As the week wore on, Casey was careful not to leave any more lovebites on Chuck. At least, not any place above his collarbones. Chuck spent his nights sneaking out to be with the agent and his days trying not to grin too much. His colleagues found new ways to amuse themselves even when Sarah came over to meet Chuck for lunch. Ellie, once she had invited Sarah over for dinner and seen for herself how much easier things were between Chuck and his ex-girlfriend, allowed herself to be mollified a little. And Morgan, buoyed up by an evening of quality buddy time and sizzling shrimp, had no complaints even when Chuck spent the next five evenings in a row over at Casey's apartment.

In fact, the only person not entirely happy with things was Casey himself.

'Can't sleep, huh?' Chuck sat on the stairs, watching Casey pace the living room.

'What gave it away?' the big man growled. 'I need to get out of here, go for a run. Maybe shoot something.'

'This from the man who spent a month walled into one room in the Soviet Embassy in Seoul?' Chuck yawned.

Casey scowled. 'That was different.'

'I know. You didn't have me to tire you out.' Chuck grinned. When Casey didn't say anything, he sighed. 'Okay, John. Tell you what, how about I take a couple of days off, tell Big Mike I need a break? We could drive up into the hills, go camping, do a little hiking? You could maybe even do some shooting.'

Casey stopped and turned, looking at the young man in surprise. 'That's a good idea. Get Sarah to run it past the General first, though.'

'All right, I'll ask her in the morning. Now are you going to come back to bed so I can at least try to wear you out?' Chuck regarded his lover with exasperated amusement.

'Mm,' Casey rumbled, letting Chuck take his hand and lead him back to bed. Later, lying in the darkness watching the slim shadowed figure sleep, Casey allowed himself a tiny flash of hope that maybe they had some kind of a future together. It was surprisingly hard to squash it back down again, and dawn was just creeping in around the curtains before he managed to drop off to sleep.

'No, absolutely not,' General Beckman said.

'What? Why?' Chuck asked, frowning.

'We need to be able to call on you at any time. Terrorists and criminals don't put their plans on hold just because you want to go camping,' the General said reprovingly.

'You know the last time I had a vacation?' Chuck said, a stubborn look on his face that bore more than a passing resemblance to one of Casey's expressions. 'Eighteen months ago. Before you guys came along and derailed my entire life. And I can't take two days to go camping? It's not like I'm going to be off the radar, is it? Casey's agreed to spend part of his vacation going with me to work on our cover.' He stared mulishly at the General, who frowned at him through the flat screen. 'I need a break.'

The General sighed. 'Very well, Mister Bartowski. You may go, but you are to travel no more than an hour away from here and Major Casey will have to take strict precautions to ensure your safety. Agent Walker, I'll need you to provide surveillance. I'll have a field team on standby, just in case.' She cut the connection.

'Just in case of what, Sarah?' Chuck asked, turning to the woman in question.
Sarah pulled on her Orange Orange apron. 'Just in case someone tries to snatch the Intersect. Or in case something comes up here and we need your abilities.'

Chuck sighed. 'Fine.'

Big Mike was easier to convince. 'You want two days off, Bartowski? Why, did someone die?'

'No! No, I just need a break,' Chuck protested, leaning against the doorframe of Big Mike's office.

'Fine. Be back on Friday morning. I need you here so I can go fishing,' the manager snapped.

'No problem,' Chuck said, escaping with a sigh of relief.

Leaving a note for Ellie and Devon, Chuck dug out his sleeping bag, PSP and a couple of games. Adding a change of clothes, a light jacket, a pair of hiking boots and a battered copy of Dune to the pile, he stuffed it into a rucksack and headed over to Casey's apartment.

Casey greeted him with an impatient grunt, taking his rucksack from him and emptying out the contents to check through them.

'Dune and a PSP, but no torch, first aid kit or food? Figures,' he frowned.

'I thought you'd have that covered,' Chuck grinned. 'So where are we going?'

'Since we have to stay close to base, I thought we might as well head up to the Cogswell Reservoir. It's about thirty miles from here and it's pretty deserted, but there's a campsite and some good trails for hiking.'

Chuck smiled as Casey's evident need to be outside already contrasted with the methodical way in which he repacked the rucksack, adding things from a small stack of things piled on the table.

Casey continued, 'And if we need backup, or have to get out of there in a real hurry, there just happens to be a helipad fairly close by.'

'Oh, okay,' said Chuck, surprised. 'Wow, it ticks all the boxes on the secret spy retreat, doesn't it?'

'Pay attention, Chuck,' Casey reprimanded. Gesturing to a small case, he said, 'This is a satellite phone.' He opened it, and waited while Chuck flashed on it. 'You okay?'

'Yeah,' Chuck said, shaking his head. 'A little warning next time, please?'

