Some of the details are changed to fit into a slight change of direction, they're mostly aircraft related.
Usual disclaimers, no rights to any characters portrayed and this is neither the real world nor a Disney Princess tale.
The DNI relaxed with a small smile and said "I must admit that I enjoyed that a little, the Director likes to throw his weight around too much for my liking." He turned to look at the screen "Agents, I think that it's only fair to fill you in on what we have planned for the Human Intersect team."
He glanced at Diane and she nodded for him to continue. "As well as yourselves and Mister Bartowski, we are also planning to add representatives of the DEA and the FBI, though we have not identified any suitable Agents in those agencies as yet."
He stopped when Sarah suddenly brightened at that. "Do you have any suggestions on that front Agent Walker?"
Sarah hesitated and glanced at Casey. "I know and trust two exceptional agents in the FBI and the FBI sir, but Major Casey may not be comfortable working with one of them…."
Casey gave her a suspicious look as the DNI asked. "Who are these agents Agent Walker?"
"Carina Miller of the CIA and Zondra Rizzo of the FBI sir, I worked with them for two years as part of a very successful multi agency team, the CAT Squad."
They heard Casey mutter something like 'Oh hell no!' while Diane snorted. The DNI raised an eyebrow at her and she quietly said "Prague, sir."
The DNI tried, with little success, to stifle a snicker as he then remembered the infamous picture of the Major, handcuffed naked to a bed, that had been doing the rounds of the intelligence communities for a while.
He schooled his expression and asked. "Do you have any objections to working with either if these agents Major?"
Casey gritted out. "No sir."
The DNI nodded and looked at Diane. "General, do you believe that these agents would be suitable for the Human Intersect Project?"
Diane nodded. "Yes sir, as Agent Walker said the CAT Squad was very successful and achieved quite a lot in the two years that they were together. They were unfortunately sabotaged by the fourth member of their team, another CIA agent who was in fact a traitor. After she was killed in a trap that she was attempting to set for her team members, the team was arbitrarily disbanded, even though many members of the international intelligence community argued for it to be allowed to continue on the basis of its significant achievements. And more to the point sir, we need to be able to have complete trust in anyone that we bring into the team for something as critical as the Human Intersect Project. Agent Walker has a history with these two agents and I am prepared to trust her judgement in regard to them."
The DNI nodded. "I would suggest that you approach these agents with Agent Walker to determine whether they would be interested in joining the Human Intersect team on the same terms as Agent Walker and Major Casey then General."
With that, he nodded to Diane and the screen, saying. "I will leave you to make the necessary arrangements."
After a round of 'Thank you sir's, he picked up his copy of the Presidential Order and departed.
Diane looked at the screen "John, can you work with Carina? I happen to agree with Sarah, they are both exceptional agents, and we aren't likely to find anyone else of their calibre who we could to trust the same way."
"Yes Ma'am, as long as we can keep Miller away from any handcuffs."
Sarah piped up at that point. "Her story was that you said some very unkind things that hurt her feelings, and that was why she left you like that Casey. And there's always the fact that you had to already be in that bed, naked, to be handcuffed that way."
"Alright! It wasn't all her fault, but she didn't have to send that damned picture to everyone!"
"In Carina's defence, my understanding is that she didn't Casey, she sent only it to a few friends, like me, but somehow it went, what do they call it, viral?"
Diane tried to get the discussion back on track. "John, I'd like a serious answer, are you able to put that behind you and work with Carina Miller?"
"Yes Ma'am."
She nodded. "Sarah, do you think that you can set it up for us to sit down and talk to them?"
Sarah nodded. "Yes Ma'am."
Diane went on. "OK, even though we have a controlled group now…."
She stopped when Sarah suddenly held her hand out with a panicked look, and dug out and held up her bugged CIA phone.
Diane's lips thinned angrily but she nodded, wondering how the hell that had slipped her mind? Once she had control of herself she went on.
"I'm sorry Agents, I've just been reminded that I'm due in another meeting, as we went over the time allocated for this meeting due to those other issues. We will have to pick this up again in our next meeting, I'll leave you to proceed with the arrangements that we've discussed, goodbye."
