A/N: This chapter lives up to the T rating of the story. For better or worse. Also, I'm done with the whole, "I don't own Chuck" disclaimer. Come at me, Schwartz & Fedak, or Warner Bros. or whoever the hell does own Chuck.
The upside to buying all their new furniture from a single source was the fact that it was all delivered at once. An entire two-bedroom apartment's worth of furniture, and quite a bit of it had to be assembled after it was brought up in pieces. The salesman had happily included assembly specialists to close one of the largest single-day deals he'd ever had.
Chuck spent most of the time at the kitchen island banging away intently on his laptop while Sarah directed the setup and placement of the furniture. By the time everything was finished, it was well into the early afternoon. In addition to having provided pizza and soda for lunch, Sarah gave the delivery guys a generous cash tip for their hard work.
Once everything was settled, the two of them wandered around their newly furnished apartment together for several minutes, admiring their choices. They spent time getting a feel for the various layouts, deciding if they wanted to make any changes and making notes for additional things they still needed to get.
"I can't believe this is our new home. That I officially live here, and I live here with you. It's surreal. I feel like my brain hasn't caught up with the reality of it just yet," Chuck said as they settled into their new living room. Chuck laid down on their new sofa, and Sarah laid down half on top of him half on the inside of the couch, with her head resting on his shoulder. She remembered that they'd tested this exact position on several couches at the store, much to the amusement of elderly the salesman.
"I know what you mean," Sarah said with a smile. "I live with a boy now? Whaaat?"
"Hey, what about your condo in DC? What's your plan there?" He asked, idly stroking her hair.
"Uhg, I think I'm mentally avoiding it. I don't have any attachments to anything there, except maybe for some clothes. It was really just a place to sleep and eat take-out when I was in town between missions."
"You know there are these people called realtors that can handle the process of selling a dwelling you no longer need."
"Very funny, Chuck."
"Maybe we should take a side trip out there in the next few weeks, pack up the stuff you want to keep and ship it home, then get the place listed and let the realtor handle the rest."
"I suppose," she said noncommittally.
"Is everything OK?" Chuck asked.
"Yeah, it just seems like such a low priority thing right now. And part of me wonders if it would be convenient to have on hand for future visits to DC, for meetings and such, as the Task Force starts to make progress."
"Do you see that happening to the extent that it wouldn't make more sense to just stay in hotels when you're back there?"
"Yeah, you're probably right. And there's the property tax I'm still paying, which seems like a waste," She yawned suddenly and decided to close her eyes for a minute. "We'll figure it out together, but later."
Chuck yawned too, as hers infected him. "Ok," he said quietly as he closed his eyes.
Sarah's eyes popped open and for several long seconds, she was completely disoriented at her surroundings. She felt Chuck breathing evenly under her and everything snapped into focus. She realized they'd fallen asleep together on their new couch in their new apartment, and while she couldn't speak for Chuck, she'd had a spectacular nap. She felt rejuvenated.
She knew she'd eventually learn from the shadows cast by the sun shining through the large windows what the approximate time of day was, but she wasn't quite there yet. She looked at her watch and saw that they'd been asleep for over an hour. She knew they had so much to do, but she wouldn't feel guilty about taking moments like this. They would be hard to come by as things started progressing.
She had a secure call in about an hour that would get her setup as a signatory for the various DoD accounts associated with the Intersect project. This would finally give her access to the necessary funds so she could start buying the equipment they needed. She'd been building budgets in her head and had already burned through millions of dollars. Admittedly, one of the big ticket items was the strip mall over the main entrance to the bomb shelter.
The more she thought about it, the more she believed that they needed to own and control that property. It was too important as it pertained to having unrestricted access to their HQ, or Castle as she was coming to think of it. She'd looked it up and it had last sold about 5 years earlier for just over three million dollars. Given the current state of the economy, she thought she could get it for substantially less, but ultimately didn't care. She was going to be frugal where she could, but this mission was too important to pinch pennies over. She knew the build out of the shelter was likely to approach three million as well, if not more. She also needed access to a number of plain civilian vehicles that they could use in rotating surveillance patterns when they had additional personnel who were trained in such things, but she wanted the fleet ready and waiting.
Chuck had indicated he would need about a half a million to start for the systems he wanted to build. Something about building their own encrypted private cloud system that would give them real-time access to their resources, whatever that meant. Thinking about that made her consider his plan to hire on all his fellow Nerd Herders to do some of the tech work for them. It really was an outside-the-box idea, something that would have never occurred to her. Now that she'd had time to let the idea percolate, she believed it had real potential. Not just for their mission, but as a viable business plan. She was looking forward to seeing how things panned out there for Chuck and she hoped it wasn't too difficult for him to do what she was certain would ultimately be necessary; the firing of one of his friends.
Just as she started to sit up, Chuck stretched and looked up at her. "Wow, that felt great," He said with a smile.
"I know, right?"
"But we've got a lot of work to do, too," He said, sitting up.
Sarah sat up as well. "We do, but Chuck, I don't even have access to the funds yet. Until we have access to the money, we're a little stuck. And a lot is going to revolve around getting Castle built out, too, which will take months. Can you build your systems somewhere else, then move them to Castle when it's finished?"
"Sure. I could actually build them at the Buy More in the back storage area. I only need a couple of racks worth of equipment to start, but that could prove problematic if Corporate doesn't go for my plan."
