A/N: Okay, this chapter is hella long, but was pretty fun to write. Thanks to Artistic Juices/Toolz for sending me a good kick in the pants! If you enjoy this last chapter, please drop a review. You never know what may happen… :O
XxxxXXXxxxX
The Walgreens looked like any other. It was about two stories high with the familiar red-lettering scripted over the top of it. Bryce had observed the building and the area surrounding it with a piqued interest, trying to figure out where they were so he could work on a better escape route. Shaw's nondescript black luxury car turned the corner of an intersection and Bryce zoned in on the cross streets.
59th Avenue and Orangeway.
Bryce vaguely remembered passing it when he and Sarah took a drive to go mountain hiking. The young man suppressed the feelings of sadness and nostalgia at the memory. Sarah and Casey were now miles away and Bryce was struggling to conjure up a way to get to them.
Sarah left an appreciable heavier weight of longing in Bryce. Not in a romantic way, though admittedly she was drop-dead gorgeous, but in an odd nurturing manner. The young man supposed it stemmed from the many previous occasions Sarah had been there to offer him comfort or a protective defense when Casey got too ornery, which was less and less often but still an expected occurrence.
Perhaps Bryce was going soft, wanting a mommy-figure in his life to scare away all the horrors, but even if that were the case, Bryce could really care less. It was a nice change, one that Bryce would willingly snap up in a seconds' time.
Still, Sarah wasn't there in the stuffy, leather-interior sedan with the tall, onyx-eyed man that was currently calculating his next sinister move. Bryce was alone in this dire situation so he knew his options were clear: get going or die trying.
Unfortunately, neither choice was particularly appealing to the boy, not to mention, Bryce was beside himself in figuring out what "get going" should entail.
Bryce groaned internally at the briefness of their pharmacy trip, the car already pulling into the drugstore's parking lot. Yes, he would be glad to end sharing oxygen in the little car with Shaw, who continually cast him steely glances that made him fidget a bit, but it also cut his plotting time in half. The blue-eyed teen could only pray that he would find something of use in the chain corner store.
As Shaw pulled the car expertly into the space directly in front, Bryce unbuckled his seatbelt and pulled the handle to leave the vehicle, only it wouldn't budge. Bryce tugged on it futilely a couple more times and watched with angered eyes as Shaw stepped around the front of the car to open the door for him. Bryce climes out of the passenger seat, glaring all the while at the tall, older man who evenly returned his gaze. Without Shaw noticing, Bryce switched the child lock off with a flick of his finer and closed the door.
When he turned to follow Shaw in, partially satisfied with being able to pull a fast one on the senior agent, he halted at the sight of Shaw holding a hand out to him. Bryce just stood there, quirking an eyebrow at the invitation.
"Hold my hand," Shaw said, offering explanation to the bewildered boy. Bryce's mouth just fell open at the statement.
"What? Hell no!" It was as if the whole car trip weren't awkward enough, now this lunatic wanted Bryce to touch him!
Shaw stared at the gloomy and gray sky overhead, his eyes twitching with irritation. Bryce watched him carefully and was a bit taken aback when the man suddenly snatched up his hand into his, pulling him close. Shaw leaned down to put his mouth at Bryce's ear level.
"If you make this any harder than it needs to be, I can promise you, I can make it so much worse." Bryce couldn't help the chill that ran up his spine. The man's hot breath was so close to the exposed part of his neck. It felt like Shaw was going to bite into him as if he were some blood-sucking vampire. Clearly, the boy's imagination was just getting ahead of him as the older man simply stood back up and began pulling him along into the drug store with a painfully firm grip on his hand.
As he tried to keep up with Shaw's long strides, Bryce's eye surreptitiously glanced in every which direction, hungry for some sort of object or door to assist him in his escape. It was going to be difficult, Bryce realized with a heavy heart, to do anything with the tall agent latched onto him like this.
As they passed nearly five aisles, Shaw finally steered them down the sixth one which lead straight to the crook of the store, housing the pharmacy desk. The pharmacy had a long solid blue counter with glass windows just above it. Through the center glass panel, one could see some pharmacy techs bustling about with bags and orange pill bottles full of prescription drugs.