She cut the link and sat down, only just resisting the urge to pick something up and throw it across the room.
In the FBI office, Casey held his hand out for the phone and Sarah handed it over as they headed out of the room. In the lift foyer he started talking "Stop bitching Walker, you know how damned slow these lifts are, it'll be quicker to take the stairs" as he pushed the door to the stairwell open. As he got to the top of the stairs he cried out "Look out Walker, your phone!" and then tapped it on the hand rail before carefully dropping it down the centre of the void in the stairwell. When it hit the floor at the bottom, it shattered quite spectacularly and they grinned at each other, even though it took them a while to find and pick up even the major pieces. They weren't too worried if they missed some pieces, once they'd confirmed that they had the SIM and SD card, and that any batteries had been separated from the rest.
Back at El Castillo, Sarah held up the FBI evidence bag that held remains of her phone and said "My phone had a ackident!" with a grin and Anna burst out laughing. "That looks like John's work!"
That made Sarah look at him and ask "Do this often, do you Casey?" but he just shrugged "It's the quickest way to deal with something like that!"
Chuck came out of his office as he said that and laughed, taking Sarah's hand to lead her to the elevator. Casey went with them as he wanted answers about what had been set up, and he knew that Chuck had been behind it.
After getting Sarah's choice of the phone she wanted, Chuck confirmed that the SIM was a legitimate one (IE: Not interfered with by the CIA) and put it into the new phone, along with a fresh micro-SD card, then he started transferring her contacts and other data from the phone and SD card over. As he did this, he told them about what he'd been doing to build the case to show what a fragile little flower he was, and how another betrayal would almost certainly render the human intersect permanently inoperable.
When Sarah asked when he'd had the time to do all this he just shrugged, saying that he'd been working on it when she was asleep the first night and between jobs yesterday and last night. That reminded her to ask another question. "Why was a four star General calling you two by your first names Chuck? That implies quite a bit of familiarity!"
"Well for a start, we have worked with General Stanfield quite a bit over the last ten years or so, but in the field he normally calls us Mowgli and Baloo. We had quite a few covert urban engagements back in the post Nine Eleven operations however and found that that was attracting too much attention, so he asked us what our names were. Having people hear our surnames would have been a no no, so in urban situations like that the General calls us Charles and John. Everyone in the room knew he was a General so it wasn't giving anything away to address him by his title."
Sarah just shook her head at the matter of fact way he said that. She had noted how he'd tap danced around Casey's questions about this new security company, describing the people as 'off the books agents' that Auntie Di had, which made it fairly obvious who most of them were.
When Casey argued that they could save time and money by using the Dungeon instead of building a new bunker for this team, Chuck pointed out that they were bound to be forced to work with other agents at times, so they'd need to have an official 'Human Intersect' base that outsiders could see and access. Reaching over to bring up the building plans on another screen, he added that Casey's role in Thebes Security was being set up to handle any walk in business and so there would be a small reception area dedicated to his office, and the official access to the Human Intersect base below would be via his office.
Chuck also pointed out that, for the time being at least, they'd have to go with the accommodation arrangements that had been described in the meeting, adding with a hopeful look "With one possible exception?" Sarah smiled eagerly and nodded at that, leaning across to kiss him. The way he smiled and nodded when Casey said that they had a lead on the DEA and FBI agents that he wanted for the group told them that he'd set it up that way, though Sarah would be asking him later how he'd known about Carina and Zondra.
While they talked, he went through the CIA add-ons in the remains of Sarah's phone, finding that luckily the activated bugs hadn't been transmitting real-time or recording timestamps, so he was able to doctor the flash storage to remove the recordings from just after Graham left, until just before Casey and Sarah went into the stairwell, making it look like physical damage had taken out the storage locations for anything between. He also deleted all of Sarah's private contacts and any records of private communications, adding more physical damage to explain some of that too. When the phone had been securely scrubbed of anything that they didn't want the CIA to see, Sarah boxed the remains up and dropped them off at the unofficial (and illegal) station that the CIA were maintaining in Los Feliz with a note to say that it had fallen out of her bag as they were going down the stairs in the FBI building, as that would be supported by the final recording and the story they gave when they asked for an evidence bag to put the remains into.
