Chapter 2: Life is good

Chuck Bartowski's plan had initially been to travel and hike around Europe. He started in Portugal and then bussed it into Spain. A chance meeting while he was on a daytrip to Gibraltar he met three Irishmen travelling around in a Citroen. A night of heavy drinking followed and before Chuck knew it he was invited to travel with them. Chuck later wondered if it was more to the Irish hospitality as he spent more time driving than the other three combined. Chuck realised real quick that he could not out drink the Irish. As Chuck drove the car, his travelling companions would sleep off the hangovers only to start drinking as lunchtime approached. The novelty of drunken Irishmen wore on Chuck eventually so he ditched them after they arrived in Marseille.

The decision was made easier when a English lass had phone trouble at the hotel he was staying at. Chuck had overheard two English ladies talking while they were sunbaking by the pool so he offered his help and expertize. It took him only a few minutes to de-bug the device. For a reward the girls offered to take him out clubbing and a good time was had by all. As the girls were also touring around Chuck accepted their offer of a ride. The decision was easy, ditching three Irish lads who's goal seem to be to drink every bar dry for the company of two lovely English ladies who did want to see the sights.

The trio followed the Mediterranean coast line all the way south until they got to Rome. It was in Rome where he separated from the girls as they had to return to Birmingham for work. The affable American soon had a posse of friends to explore the sights and smell of the city. He developed a likening to the way the Europeans have their coffee. He enjoyed the coffee shops and cafes a bit too much when he realised his trousers were getting too tight around the middle. Too much good eating and not enough walking was his diagnosis. He once listen to Bryce about some trails in the Dolomites mountains that Bryce explored during a break from Stanford. Hiking would be one way of shedding a few pounds.

Chuck found that hiking in the Italian Alps was exhilarating, a couple of New Zealand climbers he met in a bar in Rome invited him along on a trek. The Kiwis were experienced and had been to the Dolomites many years ago. Although they were much older than Chuck he still had trouble keeping up.

In time he headed north west and made his way to the Matterhorn near the Swiss border. It was here his plans changed. Chuck had caught the 'Gornergrat bahn' otherwise known as the Matterhorn train in the morning and hiked his way to the Hornli Hutte. The weather began to close in on him just as he approached the hotel, the low clouds made visibility drop down to a few yards in front of him. Chuck entered the hotel and then opted to sit by the large window where he couldn't see much because of the whiteout.

Shortly afterward a group of hikers made their way into the hotel. Chuck was a little annoyed when they invaded his personal space by the window. These hikers were happily making a lot of much noise as they spoke loudly in what Chuck thought was German. Chuck decided to take the path back down to the train so he got up and made for the door.

"I wouldn't go out there!" Chuck heard in English, stopped and turned to face the speaker.

"Why not?"

"Too risky!"

Chuck turned his head so he was looking outside the door .

"Are you familiar with the path?"

"No."

"Did you know what to do if you lose your way on the path?"

"No."

"Are you prepared to stay out all night in sub zero temperatures?"

"Good points." Chuck then decided to sit down next to the man.

"Chuck Bartowski." Chuck extended his hand

"Ricardo Vissers" The man said back as he shook Chuck's hand.

Ricardo then introduced Chuck to the rest of his hiking comrades.

After the introductions, Chuck had a question he just had to know.

"How did you know that I spoke English? "he asked Ricardo.

"By the way you dress. Most of your clothes have American logos. You have an brochure in English. And you acted like you couldn't understand anything we said to you before you got up the leave."

That explained it.

"If you will be so kind" Riccardo asked "Would you help me bring the drinks back from the bar?" as made his way to the bar and ordering a round of drinks.

All the hikers came from Bern and they already had reservations to stay overnight. They had driven up this morning and were planning on going for a hike if the weather was good. In the Alps there was always the risk of poor weather. With drinks in hands, Chuck and Ricardo had a simulating discussion about hacking and cyber security as they watched the appalling weather outside from the comfort of the couch they were sitting on.

Ricardo had created off his own bat a consultancy company specializing in cyber security. Ricardo had done what Chuck had dreamed of doing when he was at Stanford. Whereas life got in the way of Chuck and his dream, no such problem occurred for Ricardo.

The weather remained crap for the rest of the day so Chuck was forced to stay the night. He booked a room spent the evening socializing in the bar after dinner.

The weather improved the next morning so the Ricardo and his fellow hikers got ready for a hike. A short conversation over breakfast and Chuck was invited to join the group for the day. At the end of the hike Ricardo invited Chuck to stay with him in Bern for a couple of days. Chuck accepted.

Ricardo's house was in an affluent suburb of Bern, the house and gardens were large compare to his neighbours. A huge contrast when Chuck walked in the front door, the exterior was dated but inside had been recently renovated. The modern look oozed money so Chuck knew Ricardo was very well off.

Ricardo dumped his gear by the front door and beckoned Chuck to follow him. Ricardo showed chuck a spare bedroom that was plain but it did have a double bed. Chuck put his backpack down in the far corner of the room. Ricardo gave chuck a spare towel and told him to make himself feel at home.

While Ricardo got busy in the kitchen to make the evening meal Chuck wandered around the house. In the hallway Chuck noticed that this is where Ruedi hangs all his diplomas. Ricardo has a master's degree in electrical engineering and informatics from Zurich University.

