A/N Last chapter was a little lacking in Charah moments, so I did something I've never done before and went back and revised it a little. Go ahead and read it, I'll just wait here.


"Is that your heart?"

"Little Black Dress is in motion."

"You'll fly, and I'll anchor."

"Go, enjoy your mask."


Chuck was eating his breakfast when the knock came. "I bid thee enter," he said, just because.

The door opened, and Devon stepped inside. "Hey, Chuck."

"Hey Devon," said Chuck. "How was Paris?"

"Oo, la-la-la-la," said Devon, smirking, and Chuck obliged him by clapping his hands over his ears. "I'm here officially to give you this drive with all our video, especially the Tower." He handed Chuck a flash drive.

Chuck studied it as if he should be able to see what was on it. "You got the elevator–?"

"Unofficially–" said Devon, before his bro-in-law could get started. He looked back over his shoulder, as if Ellie might hear him, "I just want to say thank you, Chuck. Between you and me we might have just gotten her off that whole 'men in black' jag she was on."

Chuck wanted to say it was his pleasure, but really it was Devon's pleasure and that would be a la-la-la line he could never unhear. He gave him a thumbs-up instead.

Devon asked, "You guys have time to come over tonight?" Because of course Ellie would want to have a party and gabfest.

"I'll be there," said Chuck. He shrugged. "I don't know about Morgan. Don't see him much around here at night."

"Really?" asked Devon. "What's up with that?"


The doorknob rattled, and the curator ignored it. He didn't often lock his office door, but when he did, it was because he didn't want to be disturbed. If anyone out there needed his help at this hour, he needed to hire some new staff.

He looked up in annoyance at the knock on his door. He'd come in early precisely to avoid niggling interruptions, after all. Last night's gala had almost been a disaster, and he still had all sorts of mess to clean up, in spite of everything. Thank God for those two specialists he'd hired.

He went to his door and unlocked it, flinging it open. "Yes, what do you–?" He saw a thin, bearded face, felt a pinch in his neck, before he collapsed. When he woke up he wouldn't even remember that.


A series of knocks sounded on Morgan's office door, in a strange pattern. "Come in," he called.

Hannah opened the door. "I wasn't finished," she said, closing it behind her.

"Doesn't matter," said Morgan, "You're the only one who remembers the knock anyway. It went well last night?"

Oh, yes. Very well, but he hadn't been asking a question. "How did you know?"

Morgan waved the remains of his protein bar at the phone. "The museum curator called, gave me an earful, in British. I have a problem with British accents, everything sounds like Mrs. Doubtfire. Hey, that'll be a good one for M night." He wrote something down. "It was all bloody Chuck and bloody you, saving the bloody day like a couple of super-spies. I think."

"Super-nerds," Hannah corrected him. "You heard about the thieves?" Morgan nodded, but gestured her to tell the story again anyway. "Chuck found a device on the motor for the doors. The police found a couple of goons wrapped in cables behind a door. They figured they were preparing to dive and fell down the stairs instead."

Morgan got a chuckle at that. "The Jeffster of bad guys."

"I still think they could have used a lasso, or one of those animal control thingies, and saved themselves the trouble." Hannah frowned. "It was all very discreet," she said. Which Jeff and Lester had never been known to be. She frowned. "I knew they were there, and I didn't see anything. Weird."

"I'm sure you had other things on your mind," said Morgan. He looked like he was bracing himself. "How did your other mission go, Spy Girl?"

Her other mission. Her Little Black Dress mission. She looked a little uncomfortable. "Do you trust me?"

He began to worry. "Of course."

"Chuck told me…something…in confidence," she said, hesitantly. "I can't tell you what it was, but I hope you can take my word for it that you have nothing to worry about."

Morgan smiled, considerably relieved. "You're loyal to your boss, and you're loyal to me. Believe me, I appreciate that. I'm pretty loyal to your boss too." He sighed. "I was about to stage an intervention."

On cue, Morgan's phone rang.


Down in Castle…

"What's this?" said Casey.

"Coffee," said Shaw.

"What, you're coming on to me, now?" Casey put it on the table while Shaw rolled his eyes. "Hm. Probably safe enough. I'll run some basic tests on it while I'm waiting for the safe-box to arrive."

"Safe-box?"

Casey pulled a pre-loaded test tube from his kit. "For your mask." A clear, airtight box, with gloves built in and controlled I/O ports. Capable of containing chemical and biological agents, and even a number of explosives. "Basic safety protocols, you remember those?"

"I remember them, Colonel. I'm just surprised you don't have a unit the proper size on site."

"You and me both," said Casey, dripping a bit of his coffee into the tube. The mixture fizzed and turned blue. He grunted mild approval. "Should be safe enough."

