A/N Happy New Year all! Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows. They encourage procrastination to the extreme and make this study-aholics day! Apologies, this is still un-betaed, but I do proof it several times before posting. Any corrections are appreciated! I won't bore you anymore since I left you with a cliffy, but do check out the A/N at the end. I could use your input on how you would like the story to end! And without further ado…

Recap: Suddenly, something clicked in Chuck's head. "Alex, why didn't you drink the beer Morgan bought you?"

Alex shrugged. "Some obnoxious lady knocked it out of my hand. She gave me a new one, though, so it was okay."

Chuck paled visibly. "Do you have a headache, too?" he asked.

"Umm yea, I guess you could call it that. More like disoriented than a headache." She tilted her head to think, realization flooding her, too. "Were we drugged?" she asked, hesitantly.

Chuck tried to nod his head, wincing in pain. "I think so. I don't know why someone would go through that much effort get us here." He looked around, seeing a camera in the corner. "Hello?" he talked towards it. "Why are we here?"

A voice startled the two. "I can tell you that," as a man stood walked out of the bathroom, nervously pushing his classes up onto his face.

"Dad?" Chuck asked.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Chuck asked, his concussed head making it feel as though he were talking to an extraterrestrial being.

"Well, I live here," was his dad's cryptic answer.

Chuck heavily blinked. Was he delusional now, too? He glanced over at Alex. She seemed to be seeing the same thing he was.

"I'm sorry, what does that mean?" Chuck answered.

"I was being watched in my old house, so I moved to this nice, out of the way, one-room apartment. Unfortunately, they followed me here and have kept me locked up. They treat me fairly well. They even knock and leave food outside my door. It's... quaint," he finished, unsure how to end the last bit of his explanation.

"Who's 'they,' Mr. Bartowski?" Alex asked.

"Who are you?" he asked in return.

Chuck sighed, this was going nowhere. "Dad, this is Alex. Do you remember Morgan?" His dad nodded yes. "She's his girlfriend."

"Wow, I never thought Morgan would find someone as pretty as you." Alex blushed. Stephen continued, "Did you come to visit me?"

Chuck was concerned, his Dad didn't seem to be completely with it. Either that, or his concussion was making it impossible for him to understand his dad. Wait, maybe this was a bad dream. He pinched himself, muttered, "Ow," and then looked up to see Alex and his dad looking at him strangely.

Trying to cover from his moment, Chuck responded, "No, Dad. We don't know why we're here. That's why we're asking you. Where are we? And why can't we leave this room?"

"Why, Chuck, I can leave," his dad replied. "I don't know why I would, though. They're keeping me safe from the government."

"Who's they?" Alex asked again, getting a little impatient.

"SPI, of course," he replied, as if that explained everything. He gave Chuck a sideways glance, making sure he had caught his son's eye, and then glanced to the visible camera in the corner.

Chuck's eyes widened, finally understanding the cryptic answers. Trying to phrase a question his dad could actually answer, Chuck asked, "So how long have your friends been housing you? It's awfully kind of them to take care of you. I know how treacherous the government can be."

Alex looked at Chuck as if he had lost his mind. Shaking his head slightly at her, and then at the camera, he hoped that she would understand his subtle gesture. "Chuck are you okay?" she asked, obviously concerned he wasn't if the rate she was biting her lips was anything to go by.

Chuck could have hit his head against the wall. Clearly, she didn't understand what he had been trying to convey.

Still concerned, Alex asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Chuck looked at her fingers carefully. "I want to say that the answer is two, but it looks like four." Alex looked like she was about to lose the little composure she had left. Trying to smooth over his concussion, Chuck said, "Alex, isn't it great of someone to take my dad in and watch him carefully, so that the government couldn't find him?" Chuck was hoping he wasn't being too obvious with what he was saying, but, finally, Alex seemed to finally understand.

Not biting her lips anymore, Alex answered with a profound, "Oh!" She still looked confused, but she didn't vocalize her thoughts.

Finally getting the chance to answer, Mr. Bartowski answered his son, "I haven't been here too long, only a few months. They have a wonderful research program that I have been assisting with. It's similar to something that we worked on before when you were younger, something you're familiar with now."

Chuck understood his father's meaning. SPI was after the intersect. "How is the research coming?" Chuck inquired, hoping that he was still giving the appearance of being calm to the camera.

"It's actually coming along very well. We are nearly finished with it. We are only waiting for a certain computer part to be delivered by a beautiful Barbie."

As soon as Chuck heard the words 'computer' and 'Barbie,' he flashed. A book. A pot of hot chocolate. Cowboy boots. A train. Baby kittens.

