Don't own Chuck
Chuck sat there looking into Sarah's big blue eyes filled with tears like two rivers whose flood waters were overflowing. What was he to say? How could he fix her? Sarah was like one of Ellie's dolls that he broke. He knew he shouldn't have broken it but he did and then he had to fix it. Each time these memory bursts happened he tried to gather the pieces and put them back together again. But this time they just didn't seem to match. Deep down he knew that there wasn't enough rocky road to make the hurt, the shame and the pain go away thi time.
"Love, if you think us going back to your origins will help you then okay we'll go. I'll do whatever you want to do but if you think you owe me this then no. I love you because I do. I don't need anything from you to make me love you. I don't need any reward I just love you and that is how it's going to stay what is past is past for me. You know I don't have the most functional family either and if you remember even my Mom shot me. Come to think of it, being shot is almost a term of endearment for us. But I don't see Emma as the gun toting type."
"I don't see how we can avoid it, especially with our baby on the way. These things need to be dealt with. How can I or you trust me with our baby? Oh Love, I hurt you so much and I don't know why? I feel dirty. What kind of mother will I be?"
"Judging from Emma a loving one."
"Sweetie, maybe you're just too good for me." When she said that, Chuck didn't know how to react. He felt their conversation was spiraling out of control and it scared him. Then Chuck's phone rang looking down he saw it was Ellie.
"Love, it's Ellie she's probably freaking."
"Go ahead and take it." Chuck didn't really want to take it because he could see the hurt Sarah was feeling but he also felt too much truth too soon could also far too devastating for her in her seemingly fragile condition. He also knew Ellie would be worked up over this thing with Devon too so he answered.
"El I was going to call you. The conference is over and we are on our way back. … Okay calm down … No, I don't know where Devon is but I can guess … Yes, we sealed the whole floor for security. … He's got an important patient coming in. Really El, I can't get into with you on the phone. Let's just say Devon worked on her husband. … It's on the news. You saw it on CNN good then you know just about everything I do. … I haven't heard from them but when we get in we can try and call. … Thanks," Chuck turned to Sarah, "El says to say love."
"Tell her love from me," said Sarah as she yawed. The stress of the past few days was starting to take its toll and the shock she had felt from her memory burst was starting to wear off. The tiredness she felt was also her bodies coping mechanism a way to make herself shut down before she spiraled out. Chuck could be right maybe she was remembering out of context but she knew that wasn't so. The old woman, her name, Shaw, Bryce, Jack, Emma a whole list of wrongs, maybe she needed to clear the slate wipe the whole mess away but she knew thing she desperately wanted to hold on to was Chuck.
When he hung up with Ellie then Devon called. "Devon, I just got off the phone with Ellie. … Yes, she's worried. Why don't you call her? … If you're so busy why did you call me? … Listen we can't do anything from here. The train is due in tomorrow morning at 8:45am and we'll go straight to the hospital. … Devon, don't talk about schedules over the phone. I'll deal with the FBI when I get there. Talk with this Agent Colson I'm sure you can come to some understanding…. Just go along for right now and if you have to put your foot down, you're the doctor, they aren't. Just be awesome. … Yeah let them know who Captain Awesome is. Okay I'll call her for you. I've got to go."
With all these calls Chuck was wondering where he put his battery charger. He felt Sarah lay her head against his shoulder and she smelt her perfume. If going back to Montana or Timbuktu was what she wanted then that was what he'd do.
"El, this is Chuck. I just got off the phone with Devon. … No, they haven't taken him to Guantanamo Bay. He's knee deep in Federal Agents. They're going over hospital security … Yes, he should be home tonight and I told him when we get in tomorrow we'd go straight to the hospital. … Don't worry Sis, all he has to do is his job. … We both know Awesome is always awesome when it comes to his work. … Yes we love you too.." Chuck finally got his sister's family situation taken care of now he had to work on his own.
