Chapter 7: I Guess This is Goodbye
Through the wonder of jet travel. Chuck arrived only a couple of hours after they left Washington. That gave him enough time to start organizing his stuff. He called Morgan and asked him to come over for dinner. Then he left messages for Ellie and Awesome and asked them to come over. Chuck hoped they could make it, he really didn't want to do this again and again. He wanted to just tell everyone one at once and get it over with. Chuck knew he'd have to go to work tomorrow and turn in his tie, but first he'd raid the store for boxes.
He took down his Dune poster and sealed inside the blueprint case. It was still a collector's item even if he doubted Sarah would ever let him put it up again. Sarah, he was going to be living with Sarah. They were going to live in a house together.
Chuck was so confused. Just this morning he'd been sure Sarah would be out of his life forever in a matter of hours. Now she was on some sort of permanent body guard duty. They'd talked all week about the end of the assignment and she hadn't said anything. She hadn't said anything the previous morning when they'd gone to the Smithsonian. Chuck considered her actions at the end of their date. She'd been looking for a fling, if she'd succeeded would she have let him go to the bunker without looking back? Did she sacrifice herself for him, because she loved… Chuck shook his head. They cared about each other, they had for a long time, but love? Sarah didn't really seem the type to throw away her career for love. She just wasn't that emotional. There was something else at work here, but all Chuck could figure out was that she'd thrown away her career to keep him out of the bunker. She was giving up ten years of her life, so that he didn't have to.
He would never ask her to do that. Couldn't she just have talked to him first? How could he even look her in the face knowing she'd thrown away her life to protect him? Chuck always knew she'd sacrifice her life to protect the Intersect, but this… It wasn't right and Chuck had no way to fix it. She'd practically forced him sign the agreement. Now if they were apart he'd be killed. Chuck threw the shirt he was folding on the bed a collapsed on top of it. This was just too messed up.
Chuck had to talk to her. He hit the speed dial on his phone for her. After a moment he got a tone. "The cellular user you have dialed is no longer available. If you feel you reached this message in error, please try your call again." Chuck stared at his phone. She'd changed her number? Chuck bolted up from his bed.
"Casey, Casey, Casey!" Chuck pounded on the door of the apartment across the hall.
"WHAT?" Casey barked as he ripped open the door.
"I called Sarah's phone, it says the number's no longer valid."
"You called her already? It's been what, like eight hours since you've seen her? Grow a pair of stones, Bartowski."
"Casey, her number's not working!"
"Relax, geek, standard CIA protocol, they're burning as much of her cover ID as they can. They do this at the end of every mission. They're trying to make the two of you harder to track. Guess what, you'll be getting a new number too."
"But…" Chuck sputtered. "5-25 1977 is the exact date that Star Wars was released! I can't change my number!
"Cripes, Bartowski, every time I think you can't get any more pathetic." Casey slammed the door in his face.
***
Ellie's anticipation was tangible. They ended up having pizza, because, well…Chuck didn't cook. He settled everyone down on the couch. "I'm thinking you guys have probably guessed I have some news."
Ellie was practically bouncing on the couch cushions. "It's about D.C. isn't it, what happened?"
"Well Sarah got a new job and she's not coming back," Chuck started.
"Ooh, Chuck," Ellie frowned.
"But, I've…we've decided…that I'm going to move out there with her."
"Oh my God!" Ellie screamed.
"You can't be serious!" Morgan cried outrage. "You're leaving?"
Ellie launched off the couch and gave Chuck a tight hug.
"Awesome job, bro, I knew you had it in you," Devon congratulated him.
"Had what in him, insanity?" Morgan protested. "Chuck, you can't move clear across the country."
"Of course he can," Ellie countered shooting Morgan a withering glare. "They're in love. Are you going to ask her to marry you?" Ellie asked excitedly.
Chuck put his hands on Ellie's shoulders to try and calm her down. "Ellie, no, relax, we're just going to be living together."
"Whew, man, you really had me scared for a minute there," Morgan sighed. "Sure, you'll go out there, give this thing a try and if it doesn't work, well then your job at the Buy More will be here for you."
"Morgan, I'm not coming back," Chuck shook his head.
"See!" Ellie jumped excitedly. "This is serious!"
"It's not what you think…" Chuck started.
"How can you be moving in together for good and this not be serious?" Ellie asked.
"It's complicated, we're taking it slow."
