A/N: I'm dealing with long Covid, I've just buried a friend, and my mental health is shot, so, spoiler, Chuck makes it. I mean, I don't think that's a spoiler, but…I just don't have the headspace. I'm not gonna lie, I'm struggling hard, fam. Anywhoosel, enough about me, the reason you're here. Part one of Non Bis In Idem….man that sounds familiar….

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

"Chuck!" she yelled out, having heard the car pull away. "CHUCK!"

"I'm here," he said. "I'd come to you, but I kinda can't."

Fear gripped Sarah as she headed toward his voice. "Chuck, what's wrong?"

"Don't get mad," he began.

"Are you shot?" There was silence. "I'm not gonna yell at you."

"You promise?" He had to be around the big tree. She rounded it to find him lying with his hand covering the right side of abdomen. "Please don't yell."

"I'm not gonna yell," she told him. "Come on."

"No, leave me, you need to catch them," Chuck told her.

"Chuck, you're bleeding," Sarah began.

"Sarah, I know I'm not gonna die," Chuck told her. "You'd beat me up if I did." She couldn't stop the laugh. "Also, you'd fight death if he… she… what is death's pronoun?"

"Don't know, but we're getting you in the car and to the hospital," Sarah told him.

"I may need some help," he admitted. "This really hurts."

"You're not yelling as loud as I thought you'd be." He gave her a flat look. "I'm trying to lighten the situation!"

}o{

You know the drill. That was later, this is now

"Everything okay, Chuck?" Anna asked as he walked into the office that morning, alone.

"You know, I'm not sure," Chuck admitted. "Sarah seemed… frazzled, this morning."

"Chuck," Anna said, with a wicked smile on her face. "You shouldn't brag like that." Chuck groaned. "Okay, sorry, you're being serious. Did something happen?"

"You mean other than her learning about her past… Oh shit!" Chuck said. "We didn't have you over, and-"

"It's fine," Anna told him. "Casey told me everything… well, Carina ended up doing it, but the two of them came over and…" She trailed off, turning back toward her computer.

"Morgan was there?" Chuck asked. Anna nodded. "Am I going to regret asking what happened?"

Anna cleared her throat and drew up. "Morgs and I sometimes… role play."

"Jesus," Chuck groaned, hating himself for having asked.

"I was a terrorist that was trying to get into the Buy More, and was torturing him trying to get the info," Anna continued. Chuck stood there silent. "Go ahead, ask whatever you want to."

"I mean, I'm gonna hate myself if I do," Chuck told her. She shrugged. "I know as soon as you said something about giving him the info, he blurted it out." Anna closed her eyes, took a deep breath, opened them and nodded.

"I had to improvise and tell him I didn't believe him," Anna admitted.

"How did that work?"

"He got so scared he passed out," Anna told Chuck.

"I'll be in my office," Chuck told Anna. Anna nodded, and he went and made coffee, then went to his office. He sat there, thinking about this morning, and how distracted Sarah had seemed.

"Hey," Sarah said, standing in his doorway, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry," Chuck blurted out. Sarah looked confused. "I feel like I did something to-"

"Right, this morning," Sarah said. "Listen, what happened this morning was all on me. I got to thinking about what went wrong, and I decided that maybe us trying to repossess a plane might not be the best idea."

"Sarah, I know you can fly," Chuck told her. "If you say you can fly a plane, then you can fly a plane."

"Chuck, listen… right now, all of this that we've learned… let's keep our feet on the ground, huh?"

"Okay," Chuck told her.

"However, I do have clients for us," she told him.

"May I ask where you were this morning?" Chuck asked her.

"I talked to Zondra about my worries," she admitted. "Zondra understood."

"Okay," Chuck said, rising. "Are these clients in your office?" Sarah nodded, and Chuck followed her. They entered, shook hands with the man and woman who were waiting on them, and took their seats.

"Helen, Bruce," Sarah said to the couple, "how can we help you?"

The woman handed them a picture, and Chuck and Sarah both looked at it.

"This is my brother, Max," Helen began. "We haven't seen or heard from him since he left Chicago almost 18 years ago."

"And you think he's here in LA?" Chuck asked.

"Oh, her cousins, Brad and Sabrina, were here on vacation recently. They swear they saw Max," Bruce interjected.

"Where'd they see him?" Chuck asked.

"He was just sitting in his car at a light," Helen told them. "They were walking down Melrose Avenue, and Brad looks up and sees this guy in a convertible who looks like Max. They went over, but the car took off."

Chuck looked at Sarah, a frown on his face. He turned back to the couple. "Forgive me, but it has been some time, and it was from a distance and just for a few seconds. Yeah, I-I know, I know, but... they swore it was him?"

