CHAPTER 13

After a night assuring Ellie he was okay and apologizing he went to bed early and got up to prepare for his interview and a day at the Buy More before Ellie's party. He didn't have much of a selection, but he picked out his best slacks and dress shirt. Everyone else would be in costume, but Sarah was handling his and this seemed like the kind of thing he was supposed to get dressed up for.

He was busy trying to fix his tie when the door opened and he turned to find Sarah walking in smiling, her hair tied back and wearing a leather jacket and red shirt that were part of her usual attire, so no costume yet.

"Hi!" She closed the door behind her and nodded. "You look nice."

"Thanks. I feel like crap." He sighed, looking down at his tie before giving up and turning to her. "I screwed up. I made a mess of everything."

Tilting her head, Sarah reached up to fix his tie herself. "Yeah, well, today is a new day and you have a job interview."

"Do you-do you think I care about making lower management at a Buy More?" Chuck asked walking over to sit on the foot of his bed. "Are you kidding me? I threatened the head of the CIA and blew up on the only two people who can really protect me from getting kidnapped or killed because of this thing in my head. I just feel like such an idiot. I shouldn't have gotten so upset just because you bugged my room."

She noticed the you in that last sentence was said slightly heavier than the other words and sat up, turning to look at the picture she'd given him still laying in the trash can beside a speaker. Turning back to him, Sarah shook her head. "You're not an idiot."

"But I am sorry," he said looking to her. "I made you stay up all night and probably had you worried I'd do something else stupid before that, so I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Chuck." She snickered. "Honestly, it was the most fun I ever had tailing someone."

His face lit up. "Really?"

"Absolutely. None of them ever got me breakfast."

"Well Ellie made sure I know how to treat a girl." They shared a laugh that faded, leaving them looking at each other. "Casey told me you got the costumes?"

"Mmhmm." She nodded, brows high as she barely contained her grin.

"What are they?"

Getting to her feet, Sarah patted Chuck's shoulder. "Good luck today."

Watching her leave, Chuck was surprised to find his smile fading the more he thought about the interview. He wasn't terribly nervous. If anything he didn't feel, well, much of anything. Driving in he dropped off the keys for the Herder and felt oddly numb as he waited at the Nerd Herd desk waiting for his name to be called.

When it was he stood up and strode into the room, glancing across the store to Casey, who was holding his belt as he gave him a firm nod. Chuck returned it and entered the office, taking the seat across from the HR guy.

It was simple enough answering his questions, explaining how long he'd been at the store, how he handled his role as Nerd Herd Supervisor. But then he asked the question, "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

Chuck found he couldn't match the guy's friendly smile. Instead all he could do was shake his head and answer, "Not here."

Blinking, the interviewer asked, "Excuse me?"

Chuck looked out to the store for a moment before looking back to him and smiling for the first time since he left Ellie's. "I'm sorry for wasting your time, but I don't want the job."

Crossing his arms over the desk, the interview was clearly confused. "Mr. Bartowski, it seems to me as if you're basically already doing half the job anyway. You run the Nerd Herd and help out around the store. The few people I've asked seem to think highly of you. Why turn it down?"

His smile grew to a grin as he declared, "Because I'm not going to be here forever and they need someone who is. They deserve someone who cares about this place. Who isn't going to leave in a few months."

"You plan to leave soon?"

Chuck nodded. "I don't know when but yeah, I do. For the first time in a long time, I know I won't be here, and when I leave I'll make sure I don't come back." Rising from his seat, Chuck offered his hand. "As I said, I'm sorry to waste your time."

With a small snort the interviewer rose and shook his hand. "I imagine it will be a grave loss the day you leave."

Exiting the office, Chuck couldn't keep from smiling, his strides turning into a jog as he went to the Nerd Herd desk and found Casey approaching. With a look over his shoulder to the confused interviewer packing his bag, Casey examined Chuck's smile saying, "I guess you got it?"

"Nope," Chuck laughed, "I turned it down."

