And we come to the end of this story. I originally said there would be eight chapters, but I decided to leave a few items out and just go with what I had. I wanted to thank everybody for reading it, and I especially wanted to thank everybody for reviewing it, especially Katsumara, BDaddyDL, Jimmy144, Jinxed97, PassionOverMind, CaptainRitteraSmith, Antivol, and everybody else I missed. I got a lot of positive reviews for it, and those are the things that keep authors going.
I'll probably take a break from writing on FanFiction, but I do have a script I'm submitting to the annual contest at Fox. Actually, the script is where the character of Jimmy Slade from my earlier stories originated. It's a sitcom script. Also I'll be doing some beta work for whomever needs it and finishing the clean-up of Chuck vs. the Alpha Version.
Thanks again for reading, and don't forget to review!
Unknown Location, Los Angeles
November 11, 2010
3:00 PM
Morgan slowly awoke in a chair in the middle of an empty warehouse. He felt a blindfold around him, and his hands and feet were tied. He was still a bit disoriented from the effects of the tranquilizer dart.
"Sarah?" he timidly eked out.
"Shhhh…" a voice hissed at him from his left.
"What, Sarah?" Morgan quietly replied, recognizing her voice.
"We don't want to give away we're awake. If they think we're still unconscious, they may not pay as much attention to us."
"Yeah, but what if they're, like, in the room right now?"
Sarah shook her head and smiled. Morgan still had a ways to go in the spy world. But at least he was willing to try. "They would have figured we're conscious by now."
"Morgan?" a voice to Sarah's left whispered out.
"Alex?" Morgan was shocked to hear her voice. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I don't know. I fell unconscious after my last class at 'SC. They must have brought me here."
"You were probably tranquilized the same as us," Sarah replied.
"But why?"
"This would have to be Grishenko. He knew you two were working with us. They must be after the rest of the computer equipment and intend to use us as hostages."
"OK…uh, so not good," Morgan nervously replied. "I mean, Beckman wouldn't just give them all that stuff to save us, right? She doesn't really strike me as the warm, gooey type."
Sarah shook her head. "Her first instinct would be to tell the team guarding the equipment to destroy it and take it out of the equation. She would consider us expendable in a heartbeat."
"So, there's nothing we can do?" Alex asked.
"Somehow, we have to convince Grishenko to call Chuck and Casey. Make him believe they're the only ones who can deliver him the equipment."
"But wouldn't it be stupid of them to hand Grishenko the equipment, too?
"Yes, but they'll delay him long enough for us to figure out how to break free."
"OK, but how do we do that?" Morgan asked. "I mean, I've seen, like, a million escape plans before in the movies. Jackie Chan was always good at doing that, so…"
First thing's first," Sarah interrupted. "We have to convince them to call Chuck and Casey. Otherwise breaking free won't get us very far since we don't even know where we are."
"How?" Alex asked.
Sarah thought for a moment before a smile graced her lips. "Everybody said how much you reminded them of your father. Let's see how good you are at suppressing your natural instincts."
Castle Underground Facility
November 11, 2010
3:30 PM
Chuck descended the stairs into Castle. He took a look around at the employees who worked here now. In a way, it was disappointing. This facility always felt like that little secret he kept from the rest of the world. That behind his role as a mild-mannered Nerd Herd associate; he was this secret agent who saved the day again and again. It was all very Clark Kent in its way. Except in his case, Lois was a blonde…and was way more talented than he was, although she would never brag about it. Why can't she be a tiny bit arrogant once in a while? Closed-off and guarded he learned to accept about her. But didn't she get how talented and hot she was? He used to have this fear when they finally got together a year ago she would figure out she could do better than him and leave him in the dust. But luck was on his side. If anything, she grew closer to him. He smiled at that thought. He used to think the Intersect took his life away from him. Now he realized it gave him one beyond his wildest dreams.
He walked to the conference table where Casey was seated. However, Casey was not his usual busy self. He just sat at the table and stared out into space. Chuck instantly knew something wasn't right. Seeing Casey not working was more disturbing than seeing Jeff and Lester doing actual work.
"Everything OK, big guy?" Chuck timidly asked.
Casey continued to stare out into space. "Talked to Alex today."
