'I didn't hear you come in last night, bro,' Devon said, holding a glass of something green. 'I take it you went to see Sarah? It looks as though the competition got her all fired up.' He nodded meaningfully at Chuck's neck.

'What? Oh, yeah...' Chuck grinned nervously, tugging his collar higher to hide the lovebites on either side of his neck.

'So did you get things sorted out?' He drained the glass.

'Some, I guess. We still have some talking to do, though. What is that stuff?' As Devon opened his mouth to tell him, he waved a hand in the air. 'On second thoughts, don't tell me. I'm not sure I really want to know.'

As Ellie emerged from the bedroom, Chuck looked at his watch. 'Gotta go, Sarah'll be here any minute.'

'Didn't she just drop you off?' Devon frowned.

Door open, Chuck glanced back. 'She, uh, had errands to run. Before work.'

'Chuck! We have to talk - oh...' Ellie trailed off, looking uncertainly at the marks on his neck.

'Later, I promise.' Chuck closed the door firmly behind him and, squashing the temptation to go straight back to Casey's, went to wait at the kerb.

Sarah pulled up and Chuck climbed in.

'So? Did you go see Casey?' she asked.

Chuck laughed nervously and dropped his hand from his neck.

Sarah stared at him in silence for a moment. 'I see.' The car shot out into traffic, and Chuck closed his eyes as she wove skillfully past slower cars through the morning rush hour.

They reached the Buy More without anything further being said. As the car idled, Chuck took a deep breath.

'Are you okay, Sarah?'

'Of course I am,' she said, forcing a smile. 'I'm glad you've worked things out with Casey.'

'Really?' Chuck asked. 'Because while I'm glad you're absolutely fine with this, I have to confess my ego is just a tiny bit dented.'

Sarah smiled, a genuine smile this time. 'It's a little odd, sure. But I'm happy you finally know what you want. And once Casey's back at work, we'll have to sit down and discuss our cover stories.'

Chuck smiled. 'It's a date, then.' He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, before hopping out of the car and walking jauntily into the Buy More, grinning happily to himself.

The day went well, Chuck had to admit. Morgan was the first to spot his lovebites.

'Whoa, dude! Looks like you had quite a night there!'

Chuck couldn't help the smile that spread over his face. 'Yeah, I did.'

Anna jumped up onto the desk. 'Chuckles! Does this mean Sarah got tired of being your beard?'

'Guys!'

Jeff joined the group. 'Hey! Oh, man, Casey isn't going to like you cheating on him like that.' He stared at Chuck's neck until Chuck turned his collar up.

'I'm not cheating on anyone. Don't you all have work to do?' The phone rang, and he seized it with relief. 'Nerd Herd, for all your nerd needs. Chuck speaking, how may I help you?'

Disappointed, his colleagues dispersed.

A low chuckle answered him. 'I have a problem. With my hard drive.' It was Casey.

Chuck flushed. 'Oh?' His voice was higher than usual. 'What, what seems to be the problem with it?'

Another low, rumbling chuckle. 'Well, it's hard. And my drive is definitely spun up, could use a little nerd attention. A helping hand, so to speak.'

Chuck shifted his chair closer to the desk, making sure no-one could see the effect the call was having on him.

'Have you tried wiggling it? That sometimes helps.' He closed his eyes, seeing Casey as he'd been earlier, outlined by the dawn light that crept in around the curtains, all long, hard planes of muscle, brown hair falling over his forehead as he bent to show Chuck the same attention Chuck had shown him the night before.

'Yeah, but I don't think my hands are the right ones for the job. It needs someone with a lighter touch.'

'I... uh... I could fill out a home support request for you,' Chuck stammered, struggling to think straight. 'Oh, no, I can't. No car.'

A frustrated growl met his words. 'Damn. I guess it'll have to wait until after hours, then.'

'It's my day off tomorrow,' Chuck proffered.

'I know.' Casey sounded inordinately pleased by that. 'Come by when you get home, Bartowski, and we'll see how long it takes to fix that harddrive.'

'I, uh, I'll do that,' Chuck stammered as Lester wandered up. 'Have a great day, now.'

Casey rang off without saying goodbye, leaving Chuck painfully hard behind the Nerd Herd desk.

After that, Chuck felt invincible. His grin lasted all day, disarming disgruntled customers before they had chance to complain, and disconcerting his colleagues enough that by the time his shift drew to a close, Morgan was the only one who would venture near him.

'Hey, buddy, you're freaking me out. Did Sarah put happy pills in your juice today?' Morgan leaned against the Nerd Herd desk, playing with the One Remote, now disabled.

'What? Oh, no, no. I'm fine. Really.' Chuck, distracted from thoughts of a naked Casey waiting for him, hastened to reassure his friend.

