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Chapter 11

Chuck and Sarah vs. Ellie and Awesome 6 – The Plan

The Walkertowski-Grimes Place

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"What do you have there, Chuck?"

"In a minute. First, Sarah, guess who I found with Morgan."

"No."

"Yep."

"Casey is gonna—"

"We need a plan."

"Right."

"Guys, what are you talking about?"

"Devon, I found Morgan in my bedroom with Alex."

"Way to go Morgan!"

"No. That was not happening. If that was happening we would be evacuating right now to get away from the Casey explosion."

"Oh."

"As it is, Morgan is still in serious danger. Casey has been very overprotective of Alex since he only recently discovered he has a daughter. Casey almost killed Morgan on our last mission because he found out he had her phone number. Eventually, Casey will get out of this phase. Until then, we need to make Casey think nothing is going on between them. So Sarah, plan?"

"Casey leaves for Castle cleanup oversight in an hour. He'll be gone until morning. Did Alex drive?"

"No"

"Good. Later tonight, I can fake a perimeter sensor log entry that she left earlier. Then I can drive her home on my way to Castle. I'm not due to report in tonight, but I'll tell Casey I forgot something in my locker."

"You don't think he has her lo-jacked, do you?"

"I convinced him not to. She's an adult."

"I wish that argument worked for me."

"You kept taking off your watch anyway. I told Casey we could use her phone GPS for emergencies."

"I already told her to pull the battery."

"Good."

"Sarah, we're probably making her paranoid of her own dad. Maybe you should talk him up on the way home."

"Me? Talk?"

"You've been doing a great job tonight."

"I guess it's the least I can do for my partner. So what's with the poster?"

"This was my plan to get control of my life. Well not so much a plan, as a mind map that I could use to generate a plan."

"Chuck, it's just the poster that Dad gave you."

"On this side, it is a collectible. On this side…"

"Chuck, you didn't. Some of this information is classified. All of this information is classified. And you just hung it on your wall? What if someone saw it?"

"First, Sarah, I was classified, and I hung out in my room all the time. Second, only Morgan, Casey, Ellie, Devon, you and I are ever in that room—until now apparently, with Alex in there. All of those people are people I completely trust. Third, no one messes with the Tron poster. Why do you think I wouldn't let you and Ellie get rid of it with the move-in/twenty-four hour protection plan? And finally, with all these secrets floating around up here, I needed to brain dump some of it to stay sane."

"I'm surprised Casey never saw it on the cameras."

"He probably thought I was working on something, but didn't want to know what. It's not like he didn't have my room locked down anyway."

"Where did you get the pictures?"

"I printed out copies at Castle."

"I see you have my old CIA photo. I like that one better."

"I like it better too. You were with me, not that other guy at the time. You were happier."

"I was."

"Sarah?"

"Yes Ellie?"

"Your middle name is Lisa?"

"Yes. I mean what? I mean how did you know that?"

"It's right here, by your picture."

"Don't worry, Sarah. I only have Jenny Burton and Lisa here, not your other names. I haven't updated this since we found Orion. I told you I knew your middle name." Grin

"You did hear me."

"You should have seen the dance of joy I did when I left that night."

"I wish I had. You know I have to confiscate that."

"Only the backing please. The poster can stay in our room. Maybe you could hang the backing in the new Castle. The old Castle really needed some decorations."

"Chuck, I'm not hanging something that says my middle name, 'What are her true feelings?' and 'Do we have a chance?' where Casey and other agents might see. I'd never hear the end of it."

"Maybe I'll hang it at that other place, then."

"Yes, it needs some nerd decoration too. The search for Orion diagram seems appropriate."

"Brother, it's one thing to hear you talk about your crazy spy life, but it's another thing to see it all mapped out."

"Sis, my life wasn't really that crazy yet. That did not happen until we found Orion."

"The guy who could get the Intersect out of your head?"

