I still don't own Chuck. But I did just get the season one DVD for Christmas. Oh, and some 3D glasses. So I've got that going for me, lol.

I think it might be time to start getting ready to run, don't you think? Thanks to Happydayz for the ideas. And, of course, thanks to BrickRoad for keeping me on the straight and narrow. We have been having this (mostly) friendly debate over Bryce. I would love to hear from you. Do you think that Bryce still wants Sarah for himself, or is he happy for Chuck and Sarah?

If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review. It's the only reward that we get for putting ourselves out there. I want to thank everyone who has sent me a review. I really appreciate the support that you've given me. It really helps me stay motivated.

If you're a Chuck fan (and who isn't), join us in the forum on this site. We would love to hear your thoughts on the show and where it's going. Since we've talked about every possible outcome, someone is sure to be right.

Sad Sister

- - - -

As soon as Chuck popped his head through the door, Ellie was on him like white on rice.

"Daddy," Ellie squealed as she wrapped her arms around Chuck's neck and squeezed with all of her might. "How does it feel?"

"Pretty much like I'm about to lose consciousness," Chuck said with a laugh as he tried to free himself.

Fortunately for Chuck, Ellie quickly spotted Sarah.

"Here's the new mom," Ellie said as she left Chuck standing and threw herself into Sarah. Perhaps a little more gently, but not much. "Did anything happen after you called me last night? He didn't go into delayed shock or anything, did he?"

"Well," said Sarah with a small giggle as a blush started in her neck. "Some things happened but I don't think that you want to hear about them. Could you please put on your doctor hat for a minute and explain to him that he doesn't need to treat me like I'm made out of Paper Mache?"

"Come on, Chuck," Ellie scolded. "It's going to be months before you have to worry about anything like that."

"We have something important to talk to you about." Chuck said softly. "This is going to take a while. So do you have an hour?"

"Sounds serious," Ellie said with a smile. "I'm pretty sure that I already know what you're going to say. But, Ok, I have the rest of the day. Fire away."

- - - -

Beckman was on the video monitor in the Castle talking to Casey.

"Good news, Major," Beckman said with a smile. "I'm not going to ask you to kill Bartowski."

"Thank you, ma'am," Casey said with a sigh of relief. "I hoped that this would work out. Are you planning on leaving Agent Walker to watch over him?"

"Of course not," Beckman said flatly. "We certainly can't afford to waste our top agent babysitting a civilian. I just have arranged for Bartowski's accident another way. On Thursday, he will be assigned to go on a service call at a Jewelry store to repair a computer. When he is on that call, the store will be robbed. Mr. Bartowski will be shot and killed during the robbery."

"Thursday," Casey questioned. "That's in five days. Ma'am, I thought you wanted to give the new intersect a week."

"This should work," Beckman said calmly. "It's the only time I could arrange for this setup. I'm only telling you this out of professional courtesy. You'll need to be support for Agent Walker. She'll have to attend the funeral as an ending to her cover. I want you to make sure that she is fully operational after that. We can't afford to have her all emotional."

"Yes, ma'am," Casey said stiffly.

"You're dismissed," Beckman said as the screen went blank.

- - - -

Sarah indicated to Ellie that she should sit. Sarah took a seat on the couch next to Chuck and grabbed his hand for comfort.

"Ellie," Sarah began with a sigh. "I love you. I'm saying that because I'm about to tell you some things that are going to make you doubt that. I'm going to do the talking because if you get angry at anyone, it should be at me. This is my fault."

Ellie just nodded to let Sarah know that she was listening.

"First off, this information can't ever, ever leave this room." Sarah said firmly as she handed Ellie her ID. "I'm committing a felony by telling you this.

Ellie's eyes widened as she looked over Sarah's ID. "You're in the CIA?"

"Yes, Ellie," Sarah said. "I'm in the CIA. My mission, along with my partner, John Casey, has been to protect Chuck."

"Protect Chuck," Ellie scoffed. "Protect him from what?"

