Chuck vs. The Courtyard Bench
Well, in the previous chapter: Chuck gets an unexpected visit at his office in the form of Pollak. He shared with Chuck, Morgan, and Kathleen that he doesn't know why Jagger hugged him and it really bothered him, especially over the weekend. That's when Team Bartowski put Pollak in the hot seat to the point where Morgan treated the line of question towards the actor as if he was sitting on the witness stand in court. Of course, Morgan was so over the top that Chuck had to quickly intervene for his bearded best friend's sake. Moving forward, Chuck revealed a shocking secret that involved Jagger's real first name and how Pollak tried to put the teenager by revealing his actual first name. A name that shocked Morgan and Kathleen. So, what happens in this chapter? Here are the who, what, where, when, why, how's? Who did Chuck say made the choice for Pollak to be the silent partner of Project Pegasus? What did Sarah do after Molly told Chuck about a particular bodily function that's considered normal? Where did Chuck, Kathleen and Molly run off and out of the kitchen after what Sarah did? When does the movie Paparazzi come into the play in this chapter? Why does Molly go back in the kitchen? How does Casey react when an unexpected visitor apparently came with Bennett who was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance due to a head injury? Read and find out! I hope you enjoy the read and leave a comment to share your own thoughts on this particular chapters. As always, reviews are awesome.
Again, if you enjoyed reading my stories and left a comment, I truly appreciate it. Please continue to do so as it gives me the incentive to write more chapters.
I don't own Chuck.
Steak Knife Standoff
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The revelation that Steven Pollak's real name was Orville Hickenbottom was considered a surprise, but not uncommon for a working actor/actress in Hollywood. Stories have been told of actors who created stage names to either stand out or shorten their name for better star power. Eric Bishop, better known as Jamie Foxx, created his stage name to make it sound gender neutral for the expressed purpose to get up on stage for stand-up comedy gigs. In any case, although Chuck knew Pollak's real name since Sunday, it was certainly a surprise for Sarah, Emma, and Molly when he joined the trio for dinner at his fiancé's condo where he shared the aforementioned revelation with the Walker women.
All 4 individuals were sitting at the kitchen table having dinner. A dinner that consisted of steak, broccoli, and a baked potato cut in half filled with butter, sour cream as well as chives. They took a moment to enjoy their meal before the 13-year-old teenager spoke up.
"If my name was Orville Hickenbottom, I'd go by another name too." stated Molly snorting out a laugh. The youngest sister of Sarah Walker cut into her piece of steak and then stuffed it into her mouth.
Sarah monetarily stared at her younger sister sitting across from her with a mouth full of steak. She shook her head and gave her response. "What blows my mind is that he gave a huge donation and did it secretly," A look of perplexed and bewildered confusion was expressed on Sarah's face. "My question is was it out of pure generosity or something else?" she wondered. Her attention turned back to Chuck. "Like you said, he could very well have done this for better publicity knowing he was assigned a handler by White."
"Chuck, explain again Orville's involvement as a silent partner with The Pegasus Project" requested Emma, trying to make sense of it all. "
After swallowing his piece of steak, he drank some water to wash it down with. It took a second before he finally was able to respond with his mouth no longer full. "It all has to do with an incident between White and him that ended up involving that organization that I looked into. If I had gone further, I would have known why he was a part of it."
"You said, him being a silent partner wasn't his choice to make. It was White's?" Sarah recalled sitting closely by her nerd. The blonde took a moment to add more sour cream to her baked potato.
Chuck nodded. "White made the choice for him and not only that, she knew about his real name. According to him, it was her idea to use it as the name of the silent partner instead of his stage name after all was said and done. That way, it protected his anonymity." The nerd shared expressing some lingering disbelief. "Plus, any information about Orville Hickenbottom was scrubbed by a fixer White hired in case anyone," Chuck pointed to himself. "Dug any deeper."
"You said, it all stemmed from an incident that happened between the two of them," Emma chimed in. "A past project that he was to star in and she was going to produce. It fell apart due to Orville's bad behavior. She lost a lucrative deal and never forgot it."
