A/N: Nice to see you are still enjoying this. Without further ado, chapter 25. The Broken Heart episode needed some tinkering to get it to fit in this AU, but looks OK now, at least to me. I can only hope you'll think the same. Oh, there are many references to 'Chuck & Sarah vs a Different Beginning' too.

Chuck & Sarah vs the Old Case

Sarah found Morgan's, Jeff's and Lester's attempt to do a kidnapping rehearsal on Chuck in order to prepare to be self-invited to Awesome's bachelor party very funny. Of course Casey chasing the Trio Stooges away with the garden hose was hilarious and captured for posterity by the courtyard surveillance cameras in high definition color and high quality audio. She would ask her partner for copies of the relevant DVDs (and also ask Chuck to edit the footage into an enjoyable short video) after the quick mission they had to undertake.

Said mission lasted until well after midnight. Not quite a record, their shortest mission having lasted just three hours, but not an all-nighter either. Chuck and Sarah sneaked back through the Morgan Door, their departure and return unnoticed by Ellie and Devon. Having handed their mission gear over to Casey they decided on a quick shower together. Chuck then returned to his room to study the Intersect schematics, while Sarah performed the feminine ritual of using after shower moisturizing products. He was still waiting for her to come to bed when something unexpected happened.

*beep*

"Chuck." He looked around to see where the voice calling his name had come from. He even checked his iPhone. "Ahem," the familiar voice continued. "Bartowski." Chuck's gaze followed the sound to his bedroom TV. When he saw who was calling he jumped noticeably.

"General! Hey! What are you…?"

"I wanted a private word with you. Pardon the intrusion."

"On this moment, or my life in General?" Chuck asked, somewhat annoyed at not being able to find peace even in his own room.

"I'd like to know if your relationship with Agent Walker has the potential to compromise your job performance."

"How do you mean? What's that mean?"

"I know that your situation is… complicated, to say the least. But has it gotten too complicated?"

"What, with Sarah? No, no and no. Sarah Walker is a pleasure to work with, a delight even."

"I want facts. I don't care about your feelings."

"Feelings? What feelings? Can you please clarify?"

"These feelings," Beckman said and played him videos of him and Sarah talking about their relationship. "My job is to make sure you are protected without interloping emotional complications from my team. But I guess it's too late for that now, has been from the start. What I want to know is this: can you do your job when an agent other than your handlers is in charge of a mission?"

"If it's for a single mission, I guess I can. Sarah and Casey will still be participating, right?"

Before Beckman had a chance to answer Sarah entered the room wearing a bathrobe and carrying a small tray.

"I got hungry and made some sandwiches in the kitchen," she said around a mouthful of food. "I hope you are hungry too, as I made enough for two."

"Sarah…"

"Hey, anything good on TV?" Sarah asked, putting the tray down on the nightstand and turning to the TV. "What are you watch-… GENERAL? ! ?"

"Hello, Agent Walker. I was just having a job related discussion with Chuck," the General said. All color drained from Sarah's face at first and then she blushed beet red, pulling the bathrobe closed tighter and covering every millimeter of exposed skin up to her chin. "We were just about done, so carry on," continued Beckman.

"Uh, OK, I mean, um, yes ma'am," Sarah stammered. The connection was terminated. "What was all that about?"

"She wanted to ask me something."

"What?"

"If I could still do my job if she put had another agent in charge of a mission."

"You can, right?"

"Sure I can, but I wonder if said agent will be briefed on, you know… it," he said, tapping the side of his head.

"Not likely," she concluded, her mind shifting into high gear as she pondered what mission would require an outsider as an AIC.

"Your sandwiches are excellent, by the way," he said. He then noticed that she appeared to be deep in concentration "What?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking about what kind of mission she has in store for us."

"We'll soon find out," he replied and grabbed another sandwich from the tray. Sarah put on her sleepwear and slipped under the covers beside Chuck. He finished off the last sandwich, licked his fingers, wiped them clean on a napkin and burrowed under the covers after turning off the lights. Sarah automatically snuggled up against him.

In the morning Chuck was rudely awoken by Captain Awesome, who knocked and entered the room holding a pitcher filled with a green slop. For some reason Sarah was still sound asleep.

"Chuckster," he said cheerfully, "time to flush out your system, dude." He shoved the pitcher under Chuck's nose.

"Uh, oh, no, I'm good with my clog," he said after a short whiff. He then proceeded to ask Devon about his bachelor party, when Ellie interrupted them with the news that the letter he'd sent to their father had been returned as the recipient had not been found. He promised to keep trying though, although Ellie was not very optimistic. At that point Sarah woke up.

