It's a Wonderful Cover Life (Chuck Fan Fiction)

Chapter 1

1. It's that time of the year

Big Mike scrambled down the aisle as fast as his bulky frame would allow. Stopping short of the Nerd Herd desk, he doubled over, hands on his knees and tried to get his wheezing under control. He gasped for breath and when he no longer sounded like he’d swallowed a whistle, he straightened and clapped loudly to get everyone's attention.

"Look alive, people!" he boomed, "Mr. Walker will be here any minute!" He scanned the store as the green-shirts busied themselves and then groaned as if in pain when he saw Jeff and Lester slither out of the home theater room. "Patel!" Mike yelled across the store, "Take Barnes somewhere for a nap or something. Keep him out of sight!"

Jeff opened his mouth to protest, but while he was attempting to string a coherent sentence together, Lester dutifully steered him through the back door.

Big Mike continued his visual search. "Grimes! Where the hell is Grimes?"

"Right here, sir." Morgan jogged up from the DVD aisle, his green sneakers squeaking on the linoleum floor.

"Go clean out my office. It needs to be spotless."

"But, sir…" Morgan whined.

"Now, Grimes!" Morgan sent Chuck a pleading look but he just shrugged in return. There was no arguing with Big Mike when he was in this mood. With a sigh, Morgan turned to go do as he was told. "And don't forget to dust Norman!" Big Mike called after him then spun around. "Bartowski!"

Chuck's head snapped back to his boss. "Sir?" he asked tentatively, mindful of the fact that no one had been assigned to diaper station duty yet.

"Why are the customers looking like a bunch of bored sheep?"

"I don't know, sir," Chuck replied, barely hiding his relief.

"Well, do something about it."

Chuck gave him a confused look. He was in charge of the Nerds, fixing computers for eleven dollars an hour. It was the green-shirts' job to sell the merchandise and they fell under the supervision of Harry Tang, the current assistant manager. Not that Chuck minded helping out, but Harry got his back up every time he felt someone was encroaching on his territory, and if there was one thing Chuck tried to avoid at all cost, it was conflict.

"Oh, for heaven's sake." Big Mike rolled his eyes, grabbed the P.A. microphone and pressed the red button. "Attention. Attention customers. For the next twenty minutes all merchandise on the floor are marked down five percent." That had the desired effect. People suddenly looked more interested in the toasters, hair dryers and flat screen TV's. With a satisfied smirk, he placed the microphone back on the desk. "These suckers don't even realize we've hiked prices fifteen percent for the festive season."

Chuck didn't how and if he should respond to that.

"Try to look busy, Bartowski," Big Mike barked a last order returning to the front of the store.

"Actually, I am busy…" Chuck started, but trailed off as Big Mike was already out of earshot.

With a shake of his head, Chuck's attention turned back to the cell phone he was fixing. He was used to the situation by now. Every time Mr. Walker stopped by for a visit, Big Mike went all in a tizzy, putting up a show to convince the owner of the Buy More that the store was doing great.

Chuck snorted. As if the man couldn't read a sales report, he thought. Big Mike wasn't fooling anyone but himself. He gave the screw in the back of the Intel cell a couple of quick turns and was reaching for the battery cover when he heard the doors whoosh open. Silence fell on the store, which caused him to look up.