A/N: Was Casey gonna carry out Beckman's order and kill Chuck in 2x01? Or Maybe not? Let's see what Casey himself has to say to Chuck.

Again, NickyR was so gracious to help me with thee editing. Of course, after that that I still make changes, so … the bad stuff is still mine.

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Chapter XIV

Why I love Ronald Reagan So Much

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Chuck closed the door behind and nodded at Casey.

'Hello, Casey, I-I was just told to …,' he hesitated.

'Yeah, Chuck, I know,' Casey said softly.

It was a different Casey, Chuck could see that. Very different. For the first time ever, it occurred to Chuck, Casey's shoulders looked somewhat drooping. Resigned. It was, obviously, somehow connected to what had just happened to Beckman.

'You can sit over there in the armchair,' Casey pointed at one in front of the small desk. He was standing several feet away from him, in front of a large plasma screen, and was holding a remote control.

'I screwed the pooch, Chuck,' Casey started with his voice slightly trembling, ' ... big time ... a year ago. And …. and it concerns you.'

'Oh, that's why they all told me to …' Chuck continued hesitantly.

'Hmm ... punish me?' Casey finished Chuck's sentence firmly, nodding. 'Yeah, essentially it is up to you to decide. But first you need to see some video material,' Casey stepped toward Chuck and offered him the remote. 'Just press play and watch carefully, Bartowski.'

Chuck could feel it was something big. To change somebody like Casey …in such a way ...

He pressed a button and concentrated on the screen.

It was Casey's apartment with the screen divided into two equal parts, obviously from two different camera angles, both showing a different view of his living room.

There, on the left side of the screen, was Casey, standing, and then general Beckman appeared on the right one.

'I thought you might call.' Casey started.

"Major Casey, you understand the situation?' Beckman said. 'We can't have another intersect wandering around Los Angeles getting into trouble.'

'General, Chuck may be a novice spy, but the results speak for themselves.' Casey replied leaning over a table. 'Surely we can find another exit strategy.'

But then Beckman leaned forward to the camera, so her face took almost a third of the entire monitor. The general looked sternly at it and snapped at Casey:

'You have your orders, major. Tomorrow night, eliminate Chuck Bartowski!'

What!' Chuck had jumped up from his chair. 'Whu-why would Beckman do that?' Chuck was shaking with outrage.

'Press 'pause', Chuck,' Casey said calmly. 'We don't know for sure, her official explanation to me was that they were re-building the computerized Intersect again and … and you heard it actually.'

'But-but it doesn't make any sense!' Chuck protested. 'If they could live with me and protect me before that …?'

'You're right, Chuck, it simply doesn't make sense.' Casey nodded at him. 'We, or another team of agents could continue to protect and make use of you and your abilities or … well, now that Beckman is arrested, they hope she'll spill it. I mean Agent 20's agency. Their guess is that she, being a foreign spy, was ordered to arrange disabling or eliminating the Intersect. As you know, at the same time the computerized intersect was sabotaged again by somebody, so the US government wouldn't have had any intersect. … if you were … were to be eliminated.'

'Oh, … oh,' Chuck was thinking, and then it dawned on him. The question. The mother of all questions. The one they had sent him here for.

'Casey,' he started muttering, '... and you, were you, … were you gonna kill me?'

Now Casey was staring down the floor, seemed like he couldn't look at Chuck.

'Press play again Chuck. You have to see it all, first.' He said while staring at the floor.

Chuck did exactly that and saw again Beckman, this time together with Graham, ordering Casey to kill the Intersect again. And Casey was, again, hesitantly trying to save him by suggesting different solution.

Casey had taken the remote from Chuck and stopped the video after Graham reordered that Chuck simply had to be killed.

'So, Graham is part of this, uh … was?' Chuck frowned. 'Then how ...'

'We don't know why and to what extent, Chuck, but Fitz-Hume, ... and … and Carina, and the rest of his team are obviously unraveling it, peace by peace, especially now. My job is to tell you about my part however, … the rest, … well, ... you'll be told the rest by others.'

'What I'm gonna show you now, Chuck,' Casey went on with his voice trembling again, 'might be a bit difficult to watch and it is where I particularly screwed up. Watch, then we're gonna talk.'

Chuck sighed and focused again on the screen.

The picture was again divided in two. Right side – Chuck's kitchen. Left side – the Morgan door.

There was Chuck now on the right side of the monitor, preparing some food right after Ellie and Devon left.

Yeah he remembered it, that evening he had a date with Sarah. He was wondering how to offer her this trip to Europe. They were rebuilding the Intersect there in Washington so he was feeling free like a bird. Finally free!

