A/N: Man, I think I set an impossible task and then you guys go and fly past 60 reviews like it's nothing. You are all awesome. But SLWF is awesomer because she beta-d this for me. So, this is the last chapter before I leave, as I'm getting on a coach in about 4 hours to take me to Paris. Yay!

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It was still early in what more or less qualified for morning, but even in late summer, when the nights were relatively short, there was still no light save for the streetlights creeping through the crack in the curtains. Sarah was awake however; the alarm had roused her, yet not her still slumbering fiancé. That hardly seemed fair to Sarah.

"Chuck, get up!" said Sarah, shaking him and getting out of bed.

"Huh? Come back to bed, sweetie," groaned Chuck as he bemoaned the loss of contact with his future wife.

"We have to get up. The training starts today, remember?" responded Sarah, and she noted the way that Chuck's eyes widened in shock. He had obviously forgotten about the training completely. Although, thought Sarah, maybe I should have gone a little easier on him last night, but it was so worth it. She smiled at the way Chuck tried to cover up his confusion.

"But it's still dark out! I'm not even sure there's a time you can call this. It's not night, because you've just woke me up, but it can't be morning because it's still dark. Maybe we should sleep until things become more defined...yeah...sleep," said Chuck, rolling over and closing his eyes once more as he tried to recapture the elusive sleep once more.

"Dammit, Chuck! You need to get up! Don't make me get violent!" shouted Sarah.

"Ice-cream violent?" asked Chuck playfully.

"Damn straight!" said Sarah with a laugh. "Now get your scrawny ass out of bed before I have to explain to the C.O. why one of his recruits has a broken finger."

"What? No threats to the crotch this time?"

"No, that's the one part of you that is somewhat useful in the morning. We may be able to take advantage of that in the shower if you get mov-"said Sarah before she was cut off by Chuck running past her.

Sarah had never seen Chuck move so fast. Not even when he was being chased by the "bad guy of the week", as Chuck had coined it, had he shown the type of acceleration that had just been put on display. Why didn't I try that route first? It would have saved a lot of effort, thought Sarah ruefully, before calmly moving to join Chuck in the shower; she wanted to at least show some measure of control, even if she was just as excited as Chuck for their early morning "warm up" to get them ready for the gruelling day ahead.

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She had to laugh at the way Chuck had managed to shed all of his clothes, get the shower running and organise all of the various grooming products Sarah used in the few seconds he had actually been in the bathroom.

"Wow, Chuck. You really want this, don't you?" laughed Sarah. Chuck just shrugged as if to say, well, duh!

"Then how about this? You remember that reward we talked about if you do well in training?"-Chuck nodded vigorously- "Well I think that I should probably give you a teaser of that so you know what to expect, don't you?"

She didn't get another word out as Chuck almost lunged for her, meeting her mouth with a loving yet passionate kiss. She coyly pushed him into the shower before slipping out of her nightwear. It was certainly an ego boost to note the way Chuck's jaw dropped every time he saw her. Sarah didn't want to dwell on what it would be like around six months down the line. It would only cause tears in her fragile emotional state caused indirectly by the little piece of life slowly growing inside her. There, nice happy thoughts, and no tears, thought Sarah to herself.

It was then Chuck's turn to be surprised by the ferocity of Sarah's romantic assault on his senses. He was actually forced to back up slightly to maintain his balance, and as he and Sarah pressed themselves together their movements resembled a dance somewhat, as their passions carried them around the surprisingly large shower cubicle. Almost as if the contractors designed it for this, mused Chuck in one of his rare lucid moments when he wasn't madly kissing, being madly kissed or struggling to get his breath back after a particularly long kiss.

Despite Sarah's best intentions, they were probably going to be very late if things carried on the way they were going.

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As it turned out, they weren't that late. This was mostly down to Sarah's ingenious idea to get everything sorted out before they got on with the night's activities the night before, so even though they barely had time to grab a couple of cereal bars on the way out of the door, they were just about in time to latch onto the end of the line of recruits heading towards the assembly area. Both of them breathed a small sigh of relief; it wouldn't be a good start to their new careers by being late to the first day of training, especially as they were essentially on probation due to the circumstances surrounding their entry to the agency.

