Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me
Charlie has a run in with a horse fly and is left with a not so pretty outcome.
Charlie, Don, Megan.
Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs.
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Don stood in the middle of the bridge looking over the side, at the knee deep water below. He raked a hand through his short dark hair and looked at Charlie standing at the foot of the bridge, scribbling furiously on his note pad.
Don eyed the wide stretch of loose gravel that made a nice, but treacherous path from where Charlie was standing at the end of the bridge to the water below.
"Charlie! Watch what you're doing." Don yelled to his younger brother, and watched as the other man briefly surveyed where he was standing and then went back to writing again.
Shaking his head, Don turned away and made his way over to Megan. "How's it going?"
"We're in the right spot." Megan stated, before pulling out a hair tie and effortlessly putting her hair into a pony tail. "They said the money was buried out here by the bridge." She pointed a finger towards where Charlie was standing. "We're just waiting on Colby and David, in the mean time Charlie's coming up with all sorts of possibilities of where it could be."
Don nodded his head and started to remove his jacket, it was ninety five degrees outside in the shade.
Don turned a moment later at the sound of commotion coming from the other side of the bridge, right where Charlie was standing or dancing for that matter.
Megan came up beside him, a confused look on her face as she watched Charlie swinging his clipboard around. "What's wrong with him?"
Don squinted slightly at the bugs flying around Charlie. "Are those bees?"
"Hmm. No, I think it's just horseflies. Because of the water around here, there are a lot of them out this way."
All of a sudden a couple of them buzzed past Don and Megan, causing both to duck out of the way.
"Damn, those suckers are big." Don exclaimed.
Megan snorted and looked back to Charlie. "So, what's his problem?"
"Charlie hates any sort of bug."
Don watched as Charlie took a small step back and some of the gravel under his foot shifted.
Don started walking towards his brother, Megan right behind. "Charlie, knock it off." he shouted. "It's just a fly."
"That's no fly." Charlie shouted back and then jerked backwards as one of them shot out and hovered in front of his face.
Don and Megan watched as Charlie's back foot slipped on the loose gravel and sent him tumbling down the hill and out of sight.
"Charlie!" Both of them yelled before taking off running to the other end of the bridge.
Don was the first to arrive and his heart nearly stopped at the sight down below. A plume of dust marked Charlie's path down the rock covered hill, and his dirty and obvious unconscious body, marked the spot at the bottom. Don skidded halfway down the hill before turning back to Megan, and yelling for her to call for help.
Charlie's motionless form was lying near the water's edge, thankfully only his left arm was dangling in the mucky water.
Don skidded to a stop at his side, sending rocks and dust flying everywhere.
Kneeling next to Charlie, he carefully turned his brother onto his back.
There was blood oozing from a cut at the top of Charlie's head, and also from several cuts on his hands.
Don lightly tapped Charlie's cheek.
"Come on, Chuck. Time to wake up."
There was a moment of silence and then Charlie started to groan.
A slow grin spread across Don's face. "That's a boy. I need you to wake up and tell me how the big bad fly beat you up."
Charlie's forehead scrunched up in pain. " Mmmm." He moaned. "Those things we're too big to be flies, Donnie." He mumbled.
Don snorted, some of the worry starting to leave him now that Charlie was awake. "They were horse flies, Buddy."
Charlie slowly opened his eyes and stared at Don. "I'm never going to live this down."
Don shook his head. "Probably not. Now tell me where you're hurt at?"
Charlie slowly raised himself up onto his elbow.
"Easy, Charlie." Don said, arms outstretched incase his brother needed him.
"My head hurts." Charlie paused for a moment and then glanced down to his hands. "And my hands." He raised the swollen and bloody tissue up for Don to see.
"I saw that. You might need some stitches." Don's ears perked up as he heard the sirens in the distance.
Charlie groaned. "Was an ambulance really necessary?"
"Yes!" Both Megan and Don responded at the same time.
Charlie hissed as pain shot through his head. "Megan? What are you doing up there?" he asked as he watched Megan slowly make her way down.
"I wanted to make sure the paramedics new where to pick you up." She laid a hand on Charlie's shoulder.
"You're looking better then you did a few minutes ago."
Charlie gave her a lopsided smile. "So, really just horse flies?"
Megan brought up a hand to cover the smile on her face. "Afraid so." was her muffled reply.
There was commotion behind them as a couple of paramedics slowly made their way down the hill, carrying a stretcher between them.
Don and Megan moved out of the way as they secured Charlie on the stretcher and carefully made their way back up the hill.
"Don?" Charlie yelled before they closed the ambulance doors.
"Yeah, Charlie?"
Charlie stared at him for a moment. "Are you going to tell Dad about this?"
Don chuckled. "No, Buddy. That's one phone call you get to make all by yourself."
Charlie groaned.
"I'll see you at the hospital in a little bit, Chuck." Don took one last glance at his brother before closing the doors to the back of the ambulance.
"Do you want to head over there now?" Megan asked her partner.
Don shook his head. " Charlie's going to be alright. Let's look around a little more first, besides I don't want to be there when he tells Dad he was beat up by a fly."
Megan laughed. "That is kind of funny. Wait until Colby and David hear about this."
Both FBI agents shared a laugh as they crossed over the bridge to continue looking for the missing money from their case.
"Shoo fly, don't bother me." Don started singing.
"Don!" Megan yelled and then punched her partner in the shoulder. "Be nice."