Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck.

A/N: Wow. Sorry for the wait. I do not have a good excuse. PJ Murphy betaed, so thanks to him. I am already working on the next chapter.

Chapter 9: Full-Cocked

Jill removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes. She had been reading the contents of the flash drive, looking for the hidden code for the past two hours, and the words were starting to jumble together. Sighing, she got up and walked to the other side of the room to get some coffee.

She grumbled with dissatisfaction when she saw the coffee pot was empty. However, she took pleasure in making more coffee to break up the monotony of the work. As she finished loading more water in the machine, there was a knock on the door. She opened it to show Leader on the other side.

"Roberts," he began. "We have a paper on this flash drive that has to be decoded. Get working on it now. Are you done with the previous one?"

"Yes, I'm almost done with the last paper. That's what I've been doing for the past few years." Jill took the flash drive from leader. She hesitated a moment before asking him a question that had been gnawing at her for quite a while. "When can I get back to the lab?"

Leader was been about to leave but turned around and looked at her. "What was that?"

Jill took a moment to summon her courage and continued. "I'm a scientist, and what I'm supposed to be doing is studying and researching important topics in biochemistry. However, I have been stuck traveling the world exchanging and decoding stuff for Fulcrum. I'm not a courier or a code breaker; I'm a scientist. When can I go back to that?" Jill was letting some of the frustration over her recent career come through.

Leader didn't bat an eyelash at her tirade. "Roberts, the embedded codes need someone of your expertise to decipher."

"That's because they're hidden in biology and chemistry papers. Why can't we exchange these the old fashioned way?" Jill waved her arms around vaguely, trying to come up with an example. "With decoder rings, or whatever you used." She cringed at how she ended that.

Leader's lack of expression still didn't change. "We need you doing this."

He promptly turned around and left. Jill closed the door and leaned against it, banging her head in frustration.

"Do you really think Sarah left?"

Casey looked up from the keyboard to stare at his asset. Chuck was nervously tapping his foot and appeared mildly distraught over the thought.

"I don't know. But if she did, they can always get you another CIA-sanctioned sweetie to guard over you." He turned back to his task as he got ready to set up the videoconference.

"I mean, it's okay if she did go." The statement surprised Casey, but he didn't let that show. "She would have a chance to be with Bryce again and go on kick-ass missions to save the world."

"Don't remind me," Casey muttered under his breath, jealous at the idea. He would have loved to go around on dangerous missions instead of babysitting a nerdy and uncooperative asset.

A knock on the door alerted everyone to Sarah's arrival. She entered with nary a glance at Chuck. She settled in her seat and put on an aloof air.

"Glad you finally made it, Walker," Casey grunted.

"Let's just get this over with," she replied coolly.

Chuck was putting the finishing touches on the glazed chicken when his phone rang. He picked it up and saw Lou's face on the ID.

"Hey, Lou. I'm nearly finished with dinner. Are you almost here?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a couple of minutes. I just wanted you to know, and I'm eager for dinner."

"It's the least I could do since you fed me last time. I may not be as good of a culinary artist as you, but I have a couple of dishes up my sleeve."

She giggled. "I'm excited. I'll see you in a few."

"Alright, see ya! Just come on in when you get here."

They hung up and Chuck continued his dinner preparations. He finished putting the plates on the table and lit a few candles when he heard a knock on his door.

"Wow, when you said a couple of minutes, I didn't think you meant one or two," he said as he opened the door. His eyes widened when he saw Sarah there instead of his date.

She brushed past him into the apartment. Her entire demeanor screamed 'professional' and she regarded him with frustrating neutrality.

"I've been ordered to resume our cover relationship. The latest scare with Fulcrum has made intense surveillance on your wellbeing of paramount importance," Sarah finished. Her tone was even and her face was blank.

"Why? The Fulcrum thing was just bad luck. They don't know who I am, and I don't think they are going to come after me again when there are so many other programmers at Roark. I appreciate your dedication, but I don't think either of us wants to get into another cover relationship."

"I have my orders. Chuck, please." For a moment, Sarah's expression showed how tired and frustrated she was with the situation. Added to that, she didn't like how she was borderline begging. "It would be a lot easier to monitor you if we just had that cover."

"No it won't!" Chuck snapped. "Do you really want to be forced into a meaningless and loveless relationship because of 'orders'? I don't need that much surveillance on me, and I'm already in a relationship."

