A/N: I know I said this weekend but we had some tornado threats that kept me watching weather and not Chuck. Everyone is ok. I also said M here, but I cut this on the bridge. That means aside from the convo when she wakes up, part 3 is almost all M. Just so you know. Lots of wtf's again. I have her tell him she was planning on meeting him. It's never shown because we are left with that debate. But if she was leaving with Chuck, she would have told him so. Neither Shaw nor Sarah question why Chuck was ok for Shaw's mission but not for Beckman? Was Chuck the waiter?! I think it's supposed to be—you can see Chuck's watch. Nice but how did Shaw or the director not notice? She says "Why?" Obviously ADR. I ignored that because it's apparent from the scene that she is incapable of speaking because of the toxin. Duh. Shaw says he can't flash—but he did. He is clobbered and fell hard and then stays down because he has a gun on her. Why that dialogue? Anyway—here goes. Goodbye Shaw, at least for a while.

"I will, uh, I will be totally cleaned up by tomorrow," Chuck added with a smile. He was still shaky, and so was I.

"Well, you don't have time because we have a mission. Shaw found the Ring headquarters. It's a three-man op, and you're our third." I stood up as I said that.

On cue, Morgan came sliding into the hallway (hence the eavesdropping.) Morgan made this goofy introduction, saying that he was Chuck's assistant. Chuck looked up at me, smiling sheepishly.

Morgan got Chuck up on his feet, determined to get him ready for our mission. It was adorable, watching Morgan taking charge. Morgan walked Chuck to the end of the hallway away from where I was standing, then looked back over his shoulder at me and winked, with a huge smile. That was his way of letting me know what he heard, that he knew Chuck and I were ok. More than ok.

Morgan got him some coffee and got him dressed. If Chuck had still been sloppy drunk, I wouldn't have left the apartment with him. He was a little green and a little pale, but he was functional, which was all that mattered. I was taking him to Castle to get geared up, so we could meet Shaw at the locale. I planned on briefing Chuck on the way, telling him everything that Shaw had said on the phone to me before.

I had to keep reminding myself about what had just happened between us, the huge hurdle that we had just crossed. The mission was there, like always, but it was different now. I stopped Chuck as he stood at the car door, waiting to climb in.

I stood close to him, touching his arm. "I had every intention of meeting you at the train station. I just never got the chance to tell you. Shaw met me at my hotel, and there was no cell service. I never got an opportunity to tell you. I'm sorry."

"You were coming?" he asked, surprised. Even now, he thought I wasn't sure.

We were in a hurry, but the air needed clearing. "I'm ready to walk away from this life, just like you said to me. I was ready in Prague. I should have told you in Castle back then…how I felt, you know, the reason I wanted to run…I didn't know how to say it…although I don't know if it would have mattered then. I–"

My eyes had been everywhere except on him, my cheeks burning as I spoke the words. Before I knew what was happening, he grabbed me, pinned me against the car, and kissed me. Like it was the last thing he was ever going to do in his life, like the first time. I would soon learn that it was just Chuck, passion unbridled, for he would kiss me like this forever afterwards. There were no walls, no barriers, nothing to keep me from him, nothing to keep us apart.

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him for everything I was worth. His hands were in my hair, holding my face, then around my waist, on my back. He touched the side of my breast gently, sliding his thumb over the fabric that covered me. After all this time, I could have knocked him onto the hood of my car and taken him right there in broad daylight. But I stopped myself. His lips lingered, reluctant to be separated from mine.

"We just have to finish this mission, Chuck. One last thing…and we're done." He made a face, not explaining what he meant. I had jinxed it, I guess, by saying those words. He would tell me that later, once I said it a second time.

We quickly geared up in Castle and then met Shaw at the building where he said the Ring had a base. All lies of course. Somewhere in between that speech he gave Beckman and that conversation, he had spoken to the director to set up the next ruse, his plan to kill me now much more complicated.

We were tasked with grabbing the director himself and bringing him into custody. Shaw had set up in the elevator shaft of the building. Chuck and I were going to repel down the shaft, enter the director's private elevator and take him into custody.

The dynamic between all of us was beyond bizarre. Chuck was worried that Shaw suspected something was going on between us. I hadn't had a chance to tell Shaw the whole truth, but I told myself once we were done I would just tell him that I was quitting, that I was leaving with Chuck. I knew he had said we could still work together, but I wasn't going to DC, I wasn't leaving Chuck. We were tense and Shaw was…stiff I guess is a good word. He had reverted to pristine spy mode, what we had actually seen when we'd all first met him, only it was tainted with something else, his descent into madness that we had no idea about here.

We made it down to the correct elevator shaft and then let Shaw know. Chuck was trying to tell me something was up with Shaw, but I talked him out of it, telling him Shaw's only purpose was in capturing the director. I told him not to worry. I should have trusted Chuck here. He was a novice, but he was smart and he knew what he was doing. I was just overcompensating, dealing with the bizarre situation myself.

