A/N: Some of you asked for sequels to my short story "Chuck & Sarah vs a Different Beginning". While not strictly sequels, I hope you'll find this series of one-shots inspired by episodes of the show entertaining. They sure are fun to write.

The usual disclaimers apply to this and all subsequent installments.

Chuck and Sarah vs the Chocolate Soufflé

Chuck was returning from his shift at the Buy More. It had been a long day, since yet another new computer virus had kept the Nerd Herd quite busy. He parked the Herder and loosened his tie before entering the courtyard while trying to get his keys out of his pocket. It was then when he saw Casey still in his Buy More uniform sprawled in an easy chair, a bottle of beer in hand and several more chilling in a cooler by his side.

"Hey Casey," he said.

*grunt* (about time you got here, Moron)

"What's up?"

Casey opened his mouth to speak, but then a frustrated cry, almost a scream, came from inside his apartment.

"Your girlfriend," he growled, jerking his thumb towards the source of the sound.

"Sarah? What about her?"

"Want a beer?"

"Sure, thanks. Well?"

"Apparently Walker believes that culinary skills are necessary for this assignment. And since her hotel room doesn't have a kitchen, she somehow talked me into letting her work in mine."

"Are you telling me that Sarah's cooking?"

"I wouldn't describe it as cooking, but yes, you can say that, I guess."

"Oh boy, this is precious! I'm getting my camcorder!" Chuck went through the Morgan door into his room and emerged a minute later holding a digital camcorder. He made a beeline for Casey's door.

"Bartowski?"

"Yes?"

"Enter at your own risk."

"Don't tell me you have your own place booby trapped."

"No, but beware of Walker."

"Huh?"

"Things are not going too well in there, idiot. And you are bound to make it worse with that camera. Pissing off your girlfriend, who just happens to be a CIA trained assassin, doesn't sound like a good idea right now."

"I'll take it under consideration, thanks for the warning Casey."

"It's your funeral."

Chuck entered Casey's apartment, not quite knowing what to expect. Following the sound of a crash he made his way to the kitchen. Sure enough, Sarah was in there, but the place looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Everything, including the apron wearing, spoon wielding blonde bombshell, was covered with flour; eggs, sugar and other stuff were spilt on the counter and the sink and smeared on her.

"Sarah?" Chuck asked hesitantly, the camera in his hand forgotten as she cursed about something.

"Chuck? What are you doing here?"

"Casey told me you were here and I wanted to see if there is anything I can do to help."

"Oh, that's so sweet," she said. But then she saw the camera and her eyes narrowed. "You came to help, huh? Looks to me like you wanted a video of my monumental failure for your personal enjoyment."

"For our enjoyment," he corrected, placing his arms around her waist and pulling her in for a tender kiss. He obviously didn't mind being smeared with whatever was on her. "And you didn't answer my question."

"What question?"

"About what you are doing in here."

"As you well know, Ellie has invited me to dinner tonight. So I told her I would take care of dessert."

"And what kind of dessert did you have in mind?"

"I wanted to make a chocolate soufflé," she said, pointing at an open cookbook. "I bought the ingredients and I'm trying to do it like it says in the recipe. But I'm an absolute disaster in the kitchen. I can't get anything right."

"How did the idea for this whole Martha Stewart thing get into your head?"

"I don't want Ellie to think I'm totally useless in the kitchen," she said, lowering her head. "But apparently I am. Hell, even Casey is better than me in this! When Ellie invited him as well, he made some mini quiches and he did a great job too!"

"Rewind please. Casey can cook?"

"It appears to be part of his skill set," she admitted.

"You could have just gone out and bought something for dessert."

"I know! But I thought it would be better if I made it myself!"

"Somehow I don't think Ellie would hold it against you."

"Are you sure?"

"She's been to the Wienerlicious, so she knows you are a terrible cook."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Chuck," she said bitterly and threw some of the curdled, doughy crème pâtissière at him.

"Hey! Do you want to start a food war in here?" Chuck asked. She just stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's about the only thing this crap is good for now," she said, looking forlornly at the mess she had made.

"Sarah, calm down. I see you have enough ingredients intact, so let's give it another try. I'm right here with you. First, let's clean the place up a bit. Then I'll take the book and talk you through the process. How does that sound?"

"You'd do that for me?"

"Sarah, you know how much I love you."

"Let's do this."

It took them both a few minutes to get Casey's kitchen clean. Then Sarah started working on the soufflé again, this time with Chuck reading the stages of preparation to her from the cookbook. Soon, she had six small ramekins filled with the mixture and ready for baking.

"See? It wasn't that hard, was it?" Chuck asked.

"It wasn't," she said and kissed him. "Thank you Chuck."

"I think it's almost time to go to my place. We can bake them in our oven, so that they'll be puffed up and fluffy when the time comes to eat them."

"I agree. Just give me a few minutes to change. I'm a mess right now. You should change too, by the way."

"Okie-dokie." Chuck went to his room to change, while Sarah placed the ramekins on a tray and covered them with a clean napkin and then she too changed into clean clothes.

Casey entered to pick up his quiches and was impressed by the now clean kitchen.

"Well Walker," he said, "it appears that the geek was able to help after all."

"That he definitely did," she replied. "Come on, let's go."

Together the two spies made their way across the courtyard and knocked on the door. Ellie greeted them warmly.

"Hi John, hi Sarah," she said.

"Hello Ellie," Casey said. "Here, I made some quiches."

"Aw, you didn't have to."

"I wanted to."

"Thank you. Sarah, what have you got there?"

"I made some chocolate soufflés. Chuck suggested leaving the baking until the last moment."

"OK, let's leave them in the kitchen. Devon is making his pre-dinner cocktails."

"I'm not so sure about that, Ellie. The last time I drank…"

"Nonsense, we won't let you overdo it this time."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

Dinner went smoothly. Ellie's roast was excellent as always and Casey's quiches were delicious. Truth be told, Devon and Ellie were a little apprehensive about Sarah's soufflés, considering her performance at the Wienerlicious, but they weren't about to hurt her feelings, so they attacked them with gusto once they had cooled after being taken out of the oven. Quite surprisingly, to them at least, they were really good. Even Casey complimented Sarah for the dessert. Morgan, who was also present, did not have any compunction about digging in and he pronounced it one of the best desserts he had eaten in his life. Sarah fairly beamed with pride and made sure to give Chuck some credit for his help.

Later, Chuck and Sarah were cuddled together in bed. She was so happy about finally getting something right in the kitchen and his support in accomplishing it that, when she and her boyfriend retired for the night, she wasted no time thanking him in her own special way, the one she reserved for him and only him.