Unforgivable

By

Numb3rsfan

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Angst, H/C, Language and maybe a bit OOC.

Authors Notes: Set before season 3.

Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs.

Summary: Harsh words were said and an accusation made. Don believes that Charlie helped his perp escape, when the truth is that Charlie may just be another victim.

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Chapter One: Unforgivable

"Charlie…hey Charlie!"

Colby tapped on Charlie's office door twice before calling his name again, but Charlie was dead to the world, having his headphones on and his eyes glued to his chalkboard which was, as usual, crammed full of equations.

A smile coming to his face, Colby shook his head before walking over to the math professor and planting a hand firmly on Charlie's shoulders.

The younger man jumped before turning around and taking his headphones off.

"Man Colby, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Charlie said, recognizing the young Colby Granger. He and Megan Reeves had been the newest agents assigned to Don's unit earlier that year.

At first, Charlie believed that Don didn't care for them that much, but it was obvious that Don had quickly warmed up to the both of them, as had David.

"Sorry Charlie." Colby said.

"S'ok but…where's Don? I thought he was picking me up." Charlie questioned.

For the past week Charlie had been hitching rides to Cal Sci and the FBI, from Don and David, since his own car was still in the shop because of a faulty radiator.

Charlie believed that Don only gave him rides because he was his brother…he sure didn't do it out of kindness, or the generosity of his heart…of that Charlie was dead certain.

"Uh…Don had a last minute emergency, so he asked me to take you home." Colby said.

Truth be told, he would rather be working on the current case with David and Don, but before he had even risen from his chair to follow David, Don had stopped him and charged him with the task of taking his dear younger brother home.

"Huh…ok." Charlie said as he shrugged and grabbed his knapsack.

"I take it that you are ready to go?" Colby asked.

"Yeah…I've been ready for the past hour." Charlie replied as he walked past Colby and out into the hall of Cal Sci.

Turning, Colby followed Charlie out in to the parking lot and over to the black tinted SUV.

It was the same type and model SUV that Don drove, so Charlie had no trouble finding the vehicle at all.

In no time they both were in and Colby had pulled out on to the street; his destination: Charlie's house.

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Charlie leaned against the wall in his bedroom as he looked out the window on to the street.

Colby had dropped him off thirty minutes ago, and for the first time in his life, Charlie hadn't felt like going in to the garage to work on yet another set of equations, so he had gone up to his room and shut the door.

His father wasn't home so he didn't have to worry about Alan asking any questions, such as what was the matter with him…was he feeling alright…did he and Don have an argument…it was just questions like that that drove Charlie nuts…even though he hid it well.

Truth be told, he had no idea why he was feeling so depressed. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the inability to focus on his math most of the time, or maybe it was the fact that it appeared that he was falling out of his brother's good graces.

When Charlie had first started working with Don, he felt whole and he felt that he was a part of something that was very good. Now he was beginning to feel that Don was using him…exploiting his talents to further his own career.

Shaking his head Charlie reached in to his pocket and withdrew a pill bottle.

Opening it up, Charlie took out two pills and popped them in to his mouth, quickly swallowing them before he put the cap back on and put them back in to his pocket.

In hindsight he couldn't even remember when he had started taking them; but the pills helped a lot…they helped him to focus and calmed his fraying nerves…but all that came with a price. They caused him to lose sleep and made him irritable when they wore off.

Feeling a cold shiver wash over him, Charlie hugged himself as he returned to staring out the window.

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Don was plenty pissed when he, David and Megan got back to the office.

They had gone out to arrest Mr. Mike Shepherd for attempted murder of over fifty children all over LA, but he hadn't been in his house in weeks and they had no leads to his whereabouts.

Don knew that it was important that they find Mike because he made and sold street reds laced with poison. There wasn't enough poison in one pill to do serious harm, however if the user took a high dose of pills, they would start getting depressed, then they would start to lose their hearing, not to mention they would start fainting all of the time, and then they would start bleeding from the nose, ears and throat. After that respiratory arrest followed as did death.

When Don got back to his cubical he saw that he had a new email.

Sitting down in his chair, Don practically murdered the mouse as he clicked on the email from the unknown sender.

After Don finished reading what the message said, his blood; which had been boiling, finally boiled over.

Flipping out his cell-phone, Don speed dialed his brother and waited for him to pick up.

There were three rings before a tired voice said, "Charlie Eppes."

Don didn't register the tiredness in his brother's voice, nor the pain that seemed to be in it as well.

"You little bastard! You led us right to him and then you let him get away!" Don roared.

His voice was loud enough that everyone in the office raised their heads and stood up, looking in Don's direction, but Don didn't care.

"Don? What are you talking about?" Charlie asked.

"You know what I'm talking about! Mike Shepherd! You led us right to him, and then you contacted him and warned him that we were going to arrest him!" Don accused.

"What? I don't even know the guy!" Charlie replied.

"Bullshit! You know what?...You are off the case….in fact…you are off every case that comes in to this building, and you are damn lucky that I don't send your ass to the nearest jail cell!" Don roared before he dropped the connection and slammed his cell-phone down.

Five seconds later David decided to risk it, and approached his boss.

"Don…what happened?" David asked.

Wordlessly Don moved his computer monitor so David could read it.

