Fan Fiction- Numbers

CENTER OF MY WORLD

I do not own the copyrights to Numbers

Author Notes: #1) *Genevieve *Gina* is my own character; She was NOT EVER on the show, so please, no pm's chewing me out for it (yes, i've had something akin to that in the past). This takes place after the show ended (least ended as far as to what I have access to).

#)2: No crime scene as this is a one shot and nothing more.

THANKS to my beta reader who has ALWAYS done an excellent job; though any mistakes are still all my own.

Tick, tick, tick…Alan could hear the old clock on the wall working as he sat in a brown chair next to the hospital bed Genevieve, commonly called Gina, guy bent on revenge towards some ex-girlfriend had mistaken Gina for the woman and would have stabbed her to death only Don had been close enough to hear her screams. Alan's mind turned to the first day he'd become aware of Gina.

"No more! I don't care!" Gina hollered over her shoulder as she hurried up the college's steps. "Mention fractions to me again and they'd better be in a time signature. A blonde headed girl was chasing after her with a math book. Three men did their best not to laugh as the girl was quite comically throwing her hands up in the air and making a face which might as well have shouted 'I have a lemon in my mouth' and the other gal was grinning from ear to ear. Those three males were Don, Charlie and Alan Eppes.

"Don't care for math I take it?"Alan chuckled as the girl almost ran into him.

"I stink at it and sorry for about hitting you." Gina, rather embarrassed, introduced herself and promptly turned to her classmate. "Andrea, I swear if you try to talk me into one more minute of tutoring I will scream so loud all the windows will break." Her voice might as well have been yelling for the red in her face was no longer from embarrassment, but downright total annoyance. Charlie walked into the room and Alan, as if lingering a bit in the memory, mentioned the fact his wife had refused to take math past the mandatory classes for her degree.

"That's so true. I even attempted to get her to take a few past the ones she'd taken; nonetheless I never could convince her to take a higher math." Charlie came in grinning wide. "It just wasn't Andrea she cussed math out to. Told me she'd rather die editing than to mess with trig, calculus or any other math."

"And she doesn't particularly care for editing." Alan chuckled knowing if his bride was offering to edit anything you knew the other option was bad…in her opinion anyway.

"I remember when you first told us you two were seriously dating. Amita came to me while I was working in my classroom.

"He's a grown man, darling. I'm not about to tell my father who he can and cannot see. Besides, she makes him happy. That's all I'm concerned about." Charlie stood at the board in his office working on a very complicated problem. He wants to see Gina I say go for it."

"You really don't mind?" His wife was truly shocked.

"No. Don's having a big enough fit for both of us anyway." And, for reasons he couldn't explain, Charlie thought it funny.

"He was at that. When we announced our engagement, he wasn't any happier." Alan's eyes rolled slightly remembering the conversation with his eldest.

"You can say that again. I remember everyone being at the house when you two told us." Amita spoke as she walked in the hospital room just as Alan had made the remark in regards to his eldest and the announcement his father had given.

"I like her, Don… a lot." Alan leaned forward; he sat next to Gina on the couch. "I enjoy having her around, and we get along. Surely, you can understand that…even if you don't agree."

"So, adopt her! Don't marry her." Don threw up his hands as he stood in the front room.

"I like her a little more than that, Don." Alan couldn't help but smile and chuckle, "Trust me; my thoughts are not along the lines of embracing a daughter into my life." The man had grinned when Gina's face took on a pinkish look on her cheeks as her mouth turned up a mile wide.

"Amita and I could see that, and I think Don did too." Charlie leaned against the windowsill.

Don came in and was filled in on what talk had been going on. "I did; it just took a while to admit it." He then turned the subject to the matter of his step-mother's attacker. "Rest assured, Dad, the man's been apprehended. Gina's in no danger from him." Alan's son's announcement that the culprit of his wife's condition had been dealt with eased his mind and his thoughts turned to the first morning back in town.

"You smell good." Gina muttered half asleep as she draped her arm across Alan's waist.

Her groom chuckled as he stroked her bare shoulder while keeping the blankets in place…just in case Charlie played absent-minded professor and forgot his father and Clare were back from their honeymoon. "You know a younger man could have given you more of a wedding night." Alan's last fears were lingering around as he'd awaken to see his young bride lying next to him. His words got her to prop herself up while her jaw set in stone before speaking.

"Alan Eppes, if you ever refer to yourself as old I will slap you upside the head, and that counts if you're blind, deaf and a hundred and two." Alan come out of thought and, unconsciously, spoke her of starch insistence he not refer to himself as being old.

"She gave me a brain duster when I made a smart remark in regards to your age and one foot in the grave." Larry laughed as he walked in to the room just as his friend's father spoke his wife's past remark. Larry also rubbed the back of his head as if the memory alone was giving him a physical feeling of her hand on the back of his head.

"She's not afraid of giving those." Don, and the rest chuckled, remembering all too well more than one brain duster she'd given people who made the mistake of ticking her off in regards to her husband's age.

"I'd have given you one if she hadn't." Alan shook a finger at Larry the whole time grinning. Turning to his wife he lay a hand on her head and stroked her hair. "You have to pull through, honey, you're the center of my world."

"Ditto, darling." Gina's voice got everyone's rapidly got everyone's attention, "but do you think you all can lower the volume? A body can't get any decent sleep with all this chattering going on." That got everyone, but Alan, out of the room; he simply stayed by her side relieved his world was going to be properly centered once again.

2nd note: for anyone that has already read this: I'm sorry for not catching the error of the correct name, as far as I can see that has now been corrected. As to any other complaints I have received: NO, I am NOT redoing this for the simple reason that I personally know of someone who has a known SEVERE reading comprehension issue and she had NO problems in following the story BEFORE it was posted.