Chuck and Sarah climbed the stairs to their room after seeing Ilsa and Casey out the front door. It had been a long day for Chuck, what with work and the dinner party and seeing Ilsa again after all this time, and he leaned back against the bedroom door after closing it quietly so he wouldn't wake the children. He sighed before giving Sarah his forlorn little boy look, hoping to get some attention from his beautiful wife.

Sarah was tired too but she recognized the look and walked to her husband to embrace him, pulling his head down to rest it on her shoulder and comforting him by pressing her body close to his and holding him securely with her arms around his back. She ran the heels of her hands up and down firmly on either side of his spine in the small of his back to ease the tension there and walked him backwards towards their bed, making a half-turn so they could sit side-by-side on the edge.

They kissed briefly then pulled apart, smiling at each other the way best friends do, and sat holding one another's hands for a minute before Chuck began to speak.

"You know, when I finally decided to sign on with the agency, I didn't know it would be mostly a desk job. And as much as our missions were a little too exciting sometimes, I feel like I should still be out there with you and Casey, not sitting in a secure office going over data that you've collected and flashing all day. I'm supposed to be the mobile Intersect but I'm hardly mobile anymore."

"The good news is," Sarah said, giving Chuck a conciliatory look and reaching up to caress the back of his neck, "at least the NSA doesn't want to kill you anymore."

"Yes, there is that," Chuck admitted, "although I think the CIA is still with the plan, just using a different method. They're going to bore me to death."

"Well, I guess you'll just have to find your excitement elsewhere, then," Sarah purred, tugging Chuck's shirttails loose from his pants.

As they began to kiss again, a little more enthusiastically this time, Chuck shifted and pulled Sarah down with him onto the bed where he suddenly moved away and exclaimed, "Wait! Stop! Stop!"

Alarmed, Sarah began to sit up again but Chuck pulled her back down and said, "I've been waiting to tell you and I almost forgot. I got an update today and there was something about Ilsa in it."

Sarah wiggled about a bit in her excitement, almost distracting Chuck from what he was going to say. "What?! Tell me!" she exclaimed as her face lit up in anticipation.

"Ilsa's defected. She's left the DGSE and signed up with the NSA. That means –"

"That she and Casey can finally be together!" Sarah finished for her husband. "Oh, Chuck! How wonderful! And he's waited so long! Does he know yet?"

"He's probably finding out right now," Chuck said, smiling broadly.

He rolled over quickly and flicked off the bedside lamp, then turned back to gaze at Sarah's face, which was bathed in the soft glow from the streetlight that was spilling inside through the open window.

"What else did you see, Intersect?" Sarah asked as she recommenced helping Chuck undress.

"I think you're going to have to torture it out of me, Ms. Secret Agent," he replied and smiled at the low sound of devilish laughter bubbling up from the bed beside him.

Ilsa wasn't sure they were going to make it all the way next door into Casey's house. Not that she minded so much, but the Neighborhood Association might have something to say about it, so she batted his hands firmly away from prominent parts of her anatomy and ran up the stairs to the front door, standing aside so he could open it and disarm the security system before going in.

Ilsa took a moment to remember their first meeting at that lovely flower market in Rome. Casey thought he had spotted her first but she had never told him that she had had him under surveillance for a good ten minutes before he had seen her. Her first glimpse of him set her heart to pounding. He was so self-possessed and handsome, drifting about from stall to stall charming all the old ladies who were selling flowers.

Finally, Ilsa had walked nonchalantly to the perfect spot to display herself to best advantage. There were buckets of red and pink carnations overflowing behind her, and the afternoon sun, lower to the horizon at that time of year, put her in the most flattering light possible for her coloring. Casey still bought her red and pink carnations whenever she returned to him. After eventually finding out he was an agent too, she decided that their meeting had been the work of a benevolent fate.

When he had finished locking up again and re-activated the alarm system, Casey turned and reached for Ilsa, a low moan conveying his desire as he pressed his lips to hers and tenderly tightened his embrace. One of the things that Ilsa always found exciting about Casey was that he knew what he wanted and wasn't afraid to ask for it, but Ilsa's plans involved his bedroom and not the foyer, so she twisted out of his grasp and ran lightly but quickly up the stairs ahead of him to his room.

She put him off again when they got inside and looked up, holding him at arm's length, commenting, "I always knew you were a lady killer, but poor little Lisa! That's just cruel!"

Casey laughed a bit but then became serious as he replied, "I had no idea that was going on, believe me. I would have put a stop to it if I had."

"And break a little girl's heart? You may be a cold-blooded assassin but you're also my Sugar Bear, you big softy."

Casey groaned at the sound of Ilsa's pet name for him and moved closer to kiss her again, breathing out between kisses, "Ilsa, I'm so glad you're back. This last mission was too long. Almost nine years. When do you go undercover again?"

"It depends on what the NSA decides, my lovely baby, but I've asked for a local assignment. Maybe Chuck can put in a good word for me."

It took Casey a moment to absorb what Ilsa had said and have its meaning register in his brain. When it did, he raised his head from her neck and stared at her, dumbfounded. All he could manage in the way of speech was, "You – you – you –"

Ilsa's delighted laugh at his reaction tinkled in the soft summer breeze coming through the open window.

"Yes, I – I – I was hoping to make an honest man out of you."

Casey swept Ilsa up into the air and spun around in circles, his joyful booming laughter filling the room before he put her down again and, getting down on one knee while holding Ilsa's hands in his, asked, in Russian, "Will you marry me, my love?"

"Da, moya lyubov," she replied, then drew him to his feet. They kissed tenderly as Casey reached behind himself to flip off the light switch.

Chuck and Sarah, lying in their bed in a comfortable embrace, looked towards the bedroom window when they heard Casey's laughter and turned back to look at each other when the light was extinguished a short time later. They smiled and rested their foreheads together as Sarah commented, "I believe she just told him."

Chuck snuggled closer to his wife and said, "Better prepare for a wedding, Mrs. Bartowski."

Da, moya lyubov – yes, my love