Disclaimer: We don't own Chuck, and we aren't making any money from writing this story.
Chuck slammed his fist on the railing of the staircase as they hurried down into Castle. "This is my fault. If I'd just used my head…"
"This isn't your fault," Sarah said, rushing down behind him. He let her take the lead into the conference room once they got to the bottom of the stairs. "We acted on the information we were given. It was a mistake, and we all made it. Equally."
"Sarah, I should've known that guy wasn't a real threat. He wasn't in here." He tapped his temple. "He wasn't in the only database that matters, okay? The Intersect. And I should've known."
"That's ridiculous," she said, going to the controls and starting to pull Beckman up. They'd called her from the car and she requested a video call the moment they got into Castle. "He was making a move towards Goya, Chuck."
The screen flared to life then and Beckman was sitting in her usual seat at her desk, decked out in an elegant black gown. That was...different.
"General, we don't have much time," Sarah said. "Now we know Goya's men took Casey from the consulate about thirty minutes ago. On the way here, I pinpointed a few places where he might b—"
"We're going to have to wait on that, Agent Walker."
Chuck sat at the table and Sarah stepped in close behind him. "What do you mean, wait?" he asked. "General, I hate to interrupt your little cocktail party you've got going on there, but we've got a man down, here."
Beckman sighed. She looked tired, exhausted really. "I appreciate your loyalty, Agent. Make no mistake about it, Major Casey is an important part of this team…"
"Well, then storm the consulate," Chuck said, almost breaking his finger with how hard he pointed it into the table. "Get the Black-Ops in there. Who gives a damn about the Costa Gravan soil shit? That's our guy!"
"Agent—"
"He was just doing his job! We can't just let him rot in there for that, General!"
"With Casey's history with Costa Gravas and Goya in particular, I can't even imagine what they're doing to him right now," Sarah said, backing him up. He felt a flood of relief go through him. Not that he thought she wouldn't, but it was good to have back-up in this.
"Look, Agents. He's your partner. He's my best agent. I want to get him back to safety as much as you both do. Trust me." There was some worry on her face, but there was steel as well, and Chuck had a feeling this wasn't going to go in their favor at all. "We're going to do everything we can to get the major back. Using diplomatic channels."
Chuck furrowed his brow. "Diplomatic channels? General!"
"We can't risk upsetting relations with Costa Gravas, Chuck! Their country's future is in the balance. And with that goes the entire region's future as well. We need the premier to make his announcement, and until that time, the major is going to have to handle this himself. In the meantime, we're going to keep in contact with the proper people at the consulate and try to negotiate his freedom."
"Negotiate his…" Chuck turned a look of disbelief on Sarah, seeing consternation in her face. And he turned back to the general. "He's the Angel de la Muerte, General! There is no negotiation! He's a wanted man! And now they've got him!" Chuck climbed up to his feet.
"We all have our part to play, Chuck. This is something you're going to have to learn now that you're an agent with the NSA. Hard choices have to be made, and sometimes it's going to mean letting a partner handle a situation alone. That's all there is to say about it."
And she obviously meant that because she quickly slammed her finger down on the button to disconnect the call. "Can you even believe this?" Chuck groused, spinning on Sarah.
"Yes, unfortunately. I can." She leaned her hip against the table next to him and shook her head. "It happens all the time, Chuck. The premier making his announcement of allegiance is incredibly important—it's something we've been working towards for years. They aren't going to throw it out the window for one man, no matter who he is."
"Well, that's fucked." He slumped to sit on the table. "It's fucked and I can't just...I can't just stand for this. Right? We can't let them do this to Casey. It's our fault—my fault—this happened. It was my future brother-in-law who tackled him."
Casey had gone in disguised as a guard to try to stop the assassin, but before he could take the bastard out, Captain Awesome had spotted him pull a gun and, not recognizing his neighbor, he'd tackled him to the ground, knocking Casey's disguise off of his face. Of course Goya recognized him then and had his guards take the Angel de la Muerte away. Awesome received a hero's reception from everybody and Goya had announced in front of the entire room that he'd saved his life again.
Chuck imagined his future brother-in-law was now explaining what actually went on tonight to his sister. The guy wasn't great at keeping secrets from Ellie. Which was one of the reasons why he was such a great fit for her. But damn, Ellie'd be pissed at Chuck later. He just knew it.
Sarah shook her head. "General Beckman has orders from the top. And while she's right, it's important for Goya to make his announcement without incident, Casey's my partner. I'm not letting him sit in there to rot. Look, go home. Make sure everything's okay with your family. I'll work something out, okay?"
