Note: I've taken some liberties with the other fandoms. Don't try to fit things around any sort of continuity. You'll hurt your head. :)

00

General Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart is a jolly, portly old man. UNIT's finest who's worked with anyone and everyone including Casey himself. So meeting the man for a quiet drink isn't strange.

What's strange is Roan Montgomery's presence when Casey gets there.

"Colonel."

"Agent Montgomery."

"Now, now," Stewart says. "We're all friends here, and we're all here for the same reason."

"We are?" Casey grunts as he takes a seat.

"We're here to discuss Charles," Roan says. "First, and really, foremost, how is he?"

"Still in recovery," Casey replies as he orders himself a beer. "But able to work as of last week. He's been training his ass off with me."

"No word from Sarah, then," Roan asks regretfully. It's not really a question. He knows.

"Nope."

Roan tilts his head. "You don't think she'll come back, do you?"

Casey merely grunts.

"Any way you look at it," Alistair says gently, "the boy could use a change. A bit of fresh air."

"That's why I called," Casey says. "He's a good fit for UNIT, and you could use the Intersect. The CIA and the NSA have agreed to a long-term loan."

"And if...when Agent Walker comes back?" Roan asks.

"Morgan and Ellie'll still be here," Casey replies, sipping the beer that's just been set down in front of him. "I've been offered a job at Torchwood and if Bartowski agrees to join UNIT, I'm taking it."

"Thus the end of Operation Bartowski," Roan sighs, sipping his martini. "It's really too bad. You three really were the best."

Casey takes another long pull from his beer and sets it down. "Yeah."

00000

He sits Morgan and Ellie down and almost automatically breaks down.

He hates to admit it, but he's still having a hard time controlling his emotions. His system either overshoots a response or sometimes has no response at all.

Ellie looks terrified. "Chuck, what is it?"

He pulls himself together, taking deep breaths and looking at these people he loves; these people who would never hurt him.

"I...I've been offered a job with the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. In London."

They say "London!" at the same time, both shocked. Ellie looks ecstatic, but Morgan
looks heartbroken.

Chuck nods, hands fidgeting. Even after months, he's still doing that. "They want me
there next month on long term loan. Casey thinks I'm ready. He recommended me."

"Oh, Chuck!" Ellie cries. She gets up and hugs him tightly and for the first time since he's been back he wraps his arms around her on reflex. "That's so amazing!"

Morgan frowns. "But...Buddy...you're leaving me?"

Ellie pulls away and sits down again, letting the boys face each other.

"Morgan..." Chuck takes a deep breath. "Morgan I'm a mess and I...I gotta get better. This is a real chance to start over. To make a go at getting back to myself. To the way I was or close to it, and...and you can visit. And I'll visit, I just..."

"What about Sarah?" Morgan asks quietly.

Chuck shifts and looks down. "What about Sarah? She's so deep under cover she hasn't contacted at all. She couldn't even tell me where she was going..."

"This is a good thing," Ellie says softly. "We'll all miss you, but...you need space. Something new."

Nervously, after a moment, reluctantly, Morgan nods. "And...and you'll call, right? And email?"

"Of course," Chuck says. He means it, too.

00000

The month goes fast. Dinners with Ellie and Devon. Video games with Morgan. More training with Casey, and training with a UNIT rep who briefs him on aliens, ghosts and demons and all those things that Chuck has always suspected exist but never had any real confirmation until now.

On top of all that, he's in intense rehab not only for his emotional trauma, but to get him back to a healthy, normal body weight. It's tough. The therapy leaves him feeling five again, and wanting to hide under his bed, and they put him on a strict diet with a rigid set of calories per day. No junk food. No alcohol. Lots of roughage, lots of protein.

He notices that if he winds up underneath the calorie count for a few days, he drops weight scarily fast, and worse, Ellie notices it too, and threatens to fit him with a feeding tube if he doesn't stick to his diet.

He's better, though. Feeling stronger and a little more like himself.

There's no going away party the night before he leaves. Just a quiet dinner, just him and Ellie, just like it used to be when they were kids.

They talk about life and Devon and Morgan; their parents and spies and Sarah.

After dinner they sit curled up on the couch, his head on her shoulder, in a position eerily like the one they were in the day their mother left them.

"You have to promise to be safe."

"I promise."

"And that if you need help you'll ask for it."

"Promise."

"And if you need me, you'll call, no matter what."

"I promise, El. I promise."

00000

Alex, Ellie and Morgan see them off at the airport, and when they get to Heathrow, there are two separate cars waiting to take them to two separate places.

"This is it, Bartowski," Casey says. "Still got my number?"

Chuck nods. "And...you can call, y'know...if you need your computer fixed or something."

Casey grins just a little. "You can take the nerd from the herd..."

"Yeah," Chuck says. He holds out a hand for a shake and Casey looks at it.

"Hell." He pulls the kid in for a short, tight embrace, complete with a slap on the back. When he pulls away he's got a hand on the back of Chuck's head, warm and brotherly. "Take care, Chuck."

"You, too, John," Chuck says quietly.

They head to their separate cars, grim to be leaving each other, but ready for whatever is next.