Let us do something, while we have the chance.

Still don't own Chuck.

"Sometimes it helps to know that you got something to lose."
--Agent Walker Episode 3.4

Chapter 8—the Protection

Casa Bartowski

Chuck told Sarah what they needed to do. He said that he would rest today, but that tomorrow he would have to be ready for work. She was conflicted. Doc Adams had already explained to Sarah the real risk. A collapsing lung on top of a heart that was already beating too fast could be fatal. Chuck had also explained that the Snakeheads from overseas were now moving in to take over the Halverson's territory. Their first targets would be their teams. He also explained that the flashes were still coming. They were extensive and extremely disturbing.

Sarah knew this would not be easy. When the Doc and Dorothy had left the room that morning, Chuck had started his explanation. His recognition of the problems that were coming along with two flashes raised his heart rate by twenty beats per minute. She had told him to stop and immediately rushed to his side. She worked for twenty minutes getting him to calm down.

Sarah was running her fingers through his hair and lightly leaning against him. She asked, "Are you alright? I'll go up and get things started. But I want you to take a nap, please."

"I'm good. Go ahead. We need to get them started," Chuck gave her a kiss and a little push.

Sarah got off the bed and looked at him, "Nap, right?"

"Yes," he closed his eyes hard and pulled up the covers. He heard her walk away, but it wasn't that much longer and he was asleep. The medications he was using could still put him to sleep at any time.

Sarah walked into the conference room and everyone crowded around her. They had just heard the briefing from Doc Adams but everyone was still alternating the questions between how was Chuck and how was she.

Sarah stepped to the front of the room and said, "Chuck and I really appreciate all you have done for us. Thank you all. As you know Chuck cannot join us. But there are some things that we need to start working. Here's an outline of what we need." She became to outline and detail what need to be done. She covered the surveillance that had been completed and the feeds that were still active. Then she went over the details that she wanted from the interviews and interrogations of the people from Seattle. Then she explained that she wanted a briefing package so that she could go through it with Chuck a little bit at a time. Finally she said, "I want a few of you to work together on a defensive posture. I want you to start considering options. Bring the detail team chiefs in on this. And include the options in the briefing. Thank you again."

Sarah stopped to talk with Steven and Alice. Sarah started with Alice, "We gave Casey and Mary the day off. They are not supposed to work this. If they show up, tell them to get out. We'll get them up to speed tomorrow."

She said to Steven, "You know what Chuck is looking for more than any of us."

Steven took her hands, "I know. We'll get this ready for you. Don't worry about it. You go take care of Chuck."

Sarah replied, "Thank you, Dad."

Steven gave her a hug. He answered, "Don't worry, Darling." With watery eyes she left the conference room.

By the time she got down to the apartment and Chuck she had been full out crying. She knew Chuck was suffering but this was really the first time that everyone was pulling for her. She hadn't expected to react that much to Steven's hug.

Chuck was awake when she came in, and noticed she had been crying, "What's wrong?"

Sarah walked over to the bed and got in with him, "Nothing. Your family is so nice. Your dad is going to take care of things. He made me realize how much that hurt when he left you and how much it means to have a family. You know, I love you and everything about you." She did not get to continue, he smothered her with a kiss.

Alice began following up on the plans Sarah had laid out. Tom and Vera were talking with the Detail Lead to set up the drive to the facility where Melina was staying. Alice had already sent an email to Jim Henry asking him to get back with her. She needed details from the girls he was transporting. The Chief and LT were going to check on the other girls. They were planning to do the interviews from Castle. Brad was going to get the reports from the FBI on the Fulcrum agent. Kayle and Lea were going to work with the protection details on defensive options. Kristen, Eldie, and Liz were going to go over the surveillance and make their inputs. Liz realized they were going to need a lot of help. She worked with Steven to shift huge blocks of data input to Mr. Wiggins and Sarah's analysts.

FBI Safe House

Tom and Vera were passengers in the van that pulled up to one of the FBI safe houses. The protection detail deployed and contacted the safe house guards. They set up crossing surveillance points and let the van driver know it was safe for his passengers. The driver got Vera's door. Tom met her and they went into the building. There were another set of guards and then a sliding door that opened based on a button the guards pushed.

They were met by an FBI agent in the room behind the door, he said, "Welcome, to our little home away from home. As you may have guessed, this is a safe house and we would like to keep it that way. Please keep the location confidential, but more importantly when you go back to where ever you came from, please use a different route. Now, the…huh, patient we have is still having some problems. We have had our doctors over to treat her and they gave her some methadone as a first step. As the Agent Polk, I have been working with the Bureau. We have not come to agreement on her disposition. I hope to have a better answer in an hour or so. Remember to ask me when you get done with the interview." He pushed another button and the next door opened.

Tom and Vera walked through alone. Tom did not see it coming, the young girl almost threw herself at him. He was looking down the hall to the right when she almost tackled him from the left.

"Thank you for coming," Melina rushed. She had wrapped herself around Tom. Looking over at Vera she backed off. "Sorry, you're Vera, right?"

