You're joking right? Its what Chuck would have said out loud to Sarah but when he witnessed the look of seriousness on her face he knew she wasn't joking at all. It became perfectly clear to not only him, but to Travis and Casey sitting in their seats that the only way to know where his possible whereabouts are is to break into the one place that has all the information…C.I.A. Headquarters.
Director of the C.I.A Langston Graham's office to be exact would be the intended destination for Team Chuck. Its going to be a tall order to undertake Chuck thinks to himself. They have broken into buildings before getting the information they needed as they easily got past security but to get past security in of all places C.I.A Headquarters would be difficult task at hand, especially if they got caught.
As much as they have faced adversity with their backs against the wall time and time again Chuck knew using unconventional tactics especially for this mission of importance would most definitely fall under the same category. By any means necessary. Beckman stated it and Sarah reiterated it to all three of her teammates. Chuck's thoughts began drifting off until Sarah's voice snapped him back to reality.
"Why aren't we moving?" asked Sarah looking directly at Casey
The attention that Chuck and Travis had on Sarah quickly focused on Casey who not only sported a hint of a smirk on his face but gave his usual grunt worthy response. Chuck knew right away the sound of amused snarkiness otherwise known as grunt 6. It wouldn't help Casey's cause any to antagonize Sarah knowing the emotional state she is currently in Chuck thinks to himself.
He decided to interject before Casey found himself laid out but before he could open his mouth the burly agent spoke up. "Oh, I'm trying to add up in my head the numbers of years all 4 of us could face in prison for breaking into Graham's office." responds Casey.
Chuck's eyes widen due to Casey's response. A slew off thoughts begin running through his mind if they were caught and sent to prison. He knew that he wouldn't be able to survive in there unless Casey, Travis, and Sarah were there to protect him knowing that with his tall and lanky figure he would most definitely be somebody's girlfriend. The mere thought of what could happen to him sent a shiver down his spine to where immediately cleared his throat.
"So…" said Chuck with a nervous smile. "…how many…um…years do you think we will face big guy?"
"I'd say give or take…" Casey takes a brief moment to look down as Chuck's eyes are glued on him watching him mull over the number of years they all could possibly face in prison. "…10 years tops."
The answer causes Chuck's eyes to grow even wider to the point where they are about to pop out of its sockets. He averts his attention from Casey towards Travis thinking he may have the same concerns as he does about breaking into Graham's office. However, instead of seeing absolute concern on the possibility of being incarcerated for a decade he sees a smile on his face, which doesn't make him feel any better.
The wide eyed business owner couldn't understand why his teammate would be smiling at a time like this knowing what they were about to do. In that moment, he calmed himself just enough to briefly take a much needed breath and speak to him.
" Trav, you just heard Casey…" Chuck glances at a still smirking Casey and then back at Travis with concern. "…we could get 10 years in prison and you're smiling?" wondered Chuck. "Why dude?"
The smile quickly fell flat from Travis' face. "My bad?" responded Travis. "It's the soldier in me that loves the thrill of a challenge and when I heard Casey say we could all face prison time breaking into Graham's office I guess I got excited." he added shrugging his shoulder.
The possibility of being sent to prison excited him? Is he out of his mind Chuck thinks to himself as he looks at Travis? The response completely floored Chuck and yet it didn't surprise him one bit to hear him say that. You see, as much as he sees a kindred spirit in him when it comes to video games, as well as movies he is after all a soldier like Casey but doesn't have the reputation of being known as a burnout.
A hint of a smirk appears on Chuck's face but his attention on Travis would quickly be averted by the sound of a clearing throat. It was distinctly female and sounded emphatic with a hint of agitation. All three men turned their attentions towards a visibly perturbed Sarah sitting back in the back seat, arms crossed tapping her right finger on the side of her left arm, biting her lower lip, and right eyebrow cocked high.
"Are you boys done feeling all giddy about prison?" questioned Sarah.
"Come on Walker, just giving the heads up on what we're up against. Besides…" retorted Casey as he quickly glances at Chuck, Travis, and then finally stops to look at Sarah. "…orange isn't my color."
Sarah doesn't respond. She only stares at Casey giving a ice cold stare towards his direction that would make anyone uncomfortable. The icy stare would be interrupted by Travis interjecting his thoughts into the mix.
"As long as we don't end up like Kirk and McCoy in the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country." Travis joking said. Chuck acknowledges the reference but Sarah and Casey respond with blank stares leading him to explain further. "Kirk and McCoy were sent to this arctic alien penal colony called Rura Penthe because they were charged with murder for assassinating Chancellor Gorkon sentencing them to life imprisonment by the Klingon High Council, which was totally bogus. And…"
"And…" Chuck jumps into the conversation with a hint of excitement in his voice. "…Kirk and McCoy escape before finding out who really assassinated the Chancellor. They devise a plan with Spock and when they find out who the perpetrator really is it is revealed to be Spock's protégé Valeris played by the future Sexy In The City star Kim Catrall. Spock does the Vulcan Mind Meld and to make a long story short they save the day like always."
