A/N: .kcuhC nwo t'noD
Congratulations to Yvonne Strahovski and Tim Loden on the birth of their son. Mazel tov. He's a cutie.
Thanks for all the support and encouragement on this story. Chuck's first new day is over, and now it's time for our friends to meet the good doctor. But first, a recap.
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Hi, my name is Charles Bartowski, but you can call me Chuck. My life is filled with spies, computer stealing ninjas, and terrorists. Oh, wait, let me go back. I work at the Buy More with my best friend Morgan. It used to be pretty boring. You see, everything changed when I got an email from my old college buddy Bryce Larkin. Bryce had been working for the CIA when he stole a whole bunch of government secrets. Big important secrets. Secrets that can help the good guys stop the bad guys from doing the bad things that bad guys do in order to deserve that name. The next thing I know, these government secrets are downloaded into my brain – yeah, I know, downloaded and brain don't go together in a single sentence very often, it's weird. Trust me, I know. Anyway, it means any moment of my life I could see something that will help the good guys stop the aforementioned bad guys. So now I'm helping to defend the country from assassins, drug dealers and terrorists. The NSA sent their top agent to work with me, a Marine Corps Major named Casey. He can be pretty scary. He works at Buy More now, as a cover. The CIA sent their top agent, too. Her name is Sarah Walker. She's my girlfriend. My real girlfriend, not a cover girlfriend. Which is the best thing to happen to me since...well, it's the best thing to happen to me. She's been gone for almost a week now driving back to Burbank from the east coast. The day she left, she came to kiss me goodbye and I flashed on a ring she was wearing. I saw, in my head, a video clip of her fighting off and killing three men. It upset me a lot to see that. I haven't told her about it yet, even though we talked for an hour or so every night she was away. I want to wait to figure out how to discuss it with her. You see, she doesn't like to share a lot about her past. When I talked to her late last night, when she got back to Los Angeles, she told me she'd have a surprise for me this morning, so let's see what the morning brings.
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"Casey, you don't have to beat the hell out of a shoplifter. It's only a video game," said Chuck, a little breathless from running across the parking lot.
Casey gave a growling snarl (or maybe a snarling growl) and lowered his fist. The cowering teenager on the ground looked like he might pee himself any moment. Hopefully, Casey had scared the kid enough to make him rethink a life of crime. At least, Chuck hoped Casey's goal had been to scare the kid straight and not to actually beat him to a pulp. Morgan joined them, even more breathless than Chuck. As Casey and Morgan began to manhandle the kid back to the Buy More, Chuck's eye was caught by a flash of blonde hair connected to long beautiful legs in front of the Wienerlicious, a fast food place across the way. He thought, 'nice, but don't look, it's creepy to do that and you have a...' the blonde girl with pig tails and a short skirted Wienerlicious uniform turned around. '...girlfriend..." Chuck completed the thought, and said, "Sarah?"
The Wienerlicious girl, his girlfriend Sarah, smiled sweetly and gave him a tiny, cute wave. Guess I know the morning's surprise, he thought.
As she went inside with the table trash from the outdoor seating, he was almost run over by an SUV running to her store. When he got there, she gave him a dazzling smile and said, "Surprise." He gave her a huge grin and took her in his arms and kissed her. He was still enjoying the feel of her lips on his and her body pressed up against his when he smelled something. Opening one eye, he saw wisps of smoke coming from the fryer. Pushing her back gently, and with a tiny smile, he gestured with his head toward the cooking area.
"Oh, dammit," she yelled. "I burned another batch. That freaking fryer is way hotter than the temp gauge says it is." She ran over and took the burning wieners out of the cooking oil and threw them out. She began to clean up the spilled grease from the area.
"I'm really happy to see you. I missed you," he said. He looked so cute she wanted to eat him. That Nerd Herd uniform of his was actually starting to grow on her.
"I missed you too," she said, with a smile. "We have some catching up to do. You have some boyfriend obligations to take care of, Mr. Bartowski"
"And never let it be said that the Bartowskis don't take their obligations seriously."
"I certainly hope so. I've been thinking about nothing else since..." Two teenage boys came into the store and ordered sodas. Chuck thought they were there for the sole purpose of looking at Sarah, and, he had to admit, he didn't really blame them too much.
When they left, Chuck said, "Um, Sarah, I can guess why you are here. It's gonna be your cover for this mission, but couldn't you have gotten something at the Buy More instead? Like Casey."
