A/N: I know, it's been literally months since my last update. I won't say I'm back for certain. All I can say is here is the newst chapter, and I'd like to say I'll have another up soon.
-SP96
Sarah started with a jolt due to the sound of gentle knocking on her apartment door. It was so light, it barely woke her.
Sarah tried to sit up, but felt a little resistance. That resistance was supplied by Chuck's arm which had draped over her midsection sometime during the night.
She made sure to move his arm carefully enough not to wake the sleeping nerd as she got up, taking her sidearm with her as she went to the door to check who was so persistently knocking.
On the other side of the eyehole, Sarah saw the last person she'd expect.
"Bryce Larkin. Why the fuck are you outside of my apartment?" Sarah growled, not easing up on the grip of her pistol after opening her door.
"Because I'm hoping you'll let me in. Wake up Bartowski. He needs to hear what I have to say."
"If you're here to tell him Eleanor Bartowski is dead, I don't want him to hear it from you."
"On the contrary, Sarah. Ellie's alive."
Sarah's jaw dropped and her shoulders fell. She felt her heart slowly fall over itself. "I'll… I'll go get him," Sarah mumbled as she opened the door wider, letting Bryce follow behind her.
Sarah stumbled through the apartment with a dizzy head and dry mouth. "Chuck," she said with no form of emotion once she reached her bedroom. "Chuck, get up."
Chuck stirred and opened his eyes. "Is everything okay? Are you safe?" he asked, noticing her gun first thing.
"Yeah, Chuck I'm okay. Come on. Bryce is here."
"Wait, Bryce Larkin?" Chuck's eyes threatened to leave his sockets as he jumped out of bed, his feet catching in the blankets, causing him to fall to the floor.
After a brief fight, Chuck made it to his feet and almost knocked over Sarah on his way out to the living room.
"Bryce, what have you heard?" Chuck asked, clearly trembling. "Wait, do you want coffee or something? I can make coffee. Yeah, that sounds awesome," Chuck rushed, answering himself as he busied himself, almost trashing Sarah's kitchenette as he looked for grounds and filters, his hands shaking.
"Chuck, Chuck," Sarah whispered, taking hold of his shoulders and putting her face next to his ear to whisper, "Chuck, go sit down. I'll make coffee, okay? Just breathe and calm down. Can you do that for me?"
"Yeah, of course," Chuck nodded and closed the cabinet he had been rifling through. He took a deep breath and steadied himself as he leaned on the counter before pushing off at joining Bryce at the small four-seat kitchen table.
"Relax Chuck, I have good news," Bryce said, but the serious look on his face said Chuck's odyssey wasn't over yet.
"But there's bad news too, right?" Sarah asked over her shoulder as she set up her coffee pot.
"That's correct, Sergeant," Bryce said, hios hands clasped together on top of the table. "The good news is that Eleanor Bartowski is alive. Furthermore, I know where she is."
Chuck's body and brain froze instantly, as if he was hit by lightning. He couldn't move, he couldn't think and he couldn't breathe. He couldn't even register just how hard his heart was pounding.
Bryce Larkin was a seasoned veteran, and he locked eyes with Chuck and didn't say anything further until he saw Chuck breathe again, until he saw life flash back to Chuck's eyes. "That's right, Chuck. Ellie's still alive, and I know where she is." Bryce gave Chuck another few moments to catch up.
"You… you found her?" Chuck asked, his voice barely able to leave his choked up throat. His eyes began to swell with tears, and he couldn't control his trembling chin. He wanted to speak, to say so many things, but Chuck knew it would all be unintelligible.
"I found her, Chuck. But… there's more," Bryce continued slowly, trying not to lose an already emotional Chuck. Sarah could only lean against the counter and watch. "She's in OKC, Chuck."
"Wait… Oklahoma City? What's she doing there?" Chuck asked, trying to follow.
"She was attending medical school, Chuck."
Chuck broke down into tears and bit his hand, his adam's apple bobbing up and down as he tried to compose himself. "Ellie's following her dream," Chuck sobbed as he tried to wipe tears from his cheeks. "She's doing it."
"It's not that simple, Chuck," Bryce continued. "She made a deal with the devil to stay in school, Chuck."
"What do you mean?" Chuck asked, trying to hold onto the good news he'd gotten so far.
"Is she okay?" Sarah asked, having a hard time keeping her own throat free and clear. She was happy for Chuck that he couldn't see the torrent of emotions running over her face, from giddy releaf to fearing what would come next.
"She's made a deal with a crime syndicate; they cover her school costs in exchange for underground med services," Bryce explained.
"My sister is patching up criminals in exchange for med school?" Chuck asked, his eyes going from Bryce to over his shoulder to look at Sarah.
"Bryce, how do we get her out of there?" Sarah asked, finally pouring coffee for the three of them.