Casey nodded. 'You know how to use it?'

'I think so. You fold out this bit here into a dish, connect up this cable...' Chuck's fingers moved deftly over the equipment. 'Bingo!' He looked up with a smile as the phone beeped its connection to a satellite signal. 'Ready to phone home.'

'Good.'

'Anything else I should know about?'

Casey patted another case. 'There are a couple of pistols in here, with ammunition. There's also a flare gun, but try not to use it.'

'Don't want to give away our position, huh?'

'No, idiot. At this time of year the forest is tinder-dry. I don't want you starting any fires.' The warmth in Casey's tone made up for the insult.

'Right. Got it,' Chuck grinned. 'So, are you ready to go?'

Casey nodded. 'You'll have to load the car yourself. I'll meet you on the corner in fifteen minutes. Here.' He handed Chuck the keys to his car.

'Okay!' Chuck grinned manically, picked up a couple of bags and darted out of the door.

Casey stared after him for a moment, then shook his head fondly. Softly he murmured, 'Idiot,' once more then he headed upstairs to make his unobtrusive exit from the building.

The drive up into the hills took under an hour, but with each passing mile Chuck could see the tension leaving Casey, the set of his shoulders becoming more relaxed as the dusk began to draw in. He watched the big man drive, handling the vehicle with ease through the twists and bends of the road as it wound through the hills. Occasionally he glanced over at Chuck, just making sure that the young man was okay, but otherwise Chuck studied the agent's profile.

Eventually, Casey broke the silence. 'What?' he asked bluntly. 'Did I grow a second head?'

'No, it's nothing,' Chuck replied softly. 'I was just enjoying the chance to look at you.'

'You might as well look at the view since we're out here,' Casey grunted, but his smile belied his words and Chuck kept on watching him rather than the forest around them.

They pulled onto the campsite and Casey picked a spot well away from the couple of tents which were all that were pitched at the site. He set up the tent, barking instructions at Chuck, and shortly they were stowing some of their gear inside it.

When Casey began preparing a fire pit to use the tiny gas burner in, Chuck settled down on the ground beside him. 'I thought you'd want to go stretch your legs,' he said. 'Work off some of that energy?'

Casey shook his head. 'It's getting too dark for that. But while you heat these, I'll go set up the perimeter and check in with Sarah.'

'What is it?' Chuck took the foil-wrapped packages that Casey handed him.

'Field rations,' Casey shrugged. 'They were the best I could do at short notice. I think they're beef stew.'

'I'm sure they'll taste delicious,' Chuck said, opening them into the little metal pan that sat over the gas stove. 'Just be sure to be back in ten minutes. You don't want to miss my gourmet cooking!'

Casey snorted, leaving him to it.

Chuck took his time, looking around at the campsite. The air was clear, the sky deepening from a rim of red and gold on the mountains around them through to true night overhead. The last calls of diurnal birds finding their roosts sounded from trees around the site, but apart from the cicadas, the campsite was quiet. A breath of wind rattled a few twigs, and the beef stew began to bubble. Chuck stirred it with a spoon and smiled, feeling himself relax with every deep breath of smog-free air.

'That done yet?'

With a yelp, Chuck jumped, almost knocking over the pan.

'How do you do that?' he asked, looking up into the agent's amused face.

'Training and practise,' Casey said, sitting down beside Chuck. 'What, did you think I got to be a Major by sitting on my ass?'

'No, I suppose not,' Chuck said, turning off the gas burner and dividing the meal between two tin bowls. He handed one to Casey and stuck a spoon in the other. 'I don't actually know how you got to be a Major.'

Casey raised an eyebrow. 'You mean with everything sitting in your head, you haven't flashed on my dossier?' He sounded genuinely surprised.

Chuck shook his head. 'Sorry to disappoint you. The only times I've flashed on you have been for specific reasons. Some of which you've told me never to mention ever again.'

Casey grunted, looking down at his food.

'I'm sorry,' Chuck offered softly. 'Do you... do you still miss Ilsa?'

'I don't do regrets either,' Casey said. Looking up at Chuck again, he dropped his spoon into his bowl and reached out, putting a hand on the young man's knee. 'I can't afford to. They almost got us both killed. So no, I don't miss Ilsa.'

'As I recall, the almost getting killed was actually that Russian mobster pushing us out of the window.' Chuck put a hand over Casey's. 'It was kind of exhilerating in a sheer terror kind of way. I can almost see why people take up extreme sports.'

Casey leaned over and kissed Chuck lightly. 'Terror gets old real fast. I'd rather shoot the bad guys and go home at the end of the day.'

'No arguments here, big guy.' Chuck kissed him back.

