Chuck v. The Burning Man

Aardvark7734 is the best beta ever! If you are so inclined, be sure to check out his upcoming chapter in the Authors' Intersect story, Chuck v. The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Really Bad Day. It'll be posted later this week and I promise it won't disappoint!

Also a special thank you for your understanding and your get well wishes during the last two weeks while I struggled with the swine flu and walking pneumonia. The pigs are now gone and I'm on the mend slowly. :D

Congratulations to Apple for winning Ch.24's prize, she wanted a bird in this chapter so I gave her two!

Now back to our story already in progress…

Chapter 25 – Is It Cold in Here Or Is It Just Me?

part 1—The Not-So Fat-Bottomed Girl

Ellie opened the door with a smile on her face as her fiancé exited their apartment with a box in his hand. After her awesome man gave her a kiss on the cheek, he smiled and turned, noticing her brother and his girlfriend heading toward them through the courtyard.

"Chuckster. I thought you'd be gone for a couple more days," Devon remarked with a raised brow and slight head turn. It was obvious that he'd been enjoying the last two days alone with his betrothed.

"Oh, hi Sarah," Ellie blushed as her smile lit up the courtyard. "You two just getting back from Reno?"

"We finished up early," Chuck responded for the blonde next to him.

"What were you doing up there again?" Ellie asked.

"Umm….off-site install," Chuck blurted out. "It was uh…an extended service warranty. Yeah, see there was this Scrabble tournament in Reno and they bought all their electronics from us so…I had to go and make sure that everything worked for them." Chuck finished his ramble with a wide smile.

"Oh, I'm sure they didn't want to know about all of that sweetie," Sarah said emphasizing the last word.

Ellie smiled. The blonde always had a way of balancing her brother when he'd ramble on about things. It reminded her in some ways of how Devon grounded her when she would become overprotective or worry too much about things. It was just the sort of thing that a partner did for their other half. "It was nice that you were able to go with him, Sarah. But I'm sure it couldn't have been much fun for you."

"We had our moments." Sarah gave a shy half-grin at Chuck, catching his eyes with hers.

"Yeah, the plane ride back wasn't all that bad either," Chuck grinned back at her and Sarah's eyes widened.

"Mile high club? Nice." The captain gave a firm pat on Chuck's back knocking the wind out of his future brother-in-law.

"Devon!" Ellie exclaimed with a 'I can't believe you just said that out loud' look.

"Ha! I was talking about not having to drive back." Chuck nervously corrected, but he wasn't fooling anyone including his blushing girlfriend or his embarrassed sister.

"Sorry Sarah." Ellie tilted her head and gave her bridesmaid a weak, but understanding, grin.

"What? Babe, the best part of your 10 year high school reunion was the trip back," Devon responded pulling Ellie in with his free hand. Now Ellie was the one with the rosy cheeks.

"We did move in together after that," Ellie agreed as her fiancé caught her eyes.

"There's just something about confined spaces," he said, wrapping his woman in his arms.

Sarah rubbed the back of her neck and turned away as the soon-to-be newlyweds had a moment of their own, still blocking the doorway to the apartment.

"Umm hmm," Chuck cleared his throat. Ellie suddenly remembered her brother's aversion to PDA. She pulled away from Devon and turned back to the other couple in the courtyard.

"Hey you know, I did meet Billy Idol on the plane," Chuck added in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

The captain of all things awesome turned to Chuck with renewed interest, "You mean, you had 'The Vital Idol' live to urge you on while you were rocking the cradle of love? Outstanding." It was evident what he was still thinking about as they stood there.

"Well not exactly, but he did talk…lahke dis, meh man," Chuck offered in a weak attempt at emulating the aging Brit rocker's accent.

Sarah dropped her jaw and rolled her eyes feigning disapproval.

"The last time I saw Billy Idol was in that movie, 'The Wedding Singer,' remember that one?" Ellie asked, turning to the blonde.

"No, I haven't seen it." Sarah shook her head.

"Oh my goodness Sarah, where have you been? In a Columbian rainforest or a cave in Afghanistan?" Ellie asked almost flabbergasted.

Sarah smirked at Chuck. "No, I've been right here with you guys…for the past few years, I mean."

"HA!" Chuck laughed nervously with widened eyes.

