Posted December 10, 2023

A/N: This was a Casey episode, but he's not in this "in between." This one is all Sarah—pre-Charah, dealing with the Bartowskis.

"Chuck vs the Sensei" (2x09) Recap
There are a few things you might need to know.

At a top secret location in 1994, a younger Casey trained hand-to-hand. His sensei beat him twice and said his problem was his center was filled with conflict.

Flashing forward fourteen years, Emmett Milbarge tried to coach green-shirted Casey that he needed to bleach his teeth and show his pearly whites to help retail sales. Casey obviously was not receptive, on the inside.

Morgan and Chuck walked away on the sales floor, and Chuck reassured his little friend that Jill was the past and that she was in a "big house, up the river."

Down in Castle, he learned that the next mission was at the Global Launch Agency, where his job was to potentially flash. He did not get a break to recover from the Jill fiasco.

While the team was at GLA, an infiltrator stole something and fought off the spies. Casey stabbed him with a Buy More pen and removed his mask. It was his sensei, Ty Bennett.

With Chuck collapsed on his bed, Ellie burst into his room because of an emergency. Devon's parents had flown in on a red-eye. The place was a mess. Out in the living room, Chuck met the spy Drs. Honey and Woody Woodcomb, and he and Sarah were invited for wedding planning.

At Castle, Beckman revealed Bennett had gone rogue and was recruiting his old students. Casey suggested Chuck be benched, and Beckman agreed.

Emmett tried to motivate the Buy Morons with a new Employee-of-the-Month competition. Back in the break room, Morgan said Employee-of-the-Month was a scam to get them to work harder so Emmett would be promoted. Instead, they would have a secret contest to get the lowest customer feedback score.

On the new mission, Sarah and Casey were almost killed by a car bomb delivered to the surveillance point. Chuck didn't know, so he was vulnerable where Bennett showed up at Buy More. Chuck recognized him, left, and tried to call for help. Bennet caught Chuck outside the store.

Sarah and Casey returned to rescue Chuck, but he was in Bennett's trunk. Casey and Bennett played chicken, crashing both cars. Casey ran after Bennett, who escaped.

Debriefing in Castle, Casey was benched because he had risked Chuck's life. To Casey, Sarah agreed with Beckman because he was too emotionally involved. To Sarah, Chuck said he felt bad about how he didn't stick up for Casey. She said their difference was Chuck was sweet and Casey thought feelings were liabilities.

At Buy More, Emmett realized what was going on because Morgan, Jeff, and Lester had "the lowest customer evaluation scores in recorded history." He said whoever got the lowest score would close up every Saturday night for an entire month. The three of them reversed how they were acting and tried to get good customer scores.

Meanwhile, Casey tricked Chuck into letting him out of Castle, and he forced him to flash the location of Bennett's dojo. He left Chuck handcuffed in Orange Orange.

At the wedding planning dinner, the Woodcomb parents asked Ellie questions, but didn't wait for answers, picking the menu, cake, flowers, and tux colors. She went along with everything until Woody went too far and said since her dad was not around, he would walk her down the aisle.

Ellie had reached her limit, said no, and stormed off. Devon followed to console her. Sarah was saved from uncomfortable small-talk when Chuck called for help. She figured out what had happened and left to go after Casey, but she left Chuck handcuffed in OO.

Chuck managed to "MacGyver" himself free, so he also went to the dojo. Sarah was captured with Casey, but Chuck was captured too—this time, when he was staying in the car.

The three were taken inside the dojo, where Bennett had a full class of recruits to observe. Casey egged him into a fight for honor. Chuck's handler was outmatched and losing. Bennett said he had lost his calm. Chuck understood Casey better and made him angry. After Casey had defeated his old sensei, an armed team showed up to rescue them all.

The Buy More Employee-of-the-Month award went to Skip, who claimed he had tried to be a jerk. One time only, instead of just a picture on a plaque, he won a big screen TV.

Back at the apartment, Chuck apologized to his sister about missing the planning session. She told him it was a bust. When she was young, she didn't care about anything for her wedding, but she always pictured their dad walking her down the aisle.

Chuck called a number on an old card from his dad, but the number was disconnected. Undeterred, he promised Ellie that Dad would walk her down the aisle.

