Agent Bartowski - part eight
Title: Agent Bartowski
Author: Ru_salki99
Rating: PG 13
Pairing: Chuck/Casey
Prompt: The Muse gave me - Chuck comes out to Morgan when Morgan sets him up with a girl
Disclaimer: Chuck belongs to NBC.
Summary: Sarah's gone and Morgan thinks Chuck needs to get laid. And Morgan... well, he's like a dog with a bone sometimes. While Casey - he has his own ideas.
The flight from LAX to Ronald Reagan National was a lot shorter than Chuck had expected it to be. He had only just been getting used to being up in the air when they started their descent.
“Put this on,” Casey said, giving him a tie.
They were both wearing suits; brand new suits with brand new shoes and shirts. The tie Casey was wearing had the NSA insignia on it as did the one he gave Chuck.
Chuck quickly put the tie on, struggling to make it look neat and tidy without a mirror and so Casey helped him, much to the amusement of the stewardess. When he was done, he handed Chuck his temporary badge. To those not in the know it would look like he was already an NSA agent, allowing him to get through security without any hassle, and also allowing him to carry a gun on board.
It had surprised Chuck just how easy it had been to get on board a flight with a gun. He would’ve thought it was impossible. But Casey had had a private word with the pilot, explaining the situation and before he knew what was happening, they were being escorted onto the plane before anyone else to take their seats in first class.
Chuck had never been in first class before and he was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get to indulge in all the perks like the free champagne or fully reclining seats, but he was sure it wouldn’t be the last time he was in first class.
When they landed, the stewards held everyone back to allow them off first. They both gripped their bags in one hand and marched up the tunnel together, both holding their heads high and scanning their surroundings as they made their way towards security.
“Badge,” Casey muttered as they got closer and together, they both reached inside their suit jackets and pulled out their badges.
“Afternoon gentlemen,” Casey said as he held up his badge, “Major Casey, NSA. This is my partner Agent Bartowski.”
Chuck gave them a nod as he held up his badge. The men looked at the badges before nodding to them and waving them through.
“Thank you,” Casey said with a nod before leading the way out of security and towards the exit.
Chuck tucked his badge away again and quickly followed Casey, trying his best not to trip over his own feet. Wearing shoes still felt really weird. They walked through the terminal and towards the ‘left luggage’ area. Chuck frowned slightly in confusion but knew now was not the time to start asking questions and so watched instead.
Casey walked up to a locker, took out his ‘keys’ (in reality it was a bunch of skeleton keys) and opened the padlock. He then pulled out an envelope, ripped it open and received a set of keys and a small note.
“Come on,” he then said to Chuck as he closed the locker over again.
“What is that?” Chuck asked him.
“Keys to our car,” Casey explained.
“Oh. Is that, is it safe to just go to some random car we’ve never seen before?”
“It’s relatively safe,” Casey told him, “After all, you’re just a potential agent. Nothing special. But we’ll check it before we get in, just in case.”
Chuck nodded and carried on following him out to where the car was parked. Apparently, the note attached to keys had had the parking lot and space on it, which of course made sense when he thought about it. Casey wasn’t psychic after all.
When they found the car, Chuck was surprised that it wasn’t a big black SUV, but a nice sliver Mercedes. He stood there, almost drooling over it as Casey did his checks, making sure there were no bombs, tracking devices attached to it. Once it was safe, Casey unlocked the trunk and placed both his and Chuck’s bags inside.
“Alright,” he said as he checked his watch, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Do we always get cars this pretty?” Chuck asked as they drove out of the airport.
“Not always,” Casey said with a smile, “Sometimes we need to fit in and driving a car like this wouldn’t help with that.”
Chuck nodded, turning to look out the window as they drove through their capital. He’d never been to DC before, had always planned to but he’d just never got round to it. It was very like Los Angeles, but also very different at the same time.
“So, where are we staying?” he asked.
“I have an apartment in Chinatown,” Casey said, “We’ll be staying there.”
“Your apartment?” Chuck asked in surprise.
“Yeah. Why, there a problem?”
“No. No, I just. I thought we’d be staying at a hotel or something.”
“Well, normally we would be,” Casey told him, “But I still need to keep an eye on you and if anyone at the agency found out we were sharing a room, then it wouldn’t look very good. On either of our parts. Not to mention, my home is safer than any hotel.”