On top the coffee table in the lounge room Chuck noticed one of the magazines, if he remembered rightly then it was a gay community magazine, a quick flick though the pages confirmed it. Chuck thought back to the conversation he had with Ricardo as they drove down the mountain. Ricardo was probing Chuck about his past relationships. Chuck wasn't exactly being honest when he spoke about Sarah and Jill. Chuck said he dated Sarah first and she moved to Washington and hooked up with an old boyfriend, then he dated Jill but that relationship fizzled so he decided to do some travelling. Ricardo said he many short term relationships but they all went nowhere. Chuck wasn't homophobic, he was comfortable with his own sexuality, he wondered if Ricardo was testing the waters as they drove.

Chuck finished his tour by walking into the kitchen, Ricardo was putting the finishing touches to the stir fry he was cooking.

Chuck soon discovered that Ricardo was a good cook.

"Where did you learn how to be such a great cook?"

"Asia! I've travelled extensively when I was younger."

"And now?" Chuck asked.

"Now I'm too busy. I'm lucky that I get to go hiking these days. I make sure I have a cleared schedule before I go."

September 27, 2010 – Bern,Switzerland- Offices of Verwahren (GmbH) One year later

Chuck Bartowski could feel his grumbling stomach was telling him that it was time for lunch. Chuck made it a habit to go out of the office every day for some exercise in the older part of Bern. It was important for him to get out of the office for his lunch, otherwise co-programmers would constantly interrupted him while he was eating. A walk would clear his head and allow him to chill and reboot for the afternoons work.

Chuck got up from his office chair, grabbed his jacket and headed out for a quick walk. He would get lunch in the Bahnof Platz from one of the food stalls.

As he walked along the Bundesgasse, he could see that most of the leaves on the trees had the full autumn colours. They were heralding that summer was over and winter was not far away. While the sun was out there was a cool breeze was coming off the River. Chuck would cross the bridge and then wander through the market before purchasing his lunch from one of the stalls. He always resisted the urge to buy a "Real Coney Island hotdog" as he preferred a chicken kabab from one of the Lebanese vendors.

He still couldn't believe his luck that Ricardo had offered him a job a year ago today. He wasn't looking for work at the time but it was an offer that he just couldn't turn down. He was delaying his well-earned holidays until Ellie's date of confinement. Then he would fly home and celebrate with Ellie and Awesome the birth of their first child.

The prospect of him becoming an uncle for the first time excited him, he was starting to feel a little homesick from the listening to his sister's phone calls. As the date got closer the calls became more frequent. Ellie was beside herself with the anticipation. When Ellie wasn't talking about morning sickness, baby kicks and how big she was growing she would attempt to pry into Chuck's private life overseas. Did he have a girlfriend? What was her name? Are they getting serious?

It was getting into Ellie's final trimester that she brought up the subject of Sarah. Just as Sarah had cut all contact with Chuck, she had done the same to Ellie. Ellie thought it would be nice if Sarah knew that a baby was on the way but there was no way in telling her. There was silence on the other end of the phone, Ellie had to prompt Chuck a few times to get him talking again. For Chuck it was like opening up an old wound, he thought he had the spy out of his system and then Ellie mentioned the name. Chuck had to recall the lies he told to Ellie after the honeymoon. He had to keep the lie going even though it was morally wrong to continue to deceive his sister.

October 27, 2010 –One month later

Chuck's is the project manager and lead programmer on the Omega project, however as a directive Ricardo, he also had to do major corporate events like trade shows. In Bern at this time was major UN conference on cyber security and fraud. As this was a speciality of his firm, Ricardo and the rest of senior team were circulating around the convention hall. Today Chuck had a series of presentations on systems venerability and security.

It was a real change on routine for him to do these conferences because it took him away from his office, but Chuck realized that it may be good to do once in a while to break his routine. And he was glad to see one of his hiking comrades, Hilda Bink, in attendance because her company was also a major exhibitor.

Hilda initially thought that because Ricardo and Chuck got on so well from the moment they first met that Chuck must have been gay like Ricardo. It wasn't until Chuck's fourth hike that Hilda had doubts, she had caught him staring at one of the other girl's backside. A little later when Hilda was walking with Chuck a little behind the rest of the group that she asked him about his sexuality. Chuck informed her that he was a straight male, he naturally got on well with Ricardo because of their interest in computers. Ricardo knew Chuck was straight and Chuck knew Ricardo was gay and they were both fine with it.

Chuck also said that when he studied at Sandford which was near the gay capital of the world, San Francisco, so he was use to having gay people around him.

As the two friends chatted, their companies had adjoining sites, Ricardo came up and showed the pair that he had complementary tickets to the Bulgarian Embassy ball. Chuck was puzzled, "The Bulgarians are having a ball? Why?"

"It's their turn. Last year it was the Swedes hosting."

"The Bulgarians know how to party. There will be lots of great food, music, dancing and all the beautiful people will be there." Ricardo was excited. "Chuck, Hilda, you're both going! I've got tickets for everybody"

This was the flamboyant side of Ricardo that most people rarely saw. Most of the time Ricardo projected that he was staid conservative business leader, but then every once in a while..

"But I don't have a tux!" Chuck protested.

"Leave that to me. I know a man!" Ricardo replied