A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and PMs about this. The last chapter was popular, mainly because Bryce was beaten up. I couldn't resist that or who did it.
Thanks, as always, to Captainrick944 for the beta.
This chapter is a rewrite of "Chuck Versus the Cougars" and "Chuck Versus Tom Sawyer," the fourth and fifth episodes of Season 2.
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Chapter 15: Cougars
Sarah had thought buying a ring she was going to wear for the rest of her life would be relatively easy. After all, it was just an engagement ring.
When she looked at the array at the first jewelry store, she froze. It was stupid, she'd worn loads of rings on assignments, even wedding rings, but one of her own was very different.
Chuck was just staring at the price tags. "Well, I shouldn't be introducing restrictions, but depending on the size of the diamond, I might struggle to afford other stones."
That brought her back to reality. "Let's not have a ring at all."
He looked at her and her panicked expression. They each read the other's mind. Neither was really trying to hide anything, but it was embarrassing.
"You want to tell the world that I'm with you?" she asked.
He blushed. "It's not a possession thing," he tried to reassure her.
"It's your insecurities," she stated, something about him that she didn't like but had to put up with at the moment.
He looked down, feeling bad, but confessed, "No one will believe that someone as gorgeous as you would be engaged to someone like me, Sarah."
Another aspect of him that she would like to change. "Do others' beliefs really matter?" she asked without thinking, then thought more. "Okay. If it helps you, I'll wear one."
He took her hand and caressed the back with his thumb. "Shall I make suggestions?" He had seen her fear of choosing.
"Please," she breathed out.
"A solitaire or with other stones?" Her panic started to rise again. He rushed to head that off. "I will point out some that could work, okay?"
She nodded.
He spent the next quarter of an hour talking about colors of stones that would suit her. He was actually good at this, identifying colors that worked well with her complexion and her eye and hair color.
However, in the end, Sarah made a decision. "Chuck, I don't want anything fancy. I will have a diamond solitaire on a simple white gold or platinum ring."
He beamed at her. "Then let's go and try some."
The staff had been watching this couple, and they both 'read' their minds. None thought they would come in!
The woman who offered to help them, Eileen, was very good with people, they decided. She explained the types of settings and showed Sarah some.
Chuck could sense the panic creeping in. 'Calm, Sarah. Some will look better than others.' He was right. She discounted some quite quickly. In fact, she decided some showed off the diamond better than others.
The carat of the diamond was easier. The price constraint ruled some out, but she actually thought some of those looked gross anyway.
The band size was relatively easy too. "I want the diamond to be the main focus, so a slim band but thick enough that the diamond doesn't look out of place," Sarah told Eileen, who smiled indulgently. In fact, they sensed that she approved of Sarah's choices.
The setting was harder, but after half an hour, they had found the one she wanted and were lucky that they had one in her ring size.
"Do you want it engraved?" Eileen asked.
"I just want it on my finger," Sarah confessed.
Eileen grinned. "I'll put it in its box and wrap it up for you." She looked at Chuck, "Do you want to come with me? I'm assuming you're paying." It was a tease, but Chuck just nodded and followed her.
Before they left, Chuck asked about wedding rings. Sarah got a flutter hearing that. "Any wedding ring would probably go with that one, so just come back and choose when you are ready," Eileen answered. "And most now come in matching pairs with one for the other partner."
Sarah grinned. "I'll get to show you are mine," she teased Chuck.
"No doubt about that," he smilingly replied.
Chuck was determined to go down on one knee to propose. He'd wondered about taking her somewhere fancy to do it and make a big song and dance about it, but she headed that one off as soon as she detected that thought. "Just you and me, somewhere we like, Chuck."
He decided there were only really two choices. Their beach or the courtyard. Both had happy memories associated with them."
"Before you do, Chuck, I want to tell you about my past and my mom and dad." These were things that she'd held back, one parent from embarrassment and one to keep her safe. She and Chuck went to the beach for this.
She confessed her past with her con man dad and how he'd eventually been caught.
"So, Graham virtually forced you into the CIA at sixteen?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, but we can talk about that some other time if you don't mind."
"Okay. Go on," he replied.
"So, having left my mom at age seven, I didn't see her again until a few months before I came here."
"Wow! And I thought my family was a mess!"
"Mom is actually hiding someone I brought back from a mission. Again, a story for another time, but it means neither of my parents will come to our wedding."
"Well, my mom certainly won't, and I suspect Orion will stay in hiding, too."
She nodded. "Are you okay with this?"
"I'm going to have the most amazing wife who is also the most beautiful woman in the world. I am a lot more than okay with it."
She grinned and kissed him.
He looked around the beach. "I don't think this is the best place to propose, Sarah, unless we find a bench you can sit on."
She laughed. "Then it wouldn't be our place, would it?"
He stood and pulled her up. "Then, there's only one place for it."
She knew exactly where he was thinking of. "You know our bedroom probably has even more happy memories."
"I don't want to tell our kids that I proposed to you where we were naked most of the time, doing things we can't discuss with them!"
She had to stop walking briefly, as she couldn't walk for laughing.
Once they got to the apartment complex, he did sit her down by the fountain, knelt down, and proposed again, but this time pulled the ring box out of his pocket and opened it for her.
With tears in her eyes, she said, "Can you put it on, please?"
