I don't own Chuck et al.
A.N. Last week, I had a bad day at work. There was no real reason, I just had the blahs. My customers were their normal genius selves, I just wanted to bite most of them. This song saved me. On the drive home, it came up. Wind the windows up, turn up the volume and scream along. Cathartic therapy.
This song is a screamer. Find it and join in. You'll like it.
Words and music by Don Walker (no relation)
Cheap Wine
by
Cold Chisel
Once I smoked a Danneman cigar,
I drove a foreign car,
But baby that was years ago;
I left it all behind,
"Enjoy the rest of your life, Chuck."
Taken at face value, it was a nice thought.
Except, Chuck caught Sarah's expression in the reflection of the monitor. And the look she then flashed at Casey.
Perhaps it wasn't a nice thought. It wasn't even a threat. It was a good bye. Chuck realise he wasn't even worth a threat from Graham.
They were going to kill him, Chuck realised. Sarah had obviously figured it out, judging by the micro burst of horror on her face. And Casey would be the one to pull the trigger.
Chuck had a very nasty thought. If he was right, Sarah would try to distract him. And Chuck was honest enough with himself to acknowledge that she would succeed, she being Sarah, and him being Chuck. She was his blind spot.
I had a friend, I heard she died,
On a needle she was crucified,
Baby that was years ago.
I left all behind, for my
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Come-on, come-on, come-on,
Outside, he bantered lightly about his girlish screams in the face of danger. Chuck thought she was being honest when she said "Well, you could've fooled me."
They faced each other silently. The real conversation passed between them in their eyes.
Sarah asked him "So, what happens now?" breaking the moment, as she almost always did.
He was caught of guard. This was happening so fast, he had nothing planned. The first thing that came into his mind was "Well, I've got the Buy More..."
Sarah interrupted him "Chuck, can I tell you something?"
He looked at her seriously. "Of course."
She smiled "You can do anything, I've seen you in action and I'm not just talking about the bomb defusing or the diamond stealing. I mean, anything you wanted, you could have."
Chuck dipped his gaze. Was it wishful thinking to hear her stress the word 'anything' ever so slightly? Or to think she was looking at him hopefully? Wishful thinking? Part of him wanted it to be so, but then he looked into her eyes. Maybe it hadn't been wishful at all.
All he had to say was her name. She was the 'anything' he wanted. The way she waited for him with her lips slightly parted almost made him ruin everything.
All he had to say was her name.
This was driving him nuts. Sarah had always gone above and beyond to protect him. But would she defy orders?
One word, one name could ruin everything.
When they finally parted, there was no kiss, no touch. She held his eyes with her gaze for longer than an agent should her asset. That had stayed the same, at least. He watched her re-enter Casey's apartment, and pause at the door for a final look at him. They shared a frowny smile.
He had to run. Now. The watch came off as soon as he was in his bedroom. He left though the living room balcony and over the railing into the garden.
I don't mind takin' charity,
From those that I despise,
Baby I don't need your love
I don't need your love.
Sarah didn't scream, but it wasn't at conversation volume either "Casey you can't just kill him!"
Casey just waited her out.
She emphasised "Chuck never wanted any of this. Of us! He was never asked, and yet he'd done everything we've made him do! Everything! You can't just kill..."
"Walker, you're compromised. How many have you kill..."
"Compromised be damned! This is wrong! You know it! Chuck's a good guy... he deserves better... better..."
Casey just looked at her fight the tears. In civilian terms she barely moved, but to the eyes of an agent, she was practically weeping. "I like him too" he said quietly. But then he shrugged "Orders."
"Casey, please don't... I could..." her eyes darted this way and that as she thought frantically.
"Take him off grid? Make sure he never flashes again? Protect him from me? Or and army of men like me? This is the life we chose, Walker."
"Chuck didn't choose..." she whispered.
Baby you can shout at me,
But can't meet my eyes,
I don't really need your love,
I don't need your love. I got my
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Come-on, come-on, come-on,
Orders. It was orders that made Chuck realise his situation.
When Bryce came back into his life at yet another of the most inconvenient moments of his life, Chuck had spoken to Casey.
Sarah had been busy at the time. Chuck tried not to think about that. And Chuck had asked Casey why he'd shot Bryce.
"Orders." Casey had said, as if Chuck had been a moron for asking.
Chuck figured out the next piece of the puzzle himself. The Intersect computer. Yes, the first one had been destroyed.
But the plans would still be on file somewhere. And Occam's Razor led him to the conclusion that the government would build it again. After all, once you've made the first one, you know how to build it again. And the second time around will be cheaper, since you know what to do now.
And of course once you've got a real one, probably in the heads of real spies, what possible use is one Charles Irving Bartowski, of the Encino Bartowski's?
