Revelations

By MySoapbox

Chapter 10: Ex-rogue Rogues

Chuck could not eat another bite, so he put his spoon down and slid the last of his ice cream over to Charlie, who had polished off his dessert five minutes earlier.

Charlie picked up his own spoon eagerly. "So Dad, you must have been pretty angry at mom for going all Body Snatchers on you."

"That sounds about right" Chuck laughed at the reference. "She did seem like one of the pod people there for awhile. And yes, I was furious - at first. Luckily, the long ride in the darkness, on the floor of a stolen CIA van, helped me simmer it off. By the time we got there I was mostly just exhausted. I was so physically and emotionally spent, by the time I found out about Fulcrum I probably would have become unhinged if it weren't for your mom…"

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When that dark haired woman said 'Welcome to Fulcrum,' it filled Chuck with dread. Fulcrum meant he was in the hands of his enemy; Fulcrum meant torture. He tensed his body for a fight. The old Chuck might have cried and fainted in the face of such danger, but this Chuck, the man that had run from the CIA for three years and lived to tell the tale, would not go down so easily.

Just as he moved his eyes about the room, calculating his odds, he felt a brush of fingers against the palm of his hand. Sarah had moved to his side, and was now taking his hand in hers. He looked over to her, and their eyes met for the first time in hours.

Sarah had always communicated more with her eyes than she had ever said out loud. And now that he was seeing her, that he was really paying attention, Chuck could see that even though Sarah hadn't said much of anything since the compound, she was communicating volumes with her eyes. Right now they were saying, 'Calm down. Trust me.' He glanced around the room once more while he made the decision. It was the same decision he had made on a beach six years earlier. He took a deep breath and squeezed her hand.

They were led into a conference room for 'debriefing.' Nicole sat at the table while Sarah and her 'team' stood, reporting on the events of the night. Sarah turned over the daily report laptop and told of the shooting of Chuck's handler, and their escape through the automated guard station. Nicole nodded her head in approval.

When the team was dismissed, Sarah did not move to leave and so, taking her lead, Chuck stayed as well. Nicole indicated for them to sit across from her. Sarah glanced at Chuck as they sat, her resolute eyes said, "We're in this together."

Once settled Nicole began, "Mr. Bartowski, tonight's mission seemed incredibly easy, why do you think that is?"

The question caught him off guard, but an answer immediately came to his mind. He had gone on a hundred similar missions. "The best reason I can think of Ma'am, is that Sarah was leading the team and she's the best," he said with confidence.

"While it's true that Mrs. Bartowski is a very fine operative, there was much more to it than that. Can you think of another reason?" She pressed her fingers together, waiting for his response.

Chuck wasn't quite sure what this woman was getting at. "Because of Fulcrum's excellent…preparation?"

"Because they undervalued you, Mr. Bartowski," she said, leaning forward in her chair. "They locked up their precious Intersect with all the best security money could buy, but they kept you locked down in an old cellar, like you were some bastard child they were trying to hide away. They didn't appreciate how valuable you are." She stood and began pacing the room. "We, here at Fulcrum, will not make that same mistake.

"You, Mr. Bartowski, are the one worth protecting. You, and only you, understand the intricate workings of the Intersect. They valued the golden egg, we value the hen!"

Chuck could tell that Sarah was getting antsy. "Tell him the deal, Nicole," Sarah urged.

"Yes, you're right, Sarah, we should cut to the chase. Mr. Bartowski, Fulcrum is prepared to make you a generous offer. You see, several months ago, we had a very unfortunate incident, our Intersect was damaged, and our top scientists killed. We would like you to head a new team, and rebuild our Intersect."

"I don't know," Chuck said. He felt Sarah's foot nudge his underneath the table. "What's in it for me? I mean, I had it pretty good deal going over there with the CIA."

"Please, Mr. Bartowski, let's be honest. I'm sure that your agreement with us will be far superior to what you ever had with the CIA. And what's more, you can be reunited with your wife, and when the Intersect is complete, we will relocate your entire family to one of our protected communities overseas."

She placed the fingertips of both her hands on the table and leaned forward. "Once the Intersect is complete, you will be free, Mr. Bartowski, free to live a normal life with your family. And what more, you will a have the knowledge that you were part of bringing down the corruption that is the American Government and ushering in a new era!" She raised her hands in the air. "An era where all this country's citizens will be able to live in peace and prosperity!"

