Published September 22, 2021

A/N: Morgan knows. Does that mean the world's going to end? In the show, he's the one who got Chuck's head on straight in "Chuck vs the Beard," so maybe all is not lost.

davida6 should get bacon for the great job he is doing as beta. This chapter only has fictional bacon, so it's probably best to spare him the taunting.

The Pie Shack
Early the Next Morning
Friday, February 29, 2008

Morgan walked into the diner at 7:31 am. He was a little late, but who got up at that hour? Sure, the sun had been up for over an hour, but that was beside the point. He didn't have to work today and should be sleeping until the afternoon. The only reason he was there was because Chuck called him at 7 am to remind Morgan to meet Sarah and him at this diner in a half hour. At least the call was after sunrise, but waking him up that early on a day off was an excuse to never talk to a person again.

He had been asked last night. Chuck had a pass to disturb him like that anyway, but normally he had the good sense not to do things like that. It had to be Sarah's influence. She also had a pass because she was Chuck's girlfriend. Well, maybe she wasn't really Chuck's woman, but she was as good as that, so the excuse was still good.

Morgan had been thinking about what Sarah was. If she wasn't FDA and was a spy, she must be CIA. She's awesome enough for that. He thought they only did things in other countries, but he didn't know for certain. The CIA still made more sense than a spy in the FDA.

The fact that Chuck and Sarah were working for the CIA and wanted to talk was probably a good reason to get up early. Probably. If they didn't have to work, this conversation could be put off until a reasonable hour. Chuck didn't have to. Morgan didn't know Sarah's work schedule at the Wienerlicious. That place didn't open until close to noon, but that job must be really important.

Inside, Morgan was greeted by a short, cute brunette with long, shiny hair. "Hi! Welcome to The Pie Shack," she said with a bubbly smile. "Table for one?"

"I'm meeting someone." The waitress's smile dropped very slightly, but she still looked pleasant and beautiful. "Actually, it's two someones. And there they are." Morgan pointed to a table to the side with Sarah and Chuck across from each other. Sarah was sitting where she had seen him come in and gave a little wave.

The waitress walked him over to the table. Morgan sat on Chuck's side. The waitress said to Morgan, "Here's a menu. At first I thought you were here alone. Then, I thought you were meeting a date. Turns out you were meeting the cutest couple we've had here all year." She cheerfully spoke to Chuck and Sarah. "You two seem like you were meant for each other." She looked back at Morgan. "It makes sense that…" She blushed a little. "Never mind. I'll be back for your order."

That was odd… What was that about? Whatever. It didn't matter. Morgan knew what he wanted. It isn't often he's awake early enough to eat breakfast out. "I'll have a ham & cheese omelet and a side of bacon."

"Everything's better with bacon," she said with a smile.

"Do you have grape soda?"

"We have grapefruit juice, but I suppose that isn't what you want."

He needed something with caffeine, so he ordered a Dr. Pepper.

After she left the table, Morgan looked at the spies and said, "I'm sure they don't have Red Bull either. This early, I need wings."

Sarah quietly said, "You know she's flirting with you. Don't you?"

"What? … No …That can't be it."

Chuck also spoke quietly, pointing out, "You're with Anna, so you have no idea. But Sarah has special powers and can tell these things."

"Technically, I'm not with Anna," Morgan said. "She broke up with me again, and until I apologize or grovel enough because I don't know what I'm supposed to apologize for, she won't take me back."

Sarah looked at the man she was dating…pretend-dating...or dating…or Morgan didn't want to give himself a headache. She said, "Chuck, why didn't you tell me Morgan and Anna had broken up?"

He said, "You mean this time? It's happened three or four times already in the past four months. I don't bring it up at home because it's better for Ellie if she doesn't know Morgan's 'on the prowl.' And I figure you don't need the play-by-play.

"This idea of filtering didn't make sense to Morgan. It was on top of what he was expecting to be confused about this morning: Chuck and Sarah being spies. He wasn't confused about them not being a couple because they were the ones confused about that. They were actually a couple.

However, this flirting thing was new. Someone was flirting with him? Anna didn't flirt with him. She basically bossed him around. He said, "You have to be misreading. Someone like that couldn't be… Although, Sarah, I guess there was your friend Carina."

"What do you mean Carina?" she asked. Before he could explain, she answered her own question, "Oh, you mean the fake double date."

