A/N: Thanks for the reviews, PMs, follows and favorites for this one. Much appreciated.

Beta thanks go to MarkeyDeSad once again.

Shaw returns to the team and they have to work with him again. Plus, Chuck still has to both be wary of and string Hannah along. Not easy…


From Paris, With Love
Chapter 3: Unmasked


Chuck still couldn't believe he and Sarah were finally together. Every night together was amazing, but even cuddling and kissing took on a whole new meaning now that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Every kiss meant something. Even the cover ones were a cover within a cover.

Unfortunately, Shaw returned to the team and they were then more constrained; had to be careful not to be caught by him.

Beckman still wanted Sarah to check out Shaw and Chuck the same with Hannah. He'd been avoiding the latter, but knew he had to do it now Shaw was back and watching their every move.

So, both Chuck and Sarah were grumpy, sitting in Castle. Casey was less bothered about the guy's return, but if he was honest, being ordered around by this jumped-up CIA jerk pissed him off too.

However, Beckman had told them, before he returned, to follow his instructions unless it put Chuck at risk.

"What about putting me at risk?" Sarah complained to Chuck. She smirked as she said it, so he knew she wasn't really upset.

"I trust you can handle him, Sarah," he said.

She frowned and grumbled, "I don't want to handle him. I don't want him anywhere near me."

However, Shaw disappeared, almost immediately on his return. None of them knew where he was and even Beckman seemed confused.

"General, how can any of us trust him if he doesn't even let you know where he's going?" Casey questioned.

Beckman's face went red and she frowned. "I am not privy to everything, Colonel."

All three in Castle were concerned by that. Chuck was inevitably the one to ask, "Why?"

Beckman ignored him. "Just do it." She ended the call.

"This doesn't feel right," Chuck said to the two spies. Casey walked off muttering and Sarah just looked at her boyfriend and agreed with him.


Chuck had been avoiding Hannah in the Buy More. Morgan had been using her to increase sales; a pretty girl drawing in the male buyers, young and old. Big Mike had approved of this, for obvious reasons.

However, today she had decided to tackle Chuck again. He wasn't sure if that was at Shaw's instruction.

"I want you to teach me, Chuck," she requested.

She already knew enough to do the job, but her pretense was obviously to get closer to him.

"Oh, really, do you?" He walked around the Nerd Herd desk and approached her. He knew he had to act like this, but it felt like a betrayal. "Well, I assume you're referring to Nerd Herding, but I warn you. The road to computer enlightenment is a long and treacherous one."

"Bring it on," she replied and, now that Sarah had explained it all to him, he could tell she was flirting with him. "Speaking of, how about you bring me on your next install?"

"Whoa, easy there. Before you can run, you must learn to crawl, young grasshopper."

"Okay. Well, maybe you would prefer to go with Jeff, then. Just the two of you, crammed into the tiny hot Nerd Herd mobile."

He smiled at her. "Well played, newbie. Okay, next assignment, you ride shotgun."

"Nice," she replied, grinning.

He looked up and saw his girlfriend walking into the store looking concerned. He looked at Hannah. "Excuse me for just one second."

He didn't wait for a reply, but walked over to Sarah. "I was stringing her along…"

Sarah cut through that. "It's Shaw. It's bad."

Chuck huffed. He didn't want to help Shaw in any way. "Can't it wait?"

She frowned. "Not unless you want him to suffocate."

That was unexpected. "Suffocate? What are you talking about?"

"He called Casey. Seems he's not as good as he claims and has been trapped in the vault in the museum. All the air is being leached out."

He sniggered. "Well, he sucks the life out of all those around him…" He stopped at the look on her face. "Okay, okay. How can I help?"

"It's you that can save him."

Once she'd explained it to him, he walked briskly back to the desk and grabbed his bag. Morgan was with Hannah and asked, "Everything all right?"

Chuck replied, "Yeah. Gotta run. Nerd Herd emergency."

Chuck just heard Morgan say, "Huh? I didn't get the call." Then Chuck was out of the door.

Chuck drove over to the museum. He jumped out of his car, put his bag over his shoulder and almost ran in.

A hand clamped over his shoulder and an earpiece was pushed into his hand. "Took you long enough," growled Casey.

Chuck just asked, "You mind telling me what Shaw's doing breaking into a museum vault?"

Casey grunted at him, as he hurried along, pushing a trolley. "Forget it. He's only got five minutes of air left."

That was a jolt. Chuck asked, "Fine. What am I doing?"

"Getting on the museum's server, rebooting the system, and opening the vault door before Shaw dies."

Chuck knew that wasn't going to work. "They're never going to let me on their server, Casey."

Casey quickly replied. "Well, I took the liberty of crashing it. It was the only way to stop the alarm. Unless you get on that server, there's no way to open the vault door. Now get in there, Bartowski." He pushed Chuck towards the door they had reached.