Chuck bobbed his head enthusiastically. "Yes, that all sounds wonderful! Just wonderful! I'm glad to be a part of that."

"I thought you would be, that's why I recruited your wife. When I heard your story, I knew you would be exactly the kind of people who could catch the vision that is Fulcrum."

"Yes, I do have the vision, indeed. Now about Sarah - I would need her to assist me on my team."

Nicole took her seat again. "I don't know, as you already said, Mrs. Bartowski is an excellent agent, she is very useful in the field."

"She is also an expert on the Human Intersect, and I need her input," he insisted.

Nicole nodded her head. "Very well, Mr. Bartowski."

"And there's one more thing." This time Sarah kicked him in the leg; it took all his concentration not to cry out. "There is the matter of my son."

"Oh, don't worry, honey," Sarah said, laying her hand on his arm. "I've already worked that out. He's at Ellie's; he'll join us when the new Intersect is complete."

Chuck shook his head. "That's not enough." He turned to the woman across the table. "I want your personal guarantee, Nicole, that he will be watched over and protected while he is at my sister's. I don't want any of those CIA scum to get their hands on him."

"You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Bartowski, but we will meet your demands."

"Then," Chuck stood from the table and reached out his hand to Nicole, "Let's do this."

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"You trusted me to Fulcrum?" Charlie asked in surprise. "They knew I was at Aunt Ellie's?"

"That was a tough decision for me," Sarah answered. "I didn't have a lot of options. I couldn't send you on the run with Ellie or Awesome because they had their own kids to look after. I didn't trust Morgan. I know you love him, Charlie, but you must have realized by now that he doesn't always exercise the best judgment." Charlie nodded. "So I decided that the best place for you was in plain sight. I told Ellie that if anyone asked, she was to say that I just never came home from work one day. At least at Ellie's I knew you would be loved and cared for until we could get back to you."

"But if someone wanted to get me, wasn't that an obvious place?" Charlie asked

"Exactly," Chuck chimed in. "Your mom knew that once she busted me from the CIA, they would come looking for you."

"You see," Sarah added. "The only thing I could really trust, is that Fulcrum and the CIA would be at odds with each other. One wouldn't make a move with the other one there. And then your father's agreement with Nicole only strengthened that position."

"Okay, well, it seemed to work out, because I'm still here, right? And I don't remember anything bad happening that summer. So what happened next?"

Chuck answered, "Your mom and I had a lot of things to talk about…"

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It was well past three in the morning when Sarah took Chuck to some living quarters on a higher level of the building. Sarah had already been staying here, evidently, because her belongings were neatly stacked against one wall.

"I brought a few things for you, from home…I mean…from before," she said awkwardly. "It's not much. We'll get you some new clothes when we get to the Intersect site."

Chuck looked around uncomfortably. It was the first time they had been alone together in almost nine months and he didn't know what to expect. He looked into the bag Sarah had brought. "Ah… my Comic-Con t-shirt! I haven't seen this in years. I nearly kicked myself when I realized that I'd left that behind….It has so many good memories… So, thanks for this."

He sat down on the edge of the bed and unpacked. Sarah stood in middle of the room, her crossed arms hugging her body, while she watched him. He stood and stacked his piles of clothes on the floor next to Sarah's.

Once finished, he wasn't sure what to do next, so he sat on the bed heavily and put his head in his hands. He was so tired, but he doubted that he could sleep. It didn't look like Sarah was planning on sleep either because she did not move from where she stood.

"Sarah…I…" he began after a tense moment, but Sarah interrupted him and said in a sickeningly sweet tone, "Honey, it's been a long day. Why don't we take a shower?"

Chuck looked at her and saw tension on her face. Her tone of voice and facial expression were a startling contrast and he immediately grasped the situation. "Bugs?" he mouthed silently. She nodded.

"Okay, sweetheart, that sounds perfect," he said, louder than was necessary.

Once in the bathroom, Sarah shut the door behind them. She turned on the water and started the shower. Chuck began to speak but she silenced him with a finger over her lips. After a thorough inspection of the bathroom fixtures and cabinet, Chuck saw Sarah's shoulders relax. She turned to face him and after a second of looking at one another, Sarah fell into his arms.

It surprised him when she wrapped around him tightly, nearly squeezing the life out of him. It only took him a second's thought to reciprocate; it felt so good to hold her again. She felt different in his embrace, less soft and more solid, Chuck decided, than when he was last with her in Venezuela. The feel of her, the smell of her, it all felt new, yet familiar.

