I still don't own Chuck. Not sure who does at this point. Maybe Subway.

I feel somewhat like the show. No, not just because my ratings have fallen off the cliff, lol. But just like the ultimate showdown between Shaw and Chuck was originally going to happen in Other Guy – my ultimate showdown between Shaw and Sarah was originally going to happen at Red Mountain. But I find that I have some more of the story to tell – so I gave myself a back six, lol. After all, Sparky deserves some happiness, right? The battle is over – for now. Only one thing remains to be done. Well, maybe a couple of things. Oh, and Elise has a new mission. This one is only slightly more dangerous than yesterday's.

Some people have been asking me where Ellie is…

I'll be sure to post warnings on chapters that have violent or sexual situations. I'm going to keep this T – but I might dance on the edge for a bit.

If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review.

Elise's Mission

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck Junior was finally getting his arm looked at. The medic was fairly concerned. She was still looking at it very critically when Elise came into the makeshift field clinic looking for him.

"Hey," she said. "How's the arm?"

"I'm not sure," Chuck Junior said. "She's looking pretty grim." But really, when he actually stopped to look at the young Second Lieutenant, it turned out that she was not that grim at all. She was really quite stunning – even without makeup. She had some amazingly pretty blue eyes. And while the plain green battle fatigues did a great job at hiding her figure – it was there. And you had to look close to see how pretty her blonde hair was that was tied up under her cap – but still. In point of fact, she was down right… ungrim.

The medic just sighed. "You still have some rock fragments imbedded in the wound, Mr. Bartowski," she said. "They look like they're in there pretty deep. I can't stitch you up until they're out."

"He's a pretty tough dude," Elise said with a grin. "Just take you knife and cut them out. I'll give him a stick to bite on. He's a warrior."

"That's what I understand," the medic replied. "Your boyfriend held off thirty men by himself with only two handguns? That's the bravest thing I've ever heard."

"Me too," Elise said as she grabbed his hand. "Except that he's not my boyfriend. He's actually nobody's boyfriend. The silly man thinks that he's not an unbelievable catch."

Chuck Junior's face immediately turned red. So he tried to change the subject to cover his embarrassment. "I saw you talking to Joe earlier, after you finally came up for air. How did he know where to come?"

"Hey," Elise said with a laugh. "What? Do you really think that you're the only hero in the family? Joe was a hero before you were even born. And since I haven't seen my husband in a week, a little kissing certainly isn't out of line. But he trained here too. He left as soon as Bryce called him. He dropped Robbie off at his mom's on the way. When he got close, he heard all of the gunfire and figured that we were in trouble. He followed the noise. Then he saw you."

"I'm glad he did," Chuck Junior said. "That's the only way I was able to survive."

"I'm glad he did too," Elise said as she squeezed his hand. "We can't lose you. Sparky, I can't lose you either."

Chuck Junior just smiled at her.

"Did you hear the news about your sister and Alex?" Elise asked.

Chuck Junior shook his head. "No," he said. "What happened?"

"They're engaged," Elise said. "He had a ring. He got down on one knee and proposed to her in front of God and everybody. It may be the most romantic thing I've ever seen. Your mom was crying at how romantic it was."

"My mom was crying?" Chuck Junior asked incredulously. "That must have really been some scene."

"She was bawling like a ten-year-old," Elise said with a grin. "Well, maybe not – but there were clearly tears running down her face. I might have actually had to blink away a couple of tears myself."

Chuck Junior smiled. "I'm happy for them," he said. "They deserve each other. I had my doubts at first – but he's really a great guy. Kate is lucky."

"I'd say they are both pretty lucky," Elise said. "Alex is a hero. Just like you are."

"Mr. Bartowski," the medic said with a sigh. "We really should take you to the base hospital. These rock fragments are pretty deep – and all I have here is local antastedic. It might hurt a bit."

"Lieutenant…" Chuck Junior paused and leaned over to read her name tag. "Lieutenant Moore, please stop calling me Mr. Bartowski. That's my dad. My friends call me Sparky."

"Okay, Sparky," she said. "I can do that - as long as you'll call me ma'am."

She laughed as soon as she saw Chuck Junior's look. "I'm just kidding," she said. "My name is Heather."

If Chuck Junior thought that her eyes were pretty before – he was bowled over when he saw her laugh. Heather was indeed very pretty – and that smile…

Elise laughed at Heather's joke. It was exactly something she would have said. Hey, wait a minute. Suddenly she noticed the undeniable chemistry flowing between them – and the light went on. "Tell me, Heather," she said. 'If Sparky here were to let you take out the fragments here instead of going to the hospital, well that would be pretty brave, wouldn't you agree?"

