[ 10_hurt_comfort: chuck/casey ] [ Lonely: A Cunning Plan ]
[ Fandom | Chuck ]
[ Characters | Chuck / Casey ]
[ Rating | PG-13 ]
[ Word Count | 1,670 ]
[ Masterlist | Here ]
[ Summary | It's Thanksgiving and someone is missing from the Bartowski table. Sarah has a plan. ]
[ Disclaimer | If I were the owner of Chuck, there would have been more Casey and Chuck giving one another smouldering gazes. So nada, I just play in this sandbox. ]
Sarah knew the spy life was a bit of a dichotomy: the more famous and glamorous life of fast cars and firearms and the rather lesser known borderline prosaic routine of stake outs and intelligence gathering. It was all a game of patience. But with the Intersect doing much of the heavy lifting on the intelligence front, she found that her assignment in Burbank leant in towards the glitzy but over exaggerated James Bond life.
The number of missions completed in a month alone compared to her old routine was staggering. Chuck, sweet Chuck, who had taken life's many setbacks and never asked for any of this, could still look at his current life and enjoy it somewhat. Missions were like Pringles. Once you pop, you can’t stop.
She felt blessed in many ways to pose as his cover girlfriend. For one, Ellie was an excellent cook and family dinners were always a treat when compared to takeout. But it was days like Thanksgiving that made Sarah acutely aware of just how wonderful having a family could be. Ellie kept saying how lucky Chuck was to have her as his girlfriend but Sarah knew it was the other way around. She was glad to have met Chuck and she knew she wasn't the only one who thought so. Not that manly man Casey would ever admit to having 'lady feelings' but Sarah knew.
Casey didn’t have to say anything and spies were trained to lie through their teeth. It was in her NSA partner's actions that told her everything she needed to know. Every time Chuck and Casey walked together from the Buy More to the Orange Orange the NSA agent had appeared more at ease with the younger man. Sarah had noticed a change lately between the two. Chuck was so easy to be around and smiles that were once because the job required it had become much more genuine. If someone had told her a year ago at the beginning of the assignment that NSA's top dog John Casey - trained killer and B.A.M.F. - could be reprogrammed to crack a smile, Sarah would have laughed herself silly. Now, she saw everything she needed to in Casey’s tiny lip quirk.
Thanksgiving came around the corner and as Chuck had predicted, Ellie had personally dropped by the Orange Orange to invite her over. It was going to be a small quiet family get together but somehow Jeff, Lester and Morgan had escaped from the Buy More. They made themselves quite at home around the Bartowski table. Ellie smiled, although not entirely keen on the idea, had gone along with it. Her endurance built up after years of Morgan tolerance. Jeff and Lester arriving had hardly fazed her.
Sarah gazed around the table as Chuck handed over a glass of wine and smiled at her goofily like he did. There was only one person missing at the Bartowski table tonight and the CIA agent knew exactly how she could rope him into joining them. She had a cunning plan.
"Hey Chuck, can I talk to you for a second?" She indicated towards the balcony. "Um, outside, alone?" She amended to her earlier question as Jeff and Lester had looked up rather like the cat that got to the canary and the cream. Their gazes unnerved her. Though mostly it was Jeff was leering at her again, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Without waiting for Chuck's response, she curled a hand around Chuck's wrist and tugged him towards the balcony.
"Yeah sure Sarah. What's up? Is everything alright? We don't have a mission right now do we because I don't think Ellie would ever forgive me if we left right now, if you get where I’m going?" Sarah knew how important family traditions were to Chuck. As a field agent, public holidays were never celebrated by the fact that rival agencies near and far never gave a toss about them. Protecting Chuck had been the longest assignment she had had and truth be told, Sarah sometimes missed the travels and an altogether different type of adrenalin rush. The frozen yoghurt business could only go so far in that department.
Chuck looked over his shoulder at his friends and family in alarm then turned his attention back over when she didn't answer immediately. His warm chocolate brown eyes were filled with worry. "No, no. We don't have a new mission. But, um, you said earlier that you wanted to know something real about me." Sarah took a deep breath and cast a quick look to see if anyone was eavesdropping. One could never be entirely too careful in this line of work. "Being a spy isn't as glamorous as you'd like to think. You know what we do is nothing like James Bond. There aren't gorgeous people leaping at the chance to sleep with us at every international port of call. Sometimes it takes hours to wrap up a mission, sometimes it takes years. Most of the time we work alone or with a partner."
