Acknowledgements:
Omi as always
The BTN8rs - with apologies
The BTN Chatters - for their support
Disclaimers:
"A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend" - Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I do not own any Numb3rs characters nor do I have any rights to
anything related to the TV show Numb3rs. I plead fair use and claim
only my own writing and characters.
Mandy giggled as Don kept trying to kiss her.
"Aren't you supposed to be watching your little brother?" she teased, pushing him away playfully.
"He can take care of himself," Don muttered, pulling her back into the ring of his arms as she continued to titter girlishly, the sound becoming annoying. "Besides," he scoffed, "He's nine. He hardly needs a babysitter anymore. I didn't at that age."
"Yeah, but isn't your brother, you know..." She lowered her voice to sound almost conspiratorial. "Special? Like in the head?"
Don pulled away, huffing in offense. "He's not a retard! He's smart! Really smart! Like supergenius smart!"
"Sure." Mandy shrugged her shoulders, clearly not buying it. "Whatever you say."
Don rolled his eyes in disgust. "I'm going to go see what he's up to." He stalked out of the garage and headed back into the house, scanning each room as he walked through it. When he didn't see Charlie upstairs he went back down, a hint of panic in his step as he rushed out to the backyard, finding it empty as well. "Crap," he muttered. His parents had put him in charge of Charlie and if they came home and found out he was missing...
His eye caught the one thing that was slightly off: the dining room table chairs weren't pushed in all the way. Don crouched down a little and saw a pair of sneakers underneath the table, not quite sticking out the end.
Relieved, he walked over, crouched down, lifted up the tablecloth up and gave Charlie a wry smile.
"Find a new hiding place?"
Charlie looked excited, pointing over his head at the table. "Did you know with the leaf in, that the table is a 40/40/20 ratio? It seems like it really shouldn't work without additional support." He stared up at it, puzzling it out.
"You don't say," Don drawled, humored. He pulled out a chair to make room for Charlie to crawl out. "Come on out of there. It's almost eight and there are some good movies on TV tonight. I'll make some popcorn. You go see what's on."
"Cool!" Charlie scampered out and bolted for the living room, searching the coffee table for the TV guide. "I think there's a Star Trek movie on!"
Don turned towards the kitchen in time to see Mandy walking down the driveway back to her house, arms crossed tight over her chest.
"Root beer or lemonade, buddy?" he called out to his brother, turning away from the window.
"Root beer!"