A/N Well it's a new year and I just want to thank everyone for sticking with this story. It's been an amazing almost 18 month journey so far. To all the reviewers, alerters and readers I couldn't keep this up without your support. As we close in on the one year anniversary of the ending of our beloved show, I'm so proud to be a part of keeping this family alive. I hope for many years to come.
This chapter deals with the aftermath of last chapter and sets us off on the final act of this story. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks again to Esardi for his run through and to all my friends in Chuck. We're still going strong!
Still don't own Chuck but if I did I'd be lining up some great new writers for the movie scheduled for release Christmas 2014.
Chapter 28
The Pact
Castle
11:49 PM
"What the hell, Chuck. Those fucking hurt!" A fiery mass of red hair popped up off the gurney looking left and right till she found her target.
"I'm sorry Carina, I didn't..." Chuck winced as he tried to apologize while he continued to unzip the body bag from around his very angry partner.
"Carina, don't be a wimp. We had to make it look real or the plan never would have worked. Besides don't you think you went a little overboard with the whole 'Oh I plan to have a lot more than my 'slutty hands' on him.' line?" Sarah, still wearing her dress from the gala shot daggers at the redhead. A few drops of Shaw's blood could be seen on her left side.
"Oooh, a little touchy I see. You worried Chuck might like my 'slutty hands' on him more than yours?"
Sarah glared back at the redhead but Chuck put his hand up to keep her at bay.
"Ok, ok, ok. First of all Carina, the only hands that are ever going to be on me are Sarah's and they are definitely not slutty." Chuck winked at Sarah who put her hands on her hips and smiled triumphantly at her adversary.
"Well they can be very slutty when I want them to be." Sarah said with a smirk. Chuck immediately turned a bright shade of red.
Casey grunted and shook his head in disgust when that image was planted in his head. "Could we focus on the mission here before I throw up?"
Carina rolled her eyes. "Fine, but what was the point of the body bag, it was hot as hell in there when I woke up."
"Carina, we knew that the Ring probably had someone watching Vibiana's after the Director left so we couldn't have you walk out of there with us. You had to be brought out in a body bag like ...". Chuck swallowed remembering the sight he had seen.
"Like Shaw." Carina finished for him.
"Yes, like Shaw." Chuck responded, trying to act professionally but his face was a mass of emotion that Sarah certainly noticed.
Sarah took his hands turning him towards her and looked directly into his eyes. She knew Chuck will never be comfortable with the killing, even if they deserved it. "Chuck, he was a traitor. He intended to kill me and Ursula before turning you over to the Ring to become their super weapon and guinea pig. He deserved what he got and more, believe me. Shaw's death was a good thing. She saved us."
Chuck blew out a sigh. "I know who he was and what he planned to do, but...but.. it's just what Andrea did to him would make any man cringe, you know?"
Casey let out a small grunt of agreement. Even for a traitor, that was cold.
Carina pulled her legs out of the body bag and looked back and forth between the two men before turning to Sarah. "I thought Ursula killed him, what did Andrea do?"
Both Chuck and Casey grimaced at the thought. Casey hadn't seen it happen but saw the aftermath. Sarah decided it was better for her to answer.
"After she shot you Carina, she took a few liberties with some of Shaw's 'appendages'. "
"What?"
"She shot his freaking balls off, ok?" Casey said as he clenched about every muscle he could clench.
Carina couldn't help but chuckle out loud causing Sarah to lose the fight to control her own urge to laugh.
The redhead rolled her eyes. "Men, even when its the most evil guy in the world they think no one deserves that."
"Carina, I.."
"Don't Chuck. It's ok I get it. I bet Sarah does too. You guys are very protective about that part of your anatomy. But believe me when I tell you this, Shaw didn't lose anything special. It was about the only part of him that wasn't stiff as a board. It fact, a 2 by 4 is just about the perfect description for his..."
"Ok, I get the picture." Chuck's face began to turn a bright red again.
Carina couldn't resist, "And don't worry Chuck, from the smile I've seen on Sarah lately I think 2 X 10 is more..."
"Carina!" Sarah interrupted before Chuck got totally embarrassed.
Carina smirked but loved playing with Chuck's head, both of them, at least figuratively.
"Not that they were any big loss but why would she do that if he already was dead?"
Chuck and Sarah then proceeded to tell Carina about Saunders's history with Shaw and why she may have had her own personal reasons.
"Ok I get why she did what she did to Shaw but are you telling me that your entire backup plan depended on a former CIA Agent betrayed by her partner, who was turned by the Ring and was going to turn you over to them? Who suddenly agreed to work as a double/double for us? Isn't that a bit risky for even this team to pull off?"
