A/N: DC here. So last chapter, this one, and the next are very canony...is that a word, SC? (It is now. -SC) Anyway...after that, well...that would be telling, wouldn't it?….But, let's just say we begin to make serious changes. We need the foundation of canon to build what we're going for. And also, we kinda really hit our stride in the next few chapters. I'm not saying we set out to crack the other one up...but it's happened, several times. So we're speeding up the drops, which means we're gonna have to make sure we get two done a week...We hope you're having as much fun as we are, because we're having a freaking blast. And any music you get stuck in your head from this fic...well...blame it on SC. (That's not even fair. -SC)

Disclaimer: We don't own Chuck, we don't own the Chuck characters, and we're making no money off of this, but maybe send help because we're having way too much fun and this is dangerous.

Agent Walker made her way into the courtyard, soufflé in one hand. Her other hand was hovering at her hip, close to one of her knives, just in case Casey was laying in wait for her to make her appearance.

He probably knew about the dinner, and there was more than a chance that he'd beaten her here if he meant to get the jump on her. But it was important they kept up the cover, made everything seem perfectly normal. In spite of the reality, which was that everything was seemingly imploding right before her eyes.

And she was supposed to meet Chuck's sister for the first time during all of this?

This was so freaking screwed.

She stopped at the door to Chuck's apartment that he shared with his sister and her boyfriend and raised a fist to knock but stopped. She took a deep breath. She didn't know what she'd see when the door opened. Casey might be in there. Or Chuck. Or neither. All she knew was that she'd called Chuck's cell phone three times since Casey disappeared from the Wienerlicious following their skirmish, and he hadn't answered.

The CIA agent was waiting to contact the director until she figured out exactly what was going on.

But it was imperative his sister didn't think anything was amiss.

So she knocked finally, fixed her hair, straightened her blouse, checked on the soufflé one last time, and plastered a gigantic beaming smile on her face as she heard a voice approaching on the other side of the door.

As it swept open, she found she was almost a little overwhelmed by the woman on the other side of the threshold.

"Hi," Ellie Bartowski said. "You're—Wow, are you Sarah? I mean, of course you're Sarah! Hi!" She fixed the wide-eyed look she'd had on her face into a more normal one and just grinned at her, looking a lot less surprised. Instead, there was warmth there. "Come in, hi. I'm Ellie, Chuck's sister."

"Hi," Sarah said, stepping inside and turning to face the pretty brunette. "Uh, Chuck didn't really say what was for dinner, but I thought, you know, a chocolate soufflé goes with everything, right?" She tacked on a shy giggle for effect.

"Oh my God, a soufflé?! Did you make this?!"

"Um. Yes." Sure.

"Wow! Well...I'm impressed."

"Oh." Sarah giggled. "Good. That, uh, that was the goal."

"Pffft!" Ellie scoffed and put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to worry about that. Not at all." Then the other woman gestured to the two men in the room. "Uh, come on in, though. You can give Devon the soufflé…"

"Yeah, and I'm gonna eat it alllll right now," the man Chuck called Captain Awesome said, showing a lot of his teeth with his big grin, but in a...nice way. He moved in to give her a half hug. "Nah, I'm playin'. Not good for the biceps. I'm Devon. Nice to meet you, Sarah."

She laughed at his joke and hugged him back a bit. "Hi, nice to meet you, Devon."

"And, uh...I think you've already met Morgan." Sarah noticed the slightly displeased look the other woman shot the bearded best friend.

"And miraculously, she's still here!" Devon called from the kitchen.

Morgan let out a tentative chuckle, pointing at the taller man. "Heh. That—Good one, Devs. Good joke. Ya jokester."

"He wasn't joking," Sarah heard Ellie mutter under her breath. "Uh, anyway! We're just...waiting for Chuck to get here."

"He isn't here?" she asked, standing up a bit straighter, looking between them all.

"No. I tried to call him but he didn't pick up. Probably on an install or something, but I'm sure he'll be here soon."

"Oh." Sarah smiled as best she could. "Yeah, of course."

