A/N: Thanks for continuing to read this one. Almost done with Sandworm. Some small but important changes we felt were necessary.
Disclaimer: We don't own CHUCK or its characters. We aren't making any money writing this. We are writing it for free. You are reading it for free.
Chuck was in the break room thinking about last night. He had been scared to death about Lazslo, but then Sarah had been waiting for him, and she'd given him the picture of them. The picture he had stared at this morning. For a while. The picture that she had teasingly suggested he kiss goodnight before he went to bed. He'd laughed at her, even called her corny, but then he wondered what it might be like if they were a real couple and he could keep that picture there next to his bed knowing she was his girlfriend. Maybe he wouldn't kiss it, but he could look at it and at least know…
But they weren't a real couple. They were a couple of friends, that could never be more because of the government, and what it would mean for both of them. Him in a bunker, her in Jakarta in a knife fight...that she would totally win because she was Sarah freakin' Walker. He shook his head. It was useless to think about that. Pining was useless.
He tasted his coffee and surprisingly found it tasted...good. He grinned and then frowned again as he wondered if Casey had heard anything about Lazslo. He nearly jumped and dumped the coffee on himself as Casey burst through the door.
"You!" he growled, closing the door behind himself. "What do I have to do to get timely intel out of you, Bartowski?"
Chuck was a little surprised. "Look, I briefed Sarah last night, all right?" He turned and headed to get his bagel.
"Oh, I bet you did, slugger."
Chuck turned around, clenching his jaw a bit at the insinuation. For Sarah's sake if not his own. "What is going on with you? I thought we talked about this." Casey gave him a look. "You know there is nothing between us. You know that, Casey."
"I'm aware there is nothing physical happening between the two of you," Casey replied.
Chuck tried to keep a straight face, but the gears were turning in his head. What the hell did that mean? What the hell? He tried to appear indignant. "I thought we were all supposed to be part of the same team here, huh? Team Chuck."
"We are, but I'm starting to feel like the guy who always gets picked last, and I do not like feeling like Team Chuck's little fat kid." Chuck started to answer, but Casey went on. "Seems like the two of you have your own little team."
"Are you jealous, Casey?" As soon as Chuck asked the question he knew it was the wrong thing to ask.
"No, I just don't want the NSA getting cut out of the mix while you play whatever game you two are playing...one on one." An evil grin appeared on Casey's face.
Chuck knew what was coming, he had to change the subject quickly. "Casey—"
"I mean I get it, she's teaching you basketball and dribble penetration." Chuck nearly choked. "Are you scoring on a consistent basis?" Chuck raised his finger to speak. "Always drive to hole, Bartowski."
"OKAY!" Chuck yelled. "Okay," he said more calmly. "You know what, the next time I have a flash, I'll come straight to you, all right, Casey?" Casey nodded. "Can that be the last time we ever do that? PLEASE?"
"Depends," Casey grunted. "What did you tell Lazslo?"
"Nothing." Casey raised an eyebrow. "He asked me where I got my watch, and I told him my girlfriend gave it to me, okay?"
"So you compromised yourself and Agent Walker?" Casey growled, turned and walked off. "Bang up job, Chuck."
"Well, what the hell was I supposed to say?" Chuck retorted. Casey paused and looked over his shoulder. "I've not been told what to do when crazy people that escaped a bunker confront me. I've had no training and no instruction and all you do is yell at me."
Casey came back and stood in his face. Chuck gulped. "Feel better now?"
"No, please don't rip my arm out and beat me with it," Chuck begged.
There was silence as Casey studied him. "You could be right."
Chuck thought about rubbing it in, but knew that would be bad. "Thanks, Casey."
Casey walked away. "I hope Walker doesn't mind being thrown under the bus." Chuck winced, hoping she wouldn't get too mad.
}o{
Chuck handed the customer the warranty folder. "So now you and your son are ready to video-chat."
"Thank you, young man," the customer gushed. "You've been great."
Chuck watched her walk away, looked around, and pulled up the website he had been looking at earlier. It was an instruction site on aikido. He watched the defense fighting technique, trying to understand it.
Casey's voice came from behind him. "The defensive shit? Really?"
Chuck spun, taken by surprise. "Eep! Nooo…" He shut the laptop quickly. He was a little offended.
"Kid, I'll teach you how to shoot a gun."
"Do you really think Beckman would like that?"
Casey thought a second. "I mean she might have a good laugh, but the paperwork would be hell when you shoot yourself...and you would."