An attractive, green-eyed woman with a pointed features and a petite frame, wearing a white lab coat over an emerald top that matched her eyes, stared at the two of them as they approached with a toothy smile, asking, "Can I help you?" when they finally arrived at the counter.
To Bryce's utter relief, Shaw released his chokehold on his hand to retrieve his brown, leather wallet from the seat of his pant pocket. As Shaw searched for the false prescription, Bryce flexed his aching fingers, but resisted the urge to massage his hands under the unusual scrutiny of the pretty lady waiting on the agent.
She seemed a bit surprised to have been spotted analyzing the two of them by Bryce's quizzical eye and blushed momentarily before explaining. "Sorry, it's just that you two look so much alike. He really takes after you." She nodded approvingly at Bryce to Shaw, who smirked a little at the statement (and his good fortune).
Bryce forced his own smile as Shaw slapped him heartily on the back. "Well, he has his mother's eyes." Shaw told the woman, and Bryce inwardly cringed at the truth of the fallacious statement.
Bryce could tell that Shaw was becoming a tad distracted by the flirtatious lady and the prescription filling so Bryce knew this was about his only opportunity to actually make some progress in his escape. He spotted the perfect area through the window of the pharmacy waiting area.
"Dad," Bryce said and it took about three seconds for Shaw to belatedly turn to him. "I'm going to use the restroom real fast. I drank too much soda at the movie, you know."
Shaw instantly became suspicious, as was common for most of the senior field agents, Bryce was aware. He could only hope that he didn't wind up with the same paranoid tendencies when he made it to Shaw's rank. At least he could say that he tried…
"Oh! Let me buzz you in, honey," the female pharmacist said with a nod to the bathroom door in the window.
Bryce hadn't been aware that the women would need to buzz him in, but it seemed to quell most of Shaw's objections to him running off somewhere alone. Therefore, the fair-skinned man gave a small nod to Bryce's unheard request with a glint in his eyes that promised Bryce he would be carefully watched.
As Bryce suspected, when he rounded the corner to the bathroom, there was a payphone directly in the middle of the women and men's restrooms. He tried to hide his smile and any indication that he had even found something for fear that Shaw really was watching him as vigilantly as his eyes warned. For once, Bryce had found someone as agonizingly intrusive as Casey. Sad day, indeed.
Feigning that he was going into the restroom, Bryce felt like he was pulling one of those "fake escalator" tricks as he crouched down just beneath the window and out of sight to Shaw's eyes. He let the chipped metal door to the bathroom close first, and began crawling down the hallway, only standing again once he was far enough away from the window to the waiting room. Bryce knew he had to act fast so he turned and quickly began unbuckling the tracking device/timepiece on his wrist to read the activation code engraved into the back of it.
The tracking watch had been fried because of whatever electricity field was in the facility Shaw had taken him to, but he could at least get it to blip on Casey and Sarah's radar by calling it in on the payphone. Bryce picked up the sticky black receiver and placed it to his ear as his fingers made fast work of typing Casey's GPS number and then his tracking cipher.
With a sigh of relief, Bryce heard the affirmative beep, signaling that the location was detected on Casey's device. For once, something had gone right. Bryce immediately hung up with a thankful exhale and fished in his pockets for two quarters so he could dial Casey and Sarah personally to brief them on the situation. Just as he placed the quarters in and was about to press the first number to Sarah's cell, a smooth, deep voice startled him out of his potential call.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Bryce froze completely then turned his head to see the anger building on Shaw's tight-lipped expression. Shaw's hooded eyed took in the sight of the teen about to dial a number with the phone to his ear with a critical eye, while Bryce just stood there, feeling like a deer in the headlights.
"I-uh," Bryce tried weakly, his blue eyes round with dread. Nothing! What was he supposed to do? Lie? It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what Bryce was doing and why, but the look on the tall man's face made Bryce almost tremble with fear. They were the eyes of a seriously deranged person and it turned out this particular murderous lunatic was severely pissed off with him. Bryce gulped, his throat dry and his palm sweaty against the smooth, hard telephone handle.
Shaw took two steps closer and took the receiver from Bryce's hand before hanging it up on the silver payphone with a resounding "clank!" He looked down at Bryce with an intense glare, wordlessly snatching up the younger man's wrist in an even more painful and pinching grip than before. Bryce could only hurry after the man as he was dragged with such fervor down the aisles of the drug store it felt like he was in some ridiculous relay race with the man.
