Warning: Just like the show, there are going to be significant character deaths still coming. I don't want to spoil any specific chapters so I'm going to post this warning in every chapter.
I don't own Chuck. Actually, I don't own much of anything.
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The Great Race
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A difference of opinion is what makes horse racing and missionaries. – Will Rogers
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The girls had wordlessly decided that they already had enough tension for one day. After all, they had escaped near certain death. Sure, really bad guys were probably chasing them. But hey, they hadn't caught them yet. So why not have some fun with it? So it was in that vein that Ellie couldn't keep the grin from her face as she watched Misty sitting in the passenger's seat wolfing down her loaded cheeseburger. Actually it was a double cheeseburger. And Misty was devouring it like she hadn't seen food in a month.
"Speaking strictly as your doctor," Ellie said facetiously as they drove along the darkened freeway. "That's really not a very healthy choice. These fast food chains have been under a lot of criticism lately. They have even started selling salads."
Misty didn't stop eating to respond to her friend's teasing. She just faced her and made a big deal out of taking the very next bite. "Hmmm," was all she said… if that was actually talking, that is.
Ellie was not detoured in her teasing in the least. "And eating a big meal this late at night," she continued merrily. "Well, I hope that you know what that does to your metabolism. It's not pretty."
"Shouldn't you be watching the road?" Misty said with her own grin as she finally finished her burger. "You being all safety conscious and all. You do realize that we're on a life or death mission. A little hydrogenated fat is probably not high on the list of things that are about to kill me."
"Now see," Ellie said in mock seriousness. "That's a very healthy attitude. Much higher on the list is if you spill any of that ketchup on my brand new leather seats."
They say that once you cheat death, you see life differently. And that was definitely true of Ellie and Misty. They would never be the same again. But you would never know it looking at them laughing in that car. It just looked like two close friends…or maybe even sisters sharing a girl's night out. "I have to admit," Misty said as soon as she could stop laughing enough to get the words out.
"They are nice seats."
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Steven walked up just as Mary was finishing her call with Roark. She turned away from the monitor to face her husband in disgust. "That son of a bitch," she growled. "Hours and hours of practice… he actually had the nerve to call me a slut."
Steven rubbed his wife's arm affectionately. "In all fairness," he said with something of a growing grin. "He only said that you have an amazing talent. I agree. And you have to admit, you do have a fair bit of practice time invested."
Mary was not all that amused. "Okay," she said. "I'll admit that you have me completely stumped. Why are you in such a good mood? You do realize that Eleanor is in their hands, we don't have a clue where, and Ted will do horrible things to her to get us to surrender?"
"St. Louis," Steven said as his grin grew even more. "They took her to St. Louis. But she's not there any more. Even Ted doesn't know yet. She's escaped."
"Escaped? No way," Mary said. "How could those two untrained girls possibly have escaped from that group of professionals?"
"I'm not totally sure about the details," Steven said confidently. "We'll have to ask them. But they have definitely escaped. I just listened to a cell call. The guards didn't know what hit them. Two of them ended up cuffed. They killed six, stole a car, and were gone before they could blink."
"Where are they now?" Mary asked.
"That's the main problem," Steven said. "The car they stole has a tracker installed. That means that I can track them… but so can Fulcrum. They are clearly headed back here. They have a couple of hour's head start but Fulcrum is already chasing them."
Mary jumped up. "I'd better get on the road," she said. "I need to get to them before Fulcrum."
But Steven grabbed her arm. "Relax," he said soothingly. "I just talked to Sarah. They are diverting the plane to Pittsburgh and dropping off Major Casey. He will get there a lot faster than you could. He is going to get a car and intercept them. That should allow him to get to them, hopefully before Fulcrum can catch them. The rest of the team will come here."
Mary stared at Steven. She was trying hard to keep a straight face. Truthfully his grin was pretty infectious. It always had been. "How could Ellie possibly have…" she started to wonder out loud.
"It wasn't Ellie," Steven interrupted. "It was Misty. She stole a gun and capped six of them. Clearly she has been hanging around Major Casey a bit too much. Apparently they do more things together than just the obvious. She must be a fast learner."
"She must be a freaking natural," Mary agreed.
"Ted was right about something else," Steven said as he sat down and pulled her towards him. "You're much too tense. You have to admit, he was right about the perfect way to calm you down."