"Is there something you need, Casey, or is this just your normal 4:26 PM time to harass me?"
"Might wanna save your little hobbit friend from getting fired," and with that he walked off, laughing to himself and saying something about having dreams with Walker flipping him.
Chuck put all that to the side, but now that Casey had mentioned it… Focus, Bartowski! He went to find Morgan. It only took a minute. He was with some customers, and Chuck hung back, listening to the sale.
"Dude, it's a great camera, but I can't afford it," the customer said to Morgan.
"No problem," Morgan said, shrugging. "I'll go tag it as an opened item and get 20% knocked off of it." Chuck's eyes widened. What was he doing? "My boss said if I could sell enough merchandise I get tomorrow off, so this will put me over the top."
Chuck had heard enough. He plucked the camera out of Morgan's hands. "Give me—give me this. Come on, come on." He wrestled it away and turned to the kids. "Get, shoo, shoo, shoo. Have fun, go find the video games."
He turned to Morgan who was giving him a look. "What was that about, man? Come on, I was this close to closing a sale."
Chuck couldn't believe his ears. "No. You know what you are, Morgan? You are this close to getting fired for theft. Why would you do that?"
"Big Mike keeps making me work doubles," he replied, shrugging. "What happened, Chuck?" Morgan tapped Chuck in his chest with his finger. "You used to be cool."
"I-I used to be cool?" Chuck was flabbergasted. "When was that? When we were 13? Well, I'm sorry to go changing on you, buddy. But if you hadn't noticed, we are now, chronologically-speaking, adults. So, unless you wanna work retail for the rest of your life, and by the way, drag me down with you in the process, I would suggest that you grow up." Morgan made a face, bounced his head around like he was mock thinking about it, and walked off.
"Heavy is the head that wears the crown," Lester said, walking up behind him with Jeff trailing. "Couldn't help but notice the way you handled that, uh, Morgan situation. That was most impressive, Chuck."
"That's great, that's great," Chuck replied.
"You gave me goose-bumps," Jeff added, showing Chuck his arm.
"Super, Jeff," Chuck replied, crossing his arms looking at the two. "Did you notice what was going on?"
"Oh, absolutely," Lester replied.
"And you didn't think to stop it?" Chuck asked. "To help your friend?"
"I have no eyes on the mantle of leadership such as yourself," Lester replied. "I have no want to be culled from the herd and looked at differently." Lester sighed dramatically. "Not all of us are cut from the same cloth as you."
Chuck looked from one to the other. "Kill me," he muttered, and walked off.
}o{
As he walked out of the Buy More after a long day, he thought about visiting Sarah and seeing if he could convince her to let him wear that Weinerlicious outfit after all. Lester and his bullshit, Morgan and his bullshit, and just all the bullshit that was the Buy More. Why on earth did he want to be the Assistant Manager? ...No...Ass Man….because that is exactly what he'd be if he took that job. Suddenly, a guy ran out from behind the Nerd Herders and got in his face, complete with a screwed up, cheap, knock-off Insane Clown Posse mask.
"Nice try, buddy, but, uh, Halloween's tomorrow, okay?" Chuck was trying to laugh, there was no telling how nuts this dude was... and that's when he pulled out the gun. You would think as many times Chuck had guns pointed at him in the past month, it wouldn't bother him as much. You'd be wrong. "Or today, or today. It could be today if you want it to be today."
The guy ripped off the mask, and it was Lazslo. This day just kept getting better. "I didn't kill anybody," he insisted.
Chuck had no way of contacting anyone. "Look, I-I never said you did."
"Then why am I on the FBI list?" Lazslo countered.
Chuck's hands were up, trying to calm Lazslo. "I don't know. Just calm down."
"I was framed, okay?" Chuck was pretty sure this was what crazy looked like. No, he was positive. "You have to believe me. I am not a murderer."
"Okay, okay. I believe you." Chuck knew he should shut up. He knew he should. When his mouth started talking he really wasn't surprised. "But, FYI...you're kinda acting like a murderer."
"You told the undercover agent about me, didn't you? He's talking to Pentagon operations right now. I tapped into the encrypted video feed at the store. I helped design that home theater system."
Chuck was beside himself. "Look, I-I-I don't know—" A car horn went off, giving him an opening. He grabbed Lazslo's hand and yelled out "GUN!" They struggled back and forth both yelling at different times, "I got it!" and then Lazslo got leverage and Chuck found himself bent over the hood of a Nerd Herder looking up at the stars. Lazslo stood over Chuck, the gun pointed down into his face when...he felt a few drops on his face...coming from the muzzle of the gun...