After a long moment, he felt her trembling. He pulled back to see tears silently streaking down her face. He kissed one cheek, and then the other, tasting the salty wetness on his lips, and when he took her back into his chest, she clung to him desperately. Overwhelmed with love for her, his own tears began to fall.

"I've missed you so much," he murmured into her ear.

"Me too," she whispered back, "more than you could ever know."

As they stood, rocking to the music of running water, the room filled with steam, coating them with dampness. Chuck didn't mind. The foggy air felt like their own safe cocoon from the world.

"Never leave me again," she said thickly. "You hear me? Never again!" She accented her words with firm taps on his back.

"I promise," he answered and pulled her in tighter, "…never again."

Sarah cried in earnest on his shoulder. He could feel her shaking in his arms and he could feel the wetness of her tears that soaked through his shirt. Not since that night long ago when he had learned that she was expecting Charlie had he seen Sarah so broken, and the thought that his actions were the source, gave him physical pain.

"Sarah, I…" he murmured not knowing what to say; he couldn't hide the sadness in his voice. She pulled back and looked in his eyes. Her eyes were vibrant blue, shimmering with tears, and before he knew what was happening, she was kissing him.

At first her lips felt foreign, warm, but different somehow than anything he'd felt before. Instinctively, he ran his hand up the back of her neck and into her hair and as her lips moved in tandem with his; the familiarity of it washed over him like a warm wave.

He poured all of his feelings into kissing her. All his feelings of hurt and comfort, loneliness and love, fear and trust. She returned his fervency with her own, and he felt one truth penetrate his heart: all was forgiven. Whatever this was, whatever trouble they were in, they were in it together.

"We have a lot to talk about," she said against his mouth, between kisses.

Chuck murmured his assent, but didn't take his hands from around her. The way he was feeling at that moment, he never wanted to let her go. Finally breathless, he pulled back and pressed his forehead against hers. "Sarah, why are we here?" he murmured.

Sarah moved her hand from around his back and ran it through the back of his damp hair to his cheek. Looking intensely into his eyes she whispered, "Until Fulcrum is destroyed we'll never be free. We're here to take them down."

Chuck took a moment to assimilate that information. And then nodding seriously he said," I thought it might be something like that." Then he leaned in to kiss her neck.

"Chuck, did you hear what I just said?" He didn't respond but kept working down her neck and across her collar bone. She put her hands on his chest to push him away. "Chuck, this is serious. We really do need to talk," she insisted.

"You're right, we do. And we will. But this is serious too. Sarah, I've missed you," he said, unable to hide the longing in his voice.

"I've missed you too," she answered, her tone matching his in intensity. He started to run his hands up the hem of her shirt and she did not resist him.

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"O-kay!" Sarah said, interrupting the story. "I think we can stop right there."

Chuck started to turn a little pink. "Sorry, I guess I was getting carried away with my story telling."

Charlie looked down at his empty plate uncomfortably. "Um…yeah…so…you were saying, you didn't work for Fulcrum?" Charlie asked.

"No, we did." Sarah answered, glad for the change of subject. "We were full fledged Fulcrum agents."

"But you just said that you wanted to take down Fulcrum, so doesn't that make you a double agent or something."

"Ah," Chuck said, "It would have, if your mom was also working for the CIA, but she wasn't; we were totally on our own."

"So, let me get this straight." Charlie leaned forward and put down his spoon. "You were ex-rogue CIA agents who were also Fulcrum agents who were also rogue?"

Chuck smiled, appreciative of the irony. "Yeah, a little screwed up, wasn't it."

"Yeah, I'd say. So Mom, while dad worked on the new computer what did you do?"

"We told you, I was his assistant," Sarah said.

"But that was just a rouse, right? I know you, Mom, no offence, but computers aren't your thing."

"I know I'm no expert like your father, but I'm not totally incompetent," Sarah protested. Both Charlie and Chuck looked at her skeptically. "Okay, so maybe you're right, computers aren't my thing. But there were some things I could do that were very useful…"

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While Sarah sometime felt a little frustrated being cooped up in a lab day in and day out, she did enjoy watching Chuck work. She loved how he would fiddle with his pencil as he looked at his notes, and how he would tap his foot as he thought. She could tell when he was getting frustrated because he would sigh as he worked and she knew things were getting really bad when he started running his hand through his dark curls.

