Chuck vs. A Christmas at Eureka

Still waiting. And still don't own Chuck or Eureka for that matter.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

So is a lot.

-Albert Einstein

Chapter 1—The Partridge

Setting for Chuck is mid December post season 2. Chuck does have the Intersect 2.0. The first Intersect was the sum total of all the nations intelligence encoded in images and downloaded into Chuck's brain. Over the course of two years, Chuck performed some heroic acts with the assistance of the Intersect's information, Agent Sarah Walker from the CIA and Colonel John Casey from the NSA. Six months ago Chuck had been able through his father's intervention to get the Intersect out. But within a week Chuck was put in a situation where he felt that it was his duty to download the new Intersect 2.0. This Intersect provided the intelligence information and combat information necessary for a successful spy in the field. For a cover during the first two year's Sarah was Chuck's girl friend. They are still not quite together as real boyfriend and girlfriend. Casey is well Casey. He grunts and growls a lot, but considers Sarah the best partner he's ever had. Ellie, Chuck's sister, and Devon are happily married thinking of the next step but waiting for Chuck to move out.

Setting for Eureka is before the last scene with letter from Tess in episode 43. Jack and Tess just realized how much they meant to each other. Tess is still in charge of General Dynamics. Allison had her baby and is still on maternity leave. Henry is still working to understand the data from the download of Kim's data storage clone. Zoe is getting ready for college. Jo and Zane are trying to improve their relationship. Oh, the other SARAH. SARAH (Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat) is the computer system in Jack's bunker. It is a bunker made from a bomb shelter with blast doors. But the inside is nicely decorated. It talks constantly.

Other parts of the shows will be explained as they come up.

The Country Restaurant

Sarah just kept smiling. It was truly going to be a good night. It was their first break in almost six months. Fulcrum, the rogue spy network, was almost eliminated. Sarah had agreed with Chuck that they needed some time off. Sarah was smiling at Chuck because his promise of a fantastic meal at an old farmhouse sounded so unlikely. Her smile was accented by her angel like blond hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing her T-X leather jacket, matching leather riding boots, blue jeans, and a loose cream blouse. Sarah looked as stunningly beautiful as ever. Chuck was smiling too. He thought for sure this was going to be the weekend to turn things around. Six months ago he thought for sure that Sarah was going to be his girl forever. He had told his father that he loved her, but something always kept them apart and never gave them another chance to demonstrate their love for each other. Chuck had planned this weekend and had a little help from his sister Ellie. He was smiling because he knew this was the magic restaurant. Chuck's smile came with a rustic look. His dark hair was a little shorter than normal but it was still curling. He was wearing a dark blue shirt, with blue jeans and something new, boots. They were at a farmhouse restaurant far north of Los Angeles. They each had an overnight bag. The plan was to meet Ellie and Devon for a Stanford vs. UCLA basketball game at Stanford. Tonight was to be followed by a stay at a bed and breakfast. Then the morning would include a stop by a ranch for a horseback ride around a vinery. Lunch was planned for there and then on to Stanford for the game. The way back was to follow the Pacific Coast Highway.

After appetizers, salad and few honey baked buns for starters, Sarah tasted the fried chicken. There was a small amazed look on her face. "Wow this food is good. How did you hear about this place, anyway?"

"Ellie as a matter of fact. She used to go out with her friends from school and try a different restaurant each weekend. Then they'd go back and try to recreate the recipe. Yeah, I was the guinea pig. When I went to school at Stanford, they came up some weekends. They found this place along the way. But this was the restaurant that they loved but could never duplicate." Chuck smiled.

"Wow, so this is an Ellie recommendation. No wonder it's great." Sarah was definitely enjoying the meal.

"Well, you are definitely going to like this. Each dish will be better than the one before." Chuck remembered the last time he was here was almost eight years ago. He was glad that it was still open.

After a heavenly desert Sarah looked down at her plate again. "Chuck, this has been so good. I really do love it."

