Don't own Chuck

[Dinner at Alibaba's]

Alex and Morgan with the girls waited for the manager to come so they could ask about the mystery man who tried to order the sheep's head, but it seemed like it was taking forever. In addition it seemed all the waiters disappeared from around them. While they were waiting Samaa felt the urge to find the Lady's room. But neither Alex nor Morgan wanted to leave so Sam volunteered to go with her.

"I want you to go straight there then straight back," said Alex. "Sam, you watch her and you stay together then come right back to the table no wandering off."

"I think you already said that. This is a restaurant where are we going to go? Come on Samaa before they put a tracking device on us."

"Not a bad idea I'll make sure I bring one next time," said Alex. Sam gave her a look. "It was your suggestion Sweetie. I passed through your stage of cute but mouthy years ago."

"Let's go they might give us bread crumbs to drop behind us but we're already at the ginger bread house."

"I think she was trying to hint that you're the wicked witch," said Morgan as he smiled from the other side of the table.

"I got that and don't laugh. If I'm the evil witch what are you, Igor, her mentally challenged assistant. She's just acting out because she's worried about Chuck but she doesn't want to show it. I can tell she's trying to keep it together."

"How do you know," asked Morgan as he started to look around for the waiter from before or the manager but neither were in sight.

"Because I've been there, done that. Mom always got sullen on holidays and Dad's birthday. It was like she went into mourning all over again. She tried to put on a happy face but I could tell there was something more going on... where is this manager? Hey look at this rice dish it's the same as the stomach content from our dead guy including the cranberries."

"How do you know? Can you read Arabic," asked Morgan as he showed her his menu. "I was going by the picture when I ordered before."

"Mine's in English," said Alex showing hers to him. "Besides it's not written in Arabic it's written in Farsi that's what they speak in Persia or Modern Iran. But if our stiff ate here and now we've got possibly the Commandant placing an order here..."

"We need to be careful is what it means," said Morgan as he started looking around noticing they were all alone with no one around them not even a waiter to take their order.

"Do I look like an Arab? Maybe that's why the waiter gave me that menu. You know I'm dark and with the beard. I could have an Omar Sharif look going on," said Morgan as Alex gave smiled back. "Well I could except I've got good teeth."

"Or it could be that Samaa and Sam pulled a trick on you and switched up the menus. Remember the two of them were laughing when we sat down."

"It was bad enough when I had one half pint to watch out for but now I've got two of them after me. What did I ever do to them?"

"My poor, poor Morgan" said Alex as she leaned over and kissed him. "Now where could that manager be?"

[Near the bathrooms]

Sam and Samaa went to the bathrooms Sam waited outside while Samaa went inside. Sam was standing near the door when she overheard a heavyset man complaining to their waiter about talking too much. Sam heard the water run inside as the man dismissed the other one then called someone on the phone. The man looked at Sam and smiled.

"Wait one moment," said the man into the phone. "Sweetie, are you lost? You remind me of my niece where are your parents dear?"

"I'm not lost I'm waiting on a friend who's using the bathroom," said Sam as she smiled back. "Thank you any way."

"Äafwan," said the man in Arabic but Sam pretended not to understand. His accent was a little funny but she understood clearly.

"I'm sorry, you're welcome," said the man then he went back to his conversation on the phone. "Listen I've got people here asking about that order too. What do you want me to do? ... I can send the delivery boy home for the evening but that will only delay them finding the location."

Sam was still listening to the man on the phone when Samaa came out but suddenly the man switched languages and started speaking something she didn't understand. Samaa looked at Sam then at the man who smiled back.

"Wait one," said the man as he put his hand over the phone. "Children your parents are going to be wondering where you are. It's not nice for children to worry their parents."

They walked away with Sam looking over her shoulder at him waiting until they got out of earshot to talk.

"He knows something. He was telling the man on the phone he was going to send the delivery boy home then he started speaking a language I didn't understand."

"He was speaking Farsi. My mother taught it to me because all her relatives are Iranian. He told the man an address in someplace called Griffith Park. Do you know where that's at?"

"I know it's around here. Let's go get the rest of the team together," said Sam. She and Samaa walked back to the table where Morgan and Alex were still waiting for the manager.

