A/N Wow. I totally failed the past few weeks! End of the summer semester, showing animals in the fair, and family vacations have pretty much dominated my time. To make up for my awfulness, this is the longest chapter yet.
I have exactly one week before Rush, and then I don't know how much free time I'll have to update until college settles down a bit. I plan to update two/three times this week so that if I do go MIA again, you'll have a bit to work with!
Massive major super huge big thanks to everyone who reviewed in the last chapter & for putting up with my hectic schedule. I apologize if I didn't get back to you; a lot of my reviews were scattered in my inbox because it's been so long. I appreciate all of you! Enjoy!
RECAP
The doorbell rang downstairs, startling Chuck and making Sarah smile.
"We'll be in touch," Beckman said and the screen went blank.
Chuck groaned. "Why did I agree to this again?" he asked.
Sarah leaned over and pecked him on the lips. "Because you know it's the right thing to do," and she flounced off the bed to answer the door, leaving a very surprised, yet mildly happy, Chuck sitting on the bed.
Having the old team back together was a blessing and a curse for Chuck. It was great to have Casey back at the Buy More to try and help keep the store from closing, but it was obvious that Casey had other things on his mind.
"Casey. Earth to Casey," Morgan said, waving his hand in front of the big guy. "I think he's comatose, Chuck. Should we call in the troops?"
"What?" Chuck responded, having only just caught the last bit of the conversation while munching on his bagel. "Where're the troops?"
Chuck's tone of voice brought Casey back to reality, ready for action. "What happened, Bartowski?" he growled, causing Morgan to laugh.
Morgan gave Casey a friendly slap on the back. "It's good to have you back, Casey. I missed your battle-like stances at the lunch table."
Realizing that there was no danger, Casey snorted and went back to daydreaming.
"Chuck, did you see the new girl working at the Orange Orange? Her name is Alex," Morgan said, dreamily, unaware that Casey was listening to the conversation. "Gosh. She looks a lot like Ellie, don't you think? Just a bit shorter…"
Casey crushed the soda can he had been drinking, spraying soda all over Morgan's shirt. "Oops," he said, sarcastically.
"Hey, it's no big deal! People crush cans with their bare hands at the lunch table all the time, especially when they're under stress. And it's especially stressful coming back to a job that could be taken from you at any moment, right?"
Morgan stood up, his face alight with awe; he mimicked what Casey had just done to Chuck from behind Casey, and said, "I'll go ask Lester if he has a shirt I can borrow for the day." Morgan was still pretending to crush a soda can on his way out the door.
"It's a harmless crush, Casey. He's never gotten anywhere with Ellie and he won't with Alex, either. As long as she's at least pretending to date someone, Morgan will respect boundaries," Chuck said in defense of his friend.
"It's not Grimes I'm worried about," Casey growled. "It's all the other Buy More freaks. Jeff and Lester go over there for yogurt every free break they have."
"They might just be going to see Sarah. She does look really great with her hair dyed blonde again…" Chuck started, but ended quickly when he saw Casey's face. "Why don't we go say hi? I'm sure they'd appreciate some company." Chuck was glad he suggested it when he saw Casey's brief happiness at the idea.
The two agents walked out of the Buy More, avoiding Big Mike and the recently appointed Assistant Manager, Anna Wu. Big Mike making her the top dog really had been a good idea, in Chuck's mind at least. All the guys listened to her, more or less, and she could be very intimidating when nasty customers came into the Buy More. She was a good fit for the job; they just had to wait and see if she would be able to keep the store from closing.
Alex had warmed up significantly in the past couple of weeks she had been in Burbank. She was still incredibly shy, but she talked to the members of the team when she had to. Alex had also shown an inept skill in self-defense; she had single-handedly knocked out a man who had tried to steal a purse from an elderly customer. Sarah had been chastised about letting the asset get in danger, but it was nice to know that Alex could handle herself if she had to.
"Hey, Chuck," Alex said, her face lighting up, but then falling when she saw who was behind her, "Dad," she managed, before turning around and pretending to be busy cleaning the counter.
"Hi, Alex!" Chuck responded, then added, "Where's Sarah?"
