I was originally going to make this my only fanfic submission. But I came up with two more ideas for stories, and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback so far on the ChuckMeMondays Challenge. However, the two stories I have in mind require some alterations to "Chuck vs. the Alpha Version." (you already know what's coming, don't you) At the end of this, there's also a list of the non-Chuck references that were in the fanfic. Most of them I'm sure you caught, but there were a few obscure ones. Feel free to review this chapter as well if you wish.

I hope everybody enjoyed this fanfic, and the gang will see you in "Chuck vs. the 42-Year-Old Virgin".

Chuck put a hand on Jimmy's coffin. "We love you, Anthony. We will never forget you."

He reached down behind the podium and opened a box that was there. He took out Jimmy's Chicago Bears jersey and placed it on top of the casket. He slowly returned to his seat. Sarah took his hand in hers.

The service concluded a few minutes later. Big Mike, Anna, Jeff, and Lester walked together to a waiting car. Morgan walked up to Chuck and gave him a big hug. He then walked at a quicker pace to catch up to the Buy More staff. Ellie andDevongave hugs to Chuck and Sarah as they departed. Ellie walked back to Casey and gave him a hug as his hand. Chuck and Sarah stood for a moment looking at Jimmy's casket, and then they slowly walked down the aisle between the seats. Casey walked up to the coffin, aided by a cane, holding a medal with a red ribbon and a single blue stripe. His voice was muted.

"I received this citation for bravery for helping rescue civilians from Taliban forces just after 9/11. They sent us in to guard troop transports, but we received intel these forces were robbing from the people and killing little children. It was never an official mission, but they awarded us a Bronze Star for helping out the villagers. I couldn't tell anyone about it or show it to anybody."

Casey checked to see if anybody was looking, and then unlatched the coffin. He reached in and gently placed the Bronze Star inside. He re-latched the coffin.

"I spent a lot of years in the military, worked with some of the bravest people I've ever known. When I went to the NSA, I spent most of my time having to hunt down or protect some of the worst scum this planet has ever seen. Never again thought I'd meet a person I could respect and admire for how much they work and sacrifice for others."

He paused and exhaled, briefly looking at Chuck and Sarah. "I ended up meeting three."

He placed a hand on Jimmy's coffin. "I'll take care of the other two for you. I promise."

Casey slowly walked to his car.

Chuck and Sarah walked away from the service. Chuck suddenly stopped and turned in front of Sarah. He took both of her hands.

"I am so sorry. We couldn't just leave you there to die."

Sarah looked down, trying to fight back tears. "I know."

"I…I…it's like he knew what had to be done. All he cared about was you and Casey and getting you out. He didn't even care if…if…"

Chuck let the words trail off as they didn't have any effect on her at all. He put his hands on her shoulders. He gently pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her tightly. He could feel her collapse in his arms as she broke down crying. He held onto her, trying to envelop as much of her as possible, cradling her. Her arms came up around him and gripped him tightly. He buried his face in her hair as the tears came for him. They held on to each other for a long time.

400 yards from the small group walking away from a soon-to-be-buried casket, a man sat in a wheelchair on a hill, barely able to keep his head up. His face was completely bandaged, and he could only see out of his left eye. The loose robe around him was needed. The third-degree burns throughout his body made wearing clothing difficult. Large neoprene sleeves covered each of his knees, and his right arm was in a sling. Next to him, a young assistant held a pair of binoculars to the man's face with military precision, allowing him to view the funeral that just concluded. Behind the man, a short woman in a military uniform stood observing the scene and occasionally looking down at the man who helped take down The Ring's installation in Los Angeles.

Jimmy turned his head to the assistant and nodded, and the assistant took the binoculars away. Jimmy was still in a fog. He thought he was supposed to be dead. At least, that was the whole idea behind blowing up the building and allowing Chuck to escape with Sarah. He woke up yesterday afternoon, which was something of a shock itself. All he saw was a nurse and a doctor. He was in what looked like a hospital room, but the equipment was far more sophisticated that what he saw at Westside. He could feel tubes inside of him, and he was hooked up to what looked like a colony of IV bags. All he could get from the doctor and the nurse was to rest; that everything would be explained later. He wasn't in any condition to argue the point with them.

He was awakened three hours ago. Several nurses and orderlies assisted in making him ambulatory. They gave him several shots to help deal with the pain. He was wheeled to a waiting van and brought here. When he heard the voice of General Beckman, a small part of him wanted to get up and choke her to death. That bitch left Sarah and Casey to die, and he and Chuck had to defy orders and risk their lives to save them.

"I don't know what I find creepier: watching my own funeral or that people actually showed up for it."

Beckman rolled her eyes at the comment, thinking for a brief second the EMT's shouldn't have attempted to revive him. Casey's call to the L.A. County Fire Department was just in the nick of time. Had they found Jimmy buried under a table and concrete 10 minutes later, there would have been no chance of bringing him back. He was transferred to an ambulance dispatched by the local NSA office, which intercepted Casey's call. They found three other Ring agents alive at the scene, two of whom were recovering. They were kept in another section of the secure medical center in Victorville from where Jimmy was being treated. Nobody else in the building survived, including Grant.

