A/N: Hey! I'm back! I'm aware it has taken me a ridiculous amount of time to post this, but this was a hard chapter for me to write, and I would still be stuck if it wasn't because of Aerox. Oh, and you have to thank him for that last scene too (I kind of didn't want it to happen :P). And for making this readable.
Thank you all for reading, reviewing and putting this story in your alerts and favorites, it means a lot. I hope you like this.
I don't own Chuck or HIMYM (again, Aerox's reference) or any other show mentioned in this or any other chapter.
Chapter Ten
It had been a couple of days since they had found LeFleur dead in the FULCRUM base in Silver Spring, and Chuck could sense his bosses were getting nervous. They still hadn't located the bio-weapon and they had no clue when or where FULCRUM was planning to use it. Aside from the (admittedly large) fear of knowing that a virus could be released at any moment, pretty much anywhere in America, he was having a great time. Since there wasn't too much for him or his team to do, he had been hanging out with Ellie and Devon, and he was happy to spend time with his family. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed them until they had showed up and surprised him. Unfortunately, they would be leaving soon. It had been nice to have someone to talk to in the past few days, and, without even knowing it, once again his sister had been there for him when he needed her the most. He still felt guilty about not telling her the truth, but he knew it was the best for everyone. He couldn't bear the thought of Ellie or Devon getting hurt because of him or what he did for a living. He hadn't forgotten about his search for their parents, and that was another thing that made him feel guilty. He knew Ellie deserved to know what they really did and who they worked for, but he would have to explain how he had found out, and that was out of the question. However, he could talk to her and try to get something useful for his search. Truthfully, he hadn't made any progress aside from what he'd read on the files Graham had given him.
So that night, after they had had a few drinks and Devon went to bed, when Ellie and him were sitting on the couch in the living room reminiscing stories from their childhood, he casually asked her, "Hey, remember that car dad had? The burgundy '68 Mustang?"
Ellie smiled. "Yes, I used to love that car. He had special ordered those blue leather seats."
"He used to take us all to the beach when we were kids. We had some good times in that car," Chuck said.
"We did. And because I was the big sister, mom and dad let me ride on the front seat with them, with my legs crawled up. I always ended up asleep on those rides."
"I guess I was too little to remember that. In fact, there's not much that I remember," he told her. Taking a sip of his beer, he added, "What I do remember is mom travelling a lot and dad never leaving the basement."
"Yeah. I guess things weren't that good between them. I never knew what dad did, he never let us go down there." Ellie shrugged and continued, "For the time he spent working I would've thought he was trying to build something, but when he left there was nothing there, just some notebooks and schematics, but nothing really important. I think maybe he was already losing his mind."
Chuck desperately wanted to tell her that their father wasn't crazy, that he was in fact one of the most brilliant scientists that had ever worked for the CIA, but he couldn't. "Maybe he was. I remember one Sunday morning when mom went down to see him, though. It was about a week before she left. I remember she came back crying, and when I asked her what was wrong, she said she was crying because she was so happy to see us all again. Then she took me to the park. She even bought me ice cream that afternoon." He remembered everything about that day. It was a cool October afternoon and he and his mom had gone to the park a few blocks away from their house. She had brought the camera with her, but he never got to see any of the pictures she took. They went to get ice cream and she let him have a double scoop. Six days later, she was gone.
"It's sad, you know?" Ellie said, regaining his attention. "If she ever cared about us she could've just divorced dad; but she chose to leave instead. What kind of mother does that to her children? I'll never understand her. Sometimes I think her departure was the best thing that ever happened to us." Chuck looked at her, incredulous. "Don't give me that look, Chuck. She clearly didn't care about us, and we did fine without her. She ruined dad's life until he couldn't take it anymore and ran away too. And I'm not defending him either. His duty as a father was to stay with us. If you can't take the responsibilities that come with being a parent, then don't become one." He was surprised by the harshness in her tone. Ellie's look softened when she said, "But at least we had each other."
That much was true. The day after their mom left, Chuck blamed himself. He had given her trouble to go to sleep the night before, and he was sure he was responsible for her leaving. He knew it was ridiculous now, but it didn't seem that way when he was nine. After that, their father had become even more obsessive and paranoid about his work, and he barely left the basement. Ellie had taken care of him, making him dinner, helping him with his homework and buying him clothes and everything else he needed. She was the one who had raised him and he would always be thankful for that.
"I know. I don't know what I would've done without you. You gave up a lot of things for me. I will never be able to repay you for all the sacrifices you made so I could turn out to be a decent human being," he half joked.
She chuckled lightly. "Well, you can always come to visit more often, you know? One weekend every couple of months wouldn't kill you…"
"Hey!" he said defensively, "It's only been two months since I left! I was going to visit, I was just trying to adapt to the whole 'living alone and having a real job for a change' thing."
"I know, I know. I just… I've missed you. I guess I was used to have you around, you know?"
Chuck smiled and put an arm around her shoulders. "I know, sis. I've missed you too."
They kept quiet for a few minutes until Ellie broke the silence. "Morgan misses you too. He comes once a week for dinner," she confessed abruptly.
Chuck's jaw dropped in shock. His sister and his best friend were actually getting along now, when he was living in the other side of the country? "What?" he asked.
Smiling a little Ellie told him, "Devon started it. He found him lying in your bed one evening, holding one of his toys and staring at the wall, where your Tron poster used to be."
"We don't have toys, Ellie," he pointed out dryly. "We have collectibles, thank you very much."
