Chapter 17

Despite his hope to use the day to relax, or rather relax while also doing some Piranha work, Chuck was sent on a quest to the grocery store by Ellie during her usual Thanksgiving panic. When he returned he found Casey standing in the house with a cosmo in his hand, holding it like it was a grenade.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, your sister invited me to dinner," Casey answered loudly.

"Really?"

"Thanks."

"Did you find everything?" Ellie asked coming out of the kitchen and taking the bag from his arms.

"Yeah, I-I did." Watching her return to the kitchen he turned to Casey. "Uh, I have a question for you. Um, what-what did Bryce mean when he said 'Casey, care to… Care to try again?' Cause call me crazy, but I got the weirdest feeling like it was you who killed him."

"Good guess."

"Are you ser-" Of course he was. "Does Sarah know about that?"

"It's in my report."

"Why would you… do that? Why did you kill Bryce?"

"Orders," he said as though it was obvious. "Your old nemesis is a very dangerous human being, Chuck. You get a chance to shoot Bryce Larkin you shoot to kill."

"I'll try to remember that," Chuck muttered with a dry laugh.

"Guys, no shoptalk tonight." Devon came out the kitchen holding a tray housing their turkey for the night. "We got a bird to eat. Hey John, can you help me stuff this monster?"

"Cosmo?" Casey handed the drink to Chuck as he made his way to the kitchen.

"Thank you, John." Ellie said passing him with wine in hand and smiling to Chuck. "He's so sweet."

"Like honey," Chuck said with a plastered smile, wondering if she'd still think that when he came back from telling Casey about his daughter missing a few limbs.

When the bell rang Chuck glanced at the door and downed the entire cosmo, earning a wide eyed stare from Ellie before she went to answer the door. Seeing Sarah stood with a bouquet she greeted her with a hug. "Hello, Sarah. Welcome to Thanksgiving." Taking the flowers she beamed. "Oh, thank you. They're beautiful."

"You're welcome." Sarah said glancing to Chuck, who gave her a nod from behind Ellie.

After catching up with Ellie and helping her in the kitchen, they all sat at the table and showered his sister with compliments over the meal. Sat across from Sarah, Chuck asked her, "Do you, uh, usually do Thanksgiving?"

Looking up from cutting her food she answered, "Uh, not recently."

Chuck gave a polite nod. Of course that was a none starter. Not only was it a personal question, but she was an agent so they probably didn't care about stuff like this. Turning his attention to Devon instead he asked, "You mind passing the sweet potatoes?"

Devon handed them to Chuck, who looked in the bowl then turned to Ellie, "No marshmallows?"

A somber smile came to Ellie's lips. "I'm sorry, I must have forgot."

"You know what, it's my fault," Chuck said shaking his head. "I forgot them in the your car when I borrowed it. Let me go grab them."

Sarah looked from Chuck's empty seat to Ellie once he left. "Are they his favorite?"

Ellie smiled, clearly enjoying the idea of her showing interest in Chuck's likes. "No, but they were one of Morgan's favorites. It's a little memorial for him so we still make them the way he liked them."

Nodding, Sarah looked at the empty chair with a somber smile before taking another piece of turkey.

Returning from the car with two bags of marshmallows, Chuck came to a stop as Bryce stepped out of the shadows of an archway. "Hello, Chuck."

"Sarah and Casey are right inside, one girlish scream from me and they go into combat mode."

"Relax," Bryce said moving closer. "This is you place?"

"Ellie and I live here, yeah."

"You… live with your sister?" Though he understood his judging tone, he sure as hell didn't like it. "What happened? Chuck, what happened to you? Guy who wanted to be the software billionaire. Bill Gates with style."

The more he spoke, the more Chuck found himself wondering if Casey really was a good shot after all. "You happened to me, Bryce," Chuck said stiffly. "You got my kicked out of Stanford."

"I need to talk to Sarah. Can you bring her to me, without Casey?"

Did he want Chuck to give 'em his room, maybe lend him a condom or two while he was at it? Maybe dig out Jill's number see if he could really swing for the fences? "Why would I help you?"

"Because of Fulcrum. The guy in the elevator, he works for them. And they want the Intersect. They want you."

Feeling his pulse rise, Chuck took a breath and shook his head. "You want my help, I want answers. How do you know Orion?"

Bryce smirked, shaking his head. "You don't need to worry about that, Chuck."

"Alright," Chuck gave him a jovial smile. "I'll send Casey out then. I'm sure he has a gun on him."

