Sarah vs Fulcrum

by Steelejay

This is the continuation story of Sarah vs. Asking Chuck Out. You should read that first. I marked that story complete because I felt like they'd made it through the first part of their journey. This will be a more plot driven story but still with the all the Charah you can handle. It's marked at T but be forewarned, it's a hard T, with an asterisk. Adult interactions do occur.

3. Chapter 3

A/N: In an effort to at least try to maintain the "T" rating, I have modified some adult interaction in this chapter. Some of you will be disappointed to hear this, others will sigh with relief and yet others in the "sigh with relief" category may read the passage in question and be like, dude, try harder.

I myself am conflicted, but I'm still trying to figure out my approach to these kinds of scenes. I guess ultimately I'm trying to find balance.

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Sarah stood in one of the vacated office spaces in the strip mall across from the Buy More and took a moment to consider the small team assembled around her. She knew they had a huge task ahead of them but she couldn't help but feel a sense of confidence, optimism and no small amount of pride that she was leading such a team. While admittedly small, currently consisting of only two highly trained and experienced field agents and one world class hacker, she still trusted each of them implicitly, which was a new experience for her. Even Bryce Larkin, whom she'd met in-person for the first time only minutes earlier, had earned her trust through brief conversations combined with his connection to the man she loved. She also felt good knowing that even though he wasn't technically on the team, Special Agent Coburn was there to help backstop them and provide much needed support.

The small space they currently occupied was just a couple of doors down from the yogurt shop where she'd sat outside with Chuck not a week past, confessed her love and told him a story that would change his life. The store had previously been some kind of tobacco shop and while she thought the place reeked, Coburn seemed to think it smelled like potpourri as he took deep breaths and a contented look replaced his normally dour expression.

It turned out that only a couple of the storefronts in the strip mall actually had access to the shared basement that ran the length of the building and contained the main entrance to what would hopefully become the secret HQ of her Task Force. One logistical problem the construction company faced was getting in the massive amount of equipment and building supplies necessary to begin renovating the bomb shelter into their new headquarters. It was ultimately her plan to lease out as many of the businesses in the strip mall as possible, if not buy the property out right.

"So, introductions should be first," she said to her small team standing in the relatively cramped space. She motioned back to Coburn, who grunted on cue. "The Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles office of the FBI, Agent Coburn, is not technically on the team, but he is a resource for us. You think of something the Fibby's can help us with, let me know and I'll work with Coburn to make it happen."

She motioned to Carina standing off to the side and said, "Agent Carina Miller is here on loan from the DEA." She motioned to Chuck sitting on the one remaining portion of countertop, next to where she was standing. "This is Chuck Bartowski, who's cover identity will be Charles Carmichael. You should get in the habit of referring to him using his cover identity."

Sarah had insisted Chuck come up with a cover name and he had blurted Charles Carmichael out pretty quickly. She was having not just a cover identity, but a full legend built using off the books resources and paid for out of her own pocket. As a result, it was going to take longer than she was used to, but Charles Carmichael was going to have a birth certificate, a social security number, full employment history, a degree from Stanford, a credit rating and passport. It would stand up to just about any formal background check except for the personal interviews conducted as part of a security clearance investigation. Not being able to use her normal CIA contacts was turning into the biggest hurdle so far.

"Chuck will be our technology and systems admin. He's also my live-in boyfriend. Get all the jokes out of your system quickly so we can move on," Carina snorted a laugh but held her tongue.

Bryce smiled. "Your boyfriend has a mean right-hook," he said. Chuck at least looked somewhat regretful.

Sarah looked at Chuck with a wry grin then looked back at Bryce. "Agent Bryce Larkin is here representing the CIA," she motioned to Agent Larkin, the first signs of a black eye from his reunion with Chuck blooming on his face.

Sarah had instructed them to all meet up at the empty store front and Bryce had been loitering in front of the building with Carina when she and Chuck arrived. Sarah kept her distance as they approached, not wanting to influence Chuck's reactions. Upon seeing Bryce in person, Chuck had walked up and just stood in front of him for a moment until he suddenly threw the punch that staggered Bryce back. Bryce had to have been prepared for it but didn't duck or block. He just stood there and took it, apparently accepting it as no less than his due. This impressed upon Sarah more than his words how regretful he must have felt for his actions. Chuck had looked shocked at what he'd done but didn't apologize. "That didn't feel as good as I thought it would, but you still deserved it."

Bryce nodded, wincing and holding the side of his face. "I understand, Chuck," he said plainly, at which point Chuck pulled him into a hug.

"It's really good to see you, you asshole," Chuck said sincerely, holding his old friend for several long moments. He stepped back and took on a more serious demeanor. "Screw you for making my choices for me, but thank you for saving me from the CIA."

Bryce had looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. "You're welcome, Chuck. I wish I could have thought of a different way."

Chuck had looked at Sarah and said, "I don't."

Sarah waited a few heartbeats for any boyfriend dating the boss jokes and other than her snort at the statement, Carina kept her peace for the moment. For his part, Sarah could see Chuck struggling not to blush and doing a fair job.

"Ok, then. Moving on to why we're all here," Sarah took a deep breath and told them about the plot by her former handler. Carina's eyes had gotten a little wider, and Bryce stood up a little straighter even though he had already been read-in.

"I led the mission to trap Ryker in this scheme and it worked. As a result, we discovered that this wasn't actually Ryker's plan, but rather the plan of a formerly unknown group working within the CIA with the codename 'Fulcrum'," she paused, giving everyone time to process.

"Apparently this group was looking to use the billions of dollars seized from this oligarch to further their own agenda, which we still do not have any insight into. A total of 21 CIA field agents and 12 CIA contractors were implicated in the operation and all of them were arrested simultaneously in a coordinated action across several different countries. We originally thought that the agents we arrested represented the majority of Fulcrum's operations, however two of the CIA contractors we arrested have since flipped and provided information we were able to verify which indicates the NSA, the FBI, and the ATF have also been infiltrated by this group. We have no choice but to assume that DEA, and Secret Service have also been compromised by this group."

