A/N: First of all, I want to thank you for the incredible feedback. I seriously didn't expect it and I kind of freaked out a little there, but now I'm ok. Thank you for the reviews, the story alerts, the author alerts and favorites.

Ok, so this is the first chapter of the story. I was going to publish this tomorrow but I finished it earlier, so I thought, why wait? No Sarah for now, 'cause I felt the need to write a whole chapter to explain where each one of them were at this point of their lives, so chapter two is going to be just about her. I hope you like this one.

If you spot any grammar/spelling mistakes, please, point them out.

I own nothing.

Chapter One

February 2004 – Burbank, California

Twenty three year-old Chuck Bartowski woke up in the couch of the apartment he shared with his sister. He slowly opened his eyes. Sunlight filling the living room, he couldn't help but see the mess he and his buddy Morgan had left the night before. Six bottles of beer carelessly scattered on the floor, cheese balls everywhere –even in his bushy beard, although he couldn't see that –, XboX controllers on the table and several plates with half-eaten slices of pizza. Growling, he tried to get up, but after the second try, he gave up. It looks like it's still early, anyway. He closed his eyes, deciding that a little more sleep wouldn't be so bad. But before he could even start to doze off, he heard someone coming.

"I can't believe this, Chuck!" Ellie Bartowski loved her brother more than anything in the world, but she was sick of watching how he threw his life away.

Chuck pretended to be asleep, but Ellie knew better. She always did. She went to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water. She tried again "Chuck, I know you're awake, open your eyes".

Chuck didn't listen. And that was the wrong choice. Leaning over the back of the couch, she threw the water to his face.

He wasn't expecting that at all, so he just jumped off the couch, his face and shirt soaking wet. "What the hell, Ellie? Are you crazy? What are you doing?" he was seriously pissed now.

"Oh, right, sure… I'm the crazy one. I'm the one who has been doing absolutely nothing with my life for the past two years. I'm the one who sleeps in a couch, lives out of junk food and plays videogames 24/7 with my man child friend". Ellie knew she would regret saying those things later, but right now, she was being what her brother needed her to be: his older sister, the only one in his life who could tell him the truth and prevent him from becoming some kind of gamer vegetable.

"Well, if I am so much trouble for you, why did you ask me to move in in the first place?". He was yelling too, even if he wasn't aware of that.

"Because you're my brother Chuck, and I love you! But I just can't do this anymore… I can't just sit and watch how you throw away your life like this! You're a smart guy! You could have a future if you'd work for it! Why don't you wanna move on? Why do you keep clinging to the past?"

"I don't! There's nothing I want to do more than to forget it! Just forget all the crap I had to go through… but guess what? I can't! Because every time I even think about moving on, I see his face, I hear him telling me that I had done that to myself. And then I see my girlfriend telling me that she slept with him. So excuse me if my life bothers you, I just can't do it! I just can't!" and with that, we collapsed into the couch, hiding his face in his hands. He wasn't going to cry, especially not in front of his sister.

He felt a hand on his back. "Chuck", Ellie said softly, "just please, would you listen to me? I love you, little brother, and I hate that you had to go through all that stuff. I know it still hurts, but it's been two years, you have to move on. You are the smartest guy I know, and I know you can do anything you want. You just have to leave this couch. You don't deserve to live like this. And you definitely don't deserve to be this miserable. I love you, Chuck, and you need to learn to love yourself again". She hugged him and kissed the top of his head, and then left to work.

When he heard the front door closing, he slowly lifted his head. And when he opened his eyes he could see what was in front of him, for the first time in two years. It was the portrait of his life. Chaos. Mess. Dirt. He went to the bathroom and looked himself in the mirror. He didn't recognized the old, easy going Chuck. In his place there stood a guy who, honestly, looked like a homeless person, with a worn out robe and a shirt which must've seen better days. He looked into his own glassy eyes.

Ellie is right. I'm a mess. I can't go on like this anymore. I have to do something with my life. He knew leaving Stanford and everything it came with behind was going to be tough, but in that moment he made a decision: it wasn't going to determine his life anymore. From that moment on, Chuck Bartowski was going to be a new man. And the first thing he was going to do, was getting rid of that ridiculous beard.