Rolling her eyes, she said, "Whatever. He was mumbling something about some chewy guy losing Han forever and seemed miserable. I wanted to call the cops and get a lock for that damn window once and for all, but Devon invited him for dinner instead."
Chuck laughed. "And I take it dinner was a success and he kept showing up?"
"Exactly. He even made a menu that I'm supposed to follow, can you believe that?" she asked.
"Actually, I do. I wouldn't expect anything less from Morgan," he smiled, thinking about Han Solo standing alone on the shelf in his bedroom. He definitely missed Chewbacca too.
Ellie cleared her throat. "So… have you talked to Sarah lately?"
Chuck smiled and shook his head. "No, I haven't." Technically, he had, but those conversations had been only work related.
"I don't know what's wrong with you, Chuck. That girl is so into you she can't even hide it and here you are, not doing anything about it. What are you waiting for?" she asked.
Chuck still had his doubts about Sarah being into him, but he thought it wouldn't be wise to tell his sister that. She would probably smack him and then say he deserved it. "I… I just don't want to screw it up. I'd like to be her friend, and having her back in my life is one of the best things that's happened to me in the past two years."
"Chuck, I'm not saying you have to go and confess your undying love for her..." He narrowed his eyes at her, but she kept talking, "I'm just saying that maybe you could try a different approach."
"What do you mean?" Chuck asked.
"You know, little things. Maybe take her out sometime, or watch a movie. I'm not going to say 'date' because you seem to have a problem with that particular word," he rolled his eyes, amused, "but you know… things friends would do. And keep your eyes open for any signs she may give you. Hopefully you'll have the proof you need before you both end up in a nursing home chasing each other in Zimmer frames."
"Ok, I can do that. Hang out as friends and see where that leads us. That was my original plan, anyway," he said, quirking an eyebrow.
Ellie slapped him in the shoulder. "As far as I've seen, your plan consisted in denying your feelings for her and refusing to acknowledge her feelings for you. So shut up."
He smiled brightly. "This reminds me of the time we had 'the talk'." It was a lie, that time had been a whole different kind of awkward, but he knew that would make her drop the subject.
Ellie's eyes widened and she blushed as she stood up. "Oh, my God, Chuck, you swore you were never going to bring that up again!"
"Oh, but it was so sweet of you." She gave him a dangerous look and he stood up as well, trying to put some more distance between them. "Of course, it was also extremely awkward, but, hey! You did your best."
Ellie grabbed a cushion from the couch and threw it at him. It hit him square in the face, and she started laughing. "Well, how was I supposed to know you already knew all that stuff?"
"Ellie, I was seventeen and I didn't live in a bubble! That should've been your first clue," he was laughing too now.
Looking back on it all, she had to admit she had postponed it for a little too long. But she was only four years older than Chuck and didn't know much either. Taking care of your brother while trying to get good grades in college tended to do that to your social life. "Ok, fine, you're right. I was just trying to be responsible."
Chuck walked towards her. "I know. And that's why I love you. I was very lucky to have you. You were not only a sister but a friend too."
Ellie looked at him, moved by his words. For the first time, she realized her little brother had become a man. A good man. She enveloped him in a hug and whispered, "I love you too, Chuck. And I can't tell you how proud of you I am."
He smiled. It didn't matter that his life had never been normal. It didn't matter that his parents had abandoned him, for whatever reason they'd had. And it didn't matter that many important people in his life had betrayed him, because he'd had always had her. He had all the family he needed and he was holding it right now. As long as he had his sister, he was going to be fine.
The next morning, Chuck was at Casey's, and they were sitting on the couch, waiting for their bosses' call. They both had a cup of coffee in their hands. "You think this is about the bio-weapon?" Chuck asked with concern.
"I sure hope it is," he grunted in reply.
Before Chuck could respond, Beckman's face appeared on the screen. "Good morning, Agents. We finally have a lead on the bio-weapon Dr. LeFleur was building. It's a strain of Influenza so deadly, it can kill a person within one hour if exposed. He worked for the same company Jill Roberts did, which is how we think FULCRUM was able to reach him. We believe they tried to convince him to work for them first, and after he rejected them, they kidnapped him and forced him to do what they told him. We had an Agent watching Roberts in case she tried to escape, but the night we found LeFleur's body, she managed to elude him and disappeared. We haven't had any news about her since then."
Chuck couldn't believe it. "What? You let her get away? She's a FUCLRUM Agent! Why didn't you arrest her after I talked to her?"
"We're trying to get the big fish, here, Carmichael. We thought she may lead us to him," said Beckman.
"Yeah, look how that turned out…" Chuck mumbled under his breath.
Casey cleared his throat and asked, "Do we know when FULCRUM plans on using this weapon, General?"
"We suspect that they are going to use it today, at the convention. Today's the final day and they may be trying to make a statement. Dr. LeFleur was supposed to give this final presentation, so they may even confess his murder to generate more panic and get other scientists to cooperate with them. In no way can we let this go public. As far as everyone's concerned, he died from a heart attack in a cabin he had rented for a vacation. Luckily for us, he tended to be quite… eccentric, so nobody questioned the story. Now, we have to focus on stopping FULCRUM and keeping them out of the public's eye."
"So, what are our orders?" Chuck inquired. He was still mad they had let Jill escape like that, but there were more important things to deal with right now.
"You are going to the convention and you have to stop the release of the virus. Under no circumstances should civilian lives be put in danger," answered Beckman.
"I agree, but how do we do that? Wouldn't it be better and safer for everyone if we just cancelled the conference?" Chuck pointed out. He wasn't sure about this plan, and if they were too late, many people could die.
