All right! We're back.

Thanks to my wife and Anon for their editing brilliance.

Thanks to all of you readers and especially to you reviewers. (MORE! PLEASE!)

Don't own the show.

On with the fic.

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"Wendell Wagner. Pleased to meet you both."

Chuck smiled amiably. Casey didn't. Chuck considered elbowing the Colonel in the side and reminding him of proper etiquette, but he didn't think he could pull it off without Wagner noticing.

This wasn't a good way to build a new relationship. Chuck would have much preferred Sarah to have been there for the meeting, given that she and Wagner were both CIA. Casey would have none of it. He insisted on meeting the new contact himself, to size him up. Sarah acquiesced, clearly not wishing to make a fight of it.

Maybe she should have. Between Casey's usual antipathy toward CIA agents, and his apparent new attitude that everybody was suspect, he wasn't bothering to give Wendell Wagner the benefit of the doubt.

Chuck had immediately flashed on meeting Wagner, of course. Wagner was 31. He had spent five years as an analyst before rising to full agent. His evaluations were never less than fine with a commendation here and there. Nothing exceptional. Nothing that stood out as a warning sign.

In spite of Casey muttering under his breath, Chuck provided Wagner with a tour of Castle, after which the three men convened in the meeting room.

"So," began Chuck, "we appreciate you being here to help us out, Agent Wagner. What can you tell us about the General being shot?"

"She was shot at close range with a weapon that Agent Roan Montgomery normally uses. There appears to have been a struggle. The firearm was found at the scene with Agent Montgomery's fingerprints on it. In the room where the shooting occurred was General Beckman's computer which had a photo of Agent Montgomery in what would appear to be an incriminating position. We know that Agent Montgomery and General Beckman were cohabiting. There is also video footage of Agent Montgomery fleeing the scene."

"Oh," said Chuck sadly. "I had… well, I liked Roan. I had kinda hoped that the case against him would be less airtight."

To Chuck's surprise, Wagner began laughing. "C'mon! This is obviously a frame-up!"

"Uhhhh?" grunted both Chuck and Casey simultaneously.

Wagner's smile seemed mischievous. "It all fits together just a bit too neatly, doesn't it? The weapon with fingerprints left on the scene? The incriminating evidence left right there for all to see? The culprit spotted running away? C'mon."

Chuck looked up to see Casey trying to take this all in. The Colonel seemed uncertain. Chuck let out a sigh. This was hopeful. "I guess… it does make you wonder."

"Well, yeah!" crowed Wagner, "And that's not even the biggest piece of evidence to consider."

"Really? What's that?" Chuck leaned forward.

Wagner leaned forward as well, so their faces were less than a foot apart, and said in a voice with utter conviction, "There is simply no way that Agent Roan Montgomery, the greatest spy who ever lived, would ever commit treason against his country."

Captain Awesome was going to lunch. Usually Devon coordinated breaks so he could be with Ellie, but there were times when their schedules couldn't be reconciled, and this was one of those days

Today, Devon had apparently decided to eat out. Sarah didn't like that. It made her job harder if Devon and Ellie were at different sites. As if the hospital wasn't big enough. Should there be a dual attack; Sarah would have a serious problem.

As it was, when one of the two was on-call, both she and Casey had to put in for watch-duty simultaneously. At least in those cases, Chuck was at home with the other, and all three of the Woodcomb-Bartowksi family could be monitored at the same time. Still, this arrangement wasn't exactly optimal. She wished that she could have been there for the meeting today. What concerned her more, though, was the thought of Chuck continuing to go on dangerous missions with only one of them to watch his back. Yes, his Intersect abilities were arising to protect his partners, but even so, not having the advantage of the full team was a deep concern to her. If something happened…

Devon walked past the parking lot and to "Cheezers" across the street. Not far away from Westside. Good. She wouldn't even have to move her car to be able to see him. Devon walked past a couple of homeless guys who were hanging outside of the sandwich shop, and into the restaurant.

Of course, she couldn't see him in the place, but she normally had only audio surveillance anyway. So it was that she heard Devon say, "Thanks for coming," and a voice she knew respond, "Anything for my son-in-law."

After they ordered, Devon got into the crux of the matter. "I wanted to have this conversation earlier, Steve, but I didn't want Ellie to know, and I don't usually go to your cottage to just hang out, and chat."