'Yeah, it's been quite apparent that you're fine all day. I'm just wondering why, is all. What is different here? Take exhibit A.' He indicated Chuck. 'Your neck is unusually marked for a night with Sarah. Also, you have spent most of the day concealing a boner from the rest of the world. Which, you know, is more usual, but less blatantly so than today.'

Chuck stared at Morgan, eyebrows so far raised that they almost met his hair. 'Morgan...' he began, only for the man in question to carry on speaking.

'Now, Casey is out of town, which leads me to three possible conclusions.' Morgan glanced over at his friend. 'Either you've been sleeping with him all along and you just got lucky with Sarah. Or... you've been sleeping with Sarah all along-'

'Which is what I've been saying!' Chuck interjected.

'-and you've got lucky with someone else.'

'That's not funny, Morgan,' Chuck remonstrated. 'Or?'

'Or?' Morgan repeated, fiddling with a pen.

'You said you had three possible conclusions. So what's the third, little man?' Chuck asked quietly.

'Or Casey isn't out of town.'

For a moment, Chuck forgot how to breathe, staring at his friend with big eyes, his mouth open in a denial that never quite made it to speech.

Morgan looked up at Chuck with a serious face, but eyes full of compassion. 'He isn't, is he? And after everything we've been saying to you over the past few days, you finally decided to check it out.'

'Morgan...' Chuck trailed off, looked down at the desk.

'Sarah really is your beard now, isn't she?'

When Chuck didn't reply, Morgan stood, pulled Chuck into a hug. 'It's okay, buddy. Your secret is safe with me.' After a long moment, he pulled back and tilted his head. 'So, no Call of Duty tonight?'

Chuck hugged his friend. 'No, not tonight.'

Ducking through the living room, Chuck managed to avoid Ellie. He showered in record time, put on a clean t-shirt bearing the slogan Come to the Dork Side... We Have Cookies, and grabbed his personal effects. Quickly he called in an order for sizzling shrimp, to be delivered to Casey's apartment. Finally, he strode impatiently back through the living room.

Ellie was waiting for him.

'Chuck, wait,' she called as he reached for the door handle.

With a sigh, he turned to face her. 'Hi, sis.' He put on a smile and went to hug her.

'Sit with me, Chuck,' Ellie said, patting the couch beside her.

'I'd love to, Ellie, but I have to -'

'What? Go see Sarah? Morgan? John?' Upset, she reached out and took his hand.

Chuck sat down. 'Casey's away on training, Ellie. What's this about, huh?'

'Devon told me you've been having issues. With Sarah... and with John Casey.' She watched him anxiously. 'Don't be mad that we talked about you. I'm worried about you. We both are.' She took his other hand, too. 'You know you can always talk to me, right? I love you, no matter what.'

'Gee, you make it all sound so... life and death,' Chuck joked, but Ellie didn't smile.

'Tell me what's going on in that head of yours. In your heart.' She regarded him earnestly with huge eyes filled with compassion. 'Chuck, are you gay?'

'Wow.' Chuck looked away. 'You don't pull any punches, do you?'

'Chuck...'

'I know, you just want me to be happy.' He sighed again, looked back at his older sister. 'You know things with Sarah are...'

'Complicated, right.' She nodded angrily. 'Is that because of John?'

'In a way, I suppose so.' Chuck squeezed Ellie's hands, then let go to run his fingers through his hair. 'Ellie, Sarah is an amazing woman. Really, she is, and she's done so much for me that I can never thank her enough. But ultimately, we're better off as just friends.'

'This isn't like that Lou girl, is it?' Ellie asked, wiping a tear from the corner of one eye. 'Because I'd hate to see you throw something wonderful away.'

'No, it's nothing like that,' Chuck said. 'Honestly, Ellie, I have no idea what's going to happen with Casey. I have feelings for him, but it's going to have to wait until he gets back.'

'So what about your neck? Didn't that mean anything?' Ellie sniffed.

Chuck blushed. 'It was a goodbye.'

'So you're sure?' She touched his cheek gently.

'Yeah. It's taken a while to figure it out, but I am.' He hugged her, dropping a kiss on top of her head.

'I'm going to miss Sarah, you know,' Ellie said, wiping away more tears.

'She'll still be around. She's been my friend as well as my girlfriend.' Chuck crooked a finger under her chin, tipping it up so that he could look her in the eye. 'Ellie, however things work out between me and John, breaking up with Sarah is the right thing to do. For her, for me. I promise.'

'Okay, Chuck. You go do what you have to.' As he stood and walked to the door, she called, 'Remember I'll always love you. And if John hurts you, all his military training won't mean a thing. No one messes my little brother around!'

'Thanks, sis. I love you too,' Chuck said around the lump in his throat. 'See you later.'

