"Nice work team," Beckman said through the screen of Chuck's laptop. Mary Bartowski and Casey sat at the small table right in front of the wall of windows while Sarah and Chuck sat on the couch that ran along the wall perpendicular to them. "If you'll give me the location of Lazlo, I'll have a team there to extract him in under an hour."
"So are you back in command General?" Sarah asked.
"Of course Walker. Why wouldn't I be?" the general snapped.
"Sorry General. It's just that the last time we talked you indicated..."
"Whatever I you think I indicated, I am telling you that we will get a team to secure Lazlo as soon as you send coordinates. Is that clear Ms. Walker?"
"Perfectly General," Sarah leaned back slightly as Chuck look at her and raised his eyebrows.
"As for the two of you and your team, if you send us your location I will also arrange your safe transportation home," the general continued with a steady gaze.
"Thank you General, but Verbanski Corp. has already arranged to..."
"I insist Mr. Bartowski," the general interrupted, her gaze remained fixed. "I will expect an email with your location in the next few minutes."
"Very well General. Umm... Thank you, I guess," Chuck said.
The general terminated the conversation and Chuck and Sarah found themselves staring at a Skype title screen.
"That was odd," Chuck said. "I mean, the general has always been wound a little tight, but ..."
"She was a little more abrupt than usual," Sarah finished.
"She's a United States Army General. She can't be expected to discuss every little detail with you two, can she?" Casey offered.
"I guess not," Chuck said. "I suppose I'll forward this address to her," Chuck started a new email, typed a few lines and hit send.
"I'll get a hold of Gertrude and tell her to radio Langley for a rendezvous when I go downstairs to pack. I suggest you two get packed as well - no doubt our CIA rides will be here soon," Casey said as he walked out the door.
"I'll step next door and see how Morgan's packing is going," Chuck said and he too left the apartment.
Sarah busied herself with packing her things while Mary Bartowski stood up and looked out of the floor to ceiling windows at Paris. "This is a beautiful view. You know, Stephen and I spent a few weeks here just after we were married."
"Really? I didn't know," Sarah said.
"Even though Stephen hated to be away from his lab, he knew we needed a little time away from the fray to enjoy being married. He could always read me that way," Mary's voice trailed off.
"He sounds like a great husband," Sarah said.
"There is a lot of his father in Chuck," Mary said. "He always saw the best in the ones he loved, just like Chuck. He never lost faith in me." She stared out the window and although the entire landscape of one of the most beautiful cities in the world lay before her, she saw only memories. "That kind of faith can change a woman. I sometimes wonder how things would have worked out if..." Mary turned away from the window and began to head for the door. "I'll be out front."
Sarah said nothing as she continued to fold a few articles of clothing and place them neatly into her suitcase. Then she walked over to where Frost had stood and looked out at Paris. She could see the block where her red test took place from here. The same place where Chuck, her Chuck, saved her from Shaw years later. That was the biggest regret she carried because of her life as a spy, Paris would never be a city of light and love for her.
-O-
Chuck knocked on Morgan's door. He opened it, "Come on in buddy. I'm just finishing up." Morgan took one last look around the room. "So, are things with you and the little missus all sunshine and lollipops again?"
"And rainbows and everything wonderful," Chuck answered. "It's funny, when this was our life, I thought it was what kept us together. The adventure, the exotic missions. But now that we're starting a family, I can't imagine we would ever be able to return to this."
"I know what you mean. Now that I'm about to become a kept man I think I've seen the last of my spy days too," Morgan closed up his suitcase.
"So does that mean it's going to be Saturday afternoons at the grill for us from now on?"
"You know it buddy. And no one grills a steak like me," they both headed for the door. "I guess I will miss the danger a little bit though. You never feel more alive than when you are staring death in the face in some underground bunker."
"I don't know Morgan, holding Emma is a whole other thrill," Chuck said as they both entered the hall.
"Alex and I have been talking about having a little Morgana or Morgan junior someday. Of course, we have to pull off this wedding first - which has proven to be surprisingly difficult," Morgan paused, looked down and shook his head the continued. "Okay buddy, I'm going to walk down a floor and see if my father-in-law-to-be needs any help packing up. Meet you downstairs?" Morgan asked.
"Sure thing. We'll be down in a few." Morgan headed for the elevator as Chuck went back to his room. He opened the door to the apartment to find Sarah sitting at the table looking out the floor to ceiling windows - laptop closed on the table and her bag packed and sitting near the door.
"Hey Sarah. I thought I would check our emergency email account before we leave to see if Ellie sent any updates from home."
Sarah continued to look out the window, then she paused and looked over at Chuck. "We're okay, aren't we?"
"Of course we are," Chuck said returning her gaze and smiling.
"What about Africa? Those men?" Sarah looked down at her hands.
"We both know there are two Sarahs," Chuck sat down and slid his hands over hers on the table. "Sarah Walker - spy, daughter of a con man, angry, ruthless and violent and Sarah Bartowski - loving, kind, loyal and fiercely protective of the ones she loves. And I love both of them."
"I still don't remember everything from those missing five years, but I can't imagine I was ever more in love with you than I am right now." Sarah got up from her chair and walked over behind Chuck. She slid her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. A tear ran down her cheek. Chuck covered her arms with his and tilted his head back slightly.
"I love you Sarah Walker," Chuck said softly.
"Let's get home and see Emma," Sarah whispered back.
Chuck reached over and opened the laptop. He logged into the emergency email account and clicked on the inbox. "Interesting. From 'KissingSanta.' Let's see what the general has to say."
Chuck read the email aloud.