Chuck reached into his pocket, "Well, I hope you'll like this too." He gave her a small box with Christmas wrapping.

Sarah looked at him. "Chuck, it's only the 14th. I don't have anything for you yet. Should we keep this until Christmas day?"

"No, it was especially for this day. Please open it." Chuck had a big smile.

Sarah opened the wrapping and found a little box. Opening the box she saw a partridge in a pear tree charm. "Oh, Chuck. That is so nice. Thank you so much." She reached over with her hand. "Do you think we could put it on now?"

"Why certainly, so happens I have just the tool." Chuck took out a small Swiss Army knife with a pliers attachment. "What, you don't have one of these?"

Sarah reached out to swat him. As a CIA spy she was the master of the throwing knife. At this moment she would not make it passed a metal detector. She had three knives strapped to her leg and a Glock under the jacket. Sarah pointed to where she thought the charm should go and Chuck put the little charm on like he was an expert Jeweler.

"Chuck this is so nice." Sarah was going to continue when her phone rang. "Casey, what do you need? I thought we were on a break." Her face was looking more and more upset. "Well do you want to meet us there? Or you want us to come back and go together? Okay, we'll meet you up there. Yeah, the sheriff's office."

Chuck looked at her as she took the call. He knew this was not going to be a good thing. They were promised time off before and more times than he could remember this last few months something always came up. When she ended the call, Chuck asked, "Okay, what do we have to do?"

"We are being ordered to a place called Eureka. There is a Sheriff up there we are to meet. We are to help him with a bomb threat that came from our old friends." Her face was falling into a sad look as she explained.

Chuck immediately tried to make it a positive. "Hey, I know this isn't what we wanted but let's try to have some fun. You remember the Twelve Days of Christmas? Well, certainly you got the partridge in a pear tree, right? Okay, anyhow we'll do this as a game. The first one to see the part of the song for that day wins. The other person has to get that thing from the song for the one that identified it. So, like on day three, if I see three French Hens first, you have to get them for me. Or if it is not something we can actually get, then we have to do something the other wants."

"You sure you want to do this? I do not lose, you know that?" Sarah's face brightens a bit.

"Okay, we'll make this our first Christmas vacation. You'll see. You'll like this too." Chuck left the tip and walked to the register with Sarah. On way he picked up a few Christmas CDs. He had the new albums from Mannheim Steamroller, Straight No Chaser, and an Assortment of Christmas songs.

They brought Sarah's new Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet for the trip. Sarah was driving. Chuck had learned all the controls on this one. He had the mission display up. It had a secure link to Castle, their underground operations center. The mission report showed a bomb threat with a Fulcrum origin at Eureka. The mission was twofold: find and disable the bomb, and identify and capture the Fulcrum agent. Sheriff Jack Carter and Deputy Jo Lupo of Eureka would provide assistance. General Dynamics was a large government sponsored advanced research facility. Doctor Allison Blake ran General Dynamics, but she was currently on maternity leave. Doctor Tess Fontana was the interim Director. Most research projects at General Dynamics were classified. Doctor Fontana would provide relevant details.

One of the analysts included some notes: Eureka was a small town with a few unique features. It was created from an idea by Einstein (not the bagel people). The idea was to bring the brightest minds from the world to one place to create and conduct leading edge research. The research was done under a Global Dynamics Advanced Research Facility. Some people did research at their home, normally that was a little dangerous.

"Well, this sounds a little different. I wonder why they would call us in if the Sheriff knows what is happening." Chuck looked at Sarah.

"Chuck?" Sarah pointed at her head.

"Yes of course. But they haven't had us chasing all around the country to catch Fulcrum before?" Chuck shook his head.

"Well, I guess we'll have to think of this as our Christmas vacation then." Sarah had a smirk to her smile.

"Yes, but first we must deal with the volcano." Chuck pulled out his iPhone.

"What?"

"Ellie."