The instructors were waiting at the other end of the asphalt assembly area in their military fatigues. Their faces were covered in camo paint so it was difficult to make out their features, but one of them certainly looked familiar to both Chuck and Sarah, but he wasn't looking in their direction so they couldn't be sure. Sarah did have a brief moment of alarm when she saw the US Marine Corps markings on the instructors arm, but she realised that the only Marines she'd ever worked with had been the PT instructors at the Farm. Maybe that's why he looks familiar, she reasoned, trying to calm herself; There aren't any other Marines I've ever met that I remember.

Chuck was a bit too preoccupied with focusing on making it through the day to let his gaze linger on the familiar instructor. He was admittedly a lot less tense after the morning's activities, but he still wasn't looking forward to what lay ahead. He thought it was probably going to come down to saying a small prayer that his injuries didn't end up being too debilitating.

"Recruits!" shouted what seemed to be the head instructor. He had a nametag which read "Hockenberry" on his left breast pocket of his fatigues, but there were no other markings with which to identify him save the distinctive badge of the Special Air Service. "Here in the S.A.S we have a motto: 'Who dares, wins'. That means you put in your best effort! If I see anyone come back from this little introduction without a ton of sweat pouring off them then that unfortunate person will know the true meaning of work! We'll continue the pleasantries once you're all nice and warmed up. Once round the base, follow Captain Mainwaring so you don't go wandering off in the wrong direction. Off you go then, don't just stand there! Move!"

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The recruits, most of them with military backgrounds, reacted without thinking and took off after the captain, who had already disappeared around the corner of the assembly area. Sarah followed after a split second; she had been lost in trying to figure out who the mystery instructor was. She grabbed Chuck to get him moving too, as it wouldn't be very good for him to stand out. Sarah had enough experience with this sort of thing to know that standing out was never a good thing. It was far better to just mould into the crowd of recruits.

"Sarah," hissed Chuck as they rounded the corner. "How far is it round the base?"

"About two and a half miles, I think. That is, if we only go around the recruit part of the base. You know, barracks and quartermaster's offices and stuff like that."

"Two and a half miles?! Sarah, I can't do that!"

"You can, Chuck. I'll help you through it. Just trust me; it'll be over before you know it."

"Man, I wish I could flash and get a ton of physical skills instead of data. That'd be so much more useful," grumbled Chuck.

"I wouldn't want that to happen. You wouldn't need me to protect you then, Chuck. I'd be so worried for you."

"Ah come on now, I'd still be the same bumbling nerd inside. I'd just know kung-fu instead of something useless like how much sauce the President puts on his fries."

"I can't imagine you doing kung-fu, Chuck. You'd have your own style of it, like you usually do."

"You mean like, Chuck-fu?"

"Exactly like that. Besides, you're doing fine anyway. Just concentrate on getting a breathing rhythm going and you'll make it to the end of this."

"You know, you could just go with your capabilities and catch up with the front-runners. I'll be fine here, just plodding along."

"I'm not leaving you here, Chuck. This'll be easier for you if you have someone next to you to help."

"I thought you might get a kick out of beating a bunch of tough macho guys at their own game. Must be pretty embarrassing for them to get their asses kicked by a pregnant woman."

"I'm not that pregnant at the moment."

Chuck laughed slightly at how that sounded, but he figured out fairly quickly that he should probably just concentrate on the breathing side of things.

"Not that pregnant? How the hell does that work?" he said incredulously.

"It means I'm pregnant enough to kick your ass for making fun of me, but not too pregnant that you can outrun me," said Sarah dangerously.

"I can try!" shouted Chuck before he sped up, leaving an amused Sarah in his wake.

Oh, boy. He's going to regret that one in a few hundred yards, she thought, shaking her head at her fiancé's naïveté when it came to physical exertion. He had gotten better through necessity since he had received that email on his birthday, but he was still nowhere near an agent's standards. Sarah had an idea to get him through the remaining mile or so on pure adrenaline if it looked like he was flagging a little.

A couple of hundred yards down the road it looked like Chuck was experiencing the regret at performing that lung-bursting run. That was when Sarah put her plan into action, as some analyst at the CIA had figured out that when startled, the human body could produce enough adrenaline to produce the required responses to simulate normal aerobic respiration for a short time. It was all part of the natural instinct to escape unexpected predators; a role Sarah was about to play. She accelerated past a couple of surprised runners until she was about five metres behind Chuck, and then she made her move.