"Chuck, think about it. I can observe the outside of the store from here. So, we have one agent inside and other covering outside."
"Ah, got it. That makes sense."
Glancing out the window, she said, "More kids at coming. I get a break at two. Can you and Casey come over then, please? We have some stuff to talk about."
"Ok, got it." He quickly moved to the other side of the counter and gave her a quick kiss. "See you soon. And I take my obligations very seriously." He grinned.
"You better, Mister."
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At 2pm Casey and Chuck, together with some wieners and sodas, sat with Sarah at one of the outdoor tables. "Welcome back, Walker. What's new?"
"I talked to Graham before I left DC. They are sending a scientist, Dr. Zarnow, to examine Chuck. He'll be here tonight."
"Who is he?" asked Casey.
"He's one of yours. NSA. I read his file on the way cross country. He worked on the encoding process for the Intersect. Grab bag of advanced degrees. Digital neurology."
"I didn't know that was a thing," said Casey.
"Oh, yeah," said Chuck. "I've been reading about it all week, ever since I found out I had a computer database stuck in my head. I just wish I could talk to Ellie about it."
"Uh, uh," grunted Casey.
"Oh, I know I can't. I wasn't suggesting that. I was just saying, that's all," said Chuck, with a shrug. "But, I have a question, guys. This examination, will it involve needles? Or probing, by any chance? I don't really like those things too much."
"It's going to be entirely probing...with needles, numbnuts," said Casey.
Sarah said, "Oh, stop it, Casey." Turning to Chuck she said, "He's going to show you pictures to see if you flash. He might have a shot at figuring out how to remove it from your head. That's what you want, right?" Chuck swallowed nervously, nodding his head. Of course, he wanted it out of his head. He wanted his life to go back to normal. Back to normal. Back to that boring, mind numbing, inconsequential, useless normal. Of course, he did.
"I'm not thrilled that someone else will know Bartowski has the Intersect. The fewer people know, the tighter the op sec," he said, referring to operational security.
"I agree," said Sarah. "Think there's a way to disguise his identity or something?"
"Well, he doesn't have to be in the same room to see if the kid flashes, just has to hear him," said Casey.
"The home theater room. At the Buy More...the home theater room. He can be outside, show me the pictures and hear my answers. That would be a snap for me to set up. We can keep the curtains closed so he can't see who's inside," said Chuck.
"Good idea," said Casey.
"Yeah," said Sarah. "How long will it take you to set that up?"
"Not too long. Twenty minutes. Half hour. Something like that. The Buy More closes at 8. Want to tell the doctor to come by at 9?"
"Let's say 10," said Sarah. "I don't know what time his flight lands." He noticed a tiny smile that came and went from her beautiful face in barely an instant.
"Sounds like a plan. Good. In the meantime, I have some NSA goodies for you two," said Casey. He reached into the bag he was carrying and took out two jeweler style flip open boxes. Each contained a watch, one men's and one women's. "GPS trackers." He waved his own wrist, showing off the twin of the men's watch. "We're a team. This way we can keep track of each other. They connect to apps on our cell phones."
"Good idea, Casey. Thanks," Sarah said as she put on her watch.
"Thanks, Casey," said Chuck as he did the same. "This is so cool. I have a spy watch. I thought James Bond wore a Rolex." He was chuckling lightly. Inside, there was a certain warm satisfaction to have a physical symbol that he was part of a team, part of this team with these two extraordinary people. If he'd been a four year old, he'd have sworn to himself never to take the watch off.
"American made, moron," said Casey. Chuck could swear that he heard humor in the gravely growl.
They had finished their lunches and stood up to get back to their respective jobs. Sarah said, "Chuck, can you come to the hotel after work and we can get dinner before the Zarnow meeting?" She had a twinkle in her eye.
Casey mumbled something about peanut butter and chocolate.
Chuck said, "Sure. I'll just go home first and change out of my Nerd Herd uniform. I should be to you by 6:30 of so." He leaned over to give her a quick kiss. She hugged him after the kiss and whispered in his ear exactly what the boyfriend obligations she was expecting him to perform entailed. He groaned and turned a bright shade of red. She smiled brightly and went back into the Weinerlicious. Chuck looked around with a tiny bit of panic in his eyes and said, "Casey, can I have that bag? That empty bag, please?" Casey handed it to him. Chuck walked with it held in front of him at waist level for most of the way across the parking lot, much to Casey's amusement.
