A/N: Hey guys. I'm SO sorry about the delay in this chapter, but the end of the semester is approaching (school year here is a bit different) and college is driving me crazy. Not to mention writer's block :(

But after a long time, here it is. I hope you like it :)

Thanks for the lovely reviews. Special thanks to Sunshineali for advising me to get a beta, and to P.J. Murphy for being my beta and doing an amazing job in making my story better.

Enjoy!

"How'd you sleep?" Casey asked her with a smile as soon as her eyes fluttered open.

Ellie felt delighted at the sight of him smiling at her. She knew that, besides Alex, she was the only one at whom he genuinely smiled.

"I haven't slept that well in two months," she answered while stretching, and the smile on her face lit up the still-darkened room.

"Good." He gently ran his fingers through her hair.

"You'll make me fall asleep again," she said with a yawn.

"So?" he teased while still playing with her hair.

She laughed. "I have to go. I don't want Devon to wake up and see I'm not there. He'd figure out what I was doing and probably make a scene." she said as she bit her lower lip.

"Devon," he said with a small grunt. He was jealous. Who knew, Colonel?

"And I don't want to risk someone seeing me like…this. These pajamas don't hide it very well…it would cause an even bigger scene."

"You're right," he conceded, even though he didn't want her to leave.

He slowly leaned to kiss her again, and she welcomed his lips as they touched hers, starting a deep, slow kiss.

"I really have to go," she said as they parted lips.

"I know," he said before kissing her again and caressing her soft skin.

"John…" she said lazily when they broke the kiss again.

"I know. You have to go," he replied, kissing her forehead before getting up.

Ellie got up as well and sighed.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"Being alone with Devon is really…awkward."

"I understand." He wrapped his arms around her "We'll work this entire thing out. Soon."

"Good," she said, placing a small kiss on his neck.

He kept her in his arms for several moments before she pulled away. He gave her his black robe in case someone was at the hall. He walked her to the door, and both of them looked down the hallway, making sure nobody was there. She quickly kissed him on the lips before leaving the room. But before she could walk more than a few steps, he held her arm to keep her there. She smiled at him.

"We're pushing our luck, John!" She pleaded in protest as Casey pulled her back to his arms.

"I know," he whispered as he pressed her against the door.

Casey held her face in his hands as his strong lips connected with hers in an intense wave of want and desire. It was a desire Ellie also felt, as she eagerly kissed him back, letting his robe hang loose over her so she could press her body into his muscular form. Soon they were fighting for dominance as their lips crashed against each other and their tongues danced inside their joined mouths.

They were so caught in the heat of the moment, neither of them noticed the blonde woman watching them in shock. Sarah slowly stepped away from them and went back to her room. She knew Ellie and Devon were having problems, but she was still having difficulty processing this.

Casey and Ellie…together?

"You OK?" Chuck asked coming out of the bathroom.

Sarah was startled. "You're up!"

"Yeah, I was showering…Sarah, is everything alright? You were staring at the door."

"No, everything is fine…" she said with a smile.

"Weren't you going to get us some coffee?" he inquired.

"Yeah, I was going to…but then I realized I was still in my pajamas, so I came back to put some clothes on." She tried to sound convincing, but she couldn't lie to Chuck like she used to. Chuck didn't look fooled by his girlfriend's excuse.

He took her hands. "OK, I know you're hiding something. Whatever it is, just promise if something about it goes wrong, you'll tell me."

"OK." She tried to keep her best poker face on. Believe me, Chuck, you don't want to know, she thought to herself.

At breakfast, Sarah closely watched the exchange of glances between Ellie and Casey.

How come she didn't see it before? They were just looking at each other, trying to make the act unnoticed by the rest of the table. However, she knew it.

And it doesn't make sense! her mind screamed

"I'm going out for a run, babe." Devon casually announced, trying his best to make it look natural. And then he just left. No kiss, nothing. As Sarah thought about the past few months, she realized this had been happening for quite a while. But she also realized Devon didn't seem to notice how close his wife and the NSA agent were.

How had she not noticed it before? How come Chuck never realized it? And again, what the hell is happening here?

After Devon left, Ellie started a conversation Sarah wasn't really paying attention to. She was busy watching the interaction between Casey and Ellie. And just when it couldn't get any more surprising, Casey gave her quite a shock.

Casey smiled at Ellie. Truly smiled.

Sarah had seen Casey smile like that to only one other woman. That person was twenty years younger than him and shared half his DNA. Besides Alex, Casey never genuinely smiled at anyone else. Until now. Until Ellie. Chuck's sister. Chuck's married sister

She was surprised Chuck didn't realized what was happening at the moment Casey smiled. Why he seemed to be the only one who couldn't see what was happening?