Ellie couldn't help but think that she'd just missed some private joke between the couple in front of her – but it didn't matter. Ellie turned to Sarah and continued on about the chick flick.

"Oh you have to see it Sarah, it's wonderful. It's about this guy whose bride-to-be leaves him stranded at the wedding altar."

"Babe, that doesn't sound so awesome to me."

"Oh Devon, I'm not going anywhere," she turned and winked at her man, "…except down that aisle to meet my Mr. Woodcomb in two weeks and two days." Ellie put her hands on the chest of her love connection and he pulled her in for another hug. Still wrapped in Devon's embrace, Ellie looked around his shoulder at Sarah. "Anyway, in the movie, the guy's fiancée was all wrong for him but then the right girl came along at work. They continued to grow closer together but neither would say what needed to be said about how they felt for one another. It's all about miscommunication and working through it all." Ellie quirked a brow as her soon-to-be husband released her from his grasp. Maybe they'll get what I'm saying.

"Obviously, Ellie's a fan," Chuck said, attempting to deflect his sister's not-so-subtle attempt at subtlety.

"Next girls night, we're watching it." Ellie insisted to Sarah.

"Okay." Sarah said with a brief nod and a shift in her boots. It was apparent that she was a bit uncomfortable, but Ellie wasn't sure why.

"Wedding Singer. That reminds me…" Ellie turned to Devon. "Have you called the band to re-confirm the date?"

"I've got it under control, babe." The awesome man smiled.

"Just to make sure, you didn't get that lame band of nerd herders that you made me go see at the Buy More two months ago, right?" The elder Bartowski still had wedding nightmares that started with Lester doing the Karate Kid 'crane' move and ended with Styx-like pyrotechnics at the end. Focus Eleanor, it's your wedding day and it's going to be perfect.

"Oh come on sis, they have their moments," Chuck kidded. "You should've seen Jeffster after they downloaded the new Guitar Hero songs for the Buy More's Xbox 360 demo display. They did this rendition of 'Fat-bottom Girls' that…well, you know what… it was better than when Jeff attempted a solo of 'Dueling Banjos' on his keytar."

Ellie's eyes widened.

"I'm totally kidding," Chuck chuckled.

"So what do you have there, Devon?" Sarah asked, looking at the box under the captain's arm.

"It's the last of our wedding invitations. They're a little late but we lost part of our list when we had computer problems, a few weeks ago."

"You know, I have a little brother who can fix any computer and the night that everything crashed, he was nowhere to be found. Where were you Chuck?" It was a legitimate question, one that Ellie had never gotten a satisfactory answer from him.

"Off-site install?" Chuck responded, weakly.

Not believing him, Ellie knew the real answer – he was with Sarah. Under normal circumstances the elder Bartowski wouldn't blame her brother, but she was steadily creeping into freaked out bride wedding planning mode.

"Oh come on babe. No-harm no-foul. We've gotten them done now, anyway. Besides, Chuck would never let us down – he's a Bartowski!" Devon offered in an attempt to shield his groomsman a bit.

Ellie hated to admit it but sometimes her fiancé's glass half-full attitude was just too much to take. Was he forgetting that every other Bartowski in their life had walked out on them through the years? Devon was right to an extent about Chuck though. With a few, recent exceptions, Chuck had always been there for her. He was a great brother.

"Just promise me that you're not going to go running off before the rehearsal dinner on some off-site install and then miss the wedding – you're the only family I've got," Ellie pleaded.

"Oh Ellie, I'd never miss your wedding. And…neither will dad. I'm going to find him. That's a promise." he said, reassuring his sister. She really wanted to believe her brother, even if she didn't. "Now about these invitations…"

"I was going to drop them off on my way to the hospital, but it looks like they're going to have to wait until after my shift." Devon looked back at his future wife for her approval, but none was forthcoming.

Ellie frowned.

"Sorry babe, but don't worry, I'll take care of it."

"You know what, why don't I take care of them for you? I'll drop them off at the post office on my way to the Orange Orange," Sarah offered.

"Oh Sarah, you don't have to do that," Ellie said secretly hoping that her bridesmaid would insist.

"No, I'll be glad to… I still feel bad that I made plans with Chuck and that I wasn't here this weekend for your lingerie shower," Sarah responded.