"Oh, I swear to God, everything with you two is slow and complicated! Just love each other already! You should just propose Chuck…you guys could have a beautiful wedding…"
"Ellie, stop. We aren't…I'm not…Sarah and I…we are like that," Chuck tried to explain.
"Yeah, man, don't tie yourself down. First you get married and then the next thing you know she's gone half the time."
Chuck shook his head. "This isn't about you and Anna either Morgan. It's just… well it's hard to explain."
"Oh!" Ellie started bouncing again. "I'm so excited, where is she? Why didn't she come with you so you could to tell us together?"
"She's in D.C. getting things together."
"Oh, I have to call her, we have so much to talk about!"
"Uh, you can't call her right now, El…"
"Why not?"
"It's late there."
"It's only a quarter to ten, I'm sure she's still up."
"She's getting a new phone, I tried calling her earlier but her old number isn't working," Chuck tried.
"Oh, well you'll give me her new number, right?" Ellie asked.
"Sure, I'll let you know as soon as I get our new numbers."
"Your new number?" Morgan gasped. "No more Star Wars?" Chuck shook his head. "Can I have it?" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, sure buddy." Chuck nodded.
Devon had been mostly silent, but he stood and gave Chuck a backslapping hug. "I think it's great, Chuck. You're going to love this, moving in is so rewarding. And don't worry, when it's time to take that next step, you'll know."
"Thanks, Devon."
"Oh, man, Dad's gunna flip out," Morgan shook his head. "Oh and Anna, I have to call Anna, she won't believe it."
"Yeah, I'll go talk to Big Mike tomorrow, I know he won't be happy but…"
"I'll talk to Dad, don't worry about it. I mean he'll be upset, but we'll sort something out."
"It still freaks me out when you call him dad." Chuck shuttered.
"Well he married my Mom, that's what he wanted me to call him. Plus I've never had a Dad before."
"I'm happy for you, it's just weird. Who are you going to promote to replace me?" Chuck asked.
"I'm not sure, probably Skip." Morgan shook his head.
"Not Lester?" Chuck asked.
"Come on, Chuck, you know Lester's never been the same since Jeff died. He's a complete burn out now.
"He's gotten better…"
Morgan shook his head. "Honestly, I don't even think he'd want it."
***
Chuck and Morgan sat on his balcony. Looking at the courtyard below. "I can't believe it man I just can't believe it. What's Chewie without Han Solo around?"
"Morgan, for cripes sake your married!" Chuck objected. "You don't need me around to be something. You'll still have Anna."
"I know, it's just, we've been best buds since the second grade…"
"We'll still be friends, we just won't get to hang out much."
"I guess, it's just hard to imagine my life without you in it."
"Maybe you and Anna should think about having kids." Chuck suggested.
"Whoah, no way, I admit I caved on the whole getting married thing, but no way are we having kids!"
"Oh, come on, Morgan, you know Anna wants to and you can actually afford it now that your assistant manager and Anna got that job in the Taiwanese Cultural Attaché's office."
"No chance, I'm not having a kid until I'm ready to stop being a kid."
"Well I guess the Grimes line is doomed then." Chuck smirked.
"One step at a time, man, first your pressure me to take the assistant managers job, then you pressure me to get married and now kids? What about you man, why haven't you and Sarah tied the knot?"
Chuck shook his head. "We have a very weird relationship. I don't think she and I will ever get there."
"Why not?" Morgan asked.
"We just aren't that intimately connected. There's always been this wall between us."
"I don't get it, dude. Then why go to D.C.?"
"Some things a person just has to do, this is one of those things."
"Like a quest?"
"Something like that."
***
Chuck walked into Big Mike's office his tie hand. He'd considered this moment for a long time. He wasn't sure it would ever come. "Hi, Big Mike, you have a minute?"
"Bartowski, Morgan told me something disturbing about you this morning."
"Oh really?"
"He said you're quitting to follow that dame to Washington D.C." Chuck nodded. "That's a damn shame, Bartowski. You're one of the finest employees this branch has had during my time as manager."
"Thank you, sir."
"I can't believe your leaving me alone with these animals."
"Sir, you have Morgan…"
"Oh, come on, Bartwoski, he's one of them. I had to promote him, otherwise Belognia would have made my life a living hell."
"Er…" Chuck replied.
"I'll make sure the guys do something nice for you."
"That's not necessary," Chuck tried.
"Nonsense, eight years, that's a hell of a long time, we need to show you some appreciation."