"Sarah, I can't just—" He stopped at the look on her face. Sure, they were partners, but she was still a superior in a lot of ways. And she'd made a promise to protect him. He knew sending him home was part of that, but also part of making sure his family was safe, too. Chuck also trusted Sarah more than he trusted anyone else in the entire universe, so there was that. "Okay. Fine. I'm assuming Awesome explained what we were really doing there by now and El's gonna wanna get some yelling at me in."
"I'm sure Devon feels like crap about Casey. Make sure he knows that nobody blames him. I doubt Casey even does," Sarah said. Chuck smiled a little at her and she looked away.
Nodding, he brushed past her. "Okay. Let me know if you're making a move. We're partners. I'm not letting you go into that consulate alone."
She just gave him one small head nod.
It was right as he finally dragged himself back into the courtyard of his apartment complex that Awesome rushed out of his apartment. "Chuck. Hey. I need to talk to you real quick."
"I know, I know. You told Ellie about the consulate and that we were there protecting the Premier from an assassin and now she's pissed we kept it from her. It's okay. I'm used to her getting pissed at me for stuff. We'll work it out." He was tired. He just wanted to sit down and have a drink. He also had the lingering effects from not just the flash he'd had on the assassin, but also the feeling of Sarah pressed against him, which had sincerely wrecked his focus on that dance floor. Every day he was reminded of how hard this was going to be.
"No. Bro, I—I mean, yes. Ellie's not too happy. But it could've been worse. She didn't throw anything. She just locked me out of the bathroom and is taking a shower. Safe to say I will not be getting my romantic night like I thought."
"Don't need that."
"Right, sorry. Here's the dish. The consulate contacted me. The Premier collapsed again." That sent a shock through his body and he was suddenly very awake again. "I think he must've been poisoned by the actual assassin and now he's asked for me specifically to be his doctor. Bro, I can get us back into the consulate to help John. It's my fault he's there, let me help you get him out."
Chuck frowned and looked down at Awesome's phone. "Shit. That's a good idea, let's go get Sarah. We don't have much time, come on."
}o{
Sarah had already pulled up the schematics for the Costa Gravan consulate and was gathering weapons and body armor. She'd storm the fucking place on her own to get Casey out. She knew how to get in. Getting out might be a problem, but hopefully she'd have an alive and conscious Major John Casey of the NSA at her side through that part of it.
She swung around the corner and froze at the sight of Chuck and Awesome standing at the computer. "What the hell is this, Chuck?"
He spun on her as she slammed her gear down on the table. "Sarah! Okay, we've got an—"
"You brought him here again?" she asked. "Beckman was onboard the first time, but Chuck…"
He saw she was tossing things in a duffel and he started taking them out again. She just gaped at him in annoyance. "What the hell is this?" he snapped back. "What are you planning on doing, Agent Walker, huh? Storm the consulate on your own? Guns a'blazing?"
"Awesome," she heard his future brother-in-law mutter.
"I'm getting Casey out." She put everything back into the duffel and gave him a look daring him to even try to take it back out again. She'd snap his wrists. She could see by the look on his face that he knew she would. And he kept his arms at his sides.
"We're coming with you."
She shook her head. "No. You're still going through training, and there's no way in hell you're coming, Devon. What happened here, Chuck?" she asked then, meeting his gaze. "Wasn't your whole thing joining the NSA that you wanted to keep your family and friends safe? And you want to bring the guy marrying your sister into what will most likely be a war zone by the time I'm done with it?"
"Hold on. That's what I'm saying. That's what I mean. You and Casey, wanting to just kick doors in and getting yourselves shot. It doesn't have to be a war zone, Sarah. Devon thinks he has an idea to get us into the consulate. The Premier asked for him to be his own personal physician. He's collapsed again, probably poison like the first time…"
Sarah felt an idea sprout up almost immediately. Chuck was right. A war zone wasn't necessary. Just a few easy enough disguises. They could pull this off.
"Okay, here's my idea—"
"Stop right there. I'm already way ahead of you," she chirped confidently.
It took less than an hour for them to get to the gates of the consulate. Devon decked himself out in his usual white coat with scrubs underneath and Sarah had dressed herself likewise, Chuck tossing a pair of white scrubs on.
"Are you sure they're gonna believe a woman doctor? I mean, you saw the way the Premier was eyeing my fiancée, right? Not exactly the most progressive dude when it comes to equality of the sexes," Devon had said when she came out wearing her full doctor's get-up.