When they sat down to talk through things properly though, they had to concede that the argument that Auntie Di had used against Graham meant that separate accommodation would have to be arranged for Sarah, but she suddenly smiled. "Actually, the General made an offer about that in the meeting and I think I'll take her up on it, I will be sharing with Casey!"
Chuck grinned at that but Casey looked pissed. "Oh calm down Casey! I won't actually be staying with you, not most of the time anyway, that will just be my official residence! Who'd be crazy enough to try and get into an apartment that you're in living to check whether I'm staying there or not? For that matter, I'd be rather surprised if anyone could even get into the building, as I'm willing to bet that the security in this building is better than most secure government facilities?" That was enough to get smiles from both John and Chuck, thinking about the fun they'd have if anyone tried.
Now that she had a clean and secure phone, Sarah called Carina and Zondra and asked whether they were in the States now? Zondra was, but Carina wasn't getting back for a few more days, so she made arrangements for the three of them to meet for dinner in DC the night Carina got back. She sent a note to the General to get her to clear her calendar for that night.
After that, they went upstairs to get her set up as an employee of Piranha Security & Technology while Casey went off to meet Phoebe Noble and Charlene Baltimore. The family laughed when they thought about how that would go, because while John was actually quite an enlightened man, Auntie Phoebes was six foot two and didn't take prisoners, and Auntie Charly was helping Auntie Phoebes get the new business set up because she was the boss of KSS and she'd flown in with their other heavy hitters when Auntie Di put out the call, Auntie Charly was six foot and even tougher than Auntie Phoebes. Yep, this would be a test for John, but Ellie pointed out that Auntie Di had been his boss for nearly eighteen years so he should be used to being put in his place by women.
They called Auntie Di and told her what the living arrangements would be so she could make them a matter of official record. Chuck had already sent the plans for the Thebes Security premises through, and Auntie Di told them when the government contractors would be coming, so that Auntie Phoebes and John could ensure that they were there to meet them and agree the business and 'other' requirements. Chuck called that through to John straight away, while Sarah went to collect her things from the hotel and check out, dropping the CIA phone off in Los Feliz on the way.
The next couple of days were largely spent with Sarah and John getting settled into El Castillo and their cover jobs, Sarah working with Chuck, Anna, Lou and the others and John working with Phoebes and her security team. John recognised some of them when he was meeting the team, but that gave them an opening to explain that most of them were ex spec-ops and intelligence operatives who'd joined them after they were burned by the organisations they worked for without going into detail.
This was the first time Sarah had been to the house in Arcadia, and she could tell that something was going on when her Mama insisted that Chuck show her the bunker. That was the first time she'd ever seen Chuck anything like angry with Mama, so she knew that there had to be something in there that he didn't want her to see. Going through the closet in one of the guest rooms in the basement to get to the bunker was interesting, as was seeing that they had a full operations centre for a good sized team in there, and another armoury that most of the special operations guys she'd come to know would give their right arms to have.
She knew her Charlie though, so when he started excitedly showing her what they had there, she headed straight for the area that he wasn't showing her, the 'wall'.
Knowing that she'd ignore everything else once she started looking at Charlie's, she made herself look at the others' first. It was interesting to read the orders sending Auntie Mary to America in the late Sixties as Mary Conrad, and she wasn't too surprised to see that she'd topped most of her courses at university, she was also amused to see the certificates for all the records she'd taken off Auntie Mary at the Farm. Auntie Mary's Distinguished Intelligence Cross and other CIA medals reminded her of her own and she made a note to get them and her other paperwork from Aunt Jane while she was in DC. She was impressed by the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and other military medals, but she'd heard enough to know that Auntie Mary did a lot of special operations missions, and being Frost she'd be hell on wheels. Seeing that Auntie Mary was a Colonel in the Army, Marines and Air Force and Captain in the Navy was a surprise, as were her Air Force Command Pilot and Army Master Aviator badges and all her aircraft certifications, especially the foreign aircraft certifications, though the Naval Aviator badge next to them was less of a surprise after she saw them, as were the Army & Air Force Master Parachutist and Master Freefall Parachutist badges with combat jump devices and Navy & Marine Parachutist badge, and the combat, combat diving and marksmanship badges.