"She and Agent Aaron Parker are in the Castle. They figured I'd be safe enough up here, what with all the surveillance cameras and stuff. Did you guys want the regular?" mainly pointing the question towards her dad.
"Um, no, I think I'll go see what's going on below," Chuck said. "Do you want anything, Casey?" he asked.
Casey grunted out a, "Sure." An awkward silence followed Chuck towards the freezer door.
Not wanting to leave the two completely uneasy with each other, Chuck volunteered, "So Alex, I read your paper about the right to bear guns the other day. Did you know your dad is a major supporter of that stuff too?"
Alex looked up with renewed interest at her father, and Casey cleared his throat before starting in with, "Where do you stand on the Second Amendment?"
Shortly after Chuck left, Casey got a page from the Buy More. Hating to leave his daughter when she was finally opening up to him, Casey started to silence it, but Alex noticed.
"Dad, I know it's just a cover job, but you should probably go back, shouldn't you? The store is in the process of closing. What if there really is an emergency?" Casey grunted. "I'll give you some more yogurt when you come back," she said as Casey headed towards the door.
"It was nice talking about gun rights with you. Maybe you can show me your paper sometime?" Casey asked, still not wanting to leave.
"Sure, Dad," and she waved as he left, already bored with no other customers in sight. She turned around to serve herself some yogurt when she heard the bell above the door ring. Looking at who had come in, she rolled her eyes and asked, "Do you two want the regular?"
Jeff and Lester looked around, cautiously, and Lester asked, "Is your dad gone?"
"Yes he..." Alex stopped. She asked, suspiciously, "You sent him the page, didn't you?"
"Guilty." Jeff said. "Can I have pumpkin, mango, and oreo in a cone, please."
"Uh, sure," Alex said. The combination sounded nasty to her, but, hey, the customer was always right.. Even if the customer was really weird.
Jeff watched her fill his cone silently for a few moments, but then said, in all seriousness as it dripped on her hand a bit, "Can you lick it?"
Lester punched him. "Don't creep her out, big guy. She won't come to our 'you know what' if you act all weird."
"Come to your what?" Alex asked, handing the un-licked cone to Jeff.
Lester looked one way, then the other, as though he expected someone to be listening in. He handed her a flyer, "We have an audition at the Skeeter Barn for Jeffster. We can pick you up if you want to come," he said, sliding his hand across the counter. His hand came off a bit dusty, and he wiped it on the back of Jeff's shirt.
Alex looked at the flyer, and said, "Lester, the audition is almost a month away. I have no idea what I'm doing that night."
"No worries, doll face," he said in his idea of a suave voice, "You just let Uncle Lester know when you find out. It would be a night of new beginnings."
"What would be a night of new beginnings?" Morgan asked, just coming through the door. He walked over to Lester, and clapped him on the back.
"Watching a Kea bird eat the strips of rubber around a car window in New Zealand would be a new beginning for me," Jeff stated, one of his eyes winking awkwardly.
The Orange Orange was silent for a few moments, but was broken by Alex saying, "Jeff and Lester just asked me to go to an audition of theirs. Would you want to come too, Morgan?"
Lester looked offended. "Listen, lady, we only asked you. If we wanted Grimes to go with us, we would have asked him!" Lester tried to throw his napkin in the air, but it stuck to his hand. Still trying to create a scene, though, he said, "Fine. I see how it is. You go with Morgan and see if I care. Fine!" and marched out of the Orange Orange, not knowing he had a 'Kick Me' sign that Morgan had stuck on his back. Alex tried to hold in a laugh.
Alex said, laughing, "Tell Lester I'm sorry I offended him, okay?" Jeff nodded and walked out, licking his ice-cream cone.
"They are so funny!" Alex stated, "How can my dad not like them?"
"Eh, you know. Sometimes they get annoying. Did I ever tell you about the time they got their tongues stuck to a metal pole outside the Buy More? That was great."
Alex laughed then asked, "Did you want some yogurt, too, Morgan?"
"Uh, no, actually I just had a question for you. Would you want to play Halo tonight?"
Alex was definitely not expecting that. "What?"
"It's not a date or anything," Morgan started, but then he realized what he had just said. "Seriously, it would just be two mature adults playing a video game, maybe we could order in some pizza..."
