A/N: The dream sharing was liked by the readers, but probably far more by Chuck and Sarah! Thanks for the reviews, folks. I really appreciate you taking the time to send them.
Thanks to Captainrick944 for the beta, once again.
Thankfully, my wonderful wife's health scare proved to be less critical than expected, so I will now have more time for writing. I've written the next two chapters already. :)
This chapter rewrites "Chuck Versus the Sandworm."
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Chapter 6: Worms
Chuck's inability to understand the Chinese thoughts previously had been playing on his mind. He felt he wasn't pulling his weight. Sarah had pointed out that each of them could do things the other couldn't, but he wanted to improve.
He twisted in bed to face his beautiful girlfriend. 'Do you think you could "teach" me a language, Sarah?'
She looked at him. She hadn't thought of this use of their link, but now wondered if it could be done. 'So, you mean somehow pass my knowledge on to you?'
'It's basically what a teacher is doing in lessons, but this would be more direct.'
She found the concept quite exciting. 'Let's try. What languages do you already know?'
He looked a bit embarrassed. 'Only English and the Spanish I have picked up from talking to some customers.'
'Well, what do you want to learn, more Spanish or a totally new language?'
He considered for a moment or two. "Maybe some other language. What do you know?' He was overwhelmed by her response. 'Wow!'
'I had to spend a lot of time in South America, so Spanish and Portuguese are strong. I also spent a lot of time in all parts of Europe, so French, German, Italian and Greek from there. My time in Eastern Europe was less spread, so Polish and Russian were sufficient. My Thai, Japanese and a few Chinese languages are less strong but passable.'
'I've always wanted to go to Paris. How about teaching me French?' Sarah's memories of Paris were tainted by her Red test, but she agreed. 'Hold on, what's a Red test?'
She thought about it and the worst day of her life. Chuck was shocked. 'I'm horrified they make you do that.'
'All part of becoming a full CIA Operative, Chuck.' She was embarrassed but continued, 'I was deemed good at assassinations and became Graham's number one choice for those sorts of missions. However, the first was awful and has rather tainted my views of Paris.'
'Did you even know who your target was?'
'A rogue agent. I only know the cover name she had in Paris and what she looked like.'
Chuck flashed on the image. 'Her real name is Evelyn Shaw. She was married to another agent, Daniel Shaw.'
They both flashed on his name. She gasped. 'He's been searching for his wife's killer since then!'
'Someone for both of us to avoid,' he thought.
She agreed. 'I'll find out where he's stationed, and we can avoid wherever that is.'
Chuck's ability to hack was one of his talents that Sarah envied. 'Could you "teach" me how to hack?'
'The basics, yeah. Like languages, it takes a lot of practice.'
'So, I "teach" you French, and you return the favor with hacking. Sounds fair?' she asked.
'Maybe German rather than French,' he suggested.
She saw why he was suggesting that. 'Ok, but I will take you to Paris at some time, so I'll "teach" you French before then.' She slid on top of him. 'Thank you for caring, Chuck. I'm still having to get used to someone being like that with me.' She leaned toward him and gave him a lingering kiss.
As it was the weekend and neither had planned work, they decided to start after breakfast. Sarah called Casey to inform him of their plans.
"You think the Intersect will help him learn a language he doesn't know?" Casey asked.
I don't know, but he felt vulnerable around the Chinese, not understanding what they were saying."
"Come on. He'd feel vulnerable even if he could understand them."
Sarah agreed but wasn't going to say that. "Well, I'm still going to try this. German first."
"Good luck with that, Walker. I'll head out and switch off the recordings. Don't want to listen to any of that." That was exactly what Sarah was hoping for.
Over breakfast, Sarah told Ellie and Devon their plans.
Ellie's first comment was, "Can you teach him English too? He never does what I ask."
Sarah bristled at that but kept her voice calm. "I'm curious. Is that when you ask him to do something or when you tell him to do it?"
Ellie blushed, and Devon laughed. "Why do you say that, Sarah?" Ellie asked.
"Because I've found he's usually much more responsive to requests than demands." Sarah with a serious expression, then she grinned. "Although he does seem to like some demands." Chuck nearly choked on his cereal. He 'saw' exactly the demands she was thinking off. Very desirable, but definitely not ones to share with these two.
Ellie glared at all of three of them, but focused mostly on her boyfriend.
'You'll have to stop digging at her, Sarah. It's not fair on Devon.'
'Ellie thinking that it is ok for her to boss you around is not fair on you,' Sarah replied.
Chuck decided to defuse the situation. "Sarah, Ellie looked after me from when I was nine, really, as Dad wasn't much help. She's like a mom to me. So, she has gotten used to telling me what to do."
Ellie nodded. "For his own sake."
"Still doing at when he's twenty-six?" Sarah pointedly asked.
Ellie looked at her brother. "He lost it after Stanford. I had to push him to even get out of bed. That woman took all his confidence out of him."
