Ah, hectic week. Just started my senior year so I might get busy from time to time, but I'll try to update once a week. I had, in the words of my favorite captain, an AWESOME birthday on wednesday, which coincided with the first day of school but fun nevertheless. I hope you all had a great week and thanks for reading.

Note: I do not own Chuck, but I do own the new Entertainment Weekly that came out with a small article about Chuck.

Chuck Versus The Download

5 September 2003

0800 Hours

CIA Training Complex

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

"Bartowski!" Watching the recruit's impressive footwork compared to Chuck's idle form was beginning to irritate Forrest. She made her way towards him and growled. "You are NOT a tree. What in the hell are you doing?"

It was even more infuriatingwhen his response was a shrug and an indistinct smile that her trained eyes recognized. After growling once more, she blew her whistle and shouted, "Begin!"

His opponent circled around him; his face was held serious, but his eyes were filled with self-assurance that he was going to win the match. Feigning a left jab, his opponent switched his position to ready himself for the left roundhouse kick he was going to deliver against Chuck's right side.

Not going to happen, buddy. Chuck moved to his left as the kick was sent his way and firmly seized his opponent's left ankle, pulling it towards him. In addition to the force he applied to pull his opponent close, Chuck rushed forward with his right elbow up, causing his opponent to fall back upon impact.

Forrest checked for certain that the recruit was incapacitated before she blew the whistle. "23.8 seconds. Getting slow, Bartowski?" She tossed him a towel after she recorded the time. It was impressive to her actually; though she would never admit it. Bartowski had been sparring nonstop for the past two hours. His endurance has greatly increased.

"Just got a little tired." Chuck yawned, not from drowsiness, but as his body's way of obtaining more oxygen. Learned that from something I read, he thought. He looked at the unconscious recruit he had sparred with a moment ago. He kinda looks like Bryce. Shaking his head to rid himself of thoughts of his so-called friend, Chuck excused himself to get ready for his next course. The glamorous life of a soon-to-be spy, he chuckled to himself.

17 September 2003

1200 Hours

CIA/NSA Facility

Outskirts of Washington D.C.

"So, what are we doing here?" Chuck asked, surveying the area without physically turning his head blatantly around like he would have before he received the proper training on how to remain covert. He sat in the passenger's seat as Agent Forrest halted the car to show her credentials to the security. Note: Lots and lots of security around here. Must be important. Chuck also took notice to the amount of security cameras that were well-hidden. No blind spots. The CIA/NSA Facility appeared to be like any other business complex in the area. Minus the stationed CIA and NSA agents around the area. At least they're inconspicuous about it.

"This is the one last major 'test' you will be receiving amongst the small ones I have given you at Langley." Agent Forrest scanned the parking lot for any space. Why is it always so packed? Frowning, she parked the car in front the facility's entrance. To hell with it.

"Ma'am, you canno-" One of the agents posted at the front started to say before Forrest promptly pulled the trigger of her tranq gun; she returned it back to its place in the inside of her pants' waistband. The agent immediately crumpled to the ground.

Chuck watched as Agent Forrest grunted as she made her way inside; he followed her after he passingly apologized to the other agent posted at the door for his mentor's lack of restraint with tranquilizing people who got in her way. "Necessary?"

"Absolutely." Forrest strode through the lobby, passing by the agent disguised as a receptionist. Stepping inside the elevator, she hit the button for the fifth floor. I hate elevators, she growled in her head.

Chuck observed as her posture became even more upright than before as she stood in one of the corners of the elevator. Her fists were clenched and her breathing was uneven despite her barely evident attempts to regulate it. Is she hyperventilating? "Are.. are you okay?"

Forrest rigidly nodded as she began despising how well she had taught Bartowski that now he was able to detect a minimal irregularity in her behavior.

Fear of elevators? I guess even tough spies have weaknesses. He smiled politely at Agent Forrest. "No worries. We're almost there." He then began to hum quietly in hopes of dispelling his superior's anxiety.

Chuck almost laughed when he saw the relief overcome Forrest's face when they arrived at their floor. He bit his lower lip to prevent himself from doing so. That was interesting.

She growled in her head when she heard Bartowski try to control himself; walking up to the key pad beside the only door at the end of the hallway, she typed in the passcode, which activated the door to slide open. "Let's go."

Chuck followed Agent Forrest inside the all-white room that was covered in what looked like white panels on the ceiling, walls, and floor. He noticed Graham standing with his always stiff, erect posture along with three other agents beside him on his right. To Graham's left, he saw a platform with a computer built in.

