A/N: Thanks everyone who has reviewed thus far. I really appreciate it. Love hearing what you guys think, keeps me motivated. :D Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Chuck versus the Acting Gig

It had been three weeks, five days, four hours, and approximately 38 minutes since Chuck received the call from Sarah. He had been keeping track. It was hard at first to pretend he was a grieving fiancé when all he wanted to do is smile constantly. He kept the burn phone with him at all times incase she called. Chuck finally got himself together and starting his new act.

He loved his family and friends but they had been watching him like a hawk since the news, thinking he'd do something rash. He just wanted to be alone; it was easier to fake it if they weren't around all the time. The large bottle of whiskey, the tub of cheese puffs, and the TV were perfect companions to keep his mind off things.

The door to the apartment swung open and Chuck winced at the sudden bright light. Ellie walked in and frowned, "Chuck you got to get out of this apartment, please." She walked over to the coffee table and stared to clean up the mess he had made.

"The couch and I are just fine thank you." Chuck took a long swig from the bottle he clutched. God he was getting sick of whiskey.

Ellie stared at him, he hadn't shaved in weeks and she didn't exactly know when the last time he showered. "This isn't healthy." Chuck just muttered and shoved a large handful of cheese puffs into his mouth watching the TV. Ellie sighed, she was worried about him. Depressed was what he was going for and hoped he was pulling it off.

"Chuck we all miss her… but you have to start moving on. At least get out of the apartment and maybe go back to work."

Chuck slowly looked up at her. "Move on? How am I supposed to do that? Please do tell." He snapped at her.

"I'm not saying it's going to happen over night or that it's going to be easy. But you need to get up off this couch and do something or you're just going to rot away here." Ellie put a hand on her hip. "Do you really think Sarah would want you to do this to yourself?"

"Don't." Chuck shook his head; it was getting harder and harder to lie to his sister. And the more she talked about Sarah the more he wanted to blurt out everything he knew.

"Chuck…"

"Please Ellie… just don't…" Chuck sighed and rubbed his face.

Ellie sighed deeply and sat down next to him on the couch and brushed away some of his shaggy hair from his forehead. "We're worried about you… Look why get cleaned up and come over for dinner later. You haven't seen Clara in weeks; it would be nice for you to come see her."

"Maybe…" He went to take another drink but the bottle quickly disappeared from his hands. Ellie stood up with the bottle walking into the kitchen. "Hey give that back." Chuck got up after her.

"Sorry Chuck this is for your own good." She poured the rest of the bottle down the sink.

"Whoa, what are you doing? That was expensive!" Ellie gave him a look. "Ok maybe not… but it was doing the job just fine."

Ellie walked over and poked him in the chest. "You go shower. Now." Chuck just stared at her.

"Fine…" He didn't want to argue.

"And shave!" Ellie yelled after him before the bathroom door shut. She went into Chuck's bedroom to get him some clean clothes to wear. There was nothing out of place; everything was exactly the way Chuck had left it the day he found out about Sarah. She left the clothes right outside the bathroom door and knocked loudly over the running water. "Chuck I left you some clean clothes outside the door."

"Ok." He stood under the water and sighed. Why couldn't Sarah just come home already? Chuck was sick and tired of acting this way, it was like being undercover in his own life. It was tiring.

Ellie went out into the living room and began cleaning. It was a mess and Morgan could only do so much, he wasn't much of a cleaner himself. The place looked half decent once Chuck left the bathroom. He shaved and changed into the clean pair of sweats and t-shirt. Ellie gave him a small smile, "much better." She walked up to him and gave him a huge hug. "It'll get better."

"I miss her…" Chuck whispered it wasn't a lie. He missed Sarah terribly.

"I know… but we're here for you."

"Thank you."

Ellie pulled back rubbed his cheek. "I'm going to go make dinner. And you're coming over to eat. Ok?"

Chuck nodded, "ok."

She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before heading back to her apartment. Devon was on the floor playing with Clara when Ellie walked in. "Hey sweetie, how'd it go?"

"Well I got him to shower and shave." Ellie sighed and walked over sitting down on the floor and picked up Clara who started crawling over to her.

"That's great babe." Devon leaned over kissing her cheek.

"He's coming over to dinner."

Devon smiled, "he's actually going to leave the apartment?"

"Yes even if you have to drag him here." She said smiling brightly at her daughter. "Yes, Uncle Chuck is coming over for dinner." Ellie cooed at her.

Chuck sat at the dinner table slowly eating his food. Ellie had invited Morgan and Casey over as well hoping it would help Chuck. There was awkward small talk and everyone trying to get Chuck into the conversation. Though it wasn't working well. Chuck remained silent and just made one or two comments during the dinner. It was just easier for Chuck not to say anything.

