I still don't own Chuck.

Okay folks. Lot's of stuff happening in this chapter. Some good… some not so good.

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Really No Choice

x-x-x-x-x

Alexi sat on the bed and watched her pack. "Mary," he said softly. "You do realize what this means, right? We may need him."

Mary knew this was coming. But the involuntary chill ran through her body anyway. For one thing, he never called her Mary. It was always Frost or My Love. Alexi Volkoff was a very demanding person. And as such he really didn't factor personal considerations into his planning. He couldn't afford the luxury. He simply had too many enemies. So the softness in his voice clearly told her that he recognized that what he was asking would be very hard for her. She hadn't seen Steven since that fateful day when he walked in on her and Ted. She could still see the devastated, hurt look of pure betrayal in his eyes as he stood there with the realization that his wife was actually eagerly fucking another man in their bed. Not only another man, but his nemesis. He probably never found out that it had been a regular occurrence for about a year before they finally got caught. "I know," she said, her voice no more than a whisper. "We're not even sure if he's stayed in touch with the research."

Alexi's smile was relaxed. "He's stayed in touch," he said. His confidence left no doubt. "My Love, it's his life's passion. Just like you're mine. No man could turn his back on that. Once we give him a working Intersect to work with…"

She knew that he was right, like always. "I know," she said softly. "Alexi, can we maybe do this without torture?" She was very hesitant to even ask that. When push came to shove, she didn't want him to question for a single second where her loyalties were. She had made her decision all those years ago. She didn't regret it for a second. But Steven wasn't one of Alexi's enemies who she routinely terminated, often in some grotesque way designed to make a statement, without a shred of mercy. And he certainly didn't deserve to be tortured. He was a smart, sweet guy who tried his honest best to be enough for her. She was able to fool herself for a few years into thinking that maybe he was enough. But at the end of the day he just fell short. It was far more her fault than his. She had worked very hard over the years to block Steven and the kids from her mind. Distance was the only way to stay sane.

Fortunately Alexi was unusually calm. He could also read her mind. "Don't worry," he said. "I understand what you're feeling, how hard this would be for you. I don't question your loyalty. But we are going to need him. You have the best chance of getting him here in one piece. If you can use another method to get his cooperation, I'd be fine with that."

He didn't have to elaborate. She instantly knew what he meant. Over the past twenty years she had regularly used sex on his missions. It was funny. Alexi Volkoff was incredibly jealous. Over the years more than one man had woken up dead just for the crime of being a little too overt in checking her out in his presence. But that jealousy clearly didn't include her fucking other men, or other women, or even some combination of the two in the process of her work. In fact he was always very eager to hear the details of whatever seduction had taken place on her last trip, often requested reenactments. Truthfully she often used sex in situations where it wasn't really necessary. And she always made every effort to make the sex wild and sometimes even a little on the kinky side, just to have something exciting to tell him, and perhaps reenact, when she got home. She wasn't above maybe even embellishing beyond what actually happened a bit sometimes to really get him worked up. It always led to a very hot night in bed. But Steven? That would be different. She wasn't sure that even she could do that.

Even to avoid the alternative.

x-x-x-x-x

Joan could only look at the devastated look on his face. For a long time she wished he would react, to yell at her, even hit her if it would help. Do anything other than just stare at her in disbelief with those incredibly sad eyes. She knew that the tears were streaming down her cheeks. It probably wasn't helping. There just wasn't a thing she could do about it. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "You probably want me to leave."

His lack of an answer soon basically became an answer of its very own. So Joan stood up to get dressed. Finally Steven found his voice. He grabbed her hand. "Why do you think that I would want you to leave?" he asked.

Joan more or less lost it. "I just killed your son," she said through her racking sobs.

"No you didn't," Steven insisted. "Stop thinking like that. Even if you're head of the team, you're surely not responsible for this. In fact you just saved his life."

"How do you figure?"

"By telling me about it," Steven said with the beginnings of a smile. "The CIA could never fix this. You know that. No offense but they are as worthless as tits on a boar hog. We're going to fix this."

"How?"

"I'm not sure yet," Steven said with the smile becoming more apparent. "But I know that we'll come up with something. In case you haven't noticed, we're a pretty good team."

