A/N: This is it folks. You asked for it, you got it. No, not Toyota. Something that begins with the letter 'R'. This chapter contains the crux of why I wanted to write this story. There are two ideas or questions I wanted to explore. I'll talk about them in notes after the end of the chapter.
Disclaimer: Deck the Halls with lots of Charah. Fa la la la la, la la la la. It's all because Chuck loves Sarah. Fa la la la la, la la la la. Erk! Hey! Stop that! Give me back my Mr. Microphone! They promised to be back to pick me up later. What's that? I'm the reason we can't have nice things? Whaddaya mean you're taking away my ownership of Chuck? I did not! You take that back! I've never made any money from Chuck.
Chapter 17 – Everybody's Talkin'
November 11
Chuck was hurrying across campus. He was also carrying a birthday cake in a box with a folded over bag containing paper plates, forks, napkins, and a plastic cutter on top of the box, so hurrying was a relative term. Since him making the trek to Helman Hall along this route was a common sight for students by now, people grinned at him and waved as he passed them. Him carrying a cake was definitely not common, hence the grins.
Tucked inside the bag was Chuck's gift to Sarah. He'd made five CDs of some of his study and fun music. Two CDs, each, of light jazz and light classical music and a final CD with zydeco music. He hoped she liked them all, particularly the zydeco. That way, if he could ever screw up the courage to ask her out, she'd be prepared when he took her to Miss Maisie's. He grinned at that thought, then sucked in his lips at the realization about how ill prepared he was to ask her out on a date. Someday. Maybe.
When he arrived at the practice hall, the doors were closed and he didn't see any girls anywhere in the vicinity coming toward him, who could lend a hand. So, he placed the cake box carefully on the ground, then opened one of the doors and propped it open with his long leg. Bending down, Chuck retrieved the cake box, making sure to keep it level so the bag on top wouldn't fall off and the cake wouldn't slide around and get messed up. After the trek across campus and everything else, the thought of that occurring was unacceptable to him. Chuck navigated through the door and managed to get fully inside before the door slammed shut. No damage to the cake. So far so good.
Chuck turned from the door and walked the short distance into the room. He noticed that the girls were congregated around the risers where the CATS were sitting and talking quietly. When they stopped talking and glanced in his direction, their expressions were like nothing he'd seen from them before. His grin began to falter. What was going on?
"Chuck -," Sarah began.
"Can I put this stuff down first?" he asked. "It's made it this far and I don't want to drop it." When Sarah didn't say anything, Chuck started to get nervous. He half turned toward the lecture hall desks on the opposite side of the room, keeping eye contact with Sarah. "I'll just put it down over here, is that OK?" No reaction. "Uh … Yeah, I'll do that." He turned and walked to the same desk he'd occupied the previous week when the Songbirds had celebrated his birthday. Smiling at the memory, he put the cake box down on it, moving the bag with the CDs and utensils onto the attached chair, then he slid his backpack off and placed it on the ground next to the desk.
He could tell something was wrong, when he looked back at the singers and began to move in their direction, but he didn't know what it was. Chuck being Chuck, he tried to fix it anyway. "I'm sorry that I missed your actual birthday yesterday. Like my text said, we had a mandatory team function. So, I brought something for you today. I hope that's all ri–. " He drifted off into silence when he got close enough to the Songbirds to get a good look at all of their faces. Something was definitely wrong. Were they sad? Disappointed? Upset? What could they be upset about? Disappointment he could understand. After all, he hadn't been around yesterday to help Sarah celebrate her birthday, as he'd originally planned. He didn't understand what he was seeing. And no one had made any effort, so far, to enlighten him. Had he done something to make them sad? He racked his brain and couldn't think of anything. He tried to help anyway.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked tentatively. There wasn't a sound, except for Sarah's sigh. "If there is something wrong, let me help. Please. Tell me what I can do to help," Chuck pleaded.
Sarah didn't answer him directly. Instead, she looked around at the assembled Songbirds and spoke to them, "Would you guys please wait outside for a little bit? The CATS would like to speak with Chuck, privately, for a while." The singers made sounds of compliance and began filing out of the practice hall. Most of them didn't look at him, but those that did looked at him with confused and disappointed eyes. After the door closed on the retreating girls, the four seniors turned their attention back to Chuck.
"To answer your question, Chuck, what you can do is, you can tell us the truth," Sarah said, a little too peevishly. Chuck drew back slightly. He was confused. He'd never lied to them. Not once. Chuck looked around at her roommates. They looked disappointed and a bit uncertain. Oddly enough, it was Carina who seemed the most unsure and concerned. Not her typical look, at all. Her face kept changing expressions as her eyes darted between Chuck and Sarah. "Don't look at them, Chuck, look at me," Sarah demanded quietly. His eyes jerked back to focus on her face. She was in full boss mode, just like the first day he'd met her. "I asked you to tell us the truth. Can you do that, Chuck? Please talk to us. Talk to me. Why can't you do that? Trust us. Trust me, please." Chuck stared at her in disbelief. Carina was looking more uncertain, frowning. When they saw Chuck's reactions, the CATS started to fidget.
"Yes, Sarah, I do trust you. I trust all of y'all and I can tell you the truth. I've always told you the truth. Since I first met y'all. I've never lied to you. Ever." Chuck was getting a very bad feeling in his stomach that was beginning to move up his spine.
"That's not really true and you know it," Sarah shook her head, the hurt evident on her face. Chuck blanched. The bad feeling had expanded from his stomach, up his spine, and had reached his brain. Oh, no! Not now! Not yet! Please, oh please, oh please. I'm not ready. Struggling to stay calm, he tried again.
"N- No, I- I've always t- told you th- the t- truth," Chuck stammered. Damn it. "I've n- never l- lied to y- you. I s- swear to G- God." Tears were forming in his eyes and he blinked to keep them from falling and making things worse. The CATS were getting more restive.
"You didn't tell us the truth. How can you call us friends if you can't trust us?" Sarah's voice cracked. "Tell us the truth." This was it. Here. Now. It was all over. Just like every other time in the past. Chuck gave it one last shot, even though he knew it was futile.
"T- Tell you the t- truth about w- what, Sarah? W- What d- do you w- want to know?" he forced himself to hold her gaze.
"Tell us the truth about yourself, of course. Your real self. What do you think I'm talking about?" she looked at him sadly, trying not to glare. When Carina moved to touch her shoulder, Sarah nodded and took a breath. By this point, Amy and Zondra had joined Carina and all three were looking worried. Sarah was trying to be fair and give him the benefit of the doubt. He wasn't any of those other boys from her past who'd treated her unkindly. But it was taking a good amount of effort for her to maintain her composure.
"And if I d- don't tell you about m- myself, w- what then?" Chuck knew the answer, but he asked anyway. On top of yesterday, today had gone to hell, what was one more punch to the gut?
"If you don't trust us, how can you be our friend? How can you hang out with us?" Sarah bit off each word as she said them, trying to keep her regret from spilling down her cheeks. He'd talk to her now, she thought. He'd never leave. She was sure. Well, to be perfectly honest, she hoped she was right about that. None of the other girls could believe what they were hearing.
