A/N: I had hit a bad dry spell in the last story I was doing and revamping the potential AP story wrecked that one as well. I happened to run into an old teacher of mine and explained the problem. He suggested taking the characters in a completely different direction and see if that shakes things up. I will let you be the judge of that. I do not own these characters.
Chuck vs Revenge
"It can't be too late… it can't be…" the mantra Chuck Bartowski was repeating over was suddenly stopped as a monotone shrill came from his fiancée's monitor. His brother-in-law rushing in to examine the situation quickly began CPR while his sister grabbed the phone muttered a word, hung up, pressed a button on the monitor to quiet it, and made her way to the side of the bed Chuck was sitting at with an ambu bag squeezing when Devon would stop counting. Chuck's mind was racing and could not focus on anything until he found himself outside of the room being held up by Devon who was talking but Chuck was unable to comprehend. Chuck unconsciously took a deep breath, blinked, and looked wide-eyed at Devon as a basic understanding of the situation was unfurling in front of him.
"Chuck, look at me." Chuck was able to focus on his brother in law and place a hand on his shoulder, but before he could say anything Devon continued, "Chuck, ok, I don't have to tell you how much of a fighter Sarah is. Also know that the doctor in there is good, damn good. She's the only other doctor I want to treat my family right now." Chuck nodded his understanding and saw as Devon turned and intently stared at the drawn blinds visualizing everything going on in the room just by the intermittent sounds coming forth.
Initially Chuck's reaction was to ask who the other doctor was but realizing immediately and not wanting to embarrass him he stood there in looking at him with awe, until he heard a soft sob. Looking around Devon he could see Ellie with her back to them and her shoulders rising and falling in a fairly consistent manner. "Chuck, it's the overall situation."
"What?" Chuck replied softly.
"I don't want you to think she's crying because she doesn't think Sarah is going to make it. Since Sarah's been brought in she hasn't left the room she's been in. Food, whatever sleep she's allowed herself, I have even brought in Clara so she can spend some time with her. Leaving the room has forced her to take off her doctor veneer and everything has come crashing down on her."
"Is yours still on?" Chuck asked with some concern as he looked at his sister and before he could ask his next question.
"Yes, the reason I'm with you is her first thought would be to stay with you to make sure you came back. You drifted away for a few minutes. I was about to put you in one of the other rooms so you could lie down and I could check on Ellie. Also there's a possibility I can be called back into the room, if I let go now I won't be able to help her. I've been doing 6 on and 6 off since we brought Sarah in. The on's I'm obviously here, one of the off's I take care of Clara, the other I try to sleep."
"Who else has been taking care of Clara?"
"Thankfully she still sleeps quite a lot, but if she's not with Ellie or me, your mom or Alex is there. Alex is with her right now just down the hall." Devon made a motion towards Ellie, but Chuck softly grabbed his arm and gripped his shoulder. "Bro, Sarah is going to make it," he said earnestly before turning back to the blind drawn door.
Chuck made his way to his sister, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and kissed the back of her head. "It's going to be ok sis."
This stops Ellie from crying, "Chuck, I should be comforting you, "she responded sadly.
"Ell, you've been doing that for almost twenty years, I think allowing me to do it once isn't a bad thing." He said as he swayed the both of them.
"Chuck, she's going to make it."
"I…" before he could finish his response they both could hear the door open. Chuck slowly turned them both towards the door. Chuck's arms dropped and although his breathing became shallow all his other senses felt as though he were underwater literally feeling waves from the motion of Devon falling to his knees and looking over towards the brother and sister with a look neither one had ever seen from him before: utter devastation. Ellie instinctively went to her husband to console him and for a brief time was able to share their loss when they both realized there was a third person who needed to be included into this grief sharing. They both looked over where Chuck had last been and he was not there.
After Ellie left to go to Devon adrenaline kicked in as he suddenly found himself out of the 'water' walking both quickly and determinedly making his way to the elevators. Heading down the rush began to wear off slightly as his mind was asking what he was doing. His brain was still in a battle as he pushed open the doors leading to the sidewalk, a quick glance showed him the Russian Special Forces crew had departed and Decker's men lined the sidewalk all zip tied. Carina and Zondra were the closest to him, Morgan was situated in the middle, and Casey was placing the agents into the transport with enthusiasm. Seeing the slumped shoulders and blank stare from Chuck Carina immediately turned and sprinted towards the hospital entrance. Zondra was more stunned in place only able to softly emit "No", and was all set to follow Carina inside when one of Decker's stooges picked the wrong time to say something.
"What's the matter honey?" was responded to with a ferocious fervor as her right foot crashed into what were testicles and as his head immediately rocked forward Zondra was able to pivot and her left thigh crashed into his face breaking his nose and crumbled to the ground knocked out. A simple glare to anybody who dared to look at her was enough to keep anybody else from mouthing off. It also showed her she had to stay out here until all these bastards were secure and on their way to some hole. If she left and anything happened she was positive she'd go insane.
Morgan recognized the look on Chuck's face and no Back to the Future or Call of Duty marathon would scratch the surface of the depth of pain Chuck was trying to hide. A single tear crept out as Chuck walked by and with his mouth open he was only able to utter, "Chuck". Chuck momentarily stopped and his shoulders attempted to turn, but were quickly thwarted and he trudged onward to the transport. Casey had just exited after securing one of the agents and catching the look on Chuck's face suddenly went ashen.
"No, kid."
Somehow after Casey's response Chuck suddenly sprang to attention and as his nostrils flared and eyes burned with focus, with a low grumble he only said, "Decker." Casey pointed inside and started to run off even before Chuck uttered, "Vic".
Stepping inside the back he immediately to his right heard a voice cackle, "Guess the blonde badass bit it. Awww poor widdle Chu… kah… kah." Decker's eyes opened wildly and his hands would have instinctively gone to his throat if they weren't cuffed as Chuck's right hand expertly went to his windpipe with enough force to keep him from droning on, but not enough to crush it. The other agents were completely speechless watching their leader whose specialty was intimidating the worst of the worst being put in his place by some tall lanky man who looked at Decker as though he were some pathetic underling. That thought was further confirmed as he brought Decker up and with one swift motion attempted to throw him through the door. Unfortunately Decker's head was not harder than the reinforced steel door and he bounced off with a thud.
Mary who was in the cab was ascertaining that the second transport was only moments away when she heard the thud and rushed to the back to make sure the Colonel was ok. She opened the door a moment before she saw the body of Decker fly out of the transport and onto the pavement with more of a whoosh sound as well as a loud crack which was from his collarbone as his shoulder hit the ground first. Somewhat stunned she was able to look upwards and instead of the Colonel there was an additional shock at seeing Chuck was the person who threw Decker off the bus. Her mind immediately focused on what must have happened and most surprisingly to her, her maternal instinct kicked in as she offered her hand to help Chuck out of the back and just grabbed him towards her. She then placed her hands on the sides of his head and on her first pass just ran through his hair then massaging his temples, "Oh Chuck, please let me…" To only be interrupted by the cries of the man writhing on the ground beside them Chuck opened his eyes and lightly grasped his mothers wrists and brought them down slowly. Looking into Chuck's eyes set Mary through an emotional conundrum: her heart was momentarily filled with joy as it said she was back fully as his mother, but then broke even more quickly as the cost of that was far too high. Her eyes were starting to water and she was beginning to get impatient with herself as she was running through all the possible things she could think of to comfort him. Chuck looked at his mom with a sad smile and hugged her finishing just as Casey pulled up with his Crown Victoria. Casey got out opened the back door, grabbed Decker, and tossed him onto the seat. When he closed the door and got set to climb in the driver's seat he saw Chuck sitting there with the door closed and window coming down.
"Kid, she would not want you going down this road, let me…"
"Casey, I just need an hour."
The grunt of reluctant acceptance followed quickly by, "No, but I will give you a half hour, so you'd better get your ass in gear."
Chuck nodded and with his head down he softly said, "I didn't say goodbye." The Crown Vic streaked out of the hospital parking lot not slowing down for the speed bumps as the Colonel closed his eyes to concentrate on the last thing Chuck had said. The second transport was able to avoid the black blur leaving as it pulled up Mary went up to Casey scared for the first time ever about Chuck losing his soul. "John, how could you let Chuck go like this? He's going to …"
The worried tone made sure he needed to look into her eyes when he said, "He's not, granted as much as all of us here want to be the one to end him there is something more that is going on here and he needs some time before I get there."