Chuck nodded. "To get even White made him a silent partner without his knowledge. He didn't know the organization existed until he got a call from them asking if he would like to help the organization expand even though he's considered a silent partner. Needless to say, there was a blow up between him and White." he thoroughly shared.
Emma shook her head after she heard that. "That sounds so petty and childish."
"And something I probably would do." Molly chimed in. The 13 year old pointed to herself with a piece of steak at the end of the fork in her right hand.
Emma stared at her youngest daughter with perplexed bewilderment while she took a long sip of her glass of water. The thought of where she possibly went wrong crossed her mind, but her attention on Molly was broken when something she heard caught her attention.
"What did White know?"
"White knew that his real name was Orville." Chuck repeated. "I guess being an executive producer with some influential pull in Hollywood you know where the bodies are buried."
At that point, Molly's eyes widened after swallowing what was left in her food. After wiping her mouth with the back of her left hand, she spoke up. "Orville killed a dude!?"
Chuck's eyes widened and immediately lifted both hands then quickly waved them in front of him. After shaking his head, he made certain to clarify what he meant to her future sister-in-law. "Just a figure of speech, Mol. White probably had people working for her or hired someone to find out information about Orville.
Sarah nodded. "Yeah. Heather told me when you're in the public eye it's considered challenging to keep anything in your life private. Dealing with invasion of privacy is the norm when you're a celebrity." shrugged the oldest Walker sibling.
"It's like that one movie Cole Hauser starred in," Chuck recalled. "Paparazzi."
"The one we watched for movie night with Morgan and Alex yesterday?" Sarah shared.
A nod was given by Chuck confirming the movie they watched. He then continued on sharing the gist of the plot for Emma and Molly. "Hauser's character, Bo Laramie, gets targeted by three sleazebag photographers who used unscrupulous tactics to get their tabloid shots. They basically invade their privacy. The ringleader of the trio was Rex Harper played by Tom Sizemore."
"One of those tabloid shots they did caused a major car accident involving Laramie, his wife, and young son." added Sarah, recalling the movie as well. "His young son's injuries were so severe he had to be put in a coma. It sets off a chain of events that opened the door for Detective Burton, played by Dennis Farina, to arrest the right suspects for Bo while at the time suspecting Bo as well.
"Why?" wondered Molly.
"Certain evidence left behind. Plus, Bo wanted vengeance against those clowns for everything they've done to him and his family. " Chuck replied, justifying the character's actions in the movie.
"How awful." Emma responded, shaking her head. "I can't help but picture Princess Diana and how she tragically died."
"No worries, Emma." Chuck softly smiled, with hopeful reassurance. "Since it's a movie, there's a happy ending for Bo and his family. Detective Burton arrested the right suspect." He briefly paused before he circled back to the man who played the detective. "By the way, Farina is an awesome actor. Roles in Get Shorty, Midnight Run, Law and Order, Miami Vice…were just a few of the movies and shows he was in." he shared, listing off what he considered was most notable. Afterwards, Chuck turned his head to face Sarah sitting closely beside him.
As for the beautiful blonde, she briefly scrunched her face into an adorably looking smile and was about to lean over to lay her head on Chuck's left shoulder when something happened. She burped right in her fiancé's face and the sound of it wasn't the only thing that stunned her fiancé, mother, and younger sister. What also stunned them was the length of Sarah's burp because it apparently impressed the one person who was sitting at the table. Her younger sister, Molly.
"Awesome." Molly grinned, pointing to her older sister.
Sarah covered her mouth with her left hand and ducked her head a bit out of embarrassment. "Excuse me."
XXX
The oldest Walker sibling quickly leaned back and sat there for a moment in her chair. Sarah looked at the faces of her mom, sister and finally her fiancé sitting closely right next to her. When she looked at Chuck, his eyes were completely wide and had this stunned expression on his face. For her it was the first time she had burped like that of that length and magnitude in front of someone she loved, as well as was going to marry. It was also right in his face, she thought to herself. Granted, she would have done it eventually and in gradual spurts because in her mind there are just some things that you don't do in a relationship right away. Burping is one of them, she thought to herself. She thought back to her past relationship and how she would hold back when it came to burping, as well as farting.