'So Morgan and Ellie both know? Great going, Bartowski,' Casey greeted Chuck, who closed the door behind him and turned on the light.

'What was I supposed to say, Casey? No, things are fine with Sarah! I'm not in love with my NSA handler at all!' Chuck snapped, then stopped. 'Oops.'

Casey stared at the young man. 'Oh, crap.'

The doorbell rang, and Casey quickly picked up his gun from the coffee table, moving silently over to the door. He nudged Chuck in the ribs as he punched in the code on the security system that would run a full weapons scan on the person standing outside.

'What?' Chuck hissed, confused, then, 'Oh, right. Yeah?' he called out in a louder tone. 'Who's there?'

'Golden Dragon takeaway!'

'Right, one moment,' Chuck called. 'Just getting my wallet...'

Casey nodded; the weapons scan had come up clean. He moved swiftly to the other side of the doorframe, keeping his gun ready as Chuck opened the door.

The delivery driver paid and food handed over, Chuck shut the door again and watched as Casey made sure it was locked and bolted in six different ways.

'Hi, it's good to see you too, Casey. Here, I got you some dinner. Oh, and this.' Chuck handed over the bag of sizzling shrimp, then fished a small squeezy bottle out of his back pocket and dropped it into Casey's hand.

'Horseradish sauce?' Casey stared at the bottle, then back up at Chuck.

'Yeah. Medium hot, just the way you like it.' Chuck looked at Casey, need and longing written large across his expressive features.

'Aw, hell,' Casey muttered, and stalked through to the kitchen, putting things down on the counter rather more forcefully than he needed to.

'I could always just go,' Chuck offered in a small voice. 'Maybe I should-'

Casey came back into the living room carrying a plate. On it was the carton of sizzling shrimp and two pairs of chopsticks. He placed it carefully on the coffee table, then stalked back round to where Chuck was still standing beside the door, stopping barely a pace away.

'I don't do hearts and flowers. I don't do families and walks on the beach. I don't do vacations. Got that, Chuck?' Casey almost spat the v-word, but Chuck didn't flinch.

'You don't have to,' he said, keeping his voice level. 'I don't think my upbringing prepared me particularly well for some of those things either. And I'm not on vacation. But I was hoping to show you how to have a day off, if that's all right with you.' He smiled.

Casey growled and pounced on him. By the time Chuck had recovered enough to start kissing him back, Casey had the young man pinned up against the door, his long muscular body pressing from chest to thigh. When at last he broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against Chuck's as they caught their breath, Casey said softly, 'Thanks for the horseradish.'

Chuck laughed weakly, his arms still wrapped around Casey's neck. 'I missed you too.' His stomach rumbled loudly. 'Dinner?'

'Come on.' Casey pushed himself away from the door and led Chuck back to the couch. 'It smells good.'

'So you were watching me at the Buy More today, huh?' Chuck said, sprawling across the couch with his legs across Casey's lap.

Casey nodded. 'Yeah. Got a direct feed from the security cameras.'

'You get that problem fixed?' Chuck raised an eyebrow. 'The one with your... hard drive?'

'Nope,' Casey said. 'Still needs wiggling.' He stared pointedly at Chuck's hands. 'Care to give it a go?'

Chuck smiled happily. 'I never thought you'd ask.' He scooted closer to Casey, licking his bottom lip in anticipation. 'I might need to remove the outer casing. You know, just to get a better look, see what exactly the problem might be.'

'Give it a thorough inspection, huh?' Casey's voice deepened to a low rumble as he watched the younger man with desire-filled eyes.

'Oh, absolutely,' Chuck breathed. 'I couldn't possibly diagnose a fault without a very... thorough... inspection...' He knelt on the couch, straddling Casey's thighs, and leaned in to kiss him.

As they kissed, Casey shifted, sliding forwards until Chuck was pressed groin to groin with him, then he rolled his hips slowly, rubbing his hardening erection against the young man. At the same time, his hands slid underneath the hem of Chuck's t-shirt and up over his stomach until they reached his chest. Casey ran his fingers lightly through the dark hairs sprinkled there, just brushing over Chuck's nipples, making him jolt, which had the happy side-effect of rubbing Chuck even harder against Casey's erection.

Breathing hard, Chuck pulled back a fraction. 'How, how did you fail seduction class, exactly? Because I'm not seeing how anyone could give you anything less than top marks.' He grinned, then twitched again, going slack-jawed as Casey rubbed his palms harder over his nipples. 'God, that feels good!'

Casey nibbled gently at the corner of his jaw. 'Rowan wanted to give my partner a little more one-on-one tuition,' he rasped. 'Made me try harder, though.' With a wicked grin, he thrust upwards, making Chuck gasp.

