A part of this story takes place during early season 6
The FBI office in Los Angeles was unusually quiet for Don Eppes. He looked up to the sound of footsteps coming toward him. Don smiled upon seeing a fellow FBI agent, and old friend from his Albuquerque cubicle days.
"Hey Calvin!" Don said, getting up from his chair and extended his hand to his long time friend. "What brings you to L.A. man?"
"Don't tell anyone, but I'm thinking about joining a PI firm here, but that's not why I came" Calvin said, taking the extended hand.
"Oh yeah?" Don's eyebrows shot up in puzzlement.
"We need to talk. Is there private place?"
"Sure," Don replied as he lead Calvin into a conference room, and closed it behind him. "What's on your mind?"
"It's about Bri," Don and Calvin sat down.
"Bri?" Don repeated with surprise and annoyance. Don's mind started moving a mile a minute.
"You know, the girlfriend you had who worked at Hades Crime Scene Removal"
"Yeah, I definately remember her, but what about her?"
"I ran into her last night."
"Yeah so?" Don didn't understand his friend's point.
"She had a little boy with her."
"So?" Don replied, still unsure where the conversation was going.
"She sweated bullets when she saw me," Calvin said, trying to get his friend to understand his point.
"Did she?" Don asked sarcastically.
"The boy is ten years old. Does that mean anything?"
Don did the calculations in his head. "Maybe..."
"I know you were with Bri a short time, but you really need to look into that."
"I will" Don numbly agreed. "So...how is your wife?"
The two talked some more, and then Calvin left. Don went back to his desk, he sat down heavily in his chair and looked around. His head dropped into his hands and a deep sigh escaped him. He sat like that for a few minutes, trying to get his thoughts together. Don then began to use the various databases at his disposal and found Bri's current address and phone number. He paused for a moment, debating whether he should call. Making up his mind, he dialed the number.
A little boy's voice answered the phone. "O'Brien residence" Don's heart skip a beat. God, he sounds like me.
"Can I speak to you mother please?"
"Sure...Mom! It's for you!"
A moment later a familiar voice came on the phone "Hello?"
"Bri, It's Don"
"Don?" she repeated dumbly. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Ten years, almost eleven."
Bri didn't say anything for a moment, then asked, "How did you get my number?"
"That's not important." Don told her flatly. "I heard that you have a son"
"Yeah, a nine year old" she lied in a whisper.
"I know that he's ten, Bri." Don hissed. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"
"Not really"
"I can take you to court, or we can settle this like adults. Your Choice."
"You'd take me to court?" She asked nervously. She didn't like the way this conversation was heading.
"You'd better believe it."
"He could be yours" she finally aquiesced, trying to put on a doubtful tone.
"I want a DNA test then."
"What about Doug? It'll turn his world upside down!"
"Let's do the test first, and then we'll figure out the rest." Don hung up without waiting for a goodbye.
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At the house later that evening, Don barely touched his food or talked, during dinner with his brother and father.
"You okay, Donnie?" Alan asked. Since his son came home from work, he could tell something was going on with his oldest son. Charlie looked over at his brother, not saying anything.
"Yeah... I'm fine" Don replied, only pushing his food around on his plate.
"How's work?" Alan persisted. I'm not letting you off that easy, Donnie.
"Same ole, same ole."
After dinner the three Eppes men watched TV, though Don looked at his mother's picture more than he did the TV.
"She would have loved Doug" he thought bitterly.
Two days later, Don and Bri's son, who was told that the test was to make sure he was healthy, gave samples.
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Don and Bri were given a folder, with the results, by the doctor. Don took it, and anxiously opened it.
"Well?" Bri, a brunette with brown eyes. asked impatiently.
"He's mine."
Bri sighed, but didn't seem surprised. When the doctor left, Don confronted her. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't think that you were father material." she told him bluntly. "You were the consummate workaholic commitementphobe."
"I would have stepped up to the plate!" Don argued. "You should have given me the chance!"
"Look, I did what I felt was right."
" Come on! You were just angry that I broke it off" Don argued angrily. He paused for a moment, then looked over at Bri sadly. "I've missed so much," he said quietly.
"With your workaholism, you would have missed a lot anyway" Bri said cynically. She looked back over at Don, taking in the slumped shoulders and look of pure sadness.
"I want to see him."
"Okay okay..look, let me tell him about you, and then we'll set up a time for you to come by?"
"I'm coming on Saturday at noon." Don knew stalling when he heard it. "That'll give you a few days to talk to him, explain to him, that I didn't abandon him and that I want to try to be a good father."
"Fine..." She agreed reluctantly, not looking forward to the 'this stranger is your daddy ' talk.
"I gotta go." Don got up, got his business card from a jacket pocket, wrote his cell number on it, and gave it to her. "Here are the numbers you can reach me at if anything at all comes up with Doug"
"Okay," she said as she took it.
As he drove back to work, Don wondered how he was going to break the news to his father, brother and girlfriend.
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Don left work early to have a talk with Charlie and his father.
"You're early" Alan remarked, looking up from a soduku puzzle, when Don came in through the door. He wasn't used to seeing his oldest son home this early in the afternoon
"Where's Charlie?" Don asked, laying his keys on the table.
