For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Ellie and Casey have their first date, which turns into awkwardness for Team Bartowski. Chuck's torn, between defending his sister and being mad at Casey when Jeff and Lester try to offer an intervention. The mission prep, while painful, pays off as they work to rescue kidnapped physicist Nathan York.

The sweet, round-faced nurse leaned against the counter, watching Ellie with interest.

"Yes?" Ellie finally asked, closing one chart and picking up the next.

"I'm just wondering," Mandy said.

"About what?"

"About how it was last night?"

Ellie took a slow, deliberate deep breath.

"Oh, come on..."

The problem, Ellie knew, was that anything she said could be easily taken out of context. Anything she said could've easily been spread across the entire hospital before the hour was up. And, out of respect for Devon, she wanted desperately to keep those whispers to a minimum. She didn't want questions being asked, she didn't want things getting around. "I'm sorry, Mandy."

"No kissing and telling?" she asked with a grin.

"No telling if there was any kissing or not," Ellie said before breezing towards one of the triage rooms.

Mandy fell in step behind her. "Are you going to see him again?"

"Mandy..."

"That's the tiniest of details out there..."

Ellie stopped. When she spoke, her voice was clear, but quiet, kind, but to the point. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I don't want to talk about it. I know a lot of people still love Devon, a lot of people aren't sure what happened between us, and I don't want to get into it, I don't want to muddy the waters or create lines where people feel they have to pick sides."

"I don't think that's the situation you're going to find yourself in, Dr. B."

She smiled gently. "I hope so."

Mandy, undaunted, came up with a great idea. "Well, listen, a couple of us are getting together Monday night after work. Two for one drink night, no cover charge... You should come with us."

Ellie hesitated.

"We won't pressure you for information or anything. Just come with, have fun. You might like it," Mandy said with a smile.

She had always turned down the opportunities for the past two years. The first year, she was engaged, busy with planning and dealing with impending in-laws. The second year, she was married, busy with the whole idea of being married. And with trying not to get kidnapped. But now, things were different. Now, she was single, so why not? "I'll be there."

Mandy grinned excitedly. "Bring your party dress, we go from here."

Ellie laughed. "All right, all right," she said, before disappearing into the patient room.

Casey sat in the Castle. All of the gear from the night's mission had been stored and put away. The debriefing had gone without a hitch. Beckman seemed pleased, particularly for Casey's first mission back since he'd been shot. The only thing left to do was wait for the pick-up team to come by and grab the would-be buyer of their nuclear physicist.

The awkwardness, which had eased somewhat in the moments immediately following the mission, had slowly seeped back into the room. It was so subtle that, at first, none of them realized it was there, until there was a moment where Casey and Chuck were both heading for the main corridor and they nearly bumped into each other.

For a moment, Sarah wondered if they weren't about to experience some physics in the middle of the hallway there. Spontaneous human combustion, perhaps.

Chuck, who would've normally backed down, didn't.

When Casey started to walk again, and Chuck blocked him a second time, the Marine stopped. "You got something to say, Bartowski?"

Chuck thought for a moment, then shook his head.

Casey caught Sarah watching them out of the corner of his eye. She looked like she was holding her breath, like World War III might break out in the conference room of the Castle. While he hated giving up ground, he let Chuck go down the hallway. Instead of following the lanky geek, however, Casey crossed towards his partner.

"I think he's upset."

Casey narrowed his eyes slightly. "What was your first clue?" he asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Don't make me pick his side."

"What are we picking sides for anyway?" Casey asked, leaning against the conference table.

"Chuck isn't quite as accustomed to the idea of your dating his sister yet."

"But, he said-"

"What he said was immediately after he thought you were going to die," she reminded.

He grumbled.

"It made sense at the time. He felt guilty for your being hurt. He wanted you to feel better. Ellie makes you feel better... But, you're up and you're walking around and talking and you're back at work and everything is seemingly right in the world again, so, in Chuck's world, I'm sure it's 'right' for Ellie to be with Awesome."

"Woodcomb took the job of his own free will. Nobody forced him to join the CIA."

"If Chuck is taking issue with that, he's not said."

"He's not said much of anything," Casey said.