“Oh. Well cool. So, someone been house sitting or something since you’ve been gone?”
“No,” Casey said, “There is no way I would let anyone in my home without me there.”
“But you’ve been gone for two years,” Chuck said, “Won’t people notice.”
“They shouldn’t. I was never really there when I was here, but I have the lights and TV on timer so it would appear that someone was home should anyone choose to listen in through the walls.”
Chuck nodded seemingly happy with that before turning to look out the window again. Before long they were pulling up outside an apartment building that looked just like any apartment building. Nothing special and he certainly wouldn’t think that someone like Casey would live here. But then, maybe that was the point.
They took the stairs up to the fifth floor. The top floor. And Chuck was thankful that he was a lot fitter now than he used to be otherwise he was sure he would’ve died on the third.
Stopping outside a non descript apartment door, Casey pulled some sort of device out of his bag and scanned it over the door.
“What are you doing?” Chuck asked.
“Checking for bombs.”
Chuck started slightly, having not expecting that answer at all. But didn’t say anything instead allowing Casey to finish his job. After a few minutes he finally stood up straight and took out another set of keys.
“So do you do that every time you come home?”
“No. Just when I’ve been away for a while,” Casey explained as he unlocked the door, but before he went in he turned to Chuck, “Get your gun out. We’re gonna sweep for intruders first and then bugs. Do not say my name or anything that could breach national security until I say it’s safe. Understood?”
“Yeah. Got it,” Chuck nodded, pulling out his gun.
They swept into the room together and the first thing Chuck noticed were the high ceilings. However, he pushed that to the back of his mind as Casey gestured for him to go to the left while he went to the right.
The main living area and kitchen were open plan. There was a large sofa and chairs facing the wall opposite the main entrance. He couldn’t tell what colour the furniture was as it was all covered in dust sheets. On the wall was a large television with high windows either side. There was a door on the wall at the left hand side, but Chuck ignored that for now as he turned to the kitchen. It was a huge kitchen, about three times the size of Ellie’s with an island in the middle. There was a very fancy oven on one side and he noticed that Casey had his own washer and dryer plumbed in too.
However, dragging his eyes off the white goods, he made his way round the island, making sure that no one was hiding before opening up the fridge as it was large enough to fit Casey in, so someone could easily hide in there. Luckily though there was no one.
With the kitchen clear he made his way towards the door that was yet to be opened. Holding his gun high he silently opened up the door. It was dark inside, there not being any windows to this room. Frowning, he reached up and turned on the light, freezing when he came face to face with a very luxurious bathroom.
There was both a toilet and a bidet facing a double shower unit, clearly built for two people as there were two shower heads. Next to the bidet was a small inlay and on further inspection he saw a long mirror, counter and sink. And then at the far end, was the biggest tub Chuck had ever seen in anyone’s home. He’d only seen bath tubs like that in hotels. In fact, it was so big, someone could be hiding in it.
Stepping forward slowly, he tried his best not to make any noise as he peered into the tub. There wasn’t anyone in there, but his face lit up as he noticed that the tub wasn’t just any tub, but it was a Jacuzzi tub.
Standing up with a huge grin on his face, he was about to go ask Casey if he would mind him having a bath tonight when he noticed what was obviously a linen closet behind the door to the bathroom.
There was slats in the doors so if anyone was in there, they could probably see him and so he moved quick, making it look as if he was leaving the bathroom before doubling back and throwing the doors open.
“Yeah. Towels are real dangerous,” Casey said as he appeared at the door.
”Well I didn’t know what was in there and if I hadn’t checked you would’ve ripped me a knew one.”
Casey was silent for a moment before smiling, “True,” he said before thrusting a device at Chuck, “Check for bugs.”
Chuck sighed, putting his gun away before moving to check for bugs. He checked everywhere, in the closet, in the shower, the shower heads, the taps at the sink, the toilet seat, the bidet, the jet streams in the bath and the lights. It was clear and so he moved onto the kitchen. By the time he was done in there Casey was coming out of one of the rooms at the other side of the living room. From what he glimpsed, it looked like some sort of office or study. The other room had to be the bedroom.
Twenty minutes later and Chuck was standing up from checking under the fridge, shrugging off his jacket as he did so.
“You find anything?” Casey asked as he came out of the bedroom.