"He's unconscious and can go screw himself if he has a problem with it. It's the twenty-first century and my sister is the best neurosurgeon on the planet," Chuck had responded, not seeming all that put out by his role as nurse.
"Look, I know what I'm doing. You take the lead and I can follow, Devon. You can trust me as your partner in this."
They were let in easily enough, most likely informed of the doctor's imminent arrival, and as they followed behind the guards, Sarah leaned in. "You've got this, Devon. Okay? This is what you do every single day."
"You're Superman, bro," Chuck whispered, patting the blonde on his shoulder just once. Sarah thought that one might be better used on someone like Morgan. But the doctor seemed at least a little buoyed by it.
"Here, face masks. These are important." Doctor Woodcomb was there suddenly, and it was a stark contrast to the grinning man she was used to seeing. He handed out face masks.
"Right. Really completes the look," Chuck mumbled.
"No. They're literally important. Come on, bro. Focus."
Sarah bit the inside of her cheek at the slight pout on Chuck's face. They were led to a bedroom where Goya was laid out on his bed, IVs attached to him, his face pale and slack. He looked like he was on death's doorstep.
"How am I supposed to work in here?" Devon demanded as the guard looked up at him. "This man needs to get to a hospital right now."
"Why?" the guard asked. "So you Americans can just kill him again? The Premier's orders were clear."
Devon was already placing his stethoscope on Goya's chest. "Acute arrhythmia. This guy is hating life right now…"
"Remember, Doctor Woodcomb. If the Premier doesn't—"
"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. I got it. Just step back so my team and I can get to work."
That shut the asshole up good and she smiled a little behind the face mask she'd slipped over her mouth and nose.
"Okay, he's in a lot of trouble. Same as last time, insulin seemed to help, so I'm gonna need ten units stat, nurse." Chuck spun from where he was setting everything up on the medical tray. Sarah cleared her throat to divert the guards' attention to her as Devon mouthed what Chuck was looking for to him.
Chuck didn't seem to know if it was on the tray already or in the bag, so Sarah turned and handed Chuck the clipboard. "Hold that. I'll give the Premier the insulin." She gave Chuck a significant look over her glasses and stepped away. Devon's medical bag was on the table near the two guards. She caught their eyes and gave them each a bit of a smile, diverting their attention from Chuck and Devon again.
All she had to do was take out two guards, which was easy enough. Devon could stay with his patient. She and Chuck would go get Casey out of this place. She found the insulin easy enough and rolled the nearby tray a little closer to the guards, pulling her glasses a bit down her nose as if looking for the right angle to read the label.
Then she brought her hand down and knocked the contents of the tray onto the floor. "Oops!" she chirped as one of the guards smirked and knelt down to help her pick everything up. She swung her foot and made direct contact with his face, immediately spinning to jam her elbow into the second guard's nose. She caught the barrel of his submachine gun against her hip so that he couldn't use it and ripped it away from him, then brought it around to crack it into the first guard's face as he clambered up to his feet again.
She made quick work of both of them, finally landing a critical roundhouse kick to one of them and turning to the guard still on his knees, slamming his own gun down into his face.
Agent Walker blew a bit of hair out of her face, propped the submachine gun on her hip, and turned on her heel to face her current partners as if what she'd just done was as easy as blowing the candles out on a birthday cake. "Let's go," she said, pulling her glasses off and tossing them to the side.
"That is some woman, bro," she heard Devon say.
"You have no idea."
Sarah bit the inside of her cheek as she hit the doorway of the room and looked right and left to make sure they had a clear path.
Chuck was right on her heels as she led him through the consulate. The schematics she'd studied would lead her right down into the underbelly of the building where she was sure they'd keep someone if they planned on torturing him.
And as they finally hit the staircase down into the room, she heard Casey's voice and a gunshot.
"Angel de la Muerte!" the guard at the door gasped, but she rushed the stairs two at a time and bashed the submachine gun she was carrying into his face, knocking him out cold before he could get another bullet off.
As she and Chuck spilled into the room, Casey growled, holding his leg. Shit, he had been shot. But he was alive. So far.
"Let's get outta here," he panted.
"First we gotta get Awesome," Chuck said, and Casey gave him a what the fuck look.
"You brought your sister's fiancé to this shitshow?!"
"Come on," she interrupted, rushing into the room and helping Casey hobble out of there. "Chuck, you help him. I'll take point."