Alex interrupted him, "I'd like that, Morgan! Really, I would," but then her face fell, and she said, almost bitterly, "But I don't know how my boyfriend would feel about that. I'd have to ask him, okay?"
Morgan looked crestfallen. "You're dating someone?" Alex lowered her eyes and nodded her head. "Oh," was all he could say, but then he managed, "I guess maybe we could still hang out sometime, though, right?" Inspired by the idea, he continued, "I mean, what's to say your boyfriend can't come play Halo, too? Yea, that's a great idea! I can get Chuck and Sarah to come, too. It would be fun!"
Alex looked up at him, a smile reaching her eyes. "I'd really like that, Morgan." She pulled in her bottom lip and bit it, nervous, but then she said, "Would you want to go to Jeffster's audition with me?"
Morgan was taken aback, but said, almost too quickly, "I'd love to!"
She smiled and said, "Cool." The door bell rang, and Alex, wanting to get back to business, reached over and gave Morgan a quick peck on the cheek. "We'll talk details later, okay? Come back on your next lunch break."
Stunned, Morgan walked out of the door, not even glancing at the woman who only looked to be ordering yogurt. He didn't hear Alex's gasp, or see the look in her eyes as her brain remembered something. It was hard to pay attention to details like that when you had just been kissed by a girl like Alex.
Chuck was creeping down the stairs as quietly as he could. He could hear Sarah and Aaron talking to the General, and if there was one thing Chuck had mastered after becoming a spy, eaves-dropping was high on the list.
Chuck, as usual, was overcome with jealousy when he looked at Parker. It was debatable, but Aaron looked like he was half-an-inch taller than Chuck. His dark dirty-blonde hair in perfect little spikes complimented his neatly trimmed beard and golden-brown eyes. His muscles made him look more like Casey, but his intellect was closer to Chuck's, as he had graduated from a prestigious university, too: Yale.
"There still haven't been any sightings of Chuck's father?" Chuck heard the director ask.
"No, Ma'am. As far as we can tell, whoever has him doesn't want to hurt him, or else they would have killed him by now," Parker replied.
Chuck gasped, slapping a hand over his mouth as soon as the noise left it. He looked at the group, and decided they hadn't heard him. His father was missing?
"It hasn't even been 48 hours, though," Sarah injected. "There's no way to tell if they want to hurt him or not yet."
"I agree with Agent Walker. Two days isn't enough time to say his life isn't in jeopardy," Beckman said.
"When are we going to tell Chuck about…" Sarah trailed off.
"We don't tell him anything until we know something concrete. As far as we know, Mr. Bartowski is still living life off the radar. It's possible he hasn't even been captured. We have no records of SPI, and if there isn't any threat, there is no need for us to investigate too deeply, " Beckman replied.
"SPI, Ma'am?" Sarah asked.
"We received an anonymous note that alerted us to Mr. Bartowski being missing. I don't know anything more about them that you do, I'm afraid," the General answered.
Sarah thought for a few minutes, then said,"General, why couldn't Chuck be here? It's regarding his family, after all" Sarah questioned, her voice tinged with doubt of the General's decision.
"That would be my doing," Parker said. "I like Chuck as much as the next guy, but he hasn't contributed to the past few side missions at all. Why isn't he flashing on any of the information I find? I thought he was the intersect."
"He is the intersect, Agent Parker." Beckman turned her attention to Sarah, "Is there any reason why Chuck wouldn't be able to flash right now?"
Sarah thought for a couple seconds. "I don't think so… Is it possible that the intersect doesn't have any information on SPI?"
Beckman pursed her lips. "It's possible. Surely, though, there is something in the files that Chuck would recognize. Or if Chuck doesn't recognize it, why not ask Alex? She's been reading everything we send her, hasn't she?"
"Is that really a good idea, General?" Parker questioned. "The more knowledge she has, the more dangerous she is. If she should turn sides for any reason, it could potentially be worse than losing Chuck, since Alex can search her mind at will."
"I understand your concern, Aaron, but I don't see any reason why Alex would become rogue. Her family and friends are all CIA." The director paused. "You're right, though. We don't know how much Alex's brain can hold. Until we can find someone who can return Alex's brain to its original state, we should take caution. Thank you for reminding me."
