A/N: I don't own nor make any $ from Chuck. Thank you for all the reviews they are the best compensation!

"She is overdue".

"John calm down. Things have..,"

"Walker is never overdue. Graham got her location from Miller, and now she is overdue on check-in with me," Casey said with a slight edge of panic.

"You need to relax. Walker and Bartowski are fine. They are with Hartley," Beckman replied.

"Hartley? How?"

"He went up after he rescued Carina. He took out Graham's strike team," Beckman said flatly.

"Why wasn't I informed about this," he said angrily.

"Because I need you here John! You are the best I've got! The NSA has been given complete control over the intersect project, and the first order of business is cleaning up Graham's mess."

"This is your assignment John. It comes

right from 1600," Beckmann said as she handed him a folder.

The 1600 designation meant that it was a presidential order, Casey didn't have to be a psychic to realize a wet mission was coming his way.

Casey silently read through the folder and made some observations, before closing it and addressing Beckman.

"So this is Graham's banker?"

"Yes. It seems he is the source of all

Of Grahams funding. The president is moving quickly to eradicate fulcrum. Your mission will be the tip of the spear."

"What about the European theater?"

"Plans are underway there as well. Graham was paranoid and seemed to be running a fairly low level operation in Europe. Most of his executive structure was here at home," Beckman replied.

"Good."

"Any special conditions?"

"No civilian casualties of course."

"Of course ma'am," Casey replied.

"But aside from that, you are authorized to use any means necessary. I believe that the president would like a message sent," Beckman said.

"Yes ma'am," Casey replied.

Casey was silent for a minute and still a little hurt that he wasn't given the opportunity to help his friends, but Beckman was right, he was her best and she needed him now.

"what's on your mind John," Beckman said as she saw his somber mood.

"Off the record. How good is Hartley?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Because two people that I care about very much are being hunted by this psychopath Graham! The fact that I'm not with them right now is..is..a nightmare," Casey said in a rare show of emotion.

Beckman smiled when she saw him soften a bit, it seemed that Bartowski had definitely affected both agents on his detail.

"Well John you know that I am not very religious, nor prone to exaggeration," she began.

"Yes I do."

"But every day I thank God that Hartley is on our side," she said.

"Really? That good," Casey asked with eyes wide.

"Oh yes. Hartley would give the devil himself nightmares."

Boris Koslov looked out from his balcony and breathed in the sweet smell of jasmine. It was a beautiful evening in suburban Philadelphia, and the garden party at his palatial estate was in full swing. The expertly manicured landscape had yet to experience the oppressive August humidity, which breeds the tyrannical mosquitos, often the scourge of any summer activity; allowing the guests to enjoy their evening outside. The party was a fundraiser for the local food bank, and the elite of Philadelphia and local celebrities, ironically supplied a donation to end hunger, while excessively feasting on horrifically overpriced French cuisine.

Shortly after immigrating to the United States, Koslov had spent many of the previous 30 years cultivating the social and political scene, in an attempt to finally join with the other elites. The son of a mining engineer, whose family owned a titanium mine in Russia, he was born into a life of wealth and privilege. During the twilight of the Cold War, he spent his formative years learning the family trade, and selling titanium to anyone he could find, including foreign governments. It was on one of these occasions that he came to know Langston Graham.

Their partnership began when the US was in need of a vast supply of titanium for construction of a new spy plane, and Langston Graham was given the assignment. He was able to procure the titanium from Koslov in exchange for extraction to America, and bloated government contracts. An arrangement, which after the fall of the Berlin Wall, made Koslov many billions of dollars.

He made so much money in fact, that he was able to help his old friend in a new endeavor, Fulcrum. The operating capital that he provided Graham enabled fulcrum to become the most powerful shadow organization in the world. Koslov had arranged the fundraiser to help support one of his former lawyers, in his quest to run for a local seat in congress. Power an influence were just commodities to him, and he happily accepted the opportunity to expand his sphere of influence.

Hartley was sitting in a chair facing next to Chuck's bed, finishing up a cup of coffee that Selma had given him.

