A/N: Thanks for reading and for the reviews! Keeping this short and sweet so that you can just get to reading.

Disclaimer: We don't own Chuck and we're not making any money from writing this rewrite.


"About time you got here," Casey grumbled as Chuck walked through the door of Casey's apartment. Chuck felt surprisingly okay given this was his third day as a NSA Agent. Of course he still hadn't been on a mission, but nothing had gone wrong...yet.

"Good afternoon to you as well, Major Casey," Chuck said pleasantly.

Casey turned slowly to him, eyeing him. "Haven't gotten the guts to tell her yet, have you?"

"Nope," Chuck replied quickly, the unpleasant feeling he had each time he thought about telling Sarah returning to his stomach. "Figured I'll wait for after a misch or two."

"Misch?"

"You know, a mission," Chuck offered. He widened his eyes and pressed his lips together at the look on Casey's face. "I think I'll never do that again."

"See that you don't," Casey said, slamming a file into his chest. Chuck took it from him and began to leaf through it.

"Any thoughts on us changing cover jobs?" Chuck asked hopefully. "Devon and Ellie would be super excited."

"Negative," Casey replied. Chuck looked up at him. "Until you're properly trained we don't want anything to disrupt what looks normal. Also, look to stay clear of the assistant manager job. One, it will get in the way of our missions, two, it might look like you're making something out of yourself, and that's the best cover, looking like a nobody." Chuck nodded, understanding, but also a bit disappointed. "You do nobody better than anyone I know." Chuck glared at Casey, but Casey's heart really wasn't in the quip. It was more of a second nature banter between the two. Dear God, they were becoming friends. Casey took a sip of coffee and nodded toward the file. "Also, trust me on this one, stay in the car."

"Holy crap, look at the size of that guy!" Chuck exclaimed seeing the picture of Colt. Casey grunted his agreement. "Do I know enough moves yet to fight him?" Casey gave him a look. "Right, one day of physical training is not enough."

"That was how to properly stretch, idiot!"

"Well, we may need to do it again, because I am very sore this morning," Chuck countered.

Casey glared at him and then grinned. "If you'd tell your girlfriend she'd probably help you rub it out," Casey answered. He stopped, lifted his head and grinned.

"Don't," Chuck warned. "Just don't."

"Bartowski, I get it," Casey said as placatingly as he knew how. "But what's done is done. She'll either be mad, or she won't be mad."

"She's gonna be mad," Chuck replied. Casey grunted in agreement. "Colt, huh?" he asked, looking at the file. "Did he eat another person to grow that big?" Casey chuckled. "You enjoy working with me."

Casey's head shot up. "You take that back," he said, following Chuck out of the apartment.

"Nope, you like working with me," he said in a sing-song voice. He stopped as he saw Sarah walk up to them.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked, eyeing the two. Chuck knew he had to be careful. Sarah was the best spy on the planet and he had to tell her about joining the NSA before she sussed it out of him.

"Never better," Chuck replied. "We got a mission and Casey enjoys working with me!"

She looked from one to the other, a curious look on her face. She settled her gaze on Chuck. "You couldn't wait for me for the briefing?"

Chuck's eyes grew wide and he looked to Casey, who was giving him a look that all but screamed, "TELL HER!"

"Uh, time sensitive," Chuck offered.

"Is he okay?" Sarah asked Casey, pointedly ignoring Chuck.

"Probably some cold medicine, you know what a lightweight he is," Casey replied. "I think he needs to talk to you." With that he walked away.

She turned toward him. "So, I was thinking…" he took a deep breath. "You know what, maybe we should talk after the misch."

"Misch?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"So that's a no from you as well about misch?" She turned and walked away from him. "So that's a firm no?" he called out. She was gone. And so was his opportunity to tell her the truth.

}o{

"Bartowski," Casey began.

"Stay in the car, Chuck, don't get out of the car, Chuck," he mocked, hearing a soft snort out of Sarah. "You know the car isn't always the safest place."