"So what, just because Chuck can't flash he's less of an agent?" Sarah started up again. Chuck was thankful at least one person was on his side. "He has proven himself over and over again…"
"Yes, Sarah, I know Chuck is a good agent. I didn't know what Aaron wanted to discuss, so I felt that I should be careful. Chuck is already barely speaking to me, and the last thing I wanted was for him to take offense," Beckman said. "I agree with Agent Parker's assessment, though. It is odd for Chuck to have stopped flashing again."
"Has anything new been found out about Chuck and Alex's captor?" Sarah asked, the thought of SPI forgotten momentarily.
"Actually, I did find some new evidence. Should I show it to Chuck?" Aaron asked.
"Please do," Beckman replied. "Would one of you be kind enough to call him down here?"
Throughout the past bit of conversation, Chuck had been trying to hold his breath to keep from sneezing. Failing, he let out a giant, "Achoo!"
"I assume that would be Chuck," Beckman said dryly.
Chuck walked in, and ungracefully tripped over a backpack that had been discarded by the stairwell, and he caught himself on the table and chairs, after knocking one of the chairs over. "Hi, everyone!" he said, trying to cover up for his very klutzy moment. "Does anyone want some yogurt? I'm sure Alex wouldn't mind catering…"
"How long have you been listening in, Chuck," Beckman asked, sternly.
"Listening in? Me?" Chuck scoffed. Seeing that the three agents in the room obviously knew he was lying, he gulped, nervously, and said, "Since you said my father was captured. Has he been?"
Beckman looked at Chuck, sympathy written all over her face. "I'd like to tell you we knew for sure if he had been or not, but Agent Bartowski, you know how your father is. If he doesn't want the CIA to find him, then he'll stay off the grid." Chuck looked unhappy with this answer. "Chuck, we're doing all we possibly can do to make sure he's safe." Chuck nodded his head, acknowledging the General's efforts.
Switching back to her business voice, Beckman said, "Now, Agent Parker, you said you had some new information to show us?"
"I do. We were finally able to recover a little bit of sound from the surveillance cameras at the university. We're not sure if the voice matches Chuck's kidnapper or not, but it's the best thing we've come up with so far."
Chuck thought back to what his captor had looked like. He was Chuck's height, maybe a bit shorter, with dark brown hair and nearly black eyes. Chuck was glad Agent Parker didn't look anything like that man. He shuddered, trying not to think about it.
Parker pulled a voice recorder out of the briefcase he had on the table and pressed play. There was a bit of dialogue, mainly Alex's terrified prattling, but then Chuck heard the man's voice, "Shut up and move." Chuck felt his eyes start to spin.
A cup. A Barbie doll. A streetlight. A letter. A cup.
"Chuck, what did you see?" Sarah asked. Chuck didn't say anything. "Chuck!" Sarah said, this time a bit more demanding.
"I think the voice belongs to an Agent Shaw," Chuck started, "but I don't think he's alone in this. There was a combined signature on a file: Barbie doll & Iverson." Chuck looked up at Sarah, confused. "Your name was in the file."
Sarah looked at Chuck, her face losing all color. "Iverson?" she asked, confused, trying to control her emotions, but obviously failing. Her face lit up with recognition. "What did it say about Barbie doll?"
Chuck, concerned by Sarah's reaction, but angry that Sarah had yet another connection to that night in Prague, said, "Why were you on the file, Sarah?"
Sarah was visibly trembling, "What did it say about Barbie doll?" she repeated again, demandingly. She was nervously pulling on the sling around her neck, trying to move it like it was strangling her.
Deciding he wasn't going to get any information from her, Chuck said, "The file said Barbie doll was alive."
Sarah's eyes got big, and she looked like she was about to laugh and cry at the same time. "Alive?" she said, almost breathlessly. Shock was taking over her system, making her need to sit down. She tried to sit down, but the chair Chuck had knocked over hadn't been righted yet, and she crumbled to the floor, her head narrowly missing the table.
"Sarah!" she heard her name being called by many voices, but all she could think was, "Iverson," before she gave into the darkness.
A/N Sorry for the cliff hanger; it was getting pretty long! Update will be out Wednesday/Thursday. Let me know how I'm doing! I'll try to incorporate your ideas into the story :o)