Chuck Vs. the Gravitron

Having this secret to themselves, the twins took advantage of it every chance they got. Including the time when they tapped into a conference call between Casey and Beckman. They hadn't tapped in until after the order to kill Chuck was made.

"And the twins?" Casey asked.

"You will bring them to Castle for extraction. A team will be waiting."

"You're going to put a couple of kids in a bunker with an expiration date on their heads?" Casey inquired. "We don't do that."

"I don't like it any more than you, Major."

They had very little idea what an expiration date was other than what was stamped on the school snacks. Coming up with a way to find out what Beckman meant and keeping the surveillance equipment in the dark was going to be tricky. If Casey heard the words expiration date come from either of the twins, he would have known someone else was listening to him.

They had to figure out a way to do so without raising suspicion and so decided to wait until their mom came to town. Jill traveled a lot for her company so she wouldn't have gotten as much time with the twins as would have liked, even if she hadn't signed them over to Chuck. That was the reason she gave him for walking out on them.

Any time Jill came to town, she would pick them up from school. They'd spend a few nights with her in her hotel room, and she'd bring them to school. The pattern continued until she said she had to work.

"General, you can't put my kids in the field!" Chuck exclaimed. "They'll be in more danger than I am on a mission."

"From what I've seen, Mr. Bartowski, they are better behaved than you. They listen to Major Casey and Agent Walker."

It was a good reason to keep them out of sight, but the mission needed to look like a family.

"You will appear to be a typical family," Beckman said, ignoring Chuck's pleas.

"Casey, please. They can't be part of this. You can use my Intersect all you want. Just let my kids be kids. They deserve that much…." At first, he wasn't getting a response because of orders. Casey didn't agree with putting kids in that kind of danger. "Sarah…"

"General, if Chuck's cover gets blown, and the kids are part of the mission, then all three Intersect identities will be compromised," Casey followed Chuck's concerns.

"What if we used their room in Castle?" Sarah suggested. "It was designed for them."

"You have a room here in Castle designed for them?" Chuck asked. The words blended as he said them with such surprise. It was the first he was hearing of such accommodations.

"Yes, it was, Agent Walker. It was designed for children who didn't know the inner workings of the Intersect."

"Inner workings?" Chuck inquired.

"Let's just say it would appear they have found some backdoors to the Intersect."

"You… you know?" He didn't know why he was surprised. Of course, she knew.

"She's known for some time, Bartowski… why else would they have had an extraction team in place after you found the GLG-20's?"

"What if they stayed with their mom?" Chuck asked. "She said she was going to be in town and wanted to use her visitation. I don't even have to see her. Their handlers can bring them to her hotel."

The twins pondered the tale Chuck was telling of how he got them out of field work this time around. He wasn't sure it would work again since they had more time alone with the Intersect than he did and had found ways for it to work for them and to control it instead of it controlling them.

"Is that why we went to Mommy's hotel last month?" Kelley asked.

"It is," Chuck replied. "What did you two do with her, again?"

While the twins recanted their visit with Jill, Chuck poured himself a glass of water.

"She took us to Disneyland!" Maya exclaimed. Chuck nodded as he took a sip.

"We rode the teacups-"

"And the Ferris wheel-" he took another sip.

"We even went on the roller coasters!" This caused a spray of water to leave his mouth. He knew Jill to be responsible, but to let them ride a roller coaster at their heights and weights? That was something he'd never done or planned to do. Especially since he didn't like those rides himself.

"Not the big kid ones," Maya clarified.

"We had to ride the ones the park said we could," Kelley pouted. It seemed true to Ellie's word. Chuck may have been the one unwillingly going on secret adventures, but these kids were doing things he never would have dreamed of doing himself, even without the Intersect. They truly were more adventurous than he felt.

"She asked about the lady who was always with us."

He choked again. This was a scenario he never had to discuss with them.

"What'd you tell her?"

"We didn't have to say anything. The lady said she was our nanny."

He had been trying to figure out a way to bring up a topic he wasn't sure the twins were ready to hear. With Jill wanting to be back in his life the way she was before Stanford expelled him, they'd get to see their mom more often, which he thought was a plus.

