"This plane is awesome!" Devon looked around the Gulfstream G550 that had just taken off from the private terminal at the Bob Hope airfield, otherwise known as the Burbank Hollywood Airport. "Do you travel like this all the time?"
"No," Chuck shook his head, he and Sarah had taken the couch that sat along side one wall while Devon and Ellie sat in the rotating captain's chairs that sat along the opposite wall. "It can vary, when we were traveling back and forth around Thanksgiving and when we came back for Christmas, we took commercial."
"We got lucky," Sarah added, "This aircraft was scheduled to ferry back to undergo it's tri-yearly maintenance review, essentially a tune up for aircrafts. Since it happened to coincide with our trip out to DC to finalize your contracts, we convinced them to give us a ride. If all goes well, we'll be able to catch it's ferry home since this aircraft is attached to the LA office."
"Who are we meeting again?" Ellie asked.
"The plan is to meet with the lawyers first," Sarah advised, "I spoke to a friend of mine who I met when I was seconded to the Secret Service. She's NCIS now and her boss has had some dealing with a couple JAG lawyers who have since resigned their commissions and now work in the private sector. Apparently, there's some long story that involving a murder investigation that put her boss and of the lawyers on opposite sides of each other. I guess there's some kind of grudging respect thing going on between the men, in any event, her boss recommended them."
"The irony of a man who goes by Harm negotiating contracts for medical consultants of the agencies, not withstanding," Chuck added, a smirk on his face.
Ellie rolled her eyes at her little brother before turning to Sarah, "I thought you said we were meeting with his partner."
"We were supposed to, but their kids all came down with the Chicken Pox, so she chose to stay home and let him take care of it." Sarah shrugged, "They're a husband/wife team."
"That seems to be going around a lot," Ellie nodded.
"Well when you work a job like they have, like we do, like you do, where it takes up a majority of your time, often you wind up meeting your match in those same places." Sarah gave them a small smile, "If memory serves, you two met in medical school, your parents met on the job, Chuck and I first met due to a common interest and were reunited because of the job… it happens."
"I guess so," Ellie nodded.
"Well the flight is going to be about 6 hours including the stop we are making in Oklahoma City to refuel and pick up lunch," Chuck advised, "What would you like to do to pass the time? I brought some DVDs, if you're interested."
After much discussion, 'The Princess Bride' was decided on for the in-flight entertainment. The film finished up just as they were making their descent for their stop-over. While the plane was refueled, the first officer stepped off to verify and receive the food delivery for the pilots and passengers and soon they were off again. The simple meal of sandwiches, chips, and cola satisfied their hunger and they spent the rest of the flight discussing the finer details of what Ellie and Devon should try to request in their contract to protect themselves and receive the oversight they would require.
It was late afternoon when they arrived. They were met at the terminal by a man in his late 30's or early 40's. He was clearly military, or at least had been, if his posture was any indication. He had short brown hair and dark eyes. When he saw them approach, he gave them a kind smile and approached. "Agents Walker and Carmichael, I presume?" He asked, offering his hand to Sarah and Chuck, then turned to the doctors, "And Doctors Woodcomb and Bartowski," He likewise shook their hands, "It's nice to meet you. I'm a little surprised the Gunny recommended us."
"According to my friend, Kate, yours were the first names he mentioned after his, according her, normal rant about not trusting lawyers," Sarah rolled her eyes. "She said something about a grudging respect?"
"Seems like that's the only respect that man ever gives," The man rolled his eyes then turned to the rest, "I'm Harmon Rabb, I'm sorry Mac couldn't join us. Our son, Luke, came home from school with the chicken pox then his brother and sister got it, it was like a domino effect, and now they're all down for the count. We've been working from home so that Mac can take care of them, I hope that's not a problem."
"No problem at all," Ellie assured him, "We've all had it before. If you want, Devon and I could give the kids a once-over if there's time."
"That would be great, actually," Harm nodded, clearly relieved, "I can't tell you how difficult it's been to get an appointment with their pediatrician. Seems like every active and retired service member takes their kids to his office."
