I do not own Chuck

Chapter 2

"That woman is my mother."

Sarah stared at Chuck, dumbfounded. "Your mother?"

Her husband reached out to touch the screen, almost disbelievingly. "Yeah,"

She looked at Casey and Cole. Her partner looked just as stunned as her husband in that instant.

"Are you sure Chuck?" Casey queried. "It's been – what – years since you saw her?"

"Pretty sure John," her husband murmured. "She used to give that grin and that wave when she caught me out when I was a kid. But….how?" He seemed stunned, as well he might. "She just left one day and she never came back…" His voice drifted away and she moved over beside him, pulling him against her in a hug. She didn't think anyone could accuse her of being unprofessional, considering what had happened. Certainly neither John nor Cole would rock the boat. They were both good friends as well as partners.

"I thought she was dead," Chuck continued, almost as though she weren't there.

"Shall we go and find out?" Sarah asked. She was a woman of action, and they wouldn't find answers to Chuck's questions here, after all.

Chuck didn't move. "Chuck?" she asked, pulling away to look at him.

"She was dead," he muttered, before turning to her. "I'm almost scared."

She looked at Casey. This sort of emotional reaction was kind of outside her frame of reference. Her initial reaction was to go and get the woman and bring her to Chuck. But she realised she couldn't leave Chuck in this condition.

"John, could you and Cole go and get Chuck's mom?" she asked. She turned to her husband. "What's her name again?"

"What?" Chuck seemed not to be tracking well. "Oh, er Mary," he finally managed.

"Where shall we meet you?" she asked.

"Let's take her to HQ," Cole said. "You can all badge in there and it'll be more secure. Plus, I'm sure our colleagues from Five will want to talk with her to find out what the Russkies were after."

It sounded like a plan, so she nodded. She looked at Casey and Cole and they got the hint, leaving the van, but not before a concerned glance at Chuck who still seemed stunned into immobility.

"When was the last time you saw her?" she asked Chuck, gently.

"I was nearly nine when she left," Chuck replied slowly. "She didn't say a word to us kids but looking back it seems that Dad knew she was going. She left the charm bracelet and her other stuff. But as far as we were concerned she was there one day and gone the next. And then I didn't hear anything else until Director Anderson implied that they both may be alive after the medal ceremony in thirteen."

She remembered that ceremony. They'd discussed the former CIA director's comments a few times but so many other things had happened that day that it hadn't been a priority for them.

"But why come back now?" Chuck muttered rhetorically.

"I guess we'll find out when we speak to her," Sarah replied. "Let's grab a cab and maybe we can get some answers."

The dark-haired woman looked up as Casey entered the room and a small smile flitted over her features.

"Ah, Agent Casey," she said. "My son's one-time protector and now friend. So nice to officially meet you."

If Casey was surprised by the greeting, he didn't show it and Sarah admired his poker face. The fact that Chuck's mom knew so much about their history with Chuck was a surprise. She reached out to hold Chuck's hand.

They'd almost come to blows about who was going to have the first interview with Mary Bartowski. She hadn't been prepared to speak to anyone from MI5, instead requesting someone from their task force, which she'd mentioned by name. Given that the MI5 reps knew she was a person of interest and the history of what had happened, they'd been OK for the spooks to take first crack at this. If only so that they could get answers as to what the Russians were up to.

"Ma'am," Casey acknowledged, taking a seat across the table from the woman who now seemed to acknowledge that she was Mary Bartowski, even though she'd been carrying papers in the name of Elizabeth Carr.

"Oh, such formality, John," she observed with a small smile. "Given that you're one of my son's best friends, don't you think you should call me Mary?" She looked directly up at the camera. "And that goes for you as well Sarah!" she said with a shit-eating grin. "I'm looking forward to officially meeting my daughter in law too!"

Sarah looked at Chuck to see his stunned expression.

"She's remarkably well-informed," she said to Chuck with a smile. "Don't worry," she added. "It's a tactic – she's trying to unsettle us with her knowledge." Chuck looked at her with a wan smile and squeezed her hand.

In the room, Casey began, "Mrs Bartowski-"

"Mary!" the woman interjected.

Casey gave her a glare. "Mary, then. Can you tell us what you're doing here?"

The woman smiled at Casey. "You're not asking the right questions," she said. "But time is of the essence, so why don't I cut to the chase?

"For the cast of thousands that are listening, I came to see my son because I need his help. The Russians are after me because I worked in Russia for a long time and I know where a lot of Putin's skeletons are buried. They already took my husband and that's why I came to my son to ask if he and his colleagues could help."

Casey looked at her impassively. "And the fact that you are considered dead?"

