A/N: Time to kick things up a notch...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 7

It took a couple of days for Morgan to really believe what Lester had told him about Anna liking him. Though he had long since given up on getting anywhere with Marie, that didn't stop him making a big deal about talking to her and hanging around her when she was there at the BuyMore for her shift. He stood no chance at all next to a guy like John Casey and he wasn't fool enough to believe he did, but playing up to Marie would certainly get Anna's attention, if she really was jealous.

Of course, trying to look as if he were still interested in Marie whilst keeping an eye on the only female Nerd Herder was far from easy, and though he got the feeling that the looks Anna was sending his way were at least a little suggestive of jealousy and interest both, Morgan refused to make a move. He could do nothing without first getting the opinion of his good buddy, Chuck. Unfortunately, the guy hadn't been around much today, out on an install apparently, but he'd been gone for hours. Having returned just two minutes before, Morgan chased after Chuck straight into the home theatre room where he found his friend sat on the couch with his head in his hands.

"Hey, Chuck!" he came in yelling, closing the door behind him, "I need to... hey, you okay?" he stopped and checked the moment he noticed something might be wrong, "You look kinda wiped"

"It's been a long day" said Chuck tiredly, "I was just taking a minute to myself before I head home... it's fine" he said, forcing a smile.

The mission he'd just returned from had given him more than a headache with too many multiple flashes and a very close call with the business end of a terrorist's gun. Thankfully that was all over now but more stress lie ahead as Sarah, his pseudo-girlfriend who he was actually already kind of in love with, was going out to dinner with himself, Ellie and Awesome tonight. God, he hated lying to them.

"So, I need to ask you something" Morgan rambled on in the way he was wont to do no matter what the situation, "Lester and Jeff have this theory that Anna might kind of have a thing for yours truly" he smiled in cocky fashion even when Chuck looked amused by the very suggestion.

"Are you serious?" he checked, "I mean, Morgan she always acts like she hates you" he shook his head, "In fact, hasn't she actually said 'Morgan, I hate you' on more than one occasion?"

"This is true" his buddy nodded once, "but, see, things changed when Marie walked in here. Chuck, I got all swept up in her beauty and her eyes and those legs and... anyway" he shook his head to force himself out of the mini daze that had come over him, "Thing is, since then, Anna has been acting, I dunno, kinda starey and different, like nice to me and stuff, and maybe even jealous" he explained, "So I was thinking, should I go for it? With Anna, I mean?"

Chuck opened his mouth, meaning to answer the question, but not really knowing where to begin. Thankfully he was saved from the awkwardness by a tapping on the door and Marie walking in, looking worried.

"Hey, Chuck" she forced a smile, "I was wondering if you'd seen John?" she asked the worry returning to her features then, "I haven't seen him in a couple of days and I was positive we had the same shift today..."

"Oh, right, yeah" Chuck snapped his fingers and pointed, "Y'know what, you're right you did, but...er... see, Casey said something came up and he needed to switch shifts so he won't be around until, like, tomorrow, I think" he rambled through what he meant to say, hoping it sounded right.

With all the stuff in his head, real facts and cover stories and missions and the Intersect and all, it was hard to keep track of who was supposed to know what these days.

"Huh" was Marie's initial response, looking disappointed, "You think he's avoiding me?" she asked, making Chuck feel bad for the poor girl.

Here she was, a total babe, could have any guy in the BuyMore, hell, probably in the whole of Burbank, even the whole of the US, and she wanted John Casey. It was like Mission Impossible times a thousand to get that guy to admit he was human, never mind show an emotion. Even if he did like Marie there was little to no chance he'd tell her that.

"I'm sure Casey meant to tell you he wouldn't be around today" said Chuck as he got up to move past Marie and leave, "He's just... a complicated guy" he said in explanation, not sure what else he could say to be honest.

"Hey, Chuck, what about me?!" Morgan called behind his friend, getting up to run after him.

