Warning: Just like the show, there are going to be significant character deaths coming. I don't want to spoil any specific chapters so I'm going to post this warning in every chapter.

I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything.

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The Wedding Night

x-x-x-x-x

Daniel Shaw's eyes immediately got big as saucers. He waived to his men to start to trace the call. "Agent Walker," he said. "I've been hoping to talk to you."

"I'll bet you have," Sarah said with a derisive laugh. "I guess what they say about you being a poor listener is true. You plainly weren't paying attention. I just said that I changed my name an hour ago. I'm also no longer an agent. Didn't you get my resignation letter?"

Sarah paused for a moment and then continued without waiting for a response. "I sent it to the offices," she said sarcastically. "I considered your more than generous offer. It was a tough choice but I decided that I didn't want to go to Langley and learn how to become your obedient yes-girl. I saw what it did to Agent Watkins, and quite frankly it wasn't all that attractive. So I decided to get married and become my new husband's yes-girl instead. I'm actually getting quite good at it. In fact, as soon as we're done here I intend on finding him and saying yes to him several times. No offense, but I'm pretty sure that I made the right decision."

"Okay, Sarah," Shaw said softly. "Why did you call? I assume your name is still Sarah."

"Actually," Sarah said. "I think I prefer Mrs. Bartowski. Someone overhearing you call me Sarah might mistake us for friends. Imagine their confusion when they see me pump an entire clip into what little is going to be left of your head."

Shaw smiled. "Okay, Mrs. Bartowski," he said. "We'll play it your way for the moment. You sound angry. Can't we talk about this for a minute? We've never met. I'm really not as bad of a guy as you've perhaps heard. I just need the intersect. I really don't necessarily mean you any harm. I'm sure we can come up with some arrangement where we all win. Maybe, instead of emptying a clip into my head, we can become friends."

"Seriously?' Sarah asked with a derisive laugh. "You're seriously trying to charm me, Agent Shaw? Wow, I just have to ask. Did you really have even the tiniest expectation that would actually work? You must truly be in love with your seduction skills. Or maybe you actually think that all blondes are dumb. Or is it that you're desperate and don't have a clue what to do next? Whichever it is, please drop the act. It's insulting… and it's pissing me off. Surely you know enough about me by now to understand that pissing me off is often fatal."

"Look," Shaw said. "Let's calm down. Okay. You don't trust me. Fair enough. Guess what? I don't trust you either. But you have to admit that we both have something to gain by coming to some sort of agreement. You must think so too. Why else would you call me?"

"Let me get this straight," Sarah said. "You're negotiating with me?"

"Perhaps," Shaw said. "I'm not sure that I would classify it as negotiation. I'm open to discussion. If you and the intersect would come in, I can promise you that you'll be treated fairly."

Sarah just laughed. "I don't think so," she said. "Let's face it. You could use my new husband. His skills would come in very handy. But you probably don't really need him. You just can't have him falling into the wrong hands."

"Okay," Shaw said. "I'm listening."

"Let's define some terms," Sarah said. "You keep saying the intersect. That makes it sound like a piece of equipment. In fact, if it was just some piece of equipment, I could probably fairly easily be talked into giving it to you. But that's not true. The intersect is not an it, it's a he. And he is the most amazing man I've ever met. I've been waiting for him my whole life. He makes me feel like a princess in a fairy tale. So I'm never going to let him go. We've agreed to spend the rest of our lives together. We're currently working on starting a family. It's actually a little ironic, Agent Shaw. I just said working, but it's anything but work. So understand something. There is no way in hell that I'm ever going to give him up to someone like you. Be honest. What you really fear is us working with your rivals."

"You're bluffing," Shaw said.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Sarah replied crisply. "I agree that I would have to hold my nose. But I'm holding my nose right now talking to you. I would be careful about pushing me too far if I was you. That would almost assuredly be fatal to you and your not so noble plans. Under the right circumstances I might be able to be talked into giving you some assurance that won't happen."