"Is that a water gun?" he asked, realizing the absurdity of it all.
"No."
"I'm pretty sure it's dripping on my face," Chuck replied.
Lazslo shook his head and let Chuck up. "I'm sorry," he began as Chuck sat up. "Name's Lazslo, and I need help."
Chuck stared at him and asked the only thing that came to mind. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"
"You're on the inside. You have access. Look, unless you help me clear my name, they're gonna keep chasing me." Those words slammed into Chuck and he thought about his talk with Sarah those few months ago. There's nowhere I can run, is there? Not from us. This could have been him, if not for Sarah. If it hadn't been for her... "You're my only hope," Lazslo said, pulling Chuck from his thoughts. The only thing missing there was Obi-Wan... "But first... I could really use some pancakes."
"Come on," Chuck said, knowing there would be blowback, but also knowing for the first time since this whole thing started, this was something he understood more than Sarah or Casey did. What would have happened to him if he had been in a bunker? They got in the car and rode in silence to get pancakes. Would Casey have come here and gotten pancakes after he had thrown Chuck into the bunker? They placed their order, received their food, and Chuck's curiosity got the better of him. "What else did you make for the CIA?"
"Whatever the jobs called for actually. I mean, if an agent wanted thermal-vision Ray Bans or a parachute in a backpack, i'm the guy they'd call. Like a CIA tech wish machine."
Chuck thought and nodded impressed. "You're like a real-life Q?" Lazslo looked confused. Surely this guy knew James Bond, right? "You know." He paused. Did he not? What did this guy do for fun? "You know...Q?" Maybe he didn't realize the letter was the person's name, that's it! "The guy who used to make all the gadgets for Bond, Q?"
"Bond was that spy-guy, right?"
"What, have they been keeping you in a friggin' cave?"
"Underground lab actually," Lazslo replied, doodling on a napkin. "For the last 10 years, all I did was work in that lab pretty much. Well, that and play video games. But, uh... No friends, no family."
Chuck didn't know what to say. He could have been this guy. In a bunker. There would have been nothing. "No Bond. No wonder you blew up all your research and busted out of there. That's just inhumane."
Lazslo didn't seem to want to respond to that. Maybe he just knew he didn't have to. Instead, he twitched a little and asked, "So what kind of work do you do?"
Whoops, Lazslo had just changed the subject on him, and Chuck was now going from trying to find stuff out to playing defense. No way in hell was he giving this guy an inner look at his role with the government. He didn't trust him. "You know, it's kinda, it's kinda, uh, complicated."
"Right, but you gotta be some kind of a genius," Lazslo insisted. Oh, crap. "Or prodigy?" Can't very well say I have a computer in my head. "I mean feds don't bother recruiting somebody, guarding them with undercover agents, unless you're super-good at something." Nope, no one gets a Casey and Sarah without being something. "What are you super-good at?"
He couldn't say running and screaming in terror. "Let's just say I'm a computer guy."
}o{
Chuck opened the door to the apartment, and looked around for a second. Lazslo's words were still ringing in his ear. I mean, you don't believe me? Go home and search your room. See what kind of bugs your good guy handlers planted on you. From now on, you should trust your handlers precisely as much as they trust you. Sarah wouldn't do that to him. He looked around the apartment and then thought back to their conversation a few days ago after the almost kiss. Look, I'm not in charge of that. The NSA is. Casey is. Those had been Sarah's own words. His apartment was bugged. But it was to keep him safe...right? He searched around for a bit, and decided to look under the lamp. There he found one, not well hidden either. He searched a little while longer, and in the phone he found one. He began searching the entire apartment, Lazslo's words ringing in his head.
I was 11... And... Some agent saw me playing Tetris at an arcade. So he asked me if I can take all these tests. The next thing I know, he's offering to pay my way through school. My parents, like, they didn't know what to do with a kid whose IQ is higher than both theirs combined. So they signed me over. And that's when I became property of the United States government.
They had argued for a minute and Chuck was pulled out of his thought by finding a bug in the bathroom...Why the hell was there a bug in the bathroom? Why, Casey, why? What in the hell could you hope to learn in the bathroom except who needed more fiber in their diet? He couldn't bring himself to check Ellie's room. What was Casey doing? Why had Lazslo gave him that doodle? Why…? His gaze caught the picture of him and Sarah. No. Nonononononono. Please. Please, God no. He picked it up and noticed his hands were shaking. He gently removed the back of the picture, and examined it. There was a bug. He sunk down on his bed.
