Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or any characters from his show. I also want to thank PJ Murphy for the beta work on this chapter.

Chapter 6: Complications and Uncomplications

Before the stack of papers could fall over, Ariel grabbed them and reshuffled them to another spot on her desk. Hurriedly looking through some other reports, she began dumping papers into her briefcase. With that done, she shot a quick glance at Chuck.

"Well, honey. It sounds like you just need to ask her. Talk about the do's and don'ts of your cover. Make sure you know what the boundaries are so you don't get compromised. Also keep in mind that she is a threat to Fulcrum. If you were a trained agent, it might be easier for you to deal with this situation. Oh, can you be a dear and hand me my jacket on the hook over there? No, the other one."

Chuck handed Ariel her jacket and grabbed her cup of coffee for her. She gave him a smile and ruffled his hair. "Thanks, hun. I've got to get going. It's my turn for carpool duty today, and I've also got to get Jamie to tennis practice."

"Yeah, I understand. But I'm still really appreciative of any time you can spare me in your busy schedule," Chuck said. He pushed the elevator button for her when she tried to push it with her stiletto heel, seeing that her hands were full.

"Once again you swoop in to save me," she smirked at him.

"Of course! I come to the aid of any fair damsel in distress," Chuck replied with that grin Ariel always liked to see. "And if you ever tire of the life of drudgery and toil behind a desk and the wheel of a minivan, I can whisk you away to experience the most heavenly of earthly delights!" Chuck finished that with the patented Bartowski Eyebrow Dance.

A hearty laugh emanated from Ariel's mouth. "Oh, Chuck. If I was about twenty years younger, I just might take you up on your offer. But for now, I can only offer what I can give you in teacher mode."

The elevator dinged and they both got on. Ariel turned to Chuck and started on her spiel. "Back when I was doing the lion's share of assignments, I always put all of my focus on them. But even though my priorities were on the job, I still made sure to make time for myself. Yes, that included sex. Indeed there was one assignment where I had to pose as an asset's girlfriend for a couple of months. We did what we had to maintain our cover, but there was no way I was going to halt my romantic needs. And I had no interest in him. So I, of course, kept on with my own activities. Now if you do that, you just have to be careful. Be transparent in your desires with your handler, and just go for it. Life is too short to put your life on hold. What I learned is that in a long term assignment like you have with your CIA girl, your cover is adjustable. Just tell everyone that you broke up, but are still friends."

"It's just difficult. She is a great woman and in some other lifetime, I could see myself going for her. But she's not interested, or to be more precise, she doesn't want to be interested. And I'm not sure if she would put a bullet in my head if I slipped up. I'm enticed and repelled at the same time."

"You sound conflicted, so I will give you some very firm advice. Break up your cover and try to sort out your feelings. You should not get too close to her, so a break could help keep up that distance. However, try to be friends. That is a safer option for your sanity and cover. I just want what's best for you and the company."

The elevator let them off at the ground floor and Chuck walked her to her car. He bade her goodbye after she gave him a lollipop. Ariel was one of his role models because she had it all. She was one of the best double agents in the CIA and Fulcrum. She eventually retired from field work and the CIA, and now has a comfortable desk job that allowed her to have a family. And Chuck couldn't help but think of her as a surrogate mom.

As Chuck walked back to his office to continue coding for the new Intersect, he pondered the best way to approach the situation with Sarah.

"You want to break up?"

"Well, I want to fake break up our fake relationship. I realized a couple of things when we were under the truth serum. I think I had a pretty decent life until the Intersect got dumped in my head. This is a burden I have to bear, but that does not mean I have to stop pursuing my dreams. One of my dreams is to find a woman to share my life with, and I am not going to have that if I am pretending to have a relationship with you. And I don't want you to put a hold on any part of your life either on account of me."

"Chuck, it's my job to be in your life to protect you. That means I need access to you at any time without raising suspicions," Sarah replied as she shot him a frosty look over her drink. Chuck fidgeted in his chair, wondering if he could just bolt for RI across the square.

"Sarah, you could do that just as well if we were friends. It would be a lot easier for the both of us. And you know where I am most of the time, anyway. Please?"

Sarah pondered him for a moment before nodding her head and giving a small smile. "Alright. I think I can stand being friends with you."

"Oh, come on. She was hot. And we didn't get a chance to really know each other."

"Yeah, well, we decided that it would just be easier this way. Things weren't really sparking, and we thought that friends would be better for us."

Morgan turned around and bonked his head on the surface of the Nerd Herd desk. His frustration at Chuck getting another beautiful woman and not settling down with her was a bit annoying. He liked that he was not getting as much competition for Chuck's attention, but he thought it was a waste of Chuck's talent for attracting gorgeous women. If he was Chuck, he would know how to use those talents most effectively.

"Please help me. My phone died or something, and my whole life is on it," a cute brunette damseled in distress. Of course, Chuck had to swoop in and save her.

"I don't like it. Breaking up will unnecessarily complicate matters. It's difficult enough keeping an eye on him when he's at work, but now he's even further from our watch? We can't have a wild card asset doing whatever he wants where we can't keep tabs on him. Get him under control; what are we paying you for?" Beckman was most definitely not pleased. Graham, just as much.

"Agent Walker, impress upon him that it is for his own protection that he has you around as a handler. The Intersect is far too important to be left unattended. Reestablish your cover, it is the best way to handle the situation," Graham finished with a frown.

"That might be a little complicated to do since the asset has moved on to someone else," Casey cut in, trying to hide a smirk. "Soon after he dumped Walker, he started dating a civilian."

Sarah turned to him in surprise. "What? When did this happen?"

