Here's Chapter 14. I really don't have much to say about it, but I hope you enjoy it.

Unfortunately, I still do not own Chuck.

Giving Up

That night, Jamie was once again in the vault, or "bat cave" as Chuck had dubbed it. She was pouring through the music books when her cell phone rang. It was a text from Chuck.

I'm at the door. Plz let me in. :)

Jamie huffed a little and went up to open the door. Chuck walked in. "Thought maybe you could use my help, even if I have no idea what you're doing."

"Yeah, thanks." She led the way down to the vault, still offering no explanation as to what she was doing. They sat down at the counter and started paging through the books when Chuck broke the silence.

"Can I ask you a question, Jamie?"

"Sure."

"You said that this was your former handler's apartment, right?"

"Mhm" Jamie continued to read, almost as if she wasn't listening.

"And he was murdered…" Chuck stated, but it was meant as a question.

"Jamie looked up, "Where are you going with this Chuck?"

"Well, I mean one would think that they would have sealed off his belongings and look for evidence."

Jamie chuckled, "they did, Chuck."

"Wha-what?" Chuck stammered.

"Apparently, all of Reed's research was at his house over in Alexandria. This place, they never even thought to look here." She paused for a moment, and then muttered "Although even if they wanted to, they never could have gotten in."

"What do you mean?''

"The security system is foolproof."

"How do you know?"

Jamie gave him a sly smile, "Because I designed it."

"Oh," Chuck breathed, as he went back to his reading.

A little while later, Chuck once again broke the silence, "Can I ask you another question?"

"Sure," Jamie mumbled.

"What's Intrepid?"

Jamie stopped reading, but she didn't look at him, she just stared straight ahead, not answering him.

"Jamie?"

"I don't know, Chuck." She finally answered, "I mean, I think I know what it is, but I…," She paused, "I just don't know."

"What do you think it is?"

"Ithink, and I stress the word think, that it's an internal strike; similar to Fulcrum or even the Ring, which I know you're familiar with those." She answered.

"And why are you so interested in stopping them? I mean, it's not your duty." Chuck prodded.

"Yeah it is, Chuck."

"Why?"

"Because I'm the only one who can stop them." She answered simply. "Please, Chuck," she begged, "I really don't want to answer any more questions right now."

"But I need to know…" He began to protest, but Jamie cut him off.

"Not now, Chuck."

"Can I just ask one more question?"

Jamie huffed, "Fine. What?"

"Does Casey know?"

"Know what?"

"About your little side mission." Chuck clarified.

"No," She said sharply, "And he's not going to find out about it. Not from you, and not from me. Do I make myself clear?"

"Uhhh, Uh-huh, sure."

Jamie glared at him, in a flash she had leapt up from her seat and had twisted Chuck's arm behind his back. "I said, do I make myself clear?" She hissed.

"Yeah! Yeah! Perfectly clear! Now let go of me before I flash and end up hurting you!"

Jamie released him and went back to her seat. "Are we even getting anywhere?" She finally asked.

"Well, it would really help if you were completely honest and told me what exactly what it is you're looking for."

"The littler you know the better." Was all she said in response.

The hours passed by. They found absolutely nothing, and Chuck could tell that Jamie was as disappointed as she was exhausted. It was about 3 am, and they decided to go and get some sleep.

"So what are you going to do if you don't figure this mystery out before we need to head back to LA?" Chuck asked as he and Jamie walked back to Jamie's apartment.

Jamie shrugged, "Well, then, I guess it's over. I mean, I can't bring all that stuff back to California with me."

"And Intrepid goes unstopped?"

"Intrepid goes unstopped."

Chuck looked at her in surprise, "So you're just going to give up?"

Jamie shrugged again, "Do I really have a choice?"

That was the end of their conversation as they were now back at their apartment. They snuck in and went to bed.

Chuck couldn't sleep. His mind was churning a million miles a minute. If Intrepid was an internal strike, the intersect had to have something on it, so why wasn't he flashing on anything? It did not make any sense.