He slipped it onto her finger just before she dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him in for a long kiss. She had never felt so happy or so loved.
Over the rest of the weekend, they told the main people in their lives. They told Ellie and Devon the evening of 'the ring.' and they immediately went out to celebrate.
The next day, Chuck told Morgan, but they also made a call from their bedroom when Ellie and Devon went to the hospital for their shifts. "Dad, we wanted you to know we're engaged," Chuck pulled Sarah's hand up so the ring would be visible.
Stephen smiled at them. "I wondered how long it would be. Congratulations. You're a great couple." He looked at Sarah. "And I couldn't be happier about the woman who will be part of the family."
Sarah smiled. "Thank you, Stephen. Although, I think you'd be happier if I wasn't a CIA operative."
"Maybe, but then you wouldn't be as protective of my son." He then shifted into work mode. "I have news, too. I think I have worked out how to remove the Intersect from your heads."
"You think?" Chuck asked. This was good news, but he wanted to know how good.
"Let me qualify that. I know how to remove the Intersect, but still need to work out if it will deactivate your mind-reading ability, which Sarah said was to stay. That, I'm still working on."
"If you can't, we'd lose that ability altogether?" Chuck asked.
"Probably," his dad replied.
Sarah took hold of her fiancé's hand. "We should talk about this, Chuck."
He nodded.
"Thank you, Stephen. It's great news," Sarah said because Chuck had just gone silent.
"I'll keep working on the other part," Stephen told them before the call ended.
Chuck didn't really want to talk about that topic, so Sarah agreed to let him think on his own for a while.
They had told Casey that Sunday afternoon. He'd just grunted before congratulating them. "Didn't think you'd last long."
They held off telling the general until first thing Monday morning, and, although she rolled her eyes, she congratulated them.
The two of them walked into the Buy More together, holding hands. So, Chuck, in his usual Buy More clothes, and Sarah, in her Orange Orange uniform, went first to Big Mike's office. "Can we interrupt your donut?" Chuck asked.
"Sure, unless you're here to hand in your notice." Chuck had been thinking of that but dismissed that thought for today.
The two sat in front of Big Mike. "We wanted you to be the first here to know that we're engaged."
Big Mike's eyes widened. "Wow! You did good, Chuck."
"So did I," Sarah informed him.
"Get out there and spread the good news," Big Mike told them.
Sarah walked out, chuckling. 'So he can finish his donut!'
'Yeah. Didn't have to read his mind to work that out.'
They were just walking to the Nerd Herd desk when Sarah spotted someone from her past. 'Shit!'
The woman had stared straight at her. She pulled Chuck away. They quickly headed over to the yogurt shop.
"Really? Is she that frightening?"
"I just don't want to talk to her," Sarah replied.
"She will have seen your outfit and will follow you over here, if she really does want to talk.
"I hope not."
It had been twenty minutes, and no sign of their unexpected and unwanted visitor. Chuck had gone down into Castle, but Sarah had to stay upstairs. Chuck got onto the surveillance cameras. If this woman was a problem, he wanted to see her and tell his fiancé.
He wasn't quick enough, though. The woman walked in and stared at Sarah. "I know you. And I never forget a face.," she said. Sarah knew her too.
"Guess I just have one of those familiar faces," Sarah replied.
"That's not it. I know you," Heather Chandler repeated.
"I tried my hand at acting a while back," Sarah suggested. It wasn't true, but living where they did, it could be.
Heather ignored that. "It'll come to me."
Sarah continued her lie, "I was on a national television commercial. I ate a messy cheeseburger. Maybe that's it."
Heather then looked at her. "I know exactly who you are. We went to high school together!"
"What?" Sarah responded, still hoping to avoid the conversation. However, she knew now it was inevitable.
"Wait, wait, wait, don't tell me your name. I'll get it. I never forget a face. You look so different now. Well, for the better, I mean."
Sarah's heart sank. She saw in Heather's mind that she did know exactly who she was back then.
"Oh, I'm sure you have me confused with someone else..."
"Jenny! That's it: Jenny Burton!" Well, cover blown. Heather pointed at herself. "Heather Chandler. Well, Heather Ratner now. I married Mark Ratner." Her eyes lit up. "James Buchanan High, class of '98. Go, Cougars!"
Sarah responded, trying to act happy. "Heather, of course. Um, how have you been?"
What she read in Heather's mind, however, was definitely not school-related.
Heather turned when the door opened, and a man walked in. "Oh, my God, Mark, look who it is. It's Jenny Burton."
Mark said, "Who?" Sarah didn't care that he asked that. She had read his mind. Sarah's heart sank further. These two together were a real threat. She pressed a button under the desk, which would signal Chuck to come up. She hoped he saw the flashing light and knew what it meant.
"Jenny Burton from high school," Heather explained. "You know, the one."
Sarah didn't like the emphasis or the reason for it. She just wished she could stab both of them with a knife and remove both her troublesome past and the threat that these two posed.
A few seconds later, Chuck walked around the corner. Sarah heard him coming and projected her thoughts, so when he arrived, he knew what to expect. He spotted Mark and Heather and had to turn to the yogurt dispenser so that they didn't see him flash on Mark. Chuck now knew he was sharing some sort of secret with Russian mobsters.