Well, it looked like he was more like dead as a dodo.

On the left side of the screen, John Casey came in, actually Chuck saw him sneaking in through the Morgan door, pulling his gun out. A gun with a silencer. Approaching Chuck in the kitchen. Training the gun at Chuck. Staying that way for a couple of seconds. Was he hesitating?

And then Sarah rang at the front door.

Here, Casey stopped the video.

'So, ... Casey!' Chuck said deeply shaken. 'Thank you for providing me with nightmare material, … for the rest of my life! You were gonna kill me, after all, ... orders, huh? You saved my life so many times, that you thought it was time to balance it somehow.' He tried to joke it out.

Now he remembered what had happened next. Sarah was about to pop up and tell him that the intersect had been destroyed, sabotaged.

But there was Casey there, aiming his gun at him. After all, he could have pulled the trigger before Sarah rang! Why was he wasting seconds however? There were about 6 or 7 seconds there, with Casey just aiming at him.

'So, you could have killed me, right? What were you waiting for, Casey?' Chuck asked again.

'Actually, I wouldn't have killed you, Chuck, … couldn't have.' Casey's voice sounded so awkward now. 'Even if the Intersect hadn't been destroyed and agent Walker hadn't arrived with the news.'

'Oh, I'm not so sure now, John, ... how so?' Chuck frowned. It was probably for the first time he called him John. He was making it personal now.

'Here comes my humiliation now,' Casey thought to himself.

'I was hesitating all these seconds, Chuck, … before agent Walker arrived, because … uh, my vision was-was blurred. Carina had put something in my drink, so I couldn't focus, … uh, … and all magazines, of all my guns, had been replaced with blanks not real munitions. Soo …'

'Oh, you couldn't have killed me, because of Carina's actions, because their team was onto us, onto you, actually, ... I see now.' Chuck sighed deeply.

'We have been, our team, under their constant surveillance, … yeah.' Casey muttered.

'Since when?' Chuck asked gloomily.

'Since Carina popped up with this ridiculous Afghani diamond op, remember? She had smelled a rat and … they were sniffing around … that's their job, … look for penetrations, corruption within the intelligence and law enforcement ...'

'Right.' Chuck pursed his lips.

'And you, you and Sarah, never suspected a thing,' Chuck realized loud.

'Nope.'

'Geez!' Chuck was thinking. 'Well, the question remains, Casey! Would you, or would you not …? '

Casey was silent. 'Mm-hmm, he cleared his throat. 'Truth is, Chuck, we'll never know …'

'What? You must be aware what was going on in your head!'

'I was drugged, Chuck, what I remember was that I was thinking about Beckman's and Graham's words, their order and that I-I … hated it. Truth is Chuck, I can't be sure. I felt so split... .'

'Oh, …' Chuck somehow remained unconvinced.

'I'm not trying to excuse myself or anything, my career is essentially over, Bartowski. But I was interrogated, polygraphed, judged by professional polygraphers and finally by a team of renowned government psychologists.'

'And …?' Chuck inquired.

'And they concluded I was truthful and chances were fifty-fifty that I may have carried out the order.'

'Meaning killing me.'

'Yeah, Chuck, that's right, killing you.' Casey pursed his lips.

'So, … you had um … kinda emotional reservations about carrying out the order …, right?'

' I guess … '

'So... what happens to you now?'

'I've been cleared of collusion, being part of Beckman's network, I mean, … and of course they told me that at least I should be dishonorably discharged for not reporting the illegal order on … on multiple occasions. But then …'

'Then ?'

'Agent Walker and Carina vouched for me … so … eventually I'm gonna be back, with the team. But it depends on … you, Chuck.'

Chuck felt his mobile phone buzzing. 'What the hell? How could somebody reach him here, aboard this plane?'

He pulled it out and checked. Text messages. From all of them. Sarah, Carina, Agent 20, even Ziva had suggestions how Chuck should punish Lieutenant Casey. Chuck checked all of them and then put the phone back into his pocket.

'What is it, Chuck?' Casey asked nervously.

Chuck was just about to say something when his phone buzzed again. Another message. He sighed but decided to check it out as well.

That was a long one. He was reading it for a couple of minutes when Casey finally asked again. 'What is it, Chuck?'

'Nothing important, Casey, a long message that I need to read more carefully.'

'So, … is that all?' Chuck wondered.

'As far as I'm concerned, yes.' Casey answered with obvious anxiety in his voice. 'That's what I was ordered to tell you. Hm-huh, … and of course, I owed you this explanation, personally, … man to man.'

