Updated: Fixed the missing lines. They were showing up in the original text and the Document Manager, but not on the published page.

Thanks MySoapBox and jagged1!

Sunday, 23rd

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Graham stood in front of the Intersect supercomputer.

The technician had the replacement part ready.

The CIA director had a difficult choice to make.

Putting the Intersect back online would greatly increase the odds that Fulcrum may attempt to make their move. He and Bryce still needed more time.

He frowned slightly.

He knew he couldn't delay the project's repair. There were entire departments and lives that depended on this system being fully functional.

Delaying the inevitable could also tip off Fulcrum that his agency was aware of them.

"Bring the system back online," he told the repair technician.

---------------

"Hey man, want anything?"

"No Morgan, I think-" Chuck tapped the buttons on his controller rapidly, "I think I'm good."

"Well... I am going to recharge my batteries with a grape soda. You sure you don't want anything?"

Chuck kept his eyes on the screen. "Isn't it a little early for grape soda?"

"Chuck. Dude. You know you I gotta go with what works."

"More power to ya buddy."

"Last chance... anything while I'm up?"

Chuck didn't answer.

"Okay," Morgan could only attempt to support his best friend as much as he could.

As he walked down the hall to the kitchen, he noticed Ellie and Devon putting down boxes they had been carrying.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" Morgan asked innocently.

Ellie motioned for him to be quiet.

"What? Is something wrong?"

Devon leaned in towards Morgan, and tried to speak in what Morgan guessed was his most hushed voice.

"Ellie and I are gonna set up the decorations later while you and Chuck are at work."

Morgan blinked. "Wait, you know Chuck's birthday isn't until tomorrow right?"

"Yeah, but we've got a shift early tomorrow. So between that and the uh..." he winked at Morgan, "pre-party with the lady, there won't be enough time-"

Ellie jabbed him in the side.

Devon winced slightly. "What?"

"Agent Grimes, Morgan Grimes," Devon said smiling and quickly trying to change the subject, "Ellie and I need you for a mission, should you choose to accept it."

Ellie rolled her eyes and carried one of the boxes to her room.

He continued unfazed. "We need you to keep Chuck out of the apartment for as long as possible tonight so we can get everything set up, okay bro?"

The newly recruited agent grinned. "Who's gonna be Agent 99?"

Devon looked slightly puzzled. "I'm pretty sure Bond is 007 dude, but hey, you wanna be 99, go ahead."

"No, I mean- its from-..." Morgan sighed, "know what, never mind."

"Yeah, I'll try and keep Chuck out, okay?"

Devon held out his fist. "Alright Agent 99, lock it out."

Morgan simply shook his head. This was the kind of exchange that made him forget why he came into the kitchen in the first place.

---------------

"Major Casey, you have something to report?"

Casey stood proudly. "Yes ma'am."

"There's been some activity concerning our traitor in the CIA."

"It seems his partner, Agent Walker, was recently released from her probation duties a few days early."

"According to Larkin's credit card records, he bought her a series of flights leaving immediately out of DC."

He began reading down the list. "One to Seattle, one to Los Angeles, one to New York, one to San Diego, and one to San Antonio."

"They were all scheduled to leave at around the same time - he's trying to throw us off of his tracks."

"The TSA," Casey sighed angrily before recomposing himself, "The TSA is having trouble tracking the passengers on those flights."

"We know that her cell is turned off. Since she's likely to be on one of those flights, I've ordered teams to each of the airports to find and follow her - wherever she lands."

"Larkin is still here in DC."

Casey flipped to another of the pages he held.

"Larkin in the meanwhile, has been doing some homework. He's been very interested in one location in particular-"

"Let me see!" The way in which General Beckman interrupted him actually caught Casey off guard.

She recognized the site in question. One of the project reports she had received this morning indicated that the Intersect was scheduled to be brought back online today.

"Have you been able to ascertain what Agent Larkin was looking for at this location?"

"No ma'am," Casey replied before hesitating, "May I ask what Larkin might want with this site?"

"I'm sorry Major, but that information is classified."

"Understood." he said nodding.

"Good work Major Casey. I want you to focus your concentration on this location in particular until further notice. Maintain your other security teams' present locations."

"We may see Agent Larkin make his move at any time."

Casey smiled at what he heard. There would be action, and it would be soon.

--------------

Sarah put her luggage on the floor and began smiling.

As she looked around the hotel room, she thought that Bryce must really like the color green.

