Just Out of Reach AKA Avocados

A/N: Please note that this AU takes place in modern day. (It’s been over fifteen years since this show was on TV. I’m old, and have ADHD. It’s just easier this way)

Disclaimer: I don’t own Chuck

It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to, played through his head. It was his party, his birthday party…but it wasn’t. It was Ellie’s party. The one she thought he should have, the one he deserved.

Ellie thought so highly of him…that had never been in question his entire life. Other people in his life…not so much.

“I remember when I met Jill, I was... it was an economics class,” Chuck said to the woman in front of him, Janet he thought her name was. He began thinking back to what he considered a simpler time. A time where he had friends, where he felt like he had his whole life in front of him. A time where he had a future and it was going to be amazing. He was looking at the woman in front of him, but he didn’t see her. He was back. Back at Stanford. In the quad.

“I was walking across the quad and she had dropped her bag, and I was like, you know, rushing to... to go and pick it up for her, and, uh... and we kind of, like, did that whole, like, you know, kind of in a cartoon, kind of bumped heads, and... there was a whole gang of us... Jill and Bryce. We had so much in common then. So there I was, Jill with Bryce, me on a train home. I guess she thought he was more exciting.”

From across the way, Ellie was trying to be a host, but also watch out for her younger brother. She had watched out for him his entire life, and then…then she couldn’t. This was his birthday party. A time…a time that was supposed to be a celebration, but it wasn’t. It might has well have been a funeral. She didn’t know what to do for her brother. She didn’t know if there was anything she COULD do for her brother, and that was the most frustrating part.

For several years she had watched her brother do…nothing. Just exist. She wanted for him the life he deserved, the life she knew he could have, but he couldn’t get out of the past. Ellie poured herself a glass of punch, and saw the love of her life walking toward her, a look on his face that was unusual for him. It was one of sadness.

“How's he doing?” Ellie asked, praying she was wrong about why Devon looked that way.

“Not awesome,” Devon replied in the most un-Devon like way ever. “He’s….he’s just not awesome.” He shook his head. “At least he’s not singing Hello by Adele tonight.”

“Thank God,” Ellie agreed. She put down the spoon she had been stirring the punch with and turned toward Devon. “Why is he listening to that song? It doesn’t make sense.”

“Oh,” Devon replied, picking up a glass that she had scooped out. “I think he is manifesting Jill and Bryce singing that song to him as a way of apology.”

Ellie thought about that for a second, and looked up at him. “You know, that’s…that’s deep.”

Devon gave her a look. “Yeah,” he replied. “Of course it’s deep. I may not look deep, but I am.”

Ellie snorted a laugh, and laid her hand affectionately on his arm. “Uh, babe?” He said, a concerned look on his face. “I don’t think that guy is on the guest list. She followed his gaze and saw the man that had gotten Devon’s attention. “Chuck have some new friends he didn’t tell you about?”

The two studied the man deck out in a military uniform. “No,” Ellie replied. “He doesn’t look like one of those he would know from the Buy More.”

“One look from him would probably scare that entire crew,” Devon said. He headed toward the man dressed in military garb. Ellie stayed behind and watched, curious as to why he was here. She tried to see what name was on his uniform, but it was too far away.

“Can I help you, Sir?” Devon asked.“Major Casey,” the man replied. “Are you Charles Bartowski?”

“I am not,” Devon replied. “I am his sister’s boyfriend.” Devon turned toward where Chuck was, and blew out a breath. Chuck was standing there, talking, and no one was near by. Devon recognized the look on Chuck’s face. It was the one Chuck always had when he got lost in the past. “That’s Chuck,” Devon said, shaking his head.

“The one…talking to himself?” The Major asked.

“I mean, it does appear that way, but….you know what, yeah,” Devon said, shaking his head and not knowing how to defend the younger man’s actions. Devon turned back to the major. “Bring him a gift?” The major lifted an eyebrow. “It’s his birthday.”

The major made a noise that sounded like a cross between a grunt and “hmm”. “Would you give this to him?” the major asked. “I don’t want to…” he trailed off, observing Chuck still talking, and no one being around him. “Bother him.”

“He’s not…” Devon began, but gave up, taking the package from Casey. “Yeah, I’ll give it to him. Is it from you?”

“No,” Casey said quickly and crisply. “It’s from…it’s from Bryce Larkin.” Devon started to speak. “It was a request in his will.”

“Wait, what?” Devon asked.

“I’m just delivering the package,” Casey said. “Have a good evening.” With that, the career military man turned, and left the property, leaving Devon standing there, holding the package Casey had given him.

“What was that about?” Ellie asked, having walked up to Devon. “Did he leave Chuck a present?”

“Not exactly,” Devon replied. “It’s from Bryce.”“Burn it,” Ellie said in a near growl.

“El…it was a request in his will,” Devon told her gently. She stared at Devon, and then turned to watch her brother, who was just realizing that no one was around him that he was earlier talking to.

}o{

It was a half hour or so later that Devon approached Chuck. Ellie and Devon had decided to wait until after the party but Devon had noticed Chuck slip away from the party after another woman that Ellie had invited walked away from him while he was waxing on about the past.

