Don't own Chuck

Detective Derrick walked up on the roof top with Mr. Smythe and Bob the IT guy. The air was clean yet windy. The view from above was great they could see for miles and miles. They could see the western bank of the Potomac River and almost all the way to D.C. But what attracted the Detective's attention were the other buildings located next to the Honest Brokers and Sons office building. He walked to the edge as Smythe rattled on.

"We had to lock the roof door and put in the alarm system because we caught people sneaking up here to smoke and hook up. There was a concern for safety and Honest Brokers and Sons has a zero drug tolerance policy so we had to secure the area."

"What? Excuse me so what if an employee smokes a cigarette the other option is what? He has to go all the way down and out of the building. It seems to me you'd lose more man hours that way."

"They were smoking they were toking," said Bob. "You can't imagine the stress level around here especially on a bad market day. Since I work up here one of my jobs used to be making sure no one jumped."

"Sounds like it could be a problem. Did you have many?" asked Derrick as he looked over the edge at the building next door.

"Not that many actually I don't know if you've noticed the people who work here but if they get a paper cut they're liable to break down in tears." The Detective smiled Smythe did not.

"What's that building over there?" asked Derrick as he pointed to the building next to theirs. "I've been watching the front but I haven't seen anyone go in or go out."

"To tell you the truth I don't know. They kind of do their own thing and we do ours. I sent over a letter once asking if they wanted to go in together on a joint security system but I got no reply. I guess you could say we have a peaceful cohabitation."

"Well that's interesting," said Bob the IT guy. Both men turned to him. "Oh, you want to know what. Look over on their roof I never noticed them before I guess because the roof was placed off limits."

"Can you get to the point here," said Smythe. His fear of heights was creeping up on him and they were standing too close to the edge for his likingm.

"Those antenna arrays and satellite dishes they have to have some serious comm gear in the building to need all that. Oh and Mr. Smythe comm stands for communication I just wanted to make sure you understood the lingo."

"When you say serious communications gear do you mean serious civilian or military gear? Are we talking about big brother being next door?"

"Oh that stuff is definitely top grade but more than military equipment we're talking Fort Mead material like in the NSA."

"But what does this have to do with our break in," said Mr. Smythe as he tried to lead everyone back away from the ledge."

"I don't know maybe nothing but your trespassers were up here. They attached a rope of some kind to that air vent then it went over the ledge here. See the marks it left rubbed into the stone. But why come all the way up here only to rappel down? I think we've got more questions than answers. I'll file this report but I wouldn't hold my breath and be grateful they didn't take anything. There is one last thing I'd like to do and that's go next door and talk with the people over there. Maybe someone saw something."

"I'll come with you," said Smythe. "This will finally give me the opportunity to see someone from there face to face. Bob if anyone is looking for me I'll be next door."

"Why are you telling me? No one ever calls or comes up here unless something is wrong with the network or is this what they refer to a little power big head?"

"Come on let's go."

A few minutes later they were walking in through the glass doors of the opposite tower. They looked around and everything inside was minimal in the sense there were no fake greenery to decorate the place. There was nothing in the entrance hall except a walk through metal detector, an x-ray machine for bags, along with an operator for the X-ray and a man in black suit with earbud standing next to the full body scanner.

"Excuse me but are you two on my access list," asked the man in black. "If not this is private property and I have to invite you to leave."

"My name is Detective Derrick and this is Mr. Smythe from next door. I need to talk with your man in charge of security."

"I'm sorry but the people who visit us already have their security access taken care of. You'll have to wait outside and someone will be with you."

"Excuse me? Did you see my badge? I'm investigating a crime that was committed next door," said Derrick. "What is it you people do here?"

"That isn't pertinent to your investigation," said another man who showed up with two more men in black. "I believe you were told you had to wait outside."

"I believe I'm about to have you arrested for interfering with a criminal investigation. Are you the man in charge here?"

"I'm the man in charge of security and right now you both are trespassing. As far as interfering with a criminal investigation no crime has been committed here so I fail to see how you coming in here making threat is pertinent but if you can then you're more than welcome to file a request with my office. Just drop it off with my man here. I'll get back to you on it."

"When would that be when hell freezes over and what's the possibility of us gaining access right up there with a snowballs chance in hell."

"Probably a snowball has a greater chance. Outside down the street in a bakery and they serve the best doughnuts. You should go try them out. I'd love the opinion of an expert."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chuck drove home to find Sarah and Emma sitting in the courtyard at Echo park while Sam and Molly played nearby. He walked over as soon as Sam saw him her eyes lit up and ran to him leaping into his arms. Sarah turned around and smile as Chuck walked back over with Sam hanging around his neck with her good arm.

"You guys remind me of lizards soaking up the sun. Where's Bunny at," asked Chuck then he kissed her. Sarah held up the monitor.

"She's asleep. She went to sleep right after I fed her. So Morgan, how did your talk with him go? Does he understand that we're not taking him with us?"

"I did impress that on him and we came to a compromise," said Chuck as Sarah gave him a look. "I know that look I had to give him something."