"What's that stench?" She asked the question as Devon was kissing Ellie after promising to behave at his bachelor party.

"Oh, yuck, what is that?" Ellie inquired about the foul taste the kiss left in her mouth.

"That is the taste of a healthy colon," replied her fiancé.

"Sarah could use some of that," Ellie mumbled before fleeing to the bathroom to get some mouthwash and swill the awful taste away.

"What did she say?" Sarah asked.

"You know, Sarah, for your, um, spastic colon," Devon said.

"Chuck, I'll kill you, I swear. Devon, I don't have a spastic colon. You can tell that to Ellie too. It was a stupid excuse Chuck invented to cover for me once. Wait, that's why Ellie wouldn't let me anywhere near her seven layer dip? It all makes sense now," Sarah said. Chuck and Devon just exchanged meaningful looks. Then Awesome noticed the screen of Chuck's TV. Something about a conference with a General Beckman, terminated at 0222 hours.

"Who's General Beckman?" Chuck and Sarah were both horrified. This could seriously compromise their covers. Fortunately Chuck had found a way to cover it all up.

"Video game stuff." He hoped that his explanation of it being related to a video game he was playing with Morgan was believable. Devon seemed to believe it, which was quite a relief. But when he asked about Chuck's character, he received the reply that Chuck was 'Special Agent Carmichael'. Unfortunately, the teleconference software recognized the name and patched him through to the General's office. Chuck was quick enough to turn the TV off before Devon saw the General.

"That was close," Chuck said after Awesome had left.

"Tell me about it," Sarah said as she wrapped her arms around him from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder. "We were this close to getting our covers blown once and for all."

"Devon would tell Ellie and she'd kill us both."

"She would too," Sarah agreed. "Come on, let's get ready for work."

Chuck went to the Buy More and Sarah to the Double O as usual. A little later she sent him a text. They had a briefing to attend in a few minutes.

"Hey Sarah," he said as he entered, "any news as to our new mission?" The blonde working behind the counter turned to face him. It was not Sarah. Chuck promptly flashed on her file. According to the Intersect information she was a damn good agent.

"I'm Agent Alex Forrest," the woman introduced herself. "General Beckman sent me. I'm the AIC for your new mission."

At their secret base downstairs the entire gang, plus the newly arrived Alex Forrest were gathered for the briefing by the General.

"I'm sure you've all had the chance to welcome Agent Alex Forrest," she said.

"Of course, General," Sarah replied.

"And on to the matter at hand; we're all familiar with the elusive leader of a terrorist group, who's been hiding in the Afghani caves for years; Hassan Khalid."

"I dream of finding him," Casey and Alex said in unison, as the terrorist's image appeared on a screen. Chuck looked back and forth between the two agents and then glanced at Sarah. She had stiffened and clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white. Chuck knew why. Khalid was behind the rocket attack on FOB Gloria, where Sarah had been hurt. It was not a pleasant memory for her. Casey was itching to get some payback and Forrest wanted to catch him as it had been her assignment for a long time, ever since she had replaced Sarah in Afghanistan.

General Beckman then explained the mission. One of Khalid's closest associates, Rashad Ahmad, was believed to be on banking business for Khalid in the US and had to be hospitalized under an alias due to a heart attack. Team Chuck's mission was to ascertain if Harry Lime and Rashad Ahmad were indeed the same person.

Sarah's behavior baffled Chuck. She acted cold, distant, unemotional. She even mentioned that discussing certain aspects of the mission background history would be a breach of protocol.

"A breach of protocol? Is it possible that someone kidnapped Sarah and replaced her with some kind of soulless replica?" Chuck asked Casey while they were working at the Buy More.

"Let me guess; you want to talk about feelings, Bartowski?"

"Please."

"Wrong. This is between you and Walker and I am not getting involved."

Chuck again had to deal with Morgan, Jeff and Lester who wanted to be at Awesome's bachelor party. He managed to extricate himself from them and headed to the Orange Orange to talk to Sarah.

"Hey," he told her, "does the new girl know about…?" He pointed at his head.

"No, she won't know that top secret information unless it's absolutely necessary."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not gonna happen. She'll do her job, report on the mission and be on her way."

Chuck then told her that he was stressed out because he was trying to find his Dad and have him walk Ellie down the aisle on her wedding and suggested that Sarah look him up in the CIA database. Sarah replied that she could not do that and Forrest added that if she did she could get fired and even prosecuted for misappropriation of government intelligence.

