Title: Resolve

Rating: T

Author: Kate Monster

Author's Note: I personally have an extremely hard time veering away from canon, but this story that just had to be told, even if the Prison Break season one finale didn't really get to a place where I could quite make it work. Nevertheless, the idea of putting Don and Charlie Eppes together with Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield just couldn't get out of my head once it got in there. So consider this an alternate take on an interesting story that could have happened, if Fox and CBS weren't competing networks and all.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Contains slight spoilers for Numb3rs season two, and bigger spoilers for Prison Break season one.

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"Don! Got a fax for you from the inbox." David Sinclair waved the paper in the air as he proceeded across the floor. A word on the paper caught his eye and he stopped in his tracks to skim the document. "Whoa. That's just – whoa."

"What? Let me see," Don Eppes said, snatching the paper away with an annoyed glance. David, for his part, waited for the reaction. When he saw what was on the paper, he, too, stopped short. "Whoa."

"What does the Chicago office want our help on this for?"

Don studied the paper in his hand closely. "My old buddy Harry from Albequerque is stationed up there now and did me a huge favor back in the day. Guess it's time to return the favor."

"Must be some favor. They think those guys are heading this way?" David tried to peek at the fax again, but Don yanked it away.

"Can you just hold on for the briefing already? They don't know where the hell those guys are going," Don said. At David's look, he shrugged. "What? I read the papers, too, you know. Listen, I'm gonna make a call to Chicago, can you find out where Megan and Colby vanished to?"

"I think they went to lunch 'bout five minutes ago. Slow day, you know?" At least, it had been, up until now.

"When are they coming back?"

"Megan said one."

"Okay, that gives us enough time to call for a briefing. You ate already, right?"

"Yeah man, I'm good."

"Good. Here's your big chance." He handed him the documents. "Have Kim copy these and get them on the computer for the briefing at one. Make sure she knows it's super confidential, okay?" He started to leave, and then stopped.

"What?" David asked.

"I was gonna say, but no, never mind," Don muttered, and he turned to hurry out the door. Then they wouldn't be calling Charlie in on this one. Not today. David knew the shorthand as well as anyone else in the office.

David watched him go and shook his head. The cases on their desks tended to be good, but rarely this good. He'd have to cancel his plans for the night. She could wait. Something better had just come up.

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"Michael Scofield." Don turned the page in his packet and Megan Reeves quickly flipped hers as well. Everyone knew what had been reported by the media, and she was just as eager as the rest of them to know what hadn't. "Educated at Loyola. Civil engineering." He stopped, reading the words one more time just to make sure. After a cough, he continued. "Arrested for armed robbery. According to the court transcripts, pleaded no contest and requested to be incarcerated at a facility near his home."

"He had his MA?" Megan asked, skimming over the paper in her hands. This was indeed juicy stuff that the media hadn't quite picked up on yet, and her brain was already churning. "Graduated magna cum laude." She sat back on top of the desk and crossed her legs. "This is not your typical, every day armed robbery profile."

"He's no Charlie Eppes, but no slacker, either," Colby pointed out, tapping the paper.

"Yeah," Don said, shooting a funny look at Colby, "Next page, guys, Lincoln Burrows. Quickest route to the electric chair in the history of the state of Illinois. Shot Terrence Steadman at close range, sentenced to death, every appeal overturned. Now the Chicago office is acting under the assumption that Scofield knew exactly what he was doing when he robbed that bank, and had all of this planned from the start."

"Brothers," Megan confirmed, more from memory than from the briefing. "And with different last names, nobody in the judicial system seemed to pick up on it, which is amazing to begin with."

"Half brothers?" David asked.

"Full," Megan corrected. "Looks like the last names were the mother's decision."

"Convenient," Colby said aloud.

"A lot of things are convenient here," Megan agreed, nodding to Colby. "I mean, just read the newspapers. Guy gets incarcerated with his brother. Happens to find his way through the tunnel systems - flawlessly. Passes through doors he shouldn't be able to pass through. Walls magically disappear for him. Personally, I'm dying to know how he did it."

"This is not an open and shut case," Don said, catching her glance. He rubbed his forehead in deep concentration. "This guy, he knew what he was doing even before he robbed the bank. And he knows where he's going now."

"You know, maybe we should call Charlie in on this?" Megan asked. "Have him take a look at the escape route, see if he sees anything that Chicago missed."

