Ch 11 The Reunion

A/N: Thank you to all who are reading, especially those who post reviews or send PMs. Zettel had asked when the next chapter would go up, and I told him it would be tomorrow night. I hope he isn't offended that it's going up tonight. We are hitting the home stretch for the main part of the story. I got some work done on the two epilogues, and am hoping to be able to keep up the weekly posting schedule when their turns come. I know that some of you were hoping for a President Bartowski conclusion to this story, but I wanted to focus on the relationship rather than the backstory. The plan is to bring the backstory to the fore in the next story, and mix in some action. But no promises until pen hits paper- after all, the first concept for Debate had Chuck running for President with Morgan as the VP candidate going up against Bartlett. That clearly didn't wind up happening.

These final three chapters are all pretty lengthy. I hope you enjoy.

Sarah was carrying a box of signs outside of headquarters when she nearly collided with Ellie, who had been sprinting into the house.

"Sarah!" Ellie exclaimed in clear relief. "I'm so glad that you're still here. The plane was halfway to Pittsburgh before I realized that you weren't on it. Then Ron said that your position on the support team had ended with Cruz's capture. I wanted to finish our talk from the Carptenter Center. I really hoped that you wouldn't just leave without saying goodbye, but I didn't know if your boss had already shipped you off with no warning."

"Ellie! No, I wouldn't just abandon you guys like that," Sarah said as she dropped the box and swept the elder Bartowski up into a hug, catching both women surprised at the gesture. Ellie quickly recovered and turned the embrace into one of her trademark, bone-crushing hugs. Sarah quickly realized that Chuck was only slightly kidding about the intensity of Ellie's hugs.

"After Cruz was caught, AIC Butterfield decided that a…well, a person with my particular skill set wasn't needed for a standard protection detail. I was left behind to make sure that Cruz was kept secure until US marshals transport him to a secure detention facility for questioning. I think Agent Butterfield knew that I wasn't looking forward to leaving this job."

"Really?!" Ellie exclaimed as Sarah wondered about the ability of the Bartowski siblings at getting people to open up without seeming to try. It's like they come from a family of spies or something. "If that's the case," Ellie continued while clutching Sarah's forearms in her excitement, "what are your plans for the future? Or should I ask, what are your intentions towards my brother?" Ellie was practically giddy, even as Sarah felt nerves overwhelming her. Sarah got an insight into Chuck's childhood, being raised by an older sister with such a strong spirit that she refused to allow to be dimmed by the roadblocks that life threw at her while continuing to focus on positivity and happiness. Despite their ordeal with abandonment by their parents, Sarah found herself envious of the intense family bond that Ellie and Chuck shared.

"My…my intentions towards your brother?" Sarah stuttered out, amazed at how intimidated the Ice Queen was while in the presence of Ellie Bartowski. She found herself caught off guard by Chuck's sister, even though Ellie was clearly thrilled at the prospect of Sarah and Chuck being more than a cover. "Ellie, we haven't even had a proper date yet." Yet? Yet? What happened to my skill of not volunteering information. I got one of the highest scores in the history of The Farm in training torture resistance training, yet here I am running my mouth off. Besides, even if Jessop's or Jim's (what's up with Chuck taking me to dining establishments that start with J? He's not secretly still hung up on that worthless skank Jill is he?) weren't 'proper' dates, I still consider them to have been real dates. Of course, Chuck doesn't know that I've decided that Jessop's was our first date. But he deserves to hear that from me, not his sister.

"Haven't been on a date? You two made international headlines with your lunch date in Philadelphia. How is it possible that the rest of the world knew for a fact that the two of you were on a date, yet the only one who doesn't know it was you? Well, maybe you and my idiot brother who probably is still working to convince himself that you were only pretending. But I've seen the way you act around him, and the way he acts around you. You both are crazy about the other, yet seem to work hard to convince yourself that the other really isn't into you."

Ellie let go of Sarah's arms and turned to walk away, pausing to look back over her shoulder. "By the way, one of the hazards of talking with a doctor is that we notice physiological reactions. When I called Chuck an idiot just now, your pupils expanded and your nostrils flared. You may not have moved, but you reacted to the teasing as if it was a real insult. But you can keep on telling yourself that you aren't crazy about Chuck. Or, maybe it's time to be honest with yourself Sarah." Ellie beamed another smile her way, then moved over to sit at the sofa.

