A/N: Thank you to the great mxpw. Once again, his beta made this chapter at the very least 108% better. And he makes great jokes, too. :)

Thank you again to everyone of you who's been reading and reviewing, and to quistie64 for being Rogue Spy's 100th reviewer. :-) 100 reviews! Wow! That's incredible. Thanks, guys.

Special thanks also to JoeltotheD, for being awesome, and to Catrogue, because she's hilarious, and she sings well, so... ;-)

Enjoy!

Chapter 7: The Safe House

December 3, 2009

Sarah felt herself awaking.

Noise coming from the foyer startled her awake, and she momentarily chastised herself for letting her guard down. As she was just straightening herself up on the sofa, the door opened.

"It's us," Chuck said immediately, before seeing her. "Oh, hey!" She saw him let out a sigh of relief; relief of what, Sarah wasn't sure. He had appeared to be a bit on tenterhooks since she had arrived in Burbank. She had assumed it was about Casey, but he was still tense, even though the rescue mission had gone well.

"Hey," she said back, her voice feeble with sleep.

"Did we wake you?"

"No," she lied, without fooling any of them. In spite of her fatigue, Sarah had wanted a chance to talk with Chuck, before getting some rest. Maybe he'd tell her what was worrying him. That's why she had settled on the couch, after showering and getting changed. "How did it go with Beckman?"

Chuck and Casey had rescued Casey's ex-fiancée—Kathleen—without too much trouble. Keller hadn't had time to give his men the go-order, and they hadn't even woken up Kathleen yet, when Casey and Chuck had gotten to her house. That certainly helped with the cover. It had officially been declared a simple housebreaking attempt.

They had called Sarah, who had been on her way to meet them, after finishing with her clean up at the cabin—tying up all the Ring agents there, and making sure they couldn't escape before the CIA clean up team arrived. After that, Casey had decided to bring them downtown, to a secret safe house only he knew about. Sarah had been waiting there, while Chuck and Casey went to debrief Beckman on the events of the night.

"She seemed to buy our story," Chuck said, and placed his full messenger bag on the table. He removed his perforated jacket slowly, and grimaced as he did so; he probably had some serious bruising from the two gunshots. She had wanted to check on it earlier, but he'd told her he'd do it at Castle. He put the jacket on the back of a chair, which he then pulled out and turned toward the couch, before sitting down near her.

Casey, who was still standing next to the door said, "I'll come back with food in the morning." He paused, and his expression changed. Sarah didn't know why he looked suddenly uncomfortable. "You need anything else?" he asked her.

Oh, that was why. "No, uh, I'm good. Thanks."

Casey didn't dwell. "Want me to tell the moron you're not coming home?" he asked Chuck.

"What will you tell him?" Chuck replied, frowning.

Casey thought briefly about it. "I could tell him you've got a hot date," he said, almost smiling.

"With whom?" Chuck deadpanned.

"With that Stephanie chick from the other day."

"Pfff—W-what?" Chuck glanced at Sarah. "That's ridiculous! Besides, Ellie would find out I lied."

Casey shrugged innocently, but Sarah knew he was enjoying this. He always was.

"It's late, Morgan's probably sleeping." Casey waited as Chuck was obviously thinking about it. "Just tell him I got a call on the Nerd Herd afterhours number if he's still up," he added.

"Hmm, maybe you should go," Sarah said. Chuck gave her a questioning look in response. "If that's going to be a problem with Morgan and Ellie," she clarified.

Chuck apparently decided to stay with her, since all he did was turn to Casey once more. "Goodnight, Casey," he said.

Casey grunted his usual disgust over their relationship, but left quickly without question.

Chuck waited for the door to close to shift back toward her. "I think he's still in shock," he said. "Or as much as Casey can be in shock? His own version of being in shock, I guess."

Back at Kathleen's house, they had made an incredible discovery. Kathleen had a daughter named Alex. Chuck had rapidly done the math: she was Casey's too.

"She's named after him. He told Beckman his real name was Alex Coburn," Chuck carried on. "That's crazy." He shook his head, like he was trying to wrap his mind around the idea. "I don't think he'll tell her, though."

"Maybe it's for the best."

"Don't you think she should know?"

"Keller knew about Casey's old identity because he recruited him, but it's still safer for Kathleen and Alex not to know who he really is."

"Maybe…"

The conversation lapsed, and Sarah thought back to words she had exchanged with Casey a long time ago.

Do you ever just want to have a normal life? Have a family? Children?

The choice we made, to protect something bigger than ourselves, is the right choice. Hard as that is for you to remember sometimes.

