Title: Reliving Nightmares
Author: Numb3rsfan
Rating: PG-13
Warning(s): Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language
Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs. This fic was made for the enjoyment of the reader.
Summary:Charlie is having nightmares about his youth, but the nightmares aren't what he expected.
Chapter One
BANG BANG BANG.
SCRAPE SCRAPE SCRAPE.
Four year old Charlie Eppton opened his eyes and sat bolt upright in his bed.
SCRAPE SCRAPE SCRAPE.
There it was again! That scary sound coming from outside.
Getting up, little Charlie gulped as he made his way to the window and looked through the curtain.
Outside the storm was howling, causing the nearby tree branches to scrape across Charlie's bedroom window.
Letting out the breath he had been holding, Charlie turned to go back to bed when he stopped, hearing pounding feet on the stairs.
Seconds later his bedroom door was flung open and two people, a man and a woman, entered the room.
"Momma!" Charlie said as he rushed forward, into his mother's arms.
His mother scooped him up and then followed her husband outside of Charlie's room and down to the first floor.
"Weatherman said it's big! Come on, we don't have much time." Charlie's father said as he guided his wife and young son outside, into the storm.
Rain hit their faces and lightning made their hair stand on end as they rushed towards the truck, since they had never gotten a storm shelter installed.
"Momma!" Charlie screamed into his mother's shirt as rain water began to chill him to the bone.
"It's ok sweetie, momma's got you." His mother said reassuringly as they arrived at the truck.
Charlie's father threw open the door and waited as his mother climbed in, with Charlie still in her arms.
After slamming the door, Mr. Eppton ran to the other side of the truck and climbed in to the drivers seat.
Putting the key in to the ignition, he turned it and listened to the truck's engine roar to life.
But, not two seconds later, an explosion turned their attention towards the house, just in time to see a big, huge tree fall right in the middle of it!
"Oh my God! The house!" Charlie's mother said.
"Let's not worry about that now. Let's focus on getting you and Charlie to safety." Mr. Eppton said as he floored the truck, but instead of moving forward, the truck didn't move at all.
"Honey!" Mrs. Eppton said, getting really frightened when the truck didn't move.
"We're stuck!" Came the reply as Mr. Eppton gritted his teeth, still trying to get the truck moving.
Suddenly the back end of the truck was lifted off the ground, causing Mr. Eppton to look at his wife and grip her hand before leaning over and hugging them tightly before the whole truck was lifted off the ground.
Young Charlie was screaming his head off, half because he was scared stiff, and partly because his parents were holding him so tight.
"Momma! Daddy!" Charlie kept screaming over and over as the truck flew through the air.
Charlie was able to peek out the window just in time to see the ground rushing up to meet him, his parents and the truck.
NUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RSNUMB3RS
Gasping, Charlie sat up in his bed, putting a hand to his heart as he looked around his darkened bedroom. As his ears became used to the quiet of the room, Charlie soon realized what had woken him up. It was the scraping of the tree branch against his window.
The images of his nightmare were still fresh in his mind as Charlie mulled over them.
Who were those people? Who were the Eppton's? Had Charlie really been a part of their family?
All those questions and more echoed through his head as Charlie sat in his bed.
Finally, not being able to stand the silence, Charlie rose, grabbed his bathrobe and slipped into it, before tying it around his waist, and exiting his room.
Creeping downstairs, Charlie passed his father's room, and then just missed his brother's old room as he went down the stairs and entered the living room.
Walking over to the couch, Charlie settled down in to it as he focused on the far wall where different pictures hung. Some of them were of him and Don, some of his father Alan, and his mother Margaret.
But one picture in particular was illuminated in the moonlight. It was one of him and Don, but Charlie was in Don's arms. Both of them had smiles on their faces and ice cream mustaches around their mouths.
Charlie remembered that day like it was yesterday, but how come if he really had other parents, how come he didn't remember them? Aside from the nightmare he had just had?
Charlie didn't have the answers to these questions, but he certainly wanted to find out.
Sighing, Charlie curled up on the couch, shut his eyes and fell asleep.