Sarah collapsed down into a nearby dining room chair, thinking through the implications of Ellie's revelation. Sarah had been envisioning her secret relationship, thinking that it was so secret that not even Chuck knew that it existed. Apparently, Chuck was the only one who didn't know that it did exist. She thought that the campaign staff had just bought into the cover (there had been plenty of disgruntled women around when Sarah had been introduced as Chuck's 'girlfriend'). But Ellie knew about the cover. However, she believed that a real relationship existed.

Just then Morgan entered the backdoor of the house, making a beeline to the fridge to grab a grape soda.

"Morgan, do you, do you think that Chuck and I are dating or that it's just a cover?" Sarah asked tentatively.

"Duh," Morgan scoffed. "If that was just a cover, you would be an Emmy award winning actor. It's a good thing that you went into the Secret Service and not the CIA. You would make one lousy spy. The two of you are so far gone, I'm surprised that Chuck hasn't asked for me to dust off the wedding plan."

Sarah tried not to gulp audibly.

"Yet," Morgan added as he walked out of the room.

Ellie, for her part, winced at the utter lack of tact that was Morgan Grimes, although it wasn't clear whether the wince was for the bombshell he had dropped, or the belch that followed shortly after, from the adjacent hallway, when he was done drinking his grape soda.

"I don't think that you need to worry about Chuck getting down on bended knee anytime soon Sarah," Ellie assured her once Morgan was out of earshot. "But my brother is crazy about you. And with good reason. Now that the campaign is done, maybe the two of you can go on a proper date, without the complication of a cover or the intrusion of paparazzi." Ellie reached into her purse and pulled out a brochure. "John Casey, of all people, suggested this place to me."

"Longwood Botanical Gardens? Casey is into gardens? John Casey? NSA agent who mostly communicates through grunts? That John Casey?"

"I know," Ellie replied with a wide eyed look accompanied by a beaming smile. "He mentioned something about their bonsai tree collection being one of the finest in the nation. Which is just as random, come to think of it. Anyway, he overheard me talking about finding a quiet spot to go with Devon to decompress. Devon and I can go later. Why don't you take Chuck there? I think the two of you could use a little decompression yourselves."

Ellie gave Sarah a quick hug that only threatened to break a rib or two. She then headed out of the room with a quick wave and a beaming smile.

Sarah picked up the brochure and glanced at the pictures of the outdoor gardens, water fountains, and a conservatory that had formerly been a mansion. It looked beautiful, peaceful, and a perfect place to spend some time relaxing with Chuck. Besides, she needed to have a talk with him about her future, his future, and-hopefully-their future together.

Sarah was still lost in her thoughts about the botanical gardens and how to broach the conversation with Chuck about continuing what they had started to develop when the burner phone in a hidden pocket in her jacket discreetly buzzed.

"Sarah, I've got a lead on a job opening before it's even officially open," Zondra shot out as soon as Sarah had picked up the call. Sarah was reminded of Zondra's habit of jumping straight to the heart of the matter, believing pleasantries to be a waste of time.

"And good morning to you too, Zondra," Sarah responded in an artificially sunny voice, just to tweak her friend. "That was quick work."

"A colleague at Lockheed told me that their R&D division failed a snap inspection by the Department of Defense. Given the number of DARPA and other DoD contracts the facility handles, the Head of Security post requires a Grade 11 security clearance or higher and they need somebody yesterday in order to not lose funding. The guy on the way out was a dinosaur. He had state of the art physical security, but largely ignored cyber-security."

"Anyway, I told my colleague that I knew someone looking to get out of deep cover ops. He was a little interested. Then I said it was the Ice Queen. Apparently you are even a legend outside of the Agency. Seriously, I think the guy started to drool at the idea of hiring you. He said the DoD wouldn't have to worry about security with the Ice Queen in charge. Here's the thing. Skunkworks is based in Palmdale, California. It would be great for me because Palmdale is just on the other side of the San Gabriel mountains from LA. We could meet up on weekends at my dojo, hit a spa, hit up the latest greatest nightclubs, or all three."

"The job is close to LA?" Sarah blurted out excitedly, without even thinking.

