Published September 26, 2021

A/N: Morgan didn't help with the mission. He might have helped on the Charah front, but he doesn't know that.

For one last time in this story, thank you davida6 for the great job you did as beta.

The Next Morning
Saturday, March 8, 2008
The Pie Shack

Once more into the breach… Morgan knew it went something like that. Not that The Pie Shack was the breach, but he was about to be raked over the coals. Ellie saved him in the fake Buy More sales competition a few months ago, but this time, he was going to fall on his sword like a man.

The night before, trying to help Chuck be a spy, Morgan's plan had completely failed. He brought the "clown band" of Jeff and Lester to serve as a distraction, but they didn't even play one note. Chuck and Sarah had to hide because of the disturbance he caused. Sarah said they completed their mission, but Morgan didn't see how.

Right at the end, when Morgan started to think maybe it had turned out ok, Sarah pulled out that code phrase about "debriefing." Taken at face value, it could be a good thing for Chuck and Sarah. Chuck even looked embarrassed. It couldn't be that, though. Morgan was finally understanding what Chuck kept insisting over and over. He and Sarah were not a real couple, despite all signs that they were. Morgan hadn't believed his friend last week. By the seventh or eleventh time, he finally understood. They were really good spies at faking it.

Maybe Chuck wasn't as good at faking it, but that didn't matter with Morgan on the "outside" where he couldn't do anything. He thought maybe he could help give Chuck and Sarah a nudge towards each other, but that first required him to earn his spot on the team. Last night's fiasco was proof that wasn't happening. "Debriefing" had to be a code word for Sarah telling Chuck what a loser his best friend was.

Morgan let out a deep breath as he prepared to enter The Pie Shack and face the music. Inside, Morgan was once again greeted by the same short, long-haired, cute brunette. At least seeing her again was one high point for the day.

"Hi! Welcome to The Pie Shack," Alex said with a bubbly smile like before. Amazingly, her smile got bigger, and her eyes seemed to light up. "Morgan! You're back! When I saw the other two I was hoping." Morgan saw the waitress's smile drop. "Come with me." She led Morgan over to the table occupied by Chuck and Sarah.

Chuck and Sarah both greeted Morgan, neither seeming mad at him. Actually, they both seemed happy. Really happy. They were at a table waiting for him like last week. Once again, all of the tables around them were empty, so no one could overhear. Unlike last time, when Chuck and Sarah were sitting on opposite sides of the table, they were next to each other. Last time, his hetero-life partner sat where he could stay by Morgan's side for moral support, but this time, he was sided with Sarah. Morgan was on his own for this dressing down.

Morgan looked up to order from the lovely waitress, but she was already gone. He knew he couldn't get grape soda, but he was hoping for something to solidify his head. He supposed he'd have to order something when she came back.

He asked, "How are you two doing after the 'debriefing'? Ready to rip me a new one?"

Chuck's expression slipped to confusion more than anger. "Why would we do that?"

Sarah's smile got bigger. It must be a CIA thing. She was looking forward to punishing Morgan for his screw-up. However, what she said didn't match the punishment idea. "The debriefing was wonderful. It lasted all night."

What did she mean? Morgan looked at Chuck, and his face was the color of the bottom half of a Nerd Herder. Wait, could that mean… Sarah answered that by bringing her and Chuck's joined hands from underneath the table to rest on top. Really? Was this part of them faking it? He figured they wouldn't pretend to be dating in front of him anymore.

The three of them were quiet for a bit. Sarah continued her enormous smile. Morgan wasn't sure whether he had seen her smile that big before. For someone who looked like her, it was almost dangerous to mere mortals. Morgan knew his lifetime best friend well enough to know he looked a little like he had pulled an all-nighter. His eyes hadn't looked like that since back when he was hacking. He didn't look completely exhausted, though. He seemed too happy to be tired.

It had to have happened!

Of course, a couple weeks ago, Morgan thought it was already happening, so things were back to how he thought they were. This time, instead of Sarah's face lighting up at the sight of Chuck, she was glowing. Chuck's smile had grown almost to the size of Sarah's, so instead of Chuck having one of those goofy grins he got when he saw Sarah, he looked the happiest Morgan could remember since he was accepted to Stanford.

"Does this mean…" Morgan started to ask in confirmation.

Sarah nodded slowly.

"That's great! You two deserve to be happy."

Morgan was wondering what this meant for him. He barely slept last night, thinking he was going to be (deservingly) chewed out. At least now, he was going to be chewed out by happy people. Before he could ask what this meant for him, the waitress returned. She put a glass of ice and a can of Red Bull in front of him.

