A/N: This is like nothing I've ever done in fanfiction. It is like what I've done in my novels, so I have some idea what I'm doing (SOME). It probably is more like Aces, Charles than anything I've done on here. I'm throwing it up since there was interest. If you hate it, tell me, if you love it, tell me, if it's eh, tell me. It won't leave me alone...about the time I get one done, another thought enters my head. Ch 1, The Rookie

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck, I do write crime novels…if I should die, I'm going to need someone to clear my browser history…for the research I've done!

Sarah looked in the mirror. She shook her head at her clothes, realizing she looked like every stereotypical female detective on TV; a shade of navy blazer and slacks, a light colored shirt, usually a peach or cream, and sensible shoes for chasing the bad guys. She sighed as the radio droned on. The DJ cut in. "Today marks the beginning of Mayor Burton's new plan of combining detectives with those in the IT field." Sarah rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might pop out of her head. She hated Jack Burton so much…she had even told it to his face when she last saw him a few days ago. He had a photo op with her and her new partner, John Casey. IT field…why didn't he just say what it was, a cop and a nerd. She smirked. She had passed the academy with flying colors, something that shocked many, given she was an "IT specialist." With so much of today's crime being cyber related, the Mayor decided a good idea was to combine good ole fashioned police know how with up and comers in the IT industry. Sarah did love the physicalness of her training, especially since Casey agreed to help her.

She got in her car, not the Porsche; that was too much of a giveaway of who she was. Sarah put on her glasses and huffed. She had earned everything she had accomplished, there were others who didn't think so, but she could care less. She had to admit, she did look pretty badass in her "uniform." She smiled as she pulled into the Los Angeles police department. She was ready for this, she was sure of it. She had done so well at the academy, she had broken so many records. The only ones that she couldn't top belonged to someone with the initials O.R. She walked into the station and noticed the chaos. She looked over and found her partner, John. He was already up and heading her way.

"Come on, Kid," he said. "We've caught a murder." Sarah's eyes got wide and she followed after him quickly. They got into his Crown Vic and took off for the crime scene.

"How'd we catch this one so quick?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, the Mayor is all over us to get as many shots at cases at possible," Casey said.

"Casey, I'm sorry you got dragged into this," she said, sighing and leaning her head against her hand. John was a good detective, one of the best. He had seen action overseas in the armed forces, he was the Burton's bodyguard for a while, and he was the reason Sarah wanted to get into law enforcement. "One more thing, watch me." Sarah looked over at him. "In case I slip." Sarah grinned at him.

"Still not used to it?" she asked. Casey shook his head. "Did I make the wrong choice?" Casey sighed.

"Without getting into a bunch of lady feelings, I know why you did it," Casey said. "I also know you didn't tell them because they didn't tell you about this new program. The three of you are the worst at communication I know, and that's coming from me." Casey looked at her, and she bounced a shoulder. "Jenny, you are one of the smartest people I know, and you are also one of the most stubborn, however, there is one more stubborn, and it just happens to be your father, the Mayor of LA. So why I get why you changed your name, it hurt them, and I'm not sure you didn't do that on purpose."

"All I want to do is live my life," Sarah said, looking out the window.

"Kid, he cares, and he's involved," Casey replied. "Would you rather him not even be in your life?"

"No, but there's a nice place in the middle," Sarah said grinning. Casey nodded as they pulled up to the crime scene. "By the way, is this the only time you wear a suit?" Casey grinned.

"I know a lot of the kids today don't, but I'm old school, so I guess I should look the part," Casey said. "Let's go." The two got out of the car and walked up to the crime scene tape. One of the uniform officers let them under. Casey was being informed of things, and Sarah was listening while taking in everything around her. The crime looked to have taken place in the mouth of an alley. It was blocked off by the yellow crime scene tape, but something else caught Sarah's eye. There looked to be a homeless person further down in the alley, slouching over a cart. His hair was long, dirty, and stringy. His clothes looked like something found in an 80s thrift store, but two things jumped out at her. The first was his shoes. They were Chuck Taylor's, a popular shoe in the 80s, but they didn't look like they were as worn as the rest of his clothes, the other thing was his eyes. He was far away, but for a split second, she made eye contact with him, they were warm chocolate eyes, something she didn't expect to see in a person who had clearly gone through quite a bit in life. He was hunched over, so she thought he was around 6 foot tall, but he could be taller. He seemed skinny, lanky even. He didn't bolt at the eye contact that most of the homeless did she saw in the city. She started toward him, when an arm grabbed her.

