Chuck vs FATE
Chapter 1
A/N: Thanks everyone for all your reviews. Kayla101blue win's the 5 awesome points. She gets a shout-out in Chapter 2!
To avoid confusion, keep in mind this story will skip around a bit in time. I will be clearly marking these with dates. Since those too might lead to confusion here's a little info:
0004.4 A.S.L. means:
(0004) years (.4) months (A.S.L.) After Sarah Left
2009.6 means:
(2009) 2009 A.D. (.6) June
Easy peasy!
Enjoy!
I'm Beta Free so all mistakes are my own.
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0002.3 A.S.L.
Australia
"The Bush"
Moving from his tent out into the first rays of sunlight, evidence of an early morning sunrise, Chuck took a look around him. The red sand of the Australian outback had already begun to radiate the sun's heat. His guide had already been up out and back again preparing a "bush breakfast" as he had coined it. Breakfast was a simple affair, including a cup of Billy tea, toast and fruit.
His guide appeared just like the stereotypical Australian guide from the movies. The guide perpetually sported a loose dirty shirt and jeans, probably two to three days of stubbly growth on his face and the man was in bad need of a haircut. The shapes the man's hair took put Chuck's "animal shapes" to shame. The thick Australian accent you hear in the movies made even the normal English words a challenge to understand. Chuck wasn't sure if the look was for his benefit or if this guy just normally let himself go like this. The guy had an uncanny similar face to Crocodile Dundee. The crocodile skin hat was what made Chuck think it was all some kind of costume.
"G'day, mate. How's my favorite Dag?" Chuck's guide greeted him.
"Just as sore as I was yesterday, but still ready to go." Chuck responded. Only in Australia does someone actually get it right and call me nerd instead of geek. Chuck had unceremoniously received the nickname the first time he'd pulled out his iSat and began furiously typing on it.
"Good to hear it mate, ready to trudge on through some more gaffa?"
"If you mean am I ready to hit the trails again then, yeah. You'll have to forgive me. I'm still trying to figure out all the terms you have down here." Chuck responded, mentally cataloging yet another strange euphemism from the Down Under, while simultaneously adding the new euphemism to his list on his phone.
"Sorry mate, reckon I can keep my yabber more stateside friendly." The guide paused at the confused look on Chuck's face and said. " 'Yabber' meaning speech or talking of course."
Chuck smiled briefly and laughed as he pulled out his iSat once again. Chuck took a photo of the horizon added a note for the place and date and sent it off. He turned it off, placed it back into his bag and began packing up his campsite. Having spent nearly two years packing and setting up various campsites Chuck was able to complete his task in only a few minutes.
If you had asked Chuck a few years ago if he would even be caught dead camping across the world Chuck and anyone who knew him would have laughed at the very idea.
"We're not going to be within site of the Red Rock as planned right? That last detour has put us closer than the original route."
"No worries, mate. That Ayers Rock will be miles beyond the horizon the whole time. I still can't figure why you wouldn't see it bein' so close to it."
"Well, let's just say I have my reasons." Chuck said politely.
"Ok…well then let's get crackin'!"
____
0004.12 A.S.L
Sweden
The base of Sarektjåkkå
Chuck woke to the sounds of the small village he was staying in. Ritsem, wasn't really a village. More like an outpost built almost exclusively for people seeking a bit of adventure in the immediate area. Chuck had had enough camping in his past treks to last a life time. The small hostel he had spent the night in was cozy and complete with most modern conveniences. His planned exploits for the day would be easier the closer he was to the mountain he'd come to climb.
The day before Chuck had flown into Stockholm. He took an overnight sleeper train to Jokkmokk, the journey enlivened by a persistent drunk who kept demanding 'your papers'. From Jokkmokk he took the bus to Ritsem, then finally a Lapp boat across Lake Akkajaure. This convoluted journey brought him to the base of Sarektjåkkå, the second highest peak in Sweden. At two thousand eighty-nine meters it wasn't a monumental peak but it was a daunting view for a mostly inexperienced climber. Sarektjåkkå is strikingly alpine for Sweden with magnificent mountain ranges and narrow valleys, glaciers and wild rapids extending off its flanks. It was a splendid piece of unspoiled wilderness. Rapadalen valley, the valley he was currently standing in with several other peak reaching hopefuls, is the artery of the mountain.