"It would be, Agent Carmichael, but we don't want to alert FULCRUM or let them know we're after them. This is our best shot to catch the people responsible for Dr. LeFleur's death."
Chuck thought about it. He still didn't like it, but now they had an advantage. The General was right, FULCRUM didn't know the CIA was onto them, and if everything went as planned, they would arrest a few rogue Agents by the end of the day. So he just nodded and said, "Understood, General."
Beckman gave them the last instructions and she disconnected the call. Sarah joined Casey and Chuck about twenty minutes later. They'd all agreed that she would be the one giving the presentation while Casey would pose as part of the public and Chuck would be outside, keeping an eye for any possible suspects.
After they were all set, they headed to the hotel. They spotted three CIA men near the entrance and two other posing as security guards. Sarah and Casey went into the conference room, and Chuck stayed outside, pretending to read some brochures, while he scanned the people around him, trying to find anything suspicious. He finally saw the conference room door closing, and he spoke into his watch, "Casey, Sarah, everything seems fine out here."
"Copy. Same here, but keep your eyes open, Carmichael," was Casey's response.
Sarah walked up to the stage after being introduced and arranged the microphone in front of her. She silently cleared her throat and took a deep breath. Show time.
"Yes, good day, I'm Dr. Eva Anderson and I'm here to talk to you all today about a deadly poison that could change the course of human science. I'm honored to stand before you all today on behalf of Dr. LeFleur. He was a brilliant man and he will be missed…" she trailed off when she saw a guy standing up and reaching for something on his briefcase. "Uh, excuse me, I have to go to the loo…" she said and started to run after him.
Casey saw him too, but instead of following him when he left the room, he went to the spot where he'd been sitting and found a device under the chair. Unfortunately, the virus was already being released, so he gave orders to seal the room. "Carmichael!" he said into his watch, "the virus has been released, we're locked in here. You need to get the antidote, or everyone here is going to die." Then, he spoke up, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a NSA emergency, nobody, I repeat, nobody gets in or out."
Sarah ran after the guy, who was now heading down the stairs. She yelled for him to stop, but he kept running. Finally, she cornered him against the wall. "It's over, drop the gun," she said, aiming her S&W at him. The man just smiled at her. "I said drop it!" He started lifting his gun, but Sarah was faster. One single shot in his chest and he was lying dead on the floor. "Damn it!" she mumbled as she tried to find some kind of ID in his pockets. "Casey, I got him, but I had to shoot him. He has a CIA badge, but I couldn't find anything else," she said into her watch.
Casey answered immediately. "That's great, Walker, but we have bigger problems in here. Find Chuck. You need to get the antidote or we'll all be dead in an hour."
Chuck was panicking. He had an hour before his partners and the people in that room died and he had no idea how he was going to find the antidote. He was about to call Graham to ask for backup, when he saw Sarah rushing through the hallway. Relief washed over him when he realized she was safe. He almost broke out in a full-on sprint as he tried reaching her as fast as possible and, without really knowing what he was doing, he enveloped her on a hug.
Sarah was frozen in place as Chuck held her. "Sarah, thank God you're ok." He suddenly realized what he had done and awkwardly let her go, eliciting a tiny grin from her. He cleared his throat and said, "Sarah, we need to get the antidote, Casey is locked up in that room and the virus has been released!"
She placed a comforting hand on his upper arm and firmly told him, "Chuck, don't freak out. We have time and we're going to figure this out."
He took a deep breath and smiled a little. "Yeah, yeah, you're right, of course. But, Sarah, how are we supposed to find the antidote? Did you get the guy?"
"He's dead," she said, avoiding eye contact. She hated that part of her job and she knew exactly what Chuck though about shooting people. Somehow, that made her feel embarrassed, and she didn't like that feeling.
"Oh." Chuck was wrecking his brain to figure out a way to get the antidote. Suddenly, inspiration struck and he couldn't help himself as he almost shouted, "Jill!"
Sarah narrowed her eyes in annoyance. Why would he bring her up right now? "What?" she asked dryly.
He quirked an eyebrow at her tone, but said, "Sarah, Jill worked with LeFleur, if there's anyone who knows how to stop this virus, it's her! We need to find her and get her to help us."
"Chuck, we don't know where she is, and even if we did, why would she help us? She's running because she knows if we arrest her, she's going to prison. Besides, she probably helped develop that bio-weapon and she's FULCRUM! They are the ones that released the virus in the first place."
"Yeah, well, do you have a better idea?"
Sarah sighed resignedly. "How do we find her?"
He talked fast and animatedly. "Ok, so this is what we know: she was staying at this hotel, but she disappeared on the same night that LeFleur was killed. I heard her talk to Leader about him, so he's implicated in some way. Chances are, they are hiding together. But they don't know we're after them, so they aren't actually hiding, and that is going to make it easier for us to find them." He smiled brightly.
He should write a novel, Sarah thought. What he was saying was ridiculous. The truth was, Jill would probably be in Brazil by now. But Chuck had a point. First of all, she didn't know Chuck was CIA, and she was the only FULCRUM Agent they knew, who had the proper background to know exactly what to do with a bio-weapon… her expression changed from skeptical with a touch of cynic to realization. Maybe his story wasn't that farfetched.
"Ok, we need to look into the security tapes from Leader's hotel and this one too," she said, as she started to walk away from him.
"Hey, where are you going?" he asked.
She stopped to face him. "To Leader's hotel," she stated as it was obvious.
"Why can't I go there?"
She smirked. "Because it's all the way across town and you drive like an old lady."
He chuckled. This probably wasn't the right time to tell her she drove like a maniac. "Sarah," he called. She turned to face him again. "Just… just be careful, ok?"