Thirty minutes later, he had shaved, showered and gotten dressed. He went to the living room and picked up everything he and Morgan had left there the previous night. Just to think he had been putting Ellie through this almost every night for two years made him feel beyond ashamed. I have to make it up to her.

So when he finished cleaning the living room, he continued with the kitchen, and then the bathroom and bedrooms. He even did the laundry. It was pretty late when he finally was able to sit down. Taking a glance at the clock, he noticed it was almost two hours till Ellie and Devon, her boyfriend came home. So he decided he would make dinner too. It's not much, but it's a start. I hope it's not too late and Ellie can forgive me.

He made chicken with balsamic glaze. The one thing dad taught me out of me, he thought. He set the table and waited.

About twenty minutes later, he heard the door opening and he stood up, tossing away the gaming magazine he was reading. His hands started to sweat profusely, just like they always did when he was nervous.

Ellie and Devon were immerse in their conversation, so they didn't notice the change in the air right away, but when Chuck cleared his throat, trying to catch their attention, they did. Ellie's jaw dropped and Devon only smiled and said "Awesome", giving him a high five when he passed him by in his way to his room. He knew it was time for the siblings to make peace.

Ellie couldn't talk. She opened her mouth and closed it several times, but she had no words. The transformation in his brother had rendered her speechless, which wasn't an easy thing to do. So she did the only thing she could do: she ran to him and wrapped her arms tightly around him.

They remained that way for a long time, and when they finally pulled away, they had both tears in their eyes. Chuck was the first to talk.

"Ellie, I…"

She interrupted him, caressing his cheek "Chuck, you don't have…"

"Yes, Ellie, I have to. I need you to know how sorry I am for the way I've been and the way I treated you. I have no excuses for the things I did and didn't do in the past two years. And you certainly deserve better. You let me stay here when I had no place to go and you never gave up on me, even when I was such a loser. Since we were kids, you were the only one I could trust, and the one that protected me, and raised me. And I am so, so sorry for being such a bastard to you. But I want to make it up to you, and I'll do anything for you to forgive me. I swear today was the last time you had to see that asshole sleeping in your couch. From now on, you have your brother back. And you can count on me, Ellie, for everything. I would die before disappointing you like that again".

"Oh, Chuck!" said Ellie, holding him again and crying. "I'm not disappointed on you, I couldn't be. You're the only family I have left, and it pained me to see you like that. I love you so much, little brother! And you don't have to do anything for me to forgive you, cause there's nothing to forgive. It's my job to be there for you, and you have to know that I always will be. But is so nice to know that I have you back!" she looked up to him, smiling "and that you finally got rid of that hideous beard". They both laughed at that and it was like nothing had ever happened between them. He hugged her one more time and kissed her cheek. "Thank you, Ellie, for everything. I love you".

She smiled and wrinkled her nose, saying "Hey! What's that smell?"

"Oh, uh, just… a little something I made for dinner. You know, to start making up to you…"

"Woah! Something smells really good in here, what is it?" said Devon, walking into the kitchen.

"Chuck made us dinner!" answered a radiant Ellie.

"Awesome, dude, I'm starving"

And just like that, for the first time in a very long time, they sat together and ate, talked and laughed.

The next morning, Chuck woke up on his bed, for a change, and decided to start looking for a job. If he was going to keep living with his sister and her boyfriend, the least he could do was help with the expenses. So he got up, changed and started working on his resume.

It wasn't a pleasant task for him, given that neither "college dropout" or "expelled because of cheating" looked so good in it, but he tried to rip those thoughts out of his head and continued working. He remembered what Ellie had told him, and feeling a little better, he decided to go out and try to get some job interviews.