Bryce rolled his eyes. "Really? You're going to throw your friend to the wolves like that, Chuck?"

"Friend? My only friend is buried in Santa Monica. You're just the asshole who got me kicked out of college because you thought I couldn't cut it as an agent. Then topped it off with not only sleeping with Jill but sending me the Intersect to screw up my life and put me and Ellie in danger."

"I knew you would… wait," Bryce shook his head. "Wait, what was that about Jill?"

Chuck scoffed. "She told me you two started dating after I got kicked out." Well, her room mate did, but she said sorry afterward and stopped talking to him.

Bryce sighed, frowning. "Chuck, I swear to you I never touched Jill. Never. I was already in the agency then, I wouldn't have gotten involved with a civilian like that."

All he could do was stare at Bryce for a moment before forcing his throat to move and mutter a shaky, "What?"

Bryce held up his hands and he saw sincere honesty in his blue eyes. "Chuck I swear, never. I never even thought about it. Think about it. She was nice but she was never my type, you know that."

"Yeah," Chuck said quietly. "You always got the best girls."

"And it sounds like she wasn't one of the best," Bryce said with a frown.

"She lied to me." Chuck shook his head, staring at the floor. "Why would she lie about that?"

Bryce stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder sympathetically. "I don't know, but whatever the reason you're clearly better off without her. And you can't stay out here too long. So do you think you can get me a meet with Sarah?"

Chuck looked up and for a moment wondered if this had all been a diversion tactic, but even if it wasn't he still had to get back on topic. "How do you know Orion?"

Sighing, Bryce pulled his hand back to cross his arms. "How much do you know about him?"

Chuck was still pissed at him, but him not being with Jill cut that down a lot. He still screwed him over by getting him expelled without talking to him, but at least he wasn't so heartless he went after his girlfriend to leave him alone afterward. Maybe he'd spoken too soon about friends a moment ago.

"He created the Intersect, or some version of it. We're not sure what his tie to me is, but Sarah suggested he might have been scouting me for something like the CIA did and when someone found out they went after me at the pier. I wasn't lying about that before. The guy who killed Morgan was asking about Orion."

Bryce sighed, glancing toward Chuck's apartment. "Look, I can't tell you everything but I promise you he's on your side. More than the CIA or NSA, more than anyone here Orion has your back. He's not involved with Fulcrum, he's running from them, but he's also hiding from the CIA and everyone else." Bryce reached out to squeeze his shoulder. "Chuck, please. Sarah-"

"I know," he groused, brushing Bryce's hand off his shoulder and sighing as he turned to the door. "Go pick the lock on my window. I'll send her to my room."

With a grin Bryce nodded and made his way toward Chuck's windows. "Thanks."

Coming through the front door Chuck handed the marshmallows off to Ellie, who took them into the kitchen with the sweet potatoes while he returned to his seat.

Watching him sit, Sarah examined his face and saw his brow knit slightly, eyes unfocused and nostrils flaring oddly."Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's… great." Though she clearly doubted him, she couldn't question it publicly.

When Casey reached for the salt Devon grabbed his bicep. "Nice and tight, John. I'm impressed. You work out?"

"Yeah," said Casey, "work keeps me in shape."

Chuck was vaguely aware of Devon talking to Casey about water sports and praying he meant the PG kind as he tried to steady himself and decide he would go through with it. Looking across the table to Sarah he whispered, making sure to mouth every syllable he could, "Bryce Larkin is in my bedroom."

Sarah stared at him, slowly raising from her slouched position. When he pointedly widened his eyes, she put her napkin aside and rose with a soft, "Excuse me."

Watching her leave down the hall Chuck found himself getting nauseous again. His mind was flooded with crafted imaged of Sarah rushing into his bedroom and into the lips of Bryce Larkin. He saw them stripping their clothes, Bryce throwing her on his bed and making her gasp and moan. He heard the words on their lips, the comparisons to and dismissal of him. His left hand was squeezing his knee as he stared at the food on his plate, the glass in his right hand sitting in front of his lips for what felt like minutes as he imagined the girl of his dreams throwing him aside like most people did.

"Two dudes, one raft, whitewater rapids. I got some brochures I gave to Chuck. Hey, Chuckles, are those rafting brochures still in your room?"

Barely hearing Devon's words Chuck asked, "What?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll get 'em."

That pulled Chuck from his daze, holding out a hand to stop Devon from getting up. "No, no, no, no. No, I'll… I'll get 'em. Please You guys keep, you know, talk… Talk."

