Disclaimer—Recognizable characters belong to Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. No copyright infringement intended. Any similarity to events or persons living or dead is purely coincidental but mildly inspired by a haunted house I went to one time as a kid.
Author's Notes—If Goddess didn't send the plot bunny this time, I'm betting Raevon did... :) And another big thank you to Night Lotus for the awesome challenge! Thanks to Baschashe and Raevon for taking a peek! Most importantly, however... Happy Birthday to my Surrogate Little Sister, Deanie! Hope you're having a delightful, dare I say it, awesome day. :)
Spoilers—General End of Season 3
Prompt—Haunted House
Spooked—All bets are off when she screams like that.
The Summer Carnival was the annual fundraiser for Westside Medical Center's pediatrics ward. It was put together by volunteers, doctors, nurses, even patients' families. They would take over one of the local schools, turning the common areas into almost unrecognizable locations. Instead of the school colors and mascot gracing the walls, billowing plumes of parachute material in vivid colors looked like tent walls. The booths in the cafeteria offered tempting goodies from bake-sale cookies and cupcakes to local restaurants coming in with a small selection from their menus.
Down the hallway, towards the classrooms themselves, there were tables set up with crafts for the children and activities for kids of all ages. Fortune tellers, magicians, even games where little ones could win small prizes. The carnival had it all, including a haunted house in the gymnasium, a live band in the nearby auditorium... and one spy who didn't know why he was there.
Oh, wait. Yes, he did.
She had been required to sell a certain number of tickets and he'd stupidly opened his mouth and volunteered to buy one before he'd completely thought it through.
The thing had sat on his dresser in his bedroom for a month, a little purple and green ticket, proclaiming the name of the event, the place and the time. He'd fully expected to have a mission, to be anywhere but Burbank when it rolled around.
And yet, there he stood, holding up the wall in the cafeteria, an empty water bottle in hand, his other thumb hooked into his belt, and his blue eyes surveying constantly.
It was a logistical nightmare. There were children and people everywhere, enough noise to qualify for a city sound violation citation, and it had a general air of chaos about it. It was enough to make him regret leaving his gun at home.
But she had said that it was a gun-free, weapon-free, drug-free, alcohol-free zone.
Of course, he had a concealed-carry permit. She hadn't been interested in hearing anything about that and he'd wound up letting her win. Against his better judgment.
He was starting to consider just leaving when he heard someone call out to him. Ever on alert, he looked towards the voice. Swallowing hard, he bit back the annoyed grunt that wanted, so desperately, to come out. Tossing his bottle in the recycling bin, he crossed to the group that lingered by the line to the haunted house. "Woodcomb."
"Hey, Casey. I just got paged to the hospital, but we'd already bought the tickets," he said, holding up black and yellow slips.
"And I refuse to go by myself," she said. And damned if she didn't give him the best smile.
"What about..." He stopped before he managed to get the rest of the sentence out as he looked at the rest of the assembled group. He realized what a silly question it would be, to see if Bartowski or Grimes would go. He idly wondered about Walker, but Chuck seemed to be holding onto her hand a little tighter than normal. And his daughter, Alex... Well, he didn't know Alex enough yet. He wasn't sure if she'd like something like that.
Haunted houses didn't bother him. He wasn't scared of anything.
He held his hand out to Devon.
Devon grinned broadly as he placed the tickets in Casey's open hand. "You're a lifesaver, bro," he said before clapping the older man on the shoulder.
Casey couldn't prevent the rumbling, throaty growl from the relatively casual touch.
"I'll be back as soon as I can, babe," Devon said before racing out of the carnival.
"Well, now that that's all settled," Morgan said, clapping his hands together. "I'm thinking we need to have our palms read while we wait. Who's with me?"
Chuck shook his head. "Remember last year? The brilliance of 'Madam Rosehips?' It took three weeks for me to get the red paint off..."
