A/N: Hello there! I hope you're all having a great weekend. I should be studying right now, but I felt guilty for not finishing this chapter before, so here I am.

You'll be happy to know that I have a beta now, who's none other than the awesome ShinyJayne20 *pause for applause* so you'll have to thank her for making this much better than it was.

I want to thank her, obviously, for going over this chapter in no time. Also, I'd like to say 'thank you' to the people who are always helping me in one way or another, Aerox (who deservedly won the Best New Author Awesome Award *new pause for applause*) and both charahtwins.

And of course, thank you guys for reading, reviewing and putting the story in your favorites and alerts and just being awesome.

I hope you enjoy this. I don't own Chuck.

Chapter Three

After what felt like hours and two failed attempts to articulate any words, Chuck was finally able to mumble, "Wh-How… Why—you're here…?"

He was still looking at Sarah, and she was very aware that the other people in the room were watching her too as she tried her best to come up with some kind of response.

"Mr. Bartowski," Graham came to the rescue, although Sarah suspected he wasn't exactly doing it for her sake. "Please, take a seat."

Chuck glanced at the man and defiantly stated, "No, I don't want to take a seat! I want to know what the hell is going on here!"

"Mr. Bartowski," Graham's tone was inflexible this time. "I'm afraid I'll have to insist." His eyes were dark and his posture radiated authority.

Stephen took a step closer to his son and pleaded with him, "Chuck, please, just do what he says."

Seeing that he had no choice, Chuck did as he was told. From the corner of his eye, he saw the tall blue-eyed man relax and sit down on the couch while "Eva" (that probably wasn't even her real name) sat on the armrest and stared at the floor. Chuck diverted his attention from the two, focusing back on man that was standing in front of him.

But the man did not address him like he expected. Instead, he turned and spoke directly to his father. "Well, Stephen, I certainly wasn't expecting… this."

Chuck noticed his father's narrowed eyes. "Nobody was, Langston. But Charles is my son, and if you want my help, you're not going to do anything to him, is that clear?"

"How can I be sure he's not a threat? How do I know we can trust him?"

"Because he's my son," Stephen simply stated.

Graham was opening his mouth again when he heard Chuck ask, "Is anyone going to tell me what is going on here? Who are you people? And what can possibly be so important that you can't tell me?"

Graham turned to look at him. "Mr. Bartowski, my name is Langston Graham and I am the Director of the CIA."

Chuck froze for about ten seconds. Graham watched as his eyes widened and his mouth dropped. Then, Chuck did something he wasn't expecting. He burst out laughing. Of all the reactions he had imagined, this one wasn't one of them.

Sarah buried her head in her hands. Casey grunted in disapproval and Stephen winced.

"Oh, my God…" Chuck started. "That was a good one. Dad, I don't know who this guy is, but he's good! He almost got me there for a second," he said between laughs. The room fell silent when he finally recovered, and for the first time, he noticed nobody else was laughing. In fact, they were all acting as if he had done something really stupid. And, judging by the look on Graham's face, he had.

"Mr. Bartowski," his tone was ice cold when he spoke and Chuck swallowed instinctively. "As I said before, I'm the Director of the CIA, and this is a matter of national security. I'm sure you can understand how important this is and why you can't tell anyone about what you saw here today."

"You… you're telling the truth, aren't you?" Chuck stammered. "This is not a prank?"

Graham was losing his patience. "Mr. Bartowski, we don't do pranks."

Chuck straightened in his seat and nodded, trying to process this new information. "But what… why are you here? What does my father have to do with the CIA?"

Stephen and the Director exchanged brief glances, and after the former gave him a tiny nod, Graham said, "We are here because your father has been a CIA operative for the past thirty five years and we needed his help."

"What? CIA operative? That is not possible!" Chuck stood up and look at his father as he desperately asked, "Dad, tell me this isn't true!"

Stephen looked defeated. "I can't, Charles. He's telling you the truth."

Chuck was dumbfounded. "But how? Does mom know about this? What about Ellie? And what is exactly that you do and why are these people here?"

"Charles… your mom knows," the elder Bartowski sighed. "She's always known. I never told you or your sister because I… because we wanted to protect you. And I could never have imagined that this was the way you were going to find out." Stephen shook his head. "And now, a… situation has come up and they need my help again."

"What situation? What happened?" Chuck demanded worriedly.

"Well…" Stephen started, but he was quickly interrupted.

"I'm afraid we can't let you in on the details, Mr. Bartowski," said Graham.

"Langston," Stephen called. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

Graham scowled, but still nodded and they both headed out of the room. Chuck watched them leave with a frown.

"What is it, Stephen?" he asked as soon as they closed the door.

"Look, I know this is important and everything, but I know my son, and I know he's not going to say anything. Besides, I was thinking that he may be of help with this little problem we have."

Graham studied Orion's face as he spoke. He had always been… peculiar. And now he was asking him to reveal the CIA's best kept secret to a civilian, no less.

Sensing Graham's skepticism, Stephen added, "Langston, I can't do this on my own, and you said it yourself, I'm the only one left. I'm very grateful for what you did all those years ago to protect me, but if you want me to get involved, you need to let me do this on my own way. And I'm telling you, he would make a very valuable asset."

"So you're not just doing this in fear that something may happen to him now that he knows?" Graham sharply questioned.

Stephen swallowed. "I've been in this business long enough to know how people like you deal with things," he admitted. Graham clenched his jaw, but said nothing. "However, if you assure me nothing will happen to him, I believe you. But I really need some help, and I trust my son."

Graham turned and stared at the wall. As paranoid as he may have been, he trusted Stephen Bartowski. He knew him, and he knew his family. He was aware that he had been the most prolific scientist the Agency had ever had, until he had to disappear after the Intersect project debacle. And even after that, he kept serving his country, albeit off the record. Stephen was a true patriot, and Graham would've been surprised if the son he and his wife had raised wasn't one too.

