You came in like the lightnin' from the sky

Picking up the pieces in the middle of the night

I cried 'oh baby, I'm broken

There's a price you're gonna pay'

And you jumped in the fire and you saved me any way

Part 4—Will Makes His Move

Charlie watched Will throughout dinner. At times, Charlie seemed like a scientist who had just discovered an interesting new species, boyfriendus brotherus. At other times, Charlie's eyes were definitely lustful, and Will had no idea what to do with that. Subtlety certainly wasn't Charlie's strong suit. Or maybe it didn't need to be. Alan and Don had to realize that Charlie was staring, but they didn't comment or perhaps even notice. Was Charlie given that much special treatment? Complete latitude in terms of social niceties because of his genius? It grated on Will. He wanted to tell Charlie to keep his eyes to himself, but he was a guest here and he had to make a good impression. Will was certainly learning a lot about Don this evening, and not just in the stories that Charlie and Alan were telling.

Finally, Will looked around the table and confirmed that everyone was finished with their dessert. "Great supper, sir," he said. He had to add – because in spite of everything, he was still his mother's son –"Let me do the dishes."

Alan gasped theatrically and grabbed his chest. "And he cooks too? Don, this one might be a keeper." He gave Will a sideways look. "Are you sure you don't want to quit your Fed job and become a kindergarten teacher?"

Will laughed. "I don't think I could deal with that much danger."

Alan chuckled and helped Will pile up the dirty bowls. Will took a load into the kitchen and set them in the sink. Don followed behind him.

"You don't have to do the dishes," Don protested. "Dad already likes you."

"It's okay," Will said. "It's the polite thing to do. But I'm glad you think he likes me."

"I know so." Don picked up a dish towel. "Next he'll be asking you if your biological clock is ticking."

Will's mouth fell open.

Don snickered. "Kidding, kidding!"

"Uh," Will said, totally caught off-guard. He'd never considered kids.

Don laughed out loud. "You should see your face! God, Will, I'm totally kidding!"

"Good, good," Will managed.

Alan came through the kitchen door then and Don made a shushing gesture that Will understood to mean, 'Don't even let him know I was joking about that.'

"I'm going to need to get more ice cream if you always eat like this," Alan announced. "Because you'll be coming over a lot, right?"

"Yeah, Dad, when we can," Don said with a roll of his eyes.

"What's your favorite ice cream flavor, Will?" Alan asked.

Will picked up the lasagna dish from the counter and put it into the soapy hot water. "Depends on my mood and what meal it's following."

Don flicked Will with the dish towel. "Will's a food snob—"

"Because I don't want leftover Chinese takeout three nights in a row?"

"—So his favorite could be persimmon or something like that."

Will snorted. "You wouldn't know a persimmon if it bit you."

"Luckily the Bureau gives us persimmon vaccinations, doesn't the DEA?"

"Nope, but they give us vaccinations against you Feebs. Mine must have worn off."

"We get vaccinations against DEA agents, too. They're called rabies shots."

"Cute. Though it's you that's foaming at the mouth when I beat you at—"

"Oh!" Alan interrupted, leaving them grinning at each other. "Now I know where I've seen Will before!"

"Where, the animal pound?" Don asked.

"Oh, that's weak," Will teased.

"Not as weak as—"

"Baseball," Alan said. "A few weeks ago. You were the DEA pitcher that threw that bean ball at Don."

Will widened his eyes and said, "Me? No, that ball slipped!"

"Oh, really," Alan said wryly. "You looked like you had pretty good command to me."

Will straightened up, pleased. He'd worked hard to get good enough to pitch in time for the DEA vs. FBI game.

"I've seen faster fastballs from a 3-year-old," Don said.

"Fast enough to throw you out," Will reminded him.

"At third," Alan said, nodding. "I remember that. Charlie went on at great length about what a statistically unusual move that was for Don. I should have known something was up." Alan looked back and forth between them. "Let me guess, you hadn't seen each other for a while before then?"

"Yeah," Don said, surprised. "How did you—"

"Because you stopped moping that day."

"Moping? I wasn't—"

"For months," Alan told Will. "He'd been moping for months, ever since …" He waved his hand and they all knew what he was referring to.

"I wasn't moping," Don protested again.

"Like a teenager," Alan confided to Will. "I kept expecting him to break out in zits and want to borrow the car."