"Don't worry. We'll take good care o' you, Sar," Devon said, pointing at her as he swept back into the room. "How 'bout some wine? Or are you a beer girl?"

"Wine would be fine."

"She's a poet!" he teased and she pointed and laughed a bit weakly. "Red or white?"

"Red."

As the host collected everyone else's wine order, Sarah slipped her phone out of her pocket and looked at it again. She sent Chuck another text. A quick one: WHERE R U

Then she stuck the phone back in her pocket and turned to thank Devon for the glass of wine he proffered.

"So! Sarah. Chuck told me you met at the Buy More," Ellie said, moving towards the kitchen and popping open the fridge.

She tried to push the unease aside as she nodded and followed the brunette, perched at the doorway into the kitchen. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, he fixed my phone. Just like—Just like that." She snapped her fingers and then sent a subtle look over her shoulder at the door again. This was bad. Where was Chuck? She checked her phone. Message Failed to Send.

Okay, this was worse than bad…

Was there an easy way to get herself out of here so that she could try to find him? If she left, Ellie would be worried, or offended, or any number of bad things. And this cover was apparently important to the United States government. There was also the fact that these people were just nice. She didn't want to hurt this kind woman's feelings. She was Chuck's sister…

"He's always been like that. Honestly, I think he could fix anything."

"Yeah, he seems...really good at his job," Sarah said.

"He got a virus off of my laptop after my Grandma SueSue sent me one of those chain mail things," Devon said, rolling his eyes.

"I told you to stop opening your Grandma SueSue's emails," Ellie drawled.

"Okay, but the subject on this one was about Grandma's cookies. Come on."

Sarah laughed sincerely as he swept past her with a wink, a bowl filled with a mixed salad in one hand, the dressing in the other.

"Where, uh, where is that guy, anyway?" Ellie asked then, giving Morgan a very pointed look.

"What? I dunno! I got off my shift and busted ass home to change and come back. I don't screw around when your pot roast is on the menu," Morgan said, reaching out to pick up one of the cherry tomatoes from the salad and pop it in his mouth. He got a glare from Chuck's sister for that and he shrugged. "I'm hungry."

"I just thought, since you work at the same store...and...you both ended your shift at the same time…?" She widened her eyes.

"Nah, I got out fifteen minutes earlier today. I think he really did leave on an install. Jeff and Lester hate leaving the store so they probably foisted it off on him."

Sarah bristled then. "He went out on an install? Really? Like, he really did?"

The Buy More salesman furrowed his brow a bit. "Um...yeah. Saw him go out with the keys for one of the Herders and he looked pretty PO'd, if you know what I'm sayin'. Usually means a home install he doesn't wanna do."

"Do you know where it was?"

"Th-The install?" He gulped and she realized she was probably coming off a little intense. She smiled at him and pulled it back a bit, seeming to put him more at ease. "No, I don't know where."

Sarah bit her lip and nodded. "When did Casey's shift end? Th-The new guy. The new guy. Chuck, um, Chuck mentioned some new guy works there now." She tucked her hair behind her ear and sipped her wine nonchalantly. "I mean, if Chuck had this dinner to get to...couldn't he have taken the install?"

"No, Casey's in sales. He's a green shirt, not in the Nerd Herd. Anyway, he left, like, ten minutes before Chuck did. Kinda weird 'cause he seems, like, really intense about this job," he said, widening his eyes and wincing, "but he left early on just his like...second shift or something. Like a whole hour early."

Sarah moved to the back of the couch and leaned against, deep in thought, playing it off by drinking her wine as Devon and Ellie changed the subject to something else. She only half listened, nodding and smiling politely, giggling where it was appropriate.

Casey was up to something with Chuck. She just knew it. And he'd done something to Chuck's phone. She needed a plan. Or maybe she needed to stay here in case this was some sort of trap and Chuck's sister and the rest of his family were in danger.

The conversation continued, Ellie talking about being a doctor, getting through med school and wanting to emphasize her practice in neurology. And as impressive as that was, Sarah was drowning in worry. She decided she'd wait five more minutes and if Chuck didn't walk through that door…

Suddenly the door burst open behind her, and he practically staggered in as she spun to watch.