"Oh, well hopefully you'll get Devon and then you can tell him to cover for us." Sarah acknowledged that Devon knowing they were spies, had a certain usefulness when dealing with Chuck's sister.

"Yeah, let's see." Chuck called them, "Hi Ellie. Say I hate to do this to you when we planned this for so long, but we stopped to eat and the restaurant was all made up in Christmas decorations. Sarah never really had a vacation over Christmas and got to see much snow. So we are going to head up north to a little town and have Christmas." He held the phone away from his ear. "Yes, it was my idea. No, Sarah would never do this to you. I know but we'll be home the day after Christmas or if we can that night. I know. We'll do presents as soon as we get back. Hey, let me talk with Awesome."

Chuck generally called Devon, Awesome, because he was. To start Devon was a cardiothoracic surgeon. Devon could well have been a Mr. Extreme America. He did everything, sky diving, rock climbing on the fourteeners, and deep sea diving. Of course most of that ended when he and Ellie got married. "Hey bro, oh they'll win this time. Yeah, the bet is still good. Listen one of those things came up. Yeah, we have to go fix something. We might be able to fix it early. But right now I don't know. Right, we'll meet him up there. No, I don't know what to do about Morgan yet. Yeah, you're the best. We owe you big time. Thanks. Bye."

"Well that's over, I guess it is time for a little Christmas music." Chuck put on the Straight No Chaser. This CD had Twelve Days of Christmas on it, so he repeated it a couple times so they could remember the sequence.

After the second album had played Chuck asked, "Are we there yet?"

Sarah reached over and lightly hit his shoulder. "It's at least another four hours."

"Well, I guess we'll learn these Christmas songs and be able to go caroling. You think Casey will join us?"

"Are you looking for trouble?" She pushed him this time.

"No, I guess I just wanted to do something."

"We are doing something. We are headed to Eureka to find a bomb and Fulcrum. That's a pretty big something." Sarah looked over at him to judge what he was really doing. 'Chuck has really been trying over the past six months. He's been learning how to be a real agent. He's been doing well in my lessons for hand-to-hand combat. Casey has been taking him to the rifle range. Chuck has learned to shoot. But he keeps telling us, 'you know I will not shoot anyone, well unless they are going to shoot you.' Actually, we have been doing so well Fulcrum is almost gone. Even General Beckman now points to us as the three best agents she has. He wants something.'

"I don't know I was hoping for something. I mean we could try to make this a real Christmas vacation. I want us to have fun and enjoy this." Chuck was really pushing. 'Oh, I want this to get back to where we were. This battle hasn't left us any time. Our relationship has all been a show.' Chuck finally said, "I want some time with you."

"What do you mean? We have been working together since you downloaded Intersect 2.0. And we have been doing great." Sarah really wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"I know. But you know nothing has changed. I am still crazy about you, probably more than I was, if that is possible. But that's it we have not been able to or had the time to really be together." Chuck was hoping this could go somewhere. 'I know she wanted to stay with me when I got the Intersect out of my head. But she hasn't opened up since. Now we are almost equals, Beckman calls me an agent now. Fulcrum is almost gone. It's Christmas. We ought to be able.'

"But."

"Okay, you know that I went ahead with the download so that we could end Fulcrum and the Ring. Now that part of this is almost done, I still want the same things. Especially the girl I love forever." They looked at each other for a second. "But now we both know I may never be able to get this out." He pointed to his head.

"I know. I want the same things." She almost whispered. 'How do we do this? How do I do this?'

"So back to my original idea, we should try to make this a real Christmas vacation. I want us to have fun and enjoy this. And maybe when we are done." He stopped as a car passed them a little too close.

"I know." Sarah moved over to let the jerk go past them. 'I hope so too.'

"Okay, so let's have some fun." Chuck looked at her. Her smile had straightened out. That was usually a bad sign. "No you can't shoot his tires." And he got a smile. "Merry Christmas." The last album began to play.