"Why are you so stubborn about this?" Sarah snapped back. "All you have to do is cooperate, and things would go much more smoothly. Sorry that we're such an intrusion on your life and it is so hard for you to pretend to have me as a girlfriend, but tough luck. That's how things are." She was finally unleashing some of the anger she had been feeling. It felt good, and she was just getting warmed up.

"I have already been put into so much trouble since the government started interfering in my life. So you'll forgive me if I'm not exactly feeling happy with how things are. And in case you failed to hear it the first time, I have a girlfriend."

"Then break up with her," Sarah snarled.

"No. She is one of the few normal things in my life, and I am not about to give her up. So I would appreciate it if you and the government would butt out of my private life," Chuck gritted back.

"Butt out? Just what the hell are you trying to hide?"

"NOTHING!" He took a half-second to recover any surprise or guilt he might have felt and got back on task. "I just want to have some part of my life to be my own. I want to have some semblance of control in my life that doesn't have the government in it. Just something I can have to myself. Ever since this all started, I have been in danger more times than I am comfortable with. I just want to get back to my life."

Sarah forcibly stilled herself and took a deep breath to refocus. One thing at a time.

"Alright, let's start with breaking up with Lou first. I know you like her, but this is not a good time for her to be in your life." She was once again in control of her emotions and regarded Chuck coldly.

"No."

"You do it, or I will."

"Sarah, please just let me have this," Chuck pleaded.

There were footsteps in the hallway and the door gave a sound as it opened. Before Chuck could react, Sarah grabbed Chuck, buried her face in his neck and grasped his hair with both hands.

"The hell, Chuck?" Lou exclaimed when she saw them in a seemingly intimate position.

"NO! It's not what it looks like," Chuck said as he tried to pry Sarah off.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked bewilderedly, playing the innocent role to the hilt. "I thought you wanted to get back together with me?"

Lou looked furious as she strode out of the room in anger. Chuck pushed Sarah off of him and tried to run after Lou.

"Wait! No, please come back! Can't we talk about this?" Chuck chased her a bit, but she had already disappeared.

Sarah walked up to him, gave him a cold glance, and left.

Chuck dragged his feet into his office and slumped into his chair. He tried to call Lou again, but she still refused to answer. Failing that, he stared at the code on his screen, not really seeing it. His reverie was broken by his office phone.

"Hello, Chuck Bartowski speaking."

"Hey, Chuck. Come up to my office. We have a situation to attend to."

"I'm on my way, Ted."

He stood up and made his way up to Ted's office. Ted's secretary let him into the office, where Ted was waiting. Tommy was unobtrusively leaning against the wall in the corner. Anticipation tickled in Chuck's stomach.

"What's going on?" Chuck asked.

"Well," Ted began. "We have a couple of concerns. Concerns that concern your rather tenuous position with the government."

"Listen, I'm trying to get them off my back, but they're really persistent."

"We know that you're trying to keep them at arm's length," Tommy said, "but that's starting to look suspicious. We're going to have to play ball with them."

"Play ball?"

"You can no longer be just an asset under their control," Tommy continued, "you're now going to have to act like a real spy. Walker and Casey are your marks. You have to let them believe that you are relenting to their conditions."

"That's going to be kind of difficult to pull off since I've been so vehement in protesting against it. I don't think they'd buy me wanting increased protection and surveillance. Besides, won't that make things worse?"

"Not if you know how to play the game," Tommy said with a slight smirk. "And I do."

"You have him back under your thumb yet?" Casey asked Sarah as he cleaned one of his guns.

"It's getting there. I created a compromising situation for Lou to walk in on. Now I just have to convince him the importance of eliminating any possible risks to him and other people in his life so that he'll be easier to handle."

Sarah worked on setting up the videoconference with Graham and Beckman as she gave Casey her update. She appeared calm and professional about the situation, which Casey appreciated. No more lady feelings to put up with.

The monitor came online, and their bosses wasted no time on pleasantries, getting right down to business.

"We have picked up communications that Fulcrum agents are going to meet at this harbor," Graham began.

A map came up and showed the location indicated as Beckman continued. "We want you to go there and find out what their plans are. If there is a circumstance where immediate action is needed, take it."

"Do you want us to bring the Intersect?" Sarah asked.

