CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #1: Welcome back everybody. I hope all of you enjoyed that little slice of catharsis, because now it's time for fallout. In honor of the release of Oppenheimer (It's a masterpiece, go see it!) I'll give you this thought... Just because the bomb has gone off, doesn't mean the war is over. As all of you well know, the initial event is never the end, it's only ever the beginning. This chapter will start to unravel the aftermath of all that has happened.
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #2: By the way I forgot to mention that last chapter was inspired by the song "In Church (Cyann & Ben Version)" by M83. This chapter is inspired by the song "A Place to Hide" by Australian YouTuber and musician Moog. If any of you know who he is then you are car fans like I am, and you get a symbolic cookie, don't worry it's chocolate chip.
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #3: No beta readers were harmed in the making of this fanfic. Enjoy!
Numb
A Story by
CharmingCharles2896
Chapter Eight:
A Place to Hide
Whoever had stabbed her brain with an icepick was going to perish in brutal fashion, just as soon as she mustered the strength to rise from this amazing bed. The last thing she remembered was… the cane. Her heartrate quickened in an instant as flashes of memory returned; the cane, followed by searing pain, over and over. She'd been paralyzed, frozen in fear as he'd moved towards her. She knew he was going to rape her, but she'd been powerless to stop him, her mind frozen up in the moment. She'd said the destress words and nobody had come to save her, she'd been all alone in that moment. As her body began to shake, the terror washing over her once again, she felt an arm pull her in close to a warm body. Sarah tensed at first before the scent of sandalwood greeted her.
"Relax, you're safe," Chuck cooed as his presence behind her did much to settle her nerves. As everything seemed to wash over her in the moment, the one thing that seemed to stick with her was fear, she'd been so afraid. In an instant, Chuck heard the woman he loved begin to cry silently. Knowing the only thing he could do was hold her close and be there for her, Chuck leaned forward and kissed Sarah on the back of the head.
"I called for help, but nobody came," Sarah whimpered, obviously reliving the previous night's events.
"Apparently, Casey got jumped by some Russians who kicked the door in and tranqed both you and Volkoff," Chuck began, stopping Sarah in her tracks. Sarah turned over to look into Chuck's eyes. She could see the emotions in his own, but he was keeping a lid on them for her.
"Russian's kidnapped Volkoff and I?" she asked, confused more than anything. Chuck just nodded, himself still unsure as to their motives. "Why would they take me?"
"Maybe they saw how awesome you were I didn't want you to feel left out?" Chuck cracked, trying his best to be funny given the circumstances. The hint of an amused smile appeared on Sarah's face and Chuck celebrated internally.
"More seriously, I guess the story is that these Russians grabbed the two of you, beat up Volkoff until he gave them the info about the weapon, and then left. Casey and Barker showed up after that and rescued the both of you."
"Barker as in Cole Barker? What was he doing there?" Sarah asked, more questions seeming to pop up every time she got more information. Chuck nodded, doing his best to collect all of the information he thought he knew, to best get his girlfriend up to speed.
"Yeah, Casey called Barker for backup yesterday afternoon, before you got there." In an instant, Chuck's words filled in a key blank that had bugged her the night before.
"So that's what that sound was, Barker had run to the bedroom to hide once I got there," Sarah mused to herself, still having more questions that she had a feeling even Chuck couldn't answer.
"How did I get here, wherever here it?" Sarah asked next.
"You're at an MI-6 safehouse in Altadena, California. Casey and Barker brought you and Volkoff here after they found you."
"Volkoff is here!?" Sarah cried suddenly, her heartrate spiking instantly. Feeling Chuck's hands grasping her own, Sarah's panicked mind tried it's hardest to focus on the man lying beside Sarah.
"As I was resting, I overheard Barker and another agent named Musgraves. Barker said that Volkoff and his goons had left. They're gone, nobody's going to hurt you," Chuck said softly. He hated how scared the woman he loved was, wishing more than anything he could take that fear away from her. Seeing a fragile look in Sarah's eyes, he suspected she wanted something, but was too afraid to ask.
"What is it, Sarah? You know you can ask me anything," Chuck said, surprising Sarah. Chuck watched her look away briefly, obviously thinking hard about something.
"Can we get out of here? I just want to lay down in my bed with you holding me." Sarah's question broke his heart. She was so scared, so fragile at the moment. He'd never seen the woman he loved like this and he knew that he'd do anything for her, to take this pain away.
