I've been remiss in adding any more B-Sides to the main "Casey vs. the Fifth Elder" storyline. Now that that story is nearing a close, I figured I'd better catch up.

This one gives a bit of the backstory of Carina's relationship with Sandoval. But, the good news is it also brings in everyone's two favorite characters.

That would be two characters I don't own. Which, funny story, means they're exactly like all of the other "Chuck" characters.

Carina's Secret

"Uh, Sarah?"

"Hmm?" Sarah looked up from her cup of coffee to give Chuck a questioning glance.

Chuck stepped away from the kitchen window and sat down beside his girlfriend. "I just saw something kind of…weird?"

Chuck watched Sarah's face immediately shift from relaxed to serious mode. "What's wrong? Is there someone out there?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Chuck quickly reassured her. "It's just, I saw somebody leaving Casey's house."

Sarah looked up. "Seriously? You mean somebody…female?" Her lips twisted into a grin. "Well what do you know?"

"Yeah, there's more." Chuck felt slightly flushed, as he considered how to say this. Finally, he decided on the direct approach. "It's Carina."

Sarah looked at Chuck for a moment, before shrugging. "Can't say I'm surprised. I knew she was here working with Casey. It was only a matter of time."

"You know," Chuck said, flashing his own grin. "We can't assume she was with Casey. Morgan's staying there too now."

"Get serious."

"Hey, Morgan may not look like a ladies' man, but he has his moments. And it's not like Carina's that picky."

Chuck was momentarily worried that his comment about her friend would offend Sarah, but she merely nodded. "No, I guess not."

They stayed there in silence for a moment, enjoying the domestic tranquility. Chuck still had trouble believing that he got to spend every day with her. Even watching her drink coffee was something he wouldn't trade for the world.

After another sip, a small grin snuck onto Sarah's face. "You know, she hasn't always been like that."

"Who? Carina?"

"Yeah. She was in love once."

Chuck found this hard to believe, but didn't interrupt. Getting Sarah to share anything was still tough, even if it was sharing about someone else's life.

"A few years ago, she was on a mission in South America. Undercover, trying to expose a drug cartel's links to arms shipments. She was partnered with another agent. A male agent. They spent months down there, working to get a break in the case. And, all that time spent together working side by side, they fell in love. It happens sometimes." She looked up at Chuck and smiled.

"So what happened?"

"There was a slip up. Carina failed to destroy some piece of evidence, and her partner was exposed. The cartel killed him, and they were going to kill her too. But before he died, Carina's partner cursed her for betraying him. He did it to convince the cartel that she had flipped him, so they would let her live."

"Wow."

"Yeah. It almost didn't work. They were going to kill her anyway, but one of the members of the cartel, a man named Sandoval, he convinced them that she would still be useful. I guess he had grown somewhat fond of her too. But she still had to watch her partner die. After that, she vowed to never let feelings get in the way again."

Chuck thought about the story for a while. He could imagine the pain she must have felt. He couldn't imagine her sharing it with anyone though. "She told you all of that?"

Sarah chuckled. "Yes, but she probably doesn't remember doing it. She was pretty drunk at the time."

Chuck got up from his seat and retrieved the coffee pot from the counter. Filling both of their mugs, he said, "It must have been awful for her."

"Losing someone, being right there and not able to do anything. It's the worst thing imaginable."

"I know," Chuck admitted. "Every mission, I always thought about what could happen to you." He gave Sarah a crooked smile. "It's why I never stayed in the car."

"It's why I always told you to stay in the car!" Sarah shot back. She looked back down at her coffee, and spun her spoon around for a few moments. "I know how Carina is. I've talked to her about it a few times. But, knowing what happened to her, I can understand. It doesn't take much to become jaded like that. All it takes is just one loss."

"Sarah," Chuck spoke up. "I admit I don't know Carina as well as you do, or as long as you have. But I do know you. And I don't think there's any way that you could ever become like her."

"I think you give me too much credit, Chuck. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." She reached over the table and put her hand on Chuck's. "I guess it's a good thing that's past now."

Chuck studied his girlfriend, before finally asking, "You miss it, don't you?"

Sarah's blue eyes clouded over in concern. "Chuck, you know I…"

"No, it's ok, Sarah. I miss it too, sometimes." He gave her a reassuring smile. "I guess after you've helped bring down your second international terrorist organization, fixing computers doesn't quite give you the same level of job satisfaction."

"But your sister?"

"I made a promise, and I'd do it again."

"Well, so would I."

"So, I guess we just have to find our excitement elsewhere then, don't we?"

Sarah giggled. "Down boy. We've both got to go to work."

Chuck sighed. "Oh well." He stood up, and cleared the table. "Well, I guess I should be nicer to Carina from now on."

"Actually, I wish you wouldn't. I mean you shouldn't do anything to let her know I told you any of this," she added when she saw Chuck's confused expression. "I don't think she'd like that much."

As the two of them grabbed their things and headed to the door, Chuck said, "Ok, I'll be good. But, if I ever uncover any high school notebooks of Casey's that have any type of poetry or hearts drawn in it, I'm not making any promises."

Sarah gave her boyfriend a warm smile. "Deal."

Stay tuned for the end of "Casey vs. the Fifth Elder", plus some other "B-sides."