And when did this happen?

She needed some answers and she was going to get them.

"Casey, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked as casually as she could to not arouse suspicions with anyone else. Casey only gave her a questioning look.

"Please, Casey?" she insisted.

With a low grunt, he excused himself from the table and followed her, leaving the two Bartowskis exchanging confused glances.

"What is it, Walker?" Casey asked when they were out in the backyard.

"What were you doing this morning? Why, why were you kissing Ellie?" she asked without hiding her discomfiture.

"What are you talking…"

"DON'T! Do not offend my intelligence! Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about! I saw you two kissing!" Sarah had never been more disgusted with her partner.

"Fine, what you want me to say, Walker? Yes, we were kissing, is that it?"

"No! She's married! Why in the hell were you kissing her if she's married?"

Casey was overwhelmed by her anger. He sighed in frustration. How was he supposed to explain what happened between him and Ellie to Sarah? Casey wasn't really sure of what happened himself.

Sarah noticed Casey's demeanor. Her stance softened a bit, and her voice lost a bit of its edge. "What is going on?"

"It all started after Stephen's death," he started. "She was hurting, nobody was paying attention to her, she needed someone, and I was there."

The concept of anybody coming to Casey to be comforted was completely foreign to Sarah. "You? Out of all people she came to you? What about Chuck? What about Devon?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, they were really helping a lot," he retorted with considerable derision. "If they were actually taking care of her, she wouldn't need my help. Besides, she and Devon weren't getting along since he found out about the Intersect and started lying to her. She lost her trust in him long before she came to me."

"This…this is insane." Sarah was getting more and more confused about the whole situation.

"She needed someone who was actually willing to listen to her. She came to me for help, one thing lead to another and…" he trailed off.

"OK, this is too much to information to get in 30 seconds." Sarah visibly shook. "What are you guys going to do?"

"I don't know…we didn't exactly had time to figure things out."

"Chuck is going to freak out! Have you even thought about what Beckman will say if she finds out about this? You and the sister of the Intersect!"

"Look, Walker, can you please keep this between us? Don't tell anybody, especially Chuck. Ellie will tell him when she's ready, OK?"

"This seems wrong…"

"But it's not. Sarah, please."

Sarah's anger abated as she looked at her partner. He rarely called her Sarah, but she knew when he did, the situation was serious.

"Fine, but both of you need to work this out. Fast. Really fast."

"I know," he said with a sigh, and for a split second Sarah saw sorrow in her partner's eyes. But as quickly as it came, it was gone with a low grunt when the Marine saw the compassionate look the blonde agent gave him.

Two days later, Ellie was unpacking in her room while Devon was separating the whites out of the dirty laundry. They had discovered they could work together, as long as they didn't have to talk to each other.

So far, so good, she thought to herself. Ellie was happy they were being civilized and maybe, with some time, they could even be friends after the divorce.

"What's this?" Devon asked, bringing her back from her thoughts.

She looked at him to see him holding a black robe and froze. Devon was holding John's black robe.

Ellie bit her bottom lip while trying to think carefully about the proper response. It was not the best move she could have made. She saw Devon's expression change; he frowned and narrowed his eyes in sudden realization.

"John Casey?"

Casey was about to start trimming his baby bonsai tree when the screaming across the courtyard startled him. Fortunately, he pulled the shears back before clipping a branch.

He grunted before going to the window to peek at the source of his annoyance. However, as he came near the window, he recognized the voices in question. He could make out the anger, the accusations, and the pain in the screaming voices. He could also hear Ellie's cry.

And it made him feel guilty.

He opened the door with the intention of going to the Woodcomb residence and defending Ellie from whatever Devon was accusing her, when another door at the complex opened and a very confused Chuck came out to the courtyard.

"What's happening in there?" he asked going towards the door. But before he could reach the door and knock, Sarah stopped him.

"Chuck, it's a couple's fight. I don't think you should meddle." But Ellie and Devon were fighting at such a loud decibel Chuck was certain something was very wrong.

Chuck turned to Casey. "Do you know what this is about?"

Sarah gave Casey a look in the hopes he would explain himself.

"Why are you asking me, Bartoswki?" he asked, practically stuttering the question.

"Well, I know you took the cameras away, but you still have the surveillance audio on their house, don't you?"

Casey relaxed and was about to give some lame excuse when the door opened and Devon stormed out. The trio looked at the suitcase the doctor was holding, and while Chuck seemed even more confused, Sarah shot Casey a worried look.

Chuck tried to block Devon's path and make sense out of the situation. "Awesome, wait! Where are you going? What's happening?"

