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

Alex and Kate are off to Vegas to get married. The whole team – no, strike that. The whole family is going with them. The team has been disbanded. The threat is over – or is it? What is Sparky going to tell his mom about his own plans with Heather? Could this possibly go smoothly? This is the Bartowskis that we're talking about.

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.

Pre Wedding Jitters

x-x-x-x-x

None of the kids had ever really been to Vegas before - except for Kate. So they were all pretty excited. Well, technically Sparky and Bryce had driven through it on their way to Grandma Beckman's that night. But they were far too freaked out to pay much attention at the time.

Joe didn't make the trip. For one thing, he wasn't crazy about his twelve-year-old son being exposed to the raunchy Las Vegas Strip. And he did legitimately have a business to attend too. After all, he had already been gone a week. So when he dropped Elise off at the house, he made sure to hug Kate and Heather and wish them well.

Devon and Ellie really couldn't afford to get away either. After all, they had been gone for a whole week as well, and the work was piling up. But there was no way that Ellie was going to miss her only niece's wedding. So they decided to fly in on their own for the day. They would fly right back home after the ceremony.

Sarah was right. Once Alex heard that Kate wanted to call Paul's mom, he insisted that she go talk to her in person before they left. He even drove her over to her place and waited in the car while they talked. And although it was an awkward talk, Kate was glad that she went. Paul's mom was still hurting and Kate could tell that this was helping her. Then when they got back, Alex had Kate take Robbie off for their own private goodbye. He wasn't sure what they talked about. He didn't even want to know. But they both were sure giggling.

The van was a little crowded with the eight of them. But they managed. After all, Kate and Alex would be flying back to Washington from Vegas. So they just decided to cram in the van. Of course, it didn't bother Bryce that Elise was basically sitting on his lap the whole trip.

x-x-x-x-x

Janice and Casey were already at the hotel waiting for them. The CIA had sprung for the whole accommodations, partly as a thank you – but also to keep some level of security. And there was one thing about the CIA that you could count on – they never did anything on the cheap. Team Bartowski had the entire top floor of the newest luxury hotel that the Strip could offer. It was so nice, that Ellie took one look and decided that the work would still be waiting for them. So she immediately dispatched Bryce to get online and change their flights.

Janice clearly had some news – besides the obvious fact that Casey was complaining about spending so much of the taxpayer's money. She pulled Sarah aside before she even had her jacket off. The gleam in her eye told everybody that something was up.

x-x-x-x-x

Bryce was hanging out in Kate and Alex's room. For a couple of reasons really. The main one was they clearly wanted to be alone. After all, it been a long time since he had been able to apply any little-brother style torture on his only sister. But there was also the fact that he was really ticked at his mom.

"So," Kate said. "You meet this girl while she is vacationing with her dad in Mexico. Then she finds out that you are going to be in Vegas – and she talks her dad into bringing her here? Why would she do that?"

"I know," Bryce said sarcastically. "Come on, sis. Answer your own question. And mom won't let me go hang out with her."

"What did she say?" Alex asked. "And what does this girl look like?"

Bryce just held up his phone so Alex could look at her picture. "She said that the Las Vegas Strip is no place for a couple of sixteen-year-olds to be walking around," Bryce moaned. "For one thing, she's seventeen. Mom still thinks I'm a baby. Kate, can you talk to her?"

Kate laughed. "A lot of good that would do," she said. "You know that there is only one person who can talk Mom into anything."

"I tried that," Bryce sighed. "Dad got pretty mad at me himself. He told me to never come to him after Mom tells me no."

"Did you show him her picture?" Alex asked. But then he saw Kate's look – and wisely decided to shut up.

"Yeah," Kate said, with a sideways glance at Alex. "That was really stupid. Dad would never undermine Mom like that. What were you thinking? There is only one person who can talk Dad into something like that. Have you asked Aunt Elise?"

"Man," Bryce groaned. "I don't know. I'd be embarrassed asking Aunt Elise something like that. I'd get another birds and bees lecture. And how I should treat women with respect."

