It's been a while since I've worked on something with an actual plot to it, so I you guys will like this one. It takes place right after 'Chuck vs. the Mask.'

I don't own "Chuck." If you don't believe me, check Wikipedia.

Also, I don't own Wikipedia.

Chapter 1

The man crossed through the parking garage as quietly as he could. He frequently looked behind him as he warily approached the rendezvous. Occasionally he would duck behind a car or pillar, though this never fully blocked his large frame. The buzz of the lights overhead were the only sounds masking his movement, but he found himself imagining sudden noises every few moments. He glanced at his watch to confirm that is was almost 2 AM.

Finally, he saw the red sedan marking the meeting point, and silently moved towards it.

A shadowy figure appeared from a pillar, the shining light above obscuring his features.

"We need to talk," the burly man said. "This show, I can tell they're doing something. I'm not sure what, but I can tell it's wrong. You asked me to let you know if I saw anything, so here I am."

"Do you have any evidence?" the other man asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Evidence? N-no."

"That's good." The second man stepped away from the spotlight.

"You! But I thought…" the burly man backed away, but not quickly enough. The second figure brought up his arm, revealing a firearm in his hand. The sound of two bullets echoed through the garage.

"You're fired," the man said, before returning to the red sedan.

"So what do you think?" Chuck asked, briefly glancing at his surveillance partner.

"I don't know," Hannah replied. "I think she wants to buy the dishwasher, and he wants to go home and watch basketball."

"That's the best you got?" Chuck mocked her gently, as they watched the sales floor from the nerd herd desk. "See, here's what I think. He owns a specialty candle store, and he's nervous because he's about to close a deal with a high-end candlestick emporium."

"A candlestick store?" Hannah raised an eyebrow at Chuck's suggestion.

"Sure, they make their own right on the premises. It's right next to the butcher and baker on Wilshire."

Hannah smiled at Chuck, and he smiled back. "I should have seen that coming. Ok, what about her?"

"That's his secretary, and his mistress. They always have their assignations in public places."

"Assignations?"

"Sure. Who'd expect anything untoward if they keep meeting in appliance stores?"

"Not very romantic, though."

"Well they're probably sick of candlelight, so this might be a romantic atmosphere to them."

"You have a strange imagination, Chuck Bartowski."

"Well, I've seen a lot of strange things. From here at the Buy More desk," he added hastily.

"Chuck!"

The two turned around to find Morgan Grimes staring back at them. His usual happy-go-lucky face was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a stern expression currently leveled at Chuck.

"Hey Buddy, what's up?"

"Have you logged all of the Nerd Herd calls into the database yet?"

"Uh no, Morgan, not yet."

"Well maybe if you weren't spending all your time messing around with your girlfriend, you could actually get something done."

"What was that about?" Hannah asked after Morgan turned around and stalked off.

"I don't know. But at least he's taking his promotion seriously."

"Bartowski!"

"All these interruptions," Chuck sighed. This time John Casey was standing before them. Unlike Morgan, the stony expression appeared natural on Casey.

"What's up, Casey?"

"I was, uh, hoping you could give me some advice on selling TVs. I figured, you spend your life in front of them, you should know a thing or two."

"Uh, gee, thanks Casey. He's always so complimentary," Chuck said to Hannah before following the larger man towards the electronics department.

"So, are we talking plasma or LCD?"

"We're talking meeting, idiot." They quietly headed into the viewing room, and down through the hatch in the floor.

Agent Shaw and Sarah were waiting in the Castle's briefing room when Chuck and Casey arrived. Shaw nodded at the two of them, and Sarah gave Chuck a brief, pleasant smile. He could tell that it had been a busy morning at the Orange Orange, as he could see a slight strawberry-colored stain on her uniform.

Chuck sat down at an open seat at the conference table. Before any pleasantries could begin, Shaw clicked on a button on the laptop and the image of a large, muscular man appeared on screen.

"This is Jason Caul. His body was found in a parking garage in downtown LA late last night."

