A/N: So, the incompetent fools writing the show are serious about messing everything up with the 2x4… Well, for what it's worth, I hope he'll meet an end quite like those the East Coast Captain has written for him.

On a happier note, I'd like to yet again say how much I appreciate your support, hence the quick update. Enjoy!

Chapter 6

The mood in the car was positively festive. Chuck, who was driving, reached for the sound system controls and turned on the radio. A local station was playing a rock song. Even Sarah, who had admitted to being mostly ignorant about music and movies, knew it. Everyone started singing.

They had barely finished the last chorus when the car's Bluetooth picked up an incoming call to Chuck's phone.

"Carmichael and Company," he replied cheerfully when he saw the caller ID.

"We do your monkey business at bargain basement prices," Bryce added.

"My people will drop me off at your place, Carmichael," Casey told them. "I wanna take a look at the intel you retrieved."

"Be my guest," Chuck said amicably.

"OK. See you soon."

"Chuck?"

"What is it, Sarah?"

"How are we going to return the artifact to Baghdad?"

"I'll turn it over to the Agency when we get back home. They'll arrange for Customs to deliver it to the Iraqi authorities."

"Smart plan. It'll hide the CIA's involvement. Mine too."

He smiled at her. "So, what did you get for yourself, aside from the necklace?"

"Plenty," she replied. "I found bundles of cash, bearer bonds and more expensive jewelry. I reckon I doubled my earnings."

"Did you count the bonus as well?"

"Of course," she smiled. "I believe I deserve it."

"It will keep you solvent for a while, especially since the company you were working for let you go. Corporate downsizing is a bitch."

"You know about that? What am I saying? You must have checked me out quite thoroughly."

"Kind of, yeah," he admitted. "But you won't have to worry about money for the immediate future."

"Being hired by you turned out to be extremely fortuitous."

"Here we are," Chuck said as he turned into the chalet's driveway. "Home sweet temporary home!"

All got out of the car and hurried inside where it was warm and cozy. Casey followed suit when his men dropped him off. Morgan hurried to the kitchen and made tea, which he reinforced with some excellent brandy.

"Let's see what you got, Carmichael. Nice job, by the way," Casey said.

"Thanks. Sarah deserves a major share of the credit, too."

"Noted." He turned to Sarah. "Congratulations, Walker."

"Thank you."

They cleared the large oak table in the dining room and started arranging the swag. Sarah set the carefully wrapped artifact aside. Every document, flash drive and DVD was handed to Chuck, who took a few minutes to study them together with Casey. Sarah's share was put in a separate pile.

"I think we're done here," Chuck declared. "Mission accomplished and good job all around."

"Um, what do we do with this?" Sarah asked, holding up a small wooden box.

"If it's a jewelry case, you get to keep it."

"We should open it and see what it contains. But there is no latch or lock, even though it's locked."

"Let me take a look." He turned it over carefully in his hands. "I know how to open it. The lid has a combination pad for a Fibonacci sequence. It was popular with spies during the Renaissance."

"Go on, open it," Bryce prodded.

Chuck smiled and began moving the squares in the pad around, until he found the right combination. The lock disengaged with a click. But the moment he opened the lid, a packet of something burst with a loud pop, spraying a fine mist on Chuck and Sarah.

"GAS!" Chuck yelled. All the others immediately covered their mouths and noses and quickly exited the room.

"I'll call for a containment unit," Casey said.

"I'll go get the kit," Morgan added. "Hang in there, guys!"

"Sarah, come on! We gotta wash this off!" He took her hand and led her to the nearest bathroom. Their pants, sweaters, shoes and socks were soon strewn all over the floor. They got into the shower stall and Chuck turned the water on full blast. "It's COLD," he exclaimed. But his training held. He grabbed a bar of soap and handed it to Sarah, taking another for himself. They frantically washed their bodies, hoping to remove as much of the mysterious substance as possible.

"Your hair," she told him and pulled him down to soap up his head. Under any other circumstances, he'd enjoy being with a beautiful woman in the shower, with his nose millimeters from her well endowed chest. But right now he had other priorities.