"Oh, yeah, hi, Jenny. Heading down for the reunion this weekend?" Mark asked.
"Oh, no, I'm not much of a reunion person," Sarah replied.
Heather looked over to Chuck. "Is this your boyfriend?"
Chuck didn't let Sarah say anything but noticed that she had twisted her engagement ring around. "Do you know these people, Sweetie?" he asked her.
Heather didn't let Sarah speak. "I'm Heather. We all went to high school together."
Chuck could tell how tense Sarah was, even without reading her mind.
Heather continued, "We live in Westlake now because it's closer to Mark's work, but we go down to San Diego all the time."
"Interesting," Chuck replied. 'Is the reunion where you want to take them down?' he asked Sarah.
'No!' she replied emphatically, then continued, 'We'll do it here in LA.' She said to the other two, "Maybe we could catch up before you go."
"That would be great!" Heather replied. Sarah 'read' that Heather just wanted to bully her, as she used to do. She hadn't changed in that respect.
"I don't know," Mark said because he was worried about a meeting he was due to have.
"It'll be fine," his wife told him. Sarah almost smiled at the fact that Heather knew all about her husband's shady deal.
"I'm Chuck, by the way," Chuck said.
"I'm Mark Ratner." Voice recognition triggered another flash for Chuck, this time of Vinthrop-Keller Aeronautics and the bomber they were creating.
"Wow! Brain freeze. I think I had a little too much yogurt." Chuck was puzzled as to why he flashed twice on the guy.
They exchanged details and agreed where to meet.
"Chuck flashed on the guy," Sarah told Casey. "I hate this. Those people are from my past."
"So, you went to high school with a treasonous scumbag," Casey muttered. "Someone has to."
"Good morning, team.," Beckman said as the monitor lit up. "Mark Ratner is an engineer at Winthrop-Keller Aeronautics, as Chuck indicated. He has clearance to extremely sensitive plans for future weapon technology. Picture the next generation of B-2 stealth bombers. Essentially, a super bomber. This technology has been leaked. Chuck is right that Mark is the likely source." She looked at Sarah. "Your plan was good, too. You go to dinner with the Ratners and see what else Chuck can flash on."
Sarah had to say something. "General, I know this was my idea, but I want to record that my cover has been compromised on this one."
Beckman looked sympathetically at the blonde. "Sarah, I know what you are thinking, but your preexisting social history with the target is the perfect cover. I hope the fine Italian food makes up for it. Bon apetito."
"Please help me with any questions they ask that I should be able to answer," Chuck said as they dressed to go to the meal.
"I will, Chuck. When we get a chance, there is a lot I need to tell you. That high school was one of the worst times in my life. The memories of losing Dad still haunt me. Thank you for doing this with me and being there for me."
He wrapped his arms around her. "I will always be there for you, Sarah."
She hugged him tightly. "I know," she said into his chest. "You're my rock."
"Talking of rocks. I noticed you hiding your other one earlier."
Sarah blushed. "It was instinctive. I feared it could be at risk, so I hid it."
"So, it's not that I'm an embarrassment?"
Sarah grabbed either side of his face. "You are not an embarrassment, Chuck. You are a catch. I'm lucky to have you, remember?" She kissed him. As she pulled away, she said, "Now I need to put more lipstick on, and you need to take some off."
Tonight, she was going to make sure the ring was visible. For Chuck.
Sitting opposite Mark, Chuck looked at him across the table. "So, Mark, uh... what line of work are you in?"
"Uh, engineering. Actually, what I'm working on is technically... top secret." Mark thought about the bomber plans he had stolen, making it very clear what he was doing to the pair sitting opposite him.
"And let's keep it that way, 'cause no one gives a rip," Heather replied. Her thoughts were on the money she would make as long as she controlled her husband. She looked back at the pair sitting opposite her. "So, how long have you two lovebirds been together?"
Sarah was completely honest. "Thirteen months now, but only just engaged."
Chuck noticed Mark kept looking at his watch. He was now thinking about Russian mobsters coming here. He passed the message on to Sarah but also pressed the button on his watch that would attract Casey.
Heather looked at the ring Sarah was wearing. She'd ignored it before, apparently. "Wow! That was quick."
"When you know you're in love, there's no point holding back," Chuck said.
"Aww. That's sweet," Heather said.
'Why do all women call me sweet?' Chuck thought.
'Because you are… Sweetie.' Sarah replied. She felt quite pleased with herself for that comment.
Mark was looking extremely uncomfortable now and looked at his watch again.
"What's the matter with you?" Heather growled at her husband. "You're sweating like a pig. It's kind of gross."
"Oh, sorry. I'm fine. I'm fine." Mark looked up at Chuck and Sarah. "Would you excuse me for a minute?"
"Sure," Chuck replied. Casey walked up at that point, dressed as a waiter, and leaned down to Chuck. "Can I get you anything, sir?"
"Ratner's gone to the restroom," replied quietly. "He's hiding from Russians."
"Certainly, sir," Casey said and walked off, mentioning to another waiter to get a bottle for the table.
"Some champagne," Chuck explained to Heather. "Worth celebrating again."
Sarah laughed. "He seems to want to keep me drunk most evenings."
Heather smiled. "So, Jenny, is your job at the yogurt shop, like a career, or are you just keeping yourself in busy between acting gigs."
