Chapter 9

I bought a subway sub today does that mean I own like 0.000000000001% of chuck?

As always thanks for the reviews. You guys are the reason this story keeps getting written.


Sara led Chuck back up to the house and into the kitchen. She started grabbing things seemingly at random from around the kitchen. As she started the prep work for dinner she was having fun showing off her knife work to Chuck. As she started actually cooking Chuck finally broke the silence.

"Wow I had no idea you were so handy in the kitchen. You never really acted that comfortable in one." Chuck commented as he watched Sara going to town. Chuck really didn't have an idea what she was cooking and when he had asked all he had gotten was, "Don't really have a name for it yet."

Chuck just filed it away as Sara's mystery Asian dish and hoped it tasted as good as it smelled. Finally Chuck decided to get around to talking about the thing he dreaded. "So what's going on with Ellie?"

Sara's shoulders slumped a bit. She had avoided bringing up that subject. She had been in the same kind of mood she had been that morning she first cooked breakfast for him on their mission in the suburbs. But thinking about Ellie popped the little bubble of her fantasy. She sighed softly before speaking, "I'm not really sure. She's not talking to anyone. The first day or two she was okay. A little shaken up maybe but she seemed to be handling things. I mean its understandable for anyone that's not use to this stuff to be a little shaken or even a lot shaken. But starting on the 3rd day she began pulling away from us. Will you hand me the large saucepan?"

Sara took a moment to further her meal then began to speak again, "Where was I oh yeah. On the third day she called and asked me if I was capable of making some dinner instead of her for once. I was surprised at her being rude but I just ignored it trying to be helpful and offered to cook something. I also invited her and David over. David came over and hung out while I was cooking and when it was almost time for dinner to be finished I tried to call Ellie. She never picked up, it just went to voice mail."

Sara left some kind of sauce simmering on the stove and hopped up on the counter. Chuck stepped in front of her and pulled her close and then gave her a tender kiss with as much feeling as he could muster. Sara melted into him after the kiss, "God I missed you."

Chuck smiled, "I missed you too angel."

Sara arranged herself where she could keep an eye on the stove and still hold Chuck before she continued, "So Devon tried to call her, and she picked up for him. Asked him what he wanted. When he asked if she was going to come to dinner I actually heard her reply from across the table. She asked him why on earth would she have dinner with the bitch that ruined her life. Devon tried to calm her down and talk to her. She eventually just told him she took an extra shift and would be home late."

Sara quickly kissed Chuck, "Gotta work on my food, will you get me some wine?" Chuck replied in the affirmative and went to get a bottle of wine. As he was returning with the wine there was a knock at the door. Chuck set the bottle down in the kitchen and went to answer it. He opened the door slowly, one hand snaked under the back of his shirt unconsciously.

A deep voice rang out, "Chuckster!! Damn it's good to see you lil bro!"

Chuck smiled nearly as big as he had when he had seen Sara, "It's really good to see you as well Dev... err David. I would have to say its awesome."

David grinned as Chuck led him in the house, "I couldn't have said it better myself Chuckster. Sara and John here?"

"Sara is but not John. We ran into some complications during our trip and he is making sure they don't follow us here."

"You mean....."

Chuck shook his head, "No nothing like that, he's just making sure every thing is cleaned up and believable back home. And Sara.... well she's doing something amazing in the kitchen. I shouldn't be surprised, I have yet to find something she isn't amazing at. Well as long as you don't count talking about her feelings." Chuck laughed until he heard Sara say, "Hey I heard that, don't think that because I've missed you so much that you won't find yourself in the doghouse."

David clapped a hand on Chuck's back, "Don't let her fool you man. That woman has been miserable without you. The only way your sleeping on the couch tonight is if she is there with you."

Sara pretended to pout, "No fair how am I supposed to keep him in line now."

Chuck poured 3 glasses of wine and after passing them out quipped, "Like the Chuck can be tamed."

Chuck smiled hugely because he had caught both of them mid drink. After much sputtering, snorting of wine, and laughter a strange silence settled over the room. Sara looked up at David, "I was bringing Chuck up to speed on Ellie. I made it to the phone call on the third day." David winced at the mention of that, "You know she may keep saying that but deep down she doesn't believe it. She's just.... Oh man I dunno but she's something. I really hope you can help Ellie out Chuck. I miss my wife man. She's been working around the clock it seems. I've heard she's sleeping in the on call room at work a lot. And when she does come home she immediately goes to the bedroom and locks the door behind her like she did tonight."

Chuck looked over at Sara. She was surprised that she didn't see sadness on his face. She saw something that always made her a little weak in the knees. It was the face chuck had on whenever he had a plan and he was completely confident it was going to work. Sara couldn't help it, when he had that look on his face she always got a little hot under the collar. This was the Chuck that was capable of anything he put his mind to and damn did he push her buttons. She had to get him out of here or she wouldn't be letting him out of the house. "Leave the gun."