"Well, let's just do what we have to do to start, then worry about the rest as we go. When do you think you'll be ready to have your meeting?"
"I'm pretty much ready now," He admitted. "That's what I was working on today. I've got the business plan put together with all the metrics that show a really strong case to at least do a pilot program."
"Wow, Chuck. That's pretty impressive. It takes most people weeks to put that kind of stuff together and you did it in just a few hours?"
"No, I just sort of put it all into a coherent presentation together this morning. I've been working on all the metrics here and there over the last couple of days. If I'm honest, I had a version of this plan in my head months ago but wasn't in the right frame of mind to do anything about it except crunch the numbers."
"Still," she said, genuinely impressed. "Why don't you call Anzio and see if you can get an introduction to the Buy More corporate guy and get the ball rolling?"
"Yeah, I guess that's the next step," he said, looking at his phone hesitantly.
"In my experience, Chuck, you don't think about it, you just do it."
He nodded and started dialing, putting the phone on speaker. "Stanford University," they heard over the line.
"Yes, my I speak to Mr. Anzio in the legal department, please?" Chuck asked politely.
"May I ask who's calling?"
"My name is Chuck Bartowski."
"Please hold, Mr. Bartowski."
It was less than a minute before the line was answered. "Chuck, how are you?" They heard Mr. Anzio's friendly voice ask.
"I'm sort of great, Mr. Anzio, thank you for asking," Chuck said with a laugh. "I mean, how could I be anything else?"
"That's wonderful to hear, Chuck. Really, I'm very happy for you," Mr. Anzio said. "And, I apologize if this is too personal, but I fear my curiosity is getting the best of me. I have to ask, how did your date with Miss Walker turn out?"
"Mr. Anzio, would you believe me if I told you that of the three amazing things that happened to me, getting my degree, getting that check and meeting Sarah, I would put her at the top of that list?" Chuck smiled at Sarah as he said it.
Mr. Anzio chuckled. "So, I guess it went well then."
"Yes, sir. We've been on several dates. The first was amazing and they've only been getting better since."
"Well then, I'm happy for the both of you. Please express my greetings to her."
"I will, sir. Thank you."
"So, what can I do for you today, Chuck?"
"Well, sir, I was actually hoping that you could facilitate an introduction with someone. I believe you were in the same class at Stanford as a Mr. Terrence Wallace," Chuck said, a little hesitantly.
"Yes, Terry is one of my oldest friends. We play golf together a couple of times a month with some of our other friends and our wives socialize as well."
"Yes, well, I don't know if you recognized the uniform I was wearing at our meeting last week, but I'm actually a Nerd Herd supervisor at the Burbank Buy More."
"Yes, I did indeed recognize your uniform."
"Well, sir, I actually have a proposal that I'd like to talk to Mr. Wallace about, and I felt like an introduction from you would go a long way towards actually getting a meeting."
They were surprised to hear a soft laugh over the phone. "Well, Chuck, you might not believe this, but I've already spoken to Terry about you."
Chuck was obviously a little taken aback at this information. "Uh.. You have?"
"Yes, indeed. We actually had one of our golf outings this past Saturday, and I mentioned meeting one of his store Nerd Herders and relayed what I could about our meeting on Friday. I didn't realize you were a supervisor, but that's not at all surprising. You left quite a positive impression, Chuck. I didn't give Terry any details of the meeting of course, due to the nature of our discussions, but he was duly impressed. I'm sure he would be happy to take a meeting with you, if for no other reason than to meet a Stanford alumnus who also happens to work at one of his stores. I'm sure it would be no surprise to you to learn you're the only one outside of the corporate environment."
Chuck was still having trouble processing this development. "Wow. Thank you, Mr. Anzio. That's quite a compliment."
"Not at all, Chuck," he replied. "Do you have an idea of when you would like to meet with Terry?"
"Well, I have a proposal ready to go, so from my perspective, as soon as he's available. I'm available literally anytime. A moment's notice as the case may be," Chuck said with a laugh.
"Well, I tell you what, Chuck. Why don't I give Terry a call now, and we'll see what we can put together," Mr. Anzio offered.
"That would be great, Mr. Anzio. I can't thank you enough!"
"It's my pleasure, Chuck. Give me a few minutes and I'll call you back."
"Yes, sir. Thank you again!" Chuck said excitedly.
"You're welcome, Chuck!"
Chuck disconnected the call and looked at Sarah with an expression of disbelief. "That did not go at all how I expected it to."
Sarah smiled at him and shook her head. "It went about exactly how I expected it to." He gave her a confused expression. "Chuck, you really have no idea how effortlessly charming you can be, do you?"
"I guess not," he said, shaking his head.
"I suppose that's part of it. You're oblivious to the fact that you're charming, which only adds to your charm." She grabbed his shirt and pulled him in for a long, deep kiss that made her want more. "That and you're an exceptional kisser," she said breathlessly as she pulled back.
He looked a little dazed himself. "I don't think I can take all the credit," he said as he looked at her longingly. Sarah climbed into his lap and started kissing him in earnest. He slowly unbuttoned her blouse and slipped it off her shoulders as she pulled his shirt over his head. He unsnapped her bra and just as he was about to slip it off her shoulders, his phone rang. He looked down at it. "It's Anzio." He said with equal parts excitement and frustration.
"Answer it," Sarah said as she shrugged off her bra and started kissing his neck.
His eyes got wide as he answered. "This is Chuck," he said.