It was almost surprising he could stand so quickly after feeling so awful, but he did, taking a breath as he made his way down the hall. Reaching his door he saw it slightly ajar and through that crack saw Bryce and Sarah kissing each other passionately. It wasn't Bryce kissing her, she was a part of it, kissing him back. It left him oddly numb in the way being eviscerated does while feeling your insides crash against the ground.

A shell that looked like Chuck returned to the table as Devon said, "So, Thanksgiving. We're all supposed to say what we're thankful for. I'll start. I am thankful that I am here with the most beautiful woman in the world, Ellie Bartowski."

"That's sweet, Honey. I am thankful for my family," she said, furrowing her brow when she noticed sat back in his chair staring ahead blankly with his arms crossed, then looked to Casey saying, "and new friends."

When they turned their attention to Casey the agent said only, "Uh-I pass."

Turning to his future brother-in-law Devon said, "Chuck."

"I'm thankful that Bryce Larkin is dead," Chuck said before slowly turning toward Casey, "and not currently in my bedroom with my new girlfriend."

Casey's jaw shifted before clearing his throat and rising from his seat. "Excuse me, please."

Ellie tilted her head, frowning as she reached over to rub Chuck's arm. "Everything okay, Chuck? That was really… dark."

Devon nodded. "And specific."

When he didn't respond Ellie asked again, "Chuck, really are you okay?"

No, he wasn't. But why? Sarah wasn't his girlfriend. Sarah was an agent just like Bryce. He never had a claim to her. He was just a job to her. He was just being pathetic… and had sent an almost definitely armed Casey after them.

"Okay, I might have made a mistake." Chuck rose from his chair, leaving behind a confused Devon and Ellie who looked at the three empty chairs before looking to one another confused.

"Maybe some bug's going around the mall?" Devon suggested.

Ellie nodded. "I'll have to get the Lysol and wipe everything down later."

Entering his bedroom he found Sarah staring at Casey beside his window with a gun drawn. "Nice work, CIA."

"Hey," Chuck said closing the door behind him. "No guns are Thanksgiving."

"Stay with Numbnuts while I look for the Douchebag," Casey said stepping through the window to do a quick search of the complex.

Sarah followed him, and Chuck here, both standing in the courtyard until Casey returned a few seconds later. "He's gone. Call it in from my place. I'll check out back."

Sarah was fuming inside. Embarrassed and angry, realizing it was mostly at herself when she asked, "How did Casey find out?"

"I made a rash decision."

Sarah winced and yelled internally as she came to a stop and turned to him. Maybe a piece of her was angry at Chuck now, but she was also still angry at herself as she realized, "You saw Bryce kiss me, didn't you?"

"I guess this means we're not getting back together." Chuck sounded defeated, but pushed it aside as he started toward Casey's until he saw a light come on behind his shades. "Sarah, why is someone in Casey's apartment?"

Swiftly stepping out of her heels Sarah silently entered Casey's apartment and drew her gun upon seeing Bryce hunched over a computer. Chuck, still unused to seeing guns, took a harsh breath as he saw her draw hers, but it was enough to alert Bryce who spun around raising his own on them.

"Put it down, Bryce."

Chuck stared at Bryce holding a gun on them and wondered if maybe he'd been played in the courtyard. "Sarah-"

"Close the door, Chuck," Bryce ordered.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm closing the door. I'm closing the door." Once he did, Chuck asked, "Why are you pointing a gun at us, Bryce? Are you really going to shoot us?"

Sarah's gaze broke from Bryce when she realized Chuck was moving in front of her, but managed to grab his arm and guide him behind her wordlessly while they started to walk a circle around the room.

"I need you to listen to me," Bryce said with contained desperation.

Sarah all but pulled Chuck to move behind her, as if his head wasn't clear above hers. "Put it down."

"The Intersect was a mission. I was recruited by an outfit called Fulcrum, a special access group inside the CIA."

"You're lying. We would know that."

"They knew who I was, my activation codes, my record. They ordered me to shed my agency contacts and go deep." They finally stopped moving, having each gone in a one eighty until they switched starting positions. "Only then did I realize it was an internal strike to download and destroy the Intersect. Fulcrum had plans for its intel."

"How can I trust you, Bryce?"

"I didn't mean to hurt you, Sarah…" Bryce finally lowered his gun and said, pleading for her to believe him, "I didn't know who to trust."

Adjusting her aim on him Sarah asked, "Why Chuck?"

Behind her Chuck asked, "Yeah, why Chuck?"

"I needed a friend who wasn't a spy. He wouldn't know anything about Fulcrum, or the Intersect, or Sand Wall."