She never got used to his self guided flashes, when his eyes would roll up into his head and his whole body would shudder a little. But she was always amazed what flood of knowledge would flow from him after such a flash.

The Fulcrum Intersect was slightly different than the one Chuck had worked on for the CIA. Its original builders had made some additions that made it far superior to the CIA model. At first, Sarah was worried, because Chuck couldn't fall back on flashes to understand the circuitry. But in the end her concerns were unfounded. Chuck really was a genius when it came to computers. With a little study, he had it all well in hand.

In addition to his computer savvy, Sarah also admired how good Chuck was at being a spy. He had a team of four other computer technicians working for him, and he led them with confidence. He was well respected and well liked. None of them suspected that all the time he was working on the Intersect he was also working on 'their plan'; the one they whispered about in the bathroom when the water was running and the one that they worked out on crossword puzzles, passed back and forth between them on Sunday afternoons.

As she watched him now, running diagnostics with one of his programmers, she couldn't help but think how far he had come from that day she met him at the Buy More. Those first few years he was always so jumpy and nervous. His babbling and bumbling caused more than one mission to get dicey. But now all of that was gone, replaced by a man that, from the outside, appeared to be completely committed to rebuilding the Intersect and the cause of Fulcrum.

Sarah put down the notes she had been pretending to review, it was time to do her part of the work. She walked over to the Fulcrum agent, Blackhawk, who was head of security for the Intersect. He seemed to always be there, standing off to the side quietly observing, day after day. It was Sarah's job to keep him off balance.

They had establishing something of a friendship these past couple of months. They would stand off to the side, swapping stories of their glory days in the field. Sarah would tell him all about Jakarta, and he would tell her about his time in Milan. In lots of ways he reminded her of Casey, but she always kept in the back of her mind that he wasn't her old partner; he was a cold blooded Fulcrum killer.

She approached him and put her hand softly on his forearm. "I'm going to the lounge, can I get you anything? Coffee?"

The large bearded man smiled, "Sure, thanks."

"No problem." She smiled and winked at him, as was her routine. He looked away from her but she could see a little smirk peak out from under his beard. Gotcha, she thought.

She went over to Chuck and the programmer. "You guys want anything?"

Chuck didn't look up. "No thanks, we're almost done here."

"Suit yourself," she answered and turned to go.

"Hey, Sarah," he called after her. "Would you take this to Nicole? It's our progress report."

"Sure thing." Sarah took a file he offered her, smiled and walked pass Blackhawk and out of the room. As she passed through the doorway, she pocketed a thumb drive Chuck had hidden in the file. This was the final piece of information they needed to complete the virus Chuck was designing. Chuck would work late into the night tonight on a stolen laptop while Sarah listened to music to cover up sound of the keyboard. If all went well, their plans would soon be put into motion, and if they were lucky, they would be reunited with Charlie within a month.

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"So what was this virus, Dad?"

"It wasn't a virus technically, it was a worm. Once introduced into the Fulcrum system it would move through the network, causing infected computers to copy files and email them. It also installed a back door so that I could potentially access the infected computers in the future.

The plan was that once we had gathered enough information on Fulcrum's operations we would destroy the Intersect and trade the information to the CIA for our freedom."

"And how were you going to destroy the Intersect?" Charlie asked.

"Your father had already put that piece in place," Sarah said.

"Yes, a Trojan horse that would activate on a specific date. Once I figured how to do it, making the Trojan horse was easy."

Chuck thought about how truly simple it had been. When activated, the Trojan horse would go into the Intersect's programming and change a couple lines of the coding. So when the Intersect linked the information, or "flashed" it would not end at the last bit of data, but would look for more data, including information it had already analyzed. So in essence it would loop, over and over. Since linking data always got priority over all other functions, this would in essence, freeze and overload the computer.

"So did it work? Did all go according you're your plans?" Charlie asked excitedly. "And even if it did work, how were you guys planning on getting away? I mean, you were in some sort of compound right?"

Chuck raised his hands. "Hey…hey…don't get ahead of my story."

"Yes, Charlie, you wouldn't want to steal your father's thunder," Sarah said dryly.

"Exactly," Chuck agreed, ignoring Sarah's sarcasm. "I don't think our son here appreciates the gravity of the situation we were in." He turned back to Charlie. "The day finally came when the Fulcrum Intersect was complete. The Trojan horse I had planted would not initiate until a specific date a couple weeks in the future. Until then we would gather all the data we could from the worm I would introduce."