"Come on let's go," said Sam. "The manager is stalling I heard... we heard him on the phone. He sent the delivery boy home so you can't talk to him. But we've got the address the boy delivered the food to so let's load up and head out."

"Hold on there junior John Casey. When did you start running missions? We're not taking you two on an op your parents will skin us alive and hang us out to dry."

"You really do that here?" asked Samaa a little horrified at the thought. "I thought this was supposed to be a civilized country?"

"No it's just a way of saying they'd be in trouble. But if they want our intel then they need to play ball. In exchanged we promise we'll sit in the car and wait. What can happen in the car?"

"You say that but I know what can happen waiting in the van. It's never safe there and nothing good ever happens to the person waiting," said Morgan as he looked over at Alex. "That being said we do need their intel."

"What you aren't really considering us taking them out into the field," said Alex as she tried to stare down Sam but it wasn't working. "Oh you're the worst parts of both your parents."

"Well does that mean we have a deal," said Sam. She spit in her hand then held it out. Morgan did the same then they shook.

"You know that's very disgusting," said Samaa as she watched them shake on it.

"Says the person who orders goat heads for a light snack," said Sam. "Come on partner we've got a mission to go on and your mother to find."

"You really think my mother is there," said Samaa as she lit up. They left the restaurant before the manager showed up and without paying since they didn't eat anything. Morgan did leave a penny for poor service.

Once they got into the car and started for Griffith Park they told Morgan and Alex everything they'd overheard. On the way there they tried to call John but his phone went to voice mail so Alex left a message.

"What I don't understand is why would the man switch from Arabic to Farsi. I guess he thought Samaa might overhear but why the address unless he wanted to make sure the person on the other end understood which would mean what?"

"Not a native Arabic speaker," said Morgan. "All of your father's calls are still going to voice mail. He must be in..." he started to say but Alex cut him off with a cough. "Oh right in that place where he can't receive phone calls."

"You can receive phone calls in the hospital. I saw doctors and nurses walking up and down the halls with phones all the time. I don't remember seeing any up in the ICU that stands for intensive care unit. When I grow up I want to be a doctor so I have to know all that doctor stuff."

"This is the address and that's the house they delivered to but it looks empty," said Alex. She eased off the street. "One of us should go check it out. Are you sure this was the address the man said on the phone?"

"Yes this is it I'm sure of it," said Samaa as she stuck her face to the door window looking out. She wondered if her mother was out there and if she wasn't looking back at her.

"Alex, wait in the car with the girls and leave this up to the Cobra. I'll be right back. If I'm not back in ten leave and go get help."

"Morgan if you go get yourself dead I'll kill you," said Alex. She leaned over and kissed him before he got out.

"Yuck, I think I'm going to feel sick," said Sam from the back. Alex looked at the girls in the rearview as they laughed and giggled.

"One of these days it's going to be your turn then we'll see who says yuck."

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Sarah called back to talk with Chuck but there was no way to transfer her call into his ward. But the nurse she talked to told her his condition was much better and improving. She also told her if she called back later she could talk directly to his doctor. That made her feel much better then she took a deep breath and called Alex. Her phone rang for a long time before Alex answered.

"Alex what took you so long to answer? Is Sam all right? If she's still awake I'd like to talk to her," said Sarah. "Please it's important that I hear her voice."

"If Samaa is there with her I'd like to talk to Samaa too," said Jamil. "How is my little girl holding up without her mother and me?"

"They're both here with me," said Alex. "I'm putting you on speaker so you both can speak to them. They want to speak to you both."

"Samaa, I'm okay and I'll be with you soon. Don't worry everyone is working hard to find your Mâmâ. Be a good girl and do as you're told."

"Yes Bâbâ, I will and don't worry we'll save Mâmâ," said Samaa. They heard whispering between Sam and Samaa. "Right… Don't worry I know Mâmâ will be safe soon." There was another round of whispering. "Okay everything will be all right soon."

"Sam, what's going on? What are you up to with Samaa?" said Sarah. She knew her daughter and there was something going on.

"Nothing, we're not doing anything," said Sam but there was a silence on the other end. "Okay we might've gotten Morgan to order pasha at Alibaba's this evening. But it was his own fault he pointed at it on the menu because we might have given him a menu written in Arabic."

