Reviews eagerly welcomed.
I do not own Chuck.
"What time do you need to check in for that conference call?" Sarah asked as she rolled over and placed her hand on Chuck's side of the bed. He was gone. "Chuck?"
With his foot, Chuck pushed open the bedroom door and carried in a tray with pancakes, fresh fruit, sausage links and a glass of orange juice. One tulip decorated a vase, also on the tray.
"Good morning Sarah, happy first day of Spring." Chuck, smiling widely, placed the tray over Sarah's legs as she sat up.
"Thank you Chuck. I suppose I shouldn't ask, but why are we celebrating the first day of Spring?"
"Good question. The first day of Spring is just a coincidence really, but it's a lot easier to say that than happy one year in our new home in Chicago and eight week birthday of little Emma Mary."
Sarah smiled wider now. "Has it been six months, really? In a lot of ways, with more of my memory coming back everyday, it seems like longer. I don't just get a new day's worth of memories, but days, weeks or months back from what I lost."
"So, what have you remembered since yesterday?"
"Yesterday was a slow day. I do recall something about a strange brown bikini."
"Like this one?" Chuck reached over to his side of the bed and grabbed a picture off the nightstand of Sarah in Princess Leia's dancing girl costume from Return of the Jedi."
"Yes, exactly like that."
"Good. You know, you used to wear this for me all the time. At least once a week." Chuck smiled widely as he too gazed at the picture.
"Chuck," Sarah turned serious, "even losing my memory, I know certain things. I know you love me. I know how empty my life was before you and Emma and all of this." A smile slowly stole across her face at the mention of their daughter. "And," she paused, tilted the picture toward her so she could see it more clearly, "that I would never wear this once a week. As a matter of fact, I don't think you could convince me I wore it once if you didn't have this picture."
"Okay, maybe not once a week."
"Chuck?"
"Alright, you only wore it this once, and only because you were trying to make up to me for something you think you did."
"Which was what?"
"You know, I don't even remember. This costume took a little piece of my memory away too, but left me with one heck of a great one in its place."
A cry from the bassinet in the corner of the bedroom caused Sarah to begin sliding the tray away.
"Nope, you stay put. Dad will take care of this." Chuck walked across the room and gingerly picked up Emma wrapped her in a blanket and cradled her in his arms. He began bouncing and swaying from side to side, but her crying continued.
"Um, maybe she is hungry, or wet?" He slipped his hand in through the leg hole of the diapers. "Nope, not wet."
"Bring her over, I can eat later."
"No Sarah, this is going to be a morning off for you. You eat, and I'll take her to the kitchen and prepare a bottle."
As Chuck and Emma went out the bedroom door, Sarah tried some of the pancakes. They were very good. Certainly a Bartowski family talent – making pancakes. Light streamed in through the window of their bedroom, outlining the picture Chuck had left on the bed. Sarah smiled. She certainly did remember packing this costume when they moved to Chicago from Burbank to be nearer to Ellie and Devon, but at the time she thought it had something to do with some bizarre mission. She had almost wished it had. Since Emma was born, Sarah had gotten back to her strict workout routine. She was almost back in "Princess Leia" shape, although she was pretty certain there was nothing she would be able to do to fit in the top right now. Nature would have to take care of that over time.
She put the picture back where Chuck left it and reached over to her own nightstand for a copy of Home and Design magazine. With the baby and the move, she really hadn't had time to decorate the new place the way she wanted. She was looking forward to today's shopping trip with Ellie. When it came to shopping Ellie was an expert. She had great instincts and even better taste. Until the last year of so, Sarah's life never left much time to think about such things. It was nice to have a big sister to shop with.
It had been about five minutes since Chuck took Emma out to the kitchen, and she could still hear little Emma crying and Chuck shushing her. She had eaten most of the pancakes, all but one of the sausage links and all of the fresh fruit. Grabbing the tray, she headed out to the kitchen. The winter in Chicago had been long and cold, but once the baby came they kept the house a cozy 75 degrees. At that temperature, Sarah's mid-thigh nightgown was more than warm enough. With the last five pounds she lost, she traded terry cloth robes for alluring negligees again.
On three sides of the kitchen walls hung beautifully simple light maple cabinets. Black granite counter-tops and stainless steel appliances finished off the space. In the center of the rather large kitchen stood an island with sink and preparation surface on one side and a raised bar with four stools on the other. Sarah placed her tray on the island and extended her arms toward Emma.
