It was a quarter after five when Sarah pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex where Ellie, Chuck, and Casey all lived. She did a quick pass through the lot to see if Ellie's car was there and breathed a sigh when she saw it parked in its assigned carport before pulling into a visitor's parking spot far enough down and behind a large SUV so that her Porsche would not be easily noticed if Ellie had to make a quick run to the store for an ingredient as she made dinner. Stepping out of the car, she ran her hand down her blouse to smooth out any wrinkles that may have developed during the ride from her hotel to Ellie's apartment. She felt her cell phone buzz in her purse and pulled it out, finding a text message from Casey.
All clear to enter courtyard, Mama Bear is elbow deep in food prep.
Rolling her eyes at the code name Casey had assigned the elder Bartowski sibling when the assignment first started, Sarah slipped her phone back into her purse. As she walked, a brief thought of noting the irony that a man who was affectionately known by some as "Sugar Bear" had given Ellie the codename he gave her, was presented, and quickly dismissed in a matter of no more than a second. Once she was through the archway that led to the courtyard, she cast a quick glance to Ellie's door before quickly making her way to Casey's.
She didn't even have to knock, as Casey had been watching for her and had opened the door when she was only a couple feet away. Once Sarah was safely inside, he shut the door and offered her a drink, which she politely declined. They gave a brief update to Beckman and Graham on Chuck's status before discussing between the two of them the best way to explain things to Ellie. In the end, they decided that being straight forward with Ellie was the best way to go.
They both knew what was at stake that night. Not only the possibility of her being able to assist in finding a way to pull Chuck out of his coma, but for each of them as well. They knew Ellie's trust in them would be shaken, potentially irrevocably, but for Sarah, it meant the very real possibility of losing her only real friend outside of her life as a spy. For Casey, he knew that, while it was still much too soon, the conversation they were going to have could potentially ruin any possibility of having Ellie in his life, in whatever capacity she might allow.
Soon it was time to head over to Ellie's. Sarah left first a bottle of merlot in hand, which was gladly accepted by Ellie who thanked her and offered her a glass while they waited for Casey to arrive to join them for dinner. Casey arrived roughly five minutes later, carrying a tray of mini pecan pies.
It had been a relatively easy day for Ellie, full of follow ups and consultations with some time in between to reread some journal articles on cognitive function and rehabilitation as well as some papers about subliminal encoding she had remembered reading a few years before. She wasn't sure if she should take her father at his word or if he might be stuck in some fantastical sci-fi delusion. Regardless, if it had any hope of helping her brother, she was willing to consider it.
She was both looking forward and somewhat dreading the dinner with Sarah and John, who while being Chuck's girlfriend and friend/co-worker respectively, she considered both of them good friends. The fact they both wanted to speak to her so soon after everything that had happened and was still happening, concerned her. However, whatever the problem was, she'd much rather have it all out in the open. Unlike most of Chuck's friends, they both tended to be more reserved compared to, say, Morgan, who she desperately hoped would not try to make an appearance that night. She'd locked her brother's bedroom window anyhow, just in case.
She'd just pulled the roast out of the oven and was plating it and the vegetables on serving dishes before taking them out to the dining room to await her guests. Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long as Sarah knocked on the door just as Ellie was straightening the place settings. The bottle of Merlot that Sarah had brought would pair perfectly with the dinner she'd made, she thanked Sarah with a hug and accepted the bottle offering to pour them both a glass while they waited on John. Punctual as always, John arrived five minutes before the dinner invitation stated for him to arrive, a platter of mini pecan pies in his large hands. She gave a passing thought to if he knew that they were her favorite dessert or not as she welcomed him in and offered him a drink.
Since she had taken the mini pies into the kitchen, John had done her the favor of opening the wine and pouring them each a generous glass, handing glasses first to Sarah then Ellie before claiming one for himself. Ellie invited them to sit, and soon platters were being passed around as they each served themselves.
Dinner itself was pleasant, much as it usually was, passing with casual, occasionally humorous, conversations, although they all strongly felt the loss of Chuck at the table as they ate. The food was delicious, the roast had been tender, and the vegetables were soft but not to the point of disintegrating into mush when chewed, not that there was ever any doubt that a meal cooked by Ellie Bartowski would be great, even if she was dealing with a great deal of baggage in her personal life.
Once dinner was done, and the leftovers put away Ellie brewed some coffee and brought out three cups of coffee along with the mini pies. Ellie's eyes widened as she bit into her mini pie, along with the expected sweet and nutty taste, there was a darker flavor mixed in.
Casey noticed her surprise and gave her a small smile, "Used my ma's recipe, calls for a splash of bourbon to be added to the filling." He explained, "Do you not like it?"
"No, I do, it just surprised me is all," Ellie stammered out an explanation, "It's a bit different, but I like it."
