A/N Making this up as I go along, mix-mastering events quite a bit. Hopefully it'll all make sense. Happy New Year.

"Really, Colonel, you're not helping."

"I didn't mean to do that."

"He and his team are all consummate professionals."

"It's all in the context."

In between presentations…

"So you're Gertrude Verbanski," said Casey, once he'd managed to get close enough to say anything to her without it being picked up by every Tom, Dick, and mike within earshot. She was mobbed, of course, in spite of all the flunkies and minions she had to keep off the riff-raff. The money-men saw a mega-babe, the professionals saw a dangerously competent mega-babe. Why did she have to be here?

He didn't normally go to conventions like SAFE. Too…commercial. Not enough weapons. But duty brought him to this one, so he had to ask, for the mission's sake. And since she was here, he had to ask her. If she'd been using the name he knew her by, he never would have stayed long enough to get into this mess. At least the mob gave him time to think of something to say that didn't sound too… interested. Hopefully she'd blow off his piddly set of jobs in seconds and he'd be on his way, honor satisfied. Hopefully she wouldn't remember him.

"I am," said Miss Verbanski, handing him a card automatically, along with the brochure it was stapled to. "And you're John Casey."

Crap."No," said Casey, taking the brochure. "My alias just outlasted yours."

"So did your country," said Verbanski, handing off the rest of her materials to her minions as they stood around trying not to gawk at her strange behavior. "Now I'm free to engage in my own… pursuits." She smiled at him.

"Can we talk business, please?" asked Casey desperately.

"I thought that's what we were doing," she replied, putting a hand gently on his arm. "Two old friends…"

"Old enemies," said Casey. He tried to pull his arm away, but she held on. "You took my gun."

Verbanski frowned at him. "You lost her to me, fair and square, and I keep her nice and safe, right in my office." She drew a finger down the length of his strong hands, and those nice long fingers. "Maybe you can come by sometime and visit."

Maybe I should bring Ellie by sometime and let her handle this. Casey chuckled at the idea, and Gertrude smiled at him again. Then he imagined Ellie and her constant attempts to play the matchmaker for her brother. God help me. "Maybe I will," he lied. "At the moment I'm here on government business. I need to know your availability."

She put on a more professional attitude. "For what?"

Politics. Administrative leave. Bureaucracy. All the sorts of crap she'd gone into the private sector to escape. "That's need-to-know."

She looked amused, if a bit confused. "So you want to put us on retainer?"

Casey shook his head. "No books." That should do it.

She looked at him funny, but she wasn't walking away just yet. "So how do we get paid?"

Nuts. "We'll figure something out."

In Echo Park…

"This is excellent news, Agent Bartowski," said General Beckman, after Chuck finished his report. "The Intersect has apparently increased your already formidable computer skills. I'll make sure your therapist is aware of this development. Make sure you keep your sister in the loop as well." She switched her attention to some of her notes. "This also gives me an idea for your next mission, especially with Col. Casey away on another task. Software designer Otto von Vogel is in LA, attempting to sell his decryption key, a program that would make all of our current security software useless."

Chuck looked interested. "You want me to make you some new security software, General?"

"No," said Beckman in surprise. "I want you, and Agent Walker, to infiltrate Vogel's party and obtain his code."

"But General, what good would that do?" asked Chuck. "He'll just run off another copy and sell that, unless he's selling the source code. It's not the source code, is it, 'cause that just wouldn't make any sense." Not without a bidding war.

Beckman looked at him like he didn't make any sense. "I leave it up to you to find that out, Agent Bartowski. Just make sure all copies are either destroyed or in our hands. Meanwhile, I'll wave off the other team currently tracking Vogel and have them reassigned. They're a couple, just like you two. There's some business in Milan that a couple can look into."

"During fashion week, General?" asked Sarah.

"It's a good cover for spy work," said Chuck, thinking about it like a spy. She had mentioned it before. Once or twice. "High density, weak connectivity, dubious taste in clothing…" Did she really want to go to that?

"Another reason to keep Col. Casey local," said Beckman.

"I'm just wondering if Carina's taking any personal time off right now," said Sarah. "She likes to go there and feel sorry for the models."

"An excellent suggestion. I'll alert her people," said Beckman, making a note. "If she's there she can reach out to the other team, in case they need assistance."

"Um…" said Sarah.

"Agent Bartowski, don't forget, you are not to engage in any form of violence, and no flashing. Let Sarah handle that. You focus on the software."

"Absolutely, General."

"But…" said Sarah, as the screen went black. She turned to her fiancé. "I don't think she understands."

"I know she doesn't," said Chuck. He'd gone to a great deal of trouble to make sure Beckman didn't find out she had the Piranha on staff. Telling Casey would be risky enough.

Meanwhile, back at SAFE…

Casey marched into the con suite, a room with lots of food, drinks, and people chattering enthusiastically, intent on getting something to drink and getting out of there as quickly as he could. He could talk muzzle velocities all day, but there went his whole day, and he had work to do. Coolers full of sodas and bottled water sat against the wall, but there on the table were bowls of ice water, with bottles of juice, including pomegranate, his favorite. He was reaching for it when his hand collided with someone else's.