"Yes," Zondra slowly responded, her tone now suspicious. "I'm thinking being based near LA might not be as big of an issue as I had thought. Wait a sec!" Sarah could hear rapid keystrokes in the background. "Hmm, this newfound affinity for LA wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that, when not running for President, Chuck Bartowski calls Burbank home, would it?" After a few seconds of silence, Zondra asked in a serious manner, "Just how big of a crush is this?"

"It's not a crush," Sarah reluctantly admitted into the phone.

"What's not a rush?" Ellie asked as she rushed back into the room, a tablet computer in one hand and a huge cup of coffee in the other. "Oh, sorry. Didn't realize that you were on the phone. Don't mind me, unless you need a hand with something. We're waist deep in paperwork to wind up the campaign. It turns out there's more paperwork to close a campaign than to actually start one, but I'll do what I can to help you. Actually, I'd love an excuse to get away from this," Ellie said gesturing all around herself while hitting Sarah with a joking smile.

Sarah looked on stunned. She had imagined that Ellie Woodcomb was always calm and collected. The woman was an ER doctor who was always put together, even after overnight weekend shifts at Westside Hospital (I may have reviewed the security footage for the hospital of both Ellie and Awesome-but I certainly wasn't stalking Chuck by learning more about his sister and brother in law, it was just being thorough…really, really thorough). Today Ellie had strands of hair escaping at all angles from her ponytail, and she had bags under her eyes instead of her usual flawless complexion.

"Hello? Hello? Walker, call me back to talk about the Lockheed gig." With that Zondra abruptly disconnected the call.

"No, not 'a rush', Ellie. I was saying I don't have a…you know what, it's not important," Sarah said catching herself in time, shrugging like it was no big deal. "We can talk about this later."

Ellie abruptly stopped what she was doing, took a deep, centering breath, and looked at Sarah with narrowed eyes. Sarah quickly broke eye contact, worried that if Ellie put two and two together she would realize…

"Crush!" Ellie yelled out, her eyes shining with excitement. "Do you have a crush on my baby brother, Sarah?" Ellie teased. Then before Sarah could even get in a comment that Chuck definitely wasn't a baby, Ellie jumped back in. "Wait. You said not a crush. But that means…Sarah, did you finally accept the fact that you are dating my brother?" Ellie was bouncing up and down with her hands clasped together in front of her.

Sarah quickly sat down, looking stunned, while Ellie practically vibrated in front of her sporting a huge grin that looked remarkably like her brother's trademark grin. Well, I guess that puts to bed the question of whether Ellie would approve of me dating Chuck. Ok, I definitely shouldn't think of Chuck and bed in the same sentence. Oh damn, I did it again. Well, I didn't do it yet. Ok, I just need to stop. Now.

"Ellie, it's complicated," Sarah started, causing Ellie to instantly glower at the word choice. She assumed that many people made the mistake of dismissing Ellie as just another pretty face in the crowd. Sarah herself had experienced that on countless occasions, using as a weapon against marks. With Ellie, Sarah got the impression that she founds her looks to be irrelevant.

Ellie was brilliant. Just like her brother. Combined with being highly observant, she could make a for a formidable foe, or an equally formidable ally. Sarah would greatly prefer to list Ellie as an ally. Chuck was very close with his sister, and put considerable stock in her opinion. It was unlikely that any woman who opposed Ellie Woodcomb would have any chance at a meaningful relationship with Chuck Bartowski.

But Sarah also realized that Ellie also presented an opportunity and a challenge to Sarah independent of her hopes for a relationship with Chuck. Sarah recognized that there was a potential for a true friendship with Ellie. With Carina, Sarah knew there was always a willing participant in trips to night clubs, adrenalin fueled adventures, or vacations to exotic locations. With Zondra, Sarah had a friend who understood the rewards and risks in the career of a deep cover agent. She knew without question that Zondra would have her back if she ever needed it-as Sarah would have Zondra's back. They had survived and thrived in what was still a male dominated world of espionage, until Zondra had left for the private sector.