So now Mary's battle with the straight face thing was hopelessly lost. So she gave up and openly shared his grin as she allowed him to pull her into his lap. She gently touched her lips to his. Then she pulled back and looked at his smirk. After so many years together she could basically read his mind. But that bit of almost supernatural awareness wasn't all that necessary in this case. The hand that was gently massaging her left breast through her shirt was probably a dead giveaway as to what he had in mind. "Really?" she asked. "Now? You know that I'll never deny you anything. But you really want to do this now?"
Steven at least pretended to consider the question. "Well," he said thoughtfully. "I am in a much better mood. We do have an hour with nothing to do. Who knows when we're going to have the house all to ourselves next? It has been a while since you…. relaxed. And Ted did have something of a point. It would be a crime to allow such a wonderful skill to atrophy."
"For one thing I relaxed just yesterday," Mary said sarcastically with a short laugh. "Twice. Don't you remember? You seemed pretty relaxed yourself. And don't get me started about the day before. I think that was some kind of record. And for another thing, that's not really the kind of skill that can atrophy. It's sort of like riding a bike. Once you learn how, you never really forget." But her gruff protests seemed to belie the fact that she was clearly more eager to 'relax' than even he was. She had already unfastened his belt and his pants were currently in a ball around his ankles. As she carefully sat back down on his lap, she paused for a moment. "Are you sure that Ted doesn't know yet?"
"I'm sure," Steven said with a devilish grin as he began to unbutton her blouse. "They're actually afraid to tell him. They were talking about it on the phone. You're going to be able to have a good time playing him. He'll be totally bluffing."
"Speaking of good times," Mary sighed with something of her own smirk as she shifted her body to give him better access to the rest of her buttons. "I guess Ted had a point. You can never have too much practice."
"But I'm still going to kill that bastard."
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Okay, so Sarah was now in a much better mood. Actually, the news that Misty and Ellie had somehow escaped had everybody, at least relieved, and at most, giddy.
She told the team earlier that they would get together for a planning session when they were an hour from landing. And that was still about an hour out. Fortunately for her, Sarah was the only one on the team who was in a position to take full advantage. Chuck was sitting right next to her. Everyone else's significant other was someplace else.
Chuck smiled as could see the wheels in his wife's head spinning. He knew full well that Casey and Cole were of no concern to her plan. For one thing, they would rather poke their own eye out with a stick than see anything approaching them necking anyway. They were both in the very back of the plane resting. But Carina was clearly another matter. Chuck watched in amusement as Sarah stomped up to where she was sitting. And while he couldn't hear anything they were saying, it was clear that it was a very one sided conversation. Sarah was doing all of the talking… and Carina, well was turning very red. It was a pretty good bet that Sarah made whatever point she was going for quite clearly. Because you didn't have to be much of a lip reader to see Carina say "yes, ma'am," very meekly.
Once Sarah was back in her seat with the huge blanket that she had fashioned as sort of a makeshift tent over their heads, Chuck decided to have a bit of fun. "So,' he sighed sadly. "I guess now that we have some semi-privacy, you're going to give me the standard pre-mission lecture. Take things seriously, stay behind you at all times, don't get shot or otherwise seriously injured, things like that."
Sarah was not all that amused. "You betcha, smart ass," she said.
Chuck looked at his wife warily. He was pretty sure that she was teasing. He just wasn't totally sure. And with Sarah you wanted to be totally sure. "Umm, Sarah," he said gently. "I'm just teasing you."
That got a strained smile in return. "I know, so was I," was all she said.
So now Chuck was concerned. So he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. "Tell me what's wrong," he said softly.
Sarah snuggled into him and they stayed that way wordlessly for a long moment. "I'm tired, sweetie," she finally said with a sigh. "I just don't have anything left. I mean I've been doing this for almost ten years. When you become a CIA agent, you go into it knowing that it demands everything that you have. I don't really regret that decision. It was right for me at the time. I've done some good things, stopped some really evil people. But now I'm a different person. You've changed me. I think maybe I'm ready to stop cheating death every other day and settle down into something… calmer."
Chuck kissed the top of her head affectionately. "I'm not sure how to tell you this," he said. "It may not include cheating death every other day. But I'm not sure that being a mother is going to be any calmer. Two-year-olds may not be quite so evil… but you also can't shoot them."
