Chuck – After the leaving
They sat on the beach and Chuck told Sarah their story. She was moved… incredibly moved… more than she had ever been in her violent, emotionally stunted life. She didn't seem able to push down her emotions like she used to… her stoicism was gone. She was beside herself with confusion. Here was Chuck telling her about this life she apparently had been living, the life she had always wanted but never in her wildest dreams thought she could have. She knew it was true… she told herself in the video log about the first couple of years… told herself that she loved Chuck Bartowski. But how was that possible, all she knew how to be was a spy. She had been trained by first her father and then the CIA to bury her emotions, never get emotionally attached... never to trust. She believed deep down that she didn't deserve love, not even sure she knew what real love was. But, here was Chuck telling her he loved her and wanted her to be happy, was willing to do anything for her to be happy.
She knew he would do anything for her. Over the past week she had seen it. He allowed her to beat him and never fought back. She kicked him down a flight of stairs… she almost killed him. Then the kicker… she watched him take a bullet for her.
Getting to the end of their story, Chuck told her about their plans, the transformation of Carmichael Industries from a freelance spy company into a cyber security company that would keep them occupied and interested, but much safer than the spy life they had led up until then; their plans for children; the home they wanted to buy.
Chuck told her about Morgan's wild idea and Sarah asked him to kiss her, wishing with all her being that Morgan's prediction would come true, that she would remember everything and her feeling for Chuck would return. The kiss was… well… incredible. But… was it enough? Something stirred… not memories, but her feelings… something was going on with her feelings. She couldn't remember the love Chuck said they shared, but feelings for the big nerd were certainly stirring. Was that love? What did love feel like? Could she really trust this man? All these emotions terrified her... it was all too much... too intense. She needed time.
"I'm sorry Chuck… I… I need to… I don't know what… I need to go back to being an agent… at least for a while… to even myself out… to process all this. I hope… I'm sure that once I've been able to sort this all out… to think about what you've told me… to get my feelings in line… well I hope I can come back to you. But don't wait Chuck. You're far too good a man to wait around for the likes of me to maybe come back to you. If you find someone else, don't hold back… you deserve to be happy."
With tears streaking down his cheeks, Chuck slowly pulled an envelope from his pocket. "I got this ready for you in case of something like this."
"What is it?"
"I know my Sarah… Sarah Bartowski… but I also know Agent Walker. So just in case… this is a way to contact General Beckman. She can put you in touch with whoever you need to talk to, to get back into the CIA. Also there is an e-mail account and password that you can use to contact us… your family. Our secure e-mail accounts are already loaded. It's safe and secure, and the CIA knows nothing about it. Finally, there is your driver's license and a credit card under Sarah Walker, instead of Sarah Bartowski, just in case you need it. Please remember Sarah, I… we… are always here for you. You can always trust me. I love you… more than you can ever imagine."
Sarah stared at him for a moment, but with nothing left to say, rose and left. Why was this so hard? She literally had to force herself to take each step. She wanted so much to be Sarah Bartowski… to stay with Chuck and be his wife… but she didn't know how. She had to be in control… just giving herself to Chuck and trusting he would do the right thing was so against everything she had been taught. She almost turned back… almost… she just couldn't take the last step to trust him… well, to trust anybody really.
The next day, she contacted General Beckman, who in turn put her in touch with the CIA. She received an almost joyous welcome. She was a little taken aback by the enthusiasm of her superiors getting her back, especially considering her issues. She was hustled off to Washington for a series of meetings with the brass, to determine just how to best use her knowledge and skills. She was extremely suspicious of this reception and after a few cryptic remarks, she decided to do some nosing around.
First things first, she got all the mission reports for Team Bartowski. That was a lot easier than it should have been, considering their security level. She snuck a look at her personnel file and was astounded at her own security clearance… much higher than it had been prior to her involvement with Team Bartowski, but still not high enough for the debriefing reports. Looking at the reports she realized that she had access because she was one of the authors of the reports. All the reports were written by her and John Casey.