We heard shots, then heard them pinging off the metal inside the shaft. We ducked for cover and I called to Shaw to make sure he was ok. Chuck freaked out a little. The fight we were hearing was staged, simply for the fact of making it look believable, so that I would have no issue leaving with Shaw later. He may have crashed emotionally, but his plan was diabolically thought out at this point. It's hard to convince myself that he was insane, when he put so much effort into his revenge.

Shaw opened the hatch and Chuck and I dropped down into the elevator. Chuck pulled out a gun. He saw me react, but reassured me it was a tranq gun. I told him to make sure he sold it like it was real. He muttered something about me taking care of everything. That was how we rolled once we were together, our unique kind of spy couple, and it started here, in the elevator.

Chuck would never have been able to do what he did, accomplish what he did, without Casey and me as back up. We knew this, accepted this. Casey and I were the killers. Chuck would say much later than this time that was why the Intersect worked so seamlessly. That it was all three of us. He was right. A team works together, each member utilizing their strengths and bolstering the weaknesses of the others. It was just ironic that what appeared as a weakness for Chuck was what I most admired about him.

Shaw warned us that he was coming. Chuck and I stood to the side, pressed against the wall as the door opened and the director entered. He turned to see us just as the doors closed.

I think about what the director said and I believe I should have been suspicious. I trusted Shaw at this point, so it never fazed me. He made quite a speech, saying we may have gotten him, but we would never get the cipher. Why would he just blurt out information like that? The last time I had heard that word was when we were dealing with Colt and the piece of equipment that was supposed to work in the new Intersect and killed Graham instead.

Shaw seemed interested, so we listened. The direction again offered too much information, saying that the Ring had been building their own Intersect and Shaw was aware. Shaw had never mentioned a word to anyone about another version of the Intersect, but often, he kept his team in the dark. If this was a new development, this op was more complicated than we had thought.

Chuck told him to call his assistant and have her bring the cipher to him. She did, but then he kept talking, using what must have been code words. His assistant looked both ways, like he had warned her. I grabbed her and pulled her into the elevator. Then another man entered. We were still waiting for Shaw.

Once we were all inside the elevator, the director very calmly revealed that the entire scenario was a trap. Both the woman and the man drew weapons at the same time, one gun on Chuck and the other on me. My gun was still trained on the director, and I continued to threaten him.

He called out Chuck's tranq pistol, in an effort to discredit Chuck, cut his dominance of the situation. He goaded Chuck, telling him he wasn't much of a spy. It upset me a little that Chuck didn't just ignore him, that he needed to defend himself to someone like that.

The elevator door suddenly opened to reveal three more armed men. We had to put down our guns. I apologized to Chuck.

Gunshots rang out in the hallway. All three men dropped. Suddenly Shaw was there, in the open elevator door. He shot the other two and then advanced on the director. He told us to go, that he would meet us back at Castle. I told him we wouldn't leave him, but he ordered us to go anyway. Chuck and I were moving down the hallway when we heard the shot, what we believed was Shaw killing the director in cold blood.

Not our orders, not even professional, much more emotion driven than I would have expected. I thought maybe Chuck was right, at least a little, about Shaw's emotional state.

I had no idea how wrong I really was. All of what we had seen was an elaborate ruse. Chuck found out, with Morgan's help, but by then it was almost too late. Almost.

Back in Castle, Beckman did reprimand Shaw for eliminating the director. He wasn't one hundred percent honest when he said he did what he did to get us out. Even if what we had seen was real, there wasn't a need for him to do what he did. Chuck, being Chuck, still praised Shaw to Beckman for saving our lives.

I brought up the Ring Intersect. Shaw mentioned that the cipher was manufactured in Paris. Beckman ordered Shaw and I to Paris to follow up. She told Chuck to stay, that we wasn't ready. I thought it was strange that Shaw didn't disagree with Beckman about Chuck. I mean, he had just taken Chuck on our mission.

Beckman had no idea that I wasn't going to DC. It was frustrating, that this mission just seemed to keep going, that there was no end in sight. But I told myself, just one more mission, and it would be over.

Once she signed off, Chuck moved to stand in front of me. "We are never gonna get our chance, are we?" he fretted.

I grabbed both of his hands and moved closer to him. "Once I get back, it's all gonna happen…you and me." I kissed him. "Don't worry," I said, and then kissed him again. "One more mission."

I had unwittingly jinxed us again.

The flight to Paris was remarkably uneventful. I dozed most of the time. He was quiet, withdrawn, seeming to work on the computer. What he was really doing, I have no idea. More plotting of his plan I'm sure.

It was nighttime once we got to Paris, but he told me he was meeting his contact. He had a location and a time. He asked me to dress like we were going out, so we wouldn't attract attention.

The street was deserted as we strolled along the street. We were within walking distance of Notre Dame. The location was familiar. I realized with a start that the last time I had been in Paris had been when I had my Red Test, when I knew now that I had been ordered to kill Shaw's wife. The more we walked, the stranger I felt. It was like deja vu. Like I was walking the same path, the one I had walked the last time I was there. It was the same spot. The exact spot.

I gasped and turned to him. "Why did you bring me here?"

"What do you mean?"

I drew my gun on him, frightened as I realized my mistakes, my series of mistakes that had trapped me here with him. "You led me here. Come on, this is where I shot her. Is this some kind of a trap?"

