AN: So I started reading Numb3rs fanfic a few months ago and noticed this ABC challenge thing that was going on. I haven't the foggiest what its about but I decided to just do it. It gives me an outlet to just write something without the pressure of a real story.
A for Appreciation
Alan Eppes stared out the window towards the koi pond watching his son, who sat on a bench near it studying the fish swim through the water. Charlie had always found peace and clarity out there in the warm California sun, letting his mind wonder as he mapped out the patterns of the fish.
Alan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, frowning out the window. Charlie had come home quiet and withdrawn, like someone had stolen his chalk. A small smile crept on Alan's face at that last thought.
Charlie had never been good at hiding his emotions. He eyes and his face displayed everything he felt. It was never difficult to tell what he was feeling, whether it be sad, happy, upset, angry. The real trick was trying to figure out what actually caused the looks. And that, is something that Alan had never figured out how to do.
He frowned as his mind crept towards his wife. Margaret Eppes, his beloved wife could always figure Charlie out. No matter the situation, the mood, anything. She could always get him to open up to her. He wished now that he had paid more attention to how she did it, how she could bring Charlie out.
"Hey Dad, whats goin on?" Don asked walking into the kitchen. Alan startled at the sudden noise and turned to see his eldest son reach into the fridge for a beer. Alan had to resist rolling his eyes at Don's predictable behavior and just turned back to look out the window.
He saw Amita approaching Charlie and he worried for a moment. When Charlie got into his pensive moods like this he didn't like to be bothered, he didn't like to be distracted. He liked to be left alone in his thoughts and sort things out. Alan learned to accept that as his son grew up. Charlie would become distressed and agitated if he weren't permitted this alone time.
And Alan really couldn't blame him. He couldn't imagine what it was like to be inside Charlie's head. Charlie had tried over and over through the years to explain to him. The never ending thoughts and numbers that flew though his mind never letting him rest, never stopping, sometimes to the point of madness at times.
"Well isn't that cute?" Don commented stepping up next to Alan at the kitchen window. Amita had reached Charlie by then and was sitting next to him on the bench. Alan's fear of her disturbing him and having to deal with an agitated son all night melted as he watched Charlie wrap his arms around her and pull her closer to him, burying his face in her hair.
"Lets give them some privacy." Don suggested gently grabbing his fathers arm and pulling him to the living room. Alan in a chair while Don plopped himself down on the couch and turned on the TV to a baseball game currently in progress.
Alan's interested wasn't in the game however. His eyes kept glancing around the room at all the photos of the family. There were so many of them. He had gotten Margaret Eppes a camera for her birthday the year before Don was born, and she had just gone wild. Even more so afterwards. She had said she wanted to paint the house with images of her family. She took such care to take the photos, then select the perfect ones and the perfect frame for each of them. If you really looked around you could truly see a timeline in pictures of the boys growing up.
He spied a photo on the left of him. It was of Don in high school at his Junior Prom. He stood next to a beautiful girl posing for the camera. He looked further around the area spying many pictures of Don with various girls through out the years. From his high school to college years, even after.
Alan looked around more, trying to find one of Charlie. He wasn't quite sure if they really had any. He knew there was one of Susan somewhere but he wasn't quite sure.
"Whats wrong?" Don asked concerned watching his father look around the room. Alan stopped and looked at his son.
"I was seeing if we have that picture of Charlie and Susan." He said simply. Don's eyebrows raised slightly in confusion.
"Why would you want to see that?" He asked genuinely confused. Alan just gave him a look and stood up, looking at the pictures on the other side of the room. Don stood up following him. "Whats goin on dad?" He asked him.
"Nothings going on, I just want to see if we still have it." He huffed. Don ran a hand through is hair, messing it up more.
"I'm going to hazard a guess that if its still around its not anywhere visible. I mean, Charlie's dense sometimes but I don't think he'll keep a picture of another girlfriend around with his current one living here." He stated. Alan sighed again an crossed his arms.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right." He conceded. "Though, I'm more confident that Amita pointed it out and he removed it as opposed to him actually noticing it first." He gave a slight chuckle at that.
