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

It's a tough time for Team B. They know something is up – they just don't know exactly what. So, naturally, Chuck has to come up with a plan to find out. Unfortunately, the bad guys are getting more and more desperate. And that desperation leads to even more evil as they try to cover their tracks. The team is going to have to make some hard decisions in a desperate attempt to keep everybody safe.

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.

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Charades

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To say that poor Alex was nervous was somewhat of an understatement. After all, it wasn't how he pictured meeting the woman who hopefully would someday be his mother-in-law. But here he was – standing without a shirt at six in the morning hugging her. Well, actually she was doing most of the hugging. Alex really didn't know what to do with his hands. So he just sat them as lightly as he could on her back.

"Umm," Alex said as soon as Sarah released him. "It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Bartowski. I've heard a lot about you too." But he inwardly winced at even that mild greeting. How would she take that? The things that he had heard painted a picture of a person who was a cross between Mata Hari – and Chuck Norris.

Naturally, Sarah was completely used to men being nervous when they met her for the first time. It was usually for a totally different reason – but still – it was cute. So she put on her most relaxed smile – the one that she reserved for PTA meetings and teacher conferences. "Alex, do you really think that you're going to call me Mrs. Bartowski?" she asked. "I'm Sarah. Do you think that maybe I could come in?"

Alex mentally kicked himself. This wasn't going badly – it was far worse than that. He had let her stand in the doorway for like forever. "I'm so sorry," he quickly said. "Please come in." He was currently picturing himself in a police interrogation room – complete with the bright lights and a fat detective shouting questions at him. Except that wouldn't be quite so tense. "Umm," he said. "I'm sorry that I called you Kate's sister."

"Why would you be sorry about that?" Sarah asked. "It was the nicest thing that anybody has said to me in a long time."

"Umm…," Alex stammered. "I don't know… I…" Fortunately he was saved from looking like any more of a fool than he already did when Kate finally came out of the bedroom.

"Mom," Kate said as she rushed to throw her arms around her. "I didn't expect you until this afternoon. Where's dad?"

"He's next door getting Janice and Casey," Sarah said with a grin. "We were lucky and caught an earlier flight."

Alex suddenly became aware of how he was dressed and excused himself. "I'd better get dressed," he said. "Please, Mrs. Bar… umm… Sarah – let me take your coat."

As soon as Alex left the room, Sarah started to laugh. "That poor guy," she said. "He is positively panicked."

"He is really nervous about meeting you," Kate whispered. "He is desperate for you to like him. Do you think that you and Dad can go a little easy on him today? He's really trying. Chuck Junior already put him through the wringer once this morning."

"Really?" Sarah asked in amazement. "You let Alex talk to Chuck Junior? Did they get along?"

Kate just snarled. "Sneaky bastard tricked me," she growled. "He called at three in the morning when I was asleep. I have to figure out some way to get even. You're still in the CIA, right? Can you get me some of that C4 stuff? Maybe I'll blow him up. I think that Alex did okay. Chuck Junior was playing like he was the concerned brother."

Sarah winced. "Or…" she said pointedly, "how about this? He really is the concerned brother. Would it really be so hard to believe that your brother loves you and is worried about you? He broke his hand on Paul's eye. Trust me, Katie. If Alex can get Chuck Junior to like him… your dad and I are a piece of cake."

x-x-x-x-x

"What are we going to do about Walters?" he asked the group of men that were assembled in the conference room. "It was a major screw up to involve her so early. For one thing, there is not much she can do for us as long as this boyfriend is around. For another, she now knows our plan."

"She's isolated, sir. We're monitoring her every sound. She can't tip anyone off."

"For now," he sighed. "But once her husband returns there will be no way to keep them quiet. How long will that be?"

"Three days, sir."

"Damn," he muttered under his breath. "That's not enough time. Killing Walters will be a major complication. It might generate some sympathy for Casey – especially since Shaw is already planning on killing the Bartowski boys. That's too much to not draw some serious attention."

"Yes, sir. But maybe we can do them together. Perhaps make it look like a star-crossed murder suicide thing. The Bartowski boys clearly have a major thing for Walters. I mean, have you seen her?"