"No," replied Graham. "With the Intersect in an untrained civilian, we don't want to keep putting him at risk in the field. We should try to get him to watch any missions from a safe area. Have him watch from his home feed so that he might supply any useful information."

"We're on our way, then," Casey finished.

Sarah and Casey kept an eye on the two men they found at the site. All they had done so far was talk. Through the bugs that Casey and Sarah had planted, they were talking about basketball.

"There's something wrong," Sarah said.

"Yeah," said Casey. "The guy on the right thinks the Bulls can beat the Lakers tonight at Staples."

"No, it's something else. We got reports of something big happening here, but there's nothing."

"Are you sure about this?" Chuck spoke through the headset from his home. "I've been analyzing that intercepted communication, and there are some odd things in the-WHOA!"

A crash could be heard on Chuck's end, and Sarah's blood went cold. A scuffle was heard, followed by complete silence.

"Chuck? Come in, are you alright?" Sarah said as her fear began to rise.

"He's alright…for now," a voice replied with a laugh from Chuck's comm.

"Tommy," Casey growled.

"Very good, Major. This tech is quite good. And he knows quite a bit more than he should. Please don't look for him." The phone clicked.

"Chuck?" Sarah said anxiously into her comm. "CHUCK!"

Getting no answer, she brought up his tracker. She started the car and tore off after his signal.

They lost his signal near some industrial buildings. Sarah huffed in frustration and kept driving in the direction she was going. Casey brought up some maps and tried to find out where Fulcrum could have taken Chuck.

"We lost the signal at these buildings over here," Casey said pointing at a map.

Sarah sped up and they got to the buildings within minutes. They exited the car and started checking the place for anywhere Chuck might be. Their sweep brought them to the end of the shipping dock. A van sat idling as a couple of figures entered it. Sarah darted forward to get a better look and stifled a gasp when she saw Chuck.

When he went into the back, the doors closed behind him and someone entered the driver's door. Sarah heard Casey catch up to her as she looked around for any other people. As Casey reached her, Sarah stayed low and closed the distance to the van. She threw open the door on the driver's side and aimed her gun into the van.

"Don't move! And step out of the car," Sarah ordered.

The driver already had a gun aimed at her and fired. Sarah jerked out of the way and returned fire. However, the driver hit the accelerator and the van lurched forward, attempting to flee. Before it could get too far away, Sarah leapt onto the back bumper and tried to get the rear door opened.

"Sarah?" she heard Chuck's voice come from inside.

"I'm here, Chuck. Just hold on and I'll get you out of here."

Before she could go any further, the van made a sharp turn, which threw her off. She tucked and rolled to lessen the impact. When she looked up, she felt despair at losing the van. That, however, was short-lived when the van ran into a wall. On the other side, she saw Casey cautiously move forward with smoke pouring out the barrel of his gun.

The back of the van opened up and Chuck staggered out, followed closely by two goons. One of them grabbed the back of his shirt and put a gun to Chuck's head.

"Listen, lady…" he started. He never completed the sentence as two shots rang out. Both the man and his partner fell to the ground.

Casey came up from behind and kept his gun trained on them. "Come on, let's get him home."

Sarah peeked out the corner of her eye at Chuck. He was strangely quiet and subdued during the debriefing. Now she was escorting him back to his apartment, and he still hadn't said much. The pensive look on his face was not much for her to divine an answer from.

They reached his apartment and entered. Chuck looked at the trashed space and gave a resigned sigh. Sarah felt kind of awkward at this point.

"I'll clean this up tomorrow. After I explain things to Lou and officially break up with her." Chuck turned tired eyes to Sarah and continued. "So, I guess there's no chance of having a normal life, huh?"

Sarah took a moment to measure her response. "I'm sorry for the way I acted earlier. I was angry and taking it out on you. I was too aggressive. I'm sorry."

A nervous tension welled in Sarah, anticipating Chuck's response. She did not like how things had devolved between them so negatively, and she wanted to make things easier.

"You're forgiven," he responded quietly. "I guess I haven't been the most understanding or easiest asset to work with, either. I guess I just didn't understand the amount of danger I was in until now."

Another awkward silence.

"Well, since we're going to be working together, we should work on making our relationship as easy as possible," Chuck started. He extended his hand to Sarah. "Friends, at least?"

A small smile made its way on Sarah's face as she took his hand. "Friends."

She left the apartment feeling a little bit lighter. Chuck felt the weight of his numerous tasks get heavier.