It took them another few minutes with how slow Casey was moving, but they got back to the bedroom where Devon was still trying to save the Premier. She burst the door open. "Devon, we have to get out of here. Now."
"You have to get out of here. Those guards are looking for you. All of you. And they're gonna kill you if they find you. I can't leave. He'll die without me here taking care of him."
"Yeah, well we're all gonna die if we stay here," Chuck panicked. "Look, Awesome, we've gotten Casey, we're good. Mission over."
"Sorry, Chuck," Devon said, his face grave as he continued to work. "My mission's not over."
"The hell?" Casey groused. "What do you care if this bastard lives or dies? He's a tyrant. You know how many people he's killed to get where he is now?"
"You're one to talk, Angel de la Muerte." They spun as guards spilled into the room, guns up, ready to shoot at the slightest provocation.
Chuck piped up quickly. "He isn't here as the Angel of Death right now, okay? He's here to protect your boss. We all are. The real assassin who's been trying to kill him this whole time is down in that cell."
"We just came from there and no one is in that cell," the guard growled.
Casey grunted, and then he tipped like a redwood that had been chopped down, hitting the floor with a loud thump.
"He's bleeding to death!" Chuck yelled. "We have to get him to a doctor! Please!"
"Oh but he has a doctor, doesn't he?" the guard asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, I'm a little busy here," Devon groused.
"Not you. Her." The guard turned to Sarah then.
"What her? Her her?" Chuck asked, starting to panic a bit. The corner of Sarah's mouth twitched.
"If you really are a doctor, señorita, and not an assassin…" Her eyes flicked to the two guards sporting bruises and gashes on their faces, looking woozy and shaken up behind their superior, but still able to hold their guns up unfortunately. She understood his implication. She was a doctor who'd just kicked two of his men's asses. "Then you can save your friend's life, no?"
"No. I-I mean yes. Yes. Of course she can...Right? Right? You can." Chuck gulped as he stared at her.
She pointed to the guards. "You two, lift that man up and bring him in here." She watched them hoist Casey off of the floor and led them through the doorway to the next room over, laying him out on a chaise lounge. "Perfect. Nurse. I'll need your help, please."
Chuck was there, giving her an unsure look as he knelt down next to Casey, following her lead. She handed him a pair of gloves, then slipped her own on. She'd pulled bullets out of her own leg before. She could do it for someone else. Easy.
"Right, so—so, uh, what's first, doctor?"
"Anesthesia, nurse."
"No!" the guard snapped, gesturing to another of his men who lifted his gun and pointed it at them. "No anesthesia."
Casey looked up at her in terror as another guard walked up and jammed something between his teeth. Sorry, big guy… she tried to say with a look. He grunted in fear behind the knife holster jammed in his mouth.
"Okay, okay. Okay. No anesthesia. We can do no anesthesia. You've done this millions of times without anesthesia, doctor. Yep. You're a big tough guy, right C—"
Sarah shut Chuck up with an elbow to his rib. He wasn't even the one with the bullet in his leg and he was spiraling.
"The bullet might've grazed his femoral artery. Whatever you do—!"
"Ah ah!" the guard cut Devon off from where he was instructing them in the other room. "I think Doctor Señorita knows what to do. Don't you, bonita?"
She ignored him. "Nurse, cut those pants open for me so I can see the wound."
Chuck grabbed scissors out of the bag he'd brought with him and reached over to slice up the leg of Casey's pants, opening them up to reveal the wound gushing blood just over his knee and on the outside of his left thigh.
She'd done this before but not with a nurse and not with so many tools at her disposal. She had to make it look professional.
"Sarah, you have the hands of a surgeon," Devon piped up from the other room. Chuck looked queasy as he gaped at the wound, like he might sway a little, or even faint. That would ruin everything.
"Can we open up a window or something?" she asked. "It's hot in here and I'm struggling to concentrate."
"No. We can't. Just do the work, doctor. Or I'll put a bullet in both of you right now to match his. Only yours will be in the back of your head."
Chuck sent a glare over his shoulder at the guard, but she just shook herself and licked her lips.
"You can do this, Sarah," he breathed then. "You can do anything. There's a reason why you're the doctor and I'm the nurse in this situation, okay? It's all you."
She nodded and took another deep breath. "Nurse, hand me the suction," she said then. She needed to see what she'd be doing after all. She was about to take this bullet out of a wound that was still bleeding. "And the scalpel."
"Right away, doctor."
She worked fast, and when she spotted the bullet in his leg finally, she thrust her hand out towards Chuck. "Tweezers. I see it."
