I'm combining my third season oneshots into one grouping. Enjoy. :) Cindy

Title: Blurred
Author: Cindy Ryan

Colonel John Casey glanced around the dinner table and shook his did he end up here?
Eating Teriyaki surprise and God help him enjoying it.
He'd never breathe a word to Grimes but the idiot wasn't a half bad cook.

Casey took a sip of water as he looked at Ellie's smiling face.
At Bartowski as he laughed at something Morgan had said.
There it was again….threatening to break the surface.

Caring.
Belonging.
Family.
The lines were blurring

Protecting these people was his job.
A job he was damn good at.
Nights like these….made it tougher.

Tougher to remember that it was all part of the cover story.
The cover story was the only reason he was sitting at that table.

However as John reached to pour Sarah a glass of wine and try to sneak one for himself he caught Ellie's warning glare.
Seconded by Devon's guilty apologetic expression.
With a stifled sigh Casey poured Walker's glass and settled for his water.
Tomorrow he'd find out what that cover story was that Woodcomb had come up find a way to make the doctor pay.

The conversation and food continued and despite everything John found himself relaxing.
He caught Walker's eye and saw she was too.

John took a bite of the next course and settled back into his chair.
The Bartowski's were good people.
Something the world needed more of.
Good people that John had to keep the evil away from.

No matter what it took.

That was his job after all….even if the lines were blurring.

end