First I have to make a plea to my readers: Is there anyone who would be willing to help me edit my upcoming chapters? The person who has been kind enough to make sure that my grammar and spelling in this and my previous stories weren't too horrendous is having shoulder surgery next week. I'm not entirely sure how much writing I'll be able to get done while they're recovering but I definitely don't want to add anything more to their plate. Please, if you would be willing to act as my editor for a few chapters or you know someone who would please contact me via a personal message or review.

Thank you again to anyone who has reviewed, favorited or alerted this story.

Other things to note (because I was too lazy to mention it last chapter): A Libby is the former name of the TV Trope the "Alpha Bitch" after the character which embodied this trope on Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Disclaimer: I do not own Chuck.

Sarah versus The Alma Mater Part II

October 19, 2008

Sarah had to fight herself to keep from adjusting her dress as she walked into the gym. She hadn't exactly been thrilled when Chuck had told her that they were going to have to go to her reunion. What was the use of having a boyfriend who knew the future if he couldn't fix it so she didn't have to go to awkward and potentially mortifying social events? She was somewhat placated when Chuck reminded her that she might still get to arrest Heather and/ or Dick in front of their entire graduating class. The new dress he had bought hadn't hurt either. Or how well Chuck cleaned up. As far as Sarah was concerned Chuck always looked good. But in honor of, as he put it, being her arm candy tonight, he had dug out an agency tailored suit from the back of his closet, and now looked every bit the modern day James Bond that Mark no doubt thought he was.

"You look great." Chuck whispered in her ear as they approached the registration table. Sarah smiled slightly. Chuck's attempts to bolster her confidence were sweet, but he would think she looked good in a paper bag. She could, however, trust that Ellie was a lot more objective.

Sarah knew that, if she asked him too, Chuck would have had no problem making up something to cover for their absence tonight with his sister but Ellie was her friend and she had decided that this was one time she should be able to tell the truth. At least the part that wouldn't compromise National Security. Ellie had shot her mischievous smile and told her to have fun making everyone jealous at the reunion.

"Welcome cougars class of 98!" The overly enthusiastic woman behind the table greeted them. Sarah couldn't seem to place her but suspected she must have been on the prom committee. And possibly the pep squad.

"Hi. Jennifer Burton?"

"Here." She said, handing her a pre-prepared name tag.

"Thanks." As Sarah tried to find a place to put the sticker that wouldn't, ruin her new dress too much, the woman seemed to frown slightly, as if rolling something over in her mind.

"Wait, you're Jenny Burton?" Sarah gritted her teeth. No, her real name is Sarah Walker, her birth name is Sam and Jenny Burton was one of a half dozen ephemeral people she tried to forget she helped to create but was forced to face tonight.

"I am if it says I am." Sarah said, shooting her a tight smile. Chuck reached over resting his hand on her lower back, sheparding her away from the table. Unfortunately he nearly ran straight into her when she froze momentarily in front of her senior portraits. Chuck moved beside her biting his lip as he studied the photo.

"You know, this is kind of a relief." He finally said. Sarah raised her brows slightly at that. What exactly did that mean? Chuck turned towards her slightly before continuing. "It's just you're, well, you're a knockout. And Ellie's gorgeous, in a completely sisterly way, so absent the interference of my nerdiness…" he said beginning to trail off.

Sarah looked at him questioningly. Chuck quickly cleared his throat.

"You know what, it's not that bad." He said nervously then added with slightly more conviction, "I am relieved that it's not that bad. Why don't we go find the Champagne?" Chuck added quickly before taking her hand and pulling her towards one of dishes covered in drinks.

XXX

From the corner of the dance floor, she watched the couple she was having trouble recognizing, trying to puzzle out who they were. When they had finally made their way to a table, Dick Duffy proceeded to live up to his name, and attempt to hit on the woman. She was shocked to hear that the she was Jenny Burton of all people. As Dick continued to talk, she saw the man tense. She wondered if Dick realized how lucky he was that he hadn't been hit yet. Then, Dick teased that ten years would feel even longer to someone living in cell, like Jenny's dad. She had to stop herself from snorting. Jenny's date stiffened slightly, but instead of delivering the hit she had expected, he simply sent Dick an almost sickening smile, and spat out,

"Well, you would know." Then wrapped his hand around Jenny's waist and began walking towards the refreshment table, leaving a confused Dick in their wake. So, that was Jenny Burton. As they walked away the two leaned their heads close to each other, whispering. Looked like there's more to Jenny than meets the eye. Or at least there's more to her date. Too bad she didn't have time to find out what. Scanning the gym she saw her target across the room and cringed slightly as she moved towards her. Really, someone needed to teach to the woman to accessorize.