"And that is why you need to get him back under control. You can't be surprised by revelations like these," Graham grumped.

Sarah flushed a bit at being so out of the loop. "Yes sir. I will do what I can to watch him. Starting with a thorough background check on this new girl."

Casey couldn't resist the dig. "Are you sure you're not jealous about him dumping you?"

Chuck took one more moment to straighten out his hair before picking up Lou for their date. He failed and decided his hair was going to keep doing what it wanted, despite his efforts to fix it.

A knock on his door drew his attention. He walked over and looked through the peephole. Seeing Sarah, he opened the door with a fair amount of confusion. The look on her face was discomfortingly neutral.

"Hey, Sarah. What brings you here? I'm on my way out, but you can walk with me to my car. You know, make sure no one tries to kidnap me," he tried to joke awkwardly. Sarah was still frustratingly blank, but she followed him as he went on his way.

"Chuck, we have to talk. About our cover."

"I thought we already went over this? We can be cover friends. It will allow you to stay close to me, but not in a way that will keep us from having our own lives." A feeling of exasperation and defensiveness welled up in Chuck. He liked Sarah, but he was trying to keep his distance for a lot of reasons. Now it seemed that she was trying to horn back in, which would put him back in a bad situation.

"Chuck, you are very valuable-"

"You mean the Intersect is very valuable," Chuck cut in. He felt like a jerk, but also felt justified.

"It's not just that. Listen…" Sarah paused for a moment and tried to gather her thoughts. This conversation was turning into a minefield, and she was running in without a metal detector. "It is my job to make sure you are safe. I understand you might be feeling invaded and trapped with the CIA and NSA keeping close tabs on you, but it is for your safety. Not only are we focused on your well-being, but there is valuable government information in your head. We have to keep that safe as well."

Chuck nodded. "I know that, Sarah. I know you just want to keep me safe, but I still want to have my own life. Also, a little semblance of privacy would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your dedication, but nobody else knows I'm the Intersect."

They reached the garage and were close to Chuck's car. Sarah wanted to finish things up and try to go toward reestablishing their cover before Chuck left for his date. Unfortunately, she was facing desperate circumstances.

"I have been ordered to reestablish our dating cover. It is the best way to keep you protected-"

"I'm seeing someone already," Chuck cut in with what felt like a cold tone of finality to Sarah. "I'll see you tomorrow, buddy."

He got in his car and sped off. Sarah felt disappointment, frustration, and a bit of anger at how this was all getting handled.

"That could have gone better."

"You know, I haven't been on such a great date in a while. I'm really enjoying the night. And I hope you're enjoying the sandwich," Lou said. She was relaxing against the counter with satisfaction as she watched Chuck savor the sandwich.

"I'm having a great time myself. You have got to have an amazing palette to pull such incredible sandwiches off. Actually, the whole package is quite enticing."

Chuck finished the sandwich and wiped his hands with a napkin. He walked over to Lou and took her in his arms. He was nuzzling her neck when he happened to look up and catch a symbol on a bulletin board on the wall.

The G-Intersect kicked in and hammered him with information on one Stavros Demetrios. He seized up a bit in his usual reaction, hoping Lou wouldn't notice.

"Chuck, is something wrong?" she asked as she stepped back to get a good look at him.

Chuck shook the effects of the flash off and tried to cover. "Oh, I'm good. I was just about to sneeze, but I didn't. And I was hoping not to break the romance of the scene for that."

As they continued their date, Chuck used the F-Intersect to search for any information on Stavros Demetrios. It took a while to get the F-Intersect booted up, but one of its best features was multitask. That meant that Chuck could use that while he was focusing on Lou. About an hour later, he got a comprehensive report on Demetrios.

"So here's what I'm thinking. The use of the G-Intersect could be to provide broad stroke facts of the information. Something that needs to be known immediately; the most pertinent information at an instant. That could trigger the F-Intersect to work up a more comprehensive profile that could provide more details."

"So the G-Intersect is for instant action, the F-Intersect for further analysis?" Ted asked.

"Something like that. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, but I think we work on a happy medium. I think it should all be about the brute strength basics of the G-Intersect with the finesse and detail of the F-Intersect," Chuck replied.

Tom Varnes had a troubled look on his face. "So are we trying to duplicate the G-Intersect, or are we going to making a whole new Intersect that utilizes features from both? I mean, it's difficult to get either of them to work in one person. We've been trying that. But to make a whole new one? How many people can handle that? That is aside from you, Chuck?"

"It sounds like there are logistics issues with both ideas. We need this computer to be more inclusive, not exclusive," Ted finished with a bit of a grump.

Chuck sighed. "Yeah, we're working on that."

"And what about Stavros? What did you find out about him?"

"He's an independent shipper who works with us. We're one of his clients, and he is shipping something for us. Our package should arrive tonight. Tommy is heading this operation."

"Okay then. It seems like we shouldn't get involved then. Right, Chuck?"

"Don't worry, Ted. I haven't told Sarah or Casey anything about it. Besides, it's nothing dangerous."

"Careful with that!" Tommy yelled as his underlings took crowbars to the massive crate. He turned his attention back to his phone and checked the manifesto on what should be inside. The boom of the side falling drew his attention back.

The people started unpacking the crate and Tommy went through checking everything off.

"Tommy! We think we found something!" a thug shouted out.

Tommy made his way into the shipping container and saw what the deal was. It looked like a bunch of rags, clothing, food wrappers, and empty water bottles. Before he could think further on this scene, the sound of gunfire drew Tommy running back outside.

He pulled his gun and surveyed the scene. What he saw was Bryce Larkin giving a smirk and a wave as he drove Tommy's car off.