A/N: Sorry for taking forever to update! I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled out, and let me tell ya, trying to write while on Percocet is a terrible idea. Thanks to mxpw, who did an awesome job as usual beta-ing, this chapter is legible.
And again, thanks to you, the readers, for keeping up with this fic, and leaving reviews! It really means a lot!
October 2, 2007
Casa De Bartowski
7:20 AM PST
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Chuck reached his arm over to his nightstand and flipped off the alarm clock. He had been lying awake for the past four hours; lost in thought. The second he lied down on the mattress for bed last night, everything hit him all at once. What was he going to do about Operation Orion now that he had three handlers that were no doubt watching his every movement, and listening to his every word? Was his father going to just cut him from the team, and get Fleming to help him recruit another person for the Intersect? He didn't want that to happen. It was too risky. After what happened to Bryce, he couldn't bear to see anyone else end up the same way, or worse, lose their lives.
But if he can't figure out a way to sneak past his handlers, then his father would have no choice but to recruit someone else.
Then there was the fact that his handlers were after him. That is, they were after Osiris. His handlers weren't idiots. It was only a matter of time before they found him out. What would they do if they did? What would Sarah do? How would she react?
Another thing that was bothering him was Ellie. After living a life of feeling as though everyone he knew and loved had abandoned him, Ellie was the only person that was there for him. When their father left, she was seventeen, and ready to go off to UCLA. Instead, she went to night school for a couple of years so that she could take care of Chuck. Eventually she had received an anonymous donation (Chuck would later find out that the donation was from their parents), and she was able to enroll at UCLA.
But Chuck would forever be grateful for the fact that Ellie had worked so hard to take care of him; to make sure he had everything he needed. When Chuck had gotten accepted into Stanford, Ellie, already busy with school, helped him find and apply for scholarships. He was sure that without her help, he would have given up even looking for one. He owed everything he had to her.
He repaid her by lying to her about where he went at night. He repaid her by not telling her that he knows where their father is, and on occasion, he'll even talk to their mother. It just killed him inside. But what hurt him the most was the excited, happy look on Ellie's face when he told her that he and Sarah were "officially" dating. His heart had torn in two when Ellie had gripped him in her mother bear hug, telling him that she was happy for him, and that everything was going to be perfect for him now.
Chuck got out of bed, and made his way to the dresser. He grabbed an old, red Stanford T-shirt, and pulled it over his head as he walked out of his bedroom. When he had pulled the shirt down, he came face to face with a large man. Chuck let out a shrill yelp, and instinctively aimed a right hook at the man's face. The man caught Chuck by the wrist and twisted his arm, causing Chuck to flip over. Crashing down on the hardwood floor, a wave of pain surged through Chuck's spine. A shadow washed over him.
"If you didn't scream like a little girl," said Casey, staring down at Chuck with his usual scowl on his face. "You probably would have been able to land the punch."
"When—how did you get in here?" Chuck lifted himself up to his feet. Getting shot two nights ago, and having a bruise the size of Texas on his back because of the bullet, only made the pain of the fall that much worse.
"I told your sister that you gave me a spare key," Casey replied. "And I got here an hour ago."
"Right, well. I ask again," said Chuck. He paused, as he tried not to laugh at Casey's uniform: a black, long-tailed coat, a grey vest, a bow tie, and white gloves. Quickly, Chuck cleared his throat. "How did you get in here?"
Casey turned, and flicked Chuck's nose with his finger. It hurt like hell, and caused him to let out a sneeze. "A magician never reveals his secrets, Bartowski."
"That's funny, because you're dressed like a magician," Chuck blurted out, quickly adding, "Sorry."
The larger man grunted, and made his way down the spiraling staircase.
"Listen, Casey," Chuck called, following him. "I know that you didn't ask for this, and I'm sorry."
"Orders are orders, Bartowski," said Casey, finality in his tone.
As they neared the kitchen, Chuck smelled a delicious aroma in the air. "You already made breakfast?"
"Yep."
"What'd you make?"
"I made your sister a Denver omelet."
"Oh, I love Denver omelets!" Chuck exclaimed happily. "Thanks!"
Casey frowned. "I didn't think you would want one."
"Why wouldn't I want one?"
Casey shrugged. "You told me yesterday that you were fine with toast or cereal."
"Right," said Chuck, his face falling. "I guess I'll go with cereal then."
Chuck scowled as he walked into the kitchen to see Ellie tipping her plate over a trashcan. She was just about to flick the switch for the garbage disposal, when Casey spoke up. "Something wrong with your eggs, Dr. Bartowski?"
Ellie jumped in surprise, and clutched her chest. "What? Oh, uh…they were a bit salty."
"My apologies," said Casey, looking slightly forlorn. "How about I whip you up another omelet?"
"It's fine," Ellie replied, pouring a cup of coffee. "It's a little too much cholesterol for the morning."
"Would you like something else?"
"No, thank you, John." Ellie held up her coffee. "This will do."
"Right." Casey turned to Chuck. "What would you like for breakfast, Mr. Bartowski?" Casey mouthed, "You better say cereal."
For a moment, Chuck considered asking Casey to make him pancakes, but quickly set that idea aside. He reminded himself that he needed to get on Casey's good side. "Just cereal for me, thanks."
Chuck fixed himself a bowl of cereal. For a few silent seconds, Casey's eyes flicked between Chuck and Ellie. "Well, I'll just…uh…if you don't mind, I'll be in the pool house, setting up my things."
"Go right on ahead," Ellie said, smiling.
Casey gave a stiff bow—it looked more like a spasm—and stepped out of the kitchen.
While Chuck was pouring milk over his Lucky Charms, Ellie made her way to a stool and sat down. "How was the omelet?"
Ellie looked over her shoulder to see if Casey was out of earshot and back to Chuck. "You know how there's probably a cup of sugar for every bowl of Lucky Charms you eat?"
