I still don't own Chuck. Not sure who does at this point. Maybe Subway.

This is the story of Chuck and Sarah's eldest daughter Kate's struggles on her own. It can be very lonely on your own for the first time. And Kate has a very responsible job. She would never want to let her Aunt Janice down. After all, she is a newbie in a ruthless town. And she has some serious family enemies to deal with. Let's see how far she falls – and how far Chuck, Sarah – and Casey will go to get her back.

The poll on my profile page is basically a three way tie. So I think I'm going to combine the story of Kate with Chuck and Sarah's last mission. Fair warning – This might get fairly dark. I've always held back writing Sarah's dark side. Not so sure I feel the same reluctance with Kate. I'll be sure to post warnings on chapters that have violent or sexual situations. I'm going to keep this T – but I might dance on the edge for a bit.

If you enjoyed this or any of the stories on this site, please take a second and send the author a review.

On Her Own

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It had been quite the two weeks. Kate had never been so tired in her whole life. Senator Casey – no, make that Senator-elect Casey – she hadn't even been sworn in yet – was the hottest item inside the beltway. And that made her new Chief of Staff the second hottest.

There just weren't enough hours in the day to meet with all of the contributors, lobbyists, and party officials that wanted a piece of the new Senator's time. And when they couldn't get that – they settled for her Chief of Staff. That meant that every hour of her day was booked for as far out as she could imagine. She hadn't even had the time to unpack. Most of her clothes were still in her suitcases.

At first it was kind of fun – exciting really. Riding in limos and eating at the finest restaurants was a dramatically different life style for Kate. At home it had been more hamburgers and sitting around the family room with her brothers and Paul playing video games in sweats – when her mom wasn't challenging her to some hellish workout routine downstairs, that is. Now it was champagne and lobster – in evening dresses.

But after a while, it got old. There wasn't any training for this job. She was literally making it up as she went. But Kate quickly learned that all those people wanted something from her. The party officials wanted to make sure that Janice was still going to tote the party line. After all, she was their biggest rock star. The lobbyists wanted the Senator's support for whatever crazy constituency they were representing. And the contributors wanted to make sure that their money had bought them the proper level of influence. And one thing was for sure – none of them were bashful about asking.

There was another thing for sure – her Aunt Elise was right. They weren't shy about making sure that Kate knew that they would be interested in some extra-curricular activities. Kate was pretty used to being hit on. After all, she had grown up watching men constantly hit on her mom and her aunts. And Sarah had made doubly sure that she learned how to protect herself from it – both mentally and physically. She was actually usually pretty good at deflecting their double entendres and smarmy innuendo – and still keep the relaxed smile on her face. But that was nothing. These guys… They were simply relentless. Kate had pried more hands off her ass in the past two weeks than she could count. It seemed to be the big contributors that were the worst. Maybe they thought their money bought more than influence.

The worst part was that she didn't have any time to talk to the folks back home. She made it a point to call Paul every night - but even he was depressing. It broke Kate's heart to hear how sad and lonely he sounded. Even though she was trying hard to not rub his face in it - he was clearly picking up on what she was going through. Kate had to blink back the tears as she ended their last call. It was so hard to listen to Paul hurting. She had only talked to her mom twice since she left – and Kate felt horrible about that. She knew how much her mom was struggling. So Kate was doubly guilty when she made this particular call. But she desperately needed to talk to the one person she knew who would understand…

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"Hi, Aunt Elise," Kate said as soon as Elise answered the phone. "I'm sorry for bothering you. Are you busy?"

Elise must have picked up on Kate's tone right away – because she was instantly reassuring. "Katie," she said. "You are never to worry about that. Do you understand? I'll never be too busy to talk to you. Remember – any time of the day or night. I meant it. Are you finding your way around Washington?"

"Not really," Kate said. "I just get in the limo and get out when it stops. I have been to the restaurant that you told me about – a few times actually. It seems to be a favorite of the lobbyists. You were right – the veal is great."

"Katie," Elise said. "You sound tired. How are you doing?"

"I am tired, Aunt Elise," Kate sighed. "I have been in meetings non-stop since I got here."

"Have you talked to Janice?" Elise said. "Maybe you could use a night off."