Chuck didn't want to talk about this, so was going to cut it short, but Sarah spoke first. "Well, I've never noticed that." She looked lovingly at her boyfriend. "Maybe he just needed someone to care for him, other than family. Whatever… he doesn't need to be told what to do anymore." All thoughts of his sister were gone from her head.
"Maybe you're right, Sarah," Ellie conceded. She changed topic. "Devon and I are going to the beach today. We thought you two might join us."
Chuck and Sarah did not want to do this 'teaching' in public. Sarah said, "Too many distractions there."
Chuck responded, "Nothing could distract me from you, Sarah."
Sarah wasn't thinking about him going after other girls, but that the noise and mass of thoughts pounding down on their heads. However, the comment filled her with joy because she could tell he meant it.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek. 'You know I'll just want to drag you back to bed when they've gone with you saying things like that.'
Devon chuckled. "Sarah might have been meaning distractions for her."
Both Bartowski's glared at him, and Sarah had to correct this. "I only have eyes… and hands… for Chuck." Her eyes were twinkling as she thought of running her hands over his torso.
Devon grinned. "Awesome." Ellie looked pleased too.
Chuck grabbed her and gave her a big kiss. 'I love you so much, Sarah.'
Sarah pulled back and winked at him. Turning to the others, she said, "Teaching will be back here."
"Not sure you two will get much of that done," Ellie drily commented.
Sarah and Chuck knew there wouldn't be much teaching straight after the other two left, but were more hopeful about later.
It wasn't long before the older couple were heading out. "Have fun," Chuck called out.
"And hopefully more than just fun for you, little brother."
Almost as soon as they were gone, Sarah was pulling him down the corridor and into the bathroom. 'We need to be clean for lessons, Chuck.'
She didn't need to command him, as he willingly started shedding his clothes as fast as she did before he followed her into the shower.
Sated and showered, they dressed and headed into the living room. They settled on the couch, each with a bottle of water, to start.
Sarah started with simple objects but didn't need to have any pictures to point at. She could just imagine them. They continued this for half an hour. Chuck had an eidetic memory, part of why the Intersect worked so well for him. Sarah was the same.
She moved on to verbs. Again, images of the verbs being enacted helped, and very soon, they were moving on to sentences. That was more problematic as he had to learn how to structure them. However, by lunchtime, they were making significant progress. In addition to the spoken language, Sarah thought of the written words too, so Chuck was, in effect, learning the language in both written and spoken form.
Chuck tried to converse in German through their lunch break. They only used their mind link for her to correct anything, which was far less than either expected. It seemed that teaching using the mind link was incredibly successful.
They spent another hour after lunch, but then Chuck was getting tired, so they stopped. Neither had used the Intersect. He wanted to try something. "Sarah, can you think of a German who might be in the Intersect? I'd like to see if I can read any records in German."
Sarah sighed, "Chuck, most would have been translated for the American audience."
"Can we just give it a try?" he asked.
She had recently heard a name mentioned and had checked up on the individual. She hid what she knew and thought, 'Renny Deutch.'
Chuck flashed on the name. "Well, he's a German arms dealer based in Berlin. I can read some of his customers and some of the records of State police attempts at arresting him and the German Customs Investigation Bureau. He's eluded both." He read the records. "Sarah, I understand a lot of this, but there are terms I don't understand too."
"That's not surprising, Chuck."
They spent half an hour going through one of them. By the end, he knew a lot about arms in Germany and German.
They had a coffee break. As she sipped her coffee, Sarah was amazed at how much he'd achieved already. It was quite exciting. She then thought about what he'd suggested for her. She loved the smile that grew on Chuck's face.
'You want to learn something about hacking?'
She nodded.
Chuck spent the rest of the afternoon 'teaching' Sarah. By the end of it, she could detect an intrusion and also break through a simple firewall. She also knew how to follow back to detect the origin of most intruders, albeit with some help from Chuck.
The whole thought of hacking made her think about someone else. She didn't feel comfortable saying this out loud, so she thought it, 'Chuck, How about opening your laptop up and seeing if your hacker tries to contact you? We'll both be there, and while I talk to him, you try to track him?'
'Do you feel comfortable talking to him?'
She nodded. 'I want to. Can you disable the camera?'
'I can and should. He doesn't show himself, so I don't want him having access to the camera.'
'In case he is good enough to override what you do, cover the camera as well.'
He grinned. 'I like how your brain works.'
She beamed at him. 'Of course you do, but it's also my training kicking in.'
They went into their bedroom. Sarah still enjoyed thinking of it as theirs rather than just his. Chuck covered the camera lens with a piece of masking tape. He then booted the computer up.
And they waited.
Stephen Bartowski now had details of who was in charge of the operation in both the CIA and NSA. He also had the same for the people with Chuck.
He'd had dealings with Langston Graham before, A slippery bastard who rarely followed rules. Or, more precisely, followed his own rules, not the CIA's. He was one of those involved in the early days of this Intersect technology and not one to trust.
He'd not interacted with Diane Beckman before, but she was ex-military, so that wasn't surprising.