As Chuck entered the room, the man in there turned to him. "Oh, you're here. Thank heavens someone called you."

Chuck looked at him . "Yeah, uh, what seems to be the problem?"

"I'm the curator of Classical Art. I've never even touched one of these machines in my life. All I know is the museum went into full lockdown mode. It's designed to protect the collections from fire, but unless you fix it, there's no way to control the temperature or the humidity. Some of these pieces are extremely sensitive."

Chuck heard Shaw mutter, "So am I, Chuck."

Then, Casey spoke, "Bartowski, we're in the crawl space above the vault." He and Sarah were both there. "We're trying to get the door open. It's four inches of solid steel." He threw away the useless crowbar. "We could try blowing the hatches. We'll have to use C4."

Sarah turned to him. "No. Shaw's too close. You're going to kill him."

Casey spoke to Chuck again, "It's up to you, Bartowski. You've got to get this door open."

The curator continued to ramble into his ear. "Some of these artifacts are over 3, 000 years old. To have survive that long and then to be ruined by some stupid computer system."

Chuck was getting tired of hearing him and so close as well. "You know, if you don't mind, I could really use a little breathing room."

"That's right. Step aside. We are the professionals."

Chuck was shocked to hear Hannah's voice. He turned. "Hannah, what are you doing here?"

"Surprise," she said with a big smile. "I saw your Nerd Herder parked outside the museum. And you said that I could ride shotgun." Chuck wasn't sure if she had just tailed him or already knew about Shaw being in there. "So, what's the problem?" she asked.

Casey grumbled, "Get rid of her, Chuck."

Sarah added, "Shaw's got less than a minute."

The curator stated, "Look, I don't care which of you it is, but please do something."

Chuck looked at Hannah, thinking she might be useful. "Have you ever restarted a server from the backup database?"

She started taking her bag off of her shoulder and moved forward. "Oh, now you're just insulting me."

Chuck needed all the help he could get in the short time period. He nodded to the chair next to him. "Show me what you got." She sat and started tapping at the keyboard. "Run the context script off server one."

Her fingers flew over her keyboard as fast as his did over his. "Validated. Next?"

Shaw's weak voice came through, "Just blow the hatch." Sarah and Casey looked at each other. "Blow the hatch," Shaw repeated.

"What about the mask?"

"I'm dying," Shaw gasped, obviously not caring about the mask or his mission anymore. So much for the mission being more important than agent lives, Chuck thought.

"Roger that," Casey stated. After setting it up, he and Sarah moved back. "Fire in the hole!" Casey called.

"No…" Chuck shouted. "Don't!" He then saw Hannah's and the curator's startled faces. He lowered his voice. "Don't, computer. Don't do... I'm just talking to the computer, because sometimes, I feel like it helps."

After a few seconds, he was ready. He looked over at Hannah. "We need you to reboot on the count of three. One, two..." And they pressed the keys at the same time.

The hatch in front of Sarah and Casey opened. They rushed forward to help Shaw out.

"Oh, my God. We did it!" Chuck exclaimed and he hugged Hannah. Then he realized what he was doing and stepped back. "Not bad for your first mission," he said in a more controlled voice.

"Splendid work, absolutely top notch," the curator said. "Really, I mean, I can't thank you enough."

Chuck smiled. "Well, you know. Any time."

The reply wasn't what Chuck was expecting, "Oh, all right. Um, how about tomorrow night?"

Chuck stared at the man. "What?"

"Well, it's the unveiling of the Mask of Alexander. Everyone in the art world's going to be there, and I'd like you to be also."

Chuck was flattered, but replied, "Not that I don't appreciate the invitation..."

The man cut him off. "Oh, no, no. I'm not inviting you. I'm hiring you. I want you there to ensure that, well, there's no more, uh, what do you call them? Bugs."

Shaw's voice came through, slightly stronger, "Take the job, Chuck. You and your new partner are going to help us steal the Mask of Alexander."

Neither Chuck nor Sarah liked the use of the word 'partner', but it was almost as if Hannah heard Shaw. "So, what do you say, partner?" She looked at him expectantly.

He couldn't refuse, but wished he could. "Okay," he replied. It felt like an enforced date, but he certainly wasn't going to use the word.


Sarah was the first to get back to Castle and was entering her report.

Shaw walked in and placed a coffee next to her. She stared at it. "What's that?"

He smugly replied, "Double shot Americano. No cream, no sugar. The way you like it." He stepped back, then leaned near her again and placed a red swizzle stick on top of the coffee. "Oh, I almost forgot. I noticed you like to chew them when you get nervous."

As Casey and Chuck walked down the stairs, she lifted the swizzle stick and disdainfully dropped it into the waste basket.