She smiled one last time and ran towards the parking lot.
Chuck went to the hotel reception and flashed the receptionist his badge. "I'm Special Agent Charles Carmichael with the CIA and this is a national security emergency. I need to watch the security tapes from last Wednesday."
The receptionist seemed shocked, but he immediately called someone on the phone and they escorted Chuck to a room filled with monitors and two security guards. One of them was a large blond guy and the other one was bald and lanky. The tiny room smelled like cigarettes and sweat. He winced as he approached one of the monitors.
"Can you play the footage of the seventh floor from Wednesday, please?"
After a few minutes, Chuck was looking at the hallway of Jill's floor. He saw the large man in a bellhop uniform standing near the door of the room Jill had been staying on. Must be Beckman's guy, he thought. So discrete.
"Can you go forward, please?" The bald guy did as he asked, but he didn't see anything suspicious. Beckman's guy was still standing there.
"Oh, I remember now!" the security guard said. "That man stood there for an hour, and I thought that was strange, so I went to talk to him. I hadn't seen him before, and when I asked what he was doing he said he was just bringing room service. I knew he wasn't, so I asked him to follow me and check with the receptionist." Chuck watched the monitor. He could see the man was telling the truth. Once they had both left, Jill's door opened and she got out in a hurry. And that's how they missed her, Chuck thought. The man was still talking, so he shifted his attention to him again. "He ran. I don't know what he was doing, but I never saw him again. Is he a bad guy?"
Chuck shook his head. "No, he's one of us. The woman who was staying in that room is the one we're after," he replied.
"Oh," the guard seemed ashamed.
Chuck looked at him. "Don't worry, you couldn't know," and with that, he left the room. "Casey, how's the situation in there?" he asked into his watch.
"We're fine for now… some people are deteriorating faster than other. Did you find the antidote yet?" Casey's voice was raspy and he was coughing.
"No, but we will. Hang in there, buddy." Chuck grabbed his phone and called Sarah. "Hey, Sarah," he said as she picked up. "I couldn't find anything here, except that when Jill left, she was alone and nobody was following her. Did you find anything?"
"No, there's nothing here either. But Leader checked out the same day Jill did."
"Ok, what do we do now?" They needed to think, and more importantly, act fast if they wanted to save all the people locked in the conference room.
"What about looking into Jill's bank accounts? Maybe we can find something there," she suggested.
"Ok, I can do that," Chuck said, pulling out the laptop he had brought with him. "I'm connected to the CIA's mainframe, this shouldn't take long." He started typing and he heard a horn on the other end of the line. "Hey, Sarah, you're not driving, are you?"
"Would you please focus on what you're doing?" came her harsh response.
Chuck rolled his eyes. "Ok, ok, I'm in. No cash withdrawals in the past week. This is a dead end."
He heard another loud horn and Sarah cursing under her breath but he knew it would be best not to say anything about that. Suddenly, inspiration struck him. "Wait, wait a second, maybe if we check Jill's parents account we can find something."
"It's a long shot, Chuck. You think her parents are involved?" Sarah's tone was skeptical.
"No, but they were close. It's better than nothing," he answered absentmindedly. "Here… nothing in the past few weeks… but look! They transferred one thousand dollars to an unknown bank account two days ago!"
"Ok, can you trace it? Do we know who's account is it?"
"No, but give me a minute…" Sarah could hear Chuck typing. "Look, that same day someone paid a room at the Harrington. This must be it! Sarah, we need to go check out the guest list and the security tapes there!"
"Ok, I'm almost at the door, hurry up!"
Chuck ran towards the door just as Sarah hit the brakes.
That can't be safe, he thought, but he got in the car anyway. They made it to the hotel in record time and, without wasting any time, they flashed their badges and demanded to see the list of people who had checked in the past couple of days. The receptionist looked terrified as Chuck made it over the counter and started scanning the screen. Sarah waited expectantly.
"You've got to be kidding me," he suddenly said, sounding angry and narrowing his eyes.
"What? What is it?" asked Sarah.
Chuck turned the monitor for her to see. "They checked in two days ago. She said her name is 'Jillian Larkin'. Can you believe that?"
Sarah's eyebrows shot up, but she said nothing. Why is he so upset? "Ok, what room is she in?"
"Let me see… 405."
"Ok, we got her. Let's go," she said, grabbing her gun.
Chuck nodded and they ran to the elevator. They reached Jill's room and, before Sarah could kick the door open, he stopped her and knocked instead.
"What are you doing?" she hissed.
"We don't want to alert her, Sarah, we don't want her to run away again."
She gave him a dirty look, but lowered her gun. "Fine."
They heard steps approaching the door, and then it opened.
Jill looked at them wide-eyed. "Chuck? What are you doing here?"
"Jill, we need you to come with us, now."
When she heard him say "we" she shifted her attention to Sarah, noticing her for the first time. She also noticed she was holding a gun and sporting a murderous look.
"What is this about, Chuck?" she asked again, taking a step back.
Sarah started to say something, but Chuck interrupted her, "You know exactly what this is about, Jill. FULCRUM has released a virus and people are going to die unless you give us the antidote. You can make this easier for everyone and willingly help us or Sarah here can make you. Either way, you're coming with us."
To emphasize what Chuck had just said, Sarah cocked her gun and gave her a menacing look.
Jill dropped her head in defeat as she mumbled, "Ok, let me get what I need."
Chuck followed her closely as she gathered her stuff. "Ok, I'm ready," she said.
"Great, let's go."
They arrived at the hotel fifteen minutes later. The entrance had been fenced and there were a lot of FBI Agents.
