A/N: This is my first attempt at a totally non-canon story. I trust you guys to let me know how I do with this borrowed (not owned) intellectual property.
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It was New Year's Day 2008 and Chuck, Casey and Morgan sat on the floor of Chuck and Sarah's new apartment with a cooler of cold beer and the bits and pieces of unassembled IKEA furniture, specifically, a couch, a love seat, a coffee table, and an end table. They had opened all the boxes in the living room and settled down to an afternoon of assembly. Chuck and Sarah's new lease had started that day and they didn't intend to waste even a single day out of their new apartment. They had moved Sarah's stuff from her hotel that morning and Chuck's stuff and furniture immediately afterwards. Now, it was time for the new living room to be put together.
"It's not hard, moron," said Casey. "The directions are unnecessary."
"Hate to agree with Casey on this one, little buddy, but those directions are really confusing. You're better off without them."
"I believe you guys, but I have to do it my way. You guys do things your way, if you want," said Morgan.
Ellie and Devon were at work and Sarah was out shopping for household staples, like paper towels and cleaning supplies.
Sipping his beer, Chuck was screwing part of the frame for the loveseat together. "Is this piece mine or yours, Case?"
"That one's yours. Mine are over here." Casey gestured to a pile of couch pieces to his left. "You know when I was in the military, I would have to assemble weapons systems in the dark while bullets were flying over my head and explosions going off nearby...and that was just training."
"That doesn't sound safe to me" said Morgan.
Casey just grunted.
Morgan finished the end table. He moved it around and leaned on it. It seemed solid to him.
"Ok. I'm going to start on the coffee table next." He took a fresh beer from the cooler and moved to the side of the room with the disassembled table.
"So, Morg, you give any thought to what you want to do if you ever leave the womb of the Buy More?" asked Chuck.
"Well, everyone says you should do something for work that you enjoy doing. I don't think anyone will pay me to play video games though."
"There is a professional gaming circuit. It's a pretty recent development and I don't know if it will ever catch on, but they did some kind of tournament last year," said Chuck.
"I don't know that I'm actually good enou..."
"Cooking," said Casey.
"What?" asked Morgan.
"Cooking. You enjoy it and, I hate to admit it, but you are a pretty good cook. Your food is good. Tasty," said Casey.
"Really? You think I'm a good cook?" asked Morgan, pulling at his beard.
"Yeah, but don't let it go to your head. You're still a moron."
Morgan looked at Casey for a few extra moments and said, "Thanks, Casey. That's the nicest thing you ever said to me...well, not the 'moron' part, of course. I have always wanted to work at a Benihana."
"Ahhh," said Casey with a sound of derision, flipping a hand in dismissal. "That's theater. Not real cooking. I meant a real restaurant."
Morgan stopped to look at Casey for a while, obviously quite surprised. "You think I could work in a real restaurant?"
"Not if you keep your head up your ass, like it's been. But you have the cooking part down. It's the working part that you need to focus on," said Casey. "Just because you can cook, it doesn't make you a chef. That takes hard work and discipline. Training, practice, energy, commitment, attention to detail, imagination, consistency. Sorta like most things that mean anything. Hey, pass me another beer."
Chuck said, "I think I've got it. I think this one's done."
Morgan said, "Great. But what's that piece for? That one over there."
"No. That's part of the couch Casey's building."
"No, it's not. I have all the pieces here. The hobbit is right. That's yours," said Casey.
"Oh, crap," said Chuck.
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It was a few hours later. The furniture had been built. The TV and sound system had been hooked up and Chuck had gone into the home office/guestroom to check his messages, leaving Casey and Morgan in the living room drinking beer and watching football. The guest room was not exactly furnished to any standard of luxury. His computer stuff was set up on a folding card table and the bed for guests would be an air mattress.
He went on his computer and checked his normal email accounts. Nothing interesting. Then he went onto Granger's Video Game Message Board and looked in the section for Call of Duty discussions for a weapons thread. There were three of them. No messages from Sam Wilson on any of the three threads. Ok. So, Bryce was silent for the time being.
