Molly stared at the empty guest room uncertainly. She had already moved all her stuff into Casey's apartment, and was leery of whether or not she should set up the guest room as her own. If someone were to come over and see the room cluttered with her things, it would be a dead give away that their relationship wasn't on the up and up. Molly growled softly to herself and grabbed a large armful of clothes, stalking to Casey's room. It was a simple, lifeless room; it was the room of an agent. It made Molly feel a pinch of guilt. It wasn't Casey's fault things happened the way they did. It wasn't Casey's fault that the job was your life and gave you no room to have a life. Molly opened the closet and gently pushed Casey's suits to the side, careful not to wrinkle them. Like her father, Casey had always been a stickler for perfection, for looking clean and neat even when killing someone. She hung her clothes up next to his and frowned. It was an odd sight, her girlish clothes hanging next to his monochromatic suits. She rolled her eyes at her stupidity. Of course it would be odd. The entire situation was odd.
Molly settled for shoving all her mementos and personal items into several shoe boxes, hiding them under the bed she set up in the guest room. Guest room. She smirked to herself. When would John Casey ever need a guest room? She stepped back to the doorway and let her eyes wander over the room. It still looked simple, clean, much like the rest of his apartment. She'd done good. She frowned again. Or was that a bad thing? Didn't the place have to look like it was being lived in? She moved to the living room and frowned at the large collection of surveillance equipment spaced out in the room. If Chuck's sister or her boyfriend were to stop by (though it was highly unlikely) he would look like such a pervert. The last thing she wanted to do though would be to make Casey angry. Casey tended to be extremely scary when angered.
She sauntered into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, her frown deepening as she studied its contents. There was a case of cheap beer, assorted lunch meats and cheeses, mustard, a jar of pickles, mayonnaise, and a jug of milk. She rubbed her forehead and sighed. Leave it to Casey to live on nothing but sandwiches and be perfectly fine with it. She slammed the door shut and growled as she picked her purse up off the counter. Apparently, she was going shopping.
He had been in a bad mood all day. Molly Marquez was the last person he had ever expected to come face to face with again. The fact that he was forced to ride with Chuck home from work every day since the little puke had bombed his car only made the day worse. He had had to listen to Chuck go on and on about how proud he was of him for finally meeting someone and going for it in his mocking way. Blah, blah, blah. Casey had stopped listening. Well, until he had actually heard Chuck start talking about Molly herself.
"She's really...hot," Chuck said suddenly, trying hard to keep his gaze from darting over to Casey to see his expression. When Casey made no move to reply he continued, "I mean, good job on that one." Chuck laughed slightly to himself, but made no move to say more. As they came to a stop in the parking lot, Casey practically jumped from the car, stomping toward his apartment. Molly had better not have moved any of his stuff and replaced it with any of her girly crap. He stopped short next to the fountain, staring dumbfounded at the sight before him. Molly and Captain Awesome were standing closely together next to a grill talking heatedly as they both tended to steaks sizzling on the grill. Awesome had a beer in his hand and Molly was lightly gripping a Mountain Dew in her own hand. Ellie Bartowski leaned over Awesome's shoulder to see their progress and smiled brightly at the two. Awesome held a beer out to Molly and she smiled politely, shaking her head. He shrugged and turned to watch as Ellie set up a fold out table in the courtyard.
"Okay, Casey," Chuck said slowly as he came up to stand next to the confused agent, "mind telling me what your hot fake girlfriend is doing here?"
Casey merely grunted as he started towards them. Ellie looked up from what she was doing and smiled brightly at him, her eyes shining. "Hi, John."
He nodded. "Miss Bartowski."
She rolled her eyes as she turned to go back inside and retrieve some chairs. "For the last time, my name is Ellie."
Molly came up beside him, poking his side playfully. "You really do need to quit being so uptight, you know."
He glowered down at her. "Who asked you?"
She smirked up at him and shoved a stack of plates in his hands. "Just set the table,honey."
Chuck had followed his sister into the apartment to help lug out the chairs when the phone had rang. It was, of course, Morgan.
"Hey dude, we're raiding Ony for fun. Wanna come?"
"Would, but Casey's girlfriend is here and she and Awesome are grilling-"
"Grilling? Casey's hot girlfriend? I'll be over in a few," Morgan said before the line went dead. Chuck pulled the phone away from his ear and rolled his eyes as he hung it back up. When he came outside Sarah was watching Molly pick on Casey with an amused look on her face.