Beckman's brute force in Burbank was just what Stephen would expect. Ruthless. Blind follower of orders. Stephen was sure that John Casey would do anything he was ordered to.
Graham's pet was equally ruthless. Another cold-blooded assassin. Sarah Walker was posing as Chuck's girlfriend. Stephen laughed at that. Not because he doubted Chuck in any way, but because such a cold-hearted spy wouldn't be believable.
Then, he thought about Mary. She was just like this woman when they met, and she softened. Maybe this woman would too. However, it was best not to trust her either. What Stephen did want to know was how the download had affected her.
He hadn't yet tapped into her phone but would later today.
He was just having a coffee when his computer sent an alarm. Chuck had switched on his computer. Stephen rushed to his.
He tried to access Chuck's camera, but it was obscured. He tried a few things to get it to work before he realized what had happened and sent a message,
ARE YOU HIDING FROM ME?
Chuck immediately replied,
SHOW YOUR FACE
Stephen wasn't going to do that, so he decided he could cope.
IS THAT WOMAN WITH YOU?
The reply surprised him,
YOU ARE TALKING TO 'THAT WOMAN'
Stephen hadn't expected this, but wanted to know if Chuck was there.
IS HE WITH YOU?
Sarah Walker's answer was quick,
HE IS, BUT I AM THE ONE YOU WILL TALK TO TODAY
He contemplated for a second or two, then typed,
SARAH WALKER, CIA OPERATIVE ASSIGNED TO BE WITH CHARLES BARTOWSKI
There was a pause. She probably didn't expect him to know who she was.
AND?
Stephen smiled and felt more in control, so he probed,
YOU DOWNLOADED IT, DIDN'T YOU?
Her reply irritated him,
AND?
He pondered what to say next.
AND CAN YOU ACCESS THE DATA?
Her response came quickly,
WHO WANTS TO KNOW?
He wondered if all CIA operatives answered questions with questions. Well, he could do that too.
CAN YOU ACCESS THE DATA?
He should have expected her answer,
WHO WANTS TO KNOW?
This was getting nowhere. He decided to test her,
ORION
There was a pause. His name had either triggered her to access the Intersect, or it triggered his son, and she was waiting for Chuck's response. Stephen was frustrated that he couldn't see them.
A HUNTED HACKER
That seemed to be all she was going to say. He tried again.
YOU ACCESSED THE INTERSECT?
Her response indicated otherwise.
YOU ARE WELL KNOWN
Indicated but not confirmed. God, this woman was frustrating.
WHAT ARE YOUR INTENTIONS WITH CHARLES BARTOWSKI?
Of course, she answered with another question.
MY INTENTIONS?
Damn it!
WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO HIM?
There was a long pause. He wasn't sure whether she was going to reply.
He waited.
Sarah paused on receiving the last question from Orion. The way he phrased it seemed like he was concerned for Chuck.
Chuck was frantically trying to trace the signal to find Orion. She decided she should interrupt him. "Chuck, Orion seems concerned about you, even though he calls you Charles rather than Chuck, which seems very formal. He also knows about the Intersect and that I downloaded it. He might be able to help us. Shall I tell him about the termination order?"
Chuck had paused to listen to her. Her mention of the name used took him back many years. "Only Dad ever called me Charles." He started to wonder but then squashed the thought. This couldn't be his dad, not after all these years. He considered her proposal and couldn't see any reason not to do it. "Yes, go for it. I'm getting close to finding him anyway, so keep him talking."
Sarah nodded and turned back to the computer.
THE AGENCIES PLAN TO TERMINATE HIM IN SIX MONTHS
I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN
There was a very long pause before the next response.
YOU ARE GOING ROGUE?
She hadn't really thought about it that way.
MY JOB IS TO PROTECT HIM
FROM ANYONE
She didn't have to wait long.
BUT YOU WOULD DISOBEY THAT ORDER?
She didn't hesitate.
I PROBABLY WON'T GET THE ORDER
His response was inevitable,
WHY?
He may or may not know what it meant, but she responded honestly,
COMPROMISED
She didn't know why she'd told this individual but was sure it wouldn't get back to Beckman or Graham.
There was a long pause, then,
LIKE HIS MOTHER
That was totally out of the blue.
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HIS MOTHER?
The response took a while, then,
MARRIED
She was stunned by this and sat back. Chuck hadn't been involved in the call or 'listened' to her thoughts because he was so focused. She watched him for a few seconds, furiously typing. He looked at her. "I'm about to get to him, Sarah."
"You should join this chat, Chuck. He's your dad."
Chuck froze. "Dad?"
"And from what he said, your mom was an agent who was compromised and subsequently married him."
Chuck moved over to the computer she was on and she shifted sideways to let him use the keyboard.
DAD?
Another pause, then,
I SHOULDN'T HAVE LET THAT SLIP
Chuck immediately responded,
WHY AND WHY NO CONTACT FOR SO LONG?
The response was quick this time,
SAFETY
YOURS AND MINE
Chuck scoffed at that.
INTERSECT JEAPODIZED MY SAFETY
NOT HAVING A FATHER DID TOO
Another pause.