Shaw had turned to the new arrivals. "Thanks for joining us, gentlemen. I'm sure you've all guessed that the CIA is not interested in stealing the Mask of Alexander. We believe that this artifact and possibly others, are being used to smuggle items through Customs." He started a set of slides on the monitor in front of them.

"What sort of items?" Chuck asked.

"Items of interest to the Ring." A series of black and white photos appeared. "This was three months ago at the National Museum of Damascus. A team broke in, but didn't take anything."

"You think the Ring broke in just to hide something inside the mask?" Sarah questioned.

Casey was impressed. "That's pretty smart. Traveling exhibitions don't have to go through normal screening."

Shaw's replied, "All I know is that we have to secure the mask before the Ring does. Chuck, you'll be in the museum's control room in case we have any other snags. Casey, you'll handle surveillance. Sarah, you and I will pose as guests at the party. We'll break in and swap the mask, before the unveiling, with this reproduction." He placed a fake mask on the table in front of Sarah. Chuck was concerned about Sarah and Shaw being "a couple" and Sarah was not happy about it, either, but neither spoke.

Shaw asked, "Any questions? Concerns?"

Sarah voiced a concern about Hannah. She wasn't happy about her being with Chuck, either. "You mean other than us bringing a civilian on the mission?"

Casey muttered, "I do have some new tranq darts I'd like to try out."

Chuck needed to pretend that Hannah was innocent, so he jumped in with, "No, no. I can handle Hannah. Besides, she can cover for me in my Nerd Herd duties in case you guys need to call in the big guns." He looked at the three others. "And that would... that would be me. When I say 'big guns', I'm referring to the Intersect, to myself. You know, if I need to flash."

Sarah was smirking at him, Casey rolling his eyes, and Shaw just looked blankly at him.


That night, Chuck went to Sarah's hotel, as usual. As they lay next to each other, naked and covered in perspiration after their recent activity, Sarah raised her concerns. "I'm worried Hannah will try to take the mask for the Ring."

"I'll keep an eye on her. What about Shaw?" Chuck asked. "Do you think he's working for them, too?"

Sarah remembered how close Shaw was to dying. "No, I don't, but he is definitely trying to split us up." She leaned over to her boyfriend and kissed his lips. "As if that's going to happen."

He kissed her back. "Never going to happen," he replied and he moved them both so that he could lie on top of her.

Their bodies agreed with their words. Nothing could get between them, then, in that bed, but the reality was still true In the outside world.


The next day in Castle, Shaw was calling out the things he and Sarah would need to get the mask, which she was adding to a shared bag. Meanwhile, it the Buy More, Chuck was doing the same with Hannah for the items they might need if there were any problems with the IT equipment, which she loaded into a case.

Once complete, Shaw looked at Sarah. "You ready, Agent Walker?"

She dismissively replied, "Of course I'm ready."

He continued, "It's just, this is our first mission in the field, so... I want to make sure that we're both on the same page." She almost rolled her eyes as she walked away. He didn't stop, though. "You know, maybe we should talk about how many dates we've been on. You know, we are playing a couple tonight, so... What do you think? Uh, one, two? Five?"

She glared at the jerk. "Does it really make a difference?"

He replied, "It informs our cover. Our chemistry, body language. For instance, have we slept together yet?"

She couldn't believe this guy. "You got to be kidding me."

He stated, "No, it changes the whole dynamic."

She almost snapped her reply. "Well, in that case, no, we definitely have not slept together."

"Good to know," he commented, and this time she did walk away.

Meanwhile, in the Buy More, Chuck asked Hannah, "So, you ready for your first mission, Hannah?" Then he wished he'd used a different word. Is she already on a mission, for the Ring?

"Mission?" she asked, with a smile.

He hoped his smile was convincing. "Well, I'm just trying to say that, you know, you never know what's going to happen out there outside the protection of the Buy More. You and me, we're going behind enemy lines."

She grinned, "Okay."


Chuck and Hannah were taken to the same room as before, by the curator. He told them he hoped not to see them again that evening.

Casey was in the van outside, looking at the internal surveillance and watched Walker and Shaw arrive. He noticed how uncomfortable she looked and how he was getting as close as he could.

Casey usually liked needling her and Bartowski, but here he felt sorry for her having to put up with that 2x4. He listened to their conversation.

"The mask is in this vault," Shaw said, leaning in to her "It opens at 8:00. Doesn't give us much time to make the swap."

He put his arm around her and slid it down the side of her arm to reach her waist. She looked at his hand as he did that. "I thought I made myself clear about our cover," she said, coldly.

"Just because we haven't slept together doesn't mean we have to act like this is a middle school dance," he replied, and left his hand where it was.

You bastard, she thought. I'm hope Chuck can't see this.