Song (from 2x09):
- "The New Song" by Datarock

www. imdb. com (8.1/10)
chuckthisblog. wordpress. com (83/91)

Wednesday morning, December 3, 2008
Echo Park Apartment
Los Angeles, CA

Knock, Knock

Sarah waited at Chuck's window because thought it was best not to pick the lock and enter, in case he was doing something like changing. While the idea of seeing Chuck not fully clothed was secretly appealing, that was the last thing she needed to keep her hold on to any professionalism she had remaining.

She didn't have to wait long for Chuck to open the window. It turned out that it wasn't even locked, so she wouldn't have had to pick it. Internally, she groaned. She needed to talk to him about security again. Chuck should keep it locked for his safety. While someone like her could easily pass a window lock with alarms, it would slow any intruder for a minute, giving Casey the chance to get over here.

"Hi, Sarah!" Chuck always looked happy to see her. It made her feel great every time. He opened the window, so she slipped into his room. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to apologize to your sister for leaving during wedding planning. I would have gone through the front, but I figure this is better for the…" She motioned between them. "For you know."

"For the cover. Right." The thing between them was a cover, but she didn't like rubbing it in his face. He didn't deserve the constant reminder that it was only a cover because he obviously hated that and he picked her over the love of his life.

She needed to stop obsessing about that. Her job as Chuck's protector came first. Pointing to the window, Sarah said, "You should lock that."

He looked down, like he knew better and was ashamed. "I know." Then he changed the subject. "The Uber-Awesomes have left so the wedding planning is on hold."

"I should still apologize to Ellie." Sarah removed her shirt, shoes, and pants. In only her bra and panties, she looked over at Chuck, who was silent with a surprised look on his face. Chuck was never quiet. She asked, "What's wrong?" Chuck didn't react to her question.

Sarah then realized he had been dumbfounded by her lack of clothes. It's only what she was wearing when they took that shower together, and this time he was fully clothed. At the time, they thought they were going to die, so maybe he didn't get as good of a look as she did. (She was so panicked and didn't get much of one, but her repeated dreams proved there was nothing for her to complain about.)

Still, she should probably cover herself, so she went into Chuck's closet and pulled out one of his white Nerd Herd shirts. When she had buttoned it a couple times so it was "closed," she faced him again and explained, "I'm making it look like I've been here all night."

While she was looking away into the closet, he had broken out of his shock and had looked away to give her privacy. "For the cover. Right. I guess it's good we didn't break up the cover this time," Chuck babbled. She really liked it whenever Chuck reacted like he had been doing—like looking at her was the best thing in the world. It was best that they both remembered it was only a cover, though.

Dressed only in Chuck's shirt, Sarah walked out the room. She couldn't help but trace her hand down Chuck's chest when she walked by. He might not have noticed her in that shower, but she noticed him. From the hall she barely held in a laugh when she heard Chuck collapse on his bed.

Sarah shook out her head. She shouldn't be laughing at Chuck's antics. She had a "mission" with the other Bartowski. She knew Devon's schedule had him working at the hospital overnight, after the planning session with his parents, while Ellie's had a double starting later today. That meant that at that moment, Ellie would be alone.

Sarah found the other woman walking breakfast dishes back from the dining room table. "There you are, Ellie."

The other woman jumped, set down her load, and put her hand on her chest.. "Sarah, you started me. I didn't know you were here. When I saw Chuck late last night, he didn't mention you."

"Sorry about that." Sarah helped clear the rest of the table. "After I dropped him off last night, I ran an errand, which is when you saw him. I came back to see him, and…" Sarah looked down at her attire, or lack thereof, and shrugged.

Ellie laughed. "Figures. My fiancé had to work, but at least someone in this apartment wasn't alone." She raised and lowered her eyebrows. Sarah thought Ellie was almost as good at that as Chuck. It was the "Bartowski Eyebrow Dance," so that would make sense. Ellie wouldn't be a Bartowski for long, so it would be up to Chuck to carry the banner for the named skill.

Always the consummate hostess, Ellie said. "You haven't had breakfast. Would you like some orange juice? Or I can brew up some more coffee. We also have four kinds of tea. A couple are not really for breakfast. I don't know about Earl Grey. A while back, Chuck insisted we get that for some reason, but he never drinks it."

"I'm fine, thank you. I'd say coffee or OJ, but I have to leave to go to work in a few minutes, and I need to take a shower before then."

"You can shower here," Ellie offered.