Dinner was finished and Chuck slowly helped clear the table with Ellie. Casey huffed pulling Morgan and Devon aside. "The General wants Chuck back in action. And you two are going to help me get him back into spy mode." Casey told them in a hushed tone.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Morgan glanced at Chuck. "He hasn't been all cooperative."

"It's been almost a month since the accident do you really think he's ready for spying?" Devon was worried.

"If he doesn't start now he may never be." Casey sighed and frowned slightly. "This mission will not be easy, are you two up for it?" They both nodded, knowing that Chuck needed to start moving on.

"What's the first step?" Morgan questioned.

"He needs to get back to work, baby steps." Casey explained.

"Right, I'm all over that." Morgan agreed.

"What about me?" Devon asked, wanting in on this so called mission.

Casey smirked, "you have to make sure tomorrow he's up and out of the door for work."

Devon grinned, "I can do that."

"Good then it's a go then," Casey glanced at Chuck.

"Operation Chuck." Morgan looked over Casey's shoulder at his best friend. This would be good for him even if Chuck wasn't ready emotionally for it; he needed to start moving on.

Chuck shot straight up from his awkward dream state, hearing the blender in his kitchen blaring through the apartment. He sat up on the couch tossing back the blanket that was over him and rubbed his eyes, looking over his shoulder to see what was going on.

"Morning bro," Devon smiled at his brother-in-law pouring a large smoothie concoction into a glass.

"Umm… morning." Chuck got to his feet and stepped into his slippers. "Awesome what are you doing over here?"

"Makin' you breakfast dude." Devon slid the two over-easy eggs onto a plate and brought over to the table.

"Ahh...thanks." He shuffled over to the table slowly. Chuck wasn't really all that hungry. "But why are you making me breakfast?" Chuck glanced at the time. "At six am." There were many morning's lately where he was up at six am.

"You my friend are going to work."

Chuck rolled his eyes and slowly took a seat. He had to admit everything looked delicious. "I'm not ready to go back yet."

"Yes you are, now eat up dude."

Chuck sighed and finally gave in. "Fine…" In all truth he couldn't wait. It would help him keep his mind of things and would be a nice change of pace from the depressed act he was trying to pull off.

*Two Weeks Later*

It was the first time Chuck stepped foot in Castle since Sarah's "death", the place looked the same but it definitely didn't feel the same. Chuck followed Casey down the stairs. "This isn't going to do you any good. I don't want this anymore." He had been back to the Buy More for about two weeks now and things were finally getting a little better. But Casey would not drop the constant pressure to get back into spy-mode. It was frustrating.

Casey stopped and turned back looking at him. "Look Bartowski. You're an agent. Agent's have to deal with loss." He poked him in the chest with a finger. "So buck-up." Casey didn't deal with feelings well and even he had a hard time getting back into the swing of things. After working with Sarah for three years it was hard when she suddenly was gone.

He led him to the dojo and grabbed a pair of boxing gloves and shoved them into Chuck's chest. "Strap up."

"Casey…"

"Now!"

Chuck sighed and slowly pulling on the gloves. "You've already tried to get me to flash, it's not working." It wasn't. He had tried several times to flash on things he should flash on but nothing happened. Chuck was worried about Sarah and it was affecting the Intersect.

"Yes but we're gonna have to change that… General Beckman wants you and the Intersect back in action." Casey quickly jabbed at Chuck's head.

Chuck tried to block it but the hit landed square in his jaw sending him on his back. He groaned loudly. "Oww…"

"Well if you'd flash moron you wouldn't get hit." Casey stood over him. "So do us all a favor and flash."

"I can't…"

"No, you just refuse not to." Casey snapped at him.

Chuck slowly got to his feet and ripped off his gloves, "look I'm done ok! The Intersect is not working. So just stop Casey!" Chuck was getting angry.

Casey smirked anger was good. "You're done when the CIA says you're done."

"So is that it? I'm basically in until die!" He was frustrated at a lot of things right now and this was his chance to let some of it. Everything was building up inside him; Sarah just leaving on a mission without a word, not being able to talk to her until she calls him, and especially lying to his family and friends.

"Or if you'd like we can throw you in a confined cell in an undisclosed location." Casey egged on. "You have to move on, so let's go."

Casey reached out and grabbed Chuck's arm to bring him back into the dojo. Chuck finally let his anger get the better of him when he felt the hand on his arm and flashed; his eyes stopped fluttering and his eyebrows narrowed slightly. He turned quickly grabbing Casey's forearm and elbowed him hard in the face sending Casey to the floor with a groan. "I said no more!" Chuck stormed out of the dojo taking deep controlled breaths.

Casey wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and smirked slightly. "Welcome back Chuck." Casey found Chuck's current trigger to flash. Anger.

A/N: This one was a little harder to write, trying to figure out how Chuck would react to stuff and have a flashing issue. So hopefully I pulled it off to some extent :D I have the day off tomorrow from work so I'm actually hoping to post another chapter if not two if I get motivated to write most the day. As always please review!