Shaw continued, "Over there, behind that door, is a staircase that leads up to the top of the vault." He started kissing her neck. She wanted to stab him with one of her knives, but could only grit her teeth. He whispered, breathing into her ear, "Keep an eye out on the security cameras up to your right and straight ahead. Are we good, Agent Walker?"

She stepped away, turned to face him and said, in a very formal tone, "Yes, we're fine. Thank you."

Casey felt even more sorry for her. He too hoped Bartowski wasn't watching this.


In the control room, Chuck and Hannah had nothing to do, so he was sitting on the desk reading a brochure about Alexander the Great, marveling at his empire.

Hannah chirped up from the chair, "Can you keep a secret, Chuck?"

That took him by surprise. Was she going to confess? "Huh? Uh... Yeah, it's kind of my forte." Even as he said it, he winced internally.

"Do you want to know the real reason that I took this job?"

He thought about joking about the outfits, the wages, but just couldn't be bothered. He just shrugged.

"You," she told him.

No holding back, he thought. He acted dumb, something he realized he usually was before Sarah had opened his eyes. "Uh... me... me? Really, me?"

She smiled. "It's not like I haven't been giving you signals." She stood and walked closer. "I hope this isn't too forward."

Yeah it is, he thought, but this damn act still had to be followed. "No, forward is good."

"In that case..." she said and then she leaned in and kissed his lips.

He really wanted to turn away and wipe his mouth. This really felt like cheating on his amazing girlfriend. He pulled back and just said, "Garlic for dinner."

She looked over his shoulder at the monitors and saw Shaw and Sarah. He saw her looking at something, so he turned and looked too. He saw Sarah looking absolutely stunning, but thankfully alone.

"You and your ex-girlfriend..."

Chuck's heart sank. Hannah knew about Sarah. The dumb act again. "Who? Sarah?"

"Yeah. Morgan said that you guys were done."

He probably should have said that they were, but he couldn't bring himself to do that. "Why?" he asked.

Hannah pointed to her on the screen. "That is her, right? Any idea what she's doing here?" They both watched Shaw walk up to her and lead her away. "Other than making you jealous with that ridiculously good-looking date of hers."

You bitch, he thought. He was going to make a comment about Shaw, when he flashed on another guy on the screen. He didn't have a mic, so couldn't tell anyone about the man he saw. He stood. "I am going to be right back."

He ran to the ballroom and collared Shaw and Sarah.

"Chuck, what are you doing here?" Shaw asked, frustratedly.

Chuck said, as quietly as he could, "The Ring agent who broke into the museum in Damascus, Vasillis, is here, and when I say 'here', I mean in the same room, here." He pointed him out, "Look over there."

The others looked over their shoulders and could see him. "We have to abort, " Shaw said. Sarah and Chuck looked surprised. Shaw continued, "We don't have a choice. Vasillis and I have a history."

Sarah wasn't buying it. "Are you sure he remembers you?"

Shaw's reply convinced them, "You tend to remember the guy who set your face on fire."

Chuck looked over their shoulders again. "Looks like your friend isn't alone, either."

Sarah saw the two men talking to Vasillis. "They're casing the place. They're here to grab the mask. We better move right now."

Shaw shook his head. "I'm not sending you in alone."

Chuck saw the opportunity and grasped it. "Hey, it's okay. No problem. I'll go with her."

Shaw glared at him. "You don't know what you're dealing with."

Sarah liked what Chuck was doing, even though it was potentially putting him in danger. She could look after him, though. "Get out of here, Shaw, unless you want to blow the cover. Chuck and I can handle the mask."

Shaw frowned. This obviously didn't fit his plan, but there really was no choice. "All right. Casey and I will be in the van if you need us." He walked out.

Chuck looked at the beautiful woman in front of him and grinned. "Well, what do you say, partner?"

She wanted to kiss him, but knew she couldn't here, so she just smiled at him and said, "Let's go."


Chuck and Sarah casually strolled over to the door Shaw had identified. Chuck was tapping on his phone.

Sarah knew he would be doing something to help, but he wasn't looking where he was going. "Watch those security cameras," she muttered. "We have to assume the Ring has tapped into those, as well."

"Yeah, I'm, one step ahead of you," he told her and tapped one last time on the phone screen. He grinned at Sarah, but said, "Sorry, Hannah." Sarah grinned too, realizing what he had done.

They quietly slipped through the door.

Chuck could imagine Hannah's panic as the servers went crazy. Serves you right.

Chuck looked at his watch, there was just over five minutes for them to do this.

They got to the space above the vault.

Sarah told him, "Okay, you're going to have to lower me into the vault by hand."

Knowing that Casey and, more particularly, Shaw, would be listening to them, Chuck started acting jealous, "So... you and Shaw looked like you were having fun at the party tonight."

She looked up at him, surprised he would say this, but when she saw him almost touching his earpiece, almost tapping it, she grinned and in a flat tone asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

He grinned back. "I'm just saying... you two make a cute couple."