Casey's eyes were rolling in pain and he was growling awfully. She ignored it. She'd done this before. In a much worse setting. And to herself. She had to keep reminding herself.
Digging the tweezers into Casey's leg, she felt the metallic clink between her tweezers and closed them, pulling the bullet out and dropped it into the pan Chuck held close for her. "Got it."
She was too relieved to get too caught up in the proud grin Chuck turned on her. And as exhausted and wrecked as Casey looked, he seemed relieved as well.
But then a loud beeping came from the other room.
They all spun as the guard stomped back into the bedroom demanding to know what was going on.
"I already told all of you that I couldn't do much for him here. I need him at a damn hospital!" Devon snapped. He reached over to inject something into the Premier. "He's going to die without a blood transfusion. And I don't even know what type blood he has!"
"AB negative."
They all turned back to Casey who looked dizzy and very out of it. "What?" she asked.
"Hiz blood type. Iz AB negative."
"How do you know that?" Chuck asked.
"I lived in 'iz walls for a very long time an' learned a lot about 'im. Like thez thingz I will lizt for you right now: Hiz blood type? AB negative. Fav'it movie? Terms of Endearment. He always showerz af'er he haz sex."
"All right, enough of that, thanks," Chuck muttered.
"Look, none of those things help me unless we get someone in here with a blood type of AB negative," Devon cut in. "Is anybody here AB negative?" He repeated it again in Spanish, then added. "It needs to be someone big."
Sarah watched as Chuck reached out and grabbed Casey's dog tags that were sticking out of his collar.
"Ey! Give 'em! Give 'oz back!"
She saw it right along with Chuck and they exchanged a look. Oh boy, Casey was not going to be happy.
"No! I swear to God, iv you take e'en a drop o' my blood to save 'at piece of sh—DON'T YOU DARE!"
But Chuck had already fixed the mask over his face and was knocking the NSA agent out. "I'm really sorry, buddy. But it needs to be done."
And just like that, he was out.
}o{
Chuck nearly collapsed after getting Casey into his chair. Sarah had helped him but with the wires attached to the bag and everything else the poor guy was hooked up to, he wasn't all that sure Sarah had helped much. He grumbled inwardly a little at her for it.
He straightened and felt a few pops in his back, cursing under his breath. And then he watched as Sarah walked back behind the chair to straighten Casey's head from where it had slumped forward. "You wanna connect us to Beckman?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I can do that."
She'd since shirked the Orange Orange sweatshirt, just in the tank and white capris, moving around the conference room in bright orange Converse with the sky blue laces, blowing her hair out of her face as she made sure nothing had disconnected from Casey during the move from the cot he'd been out cold in the last few hours to the chair.
Chuck swallowed hard and turned away from her, going to the panel to call Beckman. But then he stopped, and he spun on his heel to face her again. "Sarah."
She glanced over her shoulder at him and must have noticed the look on his face because she stood to her full height and faced him. "What is it, Chuck? Is it not working?"
"No. Nah, it's—I mean, it's working. I just…" He licked his lips and looked off to the side, wringing his hands in front of him, before he looked at her again. "You saved Casey's life. And you saved the rest of our lives, you know? You, uh, came through. Big time. Taking the bullet out of Casey's leg? That was seriously amazing. And I just needed you to know that. I needed you to hear it from...somebody."
Sarah blinked at him, looking a bit surprised. And then she smiled a little. "Thank you, Chuck. I've, uh, done it before."
It was yet another reminder of the life he'd chosen. How many people had Sarah had to pull a bullet out of? Would he have to do the same someday? He'd almost had to today. He would've had to if Sarah hadn't been there. And that was a reminder of just how lucky he was that his decision to join the NSA hadn't prompted Sarah to leave the team for good. She could have. And he wouldn't have blamed her.
Chuck found himself just looking at her. He had more to say, he just didn't know what. He was just glad she was here. He was glad he had her on his team.
"Uh, Chuck…? Beckman."
He shook himself. "Right. Right, yes. I'm just gonna...get Beckman."
He could feel Sarah's eyes on him as he turned back around and put in the call. While they waited, he went back to Casey and leaned down with his face close to the older man's. "Think he's comin' to," he muttered and he felt Sarah come up and stand behind him.
The NSA agent grunted then and a raspy groan came out of him as he blinked his eyes open slowly. Chuck snapped a little near his face to speed up the process.