"Whoa," Casey said softly. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to talk to that guy over there," Sarah said. "Chances are he saw something, most ignore the homeless, and there's a good chance that he saw what happened." Casey grinned and nodded.

"Good eye, Kid," Casey said appreciatively. "It's your first day, let me handle him, chances are your olfactory senses aren't ready for him, if you know what I mean." Sarah gave him a grateful smile, and nodded her head, acquiescing. She looked around the scene and noticed multiple tarps over the area.

"Why so many?" she asked the officer on scene. He went a little green.

"That's the body," he said. She looked around, confused. "He's been dismembered, for a lack of better word."

"And no one saw it or reported it?!" she said.

"Would you?" he asked. Sarah thought. They weren't in the best part of town. If something did happen, most would run, to save their own skin. She looked over to where Casey was, and she learned something. He was leaning against the wall, looking at the scene, right by the yellow tape. Less than five feet away was the homeless man talking. To a person passing by, it looked like Casey was simply making notes on the scene, while a homeless man was babbling incessantly. After a bit, the homeless man took off. Casey remained where he was, still looking like he was making crime scene notes. After a bit, he closed the notebook, and headed over to his partner. Just before he got to her, his phone rang. He answered, and if Sarah didn't know better he was expecting whatever he heard. He hung up, and walked over to her, his mouth in a tight smile, his eyebrows slightly raised.

"We have caught a break, a confession," Casey said.

"How did you know?" she asked. Casey looked confused. "You knew that phone call was coming, you weren't surprised by the phone call." For a split second, so fast, that Sarah could have believed she was imagining it, she saw surprise on his face, followed by respect, but just as quickly it was gone, followed by his normal schooled expression. "As long as I've done this, little shocks me, Walker," he said, trying out the name. Sarah grinned.

"Casey and Walker," she said, nodding. Casey returned the grin and nodded.

"We're either a hell of a detective team or a lawyer firm…a bad one," he said. Sarah laughed.

}o{

Sarah looked at the file in front of her. The deceased was Emmett Milbarge, an assistant manager at a big box electronics store in Burbank….he looked familiar. She dug around and found what she was looking for, he worked for the Buy More. Oh, that guy. Sarah huffed, not wanting to think bad of the dead, but he was a bit of jerk…that wasn't fair…he was really a jerk. She pulled up the file of the man who had confessed, one Stephen Bartowski. She glanced through his file, history of mental problems, but nothing that showed the type of rage required to commit such a violent crime. The theory was Milbarge had been conned by Bartowski and confronted him. Bartowski…that name sounded familiar. She checked the computer, and found she didn't yet have clearance. She looked around, didn't see anyone, and decided using black hat skills at a white hat job was okay. They didn't call her Piranha for nothing in the hacker world. She got into the system and found what she was looking for. That was weird…Stephen wasn't a con artist, it was his wife, Mary. They had two children…social services had removed them from the home at a young age, a Eleanor "Ellie" Woodcomb, nee Bartowski and one Charles Irving Bartowski. She found the file on Ellie and found that she was a doctor and lived nearby with her husband a Dr. Devon Woodcomb. The two children had been sent to live with a Bolonia Grimes and Michael "Big Mike" Tucker. Sarah's eyes raised. "Big Mike" was the manager of the Buy More that Emmett worked at.

Sarah shut the file and thought for a moment. That would make a lot of sense. Stephen was trying to find his kids, Emmett may have confronted him, and Stephen had a psychotic break…but that kind of rage? Obviously she was no mental health expert, but the man in the interrogation room didn't look or act like a man who could dismembered someone. She saw Casey watching her, and turned to him.

"What am I doing wrong?" she asked. Casey looked troubled, for a split second, and then he shook his head.

"Sarah, we're partners, in the end we have to have each other's back, but obviously if something about a case bothers you, you need to investigate it," he said. "It's going to be a bit before we talk to him. Lawyers are going to be involved." Sarah looked surprised. "He is a genius who built the Intersect communications device. He spent all his time working on it, he has friends in very high places, but at the end of the day, he's a recluse, to the point his own kids went with their grifting mother." Casey shrugged. "Family, what can you do?" Sarah grinned knowing what he was getting at. "Do what you do, and we'll deal with it," he said, heading off. The way he said "we'll deal with it"…she shook her head. She was getting paranoid. "By the way, I'll try and get you into the system sometime today, but since you have other ways and I have more pressing matters…" he said, sneaking up behind her, making her jump. She swatted him good naturedly.

