Hey :). So, you probably weren't expecting this... This one actually popped into my head a while ago, and I've been nursing the idea for a while. I have a decent buffer of a few chapters; so you can look forward to regular weekly updates... if the whole thing doesn't suck, that is.
Before this gets underway, I do want to say thank you to the wonderful KateMcK, who gave me permission to go ahead with this, even though she has her own Grease story. You should all go and check her stuff out, because it's amazing (much better than mine, at any rate)! Also, many thanks to Quistie94, for inspiring me to write this, with the awesome Sound of Music and Sound of Music II, and also for putting up with my questions and giving me some great tips.
Finally, I want to say a massive thank you to Hotski, my pre-reader for this story, for all his insight and helpful feedback.
Now, without further ado...
(Sung to the tune of Love is a many splendored thing)
Love is a many splendored thing.
It fights all the bars,
That prevent it from joining the two.
Love is nature's way of giving,
A finger to all the rules.
A simple thing in this world of complex things.
Grease: Chuck's the Word
Slosh, slosh. The sea lapped gently at Chuck's feet, as he sat at the water's edge, looking out at the endless Pacific; rolling out to meet the horizon. September 3rd. He stopped fighting the air that was choking his throat as it fought its way out, and released a sigh; allowing a single tear to roll down his cheek as he recalled what had happened this time last year, before wrenching his thoughts away from that topic, and back towards happier times. He remembered a time when he was sitting here, eating ice cream and sitting next to Ellie, watching his parents fighting each other playfully with foam spaghetti things, and he chuckled sadly, brushing a few tears out of his eyes.
"Laughing to yourself?"
The light voice pulled him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see a blonde girl, about his age, standing behind him. A beautiful blonde girl, whose soft, golden hair fell down along the sides of her face and framed it perfectly. He blushed slightly, and brushed the remaining tears out of his eyes, before quickly looking back out to the sea when he saw her small smile drop.
"Laughing and crying," he heard her whisper to no one in particular, before he felt the sand shifting next to him. He turned to look at her, and found her sitting next to him. Sitting right next to him; the small smile back again, and playing along her lips. "You look like you need some company," she said simply, before pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. His withdrawn face broke into the tiniest of half-smiles, and hers seemed to brighten a bit when she saw it. But maybe he was just imagining things. He turned back to the sea, and looked out at the small yacht in the distance. It was rolling over the large waves, and had just dipped down below the horizon when he felt something gently bump into his shoulder. He turned around to her again, and she smiled softly at him, before stretching her arm out and pointing at pod of seals, flapping around and splashing in the ocean as they swam towards the shore. He couldn't help his lips curling up into a smile at the sight cute, blubbery animals' ungainly butterfly stroke; and when she turned to face him again, a grin plastered across her own face, he grinned back at her without even thinking.
He wasn't sure how long they had sat there for, grinning like idiots, laughing and watching the west coast wildlife, but the Sun had already begun to dip below the horizon—casting a fiery orange glow over the previously crisp blue sky, and shading the white clouds in a dark tint of grey—when Chuck heard Ellie's voice calling him from the top of one of the sand dunes that secluded this part of the beach from the usually-crowded main stretch. He looked over his shoulder, squinting to see her in the dark shadow that had been cast by the setting Sun, and called her over, before turning back to look at the girl; the one who had actually managed to make him smile on the day even Morgan had left him alone to mourn. However, all he saw when he looked to his side was a small pit in the sand where she had been sitting. With his face falling back into the solemn expression it had held before, he looked up, and saw her walking away, towards the sand dunes on the opposite side of the beach. She turned to face him, and gave him a small smile; one he was pretty sure held some sadness. After seeing Ellie give him the same smile for three weeks after that day, until he finally found her in the bathroom, crying, he had become pretty adept at spotting it. He smiled back, and she turned around just as he opened his mouth to call after her. But he was too slow, and he watched as her brown leather jacket swiftly disappeared into the shadows.
"Hey, Chuck," Ellie said softly, and he quickly turned to find her standing on his other side. "Who was she?"
"No one Sis," Chuck replied, shaking his head and allowing a sad expression to mask his face again, "she said I looked like I needed some company."
~Grease~
Sarah stepped under the shadows of the sand dunes with a small smile still playing on her face as she turned to watch the boy with his... Sister? She had heard him say "Sis," at any rate. Quickly, she reached under her brown leather jacket and allowed her fingers to brush against the handle of the knife that was firmly ensconced in her under-arm holster, before pulling out her phone and hitting the call back button.
