A/N:A noticeable drop in both readers and reviews with the last chapter. I guess some became bored of the Ennead and wanted Sarah and Chuck to just solve the case with little to no effort. I hope, as you're still here, that you're enjoying the story as it pans out, and I'm grateful for your patience. Not long until they do wrap this up. Anyway, thanks to those that left reviews showing their thoughts.

Thanks again to MicroGirl1225 for the pre-read of the chapter.

As always, PM me if you spot anything you feel needs correcting, as this hasn't been beta'd.

On with the big three interviews…

Chuck vs Egypt

Chapter 12

Sarah, Chuck and Thoth arrived at her interview room an hour early.

Thoth set up the camera in the corner of the room near the ceiling. Unless looking for it, no one would notice it was there, it was so small. He then gave her the control and instructions for its use. Very simple. "It'll send the recording to us in the lab, not just storing it locally," he said.

Then, he gave her what she now thought of as her tranq pistol. It looked more like one of the small pocket sized phasers she'd seen used in Star Trek Next Generation sometimes. Instead of tranquilizer darts, the little pellets fired achieved the same effect, injecting the liquid into the target. "He'll be unconscious for an hour with one of these."

She taped it to the underside of the desk. She didn't expect to have to use it, but it was reassuring to have it.

As Thoth set off for the lab, Chuck received a deep kiss. He looked stunned as she pulled away. "We'll continue this tonight," she breathed into his ear.

He walked out in a daze.

She went out and made coffee and then returned to wait for Set's arrival. She expected no trouble from him, but the recording would still be worth securing.

As the supposedly dark god sat down opposite her, Sarah said, "Set, I want you to be totally open with me. No hiding or lying, obviously, but no evading embarrassing or troubling details, either. Total openness."

He looked at her for a while before replying. "I will try."

"Do not try, just do," she retorted, misquoting from Star Wars.

She dived straight in. "Do you still love your wife?"

He nodded. "Yes. And I miss her terribly."

"What caused your dark mood in the months leading up to when she left?"

He blinked, not expecting that. "I- It- It was nothing to do with my wife," he finally got out.

"But it affected her," Sarah challenged.

He frowned. "How'd you know?"

Sarah didn't answer that directly. "She wasn't happy. Others saw it." Sarah looked him in the eyes, his frightening black pupils. "She tried to defend you, but didn't know what you were going through." She paused and added. "You didn't talk, did you?"

"She defended me?" he asked in surprise.

Sarah noted that was what he focused on. "I think she still loved you then."

He swallowed and sat back in thought.

Eventually, he started talking, "Osiris seemed to be stepping up his attempts to take my job. He told me how unhappy my team was, but also about unrest in the humans. The reports I received didn't match this. However, it got me worrying about what I was hearing. Either Osiris was lying to get me agitated or my team was hiding the facts from me. I didn't know who to believe."

"How long have these people been reporting to you?" she asked.

"Since we set up the system. Maybe a thousand years?" he replied.

She shook her head. "And you doubted them?"

He looked embarrassed. "Stupid, huh?"

"Maybe Osiris is just good at manipulating you," she replied.

He huffed but didn't say anything.

"This affected your relationship with your wife," Sarah stated. "Your moodiness got to Nephthys," she said quietly.

He groaned. "I know I wasn't great. I bought gifts to make up for it, but that just got her angry and we ended up shouting at each other." He paused for a second. "That's when I started thinking she was having an affair."

"Gifts are often given due to guilt, and never work out well," she commented. "The bigger the gift, the bigger the guilt."

He stared at her. "So, I should've done nothing?"

Sarah sighed. "Gifts don't show her how much you love someone."

He blinked a few times looking like he'd scalded his hands.

"I then found out about her feelings for Osiris," he muttered.

"From who?" she asked, leaning forward on the desk.

He looked down, clearly embarrassed to answer this. "Osiris."

She sat back. "The Ennead who lied to you before."

He glared at Sarah. "It fitted with her behavior. Avoiding me. Disappearing off for the evenings."

