A/N: And Beefcake part 2. Slow time of year at work so I'm hoping to keep up my publishing schedule, which will get us to First Kill by the end of 2023. So much progress, such a long way to go still...Anyway, episode faux pas abound in this episode, most of which I tried to address. Most importantly, as stated in this: Brad White was IN THE ROOM when Chuck's test was run. They dragged Sarah in 2 minutes later, tops. Then another 2 minutes and HE'S DEAD. How in the blue blazes does that chip end up in his belt buckle in the body bag?! Chuck is a complete doofus in this episode (and he only gets worse before he gets better) trying to outdo Cole because he's jealous. Although, as I point out, if they had just trusted him (like Sarah said she did before) everything would have been fine. Cole was quick to put Chuck down, and Casey jumped right on the band wagon. I almost pointed to the fact that Alexis' last name was White...like Brad (hmmm)...maybe we'll see that later. Alexis is there at the meet, so I was assuming it was a carpool kidnapping in the limo. And Alexis knows Chuck saw the video. Without the playback device, NO ONE ELSE COULD HAVE SEEN IT! Why torture Cole and Sarah...oh, yeah, to get to Chuck. And lastly...in Nemesis, Bryce kisses Sarah. She stands still, lets him kiss her, and then slowly responds. Here, Sarah kisses Cole back right away. Her mouth is engaged, her hand is on his face. She wanted to kiss him. I explain that disparity as well. Anyway, I digress. Read on, brave pilgrims! LOL.

All I could hear was glass shattering and the staccato hammering of machine gun fire. I honestly believed I was done for. All I was hoping for was Casey to get there in time to get Chuck out of the line of fire.

I heard Chuck screaming my name. But, thank God, I told myself, at least he stayed put.

I don't know what exactly Cole said to convince Chuck to release him. Knowing what I know now, about the conclusions Cole finally made about Chuck and me, I believe the desperation in Chuck's voice, on his face, served as the catalyst. That Cole made an appeal to Chuck about saving my life, knowing by Chuck's expression that he would do it. For me.

I was waiting for Casey, not that he could have done any better than me at that point. Instead, Cole dodged multiple sprays of machine gun fire, diving over parked vehicles and shooting double-handedly at the on-coming helicopter.

"Get down!" he ordered me.

I was confused, but one look at his face and I knew something was up, different than what Beckman had told us. I gawked, in awe of him, as he managed to hit the gas line for a propane tank on the roof with a bullet. The tank ignited and took the helicopter out with it. The entire building shook as the helicopter burst into a fireball as it cascaded down the side of the building. Then he bent over my crouched form to shield me from the blast.

He was rewarded for that show of bravery by Casey knocking him out cold. Talk about late to the party. I could have punched Casey in the face. Instead, I was sharp with him. Where the hell was he? Why was Chuck the one who had to come to the hotel room to assist? Couldn't Casey see that Barker was not a threat, at least not in the way we had been told he was?

Casey grumbled the entire time, under his breath, while we were calling in for back up.

It was a complete disaster, of course, probably one of the worst scenarios for cleaners we had yet to foist on the CIA. The entire hotel was evacuated. The entire street below filled with fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, all screaming sirens that echoed erratically, assaulting my ear drums. The CIA cleaners took charge of the scene and dealt with local law enforcement as well as the media. A propane tank explosion was the cover story. The presence of the helicopter, and its fiery demise, were ignored.

We didn't get back to Castle until the middle of the night.

We got Beckman on the com to confirm Cole's story. Everything checked out.

Beckman apologized, but Cole was irate, blaming us for ruining his undercover work. He explained that the chip he had acquired from Brad White's grave was useless without the playback device, which was the point of the meeting Team Bartowski interrupted. Cole was nursing a lump the size of an egg on the back of his head.

I was downright bitchy. I was beyond tired, I know that, but I was also out of sorts. Not usually like me to be so clueless, to ignore the strange feeling I'd had before I approached Cole. Personal feelings clouding my spy senses once again. It was like I was overcompensating for that ridiculous seduction episode in his hotel room.

Beckman ordered Cole to stay in Castle overnight.

