Chuck and Sarah awoke early to silence in their home. Even with Molly having been gone a few days, it was strange to them to not hear her fussing from her crib at an early hour. To say they were anxious for everything to be done so they could bring their daughter home and get on with their lives would be an understatement. They had a plan, everyone was in town now, and the meeting that was really an ambush would be taking place that afternoon. Frost had confirmed that she, as well as the Barkers, were up to speed on the plan, and Team Carmichael would be doing a pre-op briefing once everyone had arrived at the office.
Sarah was snuggled up against Chuck's side, her head resting on his shoulder, while her arm was resting on his torso, her left leg thrown over his. Chuck in turn had his left arm wrapped around her back, his fingers tracing patterns along her arm, his right arm was tucked up behind his head as they woke up.
"Are you nervous?" She asked quietly, looking up at him.
He slowly turned to meet her eyes, "Yeah, there's so much at stake here, if we mess up, or if the program doesn't work the way it's supposed to, we may not have another opportunity to bring everyone home," Chuck sighed, contemplatively.
Sarah nodded; she knew that wasn't all; she could practically hear his thoughts whirling through his head. He needed a distraction, and she knew just what to do. Stretching her neck she pressed a warm kiss to his jaw, shifting until her body was fully pressed up against his. She let her left hand roam his body as she peppered soft kisses along his jaw, down his neck, and back up again, nipping at his earlobe before leaning up to capture his lips with hers.
"What are you up to?" Chuck asked softly.
"If you have to ask, then I must not be doing it right," She whispered against his lips.
"Okay, I know what you're doing, but I'm not sure as to why." Chuck amended.
"You were thinking too loud," Sarah explained, not pausing in her ministrations as her hand slipped under the waistband of his pajama pants, "I figured you needed a distraction before you crossed the line over to obsession."
"You're my obsession," Chuck countered.
"That's how it should be," She grinned as she heard him gasp softly when she gave him a light squeeze, "Now let me get back to what I was doing."
Chuck nodded, giving into Sarah's whims, lifting his hips dutifully when he felt her tug at the waistline of his pajamas, allowing her to slip them down his legs as she began to kiss down his neck again. He gasped at the sensation of her tongue flicking over his nipples as she continued down his body. She gave him a saucy grin as she reached her goal, causing him to let out a guttural groan at the feel of her mouth on him. He let her have control for as long as he could take it before burying his fingers in her hair, loving it when she hummed her agreement and kept going. When it finally got to be too much for him, he pulled her back up to capture her lips with his before rolling them over and turning the tables on her.
Sarah couldn't help but love it when he took control, quickly divesting her of the shirt she'd worn to bed the night before. She swore she heard him whimper when he realized that was all she was wearing, since she had anticipated needing to distract him somehow from the immanent events of that day.
"My God, Jen, you are so beautiful," He whispered reverently as he got back to work. Mirroring his fiancée's actions from before, using his mouth to taste every inch of her as his hand teased her, readying her for what was to come. He could tell she was getting close, so he slowed down and traced his lips back up her body, kissing her once more, his eyes meeting hers in a silent request. At her eager nod, he entered her. He loved the soft mewls of protest she made as he slowly coupled with her, taking his time, building her up and backing off just as she got close to the edge. He loved kissing the pout from her lips.
"Quit teasing, Charlie," She whimpered, arching her back and rocking her hips in a silent plea. The look he gave her had her gasping out, "Chuck me," as he went to work. It didn't take long before they both found their release.
"Still obsessing over the mission?" She asked once she got her breath back.
"What mission?" He teased, chuckling softly, "No, I think you well and truly distracted me from all obsessive thoughts." It was then, he caught the time on his alarm, "That being said, we should probably get dressed and head to the office for our final briefing with the team."
"Nope, can't move," Sarah complained.
"Oh really?" Chuck smirked gently tickling her sides as she squirmed away from him and hopped out of bed.
"Ugh, for that I get the first shower," Sarah stated, marching toward the bathroom. Chuck grinned, enjoying the view as he watched her go, at least until he heard the shower turned on, when he likewise jumped out of bed and joined Sarah in the shower just to make sure they didn't miss any hard-to-reach places.