"Numbnuts, stay in the car," Casey said getting out of the car.

"You only say that because you care!" Chuck called after him. He turned to Sarah who was giving him a look. "He does," he reaffirmed.

"Yeah, he does," Sarah replied, nodding. "We both do."

"And I care about both of you," Chuck replied with a grin.

"Good, so stay in the car," she chirped, hopped out, and shut the door. She leaned down with her arms propped on the door as she peered through the open window. "Please."

"I will do my best, m'lady," Chuck said with a flourish of a bow.

"Nerd," she muttered, and walked off.

He'd been sitting and keeping watch when he spotted a van round the corner and pull up. He sunk down in the seat, watching as a group of men got out of the car, one carrying a briefcase. He brought his watch up close to his mouth. "Casey, Sarah!" he whispered frantically. "A bunch of Colt's men just appeared… Oh jeez that guy's even bigger than his picture!" Colt got out of the vehicle, and the briefcase was handed off to him. Several got back into the van as it took off. "Casey? Sarah?" No response. "A lot of bad guys," he muttered to himself. He gulped and sunk a little lower, but then he remembered he was an agent with the NSA now, and he had a duty to fulfill. "Okay, I can do this," he said softly. He eased out of the car, snuck towards the building without being spotted, and headed inside. He stopped at the elevator and watched as the numbers above it counted all the way up to the twelfth floor, sighing. "I guess this is what the training is for," he groused as he glanced at the door to the stairs and made his way towards it.

He finally reached the twelfth floor what felt like years later, a little winded, and noticed the briefcase was in the middle of the room, unattended. Colt was on the other side of the room talking on the phone. Chuck watched as he turned and headed for the door that led out of the room, finally disappearing from view. Chuck looked back and forth to make sure he was alone, and then made as quiet of a beeline as he could towards the briefcase before opening it.

The cipher.

He picked it up, put it in his jacket pocket, spun to escape, and ran right into the hard mass that was Colt. He bounced off and hit the ground, looking up.

"How do you move so quietly?"

Colt reached down, grabbed him by the foot, and unceremoniously dragged him to an open window. Before Chuck could do or say anything else, Colt had him by the ankle and swung him out of an open window, dangling him there twelve floors high, the Los Angeles pavement almost taunting him down below.

"Before you do anything rash, I think you should know that I have the Cipher!" Chuck yelled desperately.

"Hand it over right now," Colt growled.

"Don't you think we should discuss terms first?" Chuck asked, thinking about how mad Sarah and Casey were going to be.

"Fine, my terms are this. Give me the cipher and I shoot you in the head and you die quickly. Make me take it and I'll drop you."

"I don't like those terms," Chuck nearly whimpered.

"Who are you?" Colt asked.

"Your worst nightmare," Chuck said, trying his Clint Eastwood impersonation but realized being upside down took away some of its flair. "You know what? You probably wouldn't believe me." Colt raised an eyebrow and let one finger open. Chuck screamed. "Okay, see th-the thing is I-I kind of sort of work for the CIA and the NSA in my off hours when I'm not working at the store. It's kind of like a second job for me. And though I don't look it—being lanky of build—you should know that I'm probably the most important intelligence asset in the world. I've also just recently joined the NSA full-time."

Colt just stared at him. "That is the single dumbest lie I've ever heard."

"I don't disagree," Chuck replied. "And while it may be, if you drop me, there are a couple of people who are going to be very, very upset." The door burst opened and Sarah and Casey were standing there, guns drawn. "There they are."

"Huh," Casey grumbled. "He hasn't pissed himself," he said softly to Sarah. "Let the geek go!" he yelled.

"WAIT!" Sarah countered. "Not out the window!"

"I mean, that was implied," Casey groused. Colt pulled Chuck back in to safety and tossed him at the two of them. Chuck slammed hard into both of them, all three crashing into a heap on the floor as Colt took off.

The three untangled themselves and Chuck felt both pairs of eyes staring at him as he tried to recuperate.

