Fate's Design

Chapter 1

In the dark room, two men slowly slip on equipment and throw a rope out the open window. Both of them go for the exit at the same time, and after a moment's shuffling, the shorter of the two sighs and takes a step back sheepishly, allowing the other to swing himself out of the window. He starts to lower himself down when the lights in the room go on, revealing a woman standing in the doorway with a very unamused expression on his face.

"Charles Irving Bartowski!" demands his elder sister, Ellie Bartowski. "Wht do you think you're doing?"

"Uh... Climbing practice?" he suggests hopefully.

"No way are you just rappelling out of a party. Your own party, I might add, which I invited real, live people to. Come on, Chuck." Shooting a suspicious look at the smaller guy, she continues. "And no, Morgan, before you ask, you cannot come."

"What? Seriously?" asks Morgan. "Aw, come on, there are some hot girls out there! Please?" He gulps as the elder Bartowski levels a steely glance at him.

"That's exactly why you're not going. You'll scare away all the guests."

"Look, sis," says Chuck, interrupting, "I really appreciate what you're trying to do - I mean I would try to cheer myself up if I could. But right now, I don't really feel like it. The last few weeks have been really rough."

Ellie sighs loudly. "You're right. You do need alone time, especially after what happened." After a particularly loud whoop, she looks over her shoulder and sighs again. "Maybe this wasn't such a great idea."

"Hey, hey," says Chuck with a smile. "Go enjoy yourself and have fun. Awesome's going to feel lonely if you don't." He flashes her a small smile and waves goodbye as he continues rappelling down the wall. Morgan looks longingly at the party and Ellie shakes her head whilst staring at him. Following Chuck, he lowers himself down but somewhat halfheartedly.

When the two guys get half way across the lawn, they hear Ellie call from the window. "Are you really sure about that? she says.

"Last I checked, yeah!" he replies.

"Guess who just showed up? Sarah. As in your best friend Sarah."

Chuck freezes. "What? Are you kidding?" Seeing his sister shake her head, he takes off, running off to the Nerd Herder with Morgan in tow. After a while, it screeches away from the apartment to the disappointment of Ellie.

The elder Bartowski walks back out into the party and, finding the blonde standing in the hallway by herself, taps her on the back.

"Hi Sarah," says Ellie. "Haven't seen you in a long time, but looks like you've kept yourself in great shape," She looks at her from top to bottom and gasps. "You look absolutely gorgeous tonight! That dress looks so good on you!"

Sarah smiles at the compliment. "Thanks for that, Ellie, you look amazing too." Glancing at the crowd, she almost frowns. "Is Chuck here? I kinda want to talk, catch up a little."

"You just missed him. I know, this is his own birthday party, but with everything that's been going on, he needs some time to himself."

"Why?" The blonde's eyes narrow with concern. "What happened?"

"Who is this Sarah?" asks Morgan. "You never told me anything about her."

"She's just somebody I knew back in Stanford. Haven't talked to her since I graduated," Chuck replies.

"What was she like?"

"She was, uh, smart, clever... she always said funny wasn't really her thing, but she could make me laugh a lot..."

"She sounds like quite the girl... Did you two ever - well, you know? Go out together?"

"Oh no, we were just good friends. But after I started going out with Jill, well, she still hung out with us but I got the feeling she was always held back."

After thinking deeply, the bearded fellow cracks a smile. "You, my friend, have an admirer." Seeing Chuck smirk, he continues. "Hey, don't ignore my hypothesis completely. It all adds up - girl meets boy. Girl likes boy a lot. Girl wants to go out with boy. Said boy goes out with a different girl. Girl feels devastated and thus acts unhappily."

"Morgan, do you actually think that could be in any way true? She was out of my league - and when I say that, I mean she was way out."

The Nerd Herder pulls up in the parking lot in front of the BuyMore. Chuck and Morgan get out and head in straight for the home theatre room. "So what'll it be, my liege?" asks Morgan in a mock English accent.

"I'm thinking... James Bond. Suave and handsome superspy. What could be better?"

"Gotcha, Chuck." Chuck grins slightly and plops himself on the couch in front of the screen. He feels his phone vibrate in his pocket and he pulls it out. There is a new email from Bryce Larkin.

Angrily he slams his phone face down on the table just as Morgan walks in. "Whoa, dude, what's up? Talk to Doctor Morgan."