Sarah found Heather's attitude sucked. "Oh, I-I've got a few things going on."
'Don't let her get to you, Sarah. You're so much better than her.'
Sarah squeezed Chuck's leg. 'Thank you, Chuck.'
Heather hadn't stopped, though. "I mean, Chuck, if you had told me in high school that Jenny Burton wanted to grow up to be a movie star, I would've said, 'Dream, little duckling, dream.' And now here we are."
'Yes, here we are. About to arrest you,' Sarah thought.
The starters arrived. Heather said they shouldn't wait for Mark. Her thinking was that Mark might never come back.
"Soup looks delicious, Chuck," Sarah said.
"It is. Cilantro, I love it."
"So, Jenny, when's the last time you were down in San Diego?" Heather asked.
'Stay calm, Sarah.' Chuck had read the next question in Heather's mind.
Sarah replied, "Mm, it's been a while."
"Don't get to visit your dad much?"
'You need to go and help Casey, Chuck.' Sarah spilled her wine in his lap as the reason. "Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. God, I'm-I'm such a spaz," Sarah said.
"Now, there's the Jenny we know," Heather said with amusement.
"Excuse me," Chuck Said as he stood to go. 'Thanks for this! Just don't kill her yet,' he thought back as he walked away.
'Can't promise,' she thought back.
As Chuck approached the restroom, he sensed the fighting going on inside. There were four men in there. Mark was hiding in one of the stalls. Casey, however, was fighting two men. Chuck couldn't understand the thoughts of those men, but their feelings were very clear. They both hated Casey and intended to kill him.
Chuck rushed into the room. It was lucky he did at that moment. One man was grappling with Casey, but the other had a knife and was about to stab Casey in the back.
Chuck commanded the man to drop the knife. He hoped it would work because the thought was in English rather than Russian.
The man dropped the knife exactly as commanded. Casey heard the metal hitting the floor and turned swiftly, throwing the other man into his attacker.
The back of the second man's head crashed into the nose of the first as they fell to the ground.
'Go to sleep!' Chuck commanded that lower man.
Casey hit the other in the face, knocking him out too.
"Wow! You're good!" Chuck said.
Casey grunted and called for a cleanup crew.
Mark came out of the stall and looked at the two men on the floor and the state Casey was in, with blood pouring from a cut on the side of his face.
"Wow! Those two are killers, and you took them out."
Casey just grunted as he came off the phone. "Yeah, and you're going to help me get them to my van."
"I can't leave my wife," Mark said.
Casey nodded for Chuck to go before saying, "She'll be joining us later."
After Chuck had gone, Sarah needed to keep the conversation going with Heather until she knew the other two had gotten Mark away from the Russians that Heather knew about. "So, Heather, uh, how do you stay in such great shape?"
"Got obsessed with karate 'cause my instructor's such a hottie. I'm a black belt now." She then looked at Sarah seriously. "You didn't seem to want to talk about your dad's situation in front of your fiancé. Does Chuck not know?"
Sarah smiled. "Oh, he knows, but he also knows I don't like talking about Dad."
The waiter brought the main course to prepare in front of them. Just as he was arriving, Heather asked Sarah, "Dad still a sore point?"
Sarah was pissed off that Heather ignored the message. She looked at the waiter who was carving the meat. "Uh, do you mind if I take over?"
He looked puzzled but said, "Oh, no." He put down the knife.
Sarah stood, grabbed the knife for the fish, and sliced it very quickly. "I took a knife skills course at the culinary academy."
Heather smiled sweetly. "Is that to further your yogurt career, or are you angling towards something bigger? Say, carving station at Lawry's."
That just pissed Sarah off even more. She looked up and saw Chuck walking toward them, giving her a thumbs up.
Sarah whipped the knife up, stopping it just short of piercing Heather's throat. "No. To slice open scum."
Heather looked shocked but knew not to move.
'Move it back, and I'll knock her out,' Chuck thought at Sarah.
Sarah pulled the knife back, and Heather started to lean away when Chuck commanded her, 'Go to sleep!' She slumped into her chair.
"She'll probably think she fainted." Sarah looked up at him. "I like this powerful, commanding Chuck Bartowski. Kinda hot!"
"Useful too. Casey needed a bit of help," he told her but didn't really need to as she had already read his mind.
"Looks like we need to help Heather out to the van," she said.
They had Mark, Heather, and the two Russians in separate cells in Castle.
Sarah spent time with each of the Russians, reading their minds. Both were just grunts, but one of them reported directly to the local Russian mobster who was reporting to the man wanting to buy the plans."
Chuck was reading Heather's mind from outside the cell. She was, as they had 'read' before, the one coordinating the purchase. However, the exchange of plans and money hadn't happened yet. She didn't know when it would, but had suggested the reunion party. She wasn't telling them any of this, of course. No one had gone in and talked to her yet.
Casey was working on Mark. Sarah joined him, worried that Casey's techniques might be too extreme.
Mark looked up as she walked in. "Jenny, how are you involved in this?"
"Stopping Scum selling national secrets to terrorists is just part of what we do," she coldly replied.
She walked around him, 'reading' his mind. "And if you think you are protecting your wife by being quiet, she's in on it. Once you have the money, she'll leave you, taking it all."