“So not awesome,” Devon muttered, shaking his head. He loved his hopefully eventually brother-in-law. Devon had older brothers, and in a way, he felt like he was becoming Chuck’s older brother. Life had treated Chuck awful, and while Chuck may have rolled around in the depression of his life like a pig in mud, Chuck still looked out for people and believed in the best of people.

It honestly amazed Devon…and he couldn’t lie. He really enjoyed it when Chuck called him Captain Awesome. Devon knew who he was. He knew he looked like a frat boy jock, but he also knew when Chuck called him Awesome that it was a compliment, and not a dig. He admired Chuck…he just wished the younger man could see himself through Ellie’s eyes, or his eyes, even Morgans.

“The falcon has escaped quarantine,” Devon whispered to Ellie.

“Well, put it back in the cage, there are single women here, and that’s mine,” Ellie replied to him, a smirk on her face.

“I’m talking about your brother, ma’am,” Devon replied. “And you know you’re the only falcon handler for me.”

“And while I am interested in revisiting this conversation tonight…alone…in our bedroom-”

“What about the bedroom closet?” Devon asked. Ellie bit her lip and gave him a look to hush, but she really didn’t want him to. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Ellie said, smirking. “I need to know where my brother went.”

“Look, El…you know I love him…and I love what you’re doing for him…” Devon paused, not wanting to ruin his plans for later, but also, needing to be completely honest with his girlfriend. “This is not his scene.”

“I know,” Ellie said, blowing out a breath that seemed to take all of the wind out of her sails. She loved her brother. She had practically raised him and only wanted the best for him. She had hoped and prayed this party would let him find someone…anyone…to just help him move on. “And we need to tell him about….” She couldn’t finish the sentence using Bryce’s name without wanting to spit or curse but she didn’t want to talk disparagingly about the apparent dead.

“Let me go talk to him about that package and you keep entertaining these….guests,” Devon offered.

“I don’t know,” Ellie said.

“Well, you could go do it, and I could stay here, but I have to warn you that Samantha was asking me about my workout routine earlier-”

“Okay,” Ellie said, fire in her eyes. “You go talk to Chuck and I’ll talk to Samantha.”

“She was trying to figure out the best routine for her girlfriend to rehab her hurt shoulder,” Devon said, with the most innocent look on his face. Ellie was staring daggers on him. “Definitely reenacting our first meeting in the closet later, huh?”

“Yes,” Ellie nearly spat, both wanting to kill her boyfriend and ravage him in front of God and everyone. He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead, and he felt her nearly melt. “I love you,” she whispered.

“Love you, I got this,” he told her, squeezing her upper arm gently.

“Devon…thank you.”“You’re not alone anymore, El,” he told her as kindly and as gently as he could.

“I know,” she said, smiling. She drew herself up. “Now, please go show that package to my brother.”“Will do,” he said, saluting. He started to saunter off, and then turned back. “Kaaakkk!”

“What the hell was that?” Ellie asked, one part confused, and one part horrified as the people around him turned to stare at him.

“The noise a falcon makes,” Devon said, his hands spread and confusion on his face. He was even more confused as Ellie rolled her eyes, turned away, and pointed toward the apartment not looking at him. “I thought it was a good impression,” he muttered walking away.

}o{

“He’s not dead,” Chuck said. Devon didn’t know what to say to that. He had told Chuck everything that had happened and gave him the package. “I mean, I get it, how it looks.” He looked up from the package to Devon. They were in Chuck’s room, where he had gone to retreat and play video games. “He plays games with people.”“Bro,” Devon began.

“I thought I was his best friend and he planted that test in my room…I mean…who else could have,” Chuck said. Devon sighed. Chuck was back in pity world, population Chuck, and he wasn’t going to hear or see anyone else. “He then took my girlfriend.”“You don’t know that she didn’t seduce him,” Devon offered. Chuck blinked, and then slowly turned to look at him. “Right, that’s not any better.”“No,” Chuck agreed. He shook his head. “And now, some military looking dude shows up with a package, on my birthday, saying Bryce is dead…” Chuck snorted. “It’s a prank. He’s not dead, he’s playing another sick joke, letting me think he’s dead…thinking that would give me pleasure…it doesn’t…” Chuck looked back at Awesome. “I know, he’s done me awful, but want to see him dead? Did he even know me?”Devon laid his hand on Chuck’s shoulder. “You’re a good person, Chuck.”“Yeah, lot of good that’s done me,” he muttered. Devon removed his hand, and Chuck tossed the package on the bed. “He got me again.” Devon didn’t know what to say. “Look, tell Ellie I’m….processing this…I just can’t-”

“I got you, Bro,” Devon said. He stooped just a bit to look the younger man in the eyes. “I got you.”“I know,” Chuck said, nodding with an appreciative soft smile on his face. “You two…you’re the best-”

“We’re family,” Devon said. He clapped Chuck gently on the back, and it took everything in Chuck not to wince or cry out in pain. “Yeah,” Chuck said nodding. Devon nodded, pointed at him, and headed out of the room. Chuck sat down to turn on his game system. He played a few minutes and found himself turning to look at the box. “Nope,” he said and turned back to his game. A few minutes later he did the same thing. He sighed, turned off his game and picked up the box. “I shouldn’t do this,” he muttered as he began to take off the packaging.