Chuck nodded.
"Yeah, well, it's like that, except instead of sugar, I think he put in a cup of salt."
He chuckled, and swallowed another bite of cereal. "He's not really a cook, but at least he's trying. I just see him as a personal assistant. Someone to help me out a bit when you move out." Upon seeing his sister's face falling, Chuck quickly added, "It's good that he can't cook because it'll motivate me to learn for myself."
"I just feel bad about leaving," said Ellie.
Chuck waved off the statement. "There's nothing you need to feel bad for, Elle," he said, smiling. "Remember what I said whenever you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up?"
Ellie laughed. "Big boy."
"That's right," said Chuck. "While I'll forever be grateful for everything you've done for me, I don't think that living with my older sister really qualifies me as being a big boy. Besides, you deserve to do something to help you grow and be happy. Devon's the guy that can help you do those things."
"Yeah, I know," she said, sighing. "Well, at least you won't be completely alone."
"What do you mean?"
Ellie flashed an incredulous look. "Really, Chuck? You're dating Sarah!"
"Oh…right," said Chuck, scratching the top of his head. The thought slipped his mind. "Yeah, I've got Sarah."
"Do you guys want to go out to dinner with Devon and me tonight?"
Lying to Ellie about the Osiris missions was one thing. At the very least, if she found out that Chuck had been lying to her about where he went at night, the only person she'd be angry at was him. But lying to Ellie about Sarah, not only about their relationship, but that she was in the CIA, and she was only "dating" him for cover? That would just break his sister's heart.
Chuck shuffled the cardboard-like flakes to one side of the bowl, so that he could save the sugar-blasted marshmallows for last. "Actually, Sarah and I already made plans. I'm sorry, Elle. You and Dev usually have Saturday nights off, don't you? We could all go out then."
"Fine," Ellie huffed playfully. She got out of her chair. "Well, I'm going to get ready for work."
"Okay," said Chuck, watching Ellie leaving the kitchen. "Later, sis."
October 2, 2007
Legend Enterprises
9:15 AM PST
He stepped out of the elevator on the third floor, and weaved through the maze of cubicles. Reaching the end of the hallway, Chuck saw that Sarah left her office door wide open as she typed away on her computer. She had her hair up in an elegant bun and was wearing a pale blue blouse with a white high waist skirt.
Chuck gently tapped the doorframe with his knuckles, his other hand behind him. "Knock, knock," he called.
She turned on her chair. "Oh, morning, Chuck," she said, smiling. "What's up?"
"Just stopping by to see how you were adjusting on your first day," he replied, stepping into her cubicle. He nodded to the computer screen. "But it looks like you're already hard at work. Already looking for a promotion?"
Sarah chuckled. "What can I say? I'm a fast learner." Noticing that he had one of his hands behind his back, she asked, "What do you have there?"
Smiling, Chuck revealed a vase of a variety of flowers. "I didn't know what kind of flowers you liked, so I got you a little bit of everything," he said, shrugging. He placed the flowers on her desk. "Let's see, here…" The florist had told him earlier what flowers were what, but as he stared at the arrangement of mostly white flowers, he realized that he had forgotten what most of them were. "Well, obviously, these are roses. And uh…I think these bad boys are daisies? I honestly have no idea what these are…" he trailed off, as he fingered a white flower that looked like white roses, but with looser petals.
"Gardenias," said Sarah, smiling bashfully. "They're my favorite. Thank you, Chuck. You really didn't have to do this."
"Aw, of course I did!" he insisted, leaning down closer to her ear. "Besides," he whispered, "every girl deserves some flowers on her first day of work."
"Thanks again, Chuck. They're beautiful."
"You're welcome." He tipped his head, and gave Sarah a wink.
"So where are Carina's flowers?" she asked, smirking.
"Why would I get her flowers?"
"You just told me that every girl deserves flowers on her first day at work," said Sarah, her smirk breaking into a wide grin.
"Okay, I got you the flowers because I thought…I don't know, I thought it would be nice?" he offered, defeated. There was another reason why he brought her flowers, but he wasn't going to say that aloud.
Sarah breathed in the perfume from the flowers. Then she stood from her chair, and wrapped her arms tightly around Chuck.
"Thanks again," she said softly, as she pecked his cheek with her lips.
When Sarah loosened her arms around him, she took a step back. Chuck could still feel a pleasant tingle on his cheek where Sarah's lips made contact. But as he stood there, his mouth slightly gaped, he realized that he must have looked awfully odd.
"Are you okay?" asked Sarah concernedly.
"What? Oh! Yeah," said Chuck, chuckling nervously. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You look pretty tired," she replied. "How'd you sleep last night?"
Chuck let out a long breath. "To be honest, I didn't get much sleep," he said, leaning against the partition.
Sarah sat back down on her chair. As her eyes scanned him, he felt like he was getting X-Rayed.
She crossed her arms. "How come?"
"It's been a tough year," he replied, flashing a tight-lipped smile.
"I could imagine. Finding out that your ex is a part of an evil, secret organization? That can't be easy."
It took a moment for Chuck to realize that Sarah was talking about Jill. He almost blurted "The CIA isn't a secret organization," but then he realized that he and Sarah never really dated.
"Right," he said, nodding. "But I think the thing that's bothering the most is the fact that The OC was cancelled earlier this year."
"Is that a show?" asked Sarah, still looking dumbfounded.
"It was a show," said Chuck. "A really addicting show at that."
"Hmm."
"I would watch it with Ellie," he explained. "We would laugh, and we would cry—sometimes we'd yell whenever Marissa did something stupid, which was pretty much every episode." Chuck sighed, feeling slightly nostalgic, and looked down at his watch. Although he was the top guy, he liked to set an example. Showing up late for work because he was busy flirting with his fake girlfriend would make not only him look bad, but Sarah as well. "I should go check in upstairs. Don't want the shareholders to think I'm slacking, you know?"