"Remember how I said Mommy and Daddy dated in college?"

"Yeah," they said together.

As many times as he'd heard that over the years, he still shuddered. "What would you think if we started dating again?"

Kelley wrapped her arms around him as Maya answered, "We thought that already happened." Another spit-take happened, this time there was choking involved.

He hadn't expected them to already know since it wasn't official for him yet.

"Where did you hear that?" he asked once he stopped choking.

"In Castle. Sarah and Casey were watching your roof date last night and didn't close the door to the playroom."

"So, I didn't need to-"

"No," Maya interrupted. There was a toothy grin on her face. "We just like to make people squirm."

They'd make great spies. It was as if he could hear Casey's thoughts, but it was his own.

That made him nervous. He didn't know where it came from. It certainly didn't come from him, and he was positive it didn't come from Jill. That left Sarah and Casey since the kids had very little contact with Jeff and Lester, the Buy More's resident morons as Casey always referred to them.

Chuck was happier than he'd been since their predicament started. It was as if the weight had been lifted. But there was something still weighing on his mind. He couldn't bring himself to tell them of the chip containing the list of Fulcrum operatives.

"Okay, then… would you mind if we took some time to ourselves for a weekend? Aunt Ellie and Uncle Awesome will have to work, and you know Casey will try to break my arm if I hire a babysitter or let you sleep over at a friend's house."

"We wanna go, too!" they exclaimed.

"You had your time with Mommy," Chuck began. "Now it's Daddy's turn. Maybe when we get back, the four of us can do something together"

He was going to have to remember their room in Castle.

~***~***~

The best explanation Chuck could think of for asking Casey and Sarah to take care of the girls was being as honest as possible without saying he was going off grid. They seemed to understand he wanted some alone time with Jill and allowed the drop-off at Castle.

The agents had to file paperwork. It bothered them that Jill knew where the camera was in Chuck's room, but from a distance, there wasn't much they could do to stop her from covering it.

One of their computers, which had been scanning the list of Fulcrum agents froze on one face. Jill's.

"That's Mommy," Maya said excitedly. Both pointed to her like they were showing family albums.

Kelley settled down to a state of confusion when she noted the red lights flashing in the room. "Sarah? Why is Mommy on the TV?"

Casey and Sarah looked up to see what they meant. Sure enough, Jill's image was on the screen.

~***~***~

Casey and Sarah searched Chuck's room high and low for any sign as to where he might have gone and why he took his locator off. The twins had free range of Castle since there was no time to send them to their playroom.

"Is everyone in our family a spy?" Kelley asked. There was a sadness in her voice. Slowly, everyone they thought they could trust was in fact hunting them.

"We could always ask Orion. No one can stop us if we use the Intersect… Mommy can't be a spy. She wouldn't do that us."

~***~***~

"Jill Roberts is FULCRUM? And she has Chuck? How is that possible?" Beckman's voice rose with each word.

"Well, the List contained a code name our computer translated to one Jill Roberts. By the time we saw it, they were already gone," Casey began.

"His cell is switched off, and his watch is still in the apartment," Sarah finished.

"And where were the twins during all this?"

"They were here, in Castle," Casey said.

"'Were', Major?"

"They're in the playroom, General," Sarah answered.

"Find him. I don't care how. Just do it," Beckman ordered before the connection was closed on her end.

~***~***~

They found Chuck at a hotel soon after he saw the phrase Uncle Tobias. It translated to Leader via the Intersect. He finished spending what time he had left with Jill until checkout. It was a shaky time for him learning that the mother of his children was looking for him in a different way than he thought. He couldn't even bring himself to think of what she'd do to the twins and if she was acting the whole time they were together, even in college.

During the time Sarah and Casey were undercover at the hotel, they had rented a room for the girls. The twins were left with what they labeled as Casey's speech number one, which other than its location, was always the same. Stay in the room and stay away from the windows.

It was a way to keep an eye on them and keep them out of sight and danger at the same time.

"Where are my kids? I left them with you to babysit since you won't let me hire one! Tell me you didn't bring them with you…" Their lack of response answered part of his question.