"Casey, for the last freaking time, I know how to grill," she said, patting his cheek, before leaning in to whisper in his ear. To Chuck's utter delight, Casey blushed, as his eyes darted over every feature of Molly's face with a look of shock. Her smirk broadened and she speared several steaks onto a plate, just as Awesome pulled out a package of Salmon. "Would you go inside and get the sauteed mushrooms I cooked earlier and take the sauce off the oven. It should be done now."
Casey blinked several times before heading into his apartment. She was right. The sauce was indeed done cooking. He dumped the mushrooms into it and carried the pot out to her. She set it aside and watched the pieces of salmon grilling slowly.
"You know, I'm always trying to get Chuck to grill with me, but he's not to into it," Awesome said as he watched the food cook just as intently. Molly nodded. "He doesn't seem like the grilling type."
Awesome laughed slightly. "Neither do you."
Molly smiled back. "I suppose you're right. My Dad taught me. I used to help him grill every fourth of July."
"You gonna do some grillin' this summer with your family then?"
Her smile faltered and Casey pushed down the urge to glare at Captain Awesome. Molly shook her head slowly and averted her gaze.
Dinner was twenty questions, Ellie being the main interrogator to both Chuck and Casey's surprise. What wasn't surprising was Molly's ability to dodge each question artfully. Morgan, who was in the middle of masticating a particularly large cut of sirloin asked, "Tho, do you play any fideo gamths?"
Molly raised an eyebrow. "Who doesn't? I still own a super nintendo."
"If I weren't totally in love with Anna I would marry you IRL," Morgan said and Molly rolled her eyes.
"So," Ellie said, drawing everyone's attention with her clipped tone, "how did you meet John?"
"This is totally turning into an Okay Corral type thing," Molly muttered under her breath. Casey cracked a grin. Molly smiled brightly at Ellie. "Um, our families know each other. We go way back-"
"Ow," Chuck squealed as Casey's foot collided with his shin by mistake. He shot Casey a confused look and Casey snarled at him silently to keep his mouth shut.
Molly glanced sideways at Casey as she continued, "-like way back. You know, I'd say this would be a sequel in the saga that is our lives but it feels like everything leading up to this was more like a prequel...minus Jar Jar."
"Can I just say, you are like the coolest chick ever," Morgan moaned as he finished off his steak. "You play video games, watch Star Wars, and cook."
"What is it exactly you do," Ellie asked, squinting at her across the table.
"Kick puppies to death," Molly deadpanned, "seriously, what's with this? I'm waiting for you to transfer me to holding or something and shine an obscenely bright light in my face."
Cue awkward silence as Molly and Ellie began an intense stare down. Morgan's eyes darted between the two women. Captain Awesome and Chuck looked utterly confused. Molly pushed away from the table, her chair scrapping against the concrete loudly. "Look before this gets any more daytime drama, I'm gonna go bake something and pretend I didn't just step into some alternate reality."
Everyone remained silent for several minutes, staring after Molly as she disappeared into Casey's apartment.
"She bakes, too?!"
They all turned slowly to look at Morgan, who was busy tearing into his third steak.
"I don't like her," Ellie snapped, as she dumped the dishes into the sink. Morgan, Captain Awesome, and Morgan all stared at her, dumbfounded. Chuck was the first to speak. "What? Why?"
"She's too young for him!"
"Hence one of the many reasons why I totally respect Casey now," Morgan exclaimed. Ellie scrubbed mercilessly at a plate, shaking her head. "They have nothing in common."
"You don't know that," Chuck argued. It was really hard for him to argue much with his sister on that point when he knew the truth of the matter-well some of the truth of the matter. "For all you know, when they're alone they're a completely normal if awkwardly paired couple."
"Like you and Sarah," Morgan put in.
"Exactly," Chuck said, beginning to nodded. "Hey!"
"I just don't like her."
"Well, honey, you don't have to," Awesome pointed out, "besides, now the guy has someone to come home to. It's nice. Plus, they have a history, so, it makes the connection stronger."
"I must say, I'm curious as to what kind of history it is," Ellie finally admitted, turning away from the sink. She bit down on her lip and looked up at the three men before her. They were all nodding.