AN: There's really nothing else I can say, but that I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get you this chapter. Thank you to everyone who had reviewed, favorited or alerted this story, or, really to anyone who is still reading. I hope it's not too disappointing.

Some things to remember: A white dinner jacket, bottle of wine and single red rose is called the Montgomery in some places (at least according to Roan)

In Cat Squad Zondra mentioned that she had been a bridesmaid for a mission once and carried a machine gun under her pink taffeta dress.

In Sensei and Rings, Ellie is subjected to the wedding planning of Devon's mother, Honey Woodcomb.

Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck.

Sarah versus The Dresses

October 9, 2008

As she picked up her keys to head out, Kathleen found her eyes drifting back towards the vase sitting on her coffee table, containing one singular red rose.

She had told herself that she would never be able to trust Alex again. That the man she had loved hadn't really existed in the first place. Not if he would abandon her only months after promising to love her forever as her husband. But two decades as a soldier and spy and almost one as a father had changed him. She had seen that Seeing John standing there, looking slightly uncomfortable in his white jacket, willing to put aside his pride, and, she suspect, take someone else's advice to make her feel special, she had realized how far he had come from the boy she had known.

That boy had always felt like he had something to prove, both as a Marine and as a man. He had thought his life back at home and their lives together were worth trading in for a chance to become more than just the average soldier. She still didn't think she could ever open her heart again to Alex. But that was no longer relevant. Alex was gone. Now she had to wonder whether she could fall in love with John Casey.

She had been surprised when John had shown up last night, although, retrospectively, she probably shouldn't have been. She and John had known that they had become closer the last few months. She had, perhaps too easily, fallen in step with him again and they had become friends relatively quickly after he had moved to L.A.. Somewhere along the line, she had found herself forgiving him without really realizing it. And, yes, she had felt a bit of their old spark there as well, coupled with a new warmth and pride at the man and father he had become. They even began to flirt at flirting a bit. If she was completely honest, they had probably been working towards something for months but she still hadn't expected him to actually make any kind of romantic overture. Once she had gotten over the shock, she had taken pity on him and told him to come in and take off his jacket. They had shared his ritzy wine and her plain old leftovers and talked for hours. Mostly she had talked and he listened, but he had talked some too, which was different and welcome. He hadn't stayed the night. She and Alex may have once been engaged, but this was, after all, her and John's first official date.

October 11, 2008

Sarah took a breath, steeling herself before she turned her key in the lock and opened the door.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's our favorite bridesmaid." Devon proclaimed as she walked in. Sarah had been humbled, warmed and shocked when Ellie had come into the Orange Orange two days ago and asked her to be one of her bridesmaids. While Chuck had mentioned that the other Sarah had been one of Ellie's bridesmaids in that timeline, she hadn't wanted to get her own hopes up. She had never considered she would be the bridesmaid for anyone outside of a mission. Carina and Zondra weren't exactly the marrying type and she wasn't exactly the girly type herself.

"I'm so excited! Wait till you see the dresses I picked out." Ellie said, drawing her towards the table. As Ellie pulled out several different catalogues, Sarah began to feel the happiness of being thought of by Ellie as a close friend, quickly being overshadowed by the fear of facing an increasingly excited Ellie without her Chuck shaped buffer.

"Hey, where's Chuck?" Devon asked as if on cue. Sarah gave him a slightly forced smile. Beckman had told the team this morning that Chuck was being sent an Intersect Refresh.

The Intersect had taken more of a backseat in this timeline from what Chuck had told her. Chuck's success in the field had demonstrated the inadequacies of a completely computer based Intersect and promptly led to a halt in the construction of a new mechanical Intersect for the time being. However, Chuck success had also demonstrated the potential of a human Intersect as well as the need to keep such a resource up to date, and the General had ordered a refresh to be made to update the database Chuck had downloaded a year ago.

"One of the deliveries at the Buymore was coming in late. Chuck got tapped to sign for it. He should be here any minute." She told him. Devon nodded and grabbed a bowl of the snack Ellie had placed out.

"Bummer that he had to work late. I guess I'll go over here and let you girls talk in peace for a while then." He said, heading over to sit down in the living room as Sarah found herself pulled back towards Ellie and her dress choices.

XXX

Chuck gave one last flourish with the pen before handing the paper back to the government courier.

"Here you go sir." The man said, handing a small package to Chuck. Chuck watched along with Casey as the man headed out of the now empty store, waiting until he had gotten in his car and headed out of the parking lot before moving to finish locking up the Buymore then head toward the employee lounge.

Chuck placed his hand on the finger print reader hidden on one of the lockers, and waited a moment until the scan had confirmed his identity and he heard the click letting him know the latch on the hidden door had been released. Without the latch the bank of lockers swung easily outward at Chuck's light tug, and he immediately walked through with Casey behind him.

Chuck felt just a tad disappointed. While Chuck would never want something as dangerous as the Intersect refresh to be stolen, a part of him had been looking forward to reliving the Von Hayes mission. Particularly the PDA. And the dancing. And the dress. Sarah had looked so great in that dress.