When a smile swept over the other man's face, Chuck immediately knew Casey had maybe gotten a little too big of a dose of that gas he'd used to knock him out. "Ohhh hehehe hey Chuckie…" Casey chirped, and Chuck raised his eyebrows in surprise, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from showing too much amusement. "Ugh I feel like death," he groaned, the smile dying. "What happened?"
Chuck felt Sarah shift behind him as the monitor beeped, and he looked behind him as she said, "You're just in time, big boy." She reached back and turned on the screen, revealing Beckman at her desk.
He had to turn on his heel and straighten up to see her as she immediately dove in without pretense.
"Congratulations, team. That was excellent work, and the Premier made a full recovery. Whatever the hell went on in that embassy—I don't need to know. Really. I don't," she said, holding up a hand as Chuck moved to explain. He shut his mouth so quick his teeth audibly clicked. "Whatever it was, you saved his life, and he was able to make his announcement as planned. Costa Gravas is, as we speak, preparing to have their first democratic election." Beckman looked at Casey in particular then. "None of this would have happened without your extraordinary sacrifice, Major Casey."
Chuck pursed his lips and widened his eyes as he heard the confused grunt from Casey. Then he looked down at the bandage wrapped around his leg wound.
"Oh. Yeah, I got shot but that's nothin' extraordinary, General."
Beckman looked tired suddenly as she sighed heavily, and Chuck turned from where he leaned against the desk to exchange a look with Sarah. It was more like a wince to her slight smirk.
She cleared her throat daintily. "You, uh...don't remember, Casey?"
Chuck mouthed Isnay on the… but she was studiously ignoring him, damn it.
"What d'you mean? Remember what?" He looked around at both of them. Chuck felt a permanent wince on his face.
"The, uh, generous donation?" Sarah asked in a smooth voice.
"Dona—?" He froze and then slowly turned to look at Chuck. The NSA trainee figured he was dead as a red curtain of rage swept over Casey's face. "You stole my blood," he growled through a clenched jaw. "You knocked me out," he snarled, and then he glanced at Sarah, "and you took my blood and put it in a stinking commie despot."
"Former!" Chuck clarified. "He's a former stinking commie despot." His grin was very toothy.
"I'm going to murder you in your sl—"
"Major Casey," General Beckman interceded, clearing her throat. He sat at attention, looking only a little contrite. "You can murder Agent Carmichael later. Let's stay on task." Chuck did a double take and he thought he heard Sarah choke a giggle back. "The Premier wanted to thank you personally, but it was imperative he returned to Costa Gravas immediately."
"This will have to do," Sarah said, moving to grab the box of cigars and the note Goya had written the man he'd insisted on calling "The Angel of Life" once he'd come to in his bed at the embassy. She slid it onto Casey's lap and fell in beside Chuck, leaning against the desk he sat on, her hip close to his he couldn't help noticing.
They watched Casey enjoy his cigars for a few moments, read his note, and drop it on the ground in disgust.
Beckman soon signed off with another congratulations and left the three of them alone in Castle again.
"So, uh, now that you've got your cigars, buddy, you feel better about the whole blood thing, right?" Chuck asked. Casey did a semi-Exorcist head turn with a growl, fixing him with hate-eyes, and Chuck pushed off of the desk. "Well, I've gotta go. Got things to do. Be well, Casey. Sarah."
And he rushed out of the room altogether, leaving an amused Sarah Walker and enraged John Casey in his wake.
It took him a minute or so to ascend the staircase and push his way through the Castle exit into the Orange Orange storefront. But just as he was walking around the frozen yogurt counter, he spotted his future brother-in-law peering in through the glass door. He rapped on it with his knuckles, made eye contact with Chuck, and smiled a little.
Concerned, Chuck hurried to the door and glanced over his shoulder to see that nobody had followed him. So he unlocked and opened the door for Awesome to come in.
"Hey," Awesome breathed as he stepped in. He looked a little tired and rundown, but there was something else in his face. Adrenaline maybe? Maybe it was just the last dredges of adrenaline still leftover from earlier.
"Hey, man," Chuck chirped. "What's going on?"
"Just wondering how it went with headquarters," he said.
Chuck studied his face and narrowed his eyes a bit dubiously. "Are you, uh, wondering if Beckman gave us a new mission, Captain? Because, uh…" Chuck shoved his hands in his pockets. "That's a no go. You did your job, man. You're to be commended, too, but…" How did he tell his sister's fiancé to stay the hell out of the spy life because Ellie was already struggling with one of the men in her life being involved.