Chuck could feel her silently laughing. It felt wonderful. "So," he said with a chuckle of his own. "Do you think that you have enough bad-ass left for one more day? This one last mission and then we'll take a nice long rest."
Sarah didn't answer his question, not really. "I didn't realize there was an option," she said as she looked up at him with a grin. "Besides, who said anything about resting?" she asked with her eyes sparkling as she pressed her lips to his.
"Why do you think I went to all the trouble of building this tent?"
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It was Misty's turn to drive. In fact, she had been driving for quite some time. In the early morning the turnpike was almost deserted. There was a big temptation to speed. After all, they were on a flat, straight road with three lanes and almost no traffic. But they decided that they couldn't risk getting pulled over in a car that was probably registered to a terrorist. So they kept within the speed limit. Ellie was taking a nap. Well, she thought that she was anyway. But when she glanced over, she could tell that her friend was wordlessly staring at her. "What?" she asked with a smile.
But Ellie was clearly being a little more serious because she didn't smile. "I feel like such a jerk," she finally said. "I'm so sorry."
Misty's eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out what Ellie was talking about. "I know that you were just joking about the ketchup on the leather seats," she said with something of a smile.
"I can't believe how wrong I was," Ellie said sadly. "I really hated you. And now here you are saving my life. I'm so ashamed of myself."
But Misty just grinned and reached over to grab Ellie's hand. "You shouldn't feel badly about that," she said. "I wasn't exactly about to nominate you for fiancé of the year either. I guess that's just a result of the situation we found ourselves in. The important thing is that we're good friends now, right?"
That got a smile and a squeeze of her hand. "We're good friends now," Ellie agreed.
"Look at the bright side," Misty said cheerfully. "I know that being a doctor is probably not all that boring… but tell me the truth. Have you ever had an adventure like this before? We have a regular Thelma and Louise thing going. Let's enjoy it."
That seemed to placate Ellie's concerns and improve her mood considerably. So they drove down the road in contented silence for a long while. Finally Misty heard the smile in Ellie's soft voice.
"Wait a minute. Didn't they get killed?"
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Casey was driving frantically down the road on his own. He knew that he had to get to the girls before Fulcrum did. And it was going to be close. Orion wasn't exactly sure how close the pursuit was. There was really no way to track them other than the cell calls they were periodically making to report status. But the girl's decision to go an hour out of their way had cost them almost all of their head start. The bad guys were clearly closing in. At least they were smart enough to get off the stupid turnpike.
Sarah's plan on the plane was simple… vague but simple. After dropping Casey off in Pittsburgh, the team would hightail it back to base and defend Orion and Frost against the expected Fulcrum attack. They would most likely have to stay pretty much defensive until help arrived because they would be facing overwhelming numbers. Ted Roark would almost assuredly pull out all the stops to capture them, especially after learning of Ellie's escape and losing his leverage to get them to surrender. The President had promised to send help as quickly as he could… but he currently had his own hands more than full. And nothing could tip off the Ring that they were on to them. So it would be several hours, at least, before they could expect the Cavalry, most literally, to arrive. Hopefully Orion had some helpful technology ready. The one advantage they had was that Fulcrum would want to capture Chuck and Orion alive.
In theory anyway, Casey's assignment was easy. All he had to do was find the girls, get them out of that tracked car, and take them someplace safe to hide out for the duration. Naturally, Sarah couldn't resist taking a shot by authorizing Casey to order Ellie to turn her back while he… umm… thoroughly debriefed Misty. That definitely broke the tension and turned the meeting silly for a bit. It was actually Carina who chimed in that Misty almost assuredly wasn't wearing briefs. But after all, Chuck retorted as he defended his wife with a clear smirk, de-panty didn't quite have the same ring to it.
In spite of the tenseness of the situation, Casey couldn't help the grin that came involuntarily to his face. For one thing, they had been living in a tense situation for the past two years. Why should tonight bother him? After all, this was his perfect assignment. There was the very real possibility of gun play. Not only that, it would be in the defense of the two women that he loved. Wait, did I really just think that out loud? Love? I must be hanging around Chuck too much. Okay, Ellie is a good friend. But Misty? I'm a spy. I can't be in love.
Love? She deserves better than this.