"Yes, him. The problem was, at this point Beckman decided we were too valuable as a team to break up. She wanted to Intersect to stay in my head. The government was looking for Orion, but only for his knowledge of the Intersect design, not to help me. Fortunately, I designed a web search of my own to look for Orion-"

"—without my knowledge."

"Without Sarah's knowledge because I really didn't think it would work. Little did I know, Orion already knew who I was and was waiting for the opportunity to contact me. He contacted me at work, sent a special, secure computer, which everyone mistook for the new R7 laptop. The laptop was not really appropriate for display on the Buy More sales floor because it could redirect UAVs. Lester, Jeff, and Morgan tried to use it blow up the Beverly Hills Buy More, thinking it was a video game. Big Mike confiscated the computer and locked it up in his safe. After 'reacquiring' it, Beckman wouldn't let me use it to contact Orion. It turns out Beckman didn't want me to talk to Orion."

"Why not?"

"She wanted Chuck to remain the Intersect. He was a victim of his own success. Team Chuck was too good at countering Fulcrum. She came out to retrieve the laptop personally."

"Orion contacted me, helped me sneak out to meet him. A Fulcrum agent who we thought was dead (he never did seem to die) captured me to lure out Orion. Sarah figured out I was missing and rescued me, but not before Orion was captured by Fulcrum. He redirected a UAV to take out his helicopter. With Orion dead, Beckman came clean about her desire to keep the Intersect in my head. In a perfect double whammy, she ordered the 49B."

"49B?"

"When the Beckman came out, I was put in a difficult position. None of this was fair to Chuck. I wanted to help Chuck get the Intersect out of his head, but I couldn't disobey the General. Chuck and I said a few things that made her suspicious. A 49B is an evaluation of the effectiveness of an agent. A replacement agent was sent out to assume my role as handler and determine if I had an inappropriate relationship with Chuck."

"They sent out someone to determine if you and Chuck had feelings for each other? Didn't they already know? It was so obvious. I knew after our first lunch at the Wienerlicious."

"As you have seen, I act differently with the General. Casey had been covering for us in his reports. However, it didn't take my replacement any longer than you to figure it out. I was reassigned."

"Everything went wrong without Sarah on the team. The plan involved bugging the pacemaker of a terrorist Devon was operating on. Agent Forrest unnecessarily tranq'ed an LPN at your hospital. When we couldn't break in to bug the pacemaker, she decided to steal the key card from Devon. I think you can see where this is going. Sarah explained the risk to my cover, but was ignored. The Bachelor's party was a setup to get the key card from Devon. Agent Forrest tranq'ed Devon and stole the key card. The pictures you saw were for the benefit of everyone else at the party. Nothing happened. Then she screwed up by not getting the key card back to Devon. The bug plan was a bust because the terrorist's personal physician found it. Then they looked up Devon's name on the medical records. Going after him, they captured me. Great plan to protect the Intersect on Forrest's part, wasn't it? Even though Sarah was reassigned, she figured out I was missing. Forrest's rescue plan might have killed me, but Sarah took charge and saved me once again. It turns out all that was needed was the personal physician, N2O, and a friendly ear. Devon never should have been involved, and Sarah never should have been reassigned."

"So nothing happened at the Bachelor's party?"

"Nothing happened, Ellie. Devon was unconscious."

"I'm sorry babe. I didn't know. When Chuck told me after the wedding, I couldn't tell you."

"I'm sorry for not trusting you honey. Maybe we can laugh about it someday."

"The one good thing about my 49B was Chuck and Casey got the General to admit a 'close' relationship between Chuck and me could be a good thing. When I was reassigned, I decided I had nothing to lose, so I used the CIA database to search for your dad. After I was back on the team, I figured I had a small window of forgiveness, so I took Chuck to find your dad."

"That was you Sarah? Thank you."

"Sis, you probably think you know this part. However what really happened is dad let Sarah find him. Dad tricked me into getting the job at Roark Instruments because Ted Roark was building a new Intersect for Fulcrum. I figured it out because of some Intersect plans Orion left me. Dad wanted me to find Fulcrum's Intersect. Nobody believed me, so I decided to break in on my own. After tranq'ing Casey, which takes three shots by the way—"

"Chuck, none of this makes sense."

