A/N: For all who read (and particularly those who reviewed) the first chapter, you're all awesome. The amount of undeserved positive feedback never ceases to amaze me—I'm glad you all like how this has started out. I fully intend on responding to all of your reviews, but I wanted to get this chapter done first. (It provided a good guilt incentive to write faster.)
The normal McDuck disclaimers still apply.
-.-.-.-
Day 4: Monday
Both of Chuck's feet weren't even in the Buy More yet before Morgan spotted him. In no time, the small-bearded man had bolted across the sales floor and had Chuck in the infamous sideways Morgan hug, complete with leg wrap.
"Mon capitan! I'm so glad that you're alive!"
After his chat with Casey while driving to work, Chuck was slightly on edge, and the short walk across the wide open parking lot hadn't done much to calm his nerves. Morgan's sudden ambush caused him to jump a mile, sending his coffee mug straight up in the air—it made a much better projectile than it did a sunlight blocker. Bobbling the mug a few times before catching it again as it returned to Earth, Chuck tried to take a few calming breaths. You're not even in the store yet and you're freaking out already. Bravo, Chuck: good way to help the team. A puzzled expression crossed Chuck's face as he registered what Morgan had said.
"Why wouldn't I be alive, Morgan?"
Morgan gave Chuck an "are you kidding?" expression as he detached himself, poking the latter in the shoulder a few times for emphasis.
"Dude, I called you six times last night! SIX TIMES! You didn't pick up! I thought you had been kidnapped by the LargeMart buffoons!"
Chuck's puzzled expression intensified as they strolled toward the Nerd Herd desk. He'd been home all night, trying to make more headway on identifying the virus' author (with little success). Come to think of it, he didn't remember seeing his cell phone at all last night. He hadn't really noticed because he'd been so busy. The last time he remembered seeing it was… Oh hell, he thought. A comical pocket check, involving patting all of his pockets (front and back) in an exaggerated motion to make sure they were truly empty, confirmed that he was indeed cell phone-less. Now that he knew where his cell phone wasn't, he knew exactly where it was.
"Buddy, I'm so sorry. Sarah snagged it from me yesterday afternoon and forgot to give it back before she left."
At the mention of Sarah, Morgan unconsciously scanned the aisles and walked a little closer to Chuck.
"Ah, yes, the lady friend. Is she, uh, still mad about the on-call shifts from last week?"
So that explains why Morgan is practically walking on top of me. He's waiting for Sarah to jump out and kill him still. Chuck swung around the Nerd Herd desk and dropped his briefcase to the ground, giving the large stacks of paper a quick once over. They were still sizable, with the virus continuing to infect many users. With the work week starting today, imagining the size of the stacks by the end of the day was making Chuck sick.
"You'd have to ask her, Morgan. I've been a little busy trying not to get killed myself."
And there's today's understatement. Morgan was beginning to formulate his reply, as indicated by his rapid hand gestures, when a new voice entered the conversation.
"Well that would explain why you never returned our calls, Mr. Bartowski. You're a very difficult man to get in touch with."
A decently dressed man had appeared next to Morgan. Chuck could already see that Casey had noted the arrival and was calmly weaving his way over toward the Herder desk. Quick, say something before Casey decapitates the unsuspecting man!
"Ha, yeah, sorry. The girlfriend wasn't too pleased with the phone ringing so much this weekend. How can I help you?"
The man offered his hand, which Chuck quickly shook to signal Casey to relax.
"I'm Grant Daniels and I work for Symantec. We'd like to talk to you about your coding for the virus released last Friday."
Symantec was best known for the Norton AntiVirus products—something all Buy More employees were well aware of. Morgan had slinked away once he'd heard the word "Symantec", and was doing a small victory dance visible only to Chuck behind Daniels' back.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. What about it?"
Daniels produced a business card and sealed envelope from an interior suit coat pocket. He tapped both on the counter unconsciously as he talked.
"I'll bet you're as busy as we are, so we'll keep this short. It's come to our attention that you've written code that both removes the virus once a computer is infected and protects against potential infection. We'd like to purchase that code from you and include it in our official virus definition updates. The envelope contains the legal documents, including how much we'd like to pay you for your code."