"Chuck! Get back here! Is this what you're gonna do when we're married? Leave me behind because it suits you? Is it?! Because if it is, I take back what I said this morning about the incentive system! You're gonna be on the couch for a loooong time, mister!"

This shock had the desired effect on Chuck, as the adrenaline flooding his system when his ears picked up Sarah's dulcet tones, and his animalistic instincts basically went AAH!!! Crazy person, 6 o'clock! Get the hell out of here! meant that he suddenly found a burst of energy that carried him through to the end of the run, where he almost collapsed in exhaustion as he paid back the oxygen debt he had run up. He stayed standing however, as he knew his day was just beginning. If that was the warm up though, this was going to be a whole new level of hell, usually reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre.

Sarah walked next to him, breathing a little heavily, but otherwise not too much the worse for wear. She had an amused twinkle in her eye as Chuck put the pieces together in his mind.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" he accused playfully.

"Did what?" said Sarah innocently, batting her eyelashes at him.

"You know what; you saw I was struggling so you scared the bejeezus out of me so I would carry on. Thanks for that, by the way. I wouldn't have made it through that run without your help."

"Hey, if you ever need a crazy person to motivate you, I'm your girl."

"Damn straight you are," said Chuck with a smile.

"Always," was Sarah's one word answer.

They shared a small kiss before the instructor seemed to notice them and decided break time was over.

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"Okay, recruits! Get your arses over here and in line now! That means you two aswell, lovebirds!" he finished, addressing Chuck and Sarah, who broke apart guiltily and joined onto the end of the line.

"Now, I'd like to introduce you to your training cadre. If you don't hate them by the end of this, they haven't done their jobs properly. You will follow everything they say to the letter! You do not call them by rank, only by 'sir' or 'Instructor'. Am I understood? Or do you idiots need it broken down into smaller words?"

"Understood, sir!" shouted the recruits. Hockenberry picked up on the distinctive accents of Chuck and Sarah, and moved along to them in the line.

"Ah, looks like we have a couple of Yanks with us this time. You're not gonna get homesick are you? I hope not! I'm being paid a lot of money to drag all of your sorry, pathetic excuses for bodies through this course and I'm gonna do it if it kills me. I will not have that jeopardised by some homesick little boy who cries for his mother. Are you going to cry for your mother?"

"No sir!" shouted Chuck. He was right too; what would be the point in shouting for his mother? He might shout for Sarah on occasion, but she was in some sort of position to help.

"Well I don't believe you, little boy. You and your little girlfriend might seem happy now, but when I'm through with you you'll be wishing you were back home! Now," he began, addressing the group as a whole. "Based on results from the NSA training camp at Quantico, we will be assigning a pair of recruits to each member of the training cadre as a mentor arrangement. It seemed to work for them, so I don't see why it won't for us. To facilitate the smooth implementation of this, the NSA have kindly sent along their head of training at Quantico. Allow me to introduce Major John Casey, US Marine Corps."

"Oh crap," was uttered at the same time by both Chuck and Sarah.

"Do you two have a problem with Major Casey?" asked Hockenberry. The people his voice was directed at caused Casey to turn and see who Hockenberry was looking at. What met him was completely unexpected.

"What the hell are you two doing here?!" he shouted, causing several of the recruits to recoil in shock.

"Do you know these two, Major?" asked Hockenberry.

"You could say that. I'm gonna need to have a little private talk with the two of them. Permission to remove them, sir?"

"Granted."

Chuck and Sarah looked at each other with trepidation, but they had no choice but to follow. They grasped each other's hand for support and stood close together as they followed Casey to the corner of the assembly area.

"You two have precisely one second to explain what in Reagan's name is going on here before I complete my final NSA assignment set by General Beckman. I think you know what that is," said Casey meanacingly.

"Meep," was all that came out of Chuck's mouth, so Sarah had to take on the mantle.

"Well, Casey. I guess I should start explaining then..."

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A/N: That's all I have time to write before I leave, but we'll dive straight into the main bulk of the story when I get back. I can't blackmail you into reviewing anymore, so I'll try a different tack. You want to review. You want to press the green button and tell me your thoughts on the chapter.

See you in a couple of weeks,

Kroblues.