Casey had chosen to give up his life with Kathleen to serve his country, and she knew he didn't regret his decision. Except that, he hadn't known he had a daughter at the time. This changed everything.

Sarah looked at Chuck, who was lost in his own musings. Finding out about Casey's past life had shaken him up, she could tell as much. She pondered asking him about it, but he looked drawn. He had stifled a couple of yawns already, and she knew he hadn't gotten much sleep since their trip to Phoenix.

"Well, you must be exhausted. Just like I am," she added, before he could say otherwise. "We should probably get some shut-eye, before Casey gets back."

"Yeah," he agreed, but turned to his bag, and dug a Nerd Herd laptop out of it. "I'll just set up a fake install for the Buy More before."

She nodded as she stood up, and hesitated briefly, waiting for him to look back at her. When he did, she took a step forward, placed a hand on his shoulder, and gave his cheek a kiss.

"I'll be there," she said, pointing at the bedroom door on her left.

––––o–––––o––––

Sarah felt herself awaking.

Noise from behind her, of someone entering the room, startled her awake. Her body tensed, and her hand reached out under the pillow to grab her weapon. There was nothing there. Her confusion about that didn't last long, and he must have noticed her movement, because he announced himself.

"It's Chuck."

Sarah didn't move while she listened to him putting down his bag against the wall, and he approached his side of the bed. She was a little cold, even under the covers. "Hey," she uttered in a sleepy voice. She wondered what had taken him so long for her to fall asleep so deeply.

Despite the darkness, the red glow of the alarm clock lit up the room enough that, when he reached out and opened the sheets, he stopped to look at her.

"I guess I don't have to wonder where my Browncoat t-shirt went," he said, even as he slid into bed on his side, facing her.

Sarah felt a light blush coloring her cheeks. She had borrowed the t-shirt after he had worn it during their night in Seattle. She didn't let her embarrassment show, though. "Do you want it back?" she asked slyly.

She knew he got her meaning when something flickered in his eyes. He wasn't having any of it, though, and his expression remained serious. "It's yours," he said, "if you want it."

Sarah's throat went a little dry. He could do double entendre just as well, apparently. "I want it," she said bashfully.

It was all he needed to hear. Chuck scooted closer. His left arm wrapped between her and the mattress, his palm resting on her back, while his right hand came to slightly grip her waist. She accompanied the movement by shuffling towards him as well, and her arms circled around him. She felt him shiver under her hands when they slid under his t-shirt.

"You're freezing," he said, tightening his hold and covering her feet with his own.

"I'm better now," was all she said.

The freshly showered scent of him filled Sarah's nostrils, and she sighted contentedly against the crook of his neck. Chuck was warm, and she felt good in his embrace, lulled by his heartbeat. They lay silently for a while, losing themselves in the moment, until he froze and Chuck's right hand retracted as if she'd burned him.

"I'm sorry," he said with alarm. "Does it hurt?"

It took Sarah a second to understand what he was talking about. He'd been mindlessly drawing circles with his thumb against the scar on her left flank. She caught his wrist, and placed his palm right back.

"No," she replied. "Not anymore." When he still hadn't moved, she let her hand rub all the way up to his shoulder in order to ease him.

"Sorry," he said, and gave her a peck on the cheek.

Sarah accorded herself a few more minutes of what felt like heaven, before breaking the silence. "So, do you want to tell me what's bothering you?"

Chuck sighed, almost reluctantly, and Sarah thought for a moment that he wouldn't talk to her. "What Casey said earlier…it wasn't what it sounded like," he said.

"No?"

"No."

Sarah couldn't say curiosity hadn't been nagging at her, along with an ounce (or two) of jealousy. It wasn't that she didn't trust Chuck, but the fear of him realizing that he still wanted the normal relationship he had sought for the last two years was always there. Even more so, now that it would actually make his life simpler.

Even if he was the Intersect, and he would have to lie about his real job to a civilian, a normal relationship would still give him only one cover life: the one he had for his friends and family. With her, he was forced to have two covers—one for those closest to him, and one for the government—when he still wished he had none. Besides, it wasn't like she had been the most committed girlfriend a guy could hope for. Could she even call herself his girlfriend?

The worried mood he'd been in led her to play down her own worries, though. "So, it wasn't a hot date?" Okay, maybe she wasn't above fishing for some reassurance. She leaned back to grin at him, however, and let him know she was fine.

"No," he said with a snort. "Ellie ambushed me two weeks ago. She invited a friend of hers from the hospital for dinner, and didn't tell me about it."