"Now Sarah, this your day to rest... oh if you insist." Chuck gave up without much of a fight and handed the squirming crying little girl to her mother. She quieted instantly. Sarah smiled down at her daughter. Chuck took out his iPhone and snapped a picture of mother and daughter. As Sarah looked up Chuck said, "I needed a new picture for when you call. This is perfect." Sarah smiled more broadly now.
"Did you begin warming up the bottle already?"
"Not yet, just got it out of the refrigerator. Then we started walking around the room."
"Don't bother, I'll take care of it." Sarah took Emma to the rocking chair. The open concept ranch style house with vaulted ceilings allowed the island area of the kitchen to flow nicely into an airy living room. The leather sectional defined the area between the living room and the kitchen and faced a large field stone fireplace. Above the mantle hung a large mirror that doubled, when switched on, as a television. In addition to the sectional, one rocking chair and one glider sat just off to the right of fireplace. Sarah and baby retired to the rocker as she nursed little Emma.
"Well, I have that conference call in an hour. I suppose I should get a shower and get dressed." As Chuck walked back to the bedroom, there was a quick knock on the door, then the handle turned and Morgan burst through the door.
"Buddy!" Morgan smiled wide as he reached out both arms to Chuck. The he looked to his left and saw Sarah. "Sarah! Oh... Sarah." Morgan began to stumble a little. He couldn't take his eyes off of the nursing mother. "Umm... Looks like maybe I've come at a bad time. Probably should have called first. I just thought a surprise, well. Umm. Alex?"
Morgan turned away from Sarah and looked back through the still open door. He stretched out his hand and pulled her through. As he did so, he placed his hand against the side of her face, shielding her from the sight of Sarah and Emma.
"Morgan, relax," she pushed his hand down. "Hi Sarah."
"Alex. This is a surprise. It's nice to see the two of you again."
"Thanks. Sarah, you look absolutely beautiful. How long has it been since you had her?"
"Eight weeks today."
"Wow, you'd never know." Alex walked over toward Sarah. As if it just dawned on her that she had completely overlooked the father of the child, Alex turned her head and waved to him. "Oh, hi Chuck."
"Yea, this happens a lot to me lately. 'Oh looks there's the baby!' 'Oh yea, hi Chuck,'" he smiled wryly and waved. "Well Morgan, it is great to see you two again. What brings you to town buddy?"
"Well, show 'em Alex." Alex stuck out her had toward Sarah then Chuck. On the ring finger of her left hand, a beautiful engagement right sparkled.
"We couldn't tell you on the phone," Alex beamed as she tipped her had back toward her so she could see it also.
"Hey, way to go buddy!" Chuck gave Morgan a big bro hug.
"It is beautiful. So when's the wedding?" Sarah asked.
"Well, that's another reason we are here," Morgan began. "We called Dad..."
"Wait, you call Casey 'Dad'?" Chuck's eyes opened wide.
"Well, not exactly to his face yet. I thought I would try in on for a while before I say it in front of him."
"Morgan, honey, maybe not," Alex said.
"You're probably right. Anyway, we were thinking of having the wedding here."
"In Chicago?" asked Chuck.
"Well, I mean here," Morgan's gesture encompassed the room.
"Umm, sure, I mean," Chuck looked to Sarah. She smiled, here eyes crinkling in the corners. "Okay, yea. Why not?"
"I knew I could count on you Chuck. How does Sunday sound?"
"It sounds soon, buddy. There's a lot to do to put a wedding together. Do you even have a marriage license?"
"Ah, details, details. You and I can take care of all that, while the girls get all of the girly stuff together. Right Alex?"
"We're going to make it small," Alex said. "And Sarah, if you don't mind, I would love to have you and Ellie help me pick out a simple white dress."
"Of course. We were going shopping today anyway. What could be more fun than helping you shop for a wedding dress?" As she was speaking, Morgan's attention was again drawn to Emma's feeding.
"Alright Morgan. Morgan?" Chuck was trying to re-direct Morgan's attention. "Let's find Devon and see if we can get take care of your stuff."
"Honey, what about the conference call?"
"Oh, that's right. Okay Morgan, you head to Ellie's. When you and Devon are ready to go I should be done with business and I'll meet up with you."