Ellie, on the other hand, offered the possibility of a friendship that was both simpler and far more deep. For Ellie, like Chuck, friends were simply an extension of family. Support, sounding board, advice, good natured teasing, or an outside conscience if a course of action was thought to be unwise. In a startling bit of insight, Sarah knew without question that if things with Chuck didn't work out-if the challenges of adapting to a relationship were too great for a woman with an extremely limited history of dating-that Ellie would still want to be friends with her. But as it appeared that Chuck was THE one, then her friendship with Ellie could evolve into a sisterhood, the likes of which Sarah had yearned for as an only child.

The stakes had just been raised on having a relationship with Chuck. She had to decide whether she was willing to risk that much when she has so little experience with dating. She drew in a deep breath, then slowly let it out, cognizant of the fact that Ellie was scrutinizing her every move in an effort to figure out where Sarah stood in Chuck's life, and in her own life.

Despite the multitude of demands on her time that Ellie was facing, she recognized that Sarah was at a crossroads, trying to make a big decision. Ellie sat down across the table from her and took one of Sarah's hands in both of hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. Ellie didn't say a word, didn't make a single sound. But the message conveyed by her concerned gaze was clear and unmistakable- Trust me, talk to me.

Sarah couldn't help but be impressed. In an instant, Ellie had gone from being frantic and harried to calm and confident. Her hair was still a bit wonky, but her intelligence and compassion shone through brilliantly. With that simple, yet considerate act of Ellie in shelving her to-dos in order to help Sarah, Sarah realized that there was no longer simply the potential for a friendship with Ellie. The friendship was there, and Ellie was letting Sarah have a say in how close of a friendship it would be.

Sarah looked from their joined hands to the care shining in Ellie's eyes and decided to do something which was simple, yet daunting to a woman who had gone from a lonely, dysfunctional childhood to an adult spy: to trust and confide in a new friend.

"That was my friend Zondra Rizzo on the phone. She's like me-" Sarah paused.

"Incredibly beautiful, incredibly smart and incredibly dedicated?" Ellie interjected, for a bit of levity mixed with a whole lot of honesty.

Sarah smirked, grateful for the vote of confidence. She realized that being friends with Ellie meant constantly having a source of support and encouragement. Ellie unknowingly gave Sarah the confidence to push forward with her disclosure. "She used to work at the CIA. With me. She was what I still am, a spy. We worked together for a while as part of an interagency team doing undercover operations."

There was a lull in the conversation as Ellie processed what Sarah just admitted, and Sarah freaked out on the inside about again violating the CIA rule against telling non-immediate family members about working for the Agency.

"Taking down bad guys and breaking hearts along the way?" Ellie finally joked, still stunned at the unexpected twist in Sarah's tale.

Sarah just shrugged, "Maybe." The two women shared a quick laugh. "Anyway, a while back Zondra got fed up with the old boy's club of espionage and left for the private sector where results are more important than gender."

Sarah paused again, surprised at how hard it was to overcome years of conditioning against opening up, yet finding it to be incredibly liberating. "She was calling to relay a job offer."

Ellie looked shocked for a moment. Then she pulled herself together to be supportive to her new friend, pushing down her disappointment over her dashed hopes for the mutual happiness of her brother and Sarah.

"That's, that's great Sarah." The smile on Ellie's face was a bit forced, but she was still determined to being encouraging to Sarah. "I hadn't even considered you changing your career, given how good you are and how much respect Ron has for you. Of course, I also thought your career was with the Secret Service, not the CIA, so…"

Sarah grinned. There it was, the Bartowski two for one special. Ellie had not only showed pride in her friend's abilities, but also showed how she respected the people around her. Ellie hadn't said "Agent Butterfield" or "your supervisor". To her, he was Ron. A person who Ellie clearly respected.

Sarah's nerves started to get the best of her, so she pushed forward even though she broke eye contact with Ellie. "It's in Palmdale. The new job..."

"Sarah, you're here," Chuck blurted out as he rushed into the kitchen, his panic causing Sarah to scan the area for threats. "Oh, thank goodness. It's just you weren't on the plane and Ron—"

"Ron?" Sarah asked, popping an eyebrow so high that Spock would have been jealous.

"What? The guy's job is literally to take a bullet for me- well, it was his job. I guess that it's not his job any more now that the campaign is over. But that's beside the point. The point is…What was my point?"