Chuck stood near him nervously shifting back and forth on his feet. "Oh. It didn't go well?"
Casey shrugged. "She left things in the air. Said she was overwhelmed by all of it. Me coming back, the Intersect, everything."
"Well, it is a lot to take, meeting your father for the first time in your life when you thought he was dead."
Casey glared at him, although much of the annoyance behind it didn't surface. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."
Chuck sat down at the table next to him. "Case, you knew this could happen. At least she's undecided. She could have said she never wanted to see you again, especially after you yelled at everybody two weeks ago over the Intersect."
"Glad to see that Bartowski optimism still works," Casey replied acidly.
Chuck exhaled in frustration. "Remember when Ilsa came back and you found out she worked for the French SIS? You were mad as hell at her. You sat at home and drank yourself silly. You never wanted to talk to her again. But you came through when she needed you. There was still something there. And who knows what will happen in the future?"
"I think there's a lot more to what happened with me and Alex."
"OK, true. But just give her some time. Even without you there, she turned out great. She's in college, she was willing to help us with the mission, and she even found Morgan."
Casey turned to Chuck with a low growl. "Not exactly a good idea to remind a trained killer who his daughter is dating."
"Hey," Chuck sharply replied. "She could do a lot worse than Morgan. OK, Morgan needs to grow up a bit, you're right. Maybe even a lot. But he's been doing that. And even you have to admit Morgan would be the last person who would ever do anything to hurt Alex. He practically worships the ground she walks on. You think Jill was ever like that with me? Or do you think Bryce ever thought he was lucky to be with Sarah?"
Casey slowly let out a breath and nodded. "Point taken." He was quiet for a moment. "And if it means anything, you and Walker getting together was the best thing to happen to the both of you."
Chuck grinned. "Aww…" He went to put his arms around Casey.
"Don't even…" Casey growled.
Chuck reversed his course. "Some day, we're gonna handcuff you to a pole and take turns hugging you until you crack. Think you can stand up to Ellie?"
Chuck's iPhone rang before Casey could give an answer. He saw Sarah's picture on the caller ID.
"Hey Sarah," Chuck began with a smile. It faded away instantly. "Alex, why are you calling from Sarah's phone?"
Casey rose in concern.
Unknown Location, Los Angeles
November 11, 2010
3:25 PM
"Alex, no!"
"Forget it, Morgan! This is the only way they'll let us live. You may not have the guts to tell Sarah what she can go do with herself, but I do!"
"Enough, Alex!" If not for the blindfold, Alex would have been on the receiving end of Sarah's most threatening glare. "You are not telling them how to get the computer equipment!"
"Shut up! You want to die for the old stars and stripes, you go right ahead. I'm getting my boyfriend and me out of here."
"You are not telling them about the equipment!"
"What is going on?
Sarah, Morgan, and Alex turned towards the direction of the voice. Grishenko walked out into the middle of the warehouse with his men. The blindfolds were removed from them.
"I want to make a deal," Alex said in a tone of desperation. "Let my boyfriend and me go, and I'll tell you how to get the computer equipment."
Grishenko smiled and shook his head. He went over to Alex. "And why should I believe an American spy?"
A few tears could be seen in Alex's eyes. "That's the point! I'm not a spy! This bitch roped my boyfriend into trying to take you down and I found out. I don't work for the government. I'm a student at USC! Isn't that where you found me?"
Grishenko turned to the man who captured in Alex, who nodded in confirmation of what Alex said.
"If you're not a spy, then how do you know you can get me the equipment?"
"Alex, please! They'll just kill us anyway!" Morgan pleaded.
Alex didn't listen. "I overheard Agent Walker talking with her co-workers. They're guarding the equipment. If you try to call the government, they'll just destroy anything there. But if you call her co-workers directly, they might be willing to bargain. They can get the team guarding the equipment away from the warehouse so you can go in."
"And why would they do that?"
Alex started shaking. She then looked down at the ground. "One of them is my father."
Grishenko looked at her in surprise. "Your father?"
Alex shook her head. "I haven't seen the son of a bitch my entire life. He walked out on my mother when I was an infant. You can put a bullet through his skull for all I care."
Grishenko appraised her for a moment. "It doesn't sound like he can be trusted. What about the other one? You said she had more than one co-worker."