Joan could only look at him. His mood made her hopeful that she hadn't just blown her chance with him. That would be too horrible to contemplate. But she still wasn't ready to breathe easy either. "We're an incredible team," she was finally able to say. "On many levels. Steven, I need you to know, I feel horrible about this. I'm willing to do whatever it takes… on any of the levels."

"Then let me answer your question," Steven said cautiously. "Joan, we both know that I'm not good at this sort of thing. So I'm just going to say it. We've known each other for three days. I'm far too old for you. You're with another man, not only another man but a young, dashing, handsome agent that I can't hope to compete with. I get all that. But I've never been happier than I have been with you. The honest truth is that I never want you to leave."

It took a long moment for what he was saying to sink in. But when it finally did, it came with a huge grin that actually made the tears look sexy. "Why Steven," she said in mock embarrassment. "That sounded very much like a proposal."

Steven turned a little red, but he also didn't try and deny her statement.

Joan sided into him affectionately. "You just made four main points," she started in her best Professor Cole imitation. "None of them are really accurate. If you'll allow me, I'd like to correct the record."

"First and most important, I'm not with another man and certainly not one who you couldn't compete with. I'll not try and deny that I spent a single night with Bryce. And, yes, he's smooth and confident and good at the seducing women thing. But the truth is that you have it all over him in every important way that I can think of. I'm currently sitting here embarrassed by my 'relationship' with Bryce. I find myself a little panicked that I somehow won't be able to make you believe that. Right now, I'd like to have a chance to kick the crap out of him."

"Second, since it's now after midnight, we technically have known each other for parts of four days. Not that anybody's counting or it matters in any way, but it seems like a lot longer, doesn't it? It feels almost like we've been a couple for a long time."

"Third, too old for me, Steven? You think that? Really? I don't see it. I can honestly say that I've never once thought about our age difference in a negative way. I see you as experienced and sexy, not old. I hope that you're not going to hold my youth and inexperience against me."

"And last but certainly not least, you're a lot better at this then you think that you are. I've also never been happier. I really need you to get past whatever is going on inside that brilliant head of yours and understand this. I never want to leave either."

"I think that I'd like to kick the crap out of him, too," Steven said, making no attempt to rebut any of her teasing points. "In fact, that is sounding more and more like a good idea, for an ever growing list of reasons. Maybe after we've solved the Intersect problem we can find an innovative way to make him pay."

"We have a deal," Joan said as she touched her lips to his. "Looping back to the proposal thing. I'm trying hard not to be overly critical. I get that this romantic stuff isn't really either of our strengths. I'm willing to let you slide on a lot of things. But maybe after we solve the Intersect problem, you could come up with a little better effort. This is going to be my one and only shot at this. I never really imagined this would ever happen for me. So I suddenly find that I would enjoy a dinner with my future husband that didn't come delivered wrapped in paper, maybe a candle or two, a ring, an 'I love you', seeing you down on one knee, the whole romantic package. I promise not to be one of those demanding wives. But you could do that for me, couldn't you?"

Steven smiled. "I can do the candlelit dinner, ring, and the 'I love you' things," he said playfully. "But you do realize that I'm old, right? If I get down on one knee there is a good chance that I'll be stuck there."

That got them both helplessly laughing.

"I'll tell you what," Joan was finally able to say through her laughing. "If that happens, I'll help you up. I'll promise that when the time comes, I'll be able to return the 'I love you' thing. Now let's hurry up and solve this problem so I can prove it."

Of course that was pure formality. He had already proposed. She had already accepted. They both understood that. Yes, they had problems. Most people would scoff at the idea of them as a couple. But through the glow of the moment as their lips met Joan had a sudden epiphany, one that would forever change her life. She now firmly believed in love.

And she was surprisingly fine with that.

x-x-x-x-x

Okay, yes, Sarah probably should have been more cautious, especially given the warning they were given this morning. It's just that wife Sarah was far too giddy for any bodyguard Sarah instincts to impact her good mood. Chuck couldn't have possibly been cuter on the beach. Even after she had basically given him permission to ogle the virtual smorgasbord of bare female breasts that were all around him to his heart's content, when he wasn't looking directly at her he kept his eyes trained out on the water, intently watching the surfing like he was studying for a surfer exam. Okay, so she was well aware that he was a little bashful about nudity. But she knew that wasn't it. He was being respectful to his wife, was telling her without words that he had no desire to even look at another woman, no matter how much permission he was granted, that he never wanted her to worry about it. It was so simply adorable that it almost brought tears to her eyes.