Graham sighed, and for once, he decided to go with his gut instead of protocol. "Fine." Stephen looked genuinely shocked when he looked at him. "Your son can help. But," he added ominously, "this is extremely sensitive, and he can't talk about this with anyone. You better make that damn clear, Orion, because if he makes one mistake, I won't be able to protect him from anything that happens to him."

In the home theater room, Chuck was still trying to recover from everything he had learned in the past ten minutes. He could see the large man sitting stiffly on the couch and staring threateningly at him. He internally cringed; as if he wasn't intimidated enough already.

Eva still hadn't looked at him, and that kind of annoyed him, but she was now busy trying to recover her gun, which had been stolen by Kyle, if that was even his name. As they struggled, he wondered what had happened to him. Chuck didn't remember him behaving so…immaturely the last time they crossed paths.

"I just wanted to take a close look at it!" he cried, as Eva stood up and tucked the gun in her waistband again.

"Well, it's not a toy, you could hurt yourself or someone else!" she yelled, clearly angry.

He just gave her a hurt look and stared at his lap. Just when Chuck was mustering the courage to talk to her, his father and Graham came back.

"Mr. Bartowski," Graham announced. "Your father has requested that I let you help him with his work this time. You're free to do whatever you want, but I highly recommend that you accept. It's the safest choice for everyone."

Chuck frowned. 'The safest choice'? What had he meant…? Wait a second, does he mean they're going to… no, I watch too many movies. Surely they wouldn't… He saw the worried look clouding his dad's face and he knew that the overused expression 'If I told you I'd have to kill you' wasn't just an expression.

Chuck realized that everyone in the room was now staring at him and cleared his throat. Knowing he didn't really have a choice, he said, "I will. I'll help him with anything I can. And you can trust me; I would never betray my country." The man on the couch grunted, and his father let out a relieved breath. "But I would love to know what I'm going to be helping you with, dad," he added.

Before Stephen could speak, Graham started talking. He told him the same story he had told Sarah and Casey, and he saw the horrified look that grew on his face as he explained what the Intersect project was about. He also noticed that, even when Stephen had seemed disgusted before, he was now beyond ashamed, as his son learned what he had done in the past.

"I… I can't believe this, dad. You… you actually worked on this?" Chuck asked, clearly disturbed by what he was hearing.

Stephen knew someday he would have to inform his kids about his past sins, but he never thought it was going to be today. Nothing could've prepared him to face the perturbed expression in his son's eyes as he looked at him in disbelief. "Yes. Yes, I did, Charles. And I spent the past few decades regretting it. But that doesn't change the fact that I tried to play God and now the consequences are terrible."

Chuck's anger died down a little as he stared into his father's eyes. They were filled with remorse and shame, and he knew he regretted what he had done. He just nodded and turned to face Graham, "So, what happened now? Why do you need my help?"

"I think it's time that we make the proper introductions," deflected Graham. "This is Agent Sarah Walker," Sarah clenched her jaw and managed to maintain eye contact. She noted Chuck's look of betrayal and felt like something inside of her was breaking. She just gave him a tiny nod and Graham continued on. "This is Colonel John Casey, with the NSA," the man grunted and stared carefully at Chuck. "Agents Larkin, Walker and Casey," Graham pointed to each of them as he introduced them, "were undercover because we suspected there was a criminal living in the suburbs. As it turns out, the whole neighborhood was just a cover for this criminal organization. They abducted Agent Larkin and ran the test on him, but it was unsuccessful. Apparently, they only managed to wipe his memory."

So that was why he was acting like a little kid. "So they basically Gilderoy Lockhart-ed him?" asked Chuck humorously. The spies gave him a blank stare, like he had grown a second head, or suddenly started speaking Klingon. "That's… a Harry Potter reference, never mind," he mumbled.

What surprised him next was that the big, imposing Colonel barked with laughter. When Chuck shot him an incredulous look, the man just shrugged and said, "What? I have a kid!"

Chuck smiled. It was good to know that spies weren't completely heartless. They were human just like him. A little more constipated when it came to dealing with emotions, but humans nonetheless. People with ambitions, dreams, a family, and apparently a sense of humor too.

Now Chuck wasn't nearly as freaked out as he was before.

Graham cleared his throat. "Your father is going to run some tests on Agent Larkin and he requested that I let you help him. We'll be reopening the secret base tomorrow morning. Since my agents' cover has been blown, they'll be staying at the safe house." He addressed his father. "Stephen, you know how to contact me. My people will be here tonight after the store closes to equip Castle. If you need anything, just call." With that, he turned around and headed out of the room, leaving a wide-eyed Chuck behind. Casey followed suit, dragging agent Larkin with him after exchanging a few words with agent Walker.

Chuck was about to say something to his dad when he noticed Eva, or Sarah, stopping in the doorway, her left hand on the doorframe. She suddenly turned around and looked at him, but immediately averted her eyes.

Now what? Sarah asked herself. She had to go, but she found herself wanting to give Chuck some kind of explanation. She knew she didn't owe him, she had just been doing her job all along, but she also felt bad about lying to him. And, if she was honest, she didn't like the way he had looked at her after finding out who she was –what she really was.

She glanced at him again, and she could see his frown and his clenched jaw as he quickly stared at the floor. She knew she was probably the last person he wanted to talk to right now, but she couldn't help it. She mustered up the courage to take a step closer to him.

She opened her mouth, but she didn't know what to say. He looked… hurt. Anger, she could deal with, but hurt? And why would he be hurt in the first place? That made absolutely no sense. Just like it made no sense for her being there, standing in front of this man, trying to apologize for not doing anything wrong. She tried again. "Chuck, I… I couldn't… you know I couldn't tell you… right?" Even if it came out just a little louder than a whisper, she knew he had heard her.