"That Stephanie sounds awful already," she teased.

"She kinda was. She was a little mean to Morgan." Her eyebrows went up, and he added, "He crashed the dinner, and…you know Morgan. It wasn't really going well before he arrived, anyway." He sighed again. "There's nothing I can do about it, though. It's not like they could know about us. Whatever we are…"

"Which is what's really bothering you," Sarah said. Chuck erased his guilty look quickly, but she had known him long enough to know when something was on his mind.

"I just…I wasn't gonna say anything, because, well, we've got enough on our plate already," he said, and paused. Sarah braced herself for what was coming. She wasn't sure she could reassure him like it seemed he needed right now. "What we learned about Casey…I know it's different. But I also know that if the situation presents itself, you'll leave if it means I'm safer without you."

Sarah didn't say anything. She had thought about doing just that many times, enough to know her answer would displease him. Could she really deny it?

"I know, because I'd probably think about it myself. I'm the Intersect, and people have been after me ever since I got it," he said. "You and Casey protected me and my family and my friends, but it's always been a threat."

Sarah shifted uneasily in his arms, and he let her roll onto her back. He didn't let go of her completely, though, and placed his arm across her stomach, hand still stroking the scarred area above her hip.

"So, I thought about it," he murmured, his head dropping to the pillow, right next to hers. "I don't want you to leave me. I don't care if it's dangerous. We said we'd do this together, right? I want us to do this together, and that we both decide on what to do if it comes to that."

She stayed silent, and his other hand grabbed the one resting between them. He interlocked their fingers.

"Chuck…" she breathed, but nothing else came out. She squeezed his hand—she was still there; she didn't want to go anywhere. What he was asking for, however, Sarah wasn't sure she could promise him.

"Just think about it," he said at her silence. "Ellie and I, we saw what the spy life can do…what leaving can do, and…" he broke off in hesitation, before finally saying, "I don't want us to end up like my father. Deciding what's best for the other without consulting each other. That's not a relationship. I've already gotten to that point with Ellie..."

Chuck trailed off. He dipped his head forward, his hair brushing hers, and he shifted a bit on his side to get more comfortable. Sarah found herself mute, gaze fixated on the ceiling.

After a while, Chuck spoke again. "I'll help you either way." She could hear the sleepiness in his voice. "You don't have to worry about that. We'll get them." Always ready to save her, she thought.

Sleep didn't come easily for Sarah. She felt Chuck's breathing become regular, while pleasantly tickling her skin. She didn't dare move, and stayed frozen in place for a long time, thinking about Chuck's declarations. When she got too tired to even do that, she readjusted the bedclothes with her free arm.

The cold getting to Sarah's feet again suddenly felt oddly fitting.

––––o–––––o––––

Sarah felt herself awaking.

Noise from outside the bedroom startled her awake. In her sleepy fogginess, she almost woke Chuck up, before she remembered where she was. As though sensing her brief scare, Chuck pulled her closer against him with the arm that he had kept around her waist all night. The sigh she felt against her neck told her that he was still sleeping. Hoping to join him back in what appeared to be a pleasant slumber, Sarah shut her eyes.

Memories of the night, and the day before, and the day before that one, kept her awake. The more they discovered, the messier her life became. And she had brought Chuck into the madness. She wasn't going back to sleep today.

Sarah carefully slipped out of bed, and rubbed her eyes. Spotting the hoodie Chuck had left out on his bag, she slipped into the piece of clothing, before running a hand through her hair. She suddenly felt a little self-conscious, walking around Casey's safe house in her unflattering PJs. She pushed the thought away and took a deep breath, before leaving the room, and carefully closing the door behind her.

"Walker," Casey greeted from the opposite side of the room.

The bright light of the day demanded her eyes adjust, and she grimaced slightly at the sensation. "Casey."

Sarah took in the room. A backpack and a Buy More briefcase had appeared on the couch to her right. Chuck's Nerd Herd laptop was open on the table, from the previous night she assumed, as well as a closed file folder. More importantly, since she was starving, the smell of coffee was filling the room. Leaning against the kitchen countertop, Casey had one cup in hand, and two more cups were displayed next to the laptop on the table, along with...doughnuts?

"Your cup's marked," Casey said, in response to her lingering look at the food and coffee.

Sarah realized she hadn't moved from the bedroom door; her fingers were still curled around the knob. She stepped further into the room, almost hesitatingly. This was weird. She and Casey hadn't been alone since she had come back to Burbank. They hadn't had much time to chat, seeing as they had had other things on their minds. Prior to that, they hadn't seen each other since they had casually parted ways when Chuck had left for Prague, and Beckman had given them some time off. Casey was just observing her now, not making a move, and she didn't know what to make of it.

