A/N: Some readers really laughed at the last chapter, loving Sarah's thoughts and comments. It wasn't meant to be comedic, just worked out that way.

Beta thanks to my friend Capt Lil, turning it around really quickly.

It turned out to be easier to write this chapter than I expected, so only a day later that my usual weekly update. That was mainly because I wanted to publish "Sarah vs Beaches" on July 30. Have you read that yet?

So, this chapter loosely covers the events of "Chuck Versus the Tooth."


Don't Walk Away

Chapter 18: Dental Problems


It had been a week since the Turners had visited them. Sarah was still thinking about marriage. That couple was enough to put people off from taking the step, but she knew she and Chuck wouldn't fail like they had.

She was just pondering that again in a quiet time in the Orange Orange when Chuck's sister walked in.

"Hi, Ellie. Don't normally see you here. What would you like?"

Ellie looked puzzled for a second and then realized what Sarah was asking. "Oh, sorry. I don't want any frozen yogurt. I wanted to talk to you."

Sarah came around the counter and walked outside with her to sit at one of the tables.

Ellie leaned across the table and spoke quietly, "Over the last two weeks, I've been pouring over the information on the laptop from dad." She emphasized the word information, so Sarah knew what she meant. Intersect details.

"With my medical knowledge of the brain and how it functions, I could only admire the engineering marvel he created. However, I can also see flaws in his design because he hadn't considered the biological aspects of the 'computer' he was interfacing with.

"Sure, the brain responds to electrical inputs, much as a computer does, but it is also affected by chemical stimuli. Less tangible impacts come from the mood of the human. Chemical stimuli are part of that, but not all.

"The scans and tests I did add to that information, providing input on how using… it… affects the brain." She sat back. "It's quite shocking."

A lot of that had gone over Sarah's head, but the final words clutched at her heart.

"What dad supplied helps enormously, but…." She paused. Sarah knew that she had just referred to the governor watch.

"But I realized how stupid it was trying to do everything on my own. It's a Bartowski trait. Head down and don't talk to others while concentrating." She sighed. "I talked to Devon about it last night. He suggested that I was still holding onto issues of abandonment as well as that trait."

She looked at Sarah. "You know that Dad abandoned us when I was too young to take over the role of Chuck's parent, but I had to. . We know now why he did that, but it still caused us a lot of problems. And… I lost my teenage years." She shook her head. "Anyway, Devon said that holding onto the pain and anger didn't achieve anything, and that it was adding to my issues. I don't know if he's right at some subliminal level, but even if he's wrong, I needed to shake myself hard and just call dad.

"Chuck had told me that he was moving out of that trailer shortly after you saw him there. I- we need to get our heads together, so I sent him an encrypted message from the laptop, saying we needed to talk about Chuck."

She smiled. "It was almost the next second that a video call started up and dad appeared in front of me. He smiled at me and said, 'Hello, Eleanor, I've missed you.'"

"It was like sixteen years had slipped off my shoulders and I was in my early teens and dad was buying ice creams for Chuck and I." She refocused. "Sorry about that. Dad said, 'You wanted to talk about Chuck.' I foolishly asked if the line was secure. Of course it was!"

"Is this line secure?" she asked.

He just said, "Of course."

"Ok, I've been checking out your Intersect design and seen a number of flaws because it's a purely engineering solution."

He winced, but replied, "And your training is medical."

She nodded. "And I know the biology and biochemistry of the brain. I want to help Chuck, but I think you need to help me."

"Actually, it's the other way around. I'm working on a way to remove the new Intersect from his head. It's not the same as my original, more complex. I could do with help from you to make sure what I'm creating doesn't harm him and achieves what we want."

That was better than Ellie just trying to ease the problems it was causing. "Give me your address and I'll come there."

He supplied the address and Sarah took over the conversation while Ellie started pulling together what she wanted to take. "I take it that you're not making the progress you hoped for."

Stephen looked at her. She could see the disappointment in his expression. "Unfortunately not, but with Eleanor's help that should change."

Ellie was standing over her. "She's waiting for the laptop. See you, Stephen, and good luck."

Ellie took the laptop, but said she should call her husband. When Devon answered the call, she said she would be out, maybe for a few days. "Gonna see Stevie." She thought all this secrecy was a bit over the top, but she went along with it.

"Great. Have fun."

She looked at Sarah. "Can you tell Chuck where I'm going?"

"Will do. Good luck," Sarah replied.


Sarah told Chuck about his sister and dad.

He gave her a crooked smile. "So, the Intersect is bringing them together."

She laughed but slapped his arm anyway.

"They could be together for some time. I hope they don't drive each other mad," he said.

"I think they're focused," she replied.

"Well, I guess they'll update us when they have something."

They worked together in the kitchen making dinner. After they'd eaten it, they decided to just settle down in front of the television with Sarah channel surfing trying to find something relaxing to watch. Chuck was lying across the couch with his head resting on her lap. Both liked this.

She finally gave up. "It's official. There is absolutely nothing on TV."