Carina was the first to speak up. "So, you're basically saying we're all fucked."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "That is one possible outcome, yes," Sarah admitted while giving Carina the middle finger at the same time, which earned her another snort.

Agent Larkin spoke up. "Only two contractors have flipped so far, but no actual Agents?" he asked.

"That is correct. Of the 21 actual field agents taken into custody, none of them have said anything. The youngest of them has five years in, the oldest was Ryker who has almost twenty years of service. They have a wide range of backgrounds, 5 women, 16 men, though the contractors are all men. Various ethnicities but all American born at least second generation. The names and dossiers will be distributed when we have appropriate equipment to do so."

"Where are they being held and are they currently being interrogated?" Larkin asked. He used emphasis on the word 'interrogated' to imply special meaning to the word.

"No. They're all currently in 23 hour lockdown at Gitmo. There has been a CIA team onsite doing pro-forma interrogations, but all strictly by the book. I've put that investigation on hold because we don't know if any of the investigators are potentially Fulcrum agents. We'll be getting all the investigative materials and results, interviews, logs, et cetera, from Director Graham later this week. It will take us some time to get everything into our own systems so that we can start analyzing what we've got. We'll also need to plan surveillance of the five additional Fulcrum agents that have been implicated from the testimony of the contractors who flipped." Sarah answered.

"Would it be possible to have the Fulcrum agents transferred here?" he asked.

"Yes, and that's the plan as soon as I can figure out where to put them."

"It's interesting to me that it was contractors who clued you in to the other Fulcrum operatives. I'm betting at least some of those contractors were duped. You've dealt with them before, just like I have. They get operational parameters from a trusted contact; they get half their money up front then they do the job to get the other half. For the most part they're mushrooms," Bryce observed.

Sarah nodded and finished the analogy for him. "Kept in the dark and fed bullshit. From what they've told us, while they were contractors for the CIA, they were apparently full time employees of Fulcrum. Like I said, I want them here as well, but we're operating on our own to a large extent. We don't know who to trust, so until we do, we don't trust anyone. This means if we need something, we have to come up with it ourselves."

Sarah was surprised to hear Chuck speak up. "It seems one of the most important things we need to figure out is how Fulcrum operatives communicate with each other. How are they giving or receiving orders? How does their leadership coordinate with the rank-and-file? You've got a bunch of highly trained, highly motivated law enforcement and intelligence officers working towards the same goal. They have to be able to talk to each other about that in a secure and reliable way.

"The other question I have is how were those 21 agents connected to each other within the hierarchy of the agency? Had they worked together before? Is any one of them connected to all of the others?" Chuck paused for a moment, looking intent. "We're also going to have to analyze every mission, every report they've ever filed, every piece of correspondence both personal and private, every call they've ever made. Somewhere in there is a common thread that binds them all together, some ideology, some ultimate goal."

"Boytoyski is right," Carina chimed in, looking at Chuck thoughtfully. "How did they communicate with each other on the Oligarch thing?"

Sarah rolled her eyes again at the jab from Carina but didn't take the bait. "That's where we got lucky. They were using burner phones, but they needed a lot of them, and they all needed to be preprogrammed before they were distributed. They had one contractor assigned to that task and he got lazy with it, buying them all from the same distributor each time. We were able to plant our phones in place just in time for the third round of replacements. Since they thought the burners were safe, their phone security got a little lax. The contractor assigned to that task is one of the two that flipped."

"That must have been an operational plan. They can't be doing that on the scale we're talking about. It'd be logistically impossible," Larkin added. "So, we make that our starting focus? Breaking down their communication methods?"

Sarah nodded. "That's going to be one of our initial objectives, but to start I'm going to want to focus on the five Fulcrum agents still in play. We've got two of them right here in our own backyard at the NSA, so we'll start with them. We're spread thin right now, but we need to put comprehensive surveillance plans in place for when we have the personnel."

"I recommend Miller and I get started on that right away," Larkin said. "We can at least start setting up passive measures at their homes, girlfriends, family, any other places they frequent. Start building profiles of their routines. If they have personal phones, we need to get looped in on those."

Sarah nodded. "Approved, but since this is an FBI Task Force, and we're operating on US soil, everything we do has to go through the FISA court for approval. I'll handle that to start but as the team grows, I'll be sharing that task with the two of you." She looked back at Coburn who was leaning against the wall looking a little bored. "You awake back there Coburn?" He grunted. "Can you give Carina access to raid your electronics and surveillance equipment?"

He grunted again. "Yeah, I can do that."

Chuck jumped in again. "I have a question about that," he said as everyone looked at him. "Does the FBI have all their surveillance gear listed in any databases? I mean if our targets were to do a sweep and find your bugs, could they potentially be traced back to the FBI?"

Coburn nodded. "He's got a point, it's entirely possible. All our gear has serial numbers that are tagged and inventoried. Anything I loaned to you would have to be assigned to someone."

"In that case I suggest we get everything we need on the consumer market. It might not be as good as other stuff we have access to, but the fact that it would be untraceable I think would be worth it," Chuck said.

Sarah thought about it for a few moments. "Does anyone have a counterpoint to that?" Everyone shook their heads and Sarah looked at Chuck. "Good suggestion, Chuck. Work with Bryce to build a list of what we need," she paused and looked around at the group and once again felt pretty good about where she was starting from in terms of personnel. "I'm also going to see about putting together some temp space until we get our permanent digs up and running, which is why we're meeting here. Below us is an old bomb shelter that's still in really good condition. The current plan is to take it over and have it built out as the HQ for our team. I want everything we do to be off the radar. We will be building all our own systems, communication, tech, all of it."

"Speaking of the team, what's your plan for personnel?" Carina asked.

"Well, that's something we're going to have to figure out. I'm open to ideas. I don't want to go to the CIA or the FBI to find personnel for obvious reasons. I figure we'll need about twenty or so people, at least to start. I want to limit the size of the task force, also for obvious reasons. We can't get past the fact that the four of us aren't nearly enough, even with Agent Coburn's help."