"You do remember you're married to me and not to Morgan," said Sarah. "Okay let's hear the compromise. Something tells me I'm not going to like it."

"I don't know in the end I don't think Morgan liked it either. We're going to put off our trip to Monaco for a couple of days so Morgan can take Alex to Acapulco…"

"Does John know about this? You two do realize Casey won't be that happy with your little plan and Morgan might want to keep a low profile until they leave or Casey kills him."

"That's just it Casey is going to go with them. He's taking Kat with him and they're going to Acapulco too. This will be a chance for them to see the other couple work together. Maybe this will be good for them."

"Oh Chuck you forget who we're talking about. This is Casey… what did you call him the Frankenstein of emotions. But okay I just hope we don't end up attending a funeral. Let's make plans about what we're going to do? We can go to Nice and please don't say Nice is nice. We can go to Cannes and San Tropez. One beach better than the other."

"Excuse me, but if we're going to see beaches then why do we have to go anywhere? We have beaches right here?" said Sam as she climbed down.

"You don't understand Sweet Pea. These are French beaches that makes them different," said Chuck. Sam gave him a strange look.

"I still don't understand how that makes them special," said Sam. Molly came over to Emma and they all went back inside.

"French beaches are different because for a lot of reasons. One example is you can see women with more hair on them than Morgan and all the women wear bikinis even if they shouldn't… If they wear a bathing suit sometimes it's a birthday suit…"

"The same thing can be said about the men in their speedo banana hammocks," said Sarah. "Not to mention those that look like the missing link."

"And that makes you guys want to go?" said Sam then she turned to Molly who had the same puzzled expression. "Boy, adults are strange."

"You're just finding this out. Let's go back to your room we can look up Monaco and Nice up on the Internet. There has to be something else more kid size we can do."

"I'm with you but if this is what I've got to look forward to when I grow up it makes me want to stick my fingers in my mouth and heave."

"Hold up there America's Next Top Model," said Chuck. "The most important thing is no missions and we get to spend time together as a family."

"Okay but don't expect me to eat snails or frogs. If you try to give any of that stuff to me I will heave and I'll aim for you. I'm serious don't try to sneak it in my food either."

"All right then we can do a little picnic tomorrow on the beach here to get acclimatized. We can take bread, cheese, fruit and maybe a little pâté de foie gras…"

"Hold up pâté de what? And don't tell me try it you'll like it. There aren't any bugs or amphibians involved?" Chuck shook his head but Sam gave him the look that said she didn't believe him. She left with Molly to her room.

"Chuck you realize she's going to look it up," said Sarah. Chuck smiled and nodded. The words just left Sarah's mouth when they heard a scream from down the hall then the sound of little feet running back. "You're in trouble now buster."

"No, no, no don't even try it," said Sam as she pointed her little finger at him. "If we go to the beach I want le happy meal with a cheese burger and extra pickles. I don't even want the chicken nuggets anymore because I've heard stories. Are we clear?" she said as she put her hands on her hip.

"I notice your arm seems to be doing better," said Chuck as he smiled at her. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor. Chuck grabbed her up and started tickling her.

"No, no, no stop we're having a conversation here," she said as she giggled and laughed. "Stop, stop, you're impossible." She finally broke free.

"I'm going to get you," said Chuck. Sam broke free then went running down the hall with Chuck behind her. She giggled and laugh as she ran for her room then slammed the door shut. But with all the noise and racket they woke Bunny up.

"In order to have an adult conversation one of you two needs to be an adult," said Sarah as she and Emma walked past him in the hallway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the secret Government complex the men in black went back to their stations after their run in with the police. The senior agent went back to his command center as room staffed with other agents watching monitors gathering live feed from around the building. He walked in as his assistant came over to him.

"Zoom in on the external monitors and make sure our uninvited guests have left," said the one agent as he returned.

"Mark did you hear what the detective said? He said they were broken in the same time we had that intruder alarm go off. You don't think that's worth looking into?"

"We did a sweep of the building and didn't find anyone. It was written off as a false alarm and as far as I'm concerned that was what it was."

"And what if you're wrong? What if we've had a security breach and you didn't report it. Worse you just wrote it off when someone did break in."

"Listen Paul nothing happened so let's drop it and move along. Take a walk outside and eyeball our visitors. I want to make sure they're gone."

"Sure I'll take care of it right now," said Paul. This as his chance and he took it. He ran down the steps then out of the building. He knew the position of the cameras and where he could stand to not be seen.

"Detective," yelled Paul. "I need to talk to you but don't look in my direction. Act like you're talking to the other gentleman."

"What the heck is going on? Why don't you come over here and talk to us face to face," said Smythe. But Derrick realized what was going on.

"You're in a dead zone aren't you where your external cameras can't pick you up," said Derrick looking at Smythe. "What kind of government facility is this?"

"I can't talk about that. But you're right this is a government facility. I want to know about the break-in in your building. What can you tell me about it?"

"Why should we tell you anything when you won't tell us anything," said Smythe. "Your friend was rather rude before."

