A/N Again I know. I do want to thank the new readers from the new folks that have found our beloved show because of Netflix. Thanks for reading, reviewing and PMing me. You will help to keep these amazing characters alive for many years to come. I'd also be remiss in thanking those that have been with me for a long time. You are the rock this fanbase is built on.

I fought this chapter for too long but I hope you enjoy the results of that battle. Thanks once again to minirix for letting me play in her sandbox.

Still don't own Chuck. But its funny we haven't heard hide nor hair from those that do in a long time.

Chapter 5

Coming Clean

Unknown location

"You slit the bastard's throat?"

"Yea..." She said, her voice stuttering and breathy. It was dark again but Casey could tell that Sarah had her eyes closed as if trying to fight off the memory. The cracking of her voice barely covering what he knew must have been a pretty traumatic experience.

"Not that I don't think the bastard deserved it, I mean I had been tempted many times to put a bullet through that central casting face of his, but what the fuck Walker, I thought he was your perfect super spy."

Sarah let out a huff and darkly whispered more to herself than Casey, "Some super spy." He had heard her and wondered who she was actually talking about Shaw or herself.

"Look Walker, you don't have to tell me all the particulars but you do need to tell me what happened that has Decker so pissed off and how much he knows about Shaw. But remember they may have eyes and ears on us so..."

"Decker knows all about it. He was there. I must have missed his carotid when I slashed at him trying to escape after killing that prick Shaw. That scar on Decker's neck must have been from me." The pain in Sarah's voice brought a chill down Casey's spine. It was like she was a different person. She then pulled herself into an almost fetal position or as close to one as her restraints would allow. "Besides, none of it matters now anyway."

Casey could hear a sound he had never heard from his blonde partner before. It was the sound of defeat. Decker's appearance had triggered the glimmer of Agent Walker he had seen a few minutes ago to go into hiding once again. She was replaced by the sound of a broken agent, one who was losing the will to fight. Whatever memories he had brought back up must have been pretty bad as he had never seen the best partner he ever had acting like this. Plus that was the last person they needed here in this room. He knew he had to snap her out of it and keep her focused if they were going to get out of here.

"It may be a bit before Beckman realizes we've been captured and assembles a team to go after us so we're pretty much on our own for a while and I need your head in the game."

Sarah didn't respond.

"Walker! Get your head out of your ass and let's figure out a way out of here."

Sarah jumped at the tone from Casey. It was not like her partner to draw attention to them when planning an escape. "Ok Ok", she whispered.

After a minute or two while they waited to see if his outburst had drawn any attention he continued in barely above his own whisper. Casey knew that speaking quietly was necessary for two reasons, first to hopefully not have prying ears hear them but second to force his cellmate to concentrate. He once knew what would motivate Sarah like nothing else, but things had changed three years ago and he wasn't sure it still would. "Look Sarah, you know once Chuck finds out we've been captured he will move heaven and earth to find us, to find you. All we need to do is be ready when he comes. I never thought I'd say this but I trust Carina too. They make a great team and I'm certain they are going to find us if we don't get ourselves out of here first. But we need your A game."

If the lights had been on in their cell Casey would have seen the reaction that his comment about Chuck and Carina making a great team had on the blonde agent. She tensed at the thought that at one time that was her role. That she was no longer part of that great team she ran away from because she couldn't bear to see how much her Chuck had changed because of her. How he had lost his innocence and been replaced by a cold, detached spy that simply followed the orders she gave him and killed someone. She couldn't bear to think of him as Carina's partner.

"Walker?"

"Yea sorry. ... It's just I..." Her voice full of despair.

"Sarah, don't do this. We're going to get out of here. We're going to join up with Chuck and Carina and were going to take these bastards down. I promise." John Casey wasn't normally interested in anyone's lady feelings but he could tell that Sarah was struggling to hold on. She had not been her usual self ever since they got to Cairo, maybe since she first came back. He wasn't good at this but it was clear she needed someone and he was all she had.

"John, you can't promise that. Besides, what's the point? It's all been a lie." Sarah's voice was shallow and lacking in the conviction she needed to get out of there.

"What's been a lie?" He could tell that whatever she was thinking about was much bigger than just their current situation.

Sarah hesitated for a few moments before answering. But seeing they may never get out of here, what was the point of hiding the truth any longer. "Everything. Everything that's happened since Bryce was killed and that traitor came to Burbank. It was all part of some big plan. None of it was coincidence and none of it was by chance. Someone, somewhere made fools of us and I was the biggest fool of all."

