A/N This section is very difficult. Devon isn't pushing for Africa, and Chuck isn't so foolish about Casey's antics. It's taking me a long time to come up with motivations for the plot that don't hinge on that degree of stupidity.

"I know you'll make the right decision."

"Spying is dangerous business."

"He thinks he knows everything."

"Everything's just fine."

Chuck sat at his workstation at home, decrypting Sydney Prince's phone, wondering if he was doing the right thing.

Not decrypting the phone, that was definitely the right thing to be doing. Nor was he worried about doing it at home, either. Since Morgan had been let in on his little secret, it was a lot easier getting stuff done where Shaw couldn't see it. Not that Shaw was there at the moment, but he'd be back eventually. Morgan was also a good second line of defense where previously he'd been the first line of attack. A 'turned asset', so to speak, but this time he'd done the turning himself, so Chuck didn't feel the least bit guilty about that either.

Nature abhorred a vacuum, and it seems secrets did too. No sooner had the beans been spilled to Morgan than new beans, less personal but more troublesome, took their places. Keeping his own secrets was hard but keeping other people's was harder.

Someone pounded on his door, and he powered down his work and draped a cloth over it before going to answer aaand here comes Devon, looking frazzled in his awesome way. "Chuck, do me a solid. Help Ellie commit."

"Commit to what?"

"Anything, I don't care, whatever makes her happiest. She got it into her head to join Doctors Without Borders, and then kept me up all night dithering. That whole 'should I/shouldn't I' thing is exhausting."

"I can imagine."

"Today it's worse. She's on her way over and I need you to make sure all your Ring stuff is put away. We just got her over that whole men-in-black thing and I really don't want it to start up again."

Chuck went back to his desk, picking up the cloth-covered tray. "What makes you think I had any Ring gear?"

"You said you did."

The tray went into a drawer, and a broken laptop took its place on the desk. "Yes, but why would you think I had it here?"

Devon shrugged. "I know you."

Nothing much to say about that, considering it was true, so Chuck shifted to more immediate concerns. "Why's Ellie coming here?"

"Oh, no," said Devon, backing away. "No way I'm spoiling it for her." Someone knocked on the door. "That's her now. Remember, you don't know anything."

"I don't know anything."

Devon gave him a thumbs-up and headed for the Morgan door. Chuck walked slowly to the door, giving him time to get into position before he opened the door for his sister. "Hey, El," he said, using his curiosity to fake a surprised tone to his voice. "What's up?"

She held up a letter, complete with envelope. "I got it!"

He took the letter as she came in, noting the seal before reading the text. "The neurology fellowship at USC," he said. "You've been wanting this since middle school. Congrats." He handed the papers back to her.

Ellie took the papers with trembling hands. "What do I do?"

"About what?" No need to fake the surprise this time. His sister, his sister, was dithering. No wonder Awesome was scared.

Ellie's hands came together, crumpling the paper. "About Africa," she said. "Doctors Without Borders. I can't stop thinking about it. It's the most excited I've been in weeks, since Paris, I guess. But then I'd wonder 'how could I leave you?', and… Poor Devon, I really ran him ragged." She stared down at her joined hands. "And now this." She looked back up at him. "I should be more excited, shouldn't I?"

"I should be Charles Carmichael by now, shouldn't I?"

The shift took Ellie by surprise. "Who? Oh, your multimillionaire software developer alter ego, now I remember. And what was up with the yacht-racing?"

"You know what, I don't know," said Chuck, taking her hands in his. "What I do know is, that sometimes your dream job isn't what you expected it to be."

Chuck sat at his workstation in Castle, decrypting Sydney Prince's phone, wondering if he was doing the right thing.

There wasn't much he could do for Ellie, but even so it seemed vaguely cowardly of him to plead the 'work' excuse and leave her to her dithering. Fortunately she had work, too, and she was too professional to let her personal crises get in the way. Which only pushed the matter back a few hours, but if he was lucky he might get captured by some terrorist, or warlord, or even better, a terrorist warlord. He could escape those, with bonus points for damage inflicted.

