S is for Scars and Changes

Sequel to N is for New Revelations. Robin's point of view

Disclaimer: I do not own Numb3rs or any of its characters nor do I make any profit from them.

A/N: Takes place after Angels and Devils, also includes a missing scene from The Fifth Man.

SPOILERS for One Hour, The Fifth Man, Disturbed, and Angels and Devils. Written for the Summer 2009 Alphabet Fic Challenge at fanrush

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Robin woke up to find Don's side of the bed empty. She took in her surroundings and noticed a light coming from the direction of the bathroom. Don was standing there, only wearing boxers, staring into the mirror. He appeared to be lost in thought at the moment. Robin glanced at the clock on the night stand, it was only four a.m. She knew Don wasn't the best sleeper but she noticed that in the past few weeks that there were nights that Don slept soundly all night and other nights where he tossed and turned all night due to nightmares from his stabbing.

He must have been having nightmares tonight. Robin thought to herself.

"Hey," Robin said softly, loud enough for him to hear her.

Don startled slightly before turning around to face her and make his way back to the bed. "Hey, what are you doing up?"

"I should be asking you that." Robin said with a small smile.

Don laid down on the bed, propped himself up on one elbow, and leaned over to kiss her. "I was just thinking."

"It looked like some pretty serious thinking." She traced his jaw line with her finger.

"Yeah, it was."

"Care to share the thoughts of the dark and mysterious Don Eppes?" Robin teased, although Don was definitely more open with her now than he was when they first dated, she still had a hard time reading him.

"I was thinking about the future." Don combed a hand through her hair.

This surprised her a bit, "Oh yeah? What do you see in the future."

"You and me," Don leaned over to kiss her again, "Living happily ever after."

"Hmmm," Robin replied, "I think I like that future." She kissed him back.

Don rolled onto his back and Robin moved closer when she felt him gently pulling her towards him. She rested her head on his bare chest while he wrapped his arms around her.

Robin heard Don sigh in contentment and felt him relax against her. "I love you." he whispered as he drifted off to sleep.

"I love you too Don." Robin whispered but she was sure that he was already asleep.

Although Robin was still tired, she couldn't fall asleep again. She gently ran a finger over the small scar on Don's cheek. She thought it gave him character and found it to be rather sexy. Don had a lot of scars on various places of his body, mostly caused by relatively innocent childhood incidents, from what Robin knew anyway. Don told her the one on his cheek was from a fight back in high school when he was protecting Charlie from a bully. There was a small scar on the inside of his wrist from when he broke it while playing hockey when he was 12 and had to have surgery to set it. There was also one on his shin from sliding into home plate during a pickup baseball game.

When Don rolled onto his back, the blankets slid down to reveal Don's bare chest. Robin brushed her fingers over the new pink scar on his chest, a scar she hated almost as much as the person who put it there. As she looked at the new scar on Don's chest her thoughts drifted back to the day of the stabbing.

Robin was just getting out of a conference and about to go to lunch with several colleagues when her cell phone rang. She thought about letting it go to voicemail and call back later because she was starving but when she looked at the number on her caller ID her heart clenched.

"Brooks." She answered quickly with a bit of tension in her voice.

"Robin? This is Alan. Donnie's been hurt."

"Oh my god! Is he okay? What happened?" Robin wasn't normally one to panic but she couldn't help it now.

"Don was stabbed during a raid. That's all David would say. I'm on my way to St. Loren's now. I know you're out of town but I thought you should know."

"Alan, I'll be there as soon as I can. I'm going to catch the next flight out. I'll call you as soon as I know when my flight leaves. "

Robin hung up and turned towards the people she was going to go to lunch with, "I'm sorry, I need to get back to LA asap. My boyfriends been hurt."

Since the conference was being held in the same hotel she was staying at, Robin rushed up to her room and packed her bag quickly before haling a cab to the airport.

After arguing with an airline representative for fifteen minutes she managed to get on a direct flight to Los Angeles. As she made her way to her gate after passing through security Robin pulled out her phone to call Alan back. His phone went to voicemail after several rings so she left a message with her flight information saying that she would call him as soon as she landed and was on her way to hospital.

Time seemed to drag on as she stared out the window of the plane. Robin couldn't help but let all the worst case scenarios run through her head. She has always known that Don could be injured on the job but she had always thought it would be a gunshot wound or an explosion or something that didn't involve such close contact between two people. Although she knew it was possible, she never thought Don would actually be injured on the job.

Robin spent the whole flight lost in thought, she was worried about Don and was thinking about all the time they had spent together. She regretted leaving him the first time they had dated, things were moving to quickly between them and she was afraid of getting close to him. Don was always caring towards her but she knew about his dating track record and his reputation as a womanizer. After six months together, Robin decided to call it quits because she figured it would only be a matter of time before Don left her and moved on to another woman.

Her reasons for leaving had all come down to the fact that she was afraid of being dumped, of being hurt. So she chose to end it on her terms instead of waiting for what she thought was the inevitable. She thought being the one to end their relationship would make it hurt less but it didn't. She was miserable without Don.