The website he'd found his new adventure on had highlighted the possibility of seeing bear, wolverine, lynx or one of several unusually large Elk. It was the possibility of seeing the elk that had drawn him to the tour in the first place. Chuck found it odd that throughout all his travels he couldn't remember ever seeing one, at least not with his own eyes. The online pamphlet had also said, "No Beginners", Chuck didn't consider himself a beginner. Heck, this wasn't even the tallest peak in his limited climbing history. He wasn't here to conquer the mountain or prove something to himself. He just wanted to do something and as long as he was doing something he would do something slightly noteworthy. The elk just highlighted the randomness of his wanderings. Chuck realized he'd forgotten to shut off his iSat when his pocket vibrated twice, indicating that he'd received an email/text. Fishing the device from his pocket he tapped the screen and pulled up the text.
Stupid spam… Wait…
The message read:
"Lucky guesser,
"CM47AE61L411L853"
-Caesar"
Chuck's interest was peeked now. That number sequence looked suspiciously like a 16 bit key. A code? Someone from the old Buymore days trying to be mysterious? ... That last "spam" that I got back in April… Chuck sat up in his seat as he thumbed through his old messages. Good thing I never delete anything out of my inbox. Who the heck was 'Caesar'? Chuck found what he was looking for.
" \ / \ / 1 5 # j 0 0 \ / \ / | _ | 2 # 3 r 3 " 22 letters... Well, it's not the same code. Chuck pulled up a link from his old Buymore toolbox and entered in both of the letter number sequences into separate boxes.
"No such key found."
"Second sequence undecipherable."
Undeterred, Chuck closed out his browser and pulled up the text headers. Bingo! The phone numbers were the same. Chuck hadn't actually expected that. Chuck tried a call back on the number and was greeted in French. It was a recording.
"Merci pour votre appel. Il s'agit d'un numéro de service de transmission…Merci pour.."
What the hell?! Chuck hung up and called the number again, this time with his recorder function on. After recording the transmission he flipped over to the audio translator app he'd installed. I knew this thing would come in handy eventually.
The screen read out the translation as the iSat speaker looped the previously recorded audio.
"Thank you for calling. This is a non callback number forwarding service. Thank you…" Dead end…damn it.. Changing tactics a little Chuck forwarded the two lines of text to Anna Wu. She was always good with these.
"Anna,
Take a look at these for me can you? Tell Morgan to keep his knives sharp. Miss you guys.
"\/\/15#j00\/\/|_|2#3r3"
"CMD7AE61L411L853"
-Chuck"
____
0005.1 A.S.L.
Washington D.C.
NSA headquarters
"Casey!" Chuck cried out at the site of his old partner.
"Shut up, geek." Casey replied to Chuck's outburst as the tall younger man sidled up next to the older grizzled hulk of a man known as John Casey. "This is a standard check to ensure that you're not spewing all those secrets in your head to other interested parties." Casey poked Chuck in the head as he finished.
"Jeez, Casey, I know we were close for a while but don't you think physical contact is a bit much this early in our relationship? Oh, and its nerd, for the umpteeth time." Chuck quipped, a certain amount of frustration evident in his response.
Casey only grunted and continued down the hallway they had met in, pushing Chuck along in front of him. "This is simple Bartowski. We ask questions and then you re-sign your nondisclosure agreement. After that, you go on to your pointless wanderings. Now get moving. Oh, and you can plan on these little reunions every five years until either the NSA or you cease to exist."
"Damn, so I guess that means Sarah's not going to be at the next one then?" Chuck jokingly queried as they arrived at a somewhat ominous doorway. "Wait have you been watching me? You know that's kinda…"
"Bartowski, Go inside." Casey responded though his teeth as he cut off Chuck's rambling.
I guess I'm always going to be watched by government. It is funny that Casey still can't deal with lady feelings, though. Poor bastard. I guess some things will never change.
As Casey and Chuck entered the room they were greeted by an older gentleman. "Good morning Mr. Bartowski. If you'll have a seat we'll get this over with as quickly as we can." The older gentleman in a lab coat directed as he marked off several things on a clipboard. Chuck sat in the chair and the man started attaching various objects to Chuck's chest, head and fingers.
"Ok. We'll start with a few control questions. Answer them truthfully." Chuck settled back into the chair unable to get comfortable in the decidedly Government Issue chair.
"Old Lab Coat guy" as Chuck had mentally dubbed him began the questions. "Is your name Charles Irving Bartowski?"
"Yes."
An hour later Old Lab Coat Guy announced the conclusion of the question session.