"How?" Shaw asked.

"First, I need something," Sarah said. "Call it a good faith gesture. Something to earn my trust. I need my new sister, her fiancé, and Bryce Larkin."

Shaw couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. "Why Bryce Larkin?"

"It's personal," Sarah said. "There are some things that are strictly professional. This isn't one of them. I'll give you a location to deliver them to. Larkin will need to be alive and secured. I'll let you know the next day where you can pick up his body."

Shaw paused for a moment. Why would she want Bryce Larkin? Suddenly the light bulb went on as he answered his own question. "Let me talk to Mr. Bartowski," he said. "After all, how do I know that you can deliver?"

"He's not here," Sarah said. "Actually, he's not to know that this conversation ever took place. That's a deal breaker. If I get what I want, I can arrange for you to speak with him for a minute."

"You're simply asking for too much," Shaw said. "You've haven't earned any trust from me yet either. I'll tell you what. I'll give you one of those three. Then I get to talk to the intersect, umm… Mr. Bartowski. That seems fair to me. You pick. Which one do you want?"

"If I have to choose, I'll take Larkin," Sarah replied quickly.

Shaw smiled to himself. He was right. She was clearly afraid. She gave in far too easily. That knowledge gave him the upper hand. "He's not here right now," he said. "He's on an assignment. I don't expect him until tomorrow." Just then one of his men poked his head into the room and gave a thumbs up. They were able to trace the call. He handed Shaw a piece of paper with the address where the call was coming from.

"I'll call tomorrow with a location to deliver him to," Sarah said. "And Agent Shaw…"

Shaw's heart sank as he looked at the paper he had just been handed. The address was instantly familiar. It was his residence. "Yes," he said numbly.

"You've probably already guessed that I'm not really in St Louis, Charlotte, Vegas, or at your house for that matter," Sarah said mockingly. "I know that your men probably just told you that I'm waiting for you in your bed. Sorry to disappoint. You need to understand that I have resources available to me that you can't imagine. If you're trying to earn my trust, any attempt to double cross me here would be very, very bad. I imagine that your rivals would offer me quite a bit for our services. And let's face one very simple fact. You don't have a fucking clue where I'm at right now. On the other hand…"

"I know exactly where you live."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck was just pulling into the tiny airport when Sarah ended the call. He could tell by the grin on her face that she was very pleased with life in general. "Okay," he said with his own grin. "Care to tell me what just happened?"

"Yeah," Ellie chimed in. "You could have asked for Devon. Why didn't you?"

"There's no way that Shaw would actually give anything up," Sarah said. "It would be a trap no matter what I asked for. And there would be no way to ask for Devon anyway. That would have tipped him off. He fully expected me to ask for Ellie. When I asked for Bryce it got the wheels in his head turning."

"He thinks that you're afraid of Bryce's plan working," Chuck suddenly burst out as his own light bulb turned on.

"That's right," Sarah answered. "Now he's sure to give Bryce anything he needs. Your dad knew that Shaw would think I was trying to fish something out of him. That's how he thinks. We just used that against him."

"Wow," Ellie whispered, more to herself than anybody. "Is Dad really that smart?"

"Well," Sarah said thoughtfully. "I'd have to say the evidence all points to it. Both of his kids are geniuses. He did invent the intersect. And he's been able to evade both the bad guys and the government for twenty years."

"He's been able to make that Shaw dude look like a moron," Ellie added. "Although that honestly is looking less and less impressive the more I find out about him."

"We're about to find out," Chuck said thoughtfully. "That phone call just upped the stakes."

"Come on," Sarah said cheerfully. "Have a little faith in my new Dad here. You two glass-is-half-empty siblings are putting a significant damper on my good mood. That was actually fun. Besides, I just got married an hour ago. Ellie, are you sure we can't talk you into closing your eyes for a bit once we're in the air?"

x-x-x-x-x

Bryce Larkin knocked and poked his head in the door. "You wanted to see me, sir?" he asked.