SORRY ABOUT BOTH
Before Chuck could respond, Orion sent another message,
YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN HANDLE THE INTERSECT
Chuck and Sarah looked at each other. That statement was obviously untrue as Sarah had it and could use it too. "Don't tell him I have it, Chuck," Sarah pleaded. Chuck typed a different message,
WHY DO YOU SAY THAT?
The response was worrying,
THEIR BRAINS WOULDN'T COPE
WOULD PROBABLY FRY THEM
Chuck looked in horror at his girlfriend. "Sarah, I have to tell him." He could see in her thoughts she agreed. She was as shocked as him.
SARAH HAS IT AND HASN'T HAD ANY PROBLEMS
Another pause.
FIRST NAME TERMS?
Chuck started to get annoyed and wanted to stop that line of questioning.
WE LOVE EACH OTHER. GET OVER IT
IS SHE AT RISK?
Orion, his dad, obviously didn't want to move on.
BEING WITH A CIA OPERATIVE IS HARD, CHARLES
There was a slight pause, then,
IF SHE HASN'T ALREADY HAD PROBLEMS, SHE MAY BE OK
Another pause.
DID YOU GET THE ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONALITY?
Chuck and Sarah realized his dad had played a part in what they'd received. Chuck typed rapidly,
YOU SENT IT TO ME AND NOT BRYCE?
The response was even more disturbing,
LARKIN SENT IT
I MODIFIED IT FIRST
Chuck was having difficulty with this, so Sarah typed,
YOU WERE WORKING WITH LARKIN?
Orion was suitably vague,
HE OWED BOTH OF US FAVORS
Chuck grabbed the keyboard back.
WE HAVE TO MEET
The response was instant,
NOT SAFE
Chuck wasn't happy with that, but Sarah thought, 'If you push him too hard, he might withdraw more.' Chuck typed,
AT LEAST ACTIVATE YOUR CAMERA
There was a pause before an image appeared alongside the text window. There was an older version of his dad. "Hello, son."
Sarah didn't even try to stop Chuck from removing the card over the camera. "Dad," Chuck gasped.
"What should I call you?" Sarah asked, "Mr. Bartowski or Orion?"
Stephen Bartowski looked at her for a while, then chuckled. "We Bartowski's seem to attract beautiful spies. If you are really together, you might end up calling me Dad, but in the meantime, Stephen will be fine."
She would have smiled at the comment if it hadn't been for the start of it. "That's the second time you've indicated that your wife was a spy. Who was she, and what happened to her?"
Stephen looked decidedly sad as he replied, "That's a story for another time, but her name before she married me was Mary Gunter." Neither of the Intersects flashed. "…but she was known in the CIA as Frost."
Sarah didn't flash. She already knew of this woman. She had sometimes been compared to Frost, seen as the woman's successor. A cold, hardened assassin who had disappeared, thought to have gone rogue.
Chuck, however, did flash on the name and gasped at what he saw. There were no images of her, but a lot of bodies, some with bullet holes in their heads and some with knife wounds. It seemed just like Sarah's file. He looked at his girlfriend. 'She was just like you.'
Sarah winced at that. He saw both of them as assassins at that moment. 'Don't forget that both of us love you, Chuck.'
Stephen watched the two of them looking at each other. "You are communicating telepathically!"
Chuck turned back to the screen. "You need to tell me what happened to mom and if she's still alive."
Stephen stared at him for a second or two, then replied, "She is still alive, but I haven't seen her in seventeen years. It's complicated. As I said, something for another day. For now, tell me about this termination order."
Chuck wanted to argue, but Sarah 'told' him, 'Chuck, this is important. We need all the help we can get.'
Chuck reluctantly agreed, and the two of them ran through what they knew.
"Shit! They're building another Intersect?" Stephen growled.
"Seems so, Stephen," Sarah replied.
"I'm assuming that the telepathy works, so keep reading the thoughts of this Casey character to find out more. I will tap into Beckman and Graham's emails and phones to see what I can find. If we can destroy it before they use it, you'll be safe."
"And if not?" Chuck asked.
"Maybe you go off-grid like I did," his father replied.
It wasn't great but it was where they'd got to. They could only hope Chuck's dad found something.
"Tell me about the telepathy," Stephen asked.
They proceeded to tell him what they'd found, along with the range and impact of seawater. Chuck wasn't going to mention it, but Sarah said, "We have a mind link that is really amazing. It has significantly enhanced our bond, which was strong anyway."
Stephen Bartowski took it all in. "I am so glad it worked."
Sarah looked at her boyfriend. "Us too, Stephen."
Both of them heard Ellie and Devon arrive home. "Can Ellie see you, Dad? She misses you as much as I do."
Stephen looked perturbed. "Not yet. You are also in the spy world now and under your girlfriend's protection. Ellie would be more exposed. Don't tell her."
Chuck didn't like that, but Sarah 'told' him that his dad was right. "Ok. She and Devon have just got back, so we'll have to go."
"Devon?" Stephen asked.