Mary – and Sarah was surprised that she was thinking of the woman as Mary – replied, looking for the first time less than in control. Her face fell, "I'll apologise to my son in person for that," she said with a grimace. "As you know, when you go under cover for a long time, you often have to fake your death. My handler in the US was killed and the DCI that approved the operation had a stroke. My agency thinks I'm rogue."

Casey's eyebrows rose nearly into his hairline. "You've been on a sanctioned undercover operation for twenty years?" he asked.

"Yes," Mary replied.

"And you left your kids to do so?" Casey added.

"Yes," the woman looked down. "I'm sorry Chuck," she murmured, looking up at the camera. "Leaving you and Ellie was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. But he was out of control, and I was the only one who could keep him from doing anything stupid."

"Who was out of control?" Casey asked.

Mary looked up and stared at Casey pointedly. Then she looked directly at the camera and grimaced. "The man who became Alexei Volkov," she replied, and Sarah couldn't have been more stunned if General Beckman had moonwalked into the room wearing a pink tutu!

"Volkov?" gasped Casey, Sarah and Cole, who was standing behind them, almost in sync.

Mary looked at Casey and gave a lopsided grin. Sarah started. She'd seen Chuck make that expression more than once. Here again was evidence that the woman in the interrogation room may actually be Mary Bartowski.

"He was a family friend, would you believe it?" she said. "And he was sent undercover in Russia using a technology that probably only three of you are familiar with…" Mary raised her eyebrows, and Casey sat back in pure shock even as Sarah and Chuck looked at each other with equally stunned expressions.

Could she mean? Sarah wondered and saw Chuck making the words as well.

If she did, this changed things up a lot. If Mary Bartowski knew about Intersect technology, then this needed to go upstairs. And fast.

"But you weren't successful in your mission?" Casey asked and Sarah secretly marvelled that he was able to stay on point in the interrogation. Maybe he'd simply pushed the revelation to the back of his mind to consider later?

Mary regarded him with an expression which was in turn amused and impressed. "Initially I was successful," she replied. "But the technology really took hold. It became more and more difficult to reign him in. But several years ago now my husband managed to obtain a technology to remove the original technology." She flirted a grin. Again, Sarah could see elements of one of Chuck's expressions in there. "Perhaps you and Sarah might know something about that?"

Casey's expression was unmoving. "And?" he asked.

Mary gave another of her cheeky grins. "And we removed the original technology. And everyone lived happily ever after." She paused, and almost slumped. "Except we didn't.

"I was officially rogue. My husband had gone rogue to stay away from Fulcrum. And our kids' lives had moved on. We thought it would do them more harm than good to reveal ourselves then, especially as we were still wanted by the IC. It couldn't have been official and it would have put their lives and their careers in danger." She grimaced. "I'm sorry Chuck," she said, looking again at the camera.

"So what did you do?" Casey asked, sticking to the interrogation.

"We'd managed to extract quite a lot of funds when we rolled up Volkov. We simply retired. We kept an electronic eye on our kids to make sure they were safe. And we basically took up gardening."

"So, why are you here?" She admired Casey's poker face as the revelations kept coming.

"As I said," Mary replied. "The Russians took my husband. I managed to get away but I couldn't lose them. I came to my son for help. I know I have no right, but he's the only one I can turn to. You're the only ones I can turn to. And I understand you'll have to kick it upstairs. But I really need your help."

"How you doing kid?" Casey asked Chuck as he strode into the SCIF where they'd currently set up in MI6 headquarters in London.

How was he doing? Truth was he didn't know. He was completely whipsawed. He hadn't dared to hope that Director Anderson was right and that his parents may actually have been alive after his father at least had been pronounced dead. Truth was he didn't really think about his parents much – had pushed them to the back of his mind. The therapist that Ellie had taken him to had recommended that and it had worked for him these last 15-20 years. But now to be greeted by the living, breathing embodiment of his mother, almost right in front of him, after all these years. He was shocked.

And a mother that his wife said had attended his wedding. With another man. His father perhaps? His parents had been at his wedding but hadn't let either him or Ellie know. How should he feel about that?

"I don't know," he replied to Casey. All he did know was that there was one person he could one hundred percent depend on, and she had kept a tight grasp of his hand ever since the revelations had started. He gently stroked Sarah's hand with his thumb where it was clasped around his and acknowledged her concerned look with a small smile.

That wasn't strictly true, he guessed. He could also depend on Casey, he knew. And Cole, who had made himself scarce to give the three time to talk it over. Friends were the new family, after all.

"Fair," Casey admitted. "What the fuck should we do?"

"We have to call the General," Sarah opined, speaking almost for the first time. She had been with him almost silently throughout this; a supportive presence but not pushing her opinions over his, waiting for him to speak.

