A/N Not a lot left from canon, and it was all bad, so I'll have to get creative here. Something short to end the episode.
"I hope she survives dinner."
"You kidnapped me."
"Seventh floor."
"It worked!"
Casey opened his hand. "What worked?"
Jeff and Lester stopped dancing around. "Our plan worked, John," said Lester, swaggering into Casey's personal space. "My holy water worked. You were a zombie slave to the witch-queen of the Buy More and we…" He flicked the collar of Casey's shirt "…saved you."
Casey looked past him to Jeff and, more important, Chuck, standing behind them all making a sort of a 'roll with it' gesture. "I don't remember anything like that," he said, the best compromise he could make.
Lester looked a bit disappointed that John's gratitude wasn't more obvious. "Of course you don't, Johnny, what part of 'zombie slave' did you miss?"
Case took a deep breath, for patience, and let it rumble past his vocal cords on the way out. "And you saved me? Chuck, too?"
"We saved Chuck, too, if that's what you mean," said Lester. "Chuck had no part in saving you. Just us."
"Mm-hmm. So who's watching over the Buy More?"
Lester took a step back. "I tried to free Morgan Grimes first. It didn't stick. We had to count on the natural incorruptibility of the greenshirts."
"That'd slow anybody down," said Casey. "So what's your plan from here, genius? I assume you have one."
Lester began to look nervous. "There was just us," he said. "We had to prioritize."
"Understood," said Casey. Not a bad strategy, and he couldn't really fault their tactics, all things considered. He wiped the water from his face. "You've managed, temporarily, to stop this Mata Hari from reaching out past the walls, but you know she'll try again. You need to kill the hive before the hive kills you."
"Destroy the queen," said Jeff.
"Exactly," said Casey. "And I know just how to do it."
At the Buy More…
Morgan Grimes sat down at his desk, checking his emails as usual. One in particular stuck out, as it was meant to, with red 'high priority' icons all over it. 'Notice of Violation', said the subject line, and he clicked on it to find out who was violating what, so he could put a stop to it.
He stiffened as he read, his eyes getting wide. Just then, someone knocked on his door, the only person in the building who used the right pattern. "Come in."
Hannah came in, all excited. "Hi, Morgan, got a second?"
"Yeah, yeah," said Morgan absently, still reading the email.
"I know this might seem like it's fast," said Hannah, sitting down in front of him, "But after you had me over for dinner the other night, I just have to ask. My parents will be in town tonight, and I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with us."
"Um," said Morgan, looking up at her, "Actually, we need to think about that, you and I." We indicated his monitor. "I just got an email from the head office. Somebody told them about us, and they're on my case about manager-employee fraternization. I didn't even know we had a policy."
"Oh, no," she said mournfully. "I didn't get you in trouble, did I?"
He sighed, unhappy that she was unhappy. "Not yet, and I'm perfectly capable of getting myself into trouble, thank you. This isn't your fault, except that, well, you know...you're worth it."
Down in Castle...
Daniel Shaw sat at the desk, looking at the monitor, displaying the scene in Morgan's office. The little man seemed upset about something, and Shaw could just guess what. Morgan still had so many blessings to count, and he didn't even notice them. For an idle moment Shaw considered making him aware, but dismissed the whole scheme.
He was here to train Chuck.
In the Buy More...
Chuck walked over, cup of water in hand, to the Nerd Herd desk where Hannah sat, talking with someone on the phone. She looked upset.
"Trouble in paradise?" asked Chuck, when it was clear her conversation had ended. He put the cup down on the desk.
"I've never heard Morgan's office called that before," said Hannah, with a small smile. "He's in a bit of trouble, because of me. Manager-employee fraternization issues."
"Ah," said Chuck.
"So I'm quitting."
Outside...
"So I'm quitting." The sound quality from the speakers wasn't the best, but they could make that out.
Lester looked horrified. "No," he shouted, "We can't let her escape..." He started to rise.
Casey shoved him back down. "Listen and learn, idiot."
Inside...
"You're leaving?" asked Chuck, sadly. "But I just brought your traditional new Nerd Herder's mug." He turned the mug of water, to display the logo and her name under it.
"Oh, that's sweet," said Hannah, drawing her finger across the letters of her name. "But I'm not exactly leaving. Be kind of pointless if I did, since the whole point of quitting the job is to keep the man." She indicated the phone. "I was just talking to the curator at the museum. He wants someone to keep an eye on his equipment, and he seems to think I'm qualified to handle it, for some reason."
Chuck grinned. "That's good," said stepping back, leaving the mug where it was. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around, then."
Hannah watched him go, confused as ever by Chuck Bartowski. What a weird guy, she thought to herself, taking a sip of her water.
Outside, in the van...
"Guys, she's drinking from the mug," came Chuck's voice over the speakers.
"Yes!" said Jeff. "The witch has been neutralized!"
"Good," said Casey. "Can we go to work now, please?"
Lester slid open the door, letting in a breath of fresh air. "Certainly, John. Certainly."
A/N2 Hopefully the world will never need to be saved by Jeff and Lester again, but if it does, it's a comfort to know that these two stalwart heroes are there. I hope you're comforted, I know I am. I hope you'll drop me a line and tell me what you think of this rewrite so far.