AN: Dissertation writing is time-consuming. Still not stopping the story. Hang with me, please. I read all the reviews, and I can honestly say your kindness is appreciated. I hope you're still reading and enjoy the latest chapter.
Chapter 26 – Operation COLD
The sun slowly crept across the covers and began to warm the occupants of the bed. Chuck stirred slightly wanting to roll over away from the rays that touched his face, but he could not move. Sarah was against his side, and one leg draped over his legs and an arm across his chest. When he attempted to roll over, she pulled him tighter and moaned a little. Suddenly Chuck felt something nudge him in the side. He quickly moved over, waking Sarah, while looking under the covers for what nudged him. Sarah rolled over onto her back and then sat up. She looked at him trying to judge his emotional state. He looked like nothing happened yesterday, and he had not been sedated most of the afternoon and evening.
"Chuck, are you alright?"
"Of course, I just felt something nudge me, and…"
Just then Sarah moved her hand to her stomach and smiled. She gently rubbed her belly and blew her breath out in a calming shush sound.
"It was the baby?" Chuck asked her with his brows knit in curiosity.
Sarah nodded and motioned for him to feel. Chuck laid his hand flat on her stomach, and that his when he felt their child move against his hand. "That's amazing!" Chuck didn't realize how loud he was in his excitement.
"Yeah. Just think our love made this little one. You do know Chuck that I love you no matter what happens?"
"Of course, why would you ask that?" His eyes were narrowed, and he looked extremely confused. "Have you done something that would make me doubt that?"
"It's just after yesterday and all that happened I wanted you to know that I love you, and I understand all that you went through." Sarah's eyes looked sad as she touched Chuck's cheek.
"Look, babe. I did think that you and our future were gone in that missile strike, and I did determine right there I had nothing to lose, so I went headlong into the rescue and took down of the organization. I mean if I lost me, after losing you, but saved Carina than we would be together and so would John and Carina. Thankfully, we still took down Jill, saved Carina, captured a villain, and we're both, no make that all three of us are still alive." Chuck placed his hand on her stomach as he finished speaking, and then he put his hand under her chin and lifted her face up to meet his as he kissed her.
Chuck stood back up straight, looked over his shoulder, and then motioned with his head for her to follow. "Let's get something to eat, I'm starved."
Sarah stood there bewildered. He was acting like nothing traumatic happened yesterday. So she started to follow him down the stairs when heard Casey come in the house.
"Hey, Bartowski. How are you feeling this morning?" Sarah saw John measuring Chuck up.
"Yeah, why would I not be okay? Sarah's ok, Carina's rescued, and Jill's gone. You know I don't like killing, but sometimes I am beginning to understand the necessity of taking the villain out. I mean Shaw, Quinn, Roark, Jill, and knowing what we know now, even Bryce got what he deserved."
"Chuck?!" Sarah stopped halfway down the stairs with her mouth open in surprise.
"Sarah, look I know I was crying yesterday and worried, but this is no different than Shaw on the bridge. I know I promised I would not lose myself, and I'm not. I will still use tranqs before bullets, but honey, please understand, and don't ever stop loving me, but I'm going to do what needs to be done from this point forward. Now come here and give me a hug and a kiss. I need to go to our new headquarters to check on something, and then I need to talk to Ellie about the funeral."
"Chuck, you go ahead and check on whatever it's you need to check on. I need to talk to Ellie about some girl stuff, so I'll help her with the funeral arrangements. Anything you want in the memorial?"
"Besides, her name cleared and her star at Langley?" Sarah stared at Chuck. He just shrugged his shoulders, leaned over to kiss her, and then made his way out the door.
Casey looked at Sarah and asked, "What just happened?"
"I'm not sure, he woke up like that this morning. Look, John, I need to call Ellie about the funeral, a pregnancy question, and about Chuck. You can stick around and listen in, or you can go back to watching over Carina."
"Pregnancy questions?"
"Pregnancy questions."
"I'm out of here. Let me know if Chuck's noggin is scrambled or something." Casey grunted and then left.
