Wow. It's been over a year since I published the first chapter of this. I really want to apologize for leaving everyone hanging like this. Unfortunately, a lot of bad things have happened to me since last April, not the least of which was being injured in a carjacking, An injury that I'm still dealing with. Between that and my heart issues, I've spent half of the last year in and out of the hospital or rehab center. I'm doing my best to turn the corner, but it hasn't been easy. I want to thank everyone for their well wishes and their patience as I try to deal with all of this.

I finally got a chance to work on this chapter. Along with continuing this story, I'll also be starting a story based on Marc Vun Kannon's idea for a "True Lies"-type story. Although my story borrows just as much from "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." It should prove very interesting.

Anyway, thanks for hanging in there and being patient with me. Please review; hearing what you have to say will be a big boost for me. And don't forget to stop by the Chuck FanFiction site on Facebook. Take care!

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl – State Farm Stadium – Glendale, AZ
Oklahoma Sooners vs Georgia Bulldogs
Sooners 54 – Bulldogs 49
4th Down and 10 – Ball on the Sooners' 35
4th Quarter – 0:09 Remaining

"Thanks."

Sarah Walker took the bottle of Gatorade from the field assistant and sipped at it, careful to not look like she wanted to guzzle it down. This was actually her fourth of the night, and it would be the last since Georgia just used its final timeout. It wasn't as if she hadn't downed this much Gatorade before, but those prior times were outdoors in Tucson and College Station, Texas. In the middle of a hot August afternoon. Indoor games like this one were supposed to be easier.

But nobody thought this game would be easy.

She looked over at the back and side judges, both of whom were exhausted and looked like it. Comparatively, she was in far better shape, but being Big Ten officials, they were used to smash-mouth football in the cold of Ann Arbor or Columbus. Three yards and a cloud of dust. She was also fifteen years younger and could easily outwork even some of the women on the UCLA gymnastics team, where she was an assistant coach.

None of that meant anything tonight.

The officiating crew, made up of Big Ten and Pac-12 officials since the game featured teams from the Big 12 and SEC, knew this would be a shootout. Georgia and Oklahoma came in with the 2nd and 4th rated passing offenses in the country. The passing defense of each team? Somewhere in the 110s for each. College GameDay on ESPN joked the scoreboard operator could file for workman's compensation after this one.

Yeah, and what about the poor officials who had to run close to twelve miles tonight, Sarah thought with not a little angst.

She shook her head clear. She tried to remember she was here because she was one of the best officials in the Pac-12 and currently its only female football official. Even better, since this was her sixth bowl game in as many years, having worked the Chick-Fil-A Bowl last year between Auburn and Notre Dame and the Cotton Bowl between Clemson and Northwestern the year before that, nobody felt the need to interview her and ask her incessant and condescending questions about what it was like to be a woman officiating Division I football. After all, the coaches and players yelled at her as loudly as they did at the male officials.

She heard the 15-second warning whistle from the line judge, who was waiting for the network to bring them back from commercial. She thanked the field assistant and handed the empty Gatorade bottle back to her.

"Make sure we know where 88 lines up," Sarah told the other two officials, referring to Tyrese Mack, the best receiver on Georgia. "Whichever side he's not on, that judge covers the goal line and the other two have the back of the end zone. I have to believe we have a corner route coming."

"Don't let them get past you," the back judge advised.

Sarah smiled. "Never have, never will."

The two other officials gave a laugh and returned to their positions on the field. This was, effectively, the last play of the game. Georgia needed a touchdown to win. And given the scoreboard made it look like a basketball game instead of a football game, anything could happen. The ESPN highlight was filming itself right now.

Sarah positioned herself at the ten-yard line and moved a few yards in from the sideline to get a good view of Georgia's receivers. The quarterback barked out his cadence, and Mack went into motion towards Sarah's side of the field. She tensed and readied herself to drop to the back of the end zone.

The ball was snapped, and Mack sprinted down the field. Oklahoma had two backs ready to stop him, but Mack easily outran the first, leaving him in one-on-one coverage. However, John Hogan, the Sooners' free safety, was a speed merchant himself, and the two ran down the field towards Sarah, jockeying for position and bumping each other along the way.

