Chapter 2 - No Plan Survives First 'Engagement'

Unknown Freeway, CA,
2100 (UTC-8),
January 25, 2002

An Aston Martin V12 Vanquish cut down the road like there was no tomorrow, its driver, Chuck Bartowski, couldn't care less about the speed limit at this moment, he was furious.

Needless to say, the proposal didn't go as planned. Chuck had knocked on Jill's door, dressed ready for a big date. He had bought a new tailored suit, dressed in a dark coloured shirt, and for the first time, he realised how his training had helped him to fill out the suit. When Jill had opened the door, she didn't look ready at all. Jill said something, and shut the door in his face before he could get a word out, leaving a shocked Chuck to let what Jill had just said to sink in.

Eventually, her words did sink in, and Chuck had never felt so much pain, he was betrayed by his girlfriend and his best friend. Jill had informed him that, she was breaking up with him, because she was sleeping with and fell in love with Bryce. Extremely furious didn't even come close to what Chuck was feeling, at that moment, Chuck felt like turning in to the Hulk, and starting a rampage. Since that wasn't an option, Chuck ran like hell, aimlessly, not sure for how long, until he ran past an Aston Martin dealership.

The manager was just about to close shop, Chuck ran inside impulsively, chucked the manager his credit card, and asked to buy the fastest car in the shop.

So here he was, driving a brand new silver coloured 2002 Aston Martin V12 Vanquish, for God knows how long. Chuck was initially rusty with the 6-gear manual gearbox, but he got the hang of it quite quickly, he then drove on to the first freeway he could find, and just drove aimlessly and let the V12 beast roar down the street.

The Beach,
Burbank, CA,
0500 (UTC-8),
January 26, 2002

His anger had dissipated somewhat after hours of speeding across California highway, Chuck had let the logic side of his brain take over again. He needed to think, so he found his way back to Burbank, to his beach. This was his sanctuary, his Fortress of Solitude. Chuck chuckled at the thought, not much of a Fortress, he was going to build a real fortress for himself one day.

He looked back to everything had happened since that tragic day, and used that brilliant brain of his, started to analyse everything. Chuck had realised Bryce couldn't have been sleeping with Jill behind his back, they spent most of their free time training together, they were pretty much inseparable for the past 4 months. The only periods of time he wasn't spending with Bryce, he was with Jill himself. Chuck's heartache lessened significantly as he realised the person he considered the brother he never had, didn't betray him.

But he still couldn't figure out what was going on with Jill, why would she break up with him, when everything seemed to be going well. He reanalysed each moment he had with Jill again, only then, Chuck realised Jill had been pulling away for the past three months, so maybe she did want to break up with him. But why would she try to destroy his friendship with Bryce as well, this Chuck could not understand and could not forgive easily either. Whether Jill was cheating on him or not, she betrayed him regardless, she should not have tried to destroy the bond he shared with Bryce. Chuck decided he shouldn't worry himself about why Jill broke up with him, but that didn't mean he no longer feel the heartache caused by her. Chuck chucked the ring box into a surf, and watched it disappear, he wasn't sure if he could ever love again, and that realisation hurt even worse. Tears started dropping freely from Chuck's chocolate brown eyes.

The Beach,
Burbank, CA,
0600 (UTC-8),
January 26, 2002

Chuck had been crying on the beach, alone, for an hour, he had finally got his emotion under control. He had lost Jill, but he still had his family, Ellie, Awesome, Bryce and Morgan, he would cherish these people, who stood by him through the better days and the worse ones, and never let go. As for Jill, he would try to forget her, and love her a little less every day, remember her a little less every day, until he no longer love or remember one Jill Roberts.

As for now, he would try to look at the brighter side of this "Jill debacle", he would no longer need to worry about leaving a widow at home, while he was deployed, and Chuck would still have people he loves, and people who loved him to hold on to, to remember why he was fighting.

With a new determination, he walked back to his new car, and for the first time, he fully appreciated the beauty of the beast he just bought. Chuck decided he would stay with Ellie for the weekend, he really needed to get away from Stanford to clear his head for a few days.

Echo Park,
Burbank, CA,
1400 (UTC-8),
January 26, 2002

The front door of Ellie and Devon's apartment was forced open, and in came a frantically looking Bryce. Ellie had been furious when she found out about what had happened, in the hind sight, Chuck wasn't sure staying with Ellie was the best idea. It took both Devon and himself to stop Ellie from driving to Stanford, and murdering Jill herself. Even with all his newly acquired martial art skills, Chuck was still terrified of a Hurricane Ellie. Ellie had called Bryce afterwards, when Bryce was informed about Jill's claim of cheating with him, before Ellie could say another word, Bryce had hang up, but not before informing Ellie that, he would be in Burbank shortly.

