Chapter 13: The Investigation

California, Burbanks, The Castle, December 23rd, 2007

Who exactly created the Intersect? It was a good question, Sarah had to admit. "I don't know," she said. "It's classified," she added with a grimace.

"Oh." Chuck blinked. "And whoever created the Intersect wiped themselves from their databanks, probably hard-coded a blind spot in the core of the program. No, they would have wiped their involvement from the databanks. Otherwise, we could find them by process of elimination - just find the programmer who doesn't show up in the Intersect."

"Yes."

"But someone has to know who programmed the Intersect," Chuck went on.

"Beckman probably knows," Sarah said.

"Probably?"

"It was a black project and took years to build. Her predecessor might not have informed her," Sarah explained.

"We can still ask, can't we?" Chuck asked. Sarah must have betrayed her thoughts since he winced. "She will love to throw 'it's classified' into our faces, right?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"That's not very professional for a general," he pointed out.

"But very common for a general," Sarah replied. "The Pentagon politics make the Capitol look tame." And the CIA politics were worse - literally lethal, at times.

Chuck sighed. "I guess we can't interrogate her, hm?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. He had better be joking!

He raised his hands. "Kidding, kidding!" Another sigh followed. "But it's our best lead. We need to find out if 'Baker' was behind the Intersect - and who they are."

"We don't have a lead, though," she told him.

He clenched his teeth. "There has to be a way! Some hardcopy archives they couldn't wipe." His eyes widened. "Discrepancies between hardcopy and electronic records! If we compare them, we could find the blind spot - and the identity of 'Baker'!"

It wasn't a bad idea, Sarah knew. "That means we'd have to have access to the physical archives and the electronic data of the Intersect project. And hope no one wiped the hardcopy data to protect the project from scrutiny."

"Oh." He looked crestfallen. "I guess we'd need to talk to Beckman for that?"

"Unless you get the Council to pressure her into cooperating, yes," Sarah.

"Hm. I don't think that the Intersect falls under the Supernatural," Chuck said. "I don't think Giles would go for that. And it wouldn't be fair to ask the Scoobies, anyway."

Sarah was both disappointed and relieved.

"Could we follow the money?"

She shook her head. "Fifteen years have passed, and they'll have taken precautions."

"So… we can do nothing but wait until they make contact? If they make contact and don't do anything more dangerous, instead."

"We have to inform Beckman anyway. She might be reasonable." Though Sarah didn't think so.

"You suspect that the same person who built the Intersect sent a significant sum of money to Bartowski through a lawyer known to handle such transactions for criminals?"

Yes, the general wasn't happy. Chuck forced himself to keep smiling and looking sorry. In hindsight, they probably should have informed the general right away.

"Yes, ma'am," Casey said.

"That's our best estimate," Chuck added. "It would explain why the Intersect can't find this person."

"That would have been deliberate sabotage of the project," Beckman said with a scowl. "That's a serious accusation."

"Yes, ma'am."

"It's a theory. A theoretical accusation. A hypothesis," Chuck explained. "Without knowing who programmed the Intersect's core architecture, we cannot verify or disprove it."

"I see."

Did she? Chuck perked up.

"Unfortunately, the designer of the Intersect went AWOL before it was completed."

"What?" Chuck blinked.

"They deserted?" Casey asked with a growl.

"Yes. They vanished ten years ago," the General explained. "After wiping all the information about them from our databanks. We haven't been able to catch them since then."

"I've never heard about that," Sarah said.

"Neither did I," Casey added.

"It was kept quiet," Beckman said with a scowl.

"The Intersect is ten years old?" Chuck asked. He ignored Casey's 'nerd'. That was… an antique.

"The core of the program is that old. But it has been continuously updated with the latest data," the general said.

"How long did they work for the NSA?" Chuck asked.

"Five years in total."

"That would mean… they contacted Grover right after or shortly before starting the work on the Intersect," Chuck said. "They must have expected or even planned something like this."

"And they haven't been caught?" Sarah asked.

