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

What's going to happen when Elise discovers that Chuck Junior and Heather are not following her plan? Whatever it is - it can't be good.

I really appreciate all of the support that I got after last chapter's author's note. I just want to make sure I clarify. I'm not upset about anything. I was just responding to a couple of autonomous reviews. And even they weren't bad. Anyway, thanks everybody for the support.

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.

Double Date

x-x-x-x-x

They had to eat sometime… right? It was the only reason Alex could think of for getting dressed. And even then, he thought about it… for a long time. After all, Kate was simply so beautiful lying there – with absolutely nothing on except for his engagement ring. How perfect was that?

And actually, if it had only been up to Alex, he would have waited even a while longer. But Kate was really starting to get hungry. After all, the only thing that she had to eat in almost two days was the MRE that Blum found for them for lunch. At least Sparky, Elise, and he had grabbed fast food while they stopped for gas.

But fortunately, Alex's timing was perfect. He had finally broken down and allowed her to get dressed. And she was just buttoning her shirt when they heard the pounding at the door.

"Hey buddy," Chuck Junior said as soon as Alex opened the door. "Heather and I are going out for pizza. Do you guys want to come along? It would be the first real date for both of us."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah had been married for twenty-two years. So they had a different take on the passion thing. Oh, they were just as passionate as they ever had been. In fact, they put the kids to shame. It's just that they knew enough to wait until they had the time to do it right. After all, patience is a virtue. So they just cuddled on the bed for a while.

Sarah had just gotten off the secure phone that Colonel Blum had given her. She was frankly pretty frantic about her other son. But General Beckman assured her that Bryce was with Ellie and Devon and they were safe. She promised to have him call her the next time that he checked in – which would be any time now. So that was one less worry.

Sarah was clearly troubled by Blum's news about their enemies. "Who are these guys?" she asked with a sigh. "I just assumed they were CIA Agents who basically thought they were following orders from their Director."

"I really wasn't paying that much attention this morning," Chuck said. "I was too busy trying to stay out of your line of fire while you were shooting guys in the head. But I didn't flash on anybody. If they were CIA Agents, they would clearly be in the Intersect."

"Maybe we'll go over to the lockup tomorrow," Sarah said. "We'll get you a closer look at them and see what the Intersect has. General Beckman also promised to do some checking with her contacts."

"I see that our two Fulcrum Elder buddies are still loose," Chuck said. "That must be related somehow."

"Clearly," Sarah said. "That had to be an inside job. No way could they have broken out on their own. That's very concerning. After all, they hate your guts."

"It's very concerning," Chuck said with a smile. "Those guys were slobbering all over you twenty years ago. I can't imagine what they're thinking after spending all that time without a whiff of a woman."

Sarah leaned over and kissed him – gently. "Look on the bright side," she said with a sly smile. "If I am forced to hook up with them – it won't take very long. Maybe we should get our minds off this and go collect our team. They must be getting hungry."

Chuck just laughed. "You're really a glass-is-half-full kind of chick today," he said. "I hate to be the Negative Nellie here – but I seriously doubt they would be satisfied with the one time…"

x-x-x-x-x

"I have to warn you," Kate said with a grin. "Alex is very particular about his pizza. There is the best pizza place right by our apartment. It's the best pizza I've ever had. His introducing me to it is actually the main reason I'm marrying him."

"I'm afraid that you're going to be disappointed," Heather said with a sigh. "The place that's within walking distance is okay. There's a fabulous place about five miles away. But I just transferred here. My car is still in route from my old base. It's too far to walk."

"Why?" Alex asked. "We have a car. Just ask your mom if we can take her car."

Both Chuck Junior and Kate looked at Alex like he had grown a second head. "You want me to ask Mom to drive her Porsche to go get pizza?" Chuck Junior asked incredulously. "No thanks. I mean there are suicide missions… and then there's really crazy stuff. That's really crazy stuff."

Alex looked to Kate for support. "Sorry, sweetie," Kate said. "Junior is right – for once. She would have a cow. Mom loves that car."

Of course, the timing was perfect. Because there was a knock on the door – and it was Chuck and Sarah.

"Hey," Sarah said. "Good. You're all here. That saves us a trip." If she was surprised that Heather was in the room, she didn't show it. "We were just thinking about going to get something to eat."

"Yeah," Alex said. "We were just getting ready to walk to a pizza place that Heather knows about. Would you like to join us?"

x-x-x-x-x

The two couples were having a fantastic time at the pizza place. Not only were they all famished, it turned out that Heather was right. The pizza was great – almost as good as Alex's place in Washington.