Will chuckled and raised his eyebrows at Don. He was ridiculously delighted that Don had been moping at the same time that Will himself had been.

"On that scoring point," Alan said cheerfully, "I'm going to go study the new plans Eddie sent me today. Feel free to let that lasagna pan soak for a while."

Will looked down at the pan that he'd been ineffectually scrubbing at. "I didn't see glue on the family recipe."

Alan laughed and left the kitchen.

"I wasn't moping," Don mumbled, sounding more like a teenager than ever.

"Well, I certainly was," Will said.

"No more," Don said and leaned over to kiss Will.

Will responded warmly. It had been way too many minutes since their last kiss.

"Well, hello," came from the kitchen door. Charlie was standing there, looking at them with an expression that Will couldn't interpret. "I wondered what was taking so long in here."

Don pulled back from Will with a sigh. "Why, Chuck, you want us to be gone?"

"No, no," Charlie said hastily. "I just wanted to ask Will where he would suggest I look for statistics on population density in comparison with level of education. I was thinking that would be a useful vector to explore in some of the analyses I do for your team."

Don nodded and put down his dish towel. He opened up the refrigerator and got out yet another beer. "Let the pan soak," he said to Will. "I know how hard my dad's lasagna is to scrape off."

He handed another beer to Will, though Will hadn't even drank half of his previous bottle, and popped the top off of his beer. "How about we go into the solarium? There's usually a nice breeze this time of night."

"Okay," Charlie said and got out a glass and a pitcher of lemonade.

Don left and Will followed him upstairs to a small but glorious solarium. It was Craftsman design and theory at its best. Don cranked open the windows – Will was betting made of the original glass – and plopped down on the couch with his beer. Will sat next to him.

"You okay, babe?" Will asked, scooting closer.

"Mm, sure," Don said unconvincingly.

"What—" Will started but Charlie walked into the room and Will was obliged to start discussing statistics. It was a topic that usually interested him, but he was having trouble paying attention to it. He didn't like the distant look in Don's eyes. Damn it. I'm going to have to do it. Prove to him that Charlie wasn't going to be stealing me from him in any universe. Damn it, damn it.

When a natural pause in the conversation came, Will set down his bottle of beer, still untouched. He took a deep breath and told himself, You better know what you're doing. Then he stood up and said, "Come here, Charlie. Got something to prove to your big brother."

Charlie stood up, a grin of curiosity on his face as if he expected some sort of joke.

Will took two steps and grabbed Charlie's right shoulder with one hand and his chin with the other. He tilted Charlie's surprised face up. Then he leaned down and pressed his lips to Charlie's.

Charlie tasted like lemonade and coffee and his hands clutched at Will's shirt – pulling him closer, not pushing him away. He kissed Will back, with interest, and it was Will's turn to be surprised.

Will was tempted to pull away, but he needed to make this a real shot, a true test. He deepened the kiss and Charlie opened up to him, leaning backwards. Instinctively, Will kissed him harder, bending him farther back and moving his fingers to those spots on Charlie's head and neck that would make Charlie feel even more unbalanced, more under Will's control. Charlie moaned, something more felt than heard, and went completely pliant. His body pressed against Will's in an unmistakable entreaty.

Will broke the kiss and pushed Charlie away. Charlie stumbled back, his eyes wide and his hand on his mouth. He stared at Will.

And Will knew that look.

It was the look of a true sub who had just been given a taste of Dominance for the first time. Will knew, beyond a doubt, that if he gave one word of command, that Charlie – forgetting his boyfriend, brother, father - would drop to his knees right now, right here, and agree to any sexual favors that Will could imagine.

Will felt sick.

He turned his back on Charlie. Don was standing close by, his face white, his hands clenched into fists. He radiated anger, outrage – those Will had expected. What Will hadn't expected was what was written in Don's shoulders, his eyes – resignation, defeat, despair. Don truly believed that Charlie could take Will away from him.

In that moment, Will hated Charles Eppes with a passion that eclipsed any hatred he'd felt in a long time. All his life, Charlie had taken anything he wanted, demanded all the attention, dwarfed any of Don's successes, shaped Don's life.

And Don, Will's strong, confident, powerful Don, let him do it.

