A/N: Thanks for the all reviews. I'm glad people are still enjoying this.
This one is coming out much quicker than I expected because my beta, Captainrick944, found time to review it, in spite of how busy he is. Amazing. Thank you, my friend.
This chapter rewrites two episodes, "Chuck Versus the Alma Mater" and "Chuck Versus the Truth."
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Chapter 7: College Memories
Stephen Bartowski loved a challenge, and tracking down this new Intersect was definitely that. It worried him that other scientists in the CIA had continued work on it after he'd left. He should have thought about the fact that once it was destroyed, they would try to create a new one. It would be the same scientists at work again, so he tried to track them down.
Alongside that, he'd set up taps on all communication channels used by Graham and Beckman, other than face-to-face discussions. What he discovered from that was not a surprise. The CIA was indeed driving this work. Beckman was in the loop, but often after Graham had taken some action.
From Graham's calls, he knew the scientists had continued to use names like he had. So, there was a set of Greek mythological beings working on it. Stephen chuckled at the thought. However, all of them were good at hiding.
Fortunately, Graham had set up a video call with the scientists. Stephen had tapped into Graham's computer. He had yet to access the man's files, but he was going to be able to watch and record the video call.
Tomorrow, Saturday, Devon and Ellie were going to Stanford to support their old college, UCLA, in the homecoming game. They had tried to persuade Chuck to go, but he was adamant that he never wanted to return there. Sarah supported him. If he didn't want to go, they wouldn't.
Just thinking about the place was hard for Chuck. She comforted him as much as she could, not just for his sake. She felt his pain too. The betrayal by Bryce, the expulsion, and then the rejection by his girlfriend, who then slept with Bryce. It was all awful.
That was running through Chuck's head as he sat at the Nerd help desk. Then, he got called into the Home Theater room by Casey. He was surprised to see Sarah there. 'How'd you get in here?'
'Spy skills,' she replied, not looking at him.
On the large screen, General Beckman and Director Graham were facing them. Chuck said nothing, barely holding in his hatred of the two people.
Beckman started the call, "We have a situation. A CIA asset has gone missing. We've had no communication from him for two days."
They put up an image of the man. Chuck said, "No way."
Sarah quickly looked toward Chuck and used his comment to hide her flashing on the man. Fortunately, no one noticed. She knew she had to find a way to hide it. This time, she drew attention toward Chuck, "What, did you flash?"
He replied, "No, I don't have to. That guy was my professor at Stanford." He paused for a moment, then joined up the dots. "Wait. Asset, he's CIA? My professor was a spy?"
Sarah replied, "The CIA recruits on campuses across the country. Professor Fleming is probably a company scientist, not an operative."
"Correct," Graham stated. "This is our last communication from him."
A recording played, "This is Glass Castle reporting hostile contact. I made a mistake, Black Coat. I copied intel for myself onto a disc. They're after it. I know I shouldn't have." That was the end of the recording.
"Do we know what intel he copied?"
"We don't. He's handled many sensitive projects for us. Any leak could prove devastating."
"How can we help?"
"Fleming has contacts in L.A. If we find him, you can extract him."
Beckman then spoke, "We'd like your help on this, Chuck."
The three in the room were surprised she used his first name, but the two spies quickly guessed it was a manipulative ploy.
"Look, I don't think I'm your go-to guy on this one," Chuck replied.
"Your knowledge of Fleming and Stanford is key here. We only have his official reports. You have a personal connection."
Chuck scoffed. "Yeah, I do have a personal connection. Very bad personal connection. You guys have the file. You know all about Fleming and what happened to me. The guy kicked me out of school."
Sarah tried to get him to see reason. "Professor Fleming is one of us." 'Chuck, we will probably lose him without your help.'
He didn't 'hear' her. He was too wrapped up in his own head. "Maybe you can find somebody else to help you this time. Maybe just this once." He walked out.
Sarah looked at the two on the screen. "I'll work on him."
"Thank you, Agent Walker," Beckman replied.
When Sarah got out to the Nerd desk, she asked where Chuck was.
"He took an early lunch," Anna told her. "Typical boss, leaving us to do the work while he shirks his responsibilities."
Sarah ignored that and headed out, calling Chuck's phone.
"I don't want to talk about it, Sarah."
"Where are you, Chuck?" she asked.
He paused for a while, and she thought he wasn't going to reply. This was the first time he'd done anything like this. Then he said, "I've come home."
She ran to her car and headed out.
Once Sarah reached the apartment block, she ran towards the apartment. She walked in and found Chuck in his bedroom, looking at items from a box. She closed the door as she entered and made sure the surveillance was off.
He finally looked up. This box and the Tron poster are all that I brought back from Stanford." He then pulled out a framed photo from the box and showed it to her. She looked at it and saw Chuck in the center with Bryce and two other guys.
"I hadn't cheated, but Bryce presented evidence that I had, and I was expelled. All I can see now is me leaving there. Everyone was being so nice to me, apart from Bryce, who was playing pool and ignoring me. I couldn't believe he'd done it, but he said, "You did this to yourself."
"He was a real bastard sometimes," she said, but I still don't understand why he did it.
Chuck thrust the photo back into the box. "This is all for the trash." He walked out, and Sarah followed him. As he threw it away, something dropped to the floor. Sarah picked it up and looked at it. She flashed.
Chuck saw what she had flashed on. His student id card. That made no sense. As he 'saw' it in her thoughts, he didn't flash when he looked at it, but why would he? It was him!
They walked back to the apartment and into the bedroom. She sat at the end of the bed. "It makes no sense," he said.