Of course his attention distracted out on the water meant that she was quickly able to build an insurmountable lead in this morning's bet. She didn't even need to use Joey. It almost didn't seem fair. It was such a rout that she actually pointed out to him a couple of men who were obviously staring at her, just to not make him feel bad, as odd as the idea sounded.

Joey and Josh really wanted to go hiking in the jungle. Sarah would have been content to stay on the beach all day soaking up the sun next to her cute husband. But Joey was pleading. That was also fine with Chuck, who was clearly looking forward to seeing something other than surfers. And as it turned out, it was more fun than Sarah feared. Honestly the jungle was substantially thicker and even more desolate than she expected. The terrain was also pretty rugged, basically winding up the side of a mountain. So even though they were following the path, it was pretty tough sledding, especially for Chuck. Sarah was beginning to regret not having put on her shorts and t-shirt along with her top to go hiking. But she had again followed Joey's lead. She was honestly spending a lot of her attention worried about Chuck struggling up some of the steeper grades. He was panting for breath more than once. But he never asked for a break. They hadn't seen another person since they started. So she didn't notice the man jump out of the jungle with a gun pointed at her until he was right on top of them.

With Joey and Sarah still wearing their bikinis with running shoes, it was the perfect outfit for throwing a kick, so the gun quickly went flying into the bushes. That's when all hell broke loose. Men came pouring out of the jungle. For some reason, they seemed to know what they were doing and who the threat was. Six of them immediately surrounded Sarah.

Naturally, six big men were too much for even Sarah to fight for very long, especially with half of her attention diverted to how Chuck was doing. And he wasn't doing all that well. One man had grabbed Joey who had basically given up. Josh appeared to try and fight his man until a punch to his gut left him collapsed on the ground moaning in agony. That allowed Josh's man to join the battle with Chuck, who surprisingly was holding his own against the first guy. But two was simply too much to ask. They had him quickly wrestled to the ground.

That meant that Sarah had to totally concentrate on the task at hand. Either she rescued them, or they were captured. Sarah did her level best. She even held her own for a couple of minutes. She had a couple of men on the ground not knowing what their names were for a while courtesy of her right foot upside their head. But ultimately there were just too many of them. Once one of the men tackled her from behind and had her on the ground, she was quickly overwhelmed.

Sarah was surprised that they were organized enough to have handcuffs. This wasn't some rogue gang of petty crooks. But she quickly felt her arms being jerked behind her back and the unmistakable feel of metal cuffs. Once she was jerked back to her feet, the man on her either side had her firmly secured.

Sarah quickly assessed the situation. Josh was still doubled over moaning in agony, any will to fight that was ever there now long gone. Chuck was sitting next to him with a couple of knives pointed at him. He had clearly taken some punishment. His lip was bleeding a little but he still had a defiant look on his face. She quickly locked eyes with him and flashed the nod that told him she was okay. He quickly followed suit.

One man was going through her bag. He took her knives and threw the bag, which now only contained clothes, at Chuck's feet in disgust. Joey was being held by a single man and was no longer struggling. Another man was going through her bag. Clearly finding nothing of value, he threw the bag next to Sarah's. Sarah was immediately aware that she was the only one cuffed. That quickly raised her suspicions. Why would that be?

The man who was clearly the leader stepped up to where Joey was being held and nodded to the man who was holding her. Surprisingly he released her. "Where is the money?" he asked.

Sarah was the one who answered. "We don't have any money with us," she said. "You have everything…"

Sarah was interrupted by a hard backhanded slap. With no way to see it coming or defend herself, it landed flush on her cheek and had her seeing stars for a long moment. He took the opportunity to cup her left breast in his hand over her top and leer at her mockingly. "Listen up, blondie," the leader growled. "When I ask you a question I want to hear the sound of your voice immediately answering me with respect. Until then, shut the fuck up. We'll get back to you in a few minutes."

The leader returned to Joey. He pointed the blade of his knife to her left hand, indicating her wedding ring. "Which is your husband," he asked with a smirk.

Joey looked around cautiously. Then with a nod of her head she indicated Josh who was still lying on the ground acting every bit like he was doubled over in pain.

"Do you love him?"

