A/N: This story stalled because I couldn't get my head around past missions that could be sent to Chuck to trial the Intersect capability. My beta, Captainrick944, ended up creating a scenario for me, but I still had to adapt it for use here, which wasn't that straight forward, so I kept putting it off for other stories. I finally got myself motivated and this is the result. Anything you don't like is going to be my fault.

So, thanks to Captainrick944 for the beta AND the scenario used. I really appreciate the help, my friend.

It's been a year since the last chapter came out, so some re-reading may be required.

Wake Up
Chapter 8: Past Mission

Sarah was still asleep when Chuck woke up. Fortunately, she was facing away from him, so all he had to do was lift his arm off her and slip out of bed. She didn't move at all. Obviously, their activities last night had tired her out. That brought a smile to his face.

He pulled on boxers, a T-shirt and some shorts, then headed out of the bedroom to make some coffee. There was no sign of Casey.

Chuck was keen to see if anything had arrived from General Beckman, so he accessed the file server that would receive it. There were two zip files. He accessed the email account they had given Beckman, and there was a message from her too.

He knew Sarah and Casey would want to see what the general had to say and also wouldn't want him getting started without them being present. However, accessing the email was necessary to find out what each zip file contained. He opened it.

The email basically said one file contained the details of an NSA case that had also been followed up by the CIA. This was closed, albeit unsolved, but he should use the data to draw his conclusions. A second file contained what both teams had found.

Chuck took the first zip file to load into the next download. Now he'd wait for Sarah and Casey before he did that, so he wandered into the kitchen and made coffee for them all. He was sure that the others would be through soon.

Casey was next to appear. He grabbed a coffee and sat opposite Chuck in the living room. "No Walker?"

"She's still asleep," Chuck replied.

"Worn her out?" Casey said sarcastically.

Chuck wasn't going to be embarrassed by the guy, so he looked at him and said, "Maybe, but she wore me out too. I'm surprised I could get up after last night."

Casey looked away, not comfortable with such discussions.

Chuck's bedroom door opened, and he saw Sarah nip across into the bathroom, so he went and poured her a coffee.

When he sat back down, Casey spoke up again. "I got a message from the general. She's sent you an unsolved case to assess. See if you can do better than the NSA and CIA analysts and the agents involved." He sounded doubtful that Chuck would get anywhere with it.

"I'll wait for Sarah before I start the download," Chuck replied.

"I'm here." Chuck turned to see her. She was wearing no makeup but looked as beautiful as ever. She smiled at his affectionate expression.

"It's ready to download," Chuck told her. "Something the NSA and CIA tried to solve and apparently couldn't. Does everyone want breakfast first?"

"Not unless you need it before you start," Sarah replied.

"Let's just get this done," Chuck stated and walked through to his computer with the Intersect app. As before, the other two stayed outside the room while the download occurred. Then, Chuck beckoned them in. Sarah handed him his coffee and some painkillers.

Chuck sat and took the painkillers with his coffee, thanking Sarah in the process.

He finally felt ready to talk. "So, a lot of military secrets from NATO headquarters were being leaked a year ago and then they stopped for a few months before they started again. None of our agencies, US or European, managed to work out what was happening."

"Get on with it. We already know that, Bartowski," Casey grumbled.

Chuck ignored him and said, "I'm not sure how long this will take. You might as well go back into the living room and wait. I'll come to you when I have something."

Casey nodded and was about to walk out, but Sarah said, "No. I'll stay with you in case the flashes cause problems." She sat in one of the spare chairs.

Casey didn't want to miss anything, so he sat in the other chair and folded his arms.

Chuck smiled at both of their reactions. "Ok, let's see if the Intersect download helps."

He started reading more of the notes supplied and flashed on a few people who were in this Intersect data. However, they didn't seem to be problems, and all were still in the same roles, so he ignored them for now.

He felt that he needed to focus on people who left around the time that the leaks stopped that first time.