-o-

As it turned out, Harry Lime was being treated at Westside Medical, the same hospital where Ellie and Devon worked. Chuck and Alex went in disguised as a doctor and a nurse. Alex at one point used a tranq dart on a nurse, over Chuck's objections. It was fortunate that Sarah was doing video surveillance, for she spotted Ellie in time to warn the others. Ellie was there because the hospital kept switching her shifts around. Chuck and Alex ducked into a room to avoid her and Chuck promptly flashed on the patient and his personal physician. It indeed was Ahmad and Dr. Zamir. Upon receiving confirmation, Casey tried to break into a secure area in order to plant a bug on the pacemaker intended for Ahmad, but the security was too difficult to bypass.

"Wow, you two are a match made in a very frightening part of heaven," Chuck commented when he heard Casey and Alex talk about how they could get into the restricted area. Unfortunately, the first doctor with an access card they saw was none other than Devon Woodcomb.

Chuck strenuously objected to using Captain Awesome and stealing his key card. Sarah agreed, arguing that the risk of blowing their covers was too great, but were overruled by Casey and Alex. Chuck had an idea. They could throw the bachelor party fro Devon in the Buy More and borrow his card there, use it and return it to him.

So Chuck, Casey, Morgan and Jeffster promptly kidnapped Devon and brought him to the Buy More for the bachelor party. In the meantime, Sarah and Alex were in a teleconference with the General.

"Based on my observations the team can function well even without Agent Walker," Alex said. "We can complete the mission without her."

"Is that your final assessment, Agent Forrest?" Beckman asked,

"It is."

"Agent Walker, since your services are not necessary for the rest of the mission, you can proceed with your recertification and medicals which you are long overdue for."

"General, please, I…"

"Report back to Langley at 0900. You'll return to Burbank in a few days when you're done with the formalities."

"Please take good care of him while I'm gone," Sarah told Alex after the General signed off.

"I'll do my job, if that's what you mean."

"I'll be on my way as soon as I say goodbye to him."

"I don't think so. Chuck is working on my mission now. No distractions for him, that's an order."

Upstairs Casey swiped Devon's wallet, but the card was not in it. Forrest had an idea on how to get it, since he most likely kept it around his neck. Before leaving, Sarah initiated a search for Chuck's Dad on the computer. Alex went in disguised as a stripper and cornered Devon in the home theater room, knocking him out with a tranq dart when he proved uncooperative, ignoring Chuck's protests. She also informed him that Sarah was temporarily off the team.

Sarah had packed and checked to see if she had forgotten anything. She was sad at having to leave without at least talking to Chuck, to reassure him that she'd be back soon. In the meantime, the bug had been planted in the pacemaker, which was now functioning perfectly. Chuck inquired about Sarah's absence and was told that it was a part of the job. Casey and Alex busied themselves with cleaning weapons. Casey thought that the sight of the beautiful blonde with guns was rather arousing. Chuck had been right. These two were indeed a match made in a very frightening part of heaven.

-o-

Devon woke up with a bad hangover and could not find his key card, which immediately made Ellie suspicious of what might have happened at his bachelor party. Devon not remembering anything did not exactly help.

Sarah was driving to LAX for her flight to Virginia when her car terminal beeped, informing her that Stephen Bartowski's address had been found. Immediately she turned to go back to Burbank and notify Chuck. She'd leave him a note before hurrying to catch her flight. Unfortunately, Dr. Zamir discovered the bug and ordered his henchmen to get Devon in order to remove the bug before killing him.

Ellie had gone to the Buy More to find out what had really happened at the bachelor party. Morgan tried to cover for Devon, but she caught Jeff and Lester looking at pictures of her fiancé with Alex and misinterpreted what she was seeing.

-o-

Casey and Alex were still cleaning weapons, unaware of what was going on.

"Can you believe Walker?" Alex asked.

"What about her?" Casey asked in turn.

"Getting all wrapped up in the asset. Clearly her feelings have jeopardized your missions. You must be relieved if she gets reassigned. Things can be professional then."

"Agent Forrest, for the record..." Casey said, getting angry. He would defend his partner, but never got the chance as the computer told them that it had lost the signal from the bug inside Ahmad.