"Did they happen to get a plate?" Sarah asked. Helen shook her head no.

"If I may," Chuck began. "Why did your brother, uh, leave Chicago?"

Helen and Bruce both squirmed a bit in their seats. "Yeah, uh, well, he got into some trouble with some... business partners, and they made threats." Helen rubbed the back of her neck with her hand, clearly embarrassed. "Max got scared, and he left town."

"Were these partners criminals?" Chuck asked gently.

"Yes, but Max did not know that at the time," Helen rushed out. "We think that's when he went into hiding. Every few years we hear something, follow a trail… it's always a dead end. This might very well be another, but, I have to believe he's still out there. We just want to find him, let him know that we love him and that we will help in any way we can. We had our ups and downs, but Max is still family. I should have been there for him 18 years ago, when he needed me. But I wasn't. And I just... I just want to make it right, you know?"

Chuck looked over at Sarah, who gave him the slightest nod. She already knew, halfway into their story, Chuck would want to help.

Chuck stood. "Well, we'll see if we can find him." He took Helen's hand. "We can't promise you anything, because if he has been running from… let's say, the special Chicago criminals?" Helen winced but nodded. "He's probably pretty good at staying hidden. However, you're in LA. Try to enjoy it, and we'll get to work and try and find your brother as quick as we can."

"Thank you," Helen told them. The four all shook hands again, and they left.

Chuck stood there for a moment. "Hiding in LA seems strange."

"Not so strange," Sarah disagreed. "You can get lost here pretty easily."

"Yeah, but you don't tend to own a convertible," Chuck reminded her.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm not sure," Chuck said. "Something just…" He trailed off and shook his head. "Listen, I've probably just gotten in my head with our little talk earlier."

"Okay," Sarah told him. "But if you think something is hinky, let me know, okay?"

"Absolutely," Chuck told her. "You know it's kinda hinky that you haven't kissed me in," he looked down at his wrist, with no watch on it, "over an hour."

"Well, I'll just have to fix that, won't I?" Sarah told him, coming over and kissing him.

}o{

Sometime later found the two in Sarah's car. "Casey," Chuck said into the phone, "I just wanted to give you a heads up that I'm about to run a name using your credentials."

"Fine," Casey groused. "But why don't you just hack in and do it? Did our firewalls stop you?"

"No," Chuck told him. "I can show you four spots where you need to fix your security by the way."

"Christ," Casey muttered.

"To be honest, I usually just use your credentials, but since we're all doing stuff together now, I thought I'd show some transparency and teamwork," Chuck continued.

"You know, I am right here and can run the name," Casey told them.

"Max Martinez," Chuck told him.

"Hang on," Casey said.

"You're using your two pointer fingers to type it in, aren't you?" Chuck asked.

"I hate you," Casey muttered. "No Max Martinez."

"Figured that would be too easy," Chuck replied. "Can I send you a picture of him and have your people run facial recognition on him?"

"Send it over," Casey groused.

"You'll have to age it up," Chuck continued.

"Am I going to do all the work on this?" Casey asked.

"Again, I could have just done all of this myself," Chuck reminded him. He looked at his phone.

"He hung up on you, didn't he?" Sarah asked.

"Yep," Chuck told her.

"Good, now we can go have lunch."

}o{

"Still having those hinky feelings?" Sarah asked a little later, as they were enjoying their lunch.

"I don't know," Chuck admitted. "I mean, how much of it is that I learned my mom is dead and my father… he's messed up, and I can't visit either of them?"

"Puts a whole new perspective on my family dynamic," Sarah admitted.

"I will say, I think if I were to marry, I'd know a lot of stuff of what not to do," Chuck told her.

"Oh, if you… were?" Sarah asked, grinning at him. "Got some prospects there, Buster?"

"Maybe," Chuck admitted. He started to speak when his phone rang. He looked down and saw it was Casey. "To be continued?"

"Any time you dare," Sarah told him. He grinned at her as he picked up his phone.

"That was quick," Chuck said as a way of greeting.

"The lab is fast, and good at what they do," Casey replied. They age-progressed the photo, and we have a hit. Mr. Martinez has an alias, Max Rogers. I'll send you the address on file."

"Thank you, Casey," Chuck told him. "Hey, out of curiosity, is Morgan okay?"

"He's in over his head, but physically, yes, I think he's okay." Casey laughed as he hung up the phone.

"Ready to find our missing person?" Chuck asked. Sarah nodded.

