A.N.: I am not going to patronize everyone by apologizing for the long wait yet again. Like I said before, it is what it is, unfortunately. Okay, with that out of way, here is chapter 6. Enjoy and if you are feeling generous, you can donate a review or two. They're cheap.

This chapter is not beta'ed so any evil thoughts should be directed towards me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or anything else to which I might make a cultural reference.

Sarah Walker felt at home.

For the second time in her life and the first time since she left Burbank, she felt like she belonged. Sarah was beautiful and sophisticated, but most of that was a product of years of work by her and the CIA. In reality, she was an outsider, a geek. That is why, for all of her beauty, it still amazed her that someone like Chuck Bartowski could ever have loved her and she meant to earn that love back.

That is what made the discovery of the iPod such an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Chuck had given it to her before Intersect 2.0 and filled it with songs that reminded him of her and, hopefully, her of him. Next to his mother's charm bracelet, it had been one of the most precious gifts that Chuck had given her. Before she left Burbank, she had carefully tucked it and the bracelet into the console of her Porsche before putting it into long term storage. That way, all of her most prized possessions were in one spot waiting for her when she got back.

As soon as she got her car out of storage, Sarah immediately dug for the bracelet and also found the iPod. Somehow, she had forgotten all about it but it had been her constant companion ever since.

Even now, as she walked across the parking lot to her new job as Chief of Station for CIA Substation Los Angeles, she was listening to the iPod, as she looked through the daily brief.

God, it was a beautiful day.

Giving himself a big boost, Carmichael was off like a shot. He didn't know why Sarah did not seem to be aware of the car but he knew he had to get to her. The Intersect calculated his intercept vector. Carmichael wasn't going to make it. Again, he boosted. In a fraction of a second, with his legs already pumping like pistons, Carmichael became the fastest human being in history.

With new performance data flowing to the Intersect, it calculated a new vector. Damn it! Still not going to make it. Time to pull out the stops.

Shutting out the world, Carmichael turned within himself. Mentally, he let himself through a backdoor. A door that led to the Intersect's system configuration. It was an area he was not supposed to know existed, however he had spent many, many hours in a yoga-like trance probing at the off-limit areas of the Intersect until he found the backdoor. A backdoor, once opened, that gave Carmichael super-user access to the Intersect.

Carmichael scanned the configuration until he found the parameter he was looking for, BOOST_LIMIT, and erased it. He uploaded the new configuration…

…and boosted.

It felt like time slowed down for Carmichael relative to the rest of the world. Had he been able to focus on anything other than Sarah Walker, he would have seen individual dust motes slowly floating through the air alongside insects that lazily flapped their wings as they made their way to their destinations.

Had he been able to concentrate on something other than Sarah's safety, Carmichael also would have noticed the massive amount of strain on his muscles and joints. He would have felt the chest pains as his heart was pushed beyond its limits and his throbbing head as his blood pressure skyrocketed.

Carmichael noticed none of this because he now had the speed to do what he needed to do…

…save Sarah…

…almost there…

…need a little bit more…

…just a bit…

…it won't hurt…

…even if it does…

…it'll be worth it…

…to save Sarah…

Carmichael boosted again and leapt into the air.

Sarah heard a guttural cry over the music emanating from her earbuds and looked up in time to see Carmichael flying through the air towards her.

Shocked by what she was seeing and having no reference, she giddily thought for a split second…Damn, he can fly too?

A split second was all Sarah had to think as Carmichael passed behind her, grabbing her around the waist. She was snatched off of her feet suddenly by Carmichael's momentum. Carmichael twisted his body so that he made contact with the rough pavement first, cushioning Sarah's landing with this body. The Mustang missed them by inches.

Carmichael's leather jacket was shredded to pieces as they slid to a stop. In one fluid motion, he slid Sarah off and flipped over her into a crouch, his MK23 out. Unfortunately, the Mustang fish-tailed around the corner and was gone. Immediately, Carmichael was up and flashed on urban ninja skills figuring he could catch the car. He pushed off but before he could complete a dozen steps, he became faint and considerable pain flared in his chest for an instant until the Intersect pain suppression kicked in. Still in shock, Sarah looked up in time to see Carmichael collapse.

"CHUCK!" Oh my God…

Before she could reach him, several agents swarmed around him. Surveillance had called an agent down. One of the agents spoke into his radio. "It's Carmichael. He appears to be in some sort of cardiac distress. Tell Doc we'll be there in 1 minute. Somebody call Colonel Casey."

Sarah was left staring as the agents hustled Carmichael through the doors of the building.

Casey walked through the entrance to the Chief of Station's office. Sarah was behind her desk, head in her hands.

"How is he?"

Sarah looked up. "I don't know. The doctor is still in with him."

"What happened?"

She shook her head. "I didn't see much. Agent Lee reviewed the surveillance video and it appears someone tried to run me down. Late model black Mustang, no tags. LAPD and the state police put out a BOLO but I don't expect much."

"Agent Lee said that Chuck just appeared out of nowhere. When I saw him, it was like he was flying. He saved me but then he collapsed."

Casey started to speak when an agent poked his head in the door. "Colonel Casey, Doc said he would like to see you downstairs…now."

Casey sighed. "Come on, Walker. If Carmichael did what I think he did, I'm about to get an ass chewing and you get to watch."