She went back into the system, looking for Charles Irving Bartowski, but found nothing. She thought for a minute and went to find Casey. He was in the break room. "I'm going to the Buy More to talk to people there and see if I can find anything." Casey nodded.

"That's good police work, Walker," he said, winking. She went downstairs, got in her car and drove out to the Buy More. When she walked in, she thought someone might come to her quickly, given the way she was dressed, she thought she screamed cop. Two employees took a look at her and ran away, most everyone else ignored her, except for one female, in a short black skirt, black fishnet stockings, a white button-up shirt that was a little too tight, and a tie.

"Help you, Five-oh?" she asked. Sarah smiled.

"I need to talk to the manager." She nodded, gave her the one finger, "wait here" and headed toward the back. She looked over to the DVDs where she thought she saw someone disappear, but a short man with a beard headed toward her.

"Wow," he said. "I bet you get a lot of bad 'you can arrest me any day' jokes don't you?"

"It's my first day, so not yet," she said, tensing, ready for a come one. The guy nodded.

"I'm Morgan Grimes," he said, offering his hand. "I'm assuming you're here about Emmett?" Sarah was surprised. She thought he'd be creepy, she shook his hand. "My step-dad, Mike is the manager, I'm guessing that's who you want to see."

"I was hoping there might be some surveillance footage from yesterday I could look at," Sarah said.

"Weirdest thing," Morgan replied. "Somehow it got wiped off of the computer." Sarah grinned.

"Bet you a Lou's sandwich I can find it," she said. Morgan grinned.

"You're on," he said.

Thirty minutes later, and one "Chuck special" later, Sarah was watching the footage as Morgan stood nearby, looking nervous.

"Something you'd like to tell me?" she asked, smirking.

"What if I know something, but telling you would only get more people hurt?" he asked. Sarah turned to him. "I'm serious." Sarah just stared at him. He gulped. "Someone or someones could die."

"I can protect you," she said.

"Like Emmett?" he asked. She turned back to the footage, and paused it. She took a picture of the man arguing with Emmett with her phone camera. She had the rest of the footage emailed to her at the police department. The man with Emmett was tall, over six foot, with gray hair, a posture of a man who felt he was of great importance, and it was obvious he was used to getting his way.

"Is this the guy you think killed Emmett?" Sarah asked. Morgan said nothing, he just looked down. She knew she could get him to talk, but legally, she shouldn't. "What's his name?" Morgan just continued to look down. "There's an innocent man going to jail."

"Maybe he's guilty of something else," Morgan mumbled, shrugging. He didn't believe that.

"Do you know Charles Bartowski?" she asked. Morgan's head shot up. "I know your mother and step-father took him in, but he seems to have disappeared. How could he just disappear?"

"He's dead," Morgan said. It was a lie, but it was a practiced lie. "Do yourself a favor, let Stephen go to jail."

"Are you saying Stephen killed Charles?" Sarah asked.

"I'm saying Chuck is gone, and it's Stephen's fault, so what does it matter?" Morgan replied. "If you leave this alone, no one else dies, if you keep this up it's going to end badly for everyone."

"Who's everyone?" she asked. There was silence. Sarah pulled out a card and gave it to him. "I am not judging you, please understand that, but I know, you know more. If you want to talk, call me. I'm here to administer justice."

"Is everyone there about administering justice?" he asked, taking the card. Sarah hadn't thought of that.

}o{

Casey watched Walker when she returned. He knew she would be trouble, but how quickly she started to sense something was wrong was incredible. She was a detective, not an IT person playing detective, but an actual detective. She was using all her skills, and one day soon, if not already, she was going to be so much better than him. He looked at the folder on his desk, and sighed. He knew what they were doing was playing with fire, but he wasn't sure who he could trust. He thought he could trust Walker, but would she trust him when she figured everything out, and she would, the question was, had she already? She walked over to him, a folder in her hand.

"Can I talk to him for a minute?" Sarah asked. Casey shrugged.