"I don't believe you," he cried out.
Sarah leaned back against the wall. "She's just confessed."
Mark slumped down. "So, what are you going to do with us?"
Sarah leaned forward. "You have a chance to save yourselves. We want that mobster."
"Let me ask you one more time," Casey said. "Where's the meet?"
"Look, I-I don't know, okay? He texts me. That's it. That's all I know."
Sarah 'read' his thoughts. He was an open book to her. What he said was true.
Fortunately, Mark's phone, over at the corner of the cell, on his jacket, sounded the arrival of a text. "That's probably him. He's-he's-he's... He's texting me right now!"
Sarah walked over and looked at it. "He wants to meet tonight at the class reunion."
"My wife has really been looking forward to this. She wants to be reunion queen."
"Bullshit!" Sarah snapped. "She just wants the money!" She turned to Casey. "I guess we're going to San Diego."
Chuck knew Sarah was upset about having to go to this event.
Casey was taking Mark and Sarah was taking Chuck. They could all have gone in Casey's Crown Vic, but Sarah wanted some alone time with her fiancé.
"I really need you to support me when we get there, Chuck. I'll probably be a mess if you don't."
He knew she wanted to talk rather than pass thoughts, so he replied, "Is that a crying mess or a homicidal mess?"
She loved how he brought humor to help her. She lightly slapped his arm. "An upset mess!" She took a deep breath. "Nobody liked me at school. That was partly because I joined them late but also because I was the quiet one who studied hard and fairly quickly got better results than them."
That surprised Chuck. "You were a nerd?"
She grinned. "Initially, I had to work hard because I was in catch-up mode, but I actually enjoyed studying." Her face took a darker look. "However, I didn't like how the girls bullied me, or how the boys followed suit to win those girls."
"And they bullied you because you were a nerd or because you were the most beautiful girl there?"
She scoffed at that. "Hardly. What you see here is a CIA creation. I was plain, with frizzy, mousy-colored hair, and I had braces. Far from beautiful!"
"Did the CIA change your eyes?" he asked.
"No. That was one of the things they didn't change," she admitted.
She knew where he was going with this. She loved him for it. "So, you had the same beautiful eyes that I love so much."
She took hold of his hand. "I love you, Chuck. You always know what to say to cheer me up."
"That's because I love you, Sarah."
"No. It's because you're an amazing man." He didn't think so but didn't want an argument.
She sighed again. "Everyone knew about Dad being taken. I had to finish at the school before Graham took me away, so I had to suffer all the looks, all the gossip, and sometimes outright bullying about it.
Chuck tensed upon hearing this. "Kids can be so cruel!" He looked at her. "I wish I had been there for you, Sarah."
"You'll need to stop calling me that today. Today, I'm Jenny Burton, daughter of Jack Burton."
He already knew that wasn't her birthname and that she'd had many before joining the CIA while with her dad. "Okay, Jenny."
They had checked into the hotel Beckman's team had secured for them and changed into the clothes for the reunion.
Sarah was wearing a short, low-cut purple dress. "You look stunning, Sar- Jenny."
She smiled at him, knowing that he meant it. "I want to look very different from how I did back then."
"Am I going to have to fight off your male school friends?" he asked, only half in jest.
She grinned at him. "Just think them to sleep. That'll remind them how they spent their years there."
They got a taxi to the school and walked in. She had her arm through his. He expected her to grip his hand at some point.
"You look great," he reminded her.
She smiled at him, and they walked up to the desk where name badges were being handed out.
"Welcome Cougar, class of '98!" one of the two women at the desk said to them.
"Hi," Sarah said. "Jennifer Burton?"
"Burton?" the woman repeated as she looked for her name badge. "Ooh, here." She handed it to Sarah.
"Thanks." Sarah wanted to get away and not talk. She attached the badge to her dress.
"Wait," the woman said, with narrowing eyes. Sarah' read' what she was thinking. It was just what she dreaded. "You're Jenny Burton?"
Sarah smiled as sweetly as she could manage. "I am if it says I am." She grabbed Chuck's hand and pulled him away.
They didn't have to read minds. They heard the woman say to the other, "Oh, my God!"
"Hey," Chuck said, stopping her from walking further. "No one's gonna mess with you, Jenny, okay? I got your back."
She knew he did. She smiled and leaned up to give him a quick kiss before looking around the room.
He glanced at the picture they were standing next to and the name at the bottom right corner. "Wow!"
She turned, saw her last class photo, and groaned.
"Look at those gorgeous eyes," her whispered into her ear.
His kind words helped her mood, but his breath on her ear made her want to drag him off somewhere and ravish him.
"Please don't do that," she said. "We're on a mission."
He chuckled. "Sex in the classroom?"
She groaned and just dragged him away from that photo.
As they walked between the people there, no one seemed to recognize her. Well, that wasn't too surprising. They all had to look at her badge, and the thoughts of those they had walked past were all the same. "Jenny Burton?" Sarah ignored it, scanning the room for Russian mobsters.
They did pass Mark a short while later. He smiled at them but was clearly nervous.
Chuck grabbed two champagne glasses and handed one to her. They walked over to a table to stand and drink, still scanning the room.
"Want to dance?" Chuck asked. "Fortunately for you, I was at the top of my game in '98." He pretended to dance.