"I know you've seen Casey's file. He's the best of the best. You and I know that and it’s scary to admit that I trust him with my life. We all make a lot of sacrifices to keep the people in this country safe to lead their free lives. There is always going to be someone faster, stronger and smarter than you. You don't serve your country for twenty years as an agent and expect to live that long but can you imagine how much of that time you would spend alone, just waiting for something to happen?" She paused in her drink to take another sip of her wine and watched as a light bulb seemed to go off in Chuck's brilliant mind. Looks like the beginning of her cunning plan worked. "Chuck, where are you going?"
Chuck turned around and smiled, promising her he'd be back really soon before heading out the front door. Re-joining Ellie, Sarah kept an eye out the window from the dining room out to the fountain and smiled into her glass as Chuck knocked on Casey's door. She knew how Chuck had managed to wheedle himself under Casey's seemingly impenetrable walls and if anyone could convince Casey then it was undoubtedly their rather persistent but favourite nerd.
Even if sometimes they never agreed on the proper methods, Sarah had to admit Casey was the best partner she had ever had. He didn't deserve to spend Thanksgiving alone in his apartment keeping up surveillance on them when he could actually be with them. Spies may not do public holidays but this year, Sarah believed differently.
The door to Casey's apartment eventually opened and Sarah moved herself to a better vantage point. She watched as Chuck start gesticulating with his hands in what was a vague description of a rather lop-sided turkey and Casey clearly not impressed by it. Sarah moved from her position near the curtains before Casey caught her staring and busied herself with complimenting Ellie on her excellent culinary skills on the entrees. Awesome refilled the wine in her glass with a wink and then minutes later; Chuck re-opened the door and announced they still had one rather late guest. Casey stepped in with a bottle of red wine. Morgan appeared to be rather put out that Casey hadn't made his mini quiches again.
"Hello. I hope I'm not intruding?"
Ellie smiled and laid her hand on Casey's arm. "You are always welcome here John. I thought Chuck had already invited you earlier so I didn't say anything. And between you and me, I'm starting to think I'm looking after far too many children than I can handle at this table. Please have a seat. Devon, sweetie, can you get John a glass please?"
"Already on it, babe," Awesome replied as he poured Casey a glass. "Happy Thanksgiving!"
Sarah smiled charmingly as Awesome went into the kitchen to help Ellie with the food. Chuck was whisked away by Morgan in an attempt to control whatever Jeff and Lester were doing on the balcony with far too many beer cans. She sidled up next to her partner and watched the chaos unfold with an amused twinkle in her eye. "Casey."
"Walker."
"I see Chuck has managed to lure you over." She smiled to herself at the answering grunt. She wasn’t sure if Casey was embarrassed that Chuck had managed to sweet talk him into coming or if there was something else. She thought she could definitely get used to this as Ellie announced for everyone to gather around and start eating.
*
The house was finally quiet and the only one left remotely awake was Sarah. She had paced herself on the alcohol and watched as everyone began to drift off one by one after a delicious and filling meal.
Jeff and Lester had taken up residence on the couch and Morgan was collapsed in the hallway, unable to be coaxed away from the wooden panelling he claimed was comfortable. Sarah didn’t want to be Morgan when he woke up in the morning feeling sore and stiff. Awesome and Ellie had gone to bed a few hours ago like responsible adults.
Sarah had volunteered herself for dish duty and had forbidden Chuck to help her. She made Casey make sure that Chuck would be ok though the two had been in a fierce drinking competition earlier that night. Drying her hands on the kitchen towel, she crept closer to Chuck’s room and opened the well-oiled door.
The sight made her smile. Chuck was curled up in his bed fast asleep and had the blankets tucked snugly around him with a pillow which Sarah discovered was oddly Casey shaped. She quietly left the house chuckling to herself. Her cunning plan had worked like a charm. She only had one regret that she wouldn't be there to see their reactions in the morning in person but that was what Casey's bugs were for.