"He's waived his right to counsel and has confessed," Casey said. "ADA Larkin has already had him sign the paperwork, it's open and shut, Walker."

"Casey, it doesn't feel open and shut," she said. Casey couldn't help but smile.

"Then you trust your gut, Walker," he said. "You'll never hurt my feelings double checking something. I'd rather us be right, than me be wrong and not trust my partner." Sarah stared at him, thinking about what Morgan said. She nodded and went to the interrogation room. Casey counted to ten, slowly, and went to the observation room. She sat there quietly for a moment just looking at Stephen. After a few seconds he began to squirm. She continued to be quiet, and Stephen got very agitated.

"What, I've confessed, what do you want?" he asked. She opened the folder and pulled out the crime scene photos of Emmett's corpse having been dismembered. Stephen jumped away from the table. "Why would you show this to me!?" Sarah just looked at him. She grabbed the photos, put them in the folder, stood up, and looked directly into the two way mirror. Casey flew to the door, opened it carefully and quietly, closed it, quietly, and raced to his desk. Sarah came slowly around the corner and placed the folder on her desk.

"Anything else we need to do?" she asked. Casey shook his head wordlessly. She nodded. "Think I'll head home then…partner." With that, she held his gaze for a few seconds, turned, and left the precinct. He watched out the window as she drove away. He got up, picked the folder he had made off of his desk, and headed out the door. He went downstairs, got in his car, and drove off, never noticing Sarah's car hidden in a nearby lot, her watching him go. She put the car in drive, and went back to the precinct. She went back to their desks, and the folder Casey had was gone. She sat down in her chair and thought. She spun to one of the night shift that had come in. "You guys ever order out?" He smiled as he pulled out a folder of delivery menus. She sat back in her chair, a feed of Stephen's cell that he was about to be transported to on her monitor. It was going to be a long night.

}o{

Casey entered his apartment, and dropped the folder on his coffee table. He picked up the TV remote and found a war documentary. He walked into the kitchen, opened the freezer, picked up the lean hot pockets, the doctor warned him he needed to work on his cholesterol, put it in the microwave, picked up his bottle of Johnny Walker, and that's when he felt the draft from the window.

"Took you long enough," he said.

"There was a couple in the alley making out," the voice answered. "I was afraid they were about to go to the next level."

"That would add Peeping Tom to your breaking and entering," Casey said, waiting for the microwave to beep.

"Are you a Peeping Tom if you're watching someone have sex in public, or just a voyeur?" the man asked. Casey thought for a second, the microwave interrupted his thoughts. He pulled out his hotpockets, brought them and his Johnny Walker over, sat in his recliner, glanced at the curly haired man on his couch reading the file.

"I guess you're not a Peeping Tom," Casey admitted. The man nodded.

"Your partner's attractive," the man said cautiously. Casey grinned.

"She's a geek," Casey said, smiling.

"Nerd, that's what my dad always preferred," the man replied.

"Pretty ballsy letting your dad go to jail for that murder," Casey retorted. "Chuck, she's figured it out." Chuck looked up at Casey.

"It was his choice, it keeps mom safe," Chuck replied. "Volkoff doesn't know it was mom who got the information to the DA. Speaking of which, is Bryce safe?" Casey nodded. Chuck was quiet for a second. "She spotted me twice today."

"You wanted her to spot you," Casey said, grinning. Chuck was affronted. "Oh, quit, Bartowski. You've nearly burnt you've been undercover so long. You miss people, and she tweaks your gears."

"Tweaks my gears," Chuck mouthed, confused. "Let's pretend I know what that means, do you trust her?"

"Her dad is the mayor," Casey answered. Chuck just stared at him.

"Does she know?" Chuck asked.

"She knows, she didn't vote for him, but she knows he's the mayor," Casey replied, proud of himself. Chuck just stared at him. Casey leaned forward. "We don't know it's the Mayor, only that it's coming somewhere inside the Mayor's office." Chuck leaned back. "But she'd bust him in a minute if it was him."

"So what are you saying?" Chuck asked. Casey leaned back, taking a pull of Johnny Walker.

"We invite her to Team Moron," Casey said. Chuck looked at him, and Casey shrugged. "Okay, Team Bartowski."

A/N: The players are in place…mostly. Let me know, if you hate it, you won't hurt my feelings. Take care…til next time.

DC