"What do you mean 'fake'? Is this like you two not really being a couple? Someone who doesn't even know you just said you are the cutest couple that has been here all year."

Chuck said, "That's because Sarah's a great spy and really good at pretending, and I…You know…It's Sarah." He looked down shyly, unable to look at his "girlfriend."

Sarah took a hold of Chuck's hand on the table and smiled. She told Morgan, "Chuck and I are just a different kind of couple."

So, they were going to deny it in a different way, saying they were a "different kind of couple." Fine. This flirting thing… It couldn't be that. He said, "I still don't believe you that you are that good and faking it. You should know that Carina kissed me the day after our double date."

"She what!?" Sarah shook her head. Sarah lowered her voice again. "That woman doesn't know how to turn it off. First, she excessively flirted with you when she was supposed to be helping Chuck's and my cover. Then she tried to sleep with Chuck."

Chuck started rambling. "I didn't…How do you even…I just told you she called when I was the Nerd Herder on call that night."

Sarah waved him off like it was no big deal. "It's what she does. You told me she told you about…my ex. She'd only do that if she was frustrated that she was striking out. The next day, you were uncomfortable, but not acting guilty, because you had nothing to feel guilty about. You don't hide things like that well from me."

Chuck mumbled, "You probably didn't know—"

"That Carina made another play at you before she left. I didn't know that, but I'm not surprised. She thought you were a high-level analyst with clearance about her missions. Of course, she tried more than once. My concern is about her coming on so strong to Morgan. He doesn't deserve to be mistreated like that."

Morgan interjected, "You mean that Carina was hitting on Chuck after having a date with me and before kissing me. She said there was this other guy." He looked at Chuck, wondering…

Chuck quickly said, "It wasn't me." Talking directly to Sarah, he said, "That's how she dropped… the thing into Morgan's bag, before she took Casey's pants."

"Was Casey the other guy?" Morgan mused. Maybe that was it. "He's also a spy."

Sarah stopped that train of thought. "No. Not him. He might be a spy, but he's not…no. There was no other guy. Carina depantsed Casey, cuffed him to the headboard, and left him. Carina is probably my best friend from before I came to LA. That said, she's kind of a…she's kind of a slut. She might call it something else, but it means the same thing. She's not like that with him. She treats him differently and likes messing with his head. It's been going on for years."

Something finally clicked with Morgan. "Hold on a second. Sarah, Carina is your friend, and you're in the…" he looked around and saw they didn't have anyone within earshot before whispering, "C I A. Since you aren't in the FDA, is that who you work for? Does that mean Carina's a spy, too?" Sarah probably picked this spot to watch the door and be where no one would overhear them. She was a sneaking spy.

"Yes, them." Sarah didn't explain why the CIA was in LA, but that didn't matter. Sarah was a CIA spy. That's so cool. Sarah continued about Carina, "She's one for a different agency. Having her kiss you is not a huge accomplishment that you should be proud of." Carina wasn't a CIA agent, but Morgan was kissed by a spy. That was also really cool.

That beautiful waitress returned with their food. She smiled when she looked at Morgan while passing out the plates. Morgan had misread Carina. He probably was misreading that woman, too.

With just the three of them at the table again, Sarah changed the subject. "So, Morgan…the reason why we are here is to find out what you know." Sarah spoke quietly. "You know what I do. Chuck told me what he thinks is your story, but that can't be true. How do you know?"

Uh, oh. Did Chuck make up some story to cover for him? Morgan needed to agree with that story. But Sarah said it can't be true.

Chuck looked straight at him and said, "Tell her, Morgan."

Really? Morgan took a deep breath before starting. "I was trying to avoid getting caught filling out the paperwork for a large purchase at the end of the shift. You know…extended warranty and stuff. Then, we're supposed to try to sell overpriced cables. Then, there's helping the customer out to the car. It all takes a while. I got stuck with a customer last week and ended up working twenty minutes longer. I didn't want to do that again, so I hid, just in case."

"You hid?" Sarah said in a flat tone.

"In the home theater room."

"You hid in the home theater room? There's no place to hide in the home theater room."

"I hid under the new couch. There's room now…sort of…not really…but that's where I was."

"Under the couch," Sarah repeated. "You were in the room when Chuck, Casey, and I had a call with our superiors."

"Is that who they are? In my head, I call them 'Angry Lady' and 'Movie Trailer Voice.' Though 'Voice' is the noise he makes, not a name, so I was thinking about Candyman."