Ellie let out an indelicate snort at watching her brother spiral hopelessly into a mass of tangential comments. Like Sarah, she had been concerned by Chuck's entrance, but she had quickly realized that Chuck was just relieved at finding Sarah (as she herself had been moments earlier, well may not just like Chuck) –further proof to her of his feelings towards the beautiful spy. After that, she was entertained as her brother's ears turned redder and redder as he completely lost control of his brain to mouth filter. Watching her baby brother's embarrassment was her favorite older sister perk.

Chuck closed his eyes and heaved a huge sigh. Once Sarah had realized that there was no danger to him, she had found Chuck's spiraling endearing, and saw Ellie's complete lack of empathy as hilarious. She started to wonder how far Chuck would go right when he managed to collect himself and start all over.

"As I started to say, Ron-whom it would be rude not to refer to properly as the man had helped to save my life, and may I point out that you are in that group too Ms. Walker. Well, certainly not a man- anyhow, he had told me on the plane that you were no longer part of the advance team after Cruz was captured. Only he made it sound like you had been reassigned. Although thinking back, he never actually said that, only implied it. I now see that it wasn't the case anyway."

"Actually, Agent In Charge Butterfield- as he is my supervisor and hasn't yet saved my life," which drew a muffled giggle from Ellie that encouraged Sarah as she was normally rarely, if ever, funny, "told me that as there was no longer a need for a counter-assassin specialist, I was to stay behind to oversee the transfer of Cruz from local law enforcement to the US Marshals. Turns out that just required me to check the IDs of the Marshals and sign off on some prisoner transfer paperwork. That took all of ten minutes out of my day."

"Spy humor, nice one Ron," Chuck sardonically replied. "I'll have to remember to thank him." Chuck looked away, embarrassed about revealing his fear that Sarah would have been gone. "I'm just going to grab a beer in the kitchen."

Ellie followed Chuck out of the headquarters living room. Now that his nerves were calmed from finding out that Sarah hadn't left without a trace, his nerves rushed back as he thought about how to ask her if there was anything real under the cover.

"So, Chuck what are you going to do next? There is a beautiful, intelligent woman in the next room waiting for you."

Chuck was still trying to come to grips with how things had gone from perfect to awkward so quickly.

"Talk to me Chuck, what's going on."

Chuck started to open his mouth to speak, just as Sarah walked in the kitchen. "It's…It's complicated, El. Can we leave it at that?"

"Well, little brother, you need to decide."

"What do you mean, El?"

"Now that the campaign is over what are you and Sarah going to do? Are you going to ask her out on a proper date, with flowers, dinner, maybe dancing?" Ellie was practically vibrating with excitement, Sarah moved to the far side of the room.

"It's complicated El," Chuck quietly told his sister. "By tomorrow she could be often some other country on her next assignment."

"Chuck, forget her job," Ellie instructed her brother. "What is really going on here?"

"It's. She's. It's just complicated."

"She's a great girl. You're a great guy. What's so complicated? What am I missing here?" Ellie was so exasperated by her brother that she didn't realize just how loudly she was speaking.

"What you are missing is that I told Chuck that he wasn't allowed to tell anyone, you, Devon and Morgan specifically, about the fact that I am with the CIA," Sarah said as she approached the siblings.

"You heard all of that?" Chuck said, surprised.

"Spy chuck," Sarah responded while pointing at herself.

"I don't want…we…we don't want, you getting in trouble with your boss over us," Chuck responded.

"If we're going to make this work, Ellie needs to know. And she deserves to know."

The responding grin from Chuck was so big and bright it could likely be seen from the space station. Sarah couldn't help but grin back, despite her nerves over being judged by both Chuck and Ellie. "She already knows a little. It's time you both know more."

Sarah paused to screw up her courage for the big reveal to two people who had quickly become incredibly important to her. She was surprised, yet thrilled, to realize how much getting Ellie's approval meant to her, and not just to smooth the path to dating Chuck.

"Ellie, you know that I actually work for the CIA. And Chuck knows that I was selected for this detail because I know about Javier Cruz. I also told Chuck that my role on the detail was to neutralize the threat-which is government speak for killing Cruz before he could get to your brother."

