Ellie was glad that the apartment was empty when she got home. Her police friend agreed to do the background search strictly under the radar. But she wouldn't hear back from him until tomorrow. Right now she had some serious thinking to do.

Her baby brother might be on drugs, or worse, he might be a drug dealer. And Sarah, wonderful, kind Sarah, dragged him into it. Evil, evil, Sarah.

Get a grip Ellie, you're jumping to conclusions, she told herself. All the evidence she had so far was circumstantial. The injuries, the lies about where they were, the Porsche, the Orange Orange, the hand gun. She ticked her suspicions off on her fingers. It seemed like a pretty good case, but no smoking gun. What she needed was evidence. Yes! Good, hard, evidence.

Ellie dropped her purse on the kitchen counter and walked down the hall to Chuck's bedroom. She paused at his closed bedroom door. Chuck was at work and wouldn't be home until tonight. She could easily just sneak in there and look around. She put her hand on his doorknob hesitantly. Chuck wouldn't want her going through his things. He was an adult, he deserved his privacy, and it might drive him to move away if he knew.

Okay, so maybe she wouldn't search Chuck's room. Not yet anyway. But that didn't mean she couldn't look around other places. This was her apartment after all, and she could go wherever she wanted. She would start with the bathroom.

It took her twenty minutes to make it through the linen closet and under the sink. She found an empty deodorant container, a funky smelling washcloth, and some hair gel that looked like it was from the eighties. No dime bags, no needles, no guns, nothing.

Her stomach growled, but she didn't have time to stop for lunch. There were lots more places in the apartment where she could look guilt free.

She was half way through her search of Chuck's wet laundry in the washer when she heard Devon come home.

"Hey babe," he said, leaning in for a kiss.

"Hey," she answered, turning out Chuck's jean pockets.

"You know, Chuck's a big boy now, he can do his own laundry."

"I know. I'm looking for something…suspicious."

"Suspicious? Like a pocket protector or something?"

"Something like that." Ellie felt a sharp metal object in one of the back pockets. "Ah ha!" She pulled it out and held it up for Devon to see.

"A paperclip? Babe, what's this about?"

"I don't know Devon. I'm worried about Chuck. I thought maybe I could find something that would explain why he's been acting so weird lately."

"It's just love, Babe. It does crazy things to a person." He reached down and picked up some wet underwear. "Like making them go through someone else's wet pants."

"What else can I do?" Ellie said, grabbing the underwear from Devon's hands and throwing it back in the wash. "I'm the only family he has. I have to look out for him. What if he's in trouble?"

"I'm no expert or anything but I think most problems can be solved by talking about them," Devon offered with a crooked smile. "It's always worked for us,"

"You're right, you're right. I should quit going through Chuck's laundry and I should start talking." She started to reload the washer. "Morgan! If anyone knows if Chuck is up to something it would be Morgan. I have to talk to Morgan."

"Not exactly what I had in mind."

"Thanks honey." Ellie closed the washer door and quickly kissed Devon. "Your awesome!" she called back over her shoulder as she walked to the door.

"You got it," Devon called after her.

She only had to make one little stop at a convenience store on the way.

Twenty minutes latter she cautiously slipped through the doors of the Buy More, a paper bag clutched tightly in her hand.

She spotted Morgan standing in front of the big screen TVs where an old Baywatch episode was playing. Cleavage abounded on all 21 screens.

She approached him stealthily from behind. "Morgan," she whispered.

"Ah!" Morgan jumped and spun around. "Ellie! I was just, just" he pointed the remote at the wall and the channel changed "I was just watching some TV. What are you doing here?"

"Is Chuck here?"

"Oh no, sorry El, you just missed him."

"Good!" Ellie grabbed a surprised Morgan by the hand and pulled him back to the break room.

"Morgan, I need you to help me. I need you to open Chuck's locker."

