Title: This Is All Of Me.
Fandom: Numb3rs.
Chapters: (1/?)
Pairing: Don/Charlie, Don/Charlie/David.
Author: Aiden.
Rating: FRT 13.
Warning: Language, hurt, disability (amputation)
Beta: SRS/Silvia *hugs* Thanks a bunches and see I can be patient.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, if I did this would be all real.
Summary: After an accident that changed Don's life, he starts as leader of the Violent Crime Lab.
Author's note: I decided to write some disability fic again, this is the first one, the other one is still in the making. Both involve Don as being disabled.

Dressed in FBI-issued sweats, Don parked his car in front of the FBI training center and exited. Looking up at the grey fortress where his dreams would succeed or fail.

He took a deep breath and steadied himself.

Approaching the front desk, he checked in. "Good morning. I'm Special Agent Eppes. I'm here for the physical fitness test."

"Yes, Agent Eppes," the young lady said, finding his name on a sign-in sheet. "If you'll walk out the double doors and then to make a right, you will see the tracks."

"Thank you." Don turned around and walked towards the back of the building. He was there for his last fitness test before he would be accepted as the new leader of the Violent Crime Squad. When they had informed him that he could join the yearly running tests with some other agents, he'd readily accepted.

It didn't take him long to find the tracks. Making his way to the coordinator, Don thought he recognized the man. "Hey, Joe, is that you?"

Turning around, the man grinned when he recognized him. "Don. So, the rumors are true."

"Yeah, I'm back for good. After mom and the funeral, I went back to Quantico but I missed dad and Charlie," Don explained. "So, here I am."

Joe nodded, smiling. "Well, I'm glad you're here. Are you ready for this? Wanna show them what you're made of?"

Smiling, Don nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready." But he was ready for more than just a race. He was ready to take back his life; ready to be the same man he was three years ago, before the explosion.

Joe grinned. "Can you be ready in a few minutes?"

"Yeah, sure," Don said, nodding. Walking towards the benches, he dropped his gym bag and started stretching and loosening up his leg muscles.

"Don, you're ready?" Joe called out after a few minutes.

"Yep, I'm ready." Taking off his FBI jacket, Don remained in a tank top and sweat pants as he walked to the starter's line. Glancing around, he noticed two other men who were lining up next to him. Smiling, he nodded politely at them. Don didn't miss the fact that both men where younger than him and good looking.

One of the men was golden all over, tanned skin and blond hair. His companion was dark skinned and muscled, with a wide, infectious grin that had Don biting back a moan.

Shaking his head, he snorted. His lover, Charlie, would smack him silly if he knew that Don was ogling the other runners.

"Are you guys ready?" Joe called out. When they all nodded, he continued, "Okay, get ready, on three. One, two, three." And they were off.

Joe smiled as he watched Don take the lead in a few minutes. His friend hadn't lost the edge since he'd left the Bureau; he could still outrun the other guys. Keeping an eye on the chronometer, Joe grinned when he saw that Don was going to make excellent time.

At exactly eight minutes and ten seconds, Don crossed the finish line.

"Very nice, Don, very nice." Joe walked over to his friend and grabbed him in a bear hug. "You are still the best."

The other two runners crossed the finish line a few minutes later, both panting and sweaty. "Damn, man," the blond said, gasping for breath, "you're fast."

Don grinned, feeling happy that he'd finished this last test. He was home free.

Coming closer, the darker man smiled and introduced himself. "By the way, I'm David Sinclair, and this is Colby Granger."

Don started to laugh. "Hey, Joe, I just beat my new agents." When he saw the questioning looks on the runner's faces, he explained, "I'm the new team leader, Don Eppes." Don extended his hand to both agents.

Not too far away, someone was watching the proceedings very closely. "Mmhmm, I see you've done very well for yourself, Agent Eppes. To bad it will be short lived."

When he'd heard that Don Eppes was being allowed to rejoin the Bureau, he'd come to LA to finish the job. Only this time, Agent Eppes would die – and stay dead.

~.~

A few weeks later, Don exited his SUV and walked up the steps to the FBI's office building. When a shudder ran down his spine, he looked around, wondering why he felt like someone was watching him. Shrugging his shoulders, he went inside the building.

