Chuck awoke on his back with an unfortunate crick in his neck. He sat up quickly, inspecting the room that was strangely not his own, and was pushed back to the night before. This was not the way he had planned to get himself into Sarah's room.

He picked up his phone from the end table and opened a message from Sarah waiting for his attention.

Chuck,

On a morning run. Will be back soon.

His phone rang suddenly, Morgan's face invading the screen.

"Hey, buddy," Chuck answered.

"Chuck! Chuck, oh you're okay. Thank goodness!"

"Okay? Are you kidding? I'm in the oh-so-torturous hell-hole of Sarah's apartment," Chuck quipped. "Help," he added sarastically.

"Wha- Sarah's apartment? Is there something you'd like to tell me Chuck?" Morgan pressed.

"She's a runner."

"No! I mean would you like to share with me the reason behind your late night tryst in Sarah's apartment?"

"Nothing happened, Morgan, if that's what you're trying to get out of me, very subtly by the way." Chuck pressed his fingers to his forehead and scrunched his eyes shut. This was the last conversation he wanted to have.

"What? Nothing happ- Chuck, if the Serenity landed in your backyard-"

"We live in an apartment."

"Wouldn't you absolutely one-hundred percent need to go in? Explore the ship? Meet Jane Cobb?"

"Apartments don't have backyards."

"That's not the point!"

"Well, that was a wonderful objectification of Sarah, buddy, but I didn't come here for... that," Chuck finished with a wince, realizing that he had revelaed too much.

"Okay," Morgan drawled out slowly, obviously confused. "Well then, what did you go there for? And, more importantly, why didn't you tell me?"

Chuck huffed and ran his fingers through his bed-head hair. He rubbed the back of his neck. It was still raining outside. "It's.. it's complicated," he finished lamely.

"So explain it to me slowly," Morgan answered simply.

"Morgan, buddy, I'd love to..."

"But?"

"But," Chuck continued, "I'm still trying to figure it out myself."

Morgan was silent for a moment. "Okay," he said finally. "Well, when you do figure it out, you know you can come talk to me about it. I'm always here for you."

"Thanks. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that."

"Oh! By the way, your alarm's been going off for, like, an hour."

"What?" Chuck exclaimed, fumbling for his watch on the end table. It was already twenty minutes past the start of his eight o'clock shift.

"Yeah, after the first fifty minutes, I started getting worried that you were kidnapped or dead or something."

"Morgan, I've gotta go."

"Wait! Which button turns this thing off? It's so annoying."

"You press... just unplug it, Morgan, I have to go," Chuck replied, tangling himself in the blanket as he tried to fling it away from himself. He heard his alarm in the background through his phone's speakers, slowly getting louder as, he assumed, Morgan walked towards it.

"Ok, here's the plug aaand..."

The alarm silenced.

"Finally. That is one effective alarm, dude. It wakes you up because it's so annoying, and then you have to get up because you're so desperate to turn it off! Good thinking, Chuck," Morgan babbled.

"Yeah, sure," Chuck responded absently as he untangled his legs from the blanket. He flung it off of himself, and his momentum rolled him off of the couch with a yelp.

"Whoa, you okay there buddy?"

Chuck stood and picked up his phone. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Listen, Morgan, I really have to go. I'm so late."

"Okay man, see you at work."

"See you there."

"Hey, Chuck!"

"What?"

"Why would you joke about Sarah's apartment torturing you?"

"Good bye, Morgan."

Oh, and Chuck!"

"What?"

"I'm here for ya."

"Thanks, Morgan." Chuck pulled the phone away from his ear.

"Twenty-four seven!" he heard Morgan shout before he hung up. He chuckled.

Chuck raced into the Buy More, slightly damp from the rain, and immediately skidded to a halt to avoid the unusually large crowd of morning customers.

"Bartowski!"

"Chuck flinched at the harsh voice, his shoulders tense. He turned, pasting on a smile.

"Yes, Big Mike?"

Bike Mike walked up to Chuck and looked him up and down. "You look like you just rolled out of a dumpster."

"I... a dumpster? That's a little harsh."

"Bartowski, where is John Casey?"

Chuck barely concealed his wince at he name. "John Casey? You're, you're looking for John Casey?" he stuttered awkwardly. I... have not seen him... today. I don't know where he is or what he's doing."

"Well, go find him," Big Mike ordered. He looked Chuck up and down again. "And don't come back until you've had a shower." He turned and headed back to his office.

Chuck sighed before turning and exiting the store.

He had rushed getting out of Sarah's apartment, running his fingers through his hair and having to search for a misplaced shoe. His shirt was in fine shape, seeing as he had taken it off before going to sleep, but his slacks were rumpled and the legs had gotten twisted around during the night. Not wanting to go through Sarah's bathroom, he hadn't showered or brushed his teeth. He had sprinted out of her apartment and bumped straight into her as he turned a corner down the hallway. "I'm late!" he's nearly shouted at her, and gave her a quick peck on the lips (it has become second nature at this point) and rushed off before she could get in a word.

Now he was in his shower, leaning against the wall and preparing himself for the furious hellfire surely awaiting him in Casey's apartment for trying to seduce him last night. He stepped out of the shower, and dressed slowly.

The walk through the courtyard seemed insufferably long. He stopped on Casey's doorstep, lifted his hand, winced, and knocked, hoping Casey had somehow developed amnesia since the last time Chuck saw him.

Okay, first of all... I'M SORRY! I'm so sorry to all of my subscribers who have had to wait so ridiculously long for this!

The reason I haven't updated for... eight months... is.. well, I don't like my own story. After reading it a few more times, I realized that I don't particularly like the way certain parts are written. I'm going to leave it all the same because I know that what I wrote is what got me so many subscribers (thank you, by the way to all of you who have subscribed!) but for a while I really didn't WANT to update because I didn't want to bring any more attention to my story. Maybe that sounds ridiculous but...

Anyway, I figured that it wouldn't be fair to you guys to give up on my story, so.. FINALLY.. here it is. Mah latest update. I have the next chapter written up and I WILL post it soon. I promise!

Again, thank you to all of my readers! I appreciate it so much.

DISCLAIMER:

I do not own Chuck, nor do I profit from using its characters.