A/N Posted 4/20/12

Thanks to those of you who commented and encouraged me to move ahead with this. I've gained a new appreciation for all the writers here and just how much nerve it takes to stick your neck out and click that 'Add Chapter' button.

I don't own Chuck

Chuck Versus the Lost Years

Act 3 - Familiar Danger

- I -

When they walked into the courtyard of Casa Bartowski, Chuck could start to see the challenges that were going to have to be faced to protect Sarah from flashing on her past. He'd dodged a bullet at Griffith Park; fortunately, keeping Sarah away from the areas where, a little over a year ago, he'd had gone to meet his mother. Sarah and Mary had a rather tense first encounter in the playground, each of them pointing a gun at one another. And he'd found himself caught right in the middle of it.

He was glad that he was able to keep Sarah from flashing on that memory, and yet at the same time it made him feel sad. He had wanted Sarah to regain her lost memories, and to him that meant all of them. Now he had to try to keep her from doing that in order to protect her from an Intersect that was apparently still assaulting her mind.

So, he now had to try to concentrate on creating new memories instead, and avoid the old ones as much as possible. At least for the time being. There were a lot of old memories connected with this place, and Chuck was beginning to wonder if bringing Sarah back home might have been a big mistake. One thing was clear to him now. They were both very tired, and hopefully the exhaustion would keep both of them from thinking too much about all the things that could cause any major problems for Sarah here.

As they approached the front door he made an effort to place himself between her and the fountain and tried to block it from her view. The fountain, and for that matter, the whole courtyard really had him worried. There were a lot of very intense memories associated with it, some good ones, and some that were not so good...and one in particular that was horrific. The night Sarah almost died in his arms.

Strangely, that awful memory now buoyed him. Sarah was still here. And as long as she was here they had a chance.

Thinking about the problem this place posed for Sarah made him realize something he hadn't thought about or maybe he was putting off. At some point between now and her appointment with Dr. Dreyfus in the morning he was going to have to come clean with her, and tell her about everyone's concerns about her and the Intersect. He didn't see how it could be avoided any longer, and she had a right to know anyway.

Chuck only hoped they could get to the bottom of this and get the Ring Intersect out of her head before it hurt her more. Then, just maybe she could safely get her memories back and they could get on with their life together with one less worry. Being CIA operatives still meant there were a lot of other things to worry about, but he desperately wanted to get rid of this one thing that was weighing so heavily upon them.

As they approached the front door, he dug into his pants pocket for his keys and said, "Well, here are. Home, sweet, home." Then he promptly fumbled the keys and dropped them to the ground. And when he stooped to pick them up he almost bashed his head into Sarah's. She dodged it, and cast him a sympathetic smile when he fumbled again with the keys as he rose stiffly back up. An embarrassed and almost frightened look was fixed on his face, and the color was washing from his face.

Sarah sensed the building tension in him and asked, "Chuck, is everything alright? You seem more than just a little nervous about this."

Chuck fiddled with the keys in his hand looking for the door key before he finally looked up and met Sarah's eyes. "Yeah yeah yeah, I'm good." Then he stammered, "N-N-No, I'm terrified… Sarah, I've been praying for this moment for over two months, since you left here to chase after Quinn. Not a long time in the grand scheme of things, I know… but it's been like an eternity to me, and I didn't even know if this moment would ever come...and I've been so worried about you. I'm sorry, the last thing I want to do is put any pressure on you. I'm just so happy that you're here."

Sarah clasped her hand over the keys that Chuck was holding in his hand and held her other hand up in front of his face. In her fingers was a key to the door. "Relax...it's okay, Chuck. I found this hidden in the pocket of my suitcase… along with a picture of us. I didn't understand until only a few days ago...the real reason they were there...and yet I still tried to deny it." She smiled at him pensively and slid the key into the lockset, twisted it, and opened the door.

Chuck stared at her and swallowed. Chuck Bartowski was speechless. And somehow Sarah knew how significant that was.

She grabbed his hand and led him into the apartment.

The apartment was filled with reminders of their past life, a life that was so real just a little over eight weeks ago, before Quinn had abducted her. But one that was now surreal in the wake of recent events. Sarah just pulled him along and led him to the bathroom like she'd been in the apartment a thousand times before, which was true enough.

When they got into the bathroom, Sarah walked over to the shower and turned on the water. She turned to Chuck and started to undress him starting with his shirt, grabbing the hem of it and pulling it over his head, which was no small feat considering how much taller he was. Then she reached for his belt buckle, and his hands flew to hers and his eyes fixed on hers. She could see the exhaustion written in them.

Sarah smiled up at him, "Chuck, I may not remember this, but I'm sure that we have been here many times before… so take it easy, okay? We're going to get you a hot shower so you can relax. It's been a long day for you, and you need it."