"Yea, Bartowski. You were taking a big risk, especially with Walker in there. I know Beckman didn't like it. I was amazed when she actually agreed to it."
"Casey, Chuck and I talked about it last night and I agreed with him. I went in there knowing full well what the risks were, especially after Shaw contacted Carina." Sarah smiled at her partner/lover then reached and intertwined her fingers with Chuck's.
She continued. "There were two missions tonight. First expose Shaw for the traitor he was and second we still needed something or someone else to work undercover with the Ring hierarchy in case we found proof that Shaw was rogue. Andrea was the perfect choice. She had an established relationship with them and had a way of contacting the Director with the Ring phone she gave us."
"But how do you know she can be trusted? You said she was turned by them before." Carina asked.
"She was turned by them because she was betrayed by her partner and she felt that the Agency abandoned her in Thailand. The Ring offered her a way to get back at them. But when she was my trainer I got to know another side of her, something I don't think she has shown to many people if ever or at least since she was locked in that cage in Thailand. I think that by us saving her life when the Ring itself wanted to "clean up their mess", she came to trust Sarah and I. She knows what she did was wrong and has accepted her punishment willingly. I think she sees this as a chance to make up for all the wrong she did and maybe have some form of a life once her term in prison is over."
"But how do you know she won't just run?"
Chuck grinned widely. He had been waiting for that question. "Because she's Seven of Nine."
Sarah had to hide the smirk as she saw the looks of complete and udder confusion on both Carina and Casey. True thirty-six hours ago she had no idea what he was talking about either but she was amazed how much sense it made.
"What the hell does Seven of Nine mean?"
Chuck and Sarah looked at each other with a sparkle in both their eyes.
"Bartowski, if this is one of your creepy nerdisms I don't think I want to know."
Chuck grinned again before responding. "Actually Casey, Seven of Nine was something that Beckman insisted on before she'd agree to the plan." He was loving every minute of this.
"Oh God, he's corrupted a freakin' General of the United States Military. We are all doomed for sure." Casey rolled his eyes and then walked away shaking his head.
"Hey, I'm not the dumb blonde here but I have no freaking clue what you guys are talking about."
"Carina!"
"Just a figure of speech blondie, unless the shoe..."
Sarah jumped right into Carina's face but before Sarah could drop her where she stood, Chuck intervened and stepped in between them.
"OK girls, let's stop the estrogen fueled sparring before someone, probably me, gets hurt, ok?"
"This must be a dream come true for you Chuckles, trapped between Sarah and me while we go at it." Carina smirked.
Chuck turned and put his hands up in front of Sarah and just stared at her. Sarah took a breath and stepped back, her eyes burned with the heat of a laser on the redhead's smirk.
"Ladies, please let's all just take a breath and let me explain. Carina?"
"Fine."
"Sarah?"
Sarah put her hands up and nodded her agreement.
"Good."
"Get to the point, Bartowski."
"Ok, yes Seven of Nine is a bit of a nerdism but it's actually very appropriate here. When I first brought up the idea of using Andrea as a backup in case Shaw really was a traitor, Sarah and I knew that Beckman would not be at all pleased letting a known Ring Agent out of the secure bunker she was in. We had to come up with something to keep her in effect still in our custody while she was above ground."
"So she swallowed a tracker." Casey added sarcastically.
"Actually no." Sarah replied. "We thought about doing that at first but quickly realized what an incredibly dumb idea it was. Maybe someone like Shaw would be stupid enough to think he could get away with it but the Director is too smart and too careful to not run a scan on her long before she got anywhere near him."
"Then if it isn't a tracker, what did you do?"
Chuck walked over and pressed a couple of icons on the touch screen calling up a picture of a tall, beautiful, blonde woman in a grey, tight, cat suit like uniform. He turned back to face the group. His smile as wide as one of the screens behind him.
"This is Seven of Nine. Before you say anything Casey, yes, she is a character from the twenty-fourth century but actually some of the 'technology' used here is not that impossible even today."
"Well she is pretty hot,... if you like blondes." Sarah quickly shot Carina a glare. "But what's that stuff above her eye, some sort of nerd jewelry or weird piercing?"
Chuck smiled broadly. He really was enjoying this part. "Ahh Carina, glad you mentioned that. You see, Seven is a member of the Borg, I won't bore you with a long winded explanation but.."
"Thank heaven for small favors."
"Casey..." Sarah glared at her partner.
