A/N: Welcome to start of the twelfth arc of New Day, which I'm calling the Lizzie arc. (I know she has a last name, but she's better known by just the one name. Like Madonna or Eminem.) This arc will have some serious repercussions for our friends, so fasten your seatbelts.

A/N2: I hope ownership of Chuck isn't kept in the prop department of Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank. It's a real mess in there.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm telling you, he's a very bad man," said Chuck.

"I have dealt with drug lords, hit men, and psychopaths..." said Sarah.

"No, worse," said Chuck.

"Chuck..." she started.

"No, Walker. Bartowski is right. Really bad. If I thought I could come up with plausible deniability I'd have taken him out months ago." Chuck gave Casey a look like, 'are you insane?' Casey saw the look and said, innocently, "What?"

"Even if Harry Tang is as bad as you say, I'm sure Amy will be able to handle him. She's a professional spy after all. Being a Buy More greenshirt should be a piece of cake," said Sarah.

"I just feel bad putting her in that situation, that's all," said Chuck, taking a bite of his asparagus and burrata frittata that Sarah had made for them.

"Well, she hasn't complained yet," said Sarah. "It's almost three weeks since she and Casey got back from Switzerland and he got her the job. That's more than enough time to see the problem and bitch about it. From what you told me, she handled those idiots Jeff and Lester like a champ."

"I know, but ever since Tang's been made Assistant Manager he's been insufferable," said Chuck.

Sarah sipped her coffee and said, "A job you should have had." Their coffee was much better now that they had begun to buy it at the same store Casey had found.

"Naw," said Casey. "How was he gonna get that job? He's out doing shit with us more than he's there. Big Mike has no problem with it...he gets paid for all the offsite calls Chuck is supposedly making...but he's just not physically there so much anymore. He wouldn't even want it. Who needs the added responsibility when we have real work to do?"

"Casey's right, Sweetie. The Ass Man responsibilities would just be a distraction," said Chuck.

"I wish you wouldn't call it that. It sounds like you are in junior high," complained Sarah.

Casey said, "But Ass Man fits Tang. He's taken to the Ass Man responsibilities like he was born to be the Ass Man. He's probably the Ass Man poster child for all Ass …"

"Oh, for God's sake, stop, Casey," said Sarah laughing.

They started to clear the breakfast dishes. The morning has started well. It was a beautiful clear day in Los Angeles and they had taken advantage of the morning cool to go for a long run. Chuck knew he'd feel it the next day and made a note to stretch pretty well later. The morning's intel packets had been light and Chuck hadn't flashed more than a few times.

"Hey," he said, "how's the new girl at the Wienerlicious? The one Scooter hired while we were away?"

"Woman, Moron. New woman. 'Girl' is demeaning," said Casey.

"You're right. Woman."

"Lizzie. Yeah, she's ok, I guess. She keeps wanting to be friends..."

"But you don't sound like you want to," said Chuck, putting his plate in the sink.

Sarah shrugged. "Yeah. Well, she's trying too hard. I just don't like her, and..."

"What?" asked Chuck.

"I know it's petty, but it's her outfit. She deliberately got it one size too small so it's really tight. And then wears it with a button opened. More cleavage. She just looks a little slutty, that's all. I know I shouldn't judge on that basis, but …"

"That explains why Jeff and Lester are going crazy about hot dogs lately," said Chuck.

"Well, those two pervs would stalk any woman with a pulse. It's a wonder they haven't been sued yet," said Casey.

"Or arrested," said Chuck.

There was a knock at the door and Chuck answered it to find Devon. "Hey, Chuckster. Can I talk to you a sec?" Surprisingly, he looked nervous. Chuck wasn't sure he'd ever seen Devon nervous.

"Sure, Dev. Come on in. What's up?"

"Ummm, can we talk privately? Maybe by the fountain?"

"Yeah, sure. Of course." Turning to Casey and Sarah, he said, "I'm just stepping outside for a second."

They sat on the edge of the fountain and Chuck said, "What's on your mind?"

"I was hoping to talk to you about Ellie," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, of course," said Chuck, quite confused.

"Well, ever since we've been dating...I think of you as the younger brother I never had..."

"Don't you have two younger brothers?"

"Indeed..indeed. But you seem like someone who can offer sage wisdom in confusing times. And this is one of those times I am really confused, bro. I don't know how to put this into words really...it's one of those rare moments when things are not kosher, Chuck. Oh, man, this is harder than I thought."

"Go on, I'm listening," said Chuck. He was trying to gently encourage Devon, but had no idea where this conversation was heading.

"Right, well, I've been thinking a lot about the way things are between me and your sister. And you're the man in Ellie's family...so I was wondering...can I have your permission ...can I marry Ellie?" He took a small red box out of his pocket and opened it to show Chuck a beautiful diamond engagement ring.