Of course Joey knew well that this was all a play. The 'gang' members that had captured them were all CIA Academy classmates. She knew every one of them very well. She had dated Mike, the man who was about to be the first to 'rape' her. They had actually gone out pretty regularly for a few months and had some really good times. He was a great dancer… among other talents. They had already been in bed several times and hopefully would several times again sometime soon. In the planning meeting for this assignment they actually teased each other about it incessantly. But she found herself considering the question anyway.

Joey knew that the first rule of being a spy was to never fall in love. That was easy. Josh definitely wasn't her husband, and never would be. The truth was that at first their relationship hadn't gone so well. For quite a while she definitely felt cheated being assigned to work with a gay partner. But quickly she found that it was a blessing. They could work intimately together without any of the sexual tension nonsense that complicated so many other partnerships. They eagerly acted as each other's wingman in bars and had already helped to get the other laid with the hot dude de jour more times than she could count.

And Josh was every bit as protective of her as any straight partner. He fiercely had her back on missions without the arrogant macho bullshit that made so many agents virtually impossible to be around for any length of time. He sat in the dark at night and patiently listened when she needed to cry about her problems without ever trying to make it about him. He was a blast to just hang out with without constantly having to worry if he was hitting on her. He always kept her laughing. Not only that, he was truly a great dancer and was always willing to go out with her and feed her addiction. He was honestly already much, much more than the best friend she ever had. And the funny thing was they were growing closer every day. So yes, her answer was maybe part of the script. She had never said those words to him before. That would have been odd. But as she locked eyes with him, she made sure that he knew that it was also very much the truth.

"Yes. I do."

"Good," he said. "I'm going to give you the chance to prove it. Follow every order you're given immediately and each time save one of his fingers. Understood?" Without waiting for a response he issued the first order. "Put your hands on top of your head."

The thing about string bikinis was that there wasn't all that much holding them in place. A couple of tugs on the right strings and Joey was quickly standing with her hands on her head wearing only her shoes. None of the men were at all hiding the fact that they were overtly checking out her pert body which was fully on display. It was all part of the script, but if they were acting, then they were damn good actors. The leader nodded to one of the men who approached. "This is Mike," he said. "He is going to become your husband for the next hour or so. He is convinced that this is your wedding night. If you will smile, offer him your hand, and promise him a good time, he'll take you out of sight. Otherwise, it happens right here in front of everybody.

"You sick sonofabitch!" Sarah screamed as she watched the scene play out in front of her. "Don't you dare touch her." She tried to struggle. But the men holding her had forced her into an awkward position, leaning slightly forward with her legs forced apart. So with her arms fastened behind her back, she quickly found that she was physically helpless. "Joey, fight them."

Sarah was ignored for the moment while everybody waited for Joey's answer. For her part, Joey was struck by how real this now seemed. She was honestly a little freaked out herself by the situation. And unlike Sarah, she knew that they weren't really going to be raped. The plan was for them to get spooked and run off just before any actual sex. This didn't sound quite so bad in the planning meetings. But Agent Walker was a legend at the Academy. And that was before she had actually met her. Joey now knew that Chuck and Sarah Bartowski were nice, witty, and just plain fun to be around, thought that under other circumstances they could actually become friends. Now she had helped set them up for a truly nightmare afternoon.

Sure, maybe agents thought about sex differently. But nobody wanted to be forced into sex with six strangers on the dirt. And her new 'friend' was about to believe that she was going to be repeatedly raped in front of her husband, for what reason she wasn't really sure. She herself was going to pretend to suffer that same fate, just to make it more believable. It now seemed unnecessary and obscene. Joey surely felt plenty guilty. But it was an assignment. She really didn't have much choice. So she turned to Sarah. "There is no way to fight. Just get through this as best you can," she advised sadly. She knew what was going to happen for her today before she got up this morning. But now, for the first time, her concern was actually genuine. He wasn't supposed to hit her like that. "Sarah, just please be smart. Stop fighting them. Stop giving them a reason to hit you. Just let it happen. We really have no choice."

Joey turned to Mike. She could plainly see the bulge in his shorts that told her he was getting into this role more than a little. Normally that would have excited her to no end, so much so as to maybe even play the helpless sex toy role to its conclusion and give him something to remember this mission by. But in this circumstance it was fairly disgusting. Mike now would have some serious sweet talking to do to ever get her into bed again. But she had an assignment. She forced the tepid fake smile, extended her hand to him, and delivered her expected line. "Please don't hurt me or my husband," she said softly. "I'll do anything that you ask."