And she ordered me to stay with him.

Cole smirked at me, saying, "Well, I can think of worse ways to spend the night."

"Funny, but I can't think of any," I said sarcastically. I was initially irritated that she chose me and not Casey, but he needed to protect Chuck at Echo Park. Cole just smirked some more. After that, he made a show of pushing the cots together to make one larger bed.

What an ass, I thought. I mean, really. Did stuff like that actually work on some women? Talk about crass and boorish behavior.

Chuck was worried about me being alone with Cole, but I told him it was fine, and that he should go home and get some sleep. I touched his arm and smiled, trying to ease the tension I had been feeling from him most of the evening.

In Cole's defense, he did ask Chuck, straight out, if there was something between him and me. Most likely because he had seen the way Chuck reacted when I was in danger. I didn't know Cole did that until a long time from this point. In fact, my opinion of him improved for other reasons before I ever knew that fact.

However, this evening, he was annoying the hell out of me. I decided not to sleep. Instead, I stayed up all night doing paperwork, part of which was doing some research of my own on Cole Barker. He had an extensive record of bravery and heroism in his long career with British Secret Service. Turns out, he was Casey's age, which was just…weird. He looked very good for his age.

He came out in the early morning hours in a towel, fresh from the shower, to sweet talk me some more. I told him very clearly that I wasn't interested. He made a joke about me needing to brush up on my seduction skills. He was smooth, sweet talking me, despite my rejection. And just to continue to be a pig, he dropped his towel as he walked away from me. I ignored it.

Once Chuck and Casey arrived, we were trying to decide our next steps. Chuck had the idea of hacking into the chip, without the playback device. It was a viable option, and that was just based on what I knew about Chuck's computer skills, not the actual truth, that he was a first rate hacker. If we had just done that, everything would have been fine. Castle's signal jammers would have blocked the outgoing homing signal that activating the chip would have released. We would know it all, then destroy it, end of story. Cole might have never learned that Chuck was the Intersect.

But at this point, Cole was underestimating Chuck. He made a snide remark about the task being more complicated than playing video games. Casey, of course, jumped on the Chuck-bashing band wagon. It was almost embarrassing, the way Casey was almost licking Cole's boot heels. Very un-Casey like. But, as I said before, Barker was Bond-esque. Casey's spy epitome as well.

Once Casey and Cole walked away, Chuck pleaded with me to let him have a chance. Once I lost Casey, it wasn't worth trying to argue with the two of them. I told Chuck to just go back to the Buy More.

I didn't know it was happening, not at first, but whatever it was that Chuck thought he needed to prove–he started to think that way here, when we dismissed him like he was a bumbling idiot. The entire time Cole was here in Burbank, Chuck had sort of started this competition, unbeknownst to Cole. Chuck was jealous of Cole, though he honestly had absolutely no reason to be, not for one minute. And Chuck thought the way to outdo the man was to be a better spy. Chuck thought Cole was impressing me with his talents. The truth, that Cole finally figured out, although not right away either, was that the more normal Chuck acted, the harder I fell, and not the other way around.

Not one of his finest moments. But…he only acted that way because he loved me. And, let me tell you, love makes you do stupid things sometimes. Like what Chuck ended up doing right after I told him to stay put.

Casey and I accompanied Cole to the meet downtown. We were all wired. Cole said his contact was late. We kept searching the crowd for any signs of Fulcrum. Finally, they arrived, and Cole approached. I shadowed him, waiting for the playback device to appear.

Someone pulled a gun. I radioed to Casey, and he told me to hold my position. I disobeyed, fearing that Cole was in danger. I had no idea that Chuck had tripped the homing device in the chip, the reason for the gun. Casey called me back; I ignored him. Cole and I were both captured.

Casey, fortunately, evaded detection.

I heard the agent say someone had hacked the chip.

Damn it, Chuck!

We were forced into a limousine with the Fulcrum agents. They made a special stop at the Buy More to grab Chuck, of course, since the homing device was still active. There were four of them all together, and three of them got out of the car to go after Chuck. Cole silently signaled me, thinking we could take the one guy out between the two of us. I had to signal a harsh no. I mouthed "Chuck" to him, willing him to understand I couldn't risk those agents hurting or killing him because of something we did.