Sarah looked at him. "I agree. It had your name as Charles rather than using Chuck, but I've read that before, albeit with your middle name as well. Your photo on it is the one in your file that I read on the way over, so that's not new to me either. I don't think it would have been the bar code, although that's the only thing I haven't seen before."
Chuck was just shaking his head, completely confused.
Sarah drew the only conclusion she could. "I think it is the combination of all the things on the card, including the university name and symbol. Chuck, this means you are in the Intersect."
"why the hell am I there?" he asked loudly.
"Maybe your dad knows," she offered.
Chuck immediately turned on his computer. In no time, they had a video call with Stephen Bartowski.
"Dad, why am I in the Intersect, and we only know because Sarah flashed on my Stanford University ID card?"
"Flashed?" Stephen questioned, frowning.
"That's what we call it when one of us accesses the Intersect," Sarah told him.
"That makes sense," the older man said.
"Any ideas?" Chuck asked.
Stephen's shoulders slumped. "I know why," he stated.
Stephen put his head in his hands. He took a minute, and the others weren't sure what was going on. They were both getting used to 'reading' people when physically together. It just made video calls that much less satisfying.
Stephen finally looked up. "That was my fault. I knew the CIA was after you. For the Omaha project. Chuck flashed, and Sarah narrowed her eyes and said, "Graham put me forward for that, but it was canceled." She looked at Chuck. "What did you see?"
"It was to create the ultimate spies, enhancing them." He looked at his dad. "They were going to use the intersect, weren't they?" Stephen nodded. "You were part of it?"
"I was the original architect of it, but it wasn't for this use. I… left, but they continued."
Chuck got back to the original point. "So, why me?"
"Your professor ran a test to find people to recruit to the CIA. You scored unbelievably high. You were going to be pulled into it. I couldn't let that happen, so I persuaded your friend, who was already in the CIA and another candidate for the Omaha project, to stop them getting you." He paused and stared at his son. "I didn't know how he was going to do it."
Chuck was shocked and couldn't speak for a while. Sarah did, though. She knew Bryce and guessed why he did it but asked to confirm it. "Bryce was fairly easy to persuade?"
Stephen nodded. "He was already unhappy with what they planned for you, Chuck. Bryce had a high score but nowhere near yours. He told me he didn't think you would cope in the CIA, which was probably true, but I now suspect he really saw you as a threat to his future, someone better than him."
"So, he got Chuck out of his way," Sarah stated.
"Yes, but then the project was canceled."
"So, it was all for nothing!" Chuck said angrily.
Sarah placed. Hand on his shoulder. "No, it wasn't. You wouldn't have coped with the training, Chuck."
He glared at her. 'Not good enough, huh?'
She could feel the bitterness in his thoughts. 'That's not it, Chuck. Would you have happily learned how to kill? How to shoot or stab someone? Or even poison them?'
He shuddered. 'Okay. Point taken.'
She wanted to reassure him. His low self-esteem always got to her. 'You have all the other characteristics to make a great spy, Chuck. Although I think you might struggle with the seduction aspects.'
"You're conversing using thoughts, aren't you?" Stephen asked. It was quite obvious.
Chuck nodded. Sarah said, "We were. Was it that obvious?"
"Yes. You need to be careful with that," the older man stated.
"So, you got me expelled," Chuck stated.
Stephen winced. "I didn't know he was going to do that."
"Then he slept with my girlfriend. Was that your idea too?"
"I didn't even know you had a girlfriend."
Chuck huffed. "Why would you? You had no interest in me."
"Not in that way," Stephen said.
'Ease up on him, Chuck. We need his help.'
Chuck stated at his girlfriend, neither saying nor thinking anything for a while. Then he turned back to the screen. "So why get Bryce to send me the Intersect?"
Stephen sighed. "I have been hiding for so long, I wanted to see how my children were getting on. When I saw that you seemed to have given up on life, I felt I had to do something."
"'Given up,'" Chuck quoted, shaking his head.
Sarah looked at him. "You know he's right, Chuck. You have a brilliant mind, and you were wasting it in the Buy More."
"Well, this hasn't gotten me out of there, has it?"
"I thought you'd get away, and with the mind reading ability, make something of yourself."
"You didn't think this through, Stephen. Both the CIA and the NSA easily tacked the email to Chuck. He was a wanted man before he even downloaded it."
Stephen looked at Sarah. "Seems something good came out of that, though, didn't it?"
Sarah blushed but replied, "We love each other more than you can imagine. I will protect him with my life."
"And that's so shitty," Chuck said. "It's wonderful that it brought the love of my life to me, but I hate that she is at risk for me."
Sarah leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You'd do it for me, too."
Chuck huffed. 'Not fair, saying that.'
'But it's true, isn't it?'
Chuck looked back at his dad rather than admit that. "So, I guess if I want to find out what Bryce said to the professor, we have to find him."
"I guess," Stephen said.
Chuck looked at Sarah. 'Looks like "persuading me" wasn't necessary.'
She blushed, but then said, 'I can still do that "persuading," though. You know you'll like it.'
He swallowed. Not a line of thought to follow while his dad was watching. 'Later,' he thought.
'I'm looking forward to it,' she replied.
Chuck looked back at his dad. "Anything on the termination order?"
Stephen proceeded to tell them about his progress and his plans. They were both impressed.
"I'll get back to it," Stephen told them, and he ended the call.
Sarah started unbuttoning her blouse. "It's later…."
Their lunch breaks lasted a while longer.
Getting time off work the day after his promotion was difficult, but he convinced Big Mike that it was important.
Talking to Casey highlighted the challenge they were facing. "Intel suggests the professor's being hunted. The NSA interviewed one witness who ID'd a Magnus Einersson."
