Posted December 16, 2023

A/N: Sarah isn't just a cold-hearted spy. If you didn't figure it out in Cougars, DeLorean showed she's a person, too.

"Chuck vs the DeLorean" (2x10) Recap
There are a few things you might need to know.

Eighteen years before this point in the show, in Butte, Montana, a happy girl riding her bike appeared to be hit by a bank security truck. A "doctor" came to the rescue. He said he thought she might have broken ribs and would take her to the hospital.

While he was calmly driving away, the girl popped up in the back seat of the car. She didn't seem hurt but said she might have a sprained wrist from the ruse. The driver gave her a choice of the hospital or some rocky road. She picked the ice cream and asked how much money they got.

Switching to the present, in the Orange Orange Chuck asked Sarah to a cover-date at the apartment. She turned him down because she had personal plans.

Anna confronted Morgan that it was time to get an apartment together. He considered the home theater room's big TV and Buy More's free coffee to be "the dream." She didn't agree.

Chuck followed Sarah on her "date." From the tracker app on her phone, Sarah saw Chuck was nearby. When she confronted him, he said he flashed that her older companion was a criminal. Sarah introduced her dad, the same from Montana.

Early the next morning, Sarah's dad was in her hotel room. He had recently conned a lot of cash from a Dubai sheik, and he thought she was running a con on her "boyfriend." She told her father to back off.

At Castle, Sarah revealed the con to Beckman. Because the sheik was a person of interest in the spy world, she wanted them to use Chuck to get more information.

Morgan got a $2500 loan from Devon to help move in with Anna. Before that could happen, Lester and Jeff told their coworker about a DeLorean in the Buy More car audio install room. The car could only go 22 mph without stalling. Morgan didn't care and bought it with his new cash.

That evening Chuck, Sarah, and her dad, Jack, went to dinner. Chuck turned the conversation to the Dubai con. Jack said the con was that he was selling a skyscraper in downtown LA. Sarah said the con was her father's invention, the Lichtenstein.

After dinner, Chuck flashed on the sheik as he was arriving at the hotel. Chuck took the persona of Hans Liechtenstein, and the deal was set for the next day. When the previous night's encounter was revealed to Beckman, she wanted the con to continue so they could track the sheik's accounts.

At the apartment, Ellie expressed her disapproval of $2500 being loaned to Morgan. Devon said he would get the money back. At Buy More, Anna heard about the car purchase. Morgan revealed his new license plate: DEMORGAN, but everyone was mad at him for not joining adulthood.

Sarah convinced her dad to extend the con and use "her team": Casey and Chuck (Cop Face and Schnook). The team took over an office and transformed it to appear to be Lichtenstein's. They successfully got the sheik to transfer a large amount of money. After the team was gone, the sheik discovered he had been conned.

As the team celebrated in Sarah's hotel room, Jack left "to get ice." Beckman called to say they didn't have the money. Jack had left everyone high and dry.

The next morning, Chuck brought chocolate croissants to Sarah's hotel room to console her. They bonded over their absent fathers.

Still upset, Sarah worked out her frustration in the gym at Castle. She was called by the sheik, who demanded his money back as trade for her father. Sarah threatened to kill the sheik, but he was unafraid.

Morgan asked Chuck for money to pay Devon back. Chuck found $10 million extra in his account. When he told Sarah in Castle, she was packing weapons and a duffel of shirts. She told Chuck to leave the money, and she left to rescue her dad. Chuck took the DeMorgan and followed her.

Sarah tried and failed to bluff the duffel bag as money. Chuck showed up and said they were bad conmen who got in over their heads. The sheik transferred his money back using a wireless laptop from Chuck, which gave Casey access to the account.

Casey showed up, pretending to arrest the "grifters." He handcuffed Chuck and instead of handcuffing Sarah, slipped her a gun. The two spies proceeded to take out the sheik's armed thugs. The sheik held a gun on Jack, but Sarah shot her dad to get him out of the way. The bad guy then tried to escape in the DeMorgan but failed because it could not drive fast.

