For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.
Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot. After Morgan visits Casey, he meets a beautiful nurse in the hospital who isn't all she seems. Devon and Ellie have another argument. Casey confesses to Ellie that Team Bartowski has tried to help hers marriage all along and that he was the one who planned the wedding. He also confesses that he loves her. Sarah and Chuck, watching from Castle, learn of his admission. Ellie confides that she feels the same way.
Casey's eyes were guarded as he looked at her. There was something else, another shoe to drop. He could sense that there was more to their situation than she was saying yet. "But, I lied to you, too."
She shook her head. "You had to protect your identity. I understand that."
"That identity..." He hesitated. "There are so many other things you don't know about me."
"They're classified. "
"It's not just that," he told her. "It's so much more."
"John, everybody comes with baggage, with issues."
"This is more serious than that," he strained. "I've killed people."
"I was there for one of them," she reminded him gently.
"Lots of people."
"You did it for your job, right?"
He nodded.
"You followed your orders. You did what you were supposed to do."
"And you're okay with that?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because it's more of a moral quandary for most people."
"I was two feet away from a man you killed. You killed him to protect me."
"I killed him to protect your brother," he admitted. "Your brother's identity. And to prevent him from kidnapping you. But, my main objective, above all else, is to protect Chuck."
She looked at him. The thoughts came quickly, one after the other, almost too many to process. "John, your getting shot..."
He took a slow breath. "I was not the intended target."
She closed her eyes as she thought about someone going after her brother, her closest family member. A wave of nausea crashed over her at the revelation that someone wanted to kill her little brother. The little brother she used to make Star Trek insignia-shaped sandwiches for so he could have something fun at lunch. The little brother she waited tables for so he could have new school clothes. The little brother she watched out for, the little brother she protected. He had a new protector. A bigger, stronger one. "Where is Chuck now?" she asked quietly.
"He's in a safe place."
She shook her head slowly. "I feel like the world's biggest idiot," she admitted.
"Why?"
"I never saw any of this coming. Even before I knew about you, I would've never... I mean, some things sounded really strange. Chuck always running around. And then Devon and Chuck hanging out a lot. But, this... in my wildest imagination, I never would've pictured all of this."
"That was the original plan," he told her.
"I thought I was protecting Chuck. I thought I was still doing my job..."
"You've always kept him grounded. And that serves to protect him."
She looked up at him.
"Without having you around, without having some aspect of his life that was still 'normal,' still familiar... I don't think he'd be able to do what we need him to do."
"How does my brother, Charles Irving Bartowski, become a spy anyway? What, exactly, does he do for you?"
"There will always be certain things I'll never be able to tell you. And that's one of them."
She nodded. After all, what else could she do? "I have to come up with a new nickname for you," she decided.
"Why's that?"
"If your job has always been to protect Chuck, I imagine then that the number of miracles you've performed is quite a bit higher than three."
He grunted. "John works just fine." So few people called him that. It was nice to hear her say it.
"Buddy, I'm gonna have to call you back," Chuck said, closing his phone without waiting for Morgan to say it was okay. "He told her?"
She nodded.
"What did she say back?" he demanded.
"I don't know, Chuck," Sarah said, moving again towards the front of the room and the computer terminal. Her eyes critically reviewing the screen, she isolated the heart monitoring machine, blowing it up on a different screen and flipping the image.
Chuck moved closer, to see what she was up to. When the rendering finished, he was able to see his sister, barely, in the reflection on the face of the machine.
"She says..." She smiled. "She said he's talking too much."
"Casey? She says Casey is taking too much?"
"And..." She drifted off, smiling a little.
"And? And what?"
She looked over at Chuck. Her smile faded, as she wasn't sure how he'd take it, or if it was really her place to even share. "Well, I... She..."
"Sarah..."
She stopped the rendering and even killed the main screen.
"No, no, wait! What? Why did you do that?"
"Whatever happens, whatever becomes of tonight, they'll tell us. When they're ready to tell us. We shouldn't be spying on them right now, it's a private moment."
"All of my private moments have been captured from three different video angles and recorded on two different microphones. A little turn about is fair play, don't you think?"
"You really want to spy on your sister?"
"But, he told her he loves her... And she..."
"You're the one person who knows her best. How do you think she'd respond?"
Chuck looked at the darkened screen. He did better than think. He knew.
Ellie stayed at Casey's bedside, quietly talking with him for an hour. He eventually grew hungry and ate at least part of what she'd brought for him.
He watched as she packed the meal back away, sliding the container back into her tote bag. "You should go home," he told her.
"I hate to leave you here."
"I'm not by myself. There's an entire team of agents standing outside my door."
She sighed, looking at him.
"I'll still be here when you come back tomorrow," he promised.
Hesitantly, she reached out, tentatively lacing her fingers with his. "If you need anything..."
"Don't worry about me."
"Still," she said with a sigh.
He looked at their entwined fingers. "There is one thing you could do..."
"What's that?"
"Let me know you get home safe?"