That afternoon, after a quick pre-op review, the team made their way over to the port to get into position. Parking most of their cars out of sight, they left only Casey's Crown Vic and Zondra's Ducati parked out front of the building. Ellie and Devon were hidden away in the medical bay, while Sarah and Chuck took up sniper positions in neighboring buildings, both with long-range tranq rifles. Just as the cars carrying Volkoff, Frost, and the Barkers as well as some of their security team approached the warehouse, they did a final com check. Casey and Zondra would stay on an open channel while the rest would have to key in if they wished to relay information to the team.
From their positions, Chuck and Sarah could see the security team checking out the exterior of the building as well as scanning the large interior for any potential threats. Either they weren't very good, or they didn't think that shots could be made through the small upper windows of the building, but no one even came close to noticing Chuck and Sarah's positions.
The meeting went off as was expected, Casey and Zondra posing as potential contacts to get Volkoff's weapons to various clients in the United States. Just as the meeting was about to wrap up a whistling sound could be heard, Volkoff collapsed, and was quickly caught by Frost. When the security team guarding the meet started looking at each other, clearly confused as to what to do, the team realized that the security team that Frost had set up to 'protect' Volkoff were completely incompetent. While Frost held Volkoff upright, she, Casey, Zondra, and Cole quickly dispatched the security team. Once the warehouse fell silent again, the doors to the medical bay flew open as Ellie and Devon rushed out, directing Casey and Cole to take Volkoff from Frost and get him into the medical bay where he was quickly secured to a chair and reclined.
The tranqs weren't very powerful and had begun to wear off by the time Chuck and Sarah had disassembled and packed away their rifles to join the rest of the team.
"What is going on?" Volkoff demanded drowsily, catching sight of Frost in the corner, "Frost, my love…"
"This is for your own good Alexei," She stated simply as Ellie placed a set of dark glasses over Volkoff's eyes.
The older man went rigid and still as the program activated. It took nearly a half hour to deprogram the Agent X personality, twice as long as deactivating Chuck's Intersect, if only to make sure every scrap of the bad code was eliminated. Eventually his body relaxed, and his head lulled to the side. Ellie cautiously approached her patient and removed the glasses, laying them on a tray. She took his vitals, satisfied that they seemed strong.
"How long will he be out?" Vivian asked, looking between Ellie and Devon, before shifting her gaze to Chuck searching for answers.
"We don't know, Vivi," Chuck shook his head with a slight shrug. "He's been Volkoff for so long, it might take his brain a while to assimilate to what we just did, which equates to a hard reset of his mind to his pre-Volkoff persona."
Cole pulled his wife into his arms to reassure her as they waited, Chuck and Sarah held hands, and Devon rested his hand reassuringly on Ellie's shoulder as they waited for some indication that their experiment had worked. Apparently, Mary had signaled Stephen at some point as the older man eventually showed up, quietly slipping into the room, reassuringly squeezing the shoulders of Vivian, Chuck, and Ellie as he passed on his way to where his wife stood in the corner. He pulled her into his arms, their embrace, initially awkward, quickly morphed into that of long-lost lovers as he leaned back to capture her lips in a passionate kiss which expressed all of what he felt for her. To his wonder, she returned the kiss in full force.
"Okay, okay, that's enough you two," Chuck finally spoke up, as it was rapidly becoming clear, his parents had forgotten there were others in the room with them. "And I thought Sarah and I were bad."
"You are," Casey grunted, followed by an agreeing chuckle from Zondra who stood observing the man on the chair as well as the respective couples in the room.
Stephen and Mary blushed slightly and apologized as they walked closer to the group, Stephen's arm wrapped around Mary's shoulders and her arm holding onto his waist for dear life. "Sorry, it has just been… a while."
"Well keep it in your pants until we're done here," Casey admonished them, "Charah over here is bad enough, without you two acting as an example of why he is the way he is. A mission is no place for gorram lady feelings." He added with a grumble.
Eventually, the man in the chair began to stir, wincing in pain as his eyes began to open. "What the bloody hell is going on? Why do I feel like I've drank a landlord clear out of his pub?" The decidedly Welsch accent was clear of any Russian influence as the man spoke. "And why am I in restraints?" He demanded.
"It was for your own safety, and ours" Ellie advised before looking toward the members of her team, "Do you know you name?"
"I am Doctor Hartley Winterbottom," The man responded, "Who are you?"
"She's my daughter," Stephen spoke up, approaching the man who was once his best friend.
"Stephen?" The man looked at him incredulously, "My God, man, you got old!"
"Well, you're no spring chicken yourself," Stephen chuckled. "You've been gone a long time, my friend." He turned to Ellie, "You can release him, Eleanor."