She loved him for this but spotted some of Heather's friends talking together and pointing at her. They were the worst bullies as far as she was concerned.
A man walked up to the table with a beer in his hand. He completely ignored Chuck. "So, my buddies and I checked out the room and picked the best-looking girl here. I decided to come introduce myself to the woman I'll be waking up with tomorrow." He winked at her. "Dick Duffy."
Chuck leaned across, offering his hand. "And I'm Chuck, Jenny's fiancé, so..."
Dick ignored him. "Jenny? Wait. Jenny Burton? Damn! Ten years has been very sweet to you."
"Thank you," she replied, but 'read' what he was going to say next, so didn't smile.
"Ten years is a hell of a long time, especially to someone living in an eight-by-ten cell." Chuck sensed the barbed comment coming. "How is your dad?"
Chuck spotted a tattoo on Dick's arm and flashed. 'Paroled Las Venturas prison 4 Years ago after Grand Theft Auto and illegal alcohol smuggling.'
This guy was still peddling that alcohol, they both 'read,' but he was of no relevance to their mission.
Chuck needed to get Sarah away from this bully. "Nachos! I smell nachos! That's gonna hit the spot. Let's get some nachos, Jenny." He pulled her away, calling back, "Bye, Dick."
"What a dick!" he said to her.
"Yeah, he always was. A bully too," she said, thinking about Dick's treatment of Mark Ratner. "He's in with the Russian mob to get his supplies, but he's not involved in the deal, though."
"No. I might have thought that if we hadn't read his mind," Chuck said.
Sarah grinned. "I might have enjoyed 'bullying' him a bit."
"Where's Casey?" he asked. She pointed over at the DJ. "Wow! I didn't know Casey had it in him!" he observed.
It was another twenty minutes of torture for Sarah before she noticed two men come in without female partners. They were dressed in black suits and looked completely out of place. They just had that villain look about them. She nodded to them, and she and Chuck walked closer.
She was able to isolate their thoughts from others, but the Russian thoughts would have been a giveaway, anyway.
"Tell Casey his DJ time is over," she said to Chuck.
He rushed off to get Casey.
The men split up, so she followed the one heading toward Mark Ratner. The man quickly stepped behind Mark, and she saw the gun pointed into Mark's back. She overheard the man say, "Come on. Let's go."
She followed. As they walked out of the main room, she decided first to try the command thought to see if she could do it, as well. 'Drop the gun and sleep!' She had to say it twice. The first time, the man visibly resisted. The second time, however, he did follow her order and slumped to the floor.
Mark was about to run, so she commanded him, 'Sleep,' with the same effect.
She was happy with her achievement without any bloodshed.
Chuck got to Casey and passed on Sarah's message.
"Looks like you're the DJ now," Casey said as he handed him the headphones and rushed off.
Sarah looked up and spotted a man approaching, aiming a gun at her. She prepared to issue another command when Casey slammed into the side of him.
The man hit a school locker, and Casey smashed his head against it until he was obviously unconscious.
Casey looked over at her. "Hmm. Maybe we should have let one stay conscious."
She grinned as she had already 'read' the mind of the first one. "No. The boss is out in his car, waiting for these two."
"Let's go!" he said.
She picked up the gun the mobster had dropped and ran out after her partner. "Wait, Casey."
He stopped and looked at her. "I know where the car is parked. I'll go first. He's less likely to suspect me dressed like this."
He chuckled and nodded his agreement.
She sauntered over the parking lot, seemingly randomly as a drunk. The bottle she grabbed on the way out helped that appearance. She had also shoved a gun into the back of her panties. It was uncomfortably cold, but all she could do.
When she got close to the car, she sensed two men in it. The main man and a driver.
She commanded the mobster to sleep and shot the driver.
When Casey joined her, she said, "Looks like it's past his bedtime."
Casey called for men to take the three comatose men and the corpse away. Sarah headed back to the reunion and her fiancé.
As she walked in, she heard a woman's voice coming through the speakers, "And the queen of the class of 1998's ten-year reunion is... Jennifer Burton! Jenny? Where are you?"
Sarah stopped walking, stunned. The woman spotted her and got the spotlight trained on her. "There you are! Come on up here, Jenny."
A bemused Sarah walked toward the woman standing next to a beaming Chuck Bartowski.
The woman decided not to wait but ran toward her and placed the crown on her head. "See you at the 20th, Jenny!"
Sarah looked at her fiancé and smiled. This was actually the best time she'd had at this school. She was now going to get that dance with him, then back to the hotel room for further 'celebrations.'
When they got back home in Echo Park, Sarah finally persuaded Chuck to talk about the mind link and if they might lose it.
"I think I've become dependent on it, Sarah," he admitted. "The ability to read the minds of others is a powerful thing. An additional sense, but a lot of crap comes with that. The link between us, however, is very special."
Sarah nodded. "I agree, which is why I reacted in horror when your dad suggested we might lose it. However, as I thought about it, I concluded that getting the Intersect out was more important. That's right, isn't it?"
He nodded. He gripped her hands. "As long as I don't lose you, I'll cope. I think we already sense each other's thoughts without needing to 'see' them."
"We do," she agreed.
"We'll be a normal couple," he stated. Then, he thought about that. "Actually, we will never be truly normal."