Casey could hear the anger and contempt in her voice. Contempt for Shaw, the Ring and contempt for herself.

"You're not a fool Walker and if they fooled you, they fooled us all."

"Casey, you don't get it. I was supposed to be some great spy, the CIA's best. I should have seen it, but I didn't. It wasn't till a year and a half after I left Burbank that I finally started to open my eyes. I was so hurt by what happened in Prague with... with Chuck... that... that I closed myself off because I was so afraid to get hurt again. So I let myself get involved with someone who said he was the 'safest man in the world'. But it was all just a farce and I didn't see what was right in front of me because I didn't want to see it. I only looked at the surface because it was safe ... or so I thought."

"It wasn't just you. Shaw fooled us all."

"But I was sleeping with him, Casey." The anger and hurt in Sarah's voice was so raw it made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. Sarah took a shaky breath and continued. "I should have seen it before anyone but I didn't even want to try to look. If I had let myself see anything or anyone beyond just the surface, all I could see was Chuck turning his back on me, walking away, and rejecting me in Prague. Tossing me aside for a life I never wanted for him and I thought I didn't want for myself anymore. I put myself out there and he pushed me away without even telling me why. So when he came back I couldn't risk being hurt again. I was cold to him and pushed him into the arms of another woman and I started sleeping with a man who had no interest in ever looking beyond the surface. But neither did I, because if I had I would have seen the signs that there was something horribly wrong with Daniel Shaw. It was all so convenient to break up the team and keep Chuck and I apart that it had to be contrived by someone, but I refused to even look. "

The pain in Sarah's voice from those memories was so sharp it could have cut glass even though she was speaking just barely above a whisper. Before she went any further down the rabbit hole he decided to change the subject back to the present.

"So what does all this have to do with Decker?"

"Turns out, Decker was behind much of it. He wasn't the architect but he's a player, a big one."

"How long has he been working for the Ring?"

"I'm not sure, maybe since the beginning. Miles, that Ring agent in the Intersect room when Bryce was killed was recruited by Decker."

"Damn. That bastard shot Rourke and killed 4 good marines from my team." Disdain dripping from his voice.

"Casey, there's something else you need to know about Decker."

"What? What else did that traitorous bastard do?"

"Who do you think recruited Keller and sent him after Kathleen and Alex?"

Cairo

"Chuck?"

Carina looked at her partner and was shocked by what she saw. The pain, the confusion, the anger, the heartache, virtually every emotion imaginable was showing in those deep brown eyes of his. But his face was immovable.

"Chuck, what's going on? Talk to me please. What's all this mean?" She laid down the second object from the suitcase next to the blouse on the bed.

Chuck just stared at the articles in front of him. His mind and heart unable to process the meaning behind all of this.

"Please Chuck. Look at me. Did you flash? Is it about Sarah? Please! Tell me what's wrong!" Carina pleaded with her partner. When he still didn't respond she grabbed his head and turned him forcefully to look at her.

"Chuck please! I need you to tell me what your feeling."

Chuck shook his head almost as if he was coming out from a flash but it was just his mind beginning to grasp at some semblance of reality. His hands were shaking noticeably and she could see his heartbeat pounding away rapidly on his neck.

He took her hands and pulled them gently away from his face and turned his attention back to where it had been before. There on the bed were two objects, a blue blouse with tiny white buttons and a worn, tattered picture, a picture of Sarah and him. It showed Chuck with his arms draped around her, holding her, protecting her, making her feel safe. Sarah's arms were on top of his and on her face was a smile Carina had never seen on Sarah before, certainly never when she had seen her with Bryce. It was the smile of a woman who was genuinely happy, the smile of a woman obviously in love. Not phony cover love, but real honest to goodness genuine human love. The kind of love she thought was just for suckers. But it was also a smile that had been absent from Sarah's face when she saw her in Burbank three years ago.

Carina reached out and placed her hand on Chuck's upper arm. "Chuck... I.."

He pulled his arm away from Carina and picked up the blouse in his left hand, the fingers of his right brushing lightly over the small white buttons. Noticing some dust from the plaster he had loosened in the wall when he had thrown the suitcase against it in his rage, he carefully brushed it away. Carina noticed he held the blouse with such reverence, like it was the most precious piece of clothing he had ever seen. She watched as his eyes began to tear again. Though sad, his face was now showing some signs of life. She realized she needed to wait for his mind to catch up with his heart before he could speak. After a few moments passed he gently placed the blouse back on the bed and lightly brushed his hands on it once again before his voice, cracking with emotion finally spoke ever so softly.