Author's Comment Fourth one for 10_hurt_comfort and I think this one may be my favourite since it's using an outside POV. I think I may have to write more similar to this for another prompt later on. Sarah definitely knows something is going on between Chuck and Casey and seems rather hell bent in doing something about it. Ho ho ho. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you that do celebrate it =)
[ Characters | Chuck / Casey ]
[ Rating | PG-13 ]
[ Word Count | 1,670 ]
[ Masterlist | Here ]
[ Summary | It's Thanksgiving and someone is missing from the Bartowski table. Sarah has a plan. ]
[ Disclaimer | If I were the owner of Chuck, there would have been more Casey and Chuck giving one another smouldering gazes. So nada, I just play in this sandbox. ]
Sarah knew the spy life was a bit of a dichotomy: the more famous and glamorous life of fast cars and firearms and the rather lesser known borderline prosaic routine of stake outs and intelligence gathering. It was all a game of patience. But with the Intersect doing much of the heavy lifting on the intelligence front, she found that her assignment in Burbank leant in towards the glitzy but over exaggerated James Bond life.
The number of missions completed in a month alone compared to her old routine was staggering. Chuck, sweet Chuck, who had taken life's many setbacks and never asked for any of this, could still look at his current life and enjoy it somewhat. Missions were like Pringles. Once you pop, you can’t stop.
She felt blessed in many ways to pose as his cover girlfriend. For one, Ellie was an excellent cook and family dinners were always a treat when compared to takeout. But it was days like Thanksgiving that made Sarah acutely aware of just how wonderful having a family could be. Ellie kept saying how lucky Chuck was to have her as his girlfriend but Sarah knew it was the other way around. She was glad to have met Chuck and she knew she wasn't the only one who thought so. Not that manly man Casey would ever admit to having 'lady feelings' but Sarah knew.
Casey didn’t have to say anything and spies were trained to lie through their teeth. It was in her NSA partner's actions that told her everything she needed to know. Every time Chuck and Casey walked together from the Buy More to the Orange Orange the NSA agent had appeared more at ease with the younger man. Sarah had noticed a change lately between the two. Chuck was so easy to be around and smiles that were once because the job required it had become much more genuine. If someone had told her a year ago at the beginning of the assignment that NSA's top dog John Casey - trained killer and B.A.M.F. - could be reprogrammed to crack a smile, Sarah would have laughed herself silly. Now, she saw everything she needed to in Casey’s tiny lip quirk.
Thanksgiving came around the corner and as Chuck had predicted, Ellie had personally dropped by the Orange Orange to invite her over. It was going to be a small quiet family get together but somehow Jeff, Lester and Morgan had escaped from the Buy More. They made themselves quite at home around the Bartowski table. Ellie smiled, although not entirely keen on the idea, had gone along with it. Her endurance built up after years of Morgan tolerance. Jeff and Lester arriving had hardly fazed her.
Sarah gazed around the table as Chuck handed over a glass of wine and smiled at her goofily like he did. There was only one person missing at the Bartowski table tonight and the CIA agent knew exactly how she could rope him into joining them. She had a cunning plan.
"Hey Chuck, can I talk to you for a second?" She indicated towards the balcony. "Um, outside, alone?" She amended to her earlier question as Jeff and Lester had looked up rather like the cat that got to the canary and the cream. Their gazes unnerved her. Though mostly it was Jeff was leering at her again, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Without waiting for Chuck's response, she curled a hand around Chuck's wrist and tugged him towards the balcony.
"Yeah sure Sarah. What's up? Is everything alright? We don't have a mission right now do we because I don't think Ellie would ever forgive me if we left right now, if you get where I’m going?" Sarah knew how important family traditions were to Chuck. As a field agent, public holidays were never celebrated by the fact that rival agencies near and far never gave a toss about them. Protecting Chuck had been the longest assignment she had had and truth be told, Sarah sometimes missed the travels and an altogether different type of adrenalin rush. The frozen yoghurt business could only go so far in that department.
Chuck looked over his shoulder at his friends and family in alarm then turned his attention back over when she didn't answer immediately. His warm chocolate brown eyes were filled with worry. "No, no. We don't have a new mission. But, um, you said earlier that you wanted to know something real about me." Sarah took a deep breath and cast a quick look to see if anyone was eavesdropping. One could never be entirely too careful in this line of work. "Being a spy isn't as glamorous as you'd like to think. You know what we do is nothing like James Bond. There aren't gorgeous people leaping at the chance to sleep with us at every international port of call. Sometimes it takes hours to wrap up a mission, sometimes it takes years. Most of the time we work alone or with a partner."