"Sarah, Love I'm sorry it took so -," but then he realized she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. Carefully he got up and laid her head on her cushion and gently picked up her feet taking off her shoes and then softly massaged her ankles. As he rubbed her ankles he heard her sigh and whisper a soft "thank you." Then he pulled down his blanket and laid it over her. He pulled up a chair next to her bed and sat watching her sleep and began to speak.
"Love, I'll tell you this in your sleep because I wouldn't want to tell you this to your face. Yes, you hurt me and I still feel the pain and the hurt that you could tell Shaw something so intimate you couldn't tell me. I don't want this to be your burden. I think this is a cross I have to bear and I'll gladly bear it for us. Love, the people in your life have hurt you and I understand your pain. I have resolved not to be one of them, one of those people. I will never hurt you. I will never cause you pain. I will fight for us. I will protect you with ever think I have. Maybe Jackie was right. I'm your Spiderman so I guess that makes you my Mary Jane." He reached over and kissed her gently, "Sleep a peaceful sleep."
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Miguel made his way from the parking garage across the road and into the hospital. The first thing he noticed when he walked in the hospital was that no one challenged him. He looked around and the only physical security they had was an aging guard who carried a can of mace. Picking up some brochures from a rake he checked out the security cameras and noted all the blind spots then he got in an elevator that had every floor labelled so he pressed surgery. The elevator played horrible music that seemed diluted versions of popular songs from the sixties and seventies. The bell rang and a voice announced the floor before the doors opened. As he stepped off he could see things were different from below here an invasion of men in black was in place and running around with one of them was a doctor in scrubs with the name Woodcomb embroidered above his pocket so he tried to listen in on his conversation.
"Listen Agent Colson I appreciate what you're saying but this hospital is also a trauma center so if there are other emergencies we have to take care of them."
"But Doctor I don't feel you fully understand the value of the patient that is coming here."
"Agent Colson all my patients have the same value. How'd you like it if your mother were sent away because the doctors there had a more valuable patient? I don't think you'd like that would you?"
"Doctor it's not a matter of likes or dislikes it's about security."
"Listen my brother-in-law will be here tomorrow morning you can talk your concerns over with him and you two can work this out."
"I realize he's supposed to be some security guru but this is my AOR and I'm the one in charge."
"What does AOR even mean? You people with your acronyms. Okay let's come to a compromise or I'll never get home this evening. This is my last proposal: you can seal off the operating floor when the surgery is on. We can set up something temporary in Emergency during that time then open it back up afterwards. You can also have a whole floor for post-op and recovery but that's my last offer."
"I think I can live with that. See Doctor I knew if we put our heads together we could come up with a solution."
Miguel seeing the Doctor and the Agent had finished their conversation it was time for him to leave so he headed for the elevator and pressed "down." The doors opened and he was getting on when he heard someone call out.
"Hey Buddy, can you hold that for me." It was Doctor Woodcomb.
"Sure going down?"
"Yeah, thanks."
"Busy day?" Miguel thought he might get some more information from the Doctor in the elevator and he was right.
"You wouldn't believe. I didn't think I was ever going to get out. You here visiting someone?"
"Yeah just visiting. What's up with all the men in black I thought I should be looking for Will Smith or something?"
"Yeah that's pretty good dude. Oh nothing really it's just every now and then the hospital has to go through a federal inspection so they send these guys out to look around. You might see them here for the next few days so don't worry the whole situation is under control." Devon thought he had laid it on kind of thick but it was the best he could come up with on short notice.
"Really, I never heard of that before."
"New regulations." Just then his phone rang, saved by the bell or phone in this case. "Hey El," he turned to the man in the elevator, "It's my wife I'm sorry but-"
"Don't worry, go right ahead we're almost on the ground floor anyway."
"El, yeah I called Chuck too earlier. …Do you have any appointments tomorrow morning? … Can you move them? … I was thinking we all could go get something to eat. I know vegetarian no olives. .. Okay do you want me to pick up some ice cream, rocky road and mint?. … My office will be a madhouse tomorrow why don't we meet in yours. Okay then we can go from there." The elevator arrived and the doors opened.