"And just what is wrong with that?" Kate demanded as she tried to look stern with her hands on her hips – but the grin that she couldn't suppress gave her away.

"I know what to do," Bryce said excitedly. "There is one person who can talk Elise into anything. Kate – would you talk to her?"

"Elise?" Kate asked incredulously. "Why me?"

"No," Bryce said enthusiastically. "Aunt Janice. She can talk Elise into anything – and you can talk her into anything."

Kate just shook her head. "Bryce," she said. "Don't ask me to get in the middle of you and mom." She was just about to respond to Bryce's crushed look when she was interrupted by a knock at the door. When Alex opened the door, Sarah and Heather were standing there.

"Come on, Katie," Heather said excitedly. "Your mom is going to take us shopping."

As soon as the girls left, Bryce threw himself into a chair in disgust. "She's treating me like a baby. A hundred years ago - at sixteen, I'd be married and have a kid by now."

"Mom's are like that," Alex said. "Come on, Bryce. You know that."

"I'm not only talking about Mom," Bryce whined. "I'm talking about Kate too. Alex, could you talk to her for me? She'll do anything that you ask her."

"Well," Alex said with a grin. "I'm not sure she would do exactly anything. So, let me get this straight. You want me to talk Kate into talking Janice into talking Elise into talking Dad into talking Mom into letting you go down to the Strip and hook up with your new girlfriend. Is that about right? It actually sounds like one of Dad's plans."

"Would you?" Bryce asked.

"No," Alex said. Then he noticed Bryce's disappointed look. "But I will go with you and talk to Elise. Will that do?"

Bryce rubbed his hands together. "I'm pretty sure that Elise will do anything that you ask her too. I'm so in," he said excitedly.

x-x-x-x-x

Sarah had taken the girls to the forum shops to look for dresses.

"I can't believe the prices of this stuff," Heather said as Kate held up a Navy Blue dress against her body.

"Don't worry about the price," Sarah said as she eyed the dress critically. "We'll make Chuck win the money at Blackjack this afternoon. I don't think that's your color though, Heather. Maybe we should look for something Burgundy."

"Burgundy would be perfect," Kate exclaimed. "Or maybe something like a Wine color. I'm going to be so jealous. I'm going to be the bride, and you're going to have the prettier dress. Maybe you should be the one getting married today."

Heather tried to quickly change the subject. "Maybe we should look for something darker for you," she said. But she couldn't keep the redness out of her face.

Kate quickly picked up on Heather's discomfort. "Oh my God," she said. "Don't tell me…"

Heather quickly glanced at Sarah nervously. "Umm…" she said. "Mom, Sparky and I were going to talk to you."

"There is no way that you and Sparky are going to get married today," Sarah said firmly. "It's not happening."

"Mom," Heather said in a near panic. "I'm so sorry for you to find out like this. Please don't be mad. We were going to talk to you. It's the only way that we can be together. I love him. We are going to get married anyway, right? Why not today?"

But Sarah just smiled. "No way," she said. "Not today. You and I have to have a talk about family traditions first. We can do that tonight and you can get married tomorrow. Kate, you and Alex can wait until tomorrow or we can have weddings two days in a row."

Heather breathed a huge sigh of relief. "You're not mad?" she asked. "You do realize that Sparky will be leaving school for a while and living with me in Kentucky?"

"Why would I be mad?" Sarah asked. "We'll see about him leaving school. I think that it might work out a little different. You'll understand better this afternoon. I'm the one who is always preaching that when you find the one, you'll know. Heather, are you sure? Is Chuck Junior the one?"

"I'm very sure," Heather said. Then she turned to Kate. "I'm so sorry about stealing your thunder. I feel horrible about that."

Kate just threw her arms around Heather. "Are you crazy?" she asked. "I get a sister and a husband on the same day? I can't think of anything more perfect. Mom, we still have a few hours. Don't you think we could all have the family tradition discussion while we shop – and still get married this evening like we planned? I don't think that Alex can wait for another whole night. He might explode."

