Chapter 8
A/N: We are getting way off the cannon rails at this point, which was kinda the point of this entire fic. I’m kinda winging it here, switching things around, trying to keep in parts but other parts….just won’t work. Today’s story has been co-plotted by Grace Carner. Ch 8, The Team Evolves
Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck,
“Hey, you okay about Jill?” Chuck asked Morgan.
“What, now that I know she’s in the big house, up the river, at the crossbar hotel?” Morgan replied. Chuck nodded. “Dude, she was an assignment.”
“That’s right, Bartowski, I’ve debriefed him, he’s fine,” Casey said. “You worried he’s gonna go through all your ex-girlfriends or something, Bartowski?”
“I mean if he wants to date them, that’s his prerogative,” Chuck replied. “Where is this coming from?”
“You just need to know he doesn’t have all the lady feelings you do,” Casey replied.
“But he does have feelings, Casey,” Chuck said. Casey grunted and jerked his head as if telling Morgan to come on. Sarah was standing off to the side, observing the whole thing. Morgan shrugged and went off with Casey. Sarah walked up to him.
“Are those two worrying you, too?” she asked. Chuck spun around.
“YES! Thank God, I thought it was just me,” he said. Sarah smiled.
“How are you?” she asked. “And before you tell me she is in your past, she is in your past.”
“That’s kinda deep,” Chuck replied.
“I can do deep.”
“Usually it’s with knives though,” Chuck said. Sarah smirked.
“You’re changing the subject again.” Chuck put his hands in his pockets.
“I mean it was a little bit of closure, but you had helped me move on from that place I was in,” Chuck began. “I am a little upset about her being Fulcrum, but she made a choice and she has to pay for it.”
“You want to take some time?” she asked.
“What, and have Casey berate me for having lady feelings? He’d probably offer to call all the bad guys and ask them to stand down for a bit.” Chuck said, grinning. “No, I’m good, besides, it’s not like anything is going on.” At that moment the countdown began for the briefing. “I really need to stop saying that.”
}o{
“Today is weird,” Morgan said, watching the three agents argue in the glass breakroom.
“Yep,” Chuck said. “IF Casey had any feelings, knowing his sensei was Fulcrum… not good.”
“Did Ellie really snag the NSA cleaners again to clean her apartment?”
“Yeah, and she got in Casey’s face and dared him to do something about it. The Very Awesomes terrify her,” Chuck replied.
“Is Casey more terrified of Ellie, or Ellie terrified of the Very Awesomes?” Morgan asked. They both thought about it.
“Casey,” they answered together.
“Casey’s having a bad day,” Morgan replied. “By the way, he has feelings, they are just buried deep inside.”
“How deep?” Chuck asked. Morgan considered it for moment.
“So deep, no one’s been there yet,” Morgan replied. “So, were you serious earlier about me dating your ex-girlfriends?” Chuck gave him a look
“I don’t really have that many,” Chuck replied. Morgan gave him a look. “I’m obviously forgetting something.”
“Lou?” Morgan asked. “The sandwich goddess. The woman who made the Chuck sandwich that was, oh…so…goooood.” Chuck looked a little uncomfortable with that. “I mean we’re kinda the same height, and I know your and her vast difference intrigued her, but I’ve got a lot to offer.” Chuck nodded.
“Look, Buddy, the reason I broke up with her was because of what I do,” Chuck began. “Just know, if you date her, there could be some…issues. I’m not telling you not to, but at least you could go over there and have a sandwich.”
“What about Manes before Dames?” Morgan asked. Chuck looked at him. “Sorry, too much time at the Buy More, Jeff rubbed off on me.”
“Buddy, I’m with Sarah, and unless I do something incredibly stupid, I really think we are going to be together.”
“Are you talking the M word?” Morgan asked. Chuck nodded. Morgan was stunned, and did know what to say. They both stood there quietly and turned to look at the three agents, but specifically Alex Forrest. “She reminds me of someone.”
“Thank you!” Chuck said, standing straight. “I just can’t put my finger on it.”
“Sci-fi show?” Morgan asked. Chuck nodded. “What’s the deal?”
“They want Alex to be Casey’s cover girlfriend,” Chuck said. Morgan stared at him.
“And no one thought to run this by me?” Morgan asked. Chuck looked a little confused. “I am his roommate, I know him best.”
“Uh, buddy, the general…” Chuck began. Morgan waved him off.
“I KNOW John Casey, the General knows the spy,” Morgan walked off. Chuck just stood there and watched, knowing the fireworks were going to be tremendous.