Bryce took his coffee with a smile before completely sobering again.
"I have to go in there and get her," he said flatly. "We can't go in there with a SWAT team because she could die in the crossfire, or they might kill her before we could get in there."
"So what's the plan? What do we do?" Chuck asked, paying no mind to the coffee.
Bryce took a deep breath and said, "It looks like Bryce Larkin is going deep again."
"Bryce, the last time you went deep, you gave up being a cop," Sarah interjected.
"I know," Bryce said, staring at the black liquid in his cup. "I have to do this. Ellie could die, or get caught up in what they're doing. And look at what has happened to Chuck because of this; they've tried to kill him, and he's ruined himself paying me to find Ellie. Now that I have, I have to finish this. I can't tell you I found her and then say she's beyond hope, Chuck. I can't do that."
Chuck swallowed hard and waited a mount to collect himself. "So what do we do now?"
"I need you to keep being patient to trust me, Chuck," Bryce said, holding Chuck's eyes again. "This is going to take a while for me to join them, get their trust, get Ellie's trust, and get her out of there."
"But what about med school? It's Ellie's dream. Did she know who she signed up with, what the terms were?"
"We probably won't know until we can get to her, Chuck," Sarah said. "I bet she thought they were some kind of shadowy loan service, and she found out too late who they really were, and what they wanted her to do."
"Could she really be that desperate to get into school?" Chuck asked.
"School was hard enough for you to get into, wasn't it, Chuck? And that wasn't med school. Look how desperate you were to find Ellie, Chuck. You found me to find her; that's how desperate you were. PEople will fall down dark holes to chase dreams, passions, and obsessions," Bryce said before taking another sip of coffee.
"When are you leaving?" Sarah asked.
"I have a flight out today at 6 p.m. I want her home safe as soon as possible."
"I don't even know where 'home' is," Chuck said, looking at Sarah. "I'm living in a Buy More right now. What am I supposed to do for Ellie? She wasn't doing much better than I was when I last heard from her."
Sarah chewed her lip and huffed, not having a solid answer for Chuck. "I don't know yet, Chuck, but I'm sure we'll figure out something."
"Let's focus on getting her back to Burbank first, yeah?" Bryce suggested, looking from the blonde to the brunette. "How's that sound?"
Chuck nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a solid plan." Chuck paused and swallowed deeply, looking at his hands holding so tightly to his coffee mug. He wondered how much harder he could grip it before it broke in his hands. "Bryce…" Chuck's voice cracked as he met the other man's eyes, "I can't… I don't have the money to…."
Bryce held up his hand. "Don't, Chuck. This isn't about finding someone who cheated on you or owes you money, or finding out why someone did X, Y, or Z. This is about reuniting you with your sister, and getting your sister out of hell. If you pay me back some day, then that's great. If you can't, don't worry about it. Just find a way to pay it forward somehow."
Chuck nodded, his eyes staring off into the corner but seeing nothing. "I owe you, Bryce. I'll find a way to pay it forward, or to pay you. I've given everything but my life itself to find Ellie. I have nothing left to give."
"I know, Chuck, I know. You've given more for a good cause than most people I've worked with. That's why this one's on me. It's the kind of case I used to pick up the badge for. This reminds me of who I used to be.
"And Sarah, you keep an eye on Chuck here. He's a good guy, and there are bad people out there that want to hurt him."
"What do you know about that, if anything?" Sarah asked, her arms still crossed, her mug resting in the crook of her elbow.
Bryce sighed and then exhaled deeply. "Not as much as I'd like to know," he admitted. "I think they're tied to the syndicate that has Ellie. They know they're being asked about, they know I'm looking at them, but they haven't cracked who I am. If they crack that before we get Ellie out, I'm dead, she's dead, and you're dead," he finished, pointing at Chuck.
"They found a way to me to you, but from what I can tell, they haven't found out too much about me, but enough to know I'm a problem. They see you as a problem because you hired me," Bryce continued. "I'm not sure how much they know or how, and I could be wrong about what I think I know, what I think they know."
"Jesus, that's ten million ways of confusing," Chuck said, trying to connect dots in his mind.
"Welcome to my world," Bryce chuckled. "I've told you all I know," he said, sobering again. "Stay low, keep Sarah close, wait to hear from me, and I'll have your sister home soon, Chuck. Stay strong for her, okay?"
Bryce stuck his hand out across the table and Chuck took it with a firm grip. "Thank you, Bryce. Thank you."
"I'll bring her home, Chuck. You will see Ellie alive again."
Bryce let go of Chuck's hand, drained his cup, and saw himself out.
"Holy fuck," Chuck said in an exhale and let his head fall to the table with a hard thunk.
Sarah didn't ask if Chuck was okay. She sat down where Bryce had just been and held Chuck's hand, rubbing comforting circles on his skin with her thumb.
