Hi! Sorry that it has been awhile. Life, y'know. Of late, I've been holding off on posting anything until I have the entire section complete. That way, if I need to make any retroactive changes to fit the ending, I can do so. Well, I still don't have the section complete, but I feel semi-confident that I can post without serious danger. Plus, reviews will give me more impetus to get the job done! (Hint, hint.)

Thanks to my wife and Anon for being Editors Extraordinaire as always.

Thanks to you all for reading and reviewing (and for being patient)!

I don't own anybody in the Chuck Universe, not even Morgan.

Oh, and there's a lot of deep breaths and gritting of teeth in this section. Maybe I'll bring in some variety by having grinding and gnashing of teeth.

______________________________________________________________________

The sun began to shine upon the city of Burbank as a lovely barefoot woman (wearing only a bed sheet) began to yell at a short man sitting on the ground, oblivious to the shocked expression of her boyfriend (wearing only boxers) who had just been laughing with that same short man.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?"

Her boyfriend, Chuck Bartowski, frantically began to make similar "shushing" gestures and sounds that he had recently used on the sitting man. "Sarah! You'll wake up everybody in the complex!"

"Oh yeah? Like who?" snapped Sarah.

On cue, the huge form of Colonel John Casey came springing out of his apartment, apparently ready for war, growling, "What is it?" He was wearing only a bathrobe. The other three all stared at him, especially the man on the ground, Morgan Grimes.

Morgan had always felt unnerved by John Casey, who had struck Morgan as an extremely bizarre individual. Casey appeared almost incapable of having fun, behaved like a bully, and oddly, was the best salesman in the history of the Burbank Buy More. Worst of all, Morgan would swear that Casey was trying to steal Morgan's place as Chuck Bartowski's best friend. Bad enough that Sarah Walker had monopolized Chuck's time for much of the last two years. As Chuck's girlfriend, she was almost expected to do that. John Casey was another matter. Their fellow Buy More colleague had come into the lives of Chuck and Morgan like a storm from nowhere. It wasn't just that Casey was working with them though. As it turned out, Casey lived right next door to the Bartowskis. Casey suddenly was found at Bartowski family events. Casey would sometimes be seen watching Chuck and Morgan from his window. At first, Chuck also seemed rightfully intimidated by Casey. Yet, the two would always drive into work together. They could often be seen having intense discussions in the Buy More, though Morgan admitted, the two never seemed happy about it. Morgan later learned that Chuck and Casey had even resigned from the Buy More together! That hurt Morgan's feelings, especially. He had always imagined that he and Chuck would share that glorious moment of quitting. But Morgan couldn't be too put out. After all, he had been the first to leave, and he didn't consult Chuck first, so what right did he have to complain? In fact, maybe Chuck had been inspired by Morgan's example! But then, Morgan had learned that Chuck had opened up a downtown office, working with Sarah and Casey. At times, the realities of Morgan's existence seemed to flicker around the edges.

Though just his presence would be sufficient to cause Morgan consternation; at the moment John Casey was even more threatening and intimidating than normal. Partially, it was because the man's face was a wreck. Casey sported two black eyes, a fat lip, and Morgan guessed he didn't want to see Casey display his teeth. There was also the fact that Casey had one hand reaching into the inside of his robe, apparently holding something large and bulging. Finding that much more disturbing, Morgan looked back at Casey's face only to find Casey at least trying to stare back at him.

"That you, Grimes?"

"Uh, yeah, John. Hi."

"You got rid of the beard. You look different."

"I look different?"

Apparently ignoring Morgan's incredulous tone, Casey turned to Chuck and Sarah. "Everything all right here?"

Sarah opened her mouth, but Chuck quickly said, "We're fine, John, just fine. Um, you can go now."

Casey grunted, said, "Carry on," then turned around (still holding the thing in his robe) and walked back to his apartment.

"What happened to him? Wait, what am I saying? You still haven't told me what happened to you, Chuck!"

"Um, uh-" Chuck looked at Sarah, and said, "Bar fight?" His girlfriend nodded. Chuck turned back to Morgan and said, "Bar fight."

"Since when do you get into bar fights? Since when do you go to bars?"

"Uh, Casey gets lonely and drinks. And nobody likes a lonely drunk. So, I took him to a bar. Turns out he's an angry drunk."

"Ah." Morgan nodded. He could see that. Sort of.

Sarah said in a testy voice, "Could we please continue this conversation inside after Chuck and I are dressed?" The two men quickly nodded agreement.