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At a few minutes after 9, Chuck and Sarah walked from her Porsche to the Buy More entrance. Both looked very happy, glowing with the aftermath of a vigorous reunion after a week apart. Casey was already there.
For the next half hour or so, Chuck set up the home theater room as he, Sarah and Casey had planned. At a few minutes before 10, he went inside with the curtains closed. Sarah gave him a kiss and tried to calm his nerves. "Just relax Chuck. Just look at the pictures and say what they are."
"Don't screw it up, kid," said Casey, as he left the room.
"No probing?" he asked with a nervous smile.
"Haven't you done enough probing for the evening?" she asked with a salacious grin.
"Oh, ah," he started to blush, which Sarah found totally adorable. "Maybe not entirely enough. I might have one good probe left in me," he said with a smile.
Laughing, she left him with another quick kiss.
Casey and Sarah waiting for the doctor in comfortable silence, standing at the nerd Herd desk. At 10pm on the dot, he arrived, towing a carry-on wheeled bag.
"Agent Walker. Agent Casey. Good evening. I'm eager to get started. Where is my patient?
"You won't get to meet your patient face to face. Security considerations. For your safety. You understand, I'm sure," said Casey. His deep growl made it clear that he didn't care too much whether Zarnow understood or not.
"We've arranged for you to conduct your testing from here," said Sarah. They led him to the Nerd Herd desk. He plugged his laptop into the cable they gave him that led to the monitor in the home theater room. (Although Zarnow didn't really know where it was leading.)
"Does he work here?" asked Zarnow.
"Who said it's a 'he'?" asked Sarah.
"Right," said Casey. "The person with the Intersect in their head works in a Buy More...right."
"Yes. Ridiculous, of course," said Zarnow. Sarah didn't like the man. She couldn't put her finger on it, but her gut told her not to trust him. She exchanged a look with Casey. She didn't know Casey very well, but if she had to guess, he shared her unease. The guy was creepy.
Zarnow said, into the microphone they had provided, "At the sound of the tone, the test will begin." He began to enter commands into his computer, displaying pictures to Chuck behind the curtains.
After the first one, Chuck said, "Ahh, dog." His voice came out to them altered and unrecognizable by the computer scrambler they had installed in an effort to further conceal his identity. Given the changed voice, it could have been either a man or a woman speaking. The computer produced a running transcript of Chuck's spoken words. Zarnow pushed a button. "Ah, hippopotamus." Another button. "Fat guy." Another button. "Ugly building." Another button. "Really beautiful woman at the beach." Another button. "Cardinal One is the top Moscow spy in the White House..." The cadence of Chuck's speech had changed. He was clearly reciting from something other than normal memory.
So, it had started, thought Casey and Sarah. Here we go. For the next half hour Zarnow showed Chuck the pictures he, Zarnow, had encoded for the Intersect project. Of course, for security reasons, Zarnow had never been given access to all of the Intersect information to encode, but a perfectly sufficient test could be conducted with just the information he had been given. From the expression Zarnow wore, it seemed Chuck correctly identified the information behind each image displayed. The test ended as Chuck said, "Well, that's just a picture of a turtle."
Zarnow, a little breathless and clearly stunned, said, "My word. Your patient is phenomenal. We never imagined this."
"What didn't you imagine?" asked Sarah.
"One person seeing all the Intersect images. All our secrets in one mind."
"Can you remove the secrets, Doctor?" asked Casey.
Zarnow looked down and away for an instant. Then said, "Yes, I think I can." He looked eager...hungry even. Sarah didn't like it one bit.
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Zarnow's car drove along one of the smaller roads in a rugged part of the hills. A cell phone in the back seat began to ring. After a few rings, it exploded. Not a powerful explosion, merely a dispersal explosion. It spread into the air a powered mixture of aluminum, as a fuel, and iron (III) oxide, as an oxidizer. The composition was one of several commonly known as known as thermite (of the different mixtures, this was the most effective). A couple of seconds later, after the thermite powder had spread throughout the interior of the vehicle, it was ignited by a spark from the cell phone looking device. The resulting explosion made a dull whoomp sound. The fire burned at a temperature of 2500 degrees C, thermite being the hottest man-made substance. The interior of the car and everything it contained was practically vaporized by the intense heat.