Marie watched them go and sighed. She didn't care what these people said. Seemed to her that John Casey was trying to avoid her, and if there was one thing Marie Clark would not stand for it was being ignored.

* * * * *

It was late in the evening, and for once Casey got a night off. Chuck's latest flash had led them on a dangerous mission that meant ditching the BuyMore in order to clear up the admin that followed. However, with that done and no more intel coming across from the bosses, there was really nothing left for him to do, not even keep watch over Bartowski since he was on a double date with Sarah, Ellie, and Devon tonight.

There wasn't a lot of downtime in Casey's job and despite the fact he loved what he did for a living, it was nice to get a little space and time to do his own thing once in a while. He'd just settled down into his recliner with a stiff drink and a cigar, got the lighter halfway to his face when some idiot knocked on his door.

For a few seconds, Casey thought about ignoring it, but there was no telling who it might be. Sure it could be one of his stupid neighbours asking to borrow a cup of sugar, or that bearded freak Grimes trying to track down Chuck. On the other hand, there was every chance it was actually somebody important in an official government capacity, with a solo mission for him to undertake.

Getting up from his chair, Casey abandoned his drink and smoke on the table and moved over to the door with some caution. Checking the in built screen to see who was there, he sighed when he realised it was only Marie. She wasn't a threat but she wasn't someone he would easily be able to get rid of either, which didn't exactly thrill him at all. Of course when he actually opened the door and bothered to take a proper a look at the woman, and moreover what she was wearing, the base emotion in him said maybe he didn't want her to leave anyway.

"Hey, John" said Marie in sultry fashion as she stood there in his doorway in a figure hugging little black dress and heels, one hand occupied by a bottle of decent wine, and the other flipping brunette waves over her shoulder.

"Marie" he replied, not sure exactly how he was going to play this, trying to stay neutral and non-agenty even as he asked his next question, "How'd you know where I live?"

"I may have done a little snooping at work" she admitted with an almost shy smile that did not belong on her face right now, given the way the rest of her looked.

She had a hell of a body, Casey had been aware of that from day one, but he saw a lot of well-built women in his line of work and figured he'd got a little immune to it. Of course, it was a whole different situation when these women turned up on your doorstep in very deliberately alluring clothes and with alcohol in their hand. He didn't have to be an agent to see the signs of a seduction being set up. Now came the question, did he mind being seduced?

"So, you gonna invite me in?" she asked after a long moment of almost awkward silence.

"Come in" he nodded once, stepping aside and giving her plenty of room to walk by.

Of course, that didn't stop her from letting her body slide against his as she came into the apartment and looked around some. Casey was only glad she hadn't shown up a half hour earlier when he was cleaning his guns or checking up on Chuck via his hi- tech listening equipment. That might have been a little tough to explain to a civilian like her.

"Y'know, I keep getting this feeling, John" she told him as he closed the door and followed her into the living room, getting one step behind her and suddenly finding she'd turned around to look back at him; it left the two of them incredibly close, "I feel like you might be avoiding me" she explained as she looked up at him through her long lashes, "Why would you do that?"

"I'm not" he told her, keeping his self-control for now at least, as he had been taught as an agent, "I've just been busy lately and..."

"And ever since we went out to the movies you've been busy" she pointed out, "We didn't even get to see the whole thing"

"I had a headache" he reminded her, knowing how dumb that sounded even in his own head but it was the excuse he had made and not sticking to it would only mean he had to come up with an even more elaborate lie - right now it didn't seem worth it.

She laughed like a bell at that, moving away to sit down on the arm of his leather recliner, crossing her legs just so.

"And here was me thinking that was a woman's excuse not to... participate" she said slyly, making Casey wonder on the moment outside the BuyMore, right after Bartowski and Walker fast-shuffled him into the very date she spoke of.

