A/N1: Might the good Doctor Guy LaFleur own Chuck? Unlikely.
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The meeting focusing on the stolen Iblis Strain virus had broken up and Team B had gone down a few floors within FBI headquarters to get settled with their mission.
With his team gathered around him in the bullpen area near Jenny Statler's office, it felt like they were back a few weeks and looking into the Yama Twins. They hadn't eaten since breakfast and Bryce and Tony volunteered to head down to the FBI cafeteria and bring them back some food. As they were on West Coast time, they were pretty confident that with some food and caffeine they could work for a few more hours before crashing for the night.
Chuck chose to look at the computer system at the Bethesda facility as a whole, double checking the logs and other security information. If someone was going to lay the groundwork for their violent operation beforehand, perhaps they had accessed the system in preparation. If so, perhaps they had left breadcrumbs for him to follow, even if the crumbs were merely evidence that someone had tried to cover their tracks. He thought of Orion's genius and hoped whoever he might be opposing here, if anyone, was less extraordinary.
Sarah chose to look at Dr. LaFleur. While the FISA warrants wouldn't be signed until the morning, at the earliest, there was still a great deal of information she could access from public sources, as well as the contents of his work computer, which could not be considered in any sense private.
After he'd returned from downstairs with their lunch, Bryce immediately asked to take the investigation of Jill Roberts as his assignment. He dove into that task with enthusiasm and focus.
Each of Zondra and Casey took one of the young scientists who had died in the fusillade of gunfire in the lab. Tony and a handful of FBI agents began to look at others from the facility, starting with any scientists who might have knowledge of the Iblis Strain and moving on from there.
Elsewhere in the Federal government, men and women were putting in place plans for a limited, but deadly, virus outbreak. They were coordinating with state and local health departments without releasing too much in the way of detail. Moving stockpiled supplies from warehouses to distribution points closer to population centers (although the pessimists argued that any release of the virus would burn itself out too quickly for the supplies to be of much use).
As Team B settled down to work, Zondra leaned back in her chair and said to Sarah, sitting next to her, in a voice only a tiny bit louder than a whisper, "Ok, spill."
Sarah leaned back in her seat and twisted to face her friend. "She's Chuck's ex from Stanford. They'd been together for years. When Chuck was framed by Bryce and booted from school before he could get his degree, Jill dumped him like he was radioactive and told Chuck she was now sleeping with Bryce," replied Sarah, quietly.
"What a bitch...wait, what? With Bryce?" she asked, her eyebrows heading to her hairline.
"Yeah. Bryce swears he didn't do it. Didn't touch her. Says the first time he ever even heard of it was five years later when Chuck told him," said Sarah.
"Huh. You believe him?" asked Zonda with a tiny frown.
Sarah was silent for a little while, deciding on the answer. Finally, she said, "Yeah. Yeah, I think I do. His explanation for why he did what he did back then...well, banging that skank would be really inconsistent with it. So, yeah, I believe him, I guess."
"Wow, though. Talk about adding insult to injury. She not only dumps him, she names the same guy that got him kicked out of school," said Zondra with wonder.
"Yeah. His former best friend, no less," said Sarah.
"Shit. That combo must have hit Chuck like a freight train. Shit," said Zondra with a tinge of sadness. She glanced over at Chuck, his head down over the computer screen. "I picked up on your angry vibe, but I had no idea it was this bad. Now I'm sorry I didn't actually break her hand...and her face," said Zondra.
Sarah gave a little snort of laughter and said, "Yeah. What happened at Stanford messed up Chuck for years. He says it's only when he started this spy stuff that he climbed out of his funk."
"You mean only when he started to share a bed with the hottest woman spy in this hemisphere," said Zondra with a grin. "I mean other than me, of course."
Sarah grinned and said, "Of course."
"How is he handling seeing her again?"
"I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it, but he seems to be okay. He was on his game upstairs in the meeting and he's laser focused on his computer right now. I guess I'll find out later," said Sarah with a shrug.
"Ok. Let me know if I can help you with anything. You know, like holding her down while you beat the snot out of her," said Zondra.
"Thanks, girlfriend," said Sarah with a smile.
"And how about you? Any jealousy or anything? I noticed you flaunting the engagement ring during the meeting," said Zondra.
"I...I'm...honestly, I'm not sure. I'm not sure how I feel about meeting her. Obviously, I hate what she did to Chuck and I think she's a total bitch, but...but, I don't know. I'm not jealous. At least I don't think I am. Not worried about her taking Chuck back or anything like that. I'm not concerned about him wandering off...," said Sarah pensively.
"No way. Not in a million years," agreed Zondra.