XXX

"So, do you want to call his probation officer when we get home, or should I?" Chuck whispered to Sarah as they walked away from Duffy. She bit back a chuckle, before sobering slightly.

"Are you sure he isn't Mark's contact?" She asked. Chuck gave Sarah a disbelieving look "Right. He really doesn't have the brains for that in any timeline." Chuck followed Sarah's gaze as her eyes drifted up to the DJ stand. Casey was standing up leading the dancers as they swayed back and forth.

"Please tell me you brought a camera." Sarah said, turning to Chuck again. Chuck chuckled and shot her a smirk.

"Sarah, what do you take me for? I made sure one of the Gym's security cameras was turned towards the stage. We're going to have video of the entire night." Sarah grinned along with Chuck, only for the grin to fall quickly as her eyes landed on something across the room.

"Chuck." She said worriedly, nodding towards someone on the other side of the dance floor. He turned and they watched as Heather Chandler began escorting Libby Ratner out of the room.

"I'll keep an eye on Mark. You get Libby?" He doubted he needed to ask. Chuck wasn't going to place himself between Sarah and her high school nemesis. Heather was on the top of Sarah's list of people who needed an ass-kicking, and if Heather was working with Kaminsky, he wasn't going to attempt to stop her.

Sarah pulled him down slightly and pulled him in a short kiss.

"Be safe." She said, before threading her way through the crowd toward the exit Libby and Heather had taken. Chuck stood there a moment, watching her before turning and heading towards Mark.

Chuck moved next to the other nerd. He was just about to tell him that they think they've found the ringleader they were looking for, minus the part that she was currently with his wife, when he looks down the oddly empty path towards the gym's main entrance and flashes on two more of Kaminsky's men. Andrei Booriakin and Sergei Andropov aren't the type of men he wanted to have reaching for weapons in a room full of civilians. In hopes of bringing any kind of confrontation into a less populated area, Chuck grabbed Mark's arm and began pulling him towards the back exit.

When they pushed their way into one of the school corridors Mark froze up, as his eyes widened at the sight of a well dressed man standing in their path. Chuck didn't flash on him, but he's fairly sure that the gun he's pointing directly at Mark was a signal that he wasn't one of the good guys.

"Mr. Ratner." He said in a crisp British accent. "I'm disappointed by some of the rumors I've heard recently. I had thought you understood the exclusive nature of your arrangement with my employer." Another man moved from a side corridor to stand beside the lead goon. Chuck began trying calculate how to deal with them. They were both standing far enough away that he wouldn't be able to simply kick or twist the guns away and he didn't want to risk either getting off a lucky shot.

"I didn't have a choice." Mark stuttered. "They threatened my wife." The man smirked and shook his head.

"Did you think we wouldn't?"

His attempts at intimidation were interrupted when the door they'd just walked through burst open . Chuck turned just enough to see the two henchman he had flashed on earlier approaching them. To Chuck's surprise both of the men in front of him adjusted their aim slightly towards the new arrivals. Chuck decided he could figure out why the bad guys were shooting at each other later, and took advantage of the distraction to dive for the nearest classroom, pulling Mark along with him. The gunfire started as he dragged one of the desks over to barricade the door. Looking around he noticed that there was a side door, leading off, presumably, to another class room. As he had begun to pull Mark towards the door Chuck turned toward Mark.

"Tell me about the arrangement."

XXX

Sarah slipped her heels off and began walking through the locker room as quietly as possible. Listening carefully, she began making her way down the rows of lockers, her gun held at the ready. Or it was until she walked passed one of the rows and suddenly found it kicked out of her hands. Sarah shifted quickly into a fighting stance, as Heather, standing on one of benches, kicked up again. Sarah deflected it, and gave Heather a punch, which the smaller girl blocked.

They were both so focused on each other that they didn't hear the footsteps echoing on the floor until they were only a few feet away. Freezing, Sarah turned to find three suited men with guns blocking the way out. The leader of the three smirks.

