Chuck vs. The Walkabout - Chapter 7-The Honeymoon Is Over
A/N - hey everyone, figured i would start my weekend with a short chapter. I am working my way towards picking up the pace a little bit. I've just got a few more building blocks that I feel I have to get into place before I can start charging ahead. There is some good 'stuff' coming up(at least I hope it's good) so please hang in there. It's friday night so that means...Jager, stat! Have a great weekend! Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed! Really appreciate it! Still boldly going forward , sans beta. Please hold your applause...really, you're too kind! Hey, it's almost valentines day, maybe I'll get a beta then.
Because I can't say it often enough...I don't own Chuck or anything related to the greatest TV show currently showing on monday nights.
HEY JIM...GET BETTER!
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General Diane Beckman hated Mondays. Really, really hated Mondays and it looked like this Monday was off to a great start. Walking into her temporary office in Castle, the first thing to catch her eyes was Stephen Bartowski , sitting in front of her desk with his feet propped up and resting on her copy of Atlas Shrugged.
"Please , make yourself at home Orion" the general said, making no attempt to hide her contempt for the way he was treating her desk. "I realize that I'm running late, damn LA traffic! What is the latest you have for me?"
Taking his time to remove his feet from the general's desk , Orion opened a folder that was sitting in his lap, gave it a quick glance and then looked up at the general. "Well Diane, first things first, Bryce is beginning to make a recovery. He showing more brain activity and if he continues to improve at this rate, he will probably be ready for pre-school in about four weeks. I can't give you anymore information about the rate of his improvement."
"Well, that's something. Next?"
"I finished going through the Intersect program, for the third time, and I can't find any problems with it. I'm sure that the problem with Bryce is strictly his own."
"Ok, so we know that Bryce won't be back to work anytime soon and even if he does come back to work, he can't handle the Intersect. Does that about sum up your report?"
"Yes Diane, that's it."
"Did you ask Chuck to contact me?"
"Yes I did and I got the impression that he wasn't interested."
"Well, maybe I should contact Eleanor and ask her to talk to Chuck for me."
Orion leaned forward and glared at the woman in front of him. "Perhaps I should clarify my position about my kids…STAY AWAY FROM THEM! Or else!"
"Or else what, Stephen? You'll flick our lights off and on?"
Leaning over the desk, Orion glared at the general and pulled his "O"phone from his pocket. "No Diane, I think I'll 'kill' you" he said as his fingers flew rapidly over the touch screen in his hand. With a final stab of his finger, Orion calmly said "There…you're dead! Maybe, if I'm feeling better this afternoon, I'll bring you back to life. Have a shitty Monday, Diane…oh yeah…stay away from my kids!"
As she watched Stephen Bartowski walk out of her office, Diane Beckman told herself that the cheese must have slipped off of Orion's cracker. 'Yeah, I feel dead' the general thought to herself. Putting the incident out of her mind, she turned back to her desk and reached for the stack of reports that she needed to get started on. Before she had finished the first sentence the phone on her desk started ringing. Picking up the receiver, Diane heard the voice of her assistant asking her why the paymaster had called and asked where General Diane Beckman's death benefits should be sent.
"WHAT?" General Diane Beckman shouted at her phone.
Forty-five minutes later, after finding out that all of her credit cards were canceled, her bank accounts and her properties were suddenly tied up in probate and every electronic news outlet had received a very unflattering obituary that had a photo of Bozo the Clown, General Diane Beckman decided that she really, really, really hated mondays ! And she was starting to really dislike Stephen Bartowski.
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After leaving the general's office, Orion came to an important decision and he reached for his phone so he could call Chuck and let him in on the plan. Hitting the speed dial, Orion waited four rings before his son picked up the phone.
"Yeah, dad. What's up?"
"Charles, I've decided to tell Eleanor and Devon everything. I know that you wanted to keep them safe by not telling them anything but I've come to believe that they should know all about the work you did for the government. This will make it possible for them to help steer the General and her minions away from you."
"Well dad, if you really think that they need to know, then I'll back you up. It would be nice to not have to lie to Ellie anymore."
"Alright Charles. I have to pick them up at the airport this afternoon so I'll take them out for an early supper and tell them everything that I think they need to know. Why don't you give them a call this evening, that way you can answer any questions they might have."
"Sounds good dad. Is there anything else I should know?"
"I had a briefing with Diane this morning and told her that Bryce was beginning to make a slow recovery."
"He is? That's good to hear. I'm not a big fan of his but I hope he does get better. Is there anything else that you think I should be aware of?"
"Well Charles…I may have upset her …a little."
"And how did you manage that..?"
" She suggested that she might contact Eleanor to try and get in touch with you and I warned her to stay away from both of you and then…I killed her."
"YOU WHAT?"
"Relax Charles. I didn't actually kill her…I just killed her electronic identity. I told her that if I was feeling better I would revive her this afternoon. If you get the chance, you should check out her obituary online. Maybe you should use your phone and send her a note of sympathy. I'm sure it would make her day even better."
"I'll do that. Thanks dad. I'll call Ellie and Devon later, to see how they're doing, I've gotta get back to work. Talk to you soon."
"Alright Charles, talk to you soon."
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Sarah showed up for her Monday morning briefing and found a very pissed off General waiting for her.