"Chuck, how does this afternoon at four o'clock work for you at the Buy More corporate offices downtown?"
"Thaaaat is perrrrfect!" Chuck exclaimed awkwardly as Sarah bit his neck. "I can definitely be there at four PM today, Mr. Anzio! Thank you so much!"
"You're very welcome, Chuck. Good luck and let me know how it goes."
"I absolutely will, sir!" He said, disconnecting the call.
"It's after two already, don't you need to get your proposal printed?" She asked, sitting up in his lap.
"I submitted it to the print shop down the street at lunch. It was ready for me to pick up an hour ago," he said with a smile, staring hungrily at her naked torso.
"Chuck?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are you still wearing your pants?"
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Chuck walked into their apartment at a little after 6pm with a somewhat dazed expression on his face and Sarah felt like she could relate. She'd been connected via a secure connection on her laptop while a Pentagon accountant walked her through connecting to the various accounts she was being granted access to. It actually wasn't that much different than connecting to her own bank to look at her personal accounts, just a few more security protocols that had to be followed and it only worked with one specific web browser that required a special plug-in to connect.
There were over fifty accounts that had between fifty and one hundred million dollars in each of them. Each account was associated with a specific priority for the Intersect project, including several that were earmarked for the new facility being built in Virginia, which she was asked not to utilize. Not including those accounts, it was just over three billion dollars that she had access to. She had a transfer limit of five million dollars before additional signatures were required for authorization, one of whose was Director Graham's, and she had to provide receipts for individual expenditures over one thousand dollars.
Any assets purchased, such as real estate had to be acquired under the front company associated with each individual account, similar to how she'd paid for the rent on their apartment. She had a specific login so any transactions she initiated would be traceable to her. She had already transferred a hundred thousand dollars to Stanley and Sons Construction as a retainer for their services to build out Castle. She now had access to effectively unlimited funds to get the Task Force really going.
"What's that expression mean, Chuck?" She asked. "Don't keep me in suspense, how did it go?"
He walked into their living room and shrugged off his suit jacket. When they'd finished with their afternoon activities, he realized he should probably go to his old apartment and change into one of the few suits that he owned before he went to the meeting. Sarah had given him the keys to her car, and he'd had to risk arrest to get to the meeting on time, which he'd done but with just minutes to spare.
He draped his jacket over the back of one of the barstools at the kitchen island and looked at her, still slightly dazed. "I should probably tell you first that Ellie and Awesome are on their way over. They just called me. They probably won't stay too long because they had a long shift and have another one tomorrow. We should think about ordering some food in."
"Ok, that's great, Chuck, but how did you presentation go!" She exclaimed with an exasperated smile.
"Um, it went really well, but not how I expected," he said cryptically.
"But did they go for your pilot idea?"
"The short answer is yes, but the full answer is more complicated."
"Chuck, that's great news but why do you look like the school bully is waiting for you as you walk home?"
He snorted a laugh. "That's a pretty accurate analogy," he said. "So I learned that Buy More corporate has a sort of love-hate relationship with the Nerd Herd division. They mostly hate it because it operates at a pretty serious net loss for the company, but it's so tightly integrated with Buy More name recognition that they're unable to separate themselves from it. They told me that a revamp of Nerd Herd upper management would be their next most logical step, but it's kind of political. They glossed that part over, but I already knew about it.
"The VP of the Nerd Herd division is the CEO's son-in-law who barely ever even shows up for work. The board of directors has been delaying a vote to fire him. It turns out that Buy More corporate feel about the Nerd Herd division pretty much the exact same way I feel about Jeff and Lester. They are a god awful pain in the ass most of the time, but when they work, it's a joy to behold."
"I guess I'll have to take your word for that having never witnessed it myself," she said with a smirk. "So you said they agreed to your proposal? You gotta give me more here, Chuck!"
"Yeah, so they went for my pilot program proposal. They didn't just go for it, they leapt on it like a hungry Cheetah on a lame gazelle. The only way they would agree to the single store pilot program was if I agreed to expand it should the pilot program prove successful," he said, looking dazed again. "If the pilot program works after a year, they will want to begin a phased program in the western division to have me start taking over all Nerd Herd groups, starting with Southern California," he said, looking at her with big eyes.
"Holy shit, Chuck!" Sarah exclaimed, realizing the implications. "What did you tell them?"
"I told them I'd do it!" He nearly yelled. "Why did I do that, Sarah? How the hell can I take over the entire Nerd Herd division for Buy More? It's an administrative nightmare! The sexual harassment lawsuits are bad enough, but then there's the issue of internal theft, customer complaints and a myriad of other issues I didn't think about. Apparently the Burbank Buy More Nerd Herd is considered one of the best in the entire western region because we get the fewest complaints, the most compliments and we've never had a lawsuit. It's one of only a handful in the western division that can say that, and they attributed it to me as the supervisor. Once they had fired the existing VP of the Division, the VP I met with, Mr. Wallace was going to take it over and he was going to offer me a job at the corporate office overseeing the Nerd Herd division for California. But this is even better for them because they get the best of all worlds. They get their Nerd Herd, but I get all the headaches of dealing with the crazy technicians! Would you believe that a Nerd Herd supervisor in Texas was caught running a prostitution ring out of his Buy More?"
