A/N: I often wondered why Chuck and Sarah didn't do anything after the rehearsal dinner, especially considering the morning's unfinished business from Barstow. This is setting it straight, within the context of the AU.

Open bar, I hope
John Casey

Chuck & Sarah vs the Best Laid Plans

Sarah Walker was positively giddy. She excused herself from Ellie Bartowski and Honey Woodcomb and went in search of Chuck. The last couple of days had been hectic. She now regretted not listening to Chuck in the first place. Had she and Casey accompanied him to the Roark Industries campus things would have been a lot smoother. How could she do that, considering that every time she had listened to Chuck and defied orders the outcome had been more than positive? She smiled as she remembered the surveillance footage from inside their secret base: Chuck changing into tactical gear and reminding her of similar scenes in Rambo and Commando (and its Russian remake, Day D); Chuck knocking Casey out with three tranquilizer darts even after he'd been warned that we would find himself in a world of pain and Casey was not known for making idle threats. Saving Chuck from Fulcrum at Roark Instruments. Their frantic search for Orion, who also happened to be Stephen J. Bartowski, had also been interesting to say the least. She was more than certain that Chuck had let Jill walk. He had offered her a deal and he was too good a person to go back on his word, especially since she had atoned for her past sins and provided invaluable assistance.

Sarah sighed and accepted another glass of wine from a waiter. Taking a sip, she recalled her flight with Chuck to Barstow. With hindsight, they should have probably called Casey and told him all about the Black Rock facility. If he had known he would have certainly helped them, maybe even getting Beckman to rescind her order to place Chuck in a bunker and provide backup instead. Not that it mattered any more. They had rescued Chuck's Dad, Chuck himself was Intersect-free and now Casey was enjoying a large scotch and a cigar by the open bar, while talking to Captain Awesome who had learned by accident about Chuck's involvement with the intelligence community.

She swished the rich red liquid around in her glass, watching how the light played on it. She had made a promise to herself on the day Chuck had received his Stanford degree: that she would quit the CIA when the love of her life would be relieved of his burden. Now all she had to do was write and submit her letter of resignation. But that could wait. Sarah needed to celebrate with Chuck after the rehearsal dinner. She chuckled as she thought about the morning's events in that motel in Barstow. When Chuck had abruptly left to go out he had thrown something on the floor. She'd picked it up and seen it was Morgan's IOU. She had been very angry at that moment, but as it transpired it had been for the best. Casey or, worse, Fulcrum could have caught them literally with their pants down. But there had been certain opportunities afterwards where a condom might have come in handy.

That thought made her angry again. She looked around and spotted Morgan Grimes coming out of the men's room. She tossed back the wine in her glass in one gulp and stomped off after her latest mark.

"Hi Morgan," she said sweetly. "Can I have a word with you, in private please?"

"Sure, Sarah," he replied and followed her to a secluded spot. Suddenly, she whirled around and pinned him against a wall.

"Morgan Guillermo Grimes," she said sternly, "I believe it's time for you to make good on your IOU."

"IOU? Sarah, what are you talking about? I never gave you an IOU."

"I'm talking about this," she said, handing him the crumpled note.

"He actually needed it? I thought that he kept it there only for the direst of dire emergencies."

"It was a really dire emergency, Morgan." It was true. Normally, they had a sufficient stock of condoms both in his place and her hotel room. She even had a backup stash in her Porsche, but she'd forgotten to retrieve it when they'd ditched the car. Thus they ended up with Chuck's emergency reserve condom, which however had been filched by Morgan and replaced with an IOU note.

"Oh. Sarah, I'm really sorry."

"It's not enough."

"I see. OK, here, take this," he said, fishing into his pocket and pulling out two condoms. "Which one do you like? Studded or…?"

"I'll take both." She grabbed the two packets from his hand and stuck them in her purse.

"Both? That's highway robbery!"

"Consider it a reparation payment of sorts."

"But…"

"No 'buts', Morgan."

"OK," he said, sufficiently intimidated. "Have fun." At least he had a couple more in case Anna wanted to get freaky.

"Oh, we will."

One thing crossed off of her list, Sarah started planning the next step of tonight's seduction of Chuck: choosing an outfit. She could dress up like a geek, as she'd done when she and Casey had gone to Roark Instruments, glasses and all. Reminding Chuck of their unfinished business from Barstow by wearing the same T-shirt and panties she'd slept in was another option. The final option was to simply allow Chuck to slide his very capable hands under the straps of her blue dress and let it fall off of her. She'd gone completely commando tonight (in fact the only thing she was wearing under the dress was a knife sheath on one thigh) and his reaction would certainly be priceless. She shuddered with desire and delight at the thought. The Barstow outfit could wait until the morning.