"I warned you what would happen if you made things difficult…" Shaw muttered, loud enough for Bryce to hear. The young man felt his heart quicken in speed as he was all but thrown into the passenger side of the balck sedan, slamming his hip painfully into the center console.
Something really bad was about to happen. The much was clear. Bryce only hoped Sarah and Casey would get his message before it was all too late.
XxxxXXXxxxX
Chuck was aghast. Surrounding him was a full blown set up of screens, control panels, and super high-tech equipment. If he weren't currently in a very dire situation, the young teen might've dared let, "I'm in heaven" escape from his gaping lips. How could Bryce have been holding out on him like this?
Sure, when Bryce had finally revealed to him that he was a secret agent, the thought that he did have some super secret spy base did pop into his head, but not to this extent. This setup was sweet. Beyond sweet. He just didn't understand how Bryce could have kept his mouth shut when watching the James Bond flick without saying, "Yeah, I got one of those at home."
If they made it out of this thing unscathed and Bryce continued to be Chuck's friend despite the drawbacks his status as "Intersect" caused, they were totally hanging out in here. Like, all the time.
The thought of Bryce still in the clutches of whatever black-wearing baddies had crashed through his windows made Chuck shudder in fright. What could they be doing to him? Why would they take him and not Chuck? Nothing was making sense and all Chuck desperately wanted was answers!
Unfortunately, the only thing that Sarah and Casey were concerned with was chaotically running about the secret base with deep panic in their eyes. He was surprised to find the two usually stoic and even-headed agents being in such a tizzy over the sudden kidnapping of their youngest team member. Perhaps there was a different dynamic going on than the one Bryce described to him. Chuck wasn't sure he understood anything with these secret agent types…
A sudden blipping noise sounded quietly on the screen closest to Chuck's thigh. He looked down at it and leant in, blinking at the dot on what looked to be a digital map of Burbank.
"Hey, hey, guys. I think-" Chuck started but was immediately pushed aside by Casey, landing harshly on his butt in the office rolling chair, which moved farther right with his added weight.
"It's Larkin's tracker. He's activated its signal with the communication wires." Casey announced, squinting at the green dot symbolizing Bryce's location.
Sarah rushed over, forcing Chuck to roll his chair farther to the right to get out of her way. She tucked her hair behind her ear to better read the screen's map.
"Looks like downtown, near the base of the mountain we hiked at," Sarah said, seeming wistful as she unnecessarily added on the last part.
Casey stared at her evenly; aware Sarah was getting slightly misty-eyed at the memory of her and the boy they had become abnormally attached to. Chuck watched the non-verbal exchange with an odd look, one that clearly said, "I've entered some weird Twilight zone, right?"
"We'll find him , Sarah," Casey told her softly.
"I know, it's just Shaw. He's-"
"We'll get him." Casey interjected. "We've still got time." The burly agent assured her, this time with a nod for comfort's sake. Sarah allowed herself to lift the corner of her mouth at the attempt to qualm her fears. She really hoped Casey was right, and that they weren't already too late.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's kick this mission into gear!" Chuck said, interrupting the "moment" with his usual awkward enthusiasm. The two agents looked at the gangly boy as if he had just appeared out of this air.
"You're staying in the car," Sarah and Casey said in unison deadpan.
XxxxXXXxxxX
Bryce's head stayed plastered against the headrest of the leather seat of Shaw's car. The squared-jawed, ivory skinned agent was currently tearing through the streets back to the hideout that would eventually lead to Bryce's demise. The young man could only wonder how the cops hadn't pulled him over, but then he figured Shaw must have made some sort of deal with the police, who seemed to totally ignore the fact that a car was going ninety in a 35mph zone.
Damn, Shaw acquiring a petty felony was one of Bryce's last ditch efforts to get out of the man's grasp. So much for the reliable justice system.
There still was one more option. And Bryce became on the verge of doing it as Shaw pulled into the driveway of the expansive house in the trendy suburban neighborhood. The vehicle came to a halt as it rolled its way up to the house, and Bryce grasped the cold handle of the car, waiting for Shaw to turn his attention away from him momentarily.
His chance came just as Shaw was getting out to open his passenger-side door. Bryce threw open the door which he had stealthily unlocked and launched himself from the vehicle, breaking into a fierce sprint.