"By yourself. NO!"
"Yes, Mary don't forget you have a daughter up there that could be as broken hearted as your son as well as a granddaughter to help look after. This is where you need to be."
"I know. I just need for him to know." She looked up at Casey and nodded. Heading to the entrance she stopped along to the other two compatriots giving Morgan a Bartowskiesque hug and having a brief whispered conversation with Zondra.
After the hug Morgan went up to Casey and asked, "What are we going to do Colonel?"
"First," he stepped to the side of Morgan and bellowed out, "Who drove here?" The agents still on the sidewalk were still confused as to the events of the day and everything that had just happened and just before Casey looked like he was going to utter the command again one of the men coughed and slowly attempted to stand up.
"Morgan go get his keys." Immediately he regretted it as Morgan would say something inappropriate or complain about the assignment reaching into the agent's pockets for the keys. Surprisingly the moron handled it with precision and professionalism and ran the keys back. "What now sir?"
"You and Zondra are going to finish loading up the rest of these assholes then go upstairs. I'm giving you the most important job: do not let anybody move her." Morgan gave a somewhat confused look. "Chuck hasn't said goodbye yet." With that a resolve came over Morgan that Casey hadn't seen before. "You can let family in, but absolutely nobody with a badge or an outside doctor gets in there. Let the others know and they will all back you up. Well, get to it."
Casey hit the unlock button to try and locate which black Escalade went with the keys he had. After hitting it a third time he finally found it and climbed into the driver's seat now thinking that he had given Chuck too much lead time because the circumstances suddenly hit him and although he was able to contain most of it. He realized there was something he had to do before leaving the immediate area. Exiting the vehicle he observed Zondra and Morgan efficiently placing Decker's men into the second transport. Making his way into the area they had coordinated for Sarah that held two other patient rooms as well as an outer area he could see some more furnishings were in this area now. He first saw Ellie curled up with her head and shoulder in her mother's lap and Devon leaning up against the wall with his head drooped down. Seeing nobody else he assumed Carina was with Sarah and would try to at least give her another minute before entering, that thought was stymied as he was blindsided by a brunette blur which clamped around his torso.
"Alex… I thought you were watching Clara," Looking down at his distraught daughter.
"I was," she sniffled, "Mary came by and told me so I got Clara and brought her in and set her up in the other room, where she is sleeping."
"Have you seen her?"
"No, but Carina is in there."
"I know. I wish I could wait, but I have to leave soon."
He felt Alex's arms tighten as he said that and with one hand stroking the top of her head, he lightly knocked three times on the door to Sarah's room before slowly opening it. Carina's head popped up and looked like she was about to say something until Casey's look stopped her and started to get up from the chair. Casey motioned her back down and Alex peeled herself from him at the foot of Sarah's bed as she knew he needed his space to be able to concentrate on Sarah and say what he wanted to.
"Walker, in our line of work these things are inevitable and we both know full well the risks and accept them as part of the greater good. But this has got to be the goddamn cruelest thing I've ever heard of. For all the things you've done in defense of this country you deserved and earned so much more than you were allowed to have. A confession I have to make, knowing how independent you are this will sound silly from me, but I was going to ask if you would allow me the privilege of escorting you down the aisle." As he paused both women in the room had tears streaming down their faces. "I know exactly what your last two orders are for me: keep Chuck safe and to have him be happy. Partner I will do my absolute best for both, but I only have confidence in the first one. Knowing how I feel right now and also knowing him at best this is going to be a very long process, but I promise to do whatever I can to help him. I'm sorry, but I have to go and get started with your first order and once I bring him back get started on that second one. I will miss you Sarah."
He kissed the top of Sarah's head before he turned and gave a quick hug to his daughter before exiting the room. Not stopping until he reached the elevator bank he saw Morgan and Zondra stepping out of one. "You remember your orders?"
"Yes and sir… bring him back." Morgan started to walk away but turned and saw Casey enter the elevator and as the doors closed he saw Morgan and saluted.
Coming to Decker had this awful taste in his mouth as he started piecing together what had happened and that he was currently face down in some vehicle. Straining to look up and see what and who he was dealing with let out a groan as his collarbone betrayed him and needed to close his eyes for a period of time before he could focus them. Looking again he could only see a driver and by the build he immediately could tell who it was. "Bartowski, I don't see you have your lap dog with you, that's a big mistake. We both know you don't have the balls to kill me. Hell I'm shocked you had enough of a set to tame the Enforcer or maybe that's not what she was into. I don't know what you're going to be wasting your time with, but it … ARRGHH." Decker soon found out how quickly Casey's car can go from ninety to zero as he flopped from the back seat to the floor of the car. The car soon roared back to motion and the subsequent jarring caused Decker to utter some common profanities.
Without even bothering to look back at his passenger Chuck forcefully responded, "No Decker, the only thing that we have known for certain since this little dance of ours started is that you have underestimated me every step of the way and that whatever intimidation thing you somehow hold over all these people hasn't worked on me one fucking bit. Oh this will piss Casey off a little bit as I think hitting the parking lot speed bump at fifty may be a little too much for the shocks. Let's find out." Decker couldn't help but swallow and began to wonder how long he would be able to hold out.
The vestibule outside Sarah's room was now situated with two 'loveseats' and four chairs as Alex and Carina located the other pieces after leaving Sarah's room. Mary and Ellie had not moved from the original piece of furniture in the room, but Devon placed his chair across from Ellie and was holding her hands. Carina and Zondra were in the other loveseat both just looking down. Alex initially was sitting by the two CATS, but as she became aware that Morgan was not going to be leaving his 'post' she brought her chair over to him and grabbed his left hand with both of hers leaning her head against his arm. For about fifteen minutes the room was completely still until the door from the hallway opened and in walked General Beckman with two mountainous bodyguards behind her. Morgan made his presence known by stepping in front of the door before the general got there and shaking his head. "Grimes let us in!"
"No. Only family."
"What?"
"You heard me only family." The general's eyes dropped but recovered quickly as she looked at him puzzled. "Only family, your two sardaukar can wait outside." The general quickly motioned for the two men to maintain a position in the hallway. After they stepped out Morgan held the door open to Sarah's room and the General quickly stepped inside. A few moments later Beckman heard the door open again and looking up saw Morgan at the foot of her bed.
"Still don't trust me Grimes, you're learning." Her eyes were quickly drawn back to her fallen agent.
"No General there are reasons, but first I need to apologize for making you think that you aren't a part of us. I wanted to show the others out there that Casey made the right choice putting me there and I needed at least a sort of rehearsal. "
A sad smile graced Diane Beckman's face, "Grimes, Casey chose very well, but why is it necessary?"
"Chuck hasn't said goodbye."
Without taking her eyes off Sarah, the general simply nodded her head, "Ok, where is he?"
"He took off with Decker asking an hour from Casey, but Casey told him thirty minutes. Chuck took off, Casey gave some orders, Zondra and I secured the remainder of the second transport, Casey came up for a moment, and then took off after Chuck."
"Does Chuck still have the intersect?"
"No." Noting the look of concern Morgan added, "After Chuck threw Decker off the transport, you could hear his collarbone or shoulder break."
"How long ago did Chuck leave?"
"Being out there has messed up my time, but I would think Casey would be at Castle now."
The general closed her eyes and nodded. She leaned towards Sarah and whispered something into her ear. Bringing herself up she looked down once more and moved a scant amount of hair that fell over her face and took a deep breath. She started to head out when at the doorknob she turned and saw Morgan had not moved.
"You haven't said it yet either?"
Morgan shook his head. "Ok, I'll stand watch and then when you're done take Casey's daughter down to the cafeteria and get something to eat. Give yourselves at least a half hour and bring up some things for the others. When you come back I'll go to Castle."
"But, what if…"
"Grimes this is family," as she opened the door and stepped out.
Casey pulled up to the Orange Orange next to his Crown Victoria and although it looked fine he noted one of his rim covers lying on the parking lot. Entering the store and going to the back he could see Castle's entrance was propped open. Pulling out his weapon he cautiously made his way down the stairs. Heading into the briefing room he could see the screen was showing the security link and on it he could clearly see the location was the firing range and there was a person tied up to a target. Rushing in Casey could quickly ascertain that Decker was still breathing although he certainly looked like he'd been through something. Quietly opening the door to the armory he went to a corner and pulled out a walnut case, slowly opening it and deciding this was the opportunity to christen 'Kath', his Smith & Wesson Model 500, as he turned to leave something caught the corner of his eye and grabbed that as well. This time Casey slammed the door closed stirring Decker and initially Decker's face showed panic then relief as he acknowledged the Colonel before he looked down and started laughing, "I knew the golden boy couldn't pull the trigger, even after I dared him to."
