, staring hard at Chuck. As he did, he opened the lighter, lit it, snapped it shut, then opened it, re-lit it-over and over in strict time. Looking at him up close, Chuck could tell the man was slightly deranged. Not stupid, not foolish. Crazy. Psychological swiss cheese. Holey. A long silence ensued, punctuated only by open, flip, flame, snap, open, flip, flame, snap... Hypnotic. It was like watching Captain Queeg roll the ball bearings in The Caine Mutiny.

"Chuck - that's your name, right? Well, Chuck, we didn't expect...you to be involved in this. Why is a mortal on a mission with Sarah Walker? Why are you mixed up in this?"

Chuck had been expecting that question since Jill took him and Sarah. He exaggerated his fear and answered: "Look, I'm just a tech guy, a hacker. Walker hired me to help her hack some email accounts and some other servers. I got curious what she was up to and I begged her to let me come on an actual mission. Tonight was just supposed to be surveillance. I was supposed to stay in the car but I...wanted a closer look. I guess it all went sideways - but I don't know anything about any of this, really. There's no magic...I mean, I guess there is, I'm wearing these," Chuck held up his wrists, still bound by a glowing cord, "but I'm just a nerd way out of his depth."

Shaw looked at him with amused disdain. "Walker must have been crazy to let you talk her into this. Or maybe you are just that good a hacker. And, given the way my girl, Roberts, keeps sneaking looks at you, maybe Walker wanted something to look at during the stakeout. Or something to do afterward. I wouldn't have thought you were her type. I would've figured her more for someone like me. The trouble for you, Chuck, is that even if you got into this accidentally, you are going to have to be dealt with. Roberts here tells me she will take care of that. And since I have somewhere else to be, I'm afraid our acquaintance is at an end."

Shaw stood and stepped over to Jill. He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her hard against him. He kissed her, draping his other arm around her and then, as he extended the kiss, slipped his hands down around her bottom, turning her as he did so that Chuck could not miss the gesture. Chuck wasn't sure if Shaw was making a point to him or to Jill or both, but he was making a point, marking territory. Chuck noticed that one of Shaw's hands still gripped the lighter with his index and middle fingers, while the others were on Jill's rear. Nothing about Shaw's manner in the kiss, or about Jill's, spoke of warm, genuine personal contact. In spite of himself and his situation, Chuck felt a little sorry for them both, and a little nauseated.

Chuck was pretty sure that Shaw didn't believe his story - but Shaw also did not disbelieve it. Shaw just didn't really care about it. He had come to look at Chuck to assess him as a threat, and clearly Shaw nothing threatening in Chuck. That did not mean Chuck would be released, it just meant that Chuck required no special handling, no interrogation. He could be disposed of. As Shaw groped Jill, Chuck felt a sudden small surge of power and for a moment he could see Shaw and Jill, each glowing. He glowed a sickly green heavily mottled with black, inkiest near the lighter. She glowed a weak yellow, a yellow also mottled with black, although not to the degree of Shaw. Chuck knew he was seeing their uncreated lights, and he knew they were indeed both dark Casters. He was not quite sure how to make sense of Jill's darkness, but Shaw's was raw and gaping and needy.

{Walker?}

{Casey? Thank God.}

{Are you ok? Chuck?}

{Both ok. But I figure we are running out of time. Shaw was here and he has left. I'm pretty sure his order to Roberts was to kill us both.}

{Not gonna happen. I've got a team of Beckmann's best. We are outside the building. I just need to know your position.}

{2nd floor, north side. Chuck and I are in rooms at the end of the hall. I've been bound by Roberts and my door sealed. Chuck is bound but his door is not sealed.}

{Ha! Roberts is keeping the door open, huh?}

{Don't need this now, Casey. But she is mine.}

{Roger. The countdown starts now. We'll breach in five minutes unless you tell me otherwise. Get down, we will come in hot.}

{Stay alive, Casey.}

{You two too.}

Chuck heard and felt the explosions.