Then when she returned to LA and Don ended up involved with the RICO case she was working, she realized that Don had been just as hurt as she after their breakup. When she ended up having to go into protective custody and Don had been part of the protective detail, she decided to try to mend things between her and Don but was afraid their relationship was beyond repair. It had been awkward at first but when Don had given her the hairclip she realized that things were not as bad as she had originally thought.

After Don saved her life and they spent the afternoon in the hotel room, they agreed to give their relationship another shot. They both agreed that they would be more open with one another and would take things more slowly this time around.

Now Robin and Don had been dating for over a year and things could not be better. Robin truly loved Don and was starting to think that they were meant to be. They had talked about marriage briefly but never really in depth, the last time they talked about it Don's phone rang and he ended up having to go to work.

Robin was jolted from her thoughts when the pilot came over the speakers and stated that they would be landing in ten minutes.

After her flight landed Robin quickly got her luggage and headed to her car. As she was driving through traffic she called Alan to let him know that she was on her way to the hospital. Thankfully the traffic gods were on her side today and she made it to the hospital in less than half an hour.

Robin saw Alan pacing in front of the hospital entrance waiting for her. She rushed up to him, "How is he?"

Alan turned around and checked his watch, "He' s- He's in surgery. It's been ahh... five hours."

"I was in Portland, I was at a conference. I got here, I'm sorry, I got here as fast as-" Alan pulled Robin into a tight hug, cutting off her words. Robin hugged him back desperately.

After she arrived at the hospital, she waited with Alan for two more hours before a nurse came to tell them that Don was out of surgery now and the doctor will speak with them shortly.

The first glimpse she saw of Don was when the nurses were settling him in the ICU. There were so many tubes and wires attached to him it was terrifying. What disturbed her the most though was the ventilator that was breathing for him. She had never seen Don look so pale and fragile before.

When Robin heard the heart monitor go off while the doctor was talking, she swore her own heart stopped right then and there. She watched the team of doctors and nurses shock Don, trying to get his heart rate back to normal with a feeling of trepidation. The last thing she saw before the nurse pulled the curtain was the flat line that showed up on Don's heart monitor.

As they waited for the doctor to emerge, Robin silently prayed to a God she wasn't sure she believed in, asking him to 'please let Don be okay' over and over. Robin didn't think she could handle it if she lost Don again. She remember how miserable she was after she broke up with him and didn't want to relive that misery again if Don didn't make it. They had developed a strong relationship over the last year and she couldn't bear the thought of not having Don in her life.

An immense wave of relief washed over her when the doctor emerged and informed them that Don was still hanging on.

It wasn't until the next evening that Don woke up. Alan had sent her home to get some sleep earlier in the afternoon. She was just getting ready to head back to the hospital when Alan called and informed her that Don was awake finally.

She got to the hospital as fast as traffic would allow. She was so relieved to hear Don talking to Alan when she walked into his hospital room. She walked over to his bed and leaned down to kiss him.

"How are you feeling?" Robin asked with concern as she sat down in the unoccupied chair by the bed.

Don took Robin's hand and gave it a light squeeze. "I'm okay, a little sore and tired, but okay right now." His voice was raspy and he sounded slightly breathless.

Robin sent another silent prayer of thanks up to a god she was now starting to believe in.

Robin's thoughts drifted back to the present. She was a little surprised when Don said he wanted to spend his future with her, Don wasn't normally that open with his private thoughts. It pleased her that he willingly shared this with her, before he would have changed the subject or not told her the complete truth.

The stabbing had changed Don, but until now Robin had never quite been able to put her finger on what had changed about him. After the short conversation she just had with Don, and looking back at his behavior over the last six weeks, she realized that Don has been more open with his feelings. It seemed that he was no longer afraid to share his true feelings. He was finally letting people through the walls that he had built around himself.

Robin also noticed that Don was making more of an effort to be home from work at reasonable times. Lately he only worked late if he had to or if she, Charlie, and Alan, were all unavailable. In return, Robin was also trying to be home at reasonable times to be with him. It seemed as if Don Eppes was ready to finally settle down.

Don wasn't the only one who changed though, Robin has also had her fair share of change in the past six weeks. Since the stabbing, Robin has started to believe that there really is a god somewhere. She has even attended temple a few times with Don in the last few weeks. As opposed to before, Robin found the idea of a greater being somewhat comforting now, to know that there was someone with great power looking out for Don in dangerous situations brought her relief.

Also, Robin no longer took a single moment spent with Don for granted whether it be good or bad. Before Don's injury, there was the knowledge in the back of her mind that Don could be hurt or even killed on the job, but it wasn't until he actually was hurt that the knowledge became a harsh reality. Since then she has started to cherish every moment with him.

Robin sighed and willed herself to relax. She snuggled in close to Don and let sleep overcome her. Her last thought before she drifted off was 'Although Don and their relationship had some scars, both new and old, it also had new changes. Changes that were definitely for the better.

The End.

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I'm not sure I like this one but I figured I'd post it anyway, l had a hard time organizing it and writing an ending that didn't seem too abrupt. although I don't really think I accomplished an un-abrupt ending (I think I just invented a word :p ) but I was getting sick of trying to come up with something else so I figured I'd quit while I was ahead.