For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Finale of Chuck Season 3 tonight... Finale of the Saint... Thanks so very much to all who took the time to travel on this crazy fic journey. ;) ~K

Here's a couple things you might need to know, or maybe you just forgot: Catalyst attacks at the apartment complex, but it's Ellie that puts an end to the Ring super-agent's career. She realizes, however, that she's not the same person she was, and Devon agrees.

Casey descended into the Castle slowly. After all, it had been a while since he'd seen the CIA-funded facility. He'd been ordered to take the time to heal properly, to return only at full health. He felt like his sidelining injury had taken forever, but he was proud to make his way down the stairs and into the base once again at last.

Lots of things were different now. Devon had accepted the offer by the CIA, joining their medical team. The doctor relocated to Langley for training, to be transferred to an in-country hospital upon completion.

Ellie took some well-deserved vacation days she'd had saved for a while and disappeared up the coast for three weeks.

Joan had returned to Chicago once Casey had been released from the hospital, but they kept in touch more frequently. Now that he knew who she was, who she'd been, he didn't feel quite so bad about exposing her to the danger that surrounded him. She'd seen it, was familiar with it, and knew how to get out of it. He'd found it exceedingly comforting, being able to really, truly, talk with his mother again.

Sarah had kept him up-to-date on everything going on with the Ring, along with keeping close tabs on Ellie while she was in wine country.

Chuck grinned broadly as the Colonel entered. "Welcome back, big guy! Ta-da!" There was a small humidor on the conference table, sitting next to a bottle of champagne and three paper cups. "We spared no expense. Well, we thought we had another day, really, but when Beckman called and said you were on your way now, we kinda scrambled."

"You didn't have to do anything," he told them.

"We wanted to," Sarah said simply.

"What all have I missed?"

Before either Sarah or Chuck could answer, the Directorate of National Intelligence logo on the screen at the front of the room changed into the face and office of Diane Beckman. "Agent Walker, Agent Bartowski..." She paused, and a hint of a smile took to her lips. "Colonel Casey, glad to have you back."

"Ma'am," Casey returned with a slight incline of his head.

"We just received intel that a nuclear physicist has turned up missing. He's one of our most promising scientists," she said, as the photo and curriculum vitae appeared on screen.

Casey smiled a little. That was how life should be, walking into the Castle and two minutes later, having a mission, a purpose, an objective.

Except all three agents from within the confines of the base turned to a smaller screen, as movement from the interior of the Orange Orange activated the security camera. A brunette had wandered inside.

Beckman frowned on the large screen, noting the distraction of her team. "Is there something I'm missing?"

Casey and Chuck exchanged glances as Sarah covered. "I'm sorry, ma'am, there's a slight security incident going on at the yogurt shop. Casey was just going to check on it."

Casey looked quickly at his partner, who was trying to casually nod towards the stairs.

"Uh... Yeah. Excuse me," he managed.

Chuck watched as Casey took the stairs, two and three at a time, moving quickly back to the restaurant.

"John?" she called quietly. She wasn't sure what was going on, or if he was there, but she didn't want to interrupt if something important was happening.

He stepped out into the dining room from the back. "Ellie..."

"Hey," she said quietly.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, I saw the Crown Vic so I went to the Buy More. Morgan said you weren't there, but that you might be over here..."

"Here I am," he said.

She bit her lower lip. "I was wondering... if maybe... Are you busy for dinner?"

"Tonight?"

"Or, whenever..."

"We just got a new assignment..."

"So, maybe not tonight."

"Probably. But, I would love to. When I'm not working."

"Great. Me, too." It was a little awkward. She felt a little too much like a teenager for her taste. It was just Casey, after all. Casey, who'd already told her that he loved her. Who she'd admitted to having feelings for as well. She didn't understand why the butterflies were in her stomach, or why they were flying in maddening figure eights.

"I probably... I probably need to get back for now," he said. He was stalling. He could get the intel from Sarah and Chuck about the physicist. He didn't, necessarily, have to hear it from the General herself.

"Be careful?"

He nodded.

"Okay," she murmured. She started to leave.

He caught her hand before she could take more than two steps from him. "Ellie," he said, his voice low.

"Yeah?" she asked, breathless, looking back at him.

He closed the distance between them, still holding her hand. "I..." There was so much he wanted to tell her, so much he felt he needed to say, but he wasn't sure how to go about it. How to tell her he was sorry for what happened between her and Devon, how he was worried about her when she'd gone off on her own, how happy he was to see her again, how much he was looking forward to dinner.

She searched his eyes, patiently waiting for him to finish his thought. It didn't seem like it was coming. "I don't want to keep you from more important things," she murmured.

"You aren't," he told her.

"Then..."

He leaned in slowly, touching his lips to hers in a tender, sweet kiss. He'd only intended it to be brief, knowing that actions were so much more powerful than words. Given that he couldn't figure out how to say what he wanted to, he hoped that, maybe, she understood, that she still remembered what he'd said the first night in the hospital. Because, he'd meant it.

Her eyes had closed the instant his lips touched hers. She didn't see him pull back, but she felt him slowly raise to stand at his full height.

Before he could worry that she wasn't saying anything, that she didn't seem to be reacting at all, she rocked up on her toes, kissing him back.

Beckman's frown grew with each passing minute. "Is there something wrong? Is this a serious security breach?"

"Oh, no, General, not at all," Chuck said, shaking his head, pulling his eyes from the security screen as Casey held Ellie closer, tighter against him, returning her deepening kiss.

"Well, what is taking Colonel Casey so long?" Beckman demanded.

"Not to worry, ma'am," Sarah said, turning off the smaller screen. She glanced at Chuck briefly and the two shared a smile before she returned her attention to the General. "Casey has the situation well in hand."

End.

To be... continued?