Alex, shut up," Sarah growled at her.
"You tell her and I will never speak to you again," Morgan added.
"And if I don't, you won't be alive to speak to anybody again!" Alex shouted in his direction before turning back to Grishenko. "The other one is her boyfriend. His number is probably in her phone."
Grishenko looked behind him, and one of the men brought Sarah's phone to him. He scrolled through the list of names. He then showed the phone to Alex.
"Is that him?"
Alex nodded. "Yes, it's Chuck. His name is Chuck Stavros."
"You stupid bitch!" Sarah shouted at Alex. "Do you honestly believe this bastard will let you live!"
"Shut up!" Grishenko angrily slapped Sarah across the face. He then turned back to Alex. "If I get the equipment, you and your boyfriend will walk away from this. I promise."
Grishenko dialed Chuck's number and put the phone against Alex's face.
Castle Underground Facility
November 11, 2010
3:35 PM
Chuck, it's Alex."
"Alex, why are you calling from Sarah's phone?"
Please, just give them what they want and they'll let us go! I'm…"
Chuck's eyes widened. He put the phone on the desk and hit the speaker. Casey ran to a computer to attempt a trace on Sarah's phone.
"Mr. Stavros, I expect to see you at the warehouse where we found the equipment at five. Get rid of the team guarding it. Nobody but you and your partner is to be there. If you attempt anything, we will kill Alex, her boyfriend, and your girlfriend."
He immediately hung up the phone. Casey slammed his fist on the table.
"Not enough time to trace it," he said in frustration.
Chuck's fear was rising. "Why would Alex be pleading for her life like that? She must know they would never let her go. And if not, Sarah would have told her."
Casey went over what Alex and Grishenko said in his mind. "She does know that. Walker must have a plan in mind and Alex was acting. But why would Grishenko call you Stavros?" Casey was silent for a moment. "Wait, didn't Walker get loose from her ropes in order to free you from that warehouse when Stavros captured the two of you?"
Chuck was frozen a moment. "Yes, she did. She got loose and started taking out Stavros' men when you found us. Is she going to try the same thing there?"
"If she is, we have to delay Grishenko long enough for her to contact us. Any ideas, Bartowski?"
Chuck gave it some thought. "Perhaps it's time I put my skills to good use."
"I'm assuming the Intersect will come into play at some point. Both yours and mine."
Chuck shook his head and smiled. "I was thinking of something else."
Unknown Location, Los Angeles
November 11, 2010
4:00 PM
Grishenko gathered everybody at the warehouse out of earshot of Sarah, Morgan, and Alex.
"We will go to the warehouse and verify the government team is gone. We take the two agents with us. They could prove to be of some value to us." He turned to the four men who were to be left behind. "Wait for our call, just in case they won't make a move without seeing their comrades alive. Once we're done, get rid of those three."
The four men nodded in agreement. Grishenko took the remaining men out of the warehouse.
Sarah, Morgan, and Alex remained in their chairs. Sarah tried to get a lay of the land, but the warehouse looked like every other one she had seen in her life. There were no windows, and it appeared Grishenko's men were in an office at the far end. She looked around for surveillance cameras, but she could not find any.
"Was that OK?" Alex quietly asked Sarah.
"You did great. Very convincing."
"But now what?" Morgan asked.
"Can you move your chair closer to me?" Sarah asked him.
Morgan struggled against the ropes tying him to the chair. The chair scraped against the ground.
"Quietly!" Sarah hissed.
"Sorry," Morgan whispered as he leaned to his left. He got two of the chair legs in the air. He leaned back to lift a third leg into the air, allowing him to pivot towards Sarah. He then leaned in the opposite direction to pivot on the other chair leg towards her.
"Nice. Keep going," Sarah whispered as she leaned to her right to do the same thing. They moved their chairs next to each other.
"OK, now pivot the chair so your back is to me. I have a knife under my skirt on my right leg."
Morgan froze. "Whoah, wait. What will Chuck…I mean, I want to help and all that, but Alex is…"
"Morgan!" Sarah and Alex growled at the same time.
"Sorry, sorry," he muttered as he slinked in his chair. He reached back to find the knife. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to touch you there! Totally an accident, I swear!"
Sarah was incredulous. "Morgan, that was the armrest on the chair."