As soon as Mike took Joey's hand and firmly led her out of sight, the leader stepped up to Sarah. "What about you, blondie?" he asked mockingly. He reached behind Sarah's back and clearly taunted her by slowly and methodically pulling on the strings to her top until he was holding it in his hand. He dropped the top to the ground and placed his hand on her now bare breast. "If you really are blonde, that is. So tell me. Where are we going to fuck? How much do you love your husband? Just what would you do to save one of his fingers?"

Sarah was seeing red. "You fucking lowlife pig," she spat. "Get your greasy hands off me. Is this the only way you can get women?"

The leader just smiled at her as he released her nipple with a not so gentle twist. He had heard rumors about how beautiful Sarah Walker was. But the rumors didn't do her justice. It was a shame that his orders were to stop short of actual sex. Maybe there was some wiggle room here someplace, an opportunity to use some personal discretion. But if not, he'd have as much fun as his orders would allow. "I thought that I had made myself clear about my conditions for hearing your voice," he growled as he unleashed three consecutive vicious short, jab like punches to Sarah's jaw, two rights and a left. Even though they weren't full punches, she had no way to avoid any of the impact. "That means you're not going to get the courtesy of the chance to beg me to fuck you in private."

Chuck could only watch in horror as Sarah helplessly was taking her beating. Then fate intervened. He saw Bryce's glasses that Sarah had stored for safekeeping poking out of the top of her bag lying next to him. He had totally forgotten that she put them there for safekeeping.

For her part, Sarah was dazed and barely conscious. Through the fog she could barely feel the tug on the strings of her bikini bottom and it also drop away into his hand and join the top lying on the ground. It barely registered that he was verbally mocking her, or more appropriately mocking Chuck.

The leader turned a bit so that Chuck would have a full unobstructed view of him playing with her left breast. "She is really quite a beautiful woman," he said in a mock lecturing tone. "Tell me the truth. Does she ever beg you to fuck her like she is about to beg me?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "You know how it is with beautiful women. Once they get a taste of a real man, one who could protect her, they usually find that going back to the old, boring sex just doesn't cut it. After we've all had a turn at her, maybe we'll let her stay with us for a few days. After she experiences that… well, let's face it. She's out of your league anyway." He took his hand off her breast and placed it flat on her stomach, and began to slowly slide it down. "A real blonde," he continued his taunt as his hand finally reached its target. "That's most impressive. Thanks for being such a pussy and bringing me such a gift. My men and I appreciate it. Speaking of pussy…"

Even though the man was pretending to talk to Chuck, nobody was really paying attention to him sitting there passively, apparently wearing sunglasses to hide the tears. It took a moment for the Intersect to finish uploading. But once it did, Chuck could immediately feel it coursing through his veins. He had never come close to this feeling before. He honestly had no idea what he was doing. He just allowed the Intersect to take over.

The three men who were guarding Chuck were perhaps a little distracted by the sight of a helpless and naked Sarah being held up just a few feet in front of them. That lapse in concentration to their duty probably didn't cost them the ass kicking they were about to receive. They really stood no chance against the Intersect anyway. But it also didn't help. All three found that their knives were quickly lying on the ground. Then they, just as quickly, found that they were joining them, courtesy of two totally disabling kicks to the sides of knees and one hellacious overhand right.

The two men that were holding Sarah dropped her to join the fight. As soon as they let her go, she slowly collapsed into a semiconscious, naked heap. Both men that went to challenge Chuck were quickly very sorry. Well, once they woke up they would be sorry. He stopped one with a flying kick to the middle of his chest. The other fell victim to another more traditional 'good night, sweet prince' overhand right.

Since three men had gone with Joey, that left the leader. Chuck wasn't about to deliver a merciful quick ending to his animal. After just a few moments of sparing he quickly had him in an arm bar. It was a helpless, incredibly painful submission hold. "Handcuff keys," he growled.

"In my back pocket," quickly came the tortured answer. Nobody could withstand that amount of pain.