"Well you have two awesome doctors at your disposal," Chuck smiled, "Might as well take advantage of them, since they will be taking advantage of your services."
"Good point," Harm smiled, "I'm parked out front. I just ask you don't laugh when you see it, Mac insisted we buy something more family friendly when she was pregnant with our daughter. My SUV is in the shop, so I'm stuck driving Mac's van."
"Don't worry about it, man," Devon shook his head, "When Ellie and I have kids, we'll wind up getting one too. I heard the Toyota Senna is one of the safest ones out there, so I'll probably get us one of those bad babies."
Ellie gave him a skeptical look, "Yeah, we'll see about that…"
The five of them made their way out into the parking lot of the private terminal and loaded up into the silver van that Harm had indicated. Chuck was given the front seat and Devon took the middle bench, both on account of their taller than most frames. The women then squeezed into the rear bench seat for the ride to Alexandria where Harm and his wife now lived.
They pulled into the garage of a two-story brick townhome and Harm led them through the kitchen door, "Mac? I'm home!"
"Be down in a minute!" Came a disembodied female voice.
"Why don't we go take a seat, do you want anything to drink?" Harm offered, "I got beer, soda, water, juice boxes… I could brew some coffee."
"Water is fine," Ellie smiled, and the rest of the group nodded in agreement.
"Four, no make that six waters coming right up. Living room is right through there, make yourselves at home," He nodded through an archway where a dark leather sectional and a love seat sat.
When Harm joined them, he had a pretty brunette with shoulder length hair following behind him, each holding 3 water glasses. "I'd like to introduce you to my wife Sarah, but most folks just call her 'Mac.'"
"It's nice to meet you," Mac nodded, taking a seat on the love seat next to her husband, "I'm sorry we weren't able to do this at the office."
"It's no problem," Ellie assured her, "You can't help it if your kids get sick. I'm Ellie, this is Devon, my fiancé, my brother Chuck, and his girlfriend Sarah."
"So as to avoid any confusion, why don't you just call me Mac?" Mac chuckled. When their guests nodded their agreement, she pressed forward, "So it's my understanding that you need us to negotiate a contract for you?"
"For Devon and me, yes," Ellie nodded, "I assume you are already familiar with Chuck and Sarah's line of work?"
"We were briefed," Mac nodded, "So what, exactly are you looing for from this contract, a particular pay grade, certain protections, term limits…"
"We would like there to be as few loopholes as possible to avoid being forcibly conscripted to stay on after we are no longer needed for the purpose that led to us being added to their team." Ellie explained. "Our father, whose work we are somewhat continuing, fell prey to one of those loopholes and we'd rather avoid it."
"Understood," Mac nodded, "Harm, would you mind taking notes?"
"What am I, your aide now?" Harm protested, but it was clear he was teasing his wife. He excused himself for a moment and returned with a pen and a legal pad, quickly jotting down all that they had discussed.
This continued for a while more, with Mac, and occasionally Harm asking questions and Ellie or Devon answering until they'd more or less had a workable idea for what they would be presenting as a tentative contract for the doctors.
"Well, I think that just about does it," Mac smiled, "Now keep in mind that this will be a negotiation. Basically, we'll go in there present what we want, they'll present what their counsel has drawn up, and then we'll start working our way through each part of the contracts until we can reach a mutual agreement. It could take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple day, depending on how much negotiating that needs to be done. We'll take breaks to confer if needed, and if you at any point don't understand something that is being said, please let myself or Harm know so that we can explain it to you." She smiled at the nods of acknowledgement she was receiving from the four younger adults. "Do you have any questions?"
"None that have to do with the contract," Ellie smiled warmly at her, "But your husband mentioned you were having a hard time getting in to see your kids' doctor. Would you like Devon and I to examine the kids before we go?"
"That would be great," Mac sighed in relief. "Do you need anything from us to do your exams?"
"An accurate thermometer and introductions to the kids?" Ellie suggested.
