Numb3rs Drabbles
By Dragon's Daughter 1980
Disclaimer: Other than being a devoted fan, I have nothing to do with Numb3rs.
Author's Notes: This is a collection of related drabbles that come from the 15-Minute Challenge at the Numb3rs forums. Each prompt word will be listed as a chapter title, but each drabble will have its own individual title.
1. Homecoming
Catherine raised her hand to knock on the door and hesitated, then scolded herself for it. Come on, it's only been six months; it can't be that bad. But it was that bad, judging from what her brothers had told her. She swallowed against the lump in her throat, recalling the phone call that had summoned her here.
Mom's not doing well…not with… Did she tell you?
Tell me what?
Dad was…you didn't hear it on the news?
No, she hadn't. If she had, she would have flown back home right away. But she was deep undercover, working a drug smuggling ring. She had almost no contact with anyone beyond her handler and her partner; it would have been too dangerous otherwise. As it was, she was gone from her family for six months, and her father had been gone for two. She fought back her tears; she was a trained DEA agent and agents didn't cry, damnit. Her mother said that she was like her father in that aspect. Maybe. Maybe Uncle Charlie can calculate how much stubbornness is a genetic trait in our family. Maybe he can tell me what are the odds Dad will come back to us. He probably can.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This wasn't how she wanted to come home. On the long nights when she waited for the drug runners to make their move, she dreamed about what she would do when the case was over. Besides getting hours of sleep in a warm, comfortable soft bed without any sort of alarm clocks to bother her or a cocked gun under her pillow, she would get a week's leave, hop on a plane and go home to see her parents and brothers and aunt and uncle and cousins and grandparents. Her mother would open the door and hug her in relief, her father would stroll into the foyer with a huge smile on his face and congratulate her on her first big solve. She would lose herself in the laughter and banter of their family and friends and let herself just be Catherine Sarah Eppes, not DEA Agent Eppes. But that wasn't going to happen today.
She knocked on the door. It felt like forever before she heard the deadlocks being drawn back and the door swung open, but in reality, it was only a few minutes. The second oldest of their three, Nate, stood in the doorway. She forced herself to smile at him, but her lips only twitched slightly. He nodded, understanding why.
"Hi Nate," she whispered.
"Hi Sis," he said, his voice cracking a little, "Welcome home."
She fell into his arms and the siblings clung to each other for a long moment, trying so very hard not to give voice to their sobs. They needed to be strong for their mother while they waited for the day to bring their father home.