A/N: Again, sorry for the brevity of this chapter. Still fighting long Covid. Words escape me, looking at a computer screen gives me painful, intense headaches. I'm going SLOW. This chapter and the next were supposed to be one, but I just don't have it in me to do that much or it would be another month and a half before I update. Take care friends, I'm here, just driving the struggle bus right now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck

Castle, two weeks ago

"What is that sound?" Mary asked Diane. The two had been talking in Mary's office when they were interrupted by a loud crash. Beckman had flown in to personally assist after the Carina shooting, and the discovery of who Jack and Emma really were.

"I suspect it's John having a bit of a hissy fit, if I had to guess," Beckman replied, calmly sipping her tea. A large crash vibrated through the facility. "Sounds like he tipped over a bookcase."

"Tipped?"

"He always gripes about 'lady feelings', but when he has to deal with real emotions, he becomes quite dramatic and flails about for a while," Diane explained. Diane was silent for a second and then grinned, looking at Mary. "I suspect this is your son's doing."

Mary groaned and leaned forward, putting her head in her hands. "What did he do now?"

"He told John that he had the final say on whether or not Amanda – or Emma I guess we should say – can stay in Castle, or has to leave," Diane explained. Mary stared at Diane, and began to chuckle. A few seconds later, she burst out in to a full fit of laughter.

}o{

Three weeks later

Emma stood in the watchtower with Gaez. They were supposed to be making a deal with Vincent Smith. The deal was supposed to be taking place at a port, which Emma pointed out sounded like a trap. Gaez agreed, and as a result they had arrived early, taking up residence in the tower that let the foreman observe the entire port. "There," Gaez said, handing her the binoculars. "He just went into that open container."

"That's Vincent Smith?" Emma asked.

"It's how he described himself, and he is where he said he would be," Gaez told her. "What?"

"He's having you come into that shipping container to do the deal?" Emma asked, staring at the man through the binoculars.

"Sounds like a trap, doesn't it?"

"Oh, it's a trap. That's not Vincent Smith, or if it is, he's conning you. That is John Casey, and he's the man that told me I can never be near my husband or daughter again," Emma spat, venom in her voice. Gaez stared at her, stunned. "It's also the man who killed Amy." Emma turned to Gaez, who was now looking in the direction of the open container. There was murderous intent in his eyes.

}o{

Then, Castle

"John," Emma said walking into the room, looking at the bookcase that was on the floor, smashed into many pieces. "Earthquake?" He gave her a confused look. "It is California." Casey grunted a laugh. She folded her arms and studied the big man. "You don't trust me."

"I don't trust anyone," Casey said. Emma nodded. "But no, I especially don't trust you. And now… just forget it."

"That soon to be son-in-law of mine told you that you were in charge of me?" Emma offered.

"Soon to be?" Casey countered, making Emma snicker. "No, worse, he told me I get to be the one that tells you if you get to stay here, or you have to leave."

"Well, that makes things really easy," Emma told him. "I have to leave." Casey stared at her. "I can't stay here. Not while Gaez's men are after… Sarah and Jack," she said, shaking her head at how weird those names sounded coming out of her mouth. "Gaez won't rest until he finds me."

"Got a burr up his ass, huh?" Casey asked. Emma nodded. "Well, that is a problem." It was Emma's turn to look confused. "There's no way you can leave those two."

}o{

Now

Gaez pulled a gun from his shoulder holster, and was surprised when Emma put a hand on his wrist to restrain him. "You'll never get to him." She relaxed her grip. "He sees you coming, he'll know his cover is blown."

Gaez nodded, and Emma let go of his wrist. He put the gun back in the holster. "So we go forward?"

"Hell no," Emma said, pulling out her piece. "I'm gonna take him out."

}o{

Three weeks ago

"I would be endangering them if I stayed," Emma said, hands on hips, somehow standing nose to nose with a man that was nearly a foot taller than her.

"And you'd be endangering them if you left!" Casey countered. "You think those two are going to just sit here and let you go back to all of that? They just got you back. I know that look. Do you reallythink Bartowski is gonna let this go, after he just got you three back together?"

"He's the one that put you in charge of the decision," Emma pointed out.

"Don't remind me," he growled.

"I'm going, John."