OK, he could end up in a bunker for the rest of his life. Not the best option, but for the cost of a single bullet, there was a simpler and cheaper solution...
Orders... moron...
Sitting on a beach drinkin'
rocket fuels, oh yeah!
Spent the whole night breaking
all the rules, oh yeah!
Because he fixed broken computers for eleven dollars an hour, Chuck knew how much patience people had for old and out of date computers. Not many five and a quarter inch floppies still out there for some reason.
No. Old and out of date computers were destroyed. If they weren't too old, some of the parts could be salvaged, but somehow he didn't think that was an option for himself.
As soon as the new Intersect computer was up and running, Chuck was dead. And the problem with Occam's Razor is, it's very hard to find a happy alternative once you've found the simplest solution.
Chuck didn't want to be dead.
He began to plan how to run. When Sarah had sat beside him on the beach that first morning, he'd thought of the options available to him. And she'd gently confirmed his thesis. There was nowhere he could run. Not from them.
Even then, she'd been gentle with him, he realised.
But that was almost a year ago. He'd grown some in that time.
Fake identification and passports. Covert bank accounts. They were...fun. Chuck had had fun when Sarah at first, but then Casey too had shown him how these things were done.
Once you knew how, it was depressingly easy, actually.
Mendin' every minute of the day before,
Watching the ocean, watching the shore,
Watching the sunrise and thinkin'
there could never be more,
Never be more, yeah!
So, Chuck ended up with the task of creating covers for the team. He found he was good at it. Not just IDs, but whole covers, phone and gas bills. Tax records, a whole fake life. A lot of it was never used, and he recycled. Chuck prided himself on keeping at least two covers in advance all the time. The truth was he had up to ten in advance most of the time. Once he realised what was going to happen.
Casey and Sarah never knew the extras he'd made. He'd moved more money than he ever thought existed into accounts for these covers, moving back into the coffers once done.
Seven million dollars. That was what he figured he would need. And that was being frugal. Once upon a time, that figure would have been a fortune, but after a few months, it was practically pocket change to these guys. Chuck was shuffling another eight hundred and seventy million around. It wasn't like he was stealing it, he had authorisation to create these lives.
It sounded like a lot, but it wasn't. It was enough, and that was all. And that would probably only buy him ten years. After that, he would either be dead, or, he hoped, no one would care anymore. Option 'B' was Chuck's preferred option.
Well anytime you wanna find me find me,
I don't have a telephone,
I'm another world away,
But I'll always feel at home, with my
Casey knocked on the front door.
"Hi John" smiled Ellie. A little puzzled.
"Is Chuck...?" Casey asked, wearing the Buy More green shirt. He was here to car pool with Chuck.
"I thought he was out with Sarah. He wasn't here when we got home last night."
Casey kept his face still "No problem, I must have forgotten."
As soon as the door closed he was on the phone "Walker! Where's Chuck!"
Sarah answered on hands-free while she drove "He's not with you? I haven't seen him since the briefing last night" her heart missed a beat. Chuck. "Have you checked his locater?"
Casey's growl indicated that naturally he had, first thing "Shows he's in his room. Ellie says was gone when they got home last night. Walker, I have to ask. Did you warn him?"
She hesitated, but had to be honest "No. I... I wanted to... after we left the briefing... No. No warning." She swallowed, audibly.
Casey hesitated too "Could he have figured this out?" he asked in a quiet voice.
"Chuck's smart" she admitted "I know you call him a moron, but you know that he's not. He's smart... the smartest man I've ever known..."
"*Grunt* You're on your way in? Right. Meet me in the new base. We need to advise ..."
"Casey we have to find him!"
"We're going to. Christ, this is a cluster f..."
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Come-on, come-on, come-on,
come-on, come-on,
He lived in Berlin for two months, before a flash of blonde hair spooked him.
Ironic really, since the Germans seemed pride themselves on their blondness. They were everywhere.
Casey was inside Chuck's Berlin address three minutes after Chuck drove calmly down the strass in his Audi. He drove calmly, but there was a pool of sweat at his back as he drove.
Sarah gave him one thing. She taught him how to do this. To her chagrin, he was better at it than she was. He never went anywhere without at least three exits available. That applied to coffee shops and nations. He always had three cover lives ready at any time.
It was after the first six months that Ellie had left a voice mail on Sarah's phone. Shit. He'd told Ellie. Told her everything.
"Sarah. This is Ellie. Sarah... is that even your name? You lied to me! Worse, you lied to Chuck! Was everything fake, Sarah? Fake Sarah...he loved you! LOVED you. Love, do you even know what that means?"
Sarah listened to the whole message, she didn't cry. She blew her nose a lot, but she didn't cry. She saved the message, very careful not to delete it.