"Well, true," Sarah relented. "But, I think really, it's more the fact that it's, well, true now. It's real. You're in Ellie's life and she's in yours, and we're all in this together. There is no theoretical portion of it. It's not just something we've all been thinking about. It's something we can all see now."

Casey was quiet.

Sarah was getting tired of quiet from both her partners. "Casey...?"

"Hm?"

"What?"

Casey just looked at her. "Nothing."

He sat at his desk, thumbing through the contacts in his iPhone while mentally counting the money to be made from his transactions. And the fact that Billings wanted a steady stream? He'd be able to retire in no time, leaving his criminal empire for the next entrepreneur to take over.

There was a brief pause in his mental picture, a few coins dropped from his frozen hand.

Or, the greedy side of his heart purred, you can continue to rake in money hand over fist.

Finch grinned as he found his contact, pressing the send button. He leaned back in his chair, propping his loafers up on the blotter. "Mr. Yi. Finch here. Change in plans. The exchange will take place Monday night, nine o'clock. Place called Club Azure."

Ellie walked tiredly through the courtyard towards her door. The words she'd shared with Mandy earlier kept ringing in her ears. She wouldn't be able to avoid it entirely, no matter how much she wanted to. At some point, something would come out about her relationship with Casey. At some point, something would come out about the dissolving of her marriage to Devon. The question became: did she want to control the release or not? Controlling the information gave her a position of power. The wait-and-see approach, while probably appropriate before her first date since her divorce, didn't seem too prudent at the moment.

She scratched at her throat.

As much as she thought her life would be easier with the truth out, it didn't seem to be the case. There were still issues. It seemed like there were more issues. She was certain it wasn't anything she couldn't handle, but she realized that Devon had probably gotten off easiest.

A whirlwind life, all the adrenaline he could ever want, and hundreds if not thousands of miles away from everyone he'd ever known.

She'd had the option. Sarah had told her what would be required, what would happen.

But, how could she leave? How could she leave the only home she'd ever known, the only family she had in the world?

Well, she had her father, but he was off somewhere odd, only reachable by encoded classified advertisements. That wasn't normal. The only thing even remotely close to normal was the apartment complex. The courtyard, the Sunday dinners, the camaraderie of the family that didn't end with blood. That was home.

Even if that meant including Morgan.

It was late, and he should've just gone on home, but he had to make a stop. It wasn't out of his way, really.

He knew her schedule. Which days she worked, which days she had classes. This was one of the few nights she worked.

She smiled brightly at him as he entered. "Hey, John! Your table's open," she said, nodding towards what was, indeed, his favorite spot.

"Thanks, Alex," he said, crossing towards it and taking a seat.

"Haven't seen you for a while," she said, filling a mug with black, bitter coffee.

The cafe was practically dead. A pair of teenagers sat in the very back, giggling over something. A young woman sat at the front window with her laptop, her nimble fingers pecking across the keys. No one seemed to mind that their conversation carried.

"I wasn't feeling well for a while," he lied-well, half-lied.

"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better," she said, setting the coffee down in front of him. "Pie?"

"I'm thinking," he said, looking at the menu.

"You always get the same thing..."

"Someday, I may surprise you."

"Someday," she acknowledged.

He cleared his throat, closing the menu. "How's the pecan pie here?"

She arched an eyebrow. "Living dangerously, are we?"

He shrugged.

She eased to sit down in the empty chair across from him. "Months, you come in here, getting the same thing every time. Something big would've had to have happened to make you change your order."

Casey hesitated. It was, quite possibly, the biggest change in his life. Other than, of course, realizing he had a daughter.

A daughter who sometimes had his facial expressions, who had his blue eyes. A daughter who was sharp as a tack and smart as a whip. A daughter who had dreams and goals all her own, who was going places.

A daughter his girlfriend didn't know about yet.

Alex suddenly gasped.

"What?"

"I got it!"

"Got what?" he asked, knitting his eyebrows together.

"It's a girl!"

There was no way she could know that... was there? "What?"

"You've got a girlfriend," she said. "And my guess is pecan's her favorite. And you're thinking of bringing her by for a bite, maybe a cup of coffee... This is one of the best date spots, I can guarantee it. I mean, look back there," she said, nodding towards the kids in the back booth. "They're here every Saturday night. Every Saturday night, the same thing. Chicken strips and fries for the girl, a double cheeseburger for him. A slice of lemon meringue to split between them. Sweet kids, really."