Chuck looked down and tightly closed his eyes. The tears leaked out anyway. He pressed his lips together and raised his head to look at them. Nodding sadly, he turned away. "I'll get m- my s- stuff and go. W- What's in the b- box is yours. Keep it or th- throw it out. Your ch- choice." He shuffled over to where his backpack lay on the ground and picked it up. No! No, Sarah thought. That's not what I want you to do! Turn around, Chuck, please. She had another idea. Not a good one, as it turned out. In that moment, her hurt and frustration got the better of her.
As he began to walk toward the door, Sarah called out to him, "You need to TRUST ME, Chuck Bartowski." Her friends gasped in astonishment, they'd noticed that she'd said 'me' and not 'us'. Even she winced once she spoke the words she'd been thinking. He didn't turn around, just nodded his head, his shoulders slumping. Damn it, why won't he turn around and face me? That was when Carina punched her in the arm as hard as she could. Sarah glared at her and rubbed the sore spot. Fear and confusion shown in her eyes, behind the glare. Carina frowned and gave her a fierce glare right back, then gestured at Chuck's retreating form. She had tears in her eyes. Amy and Zondra were murmuring. Sarah could see that their eyes were glassy, too. Tears had gathered in her own eyes, but wounded pride and confusion kept her rooted in her seat. She had to stop him some other way! Had to get him to talk. One last question. One last chance. She took it.
"Why won't you tell me the truth? Why are you just going to walk out and forget everything? Forget us? Forget me?" Sarah almost gulped her last question. Now she was trying not to cry. Tears of hurt? Of frustration? Of fear? She had no idea. Just when she thought that all was lost, that she'd handled it all wrong, Chuck stopped. "Why'd you stop Chuck?" she called out, half hopeful and half still worried. He mumbled something, but they couldn't hear him from across the room. "What did you say?"
He didn't turn around, only tilted his head up and yelled, "I can't leave." Focusing on the door once more, he stood there shaking his head. Was he angry? He sounded angry.
"Why can't you leave?" Sarah asked, genuinely confused. She had no idea what was going on in her own head. How could she understand what was going on in his?
You're a dumbass, Blondie, Carina thought to herself. You really don't have any experience dealing with boys, do you? He can't leave because of you, she thought. Good grief, how blind can one girl be?
"I can't go," he repeated. "I need y'all too much. You're why I came here in the first place. To Stanford, I mean," he hung his head in either shame or resignation. Sarah couldn't tell which.
"Then why won't you tell us the truth? Just talk to us. Talk to me. Please!" Now she was pleading. The CATS held their collective breath. None of them, including Sarah, were prepared for what happened next. Chuck screamed in frustration, causing them all to jump in surprise. The girls waiting outside jumped, too, but they had the good sense to stay where they were. The girls inside saw him reach up and grab two handfuls of his hair and pull hard. He didn't pull any hair out, instead he turned back toward them in a fury.
"Don't you understand?" he yelled. "Don't you see?" His face contorted in despair. "I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't!" The girls were stunned. As a group, they gaped at him. Sarah didn't know what to say. She was startled to hear who did speak.
"What are you talking about, Chuck?" Zondra asked quietly. The room was so silent after Chuck's outburst that her question was clearly heard by everyone. "Why are you 'damned if you do and damned if you don't'?"
Chuck broke. Utterly and completely. Every one of his shields and every wall fell. Down. Crumbled to dust. His defenses were gone, as if they'd never been. All that was left was him, emotionally naked before them. The tears he'd tried so hard to hold in check streamed down his face. His despair was replaced by pure anguish. The girls were taken aback. He didn't bother to wipe the wetness from his cheeks before speaking. "I'm damned because if I don't tell you about myself, you said you don't want me to hang out with you anymore, but if I do tell you what you want to hear, you won't want to hang out with me anyway." He ran his hand down his face and shook his head with a frown.
"Why do you think we'll make you leave if you tell us about yourself?" Sarah asked, devastated. What had happened? Why was it so hard for him to talk to them? Talk to her? This was all her fault. She had done this. She hadn't meant to, but she had. Her temper and the hurts in her past had led her to browbeating this great guy. Saying all the wrong things. She'd backed him into a corner and this was the result. She'd touched some nerve in him that triggered his reaction. She was ashamed of herself. Whatever the truth was, he didn't deserve this. When she looked at her friends all three of them had the same look. Carina was nodding at her. Their look said: Yeah, girl, you fucked up. Royally. She wiped the tears from her eyes. It took Sarah a moment to realize that Chuck was speaking again.
"Because, every time anyone has found out about me and my life, they always end up hating me. Every. Single. Time. Just once, I wanted to go someplace where people didn't know about me, so I could try to make friends. Try to get to know people and have them get to know me. And hope that they like me, for me. Not hate me for the way I am. The way I was born. The things I can do." Chuck shook his head sadly. "I should have learned by now, but I guess I'm not that smart after all. You can't run from yourself." Sarah didn't trust herself to speak. Luckily, she didn't have to.
"Well, Chuck, if you're damned anyway, like you say, why don't you tell us your story?" Carina encouraged him. "You might be surprised." He looked at her and nodded resignedly.
"Guess you're right, I might as well. Nothing to lose now." He smiled the bitterest smile any of them had ever seen. Then he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He looked surprised and closed it. He tried again, but still nothing came out. This time, he closed his mouth so hard his teeth clacked together and the CATS all heard. He scrubbed his hands over his face and looked at them smiling sheepishly, "Now, that I'm going to talk, I don't know where to start."
"Start at the beginning," Sarah whispered, her eyes glassy.
"It's not that easy," he shrugged, noticing their looks. "Kind of like the chicken and the egg." Chuck thought for a second. "Maybe, if you asked me a question you want answered, I could go from there."
"Are you a freshman? Is that blue car yours?" Amy piped up. "I saw you driving a blue BMW yesterday."
"No, I'm not a freshman," he held up his hand to stop any questions. "I promise I'll explain."
"Then you did lie to us," Sarah said sadly.
"No, Sarah I didn't lie. I never said I was a freshman. I only said that this was my first year at Stanford. That is entirely true. Did I expect people to assume that I was a freshman? Yes, absolutely. A small point, maybe, but I never lied. Why did I do that? I hope my story will explain why." Carina poked Sarah and gave her an 'I told you so' look. "So, no, I'm not a freshman and, yes, that blue BMW Amy saw me driving is mine." He spoke slowly, at first, but it got faster as he gathered steam.
"So, if you're not a freshman, what are you?" Sarah eyed him speculatively.
"I'm a PhD student," Chuck replied matter-of-factly.
"Holy hell! You just turned nineteen! What are you getting your PhD in? You told us engineering and computer science were your majors before? Is that true?" Zondra piped up.
"Yeah, that's true, as far as it goes," Chuck admitted with a slight shrug.
"What does that mean, Chuck? Are you telling us that you've got more areas of study than those two?" Sarah frowned at him.
"Well, to be perfectly candid," he began, wincing at Sarah's frustrated snort, "engineering is a general term."
