A/N Okay, back from Boskone, a sci-fi/fantasy convention in Boston. I wasn't there as an author unfortunately, just a bookseller. I need to start developing my presence in those sorts of places as an author.
Hannah's lack of a last name is going to be a bit of a problem in this version. In nine2five I got around it by making her Sarah's best friend, so calling her just Hannah worked. In this setting they need a way to keep their distance from her.
"That's unprofessional."
"We agree on that, at least."
"Your guy?"
"For now, Agent Walker."
It was a bright, balmy, typical morning at the Buy More. More's the pity.
There were some differences. Morgan no longer wore green, he wore the yellow shirt and grey vest of the Assistant Manager, in many ways, especially those where Big Mike was the manager, the real ruler of the store. And his Praetorian Guard Casey, safe to have in that position because he didn't want to be anyone's Praetorian Guard, and the sooner Morgan had a firm grasp on the reins the happier he would be to hand them over.
If the rest of the crew found Casey's firm hand oppressive, they weren't saying so. Lester wasn't fomenting rebellion today, at least, nor did he mumble to himself at odd moments. Jeff, taking the lead for once, had taken him to a club and introduced him to three queens, so he was almost completely back to normal, but normal for Lester was a sliding scale.
Chuck sat at the Nerd Herd desk, nothing to do this early in the day, staring at his little statue of the Eiffel Tower that his dad had made for him years ago, comparing it to the real thing. He'd seen that recently and the memory was fresh, but not the memory he wanted to have. At least it was cleaner than the memory he might have had, if Agent Shaw hadn't called him at the last minute to bring him back home. There was a person he wanted to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time with, and Hannah wasn't her.
"Hey, Chuck," said Morgan, positioning himself by the desk as he always had. Some things never changed. "The old Buy More's just humming along today," he said proudly.
"Ready for the Russians," agreed Chuck.
"Who'd have thought?" rumbled Casey.
"Who'd have thought things could change so much?" said Morgan. "The store feels different, I feel different…Hold the presses!" he shouted, not sure what presses were or why anyone would or wouldn't be holding them. "It's Lana Lang."
A tall redhead? Not Carina, Morgan would have recognized her. "Lana Lang, Lana Lang," said Chuck in a sing-song fashion, standing up to get a glimpse. "Lannity, lannity, Lana–" He dropped his statue.
Hannah waved at him. Short, brunette Hannah from Paris was waving at him here in Burbank. What the hell was she doing here?
"Hi, Chuck," she said.
Casey had to hand it to the kid. His smile may have been weak, his wave a little jerky, but he rose to the occasion. "Huh?"
"Chuck, what's wrong with you?" said Morgan, but Casey didn't think he was referring to the pallor of Chuck's face, or the sudden sheen of sweat, and he wasn't. He smiled at the young woman instead. "Introduce us."
Chuck did his duty, even if it was just social. "Uh…Hannah, this is Morgan, assistant manager of the Buy More. Morgan, this is Hannah, but her friends call her Hannah."
Hannah had a card out, sheer habit, and Morgan clasped her fingers lightly as he took it. "Well, I hope you'll think of me as a friend too, Hannah." He looked at the card. "IT and computer security consultant?"
"I'm in between permanent gigs at the moment," she said. She looked at Chuck like there was something else she'd like to be between.
Morgan looked interested, in more ways than one, and she wasn't trying to look aloof, at least not about the job. Chuck tried to seize the reins of this train wreck before it carried him to the bottom of Bartowski Ravine. "She's completely overqualified."
"So are you, now that you have that Stanford degree," said Morgan. "If she wants to spend some of her time here who am I to say no."
"It's only a livable wage if you live in a closet."
"I've got money," said Hannah. "It's not a dream job, but I just really wanted to see about…this place. You made it sound so…special."
"What's the matter, Bartowski?" said Casey, who couldn't care less about Morgan's love life except when it suited his purposes. "I'd almost think you didn't want Mr. Grimes to extend an offer of employment to this fine and talented young woman. I know if a lady like her followed me from the ass end of nowhere to my place of business I'd want to keep her close."
"Well," said Chuck, catching his drift, and realizing every person standing at the Nerd Herd desk was frowning at him. "That's true, her being here does indicate a certain…special…and anyway it's really Morgan's call."
"Yes, and thank you for remembering that detail," said Morgan.
"Bored now," said Casey. "I'm gonna get a yogurt. Come on Bartowski, you know I hate to eat alone." He grabbed Chuck's arm and walked off, pulling the younger man behind him.
"The most important meal of the day," said Chuck as he went.
"Be prepared to give her a proper Chuck Bartowski tutorial when you get back," said Morgan. He gestured toward his office. "This way, Hannah."
At the Orange Orange…
"Hey guys," said Sarah when they came in, polishing the clean counter, just to look busy. "How's your day been?"
"Well," said Chuck, "It's had a bit of a déjà vu-ish quality about it lately…"
She stopped polishing, wondering what had come back around. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Casey decided to translate. "Remember Chuck's seatmate from the Paris trip? She just walked into the Buy More and asked for a job." He turned the sign on the door to Closed.
Sarah tossed the rag into the sink. "Why would she do that?" She headed into the freezer, and Castle. They had to call this in, get a full work-up on this suddenly-very-interesting person started at Langley.
