Don't own Chuck
Sarah ran home after talking with Chuck to check on Sam even though there was no need. Kat had volunteered to watch Sam while Sarah was at work and when Alex was unavailable. Since Alex was moving towards becoming a full-fledged agent it wasn't fair to her to keep her tied down with a cover job that was a real full time position. Chuck thought Kat had volunteered so she'd be next door to Casey something both adamantly denied it. "The lady doth protest too much," said Chuck quoting Roan and Shakespeare on more than one occasion. This was what Sarah was thinking smiling to herself as she walked through the courtyard at Echo Park to her front door.
"Mamma," yelled Sam as she assaulted her as soon as she walked through the door. Sarah bent down and Sam wrapped her arms around her neck in a hug.
"I'm sorry Kat I should've called to tell you I was dropping by but I need to get some measurements. I've got to go shopping. Would you like to come with me? We could bring Sam along with us and I could use your advice."
"Sure we were just coloring we can do that when we get back. Just I need to be back by lunchtime John's supposed to drop by with sandwiches from Lou's. He goes on about how good her pastrami is all the time. I'm glad Lou isn't older or I'd be jealous."
"Believe me I know what you mean," said Sarah without going into explanations. It was better if she put certain thoughts out of her head.
Kat watched Sarah as she sat Sam down then she took out a tape measure from her purse and began measuring her oven size. It was everything Kat could do not laugh.
"Sarah what are you doing? Does it have something to do with the invitation we got for Thanksgiving?" asked Kathleen. "Sweetie do you need help? "
"No I've got this," said Sarah but as she sat on her kitchen floor she realized she didn't. "Well maybe I do. I really don't know where to start from."
"First of all you need to relax. Second come on let's get Sam changed then let's go down to the grocery store together and see what we can find," said Kat as she helped Sarah up then they took Sam to her room and changed her.
"I appreciate this you don't know what I've got to live up to. Chuck's sister has been preparing Thanksgiving dinner for the Bartowski family since she was fourteen and she lays out a feast every year."
"Since she was fourteen? Well I guess I started learning how to cook from my mother when I was twelve and Alex started helping me out about the same time." But Kat knew that wasn't what Sarah meant. "I'm sorry I'm not helping."
"I spent most of my childhood living out of hotel rooms so there wasn't a kitchen for me to learn how to cook in." She left out that she didn't have a mother to teach her as that was a little too personal as well as painful.
"Okay we've got our traveling clothes on," said Kat. "I think we're ready to make a break for it."
"Not so fast we're missing one thing," said Sarah as she handed Sam Mr. Rabbit. Sam grabbed hold of him putting him under her arm then with the other reached out to be held. Sarah picked her up and as she did Sam gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Not in her wildest dreams, living out of one hotel room after another first with her father and then with the company did she ever think she'd end up here. There was one man responsible for all this and she loved him. She had Chuck to thank for all this.
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Ellie followed the General down out back into the lobby then rode the elevator down to morgue. As they descended Ellie looked over the charts the General had given her so she would know what to look for during the autopsy. Typically mortuaries in hospitals are located in the basement with cargo access in the back to facilitate transportation and so the living won't be troubled. However, today the silence was disturbed by a black transport vehicle and men in black who off loaded from it.
"Do you have any questions before you begin," asked the General reading the perplexed look Ellie had as she read the test results.
"I'm going to have everything redone. I want all the labs done here by us," said Ellie as she put on an apron and face mask. "Here make yourself useful," said Ellie to one of the men in black. "Help me double glove. Are you going to come in with me?"
"Of course," said the General. Ellie handed her a face shield then they walked inside the autopsy room. Lying on two tables were two body bags. Ellie took a deep breath as she opened the first one but what she saw she was not prepared for. She had to force herself to switch to clinical mode to do what she had to do. She examined the first body reopening the 'Y' section looking over the internal organs then she did the same with the second. After she was done she drew tissue and body fluids for further testing.
"Okay I'm done," said Ellie as she walked out with the samples. "These need to go to the lab. Wait one moment please" said Ellie as she fought back tears and supported herself against the counter top.
"I understand Dr. Woodcomb, take your time," said the General as she stood close to her in case she needed her help.