The man, who stood just around the corner of the building, sighed in relief. Agent Eppes had almost spotted him. It was getting harder and harder to follow the new leader of the Violent Crime Squad, but not impossible.

Frowning, Don walked into the war room.

"Anything?" he asked, looking at Megan and Colby, who were standing near the whiteboard, reviewing the crime information. This case, more than others, were affecting all of them. A pedophile and serial killer had kidnapped two kids in two different states, tortured them, and finally, ending their lives by stabbing them to death.

Some days, Don didn't know why he did this job – other than the fact that he couldn't live with himself if he new there were monsters out there and he was doing nothing to stop them. That thought was worse than any nightmare he'd over the images and stories he heard on the job - day in, day out.

Sighing, Megan looked at Don, a sad expression on her face. "No, nothing yet. David is checking out that new address Charlie found embedded in the code."

Nodding, Don rubbed his neck in frustration. They were running out of time. Based on the pattern of his previous kidnappings, the killer was due to kidnap another child in the next few days. Don couldn't imaging finding another dead on his watch. Closing his eyes, he wracked his tired brain and sighed; he would just have to work harder. The answer had to be out there.

Turning back to the evidence, Don forced himself to go back over every detail. Taking in Megan's grim expression, Don muttered, "God, I hope Charlie's lead pans out. We need a break."

"Yeah… we do," Megan replied with a sigh.

Late in the morning, David stormed into the war room, surprising the rest of the team.

"We've got him. It seems that LAPD have had their eye on this guy for a while now." Glancing down at his notepad, David gave them the details. "He is a known sex offender, who got arrested two years ago for hanging around schools, violating his parole."

"And they let him go?" Don asked, angrily.

David grimaced. "He went into therapy and got out after two years."

"So," Megan chimed in, "he went from just molesting children to killing them. That is one sick puppy."

Don's demeanor hardened, cold satisfaction etched across his face. "Get the team ready to roll in five minutes. I want that son of bitch off the streets before he has a chance to hurt another child."

~.~

Moving swiftly and quietly, Don and Megan closed in on the front of the house, while Colby and David went around the back.

"On my signal," Don said softly through the mike, and counted to three. "Execute, execute," he gave the go-ahead. One of their agent broke down the front door with a battering ram, and went in first. Don followed, providing back even as his eyes roam the room, looking for their target.

"Clear!" Megan yelled after checking the side room. Moving next to Don, they continued walked further into the house.

Colby and David, who had entered through the back, were checking the kitchen.

"Clear!" Colby yelled.

"Where the hell is he?!" Don roared, feeling his anger and frustration rising.

Two other agents came down the stairs shaking their heads. "Clear," one of them told Don.

Megan had continued to walk down the hallway, trying every door. When she reached the last one, she carefully tried the knob and it gave way. "Don," she whispered, nodding at the door.

Don, Colby and David fanned around her, prepared to back her up. At Don's nod, Megan opened the door slowly.

"FBI!" Megan yelled.

In proper formation, they went down the stairs, quickly taking their positions. Glancing around, Don could make out a figure standing near a window.

Megan found a light switch and turned it on. Across from them stood a man with a shotgun in his hand.

"Drop the gun!" Don yelled. "Drop it now! We're FBI, and you're under arrest!"

The man just stood there not moving an inch, the gun pointed at the agents.

Don could tell that the man would never let himself be taken alive; he'd seen that expression before, those hard, dead eyes that saw suicide-by-cop as the only possible outcome.

"Drop the gun!" Don yelled again, hoping to snap the man out of whatever headspace he was in.

The man seemed to respond and lowered his gun briefly, before all hell broke loose. He started to lift his gun, aiming for Don when the agents began to fire on the suspect. Once the firing had stopped, and the suspect had fallen dead to the floor, Don felt himself fall back almost in slow motion, his leg giving out from under him.

"What the fuck?" Cursing, Don tried to break his fall, but he ended up sprawled on the floor anyway.

"Don!" Megan yelled, securing her gun before racing to his side. "Just lay still let me check you." She looked down at his pant leg, seeing the gaping whole in the cloth, but no blood. "I guess he missed you," she said, frowning in confusion.

"No, he didn't." Don sat up and growled. Lifting up his pant leg, he revealed a prosthetic leg. "Dammit! He broke my leg. Do you have any idea how much a leg like this costs?" He muttered, taking it off.