Sheriff's Office, Eureka

Sarah pulled up to the office at the same time as Casey pulled in. They all nodded at each other.

Sarah asked, "Anything new?"

"No, the sheriff should be able to tell us." Casey opened the door for them.

They entered the Sheriff's office to find him at the other end of the open office. Sheriff Carter got up and walked over to meet them. "Welcome to Eureka. I am the sheriff. Jack Carter." He started shaking their hands. "And this is Deputy Jo Lupo."

"Sarah Walker, good evening." Sarah shook the hands of both.

"Hi, Chuck Bartowski," and Chuck shook their hands.

"Casey," he grunted. The sheriff shook his hand.

Jo got up and made the rounds, "Thank you for coming."

Sarah asked, "Sheriff can you, no wait, unless the bomb is going to blow up before tomorrow morning?" She saw them shrug their shoulders. "Okay then, how about you tell us where the hotel is? And then we will meet you in the morning?"

"That sounds like a very good idea. Actually, it is not a hotel. We have you booked in a bed and breakfast not too far from here. If you follow me in my car, I'll show you where it is. Tomorrow, we can meet at the restaurant Café Diem. It is just down the street. We will pass it on the way."

Sarah looked at the others, "Okay, that will be fine."

"Jo thanks for waiting. See you in the morning." Jack grabbed his jacket.

Chuck had a flash when he saw the patch on the jacket, images of:

Federal Marshall Symbol

House trailer

Dog

Accelerator

Secrets Act

Chuck held up his hand, "Ah why were we to meet you here first, what is it that we need to know before we start this? Let's see, besides the bomb threat, you have been having some other problems. Maybe missing classified files at GD, or maybe equipment? And do you still have a tachyon accelerator?" Chuck now understood what GD was all about and a little more about why they were called.

Carter looked at Chuck, "Who are you guys? We really were not told much but your names."

Sarah pulled her badge, "Agent Sarah Walker, CIA."

"Colonel John Casey, NSA, we are here at the request of General Beckman, from another request of General Mansfield." Casey was holding his badge.

"And I am a little more complicated, but we'll explain that tomorrow at GD. Is there something we need to know before we go to GD?" Chuck was in front of Sheriff Carter wanting for a response.

Carter said, "You are right. It is more than the bomb threat. But there are very few individuals who know. GD is having a problem keeping its secrets. Fortunately they are not the Section 5 military secrets, but someone is taking stuff from one of the labs."

Jo interrupted, "Colonel Casey. Sir, what do you know about something called Fulcrum?"

Casey grunted, "They are a rogue spy organization."

"We have been breaking up their organization over the past couple years. I would image that is why we were called." Sarah acknowledged.

"So anything else before we get to GD?" Chuck asked.

Carter looked at Chuck, "Well, when we show you around at GD tomorrow, we will not be able to talk about it. We don't know who is responsible. Most of GD could have access to the hydroponics lab. We will be able to show you the lab. But we will not be able to say anything about the problem while we are there."

"Ah, why would anyone want to steal secrets from a hydroponics lab?" Casey asked.

Chuck answered, "How about crop improvements, like for opium?"

Casey grunted. Carter and Lupo finally got why this would matter with an "Oh," from both.

Chuck nodded to Sarah, who said, "Okay, let's meet tomorrow morning. Sheriff, we will follow you."

When they went outside snow had started falling. Chuck took Sarah's hand while they were walking to the car. He said Merry Christmas to her when he closed her door.

Chuck thought the drive over was fun. By the time they got to their destination so did Sarah. Each house had Christmas decorations. Some had lights trimming every corner of their house. Others had Santa displays in front or on the roof.

Bed and Breakfast Eureka

Carter waved when they got to the bed and breakfast. He proceeded on to his place. Sarah and Casey pulled in the parking lot for the house. The house was a rather large place. It too had Christmas lights trimming the edges of the house. Formerly owned and run by Beverley Barlowe, the business was now run by GD for their guests.