"Your two bodies in there," said Ellie as she sniffled. "Unless the labs come back with something that your other experts missed, died of natural causes. One seemed to die from some sort of respiratory complication and the other from heart disease but both seemed to stem from some sort of strange mutation. I noticed in the work you had done previously, there were strange markers on the fourth chromosome which I think needs further analysis."
"Could it be used to tell which one is the original?" said the General. It suddenly hit Ellie like a lightning bolt the ramifications of her work and what the General really wanted from her.
"I guess it could but if the original had the same defect. It would be the source and continually replicated from there."
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Chuck sat in Castle thinking over what a huge fiasco this Turkey day dinner had become and ways he could make Sarah feel better. When suddenly he got an idea and began looking on the internet for Thanksgiving dinner takeaways. Where could he get the whole dinner cooked and delivered? He found a few options that weren't that bad as long as you weren't a turkey but before he did anything that he could be prosecuted for or held accountable he decided he needed to talk to Sarah first. As he was finishing up the monitor came on telling him he had an incoming video call from Ellie.
"Speak of the devil," said Chuck as Ellie came on the screen. "Hey Sis how is everything in the windy city? How's my niece and Captain Awesome?"
"Everyone's fine. How's Sarah and Sam? I hope everyone is okay?" said Ellie. Idiot, she wanted to tell herself, of course they would be. Now she was babbling.
"Everyone's okay. Sarah's looking forward to you guys coming. She's out now starting to get things together for Thanksgiving. El I have a big favor and if you can ask Awesome and Clara to agree. Sarah's worried her cooking won't be up to speed especially against yours."
"Oh she doesn't have anything to worry about. That was part of why I wanted to call. I would've call earlier but I got caught up in work," said Ellie as she looked past the monitor to General Beckman. Diane was giving her an evil look.
"Just goes to prove great minds think alike. I'm sure she'd appreciate the pep talk and any helpful hints you can offer up like how big a turkey will we need?"
"I'll send you a website that's got a turkey calculator but my estimate with the way Morgan eats is about twenty pounds. If it makes her feel better remind her that I almost committed an unpardonable sin by forgetting to put marshmallows on the sweet potatoes for Morgan."
"Yeah I remember but the truth was it was my fault because I forgot the marshmallows in the herder," said Chuck as he laughed. "I should remind Sarah that was when Morgan was dating Anna and Anna made that green bean casserole."
"Oh my God don't remind me about that. It gave me enough raw fiber for a week," said Ellie as the General crossed her arms and started tapping her feet.
"El I think you ought to have your tech check out you mic I'm picking a tapping sound. You might want to change it out before it goes out on you."
"I'll look into it, but …" Ellie started to speak but Chuck cut her off.
"At one point she was talking about having to buy a new oven to fit the turkey. She even went home to measure the oven to see how big a turkey would fit. If you were here you two could talk this out and I'm sure she'd feel better."
"A new oven is a little over the top, but about being there… well to make a long story short the reason I called is a conference just came up and I said what the heck why not go. I'll be flying in tomorrow and I hate to impose but with Emma and Molly staying in our old apartment I was wondering if you could put me up for a few days."
"That's great news! But you know they're in Montenegro with Jack. The place does need to be cleaned up though and I've been busy here. Keep this between us but I was going to have the agency clean it before you guys got in. I figured I could tell them that the place needed to be sanitized to remove trace DNA and they wouldn't ask why. What the General doesn't know won't hurt her," said Chuck as he laughed but Ellie was looking at Beckman and she wasn't.
"Oh I think she might have a different opinion but anyway I'll send you all my flight information. Maybe if Sarah picks me up we can talk and I can put her at ease. We'll have a girl talk."
"That sounds like a good idea send me the information and I'll talk with her when I get home. I know she'll appreciate any sisterly advice you can give her," said Chuck as they got ready to hang up. "Until tomorrow love you guys."
"Love you too," said Ellie as she hung up. "I hope you realize what a jerk you made me feel like having to lie to my brother. I hope this is worth it because Chuck may never forgive me when he finds out."
"It's for the greater good and I'm sure he'll understand once he finds out everything. I'm sorry Doctor but this is the way it has to be. I want you to observe everything until the labs come back and I have a chance to bring in an expert in biomedical engineering."
