A/N: Hi, it's me. I'm not sure how good these next couple of chapters are. I feel like I've lost my writing mojo. That being said, they are huge, but on a personal basis for Chuck. For his growth, understanding what all has happened. If you were wondering is this one of those fics where David makes Jill look okay, it is NOT. I hope you enjoy Just Two People Ch 30 (Is this where I point out I thought this fic would be 15 chapters max?)
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck
Chuck was dreaming about lying in the sand with Sarah, making out with her as the surf crashed around them, when he was scared so badly he nearly launched out of the bed sideways.
"MASTER CHUCK! MASTER CHUCK!" C3PO was screaming. The lights in the room were flickering, the alarm was going off, the phone ringing, and the TV flicked on with the sound turned all the way up. "RANSOMWARE!"
"Oh shit," Chuck muttered. He grabbed his clothes and, dressing quickly, grabbed his bag and ran out of the room, leaving Sarah to try and grasp what was going on. Chuck began to run to the main room where the computers systems were set up.
"Curls! What the hell!?" Zondra yelled.
Chuck looked behind him and she was running after him.
"Three-pee-oh is saying it's ransomware," Chuck told her. "That's bad Zondra, real bad."
"What do you need me to do?" she asked. Chuck blinked. In a split-second Zondra, the unofficial leader of the group, had just turned the reins over to Chuck. He didn't have time to think about that.
"I'm not sure there's anything I can do," Chuck told her. The look on her face felt like the look on his. "This is bad." They picked up the pace to the main room.
"I have contained the ransomware to the main systems, but Master Chuck-" C3PO began.
"We're screwed," Chuck muttered.
"I'm beginning to work on a solution now," C3PO continued.
"Hey, that's great," Zondra chimed in.
"It should be ready within two days to two years," C3PO told her. "Depending on how lucky we get."
Chuck and Zondra entered the room and saw Guy. "What the hell have you two done?" Guy spouted. "There are lights flickering everywhere. We're getting complaints from everyone." Chuck jerked his chin back.
"I got this, do your thing," Zondra told him in a low voice, her hand on his arm in support. She walked up to Guy. "What he has done is make sure the whole hotel Internet and infrastructure has not been taken over by ransomware."
"He… wait, what?" Guy asked.
"It has been contained to this area," Zondra continued.
"So… he didn't do this?" Guy asked sheepishly.
"Him, do this?" Zondra asked, humor in her voice. "Ask your fiancé if he would."
"I haven't seen her in a bit, if you must know," Guy said, looking sheepish.
Chuck was trying to get into one of the computers without any luck. He shook his head, and then stopped what he was doing. He turned back to the plotted plant he had seen while shaking his head, and stared. He reached over, and pulled out a flash drive. It wasn't any old flash drive… It was a flash drive that was in the shape of an owl.
"Three-pee-oh," he said in a low voice. "I think I found the flash drive with the ransomware on it," Chuck said softly. "Could you crack it with this?"
"Oh, yes, Master Chuck," C3PO told him. "That would help immensely."
"How long?" Chuck asked.
"A few months at the most," C3PO told him.
"That's what I thought," Chuck muttered. He got up and walked towards Zondra and Guy. "So, I think I might have something that will help, but I need to run back and get it. I'm assuming you and Jill are sharing a room?"
"I don't see what business of yours that is," Guy said.
"You set this thing up, Guy, I just want to make sure nothing personal of yours got hacked," Chuck explained. Guy's eyes widened. "You two stay here, let me go see what I can do." Chuck walked off.
"Wait, he'll need my card to get in," Guy said to Zondra.
"He really doesn't," Zondra told him.
}o{
Thirty minutes later, Chuck walked back into the room, a thundercloud on his face, and a different flash drive in his hand. He sat down, plugged it in, typed a few things, and sat back.
"How long should it take?" Guy asked, coming over.
"It's fixed," Chuck told Guy. "It wasn't really ransomware; it was a virus made to look that way. Cracked it. It's good."
"Should we be worried someone will try again?" Guy asked. Chuck shook his head.
"No, I think they've learned their lesson," Chuck said to Guy. "I'm going to head to one of those tents and get a drink." With that, he stood and walked away. Zondra sighed.
This wasn't good.
}o{
"Your drink, sir," he heard a female voice say, sometime later.