"Chuck, I hope this reaches you before you report in. I don't have time for the details, but Fulcrum is still running the CIA and they are determined to implement a new Intersect. They'll stop at nothing to perfect this technology. I have been ordered to recall both you and Lazlo. Ignore this order. It's not safe. I repeat, do not give me the correct location of either Lazlo or yourself - if they find you, they plan to dissect your brain in attempt to better understand the workings of the Intersect. If you have a safe house, use it. I'll contact you at this email when it is safe."
Sarah stepped back from Chuck and hurried toward the door. "I'll get downstairs and secure Frost you get Casey and Morgan." Sarah grabbed her bag and disappeared into the hall.
Chuck grabbed his things and was out the door just after Sarah. They both hit the stairs, Sarah about a half flight ahead of Chuck. Down one floor, Chuck slammed the staircase door against the wall, ran to Casey's door, and burst into the room. Morgan was sitting on the bed and the bathroom door was closed. Chuck pounded on the door.
"Casey."
"A little peace please Bartowski, I'm still processing the garbage they flooded me with."
"Did you call Gertrude? Did you have her call the general?"
"Relax, I made the call. Gertrude will handle the exchange."
"You have to call her back. It's a setup. And we have to get out of here, now."
Casey opened the door buttoning then zipping his pants. "What are you talking about Bartowski?"
"We got an email from Beckman. She told us not to follow her orders. The CIA is still in the hands members of Fulcrum."
"Get Morgan and get downstairs. I'll be down as soon as I make the call," Casey said.
Chuck and Morgan headed down the four flights, ran through the lobby and stepped out onto the sidewalk. Sarah was nowhere to be found.
Chuck and Morgan ducked into the bank that was right next door to the apartment lobby. The reflective windows allowed a person to see out, but it was impossible to see in. Sarah and Frost stood in the lobby and Sarah was speaking intently to Frost. Chuck and Morgan walked over.
"...so we'll have to see if Casey can arrange something with Verbanski," Sarah finished. She turned to Chuck. "Oh good, you found us. I thought this would provide nice cover until we know what we're going to do."
"Sarah," Chuck suddenly looked drained, "I just want to go home. Can't we just be done with this and return to live a nice quiet life in Chicago?"
"I know Chuck that's what I want too, but if the CIA thinks they can get what they want by dissecting you, we have to go to ground for awhile."
Morgan noticed Casey standing outside the bank and walked over and pushed open the door. "John, over here."
Casey joined the group as they looked through the glass of the bank windows. "I called Gertrude. They didn't make the handoff yet, but she has a team en route. She's pretty sure she can call them off before they rendezvous."
"What about Alex?" Morgan asked.
"She's with Gertrude. They're still in Paris. If we can get to them, she can get us back stateside."
"Where are they?" Sarah asked. As she spoke, a black boxy van stopped out in front of apartment building. Five men in riot gear got out. Two went around to the back of the building while the other three entered through the front door. "Come on," Sarah said. "Our ride's here."
Sarah tossed her bag to Morgan - Chuck and Casey did the same. Morgan labored to carry their bags and his as he followed the three out of the bank.
Chuck and Casey slid in behind the back doors while Sarah went to the driver's side window. "Hello, I mean bon jour," she said in a horrible American speaking French accent, all smile and apologies. "I was wondering if you could tell me..." she saw his hand go to his shoulder, ready to key his microphone. Before he could reach it, she reached inside opened the door and had her left hand firmly clamped onto his neck, fingers digging in on either side of his Adam's apple.
"You don't want to do that. I would hate to crush your larynx. Get out of the van, nice and easy." Chuck poked his head around to see the driver's side of the van and Sarah holding the guard by his throat. He popped him with the tranq gun and the man fell to a heap next to the van. Sarah took his radio and sidearm and got in the van. Casey had the rear doors open and Morgan was trying to get the bags inside. Frost got in the passenger door and Chuck helped Morgan with the bags in before he and Morgan both climbed in. Casey pulled the door closed from the inside and Sarah drove off.
"Okay, we get to Gertrude and we get on a plane out of here," Sarah said as she navigated the streets of Paris.
"Left ahead," Casey said, peering between the front seats. "She is waiting for us at a helipad near the Arc de la Defense."
"Chuck, go in my bag and get the comms, just in case," Sarah said.
"Got it." Chuck dug through Sarah's bag until he found a hard sided case that held six earpieces. He handed one to each and left the remaining earpiece in the case, closed it and stuffed it back in the bag.
An open computer terminal against one of the van's walls caught Morgan's attention and he started clicking through files. "Okay. They have a layout of the Paris apartment, schematics of my place in Burbank, your house in Chicago," he paused but the clicking continued. "Plans for Devon and Ellie's. Hmm. Looks like Ellie's fellowship in Chicago was a CIA operation as well."
Chuck moved over to the terminal as well and looked over Morgan's shoulder. "Look at that. They set her up at the research center to do some of the foundation work for the Intersect 4.0."
"Hey, look at this," Morgan's finger went to the screen. "Looks like Awesome's position is CIA sponsored as well."
"Transplanting genetically engineered organs to increase stamina and strength," Chuck read from the screen. "They were trying to build an army of perfect soldiers."
"Dude, Captain Awesome and Ellie were helping to build Captain America," Morgan's eyes widened.
"I'm certain they had no idea," Chuck said. "But it might mean that the CIA will try a little harder to track down the whereabouts of their disappeared doctor super couple."
"Well, according to this database, they don't have any idea where Ellie and Devon are. But," Morgan clicked, paused and clicked again, "they do suspect they have fled to your safehouse. See?" Morgan pointed to a report on the screen.
"Don't worry about them Chuck. According to what you have there, the CIA doesn't have a lead on them and Devon and Ellie are smart," Sarah said. "They'll be fine until we get there."
"They better be. Our daughter's there."