Chuck, listen. You can't tell your handlers you ever saw me. What? Why? They can help you, Lazslo. They're the good guys. There's no such thing in this business.
He was a fool. An absolute fool. He had trusted her. He had trusted her completely, and she didn't trust him. She didn't trust him to do the right thing, and that hurt. It hurt in a way it shouldn't. She had told him they could never be anything more than friends, and he understood that. He understood why, but he thought they were at least friends. He looked down at the picture, put it back together, and dropped it in the trash can. Casey planting bugs was one thing. She'd even told him about that. But it felt so much worse thinking about Sarah tricking him like this, giving him something she knew he'd appreciate only to get a bug in his room. What had she heard?
He looked over towards the closet at his suit he had picked out for tomorrow. Buy More Assistant Manager. That's all he would ever be. If he somehow got out of this, this whole nightmare CIA spy life, he would be an Ass Man, because that was all he was worth.
He gathered up the bugs, walked over to Casey's, and knocked on the door. Casey opened the door, dressed in a robe.
"You might want to hide these a bit better, the asset found them without any problem," Chuck said, pushing them into Casey's hand. "It's bad enough you've been prying into my most intimate moments, but to do it so poorly... You know what? I swear to God, if I find out you've been spying on my sister, I will kill you, Casey."
Casey stared at him. "There's nothing in your sister's room."
"The bathroom?"
Casey winced. "I didn't want to do that. Orders." He paused and studied Chuck. He started to say something a few times and then changed his mind. "What's bugging you, kid? You're a high value target, I'm paid to spy. It's for your protection."
"I feel violated, Casey."
"Well, it's not like I heard any of those...whaja call 'em? Intimate moments?" Casey grinned. "At least, not in the sense of traditional two-person intimacy."
Chuck just stared at Casey. "You're right, there hasn't been, has there?" Casey gave him a look. "But still, I feel violated."
"You feel violated? No, no, no, my ears feel violated," Casey replied.
"I know Morgan and I talk about sandwiches a bit," Chuck began.
"Sandwiches? Oh, I'm aware, but that's not what I'm talking about." Casey got that evil grin on his face. He walked over and hit play on the audio.
Morgan's voice came over the speaker. "Dude, she's Mary Jane, she's totally MJ. Don't get me wrong, Gwen, she was who Peter Parker was supposed to get, hot, nerdy, can dance, but MJ, MJ was special, and that's Sarah, man. She's special."
"Dude, some days I just feel like she's way out of my league," Chuck's voice countered.
"It's because of what the Green Goblin did to you," Morgan replied.
"For clarity, that's Bryce, right?"
"Yes, except Bryce can't come back from the dead, so there's that."
Casey leaned over Chuck's shoulder. "She is out of your league, Moron."
Chuck spun around. "I'm well aware of that, Casey. Painfully aware."
Casey studied Chuck and didn't say anything for a second. "I planted those bugs, Chuck, not her. If it's any comfort."
"Seems you're out of the loop, too. That picture she brought me the other day had one. I'm going to bed," Chuck replied, heading for the door. "How about you leave it out of the bathroom, and hide them where Ellie can't find them? Hmm? Or do you want to explain all of this to my sister?"
Chuck walked out of Casey's apartment and back into his. He opened the door to his bedroom. The light was out...Chuck didn't remember turning it off, but he thought nothing of it.
"Hello, Chuck," Lazslo said as Chuck jumped, and grabbed his chest wondering if this was what a heart attack felt like. Lazslo looked like some villain out of a Bond movie the way he was sitting in that chair. "What did you tell your handler?"
"That he's terrible at hiding bugs. That I felt violated."
"What about me?" Lazslo asked.
"Dude, don't take this the wrong way, but this isn't about you right now. I have my own issues."
"Chuck," Lazslo began.
"Listen, I think you're innocent, and I think the best thing for you to do is go and turn yourself in. I still believe they'd help you, but I get it if you don't. I get it if you just want to run."
"Forget it, Chuck. They went through the trouble of framing me for murder. What's going to happen when they get me back? A slap on the wrist? There's got to be someplace you can hide me." Well. There was a place. "Just for tonight."