"OK, so what are your areas of study, then?" she demanded.
"You know already," he responded with the tiniest upturn of one corner of his mouth.
"What are you talking about? How would we know what you're studying?" Sarah scoffed.
"Well, y'all and the others were following me around for the entire week after I first barged in here, weren't you? You saw where I went every day." When he finished speaking his face wore a small crooked grin.
"You knew about that? All along? How?" Carina looked at him incredulously. He shrugged and nodded.
"I remember things," Chuck explained. "Before I met y'all, I'd never seen any of you anywhere except in Lakeside dining hall. After I met you, I noticed you around everywhere I was going for the next week. Then after that, I only saw some of you sporadically. How did I do that? Well, I've always been good at finding Waldo in those Where's Waldo books."
"Why didn't you say anything to us about it?" Carina asked, genuinely curious.
"What would I have asked you? Especially after I'd just met y'all?" he asked in return. "I'm trying to make friends, not push people away. I just figured y'all were curious about me, but, for some reason, you didn't want to ask me directly." Carina nodded at that. She could already hear what Beca would say when she found out. Sarah thought about what he'd said and came up with another question.
"So, you mean that you're getting PhDs in all of those subjects? All kinds of engineering, computer science, and stuff?"
"Yup, that's about the size of it. What can I say? I'm good with numbers and math," he shrugged again.
"Geez, Chuck, It's actually unbelievable! That's a lot of work. But how does history fit in there?" Sarah wanted to know. Chuck softly chuckled at her question.
"Yeah, history doesn't really fit, does it?" he scratched the back of his head and Sarah shook her head no. "Well, my dad grew up in Pennsylvania around all sorts of history stuff. He's been interested since he was a kid. Same with my mom, except around Atlanta. Both of them read history and watch programs on TV. We've gone to visit historical places all my life. I guess I inherited their interest."
"All those different subjects? No wonder you're running around and studying all of the time. Falling asleep at dinner occasionally." Amy commented. Chuck nodded in response.
"Chuck, how can you do all of that? It seems incredible. Are you a genius?" Sarah looked at him in awe.
"I honestly don't know how to answer that question," Chuck replied, lifting up his palms and shrugging. "But I'll try. Please, please don't hate me," he begged as he reached out with both arms, like he was going to try and hug Sarah, but only shook them for emphasis.
"Why would we hate you?" Sarah didn't understand.
"You'll see after I tell you," Chuck sighed. "OK, here goes," he paused to gather himself. Before he could continue, Zondra preempted him.
"Did you really read those textbooks in just a few minutes when you were helping the girls?" Zondra asked. Chuck nodded and she continued, "Chuck, do you have a photographic memory?"
"You mean an eidetic memory, Z. Photographic memory doesn't really exist. It's a myth," Sarah corrected her suitemate. "We learned that in one of my psych classes." She turned back to look at Chuck.
"Yeah, I do have an eidetic memory. Everybody does to some extent, it's what allows us to remember things after we look away from them. Do you know those memory matching games, like Concentration? Or has anyone ever done one of those games where there's a bunch of random stuff on a table covered in a cloth? Someone takes the cloth away for a few seconds, before replacing it? And you're supposed to write down as much as you can remember?" They nodded. "Well, when I've played that game, I remember everything. Every. Single. Thing." The girls just gaped at him.
"You're shitting me right now, aren't you?" Zondra whispered.
"Nope. Absolute truth. Don't ask me how. I don't know. Just born with that ability." Chuck pressed his lips together and looked at them wide-eyed. "And I also have a photographic memory," he looked at Sarah. "I'm the first documented and provable case. That's why I can look at a page in a book briefly and remember it, verbatim. How I can read an entire book in just a few minutes and remember it all." Sarah looked at him dubiously. "Honest to God. I'm not lying." Chuck paused a moment before continuing to speak.
"Normally, people forget the stuff they see in those games or what they read in a book after a little while. To remember longer, they have to re-read or study things closely." Sarah nodded, along with the others. "Not me. I remember stuff forever. Once I see or hear it, it's in there," he tapped the side of his head.
"How is that possible, Chuck? Do you have a computer in your brain or something?" Sarah asked. Chuck snorted.
"No, Sarah. That's ridiculous. How would that even work?" Grinning, he shook his head before sobering, then he frowned. "No, I've got a mental condition called hyperthymesia."
"Hyper-whatsis?" Carina giggled. Chuck looked at her silently and she stopped giggling, embarrassment coloring her cheeks.
"Hyperthymesia. It's a condition that causes people to remember most, if not all of their life in great detail. They didn't identify it or categorize it until 2006 and it's very rare. There are only 62 people world-wide who've been diagnosed with it. I'm one of them," Chuck looked sad as he spoke.
"What does that mean, Chuck?" Sarah looked at him worriedly.
"What it means, is I can't forget anything in my life, whether I'd like to or not. Almost all the way back to when I was born, although those early memories are a bit fuzzy since our brains and our eyes are still getting things figured out at the beginning," he lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug.
"OK, that condition allows you to remember your life," Sarah began and Chuck nodded. "Then you've got an eidetic memory and a photographic memory that lets you remember what you see, hear, and read. For you it doesn't fade because of your condition. You remember everything." He nodded again. "But Chuck, that doesn't explain how you're a PhD student in a bunch of subjects. None of that would make you good at calculating and analysis. You have to be a genius, too."
"I don't know, Sarah, I guess I am pretty good at the analysis stuff, but the rest of it is just how I was born. It's nothing I do. Not like an athlete who trains or a great singer who practices. Take the intersection of my hyperthymesia, photographic memory, and eidetic memory," he noticed the frowns. "Sorry, for the Venn diagram imagery. Math guy, remember?" Chuck smirked. "Anyway, take those three things and throw in my analytical abilities and you get me and a bunch of PhDs. Eventually. One day. I hope."
"You're a genius," Sarah announced firmly, a tiny smile gracing her lips. When Chuck started to speak, she held up her hand. "Don't even try, Bartowski." His mouth slammed shut. "I don't know what you think a genius is, but what you just told us sure sounds like one to me. So, that's it. You're a genius." After she stopped talking, she got a contemplative look in her face. She realized something that her friends might not have, yet. There were definite downsides to what he was telling them about.
"Don't look at me that way," he said softly.
"What way is that?" Sarah was confused.
"Like I was some sort of sixty-four-year-old Einstein in a little kid's body," he shook his head. "When the reality is, I was just a little eight-year-old kid who was good at math. Everything else about me was a regular kid. People never seemed to see that. They kept reacting to me like I was a mini-adult. It caused me a lot of problems." Sarah slowly nodded her understanding.
"My God, Chuck," Amy gushed. "That's amazing! Whatever you read; you remember. School must have been a snap for you!" Chuck looked at her in consternation. Had she even been listening to what he'd just said?