Bryce spoke up. "In addition to personnel, I think we need to prioritize getting the detainees from Gitmo to somewhere a little more local. I have some ideas in that regard. With your permission, I'd like to take a run at that."

"Approved," Sarah said. "Any other priorities anyone would like to talk about?"

"What's our funding situation? On the phone you mentioned something about a blank check," Carina asked.

"I should be getting access to our funding in the next day or so. We are tied to a DOD/CIA Black Ops program called Project Intersect, which of course is also code-word secret by the way. I already have a little background on that project, as does Larkin. Graham will be coming to town later this week to read me in completely. I will read others in on a need-to-know basis. The EO gives expenditure authority to the Task Force leader, which is me. I obviously will be held to account for costs, but where we're weak on personnel, we are not weak on funding. You give me a reasonable explanation for something we need, I'll make sure we get it. The five of us in this room, plus CIA Director Graham and POTUS are the only ones who currently know about this Task Force. It is considered by both of them to be one of, if not the most important intelligence and investigative team operating. We will be under a very tightly focused microscope but they are not going to hamstring us with bureaucracy. The EO powers are very broad and very deep but I have to be careful how I use these powers because we don't want word of the task force to get out. We need to stay dark for as long as possible."

Sarah paused as she looked around the room. "Anything else?" she asked. When no one responded, she said, "Ok, that's all for now. Keep your current phones active until we get our own communication online. Maintain operational security at all times and if you think of anything, call me. I'll touch base with each of you over the next couple of days and once we get funding, things will start to move fast."

The meeting broke up and they all wandered out to the parking lot together. "Walker, let me know if you need anything," Coburn said as he got into his own personal car, which happened to also be a Crown Vic, albeit one that had to be over twenty years old. Larkin and Carina each got into separate newer government issue Crown Victoria's, while Sarah and Chuck wandered over to her Porsche. She wrapped her arm around his before taking his hand, pulling him close into her. She looked up at him and could tell his brain was in overdrive. "What'cha thinking, Chuck?" she asked.

"Something you told me that McGruff said to you at your meeting on Monday, about how… the bad guys are trying to find who broke open their Oligarch plan. I mean, it's the CIA. Everyone there knows you're not supposed to ask questions about stuff you're not read-in on, right? And even if you are read-in, there's certain things you don't need to know that asking about would raise eyebrows at a minimum, right?"

"That is correct, asking questions you don't need to know the answers to is seriously frowned upon. As in, going to jail frowned upon," she said forcefully.

"So how do you try to find something out, when you can't actually ask any questions?"

"You have to go looking for it electronically," she said, catching on to his train of thought.

He nodded. "They've got to be using CIA systems, trying to find who started the op and who ran it. And I believe I can catch them but I'm going to need access. Prism, Echelon, DCSN, XKeyscore, all of them. I've gotten access to most them previously and at various levels, but I'm going to need access though the front door," Chuck said intently, obviously working on a plan.

"I can get all that setup for you, but there's nothing to find. I didn't file my findings and Graham kept the operation out of the system for just this reason," Sarah explained.

"Sarah, that's part of the problem. Lack of information is information. Look at this from their perspective. Like McGruff said, they know that their operation got burned and all their people either killed or taken into custody. It could only have been an internal CIA operation that took their people down because it was all happening overseas in various countries. There should be some information somewhere in the system about it. The absence of anything to find is like a big neon sign pointing at Graham or someone close to him. Even I know enough that only someone high up in the hierarchy could keep an operation like that quiet. All they have to do is work down the chain of command at Operations to see who would have the authority to run an operation like that off the books. You tell me, how many people below Graham could do that and have the authority to admit it when the operation bore fruit?"

As alarmed as she was at what Chuck was saying, realizing how right he was, Sarah still felt a surge of pride as she listened, looking up at him as they walked across the parking lot together. She was seeing him in his element now and it felt similar to how she'd felt at his singing that night at the fish-fry in Carmel. A little awestruck. They were less than a day into this and he was already making connections, seeing things they'd overlooked.

She thought about what he was asking for a few moments. "Maybe fifteen or twenty people, but what's interesting is that I'm not on that list. I went directly to Graham when I stumbled onto Ryker's plan. Everyone on the list I'm thinking of are senior handlers, given a lot of latitude in how they operate, with the authority to pull agents in on at least a temporary basis. But after a few weeks, they would have to justify it. They would need to explain the commitment of resources and there would be hell to pay if they couldn't. Below that level, you have a number of senior field officers like me, but with less authority to call in other personnel for help," she said.

Chuck nodded, looking a little relieved. "That actually helps us. That's a decent number of people and the bad guys are working blind to a certain extent. How long has it been since everyone was arrested?" he asked.

"About ten weeks now."

He winced. "That's a long time. We need to move fast. It wouldn't take them long to figure out that their operation went south, but it would probably take a week or so to figure out just how badly. I think Bryce is right about moving them. We should assume the bad-guy bosses know their agents are being held at Guantanamo," Chuck paused a moment, thinking things through. "When you can't find specific information about something like this, then the next step is to come at it laterally. It's about looking for movement of people and equipment. You may have kept the primary personnel and their activities off the books, but I'm betting you used a lot of borrowed resources to fly people all over the world and gave whoever you borrowed it from some a cover story for why you needed it. There's lots of paperwork that you guys don't have any control over and all of it gets filed in a computer somewhere. It's the ancillary things; you're burning a lot of jet fuel that's coming out of someone's budget, using a lot of ground crews and pilots and those people have to report back to someone."

"Do you think they're looking with their own access or hacking in from the outside?" she asked as she thumbed the key fob to unlock her car.

He thought about it for a moment while walking around to the passenger side of her car. "From what you've told us about this group, probably both, but I think they would focus their efforts on internal access. Relying on Black Hats is risky."

"What's your plan once you have access to the systems?" she asked, smiling at him across the roof of the car, thinking she already had an idea.

