A/N: Thanks for reviews of the last chapter. I really appreciate you taking the time to give me feedback.

I see that some readers are getting frustrated with Chuck because he's not fighting back and not finding it easier to elude the agents as they think he should "because he's Piranha." I'll just say that Chuck is under a lot of stress, fearful for his life. He's also exhausted from what he IS managing to do. He's not sitting in his bedroom hacking, but on the run and having to keep moving. I think this is realistic. Sorry if you don't.

Now, a quick note about chapter length. I'm trying to keep the chapters between 2,400 and 3,000 words, as I think that works best. Relatively short and punchy.

Thanks again to CharmingCharles2896 for the help beta'ing this story and our discussions about what is happening.

So, both Bryce and Sarah caught up with him, but Chuck escaped from each of them. How long will that last? Chuck is also confused about their motives. In the show, he often got things wrong with both of them, so no change there…

Elusive Intersect

Chapter 5: Found

Bryce had given up on the route he was following and decided to sweep back. The call he received from a tearful Sarah Walker confirmed that he was doing the right thing. It also confirmed just how much she was affected by all that was happening.

"Sarah, we'll find him," Bryce tried to reassure her in a voice that carried more empathy than Sarah thought possible from him.

"If the state police find him before we do, they'll probably shoot on sight of this terrorist!" Sarah virtually shouted back at him.

"Come on, Sarah, think rationally," Bryce began, needing to stop this train of thought. "You know as well as I do that the police won't shoot him unless they have probable cause to do so, and even then."

"But you can't guarantee that!" Sarah replied loudly, clearly beyond rational conversation.

"Then, we just have to make sure to find him before they do," he said, still trying to calm her.

"He's not giving us a chance," she replied and sniffed.

Bryce knew what needed to happen. Chuck needed to know how Sarah felt about him and what she was prepared to do for him. "I'm heading back. We WILL find him, Sarah."

As he ended the call, Bryce was driving into a small town. He came upon some traffic at a four-way intersection. Out of the corner of Bryce's eye, he got a brief glimpse of the car Sarah had told him about. Bryce watched the car pass through the intersection along with traffic. He could see that the traffic split into two lanes ahead, the left turn lane and the lane to go through the intersection. He flipped on his turn signal and moved into the left turn lane.

After the lights changed, Bryce turned left and began to head in the direction that Chuck's car had gone. He couldn't see the car, but he knew he was going in the right direction. There were a number of roads spurring off both to the left and the right. After several minutes, it seemed that he'd lost Chuck again. Bryce's frustration boiled over and he hit the steering wheel angrily.

As Bryce drove along slowly, trying to decide what to do, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He stopped and looked down the side road on the left and wound down his window. There were a number of people in the road shouting and just beyond them, the car he was looking for was stationary. He turned down the road, stopped, and approached the men. "What's the problem?" he asked.

One of the men turned to him. "This guy stopped his car, jumped out and stole my bike!"

Bryce was shocked, that wasn't like Chuck. "Why didn't you follow him?"

"I don't have a car and he must've taken the keys for the car, so I couldn't use that!"

Bryce got the bike details and waved his badge at the man, making sure to hide the CIA label. "I'll follow him and get your bike back."

The man looked nervous at first, and Bryce suspected the bike was not legally his.

Driving away from the man, Bryce called Sarah to tell her what Chuck was now driving.

Chuck felt awful. He'd never stolen anything in his life and now he'd stolen a motorbike.

He'd been worried that his new car had been spotted and just reacted when he saw the bike at the side of the road complete with key and helmet. He'd grabbed his backpack, shoved his laptop in it, leaped on the bike, started it and set off.

There was a significant benefit to wearing a helmet in that he didn't have to worry about cameras. However, he knew he couldn't continue like this for long as the theft would get reported.

Chuck was now approaching another town and had just overtaken a bus. He decided to catch it. He ditched the bike shortly beyond the bus stop and ran back to it, pleased that no one else was there.