His heart was beating hard as he dashed diagonally toward the corner of the street, across the spread of grass in the front yard. It certainly came as a shock to him to spot, out of nowhere, a tall, buff man in a gardener's getup blocking his path. Bryce tried fruitlessly to brake or avoid the man in front of him, but that just made Shaw seizing him from behind that much easier.
Shaw picked him up with both arms wrapped around Bryce's chest, causing Bryce to thrash and yell out a string of curse words to the older man. Of course, Shaw ignored these as he threw Bryce unceremoniously over his shoulder, eliciting a grunt from the young agent, who continued to struggle despite the strong hold on his legs.
Bryce settled with pounding on the back of Shaw's fitted, black-knit sweater in hopes that it would draw the attention of any neighbors in the area. He stopped though when he heard the man laugh deeply at his efforts.
"There's nobody here, Chuck. Do you think I'm stupid enough to have this little operation go down in a populated neighborhood?" Bryce dearly wanted to answer "Yes, sincerely." To the inquiry about Shaw being stupid, but didn't think it smart considering his unsteady position. Resigned to his fate, Bryce could only hang limply over Shaw's shoulder, his heart beating wildly with the anticipation of the event to come.
What the hell was he supposed to do now?
All of the training he had garnered had either dripped out of the side of his head from the numerous poundings he was forced to endure or he really was what everyone was consistently trying to convince him of: too young for the spy business. Bryce almost wanted to cry once faced with the very real and harsh understanding of his "kid status," but he figured that would only help to solidify the label then subdue it.
As they entered the familiar chilly room full of computers and wires running wildly from the screens in front of the dentist's chair, Bryce couldn't help the quiver that coursed through his body. He didn't care if Shaw felt it through his muscled shoulder, which was dug uncomfortable into Bryce's gut; Bryce was scared. Scared of the prospect of letting the download fry his brain and becoming a useless vegetable. But scared most of all of dying and never getting a chance to experience what it was to be a normal person.
There was still so much he wanted, no, needed to do. Was this really the end…?
Shaw dropped him brusquely into the chair, which still caused Bryce to wince despite the padding on the seat. He watched with wide, careful eyes as Shaw instructed the doctor and techs to get the Intersect warmed up.
"What about his illness? Did you get the medicine?" The doctor asked.
"Well, I'd think by his burst of energy just now, our little Intersect was feeling better," with an air of distate, he eyed Bryce, who sunk a bit into the chair at the veiled accusation. "But yeah, here, get it in him and get started. We don't have much time."
The good doctor nodded, adjusting his glasses to examine the white bag full of prescription drugs to ensure Shaw had retrieved the correct ones. Bryce observed the doctor handing the meds off to one of the burly guards who thus began approaching him with two pills in hand. The teen would have none of the medicine though, not if it was the only thing separating him from death by Intersect and life, but it didn't really matter what he wanted in the end. The guard simply forced the pills past Bryce's lips and tightly plugged his nose with his thumb and forefinger until Bryce choked them down with several hacking coughs.
"We're all set, Shaw," the doctor told the tall, handsome agent, who had been watching the strapping of the young man into the chair with a grave expression.
"Engage," Shaw ordered from his position behind the glass barrier. The tech nodded and flipped open the glass covering of a large red button, which he pressed with uncertainty.
Through the glass, the dimly-lit room sprang to life with the brightening of all twenty screens positioned in a perfect square in front of Bryce. Within ten seconds, the men and women watched as the young man began writhing in agony, bleeding from the eyes and nose and who knows what other orifices. It was a truly horrific scene, but none more painful an experience was had than for Bryce, whose blue eyes filled with large tears of torment that leaked quickly down his cheeks. Terrified screams ripped through the air.
Finally, as quickly as it started, the lights and sounds of the machines vanished. The raspy, deafening scream from Bryce even died down after a couple of moments, replaced only with fast-paced breathing and involuntary whimpers.
Everything was silent now, save for the abrupt slamming on the countertop from Shaw's place that caused the doctor, techs, and even the guards to jump in surprise. The usually calm agent released a low growl before snarling at the closet tech, "What the fuck is going on?"