"Oh, hey no. Dude." Awesome stuck his hand out and shook his head seriously, one eyebrow raised. "You kidding? I definitely scratched my espionage itch. Haven't had that many guns in my face since we had a rodeo themed party in my frat house junior year at UCLA."
"There are so many implications with that and I don't really want to know."
"Ahh!" Awesome pointed at him with a grin. "Don't get me wrong, bro. Black tie dinners and embassy extractions are awesome. It's just not worth it, though."
"What's not?" Chuck asked, confused.
"I dunno, man. This whole leading a double life thing. Just being there tonight and not telling Ellie what was really going down? That we were protecting the Premier from an assassin? That was hard. It sucked. I hated it. You did it for months on end, bro, and I couldn't even handle a few hours." He shook his head. "And then there's you and Sarah. Dude, all these months I thought you two were…" He drifted off but the way he wiggled his eyebrows left nothing to the imagination. Chuck just pressed his lips together and sighed, hanging his head a bit. "And you weren't. Now you're really working together, as spies side by side fighting crime…"
"That's...That's more like… private eyes…"
"Oh. Right. Same diff." Chuck made a doubtful face. "The point is, you're stronger than me, dude. I couldn't put aside something I really, really want...not even for the glamorous spy life, not even if I got to be James Bond. I couldn't put aside being with Ellie for this. Even if it meant saving the world."
Chuck felt that last bit hit him right in the chest, but then the door to Castle slammed shut and Sarah appeared, halting a little as she spotted them standing near the Orange Orange exit. Awesome turned and smiled at her.
"Well, I gotta run. I need to finish a few things up at the hospital, and then I am going home to Ellie to pour her many glasses of wine before I tell her literally everything and then maybe or maybe not sleep on the couch tonight." He gave a pained look at both of them.
"Sorry, Devon," Sarah drawled, an apologetic look on her face, even as she smiled in amusement.
"Hey, I saved the world. In a sense." He grinned and clapped Chuck on the back. "You two take care of each other, huh?"
He was gone then, disappearing into the dark parking lot. And leaving Chuck alone in the Orange Orange with Sarah. He cleared his throat and turned back. "I think he's gonna be fine."
She raised her eyebrows and nodded, crossing her arms as she stopped in front of him. "He would've made a pretty great spy," she joked, and he sniffed in amusement, grinning and nodding.
"There's probably only room for one spy in this family. And anyway, this isn't what he wants."
"What?" she asked, tilting her head and furrowing her brow curiously.
"Being a spy. If he'd been in my shoes, he wouldn't have made the same decision that I made." What Awesome said hadn't felt like a dig on him or on his decision. He was just honestly voicing his realization that as "glamorous" as all of this had seemed, he already had something better. Something that meant more to him. "He's already a superhero. That's better than being a spy."
That made her smile and shake her head. "Nerd."
"That's truuuue," he drawled, sticking his hands in his pockets again.
Awesome's words came back to him. Had he chosen saving the world over the one thing he wanted more than everything else? Was that what he'd done? No. It wasn't just saving the world. He'd wanted this. He'd let himself think he could have this if he joined the NSA. Agent Sarah Walker, his partner, teammate...and more. He'd seen the chance to be with the woman he loved on that path, and he'd clambered towards that path so recklessly and desperately that he'd tripped on his own damn feet, crashing right onto his face. And now he wasn't sure what was on this path. He wasn't sure he still had that chance.
What he did know was that he couldn't just accept it without trying. He had to try. That didn't mean taking her in his arms right here in the middle of the frozen yogurt shop the way he wanted to. But maybe he could start with an olive branch of sorts.
"Hey, so… I actually have a question for you, if that's okay." He tilted his torso to the side a bit and narrowed his eyes.
"Sure." She shifted her weight slightly, and he figured she was probably nervous about what he was about to ask. He couldn't deny, it hurt him a little. But he covered it with a small smile.
"I was actually thinkin' about this the other night when...when we were, uh, on the dance floor. Um. Well, you taught me how to dance the actual lead part of the tango, which I appreciate." She smirked a little. "I was hoping, you know, since we're doin' this, since I-I'm doing this, you might sort of...teach me some things." She dropped her gaze a bit, not looking displeased exactly, but looking rather surprised he thought. When she didn't respond, he continued, pulling his hand out of his pocket to gesture as he spoke. "Casey has been teaching me some stuff with a bō," he said, getting into pose and whipping an invisible bo back and forth with his own version of Bruce Lee fighting sounds. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "And some hand to hand stuff. But ya know, he got shot. And he can't do that anymore. At least not for a while. So I thought I'd ask you if you could teach me some things in the interim."