"Sorry, we still don't have grape soda, but you looked like you could use this."

Alex was amazing. She seemed to know exactly what he needed. He asked, "How did you know I need wings?"

"I'm in college. I know the look."

College girl. Of course. She was too good for him. He still lived at home with his mom. "That's a good skill to have. Good thing for me living at college teaches you skills like that," he said.

"No, I still live at home with my mom. Sometimes you just know. Like how I knew to start an order of bacon, just for you."

"You're wonderful," came out of his mouth.

Alex smiled and looked down shyly, "What else would you like?"

She took Morgan's order, as well as orders from Chuck and Sarah. When she left, there was a little bounce to her step.

Sarah's smile had been replaced with a confused look. "Morgan, what about Anna?"

"Why? What about who?" Morgan started.

Chuck bailed him out and answered for him. "Morgan and Anna are kaput. No más."

"But you said they always get back together," Sarah said.

"Not this time. There was a big scene a couple days ago. Morgan broke up with Anna, even though they weren't actually together. By him doing that, he was saying he wasn't going to take her back. This time it's for real. He did it in front of Jeff. Jeff immediately started hitting on Anna. Anna was furious and yelled at Morgan for hanging her out to dry, though I guess the yelling is not new. She actually grouped Morgan with Jeff, which is about as low as it gets for her. She said that she'd go out with Lester before she went out with either Morgan or Jeff. Then, she volunteered to go out on an install. She never volunteers for work. Anna always seems like she's about to let you have it, even when she uses her pleasant "customer service" voice, but yesterday she seemed scary, even for her."

Sarah said, "Well Morgan, I never thought Anna was good enough for you. You're extremely loyal to Chuck. Looking out for Chuck is the most important thing for me."

Morgan nodded at Sarah as a thank you, then asked, "What's that have to do with Alex?"

Sarah said, "You do realize she was flirting with you, don't you, Morgan?"

Why would she be flirting with him? He wished she was flirting with him. Before Morgan could indulge in that fantasy, Sarah pulled out a menu that was between the napkin dispenser and wall. Pointing at the drink section, she said, "They don't have Red Bull."

"What do you mean?" Morgan lifted the can Alex had brought to him.

"She took one look at you and decided she wanted to give you something extra. She probably has access to a can in the back."

"Why would she do that?"

Sarah gave Morgan a look like he couldn't be serious with that question. Chuck had the same look. What was Morgan supposed to realize?

Alex returned with food for everyone. She was really nice, better looking than Anna, and not mean. When she reached across the table, passing out plates, Morgan reached for his unopened Red Bull can and brushed her arm. There was some sort of…spark. He had to be imagining things, though. Like he had with Carina. Maybe Alex had some big secret, too.

When Alex left, Chuck said, "See Morgan. You got a cold can with a glass and twice as much bacon as I did." Sarah snatched a piece of Chuck's and smiled at him while taking a bite. "I now have less, so more than twice as much." Maybe Chuck and Sarah were right about Alex, but with the recent discoveries about Chuck and Sarah, Morgan felt he couldn't trust anything about his judgement.

Sarah took a bite out of her chocolate croissant and moaned. Someone like her making noises like that in public should be illegal. "That's the second-best thing I've had today." If anything, Chuck turned redder.

Sarah was all grins when she took Chuck's hand, brought it to her mouth, and kissed it. Then she asked, "Morgan, what do you think? I've only met her a couple times here, but I can already tell she's a good one."

Chuck quietly spoke. "Doing what she does, Sarah's been really good at reading people for almost six years."

"I've been reading people longer than that," Sarah quietly corrected him.

"Longer?" Chuck asked. "How—"

Sarah cut him off. "Don't worry about that. Morgan, would you like us to run a background check on her?"

Really? Did Sarah really think that someone like that could be his girlfriend? The CIA could do a background check on a prospective girlfriend? "Why me? Is this because I know about…"

"No. Casey runs background checks on everyone who comes around Chuck. Don't worry. This isn't a pass/fail test. Jeff and Larry were checked out, and they wouldn't pass that kind of test. He wants to know what the threat possibilities are. Because you know, I can tell you what he finds. Then, there are no surprises when you meet the parents."

Why was Sarah bringing up meeting the parents? The only time he did that was meeting Anna's parents at the marina. Was Sarah at the marina? Maybe that was really Sarah, the 'future Mrs. Bartowski.'

