AN: Alright, sorry this took so long getting out. This chapter was a little harder to write. Originally, it was going to be a Ellie/Chuck pov. However, the Ellie part took a long time and was longer than I expected so it is seperate chapter. Good news is the Chuck pov is almost complete and it will also have Sarah's pov. It will be about what happened with Alex and we'll have the whole story about Sarah and Cole. I'm finishing up right now and should be sending it to my beta sometime today. Speaking of my beta, once again thanks to mxpw for helping on this chapter. I added a little bit of backstory for Ellie as a way of explaining something she does at the end of the chapter based on one of mxpw's comment. Regarding the whole Cole reveal in the next chapter, I do sort of give away how things go in this chapter if you read close enough. Also this chapter ends on a mystery like the last one. This one isn't as much of a mystery. Most should probably guess what Ellie finds, but there is something else that will play apart later on that might not be obvious. It is something that has been on the show before. So thanks for those reading this story and also thanks for everyone who is reviewing the story. It means alot.
Spoilers: Everything through Chuck vs. the Role Model
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck
Chapter 4: Crossing Lines
She couldn't believe she was doing this. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Ellie knew she was crossing a line. She was going from meddling sister to stalker. The rational side of her brain was telling her that she was overreacting. It was nothing. However, there was a nagging voice telling her that inside this room, something could hold answers to so many of the doubts that she had been having. She couldn't let this go.
The evening had started normal enough. Normal was probably exaggerating things. Tonight had been Morgan's big Cinco de Mayo party in the courtyard. She had come home to find Morgan, Devon, and some of the other Buy More workers decorating the courtyard in green, red and white. With a quick wave to Devon, Ellie went to their apartment for a shower and a change of clothes.
Ellie was surprised by how much she was looking forward to this party. The last few days had been stressful. She couldn't believe that it had taken longer for her to get back into her old routine. She hoped this party would help her relax.
She was also looking forward to seeing Justin. Devon had been happy to hear that Justin would be coming by as well. It wasn't actually seeing Justin that excited her, but what he represented. He was a reminder for Ellie of Africa. Despite the rough start, Ellie had begun to enjoy her time there. She felt good about the work she was doing. She was making a difference in the lives of those villagers. Sure, she made a difference at the hospital but it was different there. Life in Africa was so much simpler than her life here. There weren't the pressures and the complications that had begun to bog down her life here. She was just a doctor that treated sick people. She was just a wife with her husband. Fellowships, lies, salaries, brothers and all the things that she worried about were far away. She had felt a freedom that she had never remembered having before. There had always been something for her to worry about here, but in Africa those worries were thousands of miles away. She had found the simple life to be enjoyable.
As she had exited the apartment, she saw the exact opposite of simple enter the courtyard. Sarah was walking at a fast pace to her apartment. She seemed upset. Ellie couldn't help herself.
"Sarah!" The blonde turned around to face Ellie. Ellie definitely could see something was wrong. She kept telling herself not to interfere. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, of course." Ellie often wondered if Sarah thought she was a good liar. Maybe she was with other people, but Ellie could swear that Sarah could never look her in the eyes when Ellie asked her personal questions. "Have you seen Chuck?"
So this had something to do with Chuck? Now, Ellie was even more curious. "No, I haven't seen him all day. I would think you would have seen him before me. You do work across the parking lot from him."
Sarah looked even more uncomfortable after that statement. Ellie hadn't meant to be so blunt but sometimes she couldn't help it. She was tired of always feeling like she was out of the loop with her brother's life.
"Well, I wasn't at work today so I haven't had a chance to see Chuck since this morning."
"Oh, you were off today? You're still going to be off tomorrow for our day out?"
"Of course, not a problem. Just a bit of weird scheduling. I promised you we would have a day away from the guys to do girl stuff and we will."
Ellie swore she saw Sarah flinch at the mention of girl stuff. This wasn't something new. She had long come to the conclusion that Sarah must not have had many female friends growing up. It was like she was scared of spending a day just being one of the girls.
"Well, that's good. So what did you do with your day all to yourself?" She was being a little nosy. She knew it but Ellie knew next to nothing about what Sarah was interested in, well except her brother. Even that in the past was somewhat questionable.
"Nothing, really. I was just taking care of things that I had put off." Sarah was avoiding her eyes again. She really was not a good liar.
"Like what?" Sarah definitely appeared to be uncomfortable at the continued questioning. Sarah seemed to compose herself before responding.
"Oh, I was just going over some of the boxes I still have in my old apartment."