"Sure," Heather said. "It will smart a bit. I'll be as careful as I can but…"

"That would deserve a reward," Elise said. "Don't you think? Like, maybe… dinner?"

"Elise," Chuck Junior groaned. "What are you doing? I'm so sorry, Heather. Elise here has clearly made it her life's work to fix me up – and is currently being about as subtle as a car bomb."

"Well," Elise said sarcastically. "I've seen the women that you date. I think that you could use my help. Your Aunt Ellie is still trying to get you to go to Medical School, right? Heather here seems like a perfect fit. So, what do you say, Heather?" Elise ticked off the points on her fingers. "Just take a look at him. Tall, devilishly good looking, disarming smile, in UCLA on a full academic scholarship, perfect white teeth, unbelievably sweet, and now a genuine hero - tell me that he's not an incredible catch."

"This is embarrassing," Chuck Junior said with a side look at Elise. "Trust me, Heather - I can actually ask a woman out to dinner all on my own."

"I don't know," Heather said with a grin. "I might need you to prove that… Unless, of course, you're chicken. And, Elise, yes – you're right. Pending closer inspection, of course, he does appear to be quite the catch."

"Okay," Chuck Junior said with his own grin. "It sounds like a challenge has been thrown down. Heather, would you like to go out to dinner with me sometime?"

"Tell me, Sparky," Heather said. "Would there possibly be dancing involved?"

"Okay, Heather," Chuck Junior said. "You drive a hard bargain. Sure. Would you also like to go dancing?"

"Yes, Sparky," Heather said. "I would. Assuming, of course, that you make it through the procedure alive. You do realize the closest restaurant that serves any dish besides muskrat is by the base – and that's about eighty miles away."

"That's actually good,' Elise said. "He can take the Porsche. It's parked down the road a mile. Tomorrow night – say six?"

"Tomorrow night at six will be fine," Heather said with a laugh, more to Elise than Chuck Junior. "Will you be coming along to help him order his meal? Or will it just be the two of us?"

x-x-x-x-x

Alex and Kate were awash in well wishers for quite some time. The medivac chopper had just arrived and they were getting ready to transport Casey to the base hospital. Since they had slowed the bleeding and had given him several transfusions, he had actually regained consciousness - enough that he was able to congratulate the happy couple. He even was able to kiss Kate – which may have actually been a first.

Janice walked up to Kate and threw her arms around her. "Congratulations, Katie," she said. "I'm so happy for you. You found yourself a real hero."

"Thanks, Aunt Janice," Kate said. "I'm happy for me too. I never thought that I could feel like this. Thank you for encouraging him. He's pretty shy."

"When do you think you're going to actually get married?" Janice asked. "Have you talked about a date?"

"We haven't set a date yet," Kate said. "We really haven't had a chance to discuss it. But it has to be fairly soon. We need to get it out of the way before the primary campaigns start up. The Iowa Caucus is less than thirteen months away. We have to organize fifty different state election committees. We really need the nomination process to be a slam dunk. That way, we can keep our powder dry for the general election."

"Katie," Janice said with a grin. "You can't let this campaign be a priority over getting married."

"You're going to be President," Kate said firmly. "If you'll let us, Alex and I are going to be standing on that platform when you take the oath. Trust me - Alex is even more determined about that than I am."

Janice's eyes narrowed. "Why wouldn't I let you?" she asked. "What does that mean?"

"Oh nothing," Kate said. "It's just that there is only so much room – and a lot of people will want to be up there. That's all I meant."

"If I take the oath in your mom's Porsche," Janice said, "there will be enough room for you and Alex."

"Alex is really getting excited," Kate said with a sly grin. "He was just pointing out to me that we're going to get a ton of public sympathy because of this stupid stunt. The President nominated Daniel Shaw to be CIA Director. I fear that he will be regretting that choice very soon. It's funny - they worked so hard and risked so much to keep you from running. And all they accomplished was to all but guarantee you the Presidency. We should wait about a week – and then make your announcement."

"Katie," Janice said with a smile. "I can't worry about that right now."

"I know," Kate said. "You need to go take care of Uncle Casey. Don't worry. That's why you have me – and Alex. We were just going over some ideas for your announcement speech. It has to kick ass. I'll have a draft for us to discuss by the time we get back to Washington."

"Katie," Janice laughed. "You just got engaged a half hour ago. I hope that, of all the things that Alex is excited about today, my campaign is down the list a bit. Please promise me that you two won't spend all your time working. You need to spend some time taking care of each other."

"Trust me," Kate said with her own laugh. "You don't have to worry about that. We love talking about politics. But when we get to someplace private… Alex is going to fully understand how I intend to take care of him."

"Don't kill the poor guy," Janice said. "After all, we need him."