More likely Ellie would spread the angst among her friends and colleagues, and maybe get some decent advice. So he'd chalk that one up in the 'win' column, especially nice after the debacle last night's triumph had become. Casey had taken a prototype drug from the vault, and Chuck knew he'd done it, right down to the locker number. Sarah and Beckman had to suspect one or both of them, if they were any good at their jobs at all.

Maybe he should have said something. It could have been some twisted kind of a test…but this was Casey. One of the most loyal spies out there, he'd never do something like that without a reason, and Chuck had to trust that his reason wasn't a bad one. Couldn't be worse than the idea of suppressing emotions in soldiers. Did generals never go to the movies? They had to know that robot armies are a bad idea.

Chuck pulled out his phone, and sent a text. I need you.

Sarah came running. "Chuck?"

"Sarah," said Chuck, taking her hands. "I need to confess."

"You stole the Laudanol?"

"What? No, of course not." Chuck took a breath. "But I know who did, and I didn't tell anyone. I kept it a secret, and I promised you no secrets and no lies. This feels like both."

"Now it's neither." She swooped in for a quick kiss on the…cheek. "So that's who. Do we know why?"

A colleague, to share the angst. Chuck shook his head. "I assume he has one." And maybe get some decent advice. "What do I do?"

"What do we do," said Sarah, squeezing his hands firmly. "We could just ask him. Do you think he would say anything?"

He didn't at the time. "Probably plead the Fifth," said Chuck. Then he thought about what he'd just said. "Nah." Not Casey's style.

Sarah let go of his hands. "Right. So…just asking him is out. Looks like we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

Spying on Casey. Guns. Mop water. "No way," said Chuck. "Much too dangerous. Besides, Morgan already…tried…that…"

In the Buy More…

Chuck pounced on his buddy in a quiet moment, avoiding work in the broom closet. "Morgan, I need that recording."

Morgan slopped his coffee, but fortunately there was a mop right there. "What are you talking about, Chuck? The Mork & Mindy marathon hasn't even started yet."

"Not that recording. The one you made last night, outside Casey's place. I…We need it."

Morgan tried to look innocent. "What makes you think I have one?"

Chuck shrugged. "I know you."

"True enough." Morgan pulled out his phone. "You want audio or video?"

"I want whatever will get Casey out of trouble." Chuck watched the scene again, looking for a moment when he could see the man's face in the light. Whatever Casey did last night, he had to have done it for that man. Finally he found a moment, and flashed. Immediately he wished he hadn't.

"Chuck? What's wrong?"

"A lot, you don't want to know," said Chuck. He handed Morgan the phone. "Lesson one of being a spy. Observe and report. You've observed, now you report." He waved the phone store-ward. "Plug into my computer at the desk. The system will copy everything."

Morgan gulped. "Everything?"

Chuck winced. "Yes, everything. I'll delete what I don't need and you will get a phone just for the spy work, if you're going to insist on doing it."

"Fine." Morgan took his phone and left, while Chuck went to find Sarah.

Down in Castle…

Chuck found her in the main briefing room, watching the screen. "Casey's been played," he said.

"Casey's been arrested," she said. She pointed at the screen, lots of men in suits stomping around in Casey's apartment. "General Beckman said they found his fingerprint on the drawer in the vault."

Chuck thought back. "That's crazy. We all had gloves on."

"That's what I said, not that anybody listened. Casey didn't say anything, just handed over his gun and left under guard. He'll be in the vault by now, how's that for irony."

"We need to see Beckman," said Chuck. "I have new evidence, footage of one of Casey's old Commanders visiting him before we went to the vault. He's in the Ring, he's the one that turned Casey's old sensei. Probably coercing Casey somehow."

Sarah shook her head. "It doesn't matter, they'll be shipping him overseas soon. The General said she needed him broken, fast, and we both know what it'll take to break a guy like him."

"Then we break him out tonight."

"It's treason," said Sarah, with a frown.

"It's Casey," said Chuck.

Sarah smiled. "I knew you'd say that. Let's go, partner."

Vault level one…

"Well, this looks familiar," said Sarah.

"Yeah, we were just here yesterday, don't you remember?" said Chuck. He tossed a coin, and the darts flew. "Good, no changes yet." He pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?"

"I may have uploaded a small virus into the system, last time we were here." Sarah glared at him. "What? We were testing their defenses. I would have mentioned it. Eventually."