Sarah had to look away as she flashed, but Chuck was facing the older man, so Casey only noticed Chuck flashing. Casey continued, "So, you know he's an Icelandic spy."
Chuck said, in a monotone voice, "Magnus buys and sells intel to the highest bidder. And Iceland isn't officially aware of his activities. The Intersect says the crossbow is his weapon of choice."
"Interesting," Sarah commented.
Casey started packing up his things. "A trip to your college is just what I need,"
Sarah pushed Chuck out of Casey's apartment. "We'll get ready too. See you in ten."
Sarah rushed Chuck but had to help him pack. His mind kept drifting back to thoughts of Stanford. However, in ten minutes, they were back and out in the courtyard. Casey walked over with his things plus a piece of paper which he shoved into Chuck's hand. "We just got a hit off a traffic camera in Hollywood."
Chuck looked at the photo of the man driving the car. "That's Fleming."
Casey said, "Thanks. You saved me a lot of investigative work there. The DMV told me that."
"Wow. Sarcasm, what a surprise," Chuck said.
"I don't think he's up to that today, Casey," Sarah commented.
"We located car Fleming's driving, local address. We're bringing him in asap."
"We should get there quickly, then," Chuck said.
Casey rolled his eyes, then said, "Yeah. Yours is a friendly face. Professor sees you and he'll be more inclined to cooperate."
Chuck shook his head, "Yeah, except that I wasn't the professor's star pupil."
Casey led them to his car, and they were soon off.
Chuck remembered the last time he saw the professor.
xxx
The professor was sitting in his office, behind his desk. Chuck was on the other side. Fleming said, "As you're aware, you scored perfectly on your midterm exam."
Chuck shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. Well, I was up all night studying. It was a monster. No offense."
"You even aced the last section. Encoded images."
Chuck smiled. "Yeah, those were just kind of a shot in the dark."
The professor then proceeded to accuse Chuck of stealing the midterm answer key, which was found in his fraternity room, basically cheating. "We received the tip from a student this morning."
Chuck was stunned and didn't know what to say. "What? You got a tip about my room?"
"I need to know how you broke into this office and stole the answers, Chuck."
"I didn't steal anything. I don't have to. I'm acing your class."
The professor's eyes narrowed. "Exactly. The student also claimed that you're selling copies." He implied that was because Chuck couldn't afford to be there.
"Look, whoever gave you your tip was lying," Chuck argued,
"Our source was Bryce Larkin, your roommate."
xxx
"It must have been that mid-term exam. The one with the encoded images," Chuck said to the other two.
Sarah had 'watched' his memory, so knew exactly what he was thinking. "That was a recruitment test?"
"Not just for the CIA," Chuck replied, "but to select people to receive the Intersect, or whatever it was called back then."
"You passed?" Casey asked. The others 'read' his doubts that Chuck was spy material.
"I scored nearly 100%," Chuck replied.
Casey shook his head. "So, you were always the intended Intersect," he said.
"Seems so," Sarah said. 'I'm so glad they didn't take you then, Chuck.'
'Chuck pondered this for a while. He didn't like the picture Sarah painted of the training. He thought they were all correct about him not coping with that. Then he thought about what had happened recently. 'Me too, Sarah. I'd never have met the woman of my dreams.'
Sarah felt his feelings for her wash over her. 'I love you too, Chuck.' Then a different thought came to her mind. 'Mentioning dreams makes me think of shared ones. I can't wait for the next time Ellie and Devon leave us alone for the night.'
The image she thought made him freeze. He so wanted that to happen.
They had been sitting watching the house for a while now. No movement. No sign of hostiles.
"We'll extract the professor as quickly as possible," Sarah said. She looked at Chuck. "You'll keep watch?"
He replied, "If I flash on any bad guys, I'll call."
"Everything looks quiet, but..." She added the thought, 'Don't take any risks, Chuck.'
"I know, I know, stay in the car."
"Ok, good." She got out of the car and said to Casey, " Let's go."
After they had entered the house, Chuck saw someone in the side mirror about to walk passed, carrying food. He recognized him. Professor Fleming.
Chuck was determined to stay in the car but thought Fleming should move faster rather than walking slowly, even if he was in a hat to hide himself.
Chuck opened his door and called to the professor, who dropped his food bag and started running to his house. Chuck ran after him and managed to get in just before the man closed the door on him.
"Professor, we're here to extract you, Glass Castle. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. But it's- It's Chuck. I was in your Psychology and Symbolism class at Stanford. I don't know if you remember me."
"Chuck Bartowski. Of course, I remember you."
"Ha, ha. I guess it's not every day you kick a guy out of school, huh? At least, I hope not."
"So, you're with the Agency now. Why didn't you say so?"
"I don't think I'm supposed to, really."
"Well, we have code phrases. Didn't they train you?"
"I mostly just stay in the car."
"Next time, if it's a dangerous situation, say, 'Are you coming to the toga party?'"
Chuck noted that. "Huh, a real code phrase. I like it."
"Who's bringing me in?"
"Oh, right. Sarah and Casey will do that. They're here somewhere."
Chuck then noticed some movement through the window. He focused on it and saw a man raising a crossbow, pointing at them. He pushed the professor down into the couch he was standing in front of and ducked himself.
"What!?" cried Fleming.
Then the window shattered, as a crossbow dart hit the wall behind them.
"Casey, Sarah. We need you!" shouted Chuck.
The two ran down the stairs. Chuck shouted, "Einersson, outside."
Both ran toward the window, but stayed low.
Chuck sensed the man about the same time as Sarah as she was much closer. She focused on his approach to the window and, when he was close, jumped up and shot his hand that was about to pull the trigger of the crossbow.
