This is my first fanfiction for Numb3rs. As always, I claim no right to the characters in the show, but I do claim right to Ms. Cheyenne Lynn. I hope that you enjoy the piece, and please, let me know if there is anything you enjoyed or disliked. I love constructive criticism!

Also, I want to warn those dedicated to the show that I've started this fanfiction after season 5. Of course, when season 6 starts this Friday, it'll be Alternate Universe unless I've somehow connected brains with the creators and set them Cheyenne Lynn, but that's highly unlikely boardering on impossible so... Following chapters may take into account what happens in the new season with or without Cheyenne Lynn, but I'll decide that once I've seen the new episodes. I make no gaurantees but promise that if I do any spoilers for the new season I'll make sure to warn you about them before the chapter that contains them. I assume that all readers of this fanfiction have seen all the way through from season1 to season 5; if you haven't seen all of those shows, I take no responsibility for any spoilers I write into this story.

Without further ado, the story:

The Language of Numbers

Chapter One

It had to be the wedding, Don thought taking another sip from his beer. He was sitting in front of the TV at the craftsman watching what was left of a hockey game. In the background, Charlie and Amita were discussing flower arrangements or the guest list or color themes or something, he didn't know what. He just knew that it had something to do with the wedding.

They were sitting at the dining room table discussing (he classified it more along the lines of a debate but Charlie and Amita refused to call it such) something. He found himself becoming slightly annoyed by the whole process. It was so slight that he wasn't sure what about the wedding it was directing towards or even if it had originally been something else and the emotion had somehow transferred. He was happy for his brother and Amita, but every time someone said something about the wedding he felt a twinge in the back of his head forcing him to think of what he was going to say before he said it, which generally caused him to stutter.

His father, Alan, was sitting in the chair beside him reading of book of some kind. Charlie and Amita had banished him from helping them plan, at least, until they decided a when and where. They had decided to have it in the backyard until Amita's parents informed their daughter that they would like to have her marry in India. Then all of the students, faculty, and staff at CalSci expressed an interest in coming to the wedding and reception. The Eppes' backyard couldn't hold all of the people who wished to come to the wedding of the two most popular faculty members in the history of the university.

Suddenly, Don's phone rang, and he reached for it. He could feel everyone's eyes shift to him for various reasons. Charlie looked as if he was counting on this phone call to get him out of whatever discussion it sounded like he was losing. Amita was glaring at the phone as if it was the one thing that stood between her and her dream wedding. Alan looked at the phone with his usual disapproval for the trouble, gun shots, and lost time it gave his sons.

"Hey, Don, it's David," Don heard from the other side of the phone. There were sounds of a motor and passing vehicles; he must be in his car on the way to the scene. He could hear Colby in the background calling the other members of the team. "We've been called onto a scene. I've sent the location to your phone."

"I'll be right there," he told David as he hang up and started for the door.

Charlie stood up and intercepted his brother. "Hey, do you need me for anything?" His face was hopeful, but Don knew that Charlie was needed more here right now than he was needed at the crime scene whatever it maybe. Besides, Don didn't know what he was walking into, and he didn't like the idea of bringing his brother into an unknown situation.

"I don't know…" he stalled so that his brother wouldn't be too disheartened that he had said no too quickly. "How about you stop by tomorrow? I have to go." He finished making his way to the door and went to exit. "See you later," he called over his shoulder to the entire household.

The crime scene's neighborhood was one of the more wealthy places in the city, and that immediately put Don on edge. It wasn't often that they had to deal with the rich and famous, but whenever they did, he found it just a little harder to deal with their arrogance and selfishness. After dealing with his brother and future sister-in-law arguing he didn't feel like dealing with the more fortunate.

He pushed all of this away when he pulled up the scene and stepped out of his car though. It wasn't until then that he noticed all of the law enforcement agents that were milling around, and he flashed back to Nikki Davis' murder. Her place had been swarming with federal officers because she had been a fellow agent. For a moment, Don's heart fell into his chest. "Please don't let it be anyone I know," he prayed for a second then walked under crime scene tape.