"Yes, Bryce," Shaw said warmly. "Come in. Please sit down. Would you like something to drink?"

Bryce smiled at the change in Shaw's demeanor. "No thank you, sir," he said as he took the offered seat.

"I just talked to Sarah Walker," Shaw said. "She called me. It seems that she doesn't think much of your goading Mr. Bartowski. In fact I would call that somewhat of an understatement."

"I'll bet," Bryce said with a laugh.

"In fact, she asked me for the opportunity to kill you," Shaw said as he shared his laugh. "I imagine that her method would be somewhat less than pleasant. She has a reputation for being quite the hothead. I think that she's afraid that you're going to be successful."

"Yes, sir," Bryce said. "I agree. That's exactly what she's afraid of. She's right. There is no way Bartowski won't sneak off and fight for her. He is entirely too predictable."

"When are we going to be able to close the deal?" Shaw asked. "I can't tell you how anxious I am to get the intersect back into custody."

"I'm thinking one more day," Bryce said with an evil grin. "I'll turn up the heat with his sister this afternoon, maybe even get her to show us some skin… challenge his manhood a bit. I'll bet he calls tomorrow wanting to meet me."

Shaw thought for a moment. "Okay," he finally said. "I guess we can wait for another day. But let's be clear. This has to happen. Everything depends on it."

"I just want to make sure," Bryce said cautiously. "When I get Bartowski back for you, I get first crack at Walker."

"Of course, Bryce," Shaw said with a smile. "That was our agreement. Trust me, get the intersect back for me and you'll be in the driver's seat. Take as many cracks as you'd like. By the way, it's not Walker any more. She apparently married Mr. Bartowski in Vegas a couple of hours ago."

"She didn't actually marry him," Bryce scoffed. "She's just messing with me."

Shaw handed him a sheet of paper. "I'm afraid not," he said. "They got married. This is a copy of their marriage license."

Bryce's shoulders slumped. "Sonofabitch," he mumbled, more to himself than anybody.

Shaw was looking very closely for Bryce's reaction. Thankfully, it was exactly what he wanted to see. "Exactly," he said, clearly enjoying his sport. "I guess that would make this their wedding night. But don't worry. You're going to have the last laugh. Once we have the intersect in custody, she'll do anything and everything to protect him."

"Oh, she'll do anything," Bryce growled through gritted teeth as he held up the paper. "Can I keep this? I can't wait for her to explain this one to me."

"Be my guest," Shaw said. "It sounds like you just got an additional motivation."

"Oh, I'm motivated," Bryce replied. "You can trust me on this one."

"That bitch is going to pay."

x-x-x-x-x

The last month, on whole, had been very good for Sarah, more like a dream really. Oh, there was that very bad week when she and Casey were desperately looking for Chuck with little hope of finding him. But that was more than offset with the night when they were finally reunited. And the two weeks before that in Cancun were filled with great days. They spent an unbelievably romantic night out on the Gulf of Mexico sleeping on a hammock under a billion stars. They necked semi-naked in the surf on a private island. They made love for the first time, and the second, and the twentieth, for that matter. There was also that magical night when they promised each other that they would spend the rest of their lives together. But today dwarfed all those other days put together.

This was by far the happiest day of Sarah's life, for lots of obvious reasons. She was on such a cloud of euphoria that she had to actually give herself a pep talk to concentrate on landing the plane safely in St Louis. Not even Carina doing her best to embarrass her in front of Chuck and Ellie with stories of CAT Squad missions could make a dent in her happy glow. For one thing, all the embarrassing things about those stories involved Zondra and Carina far more than Sarah… and Chuck already knew about all the exceptions. It was true that Ellie was hearing most of this for the first time. But the perpetual red in her face as her mouth fell open in shock over and over again was sort of cute.

