A/N I've never written a Numb3rs fanfic, but I read a few good Character deaths, and wanted to throw in my own. This was written in about two hours, so I apologize in advance for spelling errors and such. I spell like Charlie. *Big Grin* Also, any and all feedback is appreciated

Disclaimer- I don't own these Characters. I only subjected them to the most painful thing I could think of…. JK JK.

Don had always been prepared for his own death. It came with the territory. He had a will written, he knew how he wanted his funeral to go. He'd always suspected that he would be the first Eppes man to die. He was prepared, and at peace with that.

But even FBI agent Don Eppes hadn't been prepared for what had happened today.

It had started out like an ordinary day. Get up. Get dressed. He had the day off, so he'd missed Charlie that morning. Charlie had an early seminar, and Don had promised to meet him for lunch later.

But they never got to lunch.

At 9:37 Don got a call on his phone about a school shooting, with two professors being held hostage. When he asked what school, he nearly dropped the phone. CalSci. They didn't know which two professors, only that one was a mathematician, and one was a physics professor.

Don didn't have to think twice about which two professors it had to be.

When Don got there, David and Megan were already on sight.

"What happened?" He asked

"A kid by the name of Nate Gromi came into the school with three guns. Fired about seven times, hit four students, and killed one. Then, he barricaded himself in one of the labs with." David hesitated, "With Charlie and Larry."

Don took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. "Do we know why?" he asked tersely.

Megan came forward then, "Judging from his file. I would say anger. Nate was a B student, majoring in Physics. Until he got kicked out. Money problems. All of his checks were bouncing, and his credit cards were maxed out. He was behind on a semesters worth of class payments." She shook her head and then glanced up at the window.

Don followed her gaze and saw a kid looking through the blinds. Seeing them looking at him, Nate pulled away from the window.

Don gritted his teeth. "Have you made any contact with him?"

Megan shook her head. "We've called the room twice, but he refuses to answer the phone."

"Okay, well let me try." Don called the room.

It rang three times before the kid answered, "Hello?"

"Hello. Nate?"

"Yes."

"I'm Agent Don Eppes."

That got the kids attention, "Eppes?"

"Yeah. You've got my brother Charlie up there."

"He's one of them! He's one of the professors who ruined my life!"

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Just wait a minute." Don said loudly into the phone, he didn't like where this was going. "How is this Charlie's fault?"

"He was one of my professors!"

"But that doesn't make it his fault." Don argued, "Listen Nate. Why don't you just come out, and we can talk about this? There's all sort of solutions for this, there's financial aid, scholarships-"

"No. Nobody can help me. I know what's going to happen after this. I'm going to jail. I have no future. The only thing I can do is try and take down the people who got me here."

"No!" Yelled Don, but it was too late. Nate had already hung up. "Move in!" Don yelled at the team.

Then, without even putting on a vest, Don ran into the building. But not fast enough. Two gunshots echoed throughout the campus before Don kicked down the door and burst into the room.

Just in time to see Charlie fall. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. Charlie had a slightly surprised look on his face, and he fell backwards onto the white tile floor. Blood staining his shirt.

"Charlie!" Don yelled, instantly heading towards his fallen brother, not even looking at Nate, who was still standing with the gun pointed at Charlie.

Then the gun switched targets. It went from one brother, to another.

Another shot echoed on the campus. This time, it went straight through Don's temple.

Don hadn't been prepared to die in front of his brother.

Two Days Later

Alan sat next to a hospital bed, watching his youngest son sleep. Charlie had finally stabilized, after two days of touch and go, the doctors could safely say that he would be fine.

Physically anyway. Emotionally would be an entirely different story. Alan still wasn't sure how he was going to break the news to Charlie. Partially because, he still hadn't accepted it himself.

Seconds after the third bullet had gone through Don's head, the rest of his team had gotton into the room. Realizing what he had done, Nate then put the gun to his own head. Larry was the only one left. Cowering a few feet away from Charlie.

Medical assistance came in right away, and began to work on Charlie. They got him to a hospital in record time.

Don was left in the room.

When Don's team realized that he was dead, they moved on to Charlie. Then when Charlie was sent to the hospital, they stopped.

Megan just sat next to Larry and cried. David sat in a lab chair, completely stunned. Nobody even bothered to look at Nate.

Megan broke the news to Alan. He had been surprisingly strong throughout the past two days. Constantly telling the Doctors to just do their jobs. Comforting Megan, Larry, Amita, and David. He'd known that there was a good chance that Don would die while working for the FBI. Don had talked to him about it. Told him that as long as it was to save somebody good, Don would be at peace with it.

Alan was pretty sure that Charlie was the best person that Don could have died for.