A/N: I had planned this story to be a one-shot, but so many of my reviewers asked me to continue it that I started to give that some thought. It's impossible to fix those last two episodes and the more I might try the more I would leave canon altogether and sail off into AU land. If I had my way, those last two wouldn't even exist. But it did occur to me that the two crucial scenes in the balance of Chuck vs. Sarah sucked. (I'm ignoring the scene where Chuck is being comforted by Ellie and Devon. That was fine.) Let's see what I can do.

OK, so obviously I don't own Chuck, but if you do own Chuck, please raise your hand. Right, for those of you without your hands raised, you can move on to the story now. For those of you with your hands raised, put your hand down, you look silly. Now go make a Chuck movie. You can come back to the story later. It will be here.

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Casey walked up to the clerk at the reception desk and asked, "You have a Sarah Bartowski staying here?"

"Yes," said the clerk. "She's registered under the name Walker again, but she's here. Just came back in. One moment and I'll get her on the house phone for you."

"No." Casey removed his old NSA credentials from his jacket pocket and flashed them to the clerk. "Just give me a key to her room. Do not call her. You understand me?"

The clerk nodded his head, his Adams apple bobbing as he swallowed, fear prominently displayed on his face. He handed Casey the room key with the room number scrawled on the envelope. Casey smiled his most charming smile. The clerk went pale and almost started to tremble. Man up, skippy, thought Casey.

Casey was very, very angry. Sure, he was angry at Quinn, but he was also angry at Sarah. She had been talked into it. All her actions over the last day were the result of that. That douchenozzle Quinn had convinced her that he was a good guy and they were bad guys. How could she have let that happen?

Moments later he was outside Sarah's room. He heard her moving around inside. Knock or don't knock?, he thought. He decided against knocking. The key clicked, he opened the door and walked in.

She was in the process of putting clothes into a suitcase on the bed and looked a little frantic. Before the door was even closed behind him she had a large hunting knife out and faced him with a stern warning expression. She didn't attack, or shift her grip on the knife for throwing, though. She just stood there, tense and waiting.

"Figured I'd find you here. You can put the knife down. I'm not here to fight," he growled.

"Then why are you here?" She was cool and, seemingly emotionless, but he knew she had to be a wreck inside. Chuck had filled him in on the conversation they had just had. As much as she might hide her emotions she now knew that Quinn had duped her. She wouldn't be happy.

"To find you. You wanted me to find you, right? Hell, Sarah, this is the first place I looked. You are way too good a spy to take off on the run and then go home, for chrisakes. If this is your idea of disappearing, Quinn damaged a hell of a lot more than your memories. It's obvious you wanted to be found." Some of his anger and frustration bled into his voice, which was never soft in the best of circumstances.

Still holding the knife towards him, she said, "I'm getting out of here right now."

"Well, you should check and see how long Quinn paid for the room, I guess. But you don't have to run. Chuck called off the NSA team that was looking for you. You're not being hunted by anyone."

"He did? I mean, he can do that?"

"Yeah, he can do that. He explained to Beckman that you aren't on Team Quinn anymore." Casey ignored the knife and walked past her to look out the window, deliberately showing his back to her, a physical demonstration that he did not consider her a threat, nor pose one himself. She lowered the knife. "You really don't remember." It wasn't a question. "Goddamn kick in the guts. And then you went and believed Quinn's bullshit? What the hell, Sarah? You're smarter than that."

"That seems to be a common opinion," she said ruefully.

"And a seduction mission? For Sarah Walker? Yeah, seduce a guy right into the grave maybe. You hate those. You told me you used to avoid them like the plague. You should have known something was off. And a five year seduction? Five year? With a marriage too? That's nuts. Even the CIA would never do that to an agent. An agent would either go insane or be co-opted by the enemy. Well, any agent but Mary Bartowski, I guess. Maybe die from an ulcer."

"Who?"

"Story for another day, Sarah. You thought we killed Graham? The man you were sleeping with, the man you were having sex with, killed Graham. How did that not strike you as ridiculous? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I...I...I was confused." She looked embarrassed, maybe even ashamed.

"Still confused? I see you packing. I don't know where you think you are going to go, but you seem to be taking Quinn's stuff with you."

"What?"

