A/N: Thank you for all your reviews, I appreciate them very much. I will write the review feedback at the end of the Chapter.

Chapter 3 - Three Letters

Echo Park,
Burbank, CA,
0900 (UTC-8),
February 10, 2002

2 weeks passed rather too quickly for Ellie's liking, today Chuck was going start his cross-country journey towards Rhode Island. She would not be able to see him again until his commissioning ceremony, after that, only God knew when she would be able to see him.

It was a rather uneventful 2 weeks. The party last Saturday was well attended, filled with heartfelt goodbyes and good lucks. Chuck had told Ellie he had sold one of his designs, which paid for his car, but he wouldn't tell her any specifics of it, Ellie could tell Chuck was hiding something, but Chuck was adamant on keeping it as a surprise for when he leaves, so Ellie eventually relented. What she didn't know was, how close Chuck came to crack, and telling her everything.

Chuck had also finished upgrading his car, everything except the shell and the engine was replaced with new and better parts. Most of the upgrades, like the racing seats, roll cage, etc., were off the shelf parts; but almost all of the performance upgrades, e.g. the electronic control unit (ECU), supercharger, were redesigned and modified by Chuck after he got the standard components from the shops. Now the 6.6L V8 beauty was repainted with a beautiful shade of dark blue metallic paint; the supercharger protruded out of the bonnet, working together with the V8 engine, could produce more than 800 brake horse power, reaching over 6500 rpm; acceleration had improved significantly, she could now accelerate from 0 to 62mph in under 2.3 seconds, Chuck had managed to finish a quarter mile drag in her, in just under 8 seconds. Needless to say, Chuck was quite pleased. Chuck was a nerd after all, not surprisingly, the 67' GTO was now fitted with many little nerdy gadgets, Bluetooth, GPS, remote control, and of course, an impressive audio system with an 800 watts subwoofer. The interior of the car, although look very modern and advanced, but had a classic feel to it, making the GTO not only perform well, but look great as well.

Chuck threw two bags in the trunk, one filled with change of clothes, the other filled with his toolkit and gadgets in case he had some use for them. He turned around to face his family. Bryce and Devon kept their emotions in control, and both gave him a brotherly but tight hug. Ellie was not so successful in the emotional control department, she sobbed for 20 minutes as she gripped Chuck hard, Chuck was on the verge of passing out, but hugged her back just as tightly, none the less. Lastly, it was Morgan's turn, he climbed onto Chuck like a monkey climbing a tree, and wouldn't let go, Bryce and Devon had to pry him off Chuck. Not a single word was spoken during this whole ordeal, it wasn't needed, the bond between them was so strong that they didn't need any verbal communication to understand each other's emotions.

Finally Chuck jumped into his car, but not before handing them three letters. With that, Chuck drove off with a roar coming out of the GTO.

The foursome walked back to Ellie's apartment, they had decided to read all three letter's together.

To Ellie and Devon,

Dear Ellie and Awesome,

If all is going according to plan, you should be reading this right after I left for Rhode Island, and we would have already said our goodbyes, so I am going to skip out that bit.

Ellie, you are the best sister and mother one could ask for. After our mother left, you took care of us, you kept a roof over our heads, you kept food (absolutely delicious food if I may add) on the table, and you sent me to college. Meanwhile, amazingly, you are only a year from graduating medical school and got yourself such an awesome boyfriend. I don't think you even realise how amazing you are.

Devon, you are the brother I never had, for the past three years, you were there for me as much as Ellie was. Not to mention being my personal trainer, you spent a lot of time having bro talk with me, you never saw me as the little brother who always get in the way. I am going to miss those bro talks.

As much as it would be fun for me to see you guys blush, the point of this was, you both were there for me, always, you guys did so much for me, and I will be eternally grateful. But actions speaks more than words, I always wanted to do something for you, too, and now, finally, I am in a position to do so.