~***~***~

In the hotel room, Kelley had a bit more of the curiosity-killed-the-cat gene than Maya. She pulled the window's curtain aside enough that she thought it would go unnoticed even by the super spies that had recently entered their world.

"Casey said to stay away from the window," Maya said as she grabbed her sister's hand to pull her back.

"I just wanted to see Mommy and Daddy," Kelley remarked. "It's not like they're do anything Intersect related anyway."

"Then why did Mommy's name come up on that list of agents?"

Kelley froze. Maya was right. She backed away from the window.

Chuck had long since returned to his and Jill's room, and Casey and Sarah were coming out of the back side of a massage tent. Kelley backed away from the window. The swaying of the curtain caught the spy's attention.

"Leave it to Bartowski to have kids just as bad at taking orders as he is," Casey said.

"At least they're still in the room, which is more than we can say for Chuck and the car… The important thing is that they're safe. We'll worry about reprimanding them only if we need to," Sarah reminded.

~***~***~

On their way back home, the twins watched their favorite kid's shows while Casey and Sarah spoke with Beckman.

"Are the asset's secure?"

"We have the minis in the backseat," Casey answered, beginning with what Beckman already knew.

"Chuck and Jill are on their way back. She's dropping him off at home," Sarah added.

"Excellent work. Call me when he gets home. We need to have a discussion."

~***~***~

Chuck sat down in the only chair Casey offered him. One right in front of his computer so he couldn't hide from Beckman and use his handlers as human shields.

The twins were in Casey's living room. A laptop was set up for them as a distraction, and as far as the agents knew, it was working. What they didn't know was that the twins had picked up certain skills from Chuck and the Intersect. Chuck rarely used any of his high school tech talent in front of them, so it was mostly the Intersect.

Kelley, who was usually the more daring of the two, took watch as Maya opened a black window. A vertical, green bar flashed as if waiting for her to type something.

Is everyone in our family a spy? Maya typed with her mind. If she touched the keyboard for more than a few seconds, Casey or Sarah would have come over to check up on them.

She kept the window open but minimized it to hide the chat. Their attention was taken away from their screen at the sound of Chuck's disappointed reply to Sarah's question.

"You know, for a few days, I thought things were going to be different. We could have a life. I could have a girlfriend. They could have their mom back in the picture. We could be a regular family of regular human beings. I thought Jill was..."

"Different?" Sarah asked.

"No. Normal. How could this happen?"

The desktop computer in front of Chuck lit up to show Beckman's face as she immediately began to answer his question. "Jill must have been recruited when she was at Stanford. Fulcrum uses leadership seminars to look for possible agents."

"Excuse me, I'm sorry, General, but who in my life isn't a spy? My sister? My best friend? Should I just start asking people that when I first meet them? 'Hi. I'd like the extra value meal, and while we're on the topic, do you covertly work for a government espionage faction'?"

Beckman wasn't going to answer the string of questions, and she didn't care for the sarcasm behind the last one. "Your flash in Jill's room referenced an agent called Leader. We want you to use your relationship with Jill, see if she makes contact with him."

Ask Orion who Leader is Kelley used her telepathy.

"General, Chuck is not ready for this type of mission. He could barely handle a good-bye with Jill. She's going to see right through him," Sarah tried to explain what can't be seen on paper.

"This is our best opportunity to infiltrate Fulcrum, but if you don't think he's ready..."

"I'll do it," he said, drawing everyone's attention before continuing. "Jill betrayed me, and my kids, twice. You bet I'll do it… We have plans for tonight. But I don't know what they are yet. I'll have to take the watch off. If I wear it, she'll think I'm back on the job."

"You are back on the job."

"I think what he meant, General, is that her guard will be up, and she won't make her move."

~***~***~

Chuck led the twins home. Thinking this was the perfect time to ask before entering a roomful of cameras, Maya asked, "Daddy, what's an expiration date?"

"It's when an item at the store loses its shelf life… why?"

The twins gave each other a look. They said, "No reason," and took of to their room. They knew that when they saw their Aunt Ellie in the cleaning mode she was in they were to stay out of her way as much as possible.