Staring at Don, Will uttered the words he had planned, though he little felt them at the moment. "Nice. He is sweet, but—"

Don swung a punch at him and Will was glad. Though Don believed he would lose, at least he was trying to fight for him. Will grabbed Don's wrist and pulled him close, needing Don's body to banish the lingering impression of Charlie's. Don struggled against him, and Will rejoiced in this sign of fire.

"There, aein," Will said roughly. "I've tried your baby brother and I still much prefer you."

"You are a bastard," Don growled.

"Yes, you're just figuring that out?" Will snapped. Is that all you have to say?

Grimly, Will turned his head to look at Charlie and used his other rehearsed line: "I apologize, but your brother wasn't going to believe me unless I actually sampled the competition."

Charlie's blinked at him, frowning as if he was just now realizing what an odd thing had just happened. "Competition?"

Don struggled and Will released him. Don threw himself on the couch and reached for his beer with a trembling hand. He took a long swallow, then stared at the bottle.

Will sat across from him and fixed his gaze on Don, willing him to understand, to see Will's point. To finally get rid of that damn shadow of fear in the back of his eyes.

Will didn't look at Charlie, didn't want Charlie to see the anger and desperation that he was trying so hard to hide from him. But not from Don. Look at me, Don.

Does Charlie really need me to spell it out? He has to realize what he did. Will said succinctly, "Don here seems to think you're a boyfriend snatcher."

Look at me, Don. Please understand and look at me.

"But I would never …" Charlie said innocently. Yeah, right. You would in a heartbeat because you don't care about your brother nearly as much as yourself.

"Colby," Don explained. "And David."

Charlie sucked in his breath and Will looked up, wondering was sort of denials Charlie would make. But, to his surprise, Will saw true confusion and distress on Charlie's face.

Charlie raised his hands as if to ward off his brother's accusation and stammered, "I … I didn't know, I didn't mean to … We just … and I … then he told me … and I realized …"

Will stared at Charlie, stared at him, and his anger towards the younger Eppes melted away. Charlie wasn't malicious, he was just clueless. Whatever God or Fate or genetics had gifted him with his mathematical genius, it had equally shortchanged him in the area of emotional intelligence. He truly hadn't meant to steal anyone's boyfriend, sabotage anyone's romance. Charlie had no idea what sort of damage he'd done to Don, what sort of damage he'd done to Don his entire life. And for Charlie's sake, Will hoped that Charlie would never understand. Looking at how horrified Charlie was right now at the thought he might have really hurt Don, Will wasn't sure that Charlie could survive such a revelation.

Don was also looking at Charlie and must have seen the same thing in Charlie's eyes. Don sighed and shrugged. "I know, I just …" He waved his hand and it seemed to encompass an entire lifetime of understanding. Will shook his head in amazement – only a true hero would make such a sacrifice for someone who would never realize that any sacrifice had been required.

Though there's such a thing as too much self-sacrifice … Will finished Don's sentence with "He's just an idiot."

"Okay, yeah," Charlie said but it was clear that he still didn't understand.

It's very simple, Will wanted to tell him. You took away the man Don loved so much that he self-destructed. But there is a silver lining here, okay maybe a tin lining. It left Don in so bad a shape that he was willing to turn to me. Instead, Will just said, "But Colby's loss is my gain."

Finally, Don looked at him, but for the wrong reason. Will had brought up the forbidden subject. He should have not said anything. The last topic that he wanted to talk with Don about was Colby Granger. He wasn't ready.

Don stood up and said to Charlie, "Go somewhere else for a few minutes, okay?"

Grimacing, Will looked down at the floor and it was his turn to avoid Don's gaze. Will reached once more for his undercover training. He needed to be able to answer with a smile to whatever Don was going to say to him, whatever excuses he would make, whatever promises he would offer. He wasn't ready, but whether this talk came now or later didn't matter. He'd never be ready.

Will didn't really blame Don. It was the way the human heart was – capricious and cruel. Colby Granger was no idiot. In time, he would tire of his flashy new lover and realize the real gold in the family was Don. And Don, despite all of his completely sincere vows of love to Will, would go back to Colby. After all, Colby was the man who'd driven Don to attempt suicide. Any gesture from Colby that he might want Don back and Don would have to – for pride if nothing else – try again. He wouldn't be able to resist stealing back his brother's lover. He'd be apologetic to Will, sad, but he'd leave anyway. Will would return to his former quiet life.

Will didn't look up at Don because he knew how this would end. It was just a matter of time.