"Well! It's about time!" Morgan announced over by the table where Ellie was still setting the dishes and silverware. But that didn't matter, because she immediately saw skidmarks on his shirt, and even more alarming was the wide-eyed, startled look on his face.

"Chuck!" she exclaimed, standing immediately and facing him. She gave him a look that clearly conveyed What the hell is going on?, adding a grin on top of it. "Where have you been?"

"Why?" He snuck in a bit closer to her and sent a quick glance at his people over her shoulder, as if checking on them, making sure they had all of their limbs, were in one piece. Oh, no. She had a bad feeling about this. "You, uh...you surprised to see me?"

He gave her the most bizarre attempt at a secret look she'd ever seen in her life.

"What?" What in the hell?

The weird freaking look on his face increased in intensity and she lost the fake smile, lowering her voice. "Where's Casey?"

"I dunno. Maybe he's having some...car trouble." The emphasis he put on car trouble was there on purpose, she could tell, but she had no idea what the hell he was talking about. She wracked her brain for what that could mean...was it some sort of nerd code he was giving her? Or were her fears correct and Casey had done some expert manipulation on the…'asset'?

Chuck swept past her with an, "Everyone okay?"

And her fears were all but confirmed as she spun on her heel to watch.

"Yeah, just a little hungry, dude. You're...late," Morgan said, giving his best friend a dismayed look.

"And dirty for my tastes," Devon added. Which was a really good point. Why did he have dirt and skidmarks on his shirt. Why was the left knee of his pants a bit torn, and why was he still panting a little? What in the hell happened?

"And your girlfriend has been just nothing but mean to me," Ellie teased, putting her hands up by her head and rolling her eyes teasingly. Sarah slid a mask over her confusion and smiled along with Chuck's sister at the teasing.

"Huh?" He paused, then exclaimed, "Oh! Ha! Look out for herrrrrrrr."

That was not good. That look was bad, and the whole situation just seemed very bad. Sarah was not liking this at all.

"So! I'm glad everyone's getting along so well!" he continued, still seeming out of breath. Had he run here? Or had he raced here, thinking his family was in danger? ...In danger because of her?

"Yeah. Your sister is awesome," Sarah said with a smile, her tone a little shy as she directed as much warmth as she could muster towards Ellie.

"Indeed!" Devon drawled in a strangely deep voice, pointing at her with his alcoholic beverage.

"Hey!" Everyone in the room jumped a bit at Chuck's outburst. "Why don't we actually go out, huuuh? For pizza, or somethin'?" He turned to face everyone. "Someplace public, maybe? Like, uh, with lots and lots of people around?"

Sarah gave Chuck a barely controlled look of...she didn't know what. But she was mad as much as she was confused, now. Whatever Casey had said to him had obviously made him think she'd harm his family, and that shit wasn't going to stand.

"Uh...Chuck, I've been cooking all day," Ellie said with a bit of a confused chuckle. Sarah could tell his sister was keeping up appearances, somewhat, as if this behavior of his wasn't completely bonkers. Batshit crazy, more like. There had to be a way to put a lid on this crazy, though.

"Cooking pot roast, dude…" Morgan said, obviously a little weirded out by the scene himself. "That's my favorite."

"Mangia mangia, let's eat!" Devon said, obviously trying to move things to the dinner table and put a lid on the crazy himself. Everyone else played along, moving towards the table, and Sarah fixed Chuck with a stare. If he wanted to be afraid of her, she'd gladly give him a God damn reason, the jerk nerd.

As she slowly moved past him, the hard look that told him he was royally screwed still on her face, she saw him pressing back against the table to get as far from her as he could, barely restrained terror in his face. In any other situation, she might enjoy this, but now she had even more work to do, and the guy she was putting a lot on the line to protect now thought she was trying to hurt him and/or his family, and she hated everything.

Chuck sat at the head of the table and she took her seat next to his, making sure to stay close in case he tried anything stupid. She could think of a few things she could do to at least shut him up for long enough until she could get him alone and talk to him, get it through his stupid thick skull that she was most likely his only ally in this whole damn mess. Hopefully, no knives were necessary, she thought with an inward roll of her eyes.

