CHAPTER 49
More often than not Sarah joined Chuck in going to Casey's during the afternoons. There wasn't much of immediate use within the files Goya gave them and nothing Chuck flashed on, but it didn't surprise Casey.
"He was never giving us everything," Casey said looking up from his file. "This deal with the US is too fresh to risk us finding out the wrong thing and screwing it us. We're lucky we got this much."
"Maybe we should save him again," Chuck said with a laugh. "Convince him to give us all the rest."
They gave Beckman a report on what little they found, but he vowed to look into it more. He picked it apart, spending his days split between looking into links from the files and potential targets for the Piranha.
By the time Casey's leg was healed enough for him to forgo using the crutch he was given it was time for them to move into their offices. Chuck had only seen pictures of the space Sarah showed him, though she and Casey had been there a few times to oversee construction.
They were based out of a four story gray stone building on its own lot between a small pharmacy and dollar store. The only hint of what they were was the black and green sign with Carmichael Enterprises in gray beside the front doors. Beside it was a three story parking garage with large windows along the first and second floor while the top was open, each level having a secure door which led to a staircase inside the building. Sarah avoided the automated gates on the garage, instead parking beside the Crown Vic in front of the building.
The lobby was large and such a light gray it seemed white with silver frames around the windows giving them a clear view of the lots across from them housing a craft store, nail salon and barber. There was already a few couches and seats in the lobby which was separated from the rest of the building by a thick wall with windows meant to keep their receptionists safe.
Beyond that was the rest of the guest floor housing a large conference room, smaller meeting rooms and bathrooms. Coming to the elevators, Sarah and Casey led him inside where she turned to Chuck. "Before we check out the rest of the building… Put your hand on the panel."
Chuck did as she said, placing his hand on the small secure panel beside the normal elevator buttons. As he did a small slot above it opened with a retinal scanner. Once it read his eye a digitized voice said, "Charles Carmichael, confirmed."
"Okay," Chuck said pulling his hand away as suddenly the elevator dropped despite them being on the ground floor.
A moment later the doors opened into a small hall which led out to a large underground facility. "Welcome to Castle," Sarah said motioning to the underground base. "Let's show you around."
He followed them through the different areas. The main area was large conference room with desks and terminals for each of them with an attached briefing room with a table set before a wall holding a dozen monitors. Off to the side was a fully equipped medical room, a workshop with tons of tools, an armory full of weapons and a firing range. There was also the server room full of equipment Chuck drooled over and a disguise room which had a holographic display terminal used to select from the expansive wardrobe as well as shelves full of wigs and other accessories. Not far from there was the laundry room and locker rooms, which were near the showers and the full gym across from a full equipped dojo. Down the opposite hall was the interrogation rooms and holding cells.
"No poles?" He asked as they made their way to the secure staircase which connected to the parking garage's staff staircase through a secret panel in the wall.
"We can't risk you failing to slide down them and breaking your head open," said Casey.
Leaving the Castle manual for later, Chuck followed them up to the second floor of their offices. It housed the kitchen and dining area as well as a medical room, small gym, showers and locker room. The third floor was where Chuck had the chance to drool over the office servers and workshop while Casey grunted in approval of the smaller armory. There was also a large staff conference room as well as a briefing room along with a few spare offices.
Their private offices were located on the fourth floor, each of them taking a corner, though Casey's was across from theirs and Sarah and Chuck's were beside one another thanks to Chuck's being the largest in the building. Each one had it's own private wardrobe for them to fill as well as a full bathroom, making them larger than average offices.
Casey's office had the walls adorned with weapons like pieces of art alongside a few shelves of books, a table full of alcohol and glasses ready to serve beside a box of cigars. He also had a bronze busted of Reagan, which had been Chuck's suggestion. Casey seemed to like it, though wouldn't agree to hide a button for a secret compartment in the neck like Batman Sixty Six's Shakespeare bust.