"It is a virgin margarita, just the mix, right? Cause I don't need to be drinking, because if I start drinking over this, I'm going to get plastered. And that would be bad. This is the lite mix, right? I mean I got the girl, but there's no sense putting on the weight… I'm rambling, I'm sorry," Chuck said, turning toward the woman's voice who had brought him the drink. His jaw dropped in surprise. "Carina?"
"I have no idea about any of that," Carina told him, smirking. She set his drink down in front of him and sat down in one of the recliners beside him. Leaning back, she stretched out. "I just got your drink because I decided if I didn't get out here now and talk to you, none of the rest of them would ever figure out who should come talk to you."
"I don't understand," Chuck said, as he reached for the drink Carina had placed in front of him.
"Listen… I'll explain it, if you'll answer a couple of questions for me," Carina offered.
"Okaaay," Chuck replied.
"Is it true about ransomware, that if you get it, are you really SOL?" Carina asked.
"Yeah," Chuck replied, taking a sip of his drink. "Oh, that's good."
"Is it the way you hoped?" Carina asked him.
"I think, it's defiantly just the mix. I'm not sure if it's the lite or not, but it hits the spot," Chuck replied. "Why do you ask about the ransomware?"
"Because I was about to personally hire you for this case," Carina said, showing him her phone. Chuck took it, read, and his eyes bugged out.
"Is this for real?" he asked.
"Yep, dude had a chastity belt, wanted his girlfriend or wife or whatever to control it at all times. Uploaded the lock to the Internet so she could, and someone hacked it with ransomware," Carina said, grinning.
"I mean… I'm not judging anyone and their lifestyle," Chuck began.
"Anyone who lets their actual junk be controlled on the Internet deserves whatever happens to him," Carina told Chuck. Chuck began to laugh. He couldn't help himself. The past few days, all the stuff he had dealt with, it just led him to pure laughter. "So what happened?" Carina asked softly.
"Probably better tell everyone at once, hadn't I?" Chuck asked. Carina nodded. "They sent you, didn't they?"
"Pfffth," Carina replied. "I really wanted to know about the chastity belt." She shrugged. "Research."
"Remind me never to call her Mistress Carina again," C3PO muttered.
"Noted," Chuck agreed.
}o{
Chuck was sitting on his patio deck, staring at the ocean, when he heard the door open. He stood, turned, and saw Sarah leading everyone in. She crossed the room quickly, taking his hands. "You okay?"
"Yeah… no… I don't know," he admitted. He glanced past her at Carina, Zondra, and Molly waiting in the living room area of the suite. "I need you to know I love you."
"I love you," she told him. "You aren't leaving and going somewhere, right?"
"What?" Chuck asked, shaking his head as he realized how what he had said sounded. "God, no, it's just… what you're about to hear… I love you."
"Okay," she said, gently pulling him into the room with the others. "I think it's time you told us what happened."
"Shall I play what happened, Master Chuck?" Three-Pee-Oh asked.
"No," Chuck replied, sighing. "I need to tell this myself."
}o{
Earlier
Chuck stood in front of Jill and Guy's door, staring at it. "Something wrong, Master Chuck?" C3PO asked.
"She can't be this bad," Chuck replied. "She can't be."
"Oh, she can indeed," C3PO assured him. "In fact, the odds are-"
"Please don't tell me the odds," Chuck muttered, knocking on the door. He stood there, listening to the footsteps approach it. When the door opened, Jill stood in front of him, smirking.
"I knew you'd come to your senses and leave her," Jill told him.
"What?" Chuck replied. He held up the flash drive, and her face paled. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Installed it, the lights went nutty, thanks to C3PO-"
"You're welcome sir," C3PO chirped.
"And you tossed it before someone came in and saw it in your hands." Jill pressed her lips together, and Chuck had been with her long enough back at Stanford to know he had nailed what had happened. "Can I come in, or do we do this out here?" She stood back, and gestured for him to come into the room. "Why?"
"Why what, Chuck?" Jill asked him. Chuck gave her a glare as she shut the door. Jill shook her head. "You don't even know what you're asking." Chuck stared at her. "God, you're such an idiot, for a smart guy."
"Well, why don't you inform the idiot, and use small words, since I obviously struggle," Chuck retorted.
"Fine," Jill said with a shrug. "Today was necessary because I didn't do my job right at Stanford." Chuck blinked. What the hell did that mean? She was smirking, and he really wanted to walk out, but he had to know what was going on.
"What do you mean, you didn't do your job right at Stanford?" Chuck asked.