"Fine," said Sarah. She pointed at the hall. "Open, says me."

Chuck shut down. He shut it all down. "And you say you're not funny."

Morgan sat at the dining room table, trying to configure his new phone but unsure what the best spy apps were, or how to find them. Which may have been the point.

The knock took him by surprise, and he dropped to the floor, banging his shoulder on the table. "Ow."

"Morgan?" called Devon from outside. "You okay?"

Morgan stood up and went to open the door, finding both Devon and Ellie waiting for him. "I'm fine," he said. "Just banged my shoulder." He flexed it and grimaced.

"You should ice that," said Devon. "But first we have a question. Ellie got her fellowship, but she also wants to do a stint with Doctors Without Borders, and she can't make up her mind. None of the rest of us have been any help, split pretty much down the middle, so it looks like it's up to you."

"Oh. Okay, sure," said Morgan. "It's pretty obvious to me that Ellie ought to go to Africa."

"On second thought maybe I better have a look at that shoulder right now," said Devon, pushing forward. "Be out in a minute, El." He closed the door and glared down at Morgan. "Maybe you don't know it but it's dangerous in Africa?"

Morgan glared back. "Maybe you don't know it but it's pretty dangerous here. Africa's just lions and stuff."

Devon moved right. "Chuck's here, he can keep her safe."

Morgan moved right. "Chuck doesn't need the distraction."

Devon frowned. "What do you know?"

Morgan frowned. "What do you know? Do you know?"

"Do you know? Oh my God–"

"You know!" they shouted at each other.

"Isn't it awesome?" asked Devon.

"Yeah, said Morgan. "Awesomely dangerous. I don't know how you found out but I found out when the bad guys took over their base, locked Chuck out, and almost blew up the Buy More." He slashed at the air. "Not. Safe."

"Bummer," said Devon. "I didn't know that."

"Fortunately I was there to help take care of things."

"Maybe Africa would be best," said Devon. He slammed open the door. "Wife, Morgan has opened my eyes. You, we, should definitely go to Africa."

Vault level 15…

"That was quick," said Sarah.

"A lot faster without all those pesky traps in the way, huh?" Chuck went to the panel and entered the code.

Alarms blared and the lights turned red. A door opened and three men entered the hall, one with a smirk, and two with guns. "Tell the General the intruders have been contained," said the guy with the smirk. He scanned his ID and the lights went back to normal.

"I'll tell her myself, said Chuck, raising his phone to his ear. "Yes, General, they discovered my virus after all. I agree, very good work." He lowered the phone for a second. "Your name, sir? For her report."

"Oh, uh, Stanley, Stanley Fitzroy," said the guy, no longer smirking. "It means 'son of the king.'"

"Yes, ma'am, 'son of the king'," said Chuck into his phone. "Absolutely, ma'am, thank you." He shifted the phone to his other hand. "Charles Carmichael. Very good work."

Sarah held out her hand as well. "Sarah Walker."

Stanley looked awestruck. "I'm your biggest fan," he said. "Both of you. I read and file all your reports…"

"That's so sweet. Are all the floors changed now?" asked Sarah.

"Oh, no," said Stanley, "That would take hardware, retooling, lots of work. This panel here was a simple software dump and replace. I'm the last security measure until a new one is deployed." He held up a card. "Only I have this card, so only I can access the vault."

Lights turned red as the alarms blared again. The whole hallway shook as the room behind the vault door echoed with a loud booming noise.

"From the front," said Chuck. He grabbed the card and scanned the door open. The far wall, a foot thick, had a whole blasted through it. Chuck could see three men waiting on the other side.

"Not another step," said the one he recognized as Keller. "We just came for the colonel."

Casey stepped out of the shadows, from a part of the cell not hit by the blast.

"Casey, don't go," said Chuck. "He's not an officer, he's in the Ring."

Casey glanced at Keller before looking back to Chuck. He stepped into the hole. "Duh."

A/N2 The only way I could think of to handle the ridiculous briefing was to sidestep it entirely. Not sure why they had all the traps on one side of the cell and an unguarded access tunnel on the other. I hope you'll drop me a line and tell me what you think of this rewrite so far.