I do not own Chuck or any of the characters ... yada yada ... you know the drill.
-- Chuck Vs the Force --
A young LAPD Officer needs help cracking a case so guess who she turns too.
Authors Notes:
Hi Folks,
Ok, so maybe it's bad form to start a new story when you haven't finished the last one but I'm doing it anyway. This started off as just a one-shot until I got a bit carried away. Not really sure where it's going yet so if you have any ideas feel free to add them to the comments. Not beta'd so mistakes are me.
Last, important details: Take place about3-4 months after the end of season two. Italics are flashback's of Deb's thought bubbles.
CAUTION – RATED FOR STRONG LANGUAGE
Chapter 1 – Who you gonna call?
The first thing she noticed when she open the door was his eyes. Deep brown and soulful, She would have got lost it them if he hadn't spoken.
"Chuck Bartowski, Nerd Herder on-call, you rang about a computer emergency?"
Suddenly very conscience of the fact she's only wearing t-shirt and panties she tried to hide a blush as she ushered him in to the apartment. "Yeah it's my laptop it was working fine all day but now it won't turn on, just keeps making this horrible grinding noise."
"Sounds like the hard drives gone".
"Fuck, is that bad? My brother's party is tomorrow and everything's on that fucking piece of crap.
"Wow! Someone needs to wash their mouth out with soap and water". He said it good naturedly but she could tell he didn't like the bad language.
"Sorry, guess I've been hanging around the guys at work to much. You think you can fix it?" she said pointing to the laptop he was now sitting in front of.
"Well you're probably going to need a new drive but I should be able to get your data off. Might take a while though, Could be along night."
"You want some coffee?" She said now secretly pleased the laptop had chosen to break down.
LAPD Police Officer Debora McClain looked over at the non-descript office of Orion Computer Services. Taking another look down at the piece of paper she'd gotten from the creepy guy at the Buy More. Yeah, this is the place.
She checked herself in the mirror. According to her police file she had brown eyes. That always annoyed her. They were more Hazel with flecks of green but of course the system didn't have that as an option. Fucking computers. She had her long auburn hair pulled back into a tight bun as it always was when she's in uniform. For a second she considered applying some make up but decided against it. Getting out of the patrol car she picked up the laptop from the passenger seat and headed across the parking lot. I wonder if he will remember me?
Testing the door she found it was unlocked so she stepped through. The office was deserted. What desks there were mostly empty, a pile of flat pack furniture lay still to be assembled against one wall. From behind the door at the end of the room she heard someone call out
"Hello, is someone there?"
"Officer McClain, LAPD. I'm looking for a Charles Bartowski."
The door opened and a tall curly haired man stepped out.
"That's me, have I done something wrong? "
God he hasn't changed at all
"No Mr Bartowski, I was actually wondering if you could help us out"
"Oh... mm ok." He said before looking around the room. "Sorry about the mess. We only moved in a couple of days ago and we haven't had a chance to get everything setup.
"Yes, the man at the Buy More said you were starting a new company?"
"Yeah, Figured It was time to go into business for myself. It's got to beat being stuck behind that Nerdherd desk right?"
"So you work alone?"
" Ehh no. I have a partner John. He's not really into the technical stuff but he's got some contacts that'll help us get off the ground. Oh and then there's my girlfriend Sarah, She's going to handle sales."
A girlfriend?. Damn it. Why are all the good ones taken?
"You said you needed some help?"
"Yes, Mr Bartowski I was hoping you could help us with a little computer problem" She said indicating the laptop she was holding.
"Call me Chuck. What sort of problem?"
"We need to access the data on this laptop but its encrypted. I was hoping you'd take a look at it"
"I'll take a look but why me. I'm just a nerd who used to work at the Buy More. Don't you have your own people for these sorts of things?"
"We do, but they already said it was impossible. Some feature build into the software. If you try an access the data without the code it wipes the drive. Or something like that, I'm not really a computer person."
"Ok, but doesn't really explain why you came to me officer."
Busted
Debora tried to stay calm but couldn't help the slight hesitation that crept into her voice "Well.. well you see we have actually met before. A few years ago you helped fix my laptop. When our guys couldn't get anywhere I thought of you."
Nice one Deb's. Way to sound like a fucking spaz.
Debora tried not to look into his eyes and he searched her face trying to place it.