"Bryce Larkin sent me an email. Apparently what he did to me isn't even worth him coming down here and telling me in person." His face clouds over with anger. "What a spineless coward."

His companion pats him on the shoulder comfortingly and pushes the DVD into the machine, pressing play. "Hey, buddy, I got to agree with you, but that guy isn't worth it - you are ten times better than him. Don't let him get at you like that."

"I guess you're right, buddy. Now, let's get back to the film. You do know how I love Goldfinger."

After two hours, the film ends and Chuck yawns, prodding his sleeping friend and making wake up. "Time to go home, Morgan," he says.

"Is it that time already?" replies Morgan groggily.

"Yes it is. Do you want me to drive you back home? You do look quite tired."

"Nah, one grape soda and I'll be fine. See you tomorrow, Chuck!" The bearded guy walks out slowly whilst taking large gulps from a soda can. "Pedal safe, buddy!" shouts Chuck.

Turning his attention back to the room, he starts to clear away the cans and empty crisp packets. He notices his phone and sighs as he selects the email. The screen goes black and Chuck groans. Great.

All of a sudden a line of text appears. "The terrible troll raises his sword," he reads. "Zork? What was Bryce thinking?" He types in Attack troll with nasty knife. "This better be one hell of an apology." Images start flashing across the screen and Chuck sees all of them, frozen into place by them.

Back at the party, Sarah sighs one last time and starts to leave when her phone rings.

"Graham, secure."

"Walker, secure."

"Agent Walker, we have a problem. Your partner, Bryce Larkin, just went rogue."

"What?" Sarah says with disbelief. "That can't be true!"

"He stole the entire Intersect from us and sent it to someone in Burbank. We'll have the identity of his accomplice in a few hours and when we do, you'll track him down and get the intel back."

"Understood," she replies and hangs up. She stumbles over to a chair, leaning against the frame, and just stands there in shock. Ellie notices her and walks over.

"Something wrong, Sarah?"

"Yeah," the blonde responds. "I just got dumped by my boyfriend. He didn't even have the decency to tell me himself, he just got one of his friends to tell me over the phone." She sniffles loudly. "Really didn't expect this at all."

The elder Bartowski hugs her and pats her back comfortingly. "Hey, hey," she says softly. "It'll be okay." Tears start to form in Sarah's eyes as she allows her emotions a little leeway. "Do you have somewhere to stay for tonight?" asks Ellie.

The next day, Big Mike strolls into the store and at once notices his employees wandering around directionless. "Where is Bartowski?" he demands.

Jeff and Lester sidle up to him. "You know, Big Mike," Lester says slowly, "you could put me in charge. I am, as people say, the man." The BuyMore manager shoots him a disparaging look.

"I'll entrust the BuyMore to you the day Subway stops selling meatballs. Get back to work, you two, and don't creep out the customers. This is an electronics store, not a carnival show."

He walks into the home theatre centre and finds Chuck passed out on the couch and surrounded by trash. "Chuck." "Chuck." "CHUCK!" The nerd bounces off the couch and lands face down on the floor. Picking himself up very gingerly, Chuck groans as he tries to clear the bleariness from his eyes. After a while, he can see Big Mike standing in front of him with an unreadable expression.

"Chuck," he says slowly, "I know that you're going through a rough patch but you still got to keep strong. Those fools out there will just fall apart without your leadership."

"What about your leadership?" questions Chuck. "You're the employer, after all, and they're yor employees."

"I'll be frank, Bartowski," Big Mike responds with a huff. "Those people out there, they scare me. You're the only one out of the whole lot who actually has any brains so you'd better get using it."

"Well, it's funny you should say that because my brain actually feels like it's gone into meltdown..." He trails off as the manager just walks off back to his office, leaving him standing there. "And I'm just standing here talking to myself. Just great." He shoves all the trash into a bin and takes his usual place at the Nerd Herd desk, nursing a growing headache.

"You look whacked, Chuck," says Morgan, making his way to his best friend after carefully dodging a customer looking for help. "Did you drink the jail juice from the fridge? You know how Jeff puts tranquilizers in that stuff."

"No, Morgan," moans Chuck. "And can you stop talking so loud? Seriously not helping with the headache."

Morgan sighs and heads off to the employee lounge to get a coffee for his weary friend, but freezes as he catches sight of a sexy blonde haired beauty walking straight towards them. "Dude, stop the presses! Who is that? Vicki Vale?"