"If that's what you need right now; I'll go find you some clothes and call us a cab," Chuck said as he sat up. Sarah watched the man she loved find his jeans and slip them back on, before leaving the room in a flash. Sarah hadn't felt like this in years. It was like everything was in a haze, her mind unable to focus on anything other than the next emotion that flashed into her mind. She didn't want this feeling any more, she wanted to go back to how things were before, how happy it was with Chuck at Lake Tahoe.
Downstairs, Chuck had gone in search of Cass, eventually finding her in the kitchen. She gave him a surprised smile, seeming to perk up as Chuck walked in. "If you're down here then I'm assuming she's awake?" Cass asked cheerfully. Seeing the worried look on his face, her smile dropped in an instant. "What's wrong?"
"She's just very scared and wants me to take her home. I was going to call us a cab, but she has nothing to wear out of here." Hearing his words, Cass gave him a pained smile, seeing the good in him as he cared for the blonde upstairs.
"You call the cab, I'll get some clothes for her to wear out of here," Cass said as she took the pot of water she'd been heating and set it on one of the burners that wasn't in use, turning the stove off afterwards. Chuck gave her a thankful smile and pulled his phone out to find a cab company to call. Cass quickly walked towards the stairs, thinking back to the night before when she'd had to clean the blonde up. Thinking about the blonde's height and build, she was able to get a general idea of the woman's sizes. MI-6 kept the place stocked with clothes and supplies of all sizes and types, never knowing who would need the place. Walking into one of the other bedrooms, Cass went to the walk-in closet and began to assemble what she needed. Cass quickly found an OD green tee shirt in the correct size, as well as a pair of socks, some plain panties, some women's ACU trousers, and a belt. Turning to her left, Cass looked at all of the shoes she had for ladies and picked out a pair of cheap slip-ons. Looking through the bras she had, she was surprised not to find one in what she assumed was the correct size.
"Oh well, beggars can't be choosers," she mumbled as she stacked up everything she'd collected and made for the master bedroom. When she arrived, she tapped on the door gentle, the light rapping of her fingers barely loud enough.
"Come in," came a feminine voice on the other side of the door. Cass opened the door carefully, peeking inside. Seeing the blonde woman, with the covers up to her chin, Cass walked in. She was careful not to make any sudden moves, agents were normally skittish in situations where they felt out of control.
"Who are you?" the blonde woman asked standoffishly. With a calm smile, Cass set the clothes down on the foot of the bed.
"My name is Cassandra Musgraves, I'm the person in charge of maintaining this place for MI-6. When Cole and Major Casey brought you and that Rusovian fellow in, I was the one who cleaned you up, checked out your injuries and all that, at least until your friend arrived this morning.
Suddenly realizing her lack of clothes, one thought flashed through her mind, "at least it was a woman who took my clothes off this time." Cass chuckled softly at the blonde woman's words, which she assumed were meant to be internal monologue.
"I can't take all the credit. Major Casey had to help me get you in and out of the tub, though he seemed to hate every second of it," Cass added as she remembered the previous evening. Sarah merely shrugged as she eyed this woman.
"Where's Chuck?" Sarah asked in a cagey voice, getting a smile from Cass.
"He's calling a cab for the two of you," Cass said as she moved towards the door. "I'll leave you alone so you can change. I'm sorry about the lack of a bra, I didn't have anything even remotely close enough to your size." Sarah didn't speak, simply watching the woman leave and close the door behind her. Turning her attention to the clothes at the foot of the bed, Sarah got out of bed and began dressing. The clothing she'd been provided had a decidedly military theme, but they were clean and they fit, so she had no complaints. Looking down at herself, she had a feeling she'd be flying around out there without a bra on, but it couldn't be helped. With her belt tightened and her shoes on, Sarah opened the door and made her way downstairs.
As Sarah walked into the kitchen, she saw Chuck on the phone, talking with someone who she assumed was a cab company. When Chuck's eyes saw her, his gaze quickly went to her chest before he looked away, clearing his throat.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Chuck said, having obviously missed something in his moment of distraction. Seeing the blush on his features as he looked away from her made her smile just the tiniest bit. The nerd had slept with her nude form cradled in his arms, but he was blushing. After he'd turned down her attempt to make love at Lake Tahoe, neither of them had even had the opportunity for such activities. While sex wasn't even close to the top of her list of things to do at the moment, the fact that she could still get his attention made her smile.