When I told you guys I sold one of my designs, I didn't go into specifics, mostly I wanted to keep it a surprise, but also partly, I want to save my eardrum from Ellie's Happy Squeal. So here are the specifics, the design in question was the robotic arm I finished on the day of the attack. Last Christmas, I got the patent for it, and licensed it to a number of companies, including that surgical equipment company, Intuitive Surgical Inc., you liked so much. I am going to spare you the details, basically, the pay-out for the licensing fees was quite large, (Devon, you should cover your ears now), large as in tens of millions large. That's right, your little brother is a millionaire now.

So, I decided to do something good with all that money, and one of them was paying both of your student loans. Inside this letter, you should find two receipts stating both of your tuition fees and student loans are paid in full.

Please accept this gift from me, it was the least I can do. And please don't thank me, I am doing this for all the lives you two are going to save. I have no doubt in my mind, that both of you would become the best doctors in the world.

See you soon sis,

See you soon Awesome,

I love you both,

Your wonderful brother, Chuck

P.S. Hey sis, make sure you allow the Captain to breathe for a bit.

Like Chuck had predicted, Ellie had Devon in a bone crushing hug, squealing with happy tears. Poor Devon was regretting not taking Chuck's advice to cover his ear now. "Ellie… remember… Chuck… said… breathe." Devon choked out. Ellie decided to take pity on him, but she was still full of emotions, joy, pride, love, Ellie Joy needed another victim.

Bryce, the spy-in-training was trying to get his emotions under control, he was going to be a spy, he couldn't shed a tear because of a damn letter, damn that Chuck Bartow…, the rest of his thoughts was interrupted, as he and Morgan became Ellie Joy's next victims. See what happens when you lose your focus, Bryce, you could have been killed, and by the looks of it, it's still a possibility. Bryce scolded himself in Ellie's embrace.

To Bryce

Dear Bryce,

I know you don't care much for expressing feelings, so I will make this as painless as possible for you.

Stanford had been the best time of my life. I am sure I would still have enjoyed it without meeting you, but I would never have this much fun if it wasn't for you and your friendship. Bottom line is, without meeting you, I would never have experienced so much of the college life, I would never have joined a frat house, and I would never have enjoyed two years of loving relationship with a hot girl. How that ended wasn't your fault, you couldn't have known, and I choose to thank you for the two years when Jill and I were happy. Just like I want to thank you for all the good times we had, as well as all the tough times we shared, and I just want to say, your friendship means more to me than you will ever know.

On my table, next to my computer, you should be able to find a box addressed to you. It's a watch I made specifically for you, it acts as an encrypted signal relay station, I have an identical one made for myself. This will allow us to communicate no matter where we are, and how far we are apart. The details of how it works is in an instruction manual inside the box.

Although it's undetectable even by the NSA, try to only use it in case of an emergency, I can't be distracted by random conversations with people while I am on operations. This is why I am only trusting you with one of these watches, and neither my sis nor Morgan gets to have one. I am sorry to put you into this position, but you probably would have to fight Ellie off for the watch.

Take care of yourself, I am sure I will see you around sooner rather than later.

I love you, brother,

Chuck Bartowski,

P.S. Keep the Aston Martin, It's too much of a Bond car, despite how much I like James Bond movies, you are definitely more of the super spy type than me. Besides, I would have to bleach the car first anyway if I wanted the car back, God knows what you've been up to in her.

While reading the letter, a tear involuntary dropped from Bryce, at one point, he whispered to no one in particular, "I know, brother, trust me, I know." When reading the postscript, Bryce couldn't help but to think, that was hitting way to close to home, surely he couldn't have known I have been recruited by the CIA. Regardless, since Chuck believed he could be a superspy without knowing about his chosen career, Bryce was going to make damn sure he would become one of the best spies in CIA history. Chuck always had the ability to make people wanting to be the best they could be.