He scanned the employment records around that time and found twenty that had stopped working at the NATO headquarters in the month the leaks stopped that first time. He'd worry about why it restarted three months later.

So, he felt he'd narrowed down the list of suspects.

He checked what the agencies and Interpol had recorded. It seemed that they thought the leaks had continued, but as they were less severe, they had just given up the hunt after two months.

He shook his head and dived back in, searching for any mention of these twenty people.

Three of them had died around the time of the last leak. That seemed significant, so he focused on those. It was when he was searching NATO's email servers, that he came across something unexpected.

He realized he was investigating as himself, not using the Intersect, so he directed the Intersect to do the search.

This search found a report submitted by a low-level analyst to his boss, raising a concern over the behavior of a Captain Jerome Blaufeld, a Belgian who was the secretary to the NATO Supreme Commander. The analyst had noted that behavior and pushed the report through the anonymous internal tip line, but it no followed up occurred.

Blaufeld was one of the three who had died. Chuck checked on the nature of his death and was shocked. The man had been caught in an explosion in the VIP area of an exclusive club. Twenty-eight others died too. There were no remains of the man, but he was reported to be near, if not at, the center of the blast.

The previous investigators had seized the CCTV footage from the club. Chuck checked that to see who Blaufeld had been with that night, and although he had arrived with a woman, she had left him shortly before the explosion. Chuck knew this was an important lead.

He checked the personal emails of the dead man, which highlighted a romantic relationship with a woman. Chuck needed to find this woman.

In the emails, he found Blaufeld had taken one photo of her and had it in a draft email but with an outgoing email address of irinal65329 . He took note of that.

Chuck opened the photo and flashed on the woman. She was supposed to be dead. A major in the FSB who had died in a train crash five years ago. Her name then was Major Nadya Stepanova. Obviously she no longer bore that name but seemed to have taken Irina instead.

He had no last name for her, and on checking the records of the agencies, they didn't either. They did have a large amount of data on her previously while she was in the FSB, and it was quite sickening to read. All agencies recorded her death in that train crash.

He checked further afield with no success. She no longer seemed to exist. This had to be significant.

Chuck dug further into Blaufeld's email. It seemed that he was spending large sums of money on presents for the woman, even buying her a car. He had registered the white Porsche 911 in the name of Irina Leonovich.

Chuck paused briefly. He hadn't bought Sarah anything yet. He wanted to address that. She deserved to be showered with presents.

He refocused on the case and wondered if Blaufeld was drawing attention to this woman and if that had caused the need to eliminate him.

Her emails to him were always terse. "See you tonight." "Tonight, at Reno's."

Chuck wondered why she had sent any as emails, although none of these were incriminating, in themselves.

Chuck knew there had been minor leaks since Blaufeld died and wondered if Irina had been involved there too, but for now, he should review this with Sarah and Casey.

He sat back and thought about what he had found and more particularly what the Intersect had found.

Delving into the data and finding that report on Blaufeld was definitely something the Intersect had found. It was possible that with plenty of time and effort, he could have found that himself, but not almost instantly as the Intersect had. Flashing on the woman was definitely an Intersect thing. Most of the rest of the discoveries were him following the leads and his determination to follow this through.

He looked up at the two that were waiting for him to say anything. Neither had looked at the computer while he worked. Casey looked bored. Sarah looked concerned. That wonderful woman really cared about him. It gave him a warm feeling in his chest.

He nodded to them.

"Well?" Casey grunted.

"I've worked out what happened, and I think what you two know can take this further," Chuck replied. "But I need to get my head clear before going through it with you." He stood and walked into the living room, and slumped down on the couch. Sarah rushed to get him a coffee.

Chuck rested for a half hour. Once he had the energy to talk, he led them back to the computer and told the two agents what he had found.

"I've crossed paths with Stepanova before," Sarah said. "I thought she died in a car chase."