"So if all went as planned, in a few weeks your father and I would be gone…"

"Escaped from Fulcrum's evil clutches, you mean," Chuck interrupted with a dramatic voice.

"Yes, sweetie," Sarah said to placate him. "We planed to 'escape from their clutches' before anyone noticed anything was wrong. Unfortunately, Fulcrum had other plans…"

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Chuck stood at the ready in a white lab coat in the newly built Intersect room.

The room was full of Fulcrum leadership and invited guests. Nicole stood in front and clapped her hands to get their attention. "This is a banner day for Fulcrum. The day that we rightly take our place as the most powerful intelligence agency in the world." The audience clapped and she raised her arm to direct the audience's attention towards Chuck.

"And if everyone is ready," Chuck said as he stood in front of the white cube that was the Intersect. He reached down and placed his hand on the activation screen. A green progress bar appeared, and a computer voice announced, "Intersect activated."

All the lights in the room dimmed temporarily as the white cube began to spin and crackle with electric pulses, turning first green then yellow. The progress bar reached capacity, turned red and began blinking. Behind Chuck, a wall of plasma TV's flickered to life, showing one large image of a blue letter 'F' superimposed over a waving American flag, the symbol of Fulcrum.

"Fulcrum's new Intersect is now online," Chuck announced.

"Confirmed! All systems are functioning," one of Chuck's team reported from his monitoring station nearby.

The room broke out in applause. Everyone congratulated each other and patted each other on the back. Chuck took handshakes all around. Even Sarah, who was standing near the back, received praise, even though she mostly shuffled paperwork and brought people coffee.

An older man surrounded by an entourage stepped forward and shook Nicole's hand. "Good work you've done here, Nicole. Damn good work."

"Thank you, sir, but I can't take all the credit. Bartowski here is our chief engineer. The Intersect is his baby. Chuck, this is Jeff Nucker, head of Fulcrum."

Chuck stepped forward and shook the man's hand. "It's an honor, sir, a real honor."

"Excellent work, Bartowski. I'm very pleased. You should process our first human Intersects right away. Tonight!"

"Human Intersects, sir?"

"Didn't Nicole tell you? We have screened hundreds of our agents and have found a small handful that can receive the Intersect. We're going to build ourselves an army, my boy! A genuine spy army!" He pounded Chuck on the back and chuckled out loud at his declaration; all his entourage laughed along with him.

Chuck joined in the laughter as well, but his came out more nervous than joyous. "We'll get right on that, sir…yes, we will."

The leader of Fulcrum turned his attention back to Nicole and Chuck looked over the crowed to find Sarah. She was talking to another member of his team, but he could tell by her subtle glance that she had heard everything.

Nicole clapped her hands to get the group's attention. "Now if you will just follow my assistant here, he'll take you upstairs where we have planned a little reception." The crowd filed out of the Intersect room and Nicole turned to Chuck and his team. "Good work everyone. But no time to rest on our laurels, Mr Nucker wants us to start processing the human Intersects tonight. I'll bring up our first twenty candidates in a few minutes."

All of the team immediately went to work preparing the Intersect for human interface, when Chuck pulled Sarah aside.

"Sarah, Sarah, what do you think we should do?" he whispered to her anxiously.

"What can we do?"

"We can't have twenty Fulcrum Intersects walking around; Fulcrum would be unstoppable! All because of us!"

"You're right." Sarah bit her bottom lip. "I could set off some sort of explosion. Destroy the Intersect?"

"And take us with it?!"

"If we have to," Sarah said with determination.

Chuck glanced at the spinning Intersect cube nervously. "The Trojan horse. I'll trigger the Trojan horse early."

"Can you do that?"

"I think so."

Chuck started for the consol, when Sarah caught his arm. "Chuck, they will kill us."

Chuck looked at her, and an understanding passed between them. He nodded grimly, walked over to the main consol and started to work. Meanwhile, Sarah ran interference with the other members of the team so that none of them would notice what Chuck was doing.

Five minutes later Nicole returned with the agents, all dressed in matching black suits. They all lined up facing the wall of plasma screens.

Chuck's team took their positions at their work stations, while Sarah handed out protective glasses.

"It would be best if you and your men stepped outside," Sarah said to Blackhawk, who stood at his post. "This could be dangerous and I wouldn't want any of you to get hurt." She leaned up to him and planed a quick kiss on his cheek. He smiled back, nodded, and signaled his team to exit the room.

