A/N: Hey! This is the last of the explaining chapter. I hope you enjoy the Ellie moments as much as I did writing about it! Let me know if I failed to explain anything, and I'll explain again in the next chapter. Reviews=candy lol. Enjoy! :)

RECAP

Sarah sighed. "I understand. If I ever find the agent who messed this up for us, trust me, he's going to pay." A pause later, "Could we at least kiss? That wouldn't be that bad, would it?"

Blushing, Chuck said, "Sarah, what if they're listening? Isn't that a little.. awkward?"

"Only if you think about it," she replied. Seeing Chuck's blush deepen, she mumbled, "Fine, we'll take it slow." Feeling slightly rejected, she rolled as far away from Chuck as she could without bumping her arm.

Chuck started to get back into his sleeping bag when Sarah said, "At least sleep in your bed; you'll be wiped the rest of the day if you sleep on the floor." Hesitantly, Chuck agreed and settled in next to her, shyly taking her hand. Sarah felt her anger ebb almost immediately, and she gave his hand a light squeeze. Both of them comfortable again, they soon succumbed to their dreams.

Ellie and Devon walked into the house, exhausted after long shifts at the hospital. "Gna shhhh n gahbid," Ellie tried to say around an enormous yawn.

"You're gonna go shoot the rabid?" Devon tried to decipher.

Ellie stifled another yawn. "Gosh. No, I'm going to go shower and then go to bed. Wait. You don't think those raccoons digging in our garbage the other day were rabid, do you?"

Devon laughed. "No, honey, I was just trying to figure out what the sleep-deprived doctor was trying to say." He kissed her softly on the lips and said, "I'll be up as soon as I have a tuna-tomato sandwich."

"Ew!" Ellie squealed. "Brush your teeth before you come to bed. I hate it when your breath smells like that stuff."

She wrinkled her nose and headed upstairs. She paused when she saw Chuck's bedroom door open. Finding it unusual for him to leave it open on a Sunday afternoon, when he was usually still asleep, she peaked in, only to find him sprawled out on the bed with his covers all over the floor. She shook her head, shut the door, and headed to the shower.

Ellie opened the door to the bathroom, and almost knocked herself out jumping backwards, hitting her head on the door.

"Ellie!" Sarah exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, this is just... Let me find a towel or something."

"Who are you and how did you get into my house?" Ellie demanded, grabbing the toilet plunger behind the door, waving it like a sword.

"Ellie, it's me, Sarah," Sarah hid behind the shower curtain, and continued, "I confused Chuck with my new hair color, too. I am so sorry.."

Ellie closed her eyes, dropped the plunger, and tried not to look at the brunette Sarah, who had obviously just gotten out of the shower. "Chuck didn't tell me you were coming..."

"I was unexpected. Gosh this is embarrassing. Is your head okay?" Sarah said all at once, now fully covered with a towel.

Ellie, blushing furiously, nodded her head a little more forcefully than necessary. "When did you dye your hair?" she asked.

Sarah was saved a response by Devon, who had by this time heard the commotion and had joined the women. "Uh, hi, Sarah. How's your arm doing?" he asked.

"It's fine, thanks for asking," Sarah replied, embarrassed he had to ask. "I think you should be more worried about Ellie. She hit her head on the door pretty hard..."

Devon, going into doctor mode, started towards Ellie's head, but Ellie ducked out of the way and said, "I'm fine, Devon." Turning towards Sarah she said, "What did you do to your arm?" she asked, curious, seeing Sarah obviously trying to hide the gauze on her arm with the towel.

"Uhh, the Orange Orange in.. Nebraska.. had an.. armed robbery. And somehow I managed to be the one working that day. I thought I'd come see Chuck while I had some vacation time," Sarah told them as convincingly as she could.

"Nebraska?/Awesome!" Ellie and Devon said at the same time.

"Yep! They have lots of cows there, and their dairy farms make really great ice cream." Seeing that Ellie at least was still confused, she asked, "Are you sure your head is okay? I really feel bad about that."

"Why is everyone standing in the bathroom?" a still sleepy-eyed Chuck asked, coming out of his room. His curly hair was sticking out in every way possible, and his running a hand through it did absolutely nothing to help.

"Sarah was just telling us about Nebraska," Ellie volunteered.

"Nebraska?" Chuck said, bewildered. Sarah subtly tried to get Chuck's attention, succeeded, and Chuck said in a more normal voice, "Oh, yea, she was in Nebraska for awhile. I... forgot." Ellie looked at him, doubtfully, and Devon tried to keep as stony face as was possible in the situation. "Breakfast anyone?" Chuck asked, trying to change the subject.