They walked into the front door to find the living room with various pieces of male and female apparel haphazardly scattered on floor or furniture.

"Cool!" exclaimed Morgan. "Guess you had a fun night! I've been there."

Sarah glared at him, gathered her clothes, and left to enter the bathroom. Chuck watched her leave, then gathering up his own clothes, he said, "I'd better talk to her. She looks pretty mad."

Morgan shrugged, sat on the couch, and said, "I'll wait."

________________________________________________________________________

When Chuck entered the bathroom (and promptly locked the door), Sarah was already in the shower. "Um...", he began.

The curtain yanked open and Sarah's lathered head poked out. "What? Was? That?" She was glaring at him.

"Ah, I haven't actually asked him for an explanation yet. I thought you might want to be there for the interrogation."

"I'm not talking about him! I'm talking about you!" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "How is it that you were outside without any protection, going after a potential threat, just in your boxers?"

"Oh!" Chuck scratched his hair, distractedly. "Well, uh, I woke up to see you wrapped in a sheet, sneaking into our room with your knife. Then I heard the sound of the glass hitting the floor, and figuring where it came from, I decided to provide you support by going out around front. Only I recognized Morgan, and I must have realized what was about to happen because the Intersect kicked on, and I went flying at him. Pretty cool how I caught the knife, huh? I've never done anything like that before."

Sarah gritted her teeth and shoved the curtain back in place vanishing behind it.

Chuck was nonplussed. "Honey?"

"That was a completely unnecessary danger you placed yourself in Chuck," he heard from behind the curtain.

Chuck rolled his eyes. Here we go again. "I'd say it was entirely necessary Sarah, given that I saved Morgan's life, thereby saving you from a lot of guilt."

There was a pause, and then he heard a cold voice say, "I need to concentrate on showering. Please start some coffee for your breaking-and-entering friend."

Chuck considering arguing it further, but he decided he might be better off giving her a chance to calm down first. He left the bathroom.

Joining Morgan again in the living room, Chuck began to shove on his clothes.

"Trouble in paradise?" asked Morgan.

"She's not happy with me, and she's really not happy with you," replied Chuck.

"Hey, I can explain!"

"Better wait until she's out. Otherwise, you'll have to repeat it."

Ten minutes later, they were joined by Sarah, freshly showered, but still appearing quite irritated. Chuck handed Morgan a cup full of coffee, which Morgan promptly handed to Sarah. With nary a thank you, she snatched it away from him, so abruptly, that both men were surprised that none of the hot liquid spilled out.

"Morgan, explain why you were trying to break into our home," she growled. It occurred to Chuck that Morgan had never faced Sarah's bad side before, and hoped that his buddy wouldn't further antagonize her.

Morgan stammered, "You- you locked up the Morgan Door."

"So you broke in?" Her voice was rising in volume.

"Hey, I didn't mean to! I thought it must have been a mistake! The window was just jammed or something! So, I tried to force it, and uh... well, I forced it too much. I accidentally cracked the window. I didn't hurt myself, fortunately."

Sarah wasn't at all satisfied by that answer. "I saw you using your elbow to smash the window in."

"Well, of course I did!" responded Morgan. Then his brow furrowed. "You were in the room? I didn't see you."

Sarah responded dryly, "I was trying not to make myself visible to the man who was using his elbow to smash in my window."

"You startled me too, buddy," added Chuck. "I didn't recognize you at first, and that's why I pushed you."

"Oh." Morgan hadn't even questioned Chuck's reasoning for having done that. In his world, it all seemed to make sense. "Well, anyway," he continued, "after I'd already cracked the thing, I couldn't just leave the window as it was. I had to get inside so I could clean up." When Sarah didn't immediately express understanding, Morgan gave Chuck a look as if to say, "This is completely self-evident. Why doesn't she get this?"

Chuck, on the other hand, was long used to this line of logic, and in an attempt to lower the tension, quickly said, "Well, that sort of makes sense." In a Morgan way. However, Chuck immediately saw that Sarah was not in the least bit placated, and decided it might be best if he took over the questioning. "Buddy, uh, what brings you here, anyway... from Hawaii... at the break of Dawn?" He said the last words with a meaningful tone.

Morgan flushed a little, and said, "Aw, you don't want to hear that long story, Chuck."

Eyes flashing to Sarah and back, Chuck said, "I kinda do, Morgan."

