Scared

LizaD

Summary: Celebrate the past and look toward the future. A birthday had Charlie making great plans. Looking forward he only saw the good.

Notes: I hope you enjoy this story. It will be a completed work. Reviews welcome.

Disclaimer: All original characters from the show Numb3rs belong to their creators. I just borrow them from time to time.

Chapter 1

On the first morning of his twenty-eighth year Charlie Eppes received texts from Don, Meghan, David, Colby and his father that basically shared the same joke: that Charlie had better start savoring the last two years of his twenties because the big 3-0 would soon come knocking at his door to claim yet another disbelieving victim. The texts he received from family and friends had left Charlie either smiling or laughing aloud.

The same, however, could not be said for two texts Charlie received the night of his twenty-eighth year. One came in from an old rival and the other from a young up and coming mathematician. One message warned Charlie that his brain was quickly coming up on its expiration date and the other stated in so many words that Charlie, viewed as one of the world's most noted mathematician, would soon have to face handing over his title to a decade younger and much more brilliant successor.

Charlie, out to dinner with his father and brother, quickly deleted the offending messages and pretended for the rest of his meal that a seed of worry had not been planted in his head.
Charlie woke the next morning feeling tired which he wrote off to the toasts his brother and father offered up at his birthday dinner. He showered, shaved, dressed, had breakfast and shared some small talk with his father before heading off to CalSci. Charlie loved teaching. When his brain could no longer produce the awe-inspiring amount of work that continually rattled his rivals; Charlie theorized that he would find the same amount of fulfillment by being the guiding force behind the next generation of acclaimed mathematicians.

As he walked into his campus office; Charlie glanced at the various awards that lined his office walls. He remembered when he had become the youngest recipient of The Salem Prize and then Charlie felt a true sense of sadness over the fact that his days of being eons ahead of the pack would eventually become a thing of the past as he aged. However, mixed in with sadness too was the realization he was getting too old to continue being referred to in entertainment material as a "math rock star." That realization wounded Charlie. The only title Charlie would ever be more than happy to hand over to a successor was the antiquated title of "boy wonder."

Charlie had only recently shared this view with his older brother. A thank you to his brother for dinner was the start of an unexpected and heartfelt conversation that started as they walked to Don's SUV and ended when they pulled into the driveway of Charlie's house.

Don, typically unavailable emotionally, actually opened up to Charlie and told him that the moment he realized that making it to the major leagues was never going to happen felt like a weight being lifted off his shoulders.

His brother even admitted that while he liked the team aspect of the game; Don never really loved baseball the way everyone thought that he did.

That night, Charlie attempted to give his older brother a longer hug than normal, but Don wiggled out of his grasp, escaped into his SUV, and pulled his ominous looking vehicle out of the driveway.

Charlie had started up the walkway when he heard the sound of the SUV's horn. He turned in time to see Don give him a wave as he drove down the tree-lined street.

Charlie smiled his way back to his front door armed with the knowledge that the wave was his brother's way of saying, "thanks for listening."

Seated at his desk, in an office far grander and spacious than those occupied by other well-known Calsci professors nearly twice his age; Charlie cautiously sipped from an eco-friendly container that held what to his tingling tongue felt like coffee that had been thermal heated.

He took stock of the changes that took place over the course of twenty-four months.

Charlie added FBI consultant to his already overcrowded schedule; despite already being the go-to-guy for several other powerful government agencies. However, nothing Charlie accomplished outside of his work at CalSci measured up to the simple joy Charlie felt when he worked with the FBI alongside his brother. It had taken time and they hit a couple of bumps in the road along the way, but Charlie knew that he had formed a solid working relationship with Don (it was their sibling relationship that remained a work in progress). Charlie was often in awe as he stood back and watched Don formulate a plan of attack. The mathematician also admired (and appreciated) Agent David Sinclair, who always had his brother's back.

Charlie had come to learn that FBI teams just like his student roster changed; he watched various members of Don's team come and go in the ensuing years. He still missed Terry, the woman had seemed to actually get Charlie.