For the moment she resumed her role of Ellie's maid of honor and returned to where the others were assembled. She mingled with the happy couple, their in-laws, the other bridesmaids, Devon's brothers and eventually ended up talking to her boyfriend. She didn't tell him anything about her planning to leave the CIA. She wanted to present him with a fait accompli as a surprise gift. She was seriously considering grabbing Chuck and starting the festivities early, in an out of the way storage closet she'd spotted thanks to her agent skills. The problem was getting away, since for twenty minutes now she'd been sandwiched between Ellie and her fiancé and they just wouldn't let go of her.

"Sarah," Devon said when Ellie had to go to the ladies' room, "can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure, what is it that you want to talk about?"

"Well, learning that you, Casey and Chuck are spies was quite a shock to the system," he whispered. "But I have to ask. Was your thing with Chuck fake, like you know…?"

"A cover?"

"Exactly."

"I'm happy to say it was not a cover. In fact I was fully reinstated after Chuck was, um, recruited. What Chuck and I have all this time is very real."

"I'm happy for you both. It's awesome."

"Thanks. Have you seen Chuck anywhere?"

"I think he went to the bar." Devon looked around and spotted Chuck. He was indeed at the bar, talking to Casey.

"I see him, thanks. Excuse me."

"By all means."

Fortunately the dinner was soon over. Casey drove them back to Echo Park and immediately Chuck and Sarah disappeared through the Morgan Door into Chuck's room. Sarah, who was a bit tipsy and until that moment was struggling to keep her hands off of her Nerd couldn't restrain herself any longer.

"You broke me, Sarah," he told her in the morning.

"If it's any consolation, you gave as well as you took."

"It's a small consolation. Good thing my shift at the Buy More isn't supposed to start for another couple of hours."

"You are going to work, today of all days?" Sarah was incredulous.

"Casey and I are going to quit today. This way I can tell Emmett to shove it where the sun doesn't shine."

"You and your dirty mouth," she mock pouted. "What's the deal over there anyway?"

"Morgan explained it all to me. Emmett managed to overthrow Big Mike and he is the manager now."

"I see. I'm going to the bathroom."

When she returned she was dressed exactly as she'd been twenty-four hours ago. The way Chuck's eyes bulged out of their sockets told her that it was a good call to save the Barstow incident outfit for the morning. Taking an extra condom from Morgan had also been a good idea, since they had exhausted Chuck's already depleted stock and her stash was still in the Porsche, which was still where they'd abandoned it.

"We are completely out of condoms now," she said matter-of-factly after the last go.

"Don't worry; I'll get a whole box on my way back."

"I'll have to go get my baby."

"And then we'll have to get ready for the wedding."

"Be sure to be back in top shape, because I have a lot in store for you when the reception is over."

"You are insatiable, Sarah. Have I ever told you that?"

"You have no one to blame for this but yourself. Who knew a Nerd could have this effect on me?"

The best laid plans, et cetera, they were all thinking later. They could not have foreseen that Ted Roark, who'd survived the airstrike in Barstow, would crash the wedding along with his Fulcrum buddies, threatening to kill everybody unless Chuck could deliver the Intersect cube to him. In the end Bryce helped save the day, but in the rush to get to the wedding site he hadn't taken enough ammo, or an extra gun for Sarah, who'd been obliged to use a set of knives she'd found among the wedding gifts. Casey and his Special Forces team finally arrived in the nick of time and took out the Fulcrum agents and Stephen Bartowski caught Roark. But the wedding was ruined in the process.

With a lot of help from Sarah and Casey, plus his hefty spy paycheck, Chuck made it all up to his sister, who'd been devastated by the earlier disaster, completely unaware of what had really happened. In the end she and Devon finally got married. It was the perfect beach wedding. The reception back at the apartment complex was also great. Chuck and Sarah were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Chuck was a bit concerned as he knew she had orders to work on the new Intersect project with Bryce and he had already turned down an analyst's position. Sarah almost blurted out that she was going to quit right there while they were dancing. Fate intervened yet again. Chuck's Dad interrupted them and said that the agent who'd come for Bryce was not legit. Sarah rushed to the Castle to find Casey. She discovered that one of his team was a traitor who'd murdered Roark and three Marines, only sparing Casey because he owed him his life.

Just as Sarah left, Chuck moved to follow her. His father tried to stop him.

"Let her go son. You've done your part."

"Oh, I have to go!"

"No. No, you don't. You are not a spy."