David's eyebrows shot up as Chuck pulled a pistol out of the small of his back and set it on the counter. Chuck merely smiled at Sara, "Anything else dear?"

Sara shook her head no then asked, "Need me to do anything?"

Chuck shrugged, "Forgive me for screwing up your dinner plans when you made this amazing meal."

Sara waved a hand, "This? This was nothing, I kind of figured you would need to go see Ellie. Now tomorrow I plan on making Lobster Thermidor and if if you miss that one I will be pretty upset. Go on, I know your going to start getting tired soon you've had a long day."

Chuck gave Sara another quick kiss and whispered in her ear, "I don't really deserve you."

Before she could reply he put an arm around David's shoulder and led him out, "Come one lets do this. It's not gonna be pretty and your gonna have to deal with the fallout when I'm done. But we are gonna fix this right now."

Sara watched the two walk out and thought to herself, "It's me that doesn't deserve you. And everyday I pray that you never realize that."


Chuck and David entered the house and Chuck turned to him, "I need you to stay out here no matter what and to trust me I know what I'm doing."

"I trust you bro."

"So where's the bedroom?"

David gave him directions. Chuck took a few deep breaths partly to calm himself, but mostly to steel himself. He was never a fan of tough loving, but he knew from their childhood that in extreme times that's what it took to shake Ellie out of a funk.

Chuck walked up to the bedroom door and knocked on it. There was no answer. Chuck spoke up, "Hey Sis its me, I've missed you."

"Elizabeth Harrison doesn't have a brother. And Charles Michaelson's sister died in a car wreck. Some spy you are if you didn't know that your own sister was dead! Just go back over to that house with that woman that only loves you because she's ordered to and ruins people's life for the same reason!"

Chuck closed his eyes and took a few calming breaths before he tried the nice way again, "Ellie come on, open up. Its me Chuck. You'll always be my big sister Ellie and I'll always be your baby brother Chuck. When everyone else left us we were there for each other. A lot of times it was you that was there for me way more than I was for you. You took so much on your shoulders to take care of us. You helped me keep on track and get into Stanford even though you had so much on your plate trying to keep up with being in Pre-med."

"And when I got kicked out of Stanford you were right there for me as I fell apart. You didn't judge me you just caught me as I fell and kept trying to help me get back on my feet. I don't know what I would have done without you. You kept me afloat instead of drowning in the sea of my sorrow."

"Let me be there for you like you always have been for me, let me in."

Chuck was listening intently at the door. He heard the slightest rustle of feet on carpet as Ellie almost walked up to the door. The seconds ticked by as Chuck strained his ears to listen. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Ellie finally did speak. Well actually she screamed, with enough force that you could hear her voice cracking and Chuck was worried she might actually rip her vocal cords, "GO AWAY, LEAVE ME ALONE ALL OF YOU. GET OUT. G E T O U T!!!!!"

Chuck walked back towards the living room David looked up at him with an inquisitive glance. Chuck asked, "Got a beer by chance?"

"Yeah bro in the fridge I'll grab us one."

Chuck followed him in the kitchen and took the beer from him. David sighed, "That didn't sound like it went to well."

Chuck shrugged, "It would have worked a couple of weeks ago. I just wanted to try the soft approach first."

David's brow furrowed, "So what now?"

Chuck sighed, "Ellie has a problem with really big changes in her life especially when she isn't in control of that change. After dad left she did something similar. She withdrew into herself. Locked herself behind a shell and kept all of her emotions inside. I'm going to crack the shell so that they can get out again and she can deal with them."

Chuck drained his beer and tossed the bottle, "Just be there for her she's gonna need to find her balance again and she won't wanna see me for a couple days."

David shook his head, "You sure about this?"

Chuck nodded and started back towards the bedroom. He stopped outside the door and took two deep breaths before he drew his foot back and kicked the bedroom door in. The frame let go with a loud crack, there was another pop as one of the hinges let go as well. It came to rest at a haphazard angle. "I hope Devon err David can fix that." He stalked into the bedroom to find Ellie sitting on the bed looking shocked. She looked terrible and Chuck almost faltered but he took a deep breath and steeled himself. Chuck leaned down and in a strong but quiet voice he spoke directly to Ellie, "I'm a little disappointed to see that mom and dad's legacy is living on in you. You may still be in the house but you've left him just as much as mom or dad ever left us. Way to go sis, I bet our parents are proud right now."

Chuck turned around and walked out of the room. But he wasn't quick enough to miss the fact that Ellie sat up ramrod straight at his words, and her face looked like someone had hit her in the gut with a sledgehammer. She looked like a fish out of water as she search for some sort of reply. But before she could come up with one Chuck was out of the room. David was standing in the hall, Chuck jerked his head in the direction of the bedroom. David quickly walked inside, not sure what he was walking into. Chuck stood outside the door for a while but eventually he heard Ellie speak and knew his work was done for right now.

