A/N: Here. We. Go

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

"Dad, you want to explain any of this?" Chuck asked after several minutes of silence in the car. They were heading toward the warehouse, and Chuck had many questions. "Like, one, what are we doing? Two, did you really mean what you said to Sarah? And three… what are we doing?"

"We are heading to the warehouse," Stephen told him. "And yes, I meant it." Stephen looked uncomfortable. "I don't think you were leaving your family. I think you two were in a new relationship, and – and I was caught off-guard with the drive you showed me. Things are stressful at work."

"Because I'm not there?" Chuck asked gently.

"That's part of it, sure, but the job… it's a lot, Charles. It's… it's a lot," Stephen said. Chuck heard the pain in Stephen's voice, and thought back to the plane ride home.

}o{

"Okay, I need your help," Chuck began.

"I don't know if I have enough time, or enough degrees, for that sweetie," Sarah said, grinning at him. Chuck narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm assuming you're talking about your dad?"

"Yeah," Chuck said, nodding. "I need to be ready to talk to him, and I've put it off too long."

"Okay, so what you need to remember is your dad's personality," Sarah began. "He doesn't like conflict, and he will go to the ends of the earth to and find middle ground with everyone."

"Is he being disingenuous?" Chuck asked.

"Mr. Bartowski… are you trying to seduce me with your fancy words?" Sarah asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

"No, you're just drawn to me like a moth to a flame," Chuck replied. She grinned as she shook her head at him. "Okay, this is good. He wants no one's feelings hurt, right?"

"Exactly," Sarah replied. "Your dad is humble and shy, so again, he's trying not to cause conflict. They do worry about others' feelings, to a fault. In fact, it is possible your dad thinks this conflict is his fault, and that if he had done something different or right, you and Teddy would be on the same page."

"Yeah, don't think Dad has all the facts on that one," Chuck muttered.

"Nope," Sarah chirped. "And to make things worse, he's going to take everything personally and he tries to repress his feelings."

Chuck laid his head back on the seat, and stared at the ceiling of the airplane. "This just keeps getting better and better," he muttered.

"Oh I can make it even better," she said in a sultry voice. Chuck rolled his head toward her immediately. "Don't forget he overloads himself, and throw in the fact you don't think he deals well with being the actual CEO."

"I thought you were gonna make it better?" Chuck asked.

"I'll make it all better after it's over," Sarah promised. Chuck's eyes went wide. "Promise."

"Jesus," he choked out. "Go on."

"He's reluctant to change, so there's still the issue of you leaving, and him having to accept that Teddy is…" Sarah trailed off.

"Gutter trash?" Chuck offered.

"That's probably insulting to gutter trash, if we're being honest," Sarah admitted. "But fair, nonetheless." She paused.

"Give it to me, doc, I can take it," Chuck told her.

She cupped her hand on his cheek that wasn't resting on the seat back. "Oh, I know you can," she replied. Chuck smiled at her. "He's also too altruistic. He's let so much slide that he's seen, and to some extent willed himself not to acknowledge it. I guarantee you he feels bad about what he said to you about us."

"Okay, so what do I do?" Chuck asked.

"You have to figure out how to make him see the truth, and if you have to, in the end, you may have to play those tapes," Sarah told him gently. "And have no doubt, it will hurt him deeply, but he has to know."

"Sarah, it's gonna kill him," Chuck said, sighing. "It's going to destroy him. That's what I'm doing: planning to destroy my father."

"Chuck, no," Sarah said, shaking her head. "Yes, you're giving him the information, but Teddy has done all of this. I'm not going to lie… he'll probably lash out, say things he shouldn't. And you may have to be the bigger person, and forgive him down the road. But until he sees and accepts what is happening… Teddy is just going to keep using him, and at some point, it's going to destroy the company if no one stops it."

"I hate this so much," he said. It wasn't whining, it wasn't Chuck trying to put it off. If anything, it was acceptance of what had to happen.

"I know sweetie, and I don't know if it helps, but I'm here for you."

Chuck took her hand on his cheek between his, and kissed it. "It does. It may be the only thing getting me through this."

}o{

Stephen pulled the car up to the warehouse security office. He showed the officer his badge. "Mr. Bartowski, sir, we weren't expecting you tonight," the security guard said. "Surprise inspection?"

"No, not really, just wanted to show my son the shipment coming in," Stephen replied.

"Well, the paperwork should all be in the office if you want to look at it," the security guard told him. Stephen thanked him, and drove the car into the parking lot.

"When's the last time you were here, dad?" Chuck asked. "I honestly don't know that I ever have."

"Oh, it's been a few years," Stephen admitted. "Been so busy… it's something I hope that Sarah can help us with." Chuck gave him a look. "Chuck… I'm not the best at running the company, I know that, and maybe if… when, we get things straightened out, she can still help us."

