CHUCK VS. THE GOOD & NORMAL & WONDERFUL LIFE
SUMMARY: Chuck and Sarah have a wonderful marriage and daughter and live the normal life in a good house at a good island community. Or do they?????
DISCLAIMER: I don't own "Chuck."
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CHAPTER NINE - LONG TIME NO SEE
Chuck and Sarah watched as the Fulcrum boats departed and headed back to the island without any fight.
"I guess they figured it's over?" Chuck asked Sarah.
She nodded. "Once the Coast Guard appeared, more than likely they realized that everyone was alerted to the island and now escape is on their mind," she said.
They watched and waited and about 30 minutes later, more boats and helicopters appeared and headed toward the island. Eventually, another boat pulled alongside the ferry. Chuck and Sarah could see some people in the boat conferring with their Coast Guard sentries and then they saw a man board the ferry. It was John Casey.
He quickly came up the stairs to the pilot's cabin and they let him in.
"Long time no see," he said as he entered the cabin.
"Nice to see you too Casey. I'm glad you're OK," Chuck replied.
Casey looked at the two of them and then he noticed Sallie. "Who's the kid?" he asked.
Chuck and Sarah glanced at each other. Neither knew what to say or how to explain. Finally, Chuck decided to try.
"Well, for the moment, she's our daughter. We were brainwashed or converted into believing that we were married and that we had a little girl. And she's the little girl who they used for that. We need to find her real parents…." Chuck stopped because Sallie looked at him curiously, questioningly. Then she looked scared. He realized that she still thought of him and Sarah as her parents and what he said frightened her. "Maybe we should talk about this later," he said.
Casey looked at Chuck as if he were drunk. He turned toward Sarah. "He's telling the truth Casey," Sarah said. "Fulcrum has a brainwashing facility and fake town set up for that on the island. It needs to be shut down and everybody rounded up. There are a lot of other agents and innocent people who were converted with this process and they need to be helped, including this little girl. Is the island secured yet?"
"It will be soon. I'm just waiting for the signal," he said as he held up a receiver. "Look, the first thing we need to do is get Bartowski out of here. General Beckman wanted him secure ASAP. But Walker, you're going to have to stay. We need you to coordinate things on the island. Right now, you are the only one who can tell us what's going on there. So I'm sending Bartowski back…."
"Back home?" Chuck asked hopefully.
"Negative," Casey answered. "We're sending you to a secure location until we can figure out what's on that island and what is going on. So you three come with me and let's get going."
Chuck picked up Sallie and he and Sarah followed Casey down the stairs to the deck. Casey issued some commands into his receiver and off in the distance, a boat gunned its engines and headed toward the ferry.
"Bartowski, that boat is taking you back to L.A. And once there, some agents will escort you to the secure facility. Just go with them. Walker and/or I will come and get you in a few hours. Leave the kid here and someone will see to her," Casey commanded.
Hearing that last sentence, Sallie's eyes grew wide. She started screaming and she gripped Chuck's neck tightly. "NO, NO, NO. DADDY, DON'T LEAVE ME, DON'T LEAVE ME! MOMMY, DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME. NO, NO, NO, NO!"
Chuck tried to calm Sallie down, telling her that it would be all right and that she would be taken care of. But she kept crying and screaming. Sarah came over to Chuck's side and tried to help calm the little girl down but to no avail. Casey just looked on, not knowing what to do. Finally, Chuck suggested a solution.
"Just let her come with me," he said.
"Bartowski, we don't know whose kid this is. There are some parents who probably very much want her back," Casey replied.
"Exactly. But right now I'm her dad. And until you can cure her and find out who she belongs to, she should probably just stay with me," Chuck said.
Sarah looked at the wailing child and Chuck. "Do you think you can take care of her OK?" she asked.
"Well, I've had some experience with her in the last couple of weeks. It's the best solution for now, don't you think?"
Sarah nodded and turned to Casey. "Let him take her with him until we can get her back to normal. He's right. That would be the best solution."
Casey groaned. "Fine Bartowski. You want diaper duty, you got it. Take her."
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Chuck and Sallie road on the boat back to L.A. with her clutching tightly to Chuck for the entire trip. She wanted Sarah to come too, but Chuck managed to explain that mommy needed to do some work and would join them later. They got back to L.A. where a car and some agents awaited them.
They were taken to some building and put in a comfortable room. Food and a television were there but no phone. So he and Sallie ate, watched television, talked and rested. During that time, one of the agents came in with a file for Chuck to "study and memorize."
Sallie fell asleep on the couch while Chuck looked over the file. It was the cover story for being missing for four weeks. Basically, he, Sarah and everyone else had been kidnapped and held prisoner on the island by a cult. That was the story that would be given to the media and anyone else about the raid on the island.
After he finished with the file, he watched TV again and waited. He looked at his watch. It was about 2pm, about four hours after they had arrived at the secure facility. He heard a noise and the door to the room opened. In walked Sarah.
"You OK?" she asked.
"Just bored," he replied. "What's going on at the island?"
