Chuck vs. the "What the hell is that???"

by

Rink Rat

Spoilers:Everything up to "Chuck vs. the Marlin" to be on the safe side.

Genre: Action/Adventure Crossover with Stargate, with a dash of romance (Chuck/Sarah).

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Neither Chuck nor Stargate SG1/Atlantis are mine, but I do own a really neat collection of student loans if someone wants to take those off my hands.

A/N: Some familiarity with Stargate will make parts of the story easier to understand. For those who aren't familiar with Stargate, www(dot)gateworld(dot)net is a great place to read up on the basics if interested.

Trivia: There is a real life link between Chuck and Stargate Atlantis. Can anyone tell me what it is?

Chapter 1

Chuck was happy, happier than he'd been in some time. Granted, he knew that there were reasons he shouldn't be happy. He wasn't really dating Sarah, he had come a nanometer from being hauled off by Longshore to some padded detention facility, and he had all of the government's secrets still locked securely in his brain. He was just choosing to ignore those facts in the face of an outing with Sarah, and Ellie and Devon, newly engaged and still in their own little world.

"Where's this lecture being held again?" Chuck asked, relishing in the feeling of holding Sarah's hand as he watched Ellie and Devon wander the pathways of UCLA's campus.

"Haines Hall, room 352…it's the Anthropology reading room," Sarah answered with a soft smile. "Thanks for coming to this with me guys."

"I never would have guessed that you had an interest in Anthropology, Sarah," Ellie said lightly over her shoulder, her eyes never leaving Devon.

"Well it's more an interest in linguistics over anthropology," Sarah shrugged . "The lecture itself is about the evolution of language."

"I think it's awesome," Devon tossed out, just like Chuck knew he would.

"Gee Devon, that's a shock," Chuck laughed.

"Careful little bro," Devon said mock-sternly before tossing Chuck a wink over his shoulder.

"Anyway," Sarah interrupted the boys, squeezing Chuck's hand lightly, "Again, I just really appreciate that you guys wanted to spend your days off with me at some lecture. Not everyone would be willing to do that."

"Well, it's no seminar on the latest bleeding edge gaming technology," Chuck said absently, sneaking a peek out of the corner of his eye at Sarah's face. He wasn't disappointed as her eyes narrowed slightly. With a slight smirk he went on playfully, "But it's the company that counts really."

"Right, and that would be so much more interesting to the rest of us," Ellie said before Sarah had a chance to say something similar.

"Awww, you wound me sis," Chuck said, mimicking a shot to the heart. Even though he was having fun, Chuck couldn't stop his mind from flashing back to the feel of the bullets impacting against the vest as Bryce shot him, nor could he stop the shudder that ran through him at the thought. For just a moment his mind twisted in agony as at how much it would tear Ellie apart if she knew her little brother had experienced that. Once again he thought about how maybe it was a good thing that he had to lie to her, at least some of the time. 'Yeah right, Bartowski. Like you'd ever have the stones to think of lying to Ellie as good,' John Casey's voice ran through his head. Since when had John Casey become the little voice in his head? Sure it was better than Morgan, but still…

Shaking off the momentary glum thought, Chuck saw that they were approaching the entrance to a stately old building, one he assumed was Haines Hall, an assumption soon borne out as he saw an old bronze plaque proclaiming "Haines Hall, est. 1929"

"Well I guess we're here," Chuck gestured grandly at the plaque.

"Yes we are," Sarah said with a smile that Chuck noticed was her number three smile, the tight little smile she got when she was focused on a mission but had to show a smile to the world. Uh oh. "Chuck, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure," Chuck bit down on his lower lip. What could the CIA possibly want at a lecture on the evolution of language? After a moment's thought Chuck realized that he should feel silly, he should have known something was up when Sarah asked him to invite Ellie and Devon to a day at UCLA. Looking at his sister and her fiancé Chuck forced a blank look onto his face. "You guys go on in, we'll be right behind you."

"Don't be too long," Ellie gently chided. "What room did you say it was again Sarah? Oh never-mind, we'll find it on one of the posters."

"A mission, Sarah?" Chuck whispered as he and Sarah stepped away from the building's entrance to gain a measure of privacy, trying to sound stern but just glad he managed to keep a whine out of his voice. "We're here on a mission? Should I expect Casey to pop out of the bushes too?"

"Well, we're here for a mission as well," Sarah answered, pointedly ignoring the tone Chuck was attempting to take. "I am interested in the lecture, it was just lucky that I found it. And Casey won't be here."

"So, what's the mission?" Chuck asked. "I haven't flashed lately, and I thought the muckety mucks were quiet this week."

"It has nothing to do with the Intersect. Director Graham," Sarah put a subtle stress on the name, ignoring Chuck's small attempt at humor. "wants me to contact one of our assets here on campus. I'll need you to distract Ellie and Devon for a few minutes so I can slip away and make the meeting."

"Right. How?"

"I don't know, you'll think of something," Sarah shrugged, obviously not worried. "Changing the subject however, I've noticed that you haven't been referring to Devon as Captain Awesome lately."

"Was there a question in there?" Chuck teased gently as he reached for the door and looked back at Sarah. "Honestly though, I don't know. I guess now that he's proposed to Ellie and we're going to be family…"

Sarah waited a moment for Chuck to finish the thought before noticing that he had 'that' look on his face. Chuck was flashing. "Oh crap," Sarah whispered. "Chuck? Chuck, what is it."

When Chuck didn't answer right away Sarah looked around to see what could have possibly triggered the flash only to see a few students and some other people, obviously not students, walking towards the building, presumably to attend one of the many lectures being held in Haines Hall.

For what seemed like forever images flashed through Chuck's mind; the great pyramid of Giza, images of classified government files featuring a picture of the man Chuck was staring at, a camel, a picture of the sun, two newspapers with different obituaries for 'Dr. Daniel Jackson'. After they had run their course Chuck felt like falling to the ground just like he always did.

"That guy over there," Chuck burst out, struggling to control his voice as he always did when released from a flash. "He's Doctor Daniel Jackson!"

"Which one?" Sarah started rapidly scanning the people moving towards the building, her hand reaching around for her concealed weapon.

"Tall, short dark hair, glasses," Chuck rattled out rapid-fire. "He's with some guy who looks like he could be his brother, two o'clock, coming in fast."

Seeing the pair Chuck was talking about, Sarah's eyes narrowed as her fingers tightened on her gun. "Fulcrum?"

"No. He's a linguist and an archaeologist, was laughed out of academia years ago only to resurface years later. The FBI has a file on him, so does the CIA. Apparently he's been presumed dead a number of times, only to reappear days, even months later. Neither agency knows why, but a number of his known associates are military and they both suspect some link there."

"Chuck," Sarah sighed with barely contained exasperation, her whole stance relaxing as she released her gun. "He's a linguist. We're going to a linguistics lecture. Does that strike you as odd?"

"Not that no," Chuck answered as he quickly turned his attention to Sarah, trying to avoid the notice of the two people in question. He tried not to laugh as he continued "But Sarah, his file is interesting! He tried telling people that the pyramids were launching pads for spaceships."

"Sounds like just another fringe archaeologist," Sarah interrupted, rolling her eyes. "Come on Chuck, I'm classifying this as a non-threatening flash, and Ellie and Devon are waiting."