A/N: Here's the last chapter in the La Ciudad arc. Hope you guys like it.

Don't own Chuck, but I feel you knew that already.

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The next day

Sarah knocked on Casey's door.

"Hi," she said when he opened it.

"Hey," he said. "What's up? You get any sleep?"

"Yeah. Ten hours. Feeling great, thanks. Morgan is over playing video games with Chuck. I told them I wanted to talk to you for a bit." She held up a flash drive. "Got this from the cleaners. Harris was taping the interrogation of Chuck. Want to watch it with me?"

"You've seen it already?"

"Nope. This will be the first time."

"Sure." He began to set up his TV to receive the signal from his computer. "What do you hear from Beckman and Graham?"

"Delighted. We got La Ciudad, a ship full of Al Queda, and the stolen Stingers. Congratulations all around. From the way they talked, it seems like we are their new favorite flavor."

"The missiles?" asked Casey.

"The Navy is sending an ROV down to get the ones from the Mumara. Too deep for a diver."

The TV set up, Casey inserted the flash drive and hit play. As they sat on his couch he said, "And the other thing?"

"They love the idea. If he'll play, full speed ahead."

Before he could reply, the video started. They saw Chuck manhandled into a chair, zip tied down, and the hood pulled off his head. Sarah winced as he was punched. Casey merely nodded. When Chuck asked for the garbage can so he wouldn't have to spit on the carpet, Casey laughed out loud. When Chuck was telling Harris and Renny that he was hitting on Malena and was hoping to get laid, Casey glanced at Sarah. To his surprise, she looked ok. When Harris took out the gun and threatened to kneecap Chuck, Casey growled "damn" and Sarah, a little glassy eyed, gasped and put her fingers to her mouth. The way he pulled that out and used the picture in the paper and the difference in frames stunned them both. They saw Malena's men kill Harris and Renny and Chuck turn on a dime to talk her out of killing him. She kissed him, whispered something in his ear and left the room. Chuck talked Yuri into taking his watch. Then Yuri left.

They continued to watch as Chuck, now alone in the room, approached Harris's body and kneeled down. He slowly reached out and seemed to close the dead man's eyes with his fingertips. Then, still kneeling next to the body, he silently laid a light hand on the dead man's chest for about ten seconds. A prayer? A moment of silence? An expression of forgiveness? Or a simple human gesture? He rose and did the same with Renny. Then he moved out of the camera frame for a few moments and came back with sheets he'd stripped off the beds in the hotel suite. He used the sheets to cover each of the three bodies. Going into the bathroom for a little while, he came out with his face less bloody and carried a towel to the bar area of the suite. He filled the towel with ice from the ice bucket and left the room.

Casey got up and wordlessly restarted the video. They watched it a second time all the way through, silently this time. After the second viewing, Sarah and Casey continued to sit in silence for almost two minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Casey said, "In training, what do they teach us about handling an interrogation? About being on the receiving end?"

Sarah let out a breath and said, "Don't antagonize your interrogators. Look like you are trying to cooperate. Pick a plausible story as close to the truth as you can and stick with it. If you have to change your story, change as little as possible and keep it as consistent with the initial story as you can. Casey...he hasn't had a day of training...a minute of training...he just did it ...naturally."

"I know. And he's got balls, too. The kneecapping...shit. Harris might have really done that. If he was so nuts as to send us away, he was nuts enough to have done that," said Casey. He paused and continued, "Sarah, I couldn't have done what Chuck did. I've had all the training. I have experience and I'm really pretty tough. I still couldn't have done that. I'm too angry and just not smart enough."

"Oh, you're plenty smart, Casey."

"Yeah, but not like that. Not as quick as that. He just saw two MI-6 agents murdered in front of him and the first thing he says is to ask if they are the police. That's crazy quick thinking. Could you do that? Could you do what Chuck did?"

She thought about it. It was a serious question and deserved a serious answer. Eventually, she said, "Yes. But I'd be pretty damn proud of myself afterwards. I would have understood that I had delivered a top-notch performance. Particularly the last bit...talking La Ciudad out of killing him. Getting Yuri to back his play. That was...that was...wow."

"Not to bring up a sour topic, but could Bryce?"

Again, she thought about it. "No, Bryce couldn't. He was too arrogant and cocky. He'd have tried to play them too obviously. Bryce couldn't have done what Chuck did. And the business with La Ciudad...he'd have tried...well, a different approach...he'd have tried to get her to sleep with him."

"And he'd have been killed by her for it," said Casey.

"Yeah, he would have...you know she did tell me that she and Chuck had sex yesterday."

"She lied to you. I won forty bucks off Yuri on a bet that she'd be left high and dry."

Sarah laughed. "Forty bucks? Is that all?" Casey smiled. "Thanks for sharing that, Casey. I knew she was lying already, but thanks for telling me anyway. I didn't believe her. I trust him. I knew he wouldn't. He wouldn't do that."

"You're right. That's not who he is. What he is."

"No, but what he is...wow...this video...I mean...wow. He's a natural. Wait until Beckman and Graham get a load of this. They've been impressed with him from the moment he got that thing in his head...but, Casey, this," she gestured at the TV, "this is a whole different level and has nothing to do with the Intersect. This was all just Chuck. All Chuck."

"I know it. And soon Beckman and Graham will it know too."

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The day after that

Yuri Gobrienko sat in one of the sterile interrogation rooms and waited for another bullshit FBI agent to ask him another set of bullshit questions. He idly rattled the chains connecting him to the table. 'Well, this sucks,' he thought.

The door opened. Instead of one of the bullshit FBI agents, it was Sarah, Casey's contact at the Port. She was wearing a skirt and blouse and a short blue blazer. He hadn't noticed the other night, a lot had been going on, but she was an incredibly beautiful woman. She smiled at him and said, in flawless Russian, "Good morning, Yuri. My name is Sarah Walker. All right if we speak in Russian?"