"For sure," she said, nodding. "Do you want to go out for lunch later?"
"Yeah, sure," he replied. "12:30 okay?"
"Sounds good," Sarah replied, smiling. "Thanks again for the flowers."
"You're welcome! Well, I'll see you later, Sarah."
"Bye, Chuck."
Chuck gave Sarah one last smile before he stepped out of her cubicle. Once again, he weaved through the maze of desk clusters and cubicles, and back over to the elevator. After he pressed the "Up" button, he leaned his shoulder against the wall.
He stepped into the crowded elevator, and pushed the button for the top floor. After the usual, "Good morning, Mr. Bartowski" greetings from the people inside of the elevator, everyone fell silent.
He noticed that Sarah was more chipper today than she was yesterday. Maybe she had found a medium—a mix between her spy mode and her more chipper mode? While it was confusing, he did prefer this "medium mode" Sarah more than the rollercoaster one. But then again, they had only talked for less than five minutes. For all he knew, she could go back to Emotional Rollercoaster Sarah when they went out to lunch later.
Women—they truly were life's unsolvable puzzle.
October 2, 2007
Chuck's Office
11:37 AM PST
Chuck had been reading some reports written by, Glen Stacey, the CFO of his company. Essentially, he was supposed to sign off on which departments deserved higher budgets, and which departments were going to have to make budget cuts.
He tossed the report down on his desk, and looked around his office. A year ago, when he was dating Jill for the second time, she told him that his office needed a few homey touches. His office was now decorated with two loveseats, a large coffee table, a plasma screen TV, an Xbox, and a mini-bar.
He was extremely tired. For the last three nights, he probably only had an average of two to three hours of sleep. Getting up from his chair, Chuck walked to the other end of his office, and grabbed a Red Bull from the mini-fridge. He cracked open the can, and took a long sip.
When he sat back down behind his desk, Carina walked in, carrying even more reports for him to read over.
"Oopsie!" She dropped the stack of folders right next to his desk. Chuck bent down to pick them up, but Carina grabbed his wrist. "Don't worry about it, boss," she said, winking. "I got it."
Carina turned around, so that her back was facing Chuck, and she slowly bent down. Her skirt began to hike up. He quickly averted his eyes, but not quickly enough to see Carina holding a tiny black object in her hand. A wave crashed over him.
Map of Moscow
GLG-20
Short-range listening device
Map of Moscow
Chuck fought the urge to detach the bug from the leg of his desk. He felt violated. While he had guessed that the CIA would want to keep him monitored, it seemed to him that the courteous thing for them to do is tell him that they needed to plant listening devices in his office. Casey would probably have had his whole house bugged by the time he got home. It wasn't like he was a criminal. He knew why they wanted his office bugged. They were for his protection, but all the same, he felt violated.
As Carina straightened up to put the folders on his desk, Chuck quickly blinked the flash away.
"Clumsy little me," she cooed. "So, Chucky, how about you and I get some lunch in a little bit? You've been working so hard! You deserve a break."
He opened his mouth to tell her that he already had lunch plans with Sarah, but before the words could come out, Bryce came into his office. Carina's face went from playful and flirtatious to an icy glare when she saw Bryce. It felt as though the temperature in the room dropped.
"Hey, Carina," said Bryce in his usual cocky tone. "Did you miss me?"
Carina snapped her head back to Chuck. "If you need anything, just let me know, Mr. Bartowski." Without another word, she dashed for the door.
Bryce grabbed her wrist. He gave her a wink. "It still works, you know." His eyes flicked down pointedly to his lap.
The redhead snatched her arm back, and never in Chuck's life has he seen such an angry expression on a woman. "You're such an asshole."
After Carina stomped out of his office, Chuck shook his head at Bryce. "Dude, seriously?"
As Bryce wheeled himself over, he flashed Chuck a grin and shrugged. "I thought she'd want to know." He handed Chuck yet another stack of folders. "You need to look over those immediately. The marketing guys say they need more funding, and they wanted me to ask you if you could approve."
Chuck rolled his eyes, and opened the top folder. It wasn't another budget request, but rather, a note.
Your office is bugged—Thanks for the newsflash, Dan Rathers, Chuck thought—I'm going to hand you a pair of sunglasses, saying that you left them in my office on Friday. It's an update. We're going to be passing you coded messages from now on to let you know what you have to do, and this update will help you decipher the codes. Read this part aloud—
"This is garbage, man," said Chuck, turning on his paper shredder. "Tell Jerry in marketing that we need to put all of our focus on the L-Phone release for now."
"What am I, a messenger?" Bryce placed a hand in his coat pocket. "Here," he held up a pair of sunglasses. "You left them in my office last Friday."
Before he reached over to take the glasses, Chuck put the note through the paper shredder. "Thanks. I've been looking for these."
"No problem," said Bryce, wheeling himself backwards. "Well, just look over the reports, and I'll be back later to see what you think, all right?"
"Sounds good," said Chuck. "Oh, I was supposed to ask you, do you think you can write me up a business plan to start a nightclub chain?"
"You're thinking about starting a nightclub chain now?" Bryce played along. "Where?"
"You know, here, New York, Vegas…pretty much all of the major cities," said Chuck. "Do you think you can write up a quick run down by tomorrow?"
"I'll have it ready for you by tonight," said Bryce, winking.
"Thanks, man."
"I'm going to get back to work. You need anything else?"
Chuck shook his head.
"Okay, then I'll see you later."
"Yep. Take it easy, man."
Bryce nodded, and began to head out of Chuck's office. Chuck held up the sunglasses. The note had told him to put them on once Bryce had left, but he was supposed to meet up with Sarah in thirty minutes. What if he passed out?