Sarah took a deep breath and slowly released it, and then see pulled her cell phone out and dialed Ellie.
-0-
"Hey, Sarah!" Ellie sounded tired, but happy to talk to her sister-in-law.
"Hey, Ellie. I was calling to offer my help with Mary's service, and to speak with you about Chuck."
"Sarah, that would be great. I've been wondering if there are any government things we need to take care of to get mom buried properly, do you know of any?"
"Ellie, agents aren't soldiers. We don't have burial benefits even with the backlash from the Khost betrayal. However, that doesn't mean that the government does nothing, we just have to ask General Beckman."
"Could you do that for us?"
"Sure."
"Thanks, sis. So what is it with Chuck?"
Sarah furrowed her brow, and though Ellie couldn't see the consternation of her countenance, it didn't mean she didn't hear it in her pause, "Come on, Sarah, tell me!"
"Yesterday, we had a mission to rescue Carina, and he thought I was killed. He sort of snapped and went all Rambo, as John described it, on the enemy agents and he took no prisoners. When he realized I was alive, and what he had done he melted down, but this morning it's as if yesterday never happened."
"It worked! I'm so glad we added that feature in the latest update to both of you."
"What update? I don't remember either of us taking an upgrade."
"Of course, you don't. We performed the update during your last physicals, and another one of the test features kicked in and allowed you guys to sleep while your brains absorbed the stress of the upload, and part of that stress reducers is to not store the process in short term memory, so you don't recall it."
"Ok, I get it, I think. What is this other experiment you took on us lab rats?" Sarah tried to control the sarcasm in her voice but wasn't entirely successful.
"Sarah, calm down, it's not like that. We were worried about you. We know how the Intersect affected you before, and we didn't want any harm to come to you. By slowing the absorption rate and reducing the chances of recalling an upload, we're able to ensure that nothing bad happens to you. Since we had it in the plan, we went ahead and placed it in Chuck as well."
"Hmmm."
"Anyways, the other piece is two-fold, and both work like mild sedative blockers. Certain chemicals release to suppress extreme ranges of emotions for people learning to control their emotions. In particular, those emotions include anger and depression. We put it in to prevent someone pulling a Quinn on you and hijacking your memories, by allowing you to either separate from your personality until the crisis is over or by blocking things you're struggling with, like going all Rambo."
"So are you guys going for mad scientist or God?"
"Wow, Sarah. That's a bit harsh don't you think?"
"Ellie, I just watched the sweetest man I know detach from himself, go completely out of character, and now he's being blocked from dealing with the fallout. What happens if your defenses collapse? I know you'll be there to help, but it will be me holding him at night as he suffers nightmares, while trying to care for our baby."
"That's just it, Sarah. He remembers what he did, he remembers everything, it's just that the Intersect is helping him rationalize and deal with it as he emotionally heals. It's not like a damn will break free and you will be flooded with issues."
"It better not. I'm going to hope off here and get in touch with Beckman. I'll call back when I know more. El, I know you love us, and I know you want the best for us, but don't become one of them and try to rob us of who we really are for your own perceived greater good."
"I promise."
"Thanks."
-0-
Meanwhile, Chuck was down in the basement area of headquarters scripting a program to scrub old surveillance videos from Echo Park, Castle, and any other place he was recorded while transitioning from asset to agent. After about an hour, he leaned back, intertwined his fingers to stretch them, and then leaned forward and hit enter.
Immediately the computer began to pull the prescribed video files. In particular, the videos being scrubbed out were of Daniel Shaw and Hannah. As records began to compile, Chuck started opening them and reliving some of his worst days. He knew he had to push through this to get to the information he needed. He watched the mask mission, the night Hannah stayed over, and for the first time he saw Sarah struggling to watch that dinner as Shaw walked into the room. He finally realized how much he pushed her towards Shaw. Fortunately, they got past that voice in his head reminded him, and so he pushed forward and then it was there.
Shaw was on the phone, and he was talking to someone in the back alley of the Buy More. He began to zoom in on the shadows, and that's when he noticed her. It was Hannah just beyond the edge of the shadow. He adjusted the volume.