Sarah focused her gaze on his. "Thanks," she finally said, emphasizing the word. Casey hadn't turned her in. He had given her a place to hide. She wasn't just thanking him for breakfast.

He understood. She saw it in the way he suddenly seemed to want to flee the scene, and fidgeted with his cup. "It was my turn to buy coffee," he said, and shrugged it off, but not before they exchanged some kind of nod.

She decided to focus on soothing her empty stomach, and sat down at the table. Caffeine should help clear her mind. Hopefully.

When he finished his beverage, Casey eventually broke the silence. "Bartowski's still asleep?"

"Mmhmm," Sarah replied, and swallowed her last bite of doughnut.

"Figured you'd wear him out," he said with a small gleam in his eyes.

She glared at him, and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin. "He's had a couple of rough days."

"Heh." Casey made a face. "More like a couple of rough months," he said.

Before she could think of stopping herself, Sarah frowned. She needed to wake up.

"It got a little easier when his sister moved out, but since his idiot friend came back from Hawaii, the lies got tougher. You know how he is about this stuff."

Judging by last night's conversation, Chuck had a lot on his mind indeed. And she hadn't forgotten what he had blurted out during their stakeout either. How could she? Sarah inhaled deeply, comforted by the scent of the hoodie she was wearing.

"He's fine," Casey said, with a hint of exasperation. She thought he'd also roll his eyes at her obvious concern, but he restrained himself. "His training's been going well, actually." If she didn't know better, she'd think Casey was proud. She smiled for a fraction of second, before it faded. "That's a good thing." Evidently, Casey was able to read her thoughts this morning.

"Is it?"

"That's how he found you, isn't it?"

Not exactly, she thought, but sort of. Never mind that, that wasn't the point. "You just said it had been rough on him."

"Probably would have been worse if he hadn't."

"Hadn't what?"

"Found you."

Sarah wasn't so sure about that anymore. Not that she had been sure of it before, either. Nibbling on her bottom lip, she took another doughnut; sugar might help the caffeine.

"So, what happened?" Casey asked. "Why are you rogue?"

"I'm not rogue," she said, without thinking. She looked away for a moment, still eating her food, until a hand touched her shoulder. She blinked in surprise at the person standing next to her.

"It's Chuck," he said sotto voce.

He had sneaked up on her from behind, and was now bending forward to kiss her cheek, lightly. She seriously needed to get her head back in the game.

Casey grunted through his teeth with obvious disgust about what he'd just witnessed.

Chuck ignored it. "Good morning, Casey," he said, and entered the bathroom, leaving the door wide open. He must have woken up soon after her, since he was already dressed. "Thanks for breakfast," he added louder, to cover the sound of the sink.

Casey turned back to her. "So?"

"The Ring's after me," she said. "Somehow, they managed to frame me within the CIA too. At least, that's our theory."

Casey's eyebrows furrowed as Chuck came back into the living room. Sarah watched him take his coffee; rest seemed to have done him good. For one thing, his mood was considerably improved; and he looked better.

"Did you find it?" he asked Casey.

Casey didn't answer him. Instead, he walked to his backpack on the sofa, and dug out something from it.

"Why did you have a Ring phone in your desk drawer? Where did you get it?" he asked as he handed it to Chuck.

"You kept it at home?" Sarah said in disapproval. She had specifically told him not to.

"I didn't have time to hide it," Chuck replied, and went to grab the Buy More briefcase. It looked like his Nerd Herd equipment. "But I deactivated it, it's fine. With a Ring agent leaving Casey's apartment, it seemed kinda irrelevant anyway."

"Had he found Ring agents in your bedroom, I doubt Morgan would have found it irrelevant."

"He works above a government base, where another of these things is stored, and was deactivated the exact same way this one was," he replied with a bit of a scowl.

"Again, where did you get it?" Casey cut them off.

Chuck glanced her way, asking for permission to speak. She sighed. He frowned.

He sat down next to his computer, opposite Sarah, and immediately started pulling out various items from his kit, before turning back to Casey.

"We went to Phoenix two days ago," Chuck said. "Someone was after Sarah, and we caught her." Casey's eyebrows knitted together, and Chuck explained to him the operation they had pulled off. "Turned out, it was Amy, from the CAT Squad, and she had that on her," he said, the last part pointing at the phone.

"Didn't she get arrested in September?" Casey asked.