Sarah started to reach for her flag when the two players stumbled hard. She leaped into the air, backflipped to avoid them, and whipped her flag towards the end zone while upside-down. As she landed and fell backwards into the wall, Mack slid in the end zone and managed to snag the football before it hit the ground. The Georgia bench erupted in celebration, assuming Sarah's flag was for defensive pass interference. Sarah ran up the field towards the referee and talked to him.

"Are you sure?" the referee asked. "We're going to catch hell because of that backflip."

"I'm certain," Sarah replied unequivocally. "88 pulled the jersey and caused the stumble. I saw it before I backflipped."

The referee looked at the scoreboard to see time had run out for the game. "You better be right, or all of us will be in witness protection for life."

The referee stepped out into the open and turned on his microphone. "Pass interference, number 88, on the offense. Game is over."

The entire Georgia team ran on the field in a fiery rage, heading towards Sarah and the referee. The assistant coaches tried to keep them back while the equally-outraged head coach started screaming.

"Your receiver pulled the jersey. He created the contact," Sarah said in a hardened voice, staring the coach down.

"That is complete and utter…"

One of the assistant coaches grabbed him and pointed to the video board in the stadium, which was showing the replay over and over. Although most people loved seeing Sarah's backflip, the replay showed Mack pulling on Hogan's jersey at the two-yard line, causing Hogan to stumble into him and both players almost crashing into Sarah.

The head coach exhaled in complete frustration. "You made the right call," he said brusquely and stomped away. The officials left the field with Georgia fans still booing them, no matter how tough of a call it was and that Sarah got it right.

Los Angeles, CA
January 5th
4:30 PM PST

Sarah entered her Los Angeles apartment and dropped her bags on the ground, immediately going to the kitchen for a bottle of wine. She collapsed onto her favorite chair and poured herself a glass. She had planned to return two days earlier after relaxing for a day or two in Phoenix, as she had a recruiting trip to San Antonio coming up, but it was not to be. Practically every TV network, radio station, and media outlet interviewed her about the play and the backflip. Her face was plastered everywhere with the nickname "The Flying Field Judge," although some of the more misogynistic sports talking heads out there called her "Air Blondie." Not surprisingly, there were still quite a few people…all male, naturally…who claimed she got the call wrong, despite the video evidence proving she got it right.

What bothered her most was how the media claimed that this was a big step for women in sports. There was no step; she wasn't even the first woman to officiate in the Pac-12, much less the NCAA. She just made the correct call. The backflip was purely a survival instinct. She wanted to be praised for her overall work, both as a gymnastics coach and a football official. She didn't want all of this publicity for an unusual play.

Her phone rang, and she sighed in frustration. I'm going to kill whoever gave my phone number away, she thought to herself. "Hello?"

"Sarah, this is Mike Tucker, head of officiating for the NFL. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Sorry, no. I just thought someone in the media got a hold of my home number."

"If you wish, you can call me next week. I didn't mean to disturb you."

"No, that's OK. I'm just glad I don't have to talk about the Fiesta Bowl game with you."

Big Mike laughed. "No, you won't have to. In fact, what I'm calling about was not influenced in any way by that game. Although what you did left a lot of officials beaming with pride."

"Thanks."

"The officiating committee met last week with our liaisons in the NFLPA. All of us are in agreement that it's time to have women officiate in the NFL. We have two positions open next season, and we would like to offer you one of those positions."

Sarah froze. Despite six years working in college football, she never once gave the thought of working in the pros. She thought she was quite happy coaching gymnastics at UCLA and officiating football during the off-season. But to officiate in the pros? The prospect shook her tremendously.

"Umm…Sarah? Are you still there?" Big Mike asked.

Sarah shook her head clear. "Yes, of course, Mike."

"Yes…you're still here or yes…you want the job?"

A big grin spread across Sarah's face. "Both. Wouldn't I have to try out, though?"

"Nope. Everyone on both committees has looked at your games. Forget being the best field judge in the Pac-12; you're one of the best officials at any position in the entire country."