"See you around Doctor," said Miguel, "and congratulations for your wife."
"Hope your friend feels better." But after Devon left the building it suddenly dawned on him there were no wards on surgery. Unless the man had stopped to check on someone who had just been operated on and had been moved down to a ward later. Yes, that must've been the reason. Congratulations to El for what? People are strange, he said to himself as he hunted for his car in the hospital lot.
Miguel turned around and walk back inside up to the hospital information desk. "Excuse me," he said to the male nurse behind the desk.
"I'm sorry but all our clinics are closed at this hour if it's an emergency you need to enter through the E.R. that's around the corner."
"No I need a number to call tomorrow. Can you give me the number for Dr. Woodcomb the female one?"
"Oh, yes her number is," and as the man said it he wrote it down on a piece of paper then gave it to Miguel.
"Thank you, I was wondering if you could do me one more favor. I seemed to have misplaced her card can you tell what her office number is again?"
"I just gave it to you."
"No I mean her room number so I can find her office."
"Oh yes, here give me that piece of paper back and I'll write that for you too," the man scribbled the number and as he wrote he gave Miguel directions. "If you take the elevator over there, the one in the middle go up to the third floor hang a right and you can't miss it. If you get lost up there just ask for neurology and give them her name they will be able to help you.
"Thank you," said Miguel as he thought, this is what's so good about killing someone in the United States all the people are willing to help.
Miguel left the hospital and crossed the road. He retraced his steps back to the dark sedan parked on the second floor of a parking garage. Starling his friend as he opened the door when the doom light came one.
"You sacred me, I wasn't expecting you back so soon. Did everything go as planned?"
"Better. The gringo doctor is married to another doctor who works in the same hospital. I got her office number so we can grab her tomorrow when Hortenica arrives. I just hope she doesn't die on the flight Carlos was supposed to wound her seriously but just enough to get her sent here. Something else I found out I think this doctor is pregnant so we'll have two hostages instead of one."
"They told you all that?"
"No, they were talking about pizza with a strange combination and ice cream which I hear is a thing pregnant Americans want when they are emarazada, pregnant."
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Casey made his way through the tunnels like a ferret hunting a rabbit. He knew every turn and bend like the back of his hand. His first instinct was to head for the palace armory but halfway there he heard alarms and sirens.
"Crap they must know I'm in here. Well now it's up to me and my trusty Ka-bar to ride a few rodents."
Then he heard a muffled noise coming from the passage ahead. It sounded like English but after the long flight, the engine noise and the two stroke bike his hearing wasn't quite up to par so he needed to be careful and cold-blooded. His senses heightened. He was feeling that old itch the one he had hidden away, the one that was out of place in Alex's house and the civilized world. It was an old familiar friend and had kept him alive but now it was back that need to kill. He took up position behind a bend pulling his knife from its sheath. The blade shimmered in the dim light and he saw his reflection. For a moment Casey looked at awe at the man in blade. How far he had come from his contra days but now he was back and if his daughter and Morgan were going to survive he had to let that man come back so he waited for the intruders to come so he could pounce. How did that poem go? He tried to remember it. He had learnt it long ago and it helped in times like this, "tiger, tiger burning bright in the forests of the night. What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
He was the tiger and this was his forest and God help those who ventured in.
"Do you have any idea where we are? Look out I think there are rats. I can't see a thing but I believe there's light up ahead. "
"Yeah Morgan, I can see it too. Stay close we need to be careful there could be-." Just then Alex and Morgan rounded the bend and Casey jumped on Morgan holding him down by the throat with one hand and the knife in the other. He drew back the blade ready to plunge it in Morgan's chest. But Alex jumped on top of him causing Casey to roll off then the two both did forward leaps like in a Bruce Lee film one landing in a forward horse and the other in a cat ready to fight.
