FATE
Prologue
A/N: This isn't Beta'd so all mistakes are my own. If there is sufficient interest I'm post some more but for now it's a stand alone. There's more written but I may just keep the rest to myself. ;)
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The note on the pillow left next to Chuck had very few words on it.
CB,
We'll always have Los Angeles.
SW
It was all the note said and it was the last he expected to ever hear from her.
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Chuck hadn't expected the new development. The co-creators of the new intersect had put in an expiration date. Exactly a year after the upload the information in Chuck's head scrambled and auto deleted itself. It was a safeguard that was introduced so that that situation with first intersect and Chuck couldn't repeat itself. The NSA didn't trust anyone anymore. Even Bryce Larkin who the intersect had been designed for would have been allowed to reset were his intentions become at all questionable. Since the new Intersect update was meant for use with a fully prepared and trained agent the decision was made to not update Chuck. Chuck figured it was completely Sarah and Casey doing that he didn't end up in a bunker or worse afterwards. There had been some talk about it when he had suddenly stopped flashing. Beckman had initially accused him of not cooperating and had ordered tests.
Chuck was thankful that there wasn't an official goodbye. It made it just a bit easier to move on with his life. The sizable check the government sent him a week later did as much to ease the initial pain. He hadn't expected the check. Chuck decided to use a big portion of it to travel. Just because he and Sarah would always have L.A. didn't mean he was going to stay there. If Sarah Walker wanted to find him she would. It wouldn't matter where he was. Chuck Bartowski had learned from his past relationships. It wasn't healthy or any fun to wallow in indecision and play the "if" game. Maybe it was the last three years of life experiences that had robbed Chuck of that part of him, the part that held on to things and people with unparalleled dedication. It was much less painful to let those people and things not proven to him to move in and out of his life without too much ado.
The following four years were both therapeutic and exciting for Chuck. He trekked through twenty-seven countries on every continent on the globe. He laughed to himself thinking, Now, space really IS the final frontier.
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0004.4 A.S.L. (After Sarah Left)
California
Chuck had to be honest with himself. He was happy to be back in L.A. even though he wasn't going to stay. It had been over a year since he'd seen Ellie and he needed familiar faces and places to anchor himself to before setting back out on his next trek.
"Good morning Ellie." Chuck spoke into the phone. "I just wanted to make sure you were at home before popping in. We both know what happened last time I showed up unannounced."
"Chuck! Oh my god, your in L.A.!" Ellie screamed happily into the phone, "Chuck, you should know by now that this is your home too, when you do decide to grace us with your presence that is. Come inside before I send out Awesome Junior to drag you in."
Chuck smile sheepishly to himself as he walked in the door. Memories of his last visit caused a momentary shudder to corse through his body. In true Awesome fashion his sister and Devon had been re-consummating there relationship on the entry floor. Eww.
"Uncle!" was the only warning Chuck received before being pummeled nearly flat on the floor by a very awesome five year old.
"Hey, Stevey. How's my favorite nephew?"
The youngster hopped off his gangly uncle and looked at Chuck quizzically, "There are others?" Steven asked.
Chuck laughed as he got back to his feet, "No, dude, you are the only one that I know of. But, that still makes you my favorite."
"Oh yeah, duh. Hey, you wanna play some football?"
"Heck ya, little dude. Just give me a few minutes to talk to your mom, huh?"
"Ok, Uncle Chuckles, but hurry, I'm bored. Mom kicked me out of the kitchen."
"Alright, little man, go warm up. I'll be out in a flash." Awesome Junior, aka Steven, sprinted out of the front hallway.
Chuck moved further into the house to locate his sister. Not surprisingly, he found her in the kitchen, busy making something that smelled, well, amazing.
Four years had done little to mitigate "The Ellie Enthusiasm Factor" and when she heard Chuck's voice asking her what smelled so good she practically jumped across the kitchen over to her brother, crushing him in a sisterly embrace.
"It's…good to…see you…too, mom." Chuck gasped. When Ellie released him Chuck continued, "Captain Awesome is still referring to me as Chuckles, huh?
I think you'll always be 'Chuckles" to Devon, little brother." Ellie paused, "So, when are you going to stop your silly 'trekking' and be a proper uncle?"