Of course, his dad would know nothing about their lives. "Her boyfriend, who lives with us."
Stephen nodded. "A lot I don't know."
"Bye, Dad," Chuck said.
"Bye, Stephen," Sarah added.
"Bye, kids," Stephen ended the call.
Chuck and Sarah sat for a while, thinking about what had happened.
Sarah realized that Chuck had stopped tracing the call once he knew it was his dad. Stephen was obviously frightened of people finding him, so it was probably just as well. Now that he was willing to talk to them on a video call, it didn't matter so much.
Sarah thought, 'Your father must have been the one who created the Intersect to know so much about it and how to add things to the download.'
'Yeah. And Mom was an assassin, working for the CIA!' Sarah winced again at the word he seemed to emphasize. Chuck felt her pain. 'I do love you, Sarah, in spite of that.'
She embraced him, and they shared a tender kiss.
'We should go and see them,' she thought.
'Yeah,' he agreed. He closed down the computer, and they walked out to greet Ellie and Devon.
After dinner, in which Chuck spoke in German until Ellie complained, the four of them watched a film together before retiring to bed.
Chuck was deep in thought about his mom and dad and didn't focus on Sarah at all. She cut into his thoughts, her eyes twinkling, 'We've probably had enough sex today to avoid the shared sex dreams, Chuck.'
He just nodded, so she gave him a kiss and settled down for the night, trying her best to ignore his thoughts.
The following day would be spent with Ellie and Devon, so they wouldn't progress anything. Then back to work on Monday.
When Chuck arrived at the Buy More on Monday morning, he was called into Big Mike's office.
Big Mike looked at him. "There's a guy coming in here from corporate to interview you and Tang for the Assistant Manager spot… Now, Tang's has the charm of a prostate exam. For some reason, people seem to like you. If the HR guy likes you, the job is yours. Don't screw up."
Chuck smiled. He hadn't expected this so quickly. "I'll, uh, I'll do my best."
Big Mike stared at him. "Make sure Morgan does his best, too. That kid is gonna be the anchor around your neck, Bartowski."
"When will this be, Mike?"
Big Mike replied, "Wednesday at around 5pm."
Chuck immediately thought about the party his sister was preparing for that evening but didn't say anything.
Chuck got through the day, and he and Sarah headed home. Sarah was really excited for him, partly because he was himself, but also because he was changing his life. This was progress for him.
When they reached the apartment, Ellie was hanging up fake cobwebs.
Chuck joked, "What, we don't have enough actual cobwebs already?" He knew why she was doing it but then felt guilty for not mentioning it to Sarah.
Ellie replied, "I'm getting ready for our annual Halloween party."
'Why didn't you mention this, Chuck?' Sarah asked.
'I didn't think you'd want to attend.'
Sarah replied, 'I'm not missing anything with my boyfriend. Besides, where would I go? And would you want to spend the evening with your other protector?'
Chuck gulped.
Ellie saw that. "Don't tell me you're going to miss it."
He quickly replied, "I might be late. They finally scheduled that promotional-interview thing for that afternoon."
Ellie grinned. "We can just make it an Assistant Manager party, too, then."
He muttered, "Sure, yeah, if you feel like jinxing it."
She beamed. "You're just finally growing up, aren't you?" Then she looked at Sarah. "Chuck, I assume you'll be with Sarah at the party and not with Morgan."
Chuck hadn't thought about this. He knew Morgan would be expecting them to be in their usual costume.
Ellie continued while Sarah read his mind. "The whole two-man sea-cucumber thing is kind of creepy."
That got to Chuck. "First of all, it's a sandworm, okay? Shai-Hulud, to be specific, the sandworm of Arrakis. And second of all, Dune fans have been going nuts over our costume since the eighth grade."
Sarah kept quiet but wasn't happy with where this was going.
Ellie retorted, "So, you'll be in that tube with Morgan rather than being with this beautiful woman?"
Chuck looked at Sarah. 'I am a bit upset, Chuck,' she told him.
He had to correct expectations, "Ellie, Sarah, it will only be for a very short time. The rest of the evening will be with you, Sarah."
"You should come as a couple. You have to decide what couple, and you've only got tomorrow to sort it out," Ellie remarked.
Sarah grinned. "I think I know exactly what we should go as."
Seeing Sarah's thoughts, Chuck couldn't disagree, but costumes would be a challenge. 'Not for the CIA, Chuck,' she told him.
Devon walked in wearing his costume, one that left little to the imagination. "Guess what I am?"
Chuck was shocked, although it was obvious. He replied, "You're... Naked?"
"You're Adam," Sarah replied. She didn't need to read Devon's mind for that one.
The tall blond, who was only wearing body-colored briefs with a leaf covering him, high-fived Sarah. "Wait till you see my snake."
"We don't want to see your snake," Chuck responded.
Sarah decided to tease the two guys. "I might want to."
Devon and Ellie burst out laughing.
'Isn't my snake good enough?' Chuck teased her back.
'You know I can't get enough of that snake of yours, Chuck. Wait till we get to bed!'