"We're going to plant a false trail. A false trail that will lead them where we want. Where we'll be waiting," he said, smiling right back at her. Sarah looked at him for a long time until he finally asked with a snort, "What is it? Do I have lettuce in my teeth?"

Her smile widened and she waited a couple of beats before answering him. "You have no idea how sexy you are right now do you?"

His smile brightened as he blushed. "No clue," he said, opening the door and escaping into the car.

Sarah slid into the driver's seat. "Well, as much as I'd like to take you home and show you how sexy I think you are, we should probably go to your apartment and have a conversation with Ellie and Awesome about everything. They are home together tonight, right?"

"Yeah. This should be fun."

A short while later, they walked into what Sarah now thought of as his sisters apartment, rather than his, and found Ellie and Awesome snuggled together on the couch, still wearing their blue scrubs, watching TV and looking tired.

Ellie's eyes brightened as she saw them. "Hey guys! Sarah, I'm so glad you decided to come over tonight!"

Chuck closed the door and said, "Hey, El. You guys got a few minutes? Sarah and I wanted to talk to you."

She looked at them suspiciously. "Of course. What's up?" she got up and walked to the dining room table as Awesome muted the television and sat up to watch them over the back of the couch.

The two of them sat down at the table and looked at each other. Sarah motioned for Chuck to take the lead. "Where do I even start?" he asked Sarah.

"May as well start with Stanford," she replied.

Chuck got up and went to his room for a moment, then came back with his leather bound degree. He sat down again and placed it in front of Ellie. She looked at it with a confused expression until she realized what it was. "Oh my, God, Chuck! This is your degree from Stanford!"

"Yep," he said with a grin.

"Chuck, how on earth did you do this? Did they let you take night classes or something?"

"Uh, no. So, you remember how I was kicked out for cheating, right?" Ellie nodded, still looking at his degree with a dazed expression. "Well, I called a lawyer a while back and it turns out that there are very specific rules that colleges and universities have to follow when they kick a student out for cheating," he paused, giving Ellie a moment to absorb what he was saying.

She looked up at him. "Ok, yeah, I always thought it was really weird how there was no formal process for expelling you," she said.

"Right, well, that's just it. It turns out that Stanford didn't follow the rules when they kicked me out. Like not at all. And by not following the rules, they actually broke some laws. State laws and Federal laws too, I guess. Mainly it was Professor Fleming, but since he worked for Stanford, they had to take responsibility. So, when this lawyer called Stanford to tell them, Stanford realized that they messed up, they offered me a settlement."

Ellie continued to look dazed. "Stanford offered you a settlement," she said it as a statement rather than a question.

"Yes."

"So, five years after you should have graduated, they gave you your degree."

"Yes."

She started to look a little angry. "That's great, and I can't tell you how happy I am that you got your degree, but that's not enough, Chuck! You could have gotten an amazing job after Stanford! You could have been making so much money since then!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, well, Stanford recognized that as well," he said with a grin.

"They did?" she asked, confused.

"Yes, they did," he pulled a slip of paper from his shirt pocket, the deposit slip from when he'd deposited his settlement check the previous day. He set it gently on top of the degree in front of her. Ellie picked it up and unfolded it. She looked at it for a long time then stood up so suddenly that her chair fell over, but she didn't seem to notice.

Awesome stood up from the couch as well, concerned. "Ellie, babe, is everything ok?" he asked.

Ellie had one hand over her mouth, and she was actively crying. "Chuck, is this real? If this is some kind of joke, it's a really mean one!"

"It's no joke. In addition to my degree, that was the other part of the settlement that Stanford offered me. They said it was because I was Summa Cum Laude," Chuck reached over and took Sarah's hand, looking at her with renewed gratitude. She smiled at him and gave him a small nod.

"Oh my, God, Chuck!" Ellie said, still crying, her eyes filled with disbelief and joy. She looked at Awesome. "Devon, come here immediately and hug me!" He sprinted around the couch and wrapped his arms around her.

"You guys want to clue me in, here? These are good tears, right? They feel like good tears," he said looking back and forth between Chuck and Sarah.

"They're wonderful tears," Ellie said. "Look at this." She stepped back and handed him the deposit slip.

It took him a moment to register as well as his mouth fell open. "Bro, Stanford gave you a million dollars?"

"Yes, and my degree," Chuck said.

Still looking at the deposit slip, Awesome stepped over and slowly extended his fist across the table, which Chuck promptly bumped. "I've never seen so many zeros on a deposit slip before," he said quietly.

"Chuck you come here and give me a hug as well!" Ellie demanded. Chuck walked around and embraced his sister. "When did all this happen and why didn't you tell me anything until now?" she looked at Sarah. "Did you know about this?"

"I did. I mean, we've been inseparable for the last week and a half," Sarah smiled.

"It all came together last Friday afternoon, but you guys have been working around the clock, and I've been working and spending time with Sarah. Sit down, I have more to tell you," Chuck said, stepping back from Ellie and picking up her chair. Once they were all seated, Chuck said, "You know how much I appreciate you two putting up with me since everything happened. I know it hasn't been easy on you guys."

"Chuck, it's fine-" Ellie began, but Chuck cut her off.

"I know, Ellie, we're family, and that's what family does for each other. But still, I want you to know how much I appreciate it. So, I've arranged for you guys to have a little vacation in Carmel next week. I worked it out with the hospital already, you're not going to be scheduled or on call for a full week, starting on Sunday, which is when you're leaving. Whatever you guys need or want, it's my treat. That is, if you want to."

They both looked completely bewildered. "You're sending us on vacation for a week?" Ellie asked quietly.

"Yes, if you'll let me."

Ellie and Awesome looked at each other. "Babe, we haven't been away together in ages," he said earnestly.

"Chuck, this is too extravagant," Ellie said

"No, it isn't. It isn't nearly enough. Let me do this for you. Please."

Ellie smiled. "Ok, Chuck. Thank you."

"Yeah, bro! This is incredibly generous! Thank you so much!" Awesome said with genuine affection.