She mock growled, "Shaw and I are playing a cover."

"Whatever. But the guy's a hunk. Looks your type."

"You have no idea what my type is like," she coldly replied, while rubbing her hand over his chest. She blew him a silent kiss at the end of her words. They both knew exactly what her type was now like.

She continued to get ready, but they kept this conversation going, knowing it was selling what Shaw would want to hear.

Chuck's next words were true and both winced as he said them. "He couldn't keep his hands off of you all night. And the way he brings you coffee every morning?" Sarah looked at him, checking he wasn't upset by this. His grin reassured her.

Now it was her turn. "You're one to talk."

He raised an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

She grinned. "Oh, nothing. It's just that, ever since Hannah showed up at the Buy More, she hasn't been able to keep her hands off you." She doesn't know what Hannah did this evening, he thought, but wasn't going to mention that until later. "Cut the girl a break," she continued, "You guys are cute together."

He then thought about Hannah going too far already. "Hannah and I are colleagues. Forgive me for trying to be professional."

Sarah had guessed that he had 'a close encounter' this evening. She knew she could trust him, but her next words did hide a stab to her chest, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize professional meant having her perfume lathered all over you."

He looked at her apologetically, and mouthed, "Sorry."

She touched his arm to reassure him and nodded. "Come on. We got a mask to steal."

He lowered her down into the vault. He marveled at how easy she made it look, as well as how great her legs looked, although he tried not to think about that. He was holding onto the rope, when he heard Shaw call his name. He spoke into his watch, "My hands are kind of full here." Then he noticed a man pull up beside him. He didn't know what to do, but said, "Hi there."

The man kicked him into the hole. The rope was attached to his ankle, so as he fell, Sarah was pulled up. Sarah cried out.

In seconds he was hovering near to the mask and she managed to get her thighs around the guy's neck and squeezed.

Chuck called to her, "Sarah!"

The man had no chance and passed out. She attached her cable to the man's trousers. "Hang on, Chuck. I got you. Okay."

Then, a yellow cable was wrapped around her neck and she was far from okay herself. She was pulled away and was being choked.

Chuck in the meantime was reaching for the mask. He could hear Sarah struggling above him, but there was nothing he could do to help, so was doing what he could while suspended upside down.

He then heard Casey, "Bartowski, I thought you took care of the vault."

Shaw answered, "It's the girl, Hannah. She must be using Bartowski's laptop. We still tapped in remotely?"

Chuck saw the doors to the vault start to open, but then they closed again. Then opened, then closed. Shaw and Hannah were obviously fighting each other. If the situation hadn't been so tense, Chuck would have found that significant. Not working as a team.

Meanwhile, Sarah had managed to run her feet up the wall and twist so that she could kick the man with the cable and she did, knocking him against the wall and he lost consciousness.

Chuck had managed to reach the mask. "I got it, I got it!"

Sarah looked over into the vault and saw it in his hand. She called to him and dropped the false mask down, which he caught in his other hand. She was impressed with how he was doing. He placed the false mask on the pedestal and Sarah started to pull him up, just as Shaw exclaimed, "She broke the connection."

As she helped him out of the hole, she said to the guys, "Clear! We're clear."

The grate closed as they looked at it. Another few seconds and he would not have made it. She wrapped her arms around him into a tight hug and he hugged her back. If they weren't being listened to, they would have kissed the heck out of each other.

However, Chuck needed to keep stringing Hannah along, so rushed to her.

As he entered the room, he said, "Hey, Hannah. Sorry about that."

She turned and glared at him. "Where the hell have you been? How could you abandon me like that on my first Nerd Herd assignment? Forget it. I know where you were."

He didn't like the sound of that. Did the Ring guys tell her? "You do?"

She replied, coldly, "Yes. I saw you with your ex-girlfriend."

He nearly said, she's not an ex-girlfriend, but managed to stop himself. However, he was relieved she hadn't seen them heading to the stairwell. In spite of that, what he said was more about what he and Sarah had been doing, "it's not what you think. Okay."

She glared. "Then, what is it?"

He realized she was meaning between him and Sarah. He wanted to shout to the world how the two of them were together, but he forced out, "Sarah and I have a very... unique relationship." That was true, though.

"Wow. That sounds really special. I... I cannot believe that I made such an ass out of myself, kissing you like that."

He wished she hadn't, obviously, but still had to string her along. "No, no! You didn't make an ass out of yourself. I'm... I'm the ass."

She growled, "Yes, clearly. I think we should just keep things professional between us from now on."

He didn't know how, but he needed to patch this up. "No, Hannah, let... let me make it up to you." He was actually thinking about his lovely girlfriend as he said that.

"Forget it. Chuck, don't bother. I'll see you at work." Hannah stormed out.