"Why didn't you stay in the car?" Sarah snapped.

"Because there were a lot of bad guys outside where the car was, okay?" Chuck replied. "Besides, I was working on my tailing." Sarah glared at him. "Which in hindsight may have been a mistake." She shook her head, twisting her lips. He held up the cipher. "Besides, I have it."

That got a grin out of her.

"Good, let's get out of here," Casey muttered, pushing them both in front of him. "Walker can give you your reward later."

"Just being around the two of you is reward enough," Chuck retorted.

}o{

As usual, Beckman was sitting and Graham was standing once Casey pulled up the feed after they got back to his apartment. It continued to bother Chuck, but Sarah and Casey didn't seem fussed.

He'd decided to shut the laptop he'd been working on, reading and studying some NSA crash coursework that Casey had pulled up for him. General Beckman was his boss now and this was his job. So he faced front and listened.

"Excellent work, Sarah, Casey," Graham said. "Our transporters will be taking the cipher out of Los Angeles."

"General, what exactly is the cipher?" Sarah asked. Chuck looked up. Why was Sarah asking the General? Why wasn't she asking her own boss? Chuck knew the answer to that. Because Graham was controlling her by keeping her in the dark. But why? Why keep your best agent in the dark? And was Sarah doing this pointedly to send Graham some sort of message? "I mean, mercenaries break into the NSA lab, and it's the only thing they take?"

"The cipher is the artificial brain for the new Intersect computer," Beckman said glancing at a Graham, who had the briefest look of annoyance on his face.

"The new Intersect?" Chuck asked, sitting up straighter. What in the hell?

"We've been working on a new one ever since the original Intersect was destroyed. The cipher is the final piece," Graham explained.

"Uh, wait, time out just for a second here," Chuck said, standing up. Something about this just didn't feel right. "What-what happens to me, the old Intersect?" Were they about to put him in a bunker? Or worse?

"Tomorrow, the new computer will be online, and Operation Bartowski continues on," Graham said, not hiding the annoyance on his face. "What did you think we were going to do, Bartowski? Waste taxpayer money after we built the Orange Orange and your new base? Throw you in a bunker? Shoot you?"

Chuck flinched at that last part. "Well…the thought had crossed my mind," Chuck admitted.

"You are the star of the project, Bartowski," Graham admitted. He looked like he had bitten into something sour. "Whether we like it or not…" He reached over Beckman's shoulder and cut the feed, but not before Beckman sent Chuck a significant look.

He blinked, then turned to nod at Sarah and Casey, before spinning on his heel and moving towards Casey's door.

He needed some sleep.

He needed to plot out his conversation with Sarah. The conversation.

"Are you okay, Chuck?" he heard behind him then as he got into the courtyard.

He spun around and saw Sarah following him out, shutting the door behind her.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm, uh, uh... I mean, I-I don't believe it. I had no idea, Sarah. I figured if they ever made another Intersect, they'd take this one out of me."

"I'm sorry, Chuck. I know you thought you were going to get your old life back, but Casey and I are still here with you," she told him.

"Yeah, I'm starting to think that you and Casey are going to be my spy protectors forever. Or, whatever the adult version of forever is."

She took his hand, and he stilled. "Hey, if I am, it's okay." There was a bit of a smile on her face, and he smiled back at her. "Besides, if we were gone, wouldn't you miss all of this?"

"Oh, absolutely," Chuck replied, realizing he was flirting, but not caring, because...he could. "I mean it's really obvious I'm cut out for the kind of job that requires disarming a bomb, stealing a diamond, and then jumping off a building."

"About time you accepted it," she said warmly.

Chuck laughed. "That's very kind of you to say, but I'm pretty sure my girlish screams in the face of danger give me away."

"So, what happens now?" Sarah asked.

"Well, you know, I've got a shift at the Buy More in the morning…" he began but he stopped when he saw a doubtful, almost unsure look come over her face.