From Sarah's expression, it was obvious that she didn't get the reference, so Chuck explained, "Candyman was a horror series in the 90s. He appears and kills people whenever you call his name five times into a mirror. There were four movies. I was too young to see it when it came out, but it came out on video when Mom was gone, and Dad…well, he didn't care. It didn't matter because I was twelve, and it scared me so much I didn't finish the first and didn't see the rest."

Sarah sent Chuck a teasing smile and said, "I suppose that means you can't show it to me some time on a cover-date, with me snuggling against you for protection."

Chuck's mouth dropped and froze open. Morgan still didn't understand why that would be an issue. They had to be a real couple, no matter what Chuck said. She'd snuggle up with him in front of all sorts of movies. The really impressive trick was if Chuck could get Sarah to watch Star Wars with him. That way she would understand what someone says when rescuing, about stormtrooper height and 'knowing.'

Chuck looked like he was trying to figure out what to say when Sarah chuckled and quietly said so no one could overhear, "Graham isn't a supernatural horror character from a movie, but he used to be a field agent, so I'm sure he's killed people." Morgan gulped. "I'll try not to laugh at the 'Angry Lady' name the next time I'm given orders by Beckman. A general wouldn't take kindly to being laughed at." She shook out her head and smiled. "Morgan, when we took that call, the store had been closed for a while. Why were you still under the couch?"

"My plan didn't work. It's not a good hiding place. I was stuck. I couldn't get out for a couple hours. When I finally was free. I ended up sleeping in the store. Unlike the time I was locked in the cage, I had access to the fridge… Wait a second… You and Chuck were at an art auction the night that I was locked in the cage. Was that a date? Or were you doing spy things? Or both?"

"That was a cover-date for a mission," Sarah answered. "No, you don't get to know what happened because it's classified." Classified. That sounded so cool.

Chuck said, "Morgan's name did appear in the mission reports the next day, so shouldn't we tell him something?"

Morgan asked in amazement. "After last night, I've been in multiple—what did you call them—missions? Does this mean I can be part of the team?"

Sarah shook her head and explained, "Your phone call to Chuck blew his cover and almost got him killed. Then, the next day, he was cornered in the back of the Buy More and tried to trap his attacker in the cage—which you had gotten someone to fix. Your name being in the report was not a good thing. It's ok now because Chuck survived. It isn't an example of you being a valuable member of the team. Last night's appearance won't be in the report. Thank you for helping save me, but Chuck and I are the only people who know you were there. That guard was shot with 'twilight tranqs' that made him forget the previous five minutes. Casey never found out. As far as he knows, Chuck disobeyed orders, again, and rescued me by himself. Since I convinced Chuck and you to go back to the car before rescuing Casey, your name stayed out of it."

"So I can't—"

Both Chuck and Sarah strongly said no at the same time.

"As strange as the story sounded, you confirmed what Chuck said about how you found out about last night. From working at Wienerlicious, I understand boring jobs that you want to get out of doing. I know Chuck is better than the Buy More, but it's convenient for helping our team. Next time we are talking with our bosses about classified missions, I'll check under the couch."

Sarah stopped, and Morgan realized (with a little disappointment) that he wasn't going to get to be a spy. Sarah paid no attention and asked her next question. "Why did you think we were with the FDA, not the CIA?"

"Everyone knows."

Sarah wrinkled her brow. "Everyone knows Wienerlicious is a cover?"

"No. They don't know. You see, there's a rumor. I heard the rumor and didn't believe it. Then I heard what I heard in the home theater room, so I thought maybe it's true."

"What's the rumor?" Chuck asked. "And how come I don't know about it?"

Morgan said, "You probably didn't hear about it because it's so 'out there.' No one would want you to use logic and squash it because it's a sore subject, related to the deli chick. I didn't tell you because you were finally back with Sarah, and I didn't want to ruin that. When that thing with Jill happened, you went five years—"

"Morgan!" Chuck cut him off. "We're not talking about five years ago." He prompted, "The rumor."

Right. It probably wasn't a good idea to bring up Jill in front of Sarah. Morgan shared the theory. "The health department shut down Lou's last month. Anna overheard a couple people talking in the break room. Casey's an undercover FDA agent. They heard it from someone who worked at Lou's before it closed. I don't know where that person got the idea to begin with."