Kate was quickly coming to realize that she was having the time of her life. For one thing, this was her first real date with Alex - at least as a real couple. It felt so great to get out with him and just plain – have fun. But even that paled compared to how she was clicking with Heather. Well, actually everybody was - but Kate, especially. It had been a long time since she had a girlfriend her own age to talk too. Heather was doing a great job of entertaining them with stories of solders trying to fake injuries to get out of duty. In fact, Kate's biggest challenge was to avoid looking like a giggling fool. "I can't believe that Mom offered to let us take her Porsche," she finally said in between bites of pizza. "Did she hit her head in the battle or something?"

"I think that she is trying to prove something to your new fiancé here," Chuck Junior replied a grin. "Handing him the keys to the Porsche was definitely telling him that he's part of the family."

Alex quickly looked to Sparky's face for any hint of jealousy. After all, that's the last thing that he wanted. They were just starting to really get close. They didn't need something petty getting in the way. Thankfully, he didn't see any. "I think that she was telling all of us that she trusted us," he said. "I think that I was just standing the closest to her at the time."

"Maybe," Kate said with her own grin. "But she has clearly accepted you into the family. That's a huge thing for her."

Alex just looked puzzled. "What is all this talk about how intense your mom is?" he asked. "I don't see it. She has never been anything but nice to me. I've never seen her angry, except maybe when she was locked in that cell. But come on - we were all pretty tense at that point. I'll bet she treated that Paul guy just as well as she does me."

"Are you kidding?" Chuck Junior asked with a laugh. "Paul was scared to death of Mom. We used to tease him about it all the time. And as far as him driving the Porsche – well, he would have had a better chance of driving the Space Shuttle – or maybe Air Force One."

Alex looked to Kate – who just nodded with a sad smile. "Mom tolerated Paul, sweetie," she said. "Dad was the one who made more of an effort. But Mom clearly didn't care for him all that much. She was always civil to him – but it was always from an arm's length. She has never once hugged him. From the instant that she met you, it was totally different. You're part of her family. She loves you. Paul was never that."

"Hey," Chuck Junior said with a laugh. "That reminds me. Speaking of driving Air Force One – when Aunt Janice becomes President, do you think…?"

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck and Sarah were walking over to Joe and Elise's room to see what they wanted to do about dinner.

"I can't believe that you let the kids take your car," Chuck said with a laugh. "Did you hit your head in the battle?"

"For one thing, they're not kids anymore," Sarah said with a sigh. "And, let's face it. Being in love with a car is actually pretty pathetic. It's just a machine. It can't love me back. I have to get over that. Besides, it was fun to see the surprise in their eyes."

"That's not the only look I saw," Chuck said. "Do you realize that you might have just hurt your son's feelings?"

Sarah was stunned. "Why would you say that?" she asked.

"Chuck Junior has lived his whole life knowing how protective you are of that car," Chuck said gently. "You didn't see the look on his face when you handed Alex the keys."

Sarah was instantly beside herself. "Oh my god," she said. "I didn't think of that. Alex was just standing next to me. Maybe I should go back and talk to him."

"No," Chuck said as he pulled her back. "Sarah, it's not that big of a deal. But if you go back there now, you'll just turn it into one. You might want to talk to him the next time you get a chance."

"Are you sure?" Sarah asked. "Now I feel horrible. I don't want him to feel like Alex is taking his place. It's not like that at all."

"It would be nice for you to tell him that," Chuck said as he put his arms around her. "I don't think that you realize how much he worships you – and how he's sort of afraid of you."

Sarah looked for the sign that Chuck was teasing her – and when she didn't see one finally decided that he was being serious. "What?" she asked incredulously. "Are you seriously saying that Chuck Junior is afraid of me? Why would you say something like that? That's a horrible thing to say."

"I didn't mean it like that," Chuck said soothingly. "But it's true. Bryce is too. I would call it respect more than fear. They are just both very careful to not do anything that you would disapprove of. It's not a bad thing. Don't feel badly about it. They just worship you. But it does mean that you can hurt him pretty easily and not realize it. Talk to him about it. He'd love that."

Sarah just nodded. She had a tough time blinking the tears from her eyes. She held on tightly to Chuck for some time. "He asked me to tell him the story of my mission in Italy," she was finally able to whisper. "And I wouldn't. I was too embarrassed. I mean, how do you tell your son that you pretended to be a terrorist's girlfriend to get on the inside of their group. How do you explain that you got naked with him – more than once? That would embarrass us both."