He looked at her, really looked at her for the first time since he had entered the room and his brown eyes softened a little. I wasn't her fault, he thought. She didn't owe him anything but still, here she was, trying to apologize for being great and saving the world, and he was being an ass just because some ridiculous part of him felt like he had a right to be upset that everything she had told him had been a lie. Because of course, his feelings were more important than national security.

He was embarrassed for putting her in this situation, and he was going to apologize when his father intervened. "You two know each other?" he asked.

"I… uh, I went to her house once, I mean her cover house –is that how you call it, by the way? And it was twice, I went twice to help her with her laptop. Well, the second time was actually to fix her husband's –I mean her partner's laptop… And she also came here to get a new one… I promised I would help her, so I did…" Chuck stammered. He winced inwardly at his nervous and slightly incoherent rant.

Sarah had to school her features to remain neutral, hiding the smile that threatened to spread on her face after his adorable babble.

Stephen's face lightened with recognition. "Oh, this is the woman you said was going to come to the store!" Chuck blushed furiously, focusing his gaze on the floor one more time, and this time, Sarah did smile. He had told his father about her. Maybe she had made just as good impression on him as he had on her. "This is such a small world, isn't that right, Agent Walker?"

For some reason, Orion sounded suspicious. She had no idea why, it was not like she had planned to meet his son and drag him into the spy world. In fact, if she would've had any saying on that specific matter, she would've strongly refused to do so. Hell, she had done everything in her power to stay away from him. But Graham had said Orion was paranoid, and she guessed he had a good reason, after working for the Agency for so many years and doing such a sensitive work. So she just nodded her agreement and, with her best smile, told him, "Please, call me Sarah, Mr. Bartowski."

He just gave her a serious look and headed out the room, stopping at the doorway to cast one final glance at her.

Chuck was shocked by his dad's behavior. As soon as he left the room, he started to apologize. "I'm sorry about that; I don't know what's gotten into him. He's not usually so rude…"

She interrupted him. "It's ok, Chuck. I'm sure he's upset that you're suddenly being pulled into this world, and I can't really blame him."

He seemed confused. "What do you mean?"

She sighed heavily and plopped onto the couch. She fidgeted with her hands as she spoke. "I mean that this—what we do, is not safe. And you heard what Graham told us about this Intersect project. It's dangerous and I wouldn't want anyone I care about to get involved in this either. This job… it changes you. I think your father is scared that that could happen to you."

"But I'm not going to be spying or anything," He said as he sat down next to her. "I mean, I'm just going to help him, and he hasn't even told me what he needs my help with yet. It's not like I'm going to be shooting guns and chasing bad guys," he said with a hint of a smile in his voice.

She chuckled lightly and looked at him. All of a sudden, she was very aware of his proximity. A warm feeling spread through her, while she struggled to keep her eyes from darting to his lips. He was sporting the gentlest smile she had ever seen and it took her all her will power to hold back a dreamy sigh. That would've made her look so unprofessional.

Knowing that she needed to keep her distance from him if she wanted to preserve her dignity, she shifted so she was resting her back on the arm of the couch facing him, creating a little more space between them. She could still smell his aftershave, but she would have to deal with it. She was a trained CIA agent, after all. "I know, and your dad knows that too. But it's not like in the movies, you know? This is not a glamorous job. We have to lie and pretend and even kill people. And your father lived in this world for a long time. I can't say I blame him for not trusting me. I did lie to you."

"Yeah, but you had to, right? You can't just go telling everyone you're a spy. I understand…" he suddenly frowned and added, "Unless you knew about my father and me, and the laptop and everything was a lie."

"What? No! I didn't know who you were when I called. I didn't know your father owned the store. Hell, I didn't even know who your father was until an hour ago!" she exclaimed defensively.

"Ok, ok, I believe you," he smiled a little as he gestured with his hands for her to calm down. They felt silent for a few moments. Finally, Chuck decided to ask her what he was dying to know. "So…" he started, staring at his feet. He swallowed and met her curious gaze. "You and Kyle… I mean, Agent Larkin… you're not…?"

Sarah's eyes widened when she understood what he was asking. "No! God, no!" she replied a little more emphatically than she had originally planned to. "We never… I would never…" seeing that she was very close to start stammering, she stopped herself and started again. "No, we're definitely not together. Not at all."

She glanced at Chuck to assess his reaction, but he was looking down again. After a few seconds, and just when she was starting to get nervous, he looked her straight in the eye and said with a tiny grin, "That's uh… that's good."

She felt her lips curling on their own volition, and she let out a shaky breath. "Is it?" she asked, encouraged by his words.

"Yeah, I think it is." He was openly smiling now, and she was positive she had never seen anything more gorgeous in her whole life.

"And why is that?"

Because I could never have a chance with you if you were married, thought Chuck.

She noticed the change in his features as soon as she asked the question and wondered what she had done wrong. Was she really that rusty?

"Because… because I'd really like to get to know you better." That's it, like a band aid, he though, fast and painless. Except that, if she turned him down, there would be pain. A lot.

She blushed at his boldness, because she hadn't been expecting it. And she also felt what most people would've called butterflies, but Agent Sarah Walker didn't get butterflies. In a shy tone that was foreign to her and throwing caution out the window, she almost whispered, "Me too."

She knew he had heard her because that dazzling smile was threatening to split his face again. Their moment was interrupted by the buzz of her phone.

"Sorry," she mumbled as she read the text. It was Graham's. She had told Casey she would meet them at the house, but that had been almost half an hour ago and they had work to do, and she still had to get the groceries she was supposed to be buying right now. With an apologetic smile, she stood up. "I'm sorry, Chuck, it's my boss. I really need to go now."