Sarah couldn't help herself as she burst out laughing. She found the entire thing hysterical in a 'be careful what you wish for' sort of way, and the idea of 'getting fucked' at the Buy More took on a whole new meaning. Chuck looked at her drily. "Yeah, he hired all these call girls as technicians, and men were spending thousands of dollars to get their computers fixed. He only got caught by accident!" he said, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards in spite of himself.
As the giggles slowly faded, she said, "Chuck, this is actually really good news. You might need to hire a business manager, but, who knows what you might be able to make happen with this. If anyone can make it work, it's you."
"Oh, I wasn't finished. Another store in the midwest was being used as a Meth warehouse!" Chuck exclaimed. "That's what I'm going to have to deal with, Sarah!" Just as it looked like Chuck might start hyperventilating, the doorbell rang. "Oh, that reminds me, Chuck. One of the things I'm hoping you can set up for us here is our own private security system," Sarah said as she stood up.
He seemed to calm down with the distraction. "With video?"
Sarah thought about the implications of that. "Well, at least on the door. In the hallway and inside as well. As to the rest of the apartment, I guess that could create some awkward footage for us, huh?" She observed as he started blushing.
"Or educational," he said with a grin, earning a smack on the shoulder. "But, yes, to answer your question, I can put something together for us," he said as they made their way to the door together.
Sarah opened the door to see Ellie and Awesome standing in the hallway, looking a little dumbfounded as they stared in at the apartment. Ellie's jaw dropped open as she looked down the short hallway to the huge windows in the main living and dining space, then she noticed Chuck. "Chuck, why are you wearing a suit?" It was a rare enough event that it made Ellie instantly curious.
"I'm sure we'll get to that," Chuck said with a smile. "In the meantime, come in and have a look at our new place!"
"Holy shit, guys!" Awesome exclaimed in a loud whisper as they made their way inside. "This place is fucking awesome!"
Chuck and Sarah smiled. "It really is amazing, isn't it?" Chuck commented as he looked around at the place again himself. "I still can't believe we really live here," he said as he took Sarah's hand in his.
Ellie seemed completely speechless as she looked around at the apartment. She moved from the kitchen, stunned by the high-end appliances and the huge island, to the dining area, awed by the massive ceilings, and the beautiful table they'd picked out with seating enough for six or eight with an added leaf, then left speechless by the panorama outside the massive windows. She finally looked at them and said, "This place is so beautiful, you guys. I'm sorry again for pitching a fit about the cost last night. This place is wonderful. Someday Devon and I will be able to afford something like this and until then I'm nothing but happy for you."
Sarah let go of Chuck's hand and pulled Ellie into a hug. "You do not have to apologize for anything, Ellie. You care. Don't apologize for caring," Sarah said softly as she hugged her.
"Thank you, Sarah," Ellie said, tearing up a little. "Did you guys pick out the furniture together?" She asked, changing the subject.
"We did," Sarah said with a smile, taking Chuck's hand again. "He picked out the living room couch by having us lie down together on it, and I gotta say it was a brilliant idea because we had the best nap together this afternoon I think I've ever had. We must have laid down on twenty different couches before we settled on this one."
Awesome looked at Ellie with a grimace. "They had a nap today, Ellie," he said jealously.
"I know sweetie, I heard. I don't like them very much right now either, but they're family so we're just going to suck it up, OK?"
"Did you guys want to order food in?" Sarah asked with a laugh.
"Oh God, yes, please," Ellie pleaded. "We haven't eaten since lunch. And while we're waiting, Chuck has to tell us how on earth all this stuff with Stanford came together and why he's wearing a suit."
"Let's have a seat in the living room and I'll tell you all about it. Although to be honest, it's a pretty short story," Chuck said, motioning them to sit on the couch, while he sat down on a loveseat positioned perpendicular to them, leaving room for Sarah. She joined a moment later after calling in take-out, bringing glasses and a bottle of wine with her. "So, last Monday night, when we were in Carmel, we got invited to this fish-fry on the beach," Chuck started out.
"How did you get invited to a fish-fry on the beach?" Ellie asked, accepting a glass of wine from Sarah who answered the question.
"We struck up a conversation with a local bartender that afternoon, who invited us."
"So, anyway, we go to this fish-fry and guess who I run into?" Chuck asked.
"Who?"
"One of my old fraternity brothers, Joe Grant. I had forgotten that he's actually from Carmel. He lives here in LA now, but he goes up every month for this fish-fry to hang out with old friends. Apparently it's kind of a local tradition up there."
"I remember Joe. He kept calling when you left Stanford, but you'd never answer your phone," Ellie admonished.
"Yeah, well, it was a rough time, El. I was in a weird place. So anyway, we run into Joe, and it was great to see him, but it sort of dredged up all that Stanford stuff, and some things he mentioned kind of stuck with me."
"Things like what?"
"Like how I didn't get my ethics hearing with the student council, and how everyone was up in arms over me being kicked out, not buying the story about the answer sheet being in my room because everybody's room was basically public access. Anyone could have put it there."
"Yeah, our frat house was basically the same way," Awesome admitted. "The only time we'd lock our doors is if we were with a girl." He coughed and looked away from the glare Ellie shot at him over the last part of his comment.
Chuck nodded. "Exactly. All that got me thinking, so the next day I called this lawyer I met at the Buy More a couple of months ago. I was able to recover data on his laptop and he was so happy, he gave me his card and said if I ever needed some free legal advice, to give him a call, so I did. He called Stanford and the whole cheating story fell apart. It was all this one professor who filed the report. When he was confronted, he admitted that the original person recanted but he never said who it was. He got fired and Stanford came to me with a settlement so I wouldn't sue them. That's pretty much it."
