A/N: A quick thanks to those that took the time to leave a review. I read them all and respond to all that I can. Reviews really make writing these stories so rewarding.

Once again, the amazing CharmingCharles2896 beta'd for me. Thanks, my friend.

Chuck and Sarah have reached what they hope is their final destination. Let's see how they get on there…


Elusive Intersect

Chapter 12: Safe


Chuck and Sarah watched the police leave their property. They knew now that there was quite a bit to do before it would be ready for them to live in it.

A woman approached them from the property next door. Sarah grabbed Chuck's hand and spoke. "Time to meet the neighbor."

They walked to the gate, as the woman arrived. "Not the reception we expected," Sarah ruefully commented in Spanish. "Hello."

"You're the new owner?" the woman asked.

"It was bequeathed to me by an old boyfriend," she replied. "It seems he has had no one in his life since then."

"You're not Spanish," the woman said.

"No, we're American. I'm Samantha Jacobs, and this is James Forster, my boyfriend. We're going to live here, but Sargento Matiz said it's not livable yet. We're about to see."

"Your old boyfriend never moved in. It's been derelict for the last year." She paused. "I am Maria." She held out her hand.

"So, where will we live until it's furnished?" Chuck asked Sarah in English.

Sarah turned to Maria. "Do you know anywhere here that we could stay until this place is sorted out?" Maria told them of the hotel in the town.

"That sounds expensive if we have to stay for long," Sarah replied. Maria looked at them and then offered to have them stay with her, but would need payment.

"We can't do that. It's too much of an imposition on her," Chuck said, still in English.

Maria smiled and said in faltering English. "That tells me you are safe."

Sarah looked at her, "It's very kind of you. It also means we will be near when anyone delivers what we need." That settled, they locked the place up and followed Maria to her home.


That evening, Chuck and Sarah ate at the restaurant in the hotel Maria had mentioned. At the end of the dinner, they moved into the bar for drinks and Chuck made use of the Wi-Fi in the hotel to check on the status of the search for them back in the States, and he got a shock.

"Sa- Sam, when I left Echo Park, I was worried about Ellie and Devon, that Graham and Beckman would plan to detain them to use them to draw me back. I set up a trigger to react if I didn't disable it each night."

"So that's why you had to go on your laptop each night?" Sarah asked, making the connection.

"Yeah. Sorry I didn't tell you," he said, feeling bad.

Sarah's expression changed, obviously realizing what he was going to say next. "And you didn't disable it during the journey here."

"Nor on the night we made love, so it triggered. Ellie will have had a shock when police and reporters turned up at the apartment," he replied. "But not as much as Graham or Beckman did."

She just asked, "Who did you notify and what did you say?"

"Various press agencies, the White House, and the DNI. I submitted recordings of the termination orders to Casey. Graham was on the call with Beckman. Casey argued against it and Graham was being very forceful."

Sarah was visibly trying to stay calm. "And what happened?"

"Langston Graham has been taken into custody, particularly as he resisted and claimed it was sanctioned by the President, which it wasn't. Diane Beckman is under investigation, too. There's no mention of Casey or Bryce. The FBI is now looking for Sarah Walker."

"Shit!" she said, running a hand through her hair.

"This is not all bad, Sam. There is no longer a termination order," he said.

"But the search for us hasn't stopped," she replied.

"Maybe if we return, it can be cleared up," he offered.

"No, Chuck, at the very least, they'll separate us. You'll be questioned on why they had a termination order out on you. Fulcrum will come for you with more vigor, and the media circus will swoop down on both of us."

"I hadn't thought about any of that!" he replied. "Ellie's probably being swamped as we speak."

She gripped his hand. "The media will lose interest, but the others won't."

"So, we stay here, out of sight?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yes, but let Ellie know we're safe."

Chuck nodded and grabbed his phone. It would be late morning in Los Angeles, but as it was a Saturday, he hoped his sister would be at home.

"Hello?" she answered after a couple of rings.

"Ellie!" he said.

"It's a good job the man from the FBI just left," she angrily said. "Otherwise, the phone would've been snatched off of me!"

"Sorry about all that," he replied with a grimace. "Just wanted to tell you that we're safe. I can't tell you where we are, though."

"We?" she asked.

Chuck smiled at Sarah who couldn't hear the conversation. "Me and the love of my life, of course."

She obviously stifled a squeal. "I'm so glad!" The excitement in her voice was very clear.

"We can't come back, but will try to work out how to meet up at some time," he said.

