Title: Only One

Disclaimers: Sadly, Numb3rs is not my property nor will it ever be.

Summary: Don has car troubles and Charlie comes to pick him up:a seemingly normal situation. Until a criminal Don and his team thought they put behind bars seeks revenge by playing dirty. 'How much damage could one do?' CWDA.

Warnings: Mild language and violence in later chapters.

Don sat in the lobby of the L.A. FBI offices. Megan, Colby, and David had all gone for the weekend, and the FBI was quickly becoming empty. Sitting on the ground floor, Don saw the seemingly sudden downpour begin through the glass windows. He was glad he hadn't decided to pop the hood of the black SUV he owned. He watched as people took deep breaths before plunging through the rain and sprinting to their own vehicles in working condition.

Come on, Charlie, Don thought impatiently. He had been waiting downstairs for what seemed like hours, but in reality had only been 30 minutes. Anyway, it still never took a half hour to get to the FBI. Traffic must be hell if he's this late. Don scowled. He contemplated whether to call Charlie or not, but didn't want to annoy his little brother.

Five minutes later Don sighed and reached for his cell. Right before he hit send, though, a tap on his shoulder disturbed him. Don turned his head and was met with the sight of special agent sniper Ian Edgerton.

'Can't get enough of the FBI, I see, Eppes.' Ian said good-naturedly as he crossed in front of Don and sat beside him. Don flipped his phone shut and turned to Ian as well.

'Car broke,' Don answered, a smile playing on his lips. 'The damn thing sounds like a cat stuck in this rain.'

Ian grinned and said, 'Well, I'm heading home right now, and your place isn't really out of my way, so if you want, I could give you a ride.'

Don ran a hand through his hair; a bad habit that began during the freshman biology exam and just sort of stuck. 'Actually, I'm headed to Charlie's, who is actually supposed to be picking me up. I don't know why he's not here yet. I called him...' Don glanced at his watch in impatience. 'nearly fourty minutes ago...'

Ian furrowed his eyebrows and the mechanical and distant brain inside his head got to work. It only takes, at the most, twenty minutes to get here from Charlie's, and that's if the traffic is bad... Weather? Maybe. Plus traffic? Could equal twenty minutes late... Maybe.

'Well, give him a call,' Ian said. 'And if it turns out he played an early April Fool's joke on you, I can take you.'

Don finally conceded and once again dialed Charlie's cell phone.

One. Two. Three. Don counted the rings. Four- 'Hello. You've reached Charles Eppes, but I'm not available right now, so please leave a name and number and I'll get back to you as fast as physically and astronomically possible.'

'Hey, Chuck,' Don said. 'It's Don, give me a ring if you get this soon. I take it you're not picking me up. Ian Edgerton's hitching me a ride, so you don't have to come. See ya.'

Ian stood up and his cool, calm, collected dark eyes searched Don's.

Don met Ian's gaze for a moment as he stood up too. It had always amazed him how much depth those almost black eyes had. Ian was a hunter, tracker, that killed clean and got the job done efficiently. Don had long been impressed with Ian's marksmanship and ability to keep a clear and lucid head in the most stressing of situations. I guess it has something to do with his job. One shudder of fear or trickle of sweat and you could be shooting your witness with a bullet 1200 feet per second rather than the criminal two inches to the witness's right.

'Ready?' Ian called as he headed for the double glass doors. Don nodded and stopped in front of door. One, two... three. He thought as both he and Ian burst through the doors and into the buckets of rain.Scratch that. It looks like someone scooped up the Pacific and dumped it on L.A.

Both the FBI agents ran to Ian's car, with Don trailing behind following Ian. There was a beep and Ian's black sedan's light flashed as the doors unlocked. Don jumped in shotgun while Ian got in the driver's seat. Don couldn't help noticing the irony of his last thoughts. Really, the rain falling now had come from the evaporated water of the Pacific and other bodies of water. The lighter-than-air evaporated water then rose steadily up into the sky, forming tiny groups of water in the sky, eventually becoming clouds. Then one day, all the ionized particles and air just burst to the ground like the shot of a pistol signaling the start of race. And all those seemingly harmless drops of water fell like runners coming out of their blocks.