"Chuck, when did this all happen? Why didn't you tell us about it?" Ellie asked.
"Well, the settlement hearing happened last Friday afternoon. I didn't tell you about it beforehand because I didn't know how it was going to play out. That and I was kind of distracted," Chuck said, smiling at Sarah. "And I didn't say anything after because I never really got the chance. You guys have been working non-stop, I've been working on some things, Sarah and I were looking at apartments, then focused on moving in together. It's been a busy week," he said with a wry grin. "I told you as soon as we had some down time together."
Ellie looked at Sarah. "If you guys hadn't met, had this crazy whirlwind romance and ended up going to Carmel on a whim, Chuck wouldn't have run into his old fraternity brother, and might not have had the impulse to call a lawyer. I'm just a little mind blown at how dramatic a life change this had been for Chuck. In less than two weeks, he meets an amazing woman, gets yanked out of a five year funk, gets his degree from Stanford along with a million dollar apology, and moves in with aforementioned amazing woman. I can't imagine it's been any less of a life change for you, Sarah. How are you guys coping?"
"To be honest, I've never been happier, so I'm coping fine. It's not in my nature to second guess my decisions, and I definitely don't regret this one," Sarah said, squeezing Chuck's hand. "And there have been some other developments for me the past week as well. I told you last night that I was being recruited after having quit my job, remember?" They both nodded. "Well, that wasn't completely true. I was being recruited, but I actually accepted a job here in LA on Monday."
Ellie's eyes brightened. "Sarah, that's fantastic, good for you! What company are you working for? Is it anyone we might have heard of?"
"Well, it's not really a company, but you've definitely heard of them. In my previous job, I worked a lot with the military and other government agencies," she explained. "Specifically, law enforcement agencies."
"Okay," Ellie said, a little confused.
"I've accepted a job with the FBI to work in a new investigative division they're starting here in LA," Sarah said.
Both Ellie's and Awesome's mouth dropped open at the same time, causing Chuck and Sarah to laugh. "You guys are adorable," Sarah said, causing them to laugh as well.
"So, are you going to like, investigate bank robberies and kidnappings and stuff?" Awesome asked, a little awestruck.
"No, I'm going to be in a different group. I'll probably be behind a computer most of the time. I actually can't talk about the specifics, all I can really say is that I'm now officially employed by the FBI."
Ellie seemed to be having a harder time processing the information. "How does that even work? Being recruited by the FBI, I mean?" Ellie asked finally.
"Well, to start, my former boss is old friends with the agent in charge of the LA field office. He called him and told him that I was relocating to LA and that I might be an asset for them. Also, I've worked with the FBI before, so they kind of already knew who I was. I already have a secret clearance, because I worked for a civilian military contractor. I have the requisite physical fitness qualifications, I have a degree, I'm under 30 years old. On paper, I'm like the perfect candidate," Sarah said a little proudly. She saw Chuck look at her and she realized that he would recognize the note of pride as false and wondered how that made him feel.
Ellie caught up to what Sarah was saying, and suddenly was beaming with pride. "Sarah, that is amazing and incredibly impressive. Congratulations! I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy for both of you guys!"
"Thank you, Ellie," Sarah said with a smile. "I'm really excited by the work that I'm going to be doing."
"Which you can't talk about," Ellie said, a little disappointed. Sarah shook her head and shrugged apologetically. "Ok, well then that leads me to why Chuck is wearing a suit? You look good in a suit, Chuck," Ellie said.
"Thank you, El," he said. "I'm wearing a suit because I had a meeting with Buy More corporate today. I pitched them a proposal regarding an idea I had for the Nerd Herd division."
Ellie looked confused again. "Chuck, I thought you said you were leaving the Buy More?"
"I am and at the same time I'm not," Chuck said with a laugh. "So, I had this idea that the Nerd Herd people were under-utilized and that I could manage them as a team better if I had more control over them. My idea is to basically out-source the Nerd Herd division to a separate company. Specifically my company.
"They would still work at the store, wear the same uniform and do basically the same job, as would I, but on my own terms. The catch is that I can also send them out on work that I'm able to find myself, sort of expanding the Nerd Herd consumer technical support to a broader based business technical support service. And I get to keep ninety percent of the revenue that's generated by work that I source. That's basically what I pitched to corporate today."
"Chuck, those guys drive you insane on a daily basis, and now you're saying you want to imbed yourself even deeper with them? How does that make any sense?" Ellie asked, genuinely confused.
Chuck's eyes lit up as he spoke, and he was unable to contain his excitement with his proposed plan. "I know it sounds crazy, El, but part of me thinks that one of the reasons these guys are so crazy all the time is that no one has ever pushed them to do better. No one has ever really mentored them. And I may be their supervisor, but other than scheduling, I don't really have any authority over them. I can't even write them up. Plus the pay is so crappy, they don't really have any incentive to do better. I think the same thing is probably true of most of the Buy More stores Nerd Herd divisions," he explained passionately. "I believe that with a little financial motivation, and some mentoring, they can do better. If they prove me wrong, and my little pilot program fails, well, no harm no foul. But it's a project I want to see through. And Buy More corporate signed on to my idea today. They signed on in spades actually. If the pilot program works, they're going to want my new company to eventually take on the Nerd Herd division of every store in California, then moving on to the western division. If it fails, no big deal, I'll move on to something else, but if it succeeds, it could be huge."