For her, it was all about being strategic and releasing normal everyday bodily functions where she felt truly comfortable and did not have to be so proper all the time. Unfortunately, she forced herself to be proper when it came to her relationship with Cole and how much he criticized for certain things. It was one of the many reasons that she didn't like the person she became with him. According to Cole, it wasn't lady-like for a proper woman to burp or fart because it showed that she wasn't properly taught to have manners. Plain and simple he wanted perfection. What Cole said back then stuck with her and it was one of the reasons she hasn't burped or farted in front of the man she leaves even though she's shared a tremendous amount of herself personally, mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Speaking of Chuck, she saw how the stunned expression on his face gradually morphed into a proud smile. When she saw that proud smile her heart melted, which caused Sarah to lower her hand from her mouth despite feeling considerably embarrassed for what she did. In that instance, Sarah's nerd said something that he hoped would make her feel proud of what she did instead of feeling embarrassed.
"That's considered an absolute compliment to the chef." proclaimed Chuck.
"You were the chef, dork." Sarah responded. She playfully slapped Chuck's left upper right arm with the back of her right hand. In her mind, she knew she picked the right guy who was the total opposite of Cole.
Chuck feigned being hurt. His face lit up expressing his toothy smile towards his soon to be wife. Afterwards, he leaned forward and pursed his lips together to kiss Sarah, which she did. However, she tortured him by making him wait before she kissed him back. For her, it was absolutely hysterical the way he leaned over to her with his eyes closed and doing some sort of contorted fish face. After a few seconds of holding back, she finally relented and kissed him back. Although it was a playful kiss, she lingered on Chuck's lips because he was the first man who she truly felt comfortable to be herself and not be judged about every little thing Cole used to do with her.
The kiss eventually would eventually be over when the both of them heard the sound of a 13-year-old groaning, which caused the two of them to smile while still locked in a shared kiss together. When the two of them leaned back Chuck spoke up.
"Scratch that off the list. Up next is farting."
Sarah stared at her nerd after she heard that. "Fat chance of that happening, Bartowski," she responded, with a soft chuckle. "I don't fart." The blonde crossed her arms and firmly made that declaration while shaking her head.
"Liar!" The nerdy couple turned their attention to the person who said it. Molly Walker. "Just a couple days ago you let one loose and I nearly died!" she shared, lifting her right hand. The 13-year-old then waved it back and forth in front of her face.
At that point, Sarah grabbed her steak knife and pointed it at Molly. "You take that back."
"Or what," Molly retorted back, sounding cocky. She then threw both her arms out to the side while armed with a steak knife in her right hand. The young girl was ready to throw down against her older sister. "You're going to stab me?" A grin was expressed by her as a way of mocking her and showing no fear towards Sarah.
"A steak knife standoff." Chuck softly breathed out.
The nerd sat there looking back and forth at the showdown in the Walker kitchen corral. The situation looked intense by the way both sisters were staring each other down. All it really needed now was a tumble wind blowing by the kitchen table, he thought to himself. His thoughts on the impending showdown between the walker siblings was broken Emma made her presence known.
"Nobody is going to get stabbed," she declared, looking back and forth at her daughters. It was a mother's tone of voice that would make any kid freeze where in their tracks. "Put the steak knives down."
Sarah's focus didn't break as she continued to stare down her younger sister. "She started it." she responded angrily.
"Actually, you did." Molly fired back.
The oldest Walker sibling was about to respond back when Emma cut her off before Sarah could. "It doesn't matter who started it," Emma firmly pointed in a stern manner at both her daughters. "I'm ending it right now. Sarah, put the knife down." she demanded, eyeing her oldest daughter.
As that was happening, Chuck was sitting there watching the whole thing unfold before his very eyes. This was the first time that he's actually witnessed an intense sibling rivalry between the two of them that involved dangerous kitchen utensils. In his mind, there were probably many more sibling alterations between the two of them that Emma intervened on before anything serious happened that may or may not have involved any dangerous weapons. This was one of those times, he thought to himself.