It took her almost a week to get through all the reports. The team had been on an incredible number of missions, nearly all successful. They had been instrumental in taking on and destroying the three most dangerous enemy groups in recent history. First Fulcrum, then the Ring and finally Volkoff Enterprises. No wonder the brass was happy to get her back. She was one third of the most successful spy team in history, according to these reports. Plus, she was the team leader! She started comparing what Chuck had told her about their life to the mission reports, and everything jibed. Of course Chuck had concentrated on their relationship not the missions, but everything he told her matched the reports. She was a little shaken by the number of times Chuck had saved her life. Of course she had saved his a lot more, but that was in the early years and it was her job. What really astounded her was the trust… she could see it in the reports. Not just her and Chuck, but all three of them. They all trusted each other unequivocally.
She also analyzed the reports. The thing that stood out was Chuck himself. He had started out as an asset, but quickly proved to be much more than that. Over the years she could see that more and more, it was Chuck's ideas and plans that saved the day, kept them all alive and foiled the bad guys. Foiled the bad guys? Where did that come from? Nobody talks like that. Regardless, by the time she was done with the reports her respect for Chuck… and Casey by the way… was tremendous. Chuck wasn't just a nerd, he was a flipping genius.
Finally, the brass decided on her new role… they were going to use her as a kind of special reserve, head of a rescue team, reporting directly to the Deputy Director, taking on the worst and most dangerous assignments. She began her weapons and hand-to-hand fighting recertification's. As she did, she eavesdropped incessantly on other agents. Where ever she went, the talk often was about Team Bartowski. Of course they never called it Team Bartowski, the name was not known, they just called it the "California Team" or "Team Burbank" or mostly "The A Team". They did know her old name, knew that the team consisted of the famous Sarah Walker, top NSA Agent John Casey and another agent, or maybe a hotshot analysist, name unknown. Nobody associated her with Sarah Walker, she had a new identity now. None of them knew why the team had broken up or where the various members had gone, but they all had opinions and guesses. She contacted an old friend at the NSA to get the gossip from there and it was pretty much the same.
After finishing her recert's, again setting records by the way, she was set to begin missions again. She had her new identity, and a luxurious apartment in Washington D.C., a very expensive car and an almost unrestricted expense account. She headed a team with two other agents, both highly experienced and trained individuals, Amy and George. They were the Mission Agent Rescue Team. Whenever a mission went south or an agent was in danger, in they went. She also found out that whenever she was on a mission, she was tied directly into an intelligence unit, code name Foxfire, that gave her anything she needed in the way of information; bio's on enemy agents, building layouts, evasion routes… anything. All she had to do was ask and they were spewing forth all the info she could possibly want… sometimes she didn't even have to ask, Foxfire having anticipated the need. On her third mission, a voice she had never heard, came up on her earpiece. She was standing on a subway platform and the voice warned her that the man thirty feet or so to her left was an enemy agent who would recognize her. She quickly realized that Foxfire was tapping into security cameras and computer systems where ever the team went. They also had sniper teams watching over them, which she found out the hard way. An enemy agent got the drop on her and just as he was about to kill her, a hole magically appeared in his forehead and he slammed back into a wall. A voice came up on her earbud saying "All clear". Then there was the tacteam that always seemed to be close by.
For almost six months she and her team performed missions that other teams had failed at, sometimes having to extract the original team or agent in the process. A number of times she ran across John Casey, but each time it was in the field and she didn't get a chance to talk to him. On every mission the info she got on her earpiece telling her what was going on and what she had to do was incredibly accurate. At times, all she and her team did was go where they were told to go, follow who they were told to follow and do what they were told to do. Of course, what they were told to do was much more than most agents could possibly accomplish, but accomplish it they did. They completed busted missions, saved captured or wounded agents, defused bombs ready to kill hundreds of civilians, recovered stolen weapons caches… on and on. Sarah was beginning to believe that this team was just as good as Team Bartowski.
Several times they were loaned to other agencies. They did a mission for the DEA in Colombia, which Sarah had hoped would involve Carina, but no dice. They even did a mission for MI6. That one was kind of odd because several of the British agents acted like they knew George, but he brushed it off as mistaken identity.
While on missions she was able to concentrate and focus on the mission, as she always could. She was highly professional, very intense and completely unemotional, almost cold. She did not banter with her team mates, kidding around or bonding. She knew almost nothing about either one and they knew nothing about her. They went out, did the job and came back. As soon as they hit home turf, everyone went their own way. Off mission they trained, studied, wrote reports, but never, never, "hung out". They, especially Sarah, were pure business. Not that George didn't try. A number of times he tried to get her to have dinner with him, or just drinks, lunch, an early morning coffee, anything… she cut him off every time. She even refused to go out with Amy the times she asked.