"You be safe," she replied.

"You too," he said.

"Aces, Chuck," Ellie said before ending the call.


Bryce was amazed at how everything changed so suddenly. It felt like one minute, everything in his world was normal, even though he knew that Beckman and Graham were hunting for Chuck and Sarah. Then, suddenly those two individuals were out of the picture. When he asked, he was told that Graham had been taken into custody even though he claimed that a kill order had come from the President. Bryce shook his head upon hearing that. This President would want to distance himself from that, so Graham would be unlikely to ever return to work.

Bryce knew of that order, so the fact that the details were out, guessed that Chuck was now safely off US soil. Much as he was impressed that Chuck had removed the two that wanted him dead, it actually made Bryce's job significantly harder. Those two leaders gave him more flexibility in the fight against Fulcrum than he was likely to get from their replacements. Not only that, Fulcrum would be fired up from their removal, but also would want to know why a termination order had been issued.

Bryce wondered what all this meant for the NSA agent that had both shot him and worked with his two friends. He didn't have Casey's phone number, so he couldn't ask the man. However, he did still have the burner connection to Sarah Walker. Grabbing his own burner, he called her.

"What?" a groggy Sarah answered him.

"Did I wake you?" he brightly asked.

After a pause, she answered, "James and I were asleep. It's past two here."

That told him they were using aliases. "How is James?"

"Fine."

Bryce chuckled, the ever loquacious Sarah Walker. "Bit different over here. I wanted to contact our friend that is still here to see how he's getting on."

She sounded more alert with her next words. "We've not contacted him, but we want to know, too." He noticed a text message come through with a phone number.

"I'll let you know," he replied.

"Be careful," she said.

"You too, but I'm sure James is looking after you," Bryce commented.

"Oh, he is!" Her reply told Bryce that she and Chuck were a couple in every sense. Bryce found he was happy about that, rather than jealous. They deserved to be happy together.

He then used his other phone to call Casey.

"Who is this?" Casey demanded.

"A friend of our absent friends," Bryce replied.

"Larkin," Casey muttered.

"Chuck really stirred up a shitstorm, huh?"

Casey grunted. "My image wasn't on the recording, but my name was. I've had to disappear."

"But you're okay?" Bryce asked.

Another grunt. "Alive and kicking."

That was surprising. "Casey! Quoting from songs now?"

"Not Casey anymore," the older guy retorted. "Thanks to Bartowski."

"So, what now?"

Casey sighed. "New name, but still tasked with the fight against Fulcrum."

"Me too. Maybe we should work together on that," Bryce said.

"I'm still in LA, but now moved from Echo Park. At least I no longer have to wear that damned green shirt."

"I'm still in the area. Shall we meet?" Bryce was hopeful.

After a pause, Casey said, "Okay." He gave Bryce the name of a bar in downtown LA. "Name's Jackson."

"But not one of the famous Jacksons?" Bryce joked.

"Funny guy," Casey snarled.

"This evening?" Bryce asked.

"Sure. I'll be there at ten," Casey replied.

As the call ended, Bryce typed a quick text to Sarah

He's now a Jackson

He shook his head as he sent it.

Michael or Janet?

Bryce roared with laughter. That wasn't a Sarah Walker question, that was from Chuck.


Chuck and Sarah were with Maria Gomez for five weeks while the house had power supplied once again, then was rewired, then fitted with appliances along with furnishings. Once it had been connected to the Internet, Chuck set up the Wi-Fi. After that, he and Sarah spent more and more time in the dining room on laptops.

Graham had disappeared into a black site, and Beckman lost her position and decided to retire.

Beckman's insistence that the new Intersect agents be set up to fight the threats from Fulcrum and others, was listened to, though. On October fourteenth, the new Intersect was activated. None of the agents, from either NSA or CIA, survived the download. Their brains weren't capable of taking it. Consequently, the whole Intersect program was scrapped in short order.

The happy couple got back in touch with Bryce not long after that.

"The last Fulcrum agent that Jackson and I caught admitted that they were no longer interested in me or the Intersect," Bryce told them. "However, they are fascinated to know who the termination order was for and why."

"So, are they after Casey?" Chuck asked, worried about his friend.

Sarah smiled when he said that, typical Chuck. Even though Casey had been ordered to kill him, he still regarded the NSA agent as a friend.

"Casey apparently died shortly after the order was issued," Bryce replied, amusement in his tone.

"Doesn't Jackson look like him?" Sarah asked, suspecting she knew the answer.

