Chapter 18! I hope you enjoy. BTW, In case any of you were wondering, Agent Coleman is Jamie. I guess I didn't make that incredibly clear. She uses her mother's maiden name to distiguish her from the other Agent Bartowski. :)

Still don't own Chuck.

Back to the Basics

After she was escorted out of Castle, Jamie walked, or rather, hopped (she was still on crutches) over to the Buy More. When she entered the doors, she was immediately stopped by Morgan.

"Hey, Jamie," He began, "You're still on sick leave. Are you sure you want to be here today?"

Jamie glanced at him, "Is it really sick leave if I've never even worked here?" She chuckled, but Morgan could tell that something was wrong, but he didn't wonder long, because Jamie continued, "I'm having a really bad day, and I need to take my problems out on a few sick computers."

Morgan grinned, "Well then, I got just the place for you!" He put his arm around her shoulders and started leading her towards the cage.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Sarah was at the Orange Orange, furiously wiping tables, when Casey came up the stairs, "Walker," He said.

Sarah glanced up momentarily, but kept wiping tables, "What?"

"Walker, you're being unprofessional."

"I know, Casey. Dating my 'boss' is very unprofessional." She chuckled sarcastically as she continued wiping tables.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it. For God's sake, look at me Walker!" Casey raised his voice slightly in frustration. He wished he didn't have to, but it did get Sarah's attention; she stood up straight and looked at him. "Walker, the way you treat Coleman, the way you treat everybody, it has to stop. I don't care how you treat Bartowski at home, but when you're here, you're a spy, Walker, so start acting like one." He finished sharply and walked out the door, leaving a very bewildered Sarah.

It was right after Casey left that Chuck walked in. Sarah was sitting at one of the tables, her head in her hands. "Look, Sarah, we need to talk." Chuck said as he walked over to her table.

She looked up and smiled slightly, "Sit," She said softly.

"Look," They both said at the same time. They both chuckled.

"Look, Sarah, I'm sorry about how everything went down, but you need to know that I'm really worried about you. You just haven't been yourself lately." Chuck said.

Sarah took his hand in both of hers, "Chuck, it's okay, really. It's just…" Sarah began to tear up, "I'm tired, and I just want all this to go away. I'm at the end of my rope Chuck, I-I…" She started crying.

"Hey, hey," Chuck squeezed her hand, it's okay. Do you need a break or something?"

"Chuck please, I just need like two days. Just you and me. Please." She sniffled.

He took her in his arms as she continued to sob softly, "Okay, two days. We'll go somewhere next weekend, okay? I promise."

She looked up and smiled, "And for the record, it's okay with me that you're in charge of the team." She kissed him.

"Really? I'm so glad I have your approval, Agent Walker." He kissed her again before slowly planting kisses down the side of her neck.

"Okay, Chuck, not now, Sarah pulled away, "I have yogurt to serve."

Chuck looked disappointed, "I guess I can go find some hard drives to fix and continue that later tonight." He kissed her again, and then turned to leave. As he was exiting, he turned for a moment, "I'm glad you're not mad."

She smiled at him, and then he closed the door and walked toward the Buy More. When he walked in, Morgan saw him and ran over.

"Hey buddy, mind if I walk with you?"

"Not at all Morgan," Chuck answered absentmindedly.

"Dude, what's wrong with your sister?"

Chuck looked quizzically at the little bearded man, "What- Why do you ask?"

"She's like, super upset."

Chuck sighed as he sat down behind the Nerd Herd desk, "Well, if you must know, I sort of… got her suspended."

"What? From the CIA?" Morgan said, quite loudly and Chuck quickly shushed him, "From the CIA?" Morgan asked in a much quitter tone.

Chuck nodded his head.

"Dude! She's your sister! How could you do that?"

"Almost getting fellow agents killed while on an unauthorized mission is just a tiny bit unacceptable." Chuck muttered as he started looking through a pile of papers, then he looked up, "Wait, when did you talk to my sister?"

"She's in the back, man, fixing computers in the cage."

"Really?" Chuck asked, surprised.

"Yeah, she came in and insisted that I put her to work, so I did." Morgan replied. Just then, Casey walked up, "Hey, Casey," Morgan greeted cheerfully.

Casey gave Morgan a growl and a Menacing look.

"Right, well, I'm just gonna go and leave you two to discuss…whatever," Morgan muttered as he turned and left.

"Did you make up with Walker?" Casey asked.

Chuck glared at him, surprised, "What do you care?"

Casey mumbled, "Just wondering," and then continued out loud "Anyway, I have a proposition to make, and since you're our team leader now, I thought I would run it past you…"

Half an hour later, after running Casey's idea past Beckman, Chuck walked into the cage room. Jamie was sitting in the cage, diligently running diagnostics on a computer. She heard him come in, "What do you want?" She growled, and then she looked at him, a sad expression in her eyes, "I'm your sister, Chuck! How could you do this to me?"

"Hey! I did what I did because you were breaking up my team! I did it as a fellow agent, not as your brother."

"Oh and that makes it so much better." She scoffed.

"Ya know, Jamie, I really feel no need to explain myself. You brought this on yourself—you know that."

Jamie silently stared at the floor while Chuck continued, "I mean, seriously, did you really think that you'd get away with it forever?"