"Turn around and I'll do your back."

"OK Chuck. Then I'll do yours."

She turned and only then did he realize how velvety smooth her skin was. He had to force himself to concentrate on the task at hand.

"Guys, are you still alive?" Morgan called from outside the door.

"Yes!" Chuck yelled back.

"Can I come in?"

"Come on in."

"I got you these." He was wearing a gas mask and holding up two marker pen-like devices. "It's atropine and obidoxime. Stick them in your thighs and press the button. It will protect you from organophosphates and nerve agents."

"It's strange, but I'm not feeling any symptoms," Chuck remarked.

"Neither am I," Sarah confirmed. "Given the quantity we were exposed to we should be feeling something by now, right?"

"I think so. Hold the drugs for now. Where is Casey?"

"He recalled his team and they're bringing a spectrometer. That way we'll identify the gas."

"It was kind of sweet," Sarah said. "Do you know any chemical agent that tastes like candy?"

"Right now, I can't remember any."

-o-

"Well?" Chuck asked impatiently. He was now in a bathrobe, just like Sarah and they were nervously fingering the counteragent autoinjectors.

"The results are coming out now," Casey said. "Hmmm. Good news. It's absolutely harmless."

"What do you mean by harmless?"

"It's caramel food coloring, Carmichael. The box contained a dye bomb full of it."

"Caramel coloring is an unusual choice for a dye bomb," Morgan said wonderingly.

"There's a note in the box. Apparently the mark wanted to play a prank on a friend. Listen to this: 'Gotcha. Happy Birthday. I hope you find the box a nice addition to your collection.' I must say, he has quite a sense of humor, even though the dye bomb did not work as intended. It should splash you with the caramel instead of spraying it out."

"You'll be fine, guys," Morgan assured his friends.

Both Chuck and Sarah were extremely relieved to learn that they were not in mortal danger. Her reaction to the news was to grab Chuck and plant a big one on him. He was taken by surprise, but he found himself responding almost automatically.

*grunt* (Disgusting, but he's CIA and she's a civilian. I'm not surprised.)

"Um," Sarah stammered after breaking the kiss. "The good news is that we'll both be fine, but this is kind of uncomfortable right now."

"It was completely comfortable on my end," Chuck said with a smug grin. She'd made him uncomfortable over the shower incident in the morning. Now it was his turn.

"I'll go change," she informed them and stomped off to her room. When she came back downstairs, in her pajamas, she found the others still poring over the intel. The friend the box was intended for turned out to be one of the mark's best customers. Finding about him was quite an intelligence coup. She gathered up her share and was about to take it upstairs when a computer beeped.

"Hey Boss," Chuck greeted the man whose image appeared on the screen.

"How did it go?"

"I'm pleased to report that the mission was accomplished without a hitch. Well, maybe just a minor one."

"That's why you're in a bathrobe?"

Chuck quickly gave his boss a rundown on the recovered evidence and the Fibonacci box. "And that's all, Boss."

"Excellent work."

"Do we get a vacation?"

"Don't push your luck."

"C'mon, Boss. The holidays are next week."

"Fine, you can all take a couple of weeks off. Will you need anything else from me?"

"Just the authorization to pay my consultant the rest of her fee, plus the bonus she so richly deserves," Chuck replied.

"Of course. You'll get if first thing in the morning. By the way, who was your consultant? You never referred to her by name so far."

"It's me," Sarah said, coming into the webcam's field of view.

Graham looked at her and a few seconds later his eyes widened with recognition. The duckling he had met years ago was now a beautiful Swan. "Sarah?"

"In the flesh. How are you, Director Graham?"

"I'm fine. How are you, Sarah?"

"I'm doing okay."

"Well, if you regret turning down my last offer, I can make you a new one. Would you like to come and work for the CIA?"

"My answer remains the same: I'm flattered and thanks, but no thanks."

