A/N: Here it is. Chuck and Sarah get married, and meet their new team mates. We find out some more about Gabriel and his past. For those of you sticking around reading this work, we are coming to the end of the setup chapters. Starting next chapter the action picks up. Big thanks to BDaddyDL for his beta work and the shout out in his awesome work, Chuck VS His Heritage.
A/N 2: about the 3/4 mark of his chapter, afet the Jones mission, there is some mention of same sex relationship in this chapter, no actual sex. i tried to clean it up so from that point you can skip about a thousand words and it gets back to the mission. if you do read it you'll see Beckman like never before.
At first light the entire wedding crew left for Vegas. It was a quiet and uneventful trip. They checked into the Bellagio and started looking for a wedding chapel that appealed to both Sarah and Ellie. They checked out a few, and finally decided on A Special Moment Wedding Chapel, mostly because it featured traditional weddings, and it resembled a small church. It had been decided during the trip that Devon would be the best man, Ellie the matron of honor, and Casey would walk Sarah down the aisle.
As they were getting ready to begin Sarah pulled Chuck to the side. "Chuck, I know you worry sometimes about how I feel towards you. As soon as you asked me to marry you I put in the paperwork to have my name legally changed to Sarah Walker so when we get married it will be completely legal in every sense of the word, not for the cover, not for the CIA, but because I love you, and living without you isn't living."
Chuck was speechless. He never even gave a thought to asking Sarah to legally change her name. He pulled her in for a hug, and gave her a small kiss on the lips and thanked her.
The wedding party moved to the front of the Chapel standing in front of the minister. As soon as they were all in place Casey walked Sarah down the aisle where he handed her off to Chuck and then the ceremony began.
The Reverend began "We are gathered here today in the sight of God and angels, and the presence of friends, to celebrate one of life's greatest moments, to give recognition to the worth and beauty of love, and to add our best wishes and blessings to the words which shall unite Chuck and Sarah in holy matrimony."
Chuck reached up and brushed a falling tear from Sarah's cheek, and she leaned into his palm, mouthing 'I love you'. Behind her, Ellie blinked, trying to keep at bay her own threatening tears. She turned her head slightly and caught Devon's eye and received a reassuring smile, as if he were telling her that everything would be just fine. She nodded slightly and turned her attention back to the ceremony.
The Reverend continued, "Chuck and Sarah, life is given to each of us as individuals, and yet we must learn to live together. Love is given to us by our family and friends. We learn to love by being loved."
"As you travel through life together, I want you to remember that the true measure of success, the true avenue to joy and peace, is to be found within the love you hold in your hearts. I would ask that you hold the key to your heart very tightly."
The Reverend read from the Bible, "That in the beginning the Creator made them male and female, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one."
Sarah reached over and clasped Chuck's hand in hers. She was surprised to discover that his hand was trembling as much as hers. They only had eyes for each other, as the Reverend continued, "Chuck, do you take Sarah to be your wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, for richer and poorer, in sickness and health, forsaking all others and holding only to her forevermore?"
"I do," he replied firmly, granting her a dazzling smile.
"Sarah, do you take Chuck to be your husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect him, for richer and poorer, in sickness and health, forsaking all others and holding only to him forevermore?" The Reverend recited.
"I do," she replied, surprised that her voice didn't tremble as her fingers were.
"May I have the rings, please?" The Reverend asked. Devon set the rings on top of the Bible. "May these rings always remind you of the vows you have taken," he held the open Bible out to Chuck, "take this ring and place it on the third finger of Sarah's left hand as you repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
Chuck took the ring and slowly slid the ring onto Sarah's finger, repeating the vow. After he slipped the ring into place, he squeezed her fingers, lifting her hand to his lips for a quick kiss.
"Now, Sarah," The Reverend said, turning to her, "Take this ring and place it on the third finger of Chuck's left hand as you repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."
She slipped the ring on his finger as she repeated the words. When she was finished, she echoed his actions by lifting his hand to her lips. Their hands remained clasped as the ceremony continued.
"Chuck and Sarah, in so much as the two of you have agreed to live together in Matrimony, have promised your love for each other by these vows, the giving of these rings and the joining of your hands, I now declare you to be husband and wife in the name of the Lord and Jesus. Amen. You may now kiss your bride."
Sarah leaned up and crashed her lips against Chuck's, giving him a toe curling kiss. It was so powerful she had to grasp onto his shoulders to steady herself. She was so excited and nervous, that she wasn't entirely sure how she'd managed to stand upright through the ceremony. They stood hugging each other for several minutes until the sound of a throat being cleared caused them to look up.
"Get a room you two!" said Casey who then continued on reaching out to shake their hands, "Walker you're the best partner I have ever had. Chuck you've come a long way from when you started out. I wish you two the best of luck."
"Thanks." answered Sarah, with her eyes starting to tear up. She knew what it took for Casey to say what he had just said.
"Thanks big guy." Chuck chimed in.
It was only seconds after Casey's little speech when the couple was engulfed in a bone crushing Ellie hug. She had tears of joy running down her cheeks. "I am so happy for you too. Sarah, I know it's been a long time since you've been part of a family, so all I have to say is welcome to the family Mrs. Bartowski! I wish you both all the happiness you two deserve." Ellie sobbed through tear filled eyes.
With the ceremony over the group made its way out of the Chapel and split off into its own groups. Casey went his own way to play some of the table games; Chuck and Sarah went out take in some shows, as did Ellie and Devon. Chuck, Sarah and Casey had agreed to meet at 9 pm to check in with the General to see if anything had come up they needed to be aware of. The meeting with the General passed with no information of any importance being discussed. The General gave the team a couple of weeks off so they could make all the plans for the move and to offer them help in finding a house in the Philadelphia. They also made plans to have Chuck's Viper purchased and delivered to the house. They also set up a date and time to have Sarah's Porsche picked up and shipped. The team agreed that this was the best course of action since Chuck and Sarah had plans in place to meet the Jones's. One of the biggest surprises came when the General offered to move Ellie and Devon as well. This was based on the fact that Ellie and Devon would be vetted with both the agencies to treat agents and other government officials.
With the meeting over, Casey headed to his room, and the newlyweds settled in their room where they began their first night together as a married couple. Their love making was not hurried or rushed. It was slow and tender, with each taking the time to explore each other; both secure in the knowledge they had finally gotten what they always wanted, but thought they could never have.
The next morning they made the trip back home and started on the plans for moving and selecting the teams. Because they had very little to do to get ready to leave, Chuck and Sarah only had to get their personal things together. Most of the large items in the apartment belonged to Ellie and Devon. Plus, the new house would come fully furnished and stocked. It would be a while before Ellie and Devon made the move to the east coast. They would have to find and apartment or house to live in prior to moving. Ellie and Devon would travel with the team when they moved, to look for a place to live.
Team Bartowski had returned to its normal routine after a couple of days, and they started to prep for the upcoming dinner with Jones and his wife. Chuck started his hand to hand combat training with Sarah, and his small arms training with Casey. A couple of days prior to the mission Castle Sarah's cell phone rang.
"Bartowski secure."
"Gabriel secure. Congratulations on your wedding Mrs. Bartowski"
"Thank you. What do you need?" Sarah did not even question how Gabriel got her number or how he bypassed the encryption on it.
"Straight and to the point, I like that. There will be limo coming to pick your team up in thirty minutes. Be ready when it gets there. We need to have a pre mission brief at our headquarters."
"We'll be ready for pick up in thirty minutes"
"Good. Gabriel out" and the call was disconnected.
Sarah wasted no time informing Chuck and Casey about the briefing and the pickup time.
"We need to inform Beckman about this briefing," stated Casey. Chuck wasted no time in setting up the video conference.
"What is it Agent Bartowski?"
