AN: It's been awhile since I've posted anything here. Back in July I took a couple of weeks and watched all 5 seasons of Chuck on Amazon. I'd forgotten how completely fun and over-the-top the show was. And I loved it. Total escape from reality. As I watched I remembered that the show was ALWAYS a slow burning romance between Chuck and Sarah. And the onscreen chemistry between Levi and Strahovski is pretty amazing. Well, my muse lifted her nose up and took notice. So, right now, I'm working on this CHARAH AU story. Maybe, if I can find the time, they'll be more. We'll have to wait and see.

Let me say in advance, thank you for reading. And, as always, reviews and comments are a HUGE motivator for me (and most authors) to keep the chapters coming. Thanks.

Chuck vs The Body Guard

Chapter 1

"With all due respect, Captain Casey, I don't need to babysit some pencil-necked nerd!"

"In terms of due respect, Detective Walker," Casey growled, "I'm just not feeling the love right now."

Sarah Walker lowered her eyes and took in a breath, fighting to regain her composure. She looked across the Major Crimes Division Captain's beat-up desk cluttered with papers, files, two stained coffee cups and other miscellaneous detritus, catching his eyes again. "This is a rookie assignment," Sarah said.

"Maybe," Casey said. "But the Police Commissioner himself asked me to put someone on this guy."

Sarah's eyes widened in surprise. "Graham's involved? What's the deal?"

"Graham's an old army buddy of the Engram Engineering CEO, Diane Beckman. Beckman asked Graham for help and Graham asked me." Casey bared his teeth. "Chain of command, Walker. You should familiarize yourself with the concept."

Sarah frowned. "Why me?"

Casey rolled his eyes. "Don't be a moron. You've got five years of Secret Service protective detail experience. For Christ's sake, you were on the POTUS detail for a year. There's no one in the entire Seattle PD with more knowledge and experience than you."

Sarah forced herself to keep eye contact with Casey. "What's so special about the package?"

"I don't know all the details," Casey said. "Whole deal is classified by the Department of Defense - above my pay-grade. And definitely above yours."

Sarah caught her Captain's implication - shut up and follow orders. Casey was hard, but he was fair, and Sarah had probably pushed him far enough this Sunday afternoon. But frustration continued to vibrate through her.

Sarah looked at her feet and shook her head. She'd promised herself that she'd never be responsible for anyone's life like this, ever again. She took in a long breath. "I … can't do this," she said softly.

"Look, Walker," Casey said, "I know what happened five years ago."

Sarah's head snapped up, her eyes wide.

Casey gave her in incredulous look. "What? You don't think I vetted the hell out of you before I hired you?" he said. "The Service cleared you. Get over it."

For an instant panic roiled in her gut, making it hard to breathe. She forced herself to take in air, focusing her vision on her hands, trying to stay calm. Her mind desperately searched for some way out of her prediciment. A possibility came to her.

"What about finding my new partner?" she asked.

Casey scowled. "Anderson, that little shit. I should shoot him for moving to homicide." He shook his head. "Not your job, Walker. I'll figure out who your new partner will be after you're done with this gig."

Sarah exhaled long and loud. Her shoulders slumped and she sunk back into her chair. She saw the corner of Casey's mouth twitch in an almost smirk. He knew he'd won. Sarah thought that he'd probably known he'd win since the moment she'd walked into his office.

"How long?" Sarah asked. She could hear the defeat in her voice.

"One week, max."

"When do I start?"

Casey leaned forward and grabbed a folder off his desk. "Be at Engram Engineering tomorrow morning, 8am sharp." He tossed the file to Sarah. "Here's the skinny on the package."

Sarah flipped open the file. The cover page contained a brief bio and photo of her assignment. The man was tall and slender with brown hair that curled near his ears and neck. He was probably about her age - early thirties. He looked good in a suit and tie, attractive, almost classically handsome. But what caught Sarah's attention were his eyes. They were a deep chocolate brown, open, inviting and … she had to think for a second, grasping for the right word … kind. Yes, that was it. He had kind eyes. In her line of work Sarah wasn't used to kind eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen eyes like his.

She scanned the biographical informaiton next. Charles Irving Bartowski, Ph.D.; Director of Neural Data Interface Systems at Engram Engineering - what ever the hell that was - with a governmental security clearance of Level 7.

Huh, Sarah thought, a higher clearance than I had. Looks like Dr. Bartowski is working on some military black-ops shit.

She continued to skim down the page. Single, never married. Recruited right out of Stanford University. Earned an MS in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Washington while working full-time at Engram. Currently directing research for a top secret contract between Engram and the US Department of Defense.

A soft groan escaped Sarah. Not only was this guy a nerd, he was obviously a very smart nerd. And from her experience, really smart people were the worst when it came to interpersonal skills. She could hear him now, droning on about formulas and theories and other boring and completely inconsequential trivia. Hell, he was probably a sci-fi fanatic and she was going to get an earful of science fiction crap for the entire week. This was definitely going to be a grueling job.