"Yeah, but I still...I don't know, I marked my territory, I guess. Sort of declaring to her...'he's mine, don't even think about it.' Why would I do that if I was really secure?" asked Sarah, honestly exploring her reactions with her friend.
"I think you are putting too much thought into it. I think your reaction is not cerebrum kind of stuff. 'Marking your territory' is the right description. I think there's some deep animal part of your brain … something almost primal, that peed on the tree to announce to the world that this mate is yours. Or whatever it was cave women did in the face of other cave women. Don't overthink it."
"I guess. But why did it make me so self-satisfied to wave the ring around? Seems kind of petty of me when I think about it now," she said.
"My guess is a bit of triumphalism. You won. She lost. Wear your victory medal proudly. You have every right in the world to strut. You won a spectacular mate, as did he of course. She threw him away … and not just threw him away, did so in the most fucked-up way possible. Fuck, Sarah, he's not even my guy and I intend to rub her nose in it every chance I get from now on. Just to make her cry herself to sleep at night if I can, fucking bitch."
Sarah started to snicker and said, "You know, you're not just smart, you're fun too."
"It's why people love me," said Zondra with a grin. The women turned back to the work in front of them.
It was almost three hours later when Bryce announced that he was heading down for more coffee and did anyone want anything. Zondra declared that she would go with him.
Once out of earshot of the others in the corridors of the vast building, Zondra said, "Jill Roberts."
"What about her?" asked Bryce.
"You never tapped that?"
Bryce stopped walking and turned to look at his teammate. His demeanor had none of the easy bravado of the normal Bryce Larkin. He looked as serious as he possibly could, almost pleading. "Z, I swear on all that is holy that I never once touched her. Not once. Hell, it never even occurred to me. She was Chuck's girl and had been for years. I introduced them to each other for fuck's sake. Of course, now I wish I hadn't."
"You're not lying to me?" asked Zondra.
"Z, she not only dumped my buddy, she implicated me in the crime. I was pissed at her before, but when I heard from Chuck what she'd told him...shit, I went white hot. I am not lying to you. I swear, Z," he said. "I'm not. Please believe me."
"You're acting pretty friendly to her," said Z.
"Keep your friends close..." said Bryce with a sudden grin.
"And your enemies closer," said Zondra with a half-smile. "Ok, we're good. I believe you. Just so you know, Sarah believes you too."
"Good. Thank you for telling me that. It means a lot to me. It really does. Thank you," he said with all the sincerity he could muster. They resumed walking to the elevators to the cafeteria.
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Later, Chuck and Sarah lay together, wrapped around each other as their breathing returned to normal. They were in a large bed in a suite at the Hay-Adams Hotel, arranged at the last minute by Jenny Statler's assistant when they realized they had forgotten to book rooms anywhere.
"Mmmm," said Sarah, nuzzling his chest.
"Yeah. Well said," said Chuck in a content voice. He moved her off him for a second while he bent to the foot of the bed to retrieve the bedclothes that had been kicked aside with the evening's activities. Lying back down and covering them both, she resumed her spot, with her head on his shoulder and her lips tasting their sweat on his chest.
"Chuck?"
"Hummm?" he asked.
"How did it feel to see her again?"
He blew out a breath and said, "I don't know. I really don't. I should hate her, I guess, but I don't. Not really anyway. Of course, she was cruel to me and I really suffered for it for years. On the other hand, I'm not saying I forgive her and want to be friends. I just sort of want her to go away." Chuck let out a sigh. "There's a line from Fiddler on the Roof when someone asks the Rabbi if there's a blessing for the Tsar. The Rabbi says something like 'May God protect and keep the Tsar...far away from us.' It's a little like that. I don't wish her ill or anything, but I'm perfectly happy having nothing at all to do with her ever again. We had a lot of fun times together, her, me and Bryce. The three of us always hung around together. Of course, it's all overshadowed by what she did at the end, but those memories are still there, you know? The happy memories. But I don't want to be friends with her going forward. I just don't see any need to get on her Christmas card list now, that's all."
"Will you have coffee with her?" asked Sarah.
"Are you jealous?" he asked with surprise. "Because if you..."
Sarah reached a finger to his lips and kissed his bare chest. "Nope. Not even a little bit jealous. I know you are mine and there's zero chance of her getting you back even if she wanted to. I know that. Don't worry about me being jealous. You're my Chuck and I'm your Sarah and that's that. I was just asking about the coffee as a measure of your discomfort with her."
"Oh. Well, I'll have coffee with her if I have to, but I'll do my best to avoid it without being straight up rude or confrontational, I guess. I don't want to get in an argument with her about a cup of coffee. Doesn't seem worth it, to be honest, you know what I mean? And we probably won't be dealing with her that much anyway. LaFleur seemed pretty hands on."
"Yeah, probably," said Sarah.