"If you want them to, I'm sure they will," Chuck said, sincerely. Stephen gave him a grateful smile, and led the way inside. Chuck followed Stephen into the warehouse, and upstairs to the offices. "What are we going here for?"

"To look at the paperwork," Stephen said. "Teddy invited you, so I'm sure he's being transparent."

"Wait, what?" Chuck asked.

"Oh, that's right, you don't know," Stephen said. "Sorry, Teddy sent you an email with his calendar showing the shipment arriving tonight. That's why we're here. I expect he's here somewhere." Chuck looked skeptical. "When you left, any email sent to your work account got forwarded to me."

"I get that part," Chuck said. "What I don't get is Teddy sending me an email."

"After tonight, you're going to understand. It was all a big misunderstanding, a mistake, and we can all go forward together," Stephen said, leading him into the office. He spied the manifest and picked it up. "See," he said, holding it out for Chuck to take. "Go on, look at it."

"You sure?" Chuck asked. Stephen nodded, and Chuck took the manifest from Stephen. He looked at it, back to his father, and then back to the manifest. "Who is Fulcrum Industries?"

"What?" Stephen asked. Chuck handed him the manifest and pointed to the name. "What the hell is this?"

"May I?" Chuck asked, pointing at the file cabinet.

"Please," Stephen said, confused. Chuck opened the filing cabinet, pulled out a folder that said Fulcrum Industries, and showed it to his father. "What the hell is this?"

"I have no idea," Chuck admitted, looking through the file. "Dad, may I use See-Three-Pee-Oh to do a search on Fulcrum Industries?"

"Yes," Stephen said. "This is… this is… weird."

"See-Three-Pee-Oh, I need a search on Fulcrum Industries, and Three-Pee-Oh…"

"Yes, Master Chuck," the assistant replied.

"This is a pineapple situation."

"Understood Master Chuck," C3PO chirped.

"What's a pineapple situation?" Stephen asked.

"It means to do whatever is necessary to find out who Fulcrum is," Chuck said, holding his father's gaze. Stephen looked away for a minute, and then back to Chuck. Stephen gave a few quick nods, which Chuck returned.

"This has to be a mistake," Stephen muttered. He walked over to the window, and looked down at the floor. "What are they doing?"

"What are who doing, dad?" Chuck asked, pouring through the files. "Everything in here is technically yours, right?"

"Yes," Stephen said. Chuck nodded, stood, found a messenger bag, and stuffed the file in there. "What are you doing?"

"Taking this with us to show to mom," Chuck said. "Unless you think you and I can better figure out what this means."

"What do you think what you read means?" Stephen asked. Chuck was silent. "Tell me, son," he said softly.

"It looks like someone is buying cheap drives, putting our label on them, and selling ours to someone else, and keeping the profit," Chuck told him. Stephen closed his eyes and rubbed his head. "Dad-"

"No, it's what it looked like to me, too," Stephen said. "We need to go down to the floor."

"Masters Bartowski," C3PO cut in. "I have the information you requested." There was silence.

"Tell us," Chuck said.

"Sir… you aren't going to like this," C3PO warned. Chuck looked at his father, who nodded.

"Go ahead," Chuck told the assistant.

"It is Master Roark," C3PO confirmed. "It is buried under several shell corporations, but Master Roark is in fact profiting heavily." Chuck hadn't seen the look that was on his father's face often, but right now, he was pretty sure it was anger.

"Dad," Chuck began.

"I know how you created that application," Stephen said. "I know it will not lie, and only tell the truth. That means…" Stephen trailed off, and shook his head. "We need to go downstairs. Stephen took off, and Chuck trailed off after him.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Chuck asked, hurrying after him.

"Getting answers," Stephen replied. He got to the floor and walked over to one of the workers. "May I ask what you are doing?"

"Who are you?" the worker asked.

"Stephen Bartowski, owner of this building," Stephen said.

"Sir! I am so sorry!" the worker replied. "I am putting the label on this hard drive before we send it to the plant." The worker handed the hard drive to Stephen. Stephen stared at it. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No," Stephen said, softly. He shook his head, handed the drive back to the worker, and gave him a smile. "No." He turned to Chuck. "We need to go." Chuck followed him out of the warehouse.

}o{

Stephen said nothing on the drive back, and Chuck didn't know what to say. When he pulled up in front of Chuck's apartment later, silence still filled the car. "I will talk to you tomorrow," Stephen said.

"Dad," Chuck began.

"Not tonight, Charles, please," Stephen said, shaking his head. Chuck nodded, opened the door, and got out.

"I'm sorry," Chuck told him.