"Hey, I didn't know it was that kind of shower," Devon nuzzled his fiancée with his nose and pulled her in again with his free hand.

"Devon, you're going to be late, remember?" Ellie tried to steer his thoughts away from her direction.

"I insist." Sarah smiled looking both of them in the eyes.

"Thanks Sarah, that's what's so awesome about having family," the awesome man said awesomely. Sarah smiled in response with a short head nod. He handed her the box and then turned back to his fiancée for a final peck on the cheek before he headed out of the courtyard and off to work.

Ellie let out a deep breath as he left. "That man. Anytime someone mentions a shower or the bathroom, it's like…," the blushing Bartowski paused and snapped back to reality upon seeing her brother's bugged out eyes. "You know what, I'm sorry you two…it must be all this wedding planning."

Sarah smirked. "Well, I must be going too. I need to go check in at the Orange Orange. You know how crazy things can be after you miss two days in the world of frozen yogurt."

Chuck nodded and sighed. Sarah looked back at him expectantly. "Oh…" Chuck caught the cue and gave his girlfriend a quick peck on the lips.

Ellie couldn't help but smile when she noticed Sarah linger in front of Chuck longer than usual. Maybe this trip to Reno had turned out better than their recent foray into house sitting. Ellie hoped so. They complimented each other so well. Besides that Ellie really liked Sarah and she could tell that the blonde really cared for her brother.

Sarah turned and started to walk away with the box of invitations in hand. Then she stopped for a moment and spun back on her heels.

"Chuck don't you have one more, invitation I mean?" Sarah asked.

"Oh right. Thanks for reminding me." Chuck dropped his bag and reached down toward it. "You know, I'm glad we talked about it…" Chuck smiled.

"Talked about what?" Ellie wondered.

Chuck unzipped the side pocket of his duffel and reach for an invitation identical to the others in the box. As he pulled it out two other items came with it – his Triumph t-shirt and…a pair of purple laced underwear. Ellie couldn't be certain, but the panties looked familiar. Could those be the undies from Sarah's first sleep over? That night was still a blur to Ellie.

Chuck quickly balled the underwear in his fist in an unsuccessful effort to keep them out of his sister's view. "Ummm Sarah, I think these are yours," he said with a hushed tone.

Ellie smirked, obviously not missing a thing. "I'm glad you two had a good time."

"Are you sure you don't want to come in? You could catch up on all of your umm…invoices here?" Chuck asked his girlfriend.

Sarah looked up at the light in front of the door and then over to the hanging basket with a brass owl sculpture on the other side of the courtyard. Why was she looking over there? Ellie wondered, as her brother nodded to his girlfriend again. It was as if something unspoken had transpired between them.

"No, I need to check on things at work. Besides, I've got some invitations to mail now, right?" Sarah smiled at Ellie and then turned back to Chuck. "But…I'll see you later." She said reaching in with her free hand and giving Chuck a kiss on the opposite cheek. Chuck reached up with his hand and caught hers just as she was lowering it. His fingers caught the charm bracelet on her wrist and she smiled.

This time her brother was the one lingering. He held onto her hand but then reluctantly let go as she moved away slowly. He stood there and watched her exit the courtyard with the invitations in hand.

After dropping off the remaining wedding invitations at the post office, Sarah made her way through the Orange Orange and down stairs to her real place of business. In addition to having to complete their report for the Reno mission, Sarah was tasked with the responsibility to watch Chuck until Casey had returned from escorting Maury Cheeks back home and making sure that they had the 24 hour 'ATF' detail in place for the comb-over nerd.

Under normal circumstances Sarah would've considered hanging out with Chuck as a good opportunity to further establish their cover relationship. Sarah pulled up the main screen to reveal Chuck laying on his bed reading that comic of his again. While she would've liked nothing more than to curl up beside him and figure out what's so enthralling about Ex Machina, she just wasn't sure she would be able to focus on her paperwork if he was in the vicinity and they were alone. It was taking everything she had to not smile too much when Chuck was around, to not respond when he wouldn't let up, to not do anything about these feelings she had for him. Even if her partner wasn't watching, Sarah knew that the cameras were everywhere and so were Beckman's prying eyes.

