A/N: Welcome back to the season 2 premier of Private Eyes

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

"Okay," Sarah said, trying to gather herself after Heather's plea. "I know you just wanted to meet with me, but I have a partner I work with."

"Is he the one that said not to call the Ghostbusters on the commercial?" Heather asked. Sarah nodded, making Heather smile. "You know, he's the reason I reached out to you. He reminds me of Mark… the only reason I wanted to meet with you first was… to apologize." She blew out a breath. "I was a terrible person to you. I don't know what all happened with your father, but… we had no right."

"It was high school," Sarah began, trying to change the subject.

Heather shook her head. "That gave me no right to be horrible. To truly be… a Heather." Heather paused for a second. "Sorry, Mark… he had this sense of humor. Heathers-"

"Is an eighties movie, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater," Sarah finished for her.

"You do know it," Heather said.

"Chuck's told me about it," Sarah said. "I think we might have even watched it."

"You don't know if you watched it?" Heather asked, an eyebrow raised and a grin on her face.

"Let me go get him," Sarah said, feeling out of her depth. She rose. "I'll be right back, you just wait right here." Sarah strode out of the office, closed her door behind her, and walked over to Chuck's office. She opened the door, not even bothering to knock. Dan and Chuck looked up. "I'm sorry, I need your help, I'm out of my depth."

Dan glanced at Chuck, grinned, and tugged on his suit jacket as he stood. "I'll leave you to it," he said. "Thank you, Charles."

"Hope I helped," Chuck said.

"You did, I'll let you know how it goes," Dan said. He turned to Sarah and nodded his head at her. "Sarah."

"I'm sorry, Dan," Sarah began.

"Nonsense, something obviously has you rattled," Dan replied. "Good day." With that, he left.

Sarah turned to Chuck. "I'm sorry," she began.

"What's wrong?" Chuck asked.

"I need you not to be you," she began. Chuck tried to look upset. She tilted her head and gave him a look. He relented. "The client is someone from my high school, that I had drama with." She watched Chuck try to contain himself. "I'll give you two seconds to do whatever you have to do."

"I just need one," Chuck said. He took a deep breath and let it out, making Sarah chuckle. "Okay, thank you. So, we're dealing with your past, which you hate talking about." Sarah nodded. "So, is this an old boyfriend?" Sarah snorted. "Mean girl?"

"A Heather," Sarah told him.

"Ahhh," Chuck began.

"No, you don't understand; her name is literally Heather," Sarah said. She watched Chuck try not to burst. "And she could be considered… a Heather."

"So," Chuck said, his voice going up an octave. Sarah shook her head but couldn't help smiling at him. "What's the problem?"

"She thinks her former boyfriend is killing – or trying to kill – his girlfriends," Sarah said. "A male black widow."

"That would be a blue beard," Chuck said. "But, if they're not married, then that might not be right. Did he get married?"

"I'm not sure… I couldn't get past the girl who terrorized me in high school crying and apologizing in my office, and saying what was happening to her was karma. Also, it appears this guy is a nerd, and you remind her of him." Chuck's eyes were wide. "Sorry, that was a lot."

"We are going to have so many talks after we see her," Chuck began. He stopped and took a breath. "Wait… I'm sorry."

"You can't talk to her with me?" Sarah asked, feeling… God, was that fear?

"No, I can talk to her, but I'm sorry. I shouldn't pry like that. If you want to talk, we can," Chuck told her. "I… I get excited when you let me in, not that you don't, but… the parts you have let me in… they've been painful, and I get why you don't open up often."

"Chuck… high school was hell," Sarah began. Chuck stood. "What are you doing?"

"I was going to come hug you, if that's alright," he said.

"Of course it's alright," Sarah told him. "Get over here." He walked over and wrapped his arms around her. "That girl is tiny, and she terrifies me."

"Former cheerleader?" Chuck asked.

"Yes," Sarah said, her face buried in his shirt.

"Made fun of you?" Chuck asked.

"Yes," Sarah said. "I had braces and just looked… ugh, and dad and his bullshit…" She was silent for a moment. "It was when I was forced to join the CIA." She felt his lips gently kiss her on top of her head. "It was the worst time in my life, and it was partly because of her."

"That was the worst time in your life?" Chuck asked. "I mean, we have seen some things."

"Are you talking about Mrs. Fulcrum?" Sarah asked.

"Of course, I am," Chuck said, making her giggle. "What I was thinking of was the different things you went through when you were in the CIA."

"I had training on how to deal with all of that," Sarah began.

"Not healthily," Chuck interrupted.

"Do we want to talk about the way you deal with your issues with your mom and dad?" Sarah asked.