The highlight of the day, other than the obvious one of hearing "you may kiss the bride" had to be that Chuck allowed his dad to hug him. Okay, so maybe he didn't hug back all that warmly. But still, it was amazing progress from where they were just yesterday. That was Sarah's first indication that Chuck and Dad would eventually be okay. It made Sarah feel so giddy that she even allowed Carina to take Chuck by the hand and lead him out of earshot, ostensibly to kiss the groom. Naturally she insisted that they stay within sight. Come on, she was giddy, not stupid. But she did make up for Chuck's lack of enthusiasm when Dad hugged her. She hugged back as tightly as she possibly could without hurting him. "Are you coming with us?" Sarah asked. They had all agreed to go out and have a celebratory drink, and perhaps more than one drink, sort of a mini wedding reception.

Steven paused for a long while. "I don't think so," he finally said. "Please don't be offended. I can't tell you how happy I am that you're now officially a member of the family. I just think it's best if I stay here and monitor the situation."

Sarah squeezed a little tighter. "I'm not offended at all," she said. "I know that's not your thing."

"Let me know how things work out tonight," Steven said. "We have a decision to make tomorrow."

x-x-x-x-x

Misty sighed as she sat on the bed. This last session with Bryce had been more intense than the previous one. Okay, he had pulled her aside and warned her that it would be. Sure she knew that it was all an act. Actually, under normal circumstances, she might not have minded putting on a performance with Bryce Larkin. And Misty couldn't claim to be modest about showing her body. But it was still one of the more unpleasant hours she had experienced in recent memory.

Devon clearly picked up on her discomfort, because he was all over her the second she was back in the room. "What happened?" he asked. "You look upset. Did he make you do something?"

Suddenly Misty's bad mood was gone, like your breath on a cold windy day. Devon was concerned about her. How sweet was that? So she made no attempt to hide the smile. "Why, Devon," she said in mock horror. "You actually sound jealous."

Devon clearly wasn't in a mood to be teased. "Not jealous," he quickly corrected. "Just concerned."

But Misty wasn't about to let him off the hook. "Aren't you afraid that this might make you a jackass with Ellie?" she asked with a grin.

Devon still wasn't wild about being teased, but he did relax a bit. "Not really," he said. "You did a better job this morning than you realize. You were right. I don't have to apologize for being concerned about the people that I care about. It doesn't have to be romantic or sexual. We're friends. Close friends. I care about what happens to you. That doesn't necessarily make me a jackass with Ellie. And even if it did… tough. That's something she'll have to learn to deal with."

"I know," Misty said softly. "I was just teasing. Don't worry. The thing with Bryce wasn't that bad. It's sweet that you're concerned. And don't worry about Ellie. I was just teasing about her too."

"I'm not worried about Ellie," Devon said with his first smile. "She'll deal with us being close. Trust me. She owes me that. There are plenty of things in our relationship that I've had to deal with."

"Look at it this way," Misty said. "If it weren't for Ellie, you wouldn't have all this excitement in your life. We're part of a gang that is going to stop an overthrow of the government. Can you believe it?"

"Not really," Devon answered. "It sounds more like a bad movie script."

Suddenly Misty remembered. "Oh," she said as she fished the paper that Bryce had given her out of her pocket and handed it to him. "Speaking of bad movie scripts, it sounds like your question about the love story of that Chuck and Sarah has been answered in the affirmative. They apparently got married today."

Devon intently studied the document. "They got married with their real names," he finally said. "Good for them. I'll bet Ellie was there."

"It's such a romantic story," Misty sighed. "Underachieving nerd wins the heart of the beautiful super spy. Why can't anything like that happen to me?"

"Trust me," Devon replied with a sly grin. "You're turning into a beautiful super spy yourself. Your nerd is out there someplace. As soon as we get out of here, I'm going to help you find him."

Misty knew that she had to ignore the fuzziness in her stomach from him calling her beautiful for the second time today. They just couldn't go there. So she simply narrowed her eyes. "Underachieving Nerd?" she asked semi-sarcastically. "If you're going to fix me up with someone, you couldn't at least pick me out one of your cute doctor friends?"