"General we just were contacted by Gabriel and he has arranged a briefing this afternoon to plan our mission objectives. We wanted to keep you in the loop," replied Chuck.
"Thank you. When you arrive, see if I can be part of the mission briefs. I also have superiors I need to report to. Do you have anything else to report? If not, get to the briefing, Beckman out." And the connection is ended.
Same time at Ghost headquarters
"Status report" barked Gabriel
"Medical is ready. They will be given a full work up using the methods used in the current time line. We will also use our scanning techniques to look for potential problems that are not detectable by this time periods medical technology. I have altered some of our technology for Agent Chuck Bartowski. It will aid him in getting in shape, sharpen his reflexes and repair any damage his brain may have suffered by down loading the intersect. It will passively lower his guilt about having to injure or kill on assignment."
"Communications are ready. We will be issuing secure laptops with our best encryption algorithms. They will be compatible with our communications systems and the ones they normally use. This will allow them to contact us anywhere in the world. Finger print and retinal scans will be required for operation. The retinal scans will be passive in nature so they won't have any idea they are being scanned. Safeguards have been built in to insure that the information remains hidden from anyone but us. In addition, phones from this era have been modified to use our frequencies, and not depend on the networks currently in use. Our East coast team is ready to install the Generals computer system if and when it's needed. A phone has already been shipped to the General. The last of our goodies is the personal tactical communication gear, or ear wigs as they call it. It is virtually invisible to the naked eye and cannot be jammed."
"Tactical is ready. We have modified our tactical body armor to stop all bladed weapons and projectile rounds; up to and including the 7.62mm used in the AK-47. It appears to be the weapon of choice used by many countries and rebel groups during this era. It's a two layer suit, the first layer worn next to the skin and it resembles spandex of the time. It is used to disperse the force of the round in milliseconds, and helps control the body temperature. The outer layer resembles their normal mission gear and stops the penetration of the rounds and bladed weapons."
"Bio-sciences are a go. We have subcutaneous tracking and life sign monitoring devices ready to go. The one problem is the device must be placed the base of the skull near the brain stem. The devices cannot be found using the equipment available today. The one down side is they will need to be knocked out for the placement. The Doc has already agreed to do the procedure."
Gabriel gave a slight nod of his head in acknowledgement, "Nice work team. Our guests should be arriving shortly. Let's make them feel welcome." He turned and went to greet the team.
It wasn't long before the team arrived at Gabriel's headquarters, where Gabriel met them at the door and ushered them inside. They were led to the same conference room they had been in before. Seated around the main table they saw 4 new people and Sirella. Sirella rose and offered them seats around the table and asked if they would like anything to eat or drink. The first thing Sarah noticed was that each person in the room was armed with a shoulder rig that held their pistol of choice. Second they each had some form of bladed weapon hanging off their belts.
"Gabriel, before we begin the briefing, we would like General Beckman to be present if that is possible. She is our commanding officer, and requested we keep her in the loop." Casey asked for his team.
"I don't mind at all, in fact I feel she needs to hear most of the information I intend to pass on to you. Do you want to contact her now?"
"Yes, Chuck use your laptop and get the General." As Chuck opened up his laptop to boot it up, Gabriel stopped him with a wave of his hand.
"That won't be necessary Chuck, just use ours. Just log the way you normally do to set up the video conferences you use," offered Gabriel, while he was pointing to the desk beneath the mammoth monitor they had seen on their last visit.
Chuck rose up from his seat and made his way to the keyboard and rapidly typed in the commands. In a few seconds the screen flickered, and the familiar white shield and blue back ground appeared and then the General's image. The three agents were stunned when this happened. Very similar thoughts swept through their minds. The first thing that worried them was Chuck was using Gabriel's computer to make the connection. To them it should not be possible. Secondly how good are these people? We have the latest and greatest security on our network. And the thought was When the hell did the General get her second star?
"General it's nice to see you again. This time under better circumstances than our last meeting" Gabriel started off, "I would like to introduce you to your Agents support team, and go over the team's new dynamics. Please save your questions until I have finished. It will save time in the long run." He paused for a few seconds waiting for any objections.
"First we have our Doctor" a middle aged balding man stood up and took a bow, "he simply goes by Doc. You'll have to forgive Doc, he's prone to theatrics, and can be a royal pain in the ass, but he is the best." Doc puffed out his chest and gave another bow before returning to his seat.
"Next to the Doc is Elizabeth, our communications guru. She goes by Liz." Liz simply smiled and waved her hand. "Beside her is her wife, and our tactical person Cameron." All they got was a small nod of her head. "Finally, our Bio-Sciences expert Garry," the man acknowledged the introduction with a head bob.
As Gabriel was about to continue on, a loud very angry growl could be heard coming from a woman standing next to Gabriel. Several things happened at once. The four members of Gabriel's team jumped up and backed away from the table. Sarah, Chuck and Casey just sat there stunned at the noise and pissed off look on Sirella's face. They had seen a similar look before at the party where they first met.
They all knew it could not be good. Gabriel's head snapped to his right and his eyes locked on to his very pissed off wife. Fortunately for him he had been in this position many times before, and he knew exactly what to do. He reached over and pulled his wife into his body, and started nibbling on her lower lip. Soon her growling was turned into a soft purr, as she melted into his embrace. Sensing the change in his wife he gently pushed her away, but not before he made sure she was standing next to him and he had his arm around her lower back. Relief washed across Gabriel's team members, and they returned to their seats.
Gabriel turned his attention back to the screen to address the General again. "My apologies General, I forgot you never were introduced to my wife. General this is Sirella my wife and head of security."
"Damn Gabe, when are you ever gonna learn. You leave her out every time" laughed Cameron "one of these times she's gonna knock you on your ass."
"Stuff it Cam, the one time you forgot, you didn't get laid for a week."
"Yeah, but I only did it that one time, I learned from it Gabe, something you have failed to do."
"Wait a minute, you already met the general" said Gabriel glaring at his wife.
With that Sirella broke into a fit of laughter. "That was to funny, I finally got to put one over on you!"
"Ok. Ok, you got me on that one!" replied Gabriel as he joined in the laughter.
Sarah was wondering what the hell was going on. Just a few weeks ago she had seen the man standing before her kill men with a cold and calculated intent. She'd seen his cold and lifeless eyes as he threatened to end her life right here in this very room because he thought she was reaching for a weapon. Casey was another story; he remembered the look in his eyes when he was being lifted off the ground by Gabriel. He was wondering what happened to man he had seen before. And Chuck he wondered what rabbit hole he fell down. Nothing was making sense any more. The cold blooded killer that scared the crap out of him was gone, replaced by a laughing person.
"ENOUGH" barked the General through the computer system. "Can we get back to the briefing please. I have other things to do beside listen to idle banter."
"Actually General, you don't." said a voice over the com link. The screen split and an image appeared next to the Generals. Casey, Sarah, Chuck, and the General all stood up. All four spoke in unison "Mr. President"
"Relax, and take your seats please. Master Sergeant how have you been? It's been a while; you need to stop by for dinner soon and bring your wife. Just don't forget to introduce her this time. The last time she tossed you like what five, six feet?"
Gabriel groaned and rolled his eyes, "Not you too sir?"
"As I was saying General, along with your promotion comes added responsibility. As of this moment, your main focus is operation Time Share. You are the lone person in charge, and answer only to me. Unless you hear directly from me, you are to stay the course. All assets we have are now yours to use as you need them. The directors of all intelligence agencies have been informed of your status. If anyone tries stone walling you, or fails to give you the information you need contact me immediately, and I will fix it."
The Presidents face turned grave, as he looks directly at each person on the screen, "We are at war people; not just with terrorists, but with a group that threatens the very existence of our great country. General, it's up to you, and the people in that room to make it happen. Your three agents have been tasked by me to carry this fight to the enemy where ever and whoever they are. Make no mistake about it when I say this; the future of our great nation is resting squarely on your shoulders. Good luck and happy hunting." As quickly as he appeared, he was gone.
