A/N: Don't own or make any $ from Chuck

Casey finished his initial review of the new assignment that ha been given to him, and called in his report to Beckman.

"The Koslov situation has been resolved."

"Very good John. How is the situation with Musgrave and Williamson?"

"Preliminary planning is done. They will be resolved in 48 hours."

"Very good. Any questions?"

"Just one ma'am. Are we still operating under the same conditions?"

"Yes. Once these two are taken care of, the operation on Graham will be initiated."

"What about my request ma'am," he asked.

"Unfortunately John I will have to deny it. Graham is a very well protected man right now. His contacts in Europe will be able to hide him from us very effectively."

"I understand ma'am but I'm the best that you have," he said.

"I'm not denying that John, but unfortunately due to diplomatic relations, we just don't "scare" his contacts enough into giving him up," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"We are military John. We have to operate by the book and they know that over there, so they won't budge."

"So we are just going to let him go," Casey said with anger.

"Our hands are tied."

Casey felt the bile rise up as he heard the political bullshit she spat, and was about to tell her when she finished her statement.

"But off the record. Graham is going to get a visit from an old friend very soon, and trust me when I tell you that it's going to be a night to remember."

Sarah panicked as she thought of the implications of his statement. She would never apologize for what she did in the field in service of her country, but there were definitely things that she wasn't proud of. She

didn't want Chuck to know the extent of her involvement in some missions, particularly ones where the agency used her as a whore. She knew that Chuck would never hold it against her, but the thought of having people that she cared about and loved having knowledge of these actions, terrified her to the bone.

Chuck saw her reaction and squeezed her hand just reaffirming the faith she had in him that he accepted her for who she was.

Sarah smiled at how well he knew her, and gave her exactly what she needed; he showed her that he understood her. Sarah Walker was a complicated woman, and women by nature are masters at communicating without vocalizing their meaning. To understand a woman, you need to really listen, not just to what she says, but also more importantly, to what she doesn't say. The body language, the eye contact, and the different reactions she has to things are all ways that she is communicating.

This was his way of communicating to her that I already know all I need to know about you. Nothing you tell me will change how I feel about you.

"What do you mean," Chuck asked.

"Oh come now Charles did you really believe that everything that has happened to you was purely by chance," Hartley asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Paidi," Hartley said and immediately began to flash

"I apologize Charles," Hartley said as Chuck rubbed his temples.

"What's going on? What is Paidi," Sarah said as she attended to Chuck's flash.

"Paidi is..," Hartley began before being interrupted by Chuck.

"Sarah, Paidi was the code name of a special program developed during the end of the Cold War to preform psychological experiments on children!"

"My God! Why?"

"Memory suppression," Hartley said.

"They would subject them to psychological testing to suppress their memories? Why! Why would they do this," Chuck said to Hartley.

"Assassinations," he said.

"What!"

"The idea was to begin indoctrinating assassins at an early age, by suppressing their memories, they thought they would be able to weed out any emotion or moral objection and make them into killers from the ground up. From a strategic standpoint, children would be less likely to be viewed as a threat by an enemy, allowing them to gain access to targets easier."

"My God! Those evil bastards," Sarah said.

"What happened to the children," Chuck asked.

"Well the children faced many of the same issues that plagued the intersect project. Unfortunately the project was kept so secret the children were not able to get the help that they needed."

"What do you mean," Sarah asked.

Well they didn't have a patron saint like Steven Bartowski to help them. Most of the children experienced severe psychological problems, which left them incapacitated. The program was scrapped, until Graham found out about it."

"Graham took it over?"

"Yes. He revived it in secret in the hopes of producing his so-called super agents, but he failed. Once your mother found out about it Charles, she was able to get the information needed to end it. It was what led to their falling out and Graham's new breed of the program was scrapped."

"How was he able to keep his job? The son of a bitch should have been put in jail," Sarah said.

"The program did manage to produce two viable, highly successful agents. Graham was able to parlay that to his advantage and was able to keep his job," Hartley said.

"How could that be? You said they all the children were incapacitated," Sarah asked.

"Charles's father was brought into to try to help the children, but by the time he was brought in it was too late. He was only able to help two of them, your friend Bryce Larkin was one of them."

"Bryce," Sarah said with a shock.

"Then that means that...,"

"It means the Bryce was not merely in Chuck's life to be his friend.

Graham put him there," Hartley said.

"But why?"

"Because Graham has been secretly looking for the key to the intersect for 20 years. Using his limited success at developing agents from the Paidi project, he finally got his name on the project, and now wanted to ensure that it worked. He saw first hand with Paidi, how the psychological issues affected his recruits, and couldn't afford to let the same thing happen with the intersect. That's where you come in Chuck," Hartley said.

"He figured it out didn't he," Chuck said as he traced Hartley's thought progression.

"Figured what out," Sarah asked.

"He figured out that Chuck was the key. He had suspicions about you and your sister, and monitored you both. However once you were in high school, a pattern began to materialize in your ability to retain data, such that you developed an eidetic memory Charles."

"Wait lots of people have those," Chuck said.