He stared at her and immediately ran through the logical implications in his mind. Finally, he said, in Russian, "Casey and Chuck?"

"I'm CIA. Casey is NSA. Chuck is...well, he's sort of both and neither."

"Hummm. He's incredible. I wouldn't have suspected him for a moment...I didn't...not until just now."

"I know. He certainly is. He's a special man...and he's my boyfriend," she said with obvious pride and a huge smile. Yuri thought to himself, 'yeah, that's why Casey won the bet. I understand now.'

Sarah continued, "I heard that in the van, when you thought he was being arrested for the first time, you went out of your way to comfort him. You should know that I appreciate that." She laid a gentle hand on his arm. "Actually, Yuri. He's the reason I'm here. Under normal circumstances, you'd go to prison or a black site. Both Casey and Chuck had something different in mind for you. Seems...well, it seems they like you."

Yuri chuckled and said, "They're right. I'm a very likeable guy."

She smiled at him and said, "Apparently. Anyway, you ever play Monopoly? The board game? Doesn't matter. I am your "Get Out Of Jail Free" card. How would you like to work for the CIA?"

Yuri thought about it. "If I turn down your offer, I go to prison?"

"Yes. For a time. You should know we have you on video murdering Harris. If that ever got to MI-6, they will have you killed. Just on general principles. Whether you are in prison or not."

"And if I go to work for the CIA you won't show the video to MI-6?"

"Well, that's what I would have done, but Chuck convinced me, and our bosses, otherwise. You see, he didn't think blackmail was the right way to get your cooperation. And he...we ...really want your cooperation. So, the video of you killing Harris has been destroyed. No copies made. A sign of good faith. You are in the clear on that one. MI-6 won't find out from the CIA. Chuck is hoping that you will work for us willingly."

Yuri was smart enough to understand that they wouldn't really destroy the video, but he appreciated the gesture. It set the tone of the relationship in a very positive way.

"What do you want me to do for the CIA?"

"For now? Nothing. With La Ciudad out of commission for the next...I don't know, fifty or sixty years...I presume you head back to Volkoff. We'll call you if we need you. In the meantime, we can set up a bank account for you in a bank of your choosing. You will get $50,000 per month, whether we call you or not." She took a key out of her pocket and laid it on the desk in front of him. "If you say yes, I unlock the chains and you walk out of here with me. No record has been made of your arrest. You tell anyone who cares that you escaped in the mayhem of the shoot out at the dock. There will be no record here to say otherwise. Chuck and Casey are waiting outside and want to buy you a drink. Seems Casey has forty bucks in his pocket he wants to spend on vodka," she said with a smile.

Yuri laughed and said, with his most winning smile (which wasn't really all that winning, truth be told), "If I join the CIA do they assign me a girlfriend as intelligent, beautiful and charming as you?"

Sarah laughed and said, "Well, that's not exactly how this works. But, I can promise to introduce you to some friends of mine."

Yuri didn't have to think about it for too long. He said, "I'm in. I only have one condition." He looked directly at the mirror along one wall, certain of who would be behind it.

"And what might that be?"

"I want Chuck as my handler," he said in English.

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A little over a month later

Julio Borges loved his work, especially on Saturdays. He was the owner, manager and host of the Tierra del Andes restaurant in the Monterey Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was renowned for good Argentine food, fine Argentine wines and, on Saturday nights, live music and dancing. He always knew when a couple arrived for the dancing. There were the regulars, of course, but the new guests came with a certain excitement and dressed to the nines.

That was the case with the Carmichael party. A tall, handsome man and a spectacularly beautiful blonde woman. He in a well-fitting tuxedo and the woman in a sexy red dress that drew stares from the men and envious looks from the other women. They dined well and drank a bottle of a fine Malbec he had recommended (the woman's Spanish was flawless).

But then the music started and the dancing began. As in Buenos Aires, the dance of choice was the tango. And the Carmichaels danced. Dios Mio, did they dance. The skill. The grace. The passion. It brought a smile to his face and to the faces of so many of the regular patrons. Over and over again. Dance after dance. The Carmichaels were the sensation of the evening. They had clearly learned the tango from a superb instructor and had spent many hours in practice.

But more than anything else, Borges was a true romantic and he was positively delighted by the sight of the two attractive young people so obviously, deeply, and totally in love with each other.

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A/N2: An ROV is a remotely operated vehicle. Sort of a robot on a tether with a video camera attached and controlled from an X-box controller (well, not really, but you get the idea). Treasure hunters, among others, use them nowadays to pick up valuable items located too deep for human divers to venture.

A/N3: There's a joke I like: The President wants to know the best law enforcement agency in the country. He gets together the FBI, the CIA and the LAPD [insert your favorite local police department here – LAPD, SFPD, NYPD, etc. Doesn't matter.]. He tells them, "I've released a rabbit in the woods. The first of you that brings me the rabbit will be the best." The FBI goes into the woods and comes out a little later and says, "We found the rabbit. We talked to the rabbit. We determined that the rabbit did not violate any Federal statutes, so we released the rabbit." The President says, "Bullshit. You didn't find the rabbit." The CIA goes into the woods and comes back and says, "We found the rabbit. We recruited the rabbit. The rabbit now works for us. Nothing will happen in the woods without us knowing about it." The President says, "Bullshit. You didn't find the rabbit." The LAPD goes into the woods. A few minutes later a badly beaten bear comes stumbling out of the woods declaring, "I'M A RABBIT. I'M A RABBIT."

A/N4: As usual, thanks to all of you who read, review, follow, favorite, PM and anything else. It's what makes this fun. And it's really fun.