}o{
Chuck was in his office working on a new security upgrade when he felt more than saw her at the door.
“Seriously, I thought with the cameras gone you wouldn’t be watching me as much,” he said as suavely as possible.
“No, without the cameras I have to watch you more than ever,” Sarah replied, grinning. “You didn’t have to agree with Casey, you are needed on this mission.” Chuck looked up and gave Sarah a sad smile.
“Someone from Casey’s past betrayed him. If anyone understands what he’s going through, it’s me. He’s lashing out, I have real work I can do to help us and the United States, and you have a third member now that’s better with dealing with these kind of things,” Chuck said. “Casey needs to blow off some steam and at some point maybe he’ll talk.”
“Are you volunteering?” Sarah asked.
“Oh, hell no,” Chuck said, laughing. “I mean he has someone to talk to.”
“I don’t think he and Forrest will have the same cover relationship as you and I,” Sarah replied.
“Who’s container would they kiss in front of?” Chuck asked. Sarah shook her head grinning. “See, at the Double O you would have thrown a towel at me. No, he has his own bearded little buddy to talk to.” Sarah laughed at that.
“You miss him?” Sarah asked. Chuck shrugged.
“He’s here, so I see him, we can play Call of Duty while you’re gone,” Chuck replied. “I think we’re both kind of growing up.” Sarah came over and sat on his lap.
“Ellie’s talking about some skill upgrades soon,” she said. Chuck nodded. “This isn’t going to be a regular thing, you not going.”
“If it is, the only thing I’ll really miss is you,” Chuck said. Sarah looked at him. “Okay, Casey calling me moron, but don’t tell him.”
}o{
“DO YOU WANT TO EXPLAIN HOW THIS HAPPENED?” Sarah yelled.
“No, not really,” Chuck answered, flinching. He saw Sarah’s face and swallowed. “Oh, that was one of those questions that I really didn’t have a choice did I?” Sarah continued to look furious. “For future reference is this Agent Walker or my girlfriend yelling at me.
“RIGHT NOW THEY ARE THE SAME PERSON!” Chuck swallowed.
“Got it. See the very Awesomes wanted Ellie to register for her wedding at the Buy More,” Chuck began. Casey grunted in confusion. “I don’t get it either, Big Guy.” Chuck saw Sarah’s face and decided to get on with it. “Anywho, Bennett came in looking for you, and Jeff saw him. Jeff told him to come talk to me.
“You don’t work there,” Forrest said, confused.
“Right?” Chuck said. “Jeff hasn’t seemed to process that,” Chuck saw Sarah’s face and decided to get back to the story. “I told him you weren’t there. I then tailed him.”
“What. Would. Posses. You. To do that?!” Sarah said through gritted teeth.
“It hurt my feelings that Casey didn’t want me,” Chuck said softly. Sarah tried not to roll her eyes, and he swore he heard Forrest and Casey say, “Moron,” at the same time.
“Chuck, we talked about this,” Sarah said.
“I know, I know,” Chuck replied. “I messed up,” he said, and walked away. Casey started to go after him fearing Sarah would hurt the Intersect, but Sarah held up her hand.
“I got it,” she said. She walked after him and found him back in his office. “You want to talk about it?”
“No, because I feel stupid,” Chuck replied. “Sarah, I get it, I messed up. I have come so far…we’ve come so far, but I’m not going to change overnight, especially when part of the team feels like I’m no help.”
“Chuck, you know he was lashing out, and he was wrong,” she said, coming up to him and pulling him into a hug. “You are the part that makes this team go. Intersect or no Intersect, and I failed you.” Chuck gave her a look. “I’m supposed to be team lead and I should have stood up for you, because deep down I knew exactly what this would do. Chuck…damn it, this shouldn’t be this hard.”
“Anything worth having doesn’t come easy,” Chuck said softly. Sarah smiled at him. “Thank you Sarah, but Casey, of all people should understand I know what he’s going through. Someone betraying you…that’s been my life story until I met you guys. I screwed up, it’s that simple.” Sarah sighed, this was going to need a longer conversation. They saw the countdown begin for Beckman and they headed back to the conference room. She came on, and Casey gave an update. She asked where the Intersect was during the fiasco.