"The truth is that I've been a deep cover agent with the CIA for a while now. My last assignment before being seconded to the Secret Service was to get intel on a financier for Eastern European organized crime. Drugs, prostitution, gambling. All the usual suspects. What the CIA and I didn't realize until too late was that the agent in charge intended the mission as a cash grab. He fed info to a crime boss that the financier was skimming money. The crime boss sent eight goons to take him out. The agent planned on stealing the man's money after he was dead. The problem was that the hit men carried out the job when the financier was with his wife and their baby. They butchered the man and his wife. When they moved toward the baby, I broke cover."

Sarah paused for a moment as the harrowing memory washed over her. She was far too aware of how closely Chuck was paying attention to the details she would have preferred to never have to share with him. A high speed chase with a shootout was thrilling. Admitting to Chuck, and Ellie for that matter, how skilled at delivering death she was felt terrifying.

"It was technically against orders for me to break cover. And, the Director wasn't happy about how messy the end result was, both literally and figuratively. But after that I was shipped off to the Secret Service to avoid the international scene for a while." And to give me a bit of a break.

Ellie looked horrified. "But were you and the baby ok? I mean you look fine, but..."

"Not a scratch on us," Sarah stated, taking a bit of perverse pride at that fact. "The eight gunmen and their boss, well I might have gotten a bit carried away."

"You took on nine killers? Alone?"

"As your brother would say, they didn't stand a snowball's chance on Tatooine against me."

"Marry me," Chuck blurted out, as Ellie's eyes bulged at his slip of the tongue.

"You keep saying that," Sarah shot him a wry grin, relieved yet again that he didn't hold her terrifying past against her. "Maybe we should wait a little on that. And besides, you are not down on one knee. Sometimes girls like to adhere to tradition."

"I don't know whether to laugh at seeing my brother meet his match, cry about that poor baby, or lose my lunch over the idea that nine murderers didn't stand a chance against you," Ellie finally admitted. She looked equally parts awed and horrified. She collapsed down into an overstuffed chair near the kitchen table. She clearly felt way out of her depth at the turn the conversation had taken.

"Ellie…You are important. No. You are everything to Chuck, so you need to understand. Sometimes my mission is to meet an asset to get vital information. Sometimes it's to recruit an asset. Sometimes it's to buy secrets. Other times to steal secrets. But, sometimes it's that our government needs to eliminate a threat. More times than I want to remember, the person chosen to end that threat was me. While I hate to admit it, the truth is I'm very good at wet work."

"Wet work? What a horrible euphemism," Ellie said while shuddering. "But you are wrong on something there, Sarah. I'm not everything to Chuck. At least, not any more." Sarah blushed at the implication.

"I'll be honest," Sarah replied. "As difficult as that is for a spy. I keep waiting for Chuck to come to his senses and realize what I am, what I have done, and that he will run away. A part of me wants him to run away, for his sake. But a bigger part is selfish and wants to feel normal by spending more time with Chuck."

Ellie blinked at the admission from Sarah, a determined look settling in on her face, "Sarah, I hate to break it to you. But what you and my brother share isn't normal. It's special. Incredibly special. It's so special that even if you were the monster that you fear you are, it might still be worth it for Chuck to be in a relationship with you. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that you are not that monster. A monster wouldn't perceive that fear. A monster wouldn't lose sleep over how Chuck thought about her. A monster would never factor in the feelings of a sibling."

In hindsight, Sarah wasn't sure why she did it. Maybe it was even slightly mean to pull it in front of his sister, but between Ellie being so supportive and Sarah feeling almost giddy over Chuck being so excited to see her, and the fact that he still hadn't run away screaming. And she was possibly feeling a bit mischievous on top of that. "Well, Chuck, I wasn't completely idle during my day. In fact," Sarah said turning to face Ellie whose eyes widened as she realized Sarah's intent, "your sister was just giving me a recommendation for a place I can take you tomorrow for our date."

"Date?" Chuck squeaked out. Sarah's smug grin was short lived, as Ellie decided that it was only fair to fight fire with fire.

