Hi there. Just thought I would try out LiveJournal's Jellie Carnival Challenge to see how well I do with one of the things you see in a carnival and fit it into a story with the gruff-but-lovable NSA agent, John Casey, and the "sister we all really want to have sex with," Ellie Woodcomb. Even though I've never tried a challenge like this, I think you'll pick up my writing style in this right away. Now whether that's a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen.

FYI, several events from the end of Season 3 of Chuck are in this, so if you haven't seen those episodes yet, consider this a spoiler warning.

As always, please read and review. And enjoy!

Echo Park
July 24, 2010
5:00 PM

Ellie Woodcomb had been through many things since completing medical school. But something she never expected was happening now.

She was bored.

Ordinarily, she'd enjoy some peace and quiet, especially after the events of the last two months. So many things happened that still seemed almost incomprehensible to fathom. Her little brother, who had spent all of those post-Stanford years watching life go by as he sat in the Buy More, was one of the government's biggest secrets. A secret that she was the last to know about. A secret that began with her distant father, who was killed for no good reason. The girlfriend she adored more than all of Chuck's previous girlfriends combined was really his protector, although both Chuck and Sarah assured her they were really in love now.

It felt weird. She still harbored a bit of resentment towards her husband for not telling her, even though he did it for her protection. And Morgan, the annoying little man who Chuck showed an almost insane loyalty toward, not only knew about Chuck but even helped him with his work. And everybody let her make a fool of herself for all that time just for the sake of protecting her. Stashing a stuffed marlin in her place, letting a CIA agent be a stripper at Devon's bachelor party, and telling her Casey was a troublemaking alcoholic.

She looked in the direction of Casey's apartment and quietly laughed. It never seemed congruous Casey would be so irresponsible and yet acted like he was keeping a protective eye on everybody, herself included. Of course, he really was keeping an eye on everybody, and the stories of the public urination and fighting were made up. He was the one who saved her from being attacked on her wedding day. She had to admit thinking of John from time to time in ways that were a bit more than friendly. She would never act on it, obviously. She was completely in love with Devon, and that would never change. But she did have to admit if she could have a few hours off from her marriage, or have one of those 'freebie lists' like they did on Friends once, John Casey would definitely be the first person she'd call or place him in spots one through five on her list.

She needed to get out of the apartment. She needed something to do. Unfortunately, Chuck and Sarah were having a romantic weekend in San Francisco, and Devon was attending a convention in Chicago. The only person around was…

Ellie smiled. I guess I'll have a few hours off, she thought.

She knocked on Casey's door. He answered this time by opening the door a bit wider than he used to.

"John, hi. Am I interrupting anything?"

"Of course not, Ellie. What can I do for you?"

"I was looking to go out for a few hours, just to get out of the apartment. I could use some company. Do you think you'd be up for it?"

Casey stood blankly for a moment. No matter how much Chuck grated on his nerves, Casey always had the utmost respect for his sister. He knew what Ellie did to keep the family together when their parents left, and she was probably the civilian he admired most in his career. There was something about that Bartowski family, no question about it. Certainly she was less aggravating than her little brother. And a lot easier on the eyes as well.

"Sure. Did you have a place in mind?" Casey asked her.

"Um, I think there's a carnival going on by the mall. I could use a few stuffed animals for the bedroom, and I imagine you could win those on the first shot, right?"

Casey gave a slight grunt where most people would have laughed. He had to like the woman's logic. "OK, you sold me. Let's go."

Los Angeles, CA
July 24, 2010
6:00 PM

"I never knew that," Ellie said, looking on in appreciation as Casey won her a stuffed kitty cat to complement the puppy and teddy bear he already won for her. Sure enough, three stuffed animals only took three shots.

"They've been doing it for years," Casey replied as he showed her the rifle for the carnival game that was adding to her stuffed toy collection. "Most people think the sights are lined up, but that's how they make you spend all your money. You have to aim using only the forward sight at the end of the barrel. It takes practice, but any good marksman can do it."