"Vick-Vick-a-Vicki Vale, Vicki Vale, Vicki Vick-Vick-a-Vicki Vale," Chuck hums under his breath without looking up and continues to fiddle with his phone. "Oh great, it was on all night and now the battery's - hello!" He stops as he recognises the person standing in front of him. After a momentary lapse, he manages to splutter out, "Nerd Herd, how may I help you?"

"Chuck," says Sarah with a smile. "It's Sarah, you know, from Stanford?"

"Sarah! Yeah! Good to see you again." He leans over the desk and they hug a little awkwardly.

"So since when did you start working here?" she asks. "Last I heard you were heading off to a programming job at Roark Industries."

"I did work there for around two years then some, uh, things came up and I ended up working here. The pay's not great, but at least I get to work with my buddy Morgan."

"Morgan?" asks the blonde with a smile. "I didn't know people called their children that any more."

"Carnival freaks found me in a dumpster and raised me as their own," responds the bearded guy with a stupid grin and Sarah gives Chuck a confused look.

"Don't worry about him, Sarah," laughs Chuck. "He means well – at least I think he does." He sees Morgan practically drooling over the floor and glares at him.

"So what brings you to Burbank, or to the BuyMore, for that matter?"

"Well, I was just passing through when I remembered it was your birthday, so I decided to drop in to catch up a little," Sarah explains, "but now it looks like I'm going to be staying for a while. I'm moving here from DC." She produces a phone from her handbag. "And also, my phone is broken and I was hoping you could fix it."

"No problem," says Chuck confidently. "Ah, the Intellicell. This model has a screw which goes loose sometimes…" After tightening the screw back in place, he tries turning it on and grins when it does. "Ta da! Job done."

"Thanks, Chuck, you geeks- nerds" Sarah corrects herself, "really know your stuff." After taking back the phone and checking it, she looks back up. "Hey, if you're not too busy today after you clock out, maybe we could catch up over dinner."

"Yeah, that would be nice. I'll pick you up after I finish here – wait, I don't even know where you live."

"I'm currently staying with Ellie," replies Sarah. "She's giving me a room whilst I get all my stuff into my new apartment."

"Okay then, so I'll pick you up around five thirty," says Chuck. "And it's a surprise where we're going, so prepare to be amazed." He flashes her his thousand watt smile and they stand there for a while, their eyes glued to each other, when suddenly Lester rushes over with a customer and his daughter.

"We got a problem, Chuck," says the Indian. "And you're going to deal with it. Jeff and I have some other work to do." With that, he saunters off to the employee lounge, leaving Chuck with a despairing customer.

"Sir, sir, calm down. What's the problem?"

"I recorded my little girl's ballerina recital video on this camcorder and now I can't find it. Please hurry, she's freaking out as it is." Chuck smiles apologetically at Sarah, who nods understandingly and waves goodbye at him as she walks out of the store. Sighing deeply, he turns his attention back to the camcorder. "Sir, there's no tape in here," he says with a sigh.

The dad stares back nonplussed. "It's digital," he replies. "It doesn't need tape, does it?"

"You still need digital tape," replies Chuck. "You know that, right?" Seeing the dad deflate and the daughter look sadder, he signals to Morgan. "Hey, buddy, I need the Wall."

"You got it, Chuck!" shouts back his friend as he runs off to find the remote. Chuck crouches down to the little girl's level and says, "What's the problem?" She mumbles something about being too tall and always standing at the back. "Let me tell you a little secret and promise me that you won't tell anyone else." The girl nods enthusiastically. "All real ballerinas are tall, so don't let other people tell you otherwise."

Sarah beams as she sneaks another look at the nerd setting up the camera when her phone rings.

"Graham, secure."

"Walker, secure. Listen to me, Graham, Ch- Bartowski is not the guy we are looking for. You have got to be mistaken."

"Sarah, I know you're angry about Bryce and I understand that, but you cannot let that interfere with your mission. You believe this Chuck guy is just a normal civilian - well, let me tell you something - nice guys aren't sent government secrets." After pausing, he continues. "Anyways, why would Larkin send the Intersect to Bartowski if he is what he says he is?"

Angrily, she ends the call and drives off in her Porsche, screeching out of the BuyMore plaza. Sarah slams her fists in frustration against the steering wheel and puts her foot down on the accelerator pedal.