Casey saw her rise and did the same, then shot the man in the other shoulder.
Einersson dropped the crossbow and fell to the ground. Casey leapt through the window and pointed his gun at the man's head. "You're coming with us."
Fleming turned to Chuck. "You saved me, Bartowski!"
Sarah felt Chuck's discomfort at the praise and knew what he'd say before he even thought it. "I think that was these two, Professor."
'Take the praise, Chuck. We'll talk about you leaving the car later, but you did save him.'
'Sorry about that. I'll explain later.'
"Well, I'm grateful to all three of you," Fleming told them.
"Einersson might have support, so we better get going," Casey said. "Do you have the disk, Professor?"
Fleming shook his head but pulled a piece of paper from his jacket and handed it to Chuck. "This was for Bryce Larkin, but I think you've earned it today."
Chuck looked at it, seeing,
219 F5U92
He immediately thought of library books. He looked at Fleming. "You hid it in a library book? At Stanford?"
Fleming nodded. "I can't go back there, but you could."
Chuck groaned.
'I'll be there with you, Chuck,' Sarah thought.
Suddenly being there didn't seem so bad.
Standing on the college grounds while people supporting both teams were partying around him was hard.
He pointed forward. "The library's this way, across the quad."
He was definitely having difficulty being here. It was obvious to both of his partners, not just the one witnessing the pain in his head. She asked, "What is it?"
"I don't know, I figured this'd be tough, but this place... is just a lot to take in, you know. I used to have so much fun here, and then..."
She prompted him, more for Casey's sake. "And then?"
"It was the worst day of my life, getting kicked out of here. Having to hear Ellie's voice when I told her I was coming home. Packing up all my stuff, and leaving as Bryce just stood there. He said I brought it on myself."
They all guessed why Bryce betrayed him.
Chuck shook his head. "Bryce has betrayed a lot of people, hasn't he?" He walked off.
Casey had created IDs for the two agents and activated Chuck's, so they all got into the library easily. However, as they walked passed the librarian near the entrance, Chuck and Sarah heard his thoughts. He was going to report Chuck's arrival. "I'll catch you up," she said and headed to the man showing her CIA ID. "You will not report me, or Mr. Bartowski. This is a matter of National Security. Am I clear?"
The man swallowed and put down the phone he was going to use.
Sarah caught up with them quickly.
They quickly reached the spot where Bryce kept his 'books.' Chuck pointed, "There. There, that row."
They quickly found the book, and Casey opened it. There was nothing in it. "Think Einersson found it somehow?"
Chuck shook his head. "Hold on." He reached in where the book had sat and felt above and found what he was looking for. "Got you." He pulled out the disk and presented it to Casey. "The intel. The book number was just a way to mark the spot."
"Let's get out of here," Sarah urged.
"Not so fast. I need to see what's on this disk."
"Chuck. That's top secret," Sarah said.
"Yeah, well, so am I."
He started scanning the disk. "That's testing data. And videotaped interviews. These are students."
"Exactly," Sarah said, "Students that were recruited into the CIA by Fleming. Ten years' worth. It's all their current information."
Casey grunted. "No wonder Einersson wanted it so badly. Foreign governments would pay for that."
"Look at this: Bryce Larkin. Bryce joined the CIA in our junior year, and there am I a year later. I want to read my so-called interview."
"Later, Bartowski. We have to go. Now."
Chuck pulled out the disk and put it back in its case. He would definitely be looking at this later.
They got away without any trouble and went back to Echo Park. "Einersson must either have been on his own, or his men were useless," Casey growled.
"Were you hoping for a gunfight, Casey?" Chuck teased.
Casey grunted and headed to his apartment. "Bring that disk over when you've finished with it."
Chuck and Sarah took it in to view the recordings.
They watched the one with his name.
xxx
Fleming was looking at the camera. "Test subject 0326. Bartowski. This will be his first interview." The door opened, and Bryce walked in. Fleming said, "Bryce? This isn't a good time. I'm waiting for another student."
Bryce replied, "Chuck Bartowski? He never got your message."
"What are you talking about?"
Bryce continued, "You put Chuck on the CIA recruitment track?"
"It's not up to me, Bryce. They want him for the Omaha Project."
"That's a military operation. They'll turn Chuck into-"
Fleming cut him off. "I'm required to send all the top test results to the Agency."
Bryce leaned forward. "I want my friend out of this."
Fleming shook his head. "He's a perfect candidate. Keywords in his essay responses correlate to 98 percent of the images in the exam."
Bryce said, "You don't get it. Chuck's a good person. He's got too much heart for this kind of work. He's no operative. You can't put him out in the field. He won't survive."
Fleming stated, "The Agency is not gonna let go of a recruit this promising. The amount of information he can retain..."
"They're not gonna give him a choice?" Bryce asked.
"He's in, no matter what."
Bryce considered for a few seconds. "If he cheated on the exam, copied all the answers... it would invalidate the results, wouldn't it?"
"Yes."
Bryce nodded. "Good. Now you're going to help me, Professor."
xxx
Chuck sat and thought about what he'd seen. 'He was just looking out for me.'
This did look like Bryce was a caring friend, and Sarah could see Chuck almost wanting to forgive his ex-friend. 'Maybe in part, but I know Bryce. He was also looking out for himself. That is always his chief motivator.'
Chuck nodded. That did sound like Bryce.
'Can I also remind you that the way he treated you afterward and sleeping with your girlfriend was nothing to do with looking out for you? That was pure malice,' she added.
Chuck looked at her. 'You really hate what he did to me, don't you?'
She nodded. 'I'm a less forgiving person, Chuck.'
He took out the disk and handed it to her to take over to Casey.