The next day in Castle, Beckman told Casey and Sarah that she was going to have Jack arrested. Up in Buy More, Morgan was excited his stolen car had been impounded, meaning he would be compensated the full Blue Book value: $10K. Anna was excited, but Morgan was seduced away by another car in the install bay: a Dodge Charger painted like the car from The Dukes of Hazzard.

Later at Sarah's apartment, Jack told Sarah he was lucky she was a good shot. Sarah asked him to get her Rocky Road, making it so he wouldn't be there when the police arrived. Before he left, he said he made a $10 million bet that Chuck loved her and was right.

Outside, Jack ran into Chuck. The police showed up at the hotel, and Sarah directed them away. Jack surmised that his daughter was some kind of cop, which Chuck confirmed. He asked Chuck to take care of her.

After the police left, Chuck went over to Sarah to console her, and he gave her his coat for warmth. Sarah sadly said she didn't expect her dad to be back.

Songs (from 2x10):
- "Furr" by Blitzen Trapper
- "Diamond Hoo Hoo Man" by Supergrass

www. imdb. com (8.7/10)
chuckthisblog. wordpress. com (10/91)


Friday, December 12, 2008
Maison23
Los Angeles, CA

Chuck and Sarah walked into her hotel with her still wearing his Buy More jacket and his hand still on her shoulder. In high school, Chuck never had a letter jacket to give to a girl, but he never had a girl who would wear it anyway. This was closer than he ever expected to know what it was like. He had a Buy More jacket instead of an athletic letter jacket, and Sarah wasn't a real girlfriend, but he would always take care of her.

Sarah could do anything, so there wasn't really anything to do. He could do the little things, though, like bring her chocolate croissants and keep her warm. When necessary, he'd do the big things, like swing off the front of Buy More. Giving her his coat was a small deal by comparison.

At some point, Chuck figured Sarah would say goodbye, in their typical cover-way—not that he had any complaints about that. She always was a huge boost to his self-esteem.

They didn't stop in the lobby for cover, though. Instead, she pulled his hand off her shoulder, kept it clasped in hers, and led him to the elevator. Apparently, she was so sad that her dad had left her again that she wasn't up to making a show in the lobby. He supposed that was ok. He'd walk his fake-girlfriend to her room.

Alone, it was quiet in the elevator. For once, Chuck realized he should keep his mouth shut, rather than fill the silence by saying something about seeing Jack when the police had arrived.

Still firmly holding his hand, even when no one was around, Sarah led him to her room. She didn't let go when she used her other hand to unlock the door. She didn't let go when she walked inside. Chuck thought he probably shouldn't follow, so he stayed where he was.

Sarah turned back to him, looked at their clasped hands stretched between them, and frowned. She quietly said, "Aren't you coming, Chuck?"

It was the most vulnerable he had ever seen Sarah. In fact, he wasn't sure he had ever seen her close to looking like that. When things didn't go her way, she yelled at him, like after the helicopter, or she kissed him, like at the docks. She was upset on the rooftop, but they had Longshore as a "chaperone." Chuck was pretty sure he shouldn't go inside at the moment.

Sarah didn't know what he was thinking, so she pulled his arm, and he followed where she led. She didn't say anything else. She simply pulled him next to her on the bed. Chuck was surprised and wasn't sure how it happened, but the next thing he knew, he was lying down behind Sarah, holding her in a protective cocoon. They were still fully dressed, with her wearing his coat, but it was the most wonderful feeling he had felt in years, even counting a few weeks ago when he got his mojo back. It wasn't purely physical and wasn't about old wounds. It simply felt right. He knew that was exactly where he should be.

He still didn't know how his "shooting star" wish could come true. At one point of time, he thought it was Jill, but he wished for "the love of his life." That wasn't Jill. Now, the woman he had thought was the love of his life was in his arms. They weren't technically together, but he hadn't told anyone his wish, so it could still come true.

With or without the wish, Chuck would never take advantage of Sarah. He had promised to take care of her, though, and that's what he was doing.


White house with a picket fence
Undisclosed location

Emma took a deep breath in and out as she filled the sippy cup with milk. She knew she was really old for someone who was raising someone less than two. Sometimes, she could barely keep up.