"Now, as I was saying." Chuck continued." The Borg is a kind of collective, kind of like a beehive. Everyone has their roles and everyone is linked to each other through the technology like Seven had implanted on her face. Using that technology the Borg "Queen" is always in contact with her collective.
"Like Seven of Nine, Saunders was implanted with a special new communications device that keeps her in constant contact with us if needed."
"But Chuckles, wouldn't the device be detected just like a normal tracker?"
"Good question, Carina, but no it wouldn't. A tracker is detected because it emits a small, very low power, constant radio signal that can be picked up by many small handheld analyzers. This new technology doesn't do that. It has to be activated by a special received code so unless that code is received it is completely dormant. Only Beckman and us know that code. Plus it is made from special materials that show up as regular tissue if the agent is put through an MRI or CAT scan."
"That's all well and good Bartowski, but she's still a Ring Agent. What protection do we have that she won't simply defect again and have them remove it?"
"Because of this." Chuck swiped his hand across the screen and a small device appeared in a new window along with a picture of a scan of the human skull.
"The device is implanted at the base of the skull next to the brain stem. Any attempt to remove it would result in most likely complete paralysis and damage the Medula Oblongata that controls heart rate, breathing etc. Once implanted it can't be removed without killing the agent."
"Saunders agreed to this?"
"She had to or she would spend the rest of her life in a six by eight foot cell two hundred feet below ground." Sarah added.
"Look, I know that trusting a former CIA agent that defected to the Ring isn't something any of us would normally agree to, but we were able to convince Beckman that using Saunders was the best chance we had to get someone into the hierarchy of the Ring Elders."
"So, why would Saunders go along with it, what's in it for her?"
"Once she has completed her mission and the Ring is defeated, she will return to the bunker to finish out the remainder of the ten year life span of the implant at which time she will go into witsec and be free to live some kind of a normal life."
"Too good for a traitor." Casey mumbled under his breath.
"Casey, before she was betrayed by Shaw, Andrea was a great agent. She had saved many lives and was a true hero. No one, not even a Ring agent deserves what happened to her while she was in that prison in Thailand. I'm not justifying how she reacted once she escaped and was recruited by the Ring but she deserves a second chance to make things right after what her 'partner' put her through."
"You agreed to this Walker?"
"Yes, I did." Sarah looked over at Carina before continuing. "Casey, what happened to Saunders is a female agents worst possible fear. Carina and I were trained to bury it deep and never speak about it, but it never goes away completely. One thing I'll admit to you that I've learned from Chuck is that it is simply not humanly possible to completely suppress our emotions. We are trained to hide them and many agents do, for a while, but if we live long enough after an experience like that eventually those emotions have to come to the surface. And if you let them go buried too long the agent usually finds themselves in a two-bit motel with an empty bottle of scotch and a gun barrel in their mouths.
"That biggest fear happened to her but she survived it and she fought for revenge against those that she felt abandoned her. I'm not condoning what she did in any way but she is willing to pay her debt to this country by helping us take down the organization that used her and was going to kill her. Just like those drug lords in Thailand that Shaw gave her to would have eventually. When you feel you've been betrayed by everyone on all sides all you have left is yourself. You have to find your own inner strength or you die. If she can help us take down the Ring and come to some sense of peace in her heart then yes, I think she deserves that chance."
"Once a traitor, always a traitor in my book." Casey said with disgust.
"Look guys, I know we are asking a lot from you but at least so far she has done exactly what we asked her to do."
Carina jumped up from the table. "You mean you told her to shoot me?" Her eyes ablaze.
"No, not you specifically. Just that she was probably going to have to 'kill' one of the two of us to prove to the Director that she was on his side."
"Holy Christ Sarah, this was your damn idea but I'm the one that got shot?"
"Well every once in a while a plan works better than expected." The beautiful blonde smiled innocently.
"Very funny blondie. Remember payback's a bitch."
Chuck and Sarah both fought to hold in the laughter. Even Casey got an almost chuckle out of that one.
"Ok, we are sorry about that Carina, really. But without it I'm not sure we would have pulled this one off. Saunders is back working with the Ring Director and is supposed to check in with us in the morning. If she doesn't, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"Ok, Chuck I just hope you know what your doing."
"Me too, moron."
"Casey!"
"Fine, me too Agent Carmichael. Happy?"
"Yes, let's keep it that way."
Realizing that the meeting was over, Chuck glanced over at the hall that led to the medical area in Castle. His face fell a bit and Sarah noticed the look of concern on his face.