"Over my dead body," Casey retorted. The two glared at each other.

"Well, this is awkward," Jack's voice came from the doorway. They both turned to look at him. "You two have something going on?"

"What? No!" Casey snapped. Emma began to chuckle, and then burst into laughter. "Am I missing something?"

Emma shook her head, and walked over to Jack, gently cupping his face. She turned back to John. "After our first date, I thought that dating Jack would ruin him."

"She did," Jack said with a shrug. "I was ruined for any other woman, ever."

"So, I tried to go out with someone else, to make him forget about me," Emma said. She turned back to Jack, who was grinning. "I was five minutes into the date, when I just got up and left, and went looking for him. I told him everything. He just sat there, and listened, not saying a word. When I finished, I asked him if he was going to say anything." She turned back to Jack and held him tight.

"I really want to leave you two alone, but I am curious as to what you said," Casey admitted.

"I asked her if we were done with the bullshit," Jack told Casey. Casey studied him. Jack looked weak. He was moving around slowly, and looked as if he had lost some weight from the treatments. But Casey had to admit, Jack looked the most alive that Casey had ever seen him. "Her and I… we love each other, and everything else… we can figure out."

"Yeah," Emma said, nodding. "We tried it a different way, me going to prison."

"Didn't work out well for either of us, huh?" Jack asked. Emma shook her head. "So, you're done with this bullshit of running?"

"It's not the same, Jack," Emma protested.

"No, it's not," Casey agreed. "It's monumentally worse."

"I expected this out of Sarah's boyfriend, but not you two," Emma said, looking from one to the other.

"That kid and I are more alike than we are different," Jack told Emma.

"He's a good kid," Casey added. "A moron, but a good kid."

"That's quite a ringing endorsement," Jack told Casey.

Casey shrugged.

}o{

"Emma," Jack began, a little later. They were walking the halls of Castle. Jack was trying to get his stamina back that the treatments had stolen from him. He shook his head. "Never mind."

"Jack, the cancer… is it…" she trailed off, scared to ask.

"No," he scoffed. "Nothing like that. I mean, if I was a quarter as good as you at conning, I'd play that card in a hot second." Emma gave him a look, and he shrugged. "All's fair in love and war, Darlin'."

"Well, which is this, Jack? Love, or war?" she teased.

"You try walking out that door, and I'll show you a war," Jack told her.

"Mmm," she hummed contently. "Makes me kind of want to. I've been locked up a while and…" she trailed off, and bounced her eyebrows.

"I've never asked," Jack began. "I know you were inside a while… and… whatever happpened… I understand." Emma looked at him in confusion, and then it dawned on her. She burst out laughing. "I'm serious."

"Baby, nothing happened. I didn't even have to shank anyone," she said laughing. "I mean there were some mysterious deaths of other inmates while I was in, but I had nothing to do with them, I promise."

Jack studied her for a moment. "Does Gaez know that?" Jack asked.

"Why would you…" Her eyes widened as it dawned on her. "Well, I think the pupil has surpassed the master."

Jack grinned, and pulled her close. "Listen, I'm willing to have any more lessons you want to teach me."

"How's your stamina?" Emma asked, smirking.

"Good, good," Jack told her. "I'm doing better than I thought. The chemo and radiation has taken a lot out of me, but I'm doing okay."

Emma grinned. "I wasn't talking about that kind of stamina," Emma told him.

"Well," Jack replied, as she took his hand and led him back to his room.

}o{

Sarah walked into the room she shared with Chuck. It had formerly been Chuck's room, but as she had explained to him, in-depth, it was now their room. Unsurprisingly, he had readily agreed.

"You okay, babe?" he asked, seeing the disgusted look on her face. With his words, her expression lifted.

"You know, I never would have thought I'd like it when a man calls me babe," she began.

"I'm so sorry," Chuck blurted out.

"But when you say it… it just feels so right, and everything else seems not to matter," she finished.

"Which is why I did it," Chuck said. She shook her head at him and giggled. "But, back to the original question: You did not look the best when you walked in here."

"I went to my dad's room and… the door was locked, and I heard some noises," Sarah began. Chuck started to get up, worried for Jack. "I didn't think about my mom being back," she continued. Chuck was now standing, but had a confused look on his face. "Apparently… they needed some alone time…"

"When you say alone time?" Chuck asked.

