a/n: Apparently I just can't get enough of Ellie knowing about Chuck's secret. I don't know how regularly I'll write oneshots for this collection, but there are plenty of things Chuck had to keep secret from Ellie that she has yet to know about!
For this oneshot, it's just a little conversation between Ellie and Chuck about Bryce. It's briefly related to my other fic Chuck vs the Bullet, but even if you haven't read that, you don't need to. All you need to know is that this takes place in mid-s2, and in that story, Ellie found out Chuck's secret.
Hope you like this one! It was fun to write :)
~cosette141
"Where's Awesome?" asked Chuck as he sat down at the dining room table with his morning coffee, reveling in the half an hour before needing to go to Buy More for work.
Ellie, bringing her own coffee to the table, said, "He left with his fraternity brothers to go to Stanford for a game. I have to work later," she said with a little disappointment as she sat down. Her brows furrowed a little at her own words, and she looked at Chuck. "It's great that you were able to get your degree from Stanford after all, but I still, after all these years, can't believe that Bryce got you kicked out. I just… I can't believe he did that to you." A little thoughtful, sad pause, then, even softer, "I can't believe he did a lot of things to you."
Chuck hesitated, lowering his coffee. Ellie had known his secret for a few months now, and they'd talked about plenty of his secrets (as many as he could tell her, that was) but the topic of the true reason Bryce got him kicked out of Stanford hadn't yet come up between himself and Ellie.
"About that," said Chuck as Ellie opened the paper to read. "Bryce… kind of did that… for me, rather than to me."
Ellie looked at him, brows kneaded in confusion. "For you? Chuck, what are you talking about?"
"Well," said Chuck. "He was definitely doing something to me when he sent me the Intersect," he muttered, something that even after reuniting with Bryce hadn't cleared up. "But kicking me out of Stanford…" He hesitated, suddenly wondering if he could disclose the information to Ellie. But deciding they were a bit past that with her already knowing he was a spy, he decided to screw it. "When I was still at Stanford, the CIA was looking to recruit… me." he said slowly.
Ellie's eyes widened. "What?"
"They were impressed with me," said Chuck, "and they wanted me to become an agent." Chuck's brows kneaded, not for the first time wondering what his life would be right now if the CIA had actually done so. "And maybe as an analyst, I'd have been okay," he said, "but they wanted me to work in the field."
Ellie's eyes widened more, and Chuck knew she was recalling the night she found out his secret.
They barely survived that, even with Sarah, Casey and a CIA team protecting them.
"Bryce was already recruited by the CIA in our junior year," Chuck went on, "and he found out they were planning to recruit me, too. Whether I wanted to join them or not."
"You wouldn't have had a choice?" whispered Ellie.
"Clearly I didn't, since, here we are," said Chuck dryly, all too aware of the multi-functional watch on his wrist and the fact that Casey was most definitely listening to this conversation from one of the dozens of microphones around the room. "Bryce tried to talk them out of it," Chuck went on, "because… he didn't think I'd survive." A concern that Chuck still agreed with every day. "But the decision had already been made, so… Bryce did the only thing he thought would save me."
"He framed you to save you?" whispered Ellie.
Chuck nodded, brows furrowing. "Yeah. But…" He shook his head, brows furrowing more. "He still sent me the Intersect. So much for keeping me out of the CIA."
Ellie frowned. "After all he did to keep you out of this spy business, he still roped you back in?"
Eyes on his coffee that was growing cold, Chuck mused, "He said it was because he needed to send it to a friend who wasn't a spy. Someone he could trust." As flattering as that was, it didn't make Chuck any more thrilled that he was Bryce's chosen one.
Though, without the Intersect, Chuck would never have met Sarah.
Maybe Bryce did send him the Intersect for him after all.
Ellie's brows lifted. "'He said'?" she repeated. "You spoke with Bryce?!"
Chuck looked at her, wincing a little. "Yeah… I sort of… saw him. Last Thanksgiving."
"You saw him?" she said incredulously. "I thought he was dead!"
"He still technically is," said Chuck with another wince.
Ellie just shook her head, eyes still wide with shock. "Well, I wish I had known he was in Los Angeles," she said finally. "I'd have given him a piece of my mind for sending that inter-whatever to you."
"Intersect," corrected Chuck with a grin. Shrugging, Chuck felt himself remember that day. "Bryce was actually in the apartment during Thanksgiving dinner," mused Chuck, a dry smile at the ridiculousness of last Thanksgiving. "I'm sure a lecture from you would have been far scarier than anything Casey did to him."
"He was what?" exclaimed Ellie.
Chuck blinked.
Perhaps mentioning that someone Ellie had thought was dead, who was also a spy, who had also been about twenty feet away from her in her home was bigger news than Chuck had initially realized.
He has gotten far too used to his life simply being just short of insane.
"Yeah," said Chuck, with a wince. "Bryce and, uh, Sarah had a… reunion of their own in my room." Chuck's brows kneaded more at the painful, and slightly irritating, memory.
"Wait," said Ellie, holding up a hand for information that she clearly wasn't ready for before she had her coffee. "Bryce… and Sarah?!"
"It's okay," said Chuck, taking a sip of the now-warm coffee. "Casey shot him again."
Her eyes only grew wider.
"Shot him?!" she echoed incredulously. Then paused: "Again?"
"He was wearing a vest," said Chuck, as if that made the situation less insane. But by Ellie's face, it did not. "It was kind of my fault…" said Chuck. "I told Casey where he was." Chuck's brows furrowed. "Bryce shot me the next day, so I guess it evens out." His brows kneaded further. "It really was a pretty thankless Thanksgiving."
"Wait," said Ellie, lifting both hands in a hold up manner. "Bryce shot you?!"
Chuck looked at her, realizing how desensitized he's gotten at the crazy things that happen in his life. "It was okay," he said quickly. "A bulletproof vest and fluency in Klingon saved me."
Ellie just stared at him.
She slowly shook her head. But something in her eyes changed suddenly, and she said, "That's what you meant when you said you were thankful that Bryce was dead?"
"I'm thankful that Bryce Larkin is dead, and not currently in my bedroom making out with my new girlfriend."
"That was… dark."
"And specific."
Chuck winced at the memory.
Ellie just shook her head again. She took a breath, as if trying to center herself. Seeming to find a level of calm, she said, "I just think it's so crazy that Bryce and Sarah were together, and now…" A little knowing-smile tilted her lips. "You and Sarah are together."
Chuck felt himself choke on a sip of coffee. Coughing, he said, "I, what? Me and Sarah, you know we're just… faking it."
No matter how hot he felt his face get.
And no matter how Sarah had kept holding his hand the other night, long after the mission had ended.
Ellie just smiled, letting him delude himself. "But I think it's fitting because, you know. When you were with Jill, she and Bryce got together, and now Sarah's with you instead of Bryce."
A little discomfort ran through him at the very rugged history with Jill, who was now in a CIA prison somewhere. "Well, I mean, technically Bryce and Jill were never together." Chuck paused at the thought. "Actually, the fact that their relationship was fake too makes it even more ironic." Chuck shook his head. "Spies and their fake relationships, huh?"
At the silence from the other end of the table, Chuck looked up from his coffee to see Ellie staring at him in shock.
Chuck blinked, realizing something else he and Ellie never talked about.
Smiling awkwardly at the shock in Ellie's eyes, Chuck winced.
"About Jill…"