"She was just trying to avoid the arguments."

"On that night, I saw them together! He put his arms around her!" Set shouted.

"And you watched them have sex?" Sarah questioned.

"No!" He looked away. "I couldn't face that."

"So, you just assumed that they did?"

Set couldn't face her. "She never came home after that. What else could I think?"

Sarah spoke quietly, "She left because she was at the end of her tether. Sorry, that's a phrase from my time. She'd had enough. Osiris trying to get her to bed was the final thing that pushed her to get away."

He looked up. "How d'you know?"

Sarah hadn't planned to tell him, but felt she had to. "She told me."

His jaw dropped. "She told you? You've spoken to her?"

Sarah nodded.

"Where is she?" he demanded. "I have to go to her."

This was hard for Sarah to say. "She doesn't want to see you again. Nor does she want to return to Egypt." She only paused briefly before adding, "She's gone, Set."

His face dropped into his hands. Sarah was surprised. She'd wondered whether he might try to force her to tell him his wife's location. She'd been reaching under the desk for the phaser, but didn't need it. "I'm sorry, Set."

He eventually looked up. "Me, too."

"There's still the dispute between you and Osiris."

He stood. "I can't talk about that now. I'm going to go and get drunk." He left the room. She didn't stop him, and just turned the recording off.

Aset breezed in without a knock on the door. Sarah forced herself not to react, other than to start the recording.

Sitting down, Aset said, "Get on with it."

"Moody," Sarah muttered. Aset blinked. Sarah decided to set the tone on who was in charge. "I'm not a supplicant, Aset. The only difference between you Ennead and us humans is that you're much, much older. From what I've discovered, you're all just as fallible as we are."

Aset clamped her mouth shut and glared. She finally said, "I'm just annoyed at the delay getting to us."

Sarah dismissed that. "As I said, I wanted to see what the other Ennead thought before getting to you three."

"Shame you couldn't get to the seducer too."

Sarah cocked her head. "If you mean Nephthys, I've interviewed her."

Aset was stunned. "You found her?"

Sarah nodded. "And she's not the seducer in this." She let that statement hang for a moment or two.

Aset seemed speechless. Sarah eyed her up and down. The Ennead before her was stunning. Her black hair cascaded over her shoulders. Her figure was gorgeous, but it was her face that really drew Sarah's attention. Her eyes, even as wide as now, were gorgeous, a stunning green. Sarah was sure that if she was attracted to women, both Aset and Nephthys would be at the top of her list.

"Why would any man be drawn away from you?" she asked.

Aset narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

Sarah held her gaze. "Your husband has wandering eyes, Aset."

"No, he hasn't!" Aset responded immediately. The speed of the reply seemed significant.

Sarah sighed. "I felt his eyes on me that first day we were here. Me, a mere human." Aset was going to challenge that, so she continued, "Other Ennead have felt it too." Then she dropped the bombshell, "We have records of him chasing Nephthys for a long, long time."

Aset just sat and stared at her for a few minutes, saying nothing. Then, Sarah watched a repeat of Set's actions from earlier. Aset suddenly had her hands over her face. The difference was that she was sobbing.

Sarah felt bad about how she delivered the message. "Would you like a drink?"

Aset shook her head as the tears escaped through her fingers.

Sarah sat silently sipping her water and waited.

Eventually, Aset grabbed a cloth from her dress and wiped her eyes. Unlike humans, it seemed that Ennead didn't need to blow their noses after crying. "He's always liked her. At least since we settled here." Her eyes seemed to pierce into Sarah's. "Are you saying he took it further and seduced her?"

Sarah had to decide how to word this. "From what I hear, that encounter was the first physical contact, but not what you're thinking. He grabbed her but she fought him off and ran."

Aset looked relieved. "And ran out of all our lives?" Sarah nodded.

"Poor Set." Hearing Aset saying that was a shock to Sarah, not expecting such sympathy from this Ennead. Aset saw her reaction. "Set loves her so much. I think it's driven him mad."

