A/N: Thought experiment. What if Chuck owned Chuck? Well, it wouldn't have had that ending, I can tell you that much.
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The blender whirled the green concoction as Dr. Devon Woodcomb watched placidly. Kale, almond milk, banana, Greek yogurt, pineapple, honey, and peanut butter. All the antioxidants and protein a man could need. Put it in his travel bottle and he'd be set for lunch. He didn't have any surgeries until the afternoon, but he had rounds first thing in the morning. He could skip lunch and get his paperwork done before he had to get ready for the afternoon's procedures.
When he paused the blender for a moment, he heard Ellie humming to herself as she got dressed and he smiled at the blender. Even her humming was adorable. Which made sense to him, as he adored her. He considered himself the luckiest man in the world to have her love. Her love. So much of what he had achieved in his life had come from brutally hard work, but the thing he treasured the most...he had no idea how he had come to possess it. He smiled a bit. The world was an awesome place. He re-started the blender after checking the consistency of the shake.
His musings about his soon to be wife were interrupted by his cell phone ringing from an unknown caller. He shut off the blender again and answered the call.
"Hello."
"May I speak to Dr. Woodcomb, please?"
"Speaking," he said, prepared to hang up if this was a spam call.
"Hold for General Beckman, please, Doctor."
Beckman? Chuck and Sarah's boss? Why would he get a call from her?
She came on the line. "Good morning, Doctor Woodcomb. I hope I didn't call too early."
"Not at all, General. We were just getting ready to go to work. What can I do for you?"
"We could use your help in a professional capacity. There's a man in a hospital in Mexico who has suffered a cardiac event. Probably a heart attack, but we're not certain. I'd like to forward the file that we have managed to acquire from the hospital's computers for you to take a look at it. Give us your thoughts, prognosis...that kind of thing."
Devon leaned his back against the kitchen counter and started to chuckle slightly, "Scraping the bottom of the barrel, if the Intelligence Community has to reach out to the likes of me."
Beckman had the good grace to laugh along with him. "I don't know what you think we do in the Intelligence Community, Dr. Woodcomb, but exactly how many cardiologists do you think we have access to? Ones that are fluent in Spanish …"
"How do you know I speak Spanish, General? Did you guys make up a file on me?" He asked lightly, expecting that they had. The thought didn't bother him unduly. It made sense after all, given the secrets they had shared.
"Doctor, it's on your webpage from the hospital. I wouldn't exactly call that a big secret," she said laughing.
He laughed at his own silly question. "Heh. Yeah, ok. Good point."
"Anyway. With that skillset and the fact that you were thoroughly vetted before you learned about Chuck and Sarah, you are pretty much at the top of a pretty short list."
"Well, then, when you put it that way, I guess I'll be honored, General. Send the file over and I'll take a look. Probably in a couple of hours. I have to finish morning rounds first."
"That should be fine, Doctor. Thank you."
"Call back this number?"
"Yes, please."
"Awesome," he said.
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Devon finished his rounds and sat at this desk to dictate his notes. With that task done, he opened his emails and found the one from Beckman's office. 'Ok,' he thought. 'Let's see what this is about.'
As expected, the records were in Spanish, but that was no impediment to his understanding. Chihuahua Hospital in the city of Chihuahua, Mexico. Dr. Hernandez. Patient Harry Lime. Apparent heart attack while on a private jet taking him from Matamoros to Tijuana. Emergency landing and rushed to the hospital. Age 62. Height. Weight. Dual chamber pacemaker. Electrocardiogram results confirming a heart attack. Levels of the protein cardiac troponin in the blood tests matching the diagnosis. Heart murmur heard. Shortness of breath. Seems to have been a partial arterial blockage and, commensurate with that diagnosis, probably a smaller amount of damaged cardiac tissue. Chest x-rays clear.
Devon continued to study the information the NSA had obtained and slowly began to frown. He read the entire report through a second time to be sure. Once satisfied that he knew what he wanted to tell her, he let out a heavy sigh and picked up the phone to call Beckman.
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Lisa Mattock said, "A stuntwoman? Well, sure, if you really want to. I mean, we'll have to get you in the union, but that shouldn't be an issue."
"Excellent, Ms. Mattock," said Agent Forrest. "Thank you. I think that's a cover position here at the Studio that I would be well suited to."
In her ear, Forrest heard Casey say, "Forrest, we're up at bat. Come on down to Castle."
She looked at Mattock and said, "Excuse me." Into her watch she said, "Roger, Colonel. On my way."
Forrest changed elevators in the lobby of the building and made it down to their base.
Agents Walker and Carmichael were off to the side talking to a tall blond man who looked like a movie star or a male fashion model. A quick glance at the man's left hand showed no wedding ring. Forrest wasn't sure who this agent was, but she was looking forward to working with him.
As she entered, Carmichael and Walker broke off their conversation and brought the man over to her.
Walker said, "Agent Forrest, may I introduce you to Dr. Devon Woodcomb. He's going to be working with us on this mission."
"Hi, Agent Forrest, awesome to meet you," he said with a warm handshake and a full watt smile. She was definitely looking forward to working with him.