Chuck rushed to the man who seemed to be in charge and showed him his badge. "Special Agent Charles Carmichael, CIA. We're taking over the situation." The man was going to protest, but Chuck added, "We have the antidote and we're running out of time, please, back off." With that, they settled in the lobby and Jill opened her briefcase, which contained too many big, scary needles for Chuck's taste.
"We're running out of time here, Jill, how long is this going to take?" Chuck asked.
"Well, first of all, I need a level A Hazmat suit to get in there."
"What? How the hell are we supposed to get one of those now?" Sarah almost screamed.
"Well, unless you're willing to go in there without it, you're going to have to manage to somehow get it," Jill said, venom in her voice.
"You little…" Chuck grabbed Sarah's arm before she could hurt Jill in any way. They needed her right now, no matter how much she deserved it.
"Ok, I'll go," he said trying to sound calm.
"What? You're not going anywhere, Chuck," Sara said.
"Sarah, our partner's in there, and a lot of innocent people are going to die if we don't do anything. I'm going in. Jill, tell me what to do," he demanded firmly.
Jill looked at him with a mix of surprise and admiration. "I'm going to have to inject you first." She then proceeded to pull out of her briefcase, one of the largest syringes Chuck had seen in his life.
"No tricks, Jill," Sarah warned her. Chuck closed his eyes as Jill injected something in his arm. He felt Sarah's hand squeeze his own comfortingly.
"No tricks. That was a modified version of the virus strain. Now his body will metabolize the poison and the antiviral serum will be created from his blood," Jill explained.
"Poison? Poison? Sarah, she just poisoned me!" Chuck exclaimed, panicking.
"Chuck, it's ok, that's the only way to make the antidote," she said, a hint of amusement in her voice.
Jill rolled her eyes. "To be fair, he did fail bio-chem, so I wasn't expecting him to understand that," she stated.
"Hey! Just tell him what he has to do once he gets inside," was Sarah's cold response.
"Ok, give me your arm," she said, looking at her watch.
"Again? What are you going to give me now, Ebola?" he said, sounding terrified. Sarah smiled warmly and held his hand again.
"Relax, I'm not going to inject anything. I need to extract your blood. As I said before, your body metabolized the antidote, so now…" she explained as she took the blood and put it in the centrifuge, "I just do this and… here's the antidote," she said, grabbing two syringes and filling them with it. "You're going to have to inject 1cc of the serum into each of the infected."
"Is this going to work?" he asked.
"It is, Chuck," she nodded.
"Ok, well, wish me luck," he said as he grabbed the syringes.
Sarah gave him a reassuring nod and whispered, "Go be a hero."
He flashed her his trademark grin and walked towards the door. As he stepped into the room, he saw people lying on the floor and on the tables. Some of them had already fainted. Chuck spotted Casey immediately.
"Carmichael, what are you doing here?" the Major asked between coughs.
"Don't worry, Casey, I have the antidote," he showed him the syringes. "Here, give me your arm." Casey did as he was told and Chuck injected him the serum.
"That's it?" Casey asked.
"Yeah, you should be fine now. Can you help me with this?"
"Yeah, what's the dose?"
"1 cc each."
The two of them managed to give everyone the antidote in less than ten minutes. Chuck called Sarah and told her it was safe to send the paramedics in. As he and Casey were making their way out of the room, they were welcomed by a rapturous applause. He grinned and looked for Sarah's face in the crowd. When he found her, he was pleased to see her smiling proudly at him.
After making sure everyone was safe and shaking a few hands as well, Chuck went over where Jill has handcuffed next to a couple of CIA Agents.
"So… I wanted to thank you for helping us today," he said.
"I really had no choice," she pointed out.
"Well, that's true, but still." He sighed. This would probably be the last time he saw her, his last chance to know why she had made all of those wrong decisions. "Why did you do it, Jill?" he asked.
Jill looked down. "I was recruited when we were at Stanford. I was told I was serving my country. When I found out what FULCRUM was, I was in too deep and they threatened to hurt my family." Surprisingly, she sounded sincere. She looked him in the eyes. "There's no way out, you know? FULCRUM, the CIA, they are all the same. They won't let you go, no matter what you do."
He shook his head. "Well, luckily for me, I'm working for the good guys here," he said.
"Are you really, Chuck?" she defiantly asked.
"Yes, I am, Jill. Because our guys don't go around killing innocent people just to make a statement. We are the ones who protect them."
She smirked and shook her head. "I guess you're going to interrogate me about Stanford now," she said.
Chuck had to admit he had planned to do it. He was convinced that would be the only way for him to get closure, but he suddenly realized he didn't care. He didn't care why she had left him, or why she had lied about sleeping with Bryce. He was finally over her, and he felt incredibly light after that realization.
"No, Jill, I'm not. I'm over you; I've been over you for a long time. I just hadn't realized that until now." He casted a final glance at her. "Good luck with your life," he murmured, and with that, he turned and walked away from her.
Sarah watched as Chuck talked to Jill. Once he walked away, she approached her.
"Agent Walker, what can I do for you now?" she mockingly asked.
"Nothing. You have no use for us anymore." Sarah's eyes turned dangerously dark as she leaned in and whispered, "With any luck, you're going to spend the rest of your life in jail. But if you ever get out and I find out you come anywhere near Chuck, I'll personally rip your head off, do you understand?"
Jill rolled her eyes and started to say something, but Sarah took a menacing step towards her and she just nodded, scared.