"This – this isn't math, okay?" Don said. "Charlie's giving exams this week, he – I think we can do this one without him. Give him a break from the FBI for a little while. He does have other work to do, you know, and we don't need a mathematician on everything."

Megan ducked her head and caught David giving her a sideways, questioning glance. She looked away. Something was off.

"So this whole thing was premeditated," Colby said, graciously changing the subject. "Right? All the way through?"

"The most elaborate prison break in the history of the United States," Don confirmed. "Now, we have a list of contacts these guys had, and some of them are in the Los Angeles area. Chicago thinks at least some of the escapees might try to cross the border nearby."

"So why not call border patrol?" David asked. "Keep a lookout?"

"Nah, it's gonna take more than that," Don said. "This guy is smart, and his buddies are dangerous. He's gonna be five steps ahead of border patrol, so we need to get ten steps ahead of him."

Now Colby glanced over at Megan, and she found it incredibly difficult to not raise the point again. "And by smart…?"

Don, however, seemed to be missing it. "I want to get everybody who ever lived within ten blocks of these guys on tap for an interview. Classmates. Cousins. If they've met any of the men on that list, we want to talk to them."

Megan stood up abruptly at the desk. Colby and David whipped their heads around to follow her, almost as if they were waiting for her reaction. "Don," she said. "Can I see you for a sec?"

"Yeah, sure," he said distractedly, and they moved out of the door together, leaving David and Colby alone.

"I just want to make sure," she said, "that your reasons for not bringing Charlie into this are professional, and not personal."

"They're professional, and not personal," he said without missing a beat. "He's busy, we don't really need him on this."

"You skipped the psych report on Scofield in there," she pointed out.

"Yeah, we're just covering basics here." He cocked his head. "What are you saying exactly?"

"I didn't skip the psych report, and I read it."

"Okay?"

"This guy is a genius. What his psychiatrist said about him… what it boils down to…" She took a deep breath. "He's a pattern-seeker."

"So?"

She blinked and then pressed on. "Well, that's our advantage, isn't it? We already have a patterner of our own. You, and me, and the guys in there, we're not going to see what this guy is thinking ahead of time. Our brains don't work like that. Charlie's does."

"Yeah, and I don't want Charlie on this."

Megan did her best not to act too thrilled at the confirmation that she was right. Not professional. "Because his exams are more important than escaped murderers on the loose in the Los Angeles area?"

"Because believe it or not, I did read everything," Don said. "Including the psych eval. And I don't want Charlie getting into this guy's head, I don't think it's healthy."

"The guy did it for his brother," Megan said. "Is that why you don't want Charlie involved? Is this personal, or professional?"

Don sighed. "Look-"

"So we keep Charlie out of the field work this time around. Or we don't show him the full psych eval. But I just think we should have him retrace Scofield's steps, see if he sees anything that Chicago hasn't caught yet."

"He's been having a hard time lately. Ever since the shooting-"

"You know what? He's dealing, Don. He's dealing just fine. And he'll deal with this, but if we're going to have any chance of intercepting Scofield, we have got to be five steps ahead of him. You said it yourself. The rest of us will never catch up. But Charlie might. If anybody can do it."

"I don't want Charlie inside this guy's head," Don insisted again.

"So you're going to treat him like a child? He's a professional. Let Charlie make that decision."

"Let Charlie make what decision?" The voice from around the corner took both of them by surprise.

Don sighed and turned around as his brother entered the room. "Look-"

"I was just coming by to return your Lost DVDs on my way home, I've had some free time lately and I finally finished them," Charlie said, holding up a shopping bag with a vaguely rectangular shape bulging out. "What's going on?"

Megan folded her arms and fixed Don with a stare.

"I was just saying, I thought you were busy this week is all," Don said.

"My exams are over," Charlie pointed out. "I've got the TA's grading everything… I just have to check their work and sign off on everything. What's the case?"

Don locked eyes with Megan for a long moment before turning to hand the packet to Charlie, who snatched it away and flipped through with increased vigor. "The Fox River prison break? Whoa! Are you kidding me?"

"Charlie," Don said slowly, "got a moment to come on in and sit through the rest of this briefing with us?"

From the look on Charlie's face, Megan knew that their chances of catching the escapees had just increased. Probably, if given the chance, Charlie could tell her by how much. That wasn't so much her concern at the moment, however, and she followed the Eppes brothers back into the carrel to find out exactly what else the FBI knew about the convicts.

TBC…