Sarah barely kept herself from saying yes to that. The offer was considerate, like usual from Chuck's sister, but if Sarah took that offer, Devon's skills as a cardiologist might be needed because Chuck would have a heart attack. "Thank you, but I don't have an Orange Orange uniform here."

"You don't have a change of clothes here?"

That was a good point. Sarah should keep one here at all times. It was something she had overlooked for the cover. Chuck had a change of clothes and a Nerd Herd outfit at Castle for whenever he needed it. Before Castle existed, she had those at her place. (She still did, just in case.) She also kept a used T-shirt of Chuck's, but she had always held herself back from sleeping with it. She wasn't that weak. She told herself one shirt like that was a good prop for a fake girlfriend.

Sarah's excuse to Ellie was, "You know Chuck normally stays over with me, so he has clothes there. Last night, I didn't want to wait that long." Chuck would be bright red at her story. Ellie was better, but she still looked a little like an uncomfortable sister, so Sarah changed the subject. "Anyway… I wanted to talk to you before sneaking off in my 'Walk of Shame.'"

Ellie put a supportive hand on Sarah's forearm. "It's not a 'Walk of Shame' when you are always a welcome guest and you've been dating someone who lives here for over a year."

It was only a couple weeks since Jill, but Ellie didn't know what really happened there because Chuck never broke up the cover. Chuck's sister probably thought that Chuck and Sarah had been inseparable since the brief interruption of Lou, which was almost a year ago, and that nothing happened with Jill except for the one dinner to catch up with "an old friend." Sarah pushed on with her apology. "I'm sorry I bailed on you last night, and I'm sorry I'm not living up to my bridesmaid duties."

She really hoped the future bride didn't replace her with someone else. Personally, Sarah loved that she was asked, but that didn't matter. Her job was to protect Chuck, and while that would be easier if she remained part of the wedding party, she could protect Chuck regardless. Deep down, Sarah wanted Ellie to want her as a bridesmaid.

The way Ellie reacted showed there was no issue. The doctor leaned in and gave Sarah a big hug. "You have nothing to worry about." She released and continued. "You aren't doing anything wrong as a bridesmaid."

"I left early."

"You left after I did. You might have noticed that my maid of honor was not at the planning session, but you were. None of the other bridesmaids were there. You were asked to be there as Chuck's girlfriend, not because of your duty as a bridesmaid."

"I should have supported you when you left."

"You held down the fort until Chuck called. Then you did what you had to do and left." Ellie gave a sympathetic grimace. "Sarah, you're not my wedding planner. I think Devon's mom has claimed that role completely. She has more of a say than I do. Your job as a bridesmaid is to stand up at the front with me on my wedding day. That's it." Ellie considered Sarah a moment. "But I know you like having things assigned, so I'm giving you one other job. Chuck is the only family I'm going to have at the wedding. Your job is to manage my brother, like you were doing last night. Do you think you can keep doing that?"

Sarah smiled and nodded. Of course she could. The other woman didn't know that is what Sarah would be doing regardless. Now, the friend who asked her to be in the wedding had officially given her the job that happened to be the job that she had to do. "Managing" Chuck was always a challenge, but she couldn't imagine not doing that.

Ellie kept going. "The way it seemed to me last night, you eliminated my 'Awesome' future in-laws, so thank you."

Sarah wrinkled her brow, but fortunately Ellie explained. "The reason I fled the room is it really hit home that I'd have almost no family at my wedding. I didn't know what you did—"

"I left because Chuck called."

"I know that now, but at the time, I only knew that they spoke to Devon a minute to pass along their apologies for their leaving. They never apologized for acting like my parents, which they never should have done because they are his parents, not mine. They had already decided to leave when they talked to Devon, so whatever you did, you inspired them to leave. You didn't take their side." Ellie unleashed a big Bartowski smile. "You're on my side."

That was almost too simple, so Sarah gave herself one more job. She hadn't actually protected Ellie last night, and the other woman implied it wasn't her job. The bride-to-be thought Sarah had "held down the fort," until it got to the point that Devon's parents wisely left. Sarah had let it get to that point, but would not go down that way at the wedding. Her first job was always to protect Chuck, but she made it her second responsibility to "protect" Ellie from her future in-laws.

Always the proficient multi-tasker in the kitchen, Ellie started washing her dishes. "I know you're really on Chuck's side, but when he fails his current mission, please be there for him."