Three faces look blankly into the screen where the President was, just seconds before, taking in enormity of the situation they have been placed in. Breaking their musings a soft voice can be heard saying "Man Down." Turning quickly they all turn to see Liz; who is gently lowering Chuck to the ground his eyes closed, and his face pale and lightly coated in sweat. Sarah rushes over to help while Casey just rolls his eyes, man this is gonna suck. He better suck it up.
"Don't worry Sarah, he just passed out. We need to get his feet up and wait. He won't be out long" the Doc informs her. About a minute later Chuck's eyes start to flutter, and he can be heard muttering "fate of the country, not me, nope, not gonna happen," and he passes out again.
"DAMN IT DOC what's wrong with him?" Sarah whispers almost like it was a scream at Doc.
"Will he be alright Doctor?" inquires the General.
"Nothing is wrong as I said before. You need to understand more about Chuck's brain, and how it works. I was going to explain it all later wh…"
"Get to the point Doc." Sirella commands adding a low growl for added effect
"Right, as I was saying, Chuck's brain is more unique then you know. While he is in the top five to ten percent of all people in the intellect department, he also happens to be at the top of the emotional department as well. From what I can tell his intellectual side has processed all the data on the severity of this task. He has calculated the odds of success and the devastating results of failure. His emotional side is overloaded by what will happen if you fail to achieve your goal. The results of those processes coming together overloaded his central nervous system causing a sympathetic result of all is voluntary muscles."
Five minutes later Chuck was awake, though still shaky, but deemed himself ready to continue. Chuck returned to his seat next to Sarah. She wasted no time in taking his hand hers to offer any comfort she could, short of hugging him.
The briefing continued with each of the department heads explaining what their equipment could do and why it was needed. The team balked slightly at having the tracking devices implanted. The loudest complaint came from Casey who claimed he did not want to be Lo Jacked. This got a laugh from Chuck and Sarah.
"General this concludes the technical portion of the briefing. We need to conduct the physicals and perform the implant procedures. They will then be fitted with their mission gear. The whole process should only take several hours to complete. Sirella has a team waiting to install your new communications equipment. They will explain the uses and capabilities. They should arrive shortly, please let your Aide know, so he can escort them in."
"When should we reconvene to plan the upcoming operation?" asked Beckman.
"Give us three hours and call back. The techs should be done by then. Oh, one last thing General. We can provide you with a smaller computer system for use in your house if you wish."
"I think that would be a very good idea. I'll let the techs know when they get here when a good time is."
"Roger General, I sent a small token of my appreciation along with my techs. You should give it to Jennifer, she's been waiting a long time, don't you think?" and he cuts the transmission.
When Gabriel turns back from the monitor he is greeted by the three surprised faces of the intersect team. "What, she's been with Jenifer for over twenty years. I think it's time the stubborn old bird made it official as she can," Gabriel says with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Wait a minute, you're telling me that hard ass, General Diane Beckman, the same one that keeps asking me if I have feelings for Chuck, has been in a relationship for over twenty years? And to top it all off she's a lesbian!" asks Sarah in a voice filled with anger.
"Yep, before we get too far off course, we need to get your physicals done, and the implants taken care of. We have a lot to do, and not much time left today to do it. I really hate to work past five." Gabriel quipped.
Flash back to earlier in the day
"Are you ready for Chuck, Doc?" Gabriel asks.
"Yes, but I still don't like it."
"It needs to be done, he's a physical wreck."
"I still don't like it."
"It will just get him where he needs to be faster, just slightly faster and stronger than a normal human. Look, it will not affect Chuck's mental aspects."
"You can't make him perfect you know."
"Wanna bet? I am Borg, it's what we do. The fate of the entire universe relies on the successful completion of this mission, make it happen Doc."
End flash back
The Doc called each member of the team back to see him in the examining room. He called them one at a time, and conducted his examinations. While the other members of the team were in with the Doctor, the remaining members visited with the Gabriel's team. Once the implants were in place, and they returned to the main briefing room, they were amazed when they saw their vital statistics being displayed on the massive monitor. Chuck, always the Nerd, decided to test the equipment so he pulled Sarah into a hug and started making out with her.
Wow, I could get use to this new Chuck!
After several minutes of a very intense make out session; Sarah was left thinking if they could slip into one of the back rooms for a few minutes. They turned to the monitor to see the results. Sure enough though, they showed their elevated heart rates and other related information.
Sarah was lead to one of the back rooms by Liz and Cameron to be fitted for her tactical suit. Casey and Chuck were taken back by Gabriel and Gary. They returned again each wearing their new mission clothes. They were hard pressed to believe that a set of spandex underwear and regular clothes could stop a knife or a bullet. Casey decided to voice his concerns in a way only he could.
"Look you have shown us some pretty interesting things, but if you want me to believe that these rags are gonna stop an AK-47 round your fucking nuts." Fuck me!
Chuck and Sarah watched in horror as five separate weapons were un-holstered, aimed and fired all in a matter of seconds. The rounds impacted Casey in the dead center of his chest. Casey was knocked back a foot, but remained standing. The five rounds that hit him clattered off the floor where they landed after bouncing harmlessly off the mission gear.
"CASEY!" was yelled almost in perfect harmony from Chuck and Sarah as they bolted towards their partner.
Gabriel and his team stood there laughing their asses off before he could finally get out "Care to change your mind? If not, I can always get an AK from the back and show you!" When he finally got himself under control he motioned for everyone to take their seats.
"Casey are you ok?" asked Sarah with concern in her voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine. That body armor is great. I felt like someone pushed me hard but that was it. It didn't even knock my breath out. I don't know how it works, but it does. You should try it," Answered Casey with a whole lot of excitement in his voice.
Gabriel began to speak, "We have a lot to go over before the General joins us in a little under an hour. I would like to clear the air a bit before we get started. When we met the first time I chewed your asses. Casey, you should have seen that tactic from your training. I just used a variation of the basic training approach. Instead of breaking you down and building you back up; I scared the shit out of you to get you to listen. You and Sarah are to set in your ways right now. We are going to change that, starting today. Chuck you have no real way of doing things so we are going to give you one; a way that will work for you not against you. Gone are the days of seduction and busting heads. There will be missions you will be tasked to eliminate a cell or a group of agents, but it will be done smartly and with plenty of backup in place. No more heading in without more fire power than you could ever want."
Gabriel paused to take a sip of water then continued, "We feel one of the main mistakes that is being made is trying to get the Fulcrum agents and elders. Casey, what happens if during a battle if the senior NCO gets killed?"
"That's easy. The next ranking person takes over and the mission continues," Casey replied.
"EXACTLY!" Gabriel exclaimed enthusiastically. "If you kill or capture a Fulcrum elder or an agent there will be someone to take his place. Fulcrum is not like the CIA or NSA. They can and they do pull some of their people from the criminal element in this country. Your agencies don't do that as a rule. What we are going to do is remove as much of the funding as we can. Face it, without money and supplies any organization will fall. That's where you and Chuck come in. You will feed the information back to us and we will send it to Beckman to be analyzed. Then several months later we will send in teams to arrest the guilty parties. We plan to wait that long so it will be hard to place you guys in the vicinity. Do you understand what will be expected of you most of the time?"
"Yes we do." Sarah answered for the team.
Gabriel continued, "I have a few rules that I go by when on a mission. I won't discuss them all now. We will have plenty of time for that later. My personal belief is that a good undercover operative goes in and gets out without ever being noticed. You may even at one point be taken in with the people we are after."