Sarah smiled. "I think that would work," she said. "We wouldn't want poor Alex to explode. By the way, don't tell Chuck Junior that we've had this discussion right away. I'd like to have a little fun with him."

"Yes, ma'am," Heather said with her own grin. "Now – what sort of family traditions am I signing up for anyway?"

x-x-x-x-x

Elise patted Bryce's shoulder as he sat on her sofa. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I know that things didn't work out very well for you this morning."

Bryce sighed – but then forced a sad smile. "Yeah," he said. "I never figured that I would get dumped today. I was sort of hoping for – well, another outcome."

"Sweetie," Elise said with a smile. "I'm afraid this isn't the last time that you're going to be disappointed by a girl. I know you might not think so - but you're going to have plenty of other chances for the outcome you were hoping for. Probably sooner than either one of us imagine. Trust me on that. What did she say to you anyway?"

"I'm not totally sure," Bryce said. "I stopped listening. But the gist of it was that she didn't want a relationship where we would have to constantly be chaperoned. She is going to be eighteen in a few months and she is tired of being treated like a kid – and blah-blah-blah…"

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Elise said. "I would have left you alone for a minute but…"

"I know," Bryce said. "Those were Mom's rules. It was just not going to ever work. Maybe someday she'll get over it."

"Get over it?" Elise asked. "Over what?"

"She told me not to drive her car," Bryce said with a sigh. "It was the last thing that she said to me."

Elise laughed. "Trust me," she said. "Your mom understands about you driving her car. You're a hero."

"Not really," Bryce said sadly. "Sparky and Alex are the heroes. They were on television. I sat by the pool in Mexico. Can you imagine Mom treating Alex like this? It's different with me. She doesn't trust me. I blew it with her."

"Bryce," Elise said. "You'll never know how silly that is. Your mom is very proud of you. We all are."

Bryce didn't look up. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up," he said. "I really appreciate you going with me today."

"Anytime," Elise said. "Sweetie, come on. You know that I would do anything for you. You didn't have to get Alex to come ask me for you. So, what are you going to do now? Do you want to walk around the Strip with me? There are a couple of neat roller coasters."

"Thanks for the offer," Bryce said with a sad smile. "But you don't have to do that. I'm sure that you would have more fun playing Blackjack with Dad and Uncle Casey. I have some work to do anyway. My laptop is in my room. I'm working on an algorithm for my Artificial Intelligence circuit design dealing with speech recognition. Most of those routines have issues with escalating failure rates when decoding speech dealing with dialects, accents, and slang. My idea is to hash the context of the current surrounding speech to help determine…"

"Bryce," Elise interrupted with a grin. "That sounds like very impressive work. I didn't understand a word of it. But don't you think it would be more fun to go find another girl? There are plenty of them out there, you know? I'll help you."

The redness reached Bryce's face in record time. "I'm better with computers," he said. "Girls just don't want to talk to me. Even in Mexico, when I was the only guy there. They always go with the smooth talkers – like Sparky. Look at the women he gets. Can you imagine me finding a girl as incredible as Heather?"

"Wow," Elise said. "You'll never know the irony in what you just said. In the first place, smooth talkers only get to first base. The fact of the matter is that girls are looking for more than a smooth talker. Bryce, you have so much going for you. The plain truth is that you're just as good looking as Sparky is. You can learn to talk to girls. I'll teach you. It's not hard."

"Umm…" Bryce said. "I don't think so. That would be pretty embarrassing."

Elise laughed. "Who do you think taught Sparky how to talk to girls?" she asked. "Who do you think hooked him up with Heather? I can do the same thing for you. If you change you mind, call me and we'll hang out. Just don't work too hard, okay? I need someone to dance with at the party."

Bryce just nodded sadly as he got up and left.

Elise waited for the door to close behind him before she allowed her face to break into a huge grin. "He's so cute," she said to the now empty room. "He's not going to know what hit him." Bryce was about to meet the full power of cupid herself. After all, it was nice to be needed again. "But first I have to work on Sarah."

x-x-x-x-x

Heather had just nicely gotten back to the room with the mountain of packages from their shopping trip.