"You two go on," Casey said sinking into his desk chair. "I need to set up my stuff and check the surveillance is all in working order."
Sarah kept her office fairly spartan except that among a few pieces of art hanging on the wall where thick targets waited to have knives thrown at them during long boring days. Looking over her shelves, Chuck smiled when he noticed a few framed pictures of them in the shelves behind her desk. Best of all they weren't the fake, CIA made kind but actually photos they'd taken over the last few months, including one of them in their Halloween costumes and even one from their hike with Ellie and Awesome where Chuck stood behind Sarah with his arms around her.
Tapping her desk he noticed the monitors weren't connected to anything. "No computer?"
"I know you enjoy putting them together so I figured you could build ours yourself," she said pointing to the boxes beside the couch. "Plus maybe you can figure out a way for us to get around all the surveillance software."
"I can do that. I'll probably scrub the other computers too. I was thinking about trying to design an operating system for us to use. I can probably use that as an excuse to keep our stuff clean. Say it's incompatible with their software." Looking around the room he asked, "Where are all the cameras anyway?"
"Usual places," she said pointing to a few spots. "But we can turn them off as we please. They'll ask for the footage but ultimately we control it. Every room can go dark without disabling the whole system. Just type in the code on the panels."
She went to the small panel beside the door and typed in a code, pointing to a small camera on the wall behind the desk facing the door of her office. "On," she said as the small light below it briefly blinked before she typed it again and the light came on and faded, "and off." Exiting the room she told him, "As a rule I have our offices off since we 'like our privacy', but the rest of the building is on. The building exterior is separate and always on so even without your office cameras on we can see who enters from the hall or might try to enter from outside."
Chuck's office was the largest and didn't feel terribly personal at first glance, but that was by design. When he was here he needed to be Charles Carmichael, but Carmichael was still a nerd so there were touches of him there. Among the usual generic paintings and photo prints adorning the walls were a few movie posters and prints of his favorite comic book and video game covers. A record player and shelf of vinyls stood beside a sound system and a little bar with a few bottles of Chardonnay not far from the large couch big enough to sleep on.
Like Sarah he had a few pictures of them on the shelves, though the only one of Ellie and Devon was a group shot of them with Casey they could explain away as them and the neighbors. His desk was also fairly barren apart from a quartet of monitors waiting to be hooked up to the computer he would build from the boxes beside the desk.
Sinking into his chair, Chuck let out a sigh and smiled as Sarah sat on the desk in front of him, watching him turn to look out of the windows behind his desk. It wasn't much of a view, but it let him see around the neighboring stores and some of the parking lot around them.
Swinging back around he looked to Sarah, who asked with a smile, "What do you think?"
"It's great."
"Really?" Pride colored her smile as she pressed her hands into the desk beneath her. "We can always add more or change things."
"I was right to trust you," he said rising from his chair to stand between her legs, putting his arms on either side of her. The move surprised her, Sarah quirking her brow and smirking as he leaned into her slightly. "Thank you."
Reaching up for his chin, she pressed her lips to his, but quickly pulled them back. "We'll have to wait to break the offices in," she said with a grin. "We have work to do."
"Already?"
"You have computers to put together," she said patting his chest, making him back up enough for her to slide off his desk. "Casey's already setting up his. We need to have ours ready."
"What about you?" he asked following her out of the office to go get a toolbox from the workshop.
"I'm going to do a once over of all the security and then try to start vetting some potential clients."
After a thorough review of the building security protocols she returned to her office to find Chuck stood behind her desk typing at her keyboard, her computer already put together.
"That was quick," she said walking around the desk to check her monitors.
"I pray that's the last time I hear you say that." That earned him a swat, but also a smile.
"It's all done?" She asked when he stopped typing, leaving her with a trio of monitors backed by custom black, gray and green Carmichael Enterprises wallpapers.
"Yeah. I left the surveillance software on so you don't get into trouble, but I'm gonna work on a quarantine to let you control when it's active. I'm still gonna wipe mine though."