"He's a great guy," Cass said from beside Sarah, who was simply standing in the kitchen watching her guy. Sarah got a loving smile on her face as she heard Cass's words.
"Almost too good to be true; I love him to pieces," Sarah said with a sigh.
"I've never met someone like him, someone so devoted. He was so happy to see you this morning when he got here, I could tell that he'd been through it." Sarah just nodded at Cass, thinking about the man she loved.
"People like us never believe we deserve people like him," Sarah said softly, motioning towards Chuck. "We deserve to be happy, no matter what our agencies think. It took me a long time to understand that."
"It's hard to find people like him in our line of work," Cass commented.
"There aren't people like him in this business, which is why sometimes you have to go looking in places you'd never think to look. For me, it was the Nerd Herd desk of a Buy More."
"It's funny you'd say that. I've always thought those uniforms with the pocket protector and the like were so funny." Sarah smiled at that, thinking back to the first time she'd laid eyes on Chuck Bartowski. His hair had been adorable, and his uniform was so cute.
"I guess I'm a sucker for grey polyester ties," Sarah quipped as Chuck hung up the phone. Cass chuckled at that, nodding understandingly.
"I guess," she said as she watched the blonde woman walk over to her boyfriend, walking into his open arms without even hesitating for a second. The bond these two shared was something Cass had never seen in the espionage world, she honestly hoped they made it.
"Cab will be here in half an hour," Chuck said to Sarah softly, feeling her relax into his arms.
"Do either of you want something to eat before you go?" Chuck and Sarah shared a look, a silent conversation taking place between them. After a brief moment, Chuck looked over at Cass and shook his head. "I think we're good, Cass, but thank you for offering." Cass just nodded.
"In that case, there's a porch swing out front on the porch if you'd like to wait there for your ride. I put your boots by the front door, the knives are still in them," Cass said to Sarah, who just nodded, thinking back to how trashy those boots looked on her.
"Thank you, Agent Musgraves, you've been so helpful," Sarah said kindly, stepping back from Chuck's embrace to straighten herself out. Cass just waved that off with a smile.
"Nonsense, just furthering out countries' working relationship," Cass said with a wink. With that she watched the happy couple join their hands together and make for the door.
At the front door, Chuck finally saw the boots his girlfriend had worn the night before, they were huge and looked heavy. "I get they may have a certain look, but my lord, these are heavy," he said as he held them up. Sarah just blushed as she saw the sole remnant of her evening.
"Not something I'd ever wear outside the job, that's for sure," Sarah said as she opened the door and held it for Chuck.
"I bet; these things must deflect bullets they're so thick." Sarah just snorted at her nerd's silliness. Sitting down on the porch swing, she watched Chuck drop the boots on the ground and sit down next to her, pulling her in close as the two of them swung peacefully.
~X~
The next several hours were a blur for Sarah Walker. The ride to her hotel had been a quiet one. Chuck was clearly happy to see her and hadn't felt the need to needlessly fill the silence with conversation. Upon their arrival, they'd found her Porsche in the parking lot, meaning the NSA had delivered their things to her room. Sure enough, they'd found their belongings sitting in the middle of the room. Sarah had changed into fresh clothes, Chuck blushing as she'd tossed her old shirt at his face. After that brief moment of lightness, the weight of everything that had happened returned and Sarah had sought out the man she loved. He'd taken her to bed, asserting correctly that the after effects of the tranq likely had her feeling like crap. Sarah slept, for hours and hours, wrapped up in Chuck's arms. By midafternoon, her stomach was beginning to protest its lack of food, forcing the both of them to rise from bed.
Chuck had offered to get up and go get something for them, but Sarah had just called the Pizza Hut down the street, one she knew delivered to her hotel. As the two of them devoured a medium pan pizza, veggie no olives of course, the silence began to grow uncomfortable. Eyeing the man she loved, she saw hesitation in his features. It was almost like he didn't know what to do.
Setting her plate down, Sarah spoke softly, "Chuck?" She saw him look over at her, clearly trying to give off the impression of composure. "What's wrong, you look nervous?" Chuck looked away, the glassy nature of his eyes catching her attention.
"You were dead," Chuck said quietly. Sarah gave him a confused look, so he continued. "I saw you die, at least that's what I thought I saw at the time," Chuck croaked, his voice thick with emotion. Sarah's eyes softened in understanding. Standing up from her chair, she moved over to the couch and sat down next to Chuck, pulling him into a hug.
