What's Important in Life
A/N: Ok, let me explain what's going on here. This is an AU, and if you want to think about it this way, an OOC story, based before and during the first episode of season one. Charlie has never shot or killed anyone before; this is true, BUT after being with his captors for 6 months, he's finally seeing their point of view, and he's picking up their tactics, so they are training him to be a killer.
I'm sorry if I am going to fast for some people, but I just type down what my mind thinks up.
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Chapter 4: Admitting the truth.
13 years later…
Charlie ran a hand over the gleaming surface of the go-cart, or as he calls it, the extreme gravity vehicle. He had ridden in it a few times and had crashed it only once, but he still couldn't get it to go as fast as he had wanted.
Now, however, with a few tweaks, he was ready to try again.
Making sure his helmet was on good and tight, he got the extreme gravity vehicle moving and smiled as it rolled down the big hill, picking up speed at an enormous rate.
Down at the bottom of the hill, one of Charlie's former teachers, and now a close friend, Dr. Larry Fleinhardt, saw this silver object come rolling down the hill. Confused, he got out of his car and watched as the go-cart raced past the finish line and came to a halt.
"Twenty one point zero seven seconds, sixty eight point three miles per hour." Amita said happily as she came over to Charlie, watching him take the helmet off of his head, "No one would ever guess you don't have a driver's license."
Chuckling, Charlie waited for some of the students to take the top off and gave him a helping hand out of the go-cart. He said, "MIT and Stanford, can't touch that."
With an amused look on his face, Larry walked over to the duo.
"Professor Charles Edward Eppes."
"Larry!" Charlie greeted, taking the offered hand that reached out to help him from the go-cart.
"So this is what distracts you from helping me; your friend, your colleague, win the Nobel Prize for my eleven dimensional super gravity theory?" Larry asked, giving Charlie his classic confused look.
"Well, in a way this project is related to your theory!" Charlie replied.
"Wha…this go-cart?" Larry asked, motioning to the go-cart before them.
"Go-cart? This is..this isn't a go-cart! This is an extreme gravity vehicle. It's shape will help inform the next generation of high performance auto mobiles…" Charlie began, but Larry interrupted him by saying, "Alright. Hooray for making things go faster. But I fail to see how this will provide me with the necessary mathematical breakthroughs I need to redefine the fabric of the cosmos."
"You know, some people do their own math. Edwhiten, Richard Fineman…" Amita said.
"Hurtful. I actually knew Fineman. I actually think of him often. You know what; here's a discussion: why is it that we remember the past and not the future?" Larry replied.
"That's a tough one." Charlie said after a minute's pause, then he continued with, "Larry look, I'll have time on Monday, I'll run through some equations for you."
With a sigh, Larry nodded his head in agreement before he watched Charlie get back to work.
Charlie, for his part was having a great time at CalSci, finally having graduated a few years ago, and now he was a professor at the school!
His best friend Larry was still a great help to him; having become almost a sort of father/brother figure to Charlie.
To that day, Charlie didn't know how his family was fairing, not his real family, or the family that had taken him under their wing by force.
He missed his real family; he ached to see his father and mother again, and even his brother, but what if Don still felt the same as he had thirteen years ago?
'I can't take that chance. And, besides, if they were to find out what I did…what I've become…what would they think of me?' Charlie wondered as he closed the notebook that was in his hands and started walking towards the entrance to the school.
As he walked, he began to think of the wild rollercoaster ride that had become his life.
Being separated from his family at 15, being trained as a hacker and a killer, taking two human lives at 16, and then going to college at 16 ½.
'Don't forget. Working for the CDC, NSA and all the rest at 18, 19 and 20.' Charlie thought.
Now he was almost 30 years old, nearing the prime of his life when it came to math, yet, deep inside he was still the scared little boy, just waiting for everything to catch up to him.
Entering his office, Charlie set the notebook down and sat down in his chair.
Seeing a sticky note by his small office phone, Charlie snatched up the note and read what it had to say.
'FBI unit leader called. He requests that I come in or call and offer my consulting expertise.'Charlie read.