"Chuck, can I tell you something?" she asked.

"Of course. You can always tell me anything, Sarah," he replied.

She looked at him with...was it pride? "You can do anything. I've seen you in action. And I'm not just talking about the bomb defusing, or the diamond stealing. I mean, anything you wanted, you could have." Her smile was small but warm.

Anything? His mind was racing. Did she mean it? Was this it? Why hadn't he told her?

"I need to get home, I've got my new business to start tomorrow," Sarah said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Any chance I could work for you? I mean I would wear orange Chucks...for you."

"You're sweet, really, but no. We work together enough."

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder, huh?" His eyes widened as he realized what he said. She shook her head, laughed, and walked off. He watched her go. Her words kept playing through his mind… Anything.

}o{

Chuck sat at the breakfast table. He had been in a daze since his alarm had gone off. He was still trying to figure out how to tell Sarah without her yelling at him, murdering him, or something even worse...leaving. He was eating, his appetite finally returning after catching Ellie and Awesome in the shower together. The air in the room was getting a bit uncomfortable so Chuck decided to say something.

"Okay, first of all, congratulations, Devon. On the... On what—You know, whatever God gave you there," Chuck began. "Second of all, the door was not locked, so I'm not a complete pervert. And third of all, this is just another reminder of why I need my own place."

"There's no rush, Chuck. It's great having you here," Ellie said immediately.

Devon was nodding but Chuck was in his own head at that point, worried about the prospect of further pulling these two into the other side of his life.

"So, Ellie," he began. "I've been—I've been thinking a lot about stuff, you know, like, uh, my life and my job."

"Unburden yourself, Chuck. Where's that head of yours?" Awesome asked.

"I don't know, I just think you guys are right, you know? I shouldn't—I shouldn't be working at a Buy More, right? I should have a real job with a real future," Chuck replied. "But I'm kinda stuck and I need to do...something."

"What happened?" Ellie asked, looking hopeful.

"You know when you meet someone and they just kind of, you know, they-they flip you on your head, just shake things up a little bit?"

Awesome grinned, and clapped his shoulder. "You're talking about a Mr. Tony Robbins."

Chuck's eyes widened. "So close, and yet so far away." Chuck took a deep breath. "It's Sarah, okay? And well, no matter what happens between us, I need to do more, and I am."

"What do you mean no matter what happens between us?" Ellie asked. "Chuuuuck…?"

"Okay, okay, you know she had a boyfriend back in DC?" Ellie nodded. "Well, he lied to her and she has a lot of trust issues because of it." Ellie nodded and stared. Chuck gulped. "I promised her if I did something I would talk to her about it first, and I didn't. I just did it."

"Chuckster," Devon groaned.

"I know, I know, but it all happened suddenly," Chuck replied.

"Just tell her now," Devon said like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Yeah, it's not going to be that easy," Chuck replied. "It happened a little while ago." Ellie looked at him closely and he sighed, shaking his head. "I turned down the assistant manager job, because if I take it, I'm even more chained to retail. There's more to my life than the Buy More. I mean, I want more." He had a big chance to have a lot more.

"Are you going to go work with Sarah at the Orange Orange?" Ellie asked. Chuck furrowed his brow and tilted his head in confusion. "Oh, come on! It's so much healthier, I know how much she hated Scooter, and it only makes sense. We're doctors, Chuck, we're not idiots. Sarah is smart as a tack. She obviously took that job after leaving Washington because she just needed a job. She found the opportunity to invest in this Orange Orange business and she took it." That wasn't exactly right, but Chuck wasn't going to argue with her. Ellie was thinking as she pointed her spoon at him. "Something bad happened there, in DC."

"Yeah, it did... what, I couldn't tell you," Chuck admitted. "She really doesn't want to talk about it, and I'm okay with that, but...again, there were some things kept from her, and...this is a major screw up on my part. She let me in, you know? We're a couple, and I made a decision without even talking to her, and that decision kinda affects us."

