Sorry for taking so long. Real life just sometimes doesn't understand.

Thanks to Brandywine00 for the beta and the encouragement.

Thanks to KuryakinGirl for the conversation and the laughter. :-D

Chapter 3

Casey flipped on the light and the intruder immediately turned, dropping the items in his hands.

"Hey asshole, those don't belong to you." Casey moved into the room.

"This doesn't concern you!" The intruder said defiantly.

"Well you see, that's where you're wrong. The lady whose stuff you are pilfering through is a close personal friend of mine. So, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?" Casey replied, reading the intruder's body language for the answer, in case the guy couldn't tell he was no match for a trained government agent.

"You don't scare me." He charged at Casey, trying to throw him off balance.

"I love it when they pick the hard way." Casey blocked his attack and followed through with a hit to the stomach. The intruder doubled over and tried to ram his head into Casey's stomach. Casey blocked his head and immediately took his fists and pounded the guy in the back taking him down. Placing his foot on his back he pulled out his cell phone. Sarah immediately picked up.

"Walker, I just intercepted an intruder in Ellie's bedroom. I need time to figure out if it's a random B&E or if he's connected to our mission. Can you send me two of our guys over as cops?"

"You got it. Is Ellie okay?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah. She's safe in my place."

"Good. Unit is on its way."

"Thanks. I'll check in later." Casey disconnected the call and yanked the perp up. "Who are you? And what are you doing here?"

"Go to hell." The guy struggled to get away. A quick upper cut to the chin and the guy was out cold.

Dragging the guy out into the hallway he met the officers Sarah had sent. Nodding to two of them Casey handed the guy over. "Take this guy, Agent Walker will meet you at Castle. Leave him for me. I want to do the interrogation personally."

The two nodded and left. Casey turned to the other two. "I need to go get the lady who lives here. She's currently at my place. Just ask her the standard questions and take a statement."

Casey made his way back to his apartment. Knocking on the door he called out. "Ellie, it's Casey. You can open the door now." He heard the locks turn and when the door opened he smiled. She had left the chain on as a precaution. Once she verified that it was indeed Casey, she pulled the chain free and opened the door. "Good thinking. Double checking." He closed the door behind him.

"Thanks. Is everything ok? Who was he? What did he want?" She was standing with her arms crossed like she was trying to hold herself.

"Yes, everything is ok." Casey tried to calm her. "I need you to come back your place and give the officers a statement."

"I don't want to see him," she said with a shaky voice.

"You don't have to. They've already taken him into custody. The only people there are the police officers." Casey assured her. "Besides, I'll be right there with you."

"Okay. Thanks. Let's get this over with." She took a deep breath and led him out the door.

After the officers left, Ellie stood looking with trepidation down the hall towards her bedroom door.

"Are you ok?" Casey asked.

"I don't want to be alone tonight. Will you stay with me?" She asked, looking away from the hallway and directly into his eyes.

"Wouldn't you rather Chuck stayed?" He wasn't sure him staying the night was a good idea. Especially with the thoughts that had been going through his head lately.

"No offense to my brother, but he could sleep through a nuclear attack." Then she added softly. "I'd feel safer with you."

She looked at him with those eyes and he knew he couldn't turn her down, no matter how hard it would be for him.

"Of course I'll stay. I just need to go to my place and get some stuff." At her look of panic of being left alone even for a few minutes, he added, "You can come with me."

She relaxed again. "Okay. I really appreciate this, Casey. I'm sorry I'm such a wimp."

"Hey don't talk about yourself that way. I think you're really brave."

"You do?"

"Definitely. I mean come on, you raised Chuck and probably Morgan for the most part." He was rewarded with a smile.

"You're right, I am a very brave woman." She laughed.

"Told you." She followed him to his apartment.

Once there he left her in the living room, while he went into the bedroom to pack a bag. Looking around the room she noticed how neat, organized and clean everything was. She was just approaching the bookcase when she heard him come back into the room.

"That was fast," she said turning towards him.

"Well, I travel light," he joked. "Ready?"

"Sure." She smiled and headed towards the door.

Once inside her apartment, Casey set his stuff down on the couch. I'll get you a pillow and blanket," she said as she made her way down the hallway. Knowing he was right behind her gave her a sense of calm. She opened the hall closet and pulled down the items. Neither one was prepared for the spark of electric that passed between them when their hands touched. They stood there for a moment just looking at each other. Finally John broke the stare and pulled the items the rest of the way out of Ellie's arms. Turning, he made his way back the couch.

"Well, make yourself at home," Ellie said from behind him.

"I will, thanks." He proceeded to make up the bed, needing to keep himself busy so that he didn't turn around and have her in his arms so fast she wouldn't remember getting there.

"Have a good night. I'll see you in the morning," she said to his back.

"Yeah, you too," Casey replied.

Ellie couldn't make herself walk down the hallway.

"I won't let anyone near you. You're safe," Casey said from behind her. He had turned and made his way up to her without her even hearing him.

"I know. I just hate that he was in here touching my things," she replied.

"At least we got him." He knew one thing, tomorrow this guy was paying for putting her through this.

"Night, Casey," Ellie said and moved toward her bedroom.

Once the door was shut, Casey finished making the couch up. Once that was done, he picked up his bag and went to the bathroom to change for the night.

Later on the couch, he found his mind wandering down the hall to where she slept. He already knew what she looked like when she slept from the hours of surveillance footage he had watched. He wanted to the vision live and up close. Wanted to open her door, crawl into her bed, hold her, and if she woke up, make love to her.

He had just drifted off to sleep, thinking of her, when her scream pierced the silence and his body was brought to full alert.

"CASEY!"