"Chuck is very important." Sarah said. "He has a unique ability to assimilate intelligence and to identify security threats. We don't totally understand how. But he is the only person in the world with this ability that we know of. And that would make him incredibly valuable in the wrong hands."

"So," Ellie said. "Bad guys are after Chuck?"

"I'm afraid so." Sarah said with a sigh. "And they would stop at nothing to get him. They would use you in a second. And if they captured him, his life would be over. They would torture him and use him until he wasn't of any more use. When they finally killed him it would be doing him a favor. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Ellie whispered. "But how can two people protect him if these powerful organizations are after him?"

"Because," Sarah said with a sad smile. "They don't know that it is Chuck that they are looking for. We have managed to keep his identity hidden up till now. That's why we've insisted that he stay working at the Buy More. It's the perfect place to hide."

"So," Ellie said sadly with tears flowing down her cheeks as she flung Sarah's ID back to her. "You're not his girlfriend? Who's baby is this really?"

"I have that coming." Sarah said sadly. "I understand that you're angry. But this baby is Chuck's. I love him."

"But you're fake." Ellie whispered.

"We started off as fake." Sarah said softly. "I'm sorry. But about six months ago I fell in love with Chuck for real. It was really complicated because if my CIA superiors knew how I really felt, they would reassign me. Having real feelings for your assignment is totally against the rules."

"Sure," Ellie said angrily. "You expect me to believe that you're real now after lying for a year?"

"Yes, Ellie," Sarah said with a smile. "I do. Chuck and I were secretly married two months ago yesterday. We've been sisters for two months. And please believe me when I say that Chuck is my life. I would do anything for him. But you're a close second. I love you, Ellie. You're my only sister. I'm sorry for hurting you. But we only did it to protect you."

"Look me in the eye," Ellie said to Chuck firmly. "And tell me the truth."

"Sis," Chuck said as he looked directly into Ellie's eye. "Every word that Sarah just said is true. She is my wife. We are very much in love. And she thinks of you as her sister. I'm sorry that we couldn't tell you before. We thought that we were doing the right thing."

"Why are you telling me this now?" Ellie asked numbly as the acceptance crept into her face.

"Because," Sarah said sadly. "I'm afraid there's more. My bosses have decided that Chuck is just too great of a risk to be walking around. I just found out that they are going to kill him. Needless to say, I'm not going to let that happen. So we are going to be forced to run."

"Can you make it?" Ellie whispered.

"Yes," Sarah said. "We are going to have to be very careful and the odds are long. But, trust me, Ellie, nobody is going to hurt Chuck while I'm alive. It just isn't going to happen."

"Sarah is the top agent the CIA has." Chuck said with the pride evident in his voice.

"They are going to kill him," Ellie repeated angrily. "What kind of people are they?"

"The kind that don't let emotions factor into their decisions," Sarah said sadly.

"I need to give you some instructions on how to contact us."

- - - -

As soon as Sarah and Chuck left Ellie's, Sarah called Casey.

"Can you give me the address of that chop shop that your cop buddy knew about?" Sarah said with a voice as clear of emotion as she could manage. "I need to get rid of the Porsche and get a new ride that is clean."

"FYI," said Casey. "I just talked to Beckman and she has pushed up Chuck's date by two days."

"Damn," Sarah said under her breath. "I could have used those two days."

"These car thief guys are usually pretty slimy." Casey said. "Do you want me to go with you for backup?"

"Thanks for the offer," Sarah said. "But you need to keep some deniability. Besides, I think I can handle myself with some two bit crooks."

"Where are we going?" Chuck said as soon as Sarah had ended the call.

"I'm dropping you off at work." Sarah said with a smile. "I'm going to sell the car and get us one that they won't be able to track us in. I'm going to go to a chop shop that buys stolen vehicles and cuts them up for parts."

"That sounds dangerous." Chuck said with a grimace. "Can I come with you?"

"Sweetie," Sarah said as gently as she could. "I know that you want to protect me. And that's sweet. But I'm really safer on my own. I can handle myself much better if I don't have to worry about protecting you. This is one of those times when you need to trust me. I'll meet you back home."