"You're always welcome, Devon, you know that." Stephen looked at Devon's face. He could tell what the young man was thinking. Devon didn't want to visit Stephen. Devon wanted to spend as little time with Stephen as humanly possible. Of course, Devon wouldn't say that. He was a kind man, after all. Stephen decided to let him off the hook. "Go ahead with what you need to say, Son."

"I already had this conversation with Chuck. I was upset, but he convinced me that he had his sister's best interests at heart."

Stephen smiled. "He's a good man."

Devon nodded. "He is. I've known him for years now, and I saw how awesome he was long before I ever knew what he really did. So, I trust him. But Steve…" Here, Devon stopped, his face first appearing troubled, then apologetic.

"You don't trust me," said Stephen, not unkindly.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I just have nothing to go on with you, Man. It seems like your own kids don't even know you."

"That's because I haven't given them the chance." He didn't feign regret. He was long past that.

Devon frowned. "That seems unfair to them and to you."

Stephen nodded. "It's unfair to all of us, but there's a reason I do that. A reason that I abandoned them for ten years. A reason that I came back. I made those decisions to protect my children. Their safety and well-being is my first priority. If I needed to sacrifice myself or leave for another ten years to ensure their protection, I'd do it."

Devon's expression changed to one of alarm. "Steve, please don't think I'm asking you to leave! Chuck and Ellie need you."

Stephen smiled. He truly liked this man his daughter had chosen. "They don't need me, Devon. They have each other to rely on. They have you and Sarah, and they have their friends. Don't worry about chasing me away, though. I have no plans to leave just yet."

Devon breathed out a sigh of relief and Stephen thought, I still have a task to finish.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"HE'S A ROAN MONTGOMERY FANBOY!!!"

Chuck moaned. At least he'd been able to drag Casey out of the conference room and up to their front office before the Colonel fully exploded. Casey was yelling so loudly though that Chuck thought Wagner might be able to make out the words through reinforced concrete.

"Casey, would you please calm down? Yes, he's enthusiastic."

"He keeps photos of the man in PLASTIC!" Casey hissed.

"Mylar sleeves, actually." Chuck quickly realized that was the wrong thing to say when his partner gave him a look that could dissolve steel. "OK," Chuck said hurriedly, "I will go back down with him, and I'll get all the information. You can wait up here."

"I'm going to do more than wait," growled Casey. "I'm going to call Gondel and tell him that this is a fucking waste of time."

"Now, John, please don't yell or swear at your superior officer," stammered Chuck, before turning and running back downstairs. That would be all they needed: Casey being fired or imprisoned for insubordination.

Casey had a point though. This sure didn't seem like the best way to conduct an investigation. Wagner had precious few details to offer Team Bartowski, it seemed. No ballistics reports on the shooting. No video footage of Roan's escape. They weren't even allowed to see the "incriminating" footage from Beckman's computer. All they were told was that Roan had been deeply involved with the American secret arming of the Mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and now that past work had come back to haunt him in some manner. That was too vague. With no image, and no name aside from Roan's, Chuck wasn't flashing. He and Casey had tried to argue that they could not perform a sufficient analysis without further data, but Wagner apologetically said the other evidence had been determined classified. Then the agent had pulled out his precious photos, which was when Casey had lost it.

Well, the situation was what it was, and Chuck would hardly make it better by becoming upset himself. Besides, it was refreshing to see somebody who had such unwavering faith in Roan. He walked back into the conference room, and forced a smile. "I think two can work even better than three," he said, a trifle too jovially. Wagner had set all of his photos out on the table in neat piles. They covered the entire surface. The CIA agent seemed enraptured.

Keeping his eyes on his beloved pictures, Wagner said, "I'm sorry I'm not able to provide you more information about the crime scene, but I think you might be able to learn a lot from looking at the photojournalistic history of the man himself."

Well, either Wagner hadn't noticed Casey's ranting or he didn't care. Chuck grabbed a chair and sat down to scan over the pictures in the event that he might flash on anything. "How...uh, how did you become so interested in Agent Montgomery?

"I did my thesis on him."

Chuck looked up. "They make you do theses in the CIA?"

"I was recruited for a special profiling unit with the purpose of studying agents in the field, finding out what makes the successful ones tick to improve training curriculum. When you join that unit, you're initially assigned one specific subject and the thesis is your end product. I was lucky enough to get Agent Montgomery."

