Scared

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Chuck sent his last customer on his way with a smile and started closing things up at the Nerd Herd desk. He'd spent much of the day trying to figure out if he should just invite Casey over for dinner with no explanation, or fill him in on the fact that Ellie wanted to set him up with a friend of hers. On the one hand, if he told him, he was sure Casey would refuse the invitation and Ellie would be pissed. On the other, if he didn't tell him and Casey was ambushed by two scheming women, Chuck was certain Casey would be the one who was pissed.

Ellie's anger or Casey's. It wasn't really a dilemma at all, was it? Chuck left the desk and approached the other man.

"Hey, Casey," he said, easing into things with a casual smile. "Any plans for tomorrow night?"

"Besides babysitting you and Morgan while you dissect the latest Battlestar episode? No." Casey had a pallet full of surround-sound systems that he was stocking. He didn't turn from the job, just tossed the disgusted words over his shoulder.

"OK, then." Chuck shoved his hands into his pockets. "In the mood for a home-cooked meal?"

Hah, that got his attention. Casey paused in the act of shoving boxes onto shelves.

"At your house?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, where else?" Chuck laughed.

Casey started lifting boxes again. "I'll have to skip this one."

"Really? You're going to pass on the offer of my sister's fine cooking?" That was a first, that Chuck could recall. Though thankfully there had only been a few occasions where he'd been forced to be friendly with Casey at his own dinner table.

Something must have caught Casey's attention again, because he'd stopped stocking once more. "This your invitation, or your sister's?" He wanted to know.

He must have known something was up. How did he figure these things out? That was why the guy was a spy, Chuck supposed.

"Does it matter?" he tried, with a nervous grin. "It's a free, home-made meal."

Now Casey turned around, folding his arms and putting on his scary face. The one where he actually put some effort into amping the intimidation, as opposed to his baseline threat level, which was already plenty high enough.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"Well." Chuck's grin grew weak, but he hung onto it. Whatever they said about him, he had bravado, if nothing else! "Ellie's having a friend of hers over. You never know, it might be nice, Ellie and Devon, me and Sarah ... you and, uh, Magritte ..." his voice trailed off to the accompaniment of Casey's lowering brows. The other man took a step in his direction. Chuck held his ground, just barely.

"Are you trying to hook me up? Chuck?" Casey punched the words out with deliberation, as though they were striking an opponent. And they found their mark, because Chuck flinched.

"No, no, not me!" he exclaimed hastily, raising his hands and unhesitatingly throwing his sister to the wolves. Well, wolf. "It's Ellie! She has a friend from work she wants you to meet. That's all. Not a big deal, really." He watched Casey's angry face, knowing this would never happen. There was no way in hell that Major John Casey was going to allow himself to be set up on some kind of blind date with two other couples present - much less when Chuck and Sarah were one of those 'couples'.

Said Major's face looked as though it had frozen in a snarl. While Chuck watched, though, the skin around the nose began to wrinkle in what looked suspiciously like laugh lines. The snarl slowly transformed into a smirk, and the eyes took on what Chuck could only term as an unholy gleam. To tell the truth, this was even more terrifying than the snarl had been. Now Chuck did take a step back.

"Thinks settin' me up's gonna work, does she?" Casey mused, seemingly to himself but out loud. And then he emitted a horrifying sound; a chuckle. "Must be getting desperate." His eyes abruptly lost their middle-distance haze and zeroed in on Chuck, who felt caught in the sights of a sniper rifle.

"Tell your sister I'll be there, Chuck. This is gonna be interesting."

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X

"I'm telling you, I was terrified," Chuck insisted, sitting across an Orange Orange table from Sarah while she laughed. "He's got something planned. I don't know what, or why, but it has something to do with Ellie. And I'm worried."

Sarah pulled her hand away from her mouth, controlled her laughter enough to take a deep breath, and shook her head. "If I weren't invited, I'd be crashing," she stated. "Just to watch Casey while your sister tries to set him up."

"Are you listening to me?" Chuck demanded. "I'm worried about this. It was twisted, the way he laughed, Sarah."

"Chuck." Sarah leaned forward. "What could he possibly have in mind? He's a professional. He's not going to do anything to compromise our cover. He'll play the mannerly, if reserved, houseguest, as long as no one touches him. Just like he's done before. Relax! This is going to be fun."

Chuck shook his head, unconvinced. "You didn't see his face. I've never seen that look on him before, Sarah. Maybe you should bring your gun. Just in case."

Sarah's face composed itself in a hurry. "I always carry my gun in your house, Chuck."