Unlike her superior, Sarah had always found it strange watching Chuck from afar. Her mind flashed back to those few seconds in the airplane's lavatory during their return flight. As she sighed, the pen that was resting on her bottom lip fell and dropped from her hand. Sarah breathed a couple deep breaths and looked around, remembering that no one was there. She hadn't realized how taken she was with that memory. It was to protect their cover after all, she weakly tried to rationalize.

Somewhere along the way though, she knew she had long since blurred those lines between the black and white until all she saw was the grey...of his t-shirt, that tie of his with the mustard stain, the shadows of his stubble when they'd had a long night on a stake out… She minimized the screen before her emotions got out of hand.

If for no other reason than to regain her focus, it was nice to spend some time by herself after their whirlwind trip to Reno. Most of her time had been spent riding in a car, interrogating a fully clothed flasher, and surveilling a Scrabble tournament. In between though, she and Chuck had drawn even closer through what he'd told her about his dad and what she'd told him about her feelings. Now she needed time – and a little separation – so she could get a handle on things before they got out of control.

Separation. Suddenly, she was reminded of what Chuck told her about his dad. In particular, she was thinking about the missing pears that his father took more than a dozen years ago. Maybe she could help Chuck find him and figure out the mystery behind their separation.

Sarah picked up her pen and started to make some notes, first writing down the last known address Chuck had for his dad.

. . . . . . . . . .Stephen J. Bartowski. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . .13944 Sahara Avenue. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . .Las Vegas, Nevada 89104. . . . . . . . . .

Sarah turned to her keyboard and typed the address. Within seconds, the screen displayed the result: No such address. Why would Chuck's dad list a return address for a location that didn't exist?

She looked at the charm bracelet on her wrist. It was Chuck's mother's. She wrote down:

. . . . . . . . . Left charm bracelet . . . . . . . . . .

Why would Chuck's dad have left something so important to him? Maybe he knew that his kids would come looking for him. She wrote down another fact.

. . . . . . . . . Left on his anniversary 13 years ago. . . . . . . . . .

Sarah didn't know much about Chuck's parents' relationship, but she surmised that his dad must have missed his wife very much since he'd continued to celebrate their anniversary in the same way years after she left. Sarah wondered if Chuck would carry on some of their traditions if she had to leave him.

The fact that she used 'if' instead of 'when' was not missed by the Agent within her. Deep down she wasn't sure that she could bear to leave him for a new assignment. Even with the limits of their relationship, she couldn't stand the thought of anyone coming between them. It wasn't that she was territorial – it was just that she knew that they were a great team she tried to tell herself.

Sarah thought about the meal Chuck's dad always had on his anniversary.

. . . . . . . . . Ate Peking duck and noodles . . . . . . . . .

There were so many meanings behind Chinese food. Noodles symbolized longevity – it was one reason she always ordered them when they went out for Chinese. Sarah liked noodles but she had to admit that she often got a kick at the way that he stared at her longingly when she would take them into her mouth. It was a guilty pleasure to be sure. She wondered if Chuck ever picked up on her hint.

What did the duck mean though? She scrolled down through possible entries on her computer and found that 'duck' symbolized fidelity. Should I start ordering duck now instead of sushi? She grinned, at the geekiness of her thought.

Sarah looked back down at the list. What was the movie Chuck mentioned that his dad watched on pay per view?

. . . . . . . . . Mission Impossible.. . . . . . . . .

She remembered Chuck's off-handed question, 'Spies don't really use bible verses to communicate code, do they?' The fortune was left on top of a bible after all. She was glad that she memorized it.

. . . . . . . . . . Right now there's an energy pushing you in a new direction. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . Lucky Numbers: 10 – 31 – 14 – 7 – 12 – 16. . . . . . . . . .

What direction? Perhaps the mystery was in the lucky numbers? She looked down at the charm bracelet on her wrist – it also meant 'good luck'. Still, it didn't seem to fit with the other clues. Otherwise, the fortune would've been next to it and not the bible.

Could there be something to that 'bible code' that might actually prove divine? She started to think back to some of her dad's early cons. There was the time her dad played Dan Teague, a Bible salesmen on furlough from a medical-dental mission. She remembered going door-to-door asking for money to send bibles to 'spread the word' to all the UPGs (Unsaved People Groups) in South America. It wasn't as bad as the annual Salvation Army con-job but it was close.