The first place he went to was the Buy More, because Morgan worked in there and always talked about how awesome it was. He'd heard they were looking for people for the Nerd Herd, so we decided to try his luck there first. He had only set one foot inside and he already knew Morgan had been exaggerating. As he approached the main desk, two guys seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Hello, good Sir, how may I help you today?" the older, blond one asked him. Chuck winced at the smell of beer on his breath –it was 10 am, for God's sake!- and the fact he apparently wasn't aware of being invading his personal space.

"Jeff, please, leave the gentleman here room to breathe… hello, sir, my name is Lester Patel and I'm here to answer all of your questions". After the short indian guy did something really weird with his hair –or was it a wig?– Chuck decided it was impossible to tell which one of them was creepier.

"Uh, I am… actually here to apply for a job. Is there any way I can meet with the store manager?"

"Barnes, Patel! Stop harassing our customers and go fix computers in the cage" a large African-American man shouted. Approaching to him, he said "I'm sorry about those two, they shouldn't be around people. My name's Big Mike and I'm the store manager, what can I do for you?"

"Oh, uh, hello, uh… I'm Chu… Charles, Charles Bartowski and I'm… uh… well…" Damn, it's been a long time since I've done this.

"What is it, kid? You need a job?"

"Well, uh… actually, yes, yes I do"

"Ok, let me take a look at your resume"

Chuck gave him a copy and waited. It was probably the weirdest job interview he'd ever had. They were still standing in front of the Nerd Herd desk.

"You went to Stanford? Electronic Engineering? You must know everything you need to know about computers to be in the Nerd Herd, am I right?" he barked.

"Uh…yeah, I know a lot about computers, they're kind of my thing"

"Ok, very well then. If you want the job, it's yours. You can start tomorrow"

"Wow… thank you, thank you, sir…"

"Big Mike! And before you start thanking me wait till you'd spent a week in this hell hole" and with that, he walked away and left Chuck wondering if this was the worst decision he had ever made. At least I have a job now, he thought.He spotted Morgan chasing a costumer, asking him where he had bought his shirt, so he decided to intervene "Hey, buddy!"

"Chuck, my man! What brings you here? You wanna plan our COD strategy for tonight?"

"Actually, no, Morgan. There's not going to be COD for a while and, since tomorrow, I work here"

"Oh, my god! I can't believe this! I'm going to work with my best friend! This is the best day of my life!" Morgan was ecstatic.

"Ok, buddy, I need to go home and tell Ellie and the Captain the good news"

"Sure, sure… I'll see you tomorrow… coworker!"

Chuck laughed at his best friend's excitement as he left the store and went back home. Even if it wasn't the job he had always dreamed about, at least now his life seemed to be heading somewhere. He thought about what Ellie had said the day before you can do anything you want. But what do I want? If he was honest with himself, he had never gave up on his dream of being a software designer, not even after the Stanford/Jill/Bryce debacle. Maybe someday. Right now, he needed a fresh start and that was what he was going to get.

Feeling satisfied, he went to buy his new uniform and grab a bite for lunch. Later, he took a walk in the pier. He was feeling pretty good, and that was the first time in years.

When he finally got home, Ellie and Devon were waiting for him and dinner was ready, so he sat with them and told them the news.

"That's great, Chuck! When do you start?" Ellie wanted to know.

"Uh… tomorrow, actually. I've already picked up the uniform".

"That's awesome, bro!" said Devon.

"Thank you, guys. I want you to know that this is only temporal, you know… until I finally find the right font for my five year plan" he joked.

Chuckling, Ellie said "Don't worry about it. And, obviously, you can stay with us for as long as you want"

"Yeah, Chuckster, we love having you here" agreed Devon, winking at him.

After dinner, Chuck went to sleep. He had to be early at work and he didn't want to start with the wrong foot with his boss, who seemed like a… complicated man. So when the alarm clock went off that morning, he jumped out of bed and changed into his new uniform, which consisted in a white short sleeved shirt, black dress pants and a grey tie. Which, by the way, seemed to have disappeared some time in the night.

Walking into the kitchen, he saw his sister making breakfast.

"Hey, El. Have you seen my tie?"

"Oh, good morning, Chuck. No, I haven't… which color is it?"