While Chuck had been talking about his plan, Sarah watched as an expression of absolute joy spread across Ellie's face and by the end, she was nearly crying, her eyes shiny with unshed tears.
"El, what it is?" Chuck asked.
"I just realized," Ellie said, as tears spilled down her cheeks. "You're back. Completely and truly back." Awesome started nodding, understanding what she was saying, even though Chuck didn't. Sarah got up and found a box of tissues, handing a few of them to Ellie.
"I don't understand," Chuck said.
Ellie laughed as she took the tissues. "Thank you, Sarah," she said, dabbing her eyes. "It's been so long since I've heard you talk about anything with that kind of passion, Chuck. I'd almost forgotten, but that's what you used to sound like when you talked about your ideas before you got kicked out of Stanford. It made me realize, you're back. The old Chuck is back, and it just makes me so happy."
Chuck smiled deeply as he understood what she was saying and knew that she was right. He hadn't really been himself for a long time. The transition between the two mental states had happened so quickly that he could almost sense the quiet desperation he'd been living with for so long. "Yeah, I'm sorry it took so long to get over myself, sis," he said. "But, yeah, I'm back. I believe I would have gotten to this point on my own eventually, but Sarah sort of sped the process up for me."
Ellie looked at Sarah. "There are no words, Sarah, except thank you."
Sarah smiled. "I'm going to say you're welcome, but I'm also going to remind you of the conversation we had last week. Everything I've done for Chuck, he's also done for me. The two of us have talked a lot about this with each other. We both understand where we were compared to where we are, and the part that each of us played in terms of helping the other make the transition from there to here. The insanity of it all is something of an inside joke with us now," she paused as she looked at Chuck with a little smirk and a twinkle in her eye.
"We have our own brand of crazy that just works for us. As evidenced by the fact that we've known each other less than two weeks and we're living together," she said, Chuck laughing along with her.
Awesome was laughing as well. "Guys, it might be crazy when compared with how these things typically happen, but Ellie and I can relate. We both knew we'd found something special the first day we were together, didn't we, babe?" He asked, taking her hand.
"That is very true," Ellie said, beaming at him. "There really wasn't any looking back for either of us."
A buzzer sounded near the door, indicating someone was in the lobby, wanting to come up. A special key card was required to get to the penthouse level, or else someone at the penthouse had to push a button to allow one of the elevators to come up. "That should be our dinner," Sarah said.
There was a small video display next to the front door that showed the feed from a camera in the lobby that was pointed at the elevator. A young man in the elevator with bags of food from a local Chinese take-out was pushing the penthouse level button. Sarah pushed the accept button on her screen and watched as the doors closed and the elevator started up. It was one of the features that Sarah liked best about the building.
They spent the rest of the short evening having dinner and talking about things going on with the hospital. Ellie and Awesome shared important developments in their respective medical fields and things they wanted to accomplish as their residencies were going to be ending in a year or so. The conversations flowed easily and naturally, and Sarah found herself feeling a sense of belonging that she'd never before experienced. She thought maybe she'd found and somehow become part of a true family.
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The next morning once again dawned grey and dreary with the threat of rain hanging in the humid air. Sarah joined Chuck on the balcony and handed him a cup of coffee as she sat down next to him in one of the deck chairs that had come with the apartment.
"Thank you, sweetie," Chuck said as he took the cup.
She smiled at him. "So, busy day for us today, Chuck. You need to get the ball rolling on getting your company setup. You eventually need to have a conversation with your Nerd Herd team about the future. I need to meet with Carina and Bryce as well as Mr. Stanton from the construction company. I've decided I'm going to buy the strip mall, so I need to contact the current property owner."
Chuck was more than a little surprised at that bit of information, and he had to laugh a little. "Just like that, huh? Just going to step in and buy a multi-million dollar piece of real estate. Not, I'm going to 'try' to buy it, just boom, done deal, I'm going to buy it," he said, obviously impressed.
Sarah let out a little chuckle. "That's definitely a hold over from training," she admitted. "One of the things they talked a lot about was visualizing your success in any given activity, and one of the ways of doing that was to talk about it like it was already true. They literally pounded that into us, whatever you're working towards, you've already succeeded, seeing it in your head. There were always seriously negative consequences to ever saying the word 'try'. I may have internalized that concept a little more than the other trainees and in retrospect, I was an arrogant little shit about it," she laughed again at the memory.
"In what way?" Chuck asked.
"It's almost embarrassing now, how arrogant I was, but I was good, and I knew it. And the instructors encouraged the behavior, so I guess I can blame them for it a little," she paused, thinking about it. "I got into this habit before sparing in hand-to-hand combat of making little comments to my opponent. Something like, 'you've got a bloody lip' or 'you've got a black eye' in this off-hand manner, like I was telling them they had lettuce in their teeth or something. Then I would proceed to make it come true," she shook her head at her own audacity.
"Sarah, that's a little terrifying," Chuck said, laughing again. "That would have freaked my shit out. The anticipation of pain and humiliation to come. Especially knowing you could do it."
She nodded her head knowingly. "That was sort of the point. A little psychological warfare on my fellow trainees, get in their head. Some of the better trainees were able to flip it around a little on me though."
"How?"
"Well, a couple of them figured out that if they couldn't beat me outright, they could go into a very defensive posture and prevent me from making my prediction come true. It was very frustrating for me when it happened."