"Whatever you decide to do, I'm sure you'll have fun," Ellie said before glancing at Casey just a touch nervously.
Casey walked with Ellie into the line properly.
"Thank you, John," she said. "For coming with me."
He shrugged.
"Are you having a good time?"
He wasn't, but that wasn't what she wanted, or needed, to hear. "I am." It was a lie and an easy one.
"What's been your favorite thing so far?" she asked.
Casey thought for a moment. Mostly nothing. But, he watched as the two couples finally dispersed, leaving the area. This part was pretty nice, this hanging out part. "Probably being able to do something with Alex."
"I can't imagine it's been very easy for you, learning about her..."
He didn't say anything. He wasn't sure quite how to respond. It was different. It was difficult. It had turned his world on its head and he was still adjusting to the new spin. "So, haunted house, huh?"
She nodded. "Some of the theater departments at local colleges and high schools get together to work on it. Every year, it's the big draw. And it's not, y'know, lumpy dummies and a scratchy old sound effect tape. For a small-time, volunteer operation, it can be downright scary."
He was still imagining having to walk through fake spiderwebs or something. He harrumphed.
She looked up at him and said, very softly. "After everything, thank you for coming with me."
"After everything?" he asked, hoping for clarification as they inched closer to the start of the line.
"After the... kitchen... incident."
He smirked. "Oh. Yeah, that."
"Yeah. I mean, if I were you, I'd understand your not wanting to be anywhere near me-"
"Ellie," he said, trying to interject politely.
"-I knocked you out, and I can't imagine that's an easy thing... and I really hope I didn't hurt your pride on top of your face-"
"Doc..."
"-because, I-I mean, the alternative I was presented with, I thought it was my only-"
"Bartowski," he said, finally getting her attention.
She looked at him, moderately shocked.
"It's fine."
"Are you sure?" Because, she wasn't.
"Positive," he told her.
She nodded, smiling a little.
"Considering what you've been through, my bruised face and ego? Hardly worth mentioning." He could tell, watching her, that she still felt upset. He knew exactly what would happen over the next week or so. Her guilty conscious would feel the need to do something. After a thorough cleaning of the kitchen, and another one for good measure, she'd start to bake. He had a feeling a homemade turtle cheesecake might be in his future. Maybe a summery rhubarb pie. He wouldn't mind that.
A tall, skinny kid lingered at the entrance to the haunted house. He was dressed, head to toe, in black. He had the goth makeup as well, the pale face and black lips and eyes. He smiled devilishly at Ellie and Casey. "My, my, my. Better hold on tight, honey," he warned Ellie. "Those ghouls inside... They're after pretty women like you."
Ellie handed over the tickets, smiling a little back at the kid. "I'll be sure to keep my eyes open."
Casey, however, felt a surge of adrenaline. He wasn't sure why, but he felt suddenly overly protective of her.
The ticket-taker offered a deep, foreboding laugh. "Enjoy the ride," he said sinisterly.
"Is this actually a ride?" Casey asked as they willingly walked into the pitch-black anteroom.
"No, it's a self-guided walk-through. They try to space everybody out, keep them moving through, though, prevents backups and bottlenecks." Ellie swallowed hard. "Um... John?"
"Hmm?"
"Would you mind terribly if I held your hand?"
Casey glanced at her. He could tell that her eyes weren't adjusted to the light yet. As a spy, having spent years in the darkness, he could see everything clearly and easily after mere moments in the black. Hesitantly he reached out, taking her hand in his.
She squeezed lightly. "Thank you," she murmured. She had only been calm for a second when the door in front of them was yanked open. She narrowed her eyes at the strobe effects they were about to step into.
"Welcome," said the portly vampire at the door cordially before dropping his voice lower to finish his sentence, "to hell."
Ellie bravely led the way inside.
But, Casey could tell she was nervous. She was squeezing his hand in a vise-like grip, he was sure his fingertips were turning white from the pressure. He tried to readjust his hand slightly, but that only made her latch on even tighter.