"Shit," Chuck whispered. Chuck understood what was going on. He knew about the SPI agents who had gotten a lobotomy in an effort to better control the intersect. He knew that Jenn had it out for Sarah, and that Shaw would do everything in his power to hurt Sarah because of Eve. He even knew about Aaron. How on earth had he not figured out any of this before he had been abducted?

"Alex, what do you know about the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1949?" Chuck quietly asked.

"Lobotomy...?" Alex started to respond, but Chuck cut her off.

Having interrupted her, Chuck continued, "Now imagine if something like that was done to one of your co-worker's siblings. This sibling helps protect civilians like my dad from the government. Wouldn't that make an interesting research project?"

At first, it was obvious Alex had absolutely no idea what Chuck was talking about. Before she could berate Chuck about being loopy again, the two Bartowski men started to ramble about other pleasantries, under-laced with a palpable fear. Finally, the light clicked for her. "Shit," she repeated.

The senior Bartowski gave his two guests a wry, partial smile. "I'm glad we finally understand each other. Shall we reconvene our conversation in the kitchen, maybe over some dinner?"

Alex stood up to follow, but as soon as Chuck tried to move, he thought better of it. "You two go ahead, I'm going to sit here for a few minutes."

Alex gave him a sympathetic look, not sure how to help her friend, but Stephen took a closer look at his son. Seeing his pale complexion, and finally noticing the bloody towel Alex had put on the bed, Stephen realized why his son had been acting so strange.

"Alex, go see if you can find some ice in the kitchen. I want to examine Chuck's head wound."

As Alex headed to the kitchen, the elder Bartowski reached behind his son's head a palpated the wound. Chuck hissed. "Sorry, but I need to know how deep it is. I can ask for some medical supplies from our friends if it's too bad."

Having decided the lesion wasn't deep enough to need stitches, Mr. Bartowski started a mini mental status exam on his son. "What is today's date?" he asked.

Chuck groaned, having bumped his head enough as a kid to know where this was going. Giving the best answers he could, he allowed his dad to continue his examination, all the while trying to think of some kind of a plan to get them out of there.

Morgan, still sore from falling through the window, had been demoted to watching the cell phone trackers that had been previously installed in the missing persons' phones. Casey and Devon were frantically searching every file that had been recently accessed by the CIA, hoping that one of them would contain a clue as to what SPI could possibly be after. After three hours of searching, it was clear that neither Casey nor Devon were having any luck.

Hoping to distract himself from the boredom of a screen that never changed, Morgan pressed a few buttons, hoping to be able to access his Clash of Clans account on facebook.

"Uh-oh," he muttered, as the screen turned black. Desperately trying to bring the previous screen back, he pressed ctrl+alt+delete frantically, afraid that he had somehow broke the computer completely.

Casey, hearing the incessant noise of computer keys being pressed, looked over to see what Morgan was doing. Seeing that his face was pale, Casey rolled his eyes upward before walking over to see what the matter was.

"What did you do?" Casey rumbled.

Morgan gulped. "The screen went black, I was only trying to bring it back. I swear."

Casey looked at him for a few seconds before pressing a key combination, instantly bringing the computer back to life. As the facebook homescreen showed up on the screen, he gave Morgan the look.

"I have no idea how that got there. I was watching the screen and it went black! There must be a virus…"

Casey cut him off, pointing to the satellite screen that had just reappeared. "Devon, Agent Walker's tracker has been activated." Taking a screen shot of the page and uploading the coordinates to his own phone, he added, "Let's go, we can communicate with the General on the way."

Instantly, Devon jumped up, walking to join his temporary partner. "Should I call Ellie? Will this be dangerous?"

"The less she knows the better. I'm not planning on you going into the building with me, so you should be relatively safe," Casey answered.

"Wait, not awesome. My brother-in-law, potential sister-in-law and current father-in-law could be in there. No way am I going to sit in the car," Devon immediately protested.

"I'm going, too," Morgan contributed. Both Casey and Devon glanced his way, Devon giving a special glance to Morgan's recent cuts. "Look, I know I can't go in, but someone needs to keep the car running in case there needs to be a quick get-away. I can also call for reinforcements if something goes wrong."

Appearing to give it a seconds thought, Casey eventually nodded in agreement. He went to the Castle's bookshelf, removed a book, and pressed some hidden buttons. Morgan's jaw fell as several rows turned around, revealing guns and knives.

"Devon, take a handgun." Casey nearly handed a gun to Morgan as well, but stopped when he saw the awe-struck look in Grimes' eyes. Deciding to not tempt fate, he said, "Morgan, you can have a walkie-talkie. Suit up, gentlemen, we have some family to save."