She smiled a little, nodding.
After looking up basic information on Morgan, she hacked into the Buy More corporate website, accessing internal servers. She located Morgan's employee history as well as pulling up his coworkers. She sat back, recognizing her target as the Nerd Herd supervisor, as well as the man she'd shot as being on the management track, filling in as assistant manager from time to time.
From the employee records, she was able to tell that the three all lived in the same apartment building. Chuck and Morgan as roommates, Casey as their neighbor.
A slow smile took to her lips. Completing her plan might be easier than she thought.
Chuck wasn't sure what to think. On the one hand, he loved his sister and wanted her to be happy, bottom line. If Casey made her happy, then that was all that mattered. He could learn to live with Casey becoming more than just a grunting, snarling neighbor and co-worker. He imagined that Ellie might have an influence on the big guy. He wasn't sure what a kinder, gentler Casey might look like, but it would be interesting to see.
On the other, he had a genuine fondness for his brother-in-law. Devon might not have always been the brightest crayon in the box, but he was dependable. That had to count for something, didn't it? Sure, the adventure-sports cardiologist could be annoyingly awesome, but he was also a source of encouragement and even unusual knowledge, from tango lessons to Amsterdam travel tips.
Chuck started to wonder, though, if isolating Ellie from the truth had been what had led them all to this particular moment in time, where she might have to choose between the killer next door and her lying husband. He sighed heavily, closing his eyes.
He opened them, however, when he heard the computer ding. On one of the smaller screens, where Sarah had begun the tedious process of running the facial-recognition scanner on every security camera against the known photo of Catalyst. It had a match. "Hey, Sarah!" he called, crossing to the computer terminal.
She emerged from further within the Castle.
"We got 'er!"
She sprinted the rest of the way, stopping next to Chuck.
"Oh, no," Chuck said with a sigh, watching Morgan chat her up. "He's seriously got this thing for moderately dangerous women, doesn't he? Anna, she was... She wasn't a killer or anything, but she was, y'know... And then there was Carina. And now Catalyst."
"Call Morgan," Sarah said. "See if he knows how to contact her."
Chuck sighed. "I really don't think involving Morgan in an operation is the best idea here..."
"We don't have much choice. He's our best lead."
Wishing Morgan hadn't kissed the hand that had tried to kill Casey, Chuck called his best friend and roommate.
One of the things Morgan liked most about video games was the ability to be someone else, to be greater than himself. And, if Chuck could become a spy, there might be hope for him yet, to change the world, to make it a better place. In the meantime, until that hope became reality, he'd control Kratos as he attempted to battle Zeus in God of War III.
He paused it, however, when his cell phone rang. He smiled as he saw Chuck's name on the caller-ID. "Hey, bro."
"Hey, Morgan, I..." Chuck hesitated. "I need to know about the girl you met."
"The hotness that rivals that of the sexy Sarah and the elegant Ellie?"
"Did you get her phone number?"
Morgan scoffed. "Did I get her phone number? C'mon, bro, this is me you're talking to..."
"Which is why I had to ask, buddy," Chuck said.
Morgan huffed. "Yes, I got her number. But, I'm not supposed to call yet, right? She just gave it to me like two hours ago. I want to portray casual indifference, yeah? So, I'm thinking, today is Saturday... Call maybe Tuesday? For something completely benign. Sharin' a slice at the pizza house a couple blocks from here. Or maybe some fro-yo at the Orange Orange. That way, she can meet you and Sarah... It'll look like a casual, happy accident, but it'll actually be a carefully orchestrated plot. Huh? Sounds like a spy-like plan to me."
"I need you not to freak out, okay?"
"What am I not freaking out over?"
"Your new girlfriend..."
Morgan nearly sputtered. "She's not officially my girlfriend yet. Let's not jinx it."
"You can't date her."
"C'mon, Chuck--"
"She's the one that tried to kill Casey."
Morgan dropped the phone. It clattered to the floor at his feet.
"Buddy? Morgan? Are you there?" Chuck sounded so far away.
He slowly sank to the ground, grabbing the phone and hiding behind the couch. "My new girlfriend? The hotness, the innocence, the sweetness that was Nurse Catherine, she's..."
The next voice he heard wasn't Chuck's, and that made him jump. It was only Sarah who'd taken the phone, however. "Morgan, this is very important and I need you to listen to me carefully, all right?"
"Yeah, uh-huh. Sure."
"In Chuck's bedroom, beneath his bed, there's a black case. I need you to get it and take something out of it for me."
Morgan started crawling towards Chuck's room. He figured one couldn't be too careful! "What is it?"
"It's a small device. It's going to look like a power supply for a laptop, only smaller with shorter cords. One end will have headphone jack. The other will be a USB."
On the one hand, he was thrilled to be involved in something that was, clearly, spy-related. On the other, he was relatively petrified that he'd been that close to someone who'd tried to kill someone he knew. Once he reached Chuck's room, he located the case and opened it. Within, there were all kinds of devices. After scrounging around for a moment, he smiled. "Sarah, I think I found it."