Chuck felt the familiar pull of buried information before it was all revealed to him in a flash. "Sand Wall. Sand Wall. That was the name of the mission." Doing his best to to hide any hint of the speck of disappointment he felt, Chuck said, "Sarah, I think he's telling the truth."

Half looking over her shoulder she asked, "Did you flash?"

"Yeah."

Once she turned back to him Bryce assured her, "I'm not rogue."

Just as Sarah finally lowered her gun the front door opened and Casey entered, his eyes widening at what he found within his apartment. Chuck's eyes widened, exclaiming along with Sarah, "Casey, no!"

Bryce turned around, gaping and wide eyed as once again Casey drew on him and shot him in the chest, knocking him almost a meter back as he slid across the hardwood floor. While Sarah froze for a moment, Chuck rushed past her and slid to his knees at Bryce's side.

"No, no, no!" Without thinking he pressed his hands over the wound, squeezing his eyes shut as he press down on it so much it hurt his hand.

Sarah gaped as she watched Chuck leap into action before she did. Even after he saw them kiss in his room, even with all the betrayal and anger he must have felt, he still leapt to help Bryce. He'd tried to step in front of her to protect her, and now he was trying to help one the person who had wrecked his life.

"Gah!" Bryce exclaimed as Chuck pressed directly onto the bruise forming under his vest.

"Bryce!" Sarah said with relief, before seeing Casey approach muttering, "Time to finish the job."

Bryce stared up at Chuck, shocked to see the unshed tears in his eyes as he pulled his hands away and stared at the hole in his shirt, seeing the black vest beneath it rather than blood.

Sarah swiftly stepped between them and Casey. "Casey no. Chuck flashed. Bryce isn't rogue."

Bryce turned to Casey, taking a strained breath. "You should aim for the head next time, Casey."

The NSA agent pulled Bryce up by the collar of his shirt while Chuck remained on his knees, staring at the floor. His hands were trembling and even though he knew they weren't it felt as if they were soaked in blood. He could feel his jeans sticking to his knee, the hair on his legs caked in blood. The lines of it on his chest, even the fleck that had gone up his nose. Chuck tried to tell himself that it was all in his head, that Bryce was okay, that he was caked in another friend's blood, but he couldn't stop the shiver in his limbs.

"Chuck," Sarah whispered, kneeling beside him with a hand on his back. "It's okay. Bryce is okay."

Oh god, Sarah was here. She was seeing him like this. Realizing he must look so pathetic, Chuck took a breath, letting it out and a contained exhale, rebooting himself, pushing it all aside as he pressed a hand against the floor and forced himself to stand. "I'm fine," he said pulling away from her, wanting anything but her to think he was some pathetic loser still broken up over something so old, especially when they dealt with this kind of stuff all the time. How could someone like that ever be a real part of their team?

He stood off to the side while Bryce switched out his torn shirt for a t-shirt, taking the chance to pick up his kevlar vest and examine it. Keeping his attention on the vest so he wouldn't have to see Sarah probably ogling a shirtless Bryce, he didn't notice her eyes hadn't left Chuck since he stood. Not until after Chuck asked how Bryce was alive and he explained he didn't know how, so she looked to him saying, "But you know why they did it."

Bryce turned to her with a nod. "Yeah."

At the table behind her Casey asked, "Well should I pop some popcorn or beat the answer out of you?"

Bryce answered sarcastically, "No thanks. I'll talk."

"Darn it," said the smirking Casey.

Bryce explained how he stole the Intersect and was shot by Casey outside the DNI before coming back in an ambulance with a Fulcrum team. He told them they kept him alive because they thought he was the Intersect. "They brought me back to take it out of me. That's why I need your help."

"We're going to help you?" asked Casey.

"I need to turn myself into the CIA, but Fulcrum has operatives in every agency. I need to know that I'm being handed over to the real CIA."

Chuck glanced at Bryce looking at Sarah and sighed, looking back at the vest. "I can do that." Looking up to Sarah he shrugged. "I can be there at the transfer. If I flash on whoever they send, they're Fulcrum. If not… You're on your way home." And out of my fucking life, he thought setting the vest aside.

"It should work," Sarah concluded with a nod. "Smart, Chuck."

Casey grunted in agreement. "They still need a place where the transfer can go down. Public place, lot of people."

Ugh, Chuck began mentally. "Public spot… Lots of witnesses. I know a place."

