Things get a little better after that.

Work is good, and he emails regularly with Ellie. A little with Morgan, but it's harder.

Saturday mornings are spent with his team at the gym. Eliot is teaching him to box (without the Intersect), and the others come to watch. The sense of camaraderie is grounding and these people become friends rather than merely coworkers. They're not worried about what he was like before the Laudenol because they didn't know him then. They know this Chuck, and they don't want to change him into anything he can't be.

Casey visits the gym one Saturday and Chuck watches his old NSA handler and the current muscle on his new team prowl around each other and strike like caged, wild animals. It's amazing, and after Leora gets bored and declares their fight a draw, they all go out to breakfast.

Chuck feels more on equal footing with Casey than he ever has before.

00000

Bryce shows up on his doorstep one night. He needs Chuck's help with a child slavery ring, and so Chuck gets dressed and leaves a voicemail for Leora and hops on a plane.

It's an odd feeling after everything that's happened, to feel comfortable with Bryce, but the guy did save his life.

"I never got a chance to thank you," Chuck says.

"You don't have to," Bryce replies. "I'm just glad you're okay."

the mission is terrible.

They pose as a couple, which goes all wrong. Chuck can't get into the part no matter how many times Bryce brings up the fact that this should be old hand.

"Remember college?"

"You're not helping-"

Bryce cuts him off with a kiss (it's their cover! Really!) and Chuck is suddenly twenty again, being passed back and forth between Bryce and Jill and feeling confused and clumsy and awkward and nervous with people who clearly have more experience than he does.

Bryce startles Chuck by getting a little too handsy; goes just a little too far and it gets them caught.

"Jill was at Volkoff," Chuck says quickly as the bad guys light the room on fire. He's not sure why he's bringing this up now. Maybe he just wants to discuss loose ends before he dies in a fire. "I let her escape and she joined Volkoff."

"I know," Bryce says. He's so calm. So, so very calm. "But right now we have a more immediate problem."

They deal with said problem, bring down the slavery ring, get the kids into law enforcement custody and then head back to London.

There's roof access in Chuck's building and they drag sleeping bags up there to spend the night under the stars.

They talk ("You got thrown from a roof?") and argue ("You ruined my life!") and laugh ("And then I gave him a wedgie! He was so surprised! Wedgied by Special Agent Larkin!") and cry ("I just...I just can't... Sometimes I wake up and there's just...nothing. For hours. It's like a big black hole. I should be terrified but...but I don't know if I have that in me anymore...") and it's weird to feel like friends again but it's good.

In the morning, Chuck watches Bryce adjust a harness so that he can jump off the building. Show off.

"See ya, Chuck."

"We're never gonna talk about that kiss, are we?"

Bryce squints at him in the sunlight. "Do we really need to?"

Chuck grins wryly and sighs. "No, I guess not."

"Bye, Chuck."

"Bye, Bryce."

00000

Chuck gets loaned out to Torchwood and he and Casey wind up working together.

The Torchwood team bickers a lot more than Chuck's and they make much harder choices than UNIT. Captain Jack thinks Chuck is hot, which makes Chuck super uncomfortable, but the rest of the team think he's adorable. Gwen, Donna, Rose and Martha are like the grandma brigade that can beat you senseless, and then tell you to eat your vegetables while sewing up your wounds.

Nothing's changed in the way Chuck and Casey work together. They still move like clockwork around each other; well oiled gears, but it's clear there's a piece missing from their machine.

Neither of them have heard from Sarah and they've both dug in places they know they shouldn't try to.

After their mission is done they have a quiet drink, the silence filling in the cracks.

"Does it get any easier?" Chuck asks softly, gazing down at his glass of ginger ale.

"It will."

"When?"

Casey sips from his own glass of scotch. "When you're not looking."

00000

Nanda Parbat is miserable in July.

He's sure that the Nanda Parbot in Pakistan is hot, but the mountains surrounding the one deep within Tibet is freezing.

"Come on, team, we're almost there," Christopher grits out in the wind and snow.

"It's not supposed to be like this!" Eliot growls as they keep moving forward toward the city. "Tibet in July is not like this!"

"We're heading to a city that no one thought existed!" Leora yells. "Of course the weather is barmy! Just keep moving!"

Chuck grabs Leora's arm when she almost slips and keeps her up.

"Thanks!" she says.

"No problem!" he says, keeping a hold of her arm. "Wouldn't do to lose my Ellie 2.0 off a cliff!" He grins and looks around as they keep moving. "Why would the League of Assassins come here?"

"Their leader is obsessed with eternal life!" Christopher calls out. "There's supposed to be something in the city called the Fountain of Essence that grants rejuvenation! Eternal youth!"

"I'd say that sounds crazy," Chuck mutters to himself. "But considering where I am right now, that would just be silly."

"Just keep moving, and be glad we didn't bring Miranda!" Eliot says over the wind. "Lord love her, but one of us would be carrying her by now!"

"You think she'd be bad, just think of Jason!" Christopher laughs as they keep moving. He slips a little but Eliot grabs him roughly. "Ooh! Ta, mate."

"Eliot woulda just tossed him off the mountain by now," Chuck says. It's his turn to slip and both Leora and Eliot grab onto him. He scrambles a little to get his footing.

"Ooh!" he cries "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little!"