Over the course of several months, Charlie had formed a budding friendship with the team's newest members: Colby Granger and Meghan Reeves.

In the beginning, Charlie had kept Colby at a distance, (simply because the bulked up agent reminded Charlie of every jerk jock he needed to duck from during his school years).

In an unexpected turn of events; Colby soon became the wisecracking sidekick that Charlie had always wanted by his side during four awful years of high school. He looked forward to talking to Colby when he went to the FBI building.

Meghan, had intimidated Charlie at first. He was afraid the profiler would detect a hidden weakness. However, Meghan eventually became his go to person during team demonstrations. The agent never once complained when Charlie "borrowed" whatever food she had on hand for a needed visual aid.

There were days when Charlie would sit in his CalSci office and marvel at how quickly his life had changed. He went from teaching the budding world-class mathematicians in a sheltered atmosphere to working alongside Don, David, Colby, and Meghan.

If Charlie was ever asked about a defining moment: it would be a toss-up between the time he met his hero Benoit Mandelbrot or when Don went against his superiors and used data Charlie provided to locate an abducted woman. The woman was found and saved from becoming victim #4 of a psychotic serial killer. It would be truly difficult for Charlie to make a choice between the two extraordinary events.

Then there was Charlie's amazing friendship with the wickedly smart and wonderfully talented Amita Ramanujan. The friendship was slowly evolving and moving toward it becoming an exclusive dating relationship. The evolution made Charlie both happy and apprehensive. The mathematician was comfortable with the slow and steady momentum of the relationship: Amita - not so much. The fact that she could some day give up on him and walk away caused Charlie moments of real anxiety. Charlie despite wanting to listen to his heart and not his head; simply could not make himself move the relationship along at a faster pace. The totally unexpected ending of his first "real" relationship almost crushed Charlie. It was the fear that it could happen to him again that kept Charlie guarded and protecting his heart.

Two nights ago Don warned Charlie that Amita was not the kind of woman who was going to wait around hoping that one day Charlie would pick up his pace. Charlie thanked his brother for his insight and immediately changed the subject to a math related issue and Don automatically picked up the TV remote.

Charlie wondered how much his life could change in another two years and concluded that maybe, just maybe, this getting older thing would turn out to be okay.

Charlie always seemed to be in a hurry: a man who needed to be in a state of constant motion. In fact, his father often joked that he had the DNA of a hummingbird. Now, though Charlie, the bustling hummingbird, felt more like a grounded slow-moving Kakapo Parrot. The mathematician's high energy level: which Charlie relied on to keep his mind sharp and his body in near constant motion had started to sputter. As he headed home from campus after putting in several extra hours of work; Charlie felt like he was running on six cylinders instead of his usual eight. To make matters worse, by the time Charlie made it home; he had developed a cough; a bothersome cough that one knew instantly was not going to allow sound sleep.

Charlie puts his diminished level of get-up-and-go down to the fact that he just needed to get a good night's sleep. He had spent the previous night tossing and turning due to an odd feeling of uneasiness.

On the second night of Charlie's cold; Alan Eppes, (in desperate need of an uninterrupted night of sleep), presented Charlie with a warm steam vaporizer (seeing how despite a recent discussion his stubborn son still had not purchased one). It was all Alan could do not to laugh as he watched a hapless Charlie struggle to get the masterfully sealed box opened.

Alan took pity on the perplexed looking man in the bed and relieved Charlie of the overly sealed box. In no time at all Alan had the box opened and perched on the only clear spot of a book and paper-strewn desk in the corner of Charlie's bedroom. The older man made a mental note to suggest once and for all that as the homeowner Charlie should claim the larger bedroom (Alan's room).
At the very least; Charlie should move into his brother's old and slightly bigger room. Alan knew Charlie would once again shoot down both suggestions. He always insisted that he liked the close quarters of his childhood room. Alan could not help but think "I pity the poor girl who would have to put up with the limited size of this room and its one overstuffed closet."