But it was all a façade. When she wasn't on business, Sarah could think of nothing but Chuck and their life together. She watched every video of them she could lay her hands on, over and over. She would stare at photos for hours at a time. She went over her own video log time and time again. Early on she had used the secure e-mail account Chuck had given her to ask Chuck and the others to send her video, audio, photos… anything they had… and they had responded with gusto. Every week more and more e-mails came in with stories, videos, photos… even songs she had liked. Chuck sent her little videograms each week, telling her what was happening at home, how everything was going and how much everyone missed her. The videograms from Chuck really got to her. With each one, something was stirring within her. She would inexplicably find herself smiling, with wet cheeks while she watched them. It really didn't matter what he was talking about… the latest movie he had seen or Morgan's latest bit of insanity. If he was late a day or God forbid actually missed a week she was beside herself, worrying, wondering… was he giving up? Everything she saw reinforced what she already knew. She had loved Chuck Bartowski, deeply loved him… somehow he had taught her what love was. But far more importantly, he loved her, completely, totally and unreservedly.
About five months in, she was sitting watching one of Chucks videograms. She thought to herself that Chuck looked particularly sexy this time. Sexy? Chuck? Yup… she had to admit he looked good… real good. Just for a second this lost herself, found her hand half way to the monitor like she was going to stroke his hair. What the hell? Was he getting to her? Quickly this closed out the videogram and shut down her PC, totally confused about what she was feeling. The next day she tried again, and managed to rewatch the videogram all the way through. She was starting to believe that love was real… it was possible… and maybe, just maybe, it was possible for her.
It was a chilly November morning; Sarah, or Rebecca Chase, her current identity, woke. She hurt everywhere. The last mission was… well it was successful, but every member of her team was wounded and two of the dozen civilians they were tasked with rescuing were dead. But they got the stolen weapons cache back, and saved the rest of the hostages, so the brass were highly satisfied. They had snuck in and protected the hostages while the Tactical Team assaulted the terrorist. They managed to take down not one but two terrorist cells, one selling arms to the other. In the process, Rebecca had taken a bullet in the shoulder and two shots in the vest, leaving her with a hole in her shoulder and a couple of bruised ribs.
She laid in bed thinking… about Chuck. Somewhere out there was a man who loved her more than life. She knew that they had risked their lives together any number of times, and that he had at least twice faced certain death just on a chance he could save her. She saw him take a bullet meant for her. He loved her so much that he let her go, so she could find herself… find happiness. It suddenly hit her how much that must have hurt him. He actually loved her more than life itself.
She suddenly sat bolt upright in bed, bringing waves of pain which she cared nothing for. She loved Chuck Bartowski… it had been coming on for weeks now, but it suddenly hit her like a bolt of lightning… she loved Chuck Bartowski. She gasped, hands flying to cover her mouth and she began to cry. She loved Charles Irving Bartowski. She'd been fighting it for weeks now. How could she have been so foolish? Tears slid down her cheeks and she sobbed openly. She thought to herself that Rebecca Chase didn't cry. No, but Sarah Walker did… more importantly, Sarah Bartowski did. She was Sarah Lisa Bartowski, not Rebecca Chase. She might not remember her previous life directly, but all the stories and photo's and video's suddenly became real, became her memories of that time.
She had to find Chuck… go to him… beg him to take her back. Wait… what if… what if he had moved on? She was the one who left... she had told him not to wait. What if he didn't? He had never said anything in his videograms, but then would he, if he had started dating again? He was such an incredible man… what if some other woman had snatched him up? She had already hurt him so much… she couldn't hurt him again… not if he had moved on and found happiness. She had to find him, but quietly, she had to find out where he was, what he was doing and if he was with anyone, all without him finding out… without her hurting him yet again… and she couldn't use agency resources to do it.
Well, she figured, let's start out the obvious way. She went to her computer, pulled up Google and typed in "Charles Bartowski". The few hits she got had nothing to do with Chuck, except for one announcement from Stanford saying he had received his degree. Next she tried Carmichael Industries. No record of Carmichael Industries… nothing at all. That was odd. She knew that the company existed when she left… why was there no trace on the internet now? This smacks of hacking… Chuck Bartowski Piranha type hacking… erasing all references to Carmichael Industries. What next? What did she do now? Hmmm, what about…? Next search was for Eleanor Woodcomb. Ah… that's more like it. Head of Neurology, yeah… what's this? Member of the Board of Directors of Orion Industries. Orion was the code name of a CIA wizard… no couldn't be… so why was Ellie associated with the company. President of Orion is Alex McHugh. Wonder who this guy is? Wait, Alex McHugh was Casey's daughter. Now we're getting somewhere.
