Fic: Following The Evidence
Title: Following The Evidence
Author: Corona
Fandom: Chuck
Pairing: Suggested Chuck/Casey
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: In no way mine or anything to do with me. I own nothing.
Summary: Ellie comes to some conclusions
"Chuck?" He's already got halfway down the hall, and Ellie makes him jump because he didn't expect her to still be up.
She's on the couch, feet tucked under her. She looks for all the world like she's spent all night worrying.
"Hey Ellie, what is it, what's wrong?"
"Chuck, come and sit down." Ellie pats the couch next to her. Which can either be a bad sign or a really bad sign. So he doesn't hesitate, just slides in beside her.
"What is it?"
She nods, like she's made up her mind where to start.
"I've been thinking about this for a while now and I think I finally understand."
"You do?"
"About you, and Sarah."
Chuck's smile slips a little because conversations about Sarah inevitably end up involving lots of lying and false enthusiasm. When those conversations are with Ellie he always ends up tired and vaguely sick with himself.
But this is clearly important.
"What about us?"
"It's not fair on Sarah to use her as a pretend girlfriend," Ellie says carefully and Chuck's brain comes to a noisy and untidy halt.
"What?" Ellie knew, Ellie knew...something. "No, what do you mean, that's a crazy thing to say." Chuck tries his smile, his 'you're so crazy with your crazy ideas' smile.
But judging by Ellie's expression he must have missed it by a mark.
"I mean she's into you, but the way you look at her, this strange mixture of guilt, gratitude and vague longing, and I couldn't for the life of me work out why." She shakes her head, like she's been working her way through a maze of social cues and is now holding all the evidence in her hands.
This isn't good, Chuck feels obliged to provide evidence to the contrary...whatever her evidence turns out to be, she hasn't really made that clear yet.
"Of course Sarah's my girlfriend. Why would you think she wasn't?"
Ellie raises an eyebrow. "You never kiss her, you rarely touch her unless she prompts you to." She folds her arms and shakes her head. "It's really not fair to her. I know you feel like you have to, but you don't, honestly you don't."
Ellie shifts her feet so she can face him, all seriousness and resolve.
"I know she's pretending Chuck, I know that she's pretending for you and I know why."
"Whoah, okay, stop for just a second you've lost me. I don't have a clue what you're trying to subtly allude to here. So could you try something less subtle, like perhaps flashcards?"
Ellie gives him a guilty look, though for the life of him he's not sure what she's feeling guilty about yet.
"I feel like a really bad sister, I mean I know you must have tried to hide it, and god knows why Chuck because I've always told you that you could tell me anything, anything at all, and it wouldn't matter to me. I mean I thought for a while you and Bryce- I mean you were so betrayed!"
"What with Bryce?" It's like an entire new dialect trying to follow Ellie's meandering, and it seems to be a meandering she's in no great hurry to get to the end of.
"But then this, and there have been so many signs that I missed because I was so busy concentrating on you and Sarah, on getting excited about you and Sarah."
Ellie stops and squeezes his arm.
"Because I got so excited about that, and I'm sorry. I could see that I was making you uncomfortable and you kept telling me that it was complicated and I understand now."
"Ellie-"
"Chuck be quiet for a minute I want to say this." She's using her chastising voice so he shuts his mouth. "You're always sneaking off upstairs when you think no one's looking. Sometimes at night when you think I'm asleep."
Chuck wants to protest that he is getting a little better at the espionage skills. But that's a secret so he can't. But he totally is. He still doesn't have a clue where she's going though, unless she knows he's been sneaking off to save the world. Which would be both and relief and absolutely terrifying. It seems unlikely though because Sarah and Casey have been so careful, occasionally insane, but careful.
"I want you to know that it's okay, it's absolutely okay. I mean you could have told me years ago."
"Please start making sense soon," Chuck says quietly. "Because at the moment the whole conversation is just-"
He sweeps a hand over the top of his head.
Ellie is clearly fighting the urge to whack him on the arm. Normally she'd just do it but this time she resists.
Which is more than a little worrying.
This is bad.
This is very bad.
"Stop being obtuse on purpose, you're smarter than that," Ellie needles, and he wishes, really wishes that he was doing it on purpose because he doesn't have a clue.
"I'm not being obtuse, you're being disturbingly opaque."
Ellie puts a hand on his arm, which is a reassuring gesture that he can't help but be suspicious of.
"The way he always seems to show up at family gatherings and you never bat an eyelid, and the way Sarah is always glaring at him. The fact that you're always sneaking off together at work."
"Who Morgan?" And now he's frowning because they've had a variety of awkward Morgan conversations but none quite like this.
She scowls, scowls like she thinks he's playing with her.
