Author's Note: Ha... whoops. So, I know I said this was the last chapter in the arc, but I decided to split it up. Two reasons: One, it was getting a little long and with my attention span, the editing, grammar, and spell-checking would've been a pain. Two, as I was looking them over, I found that the first part and the second have different vibes to them (in my opinion). I thought they would be better served as their own individual chapters. Here's the first part:

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Crossroads

Part I

Chuck was up early the next morning. Not that he wanted to be, he was still tired, but he would have to make do.

He and Morgan had played until three in the morning, until Morgan had fallen asleep on the couch. Chuck saw him struggle to keep awake because he wanted to hang out as long as he could but they weren't exactly kids anymore. He felt himself taking longer and longer to open his eyes between blinks and finally decided to give in. He set the security system on, checked every window and door and, just to be sure, he laid out his own lower-tech precautions. Once he was satisfied they wouldn't be taken by surprise, he shifted Morgan on the couch, put a blanket over him, and walked to his room.

He closed the door to his room, walked over to sit on the edge of the bed. For several seconds he considered taking off his shoes but just fell back on the bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep.

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Chuck stood over his hotplate, in his small room, stirring yet another can's worth of chicken soup.

Suddenly, he heard the ringing of the bell right before the sound of the door cracking open reached his ears. The tires gave way about a foot from the impact of the battering ram that had been smashed into the door. Chuck stood frozen for a second, but as soon as he saw the first two agents force their way through the door with guns drawn, followed by a scowling John Casey, he jumped to the first rope, gave it a yank, and didn't wait to see if the blocks did their jobs. "Bartowski!" Casey cried out raising his own gun. Chuck tried to quickly turn to grab the second rope. A shot rang out and he was knocked to the floor, his right shoulder bleeding profusely from the bullet wound now on it.

The net hadn't given way... Casey stood before him, his gun still smoking. The other two agents had their guns trained on Chuck.

Chuck was in shock, he couldn't feel the pain in his shoulder. He pressed his hand to the wound, when it came away his palm was crimson. He blinked, his mind refused to register that he'd been shot; he'd never been shot before.

"Nice try." Casey looked up at the ceiling, then down to Chuck. "You've caused me a lot of headaches, Bartowski. I was stuck in Burbank because of you," Casey said, dead emotionless eyes fixed right on Chuck. "Well, not anymore. Thank you for running, you did me a favor. Now I get to do what I should've done from the beginning."

Chuck's heart raced, fear threatened to envelop every last part of him. He was shaking. This was it, this is where everything ended.

Casey raised his gun again, aimed towards Chuck, and began to pull the trigger...

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Chuck shot up with a start, barely suppressing a scream, he lost his balance and fell off the bed. He was covered with sweat and disoriented for a moment.

He looked around and remembered where he was, his heavy breathing coming under control. He looked at the alarm clock on the night stand: 5:53 am. He sighed heavily: barely three hours' sleep.

Damned nightmares. At least he didn't scream this time, he didn't want to freak Ellie out or scare Clara. He went to shower and get cleaned up. There was no way he was going back to sleep, he might as well be useful and make breakfast for everyone.

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"Morning, Morgan," Chuck said when Morgan came into the kitchen, drawn in by the smell of coffee and bacon.

"Good morning," He headed to the cupboard and pulled out a cup. "Last night was pretty fun, haven't done that in ages."

"Me neither," It wasn't as fun as it once had been but spending time doing something so mundane was a nice change of pace. "Breakfast?"

Morgan eyed the food Chuck was preparing then checked his watch. "Mind if I take it to go? I have to get home and change before I head off to work."

"Help yourself," Chuck responded as he flipped another pancake.

He finished his coffee, grabbed the foil-wrapped plate he'd prepared and started heading for the door. "So, I'll see you later? We have a lot to catch up on."

"Sure, buddy. You know where I am." Chuck waved to Morgan as he left.

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The rest of the morning had been uneventful. Devon had gone off to his shift at the hospital. Ellie had taken Clara to school, against Clara's protests. She had argued that she hadn't had to go the day before, Ellie told her that had been a special occasion: her Uncle's homecoming.