Another thing was that he was very conflicted. He knew that he needed to tell Sarah, but Jamie was his sister, and he didn't want to betray her. It was a sticky situation, and he wished that he had never gotten involved.

Unlike Chuck, who couldn't sleep, Jamie was out like a light. She had killed two birds with one stone; Chuck had believed her when she told him that she was going to give up, and that meant that she was free to continue her investigation even after they got back to LA. She would just leave some of her clothes here and pack the books in her suitcase—problem solved.

The next morning, Ellie was once again the first one up. She went to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee, and then she went to make sure that her brother and sister were actually there. She smiled as she watched her little sister sleep. She had only known Jamie for a few weeks, but she already felt like she had known the girl her whole life. She loved her so much and was glad that Jamie had tracked them down.

Ellie walked around Jamie's room, looking at the various pictures that covered the walls. Her eyes lighted on a small frame on the dresser. In it was a picture of Jamie and a young man. She picked it up and turned it over to see if there was a name or date or anything.

"Snoop around much?"

Ellie jumped and turned around. Jamie had woken up and was smiling wryly at her big sister.

"Jamie, I'm so sorry…"

Jamie sat up and put her feet over the edge of the bed. She put her hand up in order to stop Ellie from talking. "Hey, it's fine."

She walked over to her dresser and took the picture from Ellie.

"Who is he?" The older sister inquired.

"My boyfriend, Tripp Rayner."

"Oh… " Ellie once again looked at the picture, "He's… cute. Where does he live?"

Jamie didn't answer right away, she walked over to her cell phone and pushed a button, "He's uh… somewhere in Europe right now. For work."

"Really? What does he do?"

"He's a communications consultant." Jamie answered. "His job takes him all over the world."

"Wow that must be pretty amazing." Ellie speculated.

Jamie smiled sadly, "Yeah, for him."

"Do you miss him?"

"We actually, kind of… broke up."

Ellie nodded her head in understanding. She set the picture back in its place and took Jamie in a hug. "You know, if you ever want to talk, I'm here for you, okay?"

Jamie reciprocated her sister's embrace, "Thanks." She whispered.

Just then Ellie saw another picture. "Hey, is that Mom?" She asked, walking over so that she could get a closer look.

Jamie smiled, "Yeah, that was right before she… um, died." Then her face turned dark, "I don't really want to talk about it."

Elle smiled comfortingly, "I know how you feel. It's okay."

There was so much Jamie wanted to tell Ellie, but she couldn't. It was at that moment that she realized that this was going to be a very tough assignment.

Ellie left the room and Jamie once again looked at her phone. She sat down on her bed and started typing a text.

Her heart was beating loudly in her chest as she pushed the send button.

The day was fun; the Bartowski trio went sightseeing, and they all had an amazing time. They saw all the monuments and memorials, had a picnic, and later went to a jazz concert. By the end of the day, they were exhausted. Chuck had noticed throughout the day that Jamie didn't seem like her normal cocky self. She looked a little down. Even though he had attributed it to the fact that she was discouraged about her Intrepid investigation, at one point he asked if she was okay.

"Yeah, Chuck, I'm fine." She had answered, half-smiling.

Jamie may have been a good liar, but she couldn't hide her emotions, and Chuck could tell that she was anything but fine, so that night, while Jamie and Ellie were in the kitchen, Chuck snuck into Jamie's room. He didn't know what he was looking for, but there had to be something. Suddenly, he spied her cell phone; he picked it up and saw her last text:

I'm in DC. Was really hoping 2 see u. I miss u a ton and want 2 talk 2 u about u know what. I don't trust them. Need your advice, now.

It was after he read the text that he flashed. It wasn't much, but the text was in code. All it broke down to read was simply one word:

Chessman

Okay, so another mystery before the first one is solved. I know that it may be confusing, but it will be explained. Don't worry.

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