"Don't look at me," said Chuck.
"Unfortunately we sort of have to, Bartowski," said Casey. "The only thing that connects her to this place is you. You had to go and tell her where you really worked?"
"Hey, I said Buy More, I didn't tell her which one," said Chuck, annoyed. "Credit me with a little intelligence."
"That's about all I do credit you with, moron."
"Something brought her here, you two," said Sarah, as the door to Castle cracked open. "And we're going to have to go over Chuck's report of the flight with a fine-toothed comb until we find out what it was."
The next day…
"Hey, Chuck," said Morgan, positioning himself by the desk as he always had. Some things never changed. "The old Buy More's just humming along today," he said proudly.
"Wow," said Chuck, "And here I thought yesterday was a déjà vu sort of day." That reminded him, and he picked up his statue from where it had fallen.
"Why would you think that, Chuck?" said Morgan absently, watching the door. "Hey, there she is."
Chuck looked toward the door and dropped his statue again. "Oh dear." Hannah, in a black and white Nerd Herder's uniform. In this store. He looked around. Already the crew was grinding to a halt. Staring.
"Morning guys," she said, as if she'd worked there for years.
"Right on time," said Morgan happily. He looked around, noticing both the stasis and the salivation, and his bright smile dimmed. He whirled and whispered at Chuck, "Remember, keep her secret, keep her safe."
"A little bit late for that, buddy," said Chuck faintly, wishing he had his body armor.
Not a déjà vu day, after all. Most days Chuck wasn't glad for Casey's subtle intervention, but this time he couldn't wait to feel that vise-like grip on his arm, that animalistic growl of 'yogurt time'.
"What's the matter, Bartowski?" asked Casey as they crossed the lot. "Usually you resist more."
"You did see that piece of raw meat Morgan just handed me?" said Chuck, pointing back the way they'd come. "Talk about an untamed wilderness."
"What are you worried about, Jack Hanna, it's not like you want her there," said Casey. "And it's a good test. If she's a normal girl she'll be out any second, running for her life."
They paused, looking back. No fleeing damsel.
"Nuts!"
"Where's Shaw?" asked Chuck as he entered the main room.
"He's in DC," said Sarah. "Somebody must have read my report."
That was her cue. She hit the button and lit up their screen. "Special Agent Shaw's affairs are none of your concern," said General Beckman, primly and properly. "In his absence, we have a small matter to be dealt with, a sum of money transferred from a Ring account to a civilian one. For now, you will deal with the civilian, develop him as an asset, and find out what he's doing for the Ring." She transmitted the files. "Regarding the matter you dropped in our laps yesterday, we have no new information to report. This woman's cover story, if it is a cover story, is perfectly borne out by the facts gathered so far. Keep her there and gather more information, and we will be doing the same on our end." She left them to it.
"Manoosh Depak," said Agent Bartowski. "A computer engineer at MIT." His eyebrows rose in respect.
"Dropped out after his freshman year," said Casey. "A classic Geek tragedy."
"Chuck didn't quit," said Sarah, bristling at the implied dig.
"It's a point of entry," said Chuck, smoothing her ruffled feathers. "Not a card I'd want to play right off the bat, and it doesn't look like I'll have to. They fried his computer, he'll need new hardware, and it looks like we have the only hard drives for thirty miles. Not very subtle, are they?"
"No, but they get the job done. Look who just entered the store," said Casey, bringing up the feed. "Get over there and sell him something."
Sarah watched as Chuck raced up the stairs and out of the Orange Orange. "I hope he's up to it," she said. "It's never easy."
"They have a lot in common," said Casey.
"That's what I'm worried about."
Chuck ran back to the store, but as he walked in he saw that he could have strolled. Nearly everyone in the place was standing around watching the Jeff and Lester show, guest starring Hannah, the new girl. She had Jeff bent backwards over the Nerd Herd desk, because she kept coming and he had no place to go. "I am a delicate flower, Goddammit, and you two had better pray you don't hurt my feelings!"
"Yes, ma'am," yelled Jeff, then "No, ma'am," just to be safe.
Chuck looked around and spotted his target, standing in the hardware section, but watching in awe. He walked up next to him and said admiringly, "Glad I'm not in his shoes."
"She's awesome," said Manoosh.
"It's her first day," said Chuck.
Less awe, more terror. "Oh."
"Yeah," laughed Chuck. "Damn right, 'oh'. I'm all for looking for a place to hide, I don't know about you."
"You are the kindest, gentlest, most thoughtful woman that I have ever known," shouted Lester from somewhere behind the desk, invisible from their side.
"Casey!" said Morgan, flinging open his door.
"Not him," said Chuck loudly. He pointed. "Her."
"Oh." Morgan took one look at the frozen scene, Hannah demented, Jeff bent backwards and Lester on the floor, both pleading with their eyes. He smiled at her. "Well, that's all right then." He went back into his office and closed the door.
"Hiding sounds good," said Manoosh, backing away.
"Let's go," said Chuck, pointing at the hardware section, by completely random chance. "I'll pretend to sell you something until she's gone."
A/N2 When you're small you either get fierce or get trampled, and Hannah didn't seem like the sort to get trampled. Plus I didn't want to make her out to be quite the dynamo she was in my last story. I hope you'll drop me a line and tell me what you think of this rewrite so far.