"You know they'll tell Casey to just install it again," she said crossing her arms.
"And I'll uninstall it. Or the program I make to automatically uninstall it will at least." Chuck shrugged, then motioned to the computer. "The quarantine for yours will be done by tomorrow if not later today." Feeling like he was back at the Nerd Herd he asked, "Anything else I can help you with?"
"There is one thing," she said with a nod before grabbing his head and pulling him into a kiss.
Before things got too hot he went to go build his own computer, grinning at the top of the line parts. Once it was all together he installed the OS and wiped all the NSA and CIA software mixed in. He then went about installing a few other programs, updating drivers, all the usual stuff while also beginning the process of crafting the quarantine for Sarah.
It was almost two hours into his coding that his office doors opened and she leaned against the frame smiling at him. "Mr. Bartowski?"
Chuck grinned at her over his monitors. "Yes, Ms. Walker?"
"There's something you need to see. If you'd come with me?"
"Not clients already, right?" Chuck asked, losing his playful tone as he got to his feet, tapping a button to put his computer to sleep. "We didn't go suit shopping or anything yet, and I figured it would just be us-"
"Relax, Chuck," she said shaking her head. "We'll do our shopping this weekend. For now just follow me, okay?"
Trailing her downstairs, they exited the building to where Casey had his Crown Vic parked beside Sarah's Porsche. Beside them was a light gray full-size four door sedan.
"Is someone else here?" Chuck asked, looking to the agents. Sarah shook her head while Casey pressed his palm to his forehead.
"The car is yours, Dunce."
"Hey that's new," Chuck noted the insult. "And the car's really mine?"
"It's a company car," Casey said with a grin. "Modified and extra secure just for you."
Sarah handed him a set of keys which he took, unlocking the car with the fob. "What kind is it?"
"Charger," Casey answered, following him over to examine the car.
Chuck walked around it giving an approving nod when he opened the door and looked at the black interior. "It's nice, but I couldn't get a sports car or something? Or at least some stripes on this?"
"When you pay for it you can choose," said Casey.
"Did you pay for your Vic?" asked Chuck.
"I'm an agent," Casey retorted.
"The car manual is in the glove box," Sarah said watching Chuck slide into the driver's seat. "That includes all the modifications."
"So does it have an oil slick or something?"
"It has four wheels and a motor, that's all that matters for now," Casey said looking through the passenger window. "The rest are there for if we need it to get you out of someplace quick."
Returning to his desk, Chuck found a thumb drive among the things in his desk and used it to transfer the quarantine program to Sarah's computer and showed her how to activate and deactivate the surveillance software. Once he was finished he turned and leaned against the desk to watch Sarah test it herself.
"Any luck with clients?"
Sarah turned to him with a smirk. "A few that look promising. Why?"
"No rush, but I'm anxious to do something to earn us money. I'd rather not have this be entirely on the government's dime. I would like to pay you two."
"We talked about this. You don't have to, the government-"
"I want to. Even though you're the one running things, I'm supposed to be the boss here, right?" When she nodded he concluded, "Then it's my responsibility to pay you both, which means I need to do something that gets us money."
He hadn't expected that to make her grin, but it did. "Well we can solve that." He watched her open a drawer and take out a small stack of papers she set on the table beside him. "Look those over and sign them if they're okay."
Dubiously picking up the papers, Chuck looked them over, his expression slowly shifting to surprise and interest as he flipped through each page. "You want to sell the counter-surveillance tech I made?"
"We've already pushed through the patents," Sarah explained. "I know you were worried about misuse so I thought you could build them for now, but if you want I also have a few ideas on ways we can safely outsource construction. I think we can get them to agree to everything in there considering how valuable they could be in the field."
The smile he flashed her before looking back to the page crumbled suddenly. "Sarah is this real?"
"What's that?" She turned her chair more toward him to look at the page he held up for her. "Yeah."