Casey's brow knit as he turned to Chuck. "What?"

"Yeah, told him I was sorry for wasting his time." Chuck sank into his chair snickering. "Told him I don't want to be here in five years and I'm probably going to quit in a few months."

Casey shifted his balance and tilted his head along with his arched brow. "So what are you gonna do?"

His shouldered bobbing, Chuck scoffed. "Hell if I know. I just know it's not going to be here."

"What about the cover, Numbnuts?" Casey asked shaking his head, though with none of his usual bite.

"We can make a new one." Chuck's brow rose as he turned his chair to Casey. "I could start a business. We could use that as a cover. I'll hire you and Sarah. We could be private contractors for… things. That way we can set our own hours."

Casey shook his head. "And what kind of business you plan on running?"

"I don't know, but give me a break, I just decided to start a business ten seconds ago."

Walking away from the desk Casey muttered loudly, "This job's going to be the death of me."

"That's why I'll hire you at the next one," Chuck called out with a laugh. Spotting Harry Tang making his way over to gloat, Chuck grabbed his bag and moved for the door, holding up a hand in Harry's face. "No one cares about you Harry." The man was so shocked by the dismissal he stared gaping as Chuck left the Buy More and made his way over to the Wienerlicious.

Sarah had managed to only mostly burn a batch of corndogs before pulling them out just when the bell over the door rang and she turned to find Chuck entering with a brilliant smile that was infectious. Setting the burnt dogs aside she turned to lean against the counter with a grin. "I take it you got the job?"

"No, I kind of pre-quit," Chuck said with a laugh, making her smile drop.

"What?"

"I told him sorry for wasting his time but I don't see myself there in five years and I'm probably going to quit in a few months." Chuck said it as if it he were asking for a corndog and fries. Maybe that was why she turned and got him a corndog and fries, making sure to give him one of the less burnt ones while making her way around the counter and pulling him to a table.

"What happened?" She asked, still holding his hand as they sat down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm great." He chuckled. "I don't know what it was. I was just… I wasn't nervous after you left this morning. All the way from then until I told him I didn't want the job I barely felt anything about it. Then as soon as I said I wasn't going to be there in five years I felt good. I know it's going to mess with the covers but…" Chuck looked around them, "Is that a bad thing?"

Sarah smirked. "Maybe not."

"I told Casey maybe I could start a business and hire you and him. We could set our own hours that way. Get an office or something to ourselves so you guys have a base."

Sarah took her hand from his, crossing her arms on the table as she thought if over. "What kind of business did you have in mind?"

"I-I don't know. I mean I guess maybe I could-I could try to go the Carmichael route, do all that stuff I wanted, but I don't know. I doubt either of you two have much interest in working software, but maybe some kind of cyber security thing? Or I guess maybe normal security too with you two involved. Could do a whole white hat thing and help people figure out holes in their security or help companies set all that stuff up."

"That… could actually work."

"Your surprise is hurtful," Chuck said in mock offense that turned to humor, "but understandable."

Sarah seemed to barely hear him, thinking over what he's said. He could see her gears turning and when she finally snapped out of it found him smirking at her with adoration in his eyes. It made her cheeks burn until she took a breath and exhaled. "Why don't we meet with Casey and try to build a plan for the business?"

"Could do it the day I go over the Morgan thing with you guys."

"Once we have something solid we can present it to the bosses."

"Assuming they aren't so pissed they send some assassin squad after me."

Sarah rolled her eyes and shook her head. "The only thing Graham is pissed about is that an asset bluffed him. Beckman's more angry about the Orion stuff not being in your file. It was like someone erased it, so it never came up."

Thinking back to his brief talk, or text and talk, with Orion, Chuck wondered if he should just tell her about it. If he did she'd most likely want to go to their bosses about it, which would probably limit any further communication. Plus there was trying to explain how he got in contact, and Chuck didn't want to give up his laptop, not when the questions they ask about it could lead to the Piranha.