{Sarah!}

{Chuck, your powers flashed?}

{Yeah, a little. Enough for me to see the truth about Jill and Shaw. Not that we didn't already know, I guess.}

{Casey's coming.}

{I heard the knock.}

{Can you use your powers to get rid of Jill's bonds?}

{I couldn't earlier. Let me try now. No, no luck.}

{That's ok, Chuck. Worth a try. Sit tight and stay down.}

Chuck's door burst open and Jill stood in the doorway. She motioned with one hand for Chuck to follow her. She had a gun in her other hand. Chuck crossed to her quickly. She stepped out of the doorway, to let Chuck walk ahead of her. He took a couple of steps toward the elevator when he realized Jill wasn't following. He looked back as he heard the sound of now-closer gunfire and more explosions. Jill was moving one hand in front of Sarah's door, fisting her gun in the other. The door exploded inward and Jill, in a flash, had both hands on her gun and was pointing it into the room, about to fire.

Before she could locate her target, Sarah torpedoed out of the doorway and into Jill, slamming her against the opposite door. Jill dropped the gun. Sarah's momentum was so great that she almost bounced off of Jill when Jill slammed into the door. Jill fell to her knees, then launched herself forward, trying to reclaim her dropped gun. Sarah, after a split second to gather herself, flung herself toward the gun too. Their hands arrived at the gun at the same time, but Sarah was the stronger of the two, even with her hands still bound. She twisted the gun free and aimed it at Jill's head. "Enough, Roberts."

The elevator opened and several of the men who had captured them on the dock sprinted toward them. Chuck saw the ones first off the elevator aim their weapons at him or at Sarah. Chuck suddenly felt jittery all over; his eyes rolled in his head…

[...There was a moment of eternity, and a piercing sweetness and blinding light, and then…]

Chuck and Sarah and Jill were all in Cave, although still in the same relative physical positions they had held in the hallway. Sarah oriented more quickly than Jill, and kept the gun pointed at her head. Chuck wobbled and then collapsed to the floor. Jill looked dazed and frightened.

{Casey?}

{Walker! We can't find you!}

{We're back in Cave. Chuck did it, somehow. I've got Roberts. Chuck is unconscious. What's your situation? I can't hold onto you for long. I can feel the link weakening}

{Mopping up. We've either killed or taken prisoner everyone who was here. Shaw was gone before we arrived. And of course, you have Roberts.}

{Ok. We will be here when you return.}

{Glad you are ok. Chuck's full of surprises, huh?}

{Mmmmhmm…}

{Walker, don't you dare explain that sound.}

Sarah knew that Jill's power was likely spent. And she was still too disoriented to present much of a threat. But Sarah had to be careful. Sarah hit Jill hard with the handle of Jill's gun. She crumbled. As she lost consciousness, the ropes binding Sarah's hands disappeared. Sarah grabbed Jill's hands and dragged her unceremoniously down one of the passageways to a holding cell. She locked it after she dropped Jill on the floor. The lock was itself enchanted-a powerful spell worked by Beckman herself - and all it took to be sure Jill was indeed locked in was Sarah pressing her palm to the door. The cell was impermeable to magic as long as Beckmann's shielding spells were in place. Sarah then ran quickly back down the hallway to see about Chuck. She knew he was breathing. She had looked to be sure he was recovering before she disposed of Jill.

By the time she got back into the central room, Chuck was conscious and sitting up. There was blood drying on his face. An acrid odor told Sarah that he had vomited. He looked up at her as she rushed to him. "How did we get here?"

"You did it, Chuck, not me. I don't know how we did it. It was not teleportation, at least not as I know it. But it was different from what happened on the highway. Sit still."

Sarah stepped into the other passageway and returned in a moment with a bottle of water and a stack of towels. She also had a wet washcloth. She handed it to Chuck and he washed the blood from his face. Meanwhile, Sarah dropped one of the towels on the small pool of bile beside Chuck. She knelt and dried his face for him when he had finished washing it. Then she leaned in and kissed him.

"You probably don't want to do that, at least not until I brush my teeth and clean up."

"I don't care, Chuck. I'm so glad you are safe." Sarah wanted to kiss his memory of Enforcer Walker away.

"Sarah, Jill kissed me. I didn't kiss her back, but she kissed me. A couple of times, actually. She seems to think we can somehow pick up where she left off."

"I know she kissed you. I saw the full frontal attack in the hallway through the hole in my door. You know, Chuck," she said, grinning and gesturing at herself, "spying is sort of my thing. And, look, Chuck, we don't have to talk about Jill right now. I'm good. I also saw that you did not kiss her back. We're good. Really good."