"I bet," Chuck said, shaking his head.
Sarah shook off the memories of the past. "Anyway, you having to borrow my car yesterday reminded me that you said one of the first things you wanted to buy was a new car, so I figured I'd pick you up and we could go tonight. Start the process, see if you find anything you like?"
He thought about it for a moment, then smiled. "You said you were getting an Audi. Does that mean we're going to an Audi dealership?"
"I have a confession to make," she said, looking at him shyly. "I sort of already bought my car, and yes, it's an Audi."
His eyes got wide at that. "When did you even have the opportunity to do that? We've been practically joined at the hip for the last two weeks!"
"I test drove it the week before we met but hadn't decided to actually buy it. While we were at the bank on Monday, I figured what the hell, why not. So I called the dealer to confirm the car was still available and transferred the money then," she admitted. "But afterwards I wanted to focus on getting furniture the rest of the day, like we'd planned. The car thing felt like it could wait a few days. Anyway, since I already have my car, you don't necessarily have to look at Audi's. We can go look at whatever you're interested in. Even grandma cars," she added reluctantly, but with a smile.
"Well, I definitely want to be with you when you go to pick up your new car. So we'll do that first tonight, then figure it out from there."
"Ok, it's a date. Do you think you're going to have the conversation with the Nerd Herders today or wait a little bit?" She asked.
"I think I need to wait until the deal is done with BM corporate. We'll have to pull Big Mike into the loop first, and he's not going to know what to make of it. And then there's the question of getting my company setup. How long does that typically take?"
"Getting your company setup can take a couple of weeks, but I was planning on pulling some strings to help speed it up for you. If you get the process started today and give me the file number, you should be good by the end of the day tomorrow."
"Ok, well then I guess I'll talk to Big Mike soon and try to give him a heads up. I've got another meeting at BM corporate to go over some details and put all the fine print together. They seemed really anxious to get things going so if we can get the contracts finished this week, then we'll probably have a signed deal early next week."
Sarah hesitated at this information. "Chuck, I know this is your deal, and I don't want this to sound like I'm second guessing you, but are you sure they're not holding something back, hiding something from you? This deal is moving really fast, and in my experience with how large corporations work, that's very unusual."
He grinned at her. "Oh, they definitely think they're going to be pulling one over one me, but, again, hacker," he said, pointing to himself. "I wasn't going to go into this without every crumb of information I could get. They think I don't know about all the lawsuits they've settled. It's in the millions so far this year alone. I know almost to the penny how much the Nerd Herd division costs them. I'm going to make them pay to take this legal and administrative headache off their hands. And I was also planning on calling that lawyer I told Ellie about as part of my Stanford cover story and retain his services to go over the contract once it's finalized. "
"Ok then. It sounds like you've got it covered."
"One thing I'm not sure about, is how to tell the Nerds about this plan, when the time finally does come," he admitted.
"It doesn't sound like they're really going to have any choice in the matter. Is that right?"
"Well, they obviously don't have to come work for me, but if they don't, they'll be transferred to a different store. But I'm pretty certain they'll all come on board. As part of the pilot program, I'm building in a five thousand dollar bonus for each of them, along with a contract that will guarantee them their old job and seniority status if the pilot program fails, and upward mobility in the new enterprise should it prove successful."
"It doesn't sound like there's any downside for them," Sarah said.
"That was the plan. If there was any hint that this could bite them later, they'd all rebel against the idea."
"Well, some more good news for you. I got access to our funding yesterday, so you need to provide me the details of computer equipment we need to order. We're going to have to house the racks in the Buy More for now until Castle is finished."
Chuck sat up in his seat at that information, almost sloshing coffee out of his cup. "That is fantastic news!" He exclaimed excitedly. "I've already got a list printed with everything itemized by part number and a list of vendor options to order it from."
"Well, okay then," she said with a smile at his enthusiasm. "I'll get it ordered today. I guess I have it all shipped to the Buy More?"
"Yep, it will blend right in to all the other deliveries we get."
"Hey, I've got a question for you on a completely unrelated topic," she said. He gave her an inquisitive look. "Have you had a conversation with Morgan about everything that's going on? Mainly with us, I mean. He's your best friend, right? I only bring it up because I don't want him to grow to resent me for stealing you away from him. And there's a lot to catch him up on, right? Stanford and your degree, the two of us moving in together, here of all places," she said, gesturing around them at the stellar morning view. "I mean, will his bearded head be able to handle it all?"
He sat back in his chair at the question, looking a little defeated. "Geez, Sarah. You've really got a way of cutting right to the heart of where a guy is feeling crazy guilty about something," he said, giving her a little smile.
She gave him a sympathetic look. "I know we've still got a lot to do to get this place ready with cable TV, televisions, game consoles and all that. I'm leaving all that up to you to do what you want. But in the meantime why don't you set up something simple and invite him over this weekend to have a game night or movie marathon or something?"
Chuck's mouth dropped open. "Really?"
"Yeah, Chuck, of course. This is your place too, right? I mean, generally try to give me a heads up when you're going to have people over in the future, and I'll do the same, but of course you should have your best friend over and fill him in on what's going on in your life. Just let me know if you want me to hang out or make myself scarce. If you want the place to yourselves for a bit, Carina and I can go out. We certainly don't have a shortage of things to catch up on," she said with a smile.
