A/N: Again, with the ownership of Chuck?

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Chuck, Casey and Sarah stood in Casey's apartment early that afternoon. On the TV screen in front of them were Beckman and Graham. The two Directors looked pleased.

"Your mission was to steal the diamond. You did that, but you also replaced it with a fake. That worked out very well, as it turned out," said Graham.

"It seems Alahi tried to pass the fake diamond off to his contacts. Several of his men were killed in a shoot-out with his terrorist friends soon after leaving the theatre. Alahi himself is missing. His credibility is done and his network will crumble. The Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin will not be buying $26 million dollars worth of missiles. No diamond, no cash, no missiles. Well done, people. Well done," said Beckman.

"And the Administrator of the DEA personally asked us to thank you for your assistance in this mission. You have put a major dent into the opium network running out of Afghanistan," said Graham.

Casey said, "Agent Miller was a crucial member of this operation, Sir. We couldn't have done it without her."

"Thank you, Major. I'll make a note of that to her superiors," said Graham. "Once again, good job, Team." The screen went black as they disconnected.

Team Bartowski exchanged satisfied looks and smiles.

Sarah said, "Well, with Alahi out of the picture, we can send people back to his place to pick up the other sunken jet ski. Can you imagine if we forgot it was there? Somebody would stumble upon it and wonder what the hell had happened."

Casey glanced at his watch. "I'll take care of it. I think it was an NSA vehicle anyway. But, I gotta go now. I'm driving Carina to the airport. Can't have her miss her flight."

"Forgiven her for Prague, huh?" asked Sarah.

Casey grunted in reply and said, "She came through in the end. Didn't start out as a team player, but after she learned her lesson overnight with Alahi, she did ok."

"Expensive lesson," said Chuck.

"Damn right," said Sarah. "But her performance at the Chinese Theatre was Oscar quality."

"You did great there too. The CIA teaches pickpocketing skills?" asked Chuck.

Sarah laughed and said, "Oh, hell no. I taught them." At the strange look Chuck gave her she said, "Long story." Chuck didn't pursue the question.

The three of them stepped out into the courtyard to find Carina waiting by the fountain.

Carina said, "All good?"

"Flying colors," said Sarah. "Once again, Team Walker comes through."

"Team Walker? I don't know about that one," said Casey.

"How about ..." said Chuck.

"Don't start that again, Bartowski," said Casey.

"They actually love each other," said Sarah to Carina. Both Casey and Chuck made faces at that.

Carina said, with a glance at her watch, "Yeah. I can tell. Afraid it's time for me to go. I'll see you around, Blondie." She leaned forward to kiss Sarah on the cheek and pull her into a hug. Carina whispered in Sarah's ear, "And seriously, ok? Seriously...don't pick an ugly dress."

"What are you talking about? What dress?"

"For the bridesmaids. Don't pick an ugly dress."

Sarah looked at her friend with shock. She felt all the blood run to her face and yet felt cold at the same time. "That's not funny."

Carina said, with a tiny smile, "I wasn't joking, Blondie. I wasn't joking. Bye, Chuckles." She gave him a hug.

"Bye, Carina. See you around."

"See you. Take care of my friend, huh?"

Chuck put his arm around Sarah's shoulders and said, "I promise." He gave her a sort of goofy grin that made his nose crinkle.

Carina and Casey walked out of the courtyard together, heading for the Crown Vic.

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"How'd you do this afternoon?" asked Sarah.

"Great. Mrs. Prommer should be almost cleaned up by next weekend. Maybe the following weekend. It's tough to judge how much stuff is in the second bedroom. Maybe I'll get Casey to help me next time."

"He'd have done it today if he wasn't taking Carina to the airport."

"Yeah, bad timing. I probably can twist his arm for next time though."

"It's so nice of you to help her."

"She a sweet lady. She'll be happier living in Santa Barbara near her grandkids. It's good to be around family." Chuck laughed a little and said, "You know what Yuri told me when he was here? When he thought Casey was my brother? He said," Chuck changed his voice to mimic Yuri's deep Russian-accented growl and continued, "You live with your sister and next door to your brother, Chuck? You are a lucky man. Family is important."

"That man was a total surprise."

"Yeah, he was. Wonder when we'll hear from him?" Chuck asked.

"When he has something to tell us. Or when we have something to ask him. And it won't be 'we' hearing from him. It will be you. You're his handler."

"I am, but can a handler have training wheels? Cause I think I need training wheels. Or at least you and Casey holding my shoulders as I try to figure this out."

"We'll figure it out together. Don't worry." Sarah pushed aside her plate and said, "That was great. I can't believe how full I am. I'm going to have to go for an extra long run tomorrow. If I keep eating your cooking you're going to make me fat." Chuck had a limited repertoire of recipes, but was learning pretty fast and would soon be an excellent cook.

"You'd better have saved room for dessert. I have something special in mind for you tonight," said Chuck with a chuckle and a grin that hid something behind it, as he cleared the plates from the table and moved them into the kitchen.

Devon and Ellie were out all night on an overnight shift so they had the apartment to themselves. Chuck had cooked his chicken pepperoni for Sarah and made it a fancy night. Candles on the table, nice wine, nice music playing ("Wild Girl" by Matt Pond PA at the moment). It was lovely and romantic and just so sweet. She sat there contentedly sipping her wine and listening to the music.

