A/N words in italics are from the episode Trust Metric, thanks to everyone who encouraged me to continue writing Numb3rs stories.
David was sat in the war room after the rest of the team had gone home and for some unknown reason on the computer he pulled up the recording of what happened on the Chinese freighter. Don and Megan had watched it, but he hadn't and for some reason now felt he had to. He watched as Colby and Carter entered the room and exchanged handshakes with Lancer, then this is when David knew that things were going to get bad for Colby after seeing the effects himself. Watching as Colby was tied to the chair David subconsciously gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in, he didn't want to watch this, but he couldn't take his gaze away from the screen in front of him.
He watched as Lancer injected the second drug and momentarily closed his eyes as he flinched when he heard Lancer say, "it amplifies pain receptors so that even a pin prick will feel like you're being stabbed"
"Also causes hallucinations and loss of mental and physical control" David reopened his eyes to see Colby brace himself for the drug.
"Good. Then you'll know what to expect" David felt a shiver run down his spine at the cold tone directed at Colby. He didn't know what would be worse in that situation, not knowing what the drug would cause you to feel or to know exactly what pain you would be in. David already saw Colby as a hero after the incident but actually watching the recording he fully realized how brave Colby was.
He glared at Lancer as he casually raised his arms around his head as if he had all the time in the world and asked Colby "do they know my name?"
"Your name, your dog's name, your grandmother's name. Everyone knows everything" David couldn't help but smirk, whenever in a stressful situation Colby always resorted to sarcasm, but David's smirk slipped when David thought that at the time Colby had no idea that the team had figured out what was going on, Colby had no idea, one if they were going to come for him or two that they would get there in time. David hung his head remembering his own hesitation in being prepared to go and rescue Colby.
David's grip on the chair tightened when Lancer described his next choice of drug to torture Colby and watched as Colby bowed his head slightly knowing that he was going to die and that the team weren't going to be in time. David shuddered at the mention of potassium chloride knowing that it almost cost Colby his life, technically speaking it did cost Colby his life for about a minute until David's CPR helped his heart to start beating again.
David watched as Carter approached Colby and forcefully said "Granger, don't do this. It's not worth it for some secrets nobody will care about six months from now" David almost felt like shouting at Colby on the screen to listen to Carter to help save himself from what was about to come and that it wouldn't matter because backup was almost there, but even if David did do this, it wouldn't change what happened to Colby.
"Dwayne, I really wish somebody else had pulled me out of that fire"
"Why?" David leaned forward in his chair interested to see what Colby's reply would be.
"'Cause I hate owing you" David felt a wave of sympathy for Colby, in Colby's two years a few times David had saved him and it was never mentioned, but the event that Carter saved Colby from happened years ago and Carter was still holding Colby to owing him. David really wanted to hurt Carter, but that was impossible now.
David watched Colby as on the recording he heard the sirens that announced the team's arrival, he watched as Colby visibly relaxed knowing backup had arrived. David's tight grip on the chair returned as he watched as Lancer began to inject Colby with the lethal poison. David then watched as Carter once again saved Colby.
He heard the door to the war room open and ignored the person knowing it would be one of the cleaners until he heard, "left my cell phone in…here"
David turned to see the stunned expression on Colby's face as the recording still played on the screen; Colby's wide eyes were focused on the screen. Neither of them said a word, on the recording they heard Don say about Carter "Colby just keeps owing this guy huh?"
Hearing this Colby stuttered out "uh…sorry… I…uh didn't know you were…um…busy" and without picking up his cell phone from the table Colby dashed out of the room.
"Damn it" muttered David, he turned the recording off and picking up Colby's cell phone he followed Colby were he saw him disappear into the stairwell that was never used. Looking up David saw the door to the roof slam shut and jogged up the stairs.
He opened the door and peaked around it to see Colby pacing and running his hand through his hair, another sign of his distress.
"Hey man you forgot your cell phone. Again" said David as he held out the cell phone to Colby who stopped his pacing.
"Thanks" murmured Colby, taking the phone and putting it in his pocket before turning his back on David.