"Good. I'm glad to know we understand each other." She started to walk away, but she suddenly turned around and told her, "You know, you clearly have made a lot of stupid decisions in your life, but letting him go was by far the dumbest thing you ever did."
Jill swallowed, thinking about Sarah's words. The truth was, she herself was starting to rethink a lot of choices she had made along the years. But now she was going to prison, and there was nothing she could do. A tear made her way down her cheek. "I… just tell him I'm sorry," she whispered before she was forced into the backseat of the car by the two Agents.
Sarah was shocked at her last request, but she just shook her head and made her way to where Casey and Chuck were talking animatedly.
"You surprised me, I thought you were afraid to needles," Casey was saying.
Sarah smiled brightly as she said, "He almost fainted when Jill injected him with the virus, but he got over it."
Chuck grinned. "I wasn't going to faint, thank you very much for that vote of confidence. I just got a little dizzy, is all."
Casey grunted. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go home."
"Oh, definitely," Chuck agreed, and the three of them got into Sarah's Porsche. Since Sarah would never, ever let anyone else drive her car and Casey was the tallest-plus he had threatened Chuck with severe bodily harm-Chuck was relegated to the cramped back seat. Sarah had thrown him a sympathetic glance, but that was about all, as he curled up and hoped that the strain he felt in the different muscles that he didn't even know he had, wouldn't leave a lasting impression.
Once they were at the CIA building, Beckman and Graham congratulated them for their work. After they were dismissed, Sarah went back to her apartment and Casey and Chuck walked to their building.
"You did good today, Carmichael," Casey said, breaking the silence.
Chuck grinned. "Thanks, Casey. Although, in all fairness, Jill did most of the hard work."
Casey clenched his jaw. He hated this kind of talk, the ones where people discussed their lady feelings, but Chuck had saved him after all. He cleared his throat. "Are you… are you ok?"
Chuck gave him a shocked look. "Am I…? You mean, because of Jill…?" Casey nodded. "Well, yeah. I mean, it wasn't easy at first, but then I came to the realization that I was over her. I don't know when it happened, but I don't want anything to do with her anymore. She betrayed me; she betrayed her country. She deserves to go to jail."
"She does." Trying to change the subject, he asked, "Is your sister still here?"
"Yeah, she and Devon are leaving tomorrow morning." They made it to the entrance of their building and into the elevator. Before Chuck could set a foot outside it, though, he heard Casey calling his name.
"Chuck," he turned to look at him. It was the first time the Major called him that. "Thanks for saving my life today."
Chuck nodded and headed to his apartment. He noticed someone was waiting at the door.
"Bryce?"
"Hey, Chuck," he said cheerfully. He gave Casey a look. "Major."
Casey just grunted and got into his apartment.
"Bryce, what are you doing here?" Chuck asked.
"I wanted to talk to you before I went away for my new assignment."
Chuck's eyebrows shot up. "You're leaving? Already?"
"Yeah, I've been cleared for field duty. And I'm going deep undercover. That's why I wanted to see you before I left; I won't be able to communicate while I'm under the radar."
"But… you're not going alone, are you?" Chuck worriedly inquired.
"Well, Graham told me I could ask my old partner to join me, but I think it's safer if I go alone. I wouldn't want to end up accidentally dead by friendly fire," he joked.
Chuck laughed. "Yeah, that's probably a wise decision. So, you don't know when you're coming back?"
"No. By now, everybody in FULCRUM must know I wasn't rogue, so the Agency is going to fake my death. I came here to invite you to my funeral."
"That's morbid, man," Chuck said with disgust.
"I know, but we have to make them believe I'm dead."
"So wait… how many people know about this?" Chuck asked.
"Just the bosses and you," Bryce said, getting serious.
"How about Sarah, aren't you going to tell her?"
"The less people know I'm still alive, the better. But I know she can keep a secret. It's up to you to decide if you tell her or not. You obviously know her better than I do."
Chuck nodded. "When are you leaving? Am I going to see you again?"
"I'm leaving tonight. And don't worry, you can go on hating me after we defeat FUCLRUM," he winked and started to walk away. "Take care, Chuck, and take care of Sarah too. Oh, and tell her to look into the box."
Before he got into the elevator, Chuck called him and walk over where he was. "Bryce!"
"What's up?"
"I… I just wanted you to know that I don't hate you. I'm still mad at you, but I'm working on it."
Bryce smiled. "Thanks, buddy."
Chuck extended his hand and Bryce shook it. "Good luck, Agent Larkin."
"Good luck, Agent Carmichael."
Chuck was about to enter his apartment when he thought about what Bryce had told him. He knew Sarah was going to be affected when she learned about his death, whether she would admit it or not, and he didn't want her to get hurt. He decided he didn't want her to get mad at him when she found out he had known about Bryce's secret assignment since the beginning either, so he rushed to the street and took a cab.
Fifteen minutes later, he was knocking on Sarah's door.
"Chuck," she said, surprised, when she opened the door.
"Hi, Sarah, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said with a charming smile.
"Of course you're not, come on in," she invited him and closed the door behind him when he stepped into the living room. "So, what brings you here?"
Chuck swallowed hard when he finally realized she was wearing just a very short, very tight robe. Her hair was still wet from the shower and she wasn't wearing any make up. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"I, uh… I just talked to Bryce," he blurted out.
Sarah's demeanor instantly changed from friendly to cold when he mentioned his name. "So?" she asked.
"He, uh… he told me some things I think you should know." It was going to be impossible for him to concentrate if she was going to keep wearing that. "Maybe… maybe you should change, you know, so we can talk…" he stammered.
She watched him babble, wondering what his problem was, but nodded anyway. "Ok, I'll be right back."