"We'll see," Kate said with a sly grin. "No promises."

x-x-x-x-x

While Kate was busy talking to Janice, Alex walked up to where Chuck and Sarah were standing. "Mr. Bartowski, Mrs. Bartowski," he said.

"Alex," Sarah said. "Sweetie, I thought that we already agreed. I'm Sarah…"

"I know," Alex interrupted. "I'm sorry. This is sort of a special occasion. So I thought it might be more appropriate to be a little formal. I know that you're supposed to ask permission from the parents before you actually propose – so I want to apologize for that. I know that, like most people, you probably think that this is ridiculously sudden. Maybe you're right. I know that you love Kate. But I just want to assure you – I love her too. I will until I draw my last breath. I'll do anything to make sure that she's safe and happy – and always, always feels loved. Kate's family - and most of all, her parents - are incredibly important to her. She talks about you all the time. And when she talks about you, you can plainly hear the love and respect in her voice. The very last thing that I would want is to change that in any way. So I would really appreciate it if you would tell me what I have to do to earn your blessing."

Chuck smiled, more at Sarah than Alex. "Well, son," he began. "Sarah and I have actually talked a lot about this when Katie was still a baby. We sort of figured this day would come someday. So we devised a test. We understand all about the love stuff – and don't get me wrong – that's very important. We know that you two love each other. That's very clear – no matter how sudden it may appear to some people. But I'm afraid that's not nearly enough for us to feel good about giving her away."

Sarah looked at her husband with a confused look.

"Yes, sir," Alex said. His look was a mixture of anticipation – and fear.

"Let's face it, Alex," Chuck said. "You're a nice guy. But if you really wanted to marry our only daughter, you would do something special. You would make some grand dramatic gesture. In the fairy tales, you would go off and prove yourself by fighting a dragon. I don't know of any dragons around, so you're going to have to figure something else out. I know that you just fought off three men to save her the other night. That was on the right track – but it doesn't quite cut it. You're going to have to do better. Maybe something like throw yourself into a suicide mission to save her life. You would gladly sacrifice your life in a desperate, most would say, foolish attempt to save hers. I know that's pretty harsh – but that's when we would know that your love is pure. Come back when you've done that and we'll talk."

Sarah's confused look turned into a huge grin.

"Oh wait," Chuck said. "Of course - you've already done exactly that, haven't you? How silly of me. Well, I guess that's all I have. Sarah?"

Sarah stepped up to Alex. "I never had a family," she said. "My mom died when I was six. I barely remember anything about her. My dad – well, he wasn't exactly the perfect dad. So probably because of that, my family is now the most important thing in my life. I'm fanatically jealous about guarding them – because I know what it feels like not to have them. I know how empty it feels. So I'm not ever going to take lightly adding someone to that group. I was always worried about Katie. She didn't seem to get it. She didn't seem to understand how important that finding the one was. She was wasting her time for years on someone who clearly wasn't the one. I was never sure why."

Alex just nodded.

At that point, Sarah threw her arms around him. "But all of that changed the very instant that Kate met you," she said. "She loves you, Alex. You're the one. And I don't use that term lightly. I can see why – because I love you too. You just saved all of our lives. That's something that we'll never forget. Welcome to our family, Alex. We're very proud to have you."

It was the second time that Sarah had hugged Alex – but this time he was ready. He held her very tightly. "Thanks, Mom," he whispered. "Could I ask for one more favor?"

"Favor?" Sarah asked.

"I need your gun," Alex said. "I'm going to kill that animal that was in the process of raping her in front of her dad when I walked up."

Sarah looked at Chuck – who nodded slightly in response to her unasked question.

"I understand what you're feeling, Alex," Chuck said. "Of course I do. But that was before you two were engaged. So technically, at the time she was still my responsibility. Besides, from all appearances, your girl is already suitably impressed. Mine, on the other hand, is a lot tougher sell. I mean, look at her. Sure, she's hugging you pretty nicely - but I can feel the cool breeze from here."

Sarah couldn't keep the grin off of her face. That was her Chuck - he could always make her laugh.

"So," Chuck continued. "I need to do something to turn that around – quick – or there's going to be an awfully cold side of my bed tonight. I let you slide on marrying my only daughter with just that one simple suicide mission. Do you think that maybe you could return the favor by letting me take this one?"

x-x-x-x-x

"What?" Joe asked in alarm. "Why does Sparky need clothes? What's wrong with what he's wearing?"

"I already told you," Elise said. "He has a date. And this girl is special. Not one of those big chest bimbos that he's always dragging home. He has to impress her. There were fifty CIA agents stationed here. One of them has to have a nice suit in his size."

"Okay," Joe said. "But why me? I don't want to go scrounging around barracks looking for clean suits."

