Chuck vs. The Cerebral Assassin
First off thanks for the comments guys as they are an incentive for me to keep on writing. Secondly, the story is going to be an emotional rollercoaster as the story progresses for Sarah as she deals Dr. Burke helping Chuck regain his memory. However, like the saying goes its always darkest before dawn.
Again, if you enjoyed reading my stories and left a comment please leave a comment for this this one as well. Tell me what you think and I hope you enjoy the read.
I don't own Chuck.
The Campus Tour
XXX
Sarah sits completely silent on the ride home. As she sits in the back seat of the Crown Vic staring out the window, her thoughts reflect back on what previously happened. It was difficult for her to see Chuck walk away and not express out loud her feeling towards him as Dr. Burke escorted him to his room. It took even a greater amount of restraint on her part to not give him a hug and kiss him on the lips as he turned to leave.
This was considered the best alternative to get Chuck on the right path to recovery being the guy who she fell in love with. On the outside, he looks every bit the man who she has gotten to know over the past 3 and a half years, but on the inside all that he has ever known about her has been wiped from his memory banks. Though he knows his name is Chuck, he lacks the identity that makes him truly special in her own eyes.
In a way, Chuck's situation somewhat mirrored her own life. For her, she grew up as DeAnna Wexler with a family who has known her but in her own mind she considered the face in the mirror staring back at her a mere stranger. She lacked an identity of her own in her eyes and she needed help searching for her own individuality that would ultimately make her truly special. She found it joining the C.I.A. as Sarah Walker.
To her, Sarah Walker is who she has been and DeAnna Wexler has just been one of many "faces" she has put on as a spy. It became easy for her to slip into the character of Jeremiah Wexler's troubled young daughter who lacked potential especially when it involved visits home. As easy as it was for her to slip into that character it was as easier to drop it to reestablish the only identity she truly felt comfortable being.
However, all that changed because of Chuck who in a sense helped reintroduce DeAnna Wexler back into her life to the point where the name was no longer considered an alias but rather the person she is and will always will be. The biggest difference now and back then is her smile. He helped her bring back her smile that was lost growing up and now with Dr. Burke's help she has the ability to bring back the smile she is so used to seeing.
The trio eventually reached Casa Bartwoski and as Sarah steps out of the vehicle closing the door behind her, she stands there for a moment staring at the house. For nearly a year, she has spent cohabitating with Chuck and now that he's not living there right now it doesn't feel like a home but rather a house or in this case one huge apartment. An apartment she first started living in since she was assigned to Burbank.
Her thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the sound of her father's voice talking to Casey. She turns her head to just hear the tail end of the conversation. "Come on inside Casey." he said motioning the NSA towards the house. "My wife bought lunch and I know a big guy like yourself must be hungry." he added.
"Thanks for the offer but I have to decline." responded Casey. "There's someone I have to go see." he added expressing wry smile.
"Ah." replied Wexler. "Say no more son."
"I have to first check on Larkin back at Castle." he stated. "I want to make sure he doesn't touch or break any equipment." Casey nods and then turns his attention towards Sarah as he gets back into his car. "Walker."
"Thanks Casey." she said responding with a nod back.
As Casey drives off, father and daughter turn then walk past the 3 vehicles sitting in the driveway. Her Porsche and Chuck's 2009 Honda Insight while the other is Wexler's rented dark S.U.V. In any case, Sarah is the first to step through the front door with her father steps through the door as well closing the door behind him. They both see Emily and Cassidy standing at the table where 4 bags of subway sandwiches, along with 4 drinks, are on the table.
Instead of heading towards the table, she immediately heads towards the living room. Sarah plops down on to the black leather couch and she lays her head back on the headrest of the couch briefly closing her eyes. She turns her head slowly opening them to see a framed picture of her and Chuck. It causes her to exude a sullen look on her face as she reaches over to pick it up off the table.
She lightly touches the picture of Chuck with her in his embrace and then breathes out a soft sigh. Her concentration on the photo is suddenly interrupted when a wrapped subway sandwich lands on her lap. She glances down and then up to see Cassidy plopping down beside her on the black leather couch taking a bite out of her own sandwich. Sarah holds her sandwich down on her lap while she leans over placing the framed photo down on the table in front of her.
"You should eat something sis." Cassidy said. "I got you your favorite a Subway Club and diet coke." she added pointing to her drink beside the framed photo.
"Without olives?" asked Sarah turning her head to look at her.
"That I don't know." said Cassidy shrugging his shoulders. "I think there's olives in there."