He stood up as well. "Oh, yeah, no problem. I get it… you need to save the world and all." She chuckled at his words and made her way to the automatic doors. She stopped there, not really knowing what to say. Fortunately, Chuck didn't seem to appreciate the silence either, so he was the first to break it.

"So, uh… I'll see you later?" he asked, a hopeful look on his face.

Sarah was certain that she was sporting the same ridiculous grin. And for once, she didn't care. "Yes. I think we'll be seeing each other more often now."

As if it were possible, his smiled widened. "Great! So… have a nice day."

"You too, Chuck," she said, as she finally stepped out of the store.

The morning sun was bright and shiny, and Sarah thought she hadn't felt this good in a long, long time.

Chuck kept his eyes on Sarah as she walked away. A few moments later, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and found his dad looking intently at him. "We should talk, Charles."

He nodded and followed Stephen to his office. His dad made his way to his chair behind the desk and sat there, but remained silent. He seemed to be immersed in his own thoughts, staring at his lap, a deep frown darkening his expression.

Finally, he looked up and said, "I don't really know what to say here, Chuck. I never thought I'd be having this conversation with you. Not so soon, at least, and certainly not under these circumstances." He paused, but Chuck kept quiet. "I want you to know that I regret what I did. All those things Graham told you about, the Intersect project… I'm not proud about it. And I can assure I… we, suffered the consequences."

"What do you mean?" Chuck inquired, confused by his dad's words.

Stephen sighed heavily. "Well… I was the project's leader, but that's not exactly the reason why Langston came to me today. When we first started working on the assignment, we were a group of thirteen scientists. All of us graduated in the best colleges of the country. Now, almost thirty years later, I'm the only one left." He clenched his jaw and started talking again, but this time, he seemed very affected. "What I'm about to tell you can't be found in any record, because they were destroyed, along with all the evidence." Chuck didn't like the sound of that, but he didn't want to interrupt his father. "We started working on the Intersect project and after two years of research, we were ready to run thefirst test on a subject. A human subject. Because of the secret nature of said project, we couldn't openly ask for volunteers, so one of our colleagues offered to download the beta Intersect.

"You have to understand that we thought it was going to work. If I would've had even the slightest doubt, I wouldn't have let Hartley do it. But we were absolutely sure everything was going to be fine. So we did, we let him download the Intersect. It was…" he trailed off, and needed a moment to pull himself together. Chuck waited patiently, giving his father the time he needed to recover. Finally, Stephen continued, "It didn't work out as we thought it would. Hartley seemed fine at first, but after a few days of keeping him under strict observation we realized he had changed. And after a month, he was unrecognizable. He was a completely different person. He had always been a nice guy, always joking around, and I considered him to be one of my best friends. But after the download, he turned… violent. He didn't care for anything or anyone but him."

Chuck winced. He couldn't imagine how his dad must have felt, knowing that he had done so much harm to a dear friend. It has hard to understand why had he agreed to the download in the first place, but then again, he had never worked for the government or felt the pressure that obviously came with it. He glanced at his dad, urging him to go on with his story.

"In the meantime, we were ordered to keep working on the Intersect, and to fix its flaws. This time, we were told specifically what we were expected to do, and at first, most of us refused. But you can't just say 'no' to the CIA. We all had families to protect, so we kept working. The government wanted us to create a killing machine, but they needed to be able to control them. That's when Howard suggested we erased their brains first and programmed the subjects directly with the download. That way, we wouldn't have to deal with any surprises, like Hartley's sudden change of personality."

"Did you ever know what happened to him?" Chuck asked.

Stephen nodded slowly, briefly closing his eyes, compunction written all over his face. "The CIA locked him up in a mental institution, but it was just a matter of time before some people started asking questions. So one day, they found him dead in his cell. Suicide, they said, but we all knew it was a lie. After that, we were sure it was just a matter of time for them to come after us. But we kept working nonetheless. The day after the new Intersect was finished, Cooper died in a car accident. The police report said he had been drunk, but everybody who was close to him knew he didn't drink. A week later, Nolan was killed in what the police said was a robbery that went wrong. At that point, we knew for sure they were coming after us."

"They?" Chuck furrowed his brows. "Who's 'they', dad?"

Stephen gave him a sad smile. Chuck thought he had never seen his father look so old and tired. "The same people who had hired us in the first place, Charles."

Chuck's eyes widened. "You mean… the CIA? But you're still working for them! They tried to kill you?"

Stephen stared at his son, studying his face. Of course he could understand his reaction. He didn't have a clue what was like to live with the fear of not knowing if you were coming home every day. He didn't know what was like to have a wife and a baby to protect and the feeling of impotency for not being really able to do it well. He was just too good, too innocent to ever imagine those kinds of things.

Ever since he was a little kid, Chuck seemed determined to see the best in people, to expect the best from everyone. It was only logical that everything he was hearing now sounded extraneous to him. Stephen inwardly wished his son hadn't decided to come to the store early that morning. Now, the world he was describing to him was going to be Chuck'sworld too. He just hoped he had it in him to survive.

He remembered when he graduated from college. That day a CIA agent approached him and offered him a job. 'The opportunity of a lifetime,' he had said. And in many ways, he had been right. Two weeks later, he had met his handler and future wife. Two years after that, they were married and expecting their first child.

The intense look in his son's eyes brought him back to the present, and he smiled a little as he patiently explained, "The CIA had ruined a man's life. Can you imagine what a disaster it would've been if that story went public? They needed to make sure nobody was ever going to talk."

Chuck looked lost. "But you're alive… How?"

Oh, God, here it comes, Stephen thought. He was never going to hear the end of it when his wife found out he had told their son she was a spy without her being present. But it had to be done. He swallowed and said, "Because I had… eh… a little help from the inside."