Chuck showed her Irina's photo. Sarah studied it. "Yeah. I recognize her features. She used to have short red hair rather than this long blonde style, but it is definitely her." Chuck pulled up the last known photo of the major, and she did indeed have short red hair.

"I guess she didn't run off the road as I'd thought," Sarah said.

"You were chasing her?" Chuck asked.

Sarah nodded.

"Seems she is a cat with nine lives. All the agencies have her recorded as killed in a train crash," Chuck told them.

Chuck explained what he'd found by digging deeper than the other analysts had.

"Stepanova always seduced men to get what she wanted from them. She also left very little evidence, eliminating the men after," Sarah told them. "She didn't just use men. Some women were seduced as well. She won't have stopped with that one man. She will find another."

Chuck had thought about those other leaks before and nodded. He turned back to the computer. As a long shot, he checked footage from NATO security cameras showing the area near the entrances and exits to headquarters, in case she showed up. Sure enough, there was someone else she met

Checking the records found this man to be Stein Beekhof, a Dutch analyst who worked in a team under the Supreme NATO Commander. However, he had died two months ago in a car accident when his sister brought her husband and their son to visit him. Beekhof's car had driven off the road on one of the alpine passes, killing them all. Chuck found the death of innocents even more upsetting than the corrupt analyst.

Chuck obviously suspected foul play. Was the information Beekhof provided deemed insubstantial, and so he was eliminated?

The other two were looking over his shoulder. Sarah said, "After eliminating Beekhof, she will have found another source."

"We need to assess what Beekhof supplied, too," Casey stated.

More facial recognition scanning showed Irina's latest victim, another analyst, this time from Greece, Alexander Christakos. He was a married man, so Chuck wasn't surprised that he only saw Irina arrive for him once, but when he tracked the man on leaving the headquarters, although he usually drove to his home, he often drove to a city parking lot and left in a white Porsche, the driver being Irina.

This man was still alive, so he had either not yet started providing information, or it had yet to prove its worth.

"We need to follow up on the Greek and what he's leaked," Casey said.

"And we need to stop Stepanova as she's still active there. She needs to be captured," Sarah said.

"Who the hell is she working for?" Casey growled. Chuck looked blankly at him. Casey explained. "She wouldn't be doing this on her own."

"Casey's right," Sarah said. "Someone is pulling her strings."

"I think I might be able to find out," Chuck said and turned back to the computer.

He checked the email server she used. That proved interesting. The servers were well isolated. But Chuck used his hacking skills to investigate further. This showed the ownership of the servers was with a media company owned by Volkoff Enterprises.

He checked to see if Irina sent emails to other accounts here and found most went out to an external account, which he would have to follow up on separately. However, checking other accounts here that received emails from that external account, he found several. He delved into some of these. Interestingly, these were in the Intersect data supplied, so he flashed. What he found was associated with a number of other terrorist acts across Europe and Asia. Whether these were a result of what Irina Leonovich had provided or not wasn't clear. What he also found associated with activity in the Philippines was very worrying.

Chuck got out of the server, turned to the others and told them what he found. Both were shocked.

"So, she's linked with Volkoff now?" Casey asked.

Chuck nodded. "I don't know anything about him other than what was sent here."

"Nasty piece of work," Casey replied. "But, as you've just found, nastier than we thought.".

"We definitely need to get this to the general," Sarah said.

Casey grunted and set up the call.

Beckman was surprised to get a call so quickly but sat back to listen. From what Sarah observed, what the woman heard took her breath away. She tried to hide it, but it was clear that she hadn't expected Chuck to succeed or do so as quickly as had happened.

"So, the Intersect enabled me to make the data point connections from the data supplied. That alone did not solve the problem. It took myself, with Agent Walker and Major Casey to connect the dots and draw the missing conclusions."

Sarah felt the need to air her thoughts. "Chuck's deductive powers are significant in themselves. We couldn't have made all those connections without him."

"And I also needed Agent Walker's knowledge to fill in the gaps and direct what else I should do," Chuck said. He looked at the NSA man with them and couldn't resist saying, "Even Casey chipped in."