"You still have your apartment?" This was news to Ellie. She didn't like the thought of Sarah having her old apartment still. To Ellie, it seemed that Sarah was keeping a backup plan in case things with Chuck didn't go well. Ellie didn't want to believe that Sarah would do that but given Sarah and Chuck's history, she couldn't help but feel that way.
"Well, I had paid for another two months and they wouldn't return the money. Right now, I am just using it for storage for things I hadn't sorted out. I still have boxes from Washington that I never unpacked."
"Sarah, you should have told me this. I would have gladly helped you. Plus the two of us could have double teamed Chuck to get rid of some of his stuff so that you have enough room."
Sarah actually smiled and for the first time seemed to relax. "I like Chuck's room the way it is. I'll probably just give away some of the stuff and put the rest in a storage locker."
Sarah's moment of relaxation disappeared as she looked at her phone. Ellie wondered if there was something wrong or if Sarah just didn't like being unable to hear from Chuck? "Have you tried calling him?"
"Yeah, it went straight to voicemail." She seemed concerned. At least that's what Ellie thought. There were moments where Sarah was so hard to read. This was one of them.
"Maybe you should try him again. We can't have him missing the party. There is someone I would like you both to meet."
Sarah nodded her head. "Yeah, I'll do that. I am going to go inside and try to reach him. Then I'll get ready for the party. See you in a little while. Bye."
"Bye." Ellie watched Sarah go into her apartment. The more she talked to Sarah, it seemed the more questions she had. However, Ellie wasn't going to focus on that. She wanted to relax and have a good time. She went in search of her husband.
She found Devon and Morgan in the middle of a discussion with Jeff and Lester. She wasn't sure she wanted to get involved in the middle of whatever they were talking about. Anything dealing with Jeff and Lester couldn't end well. She started to turn away.
"Eliza, would you please explain to Morgan and your husband that a party wouldn't be the same without live entertainment."
Ellie would never understand how Chuck could hang around Jeff and Lester. She had never met two creepier individuals in her life. She couldn't be around Lester without feeling the need to shower afterwards. He was so brazen in the way he looked at her. His eyes would go straight to her cleavage almost immediately and would almost never leave. Jeff wasn't much better except his eyes were usually glossed over. Ellie couldn't get within five feet of him without smelling alcohol. Jeff was less obnoxious than Lester but more disgusting. She needed to get away from them. Luckily, Morgan answered, giving her a chance to back away.
"Guys, I have already gone over this with you. This party is about celebrating my heritage. Jeffster's music just doesn't have a Hispanic feel to it."
"Oh, please Morgan, stop pretending to be celebrating your supposed Hispanic heritage. It's shameful that you are pretending to be Hispanic so that you can reap the benefits. Drinking tequila and speaking a few words in Spanish doesn't make you Hispanic. If it did, Jeff would be a regular Mexican citizen."
"Me llamo, Jeff. Me gusto tequila"
Everyone turned their eyes to Jeff; each appeared to be trying not to say what they were thinking. "Yeah, that's great, Jefferson. Listen to me, Grimes you need us here for your party to be a success. Come on, Devon, you can attest to how great your wedding was because of our performance."
Devon must have seen something about her demeanor because he was already getting in between Ellie and Lester.
"My wedding…. You…- you… -son of a…."
"Whoa, babe. Let's go get you a drink." Devon dragged Ellie towards the bar area. After about three shots of something, Ellie finally started to cool down. By that time the party was really starting up. She finally spotted Justin entering the courtyard. He seemed as happy as she had seen him. She went over to greet him. They exchanged pleasantries. She couldn't explain why, but she enjoyed talking to him. She introduced him to Morgan. Devon and Justin exchanged hellos. They talked for awhile about different things ranging from their jobs, Africa and like most guys, sports. Unfortunately, Jeff and Lester returned. Morgan must have agreed to let them perform because they came back needing help with their equipment. Ellie began to look around and checked her watch. She was looking for Chuck. Not just to meet Justin, as she told him. She was concerned about him. After her conversation with Sarah, she was starting to believe something was not right.
Ellie found Sarah coming out of her apartment. Sarah looked a little bit more relaxed, but she was looking around as well. Ellie believed that Sarah was probably looking for Chuck. Ellie didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Ellie waved Sarah over. She moved to introduce Sarah and Justin.
"Justin, I would like you to meet…"
"Scarlett Anderson, is that you?" Ellie looked at Justin, not sure who he was referring to. She realized that he was referring to Sarah. Ellie turned to Sarah whose face had turned to one of confusion. However, for a split second, Ellie swore she saw a look of panic cross Sarah's face. Ellie almost believed she was imagining things because now Sarah was extending her hand to Justin.