"You ok?" asked David as he edged closer to his best friend,
"What? Oh yeah. Fine" said Colby as he continued his pacing,
David put out a hand and stopped Colby midstride. "Really? Because I know I wouldn't be if I came across the recording of my torture"
Colby tried to back way with his head down but David kept a firm, but gentle grip on him not allowing Colby to escape. "Colby? Colby look at me"
Colby slowly raised his head and David kept their gazes locked. "Colby talk to me, I can see that you're not fine so don't say that you are"
"Don was right" murmured Colby,
"About what?"
"About how I keep owing Dwayne" spat Colby, "I wasn't lying when I told him I wished someone else pulled me out of the fire"
"I know" comforted David,
"When I was recovering in the hospital from my burns Dwayne would come and visit me every day and once said 'you so owe me one Colby' and I had replied 'sure you did save my life' as I thought owing him would be buying him a beer. But little did I know that owing him would involve having to pretend to betray my country and lie to my friends and team. Sometimes I just think it would have been easier if Dwayne had got to the Humvee to late and I died, it would have solved everything"
"No it wouldn't! And do not let me hear you say anything like that again Colby Granger! If you had died then I sure as hell know that I wouldn't be standing here, you've saved my life Colby and you're my best friend. I know it took a while after the whole Chinese freighter situation" Colby broke their eye contact, "but listen to me; you're a hero Colby-"
"A hero?!" Colby's head snapped back to face David, "what did I do that was heroic?! I lied David, to you, to Don, Meagan, to everyone!" Colby then forcefully pushed himself back and walked to the edge of the roof and looked out at the city lights.
David came and stood next to him and placed a hand on Colby's shoulder. Colby looked at him from the corner of his eye and said "when I was on the…freighter…and I heard the sirens, I knew you and the team had believed me and that Lancer was going to jail. But I knew I had lied to you all and knowing that my job was done…I just wanted to give up"
"What? Give up and what? Die?!" exclaimed David spinning Colby around to face him, "don't tell me that was what you were thinking Colby!"
"If I told you that I would be just telling another lie and I'm fed up with lying, and I can't do it anymore. I'm done with lying" sighed Colby,
"Colby you're worrying me with all this talk" said David, letting Colby see his worry in his eyes.
"Don't worry I didn't come up here to jump of the roof, I just…seeing the recording…I remembered the feeling of not being able to breathe properly…and I…just needed some air, to know that I still could breathe"
"Come on let's get some take out and go back to your place and watch some cheesy movies" offered David,
"Sounds like a plan" smiled Colby, the two friends walked out of the building glad that it was the weekend and they could just slob around knowing that they wouldn't be called in unless it was a serious situation. David really did have a plan behind the offering of hanging out; he knew Colby was having trouble sleeping, who wouldn't after what Colby had been through? So David knew by crashing at Colby's place that he might be able to stop Colby waking up from a nightmare and actually get a good rest.
Even though Colby and David had competitions on who would be right, this was one occasion where David wished he was wrong. He was sleeping in Colby's guest room and through the wall dividing the two bedrooms he heard Colby muttering and pleading Lancer to stop. David quickly made his way into Colby's room and knelt beside Colby's head and kept repeating the same comforting words "it's ok Colby, you're safe", he didn't touch Colby figuring that as Colby was dreaming about the drug torture and having the drug that made any contact hurt he didn't want Colby to feel hurt, even if it was in a dream, well nightmare.
Soon Colby had calmed down and fell back into a restful sleep, but David didn't leave the room, instead he pulled up the chair that was in Colby's room and sat down and watched his friend sleep figuring that the nightmare might return. And thankfully this time David was wrong.
He fell asleep at some point during the night and woke up at the same time as Colby; Colby threw him a confused look.
"You had a nightmare" answered David, David watched as Colby looked away in embarrassment.
"Nothing to be ashamed about Colby"
"Well thanks anyway, but you didn't need to" murmured Colby,
"Yeah I know I didn't need to, but I wanted to as you're my friend and you deserve a good sleep and anyway if it were me you would have done the exact same thing" and with that David left the room knowing Colby wouldn't want to talk about having someone sit next to him through the night to actually be able to sleep the whole night through.
Over the weekend they hung out and come Monday Colby felt much better and managed to get through the case with smiles to his friends and cracking his much missed jokes, David laughed along with the others knowing that his best friend was back and he wasn't going to let Colby get lost in his own nightmares. That was what best friends were for.