Casey growled at him.

"What I'm saying," Chuck concluded. "Is that the Intersect added a lot of information very quickly and consolidated it, but the interpretation of the information is still required from more than one person."

"It's still teamwork that gets the results," Sarah said,

Beckman then spoke, "Still, between you, whoever contributed most on top of the Intersect doing its work, you uncovered the linkage that the NSA's and the CIA's best and brightest analysts had not been able to do in over a year of investigation."

"General, In addition to solving the original problem, the Intersect also highlighted another," Chuck told her.

"That seemed more worrying, General," Casey said.

"There seemed to be another set of emails associated with Volkoff making reference to a research lab in the Philippines, where certain particularly dangerous pathogens were being evaluated for weaponization," Sarah stated.

Beckman frowned. "Our people have picked up noise about a possible plot to steal weaponized bio agents, but nothing that could be seen as actionable intelligence. This discovery of the link to Volkoff gives us the first tangible evidence of who was the likely mastermind of these seemingly unrelated global events."

She pondered that for a moment before focusing back on them. "It seems that what you are doing, Mr. Bartowski is worth pursuing further. That really ought to be in an NSA lab."

Sarah caught her eye flickering toward Casey and back. 'Is she suggesting he try again to take Chuck?' she thought.

"However, you should continue there for now," the general finished.

"I am not leaving here and will only do this around my own work," Chuck stated once again.

The general pursed her lips but said nothing. She ended the call.

Sarah immediately turned to Casey. "What was that look she gave you?"

He sighed. "You noticed that?"

She nodded.

"Nothing gets past her," Chuck said.

"Well, you probably guessed she wants me to try again," Casey said. He then held up his hands as she started to move aggressively toward him. "I'm not going to try. I've seen what Bartowski has here, a better setup than the NSA has themselves. He'll achieve more here in the time he allocates than he would there."

Chuck nodded.

"I'll explain it to her again," Casey added.

Sarah didn't like leaving it like that. She wasn't sure she could trust Casey. Hell, she was pretty sure she couldn't, but she needed to let him try. "So, you do that in my presence again, without Beckman knowing."

Casey sighed again. He knew this would be the case and nodded.

Chuck set up the call and a camera to record Casey's expressions, along with recording Beckman on the computer.

Casey did as he'd indicated, saying that Chuck should continue to work in Los Angeles.

"I hear what you're saying Casey, and our analysts that went out there agree," Beckman said. She sighed. "Much to my dissatisfaction. That leaves you there working with him and Walker." She sat silently for a few moments. Then, she said, "We need to find a way for you to manage Walker."

Casey's expression didn't change. "Ma'am, she's quite formidable. She disabled the whole team."

"Oh, I don't mean with violence. You need to make her think you're on her side. Trick her while getting Bartowski to do what we want."

His face remained stoic. "I see," he replied.

"Her dissatisfaction with Graham will help," Beckman said. She sat for a moment longer, then said, "Let me think on this," She ended the call at her end.

Casey shook his head. "She has no idea. No concept of reality."

It was the first time Sarah had heard him say anything negative about his boss. "Not fooling me, Casey. I know you worship the ground she walks on." She struggled to keep the smirk off of her face.

He frowned. "Believe it or not, I know she's far from perfect. However, once she's made a decision, it's very hard for her to change."

"All this means is that she's eroded any trust between us," Sarah told him.

He nodded. "That's fair." He started to turn away but stopped and looked at Chuck. "She'll send more data for analysis, wanting more from your Intersect. You know that, don't you?"

Chuck nodded. "I'm expecting it. Yes."

After a couple of seconds, Sarah reluctantly agreed too.

A/N: So, the Intersect has proved useful, as have Chuck and Sarah, but Beckman is still being Beckman.

Not sure when the next chapter will get published. I find the Intersect tasks hard to come up with. Hopefully it won't be another year's wait.