Sarah had been watching the grounds for the last hour, waiting for someone to either go in or out of the building. She knew there had to be a way in, she just hadn't found it yet.

Finally, she saw movement out of her peripherals. Inching closer to where she had seen movement, she almost let out a loud whoop. Barely containing her excitement, she examined the door next to a tiny window a rogue agent had used to exit the building.

The agent was walking towards a small shed, surrounded by trees. Making sure that she was staying close to the ground and out of the sight of cameras, Sarah stealthily made her way towards the shed.

Coming up to the wall of the shed, she inched her way around to the door, making sure there were no cameras or other people around. She was in luck, it was just her and the agent.

Counting to three in her head, Sarah cautiously tested the door to see if it was squeaky. It wasn't. Throwing it open and rolling inside quickly, she jumped up, spiraling into a round house. Knocking the gun out of the agent's hand with her left foot, she quickly followed through with her right foot, causing the agent to collapse to the ground unconscious.

Sarah grinned. She observed her surroundings. From what she could tell, she was in a sort of storage unit. There were several computers, guns, and cabinets with paper. Not sure what the agent had been coming in for, Sarah decided to grab a folder clearly labeled SPI in case she needed a quick diversion inside.

Looking at the screens, she saw that there were three floors to the building. While they did not show security footage, there were obvious names above each floor: Research was on the third, Training on the second, Offices on the first, and Living Quarters in the basement. She knew without a doubt the room she wanted to go to was the one labeled Bartowski on the Living Quarters floor.

Stripping the rogue agent of their clothes, tying them up with the clothes she had previously been wearing, disposing of the agent in the closet, and grabbing a couple weapons from the shelf, Sarah felt prepared. She wasn't entirely sure who or what she was facing, but, thanks to the monitors, she at least knew the layout.

Grabbing the nametag and keycard off the agent, Sarah hid her hair up in the hat, hoping that she wasn't identifiable. Confidently walking up to the building, she scanned the card. The door opened and she walked in.

Morgan was in awe. After they had figured out where Sarah was, Casey had grabbed a key chain from the hidden bookshelf and headed outside. Pressing a few buttons revealed a garage door that had previously been camouflaged as part of the house's siding. The yellow Porsche that Sarah had crashed into the fountain those many months ago slowly came into view as the door rolled up.

"Can I touch it?" Morgan asked.

Casey chuckled. "Better yet, you can sit in the back seat while I drive. Let's go." He unclicked the doors and the three piled in.

Morgan, still in disbelief, stated, "Casey, your house is like Batman's lair. The turning bookshelf, the hidden car…" he trailed off. "Are you secretly Bruce Wayne in disguise? Can I have your autograph?"

Casey chose not to respond. Looking at the GPS on the dashboard, he stated, "According to this, we can be there in an hour and a half. Morgan, while we drive, keep calling Agents Walker and Parker to see if we can get a definite idea of what we're going into. Devon, keep researching SPI. I want to know everything about them before we arrive."

Morgan and Devon followed the instructions while Casey furiously drove. Breaking the silence, Devon said, "Jenn and Sarah are sisters. I know that Shaw and Parker aren't fans of Sarah because of the Eve thing, but do you think it's possible Jenn could be double-timing everyone? Do we know for sure that Sarah is still on our side?"

Casey thought over Devon's proposal. Morgan answered, "Sarah would never do anything to hurt Chuck. You've seen them lately. They're so mushy-gushy lovey-dovey it's almost unbearable."

Devon replied, "True, but that doesn't mean that Sarah isn't working with Jenn in order to protect Chuck. Do you think she knows her sister has had her ability to process fear and primary emotions altered? What if she's being cornered into a situation without necessary information about her sister?"

Casey grunted. "You have a point, Woodcomb. It does seem strange that Walker would also be missing. They would want Chuck and Alex want for their memory enhancements, but why would they need to abduct Sarah?"

"So should I keep calling Sarah and Aaron or not?" Morgan piped up from the backseat.

"Keep trying for now," Casey replied, "But I think Woodcomb might be right. We might have more than Parker as a rogue agent to deal with."

"I'm telling you guys, Sarah can't be rogue," Morgan adamantly defended his friend's girlfriend.

Devon put his hands up in surrender. "I'm not saying she's rogue. I'm merely trying to point out that it's weird Jenn abducted Sarah if the two guys Jenn works with want to kill Sarah."

"We should assume everyone is the enemy and proceed from there. Rescue Chuck, Alex, and any other innocents. Sarah and Aaron, if they appear to be rogue, do not hesitate to take them out. Daniel and Jenn, well, if they become a casualty of war then that's that."