Reluctantly, Chuck brought up the sunglasses and placed them over his eyes. Red letters sprawled across: Ocular Identification Complete—Intersect Update in Progress.
A series of images flipped faster than the eye could see through the lenses, and Chuck's eyes were twitching uncontrollably. His head felt heavy. For the second time in two days, he passed out from an Intersect update.
"Chuck? Hey, Chuck! Wake up!"
Chuck woke with a start. His head ached, and there were fuzzy images of old buildings, mountains, lakes, and random portraits still flickering. He tried to blink them away as he looked up to see a blurry Sarah hunched over him.
"Oh…hey, Sarah," he groaned, rubbing his temples. "What are you doing here?"
"It's ten till one," said Sarah, looking befuddled. "We were supposed to go get lunch twenty minutes ago."
"Wow! I'm so sorry!" he cried. "I must have dozed off."
"I don't blame you," she said, gesturing at all of the reports on Chuck's desk. "I always thought CEOs just sat around their office and drank scotch."
Chuck laughed. "That's what I thought too, but it looks like we were both wrong."
Sarah picked up one of the folders that Bryce had left and weighed it in her hands. "God, you read through all of these? Is that how your typical days go?"
He nodded. "Indeed." Chuck took the folder from Sarah.
"I don't know about you, but I'm starving." She patted her stomach. "You ready to go?"
He looked down at the folder, and back up at Sarah. "Can you give me like five minutes? I just want to skim through this really quick, and we can be on our way." Holding the folder up, Chuck offered Sarah a crooked grin.
Sarah groaned. "Fine, but if we come back late, I'm pretty sure Linda is going to be pissed."
Linda Jenkins was the head of human resources for Legends' corporate branch.
"It'll be fine," said Chuck. "I'm your boss's, boss's, boss. If they give you any crap, I'll have a word with them."
"Ooh, big man on campus!" she quipped, giggling.
Chuck shrugged, and opened up the folder. "Five minutes, okay?"
"Fine," she playfully huffed, walking over to one of the loveseats.
Exhaling a breath, Chuck looked down at the report that Bryce had given him. Immediately, he felt a flash coming. What seemed like a regular budget report now revealed a hidden message.
Fulcrum is using the Demetrios family to leave a dummy trail for the CIA to their intel. Athena (Jill) informed us that Fulcrum moved their headquarters to Virginia. Cygnus (Bryce) is going to set up a fake business trip for you to go to Virginia on Thursday morning. Hansen is going to have to go with you. Fake an illness, and tell her to go to the meeting to take notes for you. The meeting is going to be a business dinner, around 8:00 PM EST. It'll last until 11:00 PM EST at the latest. You will have two hours to break into Fulcrum's HQ, and extract the intel.
The base is located at the Prewitt Building in Richmond, VA.
Cygnus will have an identical suitcase to yours with all of the Osiris equipment. Make the exchange an hour before your flight.
If you need to make contact with me, sign on to your Xbox Live account. We'll communicate that way. Most likely, the NSA wouldn't have had that line bugged, but double check to be sure.
Orion
Chuck grabbed a pen to sign his name at the bottom of the page. When he was done scribbling his signature, he closed the folder.
His father really knew how to plan ahead.
Still, he had his worries about his next mission. Although he had played Perchik in his high school's production of Fiddler on the Roof, he was never good at pretending to be sick. It could have been due to the fact that Ellie was born with a sixth sense for detecting illnesses in others, but he had never been able to fake sick with her.
He looked up at Sarah. She was scrolling through an iPod with an amused look on her face.
"Okay," he announced, as he stood up from his chair with the folder in his hand. "Ready!"
She placed the iPod on the table. "Finally!" she cried.
"Hey, it didn't take that long," said Chuck. "And aren't you going to take your iPod?" He pointed to the coffee table.
"That's not mine, it's yours."
"Huh…so that's where I left it," he murmured to himself. He walked along side Sarah out of his office. Carina was sitting at her desk, looking slightly depressed, but mostly bored. "Carina? Do you want to do me a favor?"
"What do you need?" she asked.
"Can you fax these documents over to Bruce in accounting for me?" He handed her the folder. "I'd really appreciate it."
"Will do, sir," Carina hissed, yanking the folder out of his hand.
"Thanks, uh…do you want me to get you anything?"
"You can get me a gin and tonic."
"Jamba Juice it is, then!" he cried, chuckling dramatically while the CFO's assistant, Brenda was awkwardly gaping over at them. "What do you like?"
Carina rolled her eyes. "Razzmatazz."
"Okey Dokey!" Chuck clapped his hands together. When he brought his arms back down to his side, Sarah wrapped one of her arms around his. For a moment, he was confused, but he quickly realized that it was to sell their cover. Why Sarah would want to sell their cover at his workplace, he didn't know. It would probably make her extremely unpopular to their coworkers. But then again, he was the one that brought her flowers earlier that morning.
October 2, 2007
Outside Club Aries
9:15 PM PST
Thanks to Casey, and his strong desire to perfect Ellie's quiche recipe, they were an hour behind schedule. According to Sarah, it was extremely out of character for Casey to be that distracted before a mission. But Chuck knew better. His older sister had a way of cementing a person's feet to the floor when she was trying to teach them something. Ellie would have made an excellent teacher.
Chuck, Sarah, and Carina were stretched out in the back of the Hummer limo, while Casey sat in the driver's seat. Chuck wasn't a big fan of Hummers, but he had to admit, it was extremely comfortable riding in the back of the gas-guzzling limousine.
Chuck sat across from Sarah and Carina. He was wearing a dark grey button shirt, tucked into his black slacks. Over the shirt, he had on a black vest, which he thought was overkill, but he didn't say anything when Sarah had told him that he looked very dapper. Sarah was breathtaking, dressed in a black, one-shouldered, form-fitting mini dress. Carina was dressed in a maroon, low-cut, halter dress. Chuck guessed that Carina had found a way to entertain herself by making him feel uncomfortable. During the limo ride, she would bend down, showing an insane amount of cleavage, and a little more, in front of him. Since he was a gentleman, he would quickly avert his eyes away.