He wasn't sure she was old enough to be calling anyone a "kid" yet. She was still pretty much a kid herself.

"John, you really gotta bring her by! I'm dying to meet her."

"I'll see what I can do," he said, looking back at the menu again.

"What's her name?"

"We've just been on one date. I don't think she can necessarily be quantified in that way, as my... girlfriend." He hadn't said it aloud very often. He'd considered it often, but saying it made it real. And he wasn't sure if it was real yet.

"Well, quantified or not, the woman does have a name."

Casey glanced at her.

Alex grinned. "Uh-huh. And that name would be... what? Don't make me guess!"

Casey couldn't believe he was telling her this, but he finally answered: "Ellie."

"Ellie. That's a pretty name. Ellie and John. John and Ellie." She nodded. "I like it."

He wouldn't have imagined that it would be somehow important to him, to have her approval, but it made him feel better. He decided he would blame it on the fact that Chuck had been odd all day not that it was nice, to have support from his family. He closed the menu.

She smiled. "So, your usual? Or you wanna try to pecan, to make sure it's edible, that she might like it?"

"If you say the pecan is good, I trust you."

Alex got to her feet. "Apple it is."

Sarah sat on the chair, watching as Chuck mindlessly played some video game she wasn't even remotely interested in. She'd learned a little about a couple different ones, mostly from listening to Chuck drone on about the various titles with his roommate and best friend in the world, Morgan Grimes.

She'd watched him play numerous times. She was well aware of the differences in his expressions, when he was actually geeked and excited to play versus using it as an escape, either to avoid thinking about something or to prevent a discussion he didn't want to have. This was definitely the latter. It was easy for her to tell, because even the tiniest of errors he was making in the game, he was disproportionately aggravated.

"Chuck..."

"Hm?" he responded vacantly.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Don't know what it you're referring to, but I'm pretty sure there's no it I want to talk about."

Sarah sighed softly. "Chuck..."

"Sarah, I really... I'm playin' this thing..."

"You aren't hiding it very well," she told him.

Frustrated, he watched as his character died. "Thought I said I didn't want to talk about it. Any its."

"Unfortunately, this has the potential to interfere with our work. And I can't allow that to happen."

"Sarah," Chuck said, placing the controller on the coffee table. "Nothing's going to interfere with work."

"It already has," Sarah said as gently as she could.

"Well, don't worry. Because it won't again," Chuck said, getting to his feet and wandering into the kitchen.

Sarah followed him, because Chuck seemed to be hiding behind the refrigerator door. "I know that you're upset."

"I'm not upset," Chuck lied. He made the mistake of looking at her, at seeing her disbelieving expression. "I'm... If I'm upset, I'm upset because you're thinking I'm upset when I'm, clearly, not... upset..." He could tell, too, that she was still unconvinced.

"If this is going to become a serious problem, the relationship between your sister and Casey, then-"

"It's not going to be a situation. It's not a situation. Period, end of discussion. It's... it's nothing."

"Chuck-"

"Look, it's... it's my sister's life, right? She can date whoever she wants."

"But, it's affecting you."

"I just... I tried to keep the spy part out of my sister's life. And she's willingly and happily and... unabashedly welcoming it. I mean, think about all the things that have happened to him? Just since we've known him. Or, me. Me, just since I've known him. You've known him longer, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"He's been shot. I mean, if that's not indicative of, y'know, the ability of his life to be completely fleeting... Y'know? And that was exactly the thing that Ellie didn't like about Devon. The death-defying stuff. Devon did it on the weekends. Casey does it on a daily basis. And twice on Mondays!"

"So, are you mad at Casey for being a spy? Or are you mad at Ellie for accepting him for who he is? Or are you mad at something else entirely?"

"I'm not mad! I'm not mad, I'm not upset. All right, probably both in all honesty. It just... Why would she do that? Why would she go for some guy that does more dangerous stuff than Devon could ever dream of doing? Why would Casey go for my sister? He's... He's not even remotely in her league. She's beautiful and smart and wonderful and he's... he's a jarhead. He's a guy who's not in-touch with his emotions, who is a big, angry ball of angst most days."