"She always looked so beautiful in this." The tears now breaking free and running down his cheeks. "It was my favorite."

Turning to the right he picked up the picture and this time lightly brushed his finger over her face almost caressing her hair. "I was so happy then, even though it was all just a cover I felt like I was the luckiest guy in the world."

Reaching out to take the picture from him so she could look at it more closely she spoke with a comforting voice. "Chuck, she felt the same way. You can see it in her eyes. They never lie. I've never seen her look so happy and at peace. She was safe in your arms and she knew it. That's something spies rarely if ever feel."

"Yea, but that was a long time ago and I was a lot more naive. Now if she's even alive she's trapped in some God forsaken place with who knows what being done to her and it's all because of me." He snorted. "So much for keeping her safe."

Carina placed the picture back on the mattress, next to the blouse. She then stepped in between him and the bed and made him look into her eyes. "Chuck, this wasn't your fault. Sarah and Casey knew what they were getting into. It's the life of an agent and this could have happened anywhere, anytime, to anyone of us. How many times were Sarah and Casey captured in Burbank? Plenty I bet. Whether it was here in Cairo or on the streets of LA, there is always someone out there that wants us dead. Both of them knew that and they would never blame you for any of it. But right now they need you. They need us to find them."

Chuck nodded. He knew she was right. He had been in enough scrapes with them ever since he opened that email. Casey and Sarah would never blame him. Yet he couldn't stop blaming himself. But he knew his partners needed him, the one right in front of him included.

He nodded again at his partner and tried to force down the hurt and fear he was feeling. "Ok, let's get out of here and head to the safe house. The files from Beckman should be up on the server for me by now."

Carina stepped up on her toes and kissed him softly on the cheek. It wasn't a romantic kiss but one to comfort someone who was in a great deal of pain and wrapped with guilt. Chuck gave her a small look of affirmation and it was enough. No matter what their relationship was, Carina cared a great deal about her partner. As he turned to gather their stuff, she picked up the blouse and folded it neatly, placing it gently in her own pack. She then picked up the picture and gazed at it once again for a few seconds. She may not be one for emotion and hid behind her own facade many times, but a part of her admired Chuck and his ability to feel things so deeply and so openly. It was clear to her that both of the people in that picture were deeply in love with each other. It was something she had thought for a long time she never wanted. The one time in her past she allowed herself to even contemplate the possibility, she had been hurt and vowed to never be in that position again. Sex was safe, easy, but love, love was an entirely different ballgame.

And that is what had always been so difficult about her relationship with Chuck. It was never just about sex. It never could be. If it was, she would have been in his bed showing him moves that are illegal in many countries from the day they were assigned to be partners. But emotionless sex wasn't something Chuck Bartowski was interested in. If he had been he could have had more lovers than the next graduating class at the Farm. But it simply wasn't him. He demanded that emotion from himself and his lovers and it was something she hadn't ever been prepared to give him or anyone for that matter since... But he was also like the wind and water. Given enough time he could wear down Mount Everest into just a small hill. It was clear to Carina from the picture she held in her hands that he had already won that battle with the great Ice Queen Sarah Walker.

Over the last three years Carina had felt a few pebbles of her own mountain were now firmly in the valley, especially after the past week, some of those pebbles were becoming the size of boulders. Chuck was unlike any man she had ever met and that both excited her and scared her. He was the one she couldn't have. Well she could but the cost was something she wasn't willing to pay... well yet, if she was totally honest with herself. But here in this picture she saw her friend, probably her only true friend outside of the man a few feet behind her. Her friend looked almost serene and that was a word she would never had dreamed of using to describe Sarah Walker. There was a connection between them like you read about in dime store romance novels. Something she had always laughed at as being just for suckers. It wasn't real. But these two people that she knew as well as any spy can know another spy seemed to be proving that theory wrong.

Carina shook her head out of her daydream and placed the picture with the blouse in her pack. The fact that Sarah kept these things with her on a mission three years since she had left Burbank, meant these things were special to Sarah and she would do whatever it took to return them to where they belonged. She would be embarrassed that Carina and Chuck found out about them but she deserved to have them back. Maybe their safe return could help her friend find her way back from whatever hell she had gotten into with that bastard Shaw.

Unknown location

"Decker recruited Keller?"

"Yea."

"Fuck!"