“No,” he said as he lay his jacket on the worktop, “Kitchen and bathroom are both clean.”
Casey nodded before turning towards the TV. Chuck stood and watched as he expertly searched for bugs. He couldn’t find anything. Not even when he pulled the step ladders out and checked the ceiling lights.
“So you didn’t find anything either?” Chuck asked him.
“Nope. Which is weird. Last time I went away it was only for a few weeks and the place was covered,” he said as he put the bug detectors away and turned to pull the dust sheet off the sofa.
“Could be cause you’ve been off the grid for so long that people have you know, lost interest.”
Casey snapped his head up to look at Chuck, looking as if he’d just been slapped.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it as an insult.”
Casey sighed, “No, you’re probably right,” he said, even if it was slightly hurtful to think that no one was interested in following him anymore, “Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”
Chuck followed Casey into the study, surprised by the amount of books that were in there and the varying subjects they covered.
“It helps to have a little knowledge on a lot of things,” Casey explained, “Helps you when you need to improvise in an unexpected situation.”
Chuck nodded, realising now how Casey had always been so good at taking on various covers.
“And this is the bedroom,” Casey said as he stepped inside.
“Wow,” was all Chuck was able to say as he took in the king size, dark oak bed facing him, the surrounding furniture matching. There weren’t any bed sheets on the bed, Casey having removed them before he left. And as Chuck turned and took in the view from the window, he was only vaguely aware that Casey was rectifying that issue.
“It’s alright to talk openly now right?” Chuck asked, watching the cars drive up and down the street.
“Yeah,” Casey said, “Why?”
“Cause I wanted to ask you something.”
“Ask away.”
Chuck turned to face him, “What kind of pay scale are you on exactly cause this apartment, it rocks man!”
Casey started laughing, “Well, I’ve been working since I was sixteen. Employed by the US government since I was eighteen, so I’ve managed to save up a fair amount of money.”
“So you’re not gonna tell me how much you earn?” Chuck asked as he stepped over to the bed and helped him finish making it.
“Hell no. If you really want to know, just look inside that head of yours. I’m sure it’s all in there.”
“Oh come on, that’s so unfair. You know it doesn’t work like that.”
Casey just grinned at him again though before throwing a pillow and a pillow case at his head.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“You okay?” Casey asked as they sat in the restaurant.
Living in China Town, Casey had taken him out for dinner… at an Italian restaurant in downtown DC. It wasn’t actually that far away and so they’d walked there, Chuck enjoying the scenery as they went.
“Yeah, just nervous I guess,” Chuck said as he sipped at his water.
He was on a strict no alcohol rule tonight and so as not to make him feel bad, Casey was following that rule too.
“You’ll be fine,” Casey told him, “It’ll be just like I said. Tomorrow you’ll be sitting theory tests all day and putting your linguistic skills to the test, then on Sunday will be your practical and fitness test. And if you pass all that you’ll undergo a medical.”
“What if they scan my brain and see something unusual?” Chuck asked.
“Well first off, it’s not that thorough a medical, and even if they did, they wouldn’t see anything unusual. We’ve scanned your head before and nothing showed up.”
Chuck smiled slightly as he remembered the first time he’d been knocked out after Sarah and Casey arrived on the scene. They’d both went into panic mode and had rushed him to the hospital to get all sorts of tests done, even though Chuck tried to tell them he was fine. And he was right, there was nothing wrong with him. He hadn’t even suffered a concussion.
“Okay, but what if I do mess up? I mean, I can’t go back to the way things were. I just can’t.”
Casey reached forward and took hold of Chuck’s hand, “You are not going to mess up,” he told him, “I would never have suggested this if I didn’t think you’d be able to do it.”
Chuck gave him a small smile and gave his hand a soft squeeze, thankful for his unwavering support.
”Excuse me,” both of them looked up to see the maitre’d standing next to their table.
“Yes?” Casey asked.
“Would you gentlemen like to order anything else, or shall I just get you the bill?” he asked, glancing down at their joined hands.
Chuck made to pull his hand away, but Casey gripped it tighter, not letting him, “The bill will be fine thank you,” Casey told him, snarling at his back as he walked off to get it.
“Okay, you’ve made your point, can I get my hand back now?” Chuck asked.