"That was Mark and he's my boss so you can understand the position I'm in talking with you now. So tell me what you know. I will tell you our sensors told us we had a break-in the same time you said you had your break-in but when we did a search of our building we found no one."

"Okay this is what happen," said the detective. Derrick told him about the cleaning people and the CCTV feed being put on loop. Then he told him about the incident on the roof along with the strange rope marks on the ledge and air vent."

"Thanks, if you don't hear from me then either I got fired or it was nothing but I need to go try something from our end," said Paul. "I apologize for Mark but he was just following protocol."

"Whose protocol," asked Smythe but when he glanced back Paul was gone. "Geez this is getting stranger and stranger as we speak."

"You're right but for now we need to play along. I want you to secure the roof and make sure no one goes up there and tampers with the evidence."

Paul had the information he needed. The first thing he did was to run by their IT guy to get him to do a sweep of their data base to make sure no one broke-in and tampered with it.

"If this is a formal request I need Mark to give it to me in writing. In order to do this, I have to shut down some of the sensitive projects then bring them back on line. People will protest and I need CYA when they do."

"Please this is important. Can you do it this evening when most everyone is off work. There's a bottle of Johnny Walking in this for you."

"Make if black and you've got a deal," said the Teddy their IT guy who resembled a Teddy Bear. He blamed his Buddha stomach on the computers.

"You've got a deal but report back to me with the results. This is for my eyes only and I especially don't want Mark to know."

"Roger that. You do realize your little rogue mission could get us both fired for not following protocol which says we should notify Mark and get his approval first."

"I hear you but if I'm right there's something else going on here that needs to be looked into. Believe me if I'm right the fact that we didn't follow protocol will be the last thing they yell at us about."

"Well, I never consider myself a lifer dog so I'm in. I'll start the search then get back to you. I might be able to run that snooper program before this evening but I'm not promising anything."

"Do what you can do," said Paul. He left getting back on the elevator and rode it up to the top floor. There he punched in his code in the roof door. He opened it up then started looking around. Looking over at the other building he tried to image where the chord marking was at on the ledger that aligned with their building.

"Got you," said Paul as he realized where they lined up. There was a hole in the wall where they lined up. Paul examined the hole and saw there were metallic scrapings and pieces of fiber from the rope. But he didn't have time to collect samples. He only needed Teddy to confirm what he suspected actually took place. But if he was right crap would hit the fan and Mark wasn't going to walk away from this unharmed and in one piece."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Circus was in the full swing of dismantling and boxing. Everyone was coming with them except the animal acts. It was too difficult to bring the animals along and have them pass through customs and quarantine so the circus manager found a small zoo for them to stay in while the rest of the circus was on tour in Europe.

"You guys are going to leave the tigers and lions here in the zoo along with the elephants and the zebra. I've arranged for them to use them while we're gone that will be the way they earn their keep."

"You are going to pick us back up when you come back through," asked the lion tamer. "If not let us know now so we can look for another circus."

"Don't worry you guys are family and you take care of your family. You just need to be a little patient and when we get back things will go back the way they were."

Suddenly Rita walked by and she felt the circus master's eyes follow here so when he called her over she wasn't surprised.

"It's a done deal so you're going to have to live with it. Hey Rita wait up I need to talk to you. Slow down," said the circus master as he ran up behind her. "Wait I need to talk to you."

"What is it Giovanni?" she said as she turned around. "If I told you once I've told you a thousand times I'm not interested in going out with you. Your family owns this circus everyone will be thinking I sleeping with the boss to get ahead."

"Get ahead of what? Besides I don't care what other people think but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I need to know the number of storage containers the Zorros are going to need. I've got to get everything boxed up and ready to palletize by this evening when the trucks arrive to pick everything up then take down to the ship in one container."

"It will be the same as always, one, but you need to talk to Raul. He's in charge of everything for the family while Papa is away."

"I asked my father and he told me he never knew your father had a sister. How is your aunt? I'm sorry that she isn't feeling well."

"It was something that came up in a hurry and she asked for Papa. Papa never spoke much about her because she was never in the circus and for Papa that hurt. The only Zorro that anyone can think of that was never under the big top."

"I can see that happening… I mean that your father feels disappointed but I can see your aunt's side too. This is a hard life but not without its rewards. However, it's not meant for everyone."

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm not giving up the tightrope to become a happy homemaker. If that's what you're looking for you need to look somewhere else."

"No that was more for myself. I went to the university and study business management and this is the business I'm managing. We're barely getting by and I just told the animal tamers that we're leaving them behind and we'd pick them up on the way back. But if we don't make some real money in Europe we may not have to money for the return fare. Please don't tell anyone what I just told you but I had to get that off my chest with someone."

"Sure Giovanni. You and I grew up under the big top together just because we're not together in the sense of together that doesn't mean we can't be friends."

"I appreciate that. Now I've got to find the sad clown and tell him to get his crap together. Have you seen him?"

"Just follow the smell of alcohol and bad decisions you'll find him?"