"Whats this all about dad?" Don was starting to feel more and more concerned over this strange behavior. Alan just sighed again and looked at his eldest son.
"I'm just happy, is that so wrong?" He said simply and walked away to the kitchen to start dinner. He glanced outside real quick spotting Charlie and Amita now laying in the grass looking up at the sky, Amita laying on Charlie's chest using him as a pillow.
He turned to the fridge and started gathering things for the evening meal of lemon chicken. Don came in a few minutes afterwards, grabbing the tomatoes and lettuce from his father to make the salad. He grabbed a cutting board and stood by the sink to rinse the veggies.
"So what made you so happy you were looking for pictures of Charlie's ex-girlfriends?" Don asked casually, chopping the lettuce. Alan wasn't really quite sure what to say exactly or how to explain what he was feeling.
"I never really worried about you. About you finding someone." He started, turning the heat on the stove down to simmer the chicken. Don glanced over to his dad.
"What do you mean?" He asked him.
"I mean, that even with your job and the stuff I never worried that you would be alone. I always had confidence that you would eventually find someone." Don grinned widely.
"Is this way of telling me you approve of Robin?" He teased.
"Quite frankly yes. She is a dear woman and I think she's perfect for you so don't screw it up." Don laughed loudly at that, turning back to the veggies in front of him.
"Trust me, I'm trying real hard not to." Alan nodded, glad to hear it. "But what does that have to do with Charlie? You worried he'd be alone?" Alan thought for a moment.
"Yes." He said simply. He sat down at the table and rubbed his hands over his face. Don put the knife down and sat down across from him.
"Why are you so worried about this?" He questioned. Alan smiled again.
"Don't you ever stop working Don? You don't interrogate enough people at work you have to come home and interrogate me?" He chuckled shaking his head at the ludicrousness of that. But Don didn't bite.
"Dad, don't worry about Charlie ok? He's very intelligent, and well liked, and…"
"That's just it Don. He's very intelligent." Alan interrupted. Don sat back and sighed for a moment before deciding he needed another beer for this discussion. He got up and grabbed one for him and his father before sitting down again.
"Ok dad, just tell me what is going through you're head cause I'm not seeing it." He stated firmly taking a drag from his beer. Alan sat forward and played with the label on the bottle, the same way Charlie did he noted in his head.
"I mean exactly what I said. You're brother is smart. Scary smart." Don nodded at that statement. It was true after all. "I think of how he grew up. His whole life was surrounded by school, learning, and mostly adults. He didn't have the same opportunities for normal teenage angst as everyone else."
"Yea but look where he is dad. Look what he's accomplished. And he doesn't seem to be complaining about it either." Don stated, feeling slightly defensive of both his brother and his parents decisions on how they raised him.
"That's not the point Don." Alan stated annoyed that Don wasn't seeing his point right away.
"Ok sorry, continue." Don said. Alan took a deep breath before starting again.
"I'm trying to say he didn't have the chance to get to know the opposite sex." Don let out a little giggle at that and Alan rolled his eyes at the immaturity. Don held his hands up in surrender.
"Sorry sorry, go ahead." Alan glared a moment longer before starting again.
"Most kids start in middle school and date through high school, like you did. He skipped middle school and was 9 in high school. By the time got his head out of the books and noticed he was 19 working on his 3rd PhD. And well, since then, I've watched as he failed over and over at relationships."
"Now come on dad. Everyone fails over and over that's the whole point of relationships. You fail continually till you find the right one." He grinned a little a that, thinking of his current girlfriend Robin, thinking that maybe she could be the one. Alan nodded in agreement.
"Yeah well, not like Charlie. And I guess I should specify that maybe I've always been concerned that he wouldn't find someone who understood him. I don't know. His past girlfriends either didn't know what he was talking about, or was too wrapped up in their own work. Some would be bothered and tried to change Charlie over his quirks while others just ignore him completely." He sighed.