"Oh really?" Smile. "Didn't I mention, Dad was Orion. Dad designed the really cool parts of the Intersect. He had faked his death in the helicopter with the UAV. That night I found him charging into RI headquarters. After he knocked out the Fulcrum agent who wouldn't die, we found the Fulcrum Intersect and tried to use it remove the Intersect from my head."

"Wait. Rewind. Dad designed the Intersect—the computer in your head?"

"Yes. That's part of why he left. He went into hiding. He left us because he loved us and wanted to protect us. Fulcrum and other rogue groups had infiltrated the government and were after him. After he left, he kept an eye on us. He manipulated Bryce to try to keep me out of the spy world. Dad couldn't tell us why he left because of the ridiculous idea that you hide the spy world from your loved ones to keep them safe. That backfired when Bryce sent me the Intersect anyway. If I had been told, I would've known not to open that email. I could have handed off the Intersect to Sarah, and then we could have started a normal romance, at least as normal as a computer nerd and spy can have."

"So he came back to get the Intersect out of your head?"

"Yes. He came back to save me. The Fulcrum Intersect did not work, though, and we were captured. Dad traded himself for me. Fulcrum thought I was just a regular CIA agent who happened to be his son. Sarah and Casey showed up to take me to safety, but Fulcrum had Dad. Dad did not abandon you Ellie, he was captured."

"You rescued him. That's why you were late for the rehearsal dinner, isn't it?"

"Yes. It was not that simple, of course. First, we had no leads, so I created one. Over the past couple of years, we had imprisoned many Fulcrum agents. I knew one that might cooperate."

"You didn't."

"Yes, Sis, I went to Jill. We cut a deal. If she helped us find Dad, we would let her go."

"Chuck, that was not the deal."

"Sarah, that was my deal."

"You did, didn't you?"

"What?"

"You let her get away."

"She helped pull me in from the open window, saving my life. She gave me the Black Rock lead that helped us find Dad. She upheld her end of the deal."

"You shouldn't have done that Chuck. I bet you let her keep the fake engagement ring too."

"Ummm."

"Jill's escape was why I was ordered to bring you to the bunker."

"It worked out. And I don't think Jill would be dumb enough to set foot within a thousand miles of Burbank or let anyone know about me. She is really scared of you."

"She should be."

"I'm with Sarah on this, brother. Jill Roberts broke your heart, tried to kill Sarah, and is a terrorist. I may not be a superspy, but she doesn't want to be within a thousand miles of me either. I'm pretty good with a frying pan. What were you thinking?"

"You're good with a frying pan?"

"Ask John about it. Now answer the question."

"I was thinking Jill had been manipulated by Fulcrum like I had been manipulated by the CIA. She didn't have a choice. She should have gotten out sooner, but was at least she was trying to redeem herself. She could be trusted to run, never look back, and never cause a problem again."

"Well, brother, you're an idiot. You are sitting with someone who I am discovering is an accomplished liar, no offense Sarah, and even I know she is infinitely more trustworthy than Jill. Sarah, what do you think of all of this?"

"I'm just finding out about this myself. I'm not completely certain what to think. I agree with Chuck that she won't cause trouble. She is on the FBI most wanted list, and the CIA has an open termination on sight order against her."

"Wait, I didn't mean she should be killed—"

"Ellie, the CIA considers her a serious threat to Chuck. Even with Chuck out of the CIA, his protection from various threats is still a priority. That's how the CIA deals with threats."

"And that is why I let her go. Anyway, Sarah was ordered to bring me in, but instead she went rogue to help me save Dad."

"Chuck, I committed treason and went rogue with you because I loved you. Unfortunately, you took a year to figure that out."

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A/N: Coming Next: Chuck and Sarah vs. Ellie and Awesome 7 – Choices