"No, not Morgan"
"I'm still confused," Chuck says helplessly.
"I know you're sleeping with Casey," Ellie says simply.
Oh my god! In what world could someone possibly come to that conclusion of wrongness.
"You do?" He asks incredulously. Then immediately realises that this is the WRONG ANSWER to that question! "No I'm not!"
But Chuck suspects the second answer is not enough to cancel out the first.
"No I'm not," he tries again. But Ellie is already smiling in that special way she has when she's worked something out.
"It only all clicked with me today when I saw the look he gave you and Sarah when you disappeared together. That sort of angry/jealous look of repressed frustration. Which wasn't anything on it's own." She presses her hands together. "But then I remembered the way he wants to get you alone all the time, and the way you almost never protest."
"Umm, Ellie-"
She waves him quiet with a hand and Chuck is torn between sick fascination about where she's going and a lingering sense of horror about where she's going.
"I mean okay, at first I had considerable trouble picturing it."
Chuck makes some sort of his noise that lodges in his throat.
"Not that I would!" Ellie puts a hand out. "I mean in a purely hypothetical sense, but it's clear you're having sex with him."
"Wha?" As protests go it isn't quite the vehement denial he was aiming for.
His throat seems to have seized up in shock.
"I mean the way he looks at you sometimes, Chuck the way he looks at you." She raises an eyebrow. Which under the circumstances is possibly the most disturbing thing he's ever seen. "And you're always looking back."
But that's just wrong, and Chuck knows the only reason he watches Casey so much is to make sure he's not doing anything sinister, or threatening. And boy is that a full time job.
Casey is more likely to shoot him than-
Chuck pulls his brain back from the brink before it can start helpfully providing flashcards of it's own.
Ellie sighs. "I just want to know that you're okay, that you have what you really want."
"What I really want," Chuck says absently, because underneath all the crazy it's such an Ellie thing to say, and he loves her for it.
"Just please tell me you're using condoms because-"
Oh god the flashcards! He actually has to physically put a hand over his sister's mouth to stop the words coming, to literally kill them dead.
"Oh my god please stop talking! I have to go, away, far away!" He stands up and then realises he will have to move his hand before he can flee.
Maybe he can just talk over her for as long as it takes him to get to the door.
"I have to make a phone call and do stuff. So I'll see you later. Okay."
"Chuck!"
Chuck flees.
Author: Corona
Fandom: Chuck
Pairing: Suggested Chuck/Casey
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: In no way mine or anything to do with me. I own nothing.
Summary: Ellie comes to some conclusions
"Chuck?" He's already got halfway down the hall, and Ellie makes him jump because he didn't expect her to still be up.
She's on the couch, feet tucked under her. She looks for all the world like she's spent all night worrying.
"Hey Ellie, what is it, what's wrong?"
"Chuck, come and sit down." Ellie pats the couch next to her. Which can either be a bad sign or a really bad sign. So he doesn't hesitate, just slides in beside her.
"What is it?"
She nods, like she's made up her mind where to start.
"I've been thinking about this for a while now and I think I finally understand."
"You do?"
"About you, and Sarah."
Chuck's smile slips a little because conversations about Sarah inevitably end up involving lots of lying and false enthusiasm. When those conversations are with Ellie he always ends up tired and vaguely sick with himself.
But this is clearly important.
"What about us?"
"It's not fair on Sarah to use her as a pretend girlfriend," Ellie says carefully and Chuck's brain comes to a noisy and untidy halt.
"What?" Ellie knew, Ellie knew...something. "No, what do you mean, that's a crazy thing to say." Chuck tries his smile, his 'you're so crazy with your crazy ideas' smile.
But judging by Ellie's expression he must have missed it by a mark.
"I mean she's into you, but the way you look at her, this strange mixture of guilt, gratitude and vague longing, and I couldn't for the life of me work out why." She shakes her head, like she's been working her way through a maze of social cues and is now holding all the evidence in her hands.
This isn't good, Chuck feels obliged to provide evidence to the contrary...whatever her evidence turns out to be, she hasn't really made that clear yet.
"Of course Sarah's my girlfriend. Why would you think she wasn't?"
Ellie raises an eyebrow. "You never kiss her, you rarely touch her unless she prompts you to." She folds her arms and shakes her head. "It's really not fair to her. I know you feel like you have to, but you don't, honestly you don't."
Ellie shifts her feet so she can face him, all seriousness and resolve.
"I know she's pretending Chuck, I know that she's pretending for you and I know why."
"Whoah, okay, stop for just a second you've lost me. I don't have a clue what you're trying to subtly allude to here. So could you try something less subtle, like perhaps flashcards?"