As Casey and Sarah walked down the stairs into Camelot, she saw an older man with dark hair sitting in a chair playing with a pencil. He was dressed in jeans and boots with the latter kicked up on the table. As soon as the man saw them, he swung his feet off of the table and stood up.

Casey put his hand up. "Stop. First, how is he and what's wrong with him?"

The man spoke quietly and with a slight southern accent. "Well, he experienced atrial fibrillation and he'll be fine." His voice started to rise. "This time."

He glanced at Sarah. "Can I speak freely?"

Casey nodded. "Yeah, this is former Intersect team member and current Chief of Station, Sarah Walker. Walker, this is Dr. Leonard Henry, our Intersect doctor."

Dr. Henry turned to Sarah with a bow and a smile, his southern accent seemingly thicker. "Agent Walker, a pleasure to finally meet you. Call me Doc."

Casey thought he had gotten out of his ass chewing when Doc spun around. Shit.

"You want to know what's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong. Agent goddamn Carmichael tried to kill himself again. I swear to God, I'm going to have his mule-headed ass shoved in a bunker."

Casey winced. "Look, Doc, what do you want me to do?"

"Keep his ass under control, that's what I expect you do. He could have had a stroke. Is that what you want…a half paralyzed, drooling Intersect? Fat lot of good he'll do the world then." Doc could feel the vein in his forehead starting to pulsate."

Sarah walked between Doc and Casey. "Would somebody mind telling me what's going on? I've been out of the loop awhile."

Doc gestured to Casey with a dismissive wave. "You do it. I'm too pissed."

Casey sat down. "Boosting works by pushing adrenaline and several other hormones into the host's system and by manipulating the body's electrical signals. It was recognized early on that an agent could do harm to himself by boosting too much so Intersect 2.0 was designed with safety protocols limiting how much an agent can boost."

Casey tapped the table beside him. Man, what I wouldn't give for a cigar. "Carmichael discovered a way to bypass the protocols and boost as much as he wants."

Sarah stared at him. "Are telling me, Chuck's hacked the Intersect?"

Casey nodded. "Pretty much."

"And he's done this before?"

Casey's eyes strayed from Sarah's "Once or twice."

Doc spoke up. "Four times to be exact."

Casey threw Doc an evil glance. "Okay, four times, but never like this apparently."

Sarah looked at Doc. "And what can over-boosting do to him?"

Doc grimaced. "Oh, whole bunch of nasty things. Torn muscles, broken joints, stroke, brain hemorrhage, heart explodes…want me to go on?"

"And today, he had some kind of heart issue?"

"Atrial fibrillation. Basically, part of your heart is beating faster than the other…almost quivering. It is not typically lethal but it can cause blood clots in the heart which can then break loose and cause a stroke. He's lucky. It could have been a lot worse. I have him on a drip to convert his heart to a normal rhythm and on a blood thinner to make sure he doesn't clot up."

Doc shook his head. "Dumbass also severely strained every muscle in his body. Good thing the Intersect does pain suppression. Otherwise, the pain would be so severe, I'd probably have to keep him knocked out."

Casey looked up. "Are you going tell Beckman?"

Doc snorted. "Damn straight, I'm going to tell her. What universe did you wake up in this morning? Somebody has got to straighten him out. It doesn't look like you can."

"He's a grown man…what do you want me to do?"

"John, you are his best friend, his only friend. He listens to you. Talk to him, convince him, hit him with a two by four to get his attention if you have to." Doc turned to Sarah. "Or maybe the lovely Agent Walker can talk to him. Carmichael has quite the thing for you."

Sarah blushed. "What do you mean?"

Doc frowned. "Agent Walker, don't play coy with me. Besides being the Intersect's personal physician, I also do his mandatory psych counseling. I know the whole story."

Sarah just stared at the ground, saying nothing.

Doc smirked. "Okay then. I think I will take advantage of the awkward silence and go check on Agent Dumbass. I'll let you two know when you can see him."

He took Sarah's hand. "Glad you're here, Sarah. I think you being here will be good for him. Talk to you in a bit."

Sarah went to follow Doc up the stairs. Casey called her back. "Walker, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Casey watched Doc until he went out the door at the top of the stairs and then switched his gaze to Sarah. "Okay, Walker, what the hell happened out there? Where was your situational awareness? I actually got a quick look at the video myself. You didn't even see the car."

Sarah looked at her feet, embarrassed. "I was looking at the daily brief."

"Okay, that accounts for your eyes. What about your ears?" asked Casey.

"I was listening to my iPod," mumbled Sarah.

Casey's eyes narrowed. "Could you speak up? I thought you said you were listening to an iPod."

Sarah turned around and threw her hands up. "I was! Chuck gave me an iPod a long time ago and I was listening to it. Fucking sue me! Don't I get to be a normal girl sometimes?"

Casey was starting to orbit his angry center. "No, you do not get to be normal because you are not normal. You are Sarah Walker, the best spy on the planet, so starting acting like it!" he snapped. "And you may not be an official member of the team but by virtue of your position and knowledge, you are once again one of the Intersect's protectors. That being the case, I can't have you floating around like a lovestruck teenager. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," Sarah muttered.

"What?"

"I said yes! I understand! It won't happen again," said Sarah.

Casey grunted. "Good. See that it doesn't. Now, come on, let's go see if your boyfriend's awake. I'd like to figure out what the hell is going on."