She left him seating on the couch as she made her way to her bedroom. Even if he was there to talk about Bryce –a talk she wasn't looking forward to, whatever it was about- she was glad to see him. She hadn't really talked to him after he'd saved the day a few hours ago. She was so proud of him. For a guy with no training, he made an amazing Agent. He was brave, he was determined and, most importantly, he cared. He didn't do his job for the glory or the commendations; he did it because he believed he could actually help people. And he did. That same day he had saved about fifty people's lives, including their partner's. She smiled when she thought about the boy who had been her friend eight years ago. He had changed, but he was still kind and generous and sweet. And, on top of all those good qualities, he had a killer smile, the one he'd been sporting when she'd opened the door. And she had gotten that fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach as soon as she'd seen him standing there. By now, she was kind of used to it, but she marveled at the power he had over her. She vaguely thought it was a good thing he didn't know about it, because it would be close to impossible to her to ever say no to him. She quickly got dressed and went back to the living room.
"Hey," she said. He was reading a magazine.
"Hey. So… which one do you think is better, the AK-47 or the M16?" he jokingly asked.
"Well, it really depends on what you're looking for. The AK-47 is less accurate but reliable and easy to maintain. The M16 need intensive maintenance and it's less reliable, but it has a carrying handle, and the AK-47 doesn't…"
"Ok, ok, I get it, you know your guns, Agent Walker," he said, putting her copy of Guns & Ammo back in the coffee table. She didn't say anything as she seated on a chair next to him.
"So…" he started. "Bryce came to see me today. He wanted to tell me he's been cleared for field duty," he paused. "Sarah, he's going deep undercover. And for that to work… he has to fake his death."
Sarah looked at him and nodded. "He said only Graham, Beckman and I knew about this, but I wanted you to know too. I… I don't want you to get hurt again."
She had to smile. "Thank you, Chuck, I appreciate that you're telling me this. But Bryce and I are over."
"I know, I know you are. But… I don't know. I just thought you should know." He shrugged before adding, "Oh, he also asked me to tell you to look in the box."
Sarah quirked an eyebrow. "He did?"
Chuck nodded. "Yeah, I don't know what he meant, but that's what he said."
"Ok, let's see what this is about," she said, standing up. Chuck stood up too, but didn't follow her. She turned around, "You don't want to know?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just…" he shook his head and followed her into her bedroom. It was just as clean and empty as the rest of her apartment, he noticed. She opened a door to reveal a huge closet.
"Wow, it's like another room in here, Sarah," Chuck said, stepping in.
"Well, a CIA Agent has to wear a lot of different outfits," she pointed out.
"Yeah, and I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you're a woman and it's written in your DNA that you love shopping," he joked.
"Hey, that's sexist!" she said, playfully hitting his shoulder.
"Maybe, but really, who needs so many shoes?" There were at least twenty pairs.
"Shut up, I'm trying to find something here, Bartowski," she replied, turning her back to him.
"Yeah, right…" Suddenly, something caught his attention. There was a shoe box in a shelf. It wasn't completely closed and he thought he saw something familiar, so he moved to retrieve what was inside it. The wrapping paper that was left was a little yellow on the edges. He smiled brightly as he took the book in his hands. The blue cover was a little old, but still intact. He'd loved that book when he was a kid. His dad had given it to him for his 12nd birthday, and he'd read it in a day. He could still remember how much Sarah –Jenny at the time- had liked it, which had made him decide to give it to her. He couldn't believe she had kept it for all those years. Ok, maybe he could believe she'd kept the book, but the wrapping paper too? Why would she keep it? Besides, it was in a shoe box in her closet, not in a bookshelf. A thought crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. Surely, she had her reasons. Maybe she just didn't want to be called a nerd, so she hid it. But maybe… maybe this was one of those small pieces of proof that Ellie had told him about. Maybe she had kept it almost exactly as he gave it to her because she cared about him. Really cared about him. Maybe he was more important to her than he thought. Maybe she even had… feelings for him too. He just stood there, a smile slowly forming in his face, when she turned around to face him, "I found it!" she said excitedly, but her smile disappeared and she blushed furiously when she saw what he was holding.
She looked down, not knowing what to say, as Chuck took a step closer to her. "You… you kept it," he almost whispered.
She forced herself to meet his eyes. They were filled with emotion and she felt overwhelmed. Suddenly, she was very aware of his proximity, and her heart was beating like crazy. "Of course I did," she shyly said.
"I… I'm glad you liked it," he said, smiling.
She smiled back. "It's my favorite book. I told you so the first time you made me read it."
"If I recall correctly, you were skeptical that a story including an alien named after a car because his name is impossible to say, his semi-cousin, a robot, and two humans could be interesting at all."
She chuckled. "Oh, but you proved me wrong, didn't you?" she said, now taking a step forward.
He could smell her shampoo now that she was standing so close to him. it was difficult for him to focus when her scent filled his senses and his whole body was practically screaming at him to just hold her and kiss her. "I… I believe I made my point, yes," he nervously replied.
Sarah was having trouble to breath now, and Chuck was still teasing her. Why hasn't he kissed me already? It was taking her all her willpower not to jump him right there and right now. She looked him in the eye again and he finally saw it. She wanted it too. He saw the raw emotion in her eyes, and he felt a ridiculous need to dance, but he didn't care. He finally mustered up the courage to put a shaky hand on her cheek. He hadn't been that nervous since his first kiss. She blushed a little but she didn't back away. He was amazed by the fact that she seemed to want this as much as he wanted it. He started to lean down, and she closed her eyes as she waited for him to close the gap between them. He was about to kiss Sarah. He was about to kiss the woman of his dreams.