"Grey. I'm pretty sure it was in my bedroom's chair, but I can't find it"

"I think dad had a grey tie. You can check in the closet where we keep his old clothes"

"Thank you, sis, you're a life savior" he smiled at her.

"No problem. Oh, and I made pancakes, so when you find it come here and have a decent breakfast. I have to go now, my shift starts in half an hour"

"Ok, thank you, El. See you tonight"

"Have a great first day, Chuck" said Ellie, walking out the door.

Chuck went to the closet to look for his father's tie. When he found it and was going to close the door, something caught his attention. There was a folded piece of paper in the pocket of one of the shirts. He retrieved it and unfolded it. It seemed to be a schematic of some kind of machine, nothing he had ever seen before. Well, I guess dad really was crazy. But suddenly he felt curious about the stuff his father had left behind. He and Ellie had packed them in a few boxes and put it on the closet, never actually going through them. He took one glance at his watch. Crap, I'm going to be late. He ate his breakfast, put his tie on and was in the Buy More in record time.

It was a very dull first day. Just a couple of broken cell phones and badly used laptops. He was formally introduced to the creeps he'd met the day before and to a petite Asian girl, who was the only female member of the Nerd Herd. He was secretly intimidated by her and her shameless flirting, but he was going to have to get used to it.

When he finally finished his shift, he said goodbye to Morgan and his new coworkers and went home.

He found that Ellie and Devon weren't there yet, so he decided to wait for them to have dinner, since it was still early.

He headed to his room, but stopped in the middle of the hallway, changing his mind. He went to the closet and retrieved the four boxes with his dad stuff. He sat in the floor as he opened them and started to go through all the notebooks and schematics he had left behind.

He didn't understand any of them. Until he found a letter. It was from his mom. He would recognize that print anywhere. After all, it had been Santa's print for the first six years of his life. But what really caught his attention was the date. It had been sent two years after his mom left, and his father never told them anything. In fact, the letter never mentioned him or Ellie. Instead, it rambled about a secret project that apparently had gone very badly, an Agent X and stuff he didn't quite understood. And the letter was addressed to Orion and signed by Frost. The only thing on it that gave away that there was a previous relationship between his mom and dad was the three small X in the corner of the page. He had missed them the first time, but when he turned the single page around, he saw them. Why would they use nicknames? And who was Agent X? This is so weird, he thought. It was almost like a movie plot. Either that, or his mom was just as crazy as his father. But why did he never say anything about this? Why did he never want to talk about mom? Why did he spend all those afternoons locked in the basement in our old house? Suddenly, Chuck felt like he knew nothing about his family, about his past. He had never had a close relationship with his dad, and not for lack of trying. The man just wasn't into it. Or at least, that was what he had thought at the moment. But what if he was really trying to bring his wife back? What if all of his work was to bring his family back together? Great, now I'm losing it too. Must be in the genes. He put everything back in the boxes and stored them back in the closet.

It was getting late and he was really tired and Ellie and Devon had probably been caught up at the hospital, so he made himself a sandwich and went to sleep. But he couldn't stop thinking about what he had found. He had always been curious and he knew he wasn't one to just let things go. So he made a decision that would change his life.

He got up and turned his computer on. He started to design a searching program, code words Frost, Orion, Mary Elizabeth Bartowski, Stephen J. Bartowski. He knew this might be dangerous, but given the probabilities that something was really going on, he thought it was worth the shot. It was well after midnight when he finished. He left his computer on, doing the research and he went back to bed.

Somewhere in an isolated cabin, an alarm went off. The man inside it rushed to his computer and what he saw left him petrified.

"Oh, Charles", was the only thing he could mutter.

A/N: that's it. Second chapter down. What did you think? Loved it? Hated it? Hit the button and let me know.

I think I'm having trouble with the verbal tenses. If anyone wants to help me with that, please, PM me.

Until next time.

Coming next:

As she looked through the car window in the passenger's seat, trying to deal with the terrible pain that was threating to rip her heart, she vowed to never let her guard down again. There was too much to lose and she knew she wouldn't be able to take it.