The limo came to a halt.
"What did we discuss earlier, Bartowski?" Casey's voice sounded from the front seat.
"Quiche recipes," said Chuck, jokingly.
Casey responded with a noise that sounded like a sleeping bear getting poked by a stick.
"I'm to let Sarah and Carina do all of the talking," said Chuck. Casey really needed to learn how to take a joke.
"That's right," said Casey. "Walker, give him the watch."
Sarah rolled her eyes, and dug through her handbag. She pulled out a long, narrow box and handed it to Chuck. "This is a GPS tracking device and communicator. If, for any reason, you get separated from Carina and me, we'll be able to pinpoint your location."
"Unless there's a Galaga machine in there, I really doubt I'd get lost."
"We have to take all precautions," she said, smiling. "It's just standard protocol, Chuck. Don't worry too much about it."
"Hmm." Chuck looked down at the watch. It was a chrome TAG Heuer. The face was black with chrome hands, and was slightly bigger than the watch he was wearing before. In his opinion, this watch was too extravagant for him. He preferred something simpler. "So after tonight, I can just give this back to you guys, right?"
Sarah and Carina exchanged looks. Sarah looked guilty, but Carina merely had an exasperated look on her face.
"You're going to have to wear it all the time," said Carina.
Chuck groaned inwardly. "So you're pretty much going to know my bathroom schedule then."
"Damn right," Casey grunted. "There's a panic button on that watch. It's not a toy. You are only to push that button when you're in danger."
Chuck had to fight to keep his eyes from rolling. He wanted to tell them that if they didn't interfere in his life, then he would still be safe from "the other agencies," as Sarah called them, but he kept his mouth shut.
"Understood," he grumbled, turning to Sarah. "So we ready to go?"
Sarah nodded and looked over her shoulder at Casey. "You're going to have to open the door, big guy."
He could hear Casey grunting and mumbling something as the big man got out of the driver's seat. Sarah winked over at him while the door opened.
"Thank you, good sir," said Chuck, handing Casey his old Rolex as he stepped out of the car. "For your trouble."
Casey opened his mouth to most likely make a retort, but stopped when he noticed the watch. "Not bad, Bartowski. You're serious?"
Chuck shrugged. "It was in my gift basket when I went to some technology convention in Tokyo. I have more watches at home. Keep it."
"Gonna have to get the bracelet resized," Casey mumbled to himself, looking pleased.
Sarah wrapped her arms around Chuck's. "Let's go."
Nodding, he let Sarah lead the way toward the club entrance. For a Tuesday night, the lines were long. People with cameras crowded around the entrance. Chuck guessed that there were probably some drunk socialites inside the club. He never understood why people took so much interest in them.
Carina took his other arm. When he tried to pull his arm back, she resisted.
"Is this necessary?" Chuck asked, nodding pointedly to his left arm.
"Yep," Carina replied. "It'll help us get in faster."
"How so?"
"Just watch and learn, Chucky," she replied as they approached the entrance. Immediately, Carina grinned seductively up at the bouncer, who swallowed. "You think you can let us in, big boy?"
The bouncer gaped dumbly at Carina, and his mouth dropped even wider when he saw Sarah. When he turned to Chuck, his eyebrows scrunched together. "You look familiar."
"Do I?" Chuck asked warily. "I guess I have one of those faces."
"I've seen you while I was in line at the grocery store!" the bouncer cried, letting out a triumphant laugh. "You were on that rich person's magazine!"
Chuck chuckled awkwardly. "Oh, yeah," he said. "I'm Charles Bartowski."
"You own some company, don't ya?"
"Sure."
Sarah stepped forward. "So can we get in?"
The bouncer seemed taken aback for a moment, and then he nodded. "Yeah, come on in."
"Thanks," said Chuck, clapping the bouncer on his shoulder.
Carina winked. "You're so sweet."
The three of them walked inside. The chorus of groans from the people waiting in line was quickly drowned out by the deep, booming bass from the music. They walked down a long and wide, brightly lit hallway.
"So do we just ask someone to see Stavros?" Chuck asked loudly over the music.
"No," Sarah replied, leaning up on her toes so that she can get closer to Chuck's ear. "Since you're probably the freshest celebrity face here, Stavros is going to notice you first."
Chuck never saw himself as a celebrity, so he tried not to roll his eyes at Sarah. When they were about to approach the blonde hostess's podium, a large man bumped into Chuck.
"Oh, sorry, bro," said the man who had bumped Chuck. "I didn't see you—" he stopped when he saw Sarah, his mouth dropping into an O shape. "Sarah Walker?"
Chuck turned to Sarah to see that she suddenly had a surprised look on her face. "Wally Johnson?"
Carina guffawed. Although Chuck wanted to imitate her, he had another thing on his mind. Wally Johnson? Was this the Wally that Sarah had told him about? The guy that she said she dated back when she went to Harvard?
He looked up at Wally. The guy was, simply put, an Aryan beast! He was taller than Chuck, and had dark blonde hair, blue eyes, his neck was the size of an oak tree trunk, and his biceps were probably bigger than a soccer ball, and he was at least three inches taller than Chuck.
Suddenly, Chuck's head felt heavy.
A silhouette of a woman running on a beach
Walter Franklin Johnson
DOB: 03/18/1979
OMEGA: Field Agent
A silhouette of a woman running on a beach
As the flash washed away, he realized that he was lucky that no one had seen his eyelids flutter. Sarah was too busy giving Wally a look of disgust (Chuck didn't blame her—the guy was more ripped than a body builder), and Carina's eyes were flicking between Sarah and Wally.