Chuck thought for a few seconds and made a decision. He decided that if he ever had to run he hoped there was someone to help him. "There is one place."
}o{
"Walker, secure," Sarah said, answering her phone.
"I don't get you, Walker. Why would you risk it?" Sarah's heart jumped into her throat. She had done nothing with Chuck, nothing at all. "It's not like you."
"Casey, first, you don't know me, you know my file. Second, I've done nothing wrong. He's the asset, and I can't help how he feels. I'm working on—"
"Why'd you bug that picture?" Casey asked.
"WHAT?"
"The picture of you and the nerd at Nerdpalooza—why did you put a bug in it?"
"I didn't," she replied softly. Oh. Oh, shit... That was the photo she ordered from the substation. She hadn't planted a bug on it, but someone had. And they did it before they gave it to her. Graham had to have given the order, and they'd kept it from her. But why?
"Did you put that thing together, Walker?"
"No."
Casey grunted. "You may have some work to do."
"Casey, I promise you—"
"Walker, your job is to protect the asset, and right now, he's pretty vulnerable….and there are no bugs in the apartment, he found them all, and chewed me out for my hiding techniques." Sarah chuckled. "I guess he's better at hiding things than I gave him credit for." Was that Casey's attempt at crude humor? "That's more in your detail than mine." He was silent. Apparently it was. "Walker, for the record, that other stuff….I have no idea what you're talking about." That hit her right in the gut. "Fix it, Walker." The line went silent and she stared at the phone. She would deal with him later. She began to close up shop when the door opened and a man in a suit walked in. He had a swollen right eye and looked like someone had kicked his ass recently. He closed the door behind him.
She reached behind her belt and pulled out a knife. "Willkommen to Wienerlicious. I'm sorry, but we're geschlossen—and that's German for 'closed'."
"That's really adorable," he said, pulling out his badge. "Nice cover, Agent Walker. You have a sec?" He pulled out a file and showed it to Sarah.
She studied it for a moment and then looked at the agent. "So this kid just escaped?
He walked away, his hands in his pocket. "Look, we tried everything we could to prevent this whole thing from happening."
"And what exactly is this whole thing?"
"A mentally unstable weapons designer, off his meds, and currently running around Los Angeles."
"And how do you know all this?"
"Lazslo was my asset," the agent replied. "I was the one who found him. I was the one who trained him, and I'm definitely the one who's going to be bringing him back. Look, I'm just going to be completely straight with you, Walker. We believe that he is looking to make a bomb." Sarah tensed up. This was not good. Lazslo knew about Chuck. This was not good at all. "And God help whoever's in his way when Lazslo decides to go off."
}o{
Chuck and Lazslo were sitting in the home theater room about to start A View to a Kill.
"I've never seen any of these," Lazslo admitted.
"Any?" Lazslo shook his head. "Well, my friend you picked the right one to start with, the villain in this one...well, I won't spoil it for you." Chuck's phone rang.
"Who is it?" Lazslo asked.
"It's Sarah," he said, hitting ignore. "I'm taking your advice."
"Chuck, you have to turn it off, she'll track you, and come—"
"Dude, again, this is more about me than you," Chuck replied, a little surprised by the tone in his voice. "She lied to my face." Lazslo nodded and calmed down. He sat down as Chuck pulled his phone back out of his pocket. His days at the Buy More had taught him the all important skills of how to text without looking and read without moving his head down. Can't talk, what's wrong?
Lazslo is dangerous.
Is he really or is that something else you're just telling me to keep me in line?
What the hell does that mean?
The bug in our cover picture.
Chuck shoved the phone in his pocket, pissed off. He stood up. "I'm not really feeling this." Lazslo looked up at him. "I have a big interview tomorrow. It may be the only job I'm able to have after all of this so I need to try and get a decent night's sleep."
"She really hurt you, didn't she?" Chuck nodded. "You know," Lazslo said taking the remote and starting to mess with it. "We could pay her back."
"How's that?"
"I haven't played with this bad boy since I designed it." Lazslo looked half crazed. "It's strategic air command. We keep a fleet of B-2s in Guam, kept on nuclear alert, just in case."
Chuck stared at him. "Lazslo, stop it."
"Chuck, we can—"
"DUDE! STOP IT!" Lazslo stared at him. "I get it, we've gotten screwed, but this? This is just as bad. Listen, put A View to a Kill back on, I'll go pop popcorn and we'll watch the movie, okay?" Lazslo nodded, shut down the system, and started back up the DVD player. Chuck headed to the door.
