I still don't own Chuck.

Okay, so the title of this chapter is a shameless shout out to my tireless beta, Lucky47. But it does also fit the situation. The story is about to turn a tad to the darker side. I'm not going to give anything away. But those of you who have read my previous stories probably know. When you think you know where it's going, you often don't.

I understand that there isn't a review function on this site. But I would still appreciate your comments. The worst thing for an author is silence. You can't tell if you're connecting with your readers, if they're getting where you think the story is going or not. And those comments don't have to be praise. Of course, I'd be lying if I tried to say that I don't enjoy the praise. But I actually learn more from the critical comments. Just as long as you're respectful and allow me to respond, you can say anything.

Family Matters

x-x-x-x-x

Mary Bartowski didn't often win bets with Alexei. Oh, they agreed to a friendly wager every now and again, sometimes on silly things, but more often on the success or failure of one of her mission tasks. They almost never bet on the big things. She would have virtually always won those kinds of bets. Frost almost never failed in her missions. No, they bet on the small details. And he almost always won. He was actually uncanny at predicting in advance how people he had never met would react. But sometimes she would let him win, even occasionally going so far as to tell him that he had won when he really hadn't.

You see, Alexei liked to win. It almost always put him in a good mood. That was a good thing. When you lived with Alexei Volkoff, you wanted him in a good mood. And Mary had learned to mostly make herself enjoy the 'tasks' that he would assign her to pay off his winnings. And even the things that she couldn't enjoy, it was a small price to pay to be with the most powerful man in the world.

It was funny. Alexei was a ridiculously jealous man. They had a unique relationship. The punishment when he thought you were looking at his Frost the wrong way was often an unexpected meeting later that night with several of his 'representatives' which left you with a broken arm or sometimes even a toe tag. Yet he had no problem watching her perform for his amusement with other men as the price for losing a bet. She had learned long ago that Alexei was never happier than when he could make someone do something that he knew they really didn't want to do. Again, it was a small price to pay.

So she knew that the smirk on her face was a dead giveaway that this was one of those times. He was sitting in their, well in the states what would pass for a living room. Alexei really didn't relax much. That was probably true of most rich, powerful men. They were driven. So she was more than surprised to see him calmly sitting on the sofa sipping his cognac. Alexei was more of a vodka type person.

"How did it go?" he asked.

Mary knew that trying to be coy was futile… and stupid. He could read her like an open book. "You win," she said with a sigh mixed with a grin. "What do I have to do to pay off?"

Alexei clearly had bigger things on his mind than winning a bet. "I knew it," he said. "I told you. Your husband is a genius. Even after twenty years. I knew it would still work. What did you find out?"

Mary sat next to him, calmly took the snifter from his hand and took a sip of the cognac. She allowed the grin she had been fighting to take over. "He's my ex husband," she insisted. "But, yeah, he is certainly a genius. We now have a very powerful soldier at our beck and call. What did I find out? Pretty much everything."

"There is another Intersect."

x-x-x-x-x

It had been a good meal, and an even better family gathering scene. Everyone was reluctant for the happy repartee, bordering on silliness to end. But they all realized about at the same moment that it was time to get down to business.

And they had big problems.

It actually didn't take Ellie very long at all to come down off the high of the family meal and again get incensed… and this time she wouldn't be calmed down. If it was up to her, Alexei Volkoff and his slut partner was going to end up face down in the dirt. And she was not bashful about saying so. "They're not getting away with this," is all her anger would allow her to say as she paced around the room… well, more like stomped around the room. But she said it enough times to clearly register her resolve.

Chuck wasn't nearly as convinced. "We don't have to do this," he said with a sigh. "Come on, sis. You heard the man. He wants a truce. We can live our lives in peace. Fighting him is risky. Why is this our fight anyway?"

Ellie rounded on her brother angrily. "That's easy for you to say from the cheap seats," she said, clearly still incensed. "You didn't become a single parent before you could drive a car. You weren't handed a brother to raise before you were wearing a bra. She's not getting away with this."

Sarah simply didn't know what to do. Her natural reaction was to defend Chuck. But this was Ellie. The two people that she loved most in the world were screaming at each other. And the honest truth was that neither was wrong. She quickly glanced at Devon for some hint. The small shake of his head very clearly said to stay out of it. So she just sat there and hoped they could work it out. Apparently the rest of the gang had come to the same conclusion because they sat there in stunned silence.