"My home or your home," Chuck said with a smile.

"For right now, our home," Sarah said as she grabbed Chuck's hand and squeezed it. "The hotel room,"

- - - -

Sarah was at the garage negotiating with Louie. She was fairly sure that he wasn't named after one of the kings of France. The place had small time written all over it. There were about five men that she could see working taking various cars apart. The place reeked of transmission fluid and acetylene torches. Sarah really couldn't tell if Louie was in charge or just the lucky one that she got stuck with. But in looking around, there weren't really any better choices. Sarah had to force the smile off her face at the pathetic operation. It was the most minor of minor league deals. No wonder that LADP hadn't bothered to close it down yet.

"Look," Louie said. "The most I can give you is twenty."

"Twenty," Sarah scoffed. "This is a hundred grand sports car. I could put an ad in the paper tomorrow and get sixty. I need at least forty."

"I can go thirty." Louie said with a smile.

"Thirty five," Sarah said quickly. "And I'll need a clean replacement car with valid plates. Something that I can take for a long ride."

"You sound desperate." Louie said softly after a minute. "Ok. Thirty five. With one more consideration."

One look at Louie's eyes staring at her like a side of beef quickly told Sarah what that other consideration was going to be.

"You've got to be kidding." Sarah sighed as her shoulders noticeably sagged.

"Sounds fair to me," Louie said with a leer. "I have something that you want and you have something that I want."

"Do you at least have a bedroom?" Sarah asked disgustedly in defeat. "Or were you expecting us to go for it here on the floor?"

"Upstairs," was Louie's single word reply as he extended his hand.

"Let's get this over with." Sarah sighed as she took his hand and allowed him to lead her up the stairs.

Sarah could see why Louie had insisted on taking her hand. It was to show off to his buddies. Sarah didn't have to look around to know that every eye was on her walking up the stairs. Louie quickly led her to a very small room that was finished in cheap wood paneling that looked to be about fifty years old. In the corner was a single unmade bed.

"You are very hot." Louie said as soon as the door closed behind them. "I'm going to enjoy this a lot."

"Not half as much as I am," said Sarah with a smile as she kicked him just under the rib cage. As Louie struggled to catch his breath, Sarah kicked him again in exactly the same spot. Sarah then guided him to the bed and sat him down. Sarah waited patiently for Louie to recover enough for him to be able to pay attention. After all, there was no sense in talking to him now. He was too busy trying to breathe. Sarah took out one of her knives and waited.

"Look here, pervert," Sarah finally said when Louie's eyes told her that he had returned to the living. "This isn't the optimal day to mess with me. I have hormones coursing through my veins that you wouldn't believe. Right now, I could bite the head off a live chicken. Do you understand?"

Louie quickly nodded.

"So here is what's going to happen." Sarah said through gritted teeth. "You are going to go down and find me a good clean dependable car. And then you're going to put thirty five thousand dollars in the trunk. In five minutes, I'll follow you down the stairs buttoning up my blouse with a look on my face that says you just rocked my world. You'll get to brag to your buddies for the next year how you nailed Blondie. Sound fair?"

"Yes," Louie nodded in obvious fear.

"Get going before I change my mind."

- - - -

When Sarah got home, Chuck was waiting for her. She immediately stepped into his open arms for a much needed kiss. Both Chuck and Sarah lingered in the embrace longer than then would have normally. And even though Sarah knew that much worse days lay ahead, it was so great to be able to stand there and let Chuck hold her until the tension of a long day melted away. Even though it had only been two months, Sarah was starting to forget how it felt before she had that. It felt good to forget. As long as he held her, she could face anything. Nobody, but nobody was ever taking that feeling away from her.

"How did it go?" Chuck finally said softly.

"Like it always does," Sarah said with a grin as she kissed Chuck and handed him a set of keys. "In the parking lot is a grey Camry. In the trunk is a bag. Will you do me a favor and bring it up?"

"Sure," Chuck said with a smile. "What's in the bag?"

"Our travel money,"

- - - -