'Well, … I'm gonna talk to the other members of the team first,' Chuck said thinking. 'And then see … see what happens next.'

'Understood,' Casey answered in a typical military fashion. 'I'm not going anywhere, … for the time being.'

'Okay, I'm going out now, joining the rest, … are you coming?' Chuck asked.

'A little later, Chuck.'

When Chuck went back to join the rest, only Sarah and Carina were still there waiting for him.

'So, how did it go?' Sarah asked raising her brows.

'I can't believe it, … killing me?' Chuck shook his head and then remembered about Carina's role.

'I guess I have to thank you, Carina, it seems I owe you, uh … everything,' he started.

'Oh, please, Chuck,' Carina smiled at him, 'Casey himself saved your life a couple of times, right? And so did Sarah. And you saved theirs as well. It's how this business is, Chuck. Maybe tomorrow, it'll be me who'll need and hopefully get your help.' Carina threw a really inquisitive glance at Chuck.

'Somehow I doubt that's ever gonna happen.' Chuck said smirking. 'You know what this devil suggested as Casey's punishment, Sarah?'

'No, but you can tell me,' Sarah asked, flashing him a gentle smile. 'Before curiosity finishes me off.'

'Once every two days Casey comes up with an essay, or a poem, opening up, you know … emotionally. Like an essay or even an ode about Ronald Reagan, an essay like 'Why do I love Ronald Reagan?', or a poem about Ilsa Trinchina, about his first Crown Vic and why he would never forget her.'

'And-and if I don't buy it as a genuine, you know, 100% genuine emotional outpouring,' Chuck smirked, 'he rewrites it, again and again.'

Sarah laughed out loud. 'That's evil, … very evil,' she shook her head, 'but so necessary for Casey to finally evolve into a fully functional human being.'

'Get ready people,' Agent 20 had popped out of somewhere. 'We'll be landing in about 20 minutes. Get your baggage ready, everything.' He was shouting at them now.

Sarah was checking her gear, handbags, thinking of what was ahead. This time there was a really wide, wide smile taking over her face. What lied ahead was relaxing there on the beach and dealing with Beckman, but chances were she would cooperate, considering what or rather who was expecting her there.

But her mind was taking her back, again and again, to her conversation with Agent 20.

'So, what now,' Sarah had asked Agent 20 after they finished with the damned video clips. 'How do we proceed with this Iranian operation? Operation Natanz. Oh, my God!' Sarah had exclaimed. 'Beckman must have spilled … betrayed ...'

Agent 20 had burst into laughter.

'There is no such operation, Agent Walker. It was just bait for Beckman and her network of moles to bite on. Prompt her into action. We needed hard, iron-clad evidence. We videotaped her dropping a message and then her handler picking it. A mole as high up in the hierarchy as Beckman was usually doesn't do that. He or she would function as agent of influence, and that's what Beckman was doing, mainly. Also sniffing for weaknesses in people ... throughout the intelligence agencies so she could recommend them to her handlers as potential recruits.' Agent 20 made a short pause here.

'But destroying Iran's numerous nuclear facilities,' he then went on, 'is too big, too juicy, so Beckman wanted to deliver the info herself. And of course, we were watching closely everybody she had contact with.'

'Including me and Casey, of course,' Sarah thought to herself.

'Everybody' Agent 20 enunciated, as if reading her mind again. 'Not that somebody seriously suspected you, Walker, … but rules are rules. Everybody had to be investigated. The phone Carina had given you, had GPS and microphone, … we had info on every single move of yours, here in DC. Now that we are letting you back to LA, Casey will be coming here. '

Sarah was thinking. 'So, no black op inside Iran, then.' She let a sigh out.

'Nope.' Agent 20 nodded, smirking.

'So,' Sarah had continued, 'we let the Iranians develop their nuclear arsenal after all?'

'I don't think so.' Agent 20 shook his head. 'But I'm a professional spy, whose job is to catch spies, not a politician.' He shrugged indifferently. 'Anyway, why do you think we pay this crazy, crazy money for all the stealth aircraft? A B-2 bomber costs over two billion per bird. An F-22 costs 140 million without development cost. With development it's about 340 million. These are astronomical expenses for a single plane. It's precisely because they would do the job cleanly. Without people risking their lives, with all the political and diplomatic repercussions.'

Agent 20 could see Sarah's face brightening a bit. She was thinking of something else of course. That Chuck wouldn't have to go there, inside Iran, no danger for him or the rest of the team.

