Disclaimer:Numb3rs isn't mine.
Author's Note:A happy 2008 to you all.
Some spoilers for Season 4, but nothing ground-breaking.
New Year's Prayer
December 31st, 2007
«Ring out the old, ring in the new; Ring, happy bells, across the snow
The year is going, let him go;Ring out the false, ring in the true»
- Lord Tennyson
"Alright, it's getting close to midnight. Who's going to be the first brave soul to voice their New Year's resolution?" asked Alan as the laughter died down. Sitting at one end of the dining table in the Craftsman home, the grey-haired patriarch, by blood to some, by familiarity to others, was surrounded by friends and family alike. On the opposite end of the table was his eldest son, Don; to his right was his youngest son, Charlie, his girlfriend Amita, and David Sinclair; and to the left were Megan, Larry and Colby.
"Hey, I have nothing to hide, I'll gladly start things off: My new year's resolution, believe it or not, is to stay far, far away from any more undercover assignments," began Colby. "This year, I am going to be Colby Granger, FBI Special Agent, 24/7."
"Excellent," commented David from across the table. "Actually, that works out really good for me. So, Don, next time one of the team has to go undercover as say, a bartender at a strip joint, I'm a shoo –in, right? The things we do for friends…" murmured David before grinning at his partner's affronted look.
"Don't be too sure, David, Megan might decide to test out her skills instead," replied Don, smiling slyly as he took a sip of beer. Megan, however, caught her boss's meaning all too quickly and flicked her napkin towards him.
"Alright, smart ass, what's your resolution?" Colby challenged David. "Try not to get beat up by more old ladies with canes? 'Cause I might not be around to save you next time."
"Nah, my resolution is to get the time to head to New York, visit the family. And the fact that the Mets and the Yankees will be playing their last games in their old stadiums has nothing to do with my decision," replied David.
As everyone laughed, Alan commented jokingly, "You know, David, ulterior motives should get never get in the way of family gatherings."
"Of course not, Mr. Eppes, what ever gave you that impression?" asked David, widening his eyes in a display of mock innocence.
"Ouch, David. Looks like Don is going to be doing all our undercover work this year," said Megan, shaking her head at her team-mate's attempt at deception, for all that it was make-believe. "Larry, what have you got in mind?" she asked the man sitting next to her.
"Well… I've never really given much though to New Year's resolutions, per se. I find that every time I attempt one, I have forgotten it before the first week is over," mused Larry. "However, in light of everyone revealing theirs, I suppose mine would be to plant firmer roots in terra firma. Now that NASA and I have culminated our relationship, I thought, perhaps, I might buy a house, get involved in my teaching again…."
"An honorable endeavor, Fleinhardt," commented Charlie, not missing the furtive look his best friend shot Megan and just barely suppressing his grin at spotting it.
"And yourself, Charles?" asked Larry, his eyes narrowing at the glint he spotted in his friend's eyes.
"Oh, mine is simple: No publishing books aimed at a general audience. I want to go back to the math, concentrate on my Cognitive Emergence work."
"That's a resolution in terms of profession, Charlie. Any thought in terms of your personal life?" Alan asked innocently, and everyone sitting at the table had to smile at the not-so-subtle hint at grandchildren. Amita, for her part, was a good sport and smiled along at her boyfriend's embarrassment.
"No, father, not yet." Charlie gritted out. "What's your resolution? I noticed you haven't mentioned plans with Millie for quite some time now."
"Ah, my worries son of mine, my resolution harks back to my younger days: not to fail in class. That Ray Ray," muttered Alan darkly, "he's a slave runner."
"Aww, Mr. Eppes, don't tell me. Here I though the alphabet 'F' stopped existing after hitting our mid-twenties," Megan exclaimed.
"Not a chance, my dear. What are you planning for the next year?"
"Well… I think I'm going to take a leaf out of Colby's book here and say I plan on not accepting any more outside assignments. I don't care what the Assistant Director says, I'm sticking in L.A." Megan looked down the table where Don was. "I might need your help with that, by the way. In my next performance evaluation, can you write that I'm just an average level profiler and that there are lots more people better than me in the L.A office?"
"That shouldn't be too much of a stretch for Don," murmured Colby into his drink, for which he immediately received a smack on the arm from Megan. "Hey!" he protested as he raised a hand in defense. "I was kidding! Cut down on the krav maga this year while you're at it, would you?"
"We'll see about that," replied Megan with a last smack. "Amita?" she smiled at the woman sitting across from her.
"Mine's going to be similar to Charlie's – concentrate on my research, maybe get a few papers published this year between teaching and all," Amita replied.
"No slacking off for the academics this year, huh?" The two women exchanged a secret smile which went unnoticed by their boyfriends who sat next to them.
"What about you, Donnie, you've been pretty quiet," observed Alan.
"Me?" Don swirled the beer he had in his hands. "Mine's been the same since I was six."
"Oh yeah, what's that?" asked Charlie with a sneaky suspicion as to where this was headed.
"To torture curly-haired, mathematical geniuses into submission, of course," Don replied.
As everyone laughed, Don caught his father's eyes over the table and knew Alan was expecting a real answer:
"I don't know," Don shrugged. "I haven't really given it much thought." In a familiar nervous gesture, he tugged at his earlobe before responding: "I guess it would be to make sure we're all in one piece this time next year to make more New Year's resolutions."
As everyone digested this, Amita asked: "But wouldn't that constitute as more of a desire rather than a resolution to see it happen?"
"Actually, it's a bit of both," Don replied.
"I think I'm with Don on his resolution; I'll add it to the list," said Megan, and Colby and David murmured their assent.
"And," continued Don, "it would be a hell of a lot easier a resolution to keep if, this year, you don't get kidnapped by crazy chicks," he looked to Megan, "you don't get taken aboard Chinese freighters by old Army friends," he said looking at Colby, "and you don't get taken hostage inside an elevator," he finished, looking at David.
"Put it like that, I think we need to add one more resolution to the bunch: be kinder to Don," said David with a smile.
"Yeah, I kinda like my boss without any white hair…yet. I'd hate to be the one to put 'em there," replied Megan.
"How very gracious of you all," said Don sarcastically.
"Actually, if anyone should have honor of giving Don white hairs, it should be me," said Charlie. "In fact, I may already have a plan in the works."
"Oh, be careful, Chuck. You won't be surrounded by people all the time."
"Alright, alright, enough talk of bloodshed. It's going to be 2008 soon, any thing special in the coming year?"
"Lunar eclipse" This was, of course, from Larry.
"Partial solar eclipse," contributed Amita.
"Summer Olympics," said Colby.
"It's a leap year," Charlie added.
"Christian Bale in leather in the Batman sequel"
Khatum (The End)
My resolution? Limit my procrastination. Studying for an exam in the early hours of the morning I due to sit it cannot be healthy. And be nicer to people. Hope you liked this. Cookies if you guess who said the last line.
The second part to this, December 31st 2008, which I'll add sometime tomm, I like to refer to it as my King Lear of chapters. So if you want to try catharsis through tragedy, swing by. If Aristotle said it, it must be true :-)
Once again, have a wonderful year in 2008.