Graham tapped a button on the platform's computer, triggering the door Bartowski and Forrest used to close securely. "I want this done as soon as possible. Everyone except Bartowski, protective glasses on."

After Graham entered the password, the room turned pitch black prior to a flood of thousands of alternating pictures and videos with some brief pauses and static began to display on the white panels that covered the entire room. Chuck's eyes slightly crossed while his head bobbed up and down to some extent as looked at the many screens; his body stiffened as his subconscious absorbed all the information.

Less than ten minutes had passed when Chuck started breathing deeply and clutched Agent Forrest for support. He blinked his eyes a few more times before he realized that he was leaning most of his weight on Forrest. "Oh. Sorry."

Forrest nodded and let go of Bartowski when he was stable on his own two feet. She turned to Graham to find a rare smile on his face. Turning back to Chuck, her eyes widened when she saw what she knew to be a flash. The others paid it no mind as a result to how subtle it had become from all the practice; only she noticed it from the slight clenching of his jaw and mild squinting of his eyes accompanied by a hardly perceptible flaring of his nostrils.

Knowing that his mentor noticed his flash, he made a small gesture towards the three other agents beside Graham. Forrest reacted by whipping out her tranq gun and firing three consecutive shots. The agents all fell to the ground in response to the strong sedative quickly working through their systems.

What in the world? Graham looked from the collapsed agents who were his security detail to Agent Forrest smirking proudly at her work to Chuck commenting about her sharp shooting. "Would you care to explain?"

"Ah, right. Those.. er, three were… Well, their records said they were dead. I knew something was wrong so.." He nodded towards Forrest, who started checking anything suspicious on the unconscious' person.

"Did you flash?" Graham kept his eyes on Bartowski, pondering why he did not notice anything signaling a flash.

"He did, sir." Forrest responded for Chuck while she moved on to inspect the next body. "Per your request, I made sure Bartowski's flash was nearly impercepti…. Bomb! We need to go. Now."

Oh, no. Chuck's eyes focused on the bomb strapped to one of the unconscious' chest that laid bare from Forrest's search. The amount of time given was decreasing. 60, 59, 58, 57…. He chased Graham and Forrest out of the room; looking around, he spotted the red latch with 'fire alarm' etched in white on top. Chuck pulled the handle, initiating a loud siren to play throughout the facility and the sprinklers to go off.

He began to run down the first flight of stairs when he felt the place rumble similar to what a large earthquake would feel like. Holding onto the railings as he made his way down, he couldn't help but laugh when he heard Forrest threatening him from below to hurry up or she'll kill him herself if the bomb hadn't already. Aw, she's worried.

Making his way out of the facility, Graham took his phone out to commence making several calls: first one was to his superior, the Director of the CIA; second was to Assistant Director Beckman of the NSA; the third was to his wife for he knew he had a lot of paperwork ahead of him and he would not return home that night. Bartowski is now the only Intersect. The Human Intersect.

"Bartowski, here." Agent Forrest tossed him a towel to dry off with once he had emerged from the facility. "Good work. Setting off the fire alarm. You saved the agents in floors above." She stood there for an awkward second before Bartowski asked her a question.

"I was wondering. Can I go back to LA for a while? Training is over right?" He looked at Forrest, hoping she'd allow it. "I mean, at least for a day? It's my birthday tomorrow and my sister will kill me if I'm not there to celebrate it." Please, please say okay.

Graham walked over to Bartowski and Forrest; he joined in time to hear the simple request. "You can go back to Los Angeles for a day." He noticed the wide smile on Bartowski's face. Quite easy to please. "Forrest will have to join you though. Perhaps along with a team for protection detail and back up. I can't have the only Intersect being vulnerable." He looked as Chuck agreed to the terms while Forrest gave a curt nod.

September 18, 2003

9:00 AM

Casa de Bartowski

Echo Park, Los Angeles, California

Ellie sighed, her thoughts were on her little brother more than usual that morning. It was all because it was his birthday and he was not there to celebrate it. He did not even give her a way to contact him. She made herself comfortable on the couch seeing as that she found nothing better to do than to read a book.

"Oh. Heya, Ellie." A voice came from the hallway followed by the fridge's door being opened. "Whoa, you made chocolate cupcakes! Nice."