His expression turned to one of wonder, and he let Sarah help him undress. She checked the water and turned to him trying to maintain eye contact but failing a bit her eyes passed over his 'assets'…oh, my… her pupils instantly dilated. "Get in, I'll be back to check on you in a bit." It was all she could say.

Chuck stepped into the shower and let the water run onto his head as he asked himself what in the name of all that was good had blessed him twice in his life with a woman this extraordinary.

- II -

Sarah stood with her back to the closed bathroom door for a moment and let out a long breath as she reflected on what she had just seen. How could she not have any memory of… well… that.

Shaking her head, she then wandered around the apartment trying to recollect herself. Slowly, Sarah pushed the image and the accompanying thoughts it elicited to the back of her mind, and her surroundings once again started to come back into focus.

To say that the apartments décor was eclectic would have been a major understatement but, curiously, she found something very appealing about it. The first thing she did was walk into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator revealed a carton of eggs, three beers, a couple of cups of yogurt and half a block of cheese. Not much. She really couldn't fault Chuck for it given the emotional wringer she'd been running him through, and all of the work she had come to understand he was currently doing on top of it. And, after all, she was currently living out of a hotel room herself.

There was coffee and tea in the cupboard, so she filled the kettle that was sitting on the stove and turned on the burner. Turning the corner out of the kitchen to walk down the hall she listened, and all she could hear was the running water of the shower. For some reason she expected to hear the sound of Chuck singing or humming in the shower but that was not to be heard.

She went into his bedroom and looked around. This was very familiar to her, in spite of the fact that she had recently been here since Nicholas Quinn had manipulated her into thinking Chuck was an enemy to be killed. The thought disturbed her greatly that she could be so easily deceived by a man she didn't know. What that bastard did to her had caused Sarah to reflect on almost everything in her life over the last month. It perpetuated the repeating question in her mind about what was real and what was not.

She hated Quinn for that; for what he had done to her and Chuck. But she was beginning to see over the last couple of weeks who could and should be trusted. And it was becoming starkly obvious that it was Chuck and his close circle of work associates, his friends, and his family.

One of the things that stood out so glaringly to her was that Chuck and rigid, by-the-book General Diane Beckman were now on a first name basis. It just boggled her mind that Chuck could have such an effect on Beckman, to cause her to break protocol like that. The obvious conclusion was that Chuck and Diane Beckman had become close friends… and it was just too much to absorb.

The general simply wasn't known to make close associations with work colleagues, and somehow Chuck had battered down that barrier. That very thought alone had done so much to bring her around to the truth. If Chuck could have that effect on the iron-willed Diane Beckman, then the thought of her and Chuck together, well...she sighed again. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

Had she and Diane become close, too? Before all of this? It seemed so.

She wandered around Chuck's bedroom and opened the closet. There, on one side of the closet, were clothes that could only be hers as they fit her fashion tastes perfectly. It surprised her seeing all of them hanging there like that given her proclivity for living out of a suitcase. Her curiosity sparked, she moved to the dresser and opened the drawers and several of them were full of her clothes and a few that had obviously been Chucks at one time.

Pulling a Stanford t-shirt out of the drawer, she tossed it onto the bed. Next she found a pair of dark gray boy shorts and threw them on top of the t-shirt. Curiously, there was a pair of slipper sandals under the right side of the bed. She realized as she looked around that Chuck hadn't changed a thing about what was hers in the room. This was her bedroom too. He hadn't given up on her in the slightest.

After twenty minutes with the hot water coming down on him, Chuck was finally starting to feel human again. All of a sudden, he remembered how he had gotten here in the shower and he started to wonder if it was all just an elaborate delusion concocted by his mind to protect him from the ugly realities he had been facing the last few weeks.

And then the bathroom door opened, "Chuck, are you all right in here? It's been awfully quiet."

Frozen, he stared at the foggy shower door for a moment, and then reality smacked him in the forehead as Sarah's beautiful face appeared over the top edge of the door… and he jumped.

"Come out of there before you turn into a prune," she said with a self-contained grin.

Stunned, he looked on as she opened the door, and reached in to turn the water off. And then Sarah held out a towel for him. As she held the open towel out in front of her, she peaked over the top of it, and gave him an appraising and satisfied look. He looked at her goggle-eyed, but it was apparent to him even as tired as he was that she liked what she saw, and it caused him to relax.

All he could say was a dazed, "Thanks, babe", as he accepted the towel and started to dry his hair vigorously with it. Then he noticed her standing there leaning against the sink with a huge smile on her face. She was wearing the Stanford t-shirt she had appropriated from him years ago, and below the hem of the large t-shirt was nothing but leg. His face broke into a broad grin even as he realized he was standing stark naked in front of her, and it surprised him that he wasn't overcome with a sudden fit of modesty.