The general looked embarrassed. "They have been a step ahead of us for years - mostly due to their unparalleled mastery of computers."

"And we don't even know their sex?" Bane spoke up for the first time.

"We don't. We only know their code name: Orion."

"So we're hunting a phantom," Chuck said, leaning back in his seat as soon as the general had ended the call.

"Not alone," Sarah pointed out. "Several teams are on the same mission."

"Technically," Bane said, "we aren't hunting Orion; we're merely investigating a potential threat to the Intersect that might be connected to Orion."

Casey's snort summed up Chuck's opinion of that. "And our investigation involves hunting them," Chuck said.

"It's not as if we're going to be coordinating with anyone," Sarah said.

"Certainly not when any electronic communication is banned because Orion might be listening in," Chuck agreed, then blinked. "Say… didn't the general violate that order by discussing this on a conference call?"

"She's the one in charge; she can rescind and reissue the order as she sees fit," Casey replied.

"Convenient," Chuck said. "But what if Orion did listen in and now knows that we're hunting them?"

"They would already be expecting that after sending money to Ellie," Sarah pointed out. "Especially if, as we have to assume, they know that Chuck is the Intersect."

Chuck nodded, grimacing. They had managed to keep the secret, but now an unknown party - a deserter from the NSA - was aware of it. And Ellie was in danger as a result. And it was all his fault. Partially, at least.

"But how are we supposed to do better than teams who have been hunting Orion for years?" Bane asked.

"We can hardly do worse," Casey retorted.

"It's hard to find someone who wiped all their data from our systems before vanishing. We don't even know their sex." Bane crossed her arms under her chest and faced the NSA agent.

"Well, Orion's probably a male," Chuck said. At the looks he received from Sarah and Bane, he added: "They hired him fifteen years ago. Back then, there weren't many female programmers of that talent. Hell, Willow was probably the best - they sent the head recruiter for the world's leading software developer to meet with Willow in Sunnydale High solely on what was known about her." He blinked. "I'm so stupid!"

"Good analysis, Bartowski," Casey grunted.

Chuck stared at him, then shook his head; this was more important. "I should have asked Willow about this. She was, well, more into the hacking scene back then than I was. She should know the big names."

"Willow?" Bane asked.

Chuck suppressed a wince. He shouldn't have revealed that. On the other hand, if a software firm knew about Willow, then the CIA probably did as well. And if Bane thought Willow was a hacker, she wouldn't expect her to be a witch. "Willow Rosenberg, you've met her. If I hurry, I can catch them before they go on their flight." He pulled out his phone.

California, Los Angeles International Airport, December 23rd, 2007

Sarah smiled as she entered the lounge at the airport. Chuck probably hadn't meant it literally when he spoke about catching the Scoobies before their flight - he really should have considered that it was the day before Christmas Eve, and the Scoobies wouldn't be able to get another flight to be back in England in time for the holidays.

Of course, none of that would have been necessary if they could trust electronic communication. The Scoobies might have protections even Orion might not be able to circumvent, but the Burbank Station didn't - and if anyone got into their files…

"Hey!" Chuck said, waving as he spotted the Scoobies.

"Hey yourself!" Rosenberg said, standing up. "What was so important that you had to meet in person?"

"Surprise Christmas presents?" Harris asked with a wide grin that didn't reach his eyes, Sarah noticed.

Summers waved as she hastily chewed what looked like the remains of an entire club sandwich. Dr Summers merely nodded, as did Faith.

"Ah…" Chuck looked around. "Are we safe from listening devices?"

"That's the first thing I did after your call." Rosenberg nodded, then frowned. "Are you under CIA surveillance?"

"Ah, no." Chuck shook his head, then looked around. "Let's sit down."

"How did you get into the lounge without tickets?" Summers asked. "Some special spy badge?

Chuck blushed slightly, Sarah noticed. "We kind of have temporary tickets."