Chuck looked at the ring for a moment and said, "Wow. That's quite a rock you have there..."

"Is that a yes?" asked Devon.

"Yes. Yes," Chuck said with enthusiasm. "Sorry, you know, the bling...yes. You have my blessing."

"Thanks, Chuck." Devon was suddenly bubbling with happiness, his nervousness gone. "Yeah, the ring has been in my family for years. It was my great-grandmother's. Do you think she'll like it?"

"Like it? I think she'll love it. I'm just not sure she'll be able to lift her hand anymore."

"Oh, one other thing. Ellie is a bloodhound when it comes to this kind of thing. I can never keep secrets from her. She figures everything out right away. No matter how smart I think I am at hiding stuff from her, I find out later that she's known all along anyway. Sherlock Holmes has nothing on her. So, if I keep this in our apartment, she will smell diamond. Can you hold on to it for me? Just for a day or so. I mean just til I figure out how to pop the question?"

"I don't think that's actually..."

"Oh, thanks, man," said Devon, pulling Chuck into a hug. "Thanks so much, bro. Hey, pretty soon I'm going to mean that literally." With a huge grin, he thrust the ring box into Chuck's hand and said, "Here you go."

Devon walked back to his own apartment with a bounce in his step, leaving a smiling Chuck to head back to his.

"What was that about?" asked Sarah.

Still smiling, but still a little stunned by the event, Chuck said, "Devon asked my permission to marry Ellie."

Sarah squealed and clapped her hands. Casey said, with a smile and a nod, "Good one."

"He also asked me to hold the ring so she can't find it in the apartment." He showed them the little red jewelry box.

"Gimme," said Sarah with excitement. She took the box and opened it to display the ring. "Oh. Nice. That's pretty."

"He said it was from the family. His great grandmother's," said Chuck.

"She's going to love it. When is he going to ask?" asked Sarah.

"Next few days. He wants to figure out how."

With a huge smile, Sarah said, "That's just great. She's going to be so excited. What terrific news."

"Case, can I stash this in your safe until he needs it? We don't have a safe here yet," said Chuck.

"Sure, kid. Give it here. I'll put it in mine now," said Casey. Chuck handed him the ring for safe keeping.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few hours later, Chuck was in the cage at the Buy More fixing computers when he remembered that he hadn't checked Granger's Message Board yet that day to see if there was a posting from Bryce. There was one.

He downloaded to the computer a high resolution picture of a combat knife. He blew it up and began to study it closely. Deep in the background he found what he was looking for. There was a scrap of paper in a wire mesh garbage can with the words "canal loD wa' maHvaD je." [The canal man was one of us too.] However, the message was followed by a photograph of a dark haired woman and the words "bISolnISbe'taHmeH yIyep." [Beware.]

What the hell? Chuck used his phone to photograph the picture of the woman, then deleted the downloaded picture from Bryce from the computer in the cage. Then went into the trash file and deleted it from there as well.

Chuck went to find Casey. He was with Lester and Jeff, who had their backs pushed up to a rack of DVD's and looked terrified. Casey was growling, "And if I ever again find you perverts trying to slip a cell phone camera under the skirt of another customer, I will take said cell phone and jam it so far up your ass that you will have to open your mouths to take a call. Capisce?"

Jeff said, "But if you jam it up his ass, you won't have it available to jam up my ass..." He seemed very confused by the logistics of the threat.

Casey growled louder and was about to answer when he saw Chuck.

"What is it, Bartowski?" he asked.

Jeff and Lester took that opportunity to run away. "Message from Operation Thirty," said Chuck when they were alone. "Including this." He showed Casey the picture of the woman that Bryce had sent along.

"Who's that?"

"No idea. Maybe Sarah or Amy know. It was accompanied by the warning 'beware,'" said Chuck.

"Shit. Let's show it to Walker. Amy's not cleared for Operation Thirty yet. I don't even know that she's aware of Fulcrum," said Casey.

"Ok. He also confirmed that the guy tortured to death in Venice was Fulcrum," said Chuck.

"Hell of a coincidence," said Casey, not really believing it.

Leaving Amy at the Buy More helping a customer, Chuck and Casey crossed the parking lot to the Wienerlicious. When they came in a couple of teenage boys were just leaving. Sarah was behind the counter in her campy outfit, putting another batch of dogs into the fryer.

"Well, you guys don't look too happy," she said, giving Chuck a quick kiss hello.

Casey locked the door and put the 'closed' sign up.

"Heard from Operation Thirty. The dead guy from Venice was Fulcrum," said Chuck.

"So that makes two," said Sarah with a frown.

"But there's more. He included this picture with the warning 'beware'." Chuck showed her the picture of the dark haired woman.