After a moment he came to the conclusion he was just too tired to care, and that this was what he'd finally grown accustomed to with Sarah anyway, even if their current situation was far from normal. It felt normal, and a flood of relief washed over him. He shrugged it all off and wrapped the towel around himself as he stepped out of the shower. "You know, I'm going to have to do this for you sometime now," he reasoned.

Sarah smiled at him and said, "MmHmm, I'm looking forward to that." Then after a few seconds of shocked surprise passed, "I'm brewing some tea. Why don't you come in the kitchen after you put something on… or, if you want, come as you are," she intoned, winking at him before she sauntered from the bathroom in her bare feet.

- III -

Chuck walked into the kitchen to find Sarah standing at the counter dipping a teabag into one of two large mugs. She looked up at him and warmly smiled. "I thought a hot cup of herbal tea might be nice before bed." Handing him one of the mugs, she turned and leaned against the counter, admiring him standing there in a pair of boxers as he was blowing onto the top of the hot liquid in the mug. We've definitely been here before.

He moved to the counter across from her and sipped his tea. "This is probably going to knock me out," he mumbled, the fatigue showing in his voice.

"That was the general idea. I think we could both use a good night's rest", she said as she studied him over the top of her mug. "Why don't we go into the living room to drink this?"

Chuck balked as he turned to look into the living area, so many pictures and other links to the past in that room, and Sarah caught the small but anxious frown that shown on his face.

"Chuck, what's wrong? Why the sudden look of distress? Talk to me." Sarah watched him looking for words with that troubled expression on his face, and she waited. She was starting to feel a little more than a bit concerned herself.

Finally, "Sarah, I had a meeting with Diane Beckman and my sister Ellie today. I told them about what happened to you at the restaurant on Saturday night." He paused as he saw her flush a bit and her eyes widened slightly as she stared at him

"Go on," she encouraged. Sarah could see that whatever it was it was really eating away at him. "Whatever it is, tell me."

"Sarah, I don't want to get you upset, but I have to tell you something… please try to stay calm." Chuck took a deep, nervous breath. "Sarah, Ellie thinks you might still have the unstable Ring Intersect in your head."

His distressed tone alarmed her. "I've been wondering about that," she said with a sigh. Worry was etched on the man's face across from her.

"What exactly happened to you the other night? It looked to me like you flashed… and it really scared me." Chuck felt he was treading on very dangerous ground here. Part of him didn't want her to be thinking about this at all.

"Chuck, when I cracked open the fortune cookie I had a memory return to me. It was a memory of you and me talking about my new assignment once you were released from our protective detail… and some very intense emotions, and an interrupted kiss. And then anger and frustration that the kiss had been interrupted, by that huge...Mr. Colt? The memory ran up on me so fast it made my head hurt."

"I could see it. Ellie is concerned that these returning memories are interacting with the Intersect in a negative way. She told me that Quinn used some sort of device to torture you and selectively suppress your memories. Have you had any more episodes like this?"

Her face reflected another painful memory and Sarah nodded. "I went back to our house Sunday morning. You know, the one you took me to and told me we were going to buy?" She swallowed hard. "I almost shot you..."

"It's okay-"

"No, it's not! If I hadn't seen what I carved...I looked at that carving on the passage frame that morning and the memory of the night we put it there returned again. But this time it was very painful. It felt like I was being tortured. Why would such a wonderful memory feel like torture?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Probably because you weren't supposed to remember it. Whatever Quinn used on you is causing the Intersect to continue to try to forcefully suppress your memories. Ellie's worried that your remembering will cause...damage. So we need to try to keep it from happening until we can find a way to stop it from doing that."

"Is that why you became so agitated when we got here? Why you don't want to go into the living room?"

"Yes… we're concerned that these flashes could be associative. I didn't think about it until we walked up to the apartment, and then it occurred to me what sort of trouble this place could pose for you because of all the memories associated with it. I'm not supposed to let you out of my sight, Sarah. And I should have dragged you into the shower with me to protect you from being out here alone with all of these things around that could cause you pain and maybe do possible harm to you. I shouldn't have brought you here."

Sarah looked pensively at him for a moment, and then she set her mug down and took his mug from him and set it on the counter next to him. Then she embraced him, laying her cheek on his chest. "I've been having these headaches lately, and very strange dreams and nightmares. What you're telling me explains a lot now that I think about it", she said, as she looked up at him.

"And, yes, you should have dragged me into the shower with you," she added with a sparkle now in her eye as she continued. "So now I'm the one with a protective detail? It had to be very difficult for you to have to push so hard to get us here like this. It's not your style is it? I guess the shoe is on the other foot now."