Then there was the time that they sold 'holy water' that her dad claimed had the face of the Virgin Mary in it. That ponzi scheme collapsed when 'Katie O'Connell' was caught filling the bottles with tap water behind the rectory of St. Florian's Catholic Church.

Neither scheme was anything compared to the con they'd pulled when she was 13 – The Exodus Travel Agency. The ETA took in thousands of dollars in travel deposits from old temple and church members who wanted exclusive tours of the Holy Lands. Sarah could practically quote the Torah back then. It was this memory that lead her thoughts in a new direction. Could it be that simple? Did the fortune correspond to the book of Numbers and the numbers that followed?

She pulled up and typed Numbers followed by the first two sets of numbers on the fortune: Numbers 10:31. A verse came up on the screen.

. . . . . . . . . . Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. . . . . . . . . . .

Sarah focused particularly on the word wilderness. In the bible, the wilderness was the desert – a remote, easy place to hide and stay lost.

Next she typed in Numbers 14:7. The result popped up on the screen.

. . . . . . . . . . The land which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. . . . . . . . . . .

Sarah remembered that Chuck was born in Connecticut and had moved to Southern California. Could his dad be somewhere in between?

Finally, Sarah typed in Numbers 12:16.

. . . . . . . . . . the people . . . camped in the wilderness of Paran. . . . . . . . . . .

The desert of Paran could be anywhere. There had to be another clue. Sarah thought for a moment and then tapped a familiar number on her iPhone.

"Hey Chuck," Sarah started as she switched the monitor back to the camera in Chuck's room.

"Fine." She noticed that he'd turned his comic over and rested it on his lap face down.

"No, I'm sorry. I've got to finish the mission report before Casey gets back."

"I don't … I don't know if I can," she sighed.

"Oh, …oh…okay, alright tell Ellie…yes."

"Six? Okay, I'll try to be there." She looked down at the list of clues in front of her. Suddenly, she was reminded of why she had called him.

"Hey, do you remember that Bed & Breakfast where your dad stayed?"

"What was the room like?" She paused as she listened to him ramble on about the room's various amenities. Sarah was seeking a detail, something that perhaps they'd missed when he had originally told her the story.

"Right, a fireplace. Was there anything over the mantle…oh, okay. An old map of the U.S.?"

"No reason."

"No, Chuck I don't think we can go to the B&B for a …" She smiled as he cut her off.

"I was just wondering, that's all."

"Okay…bye." Sarah hung up her phone and continued to watch the screen for a moment. She noticed that he was smiling that goofy smile of his as he continued to look at his phone. His thumb was moving back and forth across the screen as he stared at it. He was looking at photos on his phone. Her lips curled upward into a smile. Sometimes he was so easy to read and watch.

Sarah looked back at the final verse again…the wilderness of Paran. She typed in 'Paran' and 'United States.' The results popped up one by one.

. . . . . . . . . . Paran, Alabama. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . Paran,Maryland. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . Paran, Pennsylvania. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . Parran, Nevada.. . . . . . . . . .

Only the last one was in the desert. Sarah pulled up the satellite imagery for Parran, Nevada. There was nothing there but an old train track and Joshua trees. It was a deserted ghost town – just the kind of place that someone could get lost and never be found, unless they wanted to be.

For a moment, she considered just typing 'Stephen J. Bartowski' in the Joint Intelligence database. It would've definitely been easier but then she thought the better of it. Beckman had ordered them not to tell Chuck about Maury Cheeks' possible connection to Chuck's dad. If she were to use government resources to search for his dad, it would certainly raise a red flag.

This had to be it. Sarah clicked on the screen and rolled back the archival satellite footage from two weeks ago. Suddenly just the thing she was looking for was right in front of her – a silver Airstream Overlander – a trailer just like the one Maury Cheeks had described.

Steve Bartowski had been there. Through the clues he had left, Chuck's dad had been telling his son where he was all along. Then something made him move, but what?

What was Orion telling him? Chuck's mind was swimming. He'd been studying the schematics taped inside his Ex Machina comic for the better part of an hour, minus the sweet phone call from Sarah and the time that it took to get her out of his head afterward. All that talk about the B&B had the nerd thinking in directions he definitely couldn't verbalize in his current location.