"Sam, will you stop torturing Morgan. He and Alex are going to have to look after you for a few days. Can I speak to him?"

"He stepped out for a moment and Aunt Ellie is supposed to be here tomorrow morning that's what Uncle Casey told me."

"He called Ellie," said Sarah. She had to absolutely call Ellie now or she'd be upset with her for not calling. Ellie wouldn't care if Chuck had told everyone not to call. As she was talking with Sam she heard Morgan.

"The house is empty all right... What?... The phone," she heard Morgan say. Sarah's radar went up and she would've investigated it more but Alex interrupted her.

"When will you be able to get back home? Everyone was worried about you after everything that happened on the plane."

"What happened on the plane?" asked Sam. Sarah didn't know what to say and she didn't want Sam to know what she had risked even if she wasn't sure Sam could understand.

"I almost missed the plane," said Sarah. "I really need to call Ellie and talk with her. Girls behave and leave Morgan alone. Sam I love you."

"Samaa, your Bâbâ misses you a lot. I'll be with you soon my little star," said Jamil then the line dropped.

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Chuck woke up with one of the biggest headaches he'd ever had. It felt like his brain was going to explode in his head. Slowly everything came into focus around him. The people who were walking about him were dressed like they were going to step out on the moon or Mars. He tried to get up but then he felt a big hand push him back down. He didn't have to look up to see who it belonged to he recognized it.

"Casey? What are you doing in here?" said Chuck. He hardly recognized his own voice. It sounded raspy and hoarse. His throat burned.

"Making sure you don't do anything else stupid. Like trying to get up and walk out of here. You've done some crazy crap before but this... well this takes the cake."

"I love you too. I knew you cared," said Chuck as he reached over for a glass of water on a table next to him but couldn't quite reach it.

"Keep it in... your gown," said Casey as he got the water and put the straw in his mouth. "Just to let you know I called Ellie. She'll be her this morning."

"Oh why did you do that? Now I'm going to have to listen to her preaching about how dangerous our jobs are and I should be thinking about Sam and Walnut. Walnut! How is Sarah?"

"You can bitch all you want but she needed to be told. You saved the day with Sarah and they nabbed the spy. It seems she became quite chatty after Sarah took her down into the hold and asked her politely."

"I'm sure she did," said Chuck as color started coming back in him. "What did she find out about the Commandant and his organization? The Brigadier must've been his boss when he was Directorate 4. They are probably the ones behind the ratline that got key members of the IIS out through Damascus when Baghdad fell."

"Hey I told you that you could talk to the patient not put him to work," said Dr. McCoy as he walked into the quarantine room. "Dammit I'm his Doctor." Chuck started laughing and coughing.

"Don't do that to me Doc. Next thing you're going to say is what? 'He's dead Jim.'" Chuck laughed even more.

"Permission to slap your patient," said Casey. "Sarah will be landing in Heathrow then turning around and coming back. MI6 is going to run point with Jamil to apprehend the IRA buyer. It seems someone is selling off the virus on the dark net under the guise of an art auction."

"Smart! Only the seller and the buyers know what they're really selling. I need a tablet with Wi-Fi," said Chuck. He saw McCoy's look and realized he wasn't happy with him.

"I know I'm not an easy patient but believe me Doctor while other people need to rest to recover I need to work. I think the key to rooting out the man or woman behind this to look back into Directorate 4."

"Well if I see this is taking too much out of you I'm going to shut it down. You're still my patient and it's a miracle you're in the condition you are now. Most people wouldn't have survived the night.

"The night? Sam and Samaa where are they? Who's watching them? John I don't want Sam to see me here."

"Chill out, the girls are taken care of. Morgan and Alex are watching them."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better? Geez Ellie will be here soon. I'm so dead," said Chuck. He caught McCoy's look. "He's dead, Jim," said Chuck. The Doctor just shook his head and walked away.

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Casey walked out of Chuck's room then passed through decontamination. Decontamination took time but was necessary to keep what was inside inside and to protect the rest the population. However, the process was tedious and time consuming so when you went in you stayed as long as you could so you didn't have to spend most of your day in decon.