"Your new mission parameters have been discussed. You need to understand these are not hard and fast rules and can be changed at any time you see fit. Sarah and Chuck you need to understand from this moment forward you are the two most important members of this team. Chuck because of the intersect and Sarah because as I said before, Chuck would be lost without her. You are going to be using technology that no one else has. Chuck the thing that makes you so special is that the information transfer is almost instantaneous. Even with our computers it takes time to get the information back and forth. You can make the decisions right there. Do you have any questions for me?"
"You said earlier today that when you first met us you object was to scare us to death, and trust me it worked. But which personality is the real you?" Chuck really wanted to know.
"That's a tough question. For the most part around my close friends I am like how you saw me today. When on a mission I am defiantly like I was when we first met. Don't get me wrong even on a day like today I'd kill you in a heartbeat and not lose any sleep over it. For now let's just say we're friends and leave it at that." Gabriel replied.
"Ok, I really want to stay on your good side." Chuck conceded.
"Beckman is back," called Garry from the other room.
"Let's go troops, our fearless leader awaits!" said Gabriel, who was already on his way to the main conference room. "General, again welcome back. What have you got for us?"
"Nothing much is new for the upcoming op. Just continue to get closer to the Jones's," The general instructed. "If possible, set up a business meeting to discuss a business venture. If you can get close enough, maybe you can get into his inner circle of friends. That's where the big payoff will be."
"Understood General, we spent some time going over our new SOP's and despite some minor issues, we have come to an agreement on them. I will send you and edited transcript of our briefing and a word of warning don't be shocked when you see Casey get shot, as you can see he is fine. Before I go General by the look on your face I take it your afternoon went very well."
Look on her face? She looks the same as she always does. Sarah thought.
Chuck's musings were much the same, Huh, looks like the same pissed of expression to me. But after the shit that happened earlier today if he says the sky is green I say YES Sir and move on.
To the astonishment of Team Intersect the General's face softened and a big smile was on her face. It made her look ten years young and infinitely friendlier. "She said yes, and then showed me how happy she was, many, many, times" as she completed her answer with a sigh, the Generals body gave a little shudder at the memory of the afternoons passionate activities.
EWWW
Brain bleach, I need brain bleach
I did so not need to hear that. That killed the mood from this afternoon.
"Congratulations General, I would like to wish you and the wife-to-be a long and prosperous life. Send us an invitation, we would love to attend," Gabriel smiled.
"We will, I assure you. Jennifer wants me to pass along a message: 'thanks for getting her head out of her ass' so there it is. Thank you from both of us"
"Agent's and General, I need to get serious for a moment. Nothing that happened today can ever be discussed with anyone, not even the President. There are only four people not on my team that know about the items we discussed and used here today; and you are all at this meeting. This is no idle threat, if one shred of what occurred today ever gets out I will personally kill each and every one of you. I won't care who let the information out. Am I understood?"
Gabriel looked at the team and saw that his message had been received loud and clear. Good, maybe I won't have to do it.
"Understood, Beckman out"
"Not a problem for us." was Casey's response for the team.
"Now where were we before the General called?" Gabriel asked.
It was Sarah's turn to ask a question, "You claim to know a lot about the business and I am sure you do. Who do you really work for?"
As soon as the question was raised the four department heads excused themselves from the room and headed out. Sirella grabbed her husband's hand anticipating a blow up of major proportions. He merely closed his eyes took a deep breath and counted to ten. He opened his eyes and began to speak. "operation Swan Song….operation Stinging Sword…operation Delilah….operation Black Rose…..operation Swarm…..agent Thanatos….. Sirella, get into the Army's data base and pull up my records."
Chuck was flashing like a mad man on acid. Images were flying in his mind faster than ever before. Sarah's Missions were operations Swan Song, Delilah and Black Rose. During each one she had been captured and rescued. Each time she had been close to being tortured but saved just before it began. Casey's missions were Stinging Sword and Swarm; one was a black op that went south and got him trapped and almost captured, the other his unit was pinned down with no communications and running low on ammo. None of the flashes contained information on how the rescues took place or who the Agent or Agents were.
Agent Thanatos revealed nothing. No identifying pictures no mission reports just entries like Swan Song..rescue..successful, Delilah..rescue..successful, and Black Rose..rescue.. successful. There were others that in place of rescue there was passive assist. The same was true for Casey's operations. Chuck could see that this agent was so far above them and any other in any agency, it was almost laughable. He knew his partners were good, but this agent made them look like amateurs. No offense Sarah. Realization hit him like a lightning bolt. Agent Thanatos was almost single handedly responsible for his wife and Casey being alive today. He vowed to find this Agent and give him the thanks he deserved.
Hearing the names of her worst missions caused the memories she had been able to suppress to come flooding back. She could feel her face getting flush and her breathing quicken. She wondered in that moment why she did not ask to have these missions scrubbed as well. She looked over and saw Chuck had finished flashing and was giving her a small smile in spite of the tears slowly making their way down his cheeks. Her insecure mind was racing a mile a minute screaming at her that this was the end of the line. No more Chuck, goodbye to cuddling on the couch on lazy days. The house and kids vanished in a puff of smoke to be replaced by visions of a broken woman alone in a desolate house. Through tear filled eyes she watched him get up from his chair and start walking. She was sure he was heading out, to get as far away as possible from the loser Agent that she was. Then she noticed the impossible start to happen, Chuck was not heading towards the door but to her. He stopped just in front of the chair she was sitting in and reached down. He gently took hold of her hands and pulled her up. His hands slid up her arms toward her shoulders and finally came to rest on her back. He pulled her towards him till their bodies met, then he hugged her. She hugged him back knowing that this moment would be frozen in her mind's eye forever. It was the moment that Sarah Bartowski accepted that Charles Irving Bartowski loved her. Every doubt she still had hidden, every worry she had that this fairy tale would end disappeared. She finally accepted that she is allowed the happiness that she has found with Chuck.
Casey was in awe of the record of the man on the big screen. Multiple combat tours, silver and bronze stars with V device for valor, Navy Cross awarded while serving with a Seal team and the Soldiers Medal for taking a bullet meant for the President while serving on his protection detail while in Iraq, Purple Heart times two, Ranger tab and the list went on. Casey finds an added page that has a picture of a tattoo, a skull with a dagger running down the center and a ribbon wrapped around it containing the words Death Before Dishonor, but no picture of the soldier. His rank is Master Sergeant. Casey hopes that one day he will get a chance to meet this Soldier. His hopes were dashed when he read that the soldier was declared missing and presumed dead on 14 June 2007. Casey also remembered the missions Gabriel listed. The unnecessary loss of life caused by bad intel and piss poor planning by a commanding officer. To this day he didn't know how he got out of both messes.
Gabriel gave the group a few more minutes to collect their thoughts and compose themselves. Sirella returned to her husband's side and sat on his lap, hugging him tightly. She understood what it had taken him to get this far, to be here at this point in time knowing that his family is still alive yet he can't see them. They had talked about this very thing, letting the intersect team know who he really is, because as he put it, 'how can you expect them to work with me and follow me if they have no idea who I am or have doubts about my skills and knowledge?' She could feel him starting to move, so she gave him a quick peck on the lips and allowed him to rise. She still kept her arm around his back because she knew he drew strength from her.
In an attempt to lighten the mood Gabriel asked "Hey Chuck care to share with the class?" He did not get the reaction he had hoped for as the trio just stared at him, so he pushed forward. "Tell me what the flashes showed you."
"Three of them were missions that Sarah was involved with that went sour and she was captured and almost tortured," Chuck said through a shaky breath, "two were of Casey's operations that also went south. And the flash on Thanatos was weird. All it showed were mission names what type and if it was successful. I did find out that the intersect allows me to collate data. It grouped all the missions by agent and time. I will never be able to thank Thanatos enough because he is the one who saved my wife and Casey."
"Sarah tell me about operation Black Rose" requested Gabriel.