Chuck guessed what Morgan was thinking and said, "Sarah, you don't know Morgan saw you. With everything that happened, it didn't seem important to tell you why I disrupted that mission at the marina. Let me explain. Morgan, yes, that was really Sarah there. No, she wasn't cheating on me. It was a mission. There was a bad guy with a boat there. Turns out he was a 'business associate' of someone Anna's parents were socializing with on that yacht you went on. Anna's parents weren't involved."

Sarah understood and finished the explanation. "There was a problem and… It doesn't matter. You don't need to know the details. The connection of a family member of your girlfriend was a problem. Casey learned his background checks need to be deeper."

It doesn't matter? Wait a second. There were fireworks in the middle of the day that were never explained. Nah. Those couldn't be related. Morgan said out loud, "Thorough background checks…"

Sarah said, "It's nothing she'd need to worry about. Why would a waitress at The Pie Shack have any problems revealed with a background check? The check is just Casey being Casey. I doubt her ex is a smuggler, like Lou's. This is one of those situations in which you can use CIA resources to your advantage, going into a new relationship with your eyes wide open."

Morgan could see what was going on. He couldn't be a spy, but on the plus side, instead of chewing him out, Sarah was telling him other benefits. Useless benefits. Someone like the waitress would never date someone like him. Carina was doing it because that was her job, and Anna was someone he was around all the time at work. This time, he didn't have the home field advantage, and Alex was out of his league.

Sarah saw the reluctance on Morgan's face. "Forget I said anything."

They all ate their breakfasts. Sarah had a bowl of fresh fruit, and she kept eating it seductively, putting on a show for Chuck. She even hand-fed him a few pieces. The two of them were so into each other, it was almost nauseating. Fortunately, the realization that Morgan was not going to be chewed out meant his appetite was back in full force.

He wasn't fully in the clear, there, so he broached the dreaded topic. "About last night…"

Sarah said, "Thanks for trying, Morgan, but never again."

"I was only trying to help."

"I know that. It gave Chuck and me a reason to hide in a closet, which led to us making out for a while, which led to—"

Chuck interrupted, "We don't need to talk about that. Morgan, the important thing is Sarah is watching out for me, so I don't need any more help"

Morgan nodded. "I understand."

"This is my fault," Sarah said. "With you knowing a little about what we do, things are bound to change, so we need a new plan."

"Sarah explained it during the few minutes before you arrived," Chuck said. "It's a good plan."

"That was the second time I explained it."

"When you explained it earlier, I was distracted because you weren't fully dressed."

"We need to work on your focus."

"We do?"

"It might take lots of practice," Sarah saucily said. Morgan wondered if they heard themselves. The truth was it wasn't much more suggestive than normal. This time, Morgan knew it was finally real. Before, Morgan thought it was real. It sounded the same.

Sarah started to explain the plan to Morgan. "Before, Chuck, Casey, and I were doing missions. Chuck's job is still real, but flexible, which is why he was allowed to apply to be Assistant Manager. Casey's and my jobs are covers. Chuck and I were dating as cover. We were lying to you, Ellie, Devon, and everyone at the Buy More about the relationship, what we do, and why we do it."

"Now, things can be different. Chuck, Casey, and I will have missions. Morgan, you need to not cause trouble for our missions when you are stuck in the Buy More cage or when Casey needs someone to cover. Casey should not know you know because he won't take it well. Since everyone at the Buy More knows you are scared of Casey, when you cooperate, that will not be surprising. Chuck will make sure you are protected and treated fairly."

Sarah took Chuck's hand again and raised them up above the table. "In this new plan, Chuck and I are really together. As far as what you knew last month, that hasn't changed. Now, we are no longer lying about that to Ellie, Devon, and everyone at the Buy More. The people we are hiding the status of our relationship to are just Casey and our superiors. I'm pretty sure if I come clean and say it's for Chuck's safety, they won't have a problem with that. They wouldn't order me, but they would allow it, if it's my suggestion, for Chuck's safety."

Chuck continued the plan. "We're still hiding what we do from everyone except Casey, the people who give us missions, and you. That'll be easy for me because I don't have to hide it from the one person who is unquestionably loyal. Sorry, we still won't tell you exactly what we do because you don't need to know. Also, I know how you let secrets slip."

"You can't know details because of that," Sarah agreed. "Know that knowing would be putting Chuck at risk. By not knowing, you are protecting him. If you find out something by accident again, come to Chuck or me. Don't think you can do it yourself."