"Can you believe we almost had one of those?" Kelley asked after their door was shut.

"I think I'm sleeping in Daddy's bed tonight. And not just because of the expiration date. That Leader guy's file scared me."

"Yeah, and how about the fact that everyone we know keeps popping up as spy."

"That substitute teacher is still at school."

"Shhh… I think I hear Uncle Morgan in Daddy's room. Let's play spy. Only Daddy will know the difference if anyone opens the door."

"For someone who doesn't like the Awesome nickname, she sure used it a lot just now," Maya said as she handed Kelley on of their toy stethoscopes. She grabbed the other one. They set the earpieces into place, put the amplifier against the door, and listened.

~***~***~

Casey was impressed by the seven-year-olds. Under the guise of a game, they were using a spy method he and Sarah had been trained to use for cracking safes. And if anyone opened the door on them, it would look like they were playing doctor instead of spy.

~***~***~

Jill was arrested by Sarah and Casey, but Leader only got winged by a bullet and fled the scene. She was brought to Castle and hooked up a polygraph where she answered yes or no questions.

Once she gave the location of her boss, Leader, the agents left to contain him. They left Chuck with the order to stay away from Jill, but as usual, he wasn't one to follow orders when he wanted answers to his questions.

Even after Sarah told him he couldn't trust Jill, he started out making casual conversation and commenting on how he'd read, or skimmed, the Castle manual.

"Where are the girls?" Jill asked.

"They're okay. They had a great time a Disneyland… Would you… like a glass of water or something?"

"No, I'm good. Are Casey and Sarah ready to start again?"

"Um, no. No, not just yet. But before they do, I was wondering if I could maybe ask you a few things…"

"Go ahead."

"Back at Stanford, when we were dating, was that for real?"

"Yes."

"You really liked me? Those were real emotions?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then, why did you sleep with Bryce right after I got kicked out of school? Why did you essentially abandon our kids? You only used your visitation when it was convenient for you while I sacrificed everything for them."

"Chuck, it has to be a "yes" or "no" question or it won't work."

Eventually Chuck came to the question he really wanted to ask her. The ones about their kids were important, but the events that put his own life on hold effected the twins as well.

"Did you sleep with Bryce?"

"No. I didn't."

When the screen read positive, more questions came.

"So, you're telling me that for the last six years of my life, I've been believing that you betrayed us. Why would you do that?"

"When you got kicked out of school, my Fulcrum advisor said that I had to let you and the kids go if I didn't want anything to happen to you. Now you weren't talking to Bryce, so that was the easiest way to do it. I'm so sorry, Chuck."

"I don't believe this. Fulcrum told you to dump me and the kids?"

"I didn't have a choice."

He thought through her answer and her actions at the carnival. She didn't kill him when her handler told her to.

~***~***~

"Leader was brought in as a prisoner," Chuck said bringing his story to pivoting point where any twist could be expected, especially with an Intersect story.

"Yeah, but what about Mommy? Will we get to see her again?"

"Not likely," he shook his head sadly. "Mommy lied to Daddy so she could get out of the polygraph chair. She was working with Leader. Big Mike took out Leader. Tackled him into a display.

"Mommy was about to hurt Sarah in a really bad way, but I stepped in and stopped her. I wasn't going to let that happen."

Now that Jill was in a highly secure government facility, it was highly unlikely she was going to see anything outside of the prison walls. Her custody agreement with Chuck was revoked under the authority of General Beckman who normally wouldn't have had the power to do so had it not been for the circumstances.

"Well, Thanksgiving Day is over for a couple of little ones. So, before I turn off the lights, is there anything else I can do for two of my favorite girls?"

The twins didn't answer with words right away. They crawled out of bed and wrapped Chuck in a much-needed hug. The type that even Ellie couldn't fulfill.

"We'll miss seeing Mommy," Maya said.

"But thank you for saving Sarah," Kelley added.

How he raised these girls to be brave in the face of never seeing their mother again, he didn't know. But under the circumstances, he didn't question it. After all, they hardly ever saw her while growing up.