"Thank you again for the coffee, and once again please except my sincere apologies if I frightened you. I was never going to hurt you, but I needed you to think I would," he said.

"Well it worked very well," Sarah said with more then a little hint of anger.

She was sitting on Chuck's bed, protectively positioned between him and Hartley, while Selma and Alberto had adjourned to the other room.

"No it's ok, we understand. I thought that you were..ah..,"

"Dead Charles? "

"Ah yeah," Chuck replied.

"Well things aren't always as they seem," Hartley replied with a chuckle.

"I know! I mean ever since I started working for…,"

"Why are you here," Sarah said with a tinge of hostility as she interrupted Chuck.

"To help," Hartley replied.

"We don't need your help," Sarah said.

"Please Agent Walker, I'm not trying to encroach on your abilities as an agent. I'm here for my own reasons. First the parameters that you were operating under have changed," he said.

"Is that right? How have they changed," she said.

"Graham took your friend Carina. He knows that you are here," Hartley said.

"Carina? Is she alive," she asked with a trace of panic.

"Yes, for now. She has been extracted but had some pretty bad injuries. You must assume now that every part of your plan that she knew, Graham also knows."

"That son of a bitch," she snapped as she got up and began pacing the floor like a caged animal.

"I'm going to kill him," she snapped.

"That would not be the wisest of decisions," he said as he sipped the coffee.

"Don't bet on it," she said.

"Sarah look just calm down..,"

"Not now Chuck," she said as the rage boiled inside of her.

"Agent Walker I think you should listen to Charles, you are not thinking clearly. What do you hope to accomplish with killing Graham?"

"I am clear! I will get revenge on that bastard for all the evil he has done," she said.

"All the evil he has done huh? I think that might be above your skill level," Hartley laughed.

"Don't test me," she sneered.

"OK agent Walker, you believe that you are thinking clearly?"

"Absolutely," she replied.

"Would you be thinking clearly by exposing yourself to Graham again?"

"I only need one shot," Sarah said with anger.

"And that's your problem. Need," he said.

"What the hell are you talking about," she said.

"You NEED."

"What?"

"Need is a liability in this business. It is born out of emotion. Perhaps if you detach yourself emotionally from the situation and get a little clarity, you will have better success in the future," he said casually.

"Don't tell me how to do my job! I am thinking clearly," she said angrily.

"And were you thinking clearly when you told Carina part of your plan?"

"She didn't know the whole plan..,"

"She knew enough for Graham to send a five man kill team up here," she said.

"Wait what? Where are they," Chuck interrupted.

"They are dead," Hartley said as he casually sipped his coffee.

He didn't say he killed them, and he didn't have to. The color drained out of Sarah's face as she realized her mistake. She had left a loose end, which Graham was able to follow to their location. She had contacted Carina about running with Chuck, long before she even made the bags, but she knew Graham was ruthless, and should of anticipated the danger she put her friend in. Now she also exposed Chuck to the danger as well, her emotions were getting the best of her.

"A professional courtesy Agent Walker," he said as he looked t her.

He didn't need to tell her all the mistakes she had made, but his phrase highlighted the most important. He could have just as easily said I will not be hear next time to bail you ass out, it had the same meaning.

"Thank you," Sarah said.

"Pleasure," Hartley replied.

"Now may I presume that you and Charles intend on disappearing for the foreseeable future?"

"Yes," Sarah replied.

"Then perhaps I can be of further assistance. Charles this is for you," Hartley said as he took a small box out of his pocket.

"What's this," Chuck said as Hartley handed him the box.

"It's something that your father wanted you to have."

"My father? I haven't seen him in ..,"

"Yes I know, but he wanted you to have this."

Chuck opened the box, which contained an antique looking watch.

"I don't understand," Chuck said.

"Your father wanted you to know the full story of the first successful human intersect," Hartley said.

"But I already know your story, it's in the intersect. That's how I knew you were Gemini," Chuck said.

"It's not my story Charles. It's yours," he said.

"His story?"