Chuck rubbed his eyes and stretched. He noticed his bag over on his desk chair and decided to unpack. Taking out his shaving kit and toiletries first, he then dumped his clothes on the bed. As he moved the dirty clothes over to his laundry hamper, he noticed purple lace peeking out from under his Triumph t-shirt. Picking it up first with his index finger and then leveling it off with his other hand in front of him, he couldn't help but grin as he held the top up by its straps. He really wanted to bring it up to his face, to take in her smell, but he could already hear the string of quips he'd later get from his nosy NSA neighbor if he did. Even if the Major wasn't watching, he knew that she was and acting like a psycho stalker nerd who smelled women's underwear was a little too Jeff-like. Still, why did she leave this in his bag? They'd had separate rooms in Reno. There was just no way that this could have wound up in his duffel by accident.

"Chuck."

He froze dropping the lace teddy in the hamper and turning back to notice his sister in the doorway. Ellie walked in his room with a laundry basket on her hip.

"Do you have any clothes that need washing?"

"No. Thanks. I've got it."

"I've only got a half load. Besides, Sarah saved me some time by taking care of the invitations for us. The least I can do is use that extra time to do my brother's laundry."

Chuck didn't really understand her logic but he knew better than to get in the way of his sister when she got in a mood to clean.

"Really. I don't mind. Now scoot." She reached down into his hamper and grabbed its contents, not noticing the purple item that he was just inspecting. Chuck just stood there with his mouth gaping, not knowing what to say.

"What? I need something to keep my mind off all this wedding craziness." Ellie smiled and he smiled nervously back as she walked out.

Maybe she wouldn't notice. If she did, at least it would be good for their cover, even if it didn't cover a thing.

"Oh my…this couldn't cover a thing," Ellie said as she held up the purple negligee top that obviously wasn't hers. Then, she remembered Chuck trying to hide Sarah's purple panties in the courtyard. Ellie smirked.

"She really is a big girl." Ellie grinned as she held the top up to her chest in comparison. The elder Bartowski couldn't help but be a bit envious when she realized that she needed a bit more to fill-in something like this and make it work for her.

After Sarah finished filling in the details of her mission report, she headed over to Chuck's place. She had planned on spending a quiet evening alone until Ellie had insisted that she come over for dinner. Sarah still didn't know what she was going to say to Chuck about his dad. Even if she didn't know where his dad was now, she felt certain that he had been in Parran, Nevada, until recently. She wanted to tell him, he deserved to know but she knew that she couldn't tell him at his place or even in the courtyard. It was just too risky. Sarah knocked on his bedroom door and proceeded to enter.

"Hey. Ellie let me in." Sarah entered. Chuck hastily pushed his comic book aside.

"What time is it?"

"It's a quarter 'til six. It took me a little longer than I expected to get the report done. Maybe I'm a little tired, but I just kept getting distracted for some reason."

"Speaking of distractions, I ummm, I … you might be missing this," Chuck said as he walked over to his desk and grabbed the brown paper bag on top of it. He handed her the bag. Sarah opened it and grinned, noticing the purple negligee.

"Ellie washed it. I'm still not sure how it got in my bag, by the way. Do you know?"

"The truth?" She asked looking up at him.

"Yeah," Chuck gulped.

"You might be disappointed at the answer. I'm sorry, but I did it to help secure our cover with your sister."

Chuck's face fell a bit. He'd hoped there was something else, some other meaning than their convenient and fake cover relationship.

"I'm sorry but you wanted the truth." She turned back at him and smiled, "Chuck, other than the first night I was supposed to stay over, when have you ever seen me in something like this?" Sarah held up the nightie to her chest as his eyes widened at the thought.

"Well, there was this time after you shot Lt. Mauser…" Chuck said.

Sarah scrunched her brows.

"Okay, you know what, that was just a dream…of which I'm sorry about now. I'm usually much more respectful to women, even in my dreams."

She smirked. Chuck wasn't giving up that easily though.

"Alright, I have one."

"Huh?"

"The shower."

"What?"

"You know…"

"When we thought we were poisoned by gas?" Sarah asked.

