Tons and tons of cops were gathered all around the store now.

Inside, the man still had his gun pointed at you and Chuck. Chuck made sure to keep you behind him.

"Not good... Not good. Oh, boy. Okay, Ned. Just calm down. Think, think, think. Hi, Hi. Uh, my name is Nathan Edward Rhyerson. Uh, people like to call me Ned. I'm sorry about the entrance. Could someone please tell me who's in charge here?"

" Chuck!" Lester, Jeff and Anna yell.

You and Chuck looked at them, giving them a "Seriously?!" look.

" Actually, I'm not technically in charge." Chuck told him.

" I don't want to hurt anyone, Chuck. So, as long as no one gets brave, no one gets shot, okay? !"

You put your hand on Chuck's shoulder and squeezed it and he grabbed your hand and looked over at you and nodded.

"Okay." He then looked over at Big Mike and Emmett and they ducked down. " I think we're safe. Yeah. Um, this store has a very strict "no bravery policy. ""

"Okay. Okay. Everyone, uh, get over there by the Santa's Village. Now! Come on!"

You and Chuck put your arms down, and you ended up putting your arms around each other as you two and everyone else made their way down.

"Uh, Chuck?" Ned called out. You and him turned around." Where's the security system?"

" It, um... just follow me."

"Chuck..." you said, worried and grabbing his hand.

"I'll be okay. Just go over with Ellie and Awesome."

You just nodded and turned around to join them.

Chuck led him to the front of the store.

"Right over here. " Chuck pointed to the system.

"Are there any other ways in and out of the store?"

" Um, yeah. But they're all locked down because we technically haven't opened yet."

" Good. Lock it down."

Chuck did as he was told and the whole store went into lockdown.

You were sitting down with Ellie and Anna in the Santa Village display. You were starting to bite your nails nervously and Ellie noticed.

"You okay Y/N?" Ellie asked you softly.

"Um... Yeah. I guess. Just nervous."

"Yeah. Me too."

"But on the bright side... if I had to be in this situation, at least I'm with Chuck, you, Devon and Morgan. The people I love. My family."

Ellie smiled and put her arm around you and gave you a side hug.

Chuck then came walking over to you and Ellie.

"Hey girls. You okay?" Chuck asked, bending down in front of you both.

"We'll manage." Ellie told him.

"What do you think he wants Chuck?" you asked him.

"I don't know. But I'm going to go over and talk to him."

"What?" you and Ellie said at the same time.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry."

"Be careful babe."

"I will."

Chuck smiled at you and leaned in to give you a small kiss before leaving. You sighed and looked over at Ellie who gave you a reassuring smile then pulled you in for a side hug again.

Ned was watching the news where they were reporting about him. Chuck slowly walked over, hands up.

"Hey... Hey, Ned. It's Chuck." he said calmly.

"That's a terrible picture of me. Hey, you can put your hands down. You know, the truth is I'm really not a bad guy once you get to know me. "

"When you're not crashing your car into electronics stores and waving a gun around?"

" Yeah. Look, I know it's no excuse, but I lost my job, man. All I wanted was to get a few gifts for my kids so we could celebrate Christmas. And the next thing you know, I'm the next OJ. What am I going to do, Chuck? I mean, they're going to put me in jail, aren't they?"

" No, no, maybe not. Maybe not, you know, uh... I mean, you haven't hurt anyone yet, right? So, maybe if you give up, they'll work out some sort of deal. Probation or something."

"W-Why would they do that?"

" Look, keep this between us, but... me and my girlfriend over there, we know some people. You know, people who could make all this go away as long as you don't do anything stupid."

"Like who?"

Meanwhile, Sarah and Casey were sneaking into the Buy More through the entrance in the break room from Castle.

Chuck and Ned were standing at the Nerd Herd desk when the phone began to ring.

"Who's calling?" Ned asked, gun pointed.

" Uh, that's probably the police. Maybe they want to know what's happening."

" I don't want to talk to anyone. Do you think you could answer it?"

" Yeah. Nerd Herd. How can I help you?"

" This is Lieutenant Mauser. LAPD. Who am I speaking with?"

"This is Chuck Bartowski. Nerd Herd supervisor. "

"All right, Chuck, I'm going to need to talk to Ned."

"He wants to talk to you." Chuck told Ned and Ned just shook his head no. "He doesn't want to talk to you."