Ellie gives him a guilty look, though for the life of him he's not sure what she's feeling guilty about yet.
"I feel like a really bad sister, I mean I know you must have tried to hide it, and god knows why Chuck because I've always told you that you could tell me anything, anything at all, and it wouldn't matter to me. I mean I thought for a while you and Bryce- I mean you were so betrayed!"
"What with Bryce?" It's like an entire new dialect trying to follow Ellie's meandering, and it seems to be a meandering she's in no great hurry to get to the end of.
"But then this, and there have been so many signs that I missed because I was so busy concentrating on you and Sarah, on getting excited about you and Sarah."
Ellie stops and squeezes his arm.
"Because I got so excited about that, and I'm sorry. I could see that I was making you uncomfortable and you kept telling me that it was complicated and I understand now."
"Ellie-"
"Chuck be quiet for a minute I want to say this." She's using her chastising voice so he shuts his mouth. "You're always sneaking off upstairs when you think no one's looking. Sometimes at night when you think I'm asleep."
Chuck wants to protest that he is getting a little better at the espionage skills. But that's a secret so he can't. But he totally is. He still doesn't have a clue where she's going though, unless she knows he's been sneaking off to save the world. Which would be both and relief and absolutely terrifying. It seems unlikely though because Sarah and Casey have been so careful, occasionally insane, but careful.
"I want you to know that it's okay, it's absolutely okay. I mean you could have told me years ago."
"Please start making sense soon," Chuck says quietly. "Because at the moment the whole conversation is just-"
He sweeps a hand over the top of his head.
Ellie is clearly fighting the urge to whack him on the arm. Normally she'd just do it but this time she resists.
Which is more than a little worrying.
This is bad.
This is very bad.
"Stop being obtuse on purpose, you're smarter than that," Ellie needles, and he wishes, really wishes that he was doing it on purpose because he doesn't have a clue.
"I'm not being obtuse, you're being disturbingly opaque."
Ellie puts a hand on his arm, which is a reassuring gesture that he can't help but be suspicious of.
"The way he always seems to show up at family gatherings and you never bat an eyelid, and the way Sarah is always glaring at him. The fact that you're always sneaking off together at work."
"Who Morgan?" And now he's frowning because they've had a variety of awkward Morgan conversations but none quite like this.
She scowls, scowls like she thinks he's playing with her.
"No, not Morgan"
"I'm still confused," Chuck says helplessly.
"I know you're sleeping with Casey," Ellie says simply.
Oh my god! In what world could someone possibly come to that conclusion of wrongness.
"You do?" He asks incredulously. Then immediately realises that this is the WRONG ANSWER to that question! "No I'm not!"
But Chuck suspects the second answer is not enough to cancel out the first.
"No I'm not," he tries again. But Ellie is already smiling in that special way she has when she's worked something out.
"It only all clicked with me today when I saw the look he gave you and Sarah when you disappeared together. That sort of angry/jealous look of repressed frustration. Which wasn't anything on it's own." She presses her hands together. "But then I remembered the way he wants to get you alone all the time, and the way you almost never protest."
"Umm, Ellie-"
She waves him quiet with a hand and Chuck is torn between sick fascination about where she's going and a lingering sense of horror about where she's going.
"I mean okay, at first I had considerable trouble picturing it."
Chuck makes some sort of his noise that lodges in his throat.
"Not that I would!" Ellie puts a hand out. "I mean in a purely hypothetical sense, but it's clear you're having sex with him."
"Wha?" As protests go it isn't quite the vehement denial he was aiming for.
His throat seems to have seized up in shock.
"I mean the way he looks at you sometimes, Chuck the way he looks at you." She raises an eyebrow. Which under the circumstances is possibly the most disturbing thing he's ever seen. "And you're always looking back."
But that's just wrong, and Chuck knows the only reason he watches Casey so much is to make sure he's not doing anything sinister, or threatening. And boy is that a full time job.
Casey is more likely to shoot him than-
Chuck pulls his brain back from the brink before it can start helpfully providing flashcards of it's own.
Ellie sighs. "I just want to know that you're okay, that you have what you really want."
"What I really want," Chuck says absently, because underneath all the crazy it's such an Ellie thing to say, and he loves her for it.
"Just please tell me you're using condoms because-"
Oh god the flashcards! He actually has to physically put a hand over his sister's mouth to stop the words coming, to literally kill them dead.
"Oh my god please stop talking! I have to go, away, far away!" He stands up and then realises he will have to move his hand before he can flee.
Maybe he can just talk over her for as long as it takes him to get to the door.
"I have to make a phone call and do stuff. So I'll see you later. Okay."
"Chuck!"
Chuck flees.