"There's no such thing as… You hacked the booking computers!" Rosenberg announced. Loudly. But no one nearby reacted, though - whatever the witch had done must be working.

"Yes, but it was needed," Chuck defended himself. "You see, we've got a problem. Ellie received a respectable sum to pay for her wedding."

"That's a problem?" Summers asked. "Or did you lose it, and need to recover it? Or was it meant for a mob boss who wants it back?"

"Buffy! Let him tell explain instead of listing the plots from cheap movies!" Dr Summers interjected.

Chuck cleared his throat. "Well, it might actually be dirty money. You see, when we looked into the origin of the money, we found out that..."

"...and then I thought you'd know more than me about the kind of computer specialists who could do such a thing," Chuck finished.

"Oh!" Sarah saw Rosenberg, who had been shifting around in her seat since shortly after Chuck had mentioned the Intersect's inventor, nodded rapidly. "I do know - only out of interest, you know - most of the hackers of our time. The good ones, I mean - well, good in both senses; both skilled and not wanting to use their skills for evil, you know? I mean, some of the hackers were really bad. Not quite Sunnydale-bad, but really non-white hats. Black hats. Which, I just realised, sounds really racist. Oh Goddess, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, but… Well, there was this hacker from Texas holding hospitals hostage until the FBI caught him, and..."

"Willow!" Harris interrupted her, "We do have a flight to catch, so best save the details for your report."

"There's a report?" Rosenberg gasped, then pouted. "Oh, you!"

"You'll be writing a report on the plane, Red, don't deny it." Faith chuckled. Sarah couldn't tell if the Slayer was still angry about the whole mess with Casey and Caridad, but she seemed to be trying a little too hard to appear laid-back.

"Well…" Rosenberg pouted again. "It's still not nice!"

"Think of it as giving you an advance warning or a reminder," Harris said as Summers patted Rosenberg's hand. "So… summarise?"

"Ok." Rosenberg sighed. "I can't think of many hackers who would fit the requirements and aren't either in prison, already very anti-authoritarian fifteen years ago, or publically known. I mean, some of the guys in prison might have done a deal with the government after getting arrested, but they were arrested years after this 'Orion' started working on the Intersect. They - the government - would have had to set up some cover story and probably sent someone to prison in their place, and why would they do that for someone who wasn't known in the first place?"

"The government does a lot of stupid things," Harris said.

The Scoobies nodded in agreement, and Sarah clenched her teeth for a moment. She disagreed with the general attitude, though this wasn't the time or place to discuss this. And she was aware of a number of government screw-ups herself, of course. All classified, though.

"You said you couldn't think of many hackers," Chuck said. "That means you can think of some."

"Well..." Rosenberg winced.

"Willow?" Chuck asked.

"Well, two are dead," Rosenberg answered. "The L33t Ranger was murdered by the Russian Mob after exposing their off-shore accounts in 2001. And, well, your dad…"

Chuck froze for a moment, then slowly shook his head. "Dad was a good programmer. Not a hacker, though."

"Uh…" Rosenberg grimaced. She really had no poker face in Sarah's opinion. Unless this was merely a facade. "That's not entirely accurate."

"Willow! No movie quoting in delicate family situations!" Summers admonished her.

"I wasn't! Was I?"

"ID4," Harris replied.

"Oh."

"Red."

"I'm so sorry! Really! I didn't want to make light of your loss, but…" Rosenberg shook her head. "Your Dad was a hacker. He caught me once when he was fixing the Sunnydale high school system."

"You hacked the high school computers? But Dad was... when did you do that?" Cuck asked.

"I was twelve," she replied. "And I wanted to know if Xander, Jesse and I would be in the same homeroom."

"Or correct that if we weren't," Harris added, which caused Rosenberg to blush.

"Anyway, Dad's dead, so who else did you think of?" Chuck asked.

"Well, the only one not confirmed dead or sold out to the man," Rosenberg replied, "would be Infinity. They were quite good, and not as, ah, attention-seeking as most others. Though they haven't been heard of in years."