"Sorry to disappoint, I'm not Scarlett Anderson. My name is Sarah Walker."
Justin shook her hand. "Sorry, you just reminded me of this woman who was at a couple of parties thrown by associates of mine in Germany."
"Definitely not me, I have never been to Germany."
"Oh well, I realize now that you are not her. I only saw her from across the dance floor. You do look similar but she spoke with a very prominent southern accent that could be heard throughout the entire room."
"Yeah, sorry, no accent."
"Well there's that and Mrs. Anderson was married to a man named Bruce. Obviously, since you are dating Ellie's brother, you can't be her."
"Obviously." The two stared at each other for a moment until some noise from the courtyard's entry caught their attention. "Speaking of my boyfriend, I see that he's here. Nice meeting you, Justin."
"It was my pleasure Sarah." With that, Sarah walked off. Before Ellie could really comprehend what was going on, Justin was looking at his watch. "Ellie, I am really sorry but I have to go."
"Already? Let me get my brother over here so you can meet him."
"Well, he looks busy." Ellie looked over and Sarah said something to Chuck. His whole demeanor changed. He had looked relatively relaxed, but he now was serious. They walked to their apartment ignoring all the merriment around them. "Sorry, I can't stay longer. Here is my number and hotel info, in case you need anything. I will be here for the next few days."
He wrote down the info and gave her the paper. He gave her a quick hug before he headed off. Ellie put the number in her pocket. She was confused. The whole Sarah and Justin conversation was replaying in her mind. They had put on a good show but that's all it was. There had been some kind of war between them. Justin acted in a way that she had not seen from him. There was a smugness that came through in his smile. He was almost daring Sarah. Daring Sarah to do what, Ellie didn't know. Sarah had looked panicked for a moment, but the confusion that came over her features seemed just as genuine. She didn't understand whatever Justin was after anymore than Ellie did.
It could have been just a weird misunderstanding. She wanted it to be nothing. She wanted to believe that it was all in her head. However, a thought came to her mind. Wasn't Sarah's ex named Bruce? That seemed like a weird coincidence. Sarah said she had never been to Germany but Chuck once mentioned that Sarah had traveled all over Europe. Things didn't add up. She needed answers. She didn't know who to go to. An idea came to her.
She was now standing outside of Sarah's hotel room, trying to break in. She had waited till everyone was asleep before she left. Of course, Chuck and Sarah weren't asleep. Apparently whatever problems they may have had it didn't affect their sex life.
There was a secret about Ellie that not many people knew about, she had a criminal past. She was never caught, but she had done some pretty illegal things. In college after a big exam, she and a group of friends would go to fancy hotels, find out which room was empty, and break in. They would run up a huge tab from room service, raid the mini-bar, and watch some of the racier pay-per-view movies. They would be gone by the next morning. Ellie always worried about getting caught, but she came to realize that some of the fancier hotels were really lax on security figuring no one would try to break in. Of course, any time someone did question them, she found people tended to believe that a girl that looked like her would try breaking in. They would buy whatever story she ended up telling them. Especially the men, she would either flirt or be the innocent, naïve girl. She found most men wanted to either feel like a stud or a knight. Over her four years in college, she had broken into ten of the best hotels in the Los Angeles area. Sarah happened to be staying at one of them. Apparently, after all this time, they hadn't made any changes to the locks.
She entered the hotel room. She wasn't sure what she was looking for. There were boxes all over the place. Ellie went through different ones searching. Nothing seemed too weird, even though some of the clothes and jewelry were pretty expensive. Ellie once again wondered where Sarah got all her money from. The one weird thing was there were a couple of knives that were really big. Ellie didn't want to know why Sarah had those.
For almost an hour she searched without finding anything. She was getting frustrated. She started to put things back when something caught her eye. For some reason part of the wall looked a different shade than the rest of the wall. Ellie walked over to the spot. She knocked at different parts of the wall. There was a hollow spot. Ellie grabbed a desk lamp. She smashed the wall with the butt of the lamp. The hollow part broke showing what was concealed behind it. It was a lock box. There was a code that needed to be entered to open it. Ellie thought about it for a second and entered a number. The lock box opened up.
"Chuck's birthday? That seems almost obvious." She opened the box to find some passports of Sarah's. However, they had different names. There was about ten thousand dollars in cash. She also found a disc inside. However, the most disturbing thing was a picture that she found. Ellie covered her mouth and felt her eyes watering up.
"Oh god, Chuck, who have you fallen in with?"
