Author's Note: This chapter is a lot longer. To make up for the short diddy one previously but also because this is the one. It had to be longer to fit all the good bits in. But to be truthful its still quite short for me. If I had my way, this would be 14 pages long not 3!

Enjoy the j/ellie!

JC Carmicheal

The Talk

The text message from Sarah was to let Chuck know they were back from their mission. It was successful as Casey had copied all her client files and a few others he felt were important as well. Whilst Sarah was going to look them over, she suggested once again for Chuck to go and talk to their team mate.

Leaving Morgan fast asleep in the chair after one of his grape soda binges, Chuck went to his door and opened it. He was surprised to see his sister already walking across the courtyard with a plate, on top of which was a cover hiding something delicious.

"Sis! El! Wait up!"

Ellie stopped in mid-walk rather suddenly, the plate nearly dropped from her hands but Chuck was quick enough to save it. The cover slipped a little and the lovely aroma of pancakes wafted out from underneath. Chuck's stomach rumbled.

"They're not for you." said Ellie smiling, even though her eyes were looking distinctly worried. "But I can make you some if you and Morgan are hungry?"

"I think he heard that and is already emerging from the depths of hibernation." joked Chuck, making his sister laugh in response. "It will be really appreciated, El. You are the best."

"I aim to please my men."

"Oh…is Morgan your man now?"

Ellie laughed again, but she couldn't control the shiver her body made. Morgan was part of the family now, part of Team Bartowski (his role in that was severely limited on Casey's say so.) and Ellie did respect him a great deal more than she used to. But he was still Morgan.

"I hate to see people go hungry." she said. "Besides, he loves my cooking and he flatters me well for it. You, I cook for you even though we don't live together any more, but I do it because I want to."

"And I love you more for it, Ellie." Chuck gently rubbed her shoulder.

There was silence. The siblings stood out in the middle of the courtyard, smiling but not actually saying anything or moving towards Casey's place. Chuck saw Ellie look over there a couple of times, nervously biting on her bottom lip. Her foot was tapping in an impatient way on the ground and that got Chuck concerned.

"Are you heading over to Casey's?" he asked, adding the word "again" only in his head.

"Yes!" Ellie said, just a little too abruptly. "I made him some pancakes."

"Oh. Erm…Ellie…you've been feeding Casey rather a lot these past few weeks. Cheesecake, pecan pies, pancakes." he gestured to the plate. "In fact I've noticed you taking over a large number of assorted desserts to the guy. I know you don't like to see people go hungry, but Ellie I think you're going to overfeed him. He might explode. Bits of Casey all over the place would not be good."

"John loves my cooking as well, Chuck. I can't cook for you and Morgan and not cook for him. Can I?"

"You're spoiling him!" Chuck gasped, grinning from ear to ear. "You want to spoil him too! You want to spoil John Casey!"

"Chuck, I spoil you all. I don't have to do this for all of you. I do it because I love you."

"Ellie that might not be a good idea to stuff the guy with desserts. He's an important member of our team and he's not going to be useful if he's full and bloated all the time. We may need to have a new sign on his door that would read "Please Do not Over Feed The Casey."" Chuck paused for a moment, thinking he might have missed something important. He had. "Actually why are you spoiling him?"

The foot tapping stopped and Chuck followed her gaze slowly over to where Casey was leaning against his open door frame, his arms folded across his chest.

That seemingly impossible thought came back to his head.

His eyes widened and his mouth fell open as all the pieces of the puzzle came together.

His head whipped from side to side, looking at Casey smirking in his doorway and then to his sister who had gone a bright red.

"YOU? CASEY?" he cried. "You and Casey? Casey and you?"

"I think he's finally sussed it out." murmured Casey when Ellie gently lead her stammering brother over to his apartment. "These Stanford graduates really are sharp."

"Let's discuss the rest of this inside, shall we?" she asked.

Chuck watched astounded as Casey obediently backed away into his home and allowed the two siblings to enter. As they passed, Chuck pointed with a finger at Casey and then to his sister, moving it back and forth between them whilst still gasping for air. He didn't notice the wink Ellie gave to the Colonel, nor did he witness the soft grazing of John's hand across her back.

Chuck was going from shocked to completely flabbergasted as the idea of Ellie and Casey having a relationship finally sunk in. With his finger still pointed, Ellie rested her brother down into Casey's recliner, but then she quickly thought better about it. It was John's chair, his roost and so Ellie picked up Chuck and then helped him into one of the other chairs.

He was still gasping when Casey shut the door and he was still pointing with his finger when he came and stood by Ellie.

"You? And you?" he finally panted.

"Chuck, I'm sorry you had to find out like this." said Ellie handing the pancakes to Casey and then kneeling down in front of her brother. "I know I said that I wanted no secrets between us and I know I should have told you but I didn't…we didn't know ourselves until recently what this was for us."

"But…Awesome! Why can't you still be with Awesome…instead of Casey?"

"Chuck! Devon understands. You know why we split up. He loves the excitement and the adrenalin buzz more than he loves me."

"And John Casey being a spy doesn't worry you in the slightest?"

"Of course it worries me Chuck. Spies, agents and danger are a part this family it seems, whether I want it to be or not. I had to accept it and as soon as I did…everything changed. It happened. John and I happened."

