Chuck vs. the Establishment

Operation One: Terms of Dismissal

Wow. I've been following Chuck closely since the first season, but I haven't written anything for it. I'm ashamed of myself. However, Chuck vs. the Tic Tac changed all that. I wasn't satisfied with the end of the episode -- as I'm sure other Casey fans were -- and so this fic was born. For your information, it will develop into a Casey x Chuck pairing over time. Don't like? Click the lovely back button.

I don't own anything. There. Disclaimer done.

Without further ado, please enjoy. Remember, reviews make me write faster!

And that was it. Over twenty years of service and it ended in an instant. Nothing fancy. No dishonorable discharge, no awards, not even a "thanks for helping save your country's ass." Nothing.

Chuck expected him to say something at least. The way Casey merely accepted it with a stiff salute was heart-breaking. Alex Coburn had given up everything in his life for this job, and John Casey was losing everything all over again. Chuck was vaguely aware that he was ordered to escort Casey out of Castle, but found himself following the ex-agent rather than leading. He doubted he could anyway. Had he been paying a bit more attention, he might have heard Sarah discussing travel plans with the General in the other room, before the door shut with a sense of finality Chuck had never sensed before.

"So that's it then?" The voice that came from his mouth wasn't his. It had reached a whole new level of disbelief and maybe even the slightest bit of terror. It didn't matter that he had the Intersect in his head and could save his own ass; it didn't matter that Sarah could do that for him without breaking a sweat. At that moment, Chuck Bartowski felt he had failed John Casey -- and somehow that was worse than his own failure as a secret agent.

"That's it." Casey's voice was equally unusual, though his held something in it Chuck couldn't quite place. It wasn't anger -- that would have been expected. It wasn't sadness either. The closest Chuck could find was exhaustion, but that wasn't quite right either. "You heard the General."

He had. But that didn't mean Chuck was ready to accept it. Without Casey there to look out after him, what was he supposed to do? Two agents against just how many Ring operatives? And Sarah? She was practically attached to pretty-boy-what's-his-name at the hip. Shaw. Chuck didn't mind Shaw, really, but his relationship with Sarah was troubling, to say the bare minimum. "But Casey..."

"It's over, Chuck." There was that hostility he had grown rather fond of seeing in his NSA handler. "Don't you get it? I screwed up." It occurred to the Intersect that Casey hadn't turned to face him the whole time, even though the duo were stopped within the Entertainment department of the Buy More. The lights were all off, but Chuck could clearly see the silhouette Casey's back made against the display of televisions. Casey didn't want Chuck to see him. "It's over."

It slowly dawned on Chuck as the former agent walked toward the Buy More's front doors that it was all over. Casey was restarting as a civilian. He would probably move away, get a decent job, make a decent living. Chuck could have been punched in the gut at that very moment and it wouldn't have hurt as badly. "Casey..." But even as he spoke, the other man wrenched open the door and stalked out. Chuck didn't even get the sense that he was angry.

Casey was dispensable. Once his usefulness had worn out, the government disposed of him. Was that it? This whole time he had been working to help the government because of his unique situation. Because he was the Intersect. But if a better Intersect was made, or one that worked within the government as it was supposed to, then what? Would Chuck be tossed aside? The pieces began to fall into place slowly, and Chuck found himself returning to the back room, opening the hidden door, and progressing down the hallway into Castle. He might be disposable in the future, but at the moment...

"I quit."

General Beckman and Sarah both looked up as he walked in. The former's expression was still as hard as it had been while she was dismissing Casey, but the latter looked stunned by Chuck's proclamation. "Chuck, what are you saying...?"

"You heard me, Agent Walker." Chuck greeted, almost icily. "I quit. If this is what the government does to its personnel, then I don't want anything to do with it."

Sarah's stunned look slowly turned into disbelief, but the General's expression hadn't changed. "You shouldn't make rash decisions, Agent Bartowski." She advised calmly, clearly not taking his threat seriously.

The daze he had been in after hearing the General's words was wearing off. Chuck drew himself up to his full height (realizing again how short the General was, but how commanding she still seemed), and stated, "This isn't rash. I've thought it over, clearly for as long as the decision to dismiss Colonel Casey was thought over."

"Chuck!"

Beckman's eyes narrowed, her arms slowly rising to fold, almost defensively. "The decision to dismiss Casey was the only viable option. The situation is... unfortunate, but there is nothing that can be done."

"You didn't want it to happen this way either, did you?" Chuck found he wasn't all that surprised. The General certainly talked tough, but she had never turned her back completely on their odd little team. "Because it isn't fair? Because Casey's a great agent?"

"Colonel--" She paused, only to quickly correct herself, "Mr. Casey has done a lot for this country. Unfortunately, this was the only course of action the government could take."

"What's stopping him from revealing what he knows to the Ring, then?"

