Title: Trajectory
Author: Signs Of Sun
Summary: One Shot. Larry's POV. No warnings or spoilers needed.
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Trajectory
1930s Ford Roadsters were far from complex machines. This fact occupied and perplexed Larry Fleinhardt's brain as he departed the sidewalk and strolled across the grass of the little park that occupied the lot near the edge of campus. He was a cosmologist, a physicist, and a man who had been launched into outer space. Yet he had been unable to get his vehicle restarted when it stalled out halfway to his office. Perhaps he had overlooked something. Had he though? There certainly weren't that many components to the vehicle's engine. It didn't have computerized technology or parts tucked away in inaccessible areas like current models. He sighed. If Charles got a hold of this juicy tidbit of information he would never live it down. The Great Dr. Lawrence Fleinhardt verses a 1930s Ford Roadster. Roadster Wins! The implications would undoubtedly be numerous and long standing. Perhaps even a trifle aggravating.
He tapped his fingers against the binding of the book he was carrying in his hand. Suddenly he felt a tad foolish. Had he abandoned the fundamentals so quickly? Theories needed to be revisited and tested. He would simply return to the vehicle later and reexamine his process. Certainly his error in method would present itself.
The hazy cocoon of his thoughts melted away slightly. Larry found he had made it nearly all the way to the opposite end of the park. He simply needed to navigate through the playground area. Often times the park was bustling with activity when he passed it by on his way to CalSci. An elementary school was a mere half mile down the road and parents frequently brought their children here before heading home. But now the slide, jungle gym, and other activity spots stood abandoned. He glanced up at the clear brilliant blue sky. The slight angle of the sun in relation to the horizon told the tale-school would not be dismissed for several hours.
He continued along his way, ducking under the jungle gym maze as a shortcut. Bumping his head as he popped up towards the other side he let out an Eek! noise and rubbed at his forehead with his free hand. Recovering he straightened back up and saw the swings had come into sight. Curiosity crept up in him at what he found there. A lone soul seated in the center spot of the trio of swings. A person swinging on a swing set was unarguably not a curious occurrence. The striking characteristic that caused Larry to cease in forward movement was that the person there was an adult. One he recognized immediately and unmistakably. Dr. Larry Fleinhardt had seen many things in his day, but he could truthfully say this was the first time he had ever seen an FBI agent, gun holstered on his hip and badge clipped onto his belt, swinging away on a swing seat in a playground. Even more surprising was that this FBI agent was Don Eppes.
A few heartbeats arrived and departed as the professor looked on. When he had first caught a glimpse of Don it had been a curious sight. Now what gave him reason for pause was something different, the reminder of how beautiful science could be in the simplest of things. Larry took in the process. Don's feet kicking off in the dirt followed by his legs working to gain height. Then the repetition of that process took place until there was significant distance between the swing and the ground at the apex of the journey. The pumping action of Don's legs propelled him higher and higher. The chains on either side of the swing traveled up into the air until they were nearly level with the metal bar that they were suspended from. The boy in Don was pushing the limits to the edge, toeing the threshold into recklessness. A little more force, a little more fearlessness, could push his over into dangerous territory.
But Don showed control and once that threshold was achieved he deliberately came short of its border. Present was great restraint in letting the tips of his boots fall just shy of journeying into the air above the level of the top of the swing set. With it came the meeting point of science and art, physical body and soul. And to Larry's eyes mechanics evolved into beauty, the elegant fluidity of flight.
Believing himself relatively alone and, therefore, unobserved, Don stretched his body out horizontally in the air. He lifted his legs straight out ahead of the swing, pointing his toes slightly and pressing his legs inward so that they rested against one another at the knee. At the same time he leaned his upper body back behind the seat so it hung parallel to the ground. His head tilted up towards the sky.
He glided in this aerodynamic position for several graceful passes. Don's motion through space, like a pendulum, ticked off a steady and strong rhythm. His forward motion arched up towards the sky doom overhead and the return trip swooped back downward towards the earth below. Then the arch in ascension came once again on the opposite side. The half moon shaped journey was navigated with a precision that had Larry pondering its creation. Was it scientific principles in action or a masterpiece work of art?