"Look, Daniel, if we're going to eliminate the ring, and establish control of all the intelligence community, we must separate them. You've got to play your part."
"She killed my wife! I want to shoot her and then turn him through hatred."
"It will not work. He can't function properly when his emotions are out of whack. That was proven in Prague."
"How do you know those reports aren't false?"
"I was there you walking block of wood. Remember I'm the analyst, the brains, and you're the brawn. What is it with you field agents? You're all body and physical attributes and no real thinking things through. Act first, think second. No wonder there are so many stars on the wall at Langley. So tell me the sequence."
"Fine! Seduce her away from him, get him to turn into a killer, leak the truth of my wife to the ring, let them capture me and reveal that, kill her, blame the ring, and then unleash him on the ring and then on the CIA."
"Exactly. In the meantime, I'm going to seduce him to make your job easier. Arrange the Panzer mission, and I'll be on the flight to make sure he survives. Just keep Walker from going on the mission. If we do this right, you might even look like a good guy in her eyes."
Chuck sat back. He closed his eyes in thought. His mind leaped forward to his final exam. He turned on the clip of Shaw watching over the mission from Castle while he and Sarah were staking out the Russian. Just as I thought, he was listening for the perfect opportunity to interrupt them. He shut off the viewer and began to think through how to tell Sarah they were played by Shaw all along, and that Hannah was the mastermind. Hannah is the mastermind behind all of this. He was about to walk away when he turned around. He walked up to the workstation, took a deep breath, and hit enter. The system was now running facial recognition searching for Hannah.
He stopped for just a moment and let the regret from many his actions wash over him. The last four years had seen so many mistakes, and opportunities wasted by poor decisions Chuck had made. He and Sarah should have been together sooner, had he been listening the night she agreed to a single bed cell (ok not in those words, but what else could she have meant when she asked, "Two beds?"). Better yet, if he had just talked to her at the station instead of trying not to break down and run with her. He Believe me, shook his head and thought, "Not this time, I'm going to talk to her."
-0-
As the sun came up, Chuck was once again in his new favorite place, or so it seemed. He found himself her the last two mornings. Once again, his thoughts were on what he had discovered two days earlier. He still had not talked to Sarah about his discovery. When he got home, he found her talking to Ellie about Beckman's assistance with their mother's funeral. He decided then that he would wait until it was over. Finally, the day was here. He couldn't explain it, but every time he started to get upset about the past week and all that he had done or what had happened to his mother, he just couldn't. He could think in analytical terms, but his emotions seemed suppressed.
Anyways, he dragged himself back upstairs and stopped in the doorway to their room. He stood there watching Sarah sleep. He loved how the covers draped over her body, and he could see every curve from her shoulders to legs as she lay there on her side. He saw the covers cupping her growing belly, and was amused to see her with the covers tucked under her chin. She looked so peaceful. He really didn't want to disturb her so he went back downstairs and stared out the window of the kitchen.
He lost track of time and was startled when Sarah approached him from behind. He turned and looked at her. He couldn't help but smile. Her hair was a bit of a mess, and she looked half asleep as she plodded her way to the coffee pot. Chuck watched as she poured herself some go juice and smiled at him.
"Good morning, my love."
"Morning, Chuck. How's my sweet husband holding up?"
"I'm ok. I'm just ready to get this over with. You know we never had to bury dad."
"I know, sweetie. I know. At least Beckman got the government to endorse the new benefits that passed a few months ago. That helped with the arrangements."
"Yeah, I know. Anyways, let's get ready." Chuck started to leave the kitchen but then he turned back around. He rubbed his hand over their carving in the door frame and then smiled. "Sarah, I love you. Please, stay close to me today."
"Honey, are you sure you're ok?"
"Yeah, I just got a lot on my mind, and I want you near." Chuck finally walked away, and Sarah watched his retreating form.