"I retract the statement," Chuck said. She pulled her face out of his shirt where she had been hiding, looking up at him. "I'm here."

"I know, and that's why I want you in there… and yes, I know later there will be questions." Chuck shook his head no. "Chuck, I know you won't want to, but you will."

"I just have one question," Chuck began.

"Just one?" she deadpanned.

"Will this require extra cuddling tonight?" Chuck asked. Sarah smiled warmly at him.

"Why don't we prepare ourselves that it will," she said. Chuck nodded. "I love you."

"I love you," Chuck replied. "We'd better get in there." Sarah nodded, and took a deep breath. The two headed out the door towards Sarah's office.

}o{

Casey walked into the coroner's office, having already prepared himself for shenanigans and other random bullshit. He didn't know which was worse, Barnes and his drug-addled brain, or Bartowski and his… whatever the hell was going on in his brain.

"Ah, Jonathan," Lester called out with a grin, upon seeing him. Casey sneered at him, causing the grin to leave Lester's face. "Thank you for joining us Detective Casey… Sir."

Casey decided not correct Lester on him not being a detective… that would require a conversation. Instead, he did what he did best: He grunted.

"I know that one," Jeff said, joining the two. "Get the hell on with it so I can get the hell out of here." Casey's expression softened, and he slowly nodded his head, impressed. "Gruber was here, and told me that I shouldn't waste my time running a toxicology report."

"I see," Casey said. "So you ran a full scan."

"Yup, and found nothing," Jeff said.

"You called me over here for that?" Casey said, growing confused and angry.

"Come here," Jeff said, and led Casey over to the body. He pulled the sheet back the sheet from the eyeless corpse. "Do you see there?" Jeff was pointing into the eye socket.

"What's that… is it blue?" Casey asked.

"That," Jeff said, holding up a sample bottle. "Is what I'd like to know. I'm going to bet it's not going to be on any of the tests I run."

Casey reached out and took the sample bottle. "I'm guessing you'd like me to have some people run it?" Jeff nodded. "You think Gruber is up to something?"

Jeff shrugged. "He's squirrely," Jeff replied. Casey raised an eyebrow. "Not as squirrely as Sarah's secretary, but squirrely all the same."

Casey chuckled. He lifted the vial and looked at it. "What the hell are you?" he muttered to himself.

}o{

"I went away to college, and didn't see Mark for a few years," Heather began. "I was in my senior year at San Diego State when I heard about his girlfriend dying."

"What did she die of?" Chuck asked.

"It was ruled a heart attack," Heather said. "A twenty-one year old, in shape, runner, had a heart attack."

"I'm assuming they ran tests?" Chuck asked. Heather nodded. "And did they find anything?"

"Apparently, she had a family history of heart disease, and nothing else came back… abnormal," Heather said. "I saw him, mourning her, sitting in a coffee shop where I liked to study." She looked away. "I had teased him, made his life hell in high school." She blew out a rough breath. "Do you know he never hated me for that? Do you know that he never blamed me? God, he should have. I was such a bitch."

Chuck looked over at Sarah, who had a look on her face that read Uh, yeah. She caught his glance, and steeled her features.

"High school can be rough," Chuck said.

Heather smiled at him. "See, this is why I wanted to come to you two." Chuck looked confused. "You're like him. You have that look that in high school… you went through a lot of what he did. But in that commercial, you embraced who you were, and showed that you're here for people."

"All I did was say, don't call the Ghostbusters," Chuck argued.

"She understands," Heather said, glancing at Sarah. "Don't you?"

"I do," Sarah agreed.

"So, I didn't know his girlfriend was dead, and asked him what was bothering him. And… that was the one time he let me have it. In that moment of grief, he struck out and said he'd lost someone, to let him grieve, and asked if I didn't have a party or some social event to go to."

"That's kinda tame," Sarah said. "I mean… you had him stuffed in a locker in high school."

"I did," Heather said, wincing. "But in that moment, I saw him; hurting, really hurting. And I had never heard him not have a kind word for anyone. I sat down across from him… what?" Chuck's eyes had gone wide as she had described what happened.

"You did the MJ/Pete thing after Gwen died," Chuck muttered. Heather stared at him.

"Sorry, he does that sometimes," Sarah began.

"Mark said the same thing later," Heather said softly. Sarah blinked. "I don't understand what it means though."

"You saw him in the moment he was at his worst, his loneliness," Chuck said. "And in that moment, instead of choosing what was best for you, what was easiest for you, you chose him." Chuck sat there for a moment. "Fuck One More Day," he muttered.

"Mark has said the same thing," Heather said looking at Sarah. "What is One More Day?"