"Oh, Mr. Casey," said Alex McHugh. "I should have known I'd see you here." She took the bottle when Casey stood back politely, and poured cups for them both. "We must be the only two people here who drink this stuff."

Casey took one, grunting his thanks. "More for us, then." He tapped his plastic cup with hers. "How are things with you?"

"Good, good," said Alex, nodding. "Getting along. School's expensive, even with Mom paying for a lot of it. I'd love to work more hours, I could really use the tip money, but that cuts into my study time." She looked around the room. "I'm only here for the one day, but I really needed a break."

"It is pretty relaxing."

She leaned close, confidingly. "I think Morgan wants me to move in with him, save money on housing,\." She sighed. "But then I'd be too far from school."

Bartowski and Walker are engaged. "That's too bad," said Casey, thing of all that Buy More money he never spent. "But you never know, that could be a blessing in disguise. You don't want to rush into those big decisions, you know?"

"I know, but–"

"Scuze, me, honey," said some guy, reaching around Alex from behind, one hand on her arm. "Let me just grab one of these jugs here." Alex turned to glare at him, but he wasn't looking anywhere near her face, so he missed it. "Forgot my morning dose of vitamin C…"Casey took a step forward, growling, but he was too late. A gloved hand grabbed the guy by the throat and dragged him away.

Gertrude Verbanski slammed the guy up against the nearest wall, everyone there scrambling to make some room. "I'm sure you think you're pretty clever," she said as loudly as if she were on stage, but she wasn't playing to this crowd. "But so am I, and I have over three hundred agents around the world. If I gave each of them a chunk of you–" she glanced down "–and I'm sure some of those bits would be pretty small–" she looked up again "–no one would even notice you were gone." She opened her hand. "Get lost, poser."

The guy fled the room, everyone helping him find the door with well-placed kicks and shoves.

Verbanski turned back to the two she'd been watching since she came into the room. "Sorry to steal your thunder, John."

"No problem," said Casey. "I'm sure it meant more coming from you."

Gertrude offered her hand to Alex. "Gertrude Verbanski, Verbanski Corp."

"Alex McHugh."

Gertrude smiled, squeezing Alex' hand once before letting go. "Well, Alex, I hope you don't mind my saying so, but you don't look like a typical client."

"Oh, I'm not," said Alex. "I'm studying criminal justice at UCLA. I've been observing some of the presentations, but mostly I'm just here for the firearms."

Verbanski looked at Casey and smiled a little bit. "Hmm. Like Father, like daughter?"

"Oh." Alex looked at Casey too, then down at the floor. "No," she said sadly. "Nothing like that. Mr. Casey works with my boyfriend. My father died before I was born." She put the cup down. "Excuse me, Mr. Casey, I have to go."

"Miss McHugh." Casey put his cup down too. "Alex…" He started after her, but Verbanski stopped him with a hand against his chest.

"Five, four, three, two, one," she said softly, and lowered her arm. "You'll thank me later."

By the time Casey reached the door, Alex was gone.

In the Buy More…

With a mission planned for that night and forbidden to flash in the meantime, Chuck went to work, where nothing ever happened, to wait behind the Nerd Herd desk while Sarah went down to Castle to get weapons to stock her new home with, as per the thirty-foot rule. Chuck had heard of it, of course, but since he wasn't classed appropriately and he didn't have much by way of furniture anyway, he'd sort of skipped it. Now that everyone in his life was in on his real job, and someone who was classed appropriately would be using his apartment as her primary residence, it was time for an upgrade. By the time they got back from their mission tonight, assuming they did get back from their mission tonight, the place would a habitable environment for people other than two bachelors.

Someone came in the front door, the first in quite a while, and Chuck looked up out of reflex. A man stood just inside the entrance, looking around, but it was the way he looked around that got Chuck's interest. He was slowly and systematically scanning the interior, noting the exits, the mirrors. Chuck dropped his gaze to the monitor in front of him and started rattling keys, until the man walked into one of the aisles and vanished. Chuck looked in the mirrors until he noticed Lester looking into them too, and urgently signaled him to come to the desk.

Eventually Lester sauntered over casually. "What can I do for you, Charles?"

"I need you and Jeff to keep an eye on the guy in aisle 4."

The light of mischief glowed in Lester's eyes, but he tried to hide it. "And why should we do this chore for you?" he asked, as Jeff strolled over.

Someday Morgan would forgive him, but Chuck doubted today would be that day. "Did your experience with the witch-queen of the Buy More teach you nothing?"

"Aisle 4, you say?" Lester looked over to his cohort. "Come, Jeffery, the world needs us once more."

"The world might need you," stressed Chuck, but Lester didn't hear words like that, and they slid away from the desk, not looking at all obvious. Chuck entered another bogus install into the system and grabbed his bag, heading for the door as fast as he could go.

Three people walked in just before he got there. Two of them looked around, studying the interior, while the third did a quick scan for moving targets before settling on Chuck. A half-second too late he smiled. "Hi. We were supposed to meet someone here. You haven't seen anybody come into the store recently have you?"

Something behind Chuck went thump! "Try the DVDs," he said. "Have a nice day."

A/N2 The Turners in Milan, with Carina? Yeah, that'll end well.