"It's come to our attention"? How would it come to your attention, exactly? It took another moment before light bulb went on—the NSA. He was being reimbursed for the virus work. He didn't know whether to be ecstatic that Beckman actually delivered on her promise or disappointed that this visit wasn't real. Daniels seemed to recognize that Chuck had pieced everything together, and forged on before Chuck could even respond to the first offer.
"On a completely different note, if this code is as good as we've heard it is, we'd like you to consider working for us. We've done a little bit of poking around and know that you're a Stanford grad, which makes you more than qualified. We have offices here in LA—Santa Monica, actually. Driving into the office wouldn't be too bad, if you had to come in at all. For the job we're interested in hiring you for, there's a great degree of flexibility when it comes to hours and work location. What do you think?"
Chuck's mouth hung agape. Promptly shutting it once he realized it was when he heard Casey growl clear across the store, it took him another minute to stammer something aloud. Did I really just get an actual job offer?
"Wow, that is…wow."
A few more seconds passed before Chuck was able to form a full sentence.
"Do you mind if I just…think all of this over for a little bit? I know you really need the code and everything, but I promise I'll have an answer for you guys in a few hours."
Daniels gave a knowing nod with a slight smile as he finally stopped tapping and placed the envelope and card flat on the counter.
"I know how it is. Have to talk to the girlfriend first, right?"
And the NSA, but what's the difference. Chuck wanted to make sure that selling his code to Symantec was part of the plan; he'd ask about the job offer after that. The last thing he wanted to do was give the general another reason to bunker-ize him. Others were already providing her with ample reasons, if Casey's recap was accurate.
Chuck slipped the envelope into his back pocket and made a point of putting the business card in his pocket protector—somewhere where it would not be lost, emphasizing its importance and that he intended to call Daniels back—while responded to Daniels' last comment as he would've if the NSA hadn't been involved. He didn't respond with malice; honest curiosity and confusion dominated.
"I care about her a lot and her opinion's important to me. Why wouldn't I talk to her first?"
The shock on Daniels' face was obvious. He'd obviously been expecting a more standard response. Shock soon gave way to outright respect as he shook Chuck's hand firmly.
"Best answer I've heard. And, yes, please—take some time to think about it, but if you could let us know soon, that'd be great."
"Absolutely. I'll talk to you guys soon."
With that, the Symantec rep turned and headed for the Buy More's exit. Chuck marveled at how many game-changing events could occur before 9:30 in the morning. That, in conjunction with another glance at the disarray of the Herder desk, left Chuck with a single thought.
I definitely need more coffee.
-.-.-.-
Testing a small bit of ice cream for quality purposes, Sarah was staring at the topping bins with the intention of filling them. Her mind, however, was elsewhere. After returning to her hotel room last night, she had intended to take a quick shower before starting the paperwork for the warehouse raid. The "quick shower" turned into an hour long attempt to decompress from the weekend's events involving her and Chuck, with the water extra cold just to expedite the process.
Even then, she had made no headway into figuring out the best course of action, other than the one that Agency protocol dictated, but wasn't particularly possible at the moment: to distance herself as much as possible from him until she regained self-control. That plan, though, while it did have the allure of job security, didn't offer much in terms of happiness. I wonder if getting Ellie and Awesome to elope would help matters any, she couldn't help but think as she threw away her ice cream dish. But that assumes that everything will return to our sort of normal after the wedding. She sighed while rubbing the kink that had suddenly appeared in her neck unconsciously—this sort of thinking wasn't helping any, if the kink was any indication. Just keep your head in the game, Walker, for everyone's sake.
"You know, I hear that a hot shower helps with that."
Her recent admonition to stay on task was already forgotten as Chuck's voice echoed in the empty store. The telltale sign was the broad smile across her face as she answered.
"I hear other things help with it, too."
Where the hell did that come from? HEAD IN THE GAME!
Chuck's eyes bulged slightly from his head for a moment—the typical response when she flirted back—but his eyebrows shot up and waggled a few times as he started to make his way around the counter.
"Oh reaaaaaaaaaaally? I think this is where I come in."
As she turned her back to the main door in order to face him, her expression mirrored his from a moment ago—her eyes were currently bulging, trying to figure out what was going on. Where the hell is THIS coming from? She actually gasped when one of his hands rose to cradle the side of her neck as he planted a light kiss on the other side, with his free arm sneaking around her and holding her close. Her own arms had gone up reflexively around him when he'd closed in. Unable to completely mask the hitch in her breath, she took to whispering to hide what she could.