-0-
Chuck looked over the crowd of people present. He noticed that most of them were there to either support his sister or himself. Employees from the old Buy More were there, as well as some of the medical staff from the hospital. Then there was those whom Chuck wanted present. He looked at Sarah, Ellie, Devon, Casey, Carina, Emma, Joe, and that's when he noticed the two people approaching, Alex and Morgan. She was pushing him to the graveside service.
He turned his attention to the closed casket with the flag draped over the lid. He held his emotions in and barely heard anything the local preacher said in an attempt to comfort the family. How do you comfort people who lost someone, regained them for a short time, to have them yanked away again? Anyways, it didn't matter, his mother was gone, and she wouldn't be returning. So he turned back to scanning the area while appearing to look at the casket.
Sarah watched him from the corner of her eye. She knew he was alert for something beyond the horizon. If was not for the funeral she wouldn't have let him believe he was keeping something from her. Since he returned from their headquarters a few days ago, he had been on edge and surprisingly inside himself. Rather than take his normal Chuck route he was holding back, and it was starting to bother her. Now he was scanning the horizon like he was looking for an enemy to appear at any moment. In some ways, she was proud of him, and in other ways, she was so upset that he wasn't confiding in her.
They continued to go through the motions, and soon they were shaking hands of the well-wishers. Finally, Morgan rolled up to Chuck. Chuck looked at his friend and his eyes filled with tears. "Morgan, I'm so sorry all this happened to you, and that I got you caught up in all of this."
Morgan started to speak, and his voice cracked, but after a moment he began talking, "Chuck, this is not your fault. Sure it would be easy to blame you or Sarah for dragging me into the spy life, but you didn't drag me into the life. I wanted in, and I enjoyed those years. I'm thankful to be alive, to still have Alex, and to have an ongoing purpose in life."
"What ongoing purpose?"
Casey walked over and placed his hand on Morgan's shoulder, "He's going to continue to coordinate our efforts and to provide over watch of operations from headquarters."
"Yeah, man! With my chair and my brain, I'm like Professor Xavier."
"Only a little hairier." Chuck gave a small laugh.
A little while later the crowd dispersed, and Sarah took Chuck home. As they walked through the door, he dropped his keys in the bowl and went to sit on the couch. "Do you want something from the kitchen?" Sarah called over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen. "Nah, I'm good." Chuck closed his eyes and decided now was as good a time as any to talk.
"Hey, Sarah. We need to talk."
Sarah was in the kitchen, and she smiled at hearing his last statement. Finally, he was going to open up to her. Walking in with a cup of water, she sat beside him and put her feet in this lap and wiggled her toes. He took her right foot in his hands and began.
"Sarah, when I had my break, I saw someone flee the cabin. I was sure that it was Hannah. The next day when I went out, I pulled archived video from when she and Shaw were in our lives."
Sarah interrupted, "Why would you pull video of Shaw from back then?" She didn't like to think about her time spent with him.
"Calm down. I saw some intimate moments between you guys, but that's in the past. What we need to concentrate on are these videos." He handed her his iPhone, and she watched the videos.
"Chuck, we were so stupid to let those two play us. I'm so sorry. I wasn't supposed to be conned. After all, once you know all the cons."
"Believe me, I understand. It's not like I enjoyed seeing the video of me having dinner with her and my family, while also seeing the video of you watching. You looked so sad before Shaw walked in and took advantage of the situation."
"Chuck, let's forget all that." She placed his hands on both sides of her stomach where he could feel their child doing summersaults in her belly, "And concentrate on now and all that we have."
"Believe me, that is all I want, but we have to find her and take her down. She's responsible for all of the current pain."
"I agree, but for tonight, let's rest. Let's just be us. You'll be my Chuck. Sweet, nerdy, and an excellent masseuse." Again, she was wiggling her toes.
He simply smiled, "And you can be my Sarah. A real girl filled with dreams of fairy tale love, under the shell of a superspy. Then in the morning, we inform Casey."
"No, Chuck. In the morning we start Operation COLD."
"Operation COLD?"
"Operation COLD. Chuck's Old Lovers Die."
"That's not funny."
"I'm not laughing.