Casey simply stared at the man who a day before was the baddest of the badasses and the fact that Chuck broke him to the point Casey was the preferred option just added to the respect he had for the moron and the corresponding grin caused Decker to lose whatever cool he had remaining. At the table next to him he saw a tooth and then a piece of paper that had a portion torn from it and had some writing on it. He placed his two items on the table and one item Decker saw brought out the last of his false bravado, "Never took you for a knife person, John; especially ones as dainty as those."
Casey looked for one in particular and took it from its reserved spot, "We both know I'm not and whose set this is, and just to fill you in this one was her favorite." Bringing the knife closer to Decker he added, "She said it needed to go on every mission, but that she would never use it unless there was absolutely no other choice. The obvious guess is she either saved Chuck or he saved her, but it probably was something as simple as him using it to cut a sandwich for them to share. I could almost guarantee that she would have used it to initially cut their wedding cake. We have an understanding right?" All Decker could do at this point was gulp and nod. "So you told him correct information?" Decker nodded but felt something cold press up against his neck with a quick nick confirming his suspicions and knowing Casey wanted him to say it.
"Yes, he wrote the information on that piece of paper tore off part of it and said he would verify and get back if what I said was bullshit." Feeling the knife pull away without taking anymore skin offered Decker a brief moment to relax that ended when Casey delivered a right cross to Decker's jaw breaking it. Barely hovering above unconsciousness one of Decker's last coherent thoughts was although it was going to be messy Casey had spared him the indignity of groveling for his life or a quick death. He felt himself drop to the ground followed only by pain, then nothing.
"Colonel, I assume what is on the floor is what's left of Decker."
"Yes Ma'am" Casey responded quickly as he turned and saluted, "I just finished and was trying to decipher the clues that Chuck left, a tooth and a saying on this piece of paper." Turning back and sitting down, the general came over and looked over Casey's shoulder.
"Is this the tooth he knocked out from the Zamibian doctor?"
"No, it is from Decker, but it is the type he pulled out of me when he was portraying Rafe Gruber."
"Ok, what's the saying?"
"As long as I have a want I have a reason for living, satisfaction is death. I was just going to punch it into the computer when you came in."
"You don't have to that's from George Bernard Shaw… Shaw… Shaw is behind all of this!" The Colonel's nostrils flared and eyes constricted, "John, you need to clean up and change before leaving Castle and I will go and check on Shaw's whereabouts and get a cleanup crew over here or at least somebody with a hose and shovel. "
Ten minutes later Casey returns changed and somewhat cleaned although there are still darkened spots that hadn't washed off. "Chuck hacked into Decker's computer and sent in a communiqué authorizing Shaw's transfer. I know that Chuck has a plan and is keeping us at arm's length with these clues, but without the intersect I am concerned for him especially because I highly doubt Shaw's was suppressed."
"Why?"
"Because Decker was assigned to do that."
"Damn, however I wouldn't doubt Chuck has assumed that as well."
"Correct, but I have been trying to call and it is going straight to his voicemail."
"Decker took our phones when he brought us in. However thanks to the Buy More we do have a few burners that we keep in the armory." Running into the armory and opening the drawer he noticed that there were only two of the five that were normally there. Yelling out to the general, "Chuck has three burners."
"The wise move is to stop the transfer, but I don't know how Chuck would react to that. I suppose we can wait here, but that is not my style. Colonel, why are you smiling?"
"I think I've figured out the meaning of the tooth. Chuck is insistent upon doing the majority of the lifting by himself on this. If he was going to bring Shaw back here he would have waited for me and we would get him together. Shaw was in charge of this mission and there were a number of locations during it that could be where he would take him: the bar where he took my tooth and then two hotel rooms. "
"That makes sense, I assume you want to check the bar first what about the hotel rooms."
"Agreed, if they aren't there I would suggest the room Shaw stayed at, because that would allow Shaw a false sense of security as Shaw would think he'd have the upper hand on him psychologically. I doubt he'd know where the other room was or glean anything significant from it."
"Ok Colonel, lead the way."
"Chuck, using a Nerd Herder to transport me, your torture plan is off to a rollicking start." Shaw laughed out, not really expecting a reply he continued, "Wow, you're usually quite the talker. I'm guessing that there might be a problem with Sam. Yep, poisons can be awfully tricky." Noting that Chuck was turning his head Shaw was about to claim victory in their initial salvo, instead he became confused as Chuck had on display a grin Shaw didn't recognize from Chuck's repertoire, a shit-eating grin.
"I just wanted to have an idea how long it had been since you and your buddy Decker talked. I'll let you in on a secret; he gave you up in less than five minutes alone with me. Man Casey was so disappointed he stayed behind to extract anything else while I went and picked you up Danny." Shaw's disposition changed slightly, and Chuck was able to see concern before Shaw was able to put on his emotion covering varnish.
"Ok then, I guess that makes you Mr. Badass now, I hear the CIA offers up a five dollar certificate to the Orange Orange for holding onto the title for a full month. Good luck. So I cannot wait to see the updates in Castle after I made sure it was going to be remodeled."
"Oh, sorry we aren't going to Castle." Shaw's worry took a little longer to hide, "No we just couldn't take a chance, even though all the protocols were changed, if your intersect is like mine there are ways around some of them. Well of course I'm sure you stayed in prison for your all encompassing plan and not for the Men's Health subscription and extra shower time on Saturdays for being a good boy. Nope instead we're going to a more old school type area for your interrogation and you know what here we are." Chuck stopped the car in a back alley and pulled out a twilight dart. "Like I said old school, sorry cannot let you know the secret entrance." Chuck shrugged his shoulders and pushed the dart into his carotid artery emptying out the knockout chemical compound.
The unmistakable presence of ammonia filled Shaw's nostrils and caused him to jerk his head side to side.
"Ok Danny I guess I overdid it a little bit, but may I suggest that you try to be a little more careful with your head. You don't want to lose it."
Shaw still a little groggy from the dart was unable to absorb all Chuck had been saying. He breathed in deeply through his nose and out with his mouth ten times and started to feel more aware. His body was tied down to a chair and he had virtually no movement except for his head. Cautiously he attempted to move his head when he felt a thin wire start to feel taut around his throat and quickly moved back to his original position.
"Normally the piano wire around the neck wouldn't be necessary as the chair would be bolted to the floor, taking away the 'break the chair to free yourself scenario', but as I said you're making us go a little more old school and it's a nice education for me. So any fall, push, or even flash could not be what either of us want."
"What do you want Chuck?"
"Obviously I need to wrap up your nefarious scheme so whatever information to help with that and also you are finally going to have your intersect suppressed. So knowing you I'm sure you have some fail-safe plans for both Sarah and I so why don't you tell me about them."
"Really, piano wire is supposed to intimidate me. Besides you put me in prison how much could I possibly do while in there?"
"Ah, I did commit an atrocious faux pas. I did not give you the carrot or the stick. Sorry. See you will be suppressed." Chuck pulled out a pair of the suppression glasses and set them next to Shaw. "The stick is that each time you lie I'm going to take off a certain amount of time ending the suppression before it fully finishes. Here's the interesting thing nobody knows exactly what happens: your brain may just completely shut down in the middle of a flash, or possibly build up until blood vessels burst in your brain, or nothing, well maybe a slight headache. Of course though nobody can tell what information is suppressed fully and what isn't. And there are a few files that we can go over while we wait for Casey to show up with whatever else Decker knew."
Looking at the room Shaw saw three legal/letter boxes that he assumed were filled with files. Shaw took another deep breath as he honestly did not know if he was going to tell Chuck whatever he wanted or take the chance that Chuck either could not do this or at some later time he would escape and fully complete the suppression. Chuck gave Shaw an opportunity to let his words sink in and although he did not want to see what an incomplete flash actually looks like and does, he resigned himself to the fact that Shaw at the very least would push him because Shaw wouldn't think he'd carry through with it.
"Ok with the ground rules established, are there any questions Danny?"
"You're wasting your time."