Bryce had spotted Chuck on the sofa, and almost ran towards him. For the first time in his life, Bryce was scared, Chuck's friendship was one thing in the world he couldn't loss.

"Chuck! I am so sorry about what had happened, but you got to believe me, I never slept with Jill. I admit I am a womanizer, but she is your girl, I would never betray us like that. Please tell me you believe me." Bryce almost begged. By now Bryce had already taken a seat next to Chuck, trying to catch his eyes.

After a moment, Chuck sensed his best friend was squirming, he was somewhat amused, he had never seen Bryce panic. Bryce was always in control. Despite he was somehow enjoying seeing this side of Bryce, Chuck couldn't be that cruel, he looked up to Bryce. "Relax Bryce. She was my girl. Past tense. And I believe you." Hearing this, Bryce let go of a breath he didn't realise he was holding. He could tell from the sincerity in Chuck's eyes that he really did believe him.

Seeing his brother relaxed, Chuck continued, "If you could have stayed on the phone with a minute longer, Ellie could have told you that I had already figured out you weren't going behind my back with Jill."

Ellie chimed in, "And you wouldn't have to break down my front door, Bryce." Ellie glared at him in mock anger. Bryce cowered a bit, he loved Ellie like a sister, but God, that woman was intimidating. He had toyed with the idea of suggesting to the CIA, to recruit her as an interrogator.

Bryce smiled sheepishly, and put on his charming smile, "Sorry, I will go fix it."

"I will help," Chuck jumped in, wanting something to do to keep his mind away from Jill, "Can I borrow Devon's truck key, we need to pick up some supplies from Large Mart."

Echo Park,
Burbank, CA,
1230 (UTC-8),
January 27, 2002

The family was having lunch together, not surprisingly, Ellie cooked, she decided Chuck needed as much of her comfort food as possible. The rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful. Bryce and Chuck found their dynamic again easily while fixing Ellie's door; Morgan came over Saturday evening to play video games with Bryce and Chuck, Ellie had to kick him out after 11 pm. No one mentioned Jill's name at all for the rest of the weekend, and Chuck was grateful for that.

But Ellie being Ellie, she wanted to know what Chuck was going to do after this disaster, and she couldn't wait any longer, so she cautiously asked, "Chuck, what are your plans now?"

"Relax Ellie, you can say her name, I am not going to break down," Chuck joked without much humour behind his voice. "But I do appreciate all of you keeping my mind off her for the weekend."

Bryce cut in, "From now on, if we have to mention her, she should be called 'she-who-must-not-be-named'." That actually got a laugh out of Chuck, and everybody joined in eventually.

"So, you haven't answered my question, Chuck?" Ellie ventured again after the laughter had died down.

Chuck thought carefully for a moment, and said. "Well, I have finished my last exam this Friday, since I had waived the ceremony, I am officially graduated. I was going to stay at Stanford until the end of the quarter, and head off Rhode Island for OCS in March. But after Ji, I meant she-who-must-not-be-named," Chuck said with a small smile looking at Bryce, "I really need to get away from Stanford, so I will be contacting OCS tomorrow to see if they could load me onto an earlier class. In the meantime, I need to head back to Stanford, get my diploma, pack up my stuff, and move them to my storage unit. I will come back Tuesday evening, and to stay with you until I head off to OCS, if that's ok with you?"

"Of course that's Ok, I am throwing you a going away party!" Chuck groaned at this, but seeing his sister's glare, he knew better than to voice his objection, it was going to be useless anyway. Ellie continued. "Do you need any help with packing and moving, Chuck?"

"Don't worry about it, sis. That's what frat brothers are for. Plus since you are throwing me a party anyway, let's make it next Saturday, so they could help me move my boxes, and come straight here for the party, without missing any lectures."

An hour later, Chuck and Bryce said their goodbyes to Ellie and Awesome, and headed out. Bryce suddenly remembered something, and asked, "How did you get back to Burbank, Chuck?"

Chuck smiled, "I will show you if you promise to keep this a secret for until the day before I leave for Rhode Island."

Bryce nodded, not sure where Chuck was going with this. Chuck led Bryce a block away from his sister's apartment complex, and fished out his car key. He unlocked his Aston Martin remotely, and watched Bryce carefully as his chin dropped to the floor, Chuck was definitely savouring the moment of surprising his always-sure-of-himself best friend.

"How?" That was the only word came out of Bryce as he appreciated the V12 beauty in front of him.