She heard the click of a lighter and saw Chuck come to the table from the kitchen with a chocolate cake with a single lit candle. He began to sing, "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Sarah. Happy birthday to you."

She stared at him with confusion. "Chuck, it's not my birthday."

"I know...actually, I don't know...but, I think it would be really, really unlikely that it was your birthday." He was grinning that sweet Chuck grin of his that she just wanted to kiss off his face. "But, I missed your birthday last year...or this year...and, look, you don't have to tell me your birthday...I'm not fishing for information here, I know you don't like to talk about personal stuff and that's cool...but the way I figure it, if I celebrate your birthday sort of randomly, every once in a while, so long as I don't repeat days, after a few years I'll hit on your actual birthday. I only have 364 more days left to try. If you're a leap day baby, I have a problem, though," he said with a small laugh.

She was staring at him wide-eyed barely breathing. She was shocked...beyond shocked. She felt as if her brain had shut down.

He continued, "It's a blackout chocolate cake from Porto. I know how much you love cakes from Porto. Now come on and blow out the candle so I can give you your present."

She saw that the cake said, "Happy Birthday Sarah." She leaned forward and blew out the candle on auto pilot, but she never took her eyes from his.

He produced a gift from somewhere and put it in front of her. It was wrapped with Bugs Bunny wrapping paper and had the words "Happy Birthday Doc" repeated over and over again. Moving like a robot, her mind still spinning without traction on what was happening, she unwrapped and opened the first birthday present she'd had in years. It was a pair of twin throwing knives, about eight inches long, Damascus steel, clipped bowie-style blades and dimpled bone handles. They were beautiful and obviously hand made. She hefted one in her hand. It was perfectly balanced. She looked at him with amazement.

The last time she had a birthday...a birthday celebration...where she blew out candles on a cake or had someone sing to her...it was before she left home with her father. This was the first time in twenty years...twenty years...Oh, my God.

Her dad never remembered her birthday. With every new name, she had gotten a new birthday from her father - to make it harder for the authorities to connect her to prior identities. And none of those dates seemed to matter at all. Later, when she was an adult with the CIA, birthdays on missions had been alone in her hotel room or some safe house someplace. Even when she was with Bryce, he'd never shown any interest in learning when her birthday was. The one time they were together on her birthday, he never knew that that day was different from any of the other days surrounding it.

Twenty years...and this ...wonderful...kind...funny...loving man...just to make her happy...twenty years...Oh, my God.

She didn't even like her birthday. She had no happy memories attached to it. Nothing to latch onto. No warm feelings of the love from family and friends. Nothing...until right now...and it wasn't even really her birthday...Oh, my God.

She was overwhelmed by joy as huge as she'd ever felt, no, bigger than anything she'd ever felt. She was happier at that moment than ever before in her life and felt warm all over. How could this wonderful man do this to her...for her? Oh, my God.

She was still sitting there wide eyed and hadn't said anything, just staring at him. She started to cry. Seeing her tears Chuck got nervous, "Oh, God, Sarah. I hope I didn't screw up...I hope it's not like birthdays upset you...cause if..."

She was really crying hard now, actually sobbing. She smiled widely through the sobs and reached out to squeeze his hand and said, "No. No, Chuck. It's perfect. Everything's perfect...you're perfect. I'm the luckiest girl in the world, Chuck. This is wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's perfect. Thank you."

She should tell him. Tell him that this is the first birthday she's had in twenty years. Tell him that he's the most wonderful person in the world. The most wonderful person she could ever imagine being in the world. Tell him that she doesn't deserve him. Fuck...just tell him when her freaking birthday really is, for God's sake.

She was going to tell him her birthday, she absolutely was, but thought for just a moment of his plans for random surprise birthday celebrations for her. With a smile, she said to herself, I will tell him, just not yet. She started to laugh, while still crying.

She got up and moved to straddle him, sitting on his lap. She began to kiss him. Not just his lips, although those too, but his entire face, every square inch received a kiss. She was sobbing and laughing loudly the entire time, her tears wetting his face, hugging him and kissing him. She must have seemed an incoherent mess.

She knew she should tell him. Tell him what she was feeling. But she couldn't tell him. But Carina was right. This was serious. Holy shit, was it serious. This was as serious as she could ever imagine anything being. Ever.

"Who?" he asked a little breathlessly.

"Who what?" she asked still kissing him.

"Who is goddamn serious?" She looked at him startled for a second as she realized she must have been speaking her thoughts out loud.

"I am. I am seriously going to thank you for what you did tonight, you sweet, wonderful man." Still laughing, she got up from his lap and began to pull him into the bedroom, but stopped herself. "Bring the cake, though. I have an idea."

They ended up with chocolate on the sheets.

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A/N2: The birthday scene was entirely motivated by The (Mis)Education of Sarah Walker by Zettel. I cannot recommend that story highly enough. Zettel is one of the highest quality writers on this site. If you aren't reading it, you really should be. It's a fantastic, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking exploration of Sarah's psyche starting back in high school. Hey, Leipzig...suck it!

A/N3: Porto is a real bakery in Burbank. I was just there last month and had a delicious pastry and a great cup of coffee. The cakes looked pretty good too.

A/N4: Stay tuned as Team Bartowski (and some new friends) take on the White Dragon Triad run by a certain Mr. Ben Lo Pan.

A/N5: As usual, reviews, PM's, etc. are very, very welcome.