Don watched the raindrops race across the window and leave tiny rivulets of water in their wake. They all seemed to be racing for the end of the glass pane just to be shot off onto another car. It was an inevitable, circular process. As a kid, Don had always picked a raindrop that would win. Usually it was the biggest ones that made it to the finish line first. But not always. Sometimes the small, tiny ones would surprise you by eating up other tiny drops and forming a behemoth that sprinted for first place. Something in Don's guy seemed uneasy. He felt strange, not sad, but wary and a small prick of irrational fear throbbed.

It was amazing how all those tiny drops, the ones in the sky and the ones on the car windows, how insignificant they seemed by themselves. How much damage could one drop do? But when coupled with all their other allies, one was a force to be reckoned with.

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'Hey, why don't you come in for dinner?' Don asked he unfastened his seatbelt. They had just pulled into Charlie's driveway.

'No, no, I don't want to impede. I'll just go home now.' Ian answered quickly, raising his hands.

'Aw, come on, I owe you something for driving me, come on. Besides, if I'm in your debt, I'll have to be your partner the next stakeout.'

Ian grinned. 'I'm just coming in, then I'm leaving.'

Don smiled and shrugged, then opened the door and ran to the front porch. He opened the door to the wafting tell tale signs of Alan's homemade dinners. Ian stepped inside and turned to Don with his eyebrow raised.

'On second thought, dinner is sounding very good. I thought Charlie would be cooking.'

Don almost burst out laughing at the comment. The one and only time Ian had ever come over, Charlie had baked- well, attempted to bake- lasagna. Somehow he had managed to mix up whipped cream with ricotta cheese. What an ill-fated day for the poor math professor, Don thought.

'Dad?' Don called into the kitchen, hanging his jacket up.

'Donnie? Hey, I just made-' Alan stepped into the living room and stopped at the sight of Ian.

'Ian! How good to see you again! I'm glad to have you over.'

Ian nodded. 'It's my pleasure,'

The three of them made their way into the kitchen and sat down at the dinner table where steaming kabobs loaded with beef, roasted peppers and veggies awaited consumption.

'Well, eat up.' Alan said while he poured himself some water. Don and Ian both glanced at each other and smiled in unison. Together they sat down and began to eat the delicious food.

Alan sat down and was about to pull his chair up to the table when he stopped dead. 'Where's Charlie?'

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40 minutes earlier

Charlie was pulling off the highway to reach the FBI offices. The black behemoth of an SUV behind him had been tailing him since he got on the freeway. He had hoped that with this exit, the SUV would keep going. Charlie sighed and saw that, to his dismay, the SUV was also coincidentally going the same way as him. What are the odds of that? Charlie thought, then he actually figured it out.

Before he could dwell on the subject any longer, though, he felt a huge impact hit his tiny little Prius and his body was thrown forward as time slowed down. Charlie saw the airbag deploy and watched it gain volume before he felt it. The bone-crushing slam of the airbag stunned him for a moment. Before he could gather his wits, though, the driver's door was wrenched open and a man wearing black clothes rudely grabbed at the safety belt.

'Shit,' The man said when he couldn't maneuver around the blasted airbag to undo the belt. He withdrew a knife from his side and instead just slashed savagely through the seatbelt. In his hastiness, the knife clipped Charlie in the chest.

That gathered his wits.

Charlie gasped in pain and was unceremoniously pulled out of the car. The man had a hold around Charlie's neck, the knife still in his other hand. While Charlie was held in this awkward position, he got to see the full extent of the damage. He saw that the entire back end of his little car was smashed in like a paper cup yet the sturdy SUV behind had only a fender-bender.

The SUV... Oh my gosh. They- they hit me. But- Charlie thought frantically.

'Good evening Dr. Eppes. You're gonna take a little trip with us, ok? Is that clear?' The man tightened his hold on Charlie's neck while another man in black fumbled through the Prius looking for Charlie's belongings.

'Crystal,' Charlie choked out.

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A/N- Ok, so things are moving along now. Thank you so very much for the reviews. They help. Also, a big big thank-you to Special Agent Don Eppes for informing me Charlie drives a Prius. I wasn't sure, so I just guessed a Honda. Thanks for the note! I wanted to include Edgerton because I just think he's pretty cool. Next chapter- charliewhumping!