"Perhaps I should do five seconds of the suppression and then stop and see if that motivates you a little more?" Shaw's gulp seemed to answer that after Chuck picked up the glasses. Sitting back down Chuck stared right through Shaw and calmly asked, "Again let's start with whatever backup plans you have in store for both Sarah and me."
Shaw took his time on this going through the scenarios in his head. The look Chuck was sending him was far different than the one on the bridge; that was love and resolve with some doubt; this one had traces of both Casey: all business nothing more, nothing less and Walker: doing whatever it takes to get the job done. If he was bluffing he had gotten damn good in a year.
Without the intersect he still had some options, especially if they hadn't located the Ring cube. Being sent back to prison that was practically solitary confinement only leaving his cell for showers and a half hour exercise period every other Tuesday at 4am was barely an existence, but it was still better than the outcomes an incomplete flash could provide. Really the only thing stopping him from telling Chuck everything was his ego. The fact that he had beaten him for Sam, outdrew him on the bridge, unraveled his plan at the conference, and beat him in a straight-up fight without the governor was enough to shatter it, but this plan would more than make up for all the indignities he had suffered. The other problem is what he liked to call his last speck of humanity as much as he wanted to solely concentrate on the plan and his back-ups a part of him respected Chuck and when his thoughts were allowed to drift he inevitably was drawing comparisons of himself and Eve with Chuck and Sam or just Chuck and himself and found similarities. Initially both their better halves were the better field spies while Chuck and he were better with planning and ideas. He would have to test Chuck just to satisfy his curiosity and see if he could actually do it. "Chuck, I don't have any resources. Decker would make contact with me and I would provide him information. That's why he let me keep the intersect." Shaw replied confidently.
Chuck looked at Shaw, "Well Danny you do spin a good yarn, but I am afraid I will have to call you on it. We both know Decker is at best a goon. Granted an effective one, but he is not the mastermind type. It's especially interesting how he got access to some of Roarke's hidden accounts. Since you want to be that way will start with some easier questions and hopefully get most of your intersect suppressed, alright?"
"The bar seemed like the perfect place, especially with it boarded up, and now with Shaw's hotel room proving a dead end. Should we reconsider the clues? " Asked a general who laced this with patience rather than barking an order.
"No, these places are the only ones that make sense. Chuck feels like he needs to dig this up by himself, but he would not leave me high and dry; especially in this circumstance. I guess Chuck wanted to go for the unknown and maybe make Shaw a little more unbalanced. It's more classic spy craft than I'd expect from him. At least Shaw will be in this room I guarantee it." Casey states with a stoic look of determination.
As they go up the last flight of stairs and reach the door they both pull out their guns and Casey silently signals the door is ajar and he'll go in first. She nods and prepares to follow him in. Opening the door they both quickly focus on the man in a chair whose head is spasming. Casey quickly holsters his weapon, goes over to Shaw and delivers a left cross which stopped the spasming, but found Casey utter "Damnit!" and attempt to flex his left hand.
General Beckman comes over and after grunting at the unconscious Shaw, looked over at Casey's hand, "With the damage you did to Decker, it would be a surprise if you didn't break both your hands. Go see if there's something in the bathroom, either to wrap it and possibly some pain meds." Casey grunted his 'Yes, ma'am' and headed off to the bathroom while Beckman inspected the table. Finding the suppression glasses along with a number of files was not a surprise, but then found a notepad as well as one of the burner phones. Opening it she exclaimed, "Colonel, you are right Chuck left a phone and there is a number programmed into it. I'll call him and see if we can rendezvous."
Hitting send she peered at the notepad and saw two names; one she was quite familiar with, the other she recognized but could not place.
Chuck answered in a rapid fashion, "Casey, I'm glad you got there…" before he was cut off.
"Chuck, are you on your way to the hospital?"
"General… Why... Is Casey ok?"
"He is, although at least his left hand is probably broken after what he did to Decker and just now to Shaw."
"Good, when he started spasming I tried smelling salts, even dumped cold water on him, I finally punched his head which stopped his head bobbing." Taking a deep breath he continued, "No I am not, there are just a few things that still need to be done before I can go back."
"Chuck, where are you? We can meet up and work through this all together instead of us following you around."
"Well it is more of a division of labor now. On the notepad are two names that I wrote down for Casey, and you I guess to track down as they are Shaw's back up plans for Sarah and me. Those are the more dangerous items. The two that I have are both things that I am the only person who can handle. I'm not being cocky I just…"
"Chuck, it's ok. I recognize the first name: Nicholas Quinn, damnit he was on the short list for possible intersect uploading. He was captured shortly after Larkin stole it, but after we got him back he never fully recovered and finally left rather than take an analyst role and be reevaluated after six months. The other name, Kieran Ryker, sounds familiar, but I cannot place it. After I get off the phone I'll start some people on it."
"Good, so if Casey beat on Shaw…"
"Yes, Shaw is still currently breathing, but knocked out. Here's Casey, but Chuck let me tell you how sorry I am…" hearing stilted, heavy breathing on the other end made the general attempt a different tact. "Ok, complete your mission first," handing the phone to Casey and making her way to Shaw as he was just beginning to stir she yelled out, "Is there any more information we need from him."
Casey started to relay, but Chuck had heard the general and Casey both said "No" and shook his head. The general turned and delivered a lightning quick thrust of her palm to the bridge of the nose snapping Shaw's head back where it dangled for a moment before finding its balance. After confirming she looked down, "Damn, hopefully I can save the shoe." Making her way to the bathroom she noted the Colonel's pensive look and ordered, "Carry on."
"Ok kid I heard some of what you and the general were talking about how about you fill me in on the rest, like what are you up to?"
Chuck relayed most of what Shaw said to him before his last flash as well as all the information from Decker, but Casey noticed that the paper Chuck had the two names on had the bottom third ripped off and there was a slight indentation on the page underneath. Making a mental note to have that checked out for his eyes only Casey responded in kind letting Chuck know what they had done at the hospital including his order to Morgan.
"Chuck how long are your missions going to take? If it is just a few hours I'm sure Morgan and the rest can handle it, but if it's going to be longer…"
"You're right Casey, tell Morgan to stand down and let them do what they need to for her, but then bring her down to Castle asap. I don't want to see her in a morgue." As he forced out that last sentence Chuck realized he was not alone and that the people he was waiting for had arrived back into their room. "Casey, I've got to go, but let me know about the two names," and quickly hung up before Casey could respond.
Chuck got up from his chair and the two people momentarily looked at him in shock. The older gentleman remained steadfast but looked like he was trying to analyze the situation. The younger woman hearing the words and looking at the table by the chair ran to the bathroom and started retching. The sound broke the gentleman out of the somewhat stupor he was in and able to move instinctively started towards the bathroom, but then looked at the table and saw the object that made his daughter run into the bathroom, a gun.
"My god Charles, I am so sorry it didn't work. Please Charles it is my fault for inventing it, take me instead."Hartley pleaded.
Chuck looked over at the man with a puzzled look then allowed himself to look over at the table to the item causing the consternation. He lowered his head and shook it, if there was any part of his being that would allow it he would have laughed. "I'm sorry Hartley, this is a tranq pistol. I'm not here to hurt anybody, I just can't sit down with this in my waistband and I needed to check on something on my laptop while I waited for you both. "
"How did you find us and why are you here?"
The faucet running and then turning off followed by light, cautious footsteps into the ensuite halted the discussion. With her head solemnly down Vivian Winterbottom nee Volkoff gravelly spoke out, "Agent Carmichael I know I do not deserve anything, but if you could make it quick and most importantly please spare my father." As she looked up with tears streaming down her face all Chuck could do was turn away after motioning Hartley to go to his daughter. Hartley explained the misunderstanding about the gun and that Chuck was about to explain why he was here which caused them both to look over at Chuck who had made his way back into the chair he was in before.
Looking over at both of them Chuck knew he had to tell them the truth, although he did not want to tell them the road that he had been traveling down. Leaning up in the chair he began, "First, I tracked you down to this hotel because Alexei would always stay here when he came to the LA area. Uhh I brought you this. Its information about Alexei's travel habits so that when you guys go under you don't find yourselves in a place your past persona used to frequent. Next, by me telling you, you don't have to wonder or continuously look over your shoulders waiting if I am coming after you. Last after the things that I've recently done I needed to prove to myself that I haven't changed into something that can just blithely kill or set up people to be without any remorse or empathy left within me." Feeling the energy quickly slipping away he sunk back into the chair as the two ran through what Chuck had said there was a silence.