"I hate to break up a girl fight, but my employer is eager to meet Mrs. Ratner." He said, before he turned towards one of his goon. "Grab the wife. Kill the other two." Sarah looked over to Heather. She wouldn't trust the other woman as far as she could throw her but she did trust that she has a fair share of self-preservation. She gave Heather a slight nod. Her former nemesis frowned slightly, but returned it. Just as the two lesser goons moved forward, Heather jumped from her perch and they both moved towards the men. Sarah unarmed and knocked out the one closer to her with an elbow to the face then kick, before moving forward again. She landed a kick to the leader's head at almost the same time as Heather landed one to his gut. With all three down, Sarah reached back and grabbed one of the now abandoned guns, and pointed it at Heather.

"Freeze, Federal Officer." She warned. Only to find herself staring down Heather's gun and having the words echoed back to her.

That was definitely not what she expected. From the shock on Heather's face, she hadn't either. They both stood there a moment, staring at each other, until the sound of metal banging against metal, startled them out of their unintentional stand-off. Turning towards the sound, Sarah's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Libby shakily holding one of the other guns.

"I don't care who you are, as long as one of you tells me what the hell is going on."

XXX

"A cool guy like you. You wouldn't understand. I'm just a guy, who likes math. I know why a girl like Libby would marry me. " Mark began quickly. "My last girlfriend before her certainly made that clear." He added sardonically. They were out of linked classrooms now, so Chuck made his way towards the door to the hall, hoping that they were far enough away now from the two sets of goons that he could slip Mark out to the van. The gunfire must have been heard even over the music, because it seemed like everyone had squeezed from the gym into the corridor in a panic. There was no way he was going to be able to get Mark safely out that way.

"Then, I didn't get the promotion I expected and Libby started to talk about starting a family. I panicked. Do you know how expensive a private school education is?"

"So you became a traitor?" Chuck asked, still slightly incredulous.

"No. No. It wasn't like that." Mark quickly sputtered. "This man approached me. He said he worked for one of our English competitors." He added, quietly. Chuck headed towards the back of the class room to check the window. "It was just small things. Schematics for small parts, code."

"Until the bomber plans?" Chuck supplied as he began trying to jimmy open the decades shut window.

"No. That was someone else." Mark shook his head. Right. That would explain the shoot out in the hallway. "They must have learned somehow that I'd been willing to sell information. They tried to buy the plans from me." He explained before adding quickly. "But I said no." Then continued quietly. "But when they threatened my wife. I wasn't thinking straight. And I couldn't have gone you guys because, well." Mark trailed off. There was a creaking squeal and suddenly the window slowly began working its way upwards.

"We might find out about the other information you had stolen." Chuck concluded. Mark nodded. At this point Chuck wasn't entirely sure what help he could give Mark in the long run. If he had information that was useful, they might still be able to work something out. Chuck let out a sigh. He'd just have to focus now on getting Mark back to L.A. "Go out the window." Chuck said gesturing with a nod. "We'll get you someplace safe, then we can worry about everything else."

"No." Mark said, quickly. "Not without Libby."

"Mark," Chuck began, gently.

"This is my fault, I'm not going to leave until she's safe." Mark straightened as if preparing to hold his spot on the floor for as long as possible.

"My partner has her Mark. She's safe." Chuck told him earnestly. Mark's stance faltered some. "Trust me." Mark seemed to think for a moment before speaking.

"Okay. I'll go to the van. But I'm not leaving the campus without Libby." Chuck looked over the smaller man. He was clearly scared, but he also looked determined.

"Alright then."

XXX

Some of Bartowski's bad luck must have rubbed off on him, because he had been just switching songs when the gunfire started. Everyone in the room acted predictably like most civilians at the sound and all hell broke loose. They started squeezing out of the door, panically pressing into the small surrounding corridors, pushing outwards towards the exit. It's a messy mob, and Casey can only hope that the only bodies they'll find when this is all over are bad guys. And possibly that guy that requested Mmm…Bop.

The local authorities have most likely already received calls from half the crowd, so Casey pushes through the mass of people, looking for his partners. He hopes the mission hasn't gone completely bottoms up but given that this is Bartowski and Walker he kept his expectations low. When he heard an especially shrill shriek he followed the sound, pushing through the crush until he found a small bubble of space around two different, slightly trampled recently dead bodies. He may not have the Intersect, but Casey has been in the game long enough to recognize the type. Two baddies down, unknown number lost in the crowd.

When he finally pushed his way out, it's clear that if any of their marks survived, they have probably already slipped away, so Casey decided to simply meet up with the others and plan their next move. Bartowski and Walker are already at the van along with a blonde Casey doesn't recognize and the not-so-happy couple. The Ratners are in the middle of an argument. Or, more accurately, Mrs. Ratner is in the middle of screaming at Mr. Ratner. Something about not trusting her and being an idiot. Walker was sitting next to the blonde looking incredibly uncomfortable. He could hear the two sniping at each other as he approached.

