All the standard disclaimers: I don't own Chuck or any other character in his fictional world. I don't have a beta reader, so all mistakes are my own.

This is my first fanfic, and I honestly never thought I would write one. I've always been more of a reader. So far, it's been a lot of work but, at the same time, also a lot of fun.

The reviews I get along the way are what keep me going, so please leave your thoughts and impressions of the story in the review section for me.

Thanks for trusting me with a small piece of your imagination, and, your time.

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Chapter 5

Speeding aggressively, Casey manages to drive from Burbank to Barstow in just under an hour and 50 minutes. He's been carefully watching the rear-view and side mirrors the entire way, to catch any sign that they're being followed. He hasn't seen anything out of the ordinary. So far.

As he exits Intestate 15, he throws a quick glance at his tired passenger. He's worried about her. She doesn't look good. Sarah notices him studying her, gives him a half-smile and stares out the window again. They've both seen better days. The seasoned agents are on edge, and it's impossible for either of them to hide it…especially from each other. They're doing their very best to try and keep danger as far away from Chuck as possible. The things is, they both know that no matter how hard they try, danger still seems to find the lovable nerd anyway.

Sarah, for her part, is hoping against hope that Chuck is hiding right here in Barstow. She's praying that she'll get to see his kind face, his soft brown eyes, his inviting smile, in the next few minutes. Casey's told her more than once over the last hour that he thinks Chuck is leading them, slowly and deliberately, to him; that Barstow is just the first breadcrumb in a list of clues, but Sarah doesn't want that to be true.

They've arrived. Casey pulls the Crown Vic into the nearly empty parking lot of the run-down motel. The motel where he'd finally caught up to Chuck and Sarah when the two of them had been on the run in a desperate attempt to locate and save Chuck's father. That'd been less than a week ago, but as Casey shuts the engine down, he realizes it feels like a month has passed between then and now. Maybe even a year.

Without a word, the two agents step out of the car, each of them holding firmly onto the handles of their guns, still mostly concealed in the waistbands of their pants. They walk quickly and silently to the door of the room where Sarah and Chuck had spent the night. Gently pressing her ear to the door, Sarah listens for any sign of someone inside. She hears nothing. Letting go of the handle of her weapon, and lowering the back of her dark blue shirt over it, she puts a warm smile on her face and knocks twice. No answer. Her smile vanishes. Dropping to one knee, Sarah pulls out a small metal tool and picks the lock. With Casey covering her, she slowly turns the doorknob and opens it.

There's no one waiting for them inside. Her heart relaxing and sinking at the same time, Sarah accepts the fact that the room really is empty. Chuck isn't hiding here, waiting to be rescued. Casey walks in after her and quietly closes the door behind him. Sarah slowly slides down with her back against the wall. Casey cautiously checks under the bed, the bathroom, and the closet. "No one's here, Walker. I'm sorry to say it, but I guess I was right. I was kind of hoping myself, that we'd open the door and find Bartowski cowering under the bed or something. But at least he left us that."

Nodding straight ahead, Casey shows Sarah something she'd missed at first glance. Orion's laptop – the one he'd sent Chuck at the Buy More – is sitting out on the small wooden table across the room for them. Scrambling to her feet, Sarah rushes over to the computer and opens it. As soon as she does, a retinal scan program launches. Two seconds later, the screen is filled with the image of Chuck's face.

He offers a weak smile that fails to reach his eyes, and starts to speak. "Hey Sarah. If you're watching this, then you've figured out the clue I left you to get you to our room in Barstow. And, by now, you know I'm no longer there." Those last few words cause Chuck's expression to turn dark. Sarah reaches out to the touch screen. She runs her finger slowly down the side of his digitally recorded face. Casey clears his throat loudly behind her. She instantly withdraws her hand and places it back in her lap.