"Too bad. You'd make an excellent operative. But have it your way. At least let me offer you a ride back to the US with Chuck and his crew."

"I'd like that, thank you."

"You are welcome." Then he turned to his subordinates. "I trust you will bring the intel back here and deliver it for analysis."

"Yes sir," they chorused.

"Once you are formally debriefed, consider yourselves on vacation."

"Thanks Boss," the three CIA people said in unison.

The connection was terminated and Chuck got busy making copies of the intel for Casey and the NSA. Morgan and Bryce started packing the gear. Sarah retired to her room. It was late and she wanted to get a good night's sleep before returning to the US in the morning.

-o-

"What are you guys doing?" Sarah asked as she saw Chuck, Morgan and Bryce gather around a table as soon as the pilot turned the fasten seatbelts light off.

"We're about to indulge in one of our little traditions, namely the post-mission poker game," Chuck told her.

"You can join in if you like," Morgan added.

"That's right. You are a member of the team."

"I am?"

"Temporarily, yes. So, are you in?"

"Yes I am." She took a seat. "What are we playing?"

"Usually, we start with straight. We also play Texas Hold 'Em and Five Card Stud, Jokers wild."

"Okay. Who's dealing?"

"I believe it's my turn," Bryce replied. "Morgan, cut the deck."

A few minutes later…

"Call," Sarah said, throwing a chip in the pot.

Chuck grinned. "Read 'em and weep. Straight, in clubs."

"Damn!" Sarah cursed, throwing her cards on the table. She had hoped to bluff him into folding, but he didn't take the bait.

"You'll have better luck next time," Chuck said.

By the time they landed in Washington DC, they were just about where they had started, financially speaking, each having won a few hands and lost others.

"What are you going to do now, Sarah?" Chuck asked as they headed out to get their cars.

"Since I no longer have a legitimate job, I'll go clean out my apartment and head back home. Then I'll probably look for another job."

"Just try and make it your only job, Sarah. Stay on the straight and narrow from now on."

"It's not like I have a choice now that the federal government knows about me." She paused and stuck out her hand. "It was a pleasure working with you, Charles Carmichael."

They shook hands. "The pleasure was all mine, Sarah Walker." He gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek. She looked a little awkward at first, but then she smiled. She also bade goodbye to Bryce and Morgan and they parted ways.

-o-

"I tried to talk them into keeping you, Ms. Walker. But they, in all their wisdom, had almost the entire department canned."

"It's okay, Mr. Munson," Sarah told her former boss as she cleared her desk.

"You're still going to get a letter of reference from the company. I made sure to describe you in the most glowing of terms."

"Prospective employers are going to ask why I was fired if I was such a valuable employee."

"I attributed it purely to the downsizing. Don't worry about it. Besides, someone like you could easily find an even better job. You are way overqualified for our company anyway."

"Still, I liked the traveling."

"I noticed that much. So, where are you going to do now?"

"I'll go back to the West Coast and look for a job there. I'm leaving today."

"Have a good trip, then. You'll be sorely missed here."

"And I'll miss many of the people I met here, Mr. Munson." They shook hands. Sarah picked up the cardboard box with her stuff, carried it downstairs to the parking garage and put it in her car, a Porsche Boxster convertible, with the rest of her meager possessions. Before getting in and driving away, she paused for a moment of thought. Her entire life was in a couple of suitcases and some boxes. She was used to it, but she decided that this had to change someday.

Shrugging, Sarah got in her car and drove off. Her destination was the train station. The car was loaded on a train and she went to the compartment she had booked for the trip to LA. She kicked off her shoes, settled on the bed with a newspaper and her laptop and started browsing the ads for any job opportunities that caught her fancy. Fortunately, the train offered free Wi-Fi, so she could send résumés to potential employers.

-o-

"Chuck!" Ellie Bartowski exclaimed enthusiastically, seeing her little brother coming into the courtyard and heading for his apartment pulling a suitcase along.

"Hey sis," he said brightly. "As you can see, I'm back."

She pulled him in a bear hug. "Welcome home."