"Could it have been Orion?" Chuck asked, figuring that was safe enough. "Maybe he got in and wiped all mentions of him."

"That's our theory so far, but we can't be sure. He could have people inside the CIA for all we know."

"Does he have some connection to the CIA?"

Sarah stared at him for about five seconds before nodding. "Orion made the intersect. The original idea for it is all his. The one that wound up being used was built on all his work."

Chuck leaned forward anxiously. "So he might be able to help? Maybe even get it out?"

Sarah shrugged warily. "I don't know. There's no record of him for us to find. Who knows what he can do?"

"It's just…" Chuck shook his head. "They gave up after one try. Just because Zarnow turned out to be a traitor they gave up, and I get that it's a risk to have everyone try, but there might be others, and now we at least have a name, right?"

"A code name, at least."

Seeing her smile, Chuck suddenly had a thought he'd never thought he'd have: Why do I want them to take it out?

Before he could think on it more Sarah rubbed his shoulder and stood, pointing to the food on the table. "Eat before it gets cold. I'll get you a drink."

The thought only repeated as he watched her leave and return, placing the drink in front of him before returning to the counter when customers came in.

Chuck finished his day at the Buy More and made his way back to Ellie's where he found a pile of white clothing sat on his bed. A knock on the door stopped him just as he was about to pick them up and look them over.

"Yeah?" He called out, watching as Ellie entered in her Eve costume and a nervous smile.

"So? How'd it go? You get the job?"

Seeing her fighting a bounce, Chuck smirked and shook his head. "No, I turned it down."

"What?" Ellie's face fell as she hurried to his side, squeezing his shoulder sympathetically. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah," he said as an obvious lead-in, "I told him I don't see myself there in five years. Probably not even five months. I decided I'm going to start my own business."

"You did?!" Her fingers dug into his shoulder as she grinned and bounced.

"El, I still need my shoulder," he said waving his other hand.

"Sorry!" She laughed, breaking her grip and rubbing his arm. "That's great, Chuck. You're sure about this though?"

"Yeah, I am."

Ellie wrapped her arms around him, some high pitch squeal coming from her throat despite her lips being shut until she pulled away and beamed at him. "I'm so proud of you."

"And that's nothing compared to how proud I am of you," he said squeezing her shoulder before motioning to the costume on his bed. "I'm going to get dressed and I'll meet you outside, alright?"

Ellie took half a step back before stepping forward and hugging him again. "Aces, Charles."

Once she left he turned back to his bed and picked up what turned out to be a white gi with the arms torn off. Beneath that were a black belt, red martial arts gloves and long red headband. "Ryu," he said with a laugh.

It fit him perfectly, a few of his curls hanging over his headband which hung down to his shoulder blades. When he looked himself over in the mirror, Chuck suddenly thought back to an old thought he'd had. He'd thought Bryce was Ryu while he was Dan Hibiki, the joke of the Street Fighter world, and yet Sarah got him a Ryu costume. Sure, she probably just picked the main character or the easiest costume to find, but for a moment he could fool himself into thinking she saw him as something more than a joke.

Heading out to the courtyard, Chuck grinned finding John Casey stood in a pair of boots, camouflage pants, and green tank top with dog tags and American flag tattoos on each bicep. The only thing he was missing was the blonde flat top.

"Good costume," Chuck said with a thoroughly impressed nod.

"I don't even know who the hell I am," Casey grumbled. "Walker got it for me. Basically forced me to wear it."

"She's got good taste." Chuck chuckled as Casey shot him a glare. "You're Guile, from Street Fighter. It's a game. Same one my costume's from. But it fits you, Casey. It's a fighting game and the guy is the American soldier of the roster. JVD played him in the movie."

"Hmm." Considering everything, Casey deemed it worthy of a nod and grunt. "Guess I could be dressed like the Karate Kid."