Ellie nodded before she and Devon quickly released the restraints binding Hartley's wrists, ankles, and torso to the chair. They noticed Casey and Zondra both stepped forward slightly, just in case something went sideways.
"Where have I been?" Hartley looked up at his old friend as he tried to stand on shaky legs. It was then he saw Mary standing just beyond Stephen's shoulders and it all came rushing back to him, "Oh my God, what have I done? Stephen, I am so sorry, I don't know what happened, I kept your Mary from you for so long. And I did unspeakable things… I was a monster!"
"It wasn't you, Hartley," Mary tried to reassure him, "The program malfunctioned, you weren't yourself."
Hartley's eyes shifted over to the young brunette who was standing wrapped protectively in the arms of a slightly older man, "Vivian? You grew up! You are the spitting image of your grandmother."
"Hello, Dad," She smiled softly at him, slowly stepping from Cole's embrace and into the arms of her father who had finally been returned to her. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too," The older man replied softly, stepping back to wipe the tears from his daughter's eyes.
"Doctor Winterbottom, I'd like to run a few tests to make sure that everything is as it should be," Ellie stepped forward. "However, I'd much rather do it in my actual lab than here or in the hospital." She turned toward Casey.
"Cleaners have already come and gone," He reported.
"I think there is an awful lot that I've missed," Hartley sighed.
"There is, old friend, but don't worry, we'll get you there," Stephen clapped him on the shoulder before guiding him toward the parking lot where some of their cars were parked.
Chuck immediately went into planning mode, "Casey, take Hartley in your car with Devon and Ellie, Mom, why don't you ride with Dad in the jeep. Sarah and I will go get our car and meet up with Cole and Vivian, you two follow me in the car you came in. Zondra, try not to scare too many people as you rocket past them."
"I make no promises," Zondra gave him a teasing grin as she slid her helmet over her head and kick-started her motorcycle. She was soon zipping off through the complex, popping a wheelie as she reached the halfway point of the first corridor.
The rest of the group disbursed to their respective vehicles and began to caravan over to Carmichael Tech.
Nearly an hour later, most of the group were in the more comfortable conference rooms of Carmichael Tech while Ellie and Devon took Hartley into the medical suite to do a more thorough evaluation. At one point, Stephen and Chuck were called back to run a diagnostic before returning to the conference room a half hour later. It was determined by the medical and technical staff that the Agent X program had been successfully suppressed. However, the program had caused damage to Hartley's amygdala and prefrontal cortex similar to the impact mental illness on the brain. As a result, Ellie prescribed that Hartley go through cognitive therapy, under her supervision to mitigate some of the damage. With Hartley's permission, Ellie called Vivian and Cole in and briefed them on the damage the Agent X Intersect had caused as well as potential long-term effects such as higher risk of dementia, Alzheimer's, and general memory loss. After Hartley and the Barkers had asked their questions of the doctor, Hartley was deemed otherwise healthy and was free to go.
While Hartley was being evaluated, Sarah had been coordinating lodging for their visitors at Maison 23. Since she was unsure if Stephen would want to stay in town or return from wherever it was that he'd been living as of late, she made sure to reserve a room for him and Mary in case they had need of it. She very much doubted that Chuck or Ellie would be comfortable with their parents staying with either of them while they reunited after being separated for nearly two decades. It was decided that everyone would retire to their respective lodgings for a few hours to rest before reconvening.
That evening, they all gathered at Casey's condo to give their debrief and, in the case of Team Carmichael, submit their mission reports. Vivian and Cole were due to travel back to England in a few weeks, along with Hartley and would do a thorough debrief of their Volkoff mission with their superiors at MI:5 when they arrived in London.
Once Beckman and Graham were satisfied with the team's debrief, they were given a week's leave, four weeks in the case of Chuck and Sarah.
When the video call ended, Ellie quickly got everyone's attention, "Since we had no way of knowing how long the debrief would take, I have not yet made dinner. You are all welcome to come over to Devon's and my place for dinner but be warned if you do, we are ordering pizza, so if you have any special requests for toppings say your piece now before we place the order.
After a quick discussion, the pizza was ordered and the team that had become a family migrated over to the Awesomes' to relax with beer and wine until their food was delivered. While they waited, Chuck and Sarah caught Hartley, Mary, Vivian, and Cole up on the plans that weekend, which were met with the expected excitement from their friends and family.