"Um, no, thanks though," Ellie said. "I think I'm going to crash." Chuck's relieved look made Ellie add, "Don't think this conversation is over," causing Chuck's face to have a weird panic spasm.

After Ellie was out of ear-shot, Devon asked, "How's your arm, really, Sarah?" He moved over and took the gauze off, causing Sarah to wince a bit. "Looks like Chuck actually paid attention in his Emergency 101 class. Good job, bro." Chuck allowed himself a small smile at the compliment. "You should really be wearing the sling, you know," Devon scolded.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "I only took it off for the shower. Besides, I've had way worse. Trust me."

Devon, realizing that she was referring to her job, released a noise that sounded somewhat between a cough and a squeak. "Right. Well, I think I'm going to crash, too," and he followed Ellie out of ear-sight.

Sarah and Chuck watched Devon leave and an awkward silence followed. Trying to break it, Chuck asked, "Nebraska?" and arched his eyebrows to the Bartowski extreme.

"You try thinking up an excuse with Ellie about to smack you with a toilet plunger," Sarah retorted, trying to keep a straight face. Failing, the two of them cracked up. When they finally caught their breath, Sarah said, "I think I'll take you up on your offer for breakfast."

The week passed by incredibly fast for Casa Bartowski. Unbelievably, the two couples functioned relatively smoothly under the same roof. Devon kept to his exercise machines, Sarah joining him more often than not, when she wasn't sleeping; Chuck tried to smooth things over at the Buy More, epically failing as usual; and Ellie had only nagged Chuck about Sarah once.

"Chuck, why didn't you tell me you and Sarah were getting back together?" Ellie asked Chuck after cornering him by the laundry machine.

"I.. um, we're not 'together.' She's just staying here until she can get a place of her own," he replied.

"You're sure about that?" Ellie questioned. Chuck shrugged. "Look, Chuck, you're my baby brother. I know how devastated you were when she dumped you a couple months ago..."

Chuck inserted a quick, "She didn't dump me!"causing Ellie to raise her eyebrows in the Bartowski fashion.

"Whether you two broke up or not, you were crushed. You didn't leave the house. Your job suffered. Morgan was upset and complained the whole time to me." Ellie stopped, trying to find the best words for her rant. "All I know is that you need to be careful, Chuck. I can tell that you still have feelings for her, and it's easy to see that she still thinks the world revolves around you. I want to see you two back together again, I really do, but I don't want to see you get hurt again. I don't want you to waste another five years of your life on another girl."

Chuck was quiet for a moment before he responded. "Ellie, I know you're worried. You probably have every right to be.." seeing Ellie's eyes widen he quickly back-tracked and said, "But there isn't any reason to worry. By the end of the week, Sarah will know if she's leaving or not, and I'll tell you as soon as she decides."

Ellie's face instantly became sympathetic. "Is the Burbank Orange Orange not going to take her back?"

Chuck tried to hide a smile, "I'm sure they'll take her back if that's what she decides. Everything will be okay, sis," and he hugged his sister, her hugging a little harder than necessary.

"I hope it will be," she thought.

Chuck and Sarah anxiously waited for the General's face to appear on Chuck's bedroom television screen. Ellie and Devon had gone grocery shopping, so it was perfectly safe to be briefed on their new assignment.

The screen turned on and the General looked at Sarah and Chuck, approval written all over her face. "I'm glad to see you're doing better, Agent Walker."

"I'm glad to be better, Ma'am," Sarah responded. "What did you do with the yellow Porsche I hot-wired? If it's still in good enough condition to use…"

The General looked at Sarah sternly. "Agent Walker, you drove it into the Bartowski fountain. Do you really think it's in working condition?" Beckman sighed, slowly giving into Sarah's puppy dog eyes. "It's in CIA garage right now. If we ever get it fixed, I might let you use it for a cover car." Sarah looked hopeful. "Only if it get fixed," Beckman cautioned.

The General shook her head, cleared it, and then said, "Back to business. Just so the two of you know, Casey and Alex officially met."

"That's great!" Chuck said, enthusiastically.

The General winced. "It was great until Casey found out that Alex now has a photographic memory. I was surprised he didn't burn the CIA headquarters to the ground.." She changed subjects, "Alex, unbeknownst to us, already knew that Casey was her father. In her attempt to escape from our holding facility, she ran across some government files. She now has all of Agent Whickmans and quite a few of our own files in her brain. Between Alex and you, Agent Bartowski, I sometimes wish there was no such thing as memory enhancement programs."

"Agent Whickman?" Sarah questioned.

"I didn't tell you?" Seeing Chuck and Sarah's confused faces she stated, "I didn't tell you. The late Professor Whickman used to be one of the NSA's most highly sought after researchers. He modified his facial structure so that no one would suspect he was a retired agent. Unfortunately for him, though, someone obviously found out his true identity."