She raised an eyebrow.
He let her read his mind, and she smiled. "So, I'm the most badass woman, and you're an elite hacker, huh? And that's why we're not normal?"
He grinned. "The cream of both crops!"
She kissed him deeply. She certainly felt he was the cream of the crop for her.
"So, we'd cope," she stated. "We should tell your dad how much we feel we need it and the dependency bit, but also that if he can't prove his fix works, we'll cope."
He nodded, pleased that they had made a decision, even if it was a reluctant one. They would miss it if they lost it, but they would still have each other, which was the most important thing.
Their next mission was a weird one. It was a reminder to Chuck that you should never judge anyone by face value. He had plenty of experience of that with people from the spy world, including his amazing fiancée, but it was true of others too.
Case in point, Jeffery Barnes. It seemed that back in 1983 he was World Champion at a computer video game. Looking at him now, 25 years later, you wouldn't think he could be a champion at anything. Even trying to read his mind, an almost impossible task, never surfaced this fact. Jeff Barnes seemed like and was a nobody.
This all came out after a man that Chuck flashed on as an international terrorist came into the Buy More with an ancient photo of Jeff, asking for him.
When Casey checked the man out, he called Chuck and Sarah down to Castle.
"Farrokh Bulsara, born in the Asir Province, 1974. The past ten years, he's been hopping between training camps from Syria to Somalia."
"What does a global terrorist want with a nerd like Jeff?" Chuck asked. That hadn't been clear in Farrokh's mind.
"Insightful question, Bartowski. It's why we have an Intersect. We need you to approach Jeff socially. Get to know him better and see if you can get him to open up about his past."
Chuck felt sick at the thought of doing that. "You want me to hang out with Jeff?"
Casey nodded. "It's either that, or we throw him in the back of a van and have an agency interrogation team go to work on him."
"Great, so it comes down to either torturing him or torturing me?"
'We need to sober him up and get his mind working again,' Sarah thought.
'Been trying for years,' Chuck replied.
'Well, we need to try harder,' she had an idea and pulled him up the stairs.
"Fortunately, I know all the beds are down here," Casey said, but they ignored him.
Sarah handed Chuck a number of cups of frozen yogurt, some large, some small. "Give Jeff a large one and get him to take a large quantity in one go."
He looked at her. "I guess it's worth a try."
"Quick before it warms up."
He rushed them over and told Morgan to hand some out. Jeff was manning the nerd herd desk on his own. Chuck would normally worry about that, but today it suited his purpose.
When Jeff took the large strawberry yogurt, Chuck said, "Most impact if you take a lot in the first mouthful."
He was trying to read Jeff's mind, which was its usual fuzzy mess. However, when the brain freeze kicked in, it cleared a bit. "Why was a man carrying a very old photo looking for you?" Chuck quickly asked.
"I'd imagine he's one of my fans." Jeff's mind filled with images of him playing a video game and then standing with a crowd looking at him and a man holding a microphone saying, "I'd like you all to meet Jeffery Barnes. The new Missile Command World Champ."
Chuck gasped. "Missile Command? I used to kick ass at that game."
Jeff looked dreamy. "Well, I was the best."
The next image was of an old Japanese man handing him a prize accompanied by the previous voice saying, "This prize will be presented by none other than Mr. Morimoto, CEO and chief engineer at Atari games."
Chuck flashed on the name. He saw images from the Intersect, this time of rockets and satellites overlayed with ones of the Missile Command game.
"Hey, you look like you had a lot of the yogurt too. It's a great effect, huh? Clears the mind!" Jeff dug in for another large scoop, and Chuck called Sarah to let her know he had information and was heading back.
While Chuck was out, Sarah had a visit from his sister. "Ellie, what a surprise, you coming here. Do you like frozen yogurt?"
"Sarah, I wanted to talk to you without Chuck," Ellie started. "I'd hate it if he found out that I was going behind his back like this."
Sarah 'read' her mind and knew what was coming. "Okay, I won't say a word to him."
"Do you know if he has any plans?"
Sarah tried to act innocent. "Tonight?"
"No. for his future. I mean, he went to Stanford, for God's sake. Did you know that he's 12 credits short of graduating? 12 credits short of a real life. I know that I sound like his mother. Just tell me that I don't have anything to worry about, and I will back off."
Sarah knew he was spending some of their time together polishing his software idea. "He does have plans and is working on them."
"Oh, thank God!"
Sarah got a call from Chuck, telling her he was returning. She ended the call quickly. "That was Chuck. He's coming over. You better go."
Ellie rushed out, and Chuck didn't see her.
It didn't matter, though, because Sarah let him know without speaking.
Casey had done some research. "We just got some fresh intel on Morimoto that was left out of his bio. Guy secretly worked for the Japanese military. In 1980, they launched Morimoto's first-generation weapons satellite."
"The guy who created Missile Command commands actual missiles?" Chuck asked.
"Via satellite. It's still up there. Dormant, but presumed operational. If anyone knows how to fire that up, it's Morimoto."
"And you think he's working with Farrokh and the terrorists?"
"Well, he hasn't been seen in years."
Casey handed him a photo. "We captured this image outside Morimoto's office about an hour ago."
The photo was of Farrokh.