Chuck eyes misted a bit before he responded, "I'm sorry, Ellie, you know I've tried to stop dozens of times but I don't think I'll ever be able to until I'm whole again. I feel awful sometimes for not being here for you and Devon and Steven. Each time I try to I just get too restless to stay and I have to keep moving." Chuck paused, "Geez, listen to me, I've been here two minutes and I'm already being depressing. Besides, everyone knows I only come back for the food." Chuck smiled his biggest smile to his sister as he finished, letting her know, in no uncertain terms, that his last statement was a joke.
Ellie looked to be on the verge of tears as Chuck finished, "Oh Chuck, have you even heard from Sarah? You know, I'm still mad at you for that. I can't believe you just let her leave like she did. I could have beaten you senseless for not running after her. It breaks my heart that you and Sarah didn't work out. I really think you and her were meant to be."
"Ellie, please don't, I know I should have gone after her, but she asked me not to, I loved, no, I love her too much to go against her wishes. It's been half a decade and I'm STILL forced to lie to my sister. "We may have been meant to be, but fate isn't always a denizen of playing by the rules."
"Oh Chuck, well, at least your not in a rut like you were with Jill. I'm still proud of you for moving on, even if you haven't been able to find someone else. Now, go play with your nephew, he misses his uncle."
"I love you Ellie, you are all in my thoughts even when I'm on some peak in China. Now, no more depressing Chuck, just happy to be home Chuck from here on out."
Hugging his sister for a moment, Chuck let go moving out of the kitchen and into the back yard, getting beaned in the head by a nearly perfectly thrown football as he stepped out the door.
"Awesome." Chuck muttered, shaking his head.
"Sorry, Uncle Chuck, I thought you were looking."
"No worries, mate." Chuck said imitating, poorly, an Australian accent. He had tried over a year ago to pick up on the accent during his time in the outback. Sadly, it seemed accents were not something Chuck was going to master.
An hour later Chuck and Steven moved back inside at the beckoning of Ellie. They tumbled into the kitchen still apparently struggling to maintain control of the football.
"OK, boys, that's enough. Go wash up, your both filthy. Steven, your father will be home soon, so get ready for dinner."
"You'd think after hiking around the world I'd finally be able to keep up with at least the smaller of the two awesome's. I guess somethings aren't meant to be."
"Thanks for keeping him occupied, Chuck. He really is a wild child. Devon will be home in about fifteen minutes so please relax a bit. We'll catch up after dinner."
"Glad to do it big sister. It's good to be back." Chuck moved to the family room and sank into the couch, visibly exhausted from his latest bonding session with his nephew. I wish I could stay...
Chuck pulled out the device that was now buzzing away in his pocket. A few months into his first trek Chuck had been ecstatic. Apple had come out with the new, much anticipated, iSat. Everything an iPhone was with connectivity everywhere. Now Chuck could talk and communicate with his family from, literally, anywhere in the world. Hardly a day went by that Chuck wasn't sending a note, picture or email to one of his loved ones. Of course, Chuck would always send a picture or thirty to his "wish you were here" account back in the states. If Sarah ever decided to find him he could show her how he'd spent their time a part. It was a great compromise for not being home. It had nearly sated Ellie and her constant requests for updates on his whereabouts. All she had to do was log into her computer and she could see where he was anywhere in the world to within a few feet.
Ok, well there was a certain method to his madness. He never went 'all out'. If there was a defining moment or spectacular vision to see, he didn't go. While there was every opportunity to see and experience the wonders of the world, Chuck didn't. Those moments, places views and memories he was saving to experience with Sarah. Chuck knew in his heart that if they she wasn't there to make those memories than they were memories he would gladly do without.
When Chuck finally fished his iSat out of his pocket he saw that he'd received a text message.
" \ / \ / 1 5 # j 0 0 \ / \ / | _ | 2 # 3 r 3 " What the hell...stupid spam messages...
Chuck used the spam blocker to block yet another garbled message. He was going to have to get in touch with customer service and find out how someone got his number. It was, after all, unlisted. Chuck fooled around on the iSat or a moment before returning it to his pocket.
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A/N: Five 'awesome points' to the first person to PM me the real meaning of the "spam" that Chuck got on his iSat.