"Besides it went to hell in a hand basket? It was in June of 2006 and I was teamed up with Bryce Larkin. It was a fairly straight forward op. We had to find out who was selling our weapons to some radical group in southern France. The op went off without a hitch until the end. We had the names and drop locations and were ready to pass the information on when we got ambushed. Bryce got taken down first then me. It happened so fast neither of us could draw our weapons. When I woke up I was half naked and tied to a chair. Two huge men were in the room with telling me how much fun they were going to have over and over again. They said that their friend would be there in a minute or two to start the fun."
"After a few minutes a man came in all dressed in black wearing a mask. Next thing I know both of the big guys are dead with throwing knives sticking out of their necks. He got me loose, handed me my clothes and walked me out. We must have passed twenty dead men as we left the building. There had to be a small rescue team with him because nobody alone could have gotten in there. Next thing I knew I was at the airport and heading home. The other two are about the same but it was a different guy each time." Still shaking she turned to Chuck who has been holding her hand the entire time, "Sorry Chuck but I think maybe Thanatos is the name of and extraction team and not a single agent. Bryce explained later that he had gotten away and called in an extraction team."
"Casey what about you?"
"I was running a black op in the mountains of Afghanistan. We'd located the hide out of one the leaders of an insurgent group. Our intel said the area was clear and should be an easy snatch and grab. FUBAR was more like it. The intel was bad and we got hit hard. I lost four good men that day. We were pinned down and there was no extraction plan for us. We just waited it out, hoping to take out as many as we could. The small arms fire finally stopped and we were able to get out. We found one body on the way out. The head had been cut off. There was a knife lying beside the body and one of my men picked it up. When we got home my team had it made into a plaque and presented it to me. The other event was similar except my commanding officer screwed the pooch. Lost some men and got out. That's it."
"Ok babe it's time, are you sure you want to do this?" Sirella asked.
"As sure as I am ever gonna be. And so it begins," after a slight pause he continued "In Greek Mythology, Thanatos was the daemon personification of Death; Gabriel the bringer of death. Are the lights coming on yet?"
"That's not enough for me. I need proof," Chuck says.
"Thanatos saved my life three times. I need to thank them if I can," Sobbed Sarah.
"When you woke up outside the airport in France, you were in a cab. It was driven by a Polish man. He talked to you in Polish and told you your ticket would be under the name of Elly May Clampett. He handed you your papers and right before you stepped out he said 'keep your bony ass safe' And then patted you on the right butt cheek. Sorry Chuck. The one thing that was left out of the intersect was the real reason for the mission. Whenever Graham wanted to have an agent removed permanently he would send them on a fairly easy mission then leak the agent's description and location. All of these ops had Black in the name."
Sarah nearly flew out of the chair towards Gabriel to engulf him in a hug. Chuck could only mumble thank you over and over. Casey could only sit there and take it all in.
Gabriel pried himself away from Sarah and continued on, "Chuck I have one last thing for you to flash on." He took off his outer shirt and rolled up the sleeve on his tee-shirt. While Chuck was flashing, Casey recognized the tattoo from the records he had reviewed earlier.
Chucks response was simple "Thanatos"
Casey's response was a little more dramatic and a little more reverent, "Damn, I wondered earlier why the President called you Master Sergeant. You took a bullet for him in Iraq. You're a fuckin' hero. I read about you several years ago when you saved the President's ass. Your picture was never printed so I could not make the connection."
"Thank you and you're welcome. So, Agent Sarah Bartowski, do I have the needed skills and qualifications to be a part of your team, or should I just let my team handle it? Feel free to check any information you want with the General. Hey Sirella, that's not a bad idea. If I let the team handle it we can just hand out and have sex all day!"
"Lovely idea honey, buut.. no. Besides you would be bored within a week."
"Gabriel, why do all your code names deal with death? I saw what you did for Beckman today. Plus I know what you did for Sarah and me, making it possible for us to get married. I just don't get it." Chuck felt like he really needed to know.
"It easy Chuck," Gabriel began to explain. "Fear, when you hear my name I want you to know what, not who is after you. It's what I do and I am good at it. Before you get your panties in a twist let me explain. I am a cold blooded killer and I do so without remorse. I have never lost sleep over any of my kills. Am I emotionless? No, I feel sorrow when people I know and love die. I am saddened by the fact that I have a family I have not seen in a very long time because they think I am dead. I feel joy when people I know get married or engaged. I have never killed anyone that I didn't think should die. I kill drug dealers, murderers, gun runners, terrorists; not the average guy off the street. Nor will I kill somebody who one day may kill someone. I know it's hard for you to understand right now but I know Casey and Sarah agree with me. What I do is hard and unforgiving, that much is certain. That's the main thing we have to work on with you. Never go into a gun fight armed only with a knife. I think that will do it for today. Good luck on the op. Our driver will take you home." With that last comment he turned and walked away leaving the team to gather themselves and leave.
Chuck and Sarah were getting ready for their get together with the Jones's and discussing the remaining plans. Sarah was more apprehensive than Chuck had ever seen her and he wondered why. "Sarah what is bothering you?"
"This will be only the second time I have gone on an op like this without a weapon. I know there is a team as close as they can be, but I know firsthand how fast an op can go south. I have had enough of them thank you very much."
"You need to relax. Sarah I trust you with my life, but more importantly I trust your life with Gabriel and his team. He saved you three times so I don't think he would let anything happen to you now."
"You're right about that." Sarah finally agreed, "I guess I'll get used to it after a few more ops."
"I'm really excited about tonight." Chuck grinned.
"Why? The op should pretty much be a snoozer. You've been on plenty of missions before. What makes this one different?"
"Halloo, nerd here remember? I get to play with all the new toys we just got!"
Sarah rolled her eyes and gave him a playful swat on the arm.
"Hey, you two get a move on would you?" Casey's rough voice was heard over their ear wigs. "You don't want to be late after you've blown them off a couple of times. I'll be outside the restaurant waiting"
"Roger Casey, we'll be there in a few. Come on Chuck lets go." Sarah motioned for him to follow her.
The new Communications equipment allowed the surveillance van that Casey was in to be as far as five miles away. He was already in place. Once in the car they did a radio check.
"Watcher, Bluebird up" Sarah said as she started the car and began to head to the restaurant.
"Sparrow up. How come I got Sparrow anyway?" Chuck complained
"Watcher, I'll explain it to Sparrow later. We've departed the bird house and are en route to the feeder."
They met up with Jones and his wife at the restaurant where they enjoyed a nice meal and pleasant conversation. Chuck listened intently to everything Jones had to say, hoping something would cause him to flash. They talked about everything from stocks to possible joint business ventures. Sarah was actually having fun talking to Jones wife. Dinner went longer than the two couples had planned so Jones said,
"Instead of cutting the evening short, would you like to come back to our place? I would really like to see if Chuck is as good at gaming as he says he is."
"Tony you are so on!" Chuck said excitedly, but then realized his mistake. "Well um, if it's ok with Sarah?"
Blair gives out a small chuckle, "You have him well trained I see. It took me forever to get Tony to ask if he could leave me alone to go play games."
"Men" Sarah said with a shrug. "Sure babe we can go. We can't stay too late; you have an early meeting tomorrow."
With the plans settled they departed and headed to the Jones house.
"Watcher did you copy last?"
"Roger, Bluebird, keep an eye on Sparrow or you may not get him to leave."
"Understood Watcher, Bluebird out"
"Guardians, Birds are leaving the feeder and heading to the wolf's den. Will advise when the birds are in the den, Watcher out."
Chuck and Tony were in the middle of a heated battle in the game and Sarah and Blair were discussing fashion tips. Blair figured since Sarah was a former model; why not pick up some tips?
"Damn Tony, this game is almost as bad as the party you had."
"You're not kidding there. I have no idea what my former partner was thinking. I fired him and he said he would get even and had the connections to get it done. I'm just glad I got out of there when I did. I heard it was a blood bath."