He just shook his head sadly. His men were very loyal. They had proven that they were dedicated to their cause. He had no question that they would lay down their lives for it. But they sure as hell weren't much in the brains department. "That's the last thing we would want," he sighed. "Assuming it would work – and it wouldn't - if the press got wind of any crime of passion thing they would be all over it. If we have to eliminate Walters, it's going to have to look like a robbery gone bad. Even that is going to attract some attention but we're probably not going to have much choice. When are we moving on the new boyfriend?"

"Our gal has a lunch date with him today, sir. She is going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at him."

"Odds for success?" he asked.

"Our gal is hopeful, sir. She says that she has noticed him checking her out several times in the past. Of course, that was before he formed his new relationship with Bartowski."

"Great," he muttered. "That's all we need – another body that is linked to Senator Casey. If we have to move on him, we need to make it look like an accident. Let's hope your girl is as good in the sack as she thinks she is."

"Yes, sir."

"Let's get back together this afternoon," he said. "After we find out how successful she was, we'll plan our next move."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Janice were sitting in Janice's kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee. Alex was off for his lunch date with Julie. Kate had a lunch appointment already scheduled with a lobbyist. Everybody agreed that neither Kate nor Alex would go anywhere without backup until they could figure out exactly what was going on. So Casey was in the car outside the restaurant listening to Kate talk to the lobbyist. Sarah was following Alex and Julie. Getting them to wear wires was a new – and interesting experience for both.

"So," Janice said with a grin. "What do you think of your new future son-in-law?"

"He's nice enough," Chuck said with his own grin. "A little nervous, maybe – but nice. I'm a little worried for him. I'm not really seeing him with Kate. He seems to be kind of out of her league. He couldn't be less like Paul if he tried."

Janice couldn't hold in the laughter. As a matter of fact, she was laughing so hard that she couldn't speak for a long moment. "You really don't see it?" she asked. "Do you?"

"What?" Chuck asked. "It was hard to watch someone laughing and not smile yourself. Even when you had the vague feeling that they were laughing at you.

"Come on, Chuck," Janice said. "Think about it. Alex is you. They say that every girl looks for a man who is just like dad. I'm not sure if that's true. But it is sure what Kate did. She went out and found a guy just like you. I really don't think you have anything to worry about with Alex. Kate is out of his league just like Sarah is out of yours. That worked out okay, didn't it?"

That got a twinkle in Chuck's eye. There was no way that Janice openly laughing at him was going to go un-avenged. "He's just like me, huh?" he asked with a sly grin. "Does that mean that you're going to fall in love with him too?"

It wasn't easy to get Janice Casey to blush. In fact, it was damn hard – especially since she had gotten involved with politics. But Chuck had her as red as he could ever member. "You're never going to let me live that down," she groaned. "Are you? Okay, yes – I thought that I was in love with you for a couple of weeks." But then Janice's blush was replaced with a sly grin. "The irony in this situation is that - right now, I'm not sure that I even like you all that much."

"Oh come on, sweetie," Chuck said. "Don't be like that. You know that I was only teasing."

That did it. They both busted out laughing. As soon as they could come up for air, Janice got up. She walked over to where Chuck was sitting and put her arms around his neck. "My God," she whispered. "Casey and I have missed you guys. Having Kate here is the only thing that has kept us even semi-sane."

Chuck wrapped his arms around Janice and squeezed as hard as he could. "We've really missed you too," he said. "Thank you so much for looking out for Kate. And who says that you're semi-sane?"

x-x-x-x-x

Alex was clearly shaken when he finally got back in the car with Sarah after his lunch date with Julie. "You did fantastic," she said. "I assume that she didn't notice you changing her cell phone battery."

"No," Alex sighed. "She left the room. That part was pretty easy. I really wasn't expecting lunch to be at her apartment. I was expecting that we would be at a restaurant."

"I know," Sarah said as soothingly as she could. "Subtlety is not their style. There was no way for her to try and seduce you in a restaurant."

"You knew," Alex said. "Didn't you? Why didn't you warn me?"

"I'm sorry, Alex," Sarah said. "But if you had known that she was going to take off her clothes and beg you to go to bed – you wouldn't have gone. We need this information. I'm sorry if that sounds manipulative to you."

"Can we please not tell Kate about this?" Alex pleaded.