"That fits," Chuck said. "Thank you, Willow."

"I'll contact you if I think of anyone else," she said.

"Not electronically," Chuck reminded her.

"Alright. I'll send a letter."

"By post owl?" Harris asked.

Since everyone laughed, Sarah assumed that it was a joke she wasn't aware of. She could ask Chuck later, of course, without losing face. But there were more important things to think about, anyway.

Such as the question of whether Chuck's father had actually died in Sunnydale. Chuck had said that his parents had vanished, and if there was no body, you couldn't be sure of anyone's death. Sometimes not even if there was a body, if someone could fake or alter the right records.

But talking to Chuck about this would be difficult.

California, Los Angeles, Echo Park, December 23rd, 2007

Chuck sighed and closed his eyes, letting his character get shot in the game. He heard complaints and curses from the other members of his team but ignored them. It was just a game, not the end of the world. Not really important.

But the chatter and curses were annoying, and so he switched off his computer. Let them assume he had been disconnected before he had stopped playing. It didn't matter. He had real problems to worry about. Ellie's safety. And the mysterious Orion's goals.

And yet, he couldn't help thinking about Dad. That was Willow's fault. He didn't like to think about his parents. Their deaths, Ellie struggling to replace them, trying to take care of him, even though he hadn't needed it - much. Sunnydale had destroyed their family.

If he were honest, he'd have to admit that it wasn't actually Willow's fault - Christmas, when families came together to celebrate, tended to remind him of everything that had gone wrong in Sunnydale. Still… He shook his head. Dad was dead. If he weren't dead, he'd have returned to them. And he had been a programmer, not a hacker.

Not Orion.

"Chuck?"

Sarah. He smiled. "Come in."

"Did you finish your game?"

"Oh, yes." He wasn't technically lying. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

She nodded, then took a seat next to him on the couch. She didn't look happy.

He winced. "I guess whatever you found wasn't good news?"

Sarah shook her head. "I don't think you're going to like it, Chuck."

Shit. "Now I'm feeling even more apprehensive." His eyes widened. "Wait! It's not Elle, isn't it? She's safe, isn't she?"

"Ellie's safe," Sarah quickly told him. He started to relax. "As far as I know."

His relief vanished at once at hearing her qualifier, replaced by - now familiar - anxiety. "Great. So… shoot? Not literally, I mean. You know."

"Yes."

She was still smiling in that particular way… she was nervous, he realised. A veteran spy, nervous. This must be really bad. He shifted a little on the couch.

She took a deep breath. "Chuck, I've checked the dates." She hesitated. Again. "Your father vanished shortly before Orion started working on the Intersect. Shortly before Grover received the Ceres computer."

He froze for a moment. "That doesn't prove anything!" he snapped. Dad was dead. What did she think… No - he had to control his temper.

"No, it doesn't," she agreed. "But we can't exclude the possibility that your father isn't dead, but in hiding instead. It would explain the connection to your family."

"But it wouldn't explain why he went into hiding!"

"To protect you and Ellie, presumably."

"What?"

"He was working on a top-secret intelligence project. Probably the most important project of the agency," she explained. "If the CIA and NSA had known about his family, they would have sent a protection detail - or taken you into custody. Standard procedure."

That wouldn't have been too bad, Chuck thought. But… Sunnydale. "Spies versus vampires?"

She snorted, then grew serious again. "It would have made vanishing afterwards impossible. You and Ellie would have been leverage. And even if he had managed to extract you and delete your files, you'd have been forced into hiding with him."

That would have been… well, Ellie probably wouldn't have become a doctor. And he wouldn't have been able to study at Stanford. Chuck nodded. Although… Sarah seemed quite understanding about what was, legally and effectively, treason, he noticed. Treason against the CIA, even. Well, she was the experienced spy of the two of them, and she had mentioned how difficult it would be to quit the CIA. But he had to focus on the subject at hand.

Chuck took a deep breath. "That assumes two things. First, that he was planning to desert from the project even before he began it. And second, that he cared enough about us to 'protect' us, but not enough to choose us over the Intersect."