"Cool." Chuck felt himself briefly become fuzzy, as he scanned a picture of Roan with a sultry-looking Brunette and flashed. Immediately he saw the record of a former Soviet spy with whom Roan had a dalliance. Roan had apparently later noted her sexual proclivities in her profile. Cute. Chuck shook off the effect and asked, "Did you ever get to meet him?"

"Only once," replied Wagner. "I didn't get a chance to ask him many questions. He took me out to an exclusive bar and proceeded to get intoxicated. He kept trying to, er… get me a girl." Wagner flushed, appearing suddenly uncomfortable. "But hey," the agent brightened, "I understand you actually got to work with him on a mission! What was that like?"

Chuck winced, pushing back a headache. He had just flashed on the photo of an ex-Nazi Roan had taken down in the 80's. "Uh," he focused back on Wagner, "it was great! He drinks a lot, as I'm sure you noticed, but he's one of a kind. A legend."

Wagner nodded approvingly. "Yeah, he is. Decades of experience fighting enemies that would destroy our country. Possibly the most brilliant operative in the history of this nation. Assuming he would actually turn – ridiculous, of course – how could anybody really think he'd be stupid enough to leave all that evidence behind? It's a set-up!"

Chuck smiled. "Fanboy" wasn't entirely off, but having had his share of obsessive interests, he could hardly fault Wagner for his mania. He picked up a photo of a young Roan chatting amicably with another man with long curly black hair, a thick face, and a moustache.

Chuck flashed. Images filled his mind, as did two names, and one of them…

Chuck blinked, and stared at the photo bringing it up closely to his face. He could barely make out the eyes. "Agent Wagner, can you come here for a moment?" Wagner complied and came around to Chuck's side of the table to look at the photo.

"Do you have any idea of who this is?" Chuck asked pointing to the picture of the man with Roan.

Wagner shook his head. "No, I don't know all the subjects that he's encountered. Many of them, but not this one." He pulled the photo from its mylar sleeve, and looked on the back. "January 24, 1977," he read. "Roan would have been thirty at the time."

Chuck did some of his own math in his head. "Can you… Can you excuse me for a moment?"

The rest of the lunch between Captain Awesome and Orion had gone well, thought Sarah. It seemed clear to her that all Devon had desired was some reassurance about Stephen's priorities toward his children. This, Steve had provided in abundance.

Sarah was glad to hear it too. The more she listened to the elder Bartowski, the more she felt in her gut that he was trustworthy. Beckman had been on a power trip, that was all. Sarah decided that she wouldn't move forward on the General's request, and would renegotiate the discussion if- no, when Beckman recovered. The surveillance she had just done of Orion was all that was necessary.

And I won't have to lie to Chuck, she thought, a small smile forming at her lips as she watched Devon and Stephen leave the sandwich shop together.

One of the homeless guys came up to them. "A little money for a bite, Gentlemen?"

Sarah froze. The voice came through clearly via Devon's transmitter. She grabbed her binoculars, and trained them on the three men. Devon was smiling, handing the man a couple of bucks. The beggar's back was to her. She couldn't see his face. She could see Stephen's, though. Stephen's expression was disturbed. He stared at the homeless man for a moment. Stephen reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of bills himself, which he slipped into the man's hand. Stephen then took Devon by the right arm, leading him away, and saying in a forced tone, "We've got to get you back to your shift, Son."

The man kept his back turned, but called after them, "You're both very kind. Thank you." He then walked into the sandwich shop himself.

Sarah jammed her key into the ignition, and peeled out. She hoped that neither Devon nor Orion would notice her car. She hoped that no attack would come against any Bartowski or Woodcomb in the next few minutes.

She was across the street in less than a minute. She got out of her car and rushed into the restaurant, her eyes scanning frantically. Nothing. She poked her head through both restrooms. No. She ignored the upset voices of the staff as she pushed her way through the employee area, and checked the kitchen, before busting through the back door.

No sign. Shit, she thought desperately.

She conducted a radius search. First on foot, then in her car. She kept her ears plugged to the transmitters in case something happened at the hospital.

Finally, she gave it up for loss. The man was gone. She drove back to her parking space in the hospital, her mind buzzing.

That had been Roan Montgomery. She was sure of it. He had tried to make contact with Orion, and Orion knew him. She was sure of that too. She considered calling Stephen on his cellular, but what would she say? What if he didn't tell the truth?

Beckman had asked her to spy on Orion. Beckman was supposedly shot by Roan Montgomery. Roan Montgomery had just tried to contact Orion.

Roan Montgomery and Orion.