"Yeah, it was. It is. One hundred on every test and project. Labs. You name it," he frowned. "It's also a big part of the reason people hate me so much. It comes easy to me. Not a lot of effort required," Chuck looked at the floor and shook his head. "Think back over all your time going to school. About how much time you spent reading textbooks and studying the lessons. Reading books for book reports. Plays. Poetry. Just how much time you spent reading and studying, in general. Now think how you'd feel and react to a kid who didn't have to do that and still he got a perfect score on everything. You'd resent it. Don't deny it. Kids just do, they resent other kids who get things easier than they do. I was resented. I don't blame anybody. I understood it, but it still hurt. Still hurts." Realization was beginning to dawn on the CATS.
"Did they pick on you during recess? Did you get in fights on the way home from school?" Sarah asked quietly, fearing his answer.
"No, nothing like that," he twisted his lips and gave a slight head shake. "You haven't thought about it enough, yet."
"What do you mean, Chuck?" Carina sniffed back her own emotion.
"What I mean is that I never went to school with kids my own age. Until now. Here at Stanford," Chuck's sadness increased. The singers were speechless. "Those kids who resented me were all way older than me. 'Cause, I went through grades one to twelve in two years and graduated high school when I was eight years old. From Burbank High School, ten years ago last spring," he smiled sadly at Zondra, "That's why you didn't find any records about me in last year's class when you went looking."
"Christ, Chuck, you knew about that, too?" Zondra just shook her head in disbelief. He pressed his lips together and nodded, his eyes wide.
"Hey, computer guy here," he gave a one note chuckle and pointed to his chest. "I put programs out on the internet to watch for people looking for information about me. The programs deflected most of the searches to dead ends, so people would just think that I'm not interesting enough to have a presence on the internet. I wanted to blend in. Be normal as I could be. But you searched for Morgan and Ellie. Or searched on other topics with my name as a secondary search element. There's too many of those possible queries for me to block them all without people noticing. You found that information on Morgan and saw that I wasn't there when you looked. Yeah, I knew you were looking." Chuck shrugged. "I've been waiting for y'all to ask me about it. Dreading it, really. And here we are."
Sarah was heartbroken. She just realized the implications of what Chuck had said about school. "You never had friends from school when you were growing up, did you?"
"No. Never," Chuck shook his head. "Morgan is the only one. We met when I went for the kindergarten readiness assessment required by the state and we've been friends ever since. That's when they found out about me and it all really started. He's never cared about what I can do in school, just the shared interests we have," he smiled at the memories. "The only other kids I've known my own age were the guys in Boy Scouts, baseball, or swimming. But that was only during those activities. And even that was kind of limited. Same with girls."
"Girls? What do you mean, Chuck?" Sarah asked.
"Sarah, think about your life growing up. Walking to school with friends. Or riding the bus. Recess. Lunch together. Passing notes. Play dates. Sleepovers. Birthday parties. Going to the mall. Hanging out," he was frowning again, beginning to get more emotional. "Puppy love. Holding hands. Little kid kisses. Calling someone a boyfriend or girlfriend at recess and then breaking up with them by the end of the school day. Your first real kiss. Dances. High school parties. Kissing games. Real dates. The prom. Going steady." A sad chuckle. "All of that stuff. Talking and just being together with other kids. I had none of it." The girls were tearing up at the hurt coming off of him in waves. "What do you talk about with other kids normally? Or on dates? Movies, TV shows, music, sports maybe? But a lot of it is shared stuff from school or social stuff that stems from school." Chuck shuffled his feet. "I knew about it all from watching Ellie growing up; none of that happened for me. The guys I knew found out pretty quickly that I didn't go to school with them or know about their school and social stuff. They didn't talk to me much after that."
"Did they bully you about what you could do?" Sarah asked softly.
"No, Morgan and I just told everyone that I was homeschooled and people left it at that. Ignored me most of the time."
"You've never been on a date?" Carina asked, stunned, thinking about what he'd said about girls.
"Oh no, I've been on dates. A few," Chuck thought for a second. "Six and a half dates. If you count having a date arranged only for the girl to call right as I was leaving the house to cancel as a half of a date." Some sympathetic snorts.
"No second dates?" Sarah was shocked and saddened by his story.
Chuck let out a rueful laugh, surprising all four young women. "Second dates are more complicated. I had two partial dates and two almost dates." Seeing the looks he was getting he explained, "One date, the girl went to the restroom in the middle of the movie and never came back. The other one, the girl got 'sick' during dinner and asked to be taken home. The almost dates were cancellations. One by text and the other when I arrived to pick her up." The CATS were wincing and shaking their heads. They were familiar with such tactics, but couldn't believe anyone would pull something on a guy like Chuck. "Pretty sad, I know. But like I said before, they found out about me and any chance I had with them was ruined."
"Shallow bitches. Every one of them," Carina groused, looking angry. He shrugged half-heartedly.
"Have you ever been kissed, Chuck?" Amy asked tentatively. Chuck smiled a little.
"Well, I've had a few kisses on the cheek and a couple of pecks on the lips, like three-year-olds give each other, but kisses like in the movies? No, never. The kiss you gave me for dealing with Bumper Allen was a first for me." Chuck's cheeks reddened slightly upon making that admission. The girls couldn't believe what he'd just told them.
"Are you a virgin?" Carina again, looking a bit excited in spite of herself. Sarah frowned at the intimacy of her question.
"Carina, you shouldn't –," Sarah began, but she was interrupted.
"Yes," Chuck answered instantly. Four pairs of appreciative eyes locked on his face.
"Wow, no hesitation, at all. Surprising, Chuck," Carina murmured.
"Why should I hesitate to say that? It's the truth. I may not know very much, but I never thought sex was supposed to be some sort of contest, despite what I've heard guys say about it before," he shrugged. Sarah was amazed at his nonchalance. And his viewpoint on that subject. One more way Chuck wasn't like any other guys she'd ever known. It made her happy that he was now being so open and honest and it made her feel guilty for ever doubting him. An image of her kissing Chuck entered her mind, unbidden. She wouldn't let her mind wander any further down that path. Maybe later. Maybe. She needed to think about something else. Anything else. A question came to her.
"Is that why you sometimes stutter and stammer when you talk to us?" she asked.
Chuck's blush deepened, "Yeah, I don't have a lot of social experience. I know about social norms, but beyond sports teams or a classroom, I don't have a lot of practical history. I'm like the kid from that boy in the bubble movie. I can see the world, know about it, but I don't have a lot of experience living in it. I'm not really particularly shy or anything. At least, as far as I know. I'm just worried about saying the wrong thing and getting pushed aside and then forgotten. Like I've been most of the time before." He saw their sad, soft smiles. They needed to change the subject somewhere else. Sarah had another question.
"Would you tell us about that headache you were dealing with back on that first day?" She wanted to know.
