Title: The favor
Word count: 914 words
Series: Logic and Reason.
{Logic and Reason and Notification of a Boyfriend,}
Author: chymom
Characters/parings: Colby/Charlie, Don, David, Liz, Nikki, mention of Amita, and a special guest star.
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the people in this story.
The challenge lines are from Animal Rites:
Don: Is that legal.
Charlie: It's not illegal.
Spoilers: Any episode of Numb3rs may be mentioned in this story.
Summary: Charlie does something that he thinks will help. How does his lover react to it.
Beta: Devo79
Author's notes: Any and all honest feedback is welcome.
The Favor
It was still too early for most of the office to be at work, however David found himself heading in anyway. He'd had trouble sleeping for the last few nights. Whenever he'd finally fall asleep his dreams were about Amita. Having no idea how to make the dreams stop, he deicide to do something more productive with his time. Walking into the bullpen he was surprised to see Charlie and Colby not only at work but softly talking at Don's desk.
"I don't know what to say. Why would you do that?" Colby asked his lover, as he leaned against Don's desk. It looked to David as if Colby was using the desk to keep his balance.
"Why? I want my brother to be happy. If Ian is here he's happy." Charlie was now standing nose to nose with Colby unaware that anyone else was in the room.
"Okay, but you don't even know for sure that it's Ian that will make him happy. Besides I don't know if it's legal or not." Colby let go of Don's desk and hugged Charlie to him. David wasn't sure what was going on.
"Do you all need a time out?" David jokingly asked trying to lighten the mood.
"David, I'm trying to get Charlie to see reason. Maybe you can help me." Colby pleaded with his partner.
"What does Ian have to do with Don's happiness?" David's voice asked as his eyes moved from Colby to Charlie.
"Charlie here thinks that having Ian around will make Don happier." Colby told David, his gaze never leaving Charlie.
"I know my brother and he's happy when Ian is around." Charlie said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. David realized there was something bigger going on that he wasn't seeing yet.
"Charlie, we're not saying that you don't." David calmly said to Charlie. Then turning to face Colby he continued.
"What is illegal about what Charlie wants?"
Colby took a minute to find the right words. "It's not what he wants that might be illegal. It's what he wants to do I was questioning." David could see Colby nibbling on his lower lip as he was talking. He knew what that meant, Colby was worried about something. Most of the time that something was Charlie.
"Is it illegal? Charlie, you know if you do something illegal again that'll most DEFINITELY NOT make Don happy." David tried to stress his point without upsetting Charlie at the same time.
"It's not what I want to do. It's what I did. It's not illegal to call in a favor." David watched Colby's mouth hang open for a minute.
"You didn't?" Colby quickly asked.
"I did." Charlie stated.
"Charlie, what did you do?" Colby inquired. They were all so caught up in the conversation they hadn't seen Nikki and Ian enter the room.
"What he did was give me a chance to see you all again." Ian said, pulling the attention in the room.
"Ian, glad you could make it." Charlie said walking over to him.
"I believe it's thanks to you, professor, that I'm here." Ian said shaking Charlie's hand.
"So how long are you going to be around this time?" Nikki asked once the hand shaking and greetings were done.
"A month, maybe more. Depends on what Charlie asked the higher ups for." Ian said winking at Charlie.
"Charlie asked who for what?" Liz asked.
"What kind of agents are we?" David jokingly asked.
"What do you mean?" Liz inquired.
"I mean, you're the third person to come in and no one noticed you until you said something." David chuckled. Ian was now leaning on Don's desk.
"All I know is that Charlie and Colby were talking about something Charlie's apparently done." David suddenly turned to look at Charlie.
"Is that legal?" David inquired.
"What was the answer?" Liz asked, looking at Charlie first and then Colby.
"The answered to what?" Charlie innocently asked Liz.
"Is whatever you did legal?" The group calmly waited for Charlie to answer her question.
"I just asked for Ian to use some of his vacation time that I know he's stored up." Charlie said, as he watched the door instead of any of the agents in the room.
"And why would you be concerned about Ian taking his time off here?" Liz was trying to get more information out of Charlie.
"Cause….," Charlie started but stopped talking when he saw Don walking towards the group.
"Don, I was just leaving. I will see you all later." Charlie said making a quick exit.
"What was that about? Why are you all standing around my desk?" Don asked looking at his fellow agents before turning to see Ian leaning on his desk.
"Ian, you need help with something or are you here for a visit?" Don asked as the corner of his lips held the start of a smile.
"I'm here to offer my help. Well, at least for the next month or so. You'll have to ask your brother how long specifically." Ian slowly pushed himself off Don's desk.
"What does Charlie have to do with your time off? You know what? I don't want to know." Don said moving files around on his desk. Finding the file he wanted Don looked around at the agents still standing around his desk.
"Since everyone is so eager to get to work this morning lets go over what we have on the Gambeson case."