Disclaimer: To those that own Chuck, I envy you. I wish I was you, but I'm not, so I write for free to appease a muse whose name I do not know. Whoa is me.

Guayaquil Ecuador 2011

Sarah rolled over and shed her sheet. It was going to be a miserable day. It was only eight in the morning and the backwater hotel suite was already eighty five degrees. There was no air conditioning. She'd arrived yesterday and was supposed to meet up with an agent today and capture a lower level associate of the Diego Cartel. The word was, that he knew the security layout of Carlos Diego's house and Sarah would be breaking into the compound tonight. To succeed she would need the information they gleaned from him.

Torture was not her favorite activity, but like it or not she needed to get up and get ready for it. She took a shower and struggled to get her hair dry with the ancient hair drier provided by the hotel. She lamented the need to dress in all black, it would be stifling, but every piece of clothing she brought was black, so there wasn't much she could do about it. She walked into the front room with her weapons satchel to double check they were ready and froze.

There hanging on the ancient fireplace was her stocking. Today was Christmas, she knew that, it's why they were planning the mission for today. Security would be lighter, but how the hell? The very first thing she did was check the locks on her door. They were still locked, including the security chain.

She moved over the stocking and inspected it for booby traps. Nothing insidious appeared from the outside, so she looked closer. It appeared to be filled full of gifts, the most obvious one being toothpaste sticking out the top. Sarah gingerly lifted it up and dumped the contents out on the floor all at once. Toothpaste, shampoo, travel alarm, gun oil and barrel cleaners, a copy of the exact pocket knife she'd lost in Morocco earlier this year, chocolate and the last thing that tumbled out was a little white jewelry box. Inside the jewelry box was a small silver charm of what appeared be a nerd herder. On the back was engraved in tiny letters 'Buy no More.'

Sarah picked up her phone and called Director Hayes.

"Hi, director? This is Jane Dixon, secure."

"I know, I'm not expected to check in for two more days, but I've had a bit of an incident this morning."

"It's not a big deal, I was just curious if you are familiar with the Intersect project."

"Yes, I'm aware it's top secret."

"Do you know the location of the former human intersect?"

"What do you mean that's classified. Has he been moved?"

"It's important sir,"

"Because I receive a package from the asset this morning."

"A Christmas present sir."

"No, I've confirmed it, it's definitely from him."

"No, you can't have a team of analysts inspect it…"

"It's of a personal nature, sir."

"No, no contact since my extraction in April."

"I don't know how he would have found me, sir, that's why I want to know his location."

"What do you mean, classified above your clearance, you're the head of the CIA!"

"Well when did that happen?"

"Who's in charge?"

"Dammit."

"No, I understand."

"No, I'll continue the mission as planned. Thank you, sir."

Sarah hung up and stared at her phone. According to Director Hayes Chuck had been hired by the government to do something Director Hayes wasn't allowed to know about, on a project Director Hayes wasn't allowed to tell her the name of, run by somebody Sarah wasn't allowed to know. "Well crapsicles."

Knowing she'd regret it later Sarah dialed the only other person she knew of that might know something about where Chuck was.

"Hi, Ellie, it's Sarah,"

"Yeah it's good to hear your voice too."

"No, still teaching in Africa."

"I'm not sure, probably a few more years."

"Yeah, I miss you guys too."

"It's really hard. Is he there?"

"Oh…"

"When as the last time you heard from him?"

"Do you have a way to contact him? I'm afraid I can't get post to him, but give me his mailing address anyway."

"Thanks, how are you guys?"

"That's GREAT! When are you due?"

"Oh my goodness, that's so great! How's Devon doing with it?"

"I can imagine."

"Wow, I'm so happy for you. I wish I could talk more, I really need to go."

"We'll see, I don't make it back to civilization very often."

"It was great to talk to you too. I'll get back there eventually.

"Thanks, I will. Take care of that baby!"

"Bye."

Sarah closed her phone. Ellie was going to have a baby and she wasn't going to be there. From the sounds of things, Chuck wasn't going to be there either. According to Ellie, he'd take a top secret job with the government and the only contact she'd had was a birthday card. It had a P.O. Box as a return address, but Ellie had sent a couple letters and not received any response.

Sarah added the charm to her bracelet and packed away the rest of her treasures in her suit case along with her stocking. "Merry Christmas, Chuck," she said as she patted the stocking.