"Geez this takes forever," said Casey as he walked out to find Kat waiting for him. "What are you doing here? I'm sorry that came out wrong but I didn't expect to see you here."

"I came because Ellie called me. She's been calling everyone at Echo Park and no one is answering. I called Alex and Morgan and my calls all went to voice mail."

"What? They're watching the girls. If Grimes has done another one of his idiot things again I'm going to start breaking at the legs then work my way up."

"Don't think Alex is always innocent," said Kat as she took his hand. "Sometimes she's right in the thick of it at the very beginning. But I understand why you do it. However, this isn't the way to make up for the years you've missed."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Casey as he pulled out his phone. "Here I've got some missed calls from Alex and the Troll." He caught Kat's look. "I mean Grimes."

"Much better but you can do even better. The boy has a first name," said Kat as she got close to him. John turned red and moved back. "Did they leave a voice message?"

"Yes I got something," he said as he put the phone on speaker then played back the message holding the phone strategically between them.

"Dad this is Alex. Please don't get mad at us but we might have a lead on the Commandant's location," said Alex. Then she gave him the address in Griffith Park. "We're going to go check it out. If it's nothing we're going to go to Echo Park but if it is we'll call you back." Then John heard Sam in the back ground telling them to move it out.

"John please don't tell me they took the girls with them. If Ellie finds out..."

"I wouldn't worry about Ellie I'd worry about Sarah. She could kill over something like this but she's got no one to blame but herself. She should've never gotten on that plane."

"You know you don't really believe that," said Kat. "I'm going to have a nice long talk with our daughter when I get a hold of her. When is Ellie landing?"

"I don't know but I hope not before I can get to Griffith Park and handle this mess," said John as he started to run.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Kay as he started for the elevator. She ran behind him trying to stay up.

"If Ellie shows up stall her here as long as you can. I'll call you when I have the two paxs in hand. We've juggled more dangerous bombs." The elevator doors opened and Casey got on.

"Go I've got this just give me a call," said Kat as the doors closed.

"Roger that," was the last thing she heard Casey say before the doors closed completely.

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Ellie landed at Bob Hope and made her way through the terminal. She grabbed her one suitcase from the baggage carousel then got herself oriented towards the taxi stand. Her whole trip there she was trying to find out what Chuck's condition was but the CDC doctor was being tight lipped. She was going to give him a piece of her mind when she got a hold of him on how you treat colleagues especially when you're taking care of their baby brother.

"Here let me help you," said the cab driver as she made her way to the taxi stand. She guessed he could see she was flustered. He put her bag in the back then got her situated inside. "Where to lady?"

"I need to go to Westside Memorial Hospital," she said. "I've got to check on my little brother he's a patient there."

"I hope it's nothing serious," said the cab driver as he pulled out of the airport and got on the freeway in the middle of morning rush traffic.

"I do too," said Ellie as she looked out the window. She pulled out her phone and called Devon to tell him she'd arrived. He told her that Sarah had called looking for her.

"Speaking of the devil," said Ellie her phone told her she had an incoming call. "I've got to run Sarah's trying to contact me now," she said hanging up with Devon.

"Sarah what's going on? Why are you on a flight headed for London and Chuck's in the hospital. Who's watching Sam? What's going on? ... Right I need to catch my breath. I'm sorry but I had all that bottled up and no one to vent on. Can you tell me what Chuck's got? His Doctor has been less than forth coming. ... VHF? Yeah I know what it is. I saw a little bit in Africa when I was... well we were doing Doctors Without Borders. What's this have to do with Chuck? The last I heard there haven't been any outbreak in the U.S. ... Oh my how'd he get infected?" ... It's classified? You're going to go there with me. … Okay somehow I don't think I want to know. Well I'm here at the hospital call me back in a half an hour and I should know more. ... What are sister for?" said Ellie. The cab driver pulled up outside the front door. Ellie was getting out when she saw a familiar face run by. It didn't register with her until he was already gone but it was Casey.

"John, wait up. Where are you going," yelled Ellie but he was gone. "I need to find out what's going on."

"I think you do too," said the cab driver as he took her money and handed her a receipt before getting back in the taxi and driving away. He left her there on the curb by herself with suitcase in hand.