Chuck stood up to face his sister. He made no effort to hide the devastation from his face or blink away the tears that were forming in his eyes. "I get that," he finally said. "I'm sorry that your childhood was stolen from you. I'm especially sorry that you had to sacrifice your childhood so that I could have mine. I feel horrible about that. I would do anything to make that up to you. But don't you see? If we fight, Sarah is going to be his target. If we lose…"

Ellie finally calmed down enough to see the look on his face and realize how harsh she sounded. She stepped up to Chuck and threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so sorry, sweetie," she said. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded. You have nothing to be sorry for. You were a victim as much as I was. And for the record, I wouldn't risk Sarah's well being any more than you would. I love her just as much as you do. But we have to do something. I'm not sure I can live with us just letting them get away with this."

By some instinct Joan knew that it was up to her to step up. "We really have no choice," she said softly. "I'd love nothing better than for us to spend all of our energy working on becoming a close family. Chuck, I get that you're worried about him going after Sarah. I find it hard to fault you for that. But do you really believe that Alexei Volkoff will keep his word? He still would do anything to get an Intersect. Once Bryce Larkin deteriorates, he'll quickly conclude that he needs your dad again. It's only a matter of time before he decides that you and Ellie are the way to get him. You are in danger, especially when he finds out that you are an Intersect. We need to destroy him before he can destroy us."

Chuck wasn't in the best mood. "So tell me," he snapped sarcastically. "What do you know about Alexei Volkoff anyway? What makes you such an expert?"

Joan ignored the sarcasm. She stopped Steven's angry exclamation in his new wife's defense with a look. Then she turned back to Chuck. "It's a fair question," she said. "I'm not claiming to be an expert. But I am married to one. Your dad knows more about Alexei Volkoff than he does about himself. He's been studying him for the past twenty years."

Chuck made no effort to keep the skepticism from his face. "I find that hard to believe," he snapped. "How could a simple man on the run for twenty years know enough details about a multi billionaire to give us a chance to fight him?"

Joan's smile belied the incredible tension in the room. "Because he's not a simple man," she said. The pride in her voice was plain. "Chuck, I get that you're scared and frustrated. I'm going to give you every benefit of the doubt. But with all due respect, you just don't know what you're talking about. Whatever issues you might have with your dad, you are underestimating him by a ridiculous margin. Please take a breath, open your mind, and listen to me without the fear for just a moment. Most would call your dad a great man. His name was Orion."

All of the spies, including Josh and Joey, could have been knocked over with a feather at that point. Chuck's flash on the name lasted well over a minute. Sarah was far too concerned about him to register anything, but of course she knew the name and its importance. She immediately went to hold him while he flashed.

So it was actually Laura who first said what they were all thinking. "Oh my God," she said in shock. "Orion actually exists?"

Joan smiled at the stunned faces. "He's semi retired," she said. "But he still exists."

"Excuse me," Ellie said with growing impatience. "Just who is Orion? I've never heard of him."

All of the spies just looked at one another, not knowing where to start. "Orion is something of an urban legend in spy circles," Joan finally said. "He was very mysterious, almost to the point that most doubted that he actually existed. He was a master of technology, so much so that it appeared that he was almost magical. He never worked directly with the CIA, and that drove them a little crazy. The CIA doesn't like what they can't control. And Orion had major issues with the CIA. In fact I think it's even safe to say that he despises them. But he did help them from time to time. His secret contact was a relatively unknown agent. His name was Bryce Larkin."

"He sounds like Batman," Ellie said sarcastically. She turned to her dad. "If George Clooney plays you in the movie, I wouldn't mind an introduction."

That got the room, with the exception of Chuck and Sarah laughing. Chuck was still recovering from the long flash and Sarah was still close to panic making sure that he was okay.

"He does sound a lot like Batman," Joan agreed as soon as she could stop laughing. "I never thought of it that way. I'm afraid you'll need to get in line for a shot at George Clooney. As it turned out, Orion had a sort of a BatCave where he invented the Intersect, among a lot of other things." But then she got serious. "There is something that you don't know about the Intersect," she said. "When Steven invented it, his intention was more medicinal. It was designed to help the emotionally and mentally ill. It was never intended to be used as an offensive weapon. He was betrayed."

That piqued the doctor in Ellie's interest. "I don't understand," she said. "What good would assimilating facts and getting physical skills do medicinally?"

