Chuck flew home by himself. Morgan had been offered a tour of the manor and wasn't going to turn down the chance to look around the Batcave. Alfred had promised that he could be able to take a look. Damian assured Chuck that Morgan would be safe before flying back towards New York.

Mar'i went with Damian and Chuck took that as a good sign. He knew that Mar'i had spoken to a few of them about wanting to be more than friends with Damian.

The sun was about to rise as Chuck said the word and walked into his apartment with a yawn. Since he had to be back before morning, he barely had time to introduce himself to the original Volkoff, that is, Hartley Winterbottom. He had seemed like a nice guy and Chuck hoped that he would be that way with the child Volkoff had fathered.

"Chuck!" Sarah gasped when she saw him blearily getting coffee ready a few moments later. "Beckman just called."

"Oh really?" he questioned flatly. "TV or computer?" Because Beckman tended to just hack into whatever she could. Chuck was tempted to keep her out but he stuck to diverting her attacks to either the TV or computer. Beckman never realised that she couldn't get into anything else in the house.

Sarah put her hands on her hips and looked him up and down. "Is everything alright?"

"Didn't sleep well," Chuck responded.

She gave him a suspicious look. "You weren't in bed all night. Where did you sleep?"

Chuck pointed to the couch. "Didn't want to wake you." It was a half-truth. He didn't want to wake her. But he hadn't spent the night on the couch.

Sarah sighed and walked over, wrapping her arms around his waist. "You know you don't have to worry about that. I'd rather you wake me than spend the whole night sleeping uncomfortably."

"I did spend part of the night playing videogames with Morgan," Chuck laughed. "And I'd rather you sleep through the night without being woken up."

Sarah could tell she wasn't going to win this one. "Come and see what General Beckman has to say."

Chuck followed her over to Casey's apartment, where the General was already talking.

"You're here," Casey huffed. He was glaring at them.

"Sorry we're late," Sarah said. Chuck didn't say a thing. They were as on-time as they could be. Maybe if Beckman didn't hold meetings at the drop of a hat?

"I'll get to the point: Volkoff has escaped."

Sarah gasped.

"How?" Chuck asked. He was interested in finding out what the CIA had managed to figure out.

"Two things are clear. He didn't escape on his own and whomever helped him is skilled."

"So you don't know," Sarah commented in her hard, spy tone. Chuck hoped she wasn't going to go crazy trying to fix this. He wanted her with him now that everything was over.

Even if she didn't know it was.

"We're not certain how this happened." Which was Beckman speak for 'we don't know'. Chuck was glad about that. He didn't want his friends to get in trouble.

"What about Frost?" Casey asked.

"Are we going to tell her?" Chuck asked. He didn't want to lose his mother to this as well. But, considering there were plans to tell her soon, it wasn't as problematic as Sarah running off in an attempt to 'fix' things.

It was only a problem if Frost disappeared before he had a chance to explain.

"Chuck, she'll find out eventually."

"Alright. I'll tell her." Then he could tell her about Orion while he was at it.

"I'll come with you."

Chuck smiled and held Sarah's hand, taking it off his shoulder. "It's fine," he told her. "Mum's helping Ellie out with the baby. It shouldn't be too hard to talk to her." It wasn't like telling Sarah and Casey. Frost was done with the CIA anyway.


Ellie was the one who answered the door. She put her hands on her hips and glared.

"What did you do?" she hissed at him. It took Chuck back to another time. Back when they were younger and Ellie had been Mary, the voice of reason in a world of tights and chaos.

"Look, Dad messed up a guy's life. I just helped him fix that."

"Mum's ready to go running off to fight... I don't know what. I only managed to keep her here because I pretended not to know and pointed out that, if she has no idea where to go then she should wait for more information."

"Not bad advice."

"Thanks. I'm used to keeping impulsive heroes from running off to get killed."

Chuck gave her the nervous but nice grin he kept for when he was in trouble. Ellie shoved him towards the baby's room. "Go and talk to her."

"Easy for you to say."

"Hey, I was the one who told our foster parents. You can tell our blood related parents."

"Our foster parents weren't spies who would kill us."

"What evidence do you have that-"

"Mum blew up our old home with me inside it! Who knows what she'll do about this!"

Ellie sighed. There was a story there and now wasn't the time. Chuck was probably trying to distract her by telling her about a dangerous time in his life.

"Just get in there."

Frost looked up as her daughter shoved her son into the room. She placed Clara back into her crib. "Nice to see you, Chuck."

"Uh, yes. Nice to see you too. Um, I have something I need to talk to you about?" Chuck stumbled over his words and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"If this is about Volkoff, I'm still going after him. Chuck, if the CIA has any information-"

"It's not the CIA that has the information, Mum." He gave a moment for that to sink in. "It's me."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm the one who broke Volkoff out of CIA prison."

There was a moment's pause.

"I'm sure you had some kind of reason," Ellie huffed. "I just wish you'd talk to us first."

Frost stared at her children as if they had grown an extra head or something. "What kind of reason could your brother have for breaking out a known criminal?"

"Dad made him that way." Chuck took some pleasure in seeing the shock cross her face. After all, his parents had kept many secrets over the years and this one had led to Chuck and Ellie being thrown into foster care. "Yeah, I know about Hartley."

"Good, because I don't." Ellie was ignored though.

"I can't believe it. How did you find out?"

"Probably through Dad." Ellie knew her mother had heard that.

"What?"

"Orion's alive," Chuck added.

"How?"

"Chuck has friends who are experts at faking a death. Even with very little time to plan." Or no time to plan.

Frost was shocked. Ellie motioned for Chuck to keep going. It was time to tell her.

"My name's Chuck Bartowski but also Billy Batson and I'm a superhero."