Then he went into the draft email he used to communicate with Yuri. A few days ago Yuri had quoted a price of US$100,000 for 50ml of SP-117 with up to 5 liters of the drug available. Graham had come back with an order of 250 ml, for a purchase price of US$500,000. Chuck was waiting for Yuri to make the arrangements for the sale.
Yuri had left a message.
Hello, my friend. That amount of the drug available with no problem. Meet me in Budapest on Monday the 7th for delivery. 2300 hours local time at A Pince, a ruin bar on the Pest side of the Danube. Please make arrangements to wire the money while with me. I'll have the product there. Looking forward to seeing all three of you. Let us make Casey buy the drinks again.
Chuck responded.
Sounds good. Let me double check with Sarah and Casey to confirm, but if you don't hear from me shortly, we will meet you there and then. And since we're paying you, I think your boss should buy the drinks for a good customer. Take it easy and be safe, my friend.
Just as he pressed save, Sarah came into the room. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and nuzzled his neck. He turned his head and kissed her.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Well, I bought a lot of the bulk goods we needed. Paper towels, toilet paper, laundry detergent, napkins, you know. Stuff like that. Looks like you guys had success. The furniture looks good. We have a living room."
"Yeah. I had a bit of a hiccup with the love seat, but that only took me an extra hour to figure out," he said with a small grin.
"I'm so excited about our place. Our place. Together. Us." She smiled a happy smile.
"Well, me too." He got serious for a few moments. "Just a few months ago, well...life sucked. I mean still sucked. Had been sucking for years. And then you came into my life and everything changed. I'm excited about our new home, but really, it's you. You. You are the best thing that ever happened to me. Ever. Without question."
She looked at him with all the love in her heart and said, "I feel exactly the same way." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. The kiss was beginning to get a little heated when she broke away. "Nope, nope, nope. We have guests and more coming. If we keep going, we'll...get distracted." She gave an impudent grin. "What's up here?" she moved her chin at the screen.
"Yuri. He wants us to pick up the sample on Monday in Budapest." He showed her the message from Yuri.
"Budapest?"
"Yeah. What's wrong? When I said 'Budapest' you looked like you got heartburn."
"I had a mission in Budapest...It's nothing. Budapest is fine."
Chuck swung his seat away from the card table and twisted it around. He put an arm around her waist and pulled her down to sit on his lap. "It doesn't sound fine. I know you can't tell me about the mission, but if you have bad memories about Budapest we can meet him somewhere else. Prague. Or Vienna or something."
She kissed him on the tip of the nose. "Naw. It's ok. Budapest is fine. It's not like I can never go back there or anything."
"Is it more dangerous for you to be in Budapest than one of the other cities? If it is, we really..."
"No. It's ok. You're thinking along the right lines, but it's ok. I'm certainly not going to run into any of the people I met on the prior mission. That's for damn sure."
"Ok. So, now we have the next hurdle to face."
"What's that?"
"I've never left the United States. I don't have a passport."
"No problem. You'll be traveling on a CIA passport, Mr. Carmichael."
"Ok. One less thing to worry about. I'll talk to Big Mike and get the vacation days tomorrow, for me and Casey both."
"Oh,...Casey," she yelled.
He came into the room carrying his beer. "We're going to Budapest to do the deal with Yuri. On Monday. We can fly Sunday. The meet is in a ruin bar on the Pest side on Monday night," she said.
"Ok. Sounds good."
"Guys, what's a ruin bar?" asked Chuck.
"When the Iron Curtain fell and Hungary came into the rest of the world a lot of Budapest was in disrepair. A lot of Eastern Europe was. Nightclub bars would spring up in ruins, like abandoned buildings … places like that. They were cheap, fun places. Mismatched furniture. Like a pop-up. Still ruined décor. They are really popular there now. All young people. Very hip," said Sarah.
"I can play the adult at a place like that. I'll be old enough to be the dad of the other customers," said Casey.
"Oh, not so old, Case," said Sarah.
"Young at heart," said Chuck.