}o{

Chuck knocked on the door, then waited. He turned to Sarah. "Well, do we wait? Or save time, look around, tell our clients that Max is Max Rogers, get paid, and call it a day?"

Sarah stood there a moment. "I'm going to vote for whatever solves this the quickest," she told him. "Ever since you started feeling hinky, I just…" She trailed off. Chuck stepped back and let her pick the lock. It took her seconds.

They went inside and began to look around. Chuck walked toward the kitchen. He saw a meal on the bar that looked like it had been abandoned halfway through. He noticed a monitor in front of the plate. He looked around and saw a camera above him.

He waved his arms at Sarah, and when she gave him a look, he made a "shh," motion. He pointed at his eyes and then the monitor. She came into the room and looked at the monitor. Chuck stepped out of the kitchen and headed down the hallway, wondering if Max was still here.

He heard a comomotion, turned, and was bowled over. "CHUCK!" he heard. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, get him," Chuck said, picking himself up and running after Sarah who was chasing the man in front of her. They ran through a wooded area, Sarah gaining on him, when they came to a road. A farm truck drove by, and the man grabbed a hold of one of the top slats, put his feet on the bumper, and crouched down so the driver couldn't see him.

"That's Max," Chuck said, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"How can you know that?" Sarah asked.

"He moves like someone who's been running his whole life," Chuck told her.

Sarah had to admit Chuck was probably right.

}o{

The two got back to the house, and Sarah started to go inside when she noticed Chuck wasn't with her. Going back outside, she looked for him, finding him in the backyard.

"We need to check the garage," Chuck told her.

"Why?" Sarah asked.

"Because I have yet to see a convertible that this man owns," Chuck told her.

"You know, it's possible he did recognize his family the other day, and sold it," Sarah told him.

"It is," Chuck conceded. "Why do you think he ran?"

"He probably assumes that we're connected to whatever trouble he left behind in Chicago," Sarah said. Chuck nodded. "Come on, let's go search the place. There's got to be something in here that'll help us find him."

Chuck nodded, heading inside. He looked toward the door that Max had burst from. He headed that direction, Sarah following behind him. Walking in, he looked around as Sarah went to the shelves, looking for any clue. The bedroom was done with hard wood floors.

"These floors are hard to keep clean," Chuck muttered, looking at the dust that was under one of the dressers.

Sarah looked up from where she was searching. "I know you emphasize cleanliness, Chuck," she began, grinning.

"Take a look," he said, pointing at the legs of the dresser. There was a break in the dust, like the dresser had been moved.

"Well, I guess I now know why you clean all the time," she told him. He looked at her. "It's to cover the evidence," she said in a low voice.

"Listen, you are allowed to tease me all you want," Chuck told her. "But I need you to quit talking to me in that voice, because me brain no member what we doing in here."

She turned him toward the dresser. "We have to move that dresser." Chuck nodded, walked over, and moved the dresser. Behind it was a vent. Before he could turn to her, he heard the snap of a knife opening behind him.

"I got it," she said. Grinning, she got down on the floor to get the screws out of the vent. "I can see something in there."

"Think we interrupted him?" Chuck asked.

"Don't know," Sarah admitted. "Probably." She pulled off the vent cover, reaching in. She pulled out a full backpack. The two stood, went over to the bed and sat down, the backpack between them.

Sarah opened the bag. "I would say we definitely interrupted him." She pulled out several IDs, a gun, money, and clothes. "It's a go bag."

"Isn't that something you use when someone is in labor?" Chuck asked.

"Same idea," Sarah said. "It's a bag packed for emergencies. In this case, it's not the birth of a child, or a disaster, or having to travel for work. This is when someone has to run."

"Hopefully he won't get too far without this," Chuck said. Sarah was staring at the IDs. "I can hear the wheels turning."

"Well, these are obviously fakes," Sarah began.

"Okay," Chuck replied.

"That means someone made them," Sarah continued.

"And you know who that someone might be?" Chuck asked.

"No, but I do know someone who might know," Sarah admitted. "Come on, we'll take this with us." Sarah paused. "However, if we do this, you'll probably have to pay a tax."

"What kind of tax?" Chuck asked.

Sarah just grinned.

}o{

Chuck found himself sitting on a couch, with a blonde in his lap. He looked over at Sarah, who watched them, amused. "Did you miss Chuck?" Sarah asked Molly.

"Yep!" Molly replied, concentrating on the Rubix cube in front of her.

"She's never gonna figure that thing out, Charlie," Jack said, watching the two and grinning.

"Not with that attitude she's not," Sarah said to her dad. Her dad held his hands up. "Hey, I'm not trying to fight, but if you tell someone they can't, eventually they'll start to believe you."