Sarah felt a bit dizzy. She never gave thought to how good of an official she was. To her, high marks of her work was an expectation, not a celebration. As she was told once, officials are expected to start out perfect and get better from there.

"As soon as we get the second candidate, we'll go public with this," Big Mike continued. "We have an eye on a couple of candidates in the SEC and the Big Ten. For now, tell nobody, not even your family and friends. We'll talk to the Pac-12 and take care of any conflicts. We deal with this all the time, so there won't be a problem. The good news is, you can keep your coaching job at UCLA. This will work much like your college schedule does now."

"I…I don't know what to say. I am honored to be asked to join the NFL."

"We're honored to have you. I'll see you in New York in a few weeks. Take care, Sarah. And welcome to the National Football League."

Sarah hung up her phone and sat in dazed silence for a moment. Slowly, a smile spread across her face. She leaped into the air.

"YES!" she cried in unabated joy. She immediately got on her phone, already disregarding what Big Mike said about telling anyone. She had to call her best friend and fellow assistant coach on the Bruins gymnastics team.

"Carina, you'll never guess what happened."

NFL Headquarters – New York, NY
April 18th
3:30 PM EDT

Big Mike waited for the press to quiet down before continuing. "Miss Roberts comes to us from the SEC, having worked as a back judge for ten years and has donned the stripes in several exciting bowl games. Miss Walker comes to us out of the Pac-12 with six years of experience and six bowl games to her credit, including her incredible call at the end of the Fiesta Bowl this past season."

Sarah kept her expression the same, but she winced inside. She had spent the two weeks following the Fiesta Bowl on every talk show in existence discussing the call. In a way, she wished she had blown it, just so she could be merely a trivia question they use to give away two tickets to a sporting event on a local sports talk show. She wanted to be known for being a great official, not for one call that relied on her being such a good gymnast. But in a society starving for positive news, she was a T-bone steak.

"We'll take questions now," Big Mike continued.

"Sarah! Sarah!" a reporter from Fox Sports 1 began. "Do you think you got the job based on your performance at the Fiesta Bowl?"

"I don't think any official is hired based on a single call," Sarah replied, again trying to keep her frustration out of those types of questions. "Perhaps they can be fired for one, but it takes a lot of scouting to discover the best officials, just like it does for finding the best players."

"Please note," Big Mike interjected. "The officiating committee had made their decisions on both Sarah and Jill based on quality of their collegiate work and had done so prior to the college bowl season this past winter."

"Sarah!" Mike Greenberg of ESPN Radio called. "How do you feel about you and Jill making history in the NFL?"

Another easy question that Sarah had answered before. "I am quite honored to be asked to work with the greatest athletes and football minds in the world. But I don't feel like I'm making history; so many women before me have accomplished such incredible goals and contributed so much to history already. And I am certain there are plenty more after me that will continue to change our world. I'm here to do the best job possible and maintain the impeccable integrity of officials in this league."

"Jill!" Jay Mariotti said. "What do you think you'll need to do to keep up with your male counterparts in the league?"

Unlike Sarah, Jill let her disdain for the question show. "I don't know. What do you have to do to keep up with your male counterparts in the media?" That drew some ooohs and giggles from the media, especially given how little other reporters thought of Mariotti.

Big Mike gently grabbed Jill's elbow, and she nodded in concession. "The NFL is not in the habit of picking anyone but the best when it comes to important positions such as officials, and they did not commit that error when they chose me. I have every intention of being the best official in the league. Expect to see me officiating in the Super Bowl at my first chance of eligibility."

"Jill!" Jeff Joniak of WBBM-AM in Chicago raised his voice. "What do you think will be the biggest change between working a college game and working in the pros?"

"What others have told me is that the athletes not only have 100 times the talent, they play with 100 times the intensity. But I've been studying films of many games and officiating crews, and I feel like I am ready to handle the transition."

"Sarah!" Colin Cowherd of CBS Sports called. "How do you expect to be received by players and coaches?"