"I'll call the Director, set up the wire, and have the travel office arrange for to get us there, and get you a passport. Oh, and," said Sarah as she waggled a finger at the computer, "download an application for a real passport, please. What if we want to go on vacation or something? You're gonna need it."
"Yes, ma'am. How do we arrange for the money to be wired?"
"It will be a CIA account someplace and they will be ready to wire it. So, all we'll have to do is send a text or email or something. They can initiate immediately when they hear from us," said Sarah.
"Late at night, though. I'm guessing they won't be using a bank in Eastern Europe or Moscow. Too late for a bank to be open. So, probably from a US bank to another bank in this hemisphere," said Chuck.
"Yeah, but why stop there?" said Casey. "The receiving bank could be in Asia. It'd just be tomorrow when the money arrives. So long as Yuri can confirm receipt, we'll be good. In the meantime, you'll get to drink Hungarian beer and watch European girls dance."
Chuck said, "I wouldn't look at European girls." Sarah raised a good-natured eyebrow with a bit of a skeptical expression. "What? I wouldn't. I have the most beautiful girl in the world." She pursed her lips at him. "Casey help me here."
"You're on your own, kid. You're the one looking at the European girls."
"No," Chuck yelled as Casey left the room, chuckling and sipping his beer.
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They had a full house for their first dinner in their new apartment, but they had wanted to host everyone to thank them for helping Sarah move from her place and Chuck move from the neighboring apartment. Not to mention assembling the furniture and TV and stuff. Dinner was Chuck, Sarah, Ellie, Devon, Morgan, Lou, and Casey. Morgan and Lou made a big salad. Chuck and Sarah made a big bowl of pasta primavera, and Casey, of course, made dessert – in this case a red velvet cake and home-made whipped cream. The wine was a couple of bottles of Schramsburg Brut Rose, a delicious sparkling wine that was left over from the prior night's celebration.
They were eating at a large folding table with an assortment of mismatched chairs, some folding. An actual dining room table was on the list of things they needed.
Once the meal was in full swing. Chuck said, "Sarah and I are going to take a vacation together."
"Awesome," said Devon. "Where are you two love birds going?"
"We thought we'd go to Eastern Europe. Maybe Prague, maybe Vienna. You know, now that the holidays are over it will be pretty affordable,"
"Oh, you'll love it there," said Lou. "That's such a fun part of the world now that the political situation is better. I've only been there in the summer, but I'll bet you have a good time anyway."
"Thanks, Lou. Any stuff for the deli you want us to smuggle back here for you?"
Lou put her hand to her forehead, laughing, and said, "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"
"We're not with Customs, so I wouldn't worry," said Chuck.
Ellie looked at them seriously for a few moments, then broke into a big smile and said, "That sounds like a great trip. Please be safe, guys."
"Oh, yeah, no worries, big sister. I have Sarah to take care of me."
"And I will," said Sarah.
"When are you leaving?" asked Morgan.
"Thought we'd leave over the weekend and take a few days next week. Little last minute, but spontaneity is fun." said Sarah. "But Ellie, can you do me one favor?"
"Sure, Sarah. Anything."
Sarah gestured at the bowl on the kitchen counter. "Can you take care of my goldfish, Bubbles?"
Ellie grinned, "Sure. I'd love to."
Dinner was over and, while Ellie and Devon went into the kitchen to do the dishes, Morgan and Lou sat on the floor with their backs to the coffee table Morgan had assembled that afternoon, and Chuck and Sarah sat on the couch to watch the end of the Sugar Bowl, pitting Georgia against Hawaii. After a few moments, Casey came over and Chuck and Sarah scooted to the side to make room for him on one end of the couch. He sat down next to Sarah. That's when the entire side of the couch fell off, pitching Casey to the floor with Sarah and Chuck tumbling on top of him.
"Godammit," yelled Casey.
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A/N2: I was in Budapest just after the fall of the Iron Curtain and ruin bars were not yet a thing. But a few years later, I'm told, they were very popular.
A/N3: Please remember that I cannot respond to reviews or PM's right now. Don't take it personally.