"Sarah if you don't need me for a few minutes, the medics should be finished and I'd like to go check on Ursula." The concern deeply evident on his face.
"No, we can handle the reports and I think she's going to need someone right now and you know her better than anyone here."
"She was pretty shook up and is probably worried we are going to arrest her."
"She's been through a lot in the last 24 hours."
"More than one person should have to go through in a day." The four partners all nodded.
As Chuck began to walk away a little apprehensively, Carina trotted over and grabbed him gently on the shoulder turning him to face her. She smiled a soft smile and looked sincerely in his sad eyes.
"It was a good plan Chuck. We're all very lucky to have someone like you on our team." She kissed him softly on his cheek.
"Thanks Carina. That means a lot." Chuck gave her a small smile, dipped his head and headed down the corridor to the examination room to talk with his former nurse.
As Carina headed back to get started on her reports she looked over at Sarah who was smiling at her long time friend. She mouthed the words "thank you" and Carina nodded slightly, sat down and began to write her version of the events of the evening.
Examination Room
12:23 AM
Chuck looked through the observation window in the door and saw the fragile form of a woman whose entire life had been shattered tonight. She was lying in an almost fetal position on the small hospital bed. As she lay there he could see her trembling from what he believed had to be fear, anger, betrayal and a host of so many other emotions he couldn't name. Even though this woman had every intention of killing Sarah tonight, he couldn't help but feel incredible empathy for what this woman was going through.
He thought back to his days at the training center and how she had been the only one who treated him like a person and not just the next faceless agent wannabee who came through that facility. She used his first name and had shown him kindness. It wasn't just the massages she would give him after Saunders had beaten the crap out of him in training, it was the fact she talked to him like a human being and he could be more himself in front of her than anyone else he had met there. Sure Jack Landers had talked to him but that was more a professional doctor/patient type discussion. With Ursula he talked about normal meaningless things. Good old fashioned small talk and it made him think about the life he had long before that double-edged sword of an email appeared in his inbox back in Burbank.
As she lay there he thought about what she must be thinking and feeling right now. He had suffered great loss in his life and feelings of abandonment but to realize that everything you believed in was a lie and that her biggest mistake ultimately led to both her daughters death and in some ways her killing the man she had once trusted as her son in law. He couldn't imagine the war that must be going on inside her. No person should have to carry all that she had to bear witness to and be a part of tonight.
Chuck took a deep breath and knocked gently on the door before opening it.
"Ursula?"
"Go away!" She responded with her voice muffled from the pillow she was clutching like it was her only grasp on reality. Like if she let go she would fall into a bottomless abyss.
"Ursula, it's Chuck. I'd like to talk with you for a few minutes if I could."
"No, there's nothing to talk about, nothing matters any more."
Chuck gently closed the door behind him and pulled a chair over next to the bed and sat down. Hesitantly he reached out and touched her shoulder hoping to turn her to face him. But she yanked her shoulder back quickly.
"Don't touch me! Don't you ever touch me!" She yelled, still muffled by the pillow that he could see was soaking wet from her tears of despair.
Chuck pulled his hand back and placed it in his lap. "Ok, I'm sorry. I won't touch you, I promise."
He sat there minute after minute watching her sobbing and felt horrible for not knowing how to lessen her pain.
After what seemed like twenty minutes he heard her voice barely above a whisper. It's timber dry and broken.
"It was all a lie and it's all my fault."
"Ursula, it wasn't all your fault. Shaw was going to kill us all if he had his way. You just..."
Chuck stopped mid-sentence when Ursula sat up and turned suddenly, looking at him with fire in his eyes."
"I don't give a fuck about Shaw. He deserved to die. Go ahead and arrest me, I don't care. My life is over anyway. If he was here right now I'd do it again in a heartbeat!"
Chuck leaned back slightly at the fierceness on her face. Streaks of black mascara running down her cheeks. Her eyes as bloodshot as many a frat boy on a sunday morning.
"Ursula, I..."
"Don't you get it Chuck? I did this, all of it. If it wasn't for me being such a fool none of this would have happened. Then to top it off I was such a coward and Eve, my poor precious Eve, had to pay the ultimate price for my mistakes." She turned back around and huddled back in the mascara stained pillow again.
"Ursula, I'm not going to arrest you. I don't know everything that happened before all this but I do know that you probably saved my life and the life of the woman I love tonight."
"Yea, some hero I am. I saved the life of the woman that killed my daughter." Sarcasm lacing her voice.
"Ursula, about that. You have to know..." Ursula turned back around and reached out to take his hand in hers.
