Chapter 9: Home Truths

Chuck was surprised later that morning when Ted Roark walked into his office with a young curly hair man. The geek was no older than Chuck when he first started working for Roark.

"Chuck, we've just hire a new member for your team. This is Manoosh Depak. Manoosh has been freelance contracting for a while now."

"Welcome, Welcome to Roark" Chuck said as he stuck out his hand for a handshake.

"Thank you, It's good to be here. I saw what you did while battling that hacker. I'm very impressed."

"Thank you." Chuck replied and then there seemed to be an uncomfortable silence in the room.

"So." Chuck trying to be friendly and breaking the ice, "Where do you study?"

"I dropped out of MIT because I knew more than the professors."

"Oh" Chuck said surprised.

"But we at Roark know how to spot talent when we see it so we've given him a position here with us." Ted chipped in.

Chuck was a little put out by this turn of events as he wasn't actively seeking additional staff. The projects he was working on were actually in the final stages of testing and they were scheduled to be available in the next version of RIOs.

"Right, Okay, I'll introduce you the rest of the team, and then I get you settled in at a workstation."

Chuck wondered if he was one of these hackers that try to get into the Roark system and somehow Roark found him and offered him a law abiding job.


Much later that afternoon Chuck got a surprised visit from his Human Resources manager, Sydney Price. She used the excuse of having to get Manoosh to sign some paperwork so she was here on his floor. Now that she was on his floor she wanted to have a word in private. Chuck did the rare thing of shutting the door to his office.

Sydney knew that Chuck was flustered about public displays of affection but she wondered about other aspects of Chuck's life. She had seen the very attractive girl sitting beside Chuck as he battled the hacker. She needed to sit him down and have a frank conversation with him.

"I saw you battling that hacker, Who's has the blond women sitting next to you?"

"That is Sarah. She's C.I.A."

"I see, she's your handler?"

Chuck nodded.

"So you relationship with Sarah, Is it real? Is it physical? Have you two had sex?"

Chuck blushed.

"How is it? If you don't mind me asking?"

"A gentleman never kisses and tells."

Chuck got a dirty look from Sydney, after all she was here to help so he answered her.

"Great. I think?"

"Don't you remember it?"

"No. I can remember the start of some kissing but then it sort of goes blank."

"Oh? So how do you know you're having sex?"

Chuck looked at her dumbfoundly. Sydney pressed on.

"Do you wake up feeling headachy and have a strange taste in your mouth?"

"Funny enough , I do."

"Thought so."


He had been fantasying about her for weeks, but his conversation with Sydney had created some doubt in his mind. He replayed the events of his conversation with Sarah the night before and wondered if indeed Sarah had slipped with her cover. Why would Sarah say they needed to make love when he thought that they already had previously? Sydney mentioning the strange after taste in his mouth could be proof that Sarah had instead drugged him and hoped he was none the wiser.

He had to keep up with appearances so he prepared his room, he choose the music and was lighting every candle he owned in the apartment. He heard a soft tap on his bedroom door and in came Sarah wearing a long trenchcoat.

"Ellie let me in Wow, Chuck. What do you think is going to happen here tonight?"

"Why? What do you, what do you think I think?"

"Well, I don't know, the, the candles and the music. I mean, you do know we're just spending the night together for cover, right?"

"Why, why would I possibly think anything else?" her comment all but confirmed what Sydney was talking about. "I mean, by now I'd say I'm pretty familiar with the concept of faking it, so Sarah"

"Chuck", she cut him off, "we've got to take this assignment seriously. Chuck!"

"Okay, I'll lose the music." He pushed a button and the music stopped "You can change in the bathroom." Because at that moment he really didn't want to look at her.

"That's okay. What?"

Sarah had removed her coat to reveal that she was wearing a purple baby doll lingerie outfit, she was shocked but secretly delighted at the look on Chuck's face when he noticed what she was wearing was pretty much see through.

"You're giving me crap about lighting some candles and you come in wearing that?"

"What, this old thing? (I bought it today during my lunchbreak) This, this is part of my cover."