It was easier with her older daughter. Jack never really helped, but at the time, Emma was young and full of energy. At least this time, she knew what she was doing. She knew that the only thing going for her this time was she no longer was a first-time mother, worried that she would break her kid.

Her kid. Her loser ex-husband would never take Molly from her, like she did his "Angel." Emma's only fear was that Molly wouldn't grow up knowing her older sister. The woman was also sad because she thought she wouldn't see her eldest daughter again, either.

Emma had long thought of Molly as her daughter. In fact, she had been mailed forged adoption papers for when Molly entered school. (She assumed they were from the daughter who was in the CIA, who probably did things like that all the time.) They said Molly was her daughter. That meant the girls were sisters. The thought made Emma happy, in a bittersweet, sad way.

She wiped the tear that threatened to run down her face. She couldn't do anything about that. All she could do was take care of Molly, be her mother, and give her the life she promised.

For her older daughter, Emma could only hope she was ok and not alone—that she had someone to take care of her.


Maison23

Chuck breathed carefully. He didn't want to disturb the angel in his arms. His assigned job, which he wanted to keep more than anything, was to take care of her. That meant being there for her however she needed. The extra effort it took him to breath extremely carefully was the only way he knew he wasn't asleep and dreaming.

He was behind the goddess, and her golden hair was in his face. He was lucky it wasn't tickling his nose, causing him to sneeze and wake her. Having his arms around Sarah while in bed was as good as any dream he remembered, but this time it was real! He just didn't want it to end.

Chuck didn't know what time it was. All he knew was that it was completely dark outside. The sun was going down when Sarah brought him to her room. On a clear day like today, it always took a while before the sky became completely black. That time was a while ago.

The entire time Chuck had been lying with her in bed, Sarah had been holding his arms tightly around her. It didn't take very long for her breath to even out as a clear sign she was asleep. Subconsciously, she toed off her shoes and weaved her feet between his legs. Apparently, it was more restful to sleep without shoes, but she wanted to keep her feet warm. Trying to stay respectful was almost torture for Chuck. It was wonderful torture—one that didn't involve sharp objects—but it wasn't easy.

Some time later, Sarah moved again. This time she pulled Chuck even tighter around her. He really needed to wake her before they both regretted it. Before he figured out the best way to extract his arm, she woke up on her own.

"Thank you for staying with me, Chuck."

"Of course." He didn't know how to karate chop bad guys, but he was determined to take care of Sarah any way he could. That was no sacrifice.

"Wow, how late is it? Did you sleep?"

Chuck wouldn't admit that he hadn't and the entire evening was permanently burned into his head. Sarah was beautiful when she was still half asleep, and he didn't want to forget a second. He didn't answer her questions and simply said, "I should go."

"You could stay."

Maybe he had fallen asleep and was dreaming. Chuck wasn't sure. Did Sarah Walker just ask him to stay with her for the night? He pinched himself.

When he was sure he was awake he looked at the time. It was after 10. It had been almost five hours. "It's late." At that moment, his phone buzzed from a phone message alert. He couldn't help but look, because his phone had been buzzing like crazy. He had missed a dozen calls from Ellie, but he never answered because that would have required moving his arm from where Sarah held it around her.

The consummate spy, Sarah saw the call log, too. "Sorry about your sister." Chuck didn't know how she saw, though, because his phone was tilted away from her and there wasn't a mirror on the ceiling. He knew that, but he couldn't help but look up.

Nope. No ceiling mirror. Sarah knew what he had thought and twisted her lips. "I know her and assumed."

That made sense. He wondered how much Ellie was flipping out that he hadn't been home for dinner when he said he'd be there after work. Since Sarah knew about the calls with her freaky spy-der sense, Chuck played the last message—the one from a minute ago—on speaker.

"I give up. I guess you are not coming home for dinner tonight. I hope you took Sarah to a nice dinner instead of getting pizza and playing video games with your little bearded barnacle. Devon and I will be unavailable, so please don't wake us when you get in tomorrow morning. Good night, Brother."

Chuck disconnected from the answering service. Sarah frowned. "You missed dinner because of me. You must be starving."