"You know you can't tell anyone about this," she said.
"I know."
'When this disk is seen, our bosses will know you were perfect for the Intersect, better than anyone. Maybe it'll help.'
'Maybe.'
She walked away with it, leaving Chuck and his memories of Stanford.
Ellie and Devon decided to stay at Stanford. When she called to tell Chuck, she said, "You know, I thought I saw you there."
"Really?"
"Must've been my imagination."
"Yeah."
Sarah was sitting with him. As he put down the phone, she beamed at him. 'You know what this means, don't you?'
He grinned. 'Fortunately, we didn't have sex when we got back.'
'Well, you were preoccupied.'
'Looks like we're on for tonight!'
She grinned. 'On. Off. This way. That way. Gonna be quite a ride.'
'Oh, yes. Be prepared for that ride, baby!'
They were both exhausted from the day, and 'decided' to get to bed early, needing their sleep.
They were tired and, in spite of the anticipation, did fall asleep early with Sarah's naked form draped across his.
The dream hit them at midnight, so they'd had a couple of hours of sleep. Sarah was no longer lying on Chuck, but her head was on her pillow. Her rear was up in the air, and Chuck was kneeling behind her. The sex was amazing, as dream sex often is, but the shared experience made it better. Harder and faster. They both woke at the same time and found they were indeed in that position. Chuck didn't slow down, and they both experienced the best finish they had had so far. Sarah cried out into the pillow, so wouldn't have been heard anyway.
As they slumped to the bed, Sarah rolled over. She stroked his cheek and kissed him. Not hard, like the dream would have made her, but tenderly, lovingly. 'These dreams are fantastic, Chuck, and I want more of them, but you know that every time we make love is wonderful, too. You're an amazing lover and would be even without the mind link.'
'Thank you, Sarah. I think you bring out the best in me.'
She rested her head in the crook of his neck. 'Well, whatever it is, it makes me love you even more. Whatever happens, going forward, I am not leaving you.'
'Not even for assignments?' he asked.
'I was ready to quit the CIA. I planned this to be my last assignment before I did that. I still plan to do that, Chuck. But now I have someone I want to be with after that.'
He pulled her tighter. 'God, I love you, Sarah Walker.'
'Love you, too.'
It was over a week since they all got back from Stanford. Ellie and Devon had worked the weekend but were free for the evening. Ellie decided she wanted to go out for sushi and invited Chuck and Sarah along. Chuck and Sarah were happy to do that.
First, however, Chuck had to get through another day at the Buy More.
Promoting Anna to the Nerd Herd Lead was the right thing to do, with the staff available, but she sometimes was too moody to do the job. Today was one of those days.
Chuck was talking to her when a young woman came in looking panicked. She walked to the Nerd herd desk. Chuck moved back to let Anna handle this. She was brandishing her phone. "I keep pressing the button, and nothing's happening."
Anna looked bored. "Is it fully charged?"
The woman started pacing and didn't answer the question. "My entire life is in this thing. Okay? I got names, places, dates, times, music, photos, recipes..."
"Is. It. Charged?" Anna asked, stating each word very clearly.
The woman stopped and looked at her. "Of course it is. Do I look stupid?"
Chuck cut in before Anna could say yes. He tried to deflect the conversation. "Wow, you cook, too?"
She slipped back into panic mode. "What if I lose everything? You know, I can't start from scratch. I can't be the person that I was before this thing came along. Okay, I'm freaking out!"
Chuck tried to calm her. Anna rolled her eyes and walked away. "Listen to me, uh..."
"Lou," she told him.
"Lou," he repeated. "This is kind of my world, you know? This is what..." He stopped himself from claiming it was all him. "This is what we do, and we're pretty good at it, so... Trust me."
She handed him the phone, saying, "Okay… I know I'm totally spazzing out. I'm sorry. It's just... A little overwhelming to even consider..."
He stopped her. "No, no, no. Don't go there. Come back. Go to a happy place. Is there something that you think about that quiets the voices that are in your head?"
She closed her eyes. "Turkey. Muenster cheese. Egg bread. Grilled."
He grinned, "Sounds like a sandwich."
"Yeah, they're my passion. I own a deli in the mall, and I often think about meats and cheeses."
He could tell her thoughts were settling down. "Look, I promise you that if you come back tomorrow, your phone will be all fixed up and Good to go. Okay?"
"Really?" she asked and focused on him for the first time.
He could tell she was 'looking,' not just looking. He felt uncomfortable. He tried to ignore it. "Yeah."
"Thank you. So much. It's been nice talking with you, Chuck." And there was that glance again. He wished h could project disinterested but couldn't.
As she walked away, he sensed a presence next to him and someone else's thoughts. 'She is interested. Good for me that I've already nabbed you, huh?' He turned, and there was the most beautiful woman in the world standing in front of him in her sexy Wienerlicious clothes. 'Sexy?' she questioned.
'You know you are.' He gave her a peck on the cheek. "Hi, Sarah."
"Hi, Chuck. I wasn't sure if I'd have to fight her for you." She grinned.
"God, I'd love to see that," Jeff said, sidling up to her.
"Well, that's not happening, Jeff," Chuck stated.
Jeff groaned and walked off.
Chuck looked at her. "Mission?"
"No. Just wanted to see my boyfriend." 'Cover boyfriend. Just keeping up appearances.'
"Hmm," he replied.
"See you later," she said and headed out.
Casey wandered over. "Keeping tabs on you?"
Chuck replied quietly, "Maybe she was worried I'd ditch the cover and take a real girlfriend."
Casey just grunted and walked off.
The meal was wonderful, and, for once, neither Ellie nor Sarah upset the other. They had a great evening.
