Hello fellow Numb3rs fans! I hope some of you are still out there. Here is my first attempt at a story with any type of actual action at all. This one's been such a long time coming. I came up with the idea for it like 2 years ago. And I even started it and then the file disappeared off my computer (this was on an old computer, back before all the auto-save niceness). And then I started it again and then and got halfway done and then my hard drive crashed last May and I lost it again. Then I gave up because I thought this was doomed. But then after I finished my last story, I decided to give it one last shot. So I spent like 3 or 4 months on it, and here it is! It's like 15 chapters, and it is completely finished.

I don't own anything Numb3rs related. This is for personal enjoyment.

Hope you all enjoy, this is much different from what I usually write. Please review! I love to hear feedback.

Best Laid Plans Sometimes Fail

Chapter 1

Saturday, October 8, 2011
3:27 p.m.

If he was late, Robin would probably never forgive him. He was already on such a tight schedule as it was; if he was as late to the airport as it appeared he would be, things would have to be delayed. That would not be good. Robin was already stressed out enough as it was.

Heavy rain all throughout L.A. County had caused a lot of plane delays, and Robin's parents and sister had been due to arrive yesterday. They hadn't, obviously, but thankfully all other out of town guests had made it before the storm got too bad. But that had only been the first blow dealt to this wedding.

Don and Robin had planned a ceremony that was much like their relationship—small and simple but still incredibly romantic. Charlie and Amita had graciously loaned out their backyard for the ceremony. A nice little outdoor ceremony would have been so wonderful, but of course, the storm had ruined such plans. They'd made the quick decision last night to move both ceremony and reception somewhere inside. That had been its own series of headaches—trying to find a new venue at such a last minute and then making the arrangements to move everything there. Eventually, with some strings pulled by Charlie, they had the ceremony and reception set up in some ballroom in the upstairs of CalSci's student union building.

At this point, Don and Robin—especially Robin—were a little on edge and clearly were ready for the whole thing to just take place already. Unfortunately, unless traffic cleared on this freeway and Alan could get to the airport at the speed of sound, it looked like he and Robin's family would never get there on time. The wedding was still an hour and a half away, but traffic was making the drive from Pasadena to the airport take twice as long as it normally should have. And he hadn't even arrived at the airport yet. At least at this rate he wouldn't have to wait for their plane to land—they would be the ones waiting for him.

Well, Alan supposed he should call Don and tell him what was going on. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and the speed dial for his son's number.

It only rang twice before Don answered with his usual gruff "Eppes."

"Donnie, it's Dad," Alan greeted. "I just thought I should call and let someone know that traffic out here is terrible. I'm going to be lucky if I can get us all to CalSci on time." He stopped there, bracing himself for his son's reaction.

"Aw, Dad, you can't be late to my wedding!" Don practically whined. Then he sighed. "Sorry. I know it's not your fault. We'll just have to delay it however long it takes."

"I'm sorry, son," Alan apologized. "We'll get there as soon as we can. It'll be fine."

"I know." Alan could hear his son's soft chuckle in the background. "I'm not upset, really. But I just feel like Robin might be. She's kind of been freaking out about this wedding all of a sudden."

"Why do you think I called you instead of her?" Alan joked. "No, Donnie, she'll be fine. I'm going under the assumption that you two will only have one wedding in your lifetime, and she just wants it to be perfect. And it still will be perfect. It'll just be perfect at 5:30 instead of at 5. You'll see. In fact, I give you permission to use my logic when you tell her."

"Gee, thanks Dad," came Don's sarcastic reply. "I know, she's fine. She's just antsy. I guess I'm a little antsy, too. It's okay."

"So, I imagine Charlie will be at your place soon?" Alan inquired. "You know, to drive you out to CalSci?"

"Uh, no. I'm actually just going to drive myself. Me and Charlie decided that would be easier with the rain, you know, since my apartment is not at all on the way between the house and CalSci."

"That's probably a good idea," Alan agreed. "Less driving any of us have to do today, the better. I'll see you there, all right?"

"Yeah, Dad. Just keep me posted, okay?"

"Sure thing, Don," Alan agreed. "I'll call you later."

"Thanks, Dad." And with that, Don had disconnected the call.

Alan dropped his phone into the cup holder next to him. Boy. The rain was still coming down hard. At least the wind from earlier seemed to have died down. The rain seemed to be falling straight down instead of at the weird, twisted angle of earlier. Now it was actually possible to use the windshield wipers to actually clear the windshield.

Well, at least he had his trusty ol' Beatles album in the CD player of his car. That would help pass the time until he could wade his way past this ridiculous traffic, get to the airport, and somehow fight his way back to Pasadena.

4:01 p.m.