The frightened technician barely had a chance to stutter out a pitiful excuse before the doors of the base opened, flooding in light from the outside followed by a team of heavily armed men in full tactical gear.
Shaw squinted in the harsh light being shown in his face as he was being thrust against the dashboard of buttons that had evidently had their power cut. The rude flashlight owner revealed himself to be none other than John Casey, who couldn't help the smug smirk from overtaking his face at Shaw's enraged but composed expression. The two had a staring match that made it plain there was history between them.
"What's with the full-man team, Major?" Shaw inquired, trying to mask his frustration over his foiled plan with a jab to his former comrade. "There are other ways to take down evil masterminds, you know."
"Well, it just so happens that this evil mastermind chose the wrong teenage punk to kidnap." Suddenly, the smirk on Casey's face disappeared, swapped for a severe and intimidating scowl, as he leant in closer to Shaw's ear. "And if I find out that there's something wrong with him, I will see to it that you get my own personal brand of torture in an NSA holding facility."
Shaw didn't look fazed in the least, but Casey told himself that he saw that slightest twitch of fear in the trained agent's left eyebrow. Satisfied with himself, Casey straightened himself out and slapped the soldier restraining Shaw on the back. The black haired man allowed himself to be steered in the direction of the exit, but not before leaving with a few last, grievous words:
"There'll be more coming for him."
Casey held Shaw in a steady gaze and waited for him to be lead out before he turned his face to the ground. As much as he hated to admit, Shaw was right. The Intersect would never be safe now, especially with the bits of information Shaw may have let loose from his operation. In that moment, the degree of importance for Chuck's safety was hitting him with full force. It was no wonder Bryce has been trying so hard to hide Chuck from them in the first place.
Speaking of which…
"Hey, what's with the face, man? You just saved Bryce!" Chuck's voice broke into Casey's serious meditation. He turned his head slightly to look at the teen, sneering at him with a small growl.
"Thought we told you to stay in the car," Casey told Chuck, now pointing his flashlight rudely at the young geek's face. He was starting to like this thing.
"Eh, figured the coast was clear when I saw the tall guy being escorted out." Chuck shrugged nonchalantly as if he hadn't just been pissing his pants at the very sight of the man. "Where's Bryce?"
Casey finally realized that the subject of their operation was still yet to be seen. His eyes roved over their surroundings until he saw the familiar flash of Sarah's blonde hair inside a dimly lit room behind a wall of glass. Bryce's form was shadowed but clearly outlined in the padded doctor's chair. As Casey and Chuck made their way over, it was obvious the kid had been through hell and back by his bruised and bleeding appearance.
Chuck looked queasy as he took in the battered sight of his friend. The thought that Bryce was probably only in this position because of him finally had him getting sick in the nearest trash can.
Sarah and Casey ignored the retching noises from the tall, clumsy teen, only focused on the shaggy-haired young agent before them. Sarah was raking her manicured nails through Bryce's bangs, smoothing them out of the way in an attempt to rouse the kid but nothing was working.
"He's alive, right?" Casey inquired, still all business despite the cold pick of worry that was lodged in his gut.
Sarah nodded, but her face crumbled a little at the thought of the boy actually being dead, mainly because he was seriously looking like it at that point. Without another thought, Casey wrapped the lean, blonde woman in his arms, and Sarah accepted it by throwing her face into the crook of Casey's muscled neck and producing the tell-tale sounds of sobbing and heartfelt weeping.
The paramedics came in shortly after that, loading the unconscious, lanky boy deftly into a stretcher as Casey and Sarah watched helplessly on like dumbstruck parents instead of the highly-skilled agents that everyone knew them to be.
The three people followed the ambulance all the way to the hospital in wordless anticipation, not daring to speak even after two hours of waiting in the ER's sitting area. Ellie and Devon arrived just as Sarah was getting seriously impatient with the hospital staff and were able to get the information the concerned "parents" needed on Bryce.
"He's suffered a minor brain hemorrhage," Devon told them, flipping through the "Authorized Personnel Only" chart with a furrowed brow. "Which would be serious in many cases, but because of Bryce's young age, he should recover from it fairly quickly."
"He does have a case of the flu, as I'm sure you're aware due to the drugs that were administered," Ellie chimed in after peaking over at the chart her husband had on hand. "So this may affect the recovery from the hemorrhage, but it's unlikely."