"That we can definitely do," Mac nodded, "If you'll come with me, I'll introduce you."
Sarah and Chuck stayed downstairs and chatted with Harm while they waited for Ellie and Devon to finish up with the children. About a half hour later the two doctors and one lawyer returned to the living room.
"Well, according to the doctors, our children are indeed turning into chickens," Mac announced, causing her husband to chuckle.
"Strict diet of soft foods, warm tea, and ice pops until their throats are no longer sore," Ellie advised, "And plenty of oatmeal baths and calamine lotion to help with the itching. You might want to consider mittens or socks for their hands to keep them from scratching too. I know this one," She nodded to her younger brother, "Nearly scratched himself raw when he had it."
"Oh, c'mon Elle, I was seven!" Chuck protested.
"And you have a scar on your chin because you couldn't leave well alone," Ellie arched an eyebrow challenging him to refute her claim.
"I was wondering what had happened," Sarah snickered.
"Well, now you know," Ellie smirked.
"Leave the Chuckster alone," Devon protested, "Like he said, he was only seven. What seven-year-old boy has any kind of impulse control?"
Mac and Harm watched the banter with amusement, seeing some of the same communication traits between Ellie and Chuck as they were starting to witness between their own children.
Sarah was the first to notice the barely concealed smiles on the married lawyers faces and had the decency to blush, "Sorry." She then turned to her boyfriend and his family, "Hey guys, maybe this is a discussion for another time?"
"You're right Sarah," Ellie nodded before giving the younger woman and her brother an evil smirk, "It's not like I can't bring it up when you two have kids and have to deal with them getting the Chicken Pox."
Chuck and Sarah rolled their eyes as Devon snickered at his fiancée's antics.
Hoping to get the meeting back on track, Harm cleared his throat. "I know you had a long travel day and tomorrow is likely going to be busy for all of us, so we should probably wrap this up."
"Probably a good idea," Ellie agreed, "It's getting late, and I don't know about these guys, but I'm getting hungry and I'd kinda like to get something to eat and check into our hotel for the night."
"Agreed," Devon nodded.
"The meeting is going to be held at Langley," Harm reminded them, "I would recommend being there early in order to have enough time to clear security. Since the meeting is at 9:30 in the morning, I'd suggest arriving around 9am. I will meet you there and will be with you until we can all come to an agreement."
The four younger adults all nodded their understanding.
"Great," Harm nodded, "I'll drop you off at your hotel."
Chuck, Sarah, Elie, and Devon all thanked Mac for her help and bid her goodnight before following Harm out to the van to take the relatively short 25 minute drive to their hotel which was only a few miles from the CIA main headquarters where their meeting would be held the following day.
Harm helped Chuck and Devon unload the bags and bid them a good night before driving away, leaving the two couples to check in to their rooms. A half hour later found them seated in a casual dining restaurant down the block from the hotel that had been recommended by the woman at the front desk. Despite the cool winter weather, the four of them chose to bundle up and walk the short distance rather than wait on the hotel's shuttle to return from its most recent airport run.
After a quick meal of cheeseburgers, with extra pickles for Sarah, they made their way back to the hotel to get some sleep before their meeting the next day.
As Harm had advised, they arrived at the CIA Headquarters in Langley a half an hour before their meeting was to be held. This turned out to be great advice as it took a while for Sarah to remove and register the small arsenal she carried on her person. Ellie, who had already cleared the check point with Devon, watched in wide eyed amazement as Sarah meticulously removed throwing knives from a couple holsters as well as her side arm, and despite him telling her so it still seemed strange that her brother likewise had to register his weapon with the security desk. Once they'd cleared security as well it hadn't taken long for Chuck and Sarah's weapons to be secreted away on their persons. What really surprised Ellie was that once the guns and knives were put away, you couldn't tell that either of them was carrying.
"That's by design," Sarah had shrugged when Ellie commented on it, "We would be terrible covert agents if you could tell we were armed all the time." Ellie had to concede the point.