"But I—"

Sarah cut him off. "I'm not going to get into a debate about who among you, Ellie, and me has Chuck's best interest at heart. Ellie is a doctor, she has limits. You might want what's best for him, but that doesn't mean you can make that happen all the time. Me, not only is it my job, I am the one who will do anything to protect him."

Chuck backed her up and said, "By 'anything,' she's serious. She means anything."

Sarah's voice was deadly serious. "Morgan, I'm really thankful to you for trying last night and for the fortunate result, but if Chuck had been hurt, he wouldn't have been the only one. Got it?"

Morgan visibly gulped and nodded. So, the plan was he'd stay out of the way while Chuck and Sarah dated, and they did incredible things together. That's not much different than he thought last month, except how much Sarah was involved and exactly what they were doing. Chuck staying with Sarah made sense, though. If they were a really real couple, good for him.

Sarah smiled again, having moved past her threat. She no longer looked scary. She was Chuck's personal Vicky Vale again. Morgan did have a thought. He asked Chuck, "Does this mean we can play Duck Hunt with Sarah?"

"What's that?" Sarah asked.

"No," Chuck answered, before explaining to Sarah, "It's a shooting video game. You're a really good shot. It wouldn't be fair."

Morgan had a modified question, "What about Call of Duty?"

This time Sarah was the one who said, "No. I don't want to shoot Chuck, even in a video game."

"We can be on the same time. We can actually have all of Buy Moria on a big team against the douches from the Large Mart."

Chuck tried to answer for Sarah, "Sarah might be a ringer for our team, Morgan, but I don't think we should pressure—"

Sarah cut in. "We'll see. I can shoot a real gun, but Chuck will have to teach me how to shoot with one of those controller things. The problem is I don't work for Buy More."

Morgan brushed off the concern. "Girlfriends are allowed, not that ever has been an issue, but no one will make it one."

They all resumed eating. Sarah put butter on a muffin and scraped the little tub clean with her finger. The way she was licking her fingers clean… Chuck was a lucky man.

Sarah mused, "We talked about the new plan with Morgan knowing, but there is another important part of the plan—dealing with our real relationship."

Chuck put down his fork with a dramatic clang. "I was paying attention the second time. I don't remember another part of the plan."

"That's because I didn't tell you. For this part, I need Morgan's help."

That surprised Morgan. "You want my help. You mean like a sub-mission? After last night, I was sure you were going to tell me to never help again."

"On official missions, yes, stay out of it. Sorry, my job is to protect Chuck, not you. I want you safe because Chuck wants it, but the best way to do that is for you to stay out of the way and not try to help. In this part of the new plan, I have an unofficial mission for you. It's not a sub-mission. Think of it as a 'Morgan Mission.' Something that you are uniquely qualified for."

Morgan saluted at the table, "Yes, Ma'am. What are my orders?"

With concern, Sarah asked, "Is Chuck normal?"

"Of course, he's normal. I can tell he's happier than he usually is, which isn't surprising considering—"

"So, he's not normal."

"He's like he should be, dating someone like you."

"That's not the same. As far as everyone was concerned, he was dating me last week. He's going to be happier now. We're both going to be happier. But no one can know things have changed."

Morgan waved his hand like it was no big deal. "No one will notice. Everyone at the Buy More treats him like a god."

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "You don't? You noticed."

"It's different for me," Morgan said. "I know Chuck's not a god because a god wouldn't let bad things happen to himself, like his parents and Stanford. But he's Chuck and should be emperor and get someone like you… I see… Well… I'm not sure."

Sarah seriously said, "I believe you are right about most people being oblivious. You, Ellie, and Casey might realize the change. You know the reason. The only thing you should do is stop showing up to surveillance vans because you're worried something is different about Chuck. For Casey and Ellie, I was thinking I could move in with Chuck." She turned and looked straight at her non-fake boyfriend. "That is, if you want that."

Chuck was shocked. "Of course, I would want that. Why would you do that?"

Sarah patted Chuck on the cheek and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Good. We both want it. The only downside I can see is if Ellie barges in poisoned with truth serum every night. If that becomes an issue, we can get another apartment. In addition to this being something we both want, it makes tactical sense. Any change Ellie notices will be attributed to that. I'm going to tell Casey, Beckman and Graham that it is for your protection, after the Marlin incident."

Morgan could keep his voice down, "That was you!"

"Yes, and no one can know why, for Chuck's safety," Sarah calmly said. "I'm not explaining what happened. The point is the higher ups will agree to extra protection." Sarah looked seriously at Chuck. "It's also to keep you in line, like staying in the car.

