Chuck in a Moment
Chapter 10: Desire
CAST (in order of appearance):
Chuck Bartowski – Zachary Levi
Veronica Mars – Kristen Bell
Airman Reynard – Michael Weston
Sarah Walker – Yvonne Strahovski
Keith Mars – Enrico Colantoni
John Casey – Adam Baldwin
Logan Echolls – Jason Dohring
Dr. Martin Ducard – Christoph Waltz
Prime Minister of Canada – Leonard Nimoy
Langston Arthur Graham – Tony Todd
8:00 P.M., Central Standard Time
Sunday, July 12th, 2009
Lac la Plonge Auxiliary Air Field, Saskatchewan, Canada
Chuck and Veronica sat in the living room, as far away from each other as they could be and still sit on furniture. Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica was in the DVD player, but neither of them was really paying much attention.
They were both still fairly shell shocked from their encounter with Dr. Ducard that afternoon. Chuck couldn't believe that any human being could be so horrible as he was. Veronica was just trying to wish it all away.
The semi-quiet of the room was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Chuck frowned, paused the DVD, and went to the door. He opened it, and Airman Reynard stood there, an apologetic look on his face.
"I'm sorry for disturbing you," he said. "Doctor Ducard asked me to come by, and remind you that you have a job to do. He also asked me to remind you that there would be consequences if you didn't follow through on the job."
Chuck looked at the young man for a moment. He couldn't have been any more than eighteen or nineteen. "Airman Reynard," he said, "why are you here?"
Reynard looked confused. "This is where the Air Force sent me, sir."
"But, I mean, why do you stay here, given what goes on?"
Reynard shook his head. "I don't know what goes on here, sir. I don't ask, they don't tell."
"I see," Chuck mused. "In that case, do me a favor, go back to Doctor Ducard, and tell him the job's already been taken care of."
Reynard pursed his lips and shook his head again. "Sorry, sir, he told me to expect you to say that, and if you did say that, I was to tell you that he can tell whether or not it's been done."
Chuck sighed. "Of course the house is wired," he whispered. He turned around and faced the living room. "You're a real douchebag, Ducard!" he shouted, startling Veronica.
He turned back to Reynard. "Is there anything else, Airman?"
"Yes, sir," Reynard said softly. "He asked me to remind you that the task needs to be accomplished at least once a day."
"Once a – Jesus!" Chuck exclaimed. "Reynard, do you have any idea what it is that Ducard wants us to do?"
"No, sir," Reynard replied. "I don't want to know."
Chuck nodded. "That's probably for the best. Alright, you can go back to Doctor Douchebag, and tell him that it'll be done before the night is out."
"Thank you, sir."
Chuck slowly swung the door shut, then turned back toward the room. He looked like a defeated man, his head hanging, his shoulders slumped.
He didn't even look at Veronica, but rather just turned and headed into the bedroom. When Veronica followed him in there five minutes later, she found him laying face down on the bed, a pillow over his head.
"Chuck," she said softly, sitting down on the bed next to him.
There was a muffled explosion from beneath the pillow. "This is SHIT!" Veronica heard.
She gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "Chuck, you have a choice here."
He sat up, the pillow flying off his head. Chuck looked at Veronica incredulously and shook his head. "I don't have a CHOICE," he replied.
"Doctor Ducard gave you two options," Veronica said. "Two options means you have a choice."
Chuck put a hand to his forehead. "Okay, let's examine those options for a moment. Behind door number one – I can do something that I know will hurt my fiancée terribly, but which I know that she, more than anybody else I have ever known, will understand."
"Why are you so sure Sarah will understand?" Veronica asked quietly.
Chuck sighed. "She was an intelligence operative for years," he said. "She understands that sometimes… um… you use it as a tool. That it's necessary."
He shrugged. "I know she'll understand. I know she'll be hurt, but since door number two is doing nothing and allowing you, one of the people I care about most in this world, to die horrifically…"
Chuck looked up and looked Veronica in the eyes. "I don't have a choice."
Her eyes teared up, but she smiled at him. "Thank you."
Chuck smiled too, a small smile, but still a smile that in and of itself told Veronica how much he cared about her. "Come here," he said softly, reaching out an arm.
Veronica shifted over, allowing him to draw her to him and wrap her in a hug. She hugged him back, and then, after a moment, lifted her head. She gently kissed him on the cheek, then on the neck.
Chuck stiffened. "What are you doing?" he asked quietly.
"We have to do this, Chuck," she replied, just as quietly. "But here's the thing. If we're going to, we should at least not make ourselves hate it, don't you think?"
She felt Chuck sigh. He said nothing, did nothing, for at least a minute, and finally whispered, "Okay."
He tilted his face down toward hers. Veronica closed her eyes as she felt Chuck's lips gently meet her own.
7:10 P.M., Pacific Daylight Time
The home of Logan Echolls
Neptune, California
Sarah sat on a couch, trying not to think too much. Keith Mars and John Casey were hunched over a table, looking over the Balboa County Sheriff's Department force structure, and trying to figure out what other agencies they could draw manpower from.
She knew that she should really be participating in the strategy session, but she felt sick. It wasn't a nauseous type of sickness, either. It was the type of sickness you feel when you think that the person you love is cheating on you.
Sarah had no idea why she felt that way. Chuck was trapped on a remote air base in Saskatchewan. Who could he possibly be cheating on her with there?
Veronica Mars, her brain said accusingly.
Sarah shook her head to try to banish the thought from her mind, but it wouldn't go away. Sighing, she leaned forward, resting her head in her hands.
"Hey," she heard.