Devon just laughed. "Maybe," he said. "Although playing cupid is more Ellie's thing."

"Great," Misty sighed. "I'm sure that Ellie will be real eager to fix me up with one of your doctor friends."

"I'll just die alone."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah were on the dance floor for their first dance as a married couple. To tell the truth, it wasn't what either one ever imagined for their bridal dance. They were at the same redneck bar as the other night. Neither being a Country Music fan, they didn't even know the song that was playing. For the record, it took Carina to document that their first dance was to Collide by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. It wasn't exactly a classic wedding night song. And that was actually okay… because quite frankly, neither one was paying much attention to it anyway.

It had been quite the busy day, flying all the way to Vegas, getting married, following Dad's mission instructions, and flying all the way back. It took a while for the adrenalin and quite honestly, the euphoria to wear off enough to be able to think rationally. Finally what had happened today hit them almost at the exactly same time. "Oh my God," Sarah said with a grin. "We're married."

"I know," Chuck said with his own grin. "It took a while to sink in, huh? Sorry, there's no way for you to back out now."

"I have no interest in backing out," Sarah said. "What did Carina want to talk to you about anyway? Was she trying to get you to open your mouth for her groom kiss?"

"Becoming the jealous wife already?" Chuck answered with a laugh. "You have nothing to worry about. There is no way that I'm opening my mouth with Carina. I know where her mouth has been."

"That's good to know," Sarah said. "And, quite frankly, a little disturbing. Trust me, sweetie. You don't know where her mouth has been. Trust me again. You made the right choice."

"She just wanted to warn me to never hurt you," Chuck said with another laugh as he finally got serious enough to answer her question. "She told me that she had never seen you like this, that you were vulnerable, that she loved you, and if I ever hurt you I'd never be dead enough. It was nice. It was also a little disturbing."

"Really," Sarah asked. "She said that? What did you say?"

"I told her that I would never hurt you," Chuck said. "And if I ever did, I deserved to be dead."

"That was sweet," Sarah said. Then she paused for a long moment. "I have something that I want to ask you," she finally said. "I wanted to wait until we actually were married."

Chuck's eyes told her to continue.

"The Intersect," Sarah softly continued. "Is that still something that you want to do? Training is hard. It got a little tense yesterday. If I'm going to get you ready to be an effective weapon, I'm going to have to push you. I have to know what the intersect can and can't do. I'm going to have to make you do some things that you don't want to do. I'm going to have to put you in some unpleasant circumstances. I might even have to fool you and test you. A man shouldn't have to accept that from his wife. I just want to make sure we're going to be okay with that."

"You're not going to sleep with anyone, are you?" Chuck said with a laugh. He could instantly tell by her face that he had said the wrong thing. So he drew her close. "Sarah," he said. "I was just teasing."

Sarah paused a long while. "I know," she finally said. "I understand that you were just teasing. I'm sorry that I got all sensitive. Don't feel bad. You didn't do anything wrong. Look, it's just that particular topic is a sore point with me. I'm not at a point where I can joke about it. I probably never will be. I want you to know. You never, ever, ever have to worry about that."

"I don't worry about that… at all," Chuck said. "I thought we were past that. Why do you think I could tease you about it? I'm sorry, it was very insensitive. I won't do it again. Please don't let it spoil this night, okay?"

That got her smile back. "Nothing could spoil this night," she said.

"I agree," Chuck said. "And as far as the intersect, do your worst. If it gets to be too hard, we'll talk."

"Okay," Sarah said. "Speaking of spoiling the night, you do realize that Casey and Carina are going to try and get us both sloppy drunk tonight?"

"Yeah," Chuck said with his own grin. "I sort of figured that out when they started ordering shots of tequila. Won't those two ever give up trying to spoil our wedding night?"

"Sweetie," Sarah said with a sigh.

"I'm afraid you have no idea."

x-x-x-x-x