"Mooooom," Sarah whined, still pointing the knife at Molly. The 13-year-old was still egging her on to stab her.
At that point, Emma stood straight up and directed the "mom look" towards her oldest daughter. She was in a perpetual stare down with her as Chuck continued to sit there watching high drama and action unfold. Speaking of Chuck, he could help but find it funny that the patriarch of the Walker women was pointing a steak knife at both her daughters while de-escalating the situation between the two siblings. He wanted to laugh so bad but he feared that Emma and Sarah would end up pointing their steak knives at him. If that happened, he imagined Molly getting in on the action pointing her knife at him just for shits and giggles, he thought to himself.
So, instead of saying anything Chuck let what was happening play out in hopes the steak knife standoff between the Walker siblings came to a calm end. While he sat there not saying a word, he couldn't help but imagine the humorous standoff that happened in The Office between Dwight, Michael and Andy. All three of them were pointing finger guns at each other. It eventually included Pam with Jim standing by watching the entire thing go down before the married couple slowly backed out of the room. As much as Chuck wanted to smile or expressed a bit of laughter thinking about one of the most hilarious moments in Office history, he maintained his composure and remained quiet as possible Emma spoke up once again.
"Sarah Lisa Walker," firmly stated Emma. "What did I just ask," She then turned her attention to Molly. "Both of you to do?" The mother of two shot a glaring look towards her youngest daughter.
The one thing that Emma knew was that her daughters were certainly hardheaded and determined women. At first the both of them were resistant at backing down from one another, especially since they're considerably similar personality wise. However, they're very much different when it comes to the emotional aspect side of things where Sarah tends to hold in her emotions, which she inherited from her dad. As for Molly, she is the type of person who has expressed her emotions and doesn't hold anything back when she speaks her mind. She's an absolute spitfire who was quite a challenge to raise. Of course, she agreed with Sarah that even though her youngest daughter was considered a brat, she was their brat, Emma thought to herself.
"Fine." The oldest Walker siblings responded first. She dropped the steak knife down on the kitchen table and then stared at Molly across the kitchen table.
Molly did the same. "Fine." She slumped back in her chair.
"Thank you." nodded Emma, with pride towards her two daughters. She placed her steak knife down on the kitchen table as well. Her attention was then focused on Sarah. "You are the oldest after all and should set a good example" There was a momentary pause before she continued on. "And by the way, Chuck," She turned her head to look directly at her future son-in-law. "Sarah does fart and it's bad. I've nearly passed out."
"MOM!" Sarah shouted, completely shocked and wide eyed.
At that point, Chuck couldn't hold it in any longer and busted out laughing to the point of tears. His laughter caused Molly to burst out laughing as well because he nearly fell out of his chair. Apparently, the laughter was contagious, because the anger that Sarah was feeling because of her mother outright embarrassing her slowly subsided when she saw Chuck and Molly laughing. It was something that she couldn't help but find adorably touching in that moment at the expense of her no less. Ultimately, she just shrugged her shoulders and started laughing as well, which caused Emma to join in.
Sarah quickly came to terms with the fact that farting is a normal way of life and would gladly fart whenever she was ever in her presence because she was with a man who truly loves her. Both inside and out. It's that thought which the blonde shrugged her shoulders as if she was mentally thinking the hell with it. Sarah leaned over a bit towards Chuck and let one loose. The sound of it caused her fiancé, mother, and youngest sister to stop in mid laughter. A few seconds later, they jumped out of their seats visibly gagging as they frantically made their way out of the kitchen, inevitably disappearing into the living room leaving Sarah the only one sitting at the kitchen table. She would soon join them when she finally smelled her own fart, and it caused her to nearly gag. Afterwards, she jumped out of her seat heading towards the living to join her family.
XXX
"Anyways," Chuck clapped his hands together after what happened in the kitchen.
Of course, the nerd now mentally crossed farting off the list as well when it came to certain things to know about Sarah Walker. He apologized to his fiancé for laughing but he shared with her what was going through his head as all three women were virtually in a steak knife standoff. Fortunately for him, Sarah thankfully understood and accepted her nerd's apology. Meanwhile, the living room fan was not only turned on so the smell would hopefully be held at bay in the kitchen, but the kitchen window was opened to help air it out as well. The smell itself would gradually dissipate and be gone entirely when they went back in there to finish what was left of their meal.