Standing up and moving to his desk Old Lab Coat Guy picked up a pile of pictures. "Ok, Mr. Bartowski, we have one more task for you. We need you to look at these pictures to make sure that the Intersect hasn't made reappearance."
"Crap" Chuck responded. "That stupid thing will never really go away will it?"
"Not as long as the NSA's around it won't. I'm sorry, but this is a reality that we're all going to have to deal with."
"Let's get this over with then, huh?" Chuck said resolutely.
"OK, here we go." Old Lab Coat Guy held up a series of pictures, one after the other. Chuck didn't flash on any of them. Thank god for that…Chuck breathed a sigh of relief as the test completed. One of Chuck's biggest nightmares had always been that the Intersect would somehow rear its ugly head and come back into his life.
Chuck was glad when he finally got out the front doors of the NSA building. He swore the damn place was built like a labyrinth. The cameras made him feel like a rat in a maze looking for cheese.
Chuck breathed fresh air and let his eyes re-adjust to the natural light of the sun. A minute later Chuck's phone lit up beeping and buzzing like crazy. Apparently there was a cell blocker in the building. A series of messages and missed call notifications hit the phone all at once.
"3 message(s). 0 email(s). 1 missed call(s). 0 voicemail(s)."
Chuck pulled up his missed calls and noted that it was travel agent. He'd call him back later. Chuck made his way to the edge of the car park and hailed a taxi from the main street. Pulling up the message inbox as he waited for the taxi to come to stop he noticed that one of the texts was from Anna. Sweet, hopefully she figured something out. Chuck curbed his curiosity long enough to fold himself into the back seat of the cab. "The airport please." Chuck instructed the cabbie. The vehicle headed away from the curb and into traffic carrying Chuck towards the airport.
Turning his attention back to the message on his phone he pulled it up. After reading the first part he smacked his head. DUH!
Chuck read from the screen in his hands:
Chuck,
:( You don't talk to me for a year and this is my first message?! ;) You know for a genius you can be thick sometimes.
The first one wasn't even a challenge:
\/\/15#j00\/\/|_|2#3r3= Wish you were here (I know you had a pager when you were a kid, come on…) 1337 ring any bells?!
The second one was insanely easy too. I'm only gonna give you a hint. It's an instruction. If you haven't figured it out in a week call me and I'll revoke your geek status. Actually, I think I'll revoke it now… You're not cheating on Sarah are you?
-Anna
Chuck could have kicked himself if he wasn't so tightly wedged into the backseat of the cab. LEET…I should have seen that one. Who the heck do I know that would text me in 'LEET' and would be missing me?! Huh... The answer is probably in the second message…"Cheating on Sarah..." What hell does that mean… Ugh…
His musings were interrupted by another text…
"lg cyl cepl_n lkb-y mcpqq pkgu"
-Render unto Caesar"
Damn it, same header, same number, more puzzles. WTF. Chuck looked up from the device in an attempt to clear his head. 'Caesar' why does that keep coming up? Is it a code word, a name? Chuck was getting frustrated. He knew there was something significant about it. It just wasn't coming to him. "Christ!" Chuck exclaimed out loud. This is becoming infuriating… The cabbie gave Chuck a sideways glance at the mild expletive but went back to ignoring the man the passenger seat of his cab. He was obviously fully absorbed in whatever gadget he was tapping on.
Turing his attention back to the second text string. Chuck wracked his brain for a cipher. Anna's mention of Sarah had focused his attention on the continually emerging riddle. I wonder what or if this has anything to do with her... Chuck was going to dedicate all his attention to this riddle during his flight back to L.A. Just on the off chance this was Sarah trying to contact him he had to figure it out. He had to know, either way.
______
0000.2 A.L.C. (After Leaving Chuck)
Langley, VA
CIA Headquarters
"Agent Walker, you can request and re-request all you want. You are not being let out early from your contract. You signed on for eight more years six months ago. You seemed eager enough to continue this work then. I'm not letting my best agent go while she's in her prime." The new CIA Director finished his response with a pointed look on his face, waiting for Sarah's inevitable rebuttal.
"Sir, I don't think I can carry out the missions I'll undoubtedly be assigned to. I have different priorities now. The greater good is no longer my top concern. Hell, it doesn't even come in as a close second. I'm in love. I'd be a liability and a danger on any covert mission I'd be assigned to." Sarah responded, sure that the director would change his tune with her final argument.