They walked out at the end, and after kissing his girlfriend, Devon said, "Well, you guys wait here. I'll get the car. I found a space around the corner." He walked off to get it.
Then, a man came staggering down the sidewalk and dropped near them. Ellie shifted immediately into doctor mode, crouching down beside him. "Sir. Can you hear me? What is your name?"
He wasn't answering, and neither Chuck nor Sarah could read his mind, which was a complete hash.
Ellie called out, "Can someone please call an ambulance."
Chuck did that.
Not long later, an ambulance arrived. As the man was being taken onto it, he whispered something to Ellie, who had to bend down to him. "Help me, please. Help me."
Ellie replied, "Just, just relax. We're doing everything we can." She told the paramedics, "Shallow respiration, thready pulse."
Chuck was so proud of her and couldn't stop himself from telling everyone. "That's my sister. Eleanor fay Bartowski is saving that dude's life!"
Ellie pushed the man's wallet into Chuck's hands. "Chuck, check for his medical ID."
Chuck looked and flashed. Mason Whitney was involved in a nuclear explosion somewhere. He watched as his sister disappeared in the ambulance with the man.
Chuck was pacing back at the apartment. "Hey, do you think Ellie's okay? Should I call the hospital again?"
Sarah stopped him. "You've called ten times in the past 20 minutes."
"Yeah, I know, but what-what about sweaty nuclear guy? What-what if he hurts her?"
"Come on, Chuck. People saw Ellie at the ER. She is gonna be fine," she told him. 'Chuck, you're wearing me out with your worry. Stop it!'
He calmed down slightly. Sarah's voice did help him, and her voice in his head did too. 'Sorry.'
Devon approached them. "She's a doctor, Chuck. Emergencies happen. You know, when somebody asks, 'Is there a doctor in the house?' that's our cue."
Sarah said, "I'm gonna make some coffee. Do you want some?"
"Absolutely," Devon replied. "Chuck, Ellie will be fine."
Before Sarah could bring them coffee, the apartment door opened. "Hey, there she is," Devon said. "Hi, honey."
Ellie didn't get a chance to respond as Chuck rushed over to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Ellie! Oh, my god! Oh, my god, you're okay. Oh, my god, you're fine."
He pulled back as Sarah told him, 'Of course she's fine. You can't tell her anything.'
Chuck looked at his sister. "What happened?"
She replied, looking exhausted, "We tried everything. Nothing worked. I think he was... Poisoned or had an allergic reaction or something. I'm going to bed. Good night, guys."
Chuck looked at Sarah. 'Poisoned?'
She shrugged and put down the coffees she was holding. She then switched off the coffee machine and led him to bed.
Once they got there. He turned to her. 'The spy world and my normal world used to be compartmentalized. But when I watched those ambulance doors close, and my sister was behind them with that sweaty nuclear spy freak, my worlds collided. I put Ellie's life in danger.'
She had to get him to see reason. She placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him briefly, then told him, 'No, Chuck, that guy was sick with or without the Intersect in your head. And spy world or no, Ellie helped that guy because that is what she is trained to do.'
As always, she brought him down from the panic. 'Yeah, I guess so.'
She kissed him longer, lovingly. He relaxed completely.
Once they were ready for bed, they slipped under the covers, clothed for the first time in a while. Neither felt like sex and hoped that the dream sex didn't occur tonight.
In the morning, Chuck had to get to work, but Sarah had to go to Casey's apartment for a call with General Beckman.
"The Intersect was correct in identifying Mason Whitney. He had had nuclear Intel. However, Bartowski incorrectly perceived Whitney as a threat."
Sarah controlled herself. She hated Chuck being called the Intersect. "Chuck's not wrong very often."
"But he's annoying all the time," Casey muttered.
Beckman continued, "Whitney was a programmer for a top-secret project, code name: 'Sanctuary.' When Whitney disappeared, so did the Sanctuary data, which was embedded on a computer chip."
Sarah realized the implication. "Wait. So, whoever has the chip essentially has a skeleton key to access our nuclear facilities?"
Beckman nodded. "Precisely, Agent Walker. In the wrong hands, this is potentially catastrophic."
"So, Chuck was right. He is a threat, albeit an unintentional one."
Beckman frowned, then said, "Major, bring Chuck with you to the morgue. Maybe there's a clue only he can see to ascertain Whitney's true cause of death. Agent Walker, search the body for the missing codes. Maybe there's a chance he still has them on him."
Chuck was checking on all the staff in the store when Lou walked up to him. "Ok, just give me the verdict, Chuck; I can take it."
He walked her to the Nerd Herd desk. "Good as new-ish."
"I don't believe you."
"No, really. It works now."
"Thank you." She pulled him down to her level for a hug, and he realized the difference in their heights. "You really saved my ass, Chuck."
He smiled at her, then saw her thoughts before she said, "I brought you something. For fixing it."
"Thanks. A sandwich?" He pretended it was just any sandwich.
She looked at him. "It is THE sandwich. Turkey. Muenster cheese. Egg bread. I'm even going to call it the Chuck Bartowski."
He shook his head. "I can't believe you're going to name a sandwich after me." If Sarah had been around, she would have 'heard' him calling to her. 'Help!'
Lou continued flirting, "You know, you should come by the shop sometime and taste it fresh."
He really didn't know what to say. "Yeah, yeah. Yes, I'd love that. Lou, this is kind of the biggest honor..." Then he spotted his savior approaching. 'Help! She flirting at me!' He called to her, "Sarah!"
'Relax. I have it handled.' Sarah smiled at the shorter woman. "Hi. I'm Sarah."
"Lou," the woman responded.
"I fixed Lou's phone for her," he told Sarah.
