A/N Okay, this last part of the episode is pretty light on content, and the content it had was pretty stupid. Let's see what we can do to improve that, and also let's find out what's going on elsewhere. I expected this chapter to be harder to write but it practically leapt out at me, so here we go, getting out of this part of canon with several bangs.
"It went well last night?"
"The jury's still out on that."
"I forgive you."
"You're welcome."
"What a mess."
The main display floor of the museum had indeed seen better days. Several vases had been smashed by Nicos Vasillis in his frenzied belief that he'd been poisoned, looking for the antidote. The tool used to do the smashing was over by the vault door, having been used to remove a complex electronic lock from the vault doors. The air still smelled of something burned, from vault doors trying to open when they could not. The vault itself had been partially disassembled by the woman trapped inside, with a bunch of tools and an attitude problem.
At least she wasn't still around. Neither was her rescuer. Both of them, Buy More employees, had gone back to work, too wrapped up in each other to even notice the mess they'd left behind.
"The rest of the staff will be here soon," said Casey. "Too soon for a cleaner crew to take care of this."
"I think fake three thousand year old relics are a little outside their wheelhouse, Casey," said Chuck in their ears. Casey's and Sarah's ears, anyway. Shaw and Jones had been too indisposed to really participate fully in the mission. "We'll just have to fake it."
"How do we do that, Chuck?" asked Sarah. Just because he had a plan already didn't mean it couldn't use a few tweaks.
"I'll put records in the system, sending the missing artifacts to other museums," said Chuck. "And put a lockout on the vault doors. The cleaner crew can take care of the damage while they quote fix unquote the doors."
"We'll get rid of the empty podiums and rearrange the others, and sweep up the dust," finished Casey, looking at his partner in grime.
"Hopefully no one will notice a few missing vases from a room full of them," said Sarah, taking off her coat.
Daniel Shaw came up beside them, his arm still wrapped around Agent Jones. "What do we do?"
Sarah looked at him, all sweaty from his ordeal, still slightly breathless. No way should either of them be pushing a broom, or anything more strenuous than that, and everything about this plan was more strenuous than that. Maybe he'd trapped her in an airless room, but he'd also instantly pushed her away from a poison grenade. "Maybe you two could go get us some coffee," she suggested. "I think we're all going to need some."
At the Buy More…
Two Nerd Herders pulled up neatly side-by-side in the lot behind the store. Morgan and Hannah got out of their respective vehicles. Morgan stopped Hannah at the base of the loading dock steps. "Are you sure you're all right?" he asked, daring to put his hands on her shoulders in what he hoped was a companionable fashion.
"I'm fine," she said, yet again. She put her hands on his shoulders in a companionable fashion.
"Well, that's good, then," said Morgan, with a smile, and they pulled away from each other, maintaining contact, until their hands touched. "We should report this, you know, to the police. It might be related to what happened last night."
"I got a card," said Hannah, and she let go to dig it out of her bag. When she handed it to Morgan their fingers brushed together.
Morgan took the card and entered the number into his phone for later. "Hey, look at that," he said. "The numbers spell out 'dustbin', how cool is that?" He held out his phone. "I have an app that automatically finds the closest word, so it's easier to–" She gave him a look. He cleared his throat. "We should go in."
"We should," said Hannah. She fiddled with her bag while he adjusted his tie. When they climbed the stairs, he had his hand at her back but in no way touching.
Once they disappeared into the building, Jeff and Lester appeared from behind a dumpster, a hiding place Morgan had never found because it wasn't technically in the building. "That's why he sent us to watch Mr. and Mrs. Yogurt," said Lester melodramatically. "So he could carry on with the devil-woman behind our backs."
"Office romance," said Jeff into his phone, "Or sexual harassment? And if so, who's harassing who?"
"I think you've just spelled out our next mission precisely," said Lester. "Come, Jeffrey, the game is afoot."
"They're playing footsie already?"
Sarah appeared in the doorway, watching Chuck type. "Hey, Chuck," she said. "We're about done downstairs."
"And I'm about done up here," said Chuck, signing off the computer with a flourish. "Are we a good team or what?"
"We are," said Sarah. "Shaw and Jones are safe–"
Chuck nodded. "Morgan and Hannah are safe."
"And soon I think we–you and I, that is– are going to be even better."
"Meaning what?"
"Meaning Shaw was talking to Jones, earlier, and he was telling her how capable he thought you were."
Chuck smiled. "Was he now?"
"Of course he was dying at the time." Sarah raised her wrist, drawing her fingers over the charms on her bracelet. "And I was thinking that perhaps I would be able to give you back your heart soon."