"I thought getting kicked out of Stanford was the worst I could ever feel, but thinking you were…" he couldn't even finish his sentence, his composure crumbling around him. Taking a deep breath, Chuck pressed on. "Thinking that I'd watched you die was the worst thing I've even experienced, Sarah. During the night, I seriously thought about killing myself. The armory was right there and I know where the keys to the ammo locker are. Thinking of living without you was unimaginable." Chuck choked out a sob briefly, before smothering it and taking a deep breath.
"I'm sorry," Chuck said quickly. "You're the one who should be the priority. After what you went through, I need to be there for you. That means keeping a lid on all of my crap," Chuck said as he tried to put himself back together. Sarah saw red.
Reaching out, Sarah made Chuck look at her. The feeling of her hand forcibly turning his chin to look at her got his attention. "Don't do that, Chuck. You don't have to push anything down for me, I won't allow it. You've been strong for hours, trying to help me through this. If you've got things to deal with, then we'll deal with them together. You're just as much a victim of all of this as I am. What you went through last night is something I can't even begin to imagine. I don't know how I'd have gone on if I thought you were dead." She saw the man she loved shrinking, going numb again, shutting himself off to push the pain out. Sarah wasn't going to allow her Chuck to suffer like that.
"It's okay, my love, it's okay," she cooed softly, her hand caressing his cheek. Chuck's composure failed him in that moment and he crumbled into her arms. The stress of the last day had finally broken him. He'd been working hard to keep it together for her, to help her get through what had happened the night before. Now, with Sarah safe at home, he found himself unable to stop his own emotions from spiraling out of control. Sarah felt Chuck's form begin to shake, the poor man clearly far beyond his breaking point.
"Chuck," Sarah said softly, her voice like a shinning beacon for his frayed nerves to focus on. "I love you," she began as she looked into his glassy eyes, bloodshot from tears and a clear lack of good sleep.
"I love you, too, Sarah, so much." Chuck croaked despondently.
"You didn't lose me last night and you're not going to lose me; not now, not ever. You've been so strong for me, through all of this, and don't think for a single second that I don't see you. All day yesterday, you were strong for me, a rock for me to lean on. I want you to let go of all of this. All of those emotions that you forced down, all of that anger and fear, I want you to just let it go. I don't want either of us to spend another damn second thinking about last night. I'm done with all of it, Beckman and Barker and Volkoff, fuck 'em. From this moment on, I am leaving it all behind me so that I can have the future I want, with the man I love." She saw it in Chuck's eyes, the new found calm. Through all of this he'd been there for her and now it was time for her to once again prop him up. Each of them was the foundation through which the other would build their new life.
"How are we going to make this work? I'm still the intersect, I'm still their slave, Sarah," Chuck asked. Sarah saw it in Chuck's eyes, he wanted to believe, but the looming presence of General Beckman and the Intersect was right there in the back of his mind.
"We'll find a way, Chuck. No matter what happens from here, I'm going to be right there beside you, loving you for the rest of my life." The emotion in Chuck's eyes began to abate, replaced by resolution and confidence. The hint of a smile on his face made her heart flutter.
"That sounds pretty permanent, Ms. Walker," Chuck said in a slightly teasing tone.
"Oh, Mr. Bartowski; believe me, it is very permanent. What are you going to do about it?" Sarah replied with a hint of a flirty lilt in her voice. The look in Chuck's eyes was like steel.
"Last night was a wakeup call. As I watched that video feed, I was struck by clarity. If we want to build a life together, then we cannot afford to wait a single second longer. This world of sex, lies, and violence will destroy us if we are not careful and I am done standing by waiting for the end. Last night is the last time you will ever have to give yourself away at the behest of others. Last night is the last time I will ever accept the love of my life being treated like an object. I am done being the puppet in someone else's game. If they want their precious Intersect, then it's time to pay up, because we are done doing this shit for nothing." Sarah silently nodded in agreement and snuggled into Chuck's side, her arm rubbing his back soothingly.
