About a week later, Don, Colby, and David all returned to work. They met out in the hallway.
"I can't go on any active runs for about another week, but I can do all the normal stuff around here." Joked Don.
They all grinned.
"Well, I heard that Megan's doing well."
"Yeah. Once her leave is up, she's gonna come back to office, but I think it'll be sometime before we'll see her on raids."
They continued walking towards Don's office. A few of the workers were looking intently at him as he passed by them.
He leaned back to his friends, "Is there something I don't know about?"
Both them looked at each other, "You got some mail while you were away."
Don turned the corner to his office.
It was full of cards and gift baskets. He grinned, "Are these from everyone here?"
"No, we're having our own party for all of you guys when Megan comes back."
"Then who is all of this from?"
David handed him the stack of letters and he flipped through them, "There are 16 here."
Taking a minute, he counted the number of gifts in his office, "16."
"The other agents sent their thanks to you for stopping those two."
Don gave some of the baskets to Colby and David, and set some aside for Megan. He would give them to her when he visited her after work.
There were two he saved for himself and his father, and another two for Charlie and Amita. He thought it would make a perfect congratulations gift. Another couple of the baskets became the company property, especially for those agents who'd forgotten their money for snacks.
His two fellow agents pulled up chairs and they all sat around in a circle. Each of them had a stack of letters to open.
Colby began, "To Agent Eppes and his team, I would like to thank you for catching my old partner. I could never forgive myself, but at least my sister is at peace. Agent Lassen, New York."
There was a picture of a family at a graduation ceremony. A gentleman in a suit stood with two older individuals. The gentleman, who was Agent Lassen, had his arm around his sister. She was in the traditional black robe, her cap askew, diploma in her upraised hand.
"Anderson's partner's kid sister." Mentioned Don, setting the photo on the clear area on his desk.
"Look at this one." David held up another photo. There was a young man and his two parents.
"Who's that?"
"Nicholas Davidson. The letter says that his younger brother had missed being in this photo."
There was a silence before Don looked away from the picture, "Have they found anything else?"
"Yeah, they found Anderson and Davidson's hideout. They're gonna send the heads back to the families for proper burial."
"What about a motive?"
"There's evidence that Anderson may have been discharged from the FBI for practices unbecoming of an agent. Davidson was being treated for anger issues."
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
"I guess she was right. There isn't always a method to madness."
"I have to think he'd have a reason to kill his own brother."
"Maybe inheritance?" Don took a deep breath, "It really makes you realize how important your siblings are."
David and Colby nodded, "Speaking of siblings, how is Charlie?"
"He's doing good. He convinced Amita to move into the house with him and our father, and I'm pretty sure it'll only be a few days before he asks her to marry him."
Both men grinned, "He really loves that girl."
"You know, he's had the ring for over a month now. I think this whole thing really made up his mind."
"Well, an experience like that will certainly bring some things into perspective."
A young agent walked up and took Colby and David away.
Don turned back around and faced the computer. Glancing to the side, he noticed a picture of himself and Charlie with their dad. He picked the photo up and stared at it for the longest time.
When he finally had to set it back down and return to work, there was a slight smile on his face that could not be tampered with for the rest of the day.