For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

Here's a couple things you might need to know or maybe you just forgot: Chuck confronts Casey about his relationship with Ellie.

What If

It was odd, sitting there, watching as he loaded his black duffel bag. He was a methodical packer. She watched as he unfolded and refolded his clothes, as he checked and rechecked his ammunition. There was a peculiar sensation that bubbled up from the very pit of her stomach. For the longest time, she couldn't place it, so she just sat there, on his bed, watching him.

Downy occasionally wandered over to her lap, sitting for a few minutes before climbing into Casey's suitcase, only to be removed by the Marine, resetting the cat's cycle.

It was only four days before Christmas. Four days before one of the biggest holidays of the year... and he was leaving on a mission.

"You don't have any idea when you'll be back?" she asked, looking up at him.

He could placate her, telling her he'd be home for Christmas, but he didn't know for sure, and he hated the thought of lying to her. "I should be, but I can't promise you anything."

She nodded, watching as he carefully tucked another gun in and amongst his clothes in the suitcase. While she should've embraced the fact that he was taking care of himself, that he'd be taking care of Chuck and Sarah, too, her mind took her to dark, scary places.

When Downy again jumped into the suitcase, he lifted her, whispering to her warm, fuzzy body. "No stowaways."

Ellie watched as Downy sat where he placed her for only a few seconds before getting up to explore some other place in his bedroom. The silence of his packing his toiletries was almost more than she could take. "What if you don't come home?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

He looked over at her. "What?"

"What if... what if you don't come home?" she asked a little louder.

He shook his head. "I'll be home. I'll be fine."

"You can't guarantee that, though, can you? And I've... I remember, y'know. Seeing you. After missions gone horribly wrong. What if you get hurt?"

"NSA has good medical teams, even overseas. I'll be taken care of if something were to happen. Which, it won't."

"What if the mission doesn't go as planned? What if there's some... something... that you didn't plan for. Some something that you didn't know about?"

"Ellie, do you know what my particular skill set includes?" he asked, adding his flack jacket in on top of his suitcase.

"Calming down girlfriends? Because it's not working."

"I'm the tactician. I'm the planner, the strategist. If it doesn't go as planned, if something were to go wrong, then I'll get us out."

Ellie swallowed hard. "What if... What if it comes down to a choice? What if it comes down to either you coming home or Chuck coming home?"

Casey didn't look at her at first. He was honor bound to protect the best interests of the country, and that meant saving Chuck at all costs. Even if that included his own life. "Do you know what Chuck's particular skill set includes?"

"Mad Halo skills?"

He smirked but no, that hadn't been what he was thinking. "Unconventional thinking," he told her. "Chuck's a great spy because he wasn't quite trained like the rest of us. He's not jaded, he's not been doing this his whole life... He has a unique way of looking at things that Walker and I don't. Between the three of us, the team, we'll all come home."

Ellie wanted to believe him. Desperately, she wanted to believe him.

He could see the swirling clouds of doubt still in her eyes.

"But, what if you don't?"

"We can't play this game, Ellie," he said, quietly and seriously. "You can't torture yourself like this. Borrowing trouble like that, it's... it's not healthy."

While she knew it was true, she couldn't seem to help herself. Not this close to Christmas, not when things were really just starting for them. "That's what you do, though, isn't it? As a tactician?"

"Then leave those worries to me, would you?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but wasn't sure how at first.

"Let me worry about all those what ifs, let me figure out how to make them work."

"That's not what I meant."

"It makes sense to me," he said, turning to see if there was anything else he'd missed packing in his dresser.

With his back turned, Ellie slipped a small wrapped package into the side of the suitcase, tucking it between his crisp, white oxford and his favorite pair of black mission pants. She made sure she looked like she hadn't moved, like she hadn't been leaned across the bed moments before as he tossed in a couple fake IDs in on top of everything.

"What about if we made a deal?"

"A deal?"

He nodded. "You stop thinking of those 'what if' statements... and I'll do everything in my power to make sure that I, and Chuck and Walker, are home with plenty of time for family Christmas celebrations."

Slowly, Ellie nodded. "Take care of yourself, Marine. Be careful..."

"I will be," he promised.

Stay tuned...