"I was wondering, if I could have some boxes…"
"Sure, Chuck, take whatever you need."
"Thanks."
Chuck put his keys and his tie on Big Mike's desk and turned around. Outside of Big Mike's office Morgan had rallied the Buy More employees and they were standing shoulder to shoulder at attention. When Chuck walked out of the office, Morgan started clapping and so did the rest of the Buy More employees. The handful of customers in the store where obviously confused by the commotion. Chuck took a moment and shook the hands of each person as he walked down the line until he got to the end where Morgan, Lester, Skip and Renee enveloped him in a group hug.
"I knew you would one day escape this place," offered Lester. "Please go make sweet passionate love to that woman as many times as you can. Do it for us."
"Ew, gross," Renee complained.
"Boss," Skip said emotionally. "I… you're the best Nerd Herd supervisor a guy could have ever asked for."
Chuck heard Big Mike's voice from his office. "All right you slackers," he called softly. "Get back to work."
***
Chuck dove for his phone when it started ringing. It came up caller unknown on the screen. "Hello?"
"Hi, Chuck."
"Sarah!" Chuck let out a deep breath.
"How's it going?" Sarah asked.
"I don't know," Chuck replied. "I'm so confused."
"About what?"
"Why did you do this?"
There was silence on the end of the phone for a long time before Sarah replied. "Do you remember when the Beta Intersect was completed?"
"Sure."
"Well, Casey didn't tell me right away, but about eight months after that, he sat me down and told me that Beckman had given him a termination order for you. He was supposed to kill you as soon as the new Intersect was online." Chuck wanted to say something, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out what. "He didn't tell me until after he decided he wouldn't do it if Beckman ordered him to again."
"He was going to kill me?"
"It takes a lot for someone like Casey to disobey a direct order. He's career military, they don't just refuse orders. Anyway, he told me because he wanted to come up with a plan to save you and he knew I'd help. Casey was in favor of talking Beckman into the bunker, but I wouldn't go along with that. I wasn't going to allow it. We started working on Beckman the moment she told us that they'd started testing this new device. Casey's plan was to get you a job at the NSA, so you'd be valuable. Plus the NSA would be more inclined to provide you protection if you worked directly for them. He knows how smart you are and he was sure you could be an asset. Beckman wasn't listening. It was a struggle just to convince her to test you. Casey put his job on the line and Beckman took it. The thing was, even after we got you tested and you did great. I mean you really did great, I'm so proud of you. Beckman still wasn't going for it. She'd moved off of killing you, but she wanted to put you in the bunker.
"I fought with her about it and this was the solution we came up with. I know it's not perfect, but it's the best I could do. I'm sorry I couldn't talk to you about it before. I really didn't know what was going to happen until Thursday night. Then I had to go convince my bosses. I'm sorry."
Chuck was silent. He had questions, but he couldn't believe they still wanted to kill him. After all the things he'd done, after all good he did, they were just going to kill him?
"Chuck?" Sarah asked.
"Sorry…" Chuck mumbled. "I guess I should be thanking you, I just can't believe it."
"You don't have to thank me." Sarah sighed. "I know this isn't what you wanted. It was just the best I could do."
"I…" Chuck started. "I want you to know that I didn't want this for you. I mean, yeah for a long time I'd hopped you stay, but I didn't want it to be because you were protecting me."
"It's okay," Sarah replied. "I like looking out for you."
"But ten years, Sarah your whole career. You must hate me."
"Chuck, I could never hate you. It won't be bad, you'll see. We're going to find a way to make this work."
"Thank you," Chuck replied.
"So I've got news."
"More news?"
"Well, not quite as Earth shattering as the last news. I have our house, we officially have an address. I have our new phone numbers. The thing is you can give them to Ellie and Morgan, but not anybody else. We need to leave as small a trail as we can without being suspicious. You also need to setup a new email address."
"Okay,"
There was silence on both ends of the call for a few moments. "I guess that's it," Sarah said. "I'll see you in a few days?"
"Sarah," Chuck said.
"Yes?"
"I wish I knew what to say to make this right. I'm really confused and…and scared and I…I just don't want you to hate me. I don't think I could handle it, if you hated me."
"Chuck, I could never hate you. I sincerely hope you believe that."
"Thanks."
"Just get here and we'll work all this out, it won't be bad, I promise." There was another awkward silence and Sarah added. "I'll see you soon."
"Okay," Chuck sighed.