"Chuck would have known not to order my favorite sandwich without olives." she softly stated.
As Sarah says that, her father walks around and sits on the coffee table in front of her with a look of concern for her daughter. "Listen sweetie, Dr. Burke is going to do everything in her power to help Chuck. There's no point in sulking around like you're doing right now." he added in a fatherly tone of voice. "If Chuck saw you like this what do you think he would say?"
"He would say…" Sarah pauses for a brief moment. "…he would say everything is going to be okay so get your ass up and eat your sandwich before it gets cold." she answered with a hint of a laughter in her voice.
"Chuck wouldn't want you to be sad right now sweetie." Sarah's mom responded. "He would want you to be happy knowing that your family is by your side helping you get through this."
"Your mother's right." he retorted patting his youngest daughter's knee. "You can visit Chuck tomorrow."
"I'm thinking tonight."
"Is that my daughter or the C.I.A. Agent talking?" questioned Wexler.
"Does it matter?"
Wexler glances over at his wife and then at Cassidy who both shake their heads. "I guess not." he said. "Eat your sandwich and then take a nice refreshing shower. After a relaxing nap, you'll be good and ready to see him. Okay?"
A hint of a smile appears on her face glancing at her sister Cassidy. "Yes sir." she happily replied unwrapping her sandwich.
XXX
"So what do you think of the place Chuck?" asked Dr. Burke as they both walk the grounds of the facility.
Dr. Burke gave Chuck the proverbial campus tour of the facilities and he was thoroughly impressed by what it offered other than a game room. It has an outdoor meditation area located near a pond, a basketball court for both exercise and reaction, as well as a recreation room where he saw the Xbox as he checked in. Even though he didn't think he would be using the court all that much during his stay he would try it out.
The staff seemed friendly and would go out of their way to help patients like himself. He was already on a first name basis with the nice lady at the front desk giving him at least one person he somewhat knows. Plus, there is the guy named Karl that his doctor mentioned who would be a potential Xbox buddy during his stay here. It would be just a matter of meeting him Chuck thinks to himself.
When it came to his living quarters he didn't complain whatsoever because all he needed was a comfy bed and he was set. After placing his black duffle bag in his room Dr. Burke escorted him to the cafeteria where lunch is currently being served. They inevitably find themselves walking down a cobble stone path with flowered bushes on either side of them giving the two of them considerable shade from noon day sun.
"It's awesome." he said.
A questionable look appears on Chuck's face as he says to which Dr. Burke is keenly aware of. "Is something wrong Chuck?" she inquired with concern.
"Its nothing Dr. Burke." he replied.
"Please…" she stated reaching over lightly touching his arm. "…call me Leslie." she added with a smile on her face. "We'll be working together on a one on one basis and I insist."
"Okay Leslie." he smiled back. "It's just that when I said awesome it seemed very familiar to me somehow."
"It's a pretty common word Chuck." she answered back.
There is a brief moment of silence as Chuck mulls over what she says in his head. "You're right." he replied. "It is a pretty common word isn't it." Chuck said with a smile on his face.
As the two of them share a chuckle over it, another doctor approaches in their direction leading Dr. Burke to say his name. "Dr. Vale."
Chuck watches as acknowledges her giving a nod. "Dr. Burke." he responded back. So is this a new patient of yours?" he asked turning his attention to Chuck.
To Chuck, Dr. Vale stands at around 5'9, grey hair, sporting a goatee, wearing white button down shirt, bluish tie, kaki pants, possibly expensive looking shoes on his feet, and wearing a white medium length lab doctor's lab coat over his entire ensemble. In addition to that, he's holding a clipboard under his right arm. He look to be in his mid to late 50's and is seemingly intimidating from his own point of view.
"Yes." she replied. "Dr. Victor Vale meet Chuck Bartowki. He recently checked in after he lost his memory while on a mission."
"Nice to meet you sir." he said reaching out to shake his hand leading Dr. Vale to reciprocate. "What is it that you do if I may ask or is it so secret that if you tell me then you'll have to kill me?" Chuck responded letting out a bit of chuckle.
Chuck sees Dr. Vale looking absolute stone faced causing him to experience a very awkward moment but it is soon broken when Dr. Burke begins laughing leading Dr. Vale to laugh as well. "Don't mind Dr. Vale Chuck. He likes to kid around with new patients." she humorously stated.
"My field of study is in the area relating to cognitive memory." he answered. "The core focus of cognitive psychology is on how people acquire, process and are able to store information. Very intriguing."