'But if we bomb their sites' Sarah had wondered loud, 'the Iranians would block the Hormuz strait, and the oil price will jump up to $300 or more.'

'I don't think so.' Agent 20 said again. ' That's the conventional wisdom but $300 per barrel would push economic giants such as the US and Europe away from oil, decisively and irreversibly. Do you know what happened last summer when oil reached 150? .... Major automakers such as GM closed their SUV and truck plants.' Agent 20 allowed another pause before continuing.

'If oil prices go up to unbearable levels there will be political will to drill, move to alternative technologies, build nuclear plants, etc. The US and Europe may decide to build more nuclear plants, move to electric cars, shift to energy-efficient homes. They already have over 15,000 specially constructed houses over there in Germany that are heated with 20 times less energy than a normal one. And they cost only 5% more than the usual.'

'In other words,' her new boss went on, 'the West will shift to real energy independence and big oil producers as Iran and their current main benefactor, Russia would be the real losers. They have to be crazy to allow such a hike. Now, of course our shift will be painful, but …we won't have any choice and in the final analysis it's them who will lose big time.'

'Perhaps,' Sarah had almost agreed. 'I wonder then why we wouldn't make such a shift to energy independence anyway.' she wondered loudly.

'Because we here, and the Europeans over there, have let our asses grow so fat, so spoiled and so inert, that only external force like super-high prices can make us get cracking.'

'So, Iran is not our problem, then, glad to hear that.' Sarah allowed a mild smile slid up her face.

But Agent 20 wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily.

'No, but Walker, we still have a lot ahead of us. We need to win Beckman over, feed her handlers with false info, thus, since they are helping the Iranians, feed Tehran with our disinformation.'

'Right, of course,' Sarah agreed.

'But first,' Agent 20 suddenly acquired an icy look, 'did you ever ask yourself why Beckman kept the Intersect strictly in LA?'

'You mean, why she hadn't used him in critical places, centers of international espionage, like New York, Washington DC, Vienna, Geneva …'

'Exactly … well, you obviously did ...'

'Yeah, but Chuck is not a trained agent,' Sarah started hastily, 'and he was willing to remove it from his head, so ...'

'That's right, but Beckman doesn't care about Chuck, never did, don't you think? You should've asked yourself …why is she using him so ineffectively.'

'Yeah, that's right,' Sarah interrupted him, still pondering. "And she could have sent him on short, 3-month assignments to places like Vienna or Geneva under diplomatic immunity. So he could hang out at receptions, international conferences, weapons expos, … he wouldn't have been more exposed than here in LA, especially under diplomatic immunity in places like Geneva or Vienna. …so Beckman was intentionally using him in the most ineffective possible way.' Sarah shook her head.

'Yeah, and once his feelings for you had become so obvious, she should have encouraged you to go for it, send you both to New York, the UN is riddled with foreign spies. Instead, she forbids you from developing this relationship, keeping him depressed, feeling like a loser, there in the Buy More store. It's ridiculous.'

'This is not how you carry out a competent intelligence operation.' Agent 20 went on, obviously heating up. 'It's more like a Waziristani henhouse, correction, even the Talibans are pretty competent these days. Attaching only two people to protect the entire government intelligence database? How ridiculous is that? The moment somebody learns he had the intersect in his head, you two could have been easily overpowered. Which happened a couple of times anyway.' He was glaring at her now.

'Did you ever ask yourself how the cipher, the core of the entire US intelligence database ended up in the hands of a former KGB operative, Sasha Banacheck? How on earth this could have happened?'

Sarah was thinking, and this time, Agent 20 could see it clearly, the relief on her face had been replaced by sadness.

'Well, …' Sarah started firmly cocking her head, 'if you're trying to imply that I failed as an agent, I agree. I can present my resignation to you or whoever ... immediately.' she sighed.

'Oh, no need to do that, Walker. We know that you're an excellent agent. I just needed to remind you that you got carried away this time. We're finishing this operation, with you as a key element. And then, we expect Mr. Bartwoski to let us know whether he is interested in retaining the Intersect and continuing to be a US government asset.'

...

Their plane had just landed. Stepping down the ladder, Chuck was following Sarah. Three hundred feet away, there stood a lonely male figure now waving in their direction.

Chuck narrowed his eyes, trying to focus on it. Was he holding a glass in his left hand?

'Sarah …,' Chuck started, 'am I having hallucinations, or is this …'

'You got it right, Chuck,' Carina said behind him. 'Roan Montgomery, himself. Nervously awaiting his ultimate assignment.'

'Hence the alcohol.' She smirked.

XXX