"Doing what I had to do was easy. Both of us have always had strong overriding motives for protecting each other; it's been that way since almost day one. But tonight I was terrified that you wouldn't let me close enough to you to protect you. I didn't want to have to force the situation."

"Well, I guess I should be glad that I didn't place you in a position that would have made you have to pull official rank on me. That might have been a little uncomfortable for the both of us." She smiled reassuringly at him and then looked at him thoughtfully as if trying to decide what to do next. After a moment searching his eyes, she said, "It's late, and I have an appointment with Dr. Leo in the morning. It's obvious we're both beat, so let's go to bed and talk about this in the morning."

"I'm more than ready for that," he agreed, the exhaustion evident in his voice. "Wait, our bed? Together?"

"Yes, our bed...together Chuck...to sleep," Sarah answered with a thin smile.

Returning her smile in kind, Chuck hugged her tightly for a moment, and then led her to the bedroom with his arm around her waist.

- IV -

He slowly became aware of the gray early morning light in the room. And then Chuck noticed her hand on top of his idly stroking his fingers. It tickled his memory the way that they were laying there together, their hands caressing each other on top of the blanket. Overcome by exhaustion, they had both fallen asleep almost the instant their heads hit the pillows the night before, and they had slept fitfully.

Now, as he blinked off the sleep he looked at the blond hair on the pillow next to his and luxuriated in sight and smell of it. He let his fingers entwine in hers, and as he did, Sarah turned to face him and their eyes locked. She twisted around and inched closer touching his lips with her fingertips as they gazed spellbound at one another. We can do this...I can do this...I want his...

He must have sensed it, because they suddenly assailed each other in a wild and frantic kiss. Sarah's arms wrapped around his neck, her fingers tangled in his dark brown curls as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close to him, and rolling her onto her back.

When one of Chuck's hands slid up her side, Sarah's breath caught with a soft gasp that turned to a gentle moan when his fingers came caressing over her breast, and then continued up and swept through her hair. Lost in the wild power of that kiss, and the sensation of each other's touch, when they finally came up for air they were still trapped in the spell, completely taken by each other.

The covers flew explosively off of the bed, undergarments flew to the floor, and they were almost instantly skin-on-skin wrapped up in one another. Chuck's eager lips found their way to the base of Sarah's neck above her collar bone. Her breath hitched hard, transforming into a soft moan as his lips touched her cool skin, and she opened up beneath him, and wrapped herself around him.

Their intertwined bodies roamed over the bed with an easy familiarity, but there was also a sense of new discovery in the way they made love. It was wondrous and exhilarating the way they explored each other without any hesitation as they moved together in perfect sync. The bed shuddered under them, and the moans and the gasps from their wild and breathless reverie reverberated off of the bedroom walls.

A long while later they were laying in each others arms with the top sheet tangled around their feet, basking in the glow of each other, exchanging short playful kisses as they were catching their breath. I'm so glad we rested up for that.

And then the Morgan door flew open. "Chuck! Wake up! We've got breakfast cook-Whoa! Brain stamp! Aaagh! My eyes!" Morgan's hand flew up to his eyes as he backed away from the window. "Sorry! Sorry! I'll be going now! Sorry!"

They scrambled to pull the sheets up in a flurry of motion as their faces started to turn red. Sarah was the first to find her voice, "Morgan! Morgan, it's okay, get back here! We're decent now. What did you want?" Chuck looked at her like she had lost her mind, and she answered the look with a smirk as she bit her lower lip and shrugged.

Morgan crept back up to the window, his face highlighted with embarrassment and apology, to find Sarah and Chuck sitting up in the bed with the sheets pulled up under their armpits. "I am so sorry." And then a huge smile slowly came onto his face. "In spite of the fact that I now have an image of the two of you imprinted on my brain, that I will never be able to get rid of, may I now say just how happy I am to see the two of you together like this?"

Chuck and Sarah both turned up a tight-lipped smile and stared at him, and then in chorus their expressions wordlessly asked, "And?…"

"Oh…right! Alex and I are both taking the day off and we're starting some breakfast. Would you, the both of you, like to come over and join us?"

Chuck and Sarah exchanged inquiring glances at each other, both of them apparently mentally considering the contents of the refrigerator at the same time. There wasn't even milk for cold cereal. They both shrugged after a quick glance at the clock. "Okay, sure," Chuck said, "Why not? Just give us a little time to get showered, okay?"

"Absolutely! We'll see you in a bit!" And Morgan scurried away… "Alex! There's going to be four of us!"