"Yes Agent Walker, Charles is the first human intersect."

Always one to make a grand entrance, Koslov was waiting for the bulk of his guests to arrive before he joined the party, and went back inside the house to finish getting ready. After a hot shower, which turned his skin pink, he went into his closet to pick out his suite for the evening.

"This is the one," he said as he picked out a double-breasted black pinstripe.

He turned to head back to his room, when suddenly an arm came out from between his wardrobe and pulled him inside. He tried to scream but a giant hand clamped over his mouth and a steel arm tightened around his neck. He lashed out at his attacker, but his blows had no affect, and pressure around his neck continued to tighten. Dark edges were forming in his field of vision, as his oxygen starved brain was shutting downs attend in a futile attempt to keep him alive. Very quickly his vision was gone as the black overtook him and he lost consciousness.

His attacker kept the pressure up, like an anaconda sensing the heartbeat of his pray, he squeezed until it ceased. The extensive cloths collection effectively soundproofed the room, and barely a sound was generated when his lifeless body hit the floor.

Allison Wagner was a local TV reporter for the social scene, and was very excited to be at Koslov's party. The event was packed with celebrities and power brokers, who were always willing to give her a good sound bite.

She was in the middle of fending off the advances of TV meteorologist, when a high-pitched shriek cut through the low din of the party.

It sounded like a woman being assaulted, and she joined a mob of people that were heading in the direction that the shriek had come from. Suddenly a chorus of screams erupted the closer the mob got to the source, and when Allison reached the front, her voice joins the chorus as well.

Boiling in the hot tub, was the bloated corpse of Boris Koslov.

"I don't understand? I just got the intersect last year, but you were uploaded 30 years ago," Chuck said.

"Technically you are correct about that," Hartley said as he pulled a box out of his tactical bag.

"Then how is Chuck the first human intersect," Sarah pressed.

"I will get to that in a moment, but first I need to ask you a question Charles," Hartley said.

"Yeah..sure anything," Chuck said a little frazzled at Hartley's revelation.

" I wonder if you would like to play a game of chess," he said as he opened up the box containing a finely refined chess set.

"Chess?"

"Yes Charles. Do you still play?"

"Well not that much anymore. Is that the..,"

"Yes Charles it's the same one I taught you on. I knew that you would remember," Hartley said smiling.

Chuck picked up the white queen, which had been exquisitely carved from marble and ha two red rubies for eyes.

"This was always my...,"

The flash hit him as soon as he focused on her eyes.

"Excuse me but what does any of this have to do with..Chuck? Chuck...Alberto!"

Sarah rushed to him as she saw the flash hit and his body began to convulse.

"Hold him tight Agent Walker. This is going to be a big one," Hartley said while helping Sarah hold him down.

"What have you done to him," she cried.

"Calm down Agent Walker. It will be over soon. His movement is just displacement of energy from his neural activity," Hartley said.

"It's what? What is happening to him," she screamed as Alberto came in and helped to hold him down.

"Sarah what's wrong," Alberto said trying to hold his legs down.

"He is having a seizure," Sarah cried.

"No. He is learning his history," Hartley said.

Chuck nearly passed out as a billion images flooded through his brain. He saw images from his childhood and multiple suppressed memories appeared and manifested in his mind. He was standing in his father's study staring at a blank TV screen and his father's voice was reverberating in his head.

You're special son...you're special son...you're special son.

Then his mind flashed to another memory of playing chess with Hartley.

"Chuck I want you to play chess with my friend here. His name is Tim ," his at her said and he introduced him to the man he knew today as Hartley.

"He is interested in learning the stonewall attack."

Stone wall attack...stonewall attack..stone wall attack.

Then he saw his parents and Hartley talking in private.

"Steven once they find out about your son, they will come for him. Graham will come," Hartley said.

"I should have killed Graham long ago. It's my fault," Mary said.

"He was your partner Mary. You had no way to know what he was going to do," Steven said.

"That's beside the point now," Hartley said.

"He is going to go after the kids Steven," Mary said.