"You're welcome," Chuck said, beaming with happiness. "So, we have to drop you off on Sunday morning. There's another part of this trip, but it's a surprise. And I have something else to tell you," Chuck took Sarah's hand again, and Sarah looked a little nervous.

"What's going on? Haven't you dropped enough bombs on us for one night, Chuck?" Ellie asked, looking back and forth between them.

"Sarah and I are moving in together," Chuck said .

Ellie and Awesome just looked at each other and laughed. "Pay up, mister," Ellie said.

Awesome pulled a single dollar out of his pocket and presented it to Ellie. "You were right," he said, still laughing.

It was Sarah's turn to be shocked. "You guys had a bet about us moving in together?"

"Yeah, Ellie told me that you guys talked about it after dinner last week, and I totally saw it coming, but I thought it wouldn't happen for another few months. Ellie said it would happen right away. Looks like she called it."

Sarah looked at Ellie. "You knew I was going to ask him, even after you and I talked about it, didn't you?"

Ellie smiled. "I knew even before you brought it up. When you told us that you'd quit your job, but that you were living in a hotel suite that your former employer was paying for, it meant you were going to have to find an apartment. That combined with how you two kept looking at each other all night, I knew that's how it would play out. It didn't take a crystal ball to see it coming. And I had to give you that advice, which I still think is correct by the way. I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not worried about you guys, but I think you'll be ok."

"Really, sis?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah, you two are obviously ga-ga for each other. Just don't forget that when shit gets real. The best advice I can give you is that when one or the other of you is annoyed about something, even something you think is trivial, don't hold it back. Talk to each other about it. Be respectful but talk about it. And if one of you does bring something up, the other just needs to listen, not get defensive. Devon and I had to learn that one the hard way."

"Yeah, I used to leave the cap off the toothpaste. Don't do that, bro!"

"And I used to leave tampon boxes out. Don't do that, Sarah!"

Chuck looked at Sarah. "Who knew that the secret to a successful relationship was as simple as putting the cap back on the tooth paste and putting away the feminine hygiene products."

"I know, right?" Sarah laughed. "We've totally got this."

"Yeah, yuk it up. You'll see," Ellie said. "So, when is this happening?"

They shared a look. "Uh, yeah, it sort of already has," Chuck said.

"You found an apartment already? How the fuck do you guys do these things so fast?" she demanded.

"Oh my, God, Ellie, it's so amazing. We got an air mattress so we could sleep there last night." Chuck said. "I can't wait for you guys to come see it! We're getting a ton of furniture delivered tomorrow and we were thinking we might have a party soon and invite a bunch of people over to show off."

"Can you tell us where it is? Is it nearby? Did you leave Echo Park?"

"It's just a few minutes from here. It's actually the Elysian Tower building on Echo Park Avenue, not far from the park," Chuck said.

"Holy crap, Chuck! I thought you'd be more responsible with your money than that! I saw an article in the LA Times about that renovation and how much those places were going to cost!"

"Ellie, if I told you not to worry about the money part of it, would that help? Because it gets worse, or better I mean," Sarah interjected.

"I don't understand. How is it worse or better?" Ellie asked.

"Well, from a money standpoint, it's worse, but seriously, don't worry about the money. I actually already paid the first six months rent in advance and I haven't even sold my condo in D.C. yet."

"Ok, but how is it worse from a money standpoint?"

"We rented one of the penthouse apartments," Sarah said happily. "And, Ellie, it is worth every penny. It's so beautiful."

"Sarah, if you tell me that you can afford a penthouse apartment at the Elysian Tower, I guess I believe you. It just seems so extravagant."

"I can totally afford it. I may have quit my job, but I have some very promising prospects already. I'm actually being recruited pretty heavily."

"Ellie, Sarah isn't comfortable talking about this, but you don't have to worry about the money, honestly," Chuck interjected. "And you know me, I'm pretty frugal out of necessity. We already had this conversation about the cost and decided that it's totally worth it. And when you see the place, you will agree with us."

Ellie sighed. "I apologize, Sarah. I just need to take a breath and realize that this really isn't any of my business. You guys are both adults and I have no say in where or how you guys choose to live."

"Ellie, it's ok. I understand that you're concerned because you care, not because you're trying to control things," Sarah said. "It's actually really sweet. Just trust us when we say it's fine."

"Ok, I trust you," she said with a smile. "And I'm very happy for you. Both of you."

"Thanks, sis."

"We'll actually have furniture tomorrow if you guys want to come see it," Chuck said.

"We're both working twelve hour shifts tomorrow, but maybe after that?" Ellie asked.

"Absolutely."

Ellie looked at Chuck. "Now that you've got your degree and some money in the bank, are you finally going to leave the Buy More?"

Chuck smiled. "I'm working on a plan, but I'm not going to leave Big Mike in a lurch. Those guys will run roughshod over him if I'm not there and he'll have a heart attack inside a week. Although I am probably going to call in sick tomorrow because I want to be home when our new furniture arrives," Sarah smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

Awesome laughed. "There go the googly-eyes again, babe."

"Do you guys have any idea how often you give each other googly-eyes?" Chuck asked. "It's my turn now."

"Are you guys going to stay here tonight or go back to your new apartment?" Ellie asked.

Chuck looked at Sarah and said, "Yeah, about that. Can I be honest?" he asked.

"No, Chuck, lie to me," she said, smacking his shoulder.

"That air mattress is the worst. I'd rather sleep here tonight and go there tomorrow morning to wait for our stuff."

"Oh my, God, yes! I'm so happy you said that!" she laughed. "It really was the worst, wasn't it? What's even the point? I mean, it was only marginally better than sleeping on the floor would have been!"

"So I guess we're sleeping here, but it's not even seven yet. Have you guys had dinner? If not, we can go out. My treat," Chuck offered. "I owe you guys like five years worth of meals."

"That's nice, Chuck, but we already ate, and we have to be at the hospital at four am for a twelve hour shift. We'll be sacking out soon," Awesome said.