"That wasn't the original design," Joan said. "The CIA changed the designs after they stole them from him and put those things in. I'm afraid that the Intersect has some powerful features left over from the early days that you're not aware of. Hell, I was head of the project and I wasn't aware of them."

Ellie asked what everyone was thinking. "What kind of features?"

"Memories," Joan said. "The Intersect can add or subtract memories. If they are encoded in the correct sequence, specific memories can be erased such that the person would have no recollection of them. Memories that are added would be as real as anything that ever happened to them. They wouldn't be able to distinguish the false intersect memories from their real ones. I think you can see how valuable that would be."

"I can," Ellie said. "You could erase horrific experiences, cure clinical depression; there would be tons of applications. Why wasn't it ever used?"

"He was betrayed," Joan said. "The CIA saw there were also opportunities to use those capabilities for offensive purposes. Steven was always very concerned about that. It's why he never allowed his invention to be tested… until the CIA took over."

The color noticeably left Sarah's face. "Oh my God," she whispered.

"Yes," Joan said as she answered Sarah's unasked question. "I'm afraid that Mary knows how to manipulate the memories."

Sarah's protective instincts kicked in and she gently pushed Chuck behind her. "Oh my God," she repeated. "She could change his whole life, make him a new person." Then it really hit her. "She could make it so that he has never met me."

Joan could see that Sarah was close to panicked. "I'm not going to lie to you," she said soothingly. "I'm afraid that is a real possibility. But don't worry. Steven and I are on top of this. We're going to protect Chuck at all cost. We know what changes to make to prevent memory manipulation from happening. It's going to be a while before we can safely incorporate those changes into the full Intersect. But we built them into the governor. As long as he's wearing it he's safe."

It was Chuck who made the next logical connection. "That's why they wanted an Intersect so badly," he said. "I could never figure out what they thought they were accomplishing. They could capture Bryce. They could maybe torture and get information out of him. But for the Intersect to be useful to them, he'd have to genuinely cooperate. That means…"

"Exactly," Joan finished his statement. "It's unfortunately Bryce Larkin that is probably now the victim. He is almost assuredly now their fully dedicated soldier. He's the one who now has probably never met you."

Ellie finished the thought. "That means that Volkoff knows that Chuck is an Intersect, right?"

Steven spoke up for the first time.

"I'm afraid that you're probably right, Eleanor."

x-x-x-x-x

Bryce Larkin was totally in his element. He knew from the instant she gave him the assignment that he was being tested. And that was fine with Bryce. After all, he owed his best friend Alexei everything. He had saved his life so many times they had lost count. The least he could do was help him pay back his enemies.

The Intersect almost made this assignment too easy. Bryce knew the layout of the NATO base down to every minute detail without even having to think about it. He knew where all of the guards were and which ones were judged less than fully competent. He even knew their first names and when their shifts changed. So getting into the base was child's play.

The few men that he did have to face immediately went down like bricks courtesy of the Intersect's indefensible fighting skills. The buzz of the Intersect was starting to become intoxicating. In fact there was something about the sound of a man's neck breaking that Bryce was learning to enjoy. He was able to walk almost unchallenged through the maze of fortified doors and checkpoints directly to his objective. Whenever he needed the code to open a door, the Intersect instantly gave it to him. It was like taking candy from a baby.

So as soon as he was in the room, Bryce walked right to the suitcase and picked it up. He smiled as he looked forward to being able to present his good friend with this gift. A suitcase nuclear weapon was a good first start. Hopefully Alexei would have another assignment ready for him soon.

This was starting to be fun.

x-x-x-x-x

There wasn't much to say after Joan's bombshell. They clearly still had a major decision to make. But now everybody recognized that it was clearly mostly Chuck and Sarah's decision. So they decided to adjourn to their rooms, talk, and get together in the morning.

Sarah was trained as an agent to never show fear. But that was out the window in this situation. Chuck not remembering her was one of those things that were too horrible to even think about. So she was freaked out as much or more than she had ever been in her whole life. There was only one person in the entire world that could calm her down.

Fortunately, he was sitting on the bed next to her. He was gently rubbing her back as she had her face buried in his shoulder.

"Come on, Sarah," Chuck said, clearly trying to lighten the mood. "How could I possibly forget you? It's not going to happen."

Sarah wasn't in a mood to be consoled so easily. "You heard Joan," she said. "It's very possible. You can't underestimate the power of the Intersect."