"That's a lot of zeroes," he said looking at the page.
"Well that's just for the first shipment. Any others would probably be at similar prices unless we start flooding the market."
"That's, like, a LOT of zeroes, Sarah," he said looking over the page again. "Like more than I made the last couple years at the Buy More put together."
"Well you've earned it, and until they decide to give you pay for our missions you deserve a lot more."
Looking up from the papers he smiled at her, "Thank you for this."
"I wanted to make sure whatever happens you're taken care of," Sarah said reaching over to cup his cheek. "With this it almost doesn't matter if we sit in our offices twiddling our thumbs, so long as we get a few of these out we'd be in the black even if the government wasn't paying the bills."
Flipping to another page he asked, "You really think I should do this?"
"I think doing this will help convince them to keep you around even once the Intersect is gone and they have their own." A smirk crossed her lips as she shrugged saying, "Plus we use government funds to make them pay you for parts they bought. Seems right considering how much they've used you."
"Casey would be upset if he heard you," Chuck said setting the papers on the desk.
"Well good thing he isn't here right now. You're the head of R and D, I'm the head of the Sales. Whatever you make it's my job to make sure it sells, and it's also my job to make sure it cost us as little as possible. This is just me doing my job."
Chuck looked around, pulling a pen from her desk to sign the papers where she had marked. "Let it never be said Sarah Walker is bad at her job." Capping the pen and putting it back, he turned to her with a smirk.
"I'll order the parts as soon as I get these signed," she said with a grin. "Wouldn't want them thinking we're too far ahead of them."
"I really wish I locked the door when I came in here," Chuck said meeting her gaze.
Sarah took a breath, glad she wasn't the only one feeling something stir in her. "It's for the best. I should get these out."
Chuck returned to his office, taking a chance to look through the records they gave him before putting one on. Sitting at his desk he cracked his knuckles and let out a breath. "Let's make an OS to break all their spyware."
He didn't get far, but by the time the sunset he had an idea what he wanted from his OS and what he needed to go to achieve it. Sarah entered the office to find him sat in the dark, the only light coming from his screen and the windows behind him. She looked over to the record player which had been turned off in exchange for a playlist on his ipod which was sat in a dock on his desk and coming through speakers around the room.
"You ready to go?" Sarah asked, making his head snap up before reaching over to pull the ipod off the dock, quieting the room.
Realizing it was dark, Chuck let out a laugh, looking over his desk before tapping a button which caused the lights to come on while another caused the windows behind him to go black. "Sorry about that."
"No, I'm glad, but I also know Ellie and Devon are waiting for us and I don't want to be late for dinner."
Once he shut down his computer and made his way downstairs Sarah put a code into the panel beside the receptionist doors which put the rest of the building on lock down for the night, then locked the front doors. Chuck waited for her, walking her to her car until she stopped and turned to him.
"Race you to Ellie's?"
For a moment Chuck had forgot he now had a car despite standing next to it. Digging the keys from his pocket he shook his head. "You know I'd lose."
"Well don't go too slow," she warned walking around to her driver's side, watching Chuck get into his Charger before she slid into her Porsche.
Chuck started the engine, letting the dashboard light up before looking over to Sarah smiling at him from her car before she pulled out of her spot. She came to a stop at the edge of their lot, waiting to turn onto the streets while revving her engine. Having prided himself on being a good driver, which seemed a rarity in LA most days, Chuck looked over his brand new modified spy car and with a smirk declared, "Screw it."
Shifting gears, he sped back in reverse and hit the break, turning and shifting gears before pulling alongside her. Through the windows he saw her gaping smile before she revved twice, which he answered with three of his own.
He didn't expect to beat her, he wasn't nearly as experienced a driver at anything above sixty, but he pulled into the parking space beside her in Echo Park only a few seconds after she arrived. Once he shut off the engine, he pulled the manual from the glove box and made his way over to where she waited for him at the courtyard gate.