"He might not have had a choice, Chuck. The CIA or the NSA aren't really willing to take 'No' as an answer if they consider you vital for national security. You would have been leverage or in hiding even if your father had refused to work on the project. And he would have been aware of it."

That made… well, a warped sort of sense. Damned if you did, damned if you didn't. But… "If he had done that, why didn't he tell us?" Why would he have just left them? Let them think he was dead? If he actually was in hiding and not dead. Eaten by a demon in Sunnydale.

"Chuck… you were kids. You wouldn't have been able to keep the secret. And you'd probably have tried to find him, or contact him, if you'd have known."

He pressed his lips together. He wanted to say that they wouldn't have, but they would. Well, Chuck would have. Ellie might have been more sensible. "It's still just a theory."

"But it fits all the facts. According to Willow, your dad was a hacker. Good enough to catch her."

"When she was a kid," Chuck pointed out.

"And yet, the Intersect didn't find him when you were looking for hackers," she replied.

That was true. The timelines added up. The lack of any data in the Intersect also fit. Willow's information about Dad being a hacker. But… He shook his head, then looked at the now-dead tv screen. It couldn't be true. "The Intersect also didn't find much about 'Infinity'." Although enough to confirm their existence somewhere in Southeast Asia. "Dad's been dead for fifteen years. At least that was what we thought." It would be easier if his father were dead. Dead instead of hiding. Instead of being hunted. He shook his head again. He couldn't think like that. First rule: Don't die. Dead was bad.

She laid her hand on his arm. He looked at her for a moment, then she reached out and hugged him.

He closed his eyes, holding her. Being held. He wasn't crying. Barely. Dad might - might! - still be alive. Not dead. Just the CIA's most wanted.

He snorted. It almost came out as a sniffle. "What a mess."

She didn't reply. Just held him some more.

"So, what do we tell the others? About your theory, I mean," Sarah heard Chuck ask from their bedroom while she was brushing her teeth.

She finished while she pondered her answer. "You mean Casey and Bane, right?" she asked as she left the bathroom.

"Uh, yes. I mean - Morgan needs to know. He knew Dad, after all. And Caridad and Phil should know as well. Just in case, you know, it's not Dad but something looking like him," Chuck said. "And Ellie can't know."

Sarah nodded. "I think the CIA would have noticed if he were a vampire," she said.

"Unless he did everything online and never met them. Wouldn't they know his sex at least, if he had met an agent?" Chuck retorted.

"Ah, he did meet a few members of the Intersect team," Sarah said as she slipped into their bed. "But all of them were dead by the time he disappeared."

"What?" Chuck sat up next to her. "Do you mean… he killed them?"

"If he did, then he managed to make it look like an accident," Sarah replied. "They died during an unauthorised test."

"How do you die during a computer test? Did they overclock the CPU until it blew up?" Chuck shook his head.

She didn't quite frown at him. "They died testing the neural-optical interface. Fatal cerebral haemorrhaging."

He blinked. "Uh… you mean the thing that put the thing in my head? And they bled to death?"

"If you want to use the technical terms, yes," she said.

"You mean… I could have died when Bryce sent me the Intersect?" Chuck gasped.

"That's a good question," she replied.

"I think it's more than a question - it's my life on the line!"

"Orion vetoed the test and said further adjustments were needed for compatibility. Apparently, his co-workers disagreed," Sarah told him.

"That sounds… sloppy of them," Chuck commented. "Or it was a trap - by Orion."

"It's possible, though as far as the agency knows, Orion isn't a killer." If he were, he could have killed a number of people just by leaking classified information, after all.

"Where did you get the file, anyway? I mean, I assume you've got a file, since the data we had wasn't covering that, or I'd know, you know."

"It was sent to the base by courier and arrived today. Hardcopy."

"Oh. So, back to my brain almost turning into Swiss cheese."

She took a deep breath.

