For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Ellie reveals information about her dream job in this round of Twenty Questions, and apologizes for not believing Casey before about regrets.

Creature Comforts

He'd seen some video at the Buy More of a Siamese cat chasing after the red dot of a laser pointer. Someone had managed to upload a virus through the otherwise innocuous flick and it had infected several computers the Nerd Herd was working to clean. It was much more user-friendly than the previous video virus he'd seen since coming to L.A. That Irene Demova thing had been deadly and decidedly x-rated.

But, the virus made him think about his cat.

While he didn't have a laser pointer that most normal civilians might've had, he did have one that fastened onto a sniper rifle. While it was, technically, an improper use of government equipment, it would've otherwise been sitting in storage in its case within the hidden compartment above his fireplace.

As Ellie was working late that afternoon at Westside, he figured it would be mostly safe to experiment with Downy and the scope.

He sat, watching as Downy pawed her way into his hamper for what seemed like the hundredth time. He couldn't bring himself to aim the laser at her directly. After all, he usually used it for aiming purposes when he intended to shoot to kill.

He aimed it at the floor in front of her.

She didn't notice it at first, not until he began dancing it around on the unfinished cement.

He smiled a little as her ears went from their normal position to angled slightly. He could see the transition in her muscles as she lowered herself, preparing to pounce.

Idly, he wondered what he looked like before he attacked, if it was anything like that. He stilled the light for a moment, watching as Downy slowly crept out of the hamper. He moved the beam jerkily towards her and she attacked, or tried to.

He chuckled as Downy nearly freaked out that there was nothing in her paws. "You are, without a doubt, one-half Bartowski." He moved the scope rapidly back in forth in front of her.

Downy again moved into her striking position.

Casey killed the beam, however, and Downy frantically tried to find it again.

He pulled out his cell phone, turning on the video camera. He centered Downy in the shot and hit the record button. "Ellie. Thought you might want to see this." He turned the laser scope on again and the change was nearly instant in Downy's demeanor. He danced it around in front of the cat, careful to keep her always in the camera's focus.

He was only able to capture about twenty seconds of Downy's following the laser before sending it to Ellie's phone.

She sat in a rarely used stairwell at the hospital, her head in her hands. She'd done everything she could but it still hadn't been enough. She had her own heart broken and then she had to shatter two others. It was, by far, the worst part of her job, having to tell someone that their loved one was gone. It was even worse when she had to tell parents of young children.

She'd been certain the little girl would be okay. She'd gotten everyone's hopes up only to have the rug pulled out from beneath them all.

As hard as she tried, she couldn't prevent a replay of the conversation. She could see the anxiousness in their eyes, followed by cautious optimism which had vanished in a heartbeat, giving away to pure grief.

There was screaming, wailing and enough tears shed to rival the Pacific.

She hadn't been able to spare the girl's parents' pain either.

She tried to remind herself that the darling angel with the big brown eyes and the dimpled smile wasn't hurting anymore. But, it did little to ease her own sorrows. The child's life had been cut so unfairly short. She'd never see her senior prom, or even experience the independence and freedom of college and adulthood. There would be no first car, no first kiss, no first love. There was so much she would miss.

She dried her tears when she felt her cell phone vibrate. It was probably Devon, wondering where she was, or the nurse's station, telling her to check on one of her other patients. She was genuinely surprised to see that she had a video message waiting from Casey. Sniffling, she hit play.

His warm voice filled the empty stairwell first, followed by her own laughter. She felt a little better, watching Downy play.

She'd give anything to be there, on one of those awful folding chairs, sitting next to Casey, watching as the adorable calico tried desperately to catch what was so ephemeral.

She bit her lower lip. As she exited out of the message, she placed a phone call. She wouldn't mind more of that comforting voice.

"Ellie."

"Hey, John. Thank you for that."

"You saw our girl, huh?"

"I really..." Her voice broke. "I really needed a smile today. Right now. I can't thank you and Downy enough for sending one my way."

"It was our pleasure," he assured her. But, he had to ask: "What's wrong?"

"Occupational hazard," she lamented, running her fingers along the cool metal of the handrail, picking at the chipping paint.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head, closing her eyes, forgetting, for a moment, that he couldn't see.

"Ellie...?"

"No, it's..." She took a slow breath. "There's nothing you can do. Nothing I can do. Nothing anybody can do about it now, it's... It's out of my hands."

"You lost a patient," he said knowingly.

How could he do that? How could he just instinctively know? She tried to hide the sobs, but she just couldn't. "Eight years old, John. Just a little, little girl. The sweetest child ever. Everybody loved her. Just, instantly. You looked at her and you just knew she was special. That she was going places. She had dreams and plans and for what? To never get to see them through? To lose them before she even had an opportunity to try?"

"You did everything you could."

"What if I didn't? What if I missed something?"

"There's no one in this world who cares more about others than you. I know you did everything you knew to do to save her. And sometimes, all the knowledge in the world... it just isn't enough."

"But, it should be."

"I know. And if I could make it be true for you, Ellie, I would. Believe me, I would."

She sighed when she heard her name called over the paging system. "I have to go."

"Ellie..."

"Yeah?" she asked as she slowly got to her feet.

"You're a good doctor, a good woman..."

She smiled a little, or tried to. It broke almost as quickly as it appeared. "I'll see you later, John."

Stay tuned...