The first room was filled with vampires and screaming, writhing victims. Blood spattered on the walls of the little vignettes.
"Do you smell that?" one of the vampires asked, abandoning her moaning snack.
Another straightened up and turned to see, wiping her mouth indelicately on the back of her hand. "Fresh blood! And, that tall one looks scrumptious..."
"They're both beautiful," the first said, moving closer to reach out with twisted fingers towards the couple. "Maybe we should turn them both?"
One of the victims tried to call out to them. "Run... just run..."
Casey casually moved Ellie to his other side, farther away from the actors.
"Scrumptious and defiant, that one!" screeched the first.
"My favorite," squealed the second.
They quickly moved into the second room. The strobe lighting didn't carry over, thankfully, but it was still dimly lit. This time, it was a creepy looking laboratory. The smell in the room was acrid, nearly overpowering. There was an assortment of oozing, bubbling and smoking flasks and test tubes. There were real, live rats scurrying around in cages, scratching at the glass walls, burrowing in the newspaper shred, sounds that were accented by the sharp, electric snap of a Jacob's ladder.
Only one actor stood, his back to them as they slowly shuffled through the room. He seemed to be examining his chalkboard, filled with some kind of chemical composition. "There should be no side-effects. No, none at all. Not one. Everything is perfect. My calculations are correct, they always are... So, what happened?"
Ellie had about decided it wasn't so bad until the actor turned. His face looked like it had been burned, like his skin was falling off, thanks to some horrible experiment gone awry. She couldn't prevent a gasp, backing into Casey, who wrapped an arm around her.
"What happened!" he demanded angrily, holding his hands out to them, showing that the flesh appeared to be dripping clear off his digits. "I know I did everything right," he lamented mournfully. "So how could this happen? How could this happen to me!" he yelled. "Tell me!"
"C'mon," Casey whispered to Ellie. He had to admit, it was the creepiest haunted house he'd been to in a while.
The next room was, temperature-wise, cooler than the others. There were no eye-catching props, no real movement of any kind. Only the subtle hint of water dropping could be heard. There was only enough light to see where the door was to the next room.
Ellie slid a little closer to Casey as they continued to inch forward.
Something wasn't right. Casey slid his boot across the floor, hitting what felt like a button, some kind of pressure switch. "Wait."
"What?" she asked, breathy and scared.
He crouched slightly, and she did the same. Making sure he had an arm around her waist, he stepped fully on the button and, as he suspected, a whole colony of screaming rubber bats flew from the front of the room towards the back. If he'd been standing, he was sure several would've hit his head. He was a tall guy, after all.
"How'd you know that?"
"Trained Marine," he reminded her.
She nodded, as they quietly advanced to the next room.
They both had to squint as that room was brightly lit. There were several slabs on either side of the room. It looked like a hospital room. When Ellie was finally able to focus on the details, she could see the pooled blood and the bone fragments on each. "Oh..."
Before she had a chance to say anything else, the actor at the front of that room began to whistle and a horrible grinding noise filled the air.
Ellie winced, sliding her arm around Casey and holding on tight.
The actor, a guy in red-splotched white scrubs, tossed a severed hand in a growing pile of them.
She might've been a doctor, but the general hacking of bodies for no apparent reason wasn't a medically valid one and it made her stomach churn.
There was a squeaky, wet sound as they continued their trek.
The actor chuckled, tinny and high, before the wet smacking continued and he yanked a heart from the torso that remained on one of the slabs. He held it up high, letting the blood drip down his arms. "More hearts, more hearts... Lub-dub, lub-dub," he said in a sing-song voice. He spun when Casey and Ellie got close enough. He looked at them hungrily. "More hearts! Beating hearts!"
Ellie couldn't help but feel hers pick up speed.
"Faster, harder, lub-dub-lub-dub-lub-dub!"
She tried to steel her nerves as she led Casey into the next room at a near run.