Chuck was babbling, apologizing, when they tossed him into the limo with us. I shushed him, harshly, afraid he would say something while he was panicking. Cole gave me this look…like he didn't understand what the situation was, and what Chuck's role was. Chuck was certainly unique, and for Cole, I'm sure it was pretty confusing.

They drove us to a warehouse. Chuck had whispered that the woman in charge was named Alexis, and she was a Fulcrum agent. Apparently he had flashed on her before she kidnapped him. Alexis pulled me out first and dragged me inside. She ordered me to take off my jacket and then chained my hands over my head. Next was Cole, stripped down to his t-shirt. I heard Alexis complaining, asking one of her goons to adjust the last set of shackles because Chuck was so tall. Then she dragged him in as well.

Once more, I was hoping that Casey would find us soon.

Chuck was freaking out, worse than I had ever seen him. Borderline hysterical, not that I can say I blame him. I had taken classes at the Farm on how to withstand torture. Chuck was the Intersect, but he was a civilian in almost every other way.

Cole realized how bad the situation was. If they saw how close to breaking Chuck was, they would start with him. I remembered when Malena had taken Chuck, what felt like ages ago, and he never said a word, even though she threatened his life, so there was that. His pain threshold was just very low.

While we were alone, Chuck told me he saw what was on the chip. Cole was there, but there was no way to not have him hear it. I told Chuck it was ok. He told me it was him. He was on the chip.

The test. The Fulcrum lab. Fulcrum's Intersect.

I panicked. That was about as bad as it could get. I was very firm, telling Chuck no one could know that, no matter what. That we just had to hold out for Casey.

My thoughts were racing. Something didn't make sense.

White had been in the lab when those tests were done. I was there, watching. They didn't wait two minutes and they were dragging me into the room. Then Casey appeared and another two minutes later, White was dead. How on earth did he have time to get a microchip copy of that test into his belt buckle? How did Casey and I miss that?

Unless…the chip was placed there after the fact, after White was already dead. There was a lag, processing time, between when the bodies were processed out of Castle and then dumped at the CIA site. But who would do that?

Fulcrum had to have had an agent on the inside somewhere. Someone who passed the information to Cole, thinking he was another Fulcrum agent. We hadn't asked that many detailed questions before, because no one knew what was on the chip. But now that information was critical, because not only did it compromise Chuck's cover, but it was information about more unknown Fulcrum activity that was happening under the radar within the confines of the CIA.

Alexis appeared wielding a machete. Stating out loud that the identity of the Intersect was on the chip, the one that Chuck had destroyed after he watched it. While I'm sure that information was registering with Cole, Alexis went straight for Chuck, who looked the most upset, the most terrified of the situation.

She pulled us down from our shackles, cuffing my hands in front of me. She forced Chuck into a wheelchair and strapped his wrists to the arms. This was so we could watch her torture Cole, or more precisely, so Chuck could watch it. It was another tactic, one that worked better with Chuck than with most spies. Threatening someone else. For Chuck, because he was Chuck, watching Cole be whipped was more torturous than anything she could have done to Chuck directly. She knew Chuck was the weak link and she wanted him to talk.

To be fair, Chuck was the only one Alexis was absolutely certain had seen the info on the chip, since she had seen him with the destroyed remnants.

We watched her whip Cole for almost 20 minutes. Chuck was close to breaking, but I ordered him to keep quiet. It was when Alexis switched to a blow torch that Chuck lost it.

Chuck told her he was the Intersect…in order to stop her from hurting Cole.

Cole glared at me, his face bloodied and swollen. I know what he must have been thinking. Why had he just endured all that if Chuck was going to just blurt it out, negating what he had already done? I think he must have seen the desperation in my eyes as she approached Chuck with the same blow torch.

I don't know what would have happened to me if I had been forced to watch her torturing Chuck. All I do know is I would have killed her with my bare hands at the first chance I got.