"Ask your sister, Chuck," Devon spat out in the angriest tone Chuck had ever seen him use. Devon stared daggers at Casey and tossed him his black robe. "I believe that is yours."

He left without another word.

"What the…" Chuck started looking back and forth between Casey and the departing Devon, but Casey ignored him and went into the house.

Ellie was standing in the middle of the room. There were tears streaming down her cheeks, and her hands were protectively over her stomach.

"Ellie, I'm so sorry," Casey said as he held her in his arms. Ellie buried her face in his chest as her emotions overtook her. Casey slowly stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. He gave her forehead a gentle kiss. "I'm sorry, Ellie. I'm so sorry.".

Her tears eventually subsided, and she calmed down. She held him tightly and was about to say something when Chuck rushed into the room.

"Ellie…oh my God, what happened? Why did Devon…" The young nerd stopped mid-sentence at the sight of his sister in John Casey's arms.

"What the hell is going on here?"

When neither of them answered Sarah intervened.

"OK Chuck, I need you to stay calm and be really open-minded about this," she said gently, looking deeply into her boyfriend's eyes.

"Sarah," Chuck seethed through gritted teeth, "if what I think it's happening is really happening, I won't be open-minded at all!"

"Chuck," Sarah repeated in a tone far less gentle. "Please keep calm."

"Look, Bartowski…" Casey started

"You stay quiet!" Chuck was at a full boil with Casey. "I don't want to hear ANYTHING you have to say!"

"Chuck, can we explain?" Ellie asked in an attempt to get her brother to understand their situation.

"And you!" Chuck turned on his sister. "What the hell are you thinking? Did you just throw your marriage, your entire life away, because of a killer like Casey? What's the matter with you?"

Casey only grunted at the 'offenses,' mainly out of a sense of guilt. Ellie, however, gave up trying to be calm.

"What's the matter with me, Chuck? You want to know what my problem is?" She stepped back from Casey so she could get in Chuck's face. "My problem is the two people I trusted the most lied to me. My problem is that because of that lie I was manipulated. My problem is that my father, our father, was murdered! And even after that you and Devon kept lying to me…"

"We didn't keep lying to you!"

"Oh no? If I remember, instead of letting me grieve, instead of letting me mourn my father's death, you and Devon just kept saying 'It's OK, Ellie.' or 'It will be alright, babe.' You wouldn't talk to me; you and Devon just kept shoving that crap in my face!"

"Ellie…"

"And guess what, Chuck? It's was not OK! And I tried to tell you I was definitely NOT OK, and neither of you would listen to me! You only forced me to be strong for you, to put a smile on my face and pretend everything was fine. But it wasn't! I couldn't pretend it didn't hurt me! And John was the only one who saw it. The only one who actually listened to me! Who actually cared about me!"

Ellie was trembling and new tears stated to form in her eyes.

"Ellie please, please calm down," Casey said as he reached for her hand; he was suddenly worried about how the stress of the situation could be harmful for her and the baby.

"Sarah, could you take Ellie inside? Chuck and I need to have a little chat," he said to his partner.

"Sure. Come on, Ellie." Sarah took Ellie's hand and gently guided Ellie towards her room.

Casey waited until both of them were out of sight before turning to Chuck, who was staring at him with anger.

"Your bad boy face doesn't scare me, Bartowski. But now that you sister is not in the room, you can yell at me all you want."

Chuck's face turned red.

"What did you do to her, huh? Is this some kind of brainwash? Did you drug her or something? Is that some weird spy thing you use to manipulate people?" he asked, a little too loudly, to Casey.

"Is that it? Are you finished?" the Marine asked with an impatient tone

"NO! The hell I'm finished with this! What's wrong with you? MY SISTER? MY MARRIED SISTER? Why did you ruin her marriage?"

"Devon ruined their marriage, not me. You've known me for three years, Bartowski. You know I would never do such a thing. Your sister's marriage was already ruined when she came to me."

"NO! They were just fine! I don't get how this happened. It has to be your fault," the younger man accused.

"Oh yeah, they were doing great. Things couldn't be better." Casey was starting to run out of patience. "Ellie said it herself, nothing was fine. You and her moronic husband wanted it to be fine so you just ignored what she was going through. No wonder why she asked for my help."

"Stop saying she turned to you for support!"

"But she did. You two idiots couldn't see she was in pain, and I was the one who actually realized she was hurting. She was confused, she was grieving, she was scared, she was being ignored, and she was in pain. She needed someone and I was there. So if you want to blame someone, blame Devon for not realizing it. Or look in the mirror. You find someone there to blame, too."

The two men kept staring at each other in silence until Sarah entered the room and walked towards the kitchen.