Hartley looking over at the young man went to the chair opposite him and reached over the small table and gently grasped his forearm. "What happens now?" He queried.
Before Chuck could answer there was a knock on the door and Vivian responded with a shriek. In an apologetic tone Chuck said, "I'm sorry while waiting for you I realized I hadn't eaten since the plane trip to Moscow and I needed something so I ordered some room service."
Vivian recovered and opened the door allowing the server to enter with his wheeled cart and apologized saying that her brother had played a cruel joke on her by saying her ex was at the door. The server opened the cart and placed the tray on the table before shaking his head dismissively at Chuck before leaving. The smile on her face quickly disappears as she gazes upon Chuck's weary face. "Sorry is far too trite and inconsequential for what I've done, but I have absolutely no clue what to say so I'll just leave you alone unless you need me." Looking over at Chuck she quietly went to a sofa in the room and sat at the furthest point from him placing her forehead on the palm of her left hand.
Chuck took a look at his plate of pancakes with a side order of bacon along with a few pieces of various fruits and a large glass of milk, looked up at Hartley who just gave a soft smile and nodded to the plate giving Chuck the unnecessary permission to go ahead and eat. After switching the fruit and bacon on the main plate and loading on the syrup he sighed, "I wish I knew what to say as well, but after this you two need to go and have a chance to live the lives that the Intersect cost you without any worry of retribution," without looking up he started to eat.
Hartley tried his best not to stare at the two other people in the room, but it was difficult. Chuck reminded him so much of Stephen, caring and underestimating of himself while he was so completely capable of amazing things. Knowing his change to Volkoff had to have devastated him in every way; it took away his wife and best friend for two decades and Stephen undoubtedly blamed himself for all of it. Looking at Chuck he could easily imagine him falling into that same hole, withdrawing from people and adopting a quixotic persona ala Orion trying to right all the wrongs by himself. "Charles, I can only imagine how much you are hurting, but please don't cut off the people that care about you. I think that's something both our families have done far too often." Hartley rose and stood behind Chuck for a moment and attempted to comfort him by stroking the back of his head, but whether it was not trying to overstep or the general lack of comfort the English, who've been stereotyped correctly, provide; ended up patting him on the shoulder twice before heading to the couch hoping to do better with Vivian.
After years with both Sarah and Casey, Chuck was accustomed to somewhat mixed signals on emotional support and concentrated on the stronger portion: Hartley's words and they made sense. Both his parents had went down the solo path and the results were almost universally bad and since he had already gone down this road with Jill and Stanford he could see the outcome as this loss made that seem like a paper cut. The difference was he knew there were others that are grieving for the same loss, not nearly to his extent; in fact even General Beckman was attempting to help share it just a little while ago. The only thing that would disappoint Sarah when he saw her again; he could not recall believing or not in an afterlife before, but he was damned certain there was one now and she was at peace, was him doing nothing with the rest of his life. He finished his meal and looked over to the couch, "Thank you Hartley, I agree there's too much for me to handle by myself." Hartley nodded and gave a comforting smile while Vivian opened her mouth a few times attempting to say something but stopped herself as tears again were slowly coming through.
Softly Vivian was finally able to croak out, "Why forgive me when you couldn't with those others, I don't deserve it."
"There have been so many wrongs (yawn) that has transpired between our families; understand I am not forgiving you… I just can't, but at the very least you've shown remorse. Those others were giddy about what happened. Also your grandmother saved Sarah, Casey, and me, taking you away…" As the extreme carbohydrate load compounded his weariness, he yawned again and blinked.
Hartley came over and grabbed the tray taking it outside the door quickly coming back with a happy cry, "My mother is still alive."
This gave Chuck a moment of clarity as he shook his head to keep himself awake, "Yes, yes she is. She had a message for you if we were able to get 'you' back… ahh what was it? It was… yes, hopefully this makes sense she said 'you can contact her through the Thousand Oaks Woods' I have no idea what that means, but that is what she said." This time there was another big yawn and Chuck was out.
Watching her walk down the aisle surpassed any expectations, despite the gown not being her first choice because of some bullet holes which he said would seem appropriate unless there were in compromising places. She stood next to him and repeated her vows that made his heart soar higher than the first time. However he hadn't had time to redo his, stammering a little bit he could somehow feel Casey going from misty to glowering and just blurted out random thoughts but emphasizing that he would prove his love for her every day and that she could count on me elicited a tear from her as Morgan asked me 'Do you take this woman to be your…'
"I do… Sarah I do!" Chuck woke up wide eyed to Vivian who was wiping more tears and placing an envelope on top of his closed laptop and another envelope.
"Um… were those your wedding vows?" Vivian whispered.
"I don't know I was going to rewrite them after Sarah and I had a rehearsal." Chuck shrugged and looked down.
"They were lovely. I wish there was something I could do to help you find any semblance of comfort. If you do change your mind I programmed another number on that cell just call me and we will find a place to meet."
"Vivian, I already told you I wanted you to live your life without fear."
"Chuck, I will live every day from here on in as if it were my last. However, if you find that it is impossible to live with the choice that you made. I owe you at least that. In case you hadn't woken up I did include that and a number of other things in a letter I just placed on your laptop. The envelope beneath it is the wedding present my father and I are giving you. I know you don't want to accept it, but we still want you to have it. I'm asking too much, but I need for you to say that you will accept it, please."
Even with the rest Chuck was still exhausted and mainly noting the please told her that he would accept their gift.
Vivian put on a sad smile, "Good, you're the only person we trust to do the right thing with it. The room is paid for so you are free to stay here if you want, but I thought I recalled you saying there was something else that you needed to do."
"Yes, there is… Oh there was a message that your grandmother wanted me to give you guys."
"Chuck, you did tell us, before your carb crash and my father was able to contact her. That is where we are heading right now." Still unsure of what she should do she lightly brushes his cheek with the back of her hand. "We have to go now, but remember you did say you accepted out gift." Looking sadly at Chuck she turned and walked towards the door. Reaching for the doorknob she turned and opened her mouth again unable to find the words she mumbled something that he couldn't understand as she rushed out the door.
Chuck got up to stretch and not only finding some aching muscle groups he also felt a blanket fall from his torso to the ground. The sleep did slightly help him physically; however his mind was still in a fog. His second stretch caused him to turn slightly and see a carafe on the table. Chuck could only assume it was coffee; grabbing a cup he poured and was relieved that he was correct. Taking a sip the carafe must have just gotten there because it was scalding, but the pain did its best to take over the caffeine's duty in awakening him. Letting it cool he looked at his phone and saw a 'V' as a contact along with Casey he promised himself he would call her once he was done and then destroy the phone. Taking a big chance he took down the rest of the cup in a few gulps and felt a rush moving down to Casey's number he hit send. Casey picked up on the second ring, but Chuck beat him to the punch as he said, "Hey Casey, any leads yet?"
"Actually we've got quite a bit done, did you get some sleep?"
"Along with taking care of my first assignment I had about a four hour sleep. I'm just getting set to drive down to my second assignment. What's everybody's status?"
"Ok, everybody is down in Castle for the moment just to us all in one place and safe. Quinn is overseas and we have eyes on him thanks to MI-6, and before you ask it is Cole. It seems he was in the process of infiltrating them and had turned one of Quinn's operatives. He's claiming it is Bo Derek, but … anyways Ryker is a different case altogether. For awhile there was some intel on him as he was Sarah's handler for some reason. Their last mission went completely sideways as he went rogue. The official file is scant and redacted; Beckman has a few people going through Graham's personal files to find more of the story. However it did say that the mission was to retrieve something valuable and that Ryker was going to use this as his retirement plan. Sarah did not turn the package over to the CIA either and that is where the official file ends. Afterwards Ryker was placed on all the normal watch lists, but he's been bumped up to a priority and retrieve with prejudice notation. "
Chuck leaned back in the chair and took another gulp of coffee, "You might want to focus on the San Diego area."
"What did you find out, is that who that other name was on that paper, the one you tore off?" Not getting an immediate answer caused the big man's blood to boil, "I cannot believe that you would hold out on me about this!"
Chuck in a defeated voice, "No, the name is of Sarah's mom."
"Sarah's… how the hell… she didn't tell him did she?"