"Can I help you get anything on the table?" she asked as Ellie rushed past to grab her pot roast from the oven most likely.

"Oh, you're so sweet, Sarah! No, no. That's okay. Devon, can you grab the rolls?"

"Grabbin' the rolls! Can't forget the rolls!" the man exclaimed, jumping up from his chair across from Sarah to help his girlfriend bring the food in.

Once Ellie came in to set the pot roast on the table, Morgan looking ready to just grab the whole thing in his hands and bite into it like a gluttonous, gout-ridden king from the sixteenth century, Sarah thought she might try to ease the tension of Chuck's clinical silence and the stricken look on his face. "This looks delicious, Ellie."

"Oooh, it was nothing."

"So, Sarah!" Devon said, diverting Sarah's attention from Chuck as she turned to look at him. "Let's turn this up a notch, personal stylezzzz. Tell us somethin' about yourself."

She beamed at him and shrugged. "Uh, well...I'm originally from D.C.," she lied. Or maybe it wasn't a lie. There was an apartment there that the CIA had gotten her when she first got out of the Farm. Barely furnished, bare white walls, a small TV, a few books… Was that a home? No. Did she even really live in D.C.? Most of her life she was in planes, on trains, scaling the sides of buildings, blowing up yachts with crooked drug dealers on board… "I just moved here."

"Oh, Chuck had a friend in D.C.," Ellie said.

"Former! Former friend," Morgan said. She watched him, seeing Chuck fidget uncomfortably in her peripheral. "Because A, he was a jerk. B, well...Well, he's dead. The girl Chuck was dating before you? He stole her."

In spite of how pissed she was at Chuck currently, she almost felt bad for him as she glanced his way and saw the Please God shut up narrowed eyes he was sending his best friend's way. That wasn't exactly the nicest thing to bring up with a woman your friend had just started dating, maybe… Then again, this seemed like this guy's modus operandi.

Chuck's sister made a disgusted sound. "I just don't know how anyone could choose Bryce over Chuck."

That was at least a bit less embarrassing, but it also just felt...so awkward. And Chuck was blushing, looking ready to crawl out of his skin. Of course, that might be the fear as well.

The doorbell rang then and her only thought was: What now?

Ellie scurried over to the door and opened it.

Oh. Fuck.

"Hi! John Casey. Just moved into the building. Thought I might bring something over…?"

"Hi, yeah! Of course! Come in!" Ellie said. Damn the sweet woman for being so polite. This was incredibly insane, and she had a soul-deep fear that it would just get worse now that everyone was in the same mad house.

"Chuck! You didn't tell me you invited another friend."

"Hey!" the nerd said, jumping up from his seat and moving further away from Sarah, closer to the NSA agent. "Hi! Yeah, it...totally slipped my mind." He gave off a forced, nervous chuckle. "That...that my friend….John Casey...was comin' over. We work at the Buy More together. Morgan, you know John...from Buy More. I was tellin' him we were gonna have a get-together and I thought the more the merrier!"

Sarah watched closely as Casey leaned in and hissed something she couldn't exactly hear into Chuck's ear, but the look on his face told her it was most likely a threat. What...was...going...on? Chuck burst into laughter, loud, a little scary even… "You kidder…"

"Chuck? We're gonna need another chair," his sister said.

"Okie dokie!" He bustled off, then, up the step, and down the hallway, out of sight.

"You know what? I'm crashin' the party," Casey said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder. "I'll—I'll get it," he chuckled, hastening after Chuck.

Morgan murmured, "Strange", then, and Sarah felt the absurdity of the moment that Morgan was currently one of the more normal people in this place. Should she follow them? Could she follow them without looking as insane as Chuck looked? What reason could she give? Shit. Shit, shit.

But then Ellie clapped her hands and started after them, too. "I'm just...I probably...They won't know where the chairs are. I mean, the chair I mean, you know? So...I'll be…'kay." She rushed down the hallway and out of sight.

"This is…" Morgan murmured.

"Hey, so...uh...Sarah...about this soufflé."