"I know you've seen Casey's file. He's the best of the best. You and I know that and it’s scary to admit that I trust him with my life. We all make a lot of sacrifices to keep the people in this country safe to lead their free lives. There is always going to be someone faster, stronger and smarter than you. You don't serve your country for twenty years as an agent and expect to live that long but can you imagine how much of that time you would spend alone, just waiting for something to happen?" She paused in her drink to take another sip of her wine and watched as a light bulb seemed to go off in Chuck's brilliant mind. Looks like the beginning of her cunning plan worked. "Chuck, where are you going?"
Chuck turned around and smiled, promising her he'd be back really soon before heading out the front door. Re-joining Ellie, Sarah kept an eye out the window from the dining room out to the fountain and smiled into her glass as Chuck knocked on Casey's door. She knew how Chuck had managed to wheedle himself under Casey's seemingly impenetrable walls and if anyone could convince Casey then it was undoubtedly their rather persistent but favourite nerd.
Even if sometimes they never agreed on the proper methods, Sarah had to admit Casey was the best partner she had ever had. He didn't deserve to spend Thanksgiving alone in his apartment keeping up surveillance on them when he could actually be with them. Spies may not do public holidays but this year, Sarah believed differently.
The door to Casey's apartment eventually opened and Sarah moved herself to a better vantage point. She watched as Chuck start gesticulating with his hands in what was a vague description of a rather lop-sided turkey and Casey clearly not impressed by it. Sarah moved from her position near the curtains before Casey caught her staring and busied herself with complimenting Ellie on her excellent culinary skills on the entrees. Awesome refilled the wine in her glass with a wink and then minutes later; Chuck re-opened the door and announced they still had one rather late guest. Casey stepped in with a bottle of red wine. Morgan appeared to be rather put out that Casey hadn't made his mini quiches again.
"Hello. I hope I'm not intruding?"
Ellie smiled and laid her hand on Casey's arm. "You are always welcome here John. I thought Chuck had already invited you earlier so I didn't say anything. And between you and me, I'm starting to think I'm looking after far too many children than I can handle at this table. Please have a seat. Devon, sweetie, can you get John a glass please?"
"Already on it, babe," Awesome replied as he poured Casey a glass. "Happy Thanksgiving!"
Sarah smiled charmingly as Awesome went into the kitchen to help Ellie with the food. Chuck was whisked away by Morgan in an attempt to control whatever Jeff and Lester were doing on the balcony with far too many beer cans. She sidled up next to her partner and watched the chaos unfold with an amused twinkle in her eye. "Casey."
"Walker."
"I see Chuck has managed to lure you over." She smiled to herself at the answering grunt. She wasn’t sure if Casey was embarrassed that Chuck had managed to sweet talk him into coming or if there was something else. She thought she could definitely get used to this as Ellie announced for everyone to gather around and start eating.
*
The house was finally quiet and the only one left remotely awake was Sarah. She had paced herself on the alcohol and watched as everyone began to drift off one by one after a delicious and filling meal.
Jeff and Lester had taken up residence on the couch and Morgan was collapsed in the hallway, unable to be coaxed away from the wooden panelling he claimed was comfortable. Sarah didn’t want to be Morgan when he woke up in the morning feeling sore and stiff. Awesome and Ellie had gone to bed a few hours ago like responsible adults.
Sarah had volunteered herself for dish duty and had forbidden Chuck to help her. She made Casey make sure that Chuck would be ok though the two had been in a fierce drinking competition earlier that night. Drying her hands on the kitchen towel, she crept closer to Chuck’s room and opened the well-oiled door.
The sight made her smile. Chuck was curled up in his bed fast asleep and had the blankets tucked snugly around him with a pillow which Sarah discovered was oddly Casey shaped. She quietly left the house chuckling to herself. Her cunning plan had worked like a charm. She only had one regret that she wouldn't be there to see their reactions in the morning in person but that was what Casey's bugs were for.
Author's Comment Fourth one for 10_hurt_comfort and I think this one may be my favourite since it's using an outside POV. I think I may have to write more similar to this for another prompt later on. Sarah definitely knows something is going on between Chuck and Casey and seems rather hell bent in doing something about it. Ho ho ho. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you that do celebrate it =)