"I'm glad you do," Casey nodded, "I'm sure my ma would be glad as well."
Sarah watched the interaction with curiosity. Sure, she had noticed how Casey had always acted around Ellie. She'd always thought it was just being polite to the hostess, but she could have sworn she saw a slight blush when Ellie had said she'd liked his mini pies. Could it be that Casey was attracted to Ellie? It wasn't that foreign of a concept, she supposed.
Ellie was a beautiful woman, and Casey, was a relatively handsome and charming man, once you got past the grunting and the constant scowling… which, come to think, Sarah had never witnessed from her partner very often when he was around Ellie. Sure, he'd grunted in response to Ellie a time or two, but after getting the evil eye, he had learned to at least attempt to curb that particular mode of communication. He rarely ever scowled in Ellie's presence, save the occasional response to Morgan's, and occasionally Chuck's, antics. Besides, despite the wear and tear on his body from his time in the service making him appear older, he was barely into his 40's, making him only five or six years older than Ellie.
Sarah also knew that beneath all his gruffness and growling, Casey had been raised to be a gentleman, behavior that had been reinforced during his time in the corps. Which meant that, even if there was some attraction or feelings on his end, not that he would admit to them, he would wait for her to make the first move so as to give her time to heal from her last relationship, and the affect the talk they were deliberately delaying would have on her. In the end, all Sarah wanted was for her friends, and she did consider her NSA counterpart as a friend, to be happy, however and wherever they may find that happiness.
Once they had finished dessert, Casey had volunteered to collect and wash the dessert dishes. Sarah was tempted to call him a coward for using cleaning up after dinner as an excuse to put off talking with Ellie, but her charge died on her lips the moment she saw him returning to the dining room, a bottle of Jonnie Walker Blue Label in one hand, three tumblers pinched between his thumb, fore, and middle fingers. He set the glasses on the table and poured them each a couple fingers of whiskey before finishing off his own with one large gulp and refilling it again.
Ellie suggested they move to the living room and the spies quickly agreed. They made their way into the living room, Casey with the bottle of Johnnie Walker in his hand. Once they were all seated, and the bottle of whiskey was deposited on the coffee table, Ellie looked between Sarah and Casey with an expectant look.
"So, now that you've made sure I'm sufficiently liquored up, do either of you want to tell me why?" She arched an eyebrow and took a sip of her whiskey, letting it burn down her throat as she watched Sarah and Casey have a silent conversation before Sarah finally spoke up.
"Ellie, before we get too far into it, please know that everything we did was to protect you and we never meant any of this to hurt you in any way," Sarah gave her a pleading look as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a wallet folio, her movement mirrored by Casey, and laid out her credentials on the coffee table facing Ellie, "We aren't exactly who we led you to believe, and neither is your brother."
Ellie calmly set her glass on the table and bent over to view the credentials laid out before her. When she sat up again, her face was blank as she stood and walked out of the room. Sarah and Casey weren't sure what to make of her reaction. Assuming she needed a moment alone to process, they waited for Ellie's return, which didn't take very long at all, because before they knew it, she swept back in a box labeled 'Converse All Stars' in her hands. She threw the box down, Chuck's alias passports scattering across the table along with a black credential wallet which fell open, a more formal picture of Chuck in a suit on the identification portion. Ellie picked up the wallet and noticed it had an extra partition in it, eyes widening as she realized that it held credentials for both the CIA and NSA.
"Where did you find this?" Sarah stared at the documents spread over the coffee table.
"My brother may be a genius, but he is terrible at finding good hiding places." Ellie explained before getting down to what she really wanted to know. "How long?" She asked, when neither answered she looked up to meet their eyes and repeated herself more forcefully, "How long?"
"We've been a team for a little over two years, a few days after your brother's 27th birthday." Casey explained, "Your brother serves as our analyst."
"Analyst?" Ellie repeated, "Is that why all of a sudden he got his diploma from Stanford?"
"No, not exactly," Sarah hedged, "During one of our investigations, we found video recordings indicating that Chuck had been framed and was unfairly expelled. We submitted the evidence to Stanford, and since he was ahead in all his classes and was projected to pass all his classes with an A, they felt it was unnecessary for him to retake his last semester and instead just issued his diploma. Once that happened, we were able to officially bring him on as an analyst, before that he was our asset."
"What the hell is an asset in your world?" Ellie demanded.
"It usually means someone, generally a criminal, with a particular skill set or ability who assists us in investigations." Casey informed her.
"Oh God…" Ellie groaned and buried her head in her hands, "I told him to stop, I told him he'd get caught. That's it, I'm going to go down to that hospital find some way to wake him up out of that coma and I'm gonna kill him, or at least punch him so hard he'll be in a coma for decades to come!"
Sarah and Casey looked at each other puzzled.
"Um, Ellie, what are you talking about?" Sarah asked.