Feeling no flash forthcoming, Chuck looked around at his companions. Both Casey and Sarah were looking at the screen, with no recognition readable on either of their faces.

"Who is he?" Sarah asked, voicing Chuck's question.

"Caul is a television crew member. Most recently, he worked as a gaffer on several reality television programs."

Chuck snorted. "What's a gaffer anyway?" he asked. "I mean, how does one become one? Do you go to gaff school and learn to gaff things?"

Seeing three sets of impatient eyes boring down on him, Chuck quickly quieted down. He heard Casey mutter "Moron," quietly, though not quite under his breath.

"I don't understand," Sarah said. "Do we suspect him of being Ring?"

"No," Shaw replied. "In fact, he seemed to have alerted local authorities regarding what he felt were suspicious circumstances around his latest job."

"What kind of suspicious circumstances?"

"We don't know. He was supposed to meet with one of our people at that garage last night, but we were too late. His body was discovered with two bullet wounds to the chest.

"But wait," Chuck spoke up. "Why would we care about what goes on backstage at a TV show? Seems a bit outside of the CIA's usual level of interest. Is Beckman a fan or something?"

Shaw almost smiled. "Actually," he said, "our interest is because of this man." Shaw pressed another button, and the image of an older, well-dressed man appeared.

"Jack Schumacher? The reality TV producer?"

Chuck once again failed to flash, and it took him a moment to realize that it was Casey who had spoken up.

"You watch reality TV?" Sarah asked, a smile on her face.

"Of course not," Casey responded. "There are entertainment magazines in the Buy More break room," he offered in explanation.

"Ok," Sarah said. "I still don't get our concern over this."

"Some of our agents have intercepted communications from suspected Ring agents regarding the Intersect. Apparently, there is still some interest in rebuilding it."

"Which one?" Chuck asked. "The database Intersect or the Kung Fu one?"

"That remains unclear. However, some of these communications seem to have mentioned Schumacher by name. That, coupled with Caul's death, is why we're concerned."

"So we bust in and take down Schumacher," Casey said. "Sounds simple to me."

"Not just yet," Shaw answered. "We'd like to see what his interest in the Intersect is first. We want to know what their endgame is, and Schumacher may not be a Ring heavy hitter. So," he added, "we are going to go undercover."

"Don't you think that's a bit unwise?" Sarah asked. "Putting Chuck on TV hardly seems like the best way to maintain his cover."

"It won't come to that, Sarah." Chuck tried to ignore the smile he gave her. "These shows go through a long selection process when they cast. We just need to make sure we can be onsite long enough to find out what's going on, but not long enough to actually be picked for the show."

This didn't bother Chuck. He'd always wanted to be on TV, though a reality show wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind.

"But what show?" Chucked asked. "Schumacher's involved with several."

"Isn't there a show called 'The Biggest Loser?' We should send Bartowski on that." Casey flashed a malicious grin.

Before Chuck could respond, Shaw clicked on the laptop, and the screen shifted to a listing of various programs.

"Hmm," Chuck said. "Various celebrities compete to be the next mayor of Sioux City, Iowa. That won't work."

"Here's one," Shaw suggested. "Twenty beautiful women compete to be the bride of Tyler Martin." He glanced at Sarah. "You're certainly qualified for that."

"No good. Martin was involved in a previous mission. He would recognize me." Sarah looked at Shaw when she said this, so missed Chuck rolling his eyes at Shaw's suggestion.

"Fair enough." Shaw flipped through a few more listings before stopping. "Wait a minute, this could work. "Various couples go before a panel of counselors to diagnose their marital troubles," he read the words out loud. "Now that's a possibility." He regarded the three members of the team, before finally looking between Chuck and Sarah.

"What about it, you two? Can you guys be dysfunctional enough to pass muster?"

Yes, Shaw and Hannah are both in the story. But, this will be a Chuck and Sarah story, so bear with me.

So what do you folks think of the premise? All comments/reviews/thinly veiled insults are appreciated!