"What?"

"It makes sense, he wants the intersect. Once he found out about how you might be able to fix it, he wanted to salvage it. He has his own team of scientists ready to work on my brain, an your son's, and probably your daughter's as well," Hartley said.

"Why Ellie?"

"They will come her too, she is a blood relative and could have similar genetics. In any even, she will never be safe either," Hartley said.

He will always be hunted... He will always be hunted ...we need to protect them both...

"He needs a hospital!"

Sarah's voice cut through the fog and brought him back to the present, as she was frantically trying to understand what was going on.

"Sarah..wait..I'm..," Chuck whispered.

"Chuck are you ok," Sarah said as she held his head.

"Sarah, my mom is a spy!"

"So what you are saying is that Chuck's father did not design the original intersect?"

"That's correct Agent Walker," Hartley replied.

Chuck was sitting up on the bed with Sarah curled up next to him, as Alberto carefully monitored his condition.

"It had been designed years before, but what Steven was able to do was successfully integrate it with the neural network."

"How," Sarah asked.

"By the Chess games," Chuck answered.

"Very good Charles," Hartley smiled.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll need to go back a bit to answer that question Agent Walker," Hartley said.

"The first version of the intersect was an unmitigated disaster. Everyone who had ever tried to download it had either died, or been driven clinically insane."

"Which category do you fall under," Alberto chimed in.

"Well obviously insanity," Hartley replied with a chuckle.

"I don't doubt it."

"Alberto! Really," Selma shouted.

"I was able to last a bit longer then the others, but eventually my mental deterioration began to manifest itself. Fortunately for me it was right about the time that I met Charles," Hartley said.

"But how did Chuck help you," Sarah pressed.

"Charles had inadvertently downloaded a version of the intersect that Steven was analyzing."

"Jesus! Did you ever freaking listen? What were you thinking," Sarah said.

"I didn't do it intentionally."

"You could have been killed!"

"Yes, but he wasn't killed, and that was the key. As a matter of fact he was fine and Steven couldn't figure out why," Hartley interrupted.

"It was during this time that Steven tried to help me."

"Help you?"

"Yes Agent Walker. I was a malfunction and we know what the government does with malfunctions. Anyway by studying Charles's brain functions he was able to understand why the intersect didn't seem to hurt him and then used that information to help me."

"Studying his brain functions," Alberto asked.

"Chess," Chuck replied.

"Correct. The thought patterns, the strategy and of course the dreaded stonewall attack," Hartley said.

"But why chess?"

"Well when I was playing chess with Charles, I was normal person. We didn't know why at first, but eventually Steven discovered that playing chess stimulates different parts of the brain, and used that information to design a governor which would automatically stimulate the required sections of my brain and helped me control my insanity."

"A governor?"

"This," Hartley said as he showed him his watch.

"That's the one he made for you," Hartley said as he pointed to the antique watch.

"But I don't need it. I feel fine," Chuck said.

"Yes you do now, but you might not always. This is such a new field that it's possible that you may begin to deteriorate in the future," Hartley said.

"Your father wanted to make sure that you would always be protected against any mental deterioration. You just wear it like a watch," he said.

Well I don't think I need to put it on now..,"

"Chuck put the goddamn watch on now. Here," Sarah said as she put it on his wrist.

Immediately Chuck felt some tension begin to fade away in his head.

"Oh wow...that a..that feels..,"

"That little headache go away," Hartley laughed.

"Oh yeah," Chuck replied.

"What headache," Sarah said.

"The one he didn't tell you about," Hartley laughed.

"Sarah relax its nothing," Chuck said.

"It's not nothing! You are not supposed to be keeping anything from me!"

"I wasn't. I just...I thought...it was normal," he said.

"How long have you had it," she said.

"I don't know...maybe a year..,"

"A Year!"

"I don't freaking believe you...,"

"Wonderful Agent Walker. I knew I was right about you," Hartley interrupted.

"What the hell does that mean," Sarah said as her attention flashed back to Hartley.

"There are some things you need to know too...Sarah."