"I've barely seen Aunt Janice," Kate said. "She has been in her own meetings. Politicians don't get days off. It comes with the territory. Hopefully, it will slow down soon. As soon as everybody has had their piece of us…"

"Talk to me sweetie," Elise said. "You didn't call to tell me that you're tired. What's wrong?"

Kate paused for a long moment – so long that Elise was starting to wonder if the call had dropped. "You were right," she finally said softly.

Elise instantly knew what Kate was referring too. "I'm sorry sweetie," she said. "How bad is it?"

"It's bad," Kate replied. "I don't know what to do. These are powerful, influential men. I don't want to make trouble for Aunt Janice. But I also don't want them pawing me and thinking I am ready to get naked with them. I need help, Aunt Elise. Mom would just tell me to break their fingers. Aunt Janice would just shoot them. How do I handle them? You're the most beautiful woman I know. How did you handle them?"

Elise smiled at Kate's comment. "Thanks for the compliment, sweetie," she said. "But you're the most beautiful woman that I know. I'm at a little bit of a disadvantage here – because I mostly just eventually gave in. But that was my choice. I assume that you don't want to do that."

"No," Kate said. "I definitely don't want to cheat on Paul."

"Then you have to make it a game," Elise said. "I'm going to tell you a little secret. The whole point of Seduction training is to get men to do what you want – without having to actually sleep with them."

"How do I do that?" Kate asked.

Elise grinned into the phone. "You already know how to do that," she said. "Let me give you an example. You know that my Robbie has a huge crush on you. You've always been great at not crushing him – but you really never have any intention of any romance with him, right?"

Now Kate grinned into the phone. "Don't worry, mom," she said with a laugh. "I'm not going to romance your twelve-year-old son. But it's different with Robbie. I actually care for him."

"Sorry, Katie," Elise said with her own laugh. "I didn't mean to infer anything. I guess that was a bit of my own mom instinct kicking in. But it's pretty much the same thing. If you will treat those men just like any twelve-year-old who has a crush on you – you'll do fine."

"But twelve-year-olds don't put their hands on your ass," Kate sighed.

"And you never have to take that," Elise said quickly. "Never. That's across the line. They are just testing you to see how far you'll let them go. It's simply unacceptable. A little not so gentle twist of their finger when you're prying their hand off usually gets the message across. The other thing that twelve-year-olds don't do is try to get you drunk. It's not a city that's known for its morals, sweetie. You're going to have to either develop a tolerance for alcohol or be very careful how much you drink. Make it a game playing these guys, Kate. Have fun with it. Trust me - they have it coming. Otherwise, I'm afraid that you can look forward to being miserable most of the time – because they are not going to stop trying."

Kate took a deep breath. "Thanks, Aunt Elise," she said gratefully. "That really helps. I love you."

Elise's smile came through in her voice. "I happy that you called, Katie," she said. "I miss you. Your mom's been a total wreck. Don't forget – any time of the day or night – no matter how silly you think that it is. Now, do you think that maybe you could do a couple of favors for me?"

"Anything," Kate said quickly. "You know I would do anything for you."

"First," Elise said. "Let's drop the Aunt part off my name. You're a grown woman, Katie. I'm just Elise – your good friend who loves you very, very much. Aunt Elise makes me feel old."

"Okay," Kate said. "I can do that. What else?"

"I know that you're ridiculously busy," Elise said. "But Robbie would love to talk to you sometime. He's been moping around every since you left. Maybe when things settle down, you could call him for a few minutes? It would mean the world to him."

"Is he still up?" Kate asked.

"He's up," Elise said with a laugh. "It's only eight-thirty here. But I didn't mean tonight. You're tired. It's almost midnight there. Take a hot shower and scrub the fingerprints off your butt. Go to bed. Get some rest."

"Please, Aunt – umm – I mean, Elise," Kate said. "I really want to talk to Robbie. It would do me a lot of good to talk to him. It would help me to sleep. I miss him too."

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Chuck and Sarah were in their bedroom – not to sleep. Nine o'clock was far too early for that. And not for any romantic reason – not yet anyway. It's just that it was the one room of the house where they could have some privacy. Bryce and his friends dominated the family room playing video games. And Sarah knew that Chuck couldn't be in that environment for very long without joining in – then he would call Morgan - and then it would turn into an all night thing. So, she did what she had to do – she dragged him into the bedroom.