Carmichael said, "He's marrying my sister in a few months and he's been read in since last February."
"Read in?" she asked in surprise. "He's a civilian?"
"Yeah," said Devon, ebulliently. "And going on my first mission. It's awesome."
Forrest swallowed her surprise and concern as the Colonel said, "Briefing coming up."
The five of them assembled themselves in front of the screen as it came alive with General Beckman on screen.
"Good afternoon, Team," she said.
There was a general murmur of "Afternoon, Ma'am."
Beckman said, "Welcome aboard, Agent Forrest. How are you settling in?"
"Just fine, Ma'am. Thank you," said Forrest.
"Excellent. I'm sure Chuck and his team are making you welcome. Doctor Woodcomb, thank you for your assistance on this mission."
"Happy to help, General," said Devon seriously.
"Let me get down to it," said Beckman. The screen changed to a photo of a middle eastern looking man in late middle age. "This is Rashad Ahmad, a mid-level Al Qaeda operative. We believe he is in somewhat irregular contact with Osama Bin Laden."
Casey and Forrest mumbled, at the same time, "I'd love to find that son of a bitch." Startled, they looked at each other for a moment and then looked back at the screen.
Beckman continued, "We want that contact to continue. Some time ago, Ahmad received a pacemaker in an operation in Lahore, Pakistan. With the assistance of some American cash, we were given access to the device before it was implanted in his chest. It has both a listening device and a GPS tracker, both of which can be activated or downloaded wirelessly without Ahmad even knowing. For obvious reasons, this is a very useful asset. It has not borne fruit yet, but we have high expectations. The brass ring is that we locate Bin Laden."
"The problem is that Ahmad may be dying. That is why we have enlisted the aid of Doctor Woodcomb. Ahmad seems to have had a heart attack while in the air over Mexico. There was an emergency landing. He's currently in a hospital in Mexico using the name Harry Lime. Dr. Woodcomb, perhaps you can take it from here?"
"Happy to, General. I looked at the medical records the NSA was able to obtain and there are some abnormalities in the information presented. Some things that don't make sense to me. The bottom line is, I have to examine him in person to tell for sure what I'm looking at. To be able to give the General a decent prognosis."
Beckman continued, "So that is the mission, Team. Get Dr. Woodcomb into Ahmad's hospital room to examine him. It's important that Ahmad not know we've taken an interest in him, however. We don't want his future behavior to change. If AQ thinks he's under surveillance he may go to ground and not lead us to anyone of note."
Forrest said, "Won't Ahmad be suspicious of an American doctor suddenly coming in to check him out?"
Devon smiled at her and said, easily and fluently, "Esperemos que no sepa que soy americano." [Hopefully he won't know I'm American.]
Sarah smiled at that, but Forrest merely nodded her head.
Casey said, "What happens if Devon finds out this bastard is dying?"
Beckman said, "We'll be disappointed. A great deal of effort went into this operation. We will have to look out for a different subject for the same kind of implant, I suppose."
"General," Chuck spoke for the first time in the briefing, "I don't imagine Ahmad is alone in Mexico. What do we know about his entourage? How dangerous are they likely to be?"
"Don't worry about it, Chuckster. I'm sure I'll be fine," said Devon, with an insouciant grin.
Chuck looked at him seriously and said, quietly, "Please don't take this lightly, Dev. Please. This is serious. We need to know what we are up against before taking you to examine this man."
"We don't know anything, Chuck."
"Yes, Ma'am. I am, as you might expect, concerned about taking a civilian...particularly one marrying my sister, into a dangerous situation."
"I leave that to you and your team. I'm confident that you will be able to navigate those hurdles. You can take the Citation. It's at Bob Hope for your use."
"Thank you, Ma'am," said Chuck. "One more thing, please. Can you have someone send me the details of the listening device in his pacemaker? It might be useful to hear what he's saying while he's in the hospital room."
"Good idea, Chuck. I will do that," she said. "Good luck, Team," she concluded as she disabled the link.
Devon grinned and said, "This should be a piece of cake, guys. Just get me into the patient's room and I'll check him out."
Chuck didn't look at Devon but looked at Sarah and Casey as he ran both his hands through his hair and blew out a long breath. "Now I know how you guys felt taking me into the field in my early days."
Casey grunted in agreement, while Sarah put a hand on Chuck's arm.
Chuck said, "And I'm really not looking forward to telling Ellie about this."
"Oh, don't worry about that, bro. I got that covered. She's not going to mind," said Devon.
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"Absolutely not," said Ellie. "The wedding's in five months. You aren't going off on a secret spy mission with Chuck and his friends. No."
"Honey, be reasonable. It's not like I have to be a spy. That's for the real spies. All I have to do is be a doctor. I'll examine the guy, report my findings to the General and come home."
"The guy? The guy? He's Al Qaeda, Devon. Al Qaeda. He's not just some guy. He's a terrorist. And he's down in Mexico probably with a bunch of his terrorist friends. Don't you think they are going to be watching over him? Making sure he's ok? So, they'll be careful. Alert for danger."