The sound of Charlie's deep sounding cough gained the older man's attention.

Alan replaced the full glass of warm water on Charlie's nightstand with a glass full of cooler water. The older man made a great show of placing the glass within easy reach. Alan pulled a bottle of Acetaminophen from the pocket of his sweat jacket. Knowing that his pig-headed son would ignore the bottle as he did the glass of water; Alan shook out two tablets and placed the yellow and red tablets in his son's hand. Alan chose to ignore the younger man's scornful expression.

What Charlie saw as overstepping one's boundaries; Alan saw as a case of self-preservation. He could not afford with a big date on the horizon to come down with whatever latest bug was making its way around CalSci.

"Charlie, I hate to nag, but…"

"No, you don't." Charlie quickly responded. A smirk formed on his face.

Alan shot his son a steely look. The smile on Charlie's face faded and Alan continued. "You need to drink more water." The figure in the bed decided to start fluffing his pillow. Alan realized that he was losing his audience and drove home his point in a rush of words. "It's not going to do you one bit of good if all you're going to do is take minimal sips of water now and then."

Charlie fought the urge to pull a heavy down-filled pillow over his face. "Okay, Dad," Charlie responded in a voice tinged with his growing annoyance. It was becoming all too clear to a miserable feeling Charlie that his father had no intention of leaving until he swallowed the oblong shaped tablets with (what his father felt) an adequate amount of water. Charlie continued to stare at the two pills in his hand.

"You know Charlie (Alan tapped his son's wrist) you have to swallow pills in order for them to actually do you any good." An impatient Alan Eppes announced. He handed the stalling man the glass. "Here."

Alan heard his youngest son mumble something that he was pretty sure was not a warm-hearted thank you.

Charlie swallowed one pill with what he felt was a healthy amount of water and then repeated the process with another pill. He made a face as the second pill made its way past his aching throat. The expression was not lost on his father. Charlie watched as one of his father's prominent eyebrows arched.

Charlie replaced the not even close to being half empty glass on the nightstand. He did not miss the disapproving clucking sound that came from his father.

"I think I'm going to try to get some sleep." A fading Charlie declared. He pulled his light cover up to his shoulders, snuggled down into his welcoming mattress, closed his eyes and willed his father to head to his own bedroom.

Apparently, Alan Eppes possessed a stronger will because he never moved from the side of Charlie's bed.

"Son, that is the smartest thing you have said all day." Alan sarcastically answered back. He smiled at the eye roll that followed his statement. Alan patted his son's leg. "See you in the morning kiddo. Feel better."

"Night Dad. Thanks for the…" Charlie waved in the general direction of the vaporizer as he yawned.

"You don't have to thank me, Charlie. I hope it helps you sleep tonight." Alan quietly shut the door. The sound of his son's hacking followed the worried man down the hallway. He made a mental note to try to find the leftover package of earplugs that he bought when Charlie's newest neighbors decided to have their driveway demolished and then painstakingly redesigned - twice.

Charlie listened to the hiss of steam coming from the corner of the room and could not help but remember all the times when as a sick kid his mother would set up a similar looking vaporizer, coat his chest with nasty smelling goop (a compound that Alan still swore by). She would then sit next to him on his bed and read book after book until Charlie fell asleep.

Charlie reached out and brushed his hand on the area where he last remembered his mother seated on his bed. The vaporizer's hissing helped lull a tired Charlie to sleep.

Charlie woke the next morning with a slight headache. He tested his throat with a gulp of water (God forbid his father come in and see the glass at the same level) and his aching throat protested as Charlie slowly swallowed.

Charlie cursed the self-centered uniformed student who had felt it necessary to share with him their cold producing germs. He picked up his cell phone and scrolled until he found his doctor's number.

When Charlie heard the sound of the practice's chirpy receptionist's voice, he proceeded to sweet talk the woman into setting up an appointment for him at two o'clock that afternoon.