Chuck sighed in relief and then put out his hands for Sarah to help him up. Jill's rope had fallen from his hands when he moved them to the Cave. Sarah and he stood together. He was shaky enough to need to lean on her. Suddenly, he went tense. "What about Casey?"

"He's fine. Mopping up. I think we've dented The One Ring again. If Jill really has a list, and we can get it from her, we might be able to finish the whole bunch off soon."

Chuck was pleased that Casey returned in a good mood. He hadn't lost anyone in the raid, and he had taken several prisoners. They were being transported to a larger facility that belonged to Beckmann's House.

After making sure that Jill had regained consciousness - she had - and telling Casey about all that had happened, they headed back to the apartment complex. Sarah was too tired and too in need of Chuck all to herself to traverse the greater distance to her apartment. Casey parted company with them near the fountain in the center of the complex. Sarah and Chuck crept quietly into his apartment and down the hall into his bedroom, being careful not to wake Ellie or Devon.

Chuck left to go to the bathroom; he was dying to brush his teeth. But he found Sarah one of his old Tron t-shirts to sleep in since she had nothing with her. Nothing would have been his preferred sleeping attire for her, but with Ellie and Devon in the next room, it was probably good that she had something to wear. He brushed his teeth. He looked a little hollowed out, but he felt ok.

When Chuck got back to the room, Sarah was prone on the bed, reading a magazine. Chuck was struck by the normalcy of it, especially against the backdrop of their night. They were definitely not a normal couple, so this normal moment was rare. But he liked the couple they were. He laid down on his back without interrupting her reading. After a few minutes, he rolled toward her.

"What are you reading, Sarah. You seem engrossed."

Sarah looked embarrassed, and she moved to close the magazine and put it away. Chuck grabbed at it playfully and they wrestled for a minute before he was able to take it.

"You know I let you take that, don't you?"

"Of course, Sarah. I sleep with you aware that you could kill me in countless ways at any time, and that none would require that you exert yourself."

"It's particularly important that you are aware of that tonight, after kissing Jill twice."

"No, after being kissed twice. It's a subject/object thing. What can I do if women insist on objectifying me? Hey…" Chuck looked at the magazine. It was one of Ellie's bridal magazines. Ellie had been buying them and leaving them around the apartment in good-humored malice, presumably to alert Captain Awesome to a certain slowness of pace in their relationship.

Sarah blushed deeply. But she didn't turn away or find something else to look at or to do. She held Chuck's gaze. "Do you ever think about it, Chuck?" She asked the question so softly and gently that it caused Chuck's eyes suddenly to brim with tears.

"All the time, Sarah. All the time. For so much of my life, I did not know what I wanted. Once I thought all I wanted was Jill. I was wrong about that. Whatever we had, however real it felt, it was an illusion. I did not know who she was. Nothing about our relationship was really real. And then I wandered in the Purgatory of the Buy More for five years. And then I read a magical book: after that the real magic happened: I met you. I knew what I wanted because I knew who I wanted. You. I have real skills, I mean, other than these puzzling powers. I can go back to school, get work in archeology or in the Silicon Valley. I'm actually really good at both. But, as much as I would like that work, I would be working for us, for our white house with a red door, and maybe," Chuck's voice dropped until it matched the softness and gentleness of Sarah's, "working for our kids."

Chuck worried that he had gone too far. They had touched on that topic a few times in the past weeks, always in very general terms, and each time Sarah had gotten visibly flustered. But this time she seemed calm.

"Chuck, I know I've reacted...strangely when we have talked about kids before. That's not because I don't want them, don't want your kids. I do. I really do. I just never knew I wanted kids. Or I did know I wanted them, but I couldn't...accept it. My own childhood soured me on the thought. I guess I couldn't imagine doing anything but repeating my parents' mistakes. But I realized that I kept imagining myself with kids but without imagining their father. I now don't have to imagine their father. I am in his bed, in his Tron t-shirt, God help me, and I want to have kids who will wear Tron t-shirts of their own and read comics and disassemble computers and take Karate lessons and love their dad and mom so much..."

Sarah sat up on the bed and reached over to cup Chuck's face in both her hands. "Do you, Chuck Bartowski, want to have a family with me?"