Marie had said something then about being a bad girl if that was what he wanted. It had stunned him then, though he hadn't shown it, and made him wonder how much of the sweet giggly girl he saw at the BuyMore was a front for the woman that lie underneath. She seemed to be neither one thing nor the other so completely, but one thing was clear. Whichever side of her personality was out to play, she always wanted him. Casey wasn't quite so sure what to do with that.

"I'll find a corkscrew and glasses" he said with a slight nod towards the bottle of wine she'd parked on the coffee table.

So much for a quiet night in, he thought, as he headed into the kitchenette, although it seemed that was just what Marie had in mind. Casey wasn't sure that going through with this, spending the night with her, was really fair, and yet in had been a long time and it wasn't as if she wasn't very willing apparently.

"I know what you're thinking" he heard her say behind him and turned to see her stood there, head tilted as she observed him, "It's kind of sudden, I know. We haven't known each other that long and I guess I can come off as kind of intense" she admitted, handing him the bottle of wine that she'd brought with her and watching as he worked to get the cork out, "It's just, I know what I want, John. Is there really anything wrong with that?" she asked in earnest, "A woman who knows what she wants and how to get it..." she said, popping open the first of three fasteners that kept the top of her dress closed across her chest, just at the moment the cork popped out of the bottle of wine.

When she walked carefully backwards into the room, Casey followed without even thinking about it much. Usually everything was so precise in his head, so calculated. Every move, every shot, every word. He never lost control, never felt anything, never allowed himself to give in. Unfortunately for him, he was fighting the laws of nature right now, going against man's base instincts if he thought he could resist such a temptation.

So much for the bottle of wine, that was easily abandoned on the table and forgotten as he stood before Marie, looking up at him with bright emerald eyes that shone with a want that he hadn't seen directed at him in years. His brain ran with a million thoughts that came all at once, including what an idiot he must be to be stood here wondering what to do next when it was so damn obvious. Doing the right thing was what he lived for, but once in a while that right thing had to be for you alone, forget everybody else.

It was perhaps the last truly coherent thought Casey bothered to have before his arm went around right around Marie's waist pulling her to him and kissing her long and hard.

She seemed surprised only for a moment that he had acted so suddenly, and quickly fell into the moment she'd waited too long for. Fingers sought out fasteners and ran through hair as they stumbled past furniture and he landed unceremoniously in his recliner with her body on top of his. She giggled briefly at the way they landed but was serious again in a moment as she caught his gaze and put her lips to his once more.

Marie had been in two minds about how far to go with this tonight. She needed to show John she would not be pushed aside and ignored, wanted him to believe how much she felt for him. This was perhaps not the most romantic of ways to be together, but she'd go with it because Heaven help her she didn't want this to end.

Unfortunately, through a haze of passion, both Marie and Casey heard the beeping of an alarm in the distance, and though she seemed willing to ignore the phone, watch, doorbell, whatever the hell it was in favour of seeking out further pleasure, he was not so willing. He was polite enough to excuse himself, but not so much that he didn't pretty much throw the woman aside in order to get out of the chair and practically run away.

Marie had barely got her breath when he returned a moment later and announced he had to go out, so she would have to leave.

"I don't understand" she shook her head as she watched him re-fasten the shirt she had deftly undone a moment ago and almost had completely off when the interruption had occurred, "I thought..."

"Yeah, sorry" he said quickly, "I have to go, it's a... friend of mine" he said, knowing damn well he couldn't tell her the real truth and that at least this was only a twist on it rather than a lie, "He's in some trouble, needs me to get him out of a jam" he said with a forced smile as he practically pushed Marie out of the door, "Maybe some other time" he added as he closed the door in her face before she could say another word or ask another question.

Leaning his back against the closed door a moment, Casey took a deep breath and collected himself before rushing back into agent mode. Losing himself with Marie was more than pleasant, way more in fact, but he had a job to do. Of course when he'd finished saving Bartowki's life, he was going to have to kill him for this, at least he was going to make the dumb kid think so!

Seething, Casey grabbed up his gun and hurried out the back door to save the day... again!

To Be Continued...