Chuck's scowl intensified. "What do you mean?"

"He means my old partner gave us a hand."

Both Chuck and Stephen turned to look at the door, where Mary Bartowski was standing, leaning lazily against the door frame, her arms crossed above her chest.

Chuck was dumbstruck. He didn't even try to speak, because he knew it would've been futile. He vaguely wondered if it was possible he had fallen into an alternate universe, where everybody he knew was a spy or worked for the government. He took a mental note to check if Skip Johnson worked for the KGB later. Or maybe Jeff was Batman. At this point, nothing would surprise him anymore, he was sure of that.

His mom's amused chuckle brought him back from his musings. He just stared at her as she made her way over the desk and leaned against it, facing him.

"So, you don't have any questions?" His mother asked in amazement. "I guess we've finally found the way to make him shut up, Stephen."

The unfair comment made him able to finally pick up his jaw. "Oh, ha-ha-ha," he mockingly laughed. "That's really fun, mom, seriously. You basically just told me you're a spy and now you're making fun of me?" Once he started, he couldn't stop. In less than three hours he had found out that everything he thought he knew was a lie. And he was pissed. "I can't believe everything's been a lie! All these years! Thirty years! I don't know what to think anymore…" he stood up and started pacing around, mumbling, his rant going out of control, as it usually did when he was freaking out.

Mary decided to stop him before he lost it. "Chuck."

He was staring at the ground as he kept moving around the room in circles. "… and all she can do is laugh… Their own son, they've been keeping me in the dark for my entire life…"

She tried again, a little louder this time. "Chuck…"

"… and now I find out I've been raised by the freaking Rosenbergs!"

"Chuck!"

He stopped his pacing and looked up, as he was trying to find where the scream came from. His eyes were a little unfocused, and Mary had to stifle a laugh when he tiredly shook his head and feel back on the chair he had been occupying until a few minutes ago. "First of all, the Rosenbergs worked for the Soviet Union and were executed before you were born, so you don't have to be upset about being raised by two communists."

"Yeah, because that's what upset me," he dryly said, narrowing his eyes at her.

Stephen tried to remain quiet and not show how much he was enjoying his wife's little act.

"Ok. I know you're probably a little angry right now…" seeing her son's incredulous glare, she rephrased. "Fine. Extremely angry." She barely resisted the temptation of rolling her eyes. "You have to know that we couldn't say anything. The less you knew, the safer you were. We didn't want to put you or your sister in danger. And that is the only reason why we didn't tell you the truth before."

Chuck crossed his arms and looked away, pretending to ignore her, even though he was listening carefully to every word.

That petulant gesture made Mary lose her temper. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were interested. I guess we'll just leave the explanations for another time. Maybe when you decide to behave like an adult again."

Chuck winced. He was thirty years old, yet his mom could make him feel like he was eight again whenever she used that tone. Reluctantly, he looked up.

Stephen smiled, amused by his son's behavior. If only he knew how similar he was to his mother, he would probably cry.

"Ok, I'm listening," he mumbled.

Mary quirked an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. "Great. As I was saying, my old partner intervened and saved our lives. By the way, he called me and told me what happened, that's why I decided to come over and see how you were dealing with… all of this."

"Wait… so you're saying you were partners with Graham?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"CIA Director Langston Graham?"

Mary smiled. "Yes, Chuck."

"Wow. I mean… wow." Everything was starting to sink in and Chuck was finally starting to feel impressed. "I guess all those 'business' trips weren't exactly for business, am I right?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Wow." Suddenly, Chuck started to realize what had been right in front of his eyes all the time, but he had been too distracted to acknowledge. His parents worked for the CIA. Ergo, his parents were spies. That pretty much gave him bragging rights for… well, forever.

A huge grin formed in his face, his eyes lighted up and he jumped up from his seat. Both Stephen and Mary recognized the signs. The nerd had taken control. They exchanged proud smiles and braced themselves for what they knew was coming.

"Oh-my-God!" If his voice would've been just a few octaves higher he would've sounded just like Janice, but he was too excited to be embarrassed. "Do you guys know what this means? I have spies as parents! My own parents work for the freaking CIA! Who needs James Bond and all that crap when you have the real deal right in front of you? I want to know everything! Oh, mom, you have to teach me to throw those ninja stars thingies! And maybe a little kung fu, you know… I'm sure with all the spy genes I'll be able to master it in no time…" he was so immersed in his own ramblings that he didn't even acknowledge when his parents both burst out laughing. The mere thought of Chuck mastering kung fu was enough to make them lose it, considering the only sport he was really good at was chess.

"Or maybe you can teach me how to shoot a gun. And how about all those gadgets?" He turned to his father. "Oh, man, I bet your car has ejector seats! Or machine guns concealed in the headlights! Why wouldn't you tell me about the machine guns? I would never use them, but at least I would get to see Morgan's face as I showed him…"

He was talking so fast that Mary wasn't even sure he actually knew what he was saying. And as amusing as it was, she wanted to make something very, very clear. "Chuck!" After the second time she called his name, he seemed to snap out of it and come back to the real word. Now that she had his full attention, she said, "I know this is all very exciting for you now you've decided to embrace it instead of hating us, but you have to understand that nobody, and let me say it very clear, absolutely nobody can know about what your father and I do for a living. And that goes for you too, now you decided to help your dad. Do you understand this?"

Chuck pouted. "Yes," he reluctantly mumbled.

"I need you to tell me that you understand, Chuck, this is important."

Chuck shook his head. Damn it, she was going to make him actually say it. "I understand, mom, I can't tell anyone about us working for the CIA."

Mary smiled. "Good boy."