She'd been on the computer for maybe thirty minutes when there was a knock on the door.
Opening the door, Rebecca was faced with two burly men in suits. "Can I help you?"
"Yes ma'am… the Associate Director wants to see you."
"Now? I'm wounded and in no condition for a mission. My whole team is down."
"Yes ma'am… as you say. The Associate Director wants to see you… now."
The ride took thirty minutes and neither of the two agents said so much as a word. Rebecca was ushered into the office of a man she didn't know, still "escorted" by the two burly agents. The man behind the desk looked up as they came in and motioned for Sarah to sit.
Neither said a word as the man perused a document in his hand.
"Successful team… coming off a hard mission."
The man looked up as he said it and stared at Rebecca. He motioned for the two agents to leave.
"I'm Associate Director Ronald Bowman, internal security. Why were you making inquiries about…" he looked down at the paper in his hand "…Charles Bartowski?"
Stoically Rebecca stared back. "He's an old friend and I was trying to find him."
"An old friend. Oddly, your file only covers your skills recertification and the missions your current team went on. Nothing before that… it has all been expunged. When did you know this old friend?"
"I was on his team… Chuck, John Casey and I… Team Bartowski."
"STOP! DO NOT SAY ANOTHER WORD!"
Bowman lifted his phone and dialed a number. "Can you come to my office? Thirty minutes… thank you."
For thirty minutes Bowman and Chase sat and stared at each other. Finally the door opened and a uniformed female officer entered. Bowman rose and after whispering a few words to the woman, left the office. Rebecca still hadn't gotten a look at her.
"Hello Sarah."
Startled Rebecca whipped around then relaxed "Hello General Beckman."
The General walked around the desk and sat behind it. "Sarah, what the hell are you doing? Why are you looking for Chuck."
By this point Sarah's stoicism broke "I'm looking for my HUSBAND, Diane!"
Taken aback by the venom in Sarah's tone Beckman actually recoiled, then made calming gesturers "Okay Sarah… calm down."
"You calm down! Where's Chuck? Why the hell do inquiries about Chuck bring this kind of response?"
"Actually Sarah, I can't tell you that… I can't tell you anything. Chuck was put under a very high security lock down when the Inter… um… that project was shut down. Please do not ask about Chuck again… anywhere."
"What's going on… Chuck was a civilian when I left. Did he go back to spying? Where is he?"
"Sarah… all I can tell you is, that project was shut down because Chuck was the only successful user anyone ever had. Every other person who loaded IT either went mad or… well… as you know… had some other adverse reaction. The technology didn't work, it was dangerous. With Orion dead, none of our scientists have been able to figure out why Chuck made it work, but he was the only one. All traces of the technology have been wiped away and even the team name is on high security lockdown. That's why Bowman called me. You, I, Chuck, John Casey and damn few other people even know that project ever existed, much less what it was all about."
"So what now?"
"I'll clear you, but you can't do this again. If you make any COMPUTER inquiries about any of this, you're going to end up in hack with internal security."
Sarah got the hint with Diane's emphasis of COMPUTER. That was fine… Sarah had other ideas on how to find Chuck.
Getting back to her apartment, Sarah quickly packed and was on a plane in less than an hour. Chicago was a two hour flight. She thought it was kind of ironic that this was the first time she had used the credit card Chuck had given her.
Ellie was just getting ready for work when she got the call from reception, so she was waiting for…
"SARAH!"
"Hello Ellie." Sarah didn't know how to greet her one time friend and sister-in-law. One of the last times Sarah had seen Ellie, Sarah was threatening her with a gun. On the other hand, Ellie had no qualms about wrapping Sarah in a huge hug and kissing her cheeks… repeatedly.
"Oh God it is so good to see you. Come in… come in. You're hurt… what happened?"
Before Sarah could respond, Ellie began fussing. "Let me look."
"Ellie… it's okay. It's just a hole in my shoulder and a couple of bruised ribs, that's all."