"Consider yourself fortunate to be alive, Mr. Slade. The government has a few medications they developed that don't need to wait for approval before use."

Jimmy was as incredulous as he could be in his condition. "Fortunate? You think I should feel fortunate? I didn't ask you to pull me out of there. I didn't ask to be a part of any of this. They were nothing but kind and helpful to me, and you left them to die. Chuck and I shouldn't have had to save them like that. So you'll have to forgive me if I think you should go to hell."

"Mr. Slade, do you honestly think you were acting against our orders? It would have been a simple matter of locking Castle remotely and disabling Chuck's access codes if we really wanted the two of you to stay in there. But I knew we would be dealing with two Intersects who would never work for us in their lives again if we did that. Chuck has proven over and over again his value to the team. And based on the reports Walker and Casey submitted, you were the best shot at retrieving them. I knew you and Chuck could figure out where The Ring was keeping them and get them out.

"You should be dead right now, or locked away in one of our facilities. But you had the foresight to make this about more than just rescuing Sarah and Casey. You took out their facility. Thanks to the research you and Chuck did, we now have a viable lead into the other Ring facilities across the country. The two of you accomplished in 20 minutes what we couldn't do in 6 months. Strike teams are mobilizing even as we speak to take out their other locations. We decided actions like that merited something more than a bunker or a bullet."

General Beckman placed a file folder in Jimmy's lap. "Chuck, Sarah, and Casey wanted you to have a new life, and we have every intention of giving it to you."

Jimmy was still upset at being used like he was. He gently shook his head. In spite of being in pain and barely able to move, the rescue was a total success. Chuck, Sarah, and Casey were safe, and it would appear they went to bat for him. They wanted him to join the CIA. He couldn't let them down, could he?

He carefully opened the folder and looked at the first page.

"Roger Murdock? That's my new name?"

"Is there a problem with it?"

"No, not at all. As long as you don't expect me to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes."

"Just make sure you're out there busting your buns every night, and we won't have a problem."

It hurt too much for Jimmy to roll his eyes. Everyone's a comedian, he thought. He read further. He would live and receive training at Nellis Air Force Base. At least moving wouldn't be too expensive. Then he looked down at his cover job.

"An Elvis impersonator? You've got to be kidding."

"Next time you jump on stage to create a diversion, sing a Britney Spears song. Then we wouldn't have come up with that idea."

"I gather I won't ever be able to have a peanut butter-and-banana sandwich, right?"

"That's the other part of your training. You have get in much better shape. Fortunately, between all the work we have in store and the intense training you'll go through, it will happen. Don't expect to get much sleep in the next year. We want you out in the field as quickly as possible."

That was the one thing that didn't faze Jimmy; sleep was not an issue for him. He looked out at the funeral and watched everybody leave. General Beckman took a guess as to what is going through Jimmy's mind.

"You can never see them again. They can't know you're alive or you'll put them back in the same dangerous spot again."

Jimmy looked down. "The only people I've ever been close to in my life and you're telling me I can't see them again. This is a helluva business, isn't it."

"That it is," she replied without an ounce of sympathy. "You'll be returning to the medical center until the doctors clear you, and then it's on to Nellis. Good luck to you…Agent Murdock."

General Beckman walked away to her car. Jimmy looked as the cars pulled away from the cemetery and two workers began to lower his casket into the ground. He could feel tears coming. That future everyone had talked about for him didn't feel like much of a future. But at least there would be one. And maybe he could make something of it. He owed them that much. Chuck said that he never abandoned them. But Jimmy could say the same of them, and they were the first people he could say that about.

He looked off in the distance, talking more to himself than anyone else.

"Maybe Roger will stop by one day and bug you to death. I love you guys. Take care of yourselves."

He looked down one last time, and then he nodded to the assistant. The assistant pushed his wheelchair to the waiting van.

REFERENCE LIST

Chapter 1

Kentucky Fried Movie – Jimmy Slade (or Big Jim Slade) was the name of the emergency guy from the "Sex Record" skit when the guy couldn't…well, you know

The Breakfast Club – Shermer Township High School (the fictional school used in several John Hughes films)

Chapter 2

Network – reference of Howard Beale, who said the famous line "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"

Tony Todd – played CIA director Langston Graham on Chuck, the name Anthony Todd was one of Jimmy's aliases.

Shallow Hal – the size 16 shoe reference was a nod to Tony Robbins, a motivational speaker like Jimmy was, who appeared in that movie and had a conversation with Hal (Jack Black) concerning his shoe size…and the implications behind it.

University of Illinois – Project Goodwin was named for the street where the National Center for Supercomputing Applications is located on the U of I campus

Chapter 3

Welcome Back, Kotter – Jimmy's "older cousin" retort to Chuck almost saying Jimmy would be like his father comes from an episode where Freddy Washington commented on Mr. Kotter being old but still able to stay with him in a basketball game that was a bet to make Freddy take a test he didn't think he had to do.

