A/N: This took a lot longer than I had hoped but I think it says everything I wanted to do in this chapter. Please let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck.

One month ago – Location unknown.

Chuck groaned loudly as his mind slowly returned to consciousness. He tried to reach a hand up to rub at his temples, hoping to relieve the onset of a splitting headache when he found that he couldn't move his hands. His eyes popped open as he suddenly remember getting tranq'd by Forrest. Taking a quick look around, Chuck found himself restrained with his arms and leg firmly strapped to a metal chair in the middle of a large, overly lit, circular room.

He strained against his bindings slightly, while wondering if he had finally been shut away in a bunker like Beckman had always threatened. Not really what I had expected, Chuck thought to himself as he gave up trying to get free. His headache getting worse by the minute and the blinding light from the ceiling simply was not helping.

A whooshing sound from behind Chuck made him instinctively crane his neck to try and see what was happening but to no avail. He heard footsteps, lots of footsteps, as a group of men walked into his line of sight. All but two were wearing long white coats, marking them as scientists or doctors of some sort. One of the group, an aging man wearing glasses stood passively at the back of the group, not engaging in the chatter of the rest while the last a portly older man wearing a Hawaiian shirt had his back to Chuck.

"Hey guys?" called Chuck. "This is really uncomfortable and I could use an aspirin, my head's killing me."

The chatter died down immediately as the portly man turned around to face him. Chuck couldn't help the gasp that escaped him, he would know that face anywhere.

"Oh my god, Ted Roark!" Chuck gushed. "I'm a huge fan!"

"Oh please, call me Teddy," Roark said, his lips parting in a smile. "I must say, I'm a huge fan as well, Agent Carmichael... Or should I call you Bartowski."

Chuck's eyes widened at the implications of what Roark was saying. There were only one scenario that he could think of which involved Roark having access to such classified information.

"You work for the CIA?" Chuck asked incredulously, eyes wide in surprise.

"Not exactly, Charles, but where are my manners," Roark's smile turning into a smirk, sending a chill down Chuck's spine. Roark swept his hand around the large room. "Welcome to Fulcrum's headquarters. I'd give you a tour but it looks like you're a bit tied up."

Fulcrum... No, that can't be right, Casey and Forrest were protecting me...

"I can literally see your brain steaming ahead, trying to understand everything but do not worry Charles, I'm not a monser..." Roark trailed off before bursting into an uproarious laugh. "Okay, I'm a little bit of a monster but today's your lucky day. Get this man some aspirin."

Chuck squinted at Roark, wondering just who he was talking to since none of the men he was with seemed to follow his command, when he heard the whooshing sound again. Must be a door behind me, he thought as more footsteps followed before a familiar figure entered his sight.

"Forrest?" Chuck squeaked out, not expecting to see the robotic agent, especially not walking around in Fulcrum's headquarters carrying... Aspirin?

Forrest didn't answer Chuck, simply walking up to him, grabbing onto his hair and jerking his head back. As Chuck opened his mouth in a yelp of surprise and pain, Forrest dumped the couple of pills she held in her hand into his mouth then forcibly shut it by pushing up his jaw.

Once she was satisfied that Chuck had ingested whatever those pills were, Forrest moved over, out of his sight but still within the room. Chuck strained his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of anyone else who might be standing behind him but to no avail.

"You're wondering about Major Casey, I suppose." Roark asks, his nice-guy persona once again slipping into place. "Well, let's just say he won't be 'standing around' anymore."

Anxiety, shock and disbelief flooded Chuck's mind. He isn't... Chuck couldn't bring himself to finish the thought. The last month with Forrest around had been hell but Chuck still held Casey in pretty high regard. Casey had, after all, saved his life on a weekly basis and before that disastrous 49B that had ruined everything, Chuck could honestly swear that he thought he was finally getting to the man.

Seeing the look on Chuck's face, Roark continued on with his verbal torment. "Oh, no, no Charlie, is it alright if I call you Charlie? No matter, now where was I... Oh, right, the Major. You see Charlie, our good friend Forrest," Roark motioned vaguely in a direction. "Put a bullet in his back. The latest info coming out of Fort Meade is he was mostly paralyzed from the waist down. Such a shame really."

Roark's comments sent Chuck reeling. Casey, paralyzed. Forrest, working for Fulcrum... How could I not have known? Why didn't I flash? What's happened to Ellie? Sarah?

"Oh, and if you're wondering how the super computer lodged inside that noggin of yours didn't identify Agent Forrest," Roark said, walking over and poking a pudgy finger at Chuck's forehead. "I wouldn't worry too much about it. You see, Forrest here is a recent addition to Fulcrum, only a couple of months in to her tenure and I dare say she's gotten herself a promotion! Jim, make a note."