"It's good to know you still remember me," Wally said in a voice that sounded very much like Mike Tyson's. Chuck would have found it funny if this guy didn't look so damn intimidating. "I must have left an impression."
Sarah sneered. "Hmm…no, I don't think so," she said coolly. "It's just hard to forget a guy who got expelled for roid possession."
"They were all-natural herbal supplements!"
Sarah said something, but Chuck wasn't listening. Instead, he was formulating a plan. He needed to call Bryce or his father to let them know that he flashed on an Omega agent, but he didn't have the untapped phone that Bryce had left in his car with him. Chuck knew that he could slip past Sarah and Carina by excusing himself to use the restroom, but he still needed a damn phone. In this day and age, and especially at this over-priced nightclub, he really doubted that there would be any payphones.
But as he looked around for ideas, he saw the blonde hostess chatting with someone on her cell phone. If he was lucky, then maybe she'd leave her phone on her podium, and he could swipe it is he walked passed her.
He turned to Sarah, and she was glaring disgustedly at Wally grinning over-confidently down at her.
"Damn, Sarah," Wally exclaimed. "You are one hot looking piece of ass."
Chuck couldn't fight the flash as it began to overwhelm him. When the flash went away, his right leg wanted to deliver a jumping snap kick to Wally's face. His arms wanted to put Wally in a sleeper hold. He struggled to fight the flash away.
One part of his mind told him that no one should ever talk to Sarah that way. The other part of his mind, reasoned that it knew that, and he would get the chance to kick Wally's ass later. For now, they had to keep their composure.
Carina nudged Chuck in the ribs with her elbow. Snapping back to the moment, he saw Wally's outstretched hand that resembled one of those Incredible Hulk gloves. Reluctantly, Chuck took it.
"Nice to meet you, man," said Chuck, forcing what he hoped to be a friendly grin.
"Word." Wally released Chuck's hand, and turned back to Sarah. He flashed her another overly confident grin. Although the flash had faded away, Chuck still wanted to punch the stupid grin off his face. "I'll see you around, Sarah."
"Yeah…don't count on that," she said, watching as Wally strutted out the door. She turned back to Chuck, and gave him a look that told him that she wasn't going to talk about what just happened.
Wordlessly, Chuck, Sarah, and Carina walked toward the hostess's podium. The young, blonde woman placed her phone on top of the podium, and Chuck saw his opening.
"Good evening, Mr. Bartowski," said the hostess cheerily. "I just heard that you were here!" She gestured to her phone.
Chuck smiled kindly, and waited for her to continue.
"We have one private room left," she continued, grinning so widely that Chuck was certain that she was in pain. "Would you like it?"
He turned to Sarah, who nodded, and back to the hostess. "Yes, please."
"Okay, right this way."
Chuck watched the hostess intently as she turned around, waiting to see if…bingo! She forgot her phone. He let Sarah and Carina walk ahead of him, and as he passed the podium, he quickly swiped the phone into his pocket.
"Actually," Chuck called to the hostess. "Can you tell me where the little boys' room is?"
"Oh, of course," she said, still smiling widely. "It's in that hallway to your right, across the dance floor."
"Thanks," he said, turning to Sarah. "I need to…you know."
"Okay…uh…do you want me to go with you?"
"What?" Chuck snickered. "I'm pretty sure I can handle it."
"I bet you could," said Carina in a sing-song tone.
Chuck ignored her, and turned back to the hostess. He asked her where their private room was going to be, and after she told him, he quickly made his way to the men's room. But as he walked across the dance floor, he could see a long line of men waiting.
Well, calling his father from the bathroom was a bad idea. He glanced around the club, and he saw an empty booth to his right, about twenty yards away. Once again, he walked across the dance floor, ignoring the intoxicated women dancing up on him, over to the booth. He settled in, and gave a quick once over to make sure that Sarah and Carina didn't follow him. When he was sure that they didn't, he dialed Bryce's number.
The dial tone rang three times, when Bryce picked up his phone. "Bruce Leonard."
"Bryce, it's Chuck," he said into the receiver.
"Chuck? Whose phone are you calling me from? Aren't you supposed to be on a mission right now?"
Chuck had to press the phone tightly to his ear to hear Bryce over the music. "Yeah! I stole this phone from the hostess. But Bryce, I just flashed on an Omega agent!"
"What?"
"I just flashed on an Omega agent!" he repeated. "Run a check on Walter Franklin Johnson for me! See if you can find out where he's either living or staying!"
"Okay. Are you going to go after him?"
"Well, I can't right now! I'm going to think of a way to ditch the handlers, and I'll take care of him later!"
"Right, well…good luck with that!"
"Thanks, I gotta go though! They're going to think I'm pooping!" Chuck slammed the phone shut, and swiftly stepped out of the booth. As he made his way to the bar to drop the phone off, he realized how odd he must have just sounded to Bryce. But Bryce was a smart guy. He'd figure it out.
He dropped the phone off at the bar, telling the bartender that he found it on the ground, and he made his way up the stairs to the private room where Sarah and Carina were waiting for him.
Carina held up a martini glass, and handed it to Chuck. He wasn't a big fan of vodka martinis, but just to have something to do, he took a long sip of the bitter drink.
"Thanks," he said to Carina. "So when's Stavros getting here?"
"Hopefully, he'll hear that you're in this room, and he'll come in to say hello," Sarah replied, squeezing the wedge of lime into her glass of gin and tonic.
"And if he doesn't?"
"Then you're going to have to ask a waitress if you can see him."
Chuck nodded.
"Tell her that you have a business prop—" Sarah was cut short when the door burst open. A man only an inch or two shorter than Chuck, with his brown hair tied back in a pony tail walked into the room. An attractive, but flustered looking, short woman with thick brown hair followed the man inside. The woman was mashing the buttons on her phone in frustration.