As soon as they finished eating, Casey wiped out their bowls and the pan, made sure everything was stowed neatly, then crawled into the tent, where Chuck was waiting for him.

Chuck had pushed the two groundmats together and inflated the single mattresses. Zipping their sleeping bags together down one side, he had spread them out over the mattresses and was lying there, naked, waiting for the agent to join him.

Casey grinned, stopping in the entrance to admire the young man's long, slim legs and slender body. 'You don't get out in the sun much, do you?' he smiled.

'Nope.' Chuck grinned. 'I hear it can cause nerds to spontaneously combust and I thought I'd better not take the chance.'

'Mm,' Casey nodded approvingly, rapidly shedding his t-shirt and getting to work on his boots. 'I'd hate to have to tell the General you ended up a pile of cinders.' Stripping off his trousers and underpants in one swift move, despite the tent's confines, he added, 'Besides, if you got all crispy, I couldn't do this.'

Crawling up the mattresses over Chuck, he covered the young man's body with his own and kissed him until Chuck was whimpering and writhing underneath him.

'You want something?' he rumbled, pulling back a little before sucking at Chuck's earlobe.

'Yes! Gaah!' Chuck panted, gripping Casey's shoulders tightly. Making a superhuman effort to gather his wits, he gasped out, 'You! In me right now!'

'Yessir,' Casey growled, amused. Fishing in the pocket at the side of the tent, he quickly produced a condom and sheathed himself it it. Lubricant followed, and as Casey's fingers slid inside him, Chuck cried out, spreading his knees so that the older man could push deeper inside him.

Casey moved his hand slowly inside Chuck until the young man opened his eyes again and pleaded for more.

'I need you! Please, John, just fuck me! Please!'

Relenting, Casey withdrew, rapidly replacing his fingers with his erection. He started to push in just as slowly, but with a grunt, Chuck thrust upwards, burying the older man inside him.

Panting, the men gazed at each other, blue eyes locked with brown. Then Casey moved, rolling his hips back and thrusting hard into Chuck's tight heat. He set a fast pace, but Chuck met him thrust for thrust, never once breaking eye contact. Casey worked his forearms under Chuck's shoulders, holding him close. In answer, Chuck hung onto Casey's shoulders, barely giving them room to breathe. With a growl, Casey closed the last fraction of a gap, claiming Chuck's mouth in a savage kiss. Greedily, Chuck kissed him back, Casey's mouth a lifeline. Chuck wrapped his legs around the older man's waist and on the next powerful thrust, his eyes rolled back in his head as Casey found the young man's prostate. He held on tightly as, muscles clenching, his orgasm crashed over him, followed almost immediately by Casey's own bellow of release as the older man pulsed inside him.

Relaxing his hold a little, Chuck clung to his lover. The sound of their ragged breathing was all he could hear over the pounding of his heart.

'Wow,' he whispered unsteadily with a shaky grin.

Casey lifted his head and smiled. 'Yeah, wow,' he agreed, then kissed Chuck on the nose. 'You have to let me go,' he pointed out, trying unsuccessfully to pull back.

'Nope.' Chuck planted a kiss on Casey's chin. 'Not a chance.'

'No?' The agent's warning tone was belied by the twinkle in his eye.

Chuck wrapped his arms and legs around Casey a little tighter. 'Not happening, big guy,' he grinned.

'We'll see about that.' Casey ran his fingers down Chuck's ribs. The young man twitched and squirmed.

'No fair, John! No tickling!' Chuck laughed, writhing underneath the big man.

Casey's eyes darkened as he began to grow hard again. 'You keep saying no,' he rumbled. 'But something tells me you're enjoying it.' He brushed a thumb over one of Chuck's nipples, and Chuck's giggles turned into a gasp.

Chuck felt his penis stirring as Casey began to move gently inside him. 'For an old man, you recover fast,' he teased.

'Don't they say you're only as young as the guy you feel?' Casey growled, bending his head to nip at Chuck's collarbone.

'That's... so... cheesy!' Chuck's voice rose to a squeak as Casey thrust hard.

'I could always stop,' Casey threatened, pulling back only to thrust in deep again.

'No! Oh, god...' Chuck let his head fall back as Casey licked his way to the pulse point at the base of his throat and bit softly. Moving together, the younger man wrapped around the older, the agent buried inside the asset, they lost all track of time, breathing each other's breath, lost in each other's eyes. Finally, almost gently, Chuck came again, pulling Casey over the edge with him.

'Okay, I'll let go,' Chuck murmured eventually, rubbing his cheek against that of the older man.

Casey withdrew to dispose of the condom, tossing Chuck a sock to clean off his stomach with, then laid back down, pulling the young man into an embrace. 'Never let go,' he said roughly, and Chuck, pulling the sleeping bags together around them, nodded.

'Never.'