The three were silent as they pondered their mission. Looking at the clock, they had a half hour until they were at their destination.

Chuck had downed several Tylenol since finding himself in his Dad's new house. Alex and Stephen had made vegetable stir fry, but Chuck wasn't hungry. Alex looked concerned when he wouldn't eat anything, but since their friends did not seem to be offering medical assistance, she resolved to watch him and help her Chuck the best she could.

"So what exactly happened to the two of you at the concert? Your friends were playing on stage and then the lights went out?" Mr. Bartowski recapped.

"Yea, I felt something hit my head. I'm not sure if someone ran into me or if I was physically struck. All I know if that I don't remember anything until I woke up here," Chuck replied.

"I remember some things," Alex responded, quietly. "It was really hazy, like I was in a dream. When the lights went out, someone grabbed my hand and started pulling me away from the group. I assumed it was Morgan since I was standing by him. I remember getting into a car and driving away, but I don't remember walking into the building. The next thing I knew, I was waking up next to Chuck."

Alex paused and took a drink of water. "I saw his head was bleeding, so I went to the kitchen and grabbed the towel from the stove. I think I was still drugged because I didn't think of checking the bathroom or if the main door was locked until later."

"How did Alex not see you when she was looking around, Dad?" Chuck asked after Alex concluded her story.

"It's easier for me to show you," Stephen replied. Alex easily followed, but Chuck took a few seconds to stabilize himself after standing. Feeling that he wasn't going to topple over, he shuffled after the two into the bathroom.

"This door looks like a closet, yes?" Mr. Bartowski displayed. "But if you walk through here, you enter my research lab. It's small, yes, but there's another door that leads to the main research wing. When our friends want me to work on a special project that my lab isn't equipped for, they lead me up to the bigger lab."

"Can you show us?" Alex asked.

Stephen nodded. "Sure." The three walked into a medium-sized room, Alex craning her neck in every direction to compare the room with her old lab.

"What does this do?" she asked, curious about a relatively large machine with blue lights flashing.

"What a good eye you have! That one…" Mr. Bartowski was cut off before he could explain by the door to the larger wing opening.

A man wearing all black came in and announced, "Our visitors are invited to tour the main research lab. Please follow me."

The three looked at each other, not sure if they were being invited or commanded. Deciding they did not have a choice, they entered the other room.

Chuck's eyes widened at the room. Computers lined one wall, bookshelves on the other, and in the center was a giant black circle. Surrounding the circle was a silver square. The outline of the square was equipped with research benches and equipment. To the far wall was a giant screen, to the nearest wall was another door. There were several sets of stairs on either side of the room, next to the bookshelves and computers, leading to balconies by windows with plants and dangling research equipment.

It wasn't until he had finished gazing at the room that he realized that he, Stephen, Alex, and the mysterious man were not the only ones in the room. Coming around the corner a man and woman walked, hand in hand.

"Welcome to our humble abode, friends," Jenn offered with a smile. Her smile did not reach her eyes, though, making her look feral. "This is my husband, Daniel."

Chuck's mouth was gaping. "It's rude to stare," Jenn said. "Do shake hands, gentlemen."

Daniel grabbed Chuck's hand, forcefully, and shook his right hand.

Chuck flashed. White-out. A calculator. Lizards. A blanket. Concrete.

"You," Chuck sputtered. "You were the one in Prague. That pushed me into the sedan."

Daniel chuckled. "I am indeed. You should thank me. Spy camp is a bore- you wouldn't have learned anything of importance there."

Chuck was so furious that he was seeing red. "If you hadn't interfered…" he was cut off by Alex's gentle touch on his shoulder.

"Chuck," she whispered. "This is what they want: anger. It's okay, you have Sarah now."

Chuck was appeased by her statement until thought he recognized someone walking up on the balcony. "Sarah?" he thought, baffled.

A/N The next few chapters are written, but I came to a stand-still. This is where I need your input: how do you feel about Jenn? I started to completely write her out, but realized you all might be more merciful than me. Keep in mind that a lobotomy is permanent and her emotional/fear responses can't be restored (by modern medicine at least- fanfic medicine is fair game for suggestions). Jenn also chose to have this done to her, and she did not try to contact Sarah after her "death." Options:

A) Jenn is killed directly by Sarah (forcing Sarah to deal with the guilt and leading to lovely emotional angst)

B) Jenn is put in prison (without every feeling guilty for her crimes, still with Sarah angst)

C) Jenn is put in prison (potentially allowing for a happy ending with Sarah, but I'll still have at least one emotional/angst scene between them- have you noticed an angst theme? :)).

Thoughts?