"Well, thank you for the beautiful gifts, John. Are you hungry? Did you want to grab a hot dog? My treat."

Casey looked down at the ground for a moment and shifted back and forth on his feet. "Oh, you don't have to do that. Besides, I have a thing for women paying for anything when I'm out with them. I know it's 2010, but it's an old habit. My mother always instilled a sense of respect in us."

Ellie grinned at him, and now Casey understood how Sarah always swooned at Chuck when he smiled at her. Must be a thing in their family to have gorgeous smiles. "If I didn't know better, John, I'd think you were afraid we were on a date."

That stopped Casey. "Oh, no. Of course not."

She put her hand on his arm to calm him. She was one of the few people who could touch him like that and he wouldn't get angry. "Actually, this is one of the more fun times I've had on a date. Devon took me here once when we were going through med school. But he had to ride all the dangerous rides…the bungee swing, the gravitron, the giant drop…and I was too scared to do it."

Casey smiled. "Why does it not surprise me he would ride those?"

"That's him, isn't it? I love him with all my heart, but it's…John, are you OK?"

Casey was looking into the distance at someone and not paying attention to Ellie. Ellie turned to see who Casey was looking at.

"Uh, John? Is something wrong?"

Casey looked at her, and Ellie was starting to worry because of the expression on his face. It was one she had never seen before from him.

"Ellie, I think we should cut this short and get out of here."

"What's going on?"

"It's…it's a long story, but let's just say someone I've had dealings with in the past is about 40 yards away, and I don't think you want to meet him."

"What? Where?" Ellie carefully turned to see a man almost Casey's height and forty pounds of muscle heavier than him. He had a very cross look on his face and was moving towards Casey.

"Get out of here, fast, and call the police. Whatever you do, don't come back here. This is going to get ugly rather quickly."

Ellie could feel fear permeating her entire body. "OK, John. Are you sure you'll be all right?"

"I'll be fine. Just go, now."

Ellie started to take off in the opposite direction. She turned and saw Casey slowly move towards one of the rides. He kept an eye on the monster-sized individual who was coming after him. But Ellie saw two other men get up from a nearby bench and move in Casey's direction. Casey did not see them, and she was starting to panic.

Suddenly, something clicked in her mind. She snuck around the back of the tents where the carnival games were. She kept an eye on Casey through the thin slits between booths. She got to the side of the final booth and saw the two men from the park bench close in on Casey.

Ellie pulled Casey around the corner and jumped on him. She kissed him hard to obscure his face from onlookers. She peeked to see the two men walk away; clearly, they did not want any witnesses. However, she didn't stop kissing Casey, as the electricity of the danger combined with the above average lips caught between hers was quite a turn-on.

They broke the kiss after several seconds, and Casey looked at her in shock.

"I'm sorry, John. But I saw two other men come after you, and they were going to get to you first. But I guess they didn't want anybody else to witness it, because they walked away."

For the first time since he saw the other Bartowski do something equally incredible a year ago in the Intersect room, Casey was speechless. If Ellie kissed Devon even half as well as she just kissed him, he was one very lucky guy.

"Thanks," Casey barely got out. He carefully peered out, and the three men were conferring with each other. "OK, now's your chance to run. Get going."

"No, forget it," Ellie replied with considerable force. "There are three guys after you, and now they know what I look like. What if I run and they decide to make me a hostage? You protected Chuck for three years, so the safest place to be is with you."

Casey quietly growled in frustration, but Ellie did have a point. There were three of them, which was enough to send one after Ellie to make her a hostage. Right now, Casey needed a plan. And being armed would have helped too, since he left his gun at home so as not to scare Ellie.

He grabbed Ellie's hand and returned to the skeet-shooting game. He wrenched one of the rifles off the table and took several boxes of BB pellets. They started running, and the three men gave chase.