"Come in, agent Walker. I hope you have news that will make my day better."
"Well, actually General…I'm afraid that I didn't have any luck in Seattle. I'm not sure what my next step should be. Casey has been running the facial recognition program tied into the Seattle closed circuit system. So far, there haven't been any hits but we'll keep the program active unless you want it discontinued."
"Have Colonel Casey expand the search to include the entire west coast. I really want to get a hold of Mr. Bartowski and the sooner the better. Have you had any contact with Mr. Bartowski?"
"No ma'am, I haven't heard anything from Chuck. I would have reported any contact…and believe me, I really do want to hear from him. In fact, general, I think that you should know that I've come to realize that I'm hopelessly compromised and… if it comes down to it, I'll resign from the CIA before I'll accept a re-assignment."
"Agent Walker…Sarah…did you really believe that you were fooling me? I chose to ignore the 49B because I realized that removing you from the team would seriously undermine how well Team Intersect was performing. I have also come to the conclusion that allowing Agent Larkin to attempt to download the new Intersect was a serious error in judgement on my part. It is now very apparent that we need Chuck Bartowski. He may be the most important intelligence asset in the country and I need you to find him! And then, we need to convince him to come back and work for us again. Use whatever means you think are necessary to get him back. Casey has been instucted to help you in anyway that he can."
Sarah stood in front of the desk with her mouth hanging open, the shock from the general's orders leaving her dumbfounded. Before she could reply, the general's aide walked into the office.
"Excuse me, General Beckman, I have a phone call for you."
"Well , take a message. Tell whoever it is that I will call them back."
"But ma'am...it's Mr. Bartowski..."
"You can tell Orion that I'll call him back after I've finished this meeting..."
"It's not that Mr Bartowski..."
"Well, why didn't you say so. Put him through right away."
"Yes ma'am, he's on hold. Just punch up line two."
With a quick nod of understanding, General Diane Beckman waved her assistant out of her office and turned to Sarah Walker, indicating that she should take a seat. Making no attempt to hide the look of suprise on her face, Sarah sat down and waited to hear the voice that had been missing from her life for the last two weeks.
"Hello Mr. Bartowski...Chuck. How are you?"
"I'm fine General. I just called to see how your Monday was going, what with you being dead and all."
" Very funny, Chuck. Tell your dad that I would appreciate it if he would bring me back to life."
"I'll think about it General. Dad mentioned that you wanted to speak to me...may I ask why?"
"As you know, Bryce's attempt to download the Intersect 2.0 didn't quite go as planned. Do to that fact, we want you to consider coming back to work for us..."
"You have got to be kidding me...'back to work for you'?...why would I want to do that?...Oh wait, is it because your 'golden boy', 'wonder-agent Bryce Larkin couldn't handle the download and is now just a drooling tool?..."
"CHUCK!..." Sarah shouted before General Beckman silenced her with a murderous glare
"...Ah, Agent Walker. How nice to hear your voice. I'm sorry for that crack about Bryce. I really am sorry that things didn't work out for you two. My dad says that Bryce is slowly recovering so hopefully you'll be able to get back working together soon. General... thanks but no thanks, you'll have to find some other sucker to be your toy!"
"CHUCK" both women shouted at almost the same time but the phone line was dead. As Sarah sat in her chair with a look of shock and dismay on her face, the general yelled for her assistant.
"Tell me you got a trace on that call!"
"Uh... well... there was no call, General."
"What do you mean, 'there was no call'? You answered the phone! You told me there was a call! Agent Walker and I both heard Mr. Bar...Chuck's voice! What can you possibly mean,'there was no call'?"
"General Beckman, as soon as the caller identified himself as Charles Bartowski, I started the trace. I don't know how it was done but there was no call to trace. Where ever that call originated, we had no way to trace it. I had the lab guys on it before the call ended and they don't know how it was done, but that call never happened."
"God Damn Orion...it had to be him. Somehow he's ahead of us and now, so is Chuck! Sarah!... SARAH!...AGENT WALKER! Snap out of it! You have your orders...find Chuck! Now, get moving. I want results on my desk, YESTERDAY!"
Sarah jumped to her feet and headed out the door.
"Sarah...do whatever it takes. I can't believe that I'm saying this , but this country needs Chuck Bartowski and we need you to find him!"
"Yes ma'am!" Sarah answered with a small smile starting to form."I'll get right on it." adding to herself,'and when I catch up with Chuck, we're gonna get this mess staightened out. Oh yes Chuck Bartowski, you and I are gonna have a long talk and I'll make you see just how much you need me and how very much I need you!'
General Diane Beckman raised her head from her hands as her assistant entered her office. Sounding very tired she aked the question she was already dreading the answer to.
"What are the flowers for?"
"Well ma'am, this arrangement was sent by MI6 along with a note expressing their sympathies for our loss...of you."
"GET OUT!" General Diane Beckman screamed as she reached for the lower, right-hand desk drawer. Pulling the drawer open, she snatched the bottle of Jack Daniels out and, screwing off the top, took a very big swig. As the alcohol burned its way down her throat, General Diane Beckman decided that: number one, she really, really, really, really disliked Mondays...number two, she definitely disliked Stephen Bartowski and, last but not least, she was begining to believe that she could grow to really dislike Chuck Bartowski.