There was no point in lying because Sarah could always tell whenever he wasn't completely honest. He never used to be able to hide the truth from Ellie, but now he did that all the time. Despite his new aptitude, he was an open book to Sarah. Plus, if he said he wasn't hungry, he knew his stomach would betray him and growl. He admitted, "I'll get something when I get home. El always packs up leftovers for me to take to work." His job was to take care of Sarah, so he offered, "You could come eat with me. Ellie always packs an extra for Morgan."

"Thanks, but I'm not going to steal Morgan's food."

"It's not really for him. She just knows he would get into the break room fridge early and take mine."

Chuck could tell Sarah was surprised. "He does that?"

"No… well… It actually happened once, when I would have willingly given it to him. That time, Morgan hadn't eaten in over a day because his mom was out of town and hadn't stocked the fridge. Normally, he lets Ellie think that he would steal mine so she packs him food."

Sarah slightly smiled in amusement at how Morgan conned Ellie. Chuck continued, "My other co-workers… I wouldn't put it past them to steal more than one meal if I left it in the Mystery Crisper. Anyway… That's the fridge tomorrow. The point is you could join me for dinner now."

"Thank you, but I don't really have an appetite. It's not every day you… you know."

"I've never shot my father, so I could only imagine…" No, he didn't want to imagine that. He was trying to find his dad, not shoot him.

Sarah saw Chuck was disturbed by something and supposed incorrectly. "You don't have to worry about me. I'll shoot my dad, but I'll never shoot you. I don't know Klingon to find out if you are wearing a vest, and thanks to a doctor I know and you're related to, I know it's best not to do things like shoot in your direction when I haven't completely recovered from a concussion."

She smiled, so he knew she was teasing. Since that wasn't what he was thinking, maybe she couldn't read his mind, but knowing where his thoughts often couldn't help but go, like when he was holding her… It was better that she couldn't read minds because if she knew what he sometimes couldn't help but think about her when he was around her… or even when he wasn't around her. He tried to be respectful, but it still would be a little risky.

Chuck stood to leave, and Sarah got up to walk him out. "Wait. Before you go, You should have one of my OO uniforms at your place, in case I have to sneak in your window again."

"You might not be able to do that soon. Before Thanksgiving, El hit her limit when Morgan came in when I wasn't there. Then she heard about Morgan getting a loan from Devon after coming in. She's determined to put locks on the windows." Sarah didn't look concerned, and Chuck realized why. "And the locks wouldn't keep you out."

Sarah shook her head. Windows locks were not an issue for her. Chuck took the duffel bag she handed to him. "It contains jeans, a tank top, and a sweatshirt, for next time."

Before he drove home, he wanted to ask the one thing he was going to ask Sarah when he came over. "You probably already know, but the Buy More Holiday party is tomorrow night. Will you be my date?"

"Yes, I knew about it, and of course I will." In his head, Chuck heard, "Because it's my job, and because it's good for the cover." Sarah didn't say those were the only reasons. He hoped they weren't. Sarah really asked, "That's the same thing as the Christmas party, right? Or are there two parties now?"

Whatever her reason, Sarah was going to be his date. Chuck couldn't help but feel great, even though there was only one party to go to with her. "Yes, it's the same thing. Lester still has an issue about 'Christmas,' and you know what? He has a lot of issues. It doesn't matter. I'm working close, and the party is after, so I'll meet you there."

Sarah smiled and nodded once as he opened the door to leave. She said, "I want to thank you, but I can't do that here. We can only do that for the cover." She put her hand on Chuck's chest and gently pushed him into the hallway.

Chuck backed up, not sure what Sarah was talking about. When they were both in the hall, Sarah whispered, "There are cameras here, so we can say it's for cover." Before Chuck could process, Sarah put her hands on Chuck's jaw and pressed a soft, too short kiss on his lips. He was surprised, but before he could react, Sarah withdrew. She said, "The camera doesn't record, fortunately, so I can say this. Thank you for not betraying me for the money and for taking care of me tonight."

What was that? Chuck's brain finally processed what Sarah meant when she said there were cameras. There were hotel security cameras in the hall, so it was ok to kiss for the cover when they were in the hall. Sarah pushed him into the hallway, though. Did that mean Sarah wanted to kiss him as a thank you when she first said something? Nah, that couldn't be it. Whatever the reason, kissing Sarah made the evening perfect.

