For notes and disclaimer, please see part one.

...my LJ folks may recognize these chapters... This lovely site was pestering me the first time I tried to post it... and the second time... Here's hoping the third time is the charm!

Also, with huge, belated birthday wishes to four ladies I love dearly: Cindy Ryan, basched, night_lotus_blossom, and dimonahtralon. ~K

Here's a couple things you might need to know, or maybe you just forgot: Ellie and Casey celebrate the birthday of Downy, and a year's worth of laundry becoming more.

Westside Story, Part I

The dim twilight had never scared her before. She'd walked through worse places by herself in much darker conditions. With the construction of the hospital's new cancer center under way, however, parking was at a premium, and her car was far beyond where she normally left it.

Ellie walked through and past the construction insanity, digging in her purse for her keys.

She never saw the hungry looks pass between the three men or hear their initial movements as they rustled the palms in the planters. Not until it was too late, not until she was surrounded.

Her mind raced. She could cancel her cell phone, but the photos... Memories kept alive with snapshots would still be in her mind, but she knew they would fade. She could get a new driver's license and replace her debit and credit cards.

She held her purse out to them. "There's about seventy-five in cash there, and other stuff... a smart phone..."

No one moved to take it.

Ellie swallowed hard. "I-I have a Toyota," she said. "A hybrid. I filled up the tank on my way to work this morning." She offered one the keys.

The punch caught her off guard. The man's right hand connected with the left side of her face solidly. She saw stars and began to careen backward. Another man grabbed her purse. The tug off her arm sent her forward, and her chin connected with the sharp concrete.

With her consciousness fading, she felt something snap lightly against her neck. "J'hn," she tried to say.

The change in Casey's face was drastic. He went from mildly annoyed at the latest Jeff and Lester antics to an expression that seemed out of place, that had to have been foreign. If Chuck had to guess, he'd have said it was dread fear mixed with unadulterated panic. All because of something as innocuous as a phone call.

The concern gripped his heart when the big man's blue gaze focused on him. He swallowed hard as Casey charged across the Buy More sales floor.

"We have to go."

"What? Why? What's going on?" Chuck asked.

Casey didn't bother to answer the questions, he just pulled the younger man along with him as they started to leave.

When Chuck realized they were heading for Casey's Crown Victoria, he started dragging his feet. While he was fairly certain they were long past the days of threatening to put him in a bunker in some undisclosed location, the look on Casey's face had troubled him, and the lack of any communication at all was not exactly normal for the Colonel. "Just hang on, huh? Hold up... Where's the fire, chief?"

"Westside. Ellie's in the hospital."

Chuck offered a strained guffaw. "Uh, Casey, I hate to tell you this, but Ellie's always in the hospital."

"Not as a patient." The unforgiving blue gaze held back the unspoken but clearly understood moron that should've gone on the end of that statement.

"Ellie's..." Chuck felt his knees go weak. "Is she okay?"

Casey opened the driver's side door and slid in. "She better be," he said as Chuck scrambled to get into the passenger seat.

She was giving her statement a second time to yet another police officer when she saw them. The shock was clear on Chuck's face. The anguish, undeniable on Casey's.

Chuck squeezed past the officer. "Sis! What happened?"

"I'm okay, Chuck," she promised. "John..."

Casey was still taking in the dark mass under her left eye and the taped laceration on her chin. "Do you have any suspects?" he asked the officer.

"Been some gang activity in the area. Could be any number of local lowlifes."

Casey could hear the tone of annoyance and defeat in the officer's voice. "So, that's it? Chalk it up to an unsolvable crime?"

"Nobody I talk to is going to say anything about anybody. So, unless we get really lucky... we may never know. And you need to be prepared for that," the officer said, looking back at Ellie. "I don't want to get your hopes up."

Casey watched as she reached for her necklace. In the months since Christmas, he'd seen her reach for it more often than not. The fact that it was missing set him off. In one quick movement, he took the notebook from the officer.

The local cop balked until he came face to face with the NSA seal on Casey's badge.

"John-" Ellie tried again.

"Everything will be okay, Ellie," Casey promised. He tore out the sheets from her interview with the officer before giving the notebook back.

Chuck squeezed his sister's hand lightly as Casey turned to go.

Stay tuned...