"It's secure and they've rounded up everyone and they're busy assessing who's who and how to cure the people of that brainwashing. They're trying to figure out how the whole process works and if they can cure people of it. It may take a while. Most of the Fulcrum agents were gone by the time we got there," Sarah said with a shake of her head.
"Any idea how long I'll have to stay here? When do you think I can go home?"
"How about now?" she asked.
"Really?"
She nodded and then looked at Sallie who slept on the couch. "We need to figure out what to do with her."
"I can keep her until they find a way to cure her of that conversion or find out who her parents are," Chuck said.
Sarah looked surprised. "Chuck, what are you—"
"I can take care of her. She still thinks we're her parents, so me taking care of her would probably be the best thing for her. And I can just tell Ellie that she was in the same cell at the cult with us and she bonded to us and I'm just taking care of her until they find her parents," he explained.
Sarah looked at the sleeping Sallie. She seemed to be deep in thought. Chuck stared at Sarah and pondered the past weeks. They had been brainwashed into believing that they had been married for years and they had made love many times. He could still recall every wonderful moment of those times and every inch of Sarah's beautiful body. Part of him would treasure those memories for the rest of his life and part of him wished that he couldn't remember any of it because he knew that having Sarah as his wife for those few weeks wasn't enough. He wanted Sarah for a lifetime and he wondered if that would ever happen.
We really need to talk about what happened, Chuck thought. But would Sarah talk? She tended to put up walls on personal things and feelings. He knew that. If she ever talked about this, it would probably be to tell him that it was mistake, that it didn't happen and that it would never happen again. And thinking that, Chuck found himself wanting not to remember the time on that island.
Sarah turned around. "Well, I brought some of her clothes from the house for whoever takes care of her until we find her parents. I guess it would be OK for you to do that. So let's get you home," she said.
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Sarah pulled the car in front of the apartment building and parked. Chuck got out and went to the back seat and unbuckled Sallie from the car seat. When they left the secured facility, Chuck had insisted that they first stop at a store and get a car seat for Sallie. They needed one for her to be safe and secure while traveling in the car and he added that he would need it for the next few days while he took care of the young girl. After Sallie climbed out, Chuck undid the car seat and pulled it out along with the bag of Sallie's clothes that Sarah brought from the island. He closed the back door and then noticed that Sarah still sat in the driver's seat.
"Aren't you coming in?" he asked.
"No. This is family time for you," she replied.
"You are family," he said with a smile.
"Thank you but—"
Chuck heard a squeal from behind him. He turned and saw Ellie rushing toward them. Evidently, she had spotted them from the window and couldn't wait. "Too late," he told Sarah with a chuckle.
And then Ellie was hugging him and crying at the same time. Chuck dropped the car seat on the ground and hugged her back. It was quite a while before Ellie stopped fussing over Chuck and Sarah. She hugged Chuck, pulled back and looked at him with tears streaming from her eyes, and then hugged him again. She did the same routine with Sarah. Then she went back to hugging Chuck. Then back to Sarah. Sallie, who remained standing behind Chuck, didn't know what to make of the tall brunette who hugged and cried and squealed. When Ellie finally settled down and stood in one spot, the little girl spoke.
"Mommy, daddy, who is this?" she asked.
Ellie looked puzzled and her head went from right to left, searching for the source of that voice. Then her eyes went downward and spotted Sallie. Ellie's eyes bulged and her jaw dropped. She looked back at Chuck and then Sarah.
"Daddy? Mommy?" she whispered. A big grin formed on her face.
"No, no, no, NO ELLIE! NO! It isn't what you're thinking! It isn't that! NO! NO! NO!" Chuck quickly said.
He explained the cover story that he and Sarah had agreed on with Sallie, that the little girl had bonded with them while they were held hostage at the cult and that Sallie had suffered some trauma and didn't remember her real parents and that he and Sarah were acting as fosters parents until her real parents could be found. He had to whisper the whole thing so that Sallie didn't hear and get upset.
"So she'll be staying with me and you're going to be Aunt Ellie for a little while, OK?" Chuck finished.
Ellie looked at Chuck and placed her hand on his cheek. She sighed and seemed a little sad. "Well, for a few seconds…I thought that…I just…I…I had a ray of hope there for a brief moment," she said.
"Sis!"
"I know, I know. I just…I just want you to…." Ellie stopped and quickly glanced over at Sarah and then back at Chuck. She smiled at Chuck. But it seemed like a sad sort of smile. "Never mind," she said. And then she crouched down to eye level with Sallie.
"Hi Sallie. I'm Chuck's older sister Ellie. So I'm your Aunt Ellie. It's nice to meet you," she greeted the little girl.
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"Chuck, Sallie kind of looks like you and Sarah," Ellie said after all four of them had entered the apartment.
Chuck nodded but didn't say anything. He showed Sallie where everything was in the apartment, got out a cot that had been stored away in a closet and set it up in his room for her to sleep on. Then he, Sarah and Ellie prepared and ate dinner together. Devon had a late shift at the hospital and wouldn't be back for a while. While they fixed food and ate, Ellie peppered them with questions. Chuck tried to leave most of the answers to Sarah, which wasn't hard as he spent quite a bit of time attending to Sallie. At dinner, the little girl ate only a little and sat there quietly.