A light bulb came on in Morgan's head. Spies might have to say things to hide what they were really doing, and Casey's a spy. Saying he's FDA would be scarier to someone at a food joint than CIA. "Does that mean you work for them both?" Morgan asked

"No. That was a cover story," Chuck answered. "The FDA part. He didn't tell her that he works for the CIA, because he doesn't."

"And if Casey isn't CIA, what is he? Is he undercover for the…" Morgan mouthed F B I.

Chuck didn't really answer, but he said, "I don't know if I can say. Casey's not with them, either. Don't say he's with them around him or he might remove an arm. In fact, don't say anything because you're not supposed to know."

Sarah said, "Morgan knows who we work for, so he can know a couple things. It's better than rampant speculation. It leads to him showing up in the middle of missions. First, Casey is an active-duty Major in the Marines. He's not CIA. That woman you heard, the General, is his superior officer. You don't need to know more than that. As for the cover, when Chuck was dating Lou, he discovered that she was involved in a smuggling operation. Casey had to say something to get Lou to cooperate."

"So that's why Chuck 'broke up' with you? I didn't know you guys went after meat smugglers."

Chuck said, "They don't go after meat smugglers. I broke up with Sarah because I made a big mistake. On my first date with Lou, I discovered the smuggling operation…by accident. They don't care about that." He looked at Sarah who nodded once. "The guy smuggling meat for Lou was smuggling…something else. That's why we got more involved. Then I messed up, and Sarah and I were captured. Casey told Lou that FDA story so he could save us. After that...experience...I realized I had made a huge mistake and started dating Sarah again. Cover-dating. You know what I mean."

Morgan still had no idea what "cover-dating" meant. If Chuck and Sarah were not really dating, how could he break up with her and get back together with her? If they were fake dating, why break up? If it was fake, why would Sarah come to Thanksgiving? Why were they kissing like that the other night and last night? But, if Chuck and Sarah were together, that would explain why Lou's what shut down. He said, "I understand. Sarah got even for Lou trying to steal her man."

Sarah said, "That's not what I did."

Morgan didn't believe her but had the feeling he'd never get a straight answer on that, so he asked another question to see if he could find out more spy things. "What were they smuggling, if not meat?"

"We can't tell you that," Chuck said.

"Drugs…or spice?"

"No, and no. Han Solo was not involved."

"Weapons?"

"No. Stop guessing."

"You'd never guess anyway," Sarah said. "What's spice?"

Sarah really needed to see Star Wars. Morgan didn't stop, "People?"

Chuck said, "It was not a human trafficking operation, and it wasn't like the Millennium Falcon going into the first Death Star."

"Like the what?" Sarah asked.

Morgan could believe it. Chuck couldn't either. They just sat there quietly for a few seconds before a slow grin formed on Chuck's face. "You're so cute. Maybe I can convince Ellie and Devon to re-watch Star Wars on our next movie night."

"Ok. I obviously need to watch that movie to better understand what you are talking about. We'll have to snuggle really close so I can ask you questions."

Wow. Chuck was going to actually get Sarah to do that. Sarah seemed very willing. Those two were so in love.

Chuck's smile was big now, showing all of his teeth. "That's a date. Or a cover-date. Or whatever we are calling these things." He changed gears. "I can't believe what you did to Lou's." It seemed like Chuck agreed with Morgan's theory.

Sarah stuck to her guns. "I had nothing to do with that, but I do know what happened. Casey and I have been doing background checks on potential new renters to that empty store in the Buy More Plaza, so I heard what happened. With Lou's supplier shut down, she went with a different meat smuggler who didn't follow quarantine rules. That smuggler supplied some meat that caused a salmonella outbreak." Morgan's eyes got big, but Sarah reassured him. "It was a different restaurant that was also using illegal, unquarantined food. No one from the Buy More who ate at Lou's was exposed. The FDA tracked it down, and the smuggler flipped on everyone he had been illegally supplying. Half a dozen places were shut down, in addition to Lou's."

Chuck said, "Ok. I guess that's not your fault. It's not even Casey's fault. Even if he hadn't said anything to her, she would have been closed. She kept breaking the law after we stopped the original smuggler. Food shipment quarantines exist for a reason."