"But most do not develop it at 8 years old," Hartley said.

"When he downloaded the intersect," Sarah said as she fit it all together.

"Exactly," Hartley replied.

"So once I entered Stanford then..,"

"Graham made his move. Bryce was assigned to be your roommate and gain your trust."

"But why have me thrown out of school? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep me around," Chuck asked.

"You must remember everything that Graham was doing was unauthorized. He had drawn a lot of attention to his activities by placing you under surveillance," Hartley said.

"Why," Chuck asked.

"Because it's against the law for the CIA to have a domestic surveillance operation going on," Sarah answered.

"Really?"

"Yes. Domestic operations are FBI and NSA territory," she replied.

"So he needed to end the surveillance because he could not justify it, therefore he had you expelled. Then after the attention wore off of him, he sent Larkin in to steal the intersect and send it to you, just so he

could confirm that you were whom he was looking for," Hartley said.

"But he knew that the intersect could kill Chuck," Sarah said defensively.

"It was a risk he was willing to take. If Charles survived he found his man, if he died..,"

"He didn't care," Sarah finished for him.

Chuck was quiet as he pondered the gravity of his situation. His entire life was defined by the intersect, and everything that he thought he knew before, now became muddled with doubts. A million images flashed in his mind, Ellie, Morgan and especially Sarah, all dead because of him. Graham would kill them all just to get to him. His heart broke as he looked at Sarah, she was the most important part of his life,

and he could never allow anything to happen to her, but he knew the type of person she was. She would stand by him to her end, and he could not accept that.

"Sarah this isn't worth it," he said softly.

"Chuck it will be ok. We will get through this," Sarah said as she hugged him.

"It's not ok Sarah! I'm a curse! How many lives have I ruined because of this stupid thing in my head. He is never going to stop coming after me," he said bitterly.

"It's not your fault...,"

"It is my fault Sarah! I just ruin people's lives. You would be better off without..,"

"Don't say that! Don't even think that," she said angrily.

"But at least you would live," Chuck said and immediately regretted it once he saw the hurt on her eyes.

He was quiet for a minute as he saw her sad eyes go white hot with anger. He knew that he screwed up, and he had to fix it. He realized as he looked into her eyes that she really was his life now, and life without her just wouldn't be an option for him.

"Sarah I'm sorry I don't want you to leave its just I'm scared about..,"

"Shut up," she said as she embraced him.

"You don't think I'm scared too," she whispered in his ear.

"I know I'm sorry. Life without you is not an option for me," he whispered back.

She knew him as well as he knew her, and although she told him she loved him before, she said the words that he needed to hear, the words that would let him know that everything would be ok.

"I'm never going to leave you Chuck. No matter what! I promise."

She held him tight as she felt him silently sob. It was the communication of commitment and acceptance without the need to say a word, and they knew that they would always be together.

"I'm sorry again Sarah," Chuck said.

"I know. But we will get through this."

"Of course you will," Hartley said.

"Oh sorry," Chuck said as he almost forgot about Hartley being there.

"No worries Charles. Nice to see two people so obviously right for each other, and to think some thought

it wouldn't work," he chuckled.

"What? Who thought it wouldn't work," Chuck asked.

"Diane," he said.

"You mean?"

"General Beckman. She thought that Sarah wouldn't work given her history," Hartley said.

"Wait what history? What are you talking about," Sarah asked.

"Yes, Beckman was against any relationship between us," Chuck added.

"God all this relationship drama gives me a headache. I can't imagine what it's done to the two of you."

"What are you talking about," Chuck said.

"Charles you have been the most hunted man on the face of the earth. Graham has indirectly created two separate secret organizations to get to you and yet you still managed to survive. All because of Agent Walker here," Hartley said.

"I know that, what's your point," Chuck said.

"Two? I only know about Fulcrum," Sarah interrupted.

"The other one was..,"

"Paidi," Chuck finished.

"Yes Charles. Very good."

"My point is Charles that Graham used Larkin to get to you, and in order to keep you safe we needed to send someone to protect you," he said.

"We?"

"Beckman consulted with me on who would be the best to send, as I have kept my eye on you and your sister as a promise to your parents."

"Casey? Casey was your choice! You could have..,"

"No, Casey was assigned to watch over my choice," he said while he looked at Sarah.

"You chose me? How? I was assigned by Graham," she said.

"Yes, but you were my choice," he said.

"Wait, I was recruited specifically by Graham. He is the only one I ever worked for," Sarah said.

"Sarah, you may not realize it right now, but I've known you for a very

long time," he said.

"How? I just met you," she said.

"Yes but that doesn't mean that we never met. Let's just say that you don't remember meeting me," he said.

"I don't remember meeting you? That doesn't make any sense," she said.

"It does given what they did to you," he replied.

"What they did to me? Who?"

"What the hell are you talking about," Chuck asked.

"Icarus," Hartley said.

"Icarus what does that..oh my God Sarah," Chuck yelled as he saw her eyes roll back in her head and her body begin to shake.

"Oh my God she is flashing," he yelled.