"I understand that," Elise said with a mock sweetness. "Of course you don't. But just listen to my reasoning for a second. You have been gone for a little over a week. Unless you were doing something in Denver that I don't know about, I'm assuming that you're looking forward to being alone with me tonight – and not getting frostbite in the process. Tell me, sweetie, am I making myself at all clear?"

"Yes, Elise," Joe said sadly. "You're a master at communication skills."

"Excuse me," Alex said. "But why do I have to help? I really don't care if you give me frostbite."

Elise turned her mock sweetness tone towards him. "Let me see, Alex," she said. "I've been told that I'm sort of Katie's mentor. That's actually an awesome responsibility. I take it pretty seriously. Maybe I should tell her about the theory that abstinence during the engagement makes for a better marriage. I'm sure that Katie is looking for a better marriage. I'll bet I could talk her into giving this abstinence thing a try. What do you think?"

"Yes, ma'am," Alex said with a sigh. "What do we have to do?"

"Now see," Elise said sarcastically. "This is more like the spirit of cooperation that I was originally expecting. Thank you both for volunteering. Joe, you need to walk down and get the Porsche. It's kind of a mess since the three of us lived in it for a day. If Sarah sees it, we have big problems. We'll have to abort – and run for our lives. While you're doing that, Alex here will be getting Sparky's various sizes. Oh, and Alex don't forget his shoe size. After you two get the car spic-and-span, and find our clothes, we'll reconvene here for some quick seduction training. Oh, that reminds me - he'll need condoms. Joe?"

"Why would I have any condoms?" Joe asked sarcastically. "I had a vasectomy when Robbie was three. I'm sure that you remember – you're the one who insisted."

"Alex?" Elise asked.

"Elise, please," Alex pleaded. "I only have five. I just got engaged today.

"No problem," Elise said with a return to the mock sweetness. "The good news is after I talk to Kate, you'll still have five – a freaking month from now."

"Fine," Alex said in defeat. "I'll give him two."

"Thank you," Elise said. "That is just the kind of shared sacrifice that makes me all squishy inside. Now you both have your assignments - shove off."

"Excuse me," Alex said. "But what are you going to be doing?"

"Don't worry," Elise said. "I have the hardest assignment of them all. I have to talk Sarah into letting Sparky have her car for the night."

Alex turned to Joe as they walked off. "You know," he said sadly. "I liked her a whole lot better when we weren't going to survive."

x-x-x-x-x

"Now, see," Heather said as she put the bandage on his arm. "You weren't as lucky as your future brother-in-law. You only took five stitches. That wasn't so bad now, was it?"

"Are you kidding?" Chuck Junior asked with a grin. "It was excruciating. It was hellish. It's not only the pain – it's the humiliation of not even having a decent sized wound. Only five stitches? The only way I got through it was thinking about my reward."

"Yeah," Heather said. "About that. Look, I know that you sort of got roped into asking me out. So I'm giving you a chance to bail – no hard feelings."

"Are you nuts?" Chuck Junior asked in alarm. "You want me to go tell Elise that I bailed on you? I just finished one suicide mission. I'm not looking forward to another one for a few days yet. Besides, I didn't get roped into anything. Don't tell Elise, she'll be disappointed if she discovers that she's not actually cupid, but I was trying to work up the courage to ask you out anyway."

Heather just looked at him. "Why would you have to work up the courage to ask me out?" she asked. "I don't imagine that many girls turn you down."

"Come on, Heather," Chuck Junior said. "Smart, beautiful girls are very intimidating. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night. I hope you are too."

"I am," Heather said with a smile. "Okay, then, Sparky. I'll see you tomorrow night."

x-x-x-x-x

Daniel Shaw was trudging through the mountain trail. He was on foot in some pretty rough terrain - but he had been lucky to escape at all. Fortunately he had the foresight to plan ahead. He knew that he had to get the hell out of that facility the second he heard the shots.

Shaw knew that his grand plan for revenge was now over. There was no way to make Sarah Walker watch loved one after loved one slowly bleed to death in front of her. That was a shame. It would have been fun to see her beg – and maybe even give her some tasks to perform to slow the inevitable. Oh, well – wasn't going to happen.

He also knew that he couldn't use any CIA resources. As soon as they realized that he was missing, he was certainly the subject of a national manhunt. And if they caught him, he would be tried as a traitor.

But the defining characteristic of a good agent was to have contingency plans. After all, the best plans could be changed by unexpected events – just like this one had. But Shaw still had assets.

Let's see," he said to no one in particular as he unfolded the sheet of paper. "Dr. Eleanor Bartowski Woodcomb – currently lives in Burbank – and is Sarah Walker's best friend…"

x-x-x-x-x