"No, one of the inclusions in the Ring Intersect was weaknesses to exploit for a number of agents. They already used yours and from what you've told me I'm pretty sure what the package is. Shaw made a condescending remark if Sarah had told me about the baby right after the incomplete suppression. Then I pulled a file and he started answering some of the other questions, but wouldn't elaborate any further about the baby. The next file set him in a non-stop flash. He started spasming. I tried a few things to snap him out of it, but I was only able to knock him out which at least stopped him from jerking around. I stayed for a few minutes before I headed out to my first assignment."
"That is how we found Shaw, what was your first assignment?"
"Vivian and Hartley."
"What?!"
"In order to secure the antidote I had to give them your blank identities. They came with me on the plane, but obviously stayed inside until they landed. Luckily I remembered the file which had the common hangouts for Alexei. So I hacked into the hotel he most often would stay at on Laguna Beach and found his favorite suite had just been booked. I got there and they were out so I stayed and did some prep work for my second job and you know when they came back."
"Yeah, what happened?" Casey asked with interest and Chuck told the details of what happened including the two envelopes.
"Now I have to drive down to San Diego and meet Sarah's mom for the first time, tell her that's she's dead. Not to even mention the fact that she fell in love with me. She'll never believe it."
"Chuck, just tell her the truth and make sure you are Chuck and not Carmichael."
"Ok, so you agree that Ryker is after the child because she is the key to obtaining a fortune."
"Yes."
"So after convincing her of me I also have to get them to trust me enough to drive back to LA." Chuck's voice a little higher and faster as his nerves were starting to fray.
"Well you could always tranq her."
"Casey, Sarah would be so mad if I tranq'd her mother, plus that would scare the child."
"Kid, come back to Castle. I can take your mom or Carina and we'll bring them in."
"No, Casey I cannot let her down again."
"Chuck, there is no fucking way anybody could possibly think that you did not do everything to save her and that would include Sarah." Click. "Damnit!" Quickly contacting Beckman to have them concentrate around the San Diego area including airports and border crossings also making sure everything is secure in Castle. Casey headed up to his Crown Vic and headed to the address from the name the computer was able to recreate from the indented area of paper.
Chuck spent most of the drive angry, mostly at himself for hanging up on Casey. The one positive aspect of this was that it took away from the normal anxiety buildup he would easily have found himself in. Pulling up to the address something struck him in his gut as he looked at a house with a white picket fence and a red door, but he could not understand it. He shook the sadness from his face and before exiting the Herder he hit a few buttons on his GPS. Heading to the fence door the knot in his stomach eased and peacefulness overcame him as he got closer to the house. Reaching the fence door, he could see a woman working in the garden. She looked like she was pulling some weeds and on one particular one she lost her balance and fell over articulating a few gestures and uttering a few phrases Chuck was entirely familiar with and for the first time since the wedding dinner he laughed.
The woman quickly turned and struck a pose and look that froze Chuck again with its familiarity and from practice knew to become quiet and still. Unfortunately her movement was a little too sudden for her as she lost her balance momentarily and fell. Chuck immediately jumped the fence and rushed over to her, kneeling down beside her. "I am so sorry for laughing; it was just that you reminded me so much of…" Emma turns around and Chuck mouth drops open, "Oh my gosh you look just like her as well." Chuck blushed slightly as he helped her to her feet. "She may be a little taller, but… Oh, by the way my name is Chuck."
"Who do I look like, Chuck?"
"Sarah."
The surprise only was briefly belied by her eyes as she hesitatingly said, "Who?"
"Sarah your daugh…" Chuck started digging into his wallet as Emma looked on, slightly confused why full-on panic hadn't set in yet. The last time she saw Samara (wanted something different than Samantha or Sam so, borrowed from Argo0) as she handed her Molly she insisted that she could not contact her again. If it were all clear she would at the very least be with him, but as he brought the picture up Emma's heart fluttered. Her eyes that had been so lifeless those years ago were literally popping off the photo and the adoring look to the man who was now shakily holding up the photo was unmistakable in its conviction. Looking back up she could see the man was literally about to burst, but had no idea what it was.
"Listen, uhh".
"Chuck."
"Sorry Chuck; but if this were my daughter I don't believe she would let anybody see me without her."
As the color disappeared from his face along with a soul crushed look she knew it was bad, very bad. "Chuck, how bad?" Chuck appeared catatonic which upset Emma more and asked again and hitting him in the chest.
Chuck's response was to wrap his arms around her and meekly say, "I'm so sorry," and repeated that a few times. The doubt created by marrying a conman especially one whose mantra was 'the bigger the lie the easier it is to believe' made her skeptical of everybody. Her experiences tell her to knee this bastard in the groin, run to the house, lock it and call the police. Her instincts were to trust him. If this Chuck were a conman or spy this performance made her ex seem like a fledgling three card monty player. Emma took a quick breath, part of her wanted this, but that would also mean Samara was in bad shape and most likely… no, she was not going to allow that thought to even cross her mind right now. She had Molly to consider as well though and any lapse on her part would be truly disastrous. Taking another deep breath she focused on something that could allow her to allay her concerns without tipping her hand; especially with her due to pick up Molly in an hour. Her conclusion was to press the action; she'd rather know right away what she was dealing with and react to that than wait and possibly not gain anything until it was time to get Molly. Both her ex and daughter routinely kept things from her, for her protection and she was so tired of it. She promised herself that she wouldn't allow herself to become so passive again.
"Chuck, I think we should continue this conversation inside." Not hearing a response she looked up and saw him slowly nodding.
"You're right, this shouldn't be talked about outside." The sadness and sincerity of his voice along with his body language caused a huge knot in her stomach and the wall broke down as she realized there was a strong possibility her daughter was dead.
Chuck dragged himself inside dreading what was to come, but from the looks she would occasionally give him she had a pretty good idea what was about to come and although he wanted to spare her this anguish of waiting he had no idea how he could tell her. Making their way inside his first thought was how much bigger it looked on the inside and out of the corner of his eye he caught another potential mother-daughter similarity: photos. There looked to be a dozen or so on the wall. One of the immediate décor changes after Morgan left was to replace the collectible action figures with framed photographs throughout the apartment. His musings were halted as he heard Emma asking if he would like a glass of lemonade. "No thank you, but a glass of water would be appreciated. Thanks Emma."
Walking into the kitchen a serious look took over Emma's face as she realized she had not told him her name and when he came in he immediately went towards the pictures of Molly. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard and poured water from a pitcher in the refrigerator. She also grabbed a sizable knife from her butcher's block, just in case. Chuck had his back to her and saw that he was mesmerized by a particular photo, the first one that she took with Molly. She gripped the knife tightly as she knew she would act on whatever his reaction was to it. If he had some smug look, sly grin, or sadistic smile she was going to do everything in her power to protect…
"I can't believe she saved a baby." Chuck choked out while turning his face with tears streaming down it. "No, that's not true, of course I can she's the bravest person that I know." With that he fully turned and his shoulders slumped as he made his way to the table pulled out a chair and poured himself into it. Emma stood with her mouth agape and released the knife quietly.
"I'm sorry I know you must have a ton of questions and I want to answer them all, but first know the most important thing is that I am here to protect you and…"
"Molly, "as she handed him the glass and sat down next to him. The name seemed to lighten Chuck's mood as he showed a small smile which gradually grew.
"I don't know how much Sarah told you about what she did to save Molly, but the man that wanted to take her was Sarah's superior. He ordered her to retrieve a package and bring it to him. I don't know what she must have thought when she realized the package was Molly. After getting Molly away from Ryker, that was Sarah's handler, she knew Molly wouldn't be safe within the CIA and brought her to you. Unfortunately somebody discovered Sarah's secret and was able to get your name. This person informed Ryker and although there are many people trying to track him we have no idea currently where he is or how close he may be. I need to get you and Molly away from here and someplace safe so that we can say goodbye." Chuck's voice cracked and was barely able to get out the last sentence. He was mentally berating himself for not being more tactful in most assuredly confirming Emma's fears.
Emma's emotions were bubbling to the surface of both grief and panic, but quickly compartmentalized them; looking into Chuck's eyes she felt two things: sincerity and devotion. Knowing what she did of Sam's upbringing and life these were about the only attributes she believed that Sam needed to find in any potential partner that could bring her joy. The thought she at least got to experience this at least at some point even if far too briefly allowed some comfort as she had to focus on Molly. The thought also unconsciously caused the corners of her mouth to curl upward.