"Back to White. She knew about Pollak's real name and everything else about Orville Hickenbottom, which shocked him. I guess when she initially hired the actor for the project that unfortunately fell apart, she wanted to be very thorough knowing full well he had a troublesome reputation." Chuck shrugged his shoulders then continued on. "All that information except his real name was thoroughly scrubbed by a fixer White hired, which he begged her to do. Maybe because he didn't want his former life to be dug up. She did." the nerd shared.
"Why do I feel there's a but at the end?" questioned Emma, sitting in her comfy reclining armchair. It was situated near the couch where Chuck and Sarah sat. Her oldest daughter's feet were being rubbed by her soon-to-be son in law.
"But," stated Chuck, raising his eyebrows towards Emma. "It came at a price. He pretty much sold his soul to the devil. A devil who has him by the balls. His words, not mine."
All 4 individuals digested the fact that Steven Pollak, real name Orville Hickenbottom, had his old life erased for the expressed purpose of completely avoiding who he was. A man who probably led a considerably boring life without and wanted to separate himself from a name that he was born with, Of course, that would be considered a common occurrence of buying your past buried and completely reinventing yourself for a fresh start, especially in a place like Hollywood. In any case, the moment of silence was broken when Molly brought up a seemingly reasonable question.
"That still doesn't explain why he donated a boat load of money to Jagger." stated the 13-year-old. She was comfortably lounging on a suede floor bean bag couch right next to the comfy recliner her mom was sitting on.
The nerdy business owner instantly chimed in. "It goes back to the question that Morgan asked him."
"Of course, the man child." Molly retorted, A bit of teenage attitude expressed on her face and in her body language. "What was the question?"
Chuck cracked a small grin knowing how much she had busted Morgan's balls at every opportunity she was given. As much as his bearded best friend opened the door countless times for Sarah's younger sister to walk right through and busted his balls, he oftentimes wondered if throwing in the proverbial white flag was needed because of how merciless the verbal beatings were. A glutton for punishment, he thought to himself. He set aside that particular thought and responded to Molly before she targeted and inflicted her verbal beatings towards him.
"Has anyone ever genuinely thanked him for doing something awesome?"
"I'm guessing no." uttered Emma, shaking her head.
Sarah nodded. "The way Chuck described Orville's whole demeanor while sitting in his office spoke volumes. The hug that Jagger gave really bothered him, especially over the weekend." Afterwards, she expressed a pleasurable moan because Chuck was doing such a good job.
"You're welcome." Chuck softly smiled. He then resumed sharing what happened in his office while he continued massaging his fiancé's feet. "Although Jagger's hug took him by surprise, there was one thing that Morgan and I noticed when we looked back on that specific moment in the show."
"What was it?" wondered Emma.
"He smiled." answered Chuck. "It was an actual genuine emotion." he added, reflecting back on what happened earlier today in his office.
There was a brief moment of silence at the kitchen table when the trio's attention was directed to the 13-year-old who spoke up after not uttering a word for a while.
"Chuckles is right." She turned her phone around in order to show her mother the video footage of the exact moment Chuck was talking about. After a few seconds of Emma watching the aforementioned footage, she lowered it and clicked off the video from her phone. "So is the dude turning his life around because of what happened?"
"Honestly," responded Chuck, slightly shrugging his shoulders. "I don't think anything is going to change for him professionally. He has an image to uphold." he added, shaking his head. "Personally though," The nerd momentarily paused massaging Sarah's feet. "He had every opportunity to cut ties as a silent partner with Project Pegasus, but never did. I think Jagger had a truly positive effect on him and that's when him being a silent partner came into play. It's something I don't think he'll ever admit to publicly."
"Fat chance of that happening." Sarah responded, shaking her head. "I know," she briefly paused then continued on. "Hell, I've dated self-absorbed guys like that. I nearly married one." The eldest Walker sibling cringed at the thought of nearly marrying Cole. She shook the thought of her ex from her head and continued on. "You and Morgan were able to stumble on his kryptonite. The ball is in your court, babe."