***
He rolled over, it was only a little after seven but he was never going to be able to go back to sleep. This was ridiculous how was he supposed to be okay with this?
What the hell was waiting for him in Washington? Was Sarah his roommate? His cover girlfriend, is friend? Chuck shook his head. This wasn't right. The movers were coming today to pack up his stuff and haul it to Washington. He'd be spending the next two night's at Ellie and Devon's before he left. Casey wanted them to stay in a hotel, but Chuck promised he could stay out of trouble for two nights. He wasn't sure if or when he'd get to see Ellie again and he wanted to spend as much time with her as he could before he left.
The other odd thing was that all of Chuck's personal stuff and photos had been removed yesterday. The movers were not allowed to know who they were moving. So his pictures and personal papers were shipped in a sealed container. Agent Casey would oversee the moving crew, Chuck had to be gone by ten. Chuck was supposed to spend one last day in the Castle before it was stripped down and removed as well. Tonight was Chuck's going away party with his Buy More friends, he didn't feel like going, he just wasn't prepared to leave his life behind.
After Chuck showered Casey drove him over to the Orange Orange. "Stay out of trouble," Casey ordered.
"Right, thanks," Chuck replied sarcastically. As soon as Chuck slammed the door Casey roared away. Casey had been even more intolerable that usual since they'd come back, only Chuck couldn't blame him. He was being sent to air base in Alaska in response to supporting Chuck.
Chuck spent the day wallowing the relative safety of the Castle. That night he went out for drinks with the Buy More crew. Even Casey came, which Chuck found a little odd because technically Casey had quit before Chuck. They had a relatively good time, until Big Mike got drunk and started making out with Morgan's mother in the middle of the restaurant. That kind of killed the festive mood.
"I can't believe it," Morgan moaned. "My best buddy, clear across the country. This is rotten luck."
"You've still got Anna," Chuck pointed out.
"It's not the same, OUCH!" Morgan cried as Anna, who'd been stroking his hair extracted a handful from his scalp. "Sorry, honey, I just mean it's different. Chuck's always been like a super hero he could do anything."
Anna resumed stroking Morgan's hair. "I understand. But Chuck also doesn't do that think you like so much."
Morgan shivered. "That's an excellent point." Morgan enveloped Chuck in a tight hug. "Take care of yourself, man. Call me every day."
"Morgan, I can't do that."
"Okay, well…email me every day. We'll play BattleTech all night!"
"No you won't," Anna interjected in a sing song voice. "Okay, well, when Anna's out of town we'll play all night!"
Chuck grinned. "Sure, I have to go, Casey's giving me a ride back to Ellie's."
"I still don't see what you see in that guy." Morgan shook his head.
"Live long and prosper!" Morgan held up his hand in a V.
"Qapla'!" Chuck replied, meeting his fist with an open palm and bowing.
"You're still really cool, Chuck!" Anna tugged Morgan away and Chuck watched them go.
He walked back to Casey's car. Casey took him back to Ellie and Awesome's for his last two days with Ellie.
***
Ellie had been hugging him for a solid five minutes. Not that Chuck minded particularly he didn't really want to leave. Once he left he had no idea how long it would be before he'd make it back here. "I have to go," Chuck sighed.
"I'm so proud of you," Ellie whispered as she tightened her grip.
"I'm just moving in with a girl, Ellie. It's not exactly the Nobel Prize for physics."
"Who cares about the Nobel Prize for physics? You and Sarah are finally moving in! I'm so happy, but I'm going to miss you."
"I'm going to miss you too."
Ellie pulled back and looked at him. "Chuck, you better wipe that frown of your face before you see Sarah… If you hurt her, I swear to God, I'll…"
"Easy, El, Chuck's just a little melancholy about moving on, he'll be fine by the time he gets to D.C. Right, buddy?" Awesome pounded him on the back.
"Right," Chuck agreed. "I'll be fine when I see her."
"Good," Ellie nodded.
"You better get going, before you miss your flight."
"Bye, guys," Chuck said sadly.
"It's going to awesome, Chuck, you'll see. Have a good flight. Living with the girl that makes your trouser snake dance is so rewarding. Ow!" Awesome rubbed his shoulder where Ellie had smacked him.
"You'll enjoy it, because you love each other," Ellie assured him before she shot Devon another glare. "I guess this is it…" Ellie gave him one more hug and lost her battle to contain her tears. After one more teary goodbye Chuck got in the cab and headed off to a new life.