Vera extended her hand, "Yes, are they treating you okay?" Vera was a little concerned that something was going wrong and that possibly the FBI was trying to interrogate Melina.

"Oh yes, I apologize. They have been every nice. Their doctors treated me and were very kind. I have no problems with them. The problem appears to be with my government. They have not been all that forthcoming. Tom, I am sorry, but you guys are the only hope I have. I don't know what to do," Melina started looking at the floor.

Vera moved a little closer and got Melina's attention, "We will get something fixed for you." She turned to Tom, "How about you go check in and see what is possible?"

Tom nodded. He agreed that Vera needed to talk with Melina to get any credible information. He would go see if there was anything that could be done. He squeezed Melina's hand, "I'll go see what we can do. Vera needs to talk with you and get as much information as we can about the people who held you. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Tom walked to the door and knocked. It opened almost immediately. The agent motioned to him. He said, "First, her government doesn't seem to want her back. They are not inclined to support her after we release her either. And so you know, it would appear my agency is wrestling with the problem. And well, bottom line, we may have to release her tomorrow. I was hoping for an answer by the time you left, but the last email was returned with an out-of-office reply."

Tom was inclined to just tear into the agent, but realized it was not his fault. He was probably doing his best. Tom replied, "I'll need to call my boss and probably should do it from the van. Excuse me. If Vera comes out, let her know where I am." Tom went out the next door and walked briskly to the van.

The driver was there waiting and opened the door, "Everything alright?"

"Yes, need to check in with the boss and get something resolved. But protection wise, we are okay," Tom answered. He climbed in the back seat and got out his cell. "Tom secure…Alice we have a problem…" Tom explained the situation and end with, "There are so many problems with this. Is there anything we can do?"

Casa Bartowski

Alice realized this was something Sarah or Chuck would have to answer. She didn't want to disturb them but knew that waiting for tomorrow might be too late. She remembered a couple times where her home agency would take actions that she thought should have been done differently. Even though they were a bureaucracy in their own, the Bureau could move fast. Alice answered, "I hope so. I'll have to ask Sarah. I'll call you back as soon as I get an answer."

Alice told Kayle that she had to go check with Sarah about a problem that came up. She left the conference room and went to the front door of Sarah and Chuck's apartment. She knocked softly on the door hoping that she would get Sarah and not wake both of them. Alice was totally surprised when Chuck answered the door. Her first words were, "Oh my, I didn't mean to get you up." She remembered the briefing from this morning and reached down to the small table by the front door and got a protective mask. She quickly put it on.

Chuck said, "Its fine." He knew from the look on her face that this is like really important. He wanted to stop her from leaving. She was already starting to backtrack and turn. "Its fine Alice, come in and I'll get Sarah," Chuck watched first to make sure she came in the apartment. "Here have a seat. I am fine, please don't worry." Chuck saw that Sarah had gotten up and quickly intervened, "Alice has something important that only we can decide." He smiled at Sarah and saw that she smiled back and nodded.

Alice was definitely torn. She knew Chuck probably had not heard the details from each of the teams' extraction. And she was worried the details about Melina could trigger something. She got up from her seat and went over to Sarah. She whispered, "Sarah, I am sorry. But it's about Melina."

Sarah moved back a bit and looked at Alice, "I'll come up with you. Chuck, please get back to bed. And I'll be right back."

Chuck looked a little sheepish, "Okay so much for privacy, but I have to go to the restroom."

"Right, we'll help," Sarah hurried.

Chuck looked at Sarah like all hope had been lost, "Sarah?"

She smiled, "Yes, I'll help. Alice, just a second please." Sarah stepped up beside Chuck and began helping him to the restroom. "So, why were you up and trying to go by yourself?"

"I was trying not to wake you. I know you hardly had any sleep last night. But I'll wait for you from now on," he said as he squeezed her a little. "I always did like this part." He got a little swat in the rear when he got to the restroom.

Once she got him set and his IV hung, she said, "You okay?"

"Yes, sorry. Just a second," Chuck responded as the door closed.

Alice watched the interaction and smiled. Sarah noticed and smiled back. Just as Chuck said he wasn't that long and he was opening the door.

Chuck knew that the decision waiting for Sarah was probably critical, if Alice would wait around through all of this. He knew he was guessing, but it had to be something that another agency would not do something they needed. When he got back to the bed and sat down, he said, "Tell her yes. Whatever it is, we'll take care of it."

Sarah nodded but watched him wince a couple times as he got in the bed. She put the IV back and pushed the meds button, "I just pushed the button for you. Don't wait so long, okay? It may make tomorrow harder. I'll be back in a minute. Please try to take a nap." Sarah turned and walked out with Alice.

When they got in the courtyard, Alice said, "I didn't mean to cause such a fuss. I thought he would be asleep and didn't want to wake him with a phone call."

Sarah quickly replied, "Good point, I'll have the cell on buzz from now on. Call that first."

They were soon in the conference room. Alice explained the situation. Sarah asked, "Can we get Tom up on a conference line with us? I want to discuss this with him too." Alice had Eldie set it up.