Bryce's friends got that knowing look. Sarah had known long ago that she clearly was the object of more than one of their secret desires. After all, she was trained to read the signs. And, truth be told, they were somewhat less than subtle. It was simultaneously cute – and more than a little creepy. After all, who had a more vivid imagination than a sixteen-year-old boy? Thankfully, Chuck seemed clueless. And that was a good thing. Oh, there was no way he would be jealous – it's just that he would tease her unmercifully about it. But really, at the end of the day, who cared what they were thinking was going on in that bedroom? Let them have their daydream.

Chuck, for his part, didn't resist. He knew Sarah was struggling. Who was he kidding? He missed Kate like crazy too. But Sarah… wow. Something about not growing up with a family made her cling to the family that she had now. So he silently lay there on top of his bed while she was next to him with her head on his chest. He knew that he had something painful to tell her. He just wasn't sure how to bring it up.

Finally Sarah pressed the issue. She turned to him. "Okay, sweetie," she said. "We've been laying here in the dark for forty-five minutes. When are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Chuck smiled. He knew better than to try and hide anything from Sarah. "When you were in Vegas," he said, "and told Kate our story – how much did you tell her about our last mission?"

"Nothing," Sarah said. "I just told her that we went on a mission ten years ago – and that it was so sensitive that I couldn't talk about it. She didn't ask any questions. I didn't want her going to Washington with that hanging over her head. She's almost assuredly going to have to work with him someday – especially if Janice is on the Senate Intelligence Committee. I don't think that she could do it when she knows how much you hate him. And, besides, I was embarrassed."

"Embarrassed?" Chuck asked. "What do you have to be embarrassed about? I thought you said…"

"Chuck," Sarah said softly. "Please, I really don't want to fight about this again. It was ten years ago. But I was embarrassed for you. I didn't want to tell Kate how jealous you acted. I had just got done telling her how much we trusted each other. I didn't want to tell the story about you almost killing someone because you thought he was trying to get me to sleep with him."

"I didn't think he was trying to get you to sleep with him," Chuck said angrily. "He told me to my face. And then he used his connections to manipulate the mission so that you ended up in bed together. Do you know how it feels to listen to you pretending that it's your wedding night with another guy?"

Sarah sighed. "And I've told you a million times that nothing actually happened," she said. "We both had all of our clothes on the entire time. The room was bugged. We had to sell it. What would you have wanted me to do?"

"See," Chuck said. "This is what pisses me off. You're making it out like I don't trust you - and that was never it. This guy was gloating in my face - telling me what he was going to order you to do. Do you really expect me to just take that?"

"No, sweetie," Sarah said. "I'm not saying that. But Chuck – the intersect almost killed him. He was in the hospital for a week. And now he's director. That makes it hard for us to be agents. Can we please not fight about this? Please? You know that I can't stand the guy. I never could. Why did you even bring it up?"

"I'm sorry," Chuck said. "I don't want to fight with you either. I promise that I don't. You didn't do anything wrong. I've never thought that you did. It's just that he called me today. He wants to talk to us about a mission."

Sarah sat up on the bed in alarm. "Mission," she said. "Why would he call you? What kind of mission. Do you think this has anything to do with Katie?"

"Well," Chuck said with the beginnings of a smile. "I'm guessing that he knows that if he called you, I would finish what I started ten years ago. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with Kate – but the coincidence is striking."

Sarah felt a rush of relief when she saw Chuck's smile. That mission had been the source of more than one fight. Sometimes, she had to admit that she enjoyed it – a little. But the last thing that she wanted tonight was to fight with him. She needed him. So she reached down to kiss him.

Chuck could feel Sarah's hand rubbing soft circles on his stomach. That was her tell that she was ready to get naked. And that was fine with Chuck. After all it been a long two weeks since Kate had left. "Admit it," he said between kisses. "Thinking about that fight turned you on."

"I will not admit it," Sarah said as her hand drifted lower. "I was turned on before we even started talking about that." It was dark in the room. But Sarah could still see the twinkle in his eyes. He was clearly struggling to keep a straight face.