"I'm not changing my mind on this one. I'm not going to let you shirk your duty and your commitment to the field. As for this second asinine request. It's also a no, and there will be no squirming around on this one. There can be absolutely no contact with your old asset during your tenure with the Agency. Any contact will be rewarded with your indefinite incarceration and his introduction to a secure holding facility. You and I both know that any unnecessary attention given him would be a danger to both him and National Security."
"Yes sir." This time she did a better job of keeping most of the venom out of her voice. Asinine…my ass. Who pissed in your cheerios…You said, 'during your tenure' I'm going to take you at your word.
"Listen, Agent Walker. From what I've read you're old team did good work in California. It was that fact that kept your Mr. Bartowski sans a new third eye. Well, that, coupled with the incessant pestering of a certain NSA agent." Sarah confident demeanor deflated a little as the Director continued, "You just need to be happy knowing he's alive and go back to doing your job. I need you in the field. Tell you what, we'll keep your initial missions easier and less involved. We'll up the ante after a few successful missions.
"Sir, I.." Sarah began, when he interrupted her. Sarah's eyes blazed as he interrupted her.
"I don't want to hear it. Listen, think of this as another way to keep him safe, if that works for you. Come back in the morning and we'll discuss your first mission. You're dismissed."
Sarah was about to press the issue further but the look in the Director's eyes deterred her. A decidedly dejected Sarah left the Director's office. She made her way silently though the once friendly hallways of the CIA offices. She didn't look up at anyone as she headed for the exit. The greater good SUCKS.
Sarah moved out of the building and though the parking lot toward her Porsche. She was glad that she'd sprung for the expedited shipping for her preferred mode of transportation. Sarah decided to take out her frustrations on some paper targets. Heading for her favorite gun range she flew past a D.C. cop. Noticing the triple digits registering on his dash radar gun he flipped his lights on and initiated pursuit. Sarah looked behind her and laughed aloud. This is NOT going to be your day. Sarah said to herself as she dropped the gas peddle to the floor. The Porsche leaped into traffic nearly loosing her pursuer through a series of rather dangerous and reckless moves.
The hapless beat cop called in the license plate and request for backup to stop the reckless driver weaving in and out of traffic with no regard for the other people on the highway. The response wasn't what he'd expected. The streets had been quiet lately and he'd figured he'd have half a dozen units join the chase. Instead he was told to stand down and break off pursuit. The driver had some kind of diplomatic protection and should not be approached in any way. Damn D.C. spooks get away with everything. The dejected cop broke off pursuit and headed for a Burger King. I need some fries.
Sarah, still feeling rather rebellious, slowed down the car just in time to let the cop catch up before he left the highway. She threw up her middle finger in a rather rude salute to the cop. After her brief few minutes of rebellion Sarah called up her agent self and resigned herself to her job. It wouldn't do her or Chuck any good if she got herself killed on some mission. There'd be no happy reunion if that happened. Sarah was going to be patient, for now. All good things come to those who wait…
____
2009.6 A.D.
Location – Classified
"Looks like you got hit by a dump truck Bartowski. Are you sure you know kung-fu?" Casey jibbed at a bruised and battered Chuck.
"Very, funny, Casey. There were six of them and they came up behind me. Where were you anyway, the car?" Chuck responded nursing what was likely to turn into a nasty black eye.
"Excuses. Get your scrawny butt in the car. We gotta go pick up your squeeze before she implodes from Chuck worry." Casey said as he physically chucked Chuck into the back of the van.
"Aww…you do care." Chuck said as he recovered from his brief flight into the back of the surveillance van.
"Don't push your luck, Bartowski." Casey quipped as he punched the accelerator, sending Chuck flying unceremoniously into the rear of the van, landing with a resounding crunch.
"Great. Casey, look what you did to my new phone. You know, I really can't handle your mood swings. I'm going to give Carina a call when I get my new phone. " Chuck said as he held up a severely damaged iPhone.
Casey didn't respond to Chuck's last comment. They sat in silence until they pulled up to curb where Sarah was waiting. As they came to a stop Casey held back the urge to laugh maniacally. The look on Sarah's face was priceless. The destruction of Chuck's phone had apparently not gone unnoticed by the ever alert CIA agent. The loss of the GPS tracker in Chuck's phone had caused Sarah to instantly suspect the worse. When she didn't see Chuck in the passenger seat of the van Sarah nearly ripped the door off the van in her attempt to find what was surely an injured, or worse, newly minted Agent Chuck.