The video of Chuck continues. "I was able to watch a feed of Beckman's meeting with you and Casey on the laptop I took from Castle. I know I only have a total of 48 hours before she sends someone to kill me. I guess I kind of figured she'd react something like that, but I honestly thought I'd have more time." Chuck looks down and shakes his head. He slowly looks up at the camera again, a weary look in his eyes. "Look, anyway, the bottom line is, I understand that I'll need your help to get out of this alive before it's all said and done, but I don't want you to have to be a part of this, one second sooner than you absolutely have to. So, I decided to leave you in the dark for a little while. If I've planned this correctly, you should be in Barstow about the time that I have 39 or 40 hours left before Beckman…well, you know. I left this computer behind so that from this point on, we can communicate without anyone else knowing. My father assures me that this laptop is completely untraceable. No known technology of the CIA, NSA, or the Ring can hack into the security he built into this thing. The wrist computer he gave me is linked directly to the laptop. I have the wrist computer with me at all times. I'm going to try and make contact with you through the laptop in the next few hours. Take it with you. Keep heading west. And Sarah…I really hope Casey's with you. We're better as a team." Chuck hesitates for handful of seconds, like he wants to say something more. But he doesn't. The screen on the laptop goes black.

Tears have formed in Sarah's eyes as she's been watching the video of Chuck, and now she's doing everything she can to pull herself together before Casey notices. But when she feels a large, firm hand rest on her right shoulder and give her a gentle squeeze, she loses it. Suddenly sobbing and deeply ashamed that she's letting Casey see her this way, Sarah covers her face with her hands. She has to get herself under control. Casey lets go of her shoulder and sits back down on the bed. Sighing, he says, "Look, just let it out, Sarah. It doesn't get any more real than this. It doesn't get any harder than this. Someone…we…care deeply for is in danger of losing his life. Nothing in our training prepares us to lose someone we love. Nothing."

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Chuck is sitting next to a stranger. A raven haired, green-eyed, gorgeous, stranger. Apparently, there's some kind of unwritten rule that average-looking girls need not apply to become covert intelligence agents.

They haven't spoken a word to one another since they got in the car. The woman in the driver's seat is a complete mystery. He hasn't flashed on her, and she obviously isn't interested in filling him in on the details at the moment. As if that isn't confusing enough, she seems to know him…speaks his name and looks at him like they're long-lost friends. Chuck's been in this kind of situation before, where he's trapped with someone who knows all about him, while he knows absolutely nothing about them. It never works out well.

He has to get her to talk, has to make her as comfortable with him as possible, because once that happens, she's bound to make a mistake, slip up, accidentally give him more information than she means to. Chuck may struggle with a lot of things, but getting a cold personality to warm up, well, that, he can do. Distracted, his mind takes him back instantly to the second Christmas he and Sarah shared together, the one where she'd refused to come to his Bartowski Family Christmas, because as she said, "I don't do Christmas." Chuck hadn't been able to believe what he was hearing. It'd felt like a challenge…a challenge he could actually win. With a playful gleam in his eyes, he'd told Sarah, "Prepare to be heart-warmed." She did. And she was.

If "heart-warming" this new, nameless agent will help him see Sarah again, Chuck is more than ready to meet that challenge. Clearing his throat, he glances nervously in her direction. "So, uh, this is a, a really great car. I mean, I'm not much of a car guy, but even I can tell that this is a pretty sweet ride."

No answer. Then, after a moment… "Chuck, this isn't my car. It belongs to the people I work for. It's fine I guess. But if I were going to choose, I'd take a Nissan GT-R. I do like the color on this Caddy, though. Black's always best, if you ask me."

"Yeah, I like black too, although I think I might prefer a Porsche to a Nissan. I don't know."

"You mean you'd prefer the kind of car Sarah used to drive?" The ghost of a smile plays across her face.

Chuck loses his patience. He can't wait any longer to get at least some idea of who this woman is and why she knows so much about him. "Look, how do you know what kind of car Sarah used to drive? How do you know about Sarah, for that matter? How do you know my name is Chuck and not Special Agent Carmichael? How did you know I was staying in that motel room, and how in the hell did you know that those Ring agents were going to find me? You showing up at the precise moment I needed your help…That's some pretty convenient timing, don't you think? Why in the world would I believe for a second that you aren't with them?