"Uh-oh. I know that breath. There's another piece of bad news coming, right?" he blurted out before she could speak.

"Possibly," she replied. "According to the files, the Intersect isn't compatible with everyone, but only select people who have the correct neural setup." Which she suspected included Chuck for a reason.

"'Neural setup'? Is that a medical term? Because it doesn't sound medical," Chuck said. "It sounds more like a computer term."

"It was coined by programmers," Sarah replied. "Orion, I believe." Not that she'd know since all data had been erased.

"Figures. But at least Orion would have had to be a doctor as well, wouldn't he? Or he couldn't have built that neural-optical interface."

She knew what he was trying to say: His father hadn't been a doctor. "One of the team members was a neurologist," she told him. "He died in the accident."

"Oh. So… does that mean that it's more or less likely that the accident was a trap?"

More, in her opinion. But that didn't fit the profile the agency had. "That's hard to tell," she replied.

He nodded. After a moment, he went on: "Speaking of telling… do we tell the other spies?"

"We probably need to tell Casey, but not Bane."

"Ah."

"Otherwise, Casey might shoot Orion at the first opportunity," she explained.

"And we kind of trust him, don't we?"

"Within reason." They were the man's best option in their situation. Of course, bringing in Orion might change that - the Agency would forgive a lot if they got their hands on the man.

"Ah. And Bane?"

"Absolutely not. She's a mole for Beckman. She'd sell us out at the first opportunity. If they have Orion, they don't need you any more."

"Oh." Chuck looked shocked. "I hadn't thought about that." He blinked. "So… we can't let them get Orion."

"No." Which was one of the reasons Sarah hoped Orion was Chuck's father. It would make things simpler.

Provided Orion's motives were as noble as she had told Chuck. If not… Well, there was one way to ensure the CIA would never get their hands on Orion and to keep Chuck safe - from both Orion and the CIA.

California, Burbank, Buy More, December 24th, 2007

"Christmas Eve, and we're working," Chuck commented as he leaned against the wall next to where Casey was tagging new games.

"Like everyone who actually works for a living," the agent replied with a sneer.

"That's the spirit of the season!" Chuck said before he could stop himself. "Cheerful and joyful!"

Casey narrowed his eyes at him, and Chuck took a step to the side. Pure reflex. "Did you just come to make useless pansy comments? Life isn't a holiday commercial."

"Hey! Some of those commercials are vicious!" Chuck retorted. Overdone and not serious, and in that 'trying too hard' way, but vicious.

Casey scoffed in reply. "You don't know vicious."

Uh. "I grew up in a town with worse murder rates than an active war zone," Chuck replied. It wasn't entirely correct, depending on your definition of an active war zone, but Sunnydale hadn't been a picnic!

"And yet you turned into a typical Californian milquetoast. Guess it's genetic."

Chuck looked around. "Speaking of genetic… did you check for bugs? The spying kind, I mean."

"Always."

Chuck took that to mean that Casey hadn't found any. Asking would make him sound stupid, anyway. "So…" he lowered his voice. "Sarah had that theory. About Orion."

"That he's related to you. Probably your father."

Chuck blinked. "How did you…?"

"I saw the file. You survived the integration of the Intersect. Several others - people who had worked on it - died trying that. And someone with the skills of Orion is sending your sister money for the wedding. Add the timeline, and odds are your father didn't die."

"Oh." So much for the big spy-like reveal. "Uh, well… we're planning to discuss it this evening, in private." Meaning, not at the base. "So, you're cordially invited to the annual Bartowski Christmas Eve Party."

He could see the other man open his mouth to turn him down before Casey reconsidered. After a moment, the agent nodded with a glare.

"Perfect!" Chuck beamed at him. Casey would probably rather spend the evening with a bottle than with Chuck's family - especially since Caridad would be attending as well - but that would make Casey look both afraid and less than perfectly dedicated to duty. "You'll love the dinner."

"I'm certain that it'll be awesome."