The assembled group of doctors and scientists began looking at each other, confused. Roark frowned at them for a moment, before his face cleared, as if having suddenly solved the latest clue in a crossword puzzle. "Wrong office, well, I'm sure someone will remind me. Gentleman," Roark booms suddenly. "Onwards!"

Pointing one hand to where Chuck assumes is the door, the group begins moving out of the room. The single man who was not dressed in a white lab coat lingers behind, touching Chuck's shoulder briefly and leaned down to speak quietly into his ear.

"I cannot wait to have my time with you, Carmichael," he says, an accent tinging his every word. European? Chuck thinks briefly before the man straightens back up, pats Chuck's shoulder once more and continues on.

Once he is left alone again, his mind begins to whir in a hundred different directions a second as his new reality settles in. If they know about me, they know about Ellie! Sarah is still out there, she'll save me! But she doesn't know I'm here... Maybe Casey will tell her... The CIA will come find me, they'll protect Ellie... THEY COULDN'T EVEN PROTECT ME.

The Present – CIA Substation, code-name designation: Castle

"Report."

"Yes General. As you are aware, Agent Walker was able to elude surveillance for several hours while in the Buy More plaza yesterday," Agent Hawkins began.

"I am well aware of the CIA's inability to maintain surveillance on a single agent." the NSA director sneered.

"Be that as it may, General," Agent Hawkins replied, bristling at the comment, he couldn't help but add on his own jab at the NSA. "It was your agency that was supposed to pick out moles within our midsts. But that isn't the point here."

"And what, do tell, is the point Agent." Beckman growled out angrily, unable to refute Hawkin's accusation.

"When Agent Walker reappeared and entered the Buy More, we lost her again on camera surveillance but tracked her leaving the Buy More through the loading dock. We combed the employee area and found a note that Agent Walker had left in Morgran Grimes' locker."

"And what did this note say?"

"The note, which our analysts have deduced matches Agent Walker's handwriting to a ninety-nine percent probability in which a meeting with Agent Walker and Eleanor Bartowski has been planned at a local pizza parlor. The note is fairly succinct with instructions on when to arrive and how to dress. Oh, and that they will be ordering the supreme with extra pineapples."

"Mmmm," Beckman groused. "What about the fiance of Eleanor Bartowski? Was he not mentioned?"

"We have concluded that since Agent Walker's recent arrival in Los Angeles, she has made no attempt to contact a Dr. Devon Woodcomb. Also, our analysts have concluded through vigorous readings of Agent Walker and Major Casey's reports that interactions with Devon Woodcomb were kept to a minimum and that they did not believe he posed a sufficient risk to the Intersect Project.

"Based on our own crypto-analytical algorithm system, we concur with Agent Walker and Major Casey's assessment."

"Very well then, I am seconding two teams of NSA cleaners for the purpose of intercepting and detaining Agent Walker, Ellie Bartowski and Morgan Grimes. They will be at your disposal and will follow your instructions to the T."

"Yes ma'am. We will mobilize and attempt to infiltrate the pizza staff discreetly as well as have the location under surveillance should Agent Walker decide to pull something early. We will be on site for the remainder of the day so please send the teams to the location that is being forwarded to you now."

A single beep from the monitor indicated that the intel they had gathered had finished transmitting to Beckman's end. "Very well, Agent Hawkins, I expect a full report upon the completion of the mission."

"Yes ma'am." Hawkins had barely finished his sentence before the screen before him beeped and went blank.

Turning away from the screen, he mumbled underneath his breath. "Damn NSA."

Westside Medical Center

The moment Devon heard her voice, he stopped struggling though he did twist his head around to stare at her accusingly.

"I'm going to let you up now but you need to stay down and out of sight, we need to talk and it's extremely important that you listen."

"What the hell Sarah," Devon exclaimed loudly once Sarah removed her hand, causing Sarah to clap it right over his mouth again.

"Quiet, I can't be seen here right now." Sarah hissed before removing her hand again.

"What the hell!" Devon says again, though his voice is now much softer.

"Look, it can't be comfortable being pressed against the ground like this so I'm going to let you up but you must keep low or someone might see you."

Sarah quickly released Devon's hands from behind his back before hoisting him off the ground as best as she can, crouched the way she is. It takes a chaotic minute of tangled limbs but Devon eventually found himself crouched alongside Sarah, hidden from view by a couple of cars.