"Chuck, I realize how all this looks…trust me. I'd be feeling the same kind of frustration and confusion you're feeling right now, if I were in your position. I can't tell you nearly enough to answer all your questions, but I will tell you a few things…I work for the CIA. I've been working on the Intersect project from the beginning. Well, nearly the beginning. Once Director Graham found out he'd have to play nice with Beckman and the NSA, he formed a secret team of people whose sole purpose was to make sure that the Intersect intelligence data never fell into the wrong hands. We had access to every video feed, every audio recording, everything, related to the Human Intersect Project. I've been watching you since that idiot Doctor Zarnow tried to sell you to the highest bidder. I was listening in when the CIA agent you know as Sarah Walker asked you to trust her, but not to believe that she was always telling you the truth. Whatever the hell that means. If I remember correctly, you'd just 'killed' her chocolate soufflé at a family get together. You were alone together in the bathroom, and you were scared for your life. Which, you should have been, by the way. I can keep going, if you want me to. The 4 hour sandwich debates, the all-night Call of Duty parties, the two times Bryce came back and nearly ruined everything between you and your heart's desire, the time you gave Agent Walker your mother's charm bracelet…"

"No, no, that's enough." Chuck really had heard enough. More than enough. "You've more than proven that you've been watching me and listening in on my private conversations for over two years now. That kind of information would have totally freaked me out back then, but now, I really don't give a crap. That's just how things are." What a horrible truth to have to admit. And accept. He looks out the window feeling sorry for himself, forgetting for a moment that he's trying to get helpful intel out of her.

His kidnapper takes notice. She tries to say something to make him feel better. "It must be pretty hard to be the most important intelligence asset in the world. No privacy. No real freedom. The pressure you must go through every single day. I've watched how you've handled all this, and I've gotta tell you Chuck, you've done better than anyone could have ever asked for…you've done far better than Graham ever dreamed, that's for sure." Her voice carries a softness in it that wasn't there before.

If she's playing Chuck, she's doing one hell of an acting job. He turns to face her once again. "I guess the main thing that isn't adding up for me in your story, is why it's just the two of us in this car, and why you haven't tried to make contact with anyone else at all. You keep mentioning the fact that Director Graham placed you in a team. So…where are your teammates?"

Staring at the road rushing towards them, she answers with a voice just above a whisper. "They're all gone, Chuck. Graham and the other two agents on my team were killed in the explosion of the first beta version of the new Intersect. Well, that's actually not true. The last agent connected to my mission died a few nights ago, trying to save you from all this."

"Bryce Larkin." Chuck pronounces the name of his slain friend carefully. It always seems to come back to Larkin one way or another.

"Yes. Bryce. He was the only other person alive who knew about me, my mission, my objectives, and now he's gone. We were never close, but I'm still going to miss having him around." The sorrow in her voice is hard to ignore.

Chuck responds, "Well, we were close, very close…at least once, anyway. And even with all the trouble he's managed to cause me over the past few years…I'll miss him too." Chuck lets silence fall between them for a few minutes. She seems like she's telling the truth; but then again, he always tends to trust people, even when he shouldn't. "So, where are we going, where are you taking me?"

Taking her captivating green eyes off the road for less than a second to look straight at him, she explains, "Chuck, all I can tell you right now, is that I'm taking you to a CIA safe house in Denver. Director Graham obtained five strategically located safe houses in the States, and no one else has knowledge of their existence – but me – at this point. Theoretically anyway. Regardless, getting you to the safe house in Denver is my best shot at keeping you protected from the Ring. They've apparently been watching you as closely as I have. We have no idea for how long, but we have to assume it's at least been since you uploaded the new Intersect software. If it's been longer, we may have a much larger problem on our hands."

"How could we possible have a 'larger' problem on our hands? How could things possibly be worse?" Chuck's head is suddenly spinning with all kinds of disaster scenarios.

"Chuck, you really don't understand? You can't see where this thing is headed? If the Ring's been watching you long enough, they already know about Ellie, Devon, your father, Morgan, your feelings for Sarah, they'll know all the people they can use to get you out of hiding."

"And if they don't already know, they're going to know soon enough, aren't they?" Chuck can't believe that he'd overlooked this dreadful consequence of running and hiding from the Ring. Of course they'll go after the people he loves. It should've been obvious to him from the start. As much as he's learned, he still doesn't know how to think like a cold-blooded killer. He still doesn't know how to think like a Ring agent. Most importantly, he doesn't know how to think like the dangerous woman sitting next to him who forced him into the car with a gun. Her story adds up, but it just seems too convenient…too good to be true.

She turns to him, reaches out to take his left hand, and quietly says, "You're not the only one with a short-term time limit on your life, Chuck."

He pulls his hand from hers. The truth is devastating. He sees Ellie's face flash in his mind. And then his Dad, and Devon, and Morgan, and last of all, he sees Sarah.