Uncle Bry didn't have the degrees Auntie Mary had, and his ranks across the services were a level below her's, except for being a full Colonel in the Army. She did note that he'd received the Intelligence Star, along with the Distinguished Service cross twice and Navy Cross once, Silver Star four times and a lot more medals and was an Air Force Command Pilot and Army Master Aviator, though he didn't have anything like the aircraft certifications Auntie Mary did. As expected, he had the same Army & Air Force Master Parachutist and Master Freefall Parachutist badges with combat jump devices and Navy & Marine Parachutist badge, combat action, combat diving and marksmanship badges as Auntie Mary.
Casey's record looked much like Uncle Bry's, as far as degrees, ranks and badges went, but he was a Colonel in the Marines instead of the Army. He obviously didn't have any CIA medals but he did have more military medals than Uncle Bry from the cross level down. He was also an Air Force Senior Pilot, Army Senior Aviator and Naval Aviator and his aircraft certifications were far more impressive than Auntie Mary's, Uncle Bry's or her's, he had a lot more foreign aircraft certifications as well. The certificates he had for speed over distance record runs were interesting, but she didn't delve too deeply into them because she knew that she'd give in to the temptation of looking at Chuck's, as he was listed on them too.
Mama, Jeff, Lou and Skip had some impressive degrees and military ranks across the services, but they didn't have anywhere near as much in medals, and their combat medals were limited to the Air Force Combat Action Medals they all had, though they also had Navy Combat Action Ribbons and Army Combat Action Badges (so even as the non-combatants of the group, they'd all been under fire at times, and returned fire too). Their campaign and service medals and ribbons also showed that they'd been in a lot of the same places she'd been and she knew what it was like there, so they hadn't had it easy. They were also all listed as Air Force Pilots, Army Aviators and Naval Aviators with a number of business jet and other fixed and rotary wing transport and utility aircraft certifications though, much the same as she had though there were a few foreign aircraft in there too... and the F-5E for some reason.
Anna's records were more impressive, because she had better degrees and higher ranks (except for Mama), and she had a Silver Star and Bronze Star among her medals, as well as being an Air Force Senior Pilot, Army Senior Aviator and Naval Aviator who some impressive aircraft certifications, both American and foreign. She also had special operations training certificates that were impressive.
It was when she went to Ellie's section that things got really interesting, because her degrees were far more impressive than anyone else's and her military ranks were mostly at the same level as Auntie Mary's, but there was something else there that Charlie was definitely going to explain! Especially because she could see more that required explanation over in his section! She stopped herself charging over to demand answers, because she was a professional and gathered all the intel before she acted.
Ellie's medals were mostly non-combat, though she did have three Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars, so she'd obviously seen quite a bit of serious action too, but she was an Air Force Command Pilot, Army Master Aviator, and Naval Aviator, and her aircraft certifications, were far more impressive than anyone else's, except that Casey had more foreign aircraft certifications. The certificates from the Air Force and Navy Test Pilot Schools raised questions, but not as much as the pictures and certificate to say that she'd flown an SR-71 up to Mach 3.36 in February 1999 (she glanced over at Charlie's section then, because she knew that she'd find another SR-71 certificate there, but she made herself finish going through Ellie's first). And the certificate and trident badge to say that she'd qualified as a Navy SEAL certainly raised questions. Ellie didn't have the combat jump devices Auntie Mary, Uncle Bry and Casey did on her Parachutist badges or the combat badges, but she had most of the rest, this was one hell of a family she was marrying into…..