Morgan blurted out, "It just wasn't working for us, Man!"

Chuck's brow furrowed. "Wasn't working? You mean, you and Anna?"

"Yeah!" Morgan wore the lost, confused look that he so often sported. "We were doomed, and I... I just had to leave."

Chuck felt genuinely saddened, and even Sarah's concern appeared to overpower her anger. "I'm sorry to hear that Morgan," she said. She actually put her hand reassuringly on Morgan's shoulder.

"Yeah, me too, buddy," chimed in Chuck. "Can you tell us what happened?"

Morgan's eyes bulged. "Isn't it obvious? She made me shave my beard!"

Sarah's hand snapped off of Morgan's shoulder. "That's it?"

"I nurtured that beard for my entire adult life!" Morgan wailed.

Sarah sat down in her chair and crossed her arms. Chuck rested his face in his hands momentarily. Oh, Morgan. "Y'know, buddy, I'm sure if you were to call Anna, the two of you could work this out."

"Never Chuck! It's not just the inhumane assault on my most important facial asset." Both Sarah and Chuck raised their eyebrows simultaneously. "It's her utter lack of empathy in understanding what this loss means to me!"

"Morgan, did you even try to talk to her?"

The outrage and self-righteousness seemed to drain out of Morgan. "Yeah, I tried, Dude, but..." He took a deep breath, and then admitted, "She said she'd had enough of my crap. She kicked me out, Chuck."

Chuck returned to feeling sorry for Morgan. However, one glance at Sarah was all that was necessary to realize that she didn't go along with this viewpoint. Chuck's attention was turned back to his friend, though, when Morgan continued, "And I couldn't go forward with the Hibachi thing. I got scared." He appeared very low. "So, I flew back late last night. I didn't tell anybody I was coming. Turns out, Mom and Big Mike rented out my room."

"Oh no," said Chuck softly. "Oh, Morgan, I am so sorry. Did you sleep on their couch?"

"No man," Morgan said harshly. "I've got my pride. I wandered around for a few hours, trying to figure out what to do. And, well, that eventually led me here. When I didn't see you guys through the window, I tried to get in, and, well, here we are. I'm sorry about the window, Sarah."

Sarah looked like she was struggling to stay angry, but was gradually losing again. Finally, she said, "All right, Morgan. I'll help you clean it up, and I'm not even going to ask you to pay for a new window. You just scared me, OK? In the future, you're going to have to knock on the front door. The Morgan Door is gone."

"But, it's an institution!" whined Morgan.

Chuck said, "It's gone, buddy. It's gone. You'll have to just get used to a real door like other people."

"Better yet, call before you come over," added Sarah.

Morgan appeared stunned to have such demands placed upon him, but ultimately he shrugged, saying, "All right, I guess so. Geez, you leave for awhile and the world changes on you."

"Ain't that the truth," commiserated Chuck, before saying, "Morgan, can you excuse us for a moment? I want to talk to Sarah about something in the other room."

"That's fine," said Morgan. "Mind if I raid your fridge?"

"Fine," said Chuck, before Sarah could open her mouth. "Honey?" he said, curling a finger toward her.

Giving one last semi-annoyed look at Morgan who had his back turned to her while he began to pull items methodically from the refrigerator, Sarah followed Chuck into the bedroom, both of them staying away from the glass.

When Chuck turned around, he immediately launched into his spiel. "Wow, you can see how really down he is right now, can't you?"

Sarah replied, "I guess so, but he brought it on himself."

"Well, yeah, that's Morgan, but even so, he needs our help."

Sarah paused, suddenly appearing quite wary. "What did you have in mind, Chuck?"

Chuck said very fast, "We've got an extra room-" Sarah groaned in horror. Even faster Chuck added, "Just until he finds his own place! Please, Sarah, please? He's been my best friend for years!"

Sarah's eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth to say something. Chuck gave her the puppy-dog look. Sarah froze, and just stared at him for a moment, hypnotized, before her shoulders slumped.

"Those eyes are a weapon, and should be made illegal," she grumbled. Chuck smiled, but Sarah lifted her finger up to him. "You will help him find an apartment as soon as possible, you hear me?" She looked at him, petulantly. In turn, Chuck leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I love you," he said.

"Mm. Those eyes aren't always going to work, you know. I will learn to resist you. Anyway, go and tell him."

Chuck went to tell his best friend the good news, leaving his girlfriend, Sarah Walker, to her own thoughts.