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, "I did do this to myself, didn't I? Chuck, what can I do to fix this?"

"Well," Chuck grinned, that's actually what I'm here to talk to you about. From what we've learned, Intrepid is an internal strike and is operating strongly in this area. You have the most knowledge of anyone on them, and since the CIA can't force you to hand over Reed's research, Casey proposed that we hire you as a consultant, or an analyst of sorts. What do you think?"

"Ummm, yeah, just one thing though… I was fired."

"Suspended," Chuck corrected, "You still work for the CIA. Oh and I left out the best part." Chuck smiled.

"What?"

"It is available for you to complete a spy training course, at the end of which Sarah and I will assess you and submit our reports to the CIA. They will then evaluate the reports and determine whether or not to let you back on as a full-fledged operative."

"Really?" Jamie's face broke out in a wide smile, "Chuck you are the best boss and brother ever!" She jumped up and gave him a hug.

x-x-x-x-x-x

"You actually got the General to agree to that?" Sarah asked, surprised. She was sitting on the bed with her legs crossed and her mouth wide open.

"Honey," Chuck plugged his cell phone into the charger and turned to face her, "Jamie's a very sticky situation. We need to be extremely careful with how we handle her. If I would have left things the way they were, do you know what would have happened?" He asked as he lay down on the bed.

"No."

"She would have gone rogue, hacked into the CIA mainframe, and done serious damage."

"I just don't understand that girl," Sarah sighed as she lay down next to him.

"I know, honey, there's a precious few that do." He replied, kissing her forehead, "Now, I promised you that I'd pick up tonight where I left off this afternoon, so, where was I?"

Sarah giggled and pointed to a spot on her neck, "I think that you were right about there."

x-x-x-x-x-x

The next few weeks went by, and Jamie was happier than she had been in a long time. She still be a part of Team Bartowski, and she was almost entirely recovered from her accident, and would be able to start her training soon. In addition, her friendship with Chuck was blossoming, and today, he had called her while she was on her way home from work, just to chat. She was still on the phone with him when she walked into her apartment, she didn't really look around, she just dropped her keys in the dish, and from there walked into her room and stopped in surprise, "Uh, Chuck, I'll call you back." She hung up the phone and looked around her room. All of the pictures had been removed from the walls, which had been painted stark white. Her dresser was still there, but none of the decorations were there, and her beautiful, plush, queen sized bed had been replaced with a twin mattress on a metal frame.

Jamie walked out of her room, just as Casey walked through the front door, carrying a paper bag of groceries.

"What the hell are you doing?" She demanded.

"What?" He asked obliviously as he started unloading the groceries into the refrigerator.

"That room looks like the one I had during that four week intensive training course you put me through." She explained angrily.

Casey just grunted, but Jamie saw the knowing look in his eyes.

"That's it!" She exclaimed, "You're going Applebee Jones on me!"

He put the bag in a drawer and then faced her. "You're right. Because of your accident, I have decided to take you back to the basics."

"Casey, you really don't have to." She protested, "I… was a spy, just get me conditioned and I'll be good as new."

He walked over to her, "Bedtime is no later than 2100 hours. You are to get up at 0500, at which time we will begin the morning workout regimen of one and a half hours. Breakfast will be at 0630, and will last until 0730. You will begin weapons training from 0800 until Noon, which is when you'll have lunch. At 1300 hours, we will begin your three-hour self defense workout. We will then spend a number of hours working on other various spy skills. Welcome back to training, Agent Coleman. Enjoy your last night of freedom."

"What about my job?"

"If you're working, we will work around that." Casey answered. "I'm sure we can work on some things while you're at the store."

"Casey, why are you doing this? It was a few bullet holes; a good workout will have me back in no time flat."

"I'm not doing this because you got shot," Casey answered, "I'm doing this because you went into that warehouse. Your training was never completed and you never should have gone out into the field. It's time for me to finish what I started. Do you understand?"

Jamie nodded her head, trying to remain calm, "Of course." She then walked over to the refrigerator.

"Casey?"

"Yeah?" He replied from the living room.

"Where's the left over chimichangas from last night?" She asked.

"I threw them out—No wait, I gave 'em to Chuck."

"Why did you do that?" she asked crossly.

"With your training regimen comes a new diet, which happens to be chimichanga-free."

"Is that what's with the asparagus and…" all of a sudden she gagged, "What is… this?" She pulled a package of meat out.

"Relax, it's Offal."

"Yeah, it looks awful!" Jamie grimaced.

"Organ meats, Jamie. They're very healthy for you."

Jamie stared at him disbelievingly, "Do you really hate me enough to make me eat guts and brains?"

"I'm not going to MAKE you eat anything; but if you're hungry, you'll eat what's on the menu. No exceptions. Any other questions?"

"Yeah… How long am I going to be in hell on earth?"

Casey chuckled and grunted, "As long as it takes."

"Just one more question, Casey," Jamie said.

"Yeah?"

"You work from noon to four most days. How am I supposed to get my self-defense training if you're at work?"

"Agent Walker has agreed to take on that portion of you're training. She said she'd be glad to kick your ass on a daily basis."

Jamie was petrified, "Prepare to die tomorrow at the hands of Sarah Walker," she muttered under her breath as she walked to her room.

Please review! Oh and don't worry, C&S weekend getaway will be in the next chapter.