Another case, another criminal behind bars.
Charlie was beginning to understand why Ryan did this, why they helped for the big situations and with the small crimes—even if they were criminals themselves sometimes.
Charlie stretched as he walked through the plaza, steps just slightly faster than Don's and Cooper's.
They had invited him to have lunch with them after the fugitive and his cohort were behind bars just so that he could hear the stories of Don's time in fugitive recovery.
It was fun, but he also felt like a third wheel on a bicycle, unneeded and then the numbers began to fight for his attention.
He could hear them joking and picking on each other behind him.
Bored and not willing to succumb to the threat of a number haze, he spied a hurried businessman, and the temptation was too great, even with two agents behind him.
Sometimes he cursed Ron for teaching him these things—other times he was happy for the excitement it provided, the distraction from the numbers.
Besides if he bumped into someone it would be seen as him being the absent-minded professor again, even if the entire thing was orchestrated to keep him from falling for the numbers seductive lure.
When he did, it was so easy, so simple to slip the man's wallet into his own jacket pocket, Don apologizing profusely for his brother's clumsiness.
Cooper, however was staring at him with a crooked eyebrow, a smirk twisting his lips as Don berated Charlie.
"Geez Charlie, can't you walk a little ways without getting lost in the numbers?"
It surprised him sometimes how gullible his big brother really was, even after learning about his clearance and that he consulted for various agencies, Don always seemed to think that Charlie was innocent and naïve.
When Don turned away, Charlie winked at Cooper, his brother missing the whole exchange.
When they got back to the FBI building, Charlie followed to them inside to gather his things.
Cooper followed Charlie, speaking quietly so Don wouldn't hear.
"That was a good lift, Professor, I didn't think you had it in you to do something like that."
"Well, what can I say. Don doesn't know everything about me. He's wrong when he said I couldn't keep a secret."
Cooper smiled, "You definitely are more than you seem to be, aren't you?"
Charlie grinned a small, slightly evil smile.
"What was your first clue?"
Charlie left after that, leaving a bemused Billy Cooper in his wake.
Before he left to track down another fugitive, Cooper turned to his old partner with a sly smile—Colby, Megan, and David surreptitiously listening for info on he past between the two.
"I'd keep a closer eye on you brother, Eppes, there's more there than meets the eye with him."
Don and his team stared at Cooper, slightly confused.
"What do you mean? He's just Charlie, sure he's done things with other agencies, but that's it."
Cooper shook his head.
"For all that you see Eppes, sometimes you're blind when it comes to those close to you."
Don scowled at the reference to his relationships but watched as Cooper left, wondering what it was that he knew about Charlie.
Colby pondered what Agent Cooper said as he and his teammates finished up their paperwork.
Charlie did seem to understand things more than Don realized, let him believe he didn't know anything to do with government operations.
But was there more to the Whiz Kid than that?
Charlie relaxed against the couch in his office, a smile playing at his lips as he thought about the five hundred dollars he had gained that day and the numbers a buzz in the back of his mind.
Who kept five hundred dollars in cash on them anyways?
Still, it was fun doing that right under Don's nose.
Charlie looked up as the door opened.
"What're you smiling at Charlie?"
Amita stood there, leaning against the door jam.
"Nothing really, just the joy of doing something illegal while Don stood just a few steps behind me. How's Marissa doing?"
Amita grinned as thoughts of her girlfriend pervaded her thoughts.
"Great, we're going out to dinner tonight. How was your lunch with your brother?"
"Good, I got a bit bored though and the numbers tried to climb their way to the forefront of my mind."
Amita began to look concerned, her eyebrows pinching together.
"Are you going to be okay? I know doing whatever it was you did will only keep them away for long."
A sad smile trekked it's way across Charlie's face.
"I have to be, Dad and Don never have understood how troublesome my mind is, and I don't think they quite ever will. It's hard, yeah, but you and Marissa help, so does Larry in his own abstract way—even Dad and Don help a little. I just gotta keep holding on as best I can until I find someone who can ground me again. It's been five years, I think I can last for a while longer."
Amita walked over and hugged him.
"No matter what, Mar and I will help you float as best we can, we love you. We don't want you to drown in the numbers, Charlie."
There was a lot more to Charles Edward Eppes, than met the eye.
The sad thing, though, was that no one seemed to realize it, and those who did didn't seem to begrudge the vision he let the rest of the world see, if anything they understood his reason to pretend he was a sweet little genius.
He was a genius in Logic and Mathematics, of course there was going to more to him than just that.
People tended to ignore that though, so pulling off illegal stunts became a game, something to help with his treacherous thoughts.
Pit pocket a little, steal something from a store—it was when he was asked by his own government to do something nefarious, that he really got an adrenaline rush.
It was a leave of logic.
A leave of everything people expected of him, even though logic permeated the act, it was the fact that the act in question was illogical to perform in the first place that gave him the rush.
It was a poor substitute to keeping himself sane, but it worked for a little while.
William "Billy" Cooper was the only one of the FBI agents Don surrounded himself with to notice something.
It made Charlie's lip twitch, trying to form a smile when he thought about.
It takes like minds to see those like themselves, doesn't it?
Cooper was in fugitive recovery because it was as close of a criminal way of living as he could be without being a criminal.
You had to think like a criminal to catch one on the run after all.
He wondered if Don ever realized that it wasn't just the math that allowed him to help catch the criminals?
Probably not.
Still, he knew both his brother and his father would have aneurisms if they knew his could pick locks, crack safes, or steal a person's wallet with ease. Hacking. . . That was easy but boring, that was just about numbers and logic once more, besides Adina's programs were the only ones that could provide a challenge.
He wondered if catching criminals was the only way Cooper kept himself from becoming one, just as Charlie used stealing to keep himself from becoming comatose with no escape.