"Chuck!" Lazslo called out. Chuck spun, a little frightened. "You got any of that Kettle Corn?"
"I'll see what I can do," Chuck replied. He headed toward the back room, but as soon as he was out of sight, he sprinted to the front of the Nerd Herd desk, and called Sarah.
"Chuck!"
"Sarah, he's CRAZY!" Chuck yelled-whispered. "He was gonna turn a missile on you!"
"On me? Why?"
"Sarah, we have more important things to talk about, like getting me out of here," Chuck replied, checking to make sure Lazslo hadn't followed him.
"Chuck, go outside and get in the Nerd Herder and lock yourself inside, okay?"
"Okay."
"And, Chuck, we'll talk later about that picture but I need you to know it wasn't me, okay?"
"Okay. Just get here, please!" Chuck stayed low as he got out the door. He sprinted to the car, and jumped in.
He was starting to turn the keys when the voice in the passenger seat made him jump. "Where are we headed?" Chuck wasn't sure what to do. Lazslo locked the door, and punched some numbers on the CD player. A steering wheel and pedals slowly made their way out of the dashboard and floorboard on his side. Lazslo put the car in drive and took off. "I thought I asked you to turn your phone off," Lazslo said. Chuck gulped. "Who were you talking to?"
"My handler, okay? She was just checking in. She screwed up, she knows she did. She lost my trust." Chuck shook his head. "She said she was my friend."
Lazslo shook his head. "You shouldn't have done that, Chuck. You should not have dragged them into this."
"I didn't drag anyone into anything, Lazslo," Chuck replied. "You know what? I have stuck up for you at every turn and all I keep hearing out of you is how everyone has screwed you over. I've gone to bat for you, and all you do is threaten me. Well, I'm tired of your threats, so knock it off. Take me home."
"I'm not responsible for what happens now," Lazslo said softly. Chuck turned to look at him...his eyes were wild, red-rimmed, crazed... Casey and Sarah were right to be scared of him. Chuck was officially scared, too. This guy made Jeff look sane. "We have a tail!" Lazslo spat. "You sold me out... You sold me out!"
"No, no, no, no. I just didn't want you to get hurt, okay? Look, relax. Just relax, everything is going to be cool."
Lazslo looked over at Chuck. "Everything is not going to be cool." Lazslo began to drive like a bat out of hell.
"What the hell?" Chuck screamed trying his break pedal unsuccessfully. "I tried to help you!" Lazslo just laughed. "You know what? You're an asshole!" Lazslo's eyes got wide. "When you act like this, people tend to think you're crazy, do you get that?"
Chuck tried to grab the steering wheel. They fought over it as Lazslo screamed, "You're going to kill us! You're going to kill us!" Lazslo shoved Chuck away, spun the car around, and aimed it right at the SUV that Casey was driving. Casey swerved at the last second as Chuck yelled. Lazslo looked over at Chuck. "Well, Chuck, it's been fun."
"Not so much for me," Chuck retorted. Lazslo hit a red button, the door on Chuck's side blew off and his seat went flying out of the Herder. It vaulted down the street, skidding on the road a terrifyingly far way, and finally slid to a stop beside a convertible with two women inside. "Ladies," he said, trying to keep his cool. The SUV stopped behind him.
"Don't unbuckle him, Ladies," Casey called out. "He just escaped from an institution."
The women looked at each other and took off.
"Thanks, Casey," Chuck droned, while Casey got him unbuckled.
"You have enough trouble with your fake girlfriend," Casey muttered. "There's no telling what kind of fresh hell I'd be involved with if you got an actual one."
"I don't think we have anything to worry about," Chuck said, as Casey led him to the SUV. Chuck got in beside some agent he had never met before.
"What can you—" the new agent began.
"Leave him alone," Sarah said, staring at the agent. "He's been through enough tonight." Chuck gave her a head nod, and turned and looked out his window. He could feel her keeping an eye on him, but he didn't have it in him to look back. Not tonight. He had helped a fugitive because he believed he was being wrongly persecuted. He thought his one friend in this didn't have his back, and now she said she didn't plant the bug after all. He didn't know what to believe or whom to believe, but he did know one thing. He had an interview tomorrow that meant more to his sister than it did to him. It meant more to Morgan than it did to him. He was going to be an Ass Man...Truth was, he already felt like one.
A/N: Please leave us reviews. Thanks!
-SC and DC