She looked up, and saw Logan Echolls standing there, a concerned look on his face. "Listen, I'm sure it's not any of my business, but are you doing okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," Sarah sighed. "I'm just… I'm really worried about Chuck."
"And I am really worried about Veronica," Logan replied, "but that's not just a look of concern that's written all over your face. It's also got a trace of jealousy, if I remember correctly from my 'Guide to the Faces of Angry Women'."
Sarah smiled briefly. "Yeah," she said. "I just, I can't help but wonder what he's doing up there with her."
Logan shook his head and sat down on the couch next to her. "What do you think he's doing up there with her?"
"I don't know," Sarah admitted. "I just have a bad feeling about it."
"Are you afraid he's gonna cheat on you with her?" Logan asked Sarah. "Because, you know, I got to know Chuck pretty well in the months before you returned from the grave, and I don't see him as doing that type of thing, like, ever."
He stopped and sighed. "I can't see Veronica doing something like that, either. The only way she would ever, EVER do that is if his life depended on it. And that seems like a fairly unrealistic scenario, don't you think?"
Sarah nodded. "Yeah," she replied. "That's about the only circumstances I can see Chuck doing that under, too. I mean, if her life depended on it, I'm sure he would. I'd understand. I'd expect him to."
Logan smiled. "Now, see, where were all the girls like you when I was in high school?"
Sarah rolled her eyes. "In the Drug Enforcement Administration. I'm not saying that's an invitation for him to go screw around with Veronica, I'm just saying that if her life somehow depended on it, I'd expect him to do the right thing."
Logan gave her a curious look. "Those girls are in the DEA? What's that supposed to mean?"
8:30 P.M., CST
Lac la Plonge
Chuck lay on his back, staring at the ceiling – just as he had been for the last five minutes.
The room was dark, and he couldn't see anything. There was a reason for that. He had intentionally turned the lights off so that he wouldn't see Veronica, couldn't accidentally see himself in a mirror – because he didn't think he could face her or himself right at the moment.
But she was still there next to him. Her head rested on his shoulder, and he could feel her breathing. He started unconsciously tracing circles on her bare back with his finger.
"I'm sorry," Veronica whispered.
"Sorry for what?" he asked.
"For making you do this," she replied, and he could hear that her voice was about to break. "For making you be unfaithful to Sarah."
"Don't," Chuck whispered. "You will never have to apologize for making me do something that saves your life. Not now, not ever."
He was quiet for a moment, and then said, "I'm sorry, though."
"For what?" Veronica asked, lifting her head a little.
"For being so hesitant to do the right thing," Chuck answered.
"No, no," Veronica replied. "I don't want you to ever apologize for being such a good person. Okay?"
"Okay."
Martin Ducard leaned back in his office chair and rolled his eyes.
"God, what a couple of whiners," he remarked. "Never in my life have I heard two people complain so much about sex."
"That's what happens when you put good people in a bad situation," a voice said from the speakerphone.
"Sir, there's no such thing as a good person or a bad person," Ducard replied. "They're just people."
"You may have been at that place too long, Ducard. Anyway, I received the protest from the President."
"And?"
"And I'm going to tell him to stick it where the sun doesn't shine, along with a strongly worded statement about how dare he send four intelligence agents into my country."
"Very good, Mr. Prime Minister."
8:00 P.M., PDT
Neptune, California
Sarah's phone began ringing. She removed it from her purse, and saw the CIA logo pop up on the screen. That meant it was Director Graham's direct line.
She stepped outside the house, and hit a series of buttons. A moment later, the call connected.
"Walker, secure," she said.
"This is Graham, secure," he replied. "I see you're in Neptune, Agent Walker. You're not planning anarchy and mayhem, are you?"
"No, sir," she replied. "Just informing Sheriff Mars of his daughter's disappearance."
Graham was quiet for a moment. "I really wish you hadn't done that, Agent Walker."
Sarah shook her head and rolled her eyes. "So I'm supposed to let the man believe that his daughter fell off the face of the planet?"
"Walker, I wish you hadn't done that because Keith Mars has been known to create anarchy and mayhem when it suits his purposes."
"Well, sir, maybe if we weren't being a bunch of diplomatic candy-asses and actually doing something about the situation, he wouldn't have to."
Graham said nothing for so long that Sarah thought she'd lost him. Finally, though, he spoke again. "I know it's difficult for you, with Bartowski being up there, but you have to be objective about this."
"I CAN'T be objective about this, sir!" Sarah exploded. "This is not a mission. This is not Bryce Larkin with a Venezuelan agent in Cabo San Lucas. This is Chuck Bartowski, my Chuck, my fiancé, stuck in the goddamn middle of nowhere under the thumb of Fulcrum, who plans to do God-knows-what to him!"
Graham sighed. "I can recall you if need be, Agent Walker."
"Then you will have my resignation, sir, and it will be PERMANENT this time."
"Well, I don't want that," Graham replied. "Alright. Fine, you don't have to be objective about it. I can understand your reasons why, even if I don't agree with them. But you need to know that the Prime Minister of Canada basically told the President that he could take his diplomatic protest and shove it. He also had some things to say about four intelligence agents being in his country, even though the President tried to explain that it was really an analyst, a federal cop, and two agents – and that you were all on vacation."
"Asshole," Sarah muttered. "So what next?"
"Well, ordinarily, we'd recall our embassy staff, but that's generally a prelude to war, and we are not going to war with Canada over a computer nerd with a super-brain and an FBI agent."
Sarah sighed. "I understand, sir."
"Good," Graham said. "We'll do everything we can, Walker, but please – behave yourself?"
"Of course, sir," Sarah replied. "I'll be on my best behavior."