"Didn't work when I told you that you couldn't," Jack countered.

"What can I say, I was determined," Sarah replied.

"Is that what you call stubborn?" Emma asked, coming in to sit on the couch beside Chuck.

"Mom," Sarah said.

"Sarah," Emma replied, and laughed. "So, this guy, you think he used a local?"

"Looks it," Jack said, handing the IDs over to Emma. Sarah sat there, stunned. "What? You didn't know your mother had a thing for bad boys?"

"Oh, God," Sarah said, putting her head between her hands.

"Who do you think did these?" Emma asked, peering closely at one.

"I'm thinking Bonefish," Jack replied. Emma got up, walked over to Jack, and pointed to a small detail on one of the IDs. "Well, damn. That's not Bonefish, that's Tony."

"Is it me, or is that a bit of a swing, name wise?" Chuck asked. Sarah looked up at him. "I mean, you have Bonefish, which sounds… I don't know, now that I say it out loud."

"He likes to fish," Jack said, giving Chuck a look. "He's a guy you want to know. Bonefish does it all." Jack began to count things off on his hand. "He'll go to traffic school for you, stand in DMV lines. Hell, he'll even commute with you to work just so you can use the carpool lane." Jack paused. "What exactly were you thinking?"

"No idea, if I'm honest," Chuck admitted. "I guess in that line of work, anyone with the word bone in their name… you just start thinking things, you know?"

"Tony is the one that's misnamed," Emma said. Jack gave her a look. "Well, they all call him Tiny."

"He's a very big man," Jack told Sarah.

"While this is all fascinating, is there any way you could get an address or a phone number on Max?" Sarah asked.

"Tell Tony I'll make him some lasagna," Emma said. "And, that he only gets it if he keeps his mouth shut."

"How much of Dad's world did you know?" Sarah asked.

"A lot," Emma admitted. "Some of them are good people-"

"No, they're not," Jack said quickly and quietly.

"No, they're not," Emma agreed. "But they were good to us early on."

There was a thick silence that settled over the room.

"I probably shouldn't have asked you to help with this," Sarah said. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't be, Darlin'," Jack said. "I'm just glad to be helping. If I can help, I'm glad to. Make up for some of what I did, you know? Let me go see Tony, and I'll try and have something for you by morning."

"You'll have to pick up some ingredients for lasagna," Emma told him.

"Can I get enough for us to have one?" Jack asked. Sarah raised an eyebrow. "You know… to eat at my place," he added weakly. Emma gave him a look. "For us to eat here."

"You're living here?" Sarah asked.

"Dada, live here," Molly told Sarah. "Sis live here too."

"I can't, Sweetie," Sarah told Molly. "But I can come visit."

"Okay," Molly replied. "Chuck live here."

"I can't, Sweetie," Chuck began. Molly glared at Chuck. "Are we sure she's not related to Sarah?"

}o{

"I've got the address," Sarah said, as the two walked to the car the next morning. "I'm just gonna text Helen, let her know what's going on." She sat down in the driver's seat, and hit send. She started to start the car when she got a reply. Frowning, she typed something into the phone, and hit send again.

"Everything okay?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah," Sarah replied. "Helen wanted the address. I gave it to her, but told her not to show up until we let her know."

"Afraid she'll go get him, and stiff us?" Chuck asked.

Sarah shook her head. "No, I just think your hinky worries now have me questioning if something is hinky."

Chuck nodded. "I'm glad your dad got an address," he said. "That way, I didn't have to find it based on the cell phone number."

"This should be a good lead," she told him, merging into traffic. "The number is active." They rode in silence. Pulling up to the address, she parked a little way off the road.

"Not seeing a convertible," Chuck said.

Sarah reached into her glove box, dug around and pulled out a police badge. "Here," she said. "If he sees a badge, he might open the door for you." Chuck nodded. He watched her slip her gun into the back of her pants. "I'm gonna go around back."

"Okay, Chuck replied. She took off around the back of the house. Chuck walked up to the front door and knocked.

"Who is it?" he heard from inside the house. Chuck saw the curtain move, and he held up the badge.

"LAPD, sir," Chuck replied. "I'd like to have a word with you, if I may."

"Just a second," Chuck heard the reply.

"Damn it, he's running," Chuck said, trying the door. He got it open to see Max holding his hands up, Sarah having a gun trained on him.

"Easy, easy," Chuck said. Max's eyes darted around, like he was about to flee. "Stop!" Chuck implored. "It's okay. We're not going to harm you."

"I'm supposed to believe that?" Max asked. "First you chase me, now you're pointing a gun at me?"