Chuck walked down through the labyrinth of tunnels underneath the strip mall parking lot towards the one room that, after careful consideration, Chuck had decided would be the best location for the download.

"The dojo Bartowski? Are you planning on fighting me with trivia after the update?" Casey joked.

"The dojo has padded floors. The last time I downloaded the Intersect, it caused me to blackout. I'm not going to chance having a sore back for days again." At least not in this timeline. It may have taken him a bit longer than he was letting on, but he had finally learned his lesson, thank you very much. Casey gave a grunt that Chuck interpreted, roughly, as meaning "whimp."

"If that's the case, shouldn't Walker be hovering around, ready to spoon you soup and fuss over you instead of me?"

"Sarah's covering for me with Ellie." Chuck told him. Casey had been a bit prickly even for him over the last few days. If he still was in a few days, Chuck would most likely feel compelled to talk to his gruff partner, but at the moment Chuck valued his internal organs enough that he decided to ignore it. Instead, he maneuvered himself onto a spot on the floor where he wouldn't fall into any of the walls or equipment if he collapsed. Opening up the small package, he pulled out the already loaded and ready refresh.

"That looks like a pair of cheap sunglasses." Casey said in disbelief.

"I'm pretty sure that's the point. For some reason someone must have thought having a blazing sticker stating "Warning! Experimental and valuable government equipment containing highly classified information" plastered on it might be a bit conspicuous."

"Leave the quips for me Bartowski." Chuck ignored him and put on the glasses. Nothing happened. Chuck maneuvered the glasses around a bit again, then pulled his hand back waiting. Nothing happened.

"Shouldn't you be twitching by now?" Casey asked, trying slightly unsuccessfully to sound grumbling rather than worried. Chuck frowned

"It's supposed to be activated by a retinal scan." He said absently as he began thinking back to the first time he had received the Intersect refresh.

"Maybe I need to be looking into a mirror?" Chuck thought aloud. Casey gave a grunt indicating he had no idea. Chuck headed out the door of the dojo, walking out towards Castle's bathrooms to see whether that might make a difference. Halfway down the corridor, however, the glasses apparently found their sweet spot. Chuck froze as he heard the familiar beep of the retinal scan confirming his identity and immediately began being inundated with images. He wasn't sure how long the onslaught lasted, but by the end his head felt so overfull and numb that he didn't even realize that he was falling until he felt the hard, metal of Castle's corridor floor hit his back.

"Ow."

XXX

"So, what you think?" Ellie asked apprehensively. Sarah bit her lip, trying to find the most diplomatic way to communicate her feelings about Ellie's choice in bridesmaid dresses.

"I, kind of liked the purple." She finally said hesitantly, bracing herself for Ellie's reaction. Instead of the anger or disappointment Sarah had anticipated, Ellie gave a small sigh that sounded, almost, relieved?

"I do too." Elllie said softly.

"Then why did you choose the pink?" Sarah was slightly proud of herself for not tagging on "taffeta monstrosity" on the end of the question. The leg-restricting layers of pink were about only a couple steps above the thing Zondra had been forced to wear during the mission they had jokingly dubbed "Operation Bridezilla." Ellie gave an apprehensive glance towards where Devon was still munching away on the opposite end of the room, then lowered her voice.

"Honey liked the pink." Sarah frowned.

"Honey?" She asked, following Ellie's lead and keeping her voice just above a whisper.

"Devon's mother." Ellie said flatly. Sarah's frown deepened.

"I'm not exactly the expert on this kind of thing, Ellie, but it is your wedding. Shouldn't it be your decision?" Ellie grimaced slightly.

"Maybe. But." Ellie let out another sigh. "Devon and I don't exactly have a lot of money saved up. And since my parents aren't around, Honey and Woody said they'd help us pay for the wedding."

"So you feel obligated." Sarah surmised. Ellie shrugged.

"To tell you the truth, I've never exactly been the kind of girl that fantasized about her wedding either. I might not agree with some of Honey's idea but, it's not like I want what I want enough that its worth arguing about. " Sarah gave a slight nod. "And this means a lot to her. Honey had three boys and Devon is the first to get married. The pink's not that bad, right?" Sarah stretched her mouth out into what she hoped was more a smile than a grimace.

"No. It's fine." She managed to get out. Ellie looked like she'd either taken a giant bite of something really sour and far too sweet at the same time, or like she was about to start banging her head against the table, before shaking her head slightly and letting out a slightly strained chuckle.

"I guess that's one advantage you have in dating my brother." She said with a watery smile. "If you ever decide to get married you won't have to deal with a mother in law." Sarah plastered another slightly strained smile on her face. Her mind drifted back to the one time she had actually met Mary, and to Mary's various mission reports she tended to read whenever she was at the Encino house and her brain couldn't take talking about alternate timelines and paradoxes anymore.

"Right. Lucky me."