"So have I discovered the true pastime of Agent Don Eppes?" Larry called out as he covered the last few feet to the swing set. He stopped just short of the swings themselves.
"Hardly!" Don answered turning his attention over towards the other man. He landed both feet in the dirt and ground down, bringing his flight to an abrupt end.
"In that case may I surmise that you were taking a moment of pause from the high speed forward momentum of daily life?"
"I suppose you conclude that. I dropped some stuff off with Charlie. I'm waiting to hear back."
"Somehow I always thought that you disappeared back to the FBI after leaving Charles. I never suspected the true nature of your disappearance was to revisit the unrestrained luxury that once came with childhood play," Larry responded, a hint of teasing riding his tone.
"Don't count on it as a regular thing. Charlie had that look in his eye so I didn't go too far."
"Which look would that be? He has a plethora of expressions to which you might be referring."
"The one where he's halfway done the road to an answer before I even hit the door on my way out. When I see that look I don't bother straying too far," Don replied, swiveling from side to side in the swing.
"Your reappearance is rather swift on occasion."
"Care to ride shot gun?" Don asked, tossing a glance towards the swing at his right.
"I might just take you up on that! Perhaps it will open up the thought process regarding a recent and rather perplexing incident," the professor replied and set his book on the grass near the leg of the swing set. He slid into the seat next to Don.
"A perplexing incident?" Don braved as he began to twist counterclockwise in the swing, intertwining the chains together.
"It would appear that my method of transportation has developed some mechanical difficulty that I have not yet been able to determine."
"In other words, your car broke down?"
"Sadly, yes. Thus resulting in the trek to my office on foot and coming upon you."
"Let's keep that second part between us, okay?"
"That could be arranged under one condition."
"There's always a condition," Don commented casually. He lifted both feet up off the ground and let the pull clockwise send him into a rapid spin as the chains unraveled themselves from one another.
"I will not speak of your presence here if your brother is never alerted in any way of my transportation issues," Larry offered as Don's twirl was winding down.
"Don't want Charlie to know you couldn't fix the car, do you?"
"I would be constantly reminded of it."
"Yes you would. Every single day." Don stated as he returned his feet to a spot in the dirt underneath his seat. The swing still rocked slightly back and forth but for the most part Don had settled.
"I suspect as his older brother you have had the experience."
"Had it? I lived it!"
"I do recall in those early years with Charles, before I had the opportunity to meet you in person, that he seemed to take great pleasure in knowing things about you that no one else knew," Larry commented. Now he was the one in motion moving his feet forward in the dirt a few steps then back, creating a short journey in the swing through space without leaving the ground.
"Pleasure in knowing them? I don't think so. It was the pleasure in torturing me with it my entire time as a teenager."
"It is my belief that Charles took pleasure in it because it made him feel as if he shared a secret with his older brother. Something only the two of you knew. It made him feel like he was on the inside not the outside."
"Don't be so sure? Cuz trust me it felt like torture to me when he'd let some detail I'd rather no one knew about slip to one of my buddies!" Don exclaimed and began to twist the chains of his swing back together.
"Ah! A genuine, albeit unsuccessful, attempt to be a member of a desired social group."
"What? You don't buy that he was trying to torture me. Trust me he's not as innocent as he first appears."
"Oh I am aware! But in this instance I assure you torture was not his primary objective."
"Seriously? I don't know about that. There were moments there when I swear he was in complete control of how my day was going to go socially. Just a couple carefully placed words out of his mouth and I was the object of ribbing from my buddies the rest of the day at school. Most times eventually I could convince them to ignore him, but I was not always so lucky."
"I propose that it was that ignoring part he was striving so diligently to overcome."
"Now wait a minute! I did not deliberately set out to ignore my brother. I was just a kid myself. I had my own stuff going on."
"I was not implied that you did. My sincerest apologies if my delivery gave that impression. No. I was simply drawing from my observations."