"Exactly!" chimed in Travis as he goes in for a fist tap which Chuck reciprocates.
"Is there a point to this?" grunted Casey
"No point really…" Travis looks at Casey and then turns to look back at Sarah and Chuck. "…it just popped into my mind. Hey, look on the bright side though, if we do go to prison we could be out in 5 years for good behavior." he added with a sheepish smile.
"Can we not talk about prison please." requested Chuck.
"What is Bartowski? Afraid of being someone's woman?" grunted Casey.
Chuck was about to respond when Travis snaps his finger and inevitably points at Chuck. "Oh dude, remember David Bowie's wife who played an alien shape shifter chick that Kirk made out with while he was there…"
"Hey!" Sarah cuts off Travis causing all 3 men to immediately direct their attention towards her. "I need to know…" She glances around the car intently looking at all 3 men starting with Casey and ending with Chuck. "…are you with me on this?" she emphatically states.
The inner confines of the car goes so silent in that particular moment you could hear a pin drop. The only sound that is heard is the muffled sound of the engine. Sarah waits for the answer from 3 of her teammates who knows how much she needs them more than ever because without them by her side having her back on what she considers THE most important that she has ever been on she would be absolutely lost.
"All jokes aside. I'm in." firmly stated Travis. "You can count on me Sarah." he added with a nod.
Sarah gives Travis a nod in return leading her to look at Casey who doesn't say a word. He just nods giving her a grunt with a look seriousness she reads loud and clear that he is all in. She finally turns to waiting for Chuck's response who sits there momentarily but then gives her his answer.
"No…" Chuck said shaking his head. "I'm not in." The response leaves a stunned and confused look on not only Sarah's face, but Casey's and Travis' as well. He sees Sarah about to speak up when Chuck reaches over to hold her left hand, leans in, and gives his all-too-familiar Chuckish smile. "I'm all in."
Sarah responds with a smile inevitably leaning in to give Chuck a soft kiss on his lips. The kiss last only for a few seconds and after linger for a few moments giving him a look of love towards him she turns her attention to the front of the car. Its there she sees Casey with a seemingly disgusted, annoyed look and Travis with a hint of a smile on his face as he glances at the both of them.
"Well?" responded Sarah looking intently at Casey.
"Give me a second. I just threw up a little in my mouth." responded Casey as he turns around in his seat.
All 3 team members draw a hint of a smile and shake their head a bit at Casey's response After a brief moment, Casey grips the steering wheel, changes gears, and drives all 4 of them to their intended destination…C.I.A. Headquarters.
XXX
It's a beautiful, sunny day in the Burbank area. The time is around 10 a.m. and the sound of elevator music is heard within a large facility somewhat similar to that of a Wal-Mart. The store known as Costco is bustling with shoppers buying in bulk on whatever their heart's desire. Its within the controlled chaos that Ellie and Cassidy are there to not only purchase supplies for Sarah's birthday party, but have some quality girl talk as well.
"I'm glad Chuck suggested this." said Cassidy as they both walk up the isle with large cart in hand. "Gives us the chance to spend some quality time together just the two of us." she added smiling at Ellie.
"Me too." nodded Ellie.
Cassidy truly wanted to spend some quality time with Ellie. To get one day off to just get away from her hard nosed bitchy business woman side and enjoy the day without worrying about something work related. The business attire she usually adorns are instead replaced by a more dressed down look of white sneakers, acid washed jeans, Gucci belt, a checker pattern sleeveless top, and her hair in a ponytail.
In her mind, it gave her the chance to feel like a normal woman or whatever normal these day is considered these days to be she thought to herself. To her, Ellie personified what being a normal woman is and though she felt a bit intimated by that it didn't stop her from wanting to get to know the woman who would most certainly be her future sister-in-law.
"Can I ask you a question Ellie."
"Sure, what's up?." replied Sarah as she places a couple boxes of spoons and forks in the large cart.
"I never asked how you really felt about my sister lying to your family about who she really is." inquired Cassidy giving a quick glance of concern towards her.
The older Wexler daughter braced herself for the verbal tongue lashing she would receive concerning her younger's sister's deception. In a weird way, she knew how it was going to feel being berated like she does with her own employees with the look of fear in their eyes. However this time, she was talking the bullet on her sister's behalf, which she's done growing up but this time its under a different set of circumstances.