"Wow," Sparky said as she dumped the packages on the bed. "I thought that we were saving for Medical School."

"Actually," Heather said. "Your mom bought all this stuff. She said that your dad would win all of the money at Blackjack tonight. Is your dad that good of a player?"

Just then there was a knock at the door.

"Apparently, he cheats," Sparky said with a grin as he went to answer the door. "Maybe not technically. But he has an unfair advantage." When he opened the door, it took him a long moment to speak. "Colonel Blum," he finally said in surprise. "Come in, sir."

"Colonel Blum," Heather said as she snapped to attention.

"Relax, folks," Blum said with a grin. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything. I just brought some news. I also brought a dress uniform and your new orders."

"A dress uniform, sir," Heather asked. "Is there some occasion?"

"I think so, Captain," Blum said. "After all, it's not every day that you meet the President."

Heather was stunned. "I'm meeting the President, sir?" she asked.

Blum smiled at her confusion. "Yes, Captain," he said. "We all are. He is coming to formally thank the team for its amazing success. He will also attend this evening's wedding."

Heather was sure that Blum just misspoke. "Captain, sir," she questioned with a smile. "Have I been promoted?"

"Your promotion just came through today," Blum replied as he stuck out his hand. "It's a more personal reward for your contribution to the team's amazing success. It was personally ordered by the President himself. Congratulations, Captain Moore."

Heather was stunned. So much so that she took a moment to take his offered hand. "Thank you, sir," she finally said.

"It was well deserved," Blum said. "I also have your new orders. You are currently to report to CIA Agent Sarah Bartowski until further notice. Your specific assignment will be to continue to protect Mr. Bartowski here at all times. Since you will be covert, you will continue to wear plain dress. As you know, Mr. Bartowski currently attends U.C.L.A. In order to be able to stay close to him, we have arranged for you to attend the Medical School there as a cover beginning with the spring term. I have your acceptance letter with me. I understand that you are currently rooming together. It would be inappropriate for my orders to demand that – but it seems like a good idea."

"We intend to be married this evening," Sparky said. "We would be honored, sir, if you would attend."

"I wouldn't miss it," Blum said as he shook Sparky's hand. "Well, if you're going to meet the President – and get married, I'd better get out of your way."

Sparky took Heather in his arms as soon as Blum left. "It looks like my mom worked it out so that we could be together – and go to Medical School," he said.

Heather paused for a moment. "We don't have to get married now," she said as she looked at the floor.

Sparky put his finger under Heather's chin and gently forced her to look at him. "We never did have to get married," he said with a smile. "We want to. We still do, right?"

Heather's face bloomed into a relieved smile. "Yes," she said. "We still do."

"Captain Moore," he said in between kisses. "That has a nice ring to it. Congratulations, ma'am."

"It does have a nice ring," Heather said. "But Captain Bartowski sounds even better."

x-x-x-x-x

When Sarah got back to her room with her own set of packages, Chuck wasn't back yet. When she poked her head into Bryce's room, he was lying on the bed with his headphones on, looking at his laptop. "Okay, Bryce," Sarah said firmly. "I've about had it with you today. Enough with the pouting already. Sweetie, it's really getting old. If you ruin your brother and sister's weddings, we have a big problem. Am I understood?"

"I'm not pouting," Bryce said. "I'm thinking about a hard technical problem."

Sarah sighed. "Come on, Bryce," she said. "I'm tense enough as it is. I really don't need any trouble from you. Okay? Let's just get through today. Please? Things will be better tomorrow."

Bryce just sighed. "Okay," he said. After all, it was easier just to give in than to argue with her. "Do you know where my light blue tie is? I can't find it."

Sarah snapped. "Bryce," she said firmly. "You've been dressing yourself since you were four. This is not the day to forget how. Alex has that tie. Surely, you have more than one tie. If not, talk to your dad about going downstairs and buying a new one. I really can't deal with that right now."

Bryce just looked sadly at her. "Yes, ma'am," he said.

x-x-x-x-x