"No pressure there." mused Chuck, with a soft grin towards Sarah.
"Blackmail him." Molly suggested, sitting up on her bean bag couch.
Emma's eyes instantly widened and quickly responded to her youngest daughter. "They certainly will not! Chuck, Morgan, or even Kathleen wouldn't do such a thing. It just isn't who they are and to have that weighing on their conscience would be absolutely tortuous knowing who they truly are as people."
"Only a suggestion, Mom." shrugged Molly, rolling her eyes.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Emma." Chuck nodded, with a sense of appreciation behind it. A proud nod was given back from the matriarch of the Walker women. Afterwards, there was a brief moment of silence before he continued on directing his attention to the 13-year-old. "You're mom's right, Mol. The one thing I know I'm not is a diabolical DC villain like Lex Luthor or Brainiac."
"Or Voldemort." added Sarah.
"Him too." Chuck acknowledged. He then slightly tilted his head towards his fiancé and briefly stared at her after she mentioned who shall not be named.
Sarah arched her right brow. "What?"
"Would you still love me if I was bald and without a nose?"
"It depends." Sarah retorted, crossing her arms.
"On what?" wondered Chuck, quizzically.
"How are your foot massaging skills?" questioned the blonde. Sarah lifted both feet and playfully wiggled her feet just below Chuck's chin. After she lowered them and placed them back on her fiancé's lap, Sarah was given a response by her nerd.
"Still awesome," responded Chuck, expressing his trademark toothy smile. "Plus, I don't have the bloodlust of wanting to kill Harry Potter."
Sarah nodded. "Still have your teeth?"
"Sure. So, a win-win for you."
"I love that tradeoff."
"Me too." he softly replied back. At that moment, Chuck suddenly realized the conversation at hand was getting way off track again, so he circled back to where the conversation needed to be. "Sorry. We're done," He directed that apology to the one person who was clearly happy about that was Molly. "I swear," he firmly added, lifting both hands in front of him.
Molly rolled her eyes. "Thank you." breathed out the 13-year-old.
"Anyways, there was an agreement made in my office that we would keep Orville's secret." Chuck shared.
"Seriously?" responded to Molly, arching her right brow. "You've told us his secret." The 13-year-old shook her head in disbelief. "Besides, do you think the man child can be trusted with that big of a secret? Aren't you worried about him?"
"It's not Morgan I'd be worried about." Chuck retorted.
"Alex," stated Sarah. "Once she knows it's out on social media. She's worse than you, brat."
"You're welcome." Molly proudly responded.
"Nothing to be proud of, Mol." firmly stated Chuck. "Promise, you won't blab. I gave my word to Orville."
Molly snorted out a laugh when she heard the name again. Afterwards, there was a moment of silence as Molly shook her head and then stared at not only Chuck, but her mother and older sister who were waiting for the 13 year old's response. At that point, the concerned older sister spoke up when her younger sister wasn't saying anything.
"Brat." Sarah expressed, sternly and eyeing her youngest sister.
"Jeez," she breathed out. "I promise," Molly groaned, rolling her eyes.
Afterwards, Chuck sat there on the couch for a moment shaking his head and then said something out loud. "Life would be so much simpler if a MIB neuralyzer was real. Very handy in a pinch. Flash the person and forget everything that was seen or shared."
"Does CSPAN count?" Sarah mused, with an expressive grin.
Chuck shrugged his shoulders. "We have to settle for Kathleen as the MIB neuralyzer. She actually put the fear of God into Orville. Morgan is actually partially scared of her too because of what happened earlier in my office. He heard things coming out of Ms. K's mouth that would make a Marine drill sergeant speechless." he shared, briefly wide eyed. "I know Casey would definitely be proud of her."
After Chuck said that the room fell silent for a moment letting the knowledge that was actually a very scary side of Kathleen sink in. Unfortunately, the sound of silence was suddenly replaced with another sound. The sound of a dying whale. That source of that sound was coming from Molly who patted her stomach with both hands. She then turned her attention towards the kitchen. Without even saying a single word the 13-year-old got up with her phone in hand and just entered in inevitably disappearing out of sight. As for the 3 adults that remained in the living room, they were briefly looking at each other before Sarah suddenly popped up from the couch.