Ellie had gone off on some errands, then to pick up Clara. Chuck was at home by himself. He was preparing for his talk with Casey.

There was a knock at the door.

This time he checked the cameras to see who it was before he opened the door.

"You know, when I said afternoon, I didn't exactly mean twelve-oh-one," Chuck said as he let Casey in.

"You wanted to talk, talk." Casey made his way in past Chuck.

"I am doing well, thanks for asking," Chuck ignored his comment and closed the door.

Casey looked around. "We alone?"

"Yup." Chuck moved into the dining room. "Let's talk in here."

"So... what do you want?" Casey pulled out a chair and sat.

Chuck placed a file between them. "First, let me just say no else besides my father knows this, and he's promised to keep it quiet," he began. "I didn't know whether I should even tell you but then I found out you're no longer working for the government and—it's just... I figure you deserve a shot here," he began to explain.

"Come on, Bartowski, get on with it."

"Okay, let me start over," Chuck took a moment to collect his thoughts. "A few years ago my dad destroyed a Ring facility," he'd remembered that was the reason the Santa Monica explosion sounded familiar: his dad had told him about it. "Before he did, though, he downloaded all their files."

"So?"

"He came across some information. It looks like the Ring was going to try to blackmail you into doing something for them but everything started going to hell, courtesy of my dad, before they could put their plan into action."

Casey snorted. "This is what you wanted to talk about? Seriously? They would've had to kill me before I betrayed my country, and I would've taken as many of them as I could with me."

"I know you would, and no that's not what I wanted to tell you." He pushed the file toward Casey and tapped it. "This is. Take a look."

Casey opened it and started looking it over. After a few moments, he growled. "They were going to use Kathleen and her daughter to blackmail me?"

"Actually, Casey, they were going to use Kathleen and your daughter to blackmail you," Chuck clarified.

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't have a daughter."

"No, but Alexander Coburn and his fiancée do, or they would have, if he hadn't died," Chuck said meaningfully.

Casey just stared at the photo of the young woman. "Are you sure about this, Bartowski? This is not something you want to be messing with me about," he said with a hint of a threat.

"I checked it out myself. I'm positive. This isn't something I'd joke about. Abandonment issues, remember?" he offered a sympathetic smile while pointing to himself.

He grunted. "Thanks for telling me about this, and I suppose thank your father for preventing the Ring from going after them," he said as he began to stand up.

"Casey," Chuck stopped him, "I'm not going to tell you what to do here, but there's a reason I told you about them."

"What? You want me to show up at their door step? And say what? Hey, Kathleen, you know how you thought your fiancé was dead? Turns out, he just chose the military over you." Casey said bitterly. "Or how about, you know how you've thought your father's been dead all your life? Well, guess what? He just abandoned you."

"Come on, Casey..."

"Look, I made my choice, Chuck, and I'm going to live with it. I'm sure Kathleen's moved on, and Alex can't miss someone she never knew. There's no sense in me coming into their lives and turning them upside down. It's too late for that." He said resignedly.

"Not yet, it's not. Maybe Kathleen has moved on, but you still have a chance to get to know your daughter, maybe even develop some sort of relationship," Chuck offered. "I know you don't do the whole expressing feelings thing very well, but there must be a part of you that's wondering." Casey kept staring at Alex's picture. "I'll tell you this: The 2007 Casey? I wouldn't have told him any of this. It would've been wasted on him. He wouldn't have cared... plus he was one scary S.O.B." Casey smirked. "The Casey sitting in front of me? Well, he's still one scary S.O.B. but he deserves to know, he deserves a chance to connect with his family. You're not a spy anymore; you don't have to lie to them. You don't have to disappear and leave them wondering if they'll ever see you again. You still have time. All I'm saying is don't waste it; at least give it a shot, no regrets this time." He finished with an encouraging tone.

"You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" Casey said, closing the file.

"So I've been told." Chuck grinned.

"I'm not saying anything will come of it, but I'll think about it."

"It's a start."

"By the way, you look like crap."

"Ohhh... you sure know how to sweet-talk a guy, Casey."

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Author's Note: The next part should be up soon, so it won't be as long a wait.