"And here I thought you drove like a granny," Sarah mused as they walked toward Ellie's.
"I drive safely," he corrected. "Most people just drive like the rules of the road don't exist, or are different for them."
Entering Ellie's they found Casey already there, giving them a nod as Devon waved and Ellie rushed over to hug Chuck. "So how was it?" she asked pulling away to look him over. "Can we come by or is that not good for the cover?"
"It's fine," Sarah assured, "just if there's anyone else around you're our neighbor and friend, not his sister."
When they sat for dinner Ellie and Devon took their usual spots at the heads of the table while Casey sat across from Sarah and Chuck, who noticed something was off. He assumed his sister was excited about his new job but it lingered too long. She looked nervous or anxious all through her meal, glancing at the others but staring at her plate when she wasn't talking.
After Ellie brought out desert she made for the occasion, Sarah excused herself and headed for the hall. He'd assumed she'd gone to the bathroom, but then as he heard her coming back he noticed Devon freeze up while Ellie barely contained a sequel in her throat while sitting up.
Turning around he found Sarah sliding into the seat beside him. Chuck took the thin box she held and opened it, his brow furrowing as he set it on the table while looking over a diploma for Stanford.
"Wow," he said with a nod, "It's a good fake but I guess it's necessary for the cover, huh?"
Casey snickered while Sarah shook her head. "It's not a fake, Chuck. It's not Carmichael's diploma, it's yours."
"Mine?" He looked at it again and realized it had his name on it. "It's real?"
"You've earned it," said Casey.
"We tried to get it back when we first started talking about switching covers," Sarah told him quietly, "but after everything that kept us from running they decided to push it through. We got it a few days ago, but we've been waiting for now to show you."
Chuck turned to hug her, whispering in her ear, "For someone who doesn't like surprises you've given a lot of them today."
She gave an innocent smile as they separated and he thanked Casey, reaching over to shake his hand while Devon patted his shoulder and congratulated him. Ellie hurried over to hug him for a moment, but when they went to his room later she returned from her shower to find him looking over the diploma with a somber smile.
"Something wrong?" She asked coming up behind him.
Chuck turned shaking his head. "Not in the least."
"Then what is it? You have this look…"
"Just realizing something."
"And that is?"
"A year ago, this would have felt incredible. Like vindication... but it doesn't. If anything it's kind of surprising how little it matters right now." Setting the diploma on his desk he turned to her with an assuring smile. "I appreciate it, really, but I realized I don't need it like I did before. It doesn't feel like an accomplishment because I have real ones now. Ones that matter more. I've helped two of the best agents in the world save lives. I've helped put away bad guys for years. If my life was still the pit of crap it was a year ago it would be incredible, but now? I don't need it like I did then." Sliding his arms around her waist he said staring into her eyes, "I already have everything I need."
Sarah cradled his cheeks and stood on her toes, catching his lips as he leaned forward and taking a step back, pulling him towards the bed.
Chuck had gotten so much that day but all of it paled against her. She was the ultimate gift, the one that made his life better, that made him matter. All the doubts and pain he'd felt was worth it for the way she looked at him when they were alone, the feel of her fingers between his, the feel of her resting against him. He would give it all for her.
He just wished it wasn't so hard sometimes. She'd gotten better about some things, but it still felt like he was trying to peek through cracks. The problem was he worried he was the one beating the walls down, leaving himself raw and open when he wanted her to be the one taking them down. For any of it to matter it had to be her choice to tell him things. It was why he did his best to keep from pushing her. He knew it would matter more for both of them if she would just open up and tell him where she grew up or her dad's name or anything about herself.
A flicker of a thought came to mind as he wondered if she sensed him holding back because he was scared of how she'd react. If somehow this was his fault. Maybe if he would just tell her how he felt that would be what gave her the will to break down her walls for him, or at least let him inside them with her. So often it felt like he might explode if he didn't tell her plainly how he felt, and maybe she saw that.