"What? Sorry, my fault."
"Exactly what did you think you were grabbing…" Alex started with some hostility in her words.
"Never mind, just keep going," Sarah encouraged. Morgan finally got a hold of the knife handle. "OK, good. Pull it out slowly."
Morgan got the knife out of its sheath. Sarah carefully leaned to her right.
"OK, move your hand to the right," she told Morgan. "A little more…a little more. Now let the knife just fall out of your hands."
Morgan let go of the knife, but it bounced off of his thumb. The knife fell towards the floor, but Sarah managed to stretch out her hands and grab it before it hit the ground.
"Whew, got it. Morgan, move your chair back so they don't suspect anything."
Morgan moved his chair back to its original spot while Sarah worked on the ropes tying her hands together.
City of Industry, CA
November 11, 2010
4:45 PM
Chuck and Casey drove up to the warehouse and stopped at the command center for the team guarding the equipment. Casey immediately got out of the car and flashed his ID.
"Who is in charge?" The team commander approached him. Casey pulled out a map of the area. "Commander, you are to take your team and fall back to this position."
"Sir, we are under orders not to leave…"
"This is coming from General Beckman herself. We received intel indicating a terrorist group may attempt to seize the assets in the warehouse. We want the group captured here and now, but we need them to think you've been sent away. Otherwise, they'll know something's wrong. If you haven't gotten a signal from me by 1715 hours, you orders are to surround the building and breach the structure. Tear gas, flashbangs, the works. Detain anybody and everybody you find. Also contact the L.A.P.D. and CHP and have them on standby in case one of these bastards make it out of the complex and try to flee. Fall back right now and make the necessary preparations."
"Yes, sir," the team commander replied. He signaled for his men to fall back per Casey's orders.
Casey turned to Chuck. "We'll keep out of sight until they arrive. You sure you know what you're doing?"
Chuck smiled. "All those years at the Buy More are finally going to pay off."
Unknown Location, Los Angeles
November 11, 2010
5:00 PM
"Got it," Sarah quietly whispered.
She carefully loosened the ropes tying her wrists together to slip her hand out of them.
"That took a while," Morgan said. "Isn't there some really cool spy class where they teach you about slipping out of ropes or handcuffs or something? I figured you'd get loose in, like, two seconds."
"Next time, I'll let you try it," Sarah replied with some irritation. She took the knife and cut the ropes holding her legs to the chair. Footsteps were heard in the distance.
"Damn, it must be five o'clock," Sarah replied as she fixed her arms and legs to make it look like she was still tied up. "Alex, are you ready?"
"And I thought those theater classes were just a fun break between Calculus and Physics," she replied as she hung her head.
Two of the men approached Sarah, Morgan, and Alex from the opposite end of the warehouse. Sarah kept a wary eye on them. One of them had a gun out.
"Oh, God, what have I done? They're going to kill us! We're never getting out of here alive!" Alex screamed as she worked herself into a frenzy. The two men approached her.
"Hey, calm down, lady. You heard the boss. You're being let go, right? So quit screaming."
"No we won't! God, Sarah, I' m so sorry! You were right. Why don't you just kill us now, huh? Don't play this crap with us! You were always going to kill us!"
"Of course we…"
"LIAR!" Alex belted out in absolute terror. "Please! Just kill us now! I can't stand waiting!"
The man closest to her exhaled. "OK, we'll end it nice and painless for you. You won't feel a thing."
The man closer to Sarah took a step towards Alex and turned his back to her. Sarah slipped her feet out of the ropes and jumped up. She spun and gave a roundhouse kick to the back of the man's head, who fell forward and knocked his partner down. Sarah quickly cut the ropes holding Alex, who jumped out of the chair and out of the way as the two men got up. Sarah landed a hard chop at the throat of one man and sent a back kick into the other. Alex grabbed the knife and freed Morgan. One of the assailants tried to pull his gun out, but Alex threw the knife, nailing him in the arm and forcing him to drop his gun. Sarah landed a vicious hook on that man to knock him unconscious. The second man charged her from behind.
He was knocked unconscious two steps shy of Sarah. She turned around to see Morgan holding the chair he used to smash over the man's head.
Sarah was relieved. "It is scary how far you've come, Morgan."
