Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck but the baby is all mine! No sharing!

Synopsis: A Then and Now offshoot. The old gang gets more than they bargained for when they agree to some pretty ordinary tasks. Oh, and Charlotte debuts in the preschool production of Lil Bo Peep.

A/N: The last chapter of Second Chance was a little heavy so I figured I would fluff things out a little. Special thanks to Agent Chuck and mxpw for their inspired love of a certain curly-haired toddler. This one is for you guys. =)

"Are you sure about this?"

Sarah looked at him again, determined to get an honest answer. He's obscured himself with a pair of Aviators and a wide-rimmed baseball cap however and what little of his profile she could see wasn't very telling.

"Seems simple enough," he said, giving nothing away. No frown, no smile, nothing. An expression like an empty slate.

"It won't be like anything you're used to," she warned. Sarah's learned that one the hard way. This would be unlike anything he's ever been trained for.

"I can adapt."

"In two days?" Sarah was skeptical. Perhaps this was a mistake. It wasn't too late to back out.

"Seems simple enough." The man crossed his arms and it seemed his patience was wearing thin with each doubt she placed on him.

"I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into," she finally said. What she'd been hinting to all along.

Her old partner's seen his share of action, gotten himself out of more than one tight fix...but this?

"Walker, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't trust me." He turned and stared her down with those impenetrable sunglasses.

Sarah wasn't in the least intimidated. "Don't be ridiculous," she dismissed, staring into the nothingness. Somewhere behind the shaded piece she knew he was staring back with the same kind of intensity. "John Casey, I trust you with my life. I'm just giving you one last chance to back out."

That settled it. Casey turned and continued to stare at the door they'd been standing in front of for the last fifteen minutes.

"I'm not afraid of anything," Casey said with a grunt.

Sarah smirked. He really had no idea..."Fine, suit yourself."

Suddenly the bell rings and the others gathered around the entrance-way stir out of their daze and look up from their PDA's. Casey looks around with a disgruntled look on his face, though to the untrained eye, it didn't appear all that different from his usual expression.

"You know, next time you come you should dress a little more casual..." Sarah suggested. The man was dressed all in black and it had a morbid, imposing effect on the other parents. "This is a preschool, not a funeral home."

Casey mumbled something under his breath and crossed his arms, looking even more displeased than before, if that was at all possible.

Suddenly the doors burst open and the noisy chatter from within begin to spill out into the hall.

"Chuck's preschool is doing a play about Lil Bo Peep," Sarah said, raising her voice to be heard.

"Oh, is she going to be Lil Bo Peep then?" the man said, automatically assuming Charlotte for the lead.

"No, she's going to be one of the lambs."

Casey grunted, obviously displeased. "How many lambs are there in Lil Bo Peep?"

Sarah shrugged. She wasn't that well versed in nursery rhymes though for her daughter's sake, she knew she'd better brush up on them.

"A dozen?" she guessed.

Casey grunted again, the same displeased tone as before. "Who's going to be the lead?"

"One of the taller blond kids." Sarah paused and thought back to the old nursery rhyme. "Lil Bo Peep was blond, right?"

A low growl emanated from around Casey's vicinity. If the other parents were not alarmed, they were now. As if sensing something imminent and terrible, one by one the adults snatched their children and got out of the way.

"We've been told to provide the costumes ourselves," Sarah added. She crossed her arms, joining her old partner in displeasure. Casey gave a stifled chuckle. "I don't have time for this; I'll have to pick something up in Chicago."

"I wouldn't act so fast..." the man warned cryptically.

"What do you mean?"

Casey shrugged, smiling for the first time all afternoon. "I mean accidents happen."

Sarah stared at him in disbelief. When she realized the man was serious, her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "John Casey, these are preschoolers," she hissed in horror.

Casey arched his brows but the expression was barely noticeable behind his oversized sunglasses. "Don't tell me you didn't think about it."

Sarah swallowed her accusations. She turned her head towards the door of the playroom and saw her daughter bounding towards them with her knapsack and stuffed bunny. One glimpse of that beautiful smile and she knew she'd be lying if she denied the sinister thought.

"You're not allowed to tell Chuck," she warned and that was as close to a confession as Casey would ever get.

"Momma!" Charlotte hollered, her voice brimming with excitement. Her hair stuck out in two whimsical pigtails (Pigtails for my piglet, Chuck always said) that swung from side to side in perfect rhythm to the little girl's uneven toddler's gait.

Suddenly she sees the giant of a man dressed all in black beside her mother and she stops dead in her tracks. Those dark blue eyes widen and that little mouth drops in surprise.

Sarah holds her breath and for a second she's afraid the little girl will sense something amiss.

Then Charlotte's face breaks out into an infectious grin. "Uwn-cle Casey!" she hollers, charging towards him.

Casey takes off his cap and removes his sunglasses; switching into another person altogether—a person Sarah wasn't sure she was all that acquainted with.

"Hi Tigger!" he greets, bending down one knee.

Charlotte stops short in front of him, a perplexed look fixed on her otherwise perfect brows. "Not Tigger," she corrects. "I'm Piglet!"

Sarah stifled a laugh. Like most things, Casey couldn't see eye to eye with Chuck. If her father called her Piglet, then Casey would be damned if he had to follow in his former asset's footsteps.

Casey scooped the little girl up in a great big bear hug, his arms threatening to swallow her in the embrace. Bystanders may have been concerned for her safety, but Charlotte wasn't in the least. She giggled, absolutely delighted.

"No, no," Casey coaxed. "All the best little girls want to be Tigger."

Charlotte arched one brow, lending an expression Sarah had often seen when she looked in the mirror. The resemblance was truly uncanny.

"No. I'm Piglet," she reiterated. Sarah knew that tone. They could be at it all day but Charlotte wasn't going to be the first to back down.

Casey seemed to sense this as well because he hugged her tight, almost as a means to silence her.

"God," he muttered, shaking his head. "She's as stubborn as her mother."