"Well, it doesn't cover a thing."

"And what if Ellie or awesome were to walk in? This is exactly what a girlfriend would wear to seduce her boyfriend. I am just being professional."

"Yeah. The world's oldest profession." Chuck knew the moment those words came out of his mouth he would regret it.

"Oh Well, that's real nice, Chuck."


He lay there quiet for a moment; Sarah instinctively knew Chuck was stewing over the thoughts that were rattling his brain. She knew that the conversation hadn't gone as planned either for they were snapping comments back and forth at each other. She was lying there and she could hear the argument coming from the bedroom across the hall. Ellis's voice was getting louder and her boyfriend was been given a verbal tongue lashing.

"We're starting to sound like them, aren't we?"

"A little." Sarah was fishing for a lead on what Chuck was thinking. "Are you okay? Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"What exactly are the rules with our, like you know, our, our thing?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? I mean hypothetically speaking, are we allowed to see other people?"

"Well, uh our cover is boyfriend/girlfriend, so tactically, that would be challenging. Plus any prospective date would have to endure a rigorous vetting process to determine her motivation."

"Wouldn't her motivation be love?"

"Ideally, but you're a very important piece of intelligence, and you have to be handled with extreme care."

That confirmed it to Chuck, there would be no hanky-panky tonight.

"You know what? I think I'm just going to sleep on the floor."

"Chuck, we can't compromise our cover."

"Well, I feel compromised already."

"Chuck, if you get out of this bed I will hurt you!"

They were lying there quietly listening to Ellie and Devon argument, well more like Ellie bitching. While Chuck loved his sister, she did process a spiteful tongue and tonight Devon was copping it big time. Chuck waited until he built up his courage and then decided to make his move.

"So if you are going to sleep in my bed then, my bed my rules!"

Chuck rolled over and reached out with his long arm and pulled Sarah back into him. They were in a spooning position before she knew it. "Come on Sweetie give!" he whispered into her ear as he firmly grabbed her breast. He tripped one of Sarah's defences, she had in her bra cup a potent tranq dart and Chuck felt a slight prick on his index finger. Sarah could feel Chuck's body relax as he succumbed to the drug. Safe but not saved.

'You idiot' she thought because now she had the problem of if Ellie interrupted them Chuck was now unconscious and a trained doctor like Ellie or Devon would know something was amissed. She had to get out of bed to get an antidote needle to wake Chuck up if the need arose. She went to her case and got the necessary equipment, she placed it under her pillow, she was used to a gun under the pillow anyway.

As the words got more heated Sarah decided she better give Chuck the antidote. She gave Chuck an injection then climbed on top of him, throwing the needle behind the bedhead. It looked like woman on top when Ellie burst through the bedroom door and invaded their privacy. Devon following closely behind her trying to grab her and get her back outside into the hallway.

"Come on, babe. Get back in bed."

The only bed Ellie was interested in was Chuck's, so she jumped on without checking if she landed on anyone. If she wasn't having sex tonight then why should anybody else.

Chuck in the meantime came to and sat up with a start. So sudden was his movement, he caught Sarah off guard and she fell backwards to the end of the bed. She quickly got herself back into a kneeling position as Ellie sat herself down next to her.

"I have known him since the day he was born obviously. When people would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would always say the same thing: "big boy." how cute is that?"

"Ellie, you're killing me here."

"And now he is a big boy. And I can tell that he is because he is with a big big girl."

"Sorry, guys. Don't mean to muck up your mojo. I tried to stop her." Devon apologised.

"Is she drunk?" Chuck queried

"Chuck, you need a haircut. It's starting to make funny animal shapes."

"Let's go, babe. These two need their privacy, huh?"

"When you were seven, I told you that a burglar stole the money from your piggy bank. That was a lie. It was me. At the time, I felt it was very important for me to have a Back Street Boys fanny pack."

"Ellie, are you okay? Have you done anything out of the ordinary?"

"Words taste like peaches."

"Okay, we going to go now. Let you kids get back to doing whatever it is you're doing. Have fun, all right. Hey, sorry to bother you folks."