Chuck rolled his eyes but before he could say anything looked toward the muttering crowd to find Sarah had arrived in her costume. He wanted to laugh at how obvious it should have been, but he could barely breath seeing her in what was black boots, long red combat gloves and what was basically a green one piece bathing suit with shoulder holsters. To top it all off she wore a red beret with her hair pulled into two long braids. She'd even put blotches of green paint on her legs in places.

"Or I could be dressed like that," Casey said with a laugh as he walked away to get a drink.

Thankfully the image before him was enough to keep him from imagining that. Sarah had been looking through the courtyard until she spotted him and her face lit up, hurrying over to him and greeting him with a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"What do you think?" She asked motioning to herself.

"Kylie Minogue eat your heart out," Chuck muttered, making Sarah snicker, holding his arm and beaming at him.

"I'm glad you like it. I had some agents in requisitions handle it. They were actually the ones who suggested Casey's costume," she said motioning to Casey.

"They chose well. Both of your costumes really fit you guys at least." Chuck looked himself over, having decided that his version of Ryu would wear chucks rather than walk around barefoot. "They missed the mark with me though."

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, her smirk sinking.

Chuck suddenly wondered what he'd said wrong. "Well, I'm not much of a Ryu."

Her lips curved into a tender smile as she shook her head. "I chose your costume, Chuck."

"Oh." Shit.

"And I think I chose well," she said brushing his chest to smooth out a few barely there wrinkles. "After the arcade and… Well, originally I was thinking about coming in that gold bikini costume from Star Wars."

"Really?" His brow rose as a grin took his lips.

"Yep," she said smirking at his obvious interest. "But after the picture and everything we talked about I decided to stay away from that kind of stuff, so I decided to go with this, but I looked her up. That was when I saw this website that had a whole profile for her and when I read it I was sure you had to be this Ryu character. Plus wasn't it who you played as when you won?"

"It was. But why did I have to be him?"

Sarah pulled him aside, though he couldn't know she was moving him as far from the bugs in the courtyard as she could. "Because it talked about how Cammy looks up to Ryu and admires him and all his heroic traits. How his words are what keep her going forward. They're why she never gives up. It made me think of you."

"Really?" There wasn't humor in his voice, just sincere surprise. He couldn't believe anyone saw him like that, let alone Sarah Walker.

"Chuck you may not see it, but you're a hero. You had all of this stuff forced on you and you could have complained about not being paid or being put in danger or anything, and the thing you complained about was not helping enough. And you only did when you proved that you could help.

"Other people would have given up long ago. Not just after Stanford or even after Morgan. So much has happened to you but the moment you could you stepped up more than most could even if they would. You're a truly good person, Chuck. The kind most people hope to be. I'm proud to know you."

Chuck bit the inside of his lip to keep from gaping as he nodded. "Wow."

Sarah glanced to where she knew the nearest bugs were before reaching up to stroke his cheek and say softly. "You're a good guy, Chuck. Whatever happens… I'm on your side."

It felt like they stared into each others eyes for minutes before she grabbed his hand and smirked. "Come on, let's go before they think you're doing something untoward."

"What? Me?!" He asked being dragged back to the courtyard while Sarah laughed. And for the first time since he was a Sandworm, Chuck had a happy Halloween.

AN:

To anyone following the story, sorry about the bunch of updates if they annoyed you, but I thought it'd be cool to at least get the Halloween chapter up on Halloween. Dunno if future updates will be so quick, but I had these already written out and just did a quick once over before posting them.

Just like Chuck, I didn't plan on having him turn down the job there, but just sort of went with it. I feel it paid off in some cool bits though. With the tone shift of the story versus canon and the absence of Morgan, the Buy More is less important here. Beyond the safety of it there's no Morgan there to keep him there or earn it much affection for Chuck, so I figured with the chaos of everything he'd kind of leap before looking, though he hasn't quit yet.

Cyber security stuff is pretty cliche fanfic thing for them to go into, but it fits and I think it actually a pretty good way for them to get involved with missions by going around offering their services.