"Yeah, my headaches," Chuck shivered. "Those are more complicated and have to do with my hyperthymesia. Not only do people like me remember their entire life, but some of us have it playing in their head all of the time, like a movie on a loop. Not all of the people do, but some and I'm one of them." Sarah listened with rapt attention. "It's like a split screen movie inside my head. On one side is what's going on right now, but on the other is my life flashing by in an endless loop. I learned a while ago to hide the bad stuff away. Like editing the movie. In my mind I picture putting the bad memory away in a closet and shutting the door. When I'm really stressed or very tired, sometimes, one of those mental closet doors bursts open. Like in cartoons when it happens and junk from the closet goes everywhere. Except the junk for me is bad memories. The headaches are a sign that I'm losing control," he shuddered at the thought. "That first day, when I asked to be locked in the maintenance closet, I was using meditation techniques I learned to help close those mental doors again and keep the bad memories at bay." The girls were speechless. He'd stunned them again. It took Sarah a moment to find her voice.
"You mean that you have to stay focused or those doors can open? What happens then, something bad?" She bit her lip to keep her tears in check.
"Kind of, yeah. Imagine all of the bad things that have ever happened to you in your life. Every sad thing. Every hurt. Cut. Bruise. Or worse stuff. Or any shame. Any embarrassment. Failures. Anything bad. All seeming to be happening to you all over again. That's what happens," he confessed. Sarah felt sick. She'd had no idea how he could even function, let alone be as amazing as he was. What a life he led. Every day.
"What about the rest of the memories, Chuck," Zondra asked. "Can they bother you, too? Even the good ones?"
Chuck nodded, "They can, yeah. If I lose focus, I can get lost in the past. I'll be reliving my past all over again. It's like I'm zoning out or having a seizure or something. Sooner or later, I come out of it. Luckily, that hasn't happened in a while. And I haven't had a headache since I got here to school. Came close a few times, but didn't actually have one. Y'all saw one of those times." The CATS couldn't digest everything that he'd told them. It was so beyond anything that they'd ever heard before that they might as well be on a totally new planet. Given their state of mind, his smile caught them off guard.
"How can you be smiling right now, Chuck?" Sarah asked incredulously.
"You haven't thought about the other side to the story, yet," he smiled gently. "I can't fault y'all, because we've been talking about the downside. Yeah, there's a lot of sad or bad stuff that comes along with my conditions, but there's something pretty nice about it, too." Sarah couldn't imagine what he was talking about, so she gestured for him to 'go on'.
"Think about it, Sarah," Chuck encouraged. "Sure, there's all of that bad stuff right here," he held his hand like a claw next to his forehead, "but there's a lot of good stuff in my life that's right there, too, and it's constantly playing in my head, as well," he looked at her and smiled. Her eyes widened and her eyebrows slid upwards. "Good stuff, like every moment since I met you and the rest of the Songbirds. Every moment we've spent together here or in the dining hall, the library, football games, all of it. Everything. I get to enjoy it over and over again. And each time, it gets better. New memories keep getting added to the loop." Now he gave her his full smile that wrinkled his nose and crinkled the corners of his eyes. Sarah's heart filled with warmth and she beamed at him. As usual, Carina broke the spell.
"OK, Chuck, what happened after you graduated from high school all those years ago? Where did you go next?" Carina wondered. Chuck blinked his eyes and turned his focus on the redhead.
"Is it all right for me to sit down? This is going to take a while. I've been on my own away from home, going to school for a long time." He had been bouncing on his toes and shifting his weight from side to side for most of his time talking to that point, in an effort to deal with his nervous energy. Taking a breath, Chuck walked over to the risers and sat down crossways on the lowest one, so he could face all four girls.
He bit his lips and gave them a tight smile, took a deeper breath and began again. "Remember that I said that it all started when I went for the kindergarten readiness assessment required by the state? When I met Morgan?" Nods. "Well, after the assessment, they pulled my parents aside and talked to them. Neither one of them seemed surprised by what the teachers were telling them. They knew what I was already doing at home. They'd even been sort of encouraging me. Anyway, the next thing I knew, I was taking more tests. Soon after that, I was sitting in a first grade classroom. I moved rapidly through the grades over the next two years and graduated high school, like I said, at age eight. From there, I attended UCLA and Caltech for the next four years. I lived at home and went to school with either my dad or my mom driving me there, depending on which school I was going to at that particular time."
"Wasn't it weird for you being around all those older and bigger students?" Sarah asked softly.
"Oh yeah, it was weird. Not as weird as it would be when I went to other schools later. Having each of my parents be a known quantity at their respective schools helped to blunt most of the problems. But not all." Chuck frowned and shook his head at the memories.
"You mean the bullying kinds of problems?" Sarah asked.
Chuck shrugged, "Yeah, but not really the normal kind of bullying, like Morgan had to deal with when he was younger. I mean, I was eight years old and going to school with people ten years, or more, older than me. And bigger than me. No one tried to hurt me or anything. What would have been the point?" he shook his head. "No, they just did their best to ignore me. Working on projects with them was … ah … tough." The CATS had no trouble picturing what he was talking about. Sarah pictured a smaller eight-year-old version of Chuck with his signature curls running rings around the older and bigger students. She held in the smile that threatened to break out on her face, but she couldn't stop her eyes from dancing in amusement at the image.
"What'd you take there, Chuck? What majors, I mean?" Amy wondered. Chuck nodded his understanding.
"Pretty much the same subjects y'all followed me to around here. I ended up getting ten degrees from UCLA and Caltech, combined," he shrugged and looked at the floor. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
"What are you sorry about?" Zondra couldn't figure out what he was talking about.
"I sound like I'm bragging. I don't mean to. I don't like braggarts," he frowned.
"Chuck, you're not bragging. You're just telling us what you studied. Don't forget, we asked you to tell us," Carina patted him on the shoulder. He smiled gratefully.
"You're saying that you were twelve when you graduated from college? I'm guessing with honors, too, right?" Sarah asked. Chuck nodded. "OK, so what have you been doing since then? For the last six years?"
"Yeah, this is where it gets tough. Or tougher," Chuck began. Sarah couldn't understand what he was getting ready to say. Everything he'd already told them sounded tough to her. "After I graduated college. Summa cum laude, yeah," he ducked his head shyly. "Anyway, this is when Mom and Dad had to decide what to do with me. Keep me at UCLA and Caltech or somewhere else close-by. Or send me away to school," Chuck shook his head. "They were thinking of sending me here to Stanford, but I resisted. Coming here has been my dream since forever, but I told them that I didn't want to go until I was old enough to be the same age as the other students. So that I could enjoy it the way they'd enjoyed their time here. They acquiesced, but that meant either stay or go. Almost all of my professors at both colleges felt that, while I could certainly keep learning from them, it was in my best interest to go elsewhere and study with other professors. But where? Of course, Mom and Dad picked one of the best places, but it was also the farthest away."
"They sent you to Boston, didn't they?" Sarah realized. "To Harvard and MIT." Chuck nodded.
"Yeah, they did. There are other places with great liberal arts schools and technical schools nearby to them, but those two are two of the best. And Mom and Dad had people they knew at each school, of course. Friends and colleagues. It makes perfect sense, but it was so far away," he gulped at the memory and closed his eyes briefly.
"Did your family move there, so you could be together?" Sarah asked, fearing what she might hear. When he answered, her fear was confirmed.