"But Chuck and Sarah and Casey are going with me. And the new agent, the one replacing Amy. Forrest, her name is. I'm going to be perfectly safe."
"I'm not losing you, Devon. I'm not. I love you too much." Ellie was pacing around the apartment like a caged lioness.
"I love you too, Babe," he said. "If you really want me to, I'll beg off. I'll tell Beckman I can't do it."
"What will she do?" asked Ellie.
"I suppose she'll send someone else. Another doctor to examine him."
"And then that doctor will be in danger..."
"I don't think there's that much danger," he said, "but yeah, I guess so."
Ellie gave a long sigh and said, "Ok. You can do it. But I'm going with you."
"What? No, you can't," he said.
"Why not?" asked Ellie.
"Well, it's a spy mission. I can't just go inviting other people along. It's not like a weekend with friends at the beach. There are rules and things...probably. And anyway...it's..."
"You're not about to tell me it's too dangerous, are you? Because we just established that it's not dangerous, right?"
"Right. It's not dangerous, but it's still not a great idea. It's another person that the real spies have to keep track of."
"I won't get in anyone's way and I'll be able to act as your nurse if you need someone to take that role."
"You'll have to be a Mexican nurse and you don't speak Spanish," he said.
"That only matters if someone talks to me. If you and Sarah are with me, I won't have to say a word. You can do all the Spanish. And this way I can make sure you're ok."
Devon blew out a long breath of air and said, "I don't know, Babe..."
"Please?" asked Ellie, giving him a pleading look.
"Ok. Ok. I'll go talk to Chuck and Sarah."
Ellie gave him a little smile of thanks.
He left the apartment and crossed the courtyard to knock at his future brother-in-law's door.
He heard a noise on the other side and saw the peephole darken. Then the door was opened by Emma.
"Hi, Devon. What's up?"
Devon leaned forward to give the older woman a kiss on the cheek. "Hi, Emma. Where's Molly?"
"Asleep," she replied.
"Ah. Are Chuck and Sarah home?"
"I'm right here," said Chuck from the couch. "Emma and I were watching The Third Man. You need me to get Sarah? She's just folding laundry."
"Yes, please, Chuckster. It's about the trip we're going to be taking in the morning."
"Whoops," said Emma. "Spy stuff. I'm outta here. I'll get Sarah, Chuck," She retreated to her room, but knocked on Chuck and Sarah's bedroom door and said, "Sweetie, Devon is here to talk with you."
"Coming," called Sarah.
Leaning back with his butt against the back of the couch, Chuck said to Devon, "You better hope you're not Joseph Cotten."
Confused, Devon said, "Umm. Ok, I guess."
"Harry Lime was played by Orson Welles in The Third Man. Joseph Cotten goes to meet him in post-war Vienna and finds him dead when he gets there."
"Ohh, yeah. Guess not. That would suck, would it?"
"Yeah, pretty comprehensively," said Chuck, with a nod of his head.
Sarah came out from the back wearing shorts and a tee shirt from Stanford...no, Devon looked closely. It looked like a typical gray gym shirt, but declared it was the Property of Starfleet Academy.
"Guys, we have a problem," said Devon. "Ellie is insisting on coming with us to Mexico. She says she can be helpful, but I think she just wants to keep an eye on me. Make sure I don't get in trouble."
Sarah gave a bark of laughter. Chuck and Devon looked at her with surprise. "Sorry, guys. I don't think it's that at all. I just think she doesn't want to be left out. Be the only one at home when all her friends go off on an adventure. I'm sure she can come up with compelling reasons, but deep down I'll bet you I'm right."
"I guess that could be it," said Devon thoughtfully. "But what are we going to do about it?"
"We'll bring her along, of course. There's no way she causes a problem for us. She's way too smart and switched on. Christ. I worry less about her than I do about Forrest. She's a totally unknown quantity," said Sarah.
"Beckman'll have a cow...but..." said Chuck with the beginnings of a smile.
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," said Sarah with a grin.
"Awesome," said Devon.
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A/N2: Chuck Versus The Broken Heart had some pretty big logical gaps, in my opinion. The terrorist just happens to end up coming into Devon's hospital to get a pacemaker? No kidding. Implantation of a pacemaker is actually a pretty routine procedure and could be done in just about any hospital. No need to travel all the way around the world to get one. And the patient would be sent home the next day, in all likelihood. In addition, would this guy really head to America of all places to have this procedure taken care of? He's got to know we have files on him and his buddies. We are pretty much the last place on earth he would come to voluntarily. And I haven't even gotten to the gigantic coincidence that of all the surgeons in all the world he could see, he ends up with the guy whose future brother-in-law is the Intersect and is teamed with two amazing spies. Because everything in Chuck's world happens in Los Angeles and to these people.
A/N3: I find it hard to fake knowledge of the medical stuff (remember the Payne Arc?). On this arc, though, I have some help. I've leaned on a buddy of mine who is a professor of cardiology at a local medical school to provide me with the medical bits of the story. Thanks, dude.
A/N4: The spy plot has arrived. Team B has to get Devon into a hospital room in Mexico to check out a terrorist with a bad ticker. Shouldn't be too tough, right? Let me know what you think.