“No,” Casey said, “Look. I’m older than you, and I’ve had to put up with this shit a whole lot longer. I’m not going to let someone like that tell me who I can and can’t hold hands with. Alright?”
“Alright,” Chuck relented. He watched as Casey finished his dessert, not having really realised before that Casey probably had had a lot more experience with this type of thing, considering that he’d only came out two months ago, “I’m sorry,” Chuck said, “I didn’t realise.”
Casey looked up at him, nodding slightly before finally letting go of his hand. Although Chuck soon realised that he’d only let him go to pull out his wallet as the maitre’d had come back with the bill. He picked it up and examined it before speaking to the maitre’d, “I think you can take the service charge off of there,” he suggested.
“Sir, the service charge is mandatory…”
Casey pulled out his badge, “Take it off or I’ll have the FDA here quicker than you can say ‘free of charge’,” he said quietly.
The maitre’d went rather pale before nodding. He came back minutes later with a severely discounted bill. Studying the bill, Casey smiled slightly before counting out the exact amount in cash. The maitre’d sighed quietly, but Casey heard it. And when he stood, pulling on his jacket he grinned down at Chuck.
“Come on then honey,” he said as he helped him on with his own jacket, “Let’s go home and have sex.”
Chuck did his best not to roll his eyes, instead just taking Casey’s hand, “Whatever you say baby,” he said, allowing Casey to lead him out of the restaurant.
Casey didn’t let go of him until they were inside his apartment. And Chuck hated the fact that he no longer had an excuse to hold his hand. It had been nice, felt completely normal and where he was supposed to be.
Over the past few days, he had fallen asleep every night with Casey’s arm wrapped tight around him and he couldn’t imagine not falling asleep or waking up like that. This weekend would be the last weekend that they would be sharing and he was dreading Monday morning for that exact reason.
“Look, we’ve got to be up bright and early tomorrow to make it to Fort Meade in time,” Casey said, “Probably best we go to bed.”
Chuck nodded, “Sure,” he said as he made his way to the bedroom.
He knew Casey would be staying up, doing his exercises for a while first and so he had time to himself to sit and think about how he was going to get over this. Maybe with them not sharing a bed anymore, this little crush of his would disappear. He could only hope.
TBC
Author: Ru_salki99
Rating: PG 13
Pairing: Chuck/Casey
Prompt: The Muse gave me - Chuck comes out to Morgan when Morgan sets him up with a girl
Disclaimer: Chuck belongs to NBC.
Summary: Sarah's gone and Morgan thinks Chuck needs to get laid. And Morgan... well, he's like a dog with a bone sometimes. While Casey - he has his own ideas.
The flight from LAX to Ronald Reagan National was a lot shorter than Chuck had expected it to be. He had only just been getting used to being up in the air when they started their descent.
“Put this on,” Casey said, giving him a tie.
They were both wearing suits; brand new suits with brand new shoes and shirts. The tie Casey was wearing had the NSA insignia on it as did the one he gave Chuck.
Chuck quickly put the tie on, struggling to make it look neat and tidy without a mirror and so Casey helped him, much to the amusement of the stewardess. When he was done, he handed Chuck his temporary badge. To those not in the know it would look like he was already an NSA agent, allowing him to get through security without any hassle, and also allowing him to carry a gun on board.
It had surprised Chuck just how easy it had been to get on board a flight with a gun. He would’ve thought it was impossible. But Casey had had a private word with the pilot, explaining the situation and before he knew what was happening, they were being escorted onto the plane before anyone else to take their seats in first class.
Chuck had never been in first class before and he was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get to indulge in all the perks like the free champagne or fully reclining seats, but he was sure it wouldn’t be the last time he was in first class.
When they landed, the stewards held everyone back to allow them off first. They both gripped their bags in one hand and marched up the tunnel together, both holding their heads high and scanning their surroundings as they made their way towards security.
“Badge,” Casey muttered as they got closer and together, they both reached inside their suit jackets and pulled out their badges.
“Afternoon gentlemen,” Casey said as he held up his badge, “Major Casey, NSA. This is my partner Agent Bartowski.”
Chuck gave them a nod as he held up his badge. The men looked at the badges before nodding to them and waving them through.
“Thank you,” Casey said with a nod before leading the way out of security and towards the exit.