Chuck looked at Sarah. "Sweetie, you want to go grab some dinner? I had some ideas I wanted to run past you."

"Sure," Sarah looked at Ellie and Awesome. "You guys get some sleep. We'll be quiet when we get back. Give us a call tomorrow when you feel like coming over."

"We will. You guys have a good night. And Chuck, congratulations to you again. I'm so happy for you and just a little blown away by how crazy these past couple of weeks have been for you," Ellie said.

Chuck squeezed her hand as he stood up. "Thanks, El. Really."

"And we got so wrapped up in talking about you guys moving in together that we didn't get into the details on the whole Stanford thing. You still need to tell us how that all came together," Ellie said.

"I'll fill you in when you come over tomorrow."

"Ok, deal."

They left Ellie and Awesome still looking a little overwhelmed at the magnitude of the information they'd shared with them. "That went pretty well," Chuck said as they got into Sarah's car.

"It did. Ellie seems pretty worried about the whole financial thing," Sarah observed.

"Yeah, I mean they're both doctors, but they're still in their residencies so they don't make as much as you might think. That and they still have a ton of student loan debt to pay off. Ellie has always been really frugal because there were times when my dad was in his disappearing phase that he wouldn't leave us enough money to buy groceries and we had to scrimp to get by. It left its mark on both of us, but more so on Ellie."

"So what's this idea you wanted to run by me, Chuck?" Sarah asked as she pulled into traffic.

"Well, it kind of ties in with the bomb shelter under the Buy More being our new HQ and maintaining a cover for me."

"Ok."

"I actually thought of it tonight while we were talking about the surveillance needs we have, and it occurred to me that Jeff, the one you said looks genuinely unbalanced?" Sarah grinned and nodded. "Well, he has some stalker tendencies as well, and he's kind of a genius with surveillance stuff. He has his whole van outfitted like some kind of private detective – he's something of an amateur stalker. It's creepy, but also sort of impressive."

"Chuck, you can't seriously be suggesting that we bring your borderline psychotic co-worker in on the Task Force?" Sarah sounded appalled at the idea.

"God no, just hear me out. What I was thinking is all these guys have strengths in certain tech fields, all of which we're going to need some help with. Sure, they're slackers and reprobates, but they're also pretty good technicians, too. My idea is pretty rough, but it's basically this. I approach Buy More corporate with a pilot program to outsource the Nerd Herd division of my store. I incorporate a company, like you suggested previously, and I hire all of them to work for my company, but we all still work physically at the store. The only thing that changes is that Buy More corporate pays my company, and I pay them to do the same job they're doing now. But we can also utilize them to do other side jobs we need – like outfitting a surveillance van – that are then billed to the Task Force through my company. They wouldn't know or even care who they're working for, and we could take advantage of some relatively low-cost, fairly highly skilled labor. And it gives me cover because I'm working at the same job I've had forever, and I'm just a short walk across the parking lot if I need to come down to the Castle. And since I'm really the boss, it would give me more flexibility in when I'm actually physically there. I wouldn't have to punch a clock the way I do now."

Sarah pondered his idea before she said anything, not wanting to make any snap judgements. A lot of things revolved around them getting the bomb shelter build out done, but she felt pretty good about that. So if she operated from the assumption that the shelter would be their permanent HQ, and they could get internal access to the Buy More from the walled off emergency exit, what he was proposing made a certain amount of sense. She was dubious about the value of the other Nerd Herders, but she wasn't going to second guess his assessment of their skills. She needed to trust his opinions when it came to these exact questions. It would be critical to keep the Nerd Herders knowledge of who they were working for completely hidden.

"I'm not going to lie, Chuck. I'm skeptical of the value that you say the other Nerd Herd people can offer, but if you say they can, I will trust your opinion. My only other concern is that they never have any knowledge of exactly who they're working for, and they would never have access to any of our systems."

"Yes, I was working from those assumptions. There would be a knowledge firewall in place. I would be the only one who knows anything about what they're doing. As far as they would know, they're simply working on projects for other clients of my company. And I think I could use this as an opportunity to improve their work habits by giving them an opportunity to earn more money."

"Ok, then. I think your proposal has serious merit. It would be excellent for your cover, that much is certain, and having you in such close proximity to… Wait did you call it, the Castle a minute ago?"

"Yeah, when we were down there, it made me think of what a Castle might be like, dark and dank with exposed brick and mortar."

"Hmm. Castle. I like it. I think you just came up with the code word for our headquarters, Chuck," she said with a smile.

He gave her one of those boyish grins she loved. "Cool."

"Anyway, having your cover job in such close proximity to Castle would be very convenient. How do you propose approaching Buy More corporate with the idea of a pilot program to out-source the Nerd Herd division of your store?"

"Yeah, that's the hard part. Let me think about that for a bit."

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The weak morning light filtering in through Chuck's bedroom window foretold a dreary day to come as the alarm clock pulled them both from their slumber that Wednesday morning. Sarah vaguely recalled hearing Ellie and Awesome getting ready for their shifts at stupid o'clock that morning and was grateful they seemed to be taking pains to be quiet.

Sarah hit the button on the alarm and rolled over to cuddle into Chuck. It was becoming something of a morning routine for them to cuddle, kiss, have sex and then get ready for the day, and she was looking forward to doing that for what might be the last time in this bed, or this room. He rolled onto his back in anticipation of her draping herself over him, yawned and stretched.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said.

"Mmm. Good morning," she said breathily into his neck, as his fingers started predictably started drawing patterns on her bare butt cheek. She leaned up a little to look at his as a thought occurred to her. "Chuck, I have to ask. How are you maintaining this level of sexual activity? I mean we've been having sex two or three times a day since we've been together. I'm not complaining, but isn't this wearing you out a little?"

He laughed and blushed, as she expected. "I was wondering the same thing myself to be honest with you. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty impressed with myself. There have been a couple of times where for a very brief moment, I wondered if I'd be up to the task when my body responded, hell yeah you are! My only answer is that it's like you said in this very room; when it comes to sex, you're my Muse. You inspire me. Believe it or not, there have been a couple of times when we've been out doing something, and I so badly wanted to jump you that I had to distract myself."