"I remember it was a failed hard drive right. You were sorting out something for your brothers birthday.
He remembers! Yeah!.. ok try not to smile
Debora nodded as Chuck continued.
"Wow.. that must of been what two, maybe three years ago . I must have made quite some impression if I'm the first person you think of."
Don't blush, don't blush..... Fuck, To late.
"Um yeah. You seemed very.."
Cute
"Competent."
Nice save... now lets try not to fuck it up this time Deb's
"So do you think you can handle me... I mean it, the laptop. Do you think you can get past the encryption?
So that would be a no then...
Chuck just smiled and said "I'll see what I can do. Of course it'd help if you actually gave me the laptop first"
Debora realising that she was holding the offending item and quickly passed it across. Chuck took it from her and set in up one of the empty desk. Plugging in the power he disappeared into the back before returning with a small bag and a portable hard drive.
Chuck connected up the drive to the laptop and then dug a USB memory stick out from the bag. Chuck checked it was the right one before inserting it into the laptop.
Deb watched as he powered on the computer, Holding down one of the keys as the display came to life. A new screen appeared with a blue background and Chuck whizzed through the menus. She couldn't really follow what he was up to but it was clear he knew what he was doing. After a few seconds the blue screen disappeared and the laptop rebooted.
This time around Chuck left the keyboard alone until a new screen appeared with a black background and large yellow text. Deb just got a quick glance of the screen before Chuck started hitting buttons and other menu's appeared. As the first screen had said DECRPT V9 REV_CHK003 she figured it must be some sort of decryption software. After a few more seconds a large process bar appeared on the screen and Chuck leaned back in his chair.
"Ok, this could take a few minutes. Do you want coffee while we wait?"
Deb, who had perched herself on the edge of the desk whilst Chuck worked, stood up in amazement.
"What! You mean you can do it?
"It's already done. I'm just waiting for it to finish copying the decrypted date to the external drive as a backup.
Holy Shit! Theo looked at that drive for like three days before he said it couldn't be done. Fuck me sideways and call me Shirley!
Deb practically skipped back into the Station house. Chuck was just like she remembered, smart, funny and not to mention super cute with that tight little ass. Oh and then there was the laptop. That was just the icing on the cake. The Captain was going to have a fit when he found out. It was going to be perfect. No more vice, No more hanging out with hookers and dealing with scumbag pimps. No way, this was her big break. Detective Debora McClain, Homicide. It sounded good, she couldn't wait.
"McClain, where the hell do you think your going?"
Fuck, Lt Rodriguez. What does that brown nosing bitch want now?
"Lieutenant?"
"Cut the crap, who said you could check out evidence from the New Dawn case? Don't try and deny it."
Fuck you too bitch
"I wasn't going too. I just wanted to check something. I thought some fresh eyes might help."
Because some of us do actual police work instead of blowing the press at every opportunity.
"Last time I checked Officer McClain you were assigned to vice not homicide. Maybe you should try and remember that."
"Does there seem to be a problem Maria" said Captain Sinclair walking over.
"No Captain, I was just reminding Officer McClain that she needs authorisation before checking out evidence. "
"McClain, Is this true? You should know better than that."
"Sorry Captain, I just had an idea for the New Dawn case. I know a guy who I thought could help. We'd given up on the laptop so I didn't think it would hurt."
"New Dawn, That's a homicide case. I'm sorry but I agree with the lieutenant. You should concentrate on your own case work. Now you'd best return that to evidence straight away. I don't want to hear about you doing this again. What would your father think?"
At that both the lieutenant and the captain turned away and started walking up the hall.
Oh, this is going to be fun
"Don't you think someone should go through the files though? " She called after them.
Turning round the captain said "What did you say?"
Holding up the external drive she smiled at their puzzled faces. "My guy, he cracked the encryption. Got the whole thing right here." She said waving the drive smugly, just seeing the look of confusion and annoyance on the lieutenant's face made the earlier dressing down totally worth it.
Got you that time motherfucker!
Notes: Just out of interest the other names I toyed with for Chuck's company were:-
Computer Infrastructure Associates (mostly because I liked the idea of Chuck walking around wearing a t-shirt saying "I work for the CIA". In the same vain it was almost Network Security Annalists. I also played with making a Robocop reference with Orion Computer Professionals but I thought it sounded lame - but feel free to steal ideas, I have (as anyone who watches Dexter might have guessed).