~X~
The General sat in her hotel room, nursing a healthy serving of Van Winkle Special Reserve. The lights were off, only the glow of the nearly silent TV illuminating the room. Coverage of the days massive bust was on screen. The hosts of the show were covering the entire thing breathlessly, as if the end of the world was nigh. While the day's events would be a feather in the cap of her illustrious career, Brigadier General Diane Beckman wasn't feeling particularly swell at the moment. The bust had been a massive success, Major Casey and Agent Barker having helped Les Richardson's men find not one, but five shipping containers full of weapons and other illegal goods. The nuclear device had been found, secured, and hidden from the press. Everything else had been shown off to the public like the bounty from a successful hunt. The ramifications of the entire ordeal would be massive, considering the owner of the shipping containers was a multi-billion dollar silicon valley tech firm. All of that was for tomorrow; at the moment, the General's mind was firmly on the woman she'd betrayed the day before.
The events of the last two days had been a humbling lesson for the General. She'd served Agent Walker up to the Crown Prince of Rusovia like she was an item, something to use and discard. Worse than that, she'd subjected a hero of U.S. intelligence to a degrading, traumatic ordeal that was all for nothing. In that very moment, Diane Beckman didn't know what to do. The General in her told her to press on as if it all hadn't happened, damn the torpedoes and such. The person within her, the woman who had herself been a spy once, was telling her that she had to fix this. She didn't know how she was going to fix this, but she knew she had to. For a long time, her word had meant something, but here it hadn't meant a damn thing. Sarah Walker was a person, not merely a file in the joint intelligence database. The thing was, she hadn't been treating Sarah Walker like a person as of late. Agents were disposable, the greater good was the most important thing to consider; that was the orthodoxy under which Beckman had crafted her entire career as a leader of men and women. Over the last two days, she'd seen firsthand just how her cavalier attitude towards her subordinates affected them.
Taking another drink of her bourbon, she couldn't help but wonder where she'd gone so far astray. Once upon a time, Diane Beckman had been a blonde-haired agent of death just like Sarah Walker had become. So many years ago, she'd been the very same as Sarah Walker. Somewhere along the way she'd forgotten that and had become like the very leaders that had compelled her to leave the CIA for Air Force Intelligence, then the NSA later on in her life. Suddenly, she was considering every decision she'd ever made as Director of the NSA. Every kill she'd ordered, every asset she'd ordered burned, every file stolen, person corrupted, everything she'd done… was it the right thing to do? Under her leadership, she'd had many agents crack up and either get killed or quit. The results always justified her callous attitude and leadership style, but to see the results of her decision-making play out right before her eyes had given her a new perspective.
Somewhere in her haste to find and secure a loose nuclear device, she'd thought it was justifiable to treat her best agent like a prostitute. Beckman had ordered an abuse victim to endure the very treatment that had so profoundly affected her seven years prior. Agent Walker had said so herself, that her night with Volkoff had defined her as a person. That night seven years ago had turned an innocent young woman into a legendary agent of calculated chaos and vengeful destruction. As everything played out before the General, like a gruesome trainwreck, she'd seen Sarah Walker go from a confident and composed CIA agent, to an anxious and terrified abuse victim in seconds. The mere mention of Yevgeni Volkoff had reduced Graham's Wildcard Enforcer to nothing but a scared little girl. In a moment where her agent was the most vulnerable, Beckman had been completely blind to it. She'd ordered Agent Walker to seduce an abusive monster, with no backup and no plan for exfil… some General she was. To add onto that, she'd created a situation where the man Agent Walker was in love with would have to be a part of the entire thing, observing just in case.
Taking another sip of her bourbon, she enjoyed the taste of the exceedingly expensive bottle of bourbon she'd ordered from the bar downstairs. The General wasn't normally a bourbon drinker, but as things currently stood, she needed a good drink. The sound of her cell phone pulled the General from her dark thoughts. Looking over at her phone, she saw a number she recognized well… it was a line from the White House. Setting her tumbler down, the General cleared her throat and answered the phone.
"General Beckman," she answered as clearly as she could.
"Evening, Diane," came the voice of the President of the United States of America, Hershel T. Randolph. President Randolph was one of her oldest friends, the two of them going way back.
"Mr. President," the General said in a rock steady tone.
"Just wanted to call and congratulate you on your bust today. You and your team have scored a great victory against our country's enemies." His praise usually would have felt amazing, but tonight it rang hollow.
"We have scored a victory, but it came at a steep cost," she said mutedly. Looking to her right, she saw the LA skyline out of her window.
"How so?" President Randolph asked.
"Agent Walker resigned and I have a feeling the Human Intersect won't be nearly as cooperative going forward." She knew her words wouldn't be well-received by the President. He was one of the few people she had to answer to when it came to Team Intersect.