"Here" the mathematician said, coming in from the kitchen.
"I gotta talk to you guys."
"About what?" Alan asked, put down sodoku book.
"Sit down Charlie" Don said, sitting in his favorite chair.
Worriedly, Charlie sat down. "What's going on?"
"I don't know where to start. Dad, Charlie, I have a son. He's 10 years old and his name is Doug," Don finally said.
"How long have you known?" Charlie asked, after a really long pause.
"I just found out the DNA results." Don felt as if a heavy load had lifted off him.
"When can we meet him?" Alan asked.
"Soon, I'm gonna see him on Saturday."
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Meanwhile, Bri, talked to her son. He had curly brown hair, and light brown eyes, with a few freckles.
"Sweetie" she began after dinner, "Remember how I told you that I didn't know where your father was, so I couldn't tell him about you?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, he's been found!" she said.
"You found my dad?" the little boy asked.
"Yep. He's coming to see you on Saturday at noon."
"Okay..." the boy said flatly. He looked away from his mother.
"Aren't you happy about having a dad?" Bri asked with concern.
"It's just weird....having a dad all of a sudden."
"I'm just going to warn you, honey that he works at the FBI, and sometimes he'll have to leave early, or not come at all."
"Really? He's an FBI agent?" the boy asked excitedly.
"Yeah he is."
"Wow! That is so cool!"
"He's coming to see you on Saturday" Bri said.
"I can't wait!"
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The next day at school, Doug told his best friend Aaron . "My mom finally found my Dad!"
"Cool!"
"He's coming to see me on Saturday, and he's an FBI agent!"
"Really?"
"Yeah. I can't wait to meet him!"
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On Friday night, Don went to Robin's apartment.
"Hey Don, come in."
"We gotta talk" he told her upon entering.
"Sure..." she agreed, with concerned. "What is it?"
Don sat heavily on one of her couches. Robin sat beside him, her hand sliding into Don's
"I have a son."
"What?!"
"I didn't know about it until recently."
"How recently?"
"I just got the DNA results a day or so ago."
Robin paused for a moment, then asked softly, "How old is he?"
"Ten"
"How did you find out?"
"Through an old friend."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm gonna see him tomorrow"
"Tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
"I know some good family lawyers" Robin tentatively, trying to lend her support.
"I gotta get to know him first"
"What's his name?"
"Doug"
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Saturday finally came, and Don came right at midday to Bri's apartment in Montebello.
"Welcome!" she told him, and he came into a small living room, with green couches full of papers that had childish writing.
"I became a substitute teacher after Doug was born." She explained "Right now I'm doing a long term assignment. That Comparative lit degree was good for something...."
"Are you still writing?" Don asked out of politeness.
"When I can."
Just then, a boy came in, brown hair and caramel brown eyes, and Don got a first look at his son. Father and son took a moment to size each other up.
"Doug, this is your father, Don" Bri said, standing back to give the two a chance to bond.
"Hi!" Doug smiled.
"Hey little buddy" Don smiled back.
"What are we gonna do?"
"What would you like to do?" Don asked.
"We could play Wii" the little boy suggested.
"Sure." Doug excitedly went to the Wii console , choose the Wii Sports game, and put it in."Let's play baseball!"
Don found and got the two controls. After a quick explanation of how the controls worked, the game began. Don quickly caught on. Bri kept one eye on them and another on the papers she had to grade.
Eventually, Doug became hungry.
"I'll make some grilled cheese sandwiches" Bri offered and got up from the couch. "Doug, why don't you show Don your room?"
"Okay..." the boy agreed, and led Don there. The blue walls surrounded a small bed, a bookshelf, a simple dresser, that looked to be from IKEA, a desktop, and clothes all over the floor.
"This is my room." the boy said, obviously proud.
"It's a very nice room. How long have you guys lived here?
"Three years. We used to live in Miami Beach with Pop-pop, but he died." the boy's voice turned sad.
"I'm sorry"
"So we moved in with Uncle Bob, and then here."
Don wondered if Uncle Bob was uncle or 'uncle'.
"Uncle Bob pays for my schoo.l"
"Your school?"
"He's on TV!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Mom won't let me watch his show" the boy pouted. "Says that it's only for grownups."
Bri stuck her head in the door and announced "Lunch is served." Father and son went to the small dining room, where three sandwiches lay on a platter, along with lemonade in a pitcher. Don noticed that Doug's sandwich had no crust and was cut into fours.
"Doug was telling me that he goes to private school?" Don asked
"Thanks to my brother. He loves Doug like a son"
After lunch, Don and Doug played Guitar Hero, with the latter scoring more points. Unfortunately, a call from work cut their time together short.
"I'll be right there," Don said, hitting the end button and closing his phone. He looked over at his son.
"I'm sorry" He apologized to Doug.
"Mom says that you're with the FBI!"
"That's right. Look, I hate to do this, but I have to go." Don kneeled in front of his son and looked him in the eye, "I promise I'll take you somewhere fun next week." Reluctantly he left.
On the way to the latest crime scene, he remembered what his father had said, at one point, "You've missed alot, but you are still in time to make an impact on his life."
TBC