Chuck looked at Sarah, gave her a brief Bartowski eyebrow dance and grinned, "I'll just take a very brief shower, and then the bathroom is all yours. Why don't you relax here, I'll just be a couple of minutes" and he left the room before she could say a thing, her focus diverted to his butt as he made for the door. An impish grin grew on her face.

After turning on the water in the shower Chuck crossed the bathroom to brush his teeth. That completed, he adjusted the water temperature and stepped in the shower. Not two seconds after he'd ducked his head under the warm water, the bathroom door opened, and he heard the water running in the sink.

He shrugged to himself as the water in the sink stopped running, and when he reached down to grab the bottle of shampoo from the edge of the tiled seat, the shower door came open, and there he was looking up at Sarah - a very naked Sarah. She quickly stepped in and caught the bottle as it slipped from his hand, headed for the floor.

"Remember, you're not supposed to let me out of your sight", she admonished with a twinkle in her eye.

- V -

"Hey, Alex, thanks for a very enjoyable breakfast, that really hit the spot." Chuck circled his hand over his belly as he puffed out his cheeks and held his eyes wide. "I'm not eating another bite until dinner." And he cast a satisfied glance at Sarah who was sitting next to him at the table. She returned his look in kind with an agreeing nod.

"Yes, thank you, that was wonderful," Sarah added to the chorus.

"You're very welcome! Breakfast is our favorite meal, but we rarely have time to make it here at home," Alex called from the kitchen. "Life has been so busy for us lately it's been hard to find the time to make a nice breakfast even on the weekends."

"We might be able to do this more often if Chuck wasn't such a slave driver," Morgan declared as he cleared the dishes from the table.

"Yeah, I'm such a slave driver," Chuck dryly muttered, "Who was it that unilaterally decided to take the day off again?"

"Hey, at least I let Nikki know what we were up to this morning. I'll bet you didn't even think to call her, buddy boy." A devious smile was pasted on Morgan's face. "I also invited her to join us, but she begged off and said she needed to get an early start today. She was already at the office when I called her at 6:30."

Chuck looked at Morgan with curious astonishment, "Why on earth did you call her at 6:30 in the morning? Where is your sense of propriety and decorum? And why was she already at the office that early?"

"Propriety? Decorum? Me? C'mon buddy, Alex has managed to pound some sense into me, but not that much."

"You can say that again," Alex shouted from the kitchen.

Sarah had gotten up from the table with some dishes in her hands, and as she joined Alex at the sink, she leaned over to her and whispered, "Who is Nikki?"

Alex shot her a knowing look as she glanced over her shoulder at the guys in the dining area and whispered back, "Ask me that again later," followed by a subtle grin.

"I'll have to make sure I get to explain that one first myself," Chuck said, causing Alex and Sarah looked over at him in surprise. He returned a tight-lipped smile and continued to Morgan, "So, did Nikki say why she was at the office so early?"

"Something about a busy day filled with computer vendors, secret agents, and arms merchants. She was being very cryptic about it."

"Well, OK," Chuck drawled, dragging out the O and the K. "Maybe it's about time we got on the ball and hired some more people, I don't want her to burn out on us."

"I do not think that that is even remotely possible," Morgan quickly answered.

Just then Chuck's cell phone started to vibrate and softly play the theme song from the 'Mission Impossible' TV series. When he looked at it, he saw John Casey's hardass visage on the screen. Intriguingly, the call showed on the display as not being secure, probably, Chuck surmised because an encrypted call would have been immediately tagged, logged, and tracked by the NSA's Echelon system. Casey was in spy mode. "John, how have you been?"

Casey got immediately to the point in his usual gruff manner, and under the circumstances it was music to Chuck's ears. "Someone named Nikki said it was very important that I call you. We thought we were totally off grid for at least a few more weeks. Not even Beckman's been able to find us, although we did run into Sarah's loose cannon friend, Carina, last week," he snarled. "Whoever this Nikki person is, she is obviously very good at what she does."

"I'll make sure I pass the compliment along to her, John. She works for me. Sorry to interrupt you and your girlfriend's sabbatical, but this is important. I wouldn't have done it otherwise."

"Hunm. It better be damned important, Chuck." He emphasized Chuck's name in a very acidic manner. "In fact, your fingers better be on fire."

"It is, John. Unfortunately, I can't discuss it right now. Do me a huge favor and call the general as soon as possible on an encrypted line and she'll give you a full briefing."

"Hng, so Beckman is working for you now, numbnuts?"

Chuck sighed, "Just call her, Colonel. Then you'll know how important this is."

Casey's voice then softened slightly as Chuck heard a reproaching feminine voice in the background. "Okay, Bartowski, have it your way… Chuck, thanks for getting the CIA to call their attack dogs off of Gertrude. Constantly having to stay two steps ahead of those jerks was really starting to piss me off. Some of the stations didn't get the knockoff order."