"I think I'll be treated like any other official, that I must prove every single day that I have earned that respect. And I intend to do that."

Sarah relaxed a bit inside when she glanced at Big Mike. He seemed quite satisfied with her answers.

Pauley Pavilion, University of California at Los Angeles
May 2nd
11:30 AM PDT

Sarah hung up the phone and gave a long exhale. This was her least-favorite part of coaching college gymnastics: talking to the parents of potential recruits. There was no problem talking to high school students; so many of them were bright, enthusiastic, and would be a pleasure to coach. But far too many parents merely thought of their talented sons and daughters as meal tickets and demanded unreasonable items just to allow their child the 'honor' of participating at a school.

She checked her calendar to find her schedule for the Atlanta area all set. There were six potential recruits and two gymnastics camps waiting for her there. She started to connect with the university's travel web page when her phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Sarah, this is Jimmy Slade. Do you have a minute to talk?"

Sarah sat back in her chair and smiled. She had studied the crews that worked in the league ever since the introductory press conference. This was what she hoped for: she wanted to be part of Jimmy Slade's crew. Most officials who worked for John Casey and him tended to move up the ladder quickly because the two of them made sure the people in their employ were the best at their position.

"Certainly, Mr. Slade."

"OK, first things first. It's Jimmy. I aged enough after that damn title game; I don't need to feel any older."

"Sorry," Sarah replied sheepishly.

"It's OK. You didn't know. I wanted to call and welcome you to the crew. You've got some really good people who will be working with you and helping you develop. But based on what I've seen of you in action, I have no doubt you'll be working playoff ball very soon."

"Thank you. I appreciate the vote of confidence."

I also wanted to discuss the three camps you'll be going through."

"Camps?"

"Just like the players, officials go through a summer training camp. It takes place over a week in early July just outside of Kansas City, a couple of weeks before teams head to theirs. There's also a camp for rookie officials in Connecticut in late June. Then our crew meets for a few days not far from my house in Philadelphia. Unlike the other two camps, we meet at a nice hotel and go over working together on the field, discuss new rules, rules emphases, and so on. Then, of course, we will rotate through team training camps helping them with their scrimmages and going over the rules and points of emphasis with them."

"It sounds like I have a very busy summer coming up."

"More than you realize. We have a sort of…freshman hazing…we do with rookie officials on our crew. Not to worry; nothing involving alcohol abuse or running naked anywhere. We want you to do a full presentation on one of the topics the league is emphasizing this season for our camp. John Casey insists on throwing new officials to the wolves right away so they can be ready for how pressure-packed even a pre-season game can be."

"I'm certainly up to the challenge. How do I get started?"

"The NFL provides each official with a laptop and access to an internal site to view memos from the league, look at videos to discuss specific calls, and so on. One of my crew is actually a tech wizard and is based in Los Angeles. I'm going to email you his business address and phone number, and the two of you can get together. He can configure your issued laptop so you don't have to sit in on that boring conference call the IT department in New York has to get new officials set up."

"That would be great."

"OK, keep an eye out for the email. I think you and Chuck will get along fine, even though you won't be working the same jobs."

"Thanks, Mr. Sl…sorry, Jimmy."

"Not a problem. And I'll see you here in Philadelphia in July."

"Goodbye."

Zork Computer Consultants – Burbank, CA
May 5th
1:00 PM PDT

Sarah drove up to the small store in the strip mall across from a Buy More and Underpants, Inc. She looked around at the nondescript building. It seemed a bit odd that, had it not been for the building signage, she would have walked right by it.

She walked up to the door and went inside. Two people stood at the main desk, one of whom was buried with a folder of documents while talking to someone on the phone. The other noticed Sarah walk in, and his jaw hit the floor.

"Stop the presses!" exclaimed the short man with the beard. "Who is that? Vicky Vale!"

The man behind the desk didn't look up. "Vicky Vale, Vick-a, Vicky Vale, Vickity Vickity," he sung. "Vicky Vale, Vick-a Vicky…"

He looked up, and he dropped the papers he was reviewing. The phone fell from his shoulders and hit the ground. Chuck was speechless.