Sarah stopped in shock at that… where the fuck had THAT come from? She'd only been back a few days and she and Charlie hadn't discussed anything like that! When she thought about it, she decided that it was Ellie's fault, from the way she'd been talking when she was trying to make sure nothing got in the way of her and Charlie's life together…. Yeah! That was it! It was just Ellie projecting the fact that she wanted them to be sisters, nothing else! She could hear that voice in the back of her head though… 'Lying bitch! Ellie didn't say anything that you haven't been holding in your heart ever since your useless father dragged you away from Charlie! 'My Charlie', does that sound familiar? It damned well should! because you were thinking it when you turned around and made a beeline for the spot you knew he was trying to steer you away from because that man's every trait is etched into your very being! Or how about the fact that you were trying to work out a way around the argument why you couldn't jump into his bed from the moment it was pointed out because there was no way you were going to sleep anywhere but in his arms? Suurrreeee, you and Charlie together is Ellie's idea, not what you've been thinking about every day for the last eighteen years!'… Fuck, she wasn't about to come out and admit it, not even to herself! but she knew that that nagging bitch in the back of her head was right, there was no way she was going let anything separate her from Charlie ever again!
She shook her head as she headed over to the place that Chuck had really been trying to keep her away from, his section of the wall of fame. It was no surprise that it was more impressive than everyone else's and that he had all of Ellie's flying qualifications and more, like the Air Force and Navy Air Warfare as well as Test Pilot school certificates, but seeing the medal and rank flags up there sure was…. Oh yes, he definitely had some explaining to do! As expected, she found the certificate to say that he'd pushed that SR-71 even harder than Ellie had, getting it up to Mach 3.45…. and she didn't know why she was surprised to see another certificate to say that it was him who took that MiG-25PD up to Mach 3.25 in 2002. She froze again and kicked herself, of course! The MiG-25 flight in October 2002 must have been his Twenty First present, from Auntie Di obviously, no-one else could have organised that, while the SR-71 flight in Ninety Nine was Ellie's Twenty First present.…. Damn! Her Aunt knew how to organise epic Twenty First presents! He also had some other certificates for sustained high speed records, one was with the MiG-25 and another from just the day before which was in an F-15, but it seemed that he'd had to get to the Middle East in a hurry fairly often post Nine Eleven as that one before the MiG and the ones with Casey weren't the only ones? His Navy SEAL certificate was expected, as were most of the medals and badges…. she noted that he'd done more combat jumps than Auntie Mary, more than anyone but Casey actually as they both had gold stars on their Master Parachutist and Master Freefall Parachutist badges, he had even more, and more impressive, aircraft certifications than Ellie, especially the foreign aircraft certifications. Yep, her guy was impressive alright, he'd crammed one hell of a lot into the time that they'd been apart and the fact that he didn't want her to see this said that inside, he was still the same Charlie…...
When she'd taken it all in, she went across to where Chuck was pretending to be busy and put her arms around him. "Did you really think that you could distract me enough to keep me from seeing what Mama wanted me to see?"
He didn't turn around. "No, but I just wish she'd mind her own business… I love Auntie Em but she knows why I keep them hidden down here so that no-one can see them!"
"You know that I have to ask about that Medal of Honor, and those flag ranks, don't you Admiral? And how you and Ellie came to be SEALs as well?... And while you're at it, you can tell me about those Twenty First presents you and Ellie got from Auntie Di!"
He did turn around then as he sighed. "Yeah…. that's part of the reason I didn't want you to see them…. Because I didn't want to go into all that... OK, the Twenty Firsts and SEAL training are the shorter stories so we may as well get them out of the way first..."
"Ellie's Twenty First was a surprise to both of us, we'd qualified on all the Blackbird simulations at Test Pilot School because, well because it was the Blackbird! but we never thought that we'd ever actually have a chance to fly one! When Ellie realised what she'd organised, she begged Auntie Di to get me a flight too, but Auntie Di knew her and had already set it up that way, and it was amazing! The MiG for my Twenty First... Well Auntie Di had apparently been looking for something to make mine memorable too when a Libyan Mig Twenty Five pilot flew it to Israel to defect. The Israelis didn't want it, in fact they wanted it out of there, so they offered it to our Air Force, and someone decided that it would make a nice display at the Air Force Museum. Auntie Di used the same pull she used to get us the Blackbird flights to have orders cut for the MiG to be flown home, and as the only U.S. Air Force pilot with any familiarity with those types of Soviet aircraft and a good knowledge of both Cyrillic and Arabic, it was easy to get me assigned to fly it. They flew a crew over to strip it down for an extended flight and convert the in-flight refuelling probe, radios, transponders, oxygen systems etc to be compatible with our Air Force equipment, and then I was given orders to fly to Tel Aviv with all possible speed and thrown into an F Fifteen. When I got there I was told that I'd set a new record, covering over eighty three hundred miles in just over seven hours, and then I was told that I was flying the MiG Twenty Five back to the States, and that I was authorised to fully test its capabilities, so long as I was able to land it at Wright Patterson safely afterwards. There was no way I was going say no to that, so I landed at Wright Patterson a little over four and a half hours later with six in-flight refuellings, two burnt out engines, another speed over distance record and a certificate to say that I'd gotten the MiG up to Mach Three Point Two Five. It was a hell of a lot rougher ride than the Blackbird was but it was still one hell of a rush!"