It might not be quite the style that she would choose herself, but it was something she could live with.

Styling issues aside, he had otherwise picked out a nice hotel room.

It was definitely more upscale than what Sarah was used to. Then again, she thought, most of her recent missions hadn't involved anything with a hint of luxury.

She laid back onto the soft bed and stretched. It felt good after her long flight. Sarah owed this bit of happiness to Bryce.

She began feeling guilty about how wrong she had been about him.

She had expected to hear the worst and get dumped. Instead he had done just the opposite.

He had apparently just given her a signal of how committed he was to their relationship.

After all, pulling strings like he had to get her out of her temporary assignment was no small task.

Sarah figured for Bryce to do that and get time just for the two of them to have a vacation, he must have called in several favors.

It made Sarah feel special.

She began speculating on Bryce's intentions.

The vivid imagination she retained from her youth caused her mind to wander across far too many possibilities.

She smiled to herself. Even though she still wanted to be able to know how Bryce felt about her, maybe it was good for him to still be a mystery from time to time.

"I'll just have to wait and see what other surprises he has for me."

Sarah got up and started unpacking her suitcase. She could already tell by her excitement that it was going to be difficult to wait.

Bryce had just done something for the two of them. Why hadn't she been able to see this coming?

Whatever was going on, one thing was clear - Bryce was being serious about their relationship.

The last time Sarah felt this sure about him was also the last time she thought she might have possibly lost him.

She and Bryce had been paired up with a DEA agent that sometimes went by the alias 'Carina'.

Sarah had worked with Carina before, and knew full well her reputation.

As much as she hadn't wanted to admit it, that day that Bryce and Carina spent together as part of the mission had gotten her worried - especially when they were late coming back to the rendezvous point.

Sarah had struggled while waiting to decide whether or not she should bring the question up with Bryce. Fortunately she hadn't needed to choose.

After their return, Carina appeared frustrated.

"What went wrong?" Sarah asked her.

Carina continued her visible grumpiness until Bryce left the two of them alone.

"Nothing went wrong with the op," she replied curtly.

"What went wrong then?" asked a concerned Sarah.

A nearly bewildered Carina continued where she left off, "Something went wrong with me. I don't get it. I even managed to get the NSA agent in Prague, but..."

Carina stared directly at Sarah. "Seriously, what do you have over him anyway?"

As Sarah watched her storm off, she found it hard not to let her relief turn into gloating. Bryce had chosen her over Carina.

Now, Bryce was choosing Sarah over spending time out on another mission.

In a way, it felt like they were reaching a turning point in their relationship.

She realized she needed to do something on her end as well. It was going to be hard for her to do, but if she wanted to take the next step - she would have to act like 'normal' people and trust Bryce.

After all, Sarah thought, he had earned it.

---------------

"You know we have a responsibility to finish what we started."

Morgan found it hard to be convincing like this without sounding like he was pleading.

"Responsibility???" Chuck asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, you know - for all the fans out there."

Chuck's disbelief changed to worry. "Uh, Morgan, what fans?"

"The last time I checked," Morgan smiled, "there were at least... mayyyyyybe, a dozen visitors."

Chuck rolled his eyes.

"C'mon man, I'm telling you, 'How To Make A Movie End A Lot Quicker' is gonna be a hit someday."

"Uh-huh," Chuck said trying not to dampen Morgan's enthusiasm. "Seriously, why do we need to do another one?"

Morgan became uncomfortable. "You know, the last one didn't turn out so well... The way we started arguing it was more like 'How To Make A Friendship End A Lot Quicker.'"

His energy level surged again, "But we can change that right!?! A new episode to show 'em all that we know what we're doing! What do you say?"

Chuck looked at his watch. They had 10 minutes left on their shift. "Okay, fine."

Morgan ran off and grabbed one of the video cameras from the display area. Working the camera, he began the live action footage.

"Okay, this is another episode of 'How To Make A Movie End A Lot Quicker'. Chuck Bartowski, you're up. Let's see... I'm gonna give you... 'Back To The Future 3'."

Chuck laughed. "What? Why such an easy one?"

"Well, you know, it's been a while, and we might be a little rusty. Gotta ease back in to it."

Chuck shrugged his shoulders. "Uh, okay. Hi! My name is Marty McFly and I'm stuck in the old west because my car just ran out of gas. Oh no Doc Brown what are we gonna do?"

He turned to face his other self. "Hey Marty, I got an idea. How about we take some of the gas from my DeLorean and get back home?"