"What observations would those be?" Don pressed. He had twisted the two chains together as far down to his body as possible. Seeing no room to go any further he picked up his feet off the ground and tucked them up under the seat. This action propelled him into a high speed and rather turbulent spin.
"Before young Charles introduced us all I knew of you were tales he wove and a single fading and rather wrinkled photograph of the two of you."
"Yeah?" Don tossed out as slowed from his last spin. He attempted to create a casual tone but an uncomfortable strain clearly streamed underneath.
"Oh yes I came upon him on many occasion studying that picture. That intense concentration engaged in his expression. It was that very same look he got when working through some high level math problem. The picture was like an equation that he was hell bent on staring at until he figured it out. He had to find the variables that added up to his older brother."
"You're yanking my chain. He did not carry around a picture of me when he was in college. I appreciate the gesture but as Charlie would say-statistically unlikely. By that point we practically had the Grand Canyon between us."
"Don, I promise you I say this with the utmost sincerity. Young Charles had that picture of you two tucked away inside a book on P vs. NP for the longest time. And I am not thoroughly convinced that it isn't still there to this very day." Larry's words floated out into the air. In the quiet of the empty park they were more likely than not absorbed by the other man's ears but no verbal response was forthcoming. The professor turned his gaze to the sky, pondering if he had revealed more than perhaps he should have. He did tend to get a tad carried away at times. The thought was followed by a faint reflective sigh from Don and a slight squeak from the swing the other man occupied.
Larry could feel the mounting pressure in the air. It was funny how an emotional tug of war could manifest itself into something more measurable like air pressure. Don was clearly struggling with this information. Larry suspected that although the man carried some guilt over his brother feelings at being pushed away there also existed an underlying sensation. The revelation had alerted Don to the depth of his brother's efforts to connect with him. And, that in turn, meant the younger man placed value in his brother's opinion and friendship.
"P vs. NP huh?" Those were the only words that exited Don's mouth on the topic. But Larry had expected nothing different. Don Eppes was deft at deflection. Larry hypothesized that the protective wall around Don's heart had more layers than the Earth's crust. No. He had not expected any greater number of spoken words. With Don Eppes the words did not need to depart into the air to be heard loud and clear despite every attempt to mask them. That was at least when it involved his brother.
"That it was. P vs. NP." Larry sighed out softly.
"It'll always be there huh? Sought after but unsolvable, right?"
"That is correct!" Larry stated definitely. To this Don did not respond verbally. Instead his gaze traveled to some far away spot off down the road. The pair remained silent for a few passing moments, together but loss in divergent thought paths. It was Larry's voice that drew them back.
"In any event the two of you have navigated your way down a very different trajectory than the one you first began traveling down."
"Sometimes I wonder how long I would have stayed away, fugitive recovery, teaching at Quantico and at other field offices, if I hadn't had to come back," Don offered quietly. Larry knew what he meant. Neither of the Eppes brothers seemed to be able to conquer speaking about their mother's illness and death in exact words. It was always by inference or eluding without specifying.
"Was that truly the only reason for your return?"
"It is what it is."
"And what would that be?"
"Honestly?"
"With truth travels freedom."
"I suppose it gave me an excuse to come home," Don stated. The words were solid in formation but Don's voice carried a clue to something else.
"You wouldn't have returned home otherwise?"
"Can't say as I know the answer to that. Or ever will. I guess I'll never have that freedom."
"Ah! The chains of 'what ifs' that bind us." Larry declared. Only a handful of breaths passed by before the other man finally reached the threshold of his comfort level and changed the subject.
"Bet I can go higher than you!" Don stated, challenging Larry in the way a ten year would provoke another into a competition.
"I think, Agent Eppes, you have arrived at incorrect conclusion."
"I think, Dr. Fleinhardt, you're about to be eating my dust!" Don called out and propelled himself back into motion through the air.
"Bring it on Don! Bring it on!" Larry cried, launching his body and the swing off into flight towards the sky.
The End