Once he was on the bus, he thought about what he needed to do next. He was exhausted and not thinking clearly, so he needed to stop and find a motel to stay in for the night. The towns were spaced out along this road, so when the bus passed through one, he decided he would get off at the next town.

Fifteen minutes later, Chuck saw a small town approaching in the distance, and got ready to leave.

He was lucky that the town had a motel, so walked in and booked a room. Walking to it, Chuck knew he'd just flop down on the bed and sleep as soon as he was there.

Bryce felt like his luck was changing when he spotted the bike ahead. The helmet made him smile. It was the one the man had mentioned, so unlike something he would expect Chuck to wear. The green camouflage was very distinctive.

Bryce held back, not wanting Chuck to realize he was being tailed. He watched Chuck overtake the bus ahead, then Chuck was running in the opposite direction. Looking in his rear view mirror, Bryce saw him climb onto the bus. Good plan, Chuck, he thought.

Following a bus wasn't the easiest thing to do with it stopping and starting as it picked up or dropped off passengers, but Bryce had to keep close enough to spot if Chuck got off. Two towns later, that's what Chuck did. He was obviously tiring because he walked straight into a motel on the main stretch of town, rather than search for one less obvious.

Bryce slowed and turned into the motel parking lot. He sat in the car and waited for several long moments. He didn't want to make a scene in the reception and was worried Chuck would just run again.

Bryce knew this moment was important, so he grabbed his phone and called Sarah to tell her where he was.

"Shit!" she exclaimed. "I've been driving in the opposite direction. It'll take me a while to get there!"

"I'll go in and talk to him. Get here as soon as you can," he replied.

"Please don't scare him off!" The desperation in Sarah's voice was so unlike the controlled partner Bryce remembered.

"I won't," he replied. "Call reception at the motel in a couple of minutes to distract them, so I can find his room number."

"Got it," Sarah replied and hung up.

Bryce exited his car and sauntered in, happy that the person at reception was a young woman who he hoped to distract in his own way before the call. He used his charming smile that always worked wonders.

"Hi, my friend will have gotten here just before me. Has he checked in yet?"

The young brunette was obviously charmed. "We have just had someone arrive." She looked down at her computer screen where she'd just booked Chuck in.

Before she could say any more, the phone rang. He didn't hear what was said, but the actions of the woman suggested she was asked to check whether a letter had arrived. She looked apologetically at Bryce. "I'll be back in a sec."

As soon as she was out of sight, Bryce checked the screen seeing that the latest booking, Chuck, was in room 209, under an assumed name.

When the woman returned, she said, "Was your friend a goth guy?"

He chuckled. "He's in disguise as one."

She grinned. "Well, he's checked in but I can't just give you his room number."

He smiled. "That's alright, but can I use the restrooms before I go and wait in the bar?"

"Sure, they're by the elevator."

Bryce called Sarah and told her Chuck's room number. Sarah's mind was so clouded with worry that he heard her mutter, "Please let him stay there for me."

Bryce soon found himself outside of room 209. He pondered for a few moments whether to pick the lock or to wait for Sarah. He decided he needed to know if Chuck was actually in there. He didn't want Sarah to turn up and find he wasn't. At an old motel like this one, they still used metal keys, so Bryce pulled out his lock picks and went to work, silently. The lock was easy and he quietly slipped into the room.

He hadn't had a good look at Chuck in his car, so now seeing him fast asleep on the bed was his first chance.

The disguise was quite good, Bryce had to give Chuck credit. The black hair and extensions along with the cheek tattoos did mask who he was. The poor guy was obviously exhausted and Bryce entering the room hadn't disturbed his sleep in the least.

Bryce sat in the chair to wait. He was sure that when Sarah arrived he wouldn't stay. As much as Bryce was happy that the two people he cared for the most had found each other, he was still upset that he and Sarah couldn't reconnect in the way he'd always hoped. Watching the two of them would be too much, at least at first.

He wasn't too surprised that the Bartowski magic had worked on her. Chuck was charm personified and not Bryce's sort, a genuine, caring charm. Bryce had seen it happen back when Chuck had more confidence. Bryce hadn't intended to destroy that, just save Chuck from the CIA. Then again, Bryce couldn't have anticipated that Jill would tell that awful lie about the two of them being together, evil bitch.