"Chuck, I'm sorry. That was unfair, You don't have to explain. I don't blame Agent Walker anymore."
"You don't?" Chuck asked curiously.
"No, in many ways she's as much a victim here as Eve was. It seems Graham betrayed her too."
Ursula shifted around and sat on the edge of the bed. She reached out her hand towards a folded towel that was sitting on a metal roll around cart next to the chair Chuck was sitting in. He looked, saw what she was reaching for and handed it to her. She then wiped the tears and mascara from her cheeks leaving just faint reminders of what had happened on her still reddened face. She looked older and more broken than he had ever seen her.
"Chuck, Agent Walker was just a pawn in all this. The tool that was used by fate to pay me back for my weakness and my betrayal of my husband and daughter."
"Ursula, I..."
"Please Chuck. Let me finish."
"Ok."
Ursula proceed to tell him the story of that night back at the West German Consulate. How she let herself be drawn to the flame of excitement and danger the spy life tempted her with. How she had let a charming, dangerous and handsome man take advantage of her naïveté and how Eve had been the result of that moment of weakness. How she felt so guilty at betraying her new husband that she let Langston Graham convince her to lie to the only man she had ever truly loved because she thought he would never forgive her for that betrayal.
Graham came from a world that thrived on lies and the weakness of others. He used those weakness to his advantage every day of his life and in his world honesty only lead to disaster. His guilt about getting her involved in a mission she had no business going on made him insist that she never reveal anything about Eve and the circumstances of her being conceived to anyone including but especially her husband. He knew that once he found out he would make things difficult for him both personally and professionally.
"Chuck, if I had had the courage to tell the man I love the truth about Eve and stood up to Langston, then none of this would have happened. Even if he divorced me and threw me out of the house, Eve and I would have been together. I would have raised her myself and
kept her from this life of pain, loneliness and lies. She never would have joined the CIA and she never would have met that bastard Daniel. If I had told my husband the truth she never would have felt betrayed by her mentor and by her mother. She never would have joined the Ring and she wouldn't be dead right now."
Ursula's tears began to flow freely again. Chuck's heart broke for her. The lure of the glamorous spy life had caused a naive young woman to make a mistake that led her only daughter to a life of lies, heartache and ultimately death. As he listened to her story he couldn't help but think of what it must have been like for Eve to learn that her mother hadn't died like she had been told but had abandoned her. That the man she looked up to like a father had been lying to her, her whole life as well. He couldn't help but think of his own mother walking out and abandoning Ellie and him so long ago. How it broke his father so deeply that ultimately he felt he needed to abandon his kids to protect them. At least he and Ellie had each other and had gotten the chance to get their father back in their lives. Eve had no one and had become vulnerable to the charms of a man like Daniel Shaw and the darkness of the desire for revenge against those she felt betrayed her.
"I'm so sorry Ursula."
"Chuck, if you can ever learn anything from a sorry excuse for a woman, wife and mother as I am please listen to this."
"Ok,"
"I heard the way you talked about Agent Walker when you were at the training center. I saw the sparkle in your eyes. I also saw that you were willing to die to protect her when you thought I was going to kill her. I know you love her and she means a great deal to you."
"More than I can possibly say."
"You're a good man Chuck, a thousand times better than that bastard son in law of mine. If you love her, don't ever lie to her. No matter what it is, trust her to be able to handle the truth. Don't keep secrets from each other either. They will always come out and when they do it will be much worse than anything you worried about at first. Promise me you won't make the same mistakes I did."
"I promise." He gently took her hand in his. This time she didn't pull back.
"Thank you Chuck. I'm sorry for everything I caused tonight and I'm sorry for hating Agent Walker for all those years. Tell her that for me will you please?"
"I will."
"She's a very lucky woman to have a man like you in her life. I was too. I just wish that I had been strong enough to trust him like he deserved."
"Thank you, but I'm the lucky one. I have no idea what she sees in me."
Ursula chuckled softly. It was the first small positive expression she had shown since this awful day began. "That's why you both deserve each other."
"So what are you going to do now?"
"I guess that depends on what your boss says. But I think it's time for me to finally be honest. No more secrets, no more lies. If they will let me, I'm going to head back to Zuoz. There is an amazing man there that deserves the chance to know the truth about the woman he married. I just hope he can find it in his enormous heart to forgive me someday. I know I don't deserve it but I'm going to lay it all bare and beg for his mercy."
Chuck nodded. "You're a good woman Ursula, you were young and you made a terrible mistake. If he is half the man you say he is, he will forgive you in time. It won't be easy but nothing that truly matters in life ever is. Believe me Sarah and I both know that all too well."