"Oh, and Walker," Casey said.

Sarah looked up from the file and caught the evil grin on Casey's face.

"Bartowski has let it be known that he absolutely, positively, does not want a bodyguard," Casey finished.

Sarah groaned. Ducky. Just ducky.

Chuck Bartowski jogged down the long hallway of the top floor of Engram Engineering toward the office of his boss and the company's CEO, retired army general, Diane Beckman. He liked Beckman. She was tough, but fair. And she'd recognized his talent and set him loose on a top-secret project for the government that was challenging, exciting and combined his passions of mathematics and computer science. But right now he was definitely not happy with her.

He was running late and as he entered the outer office Beckman's administrative assistant gestured toward the CEO's door. Chuck kept walking but turned toward the young woman and waved, giving her a cheery, "Morning, Anna."

Anna smiled and waved back. "Good morning, Chuck."

When he reached the door he paused for a moment to straighten his tie and smooth down his suit jacket. Then he opened the door and plowed forward into Beckman's office, readying his argument against the company assigning him a bodyguard.

"Diane," he said as he opened the door and stepped through, "this whole thing is ridiculous and I don't need-" His voice locked-up and he stopped dead in his tracks.

Beckman was standing by one of the huge windows that overlooked downtown Seattle, talking to a woman. As Chuck came rushing in she'd stopped talking and turned toward him.

But it wasn't Beckman that had Chuck pulling-up short and tongue-tied.

Chuck had seen his fair share of gorgeous women, but this woman was beyond beautiful. Tall and statuesque, her conservative blue pants suit and form fitting white camisole blouse under her blazer hinted at an athletic and perfectly proportioned body. Long blond hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, reflecting the sunlight beaming in through the window. And when she turned toward him he saw the face of an angel. But it was her eyes - a deep, azure blue - that mesmerized him. He couldn't look away.

Chuck sputtered, "Ahh … sorry … sorry to interrupt." He continued to stare at the blond goddess. That was the only word he could think of that totally described the woman. She gave him a small smile, almost a smirk and Chuck realized that he was staring at her with his mouth hanging open. He snapped his jaw shut and felt the familiar heat of embarrassment creeping up his neck into his cheeks.

"Not a problem," Beckman said. "Thank you for coming, Chuck."

Chuck managed to pull his gaze from the blonde and looked at Beckman. "Diane, I thought you wanted me here to talk about, well … you know," he said.

"About assigning you a bodyguard until the DOD project is delivered next week," Beckman finished for him.

"But …" Chuck rolled his eyes and tilted his head toward the blonde woman.

"Don't worry, Chuck, she's got clearance. I just read her in," Beckman said. "She knows everything about the project except for the clients and deployment details."

"Oh," Chuck said, feeling a little confused. Maybe this new person was support staff for Diane, here to take notes and document the meeting. Or maybe she was someone from the DOD since the DOD would certainly want to know what was going on if there was concern for the safety of the project lead for their contract. Well, for whatever reason, if this woman was read-in then he could continue to tell Diane that this whole thing was a dumb idea.

"Diane, this whole thing is a dumb idea," Chuck, said as he closed the distance to stand next to the two women. "I don't need a bodyguard."

Beckman narrowed her eyes. "Chuck, two days ago your damn brakes went out, your car crashed and you're lucky you got out alive with just a mild concussion. Then your car disappears before the police can examine it for possible sabotage and they still can't find it." Beckman squared her stance and put her hands on her hips. "I can tell you from running army covert operations for 20 years that if those are coincidences then I'll pose for the next cover of the Sports Illustrated swim suit issue."

Chuck's eyes went wide and he heard the blonde women stifle a snort.

"Good! Now that I have your attention …" Beckman said.

"No, Diane," Chuck interrupted. "There's no conspiracy to kill me. It was just a mechanical failure. I'm a systems engineer and systems fail all the time. In fact, it's the nature of systems to fail. My car just failed. That's all."

"Fine," Beckman said.

"Good," Chuck said, nodding and smiling at both women. "I'm glad we were able to resolve this."

"But you're still getting a bodyguard," Beckman said.

Silence filled the room as Chuck fought to keep his cool. Finally he took a breath. "Diane, I do not need a muscle-bound, pea-brained, Neanderthal following me around everywhere."

"Tough," Beckman said, staring him down.

Chuck let out an exasperated breath, but kept quiet. He knew his boss and he knew when he was beaten.

Beckman waited, and when Chuck offered no further rebuttal she said, "Now, let's get down to business."

Chuck's shoulders slumped. "Fine. When do I get to meet him."

Beckman turned toward the blond woman. "Chuck, this is Seattle Police Detective, Sarah Walker."

Before Beckman could continue the introduction the detective stepped forward offering her hand and said, with a predatory grin, "Hi, I'm your very own muscle-bound, pea-brained, Neanderthal."

Chuck's mouth dropped open - again. He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a groan.

Worst. Day. Ever.