CHUCK VERSUS THE BUY MORE BOMBER

Epilogue

Six Months Later…

The long, black limousine pulled slowly to the curb. The uniformed bellman leaned over and opened the door. Cameras began to flash and click. A tall, curly-headed man in a perfectly tailored black tuxedo stepped out of the vehicle, turned, and offered his hand. An elegant woman's right hand, sporting a bracelet worth a small fortune, reached out and took the man's hand. The man beamed as he assisted the absolutely stunning blonde out of the car. She stepped onto the red carpet and leaned in to showily plant a kiss on the man's cheek. "Thank you, Chuck," she said.

Chuck's smile widened. "Oh, it's my pleasure, Sarah."

Off to the side, a television reporter turned to the camera. "Now arriving are Charles Bartowski, the mysterious CEO of Buy More Corporation. Mr. Bartowski is here to dedicate the new Moses Finkelstein wing of the Westside Medical Center. Mr. Finkelstein, you will recall, was the Founder and former CEO of Buy More, killed when he heroically and single-handedly confronted the terrorist who was attacking Buy More stores throughout southern California. The eccentric Mr. Finkelstein chose an unknown Nerd Herd employee, Mr. Bartowski, as his successor and heir, leading to speculation that Mr. Bartowski was Mr. Finkelstein's long-lost son…"

Over on the red carpet, Chuck, with Sarah on his arm and a prim-looking Amelia Banks standing off to the side out of the limelight, turned to the various cameras, smiled and waved. He suddenly winced and touched his invisible earwig as Casey's voice boomed painfully in his ear. "All right, Bartowski, enough playing trained monkey for the media and get inside. Your target is Donatella Garibaldi, the daughter of Antoine Garibaldi, the arms dealer. She has a thing for rich young entrepreneurs and she likes to steal other women's boyfriends, so she should be on you like stink on cheese. Beckman wants you to get her to introduce you to her father and see if you can flash on anything to allow us to intercept the hijacked Stinger missiles."

"I know, Casey, I know," Chuck said softly through his forced smile. He turned and started leading Sarah inside. He leaned down and whispered to her, "Have I told you how stunning you look tonight?"

Sarah ran a hand up his arm, sending shivers down his spine. "Only about a dozen times."

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Chuck asked. "You just…"

"Chuck," Sarah warned. "You promised to quit coddling me. I'm one hundred percent. I can handle myself."

"Oh, I have no doubt of that," Chuck replied, squeezing her hand. "Just don't hurt Ms. Garibaldi too badly when this is over."

Sarah smiled sweetly up at him. "No promises. I have a lot of pent-up frustrations to get out."

***

In the secure bunker known as Level Ten, John Casey touched a button and the stern face of General Diane Beckman appeared on the massive screen. "Yes, Agent Casey?"

"Operation is a go," Casey said. "Bartowski and Agent Walker are in place."

"I'm concerned about Agent Walker," Beckman said. "Are you sure she's up to this?"

"General," Casey said, "you know as well as I do that we wouldn't have access to all of this," he indicated the espionage playground around him, "without Bartowski. He refused to play ball without Walker on board. I think our initial successes speak for themselves."

General Beckman allowed herself a rare smile. "Indeed they do. And I have big plans, for Team Bartowski. Big plans…"

***

Across town, in the Burbank Buy More, Emmett Milbarge pushed his broom and turned away from the painful images of Chuck Bartowski's grand entrance plastered across the video wall. He looked morosely over at the black-draped portrait of Moses Finkelstein (etc.) flanked by a grinning portrait of Chuck Bartowski 'Our CEO' and a wild-eyed portrait of Morgan Grimes 'Vice President of Product Development and Testing' and wailed, "Why? Why? Why?"

***

And in the lobby of the Buy More Corporate headquarters, Jeff Barnes stopped and tapped on the glass of the huge terrarium that was the life-like habitat of his lost road to riches, the chinchillas formerly known as Romeo and Juliette (as it turned out, they were actually both males and had thus been renamed Jeff and Lester). He had willingly insisted on selling the chinchillas to Chuck after he found out that in order to harvest the fur, you actually had to kill the cute little creatures.

Lester Patel came walking over and slapped him on the back. "I still think we didn't charge Charles enough for them," Lester said. "Oh well. You finish your report for Morgan?"

"No," Jeff admitted.

"Neither did I. Let's go get a beer."

FIN

***

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

What a long, strange trip it's been…

First, of course, a big 'Thank You Very Much' to my dutiful (and woefully underpaid) editor, Poa, and to my occasional guest editor MySoapBox, both talented writers in their own right, for all of their help and suggestions with regard to this story.

Second, thank you to all who reviewed the story or sent PM's. The only compensation we fanfic authors receive is the reviews and encouragement of you readers, and I think the Chuck fandom has some of the most intelligent, gracious, and generous readers anywhere on the net. And I'm not just saying that.

Finally, a word or two about writing this story (which is, of course, the cue to quit reading). I started out to do two things: to write a story that included Moses Finkelstein, Founder and CEO of Buy More, and to write a story that was a little more humorous than my previous attempts. In the first, I think I was successful. In the second, perhaps not so much. But in my defense, this story had a life of its own and it took me on its rollercoaster ride along with you, gentle readers.

My good friend and editor, Poa, gave me a book – Stephen King's 'On Writing.' In it, King says that good writers do not write plots. What they do is more akin to archeologists. They begin with an idea and slowly uncover the 'bones' of the story as they go. While I make no claim to being a good writer, that is a perfect explanation of how this story evolved. I started with those two simple ideas, and the story and characters ran away with me from there, leading me down paths I certainly had not foreseen when I started this monster. Hopefully, it has been as entertaining a ride for you as it has been for me.

Of course, King also preaches the benefits of a good re-write. Oh well. Sorry, Stephen.

Oh, one last thing. This story sort of sets up a whole new Chuck Universe. Let's call it the "Buy More Boss" Universe. Maybe someday I will write a sequel. But in the meantime, if anyone wants to play in this universe, feel free. I only ask that, if you do, you be kind to Amelia Banks, Captain Barbara Anders, Ari & Rachel Schwart, Doctor Poa and the rest.

Cheers.

Timewalker.