"I don't know," Sarah replied, and she gave Chuck a look before he could begin to explain. "But, can we get back to Mark?"

"Right," Heather said. "So, it started out, me just trying to be a decent human being to him. And… it grew." She shook her head. "I never thought I would be with someone like him… and now he's all I think about…"

Chuck glanced at Sarah, his expression unreadable. He looked back at Heather. "What happened?" he asked gently.

"I fell in love," Heather said. "He took that last semester off his senior year to get his head straight, and then went back to work. He graduated and entered the doctoral program, but he was already working on some plane schematics that were above my comprehension."

She was quiet for a second. "That's when the stomach aches began." She paused. "At first, I thought they were nothing, and then… then I met the waitress at his favorite coffee shop. And she told me that I should be careful, that his last girlfriend had started out the same way."

Chuck and Sarah shared a look. "I thought it was ridiculous," Heather continued. "But, as they got worse, I decided to do something. I told him we needed to take a break." She was silent for a few seconds. "The stomach aches went away."

Sarah glanced over at Chuck, and found herself curious at the look on his face. It was doubt. Not in Heather, but… well, she wasn't sure in what, but doubt was clear on Chuck's face.

"Anyway, I made the break permanent, but… I stalked him on social media, as one does," she said, a hint of color on her cheeks of embarrassment. "I love him."

"How many more did you say?" Chuck asked.

"There were five of us total," Heather said. "He's gotten his doctorate and is working at his dream job."

"Did he marry any of them?" Chuck asked.

"No," Heather said. "We were talking about it, but…"

"This isn't making any sense," Chuck blurted out. Heather started to protest. "No, you don't understand, I believe you. I believe everything you've said. The problem is why try to kill them… and you?"

"Because if they were married, there would be some type of inheritance or financial gain," Sarah said, understanding where Chuck was going. "Okay, I made notes while you told us your story, and I have a few questions." Heather nodded. "Did you have any idea that he was like this in high school?"

"No," Heather said. "In fact… it still baffles me." Sarah saw the face Chuck was making.

"You say he's working his dream job?" Chuck began.

"There was a time he wanted to work at Area 51," Heather began. "But, part of what he does now isn't there anymore, so he works here, in LA."

"I see," Chuck said. He looked at Sarah, who nodded.

"You talked to each of the other three potential victims?" Sarah asked.

"Two of them after they broke up with Mark," Heather said.

"So, they each broke up with Mark?" Chuck clarified.

"They did," Heather said, nodding. "Luckily, they had the same guardian angel I did." Chuck and Sarah shared a look. "Look, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that she has some kind of romantic notion toward him. She doesn't."

"What's her name?" Sarah asked.

"Amy," Heather replied. Sarah was silent for a second, then shook her head. "Something wrong?"

"No, it's just… well… a bunch of coincidences here," Sarah said.

"You mean like how this happened just around the time I got kicked out of Stanford?" Chuck asked. Sarah turned to him. "Or, you and your traveling dance group broke up?"

"You were in a dance group?" Heather asked. Sarah gave Chuck a look.

"Yeah, they traveled all over Europe, but in the end, they had a huge catfight," Chuck said with a shrug.

Sarah smiled at Chuck, but he knew he was definitely paying for that later. "You know, some misunderstandings, and drama for no good reason."

"Sounds like high school," Heather said. Sarah didn't say anything. "I mean for me, for you…" she trailed off.

"Out of curiosity, could you describe Amy?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah, she's five-five, five-six, blond, great personality. Some might say bubbly," Heather said.

"And where do you keep running into her?" Sarah asked.

"She's worked at the coffee shop near where Mark works," Heather told them. "Wait, you're not going to talk to her are you? She asked me to keep her out of it. She's in hiding from an ex-boyfriend. That's why she's watching him; she doesn't want anything to happen to anyone else."

"Heather, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to give me the answer that pops into your mind first. Yes or no questions only, okay?" Heather nodded to Chuck. "You loved how popular you were in high school."

"Yes."

"You think the way that Mark acts about things that he's excited about is cute?"

"Yes," she said with a smile.

Chuck grinned and continued. "You don't understand half the movies you watched with Mark?"

"Yes," she said after a second. "I had to think about how to answer that yes or no," she admitted.

Chuck nodded. "You think Mark tried to poison you and all those other women?"

Chuck felt Sarah staring at him, but he held Heather's eyes. "No," she finally said after a few seconds.

"You don't know how, you don't understand it, but you think Mark is innocent?"

"Yes," Heather said.

"You still love him."

"Yes."

"Okay, take a break," Chuck said. Heather nodded her thanks. Chuck got up and left, came back with a water bottle, and handed it to her. She took it and took a drink. After a second, she burst out into tears.