But Casey had to admit. When he thought of Misty he felt something that he had never felt before. Maybe Ellie could help him think this through. It couldn't be love. It couldn't be. Ellie would know. But he also had to admit that Chuck had a point.
De-panty didn't have nearly the same ring to it.
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By instinct more than anything, Misty decided that they couldn't risk staying on the turnpike any longer. Fortunately, the Navigation system perfectly guided them through the series of dark, mostly deserted, country back roads. And although they still had about a quarter tank of gas left, when Misty saw the open gas station she decided it would be a good place to stop. After all, gas stations were not all that common on these roads. And it wouldn't do to run out of gas. Besides, it would be a good chance to stretch their legs and maybe find a ladies room.
There was a middle-aged man working behind the counter. When she asked for the key to the bathroom, Misty wasn't sure if the smile he was flashing at her was an attempt to flirt or not. She had definitely had more than her fill of being hit on lately. Finally she remembered that not all men were pigs. She had just been hanging around creeps for to long. This poor guy wasn't flirting with her, at least not in that way. He was just trying to be nice. He was probably bored and lonely and wanted to make a little friendly conversation. It was hard to fault him for that. She felt so guilty that she forced a smile on her face, leaned up against the counter, and talked to him for a bit while Ellie was taking her turn in the rest room. It was actually nice. Some pleasant, non-life threatening talk that didn't involve someone trying to rule the world. Unfortunately Misty was enjoying it a bit too much. Because she didn't notice the two cars that pulled up until the men were already out and walking towards the building.
"Shit!" Misty screamed as she pulled the gun out of the back of her pants. That's the one spy thing that she had learned from Sarah… where to carry your gun. "Ellie, we've got company!"
As soon as the clerk saw Misty's gun, he clearly jumped to the wrong conclusion. "Are you going to rob me?" he asked shakily. "Please don't shoot. You can have the money."
Misty didn't have time to be comforting. "Get down," she shouted. "These are bad guys."
The six Fulcrum Agents weren't being at all subtle. They probably had received enough of an earful from Roark that being killed now didn't sound any worse than returning empty handed. So they all had guns drawn as they approached.
Misty knew that she would never be able to hit anyone through the thick glass windows. So she quickly crouched behind the counter and fired twice, shattering the windows into a million pieces. Then she took aim at the lead man and fired. One good thing, the adrenalin didn't seem to affect Misty's shooting. The first four men fell in heaps. That only left two. She recognized Joe and Mike from the cell. So she took aim at Joe and squeezed the trigger. Unfortunately, all the gun did was click. She was out of ammo.
Joe's mood clearly turned around when he heard the clicks. This was now all over but the shouting. So he stepped through the frame where the window used to be with a confident grin and pointed his gun directly at Misty's chest. "Drop your weapon and put your hands on top of your head," he calmly ordered.
The clerk foolishly came out from where he was hiding and tried to protect her. That incredibly gallant act probably didn't cost him his life. These Fulcrum bastards weren't likely to leave any witnesses anyway. In fact Joe almost looked bored as he fired a single shot into Misty's new friend's chest and made that moot.
Ellie foolishly picked that moment to allow her curiosity to overcome her fear and come out of the bathroom. Not that it mattered all that much, but it would have been better if she had remained hidden for as long as possible. "Well," Mike snarled with something of his own smirk as he motioned her into the room with the gun in his hand. "Look what we have here. Are you ready to scratch that itch?"
Joe didn't wait for any response. He just raised his weapon and fired. The blow impacted Misty high on her shoulder, knocking her to the floor. Ellie's wordless cry of anguish was plain as she went to help Misty.
Joe turned to face Ellie with his gun pointed directly at her. "Stay right where you fucking are," he growled. Then he turned to face Misty again who was lying on the floor grasping for breath. "That was for leaving me cuffed naked," he growled. "You know, this is a real shame," he said facetiously, clearly mocking her. "You are truly the sexiest woman I've even seen. I was so looking forward to being your friend. We could have had a real good time together. But you decided to humiliate me. I should have followed my orders the first time. It's a shame that I don't have enough time to make you really suffer. But say goodbye to your friend."