"Molly is at a friend's house and I usually pick her up in about forty-five minutes or so. She's usually easier to transport when she's asleep." Looking over to Chuck and catching his eyes she smiled and said, "She fell for you immediately didn't she?" and cradled Chuck's head in her hands.
She could feel Chuck nod his head before talking, "She said when I turned away from talking to her… I apologized in doing so… I helped out a man who didn't record his daughter's ballerina recital so I set up one in the store and we recorded it. The ballerina was a little nervous, but I gave her some words of encouragement and she was great… You believe me?" Chuck asked with his eyes wide.
Emma nodded her head, but became confused when Chuck's shoulders slumped again.
"I didn't get back to her in time to save her. I'm so sorry that I failed her." Emma almost lost it after this, but running her fingers through his hair seemed to calm them both.
"Chuck, I know you'll tell me the full story and we can judge after that, ok."
Chuck nodded and just getting that off his chest seemed to reinvigorate him as he got up from the chair. "You're right we can't sit around and wait we need to get the both of you packed."
Emma got up and made her way to the bedrooms, "How long should I pack for?"
"I would think a week would be sufficient, if it is longer we can get things for you, but make sure that you include…" Chuck's voice broke again.
"It's ok Chuck, while I'm packing can you continue the story of how you met." Emma said hoping this can get them both away from the dark abyss that was creeping closer and would have them both in the middle of the room weeping. Chuck took a moment to think how detailed he was going to be. He quickly decided that since it was suppressed and that Emma is family and Sarah trusted her with her biggest secret, he could trust her as well.
"Emma, I will. First though I think that you should know it all. You won't believe it all and that is ok, but everything I am telling you is the truth. I was at my birthday party hiding with my best friend Morgan…" Telling the story did take both their minds off of the dark cloud with Chuck packing Molly's suitcase with the clothes Emma picked out while Emma was busily packing hers. Pausing momentarily as he was talking about learning the female version of the tango; he walked into Emma's bedroom holding up two pairs of pajamas. "Sorry I didn't have room enough for these. I hope you do."
"Wow I'm impressed. I had counted on a few more things not fitting."
"Well there is one more thing, but I think he can make his way to the back seat"
Emma gave a questioning look, "He?"
Chuck held up Molly's stuffed dog, "Oh, I see you've met Rex. You are right he needs to be in the back seat when we pick up Molly."
Chuck read the look on Emma's face and answered simply, "Rex was in the seat of honor in the middle of the bed looking to the door." Chuck continued on with the story as they made their way to the Nerd Herder and he opened it to place Molly's suitcase in it.
"Chuck wouldn't it be easier to follow you in my car?"
"It would but there is a good reason, first though don't worry it is bigger on the inside than it looks. Also we need for you to have your car here so Ryker will eventually go inside. If your car is gone he'll maintain surveillance waiting for you to come back and when you don't he will disappear into the wind again. You and Molly don't deserve to have to be worried waiting for the bad man even if we have to put you in witness protection. Do you have a nanny cam?"
"Yes," Emma said as she started to go into her car and grab Molly's seat.
"Does it load to the cloud?"
Emma gave off another very familiar look saying she had little idea what was asked, "I do need to log on in order to watch the video." She said shyly.
Chuck gave a strong smile, "That's perfect, even if the team sent here cannot subdue him we'll be able to get a look at any changes that he may have made to his face. Again we won't stop until he is no longer a threat to you and Molly."
"I believe you Chuck." As Emma walks past him and starts to hook up Molly's car seat behind the driver's seat. Chuck brings Emma's suitcase to the other side and puts it behind the passenger seat on the floor. Needing to jiggle the suitcase a little to fit it in causes the envelopes from the Winterbottoms to fall down towards Emma. As Emma finishes she picks up the envelopes and sees Chuck and Sarah written on the larger one, Chuck notices the envelopes and immediately blurts out that it is a wedding present. As Emma's mouth slowly closes as she absorbs this development his phone rings.
"What's up Casey?"
"Have you left yet?"
"Just about to, why?"
"Ryker can be there anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes. He landed in Phoenix about four hours ago and got into a black van. The analyst's have been trying to track it, but there aren't traffic cams in the desert and we couldn't get authorization to move a satellite."
"Casey are you driving? You'll never make it in time."
"The closest Tac team has been called away by the DEA. They even tried to recall Carina, but she hung up after stringing together an impressive array of expletives. That's when I started heading down. I should be there in about a half hour. Hopefully just in time to break in Kath."
"Ok, I'll be waiting."
"No damnit! Your job is to make sure you drive…"
"Emma and Molly."
"Ok, you drive Emma and Molly to Castle. That is your job."
"Hold on Casey. Emma?" Emma snapped out of the haze the wedding present brought. "I programmed the GPS to take you where you need to go. You are going to go in a store called the Orange Orange. There will be somebody waiting for you there who will take you to Sarah. You and Molly will be completely safe there, and I will be back there as soon as I can, Ok?"
Emma quickly put back the envelopes and went over to Chuck who had made his way to the driver door. As she grabbed him in a hug she nodded, but as she went into the driver's seat before closing the door she grabbed Chuck's arm and simply said, "Chuck?"
Shaking his head, "There is no time I need to set up the nanny cam and you need to be gone. Please."
Emma fought back a tear and after adjusting the seat she took off. Chuck ran back towards the house and remembered Casey was on the line. "Are you still there?"
He could hear Casey talking on another phone. "Yes Sarah's mom and sister should be there in about two hours. I need you to be up in the Orange Orange to let them in. No, the moron's got something else to take care of, but I'm on my way to him. Have Morgan set up a video game for the sister… She's probably about five I'd guess so make sure it is appropriate. Ok… Yes, you too… Bye." Picking up the other phone, "Chuck!"
"I'm here Casey, sorry I listened in on that. I'm just finishing setting up the nanny cam."
"Good now get out of there and we can meet someplace."
"The timing is too close now. I have to stay in here, but there's a decent hiding place."
"Fine."
"Casey?"
"I'm praying right now you've got more than your tranq pistol."
Chuck's gulp answered that question, "Ok Ryker by all accounts is a tough SOB and since he was picked up he's got some goons with him as well. My guess would be one or two men."
"Why?" Chuck positioned himself in the nook while making sure there were at least two ways to retreat if Casey was wrong and he had more people.
"First off this is personal to him, he is going to want to do this himself. Second he's probably got a plan to set the henchman up as the fall guys for whatever was to go down in the house. Anymore than two people is going to make it difficult for him to make sure he kills them and can set it up as a disagreement between them. This guy is extremely cocky so I would expect him to come in alone, and allow the others to set a perimeter. However he has experience so he knows a frontal assault is the proper method it just matters what is worth more his ego or getting the job done."
"How did you come up with the henchman setup it is pretty specific?"
"An analyst followed your way in tracking Shaw and looked through all of Ryker's personal files to find leads. She saw this from a paper he did on the Farm and held it out as something to watch if we weren't in time. Before you ask, on certain missions what the Agency looks for are results and misplaced culpability and this provides both. Obviously you're going to need surprise is it a two or one story"
"One"
"That makes it more difficult, you're not going to go outside and fucking wait for me are you?"
"Big guy, you have no idea how badly I want you to show up before Ryker does, but I am not going to cower if you don't."
"Ok moron, don't do anything too stupid."
"Casey don't you need the address."
"I'm a spy, remember. I tracked your Herder and targeted where it stopped I've known where you've been just about the whole time. For Shaw I wanted to give you as much time as possible and after it was more important to find out about Quinn and Ryker."
"Thanks Casey."
Fifteen minutes later Casey pulls onto the street with the black van right in front of the house. He could also see the front door open and no thugs outside. He quickly pulls into the driveway and unholsters Kath. Going through the front door he sees two large men face down with a tranq dart sticking from their necks. Slightly unnerved by the eerie quiet and to announce his presence he puts one in the back of their heads. After the echo it is still too quiet. Judging by where the darts were he went to his right and saw a tall body lying on the ground dressed in black. Stopping himself from running there he cautiously maintained a distance while getting a better look seeing the short cropped sandy brown hair and profile that was Ryker he quickly blew part of his face off. Going over to the corpse he kicked it over and saw a large cut that went directly through his heart. A few feet away he saw a bloodied knife, following that path he went into the kitchen and saw nothing out of the ordinary there.
"Damnit kid, where are you?" Casey shouted.