"Devon, Chuck has an interview on Wednesday," Ellie told her boyfriend.
"That is outstanding," he responded.
Chuck and Sarah headed to their bedroom for him to change and for her to have a shower before doing the same. However, before they got there, his phone rang. He answered it, "Hello?"
"I'm getting tense!" Big Mike growled. "You know I don't like being tense."
Chuck replied, "How can I help you relax, Big Mike?"
"Find that jackass Morgan. Your buddy's supposed to be working a double shift today and went AWOL."
Chuck had a good idea where he'd be. Sarah saw what he had planned. 'Not without me, Chuck. I'll quickly shower, then we can go.'
Chuck was happy with that.
Sarah had let Casey know what they were doing.
As Chuck expected, they found Morgan at the arcade on Santa Monica pier. Chuck had rushed ahead of Sarah, who had dropped him at the entrance and was parking her car.
Morgan was preparing to play a game, and Chuck strode up to him. "Morgan, you shouldn't be here."
Morgan ignored that. "I, uh, I picked up the sandworm costume from the dry cleaners. The ranch dressing from last year totally came out, so we're all good. You ready to win another Buy More costume contest?"
Chuck wasn't going to discuss that. "You're supposed to be at work, buddy. You're on a double shift."
Morgan shook his head. "Dude, I've got ten big ones riding on this quote-unquote videogame, so I'm going to play this." He looked over his shoulder while putting the guitar strap over his shoulder, then back to Chuck. "This guy's been handing me my ass all week. Time to return the favor."
Someone Chuck hadn't seen before walked over, also with a guitar. The two men hit the buttons together and started to play.
Chuck saw the man's face and flashed. The man, Laszlo Mahnovski, glanced over at him and looked him up and down, before turning back to the game. Chuck didn't stop to read the man's mind but turned away to find Sarah. He spotted her just walking in. With all the noise and other people's thoughts, he couldn't mentally connect with her, so he quickly walked to her.
Once she knew what he did, she left to call Casey.
Chuck walked back to Morgan to tell him to force him to leave, and Laszlo's eyes homed in on Chuck's watch. He stopped playing and rushed off.
Chuck followed but lost sight of Laszlo.
Chuck persuaded Morgan, who had won by default, to go back to work, telling him to stop being a loser. Morgan slunk off.
Sarah's conversation was taking too long, so Chuck decided he'd have to find Laszlo. However, Laszlo found him instead, pinning him to a wall. "How did you find me? Who else knows I'm here? Who do you work for?"
Laszlo's mind was spinning, so Chuck just focused on his words. "No one. Let me go. Look, I don't know what you're talking about."
He then read Laszlo's mind as it focused. His words matched his thoughts. "I know you're a spy! I designed that watch for the CIA."
Chuck 'read' that it was true.
Laszlo continued, "Are there other agents waiting for me outside?"
Sarah was outside, but that was all. Chuck didn't answer, but while the man's mind was still, Chuck started to 'read' what he had planned. Chuck didn't want to implicate Sarah or Casey, so said he bought the watch from a pawn shop. "Anyway, don't be stupid. Do I look like a spy?"
While Laszlo relaxed slightly, Chuck finished 'reading' what Laszlo planned for the pier.
Then, suddenly, Feds turn up looking for the guy. "You did this," Laszlo accuses him.
"Why would I do that?" Chuck narrowed his eyes as he looked at the guy. "Anyway, what've you done that's got you so jumpy?"
"Nothing. I'm innocent!" Laszlo stated, but in his mind, he thought of all the weapons he's created along with the tracking systems and driving devices. He's a genius, probably more so than Chuck. Then his mind splintered with images of escaping from a bunker and blowing up the pier.
Laszlo shoved Chuck away and ran. Chuck hit his head as he fell. Consequently, Chuck failed to get up quickly enough to follow him. Sarah and Casey find him staggering around with blood running down his neck.
What Chuck told Casey was enough for him to head off, and Sarah took her boyfriend to be checked out.
Once Chuck had been given a clean bill of health by the CIA medical team, Sarah took him back to the Buy More as he wanted to check if Morgan had arrived. He had, so Sarah was going to take Chuck home when Casey called them into the home theater room.
Only General Beckman was on the call. "We've been looking for Laszlo Mahnovski since he escaped from government labs last month. He's a weapon designer. He graduated college at age 14. Ph.D. at 17. Been with us ever since, working for a clandestine engineering subcontractor. Laszlo 's apparently not the kind of asset we can afford to lose to our enemies."
Casey growled, "Grade-a egghead."
That matched what Chuck knew.
Casey continued. "We have to bring him in. He's not as nice as he seems."
Chuck saw the images Beckman showed of those Laszlo had killed to escape. He'd seen it in Laszlo's head too. Laszlo was a killer. Chuck tried to stay calm. "Ok. Well, if I see him, I'll let you know."
Sarah took him home.