He took her coffee cup out of her hand and set it down next to his as he stood up and pulled her into a tight hug. "You're way better at this relationship stuff than you let on, Sarah Walker," he said quietly.
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After dropping Chuck off at work, she returned home and set about organizing her day. She needed to order Chuck's computer equipment, but the first order of business was to check in with Carina and Bryce.
"Miller," Sarah heard on the other end of the line.
"Walker," Sarah replied.
"What can I do for you this dreary Thursday morning, boss?"
"I wanted to get together with you and Larkin today, start going through some of the details. We've got our funding, so we need to review priorities. I especially want to talk about staffing up. We're obviously not going to be able to do this with just the four of us, but who do we trust?"
"Bryce and I had some ideas regarding that," Carina said. "He thinks we should look at FBI applicants, rather than existing agents. He says we should look at applicants coming from the military or rural law enforcement. Hayseed cops with a degree and a hankering to see the big city."
Sarah chuckled at Carina's depiction of potential applicants. It was true that rural applicants tended to get overlooked because the FBI only had so many open slots to fill each year, and they received at least a hundred applications for each opening. Only the best applicants made the cut and the more rural ones often didn't have enough real experience to compete with those from larger cities. "It is an interesting idea, but we don't have a lot of time to train up newbies. We need some experience on this team. Agents trained in static and rolling surveillance, counter-intelligence, data and pattern analysis, undercover work."
"You just read my resume, Walker," Carina observed. "DEA should really be taking the lead on this. It's our bread and butter. We find a mark, learn their deep-darks, then flip 'em and use their intel to find the next. Wash, rinse, repeat."
"Don't start 'shoulding' all over yourself this early in the game," Sarah said. "But I'll admit, you bring up a valid point. Do you have a list of DEA undercover agents you'd trust to bring in on this, given what we're up against?"
"I knew you'd ask eventually, and the short answer is that I do have one name, but he's not one of ours. He's MI6."
"Uhg. Of course. Unless we discover that our targets have crossed the pond and infiltrated our closest ally, I don't think that's an option that's open to us right now. I could probably make it happen, but it would raise eyebrows and I don't want to start things off with controversial choices. We don't want to be airing our dirty laundry where everyone can see."
"Well, there's another option. But it's not going to make you any friends,"
"If I wanted friends, I'd join a book club. Spill it, Miller. What's your thought?"
"Call the Chief of Police for LAPD and use your E.O. muscle to steal a couple of their vice cops. Do that here, San Diego, San Fran, Chicago, New York, Philly, etc. Get two from each of the ten largest cities in the US, you've got a team of twenty agents with all the skills you just outlined. And the odds that our targets are anywhere near them has got to be zero."
Sarah's eyes got wide as the full implications of the idea dawned on her. "Jesus Carina, that's fucking brilliant," Sarah said honestly. "Why didn't you lead with that?"
"Yeah, well, I'm fucking brilliant, which makes you brilliant for bringing me in," Carina said. "And it's not a perfect scenario. It takes a special breed to work vice and stick with it for any length of time. They tend to have their own ideas on how things should be done. You'll have a lot of alpha's on the team, that's for certain."
"Yeah, but we can work that out. They're professionals after all. They would need to be above reproach though," Sarah said. "Nothing in their files about misconduct, anger management, excessive force, questions about grift. Nothing."
"I agree."
"Ok, well that's an excellent starting point, and since it was your idea, I'm probably going to have you start with LA and work out from there. You'll be going through their personnel files and performing interviews to find the cops we need. And we still need to get together and discuss other priorities. I'll text you my new home address. Head over ASAP and bring Larkin with you."
"I'll let him know. He's out on some fact finding mission of his own at the moment, but I'll head over now."
"Okay, see you soon," Sarah said, then disconnected the line.
Sarah started ordering the computer equipment for Chuck and was nearly finished when she heard the buzzer for the elevator. She confirmed it was Carina and pressed the accept button. The way the cameras were positioned, it created blind spots inside the elevators that she wasn't wild about. She made a mental note to ask Chuck about options. She had her eye on the peep-hole and saw Carina approach alone, then ring the doorbell. She opened up with a peek down the hallway.
"Come on in," she said, opening the door.
"Holy shit, Walker. Nice fucking digs. The Company must be paying better than I thought," Carina said looking around the place.
"That's hysterical coming from you. I remember that place you rented in Miami. Makes this place look like a pool house," Sarah said with a smile. "How long did you live there again? Eighteen months?"
"That was completely legitimate," she said matter-of-factly. "I was supposed to be a big-time drug dealer after all. Gotta look the part. The house was nice, but fuck I miss that Ferrari!"
"I bet. You probably shouldn't have crashed it into Gaez's limo if you were so attached to it."
"Yeah, well, life's chock full of unpleasant choices and suck-ass consequences," Carina remarked off-hand as she wandered around the apartment.
"Make yourself at home, there should be some coffee left. I've got to finish ordering all this computer equipment for Chuck," Sarah said distractedly. She knew a grilling was coming regarding her relationship with Chuck and she had to admit that if the roles were reversed, she'd be completely bewildered by the situation. It only took her a few more minutes and the last of the equipment was ordered and one account was a little over four-hundred thousand dollars lighter.
She looked around and saw that Carina was out on the deck, sitting in one of the patio chairs, even though the humidity was high and it was threatening rain. Sarah walked out and sat in the chair next to her.
"Ok, ask your questions," Sarah said with a sigh.