Title: Blood Relatives
Author: Roth
Rating: PG 13
Spoilers: Rampage
Disclaimer: I don't own Numb3rs and neither do you. We don't have a problem so please don't sue.
Summary: Don's thought after the shooting at the office. (Don POV)
Note: I normally don't do tags to episodes or first person stories, but I just loved this episode too much. Chapter four will be up tomorrow.
Shattered
Chapter Three: Lots of String
"Confront your fears, list them, get to know them, and only then will you be able to put hem aside and move ahead." Jerry Gillies
I didn't know Charlie was going to come back down the office; I was hoping he was going to, but I was still surprised to see him standing there with Amita when I turned the corner. I hadn't been able to talk to Dad for awhile, so I wasn't really sure how Charlie was handling everything at home, so him coming down to the office was a big surprise. I was a little nervous though when I saw he wasn't really responding to anyone, and I'm not one hundred percent sure where his mind was or if I wanted to know where it was.
"Hey, guys." They both turned toward me. "How we doing?"
Amita was the first to speak. "Hey."
Charlie seemed to look right past me. "Charlie?" He started to walk past me, and it wasn't until I turned that I actually saw what had captured Charlie's attention so completely. I could have killed whoever brought that damn board out here, but I kept myself calm. I didn't want to freak Charlie out because I was mad, and have him leave. "Oh, yeah. They must have brought those out here. We'll get you another one."
I watched as my little brother examined the bullet hole in the board with two fingers for a second. "Everything alright?" I asked, praying that seeing remnants of the bullet that could have killed him wouldn't push him over the edge. I was shocked when Charlie stopped looking at the hole, erased several symbols, grabbed the marker, and wrote different ones in their place; I know a majority of the time I am at a loss for what is going on in Charlie's head, but I don't think anyone in the world who could have explained that. I looked at Amita, but I could tell she was as confused as I was.
"We're going to need the surveillance footage," said Charlie as he finished the last symbol. He continued to talk as he turned back toward me and Amita. "Some tripods, a laser pointer, and I'm gonna need string."
"String?" I asked; Charlie was confusing the hell out of me today.
He nodded slightly. "Lots of string."
I didn't care where or how I had to get the string, I was going to get it if that meant Charlie was going to stay, and that he was going to be alright. Hell, I would have taken everybody in the buildings shoelaces if I had to.
XVIIIIV
TBC