"Into despair," Sarah replied. "Osiris really doesn't like him, does he?"

"No. Set got half of Egypt. Osiris felt it all should've been his."

"And he's been using Set's reaction to Nephthys leaving to stir up ill-feeling against Set to achieve that."

Aset just nodded. "I suspected that."

"Earlier, I told Set that Nephthys is never coming back," Sarah said. "He's in a bad way. He seemed more stunned than angry."

The interview continued, with Aset getting more and more depressed.

"You love him, don't you?" Sarah said at one point.

"I do. I always have and I suspect I always will."

Sarah had lunch on her own, Aset didn't feel well enough to join her. At least she promised not to talk to her husband until after he'd had his interview. Sarah wasn't sure the Ennead would keep her promise, but there was nothing she could do to stop her. After her lunch, she returned to the room.

Osiris arrived several minutes early. He knocked on the door, unlike the two previous visitors. He then poked his head around it. "Have you finished with your previous visitor?" he asked.

Sarah activated the recording. "Yes, Aset left me some time ago. You didn't have lunch with her?"

He waved that idea away without a reply. He sat opposite her and assessed her.

Sarah knew she'd have the recording if she wanted to assess him, so she prepared to start the interview. However, it did feel creepy being here with him and the way he looked at her made her feel rather unclean.

He finally spoke, "Avoiding me was unkind, especially how we feel about each other." He leaned forward as he finished saying that. His elbows were now on the desk.

This actually helped her case, so she said, "And how exactly do we feel about each other?"

He smiled, which sent a shiver up her spine. Part of her wanted to run away. She controlled her reaction. " You're obviously very attracted to me," he said. "The feeling's mutual." The smile grew.

"What makes you think that about me?" she asked, keeping her tone and expression neutral.

"All women find me attractive," he replied, as if that was obvious..

"Apart from Nephthys," she said.

The smile faltered for a moment, but then returned. "Oh, she wanted me so bad. She's been after me for a long, long time."

"How long did it take your testicles to stop hurting after she kneed you there?" His smile disappeared and his eyes clouded as he sat back. She leaned forward but kept her hands beneath the desk. "I know what happened that night, Osiris."

"The bitch is lying," he snapped.

"I didn't say how I found out," she said.

"You must've talked to her, believed her lies!" he snapped.

She sat back, now with her right hand on her knee. "Oh, I can read liars. That's one of my gifts." She then glared at him. "So, stop lying!"

He started to stand and reach across the table, going for her throat. She hadn't expected that, and just automatically pressed the button on the phaser where it was.

His eyes went wide, he looked pained and then slumped loudly down upon the desk.

"Interview terminated when assault attempted," she said.

The door burst open and Aset stood there looking in, shock on her face. "I- I heard a crash. You- you've killed him?"

Sarah shook her head. "No. He'll recover after a sleep."

Thoth and Chuck burst in, followed by Horus who looked shocked. "Dead?" he asked.

"Tranquiliser," Thoth replied. "Well done, Sarah."

Chuck was around the desk pulling Sarah up into a hug, unable to speak.

The two male Ennead pulled Osiris up and sat him in the chair. Thoth's chuckle drew their attention. He looked around the room. "Couldn't have hit him in a better place."

They all looked down and saw a hole in Osiris's skirt just to the side of his groin.

"I don't know. More central and a bit lower might've been more appropriate," Sarah commented.

Aset was still in a daze. "What happened?"

Sarah gazed at her after looking contemptuously at the unconscious Ennead on the other side of the desk. "He didn't like me commenting on Nephthys fending him off that night. He was reaching for my neck with a very angry look on his face. He seemed to have lost the lustful look he came in with."

Osiris was tied to the chair for when he revived. Thoth and Horus had left, but Chuck and Aset remained. The female Ennead was still in a state of shock, both at the revelations about her husband's antics before, and the attempt to strangle Sarah.

"He's always wanted more, but I thought that was just power, not other women," she'd said. Her lips quivered. "I wasn't enough for him." She looked at Sarah. "And I never thought he'd be violent toward a woman, either."