"Who's Sarah?" Lou asked Chuck.
He didn't have to say anything because Sarah did. "I'm Chuck's girlfriend."
'God, so much more than just a girlfriend!' he thought.
Sarah grinned at him.
"Nice to meet you, Sarah," Lou said before turning to Chuck. "Uh, you should refrigerate that 'cause it'd be a shame for the Chuck to make you sick." She stormed out.
"I think she thought you were free, Chuck," Sarah said with a grin.
"I never told her that," he replied.
Sarah turned serious. "There's more to the Mason Whitney incident than we thought."
Chuck took an early lunch break, and she drove them to the morgue.
The morgue was not a place Chuck Bartowski should ever be in. A place of death. He shuddered as he walked in. When Casey pulled the man out, Chuck looked everywhere but at him. Of course, that didn't help them. Casey said, "Eyes on the prize. Getting any flashes?"
Chuck forced his eyes to look. "Good lord, the man is naked!"
"Appears rigor mortis has set in, too," Casey commented, then proceeded to take blood from the corpse.
Sarah was checking over the body. Casey asked, "Find anything?"
"Nothing yet. No codes." She then spotted something behind his ear. "Hang on a second. What is this?" She peeled something off his skin with tweezers and passed it to Casey. "Bug," she stated.
After testing, Casey looked up. "The guy was poisoned. Toxic derivative of pentothal. Initially, the subject becomes uncontrollably truthful. After it accumulates in the occipital lobe, the victim suffers from unconsciousness and eventually... death."
"What's the timeline on this thing?" Sarah asked.
"Can't say. Could be a couple hours. Could be minutes depending on the concentration."
"So, whoever did this probably has those secrets," Chuck said.
"Unless Whitney got away before talking," Casey said.
"In which case, Ellie might be at risk!" Chuck said fearfully.
"Why would they want her?" the older man asked. "You said she only treated the guy when he collapsed."
Ellie was talking loudly to Devon. This never happened, so Chuck was going to check them out. He pulled on boxers and a t-shirt.
"I'm sure she's alright," Sarah tried to reassure him, still lying under the covers. He sat at the end of the bed. She was right. He was being stupid.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and Ellie rushed in, followed by Devon. Sarah pulled the covers tighter to cover herself.
Ellie seemed to be continuing a stream of words, "I have known him since the day he was born, obviously." She climbed on the bed and wrapped her arms around Chuck. "When people would ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would always say the same thing, 'big boy.' How cute is that?"
Sarah smiled but wished she had clothes on.
Chuck grimaced. "Ellie, you're killing me here."
Ellie continued, "And now he is a big boy." She turned and looked at Sarah. "And I can tell that he is because he is with a big..." her eyes widened as she looked at Sarah's naked shoulders and could obviously see Sarah's form under the covers and finished, "Big girl."
Devon apologized for her behavior. "Sorry, guys. Don't mean to muck up your mojo." He then mouthed, "Tried to stop her."
Chuck asked, "Is she drunk?"
Ellie couldn't be stopped from talking, "Chuck, you need a haircut. It's starting to make funny animal shapes."
Devon tried to pull her away, "Let's go, babe. These two need their privacy, huh?"
"When you were seven, I told you that a burglar stole the money from your piggy bank. That was a lie. It was me. At the time, I felt it was very important for me to have a Backstreet Boys fanny pack."
Chuck didn't know that but was more concerned about how his sister was behaving. "Ellie, are you okay? Have you seen anyone new recently?"
Ellie's ramble continued, "Words taste like peaches."
"She was visited by the police before I got home," Devon commented.
Sarah realized that 'reading' Ellie's mind was difficult with all the mass of thoughts she was having. "Hold on. Why were the police here? That can't be standard procedure. They should have talked to her at the hospital."
Devon thought about that. "Yeah, you're right. Weird." He finally managed to get Ellie up. "Okay, we going to go now. Let you kids get back to doing whatever it is you're doing. Have fun, all right."
Sarah started to get dressed. 'This doesn't feel right.' She shared her concerns.
'You think she's been poisoned?'
'Maybe.'
As she opened the bedroom door, they heard Casey talking to Devon at the apartment door. "Hey, sorry to bother you folks. Can you spare some milk? All out."
Devon invited him in. "Moo juice coming right up."
Chuck read Casey's thoughts before Sarah did but had to ask, "Casey, what are you doing here?"
"Getting some interference," the older man replied.
Before he could say anything else, Ellie, who was sitting on the couch, collapsed. Casey moved the carton of milk he was holding close to her. It had an ariel sticking out of it and was obviously a detection device. It was beeping.
Sarah leaned down and pulled something from behind Ellie's ear. It was just the same as what they found on Whitney.
"Well, she was poisoned," Casey stated as they looked at the device in Sarah's fingertips.
Devon was in the hospital room with Ellie. Chuck was looking in through the window, worried sick about her.
Casey and Sarah walked up to him.
'We found who did this, Chuck,' Sarah thought.
Casey told him, "Pulled the surveillance. Man, posing as an officer, exposed your sister to the poison."
Chuck looked at him, "Why would anyone want to hurt Ellie? She doesn't know anything about nuclear codes. She doesn't even want us to own a microwave."
"It means the person who poisoned her is still out there looking for the intel chip," Casey stated.
Sarah tried to reassure her boyfriend. "Chuck, our medical teams are trying to identify the poisoning agent to create an antidote for Ellie."
He cried out, "There's no time! If it's the same poison as the dead guy, that means Ellie's only got a few hours left." He started spiraling off. "Look, this is easy. All we've got to do is find the codes, and we get the bad guy to trade us for the antidote. Okay, we do this kind of thing in our sleep."
