Chapter 18

Sickbay

Team Intersect Headquarters

MCB Quantico

Quantico, VA

August 21, 2006

0900 hours

"How is he?" General Diane Beckman asked from her bed in the Team Intersect Sickbay, situated on the opposite side of the room from where her lover and CIA agent Roan Montgomery was laying in his bead, unconscious.

"He's stable." Dr. Cathy Mueller responded, in not quite a hostile tone, but one that was definitely not as detached as she normally would be with a patient not a member of the team. She was well aware of the General's reputation, in part thanks to her husband Jack, but also from the stories she had heard from other members of the team. "He suffered significant injuries during his torture, but I expect him to make a full recovery, physically. I'm keeping him heavily sedated at the moment to give his body time to heal."

Beckman let out a sigh of relief; the past few hours since her and Roan's rescue from the Fulcrum facility had been nerve-wracking. Between her worry for him and the growing shame at the realization that she had been moments away from spilling one of the most closely guarded and important national security secrets there was, she had been a wreck. It didn't help that the people who saved her were the very same people she had been about to sell out.

"Thank you." Beckman said, sadly. "It's my fault he's in the condition he is in. I broke the cardinal rule – don't fall in love. If I hadn't-"

"Don't thank me, General." Cathy replied, cutting her off. "My team is the one you should be thanking. They're the ones that figured out where Fulcrum was keeping you. The very team you fought against forming. As for the rest, that's bullshit. Do you want to know how they pulled it off? The only reason you're alive is because of your relationship with this man in this bed. They each knew enough snippets of information and rumor to put together the fact that you and Agent Montgomery were an item. So they were on their way to get him when he was grabbed. And they were able to get a surveillance drone to follow his kidnappers. So while yes, your relationship might have endangered him, it was also your relationship that saved you both."

"She's right Diane." Thomas Harper said, having walked into the Sickbay during Cathy's tirade. "And frankly, it was the best outcome, considering. Oh, not that Roan was so badly hurt. But if it wasn't for that relationship, you still would be in the hell-hole, being tortured, and you still would have almost broken. The difference is, we wouldn't have been able to get the team there in time."

Beckman shook her head vehemently. "No. You don't understand. If they didn't have that leverage over me-"

"You wouldn't have almost sold us out." Harper said. At Beckman's shocked look, he continued. "We recovered the internal surveillance video from before the team cut the feeds. We know everything."

"I see." Beckman said, resignedly. "And I assume you're now going use it to get me out of the picture."

"Actually, no." Harper said. "That's not how I do things. Besides, you didn't get a chance to give the team up; we got there in time."

"But we would appreciate you getting off your high horse and backing off." Chuck said, entering the Sickbay, Sarah at his side.

"Why would I do that?" Beckman said. "If anything this incident proves how dangerous flouting the rules regarding interpersonal relationships between agents."

"That's crap and you know it, General." Chuck said, taking Sarah's hand. "First of all those rules have absolutely nothing to do with the danger to agents getting involved with one another. It's a control measure; you're afraid that if agents form close personal relationships, whether as friends or lovers, that they won't be blind obedient servants. Well guess what General? The last thing you need is that! Look what happened with Graham. Besides, you're military. You should know the value of building close bonds and how that helps operational efficiency."

Briefing Room

Team Intersect Headquarters

MCB Quantico

Quantico, VA

August 21, 2006

1000 hours

"How are Beckman and Montgomery doing?" DNI Makin asked over the videoconference line. The entirety of Team Intersect was gathering in the Briefing Room, with DNI Makin, DHS MacGregor, AG Jones, and CIA Director Foley appearing on the videoconference line.

"They're recovering." Harper replied. "Beckman got off relatively unscathed; mostly bruises and dehydration. She does have a couple of cracked ribs but according to Dr. Mueller they should heal fine. She should be fit to return to duty in a couple of days."

"And Montgomery?" Director Foley asked.

"His situation is a little more serious." Harper replied. "He sustained numerous broken bones, puncture wounds and electrical burns. Dr. Mueller has him sedated at the moment, to give his body more time to heal. She estimates he'll need to be sedated for another 72 hours. After that, she thinks he should be physically fit for duty in 3-4 weeks."