"Really?" she laughed. "Like when?"

"Yesterday in McGruff's office for one. It was the first time I've really seen you in your element, with other law enforcement types who know who you are. Damn that was so freaking sexy, seeing you get a signed Executive Order from the President. Who would have thought I'd ever get to see such a thing? McGruff obviously respects you, and you can tell he's not the kind of guy who gives his respect easily or quickly. But I also am learning to read you pretty well too and I can tell when you want to maintain an appropriate distance and professional behavior."

"It's strange how it didn't even occur to me yesterday to warn you not to show any overt affection towards me while we were at the Federal Building yesterday, but now that I think about it, you were a natural. You didn't even try to kiss me in the elevator or hold my hand."

"That's what I mean about learning to read you. Part of that was me following your body language, and of course I understand about professional decorum. Especially as it relates to you being a woman in law enforcement, which I'm betting is still very much a male dominated profession. You and McGruff seem to have this banter going back and forth between you and I didn't want to give him any ammunition against you over bringing me on board. He's gotta be wondering what my role in all this is. The only information anyone has to go on is this kind of abstract idea that I'm a hacker and McGruff may not even know that much. I know I still have to prove that I'm an asset to this team. Towards that end, I'm going to behave like a professional whenever we're in 'work' mode."

Sarah shook her head as she ran her hand across his bare chest. "You never stop impressing me, Chuck. Everyday it seems like you do something new to show me exactly how amazing you are," she said softly. "And speaking of being sexy, it was pretty impressive how you weren't intimidated by Coburn yesterday when he asked you about the Task Force failing," she smiled at him.

"Are you kidding? Coburn looks like he could tear me in half and then go out for pancakes," Chuck laughed. "I was completely intimidated. I just wasn't going to let him see it."

Sarah was impressed. "You hid it really well, Chuck. You seemed very composed and confident. Like I said. Sexy," she leaned in and kissed him and within seconds, the now familiar fire was raging in both of them.

Chuck reached down and used one hand between her legs to stimulate her while he used his other hand to grab a condom off the nightstand, tear it open with his mouth then put it in her hand.

"Would you be so kind as to make sure I'm properly attired for the activities that are about to commence?" He asked with a glint in his eye. He sat up to give her access, but never relented with his other hand that was doing amazing, unspeakable things to her.

She accommodated his request then pulled him up into a sitting position as she swung a leg around him so that she was sitting in his lap, wrapping her legs around him, feeling him fill her up yet again. She started squeezing him from the inside and looking into his eyes, putting her hands on the sides of his face as he put his on her hips. Neither of them moved visibly, only her internal flexing as she alternately squeezed then released him, all while once again looking at the astonishing variation of colors in his eyes, marveling at their beauty.

"Your eyes!" he gasped as she squeezed, then released him. "Sarah! Your eyes are stunning. You are so beautiful!" Part of her wondered if she should be shocked that their thoughts were so closely aligned, but she wasn't in the least. It felt perfectly appropriate to her, as deeply embedded as they were with each other in that moment; physically, emotionally and even spiritually, though she might have scoffed at that notion just weeks earlier.

She felt an orgasm beginning to spill over her as she continued to squeeze him inside her and stared into his eyes, wanting him to see her ecstasy as it enveloped her. Her body quivered as the orgasm scorched its way through her and she heard Chuck scream her name as she felt him pulsing inside her. As their ecstasy passed, she continued to sit there in his lap, softly running her thumb across his lips. She opened her mouth to speak, wanting to express to him how astonishingly, deliriously happy she was in that moment, but words were failing her.

"I… I love you, Chuck," she whispered shyly. "I want you to know how happy I am right now, but that's all I can think to say."

The smile he gave her seemed to convey the very feelings she couldn't find the words for, so she smiled back at him and hoped it expressed some small part of what she felt.

"That's all you ever have to say," he whispered. "I love you, too," they sat there, wrapped in each other's arms for several minutes, kissing each other softly, not trying to hold on to the moment, but simply savoring it.

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Chuck called in to let the morning shift know he wasn't going to be in. Something they had done to him on countless occasions, but she could see he still felt bad doing it. After getting dressed and ready for the day, they were seated at the dining room table, drinking coffee and eating honeyed oatmeal he'd prepared for them. Sarah perused the morning paper and Chuck toyed idly with his phone.

"Is it silly that I feel guilty calling in sick to work today?" he asked.

"No, that's just who you are, Chuck. You don't like letting people down, even if those people have no appreciation for you in the first place," she replied, still flipping through the paper, not really reading. As she heard her own words, she realized how that might sound. He wanted to hire them all to help with their Task Force after all. "I hope that didn't come across as being bitchy. They are your friends to a certain extent, and I might be judging them a little harshly. Especially considering that you believe they have skills that can help us."

"I don't think you're being bitchy, I think you're being honest. I know they'd don't really appreciate me or the other people around them, or even their own damn potential for that matter. It's frustrating as hell but I can't be too hard on them because for all intents and purposes, I'm the same as them."

At that comment, Sarah looked up at him sharply. "What? That is so not true, Chuck. I told you once before that I was going to push back when I felt like you were beating yourself up," she shifted in her chair to face him.

"The main difference between you and all the other Nerd Herders, at least as far as work is concerned, is that they do the bare minimum necessary to get by, whereas you go above and beyond every day. Don't forget, I'm a spy, Chuck. I've watched you at work. I've watched them too, and you are not the same as them. The only thing you had in common with them was an under appreciation for your own potential. And you even admitted that you were starting to find your way out of that even before I came along and helped you see that the thing holding you back wasn't your fault," Sarah sighed as she swirled the coffee in her cup.

"I guess the thing that scares me most about this idea of yours to utilize them isn't that they don't have the skills to do the job. It's that when work gets at all difficult, even by the ridiculously low standard that 'difficult' represents there, they all scramble for cover to avoid it. You on the other hand, you roll up your sleeves and get the job done. What we're getting ourselves into with this Task Force? This is as hard as it gets. Lives are on the line and there's no scrambling for cover to avoid it. This is where you have to stand up and show what you're made of."