"Thanks. Now, if you only let me go, I could leave my stuff inside."

"Oh, OK. By the way, I don't see my chocolates or cuckoo clock anywhere," she said testily.

He laughed and tossed her his car keys. "They're in the car, along with all the other souvenirs I got you and Captain Awesome from Rome and Zurich." He chuckled as he remembered a private phone conversation with his sister's boyfriend. Devon 'Captain Awesome' Woodcomb had called him with a very specific request: a replica of an ancient Roman toga for himself and a matching dress for Ellie. Chuck shuddered momentarily when he thought about exactly why Devon had asked for those. But as he wanted his sister to be happy, and as Devon definitely kept her happy, he had done as asked.

At that moment Devon returned from his run. "I thought I saw your car, Chuckster," he said.

"I'm back, Captain."

"But I saw Ellie diving in your trunk. What if she finds…?"

"No need to worry, Captain. They're in here." He patted his suitcase.

"Awesome. Give me a few minutes to shower and change and I'll be over to pick them up."

"Just don't let Ellie see you."

"Nah, she'll be too busy cooking. Now that you're home, she'll definitely prepare a special dinner. You know how she is."

"Trust me, I do."

Ellie reappeared loaded with the boxes from Rome and Zurich. "I haven't opened most of them, but thank you, little brother," she gushed. "You always get me the best souvenirs!"

"I know how much you like them, sis. And since my job allows me to travel all over the world, it's my pleasure to get them for you."

-o-

Sarah was especially glad that she had booked a sleeper for the trip to LA. She got off the train feeling refreshed and, for the first time in quite a while, relaxed. Her time had been spent productively, too. She had applied for positions with various companies and she expected to be called for interviews soon. Maybe she'd get lucky and find a good job.

It was not rush hour, so Sarah made good time from Union Station to a place she had found online and booked a studio in. The Maison 23 certainly met all her requirements for a residence.

"Hi," she told the receptionist. "I made a reservation for an apartment. My name is Walker."

"Yes, Ms. Walker, I see your reservation here. Welcome to the Maison 23. I'll just need to see some ID and then please sign here."

"Here you go." Sarah took her ID out of her wallet and gave it to the receptionist.

"Everything is in order. This is your key. Your room is 832 on the eighth floor."

"Thank you."

"Enjoy your stay at the Maison 23, Ms. Walker."

Taking her stuff up to the room required two trips. She was just about to unlock the door after the second trip when someone came out of the apartment next door. It was a tall, slim, coppery blond woman.

"New neighbor? Hi, I'm… SARAH?"

"Carina?"

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Later," Carina said and pulled Sarah into a big hug, tears forming in her eyes. "I missed you, baby sister."

Sarah's eyes were misting over as well. "I missed you too, big sis. So, are you going to tell me what you're doing here?"

"I got transferred to the LA field office. So, I took an apartment here. It's very convenient. What about you?"

"Well, I got canned from my job back east. In fact, they wiped out almost the entire department I was working in. Closed it down outright. Corporate downsizing they call it. Right then I decided that I'd rather come back home and find another job here. Fortunately, the apartments here are reasonably priced, so I can stay here without spending too much of my savings on rent."

"Hold on… You rented your apartment?"

"Of course I did. Is there another way?"

"Sure there is, especially if you are the owners' daughter."

"WHAT?"

"Mom and Dad bought the Maison 23 last fall. He talked her into expanding the business and this was quite an opportunity. Come with me to the front desk. We'll take care of the matter pronto."

"Huh?"

"Just leave your stuff inside. Come on, chop-chop! And when you unpack, shower and change, I'm taking you to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Be warned, I won't take no for an answer. We haven't seen or heard from you for almost two years now."

Sarah smiled. Carina hadn't changed one little bit. "I guess a home cooked meal won't hurt. You don't know how much I missed Mom's cooking… Dad's burgers, too."

"They'll love the surprise we're going to give them. Welcome home, Sarah."

"It sure feels good to be home, Carina."