"Dad, I love her!" He didn't want to let her go alone. She and Casey might need help. His father saw it all in his eyes and nodded. He was really proud of his boy.

"I can't follow you, son. But, take this," he said, giving him his wrist computer.

"Thank you."

"Be safe, Charles."

"Thank you," Chuck repeated and left. At Castle he convinced his friends to let him tag along. After all, it was the Intersect and he was a Bartowski.

At the CIA facility they ran into many enemy operatives. Casey and Sarah engaged them in a firefight and Chuck was sent to get help. He had another idea. Accessing the building schematics on his computer, he made his way to the Intersect room through the vents. There he found a mortally wounded Bryce. Just before he died, his old friend told him that Sarah was going to leave the spy business and asked him to destroy the Intersect, lest it fall into the Ring's hands, as he identified the new villain organization, which was a greater threat than the recently neutralized Fulcrum.

Chuck hesitated. He remembered Bryce telling Professor Fleming that Chuck was not cut out for the spy business. He remembered Beckman telling him that he needed to become a spy. He remembered all the times Sarah had encouraged him to live up to his true potential. The decision was easy. He activated the computer and downloaded the new Intersect into his brain before destroying the hardware. With the power gone, the door opened and the surviving Ring agents entered, pushing Sarah and Casey inside as well.

"What did you do?" Miles, the traitor, asked. "WHAT did you do?"

"I destroyed it," Chuck replied defiantly. "You're too late."

"For that you'll die last." Miles moved to the terminal. Chuck locked eyes with Sarah and motioned towards Bryce. She saw him and rushed to his side.

"Bryce… Bryce?" Two men went to move the body. "NO! DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!" Sarah yelled.

"I'm sorry," Chuck silently mouthed to her.

"There's nothing left," concluded Miles.

"So you lose," Casey said smugly. The Moron had once again done it.

"You should know this: no one stops us. No one ever has," Miles said, moving to face Casey, as his men covered Chuck with their weapons.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked."

"Spies, Agent Walker. The best." He aimed his gun at her head. And then Chuck flashed. It was not the usual information flash. No, this one was a lot more. Bryce had been right; the new computer really was too powerful.

"Sir, you should look at this," one of Miles' men said.

"Chuck did you just flash?" Sarah was dumbfounded. She thought that Chuck was Intersect-free.

"He uploaded it," Miles said, realizing the truth.

"Oh, chuck me," muttered Casey.

"Kill him." Before anyone had the chance to carry out Miles' order, Chuck had knocked their guns from their hands. Sarah and Casey could only watch dumbstruck as Chuck knocked out the Ring agents one after the other.

"Chuck?" Sarah asked when it was all over.

"Guys," Chuck said, looking at his own hands, still not believing what he'd just done. "I know Kung-Fu…"

The next step was to contact General Beckman and bring her up to speed. She was shocked to learn the extent the CIA had been penetrated. Chuck repeated what Bryce had told him: that they were now dealing with an organization known as the Ring and Fulcrum had been a part of it. What shocked Beckman the most was the news that Chuck had been willingly re-Intersected.

"Why did you do it, Chuck?" Sarah asked when they got back to his apartment after a deathly quiet drive in the Vic. "Why did you upload it?"

"Can we talk about this later?" Chuck was sore all over. The Intersect 2.0 kung-fu had played havoc with his muscles and joints.

"No, Chuck, we are going to talk about this now." She needed answers. She was still coming to terms with the night's events. A good friend of theirs had just died. In the end he'd understood and respected Chuck and Sarah's relationship and had helped to save Ellie and all the others.

"Bryce told me to destroy it. I couldn't just do that. It was my Dad's work of a lifetime. I had to preserve it, we needed to have a chance… I was hoping that I could use the information to save you and Casey from any harm… I didn't know about the martial arts stuff…"

"You did all this to protect us?"

"Yes," he said simply.

"Thank you," she said, her eyes brimming with tears. "I'm aware of the cost to you."

"Bryce told me that you weren't going to work with him."

"No, I was going to quit. I wanted a normal life; a normal life with you," she said. He took her in his arms and held her as she cried.

"We are going to be fine," he told her.

"I trust you, Chuck," she said. As she hugged him tighter he groaned. "Chuck? What's wrong?"

"I'm sore all over. Frankly, I should have taken Awesome up on his offer to help me with a workout routine a long time ago."

"I think a massage will help you feel better right now. The other stuff can wait. After all... tomorrow is another day."

"Anything you say, Scarlett," he teased her, only to regret it as she deliberately applied more pressure on his shoulder, causing him to yelp. He was feeling a lot better after the massage. "I love you," he whispered as they got in bed.

"I love you too."