"As for being SEALs, Ellie and I kept practising what Mom taught us after she left, and Uncle Bry took over our training when he and Auntie Di got us away from the CIA. As you saw, they pulled a lot of strings to get us and Anna into all sorts of special ops and flight training when we looked old enough. With our perfect memories, Ellie and I could get through the aircraft certifications in a fraction of the time anyone else did, so we racked up more than any other students..."
Sarah nodded. "I know, so did I and people kept telling me about two others who'd been doing the same thing a few years before."
Chuck nodded. "Well after we'd aced all the other special ops trainings, Uncle Bry bet some of his SEAL buddies that he had a couple of teenagers who could beat anyone they had in SEAL training. They weren't going to back down from a challenge like that, so they arranged to slip us into a class with all their best prospects. Of course, when they saw that Ellie was a girl they wanted to call it all off, but she taunted them about being afraid of being shown up by a little girl until they told us to put up or shut up. A number of them decided to show Ellie what she was really good for one night, but she didn't have any trouble dealing with the ones who got past me, and we did come out on top of the best they had. Their pride as SEALs wouldn't let them disrespect us after we'd thrashed the best that they put up against us, so we were both officially certified and accepted as SEALs, and have both been welcomed as SEALs every time we've operated with them..."
"As for our ranks... They've been setting that up ever since Nine Eleven, because Ellie, Auntie Em and I were made Captains in the Navy and Mom was made Colonel in the Air Force in December Oh One, when we started really expanding the Special Projects Group…. Auntie Di had some grand plan for us but she wouldn't tell me or Ellie what it was... Anyway, John and I were dropped back into Afghanistan with the Ranger Recon guys in July Oh Four, but we ended up in major trouble so we had to fight our way out of the region. It was just another messy mission because of incomplete intel from what I could see…. We'd been doing two or three missions a month on average since Nine Eleven and all too many of them ended up with us having a fight to get out in one piece. I didn't really think about it again afterwards, until we were all called to D.C. at the beginning of May Oh Five and Ellie and I were told that we were required to attend in our Navy Dress Whites with full medals….."
"We knew that they were up to something when we were taken to the White House and Uncle Roan and Josie were waiting with Auntie Di when we we got there, but the fact that Mom had brought the girls along, and Kim and Alex too, had already given that away, so I wasn't too surprised to see that we were led straight into the Oval Office. They had the new DNI there, along with the Secretary of State, Defense, Army, Navy and Air Force, the SOCOM and STRATCOM Commanders, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Chief of the Navy, Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Army, Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Directors of the NSA and FBI were also there and a few other military heavy hitters... The only notable heavy hitter missing was the Director of the CIA, which we were quite happy about. They'd obviously been waiting until after the Director of National Intelligence had been sworn in for this, anyway it was pretty crowded in there…..."
"The President started with some big spiel about how I'd saved the whole Recon unit with my acts of incredible bravery and exemplary leadership, and awarded me the Medal of Honor. John was awarded his second Navy Cross and promoted to full Colonel in the Marines by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, but that wasn't it, because the President started in on another spiel about how the Special Projects Group had been at the forefront in all aspects of the War Against Terror from the start and that his military and intelligence advisors had been recommending that they be given the authority to act more independently, and therefore effectively."
