Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

Then

"Listen, I have to tell you some things, and you're not going to believe them," he continued quickly, the knife to his throat helping his words hurry out. "I mean it's freaking fantastical, if I'm honest. I've lived there my whole life and seen it all, and I barely believe it."

She stared at him, her eyes had a hard glint when she first threw him against the wall, but they had softened as he talked, and she found the pressure she had against him was softening. "Then why would I believe you?"

"Because I'm trying to save your life," Chuck told her.

}o{

Now

"Sarah, why are you here?" Chuck asked her. "I begged you not to come." She smiled at him, grabbed his shirt, and pulled him in for a searing kiss. He pulled back some time later, discombobulated. "I mean….what was I saying?"

"How I shouldn't be here," she reminded him. "We need to go somewhere they won't hear us." He gave her a look, and she tilted his head. He sighed, and held out his hand.

"Okay," he relented. He looked her in the eye. "I'm glad to see you, but-"

"Just stop right there," she told him. "I told you I'd come for you." His heart soared, and he couldn't stop the smile on his face.

}o{

Six months ago

"I don't think you understand how this works," Sarah told Chuck, wiggling the knife by his throat. "Right now your life is in my hands."

"I know," Chuck said. "But you don't kill those that don't deserve it." Her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to need you to do something you don't like to do. I need you to trust me." Her hand twisted his shirt tighter. "Listen, we both know at any time you can kick my ass, and take me out." She fought off the chuckle that threatened to come out of her. "All I'm asking is you search your heart, and trust me. Not forever, just right now. I need to make my case, and then I'll be out of your life forever if this works right."

"Why would you be out of my life forever?" she asked.

"Because I have to go back, and if this works, you won't ever be there," Chuck told her.

She stared at him, studying him. There was something in her, telling her to trust him. Telling her deep down that he was not lying. There was a part of her that screamed not to trust him. It was the training, the life she had led. It all told her not to trust someone she had just met.

But then…then, in a part of her, deep, deep down…a part she thought that was dead and gone, she knew the words he was saying were true.

"You have five minutes," she told him.

"There's no way I can tell it all in-" she put a little pressure on the knife. "There's an island where spies that know to much are sent to if they resign," he blurted out quickly. She raised an eyebrow. He was right, it did sound fantastical.

"And why should I care?" She asked. "This is my life."

"Because they have a machine they believe can predict the future," Chuck continued. "They have a machine that takes all the data and forms the most possible outcome."

"How do you know this? Why the hell should I believe you?"

"Because I helped make it work," he admitted, slumping. "You know what, do us both a favor. Kill me. Please. Kill me."

She stared into his eyes and saw pain there, real pain. He was haunted by what he had done. He was hurting by the pain that had been inflicted on others, and for the first time in a very long time, she made a decision that shocked her. She released him and pulled the knife away from his throat. She saw something change on his face. She saw hope.

"Your computer tell you I would do that?" she asked him.

"No," Chuck told her. "The computer told me if I did exactly that, that you would kill me."

"Seems like your computer isn't that good," Sarah told him.

"No, not when it comes to emotion," Chuck told her. "It can read some, but it believes training and conditioning overrides emotions, and humanity."

"And what do you believe?" Sarah asked him, staring at him.

"I believe emotions are the only things that make this life worth living. I believe that people are more than a collection of thoughts and training, and circumstances that affect them. I believe what my sister always says."

"And what does your sister always say?"

"You can't go too far for love," he told her softly. She jerked her head back, and his eyes went wide. "Wait, you misunderstand me. I'm saying the love for my family. They will kill my father if I don't go back. They will kill my mother, my sister, her husband. But we're all in agreement, we can't do this any more, we can't hurt innocents."

"Innocents?" Sarah asked. "Spies are hardly innocent, Chuck."

"You are when you've been deceived," Chuck countered. "When you've been trained, lied to, made into a weapon that you're not. There are choices you make, and your file…your record is clear. When you are confronted with a choice, you take the side of the innocent. You try and save lives, save people. Many in the spy business don't. I've seen there files, but there are many like you, that do the right thing, that are there for whatever reason, but deep down, they want change. They want goodness. Those are the innocents that have had their lives stripped from them."

"Chuck, if I'm so innocent, as you say, and if I don't follow you, that means your family dies, right?"

"Probably," Chuck replied.

"Then how can I not follow you?"

Chuck stood there a minute thinking, and then he let out a deep breath. "Shit."