"Are we ready, Mr. Bartowski?" Nicole asked, slipping her own protective glasses on.

"Ready," he answered, in a strong voice. "Ready as I'll ever be," he mumbled as he reached down and entered the sequence that would start the downloading process. The lights dimmed, and Sarah came to stand beside him. He reached out and took her hand in his.

The white Intersect cube glowed and rotated slowly while the plasma screens flickered to life. The images began flashing across the screens. A minute passed, and then another. Chuck began to wonder if his Trojan horse was going to work at all.

But then he noticed that the same ten images started to flash over and over and over.

*Pig*alpha*tower of Pisa*masked banded*apple pie*an explosion*child's face*rifle*Nerd's candy*the swamp thing*Pig*…..

Some members of Chuck's team noticed as well because they started to type into their computers and check their readings.

"Sir," one of them called out to Chuck, "it looks like we have a problem."

An alarm buzzer began to sound, and one of the plasma screens started flashing the word "WARNING!"

"What's going on?!" Nicole shouted over the noise.

"Nothing, nothing!" Chuck answered. "Just a small glitch. I'll get it taken care of in a jiffy."

*Pig*alpha*tower of Pisa*masked banded*apple pie*an explosion*child's face*M4 rifle*Nerd's candy*the swamp thing*Pig*…..

Chuck quickly reached down to his shoe and pulled out a small thumb drive. He jammed it into the console. Sarah looked at him with question in her eyes. The ten same images flashed faster and faster across the screens, and the agents that were supposed to be receiving the Intersect began to pass out on the floor.

"We have to shut it down!" one of the technicians yelled.

"I'm trying!" another answered. "It's unresponsive."

*Pig*alpha*tower of Pisa*masked banded*apple pie*an explosion*child's face*M4 rifle*Nerd's candy*the swamp thing*Pig*…..

Nicole grabbed Chuck by the shoulder, "Turn it off! Now!"

Chuck typed furiously on the keyboard. "It won't give me access."

"Can't you just unplug the damn thing?" she screeched.

A voice sounded in the room in addition to the buzzing alarms: "Warning! System overload eminent…Warning! System overload imminent…."

*Pig*alpha*tower of Pisa*masked banded*apple pie*an explosion*child's face*M4 rifle*Nerd's candy*the swamp thing*Pig*…..

The cube spun faster and faster and the screens were now just a blur except the one that flashed "WARNING!" over and over in large black and white letters. The agents all lay lifeless on the ground and the acrid smoke from burning electronics filled the air.

"Mr. Bartowki!" Nicole yelled. And then suddenly the whole room went dark and quiet. A second later dim emergency lights flickered to life.

Blackhawk and his men burst into the room, their guns drawn. "What the hell happened?!"

Nicole took off her protective glasses, "I don't know." She pointed to Chuck and Sarah. "But they do!"

Blackhawks men trained their weapons on them.

Nicole grabbed Chuck's hand and pried back his fingers. The thumb drive he had retrieved from his shoe sat in the palm of his hand.

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"So what was on the thumb drive, Dad? It wasn't the Trojan horse, because that was already working," Charlie questioned.

Sarah smiled proudly. "It was your father's secret back up plan."

Chuck looked down at the table modestly. She reached across and took his hand before turning back to Charlie. "I told you he had become a great spy."

Revelations has been nominated for both Best Overall Story, and Best Charah Story in the Awesome Awards for Excellence in Chuck Fanfic. I'm so thrilled that it is even in the running and I wanted to thank all of you that took time to nominate it.

Voting is ongoing until this Sunday, May 10th.

I'm not going to ask for you vote, because every story in the competition is a great story. So go and vote for your favorites!

You can see all the nominations and vote by visiting the Chuck boards at this site. Click on "Discussion Forums" in the top right corner of the Chuck Fiction homepage. Choose the first forum and the nominations will be the top posts on the board.

A million thanks go to my beta reader, Sharpasamarble. He is nominated as best author and in several other categories, and is very deserving of your consideration. All mistakes are my own.

One last question for my readers: This chapter has turned into another long one (over 6 ,000 words) and I considered splitting it into two shorter chapters like I did with the last chapter. Would you leave in your reviews (or PM me if you would like) whether you prefer the longer chapters, or if you prefer shorter chapters (that may be able to be updated faster). This story is about wrapped up but it would help me in my future endeavors. Thanks so much. -MSB