He replied, "Yeah. Monday nights can be a bit of a wasteland."

She had ended up on a movie channel showing "Spies Like Us." Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd were on the screen.

Chuck said, "Hey. Jackpot!"

Sarah groaned and said, ""Oh, no! You've made me watch this before. It's ridiculous."

He looked up at her, grinning. "Sarah, you could learn a lot from spies like these."

She could see he was teasing her, but played along. "Are you kidding me? Look at these people. They're breaking about seventeen different rules of protocol!"

He laughed. "Just a joke."

She smiled down at him and stroked his cheek, thinking how much she loved this man.

He was no longer looking at the screen either. "I love you," he said.

She knew he would enjoy it, so she kept her face straight and replied, "I know."

"Oh ho!" he said and sat up. "A Star Wars quote!" She grinned. He narrowed his eyes. "Which movie?"

She calmly replied, "Empire Strikes Back" of course.

He pulled her into a kiss for that.

She pressed a random sequence of numbers, hoping to randomly find something to watch and ended up on the local news channel, where the female presenter said, "President Jakaya Kuti of Zamibia arrived in Los Angeles today. On his agenda are diplomatic meetings and a performance of Beethoven tomorrow night by The LA City Symphony."

"She sounds like Beckman," Chuck commented.

Sarah thought the same, but didn't say anything.

An image of the president mentioned appeared on the screen and Chuck gripped her wrist. She looked at him and saw he was flashing.

Chuck stopped and stared at her. "The Ring is going to try and kill him at the Beethoven concert tomorrow night!"

"We should tell the general and Casey," she replied.

They rushed out of the door, heading to Casey's apartment.


"General, the Ring is after the president of Zamibia and it seems he will either be taken or killed at the Beethoven concert tomorrow night," Chuck explained to the general why they'd called so late. Going by what she was wearing, the general had obviously been in bed before the call.

The disheveled general asked, "Did you flash on something, Chuck?"

He nodded.

"We have to treat this cautiously," Beckman said. "We can't cause a political incident."

Sarah could see Chuck grinding his teeth. He wanted teams mobilized.

"I suggest our resident couple attend. We'll seat you near him."

That was probably the best they could hope for. Sarah grabbed Chuck's hand and squeezed it. Casey noticed, but the general wouldn't be able to see. "Thank you, General," she said.

As the call ended, Chuck let out a frustrated sigh. "What if they appear, all guns' blazing?"

"Not likely, Bartowski," Casey said. "Besides, I'll provide back up." He looked pleased with himself for saying that.


As they walked to their seats, Sarah had her arm through Chuck's.

Even though it was a mission, she was glad that they had come here. They didn't get out very often, and certainly not to events like this.

She was wearing a long red dress with a slit up her left leg. Not all the way up, but far enough that she'd be able to get to the small gun in the holster on her upper thigh if she needed it.

Chuck was in a black dress suit. He looked fantastic.

They were guided to their seats. They were in the last two seats before the box the Zamibian party was using.

"The tickets must've cost a fortune," Chuck whispered to her.

He was right, but that wasn't their problem.

Having spotted the two security guards standing at the back of the president's box, Sarah said, "Chuck, you have to let me lead on this."

He nodded.

She glanced over at the president and his entourage again. He was sitting with his wife on his left and a man sitting on his right, talking animatedly to him. He was obviously saying something amusing as both men laughed. The man sat back, grinning and looked around the theater.

Chuck gasped beside her. She turned to him. "I don't think the threat is here," he said. "That man, Dr. Kowambe, he's a scientist. He has a miniature flash drive in one of his teeth. The Ring is involved. I think he's selling some weapon or something to them."

"We have to secure him," Casey said.

"Without causing an international incident," Sarah reminded them.

"If we can find out where they're staying, I can find his room," Chuck offered.

"On it," Casey replied. "Then I'll come in, in case we get a chance in there."

Sarah didn't like the sound of that, but kept quiet.


During the Interval, Kowambe rose from his seat and started to walk toward them.

"He's probably going to the restroom," Chuck muttered.

"Meet me there," Casey said.

"There will be others there," Sarah warned them

"We'll handle it, " Casey replied.

Chuck followed the man.


It was a mixture of luck, bravado and plain old spy work.

Sarah heard a lot of it, and Casey gave her the explanation to go with that. Chuck couldn't because he was unconscious.

"When I got there, Bartowski had tranq'd him and sat him in one of the stalls, closing the door before anyone else arrived. Thankfully none had or they would've questioned why he was still in there and probably pushed past him and opened the door." Casey looked suitably irritated at Chuck's inabilities.

"But he'd caught Kowambe," she reminded him. "He had to do something when you took a long time to get there."

He looked embarrassed, but didn't explain what had delayed him. "At least he waited until Kowambe had finished at the urinal and zipped up." He visibly shuddered at what it would've been like otherwise.

"I had to think quickly. I put the closed sign up that directed people to another men's restroom, then I called for the NSA medical team.

