A/N: Finally the next chapter...Thanks for reading and reviewing and your patience!

Thanks to starfishyeti!

The stalker

by elessar73

*** 28. chapter : Change for the better? Or not? ***

"Dad," Don almost yelled, when he saw Alan pacing in front of Charlie's hospital room. Images of pure horror flickered through his mind. 'Why was Alan not with Charlie? Had his condition turned for the worse?'

Alan stopped his movement by the sound of his older son's voice. He turned on his heels and looked into Donnie's fearful eyes.

"Dad," Don was gasping. "Is something wrong with Charlie?"

"No Donnie, calm down, okay. Everything´s just fine." Alan grabbed Don's face between his hands and forced him to focus on him. "Donnie, can you hear me?" Alan's tone of voice became soft. "Charlie's fine. Dr. Osbourne´s with him."

Comprehension slowly trickled into Don's mind. "What?" He asked still taken aback.

Alan soothed his son's cheek with his thumbs. "He's better son. Charlie woke up again, just when Dr. Osbourne stepped in. He was more alert then and even his fever´s dropped."

Don shook his head. "That's too good to be true Dad."

"Well," Alan hated to put a downer on his son's confidence but he was a man of clear words. His hands wandered from Don's cheeks to his shoulders and there they remained in support. "Charlie isn't out of the woods but the prognosis is much, much better. The doctor´s checking him right now. Anyway, it seems to be certain that Charlie wasn't poisoned but had an allergic reaction to the medicine, sort of."

"Yeah, I know. Dr. Osbourne told me about it." Don swallowed hard. "I, I just thought Charlie would be fine."

"Oh Donnie, of course Charlie will be fine, but it´ll take some time. The doctors have no idea of what damage the medicine´s done to him, but Donnie," Alan pressed his son's shoulder tightly and stated with all the determination he could muster, "Charlie is alive and will recover completely."

Don nodded his head slightly. "Yes Dad, I know." Don took a step back and leaned heavily against the wall. Not thinking about his injured hand, he punched the door and suddenly hissed in pain.

...

Mary strained her ears so she didn´t miss any part of the conversation. She´d watched when the physician had stepped into Charlie's room and soon after his father exited and had started pacing up and down the corridor.

Mary became itchy. She needed to know what was going on. The woman clenched her fists and forced herself to relax. She was close to storming out of the room-, but that would ruin all her plans. She inhaled deeply while keeping her eyes shut. 'Calm down, Mary. Your time will come,' she thought to herself when she actually understood parts of the conversation. Mary stood behind the door ears pressed tight as possible against the wooden door. She couldn't stop an evil grin forming on her face when she heard that Charlie was still alive and actually doing better. She would get her chance for revenge.

...

Don stood nearly back to back with the assassin, just inches away from her, inches away from saving his brother. But instead the agent fought for his composure.

"You okay Donnie?" Alan frowned at him. Don´s face had drained of all color and he was holding his left hand close to his chest. "What's wrong with your hand?"

Alan reached out to touch it, but Don pulled it away. "Nothing Dad just a little accident."

Alan's frown deepened. "What kind of accident, Don?"

"Leave it Dad, I'm fine." The agent pushed away from the door. He thought about how to break the news to Alan that Charlie was still in danger. The appearance of Dr. Osbourne delayed this task. The doctor stepped onto the floor with samples of blood in his hand smiling brightly. "Ah, the brother has returned. How's your hand?"

Don smirked. "I'm fine. How's Charlie?"

Alan looked from one man to the other wondering what was going on between them.

Dr. Osbourne closed the door silently behind him and stepped closer to the Eppes family. "Well, actually much better than expected." The doctor locked eyes with Don to gauge his reaction and the man didn't disappointed him. Don's dark eyes lighted up in joy.

"Well," the doctor started his report again, "forensics confirmed that Charlie's coffee was contaminated with a laxative. From the concentration of the medicine in the remaining fluid they predicted that Charlie took in almost a whole bottle."

Don and Alan paled simultaneously and took in a deep breath.

"Yeah," the doctor nodded, "that amount would cut down a horse. And in Charlie's case it was even worse due to the allergic reaction. His cardiovascular system couldn't take it and collapsed. But since we know the reason for it we have him on high doses of calcium and adrenaline to support his system. His stomach and gullet will be sore for a while but they´ll be better within a few days."

"So he will be okay?" Don asked skeptically, it all sounded so unreal.

"We´re still running some tests," the doctor lifted the blood samples a little. "To see if the medicine´s done some damages to Charlie's liver. But I'm optimistic." The doctor smiled encouragingly.

"That's good," Don murmured more to himself. He passed the doctor lightly slapping the man's shoulder. "Thank you."

The doctor blinked his eyes. "You're welcome."

...

Don opened the door to Charlie's room carefully and peered inside. Charlie lay on his back, eyes closed and mouth pressed tight together. Don frowned, his brother still looked pale and seemed to be in pain. Suspicion rose inside him regarding the information Dr. Osbourne had given them just minutes ago. Charlie appeared far from well. Don swallowed down the lump in his throat and stepped into the room. Dim light flooded through the window shades giving the room a ghostly look. A beam of light moved across the floor making the going by of the time visibly. Don stood at the door amazed by that movement when a soft cough made him startle. His eyes focused on the bed and he stared into the brown eyes of his brother.