"The coffee? There's nothing wrong with it."

"The jury's still out on that. I'm talking about the mask," said Casey. "It's still in the bag. Not even Chuck would touch it while it's in there."

"Very good," said Shaw. He looked around. "Have you seen Agent Walker?"

Casey looked at the tray, with two cups of coffee still on it. He looked down. Shaw had sneakers on today. Chucks, in fact. Casey grinned. "In there."


In the Buy More…

Morgan walked with Hannah back to the Nerd Herd desk, where she kept her bag. She pulled out the tray with the keyboard but he stopped her. "I'll take care of that. I may be a manager now but I still know how everything works. You get going, Mr. New Accent didn't sound as patient as Mr. Old Accent, even if he did ask specifically for you."

"Thanks, Morgan," said Hannah. "You're a great friend."

"Time to fly, grasshopper."

"Except for that," she growled.

Morgan watched her leave. "It's a place to start," he muttered to himself. He looked over his shoulder. Chuck was playing Guitar Hero against all comers, and Morgan breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was getting back to normal.


In Castle…

"Hey, Walker," said Casey.

"What's up, partner?"

"I don't know about his come-on coffee, but this cup of cover coffee he gave me tested out okay." Casey took a sip. "Just the way I like it, black and bitter."

"You couldn't have told me that five minutes ago?" asked Sarah, as Shaw squished out of the room.

Heh. "Sorry. I'd watch out for the swizzle sticks if I were you. If I've noticed you chew on them when you get nervous, I'm pretty sure he has." She ostentatiously dropped the plastic stick into the trash. Casey left her to watch Chuck play air guitar while he went off to get a mop.


One long drive up to the Simi Valley later…

Hannah roamed around the inside of the museum's vault, as air hissed on its way out. The doors didn't open, in flagrant violation of safety regulations. Her phone didn't work, either, even though she'd charged it on the ride up. No one was going to call this one in, that was for sure, especially not the guy who shoved her in here. Morgan knew where she was, but it would take him a while to miss her, and even longer to get someone else on site.

The thought of Morgan drove the incipient panic away. Thank God for D night. She spilled the contents of her bag on the floor. What would John McClane do?


Back at the Buy More…

Exhausted but victorious, Chuck went to answer the phone at the Nerd Herd desk, currently abandoned with the threat of work looming. "Hello?" he said, with a smile. 'A smile on the face puts a smile in the voice', according to the collected wisdom of the El Segundo School of Finance.

That smile faded. "I'm sorry, you must have the wrong…No, sir, I don't have a girlfriend." He clapped a hand over the mouthpiece, seeking and finding Morgan close by, as always. "Have you seen Hannah?"

"Yeah, there was another call from the museum this morning, they asked for her specifically."

Chuck dropped the handset and ran off to the HT room. Morgan was delayed a little, hanging it up, but then he went after his friend. 'Didn't have a girlfriend'? What was Sarah, chopped scallions? You do not treat your girlfriend like that, even over the–

The HT room was empty. Again. Chuck was gone into thin air, but this time Morgan had some idea where he was going. He ran for a Nerd Herder.


Sarah's phone rang, with Chuck's ringtone, so she accepted instantly. "Sarah," he said, without waiting for any of the usual greetings, "Vasillis has Hannah at the museum, he wants to trade her for the mask."

"I'll go get Shaw," she said, sounding resigned. "He'll need to sign off on anything we do."

"Be quick," said Chuck. "I'm in the tunnel."

Sarah went to the room with the mask, and sure enough Shaw was there, with what's-her-name from upstairs. Apparently he was showing her how to use the optical scanners on the mask, which should have been safe enough, even outside of a box. "Shaw," she said, and they stopped, putting down the scanners. Shaw turned to look at Sarah while Jones dug around in her back pocket. "We have a situation. Vasillis has a hostage, and he wants the mask. Chuck's on his way."

Shaw opened his mouth, but Sarah would never know what he intended to say, since Agent Jones cut him off. "This place has no signal," she said, holding up her phone. Her thumb twitched.

"Don't!" said Sarah, but it was too late. The front of the support stand for the mask popped down, making a ramp for a small golden cylinder to come rolling down onto the table. Shaw, already facing that way, lunged toward Sarah and pushed her backward as the cylinder released a cloud of gas.

Clear shields dropped out of the ceiling around them, right where Sarah would have been, had she not been moved. Alarms blared and screens flashed automatically, cataloguing the hazard as Shaw and Jones choked on it. Fans and pumps went into action, trying to pull the contaminant from the enclosed space.

Sarah raised her phone to her mouth. "Chuck, that's a no on the mask."