Ellie paled realizing she'd said too much, "What were you talking about?"
"What I was about to say, is that our knowledge, Chuck isn't a criminal, although at first he was suspected to be complicit in the actions of a rouge agent," Casey explained, "That theory was officially discarded a couple months later, although we had our suspicions within a few days of the team forming. Especially since he'd had no motive to help the rogue agent due to some rather dissatisfactory events that had occurred between the two of them years before."
"What Casey is avoiding saying is that Bryce Larkin sent Chuck sensitive intel which he'd initially stolen from the Department of National Intelligence's headquarters." Sarah joined in, "Bryce had sent it in an email and Chuck assumed it was some kind of birthday greeting or apology and didn't realize what he was opening until it was too late, and he'd already downloaded the information."
"But Chuck's computer was damaged beyond repair during a botched robbery a couple days later," Ellie protested.
"I know, sorry, that was my fault," Sarah shrugged, "Chuck caught me trying to take his tower, but it fell during the altercation. Not that it would have done us any good if I'd been able to successfully retrieve it. The email fried his hard drive."
"If that were true, then he would be useless to you," Ellie pointed out.
"That is actually where you would be wrong," Casey corrected her, "The way the information had been transmitted was by way of encoded imagery. The project your father said he is working on? He was telling you the truth."
Ellie looked at them disbelievingly, "You mean my crazy dad's claims are real?"
"We know this is hard to accept, but it's the truth," Sarah assured her, "The test Bryce claimed that Chuck had cheated on was an encoded image retention test that was created to identify potential candidates to upload the technology. Your brother has the highest score ever recorded by at least 10 points. Somehow Bryce found out and intervened to protect him from being forcibly conscripted to the CIA. The irony is not lost on either of us that Bryce was also the one who sent him the technology which led to him being essentially conscripted to being a government asset then analyst."
"Why are you telling me all of this now?" Ellie asked.
"Orion, your dad, has seemed to hit a brick wall when it comes to removing or overriding the data, which may be the only way to get Chuck to wake up," Casey informed her. "It is our belief that you might be able to lend insight from your end to see if you can't get him past this hurdle. The NSA has already arranged for some time off for you."
"And you just expect me to abandon my job, my career, chasing my father's delusions?" Ellie demanded.
Sarah took a deep breath, "Ellie, I understand that to most this may seem out there, and I get that you're upset..."
"'Upset?!'" Ellie screamed, "You think that I'm just upset. Oh no, I am abso-fucking-lutely furious! Do you have any idea what you all have put me and Chuck through the past few months, no the last twenty fucking years? Both my parents abandon us, leaving me to raise Chuck practically on my own since I was 14 years old. Chuck got kicked out of college by one of your agents who he thought was his best friend, and what's worse, that same agent sleeps with Chuck's fiancée – or did you not know he was engaged his senior year of college?" Ellie didn't see Sarah wince as if she had been slapped as she rose to her feet and began to pace as she continued to rant, "Do you have any idea what that did to my sweet brother's self-esteem? He wound up working for the BuyMore, the fucking BuyMore for Chrissakes! I don't think you even have any inkling of how wasted his talents are there, but because of that one two punch that our government was so kind to throw at him back at Stanford, that's all he thinks he's good for!"
Ellie groaned in frustration and looked over at Sarah, "And then you showed up, and I saw the Chuck I knew had been buried deep inside of him for five Goddamned years! He was confident, he had his old spark back, he even began to sing and play again! Bet you didn't know that Gibson wasn't just for show. I thought you coming into his life, into our life, was a damned miracle..." She sighed defeated, "But that was a lie too, I guess, you're not really dating Chuck, are you? You don't love him, he's just a tool for you to manipulate however you see fit... I bet you don't even care about him, do you? Do you even like him? Was it all just a lie?"
"No," Sarah's voice was quiet.
Ellie's eyes narrowed to slits, "Get out. Both of you, get out of my apartment."
"No, Ellie, wait, that's not what I meant," Sarah protested.
"I don't give a fuck what you have to say!" Ellie shouted.
"You might be interested in what she has to say," Casey advised.
"And why would I even want to listen to anything you have to say?" Ellie growled in a way that impressed Casey.
"Because I love him!" Sarah was in tears, "I didn't mean for it to happen, it wasn't supposed to happen. Spies don't fall in love, but your brother... Chuck he... he changed, no, he saw me." She met Ellie's eyes, "He saw me, Ellie. Not the spy, not Director Graham's enforcer, not the con man's daughter, but he saw me. The real me. The girl I thought I lost somewhere during the moves too numerous to count, the cons, the assignments, everything and everywhere I've been since that day my dad seduced that little girl away from her mother's house with promises of adventure and rocky road ice cream... I would die for him... I want to live for him, live with him, have, and build a life with him! I love him, so damned much, and I don't know what to do about it."