"We need something that's faster than them," Casey said. "Unless you used to run the hundred-yard dash in college."

Ellie's eyes darted around. She had an idea. "Come on," she said as she grabbed Casey's hand.

They leaped over the tire-comprised fence of the go-kart track at the carnival. Casey threw several tires away to open a hole as Ellie leaped into one of the go-karts. She gunned the engine and sped towards Casey. He jumped in the air and landed in the passenger seat.

"Are you sure you're good at driving these things?" Casey asked her.

"A few dune buggy trips with Devon in the Mojave Desert? He lost more than once to me," Ellie replied with a look of fierce determination.

Casey loaded the rifle with some BB's as Ellie sped through the carnival. People started running for cover as the three men spread out. The first one aimed his gun at Casey, and Casey opened fire. He hit the man directly in his hand with the BB, and he dropped his gun. He fired two more shots at the man's knees, and he went down. Casey turned the rifle around as Ellie floored the go-kart, and Casey nailed him in the head with the butt of the rifle.

Ellie hit the brakes and spun the go-kart around as the second man started running towards them. Casey reloaded and fired repeatedly at the man's face. The man stopped dead in his tracks and covered his eyes with his hands to avoid the shots. Ellie hit the man dead-on with the go-kart, and he flew through the air, landing hard on the concrete and hitting his head on a table in the process.

The monster-sized thug was the only one standing. Casey reloaded, but the man was already firing at them. Casey and Ellie kept their heads down, trying to avoid being hit. Ellie peeked up and got an idea. She looked at Casey.

"This little maneuver got me foot massages for a month. Make sure your seatbelt is tight."

Ellie put the accelerator to the floor and the go-kart tires screeched as they went towards the man. Ellie spotted the collapsed table the second man fell on. Ellie lined up the right side of the go-kart with the table lying on the ground. They hit the ramp the table made, and the go-kart was launched into the air. It rolled to the left, and the roll bar over their heads clipped the large man in the neck, knocking him down. The go-kart landed, bounced a couple of times, and started careening out of control. Ellie wrenched the steering wheel to get the go-kart back under control and hit the brakes. The go-kart skidded to a stop.

Casey looked at her in both shock and admiration.

"You did that for a month of foot massages?"

Ellie turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Devon gives REALLY good foot massages."

Echo Park
July 24, 2010
8:00 PM

It took some time to process the three men, who were former employees of Colonel Keller, Casey's ex-commander. Casey and Ellie were quite tired by the time they returned to the apartment, but Casey was thoughtful enough to order some food from one of Ellie's favorite restaurants, since they never did get to have that hot dog. But he insisted on paying after the help she gave him today.

"I do want to thank you for everything you did today," Casey said in a very humble voice as they stopped at Ellie's door. "Clearly, underestimating a Bartowski…any Bartowski…is something that should never be done."

Ellie smiled. "You protected my brother all those years, so I don't think I can even remotely thank you enough for that. And I kept treating you so badly because you had to lie about what you did to protect me."

Casey put a hand up. "Don't even give it a second thought. We do what we have to do on this job. Besides, I've had to do more than my share of things that I'm not proud of, so having someone, even if that someone is you, think that I'm a lowlife is hardly unjustified."

Ellie smiled and put her takeout boxes down. She stood on her toes, wrapped her arms around Casey's neck, and kissed him. It was a very intense and heated kiss, as she still had some leftover tension and energy from the day's events that had to be released. It was a kiss both of them enjoyed, even though the kiss was as far as either of them would go. They had too much respect for her marriage to do that. But certainly neither of them hated it.

"You have a good night, John. And thank you for everything," Ellie said, and John took in those sparkling caramel eyes and raven hair for a moment before reluctantly going back to his apartment.

It would be a long time before Casey ever gave Sarah grief about her 'lady feelings' towards Chuck, as now he could understand how someone would want to be with a Bartowski. It used to be the bane of his existence to have to protect that nerd and his family.

Now it was his honor to do it.