Thelaststraw5Fv3
Karen Fisher came just as the two were leaving. It was an awkward moment for Sarah but a worse one for Casey. He slipped up, big-time.
"Well, Kara, coming to sit with the boy-toy?" He wished to God he'd never said it. He wanted to take it back the instant he uttered it.
"Don't 'Kara' me, Major Casey. It's Karen. 'Kara' is gone, dead, no longer around, understand? And he's more of a man than you'll ever hope to be in the areas that count, Major. He's loving and caring and puts others first and he's living in Hell but still he maintains those qualities. And he's loyal and honorable, two things you left at the door when you joined the NSA."
"Kara, please, I didn't mean…"
"Get out of his room, the both of you. I'll bet you flip a coin to see who gets to take him out into the desert and shoot him when the Hag decides his usefulness has ended. Oh, yeah, I know about that. He was delirious and frantic that his team was in trouble and if he disappointed you, well, you remember what you said, don't you?" She turned away from them and pulled a chair from the corner of the room put her purse and pillow and a blanket on the bed and sat down and took his hand from under the covers and held it.
The two agents walked back to the elevators, neither looking or speaking to each other until they got in the car.
"'Kara?'" Sarah was curious.
"Not going to talk about it, Walker, it's old news and doesn't matter anymore."
Sometime during the night Chuck woke shouting from a nightmare. Karen was instantly at his side speaking softly and calming him down. She remembered another young man who shouted out in dreams. She wondered what happened to him. She lost track of him somewhere along the way.
When Ellie walked to Chuck's room to check on him she saw a note on the door that read simply "Please – do not disturb – visitors must check in with the on-duty nurse". Intrigued, she went and found the head nurse for the floor.
"Say, what's with the sign on my brother's door? Visitors becoming a problem?"
"No. I didn't want them disturbed. He had a bad night and she finally got him calmed down and asleep around 3am. Let them sleep, OK, Dr. Bartowski?"
"Them?"
"Girlfriend. Hasn't left his side except to go to work since he got here. Comes in every night and leaves early for work. That girl has it bad, almost as bad as the blonde who was here with the big guy. Your little brother is a player, Dr. Ellie. Two hot women and they almost came to blows over him." She was exaggerating but it never hurt to have the gossip mill owe her one.
"Well, I'll leave them alone. Just make sure she isn't late for work. He'd feel guilty about it. That's how he is."
'Two hot women? A blonde with a big guy?' Curious, Ellie opened the door a crack. Chuck had his good arm around Karen and she was curled up with one arm protectively over him. 'Oh, yeah, this one is a keeper, Chuck.'
Karen woke at 6:30 and slipped from under his arm and cleaned up her mess and left. She had time off accrued from work but decided she'd save it for when they could share a long weekend – several if she had her way.
Sarah watched as the short brunette left his room and slipped in as soon as she was in the elevator. He was sleeping peacefully, a slight smile on his face that broke her heart. She used to see that smile during their cover sleep-overs and she always imagined she was the one who put it there. It was the final straw that broke her. She sobbed and ran from the room and down the stairs. It was over. She'd broken him, left him vulnerable and alone and someone without her baggage was putting that smile on her love's face now.
She drove to the Castle, determined to catch up on her paperwork. Casey was already there, cleaning a weapon and working on a drag on the trigger he swore he could feel. He looked like he hadn't slept at all the previous night.
Castle
"So, Casey, what's the story with you and ex-Agent Fisher?"
"I told you I wasn't going to talk about it. It's old news. Just think 'Chuck and Sarah' only 8 years from now. That's all I'm going to say. No, I will say one thing more. If this thing with Bartowski is real, do something about it or you're looking at who you'll be 8 years from now and it ain't a pretty sight." He threw the weapon back together and pulled the trigger. No drag.
"Casey, is that why you've been busting his balls since he started dating? Is Karen your 'Chuck'?"
"Not unless you and he marry and then divorce, driven apart by the job. But yeah, it could be the reason. You know we shouldn't fall in love, Sarah, not people like us doing what we do."
"John, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. But Chuck must know. He would flash on anyone in government service, wouldn't he?"
"Nope, not her. Totally redacted. Hell, her name isn't really Karen Fisher and she's had a lot of 'work' done, again for the damned job. I'm telling you, Walker, if you really think Chuck's your future, do something about it now. Don't use the job as an excuse. Get off your ass and do something before he's gone, either for real or taken off the market by someone like Fisher. Or you'll end up like me, and that's something I wouldn't wish on even Bryce Larkin."