"Hey, stop," yelled Morgan who stepped in the middle and got double kicked. "Crap, that hurt. First I get beat up by my girlfriend and now I get the crap kicked out of me by my, well Casey and my girlfriend."
"Grimes it's a good thing you didn't say father-in-law or you'd get another kick. What are you two doing in these tunnels anyway?" Casey asked as he grabbed Alex in a tight embrace, the tiger recognized its cub and his female emotions got the better of him.
"It's been a rough day," said Alex as he looked up into her father's face and if she didn't know Casey better she would have sworn that there were tears in his eyes. Alex then began to tell him about the woman on the beach and the man she saw shoot her, the gun and her being arrested. Then Morgan told his story of being assaulted on the beach and getting taken in.
"So Dad what do we do?"
"I could try to smuggle you two out but the only problem with that is whatever country we cross into has to be one without an extradition treaty with Costa Gravas. Even back in the U.S. you will run into the same thing we sign a treaty with them when they became democratic."
"So Casey, you're saying we are screwed basically?"
"There's another option I can go talk with the beloved Premier and try to reason. If that doesn't work than I'll tell him I'm here from the blood bank and I want to make a withdrawal."
"How are you going to do that? We can't exactly walk in the front door and say how do you do?"
"That's easy we need to go back two bends and hang a right then a left that will lead us straight to the belove's bedroom."
"Casey there's something very wrong with that I hope you realize," said Morgan.
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The beloved Premier was in his office surround by his aids, ministers, and staff. They were standing around his desk looking over a map. Moving pieces that looked like pawns from right to left then back like a game of risk except this game was real and the pawns on the map represented living breathing men.
"Okay that's good enough for now. You can leave."
"But there's so much more we need to do beloved Premier."
"What I need will come to me in the night. Now go and close the door on your way out." His men obeyed closing the door as they left. Allejandro walked over to a small bar he kept in his office and poured two glasses of scotch and opened a box of the finest cigars Costa Gravas produced. He took one out and lit it but left the box open. Then with his glass he went, sat behind his desk and waited. As he puffed he felt a cool draft on the back of his neck like the cold hand of death. This was the fourth time he felt this and he knew exactly what it meant or better who it was.
"Good evening John," he said without turning around. "I knew you'd come for me and I understand your anger I am angry too, but let me explain there has been a terrible mistake."
"Yeah, so go on," John said as he immerged from a secret door. He had wanted to tell him the mistake was his and finish the dance they had started long ago. But he couldn't help but wonder why Allejandro was so calm in the face of death. The truth was that John admired Allejandro's resolve and besides he could always kill him later.
"John by now you know my wife has been shot."
"And my daughter was blamed."
"Yes a tragic mistake I know she is innocent."
"Then why haven't you called off the hunt for me," said Alex coming around the desk with Casey and Morgan.
"First I was just told it was you they arrested by those fools and second my hands are tied by our new constitution. You see I've installed a separation of powers much the same are yours. But that really isn't the problem I could always issue a Premier's pardon but-"
"That would imply guilt," said Casey.
"Yes, and my sister's step-brother the dictator of Costa Masgravas is looking for a reason to invade. Look here on this map and you can see our situation. These are our troop deployments and these are what we know of his." Casey looked over the map with Grimes and Alex looking over his shoulder like they knew what they were looking at. As Casey studied the chart Allejandro went over and picked up the other glass he had poured and set it in front of L'Angelo della Vita.
"Thanks," said Casey as he continued to study looking for a way to call check but there was none.
"You see our desperate situation."
"Yes, you're out manned; out gunned and out maneuvered if he invades you'll be overrun in days."
"Not before we give him a bloody nose. We'll make them pay for every inch. My men are loyal maybe not to me but to the air of democracy they have finally been given a chance to breath."
"Those are fine words but we'll see how they react when the rubber hits the road." Casey took a sip from his glass and lit a cigar then let out a puff. "Allejandro I never thought I'd ever say this but "Viva la revolucion. We need Chuck."