Chuck talked to Morgan, again. "Now listen, buddy. You know more than you knew a couple days ago. You know who Sarah works for. You know Casey could easily kill you. Well, maybe you knew that before, but now you know he was trained to do things like that." Morgan nodded in complete agreement. "You know Sarah and I aren't really dating. And you know I just work with them." Morgan stopped nodding because that still didn't make sense. "Sarah pretending to me dating people gives me an excuse to be around."

That mostly made sense to Morgan, but it didn't make sense because of the "love eyeballs" those two were always firing at each other. There was a reason he thought Devon and Ellie's ring was from Chuck to Sarah. Anna and Morgan didn't give off a fraction of the heat as those two, even though they were having sex.

Chuck kept talking. "You need to understand something. You can tell no one what you know." That would be tricky. Morgan knew his mouth sometimes let things out when he wasn't meaning to. "Not Anna." That wouldn't be hard. She wasn't talking to him. "Not Ellie. Not Awesome." Morgan agreed that telling him would not be a good idea. The Captain couldn't keep a secret to save his life. "Not Casey, if you value your life. Not anyone at the Buy More. Not Ellie."

The problem was Morgan's a connector. He'd been told many times that he over-shared. Morgan was pretty sure no one would believe him about the CIA, though. Chuck and Sarah not being a couple would be even more unbelievable. He didn't want to get into an argument when he didn't even believe it. It's better not to say anything.

They all continued their breakfast, leaving Morgan a lot to think about. CIA being around did explain a few things. Everything disappeared and reappeared at the Buy More… That was probably the CIA. Chuck skipping out on his assistant manager interview… That was to rescue Sarah, but now knowing she's in the CIA, the CIA probably didn't want him to have the job. Maybe they got rid of Tang. Big Mike wouldn't want to know that the government was getting in the way of his love life by taking 'the Lady Tang' away, but National Security's more important. He'd have to find some other woman to get freaky with.

The cute waitress returned with the check and smiled the entire time in his direction. Sarah took the check and said to Chuck, "I've got this."

"You can't expense it to the CIA, like you do when we go on fake dates with Ellie and Awesome," Chuck pointed out. "They can't know Morgan was here."

"I know," Sarah said as if it was no big deal. "It's not much, but you two don't make much at your jobs, and Chuck, you don't get paid for your other one. My hotel room is paid for. It's no problem."

Chuck doesn't get paid? Sarah pays to date him? That's sweet. Or she pays to fake-date him? Same difference. The question was if Chuck's not really dating Sarah, why was he working for the CIA? They had to be dating for real.

When they left, the waitress said goodbye. Looking directly at Morgan, she said, "I hope you all come back soon." At least, Morgan thought she was looking directly at him. That couldn't be the case. Did she mean she hoped he came back? He was part of "all." He wasn't sure.

However, maybe he needed to stop worrying about what he did to make Anna mad at him this time. If he knew for a fact that the waitress was really interested in him, he'd eat there every morning. He never thought about Anna that way. Since he hadn't gotten back with Anna, there was no reason to not come back soon. Maybe not for breakfast, though. Maybe for pie.

First, he needed to do something. Part of the reason he wasn't a lone wolf and had dated Anna off and on was because Chuck had a girlfriend. It was a sign that he needed to grow up and get a girlfriend, too. The problem was while he was dating Anna, Chuck and Sarah had whatever their not-really-dating/cover relationship was. The two of them needed to get over whatever their hang ups were and start to really date. Chuck was the best person on the planet, and Sarah was incredible. She seemed like Vicki Vale-incarnate, but with her being a spy. She was definitely the person for Chuck.

Morgan didn't know how to do it, but he had to figure out a way to get those crazy kids together.

A/N: It'd been over 10 years, but I learned something new when re-watching "Chuck vs the Subway." I had always thought Alex worked at a generic diner, where Casey ordered black, bitter coffee and apple pie. Turns out, Alex called the place "The Pie Shack" when she met Morgan. For this chapter, I wanted to have Chuck, Sarah, and Morgan meet for breakfast, early after the rescue, so I thought breakfast at a pie shop could be a problem. Turns out, it wasn't. There's a restaurant called "The Pie Shack" in Berlin, Wisconsin. It serves breakfast starting at 6 am (only open until 2 pm). Sure, the one in California is fictional, but it's in the realm of possibility for a place with that name to serve things like biscuits & gravy, omelets, skillets, and Casey's favorite: pancakes.

The new Candyman was released a few weeks ago, but that's just a coincidence. And don't say the name five times into a mirror. Graham might be dead, but do you really want to risk it?