A/N: More coffee puns, more ChuckQuinn, more insanity

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

"Do you have a plan?" he asked, as they lay in bed. The day had been spent getting familiarized with Castle, and by the time they got home, they realized they hadn't talked about Sarah's dad at all.

"I have a plan," she said, tracing her finger from his chin down to his bellybutton.

"Really?" he asked.

She sat up, holding his gaze, and he wondered if he might not melt from it. "I warned you about using that word like that."

"I know," he said, and then she attacked.

}o{

The next morning found the two of them on the way to San Diego. "Why did we have to leave so early?" Chuck whined.

"We didn't leave that early, you just stayed up all night," Sarah replied, a satisfied smirk on her face.

"Uh, you kept me up all night," Chuck replied. She glanced at him and shook her head.

"I didn't hear you complaining," Sarah reminded him.

"True," he admitted. "Only a fool would have been complaining." He was silent for a minute. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Again, I have no complaints where you're concerned," she told him. He groaned. "No, I know, I'm deflecting. It's my dad, Chuck. He's the reason I ended up in the CIA in the first place. The CIA did things to me, that I didn't want done. But that's the ability to look back at the past, that I didn't possess at the time." She sighed. "I love my dad, but he's a pain in the ass."

"I understand about parents being difficult," he said softly. "Last night, I asked if you had a plan, and you then distracted me."

"You said 'really', and I freaking warned you about that," she told him.

"So it's my fault you attacked me?" Chuck asked, amused.

"I warned you, so it couldn't be my fault," she explained.

"Really?" he asked. She suddenly pulled into the right lane, and headed toward an exit. "What are we doing?"

"Teaching you a lesson," she told him.

}o{

An hour later

Chuck took a drink of his sports drink, as Sarah navigated the vehicle down the road. "You learned your lesson yet, West Harvard?" she asked, smirking.

"We Stanford types can take a lot of lessons before we really grasp things," Chuck replied.

"Drink up, Buddy, you're gonna need it," Sarah muttered.

"Oh, we're not pulling over?" he asked, amusement in his voice.

"We would, but I got a text from Paulie," Sarah told him. The humor left Chuck's face. "It's fine, but stopping right now to teach you another lesson isn't possible. I'm gonna add that to all the things I'm pissed at my dad about."

"Sarah, while I love you teaching me lessons, and telling me about the past, you keep deflecting," Chuck pointed out. He paused. "Maybe I am the problem, if I'm saying that's a negative," he muttered.

She grinned at him and put her hand on his leg. "See, this is why I fell for you," she told him. "You really care. Other guys would be all about their lessons, while you care about what's going on inside of me."

"Wait, you get to say really?" Chuck asked.

"I say all of that and that's what you get out of it?" Sarah asked him.

"I mean you have been…" He trailed off and shook his head. "Almost said it," he said under his breath. "Focusing on that word, and it's kinda stuck in my brain." He shook his head. "That's not true; you are stuck in my brain, Sarah. Everything about you. So I'm going to ask you one more time: Are you okay? Do you have a plan?"

"I am okay. My boyfriend, for now, loves me, and that's makes everything okay. My plan is to get him home with us, and keep him stored in Castle," she explained.

Chuck mouthed the words she said, as she grinned and drove. "What do you mean, for now?" he asked. "Are you planning on breaking up with me?"

"No, Chuck. But I really hope that one day we take it to the next level," she said. She gave him a look.

"Really?" he asked.

She muttered under her breath the rest of the drive.

}o{

They pulled into Paulie's, and before Sarah opened the door, his hand snaked gently around her wrist. "Sarah, when you say next level?" he asked, looking a little unsure. "I… I don't know that you can mean what I think you mean."

"What do you think I mean?" Sarah asked, her eyebrow raised and a grin on her face. "Chuck, I'll make it really clear for you." Chuck cleared his throat, a little uncomfortable, and a lot turned on. "I like what we have. I love what we have. You're a smart guy – I know what I want, and you are it. So you can ask today, tomorrow, or next month. But if you wait too long, I will ask you, and Chuck… do you want to be that guy, who had to be asked?"

"I have no problem breaking the sexist traditions of courtship," Chuck replied, smiling at her.

"I love you," she said, leaning over, cupping his cheek and kissing him tenderly. "You know that, right? You know this is all one hundred percent real?"

"I do. I don't understand how, or why, but I do," Chuck told her.

"That's it, keep practicing," she said as she slid out of the car, grinning at him. He just shook his head and joined her.