"Sarah," Chuck said. "Let me ask you a serious question. Are you ashamed of the things that you've done as a spy?"

Sarah shook her head.

"Because it sort of sounds like it," Chuck said. "You did what you were trained to do in Italy. You weren't married or in a serious relationship with anybody at the time. You risked your life - and because you did, untold millions of lives were saved. And it was far more than just sex. I've read the mission report. In the final battle you single handedly took down eight of them in close quarters hand to hand combat. You saved an entire squad of solders from being ambushed and killed. You were honored by the President. Don't you think that our sons would understand that… and be very, very proud? I know that I was when I first heard that story. Tell me something, Sarah. Wouldn't you do exactly the same thing today if you had too? If it took getting naked with a terrorist to save a hundred million lives – wouldn't you do it?"

Sarah just smiled. How did he always know what to say to her? "Yes," she said. "But right now I'm sort of hoping to get naked with someone else."

"Now see," Chuck said with a grin. "That story would embarrass him."

Sarah couldn't keep in the laugh.

"Come on," Chuck said as soon as he could stop laughing. "Let's go see if we can interrupt whatever disgusting things Joe and Elise are doing."

x-x-x-x-x

Bryce Bartowski was sort of torn. On the one hand, naturally he was frantic about what was going on with his family. After all, his parents and sister were captured with only Sparky, Aunt Elise, and this new Alex guy to possibly save them. The odds didn't seem too good.

He knew that he had to follow Aunt Elise's instructions exactly. The look in her eyes told him just how serious this was. He must have looked quite the sight to Aunt Ellie. But to her credit, she didn't question him at all. Well, not right away, anyway. She immediately got in the car, had Bryce drive to the hospital to collect Devon, and off they went.

But if there was one good thing about his Aunt Ellie – it was that she was a pragmatist. As long as they had to disappear, it might as well be someplace nice, right? So now, here they were – at a luxury resort in Puerto Vallarta. After all, Ellie and Devon were both incredibly busy doctors. They hadn't taken a vacation in several years. And while this wasn't the best of circumstances, the weather was perfect. Not only that, the place was packed with tourists getting an early start on the Christmas season. And they all seemed to bring their teenaged daughters with them.

Naturally, Bryce wanted to give Devon and Ellie a chance to be alone. After all, Devon had slapped him on the back and said something about danger being a turn on. Bryce didn't ask any questions – he just headed to the pool. But when he got there it was nothing short of magical. Bryce quickly found himself surrounded by bored teenaged girls. It was like they were having a contest to see who could wear the skimpiest bikini.

So that was the torn part. He was frantic, worried about his family. Yet he was here in paradise surrounded by a bevy of beautiful, bored, and mostly naked teenaged girls.

What's a guy to do?

x-x-x-x-x

The pizza place was packed. It was clear that more people than Heather knew how good it was. They had a waitress – but they hadn't seen her in some time. And they needed another pitcher of beer. Well, and another Coke for Sparky, since he wasn't old enough to drink yet. Heather actually offered to have Coke as well.

"Don't be silly," Chuck Junior said. "This actually works out perfectly. I can drive us home. Besides, Elise tells me that getting a woman drinking is the first step in romancing her. Apparently, it affects their judgment."

"Wait a minute," Kate said with a laugh. "I thought that Elise is expecting you to let Heather make the first move?"

"That's tomorrow night," Chuck Junior said with his own laugh. "Heather already agreed not to fall in love with me until tomorrow. So tonight I can put all the moves on her that I want."

Heather's eyes were sparkling. "Tell me, Kate," she said. "Sparky said that you had to practice with him today. What did you practice?"

"Dancing," Kate said. "We mostly practiced dancing."

"That's cute," Heather said. "But, Sparky, I don't care if you're not a great dancer."

"But that's the thing," Alex said. "Sparky is a great dancer. Elise was teaching him to be awkward – like me. It's just one of those things that are going to get you to fall in love with him quicker."

"Oh, that is just sneaky," Heather said. "This Elise is pretty devious. I can't wait until tomorrow to get this full court press."

Finally, the guys decided that they would just go to the bar and get some drinks. As soon as they left, Heather turned to Kate. "So," she said. "Tell me about Elise. She is very beautiful. Is she an ally to me – or a competitor?"