"Oh my God, w…"
Him responding in a somewhat calm tone threw her for a loop.
"Don't freak out. We're being watched, and the watchers think we're actually dating. We need to stage a make-out session in the back room so we can both get downstairs to be briefed without making them suspicious." He kissed the side of her neck lightly again and planted similar kisses as he travelled down toward her exposed shoulders.
We won't be staging anything if he keeps that up. Somewhere in the recesses of her brain, something kicked into gear long enough for her to start moving them in the direction of the back room. Her fingers made quick work of his tie along the way and went after his shirt buttons next once they had stumbled into the back room, door swinging shut behind them.
Pinned against the wall, Chuck was about to kiss Sarah squarely on the lips when he remembered why they were almost making out in the first place. His hesitation reminded Sarah of the same thing. She backed away and took a few deep breaths, allowing him to do the same. Chuck was babbling apologies already, oblivious that his precariously perched tie had slithered off his neck completely.
"I'm so sorry—I know we just talked about not making things worse, but Casey told me to stage the make-out session so we could get down here in time, and I couldn't give you a heads up because of the surveillance. Please please please don't kill me."
Sarah rolled her eyes as she adjusted her tanktop straps, choosing to focus on the pending brief instead of her shortness of breath as she leaned down for the retinal scanner.
"I'm not going to kill you, Chuck, you were just following orders."
Note to self: kill Casey instead. Chuck looked less than convinced as he hesitantly followed her through the now open doorway. Flying down the stairs, both barely had the chance to take up standing positions in front of the main conference room monitor when Beckman appeared. The general launched right into the brief, and after recapping the basic problem—someone was wondering why both the CIA's and NSA's top agent had been stationed in Los Angeles for over a year—Sarah's reaction was immediate.
"Shit."
A ghost of a smile crossed General Beckman's lips.
"That was Major Casey's reaction as well."
Beckman elaborated, providing the details that Casey hadn't been able to provide earlier.
"We discovered the problem while going through the files confiscated at the warehouse. It currently appears to be internal—people working within the US intelligence community are getting curious, though we are unsure as to these individuals' loyalties. Subsequent email exchanges to that one, also contained in the files from the warehouse, suggest at least one person will be visiting Los Angeles to investigate why Agent Walker and Major Casey have been in stationed there for so long. This unauthorized investigation has the potential to uncover Operation Bartowski.
"Each of you needs to assume that you can be heard and seen at all times by whoever is investigating. The only places safe to talk are those constantly monitored for bugs and shielded from audio surveillance: the Orange Orange and both agents' apartments. Visual surveillance, however, is more difficult to guard against. You will need to be aware of your surroundings at all times."
If this is the news that the general is STARTING the brief with, Chuck thought, we're in so much trouble. I wonder if bunker concrete comes in a soothing shade of taupe? His nervousness bubbled over.
"Oh that's not good at all. Not good not good not good not good."
Agent mode had immediately come into full force when Sarah had heard what the problem was, and she wholeheartedly agreed. That is definitely not good. The news only went downhill from there, with the general patiently waiting until Chuck had finished before continuing.
"From the files, we know three things. First, the newest files related to the email exchanges are less than a week old from today."
Sarah was filling in the spy blanks as Beckman ticked off each point. Less than a week old means that surveillance either just started or hasn't quite started yet. Even spies can't warp from place to place at the drop of a hat.
"Second, while the individuals suspect that there might be a link between both agents' presence in LA, they don't know for sure."
…meaning that Casey and I being in the same place could be a very large coincidence.
"And, finally, they have no idea about Mr. Bartowski or the Intersect."
…meaning that bunker is not the only option available. That's the first good piece of news I've heard so far.
"This has serious implications for the Intersect project. After evaluating all the possible options, I have decided to keep the Intersect in LA, along with both agents. Moving anyone now will raise more suspicions."
Chuck breathed a huge sigh of relief and even broke out into a small grin, but Sarah didn't share his relief. She had a strong sense of foreboding instead. She knew that one of the "possible options" was not only asset bunkerization, but termination. While she was more than glad that both were off the table, she didn't like what options that left. Beckman didn't orchestrate all of this just to tell me that we're maintaining the status quo. The general's next sentence confirmed these very thoughts.
"The game plan, however, has changed. We need to create the illusion that separate reasons brought Agents Casey and Walker to LA."