"If you're wondering if I was angry, not really." A look of confusion appears on Cassidy's face to which Ellie notices as she places several bags of birthday paper plates in the large car. "I was more surprised than angry to be honest with you."
"Why?"
"If it had been the other way around where the daughter of a wealthy weapons mogul walked into Buy More and took an interest in my brother my old sister intuition would seriously go off." responded Ellie. She notices Cassidy eyebrows furl at the answer causing her to quickly explain herself. "I didn't mean that in a bad way." she adds.
"What do you mean then?"
Mrs. Woodcomb takes a take breath before giving Cassidy her response. "If Chuck told me that a rich heiress walked into Buy More and asked him out I would have serious concerns. What would immediately pop into my mind is a maneater such as Paris Hilton using my brother for her own pleasure and just tossing him aside like he was yesterday's news."
"So you're comparing my sister to Paris Hilton is that what you're saying?" responded Cassidy with a more emphatic tone to her voice.
Ellie knows she has to tread lightly and choose her words very wisely because she doesn't want to insult not only her and her sister, but her whole family as well. The last thing she wants is to have animosity and bad blood to the point where it becomes a Hatfield-McCoy type family feud.
"No, what I'm saying is…" She paused for a brief moment. "…what I'm saying is I'm very protective when it comes to my little brother and after all that he's been through with being kicked out of Stanford and Jill dumping him for Bryce.. I wouldn't want him to see him spiral down even more into a place I never want to ever see him ever again.
"My sister isn't Paris Hilton."
"I know that…" responded Ellie with a hint of laughter. "…its just that if you knew the old Chuck when the whole Stanford/Jill/Bryce situation happened and the aftermath you would know that if he got his hopes up only to his heart broken all over again I…"
"You would be a force to reckoned with yeah I get it. You care about your brother so much and don't want to see him hurt." she chimed in finishing what Ellie might possibly would have said. "Yeah…" Cassidy nodded in agreement. "…I would do the exact same thing if a guy did that to DeAnna."
"I'm glad you understand. It's a big adjustment that's all because Sarah…" Cassidy notices the apprehensiveness is Ellie stops in mid sentence.. "…I mean DeAnna is a down to earth, really sweet and caring woman, especially when it comes to Chuck.
Cassidy and Ellie continue to go up and down the isles placing birthday party supplies into the large cart. As they do, Ellie notices that there is something that Cassidy wants to ask her by the brief glances she gives towards her.
"Something on your mind Cass?"
Cassidy is momentarily silent and after a few moments she turns to stand in front of Ellie giving a look of serious curiosity. "Let me ask you this question. Does the fact you know who my sister really is change the whole relationship between the two of you?"
"The truth?" Cassidy gives Ellie a nod to proceed with her answer to where she takes a moment to gather her thoughts. "The truth is I don't care what your sister's name is. Sarah or DeAnna it really doesn't matter to me but what does matter is that my brother is the happiest he has ever been in a long time and I can thank your sister for that." she added.
Cassidy responds with laughter as she pushes the large cart up the isle. "So you don't feel at all betrayed?" wondered Cassidy.
Cassidy glances at Ellie noticing her collecting her thoughts as she reaches over to grab a couple bags of cups off the shelf inevitably placing them on the large cart.
"Honestly, I can understand why she did what she did because there was a time where I wanted to have a completely different life because of my father." Ellie solemnly stated.
"Hey, you were able to finally sit down and talk to him on the reason why he left you, Chuck, and your mom after so many years. You got some much needed closure…" said Cassidy as she turns to and leans in to rub Ellie's arm. "…that should count for something." she added as she reaches over squeezing Ellie's right hand.
"When he showed up at the door with my late step brother Tucker I was left speechless." Ellie said with a look of disbelief on her face. "I couldn't believe he was standing right in front of me after all these years."
If Ellie only knew the real truth she thinks to herself. The real truth sounded far fetched even for her but after hearing the whole story from Chuck it was absolutely real. It has the makings of a blockbuster movie directed by James Cameron. Abraham Bartowski aka Steven Carmichael a member of an organization named Section 8 had a burn notice placed on him leading him to run leaving behind the family he deeply loves and cares about in order to protect them.
A family torn apart and trying to pick up the pieces the best they know how. Their mother dies and now its just a brother and sister left to take care of each other. Fast forward years later with Ellie as a respected doctor and Chuck a disgraced former student of Stanford betrayed by his best friend Bryce Larkin who is in fact a spy as well. He only had Chuck kicked out in order to protect him from being recruited into the spy game only to become a spy later on.
The organization known as the Sect hunting him down because Abe stumbled upon highly classified information. On the run for years until he shows up on Ellie's doorstep with his step son Tucker Gaines who is in fact a young clone of Josiah Gates. Secret Lighthouse bases, Project Gemini, abductions, her sister joining the C.I.A., and to top it all off finding out her own father is a part of a secret society that has existed for years known as the Zeitgeist.