"Now, I want you to plug the headphone jack into your phone."
Morgan did as he was told. "Got it."
"USB goes into Chuck's computer."
He slid over to the computer, plugging the USB into one of the empty ports. The computer, sensing the equipment, popped open a user name and password window. "It wants some details here, the computer--"
"Don't worry," Sarah said.
Morgan watched, in astonishment, as the information was entered remotely. "That's pretty cool."
"Now, Morgan, I need you to call her."
"I'm sorry, I thought you said you wanted me to call the crazed person who tried to kill NSA badass John Casey."
"That's what we need you to do."
"You gotta be kidding me. Sarah, there's no way I can do that."
"Morgan, you have to. All you have to do is keep her talking for thirty seconds. It'll be enough for us to run a trace on her phone."
"Can't I just give you her number?"
"Do this for Casey. For Chuck. For your country."
Morgan took a slow breath. "Yeah, all right..."
"I'll put a counter on the computer. You'll see exactly how long you need to talk to her."
"But, isn't she working? I mean, she's a nurse and there are lots of places in there that she can't have a cell phone."
"She's not a real nurse, Morgan. She's not at the hospital. She left shortly after you did."
He closed his eyes tightly for a moment. "Yeah, okay."
"Thirty seconds, Morgan, that's all," she reminded.
Ellie let herself into the darkened apartment. She turned, waving at the agents that had followed her home from the hospital. One dipped his head in return.
She set the tote bag in the kitchen before crossing to the living room and kicking off her shoes. Easing to sit on the couch, she removed her cell phone, calling Casey's room number.
"Yeah?"
"I'm home," she said simply.
"Thanks, Ellie," he said.
"I'll be back, first thing in the morning."
"Don't rush on my account."
"John..."
"Yeah?"
She didn't want to hang up but she didn't necessarily have anything to say. She stretched out on the couch and stared at the ceiling. "Good night," she said finally, sighing softly.
"Sleep well," he returned softly.
"How badly do you think this is gonna go?" Chuck asked, nervously pacing back and forth.
"It won't be as bad as you fear," Sarah said, waiting and watching.
"This is Morgan we're talking about."
"Chuck, I'm glad you were able to prevent Morgan from freaking out, but you need to prevent yourself from freaking out right now."
"It's kind of hard to do. Morgan found himself a psycho Ring assassin for a would-be girlfriend. This has freak out written all over it."
Sarah glanced at Chuck, who rolled his eyes.
"I know, I know. Calm down, deep breaths..." He inhaled shallowly, quickly.
She recognized the number from his employee file. Morgan was calling already. She sighed slightly before finding her inner innocence again before she answered. "Hello?"
"Catherine?"
"Yes?"
"Hey, Catherine, it's Morgan. Morgan Grimes. We met at the hospital today."
"Yes, the guy with the 'or something' infamous friend."
Morgan chuckled nervously. "That's me all right. Listen, listen, Catherine, I was thinking... I know it's terribly uncool to call so quickly after meeting someone but... do you ever... Do you ever feel like there's a connection, one that's so deep and penetrating, one that's so real and so true and so instant that you just can't let the moment go?"
"I think you're very sweet, Morgan, but I think you're moving a little too quickly for me."
"Right, right, I understand, but I just... I guess maybe I was seeing something that wasn't there. Maybe it's just post-traumatic-whatever. I mean, my 'or something' infamous friend, y'know, he was... He was shot. It was very scary. Makes a guy think about his mortality. Makes a guy want to call a beautiful girl within mere hours of her giving him her number 'cause... Well, you never know what tomorrow will bring... y'know? Not to mention, a geek like me and a hottie like you... What're the odds?"
She smiled a little. There was no way he was a spy. She doubted he even knew what his roommate did for a living, or his neighbor for that matter. "All right, listen, Morgan, I'm on break right now from the hospital, and I've got to get back, but... I'll call you. We'll have dinner or something."
"Really? Catherine, that's... that would be great. I'd really love that. To have a meal with you... That... that's awesome."
"We'll talk soon, Morgan."
"Yeah, sure, of course. Have a great night, at the hospital, doing your shift..."
She did manage to hang up the phone before she laughed. Where on earth did Carmichael find a guy like that?
Sarah smiled smugly. "Perfect." She typed a message to Morgan from Castle: Brilliant job, Morgan. We've got her.
"That was it?"
"That was it," Sarah said, looking at the trace signature on the computer screen. "Now, we just follow the GPS in the phone... We've got Casey's killer."
Chuck exhaled. "So, does this mean I can go home?"
"Not yet."
"But..."
"Once she's in custody, Chuck. I'm not going to take any risks with your safety. Being one man low on our team is bad enough."
Stay tuned...
Lines from the next installment:
"I, um... I wanted to say thanks."
"For what?"
"I was supposed to take that bullet."
"It's not clear by now? I'm the expendable one."
"Not to Ellie."
Casey closed his eyes. "About your sister..."