After reading his letter, Bryce headed to Chuck's old room by himself, and found two boxes on Chuck's table. One addressed to him, the other to Morgan. He opened up the box addressed to him, and saw the watch. It looked expensive, and nothing out of the ordinary except for being a luxury watch, but Bryce knew, Chuck had made extensive modifications to it. He put the watch on, and pocketed the instruction manual, that was when he found the pink slip for the Aston Martin.

Bryce headed back to the living room, and passed Morgan his box while at it. Morgan was extremely excited to get his own box, while Ellie was eyeing Bryce's new watch with a predatory gleam. After a moment, Ellie decided her brother had a point, she can't be distracting him while Chuck was in danger, so she turned her attention to Morgan's box.

Morgan found a key and an address written on a card once he opened the box impatiently, he was visibly disappointed for not getting a gadget of his own, but a simple key instead. Maybe Chuck had a whole room of toys locked away for him, Morgan dreamt. Two minutes later, Ellie finally impatiently snapped the man-child out of his day dream, and ordered Morgan, to read his letter.

To Morgan,

Dear Morgan,

We have been best friends since forever, there was so much to be said, but never needed to be said. You were there for me when my mom left, and again when my dad left, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

I know you probably read my letters for Ellie, Devon and Bryce as well, and are aware of my new status. You are probably hoping for some gaming consoles, I am sorry, little buddy, I am going to disappoint you this time. Because despite how much I love you, Morgan, it's time for you to make something of yourself, you are too good a man to waste your life away as a green shirt in Buy More. And please don't tell me you are not smart enough, I have seen what you could do with a computer among other skillsets you have.

So this is my gift to you, I have enrolled you in a community college, at the moment, I put you down to read Business and Management, but you could change that to something else to study if you wish. I have covered all the cost, all you have to do, is to put the efforts in, I have no doubt you would excel when you put your mind to it.

All the details are sent to you by email, as an extra incentive, I bought you the DeLorean DMC-12, with the plate number, DEMORGAN. You should find a box next to my computer, it contained the address and the key for a storage unit, where the car currently resides. The car key is locked away in a safety deposit box, I will release it to you once you pass your freshman year. So you will have to work for it.

Maybe one day, when I do start my company, I will let you run it.

I know you are going to be amazing,

I love you, Little Buddy,

Your BFF, Chuck,

P.S. Please don't think I am replacing you with Bryce, I can never ask for a better friend than you, and I will never replace you with anyone. One can never have too many best friends.

Morgan was a little disappointed by not getting something to play with this exact moment, but he couldn't argue with Chuck's logic either. No one else ever cared this much about his future, he supposed he would have to follow Chuck's instructions, for now. Still he was ecstatic, when Chuck declared point blank, he wasn't replacing him, Morgan would just have to share Chuck with others.

Review Feedback: Again, thank you all for the reviews. I am going to answer some of your questions now, but without giving away too much. I don't want to spoil the surprise now, do I?

Firstly, Chuck will be a perfect Officer, he is a leader, not a lone wolf, in that way, Chuck would never be a super spy, even if he does work with the CIA.

Secondly, Chuck will meet Sarah soon in the next Chapter, which isn't long after where this chapter left off, and this will be years before the intersect project first reach Chuck.

I will write a few chapters about Chuck's life in the Navy, before the inevitable intersect project, they will mostly focus on the many times Chuck crosses path with Sarah as a Naval Officer. As how Chuck and Sarah's relationship develops during these meetings, I haven't decided yet, I am open to suggestions. After I do eventually get on with the intersect project, there will still be flashbacks to Chuck's life in the Navy, mostly for introducing crossover characters.

Lastly, with the way I am planning the story, Chuck will carry on using his incredible brain while serving as a naval officer, so yes he would be utilizing his inventive skills, and he would contribute to the country no one else ever could. And to be honest, I have no desire or plan to have Chuck leaving active duty even if he was working on the intersect project. The genre of this story includes family, and guess what, the Navy will become Chuck's family, and we all know Chuck would never leave his family.