Chuck's pout intensified and he looked like a giant kid who had been given the world's largest candy and, at the same time, ordered not to eat it. There goes a lifetime of bragging rights, he bitterly thought.

Stephen tried to show his son some sympathy. "At least you can talk about it with us," he said, smiling softly.

"I guess…" Chuck didn't sound so convinced though. Until an idea crossed his mind. "Would you tell me about your missions and stuff sometime?"

Mary and Stephen exchanged a look. "Well," Stephen said, glancing at his watch, "I guess we have a little time before we have to open the store to the public…"

Sarah got to the safe house about an hour after she left the shop. She had stopped by the grocery store on her way and picked up the essentials. After lunch, Graham—who had also left after taking Casey and Bryce back to the house—came back with some bad news.

As it turned out, before they left for the meeting with Orion, he had ordered a team to go to the neighborhood and arrest anyone they knew were guilty, and had yet to flee. They were also tasked to collect every piece of evidence they could find. As Sarah suspected, they hadn't found anyone. They obviously knew the CIA was onto them, so it would've been a silly move to return to the cul-de-sac. And it was pretty obvious they weren't dealing with amateurs here. Graham also told them his team had retrieved a few computers and files, which he was going to send to Orion first thing in the morning. If there was one person who could understand anything Intersect related, it was him, Graham said.

Sarah smiled inwardly when he specifically asked her to keep a close eye on the Bartwoskis, especially the son, for he wasn't sure if he was trustworthy yet. But that was something she had already decided she was going to do for herself, whatever her orders were. Of course, her boss didn't need to know that.

When Casey asked what were they supposed to do from now on, Graham told them they were going to be working with another field agent who already knew about the Intersect project, but didn't exactly elaborated any further. Given the sensitive nature of the assignment, they couldn't afford to let just anyone in on the secret. The Director was determined to find these traitors as soon as possible, before they could do any more harm. They were clearly making progress on the Intersect development, because Larkin was the first subject that had survived, even if he had lost his memory. Graham also said he trusted Orion would be able to fix that. While Sarah kept her skepticism to herself, the Colonel snorted and mumbled something about being fed up with 'all that sci-fi crap' and having to sand it 'just because of a stiletto.' Sarah was sure she made the wiser choice when she decided not to ask.

Graham also emphasized the importance of the mission. Under no circumstances they were to be distracted from the primary objective of the assignment: to locate the threat and eliminate it. No risks could be taken as they were talking about a matter of national security and lives were on the line.

After he finished their briefing, he told them he had some business to attend and left the safe house again.

About an hour later, Sarah was bored out of her mind, so she decided this was just as good a time to take a shower as any. Casey was lying on the couch reading a book and Bryce was asleep on the bedroom, courtesy of the Colonel. He couldn't stand Larkin's antics now he acted like a child pretty much all the time, so he had tranqed him. When Sarah had reprimanded him for that, he had shrugged and said it was either tranq him or shoot him.

Sarah grabbed the clothes she had picked up that morning and made her way to the bathroom. After locking the door behind her, she quickly stripped and got into the shower stall. As the hot water started running through her body, she started slowly massaging her neck. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd slept. The past two days were a blur in her mind and she was exhausted. She felt the distinctive tales of a headache starting to surface and she cursed inwardly. It was not like she needed it.

In the past few hours, she had found out about the government's darkest secret—or at least, she hoped the Intersect project was the government's darkest secret—and she had been pulled into a world even more dangerous and complicated than the one she was used to live in. A world where apparently every limit was pushed and things she had thought were impossible until the day before could actually happen.

She had to agree with Casey on that, the whole thing did sound like the plot of a sci-fi movie. She would've never imagined when she was first recruited that one day she would be fighting an evil organization to prevent them to create an army to destroy the US government. And the craziest thing was that, to create said army, they were trying to upload information into people's brain. If she wouldn't have been painfully aware of the truth behind that crazy theory, she would've thought she was losing it. But the Director of the CIA had told them it was true himself, and then they had met the scientist who had basically created the Intersect. So no, she wasn't crazy yet, but that didn't mean she was entirely sane either. A sane person—a sane agent—would never let herself get close to a civilian in the middle of a mission. And she most definitely wouldn't want to get closer. Even if he was going to be working for the CIA for a while.

She wondered one more time what was it that made Chuck so special. He made her feel things she had never felt before. He made her smile. He made her laugh. He had even managed to make her blush. Before he came along, it had been years since she last blushed.

With a self-deprecating chuckle she thought about what people would say if they saw her like this. Carina and Zondra would make fun of her. Her dad would call her a sucker. But the truth was, she didn't care. She didn't care because every time she saw him, she didn't feel like a CIA agent. She didn't feel like the ruthless spy most people considered her to be. Every time she was with him, she was just Sarah. And even if just Sarah had a little more of the shy, insecure girl she had been in high school than she would've liked, the fact remained that she was a girl, and she had finally met a nice guy.

It had been years since the last serious relationship she had had—if you could call sleeping with your old partner that—and she had given up. It wasn't like she wanted to settle down anyway. She knew nothing about being a girlfriend, or a wife, and being a spy was all she had. She couldn't picture herself frying corn dogs or serving frozen yogurt for a living. That would've been ridiculous. But she had to admit that, whenever she imagined her future, it seemed kind of lonely, even if she would be having all the adventures she had dreamed of when she was a little girl. Sarah knew something was missing in her life, but she didn't want to put a name on it. And she was terrified that, if she did get close to Chuck, she would find out that that was what had been missing all along.

And that wasn't the only issue. He was an incredible guy and he deserved so much better. He deserved something real, and she couldn't give him real because she wasn't real. Her job wasn't real. Her life wasn't real. And at the end, she would end up breaking his heart, and probably hers too.