"Quinn's stuff, Sarah. You were kidnapped with just the shirt on your back. You didn't even have a coat on. Everything here. Everything. From your panties to your toothbrush, is from Quinn. All your real stuff is at home with Chuck. The only real thing you have is this." He walked over to the table by the window and picked up her wedding ring. He held it out to her at eye level, so she could see it clearly. The double meaning of his statement hung in the air for long moments of silence. Staring at it like it might explode, she ever so slowly reached out for it and took it from him. A single tear escaped her eye and rolled down her cheek. She held the ring tightly clenched in her hand. When he saw the tear, his anger at her evaporated as if it had never existed.

"Sorry," he said with a sigh, rubbing his hand over his face. "I shouldn't have yelled at you. You're the victim. It's just …. frustrating."

She looked at him hard for several moments and finally said, "You aren't what I expected, Casey."

He grunted and said, "What do you remember about me?"

"Your reputation mostly." She dropped the knife on the bed. "Unfriendly, unforgiving, and unquestioning about your orders."

He chuckled, "People said the same about you." He grew somber again. "Well, five years ago, they might have. We changed, you know. Chuck changed us. We used to be hard..."

"Did he soften us, Casey? Did he soften you?"

"We were … hard...we were brittle. Why do they think they don't make knives out of cast iron? It's because it's too hard. We were broken and we didn't even know it. Chuck fixed us...just by being Chuck. We became better than we'd ever been before. Stronger. More resilient. Individually and as a team. Sarah, I know you don't remember, but the things we accomplished...the things we did...any one of them would be the pinnacle of a great spy's career. And we did them every week, it seemed. We stopped," he waved a hand towards the window and the city nightscape. "Los Angeles from being vaporized by a rogue nuke. And then we..."

"I don't remember," she interrupted, sounding despondent.

"I know, Sarah. And I can't tell you how sorry I am. You were the best spy I ever knew and the best partner I ever had. God help me, even Grimes is integral. Together with your husband, we have been unbeatable for the last five years. Absolutely unbeatable."

"We were friends? You and I?"

He looked at her deeply for several seconds and said, "I walked you down the aisle." He could say something like that and make it sound like he was dressing down a recruit on Parris Island.

He took a CD from his jacket pocket and threw it on the bed. "Chuck told me Quinn showed you your mission logs. I thought you should see them all. Let me know when you finish. You know where to find us."

With a nod, Casey left her to watch her own reports.

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Sometime later Morgan crossed the courtyard of Echo Park heading towards Chuck's apartment. He saw Ellie's door open and waited patiently for Ellie and Chuck to say goodnight and Chuck to reach his own door. His heart was breaking for his buddy. To have Sarah lose her memory and revert to stone-cold-killer-Sarah was horrifying. He believed with all his heart that they would find a way through it, but in the meantime he knew he had to do something to help Chuck, even if it was just to distract him.

He was just about to step out of the shadows when he heard Sarah call, "Chuck?"

"Sarah?" asked Chuck. She slowly crossed the courtyard to stand in front of him.

"I just wanted to tell you that I believe you. I believe everything that you've told me about us, ...but...the truth is, Chuck, I...just don't feel it. Everything you've told me about us, I just don't feel it." Morgan was stunned. Those were the cruelest words he could ever imagine. He didn't know whether to scream in anger or burst into tears.

"Right...right, of course. I...I uh..I don't know what I was expecting, you know? So what are you doing here, then?" said Chuck. He was on the verge of tears and looked like his heart was being ripped from his chest.

"Well, I wanted to say sorry for everything that happened today. But most of all, I wanted to say goodbye." Oh God, no, thought Morgan. No, no, not again. Not again.

"Where are you going?"

"Quinn took away my life and, well, I have to go find him... Goodbye." She left him with a tiny smile and turned away. No, thought Morgan, No, NO, NO.

Chuck managed to say, "Goodbye" but it sounded more like a sob than a word.

Sarah turned and walked decisively toward the gate. She didn't look back.

Not even really aware of what he was doing and more frightened than he'd ever been in his life, Morgan stepped out of the shadows and stood in her way.

"No."

She stopped and looked at him. He saw that her eyes looked a little shiny, but those same eyes narrowed dangerously and she said, "What?"

"I said, no, Sarah. No. You aren't leaving. I'm not going to let you leave...I'm Morgan, by the way...I know the whole memory loss thing ..believe me, I know."

"Get out of my way, Morgan."

"No."

From behind her, Chuck said, "Morgan, please, if Sarah..."

"Sorry, Chuck. I need you to stay out of this. You are, as the spies say, emotionally compromised. In a really big way."

