So this is my first Numb3rs fic and its probably total crap, but I would like to hear what you think anyway. That little blue button at the bottom, its a great esteem booster for one and all.

Disclaimer: Yeah, I barely own my coffeemaker some days. My mom is threatening to keep it with her when I go to college. So that means I probably don't own Numb3rs or their characters either. Nope? Yeah, didn't think so.

Don sensed her before he saw her. It had been that way since she had joined his team, since she had become a daily staple in his life. She wasn't making any noise, wasn't making any fast or slow movements, she was just watching him. He knew that she would do that sometimes, just sit there watching, whether it was himself, Colby, David, or Charlie. Like she was trying to figure out how they lived their lives so perfectly normal, while she felt like hers was in shambles. But their lives were just like hers, filled with just as many bad experiences and nightmare-causing memories. Don didn't acknowledge her; he didn't want to admit anything just yet. But then he felt her move closer to him, hoping to just approach him as quietly as possible. She put her hand on his shoulder, her fingers digging in to the bare skin left by the wife-beater he had been working out in just minutes ago.

"Don," She said his name slowly, and the way she held out the n was different, unfamiliar to him, and Don didn't know whether he should be worried or not. He wasn't ready to talk about it, wasn't sure if he even knew the answer to her question. "Don, do you want"

"No I don't want to talk about it. Not right now."

"Don, I saw what you did to the suspect. I think that maybe you should talk about it," Her body tensed as Don shook her hand off his shoulder and stood up, walking away from her. This was what she was afraid of, Don just shutting down and not telling anyone about it.

"Charlie was in the ER, my brother had been shot Megan. I don't think you understand what I'm going through. And don't you dare start to analyze me, don't' you even do it."

"I just wanted you to tell me what was going through your mind. I don't blame you for reacting the way that you did, he's your brother. But you can't just run around doing what you want by yourself, you need to tell me or David where you're going."

Don turned and glared at Megan before grabbing his water bottle and towel off the ground, walking away. Don hated this, the way his relationship with Megan had changed since she had gotten back from her assignment with the DOJ. He stopped short of the door and turned around, looking at Megan who was watching him. She looked tired, like she had aged since the last time he had looked at her.

"He shot my brother Megan. I wanted him to pay, I mean, Charlie's my younger brother, he's my responsibility. I brought him in to work on this case, it was my job to make sure he didn't get in trouble or get hurt. And I failed at it, I failed at my job."

"Classic overshadowed older sibling feelings. The younger sibling got all the attention when they were little and now the older sibling feels that it's his responsibility to protect the younger sibling, to try and gain some attention for their behavior. It was always about Charlie when you two were younger and you couldn't protect him then because everyone else was doing it for you. Now you feel like it's your responsibility to protect him like you couldn't then, you want to make up for all that time you missed. And frankly it's made you just a little bit overprotective."

Don watched as Megan described what he was apparently feeling, how his actions could be described by a behavioral pattern, one that anyone could tell him about. Megan stood there, her mind running over all her behavior patterns that she had learned about in Quantico. When she had gone on assignment for the DOJ, every little bit of analysis she had learned had been used or put to the test, and now it was just natural to analyze the way Don was behaving. Megan looked over at Don, who was watching her, and realized that she had gone a little far. He had a look on his face that seemed to be fearful realization.

"God, Don, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have said anything, I was just way out of line."

"No, Megan, you're right. I've been trying to protect Charlie so much that I just haven't realized that I've actually been suffocating him. I just, I feel so responsible because he's always working one of our cases and I keep thinking what if the next case is the one that puts him in danger, that could get him hurt, or killed. And this was the case."

"But he's fine Don, it was just a graze. That's actually why I came in here, David just called from the hospital. The doctor's done stitching Charlie up and apparently he's been asking to see you and his laptop the entire time," Megan watched as relief washed over Don's face before she continued. "Amita went over to the house to get it ready, but he's gonna be on some good drugs for a while and can't be left alone. Amita would stay with him, but she has to teach her classes and then she's going to pick up Charlie's classes as well, so…"

"Yeah, let me get changed and then I'll go get him," Don walked over to the doorway, past where Megan was standing, but he stopped just behind her. Megan didn't turn her head or acknowledge that he was still standing in the room, but she could feel him still back there. "Hey Megan?"

"Yeah Don? You need something else?"

"Thanks for getting my head out of my ass." Don began walking again.

"Anytime. At least this time it wasn't so far up that I needed a road map to find it."