He just stared, his eyes seeming to glow red like a demon's in the lights from the street lamps.

"Sarah…you killed my wife. Did you really think I'd be ok with that?"

"But you said that…" I heard how desperate I sounded, how pleading. There was nothing left in him to appeal to.

"I told you a lot of things to get you here."

I didn't feel the tranq dart when it hit me, not through my wool coat. But as he was talking, I started to notice his voice became distorted, like it was echoing. My gun got heavier and heavier, and I couldn't hold it up any longer. Then I couldn't hold my own weight on my legs. I was terrified, but the drug now running through my veins was sedating me, distancing me from my feelings and my own will. I dropped my gun.

Suddenly the director was there, the man I thought Shaw had killed. Shaw grabbed me and they together dragged me to the café around the corner. Shaw pushed me into a chair where I could lean back against the wall for support.

Shaw told me the poison he had given me wasn't lethal, it only paralyzed my nervous system. He said he wanted me to be aware of what was happening. The director said Shaw was working for the Ring, as if I didn't already know. Shaw and the director were talking, back and forth about the CIA and the cipher. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move.

I heard the tinkling of china as a waiter set coffee cups down on the table in front of us. The man approached from the side, where only I could see anything but his back. His scent was unmistakable. I looked up…and there was Chuck. Neither Shaw nor the director recognized him. My eyes filled with tears.

I was both relieved and horrified at the same time. I had been completely snowed until the very last second. But somehow Chuck knew. He had been suspicious all along and I'd dismissed it. I left my faith in him waver, but he was, and always had been, my hero.

I lifted, but then I crashed. Chuck was here…but…he was alone. How could he take down Shaw and the director alone…with no gun?

Chuck moved away, into the shadows. The tears flowed from my eyes and I couldn't even raise my hands to wipe them away.

Chuck waited until the director and his muscle departed before he showed himself. He came up behind Shaw and pulled a gun. Shaw never turned around, but I knew he could tell by my face that Chuck was behind him.

Shaw asked him how Chuck found him. Chuck told him he had read his entire file, turning what Shaw had done in the beginning back at him. Chuck had figured out, by just using his intelligence, that Shaw would bring me to the place where his wife was killed.

Chuck tried to arrest Shaw. Shaw told Chuck to kill him. Chuck looked at me, his eyes piercing me. I knew what he was thinking, about his Red Test and my reaction and what I would think. I couldn't tell him anything–I couldn't speak. I was terrified that Chuck wouldn't be able to shoot him, wouldn't be able to defend himself.

Shaw was counting on that too. I wondered in a fleeting thought if somehow Shaw knew that Chuck hadn't killed Perry. Had he seen the forensics or some other document that put it in question?

I heard gunfire in the distance, and Shaw guessed, rightly, that Chuck had brought Casey with him.

Shaw stood, then reeled back and tackled Chuck, catching him off guard. They crashed past me. Shaw grabbed silverware from the table top. Chuck followed, and they continued to fight against the wall right beside me. They struggled, Chuck using his strength to keep Shaw from stabbing me with the knife. I couldn't even move out of the way.

Shaw clubbed Chuck across the face and he went down hard. While Chuck was on the ground, Shaw grabbed me and pulled me to my feet. He held me at gun point, telling Chuck he couldn't flash because of his emotions. That was a lie, foolish assumptions that no longer applied to Chuck.

Chuck was in control. It was now Shaw who couldn't control himself.

As he started to pull me away, he told Chuck to stay away, that it wasn't his fault. That he hadn't told anyone in the Ring that Chuck was the Intersect. He used all of that as a threat for Chuck to stay away.

Did Shaw honestly believe Chuck would have listened? That he would have just stayed still and let Shaw kill me? I don't know. All I know is that he underestimated Chuck. Multiple times.

Shaw dragged me all the way to the bridge. He told me the drug would dull the pain. I was terrified that Chuck would follow…and that he would end up being killed as well.

I was leaning over the rail, watching the moonlight flutter on the surface of the Seine. I heard Chuck scream.

And then Chuck was there, holding a gun on Shaw. A real gun. Shaw moved away from me.

Chuck tried to rationalize with him, to appeal to the better part of him, to talk him out of the awful thing he was about to do. That was Chuck, always able to look for the good, even in the face of terrible evil.

Shaw told Chuck he couldn't shoot. I closed my eyes.

I opened them again when I heard the shots, three in rapid succession, fired by Chuck into Shaw's chest. I remember Chuck's face and how he looked as he fired—calm, collected, in control. He was at peace with what he had to do.

Shaw fell, stumbled backwards, but grabbed my hand as he started to fall over the rail on the bridge. Chuck rushed to me, held me. I could feel the pull on the skin on my wrist, the ache in my shoulder socket as all of Shaw's dead weight pulled on me.

Chuck pried his hand away and Shaw fell into the river.

Chuck pulled me into his arms, cradling me against his chest. I stopped fighting the drug, stopped struggling. I was safe. I surrendered to the dark, knowing I was no longer alone in it. There was a hand holding me, guiding me, pulling me back into the light.

My Chuck.