"So sorry to intrude, but when I heard Charles Bartowski entered my club, I just had to come and say hello!" The man spoke with a light Russian accent. He reached his hand out in front of Chuck. "My name is Stavros Demetrios, and like I say, this is my club!"
"Not too shabby," said Chuck, shaking Stavros's hand. "Chuck Bartowski."
"Yes, yes, I know!" Stavros chuckled heartily, and released Chuck's hand. He looked behind Chuck at Sarah and Carina. "I'll let you get back to entertaining your lovely girlfriends."
"Actually," Carina interceded, standing up. "Mr. Bartowski wanted to talk business with you."
Stavros eyed her up and down. Apparently, he liked what he saw. "Is that so?"
"Yes it is," she said, gesturing to the booth across from Chuck. "Why don't you have a seat?"
"Don't mind if I do," said Stavros, winking, not at Carina, but at Sarah. Something began to churn in Chuck's stomach. Stavros sat down in the booth, and scooted over so that his girlfriend could join them. "First things, first, drinks are on the house tonight."
To Chuck's surprise, Sarah giggled giddily. He remembered that she was only there as his ditzy girlfriend, but still...hearing Sarah giggle like that was extremely odd. "Oh my god! Thanks!" she cried in an airy tone.
"It's not a problem, sweetheart," said Stavros, kissing Sarah's hand.
"Oh, gosh, Chuck! Isn't he sweet?" asked Sarah, bumping her shoulder into him, and giggling. Yes, he had heard Sarah giggling before, and he knew it was her cover, but this ditzy, airy giggle really unsettled him. The same went for this Stavros fella. Chuck wasn't the type to immediately judge anyone without getting to know them, but this guy had a pony tail, and he reeked of douches.
Sarah gave Chuck an urging look with her eyes to let him know to play along. Chuck scowled his best Captain Kirk scowl, and turned to Stavros. He made sure to eye Stavros so that it was obvious that he was scoping the Russian playboy wannabe out. Chuck was going to show this turd who had the bigger stick.
"Meh," Chuck grunted, giving a halfhearted shrug. "Alright, Stavy, let's talk business."
"Certainly."
"I'm thinking of starting a chain of nightclubs around the country," said Chuck, ignoring the sharp kicks that Carina, who was supposed to be the mediator of the meeting, was sending him. He knew that he was supposed to remain quiet through this mission, but he needed to show this douche who's boss.
"Is that so?" asked Stavros, looking slightly confused. "That's nice for you."
"It could be, yeah," said Chuck. He picked up his martini. It took him a second to remember how Connery drank his martinis in the old Bond movies. Once Chuck remembered, he did his best Connery impression in taking a sip.
"And why would you need to talk to me about that?"
Carina opened her mouth to reply, but Chuck spoke first. "While I may be one of the youngest billionaires in the world," he started, adding cockily, "I'm sure you knew that. I'm sure you also know that I run the one of the most profitable companies in the world."
Chuck winked to Sarah to let her know that he knew what he was doing. While she tried to maintain her airy grin, he realized that he didn't know what he was doing. He should probably let off the cockiness a bit.
"Anyway," he continued. "I don't know the first thing about running a club, let alone, a chain of clubs. That's where you come in, my friend."
He nudged Carina so that she could jump in. "Mr. Bartowski knows that your clubs are among the best in LA. He would like you to be the head manager of his new chain of clubs."
"That's right," said Chuck. "I want you to be my number two."
He had to stifle a chuckle after he realized what he had said.
Stavros ran his hand along his chin, looking lost in thought. "I'm very busy at the moment. I'm starting up another club."
"Really?" Chuck already knew that, but he played along anyway. "What are you going to call it?"
"The Windfarm."
"Eek…don't call it Windfarm," said Chuck, scrunching his face in disgust. "It makes me feel gassy for some reason."
Carina kicked Chuck harder than before. Okay, maybe insulting the guy's stupid club name was a bad idea.
"I've already started some planning for my chain," said Chuck, quickly bringing the meeting back to order.
"Is that so?" asked Stavros, looking intrigued. "What do you have planned so far?"
"Well, let me call up a buddy of mine, and I'll show you." Chuck took his phone out of his pocket and held it up in front of Stavros. The phone was the latest Legends Phone model, and it was the first touch screen phone in the world. "Pretty sweet phone, eh? I designed it. It's not out yet though."
He made a show, in front of Stavros, as he flicked his thumb across the touch screen through his address book. When he got to Bryce's number, he pushed the send button.
"Yeah?" Bryce answered.
"Bruce, my man," said Chuck, "you got that rundown for the clubs ready for me?"
"Yep."
"Send it on over, ASAP," said Chuck.
"On it," said Bryce. "How's the mission going along?"
"Okay, Bruce," Chuck said, rolling his eyes, and pretending that he was exasperated. "Michael Jackson didn't come over to my house to use the bathroom. He was about to. But his sister did!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Janet, duh!" Chuck exclaimed, laughing.
"Wow…" Bryce murmured. "Okay, I sent them. Good luck, man."
"Thank you." Chuck pressed the end button, and waited a moment. A few seconds later, he got Bryce's email. "Okay," he said, handing the phone to Stavros. "That's the general rundown. We're covering all of the major cities, and yeah. Just read it over."
Stavros read through the rundown, looking genuinely impressed. While he was busy reading, Chuck felt Sarah's hand on his shoulder, pulling him down.
"What are you doing?" she whispered. "You're not supposed to say anything."
"Don't worry about it," he reassured, softly, barely moving his lips. "I know what I'm doing. It's going to work. Trust me." He winked at her, and after a moment, she winked back.
"Damn it!" cried the woman sitting next to Stavros, clutching menacingly at her phone. "Piece of shit!"
Stavros looked up from Chuck's phone. "What's wrong?"