"Unh huh. Decker was aware of Alex Coburn's involvement with Keller as he was privy to some deep dark NSA secrets as well. He and Shaw used Keller to threaten Kathleen and Alex."

"Why? Why the hell would Decker and Shaw want to threaten a woman who thought I was dead and a daughter I never knew I even had?"

"To break up the team most likely. I was dumb and stupid and Chuck just wanted to impress the so-called super spy so much so he could get his badge, that he couldn't see past the illusion of Shaw either. They wanted you out of the way because you were the only one who didn't seem to buy the bullshit Shaw was shoveling."

"Jesus H Christ. I didn't trust that bastard as far as Grimes could throw him. Something didn't seem right with Keller showing up after all that time just for some stupid pill. It was all too convenient. Magically Shaw's back in DC without you... right after he tried to blow up Castle with the two morons still in there all for what, some worthless disks we never even used?"

"Hmmm and the idiot I was tried to get him to not kill Chuck by asking him to do it for me. How pathetic was that? I tried to appeal to a man who had no emotions whatsoever to get him to not destroy our greatest Intelligence asset and give Chuck just a little more time because I thought the fact that I had fucked him might have made a difference. God I was such a fool. I was going to let Chuck die and fail at my prime directive of protecting the asset all without ever pulling my gun because he was my boss and my lover. So much for the great Sarah Walker."

"Hey, we both failed him that day. But that's all in the past. Chuck never knew how close he came to dying and he never will."

"But don't you see Casey, that wasn't the only time I failed him. After Shaw got you discharged I was assigned to monitor his final exam. While we were on surveillance we finally talked about what happened in Prague and that if he passed this test we could be together if I still wanted to give it a shot. But the stupid idiot had no idea that mission was only the first part of his final exam. And after he had reached out to me that one last time I let Shaw manipulate me into giving Chuck his Red Test. Instead of protecting him, I made him choose to be a killer or lose me. To finally snuff out the last small bit of humanity and become just another spy. I let Shaw use me to turn Chuck into a killing machine and I did nothing. The Chuck I had once loved was gone forever and I let it happen, no, I made it happen. He killed the mole and I just watched him do it. My Chuck was gone and I left the next morning with the bastard who manipulated me into destroying him."

"Sarah..."

"Please Casey. I know it was Chuck's choice. He knew what he was getting into. He made it quite clear in Prague what mattered more to him and it wasn't me. I just didn't think he would do it. I guess he wasn't the man I fell for after all."

Casey could hear the sadness in her voice. The guilt, the shame, the tears. She had been living with that undeserved pain of turning Chuck into a killer for too long. And Chuck had protected him for far too long as well. He deserved better and so did Sarah. It was time she knew the truth. It might not change anything but it was the right thing to do. If they didn't get out of here he couldn't live with the idea his partner would die never knowing the truth about what happened that night on the train tracks.

"Sarah.."

"Casey. Chuck got what he wanted. He's an agent now. A good one. He did what was best for the mission just like we trained him to do and nothing more... so please...please, just leave me alone." He could hear the sobs that had probably tormented her ever since that night,

"Walker, listen to me. I need to tell you something." He said softly, hoping she would give him the chance to speak.

"Casey, please!"

"He didn't kill the mole."

"What?"

"I did."

"Wait, I don't..."

"I had a feeling something was wrong when he told me he had passed his test. The kid was lit up like a giant Christmas Tree. No way would he be so happy if he had completed his Red Test. So I followed him that night to the railroad tracks. He tried to bring the mole in peacefully but the bastard ran and then stumbled. He ended up flat on the ground. He tried to distract Chuck and went for his backup piece but the kid hesitated. He didn't have the stones to pull the trigger so I did. Chuck's not a killer. He's just not wired that way."

Sarah was stunned but needed to know why Chuck never said anything. "Casey then why didn't..."

"He didn't say anything because I told him not to. Technically I was a civilian and what happened was murder."

"But you were protecting him, surely he could have told them that."

"Yea, disgraced ex-NSA burnout shoots a CIA agent in cold blood and his former partner, is the only witness. The very same partner who stole the gun out of Castle and gave it to me as a thank you for helping him become a spy. Telling them would have meant that he would have bombed out of being that spy. Please. Chuck killed the mole and that was how it had to be. I told him he couldn't say anything about it especially to you and Shaw. I just didn't think you of all people would actually believe he did it."

"Casey I saw him standing there over Perry's body with a gun in his hand five seconds after I heard the report of a government issue Sig Sauer. The same gun I had given him that night in the restaurant. A gun whose report I know all too well. What was I supposed to think?"