"Not with the shaved head and beard," Bryce replied. When there was a deadly hush on the line, he burst out laughing. "I'd love to see your faces now!"

"We'd love to see Jackson!" Chuck said.

"Wouldn't you just!" Bryce replied through his laughter.

"So, you're still up against Fulcrum?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, we're getting a female operative from the CIA to help us," Bryce replied.

"Anyone I know?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, you do," He didn't state a name, so Sarah got irritated and had to push him.

Bryce finally told them. "Zondra Rizzo." Sarah hissed on hearing that. "Thought that might get a response."

"She's a traitor!" Sarah snapped.

"She says you were the traitor," Bryce quietly responded. "I believed her story when we met her, so did Jackson."

Sarah was about to respond to that, but Chuck put his hand on her arm, refocusing her on now. "Maybe neither of you were," Chuck said.

She glared at him. "Not everyone has a good side, James. You should know that after Beckman and Graham."

"Let's look into it," he responded. She looked into his eyes and she saw he'd help her.

She huffed and said to Bryce, "Just watch your back around her."

"She's as gorgeous as the other two CATS members I know," Bryce responded.

A smile appeared on Sarah's face. "Hoping you'll bed her?"

"One can only hope," he replied.

She chuckled. "Never change, Bryce."

"There has to be some perks to this shitty job," he said.

"I'm glad I'm out of it," she replied.

"So, what're you two doing?" Bryce asked.

"We're settled," Chuck replied. "We've both started teaching here. Sam with natural languages and me with computer languages. I also fix computers on the side."

"You can speak the language there?" Bryce asked.

"I'm getting better," Chuck admitted. "But bits and bytes are universal, as is math, so I get by with what I do know."

Bryce was stunned. "Wow! Domesticated or what? What do you do for action?"

"Plenty of action in our bedroom!" Sarah snarked. She had to cover her mouth to keep in the laugh as she saw Chuck blush.

"Good on you, James," Bryce replied, with a chuckle, imagining how Chuck would've taken her comment.

After the call ended, Chuck looked at Sarah. "You wouldn't say that to anyone else, would you?"

She grinned. "Only him. I wanted him to know how happy you make me."

When he picked her up, she grinned, knowing she was in for some action. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. There would soon be more passionate kisses.


The following spring, Chuck asked Sarah to teach him some fighting skills. They cleared a space in the yard and put down mats each Saturday morning. They would be seen by others, but there was nowhere better. Initially, Chuck spent most of his time on the mats, but he slowly started to get better.

On the third occasion, a crowd formed to watch. The sports teacher at the school was one of them. He approached Sarah afterward. So, she started running an evening class on Wednesdays, in the school sports hall. Just as with her English and French teaching, she found she enjoyed putting her knowledge to good use, imparting that knowledge to others.

On Sundays, they both joined the rest of the village at church. That helped their integration with the community, but also helped Sarah with her past. She had spent many nights over the last six months telling Chuck everything, both the good and the bad. It took everything within Sarah to tell Chuck about all that she'd done, first with her father and then with the CIA for Graham Langston. That had been hard for her, opening up that much was difficult in itself, but reliving some of the things she'd done were painful memories.

Chuck had gone through a range of feelings, ranging from shock, to horror and anger. The latter was not directed at her, but the men who had made her do awful things. None of it made him love her any less. In fact, it made her admire her more for keeping going and coming out the other side as such a wonderful, loving person.

He persuaded her to provide information about the final CATS mission and the people involved. Something didn't seem right to him, so he questioned her more about people, places, and events. She struggled to remember as it was so long ago, but she indulged him as much as she could bear.

When Chuck announced that he'd been reviewing what had happened to each of the team members after they split up, she was glad she'd told him about her Red Test and subsequent work.

Carina had become the DEA seductress he knew and had risen up the ranks in the DEA as a result. Reckless as ever and determined to succeed.

Zondra had been out of action for some time due to Sarah's accusations. More than Sarah herself, which she thought was right, but Chuck found that was because Graham had wanted Sarah on his team. After six months, Zondra was allowed back into the field, but sent to work for a handler in the Middle East. That handler praised her so much that she was allowed to work independently after a year, in Eastern Europe. Her record showed a woman determined to succeed, to prove herself maybe. She took more risks than Sarah and often had to fight her way out of situations she'd gotten herself into.

Amy was the anomaly, at least in Chuck's eye. She worked independently from the disillusion of the CATS. Initially, that was in Mexico and Latin America, but then she returned to South America, where the team had been after Augusto Gaez when everything fell apart. She was still there now, having not caught him. Chuck thought that was odd and talked to Sarah about it.