Stephen nodded and looked over at him. "Me too," Stephen said. Chuck shut the door and the car sped off. "See-Three-Pee-Oh, track my father, and call my mother."

"Done," C3PO said.

"Chuck?" came his mother's voice.

"Dad just went to the warehouse with me," Chuck began.

"Is it bad?" Mary asked.

"Worse," Chuck told her. "I'm going to follow him. I think he might confront Teddy."

"Keep me informed," Mary told him.

"Master Chuck, should I find Master Roark's location?" C3PO offered.

"Do it," Chuck said. "And See-Three-Pee-Oh -"

"I understand, it is a pineapple situation sir," C3PO told him.

The door to his apartment whipped open and Sarah came out, heading toward Chuck's car. "You driving, or me?" Sarah asked. Chuck gave her a confused look. "See-Three-Pee-Oh told me everything."

"Good," Chuck said. "You drive."

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked.

"The very warehouse Master Chuck just came from," C3PO informed them.

}o{

During the drive, C3PO was quite busy. He informed the Bartowskis where they were headed. Sarah told C3PO to let Molly and Carina know, and to insist that Carina bring the big guy. Chuck was watching his father approach the warehouse, with he and Sarah only a few minutes behind.

They pulled up to the security guard. "Chuck Bartowski," Chuck said.

"Sorry, sir… I know you were with your father earlier, but you are not employed here," the security guard told him.

"So, let me get this straight: you know this is Mr. Bartowski's son," Sarah began. The security guard nodded. "So, if we went in, what would you do?"

"You can't, the gate is down," the security guard said.

"Master Chuck?" C3PO said softly. "You are not considering-"

"Just for giggles, let's say the gate went up, and we went. Would you shoot us?" Sarah asked.

"Well… no," the guard replied.

"Do it, See-Three-Pee-Oh," Sarah said.

"Master Chuck!" C3PO protested.

"You heard her," Chuck responded.

"Oh, dear," C3PO said.

"Why is the gate raising?" the security guard yelled. "Wait, stop! I'll call the police!"

"Good!" Chuck yelled as they drove in. "Keep that gate up for everyone else, See-Three-Pee-Oh!"

"They are right behind us, sir," C3PO said. Sarah parked the car, and Chuck started to get out.

"Stop!" she said, putting her arm over him.

"Sarah, that's my dad out there!" Chuck said.

"And you are the love of my life!" Sarah retorted. "We wait for a minute on backup!"

"Sarah!" Chuck protested. Carina pulled up alongside the car, and Molly on the other side.

"Now we go," she said, getting out. Chuck got out, seeing Casey and Zondra joining their significant others. "Casey, I need you with me." Sarah gave Zondra a look, and she and Carina headed a different way.

"What is going on?" Chuck asked.

"Just follow us," Sarah said. "You know what to do?" she asked Casey. He grunted in what Chuck thought was the affirmative. They all were taken by surprise when the warehouse doors opened, and workers started spilling out. "Okay, we need to move," Sarah said, running. The other two followed her.

They made their way into the warehouse, and that's when Chuck heard his father. "I defended you, Ted! I defended you to my family!"

"As well you should have, Stephen," Ted replied. Chuck came around a corner and saw Teddy holding a gun on Stephen, and he stopped short. "Ah! Don't you move!" he yelled, waving the gun at Stephen. "You, big guy, hands up!" Casey raised his hands.

"How about you and I talk, Teddy?" Sarah asked.

"How about you keep your ass out of my business, toots!" Teddy replied.

"Teddy, I swear to God," Chuck began. Teddy thrust the gun at Stephen. "You hurt him-"

"And what, you'll piss your pants?" Teddy asked. "I swear, you are the dumbest smart person I know. You had everything, you could have had it all! You could have had a dumb babe do anything you wanted, but no, you had to go and get some smart chick."

"What the hell is wrong with you, Teddy?" Stephen asked. "What is wrong?"

"What's WRONG!?" Teddy yelled. "MY COMPANY WENT BANKRUPT YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT!" Teddy screamed.

"Let's talk about that," Sarah said, slowly moving toward Teddy, her hands up. "I'm just gonna come stand beside Stephen."

"You are one ditzy-ass blond, honey," Teddy said, shaking his head. "Now I can kill him, and then you."

"Yeah, maybe you can," Sarah said, shrugging and looking for a moment that she was ditzy. She put an arm around Stephen. "I just don't want to see my future father-in-law hurt."

"Let me guess, you're pregnant," Teddy said rolling his eyes.

"No," Sarah said, the ditziness gone, her eyes steel.