"Happened?"

Chuck started having difficulties in breathing again, but as Ellie prompted him, he tried to calm himself down with long deep breaths.

Ellie turned round for some support and saw that Casey had picked at one of the pancakes and his mouth was full. Casey gulped and dutifully stepped forward. There was that purring hmmm of satisfaction (Grunt number four) from having eaten the pancake before Casey sat down in his recliner and leant forward.

His face softened and Casey became almost humble before the younger man. There was intense respect and sincerity in the eyes of the Colonel and it made Chuck wonder why he had reacted so harshly when he'd figured out their secret,

"Bartowski…Chuck." Casey cleared his throat and got the surprised but pleased response from both of them when he used Chuck's actual name. "This is no joke. There is no ulterior motive nor is it a government scheme plotting against you. After Ellie and Awesome split, we just became better acquainted. Neither of us had expected for our friendship to become what it has become, but I will say this. I will treat Ellie with the respect, honour and love she deserves. You have my word, I will not let anyone hurt her. I will not do anything to hurt her."

Chuck believed him.

In fact, despite all his worries about Ellie dating Casey (he's a spy, he's a killer, he's sarcastic.) all of Casey's good points completely outweighed them. He was a man who could protect Ellie, keep her safe and Chuck trusted him implicitly. There was no need to object to this relationship. John Casey made his sister happy.

Ellie's huge loving smile proved that. It made John react with a small genuine smile of his own.

Chuck remembered. Casey had been in a very good mood recently, so it must have all been because of Ellie.

That thought made Chuck smile too.

"I have no objections." he said at last.

"Oh Chuck!" Ellie flung her arms around her brother's neck and she hugged him almost to the point where he couldn't breathe again. Gasping for air, Ellie immediately let go and then went over to John. "I really needed to hear you say that."

It was strange seeing them hold hands. Ellie had always been affectionate and a very open person about her feelings, but Casey not so much. So it was strange to see him so comfortable and relaxed with her. He was not one for being affectionate in public, or in front of people he knew for that matter. Yet, here he was, standing, smiling pleasantly and holding her hand. Holding her around her waist. Kissing her on the cheek...kissing her on the lips. John Casey was kissing his sister.

"NO!" His hand slapped over his eyes and he leapt up from the chair. Hearing the new couple break apart Chuck allowed himself to peek through his fingers. With his other hand he wagged a finger at them both. "No kissing in front of me! She's my sister and these are my eyes. I prefer to keep them intact. I'm happy for you guys…but seeing my sister and my NSA "handler" making out is…I'm not ready for it. No. Just….please no."

"Chuck." Ellie sighed. "Don't be such a baby! I thought you said you were okay with it?"

"Yes well, I am. Just not the kissing in front of me. You're my sister, El!" Chuck, still with his hand over his eyes began to make his way over to the door. "And he's Casey! He doesn't publicly show his feelings like this."

"Have to get used to it then, won't you?" Casey said back.

"Not yet! Not yet! Little steps at a time…okay? I know Casey will be good for you, Ellie. I really do, but the Casey kissing part…I'm not ready for it. It's a little weird."

"There is nothing weird about it." Ellie replied.

"What about Alex? Does she know?"

"She knows." Casey added. "So does Sarah."

Of course Sarah would know. It was the reason she had sent him over here in the first place.

"Right…new and changed Casey…I can handle that. I think that's great, but no kissing in front of me…please?"

The reluctant agreeing sound of grunt number 24 was answer enough for Chuck and he allowed his hand to slip away from his eyes. Casey and Ellie were standing close, his sister's arm was snaked round his waist whilst he protectively had his round her shoulder.

That he had no problem at all with. He didn't mind them hugging or holding hands, but it was the kissing that scared him. It was weird for Chuck when Ellie and Awesome kept kissing at first and it took him a long time to be comfortable seeing his sister do that. It's not something a brother wants to see. However, he knew it was going to take longer now she was with Casey.

"Thank you." Chuck said, smiling. "This is going to be just…its all good. Now, I'm going to leave you two be. Morgan might be wondering where I am."

"Are you sure, Chuck?" asked Ellie. "You can have some pancakes if you want?"

There was a little whine from Casey's throat which made her smile. She patted John's side reassuring him that her brother wouldn't eat them all. Casey seemed appeased and then went into the kitchen to get something from the fridge.

"No. I'm good." said Chuck, hugging his sister again. "I'm going to go back to my apartment, play some more Call of Duty with Morgan and reflect on the new…news. Not thinking on the kissing…but on this huge change for both of you. "

Chuck slowly moved round the furniture and quickly swiped a pancake from the plate. He bit into one and grinned.

"I'm not going to reflect on the kissing because you're my sister and that's not what I like to think on. You two have a nice time, whatever you're going to…."

Chuck paused in mid-sentence when he saw Casey returning from the kitchen shaking up a can of cream. Chuck's face went bright red and he stopped breathing.

"What?" asked Casey picking up the pancakes.

Chuck now realised why Sarah had been laughing on the mission.

"Something else cross your mind, Bartowski?" asked John as the cream squirted all over the pancakes.

The Intersect 2.0 ran from the building.

An hour and a half later, Morgan Grimes still couldn't bring his friend out of his stupor.