Chuck was still reeling from the news. "What about Jeff? How is he supposed to be involved in all this?"
"The only way to find out is to get into Atari headquarters," Sarah said.
Casey cautioned, "Security's going to be tight."
Sarah replied, "But if we don't secure the satellite, then Jeff's safety is gonna be the least of our concerns."
"I have an idea how to do this," Chuck said.
Chuck's idea of going in as IT experts didn't work out exactly as planned. He'd cracked into their network and disabled a server, but the men at reception said it was under control.
They had to send Sarah in, dressed as a Nerd Herder but with an incredibly short skirt. That distraction worked. Chuck and Casey were able to get to the stairwell uninterrupted. 'Hurry, or they'll quickly realize I know nothing about IT!' she told Chuck.
Before they got to Morimoto's office, Casey spotted Farrokh running away and split off to chase him. Chuck continued in and found the old man playing Missile Command.
"Mr. Morimoto?"
"You're too late. He took the code. I knew I should've never hidden the numbers inside the machine."
Chuck was stunned. He read both the start and kill codes in the man's mind, but he asked, "You hid the satellite code inside a game of Missile Command?"
"Every game, hidden in the final board. The kill screen. A secret level only I could achieve. The mathematics underlying the final board are too advanced. It's like the music of the universe."
As he rushed in, Casey spotted the game's machine was wired up to explode. Chuck read it in Morimoto's mind, as well, and said, "We have to get him out of here!"
"Not this time!" Casey replied and dragged Chuck out of the office, down the hallway, and into the elevator. The bomb exploded, and the flames shot toward them but were halted when the elevator door shut.
"Well done getting the kill code, Chuck," the general said. "But we would still need to transmit it to the satellite if the launch code had been sent."
Chuck tried to think how they could do that.
"How would Farrokh send it?" Sarah asked. "He wouldn't have the technology, would he?"
"He could use one of the local television stations to do that," Chuck told them.
"Okay, but which one?" Casey asked.
"We'll have to hit them all," Sarah said.
"Farrokh will be there, so be careful," Chuck called to them.
They didn't have many men, so ended up going into the buildings individually.
It felt inevitable that it was Sarah who got into the right one. She took out two of Farrokh's men before she spotted him with another in the next room. She hastened in, passed the studio's men bound just inside the door, and easily took out the terrorist at the keyboard. Farrokh was another matter, attacking her with a knife, but she eventually overpowered him and held his knife to his throat.
"No one can stop the satellite now!" Farrokh gasped.
"Tell me what the target is. What's the satellite aimed at?" she demanded, knowing that once he thought of it, she'd know it.
However, he didn't do that. "Why? It doesn't matter. No one will remember who threw the first stone."
She resisted killing him and knocked him out. Then, she rushed to the keyboard and typed in the code Chuck had given her.
She grinned as the screen displayed that the weapons sequence had been terminated at 81% through the launch.
"Oh my God! We did it, Chuck! How does it feel to be the hero that worked it all out?" she called out.
The next evening, Chuck worked late, and Sarah headed home without him. She wanted to talk to Ellie anyway, so this suited her.
When Chuck walked in, Ellie beamed at him. "I am so proud of you!"
Chuck had no idea why and was about to read her mind, but Sarah stopped him. 'Don't read her mind, Chuck. She wants to surprise you.'
Ellie handed him a box. He opened it up and pulled out a diploma from Stanford.
"Well, don't act so surprised," Ellie said. "Sarah told us about what you've been doing behind our backs."
He looked at his fiancée. "She did?" Sarah had blocked his thought. He could force his way in but knew from her twinkling eyes that she would tell him later.
"Yeah," Ellie said.
Devon chipped in, "We thought you were just having sex every time you disappeared into your bedroom."
Both Chuck and Sarah blushed at that because it was true.
"No wonder you've been so tired, though," Ellie said. "Why didn't you tell us that you were taking online courses?"
"Oh! Oh, right... that," he stuttered out.
Sarah stood, handed him a bottle of beer, and pulled him out the back to discuss this.
"Well, thanks for my fake diploma," he said.
"It's not fake, Chuck. It's real." He 'read' the thought that she opened up to him, but she continued talking anyway. "You graduated. As you can 'see,' Casey and I decided that your exceptional field service ought to count for something, and Stanford agreed." She chuckled. "It was really hard keeping this from you!"
He looked at her, full of love. "Thank you, my wonderful fiancée."
"I would have done it even if I wasn't. You earned it, Chuck."
"I still love you," he replied.
She grinned. "Yeah, but that's for my body."
"And your brains, your amazing eyes, your bravery, your-" She stopped him with a kiss.
She looked up and pointed to a bright light against the dark blue sky. "You see that star out there on the horizon? That's the Air Force bouncing Morimoto's satellite off the atmosphere and burning it up." She watched him as he looked in wonder at it. "Make a wish. It's yours."
She wasn't at all surprised he wished to have a long and happy life with her. She wished that, too.
A/N: A long chapter covering the two episodes.
Some of you might have noticed the change to what Beckman referenced when describing the new bomber. My beta pointed out that the F-22 was a fighter not a bomber, so suggested a better reference, the B-2 stealth bomber.
The next chapter will cover the Jill episodes, so brace yourselves! Just to warn you, she doesn't get beaten up. Sorry.