"Hey, Teddy," Zondra said, as she ran the back of her fingers across Teddy's cheek. He hadn't noticed Carina and Zondra sneak up behind him. As the fingers touched his face, he turned toward them, bringing his gun hand with him. Once it was clear of Sarah and Stephen, Sarah pulled Stephen to the floor.

"Clear!" Sarah yelled. Zondra's hand shot down from Teddy's face to his wrist, knocking the gun lose. Teddy spun from the impact.

"OW!" he yelled. Zondra brought her right elbow around, catching him with it across his nose, making a sick cracking sound. "You betch you boke my node!" he screamed. Zondra lifted her left knee right into Teddy's crotch, and his eyes nearly shot out of his head. His screaming went silent, as he dropped to his knees.

Zondra squatted beside him. "That's for insulting Sarah by sending that two-by-four to try and seduce her." She pushed him by the face as he toppled over. Carina had secured the gun as Mary, Ellie, and Devon ran into the room.

"You okay?" Sarah asked Stephen, helping him up. "I'm really sorry, but I had to make sure you were clear of the gun."

"I am," Stephen said. He looked at her, confused. "Why would you save me? I said… I said…"

"You were fed lies, by someone you trusted, Stephen," Sarah said gently. "I hope over time you and I can get to know each other better."

"Stephen!" Mary said, running up to him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Stephen said, nodding and rising. "Thanks to Sarah." Mary hugged him as he looked down at Teddy. He broke the hug, and walked over to Teddy. "You're fired, Teddy." Teddy tried to moan something. "I trusted you, you were my friend, and you tried to poison me against my family. Hell, you did poison me against my family." Ellie had steepled her hands in front of her nose, looking like she could cry. Chuck wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Dad," Chuck began.

"No, son," Stephen said. "Do not say it's okay, or anything like that, because it is not." He looked over at his children. "Devon, perhaps you better see to Mr. Roark, I'm afraid Ellie might do something she regrets." He looked around at his family. "I've done enough that I regret for the whole family."

}o{

Sometime later the police showed up, and after a lengthy talk with Stephen, Ted Roark was read his rights while loaded into an ambulance.

"One thing I don't understand," Chuck began.

"Sweetie, we both know there's more than one thing," Sarah told him, batting her eyes at him.

Chuck sighed and shook his head. "Why did Casey have to be here?"

"I was the magnet," Casey said. Chuck gave him a confused look. "Who do you pay attention to… the big guy, or the two women going around back?"

"That makes a lot of sense," Chuck replied. "Did you two plan this in the past, or something?" Chuck asked Zondra.

"I made these two take defense classes with me," Zondra said, gesturing to Carina and Sarah. "I just never knew I'd have to use it in a situation like this."

"My girlfriend is badass," Molly said, proudly. Ellie pulled her jaw back in surprise. "Whoops," Molly muttered.

"Of course you two would be dating," Ellie said.

"Why of course?" Molly asked Ellie.

"Because you'd have to date a badass. Who else could deal with you?" Ellie replied, grinning at Molly.

"It's a curse," Zondra said, amusement on her face.

"Listen, I know a lot is going on, but Devon took Chuck's advice, and we are moving ahead with our recommitment ceremony," Ellie began.

"AKA they ran and eloped, and are trying to get back in Mom's good graces," Chuck cut in.

"I'm not denying that," Ellie said, grinning. "But you are all invited, and you should know that with what you did today, you are all practically family now."

"Does that mean they have to come to Christmas?" Chuck asked.

"Absolutely," Ellie replied. A police officer walked up to her and she went with him, explaining what Devon did since he accompanied Roark in the ambulance.

"She sounded serious," Casey said.

Chuck looked over at him. "Oh, she is deadly serious," Chuck told him.

"Chuck, have you seen your father?" Mary asked. "I haven't seen him since the police finished questioning him."

Chuck sighed. "Three-Pee-Oh?"

"Master Stephen is no longer in the area," C3PO said. Chuck nodded. "Should I search for him?"

"Not necessary," Chuck said, standing up from where he was leaning against a wall. "I know where he's gone."

"Need me to go with you?" Sarah asked. Chuck leaned down and kissed her.

"No," Chuck replied. "This is something he and I need to do." Chuck headed toward the door. "Can someone take her home?"

"I think someone here can give me a ride," Sarah said.

"I'll take her myself," Mary said. She saw Chuck shudder, turn, and leave. "He never told you that I told him you could call me mom, did he?"

"No," Sarah said, grinning. "Will they be okay?"

"No idea," Mary admitted. "Stephen is probably at the beach. It's where he goes to think."

Sarah turned back to where Chuck had walked out of the warehouse. "Like father, like son," she said softly.

A/N: This is all I have right now. This one…it was a lot. Lots of talking coming, lots more coming. May give this one a break for a day or three, we'll see. Take care and see you soon.