On the road…

Morgan sat behind the wheel of his Nerd Herder, cursing all the faster-moving vehicles passing by him. Unfortunately the Buy More fitted out its vehicles with speed regulators, and it would only go so fast, no matter how much he tried to floor it.

He was never going to get to the museum at this rate.


In Castle…

"I'm such an idiot," said Jones, coughing.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," said Shaw. "You couldn't have known the weapon would be rigged for deployment. Vasillis was a fool to key it to such a common brand of phone."

"We're still going to die."

"No you're not," said Sarah, standing outside the clear wall. "Chuck will come through. He'll have that counteragent back here in time to save you both."

"My life is in Carmichael's hands?" said Jones, sagging. "Is that supposed to cheer me up?"

"Yes, it should," said Shaw. "I haven't been completely honest with you. My real reason for coming here was not to deal with the events in the museum, but to train Agent Carmichael. He's very capable."

Jones sank down against the table. "I forgive you."

"For not telling you?"

"For being his trainer," she mumbled.

"Well," said Shaw. "I'm glad we cleared the air."

Suddenly monitors started to flash, white instead of red text declaring the lack of contamination. "Good," said Sarah, trying to hurry up the release of containment. "Let's go. We'll be cutting it close as it is."

A panel blew out. Sarah turned to see Shaw with a shotgun. "Put that down and pick her up," she said, indicating the inert form of Jones. "I'll get you where you need to go."


At the museum…

"So she matters to you, thief," said Vasillis. "This girl Hannah."

"Of course she does," said Chuck. "She's on my team."

"And an effective team it is, stealing the mask away from both the museum and my own men. I would hire you myself, I need some new thieves on my team, but the Ring is not forgiving. They will demand something be done to punish you. Behave, and all will be well between us."

Chuck held the mask over his head. "You kill her, I destroy this."

Several guns made clicking sounds. "You will pardon me if I don't believe you," said Vasillis.

"You should," said Chuck. He threw the box on the ground, and Casey triggered the smoke grenade they'd put inside it.

Vasillis' men ran away as their boss choked. "You idiot! You've killed us both!"

Chuck dropped character. "You've got a counteragent, don't you?"

"Yes," said Vasillis in panic. "It was shipped in a vase!"

A vase in a museum, like hiding a pig on a farm. "Which one?" asked Chuck.

"I don't know, I'm just the evil mastermind," shouted Vasillis. "I don't do those details."

Chuck shook his head. "And you call me an idiot." Then Vasillis was coming at him with a giant wooden pestle and it was time to move.


On the road…

"Finally," said Sarah, as they passed whatever moving roadblock had slowed traffic for the last couple of miles."

"Wasn't that a Nerd Nerder?" asked Shaw.

"Kind of busy right now, Shaw."


In the control room…

Chuck handed over the tube with the counteragent, along with some bits of powdered vase. "Why do you get to have all the fun?" snarled Casey.

"Hey, blame Vasillis," said Chuck. "I just did the one. Get this to the others while I save Hannah."

"If you still can, it's been over an hour." Casey's phone chimed, a text coming in. "They're in the back lot." He left Chuck to it.


In the front lot…

Morgan leapt from his car and raced into the building, with no idea of what he would do after that. Maybe make a lot of noise, that was always good. Before he could say anything, he heard a whining noise from some big doors, trying to slide apart but there was some electronic gizmo attached.

Morgan looked around and saw a big wooden block on a stick. He picked it up and whacked at the gizmo, knocking it off the doors. They slid open and there she was, lying slumped on the ground next to a partially disassembled grill. He threw the block-on-a-stick away, ran over and knelt next to her, rolling her over into a more comfortable position.

Suddenly she swung, Philips-head screwdriver in hand, but Morgan's arm was in the way. "Hey," he shouted, watching as her wild eyes settled on his face. "It's me."

"Morgan." Hannah pulled him into a fierce hug. "Thank you. Thank you."

"For what?" asked Morgan, honest to a fault.

Hannah pulled back to look him in the face. "You saved me," she said.

He looked around at the ruined room, taking the screwdriver from her hand. "Looks to me like you saved yourself."

"It was your movies that gave me the idea." She hugged him again, and this time he hugged her back.

"You're welcome," he said, with a smile on his face and in his voice.


In the control room…

Chuck left his buddy to his moment and checked the monitor for the back lot. Casey was nowhere in sight, probably on his way back. Shaw sat with Jones on the ground, both of them breathing heavily. Sarah stood by the car, looking up at the camera. He toggled it up and down, to let her know he was watching. She gave him a thumbs-up, and he touched the image of it on the screen.

Yay, us.


A/N2 This section of canon ended silently, so I did the same, much as I prefer dialog. I hope you'll drop me a line and tell me what you think of this rewrite so far.