}o{

"Sarah, Chuck," Paulie said, relief at seeing them clearly written on his face. "He's here, and he's a mess."

"Wait, a mess?" Sarah asked, surprised. "What happened, Paulie?"

"He owes a ton of money," Paulie explained. "And they want it, and they are gonna take it out on whoever they have to, to get it."

"I've come into some money, maybe I can pay off what he owes to get the heat off of his back," Chuck offered.

Sarah turned to him, her mouth open in shock. "Chuck-"

"Sarah, he's your dad, and I want to help-" Chuck began.

"I'm talking over seven figures, Chuck," Paulie explained. Chuck's eyes widened. "I know… I know, and he lost it all, as well."

"Well… I don't have that much, but if I did, it would be yours, Sarah," Chuck told her. She studied him a second, shook her head, and mumbled something about hurrying up and freaking asking her. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You heard me," she said, and then turned to Paulie. "Any ideas."

"None… and the thing is, they've now got you on their radar," Paulie told them. "That's why they burnt down your house and the coffee shop. It was a warning. They are gonna expect the insurance money on the house."

"That's stupid," Chuck replied. "That helps no one; it's not even a drop in the bucket." Paulie shrugged. "Those idiots haven't got a clue of who they're… dealing… with," he trailed off, a grin coming to his face.

"The schnook's got a plan," Jack said as he exited the back. "Sorry, but you had to know I was listening in. It's kinda what I do."

"It is," Sarah groused. She turned to Chuck. "Do you have a plan?"

"Kinda," Chuck admitted. "But… I'm not sure it's a good idea."

"I bet it's something stupid," Jack told Paulie. Chuck turned to Jack, and locked eyes with him. Then Chuck laid his finger on the side of his nose. "No good kid. Then they come after my daughter, and that's not happening."

"Wait," Sarah said, her eyes widening. "They don't know who I am, or more importantly, who I was." Chuck nodded. "Oh, God, Chuck… you're not… of course you are thinking of doing it."

"Will someone please fill me in on what the hell is going on?" Paulie asked.

"Ever see that Robert Redford movie The Sting?" Chuck asked. Paulie's eyes went wide.

}o{

Chuck and Sarah led Jack downstairs into Castle a few hours later. Sarah got him set up in a room, and Chuck contacted Graham. "While I sympathize," Graham began, "I don't know what I can do about it."

"We need to make him disappear," Chuck said. "You can do that, but more importantly, we need any and all intelligence you have on Erik Petroysan."

Graham closed his eyes and put his hand to his face as if in pain. "I need that guy out of the country," Graham muttered. Chuck began to grin. "What?"

"What if we could do that?" Chuck asked. "What if we could scare the hell out of him and he leaves?"

"How are you going to do that?" Graham asked.

"You're going to help us do what Sheila did to you," Chuck said. "You're going to make sure that Erik thinks The Ice Queen is the scariest killer in the world."

Graham leaned forward, grinning. "But what about Jack?"

"If Jack is dead, and then they try and come after the Ice Queen…" Chuck spread his hands.

"They'd be idiots," Graham replied.

"Especially if she blamed them," Chuck told Graham.

"How are you going to do that?" Graham asked. Chuck grinned and laid a finger to his nose. "Oh God, you're gonna use a movie plot?"

"He's going to tweak it," Sarah said with a shrug. "But, yeah, the con is solid."

"I'm putting Shelia on this now," Graham told them, shaking his head and chuckling. "Keep me in the… you know what, don't. I really don't want to know." Graham laughed as he disconnected the feed.

"You really think you're going to scare the Armenian mob?" Jack asked, from where he had been standing in the doorway. "Why would they be scared of her?"

"Because, the power of suggestion is a powerful thing," Chuck told him.

Sarah quickly hit the button to reconnect. The screen popped back up, with Graham looking amused. "Change your mind?"

"No, I need you to spread the word: The Ice Queen has found her king," she said, turning to Chuck and grinning. "Charles Carmichael is alive and well and is with me."

Graham burst out into laughter. "I hope you two know what you're doing."

"You know I don't," Chuck admitted with a shrug. "But I trust her."

"Schnook," Jack muttered, with a smile on his face.

"Good luck, Bartowski," Graham said signing off. He paused before he hit the button. "And I don't mean with the mission." With that, he signed off.

"What does that mean?" Chuck asked. Sarah just grinned and walked off.

A/N: I know, CQ writes him as the dumbest smart guy in the world.