And then his cell phone rang. Ellie would have been horrified had she known the number of profanities that crossed his mind at that exact moment. And talking about Ellie, he almost groaned in frustration when he saw her face in the caller ID. He just shook his head, and, cursing his luck a little more, picked up.
"Hi, sis," he was trying to be nice, but he sounded like he had just smashed his fingers with the door.
"Hi, Chuck, is everything ok?"
"Yeah, yeah," he couldn't look at Sarah. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to know where do you keep your extra sponges, because I've been cleaning today and the one you had is ruined."
Chuck thought he was going to cry. "You… you want to know… I… I don't have any, Ellie," he managed to say, resisting the urge to punch the wall.
"Chuck, I've always told you to keep an extra…"
He interrupted her before she could give him a lecture about extra sponges and their benefits. "Is there anything else, Ellie?"
He heard silence on the other end, until she softly spoke, "I interrupted something, didn't I?"
"Maybe. I… Can we talk when I get home, please?"
"Yes, I'm sorry, Chuck, I…"
"I have to go, Ellie, goodbye." He didn't want to be rude, but his sister had an awful timing. First, she had arrived to DC the same night he and Sarah had a date. Because, even though he'd tried to deny it, it had been a date. And now, she just ruined the most perfect moment he and Sarah had shared since reconnecting a month ago.
He turned to face Sarah, who was looking down at the box she still held in her hands. "Sarah… I'm, I'm sorry, it was Ellie, she… she wanted to know something about…" he paused, mortified. Did he just get cockblocked by his sister asking about sponges? Before he could help it, he burst out laughing.
Sarah was beyond frustrated. She had been about to kiss Chuck. She had seen his eyes closing, she had felt his warm breath tickling her lips. And then his damn phone had rang. To make things even worse, the idiot was now laughing at her. She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to decide where to hit him first, when he started to recover and said, "I'm so, so sorry, Sarah. That… that was Ellie… she wanted to know… where I keep my… my extra sponges."
Her jaw dropped. That was single-handedly the stupidest thing she had ever heard. She tried to stay angry, at the universe, at Ellie, at Chuck's stupid sponges, but she couldn't. She started laughing and Chuck quickly joined her. After a few minutes, they were finally able to recover. She still wanted to kiss him, badly, but the moment was gone. Soon, she promised to herself. Taking a deep breath, she asked, "So… should we look into this?"
Chuck's eyes shifted from her to the small box she was holding. Smiling a little, albeit thoroughly disappointed, he nodded. They both got out of the closet and took a sit on Sarah's bed. She opened it and found several IDs and passports. "This is where we kept all of our aliases' IDs and documentation when we were partners," she explained. "I don't know what we're looking for, though."
"What's that?" Chuck asked, pointing at a closed envelope.
Sarah frowned. "Uh, I don't know, that wasn't here before." She opened it and started to read the letter. Chuck watched her intently. She finally put it down, still clenching it in her hands.
"So…?" Chuck asked.
Sarah swallowed. "That, uh… that's his spy will. Or as he called it, his 'fake spy will.'"
"Oh." Chuck didn't know what to say.
"Yeah. He… he wanted to say how sorry he was for doing everything he did. And he asked me… he asked me to protect his best friend… you."
Chuck smiled. "That sounds like him," he said. "He asked me to take care of you too, you know?"
Sarah shook her head. "That's not your job."
"Oh, I don't think of it as a job, at all. It's more like a hobby, a pleasure, even," he joked.
"Shut up," she said, standing up.
He stood up too, and headed to the door. "Well, I guess I'll be going now, I have things to do and apparently, sponges to buy."
She chuckled and said with a mischievous smile, "Yeah. Just make sure you have enough for the next time."
He swallowed hard, thinking about the implications of her words, but still managed to grin at her, "Oh, I will. Goodbye, Sarah."
"Goodbye, Chuck." She watched him as he got into the elevator and then closed the door and rested her back against it. She debated going over to his apartment and doing something vaguely harmful to his sister just for ruining the moment they just shared. It had been perfect; it would've been perfect, damn it. She padded back to her couch and dropped on it with a grunt. Her head lulled backwards and she closed her eyes, trying her hardest not to explode in a fiery ball of rage.
He had –sort of- promised a next time though, so there was that, but it could've been sooner. She stood up and sighed. She might as well go to bed. Nothing good happened after 2 AM anyway.
Just as she was about to cross into her bedroom, she heard a knock. Who the hell is that? She opened the door and in front of her was Chuck, bouncing on the balls of his feet. As he looked up, his face sported his characteristic grin.
"Chuck?"
"Forgot something."
Her question died on her lips as he dove forward and pressed his lips to her in flurry of movement. She barely had time to respond –although she did manage to eagerly return it for a couple of seconds- before he pulled back. He was still smiling. "Goodnight, Sarah."
Sarah stared at him in near shock, before seemingly finding her footing again. She was, after all, a top CIA agent. He shouldn't have had this effect on her. But that was a moot point now. "Goodnight Chuck," she echoed, before he trod off and she let the door fall back in its lock, before walking into her bedroom and collapsing on the mattress.
Yep, today had been a good day.
A/N: aaaaaand that's it for today. Just FYI, I don't know a thing about viruses and that kind of stuff, I just copied what was mentioned in Chuck vs. the Ex. I know, shame on me.
Now, I need to ask you a favor... could you pretty please leave a review and tell me what are your thoughts about this chapter? It would mean a lot.
Thanks for reading! Until next time.