}o{

"You're in trouble," Anna said in a sing-song voice after Heather left.

"That implies that I sometimes get out of trouble to get back into trouble," Chuck countered.

"Does it?" Anna asked, after thinking about it for a second.

"Leave Big Brain alone," Sarah said, grinning. "He's using all his energy to try and make this case tie into my past even more than it already does."

"I am not," Chuck protested. "I'm just saying… the timing is… intriguing."

"It is," Sarah said. They were quiet for a moment. "So?"

"So what?" Chuck asked, grinning. After Heather had composed herself, she told them what Amy's plan was. Mark was being honored at half time of their old high school's homecoming football game. Amy was going to go to warn the current girlfriend. "I just find it weird, this woman warning people about him, when there seems to be no real proof that he's the cause of these issues other than her word."

"I meant what about Amy following Mark to the football game?" Sarah asked.

"Are you trying to show me off to your former classmates?" Chuck teased.

"I do not give one shit about my former classmates," Sarah said. "But I do like to show you off."

"I knew it, nothing but a prop," Chuck said, shaking his head. They were both silent for a moment. "The chances of it being Amy from the CAT Squad days are very low."

"But not zero," Sarah said. The two stood there, staring at each other.

"Don't mind me, I'm just watching the show," Anna said, making them both laugh. "Sarah, I think you need to talk to Zondra about this."

"I was afraid someone would say that," Sarah groused. The main phone rang.

"Castle Securities, how can we help you?" Anna chirped into the phone. "Oh, hi, Dan. He's right here, hmmm?" She looked at Chuck and gave a minuscule shake of her head. "Okay, I'll tell him. Have a good night." Anna hung up the phone. "Dan said that he must have been wrong. After talking to Yuri, he said there's no case."

"Huh," Chuck replied. "He had been so sure that there was one, as well." He turned to Sarah. "So, we going to a high school football game, or not?" Sarah blew a raspberry out of her lips.

}o{

"I have never seen you this shaken," Zondra said to Dan, as he hung up the phone. Dan grabbed a file from his briefcase, opened it, and turned it to where Zondra could see. Pushing it across the table, he pointed at a name. Zondra stopped eating her pie in mid-bite.

"I swear to God, how do we do this?" Dan asked. "How do we keep getting mixed up in this?"

"You're telling me… she's in charge of LAAD?" Zondra replied, looking up at Dan.

"Apparently," Dan said. "I had some digging done, and guess who has a lot of money tied up in LAAD?"

"Roark," Zondra replied. Dan nodded. "She's running the program? Am I reading this right?" Dan nodded again. "You and I have both heard the rumors."

"We have," Dan agreed.

"This would support those rumors," Zondra continued. "I just want to ask, one more time for clarification: She… that woman," Zondra said, pointing to the name at the top of the org chart, "is in charge of the Los Angeles Aging Center?"

"Yes, Zondra," Dan said. He pointed at the name at the top of the org chart. "Jill Roberts runs the Los Angeles Aging Center. The same center working on a cure for Alzheimer's. And," he stressed, "there are rumors that Volkoff is suffering from that disease, but it has not been verified."

"Son of a bitch," Zondra groaned. "If that's true… then in all actuality…" She trailed off, unable to complete the sentence.

"Theodore Roark is actually the person running all the operations."

"Teddy's the big fish," Zondra said.

"If the rumors are true," Dan stressed. "Now, should you tell Sarah, or I?"

"She's already kicked my ass once," Zondra muttered. "We have no proof."

"We do not," Dan agreed. They both glanced at the org chart. "But what we do have is a great amount of supposition."

"Damn it," Zondra muttered, leaning back against the booth.

"Damn it."

A/N: Damn it. Who let Jill in here? Oh, wait….

Next time:

They were lying in bed, Sarah processing all that had happened today. "But if I start talking about my past, and you don't ask a question or two, I'm afraid you might explode." He grinned at that. "You know what, that's not fair of me. Every time I have told you about my past, you have listened. You have not poked or prodded."

"I will be honest, I think it's because you let me in, in every other aspect of your life," Chuck admitted. "If you didn't….I would probably poke and pry."

"That sounds a little dirty," Sarah said, bouncing her eyebrows. "Great, now you're gonna think I'm using sex as avoidance." She groaned. "Damn it, I did it again. Accused you of doing something and all you're doing is just lying in our bed…looking like that."

"Like what?" Chuck asked.

"Just being all you," she continued not acknowledging what he had just said. "Making me feel like the most important person in the world." She lazily drew random shapes with her finger on his chest.

Well….WELL…come on back next time for…well…THAT.