Chuck tucked his badge away again and quickly followed Casey, trying his best not to trip over his own feet. Wearing shoes still felt really weird. They walked through the terminal and towards the ‘left luggage’ area. Chuck frowned slightly in confusion but knew now was not the time to start asking questions and so watched instead.
Casey walked up to a locker, took out his ‘keys’ (in reality it was a bunch of skeleton keys) and opened the padlock. He then pulled out an envelope, ripped it open and received a set of keys and a small note.
“Come on,” he then said to Chuck as he closed the locker over again.
“What is that?” Chuck asked him.
“Keys to our car,” Casey explained.
“Oh. Is that, is it safe to just go to some random car we’ve never seen before?”
“It’s relatively safe,” Casey told him, “After all, you’re just a potential agent. Nothing special. But we’ll check it before we get in, just in case.”
Chuck nodded and carried on following him out to where the car was parked. Apparently, the note attached to keys had had the parking lot and space on it, which of course made sense when he thought about it. Casey wasn’t psychic after all.
When they found the car, Chuck was surprised that it wasn’t a big black SUV, but a nice sliver Mercedes. He stood there, almost drooling over it as Casey did his checks, making sure there were no bombs, tracking devices attached to it. Once it was safe, Casey unlocked the trunk and placed both his and Chuck’s bags inside.
“Alright,” he said as he checked his watch, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Do we always get cars this pretty?” Chuck asked as they drove out of the airport.
“Not always,” Casey said with a smile, “Sometimes we need to fit in and driving a car like this wouldn’t help with that.”
Chuck nodded, turning to look out the window as they drove through their capital. He’d never been to DC before, had always planned to but he’d just never got round to it. It was very like Los Angeles, but also very different at the same time.
“So, where are we staying?” he asked.
“I have an apartment in Chinatown,” Casey said, “We’ll be staying there.”
“Your apartment?” Chuck asked in surprise.
“Yeah. Why, there a problem?”
“No. No, I just. I thought we’d be staying at a hotel or something.”
“Well, normally we would be,” Casey told him, “But I still need to keep an eye on you and if anyone at the agency found out we were sharing a room, then it wouldn’t look very good. On either of our parts. Not to mention, my home is safer than any hotel.”
“Oh. Well cool. So, someone been house sitting or something since you’ve been gone?”
“No,” Casey said, “There is no way I would let anyone in my home without me there.”
“But you’ve been gone for two years,” Chuck said, “Won’t people notice.”
“They shouldn’t. I was never really there when I was here, but I have the lights and TV on timer so it would appear that someone was home should anyone choose to listen in through the walls.”
Chuck nodded seemingly happy with that before turning to look out the window again. Before long they were pulling up outside an apartment building that looked just like any apartment building. Nothing special and he certainly wouldn’t think that someone like Casey would live here. But then, maybe that was the point.
They took the stairs up to the fifth floor. The top floor. And Chuck was thankful that he was a lot fitter now than he used to be otherwise he was sure he would’ve died on the third.
Stopping outside a non descript apartment door, Casey pulled some sort of device out of his bag and scanned it over the door.
“What are you doing?” Chuck asked.
“Checking for bombs.”
Chuck started slightly, having not expecting that answer at all. But didn’t say anything instead allowing Casey to finish his job. After a few minutes he finally stood up straight and took out another set of keys.
“So do you do that every time you come home?”
“No. Just when I’ve been away for a while,” Casey explained as he unlocked the door, but before he went in he turned to Chuck, “Get your gun out. We’re gonna sweep for intruders first and then bugs. Do not say my name or anything that could breach national security until I say it’s safe. Understood?”
“Yeah. Got it,” Chuck nodded, pulling out his gun.
They swept into the room together and the first thing Chuck noticed were the high ceilings. However, he pushed that to the back of his mind as Casey gestured for him to go to the left while he went to the right.
The main living area and kitchen were open plan. There was a large sofa and chairs facing the wall opposite the main entrance. He couldn’t tell what colour the furniture was as it was all covered in dust sheets. On the wall was a large television with high windows either side. There was a door on the wall at the left hand side, but Chuck ignored that for now as he turned to the kitchen. It was a huge kitchen, about three times the size of Ellie’s with an island in the middle. There was a very fancy oven on one side and he noticed that Casey had his own washer and dryer plumbed in too.