“Actually General, Casey went to great lengths to help me out,” Chuck said. Only Casey’s spy skills kept his eyes from bugging out. Sarah was fighting the smile of pride on her face. “Bennett was in the Buy More, and I tried to follow him to keep my team apprised of what was going on, unfortunately Bennett’s superior skills allowed him to capture me. Casey then chased Bennett to save me. If it wasn’t for Major Casey’s cool-headed thinking in this situation, I might not be here. For the record, I am sorry.” Beckman studied the team.
“Major Casey, in the future when we bench the Intersect, the best course of action may be to keep Agent Walker with him in these situations,” Beckman said. “He seems to have the ability to…attract those we are looking for. With you now having Agent Forrest on the team you would still have your two-man team.”
“Yes, General,” Casey said. Beckman nodded and clicked off. Chuck turned to Casey.
“For the record, I screwed up, and I’m sorry,” Chuck said, and headed toward his office. Casey watched him go and turned toward Sarah and Alex. They were both looking at him. His face fell.
“You want me to go talk to him, don’t you?” he asked. They both stood there, stone-faced. “Chuck me.”
}o{
Casey walked into Chuck’s office with a bottle of Johnny Walker. Chuck looked up, and saw the bottle and two glasses.
“Uh, Big Guy, what are you doing?” Chuck asked.
“Chuck, shut up and listen,” he said, and poured them both a drink. “When I was 23 I entered Bennett’s program, I wasn’t good enough, but he let me in. I was an idiot back then, I didn’t understand duty, self-discipline, or anything, my foundation…everything I am was built by him.”
Casey took a drink, as Chuck studied him. He reached over and took one as well, the drink stinging as it went down.
“No, that’s not true,” Chuck said. Casey looked up at him. “Because if it was true, why didn’t you go with him? If he built you, then you would have run to his side the second you had the chance, but you won’t because you’re John frickin’ Casey.”
“How about you think about that the next time you let your lady feelings make you think you’re not worthy of all of this,” Casey said. Chuck stared at him. “Don’t give me that, Bartowski. I warned you when this started, be careful what you asked for. You have the team, the job, and the girl. You’re no longer an overachiever, you’ve got stuff to fight for, which is a different kind of fight.”
“Casey, I’ve screwed everything up in my life,” Chuck said softly. Casey took a drink, and nodded.
“It would appear to an outside observer that you did,” Casey said. “But if you study your file, and what happened, you got screwed, and instead of running away, when face with an opportunity, you ran toward it. If you were the screw up you think you are, then you wouldn’t have followed Bennett today. You wouldn’t have taken that bullet that should have been for me during the briefing. Chuck, you’re…gah…you’re…”
“Casey, if we say much more, we’ll both have too many lady feelings,” Chuck said smiling. Casey nodded. They both took a drink.
“Chuck, in this business in twenty years I learned one thing, people let you down.”
“Casey, you ever think it was maybe the people you were with were the wrong people?” Casey grunted, nodded, and dropped a folder in front of him. Chuck picked it up.
“Anything good to read in here?” Casey asked. Chuck flashed, and told Casey where Bennett was. “You okay?”
“The Johnny Walker and the flash, made me a little woozy,” Chuck said, grabbing Casey’s shoulder for support. Casey gently laid him down on the desk.
“Probably the knockout drug I put in your glass didn’t help,” Casey said. “Thanks, Chuck,” and he patted him on the shoulder as Chuck went to sleep on his desk.
}o{
“So, Casey is getting murdered, I mean murdered by Bennett, and Forrest and I are still there tied up, and he landed right in front of me, and I knew, I just knew how to fix it,” Morgan said.
“I still can’t believe it,” Forrest mumbled.
“So, I told Casey that deep down he really loved me, really, really loved me, and he was ready to kill me,” Morgan said, smiling and animated. “I then told him not to kill me but to get Bennett, and he kicked his ass!”
“It was pretty amazing, and pretty hot,” Alex said. Chuck and Morgan looked at Forrest, turned and looked at each other, eyebrows raised, and then both turned away, making low whistling sounds. “Uh, anyway, good work, Bartowski, you were exactly right about Casey. By planting that tracker on him we were able to follow him.”
“Well, I about missed my opportunity with the bug,” Chuck said.
“No worries,” Sarah said, coming up to join them. “I was ready to tail him. He was so ready to get Bennett that he wasn’t paying any attention.”
“Ellie any better?” Morgan asked. Chuck shrugged.
“The Very Awesomes offered to walk her down the aisle, and that’s when she cracked, she wants Dad to do it,” Chuck said. Sarah nodded.
“Fathers can be…difficult,” she said, with an understanding nod. “We’ll get on it.” Chuck’s eyebrows raised.