Chuck was so furious that he intentionally broke the arm of the 'man' who would dare strike, mock, and was clearly about to rape his wife. It snapped with a sickening crack. "And no," he growled. "To answer your question, she never begs me to fuck her. She doesn't have to. You are right about one thing. She is totally out of my league." But currently he was too concerned about her lying there to take the time required to finish him off. So he fished the keys out of the now unconscious man's pocket and quickly unlocked the cuffs from Sarah's wrists. She was still collapsed more or less in a heap but she was slowly regaining her bearings. "Are you okay?" he asked as he sat next to her on the ground and frantically wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm okay," she finally said rather numbly, feeling her jaw, clearly still trying to shake out the cobwebs. "I just caught a couple punches. Let me rest for a second. I'll be fine. Chuck, you need to go help Joey."

But just as Chuck carefully helped Sarah to a more comfortable position, Joey came stumbling out of the bushes. "The three guys with me saw what was happening and ran off," she said.

Sarah locked eyes with her 'friend' and asked the unspoken question.

Joey almost lost it when Sarah's first reaction was for Chuck to go help her. She immediately understood what Sarah was asking her. The fact that she was showing this concern made her feel even worse, if that was possible. Her mission was now in shambles. At no time in all of their planning sessions did anyone discuss the possibility of meek, mild, sweet Chuck going all Rambo and disabling six trained agents. But it did seem like a bit of justice. The truth was she was feeling more proud of him than anything. She really didn't know how to proceed, but now her first priority was to get Chuck and Sarah out of the area and allow her friends to retreat and get the medical attention that several of them so clearly required without blowing her cover. "No," she said with a sad shake of her head. "He didn't have time. He felt me up a little. You?"

"Same," was Sarah's single word reply. Joey's news was a relief. Chuck and Sarah debated what to do for a moment as the girls struggled to put back on their bikinis. Sarah was still furious, seriously wanted to break some necks of the still unconscious men. But Joey started crying and pleaded with them to just leave before the three men that had escaped returned with help. She went to help Josh, who now seemed relatively fine, to his feet.

"You're still hurt," Chuck said in obvious concern for Sarah. "Please let me carry you."

Sarah was now recovered enough to reach back and launch a devastating kick deep into the gut of the leader who was on the ground just beginning to groan and regain some consciousness after Chuck broke his forearm. He could now add some broken ribs to his list of injuries that would make every breath he took for the next month or so a painful reminder of how dangerous it was to run afoul of Sarah Bartowski. "That was for insulting the love of my life," she said, knowing full well that he couldn't hear her. Chuck could. That's all that mattered. "He's much more man than you'll ever be. The truth is that if he ever wanted me to beg him, I would… gladly."

It felt so good that she found the unconscious man that she saw punch Chuck earlier and gave him a similar reminder set of broken ribs. The act actually caused her to smile a little, mostly at his sweet concern. "You can't carry me through this terrain," she explained. "Come on, Chuck, even if you are the new badass Intersect 2.0. It's much too steep. Besides, I'm not the one who I'm worried about right now. Are you sure that you're okay? Maybe I should carry you."

Chuck was very relieved that she was clearly feeling good enough to tease him a little. So he took a second to assess the carnage that the Intersect had wrought. "I feel fantastic," he said as he looked at his own hands in wonder. "Did you actually see any of that? I took out those guys with one punch. One punch."

In spite of the ridiculousness of the situation, Sarah couldn't keep the partial grin from her face at his natural exuberance. "I guess that Bryce got his wish," she sighed. "One good thing, I'm so very proud of you. You were beyond impressive."

Chuck pulled Sarah out of earshot. "I flashed on them," he said softly making sure his voice wasn't overheard. "The new Intersect must have included an update. All of those men, including Josh and Joey are recent graduates of the same Academy class. They are all CIA Agents."

Sarah thought about it for a second. "Shit!" she finally hissed, making sure to keep her voice down. "Do you know what that means?"

"Yup," Chuck said in clear anger. "We were just set up. They were going to rape you right in front of me so that I would upload the Intersect to be able to protect you in the future."

Sarah was actually impressed that Chuck had so quickly come to that awful conclusion, even more impressed that he didn't seem surprised. He always saw the good in people, almost to a fault. "Yup," she said. "Do you know what that means?"

"Someone's about to die?" Chuck asked with absolutely no humor in his voice.

"Yup."

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