Chuck nodded slowly, looking slightly confused.
"OK, so, Casey and Sarah can't be in the same place ever? That doesn't sound too bad."
Leave it to Chuck to try to find something positive in this mess. Sarah's foreboding about the 'mess' slowly increased as Beckman shook her head slightly.
"Not quite, Mr. Bartowski. Agent Casey will remain at the Buy More indefinitely. Eventually, his next assignment will as a member of the ROTC program's cadre at UCLA to keep him in the area. His continued presence in LA will raise some suspicion in itself, but groundwork to reduce that suspicion is being laid as we speak."
Resisting the urge to ask what "laying the groundwork" consisted of—he had visions of ninjas clad in black installing plumbing—Chuck remained silent as the general continued after an abnormally long pause.
"Because we do not know when surveillance began, Agent Walker's situation is unique. If she has been observed already, the most anyone would have seen is her spending time with the Intersect as part of her cover. As a consequence, we have a unique opportunity to tweak your cover, Agent Walker. It will both increase the security around the Intersect and promises to dispel these internal rumors before they draw the attention of others."
Sarah could see Chuck looking over at her fast to gauge her mood, but her expression hadn't changed since the briefing began. Her deep sense of foreboding, though, was almost unbearable. It felt like her chest was about to explode—the general never hedged. Beckman herself took a deep breath, though she did her best to hide it, before uttering the climatic sentence.
"Agent Walker will officially be leaving the CIA."
Somehow Sarah managed to keep her countenance neutral. Inside, she was screaming. WHAT! Unlike Sarah, Chuck was able to nervously babble out a sentence.
"Whoa, whoa, I'm sorry, what? As in…quit? As in leave? I thought you said that no one was leaving LA!"
Beckman looked down at her watch before looking back up at Chuck with a slight tinge of annoyance, causing Chuck to check his own reflexively. Crap, 10 minutes before I have to get back. This was definitely more information than a lunch break can handle. Taking his cue, he nervously shut up.
"No one is leaving LA. Walker will be leaving the CIA because while carrying out her most recent mission, she fell in love with a local. That local is you, Mr. Bartowski. The Agency will allow her to leave without any…negative repercussions because of her outstanding record, but our official relations will be far from cordial."
Sarah knew she was paling visibly. She could see the concern written across Chuck's face, which had slightly paled as well. The general forged onward, oblivious to the complexion of her audience.
"Unofficially, of course, Walker will still be part of the CIA, but only a handful of individuals will know. Upon quitting the CIA, you two will have the perfect cover as you become engaged, married, and move in with one another. The Intersect will be secure, and Walker will have the perfect reason to be in LA."
The chairs situated around the table skittered a bit across the floor as Chuck stumbled back and sat down heavily on the table, trying his best not to pass out. He'd been trying his best to be OK with the brief as a whole, and he'd been doing alright…until the general had mentioned their new cover, making him officially turn paler than Sarah. His conscience even had an opinion: Even Ellie stopped short of ordering the two of us to get married!
"Agent Walker and I will discuss the details of her career switch after Mr. Bartowski returns to the Buy More. She will return to Castle to announce her 'resignation' from the CIA."
Sarah was trying her best to focus on the proximate, tangible parts of the new cover, not the more distant, emotional implications. Filling in the spy blanks again, she got the message loud and clear. Our little make-out session in the freezer needs to be poignant. Spectacular.
Deciding that enough had been said on The Problem for the moment, Beckman suddenly switched topics.
"Mr. Bartowski, were you properly reimbursed?"
He heard his name being called, but it was rather surreal. His eyes were still glazed over due to the enormity of what had just been revealed. Only after Beckman pointedly coughed did Chuck again realize exactly where he was and jumped up like someone had threatened him with a fresh set of immunizations.
"Reimbursed? For the virus stuff? Oh, about that: the guy that stopped by the Buy More this morning—am I supposed to sell him the code? I mean…is it alright to do that, or will you guys arrest me or something, because you know that I can manage that all on m…"
Somehow, the glare that the general gave Chuck didn't crack the monitor in half.
"YES, Mr. Bartowski, you are to sell the code to Symantec. Anything else?"
He went to fidget with his tie before he remembered that it was currently on the floor upstairs and settled for rebuttoning his shirt instead.