"No. Ellie was in high school. Getting ready to start her senior year. In the middle of everything, all of her activities. She was already thinking about and looking at colleges. Applying to them and visiting their campuses. She's great. Brilliant. Mom and Dad didn't feel that it was fair to her to uproot the entire family and move us clear across the country. In the end they decided that Mom and Ellie would stay in Burbank and Dad would go with me to Boston." He shook his head again and the girls could see the tears in his eyes. "Neither Ellie or I took it very well."
"What was Ellie upset about? She wasn't being asked to go anywhere and leave her life behind." Carina interjected.
"No, she wasn't, but think about all the stuff I said about my dealing with older students in school." Carina nodded and Chuck continued, "Ellie is the prototype for all of them. She's amazing. Brilliant, like I said. Great at everything she does. And along comes her snotty little brother zooming right past her, without appearing to even be trying. I mean, I graduated high school and college before she even finished high school herself. It was a big hit to her pride. You know, older kids are supposed to be able to do everything better than the younger kids. It's like a kid law or something." That comment drew chuckles and winces in equal measure. When Chuck described it, they could see both sides of the issue.
"On top of that general state of affairs between me and Ellie, my going to Boston, and Dad going along, meant that I was taking him away from her. At least the way she saw it at the time. It's caused us issues for years," he pursed his lips and tilted his head as he looked from girl to girl. When he saw them frowning, he quickly continued, "Don't be mad at her. We've been working on our stuff. Especially since we've been up here in school together. We have dinner and talk. That's what I was doing last night and another reason that I couldn't come by and wish you a happy birthday on your actual birthday. Sorry about that," Chuck pouted looking across the room to where he'd left her cake and gifts. When he felt Sarah's electric touch on his arm, he quieted and turned back to look at her and smiled. "I wasn't expecting to be able to re-connect with Ellie and begin to work us out. It's been a nice side benefit to coming here. I won't say it's easy, at all, but it's worth it. A lot like this, actually. What we're doing now. At least I hope it is." His hopeful look brought tears to the eyes of them all as they gazed at him, smiling their encouragement. Sarah was so grateful that he was still there and hadn't followed through on his first thought and run from the room. From her.
"So … Boston?" she prompted.
"Right. Boston. Yeah, Boston was really tough. Not school so much, but the gap between me and the other students added on top of being so far from home and anything I knew. Away from Morgan. You don't know how important one friend can be until you're three thousand miles away from them." Another head shake and grimace. "Thank God my dad was there. It's when we really bonded. We spent a lot of time together, when he wasn't busy with his work. It was then that I really got into Boy Scouts and all of the sports. I mean I'd been doing that stuff back home, but he kind of pushed me more in Boston."
"Why the sports and Boy Scouts and everything, Chuck?" Amy asked. "Not why did you do them, but why so many and, well, I'm guessing that you made Eagle Scout, right?" Chuck nodded. "OK, so why get that into those things? I guess that's what I'm asking."
"No, I get it. Get what you're saying," he made a placating gesture. "I sorta go 'all in' on anything I do. Not sure if it's due to my stuff in my head or something else. As to why all of that stuff, well, mostly it's to fill up my time with stuff I'm interested in." The girls looked confused. "You know, school doesn't take me much time compared to most other people. So, what can I do to fill up my day? Reading is out. I love to read, don't get me wrong. I read all kinds of stuff; all of the time. It just doesn't take me any time. No curling up in front of a fire with a good book for me. Unfortunately." Another headshake. "So, no purely mental stuff, but things that take time. Things I have to do physically. Those things can and did, and do, fill up my day. Sports. Boy Scout projects and merit badge work. Building things. Programming. That kind of stuff. Visual stuff, too. It's one of the reasons I like comic books and graphic novels so much. Reading them doesn't take long, but studying the graphics does take time. Listening to music. Anything with a built-in time and physical element. The fact that I was good at swimming and baseball was an unexpected bonus," he shrugged. "They gave me a way to connect with people my own age, so that helped, too."
"All that makes sense when you tell us that way," Zondra acknowledged. "Your parents must have driven themselves crazy trying to keep you occupied." Chuck laughed.
"You're right. I was a lot of trouble. I kept taking apart the clock radio in my parent's bedroom until they finally forbid me from entering their room unless one or both of them were present. They were tired of being late for work because my latest 'fix' was more of a 'break'," he couldn't keep the mischievous glint out of his eye causing them all to giggle. Sarah had an image of young Chuck with various screwdrivers stuck in his curls. She saw Carina take a breath preparing to ask a question.
"What did you study in Boston? I'm guessing engineering. Anything else?" Carina asked.
"Engineering, sure. Really, the same stuff I had been studying. All those subjects. Worked on getting masters degrees in all of them …" Chuck confirmed, before trailing off at the end.
"I'm sensing a 'but' or an 'and'," Sarah observed.
"You're not wrong," Chuck looked embarrassed again. He looked up at the ceiling and nodded to himself. "Don't freak out, but I also went to law school and business school at Harvard."
"With all the rest of it?" Sarah looked at him open mouthed. He just nodded. "You've. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me." A head shaking 'no'.
"Not kidding," he said. "They wanted to see what my limits were. So, they kept piling on classes to see if I could handle it. It was an experiment. I guess I passed or whatever. I could handle it." They couldn't read his expression. Zondra asked an obvious question.
"How could you do all of that, Chuck?" she asked. "There aren't enough hours in the day. Classes had to overlap each other. And two different schools." He nodded his agreement, but held up his hand.
"That's right, Zondra. Classes did overlap and if they'd treated me like any other student, it wouldn't have been possible. Even staying up there and going to classes over the summer." Zondra started to ask another question, but he'd expected it. "Baseball and swimming were mostly on the weekends, so they weren't a time conflict during the week. It was tight, but do-able," he nodded a couple of times before continuing. "Reading the material was no problem, like usual. They gave me the lecture notes that the professors kept for the classes I missed. Like high school and undergrad, it was the projects and labs for my engineering and science classes that took the most effort. Those time and physical constraints again. They treated me extra special. Even assigned a team of teaching assistants to me, one for each subject, including law and business, to answer questions, run to professors, and be an extra set of hands on my projects. To say that they greased the wheels doesn't begin to cover it." Now a frown. "To say I was hated by the other students in my classes doesn't begin to cover it, either. It was real Darth Vader level stuff. The hate just flowed through them." The memory was clearly painful for him, but something he'd said gave Sarah pause.
"Chuck, did they experiment on you while you were in school?" she asked carefully. "Psychological experiments, I mean?" He winced and the roommates shared heartbroken looks.
"Yeeeaah," he looked down and spoke so softly that they could barely hear him. "Yeah, they did. They were curious about how much of a freak I really was." When they saw the tears dripping off of the end of his nose, they acted as one and enveloped him in a five-way hug. Being on the risers made it awkward, but none of them cared.
"Oh, no, no, Chuck," Sarah whispered soothingly. "You're the farthest thing from a freak. Get that thought right out of your head. You're amazing," she nodded her head once. "You're amazing and you're our friend. Don't you worry about that. You're not going anywhere." Not if I have anything to say about it, she thought to herself. The other CATS added their soft voices in support of everything Sarah had said. What sort of hell had this guy lived through? What sort of hell did he live in every day? Fuck being a genius. The fact that he was as sweet, thoughtful, and kind as he was, that was his superpower. Being a genius didn't even come close. It took a while, but, eventually, they all drew apart and wiped their eyes.