Chuck went around and got their luggage. Sarah got the smaller carrying case and a special case with their laptops and secure communications. Casey got out of a rental Jeep Grand Cherokee. He went around to the back of the Jeep and got out his two hard case suitcases and backpack. They walked into the lobby.

Julia Golden met them in the lobby, "Hi, welcome to Eureka. Please sign here and I'll get you your keys."

While Sarah was signing, Chuck asked, "Is everyone decorating their house for Christmas?"

Julia looked outside and could see the lights down the street. "Oh yeah, it's our holiday decoration show contest. Everyone pulls out the best lighting or imagery shows they can. There are at least two displays with the new holograms. One is just past here another block and the other is over at the Sheriff's. Joe and Lucas did that one as a present before she went off to school."

Chuck was trying his best to find out what was happening, "Who is Zoe?"

"Oh, she is Sheriff Carter's daughter and Lucas is her, well boy friend. Although, I know they want to be more. They are both going off to school next semester. Joe got undergrad pre-med at Harvard and Lucas is going to MIT. So they got together and decided to make a hologram for Sheriff Carter as a Christmas present. I must say I do like it. It does seem better than these new lights everywhere."

Chuck continued, "So what do you do?"

"Oh, I work at GD. I just do this to help out. I don't have a place yet. So I am living here temporarily." She got the keys out and gave them the keys. She was watching what was happening and noticed that Chuck had brought Sarah's bag in the lobby. She gave Chuck the corner room which was the larger room and it had a door to the adjoining room. In this case, that room was going to be Sarah's.

"Here are your keys. Do you want breakfast in the morning?"

Sarah spoke up, "Well we are supposed to meet Sheriff Carter at Café Diem. Does he have breakfast there or what do you recommend?"

"Oh well, most everyone goes to the Café if they don't eat at home. Since you are our only guests right now, it's really your choice."

Sarah quickly decided, "Then let's go out to eat tomorrow. You can come with us and we'll treat."

"Oh, that's very nice of you. See you tomorrow. Let me know if you need anything. I am the operator too."

Chuck continued to carry the luggage up to the rooms. Sarah was next to his and Casey's was across the hall.

Chuck dropped off Sarah's, "See you in the morning."

"Yeah, thank you." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Chuck went over to his room and started to unpack. He was putting his coats in the closet when he saw a tiny gleam where the wood panel met door facing. He'd seen it before. It was a built-in PV1000 micro-video camera. He had seen them before; generally they came with a small microphone. He was a bit surprised when he saw the microphone was also built-in. It was the top of the bolt in the door hinge. Chuck found some old electrical tape in his suitcase and covered the camera. Then he took his knife and disabled the microphone.

He went to the adjoining door. "Sarah, please open the door. Please do it right away." He heard the bolt open and the door open. He was so happy she hadn't started to get ready for bed. He held his finger to his lips before he went in her room. As swiftly as he could he found and disabled the camera and then the microphone.

"Sorry I didn't mean to almost shout at you. But I did not want that camera to, well you know." He went over to hold her. "I guess I am a little possessive. I want you. I am not going to let someone do that."

Sarah was beaming. She kissed him tenderly. 'He is so special. He always looks out for me. I am as crazy about him. Oh, this is so good. I just have to learn how to keep doing this for real.' They rocked back and forth for a while. And then there was a knock on the door.

"Casey." They said nodding at each other when they separated.

A/N Hopefully you realize this is the first of the Twelve Days of Christmas. There are fifteen chapters. I will be posting the chapters rather rapidly. I hope to have them up every other day till Christmas. Oh, and I don't own Straight No Chaser, but the idea for this came from their two songs, "Twelve Days of Christmas" and "The Christmas Can-Can."

I got a little ambitious with this and posted the counterpart to this Chapter at the Eureka site. It will be the same events from their perceptive.

And Happy Thanksgiving.

Please review. It's the candy that keeps the Christmas Elves writing.