"Ellie was called up and promoted to Rear Admiral Lower Half Eleanora Zaleska to command the Information Dominance side of this group that was so secret that even their own superiors didn't know who or how many people were in it, that got a laugh but I was really happy for Ellie as she never got the recognition that she deserved, because people focussed on the more spectacular missions we were doing rather than all the important work that she and Auntie Em did…. But then I was called up and promoted Rear Admiral Lower Half Charles Carmichael to command the Operations side of the Special Projects Group, which to me took away from the recognition that Ellie had just been given…. Especially when the Chief of the Navy made a joke about the fact that she'd been the Navy's youngest Admiral in over a century for a few minutes anyway."
"Auntie Di was called up then and promoted to Major General in the Air Force, because she had to be at least one grade above those in her command. She was also presented with both the Navy and Marine Corps and Army and Air Force Presidential Unit Citations for the Special Projects Group, officially for the two separate sides of the group but he said that it was really in recognition of the fact that the four services were almost equally represented in the Special Projects Group. We had all the required photo opportunities, but everyone in the family except for Auntie Di had our call signs on our name tags instead of our names so that our names didn't get out. Having the girls there helped sell the fact that I was supposed to be about twelve years older than I was, because who would believe that I'd have teenage daughters at my age?"
Sarah just looked at him and he smiled. "It was fun watching Lou and Anna's reactions when the President asked me where the girls' mother was and I told him that she was with someone else now. They stopped asking those questions after John and Uncle Bry gave them the same answer, but I'm sure Auntie Em could have handled them.… you see Josie was standing with Auntie Em and Viv because Auntie Di and Uncle Roan aren't a very well kept secret in Washington, so him being there wasn't too much of a surprise, but Uncle Roan bringing a teenage girl with him would have told everyone who's daughter she was."
"Once the dog and pony show was over we headed back. Ellie and I were expecting to get the story of what this was about from Auntie Di when we got home, but we didn't! She just gave us a pile of crap about how the President and his military and intelligence advisors had wanted to reward us for everything we'd done in the War Against Terror. I'm sure that Mom and Auntie Em at least know what she's up to, but they won't tell us either and it's pissing off Ellie and me."
He finally turned around to look at her and she went up on tiptoe to kiss him, then snuggled into his chest. They stood there for a while like that and then she looked up curiously. "Just how old was Admiral Carmichael supposed to have been when he was made Admiral?"
"Thirty seven, so he became the youngest Admiral in over a century because he was three years younger than Admiral Zaleska."
He kissed her again and then she found out why he'd been so angry, because he walked over to a keypad on the wall and punched in a series of codes that turned the smart glass in front of each person's section of the wall opaque in turn, so Mama must have come down to set it up to display everything before they got there. He got that the kiss she gave him before they went back upstairs was an apology for that.
Sarah couldn't understand why her Mama had made a point of making sure she saw everything in the bunker. Surely she didn't think that she needed to be convinced how incredible Charlie was, or any of them for that matter? She decided to find out, so she told Chuck and John she'd see them at the office later, because she wanted to catch up with Mama.
Once Chuck and John were out of the way, she sat Mama down and asked her straight out what the point of that had been. Emma smiled sadly. "You're a part of this group now Honey, and I know for a fact that your Auntie Di is going to make sure that you're a big part of it…. I know that you and Chuck still feel the same way about each other because I've seen it, and so has your Auntie Di. She's been setting up Chuck and Ellie to head up this Intelligence and Special Operations group she's been working with the military and the President to build ever since Nine Eleven showed everyone what they could do, but when she saw how you and Chuck were, and how incredible you've become, she started changing those plans…."
She looked very hesitant about what she was about to say. "Honey… Have you thought about marrying Chuck? Because I know that your Auntie Di is going to start pushing the two of you in that direction… Wait! Before you explode, there's something you need to know! Auntie Mary was actually the one who pointed this out because she used it to protect herself from being sent on seduction missions when she fell in love with Uncle Stefan, you see the CIA and other agencies have left the old rules about married women on their books because most people have never known about them and they thought that trying to make changes would just draw attention to them. Those rules were written back in the days when the sanctity of marriage was held to be important, and they state that married women can't be forced to do seduction missions or do anything of that nature with their partners either, because it was against the laws of the time. We know that what Chuck set up is protecting you, but as your Auntie Di said, Graham and those other bastards are determined, so the more things we can stack up to stop them the better."