"I think I'm gonna throw up. Pull over. Please."

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Sarah and Casey are back in the Crown Vic. Headed west, just like Chuck told them. Orion's computer – their lifeline to Chuck – is resting safely on her lap. Chuck had left a black bag along with the computer...inside the carrying case, Sarah had found not only a normal wall plug-in power supply, but a car charger for the laptop as well. She has it plugged into the cigarette lighter socket, nervously waiting for Chuck to make contact with them.

It's only been a little over an hour since they watched the video from Chuck, and she knows that he said that he'd be trying to reach them in "the next few hours," but she's not about to miss him if he tries to make contact a little earlier. She keeps staring at the blank screen, wishing for Chuck's face to suddenly appear.

She glances over at Casey. Things have been different between the two of them since she fell apart in the motel room in Barstow. She hadn't cried like that…well…she hadn't cried like that since she found out her father had been hauled off to prison. Back in that motel room, Casey had given her permission to be a normal human being for a moment instead of an emotionless agent, and she took him up on it. After about three minutes of sobbing, she was done. She'd gone into the bathroom and washed her face. When she came back out, she'd felt braver than she had before. She knew that in allowing her to embrace her fear for Chuck, Casey had helped her remember that her feelings for Chuck didn't have to be a weakness…they could be her greatest source of strength.

"Walker, quit staring at me like that. You're starting to freak me out."

"Sorry Casey. I just wanted to thank you for what you did back there."

"Yeah, yeah, I've had this exact same discussion with Bartowski before. I catch you when you fall and all that other crap. Just keep it together long enough to express any warm fuzzy feelings you might be experiencing to Chuck and not to me." The smile that almost breaks across the big man's face tells Sarah that he knows what she's trying to say. "Nothing from Chuck on the laptop yet, huh?"

"Nothing."

"Well, I haven't seen any sign that we're being followed. None of that matters if the Ring has access to satellite imaging, of course, but there's nothing we can do about it, if they do. We're passing through Baker, a town I've never heard of. I need something to eat. What about you?"

"If you'll do drive-thru, I'm fine with it. I guess I'm starving myself. I just don't want to waste any time getting as far west as we can as fast as we can."

"Agreed."

Sarah glances back at the screen. At first, she thinks her eyes are playing tricks on her. But the longer she stares, the more sure she is that her name really is flashing back at her in green lettering on the screen. Forgetting to type, she simply asks out loud, "Chuck? Is that you?"

The screen: Yes.

"You can hear me?"

The screen: Kind of. Look there's no time. Get to Denver. Someone is taking me there against my will. I'm sorry I was so careless and stupid. I have to go – C.

Her stomach dropping at the information, Sarah turns to Casey. "We have to find an airport. Now. Someone has Chuck."

Growling in understanding, Casey reaches for his cell phone.

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Chuck had walked a few steps away from the black Cadillac before he fell to the ground and pretended to get sick. He used the sounds of his fake retching to distract from the fact that he was frantically typing on his wrist computer to Sarah. When she responded, he was so relieved. She'd found the laptop and they could now communicate. He couldn't actually hear Sarah on the other end; the laptop simply converted her speech into text for him to read. He'd give anything to really hear her voice. Anything.

Having typed his message to Sarah as quickly as he could, he is now wiping his mouth and walking back towards the car. Taking a deep breath, he opens the door.

"You okay Chuck?" His CIA kidnapper looks up at him like she actually cares about how he's feeling.

"I'm done throwing up. I still feel like crap. I just hate how often my spy life hurts everyone in my real life. No matter how hard I try, it never seems to get any easier."

"And it won't. I'm sorry. Get in. We have to get going. I don't think we're being followed, but we really can't stop again until we get to the safe house. The whole world's after you."

Chuck lowers himself into the passenger seat and closes the door. Buckling up, he asks the question he's been too afraid to ask since he first met this black-haired, green-eyed assassin.

"So, what's your name? I think we've been through enough together to entitle me to know that much about you."

Looking over her left shoulder, she pulls the car back onto the highway and floors it. Turning and smiling sweetly at him, she says, "Graves. My name is Erin Graves."

Chuck flashes on the name before she finishes saying it.

It turns out Erin Graves hasn't exactly been telling him the truth.

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