Taking out his cell-phone, Charlie typed in the number that was given, before he pressed the green button.
Putting the cell-phone to his ear, Charlie waited as the tone sounded, before someone picked up.
"Eppes." Came the strong voice over the line.
That name made Charlie freeze and go numb as it rang over and over in his mind.
No…it couldn't be…could it?
"Hello? Who is this? Hello?" The voice said.
Swallowing, Charlie closed his eyes before opening them again and saying, "Hi, this is Professor Martin. You called my office earlier, about doing some consulting?"
"Yes. Normally I wouldn't have called anybody, least way's a math professor. No offense to you sir; but the people upstairs are breathing down my neck, and you were recommended." Don Eppes explained.
"I understand. I'll…I'll be over at your office as soon as I can." Charlie replied before he hung up at dropped the phone on to his desk.
Sighing, Charlie suppressed a shiver of fear as his gaze found his phone once more.
"What am I gonna do if Don recognizes me? Run, I guess." Charlie whispered.
He didn't want to face Don again, but he knew that he had to. And, if Don didn't recognize him, then so much the better.
Rising, Charlie gathered his things and exited his office.
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Gracefully Charlie walked down the corridor of the FBI offices.
Up ahead he saw a gated room filled with cubicles, and a bigger room that was called the bull pen.
Stopping by the officer that was standing by the door, Charlie showed the officer his pass and waited while the officer opened the door and held it open.
Stepping past the guard, Charlie looked around before he spotted a man with dark, short, semi-spiky hair talking with a woman and a bald black man.
'That's gotta be him.' Charlie thought as he made his way over to them.
However he didn't have to get Don's attention because Don turned around and spotted Charlie.
"Professor Martin, thanks for coming in. I'm Don Eppes." Don said, shaking Charlie's hand.
"Yes I've heard of you D…Agent Eppes." Charlie said, almost blurting out Don's first name.
"We need you to do an analysis…" Don began, leading Charlie in to the bull-pen, quickly showing him the piles of data that were on the tables.
To anyone looking, a pile that size would take weeks to look through, but Charlie informed Don that he could give him some information in a few hours.
Nodding his head, Don left Charlie alone in the bull-pen.
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After a few hours, Charlie was generating his first hot zone, hoping that the rapist was in it. His calculations were correct, so if anything were to go wrong it wouldn't be because of him.
As Charlie waited for the first map to print up, he glanced out of the bull-pen, quickly seeing his brother talking with the black man again.
'So…my brother's an FBI Special Agent…hard to believe.' Charlie thought to himself.
Sighing, Charlie lowered his head for a second. "Sooner or later he's going to find out. Should I tell him?...Oh geez, I don't think I can even tell him." Charlie mumbled.
"Tell who, what?"
Spinning, Charlie saw Don and the black man standing behind him.
"N..nothing!" Charlie sputtered.
Shrugging his shoulders, Don introduced David Sinclair, to Charlie.
David and Charlie shook hands and exchanged pleasantries for a second, before David turned and left the room.
"How's it coming?" Don asked, looking at the map that was printing.
"Good. Great, actually. I'm a….I'm generating a hot zone. And if the information you gave me is correct…the rapist should reside in the hot zone." Charlie replied.
"That's great!" Don said, sounding slightly enthused.
Before Don could get any further, Charlie sighed and banged his fist on the printer.
"Hey! Whoa, whoa. You do know that's government property." Don said, stepping to the side and eying the professor closely.
He was fully prepared for the professor to lash out, or say something rude, but what happened next startled Don.
He watched as Charlie's shoulder's started to shake, and small sobs start to escape from his lips.
"Oh for cryin' out loud." Don muttered, looking around and making sure no one was watching them.
"Come on." Don said, taking Charlie's elbow, attempting to help him to a chair, but Charlie resisted, mumbling, "You wouldn't be helping, much less trying to comfort me if you knew."
"If I knew what?" Don asked softly, still very much confused by the professor's attitude.
Sniffling a little, Charlie brushed some of the tears from his eyes before he muttered, "I'm your brother."
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A/N: Sorry if I misspelled the names that Amita said.