He favoured her with a smile as both his partners looked at him. "Yeah," he agreed. "Given the 'technology' my mom referred to, it's definitely something we have to pass upstairs." Even in a supposedly secured compartment in MI6 headquarters he wouldn't refer to the nature of the technology and he noted the approving looks his partners gave him.

"Do you want to speak to her, honey?" Sarah asked, squeezing his hand gently.

He returned the squeeze. "I guess I need to," he allowed. "But maybe we should wait for guidance from upstairs?" He looked at his partners. Both were giving him supportive looks. "There's so much I want to ask," he admitted. "But I'm fucking pissed with her as well and maybe I need a little longer to get my thoughts in order before I meet her."

Casey surprised him by reaching out and squeezing his shoulder. "I can't imagine what you're going through Chuck," the NSA agent said. "But we're gonna get through this." He gave a small smile and headed out, presumably to grab his cell and call the General.

Chuck looked at Sarah, very touched by Casey's gesture and words. She gave him a supportive smile. "Yes we are, sweety," she said, leaning forward and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

"With you by my side, I can get through anything," he said, blinking tears from his eyes.

"Would you like a beverage, Mary?" Casey asked as he settled Chuck's mom in her seat in the interview room in his team's London headquarters. To say that the General had been shocked by the revelations of the day was an understatement. But she had acted quickly to request MI6 surrender the woman whose papers proclaimed her to be Elizabeth Carr to her team. Since the woman had not actually done anything wrong, MI5 had been prepared to accede to the urgent request from the de facto head of intelligence for an allied power and Casey had escorted Mary across town to their headquarters, while Chuck, Cole and Sarah had come under their own steam.

The woman had not said much on the journey in the unmarked van, just sitting in her seat with her cuffed hands crossed across her knees. Now that Casey had the opportunity to study her, he thought that she was in her fifties, which would be about right for Chuck's mom. She was fit and obviously took care of herself and, on closer inspection, she had callouses on her hands which indicated possible martial arts activity. Casey thought he could make out a scar on the right side of her neck which had been grafted the way that intelligence agencies often did with their undercover agents. But, apart from that, the woman was as much an enigma as she had been when he'd first laid eyes on her over the camera in the fast food joint.

Now she gave a small smile. "I guess a whisky is out of the question?" she asked, and Casey raised an eyebrow.

"I guess I'm about to talk to my son for the first time since I left my kids over twenty years ago," she explained. "I don't know if he's going to be pleased to see me, pissed or tearful," she added. "I caused them so much hurt." She looked down and then made eye contact with John again. "I guess I don't need to tell you how much we have to give up for the job. You must have been delighted to find your daughter again."

John fought to keep the stunned surprise out of his expression but must have failed as Mary gave a small smile.

"Maybe you, of all people, know how I feel," she added.

And he guessed maybe he did. Thinking back to that fateful night when he'd met his daughter for the first time. And then had to go back and explain to her and her mother that he was actually alive and had chosen to appear to die in order to serve. God, that had been horrible. But what had come out of it, his fledgling relationship with Alex, had been great. And was great. But he remembered, he had needed some fortification before he faced Kathleen for the first time.

"I'll see what I can do," he agreed, before turning to leave the room.

"Thanks," she sounded somewhat surprised, as well she may be, he reflected. The old John Casey, the automaton, would not have done this. But working with Chuck Bartowski that first time had changed him, just as working with Chuck Bartowski the second time had continued that change. Matt Todd had said it perfectly at the wedding, he thought. Chuck had a way of building communities around him. He'd done it at the Buy More, he'd done it in Pararescue, in Metro Special Operations, and now Chuck had got his teeth into the IC and was building his own community here. And Casey and Sarah had been joined by Juliette, Cole Barker and sundry others. And they were loving it. Casey liked being part of a team now. He didn't think he'd ever be able to go back to working on his own. And that was down to Chuck. He'd successfully herded these cats to work together and their team was now a lot more than the sum of its parts.

"Do you want me to go in with you?" Sarah asked Chuck. She had been slightly surprised when Casey had asked them to give him a few minutes, returning with a bottle of whisky and a glass for Mary. She'd been surprised to see him giving up a glass from his heavily-protected whisky reserve. He only kept that for celebrations. To be fair, there had been quite a few celebrations recently. Their team was performing better than anyone had ever dreamed and had disrupted three major attacks over the past nine months. Twelve months into their co-headship of the team and there was talk of their term being extended. The General had already sounded the three of them out on it, and they'd agreed to it, but no formal notification had been made as yet.

She and Chuck loved it in London so it was an easy decision for them. Their house in the beautiful suburb of Battersea had rapidly become a much-loved home for the two of them, site of many enjoyable dinner parties for them and their friends over the months. Her relationship with Chuck seemed to grow every day and every day she thanked God for bringing Chuck back into her life. Sarah wasn't a religious sort but she could be when she thought of all the things that had had to line up for her and Chuck to meet again. But the important thing was that they had. And now her nerd had once again become the most important person in her life and she in his.