"Exactly. You were wearing a black bra and panties," the nerd interrupted.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Every guy over the age of 13 knows why a girl wears black underwear…"

"Yeah, and every boy over the age of 5 knows that black matches black. I was wearing my black mission gear that day." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Okay but what about Cole?"

"Are we going to bring that up again? It was a mission, Chuck. Besides, I was wearing…"

"Black. Right." Chuck finished her thought.

"Alright, just for argument's sake, what color was I wearing in that dream of yours?"

"Black."

Sarah's shook her head and smirked. He really was irresistible when he let his geeky side take over at times. She noticed the crossword from the plane lying on his bed and smiled.

Suddenly, her iPhone buzzed. She tapped on the screen and noticed a new text. She read it with an increasingly furrowed brow.

"Chuck, I have to go," the Agent said as she grabbed the crossword from the his bed and moved over to his window.

"Wait…are you sure? What about dinner?" Chuck asked.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stay."

"What do I tell Ellie?"

"Make up something…" she said as she stepped through the window and into the courtyard.

"Right, yogurt emergency."

Sarah turned back and looked at him through the window, but did not delay. "Just tell her I wasn't feeling well but don't tell her I have…"

"A spastic colon, right. I got it."

Chuck's stomach was all in knots. His sister had taken the change in plans fine but he was concerned about Sarah. There had been something about the look on her face when she had gotten that text. Since then, he'd tried to call her several times but his calls went straight to her voicemail. A sense of dread was steadily rising in his insides.

He needed something to take his mind away from the unknown. Perhaps some music would help him relax. Chuck shuffled through his duffel and his remaining packing but couldn't find his pink iPod anywhere.

As he checked his bag a second time, he heard a grunt followed by the clinking sound of keys outside his window. Casey was back. Maybe he'd know what was going on with Sarah. Chuck two-stepped to the Morgan door and hopped through it just as the Major was about to open his front door.

"Casey, wait," Chuck said as his lanky frame closed the distance between them. "Did we remember everything from Reno?"

The Major took his eyes off his iPhone and looked back at him with a scrunched brow as if to say 'get to the point.'

"You know what? Forget it. It's not that important." Chuck started to turned around and leave but then he turned and followed Casey into his apartment. "It's just…I had this mp3 player…"

"Bartowski, is finding that iPod of yours vital to national security? Man up already."

Before Chuck could respond with an equally snarky response, a burning red-head popped on the monitor in front of them.

"General," the Major snapped to attention.

"What…um…okay, I see that you two have some catching up to do, so I'll be in my room," Chuck started to leave.

"Mr. Bartowski you may stay," Beckman responded. Chuck sighed, he knew that 'may' really meant 'must' when it came to the General's instructions.

"General, would you like for us to wait on Agent Walker?" Casey asked.

"That won't be necessary Major. Agent Walker is on a different assignment this evening," the General responded.

Chuck scrunched his brows. Different assignment? "Are you sure General? Because I feel that Agent Walker would probably want to be here with me…uh, I mean us…for the briefing."

The General quirked a brow, but did not respond to the nerd.

"Major we have analyzed the picture that you obtained from…" she paused as she looked down at her briefing materials for the name, "Rose Nylund."

As the photograph appeared on the screen, Chuck immediately recognized the woman. "Geez, Casey you stole a picture from that old lady on the plane? I knew you liked your fruit over-ripe but this one's a bit past her expiration date, don't you think?"

Casey's eyes burned fire and his knuckles turned white-hot as he prepared to deliver a punch that was perhaps a long time in the making.

"Gentlemen." The two men turned back to the General. "If you will look closer at the photograph, you will notice a poster announcing the ground breaking for the Happy Heights Senior Center." Before Chuck could get a good look at the people in the photograph, the screen zoomed in to the poster to the left of the crowd. As the image resolution increased, the General began to read out the list of contractors listed on the poster.

"We have confirmed that Barak Mobility, Lateral Energies, Holloway Corporation…."

Suddenly, Chuck became nauseous and his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell back to the heels of his feet. Before his minds eye he saw a flow chart and image after image of various corporate entities all leading to one word—Fulcrum. Chuck snapped back on the balls of his feet and then cut-off the General.

"…are all shell corporations for Fulcrum," Chuck blurted out.

Casey's ire subsided and then a questioning look crept onto his face. "I asked you about those companies months ago. You had better not have been holding out on me."