"Talk to her, Chuck. I don't think it will be that big of a deal." Ellie stared at him long enough to make him almost uncomfortable. "There has to be more," she muttered then, almost as if to herself.

"If I didn't do what I did, there's a good chance the job would have asked me to relocate, so I felt like I had no choice, but I did. I had a choice, I had the opportunity to sit down with her and just talk to her about it, and I really think she would have backed me but…"

"You left her out of it," Devon said, and then he looked straight at Ellie. "Do you have four feet in?"

The resulting look on Ellie's face was something he never wanted to see again in his life.

"You know what? I'm late, I do have to go. Good talk and I will talk with her!"

Chuck raced out of the house.

}o{

Chuck entered the Buy More, still wallowing in his own fear about the implications of all of this. He was so unsure, scared, questioning whether she really would've backed him if he'd told her. Or if she would've tried to talk him out of it. It sent a pang through him.

He walked past many members of the Buy More talking about the new Assistant Manager being sent in from HQ, some guy named Emmett.

Morgan walked up beside him, almost as if appearing straight out of thin air. "Follow me."

Chuck followed Morgan off to the side of the store where they could see the entrance, who was coming and going.

"Hey. What's up, buddy?"

Morgan looked around and unrolled a map. "Large Mart goons," he began. "They could be anywhere. I don't want them to see this."

"Uh, buddy, what is this?"

"Compound level from Call of Duty. After our last battle with those Large Mart douches, I started to work on this. Planning how we could take 'em all out. All right, listen up. Here are the specs, are you ready?" Chuck nodded. "Twenty-three infantry troopers, sixteen snipers, seven heavy gunners, four demolitions experts, and enough ammunition to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fifty gamers, one call, all ready for battle. With this team assembled, and my plan, I think we can beat 'em."

Chuck grinned and clapped Morgan on the back. "Morgan, you are my new hero."

"I know," Morgan said with a modest shrug. Chuck spotted Casey across the store then. They made eye contact and Casey gestured with a jerk of his head towards the home theater room. He'd been at this long enough to know exactly what that meant.

"Uh, hey, uh, can I talk to you about this later?" Chuck asked. Morgan nodded and Chuck headed over to the home theater room.

"What's up?" Chuck asked.

"Uh, I, uh, overheard your conversation this morning," Casey began.

"What happened to removing the bugs?" Chuck asked.

"I got the ones out of the bathroom and your bedroom but there are still a couple in the kitchen," Casey explained. "Nicely put to Ellie. Maybe make a spy out of you yet."

"Yeah, well you might have to dig up my corpse to continue the training once I tell Sarah," Chuck rebutted, not looking happy.

"Bartowski, it's time. Well past time." Casey looked around. "It's time...to...uh..." Casey looked extremely uncomfortable, his attempt at tact failing him as he tried to tell him to finally spill the beans to the CIA agent. Chuck decided to put Casey out of his misery.

Chuck clapped Casey on the shoulder.

"Cover for me?" Casey nodded and Chuck left the Buy More to head over to the Orange Orange. No more plans. No outlining of the conversation. He needed to just do it, get it done. And brace himself for impact. The full force of it. Because it wasn't just her anger he was worried about. Not even in his own mind would he admit what else he was worried about. Not right before telling her. He'd psych himself out.

He opened the door as Sarah finished serving her customer. Chuck watched the customer leave and turned to her. "Do you miss it?" he asked.

"You mean my clothes constantly smelling like sausages…? Or Scooter?" she asked. Chuck cracked up. "No."

He knew what he was doing, now that he was here and she was standing in front of him, he was wavering a bit. He felt the weight of what he'd come here to do pressing down on his shoulders. So he stalled. He wasn't proud of himself for it. "It's cleaner. All clean and shiny and white."

"Mhm, sort of like a hospital."

The comedic timing was spot on and Chuck found himself choking out a laugh. "Yeah, a little bit! Although Scooter also reminded me of a hospital in some ways," he drawled, and she gave him a look like she wasn't sure where he was going with that. "I mean, they both fill me with very negative feelings."