Ellie immediately got up from the couch and made headway towards the kitchen. "Morgan!" She watched in disgust as he stuffed his mouth with an entire cupcake while some crumbs fell into his beard. He was wearing his Buymore green shirt with his messenger bag slung on.

"Looking great as always, El." Morgan complimented through a mouthful. Glancing around, he asked. "Where's Awesome?"

"He'll be coming home soon. Why?" She had taken away the container filled with cupcakes, but Morgan had managed to snatch one more away. Ellie stood in front of the fridge to prevent more food from being eaten by the short bearded man.

Finishing the cupcake he had swiped, Morgan shrugged. "I wanted to thank him for taking a look at this strang-"

Ellie interrupted with a wave of her hand. She shuddered at the thought. "On second thought, I don't want to know."

They both turned their heads toward the door when they heard someone knock. Frowning since she was going to leave fridge vulnerable to a Morgan attack, she nonetheless went to answer whoever knocked.

Ellie gasped before she squealed in happiness as she threw her arms around her brother. "Chuck!" That happiness instantly turned into anger, eliciting her to cross her arms and use her signature glare that has always made her brother confess. "Where have you been? Why haven't you called?"

Chuck gave her the trademark Bartowski smile. "Um, I got a job." Well, I'm being honest.

Caught off-guard, it took a second for Ellie to react. "You got a job?" She returned to him her own version of the Bartowski smile. "What do you do?"

"He works as an intermediary in place of our boss during business negotiations." Ellie looked over her little brother's shoulder to find a blonde woman with a serious face answer her question. "Mr. Bartowski supervises the technology department as well. We work for LEOS Inc."

"It's, uh, security company." Chuck included, moving aside so Forrest wouldn't have to talk over his shoulder. "This is-"

"Alexandra Forrest. I go by Forrest." The agent gave her best smile to the older Bartowski while she held out her hand.

"I'm Ellie." She smiled back, taking Forrest's hand and giving it a shake. "So what do you do, Forrest?"

"I manage the finances and –"

"Chuck! Old buddy, old pal!" Morgan greeted, his arms outstretched with one hand holding another cupcake. Chuck noticed the smudge of chocolate icing on the corner of his best friend's mouth.

"Ah. Hey there, Morgan." He gasped as his lifelong friend squeezed him tightly. "Not so tight, buddy." He felt something brush against the back of his shirt. "Morgan?"

Morgan released Chuck from his tight squeeze before he took notice of the icing that was missing from his cupcake. He went to look behind Chuck and found the icing smeared on his hetero-life mate's back. "Oh, geez. Sorry, Chuck. I got some icing on your shirt."

"I'm going to change then." Chuck shook his head and smiled as he headed to the guest room. "It wouldn't be home without you, Morgan."

"Why, thank you." Morgan smiled as a sense of pride overcame him.

Ellie frowned at the exchange between her brother and his best friend. This is why he doesn't leave. Remembering that she was discussing Chuck's new career, she turned back to Forrest whose attention was diverted by Morgan's eating habits. "Morgan, go check on Chuck."

Saluting, Morgan nodded. "Gotcha!" He scampered off to go after his friend into his room, where the Morgan Door, the window in Chuck's room, was coincidentally located; his way in and out of Casa de Bartowski. "Chuck, Ellie wanted me to check on… Whoa, dude!" He took some time to actually study his friend. The guy has been working OUT! Chuck had been lanky before, but now he filled his lean form better; his muscles were much more defined than when he had last seen his friend. "Been hitting the gym?" He poked at Chuck's stomach carefully as if his friend's abs would bite him.

"Uh, yeah. Kinda." Chuck slapped Morgan's hand away before he pulled a shirt on as he tried to think of something to prevent the uncomfortable silence from growing longer. "Part of the job."

"Nice, nice." The shorter man stroked his beard, meditating about getting his friend to let him in on the work out secret. Chuck must get all the ladies now… "So are you dating that girl you brought with you?"

Chuck's eyes grew wide, "Wh-what in the - No, Morgan. She's like a partner."

"Oh, so like a lover?" His friend nodded in understanding. "Wouldn't blame you. She's hot!"

Taking a deep breath, he shook his head as Morgan emphasized the last word. "I'm serious. She's a coworker, nothing more." He didn't see Forrest that way at all. She was his mentor and friend. Like a blonde version of Ellie. Except angrier, loves Lean Pockets, and has a tendency to shoot things in her way. Chuck nodded inwardly, knowing his observation was spot-on.

Thanks for reading! As always, please review and tell me your thoughts. I need ideas please!