“What do you mean we’ll get on it?” Chuck asked.
“You’re the Intersect, my job is the team leader, you have emotional issues that can affect the Intersect, I need to make sure those are eradicated, ergo I need to find your father,” Sarah said, grinning.
“What’s she saying is your lady feelings make you useless sometimes,” Casey said. Chuck just looked at Casey. Casey swallowed.
“Uh, look, Bartowski,” Casey began.
“General’s coming on,” Chuck said, and walked away. Sarah’s eyebrow went up at Casey. Casey looked confused about what to do.
“Would someone like to explain what happened?” the General asked. Sarah started to, but saw the look on Chuck’s face and nodded for him to go ahead. Casey blanched slightly.
“General,” Chuck began. “Casey and I worked together to find out where Bennett’s hideout was. We wanted to make it look like Casey had gone lone wolf. The team was concerned about my…uh, shall we say, inability to stop myself from trying to protect others.” Beckman smirked at that. “I was left at Carmichael Solutions where I was safe, Forrest and Morgan went in to help Casey, and Sarah was prepared in a support role. We are a team, General, one that helps each other when they are down.” Chuck glanced at Casey who looked ashamed for .345 of a second. “Nevertheless, we realize that there is a problem with the team, me.” Everyone looked at Chuck in shock. Sarah was about to stop him, but he barged ahead. “General I am never going to not try and save my team, so against my better judgement, I think I need some physical skills uploaded into the Intersect to allow me to protect myself. I won’t enter any more combat situations than I already do, it will just protect me when I try and help my team.” The General nodded and looked at Sarah.
“General, he has a point,” she said, trying not to roll her eyes. “Unless you want me to strap him down in the van and sit on him.”
“That paints a picture,” he said softly, earning a kick in the shin where Beckman couldn’t see…okay she did, and the look on her face gave it away.
“I don’t see what else we can do,” Sarah continued. “Ellie and I have been working together to figure out the best solution and we have prepared a report we can send you.” Beckman nodded. “We also have a few other skills that would help, but Chuck needs to be able to defend himself, not an agent, but an in-field analyst, that can help when needed. Also I want to give him gun training, with tranqs, but prepare him to use an actual weapon, just in case.”
“I can do that,” Casey said. Chuck turned to him and gave a slight nod, Casey returned it.
“Anything else,” the General asked.
“Yes, General,” Chuck said. “It should be noted that while Casey dealt with something spies are trained to deal with, Casey completed this personally difficult mission. General, we’re all human.” Beckman nodded, smiling.
“Major, well done,” she said, and turned off the communication. Sarah turned to him, shaking her head, grinning.
“It does paint a picture, doesn’t it?” she asked, smirking, turning and slightly scrunching her face. “Wanna try it later?” and with that she walked off, his mind blown. Casey came up to him, not realizing what had just happened.
“Casey, I’m in my Sarah happy place right now,” Chuck said, not really wanting to do this.
“I’m sorry,” he said. Chuck turned toward him, and saw the hand extended. He shook it, and turned to head for his office, but stopped, and turned back toward him.
“Casey, never again,” he said. Casey nodded. Forrest walked up to him.
“Seems your moron has grown up,” she said. Casey grunted in agreement. “Come on, let’s get out of here and get you some Johnny Walker.” Casey’s eyebrows went up in agreement.
Chuck headed toward the front and saw someone in the lobby. He started toward the man when he flashed. Chuck shook his head and headed toward him
“Can I help you?” Chuck asked.
“I’m looking for Sarah Walker,” he said. Chuck nodded.
“Wait right there, I’ll be right back,” Chuck said, and hurried to Sarah’s office. “Sarah, I have to tell you, there’s this gentleman, a much, much older gentleman looking for you. He’s a conman, Sarah, he’s a total loser, absolute bottom-feeding, scum of the earth, and have I mentioned, considerably older.” Sarah closed her eyes, gathering strength.
“It’s all true, but I’m a hell of a dancer,” the man said, having followed Chuck. Sarah stood, smiled, and turned to Chuck.
“Chuck, meet my dad, Jack Burton,” Sarah said. Chuck’s mouth dropped a little, turned to Jack, back to Sarah, back to Jack, nodded at Jack, and back to Sarah.
“We really need to get a receptionist,” Chuck said. Sarah nodded.
A/N: Cannon is on its way out the window. I’m still going to use episodes the best I can to try and shape things, but who knows where it will go or end. It’s still fun! Til next time!
DC