She stepped out of the shower, and wrapped herself in a towel. She thought about the conversation they had had that morning and how adorable he had looked when he told her he wanted to get to know her better. He had seemed to be waiting for her rejection, but she couldn't say no to him. Not when she was staring into his warm brown puppy-dog eyes. Not when she herself wanted to know him better.

When she admitted that, she realized that she couldn't just stay away from him. They were going to be working together, seeing each other every day, and even if there was a chance that she would find out that he wasn't as nice as he seemed, she knew it was rather slim. She was already thinking about him more than she should; and she was sure he thought about her just as often too. She couldn't deny the attraction between them, but she didn't want him to get hurt. And she had to admit, she didn't want to get hurt either.

Growling in frustration, she got dressed. She would have to deal with Chuck the best she could. After all, Graham had made very clear that the priority was the mission. As it always was. The difference this time was that she wasn't really sure if it was going to be a priority for her. She opened the bathroom door to find Casey asleep on the couch, and Bryce still out in the bedroom. Great, she thought. More alone time to think. Now, she just needed to find a way to get certain nerd out of her head.

If she was being honest with herself, the chances of that ever happening weren't very good.

My parents are spies. It had been hours since Chuck had had that conversation with his parents, but he still couldn't quite believe it. My parents are spies.

Of course, that explained a lot. Like why his mom had sometimes come home after those 'business trips' with bruises and cuts. Like why his father had named their electronics store 'The Hunter.' It had always intrigued him, but after finding out that his codename was Orion, it all made much more sense. And he actually found it kind of sweet—albeit in a twisted way—that his mom had taken her own alias from the stories she used to read to him and Ellie when they were little.

My parents are spies. That was so badass he couldn't even start to describe how excited he was. Orion and Frost. They had told him stories about how they met and about the few times they had been together in the field. He had always admired them, but after finding out what they really did for a living, he respected them even more. Because while they had been doing this incredibly important work, they had also been able to stay together for all those years and at the same time, raise their two kids. They had never missed a birthday, or a soccer match. They had even been there when he played Perchik in his high school's production of the 'Fiddler on the Roof.'

The only thing he regretted was that Ellie couldn't know about all of this. And he knew that if she ever found out, she was going to be mad at him for not telling her. But his mom had been very clear about the 'not telling anyone' policy he would have to follow from now on. On the bright side, his dad had been right. At least he could talk to them.

And he could talk to Sarah too, he thought. After all, she was also a spy and she was the one who had said they were going to be seeing each other more often. That thought alone was enough to bring a smile to his face.

Yes, he had been thinking about her too. How could he not? She was amazing. He had been sure she was going to turn him down. But she didn't. She had actually said she wanted to get to know him better too. And that had put him in a great mood for the rest of the day. He was already planning on asking her out, but he didn't want to scare her off. Besides, they had time.

His smile broadened when he remembered how she had looked at him before leaving the store. Yup, it was there. He had definitely not imagined it the first time, and Ellie had seen it too, so he was almost sure she was as interested as he was. For the first time in a long, long while, he actually liked a girl and couldn't wait to see her again. He only hoped that all the national security stuff wouldn't get in their way.

Chuck woke up an hour earlier than he was used to. He looked at the clock on his nightstand and didn't even bother trying to go back to sleep. Once his brain reminded him of the previous day's events, his excitement wouldn't leave him alone. Besides, he was eager to see this secret base for himself.

So he jumped out of bed, took a quick shower and got dress in less than twenty minutes. He decided he would grab some coffee and something to eat in his way to the store, so he left a note for Morgan in the kitchen table and took off.

When he got there, he didn't notice anything different. In fact, it looked like there was no one inside. With a disappointed sigh, he shrugged and stepped into the store. He had been sure he was going to find a lot of men and women in black suits carrying gadgets and supercomputers to wherever this secret base was, but the silence and emptiness only contributed to his disillusionment. Maybe he did watch too many movies, after all.

He decided to wait for his parents, Graham and the other agents in the home theater room, where he could see them right away when they entered the store. He settled the box of donuts on the coffee table and was about to take a sip of his coffee when suddenly, the wall parted and Sarah seemingly came out of nowhere. Of course, that led him to spit his coffee and stain his white shirt, as he tried to look cool under Sarah's amused look.

"Sorry about that," she said, although her eyes were sparkling with mirth.

He smiled and stood up. "It's ok. I should've prepared myself for something like that. Are you here to take me to the Batcave?"

"Actually, I prefer to call it 'Castle'." This time, it was his mom's voice what startled him and made him spill the rest of his coffee with the sudden move he made with his arm.

"Gah! Mom! Why would you do that?" he turned to see Mary Bartowski smiling at him.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Sorry, Chuck, I guess it just an old habit."

Chuck noticed the curious look Sarah was sporting as her eyes shifted between him and his mom. "Oh, I see you two haven't met yet. Sarah, this is my mom, Mary Bartowski, CIA. Mom, this is Sarah Walker, she's CIA too."

Mary smiled politely and extended her hand. "It's a pleasure, Agent Walker."

Sarah shook her hand. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped when she realized why the woman looked so familiar. "You… you're Frost!" she stammered.

"I see you've heard about me," Mary said with a pleased smile.

"Yes, I have. It's such an honor, Mrs. Bartowski. You're a legend in the Agency."

Mary chuckled. "Well, I'm sure not everything you've heard is real."

"You mean you didn't break up the uranium smuggling ring in '91?"

"Well, that is true."

"And you didn't take down that human trafficking network in South America?"

Mary smiled again. "Ok, that one is true too."

"Mom!" exclaimed Chuck with a whine. "I practically beg you to tell me awesome stories about your spy career, and being poisoned with truth serum is the best you can come up with? Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

Mary looked at her son with a quirked eyebrow. "I thought you liked that truth serum anecdote."