"You know if someone had told me back in High School that you would be an Agent, I would have said dream little jailbird's daughter, dream." The unknown woman said with a smirk.

"I didn't exactly peg you as the type either to risk your life for the greater good." Walker answered back. The girl snorted.

"Please. I get to fly all over the world, wearing the best clothes, staying at the best hotels and going to best parties all on the arm of men whose job it is to keep their body at peak performance and all on Uncle Sam's dime." Casey grimaced and fought back a growl.

Turning away from the two bickering pairs, Casey made his way off to the side where Bartowski was standing.

"What happened?"

"Apparently Mark was selling secrets to another group before he stole bomber plans and they decided to crash the meet." Bartowski told him with a grim look before adding. "And Sarah's High School nemesis is an Agent." Taking both fact in, Casey turned and looked over the scene before him. He could hear sirens approaching in the background.

"I'll stay and help with the clean up. You two take the lovely couple to the drop off point and try to explain this mess to Beckman. Because I sure as hell am not."

XXX

"Casey just called. The three men you took out in the locker room were still unconscious when he got there, but the rest had either slipped out or been killed." Chuck said with a sigh as he placed the bottles of water he was holding on his bedside. He looked over to wear Sarah was sitting on their bed. Despite her attempts to look relaxed, Chuck could still see the tension her body held from earlier in the night.

"I'm sorry about Heather." He said and watched her cover up a tiny flinch as his words hit a bit too close to what was obviously going through her mind before she shot him a strained smile.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. It's a good thing, right? To have one less bad guy out there." She told him. He sat down on the bed and slide over towards her giving her shoulder a squeeze. She was right, but he still felt like he should apologize. He had looked up Heather's file once they had gotten home. The first time she had caught the attention of any of the government's Agencies, Bureaus or Services had been shortly after he had left the farm. He suspected that either his investigation or something his father had done might have caused her to show up on their radar. Chuck didn't need to have Sarah explicitly tell him what role Heather had played in her High School experience to realize it must of have been horrible. Locking Heather up must have felt like a victory in the other timeline. A bit of justice that Sarah had finally come out on top.

"You're a better Agent." He told her, unsure what else to say, before adding. "And a better person." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"I'm disappointed that someone isn't selling government secrets because it means I didn't get to kick their butt. I'm not entirely sure that places me as a better person." Chuck smiled at her bluntness.

"I'm pretty sure every single person who was teased in School would disagree." He told her. She loosened slightly, but not entirely. "Why don't you let me give you a massage?" Chuck asked. Sarah frowned slightly. "You look like you're ready to pounce on someone." He explained. Sarah scowled slightly at him. He gave her a slightly puppy dog look before she rolled her eyes again, and pulled off her tank top, leaving her was bare from the waist up, as she turned and lay face down on their bed.

Chuck scooted up the bed so he could begin to work out some of the knotted muscles in her neck and shoulders.

"Do you even know how to give a massage?" She asked. Chuck let out a chuckle.

"I'll have you know I am a licensed Masseuse." Sarah craned her head back, trying to give him the best disbelieving look she could from her awkward position. "Or permitted or certified or something. In San Francisco." He confessed, then countered. "But it still counts." She lay back again fully as his hands began moving down her back.

"Bryce sighed us up for the classes while we were at Stanford." He explained after a minute. "He said it because it would be a good skill for a spy to have, but I think he just hoped it would be a good place to meet girls that were good with their hands." Sarah snorted.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." She said, with a touch of fondness. After another few minutes, Chuck sat up slightly and reached for the page he had printed off earlier in the evening.

"I have something that might cheer you up even more." Chuck told her, handing her the page before returning to his massage.

"It's Heather's scores from her training." He explained, somewhat unnecessarily. Sarah read over the sheet as he began working his way down her body. After a moment, Sarah shifted suddenly, flipping over to face him.

"Thank you." She told him, then reached up and pulling him into a kiss. The kiss deepened and Sarah's hands began trailing down his back, playing with the edge of t-shirt and, eventually, teasing their way underneath it before they were both forced to come up for air. Her hand stayed on his skin as they pulled back slightly.

"I haven't finished your massage." He pointed out. Sarah shot him a coy smile, then shifted suddenly again, this time unexpectedly turning them over so that Sarah was now straddling him.

"I think I know a better way to relax."