Chuck touched her hand, and she stopped. "What if I don't want it back?"
"Well," said Sarah, pulling her hands away. "I figured I'd deal with that little problem when it came to me."
"Ah," said Chuck.
Ah, thought Casey. So that's what this has all been about. He shook his head in dismay. When are those two idiots going to realize their mikes are still on.
Still, Chuck was right, they were a team. A good team, and Casey found he liked being a player on a good team.
At Ellie's place, that night…
"Hey Chuck," said Devon, "Come on in." He looked outside the door. "Just you?"
"Sarah and Casey said they'd be along soon," said Chuck. "Still not sure about Morgan. I passed him the invite, but he said he had to stay late for some reason."
Devon shrugged. "His loss."
Back at Castle…
"Okay, we're heading out," said Sarah, as she and Casey got their coats. "You guys staying?"
"No, I have these new medical forms to fill out," said Shaw. "Some toxins aren't covered by our plan anymore."
"Same here," said Jones.
Casey just grunted as he and Sarah left. Shaw and Jones continued to work on their forms for a bit, until suddenly an alarm sounded. "What's that?" asked Jones.
Shaw compared the sound of the alert to the catalog in his memory. "That's the perimeter alert for the Home Theater room in the Buy More."
Jones checked her watch. "Who'd be in there at this hour?"
Shaw shrugged. "Let's find out." He went to the console and clicked on the monitor.
In the HT room…
"Hey Hannah," said Morgan. "I told you, we can't do movie night tonight. Ellie and Devon came back from their honeymoon, and Ellie's making pot roast. I won't miss her pot roast for man or–"
Hannah dropped her coat. Underneath she wore her Little Black Dress.
Morgan blinked. Twice. "What was I saying?"
Hannah stepped closer, wrapping Morgan in her arms. "You've already said everything I need to hear."
In Castle…
"I think we've seen enough of that," said Jones, and Shaw clicked off the monitor. She looked at him thoughtfully as he came back to his seat. "Agent Shaw…Daniel. Did I ever say thank you, for saving my life? I don't remember."
"It was a group effort."
"See, now that's the thing," she said, standing up. "I don't seem to remember a group effort. I remember Agent Walker pounding on a keyboard while you took a shotgun to the glass," she said, walking around the table. "I remember you picking me up and carrying me out of here on your back." She sat down on his lap. "I remember you making sure I got the antidote first. You saved me, Daniel."
Shaw looked up into her face. "I–" He reached up, brushing her hair back, where it had fallen over her cheek. He stared at her in shock, or awe. He raised his other hand to brush the hair back from the other side of her face. "I did," he said, in a tone of wonder. "I saved you."
Jones chuckled in his ear. "And that's all I need to hear."
In the Buy More, outside the HT room…
"This way, Jeffery," said Lester, scampering through the well-scampered aisles of the Buy More. "Soon the months of deception and trickery will be resolved."
Jeff grabbed the boob-cam from its stand and expertly adjusted the focus as he followed his partner in debauchery to their goal. Lester slid the door back, and the two men pulled aside the curtains.
Hannah crouched over her prey as he lay flat on the couch, sucking at his neck. She must have had supernatural hearing, for she suddenly raised her head, glaring straight at them, her lips bright red, her victim's neck equally crimson. Forever after, Lester would claim she hissed at them.
He fell back, pulling on Jeff's collar. "Run away! Run away!"
Inside the HT room…
Morgan looked dazed, his face covered with lipstick. "What?"
"Nothing," said Hannah. "But I think we need to take this elsewhere."
Nicos Vasillis pondered the mystery of life as he waited to be called by the masters of the Ring. He should have been dead, he expected to die, exposed to the poison in the grenade, but he did not die. Surely this was a sign that his gods approved of him.
The circle lit in front of him, and he stepped into the light. Above him there were five, always five, but only the one ever spoke. "Are you sure it was him?"
As if he could ever mistake that hated face. Another mystery of life, for he had not known Daniel Shaw yet lived. He would have pursued him to the ends of the Earth, had he known, and now his employers would get his vengeance for him. "What are you going to do to him?"
"The same thing I'm going to do to you."
What was that supposed to mea
A/N2 Looks like a lot of ill-informed decision-making going on. The coffee gag was fun but getting old. I liked the whole dustbin idea but this was just a shout out. I hope none of you mind that I got rid of the "I have a type" dialog. I hope you'll drop me a line and tell me what you think of this rewrite so far.