  The density function for the joint distribution of the first and second
eigenvalues at the soft edge of unitary ensembles is found in terms of a
Painlev\'e II transcendent and its associated isomonodromic system. As a
corollary, the density function for the spacing between these two eigenvalues
is similarly characterized.The particular solution of Painlev\'e II that arises
is a double shifted B\"acklund transformation of the Hasting-McLeod solution,
which applies in the case of the distribution of the largest eigenvalue at the
soft edge. Our deductions are made by employing the hard-to-soft edge
transitions to existing results for the joint distribution of the first and
second eigenvalue at the hard edge \cite{FW_2007}. In addition recursions under
$a \mapsto a+1$ of quantities specifying the latter are obtained. A Fredholm
determinant type characterisation is used to provide accurate numerics for the
distribution of the spacing between the two largest eigenvalues.