Sarah began, "So the Agent Polk said that she would likely get released tomorrow?"

Tom replied, "Yes, and he looked rather perplexed. I think he is doing the most he can for her, but he is not getting any answers. I think the reluctance of her government has something to do with this. Look I suspect you have already talked this over, but if they release her and she gets captured. Well, after they torture her for whatever she can tell them about us, I would expect…"

"Tom, I know. We have been dealing with that for a while. Now Alice, what are you suggesting we do?" Sarah wanted to see what Alice thought since Melina was now in FBI control. Sarah was also at her laptop and busily typing an email to her boss.

"Well, the way I saw it was that we either take her or take over. I think if we took her away from the FBI right now, we would likely have more problems with the local FBI. Remember they would not cooperate that much when we started. It will get worse." Alice switched positions and added, "So, the better move would be to take over the operation of holding and protecting her. If we can use the Interagency Task Force role, we should not have any problems."

Sarah thought for a moment, "Okay, here's what we'll do. I'll call the LA SAC and let him know that for national security reasons we need to take over Melina's care and protection. I'll let him know that we would like to temporally use the people he currently has assigned to her. That way we can hopefully not call any extra attention to the switch. Then I would like Doc Adams and Dorothy to check her and assume the responsibility for her well being. As soon as we can, double the protection on her. Alice, please coordinate that action. Can you think of anything else?"

Both Tom and Alice said no. Sarah sent her email to Director Robins, CIA and the LA SAC with copies to the FBI Director, Chuck's boss at ODNI, and Casey's boss at SOCOM. She knew this was going to take a little to get set up.

Sarah got up and went over to Steven, "Dad, could you go keep Chuck company for awhile? You can tell him about what you are doing to input the data. Just, please don't get into the details of the data itself. He is still flashing on parts of it from the other night."

Steven patted her on the shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll take care of him."

She picked up the conference room phone and called the direct number to the LA SAC. "Good afternoon, this is Director Walker. Can we go secure?" Sarah explained the situation and that the Task Force would take over the responsibility for Melina. The SAC gave her the run down from their side. It appeared that the decision on this was being made at the Bureau and they were having problems with their lawyers. They ended the call on good terms.

Sarah got Alice's attention, "I think you heard most of that. He agreed and I don't think we will have any problems. The decision on Melina was being worked by the FBI lawyers. Apparently there was a concern over getting sued for false imprisonment. And since her government wasn't taking a stand, they could not say they were assisting. Now that we have declared it a national security problem, they can support us. Have Tom discuss the arrangements with the Agent Polk. Is there anything else?"

Alice thought for a second and asked, "So what do we do if this happens to the other girls? And I guess either set of them?"

Sarah looked at her and then smiled, "It should be the same. We can't let them be released and captured. But please check to see what is happening with them. I'll send a note to Director Robins to let him know and copy you. Then if you have that problem, just reply with a follow-up and arrange to take charge of them. Anything else?"

Alice came over to Sarah and took her hand, "That's all. Sorry to take you away from Chuck."

Sarah continued to smile, "No problem. If something else comes up, call the cell. See you in the morning." Sarah walked out of the conference room. She was very happy. Chuck was right, tell her yes and then take care of it. And the SAC agreed.

She was beaming when she got down to the apartment. When she went in Chuck and Steven were in a discussion over some software logic and how it would work. Chuck looked over at her and saw that glowing face.

Chuck smiled back, "So you fixed it?"

Sarah was almost bubbling, "Yes, we'll tell you about it tomorrow."

Steven got up and said, "Well, I can see you need to celebrate. See you tomorrow. Aces."

Sarah gave Steven a hug, "Thanks again from coming down." She walked him to the door. Then she went over to Chuck and climbed in bed beside him. She kissed him and continued until she thought they were going to set off the monitor alarm.

Alice continued with her checks. She went over to the Chief and asked, "What is the status of the three girls?"

The Chief had heard what was happening with Melina. He replied, "I checked when we started. They are to be held indefinitely. Right now it is a question of whether to put them in witness protection or not. I will call back and tell them to notify us if anything changes."

Then Alice went over to Brad, "Can you confirm that the FBI is going to continue to hold the Fulcrum agent?"

Brad held up the hardcopy of the report, "They have him on kidnapping and human trafficking. They know he is also Fulcrum and are verifying whether to invoke treason. He will not be leaving."

Alice went over to her laptop to catch up with her emails and specifically look for a reply from Jim Henry. She got the email and reviewed it. She sent back a reply and told him to hold and protect the girls. She called him next but only got his voice mail. Next, she pulled up the email from Sarah and hit reply all. She explained the situation and asked that the FBI confirm the girls would be protected or if that was not possible, that they be turned over the Task force. She reread it and hit send.

After that Alice used the same phone that Sarah had and called Director Robins. She started the same way Sarah had, "Good afternoon, this is Agent Kazan. Can we go secure?" Alice explained the situation to Director Robins.

A/N Hope you enjoyed. Little more Casey coming up in the next Chapter.