"I do. And do you, Sarah Walker, want to have a family with me?"

"I do." She leaned in to kiss him. "I like the sound of those words, 'I do'."

"Me too, Sarah, me too."

A significant look passed between them. Sarah scooted over and stretched out against Chuck's chest. He waved the bridal magazine, still in his hand, in front of her.

"Give me that!"

Sarah woke up the next morning to find Chuck already awake, staring at the ceiling. She felt a sudden twinge of panic. Maybe their conversation last night had been too much too soon? They had, in effect, promised to have kids together, after all, and that presumably meant - given the magazine that started the conversation - they had promised what would lead to those kids, getting married and establishing a home. It all made Sarah intensely happy. But maybe it hadn't done the same for him?

"Morning, Chuck. Are you ok?"

He turned his head to smile widely at her. "I don't know when I have been ok-er than I am this morning. The woman I adore promised me last night that she would have my kids. Forgive me if this sounds, I don't know, male or something, but that makes me so proud and happy I could burst."

"I don't think it's male because I feel the same way about your promising to have kids with me. And I, Chuck Bartowski, am not a man." She took his hand and placed it on her breast.

"Oh, boy. No, no one here mistaking the beautiful blond for a male."

But then he rolled toward her and a serious look fell across his face. "Sarah, tell me about dark Casters. How does it happen? You've told me some general things, and I've picked up a bit listening to you and Casey and Beckmann, but I still don't understand it. I know that Shaw and Jill are both dark; I saw their darkness. But what does that mean? Were they born dark?"

Sarah pursed her lips. "No, at least, that is not the way that Seers understand it. Casters are born neither light nor dark, although they are born such that if nature takes its course, they will become light. Caster's are naturally meant to be light. That is part of what makes darkness so bad. It is a distortion of nature, of a Caster's nature. As children, since they are not yet making their own decisions, they remain neither light nor dark.

"But at some point, as they mature, they become their own persons - and at that point, they begin to be and to become light or dark. What they become is fixed by what they do and by the way they feel about what they do. Actions determine light and dark. Wanting to be one or the other may help a Caster become such, but what you want or desire does not suffice to make you one or the other. A Caster can want to be light and yet become dark. A Caster can want to be dark and become light - although that is very rare. Few want to be dark. If they come to want that, it is because of some event in their life, normally. Nothing moves a Caster toward darkness faster than unjust killing. Even if the killing is justified, the way the Caster feels about it can push him or her toward the dark. Murder, actual cold-blooded, premeditated murder, seals a soul in the dark. Sometimes, and these are the saddest cases, Casters become dark while thinking they are becoming light. They lose their sense of themselves and of the real import of their actions. They can't see that they are acting out of selfishness instead of duty - that kind of thing."

"But what about you and Casey? I know you are not dark, but your work?..."

Sarah sighed. "Yes, our work exposes us to darkness constantly. It is not uncommon for Casters who do what we do to eventually become dark. In fact, that is the grim joke we all know and laugh at and fear: Dark or dead. It's one important reason why I do not want to do this anymore. I will protect you and work with the Team - because that is also protecting you. But, after that, I am done being an Enforcer. I am not dark but I have struggled with darkness and feared I was slipping into it. I'm sure that Casey has too. It's a version of the problems that mortal cops have when going undercover. It's easy to slip. The lie can become your truth. You can 'go native'. But for us, there is no way back.

"The night of our first date, when you saw me glowing, what you saw was me, but it was also already me under your influence. I am better with you, Chuck. At some level, I knew I was as soon as I touched your hand. I'm good here. Since I have been with you I no longer fear the dark as I once did. I do not feel like I am vanishing slowly into it, being slowly consumed by it, darkened by my own despair and loneliness."

Chuck took her in his arms and held her a long while. She kissed his neck repeatedly, thankful for him, and so in love with him.

"Do you have a shift at Lou's today?" Chuck asked quietly.

"No, what about you? Nerd herding today, or putting in time at the Curiosity Shop?"

"No, neither. So, I was thinking, how about we stay in bed this morning? Ellie and Devon both had early shifts. I heard them leave a while ago."

"So you want to sleep in?"

"I didn't say anything about sleeping."

"Jill's in a cell back in Cave, Chuck."

"Casey can take care of Jill."