She spun back to Devon, grinning at him. "Yeah! Hope it turned out okay. I've—I've heard those are hard. I-I mean, it was hard. So I don't know how it is gonna taste, you know?" She shrugged shyly.

"I'm sure it's so great…" Devon grabbed his fork and held it up in excitement. "If you don't mind me trying a bit?"

Sarah laughed and shook her head. "Of course not."

Casey appeared then and she felt a bit of relief go through her. She didn't want him out of her sight for long. Devon scooted over for him, making room at the table for the new chair to be set down, and then they all sat.

Ellie showed up and folded her hands. "Okay! Let's freaking eat already, huh?"

"Yes! Jesus!" Morgan practically yelled.

Devon went in with his fork to take some of the soufflé, but they all jumped when Chuck swung in and yelled. "STOP!" Everyone stared, frozen. "We...uhh...we didn't do a toast…yet." He paused. "Which I'll do...right now."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at him in a mixture of confusion and annoyance. What in the hell was this guy playing at?

"Yeah, uuuh…" He leaned in and grabbed his glass of wine. Sarah tentatively grabbed her own as everyone else did the same...everyone completely confused, except for Ellie who looked a little like she wanted to punch her brother. Sarah sort of understood the sentiment at the moment. "So I'd like to propose a toast. To my—To my sister! To my sister and-and...and to a meal that looks so great." He let out a panted breath. "And Devon! You're great. Yeeah...And Sarah!" She turned to look up at him, an unamused look on her face. She was about done with this. Very done. "Sarah, for a great...dessert." She twisted her lips to the side and raised her eyebrow at that. "And to John Casey and-and his mini-quiches! Which are equally as great!"

She stole a quick glance at Casey and saw he was even a little confused, or maybe something was percolating in his brain. Had Chuck just communicated something to him with that weird-ass toast? She wondered…

"What about me, Chuck?" Morgan asked, his mouth full with said mini-quiches.

Without missing a beat, Ellie murmured, "For what?"

In spite of everything, Sarah found she had to hold in a soft choking sound at that.

"And to Morgan for his great comic timing!" Chuck said, holding his glass out towards his friend.

Everyone said cheers, exchanging appropriately weirded out looks, and then Sarah swung her gaze to Casey, glaring at him as he glared back. What had he poisoned Chuck's mind with? What had he said against her? It was more than obvious Chuck had picked sides now, and it wasn't her side. Damn it.

"Well, that soufflé...it really does look amazing," Ellie said, then.

"Yeah, honey. I've been resisting it this whole time and I'm just not gonna anymore," Devon said, going in with his fork again.

"Wait! Wait, wait, wait! WWWWAAIT." Sarah turned a thoroughly pissed, exhausted look on Chuck at his outburst—yet another outburst—and she tilted her head. What. The. Fuck. Now? "Who likes magic?!" he asked loudly, his voice cracking.

"I DOOO!" Morgan yelled, raising his hand, sending quiche crumbs everywhere.

"I know a trick!"

She'd more than had it now. "Chuuuck…?" she asked in a warning tone, a painstaking smile on her face.

He twisted his fists in the tablecloth. Ellie sucked in a quick gasp. "Chuck, what are you doing?!"

Sarah looked down at the table. Oh God, he wasn't…? He really wasn't.

"VOILA!" He yanked on the tablecloth, and she expected everything to go flying. Literally everything…. But everything stayed just where it was, the candleholder in the middle of the table wiggling a bit the only indication that he'd just done what...he'd done.

"How the—?" he squeaked.

"Whoa...Chuck...that was…" Devon seemed to be the first one able to find their voice…

"I knew you could do it, man!" Morgan exclaimed, and Sarah couldn't help wondering for a moment if this was a conversation these two had had before. Then again...that wouldn't surprise her at all.

There was a thump sound then and the candle finally tipped, falling right onto her soufflé she'd worked so hard on...calling someone else to buy it for her.

"Flambé!" Casey said, and she gasped, sending him an offended look. The asshole!