Sarah spotted her going. She had been listening to her boyfriend's attempts to fix things with the woman. She strolled in to say to him. "That went well."

He glared at her slightly.

She knew he was struggling with having to string this woman along. It was hard for her to watch, as well, but both knew it was important. Her comment wasn't helpful, but her apologetic gaze and her hand placed softly on his arm was. She couldn't do more, because of the cameras on them and she had to leave, but he felt better for what she had done.

She had to leave with Shaw, and he had to go in his Nerd Herder, so they didn't travel back together that night, which bothered him. He was burnt out from the night's work and needed to just go home and sleep.

He wanted to talk to Sarah about Hannah and the kiss, but that would now have to wait. When he got home, he sent Sarah a text telling her he needed his sleep and could they talk tomorrow.

He smiled at her reply.

:-( will miss u xxx


The next morning, Chuck was away from the Nerd Herd desk and Morgan had been trying to chat Hannah up in his absence. A call came through and Morgan answered it. "Hello. Nerd Herd."

A man with a foreign accent said, "I'm calling from the museum."

Morgan rolled his eyes at hearing the accent. "How may I help you?"

"We are still having problems with our computer system. Perhaps you can send the girl you sent last night."

Morgan looked at the woman in front of him. "Uh, you must mean Hannah. Absolutely, I think she'd be happy to come back out, and in fact, to make up for the hiccup, it's on the house."

Hannah smiled at him. Morgan started to offer Chuck to go as well, but noticed her frown and said she'd handle the problem on her own.

When he ended the call, Hannah grinned at him. "Thank you, Morgan, you are a great friend." She headed out, leaving Morgan thinking that being a great friend was a start.


Sarah really wanted to spend some time with Chuck to discuss what had happened, but now she was back in Castle preparing for another day. The mask was on the desk in front of her as a reminder of their successful mission.

Shaw walked in and placed a coffee in front of her again. "Good morning, Walker."

She had had enough of this. "Okay, we need to talk."

"About last night?" he asked.

"About everything. About professional boundaries, about you bringing me coffee to work every morning and noticing that I like to chew on my swizzle sticks. You're embarrassing us both. We are just colleagues and that is all we are ever going to be, so please keep your coffee and your cheesy come-ons to yourself. Okay, you got that?" He nodded, so she added, "Good, now let's get back to work."

He was quiet for a few seconds, then commented, "I feel like I should probably apologize to Colonel Casey."

Casey walked in. "Hey, Shaw, thanks for the coffee. Just the way I like it. Black and bitter."

Sarah felt embarrassed that she'd just been played, but would not apologize to the jerk. Everything she had said was true.


When Hannah arrived at the museum, she was met by Vasillis. "We need that mask," he told her.

"I don't have it," she replied.

"No, that guy you were with does," he told her.

"It is more likely to be the woman he was with," she replied.

"Well, he seems interested in both of you, so we will use you as bait."

She nodded. "You want me in the vault?"

"Yes. If he takes some time, you'll need to use these." He handed her two canisters and a soft mask and tube. "Use sparingly. Two second gasps. About a hundred in each."

She nodded and put them in her bag. She then walked into the vault, looking at the false mask on the pedestal.

She knew Vasillis would make the call to the Nerd Herd desk and only set off the security once he knew Chuck would be coming. She smiled, knowing he was a sucker and would bring the mask.


Chuck was back at the Nerd herd desk and wondering why he wasn't being pestered by Hannah. He guessed she was still pissed that her ploy hadn't worked.

The phone rang and he answered, "Nerd Herd. How can I help you?"

The foreign accent came through clearly, "You can bring me my mask."

Chuck sat upright. "Uh, I think you might have the wrong number, sir."

"Let me rephrase. Either you bring me the mask or I kill your girlfriend."

Chuck panicked. They have Sarah! Then he rethought that and turned to his friend who was just passing. "Morgan, have, uh, have you seen Hannah?"

"Yeah, she's out on a call. Something at the museum."

Chuck turned away from Morgan and spoke into the phone, "Sir, first of all, I don't have a girlfriend, just for clarification's sake, and second, like I mentioned earlier, this is the Nerd Herd desk, so unless you have a computer-related..."

"I know who you are. If you want to see the girl alive, you'll come to the museum and come alone. She runs out of air in fifty minutes. Bring me my mask."

Chuck wasn't sure if Hannah was in on the robbery or not. He rushed into the AV suite, opening the trapdoor to get to Castle.


Sarah was scanning the mask with Shaw as Chuck headed over to them. Her phone rang and she saw it was Chuck. "Chuck?"

"Sarah, I need the mask now. Vasillis knows we took it and he wants it back. He grabbed Hannah. I'm coming down the tunnel."

She wondered why he assumed Hannah was not in on it.

A canister rolled out of the base of the mask and it was beeping.