The Buy More on Black Friday was a pit of chaos and despair. Or at least more chaos and despair than usual thanks to the hundreds of people trying to trample each other for half off a second rate camera or sound system. As usual Chuck stood in an aisle directing traffic while Big Mike fled to hide in his office and Harry Tang went around overseeing the others, trying to keep Jeff and Lester from hiding.

"We're entering the store." Sarah's voice filled his ear through the earwig and he looked past a customer to see her walking down the aisle with Bryce a few steps behind her. "The CIA pickup should be here in two minutes."

Chuck helped a few more customers until Sarah said into her watch, "The CIA pickup is here. Chuck, do your pass."

Tapping the receiver in his ear, Chuck took a breath and started walking toward the two men in suits with obvious earpieces. That alone made him doubt they were Fulcrum, but he still said with barely contained nerves, "Welcome to the Buy More." When nothing happened he said into his watch. "Nothing happened. Nothing happened. There were no flashes, so the CIA guys are legit."

With their time coming to an end Chuck turned to where Bryce stood in front of the television wall and found himself feeling awful about everything. He still was angry at Bryce for so many different things, but all the things that had been fueling it for the past five years was gone.

Bryce hadn't gotten him expelled for no reason or to get him out of the way so he could be with Jill. Bryce didn't have some unexplained hatred for him. He wasn't going out of his way to ruin his life. He made a bad choice in getting him expelled to keep him from the CIA without at least talking to Chuck and giving them a chance to find another way, but it seemed he did it because he actually cared for Chuck. He was so incredibly jealous and envious of Bryce and his relationship with Sarah, but Chuck didn't really have a right to be. She was really his girlfriend, she loved Bryce, was attracted to Bryce. He was just Chuck, the guy she was probably paid too little to act as his fake girlfriend, the guy keeping her from going out and doing whatever she wanted, keeping her from doing her real job, living some dream life she deserved more than being stuck working at a Wienerlicious and wasting her time watching a nobody with a brain full of secrets.

He wanted to hate Bryce still, but that was just because that was what he'd lived with for the past five years. His life was already changing since the Intersect, so maybe he could try living without the crutch of Bryce as his nemesis for a while. Walking up to the televisions he stood beside him, a solemn smile touching his lips as he said, "Excuse me, sir, can I help you?"

Bryce turned to him, surprised and glad to see Chuck approach him for the first time. "Yes, thank you… These HD screens almost look like the real thing."

Sarah watched over a rack as Chuck nodded to Bryce. "Yeah, they do, huh?"

Looking at his only friend in the world, Bryce thought about all that happened the night before and realized he'd practically started it all by insulting him. "You know, I didn't mean to offend you last night. About living with your sister. Sarah told me about your team, what you've done together."

"And you're still the super spy, right?" Chuck said with dry chuckle as he pulled his lips into a smile and looked to Bryce.

"It's nothing. I got one friend in this world. You got a home, a family that loves you, people who care about you."

Put like that, Chuck almost felt sorry for Bryce. At least until he noticed Sarah in his peripherals, and wondered who got the better deal at the end of the day. "So what happens now, Bryce? You just disappear all over again?"

"That's what I do well." Bryce extended a hand to his friend. "Thanks, Chuck. For everything."

Glancing at his hand, Chuck turned and shook it. "Yeah. You're welcome."

Sarah wasn't sure what made her stomach twist seeing them shake hands, or why it made her about as nervous as she was jumping out of a plane. Coming around to their side she quickly said, "I'm taking him in, Chuck. You stay here."

"Right." Chuck watched them walk over to Casey and the agents, Sarah looking back at him with a flicker of sympathy. Humor hid the bitter edge of his voice as he said quietly, "Stay in the store, Chuck."

Looking to Sarah he flashed her a frail smile for what he feared might be the last time, some part of him imagining she would never return, and almost understanding it. Why wouldn't she want to be off drinking Mai Tai's in Tahiti or taking down Warlords in Somalia with the man she loved. Why would Wonder Woman ever want to be with Batman when she had an equal in Superman?

AN:

As much as I like plenty of stories that crap on Bryce, and like the catharsis of those kinds of stories, in canon he's not as bad as some fics make him. As far as I remember canon either says or implies he didn't actually sleep with Jill, so I went with that, plus it's less common. I'm not looking to make Bryce Chuck's best buddy, but I like the frenemy dynamic, and think Bryce really cares about him to a degree. Him being a dick in VS The Break Up is at least understandable, but I never saw Bryce as evil or really too bad. Done right I think he's got a lot of potential to be really interesting.

Originally this and the next chapter were together, but it was over 10k words so I figured split it to make it more managable.