Chuck yelped a few times then rushed to pick it up, cradling it in the towels in his hand. Sarah pushed her chair back and stood up as he ran right out of the room with the flaming soufflé. But Ellie burst after him, calling her brother's name as she went.

They all followed after them, ending up in the bathroom where Chuck had evidently stuck her soufflé in the tub and doused it with water.

Sarah snuck in past Devon's shoulder to stand next to Ellie as the brunette leaned in closer and hissed, "Look! No matter how stressed out you are, it is never okay to murder a woman's soufflé!"

Yeah, that's it. That's it. This is over.

"Uh, you know what? Let me talk to him," she said, just catching herself in time to smile at his sister while she said it, playing like she wasn't about to whoop this damn nerd's ass for not trusting her. For letting some grumpy asshole NSA murderer turn him against her.

Ellie nodded and put a hand on her arm. "Okay." She sent her an apologetic look, and there was some pleading there, Sarah thought, as though Ellie was begging her not to let this freak her out, as though Ellie...liked her…? Already?

It was a nice thought, but she had to take care of this, as everyone else backed out of the bathroom to leave them alone.

Chuck's eyes latched onto someone behind her, probably Casey, and it was confirmed when he whimpered, "Casey...Cas—Casey? Don't...please don't..."

But she turned and slammed the door in Casey's face before he could come back in and save the stupid nerd. Then she spun, grabbed Chuck by his shoulders and slammed his back hard against the door, gripping his face almost a little roughly in her fingers and clenching her jaw. "Tell me what Casey said."

"Nothing, everything's okay," he muttered between smushed cheeks.

She pulled him towards her and then slammed him even harder into the door a second time. Then a third time, and she finally yanked him into the middle of the bathroom, grabbed his arm and twisted it up by his head, so that he winced, half in pain and the other half in fear. "What did he tell you?!"

"That you killed Dr. Zarnow and poisoned a bunch of French diplomats…" he whimpered.

She blinked at him, frustrated at the prick of...crap, was that hurt in her chest? That just made her even angrier and she spun him and twisted his arm behind his back this time. "You're blaming me for Zarnow?"

"If you're planning on hurting me—even to prove a point—I think you should know I have a very low threshold for pain." Interesting how willingly he'd just admitted that. But damn him. Damn. Him.

She yanked on his arm a bit harder. "And you believe Casey?!" Thinking she'd stabbed him in the back by taking away what could be his only way out of this whole mess and back into his normal life already sucked enough, but trusting that killing machine prick over her? What in the ever loving hell was wrong with him?

"Tell me...about...the French...diplomats…" he panted as she eased him down onto his knees, still holding his arm tight behind his back.

"They were French assassins. And they were after me, but I got to them first. And you know what? I'm kinda glad that I did!" she snarked. "Chuck, did you really think that my name is Sarah? I never asked you to believe me, I asked you to trust me." Realization hit her then before she could get much further into it… "This doesn't make sense," she breathed. "If Casey didn't kill Zarnow, then…"

Zarnow was still alive.

Shit!

"What are you doing?" Chuck asked when she let go of him.

"I have to go. Right now." She burst out of the bathroom and hurried down the hallway. As she emerged, she turned and waved a hand at everyone sitting gobsmacked at the table. "Uh, I'm sorry, I have to go but, uh...dinner was wonderful."

She grabbed her jacket and purse on her way out and rushed through the courtyard, but she heard the door behind her and Chuck's loud, "Sarah, wait!"

She had absolutely no patience for his bullshit. None. So she spun and shrugged her jacket on. "You. Stay. Inside! Do what I say!"

Spinning on her heels, she dashed out of the courtyard and hurried through the gate, heading for her car, but then a car she didn't recognize screeched to a halt, and Dr. Zarnow himself climbed out from behind the steering wheel.

He raised his gun before she could get to her knife, her arm still tangled a bit in her jacket. "CASEY!" she yelled, and she felt the darts sink into her skin. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

A/N: Wooooops! Like David said, we're establishing the canon base, but already we've been manipulating a few things here and there. Props to you if you spot them. More change is on the horizon. Next chapter is coming out soon! Thanks for reading and please review since we love those so much. :)

-SC and DC