He shrugged and smiled as he put the remains of the chair down. "Beats electrocuting myself. I mean, it was days before my hands stopped shaking. You know how hard it is to play Halo when you can't hold the controller steady?"
Sarah searched Grishenko's men and found their mobile phones. She took their guns and activated the emergency callout on her phone.
"Shouldn't we call Chuck and tell him we're OK?" Alex asked.
"Not just yet," Sarah replied. "Once we have this place secured, we can call them. For all we know, there might be a dozen more men here. It'll take the NSA anywhere from two to ten minutes to get here, but they'll secure the building once we do."
"But what if Grishenko gets away with the computer equipment?"
"Don't worry," Sarah replied in complete confidence. "Your father won't let that happen. He's saved the day more times than we'll ever know."
Sarah quietly walked along the wall of the warehouse with Morgan and Alex on her heels. She kept the gun in front of her as they went around a corner. An arm knocked the gun out of her hand, followed by a punch to her face. Sarah was knocked down, and Morgan and Alex jumped back. The remaining two men tried to go after them, but Sarah swept her leg to knock them to the ground. She bounced up and landed a roundhouse kick on one of the men as he tried to get up. She threw a wicked jab at the other before he could get to his feet. Morgan and Alex quickly got up. Alex ran over to Sarah.
"Are you OK?" Alex asked her.
"Fine," Sarah quickly replied. "Where did that gun end up…"
"WATCH IT!" Morgan ran and pushed Sarah and Alex down as Percival fired from the door. Morgan collapsed as he was hit.
"Morgan!" Alex cried as she crawled over to him, holding onto his bleeding shoulder. Sarah quickly looked around for the gun as Percival kept his gun aimed at her. He was completely beside himself.
"You try to seduce me? To try and take me down?" He cocked the gun.
The door to the warehouse burst open and NSA agents swarmed in.
"Drop the gun! Now!" A half-dozen agents trained their guns on Percival, taking him by surprise. He dropped the gun to the ground. Two agents placed him in handcuffs as the remaining four began to search the warehouse. Two EMTs went to Morgan's aid.
Sarah joined them. "Morgan, are you OK?"
Morgan growled in pain from being shot as Alex held him in her arms. "God, is it supposed to hurt this much?"
Sarah smiled and knelt down next to him as the EMTs attended to him. "I'm afraid so."
"Oh, man. How do you and Casey do it?"
"Believe me. Nobody can teach you to be brave. That was all you."
"So, I'm like, a real hero now, right?"
Sarah patted his uninjured shoulder. "You've been one for quite a while, Morgan. It doesn't get any more heroic than what you just did."
Alex held Morgan's hand while the EMTs gently loaded him onto a stretcher. Sarah placed a call to Casey.
City of Industry, CA
November 11, 2010
5:00 PM
Chuck and Casey watched Grishenko exit an SUV with a half-dozen men. They walked to the entrance of the warehouse with their guns out. Chuck and Casey slowly walked out of the warehouse with their hands up.
"The team is gone. I ordered them to stand down," Casey said.
"Very good," Grishenko replied. He trained his gun on them. "However, I do not just want the equipment."
Chuck was confused. "What…what are you talking about?"
Grishenko held up a flash drive. "Surveillance footage from the warehouse and from the hotel. We have a full file on Colonel Casey. Suddenly, he has all of these skills he picked up since we last saw him? How did he do that? And of course, Agent Carmichael, you are very familiar to us."
Grishenko motioned with his gun, and his men moved Chuck and Casey back in the warehouse. They walked to the room where the Intersect computer was.
"And this room," Grishenko continued. "All of these monitors but only one computer? What is controlled from here? Is it a surveillance system? A way to spy on everyone?"
"Uh, actually, actually, this is really cool stuff," Chuck nervously replied as he pointed at the computer in the middle of the room. "This is a Roark R7-B computer with a 4 terabyte hard drive and 32 gigs of ram. It's a totally state-of-the-art computer."
"And the monitors?"
"Well, the new RIOS 4 operating system lets you put different windows on different monitors. We think The Ring was experimenting with it. But when we got to it, the computer was damaged. We think they downloaded a virus and wiped it out. We were trying to restore the computer when you showed up."
