Don't freak out

Taking a deep breath, Chuck took his seat on the gaming chair that had been dragged next to the desk chair from their room that Sarah was sitting on. She gave him a small smile as he looked up to face the three people who were crammed together on the sofa. It had been just over twenty minutes since Chuck and Sarah had unexpectedly stormed into the Woodcombe residence and demanded that its owners follow them home, and in that time they had dumped the couple on the sofa, grabbed Morgan from Casey's and rearranged the furniture so that they could face their audience.

Chick cleared his throat nervously before beginning. "Ellie, Awesome, sorry for intruding like this. I know it's a bit sudden."

The pair shared a confused look. "Um… no worries, bro. Just, what was so important that you had to come drag us in here after an eighteen hour shift and a day of looking after Clara?" asked Awesome, gesturing to his daughter, who sat comfortably in her mother's arms.

"And interrupt a Halo marathon!" chipped in Morgan, who was sitting on Ellie's left hand side.

Ellie rolled her eyes at him while Chuck continued. Motioning to himself and Sarah, he said, "Well, we've decided to explain everything. And by everything, I mean everything." Seeing that Chuck wasn't doing a very good job of explaining himself, Sarah decided to step in. "What he means is that we're going to explain everything that's been going on in Chuck's life over the past four years. All of the secrets. All of the missions. Everything."

After a moment of letting this sink in, there were simultaneous cries of "Awesome!" from the two men on either side of Ellie. Meanwhile, she was looking up at her brother with a look that clearly showed that she'd found a problem. "But, we don't have clearance! I mean, surely you're not actually allowed to just tell us all of it."

Of course she thought of that, thought Chuck with a sigh. "Well, technically we're breaking the law," he said casually. "That's why what's said in this room will stay in this room." He said, staring pointedly at Morgan. "Oh, and we would have explained everything ages ago but there was a huge chance of the CIA getting wind of it, you know, what with the hidden cameras in our apartment and all."

This time, Morgan was the one to interrupt, giving his best friend a slightly confused look. "Hang on a sec there, buddy. You're saying that there are cameras… where I used to live?"

"Well, not anymore, but yeah."

"Watching me?"

"Um… Yeah?."

"You do remember that I sleep 'au naturale' right?!"

"Oh, crap."

There was a collective groan from the others in the room as those exact words popped into their heads. Morgan continued. "So now some unknown CIA dude has seen my… my… you know!"

Turning bright red, Chuck murmured "Not some unknown CIA dude."

He said it so quietly, Morgan almost missed it. Almost. "What? Who watches the footage then?!"

"Um… Casey."

"CASEY? CHUCK, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

He never got the chance, though. Just as he was trying to get off the sofa, Sarah put a hand on his shoulder and fixed him with a stare that made him shrink back into the upholstery.

Chuck, on the other hand was looking at him apologetically. He hadn't been worried by Morgan's threat. He was just embarrassed for the guy. Once Morgan had calmed down, Sarah went back to her seat. Then she chose to put him out of his misery.

"Actually, Morgan; once I moved in, Casey started turning off the cameras at night. He said something about not wanting to have to scratch his own eyes out. And there were never any cameras in your bedroom to begin with. Plus, seeing as Chuck was officially a spy by that point, there weren't nearly as many cameras as there had been at the start."

"Seriously? You tell me this now? What is it with you people?" Ellie and Awesome, however, breathed sighs of relief at the revelation, obviously having come to the conclusion that cameras had been in their bedroom when they still lived there.

"Sorry dude." Chuck said.

Ellie and Awesome, who had been silent throughout the Morgan situation, chose that moment to join the conversation again. Ellie spoke first. "Okay, okay. Now that that's all sorted, why are you telling us this now? I mean, it's still illegal and the CIA could still find out!"

"Well, yeah. But you deserve to know. We've quit the CIA now but we were still two of their best agents. When Casey committed "treason" they just fired him. If they find out, which they won't, nothing too bad will happen. Hopefully."

Ellie looked sceptical but she didn't say anything, so Chuck assumed it was safe to carry on.

"Okay. If no one has any other questions, can we please get on with this?" Nobody said anything. "Thank you." This was so not going to plan. They hadn't even started yet and he already had a headache. "Okay, like I said before, Sarah and I are going to tell you everything that has happened to me over these years. You deserve to know. That way, hopefully you can forgive me for all the times I bunked on you.

"So, where better to begin than at the star-"

"Wait!"

"Morgan!" cried everyone else.

"Sorry guys, but we forgot something. Popcorn!"

"You have got to be kidding me", muttered Chuck as Morgan bounded off the sofa and into the kitchen. "Morgan! This isn't a movie!"

"No, it's better! We get first-hand accounts!"

Chuck opened his mouth to call Morgan back into the living room but Ellie said, "Don't even bother, Chuck."

"Is butter popcorn okay with everyone?" came a cry from the kitchen.

With an exasperated groan, Chuck said, "It's fine! Just hurry up!"

After the popcorn was done and everyone had settled down again, Chuck spoke again. "So, we are going to tell you everything, but first you need to promise us something. Some of our missions weren't exactly… safe. So there's one condition" He turned to look at Ellie now. "Don't freak out."