"Hands off my steak, brat!" she hollered, inevitably disappearing out of sight.
It all happened within a matter of seconds as Chuck sat there for a moment on the living room couch. His attention was directed to Emma who he saw shake her head and then stood up heading into the kitchen as well. In his mind, there was going to possibly be another steak knife standoff that needed to be thwarted once again if she didn't get there in time. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he slowly stood up from the couch and leisurely made his way into the kitchen. As he did, the sound of the Walker women squabbling with one another was heard inside.
XXX
Casey rumbled through the 1st floor hallway of the Westside Medical Center on a Tuesday afternoon. He had a determined look on face as he waved his way through the somewhat busy hallway filled with people who were in his way to get to his intended location. More so than usual. He was dealing with the tail end of an altercation on the 2nd floor that involved family members that got bad news regarding the unexpected death of a loved one. The situation got so volatile that Greta and Tan weren't enough because of the number of highly emotional family members involved that showed up one after another. Although additional security arrived, Casey and his security team physically detained one of the family members because of how overly emotional it got as the sadness turned into anger. In any case, once he knew his people had control of the situation, he quickly made his way to The Trenches.
Speaking of The Trenches, he barreled through the automatic doors and instead of heading inside passed the main nurses' station hub he turned right making his way to the outside emergency room terminal. Once he emerged outside into the ambulance bay, he saw and then stood at the far right with Ellie standing in the middle while Head Nurse Forrest flanked her. All three waited for the ambulance that just arrived and eventually stopped right in front of the entryway to the emergency room. When the doors to the back of the ambulance opened, one of the two EMT's brought out a seemingly unconscious Ty Bennett on a gurney with their head wrapped in bandage with signs of blood soaking through it. Casey instantly knew his sensei injured himself but to what extent and how serious it was, was an absolute unknown.
"Sensei!?" Casey grunted. "Is he okay? What happened?" he growled, with deep concern at the EMT.
"Move it or lose, Coburn." warned Forrest, expressing a faint smirk.
Casey quickly stepped aside to avoid getting bowled over by not only the gurney with Bennet on it, but the number of medical personnel moving inside. Another EMT, presumably the driver, whizzed past Casey to join the controlled chaos. Before they disappeared inside, Ellie looked back then hollered out to her hulking friend/colleague who stood there and just helplessly watched everything unfold not knowing what to do.
"Don't worry. We got this!"
Although those 4 words were considered very reassuring from Ellie, the hulking head of security was still concerned about the man who partly molded him to be who he became today. In that moment, he placed his hands at his waist, lowered his head, and grunted his displeasure concerning the situation that was not only out of his hands, but wasn't in control of it as well. As he continued to stand there softly grunting and growling his displeasure, someone made their presence known behind him.
"Alex Corburn? Ty has spoken very highly of you."
Casey briefly glanced over his left shoulder and then slowly turned around. When he did, he saw someone familiar and since his sensei now had a place to stay, he crossed paths with the individual in question from time to time. Although words were never exchanged between the two of them personally, they always acknowledged each other exchanging firm nods. The man was a retired military veteran who was in the same situation as Bennett, but the only difference was the individual in question was already living in the room directly across from his sensei for almost 2 years. Of course, Casey did his homework on not only him, but everyone that either worked and/or resided in that building. In any case, it was that same man that the proud marine directed his full attention to and acknowledged the man's presence.
"Keller," stated Casey. "James Keller."
XXX
NOTE: I immediately thought of James Keller from the Vs. Tic Tac episode. Of course, he's totally different than Colonel James Keller who was part of The Ring. My version of Keller was in the military but not a Colonel. The next chapter will delve a little more into Keller's background. Anyways, share your thoughts and leave a review. Shout out to me beta reader NEVR! Hope you feel better dude! All grammatical and punctuation mistakes were my own! Hope you all enjoyed the read nonetheless.