Shaw said, "That can't be good." The beeping was getting faster.

"Uh, Chuck, don't come in here. We think the mask is some kind of a..."

White gas poured out of the canister.

The glass doors sealed the two of them in, just as Chuck reached the outside, seeing them coughing; Sarah more than Shaw. The monitor behind her displayed,

Contamination
Cyclosarin

Chuck flashed on that name. It was an extremely toxic substance used as a chemical weapon. The counteragent had to be inhaled. "Guys, guys, it's poison."

Shaw sarcastically replied, "You think?"

Chuck continued, "It's a designer weapon developed for battlefield use, but there's a counteragent that can be taken up to thirty minutes after exposure."

"Or what?" Sarah asked.

"Look, don't worry. I'm gonna get the counteragent from Vasillis. He wouldn't have shipped the weapon without it. It's got to be back at the…." Chuck spoke into his watch. "Casey, gear up. We're heading back to the museum."

He looked at his beautiful girlfriend and held in his panic, hoping he made it.


He didn't have the mask. That was sealed away with Sarah and Shaw. "This is never gonna work," he commented to Casey as the latter drove them to the museum.

Casey shoved a bag into Chuck's lap. "It'll work. Here."

Chuck opened the bag and saw another fake mask. "Okay, fine. So, let's say we're able to fool Vasillis with another fake mask and we save Hannah. That still doesn't solve the problem of how we convince him to give us the counteragent. What about Sarah and Shaw? Do we have enough time to save them, too?"

Casey said nothing.

Then, Chuck had an idea. "Wait, I got it. We gas him."

Casey muttered, "That's a great plan, except the chemical weapon's already been deployed."

Chuck replied, "Yeah, but Vasillis doesn't know that."

Casey grunted and stopped the van. "I got some smoke grenades in the back."


Back in Castle, Shaw commented to Sarah, "Funny, I don't feel like I'm dying."

Sarah replied, "Chuck will come through for us."

He nodded, but continued, "In case he doesn't... I wanted to clear the air between us. It turns out I haven't been completely honest about, uh, the coffee and how I was acting at the museum. Truth is I was hitting on you. It was completely unprofessional and I apologize."

This was no real surprise. "I guessed." She said nothing else.

He frowned. "Well, then, I... I'm glad we had this talk."

She stayed silent, hoping Chuck was okay. She had started to panic about him going up against this Vasillis. Sarah herself wasn't important, but Chuck was. Please don't get hurt, Chuck.

She slumped down, slipping into unconsciousness.

A beep got Shaw to look up at the screen. "The poison has been contained. The room has been cleared." He looked at Sarah. "We got to get you out of here."

He grabbed a gun from the armory and blasted the glass door. Then, he scooped her up and rushed out.


Chuck rushed into the museum and was stopped by Vasillis and two men with guns. Vasillis said, "Stop there. Show me my mask."

Chuck pulled the fake mask out of his backpack. "Show me my Nerd Herder."

"She's in the vault. Oh, look at the time. Air must be getting a little thin."

Casey was above the vault. "If he doesn't open the door, I'm going to blow the vault."

Vasillis continued, "I can't promise she'll be okay."

Chuck stated, "I did what you asked and I brought the mask. Now let her out."

"If it were up to me, sure. She would walk free. But the people you've stolen from, the Ring, they're not so forgiving."

Chuck stated, "Do what you want to me but the girl had nothing to do with this."

Vasillis chuckled, thinking how wrong Chuck was. "You're in no position to make demands. You gave up any leverage you might've had when you walked in with the mask."

"Not quite," Chuck snapped, lifting the mask above his head so that if he was shot, the mask would come crashing down. "I think we all know what's inside this mask. So, either you open that door and let her out or I release the gas."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, that's too bad. You should've." Chuck dropped the mask and white gas poured out. They all started coughing.

Vasillis stared at him. "You've killed us all. You idiot!"

Chuck pushed him, "Well, there's a counteragent, right? Where is it?"

"It's in a vase," Vasillis replied, coughing again.

Chuck looked around. "There's a hundred of them. Which one?"

"How am I supposed to know? I wasn't going to steal it personally."

Chuck couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Oh, I see, and I'm the idiot?"

Vasillis had grabbed something and rushed towards Chuck who dodged out of the way. The man smashed down on the vase on the pedestal behind where Chuck had stood. Chuck realized what he was doing and started to think, realizing one of the vases would be different to the others. He started looking around.

"Time's up, Chuck," Casey told him as he was about to set off the explosives he'd set up.

"No, Casey, wait!" Chuck shouted as he flashed on one of the vases. "I found the counteragent. Meet me in the control room."

"When do I get to blow something up?" Casey grumbled before he set off for the control room.


Casey found the curator in the control room, tied up. Chuck rushed in, looking panicked and said, "How much time have we got left?"