"Fuck!" she swears. She never usually let herself go like this, but this time it summed her feelings up pretty well. Why Chuck? Sarah screams inside. Why the hell did you send it to Chuck, Bryce, what were you thinking? "He was your friend," she mutters under her breath as she parks her car and climbs out. Slipping inside the apartment, she locks herself inside her room and just lies on her bed, trying to sort out her mixed feelings.

Later on in the day, Chuck drags himself back into his shared apartment followed by Morgan. "Morgan, why are you even here? I thought your mom wanted you home early tonight."

"First of all," his friend replies, grimacing, "she invited this strange man she's been dating and I have no intention of meeting him like, ever. Second of all, my PC's broken."

"Let me guess, a case of the Demova virus."

"Yeah... So beautiful and yet so deadly." He winks conspirationally at Chuck. "Just like your date tonight. Now her looks could definitely kill."

Chuck shakes his head and opens the door, walking in on his sister and her boyfriend kissing quite fiercely. His face turns green and he starts to make retching sounds, causing the two lovebirds to spring apart.

"Oh - Chuck - uh - we were just - well, you know, just..." says Ellie visibly flustered. She nudges Devon, who is sporting a massive grin, with her elbow amd he too tries to make an explanation. Chuck holds up his hands and eyes them warily.

"Okay, guys," he says, "it's great that you two really like each other, but would it be such a bother to keep it in the bedroom? Some people who live here would rather not see your makeout sessions on public display."

The bearded guy leaps through the door and shrieks happily. "Chuckie boy's got a date!" Observing the long silence after his exclamation, he stares around. "Did something happen before I came in?" Silence. "Well, whatever, but Chuck has got a date."

Ellie's face creases up with a smile and she hugs him tightly. "Hey, that's fantastic!" she says happily. "So, who is it?"

"It's Sarah from Stanford," he sighs dreamily. Seeing a gleam in his sister's eye, Chuck clears his throat loudly. "But it's not even an actual date - we're just catching up over dinner. Nothing's going to happen, we're just friends."

"Yeah, just friends, eh?" smirks Devon. "Sounds more like you have the hots for her. And don't try to deny it, Chuckster, I can tell when you're lying."

"You know what, I'm just going to surrender now and save myself the time I'm going to have to spend to convince you otherwise." Chuck heads towards the guest room door but stops. "Is Sarah here yet, sis?"

"I don't think so, she hasn't come through the door yet and it's all quiet in her room."

Chuck returns to the living room and slouches down on one of the couches. Ellie stares at him. "What?" he asks.

"Are you going to sit there until she comes back?" The nerd replies with a slow nod. "No, no, no, little brother, I am not having this. You are going to get properly dressed for your date tonight."

"But sis, it's just dinner between friends, it doesn't matter - "

"Yes it does, Chuck. I'm a girl - I know what they like - so listen to me." She drags him off to his room. "Let's see what we can find."

Sarah paces steadily down the street and takes a turn down an alley. Stooping over and looking behind a dumpster, she hears a noise behind her and whirs around, lashing out with a roundhouse kick. The man quickly ducks and throws a punch at her, which makes its way past her block and slams into her shoulder, sending her reeling slightly.

"Looking for this?" asks the man with a sneer. He holds up a silver suitcase and weighs it slowly whilst circling around the blonde.

"John Casey, NSA. Would you mind telling me what you're doing here?" questions Sarah as she rubs her throbbing shoulder. She really hadn't anticipated his strength well enough.

"Same reason why you're here. The Intersect," replies Casey. "The NSA Director wants our investment back where we can keep an eye on it and I'm going to make that happen." He tosses the suitcase to her feet and smirks. "You can go ahead and try to stop me. Not going to make a difference." He slowly backs away and gets into the back of a black van, which accelerates away.

The CIA agent scrambles back to her feet and slips back into her Porsche, driving back to the Echo Park apartment. She pops open the window and climbs into the room, hastily getting changed into her dress for the night and strapping on several throwing knives.

"Hey, Chuck," Sarah smiles as she walks into the living room, causing Chuck to leap up from the couch and stare at her wordlessly.

"Oh, wow, Sarah, you look great!" says the nerd nervously.

"You don't look so bad yourself. Shall we?"

Okay, new story, what do you think? Yes, no, maybe? Review and tell me what you think.

P.S. I am still working on my other story. This new one is like a side thing.