"Even if we knew where the codes were, that's not a practical plan," Casey told him, "Can't risk the bad guy endangering millions of lives for the one."
"This is my sister we're talking about, all right?" Chuck then raised his voice, "We can't just sit around and watch her die."
Sarah said, "Okay, the only clue we have so far is the bug that we found on Ellie." She showed it nestled in a plastic case.
Casey explained why it was here. "Soundproof box. Don't want the bad guy knowing we're onto him. We've got a team working on reversing the tracking signal."
Chuck snatched the box and opened it. Casey cried out, "Hey, what are you doing?"
Sarah 'read' what he had planned and didn't attempt to stop him. Chuck talked at the device, "Found the codes. Can't believe where Mason Whitney hid them. I'm going to keep them on the lady doctor until we can move them safely."
He looked defiantly at Casey, who said, "Now the bad guy's going to come to us. Not bad, Bartowski." Then he growled, "Do that ever again, and I'll kill you."
Chuck nearly replied, but Sarah stopped him. 'No! Say nothing about the termination order, Chuck.'
Chuck was in with his sister, on his own.
"I'm going to fix this, Ellie, I swear. Look, I know that you just think I'm just Chuck, your screw-up little brother. But there's a lot about me you don't know. See, I'm... I'm also Chuck, the guy with all these... Important government secrets in my brain. I can make this better. I will make this better."
He was determined to do just that. "Everything is so different now, Ellie. I used to be able to come to you and ask your advice about anything. And now, my whole life is, like, a lie."
Devon opened the door. Fortunately, Chuck sensed him approaching the door, so had stopped talking.
"Went downstairs to get Ellie's sweater from her locker." Devon handed it to Chuck.
"Her lucky sweater," Chuck commented. "She could use it. Thanks, Devon."
As Devon walked away. Chuck placed the sweater over his unconscious sister and noticed something in the pocket. He pulled it out. What looked like a coin on a chain. Chuck flashed on it.
He called Casey, because he knew Sarah wouldn't take the call. "Casey, I've got the codes." He then rushed out to find them.
Sarah was lying on the bed set up as Ellie's. She sensed the man approaching. She also read his mind about what he planned to do. When he reached for her, she quickly sprung and got his arm up behind his back.
Casey walked in, pointing his gun at the man. "Freeze."
Sarah read the man's thoughts. He was so confident and was about to hit her and then jump and kick Casey. She twisted his arm further, pushing him down. He cried out in pain. "I don't like you much. Fight, and it will hurt a whole lot more."
They cuffed him.
Sarah read his thoughts about what he had in his pocket. She pulled out the vial containing two colored liquids.
He smirked. "One's the antidote to save your doctor friend. Give it to her, and she might live. Just trade me for the codes. Or you could make the mistake of using the other one, and she'll just die quicker."
Sarah easily read which was which and opened the green one. She lifted Ellie up and gave the liquid to her.
Chuck rushed in to tell them he had the codes but saw what had happened.
As Casey walked the guy away, Chuck looked at Sarah. 'Wow! You even look gorgeous with dark hair.'
She grinned. 'Thank you, Chuck.'
Chuck noticed something on the floor and picked it up. He flashed when he looked at it. "Bad guy's name is Riordan Payne. Used to be an Olympic gymnast, blew out his knee. Now he sells hard-to-find items, like nuclear codes, to hard-to-find people." He looked at Sarah. "Lots of people want to spend lots of cash on these codes, but now they're not going to get the chance."
He grinned. "We did good, didn't we?"
She kissed his cheek. "We did." She then pulled off the wig.
'As gorgeous as you were with dark hair, I prefer blonde.'
'Any blonde?' she teased.
He shook his head. 'No. Just the most beautiful one in the world who is also the most amazing woman I have ever met.'
'Good answer.'
'Fortunately, neither of us got poisoned, or our little secret would be out, Sarah.'
Sarah hadn't thought about that, but Chuck was right. He would have let it out.
Chuck was shocked at what she thought next. 'You- you can withstand pentothal?'
Sarah nodded. 'I can, but whether I could with this variant is less clear.'
He nodded, understanding. Then, he had a different thought. 'You know, if we were still just in a cover relationship, I would still have fallen for you. If you had been poisoned, I would have asked you if our relationship was going anywhere.'
Sarah thought about that. 'I would have wanted it to, Chuck, but I would have been convinced keeping you at bay was probably the best way to keep you safe and me being able to stay to protect you.' She held his gaze. 'I would probably have replied no to that question. It wouldn't have been a lie, though. I wouldn't have seen a way for it to become real. If you'd have asked me if I wanted a real relationship, that would have tested my control.'
'That would've broken my heart, Sarah.'
'Me too, Chuck, me too.'
Thankfully that wasn't the situation. 'God, Sarah, I'm so thankful that we're a real couple.' He kissed her. She didn't have to think of a reply, her feelings alone were sufficient.
Some of her words worried Chuck, though, so as he pulled away, he asked, 'You think I'm not safe now?'
'Our cover is always at risk, Chuck. We have to be so careful.'
Ellie then started to stir, and they both focused their attention on her.
Devon stayed with Ellie overnight, but she was definitely recovering.
Chuck and Sarah had the apartment to themselves, but there was no way they were waiting for dream sex. Their passionate lovemaking was just as good.
They loved each other, and both wanted to stay together. Unlike that alternative life Chuck had mentioned, in this one, they were absolutely in a real relationship. A relationship that was so strong neither would give it up.
They physically reinforced that well into the night, in every way they could.
A.N: As stated at the beginning, two episodes in one chapter. I plan to do the same next time.
Please leave a review for me to see what you thought of this one.