"His mission?" Sarah was immediately concerned about what "mission" Ellie was talking about. Sarah was supposed to know about all of his "missions," and Ellie shouldn't know that he had flashed.

"He didn't call it that. That's my word for what he's doing. I've never seen him so determined. I only assume he was like that when he decided to finish his degree, but you'd know more about that." Ellie looked at Sarah knowingly and went back to her task. "Since you knew he was doing that, I'm sure you saw him agonizing about the decision at the time. This time, he didn't hesitate. He's determined to find our long-lost father so that man can walk me down the aisle."

That "mission" description came from so far out of left field, Sarah had to use the training she developed before she was a CIA agent—before she was a teenager—to keep the surprise off her face. Actually, the natural thing would have been to react a little, but Ellie's back was turned while she was washing in the sink, so fortunately she didn't notice. She continued, "The specific reason I got upset last night was because since I was little, I always pictured him walking me down the aisle. I know it's not going to happen, but I don't want my future husband's father to pretend to be mine."

This was so far outside of what she did as a spy, Sarah didn't know what to say. She wanted to make it ok, but it wasn't something she could do.

Finished, Ellie wiped her hands and looked directly at Sarah, making her words seem more serious. "I'm sure you know this, but our dad left Chuck and me when I was 18. I assume he did it then because I was old enough to be my brother's guardian. I had basically been taking care of the household long before then, since our mom left. That woman's a complete lost cause."

Sarah noticed that Ellie rambled a little off track little like her brother did, but she was better at getting her focus back than he. "It's been a lot of years since we saw Dad. We don't know if he's even alive. Chuck is undeterred, though. He thinks he's going to find him and bring him to the wedding. He won't be convinced otherwise. When he fails, promise me you'll be there for him. Consider that your wedding gift to me."

Sarah easily acknowledged, "I'll do anything for Chuck."

"Of course you will."

"I should go, though." Sarah pointed to her clothes. "I really should get dressed before I go to my car."

With a laugh, Ellie said, "That's probably a good idea, for the sake of the neighbors. Devon's at work, and he's the doctor that deals with heart attacks. We don't need EMTs taking John Casey to the hospital."

The thought of Sarah's partner reacting like that was disturbing to her. He was only her partner. Fortunately, over a year ago, he made it very clear he was "not interested." She shouldn't show the disgust she was feeling because whenever he wanted, Casey could watch the live video feeds of this apartment. For all Sarah knew, he was watching or listening to this very conversation. For the cover, Sarah chucked along for the joke it was intended to be.

After briefly hugging Ellie goodbye, Sarah returned to Chuck's room to put her clothes back on. She quietly knocked, and Chuck opened the door as if he had been waiting for her. Her clothes were neatly organized on the bed so she didn't have to gather them from the various places she dropped them.

Inside, he backed up to give Sarah room to change. He actually put his hand on the doorknob, like he was going to leave to give Sarah privacy to change, but that wouldn't do for the cover. Sarah pointed out that her boyfriend wouldn't leave the room for her to change. She wasn't going slowly, so when he released the handle, she was already pulling up her pants. Chuck turned his back to give her a little privacy before she unbuttoned his shirt and changed back into her own.

She'd expect most men to take a free peek. Sarah was already more clothed than she had been in the shower. Chuck was not most men, though.

It had not been long since Jill, but Chuck was already mesmerized by Sarah again. Her looks were always a tool in her arsenal as a spy, but with Chuck, she hadn't made any effort to "lure" him since she asked him on that first-first date. He was simply drawn to her, and it always made her feel special.

He nervously chattered, "How'd it go with El?"

"Just fine. Mission accomplished, not that I had much of a mission to accomplish. It wasn't necessary. I'm just intimidated by her so much, and I'm such a novice at being a friend, I got myself worried over nothing."

"What do you mean she intimidates you? What's scary about Ellie?"

Sarah scoffed. "Don't try to lie. I know your sister intimidates even you sometimes."

"Well yeah. If she had raised you, I'd understand, but you don't have anything to worry about. She thinks you can do anything. She doesn't know you like I do. The only difference with me is I know you can do anything because I've seen the proof."

Moments like that one made Sarah wish more than anything that Chuck was a real boyfriend. They were alone in his bedroom, and as a resourceful spy, she could find a quick way to block the cameras. She needed to get the subject off what Chuck thought about her because that was always "dangerous" territory. "I heard you have your own mission."

