For the first trimester of her pregnancy, Sarah Walker Bartowski had been fairly lucky – at least, that's what other women thought. It seemed that the only outward sign of her pregnancy was the fact that "her funbags have a little more boom-boom to them," a very drunken Jeff had explained to Chuck right before Chuck had to be physically restrained by Casey and Devin from punching Jeff out.
That had been one week before. But over the past week, Sarah had gone from no-show to very-much-show. In fact, in that week, she had developed more of a belly than Ellie Woodcomb – a fact which concerned Chuck's sister just a bit.
"I'm worried about Sarah," Ellie said to Devin one night as they were getting ready for bed.
"Babe! What's the worry? The Chuckster's a more than awesome husband – you saw him at the release party for his game, he was more than ready to take down that douchebag Jeff."
"No, it doesn't have anything to do with Chuck," Ellie replied. "It's just that she's already bigger than I am, and she's a full month behind me."
Devin looked at her. "You don't think there's a problem, do you?"
"I don't know, Devin. There could be any number of factors. It could be something as simple as just extra weight, but it could be something really bad, like a tumor."
"It could also be twins, babe."
"Devin, there is, that I know of, absolutely no history of multiple childbirths in the Bartowski family."
"Yeah, but what about Sarah's family? I mean, think about it, Ellie. We know nothing about her past. We don't even know her real name."
"That's true," Ellie admitted, considering the secrecy that Sarah still had to maintain about herself, even though she hadn't been a field operative in over a year. "Still, though, I can't help but worry, since she's my friend, and my sister-in-law."
"And that, my dear Eleanor, is why they don't let us practice medicine on our family members."
Ellie smiled. "But Dr. Woodcomb, I think I need a thorough examination."
Devin didn't have to be asked twice.
Sarah had an ultrasound scheduled for June 14th. "Are you kidding?" she had asked in disbelief. "That's my birthday!"
Well, it wasn't really, but it was the day she'd celebrated her birthday for the last eight years.
"I'm sorry, Agent Walker, but that's the only day I can get you in," Dr. Zinn replied. "You have to realize, you come to Cedars-Sinai, there's a long line of pregnant celebrities in front of you. For every hot-shit deep-cover Sarah Walker operative that comes through my door, there's five Angelina Jolies and Jessica Albas waiting to be examined.
"You might be protecting them and securing their future, but they're celebrities. I'm sorry."
And so, with great annoyance, Sarah had scheduled the ultrasound for June 14th. She told Chuck, who told Ellie, who called Sarah and asked if she could accompany her to the ultrasound.
"Yeah, I guess so," Sarah had said, puzzled. "I mean, we are family…"
"Of course," Ellie replied. "And I do want to see what my brother's offspring looks like!"
Ellie did not voice her concerns to Sarah, figuring that the younger woman had enough on her plate already as it was. But nonetheless, there they remained, in the back of her head.
On the morning of the 14th, Ellie picked Sarah up from the downtown hotel. The drive down Beverly Boulevard really wasn't that bad, although any drive from downtown Los Angeles to West Hollywood is always going to be somewhat of a nightmare. This just wasn't that much of one.
And so as Sarah lay on the bed in the exam room, she found that she was experiencing butterflies in her stomach. "This is ridiculous," she breathed quietly.
Despite how quiet Sarah was, Ellie still heard her. "What's that, Sarah? What's ridiculous?"
Sarah propped her up on her elbows. "I'm nervous," she replied. "I mean, here I am. I used to be one of the CIA's best agents. I've killed people, been chased around the world by terrorists, orchestrated the downfall of a government – and I'm nervous about getting an ultrasound."
She stopped. "You can't repeat any of that," she told Ellie.
Ellie smiled. "I understand. Let me give you a little bit from my end of things – the doctor's perspective. Bedside manner, if you will."
Sarah laughed. "It is perfectly normal to be nervous about something like this, even for a big bad CIA agent such as yourself," Ellie continued. "You're about to see, for the first time, a little piece of life that you and Chuck have created. It's another human being, growing inside you – you're responsible for it, you're giving it life."
Sarah didn't realize it, but her face had taken on a huge smile as Ellie had spoken those words. "I know," she said quietly. "I guess… I guess, I just can't wait, that's all."
Ellie smiled back. "Neither can I," she replied. "I've done so many ultrasounds in the last few years, but none compares to your own. Well, I guess seeing my sister-in-law's will come pretty close."
That's when the ultrasound tech entered the room. "Good morning, ladies," she said, a little too brightly for the two women who had both been told to swear off coffee. "My name is Janet, and you must be Sarah!"
"That's me," Sarah confirmed. Before Janet could say anything else, though, Ellie had stood.
"Can I speak to you for a moment, Janet?" she asked.
Janet frowned, but accompanied Ellie outside. "I'm sorry to drag you out of there. My name's Ellie Woodcomb. I'm a doctor at City of Angels, and Sarah Bartowski is my sister-in-law. I'm a little concerned about her pregnancy, because she has gotten, well, abnormally large for only being four months along."