They were bathed in darkness again and Ellie took that moment to try to catch her breath.
"Are you all right?" Casey asked.
"Every year, they get creepier," she told him, a hand over her chest.
"It can't be much longer..." He glanced around the darkened room, again adjusting faster than she was. He could sense the movement but he wasn't sure where it was coming from. It was fast. Every time he thought he had caught it out of the corner of his eye, it was gone again.
Ellie, scared enough already, shrieked when she was suddenly pulled away from Casey. "John!"
The next few moments seemed to go by in slow motion. It also seemed more like he was watching himself perform the actions rather than being a conscious participant.
The Marine reacted, catching sight of what it was that had been circling them, what had scared Ellie, and his particular skill set took over. A well-placed pop to the nose followed by a submission hold had the attacker crying out in real pain.
"Omigod, dude, seriously? It's a thrill, man. It's a haunted house, it's supposed to scare you. You're not supposed to scare back... Lemme go, all right? Yo, Kenny! Kenny, lights up!"
The lights in the room suddenly came up, and a woman in a werewolf costume dashed into the room from the next one. She stopped briefly, taking in the sight before her. "Uh... Danny?"
"Where's Kenny?" the kid in the hold asked again.
She looked, frightened, at Casey before shrugging. "I gotta..."
"Go," Danny grit out, watching as she disappeared into the room Casey and Ellie had just come from.
Ellie struggled to find her voice again when she saw Casey. "John?"
Kenny, the theater professor from UCLA, had overseen the haunted house construction and was still on-site to provide any last-minute corrections or fixes to broken or misfiring equipment, to ensure that the haunted house went as smoothly as possible. In his five years of working on that particular project for the fundraiser, he'd never seen anything quite like that.
When he slipped into the room from a previously covered door, Casey was slowly releasing the kid, whose nose was gushing blood.
"God, dude... I think you broke my nose!"
Ellie swallowed hard. "I'm a doctor, can I take a look?"
Danny eyed her suspiciously for a moment.
"She is who she says she is," Kenny assured the kid. "Hey, Ellie."
"Hey, Ken," Ellie managed.
"Take a look, but not here. I'm going to need to get this room cleaned up," Kenny said with a sigh, looking square at Casey. "Exit's through there," he said, pointing towards the small door he'd appeared through.
Ellie walked out with Danny and Casey started to follow when Kenny stopped him.
Casey looked back warily.
"What are you? Security guard?"
"Something like that," he answered vaguely.
"Wouldn't have figured a big guy like you to get scared."
"Your guy spooked my girl. All bets are off when she screams like that. Particularly when she's yanked away from me."
"She's married to Devon..." Kenny said. At least, he was pretty sure she was.
"Didn't say I was married to her. Said I was protecting her," Casey explained before leaving. But, as he stepped out into the hallway, he couldn't help but wonder where that had come from. That my girl business. He didn't get to speculate long as he realized he was about to be questioned.
"What happened?" Chuck asked, scurrying over as Ellie tried to examine her new patient.
"Chuck, I need paper towels. Lots of them."
"El-"
"Now, Chuck."
The lanky younger Bartowski sprinted off.
"Sarah, I need some gloves from the first aid station. Morgan, I need some ice and water."
Two more went heading off in other directions.
Alex stood there, gaping. "Danny?"
He glanced over. "Alex?"
Casey winced as his daughter knelt down next to Ellie.
"What happened?" she asked.
Danny pointed at Casey. "Crazy dude attacked me!"
"In my defense, you attacked first."
Alex glanced back, her jaw dropping. "Dad!"
"Wait... what?" asked Danny. "I thought you didn't have a dad..."
"She has a father," Casey corrected. "Me." He looked at Alex. "How do you two know each other?"
"We've had some classes together," Alex explained. "We go to the same school."
"Here, Ellie," Sarah said, offering the doctor a pair of latex gloves.
Ellie immediately slid them on and began her examination of Danny's nose.