"Well," Chuck whispered as he began to snake his hand up her shirt – his own tell that it was time to get naked. "That just leaves thinking about Bryce's friends."

"Damn," Sarah sighed. "I was hoping that you wouldn't notice that. You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Don't worry," Chuck said with a laugh. "I have a proposition for you. Convince me that you're thinking only about me tonight – and I'll never mention Bryce's friends – or what they're at home doing when they're thinking about you – ever again. I think that's more than fair, don't you?"

Sarah grinned at him. "You're evil," she said. "You know that I'd do almost anything to avoid that. It's been quite a while since I've had to convince you. Do you want the full treatment? My phone is out in the kitchen. I'll have to go get it."

Chuck just sat up and folded his hands behind his head as he leaned against the headboard. "Absolutely," he said with his classic smile. "Full treatment."

x-x-x-x-x

"Hi, Robbie," Kate said as cheerfully as she possibly could. "How are you doing?"

"Kate," Robbie said breathlessly. "I saw you on television last night."

Kate grinned. Why would a twelve-year-old boy be watching Fox News Channel on a weeknight? He really did have a big crush. Actually, Kate was never allowed to watch Fox News when she was growing up. It was one of two channels that Dad didn't allow. MTV was the other. He called them tools of the devil. Kate was never sure how her mom felt about it – she never interfered. "That's nice," she said. "I was really nervous. Could you tell? How did I do?"

"You were great," Robbie said. "They talked about you and Aunt Janice for a long time after you were off. They said how beautiful you were – and how you were a raising star in the party." But then Robbie's voice lost its smile. "Who was the guy with you?" he asked. "He looked older. Are you dating him?"

"That was nobody," Kate said with a laugh. "He was a party official. It wasn't a date." What Kate didn't tell Robbie was the part where she peeled his hand off her butt. "How is your math class going?"

The smile was instantly back in Robbie's voice. Kate had worked with him on his math homework the last time they were together. "I got a hundred on today's quiz," he said.

"See," Kate said with pride. "I knew you could do it. Remember what I told you? Algebra is funny. You don't get it – you don't get it – you think that you're never going to get it - and then one day, it just clicks and after that it's easy."

After that – the conversation quickly deteriorated into mostly a lot of giggling – from both of them.

When Kate ended the call, she didn't even try to keep the silly grin off her face. She needed that. This was still her dream job – one that tons of people many years older and much more qualified would kill for. And her Aunt Janice could actually be president. She owed it to her to do whatever it took to make sure that happened. But it felt so good to pretend that she was sixteen again – even for a few minutes. Maybe she would actually be able to get some sleep tonight. Thanks Robbie. I owe you one. Someday maybe I can even tell you about it.

That's when she decided - tomorrow, no matter how badly her day went, she was going to call her brothers – and her mom and dad. She would find some way to cheer Paul up. Maybe Chuck Junior could help. After all, he had to be good for something - right? Maybe she would even tell Paul about her chat with Aunt – no, make that her friend, Elise. If they could openly talk about it – maybe it wouldn't be so hard. It could even be possible that she could talk Elise into calling Paul herself. That would definitely help. After all, Paul clearly had somewhat of his own crush on Elise.

All the guys did.

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Author's note: I've had quite a few people ask about The Art of Seduction. That is the story that I had always planned as the end to the Fake Relationship arc. I'm a little hesitant to write it – and here's why.

The story that I had planned was for Beckman to have problems busting the Fulcrum Elder, Jennifer Bowles. Someone very high up is protecting her for some reason. But she has a secret weapon. Bowles has a big crush on Fulcrum agent Charles Carmichael. So Beckman orders Chuck to go undercover and exploit that crush to find out what is really going on. Bowles knows Sarah and thinks she is dead – so Beckman orders Laura Carter to go with Chuck posing as his partner / lover.

Bottom line, is that Sarah is forced to sit in the van with Casey wondering which she is more jealous of – Bowles? Or Laura? I think that maybe the fandom is past wanting to read a story about Sarah being jealous since they are together on the show. What do you think?

Of course, if you haven't read Fake Relationship and The Cost of Love – two things. First, none of that would have made any sense. And second, shame on you. Why do you think that I write this stuff, lol?

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