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Come-on, come-on, come-on,
come-on, come-on,
He never 'painted himself into a corner.' South Africa, Australia and New Zealand were not available to him. They were dead ends. Bottle neck traps. Islands were an option only when there were exit strategies open. Indonesia and The Philippines kept him alive for six months. There were so many islands. Chuck lost weight, gained muscle mass from his outdoor lifestyle. His skin darkened in the sun. He would have liked to try Hawaii, but it was too isolated. A trap.
It was in DC that Sarah and Chuck saw each other for the first time in almost a year.
When he saw her he stopped in his tracks. The sudden movement caught her attention. Across the street from each other they looked at each other.
"Chuck..." she whispered.
"Sarah... I..." he called out, before realising what he was doing, and bolted for the Mall underground.
She gave chase, and for five minutes forgot she was supposed to call in any sighting.
Two days later she and Casey found his nest, abandoned, in one of the storage sections of the Smithsonian.
In Israel, he even used his own name, Bartowski. Sarah smiled when she found out. Casey even grunted an amused noise.
Near the eighteenth month, she discovered he even lived in her DC apartment for two weeks. The doorman complimented her on "picking a good one, this time." In some ways, it was truly the first time he'd shared her bed...
It was in Burbank, that his luck ran out. As he'd thought all those months ago, Sarah was the one to distract him. After they'd spent almost a minute lost in each others eyes, unable to speak.
In the end, she did give him warning.
"Casey" she breathed in horror, looking over Chuck's shoulder.
The shot hit him in the back of the neck. It was clean. Instantaneous. As he fell, she caught him with her name being shaped by his lips.
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Come-on, come-on, come-on,
I left her for my, my my,
Sarah retired from the CIA on a full pension. The Burbank debacle (both of them) had broken the CIAs enforcer. Beckman was amazed when she read the video log transcripts, and the psychiatrist's report that Walker had been able to function at all in the hunt for Bartowski. Both agents had confirmed the body was that of Bartowski, and the DNA from the autopsy confirmed it.
Beckman knew that Walker had been compromised by the Intersect, but the report made it clear Walker could never function again as an agent. Even analysis was not really an option for her.
Casey opted for early retirement too. He was nearing fifty. That is ancient for a field operative. The psychiatrist's report on Casey reported he was compromised too. Damn Bartowski, thought Beckman.
.
She moved into Casey's old apartment, since the NSA owned it. The titles were signed over to Sarah Irving. She dreaded meeting Ellie, but there was no way she could live anywhere else, now.
From the moment she'd met him, Chuck had been her home.
Ellie just stared at Sarah, standing in her door way. Neither said anything, but Ellie stepped aside and allowed Sarah in. It took three bottles of red, a box of tissues each, and the night ended with Devon carrying Sarah to Chuck's cold bed, for the two to come to an arrangement. Chuck might have been dead, but Sarah loved him, and that made up for a lot in Ellie's eyes.
.
Weeks dragged into months. Sarah found a job. She laughed for the first time in ages at the thought of what Chuck would say at her teaching self defence in her little dojo. She quickly became popular with the movie studios. Ever since Matrix, the movies had loved realistic fight scenes. She taught famous actors the meaning of pain.
It was two years since he'd run. When she came home, he was waiting for her.
"Chuck..." she breathed at the sight of him standing in her living room. The same one, when he'd realised it was time to run.
And they were in each others arms. He held her tight, running his hands through her hair, breathing in the scent he loved.
"Hi..." he said, and then he kissed her.
When she opened her eyes, he was smiling at her "I love you Sarah"
"Chuck, I love you too. Is Casey...?"
"Yeah, he's in the next room. Thought he'd give us a moment. Lady feelings, you know... Casey" Chuck called.
"Walker" said a smiling Casey, as he came in, seeing the two still entwined.
"It's Irving, now actually" said Sarah "but thank you for looking after Chuck while I got set up."
Casey didn't actually blush, but it looked like he was trying to move the kitchen floor tiles with his feet "Well, he's not as bad as he used to be."
"Nah, I'm still me. He's just mellowed a bit, without you to balance out his oestrogen levels" grinned Chuck at Sarah. "But I couldn't have done it without you guys. Thank you for killing me, Casey."
"Anytime. Shame we did kill you though, you'd have made a pretty good spy, Chuck. There was some nice work there..."
Chuck held Sarah tight, looking at his love "I had a good teacher."
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Cheap wine and a three-day growth,
Come-on,
A. I have shamelessly plagiarised Chuck's 'Occam's Razor' scene from Course Jester's magnificent "Sarah vs the Second First Date."
After I got hooked, I think that was the first story I 'added to favourites.'
-o0o-