"Is the job offer part of the plan, too? It sounds like it might make thin…"
Chuck didn't get a glare this time, but got a look that communicated quite clearly that the job offer had not been part of the plan. If his focus hadn't been on staying upright, he might have felt a little elated.
"The job offer was not part of the plan. We need to evaluate the repercussions for your safety before you think about accepting it."
Switching topics again, Beckman closed the conference.
"We will reconvene in 10 minutes, Agent Walker, understood?"
Sarah spoke for the first time since cursing at the beginning of the brief.
"Yes, ma'am. Ten minutes."
Beckman gave a terse nod before cutting off the transmission without asking Chuck about the virus, plunging Castle into sudden silence—apparently, the virus had been backburnered for the time being. Sarah was halfway up the stairs before Chuck registered her departure. Flying after her, he caught up just in time to stretch his arm across the open doorway between Castle and the back room before she could walk through it.
"Sarah, we seriously HAVE to talk about this."
She gave him a cold look as she ducked under his arm.
"We can talk about it later."
I can't talk about this now without falling apart in front of him. She was hoping that the horrible look she gave him would serve as a deterrent.
"We can't talk about this later! We have three places where we can actually talk, and we're in one of them now!"
Or he'll be immune to the look for the first time ever. She knew he was right. The Orange Orange back room was also the only place where visual surveillance was physically impossible, courtesy of the anti-surveillance and lack of windows. She just needed time to think—time alone, time to process everything, time to reconcile herself with the fact that her and Chuck were going to be on top of one another indefinitely, with Beckman expecting professionalism all the while. The confusion and ever-so-slight panic broke through in her voice as she ran her hands through her hair, pacing back and forth in the back room as she did.
"Chuck, I can't talk about this now. I don't know what to say…I don't know what to think…I just don't. know."
He felt himself starting to hyperventilate the more he watched Sarah pace and finally said something.
"OK, I think we both need to breathe, because you're freaking out right now, and you freaking out is making me freak out more than normal."
She stopped in her tracks and looked at him before shifting her eyes to the ceiling and taking several cleansing breaths. For him, I have to relax and keep it together. Phrasing it that way helped. When she spoke again, her voice was at least steady. She picked up Chuck's tie and looped it around his neck, focusing intently on retying it without looking at its owner.
"I don't know what Beckman has in mind. This is the first time I've had to go under deep cover to specifically protect the mission from my own employer. Once I know what she has in mind, we'll talk. It won't do us much good to talk about how I'm going to be quitting the CIA until then."
Chuck swallowed a few times and nodded.
"OK, I'll give you that. That makes sense. What about…the other thing."
Stepping back after knotting the tie, she raised an eyebrow at him.
"What other thing?"
He sighed heavily. You know exactly what other thing I'm talking about, Sarah Walker. Stepping into her line of sight—she had still been pointedly avoiding his eyes—it only took a moment after their eyes had connected for her to relent.
"I don't know. It certainly doesn't our little problem help any. One thing…," she let out a slow breath, "at a time."
She didn't let the silence last for long.
"Come on, let's get you back over to the Buy More before Casey has to send Morgan after you."
He nodded his assent and stepped over toward the door leading into the store before turning to face her.
"Ready?"
She had to smirk slightly at his innocent tone. It seemed that he forgot what it was that they were supposed to be doing in the back room this entire time, and he'd totally missed Beckman's hint about the poignancy factor. Walking right at him and going straight for his tie, the surprise on his face was comical as they ended up stumbling backward through the door and into the store. While Sarah put the finishing touch on his tie, tightening and centering it perfectly, the grin on his face was dazzling.
"…I'll talk to you later?"
A quick peck to the lips served as her answer as she turned him around to face the correct direction and gave him a playful shove toward the door.
Swallowing down the panic that had returned immediately after he left, Sarah continued to play her ordered role perfectly. Watching him walk back across the parking lot to the Buy More, she looked at him contemplatively with a small smile on her face and pretended to debate something internally before making what appeared to be an important decision. Walking over to the main door with purpose and locking it efficiently while putting up the "Closed" sign, she let the same small smile creep back as she headed into the back room to return to Castle.
Across the parking lot, the individual sitting in the back seat of an old lime green Volkswagen Beetle took note of her every movement through very large binoculars.
-.-.-.-
A/N2: Per the dossier on NBC's website, Casey's service branch is the Army. I find that hard to believe, but until I rewatch various episodes to check, I'm going by NBC's dossier.