Casa Bartowski
Chuck was released from the hospital and Ellie and Devon drove him home. He had to wear a sling and he was given a big rubber band thing by a therapist who showed him exercised to rebuild his strength in the damaged muscles. He was given a prescription for pain and Ellie had it filled before they left the hospital but he just put it on his desk. He wouldn't take narcotics. He was afraid it would affect his ability to flash.
Karen came for dinner that night and the evening was as nice as any he could remember. She'd reached over, unasked, and cut his meat for him since he was wearing the damned sling, never stopping her conversation with Ellie. It was such a nice and natural thing to do. Devon raised his eyebrows and Chuck just smiled a small smile he reserved for 'special moments'. Their relationship was interesting and they found they had more in common every day.
While Ellie and Karen sat in the kitchen talking about Chuck, Devon sat Chuck down to talk about Sarah. He'd been doing rounds on the surgical floor and he'd seen Karen leave and Sarah slip in only to run out moments later sobbing. He'd almost run into the room thinking something bad had happened but he found Chuck asleep.
"I don't know why she came or why she suddenly left in tears, Devon. I quit trying to figure her out a long time ago. It just wasn't meant to be. She's still hung up on her old boyfriend and I was just someone she was using to get over him, that's all. I figured it out early on but hell, Devon, I was already in too deep emotionally to call it quits. Now I have Karen and I'm happy, happier than I ever was with Walker, understand?"
"Yep, Bro, and I for one am damned glad you have her. Hell of a lady you found, Bro, don't screw it up." Chuck thought how much he sounded like Casey with that comment.
"Yeah, well, I seem to screw up with ladies so we'll see how long it'll be until I mess this one up. We'll see."
Chuck walked Karen out to her car and she asked him, point blank, if he wanted to end this now and just stay friends or if he wanted to see where life would take them.
"Why would you think I wanted to end this, Karen? Am I going too fast, pushing you? Do you want to ease up and not see each other for a while? Is that what you want?"
"No, Chuck, I don't want to break this off, I just want to make sure you're aware of how emotionally invested in you I'm becoming. I watched you almost die, Chuck, and it scared the shit out of me. I need to know this isn't some rebound from Walker, Chuck. I'm not interested in being anyone's rebound girl."
"Look, what do you want me to say? If you have doubts, then let's end this now. I've been happier these past weeks than I've been in a long time and I'm getting used to being happy and I don't want to lose it. And since you are the one making me so damned happy, by extension, I don't want to lose you. That's it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it."
"OK. That's good enough for me. That's all I wanted, Chuck, was honesty and I got it. I like you a lot, sweetie, and I want to spend as much time as we can together. I think there's potential here and I'm like you. I'm ridiculously happy and I don't want to lose the man who makes me feel that way. Now, carefully put your arm around me and rock my world, Bartowski. I've missed your kisses, Chuck. I've missed you."
Castle
Chuck reviewed the dailies and sent his email response to Beckman for analysis by her staff. There were no earth-shattering gems in all the paper he'd waded through, just some niggling activities that he couldn't associate with anything big. He told her that there were actions on the fringe of their spheres of influence that would require monitoring but that he had not been able to 'connect the dots' yet but would keep reviewing the files for possible connections and intel.
John Casey knew he'd screwed up and blown any possibilities of friendship with his asset. He was jealous and he was taking out his frustrations on his asset and Beckman was absolutely right that it was not professional. He needed to apologize but he couldn't find the words now that he had the opportunity.
He brought Chuck a cup of coffee and tried to strike up a conversation but Chuck just finished up the dailies and locked them in the safe and left. Damn but that kid was stubborn.
Chuck walked up the stairs using the railing to assist him. For some reason having one arm in a sling was weirding out his balance or maybe it was the stupid pain pill he'd finally taken after sleeping on his arm wrong. As Sarah walked down the stairs Chuck eased over to allow her to pass. She looked at him and smiled but he just mumbled a good morning without eye contact and pulled himself up the stairs and out of the Castle.
"Well, I see you had the same luck I had in trying to get a word out of him. I was trying to apologize and he just picked up his work and put it in the safe and left."
"Yeah, I think this is the end of the Team. He doesn't want to be around us and we can't function without communicating. It's like missing a hand. It's so damned frustrating."
"You give anymore thought to our conversation the other night?"
"Yeah, I've done little else but think about how I can crack that thick skull of his open enough to pour in my sob story. He won't give me the opportunity to talk. He's either in that damned cage of his or he's home or out with her."
Chuck drove Ellie's car home and went back to bed. His arm was aching and his head was spinning from the damned pain pill. Finally finding a comfortable position, he went back to sleep. He'd be rid of the sling in a few days and maybe then he'd feel normal.