Casey and Sarah nodded, letting the relief wash over them for the first time in hours. Bryce was safe and going to survive. Although they honestly never thought they could feel this much happiness from knowing their youngest team member would be safe, it was a feeling that they would gladly accept over anything else.
XxxxXXXxxxX
If those pills were supposed to make him feel better, they weren't really doing the job, Bryce decided with a small moan. Then again, the way they were shoved down his throat probably wasn't part of the directions listed on the bottle. Bryce's head was pounding as he made to sit up in his full-sized bed in the agent's large, Columbian home/secret base.
Five minutes passed, and the boy listened for the recognizable sounds of Casey making his way up to his room to check on him. It was almost creepy how acute the older agent's hearing could be. Bryce's bed probably only made two squeaks as he had struggled to sit up in it and still the man knew it was him rising from his sleep.
Bryce was at least greeted by not only Casey this time but also Sarah. It had been about two days since he was released from the hospital, making it three days since he had undergone the terrible Intersect treatment in the chair at Shaw's secret base. Once he woke up from the sedation, Bryce had been truly elated to be alive and to be surrounded by the two people who had come to be the closest thing to family in his life. But, as much as he enjoyed having the two with him in his time of recovery, Casey's more brutish and strict tendencies were, as usual, starting to rub Bryce in all the wrong ways.
"Hey, hey, what did I say about touching your dressing?" Casey reprimanded, lightly, because he was working on it. Bryce paused his scratching of the wrapping of gauze around his head. The device that Shaw had him connected to had begun to burn his skin. Bryce was told he was actually quite fortunate that the stinging first degree burn was all that the machine had left behind. The young man still couldn't suppress the eye roll and aggravated scoff as he dropped his hand down from his head to his lap.
"How are you feeling?" Sarah asked, trying to hide her smile at Bryce's dramatic reaction to Casey. She could easily sense Bryce's irritation for Casey was at its boiling point, but couldn't help watching it unfold rather than intervene.
"Better… Really," Bryce emphasized, trying to stress to the two agents that he was well enough to get out of bed. Casey would have none of that though as he pressed his hand to Bryce's cheek, which was flushed with the remnants of fever.
Casey was about to jeer at the notion that Bryce was better, maybe even pepper it with a haughty remark that Bryce would have to spend another week in bed, but Sarah none-too-gently dug her elbow into her partner's rib. Casey looked at her incredulously but understood by her narrowed eyes what she was getting at. He sighed, forced to keep his comments to himself.
"Well, I'll bring you up some soup in a bit. But first…" Sarah began with an impish smile. She pulled out the slim MacBook from behind her back, delight playing on her face. "Somebody wants to talk to you."
Bryce had no clue what Sarah was so giddy about; hell, even Casey looked a little pleased. After positioning the laptop on a pillow in front of Bryce, Sarah and Casey sat on either side of Bryce on the bed before Sarah switched the screen to "on", revealing the face of none other than General Beckman herself. ("Excited" wasn't usually a term Bryce would use to describe his meetings with the General, but he would wait a moment before making any judgments this time).
"Agent Larkin," General Beckman greeted with her usual uniformed self, disproving frown and brow resolutely set on her face. "You don't look well. Have they been taking care of you?"
Bryce resisted the urge to make a face. He hated it when people worried after him, and definitely didn't like the idea of needing to be "taken care of." He cleared his throat thoughtfully before speaking, "Yeah, they have. Much more than needed, I might add…"
"That's good to hear," Beckman said, ignoring the last remark. "Now, onto business, as you may not know, a very select group here at headquarters know about the Intersect you've been trying to hide from us."
A pregnant pause followed.
The young man held his breath. This was it, the moment he had been so scared would come. Bryce honestly didn't know what would happen from here though. Where was he supposed to go without the agency? The thought alone had almost sent him into a full-blown panic attack not a week ago. He kept quiet though, his breath caught in his throat as he waited for the words which would terminate his entire existence.
"We're very pleased with the actions you've taken on this mission, and have decided that we should follow suit," the General declared.
Bryce blinked, not knowing what just happened. Had he heard wrong? Surely, he had. Nothing she was saying made a lick of sense. What did she mean by "following suit"? The boy was clearly missing something here. Since when did hiding exclusive government information constitute a reward on Bryce's part? His head felt like it was spinning more than usual.