"Director," she acknowledged, keeping her voice even, "I'm sorry for the delay, I wasn't alone." The Director began to say something, but then paused, and Sarah quickly thought back over what she had just said. Wasn't alone... Oh.
"You weren't alone?" he asked, with a curious edge to his voice. "Who were you with?"
"Just a boy at the beach. He was crying, looked like he needed cheering up."
"Hm," was the noise Sarah received in response to that. "Anyway," the Director began, "I assume you want to know why you've been moved to L.A. from New York?"
"Yes," she replied cautiously. She had been wondering why she had been moved ever since he had posted the airplane tickets to her without so much as a phone call. "I thought I was doing fine at Bronxville?"
"You were, excellently well in fact. But we moved you for another reason."
Sarah remained silent and waited for him to continue. Why did he feel the need to wait anyway? Probably for dramatic effect. He likes drama.
"There's a boy at your new High School, Buchanan High, who needs... protection."
Sarah felt her eyebrow rise. Why did they feel the need to protect an 18 year old High School student? "Um, why?"
"I'm sorry, Sarah," Graham replied with such sincerity that Sarah might have actually believed he was sorry. If he wasn't Langston Graham, that is. "It's too highly classified. Just suffice it to say: he's a one of a kind person. There's no one else like him," Graham paused, as if pondering something. "His name is Chuck Bartowski. Actually, his parents were with the Agency. They were killed last year," Graham finished delicately.
Sarah felt her heart pang and stomach drop. Sure, her parents had never been around, but he had had them ripped from his life. "So... I just, keep an eye on him? Make sure he's fine?" she asked, her voice breaking a little.
"Yes, make sure he stays out of trouble. Doesn't get himself killed. He's incredibly important."
"What about covers? Do I tell him anything?" she asked, in an attempt to drag the conversation away from parents.
"No. You'll keep your current cover, but don't tell him anything. For now."
"Right," Sarah replied, attempting to be firm, but unable to keep the slight unsure tone from her voice.
"Oh, and Sarah."
"Yes?"
"I've got you the placement at Harvard that you need to complete your training: double major in Languages and International Relations. But you need to pass Senior Year to get in."
Sarah's face broke out into a smile at that. "Right, of course," she replied, struggling to keep a happy sigh from escaping.
"I'm sending you his full dossier now," Graham finished, before unceremoniously cutting the line. Her phone pinged in her hand, and she looked down at it, before opening up the file. The bright back light of the phone suddenly lit up her face in the darkness and she frantically covered the screen with her hand before scrolling down the document, upon which "Top Secret" was officiously printed along the top and bottom on every page. She stopped on the photo page and double tapped on the image to zoom in. And her body froze as it smoothly expanded to fill the screen. Oh no. Gulping, she slowly looked up to see the boy still sitting with his sister, watching the sky as a green flash quickly rippled across it. Not him. She looked back down at the photo, all happiness at her Harvard placement having long since evaporated. It's him. She looked up, watching as the sky fell into darker and darker shades of blue, and sighed. Why was this her life?
(Sung to the tune of Grease is the Word)
Sarah:
They took me i-in, and they showed me the way.
Taught me to kick and punch, taught me to shoot a gun.
There ain't no danger that I will not face.
I understand now, that it's the greater good.
This is my life.
They took my father on a con gone wrong.
Left me all on my own, with just some cash and knives.
They told me that they'd take care of me.
They were lying to me, but they had helped anyway.
This is my life.
This is my life, it's the one that I know.
It is the only thing that I do.
I am a spy, because they're the C-I-A.
Spying is all that I can do.
They took the fear and they threw 't away.
Don't have to reflect, just have to follow orders.
I don't even have to be who I am.
I can be anyone, hide from the past, hide it all.
This is my life.
This is my life, it's the one that I know.
It's the only thing I do.
I am a spy, because they're the C-I-A.
Spying is all that I can do.
This is my life of deception.
Filled up with action, covered in danger.
What is he doing here?
His parents were taken from him.
They were ripped from his life without him knowing doesn't even know that he's special.
It is my job now, to protect him from harm.
This is my life.
This is my life, it's the one that I know.
It's the only thing I do.
I am a spy, because they're the C-I-A.
Spying is all that I can do.
This is my life, it's the one that I know.
It's the only thing I do.
I am a spy, because they're the C-I-A.
Spying is all that I can do.
This is my life,
Is my life,
Is my life,
Is my life,
Is my life,
Is my life,
Is my life,
Is my life,
Is my life.
She stopped, and looked back up to see him standing up, and walking slowly back over the dunes with his sister. This was going to be an interesting year, she thought glumly.