"You don't have to talk about any of that, if you don't want to, Chuck. If it's too painful," Sarah declared. Chuck smiled at her in appreciation, but shook his head. He was going to talk about it. She was amazed at his courage. And his honesty.
"No, it's OK. I don't mind," Chuck looked at them with a watery smile. "That reaction just now was part of my hyperthymesia. For a second there I was feeling all of those old feelings from before. I didn't understand the testing they were doing then, but I do now. They were all just trying to understand me. What I was dealing with. Trying to learn, so they could help me. Help others, maybe, too. Even my Mom. I realize that it really bothered her, testing me, but she didn't know what to do. How to help me. Even if it was possible to help me. No one knew." He saw the looks on their faces. "Don't worry they only did psychological tests on me. Like those tests you asked about, Sarah. The ones with the Tower of London and similar tests. There wasn't any of that alien probing stuff happening." The girls managed to go 'eww' and giggle at the same time.
"What sort of law did you study?" Amy asked, still giggling over his probing comment.
"Technology law and information technology law. Some international business law, too. Stuff to support the other graduate stuff I was working with. Same with my business classes," he replied. He was surprised that his continued admissions didn't seem to disturb his friends. They were taking it all in stride and it relaxed a lot of the tension that he'd been feeling since he first ran in on their practice all those weeks ago.
"Is that because you had patents or were going to be getting patents?" Amy probed a little herself. Chuck gaped at her.
"How in the world did you find out about the patents?" he looked amazed and confused all at once. Now, the girls were smiling. They'd managed to surprise Chuck for a change.
Zondra fielded his question. "My dad works for the Port of Los Angeles. I asked him to do a search for you in the government databases he could access. That's where we found your patents and your patent application. Do you really have four patents? What's CIB Technologies, anyway?" Chuck's eyebrows rose to his hairline.
"Wow, you found a lot. I'm not the only one with skills." Zondra grinned at his praise. "OK, government databases. I didn't take care of those. My mistake," Chuck made a mental note to rectify that oversight as soon as he could. "What you found, though, is accurate. I've got four patents and an open application. CIB is the company we formed to monetize the patents, but I'm guessing y'all already knew that," he grinned.
"Yeah, we did," Zondra confirmed. "And we figured CIB are your initials, but we couldn't come up with what the 'I' stood for. Wanna help us out there?" Chuck made a face like he'd just eaten something that tasted bad."
"I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you," he grumped.
"Oh, come on, Chuckles. How bad could it be? I mean, you've shared so much with us already, why's telling us your middle name a big deal?" Carina groused and gave him a faux glare. Chuck frowned, but nodded in resignation, causing the girls to giggle at his antics.
"You have to promise not to laugh. It's a family name. And I had no control over it." The suitemates promised, but continued to grin at him. His frown deepened, but he followed through. "My middle name is Irving. Charles Irving Bartowski." It wasn't a particularly funny middle name, but his attitude made it difficult for them to keep their promise and not laugh.
"Charles Irving Bartowski," Sarah breathed, rolling the name around in her head.
"International Man of Mystery," Amy chirped. That brought the giggles back and Chuck briefly scowled.
"It suits you, " Sarah nodded. "It's a nice name. I like it, Chuck." He smiled at her in a way that warmed her insides. I have to figure out a way to get him to smile like that more often, she thought.
Carina changed the focus, again, when she asked, "When did you go to school in England? What school did you go to? What's with that shooting you did yesterday?" At her rapid-fire questions, Chuck jerked his head in her direction and stared in disbelief, thinking hard.
"Lou told you, didn't she? She was there at the range, yesterday, wasn't she? Probably helping her dad. Am I right? Same last name," he explained how he figured it out, before any of them could ask.
"Yup, you got it. Lou told us. Showed us the security camera footage when she came by our suite last night. She told us that her dad told her what you said to the baseball team. When did you do all of that? After Boston?" Carina explained and the CATS waited on his response. Once he'd started talking, he had so much to say. It was surprising and not surprising at the same time. They'd asked for it, didn't they?
"It was after Boston. At that point I was only fifteen. Too young to be a lawyer, not that I really wanted to do that anyway. I was interested in getting PhDs like I'm doing now, but I still didn't want to come to Stanford, yet," he shrugged. "Anyway, as another test, my professors and parents encouraged me to apply for scholarships to continue my studies. Given my age and accomplishments up to that point, they thought I was a shoo-in. Turns out, they were right. So, I spent most of the next two years going to school in the UK. The first year at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and the second year at Cambridge on a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. I came home for part of the summer between the two school years. My baseball and swimming itches needed to be scratched," he chuckled a little. "But, for the most part I was over there." Normally, they would have been more than impressed when he told them about the scholarships, but after so much he'd already told them, this announcement hardly fazed them.
"And the shooting?" Carina pushed. Chuck stopped smiling and sighed. Not knowing how much Lou had told them, he repeated the story that he'd told the baseball team the previous day, but included the stuff he'd told Ellie afterward. When he told them about the mugging, all four girls flinched. Could this guy not catch a break?
"I'm really mad at Ellie right now," Sarah admitted. "She gave you a hard time when you were younger. Getting your dad to come back to California and leaving you in Boston with sponsor families. That's pretty rotten." Chuck touched her arm to calm her down and he felt the charge. Like always.
"Don't be mad at her," he pleaded. "Please don't. We were kids and kids feel dumb, childish things. Say and do mean and selfish things. Some of them are still there inside of us long after we've gotten older. She and I are working them out. It hurts, but we're getting better."
"Wow! It sounds like you've been talking to people about all that stuff," smiled Sarah.
"Uh huh. It wasn't all probing, you know," Chuck said. Sarah snorted her amusement. He was such a lovable goof sometimes. "I got a lot of therapy from Mom and a bunch of other people. It helped. Along with all the stuff Cole taught me. I'll also say that Dad didn't just go back because of Ellie or my Mom. It became too difficult for him to do his work so far away from Caltech and the companies he was consulting for. He didn't leave until he felt sure I was settled in and established with my routine. I didn't start to struggle until after he left anyway. And even that didn't get really bad until I went to England. By that time, I had Cole to help me out."
Thinking about what he'd just said made Zondra come up with another question. "Curls, you said that you lived with Mr. Barker the whole time you were in school in England. Oxford and Cambridge aren't close to each other, are they?" Chuck pursed his lips as he considered her question.
"No, you're right, Zondra. They aren't close to each other. More like almost one hundred miles apart. Luckily, Cole and his wife live just outside of a town called Wellingborough. It's located in Northamptonshire and it's almost equidistant between Oxford and Cambridge. About an hour driving each way. West to Oxford and east to Cambridge. It was perfect. In a lot of ways," Chuck smiled as he recalled living there.