"Come again?" Was all that Bryce could gasp out under the weight of her statement.
The General didn't appear pleaseed with the casualness of the young agent's request, but decided to continue nonetheless. "We're going to take the plans that Sarah and Casey put together and set you up as the formal handlers for Operation: Intersect." Bryce's brain was slowly churning with how this was going to work. The General saw the teen's confusion and sighed before further elaborating, "You're going to keep your covers as the family next door and keep protective measures on the Bartowski boy."
Bryce felt his icy blue eyes bug out of his head. "Really? We-we get to stay here, in Burbank? For how long?"
The General rubbed her temple, growing tired of the boy's constant confusion. "I'm not sure, Agent Larkin. Let's just cross that bridge when we come to it. At this moment in time, you are son to Agents Walker and Casey. That is all that should concern you."
Without even a final farewell, the screen went black, signaling her logging off.
Bryce could only stare in shock at the screen. What had just happened? Was he just handed the opportunity to be a part of this quirky, little family? He looked up at Sarah, who was smiling at him with an air of hesitation.
"Aren't you happy, Bryce?" she said, her smile becoming crestfallen.
"I-I," Then his slow, fevered mind let it click, and it was like all the endorphins from his brain were released into his body because he could confidently say that he had never been this happy in his entire life. This was his chance to be normal, to experience the world, to feel what it was like to have an actual family. He turned to Sarah with a brightened beam. "I'm ecstatic. Are you kidding?"
She returned the 1000-watt grin and warmly embraced the already radiating boy. She released him after a few minutes and sniffed from the tears that had managed to escape. Apparently, this was also a big opportunity for Sarah and Casey just as much as it was for him.
"Wow, you're really burning up." Sarah said with a small laugh, wiping a tear away from Bryce cheek with her thumb. The teen hadn't even recalled when he started crying; he felt too happy to be able to cry.
"I'll go get a bath started," Casey said rising. He spoke again just before Bryce could object. "It'll bring the fever down; so you're taking one."
Bryce couldn't even bring himself to argue with the older man now. Casey's actions showed a deeper care for him than he had ever experienced with any male role models. Even if Casey would never out and out say it, Bryce could tell that the man had grown a soft side for him, manifested in his constant nagging and overindulgence. Suddenly Casey's constant mother-hen activities became… nice, as opposed to freakishly overbearing, which is what Bryce considered them only minutes ago.
"I'm going to go help him," Sarah said, planting a quick peck on Bryce's warm cheek. He only flushed deeper at the unexpected display of affection, but the woman didn't seem to notice as she called after her, "Go get a change of clothes!" before exiting his quaint bedroom.
Instead of rummaging through his drawers for another pair of boxers and pajamas, Bryce uncovered his phone from his pillowcase (he had hidden it for fear that Casey would seize that, too). There was already a text from Chuck waiting for him by the time he activated the mobile. It read,
"Welcome 2 the neighborhood. Casey gave me the low-down. Good luck with that guy as ur new dad! Lol."
Bryce couldn't help the chuckle at the other boy's text. In his excitement over having the pair of agents as his parents, he hadn't even realized he would get to continue his strange, nerdy friendship with Chuck. That realization only made the smile on Bryce's face grow to an almost cheek-splitting degree. Hurriedly, before Sarah and Casey came back, wondering if he'd escaped again, he texted the other teen back,
"I'd be careful what you say since we're going to be around a while. Haha! Anyways, we're good for Call of Duty this weekend, right?"
A reply was sent back almost instantaneously,
"I thought u'd never ask! You're ON like Donkey Kong!" Chuck's text read, his personality oozing through with each word.
Bryce shook his head at his phone before tossing it to the side. Sure it wasn't your average family, but it was the fact that it was so abnormal that made Bryce love it all the more.
XxxxXXXxxxX
The End.
A/N: Phew! All done. I just want to thank all my faithful readers for seeing this story through. As you could tell by my first posting of this story, this was definitely not something that I thought would get good, if any, reception, but you guys proved me wrong. I love that you enjoyed my weird-ass story, and hope I can continue to meet your expectations.
Please, drop me one last feedback on the ending! It'd make my winter break! :D
Have nice days,
~Sarah