"We waited until the final call for the second half before moving." He shook his head. "Your boy decided it'd look better if he was unconscious too and tranq'd himself."

"Why the hell did he do that?" she asked at the time, but then guessed why. "He was trying to make it seem the restroom had some sort of gas leak, didn't he?"

Casey nodded. "He'll have to confirm it, though. Anyway, I put on a mask and stepped out as the team arrived. They put theirs on and went in and collected the two men. You'd arrived by then and we left, leaving the sign up."

Sarah remembered Casey telling her to come and leaving as the second half started. She looked suitably concerned. The president glanced at her but didn't seem worried about the doctor, so maybe he'd not planned to return. She kept vigilant, looking out for any Ring agents, but none turned up, so maybe the theater wasn't the meeting place after all.

They were now sitting in Castle waiting for the connection to the general. When her face appeared, she asked for a status update. After they explained what had happened, she almost smiled. "So, he improvised again?"

"Yes, General," Casey replied.

"He wields that tranquilizer pistol more often than either of you use your guns," she observed. "I presume the medical team will check Kowambe's teeth."

"They've confirmed what Bartowski said," Casey replied. "Kowambe was illegally harvesting human organs, experimenting with genetic manipulation and reengineering. The research was in his tooth."

"We think he was going to meet a Ring operative to sell this research," Sarah said.

"But you prevented that. Pity we didn't capture the Ring operative too."

'Just be grateful,' Sarah thought. "Has President Kutu complained about Kowambe's disappearance?" she asked.

"Not that I've heard," Beckman responded. "I doubt he was involved, though." She sighed. "Congratulate our analyst when he recovers, but suggest he abstains from shooting himself."

Sarah thought the same and would tell him that later. She was pretty sure his sister would have something to say, too.


Chuck came to with a start. "Oh my god!" he cried out.

He was in one of the cells, lying on the bed in there. Sarah rushed through. He was feeling his forehead as she arrived. "Chuck, have you hit your head? Are you alright?"

His eyes focused and he looked at her. "I am now. Your beautiful face is so healing."

She frowned. "What d'you need healing from? Did you hit your head?" she repeated.

"No, no. I think it was a dream. A nightmare really. Kowambe was altering my DNA and I was growing a third eye."

Sarah shook her head. "Quite the nightmare."

"What happened after I tranq'd myself?" he asked.

"I'm not happy you did that, but thanks to Casey's quick thinking, he got you out of there. Kowambe too."

"And his tooth?"

She told him what they'd found out.

"Harvesting human organs, experimenting with genetic manipulation and reengineering? Sounds like my dream, but I knew nothing about any of that before."

Sarah had made the connection too. "We'll see what Ellie has to say about it."

He groaned. "She'll shout at me for shooting myself."

She grabbed his collar and pulled him close. "She won't be happy, any more than I am. Did I not make my feelings clear enough? Should I have shouted?"

He gulped. "No. You're very clear on that."

"So, never again, right?" she growled.

"Right."


Ellie and Stephen set up a video call, so Sarah didn't have to.

"We've made some discoveries that can't wait for us to complete the work on removal," Ellie said.

That got both Sarah and Chuck instantly tense.

"We're producing a modified governor," Stephen told them.

Sarah almost rolled her eyes. Rather than explain the problem, the crazy scientist leaped straight to the solution. "What for?" she prompted.

"In rare circumstances, the Intersect can induce different images. These aren't real, more like-"

"Dreams?" both Chuck and Sarah said, cutting her off.

Ellie looked taken aback. "Yes. How did you guess."

Sarah proceeded to tell them about what had happened that evening and the resulting nightmare.

Ellie glared at her brother. "You shot yourself?" she angrily said, her voice rising.

At least it wasn't a full-on shout. Sarah stopped it heading that way. "Is that what you thought might happen?"

Ellie glared at Chuck again before replying. "We didn't know the exact results, but that sounds about right."

"Does that mean the governor is starting to fail?" Sarah asked.

"No. This is a different cause and effect that the one you've got doesn't cater for."

"The causes being the overheating that your governor already prevents, and sudden lack of consciousness, as you've experienced," Ellie elaborated.

"And the new governor you're creating will help with that as well as everything else?" Chuck asked.

"It will," they both responded.

"We'll have it ready in a few days," Stephen added.

"Thank you," Chuck said.

After the call ended, Sarah found herself thinking about what dreams Chuck would've had without the governor.

She shook her head to dispel such thoughts.

"Fancy a movie and some wine?" Chuck asked.

"As long as I choose the movie and you don't get drunk and pass out."


A/N: So, no day-dreaming of Kowambe with a knife at President Kutu's throat, or the crazy punch-throwing in the theater that got Chuck into the mental institution. Nor did either of them encounter Dr. Dreyfus. The best part of that episode for me was Sarah confessing her love for Chuck to the doctor.

I hope you still enjoyed this chapter. Please share your thoughts in a review.

The next chapter is definitely a challenge and won't be out quickly. Sorry.