"What did Ellie tell you?" Chuck questioned.

Sarah placed the shirt she had procured on Chuck's bed. If she didn't already have one at her place, she would keep this one. That Nerd Herd button-down was also clean, so it only smelled like Chuck's laundry detergent, not like him, so there was no reason to swap. "She said that even though wedding planning was put on hold, you're helping her. Did you flash?"

"It's not a real mission like you, Casey, and I do all the time for national security, but it's something I can do."

Sarah slipped on her low-rise Chucks. "It's a good thing it's not one of those kinds of missions. You should never do one of those without me." She remembered her partner could be listening, so she added, "And without Casey. You can only call projects 'missions' as long as they're 100% safe."

"This 'mission' is. You don't need to worry about me going off on my own and doing 'missions.' Ellie's the one who called it a 'mission.'"

It helped that she knew what Chuck's secret mission was. Mr Bartowski had easily passed the initial background check. He was just the father who had abandoned Ellie and Chuck. He wasn't someone dangerous like Sarah's ex-con dad. "If you want to keep your 'mission' a secret, you shouldn't leave cards out on your desk where a spy could see them."

"Wha—"

"You can turn around, Chuck. I'm dressed."

Chuck turned around and the look on his face was almost the same as it was when she was only wearing her underwear and one of his shirts. Whenever she needed a self-confidence pick-me-up, the boyfriend-she-wished-she-had always came through. After a moment of looking at her, his face broke, and he quickly grabbed the birthday card on his desk.

He quickly rambled, "You weren't supposed to see that. It's perfectly safe. It's—"

"702-555-0142"

"You already looked?" Sarah didn't say because she didn't understand what Chuck was so worried about. "Don't bother calling it. That's the first thing I did. It's been disconnected."

"I didn't look. There's surveillance on this room. If you want to hide something in here, you need to be more careful. Your NSA neighbor has already backtraced your phone call to a dead number. The number was in the daily status report Casey emails me every day, which is how I knew it."

Chuck's face was no longer filled with wonder. "That's a little creepy, and… I don't know the phone number of any Fulcrum agents. The only ones I know are safely in prison, so the number is completely safe."

"I trust you on your 'mission,' Chuck." Sarah ran her hand down Chuck's arm, took his hand and squeezed. "If you ever have a mission that's not absolutely safe, I know you'll come to me."

She looked where she knew Casey had a camera in Chuck's room. Then she looked towards the window. "I have to go." Pretty sure their hands couldn't be seen on the camera, she squeezed Chuck's again. The cameras would show she was staying longer than she needed to stay, so she released his hand, and took her exit out the window.

Back in her car, Sarah rationalized that she needed to do things like she did this morning: make it look like she had spent the night to strengthen the cover. It would also reassure Chuck that she would always be with him. They couldn't be a real boyfriend and girlfriend, but it was too risky having him chasing other women.

Before she first came to Chuck's room, part of her wondered what that disconnected number was and knew she should ask Chuck. Instead, Ellie told her. Their dad had been gone for ten years. He was harmless and couldn't hurt them, so it was fine that Chuck had his secret "mission."

It did hit home, in a way. Sarah's mom was out of the picture, sort of like Chuck's mom. It sounded like Sarah trusted hers a lot more than Ellie trusted Mrs Bartowski. Sarah's mom had a good reason to not be around, and Ellie had a good reason for not trusting hers.

Unlike Chuck's dad, Sarah's own dad was reachable again. He had been out of prison a few months. When she was growing up, before he was arrested, the two of them had several ways of contacting each other, in case they were ever separated. A few days after he got out, she checked the closest one to San Diego, and her dad had left the number of a new burner phone.

It had been years since they talked. With Chuck trying to find his dad, she felt a little guilty for shutting out her own, especially since she was so close to where he got out of prison. She should reach out. She couldn't tell him about her life in the CIA, but she could reconnect with the man who raised her.

A/N: Did Sarah ever find out about the back of the Tron poster? We don't know, but at this point, it doesn't matter. For now, Sarah has told Chuck how to be careful when doing secret searches from his room.

MyNameIsJeffNImLost AU stories:
- "The Intersect Couple vs Flashing" (chapter 10. "Who's Invited?")