"Devon, I need you to listen to me carefully, okay?" Sarah asks quickly, sweeping her eyes across the parking garage just to make sure she didn't miss anything.

"Alright but I need some answers as well."

"Fair enough. First, what do you know about what happened to Chuck."

"What happened to... Isn't Chuck with you?"

"No, he isn't, why would you think that?"

"Because that's what his note said."

"Note? Devon, we need to speed this along, I be asking you questions every couple of seconds trying to get the full picture."

"Sorry, I'm just really freaking about all this cloak and dagger thing. It's like we're in a spy movie or something."

"Just... just tell me what happened to Chuck."

"Well Ellie and I came home after a long shift and found a note on the dining table that Chuck left," Devon frowned, a though occurring to him. "Or we thought he left. Anyway, it said he was wrong about dumping you and that he was following you to Europe so he could make amends. Ellie thought it was so romantic. That's it. Now spill, what the hell is happening here?

That explains why Ellie asked me about Chuck. Sarah thought. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Sarah began her own explanations.

"Devon, I need you to listen to me very closely. I'm not who you think I am. I don't really work at the Orange Orange, let me finish." Sarah said when she saw that Devon was about to interrupt her. "I'm a covert agent of the Central Intelligence Agency, or was... I'm not sure, and Chuck was a high level intelligence asset that both Casey, yes John Casey, your neighbor, and I were supposed to protect."

"Then why did you leave?" Devon quickly asked.

Sarah rolled her eyes at the doctor's inability to let her finish her explanation.

"I left because the CIA dictated it. They felt that I was getting too emotionally attached to my asset."

"Emotionally attached?"

"Stop asking me questions, you're making me explain things out of order." Exhaling loudly, Sarah got her thoughts in order before continuing. "Okay. The basics are this; Chuck saw something that made him extremely valuable to the government so Casey and I were stationed in Burbank to watch over him. To be able to stay close to him, Chuck was ordered to pretend that I was his girlfriend. Everything else like our jobs at the Buy More and Orange Orange were all just covers so that we could watch over Chuck more closely."

"You say pretend to be his girlfriend? None of that was real?"

"It..." Sarah faltered. "It wasn't... but it is."

"And Chuck, he's a spy?"

"Well, not technical..."

"Awesome!" Devon breathes out, a grin splitting his face.

"What?"

"I knew Chuck wasn't some loser stuck at the Buy More!"

Sarah smiles understandingly, Chuck was so much more than the Buy More, he just hadn't realized it yet. Her thoughts are interrupted by a sudden question from Devon.

"Wait a minute. If you didn't leave Chuck, why did Casey leave? And what about that Alex woman? Was she just one of you guys? And where is Chuck?"

And here comes the hard questions, Sarah thought. "Casey was shot in the line of duty, he's been taken off active duty. Alex Forrest is... was a member of the CIA, I am so sorry about what she did to you, Chuck and I were firmly against it. And as for Chuck... he's been kidnapped."

"Woah, not cool. What do you mean kidnapped? Weren't there agents who were supposed to protect him?"

"Casey and Forrest were supposed to protect him," Sarah explains, her patience running dry as she quickly glances at her watch to see how long she had before the next phase of the plan. Enough, for now. "The only problem is we didn't realize Forrest was working for rogue faction in the CIA. This faction, Fulcrum, wants Chuck because whoever controls Chuck, controls the tide of the secret war being waged behind the scenes."

She could see that Devon was about to ask another question and while a part of her knew that she had to answer all these and more, this simply was not the time and place for a question and answer segment. Sarah also wanted Ellie to hear everything she had to see, she owed Ellie that much, at least.

"Devon," Sarah says sharply, cutting off whatever he was going to say. "I'll answer all your questions later but now, I need your help, I need you to be awesome. Can you be awesome?"

Ellie was extremely excited to see Sarah again, in no small part because she really wanted some news about Chuck. Ever since she read the note he had left behind two months ago, Ellie had heard nothing from her brother and had grown increasingly worried and hysterical. When Sarah had called, it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulder. She was still slightly curious about why it was Sarah calling her to talk about it but any news about her little brother was welcome.

Devon had left the hospital after his scheduled surgery and she had eyed him with no small amount of envy after he had come by her station to say he was leaving. While Devon had seemed completely normal when leaving, by the time she got home from the hospital for what she hoped would be a nice, relaxing soak in the tub before heading out to meet Sarah, Devon looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Honey!" Ellie called sharply. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothings wrong. I just remembered, that is I realized that I was going to drop by the Buy More, and go to it to pick up something."