However, dragging his eyes off the white goods, he made his way round the island, making sure that no one was hiding before opening up the fridge as it was large enough to fit Casey in, so someone could easily hide in there. Luckily though there was no one.
With the kitchen clear he made his way towards the door that was yet to be opened. Holding his gun high he silently opened up the door. It was dark inside, there not being any windows to this room. Frowning, he reached up and turned on the light, freezing when he came face to face with a very luxurious bathroom.
There was both a toilet and a bidet facing a double shower unit, clearly built for two people as there were two shower heads. Next to the bidet was a small inlay and on further inspection he saw a long mirror, counter and sink. And then at the far end, was the biggest tub Chuck had ever seen in anyone’s home. He’d only seen bath tubs like that in hotels. In fact, it was so big, someone could be hiding in it.
Stepping forward slowly, he tried his best not to make any noise as he peered into the tub. There wasn’t anyone in there, but his face lit up as he noticed that the tub wasn’t just any tub, but it was a Jacuzzi tub.
Standing up with a huge grin on his face, he was about to go ask Casey if he would mind him having a bath tonight when he noticed what was obviously a linen closet behind the door to the bathroom.
There was slats in the doors so if anyone was in there, they could probably see him and so he moved quick, making it look as if he was leaving the bathroom before doubling back and throwing the doors open.
“Yeah. Towels are real dangerous,” Casey said as he appeared at the door.
”Well I didn’t know what was in there and if I hadn’t checked you would’ve ripped me a knew one.”
Casey was silent for a moment before smiling, “True,” he said before thrusting a device at Chuck, “Check for bugs.”
Chuck sighed, putting his gun away before moving to check for bugs. He checked everywhere, in the closet, in the shower, the shower heads, the taps at the sink, the toilet seat, the bidet, the jet streams in the bath and the lights. It was clear and so he moved onto the kitchen. By the time he was done in there Casey was coming out of one of the rooms at the other side of the living room. From what he glimpsed, it looked like some sort of office or study. The other room had to be the bedroom.
Twenty minutes later and Chuck was standing up from checking under the fridge, shrugging off his jacket as he did so.
“You find anything?” Casey asked as he came out of the bedroom.
“No,” he said as he lay his jacket on the worktop, “Kitchen and bathroom are both clean.”
Casey nodded before turning towards the TV. Chuck stood and watched as he expertly searched for bugs. He couldn’t find anything. Not even when he pulled the step ladders out and checked the ceiling lights.
“So you didn’t find anything either?” Chuck asked him.
“Nope. Which is weird. Last time I went away it was only for a few weeks and the place was covered,” he said as he put the bug detectors away and turned to pull the dust sheet off the sofa.
“Could be cause you’ve been off the grid for so long that people have you know, lost interest.”
Casey snapped his head up to look at Chuck, looking as if he’d just been slapped.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean it as an insult.”
Casey sighed, “No, you’re probably right,” he said, even if it was slightly hurtful to think that no one was interested in following him anymore, “Come on, I’ll give you the tour.”
Chuck followed Casey into the study, surprised by the amount of books that were in there and the varying subjects they covered.
“It helps to have a little knowledge on a lot of things,” Casey explained, “Helps you when you need to improvise in an unexpected situation.”
Chuck nodded, realising now how Casey had always been so good at taking on various covers.
“And this is the bedroom,” Casey said as he stepped inside.
“Wow,” was all Chuck was able to say as he took in the king size, dark oak bed facing him, the surrounding furniture matching. There weren’t any bed sheets on the bed, Casey having removed them before he left. And as Chuck turned and took in the view from the window, he was only vaguely aware that Casey was rectifying that issue.
“It’s alright to talk openly now right?” Chuck asked, watching the cars drive up and down the street.
“Yeah,” Casey said, “Why?”
“Cause I wanted to ask you something.”
“Ask away.”
Chuck turned to face him, “What kind of pay scale are you on exactly cause this apartment, it rocks man!”
Casey started laughing, “Well, I’ve been working since I was sixteen. Employed by the US government since I was eighteen, so I’ve managed to save up a fair amount of money.”
“So you’re not gonna tell me how much you earn?” Chuck asked as he stepped over to the bed and helped him finish making it.
“Hell no. If you really want to know, just look inside that head of yours. I’m sure it’s all in there.”
“Oh come on, that’s so unfair. You know it doesn’t work like that.”