"Oh, shit. Guys, that's Lizzie, the new woman here. The one trying to be friends with me. She must be Fulcrum," said Sarah.

"Oh, crap," said Chuck. "What do we do?"

"We report in," said Casey. "Beckman and Graham may want to pick her up and sweat her. See what she knows."

"Yeah, Casey. That's right," said Sarah. She pushed a few buttons and without too much time wasting, they were on a video conference with Beckman and Graham.

"What is it team?" asked Beckman.

"We've had a message from Operation Thirty. It was two part. First, he confirmed that the man killed in Venice was Fulcrum," said Chuck.

"Ok," said Graham. "That makes two Fulcrum operatives taken and tortured to death. Coincidence that both men were Fulcrum or is that the reason they were taken?"

"Don't know, Sir. That's the million dollar question, I guess" said Sarah. "But there's more. We were also given a picture of a woman with the word 'beware'. I recognized the woman. She recently started work here at my cover job. She's been trying to make friends with me since I arrived back from Switzerland."

Beckman said, "So Fulcrum has taken an interest in your team it seems. I suppose that's not too surprising. After all, you interfered with them with Zarnow and again with Mead. Larkin too, I guess. Any indication that they know that Chuck is the Intersect?"

"No, Ma'am. The message was only the warning. Nothing further," said Chuck.

"Perhaps they want to recruit you? To recruit your team?" asked Beckman.

"Possible," said Graham, "but I think it more likely that they want to know if Larkin told you anything when he came here at Thanksgiving. He would have told them that he tried to recruit you and failed. They probably want to know if you got anything more from him. And I'd be surprised if they know you have the Intersect, Chuck. If they did, their first order of business would be to grab you."

"Yeah, Director. That makes the most sense," said Casey, nodding.

"So, what do you want us to do with her, Sir?" asked Sarah. "Do you want us to bring her in for questioning?"

"Eventually. But for now, we are suitably warned. If she's trying to make friends, let her. Get closer to her. See where that leads us. But, for God's sake, be careful. If the warning was to beware, heed it."

"Yes, Sir."

"Sir, Ma'am, one more thing. Agent Turner is on the team now, but, so far as we know not yet cleared for Fulcrum, Operation Thirty, or the Intersect. May we read her in?" asked Chuck.

"Fulcrum, yes. Operation Thirty, just tell her we have an asset inside, don't name him. As to the Intersect, I leave that up to you. When you think the time is right, you have authorization to tell her. Might be difficult to operate as a team without her having that information. But it is need to know only. When you judge she needs to know, you tell her."

"Understood, Sir. Thank you," said Chuck.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Casey and Sarah sat at the stools near the kitchen counter of Chuck and Sarah's apartment. They were talking quietly and sipping wine after dinner. Sarah had responded to Lizzie in a more friendly manner when the woman arrived to take the next shift. The two women had agreed to go out to for a drink after work the next night. Chuck, Amy and Casey would be covering Sarah to make sure she was safe.

Sarah had arranged to meet Amy in the morning and brief her on Fulcrum and Lizzie.

Chuck had looked at Lizzie's job application which Scooter had helpfully filed with the other Wienerlicious paperwork, but it was plain vanilla and didn't tell them anything useful. Tomorrow they would identify her car and find out where she lives.

Chuck and Morgan were in the living room area playing a video game involving a plastic gun and ducks flying across the TV screen. Annoying tinny music played. Morgan was shooting at the ducks and making satisfied noises every time a duck died. After what seemed to be five or six rounds, Morgan lost and handed the gun to Chuck.

Casey and Sarah were sketching out locations and designs for hidden weapons compartments around the new apartment, along with other assorted spy equipment and emergency gear.

Vaguely, they heard Morgan yelping with encouragement at Chuck's progress in the game. In the midst of a description of a hidden wall of weapons along one side of the living room, Sarah looked up at the screen. Chuck's score was multiples of what Morgan's had been and he was knocking down digital birds as fast as they were appearing. He was holding the light plastic gun with an easy two handed grip and seemed entirely focused on the activity on the screen. As they watched, Chuck's score climbed and climbed as he nailed every target.

Casey saw her watching him and turned to look himself. After a while he said, "Kid's good."

"Yeah. I mean it's not a real gun..." she said.

"Bout the same size and weight as a trank gun, though," said Casey.

"Yeah. Maybe he should start to carry every day, not just on missions. Not a real weapon, like us, but ...well, it couldn't hurt. Carrying a trank pistol couldn't hurt. Right?"

"Right."

Chuck's score continued to climb.

"Damn, he's good," said Casey. quietly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A/N3: Thanks to my friend Kacper Tomczewski who suggested the Duck Hunt scene. It's about time that Sarah and Casey learned that Chuck's a good shot.