"Alright, where is it?" Casey growled.

Riordan Payne was still howling in agony from where Sarah shot him in the knee. He gave them a vicious glare, but still said nothing.

"Listen, Payne," Chuck began. "I think it's in your best interests to tell us where the real antidote is. My bosses, my real bosses..." Chuck was stumbling with his compulsion to tell the truth and to keep from revealing himself "...who happen to be in the government, would not like it if I died. I've got some really important information and programming skills that are needed by a lot of people." It was extremely difficult for Chuck to control what he blurted out. He was trying to stay vague and put in a lot of inconsequential details to mask any major revelations. "My bosses also include the people at Roark Instruments." He bit his tongue to halt any further revelations. "They would be really pissed at you because-"

"Will you shut it, Bartowski? I don't need to put up with more of your inane rambling when I'm around you for this long. And you're giving me a headache." Casey turned his attention back to Payne. "Now, before this moron decides to spew anymore verbal diarrhea, where are the codes?" He cocked his gun to emphasize the threat.

Luckily for Chuck, Sarah and Casey weren't paying too much attention to Chuck's rambling monologue. It was a habit both of them had developed to filter out most of what Chuck said unless he presented them with relevant information.

Finally, they got the antidotes and were about to take them. Chuck and Sarah were facing each other, and Chuck found that this might be a good time to find out the truth of her feelings for him.

"Wait, wait, wait, not yet, not yet."

"Why? What's the matter?"

"Nothing, it's just that…this will probably be the last chance that I have to know the truth. I…know you're just doing your job here, but sometimes it feels so real, you know? So, tell me. What did happen the other night in my bedroom?"

"You acted like a brutish boar and I had to slap you down. You ruined what could have been a beautiful moment!"

He reacted negatively to her response, she had verbally slapped him down. He knew he had messed up, and he took it rather badly, she could tell from his body language as his shoulders drooped.

"Got it. Got it. Thank you for being honest." He paused for a moment, "Even though I guess you don't really have a choice in the matter."

Before Chuck could say anything more, she swallowed her antidote. Chuck looked at his vial, he hesitated for a moment before following Sarah's example.


Chuck sat quietly in the back of Casey's vehicle as the agents dealt with the matters of taking Riordan Payne into custody. His handlers were too busy with the other agents to notice that the Intersect was sulking. Neither of the handlers spoke to him when they finally got in the car, all he got was a quick glance as they got in.

Sarah was sitting in the front seat feeling tense and anxious about nearly telling Chuck about her feelings about him. Those feelings that were still confusing her. It was too close Sure, he was nice, funny, smart, handsome, and considerate, but he was still her asset. Sarah really liked him, but she was finding it harder to keep her distance, and objectivity. It was unsettling how she was starting to feel herself get drawn to him. She decided to put off finding out what those feelings and thoughts really meant, and went in for the debriefing.

"So the agent should be there in a couple of minutes to pick up the launch codes," Beckman finished.

"Is there anything else that you think is necessary to share?" Graham continued.

"No sir. That's it on my side," Sarah said.

"No. As far as our knowledge goes, everything has been taken care of," Casey concurred.

"Good job then, agents." With that, Beckman and Graham terminated the feed.

Casey and Sarah then decided to send Chuck home so that they could take care of the handover of the intelligence they had gathered.


A knock at the door prompted Casey to go over and check who it might be. "I don't think I can go bowling tonight, but I can lend you my ball." Casey winced at the call sign.

"Thanks," said the agent on the other side, "Todd tried to lend me his, but it's the wrong weight."

Satisfied with the return, Casey opened the door and handed the agent the codes. Putting the chip into a briefcase, the agent promptly left.

"I'm glad that's over with. I hate truth serums," Casey growled as he closed the door.

"I don't think anyone likes them. They lower your defenses and make you vulnerable."

"By the way, Walker," Casey started. "Did you say anything to the asset that might compromise you?"

"No. Fortunately, I've been trained to withstand the effects of pentathol."