She tilted her head and shook it at him, condescendingly. "Oh, Chuck," she said, pity in her voice. "You don't even realize how you've been duped, all these years later?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Chuck asked.
"Your father's business partner, Teddy Roark. He paid me to break up with you."
Chuck stood there, not believing what he had heard.
"He… he paid… he paid you?"
"Yes, Chuck, he paid me," Jill told him using a condescending tone. "But, it's more than that. He was paying me to be your girlfriend in the first place."
"WHAT!?"
"Chuck, I was to put ideas into your head," she explained. "I was to push what Teddy wanted."
"Jill… we were sleeping together," Chuck stammered. "How…"
"Oh, stop," she said, waving her hand. "I liked you, I just knew you weren't it. You were fun, safe, and I got to enjoy the best things in life. Meanwhile you were making products, making Teddy and your father money, and I had options."
"Jill," Chuck began again, but couldn't finish, stunned by what he had heard.
"Listen, when we broke up, that was supposed to propel you to make that app for Teddy, but you didn't," Jill told him. She shrugged. "Last night, I realized I could make more money by blowing up your gig, and making you go crawling back to Teddy and your dad."
"HE TRIED TO BREAK UP ME AND SARAH!" Chuck yelled at her. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"
"I realize what life is about!" Jill snapped. "I am the top of my profession, but am I considered great? No! Why? Because of my gender, so fine… I'll use what I have. It was my choice, and I wasn't hurt!"
"I think your soul was ripped from you," Chuck said shaking his head. "Give me the other drive that I can use to shut down the ransomware, and I won't tell Guy."
"He won't believe you," Jill said shaking his head.
Chuck held up the flash drive. "It's an owl, Jill. AN OWL!" Jill looked away, wincing. "There are two things you love besides yourself." She whipped her head back to him. "Owls, and frogs. And even Guy has to know that about you."
She rolled her eyes, walked over to her purse, and came back with a frog flash drive. She shoved it into his hand. "This isn't the end, you know. He's not going to quit."
"I realize that," Chuck told her. "It is becoming very apparent I am going to have to do something."
"Use him, Chuck," Jill encouraged him. "Make something out of yourself."
"I have, Jill. But you are so blinded by money, you can't see it," Chuck told her, heading toward the door.
Jill rolled her eyes. "The only person you're hurting is yourself, Chuck."
Chuck glanced back at her. "Jill, get help. Seriously. You have issues." With that, he shut the door.
}o{
Now
"Oh, my, God," Carina muttered. "That's… that's insane."
Sarah wrapped her arms around him, and held him. "I love you, Chuck. If you never make another damn dime, I love you."
"I know," Chuck told her, kissing her on her head. He pulled back and looked at everyone. "I have become a target, and in turn put all of you at risk." Everyone started to protest, but Chuck raised his hand to stop them. "I said all that to say, when we get back, I have to go to Mom and Dad with all of this."
"Hey, we got your back. We saw this go down," Molly told him.
"She's right, Chuck," Zondra agreed.
"While I appreciate all of that, this is my fight," Chuck told them. "You are all friends… hell, you're my family. But I have to do this. This has been going on for years, and it has to stop."
"How much?" Carina asked Sarah.
"How much what?" Sarah replied.
"How much would Teddy have to offer you before you paused for just a split second and considered it?" Carina asked, grinning.
"A buck fifty," Zondra said, grinning at Chuck.
"Hey, fifty cents more than I thought," Chuck replied.
"A couple of good tacos," Molly added.
"Morgan would probably do it for one can of grape soda, if I'm honest," Chuck replied.
"There's no number," Sarah told Carina, her face completely serious.
"We all knew that," Carina told Sarah. "Just wanted to make sure you said it out loud, so that he could hear it."
"How about you, Red?" Chuck asked.
"Who says I haven't already?" Carina replied. Everyone chuckled at that. "Chuck… I'm with Sarah. There's no number." Chuck's eyes widened. "Listen, I still think you have a scrawny ass-"
"Why are you looking at his ass?" Sarah cut in.
"To make sure it's good enough for you," Carina replied. She looked back at Chuck. "You're a good dude, and those guys… well…"
"We protect them," Zondra said softly. "So, know that we have your back." She reached over, took Chuck's hand, and squeezed it.
"Are we hugging?" Chuck asked her.
"Oh, God, no," Zondra told him, making everyone laugh. "But we're here for you."
A/N: Yeah, that chastity belt story is absolutely true. I'd tell you to google it but…you might get back more than just that story.