"You were supposed to think he passed his test, but you were supposed to know Chuck." His voice now stern and a bit accusatory.

"Damn you Casey. Why the hell are you telling me this now?"

"Because after all that's happened he deserves for you to know the truth. And you deserves to know the truth about him. I owe you and I owe Chuck that much."

Sarah winced at the realization that another mistake had cost her and Chuck so much pain. "Oh God, how could I have been so wrong and such a damn fool. No wonder he sent me away on this mission so he could be with Carina. I didn't deserve him then and I certainly don't deserve his friendship now." The sobs had now turned to unabashed tears. Sarah began to cry like she hadn't since those few days in her apartment in DC those many months ago. After all that had happened to her since she left Burbank, all the lies from Shaw, the pain and the failures of all those missions that went sideways, all those good men who lost their lives because she didn't want to see what Shaw really was until it was too late, it had all been based on just another lie and her failure as both a spy and a friend. All of the misery of the past three years happened because for the first time since she had come to Burbank she didn't trust the one man in her life that she had always trusted. The one who deserved her trust the most. The man who needed her to believe in him that night. She knew what he must have been going through because she had been through it herself. It was the worst day of her life and instead of being there for him in that moment, she walked away. No, she ran away. Worst of all, she ran away with the man who had manipulated everything from the very start. And it had all been based on a lie. Chuck hadn't changed. He wasn't the killer Shaw and the CIA wanted him to be. He was still Chuck Bartowski, the greatest man she had ever known and she walked away from him because she felt so guilty about her part in his changing that she didn't see that he hadn't really changed at all.

"Sarah, no matter what happened between you two, Chuck's a good man. He always has been. I know with absolute certainty that he is out there trying to find us. That he will do whatever it takes to save us. I also know that when he does free us that he will forgive you because in his mind there is nothing to forgive. He made a choice in Prague and has had to live with the consequences of that choice. So did you. He knows that. I'm also sure he feels solely responsible for us being here. And the only person I want having my back more than you is Chuck. So please, get your shit together and don't make me having to go all Dr. Phil on you be in vain."

If it hadn't been for all the guilt and sadness she felt she would have almost chuckled at that. Casey was a good and decent man but he was still John Casey and she knew this was hard on him too.

Sarah ran everything Casey had told her over and over through her mind. Chuck hadn't killed the mole. He wasn't a cold blooded killer like her. Even with the shame and turmoil her heart was feeling, somehow that fact gave her something she hadn't felt in a very long while. A glimmer of hope that maybe there was still good in this world. That the guilt she had felt for taking away such a good man and changing him into just another spy like Bryce, Shaw or her had been partially misplaced. It was the only part of being such a terrible spy back then that she was glad about. Chuck was better than all the training he had been given. And if this was where it all ended for her, she was ok with that.

Her attention was suddenly diverted to the sound their cell door being opened and a switch being thrown. The light that now filled the previously darkened room almost blinding her and she closed her lids trying to adjust. She hoped her reaction to the sudden change would hide any trace of the tears she had shed. The last thing she wanted was for these bastards to think they had already broken her without even trying.

Two guards took up positions on either side of the door and she recognized the sound of their captor's dress shoes on the damp floor of their cell. Clyde Decker stood between the two cots, a stern almost robotic expression on his face. No wonder he had worked with Shaw. She didn't think he was capable of any other expression.

"Well I hope you two are enjoying your precious time together. There won't be much more of it I'm afraid. But you both know how that goes." Decker looked back and forth between his guests. He then reached up and gently stroked the scar on his neck with his left hand almost subconsciously while he continued. "Colonel Casey I hope you don't mind being alone for a while but I think it's time that your partner and I get reacquainted. Don't you agree Agent Walker?"

He then signaled and two more two guards entered the room. "Keep the cuffs on her but leave the leg irons here. They will just get in the way."

Sarah thought she saw a smirk on the faces of the guards and her pulse hastened as they grabbed her and took her away.

CIA Safehouse

20 km outside Cairo

Chuck and Carina had arrived at the safe house at about 3am. They had taken a rather roundabout route keeping tabs on any possible tails after they left the apartment where Casey and Sarah had last reported in. After doing a full perimeter check and sweeping for any possible bugs, Chuck has logged into the special server that Beckman had set up for access to the files he had requested. The first file was an electronic signature file that listed all of the restrictions and the accompanying penalties for violating those restrictions that Chuck had to sign before the next firewall would be opened up to allow him into another area filled with more red tape than actual data. Chuck was starting to feel like the next thing they were going to ask for was his left kidney as ransom. But after one more tedious hour he was finally in to the central server that allowed him access to the un-redacted files from the Ring Task force that Sarah and Shaw had overseen.