Despite the delay at the security check point, they still arrived at the conference room their meeting was to be held in 10 minutes early. Luckily, Harm and Mac, who had indeed been able to get their friends to care for the kids while they attended the meeting, were already there. Devon and Ellie took their seats beside the legal duo while Chuck and Sarah took seats nearby. A few minutes later, a tall man with dark skin and an imposing demeanor and a short red headed woman in the uniform of a two-star Air Force general and had a commanding presence, entered along with a man in a dashing suit and briefcase. They took their seats opposite Ellie, Awesome and their counsel and quickly made the introductions.
The general noticed Chuck and Sarah's presence and arched her eyebrow at them, "Agent Walker, Mr. Carmichael, why are you sitting back there like petulant children?" She demanded, "This whole thing was your idea, why pretend you're not involved in this whole proceeding now?"
"With all due respect, General, Doctor Bartowski and Doctor Woodcomb are more than capable of knowing what they want out of their contract," Sarah countered, not moving from her seat.
"Do you really expect me to believe that you have not already advised them?" General Beckman rolled her eyes, "Get over here and sit down, that goes for you as well, Mr. Carmichael."
"Yes, ma'am," The nodded and took the seats next to Ellie and Devon on the other side from where the lawyers sat.
"Now that the gangs all here, shall we get started?" Harm asked, looking around the table, "Fantastic, now the terms the good doctors voiced their preferences on are…"
The negotiation went much like the lawyers said it would with some back and forth to appease both parties. Ellie and Devon were able to negotiate a contract term of three years with the option to extend at their discretion, they were also granted access to the scans performed on Hartley during the Agent X project as well as the scans done on Chuck following his most recent update. In return the agencies would retain full rights to all research conducted on behalf of the Intersect project. Not to mention having two doctors at the top of their respective fields on their payroll. The stipend they offered to the doctors was more than generous and came with the promise of a research grant for Ellie once the Intersect project had concluded.
They had taken a break a couple hours after lunch for the lawyers to draw up the contracts and soon Ellie's and Devon's signatures were witnessed and notarized. The lawyers excused themselves, wanting to get back to their sick children leaving the two young couples chatting in the lobby when Ellie ears picked up on a voice she hadn't heard in over a decade.
"Hello, Diane," The suave voice purred.
Ellie's eyes widened when she noticed the petite general blush slightly and shyly push her hair behind her ear, "Hello Roan."
"Chuck," Ellie hissed at her brother, "Don't we know him?"
Chuck followed his sisters gaze and nodded, "Yeah, that's Roan Montgomery, he's an instructor at the farm now, but he was one of the people dad sent to watch over us after he had to leave." Chuck explained, "He was using a different name, but after his daughter and her husband moved to New York, and we went off to college, he had nothing left tying him to California, so he moved to DC."
"How do you know all that?" Ellie gave him a puzzled look.
"He told me," Chuck shrugged, "I had to take an abbreviated version of his course when I was being trained."
"Charles!" Roan approached. He looked much like he did when they had known him back in California, except his hair was nearly all grey. He is intelligent eyes then settled on Ellie, letting them slowly drift over her from head to toe and back again as Ellie shifted uncomfortably. "And who is this fetching creature? My dear you are absolutely stunning."
"Roan leave the poor girl alone," Beckman scolded her on-again-off-again paramour. "I apologize, you'd think by now we would have gotten him to stop trying to hump every leg he finds."
Ellie stared at the older couple, unsure what to make of them or their comments. Chuck was likewise dumbfounded.
Thankfully Sarah came to their rescue, "Agent Montgomery, it's nice to see you again."
"Agent Walker," He gave the young woman a smile that bordered on the lecherous and kissed her offered hand, "Lovely as ever. I see you are still with Charles."
This snapped Chuck out of his stupor, "Yes, still together and going strong… a-at least I think so." He shot his girlfriend an unsure look only to be answered with a loving smile and a slight nod of the head, "You remember my sister, Ellie."