There was a small box inside the packaging, one that looked big enough to hold some of the figures he and Bryce had bought while at Stanford. He opened the lid and there stared a figure back at him. For some reason, in the corner of the box was a small slit that caught his eye. He pulled the figure out of the box.

“What the hell,” he muttered. “Is this…is this a troll?”

He looked at the base of the figure and saw words there. He shook his head. “Holy shit, it’s the Zork troll.” He positioned it so he could read the inscription on the bottom.

Attack troll with nice knife

Chuck stared at the figure for a second. “You fucked up the prompt,” Chuck muttered. “Everything is a damn game for you.” He shook his head and put the troll back in the box. Reached over, turned back on the gaming system and began to play.

He played for a few minutes, blew a raspberry out of his lips, reached over, turned off the system and turned back to the figure.

“You wouldn’t have messed that up,” Chuck muttered. He couldn’t help but think of their days at Stanford. How Bryce had gotten him the nerf gun and the two would have wars all over campus. And how Bryce had these drop locations where he hid stuff.

Something about that troll was bothering Chuck. He reached over, picked up, and examined the figure. There was a knife in the trolls hand, and it was not nasty. It was in fact, nice. Chuck pulled at it, wondering if it came off, if maybe it would fit in the slot he had seen earlier. The knife didn’t move.

He looked at the wording, and his eyes wouldn’t leave the word nice. He put his finger on it, and he didn’t know why, but gently pushed and pulled downward. His eyes went wide as the word began to move down. He kept moving it down until the word nice had rolled away, and the word nasty took it’s place.

He studied the figure and looked at the knife again. He reached over, grabbed the knife gently between his fingers and pulled, and this time the knife came away, like a sheath that was covering something else. A gnarled looking, much smaller blade was underneath it. He took the “nice” knife and tried to put it in the slot in the box, but it wouldn’t fit.

He stared at the figure. He turned the figure upside down, positioned the knife in the trolls hand over the slot in the box, and gently pushed the knife down and into the slot. He heard a click. He noticed what had previously seemed to be one continuous piece of felt at the bottom of the box now had a line across it. He pushed at it and found a false bottom. He started at what was under it. A USB drive.

}o{

He was playing his video game, blowing up everything, shooting anything that moved, just so he couldn’t look over at his desk and the USB drive that sat there. Every time he started to look over, he shook his head and forced himself to look straight ahead. He refused to put that drive into his computer. Who knew what kind of virus was on there? Not that he couldn’t fix it if it was a virus.

No, it was a bad idea. The worst idea.“No the worst idea was rooming with him, and dating Jill,” Chuck muttered to himself. He laid down the controller in frustration, leaned forward, ran his hands through is hair, and blew out a rough breath. “What is it they say, everyone wants closure?”

He looked up and found himself staring at the USB drive. He reached over, turned off his system, booted up his computer, and paused. “I swear to God, if this gives me a virus I will find him and….gah!”

He wouldn’t do anything, and he knew it.

He put the drive in and waited. He rolled his eyes at the folder that appeared in the drive that said, Chuck Open Me.

It was a video.

“Really?” Chuck asked. “Let me guess, your and Jill’s video for some porn site?”

He was not going to open the video. He swore he wasn’t. He click the video and sat back on his bed.

Bryce appeared on the screen…fully clothed…sans Jill…he appeared to be in some sort of apartment, that was all green. Bryce looked tense.

“Most of been a rough tax filing season,” Chuck snarked at his former friend who he thought was now an accountant.

“Hey, Chuck.” Bryce began, but paused looking unsure of how to continue. “Look I know you must hate me.” He paused again and smiled. “No…no you don’t do you? You’re hurt by me, probably disappointed in my actions but not in me.”

“I want to hate you,” Chuck mumbled.

“But…” Bryce looked away from the camera, and then back to it. “I know this is going to sound dramatic, and you’re probably not going to believe it but….if you’re seeing this…I’m probably dead.”“You’re not dead,” Chuck insisted, but couldn’t stop the sinking feeling in his stomach.

“You know what, scratch the probably,” Bryce continued.

“See,” Chuck replied to the recording. “Told ya.”

“If you’re seeing this…I’m dead,” Bryce paused. “Graveyard dead, not comic book, not movie dead, not mostly dead…” Bryce paused, looking as serious as Chuck had ever seen Bryce in Chuck’s entire life. “Dead.”

“Oh, no,” Chuck replied and dropped his head into his hands. He didn’t want to cry. He didn’t. He was mad at Bryce. He was hurt by Bryce. But…Bryce had been his friend. He loved him like a brother…and now Bryce was gone.

“I’m gonna give you a second to process that, cause I know you, Chuck, and when you’re ready…” Bryce paused and Chuck looked up at the screen and saw what he thought was regret in Bryce’s face. “I need to explain some things, but most importantly, apologize for what I did.” Bryce blew out a breath. “But yeah…I’m dead.”

A/N: BTW, no Intersect in this story.