All the same, Chuck would soon have a woman more amazing than Jill Roberts could ever hope to be. Chuck would finally have the woman who had captured his heart and whose heart he had captured too, even though he didn't know it yet.

Bryce almost chuckled, he was sure that Sarah was no longer going to hide her feelings for his friend. If anything, Bryce worried that Sarah would eat his best friend alive as soon as they were together again, metaphorically of course.

He sat back to wait until she arrived.

Sarah's tears were now ones of happiness.

Soon she'd be able to see Chuck and tell him everything. All of the feelings for him that she'd kept inside for so long, would at last be on full display for him to see. Sarah was no longer going to hide behind rules and regulations, she was going to make him feel as good as he always seemed to make her feel around him. She knew things wouldn't be all rosy, she also had to tell him about the threats to his life, both from the new Intersect and now because he was seen as a terrorist. She'd then tell him how she was going to save him from all of it.

Sarah wasn't sure if she'd do that first or kiss him, maybe she'd do it while kissing him. As she thought about that, she knew kissing him was what she'd do first. She might kiss his face off, she was so desperate for his lips now!

She couldn't help but chuckle to herself, amused by her eagerness to see Chuck. Bryce would be there. What would he think if she attacked Chuck like that?

She had not been able to hide her feelings for Chuck from her ex. She wasn't sure if she'd even be able to hide them from anyone from now on. Then again, the two of them were about to spend the rest of their lives on the run, why would she hide anything?

Up until leaving for DC, Sarah had just about been able to act as if it was just a professional relationship. She was there to do a job. She was there to protect the Intersect and nothing more. That kiss in the warehouse had turned that upside down, but she thought they'd gotten back to the cover only relationship. Now, however, that was wiped away, cast aside by a need for that lovely nerd. All she could think now was that she was saving her boyfriend, her real boyfriend, not a cover one.

She'd be there in about twenty minutes. She couldn't wait!

Chuck woke up to the feeling that something was different, off. He didn't know what was different, though. He was lying on his back, where he'd collapsed. His feet were still on the floor beyond the bottom of the bed. That must be what was different. He chuckled, remembering sitting on the bed and then had just passed out.

He started to sit, only to hear words being softly spoken. "Don't freak out, Chuck."

Chuck's eyes shot to the chair where he saw Bryce Larkin seated. He thought about scrambling for the door, but knew Bryce would be quicker. Chuck groaned, knowing he was doomed. "What are you going to do with me?" he asked, dejectedly.

"Sarah and I plan to save you, Chuck," Bryce replied.

Somehow that made him feel more miserable. "So, you're back together, then?"

Bryce looked at him for a second or two before replying. "We're working together, yes. But we're not together in the way you're thinking."

Chuck frowned, he had to have more information than that. "What?"

Bryce ran his fingers through his hair. "You don't get it, do you?"

"What?" Chuck repeated intelligently.

Bryce sighed. "Sarah is so hopelessly enamored with you. I don't stand a chance of getting her back."

Those words were so good to hear if he could believe them. Chuck asked a different question. "How are you going to save me?"

"Beckman and Graham have reported that you're a terrorist. The entire country is likely looking for you now. Sarah will take you away from all this. I've just joined her to help find you." He smiled a genuine smile. "You've been most elusive."

Chuck smiled. "Obviously not elusive enough."

"Good job because you might have been killed!" Bryce retorted.

Chuck shivered at the thought. "So, Sarah's on her way here?"

Bryce nodded. "She'll be here in ten or so minutes." He grinned. "Brace yourself. All pretense is over now. She'll probably eat you alive!"

Chuck just sat there thinking about how everything had shifted again. Soon, the woman he loved would be here for him.

A/N: Found! Next chapter Sarah will finally be with Chuck. I know some will be disappointed that he doesn't continue to elude Bryce and Sarah, but remember that they're not the real ones from whom he has to escape.

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