She stopped then because Sarah was shaking her head. "I didn't know about those rules... and they are something to think about, but you better believe that I'll be having words with Auntie Di for trying to interfere with Chuck and me!... But Mama….. I have thought about marrying Chuck, in fact I was just giving myself a good talking to downstairs for blaming Ellie when the thought that I was marrying into one hell of a family popped into my head! I've never thought about it in those specific terms before, but as my nagging conscience pointed out, I've spent the last eighteen years thinking about getting back to Charlie and spending the rest of our lives together!….. I also know that as pissed as I am about the idea of Auntie Di interfering with Chuck and me, he's going to be twice as pissed, because he's already pissed at her, and you, and Auntie Mary for refusing to tell him and Ellie about what this game you're playing is!"
When her Mama looked guilty when she said that, Sarah knew. "Oh no! Ellie is in on this too?"
"She wasn't…. not until you came back and Di started changing her plans. She came clean to Ellie then because she felt guilty that she was reducing her role in the grand plan. You see she was going to step down and have Ellie and Chuck take over as the joint commanders of the group, but what she's planning now is for Chuck to take over from her as Commander, with you and Ellie as the two Deputy Commanders, and you taking over from Chuck to command the Operations side of the group. Ellie wasn't too upset about that because she could see the logic of it, so she's on board now."
"Why won't Auntie Di tell him the truth Mama?"
"Because he'll refuse! You saw how he reacted when I made him take you down there, and I'm sure that it was like pulling teeth to get him to tell you anything about what you saw down there. Everyone except Chuck knows that he's the one we need to take the reins, so we're still trying to coax him along….."
She stopped then because the glare her daughter was directing at her was a truly frightening thing.
"And you want me to help you convince my future husband of this?"
Emma didn't think that it would be prudent, or safe, to point out to her what she'd just said, so she just shook her head.
"Not so much help convince him as help him see the logic of it, help him see what everyone else sees…. Including you I think?"
That got a grudging nod from her daughter. "Yes, I can see the logic of it but I'm not happy about this! He deserves to know what the family is setting him up for!"
Emma could see that the danger was past now, so she pulled Sarah into her arms. "Yes, he does Honey, but that boy of our's is just so stubborn!"
Sarah started then. "That's how Auntie Di pulled this off! Graham walked into that briefing certain that he'd get control of the project because he was the one with all the power, so he was totally blind sided when Auntie Di wiped the floor with him…. but she just took what Chuck put together to the DNI and he and the President signed off on it because she'd been working with them all along."
"It wouldn't have worked if Chuck hadn't worked miracles to put everything together and present a bullet proof case in the time that he did…. But yes, our operation was what gave Auntie Di access to the DNI she needed to pull it off this way."
It was obvious that she and Di weren't forgiven yet, but Emma relaxed because she could see that Sarah was mostly accepting this. After asking her to tell Auntie Di that she wanted to talk to her, Sarah kissed her mother and headed back to El Castillo.
There was another thing that she and Chuck were upset about, the fact that she had to go to DC for a day or two to talk to Carina and Zondra with Auntie Di, they'd just gotten back together after eighteen years, they didn't want to be separated again!
Diane was avoiding the talk that her niece was demanding, so when Graham gave her a way to put it off a little longer, she grabbed it. While they'd locked down the Human Intersect operation quite nicely, Graham was still the joint Director of the original Intersect Project, so she was formally advised that they wanted to run tests on the Human Intersect. Officially, this was to try and find ways of improving the operation of the Human Intersect Program, but in reality it was just Graham attempting to find a way to identify a viable candidate for his Human Intersect Project (and probably sabotage Chuck if he could). Be that as it may, it gave them an excuse to bring all three of them to DC and it was easy to mandate that his two handlers would be accompanying him everywhere. The fact that this would help mask original reason for Sarah being in DC was a bonus, as was the fact that they could bring Marco, Robin and Alex back to LA with them (and they could provide extra additional hidden security while they were in DC in case Graham had managed to identify Diane's on the books agents).