His team looked on in surprise and shock. Don's right leg ended a few inches below his knee. David and Colby looked at each other for a second before Colby said, "Man, he beat us at the 1.5 mile race. Shit."

Grinning at their boss, David nodded. "He's good."

"He beat you guys?" Megan snickered, looking back and forth between Don, David and Colby.

Getting up, Don hopped on one leg until he regained his balance. "Yeah, well, I try to stay in shape. Now, let's get out of here."

David and Colby stood by Don's side, letting their boss put an arm around each of their shoulders. Slowly, the three men moved up the stairs.

When they reached the SUV, Don growled. "What is wrong?" Colby asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Charlie is going to chew me up and spit me out when he hears about this. Then, he'll fuss over me until I'm ready to scream. He's even worse than dad," Don muttered, lamenting what he knew was going to be a hellish week.

"That's where brothers are for," Megan said cheerfully, smiling at Don.

~.~

"So why didn't you tell us?" Megan asked Don who was sitting at his desk, his right leg propped up on his desk.

Don shrugged, comfortable with her question. "I don't know. It wasn't relevant at the time. I don't see myself as being disabled, so I don't go around telling people about it.."

Megan nodded her head, not surprised that Don would take that attitude towards his injury. "What happened?" she asked softly.

Leaning back, Don looked at her and sighed. He hated remembering that day, but Megan was entitled to an explanation. "An explosion, three years ago. I was lucky," he said with regret, emotion welling up again, "three good agents lost their lives." Taking a deep breath, he pushed back the regret and loss he still felt at the loss of his team mates. "I had to work and fight hard to get back into shape and out in the field," he said with a small grin, hoping to push the conversation in a lighter direction.

"You beat Colby and David. I think you're already there," Megan snickered.

Don grinned. "Yeah, my family and Ian Edgerton helped me through it."

"You know Ian Edgerton?" Colby asked, walking up to them. "Wow, he is a legend."

"Don't let him hear you saying that; he hates groupies," Don said, laughing.

At that moment, Charlie arrived, frowning and visibly upset. "Don, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Did you bring my crutches?" Don asked, smiling reassuringly at his brother.

Stepping back into the hallway, Charlie grabbed a pair of forearm crutches and handed them to Don. "He broke your leg?"

"Yep, he did," Don growled, showing him the prosthetic.

Charlie tried really hard to bottle up his fears, but he couldn't. Snapping, he glared at his brother. "I told you this was too dangerous for you."

"Hey," Don protested. "I'm okay."

Ignoring the other people in the room, Charlie snorted at his brother. "Yeah, this time. What about the next time, when you have to chase after a guy and something happens?"

Don took a deep breath and tried to calm down before he said something he'd regret. "Charlie, you know how frustrated I was becoming at Quantico. Teaching is not for me. I need to be in the field," Don commented.

"Yeah, but at least it was safe!" Charlie yelled at his brother, still frightened that something could happen to Don.. something that would take him way permanently.

Sighing, Don stood up. It wasn't the first time they'd have this discussion. Laying a hand on Charlie's shoulder, Don tried to reason with his brother. "Charlie, this is my life.."

"Fine," Charlie huffed, interrupting Don. Turning around, he walked towards the door. "I'll see you at home. And by the way, Dad is furious."

Sighing, Don sat back down. "Great! Just great!" he growled, glaring at the open doorway.

"Are you okay?" Megan asked him. Feeling bad about the fight that she'd witnessed, she tried to comfort her boss. "He is just worried about you."

"I know," he said with a sigh, "but I was cleared to do field work again. I'm fit to do my job. I wished he understood that."

"We did good today," David said, grinning.

Knowing he'd be sleeping better that night, Don grinned. "Yeah, we did." He only wished that Charlie could understand what drove him to get back into the field.

From the moment he'd been cleared for field work, he'd known his lover would worry. And he couldn't blame Charlie for his concern; this was a dangerous job for anyone. Even more dangerous for someone with a disability, but he couldn't give it up; he'd fought way too hard to get where he was now. He wouldn't give it up just to do something safe… something he hated.

He looked at his team. "Thanks."

"For what?" Megan asked.

"For giving me a chance, to prove myself," Don said softly.

TBC.