"Well, yeah, but you didn't even have to shoot a gun in that one." Sarah smiled at the mother-son exchange she was witnessing.

"Ok, I'll tell you some of those later. Now, I believe people are expecting us?" Sarah nodded and pointed to the now open wall.

Mary stepped into the small space left between the home theater room wall and what now Chuck knew it was a door, and gestured them to join her. "Are you coming?"

Both Chuck and Sarah got into the well concealed elevator and Chuck watched in amazement as Sarah typed a code in a panel on her left. When she pressed enter, the door automatically shut and he felt the elevator going down. Again, a door opened before them and his eyes widened when he finally took the first glance at Castle.

He slowly climbed down the stairs, taking it all in. There were screens all over the place. In what seemed to be the conference room, there was a very long table, in front of a particularly big screen. There, his dad and Graham were chatting animatedly. He greeted them and continued his reconnaissance. The armory held more weapons than he could identify, and that was saying something, considering he was an expert Call of Duty player. He went down a hall and counted five holding cells. There was also a supply closet around the corner.

Surprisingly spacious, he thought, taking a look inside it. He found what he correctly assumed was some kind of training room. There was a mat in the floor and all different kinds of swords and other cold weapons were neatly arranged around the fighting area. He also found the bathrooms and the showers. The place was huge and had always been under the store. He wondered if it had been closed right after the Intersect Project fiasco or if it had been used as a CIA base even after that. He couldn't remember ever seeing anything suspicious at the store when he was little, but he decided he was going to ask his dad anyway.

After he finished his exploration, he joined the others in the conference room.

"So, what do you think, Charles?" his father asked.

"It's amazing. I mean, I imagined it would be like this, but actually seeing it…" he trailed off as his gaze focused on the wall at his left. Everyone looked at him with a frown, but Stephen smiled. He knew exactly what his son was thinking.

Forgetting he was not alone, Chuck took a step forward and, leaning over, he whispered adoringly, "Oh, wow. I can't believe I'm this close to an actual DU-97. Freon-cooled, reconfigurable 30-teraflop architecture with modules for cryptanalysis and video processing. She's so beautiful!"

Graham, Sarah and his parents exchanged amused looks as he continued to examine the computer. A few moments later, the silence was broken by a grunt and Casey's words. "I guess this is what a nerdgasm looks like."

Chuck finally realized what he had been doing for the past five minutes and he blushed furiously, as he made his way to the table where the others were sitting.

"Hi, Casey. I… I didn't notice you were here before," he said, trying to sound casual.

The Colonel grunted again. "I just got here. It was my turn to babysit the moron." He nodded towards Bryce, who was uncomfortably seated in a swivel chair, apparently asleep.

"Is he… is he ok? He doesn't look too comfortable," Chuck said.

"Don't worry about him, Bartowski. I tranqed him, so he's not feeling anything right now, trust me."

Chuck swallowed involuntarily and nodded, avoiding eye contact. He had a feeling that Casey wouldn't think twice before tranquing him if he ever found him particularly annoying, so he decided it was better to just stay out of his way.

"Ok, now that we're all here," Graham started, "I'd like to go over a few things with you. First of all, Agent Frost, I want you to tell Agents Walker and Casey everything you know about the Intersect and the people who were involved in its development and the subsequent cover up. I want you to go over all their records, see if you can find any connection with the people that posed as Agents Walker and Casey's neighbors." He turned to look at Stephen. "Orion, you and your son will be working on recovering Agent Larkin's memories and figuring out how this new Intersect works. You already have every note, schematic and computer we found at the warehouse and in the neighborhood. If you need anything at all, you just have to call. I will have some people to deliver it immediately." Stephen nodded. Graham looked at his watch. "My flight leaves in forty minutes. I don't have to remind you how sensitive this assignment is. The future of the country may depend on this team, so failure is not an option. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir," choired the four spies.

"Good." He straightened and fixed his tie. The elder Bartowskis stood up. Graham extended his hand and Stephen shook it first. "Good luck, Orion," he said.

He turned to Mary and offered his hand. Instead of shaking it, she enveloped in a brief hug. "Goodbye, Langston," she smiled as he awkwardly tried to fix his suit. The man had been her partner for almost three years, and had helped to save her family. From her point of view, a handshake wasn't enough to show him her eternal gratitude.

Graham took a last glance at them, and Casey and Sarah nodded respectfully. Chuck waved his hand as the CIA Director walked out of Castle.

As soon as he was out of sight, Mary addressed Sarah. "Should we get to work?"

"Sure," she replied with a smile.

"Follow me. I told Langston to put all the files in the other room because I know Stephen likes to be closer to the computers, and we won't be using those anyway."

Sarah followed her and smiled at Chuck as she brushed against him in her way to the adjacent room. Chuck smiled back and Sarah thought he had never looked more adorable, with that enthusiastic look on his face, his coffee-stained shirt and his pocket protector.

Stephen turned to look at his son, who was sporting a goofy grin and decided it was time for them to start working too. When he heard his father call his name, Chuck sobered up and gave him a questioning look.

Stephen smiled and said, "I think your mother's got the right idea. What do you say if we get on this?"

"Sure." Chuck could barely contain his excitement. This was really happening. He was actually in an underground secret base, with his super-spies parents, a grumpy Colonel, a field agent who had gotten his memory erased and a gorgeous CIA agent, who just happened to like him. In his mind, things couldn't get any better.

"This is gonna be great!" he said with a giant grin.

Not even the loud grunt that followed his statement was able to diminish his enthusiasm.

A/N: and that was chapter three. I don't want to make any promises because I'm starting to work on the next HMH chapter, so I guess I'll see you when I see you. Hopefully, it'll be sooner rather than later.

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!