"Love makes you blind," Sarah said. She was thinking of her mom as she said that.

Aset looked at her unconscious husband. "Maybe he'll change now that Nephthys has gone."

Neither of the other two with her believed that likely, but they'd kept quiet.

The bound Ennead started to revive. Sarah turned to Chuck and Aset. "Out. Now!" she hissed at them. Aset looked reluctant, but Chuck guided her out. He led her to the dining area where they got drinks and sat together.

He placed his communicator on the table. Thoth would let him know instantly if Sarah needed help.

"She loves you, doesn't she?" Aset suddenly said.

Chuck looked at the Ennead. "She hasn't actually said that. I hope so, though."

"I saw how you both clung to each other earlier."

He looked at his coffee. "It's hard for me to believe anyone as perfect as Sarah could love me."

Aset looked sad. "You're the opposite of Osiris. He knows he's perfect and thinks everyone agrees." Chuck nodded. She focused on Chuck again. "I think she does love you, but then I thought Osiris loved me, so what do I know?"

"I suspect he loves you," Chuck softly said. "But some people have difficulty staying faithful." He thought of Jill, but didn't really know if she'd ever loved him.

Aset sat quietly as they drank.

After being there for what must have been half-an-hour, she asked, "Are you going to report that my husband is the one at fault here?"

"He does seem to be," Chuck replied.

"That won't be well received."

"Because Set isn't liked?" Chuck asked.

"Because Osiris is," she replied.

"We have to report the truth," he said. "What happens then, is not up to us."

She sighed.

He looked at Aset, the woman known as the goddess of healing and magic. "The myths have Set completely at fault. You're known as Isis and heal Osiris after Set kills him."

She shook her head. "We do have more powerful healing skills than humans, but not that good." She thought about the name. "Isis means throne. So, do I become the one on a throne?"

He shrugged. "I guess."

"Well, not if Set becomes in charge of the whole of Egypt," she said. "I'm not leaving Osiris for him."

"You'll stay with Osiris?" Chuck wasn't surprised, but felt he should question it.

She nodded. "I still love him."

He imagined what he would've done if Jill had come back to him. Hurt though he was, he would probably have accepted her back. He thought love, even if misguided, was like that.

"When Sarah has finished with him, I'll take him home," Aset said.

That drew Chuck out of his thoughts. Narrowing his eyes, he said, "He should be locked up."

Her piercing eyes stabbed into him. "I will take him away. Until the council decides what to do, he will not be a prisoner."

"He tried to kill Sarah!" he said.

"He tried to stop her from speaking," she corrected. "You do not know he planned to kill her." Chuck sat back. She was right. He didn't know that.

They sat in silence until Horus found them. "Sarah's finished with Osiris." He looked at Aset. "You and I will take him home. He should stay with you."

She nodded and stood. She looked at Chuck, but said no more to him before walking away with Horus.

Chuck followed. He'd be there for Sarah, whatever she wanted to do next.

Sarah watched as Osiris was untied and led away.

There was definitely nothing but dislike in his eyes as he gazed on her now.

His parting shot was, "No one will believe you." Horus and Aset looked less certain and they led him out.

Chuck rushed to Sarah. "Are you alright?"

She smiled and nodded. "It reminded me of some of the less pleasant interviews of my FBI life." She paused for a moment before continuing, "And those of my time in the CIA, too. He's a power hungry man. It just simmers for longer with these Ennead. They have more time than humans to realize what they want." She looked ruefully at Chuck. "He's a great conman, though, when he doesn't let his lusts drive him."

"Con-Ennead," he corrected.

She grinned. "Yes."

She looked at her notes and then sadly at him. "I need to pull these together, along with what was captured on the recordings. I need to do that quickly now. Sorry, but I'll have to focus on it this evening and probably into the night, as well."

"I'll be there for whatever you need," Chuck replied.

She placed her palm against his cheek. "Thank you, Chuck."

A/N: Thoughts? A review would be nice.