"I'll arrange for him to get set up with an Agency Psychiatrist when he's released." Director Foley said. "I won't put him back on active status until I'm satisfied he's mentally recovered as well."

"I'll arrange the same for Beckman as well." DNI Makin said. "Now that that's taken care of, I think I speak for all of us when I say good job team. Have you started going through the data recovered from the Fulcrum base?"

"Our IT specialists are going through it now." Masden said. "It was heavily encrypted, so it's going to take some time to decrypt."

"Once they do I'll take a look at it and see if anything tickles the Intersect." Chuck said.

"We'll all take a look." Sarah said. "After all, the Intersect isn't infallible. There's always a chance one of us might remember something that isn't in the Intersect."

"Good. Hopefully, we'll get a lead on the location of Fulcrum's Headquarters." AG Jones said. "Or their other operations or some of their personnel."

Apartment of Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker

Blue Ridge Apartment Complex

Outside of Stafford, VA

20 Minutes from MCB Quantico

August 21, 2006

1900 hours

Sarah sighed in contentment as she sat on the couch, cuddled into Chuck's side. After the mission debrief, the team had been told to stand down until for the evening. She and Chuck had come back to the apartment and had an early dinner. Afterwards they had placed a movie in the Blue-ray player and settled in for a relaxing evening.

Reflecting over the last couple of months, Sarah could honestly say that she had never been as happy as she was right now. She loved being on Team Intersect. It was even better than when she was on the CATS. Though the CATS had been close, it was nothing compared to the friendships she had developed since being assigned to Team Intersect. Then of course there was her relationship with Chuck. If someone had told here a year ago that she would have found the man of her dreams and be engaged by this point, she would have told them they were crazy.

"Penny for your thoughts." Chuck said, kissing the top of her head.

"Just thinking of how lucky I am." Sarah said, kissing him briefly. "I've never been more happy than I am right now. And a big part of the reason is you."

"I know what you mean." Chuck said. "I feel the same way. I can't wait to marry you and spend the rest of our lives together."

"When should we tell the team? And your sister and brother-in-law?" Sarah asked.

"I figure we can tell the team anytime we're ready." Chuck replied. "Ellie and Devon are another matter entirely." Chuck sighed, and then continued speaking. "When we were in LA, my sister ambushed me about my future plans with regards to the Marines. She started a hard press for me to get out when my tour is up. I managed to get her to back off, but when she finds out we're engaged, she's going to come hard at me – and you."

"And we can't very well tell her the truth about what we do." Sarah said, sighing. "Maybe it won't be as bad as you think." Chuck laughed.

"No, it'll be worse. She wasn't happy with me enlisting in the first place. She's been subtly pushing for the last several years for me to get out and move back home. This past time was the most direct." Chuck said. "It's like she's been living in a fantasy world ever since Mom and Dad left. One where her and I would always live together or close by, never straying far from where we grew up."

"Has Ellie ever gone to counseling?" Sarah asked.

"No." Chuck said. "I know it was recommended to her but as far as I know she's never gone. Of course, I can't exactly throw stones. I've never gone either – unless you count a few talks with Father O'Brien. Truth is, before you, he's the only one I ever felt comfortable opening up to. But as good as he is, he's not a full time therapist."

"Well, I'm in the same boat. Until I met you, I've never wanted to talk to anyone." Sarah said. "Maybe we can look up Father O'Brien and go see him together? After all, it's better then nothing."

"Sure. And maybe I can talk to Devon and get him to help getting Ellie to see someone." Chuck said. The two sat in silent contemplation for a few moments before Sarah reached for the remote and turned the movie off. "Hey – why'd you do that?" Smiling, Sarah stood up and grabbed Chuck by the hand and pulled him towards the bedroom.

"Because right now there's another kind of therapy I could use." She said with a smirk.

Office

Unknown Location

August 21, 2006

1930 hours

"Were you successful?" the middle-aged Russian asked the man standing in front of him.

"Yes." The American replied. "I was able to plant the information on the Fulcrum base's servers. It will look like it was native to their system." The Russian smiled.

"Excellent." He said. "How long do you think it will take them to decrypt it?"

"Given what I know about the NSA, I'd say three to five days."

"Good. Make sure everything is in place. The moment they move on our friends in Fulcrum, I want to make sure we get our hands on as much of Fulcrum's research and money as we can." The Russian said.