For the first time, Sarah looked at Alex with a critical eye. Was he feeling guilty? That must mean that he was tempted. "Okay, Alex," she finally said. "Tell me why."

"Because," Alex said. "Kate shouldn't have to think about that. She shouldn't have to think about her boyfriend looking at another girl naked. Why put her through that? She has too many things on her plate as it is. This is a problem that she doesn't need."

Sarah smiled – in relief. How sweet was that? "That's very nice, Alex," she said. "But you're actually wrong. Trust me – I know Kate. If we tell her exactly what happened and that all you were concerned about was her feelings – that will make her feel great."

Alex got quiet for a long moment. "I really do love her," he said. He was speaking so softly that Sarah had to strain to her him. "I know that if I was in your shoes, I'd question that too. I'd think that it's too much too soon. And I have to tell you… I hope that you don't take offense at this – but you're wrong about something too."

"Okay, Alex," Sarah said just as softly. "What am I wrong about?"

"If you would have told me what was going to happen today – I would have still gone," Alex said, looking Sarah in the eye for the first time. "I may have been a lot more nervous – but I still would have gone. I told her brother this morning – and I'm telling you now. I'm just as worried about Katie as you are. She's swimming with the big fish and the stakes are incredibly high. But for what it's worth, I'm here. I have her back. I'm not going away no matter how hard or crazy – or even dangerous it gets. I'll do whatever it takes to prove that to you. I want you to like me – I do. That would mean a lot to Kate – and I'd like it too. But my first priority is Kate."

Sarah had to quickly blink the tears away. But the nostalgia was so powerful that she was forced to smile at the memory. "Wow, Alex," Sarah said. "That's actually the fastest way to get me to like you. For what its worth I have no doubt that you love her. Kate is very lucky to have you… we all are."

Finally the smile came to Alex's face. "Thanks," was all he could say.

Sarah was quiet for a long moment. But finally she couldn't help herself. "Tell me, Alex," she said. "Did you ever work in a Buy More?"

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah could tell that something was wrong the instant that she and Alex walked into Casey and Janice's apartment. Both Chuck and Janice's face had dread written all over it. But she didn't want to say anything in front of Alex. So she waited until he went back next door to his place to wait for Kate. Then she turned to Chuck. "What is it?" she asked.

Janice handed her a transcript. "Alex planted the bug on her cell phone," she said. "Ten minutes after he left, we intercepted this call."

Unidentified Male: How did your mission go?

Julie: I completely struck out. He wasn't the least bit interested.

Unidentified Male: Do you have any hope that you can quickly soften him up?

Julie: No. I think this is a worst case. He is totally dedicated to her. I don't think that anything is going to change that.

Unidentified Male: Okay. We were afraid of that. We'll have to make this messy. He needs to have an accident. Can you get him alone again?

long pause in the conversation

Unidentified Male: Are you still there?

Julie: I'm here. But I didn't sign up to kill anybody.

Unidentified Male: Don't worry. We just want you to get him alone. We'll take care of the other stuff.

Julie: No way. I'm not helping you kill anybody. I didn't sign up for that.

Unidentified Male: You'll do what you're told. Don't forget – you have your own problems. I don't think that you're in any position to tell us what you're going to do.

long pause in the conversation

Julie: Fine… I'll get him alone someplace. I'll tell him that I have some information about Kate. But that's as far as I'm going.

Unidentified Male: Don't worry, my dear. We'll take care of everything. Let me know when you have the meeting set up.

Just as Sarah finished reading the transcript, the door opened and Casey and Kate came in. They were all smiles. Apparently the lobbyist had gotten a little drunk and made somewhat a fool of himself.

"Hey guys," Kate said with a silly grin. "Where's Alex? I want to hear all about his exciting lunch. Did he get lucky?"

x-x-x-x-x

"Yes, sir, it's all set. She is going to get him to her place by telling him that she has some information. We'll be waiting."

"Good," he said. "Smoke the girl too."

"The girl, sir?"

"We can't have any witnesses," he said. "She knows too much. Leave them naked in bed. Make it look like a jealous boyfriend thing. The press might be interested – but they both work for the party. They're only remotely tied to Casey. We should be okay."

"Yes, sir – consider it done."

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