Chuck transformed back into Marty. "Sounds great. Okay. Wow, looks like we're back to 1955."

He turned now towards the camera. "The end."

Morgan gave Chuck a high-five. "See dude, it's like riding a bike right?"

Chuck took the camera from him. "Okay Morgan Grimes... uh... 'The 13th Floor'."

Morgan blinked. "Dude, did anybody actually see that movie?"

"You know the rules - or do you want to forfeit again?"

"No sir," Morgan replied shaking his head, "not going there."

"Okay, 13th Floor: I'm just a real guy working on a computer simulation project. Or am I? Hey something-"

"Hang on," Chuck interrupted with surprise in his voice, "the tape says it's at the end. Didn't you just get this off of the display?"

"Yeah," Morgan replied while trying his best not to forget his abbreviated movie idea.

Chuck rewound the tape for several seconds.

He looked at the view screen and hit play.

"Well that explains it. Looks like Jeff and Lester got to it first." Chuck put the camera down.

Morgan sounded disappointed. "Whoa, Chuck, I thought we were gonna finish this."

"Morgan," he said chuckling, "we've got like a minute tops and we're outta here. Since when do you stay past your shift?"

"I have artistic principles."

"You- you have artistic principles. Okay Morgan, I'm leaving."

"No, we can't leave yet!"

Chuck turned back to face Morgan. "And why can't we leave yet?"

Morgan paused almost too long. "Alright, look, you didn't hear this from me. Ellie's prepping the apartment for your birthday party."

Chuck's eyes widened. "My birthday party?" he mumbled as he shook his head.

"Dude, you know she's just trying to help okay? You gotta show up to your own party..."

"So... what now?"

Morgan looked down. "I'm supposed to keep you here after our shift is over until they're done. But hey! How about we watch a real movie in the home theater room. It'll be great!"

Chuck realized he had no choice in the matter. His fate had already been chosen for him. "Fine, what are we watching?"

"Only the best movie of 1989 - with Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, and... the lovely Miss Basinger as Vicki Vale..."

"You want to watch Batman?" he replied.

"C'mon Chuck, tell me Prince's contribution wasn't the greatest one he ever did for a movie soundtrack."

"Okay," he said nodding in agreement. "But if I get that song stuck in my head, it's your fault."

Morgan smiled broadly. "Blame accepted."

---------------

"Morgan... I don't think Batman was intended to have a half-time break in the middle."

"Why not? With a break, you get to stand up, stretch, get more popcorn - it could be the evolution in movie watching."

Morgan was stalling for time, and stalling badly.

Chuck did stretch, but only as part of a yawn. He fell back into his seat, remaining silent.

This was the kind of behavior Morgan dreaded seeing. He never really knew exactly what it was that was bothering Chuck.

Nevertheless, he decided to give his usual method another try - talk about everything until he reacts.

"Wouldn't it be great to be Batman?"

Chuck looked over in disbelief.

"Think about it - he gets to live out a totally awesome rich-dude life, and then 'in the dark of night' he's the hero battling bad guys and saving the day!"

Chuck continued to sit silently.

"Hey, buddy, you with me?"

"Yeah Morgan, I'm with you. I guess it'd be kinda cool to be Batman."

"I'd rather be Carmichael first."

"Who?"

Chuck slowly shook his head, "Nobody you know."

"Well, I'm sticking to my Batman theory. He's got the right idea you know? Bruce Wayne gets all the normal hot chicks, and Batman gets all the hot freaky ones."

"Guess so..." Chuck replied still sounding tuned out.

"And... and, no one's going to ask Batman about any five year plans."

Chuck's eyes focused - Bingo!

"You know what Batman's plans are? Get cool new toys to play with and battle crime. Nice and simple right?"

Chuck began to come out of his trance.

"Nobody asks him," Morgan continued in his inspirational tone, "who he's going to save, and who he's going to dump into a vat of chemicals - no sir! He just does it."

Sometimes Morgan's speeches had the side-effect of inspiring himself. He smiled broadly.

"Yeah, you've got a point. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad."

Chuck yawned again. "Hey buddy, it's kinda late - you mind if we pick this up again some other time?"

Morgan looked at his watch. "Hey, sure, yeah, no problem."

Hopefully he had bought Ellie and Devon enough time.

---------------

A familiar voice startled him.

"Bryce. I've missed you. How about we spend more time together?"

The lights turned on.

Tommy and a group of men stood ready.