Chuck ignored the subtle dig - Casey was a spy, not a thug, he reminded himself; the man could do subtle - and nodded. "It'll be! Until later, then!"

He didn't sigh with relief until he was out of sight. Mission accomplished. So to speak. Now he could focus on… Morgan talking to Bane? He blinked. No, not talking. Flirting. Well, in a Morgan way.

"Yes, I'm Chuck's best friend - we grew up together. Practically brothers," Chuck heard Morgan as he approached, hidden from sight by an aisle full of toasters on sale - which, apparently, hadn't sold as well as Big Mike had thought they would. Chuck made a note to reduce their price further after Christmas.

"Oh. In Sunnydale?"

"Yes. Rough town, but we survived," Morgan said, in a rather transparent imitation of a particular NPC in the latest expansion for his favourite CRPG. Well, transparent for anyone who had played the game. Like Chuck.

"Rough town?" Bane sounded like a naive girl.

"The worst," Morgan replied. "Very violent. It made L.A. look peaceful."

"Ah. I wouldn't know that - it's my first time in the city." A little sigh emphasised Bane's statement. "Which is why I'm so grateful for your invitation. Otherwise, I'd probably spend Christmas Eve at the base." What?

"No problem," Morgan said. "It's the least I could do."

What did he do?

"Well, I have to return; break's over. See you later, Morgan."

"Laters, Kirsten!"

Chuck rounded the corner as soon as the sounds of Bane's heels on the floor faded. "Morgan!"

"Oh!" His friend looked startled, then straightened. "Chuck! Is there another attack?"

"What? No."

"Ah, good." Morgan smiled. "Oh, I wanted to tell you: I've got a plus one for the party tonight. Kirsten."

'Kirsten'. "I've heard," Chuck said. "What were you thinking?"

"Hey! She's new in the city, lonely, and it's Christmas Eve!"

"She's a spy, Morgan - sent here to ferret out our secrets," Chuck told him through clenched teeth. And to seduce me, he added to himself.

"Well…" Morgan set his jaw. "That's more of a reason to keep her close, then, so you can keep an eye on her, right? Besides, it's a party, not a secret meeting."

They had been planning to use the party to discuss Orion. Ellie and Devon as well as their friends could be handled. But Bane? But if Chuck told her not to come, she'd grow even more suspicious. What could he do? What could they do?

"Chuck?"

"What?" Chuck blinked as his thoughts were interrupted.

"I've got to finish taking stock of the home appliances! See you later, OK?"

"Uh…" Apparently, Chuck's lack of response had been taken as agreement.

And now Chuck had to explain this to Sarah.

California, Los Angeles, Echo Park, December 24th, 2007

So far, the Bartowski Christmas Eve party was a success. Sure, Casey was staying as far from Caridad as he managed, basically standing in a corner and glaring at anyone from the half a dozen friends and colleagues of Elie and Devon at the party whenever they came too close. He was probably waiting for a home invasion. Or a demon invasion.

And Caridad was reenacting the biblical plague of locusts at the buffet in the other corner. Comfort food worked on Slayers, or so it seemed. It wasn't any comfort to the household's budget, though. But Ellie and Devon looked happy - well, whenever they didn't look at Caridad. And no one had been assaulted or killed yet - with half a dozen clueless colleagues and friends of Ellie and Devon present, that was a serious consideration. At least the lie that Caridad was bulimic and very sensitive about it kept them from commenting about the Slayer's appetite.

"My standards for a successful party have gone down," he muttered.

"Hm?" Sarah asked.

"I was just thinking that the party was a success since no one has been killed yet. And we've been at it for over half an hour," Chuck told her.

"'Yet'," she replied. "Miss Honey-Trap hasn't arrived yet."

So she was still angry at Bane's invitation. "Morgan invited her," he whispered.

"You didn't have to accept that."

Morgan was his best friend and had been trying to help - well, partially, at least. That Bane was hot had certainly played a part. A big part. "That would have needlessly antagonised her," he said.

"She's already an enemy."