"It's not okay… take your blouse off and let me see."
Ellie insisted on reviewing everything that had been done to Sarah in the hospital. Before Sarah knew it an hour had gone by and they had talked about nothing but Sarah's injuries. Ellie had looked at the shoulder wound and redressed it, then checked out Sarah's ribs.
"Ellie, weren't you on your way to work?"
"Are you serious? I'm not leaving you here like this. I texted my assistant and told him I wouldn't be in today. He can handle it."
"But Ellie…"
"Don't you but Ellie me Sarah Bartowski! You may be a Bartowski by marriage but a Bartowski you are. No matter what you remember, you're my sister… and my friend."
It suddenly hit Sarah all at once. Chuck wasn't the only one she had run from. Ellie, Awesome, Casey, even Morgan and Alex, she guessed… all had been her friends, her family, and all of them cared about her. She hadn't had anyone care about her like that since she was a child. Ellie just said it… no matter what she remembers, they were her family… they ARE her family. She started sniffling, then her face got all screwed up and she burst into tears just as Ellie again wrapped her in a hug. They sat there with Ellie hugging her and Sarah crying on her shoulder for ten minutes, till Sarah finally ran down.
"I'm sorry… it just kind of hit me all at once."
"It's okay Honie… better now?"
"Yes, thanks… I'll be fine."
"Now… do you want to talk about why you're here?"
"Um… this is kind of awkward. Ellie? Is Chuck… um… seeing anyone?"
Ellie kind of looked at Sarah with a funny expression on her face. "Seeing anyone? Of course not. Sarah… Chuck is married."
"WHAT? He got married? Oh my God!"
"No Sarah… he's married… to you! What? You think he's going to bail at the first sign of trouble? It's going to take a lot more than a little memory loss to get rid of him. If you want out you're going to have to tell him… and even then I'm not sure he'll go."
Sarah had bounced to her feet when Ellie said he was married. Now she slumped back down to the couch.
"First sign of trouble? It's been six months. I almost killed him… I almost killed you! Ellie… where is he? I mentioned his name at the CIA and almost got arrested. What in the world is going on?"
Suddenly Ellie got nervous and evasive. "I don't know what you mean. Chuck's around. He's got the company up and running… doing pretty well, from what I hear."
Sarah sighed. Well at least she knew that they were still married and that he had not moved on. Now to find out what was going on and where Chuck was. She was just about to start in on Ellie when the front door burst open and Chuck strode in.
"Looking for me?"
Sarah flew into his arms and the crying jag started again. Chuck gently hugged her when she knew that he wanted to crush her in his arms. Wait… that meant he knew about… how could he know? None of that mattered anyway.
"Chuck? Can… can I come home?"
At the end of the Princess Bride, there is a kiss between Wesley and Buttercup that is compared to "the five greatest kisses of all time" saying that Wesley and Buttercup's kiss left them all behind. The kiss that Sarah and Chuck now shared made Wesley and Buttercup's kiss look like a brotherly peck on the cheek.
Ellie stood beaming, watching the pair; then she wiped her eyes, gathered her things, whispered in Chuck's ear and left. Chuck nodded to Ellie's whisper without breaking the lip lock. Finally they came up for air.
"Um… I forget… what was the question?" The two beamed at each other for a moment then Chuck led her from the apartment to the one across the hall.
"My apartment. Now you go get in bed."
"Um, Chuck… you seem to know about my wounds."
"Ummm… yes. You get in bed and go to sleep. You've been up for way too long, you're injured and tired and need to recuperate. We have the rest of our lives to… um… get reacquainted."
Sarah looked lovingly at Chuck. All he was concerned with was her well being… that was all he was ever concerned with. Wait a minute, all he was concerned with was her well being. "You know all about my injuries… I'll bet you know all about everything I've been doing… you've been watching me the whole time. Wait… not watching me… HELPING me. YOU'RE FOXFIRE! I should have known!"
"You really want to talk about this now? Okay… I was afraid you'd figure it out while on a mission, get distracted and… but I couldn't risk it… I couldn't risk you being… well not being with you was bad enough… if you died on a mission…" Chuck got a catch in his voice and couldn't go on. This time is was Sarah's turn to wrap him in a hug.