"I hope your expert is a good one and knows what he's doing because if that chromosome defect is in the original them it will be almost impossible to tell the original from the copy."
"Our expert knows the field quite well and I'm sure given the proper incentive can come up with something definitive." Ellie should've know something was up when Beckman avoided using the personal pronoun.
"I hope you're right because the last thing we need is a rabbit out of the hat trick."
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Morgan was working on invoices trying to make head from talls from the consignments when Skip and Fernando came walking into his office then they just stood there looking up at the ceiling. Morgan had adopted a new managerial technique that Big Mike had taught him. Bike Mike learned it at his twelve and a half week course he took at the El Guando School of Finance – 'Ignore the help and they will go away.' After a half hour they were still there and Morgan was about to lose his patience when Big Mike came running in.
"Out of my way fools. What are you doing here anyway? Don't you have work to do or something? And with the something I mean work or are trying to prove that we don't need you?"
"What's the problem Big Mike," said Morgan knowing good and well where the conversation was heading.
"I was out back finishing my Danielle Steele novel thinking about your mamma and let me tell you this book once you start it you don't want the lay it down.
"I'm sure," said Morgan, "Jesus Christ why my Mom in a Danielle Steele novel, no erase the thought."
"I guess it was written in the heavens because she sure had me howling at the moon. Let me tell you son, I mean boss no I mean son…."
"You wanted to say 'muy caliente' I know. Jesus what did I ever do?" said Morgan as he dropped his pen on his desk. "Okay what is it Big Guy?"
"You need to come with me and see for yourself, they're on a pallet out in the loading bay. I noticed them after the delivery truck left. I was on page fifty-three and I just had to reach the end of the chapter."
"Okay lead the way and you two come with us," said Morgan as he herded Skip and Fernando. He'd teach them to loaf around like he used to do. "Sounds to me like there's merchandise to put on the shelves."
"Oh man that's not why we're here," said Skip walking behind them through the store. "Tell him Fernando… Go ahead… You know about your idea."
"You two had an idea well that's surprising," said Big Mike, "half a brain plus half a brain equals a dimwit. So it took both of you to come up with it? But that's probably it until the next millennium."
"Well we were wondering since we don't have plans for Thanksgiving if…"
"If you wanted to camp out in the store, sounds like a good idea so you can keep an eye on all the new stock we're getting in for Black Friday."
"Son you make your old man proud," said Big Mike, "makes me want to well up."
"You were supposed to get us invited over. Now we're stuck here, way to go idiot," said Skip as he slapped Fernando in the back of the head.
"Ouch that hurt! I didn't hear any bass in your voice pencil neck eraser top," said Fernando as he shoved him back.
"Will you two cut it out," said Morgan as Chuck came walking by. "You look awfully chipper considering you were in the dog house this morning."
"That was this morning now I'm back in the house," said Chuck. "Oh Ellie will be staying with us for a few day starting tomorrow. Where are you guys headed anyway?"
"Come one Bartowski this is partly your fault," said Big Mike as Chuck gave them a perplexed look then shrugged his shoulders and fell in next to Morgan.
"So you told Sarah already right that Ellie's dropping in and she's cool with it," said Morgan as they went through the double swinging doors into the back.
"I'll tell her tonight when I go home but she'll be cool with it. Hey it's Ellie what problem can that be?" said Chuck looking over at Big Mike who was shaking his head.
"I hope you didn't strip your bed linens in the kennel because you're going to need them tonight. You're going to drop on your woman that her sister in law is going to come and visit at the last minute? And that she's going to stay with you? There are beds that need to be made, floors that need cleaning and walls that need scrubbing. Let's not even talk about the bathroom and take my word you'll hear the famous 'a woman notices these kinds of things' if you protest. Mark my word if I were you I'd camp out tonight in home theater."
"Big I appreciate the advice but Sarah's not that type of girl but you're right I need to go home and put things in order."
"Maybe she won't she's already got you trained."
"What are we looking at anyway?" said Morgan. He appreciated for once Big Mike wasn't talking about his mom.
"They're right here," said Big Mike as he put his hand on a stack of about a hundred dvds still on a pallet to be off loaded.