"What happened?" Randolph asked in a far more serious tone.
Swallowing to calm her nerves, the General spoke in as steady a voice as she could muster, knowing the storm that was coming. "When the intel about a possible nuclear device came to me originally, the only person suspected of having any knowledge, was Crown Prince Yevgeni Volkoff." As she began, she heard the sigh from the President.
"It came to my attention that the Crown Prince and Agent Walker have interacted in the past and there may be an opportunity there. So, I ordered Agent Walker to seduce Volkoff in exchange for the information-"
"You what?" came a thunderous voice on the other end of the line.
"At the time, I was under the impression that it would be no big deal. Agent Walker is a professional and this was nothing she couldn't handle. In reality, her last encounter with the man was a rather violent and abusive one, something not mentioned in the original mission file about the last time she was with him. As I reported a week ago, I recently made a deal with Agent Walker."
"I'm aware, Diane," the President said, silently urging her to move on.
"The reason I bring it up is because one of the terms of our deal was a moratorium on seduction missions for Agent Walker."
"Jesus Christ," President Randolph began, the dread and disappointment clear. "I'm going to assume that Agent Walker resigned because of your orders to seduce Volkoff?" the President asked.
"That would be correct, Mr. President. As soon as she understood what I was ordering her to do, she left to converse with the Intersect, her new boyfriend. When she returned, she announced she'd do it because of the nuclear device, but would be resigning immediately afterwards. You will be able to read all about it when I file the final report in the morning. As it stands right now, I don't know what our status is with either of them. Both of them were too shaken up this afternoon to be of any use to us, so I sent them home." As Beckman finished recapping the last two days to the President, she was waiting for the wrath she knew was coming.
"Okay, General Beckman, listen carefully." The President's use of her title instead of her name wasn't a good sign. "I don't care what concessions you have to give. I don't care if you have to stand on your head and sing the Star Spangled Banner backwards and in German, you will do it. You must secure the cooperation of the Intersect and Agent Walker. I am not in the business of treating American heroes like slaves, so you will not coerce either of them in any way, do you understand me?" His menacing tone made her sit up straight, knowing peril when she heard it.
"Yes, Mr. President, is there anything else?" she asked quickly, feeling like nothing more than a rookie at the farm.
"Tomorrow morning you will personally deliver a formal written apology to Agent Walker, the Intersect, and Major Casey. While seduction missions may be allowed in your world, the United States government isn't in the business of prostitution. We don't sell our agents bodies for anything, General. I've been working for years to get you intelligence types to give up the practice; but clearly, I haven't gone far enough. No matter, I'll put a stop to it soon enough, even if I have to lobby congress myself. Lastly, if you ever order another seduction mission again, I will see to it that you spend the remainder of your career giving sexual favors to our troops in Afghanistan. By the time I'm finished with you, your tongue won't know the difference between dick and donuts. Am I understood, General?" Beckman had never felt so chastised and afraid.
"Yes sir," she whispered into the phone.
"If you can't reach a deal with Agent Walker and the Intersect, I expect your resignation papers on my desk by the end of business hours." Without another word, the President hung up the phone. Sitting back in her chair, the words of the President began to sink in. The official humiliation of General Beckman would be something she had to suffer through, atonement for all she'd done. More than that, her entire career hinged on her ability to make the two people she'd hurt the most, agree to work with her again. Thinking of all that had gone down, all of the things she'd ordered, all of the things she'd made those two go through, she had no idea why they would agree to be in the same room as her, let alone work with her again. If she somehow managed to keep the team together, it would be a goddamn miracle. No matter, Brigadier General Diane Beckman was going to make the best offer she could think of.
"Now I've just got to figure out what that deal actually is… no pressure."
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #4: Like I said in my first AN, Oppenheimer is absolutely incredible. It is Christopher Nolan's magnum opus, the crowning achievement of his career and should be required watching for film buffs like myself. I actually got to see it in 70mm tonight with my father and it was... breathtaking, haunting, simply magnificent. SEE THIS MOVIE, PLEASE!
CHARMING'S AUTHORS NOTE #5: Back on the topic of this story, the next chapter is big literally and figuratively. The next chapter is the longest of the story, currently at 8,000, but that's going to change as I wrap up my work on it in the coming days. The end of this story is coming, so stay tuned for chapter nine "Solid Ground" when it arrives on Wednesday, July 26th.
Until Next Time :D