He wore a lot of suits to work, but Don couldn't even remember the last time he'd dressed up in something as fancy as this tuxedo. It made him feel almost like a small child being forced to wear nice clothes, and then being told to remain on his best behavior. Don't get the suit dirty.

Oh well, he wasn't going to deny that he looked pretty good. He fiddled with his bowtie, watching himself in his bathroom mirror. He glanced down at his watch, almost so fast that he didn't actually see the time. But he caught it, just barely, noting that it was about 4:00. His wedding was scheduled to begin in an hour. He should probably get there on time, despite his dad's worries that he and Don's future in-laws would be late.

Robin had actually taken that piece of information better than he'd thought she would. She'd pointed out that there was a lot to the reception that still needed to be set up, since they'd had to move that out of Charlie's backyard as well. She would recruit Amita and Charlie, she said, and they'd use the extra time to make the reception turn out perfectly. Don, satisfied with her plan, had hung up with Robin and resumed preparing himself.

He put on his dress shoes quickly before slipping a piece of gum into his mouth. One last quick check in the mirror told him nothing looked strange or out-of-place. Don glanced at his face, gnashing his gum in his teeth.

"This is it," he whispered to himself with one last attempt to straighten his already-straight bowtie. He smiled nervously at himself. "Don Eppes is actually getting married." He took a deep breath. After all the years of his life being consumed by the FBI, it felt strange to be doing something as normal as getting married. But he was excited, he really was.

"Better leave now, Don," he quietly scolded himself. "Don't want to be late." He didn't give himself time to think; he stepped quickly away from the mirror, grabbed his keys, and opened his door.

The walk down his short hallway to the elevator was eerily quiet, Don thought. He'd assumed the building would be busier today; with the storm, he thought most people would have stayed in today.

Up ahead, Don spotted his next door neighbor already waiting for the elevator. Adam Lorenzic had moved in to the unit next to Don's a couple of months ago and generally reminded Don of a younger version of himself. Adam was a brilliant young attorney who mostly kept to himself, shying away from personal relationships. One of these days, Don would have to fill the younger man in on how rewarding it could be to end up allowing oneself to forge some real relationships—something Don hadn't learned until maybe a couple of years ago.

For now, he simply muttered "Adam" as a greeting, earning a quiet nod from his neighbor. They waited a few more seconds for the elevator to arrive. The doors slid open, and Don allowed Adam to step in first.

"Nice tux," Adam commented gruffly as the elevator doors closed.

"Thanks." A small smile spread across Don's lips.

Adam, clearly curious, stared for just a few seconds before asking the inevitable and obvious question. "Going to a wedding?"

"Yeah," Don answered, his smile expanding into a full-fledged grin. "My own."

Adam's eyes widened; he was clearly impressed. "To Robin Brooks? I've seen you two around here, and I knew you guys seemed pretty serious, but I didn't realize you were engaged."

Don's eyebrows scrunched for a moment. He didn't recall ever actually introducing Robin to Adam before, so how did he know—?

His thoughts were cut off as Adam clearly read his thoughts. "I, uh, went up against Ms. Brooks in court once, a couple of months ago. I was defending a guy arrested for fraud." He smiled. "She kicked my ass."

Don chuckled, and a sense of pride blossomed within him. "Yeah, she's pretty good. And yeah, we've been engaged for awhile now. Probably too long. But yeah, we're getting married today, finally."

Adam stuck his hand out. "Well, congratulations," he said, and Don shook his outstretched hand, muttering a quick "thank you".

At that time, the elevator came to a halt on the ground floor of the building. The two men stepped out, walking together in silence all the way out to the parking lot before Adam stopped.

"Well, uh, good luck," Adam wished him hesitantly. "And congratulations, again."

"Thank you," Don grinned and took a deep breath. "See you later, Adam."

"See ya," the younger man called back to him as he began to turn the opposite direction towards his car. Don watched him walk away in mild amusement before following suit and heading towards his own SUV.

For some reason, he felt a little bit lighter in that moment. He'd been feeling a bit nervous, he had to admit. What was it they say? Something like . . . the hardest part is just getting married . . . or something. Well, Don knew he wasn't too far away from finally being married. His anxiety was shifting more towards pure excitement.

He unlocked his car, opened the door, and sat inside. He quickly glanced at himself in the rear-view mirror—one last check to make sure he looked okay. Don couldn't help but smile at himself as he put on his Aviator sunglasses. He noted, amused, that he actually kind of resembled an actual "secret agent" type, with his tuxedo and sunglasses. He immediately took the sunglasses off, though, remembering how cloudy and rain-soaked everything was. Nope, Aviators would be silly in this weather.

As he turned the key in the ignition, he felt something cold press into his neck. It was an unmistakable feeling, one Don instantly recognized as the cold, threatening metal of a gun barrel.

TBC