"So, basically he was either finding girls who wanted him to do their homework or dating someone that was…well….like him?" Alan nodded again.
"yeah in short that's it. Susan, I thought for a while was a godsend to him. She was so intelligent, and focused on her work yet conscious enough of the world around her. And of course a very very good looker. I honestly couldn't figure out how Charlie had gotten so lucky. " Don grinned thinking of his little brothers hot ex-girlfriend.
"Yeah but that didn't work out dad. Too bad too. She was just as focused on her career as he was. So in the end she was like the others." He took another drink of his beer and sat back, draping his arm over the back of the chair next to him. Alan stared down his son.
"It wasn't careers that broke them up son, it was your mother who finally ended that." Don spit out some beer at that in shock.
"What? Why? How? What?" he sputtered. Alan raised his hand to silence him.
"That is a long tale for another time, but long story short, she wasn't good to him and your mother had had enough of it and ended it. After that, aside from sporadic dates he didn't have a girlfriend till Amita showed up."
"Well that's working out now isn't it?" Don pointed out. His head spinning at hearing his mother had broken up his brothers relationship.
"Exactly!" Alan said loudly and excitedly, slapping his hand down on the table. "See why I'm so happy now. You're brother, has found the perfect girl for him." Don barked a laugh at that.
"Really? And how is she 'perfect' for him?" He asked teasingly. Alan sat back and stared at his son for a moment thinking.
"Yesterday afternoon, Charlie was sitting on the living room floor grading papers and there was some cartoon on. Something with a sponge. And he was nodding his head, and his fingers were bouncing and doing that thing he always did when you were kids that always annoyed the hell out of you.
"Well of course it did! Cartoons are made to enjoy not be analyzed for math stuff. He would always distract me. Especially when he started muttering numbers." Don exclaimed defensively. Alan just waved him off.
"Well anyways, Amita came down and sat on the couch behind him and asked him what he was doing and he explained it to her. I mean really explained it with technical terms and everything. I have no idea what he said but she did." He nodded again, grinning like an idiot.
"It's not exactly a big secret that Amita is smart dad. But so was a lot of his other girlfriends. Especially Susan."
"I'm pretty sure none of them sat there staring at the TV following his train of thought though." Alan stated. Don cocked his head in thought.
"Ok, you're right. Most probably admonished him for not using his time more wisely." He conceded.
"Exactly. And after a few minutes she slid down on the floor with him, grabbed his hand to still it and suggested they just watch the show and to see it for what it is. Afterwards they actually sat there and had an in-depth discussion about the mathematical applications within the cartoon and the entertainment value. "
"You lost me on that last one dad." Don said. "But I'm still not seeing the perfect part."
Alan glared slightly at Don, believing him to be purposely dense and not getting the point.
"The point is Donald is that she understands him, and encourages him. But the most important is that she brings him out of his little world of academia and into reality." Alan took a deep breath and stood up heading for the stove.
"There was a time when your mother and I were worried he'd be locked in his head and ignore the world around him. And quite frankly after your mother died, even after he started working with you I was still worried it would still happen." He took a deep breath and reached up to grab some plates from the cupboard. Don stood up to grab them from him and some silverware.
"He's gonna be alright dad. He's not the same as he was before." Don reassure him.
"I know. And that's thanks to you, and especially Amita. Now, well, Now I know he has someone who will make sure he sees and smells the flowers as well as study them."
"Study what?" Charlie said entering the house, his arm wrapped around Amita. They stumbled a bit at trying to come in at the same time, giggling like little kids. Alan grinned at them and muttered a 'nothing' before heading to the dinning room.
Charlie look at his brother expectantly for an explanation. Don just shrugged his shoulders and followed his father out. Charlie stared after them for a moment wondering about the strange behavior.
"My family is really weird sometimes." He muttered. Amita leaned further into him and kissed his cheek.
"And you wouldn't have it any other way would you." She stated knowingly.