I do not own Chuck or any of the characters ... yada yada ... you know the drill.

--Chuck Vs the Force--

A young LAPD Officer needs help cracking a case so guess who she turns too.

Authors Notes:

Hi Folks,

Just a short chapter to setup Deb's finally meeting Sarah. Not Beta'd so mistakes are me

Last, important details: Takes place about 3-4 months after the end of season two. Italics are flashbacks or Deb's thought bubbles.

CAUTION – RATED FOR STRONG LANGUAGE

Chapter 10 – Path of least resistance

The yogurt shop was busy, which seemed to surprise Chuck. After they had ordered they took a seat. Since Chuck appeared to know the girl serving Deb's started by asking about her.

"Oh, Jenny, She's been keeping an eye on things since Sarah left." Chuck explained.

So this is where he met Sarah.

Deb's took another look at the woman behind the counter. With dirty blonde hair and prominent freckles she was cute in a 'girl next door' sort of way, may be a bit old to be working at a yogurt shop. All in all she was a reasonable proximally of the mental image she'd built up of Chuck elusive girlfriend. Feeling a bit relieved Deb's started.

"So how'd the meeting go?" she asked casually.

"Good. Nice to know I've been missed. It looks like they've been having problem with their corporate clients so they might outsource some work to us. Can't wait to get a hundred bucks an hour for something I used to get paid eleven for." He said smiling.

"What sort of clients?"

"Bit of a mix, hotels mostly" he said absently.

"Good, everything ok otherwise?" she said fishing for info on what happen after the coffee shop.

Chuck seemed to know what she meant and said "Yeah, I guess. Sarah's been... what's the word.. insane since we got back from Washington."

"You were in Washington?" She said curious.

"After we quit the Buy More, John and I went over to do some contracting for his old Air force buddy. Sarah came out with us." Chuck said looking out of the window.

"How was it?" Deb's said leaning forward.

"Ok, Really, REALLY hard work. Gruelling even you might say" He said wincing at the memory before tagging on "learnt a lot though."

"Well, that's good, and since you got back?"

"Great, apart from Sarah freaking out. Since we returned things seem so much more... mm real. And my sister Ellie, god bless her, isn't helping. It's just been stressing her out, especially since we're so busy."

"Must be hard" she said sympathetically noting for the first time the dark bags under his eyes.

Chuck shrugged and said "So how's the case?" trying to change the subject.

"Theo's people are still analyzing all the images you pulled off. Hopefully we'll get lucky and there will be something that id's the perp."

"Mmm... I'd have thought you were better off looking at the software they were using."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, I know I made it look easy but that encryption was way too good to be civilian tech. Trust me, that software is going to be strictly limited circulation. Personally I would start there."

I knew coming here was a great idea.

"You might be right, any ideas what to look for?"

"You got some paper?" Chuck said taking out a pen. Removing the notepad from her pocket she handed it across. Turning to a blank page Chuck started writing away furiously. He was clearly writing down a set of instructions. Even with her limited computer knowledge she recognised some as file paths, others appeared to be commands he wanted her to run. Once done he handed her back the notepad. "Try that"

"Thanks Chuck, I'll check it out." She said reluctantly standing and glancing at her watch "look, I've got to go."

"Ok, it was nice talking to you again Deb's. Let me know how it goes"

"Thanks again Chuck" she said putting a hand on his shoulder as she past him.

"The pleasure was all mine" he said as she opened the door.

Not yet, but it will be. She thought smiling back at him.

Next Up - Chapter 11 'Girl interrupted'. Deb's finally comes face to face with Sarah Walker