"Thankfully I passed out from drinking too much. I thought you said it was your business, you never said you had partners. When I research a business for possible opportunities I usually try to link up with companies that only have one owner. It gets me more money." This financial stuff must have been one of the extras they put in.
"I wasn't until about six months ago. I caught my ex-partner sending money to some charity, I think it was called CFCB."
Chuck flashed on the initials. "I never heard of them, but when I saw the amounts he was depositing I flipped. He had receipts and all but it was way too much to claim. So I severed ties with him. They haven't seen a dime from me since."
The two wives were wondering how they could play the game and discuss business at the same time. They decided it must be a man thing.
"That must have been a shock. I don't want to pry but what's your ex partners name? You know I'm trying to expand my business interests out here and I would hate to get screwed like you did."
"Brian Wells, a friend of mine from Michigan State." Chuck flashed on the name. "When he bought in to the business he asked not to be put on the official papers. It had something to do with a conflict of interest."
"Conflict of interest, that doesn't make any sense." Chuck gave Tony a confused look, hoping to draw him deeper into the web he was weaving.
"Have you ever dealt with the government before?"
Chuck gave him a little head shake.
"We were planning on bidding on some building contracts with them. Brian claimed that since he used to work for them and still had friends there it would look like we were given information on the other bids. Since it wouldn't affect my business I just left it off. Shit, I just got wasted."
Chuck gave Sarah the signal that he had some information. Sarah caught it and began to stretch and yawn.
"Chuck I'm tired, are you about ready to leave?"
"Let me help Tony put the games up and we can head out."
On the way out the couples decided they would get together the next time Chuck and Sarah were in town.
"Watcher, Birds heading to nest ETA twenty minutes. Sparrow has caught the worm and will feed Mother Hen at nest, Bluebird out."
"Roger Bluebird, will relay ETA. See you at the Nest."
Thirty minutes later the intersect team with along with Gabriel and Sirella were sitting around the conference room table waiting to contact the General. The twenty foot screen flickered and came to life. The image that appeared on the screen set off several different reactions. Two broke out in hysterical laughter, one grunted in disgust, and two of utter disbelief. Displayed before them on the mammoth HD screen was a buck naked General Beckman and her equally naked fiancée Jennifer who was happily feeding the General grapes via her lips. To Chuck, Casey and Sarah, who were frozen place by the scene before them, it seemed like hours before they saw Jennifer start to move. Chuck would later say it was like watching a train wreck happen, you know you should turn away but you can't.
Jennifer was now pointing at the screen when she calmly said, "Diane, you left your fucking computer on again."
This snapped the General out of her reverie. She had been nibbling on her lovers' neck just seconds before. She froze when she saw most of her team members looking back at her. Thoroughly flustered, she did the first thing that came to her mind. She ran to the computer and started hitting the keys to shut it down, which of course, gave her team an even better view of her nakedness. Jennifer, who seemed incredibly calm during the entire episode walked over to the computer and nudged her lover out of view.
"Can you please call back in about ten minutes? Apparently neither of us knows how to shut this thing down. Thanks." Then just as calmly, she turned and walked to the bed and got in. Thankfully for the team the General did not make another appearance. Gabriel finally cut the video feed and turned to his team mates.
"Well that was interesting don't yah think?" turning to his wife he began laughing again "That has to be the funniest thing I have ever seen."
"No way in hell. Remember when we went to the lunch room with the Boss and her wife, and we caught Kath and Roe in the act on the table, Kath rolled off so fast that Roe's hand got caught on the table and she broke three of her fingers? Now that was funny!"
"Oh yeah I forgot about that." He continues laughing only harder "I got another one for you, when Harry and Tom were in.." he was abruptly cut off by Casey who along with Sarah had gotten back their control while Chuck was still working on getting his back.
"STOP IT for the love of all that is Holy stop!"
"Would that be Smith and Wesson or H and K?" quipped Chuck. Casey's yell must have got me back.
"Guys we only have a few minutes before we call Beckman back," Sarah interjected.
"I hope she has clothes on this time. Once certainly was enough for me" Chuck mumbled under his breath, but not low enough. Ok that's two couples I've seen naked and not ones I wanted to either.
Just then a memory popped into chucks head, "I've met Jennifer before! When I was looking for Sarah's engagement ring Bill took me to a place called Jen's House of Jewelry. She is the owner of the shop. She sold me your ring! That's what she meant when she said, 'I wish mine would realize that.' She said it right after I told her how special you were."
"It better be enough. What took you so long to look away, Huh?" huffed his wife. I really didn't need to see them either.
"Me, what about you? You were frozen as well!" argued Chuck ok its official she's nuts.
"It doesn't matter if I look," he's too easy
"Why?" huh
"Because I'm a woman that's why."
"And that makes it Ok?" I'm not going to win this.
"Yep"
"Alright you win."
"I always do"
"Yeah you do. The Generals fiancée is pretty good looking don't you think?" Shit just when it was almost safe
"You were checking her out too?" I have to admit the General did land a hottie.
"Chuck stop before you get in any deeper" Sirella tosses out.
"Sarah you know I only have eyes for you."
"Nice save Babe."
"Ok team I got the General back." Gabriel calls out getting everyone's attention back where it should be.
This time the General is sitting at the computer in casual clothing. "Before we start I like to ask if Jennifer can be involved from now on. It will make late night briefings like this easier."
"It's your show General. I'm Ok with it as long as the discussion we had earlier today stays between us. Explain to Jennifer the ramifications of loose lips." Gabriel said.
"Jen honey, come on in" Jen walked in, dressed similar to the General and sat next to her. "These people are the members of the special team I was put in charge of. On the far right is Agent Casey NSA, to his right is Agent Bartowski CIA, to his right is his wife Agent Bartowski CIA, to her right is Sirella and to her right is her husband Gabriel. Team this is my fiancée Jen."
Jen gave a little wave.
"We gathered a lot of good information tonight. Jones has an ex-partner Brian Wells who is now Fulcrum. He was the one sending the money to a charity called CFCB it's a legitimate charity but many of its clients have less than desirable intentions. Jones said all the deposits were done electronically, so we have all their transactions traced. Sarah and I don't believe Jones is involved. We need to check his records. He claims he fired Brian six months ago. If the deposits stopped around then it will tell us if he is telling the truth. We have a recording of the mission that we will pass along."
"Good work Chuck and Sarah. It seems we have good start so far and with the information gathered tonight our analysts show be busy for a while."
"Ma'am I would like to point out that Chuck did a great job tonight getting the information from Jones," Reported Casey.
"I will make a note of it in his file. Anything else?"
"One last thing, Sirella and I were talking and we need to ask you one very important question that came up this evening."
"Proceed"
"We need to get this straight; you took around twenty years to propose to the lovely creature next to you. But you have each other's' names tattooed your butts. That makes no sense to us"
Jen jumped in, "Tell me about it. It was a semimonthly battle for years. The tattoos where her idea in the first place, but did she ask me to marry her, nooo. I'm like what the hell, babe we pretty much branded each other, right. I'd never be able to get laid again with her name there right?"
"JENNIFER!" oh dear Lord.
"Hush Di, they've seen it all any way. Where was I? Oh yeah. So after I say yes I ask her to go pick out wedding rings. You know what she says? No you don't so I'll tell you. She says no rings. Using some lame ass excuse about being found out. I'm like Huh? We go everywhere together, all the balls and dining ins. After twenty years of seeing us together, her people are either smart enough not to care or too stupid to live. Don't ask don't tell and all that. So instead of rings we are getting …"
"JENNIFER no more please, I have to work with these people. Dear God Hon give me a break please," the General begged.
"Since you asked nicely and said please ill drop it, for now. Gabriel, call back around five. She doesn't get home till six." Seeing her lover get flustered she beat a hasty retreat. "Oops gotta run, bye, nice meeting you all. I knew she would like the ring Chuck!"