Heading back to the living room he spotted a trail of blood that didn't look that bad as long as there was time. He hurriedly followed the trail to the bathroom and found Chuck lying on the floor with a darkened towel presumably where his wound was. Casey quickly dropped down and despite Chuck's groan pulled his hand away briefly to see the damage. It was in a bad place most likely perforating the liver and maybe some other organs around there causing internal bleeding. Placing Chuck's hand back and his on top with his other hand he did what he'd thought about doing at least a few thousand times before, but this time was for a wholly different reason. He reached back and slapped him across the face.
"Bartowski, you are not going to make me fail my mission. Understand!"
Chuck did recover enough to make an 'Ow-face' but grimaced.
"I know kid. You took care of them, but now it's time to go and get you stitched up."
"It's really bad isn't it?"
Not wanting to tell the truth and also unable to lie to him as he helped him up and put his other arm around his shoulder, "I've seen worse kid."
Getting to the car he carefully loaded him into the backseat and propped his head up against the armrest.
"Ok, now you do what you do best, talk. I don't care if it's about the fucking ridiculous desert sandwich; just keep talking while I get you to the nearest hospital… I didn't hear you soldier."
"Yes sir," Chuck replied shakily. Casey roared off to the nearest trauma center or ER which was about ten miles away, simply going to the nearest vet wouldn't work because they needed to stop what was going on inside.
Chuck was describing the last computer that he had worked on at the Buy More when approximately two miles out he suddenly cried out, "Sarah, I can't believe that you're here. Wow you are just so beautiful. Your mother and sister are safe… I know… Ok." Silence.
"Chuck! No! Chuck!" Casey pulled into the nearest lot and raced to the back; opening it he could tell immediately that Chuck was gone. A side effect of being the 'Angel de la Muerte' was that he developed an innate sense of who could be saved and who could not. He could bring Chuck to the center they'd pump him with some adrenaline jump start him a few times and if the doctor was young and overzealous crack open his chest and manually pump his heart showing off his skill and when they were done and realized the inevitable. He'd come out and say he tried everything he could. Casey knew he couldn't hold anything against this fictitious surgeon, hell it could be somebody like Devon. The main point is regardless of the time and effort spent he was not coming back and with that there was only one place that he should be.
Casey carefully closed the door and fought with himself as he drove into the center's parking lot, "What a fucking waste." As Casey toyed with what if this was the one time he was wrong, taking another look back he knew he wasn't and looked for the quickest route to I-5 and head back to Burbank. Once he got the directions he took a deep breath and before he lost himself in an all encompassing fog he pressed a button on his steering wheel.
"Status report Colonel."
"Ryker's dead along with his two goons. I need a cleanup crew at 3952 J Street, San Diego. What's the status on Quinn?"
"Terminated as well. Barker reported that he was going to make Bartowski suffer and Barker emptied a clip into him. He had just been told about Agent Walker prior to the meeting. He also took out the other five men Quinn had with him leaving only the woman alive from the group and she is stating that other than some mercenaries there is nobody else associated with Quinn. Have you caught up to Chuck?"
"You need to head back as soon as possible, Diane," and ended the connection. Shaking his head as he looked into the rear view mirror again he started the one-hundred thirty mile trek that he knew was going to be the most difficult travel of his life.
Heading back to Burbank Casey was extremely careful to follow all driving rules especially the speed limits as getting pulled over would not be in anybody's interest. The attention to minute details helped keep the colonel from unraveling as he also was trying to find the best way to reveal this. He knew there was some attention that would have to be dealt with and about twenty minutes away reached for his phone and prayed that he was doing the right thing.
"Alex, hey did Sarah's mom make it ok?"
"Yes, Morgan is playing Mario Kart with Molly and she is enjoying herself. Emma is sitting with Sarah." Alex's voice trailed off towards the end.
"Is Devon with Ellie?"
"No, Ellie is with Emma and Devon is outside looking on with Mary."
"Ok, I need you to ask Devon if he can help you reach some board games just in case Molly gets bored and give him the phone. Then go into the locker room, it's the second door past the armory on the left. I need you to go into Chuck's locker, it is marked with a 'C' grab a pair of pants and give them to Devon. Ok?" Although puzzled Alex agreed and soon had given her phone to Devon.
"Hello."
"Devon, you're the only person down there I can trust with this. Alex is going to give you a pair of pants and before you say anything snarky they are for Chuck."
"Of course John, how is he?"
"I should be arriving in a few minutes."
As Casey pulled into the Orange Orange parking lot he saw Devon open the door and run out towards the car getting there just as Casey parked. Not seeing Chuck in the passenger seat he immediately opened the rear door and dropped the pants to the pavement as he was witnessing a sight he never believed he would see and was horrified to be doing so. Chuck's lifeless body brought a rage Casey had never seen in Devon as he unleashed a series of forearms smashing onto the roof of the car.
Casey picked up the pants. "I'm sorry, but if I had told anybody all of you would be up here and I don't want them to see Chuck like this."
The rage quieted within Devon and he soon understood what John was telling him. "His bowels released."
"Yes. We need to get him cleaned and changed before I bring him down there."
"First, Who…"
"Chuck took care of him. I did blow off part of his face after, but no Chuck did it."
"Sarah's mom and sister are safe?"
"Yes."
Both men nodded and looked despondently at the sight in front of them. Wordlessly each grabbed a shoulder and pulled Chuck from the Crown Vic. Bringing him into the Orange Orange they set him on the side counter. Taking off his pants there was a clack against the tile and Casey bent down to pick up Chuck's burner. Grabbing the phone he could see it was on the contacts page; the first number he recognized as his burner, but there was a second one only marked with a 'V. Knowing who this was Casey surprised himself by hitting send without planning on what to say; he motioned to Devon that he was going outside.
"It's not over yet, is it?" Devon depressingly said, but went about his job in cleaning up Chuck.
Vivian answered the phone just as Casey stepped outside. "Chuck don't worry I understand. It's probably better if you do it…"
"Vivian, don't hang up my name is Colonel John Casey, NSA. I was at your house do you remember?"
"Yes, you are their partner… I understand Colonel if you name the time and place I will show up there."
"What did Chuck tell you?"
"He said he came to us because he didn't want us to look over our shoulders for the rest of our lives and to live. He also accepted the wedding present my father and I left for them."
"Wedding gift? I'm sorry Vivian there's something that you need to know." Casey took a deep breath before continuing, "Chuck is dead." Casey took note of the loud shrill cry before the call was disconnected. He then took the phone and threw it down against the concrete sidewalk as hard as he could and then taking a moment to collect any pieces that could reveal anything he headed back inside.
"Is it over?"
"Yes Devon, sorry I didn't help. Go downstairs and I'll be there in a few minutes." Devon peered into the weary eyes of John and headed to the freezer, taking another look at Chuck before making his way down to Castle.
Casey pulled up a stool and momentarily rested his forehead in his palms. "Kid, I need you to know being a part of our team has been the best parts of my life. Even though I was a third wheel you tried not to treat me like one and though I would never say it, I noticed. We all did a lot of good things, great things and even though you won't believe it, fuck the intersect, you were the second best spy I have ever worked with." Looking up at the ceiling for a moment before continuing, "I'm guessing you might know by now, but you were given a termination order as the second intersect was coming online. I argued that you served with honor and were still very useful, but they wouldn't countermand the order and I knew if I kept on pushing they would send somebody else. I was there when Sarah came in and told you the news and no she had no idea what was going on. I wish I could tell you I couldn't pull the trigger, but I honestly don't know. If I didn't they would have sent some other bastard who most likely would have screwed it up: a head shot that just put you in a coma, a face shot forcing Ellie to give you a closed casket, or a gut shot leaving you waiting to die alone and in pain. If I could pull the trigger know that I would have made sure it was quick and painless. I also would have given Walker a free shot at taking me out. Killing a patriot is not what I signed up for and I could not live knowing what I did simply for following an order. I was so relieved after the explosion and you were so depressed thinking your life was over when it was saved. The thing that I hope for is that now you and Walker can enjoy the rest of eternity together, neither one of you should have to do anything else after what you've accomplished. Semper Fidelis."
Casey bowed his head and carefully picked up Chuck's body making it down half the stairs before the tears started to fall.
PS: I do have a follow up to this, so if there is interest I will finish the last part of it and post it. Whether it is good news or bad another story (Charah) has started to ferment so I'll start writing some things out on that it is an AU. Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think good or bad.
I have to apologize as I had inserted a symbol to act as a break or change of action in the story; reviewing it I realized it hadn't followed with my upload.