"Okay so? They do seem like a lot but we can put some of them out on the video rack then make a display with another group."
"Wait a minute Morgan. You want to make a display with these? What kind of display do you have in mind," said Chuck after he looked over one then he grabbed the invoice to check the order. "You can't put these in the store."
"I know they're a lot someone obviously screwed up the order but we'll get by."
"I'd watch my word choice," said Chuck handing him one of the dvds. "Skip did you order a hundred hard drives or A Hundred Drive Hards, Irene Demova's latest movie."
"Don't look at me it's not my fault I've got dyslexia," said Skip trying to come up with an excuse.
"Yeah and I caught it from him before any one blames me," said Fernando. "Just think Skip we've got a hundred movies to watch in home theater. I wonder if the plot is any good."
"Oh no, none of these are to be opened here in the store. They are to stay on the pallet under a sheet and the delivery truck is to come as soon as possible and remove said merchandise. If I find one dvd missing, unwrapped or soiled in anyway I'll drop kick you into tomorrow. Now let's get back to work."
Skip and Fernando left shoving each other heading back towards the main floor while Big Mike pocketed a dvd then started to leave.
"Big Mike what'd I just say?"
"Son let's just think of this as a training film," said Big Mike as he turned around and left humming a Joe Cocker tune.
"Chuck, go down to Castle get the largest gun Casey has and shoot me in the head… please. I must have some serious karma to atone for."
"I hear you little buddy I'm trying to unhear it too."
"Well Chuck no matter how bad it gets just remember you have that to go home to," said Morgan as Sarah walked through the swinging doors with Sam in her arms.
"Morgan oh…," said Sarah as she saw the dvd in his hand and read the title then she gave him a strange look.
"Oh this, no this isn't mine, it's Chuck's," said Morgan as he tossed it back to Chuck. Sarah gave them both a look.
"No it was a shipping error. We were supposed to get a hundred hard drives instead these. Morgan's having them shipped back."
"Good, I was going to ask if we added an adult section. I wanted to know if you needed a ride home. I took Kat home after we went shopping and I could us a hand with the bags."
"Sure you'll save me from grabbing a herder and I was about to go home away way," said Chuck as he took Sam. They walked back out front then out to the car. Chuck put Sam in her infant seat with Mr. Rabbit then got in. He noticed next to Sam the whole back was packed tight with groceries and as he was looking she caught his grin.
"Okay, you were right when I went shopping with Kathleen, she and I started talking about what Thanksgiving really means. The more we talked the more I understood that I had a lot to be thankful for starting with you so we came up with the menu. Do you think I over did it?" Chuck leaned over and kissed her then she started the car heading home.
"I just hope we have enough room in the fridge but I agree we both have a lot to be thankful for. For me it starts with you and Sam then our families and friends but mostly I'm thankful for every moment I'm with you." Sarah leaned over and kissed him at the first light then they went home.
Once they got there Chuck unloaded the car as Sarah took care of Sam getting her supper ready then tried to feed her. Tried to being the operative word because Sam was more interested in what Chuck was doing as he tried to accommodate everything in the fridge. So as Sarah tried to put a spoonful of food in her mouth Sam would bat it away trying to get it out of her way so she could see Chuck figure out the puzzle.
"Okay I see we have to wait until your father gets done," said Sarah as Chuck turned around to see what was going on.
"What? Oh I'm sorry but I think I did it. Everything is in except for this bottle of chardonnay. I'm afraid there's only one thing we can do with it. I'm sorry but we're going to have to drink it."
"Just look and see how that turned out. I guess we'll just have to sacrifice," said Sarah as she turned around and got two glasses out. Sam giggled then picked up her spoon and finished feeding herself. Chuck and Sarah toasted then stood watching Sam eat as they were watching Chuck received a text message.
"Oh crap I almost forgot to tell you. Ellie's dropping in tomorrow for a couple days and she asked if she could stay with us. I couldn't say no."
"Sure no problem," said Sarah. "She can either sleep on the sofa or we can put a guest bed in Sam's room for her."
"Are you sure?" said Chuck amazed after what Big Mike had told him, but that just confirmed to him that Sarah was an exceptional girl… and he was the luckiest man on earth.