Behind Chuck, Casey's mobile phone vibrated. He slipped it out of his pocket undetected and quickly glanced at it.
We're safe. Operation Stavros worked. Take them out.
Grishenko growled and put his gun to Chuck's head. "You are stalling, Carmichael."
Chuck looked around as his Intersect kicked into action. Grishenko's men closed in, and Casey felt his Intersect locate his combat program.
Casey stood next to Chuck. "Well, guess what, Grishenko?"
Casey's hand snaked out and grabbed Grishenko's wrist, pulling the gun away from Chuck.
"You're right."
Casey let out a primal scream as he head-butted Grishenko. Chuck pushed off of Casey's shoulders into the air and whipped his leg at the head of one of Grishenko's men to knock him down. Casey spun and landed a jab at the man to his left then pivoted to land a roundhouse kick the man behind him. Chuck landed a palm strike at a fourth man and back-kicked another man to the ground. Casey grabbed Chuck and whipped him around to land a hard boot to two more men. Grishenko tried to get up and aim his gun. Casey threw a haymaker at him to put him down permanently. Chuck spun in the air and landed a flying kick at the last man to knock him out.
Casey turned to Chuck, still breathing hard from taking out Grishenko's men. He gave a grunt of satisfaction.
"I can see why you like this thing, Bartowski. Quite the adrenaline rush."
Chuck looked at Casey in wide-eyed shock. "That's it!"
Chuck ran for the Intersect computer and found the first program he tried to get Casey's Intersect out. He activated the program. The door to the Intersect room slid shut.
"Bartowski, what are you…" Casey growled.
"Adrenaline, Case!" Chuck turned and covered his eyes as the lights went out and the screens filled with thousands of images. Casey instinctively tried to cover his eyes, but he was too late. His mind fixated on the images as they flashed on the monitors. The program ended, and Casey collapsed to the ground.
The lights came on in the room, and the door slid open slowly. Chuck opened his eyes and ran for Casey. He checked for a pulse.
"Thank God, you still have a pulse," Chuck said to the unconscious Casey. "Come on, buddy. Wake up…wake up…"
After several agonizing moments, Casey slowly moved his head back and forth. His eyes opened, and he blinked several times to clear his vision.
"What the hell was that, Bartowski?" Casey asked, slurring his words in the process.
Chuck was hopping around like someone who injected Red Bull directly into their bloodstream. "Come on. We have to find out."
He took Casey's hands and pulled him to his feet. Casey stumbled, but Chuck hung onto him as he led Casey to the Intersect computer. He located the picture in the computer he used before.
"Let me know what happens," Chuck said in a rush as he hit the ENTER key on the keyboard and looked away. An image appeared on the computer, and Casey stared at it. He blinked to make sure he was seeing it correctly.
"Was something supposed to happen, Bartowski?" Casey asked with a slowly fading patience.
Chuck reached for the off switch on the monitor to make the image disappear. "Remember? That was the image we used to test if you had the Intersect in you? You didn't flash."
Casey was stunned. "You got it out? You fixed the program? What does adrenaline have to do with it?"
Chuck's grin was ear-to-ear. "You could say Dr. McCoy saved you. Sarah told me maybe there was something more to fixing this than programming the Intersect, and then suddenly I remembered watching that Star Trek episode. It was the one where Kirk and the crew became really old. Actually, not a lot of people liked it, but I think it was that Commodore Stocker who…"
"Enough with the nerdgasm! What are you talking about?"
"Chekov didn't get the disease because of adrenaline going through his system. It finally dawned on me you just took out three men when the Intersect turned on the last time. You must have had a lot of adrenaline going through your system. Your system was ready for the shock of the images. That's why it didn't work any other time. This was the same program I tried to rid you of the Intersect the first time. Except it almost killed you. The others weren't potent enough to even make a dent."
"And I just finished taking out Grishenko's men, so my system was running at high-speed right then."
"Exactly, and this time you were able to handle it."
Casey quietly chuckled. Chuck looked at him oddly. "What?"
"You've been slaving over this thing for weeks and getting ticked off, and it turns out you got the thing right the first time."
Chuck suddenly realized Casey was right. He groaned and gave himself the full face palm.
"I don't believe it," Chuck wailed in frustration.