She was worried about him today, however. It had been such a fantastic start to the day but now poor Chuck was really struggling. And she could understand that. It had been difficult enough meeting her own mother after nearly ten years and she'd been the one that had had to go away. She could not imagine what it must be like for Chuck meeting his mother after over twenty years with no contact after she'd simply disappeared. Now to find out that she'd been at their wedding but hadn't shown herself even then must just add to the hurt.

But she knew Chuck would give the woman a fair hearing. Which was more than Ellie would. The topic of their parents only occasionally came up in the Bartowski and Woodcomb households but she knew that Ellie in particular was very hurt by what she saw as their parents' betrayal. And, while Chuck's experiences in the IC had shown him that everything was not always black and white, Ellie's world was much more black and white and she could see a meeting between the two women rapidly devolving into a shouting match. She wondered which parent Ellie got her feistiness from? Was it Chuck's dad or his mom? Having seen his mom today and analysed a little more what Eve had told her, Sarah was willing to bet that it was his mom. Which may give her an in if she needed it. Of course, if the woman genuinely was an intelligence agent, she'd probably trained herself to reign in her temper and not allow herself to be goaded. Sarah would have to play it by ear.

"Yes please," Chuck replied. "I need you by my side."

"Then that's where I'll be," Sarah replied, meaning every word of it.

He held Sarah's hand like a lifeline as they headed down in the elevator. She squeezed his hand back. "Don't worry, it'll be fine," she said reassuringly as they stepped out and headed up the corridor. Outside the door they paused, and he took a deep breath, then he reached for the door and opened it, stepping through with Sarah's hand still grasped in his.

The woman behind the table laid down her whisky glass and rose to her feet. Casey was standing by the wall and had removed her handcuffs and Chuck was grateful that the meeting would be as normalised as possible.

"Hello Chuck," his mother said.

"Hello Mom," he replied.

"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. "The mission was never meant to last that long, but the longer it lasted the more difficult it was for me to break away. I never meant to abandon you, but that's how it turned out."

There were tears in his mother's eyes and, as he almost uncontrollably moved towards her, he realised her eyes were blue. He'd never really known that before. Was that why Sarah's blue eyes made him feel so safe? His mom's eyes weren't anything like Sarah's, he thought. Even in this instance they weren't half as emotive as Sarah's could be. With Sarah's eyes he could genuinely tell what she was thinking and feeling from the colour of those beautiful orbs. His mom's, though wet with tears, were still gray/blue.

"May I hug you?" his mom asked, looking at him. "May I?" she asked, looking to his side and he realised she was looking at Sarah. He didn't know what the response was but then Sarah released his hand and pushed him gently away from her, even as his mom rounded the table.

He pulled her into his arms and she pulled him, squeezing him tightly and he realised where Ellie got her hugging technique from!

"I've missed you, my brilliant, brave boy," his mom said, punctuating her words with tighter squeezes. "I'm so proud of you."

It felt so nice. He'd had hugs from Ellie and Devon, even from Sarah, and they all felt good. The ones from Sarah felt amazing. But this was his mom, holding him in her arms, and it just felt so natural, so perfect.

"I missed you, mom," he said, tearful, but determined not to cry in front of Sarah and Casey.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I know you and Ellie probably won't ever forgive me, but I guess you at least have a better understanding of duty and responsibility and maybe you can understand even if you can't forgive."

"I'd like to," he said, and just like that the moment was over. His mom released him and stepped away, hands still on his shoulders.

"I guess we should get started on the debriefing from hell, then," she said. She looked over his shoulder at Sarah. "Are you recording?"

"Yes," his wife replied from behind him. He wasn't surprised that they were being recorded. He looked over to the wall and saw that Casey had left while they'd been hugging. He'd want to take over control of the recording equipment. While they trusted the other members of their team, they couldn't risk any mention of the Intersect or other matters that they couldn't know about.

He felt Casey's signal over their watches, which he assumed meant that they were private. Cole had been in the viewing room to oversee the reunion and make sure there was no trick involved. Now, Chuck knew, he'd be back at his desk.

His mom gave a tight smile and a nod, releasing his shoulders.

"OK," she said, moving back round the table and taking her seat. "Let's begin."

Chuck took his seat and Sarah hers, next to him. She reached out and took his hand and he squeezed hers gently, looking over at her to assure her he was OK. She squeezed his hand and then they looked at his mom. He was surprised to see her giving a warm smile at Sarah.

"OK," Sarah said. "Where would you like to start?"

"Let's start at the beginning," Mom said.

Thanks for all the reviews for the first chapter! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter and where I'm going!