"Well, your girlfriend here…oh, I'm so sorry, your 'cover' girlfriend was just telling me about her upcoming job interview in LA." Ellie crossed her arms while tilting her head while giving Sarah a tight lipped smile. The attempt to look intimidating was seriously undermined by the fact that Ellie's smile was tight lipped due to the fact that she was desperately trying to keep from laughing out loud. Pointing a finger at Sarah, Ellie proclaimed, "You and I are going to have so much fun!" Ellie then gave Sarah a quick hug, slapped Chuck on the shoulder with the back of her hand, and spun to walk out of the kitchen. She did not even break stride to reach out with one hand to pick up the Longwood brochure and slap it against her brother's chest. "Don't screw this up, baby brother."

"A date?" Chuck repeated in a hopeful voice, with a smile starting to bloom across his face, as though he had just been told that he had won the lottery but was trying to process the fact that the numbers on tv matched the numbers on his ticket. Only this was better than winning the lottery. Much, much better. This was Sarah Walker saying that she wanted to take him, Chuck Bartowski, out on a date. Not only that, but saying it in front of his sister. It was a little embarrassing that the eyewitness happened to be his sister. But it was still good that there was an eyewitness as Chuck was already beginning to wonder if the whole exchange had been some hallucination.

He had a date with Sarah Freaking Walker. And cue the freak out…

Just as Chuck was spiraling in a panic over what to wear, and where to take Sarah, Morgan rushed in to haul him off for one last interview with Wired magazine about the campaign and his plans for Carmichael Industries now that his role in the race was over. Sarah roamed around the house, before heading out to the bench on the front porch of the cozy house. She was just thinking about how much she had liked spending time in a house that was a headquarters, when Ellie slipped out of the front door and plopped down beside her.

Ellie had a bottle of wine and two glasses in her hands, making Sarah realize that this was intended to be a chat among two girlfriends, rather than an interrogation by a sister turned surrogate mom.

"I know that my brother is crazy about you. But what about Ms. CIA agent? How much of a thing under the cover thing is there when it comes to Chuck?" Ellie asked as she poured Sarah a large glass of wine.

"There is no thing under the cover," Sarah responded, "because there was no cover." Seeing Ellie's expression turned confused before her hazel eyes turn stony in anger, Sarah rushed to continue. "The cover lasted about halfway to Jessop's Tavern. By the time we finished walking there it was a date. By the time we left the Tavern, we were dating exclusively. Well, as far as I was concerned. Chuck may not have gotten that particular memo."

Ellie's glare quickly shifted into a wry grin. This was quite the woman his brother had fallen for, which was perfect. While Ellie would never have thought that Jill's successor would have been a spy, much less such a lethal weapon, Sarah was still perfect for her brother.

"Let me tell you," Sarah said while leaning conspiratorially towards Ellie, "the fundraiser breakfast in Philly was supposed to be all about protection, but there was this one socialite who was pretty obvious as to how she wanted to 'help' Chuck with his campaign. I believe that she kept saying he needed some stress relief. I was tempted to relieve some stress by using her as a punching bag. Actually, it was kind of cute just how long it took Chuck to pick up on her lines. I won't lie. I was feeling pretty smug when Chuck promptly ditched her, saying that his girlfriend needed him."

"Little did he know how true the 'girlfriend' title was, huh?" Ellie noted with a laugh.

Sarah responded with a one shoulder bounce, and a rather smug grin. Both women promptly fell about laughing.

"So, Javier is locked up and Chuck's run in the primaries is over," Ellie said while taking a sip of wine to hide the huge grin she was sporting. "What do you do moving forward? Are you really thinking of taking the job in California?"

"I am serious about it. I'm also worried. I've never known anything but spying for so long. I know that I'm good at it, one of the best, to be honest. But this is something that's really different, although parts are just the same. I'd started to think about it when I was first assigned over to the Secret Service. But, honestly, the thought of leaving the CIA became more and more tempting the more time I spent with your brother."

"I just hope I get to be a bridesmaid," Ellie said, watching Sarah closely for her reaction.

Sarah, in the act of taking a sip from her wine, sprayed her drink out over the stoop. Meanwhile Ellie fell from her chair laughing so hard at Sarah's reaction and the look on her face. It was a far cry from the cool, collected appearance Sarah had conveyed at their first meeting just a few days earlier.

"Lord. When you two finally do get married I'm going to have to organize the whole damned thing." Ellie cackled, still laughing hysterically. At the word married, Sarah resembled a deer in headlights.