That night in bed, they discussed the man he'd found. 'Sarah, he's brilliant. Mad but brilliant. If we capture him, I want to trawl his mind. I might find a way to fight back. Or… or maybe a way to get to this Intersect room they are building… or-'
She halted his thoughts. 'Chuck, don't get carried away with this. Find what you can from him, though. First, we have to capture him.'
He 'read' her concern for his safety. 'I have you protecting me, Sarah. What could go wrong?'
Sarah rolled her eyes. 'Are you tempting fate?'
'Just trusting my kick-ass girlfriend,' he replied.
'Well, that girlfriend hasn't had much affection from her boyfriend today. We don't want any unplanned dreams tonight, do we?'
He caught her lips in a passionate kiss. Their shared pleasure was as amazing as ever. Controlled, planned, but still wonderful.
The next morning, the Buy More sales team were behaving like idiots, with Morgan at the center of it. Harry Tang was as shitty as ever. Chuck had had enough by mid-afternoon and had told Big Mike what Harry was allowing to happen. He saw Big Mike's mind flinch back from having to do anything about it. "You want the Assistant Manager role? You fix it," he replied and looked down at the paperwork in front of him. His mind full of shame and embarrassment.
Chuck had told Harry that if he didn't get his team in order, then he was kissing the promotion goodbye.
Morgan overheard that, which caused an argument between the two friends.
Chuck's final words didn't go down well, "If you hadn't noticed, we are now chronologically-speaking, adults. So, unless you wanna work retail for the rest of your life, I would suggest that you grow up."
Morgan looked shocked. Chuck could 'read' that he felt his taller friend was abandoning him for that beautiful blonde. In a way, that was true, but Morgan needed to change, so Chuck just walked away.
By lunchtime, Chuck had a stinking headache. The thoughts of all the staff were that he was acting like an AssMan already, and they didn't like it. Shutting all that out had been difficult.
At least now he was going to see the woman of his dreams.
Sarah had managed to negotiate time off at lunchtime. She was taking Chuck for lunch, to settle his nerves before the interview. When he called her, she was already changed and ready to go. She packed away the paperwork she'd been doing so she could meet him at her car. She then hastily left the Wienerlicious and walked to the car, seeing him leave Buy More.
She waved, but he didn't respond. In fact, he wasn't walking her way, but off to the side. She immediately guessed something was wrong. She leaped in the car to drive over and, as she did, she saw a man following Chuck. She guessed who it was, even though from this distance she couldn't see him.
Chuck had sensed Laszlo almost as soon as he walked through the doors. The man was standing by one of the Nerd Herders about fifteen feet away. He had a gun and was going to force Chuck to drive him somewhere. His mind was such a mess that Chuck couldn't tell where. He walked away from the man, hoping he hadn't seen him. Unfortunately, he had.
Chuck started crossing the parking lot intending to skirt around the guy to get to Sarah's car. Laszlo followed, but then was hit by a black Porsche.
Sarah knew she wasn't driving fast enough to kill the guy and that it was more of a scoop than a true hit, but it still threw him to the ground, and she could tell he was dazed.
She stopped the car and instantly jumped out. Gun in hand. She read his mind about what he'd done that afternoon. Chuck read it too.
Laszlo struggled up. He'd dropped his gun as he fell, and Chuck had picked it up, holding it between his fingertips.
"You were going to kidnap me?" Chuck gasped out.
Laszlo looked at him. "You told the undercover agent about me, didn't you? He's talking to Pentagon operations. I tapped into the encrypted video feed at the store." They had 'read' that. He then couldn't stop boasting, "I helped design that home theater system."
Chuck angrily retorted, "I built that from the equipment in the store."
Laszlo scoffed. "Not the 'extras' for contacting the Intelligence Agencies."
Chuck immediately fired a thought at his girlfriend, 'I told you we needed to get inside his head, Sarah.'
"You look like you could use some food," Sarah commented, looking down at Laszlo's emaciated form.
He immediately thought of what he wanted to eat but didn't want to be around her.
"How about pancakes at a diner near here," Chuck offered.
Laszlo's eyes lit up. He couldn't resist. They bundled him into the back of her car. It wasn't comfortable, but he just about fit.
Soon, they were sitting in the diner, and he was eating what he wanted.
Sarah sat back and started probing Laszlo's mind. Through the chaos of his fractured mind, she got to some of the design work he'd done. Chuck 'read' it too.
The hacking was relatively simple. Chuck could do so much more, but his design work was something else.
Chuck initially got excited about the watch. 'Maybe I could adapt it to alert me when danger approaches.'
'Chuck, you don't need that with your telepathy,' Sarah thought.
'Not through water, apparently,' he replied. 'But maybe I could get it to alert either of us if the other is in danger.'
Sarah latched onto that. If she hadn't spotted what was happening earlier, Chuck would have been taken. 'If you can, then do it.'
Sarah then focused on Laszlo's reason for being here. "Why the pier?" she asked.
Laszlo stopped eating and looked at her. "You know, if I had to do it over again, I never would have gone to that pier."
Both of them saw a different pier in his head. "What pier?" Chuck asked.