'Really?' he squeaked. 'Good to know!' He tugged at Casey's t-shirt until the older man leaned forwards enough for him to pull it up and over his head. Sitting back just a little, Chuck took a moment to admire the broad expanse of solid muscle in front of him.

'Like what you see?' Casey asked with a little smile of amusement.

Chuck swallowed hard. 'I'd be a little intimidated by your incredibly impressive physique, but I'm having a hard time concentrating right now.'

Casey slid his hands smoothly down and round Chuck's sides until he reached the young man's denim-clad rear. Then, cupping a cheek in each hand, he held Chuck in place as he thrust up again, repeatedly rubbing their erections over each other through their jeans.

Chuck moaned, his head falling back as he braced himself against Casey's chest. 'Oh god, that's good!'

Casey thrust harder at the sight of the marks, his marks, on the young man's pale throat. 'Thought you were going to conduct an inspection?' he rumbled.

'Need to... move the unit... to a better surface,' Chuck managed to gasp out.

With a growl, Casey surged to his feet, still holding Chuck, who let out a startled cry, then hastily wrapped his legs around the tall man's hips, his arms around Casey's broad shoulders, bringing him nose-to nose with the agent.

Kissing Chuck furiously, Casey strode towards the stairs, making it up to the fourth step before a knock sounded at the door.

Casey froze, pulling back from the kiss.

'What the-' Chuck began, only to be cut off by Casey's 'Ssh!'

The knock sounded again, and as quietly as possible, Casey let Chuck slide down until his feet touched the steps. When he was sure the young man had his balance, he moved swiftly but silently back down the stairs and across the living room, collecting his gun from the table as he went.

Chuck followed with a little less grace and a little more noise, almost tripping over one discarded shoe.

'Who-' he cleared his throat and tried again. 'Who is it?'

'Chuck?'

He groaned quietly, and began undoing the locks. 'Just a moment, Ellie.'

Casey scowled. 'Get rid of her!' he mouthed, retreating out of sight into the kitchen.

Chuck undid the last bolt and opened the door, keeping his lower half hidden as best he could. 'Ellie, hi.' He plastered a smile on his face. 'What's up, sis?'

'I saw the light on over here and I thought I'd come and check it out, see if it was you, or a burglar, or maybe John back early...' She smiled, looking past him to the coffee table where the empty carton of sizzling shrimp still sat.

Chuck glanced behind him, immediately catching sight of Casey's discarded t-shirt lying on the floor by the corner of the couch. He moved forwards, blocking her view a little more, and babbled, 'I was just seeing to John's bonsai and I got a bit hungry, thought I might as well eat here. They're fine, just fine now. But I thought I'd stay a bit longer, just, you know, be here.'

Ellie's face softened. 'Oh, it's so sweet that you miss him. Of course you feel closer to him, being here, surrounded by his things. Just... don't do anything weird, okay? I'm not sure John would like it if you invaded his privacy too much.'

'No, no, no, I won't,' Chuck hastened to reassure her. 'I'm only here to deter burglars, let them know the place isn't empty. Honest.' He backed it up with his most honest smile, relieved to see the concern leave her eyes.

'All right, Chuck, you do that. I'm sure no burglars will dare to break in while you're here to guard the place.' She smiled and patted his cheek. 'I'll see you later, then.'

'Okay, bye!' Chuck waited as she crossed the courtyard, waggling his fingers as she glanced over her shoulder at him. But as soon as she was safely back inside her own apartment, he shut the door firmly, hastily engaging the locks.

Casey emerged from the kitchen and glared at him.

'See, that's why I haven't been putting the light on!' he growled, annoyed.

'Well, now my sister thinks I'm some sort of pervert who's going to go through all your stuff while you're away, just so I can feel closer to you. So that's an improvement,' Chuck grimaced.

'You'd better not,' Casey warned, still frowning.

'Oh, don't worry. I have no intention of touching your things, Casey. I'd probably end up accidentally shooting myself with a gun disguised as a, a candlestick, or something stupid like that.'

'Why would I have a gun disguised as a candlestick?' asked Casey, picking up his t-shirt and shrugging it back on.

'I don't know!' Chuck threw up his hands in frustration. 'I have no idea why you would have a gun disguised as a candlestick. It was just an example. A stupid example, obviously.'

'Obviously,' Casey agreed, coming to stand beside him, his annoyance draining away in the face of the nerd's discomfort. He took Chuck's hand. Softer, he said, 'Come on.'

'That didn't put you off? Because I've gotta say, it kind of broke the mood a little for me, being interrupted by my sister,' Chuck said drily.

'A little,' Casey confessed. 'But you still owe me an inspection.' He grinned wickedly, and after a moment, Chuck grinned too.

'Okay, then. Lead on.'