Casey continued to chuckle. "Walker's gonna love to hear about this one. She got really cranky while you weren't around. Might have to loan her an extra set of handcuffs."
Casey pulled out his radio to signal the team commander to come in and help process Grishenko's men. Chuck leaned on the table housing the Intersect computer and shook his head sadly.
Westside Medical Center
November 11, 2010
8:00 PM
Casey walked down the hallway to Morgan's room. He saw Alex standing in the doorway looking into the room. He stood quietly a few steps behind her as she watched Morgan while he slept. Morgan was in a hospital gown with a sling on his left arm.
Alex turned around and saw her father there. "Hi," she said quietly.
"Are you OK?" he gently asked, to which she nodded. Casey gestured to Morgan in the hospital room. "I heard he was the big hero today."
Alex nodded. "Percival almost shot me. Morgan pushed me out of the way."
Casey grunted in approval. "I gotta admit, that bearded little troll…" he stopped and corrected himself. "Morgan has really surprised me. The kid has a lot of guts; I gotta hand it to him. Very loyal, too. He got Bartowski through a lot of tough times when they were young."
Alex looked at her father for a moment. "So I have your full blessing to go out with him?"
Casey looked down at the ground. "I don't think I've earned the right to tell you who you should and shouldn't date."
"Everybody talks so highly of you here. Devon, Ellie, Sarah, Chuck, Morgan. They really want to help you."
"They have. Chuck got my Intersect out. He figured out how I got it in the first place. From there it was easy." Casey was silent for a moment. "This job…things are a lot different these days. I don't know if it's them or if I'm just getting older or…I don't know. I don't think I've ever cared for a group of people more than I care for all of them. It's not just about guarding an important government asset or keeping the country safe anymore. I tried not to get close to anybody before because I'd always have to leave them. But now…"
Alex sighed and wiped a stray tear from her eye. "I…it's hard for me to accept you leaving Mom all those years ago. But I was wrong about one thing. You're not some asshole who didn't give a damn whom he hurt. You were just trying to do the right thing. You were trying to help as best as you could."
Alex stepped slowly to Casey and put her arms around him. "I'm sorry about what I said, Dad."
Casey was briefly surprised but put his arms around her. "No need to be sorry, Alex. I made a bad decision twenty years ago. I should be apologizing to you."
Alex's grip around Casey tightened. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have met Morgan, right?"
Casey quietly growled. "Why couldn't Sarah save your life? That would have made things so much easier."
Alex giggled. "Hey, think of all the drug addicts and criminals and idiots I could have fallen for, Dad."
Casey sighed. "Good point."
"I just need time to get used to all of this. Can you be patient? Give me some time?"
"Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere."
Alex kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks, Dad."
Casey nodded and held her face in his hands. "Hey, anything for my daughter."
Chuck sat in the waiting room at the hospital. Devon gave him the report on Morgan. He was relieved Morgan would be OK, but he kept his distance from the room. He wanted to give Alex the space she needed.
Sarah came down the hall after returning from Castle. She finished the report on capturing Percival and some of Grishenko's men at the warehouse. She requested Morgan be given a special commendation for saving Alex's life and hers.
She walked up to Chuck and gave him a kiss. "Mmmm, so my advice actually worked for you, I heard?"
Chuck weakly smiled. "Yes. Well, Morgan gets a partial-credit. He's the resident Trekkie in our little group."
Sarah nodded. "I certainly understand now why you've stayed friends with him your entire life. The man will do anything for you."
"That he will."
"Now, about you and your obsessive behavior…"
Chuck exhaled. "You're right. I'm sorry. I got too worried about solving the problem. I had blinders on."
"Well, now that you'll be home again, you can make it up to me." She ran her finger seductively along his cheek and sat in his lap. "And I have a few ideas on that."
Chuck perked up at that. "Really? What did you have in mind?"
"Well, my laptop has been acting funny lately, and I accidentally erased a few songs on my iPod. You can recover those, right? And the wi-fi has been acting up…"
Chuck shook his head and laughed. Sarah gave him a big grin and kissed him.
"Let's go home and get some rest. We can visit Morgan in the morning."
Chuck nodded. "Sounds like a good idea."
Chuck and Sarah walked out of the hospital and headed for her car.