Ursula reached forward and put her arms around the tall lanky man in front of her. Chuck reciprocated and held his former nurse tightly. After a few comforting seconds the two let go of each other and gave each other a small smile.
"So I don't think they are just going to let me leave right away are they?"
"Ahhh no, not right away. The General is going to want to speak with you but I promise I'll be there the entire time. She may look intimidating, well more than just look she IS intimidating, but she's actually a pretty straight shooter. I've already spoken to her some so please just be honest and everything should work out fine. In a way you did us a service. You exposed a traitor and protected us."
"Thank you Chuck... for everything."
"You're welcome, We'll take care of your things at your hotel and I'll bring you something you can sleep in. You can stay right here and get some rest. I'll be back in the morning before your meeting with the General."
"Thanks. I am pretty tired."
Chuck smiled, patting her hand. He got up and headed towards the door. Once outside he looked through the observation window again and saw Ursula break down and start to cry once more. Though he wanted to go back in and comfort her he knew that there would be many more nights like this full of pain and despair before the healing could begin in earnest. She had to come to terms with all the hurt and mistakes she had made and not suppress them. He hoped that one day Ursula and her husband could find it in their hearts to take that first step back towards forgiveness and each other. She needed to forgive herself just as much as she needed him to forgive her.
The Ring Hive
Glendale, CA
01:19 am
A deep navy blue Audi pulled down the ramp in the garage area of the Ring hive. The Director and a blindfolded Agent Andrea Saunders had changed cars three times in residential parking garages before finally being certain they weren't being followed. Once stopped the two stepped out from the vehicle and were escorted inside.
"I want a full report from all team leaders on what went wrong with this clusterfuck within the hour. Then I want the jet fueled and ready for a 6am takeoff, got it?"
"Yes Director." the young assistant ran off chattering into his headset.
"Agent Saunders you can remove your blindfold. I couldn't run the risk of you knowing this location if you are captured again. I hope you understand."
The tall brunette pulled the black sack and blindfold from her head and placed them on the seat of the Audi. She had a feeling she would be wearing them again. "No problem, Director. I fully understand."
"Andrea, I need you to go with these men to have a full body scan done. I know we did a field scan already but we can't run the risk that any devices were implanted in you while you were in captivity. Once that is completed I'll have them escort you to my office and we can discuss where we go from here."
Andrea's pulse raised slightly at the thought of the body scan but Chuck and Beckman had promised her that the new "Borg" implant would not show up on either an MRI nor CAT scan. She hoped they were right because if it did, things would become very unpleasant for her very soon.
"Thank you Director, we do have a lot to talk about." The brunette nodded and headed off to the infirmary.
Simon signaled for his assistant, "Make sure you do a thorough examination. I don't trust her or Carmichael and the CIA. The timing of her escape was just too coincidental. I'll need more proof of her loyalty before we send her on any important missions."
"Yes, Director. Consider it done."
"Have we gotten any word about the delivery from Costa Graves?"
"No sir, but it wasn't expected into Cardiff until tomorrow evening."
"Fine, let me know as soon as it arrives. That material could prove very useful if my hunch is right."
"Yes, sir."
"If the tests are clean on Agent Saunders, have her ready to leave with me when the jet is fueled and ready. I want to be in London as soon as possible. I plan to oversee the operation personally."
Simon's assistant nodded and headed through the door that led further into the Hive.
The Ring Director still clad in his tux from the evening's event opened a small cabinet next to a large monitor showing the logo for the Ring. He hated the symbol as it reminded him too much of some of the failed attempts at world domination from history. He was determined not to make their same mistakes and let ego and the lust for power corrupt the Elders any more than it already had. The smart would control the world in the twenty-first century not madmen. This was a new world where a geek with a keyboard could cause more damage than a thousand tanks and armored divisions. Criminals and terrorists could simply sit in a cave in Pakistan or at a beach hotel in Fiji and bring a country to its knees.
This new world demanded new weapons and new technology but it also demanded a new way of thinking, his way. The biggest weapon in anyone's arsenal was one tall agent with a vast database of secrets in his head. He knew who had it had the advantage and he was determined to have that advantage no matter what it cost.
"Well Charles Carmichael, it's time to figure out if you have any other weaknesses beyond one stunningly beautiful CIA Agent."