"Love makes you do funny things."

Chuck winced. "One date doesn't constitute love."

"How about six months of looking out for each other?"

"Sarah," he said, sighing.

"If this is going to continue to be a problem, then we're going to have to report this to Beckman."

"Beckman..." Chuck said slowly. "Beckman who's already waiting for him to mess up again after the whole Laudanol, super soldier serum pill episode thing."

Sarah nodded.

Chuck let out an annoyed growl. A Casey-esque one which only served to infuriate him further. "I don't want to get him fired or decommissioned or whatever it is that can happen to a Marine Colonel in the NSA."

"Beckman said any toe out of line, no matter what, would constitute an instant dismissal."

Chuck remembered the incident, the near firing. It had been intense and scary. It had been one hell of a wild ride, when they thought Casey had gone rogue. When they'd learned about Casey's former fiancee, when they'd learned about Casey's daughter. Beckman had stuck her neck on the line for Casey because he was a good Marine, a loyal one. One mistake wouldn't kill a career, not when the intel wasn't transferred into the wrong hands. Another mistake, however, was another story.

Chuck sighed heavily, leaning against the counter. "Kinda ties our hands, huh?"

"I just want you to be fully aware of what your actions are capable of causing, of the consequences," Sarah said gently. "I just want you to think carefully before you do anything."

"So, no end-runs around Casey to the General?"

"Do you still trust him?"

Chuck looked at her, kind of shocked at the implication. "Casey?"

Sarah merely looked back at him, waiting for the answer she felt she knew was coming.

"Well... yeah..."

She nodded, getting the expected answer. "Then, talk to him."

Chuck exhaled slowly, letting his whole posture slump.

"He may be a little standoffish, a little gruff, but he has a heart."

"Yeah. One he gave to Ellie."

The writer was still there, but the teenage couple had left. And Alex helped herself to a glass of water and the seat across from Casey again. "So, what's eating you?"

Casey glanced up, startled at her intuitiveness.

"C'mon, John. Normally, you're a little talkative. This woman has you all out of sorts, huh?"

He finished another bite of of pie before glancing up at his daughter. "I have... a secret... One I haven't told her yet," he admitted.

"A secret?"

"A big one."

"You're... Elvis reincarnated!"

He shook his head.

"A prince from some far-off foreign land?"

"Proud to be an American," he told her.

"You're a bodyguard for some famous actor person?"

He shook his head again.

"You are some famous actor person?"

"Not nearly so interesting," he admitted.

"Well, then, it can't be too earth-shattering."

Casey eased a piece of the flaky crust away from the rest of the pie, chasing it around the plate with his fork. "I have a daughter," he said. "One I didn't know about."

"Whoa," Alex murmured. "How old is she?"

"Old enough. I just found out myself, not that long ago."

"Well, if you just found out about it, then... what's the problem?"

"Ellie's a good woman. Smart. With the world's biggest heart. And it's been broken before, bruised. I don't want to be the cause of that anymore, but I feel like she needs to know all the same. I'm just worried."

"If she's as awesome as you say she is, then it should be okay. Right?" She wasn't sure why he inwardly seemed to groan when she spoke.

He shrugged.

She could tell that his look darkened, that he wasn't so sure. "C'mon, John. From what I've seen, you're a catch! She'd have to be crazy not to forgive you something like that, something that you didn't even know about, y'know?"

"I had no way to know. And how I found out... it was accidental," he said. "It may not even be true, but the timing, the name is right..."

She could tell this was eating at him. She reached over, placing a hand atop his that was resting on the table.

He looked up, shocked at the contact.

"Talk to her. I'm sure it'll work out."

Slowly, he nodded.

Stay tuned...

Lines from the next installment:

"Names aren't that important."

"Says the woman who's had more than she can count," he said gently. "I spend so much time lying to everyone else, I don't want to lie to her. She's... She's different. She deserves better than that."

"Why didn't you tell her about your daughter before? Why'd you wait until now?"

"She was still married to Devon then. I didn't think I'd ever have the possibility for forever with her. But, now that there was even the remotest chance, I had to tell her."

"What happened to that chance, though, with the truth out?"

He shrugged.