"I'm sorry… this is all my fault… if I could have trusted you back on the beach when you asked me to, none of this would have been necessary. I'm sorry I put you through this… you and Ellie and Awesome, Morgan, Alex, Casey, all of you. It must have been… well I am so sorry." The kiss this time was only about half as long.
"How did you pull this off?"
"Well, that day on the beach, when you left, you said you needed to go back to spying for a while, which meant the CIA. Like I said, I know Agent Walker. I prayed you'd come home with me, but I planned for what I figured you might do, so I had already contacted General Beckman and we made a deal. She got a functioning Team Bartowski back, bigger and better than ever, and I got to watch over you. The voices in your ear piece were mostly Morgan and my Mom, slightly distorted. I was in the background feeding them info. I actually did your first mission but it was just too hard. Anyway, the whole thing was set up and paid for by our company as a sub-contractor to the CIA. Your MAR team was the tip of the spear. Starting with the second mission, Casey had sniper teams watching over you, and a Tactical Team curtesy of Verbanski Enterprises waiting close by. Everyone was in on it. Your guy George is actually an MI6 agent named Cole Barker that we worked with a couple of years ago. Physically he is by far the best agent we had ever worked with, closer to being the equal of Agent Carmichael using the Intersect than any other agent we have ever met. He also is one of the people that I know who cares about you nearly as much as I do. I told him… um… that if you guys got close… well if you couldn't come back to me I knew he would keep you safe… anyway, MI6 was convinced to second him to us. The female agent was tougher to find. I couldn't use Carina or Zondra, you still knew both of them and they didn't know about the intersect anyway. Yes… I know… you don't trust Zondra… we resolved that issue a while back and I DO trust Zondra… as a matter of fact, she was one of your bridesmaids. Anyway, Amy came to me from the NSA. General Beckman recommended her. Her name is Captain Victoria Dunwoody, well Major now. She and another NSA agent had actually been Intersects for a while, but couldn't handle it. The NSA ended their project before any permanent damage was done to her or her partner, but not before she caused a nuclear bomb to activate almost destroying LA. A bomb that we had to disarm. General Beckman said that Vicky wanted to try to make amends so I took her on."
"So this whole thing was a setup? You were all just play acting to make me feel like a spy again?"
"NO! Absolutely not. Remember that hole in your shoulder? No, the only thing I setup was the best possible team I could put together. Your MAR team, backed up by Team Bartowski… that is, Foxfire… did some very impressive work. General Beckman was HIGHLY pleased. She said the brass at both the CIA and the NSA keep trying to find out all they could about the team mainly because of the incredible success it… we… were having. None of them even suspected we were an intersect based team. Fortunately we had some extremely high level support. The only ones in the know were, Beckman, the CIA Director and the Director of National Intelligence. Man, are they going to be pissed when they find out it's all over."
"Wait… you can get me out of the CIA just like that?"
"Actually, you were never back in the CIA. You were, and are, an employee of Orion Industries acting as a contractor to the CIA. The contract has a clause allowing me to end the whole thing on a week notice. With you on convalesce leave due to injuries sustained on a mission, it'll be way more than a week before the team is ready again, so the contract is done. Matter of fact, I already let General Beckman know."
"Wait…? Orion Industries? What's that?"
"Well Carmichael was my code name from the CIA, and our private espionage company, so using it as a company name didn't seem like a good idea. I renamed the company Orion Industries after my father and… um… kind of erased all mention of Carmichael Industries. Now off to bed with you. That room is yours."
"Your father? Orion was your father? Wait… what do you mean mine? Isn't it ours?"
"Well… I mean you barely know me… I just thought…"
"Chuck… we're married… I love you. I know intellectually all about our life together. I know how wonderful a man you are and how much you loved me… love me. I know all about our life and our plans for the future. I also know how much Sarah Bartowski loved you right back. Well I think I do anyway. When I went back to being Agent Walker… well frankly it scared me. The intensity was too much. You loved me too much. But these last months away from you… I didn't realize how miserable I was until just the last couple of days. Chuck, I love you. My head still doesn't remember much… bits and pieces here or there is all I get… but my heart, that feels it. I love you."
"I love you too… of course you know that. Anyway, this is OUR room. Get to bed. Ellie went to work, Casey is on the way in from Washington and I'll let everyone else know that you're back. We'll have a family dinner tomorrow night. Now go to sleep. Oh yeah… Welcome home."