Top Gun – one of Jimmy's aliases was Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, played by Val Kilmer in the movie

Risky Business – Joel Goodson was another alias used by Jimmy. The movie is also referenced in Chapter 8.

Friends – Jimmy's line of "did you know that I knew you knew I knew about you two" was a play on the episode "The One Where Everybody Finds Out" when Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) was trying to outsmart Chandler and Monica into revealing they were dating with the famous line "They don't know that we know they know we know!" This was also done in "Chuck vs. the First Kill" when Morgan and the gang tried to assess Emmett's plans.

Chapter 4

The Matrix – you pretty much can't have Chuck battle agents anymore without dropping a Matrix reference

Chapter 5

Fletch Lives – Chuck able to get the security officer away from the monitors came from Chevy Chase pulling that one someone at the ministry.

Caddyshack – lots of Chevy Chase movies feature the "as far as you know" crack, but Caddyshack was the first.

Chapter 6

Hackers – the name Emmanuel Murphy is a combination of names from two of the characters in that movie: Emmanuel "Cereal Killer" Goldstein (played by Matthew Lillard) and Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy (played by Jonny Lee Miller). The movie is more famous for being one of Angelina Jolie's first movie roles.

Chapter 7

M*A*S*H – Jimmy's "screwed up in reverse" line comes from that show when Hawkeye and Trapper kept trying to get kicked out of the Army, but their surgical skills kept them right where they were.

Chapter 8

Sex and the City – there was a scene on that show where Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) bribed Samantha (Kim Cattrall) into doing a favor by purchasing a brownie for her. Samantha's reaction was to call Carrie a "bastard." The same thing was recreated here when Sarah bribed Jimmy with the frozen yogurt to get him to talk to her. Hence Jimmy calling her a "bitch" with a big smile on his face.

Good Will Hunting – the famous "it's not your fault" hug Robin Williams gives to Matt Damon comes up twice in the story. Once here, then once in Chapter 11.

Chapter 9

Speed – Chuck and Jimmy in the out-of-control van, and then Jimmy being upset that it won't end with him making out with Sandra Bullock.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – it was the scene everybody laughed at in the theatre when I saw it where Indy jumps off the truck right before it goes over the cliff, and then he joins everybody else looking over the cliff, and they don't notice him right away.

Chapter 10

Pulp Fiction – the needles from John Travolta shooting up in that movie, then going on the date with Uma Thurman at Jack Rabbit Slim's.

The Honeymooners – the reference to Ralph Kramden and the Raccoon Lodge was the start of a running joke through the story where Jimmy would use pop culture references someone 10 years younger might not get, like a reference to The Honeymooners, The Brady Bunch, or The Avengers.

Fletch – Dr. Joe (Joseph) Dolan was the internist that Chevy Chase's character went to in search of information on Alan Stanwyk. ("Moon River! Thank you, Doc. Ever serve time?")

Chapter 11

The Brady Bunch – Cousin Oliver (played by Robby Rist) was a character brought in towards the end of the show. In his first episode, he was convinced he was jinxing everybody.

Something Wild - I saw the movie in college with my then-roommate, who was the film critic for the school newspaper. Given how good Jimmy's lie was, Melanie Griffith's oh-so-apt description of Jeff Daniels ("You're a pretty good liar when you want to be.") had to make it into the story.

Chapter 12

Star Wars – I thought "let the Casey win" would be a funny line, so I tried to work it in during this chapter.

Chapter 14

Crimson Tide – the Gene Hackman reference about the situation being "as real as it gets" was from his speech to the crew when they were under attack by the rebel Russian sub and the order went out to fire their nuclear missiles.

Lord of the Rings – Chuck was hell-bent to rescue Sarah and Casey, but obviously Jimmy would have to go with him and watch his back.

Chapter 15

The Avengers – the line "Mrs. Peel, we're needed" was the third reference Jimmy tried that neither Chuck nor Sarah got since they were younger than he was.

Blazing Saddles – there are so many great references you can pull from that one, but I went with the "If you shoot him, it'll only make him mad" advice that the Waco Kid gave to Sheriff Bart regarding Mongo. Maybe I'll get the campfire scene in on the next fanfic, although I don't know where the beans will come from.

Ghostbusters – Jimmy commenting that "the dead guy broke the fall" was a play on the banquet hall scene from Ghostbusters when Ray destroyed the chandelier by accident, allowing Venkman to comment that "the table broke the fall."

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! – Chuck and Jimmy's final conversation couldn't be done without some funny pop culture reference they would both get. In this case, Frank Drebin talking about the better ways to die instead of in a hospital.

Die Hard – most underrated line from that movie that summed up John McClane's "how did I end up like this" situation at Nakatomi Plaza.

Chapter 16

Airplane! – You just know there will be more than a few references to this movie in the next story after Jimmy is given the new alias Roger Murdock.