Ellie looked at Devon quizzically for a brief second before shrugging her shoulders and headed to their room for a change of clothing. "We'll leave a bit early and drop by the Buy More, it's on the way."

Devon just stared off into empty space as Sarah's instructions continued to echo in his mind. When he heard Ellie's ultimatum, he let out a huge breath. "Awesome."

As Ellie walked into the Buy More, a pang of nostalgia hit her like a ton of bricks. She almost expected to see Chuck sitting at the Nerd Herd desk as he always did, as if nothing had ever changed. But things have changed, Ellie thought. Instead of Chuck sitting at the desk, it was the terrible duo, Jeff and Lester.

Ellie silently admonished herself; Chuck had left, chasing after Sarah two months ago and she hadn't heard from him at all. She was almost inclined to believe it was all a lie. Chuck never, ever made her worry like he had over the last two months.

Before Ellie could plunge deeper into the line of thinking, a short bearded man slid to a stop in front of Ellie and Devon, making the duo back up a bit at surprise.

"Ellie, Devon, what a pleasure. I haven't seen the you in awhile. Have you heard from Sarah? She invited me to pizza tonight, isn't that great? Maybe I'll be able to talk to Chuck too!" Morgan just about gushed in excitement.

Remembering Sarah's instructions, Devon pulled Morgan close to him, draping a shoulder over his shoulders and leaned down to whisper the one word she had said would make Morgan understand.

"Pineapple."

Morgan's eyes widened in surprise before he quickly pulled himself out from underneath Devon's arms and sprinted off down the center aisle, headed straight for Jeff and Lester.

"What did you say to him?" Ellie asked, one delicate eyebrow arched as she surveyed her future husband.

Just like he had with Morgan, Devon reached over and pulled Ellie to him, draping his arm across her shoulder.

"Don't panic, you have to trust me."

Before Ellie could reply, the blare of the fire alarm erupted throughout the store and the stomping of feet belong to the early evening crowd drew both their attention towards the literal horde that was headed straight for them. Devon quickly pushed himself onto the tips of his toes, trying to spot Morgan but given just how short he really was, it was a futile attempt.

The surging crowd enveloped Ellie and Devon and they were forcibly pushed from the store as the distant sound of sirens could be heard. Just as the two of them cleared the sliding entrance to the store, Morgan somehow magically appeared next to Ellie and asked if they were all right. Knowing that time was of the essence, Devon quickly grabbed hold of both Ellie and Morgan and scanned the parking lot. He found what he was looking for within a second. Parked near the entrance to the adjacent Large Mart was a mid-sized delivery truck that wasn't there when they had first arrived at the door.

Remembering Sarah's instructions, Devon guided the three of them over to the large expanse of wall between the Buy More and Large Mart and hurried towards the truck, hugging the wall as they moved. Morgan and Ellie protested his handling of them, shooting off question after question at Devon but he ignored them.

It was the longest two minutes of his life, Devon felt, before he finally reached the truck. The back was conveniently open and he literally threw Morgan into the cargo area before climbing in, still firmly holding on to Ellie. Once he was sure everyone and their limbs were inside, Devon held out his hand towards Ellie and Morgan.

"Give me both your phones!"

"What, Devon, what is going on?"

"Look, I'm just follow instructions and those instructions told me to make sure I got the both of you into this truck and dropped your phones off before shutting us in."

"Instructions? Whose instructions are these?"

"Dude, this is so not cool. Are you trying to kidnap us or something? And who told you about Pineapple? Only Chuck would make that kind of call"

Taking a deep, calming breath, Devon wondered if this was how Sarah had felt earlier.

"Sarah told me to do this. She also told me that she will explain everything to you herself."

"What? Sarah?"

"Just give me your phones! And keep quiet!" he said harshly, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Shocked at his tone of voice, both quieted down immediately. Looking quickly at his watch, Devon realized he was almost out of time. Sarah had been extremely clear about the fact that they only had five minutes from the moment the alarm went off till the time the police and fire department arrived on scene, which could prove disastrous.

Looking at his watch, Devon realized he had about a minute to get everything going according to plan. Neither of them made to retrieve their phones, so Devon reached over into Ellie's purse and fished out her phone to her cry of protest. He then grabbed Morgan by his collar and gingerly reached two fingers into Morgan's pocket, in search of the bearded troll's phone.

Once he had both phones in hand, he quickly proceeded to pull out both batteries and dumped it all out the back before closing the door and locking it in place from the inside. In the confusion that was spreading in the Buy More plaza, no one even noticed the three of them in the truck or the brief argument that had followed before the door was slammed shut.