Casey just grinned at him again though before throwing a pillow and a pillow case at his head.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“You okay?” Casey asked as they sat in the restaurant.
Living in China Town, Casey had taken him out for dinner… at an Italian restaurant in downtown DC. It wasn’t actually that far away and so they’d walked there, Chuck enjoying the scenery as they went.
“Yeah, just nervous I guess,” Chuck said as he sipped at his water.
He was on a strict no alcohol rule tonight and so as not to make him feel bad, Casey was following that rule too.
“You’ll be fine,” Casey told him, “It’ll be just like I said. Tomorrow you’ll be sitting theory tests all day and putting your linguistic skills to the test, then on Sunday will be your practical and fitness test. And if you pass all that you’ll undergo a medical.”
“What if they scan my brain and see something unusual?” Chuck asked.
“Well first off, it’s not that thorough a medical, and even if they did, they wouldn’t see anything unusual. We’ve scanned your head before and nothing showed up.”
Chuck smiled slightly as he remembered the first time he’d been knocked out after Sarah and Casey arrived on the scene. They’d both went into panic mode and had rushed him to the hospital to get all sorts of tests done, even though Chuck tried to tell them he was fine. And he was right, there was nothing wrong with him. He hadn’t even suffered a concussion.
“Okay, but what if I do mess up? I mean, I can’t go back to the way things were. I just can’t.”
Casey reached forward and took hold of Chuck’s hand, “You are not going to mess up,” he told him, “I would never have suggested this if I didn’t think you’d be able to do it.”
Chuck gave him a small smile and gave his hand a soft squeeze, thankful for his unwavering support.
”Excuse me,” both of them looked up to see the maitre’d standing next to their table.
“Yes?” Casey asked.
“Would you gentlemen like to order anything else, or shall I just get you the bill?” he asked, glancing down at their joined hands.
Chuck made to pull his hand away, but Casey gripped it tighter, not letting him, “The bill will be fine thank you,” Casey told him, snarling at his back as he walked off to get it.
“Okay, you’ve made your point, can I get my hand back now?” Chuck asked.
“No,” Casey said, “Look. I’m older than you, and I’ve had to put up with this shit a whole lot longer. I’m not going to let someone like that tell me who I can and can’t hold hands with. Alright?”
“Alright,” Chuck relented. He watched as Casey finished his dessert, not having really realised before that Casey probably had had a lot more experience with this type of thing, considering that he’d only came out two months ago, “I’m sorry,” Chuck said, “I didn’t realise.”
Casey looked up at him, nodding slightly before finally letting go of his hand. Although Chuck soon realised that he’d only let him go to pull out his wallet as the maitre’d had come back with the bill. He picked it up and examined it before speaking to the maitre’d, “I think you can take the service charge off of there,” he suggested.
“Sir, the service charge is mandatory…”
Casey pulled out his badge, “Take it off or I’ll have the FDA here quicker than you can say ‘free of charge’,” he said quietly.
The maitre’d went rather pale before nodding. He came back minutes later with a severely discounted bill. Studying the bill, Casey smiled slightly before counting out the exact amount in cash. The maitre’d sighed quietly, but Casey heard it. And when he stood, pulling on his jacket he grinned down at Chuck.
“Come on then honey,” he said as he helped him on with his own jacket, “Let’s go home and have sex.”
Chuck did his best not to roll his eyes, instead just taking Casey’s hand, “Whatever you say baby,” he said, allowing Casey to lead him out of the restaurant.
Casey didn’t let go of him until they were inside his apartment. And Chuck hated the fact that he no longer had an excuse to hold his hand. It had been nice, felt completely normal and where he was supposed to be.
Over the past few days, he had fallen asleep every night with Casey’s arm wrapped tight around him and he couldn’t imagine not falling asleep or waking up like that. This weekend would be the last weekend that they would be sharing and he was dreading Monday morning for that exact reason.
“Look, we’ve got to be up bright and early tomorrow to make it to Fort Meade in time,” Casey said, “Probably best we go to bed.”
Chuck nodded, “Sure,” he said as he made his way to the bedroom.
He knew Casey would be staying up, doing his exercises for a while first and so he had time to himself to sit and think about how he was going to get over this. Maybe with them not sharing a bed anymore, this little crush of his would disappear. He could only hope.
TBC