Beckman had gotten the DNI to grant them access to the US files but the Interpol and British SIS requests were denied. There was no way they were going to ask for permission from foreign "Allies" granting the world's only Human Intersect access to their countries Top Secret files. Those countries were already apprehensive about the Intersect's very existence and it was one of the reasons Chuck was never asked to join the task force to begin with or so he thought. Keeping it "all in the CIA family" as it was with Walker and Shaw, had been what they thought was a prudent compromise. And considering what happened with Shaw, the CIA's chances of getting a positive response to those requests were nil anyway.

So Chuck would have to limit himself to just the files the US had access to. These were all the reports that Sarah and Shaw had submitted during their time both in DC for the first 18 months and abroad after that. Plus Shaw's mission files before he came to Burbank were also included. His private personnel file was on hold for some reason.

Chuck had been at it for almost four hours when Carina, who wasn't allowed to see those files and had chosen to get a few hours sleep instead came into the small den where Chuck had set up his laptop. Her hair was a mess and she was dressed in an oversized t-shirt that acted as a nightgown.

"Chuck, you've been at it for hours, you need to get some rest. I'm going to put some coffee on for me but you're not getting any."

"Carina I'm fine. Really. Just give me another hour and I promise I'll catch a couple of winks. I just want to reread this final set of reports from Sarah on the Tangiers mission. There's something here but I can't put my finger on it. Sarah saw it too I think but there's something different in how it's written, like it was edited by somebody else before it was submitted."

"Shaw?"

"Most likely. He was the head of the task force and would have had final say on all official reports. But there's a notation from of a meeting between Sarah and Beckman that lasted for forty minutes yet the report only lists it as being her request to take the task force out into the field. But if Sarah saw something why wasn't it in the reports?"

"Maybe they discussed something they didn't want in the report that Shaw would see. Have you talked to Beckman?"

"Not yet. I wanted to go through these files one more time before I talked with her."

"Chuck, I know I'm not supposed to see these files and I'm ok with that but is there anything I can do to help you put this all together?" The coffee the redhead had been brewing was now ready and she poured herself a cup before sitting down next to Chuck at the table he had set the laptop on.

"I don't know. Maybe a fresh set of eyes will help. Look at this. It's a listing of missions that Shaw had been working on before he came to Burbank and tell me what you see." Carina gazed at the screen for a few moments while Chuck watched his partner trying to see if she saw the same thing.

"Hmmmph. It looks to me like a pretty mediocre success rate. Higher than average casualty rate and two missions where he was the only survivor."

"Exactly. How the hell did a spy with that lousy a record become the so-called "Ring Expert?"

"In the spy business like any other business, shit floats. Many times the bosses come from the ranks of the mediocre because they want to keep the good ones out in the field. Or sometimes mediocre agents are promoted for another reason. A superior wants someone in particular for a certain role and a weaker agent can be easier to control."

"But that doesn't make sense here. Beckman and the rest of the powers that be kept telling us he was some great spy but this record shows he was anything but. How did he get named to head an International task force that was supposed to take down the Ring when his success rate as a solo operative should have him working some backwater site in Greenland? Something's wrong here."

The frustration, the lack of sleep, the worry and the self-blame were all starting to take their toll of Carina's partner. She feared that magnificent brain of his was getting clouded with so many thoughts and feelings he couldn't get a clear picture of what was going on.

"Chuck, you need to take a breath and try to push away all the extraneous thoughts and feelings for a minute and try and concentrate on just a couple of items. Once you have a clear understanding of those I am certain you will put it all together. But you also need to get a little sleep to be at your best."

"Carina, I can't.." The redhead put her finger on his lips to stop him from continuing to spiral.

"Chuck I know what you are going to say but you have to get some rest."

Chuck took a breath to calm himself and took his partners hand and moved it from his lips to hold against his cheek. He needed the comfort of his friend's caress. "Carina, I know but I won't be able to sleep unless I figure at least one thing out. The bigger the mess the harder it will be for me to relax and I know I'm exhausted."

"OK, we'll try something else and for now let's forget about who or why Shaw was given the lead role. You don't have to tell me the classified elements but step back and look at all the missions you have seen and try to think about what they have in common. Does anything stand out?"

