Disclaimer: Numb3rs isn't mine.

U is for Uninvited

III

Charlie shifted his weight from foot to foot as he rode the elevator down. Getting back from Stanford late last night, he'd only felt human after a whole night's worth of uninterrupted sleep and a home-made breakfast in the morning. Classes had gone on as usual throughout the day, with Charlie thankful that he'd made the lessons plans in advance because he hadn't expected the delay in getting home. Now, he was at the FBI, it was night, and he'd used the opportunity of Larry heading over to the Federal Building to meet with Megan for a pre-planned dinner date to accompany him.

Charlie had figured it was too good an opportunity to miss. The whole weekend he'd been promising himself that he'd fix things with his brother once he got back to Los Angeles, and for better or worse, he was going to keep that promise, pride be damned.

Having his nervousness increase steadily the closer he and Larry got to the offices of the FBI, Charlie thought it strangely ironic that his brother be nowhere in sight upon arrival. The odd mix of relief and disappointment lasted only for a short while until Colby mentioned that Don was still here, he was just outside on the walkway, taking a break, grabbing some air.

And so, here was Charlie in the elevator, getting that much closer to confronting his brother, if that was the correct word for it. The elevators dinged upon arriving at the appropriate floor and Charlie waited politely for the woman who was in the elevator car with him to disembark before following her. The walkway was sufficiently lit and it wasn't too hard to recognize who was walking there, standing there, sitting there. At this time at night, there were a lot more people than expected but as Don had mentioned once, you could always expect more people in the Federal Building in the middle of the night rather than at ten in the morning.

Pushing the glass doors open, Charlie looked around as he walked forward, trying to spot Don. He recognized his brother's profile as he stood with his back towards the path, elbows on railing, looking over to the road running underneath, a hand holding up a cell-phone to the ear facing Charlie. As he made his way over to his elder brother, it became easier to hear Don's side of the conversation. He was only a few feet away when Don suddenly looked up to see who was approaching and seeing Charlie, he cut short his sentence and amended it:

"Hey Coop, I gotta go, I'll call you back later yeah?" A pause. "Alright, and stay out of trouble." Don hadn't taken his eyes off Charlie as he said this and kept them on his brother as he flipped his phone shut and slipped it inside his jacket pocket.

Charlie figured since he'd been the one to come all the way down here, Don could be the first one to say hi. Little things like that mattered, and Don did not disappoint:

"Hey," said Don cautiously, his tone giving nothing away.

Charlie nodded his head but instead of returning the greeting, decided to ask a question: "Was that Billy Cooper you were talking to? Your old partner from Fugitive Recovery?"

Don smirked as he replied: "Yeah. Most of the time Coop's either in the middle of tracking someone down and can't be reached, or I'm wrapped up in a case but once in a while, the stars align and we're both able to talk on the phone, play catch up."

Charlie nodded and then jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "You should probably call him back, I'll go; we can always do this another time." He had just started to turn around to head back into the building, grateful for the break because he wasn't sure he was ready for this, when Don's words made him halt:

"No, it's alright, it's no big deal, I can talk to Coop later, he's on leave for the next few days." Standing there, facing each other, the silence got steadily more awkward before Don decided to break it with a question: "So… how was Stanford?"

Charlie quirked an eyebrow. He shouldn't have been surprised his brother knew about his trip but it irked him just a tad that his brother knew what he'd been up to with his time, yet not the other way around. He asked half-jokingly/half-unkindly: "Been checking the flight manifestos, have we?"

Don gave a short, humourless laugh as he turned back to lean on the railing with both elbows. "And if I have?"

Charlie stepped closer and positioned himself next to his brother, leaning against the railing with his back, facing the opposite direction from his sibling.

"Stanford was fine – a bit hot. Those Ivy League guys sure know how to throw a 'party for geeks', as some would call it."

"If you say so," commented Don lightly. Normally, he would have thrown in a teasing comment but it just didn't feel appropriate at the moment, considering the unresolved tension in the air.

There was another silence, but Charlie was the one to break it this time:

"Ever think of ditching LA and going back to man-hunting or something like that?"

The question had Don glancing at his brother in surprise for a moment before he resumed his earlier position. "You know, you'd think that after all this time you could depend on me to not suddenly one day up and leave. And even if I do transfer to another place, don't you think I would give you guys enough warning?"

"I suppose." Charlie crossed his arms in front of his chest. "So what have you been up to?" It felt strange to be asking his brother such generic questions but seeing as how they hadn't talked in a while, they needed to catch up while ignoring the intrinsic matter at hand.

"The usual," Don replied. "Work's been a murder – literally. Caught a case early Saturday, had to cancel dinner with Dad. He wasn't very happy with that, let me tell you."

"Nah, I can imagine, he's been wondering where you've been the past few weeks."

"Yeah…." Don brought up a hand to rub at his lips. "I meant to come over earlier but things have been on overdrive here," he waved a hand to motion to the office tower, "for a while, they've just slowed down now."

"It's okay, I guess I can't blame you, considering…" Charlie brought up a hand and scratched his ear. "I could have taken the initiative as well and come over to the office but… you know."

"Yeah"

"Yeah"

They lapsed into silence for the umpteenth time before Don startled Charlie by laughing suddenly and commenting:

"Never took you as one for beating around the bush, Chuck."

"Look who's talking, bro," retorted Charlie.

"So… truce?" Don asked cautiously, turning his face to look towards his brother.

Charlie considered the proposal for a few seconds before nodding once. "Yeah, truce." Charlie winced inwardly as he realized just how reluctant he sounded and what his brother must have thought.

"Alright." Don turned around and took a few steps until he was standing a few feet away from Charlie, facing him. "Anyway… I guess I better get back inside before they start sending out a search party. I'll see you around okay?"

"Sure," agreed Charlie and Don had started walking away when the mathematician realized that things still weren't a hundred percent, there was still some awkwardness between them which he really wanted to get rid of.

"Hey Don?" he called out and when his brother halted and turned around, he quickly added: "Want to come home, have some dinner? I know Dad will be happy to see you, at least."

Don appeared hesitant and spared a quick glance at his watch. "Thanks for the offer Charlie but I've still got about an hour's worth of work to get done before I can get home." Shifting his feet, he added: "Why don't I pick you up for lunch tomorrow from CalSci, how's that?"

Charlie nodded, but tried to hide his disappointment. "Sure. Sounds good."

"Alright," said Don and began walking towards the building. After a few steps he suddenly turned and with a smile, called out: "Go home, Chuck, we're fine."

"Yeah," said Charlie. He hoped so.

Khatum (The End)

A/N: I just felt like clarifying one point: I know many of you will be disappointed that I didn't come out and fully say what the fight between Don and Charlie was about but that was the point of my experiment - everything through the power of suggestion, throwing in allusions rather than base facts. I tend to think it's more like real life that way - rarely, if ever, are fights about one thing, and between brothers, they can be from anything over who's going to answer the phone to disagreements on morals or principles. As for the weird resolution, again, trying to make it seem realistic from my own observations.

Hope you aren't too disappointed with the end, but gotta admit, the power of suggestion is fun to write :-) Have a nice weekend, everyone.