Sarah arched her eyebrow. "Wow, Chuck. Casey has to get shot before you ask me to run your fight training. I see how it is."
She'd surprised him with that. And he laughed out loud, rocking forward a bit. "I'm very sorry. I should've come to you first. He's actually very mean, if I'm bein' fully honest with you." She snorted and giggled a bit. "I thought he called me a moron too much before, but sometimes when I'm in the middle of Casey Training, I find myself wondering if my name is actually 'Moron' and not Chuck."
She sniffed in amusement and shook her head.
And then he swallowed, sobering up a little. "The truth is, Sarah… You weren't, uh, you weren't really here when I first joined the NSA. And I get it," he rushed, holding his hand out when she looked like she might go on the offensive for a moment. "I get why. I don't blame you for that, not even a little bit. But that's why Casey did my training. And now that you're here, I'm really glad, I'm so glad you're here… But I haven't asked you to train me before now because…" He didn't know how to really phrase it.
"Because I've been so pissed at you?" Yep. That was it. He puffed out his cheeks and shrugged, nodding. But she smiled, just the very edges up her lips turning up. "I'll help you train, Chuck." She sighed then. "We'll see what we can do with...this." She gestured up and down his body, making a face and crossing her arms again.
Chuck cackled. "Ooooh. Wow. Wow, okay. Listen, I'm no Captain Awesome, but I've been working on the weights and I'll have you know, I'm a master at pull-ups now."
She grinned, and he was endlessly relieved to see a light shining in her blue eyes too. "I'll believe it when I see it," she teased.
"Okay, fine. Fine. We can start tonight. Right now. You follow me back to my place, we'll do one hour of classic Super Contra on my vintage collector's NES Nintendo gaming system, pause it because there were no saves back in the old days, Agent Walker—oh ho ho no there were not—and then we will have a pull-up competition. Loser has to down two of Morgan's grape sodas in the fridge."
She laughed. "Uhhh...I don't think that's the kind of training I'm thinking of."
"Too soon for that, huh?" She shrugged, amused. "Yeah, maybe you're right." They grinned at one another and he thrust his hand out towards her. "So...you're gonna help me with fight training?"
She glanced down at his hand, lifting one shoulder and pursing her lips a bit shyly. And then she raised an eyebrow and met his gaze, taking his hand. "Yeah. I'll help you, Chuck. You made your choice." She kept hold of his hand, and his gaze. "This is what you want. To be a spy. And I'm going to do whatever I can to help you be the best spy you can be."
He squeezed her hand and felt something pass between them in that moment. It was a truce, but more than that, there was warmth there. Still. There was a lot there still. And he thought she knew it, too. Maybe she was somewhere on that path after all. He didn't know how far down she was, but that didn't matter. He'd find her.
}o{
It was nearing midnight when he heard the knock on his apartment door. He paused his video game and set the controller on the coffee table, climbing to his feet and stepping around the couch.
He wondered what it was now. Had Morgan had a bad day? Maybe Awesome locked himself out... Or was it another mission? If it was a mission, why hadn't they just texted him to meet them at Casey's?
Crossing to the front door, Chuck opened it, a little surprised to see Sarah standing there in spite of thinking it might be another mission. He couldn't read the look on her face at first and he smiled. "Hey. Did you change your mind about tonight?" he asked, a teasing lilt to his voice as he leaned against the doorjamb.
But she didn't smile or smirk. There was no shy twist of her lips to the side.
He straightened to his full height, alarm bells going off inside of him at how serious the look was on her face. It hadn't budged. Something had happened. "What?" he asked breathlessly. And his legs brought him over the threshold and further into the courtyard to stand in front of her. "What happened? Sarah…"
She took a step close to him and went up on her tiptoes. Her lips brushed his ear as she held onto his shoulders. "It's Devon. He's missing."
Chuck felt ice shoot through his veins. He turned his head to look down at her. She was worried. Afraid. That more than anything shook him to his core as he looked down at the ground beneath his feet, not sure what to do. He was numb, aching. He was terrified.
Sarah immediately wrapped her arms around him, cradling him tightly.
"Oh my God," he breathed, numbly rounding her torso with his own arms to hug her back. He clung to her, and he kept clinging.
She squeezed him even tighter.
His future brother-in-law was gone. They had to get him back.
A/N: A breakthrough! More soon!
-SC and DC