Misty watched in alarm as Joe slowly and deliberately pointed his gun at her. Her shoulder didn't really hurt, it just felt numb. She desperately racked her brain trying to come up with a way out of this. But she quickly came to the only possible conclusion. As she waited for the inevitable it was almost as if she was watching this happen to somebody else. Through her fog, she could vaguely hear Ellie pleading for Joe not to shoot. She could also see the barrel of that huge gun pointed directly at her chest. But the funny thing was she wasn't afraid. Not really. All she could think about was one thing… and that made her sad. But there was really nothing she could do. So she just closed her eyes and patiently waited for the death that was sure to come.
When Misty heard the shot ring out, all she could feel was surprise. For one thing, there were two shots. For another, it didn't hurt. She could hear Ellie asking her if she was okay. And for a horrible moment she thought that they had killed Ellie as well and they were both in heaven. But quickly she could feel Ellie gently slapping her face.
When Misty opened her eyes, Ellie was already ripping her shirt open to check on her wound. But that's not what grabbed her attention. Casey was kneeling checking on the bodies.
When Casey was satisfied that all the bad guys were actually dead, he quickly went to Misty and grabbed her free hand. "Hey," he said softly. "How are you feeling?"
Misty just looked at him like he had sprouted a second head. "How am I feeling?" she asked incredulously. "I'm shot. How should I be feeling? What took you so long anyway?"
"I'm sorry," Casey said. "I got here as soon as I could."
Misty's heart broke as she watched the crestfallen look on Casey's face. "I'm sorry that I snapped at you," she said. "Look, as long as you're here, I have to tell you something. When I was waiting for him to finish me off, all I could think about was never seeing you again and how sad that made me. If I'm going to die here tonight I don't want to go without telling you how much I love you."
Casey took his hand and carefully brushed the hair away from her eyes. "It may not be the most romantic setting," he said. "But I love you too. Please hang in there. I'm going to do everything I can to get you some help."
All Ellie did was smile at them. "Aww," she said. "That was a nice moment. And it's true that Misty is going to die. I mean everybody dies someday. But it's not going to be today. At least not from this. It would take a hell of a lot more than this to kill the world's biggest badass." Then she turned to Casey. "We need to control her bleeding. Find me some sanitary napkins."
"Sanitary napkins?" Casey asked in confusion. "Umm, where would I find them?"
"In the feminine hygiene department," Ellie snapped. "They're perfect. They're sanitary. And, well, they're napkins. Hello. You need to hurry."
Casey's face turned about ten shades of red as he finally realized what Ellie wanted, but he quickly found a box and an Ace bandage. Ellie worked efficiently to press a napkin into Misty's entry and exit wounds. Then she used the Ace bandage to keep them firmly in place.
"Can we move her?" Casey asked in obvious concern as he looked around anxiously. "We're going to have some company in just a few minutes."
"Yes," Ellie said. "We need to get her to a hospital as soon as we can. But it's not critical." Then she turned to Misty. "You're going to need some minor surgery to repair the damage to your shoulder," she said. "And it feels like it may be slightly separated. But I won't know for sure until I can see the x-rays. You're going to be on your back for a week or so. If your shoulder is separated, you'll be wearing a sling for six weeks. But don't worry. I promise you're going to have a full recovery."
One would think that Misty would have been relieved. And maybe she was. But she grabbed her friend's arm not all that gently. "Then why in the hell didn't you stop me?" she demanded in exasperation. "You stood there and let me tell him that I loved him for the first time lying on the floor of a convenience store?"
Ellie laughed out loud. "It was sweet," she said. "Maybe you'll have a little tiny scar to remember our adventure by. But I'm sure that he'll just find that sexy."
Casey very tenderly scooped Misty up to carry her to the car. As soon as she was in his arms she wrapped her good arm around his neck for all she was worth. "I'm very sorry that I dumped all that heavy stuff on you like that," she said so that only Casey could hear her. "I understand that makes you uncomfortable. It was an emotional moment. We thought that I was dying. That makes people say things sometimes that they don't really mean. The last thing that I would want is to put any pressure on you. So I'm not going to hold you to anything you said." Then she paused for a long moment. "But for the record," she finally continued. "Just so that we understand each other… I meant what I said."
Casey smiled and kissed her on the forehead lovingly. "I think that we understand each other perfectly," he said. "The honest truth is that I'm totally comfortable. It seems to fit somehow that the first time we said those words to each other would be after a gunfight. That's us, right?"
"And for the record… so did I."
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