Sarah widened her hands, and cautiously put the gun in the back of her pants. "We're just being cautious. We didn't know whether you were armed. Just want to talk to you."

"Your sister's looking for you," Chuck explained.

"Sister?" Max asked.

"Yeah, she's the one that hired us," Chuck told him. "We're trying to find you for your sister."

"What are you talking about?" Max asked. "I don't have a sister."

Chuck's blood ran cold. The hinky feeling he had been experiencing… His blood ran colder as he heard a hammer of a gun cock behind him.

"Put your weapon on the ground," Chuck heard. He turned and saw Helen and Bruce, both holding weapons on them. "Get over there by her." Chuck nodded and moved toward Sarah. "Chuck, kick the gun over to me."

Chuck kicked the gun over to Helen and Bruce. "Next time you feel hinky, we are not taking the case," Sarah told him. Chuck nodded.

Helen moved over toward Max, and Chuck saw Max was trembling. "Hey, Max. Long time."

"How did you find me?" Max asked. "Shouldn't you be in prison?"

"Prison?" Chuck asked.

"Oh, I didn't," Helen replied. "They did."

Max's lip was trembling. "I'm sorry," he got out, barely above a whisper.

Helen had a sick smile on her face. "You know, if you spent sixteen years enjoying your life, while I sat in prison for a murder I didn't commit… The way I see it, if I did the time... I might as well do the crime."

Max looked terrified. "Please," he begged. Helen cocked her head, smiled, and pulled the trigger, shooting him right between the eyes.

Max hit the ground, dead.

Chuck gasped. "Who was he to you?" Sarah asked.

"Doesn't really matter now," Helen replied, chuckling softly.

"We can't let you guys leave," Sarah told them.

"You don't really have a choice," Bruce said, pointing his gun at Sarah.

"What Sarah meant to say was, we can't let you leave without your deposit. Right?" Chuck turned to Sarah, pleading with his eyes.

"Right," Sarah agreed.

"Look, we don't have any issue with you. All right? We can keep our mouths shut," Chuck told them. Bruce looked over at Helen, and that was when Sarah lunged at Bruce. She grabbed the gun with her left hand, pushed it wide, while hitting him in the jaw with her right, knocking him into Helen. "RUN!" she yelled.

Chuck got up, and started to run toward the door, while Helen was firing at him from her back. Sarah fought with Bruce. The two locked up, threw each other around the room, destroying glasses and tables. Sarah shoved him backwards through the front window, knocking both to the ground, her on top of him. She grabbed him by the shirt, hitting him square in the jaw.

Chuck ran up beside her, having come from the back of the house. "Come on. We got to go."

"You couldn't stop her?" Sarah asked.

"Well, she has a gun," Chuck told her, ducking the bullets being shot at him.

"So did he," Sarah retorted.

"I'm not the badass ninja you are," Chuck pointed out, the two hiding behind a tree as bullets thudded into it. "If we stay together, we're toast." He saw the look on her face. "They can't do this long, someone had to have heard the shots." Sarah didn't like it, but he was right.

"Okay, we split up, but be careful," Sarah told him.

"I know, if I don't you'll yell. Love you," Chuck told her.

"Love you."

The two took off, running through the undergrowth and trees, in separate directions. They assumed one would follow each. What they didn't know was one would follow Chuck. His height was his downfall.

"There he is," Bruce said to Helen, the two seeing his head. "Flank him." Helen took off, as Bruce aimed his gun. He pulled the trigger, heard the grunt of someone being hit, and saw Chuck fall.

Sarah heard the gunshot, and pulled up from her run, her blood running cold.

"Chuck," she whispered.

A/N: …..yeah, he shot.

Next time:

"Gale, Sarah," Sarah said turning the wheel, to keep from losing control while on grass, going around the police. "Chuck has been shot, and we're begin chased by police."

There was a silence for a second. And then, "JESUS CHRIST WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Chuck screamed.

"Keep pressure on the wound," Sarah barked, pulling them out of a spin and back onto the road.

"I assume you're heading to Westside Medical?" Gale asked.

"Yup," Sarah replied, cutting across the median and two on coming lanes of traffic as Chuck screamed. She turned the car and headed down the off ramp.

"Please let me know his condition as soon as possible," Gale said, quite calmly. "FRANK GET ME THE HEAD OF THE LAPD NOW!"

"Thank you, Gale," Sarah said. The call disconnected.

"You have the direct number of the CIA Director?" Chuck asked.

"Are you keeping pressure on that?"

"The G-force is," Chuck muttered. Sarah stepped on the accelerator.

….who is writing this stuff? Come on back next time for part 2.