It was surprising how Sarah could keep smiling happily while they were having an argument. And a little disturbing. "So why hasn't Casey killed her already?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"That would force Beckman's hand."

"Ah." He grimaced. Why would he have expected another answer? Sarah was a spy, after all. "But isn't it a good thing that she's after Morgan?" And not after Chuck.

"He's just a stepping stone to get to you. It's an old trick - go for the unattractive friend, then let the real target get jealous," Sarah replied. She knew a lot about honey-traps, Chuck noticed not for the first time. "And Morgan is a source of information."

"He won't betray us," Chuck defended his best friend. At her glance, he added: "He knows she's a spy. And he's gotten better at information security." 'Information security' - he was talking like a real spy.

"She's probably already seducing him."

Morgan was actually late to the party - he usually was one of the first, and they had officially started half an hour ago. "She wouldn't hurt him, would she? She knows that we know that she's his date, after all."

"I don't think so," Sarah said.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Ellie made a beeline for the door. Chuck saw her smile falter a little, then noticed her surprise. "Speak of the devil," he whispered.

He was right - Morgan and Bane entered, coming towards Chuck and Sarah, with Ellie in tow.

"Yes, I'm a co-worker of Sarah, of course I know her," Chuck heard the spy say.

"Employee," Sarah quickly corrected her. "I wanted a little more free time and flexibility, and business is good."

"That's how I met Morgan," Bane added, hooking her arm through his. "And he invited me to this party. Isn't he sweet?"

Everyone agreed, though with varying levels of sincerity, and Ellie left to restock the buffet.

"Nice party," Bane commented, looking around.

"They're Ellie and Devon's friends," Chuck said. Civilians who didn't deserve CIA attention. "I barely know them."

"Ah." Bane nodded.

"Mostly doctors they know from university or work," Morgan added.

"Right. Your family isn't aware of your position, is it?"

"No," Chuck confirmed.

"You must be very good at maintaining your cover," the spy went on. "But isn't this a little dangerous? For them and for you - anyone could use them to get close to you."

Like Bane was trying to use Morgan?" Chuck shrugged. "If anyone suspects me, there are more ways to get to me." Like faking a house call for Nerd Herd.

Bane nodded. "Do you suspect Orion will try more direct methods?"

"That doesn't seem to be his modus operandi," Sarah cut in. "But it is too soon to tell." Her smile wouldn't have looked out of place on Caridad's face when trying to get the last tuna sandwich at the buffet, in Chuck's opinion.

Bane wasn't flinching, though, and returned a similar smile.

"Well, let's get something to eat," Morgan said, "before all the good stuff's gone."

Bane agreed, and the two left for the buffet. Chuck sighed with relief.

Sarah's glance at him had 'I told you so' written all over it.

Half an hour later, Chuck was about to head over to Casey for another attempt at having a private talk without interference - why did every slightly inebriated medical professional present try to talk to an obvious anti-social grump? At least none of the women tried to flirt with Casey, so Caridad wasn't making a scene - or a mess - when he saw Ellie coming towards them.

"Chuck! We need more toast!" she blurted out. "Caridad is eating more sandwiches than usual."

"Uh… I think we have some at home," he managed to say. She stared at him, and he caved "I'll get it at once?"

"Yes." She nodded sharply, as if it was his fault that Caridad was using food therapy to

"I'll come with you," Sarah said. "A little bit of fresh air will be nice." 'Fresh' meaning 'not shared with Bane' for her, Chuck knew.

But she was correct - it felt nice to take a deep breath outside, despite the air pollution. "So…" he began when Sarah suddenly tensed. A moment later, she had drawn her gun.

"Something's in the air!" she hissed. "Above us!"

Chuck froze. Was that noise…? "That's an RC helicopter," he said. It sounded like the one Morgan had wrecked in that stupid stunt in the Buy More's magazine when he had been trying to 'revolutionise logistics'.

Something hit the ground near them. A moment later, Chuck hit the ground courtesy of Sarah tackling him.