-o-

Chuck was at home, leaving Casey a voicemail and telling him that they needed to give Devon his card back. Zamir's men went to the apartment complex at that moment and Chuck, thinking fast, pretended to be Devon and was taken away. A few minutes later Sarah sneaked in through the Morgan Door to leave the note and saw Chuck's phone on the bed. She immediately realized that something was very wrong and hurried to Castle. She tried to get in, but for security reasons her access had been suspended for the expected duration of her absence. Casey and Alex were frantically trying to figure out what had gone wrong when Sarah contacted them.

"Casey, I can't get in, I don't have access," she said frantically.

"She's off the assignment," Alex reminded him.

"Look," Sarah insisted, "I think Chuck's in trouble!" She held up his iPhone. Casey immediately caught on. "He never goes anywhere without his phone," she said for added emphasis.

"She's right," Casey admitted. "Now, Forrest. What I was going to say earlier. I disagree with your assessment."

"About what?"

"Walker. She's a pro. Not only that. She's the best damn partner I ever had!" He pressed the button to allow Sarah inside.

"I found this when I went to say goodbye to Chuck," Sarah said, quickly coming down the stairs.

"Which directly disobeyed an order. You are off the assignment and supposed to be somewhere else right now."

"Then there's nothing stopping me from kicking your ass!" Sarah said angrily.

Together the three agents figured that the bug must have been discovered and that Chuck's disappearance was not unrelated. They managed to trace him and the terrorists to a bank vault. Zamir discovered that Chuck was not Devon just as Sarah, Casey and Alex arrived and took care of Zamir's goons. But by then Zamir and Chuck were locked inside the vault. Trying to hold the terrorist doctor off, Chuck released nitrous oxide gas, which started filling the vault. Under the influence of the laughing gas, he got Zamir to reveal Khalid's location. Sarah cracked the door open instead of letting Alex blow it off and risking killing Chuck in the explosion.

"Chuck, get up," she said, relieved and happy to see him alive and well.

"Sarah! Is that really you or am I super stoned?"

"Uh, both." They hugged then and there as Casey and Alex cuffed Zamir and led him away.

At the debriefing Beckman reprimanded Sarah for disobeying orders, but Casey and Chuck stood up for her and got the General to admit that it was a good thing Sarah and Chuck were so close. Alex couldn't help but agree as well. She bade her goodbyes and left to go after Khalid, now that his location was known.

"Well, good thing Alex's on her way," said Chuck.

"What do you mean? Sarah asked.

"She's a female Casey, only like he was before he started working with us, before the Sugar Bear came out. Can you imagine what would happen if she stayed?"

"What?"

"Imagine a female Casey with PMS and you'll get the picture."

"Ouch," she admitted.

"Yeah. And if you and Ellie are insufferable when you are PMSing, imagine how she must be."

"Ellie and I are not that bad."

"That's what you think. Ask Devon if you don't believe me," he said facetiously. She punched him lightly on the shoulder, but couldn't help laughing too.

-o-

Chuck was returning Devon's key card when Ellie caught him.

"Uh, no, this isn't what you think," he told her.

"Yes it is, Chuck, it's exactly what I think it is! I can't believe that you are covering for him!"

"Nothing happened at the bachelor party. He didn't do anything. I swear!"

"Chuck, I saw the photos. Okay? I'm sorry I know you're just trying to protect him. Bro code or whatever. But Chuck, I'm your sister! You're supposed to protect me." She turned to leave, but Chuck ran after her and caught her

"Look," he said, "nothing happened. I was there, Casey was there. And about the photos… Devon had a little bit too much to drink and we decided to take the photos and pull a prank on him, okay? Alex needed some convincing to go along with it."

"Chuck, who is Alex?"

"The stripper. Devon had told her that he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his relationship with you. You were not supposed to see the photos; Devon was. And we'd tell him the truth immediately afterwards."

"Really?"

"Yes. Don't blame him. Blame me and the others. We can do stupid things when drinking and this was one of them. Just make sure he knows."

"I will, thanks little brother."

Chuck then went over to Sarah's and complained that yet again the spy world and his own world had collided with almost disastrous consequences. As they held each other for comfort, she thanked him for helping close a case that had been haunting her for some time now and told him she'd found his Dad's address and took him there in her car.

"I couldn't find him. The man didn't want to be found. I mean if you hadn't illegally accessed the government's master database..." Chuck told her as they stood outside a trailer in the middle of nowhere.

"Chuck, it'll be good to see him," she encouraged him. He knocked, but there was no reply. "I'm sorry," she said. They hugged and were about to kiss when the door opened.

"Dad?" Chuck asked, almost unbelieving when he saw who it was.