"Beckman out," and the connection closed.
"Well that was fun, NOT!" Chuck finally managed to get out. We have to find a way to fix what happened. I can't take that again. The super spy or whatever he is just chats away like it's nothing. Like it's every day you see your Boss naked and ready to have sex.
Casey was another story; this is so not happening to me. The general is a lesbian, tattooed, and now getting ... Oh and I can't forget the big one, I almost saw her having sex. Naked was bad enough but kissing too? Karma is a bitch sometimes. Then there's then there's Gabriel, I figured I got an ally, a kindred spirit in a war hero. Sadly no, he was worse than Chuck. Really, who discusses their superior's sex life?
Sarah was still trying to wrap her head around what happened, that conniving BITCH! Relationships are bad, who is she kidding. Is she loud and proud? No, does she ever leave Jen home, nope. I'll give her credit though; her girl is good looking, who would have thought? And she's really funny, 'we got branded and I'd never get laid again'. If I wasn't in shock I would have laughed my ass off. Then Gabriel for lack of a better term calls the General an idiot for waiting to propose. He talks about killing like its nothing, then talks about all the people he has caught having sex. Dude's nuts.
"Casey, when you get the financial information, let my team know. You guys did well tonight and should go home and get some rest. If the General has anything for you I'll pass it on. Sirella and I will be gone for a few days setting up the new facility near your new home. My team has completed most of the work but we need to put the finishing touches on it. Enjoy the rest of your night." Gabriel concluded as he escorted the team to their vehicles.
The following morning Sarah and Casey started Chuck's training. They decided to divide his training into three parts. Devon would be the cardio and physical portion. Devon put together a plan that would start Chuck off slowly and gradually escalate to the level that would be good for him. Sarah would take care of the martial arts and knife throwing part of his training. Casey would handle the small arms and weapons qualifications. Chuck would spend part of each day working with his instructors and working on the daily reports. Then he would look over the reports the General would send him. After his first full day of training, Chuck begged Sarah to shoot him because the pain of the gun shot would only be in one place, and not all over like his present state. Sarah just laughed and dragged him into the bedroom to massage away his pain. Of course one thing led to another and they never left the room again except to refuel as Chuck called it.
As more days passed, Chuck began to hurt less after each work out. He had improved slightly better than Devon had expected. The same held true for the training he was getting from his two partners. During this time Morgan was trying to get together with Chuck to play COD before he left, and was tired of being pushed to the sidelines. Morgan figured he was Chuck's friend longer than Sarah was his wife so she owed him some gaming time. He began planning an assault on Chuck's room that would insure he got time with Chuck.
Gabriel finally called to let them know he was back in town and that everything was ready to go; and they were allowed to postpone the move until after Thanksgiving. He had convinced the General to change the move date till the 4th of December so Chuck and Sarah could spend the holiday with his sister. To the team's relief he had paid a visit to the General and corrected the minor issue with the computer in her house. He wanted Casey to plan his move on the 1st of December to set up the arms room in a way that was best for the team, and to check the indoor range. The movers would arrive on the 3rd to pick up their things. Another truck would be waiting at the airport to get the Porsche when they left for good.
Two days before Thanksgiving, Sarah's phone rang, waking her up. She disengaged herself from Chuck and grabbed her phone, "Bartowski, Secure"
"I just got some information on Wells and the Charity you supplied me. Be at the nest at nine so we can go over it, Beckman out."
"She gets grumpier every time we talk to her." Groaned Chuck in a sleep laden voice.
"I think she is still unsettled by us after we saw her naked and almost having sex."
"Excuse me while I hurl. Really Sarah did you have to bring that up again?"
"We need to get ready and Head out," was all Sarah said in response.
At nine they were all seated in the nest when the General came on. She explained the expanse of the finical network that had been uncovered, and plans were made to slowly start freezing the assets of those involved. The next item on the agenda was a quick mission that Chuck and Sarah would need to do that morning.
"Agents Bartowski, when we ran Wells' name through our records we came up with the same information Chuck gave us. We combined the first and last names of all his known aliases and came up with a hit on Terry Brooke. He owns a small book store down town. I dispatched a team to do recon and they confirmed it is Wells. You need to get into his computer and upload a virus that will send us all the information plus allow us monitor his traffic. The store is closed for the week and the security system is simple. Gabriel has loaded the virus on a flash drive for you. Are there any questions?"
"No Ma'am I'm good" Replied Casey.
"Sounds simple enough, we should be done by noon, so should we brief here at one?" asked Chuck.
"I have a meeting at one so we will schedule for two instead. If that's all, Beckman out."
"Ok Chuck let's get the drive and do this. Casey you follow in the van for backup," Sarah said.
On the ride over, Chuck's phone rang and Morgan's face appeared on the screen. "Hey bud what's up?"
"I am on the way to your place so I can kick your ass at Halo."
"Not today we're not home right now and won't be 'til about three." Chuck glanced over at Sarah for approval both knowing what was coming next. She gave him a slight nod of her head. "Can you make it then?"
"Sure Chuck, but we need to have a serious talk. Sarah is taking up all your time and you'll be leaving soon and I want my time now!" Morgan's voice had grown louder the longer he spoke.
"Fine see you then." And he hung up.
The mission went off without a hitch and they were on their way back by eleven. Both their phones went off at once displaying 'Security breech: Bird House' Sarah changed directions and headed home. Thankfully they were just minutes away.
Morgan finished his call to and continued on to Chuck's. His plan was simple, use the Morgan door to get in then start playing Halo. With Devon and Ellie at work he would have no problem. He was betting that Chuck wouldn't change his mind if he was already playing when they got back. His plan had gone flawless so far and he was already in Chuck's room. As he made his way across it to the gaming area he noticed a laptop sitting on the desk. Nice wonder where he got this. We don't anything like this at Buy More. Sleek and lightweight. Let's see what this puppy can do. It's fast too. Password protected, I should be able to get in. nope that's not it. He continued trying to get in. what Morgan didn't know was the laptop had sent an alert to the nest and all the agents phones as soon as he powered it up. The power button had finger print recognition software attached and if the print did not match one on the list of authorized users it sent out the alarm and its' location.
Gabriel was on his way to the store when his phone alerted him to the breech at the Bird House, and he was minutes away, he changed course and headed there as fast as he could breaking all the traffic laws currently in effect. His plan was equally simple, use the Morgan door, disable the unauthorized user find out what they found, if anything and kill them, simple.
Several things happened at the same time, Chuck and Sarah entered from the front and Gabriel through the window, Morgan looked up to check the time and saw a strange man by the window. As Sarah and Chuck were getting near the door a single gunshot was heard. Gabriel raised his weapon and put one round in Morgan's shoulder joint shattering it. Morgan felt a horrific pain then his world went black. Sarah and Chuck burst in with their guns drawn and the intersect feeding Chucks brain all relevant information. Chance of firing first...low … less than acceptable, chance of death…high … not acceptable, chance of Sarah dying to protect him...high … not acceptable. Target lessening threat level good if not provoked…good…acceptable
Their attention went straight towards Gabriel who started to lower his weapon. Gabriel spoken a voice that reminded them of the first day they met. Gone is the voice tinted with humor they had heard so much of the last couple of days; replaced with the chilling monotone of a stone cold killer, "I have secured the room and disabled the intruder. Medical and back up are en route, I need to work on the perp until they arrive."
".MORGAN!" screamed Chuck as he cradled his injured friend.
"No Chuck I disabled the unauthorized person trying to hack into your team's laptop" hissed Gabriel as he made his way to Morgan to start working on him. He tore open the shirt covering the wound and poured a gray powdery substance into the wound. The bleeding stated to slow almost immediately. Sarah, though shocked and very pissed, was still able to understand what happened. Gabriel was a trained spy like herself, and though she hates to admit it, he's much better than she is. He was notified of the breech and took out the threat. There were no emotions involved, just the need to keep the computer safe and in his view he did. She can see it his eyes, they are black as coal with no hint of remorse.