He walked up the rose-lined driveway until he came to David talking with a woman in a dark tank-top, blue jeans, and a unseasonably-warm leather jacket. She had short brown hair and, Don noticed once he got closer, smelled like Tequila. She seemed to be insistent on talking to "the agent in charge" because she wouldn't take David's answer that Don was not here yet and would get back to her once the investigation was over.

"Can I help you?" Don said stepping up beside her and flashing his badge.

She turned towards him and looked at him estimatingly. She appeared to be in her early thirties or late twenties, but the scowl that she was sporting added five years to her face. "Are you Agent Don Eppes?" she asked.

"I am," Don answered, not at all liking the attitude that she was giving him. "Is there something that I can help you with?" She had to be the family of the victim to be on this side of the tape.

"I'm Special Agent Cheyenne Lynn," she said flipping her badge off of her belt so that he could take a closer look at it. "That's my agent in that pool, and I wanted to let you know that my department is more than willing to give you anything that you require to find out who killed him. I also want to be kept in the loop for this investigation."

Instead of giving her his answer right away, Don raised his eyebrows as if to say, "Is that so?" and took a closer look at her credentials. It said that she was in charge of the linguistics department, but she was cleared for fieldwork. Then again, since she was a Special Agent, she would have to be able to do fieldwork, but Don doubted that she was really had that much field experience. The linguistics department was only used when the other departments needed a translator.

Don handed her badge back to her and said, "I'm sorry, Agent Lynn, but I just got on the scene so I have no news for you. I'll let you know as soon as I know anything." He said with a smile and turned to walk away, but he had no intention of letting her get herself involved in his investigation.

She must have seen something on his face that told her his thoughts because she said, "Agent Eppes, what would you do if it was one of your agents?" She must have saw him stop mid-step and the look that David and him shared because she stepped closer so that she was standing toe-to-toe with him. She was so much shorter than him that it would have been funny except for the anger shining through her eyes. "What would you do if it was one of your agents chained to the bottom of his pool by a cinderblock? What if it was Agent Sinclair at the bottom of that pool? What would you do? Would you sit back and wait until another Agent and his team solved the case? Would you be able to go home and go to bed when you know that one of your closest friend's murderer was out running free? Would you be able to do that Agent Eppes? If you could, I feel sorry that your team means so little to you."

Don was wavering between feeling sorry for her and being so pissed that he almost wanted to hit her. How dare she amuse that he didn't have feelings for his team! For heartbeats, he just stood there glaring at her, and she in turn glared at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Don could see David starting to look uncomfortable. "Go home, Agent Lynn," Don said as started to walk away from her. For several steps, he could feel her eyes boring into his back, but then it sounded like she opened her phone, called someone, and started chatting away in a different language as she walked out of the scene. Just as Don was rounding the house and getting his first look at the swimming pool that she had mentioned, he heard a motorcycle start up and go roaring down the street away from the house.

The swimming pool would have been beautiful if it wasn't for the bloated, deformed body that was floating from where it was chained to a cinderblock so heavy that they were having problems getting it out of the pool. Colby was talking with the ME who was standing next to the pool but made his way over to Don when he noticed him.

"The ME estimates that he's been in there for about a week, but he should be able to get a more definite timeframe once he is able to get the body back to the morgue and examines it," Colby said looking worried. Don nodded his head as Colby looked at David with a, "What happened?"

David responded with a look that said, "I'll tell you later."

"Where's Liz and Nikki?" Don asked trying to get his mind away from Agent Lynn. Something bothered him about her and he was almost sure that it had something to do other than just how angry she had made him. She was so angry, he thought. And drunk, his mind added. And she knew so quickly about his murder. She had gotten there even before he was. She must have known almost at the same time he did. Yes, he had suspicions about her relationship with this man, and if she had been the one that sent him to the bottom of his pool.

"They were sitting with his widow and trying to ask her some questions," Colby responded. "However, it seems as if the woman can't speak English so they have to wait on a translator."

Don ran his hand over his face. "I'll go let them know that she won't be coming," he said as he entered the house.

"What happened?" Colby said as soon as the door shut behind Don.

David turned towards his partner. "He had a fight with a woman from the linguist department," he said then proceeded to tell Colby the entire story.