As the door to the rear of the van opened the silhouette of Sarah filled the void. A surprised and worried look etched Chuck's face at the strange behavior of his favorite person.
"Um, Sarah what's wrong?" he asked as a concern took over as the prevalent expression on Chuck's face.
Casey interjected from the front seat. "Your phone, Bartowski. Big bad Agent Walker's phone notified her when yours went dead." An obvious expression of delight etched into his face as he continued, "Walker, get in the van. You're attracting attention to yourself."
"Chuck…" Sarah whispered as she sat next to him the semi darkness of the back of the van.
"I'm sorry Sarah. I didn't think about the phone. I should have called you."
"See Chuck, that's why I love you. I overreact and you try and comfort me like you did something." Sarah responded taking Chuck's hand in hers; holding like it might run off without him. They sat next to each other in silence for a moment content with just being next to each other. Their bodies pressed into one another. Sarah's eyes widened as she finally looked closely at Chuck's face. It had taken her a moment to get past those deep brown eyes and notice the dark bruise forming around one of them.
"Chuck, what happened to your eye?!" Sarah gasped after fully taking in the sight of Chuck's injury.
"Oh, it's nothing, some guy at the docks got in a lucky shot with a two-by-four. Nothing a little CIA applied makeup won't fix." Chuck responded, a devious glint in his eyes.
Sarah pouted a little at Chuck's comment, one hand moving to asses the damage as the other grabbed a fist aid kit from the wall of the van. Sarah activated and applied a cold pack to Chuck's eye as she responded. "I still don't like you going out on missions by yourself. I'm going to have another talk with Beckman about this whole thing... It's unnatural for a handler to watch her asset go off into danger on his own." The ubiquitous flirting was not lost on Chuck. "Although…these bumps will need some extra attention…"
The wicked glint still apparent in his eyes Chuck continued, "Whew, for a second there I thought you were just upset with me for flirting with that cute brunette at the front office…" Chuck wasn't able to finish his sentence due to a sudden pain developing around his midsection. The pain undoubtedly caused by the quick punch to the kidneys that Sarah had snuck in.
A dangerous look appeared momentarily in the blonde's eyes as she quickly retorted, "Watch it, Agent Bartwoski. You're lucky I want certain parts of your anatomy intact or comments like that could have serious side effects to your groin-al region."
Chuck smiled weakly as he released his sides, the pain slightly receding. "I'm so getting lucky tonight…" A strange grunt was heard coming from the front of the vehicle. If one knew what to listen for you would know that it was Casey laughing. Casey reminded himself to turn off the surveillance in Chuck's room that night. Casey didn't feel the need to hear that.
___
2009.8 A.D.
CIA Recovery Center - Undisclosed Location
"Casey, I swear if you shot him I'm going to kill you." Sarah yelled through the phone. Sarah tossed the phone on empty seat in the car next to. She was pushing the car to its limits as it screamed through traffic on her way to the hospital. She ignored nearly every stop sign and stoplight in her hurry to reach her destination. I really need to get a set of cop lights installed in this thing. That last light was close.
Sarah was fuming and worried. Once again Chuck was hurt and she was forced to find out about it later on. General Beckman had dismissed her concerns for Chuck's solo missions as quickly as Sarah had presented them. Now her worries had been confirmed. Chuck had been shot and was in the hospital with yet another injury. An injury she could have prevented I she was allowed to be there. He's OK, calm down, it was probably a minor gun shot wound…
Oh, I'm SO letting the General have it for this one…I'll be lucky if I'm not officially reprimanded after this mission debriefing.
Sarah's murderous mood subsided into concern for Chuck as she finally burst through the doors of his hospital room.
"Took you long enough to get here, Walker." Casey said as she skidded to a halt next to Chuck's bed. Casey had ducked only just in time as a throwing knife stuck out of the wall where Casey's head had been a moment earlier. Casey hightailed it out of the room a second later sighting the look in Sarah's eyes as his main motivation for leaving. He could dodge knifes all day. It was an unnecessary evasion. Sarah had eyes for only one person at the present, her injured nerd. "Chuck, I'm here. I got here as fast as I could."
"It's OK, I'm OK, Sarah. It was more of a scratch than anything else. Hurt like hell though. I think that's the last time I'm going to let myself get shot. This is SO not worth the cool scar…"
The murderous look returned to Sarah's eyes. "You LET yourself get shot on PURPOSE!? Chuck what were you thinking?!"