"Oh, I don't know, that's Chuck's personal space. A man's space is his castle. I wouldn't be a very good friend if I invaded Chuck's castle."

Ellie reached in her bag and pulled out a cold sweating six pack of grape soda.

"Now that isn't fair." Morgan looked left and then right. "Okay, but we have to hurry."

Five minutes later, Ellie had gone through every inch of Chuck's locker and had found nothing.

"Hey!" Morgan said.

"What? Did you find something?" Ellie's heart started to beat a little faster.

"The Resident Evil 5 demo!" Morgan said, waving a jewel case, "Chuck told me he didn't get it."

"Morgan!" Ellie said taking the game and placing it back in the locker. "That's not what we're looking for."

"Yeah, about that. What are we looking for anyway? You never said."

Disappointed, Ellie closed the locker and sat down at the table. "We were looking for anything that might explain why Chuck has been acting so oddly lately. Maybe something that would tell us a little more about Sarah."

Morgan sat down next to Ellie. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Ever since I found your ring in Chuck's locker and thought it was for Sarah, I've been sure that it is just a matter of time. Just a matter of time until our bachelor freewheeling days are over." Morgan sighed.

"That's not what I mean Morgan. I'm talking about the weird hours he and Sarah keep, and the little injuries they both seem to always have."

"I don't know anything about that, Ellie. There are some things you just don't ask a friend."

Before Ellie could roll her eyes she heard someone walk into the break room.

"Ellie!" Chuck said "What are you doing here?"

"Morgan and I were just doing some catching up. Weren't we Morgan?" Ellie kicked Morgan hard in the shins.

"Yeah, oh yeah, catching up."

Chuck eyed the grape soda on the table. "Sounds fun," he said sarcastically.

"How'd it go at the hospital?" Ellie asked trying to change the subject.

"Great. Nothing broken. And they gave me a very attractive blue sling to wear for the next three days."

"That's great." Ellie stood up. "I… I better get going. Should I expect you for dinner?"

Morgan's eyes lit up, "yeah, that would be great."

"Not you Morgan, Chuck." Now Ellie did roll her eyes.

"Not tonight. Sarah and I have this…thing."

"Oh, okay. See ya later then," said Ellie and she walked out the door.

Dinner at the Bartowski's that night turned out to be a quiet affair. Devon had been called into the hospital so Ellie just reheated something from the refrigerator. After dinner Ellie poured herself some wine, put in an old Air Supply CD and brought out her childhood photo album.

There she was with her dad at the beach. There was Chuck and her playing in the back yard. There was Chuck in his t-ball uniform. There she was with her cheer squad. There was Chuck and Morgan playing Zork on the old Atari. Ellie sighed. She needed more wine.

She went to the kitchen and poured another glass. She began to put the bottle away but then thinking better of it brought the bottle with her and set it on the coffee table.

Several glasses later Ellie closed the album and snuggled down deeper into the couch. It was so comfortable. She was just going to close her eyes for a minute and then she would get up and get ready for bed.

The next thing Ellie knew, she sensed someone had laid a blanket over her. It was dark and her head hurt. She closed her eyes again but then a whisper broke the quiet of the night.

"I'm so sorry El." It was Chuck's voice. "I wish I didn't have to keep lying to you. I want to just tell you everything. This would be so much easier if I could. I know you worry about me. I'm sorry about that. You've been so great and you deserve better. Someday I'm going to do better, I promise. But for now I just have to keep you safe. I hope when the time comes that you will understand that."

He paused for a moment and Ellie thought about saying something. He sounded so sad. She just wanted to take him in her arms and tell him that everything was going to be okay. That they could work out any problem if they worked on it together. But then he continued.

"I think you'd be proud of me if you knew. I really just wish you could be proud of me for once."

She heard him sigh, and then heard his footsteps head down the hallway and then the click of his bedroom door.

Proud of him? Why did he think she wasn't proud of him?

As Ellie pondered Chuck's last words she drifted back to sleep.