"Ahh. No. This intel is from…you know…the Dark Intersect." Chuck pursed his lips together.

The General frowned. The image on the screen zoomed back out to show the entire photograph. In addition to Rose Nylund, there were numerous individuals with hard-hats and shovels just behind a tape.

The woman and man to the right you already know – Silvia and Cliff Siljak."

"Right, cougar lady minus the handcuffs. We don't have to worry about them anymore," Chuck mumbled as he thought back to their brain-frying moment back in the Burbs.

"Chuck, can you tell us anything about the other people in the picture?"

Chuck looked over the various faces. "Can you zoom in on woman to the far left?" As the image refocused, Chuck recognized the diminutive woman with brilliant white hair – she was the same woman that he'd flashed on in the Buy More a few weeks earlier.

"Did you flash?"

"Yeah, but not just now. Remember the lady I told you about that came into the store looking for a television for the kitchen of the…"

"Happy Heights Retirement Center," Casey muttered along with Chuck in unison.

"Major, I didn't get a report of any flash on this woman," the General said sternly.

Casey glanced over at Chuck with a 'this isn't going to be good' look.

"Well, ma'am…"

"I'm sorry General, but that was my fault." Chuck tried to take responsibility for the lack of report even if it wasn't his fault. "It's just that I flash on so many things and I didn't think it was important to national security to report that this little old lady used to be a part of the OSS back in World War II."

"Mr. Bartowski, you are not an agent nor are you an analyst. You are just an asset. You aren't paid to think."

"Actually, I'm not paid anything," Chuck muttered under his breath and Casey grunted.

The General continued without hearing the nerd's comment, "It is your responsibility to report everything that you flash on. Understood?"

"Yes, General. Just so you know," Chuck stopped and considered his response. "Every time I look at that Maltese Falcon behind your desk…" The General turned back to look at the statue.

"…I see you and General Stanfield…well…you know…" Chuck stopped just as the General spun back around. Casey's eyes bugged out of his head but he didn't move.

"You are to report everything except that. Now that we have that covered gentlemen, I want to bring your attention to the woman in the center of the photograph."

The older woman in the picture was holding a large pair of scissors and showing more leg than her cankled varicose veins should have allowed.

Beckman began, "Her name is Blanche Devereaux. Her list of exploits is as long…"

"…and old…" Casey said under his breath.

"As Roan Montgomery's?" Chuck asked with a smirk.

"Now that you mention it, yes. Which brings me to your next mission."

"Oh no, I draw the line at Granny Robinsons," Chuck said with widened eyes and Casey chuckled under his breath.

The General continued on as if she hadn't heard anything the nerd had said. "We need to find out more about what is going on at this retirement home. The intel that we have gathered definitely suggests that Fulcrum has an on-going presence there and we need to know why."

"Oh God, I think I'm gonna be sick," Chuck said.

The General continued, "Major," suddenly the strapping NSA Agent's face grew pale. "Get close to Ms. Devereaux and find out what she knows."

Relieved, Chuck looked at Casey and then back at the General, "When you mean get close to her…"

"By any means necessary."

Chuck couldn't be sure but he thought he heard a whimper escape from the burly man.

With a satisfied smirk, the General signed off.

Sarah made her way through the Orange Orange freezer. After pushing down the sconce, waiting for the monitor to finish her retina scan, and entering her access code, she made her way through the Castle entrance.

"Casey?" the Agent asked as she climbed down the stairs of the Castle for the second time that day but the Major was nowhere to be found.

Her iPhone buzzed and she answered it.

"Hey Casey, where are you? I got this strange text from Beckman about a briefing….You didn't get it?...What are you talking about?...You had nothing to do with what?"

Sarah looked down at the crossword puzzle still in her hand and she knew. All she had to do was look at the answer to 49 down. Just then the door from the Orange Orange opened and a woman who looked as though she could've been one of those 'skin jobs' Chuck was always going on about appeared.

"I'm Agent Alex Forrest," the woman said with a cold, appraising stare. "I'm your 49B."

[For this chapter's bit of interactive fun, the first person to correctly name the classic 1981 fantasy film from which the brass owl originated will win this chapter's prize. There are extra points for anyone who is able to name of the owl.]