"Chuck...!" Again Sarah tried to interrupt, and again Chuck ignored the warning.

He wasn't given a response though, for General Beckman instead turned her attention to Sarah. "I leave in an hour. You are welcome to join me, Agent Walker." She turned on her heel and left through the Orange Orange entrance, and Chuck didn't make a move to stop her.

Silence fell between the two remaining agents. Chuck noticed that Sarah wouldn't meet his eyes, and got the distinct feeling that whatever it was she had been discussing with the General wasn't helping his case any. "Chuck..." She started again, almost pleadingly.

"Forget it."

Those were the last two words she seemed to expect, and her look of surprise and hurt at them was a momentary slap in the face for Chuck. Was he really going to defend Casey to the point of hurting Sarah?

The ease at which he answered that question astounded him.

Yes.

Chuck arrived home later that night, still furious at the General's decision, and slowly growing more and more angry at Casey's acceptance of it. Logically he knew there was nothing Casey could have done to change Beckman's mind, but that didn't stop the anger, the hurt, the betrayal. Casey was a part of Team Chuck, and Agent Carmichael would not take his dismissal lying down.

Now how was he supposed to get Casey back? Threatening the General to quit clearly hadn't worked. But what if he tried something else? What if he went over her head and threatened her superiors? (Did she even have superiors? Chuck decided he'd have to check with Sarah -- no wait, she was leaving for Washington D.C. -- Casey, then. Casey would know.)

He rapped on the door, half-expecting Casey to blatantly ignore him. Instead he was allowed in, albeit a bit unwillingly from the former agent. "Chuck." His greeting was the same as usual. "What do you want?" Exactly the same. That frightened Chuck on some hidden level. It was as though... as though it hadn't really hit Casey yet. Maybe he just hadn't realized how final this whole thing was.

"I just wanted to... you know, see if everything was alright." Chuck responded, a bit lamely. It hadn't been his intention, but threatening to quit in order to ensure Casey's return to Team Chuck for his own reasons suddenly seemed a lot less important. "I mean, how are you... how are you taking it?"

Casey's "home" -- Chuck had to stop and wonder if Casey ever considered any place "home," especially after all he'd been through -- was empty. The only things the government had left were a chair, a small desk, and apparently one of Casey's bonsai trees, which was situated under the apartment's only lamp. It was nearly pitch-black inside, and Chuck again felt as though Casey didn't want the younger agent to see him. Was it because he was ashamed of what had happened? Shame just didn't suit John Casey very well at all, Chuck decided.

Chuck's question hung in the air between the two of them as Casey shut the door and made his way over toward the small table and the single chair. He took a seat, but kept out of the light. It splayed across his dark t-shirt, and Chuck was once again struck with the finality of it all. Casey wasn't unaware of it -- he knew just as well as Chuck did. That just made it worse. Casey was still trying to put up that strong front, even though it wouldn't do either of them any good.

"I threatened to quit." Chuck said suddenly. He hadn't really meant to say it -- as Casey would probably just take it offensively (So you think you have to stand up for me?) -- but what he received instead was a surprised glance. The light caught Casey's face for a brief moment before he moved again, but it was enough. Casey looked drained. Not tired, exactly, but that certainly was present.

"You what?"

Chuck shrugged and followed Casey over to the small table, testing it with a hand before sitting on the edge of it once he was sure it could support his weight. "It's not right. I mean, you've served this country for years! How can they just...?" He trailed off, and Casey didn't bother to finish his sentence. "It's stupid. I can't sit by and watch."

Casey didn't respond. As Chuck had come over, Casey had moved to better situate himself out of the harsh glow of the single lamp, which made reading his expression incredibly hard. "You would choose me over being a spy."

"Of course," The flatness in Casey's voice bothered Chuck. It was as though the very thought had never occurred to him. Did Casey really think so little of Chuck? "You're my friend. After everything you went through... No. That's not it." Chuck frowned slightly and took a moment to organize his thoughts. "It doesn't have anything to do with your past, with who you were... None of that. It's because you're my friend, Casey. It's because of how good you are at being a spy. It's because it's what you do." Again Chuck drew himself up, but this time it was an unconscious gesture. "As long as I have the Intersect in my head, I'm useful to them. I never dreamed I'd be saying this, but I'm going to make use of that."

"You're either a complete idiot, or the smartest guy I've ever met." Casey stated, and Chuck sensed something close to gratitude in his statement. Casey also hadn't flat-out called him a moron, which was always a good sign. "It doesn't matter though. The General made the terms of my dismissal crystal clear."

Chuck smiled. "We'll see about that." Agent Carmichael had a plan. "I'm going to need your help though."

It brought Chuck a great deal of relief to see Casey's smirk, even if it wasn't as confident and sarcastic as it usually was.