It was all Janet could do not to roll her eyes. Another patient's overly-concerned relative with an MD. God save her from the doctoral medical community.
"Dr. Woodcomb," Janet said, trying to sound sincere, "I'm sure your sister-in-law is fine, and even if we do find anything wrong, she's in good hands – Dr. Zinn is one of the best."
Ellie nodded, still not convinced. Janet decided to just press on. Turning around, she went back into the exam room. Ellie followed.
Janet spread a rather uncomfortably cold gel on Sarah's stomach, and then, rather than using the sensor that Sarah had seen on E.R. and Scrubs, she placed what looked for all the world like a hairnet on Sarah's stomach. "What exactly is that?" Sarah asked.
"It's a next-generation ultrasound scanner," Janet explained. "It's based on sonar technology that was developed for use on submarines. It provides a high definition picture of what it scans – more like a video than a traditional ultrasound."
Ellie looked at Sarah. "No fair," the doctor whined. "I had an old ultrasound."
"That's City of Angels versus Cedars-Sinai, ma'am."
She turned the device on. Sarah felt small vibrations against her belly as the device sent out tiny, barely detectable pulses of sound. They returned rapidly to the computer, and within a moment began to develop a video image on the screen.
Despite the clarity and the high definition, Sarah really wasn't quite sure what she was seeing on the screen. "So… somebody explain this to me?"
Ellie's eyes had gone wide, and then an enormous smile appeared on her face. "Oh my goodness," she whispered.
She turned to face Sarah. "Sarah, I was a little concerned beforehand, because you had gotten so big so quickly – I thought there was a possibility that something might be wrong. But nothing's wrong. Nothing at all."
Sarah still didn't understand, and she was beginning to get a little exasperated. "What are you talking about, Ellie?"
But before Ellie could answer, she looked back over at the screen – just in time for there to be a little movement, and for it to become very clear to Sarah that she was carrying not one small child-to-be… but two.
Her eyes widened, and then filled with tears, as an expression of pure joy appeared on her face. "Twins?" she whispered.
Ellie just nodded, with a huge smile. "Congratulations, Mrs. Bartowski," the ultrasound tech said, unable to keep from smiling a little bit herself.
Chuck had gotten a call as he was leaving work, telling him to go to Ellie and Devin's apartment. Upon arriving there, he found his wife and his sister, both looking very happy.
"What's going on?" he asked. "You both look like you just swallowed canaries."
Ellie didn't say anything, except "Sit," as she pointed at the couch.
Chuck was confused, but he sat. Sarah walked across the room, put a DVD in the DVD player, and turned on the Woodcomb's huge hi-def TV that Morgan had sold them two years prior.
Chuck had no idea what he was watching for a moment, but then the words "Cedars-Sinai Hospital" appeared at the bottom of the screen. "This is your ultrasound, isn't it?" he asked Sarah, his eyes full of curiosity.
"Yes," she said, nodding. Then she pointed back to the screen.
Chuck watched for a moment, and then, his eyes widened too, just as Sarah's had, as the two fetuses moved apart and he realized just how many children were going to be added to his family.
He didn't say anything for a few minutes. When he finally spoke, he said, "Well, I guess it's time to start looking for a house."
Sarah and Ellie both stared at him. "What?!" Sarah said, incredulous. "You find out that we're going to have twins, and your first thought is that we're going to need a house?"
"Unless you want to raise our children in a hotel room," Chuck said, a perfectly serious expression on his face. "Of course, this means you're going to have to start driving the Magnum, too. No way two carseats will fit in the Porsche."
Sarah's jaw dropped. "I don't believe you –"
Chuck couldn't hold back anymore, and he started laughing. "I'm sorry," he gasped between laughs. "Are you kidding? I'm absolutely ecstatic."
And he stood up, literally picked Sarah up, and spun her around. "I can't believe we're going to have twins," he said. "It's absolutely amazing."
That's when an evil gleam appeared in his eyes. "I just wanted to mess with your mind a little."
Twenty minutes worth of lecture from his wife and sister later, Chuck decided that he would never, ever mess with a pregnant woman's mind again. But despite messing with his wife's mind, there was one thing that hadn't slipped his.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he surrendered, holding up his hands. "But, if I may..."
He reached into his messenger bag - he still carried around a Buy More messenger bag, to the bewilderment of all - and pulled out a package wrapped in glossy black paper. "I did not forget my wife's birthday."
That pleased Sarah greatly, especially since she had somewhat forgotten about it herself, with all the excitement of the day. She took the package from Chuck, and unwrapped it.
It was a still from the ultrasound. The capture of the two babies, facing each other - the one from which Sarah had realized that she was having twins. It was framed in a sterling silver frame with little etchings of baby footprints and handprints all around it.
She turned to look at Chuck. "Not even I am that good a spy," she said. "How?"
Chuck had an admission to make. "Devin knows some people at Cedars, and he managed to get me the ultrasound tape. So yes, I had seen it before now."
Sarah didn't care. "I can't imagine anything better."