"But..." Danny sighed. "No, I remember that you said it was just you and your mom, that your dad was some military badass who'd died overseas or something..."
"Well, he's the first part, but not so much the last part," Alex explained.
"I remember you telling me he died."
Alex nervously glanced back at Casey.
"Not dead," Casey said simply.
The kid puffed out his cheeks, sighing. "Well, maybe I've got a concussion..."
"You don't have a concussion," Ellie promised.
"He broke my nose!"
Ellie shook her head. "He didn't even do that. You might have a black eye or two in the morning, but nothing's broken."
Danny, annoyed, glanced at Casey.
Chuck came scurrying back to the group with an armload of paper towels. "Got 'em!" he announced helpfully. "Looks like... fun... here... What's...? What'd I miss?" he asked.
Ellie stood, easing the gloves carefully back off. "Once the bleeding stops, the ice will help with the bruising. But you'll be fine," she assured him.
"Alex, your dad, or... whatever... totally attacked me, totally unprovoked..." Danny said, taking practically the entire stack of paper towels from Chuck and easing them under his nose.
Alex swallowed hard. She'd already called him Dad once, she was going to have to finish with it, at least in front of Danny. "Dad's... Dad's got a funny way of doing things, sometimes, but it's not... He'd never mean to hurt you, unless you'd done something wrong. I'm sure of that. So, what'd you do, Danny?"
Danny huffed. "I'm sitting here, bleeding, and you're taking his side? He's like... Chuck Norris, man."
"Ice, ice baby," Morgan said with a goofy grin as he offered the pack to Ellie, who in turn gave it to Danny. "And a water. Well, two," he said, setting the bottles down beside the kid.
It didn't slip past Alex that Danny hadn't answered his question. She shook her head slowly. "So, you did do something?"
"Just my job. It's the haunted house. You're supposed to scream."
"And they'd been in there at least, what, five minutes? Probably closer to ten. So, they were okay on some of the scary stuff," Alex said.
"Well... it... I..." He huffed. "Your step-mom is just... touchy!"
Sarah, Chuck, Alex and Morgan all slowly turned to look Ellie and Casey.
"What?" Ellie asked, frowning.
The sentence hadn't quite computed through Casey's brain either.
"They're not married," Alex finally said, pulling her eyes away from Ellie.
"Well, your... dad's... girlfriend."
Ellie and Casey immediately looked at each other, both with mirrored shocked expressions. While, certainly, Casey had slipped up inside the haunted house and called her "his" girl, he hadn't meant like that... had he?
And Ellie was married, hap-well, married to Devon.
"They're not even... that's..." Alex sputtered.
"Well, whatever they are, she's touchy and he's jumpy."
Ellie bit her lower lip. "Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked, glancing at Casey. "Away from here...?"
He dipped his head slightly, guiding her away from the rest of the assembled group.
"That's... kinda weird... isn't it?" Chuck asked Sarah quietly, watching as Casey led Ellie further down the hall.
Sarah shrugged.
"I'm sure it's nothing," Morgan said. "I answered the question once already this year. There's no one she would even consider stepping out on Devon with. Unless, of course, it was someone she knew really well. A..." He drifted off, his blue eyes growing slightly large. "A friend of the family perhaps," he said distantly.
Once they were out of earshot of the others, Ellie picked at her fingernails. "Thank you."
Casey wasn't sure why she was thanking him. He wasn't sure what he'd accomplished except the creation of a potential lawsuit. "For what?"
She smiled a little. "Defending me. Against, y'know... a non-threat."
"You're... welcome?"
"I guess... I guess it just makes me feel better, sort of. If I can mistake a perceived threat for a real one, and a real one for a non-threat... and you, a Marine, a superspy, a... a guy like you can do the same, then..."
"Everybody makes mistakes, Ellie. And thankfully, my hands, your frying pans... neither have left permanent marks this time."
She offered him a rare, beautiful smile.
End.