"We can all go in our car." Sarah stood up, turned her back to Morgan and removed the feeding child. Once she was adequately covered she turned back to the room. "Let me get dressed. Here Alex, could you hold Emma?"
Alex smiled as she looked at the sleeping little girl. Morgan slid in next to Alex and peered a Emma over Alex's shoulder. "We are going to have lots of these," Morgan said.
Alex looked to Morgan then back to the baby. "One thing at a time, honey."
"Hey Morgan, let me show you around the place." Chuck took Morgan on the tour – kitchen, bathroom, guest room, baby room. As they reached the bottom of the basement stairs, Morgan lit up.
"Nothing says wedding like a big unfinished basement. Can we have the reception down here? Some lights, some speakers, it'll be perfect."
"Sure thing Morgan. Alright, I need to head to work. I'll catch you and Devon in a few."
Morgan walked back up the stairs as Chuck went into the bathroom – the one finished place in an otherwise unfinished basement. Standing in the shower stall and pulling on the shower head while turning the soap holder counter-clockwise, the stall spun around and Chuck was in the new Castle. The words "Carmichael Industries" were painted on the glass wall now directly in front of Chuck. Chuck sat down at the conference table and prepared to become Charles Carmichael again – a transformation that had gotten easier and easier over the years.
Now that Carmichael Industries has devoted itself entirely to cybercrime, both he and Sarah had gone to great lengths to protect their real identities. Every meeting with perspective clients took place online with filters obscuring both their images and their voices. Some clients balked at this arrangement, but Carmichael Industries' results spoke for themselves. As word spread objections grew much less frequent.
"Incoming call Mr. Carmichael." The voice was that of V.I.C.T.O.R. – Virtual Intelligent Computer Technology and Organized Receptionist. With his spare time, Chuck had made something of a hobby of artificial intelligence.
"Put 'em up Victor, with filters. Also, bring up the files for Anderson International."
"Yes Mr. Carmichael."
The table in front of Chuck lit up with multiple files he could shuffle with his fingertips and double click to open.
"Jordan Evans, I'm Charles Carmichael. Good to finally talk to you."
"Mr. Carmichael. I am joined by two associates, Sandy Alexander and Phillip DeVillers." Each of the assistants took turns offering a hello before Mr. Evans spoke again. "It is a bit unnerving talking to a silhouette. I don't suppose there is anyway to..."
"Sorry. Company policy. So, your company's online retail presence has been under attack by hackers?"
"That's right. Just yesterday they shut us down for over three hours. We lost nearly $1 million in anticipated sales. And this was the fourth attack this month."
"Well, in order to eliminate this problem I'm going to need full access to all of your systems, of course. But, I'm certain we can get these attacks stopped and give you all the evidence you'll need to pursue prosecution, if you wish."
"That is exactly what we're looking for. I haven't built this company into the third largest online sporting goods retailer just to let some kids with a PC tear it down."
"Understood Mr. Evans. As per our agreement there is a nominal retainer, and the bulk of the fee will only be due once we have stopped the attacks and tracked the hackers down for you." As Chuck spoke, he moved and opened files on his tabletop, closed some files, opened others. There were company payroll reports, identification photos, client lists, the usual stuff. His hand stopped on one client name – Tommy Delgato. Chuck didn't have to flash to remember this name. Certainly, this couldn't be the same man.
"Anything else Mr. Carmichael? When can we expect you will have some news for us?"
"Umm... yea." Clearly distracted by this name from his past Chuck looked up, "Sorry. We should have some good news from you by the end of the week. We'll get to work on this right away."
"Great. Look forward to your report. We're transferring the retainer now. Good day Mr. Carmichael."
"Thank you, you too." Then, "Victor, disconnect."
He slid the client list to the front and expanded the information on Delgato. Certainly, that name was common enough. There was no way this was the Tommy Delgato. Chuck's phone rang and he looked down to see the photo he just took of Sarah and Emma.
"Hello honey."
"Hello Chuck. Just wanted to let you know that Ellie, Alex and I are going to be heading out shopping and taking care of some of the details for the wedding tomorrow. Your mother's here and she's going to watch Clara and Emma."
"Great, tell Morgan I'm on my way – I'll call him to find out where to meet them."
"Alright Chuck. See you tonight."