Sarah snorted. "That's fair. A bit of a reach but I'll let you have it." She sobered just a bit. "Plus this is a much better set-up. They've had time to get it together now so it isn't just me and some overbearing jerk manager. General Beckman is sending some of our own people here to run the store under my 'management'." She tossed air quotes up.

"How will that work?" She gave him a look. "They don't know about the..." He trailed off and pointed at his head.

"All they know is it's a top secret mission and they can't even get into Castle unless one of us let's them in." Chuck nodded. "That part should be done in a few more days." She looked at him for a long moment, searchingly almost, and then she smirked a bit. "Did you really come over here to talk about my new job? While you're supposed to be on the clock at the Buy More?"

"How d'you know I'm not just on my break?" he teased, raising an eyebrow.

Narrowing her eyes, she leaned in a bit. "I'm supposed to be your girlfriend. You think I don't know when your breaks are? Come on."

"Okay, fine. I snuck out to come here. I wanted to." She smirked harder. "What?" he said, spreading his arms and grinning. "I can't come check out my best gal's new work digs?" She gave him an amused look. "Too much?" She shook her head and grinned. He wasn't going to be able to stall for much longer, and he knew it was only a matter of time before Big Mike realized the supervisor of the Nerd Herd was MIA. He dried his palms on his pants and dove right in, head first. So to speak.

"Actually, there, uh...is another reason. A small one." He brought his thumb and forefinger close together and held them up, knowing just how not-small it was now that it was here, on the edge of his lips. "Just somethin' I've been thinking about asking you."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Would you be interested in going out tonight? With me?" There. It was done. Well, not done. Done-ish. He'd done the hard part and now he just had to wait for her answer.

"Sure," she chirped.

Oh. That was… Oh.

"Need time away from Ellie and Awesome?"

Oh. Oh.

"Um, nah," Chuck replied, clearing his throat.

"Morgan driving you crazy?"

"Nope."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Cover maintenance?"

"Negative."

She was staring at him now, and he couldn't read the look on her face. "Just want to hang out with your...friend?"

He shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to hold onto the boldness he was finally displaying. Because why couldn't he have this? Why couldn't they have this? If only for a short time, because then he'd tell her everything and...shit. He was grasping at his confidence and it was slipping through his fingers like smoke.

"I mean, if-if that's what you—It could be that if you want—If that's—" He stopped himself then. She had a tentative and slightly confused look on her face, eyebrow tilting up in the corner. This needed to happen and he needed to just be a damn grown up. He beat back the voice in his head that told him he wasn't good enough, that he'd never be good enough. Another voice was louder; one that was telling him that hiding things away would only make it worse. Not just his decision to join the NSA, but his feelings for her too. "You know what? No." He let out a long breath through pursed lips, pulling his hands out of his pockets, and he stepped in closer. "I don't want to just hang out with my friend. Not this time. This time, I want to take you out on a date. A real freaking date. Where we can go out somewhere and eat good food and...and maybe we can talk."

Her eyes widened a little and then she looked away. He could see a battle in her eyes, the way they flicked back and forth, the way she was swallowing, her fingers playing with the cute apron she wore over her white capris. "We can talk about whatever you want," he said quietly. "Literally anything. Whatever you feel comfortable with," he felt the need to add. "But just us. Enjoying a night out together."

Should he just tell her now? Take away this whole date thing and tell her now and give her the chance to absorb and think about it? Without cloaking it in a date? And then he silently cursed himself for even thinking that. This date wasn't a damn cloak. He wanted to give her this. He wanted them to have this. When he told her about the NSA, he wanted it to be outside of this hospital-esque frozen yogurt shop that the CIA built, away from the cameras and the Castle thing under their feet. Away from the spy stuff. Just them, in the real world, surrounded by real people. Both of them feeling comfortable enough to be their real selves. Where he could be totally candid about everything: his wants, his needs, his fears.