"I never thought of it like that. I guess you've got a point," Chuck said. "When I think about the task that we have in front of us, I see it as an opportunity to do something great. To really make a difference in the world. I also try to break the enormity of the task down into more manageable chunks. Like the old saying, how do you eat an elephant - one bite at a time. How are they communicating, how are they looking for information. I mean, it's scary, but I'm not a front line fighter like you are, so I feel a little insulated from that aspect of it."

"Well, this time around is a lot like my last mission to actually interrupt their schemes. I wasn't on the front lines then, I was running the show behind the scenes. I'm going to work to maintain some distance from the operational side of things with this operation as well, as much as I can given how understaffed we are to start."

After cleaning up from their simple breakfast, they left Chuck's former apartment and headed to their new one. As they started the drive, Chuck asked, "Given the nature of the plan, to limit their exposure, and only rely on them for specific tasks, focused on each of their strengths, do you think that the benefits of my idea with the Nerd Herd team out-weigh the risks? And what do you see as the risks with the plan?"

Sarah didn't even have to think about it. "I think the biggest risk at the outset is that we become too dependent on them. I do see them being able to add value, given how much we have to do to get started, and I think we'd be utilizing them quite a bit in the first few months. I think if you're able to pull this off, they'll be excited by it at first, because it's new and shiny. So to start, they'll be diligent and helpful. But after a few months, when the novelty wears off, they'll fall back into old patterns. And you're Chuck, you're their buddy, they've always been able to push the line with you with no consequences. So now you're having to crack the whip on them, and maybe you're doing some of their work for them, which I know you have a tendency to do. But this causes you to spread yourself too thin, which maybe this leads you to make a mistake on a more important item you're working on that exposes us. I think that's the biggest risk."

"That was a fairly cogent, on-the-fly risk analysis there, Agent Walker," Chuck said.

"It's not my first rodeo, Chuck," she said with a smile.

"What about the first question; are the potential benefits worth the risk?"

"Yeah, I absolutely think they could be, but there's a question you're going to have to answer first."

"What's that?"

"Assuming you're able to get Buy More corporate to sign off, and you actually go through with this, could you fire one of them when they start to compromise your ability to do your job? Look them in the eye and say the words, You. Are. Fired. And really follow through with it?" she looked at him while she was driving, briefly but intently.

"Because if you do this, Chuck? It's going to happen. They're eventually going to start screwing off thinking everything is just like the Buy More days where they can basically do whatever they want with no consequences. Then you're going to have to fire one of them to get the others to fall in line. I guarantee it. And they're going to hate you for it because it's a betrayal of the relationship you've had with them so far. You go down this road, and you're basically committing to the fact that they aren't your friends, they're your employees. And sometimes you have to fire employees."

She noticed he barely hesitated at all before he spoke up. "Yeah, I do believe I could do that. Because like you said, when things get hard is when you have to step up, not hide. And this task is important. Again, like you said, lives are at stake. So I can commit to the idea that they're not my friends, they're my employees and if it comes to it, I will fire one of them to protect what we're trying to do here."

Sarah smiled at him. "So there's your answer. Now that we've had an opportunity to sort of hash it out, I actually think it's a great idea. And it really meshes well with our needs at the moment. Now you just need to get to work on a business plan to present to Buy More corporate and see if you can make it happen."

"As to that, I think I may have found an in. It turns out that the Executive VP of Business Development at Buy More corporate, Mr. Terrence Wallace, is a Stanford alum." Chuck said with a smile. "He was in the same class and the same fraternity as the esteemed Mr. Anzio, current in-house counsel for Stanford."

"Further proof that it's not what you know, but who you know," Sarah said with a snort. "And how the hell did you find all that out?"

"Uh, hello? Hacker," Chuck said, pointing at himself and giving her a little wave. "Stanford's security protocols are pathetic. I've had a back door in there for years. Don't ask about Buy More corporate. It's a need to know thing. But if you read the internal HR complaint files, you might never go into another Buy More again," he said with a smirk.

"Eww," she said with a grimace. "Wait, back up a minute. You're telling me that you've had access to Stanford's systems for years?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I'm betting that means you could have just put your degree and graduation into their system any time you wanted to. Am I right?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Yeah. But it wouldn't have been real. May as well hack into Harvard and give myself a law degree."

"Given your circumstances, Chuck, I don't know if most people would agree with you. Hell, I'm not sure if I agree with you. I mean, if you had done it, I'd certainly understand the reasoning."

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I never thought about it," he admitted. "Trust me, I thought about it a lot and the idea may have been a large part of why I hacked them in the first place, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It really felt like cheating, and of course that would have created some kind of messed up after-the-fact justification for getting kicked out in the first place."

"Yeah, I can see your point on that. I'm rather impressed that you were able to stop yourself from doing it," she said. "Are you thinking about talking to Anzio about an introduction to Mr. Wallace?"

"Yeah, probably, but I need to put a business plan together first, outline how it could benefit them. I need to tie it to their bottom line. It's going to be mostly a financial concern, with liability and administrative issues following in behind. For example, Buy More corporate has settled approximately forty sexual harassment claims so far this year just in the Western division, and more than half of those originated in the Nerd Herd division."

"I'm betting Anna Wu would have a case if she were to bring one," Sarah observed.

"Yeah, she could have a payday. She's threatened Jeff with bodily harm on more than one occasion," he chuckled. "But anyway, I need to show some kind of net-positive benefit for Buy More corporate before they'll bite on something like this, even for a pilot program. Plus there's the name recognition aspect of it. Nerd Herders and their technical abilities are closely associated with Buy More as a brand. It could be a challenging proposal."

Sarah whipped the car into the underground parking garage for their new apartment building. "Yeah, but it sounds like you've got a pretty good handle on it."

"I guess, but I've still got my work cut out for me."

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