Even though it was pitch black inside the container now, Devon could swear that he felt both Ellie and Morgan staring at him and he gulped nervously, wishing that the truck would just move. While he was certain that he could handle Morgan, Ellie was a much more formidably opponent and he doubted anything could quell her incoming anger except for Sarah's explanation.

Almost as if someone was answering his prayer, the three hidden occupants felt before they heard the engine start up. A few seconds later and the truck lurched forward, pulling away from Large Mart, the Buy More and, most importantly, the CIA agents who had been scrambling all over Castle, looking for an explanation as to why the fire alarm above their secret base had suddenly gone off.

The extremely tense silence in the darkness continued for about an hour before the truck began slowing down. A couple of minutes after the engine died down, the door was wrenched open and the early evening light caused all the occupants to shield their eyes. Once their eyes had sufficiently re acclimated to light, the trio looked out in surprise to see a tall, thin man with a scruffy beard covering his face and a Large Mart baseball capped pulled low, obscuring his eyes. Devon was particularly surprised because Sarah had told him, herself, that she would be the one getting them away from the Buy More.

The man motioned for them to exit the vehicle and they found themselves at the top of what looked like a multi-story parking structure. They followed wordlessly behind the man as they made their way over to a late model SUV where, as indicated by their mysterious guide, they quickly squeezed into the backseat. It wasn't long before they were once again off on the road, Ellie, Morgan and even Devon wondering exactly what was happening.

When the man finally spoke, as they merged onto the I-5 headed towards Sacramento, they were all extremely shocked to hear the voice of Sarah Walker.

"I'm sorry for all the cloak and dagger," Sarah said, oblivious to the hanging jaws of shock in the backseat. "But I needed to get all of you aware from Burbank and to somewhere safe, as soon as I could."

When only silence met her statement, Sarah glanced into the rear view mirror, trying to see what was happening. She almost chuckled when she saw the bewildered faces of her passengers.

"Just sit back and relax, for now. I'll explain everything once we reach a safe location."

It had been an extremely trying thirty-six hours for Sarah Walker. Most importantly, she had barely slept over the last forty-eight hours, determining that it was imperative that she not stop till they were all safe. This meant that other than quick stops at isolated gas stations that hadn't been renovated since the 1950s, she relentlessly drove on.

The next thing that had plagued her, though briefly, had been Ellie. Devon had remained mostly quiet during the first few hours where Ellie had commanded Sarah to explain exactly what was going on. Sarah had maintained that it wasn't safe to talk until she had reached the safe house and after awhile, the two women had come to some sort of unspoken truce.

The most trying part of the journey, lay firmly on the diminutive shoulders of Morgan Grimes. While Ellie and Sarah had called a truce, Morgan simply would not stop badgering the other people he shared the SUV with. He seemed to be the proverbial child asking a continuous stream of questions, most annoyingly "Are we there yet?"

It was with a great amount of relief that Sarah finally pulled into the driveway of the safe house. Located about fifteen miles outside of Seattle, she was convinced that it would be safe enough for her charges to hide out while she and Orion hunted down Fulcrum and saved Chuck. What would happen after that was a matter she would bring up with Orion soon.

As she got out of the driver's seat, Sarah pulled off the cap she was wearing, refusing to remove it just in case her likeness was caught on any camera while on the way to the safe house. After shaking out her hair which she had pulled into a pile under the cap, she pulled off the scratchy beard and the prosthetic nose that she had used to alter the shape of her face. By the time Ellie, Devon and Morgan had gotten out the car, the man with the beard was gone and in his place stood Sarah Walker, exhausted with dark smudges under her eyes but unmistakably the woman who had spent almost the last two years with Chuck.

Seeing that Ellie had decided their truce was over, Sarah ushered the group into the house before the barrage of questions could begin. As they began piling into the living room, a woman came into the room, followed closely behind by a man who bore a striking resemblance to someone Sarah knew all too well. It can't be... Sarah dismissed the notion.

"Mom, Orion, I'd like you to meet Ellie Ba..." her sentence was cutoff when Ellie suddenly crumpled to the floor. Looking at her in alarm, Sarah knelt beside her, trying to figure out what was wrong. What Ellie said next caused Sarah to whip her head back to facing the man she knew as Orion.

"Dad?"

To be continued...

A/N: Happy Easter to those celebrating it, happy Sunday to those who don't. It took me awhile to get this chapter to read like how I wanted it to though, as always, I've been staring at this for so long that I've got no idea what is what anymore

Please let me know if you see any glaring errors and mistakes or if you just like it.

Cheers.