"It does seem odd," she commented.

Chuck set up trackers for her in the city she was supposed to be, Valencia in Venezuela. It wasn't long before he found her meeting someone in a bar. Chuck showed Sarah when the pair left, Sarah gasped. She saw a picture of Augusto Gaez kissing Amy.

As Amy was an NSA agent, they routed the details there. Following that, Sarah sent a text to Bryce asking to talk to Zondra, saying it was urgent. When her phone rang and she saw it was Bryce, Sarah put it on speaker.

"What's so urgent?" Zondra Rizzo growled.

"My boyfriend has found who the real traitor was," Sarah said, tears in her eyes now.

Zondra snorted. "And is he handing you in somewhere?"

"It was Amy," Sarah rushed out. "Tell me where he can send a photo of her and Gaez to you so that you can see. We've already reported it to the NSA."

There was silence on the phone for a few moments, then Zondra breathed out quietly. "Amy?"

"She set us at each other's throats," Sarah said. "I'm so sorry, Z."

"Send the photo," Zondra said, giving the details where. Then, she abruptly ended the call.


It had been two weeks since the initial contact between Sarah and Zondra. Every time they spoke in the first week, the tension Sarah felt was obvious to Chuck. He'd taken to massaging her neck after each call, eliciting grateful sounds from her. As the second week progressed, the tension lessened in both of them and they decided to start video calling each other.

Zondra was beautiful, which didn't surprise Chuck in the least. He suspected that was part of why the girls were brought together. Their skills along with their looks made them a formidable team, at least until Amy betrayed them all.

Chuck sat to one side on that first video call. Zondra looked at Sarah, just as Sarah looked at her. Chuck suspected they were both looking for their old friend, but also assessing how much the other had changed.

"You look softer, Blondie," Zondra finally said.

"I'm free of the world you still live in, Z," Sarah responded, happily.

"Shacked up with your old asset, I understand," Zondra said.

Sarah looked at Chuck and held out her hand. He took it and she pulled him into view for her friend. "I love him, Z. He makes me so happy."

Zondra shook her head. "I never thought the Ice Queen would fall for someone."

Chuck knew Sarah didn't like that label, so was surprised when she just smiled. "He melted all of me, not just my heart."

"Wow! Sappy or what?" Zondra said.

"Hello, Zondra," Chuck said.

Zondra pointed at him. "You look after her," she demanded.

He smiled. "As much as a mere mortal can protect her."

Zondra snorted.

"He's learning martial arts," Sarah jumped in. "And getting good at it."

"You the teacher?" Zondra asked.

Sarah nodded.

Zondra looked at Chuck. "Brave man."

"She's worth it," he replied.

Zondra pretended to gag. "As bad as each other."

"As in love," Sarah corrected.

"Well, thank you for leaving," Zondra said. "Good team here."

"Are you okay, Z?"

"Fine," Zondra replied.

Chuck laughed out loud. Zondra frowned and he had to explain. "Conversations between you two must've been brief."

Sarah grinned knowing exactly what he meant. "We're both women of action, not words."

Zondra cottoned on and smiled. "I am fine."

"Has Bryce tried to get some of that action?" Chuck asked.

Both women laughed. "Yeah," Zondra finally replied. "I wasn't interested."

"He did mention that you'd be interested in this." Zondra pulled up an image for them to see.

Sarah gasped first, realizing who they were looking at. "Casey?"

"Nope, Jackson," Zondra replied.

Chuck stared at the bald man with the black and gray beard that was almost as long as Morgan's. "I can hardly see him."

"That's the point," Sarah said.

"Haven't got any photos of Bryce," Zondra said. "But he's clean shaven and doesn't shave his head."

"Doesn't sound like he's changed at all," both Chuck and Sarah said simultaneously.

Chuck heard Zondra's phone ringing and she looked at it. "Gonna have to go. Duty calls." With matching nods, Chuck and Sarah said their goodbyes.

Chuck looked at his beautiful girlfriend. "I love you so much, Sam."

She sat on his lap and replied, "I love you too, James." Then she kissed him and all thoughts faded away.


A/N: That's the main part of the story complete. A few surprises in that chapter, maybe. Chuck and Sarah are now safe as long as they stay hidden, and, yes, those that wanted them dead are no longer a threat. There's just a short epilogue left now, to wrap up this story.

If you have the time, a review would be great.