Chuck had no idea how the hell he was supposed to focus on his job now with the morning's events running through his head on repeat. How could anyone?
Chuck answered the phones, dealth with customers, and made a few walk-in repairs. His voice sounded like his own, but to him it also sounded muted, muffled, maybe strained inside his own head. He smiled and bantered with the customers, but on the inside all he could hear was the constant rehashing of the morning's conversations. Chuck was just thankful for his strong autopilot.
"Hey man, you got a second to help me out with a printer issue?" A deep voice asked Chuck, pulling him from his thoughts.
"Ah, yeah, what's up?" Chuck asked, snapping to attention and rapidly blinking his eyes.
"Uh, you okay bro?" the dirty blonde haired man asked. "You look a little out of it. Feeling sick?"
"Ah, no. I feel fine," Chuck lied. "Just a… just a wild morning I guess," Chuck shrugged.
The man across the counter slightly tilted his head back and looked at Chuck with a skeptical look. "It's 3:15 in the afternoon, dude. Morning was a while ago."
"Uh, yeah, yeah it was. I know. Just ah… just still trying to catch up I guess. So printer. What's up?"
"Yeah, it doesn't print anymore," he said with a laugh. "I'm a med student in the area, and I have two rooms available in Echo Park. I wanted to put out some advertising fliers, but my printer isn't cooperating. Kinda want it for school, too."
"Okay. So is the job in Echo Park, then?" Chuck asked, reaching under the desk for some paperwork.
"Yeah, it's at the place I'm trying to fill up," the guy said. "Oh, name's Devon by the way," he shot Chuck a winning smile and offered a handshake.
"Hey Devon, I'm Chuck," Chuck said with a smile. "Well, if you want, you can fill out this paperwork, and then I can come out to the location and look at the printer."
"Hey, what about you, bro?" Devon asked, raising an eyebrow. "You looking for a new place or do you know anybody looking?"
"Any place at all would be great," Chuck quietly mumbled to himself.
"You on hard times, hombre?" Devon asked, his face falling noticeably.
"What? No. I didn't say anything," Chuck laughed nervously.
"Alright," Devon shrugged off as he took a pen and filled out Chuck's request form, leaving a description of the job, location, his name, email, phone, and address.
"Alright, got it," Chuck said with a smile as he took the paper. "Is there any certain time you need me to come by?"
"ASAP, bro. This project is keeping me up nights," Devon laughed. "The sooner I get these rooms rented, the better. Echo Park is awesome, and these are some seriously cheapo rates because my parents own the place," he explained.
"Psst… psst!" Chuck hissed at Sarah, who was at home in her security nest in the back of the Buy More.
"Yes, Chuck?" Sarah asked, rolling her eyes as she spun around in her chair.
"Wanna go for a drive?" Chuck asked, a ridiculous mix of a smile and a grimace on his face.
"Why?" Sarah asked, already getting up and putting her leather jacket on. She didn't really care why, just wanted to get out of the damned office for a while.
"Well, I have to go fix a printer in Echo Park," Chuck half explained.
"And that means I have to go on all of your installs and calls because I'm your police protection," Sarah filled in, following Chuck. "So how exactly is this going to work? Am I tailing you, am I riding along, or am I driving you?"
Chuck stopped and looked at his shoes, then the ceiling, then at Sarah. "You're the cop, shouldn't you have the answers?"
"I've never had to be personal protection for a nerd before, Chuck," Sarah bit back.
"Well I've never been a nerd that needed personal protection, so there!"
SArah laughed as she made up her mind. "You should take the work car. It's as inconspicuous as we can get. It's perfect for laying low."
"What about you?" Chuck asked. Are you coming, are you tailing?" Chuck stayed where he was standing and his shoulders sunk. "Should I even go out for work? Is it safe?"
Sarah stood there, kicking her foot against the concrete floor. "I don't know, Chuck," she admitted. "There's a lot about the situation I don't know. How much are they watching you? What ends are they willing to go to? Would they try something in public in broad daylight, especially if they know you're under police protection?"
Chuck puffed up his cheeks and slowly exhaled. He pushed himself up against the wall and let his knees buckle a bit, his hands spearing through his hair. "I don't know either, Sarah. I don't have answers for anything. I know how to fix tech things and that's it. Why does it have to be so complicated? What did I do to deserve this?" Chuck asked, not necessarily to Sarah, but to any wise being listening.
Sarah didn't have an answer and she didn't try to answer him. She just put a hand on his shoulder, letting him know she was there.
"Let's take it one day, one job at a time, Chuck. We may have to take some risks, but we'll figure it out, okay? Let's start by going together in the what is it called? A Nerd Herder?"
"Yeah, let's start there and see what happens," Chuck said with a shaky smile, slowly rising to his full height again.