The newest patient to the facility didn't have any idea what he just said. To him, Dr. Vale sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher and despite not understanding anything he just said he just simply nodded. A moment later, the sound of a cell phone ringing leading both doctor to fish them out of their pockets. "It's mine." Dr. Vale said." He looks at the screen to check who is calling him and then turns his attention to Chuck and his colleague. "My apologies but I have to take this. Dr. Burke" he said with a nod. "Mr. Bartowski, I hope you enjoy your stay here and don't worry you're in good hands with Dr. Burke."
The doctor and patient watch as Dr. Vale walks off answering the call on his cell phone. The two resume their walk towards the cafeteria and after a few minutes they eventually reach their intended destination. Before entering, Dr. Burke stops Chuck to mention something to him. "After lunch, we'll go to my office and have a brief discussion if that's okay with you?" she asked.
"That's cool with me." he responded reaching for the door of the handle. Chuck opens the door and motions for her with his left hand to step in. "Ladies first." he said.
"Thank you sir." Dr. Burke responded with a smile as she enters the building then followed by Chuck.
XXX
The clock on Dr. Burke's wall reads 1:30 p.m. as Chuck sits in a chair in her office in front of her desk. The two had a nice lunch and shared conversations that mainly consisted of Chuck getting to know a little about his doctor. In his mind, it wouldn't hurt to get to know her since they would be spending time together. In any case, across from him on the other side of the desk sit's the doctor herself jotting a few notes down on a yellow pad with an open file sitting next to it.
After a brief moment, she looks up to speak to him. "Okay Chuck, its says here in your file you're a C.I.A. analyst and part of a joint NSA-C.I.A. black ops task force with Agent Walker and Agent Casey." she said.
"Much to my surprise when I found out." he said expressing a look of a astonishment.
Dr. Burke scans Chuck's file. "Your team has been responsible for a number of very successful missions and according to General Beckman you're the best in the business." she said. "This is pretty remarkable."
As Chuck sits there listening to the list of accomplishment he has been a part of he couldn't believe that he actually was a part of those missions. For the most part, he didn't even think he's the type of guy who would do anything daring such as defuse a bomb or save 2 of his teammates from nearly getting blown up by a former subordinate of the late C.I.A. Director Langston Graham.
Its at this point Chuck wonders if he has ever killed anyone since he's been a spy. He must have during his 3 and half years on the team he thinks to himself. Questions start swirling in his mind as to whether or not he has any fighting skills or martial arts training for that matter in order to defend himself in case he's in a perilous situation surrounded by a slew of bad guys that are hell bent on taking him down.
The one thing he wonders about though is how he became a C.I.A. agent and what possessed him to join in the first place. To be perfectly honest, he doesn't exude the killer qualities of a government agent like Agent Casey who he considered one scary individual that can tear you apart with his bear hands. As for Agent Walker, she's deadly in her own right when it comes to her absolute beauty.
Speaking of Agent Walker, the first thought in his mind waking to see her holding his hand his first thought was did I die and go to heaven? An extremely beautiful woman looking down at him and he doesn't have any idea who she is except that she was wearing scrubs so she could have been part of the nursing staff of the hospital who really cares about her patients.
His thoughts are suddenly interrupted when he hears something that Dr. Burke mentions concerning the blonde agent. "Could you repeat that please."
"I said you and Agent Walker established a cover relationship in Burbank when the team formed 3 and half years ago." she repeated. "It's written down here in General Beckman's notes.
"Really?" replied Chuck with a look of disbelief.
"You sound surprised." questioned Dr. Burke. "May I care to ask why?"
"Well, I'm an analysts so basically I'm the geek of the team and my job is to piece together important information to help the agents." he answered. "It would make sense for her to establish a cover relationship with Agent Casey instead of me since he seems to be more her type."
"Oh and what type would that be?" she inquired.
"The James Bond type." replied Chuck. "Me…" he said pointing to himself. "…I feel I'm more the supportive role Q type." Chuck added with a wry smile.
Dr. Burke pauses for a moment as she takes in what he just said. From her point of view, Chuck doesn't look like the typical spy she's worked with in the past. He has a charm about him that is different amongst the rest and reading further into his file his concern for others rather than himself is something truly admirable. "Don't sell yourself short Chuck." she responds. "Not all women go for the bad boy type and even though I don't know you…"
"I don't know me either…" he quickly responded back. "…that's why I'm here."