He moved closer still, forcing her to raise her eyes back to his. They were so blue what with the sunlight streaming in from the windows behind him. "Sarah...we nearly lost each other. Everything. On that roof top… That was real, Sarah. That was the real us and I want a chance to recapture that without...without a lifetime in a bunker and/or death hovering over the moment like a dark cloud. I think—I think I saw somethin' there. In you. That felt...something like...what I'm feeling. Maybe." She was blinking an awful lot as she looked away again, and when she looked back up at him, he thought he saw...fear, maybe. God, he wanted to shake her. But he also wanted her to say yes. Not to some cover date on which they'd most likely still have fun. But to this. A real date. With him. He was taking a step, damn it, and he wanted her to meet him halfway this time.

"Sarah, at any minute in this job something could happen to any of us. I know what we said; I know the pacts we made, the things we shook hands on. All of that is very important to me. But do you think maybe…? All I'm saying is, isn't it worth it to see if...? Don't we owe it to ourselves? Haven't we earned this? If only this one time?" She crossed her arms quickly, almost hugging herself, shifting her weight. But she kept her eyes on his this time. "I understand if you think it's a bad idea," he continued. He noticed she didn't correct him. "But I keep thinking, wouldn't it be nice to go on a date without aliases and spy gear and a mission?"

She was silent for at least twenty seconds straight and he thought a part of him might be slowly dying. And then...

"You're really doing this, aren't you?" she asked softly, a tinge of awe in her voice, in her face. Or maybe he just thought he saw it. "You're asking me out on a real date…"

"Yes I am," he replied with confidence he didn't even know he had.

"Chuck... I'm still a CIA agent, and while you're not going to a bunker, things are still the same. I'm still here to protect you. And you're still...an asset." Not anymore, he thought to himself. But God, she didn't know that yet. She would know it soon enough. He just had to get her to say yes to this first. "There are a hundred reasons why I shouldn't do that. Why we shouldn't do that."

"I bet you I could think of two hundred reasons why you should, why we should." She seemed almost a little amused at that, giving him a look that read, Aren't you the confident one today?

He wasn't sure if she meant to egg him on with that look, but she had.

"What do you have to lose?" he asked. Now the look on her face changed to, Did you seriously just ask that? He winced. "Okay, maybe that question was a bit out of place. It's just that you haven't said no yet, and I'm thinking that probably means you're starting to think of some pretty good reasons for why you should say yes." He gave her a hopeful look, and she nibbled on her lip thoughtfully. It was a good sign. He kept going, just in case she needed an extra push. "If your higher-ups wanna make a stink, just play it like it's for cover, even though we'll know it isn't." The look that got him was pretty flat, but there was amusement under the tentativeness, the unsure way she twisted her lips to the side. "And just think...One day, you're gonna find yourself undercover in some place like Jakarta in a knife fight with some evil-doer, and in that exact moment, you're going to wish that you would've spent one...night of fun...real honest to goodness fun...with me." He swallowed. Had he said too much? Had he spiraled a little? Should he have maybe stopped after he asked the original question? Or after he said...God, any number of the things he'd just said to try to persuade her?

"Okay."

He couldn't believe his ears. He looked up at her and saw the shy grin there, the way she ducked her head. Her grin dimmed even as his own grin was growing on his face. "Really?"

"Mm-hmm," she said, obviously fighting to keep the grin from coming back. She nodded once, as if she was still thinking it over. But she said yes. She said yes. He was one step closer to making this all a reality.

"Tonight. Our first real date."

"Or our second first date," she chirped.

Chuck headed out of the store before he literally exploded, but turned to add, "No gunfight, I promise."

"Okay," she replied. Chuck smiled at her. He had a lot to do to prepare for tonight, but he thought he could swing this. He thought he could finally get them on the same page, and then...Well, they would go from there. No plans. No outlines.


A/N: Stick around for the next part, hopefully soon! Please leave us a review! Thanks!

-SC and DC