"Don't mention it Casey; any friend of yours is a friend of mine."

"Hngmm"

Everyone in the room had been listening intently to this one-sided conversation, and finally, Alex chimed in, "That's my dad? I want to talk to him, Chuck. Don't you let him hang up on you."

Chuck looked soberly at her and saw a graceful exit. "Casey, your daughter is here and she wants to talk to you. I'm handing the phone to her now. Hang up at your own peril." He immediately handed the phone to Alex.

"Dad!" Alex offered exuberantly, "How have you been?" A pause ensued, and then, "Oh, good, we were starting to worry about you…"

Chuck let out his held breath with a whoosh, and walked over to Sarah and let his forehead settle onto her shoulder with a groan, "I'm a dead man." Sarah reached up and patted him on the neck and smiled.

- VI -

"So, who is Nikki?" Sarah said with an inquiring eye as they were exiting the 210 freeway en route to her appointment with Dr. Leo Dreyfus.

"Nikki is our new office manager, slash computer guru, slash private investigator, slash human resources director, slash office psychologist, and probably several other amazing things we haven't discovered yet. She's basically running our new offices in Pasadena right now while we're getting them online, and she's very good at everything she does." The somewhat gushing appraisal caused a slightly defensive look to cross his face as he said it.

"So, is Nikki pretty, too?" Sarah asked with a sideways glance and a look of teasing mirth on her face. She was driving Chuck's car this morning, and she kept her eyes front, glued to the road.

Chuck looked at her closely and his eyes narrowed, "Are Alex and you communicating telepathically or something?"

She chuckled softly. "No, but I watched Morgan and you when you two were talking about her. Both of you need to be a little more careful about that."

He studied Sarah's face carefully as he considered what she'd said. "Yes, Nikki looks pretty amazing too, but I assure you, we only have honorable thoughts about her," he said defensively. "Well, I probably should only speak for myself. And speaking for myself, you have absolutely nothing to worry about, my super amazing, ninja spy-girl, Sarah Walker."

This time Sarah laughed. "Flattery will get you everywhere," she replied, as she swiftly turned into the underground parking area at the CIA/NSA annex offices located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Then belatedly she realized that Chuck had used her maiden name, and curiously it had stung a bit to hear it.

The CIA/NSA annex here at JPL had been established by the Directorate of Science and Technology years ago for technology liaison purposes when JPL was involved heavily with the KH-11 spy satellite project, and because the secure nature of the lab made it a natural fit owing to the CIA's and the NSA's clandestine missions.

It had turned out to be very convenient for Chuck because his new offices were located just a few miles away on Colorado Blvd. He frequently attended meetings here, and the annex was equipped for tactical missions, which reduced infrastructure requirements at his own offices even though there was a small group of NSA and CIA agents and support employees moving into offices on the lower floor and basements of his office building.

Sarah pulled the Porsche into a spot close to the elevator. They walked into the elevator, and when the door closed Sarah looked up at their reflection in the mirrored elevator ceiling and let out a large sigh. Chuck looked up at her and watching their reflections as he did so, he reached out and grabbed her hand, and squeezed it reassuringly. "Relax, you're going to be fine."

He then thought of the last time he had been here with Sarah when he was having Intersect-related dream problems, and the total basket case he had been at the time because he'd been ordered to see a psychiatrist. He was glad that Sarah wasn't bringing that up right now, even though he'd mentioned that episode to her on the beach.

They entered the reception area to Dr. Dreyfus' offices and signed in while greeting the doctor's assistant. A moment later Leo Dreyfus strode into the room and welcomed them, "Chuck and Sarah, it's nice to see you, welcome back to my inner sanctum."

'It's good to see you too, Doc," Chuck lied. He really hated coming here.

Leo gave them a sympathetic smile, "I'll let you have that one lie, Chuck. Just try not to make a habit of it with me, alright?" he said, with a flatly toned mix of seriousness and humor. And then he shifted his gaze to Sarah.

"How have you been Sarah?"

"About as good as anyone who has lost five years of their memories can be, I suppose. I'm learning to cope with it," she ruefully replied. "I'm sorry I don't remember you much at all, sir, or ever coming here before."

The doctor looked thoughtfully at her for a moment. His expression was flat, but his eyes were sympathetic and alive. "Well, young lady, that's quite all right. We'll make do. Take heart in the fact that many people have gone before you with similar experiences, and most of them made it through the trial stronger in the end." He waved his hand toward the door. "Shall we go into my office?"

Chuck placed his hand on Sarah's back and leaned in to give her a quick kiss. "I'll be waiting out here. See you in a bit." Leo mentally noted the kiss as Sarah nodded in reply to Chuck and walked into the doctor's office.

