For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Here's a couple things you might need to know, or maybe you just forgot: St. Patrick's Day arrives in Burbank. Casey regrets having to wear the Buy More green, but he realizes just how lucky he is after work.

The Psychic Ballet

Alex sat in the living room, watching her father and Ellie in the kitchen. They had such an easy rapport, an unspoken kind of language. And all they were doing was washing dishes. They seemed to know instinctively what the other needed, whether it was more soap, more water, a scrubbing brush, a towel, or to move out of the way. They just knew.

"How do they do that?" she asked, astonished.

Morgan followed her gaze to the kitchen. "I dunno. Years of practice?"

"Years?" she asked, glancing at Morgan.

"Sure. Since Casey moved here, he and Ellie have always had a... whatever... with cleaning up. Maybe that's why they bonded so well over laundry, come to think of it..."

"Seriously, though, Morgan, watch... it's like... before she even thinks or realizes that she needs the towel, he's giving it to her. And before he moves to put something away, she's opening the proper door."

"Well, yeah. It's her kitchen."

"You don't see it at all, do you?" She tried not to sound disappointed.

"See what?" Morgan asked, thoroughly confused.

"It's like... it's like a psychic ballet. They are so in-tune with each other."

"Psychic ballet?" Morgan mouthed, trying to wrap his brain around it.

"Gosh, they are so sweet with each other... that's the kind of relationship I want."

Morgan's ears perked up. "That's... isn't that the kind of relationship we have?"

"We aren't quite there yet, Morgan."

Of all the people he expected to have to live up to, he never once figured he'd have to deal with Marine-style standards, and certainly not when it came to romance. Chuck, sure. He and his best bud traded hints and tips all the time now, but Casey?

The calico cat jumped into Morgan's lap. "It's all your fault, isn't it, furball?" he asked very quietly.

Downy clawed extra hard as she tried to find a comfortable spot.

Morgan desperately tried to keep from calling out in pain.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked, looking over at him in concern.

"Oh, I'm... I'm fine," Morgan fibbed through clenched teeth.

Chuck watched, both amused and concerned, as Morgan silently tailed Casey through the Buy More. Clearly, Morgan believed himself to be the spy but Chuck knew well that Casey was very aware of every quiet step in his shadow. Rather than waiting for the hunter to become the hunted, Chuck reached out and pulled Morgan from his stalking.

"Buddy...?"

"Not now, Chuck!"

"What are you doing? Besides angering the giant?"

"Angering the..." Morgan looked genuinely confused. "What are you talking about, man? I was awesome! I put my 'leet rogue skills to maximum use. I can be a spy, too, y'know."

Perhaps in the bearded one's dreams, but Chuck didn't say that out loud. "Seriously. Why are you watching him that closely?"

Morgan couldn't believe he was confessing his conversation from earlier in the day. "Alex said I should be more like him. And I can't..." He drifted off, shaking his head. "Like him? He's romantic and he and Ellie have this unspoken psychic ballet thing..."

Chuck's eyes grew large. "Psychic ballet?" he repeated.

"You know," whined Morgan. "That creepy way that they do what they do. That in-sync thing." He sighed. "I just wanna know, man, how did emotionally-repressed John Casey become the Prince Charming that the rest of us are supposed to live up to? 'Cause that's..." He shook his head, sighing.

"Well, just goes to show that it must be a genetic thing, that girls are predisposed to wanting men like their fathers... even when they don't know their dads until they're twenty, I guess."

"Yeah, well, here's the thing. I knew Stephen J. Bartowski. Casey is nothing like your dad. Really, y'know, Awesome was more like your father. Kind of bumbling..."

Chuck couldn't believe he was backing Casey, but he was. "Dad left us to protect us. And there's no one better at protecting, well, the world, than the big guy."

"How am I supposed to live up to Adonis over there, though?" Morgan asked, looking over at Casey as he hefted a heavy crate over his head like it was nothing.

"You aren't. What Alex maybe hasn't realized yet is that she's probably attracted to you because you embody one of Casey's greatest assets."

Morgan puffed up. "I have been working out. Check out the gun show!" he said, flexing. "Kind of you to notice, really, Chuck."

"No, no, buddy," Chuck said, fighting a chuckle. "Casey has undying loyalty to his country. You have undying loyalty to your friends, to your family."

Morgan was quiet for a moment, letting that thought settle. "You kinda have a point there."

"Of course I do."

"Now I just have to work on the psychic ballet stuff..."

"Lace those toe-shoes tightly," joked Chuck.

"Ballet, Grimes?" Casey asked. "Seems you forgot your tutu today."

Chuck and Morgan both jumped, neither having realized just how long the Marine had been listening to them, or how close he'd gotten to them.

Stay tuned...