"Chuck said it's never safe in the car," Morgan said, sticking up for his friend.

Sarah barely held in a laugh at Morgan's comment. "I'll have some control, won't I, Chuck?"

Chuck breathed out, "Yeah." Then he more firmly switched. "No." In response to a stare from Sarah, he changed back to. "Ok. Yeah, you will."

"There might be an issue of a 49-B," Sarah said.

"What's that?" Morgan was glad Chuck asked because he had no idea about this spy stuff.

"It shouldn't apply because you're not a foreign national," Sarah said. "I'll make sure Graham knows it's a non-starter. I almost quit last year after the mission before I came here. He won't want to risk me quitting."

Sarah continued, "They all will know the other reasons I'm moving in with Chuck, but frankly, as long as we do our jobs, they won't care. I'll make sure Casey understands. He'll probably like the tension going down and the government saving money on the rent for my apartment."

Morgan had heard enough. He wanted to help on any mission, official or otherwise. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Let me know if Chuck acts unusual."

They were all quiet for a minute. Sarah had just asked Morgan to report on Chuck. Finally, Chuck said, "Morgan, you got my back. Right?"

Before Morgan could respond. Sarah said, "No. See that. Right there. My number one priority is Chuck. Morgan, you need to help him by not letting him hide things from me. No secrets. No lies. That includes acting differently than he has the past few months."

Sarah was serious. This was to protect Chuck from himself. Morgan saluted again, "Yes Ma'am."

"Don't salute me, especially in front of Casey. Casey isn't supposed to know that you know what I do, so he wouldn't understand. I'm not military, and you're not military, so he'd probably have a fit anyway."

Sarah turned to Chuck. "I kind of assumed something. Will Ellie be ok—"

Chuck didn't let her finish. "Yes! We could call her now, but she's at work, and the noise she makes would disturb the patients. Even if I don't put the phone on speaker, she'd disturb this entire restaurant. When she finds out, she'll throw a party."

"Good." Sarah looked thought for a few seconds. "I know!" Sarah caught Alex's attention.

The waitress came over. "What can I get you? Refills?"

"No, the food's great. My boyfriend and I are moving in together." Sarah bumped Chuck's shoulder. "He lives in a big apartment with his sister and her 'awesome' fiancé. I'm assured there will be a welcome-dinner party. I don't know when, but knowing how Thanksgiving went, more people will be invited. Would you like to come?"

Morgan was shocked. What was Sarah doing? He thought he would have to come back for pie to see Alex again. He looked hopefully to see Alex's reply and saw her eyes shoot to him.

Sarah guessed Alex's question. "Morgan's a great guy." Morgan hoped Alex was wondering if Morgan would be there. Sarah correctly assumed he would be, because there was no way he was passing on a dinner party in which Ellie cooked. He hadn't done that since he was a teenager.

Alex happily accepted. She wrote her phone number on her order pad and gave it to Morgan. "Call me when you know when it is," she said with a wink. This was so much better than Morgan thought it would be when he came for breakfast that morning.

Sarah said to Chuck, "Is it ok that I asked someone? We don't even know for certain that there will be a party. It's not my home, yet."

Chuck gave Sarah a quick peck, "Yes. Definitely. It's as good as a done deal. You can invite people to your new home. A couple months ago, you would've been allowed. Ellie wants me and Morgan with girlfriends."

Sarah said to Morgan, "I'll tell Casey to start a background check"

"You don't have to." Morgan said.

"Casey can't know that you know, but knowing Ellie, she'll invite him. He'll want to know everything about everyone there. What could Casey possibly find out about the cute waitress you bring as a date? Dinner will be great."

A/N: Dum dum dummm. Bad news. This story does not go past this, showing what Casey does when he looks into Morgan's new girlfriend's family.

Good news. Like davida6 gets credit for getting me to do a 13th chapter in last year's "Ellie vs the Ninja," he gets credit again. He convinced me to continue this story with a sequel. It will be a 4+ chapter story from Casey's POV, "Casey vs the Civilians." I'm going to talk about a few of the things davida6 said he'd like to see: Sarah telling the bosses about her new plan for protecting Chuck, Sarah moving in, Casey doing the background check on Alex, the dinner party, and more about Piranha. I'll be using the same beta. He insisted. The sequel is coming in the second half of October, posted between "Chuck vs Stuck Like Glue" (first half of October) and "The Intersect Couple vs Their Dream" (November).

I hope you enjoyed this Charah story from the weird mind of Morgan. (Next is Casey.)