"I will explain when we get back to Stanford. Here, give me your car keys, you can drive her back to Stanford." Chuck said, throwing Bryce his Aston Martin keys, which Bryce caught easily, barely containing his excitement. Seeing the glee in his best friend's eyes made Chuck happy, he decided to go a step further. "You can keep it until I finish OCS, I don't want to show up at the base with something this flashy."

Bryce could barely believe what he was hearing, but he wasn't surprised with Chuck's reasoning. "Thanks bro, I knew there was a reason I befriended you!" Bryce joked.

"Haha, funny guy, just remember, no hanky panky in the back seat."

Bryce waved him off dismissively, he would try to not to have a girl in the back seat, but he wasn't going to make any promises.

Echo Park,
Burbank, CA,
1700 (UTC-8),
January 29, 2002

A 1967 Pontiac GTO slowly rolled into a parking spot. After driving the Vanquish, Chuck had a new appreciation for fast cars, or maybe he was just trying to fill the Jill void by taking care of a car, something that would never betray him. Chuck always loved the classics, and the Vanquish is more Bryce than Chuck, so Chuck searched on the internet, and found a 67' GTO hardtop in good condition, and bought it. Just because he loved the classics, Chuck was also an engineer, he even got a diploma to prove it, which he had just received the day before. So this car was going to be his project before OCS, with the 6.6L V8 engine in this beast, Chuck would transform her to a piece of high performance machine in no time.

Still, Chuck needed to hurry up, he managed to get moved to an earlier class, he was to report in at the Naval Station Newport, in less than 3 weeks, on Monday 18th. Chuck wanted to drive all the way to Rhode Island, and to enjoy the scenery along the way, Chuck had planned for a week for the journey. So that left him with two weeks to modify his baby, and to get even fitter than he was now.

Now all he had to do, was to come up with an explanation for Ellie on how he got the car, without revealing the whole truth. He wasn't going to lie to Ellie, he was just going to water down the truth a little bit, for now.

Stanford University,
Stanford, CA,
1000 (UTC-8),
February 1, 2002

Professor George Fleming's TA, Flavia Conners, was marking the undergraduate students' subliminal image tests, she had just finished grading Charles Bartowski's paper. The petite, attractive brunette was awed by Chuck's grade, 98%, that was nearly 20% higher than the next highest mark. Flavia remembered Chuck from quite a number of Professor Fleming's lectures, she had to admit she had only noticed him in the past 3 months or so, it seemed like he had been working out, a lot. He was still lanky, but a solid kind of lanky, and she could tell was not the only girl who had noticed the change. Too bad he had a girlfriend, whom Flavia heard had broken up with him, stupid skank, maybe she should make a move on him, Flavia thought to herself.

Flavia brought out Chuck's file out of curiousity, only then, she realised Chuck was still in his junior year, so what was he doing taking a senior year class? Flavia was intrigued. She read on, and saw that Chuck had already graduated this week, with 2 majors and a minor under special request, to join the Navy. Erm, smart, handsome and selfless, could this guy be more perfect, that ex-girlfriend of his must be real dumb.

Oh well, there was no point to hand his test result to Professor Fleming, now that he had already left, Flavia put his subliminal image test in his file, and carried on marking the rest of the tests, while thinking how much she would enjoy taking that white navy dress uniform off one Chuck Bartowski.

A/N: Sorry, no Sarah yet, according to her background in the show, she wouldn't graduate for another 6 months. But I promise, Sarah would make her debut within the next two chapters.

Besides, I want to really develop Chuck's character and personalities before he got kicked out, i.e. Capable, although not confident with girls, but definitely confident with his own abilities. In addition, Chuck's personality is further augmented by 9/11, and I believe his new found drive for serving his country would play a very important role in not sending Chuck into depression and kept him level headed to realise Bryce did not sleep with Jill. Jill's break up with Chuck took place earlier in here than it did in the show, I want to explain that by Chuck's accelerated schedule to propose.

I was quite peeved when I started this chapter, I noticed Chuck's affinity towards Mustang GTs (his father's car) in the show, and personally, I prefer Dodge Challengers, regardless, none of these cars were in production in 2002, and I wanted the impulsive Chuck to buy a brand new performance car out of, well, impulsion. So I ended up giving him a Vanquish first. I didn't realise the benefit of this until later, you will see why in the next chapter.

Now, some review feedback: First of all, thank you all so much for your encouraging reviews. And don't worry, there would be no Bryce/Sarah coupling at all. Chuck and Sarah are pretty much love at first sight, but it won't be a jump right in the deep end relationship either. I am not going to reveal more than this, you will just have to find out as I continue the story.

Lastly, hope you enjoyed this chapter, please read and review. I would love more suggestions/ideas/corrections/etc.