Laszlo stopped eating. "I was 11... And... Some agent saw me playing Tetris at an arcade. So, he asked me if I could take all these tests. The next thing I know, he's offering to pay my way through school. My parents, like, they didn't know what to do with a kid whose IQ is higher than both theirs combined. So, they signed me over. And that's when I became property of the United States government." He shook his head. "Sweet story, huh?"
That explained what Sarah saw next in his head. "But that wasn't the Santa Monica pier, though, was it?" she asked.
He glared at her. "No, but they're all the same. Testing grounds."
"So, you plan to blow it up to remove one of those test grounds?" she said, almost as a statement.
Laszlo grinned. "Yeah." He turned back to his pancakes as if they were just having a fun chat. He was something else.
As he pushed the empty plate away, he suddenly found handcuffs on his wrists. "Well, that's not happening," Sarah stated.
Chuck suddenly got images of Laszlo being ushered down into a lab buried deep underground. 'Is that what they had in mind for me until they executed me?'
Sarah had seen it as well. She shivered at the thought of her man being taken somewhere like that. 'Probably.'
Both of them knew he wouldn't have coped without daylight, without family, without friends. Not a happy thought.
Sarah called Casey to come and get the man. She didn't want him in her car again and didn't want Chuck suffering his thoughts for much longer, either.
Chuck suddenly felt rushed. He started his trawl of Laszlo's mind. He found several paths he didn't want to follow, but a few that were productive. Laszlo had no idea what was happening, just that the other two were just watching him.
Sarah also trawled but looked for more details along the lines that Chuck avoided.
By the time Casey turned up, both had a lot of new 'knowledge' acquired from the genius.
As Casey led him away. Laszlo told Chuck, "I sense you are more of an asset to them. You know they'll never let you free."
Chuck knew that all too well. 'I intend to set you free, Chuck,' Sarah's thoughts soothed him.
The interview was a breeze. Chuck was told on the spot that the job was his. Harry had gone first, so it was an easy decision for the HR Manager.
Casey had stayed late and drove him home. Sarah had gone to collect their costumes for the night.
"Well done today, Bartowski."
Chuck 'read' Casey's mind to see what he was referring to but asked anyway. "What for? Laszlo or the promotion."
Casey grunted. "Both. Promotion because we wrapped up this with Mahnovski quickly enough that it didn't stop you getting it."
Chuck was pleased about that. The idea of working for Harry Tang sent shivers up and down his spine.
Ellie and Devon congratulated him, but the amount of flesh on display was disturbing.
"Sarah is in the shower," Ellie told him. "You take your time getting ready. We've got everything under control."
Chuck headed to his room. Sarah followed him in. "I knew you'd get it, Chuck, but congratulations, anyway."
He turned to her, and she released the towel that was wrapped around her body. As always, the sight of her naked body was stunning to him. 'God, I love looking at you, Sarah.'
'Well, you can do a whole lot more than just look,' she advised him with twinkling eyes.
In no time, they were making their own special love on the bed. Guiding, relishing, and finishing together spectacularly.
'I don't want to go to Ellie's party, Sarah. I just want to continue this one in here.'
She gave him a tender kiss. 'Thank you, Chuck, but we have to wear the costumes I've collected.'
He slowly sat up, making sure he looked at her gorgeous naked body first.
'The clothes are over the chair,' she pointed out.
'I know, but looking at perfection is so much more pleasurable.'
That got him a deeper kiss and another round of sex.
The selfie Sarah took of him dressed as Han Solo and her as Princess Leia was definitely something to treasure. Of course, when the characters were together like that, Han was temporarily blind, so wouldn't have seen Leia in her bikini and certainly wouldn't have smiled, but Chuck didn't care. The most beautiful woman in the world was dressed like that for him. The woman who had made love to him before putting it on and who would let him remove it later. His life felt perfect at that moment.
As they walked out and joined the party, they made their way to Morgan, who was looking somewhat down. He looked up as they approached. His eyes sparkled for a second before he thought about what their being together meant.
"Before you say anything, buddy, when people call for the worm, I will join you."
Morgan brightened up. "You'll do that with a loser?"
"Smarten up at work, Morgan, and you'll not be a loser for long. I got the job, man."
Morgan hugged his friend. "Congrats, buddy."
Later that evening, the call did come, and Morgan found Chuck and Sarah.
They all heard the chanting, "Worm! Worm! Worm! Worm!"
Morgan grinned. "They're calling for the worm, bro."
"Worm! Worm! Worm! Worm!" the chanting continued, "Worm! Worm! Worm!"
Chuck smiled at his girlfriend. "See you later, Leia."
'Oh, you certainly will. All of me!'
He stumbled a bit, then walked to where Morgan had the worm costume. This might be the last time they do it together, so Chuck was determined to end on a high.
Of course, later that evening, he'd end on an even greater high.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this. Please let me know you thoughts in a review. They really motivate.
Not sure when the next chapter will come out. Although I have the next two written, my beta is away until mid-September, with little access, so won't have much chance to review them. Just know that I'll publish when they are good enough.