"Eleanor," Roan smiled at the young woman in an almost fatherly manner, surprising Ellie at how mercurial his behavior seemed to be, "My daughter still speaks of you fondly like the little sister she never had." He gave her one more evaluating look, "You have grown up to be quite a lovely woman, just stunning."
"Thank you, I think?" Ellie gave him an unsure smile.
"And this is her boyfriend, Devon Woodcomb," Chuck gestured to the tall man with light brown hair who looked as if he just stepped off the pages of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue. "They just signed on to be medical liaisons to our team. Ellie is a neurologist and Devon specializes in cardiothoracic medicine."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Roan nodded to the man.
"Ellie, Devon, allow me to introduce you to Roan Montgomery, he's an instructor at the farm, and an old friend of our parents," Chuck finished the introductions.
"You knew our parents?" Ellie's eyes widened in surprise.
"Quite well," Roan nodded, "After your mother disappeared, your father told me he was going to go after her and asked me to keep an eye on you and Charles. My daughter was a senior in high school at the time, so I chose to stay and do as he asked instead of uprooting her before her education was completed. Of course, she then met that husband of hers and left me anyway."
"How are they?" Chuck asked.
"They're doing quite well, successful restaurant on the edge of Central Park, a whole litter of kids," Roan smiled warmly. "I was just telling Diane I'm long overdue for a visit and was hoping to go up to the City for a visit. I'm trying to convince her to go along with me."
"And I told you that I have too much to do this weekend," General Beckman countered.
"Which is a shame, as they all love you," Roan shook his head sadly, "In any event, I must be off, I have a class in less than an hour, working on kissing techniques today. Something you excelled at in your short time with me, wouldn't you agree, Agent Walker?"
Chuck and Sarah blushed as Ellie stared at them incredulously, "We are so discussing this later, little brother," Ellie warned under her breath.
"Charles, Eleanor, Sarah, it was lovely seeing you again. Dr. Woodcomb, it was a pleasure meeting you," Roan nodded to them, "Diane, I will see you tonight at seven."
"I'll see you tonight," General Beckman nodded, summarily dismissing Roan who strode off down a nearby hall, "I also must be off, Dr. Bartowski, I will make sure you receive the files and records that were promised to you by the end of the week. Agent Carmichael, I trust you will set your medical team up with secure communication?"
"Already on it, General," Chuck nodded, "I will update you as soon as the protocols are established."
"Very well," Beckman nodded, executed a military about face and took her leave.
"It's about that time, why don't we get some dinner and head back to the hotel?" Chuck suggested, "Our flight home isn't for two days, maybe we can take in some of the sights tomorrow?"
Sarah nodded and stepped away to call for a cab to pick them up.
"I know you've always been interested in seeing the Smithsonian," Ellie smiled at her brother, "And I'd like to see the National Mall. You've lived her before, Sarah, do you have any favorites?"
"No," Sarah shrugged, hanging up the phone, "And saying I lived here is generous, I had an apartment here, but it was really more of a glorified crash pad to be used between missions. Honestly, the only time I stayed there more than a couple days was a couple months go when your brother was doing his training."
"And there's nothing that you would want to see?" Chuck asked.
"Well," Sarah hedged, "I'd kinda like to see the Air and Space Museum and the Museum of American History…"
"So, that's two for the Smithsonian," Chuck nodded, "Devon?"
"All of it seems pretty awesome," Devon shrugged, "I'm game for any of it."
"You do realize that we're riding back on another ferry flight," Sarah pointed out as they made their way out of the building, "We don't have to cram everything in to one day, we can take some time in the morning the day after to do whatever we still want to see. We just have to let the pilots know."
"Good point," Chuck nodded, "So, dinner?"
"How about we go back to the hotel to change first?" Ellie suggested, "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be in a business suit all day."
"I'm with her," Sarah nodded as their cab pulled up.
They piled in to the car and took the short ride back to their hotel where they quickly changed and caught the courtesy shuttle to a nearby shopping center where they found a casual pizza place and enjoyed a few slices and some beer before returning to the hotel to hang out until they grew tired enough to retire to their rooms for the night.