Chuck couldn't say what he was feeling, but he could say, "I promised to take care of you." Sarah didn't understand. "I told your dad."

Her expression hardened. "When did you talk to him?"

"I ran into him when the police cars came up. We saw you direct them away."

Sarah looked relieved. "He got away. Good. You know that Beckman wanted to arrest him for embezzlement of money he no longer had because he gave it to a government asset who then gave it to a terrorist to track, which was the entire goal of the con. There was no way to get a conviction for that. Any attempt would blow the secrecy of the Intersect project because the government was in on the con. All they could do was get him for a parole violation for leaving the country, but that would have led to revealing everything which happened afterwards."

She then explained her actions. "After shooting Dad, directing the police away was the least I could do." She considered Chuck a moment, then asked, "What did he say to you? Did he tell you why he gave you the money?"

"Not really. He only said I was the 'right schnook.' He also wanted to make sure I'd always take care of you, which I will."

"You did tonight, but no, you shouldn't care of me. My dad doesn't know the types of threats that I protect you from. You've saved my life by jumping off of a building, and I will always be grateful to you, but you will not make a habit of it."

Sarah's voice became serious. "Wait… Dad saw me with the police. What did you tell him? Did you tell him I'm a CIA agent?"

"No."

"Chuck." She could always tell when Chuck was hiding something.

"He guessed you were some kind of cop, and I confirmed you were. He never said CIA. That's what you taught me last year. For a cover, you tell something close to the truth, but not everything. I didn't have to tell him anything. He just guessed something close but a little off, and I didn't correct him."

Sarah considered Chuck again for a moment. "I suppose that's ok. I don't want him to know what I really do. He wouldn't let it slip, but he's shown many times that I shouldn't really trust him."

That made sense. People who never have bad intentions sometimes did the worst things by accident. Someone like Morgan was trustworthy to do anything, except keep his mouth shut. That's how Ellie found out more than she should have about Jill. Ellie was trustworthy to protect Chuck at all times but only according to what she thought was best.

The same applied with Sarah's secret as a spy. Jack clearly loved Sarah and wouldn't deliberately hurt her, based on what he thought. That wasn't always best, though.

Jack was out of his depth in the spy world almost as much as Chuck. Despite taking the money, her father still cared about Sarah a great deal, and she should know that. "Jack said you turned out pretty good and asked me to take care of you. Although, I'm sure he didn't mean for me to protect you from Fulcrum and terrorists" (which he'd try to do anyway).

"We can't do this again, but I'm really glad you did this time." She backed into her room and started to take off her coat. "Here, take this."

He followed her to where she was handing it, but he didn't think he needed his Buy More coat back. "No, you keep it." Saying it looked better on her sounded corny. Everything looked better on her, but he couldn't tell her that. He also couldn't tell her that coat was the best he could do since they weren't in high school and he didn't have a letter jacket. However, he could use the phrase Sarah was always using. "It's good for the cover."

Holding the coat back to her chest and not handing it back to him, she stared at him for a moment…then another. Finally she put her arms back through the sleeves and hugged it around herself. "You're right." She rubbed her arms up and down the sleeves of what was now her coat. "Thank you for this and," thumbing over her shoulder back to the bed, "thank you again for everything." She then quickly went to her toes and pecked Chuck on the lips before he even knew that was coming. (She kissed him again! The cameras couldn't see them in her entryway. That wasn't for the cover. What was that?!)

Before he could respond, Sarah quickly turned away, didn't look at Chuck, and practically fled behind her closed door.


A/N: Optionally up next is "Chuck vs the DJ Battle," a canon compatible one-shot I co-wrote with nevr in 2021. It's set at the 2009 Buy More Christmas Holiday party. The next chapter of this story is set in between "Chuck vs Santa Claus" and "Chuck vs the Third Dimension."

MyNameIsJeffNImLost stories:
- "The Intersect Couple vs Flashing" (chapters 11-12. "Pacing" and "Help Me")
- "Chuck vs the DJ Battle" (co-authored with nevr)