"Agent Eppes,

"Well I won and you lost. I live to fight another day and you get nothing for your troubles, so I thank you. Rest assured that I will not stop handing out the 5388 drug to unsuspecting children, and I suspect that you won't stop looking for me. Well, good luck with that agent. Ohhh! And one more thing: thank your charming brother for me. His warning gave me just enough time to escape before you and your team arrived.

MS"

David had read the message aloud; so when Don heard those words again he flexed the muscles in his hands.

"Don…you can't seriously think that Charlie's in league with Mike. He…he could be just playing with you…trying to throw you off of his track." David said.

Don shook his head and replied, "No! I had a feeling that Charlie was hiding something when he told me his findings…and this message proves it!"

Shaking his head David said, "Don't you think you should at least hear Charlie's side of it? I mean…he is your brother after all."

"Not anymore. To me he's nothing more than a criminal. What he did was unforgivable David!" Don said.

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A minute after Don had hung up, Colby had flipped out his cell-phone and called Charlie.

It took him three rings before Charlie answered, and from the sound of his breathing, Colby guessed that the young math professor was crying.

"Charlie…I…I'm sorry…for what Don said to you. He…he's been having a rough day." Colby said, knowing that his excuse wouldn't even cover it.

"He's had rough days before Colby…but he's never said that to me." Charlie replied softly.

Rising from his chair, Colby kept the phone to his ear as he headed towards Don's cubical.

Inwardly Colby had no earthly idea how Charlie must have felt when Don said those things, however he had no idea that the pain Charlie was feeling was about to get a whole lot worse.

As he neared Don's cubical, Colby lowered the phone, the speaker pointing towards Don and David.

"Don't you think you should at least hear Charlie's side of it? I mean…he is your brother after all." David had said.

"Not anymore! To me he's nothing more than a criminal. What he did was unforgivable David!"

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"What he did was unforgivable!"

Hearing that, Charlie killed the connection to his phone before collapsing on to his bed; crying nothing but buckets of tears.

After several minutes he rose up and went to his closet; removing all of his travel cases and knapsacks.

Quickly he packed everything he owned in to the cases and knapsacks before going downstairs.

Entering the den, Charlie headed over to the home phone and picked it up, dialing in the number for the cab company.

As he was doing this, Alan Eppes entered the house, having just come home from his book club.

Closing the door, Alan was about to head in to the kitchen when he heard something in the den.

Thinking it was Charlie, Alan headed over there to make sure.

Entering the den, Alan saw Charlie with his back turned towards the doorway; a phone in his hands.

Alan saw nothing unusual about this and was about to walk away when he noticed that his son's hand was shaking and he seemed to be having trouble dialing a number.

"Charlie?" Alan asked, stepping closer.

Charlie didn't move, raise his head or give any indication that he heard his father approaching.

"Charlie! Are you alright?" Alan spoke louder, knowing that his son should hear him, but again Charlie gave no indication that he did.

Still biting back the edge of panic, Alan put a hand on Charlie's shoulder, causing Charlie to jump and spin around.

"Dad! I…I didn't hear you come in." Charlie said.

Instead of replying, Alan took in his son's haggard appearance; the dark circles underneath his red, blood stained eyes. To Alan it also appeared that his son was leaning towards the pale side.

"Are you alright? And…why didn't you answer me before?" Alan asked.

"I…I didn't hear you before." Charlie replied, starting to feel a little lightheaded.

Rising a hand, Alan rested it on Charlie's forehead, feeling for a temperature.

"Dad…m'fine!" Charlie said, removing his father's hand, but that simple action seemed to tax his strength so much that he shuddered and dropped his head.

"I think I should get you to the hospital." Alan suggested, moving to take hold of Charlie's arm.

"I said m'fin…" Charlie began before his eyes closed and he promptly fainted.

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"Char…son…he…me?"

A voice flittered through his mind. Concentrating, Charlie tried to put a face to the voice.

"Charlie…can you hear me?"

Prying his eyes open, the worried face of his father swam in to view.

Grunting, Charlie slowly sat up before putting a hand to his face.

"Come on, I'm taking you to the hospital." Alan said, relieved that Charlie was awake, but unsure as to how long it was going to last.

"No dad…m'fine." Charlie said, pushing away his father's helping hand.

"I don't think…" Alan began, getting a scowl from his youngest son.

"I said m'fine! I don't have time to go to the hospital. The cab will be here any minute." Charlie said, rising from the floor and heading for the stairs.

"Cab? What cab?" Alan asked, still not following his son's train of thought.

Not hearing his father's question, Charlie said, "Dad the house is yours. I gotta get away…go somewhere."

"Charlie what are you talking about?" Alan asked, fearing that his son had lost it.

His fears were amplified when Charlie came back downstairs, two knapsacks were across his shoulders and his two big travel cases were clutched in his hands.

"Charlie please don't…lets talk about this!" Alan said, but whether Charlie didn't hear him or just chose to ignore him, he didn't know.

Without saying anything else, Charlie managed to get the front door open before he stepped outside, grateful that the cab had just pulled up.

In short order his bags were stowed in the trunk as he himself got in to the backseat.

Back inside, Alan sadly watched as the cab backed out of the driveway and took off with his youngest son sitting in the back.