" Okay, then you and I are going to have to work through this ourselves. So tell me, is there anyone hurt in there?"

" No, nobody's hurt. Everybody's okay. Uh, Ned... is it okay if I call you Ned?"

" Sure, Ned's fine."

" Okay. Uh, Ned explicitly told me that he wants absolutely no trouble."

" Tell him to send out a hostage as a sign of good faith."

"He says that you should send out a hostage as a sign of good faith."

" Good God, pick me!" Emmett shouted, running over to Chuck and Ned. "Pick me! Pick me! Pick me! Pick me! Pick me! Pick me... My 86-year-old mother is dying of a very rare disease. It's leukoplakia. And she needs me... her bobo."

" Uh... okay, fine. Send him."

" Oh, thank you... thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

Meanwhile, you all sat back there and watched the whole thing, not believing what Emmett did.

"That scoundrel. I bet Bartowski worked out a deal." Lester said.

" Yeah, Chuck let Emmett go so he could get better lunch shifts." Jeff added.

"That bastard's selling us down the river, making a sweetheart deal for himself."

"I guess it's prison rules now. Every man for himself."

You and Ellie just looked at them, giving them weird looks.

"Oh my God. Idiots." you said.

You, Chuck and everyone were standing around the TVs as you watched Emmett make an idiot of himself in front of the reporters. Big Mike was the only one who seemed proud.

Ned then came behind you and Chuck.

"Uh, so, uh... Hey, uh, Chuck, and you must be his girlfriend?"

"Yeah I am."

"Okay. Well where are these people that can get me out of this?"

"People?" you asked, looking at him.

"Yeah our people."

"Oh! Our people!" you then looked ahead and saw Sarah and Casey opening a door and looking over at you guys. Sarah waved you two over. "Um... They're uh, they're closer than you think." you told him.

"Can I use the bathroom? I mean, the store is already locked down, so I can't really go anywhere." Chuck asked.

"Yeah me too. I've been holding on for way too long."

"Yeah. Sure, of course." Ned told you both.

" All right. We'll be back in a sec." Chuck told him and you two were off.

You and Chuck quickly headed to the back and looked around and found Sarah and Casey waiting in the break room.

"It's about time the cavalry showed up." Chuck told them, as he opened the door.

"So what's the plan?" you asked.

"The plan is to lock you both in the Castle till this is over. Come on..." Casey said, starting to push you into the entrance to Castle.

" Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, whoa, whoa. What about Ellie and Morgan and everyone else?" Chuck asked.

"We're instructed to remove you two and only you two. There's a team coming to extract the rest, and they will be in good hands."

"We're not just going to leave my sister behind." Chuck argued.

" There are rules, Chuck, and we have to follow them. So let's go..." Sarah argued back, trying to grab the both of you but you both pulled away.

"We understand that there are rules, but when it comes to family and friends, there's a time to break 'em. " you told them.

"Get in the hatch, Bartowski and L/N." Casey warned.

"Y/N , Chuck, you're letting your emotions cloud your judgment. I promise nothing bad will happen to them. Now please, come on."

"We can't take that chance." you said.

"Chuck, Chuck's girlfriend, is that you?"

It was Ned.

" John, John."Chuck whisper yelled, warning Casey to close the entrance to Castle.

When Ned came in, he yelled when he saw Sarah and Casey and pointed his gun at them.

" No, no, no, Ned!" Chuck shouted.

" Chuck, what's going on?"

" Ned, Ned, please, please, please don't shoot that gun."

"Who are they?"

" They're harmless. They're harmless, okay?" you told him. "Look, they heard your crash and they hid. This is my co-worker and best friend, Sarah."

" Hi." she greeted.

" And this is John Casey." you introduced.

"Who's even more harmless than she is." Chuck told him.

"Ned, please, just uncock the gun." you told him, pleading a little.

Ned looked at you all for a second but agreed.

"Okay. How do I do that? 'Cause the truth is, I never used one of these before."

" There's probably a button on it, like a safety or something like that. Just go ahead and push... " Chuck started.

Ned fiddled and had the gun pointed down, but Casey could tell he was doing it wrong.

"No, no, no!" Casey shouted.

But it was too late and the gun fired.

Everyone on the main floor in Buy More heard and Ellie feared for you and Chuck.