"I guess that depends," Kate said with a laugh. "Elise is a lot older than she looks. She's in her mid-forties. So I don't see her as a competitor. For one thing, she's married. Is she an ally? I'm not sure. Maybe. It depends. Are you going to fall in love with him?"

Heather just smiled. "We'll see," she said. "First I have to check out this dancing."

x-x-x-x-x

Chuck Junior was sleeping pretty soundly. After all, it had been one hell of a day. So it took a while to wake up enough to realize that there was a loud pounding on the door. One look at the clock told him that this was far too late to be a social call. It read a little after two. So he stumbled to the door in his boxers.

"Mom?" he said in surprise as he opened the door. "Is something wrong?"

Sarah stepped in and hugged her son. "Yes, sweetie," she said. "I want to talk to you. I was going to wait until tomorrow – but I couldn't sleep."

"Okay, Mom," Chuck Junior said. "What's on your mind?"

Sarah sighed. "Your dad told me that I might have hurt your feelings tonight," she said. "I just handed the keys to Alex because he was standing closest to me. I'm sorry if you thought anything else. That was very insensitive of me."

Chuck Junior just smiled. "That's exactly what Alex said," he said. "Mom, don't worry about it. It was nothing. It was very nice of you to let us use your car. We had a great time."

"It wasn't nothing," Sarah said. "I've hurt you – and not just tonight. It's a car. It's a stupid machine. I'm so sorry that I've made you afraid of it – and me. It doesn't mean anything to me. You, sweetie – you mean everything to me."

Sparky really didn't know what to do. Mom was clearly emotional. But he was wearing only his boxers. "Mom," he finally said. "It's okay."

"It's not okay," Sarah said. "I've kept my past a secret from you kids. It's not that I didn't trust you with it. It's that I didn't want you to be part of it. It's a nasty business, sweetie. I didn't want you to be exposed to it. But as it turns out, that was stupid. You are exposed to it – no matter what I want. All I've done is make sure that you're not equipped to deal with it. I'm so, so sorry."

"Mom," Chuck Junior said. "Don't be sorry. I think that I'm doing okay."

"You were lucky today," Sarah said as she squeezed him even tighter. "Believe me, I'm not taking anything away from what you three guys did – it was the bravest single thing I've ever seen. And I'm so proud of you that I could start bawling right now. But agents train for years, sweetie. If the three top agents in the world had tried to storm that armed facility with fifty trained agents inside – they would have been killed about two-thirds of the time. That's just a fact. By all odds you should be dead right now. I never wanted you to become an agent - I still don't. But I do want you to learn enough to have a chance to defend yourself. So, I'm going to give you your wish. I'm going to train you. I'm warning you, sweetie. I'm intense in those types of situations. If I scream at you, please try and not take it personally. It has nothing to do with how much I love you. Actually, it's the opposite. I'm going to be hard on you because I love you so much."

Chuck Junior just nodded.

"Okay, sweetie," Sarah said. "Oh six hundred – report outside on the parade grounds."

"Oh six hundred?" Chuck Junior questioned.

"That's six in the morning," Sarah said with a wince. She was more than a little surprised that he didn't know what that meant. Surely Casey would have taught him military time.

"I know what it means," Chuck Junior said. "I didn't mean that. It's just… pretty early. That's only four hours from now."

Sarah grinned. "Part of being able to defend yourself is being in shape," she said. "I'm going to push you – harder than you're going to want to be pushed. There will be times when you're not going to be liking me very much. Just remember – I'm doing this because I love you. By the way, while we're training, I'll be addressed as either Agent Walker or ma'am. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Chuck Junior said.

"Now," Sarah said with a smile. "You deserve to know the truth. Are you ready to hear the story of my mission in Italy?"

Suddenly there was a sleepy voice from the bedroom. "Sparky, is someone here?"

Even in the dark, he could see the redness in Sarah's face. "I guess that story will have to wait," she said with a pained smile. "Just so you know - any girl that gets serious with you is going to be facing a similar threat. You can ask Alex about that. Invite Heather to join us tomorrow. Tell her that I'll clear it with Colonel Blum. She needs to see what she might be getting into. Besides, we might need a medic – especially when Elise finds out about how you've blatantly disregarded her instructions. She doesn't take that well."

"Yes, ma'am," he said – with his own very red face.

Sarah kissed him on the forehead with a grin. "Oh six hundred," she said. "Be careful what you wish for, rookie – you might just get it."

x-x-x-x-x