Casa Bartowski/Walker
02:13 am
Sarah Walker stood naked in front of the mirror in the bathroom removing her makeup, before jumping in the shower. He hair twisted up in a messy bun, she barely concentrated on the task she had performed tens of thousands of times before. Part of her training besides all the guns, martial arts, seduction techniques and language skills had been to teach her how to take care of herself and her appearance. She scanned her skin for possible blemishes, which even someone like Sarah Walker got on a rare occasion, to signs of stress and worry.
As she wiped her skin she looked deeply into her own sapphire eyes. She had been trained by both her father and the agency to hoist an impenetrable mask and no one could look into them or at her face and see anything beyond what she let them see. But she could no longer hide her inner thoughts from herself, though she had also been trained in techniques to do just that and had been successful on many an occasion in the past. It was a skill that kept many an agent, herself included, sane after some of the things she had seen and been asked to do for the greater good. Things like she had witnessed tonight.
But ever since she came to Burbank, a naive, caring, humble man had been able to see right through the steel curtain she kept between the world and a con man's daughter. From the moment he told her he could be her own personal baggage handler, in a way he always had been. He both knowingly and unknowingly carried much of her burden simply by a smile or a gentle touch or even just a silly joke. Ever since he took on that role she found it more and more difficult to hide the pain this life of lies could bring from him and even from herself. The more he carried, the less she wanted to bear. The excitement, the adrenaline rush of a lifestyle where the next moment could be your last. Where you wrapped yourself in the greater good as a salve for all the despicable things you had to do and see. The lies and betrayals had become harder and harder for her to accept as a consequence of this life of fast cars, beautiful people and the lust for power and adventure.
What also had made it harder and harder to bear was when she saw how it affected that amazing man in their bedroom. She knew he was trying to put on a happy face so that she wouldn't see how much heartache he felt when the pain this life of lies caused another person.
Sarah put down the facecloth and stepped into the shower. Her mind continued to think about things she never would have let herself think about 3 years ago. She cared about the greater good but that had always been a nebulous concept to her. A way of justifying what she had done as a child or as an agent of the CIA. She had been so closed off her entire life that if she was honest with herself, before Burbank she never met a truly genuine member of the greater good without trying to figure out how to help her dad relieve them of some of their good fortune or naturally assuming they were a threat to her or her mission. The real honest pain of others was something she had difficulty grasping because she had never been allowed to or allowed herself to become close enough to anyone to be able to sense what they were going through. They were simply a means to an end.
But Chuck Bartowski genuinely cared about people and she knew after what they had seen and been a part of tonight, it had clearly broken Ursula and he would feel compelled to try and carry some of her burden as well. Even knowing that when she first arrived there she had every intention of seeing his girlfriend die. It was one of the things that made this life so hard on a man like him and maybe this was one of the things a misguided and over-reaching Bryce Larkin had tried to protect him from back at Stanford.
Then Bryce over-reached again and thrust Chuck into an even worse life when he sent him the Intersect for his own selfish needs with again the misguided self justification of an undeserved sense of authority. It seems he had already been corrupted by the lies and secrets himself.
But ironically it was Chuck's inner character honed by a loving and committed sister, that made him an even better spy than Bryce could have ever hoped to have been. For Chuck it was never about the adrenalin rush of a death-defying mission or the post mission sex with a beautiful and many times faceless and nameless woman. Chuck was a great spy and carried the burden of being a spy becausehe genuinely wanted to help others have a safer and better life. It was never about the self gratification that Bryce Larkin or Daniel Shaw thrived on. It was about bearing that burden so that others wouldn't have to. In this one way, though they are completely different people, Chuck and Casey were so very much alike and its why she admired both so much.
But Chuck had taught Sarah who the faces and the people were behind the greater good. They were people like Ellie, Devon and Morgan. Even folks like Jeff and Lester were part of what they had been fighting to protect. Knowing who those faces were had made her more dedicated to the work. Because sometimes it helps to know what you have to lose.
But when the lies, the killings and the betrayals were laid bare she also saw the ugliness this life caused for those that chose, like her, to live it or those that had it thrust upon them, like Chuck had been originally. Even with their successful mission tonight Sarah knew the man she loved was hurting. Sure he felt accomplishment because his plan worked and the team was safe. But the death of even a traitorous bastard like Daniel Shaw, who had every intention of killing her still weighed heavy on Chuck. The devastation that the revelations from the mission caused his one-time nurse to have to face, she knew was tearing him up inside. It was time for her to comfort him as she knew he had tried to comfort the broken woman in a Castle holding cell.
Sarah stepped out of the shower and grabbed one of the powder blue oversized bath towels she loved so much. They had been a small luxury she wanted to bring to their home. She and Chuck had wrapped both of themselves up in just one towel on many an occasion after a shared shower since she had moved into their home with him.
