For notes and disclaimer, please see part one. Additionally, while there is a Jimmy Buffett song by the same title as this chapter, it is not taken from the song in anyway. But, it is a good song and it makes me think of Casey and Ellie.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Casey keeps turning up hurt. How come Ellie never noticed this before Downy came along? And why does she feel like they all think she's gullible?

Bigger Than the Both of Us

When she'd gone to see if he wanted to come over for dinner that Sunday, he'd been gone. The Crown Victoria, always in the same spot in the parking lot, was missing. Periodically throughout the night, she'd glanced out, but she didn't see it come back, not before she finally went to bed at eleven. When she ventured out into the morning air at half past five, it was there. She would've knocked on his door then, but she had to get to the hospital.

The whole rest of the week, it seemed like he was avoiding her. He'd start out into the courtyard, perhaps to talk to Chuck, but when she'd emerge, he'd head immediately for his car. She even tried to catch him feeding Downy, because they traded off days. While she always fed their cat like clockwork, he never seemed to be in the laundry room the same time twice.

On Wednesday, she just couldn't take it anymore. She got off work and headed immediately to the Buy More. Still in her scrubs, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she strode purposefully into the store. She saw her brother standing at the Nerd Herd desk, his goofy grin plastered on his face. She didn't return the smile. She didn't even head for him. Determinedly, she walked towards the home appliances side of the electronics superstore.

Casey was showing off the latest in vacuum cleaners to a young mother with two small, wailing children. When he saw Ellie, when he saw the look on her face, he excused himself before walking to meet her.

"We need to talk," Ellie said, looking up at him.

It was the four words that could strike fear into the heart of any man. With his hand on her lower back, he steered her towards the Home Theater Room in the back of the store.

As he did so, he caught sight of Chuck, looking thoroughly perplexed after them.

Casey merely dipped his head slightly in return.

Once they were safely alone in the Home Theater Room with the doors closed and the curtains mostly drawn, Ellie started in on him. "What exactly is going on here, John? You're avoiding me."

"Ellie, I can't talk about this."

"You can't talk about what? About that you are, in fact, avoiding me? Or about whatever it is that's the reason for your avoiding me?"

"I... I don't want to avoid you," he began slowly.

"Then don't," she said simply.

"It's more complicated than that," he said, his eyes checking the shadows on the other side of the curtains, to see if anyone was close enough to hear them.

"How can it possibly be more complicated?"

"You want the truth?"

"Desperately," she confirmed.

He looked down at her, wrestling with his conscious, with what he knew to be right, with his orders, with everything that had transpired within the past three years, with everything that had transpired within the nearly five months since they'd adopted Downy.

She could see there was so much knowledge, there was so much truth he was hiding as she searched his eyes. There was some stumbling block, some thing that was still keeping her from knowing what was really going on. "I know you got hurt last week. I saw the shirt you let Downy have," she admitted. "I saw the gash. That was intentional." Her eyes started to water and her voice broke as she continued: "Somebody did that to you. They meant to hurt you. That's not something you get from an accident here at work. That's not something from a bar brawl gone bad. How deep did the knife go?" she asked. "Who patched you back together? Did they have to use stitches? Staples?"

"Stop," he said quietly.

She didn't, though. She pressed on. "What do you do? What do you really do, John?"

He shook his head. He couldn't tell her. He could hear, so clearly, General Beckman's voice in the back of his head, harping about professionalism, about confidentiality, about the safety of the United States.

But, what harm was telling Ellie really? What was she going to do? Go off and blab on some news talk show? Sell the story to the tabloids? Even in his wildest imagination, he couldn't see her working with terrorists. He couldn't see her selling out her brother, or even him.

He'd been fired once already, though, for disobeying orders, for thinking with his heart more than his head.

He couldn't escape her eyes, though. He couldn't look anywhere but there. There was innocence, tenderness and hopefulness. There was also desperation and annoyance. "I want to tell you."

"Please, John," she said, reaching out and finding his hand without ever breaking eye contact. "Just tell me."

Her touch was soft, gentle. He found himself thinking more and more with his heart He never would've imagined that an everyday, normal task like laundry, like taking care of a pet, would've led to something like this. His potential professional undoing. Again.

"I wish I could," he said finally.

Ellie sighed, dropping her head and closing her eyes.

Disappointment radiated off of her and it nearly killed him, especially when she let go of his hand, when she turned from him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Ellie..."

"There's something. I know there's something."

"There is something. But it's bigger than the both of us, Ellie. It's not my place to tell you the whole story."

"Whose job is it?" she asked, glancing back at him.

"I..." He closed his mouth, setting his jaw tightly.

She could almost hear him grinding his teeth.

"I lied to you," he finally admitted.

Whatever compassion she had for him, it faded instantly.

He swallowed hard. "I have regrets. More than I care to admit. I... I regret having to keep things from you."

"Then don't," she pleaded.

"I regret the reasons why I have to keep things from you."

"John..."

"And I regret... I regret that I missed out on my daughter's childhood."

She looked up at him in shock.

"I didn't know she existed, not until a few months ago, and she's already... she's..."

Ellie thought she would be able to handle whatever it was Casey threw her way, whatever it was that he was hiding from her. She realized she was wrong. Without saying another word, without listening to another word from him, she let herself out of the Home Theater Room and rushed towards the door.

Chuck looked up, watching his sister practically run through the store. As she exited, he glanced back, seeing Casey, framed in the doorway, grief and pain etched in his face.

Stay tuned...