"Chuck, Morgan will be fine," Sarah soothed him. "I've seen wounds far worse than this and the person lived. Give Gabriel a chance to help him till the medical team arrives"
Chuck, shaken to the core over what happened, was sobbing silently while mumbling "Why, damn it why? He's my friend damn it. You didn't need to shoot him. You could have just told him to stop; you didn't have to shoot him!"
"Chuck, if you want me to help Morgan, shut up. We will discuss what happened and why at the nest. Sarah, go meet the team in the living area." As soon as Gabriel finished speaking, voices could be heard in the main living area.
A short time later, Sarah returned with a group of four consisting of the Doctor, Sirella, a blonde that looked familiar and a tall red head she hadn't seen before.
The Doctor went over to where Chuck and Gabriel were and began to evaluate the extent of Morgan's injury. Morgan, by this time was starting to regain consciousness and the pain in his shoulder reminded him he was shot. The Doctor noticed the pain flash across his patient's face gave him a shot to dull the pain. "You are very lucky to be alive young man" stated the Doctor as he started an IV, all the while mumbling about antiquated medical practices. This earned him a slap on the back of the head from Sirella and a glare from the red head. "Well it's true!" Finished the Doc.
"What do you mean lucky?" Morgan questions as the drugs start to dull both his pain and his senses "I shouldn't have even been shot and who are you people?"
"I have been with him" pointing at Gabriel "for a long time and you are the first one I had to work on. All the others are dead. He never leaves survivors." Explained the Doctor, "He's ready to go, let's get him back to the medical wing so I can fix him up."
Sirella jumped into the conversation "Doc and Sarah you help Morgan out to the van, Megan and Sam do the cleanup, and Gabriel you're with me. Let's go people, we need this place clean and empty when the Doc's get back." She exited the room dragging Gabriel behind her.
A short while later found the entire team in the briefing room passing on the mission details and the shooting of Morgan to General Beckman. While the General was ecstatic over the successful mission and the data that was starting to come in, she was a little less than pleased over the shooting. "Would you mind explaining what caused you to shoot Mr. Grimes?"
"General, during our previous discussions I informed you what would happen if an unauthorized person were to gain access to any of our equipment. I received the breach warning and the location, the same as the rest of the team. I was close so I responded. I know Chuck keeps the computer in his room so I went in through the window hoping to surprise the person causing the breach. Upon entering the room I saw an unknown male attempting to gain access to the laptop. I raised my weapon and prepared to take the kill shot. At the last second I noticed the man was Morgan and knew he should have the right to explain why he was trying to hack into Chuck's laptop. I altered my shot and disabled Morgan. I explained to everyone that is present here that I don't make idle threats; I guess they believe me now. You already know the rest General."
"I agree with your assessment of the situation but I would caution you on the use of excessive force. If at all possible try not to or kill innocent people" cautioned the General, "you are slowly teaching me that."
"Agreed General, but there is something I need to make perfectly clear," Gabriel continued with a voice as cold as ice, giving each person at the table an icy glare "your team has in its possession things that nobody else on this planet has. I cannot and will not let anyone get their hands on it. If someone has unauthorized possession of any of it, I will always take the approach to shoot first and ask questions later. The same goes for my team. I hope we agree on this point."
"Team I hope we have an agreement on this." Seeing the nods around the table the General ended the briefing.
Chuck, who was still seething mad even after the explanation given to the General, turned on Gabriel and launched his verbal attack. "What give you the right to shoot my friends? They're harmless for goodness sake! Morgan couldn't find his way out of a paper bag that's open on three sides; let alone get into a secure computer!"
"Can I handle this one Babe?" Sirella asked as she rose out of her chair and moved to stand behind her husband, resting her hands lightly on his shoulders.
"It may be for the best, I am still trying to calm down after tonight. I will be in the gym if you need me" and he departed.
"I'll explain that in a minute but first, one of our teams could really use some help that only you can give us. We have been keeping tabs on a medium level target for a while without his knowledge. He has a very important position in the IRS. The mark spends a lot of time in sports chat rooms and playing poker online. We made contact with him in one of the Mets chat rooms. The problem is our mark has as much common sense as a bag of burning hair. He prattles on endlessly about his friend's girlfriend. Hell everyone online knows what she looks like and how great she is. I could point them out the minute they walked into the room. Pretty soon we have a small steady group that meet on a regular basis. We did a check on the IP addresses of the regulars and started gathering information on them. Turns out most of them work for the Government in one way or another." Sirella took a short break to look at the team, two of the three looked like they were starting to figure it out.
"Soon these people start accidentally meeting up with him, not very often mind you, but enough. That brings us to today. We need to know if the people he is meeting can be trusted. Since you have the Fulcrum data in your head we need you to check out these names." She passed a stack of photos to Chuck, who flashed on several of them. "What is your assessment?" She asked when she saw he had finished flashing.
Chuck took a minute to formulate a plan before answering. "Several of them are Fulcrum but not very high up the chain. Most have backgrounds in computer programming and cryptology. One is a freelance hacker that has done time for hacking into Microsoft and planting a virus. I would bring him in and see if the agents have requested any favors from him. They may want him to help hack into the IRS system, or one from another part of the Government."
Sirella then passed another stack of pictures to Chuck, and then watched as the color drained from his face. Sarah and Casey both noticed the change in Chucks face and demeanor and glanced at the new pictures. Their fears were confirmed, Morgan had been making contact with the Fulcrum agents.
"Morgan's not Fulcrum, he can't be," Chuck said in a voice so soft he could barely be heard. Sarah reached over and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.
"We don't believe he is, but we have no way of knowing until we talk to him."
"Why were you following him anyway? He doesn't know a thing. He thinks I am a Nerd Herder with a hot wife."
Sarah gave him a small smile for the compliment.
"From the first day you downloaded the intersect we put our people in place. We have at least one person close to the people you care about. We like to call it nonintrusive surveillance. We never listen to them or worry about what goes on in their homes. We just observe from the outside. We did have to put two people in the hospital though. It was done for Ellie and Devon's protection nothing else. If someone held a knife to Ellie's throat you'd roll over in a heartbeat." Sirella told him.
Casey just grunted knowing it was true.
This aggravated Chuck a bit and he voiced it "Sarah and Casey are doing very good at keeping me safe, thank you very much. The rest don't know anything."
"Chuck do the math!" Sirella said, starting to get mad. "You have got to be the dumbest smart man I have ever met. They don't have to know anything. Fulcrum knows who Sarah and Casey are because of the agents that have defected to them over the years. They are trained spies as well, just not as good as these two. They eventually put two and two together and got four! Why would the CIA and NSA have two of their better agents stationed in one place so long? And why were you always with one of them? If that's not a dead giveaway that you are an important asset then I don't know what is. What we can't figure out is who the mental idiot is who thought it would be ok for everyone you know to walk around without someone looking out for them. So far there have been over twenty attempts made against Ellie and Devon. We have stopped them all. Fulcrum doesn't care who they hurt or kill as long as they get you. Everyone else is just a pawn in their game."
This statement took not only Chuck by surprise but his partners as well. Sirella was right, they had put countless resources into protecting Chuck but very few were intended to protect his family. The apartment had motion sensors, video and audio feeds inside and out. The truth was that there was nothing in place to protect either Ellie or Devon when they were at work or outside the apartment.
The mostly one sided conversation continued on for several more hours until all questions were answered and the teams fears put to rest. The Doc came by and gave them an update on Morgan, informing them that Morgan would be fine and was being taken to a regular hospital. The cover story would be a home invasion that went bad.