"Hey? What's wrong Sallie?" Chuck said in a whisper as he leaned close to her.
"Tired," Sallie said in a faint voice.
"Well that's no problem. We have a place all set up for you to sleep," Chuck said as he stood and scooped Sallie up his arms.
He turned toward Sarah and Ellie to tell them that he was going to put Sallie to bed and found the two watching and smiling.
"What?" he asked.
They stayed silent and kept smiling. Finally, Ellie answered.
"Nothing. Go put Sallie to bed…dad."
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After dinner, Sarah said that she needed to leave. She stood up and walked over to Chuck and Ellie.
"OK, see you tomorrow?" she asked Chuck.
"I'll be right here."
"Do you have to leave?" Ellie asked her.
"Unfortunately, yes. There are a lot of things that I have to catch up on at work and my home. At least I hope I still have a job and a home. Being gone for four weeks didn't make matters any easier for me," she said with a glance at Chuck, trying to communicate silently to him what work she was really referring to.
Chuck nodded. He knew very well that the CIA and NSA were still trying to clear up and figure out things at that Fulcrum island and that it could take up a lot of Sarah's time for a while.
"Well, let me know if I can do anything to help," he said.
Sarah smiled. Then she moved forward, kissed and embraced him. She held on tightly to him for a while. Then she whispered in his ear. "Take care of Sallie. We'll try to find her real parents as soon as possible."
She stepped back, looked at him for a few seconds. Her expression was tender and then she reached up with her hand and stroked his cheek. She looked like that she didn't want to leave. She then leaned forward and kissed him again. "Walk me to my car?"
Chuck nodded and they started to leave but Ellie stepped forward and grabbed one of Sarah's shoulders.
"Sarah, I want to thank you," Ellie said.
Sarah looked puzzled. Ellie smiled. "I don't want to think about how bad or horrible it must have been to be a prisoner. The thought of you and my brother going through something like that just makes me sick and angry. And I am so glad and grateful that you are both safe. I can't tell you how worried I was while the two of you were gone. And I want to say something else."
Ellie then stepped a little closer to Sarah and looked directly in her eyes. "I am so glad that you are Chuck's girl friend and that he has someone like you. I've seen how you look at my brother and I know that you would do anything you could do to keep him safe. And I'll bet while you and Chuck were held hostage at that cult, that you did a lot for him. So thank you Sarah, thank you."
And then she hugged her. Sarah returned the hug and when they let go of each other, Sarah looked back into Ellie's eyes. "Your brother does everything he can to keep me safe too, you know," she said softly. "And he was a big help to me while we were held hostage."
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As they walked out to the car, Sarah noted that she would be at the island coordinating things with other agents and might be out of touch at times. "Are you sure you'll be OK taking care of Sallie by yourself?" she asked.
"Not a problem," Chuck replied.
"As soon as they figure out how to undo this brainwashing, we'll get her going on that. And we're also working on finding her parents. And after everything is sorted out on that island, General Beckman will probably want you and me and whoever else in for a briefing," Sarah noted.
"Just let me know."
They stood by Sarah's car, staring at each other for a moment. Then Chuck broke the silence.
"Sarah…uhhhhh…you know…while we were…ummm…brainwashed…." Chuck stopped not knowing what to say next or how to say it. He thought that they should talk about what they had done while they thought they were married on that island but he wasn't sure exactly how to approach Sarah about it. And Sarah didn't make it any easier by saying nothing and staring back at him with her face unemotional and expressionless. Chuck gave up and decided to try some other time.
"Well, never mind. Good night and drive safely," he said and turned to go.
Her hand grasped his arm and pulled him back to her. "Chuck…we…I…." Sarah smiled and then leaned forward and kissed him. "Good night." And then she got in her car and drove away.
Chuck stood there a little stunned by the kiss. He had expected her to kiss him inside the apartment, in front of Ellie, for cover's sake. But out here, there was no one around, no one to maintain the cover for. Eventually, he wandered back to the apartment and into his room. Sallie was asleep on the cot. He left the lights off so not to disturb her and went over to his desk and sat down.
He thought for a moment and then reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the wedding ring that Fulcrum had put on his left ring finger while he was on the island. Nobody had bothered to ask him to return it when he and Sarah had been rescued. He had forgotten that he had it on his finger until after he and Sallie had been taken to that secure facility. It was then that he took it off and pocketed it and waited for somebody to say something or ask for it back. But no one ever did.
He held it up close to his eyes, inspecting it. It was a plain gold wedding band ring. It looked like real gold. He couldn't help but think about what it would feel like to have that ring on his finger for real, meaning that he was really married to Sarah. He stared at it for a while, then sighed and put it down on the desk. Then he opened a drawer and pulled out a sheet of paper and an envelope. He wrapped up the ring in the paper and taped that paper shut. Then he marked the front of the envelope with the word "Ring" and put the wrapped ring in there. He sealed the envelope and then put it in a box in his closet that held souvenirs and knick knacks from his past.
END CHAPTER NINE
NOTE: This is not, REPEAT, NOT, the end of the story. There is still one more chapter to go.