"I've been so horrible to you, you must hate me."

"I could never hate you babe your my best friend, your the love of my life, and your my wife. I think I loved you before I knew you and I will continue to love you until my dying breath."

Chuck heard the sobs begin and knew that Ellie would be fine in a few days so he headed for his own home, "God I'm tired all those hours in an uncomfortable cockpit, then trying to assimilate everything here."


Chuck let himself back into the house and headed for the kitchen. He looked in the fridge and was not surprised but was very happy to find his favorite beer. As he took the first drink of it he felt arms wrap around him from behind, "Are you okay?"

Chuck spun around and squeezed her back, "A few minutes in your arms and I'm always okay angel."

Sara tilted her head to the side, "You look tired."

Chuck nodded, "It's been a hell of a day."

Sara nodded, "Wanna talk about Ellie?"

Chuck shook his head, "Not tonight, she will be okay in a couple days though."

Sara smiled, "Good, I missed the way things were."

Chuck smiled, "We will be one big happy family again soon don't worry."

Sara sighed, "Yeah you will."

Chuck was pretty tired so it took a moment for him to connect the dots with what Sara had said, "Yes WE will. WE Sara. Comprende'?"

Sara absentmindedly reached up to play with one of his errant curls before she remembered they were gone. Sara let her arm drop and shrugged, " No I don't understand, I'm trying to though."

Chuck toyed with the velvet box in his pocket for a moment. "Soon I'm going to ask you to become part of the family officially. But I need to make it special. But I'll figure that out tomorrow."

Sara watched Chuck as he drifted off in his thoughts for a moment. She really looked at him and noticed that his eyes seemed a little dull. He had the look of a man who hadn't been eating and sleeping well for a while. She thought back over the evening. She remembered the gun she had to take off of him. "Since when does Chuck carry a gun with any level of comfort. I didn't even realize he had it until we were back at the house. Its just so out of character for him that I never even thought to look for one."

Sara gave Chuck a quick kiss, "Sit down at the table I'll make you a plate of food. Then we can head to bed, I know you want some sleep."

Chuck smiled, but as Sara watched it with her agent's eye she noticed it was a little forced. She kept examining the day as she made a plate and sat down beside him. Chuck held her hand while eating. Sarah continued to think, "He was perfectly Chuck when he got off the jet. Didn't notice anything on the ride over here. The briefing with the general was just like a normal briefing, nothing out of the ordinary. The thing with Ellie seemed to take it out of him, but I'm guessing that was very emotional. It's almost like the last month didn't happen."

Sara's head whipped over to look at Chuck. "Oh my god......" Tears started to fall down Sara's cheeks as she connected the dots. "He's been in LA all alone for the last month. Everyone that he loves gone and he just had to trust a goverment that hasn't always been honest with him that he would see them again. Left with 2 bodyguards that he didn't trust, no way of knowing whether they were actually part of the ring." Sara didn't even wipe her eyes she just let the tears fall. "It was almost like his own sneak preview of what it would be like to go into a secure location. And then he gets back here and puts on a strong facade for me, puts devon at ease, and he helps Ellie. How do you keep amazing me Charles Irving Bartowski?"

Sarah watched as he finished dinner. He had barely set his fork down when Sara wordlessly dragged him to the bedroom. She changed into her usual sleepwear of a t-shirt and boyshorts. She tossed him a pair of shorts to sleep in and climbed into bed. "You coming to bed?"

Chuck grinned, "Well seeing how I just got into town and don't have any other plans."

He quickly changed and crawled into bed beside her. Sara snuggled up to him, "I'm sorry."

Chuck stared at her for a moment his face a mask of confusion, "For what?"

Sara felt the tears falling again, "I didn't really think about how hard this month must have been on you. I was out here, I was busy, and I had El and David here. Even Casey was here for a while. But you..... you were in LA all alone basically. Everyone important, everyone you loved, and everyone you trusted gone. And then you come back here and your putting on a strong facade for all of us. You don't have to be strong for me, you know that right? I'll still feel the same about you no matter what."

Sara looked up to find that Chuck was silently crying. She pulled his head down and held him to her. He never made a sound but she continued to feel her T-shirt moisten from his tears. It took a while but eventually he relaxed and his breathing took on a deep rythmic cycle. Sara continued to stroke his shorter hair, her thoughts on the future as she drifted off to sleep beside him, "So many changes in such a short time and more to come. Will you make it through this and still be my Chuck..... will we survive this?"


I'm not as happy with this chapter as I have been some others. I think its the Ellie situation it feels like I neatly wrapped it up. But alas its going to take more than a broken door to fix Ellie. Coming up soon we have the Ellie and Sarah confrontation. Big bad sis meets big bad spy, who's your money on?