Cole told her the Intersect was him, to protect Chuck. He knew that was what I was asking him to do. I actually think I almost smiled with relief. Of course, that wasn't before Cole made the point about how ridiculous it was that Chuck was the Intersect. Pathetic weakling, I think Cole said. I seconded everything he said. Because we were both trying to protect him.

Jealousy reared its head again. Chuck was insulted, of all things. He started taunting her, asking her to stick a needle in his eye. Which she almost did, until he passed out and tipped the wheelchair he was strapped into completely over. He hit his head on the cement floor and was knocked unconscious. She dumped a bucket of cold water over his head to wake him.

Next, she threatened to inject me with ricin unless they told her who the Intersect was. They both confessed again.

It was then that Casey showed up with the cavalry. The medics went for Cole first, since he was the most badly injured. I made sure Chuck got an ice pack for his head and then I stayed with Cole while they tended to him. Afterwards, we went back to Castle.

As Chuck was leaving, we were talking sort of casually about withstanding torture. I chose that moment to circle back, telling him he had endured enough torture with our fake relationship. He said we had our moments.

"Well, even though it wasn't real, I'm really going to miss it," I told him, being as honest as I could be and still hold onto myself. I did see the surprise register on his face when he heard me say that.

I think he was in the process of trying to un-break up with me, but Cole interrupted us.

Cole thanked Chuck for risking his life for him. Probably the nicest thing I'd heard him say yet. Chuck left me alone with him.

I told him, because he knew who Chuck really was, that he was a security threat, he was someone that I needed to handle. He made a lewdly suggestive remark of course.

But he assured me that he could keep his word. That I had nothing to worry about. Then he asked me if I wanted to go on vacation with him.

He just wouldn't let up, would he?

Just for a moment, he broke the string of cheesy lines and was just honest. He thought I was beautiful. He thought we could just have fun. No strings attached, just two spies doing what we do best. Forgetting our loneliness as best we could, just for a while.

I turned to walk away, but he grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me back, roughly but not harshly. His lips were close to mine, his breath on my face.

He was an attractive guy, my type, I guess you could say, even if he was technically old enough to be my father. All of his crassness disappeared after that last sincere bit.

He kissed me, and I kissed him back. This time, it was real, not like it had been in his hotel. Just a kiss, though, never meant to be anything more. He was a good kisser…and it had been some time since anyone had kissed me. It was nice, and then it ended. We said goodbye.

I had no idea Chuck had spied on us, had seen me kiss Cole. Again, another confession I didn't learn about until we were on the train to Zurich. But it explained how Chuck reacted later, thinking Cole meant more to me than he did, just the way Chuck thought Bryce meant more than he did. Why he was worried when he thought Cole was hurt or captured–because he thought I cared about him in a much deeper way.

I could kiss Bryce or Cole, and that was all it was. When I kissed Chuck, it was completely different. It was never just a kiss. It was him, everything.

I've been married to Chuck for over ten years and still when he kisses me, really kisses me, it quickly leads to other things. I can just dive into him and not come up for air. I only ever had that with Chuck. Of course, there was no way he could have known that here.

Later that evening, we got word that Cole was captured by Fulcrum. He never made it to the airport. The CIA and the NSA had every man they could spare out looking for him. After a few hours with no word, Beckman was about to take Chuck underground, considering Cole knew about Chuck. I was able to convince her 24 hour protective detail was a better option, and that I could spin it within the cover and no one would suspect anything strange.

Fortunately, she agreed with me.

Did I have an ulterior motive? I'd like to think not, but sometimes I didn't know myself when stuff like that happened. Secretly did I want that more than anything? Yes, of course I did. I was going to miss our fake relationship, simply because it allowed me to suspend my disbelief, even for a short time. Living with him…it was like the Suburbs, at least in my head anyway. A perfect excuse to be closer to him. At times like that I would forget how painful that would end up being.

I told him we couldn't break up and we had to move in together. He went pale.

I told him his sister was watching, so we had to sell it. I kissed his cheek and hugged him.

The way he squeezed me in return felt genuine, even enthusiastic. However, it was meant as sympathy.

The idea that Chuck's true identity could be tortured out of him was very real.

It worried us both.