A/N: So I got my new laptop yesterday. Yep, still pretty excited about it, and you should be too. 'Cause that means updates! Kinda like the one you've got in front of you now. Not sure what will be posted next, but the odds are against it being about Numb3rs. Sorry.

You Gave It All Away

Chapter One: I Know You Wanted Something Real

"Hope is the denial of reality."
-Margaret Weis, Dragons of Winter Night

"Image creates desire. You will what you imagine."
-J. G. Gallimore

"Alright, guys," Don started, waving a manila folder, "What we've got here is an inter-statial drug ring, little evidence and the name of the suspected leader.

"Cain Abrams, white male, late twenties. Came into his fortune maybe six years ago, through dubious means. Officially, he sells antiques. Unofficially, we think he heads one of the biggest crime rings in the state."

"Isn't this a local matter?" David piped up.

Don shrugged. "The locals have been having trouble keeping track of this group, so they dumped it into our lap. Seemed pretty relieved to be washing their hands of this."

Megan groaned, "And why was this given to US?"

"Narcotics is in on it too. Guess they thought this way we have a better chance of cracking the thing." Don sighed. This was not the sort of case he wanted to be heading. Very high profile and very little chance of solving.

"Where do we start?" Colby asked.

"Colby, David, you two start going through what the locals gave us. I want to know who's in on this and who they're talking to. Get Judge Maysen to sign an affidavit for phone records. If you can connect any of the major players to Abrams, all the better." He nodded to Megan. "You and I are going to have a chat with the man himself. See if you can profile him for me."

Abrams's secretary seemed nervous as she led the agents into his office. Don glanced at Megan. She nodded. She had seen it too. "If you'll just sit down for a moment, Mr. Abrams will be right with you," the young blonde said, ushering them into a pair of comfortable looking chairs. Across from them sat one of the most impressive desks Don had ever seen.

"That piece dates back to the Renaissance era," a smooth voice spoke out from behind them. "The original owner was very reluctant to sell. Unfortunately I am as well. That one's not on the market." Don turned to see a face that was as familiar to him as his own. He dreamt of a similar face every night. Lightly tanned skin, small build, dark curly hair...

"Charlie?" Could it really be? His little brother right here all this time?

Something flashed in the his brown eyes. "Sorry, no," the curly haired man replied. "Cain Abrams." He stuck out his hand.

Don took it hesitantly, as if unsure of whether it really was there. "Don Eppes, FBI. This is my partner, Megan Reeves." Two badges were flashed.

"A pleasure to meet you." Abrams took Megan's hand, brushed a kiss across the knuckles. He glided across the room to sink into his own seat. "So what brings the FBI here?" he asked, lifting a pen off the desk to twirl in his fingers. "I don't recall being late with my taxes this year." He sent the agents a glowing smile.

"We've noticed that a few acquaintances of yours are associated with a group we're investigating," Megan answered.

"Oh?"

Don stood, having recovered from his earlier shock "Yes," he said simply. He scrutinized the framed diplomas that decorated the wall behind Abram's desk. "You have a lot of doctorates... Mathematics, Psychology, Foreign Languages..."

The smaller man smiled. "You would be surprised at what hard work will get you, Agent Eppes."

"Yet you have forgone all those fields of work to sell antiques?" Don continued.

The other gave him a long patient look. "Taking something old and making it into something entirely different... That's what mathematician's do with numbers, psychologists do with people, writers do with language, and it's what I do with antiques."

"What do your parents do for a living?" Don asked, trying an entirely different attack.

"What does that have to do with this investigation?" Abrams snapped in reply.

Megan glanced over at her partner. "We'll need to speak with them as well."

"No need," he replied. "They've been dead for years."

The woman agent smiled in sympathy. "I'm sorry."

"They weren't really there for me anyways." Don winced when he noticed that Abrams was looking at him as he spoke.

As the two agents exited the towering building that held Abrams's office, Megan spoke, "Enlightening conversation."

Don gave her a look. "He didn't tell us anything we didn't already know."

"He definitely reacted when you called him Charlie."

"I see his face everywhere. I shouldn't think that this time was any different…"

"But when he said that his parents weren't there for him, he was looking at you, Don."

The senior agent smiled bitterly. "I always thought that no matter what, Charlie would be a mathematician."

"You could take a DNA test," Megan steered the conversation away from her partner's guilt.

"Yeah, I can just imagine it now, 'Abrams, I think you may be my long lost brother, want to take a DNA test with me?'" Don sneered.

The woman shook her head. "Don, you're an FBI agent. If you cannot come up with a way to get his DNA, then I think you need to take a trip back to Quantico."

He stared at her for a long moment. Then he pulled out his phone. Speed dialing their office, Don gave the other members of his team one request, "Put a narcotics agent on Abrams, I want to be notified of any suspicious activity on his part. Tell them if the opportunity comes up, I want the man's DNA and fingerprints… It's possible he may be in the database… Yeah. Thanks Colby." He slipped the cellular device into his shirt pocket and turned towards his partner.

"Could have prior assault charges that we can pin on him," she said.

He smiled at her gratefully, but Megan herself was frowning. "I know you want to find him, Don. Who wouldn't in your position? But what if this Abrams is him? What will you do when you find out that your brother is a drug lord?" Don winced.

The hope that had flared in his chest when he'd seen Abrams died. In that moment he realized that maybe, after all this time searching, after all he'd put into looking for his brother, maybe he wouldn't like what it is he found.

TBC...

A/N: As a warning: Charlie will seem to be VERY OOC. Before I wrote this, I thought to myself, "Alright, I already know how Charlie is right now, but who would he be if this and this happened?" So here he is quite a bit different from he is in the show.

Oh, and inter-statial isn't really a word. I know that. It just worked.