Home, it was a word she had never really known the meaning of till she met the man who had been her home since the day she walked into the BuyMore almost three years ago. And here in that home that wonderful man needed her and it almost made her cry at the simple joy of being needed.
She quickly ran a brush through her still moist hair, wrapped the softness of the towel around her and headed towards the bedroom where her home waited.
As she walked in she saw him sitting at the computer writing an email. She walked up behind him and placed her hands gently on his shoulders. She leaned over and kissed the spot just behind his right ear she loved so much and knew drove him crazy.
"Hey beautiful." He turned his head and gently kissed her cheek.
"Hey yourself. It's late Chuck who are you writing an email to at this hour?
"Remember Jack Landers, the councilor I had in Zuoz that I asked to talk to Andrea?"
"Ummhmm" Sarah walked around the chair and sat on Chuck's lap.
"Well, I wanted to ask him if he could help Ursula." She could see that sadness and concern in his eyes ever since they had left Castle.
"Chuck, you know she made her own choices and she will have to deal with the consequences of those choices."
"I know, believe me. If anyone understands the consequences of making a difficult choice, it's me." Chuck smiled a small smile while he tapped his right temple. "It's just that everything she believed in, those she trusted and cared about, they all lied to her."
Sarah could see the empathy in Chuck's soft brown eyes. That ability or compulsion even, to connect with another human being's pain was something she marveled at whenever she saw the man before her put others first. It's was one of the hosts of things she loved about him and something she worried desperately that his choice to download the 2.0 and become a spy would never change. It was one of the things that make him great.
"I know she got caught up in the glamour and excitement of the spy world. I know what that feels like first hand. When I got the chance to fly a helicopter or dance with the most beautiful woman in the world at a gala I have no possible right in hell of attending on my own, I could feel the lure of this life. I can see how it can be so enticing, anyone who has ever watched a Bond movie can. But they never show you the toll that keeping secrets and living in a world based on lies can have on a person. That the glamour of the spy world led to her getting pregnant and an innocent life was irreparably changed because she kept that fact a secret from her husband all those years. She chose to lie and keep that secret because she was told by someone she trusted and cared about, it was what spies did. And when that betrayal became known, as they always do, that young innocent victim became wrapped up in the same world of secrets and lies and it ultimately led to her death, the death of her traitorous husband and a broken woman lying on a cot feeling like she has lost everything."
Chuck shook his head and the tears that had been welling up in his eyes took the long trek down his handsome face.
Sarah gently stroked the curls behind his ear that she adored. She leaned in and tenderly kissed this amazing man. When she pulled back both sets of eyes held pools of salty tears.
Chuck continued. "I know the world we live in is a very dangerous place and that much of what we do is based on secrets and deceit. But what we have together Sarah, is so much more important than any of that. I need to know that between us at least our choices will always be based on truth and honesty."
Sarah shifted in Chuck's lap, reached out and took his right hand in hers. She smiled brightly at the man before her, the man who cared so deeply about people and the man she passionately loved.
"Ok, Chuck how about we make a pact. That no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the pressures of our jobs or the world around us, that between you and I," she took her other hand and swung it back and forth between them, "between us there will be no secrets and no lies. We will trust each other to tell the truth and to be able to deal with anything no matter what."
"No secrets, no lies huh?"
"Uhmmmhmmm" Sarah nodded.
"Does that mean I have to tell you what I buy you for Christmas too?" He said with a devilish grin.
Sarah lightly punched him in the shoulder. "Well you know I'm a spy and I don't like surprises." But she had trouble keeping a straight face.
"Ok, ok. No secrets, no lies"
"No secrets, no lies." Sarah softly kissed him.
"I love you, Chuck. I love you so much."
"I love you too, Sarah." He put his arms around her and pulled her tightly into his chest. It was as if when they held each other like this none of the lies, secrets and betrayals of the life they have chosen could harm them as long as they had each other. Chuck gently kissed her on the top of her head and she snuggled in closer.
As he held this amazing woman in his arms, he couldn't help his mind drifting back to another lying in an underground room not far away. A woman whose secrets and lies almost destroyed her. He vowed that nothing like that would ever happen between the woman he loved and himself. That they would both fight to never let the spy life change them. To always put the other first and face the challenges of their future together with total and complete honesty.
He smiled and whispered one more time.
"No secrets, no lies."
A/N 2 I liked this one. I'm working on some other ideas and don't know if the next chapter of this or something new will get posted next but I'm feeling the fire again now that the holidays are over.