She didn't say it but he knew she cared, saw it in her eyes as she lay against him while drifting to sleep. He felt sure she at least wouldn't run. So as brushed a strand of hair behind her eyes and met her azure gaze, Chuck gave up fighting it and said quietly, "I love you."
Sarah's eyes widened, her hand against his chest feeling his heartbeat pick up pace as she propped herself up.
Realizing what he's said he let out a breath that he felt like he'd been holding for months and sat up with her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I was so worried it would be too much too soon, but I love you. Not for today, or this," he said nodding toward the bed, "but you. The way you make me feel, not just about you but about everything, about myself, about life. It's all better for you. My life, me, everything is better because of you. You're everything for me, Sarah. Everything, and in case this isn't enough to make up for not telling you sooner I'll say it again, I love you, Sarah Walker."
It felt like she was choking on a flood of words and none could make it through as she stared at Chuck, her eyes burning when she took a shaky breath. She'd known it for a while, but to hear it said like that, to hear his emotion, to see the sincerity in his eyes, it knocked her off balance. As much as she wanted to say she felt the same she wasn't sure she could. It felt like she would screw it up, the words would come out wrong, or even if they didn't they wouldn't be enough, so she grabbed him and pulled him into a kiss as they toppled to the pillows.
Now that he'd said it Chuck felt lighter when morning came and they went about preparing for the day. Even if they weren't meeting anyone Chuck still picked out his best shirt and pants, changing into them before packing his laptop and the car manual he spent breakfast reading.
"You want me to drive you to work, or are you taking your own car?" Chuck asked leaning against the bathroom door frame, watching Sarah finish applying her makeup.
"I can skip a day of driving," she said with a smirk.
"Maybe if you're nice I'll even let you drive it home."
Arriving at the offices they found the doors unlocked by Casey who arrived ahead of them. After a quick trip down to pick up the manual for Castle, Chuck made his way to his office, giving Sarah a brief nod since they were in the hall with active surveillance. After turning on his computer and running a few quick checks he hooked up his laptop and set the castle and car manuals aside.
First up was copying some of the programs he had designed on his laptop over to the work desktop. Once he had everything he needed off it he tucked the laptop away and started a few automated searched on people from the Volkoff files. He left the monitors on as he picked up the car manual and read through it again, cementing all the functions in his mind before moving onto the larger Castle manual.
It was in the midst of the chapter on the contamination procedures that Chuck noticed a box appear on his screen titled 'SW File Alert'.
Sitting up he noticed the information attached was different from the previous time, so quickly tossed the manual aside and brought up a window to begin tracing it back to the source. He'd assumed it was the same person accessing it, but it quickly became apparent it wasn't. They were nowhere near as thorough this time. They used a VPN but only relayed twice, giving Chuck the user's location while at the same time he managed to crack the login and trace their accounts until he came to a name he recognized.
Staring at the screen, Chuck cocked his head whispering, "Ryker?"
AN:
Originally I had a version of this chapter with this ending happening last chapter, but the parent talk came up and I went with it.
I decided to go with Carmichael Enterprises mostly because the ties to Batman's Wayne Enterprises, and left Industries to Quinn since it's pretty close to Queen Industries. Plus with Chuck having the tech side of the company as well as the security stuff I thought it more encompassing and fit this version of them more.
The only reason I had for choosing a Charger for Chuck's car was I remember it being newish around 2009. I originally had a Challenger for similar reasons, but figured they'd go for a more practical 4 door car instead of the sportier option. I also had it plain silver without stripes or anything that stood out because they are still spies and want to blend in somewhat. I'm like an E-Tier car guy so don't expect too much detail on that front.
Back when they first started discussing the cover change Sarah and Casey shared a look after Chuck talked about his degree, and that was when they first would've looked into things if not asked Beckman and Graham about it. The implication being they held off on it until they were basically committed to Chuck as the Intersect.