Realizing the danger his last sentence had put him with Sarah, Chuck decided to explain himself a little more. "Sarah..... I didn't get shot on purpose, sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that." Chuck silently prayed Sarah didn't strangle him where he laid.
"Chuck..." Sarah's voice faltered. "Chuck you can't joke like that, I...you...I don't know what I'd do if you were killed." Sarah quit trying to express herself with words and brought Chuck into a tight embrace placing a long kiss on his lips. Her body shaking at the release of emotions. Chuck felt the change in her emotions and moved as much as he could to comfort her.
"Ow!" Sarah drew back quickly looking for the source of Chuck's pain before she realized she had just squeezed a gunshot victim.
"I'm fine; really, it's just a little pain." Chuck quickly spoke up noting the look of surprise and concern on his Sarah's face. "Sarah, I love you. I'd never intentionally do anything that would hurt you." Chuck brought himself up to plant another kiss on Sarah lips. After a brief moment Chuck leaned back into the bed and stole a glance at the door to the hospital room.
"Casey, it's safe now. I know you're listening, you can come back in here now. We need to discuss the cover story." Casey walked back into the hospital room a second later, not to happy that the geek had actually caught him eavesdropping. "I think we've exhausted the whole mugger idea. We've use that one like five or six times now in various ways. We need something a bit more original if we're going to keep fooling Ellie." A bit of sadness crossed Chuck's eyes at thought of the continual evasion that he'd been forced to subject Ellie to.
Casey spoke up. "I'm sure you and Walker can figure something out. I'd rather not be here when she starts her, 'supporting arguments'."
"Ha, ha, Casey. Your right Casey, I bet Beckman will be looking for her update right about now." Chuck responded as Sarah reached for another knife. Casey was already gone.
___
0000.0 A.S.L.
L.A.
A nearly despondent Chuck emerged from his room a note clutched in his hand. Ellie didn't see the note but she did notice that the happy Chuck that had lovingly said goodnight and went to bed eight hours ago was definitely missing, replaced with a spaced out and sad Chuck.
"Chuck, what's wrong?!" Ellie asked, her voice full of concern, as he moved into the kitchen. She stopped wiping the counter and cornered Chuck next to the refrigerator. Ellie quickly moved from concerned mode to protective mode as she picked up on the hurt emanating from Chuck's whole body. "Please tell me you and Sarah aren't being 'complicated' again."
Chuck froze momentarily realizing that he'd been unconsciously telegraphing his feelings from reading the note he'd found on the pillow a few minutes ago. He quickly reigned in his emotions and looked up from the note hidden in his hand and directed his gaze toward his sister's face.
"Oh, I'm sorry for looking mopey, Ellie. I'm just exhausted. This week just won't end." Chuck responded cheerily throwing in a big grin to finish off the lie. "I think I just need some coffee. I never was a morning person." I'm getting too good at this lying thing.
Ellie smiled back. "Are you sure that's it? For a moment there it looked like you lost your puppy."
"Which one, the first one or the second one?" Chuck joked.
Ellie laughed a bit, "Oh, I knew that would come to haunt me again. You've been saving that one haven't you?"
Chuck smiled genuinely at his sister's remark before moving in and giving her a tight hug. "You worry about me too much. You know too much worrying is bad for the baby right?" Chuck looked down at his very pregnant sister's belly. "Any day now huh?" Chuck was rather proud of himself for the quick change of subject.
"Oh god, I wish it would just be over. There simply isn't anything awesome about carrying an Awesome child to term."
"You should go rest, Ellie. I'll take care of the kitchen. Speaking of Awesome though, he couldn't get time off to take care of you?" Chuck asked.
"Oh, he did. He just got called in temporarily this morning for some emergency thing. Something about a several gunshot victims coming in from a warehouse."
"Well, he better take care of my big sister. He may be awesome but I'll kick his butt if he doesn't hold up his end in all of this."
Chuck grabbed the keys off the counter as he headed for the door. As reached the door Ellie called out to him. "Say hi to Sarah for me will you?"
"I will when I see her sis." If you only knew.
____
10 Awesome Points to the first person to figure out the second code. 20 Awesome Points to the first person to figure out the third code. Special Chapter 3 shout out if you can provide some history on the cipher...
Thanks for reading. Good karma to those who review...bad karma for those who...well you get the idea.