John sat in the staff meeting, appearing to be carefully listening to Morgan as he droned on with his power point presentation. Predictably, his thoughts drifted to his wife. She'd been healing up nicely and the walking cast made it so much easier for her to get around. They'd even ventured out to grocery shop and have the occasional dinner. And of course, bath time, while a bit awkward was still loads of fun. His mind drifted back to the previous evening. They'd gotten into a routine of bathing together at the end of the evening, just before bed. It was a ritual for them. Some quiet time to share their day with each other, chat and sip wine. What had started as a frustratingly bad experience turned into an erotic experience involving Ellie's casted leg being wrapped in a plastic bag and duct taped, then haphazardly hung over the side of the tub with John kneeling outside the tub bathing her and helping to wash and rinse her hair. As things quickly escalated, they'd ended up practically flooding the entire bathroom floor when she pulled him into the tub with her and they both struggled to remember to keep her leg up as they carried on. He could only dream of the time they would spend in the not so distant future in their new, large, sunken-tub. Getting all six feet, four inches of himself into the tub with a wet, crippled Ellie was difficult but still a nice challenge to rise to.

"So, what do you think? is that a go big guy?"

'Crap!' Morgan had just asked him a question. He quickly decided to do the silent thing and nod his head. It had always worked before. He threw in a low grunt and a small nod and Morgan enthusiastically grinned and wrapped up his presentation. He glanced at the clock above Morgan's head and noted he only had a few more minutes to endure before getting back home to his Ellie. She'd been doing her best to pack during the day but it was slow going for her so he wanted to get home to help her. Chuck approached him after the meeting ended.

"So what did I agree to with Morgan?" he grunted out.

Chuck just smiled evilly at him. "I could tell you weren't paying attention."

"Yeah, how so?"

"You had your Ellie-face on."

"What?"

"You had your Ellie-face on, you know, the one you get when your eyes glaze over and you have your sick little fantasies about my sister at inappropriate times."

Casey smirked, "Oh, that face. Yeah, I guess you got me."

They walked out to the car and waited for Sarah so they could carpool back to their apartment. She'd been aloof and irritable most of the day and walked up and got in the back of the car without a word to either of them.

--

"Man, I'm not going to miss this crap at all," Casey groused to nobody in particular as they pulled onto the freeway that was already stopped with heavy commute traffic.

"So, seriously, what did I agree to with Morgan? is it bad? am I finally going to have to kill him?"

Sarah rolled her eyes so Casey could see her in the rear-view mirror and answered him in an irritated tone.

"What you agreed to, Agent Casey, was Morgan's VERY KIND suggestion that the whole department, including he and Ana, help you and Ellie move in next weekend, provided you man the grill, and feed everyone and let them cool off in the pool when they're done! and you can soak your own head as well," she snippily added.

"Oh," was all he could say as he met her eyes in the mirror. He knew that look, rare as it was, and he was wise enough to just let her be.

Chuck, uncomfortable with the bit of tension between his two friends, decided that now was a good time to change the subject to something more pleasant.

While not everyone knew that John Casey was a crack-shot and a trained killer who could take on just about any threat with ease, most people did, however know, that the man could cook! and, those that were even closer to him knew he could barbecue like the true honest-to-goodness bad-ass that he was.

"Well, buddy, looks like you better get hopping and get some patio furniture and a cylinder or ten of propane. It would seem that you are going to be hosting your first pool-party real soon my friend."

Casey's eyebrow raised slightly as he pondered his new task.

"Damn it, Chuck, why did you have to mention barbecue, now I'm starved and craving steak," Sarah crankily groused.

Sarah shoved her ear buds into her ears and turned on her iPod, effectively tuning them both out. Casey cautiously peered back at her to try and figure out what had her panties all twisted up.

"Don't give me that look," she ordered as she glared at Casey in the mirror and then shut her eyes and rested her head back on the headrest.

Both men gave each other bewildered looks.

"Whoa, what's with her?" Casey inquired.

"I have no idea, she's just been cranky all day."

"Well, step-up Bartowski and help the girl out of her funk, you heard her, she's craving beef." Casey grinned.

"Wh..what?"

"You know, she's probably all tense with her girlie feelings for you," Casey grinned. He was enjoying ribbing Chuck about his brand new, "real" relationship with Sarah.

"And I'm supposed to do w-h-a-t about that?"

"Jeeze, Bartowski, do I have to spell it out for you? Take her to dinner, then make the moves on her, and you know, give her the beef." He emphasized the last few words with a lecherous grin.

"It always amazes me, how my sister paints you as such a sweet and classy guy," Chuck replied.

"Yeah, well I try."

"It's not that easy Casey," Chuck whined. "What if I'm reading her wrong and I'm getting the wrong signals?"

"Okay, want me to draw you up a plan, Slick? Here's how you storm her castle......."

Chuck leaned over and listened closely.

--

Ellie hobbled up to the front of the closet and pulled up a chair and sat down. She had cardboard boxes surrounding her and was packing she and John's shoes and clothing. She kept out the clothing they wore most often but packed everything else. It was more difficult because she had to remain seated while doing it, so it took her most of the day to pack up six large boxes as well as the dresser items and bath items.

She looked at herself in the mirror and decided to give herself a quick five minute make-over, just like the one she'd seen on "Oprah" the other day. She'd been so bored that she took to watching daytime television while she recuperated. Just then, the doorbell rang. She slowly made her way to the door and peeked through the hole.

'Oh God, what do they want?'

Standing outside of her door, holding two large pizzas, were Jeff and Lester. She cracked the door open and was miffed when Lester immediately put his foot in and walked past her, barking orders at a somewhat dazed Jeff.

"Chuck's not here guys," she irritatedly squawked.

Lester just politely ignored her and began barking orders to Jeff.

"Okay, we start in the kitchen and work our way to the guest bedroom, closets and dressers, then the entertainment center and we'll do the patio last."

"Excuse me, what are you doing?" Ellie questioned.

Lester hurriedly answered her as he glanced around the apartment. "Now, you just sit down and elevate that foot Elizabeth er, Ellen. John called us and we have it all under control. If we come through for your husband, we just may find ourselves in fat-city and get management positions at Solution Systems."

Ellie's mouth hung open. "He, he told you that?" she miraculously asked.

"Yep, he phoned about an hour ago. Told us to bring our own dinner and pack your shit..stuff up. Said he was taking you, the Chuckster and Blondie out for dinner."

"He did?"

"Yes, now show me where your underwear drawer is and we'll start with that."

Ellie curled her lip up in disgust and hobbled over to her cell phone to call her husband."

"Hey, while you have him on the line, tell him I want a corner office, with a hot secretary and I can only work from noon 'til four," Jeff added.

--