"Not much really. It's all been pretty standard stuff, well except for the failed mission objectives."

"How about where they were located, what agencies were involved, who the agents were that were assigned, dates etc."

"No nothing really." Chuck ran his hand through his hair in frustration and turned away from his partner to look at the screen as he scrolled through the files quickly. After a few seconds he slammed the spacebar in frustration, his thumb dragging across the touch pad. The force of the blow caused his fingers to bounce on the touch pad and a travel voucher within a random file opened up. Just as he was about to close it, Chuck attention was drawn to another file that lay underneath. His gaze became more intense.

"Chuck, what is it? Do you see something."

"I'm not sure but hold on, let me do a quick sort here." After a minute Chuck had organized his screen and his eyes scanned back and forth when he came upon something curious. He turned the laptop so that Carina could see the screen.

"Take a look at this. These are all the travel arrangements that Shaw made over the past eight years. Five before he came to Burbank and the three that followed including the two years he spent as the head of the task force."

"Ok. Looks like standard government itinerates and bookings."

"Agreed, but look at these seven in particular. See anything that stands out?"

Carina's eyes widened a bit as she saw a connection. "Each of those missions were terminated early by Shaw as being dead ends. But I'm not sure what that tells us as many missions get terminated once the agent determines there is nothing to be gained by continuing it.

"True, but also look at this. Each one of these missions were terminated on or about January 19th each year. And after they were terminated Shaw then books a first class commercial flight to Paris on almost the exact same day."

"So maybe he had a girlfriend in Paris."

"No, There's something else. This is important." Chuck checked his watch. It was late on the east coast but Casey and Sarah didn't have the luxury of time and he needed Shaw's un-redacted personnel file if he was going to figure out what the connection is and Beckman had promised him he would have them by now.

Chuck proceeded to establish a secure video connection with the NSA servers. After a few seconds the diminutive redhead appeared on screen. She was dressed in an attractive floral print nightgown. It was one of the rare times he had seen her out of uniform.

"This better be important Agent Bartowski." She said attempting to sound stern while trying to hide a yawn.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you at such a late hour General. But I've found something that I think may be important and I was hoping to get access to Shaw's file to see if I can find a connection there."

"I was told you should have had them two hours ago but they were waiting on the President's signature before they would release them. He was at a state dinner with the Israeli Prime Minister and they didn't want to disturb him. But they should be uploaded soon. What may I ask have you found?"

"General, did Sar.. Agent Walker ever mention anything about Paris and Shaw when she was on the task force?"

"Yes she did express concern about a mission in Tangiers." Bingo Chuck thought. "Agent Walker had delayed the mission because her contacts on the ground said they should wait because of some bad sandstorms hampering the onsite recon of the forces our team would encounter.. But Shaw wouldn't hear of it. He overruled her and went ahead with the mission. It went pear shaped and we lost a number of good operatives. She said it was because Shaw believed that exposing the connection between the Ring's operations in North Africa and France were too important. She felt that their lack of success was making him take greater risks than was prudent. It was after that mission that I granted her request to take their operation out into the field transferring control of all field operations to her. This would and get her and Agent Shaw away from Washington in hopes of getting a better handle on why things were not going as well as we needed them to."

"General, is there anything else about France, Paris in particular that has a connection to Agent Shaw that you are aware of?"

"No. But Shaw was CIA and most of his missions were handled by them until he was assigned to Burbank."

As the General had been speaking, Chuck saw a coded notification show up on his screen that new files had been uploaded to the secure folders he was working on. The files all had what looked like random numbers for their file name but he believed these to be what he was waiting for.

"General, I'm not sure what is going on yet but it seems Agent Shaw had some sort of connection to France, Paris in particular. His personnel file just was uploaded to me and I hope I can find out what the connection was."

"Very well. Call me when you have something."

"Yes ma'am."

"Chuck?"

"Yes General?"

"I want you and your partner to find Agent Walker and Colonel Casey and get the bastards that took them. If this has any connection to Agent Shaw then I hereby authorize Agent Miller access to that traitor's personnel file. He gave up the right to privacy when he betrayed his country. I've also included any data we have on his wife Eve. Shaw believed she had been killed by the Ring to get to him. Maybe there is something in there that will help you find them."

"Thank you, ma'am. We'll find them and bring them back." Chuck looked over at Carina who had been sitting just out of frame the whole time and smiled. He needed Carina's help.