Casey snatched the counteragent from him. "Don't worry about that. You get her out of the vault."

Chuck realized the time. "You don't have enough time, do you?" He felt like his life, that had been getting so much better, came crashing down around him. Sarah!

"Focus, Bartowski. Even if they are lost, we still have that woman in there. Get her out!"

Casey rushed out. Chuck stumbled to and slumped into the chair in front of the monitor and keyboard. He managed to start the work to get the system back up, but his heart wasn't really in it. He felt he had lost the love of his life.

He did manage to get it done, though and headed to the vault.


Casey was heading out, when Shaw carried Sarah into the museum. Casey rushed to them as Shaw carefully placed her down on the floor. "Sarah? Shaw?"

Shaw looked up, "What the... ?"

Casey pushed the canister into Shaw's hand. "Here's the counteragent. I'll go release the curator."

Sarah was still just about conscious, so was able to take the counteragent, but she was very weak.

"You okay?" Shaw asked.

"Yeah," she replied, but only just.

Shaw pulled her head against his chest and she had no strength to fight it.

Chuck saw them like that as he headed to the vault. Mixed emotions. Joy that she was alive, but anger at Shaw stroking her hair like that. His insecurities hit him. He hadn't lost her to the poison, but to Shaw!

However, he had Hannah to rescue, so he turned away.

As the doors on the vault opened, Chuck noticed Hannah lying by one of the vents, hastily pushing a soft mask into her bag. He now knew what she had been doing in here and started to get angry, but realized he couldn't react that way.

He went to her and cradled her in his lap, even though he knew she was faking it. He had to act this way, he reminded himself. "Hannah?"

She groggily asked, "What happened?"

He wanted to say that she knew exactly what had happened, but said, "You passed out and I think, uh, somehow you got trapped in the vault."

She gushed, "Oh, my God. I could've died in here. You saved my life, Chuck." She hugged him.

He knew otherwise. No, I didn't, you bitch!

He looked over her shoulder at Shaw, still holding Sarah, who had now drifted off asleep.


Casey offered to take Sarah to her place so that she could get over this. Shaw started to argue, but the older man looked at him. "And you need to get your beauty sleep too, Shaw."

After helping Sarah to her room, Casey left her and called Chuck. "Your girlfriend is back in her room, Bartowski."

Chuck was back in his bedroom, but sat up immediately. "She's not-"

"Can it, Bartowski. I ain't blind."

Chuck smiled. "Thank you, Casey."

"You better get over here, she needs you."

Chuck was already out of the Morgan door and running to the Nerd Herder.


Waking up in Chuck's arms was a pleasant surprise. She knew it was him from the scent he wore. She hummed and snuggled into him. "Saved me again, Chuck?"

He tightened his arms around her. "Always, Sarah. Always."

She then remembered Shaw and pushed herself off of his chest. She angrily asked, "Where's that bastard Shaw?"

He smiled at her. "Well, he's not here in bed with us."

She realized they were both naked. Just the thought his words put in her head made her shudder. "Thank God!"

She lay down on his chest again. In a very small voice, she told him about that man. "He made a pass at me, Chuck."

"I know," he replied.

Worried about Chuck and his insecurities, she leaned up and looked into his eyes. "You know he has no chance, don't you?"

His lip trembled and a tear formed at the corner of his eye. "I thought I'd lost you, Sarah. It was the worst experience in my life. Then, when I saw you were safe, he had you in his arms and he was stroking your hair. I thought I'd lost you in a different way." The tears were sliding down his face now. "Look, all I know is the guy carried you out of Castle on his back while you were both dying. So, if I have to see you with someone else it might as well be a hero, right?"

She slid up his body, while still holding his gaze. She shook his shoulders. "You are my hero, Chuck. He will never have me. I'm all yours." She then kissed him tenderly. She didn't have the strength for more, but that was all they both needed.

When their lips parted, Chuck said, "Hannah kissed me in the control room and made a pass at me again in the vault."

Sarah tensed up.

He hastily explained what he saw. "She was taking oxygen to keep herself alive in the vault. She was in on it with Vasillis as well as working with Shaw so that he could win the best in the CIA."

"Bitch!" Sarah exclaimed, now much more awake and alert.

"Bastard!" Chuck replied and then they both started to chuckle.

She kissed him again. "My Chuck." She knew he really was hers.

He kissed her back. "My Sarah." Just him saying that in reply to her words made her feel even better.

Both their bodies were starting to react to how she was lying on top of him. She kissed him harder, more passionately.

Then, they made love, which was just what each of them needed at that point.

After, both lying on their sides, with him spooning her, they drifted off to sleep, with his arm around her.

All was well in the world, once again.


A/N: So, confirmation of what both Hannah and Shaw were doing, as far as relationships go. Also, confirmation of Hannah's Ring ties.