"But as long as we're talking about it, how are you doing with Jill's reappearance?"
"You probably don't remember, but the morning after our first date when we were in bed and you told me about her, do you remember what I told you?" asked Sarah.
"Vividly. You said you wanted to beat her up and it would be fun. I thought it was one of the coolest, most badass things anyone has ever told me," he said, laughing and lazily rubbing her bare back with one hand.
"Yeah. Well, I still want to beat her up. But I guess that's out of the question unless she turns out to be the mole," said Sarah.
Chuckling, he said, "Yeah. Probably unlikely."
"Anyway. I had a conversation with Z this afternoon after the meeting when we should have been working. We decided that I wanted to rub her nose in my victory and to mark my territory like a cavewoman," said Sarah.
"Well, if Jill knew the alternative was getting her ass kicked, I'm sure she'd welcome those approaches," said Chuck, laughing.
"That would be smart of her." Sarah moved her hand under the covers and grinned at her discovery. Lifting her head off his chest, she said, "Hey, you're ready for round two."
Chuck smiled at Sarah and said, "You betcha. No more talk about my ex. I have better things to do."
"And you should start doing them, big boy," said Sarah, moving her lips to his.
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Eduardo Gomez preferred the overnight doorman shift at the condo building in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Midnight to 8AM was mostly quiet and lonely, just the way he liked it. Maybe the occasional drunk resident returning home from a night out in DC. Nothing to see on the various video monitors on the desk except the empty hallways. It wasn't until 6am that things got busier, first with the early morning runners and then with folks leaving for work.
In the quiet, he was able to do his school reading. This particular evening, he was on the eighteenth page of the twenty-page reading assignment from his sociology professor. It was about 3:30AM when he heard a dull THUMP from outside. Looking out the glass doors of the lobby, he saw nothing unusual.
Gomez got up and went out to the front of the building. There was a shapeless bundle lying on the sidewalk a dozen or so yards to his left. It was between streetlights and cloaked in shadow. Looking around the street and seeing it deserted, he walked over to the bundle. It was a person. As he got closer, he recognized the person as Dr. LaFleur, a resident on the eleventh floor.
"Dr. LaFleur?" he asked tentatively. Getting no response, Gomez reached down and shook the man's shoulder. It was then that he saw the blood. Trying not to vomit, he immediately went back inside to call 911.
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Dear FBI Agent Statler,
I am the traitor in NIAID. I am so desperately sorry. I provided to a third party the information on the Iblis Strain and the security of the Bethesda facility in return for money deposited in a Swiss bank account. I never ever imagined that they would kill anyone, much less fourteen of my colleagues and friends. They had no need to do that and I am sick over it. I expect that you and Carmichael are right and that it was done to make the point, but I don't know.
I was contacted through an actual paper letter (which I have since destroyed) and offered a considerable sum of money for the information. To my shame I accepted the offer. I was told to leave the information on a thumb drive in a paper bag crumbled up and left next to a park bench just past the entrance to Battery Lane Urban Park. I did so and my payment was deposited in the bank. That was a month ago. I thought no more about it until the attack.
I cannot provide you with more information regarding the attackers, as I have none. But I can at least prevent you from wasting any more time looking in NIAID for a mole. I hope that, with this revelation, you will be able to focus your resources on finding the Iblis Strain and preventing any further loss of life.
I beg you to apologize for me to the families of the murdered men and women and to my colleagues, especially any who may have fallen under suspicion for some reason as you cast a net looking for me. I worked entirely alone and no one else should in any way be tarred with the brush of my guilt.
I cannot live with the knowledge that my greed has led to such a horrific loss of life. Good luck, Agent. I hope that with all the resources at your disposal you can stop these murderers.
Guy LaFleur
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A/N2: What do you guys think? A lot of discussion about the team's reaction to Jill in this chapter. Won't happen again, but I thought it deserved some attention. I tried to give realistic reactions and emotions to our friends. You guys can tell me if I succeeded or not. Anyway, forgetting Jill, it seems that, like canon, LaFleur was not on the side of the angels. And, like canon, he experienced the recent fate of so many Russian oil and gas executives and defenestrated (I love that word) himself.
A/N3: For anyone interested, LaFleur's name comes from a legendary Canadian hockey player. Guy LaFleur played seventeen seasons (over a twenty-year period – there was a three-year retirement in the middle) for a number of NHL teams. He was named to the Hockey Hall of Fame and honored as one of the one hundred greatest hockey players of all time. He passed away in 2022. I have no idea why the show's writers decided to name the not-so-good doctor after him.
A/N4: I do want to thank my friends for their words of support regarding the length of New Day. I'm encouraged to know that my peculiar decision on how to structure this epic has been accepted by you. I'm not stopping anytime soon, guys.