"Okay," Chuck said. "But here's why you shouldn't worry about it. Let's assume the worst. They take away my memories and we've never met. Let's go back to that first day in the Buy More. Trust me on something. If you had walked up to me that day, told me that we were married, and that you wanted to take me home and fuck me into submission… well, I'm pretty sure I would have gone home with you… out of curiosity if nothing else."

Sarah lifted her head to stare at him. She could feel the corners of her mouth show the smile that she seemed incapable of stopping. "Very funny," she said.

"And once you got me home," Chuck continued. "I was in love with you on the second day the first time, and that was without sex. The huge demonstration of making my wildest fantasies come true that you would put on for my benefit, well, I'd be pretty much helpless."

That got them both laughing.

"Here's the real deal," Chuck continued as he got a bit more serious. "Sex is the least of it. You're far too amazing to not fall head over heals for. So if I forgot that I knew you a hundred times, I'd quickly fall for you all over again all hundred times. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. It's fate. We're meant to be. We are going to live our lives together and raise a family. Period. I'd always find my way back to you."

Sarah tried to blink away the tears… for a second. But that was futile so she just snuggled closer and allowed them to flow. "How do you always know what I need to hear?" she asked.

Chuck ignored her rhetorical question. He wasn't trained at all. He wore his fear, like all of his emotions on his sleeve. And Sarah being captured and tortured to death by his mom was also too horrible to think about. "Losing my memories isn't what I'm worried about," he said. "It's the real memories of what would happen to you if we fight and lose."

Sarah reached up and kissed him. It wasn't a sexual kiss. It was gentle, affectionate, loving. "We'll just have to make sure that we don't lose," she said. "Joan is right. We have no choice. How can we be a family, or raise one of our own with this hanging over our heads? We either deal with it now or our kids pay the price sometime in the future when we wouldn't see it coming and are defenseless."

"Can we win?" Chuck asked. "He is the most powerful man in the world."

"It won't be easy," Sarah admitted. "We're going to have to get dirty. But we do have assets. We have Orion. I'm not sure how much of the legend is true. But if it's only ten percent, he's still a major force. We have a loyal extended adoptive family filled with badass people who would gladly lay down their lives for us. We have an Intersect 2.0. Agent Walker was undefeated. She's no longer with us. But I'm pretty sure that Sarah Bartowski can be every bit as big of a bitch when she needs to be. Our biggest threat isn't Volkoff. It's fear. We can't act out of fear. That's how you lose."

"Wow," Chuck said. "When you put it like that, I almost feel sorry for them."

It was sort of strange under the circumstances of just a few moments ago that they were now sitting on the bed giggling. "Well I don't," Sarah said. "I'm not prepared to show any mercy to the people who would take my family away. So I'd like to propose a deal."

Chuck could hear the smile in her voice. "What kind of deal?" he asked. "Something tells me that sex is going to be involved."

"Hey," Sarah said laughing as she got up from the bed. "We still supposed to be on our honeymoon. Here's my deal. First, we don't make any final decisions tonight. If we do decide to take on Volkoff, it's going to happen in Russia anyway. We'll take The Enforcer. We're safe there. We could see any threat coming from a hundred miles. We'll spend the time getting to Europe working on our plan, bonding as a family, and having as good of a time as we can. We'll make a final decision once we get there and have a plan."

Chuck nodded. "That sounds smart," he said with a smirk. "I was expecting something about sex."

Sarah laughed. "I'm not really finished," she began. "I know that you're uncomfortable negotiating about sex so let's word it a different way. As a sign of my commitment, I'll give you the fantasy show just like I did on Beckman's plane flying to Hawaii that time. You seemed to enjoy that. And as a sign of your commitment, you'll switch on the Intersect and show me what skills it has stored in there in the 'giving the girl the most powerful orgasm of her life' department. I'll just bet that you can impress me."

Chuck matched her silly grin. "You want to use the Intersect for sex?" he asked. "What makes you think there are any of those kinds of skills in there anyway?"

"This is the CIA, right?" Sarah asked sarcastically. "Are you really thinking that they wouldn't load it chock full with sex skills? Hopefully I'm going to be the only girl that you ever get to practice them on. We have to deal with all of the bad things that the Intersect has caused in our lives. We might as well take full advantage of the good things. And I'm thinking this could turn out to be a very, very good thing. I'm getting more than a little worked up just thinking about it. So do we have a deal?"

Chuck reached out his hand for her to shake. "Why Mrs. Bartowski," he said in a faux businesslike tone.

"I believe we have a deal."

x-x-x-x-x