It was all so unbelievable and yet every word true. All of it intertwining together and yet one thing bugged her. The part where Abe and Chuck making the decision to jump from a cliff only to be saved by the good guys she didn't believe. As much as she sees Chuck as a true blue hero, she didn't think that a guy like him would ever jump from a cliff but then again he did go skydiving as he had the certificate to prove it.
Cassidy became so focused on her thoughts she didn't realize that Ellie was talking to her. It took her only a few seconds to come back to reality and refocus all her attention towards what Ellie was trying to tell or ask her.
"Sorry, kinda spaced out there." Cassidy apologetically said as shaking her head. "What did you say?"
"Don't worry, I have a tendency to do that myself as well." Ellie humorously responded. "What I was trying to say is it all makes perfect sense."
"What makes perfect sense?"
"How your sister can possibly afford a Porsche on a Weinerlicious salary." Ellie chuckles at that particular thought. "The mystery is solved."
"Yup, mystery solved." Cassidy responded with a hint of laughter as well.
She didn't have the heart to tell Ellie that the Porsche was a gift to DeAnna for her sweet 16 birthday party. Cassidy didn't want to give the impression her younger sister was one of those bratty kids on MTV who demanded what they want and if they don't get they whined about it until they do. DeAnna was and continues to be level headed…she's still stubborn and hard headed but that's who she is. Cassidy is once again snapped back to reality by Ellie as she touches her left shoulder.
"Hey, when we're done here we should stop by the florist. Get Sarah's favorite flowers, and then go have lunch."
"Sounds like a plan."
"DeAnna loves Gardenias. Even as kid she used to grow them in her own garden growing up."
"Blonde, beautiful, an awesome woman who loves my brother with all her heart, and a green thumb to boot." Ellie smiles and shakes her head in absolute amazement. "Huh, what other secrets and talents does your sister have that I don't know about?
As the two turn the corner pushing the large cart into another isle, Cassidy just smiles silently saying the following the words in her head as they disappear around the corner. Oh you have no idea.
XXX
The seemingly subdued atmosphere inside the black S.U.V. with all 4 team members exuding a quiet focus. There would be no turning back now and whatever fears if any they have about breaking into a high level government official's office they had to be set aside. As there is no crying in baseball, you can't be afraid when you're going on a very important mission. Its most definitely put up or shut up time.
In the past, the ere of seriousness wouldn't diminish the ability to lighten up the situation due in part to Travis. Travis always brought his iPod along on every mission, which came to the surprise of everyone on their very first mission together as a team. The reason he gave for bringing it was it enabled him to stay relatively relaxed and at the same time gave him the focus to get his head in the game.
The spy couple didn't mind it all as they both had their own way of staying focused during mission that involved being overseas or long flights. Sarah chewed on coffee straws and Chuck read a book while Casey manned the cockpit or driver's seat. When it came to Casey's thoughts on the while Ipod matter he thought it not only juvenile but he considered it an absolute distraction when on the field. Ultimately every person has their way of psyching themselves up before heading into mission so he begrudgingly disregarded it.
The problem wasn't that his iPod was turned too loud or the type of songs he listens to as it was more due to Travis' singing than anything else. It's the type of singing where if Simon Cowell judged him he would immediately be deemed the worst singer in America. It became a constant source of pure entertainment for Chuck and Sarah who would end up laughing but for Casey it would be in his own words inhumane torture.
However, on this occasion the iPod would be turned off, the coffee straw un-chewed, and the book unread. It's a whole new ballgame with even higher stakes and all 4 of them knew that there would absolutely be no room for error. As it has been said many times over, even the tiniest mistake can lead not to just a spy's death but those he or she is assigned to protect as well.
Team Chuck arrives at the gate of C.I.A. Headquarters and after taking time to talk with the guards who were apparently fans of the best team ever formed much to their surprise they were motioned through. A moment or two later they park and inevitably step out of the black S.U.V. meeting up in the back standing side by side. Its at that point Sarah, who is second from the right, quickly turns her head glancing from left to right at her team and then stares straight ahead at the humongous building.
"Let's go." firmly stated Sarah.
Sarah takes the lead with Casey following suit. Travis cracks his neck and then turns to Chuck giving him a quick slap on the left arm before stepping forward himself following Casey. Chuck takes a brief second to take a breathe and before stepping forward to follow Sarah, Casey, and Travis he has one thought…don't freak out.
XXX
NOTE: Hey guys sorry for the delay. I was on vacation for the last month to the Philippines. Anyways, here is part 9 for you and as usual please leave a comment. Read and enjoy!