"Is Casey with Alex now?" Chuck asked.

"Yes and no. Alex still refuses to talk to anyone, and as you can imagine, that frustrates Colonel Casey. He is a man of action not a man of patience. He did, however, come up with the mission I have for the two of you."

Neither Chuck nor Sarah responded, so the General continued, "Colonel Casey would like to get the old team back together. Since the CIA is new, and frankly, overwhelming for Alex, we think that it would be best if she had at least one handler who knows what she is going through." She pointedly looked at Chuck. "Casey and Chuck could continue with a cover at the Buy More and Alex and Sarah could both be stationed out of the Orange Orange."

"What about Agent Parker?" Sarah asked.

"Agent Parker will be Alex's cover boyfriend. He'll play the maintenance man cover again, this time at the Orange Orange. He is currently doing some under-cover work that will occupy most of his time, and as such, will not be around as much as you will be." Beckman folded her hands on top of the desk. "So, what do you two say?"

Sarah and Chuck looked at each other, then both started to speak at once. "I really don't think I want to continue to work with the CIA" and "Only if Chuck and I are finally allowed to date."

"What?" they both said at the same time, equally surprised.

"Sarah's question is easiest to answer," Beckman started. "Yes, you can date, move in together, whatever you want to do. So long as you can continue to complete missions, and you don't get anyone in trouble because of your relationship, I personally don't care." Beckman turned her gaze towards Chuck and said, "Explain."

Chuck took a deep breath. "Look, I know that it might not be you, intentionally at least, that made the last six months of my life miserable. All that I know is that I really don't want to work for you as long as I know that my whole life can be taken away from me in one swipe. You forced me to go to a spy-training facility. You ruined Sarah's and my relationship. The Buy More is about to close because of my messed up life. My family, well, at least Ellie, is getting to the place where they don't trust me anymore..."

"Agent Bartowski, I realize that being a spy isn't the easiest job in the world. I understand your frustration about Prague.."

"No, you don't understand!" Chuck exploded.

"Chuck," Beckman cautioned. Hold your temper, at least until I'm done explaining."

Chuck swallowed difficultly and sat down on his bed. Sarah put her hand on his shoulder, reassuringly, and sat down next to him.

"Thank you," she said, continuing, "I checked the surveillance cameras from that night. Whoever it was made it look like exactly what I said to do: give you my letter, walk you to the sedan, escort you to the facility." Chuck started to protest, but she held up a hand. "When we zoomed in and looked for what you say happened, that's when we could tell that something was wrong. The agent didn't show their face at all. The description you gave of him doesn't match anyone in our database."

Before Chuck could get a word in, she said, "What's ironic is that the footage we have from Alex's abduction is incredibly similar. The person managed to knock Parker out and get Alex out of the building without his face being exposed to camera, too. We think they may be the same person."

Chuck's mouth was agape. "What did they gain by me thinking Sarah was in love with someone else then?"

Beckman shrugged, "No one knows. The same could be said for Parker and Alex. What did he gain by capturing them, and then letting them escape? All I know is that as long as he is out there, you, Agent Walker, Agent Parker, Alex, and now potentially Colonel Casey could be in danger. I'd say that you should all go to the bunkers, but if you did that, we really would have no way of stopping them. I want you to capture this person before anyone else turns into a Professor.. Agent Whickman."

Chuck was quiet. "Chuck," Sarah started, "I know you're still mad at me, but I think, no, I know that we can catch this guy. We can make him pay for our stolen happily-ever-after."

"She's right, Chuck," the General continued. "Not only that, but with three trained agents there, not only will you and Alex be safe, but he will all but have to be lured out of hiding. What do you say?"

Chuck nodded, trying to comprehend everything. "I agree to keeping Alex safe, it's only fair since Casey kept me safe, but do we really need to involve Agent Parker? Our team has functioned perfectly in the past without a new addition to the team."

"Agent Parker is the only agent I have there that isn't compromised. I need at least one agent I can trust to keep a handle on the relationship aspects."

Chuck made a face, but admitted, only to himself, that she was right. "Fine. But he's not staying in my house."

"Deal," the general said. "Any other questions about your assignment, or can I go to my next meeting?"

"When is everyone arriving in Burbank?" Sarah asked.

The doorbell rang downstairs, startling Chuck and making Sarah smile.

"We'll be in touch," Beckman said and the screen went blank.

Chuck groaned. "Why did I agree to this again?" he asked.

Sarah leaned over and pecked him on the lips. "Because you know it's the right thing to do," and she flounced off the bed to answer the door, leaving a very surprised, yet mildly happy, Chuck sitting on the bed.