And Chuck sat down to wait. Presently he pulled out his phone and scrolled his contact list.

- VII -

"Carmichael Industries, this is Nikki, may I help you?"

"Hi Nikki, it's Chuck."

"Hi boss! Did Colonel Casey call you? I finally tracked him down in Zurich last night. He sure is a gruff… individual."

"HA! Welcome to my world. Can you believe we were partners for five years?"

"Oh, lucky you," Nikki laughed. "He didn't sound too happy that I found him. He mumbled something about shooting the hotel desk manager, and he sounded strangely serious. I hope I didn't get someone hurt."

"Don't worry, Nikki, I doubt that Casey would hurt anyone over this sort of thing," I hope. "Though he did sound very impressed that you were able to find him. He takes great pride in his mastery of the craft. I told him I'd pass along my compliments to you."

"Thanks, Chuck. I'm just doing what you hired me to do."

"Well, you're doing it very well," Chuck said sincerely.

"I'm not going to have to watch my back when mister Casey gets into town am I?"

"Doubtful, I think you've earned his respect."

"I'll believe that when I see it." Nikki quickly changed the subject. "Chuck, I received a video briefing this morning from General Beckman's adjutant. He brought me fully up to speed on the current situation and he also wanted me to let you know that they have some new data on the possible whereabouts of Nicholas Quinn's safehouse. They have a ground team working on it right now, and he wanted you to know they'll notify you the minute they have something. You've been asked to be there to help process the target once they have the location nailed down."

"That is good news, Nikki, have you been briefed on the current assignment that's keeping me out of the office right now?" He wasn't sure how else to pose this question.

"Yes, Chuck. I've been fully briefed about all of it. How is Sarah?"

"She's doing okay. I'll just assume you know where we are right now. Nikki, if I get a call to help secure Quinn's safehouse I may need some help from you, I'm not supposed to leave Sarah unsupervised right now."

"I understand, Chuck. I'll keep myself available to help you if I'm needed. And I've really been wanting to meet Sarah, although the circumstances could have certainly been better."

"Thanks..", Chuck's phone buzzed with a text notification. "Sorry, Nikki I need to put you on hold a minute" , and he pulled up the text:

Report to the annex operations center without delay – Beckman

"No-no-no-no-no…"

"…Sorry about that, I'm back," he said as he got up to leave. "Nikki, we've got a situation. I just received a text from General Beckman. I need Morgan or you to get over here to Dr. Dreyfus' office right away, whoever can get here quickest. If you have to, get one of the guys downstairs to keep an eye on the contractors for you. They just called me upstairs to the operations center here, and Sarah will be out in about forty minutes. Why don't you take her back and show her the new office, and don't take no for an answer. And, Nikki, don't let her out of your sight."

"Relax, boss. Don't you worry about Sarah, we'll take good care of her."

"Right now I'm mostly fearing for Morgan's life if he shows up to pick up Sarah."

"Understood, Chuck, I'll handle it. I'm closer as it is, anyway. I'll have Morgan watch the office."

"Oooh, this is so not at all awesome..."

- VIII -

"So, I'm not supposed to remember any of the last missing five years of my life for the time being?" Sarah asked with frustration.

"Sarah, unfortunately, that is exactly what you're going to have to do for a while," Leo Dreyfus replied evenly with a hint of sympathy in his voice.

"Doctor, I'm married to Chuck and I have no memory of it. And now I'm being told not to remember it." Leo Dreyfus's eyes were drawn to Sarah's wringing hands. She was stroking the ring finger of her left hand where her wedding bands were supposed to be. He quickly scribbled something on his note pad.

Sarah continued apparently oblivious to what her hands were doing. "When Chuck, his family and friends, and my work associates first started telling me about these last five years, I couldn't believe it was even possible...I refused to believe it was possible. All I wanted to do was run away. All I could think to do was escape back into my work, to not let anyone even tell me what I once had, even the man I supposedly married...it didn't work."

"I'm not the least bit surprised. Running away from your life isn't the answer, Sarah," Leo replied. "You know that. And refusing to face reality is a strong argument for suspending an officer from active duty."

"Yes, I do know that doctor, and I'm trying to accept it, but the last five years I was being told about just didn't seem real to me. I just didn't see how I could have become the person people are describing."

"Do you believe that you can't change, or that someone in your life can't be a catalyst for change? Didn't seem real? Has something happened to change your perception?"

Sarah stopped the hand wringing and looked circumspectly at the doctor as she appeared to be searching for an answer to his questions. Finally, "Yes, I think a person can change. But I didn't think that cold, hard, CIA operative Sarah Walker could ever change that much. Chuck started to change that perception I had of myself from almost the moment Nicholas Quinn sent me to kill him. The very idea that he could do that to me… scared me."