"I freaking picked the lock, and ran in on my parents having sex, Chuck."

"Oh, God!" Chuck said, looking away, disgust on his face.

"I saw soooo much more of my parents than I ever needed to," she continued.

"Okay, you can stop," Chuck told her.

"I mean, I get it… she's been in jail for a while, he's been by himself," Sarah went on, not even hearing Chuck.

"Seriously, you don't have to explain any more of it to me," Chuck insisted.

"Apparently, they both needed a conjugal visit,'" Sarah went on, using air quotes.

"I GET IT!" Chuck said. Sarah turned to him, and couldn't help but laugh. "I mean, I am sorry for the trauma you obviously have been through with this, but… some things need to be kept in family."

"So you're saying you're not a member of my family?" Sarah asked, her eyebrow arched.

Chuck started to respond, shut his mouth, opened it again, and shut it for a second time. "There is no way I'm getting out of this one unharmed," he muttered, making Sarah giggle. "Well, at least we know the cancer treatments didn't rob your dad of-"

"Okay!" Sarah said, holding up a hand. "You've made your point."

"More like your dad-"

"CHUCK!" She said, pointing at him.

"See, there was the line, back there, and I went too far," he said, wincing. "Sorry."

"Back to the reason I went to my father's room," Sarah began, giving him a look that clearly stated if he said anything about that thing that he enjoyed, she would not be doing it any more. Chuck mimed zipping his lips. "I talked to Casey and apparently my mother has this dumb-ass idea that she has to get away from us to save us."

"That checks out," Chuck said, nodding. Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Think about it… she went to prison to protect you. Your mom has a… I don't know, not a savior complex, but she believes she's supposed to protect the both of you. Probably a by-product of how she was raised, and how she rebelled against the norms of her time." He paused for a second. "It's actually kind of fascinating, when you really think about it."

"While I'm sure there are so many socio-economic things we could break down and talk about in the scenario you just laid out, I'm kind of on a time crunch here to make sure my mom doesn't leave me again. So… you got any ideas?"

"Absolutely," Chuck told her. Her eyes widened. "I'm not saying they're great, but an idea."

"I did ask," Sarah muttered.

}o{

Now

"You just told me you weren't killing anyone," Gaez reminded her.

"Who says I'm doing it for you? I'm doing it for me," Emma told him. "You get out of here. I will take care of this… for me."

"This isn't who you are, Amanda," Gaez said.

Emma stared at him for a moment. "In prison, I had to do things to survive." She held up three fingers. "I wasn't going to be taken out, so I struck first. I did what I had to do. That sonofabitch," she said, gesturing in the direction of John Casey, "took my family away. I deserved to go to jail for everything I did, but he had no right to keep me from my family."

"They're not who you are," Gaez reminded her.

"I know," Emma said. "They're who I wanted to be."

"Amanda," Gaez said, trying to get her to stand down.

"You or any of your men walk up on him, he fires," Emma reminded him. "I am the only one that can get close to him." She turned and walked toward the doorway to head downstairs. She turned back to him. "Get to your car, and be ready to get me out of here. He has to have a team nearby. If this goes south… do I have your word?"

"Your family is safe, Amanda," Gaez assured her.

He watched her go, and hurried downstairs after her. He saw her head for the shipping container where he had last seen John Casey. He got into his car, and told his driver to be ready. He watched Amanda walk inside. Hearing two shots ring out, he nodded, smiling, and then he heard another shot. Sirens began to blare in the distance. He opened the car door and stood there. "AMANDA! COME ON!"

He watched her stumble out of the container, and as she stood upright, he saw blood covering her shirt. She sank to her knees. "Go," she said. She fell forward, onto the ground. Gaez jumped back into the car.

"Go," he told the driver. They hurried away, and as he saw what looked to be federal agents swarming the shipping yard. "Were we seen?" he asked the driver.

"I don't think so," the driver answered. "We can switch cars before we return to the club."

"Let's do that," Gaez said, sitting back against the seat.

"Gonna miss you, Amanda."

A/N: Not a damn one of you think she's dead, and frankly, how could I blame you? :) Next chapter out…as soon as I can.