"Morgan..."

"Quiet, Chuck," Morgan spoke with calm authority, despite his fear. "Sorry, Sarah. I know you want to leave, but you can't. Leaving right now would be a huge, huge mistake. I'm not a complete idiot. I know that you can knock me out or kill me or whatever before I would even see you move. I'm sort of counting on the fact that you won't. So that's it. You can't leave."

"Why?"

"Look, Sarah. I was... a very different person when this whole spy thing started. I've changed over the last few years. You have changed me. Casey has changed me. Being a part of Team Bartowski has changed me. I've learned about our responsibility to each other, to the other members of the team, even when it is really hard to do. I've learned about what it means to be on a team that's as close as family...closer than most families...we would, any of us, do anything for each other and we've proven that time and time again. Sarah, I'm talking about the deepest kind of loyalty imaginable."

"Morgan, I understand what you are saying, but I don't remember it. I don't remember any of it. I can't be expected to show you loyalty if I can't even remember your name."

"You misunderstand me, Sarah. I wasn't talking about your loyalty to me, I was talking about my loyalty to you. You are my teammate and my friend. You are the wife of my best friend. I owe you this loyalty, and more, hundreds of times over.

"Sarah, I had the Intersect in my head. Maybe it's out of your head by now, maybe not, I don't know. What I do know is that I not only had memory loss, not as bad as you, but memory loss, I also had the added problem of acting like a total douche bag. There was one person on my side. One. One person who was there for me and helped me through it. That was you, Sarah. You did that for me when my mind was messed up by the Intersect. Chuck and Casey thought it was just my inner jerk coming out, but you are the one who gave me the benefit of the doubt. I know you don't remember it, but that's what happened.

"That's only one of hundreds of reasons why I can't let you make this huge mistake. Sorry, Sarah, you can't go."

Morgan sensed a huge presence next to him and there was Casey, arms crossed over his massive chest, staring at Sarah without expression. He grunted. "Grimes is right. You aren't leaving. Figure out a plan B."

"I'm going after Quinn..."

"Great," growled Casey. "Sounds like fun. We're on it. Where do you think we should start?"

"Guys," she spoke hesitatingly, seemingly unsure where she was heading. "I'm not the teammate you remember... I only remember how to be solo...I'm not good with a team..."

Morgan spoke up, "Yeah, actually, you are. You are very good with a team. You are very good with this team. It's like riding a bicycle. Even when something doesn't come back to you, we will be there to get us to the next step. We support each other ...especially when wounded, and that's what you are. You are wounded."

Casey picked it up, with a grunt "You've seen your logs by now. This is the best team the National Security establishment can produce. We aren't official anymore, but we're still the best. We'll find Quinn and take care of him and we'll do it together. You can count on that."

She turned to look at Chuck. He still looked like he might cry at any moment, but he gave her a small reassuring smile. They held each other's gazes for what seemed like an eternity as she debated with herself.

Turning back to Casey and Morgan she said, "Ok."

"Excellent," said Morgan with a huge smile. On another man, the smile might have been triumphant., but from Morgan it was simply happy. "Give me your car keys and I'll bring your bags in."

"No bags."

Casey grunted questioningly.

"I stopped by a Good Will bin on the way here and donated everything." She paused and looked at Casey meaningfully. "Almost everything."

As Sarah turned and began to walk back towards Chuck, Casey reached out and touched Morgan's arm, stopping him from following. He laid a heavy hand on Morgan's shoulder and squeezed gently (well, gently for Casey, anyway). He silently held Morgan's gaze for several moments and nodded once. Morgan nodded in return. Neither man had said a word, but Morgan understood what was being conveyed and was deeply moved by Casey's gesture.

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A/N2: I understand that the script writers had a limited amount of time to get the CD to Sarah with her old logs and that the payoff of that scene was her hearing and seeing first hand the development of her love for Chuck. But really, guys, Casey would never have acted as cold to Sarah as he did, memories or not. Not after the prior five years.

Once I found this site, I began to devour the Chuck fan fiction focused on the last two episodes and their aftermath, because I wanted to find any alternatives you smart and imaginative folks could come up with to that horror show. One of them had Morgan stopping Sarah's departure in the courtyard. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the story or the author. If memory serves, and that's a shaky proposition, Morgan's rationale was Sarah's marital duty as Chuck's wife. I have obviously taken a different path. But, thank you to that author whose name I have forgotten.