"So you avoided him."

"Yes. I did at first. I was so overcome with anger because of what Quinn had done to me. That he had ruined my life. But at the same time I didn't want to believe what I was told about the life I had. Avoiding Chuck made it easier to build a wall around myself. I have a history of that."

"Yes, you do."

"You should know," she continued, "Over the last month or so, especially the last few days, Chuck, and his family and friends – and my friends - have almost beaten that wall down… and I've started to remember things. But when the memories return it is causing painful headaches. I still want them back in spite of the pain they are causing. I understand now how I originally fell for Chuck, and it makes me want those memories even more no matter how much it hurts to get them back. Now I'm being told to try to not remember them. How am I supposed to move forward this way?"

The doctor was writing in his notebook as she spoke, but now he stopped and looked intently at her. "Isn't knowing what you know right now enough for now? I suggest that you build something new on top of that. Won't that leave you in a better and stronger position once we solve this?"

Sarah allowed a second of fear to cross her face. "Can we solve this?"

"We're working on it. Chuck's sister is heading the research team, and she'll be here the day after tomorrow. She's bringing a governor similar to the one Chuck wears for you to try. In the meantime we'll be conducting some additional MRI's and PET scans to add to the ones you had last month."

Dr. Dreyfus looked at Sarah for a long moment as if he was trying to settle an internal conflict of his own. "I'm going to share something with you that I probably shouldn't, because there is some danger involved in telling you about your past, and frankly it also flies in the face of clinical dogma. It could also be viewed as a breech of doctor/patient confidentiality… but, since Chuck is your husband..."

He hesitated for a moment, and then continued. "Not very long ago, Chuck was also having problems with the Intersect. The Intersect was causing vivid and disturbing dreams, and he was acting on them. We believed the Intersect was overwhelming his mind. But a young woman, his partner, came to me at my house one night and fought for Chuck. She told me that she loved him, that she believed him when almost no one else would, and that she wanted to help him in any way that she could."

Sarah looked up suddenly from her hands to Dr. Dreyfus, realizing who he was talking about. "I remember bits and pieces of it."

"Good. Your actions and your commitment to him probably ended up saving Chuck's life that night. Chuck, and other people who care about you are trying to do much the same for you right now."

Sarah was abruptly reminded of her own vivid dreams and nightmares of the last few weeks, and how she had kept them to herself and not talked to Chuck about them even though he had been in almost all of them. Should I talk about this now?

"Lets continue this on Friday," Leo said as he saw a look of recognition growing on Sarah's face. He would let her mull all of this over for a while. "Right now, concentrate on the here and now, Sarah. I am confident the rest will come in time, and with the help of many people who care about you."

- IX -

As soon as Chuck checked in after exiting the elevator on the fourth floor of the building, where the operations center was located, he encountered a half dozen CIA and NSA agents in tactical gear trotting down the hall. The lead agent skidded to a stop and blurted out, "Chief Carmichael, I presume?" Chuck quickly nodded, then the agent continued, "Tony Stone, Sir. We've got a twenty on the tango you've been tracking. See the Station Chief and collect your gear. Transport will be waiting for you on the roof."

The roof? Chuck just nodded again and hustled down the hallway towards the briefing room.

Rounding the corner to take a shortcut through the control center, he encountered a flurry of activity. A large overhead monitor was displaying what looked like a real time thermal satellite image of a building that appeared to be a house in a Mark 1 Mod Zero part of a residential area in anywhere L.A. Judging from the IR image the house currently looked empty, but there were two vehicles parked in front of it with hot engine hoods and men were getting out of them.

Operatives in tactical uniforms were hustling around the room collecting and strapping on various weapons and gear and exchanging quick, clipped comments with each other. Recognizing the imposing physique of Station Chief Vincent Oddo, Chuck quickly made his way across the room to talk to the man whose presence could easily challenge John Casey's. Vincent had about twenty pounds on Casey, and he was 100% muscle on a dark olive complexioned frame topped with a chrome-domed, square jawed head. He looked like Agent 47 from the classic Hitman video game… on steroids.

"Chuck!" Oddo motioned him over as he caught his eye and started to move briskly towards him. "Sorry, we don't have any time for pleasantries," he said as he accepted a black duffel from a colleague and handed it to Chuck. "We have a twenty on the safe house, but it looks like someone else does too, and they've got a head start on us. I'll fill you in on the chopper ride." He gave Chuck a wicked grin, "I hope you still remember how to Fast Rope, that's how close we're cutting it."

A/N Reviews are always appreciated, even three years after-the-fact. Good or bad, tell me what you are thinking.