Sarah wondered how Casey knew about Amy. Chuck just shrugged, however, and kept busy.

Curiosity got the best of her. "What are you doing?" Sarah asked.

He looked at her, straight in the eyes. His calm expression took her by surprise. She expected him to be annoyed, just like he'd been minutes ago. "I know what I'm doing, I promise."

Thinking back to their conversation the previous night, she gave him a nod. She trusted him. There weren't any doubts about that.

Sarah watched him work, concentration etched adorably on his face, and she thought back to the early days of their relationship. Back when he still spent time in the cage, working on hard drives and whatever other computer pieces he repaired. Her mind often glazed over when it came to computer stuff. "Do you want help? Or need something?"

This time he was the one who was surprised. He glanced up, and seeing that she was serious, looked like he was considering her question. "Hmm, no, it shouldn't take me too long," he said, and gave her a brilliant smile, "but thank you." Sarah heard an annoyed noise, but decided to enjoy a few more seconds of that smile. She wasn't sure if Chuck would be more grateful if she had just offered him a kidney.

"Stop flirting then, and get to it," Casey cut off—again. "What does the Ring want with you?" he asked her next, leaning on the back of the chair at the end of the table.

"Who knows?" She saw Chuck's eyebrows shoot up, but he didn't divert his attention from the Ring phone. She was tired of wondering every day the exact same thing, but she figured Casey couldn't quite understand her irritation. It wasn't fair to take it out on him, either, so she carried on, before his unusual patience wore off. "They want me dead. That's all I know for sure."

"Because of Rome?"

Sarah's eyes cut to Chuck's. That was news for the both of them. "What about Rome?"

Casey threw her the file that had been waiting in front of him. "The CIA thinks you stole something from their facility in Rome." He sat down, and Sarah started to go through the file; finally she had something to focus on. "Took me some time to figure it out, but I think it was part of the Cipher from the Intersect 2.0."

"The one Chuck destroyed?"

Casey nodded. "The government kept parts of it for study, but decided it was safer not to have them all stored in one place. Probably to avoid another Larkin disaster."

Although, Casey kind of had a point—Bryce had been involved in the destruction of both government Intersects—Sarah ignored the remark. Bryce hadn't been responsible, at least the second time, and he was dead; besides, a page from the file caught her attention. It was the picture of one of the men that had attacked her in Lisbon.

What was the Ring up to? "Was the component Keller wanted part of the 2.0 as well?"

"Not sure. It looked like it could be to me, but I didn't get confirmation. Though, it seems that the other half of the Cipher was stored in L.A. I checked this morning with my contacts." Casey moved a little to get a closer look at the page she had reacted to. "Justin Sullivan. He was at the Roman CIA facility that day. They think you killed him," he said. "You know him?"

Sarah knew him, alright. "Yeah, I, uh…" Perhaps sensing her hesitation, Chuck looked up from his work, with concern apparent on his face. "I did kill him," she said. Casey and Chuck both frowned. "He attacked me, so he was probably Ring, I think. But it was in Lisbon, not in Rome." Sarah had defended herself when she had escaped, and it had been his ID that had revealed that the CIA was involved somehow.

"How do you know all of this?" Chuck asked Casey. The latter glanced her way, but didn't respond; like Chuck, Casey had investigated her disappearance. Chuck didn't miss the look, and caught its meaning. "You should have told me."

"I'm telling you now, aren't I?"

Chuck shook his head, but went back to whatever he was doing.

"What happened in Lisbon?" Casey asked.

Sarah decided it was time to tell Casey about it—all of it: Lisbon, Victorville, the plane to Montréal, Seattle…

Though it had been his own situation that had brought them here, Casey was now sticking up for Sarah, and allowing her and Chuck access to his safe house. He had covered up earlier for the two of them with Beckman. And even more, he had looked for her—for the truth, all while trying to keep Chuck out of trouble. Sarah felt like a piece of the weight she'd been carrying around had been lifted and supported by her partner. No matter what her CIA status said, they were still partners.

Throughout her tale, Chuck kept throwing in his trademark comments. He certainly knew how to lighten the atmosphere, and helped her with the uncomfortable parts. She had survived through this without him at first, but Chuck made everything better, even if technically nothing really was. The way he looked at things, and life in general...he just had that power over her now—had had it for a long time.

As she related the events, Casey gave her more details on what he had found out during his research. Meanwhile, Chuck had disassembled the Ring phone into numerous pieces, attached to several wires, and linked to his computer. By the time Sarah finished, he spoke up.

"Guys, I think I found something."