"My phone isn't working!"
"I'll get you a new one." Stavros shrugged, and turned back to read through Chuck's phone again.
"No, Stavros! This phone is my life!" she cried, shaking her phone for emphasis. "It has everything from dates, names, music, recipes—"
"Whoa," Chuck interceded, "you're a cook?"
She ignored him. "I can't go back to my life before this phone! I am freaking out!"
"Okay, okay," said Chuck. Finally, the woman turned to face him. "Just go to your happy place. Think of something that makes you happy. Take deep breaths now."
She closed her eyes, and inhaled a deep breath and exhaled. "Turkey…muenster cheese…egg bread. Grilled."
"Was that…was that a sandwich?" Chuck asked, impressed.
"They're sort of my passion. I own a deli at the BuyMore plaza."
"You're Lou?" he cried in disbelief. Lou's Deli made the most amazing sandwiches. Sure, they were pricey, but totally worth it. Sometimes, Chuck used visiting Morgan as an excuse to go over to the deli. "Wow! I love your sandwiches!"
"Oh," said Lou, blushing slightly. "I didn't realize…I mean, I'm there every day, and I don't think I've ever seen you before."
"Hm…well, it's always packed!" Chuck laughed, but stopped when he felt Sarah elbowing his hip. He turned to her, giving her a confused expression, but she had her poker face on. It was unreadable. Deciding that Sarah just had a strange muscle spasm, Chuck turned back to Lou, his hand outstretched. "May I see your phone?"
"Why?" asked Stavros suddenly looking up from Chuck's phone. He grabbed onto Lou's wrist to stop her from handing Chuck her phone.
"I think I can fix it," Chuck replied. "Actually, I know I can."
"How do you know?"
"Because I'm a genius."
Stavros was glaring at Chuck.
"I'll just take my phone to the Nerd Herd tomorrow," said Lou, looking at Chuck. "Thanks for the offer though."
"No problem," he said, winking.
Stavros tossed Chuck's phone back to him. "Well, Jack, I mean, Chuck," he began. "I'm very intrigued by your business plan, but there's not enough information."
"That was merely a short rundown, Mr. Demetrios," Carina spoke up. "We can have a full presentation ready for you tomorrow afternoon."
"And how much money will I be making?"
"You and Mr. Bartowski will split the profits 70/30," Carina replied.
Stavros looked down at his hands. Chuck could tell that he didn't like him, but he could also tell that there was nothing more important to Stavros than money. "If you decide to sign the contract tomorrow, you'll get five-hundred grand upfront," said Chuck, ignoring Sarah's tight grip on his knee. He held up his phone. "And I'll throw in one of these bad boys to boot. How about we meet up at one o'clock tomorrow?"
Stavros smiled greedily, and clapped his hands together. "Well, I'll see you all tomorrow at one then!"
"Will do," said Chuck, standing up. "We're going to get going now. It's been an absolute pleasure meeting with you, Stavros."
"Likewise, Chuck." Stavros shook Chuck's hand, gripping it tightly.
Chuck pulled his hand back, and held both of his arms out. "Ladies."
Sarah and Carina took one of his arms each, and without another word, Chuck led them both out of the room.
"What the hell, Chuck?" Carina demanded, once the door had shut. "You almost blew the mission!"
"I just had a sudden urge to out-douche him," Chuck replied. "And I didn't blow the mission, so…you're welcome."
"What was up with you flirting with that Lou girl?" asked Sarah, looking angrily up at Chuck.
"What?" Chuck asked, abashed. "I wasn't flirting with her!"
"Hmm…'Oh, Lou!'" she mocked. "'I love your sandwiches!'"
"Wow!" he cried, exasperated. "You were the one that was flirting with Stavros first!"
Sarah scoffed. "I only did that for my cover! He took notice of me, so I went with it!"
"Either way, you were blatantly flirting with him."
"You were blatantly flirting with his girlfriend," she retorted.
"It wasn't flirting!" he insisted.
Chuck and Carina exchanged bemused looks. He didn't know why Sarah would be mad about him complimenting a woman's sandwich making ability. Sure, Lou was pretty, but she didn't hold a candle up to Sarah. Maybe he should say that to Sarah. No, he decided. That might make her uncomfortable. "Seriously, Sarah, I'll take you over to her deli sometime. She really does make good sandwiches."
"I don't want to—" Sarah stopped herself from saying more. "Listen, Chuck, like I said yesterday, we're cover dating. We're supposed to be happy together, and if you're going to be ogling other women, that would be really bad for our cover."
Chuck rolled his eyes in frustration as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "Oh, wow! Says the woman who went on gushing about how sweet some douche bag with a pony tail was!" he laughed humorlessly. "I tell someone that I love their sandwiches, and all of a sudden, I'm ogling her?"
"Offering to fix her cell?"
"I was being a good Samaritan," he argued. "It's like you see someone stranded on the freeway, and their car needs a jump, so you offer them one. Except, in this case, instead of a broken car, it was a broken phone. And you heard her, that phone was her life! She was freaking out, Sarah!"
Before they stepped out of the club, Sarah stopped. She looked past Chuck to Carina. "Hey, Carina. You step out first, and Chuck and I will meet up with you in a bit."
Carina released Chuck's arm, and sniggering, she left through the door in front of them. He turned to Sarah, who was looking around the club. "Why can't we all leave together?" he asked warily as she looked back at him. "Is there something wrong?"
"I'm going to kiss you."
What did she just say? Maybe he heard her wrong, and she actually said, "I'm going to kill you," or "I'm going to kick you?"
"Ex—excuse me?" he choked out.
A/N: Dun, dun, dun!
You guys want to know what happens next? A lot. Thanks again for reading, and as always, reviews are appreciated! I will try like hell to get the next chapter up by Sunday at the very latest! A lot of stuff is going to go down! :)