"So, who were those girls you went out on dates with, Chuck," Amy sounded confused. "Not older classmates, surely." Chuck grinned.
"Don't call me Shirley," he quipped. They all groaned and booed him. "Hey, don't judge me," he giggled, but sobered quickly. "No, they were the daughters of some of my professors at different colleges. Some here in the US and some in the UK." His brow furrowed and he had a little epiphany. "It probably didn't help me that their parents got them to go on dates with me. Making them date such a freak." Sarah 'tsked' and gently slapped his arm.
"Stop saying that! We told you that you're not a freak," she scolded. Chuck nodded and gave her a small smile. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. Soon he'd have to leave for his conditioning practice.
"What else do y'all want to know," he looked at each of the girls. "I've dumped a lot on you this afternoon." They nodded in agreement with his statement. There were a few other questions.
"What are these tests that you've been worried about taking," Sarah asked. "From what you've told us, they should be a snap for you."
Chuck explained, in detail. "Usually, but these are the gateway tests that I have to pass to continue with my PhD work. Since I'd gotten my masters before coming here, I started with a year already under my belt. So, I'm taking the tests in my first year in the program, instead of the second. The good news is I may get done with my degrees in four years rather than the more typical five years. Depending on how my research goes, of course."
"What happens after you pass the tests? And you will pass the tests," Sarah's voice was full of confidence in Chuck's capabilities.
"Assuming I pass the tests," That earned him a stern look from Sarah. "During the Winter Quarter I'll have to decide on an area of research for each degree, write a proposal, and present it to my advisory team in each subject. Once that's done, I start in on the preliminary research. Continue until it's done. That's it."
"That's it, he says," Amy scoffed. "That's a lot, Chuck. You're going to be busy all the time. On top of baseball."
"Yeah, that's true, but once I get past the proposals I'll be done with the seminars and any kind of regular class type schedule. It's research. And I can do that on my own schedule. With periodic meetings with my advisors, naturally."
"Naturally," Carina grinned and shook her head.
"What else? Any more questions?" Chuck was getting jumpy. He really wanted to give Sarah her presents.
"Yeah, I've got one," Zondra said. "How is it you speak Japanese? And do you speak any more languages?" Chuck sat back with a very surprised look on his face.
"I don't even know how you found out about that," he snorted quietly and shook his head.
"That older Japanese couple you helped on Homecoming?" Chuck nodded. "Well, they were Lilly's grandparents. When they described the man who helped them, Lilly knew it was you and she told us." He snorted, again.
"Why am I surprised? I should have figured out that particular fact would come out, one way or the other. But, yes, I know a number of languages." They gave him one of those looks. "What can I say? I'm good with languages, both computer and human." He shrugged. "Learning to understand and read a language isn't too hard for me. Writing a language takes a bit of work, especially ones like Japanese or Chinese, and training my mouth to say the foreign words properly takes the most effort. Muscle memory and everything." Of course, they tested him with languages they knew: Polish, Swedish, Italian, French, and German. Satisfied, they decided to stop. He was glad they didn't press him on how many languages he knew. There were other questions the girls had and figured more would come to them later, but they weren't worried. He'd shown that he was willing to talk now. Sarah smiled warmly at him.
"Thank you for trusting us enough to tell us your story. I appreciate it more than you know," she said, happily, before turning serious again. "And I need and want to apologize for the way I was acting when you arrived this afternoon. I was worried that you weren't being straight with us, but I didn't treat you right. I wasn't fair to you. At all. I'm very sorry. Can you forgive me? Please?" She bit her lip uncertainly.
"Yes, Sarah, I forgive you. How could I not? I understand what you were trying to do. It was tough, but I needed the push, I think. In all honesty, I'm not sure when I would have told you all of this, otherwise. And you're welcome, Sarah. All of you. And thank you for listening. And for not kicking me out," his mouth curved up into a slight smile, but they could see the relief evident in his eyes. "Could we call the others back in now? I've got a surprise for you for your birthday!" Sarah nodded her permission, so Zondra went off to bring the younger girls back into the room. She wanted to tell him her news about PT school, too.
"Is it OK for us to tell them everything that you told us?" Sarah asked. "You know that they're gonna want to know."
"It's OK. I don't mind. I hate keeping secrets, believe it or not," he admitted. "It's exhausting."
"You've got more surprises, Chuckles? Haven't you given us enough surprises for one afternoon?" Carina teased.
Chuck grinned and gestured to the box and bag on the other side of the room. "Maybe, maybe not. But this next surprise is tasty," He has no idea, Sarah thought.
A/N2: Chapter title comes from the song by Willie Nelson. The lyrics about 'echoes of my mind' are kind of on point for this chapter.
A/N3: The first core idea for this story was could I come up with a way for Chuck to have Intersect-like abilities, but naturally? And would the readers buy my idea? The things I found are real mental conditions/capabilities. Hyperthymesia is a condition that causes people to be able to remember an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid detail. They remember most, if not all of their life and can't forget it. It was only identified or categorized in 2006 and is extremely rare. Only 61 people have been diagnosed with the condition, like the story says, Chuck is the 62nd. The Taxi TV show actress, Marilu Henner, is possibly the most recognized name on the list. Chuck's description of seeing the world in split screen is true for some patients. Chuck's headaches are totally my invention as a signal that he is losing control and in danger of slipping into the past, like a seizure or coma, much like his 'flash face' in the show is used to signal his Intersect flashes (in reality, you don't make a face when you remember things. At least not like he did when he flashed, but him having 'pondering face' would not have been as dramatic). Chuck's descriptions of eidetic memory and photographic memory are accurate (at least according to Wikipedia), if a little lacking in detail. Google them, if you're interested. Add these three things together (hyperthymesia, eidetic memory, and photographic memory) and throw in Chuck's genius analytical skills and you might just have a natural human Intersect. No computer downloaded into the brain is necessary.
A/N4: The second core idea has to do with the 2017 Chris Evans movie, Gifted. It's about his genius niece and the tug of war he was with his mother between keeping his niece at home, so she can live a normal life in accordance with the wishes of his late sister (her mother), and sending her off to college, where her gift can be developed to its fullest potential, like his mother (the niece's grandmother) wants. The movie ends with a typical Hollywood storybook ending and they find a way to do both. Have your cake and eat it, too. My idea was what if Stephen and Mary had to decide one way or the other, stay at home or send him away. And they chose to send Chuck off to school as a child. What then? How would he develop? What about his social development when he's almost never around kids his own age and has very limited interactions with them? Including girls?
A/N5: WillieGarvin has gone above and way beyond (maybe to infinity) lending guidance and support to me trying to write the previous chapter and this one. I bugged the hell out of him, but he kept his patience and kept me on task. Thanks for everything. Aces, WG. Aces.
A/N6: Thank you for reading. Please drop me a PM or leave a review. Let me know what you think. For those of you who have left reviews or PMs previously, thank you. I appreciate each and every one of them.
A/N7: If you enjoy Chuck fan fiction here on the fanfic site, go over to Facebook and join the Chuck Fanfiction group that's there. You'll find nice folks who share your interest in our favorite spy couple. You are not alone.