"How is she doing?" Casey asked.

"She's still a little scared," Sarah replied while fixing a glass of water. She walked up to Casey and stared into eyes. "And is there something else to this story you didn't tell me?"

Casey sighed and discreetly motioned to Chuck with his head, and Sarah understood Chuck was not aware of his sister's new condition.

"That's quite a mess you guys got yourselves into." She looked between Casey and her boyfriend, who was now staring at the window in pure dissatisfaction.

"Good luck." The blonde agent left the room, leaving Casey and Chuck alone again.

"Look Bartowski…Chuck… I'm not messing around with Ellie. I do care about her, and I would never hurt her…" he trailed off. It was really awkward talking about his feelings. Especially with Chuck.

"I need to talk to my sister," Chuck said, ignoring Casey's last statement and walking towards Ellie's room.

"Wait," Casey called him.

"What? Now you're going to forbid me from talking to her?"

"No. Just don't be so harsh on her."

Chuck snorted. "You have no right to tell me what to do. She needs to hear some truth, and she needs to hear it now."

"Chuck…" Casey closed the distance between them and put on a look that would scare an entire battalion of cadets. "I mean it. If you want to yell at someone, yell at me. I have no problem with that. But be nice to her."

Chuck guffawed and turned on his heel to continue walking towards the room.

Casey sighed. He had no choice. "She's pregnant, Chuck."

Chuck turned around and stared at Casey.

"Please, it's not good for her to be under so much stress." The beseeching tone in Casey's voice surprised Chuck. And then it clicked. He didn't want to contemplate the possibility.

"Casey… please tell me this baby is Devon's!"he pleaded with his eyes closed. When the Marine didn't answer, Chuck opened his eyes and was surprised by Casey's expression. It wasn't the usual cold deathly spy façade. It was a confused, highly emotional expression. It was an expression Chuck had only seen once: when Casey discovered he had a daughter.

"I can't believe this," Chuck said, closing his eyes again. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Bartowski, please. Ellie really could use your support now. You're the only family she has." Casey's voice was quiet, but it was as solemn as Chuck ever heard from him. "She needs you now. I know you're mad, but please be mad at me. Don't take it out on her. She deserves that much. She can't afford to lose her brother."

Chuck stared into the NSA operative's eyes for a few seconds before Ellie's voice caught his attention.

"Chuck, can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked, and her nervousness was obvious. "Please?"

Chuck sighed. "Sure." He followed his sister back to her room under the apprehensive looks of Casey and Sarah.

The two siblings stared at each other until Ellie broke the silence. "Chuck, please try to understand, we didn't plan this…us. It just sort of happened. And we can't deny it anymore."

Despite his hatred of Casey, Chuck did what he asked and kept his voice soft. "I really am trying to understand, Ellie. But it's…I…it's just wrong, Ellie."

"He really was one of the best things that happened to me after Dad died. He really helped me Chuck. I didn't want to fall for him, but I did. I'm in love with him. And I know he cares about me too."

"He's a cold blood killer, Ellie."

"So is Sarah."

Chuck exhaled in frustration. He just couldn't argue with that.

"Can I just ask you one thing?" Ellie nodded her consent. "Does he really mean that much to you?"

Ellie looked into her brother's eyes. "Yes, he does." Chuck sighed, and Ellie grabbed his hand. "Look, you have to trust me with this. Please, Chuck. I could really use my brother right now. I really need you…I'm…I'm pregnant."

Chuck looked at the ground and squeezed her hand. "I know". He exhaled slowly and looked at her again. "I'm here for you. I promise."

Ellie smiled and hugged her brother tightly. "Thanks, baby brother. It means a lot to me."

Chuck smiled. "If this will make you happy, then I'll do whatever I can to help. And I'm so sorry I didn't do more to be there for you. It just I tried to keep all of this away from you, to keep you from harm, and…

Tears formed in Ellie's eyes, and her grip on Chuck increased to the point of breaking bones. "Thank you. I should have realized you would always try to do what was best for our family."

Casey quietly slipped down the hall after hearing very little from the conversation. He saw Chuck and Ellie holding each other on her bed. Sarah took a quick peek and smiled. She took Casey's hand and led him back to the living room.

"There's a lot ahead of us, isn't there," Casey said softly.

Sarah nodded. "But the important thing is we handle all of it together. Whatever happens, we stay together."

Casey nodded in agreement. "That I promise." He gave the same smile Sarah saw on him the other day and Chuck saw a few minutes ago. "Thanks, Sarah."

She smiled. "I gotta have my partner's back, right?"

Casey smiled. She always did.

A/N: So, what you think? Reviews help me so much, and make me so happy... ;)