They both laugh at his response. "What I was going to say is that even though I don't know you have a big heart and care about the well being of others, which doesn't have a place in the spy world." she stated. "
"Thanks for the vote of confidence Dr…" Chuck stops in mid-sentence as he notices her right eyebrow lift up. "…Leslie." he said with a smile on his face.
Dr. Burke returns the smile and then looks up at the clock. "I have another patient that I have to see so I'll see you tomorrow morning." she said standing up. Chuck stands as well but before she leads him to the door she takes out a black journal and a pen from her desk drawer. When she hands it over to him he wonders what they're for. "I want you to write down any dreams you may have in the middle of the night, possible memories that come to mind concerning who you are, or just write down your thoughts. " the doctor stated. "That way you have some idea how you're progressing."
"Awesome." Chuck said taking the journal and placing the pen behind his ear. "I'll see you tomorrow then Leslie."
"Looking forward to it." she retorted as she sees Chuck walking out of her office.
XXX
Its 9 p.m. when Sarah arrives at the facility with a small bag. She heads with excitement to the front desk in order to sign in and then head to Chuck's room. As she approaches the front desk she sees Dr. Burke carrying a laptop computer brief case and from the looks of things she's heading out for the night. When she turns around Sarah passes her in order to sign in. While doing so, a somewhat surprised look appears on the doctor's face.
"Agent Walker?" she said with curiosity.
"Dr. Burke." answered Sarah signing in. "How is Chuck's first day?" she added with a smile on her face.
"Good. He's adjusting well to his new surroundings. You do know its going to possibly be a lengthy process." A look of concern appears on her face looking at the bag she's holding in her hand. "May I ask what's in the bag?"
"It's a couple of comic books." stated Sarah.
"There isn't a romantic note in the bag is there?" she inquired.
"No." she said shaking her head. "You made it perfectly clear that I shouldn't mention any personal matters relating to our relationship."
"I must remind you how critical it is that you don't and I suggest you keep your visit with him short." firmly stated Dr. Burke.
"20 minutes, is that okay with you?"
"Fine with me." she replies expressing seriousness in her eyes.
"Thank you." Sarah replied passing Dr. Burke about to head to Chuck's room.
As she leaves, the doctor stops her for a brief moment. "Agent Walker." she firmly stated. Sarah turns around to face Dr. Burke somewhat agitated. "You do want his memory back don't you?"
"I do." she softly stated.
The two women stand several feet apart from each other for a moment in brief silence. Sarah then nods and turns heading towards Chuck's room while Dr. Burke walks off heading home. After a moment or two, Sarah is in his room and Chuck is sitting on his bed looking over the selection of comic books she brought him.
"Thanks Agent Walker." he said looking up with a smile on his face.
"You can call me Sarah." she retorted expressing a soft smile. Chuck nods as he sets the comic books to the side. "So, how are you feeling?"
"I'm doing okay. Dr. Burke gave me the grand tour of the place after you and Casey left." he answered. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
Chuck stands up and moves over to where Sarah is. He is a foot away as he begins talking to her. "We work together on a strictly professional basis right?" inquired Chuck.
As much as Sarah wanted to kiss him on the lips at that very moment and share how much she loves him, she restrains herself from doing so. "Yeah, we do."
"Are we friends?"
"We are and I think I can safely say we have a close friendship." she said with a smile on her face.
Chuck smiles back and as he glances down he notices the diamond ring on her finger. "Are you married?" he wondered pointing down at the ring he gave her.
Sarah glances down and then looks up into his brown eyes. "No engaged. To a great guy." she replied.
"He's lucky. Has Casey met the guy already? Have I?" he said turning to his right walking towards the table near the window.
"Yeah." she replied. It pains her to keep her emotions and feelings for Chuck inside knowing how much she want to express them out loud to him. She struggles to hold herself together and then closes her eyes for a brief moment taking in a deep breathe in the process. After calming herself down, she opens her eyes and asks Chuck a question. "Did you make any new friends?"
"Not today but I was introduced to another doctor." he said laughing a bit.
"Why are you laughing?"
"The doctor's name is Victor Vale." It's at that point, Chuck starts doing an impromptu rap of the name to where it causes Sarah to laugh. Chuck turns around in order to laugh as well. "Hey, it sounds like Vicky Vale. You know from Batman."
"And that makes it better." she quickly responded back without missing a beat.
Chuck suddenly goes quiet and then slowly turns to face Sarah who is standing in front of his bed. "What did you say?"
XXX