For notes and disclaimer, please see part one. Additionally... I did not realize, when I wrote this particular chapter, that it would shake out to post this weekend. I was just trying to catch the story up to canon. Dedicated to those who have lost, and those who remember. ~K

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Ellie and Casey spend a Sunday apart but still manage to keep each other entertained.

Aftermath

She sat in the apartment, staring at the darkened flat-screened television set. Everything was different now. Her world, while it hadn't been perfect, had been rocked to its very core. Her father was gone. He was dead. She'd seen it happen.

It was such a stark contrast to her life before-this new life-that it was somewhat frightening. Chuck was a spy, Casey was a spy, Sarah was a spy... Devon and Morgan had both known. While, certainly, she'd known somewhat about Casey's injuries from protecting Chuck and that he was still a Marine, she never would've imagined that the reality of the situation was, well, so close to home.

She'd put her foot down. She'd demanded that Chuck quit and, to her knowledge, he did. She'd seen the change that came over Casey and Sarah, from having to protect Chuck to just living in the same apartment complex with him. What had annoyed her most, though, had been the relief that had blossomed in Devon.

There was nothing good about the situation.

Her nerve endings were frazzled, her emotions had turned upside down, but not Devon's. Her husband was oh so nonchalant about the whole damn thing that it drove her mad, to the point where she was actually glad their schedules didn't coincide at the hospital. She'd much rather be at Westside when he wasn't there, and home when he was at Westside.

Life wasn't supposed to be like that, was it? She wasn't supposed to want her comings and goings to be diametrically opposed to her husband's, was she?

She just didn't want to hear him, though. She didn't want to hear him try to cheer her up. She didn't want him to tell her some awesome story.

Her life was not awesome; it was empty.

She hadn't realized how much of a part her nonexistent father had played in her life until she felt this gigantic hole where he used to be. Didn't Devon understand that?

She closed her eyes tightly, trying to will the tears that were welling up in her eyes for the hundredth time to stop.

He sifted through what was left of the Castle. While the majority of the base was beneath the yogurt shop, a significant portion had been under the Buy More, which had been reduced to a pile of smoldering rubble thanks to the spy he had recruited.

Morgan had his value, but not with explosives.

If the geek's hands hadn't already been broken, he might've done more damage. As it was, the plaster casts and being unable to hold a video game controller would have to be punishment enough, at least from him. Beckman was another story entirely.

He sighed, hefting a charred security door out of the way. The computer components within the server room looked completely fried. He wouldn't have minded having Chuck's expertise, to see what, if anything, was salvageable.

But, he couldn't. Not at Castle. Castle was a sanctuary for undercover operatives, of which, Chuck wasn't one anymore.

Chuck had promised Ellie that he would quit, and he had. And Casey really couldn't begrudge the kid keeping a promise to his sister.

He pressed the power button on the access terminal, hoping that it wasn't beyond repair. It took a little longer than usual, but when the security requests finally came up, he was able to enter his username and password. The screen, while cracked, still showed him six different views of the apartment complex. He cycled through the cameras, seeing that Sarah and Chuck were having an awkward-looking conversation in their living room. He saw that his apartment was secure. He saw that the courtyard was empty, that the roof was clear, and that Devon's parking spot was empty but Ellie's wasn't.

While he knew, perhaps, he shouldn't have, he accessed the cameras still within the Woodcomb apartment. They were from Chuck's days of staying there but they had been left to monitor and ensure that the adventure-sports cardiologist hadn't let anything slip to someone he shouldn't have.

Ellie sat in the middle of the apartment, staring off into space.

In all of his time watching the Bartowski family, in all of his Sundays spent with Ellie, he'd never seen her quite like that and it bothered him. It bothered him more than he could've ever imagined it would.

She looked despondent and lost. She looked like there might be other, more long-term concerns. Post-traumatic stress came to mind.

He rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to come up with some way to help her. He'd heard from Sarah, who'd heard from Chuck, that Devon was having a hard time trying to relate to Ellie since Stephen had died. Devon didn't have a similar experience from which to draw. While he could sympathize, he couldn't empathize.

And Ellie, clearly, had all the sympathy she could take.

She stood abruptly, squaring her shoulders. He followed her, through the various camera angles, as she headed out of the apartment and into the courtyard. She continued through and around to the laundry room.

He'd removed the microphones from the laundromat after his "telling" Ellie who he was, but not the cameras. While he liked the idea of being able to speak a little more freely, he couldn't take the cameras out entirely. The strategist in him didn't like the idea of having a blind spot in his backyard.

He saw her open her mouth and say something. He could only assume she'd called for Downy as the cat came obediently to her owner.

Ellie scooped her up, carrying her out of the laundry room, back across the courtyard and into her apartment.

The cat explored the living room under Ellie's watchful eyes. There was so much to sniff and experience and check out. While Downy had been in Ellie's a time or two before, it was never for very long.

She laughed a little when Downy investigated a pair of Devon's shoes and immediately backed away. "Yeah, those are the awesome shoes he wears when he goes kayaking and hiking and... other activities."

Downy looked up at Ellie, who reached down to pat her head.

"I'm not doing well, Downy," Ellie said, easing to sit on the floor in front of the calico.

She tipped her head curiously to one side.

"Do you ever feel like your world's just spiraling out of control?"

Downy climbed into Ellie's lap, padding around for a moment before finding a spot she liked and settling down.

"I guess not, huh," she whispered.

Stay tuned...