For the next two hours Chuck and Carina read and reread every mission report, every paper Shaw wrote at West Point, and every travel report trying to find the missing piece they knew was there. The work was arduous and the strain was starting to show, especially on Chuck who had flashed every time he opened a new folder and he still hadn't slept.

"Damn it! What am I missing?" He said slamming his fist on the desk in frustration. The pounding in his brain only adding to his demeanor.

"Chuck, its time you get some sleep. I'll get you some aspirin. Take a couple of hours and get a fresh start."

"I can't Carina, you know that."

"Chuck you have to. One of your gifts is you're smart, outrageously smart. We will figure this out but right now your not acting smart."

Chuck sighed in frustration. He knew his partner was right but how could he sleep knowing Casey and Sarah were out there counting on him. His discomfort because of no sleep was nothing compared to what they were going through. But he also recognized that his brain was no longer operating at peak performance.

"Ok fine. Please get me the aspirin while I just take a quick look at Eve's file."

"Good, I'll be right back."

Scanning though Shaw's wife's files he found that she hadn't been a field operative like her husband but had worked as an analyst in DC and had met Daniel when they were both in training at the Farm. Daniel and the then Evelyn Daniels became friends but being trainees that is as far as it went. After Shaw's first two years in the field he had come back to DC while on rehab from an injury he suffered in Lebanon on a mission. He had blown his ACL and MCL running away from some Hezbollah gunmen and couldn't be certified for field work again till after he finished a six month rehab program. The CIA's re-certification program was almost as strict as the NFL's. He and Eve began dating quickly after his return and were married secretly three months later. Shaw only notified his superiors of the marriage just prior to his being sent on his first mission back.

There wasn't much in Eve's file, just the usual assignments, dates etc but something caught his eye. Next to the word "Status" instead of saying deceased it said "DDO access only." As Chuck moved his curser over the phrase 'DDO only' he noticed a small graphics box open up. When he saw what was inside, he flashed.

Carina came back into the room with the aspirin having taken a few moments to grab a chilled bottle of water and some of the esch baladi they had picked up back in Cairo. She saw Chuck mid flash.

"Woah" Chuck said as he shook his head to clear his mind.

"Did you flash again?"

"Yea. It seems our former DDO Langston Graham put a little easter egg in the Intersect that only he knew was there." Highlighting the phrase again he showed Carina the image.

"A swan?"

"Yea." Chuck began typing the word 'CYGNUS-01' while he held the cursor over the image. No text appeared but when he pressed enter it opened up a new folder labeled 'Operation ED-SW-RT'. Clicking the folder they found three text files and what looked like a video.

Chuck and Carina looked at each other and both nodded. He opened the first file and it showed a number of pages of correspondence between Eve Daniels and an operative known only as Justin. They decided to look at those later.

When Chuck opened the next file it was a listing of missions that Shaw had been on during those two years he had been in the field after he left the Farm. It seemed Eve and Daniel had been in contact all during that time. It explained the rather rapid courtship when he returned.

The third file was something Chuck had never seen before. It was a termination order. There was a picture of what he assumed was Eve Shaw but what struck them both was what was printed below.

24 Rue de Beaune

Paris

22:30

January 21, 2005

RT agent assigned: SW

Below that were the initials LG.

"Holy shit."

Graham had suspected Eve was dirty and had her killed. Shaw went to Paris every year on the anniversary of her death.

"What the..." Chuck was in shock. Taking a deep breath he hesitatingly moved the cursor to the video file and double clicked it. He wasn't sure he wanted to see what it contained but he knew he had to.

The player loaded and a grainy black and white video of a brunette woman he quickly recognized from the picture of Eve Shaw reaching into her purse and another woman with long blonde hair pointed a gun at her and shot her in the chest. Eve lurched to her left and fell backwards onto the damp pavement. The blonde shooter looked briefly like she was going to go check on her but quickly turned and faced the camera before she ran out of frame.

Chuck quickly put his head in his hands in total disbelief. He couldn't grasp what he had just seen. It brought back dark memories of that night on the train tracks. But Sarah hadn't terminated just a random traitor, Sarah had killed Shaw's wife. If Daniel knew what happened in Paris eight years ago it could explain what happened in Dhamar. A possible key to the mission had been revealed. Evelyn Shaw had been Sarah Walker's Red Test.

A/N2 Next up will be LL&L, I promise. I'm about 1500 words in and hit a brick wall. But I will punch through and finish that story if its the last thing I do.