"Charlie," Don needed two large steps to cross the room. He grabbed his brother's hand tightly and when Charlie returned the grip Don felt a spike of joy run through him. "Hey Buddy."

"Hey Don," Charlie's voice was hoarse and his attempt at speaking ended in a heavy coughing fit.

Don watched in shock, unable to move but came to his senses when Charlie pointed towards a glass of water on the nightstand. Don helped Charlie up into a sitting position and supported his neck while Charlie took little sips of the cool liquid. Finally the mathematician sank back into his pillows breathing heavily his eyes shut. Don watched him with concern. 'Maybe the doctor was wrong.' Softly he combed through the mop of curly hairs, a reminder of long ago childhood days and it still had its effect. Charlie's eyes popped open and a smile formed around the corners of his mouth.

"I'm fine Don," Charlie's voice was still hoarse but showed all the confirmation Don wanted to hear, so desperately wanted to believe. Tears sprung into his eyes and sobbing like a little child Don let his head sink onto the cushion right beside his brother.

"I thought I´d lost you for real this time," he stammered through his tears.

Charlie's eyes grew big. He hadn't expected such an emotional reaction. Don always was the tough guy. He felt his own eyes watering, but tried to blink the tears away. He wanted to be strong for Don, just once. Weakly he laid an arm around Don's back and caressed it softly. "Everything´ll be alright," he whispered into Don's ears and the older brother let himself fall into this comfort. 'Charlie was going to be okay.'

The view Alan caught when he entered the room warmed his heart. His sons held each other in a tight hug as if they couldn´t let go. He felt sorry for disturbing this intimate scene but he had to. He cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but there's an agent outside-, wanting to speak with you Donnie."

Don nodded and reluctantly let go of his brother. "Okay." He locked eyes with Charlie pushing away a wayward curl. "Be right back."

Charlie looked at him curiously. "What's going on? "

Don grinned. "No way Buddy, you need to rest. Just don't worry."

Charlie slid back into his pillows. He still felt exhausted and waves of pain constantly swept through his body. However he also wanted to know what was going on. His intuition told him that the talk in front of the door was about him.

Alan took the place Don had just abandoned holding his son's hand. Charlie's eyes were closed and his breath was regular as if he was sleeping. Alan was just as happy holding his son´s hand; he didn't need to talk right now.

"Dad," his son´s voice startled Alan and he took in a surprised breath.

"Charlie, I thought you were sleeping."

Charlie's eyes flew open. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frightened you."

"It's okay, I was just lost in thoughts. So do you need something, Kiddo?"

"No, not really," Charlie explained. "Mmm, do you know what is going on? What´s happened?"

Alan moved on his seat. This wasn't a subject he liked to discuss. "Well you had a bad reaction to some medicine."

Charlie looked puzzled. "Which medicine? I just take the painkillers."

Charlie stared at his father waiting for an explanation. Alan glanced towards the door hoping for Donnie to show up and save him, but the door remained resolutely shut. Alan took in a deep breath and filled Charlie in as much as he could.

In the beginning Charlie listened in disbelief, but soon fear took over. He closed his eyes listen to his father's voice telling him that he was the victim of a stroke. He slid deeper and deeper into his bed praying that the mattress would absorb him. He wanted to be invisible. At last his brain shut up, though he could still hear his father voice, his mind had settled in number-modus reciting prime numbers. Charlie was so lost in them that he didn't notice when his father stopped talking. Alan bent forward touching Charlie's shoulder. "Son, are you still awake?" It took a moment for Charlie to emerge from his safe haven but at last he managed it.

"I'm fine Dad," he stammered not sure if that was true but what else was he supposed to say? Alan watched him worriedly and shook his head.

"You'd better rest now Kiddo."

"Yeah, maybe, but..."

The opening of the door stopped Charlie. He looked up and saw his brother enter. Don sensed at once the change of mood in the room, fear hung in the air.

"You told him?" He asked his father.

Alan just nodded. "He had a right to know."

Don sighed. "I know, but it should have been me to tell him." He sat down on his brother's bed. "Hey Charlie, don't worry. We´ll get her. You'll be safe."

Charlie tried to comprehend what had happened. He couldn't make much sense of it. The whole situation was more like a movie than reality. But he knew that Don would protect him no matter what. "I trust you Donnie."

Don smiled brightly. His beloved brother hadn't lost his faith in him and that was at least one good thing.

A nurse dragged the Eppes men out of their silent musings. She placed a tray with jello on Charlie's nightstand smiling at him encouragingly. Charlie made a face. He wasn't up to eating anything. The nurse read his expression clearly. "Just try a little." She knew that kind of reaction from experience. "It's better than you think and you must eat something." She smiled at him brightly and Charlie didn't have the heart to disappoint her. He leaned over and grabbed the spoon. The nurse nodded in a friendly manner and left the room. Charlie dipped into the bowl and managed to get some onto his spoon. He tasted it carefully, but it tasted like he remembered it- just awful. He laid the spoon aside and lay back down.

Alan and Don had observed the scene without a word but they couldn't hide their concern. Charlie was thin to begin with. Since his car accident he had lost several pounds and this interlude would cost him several more. Alan wondered how Charlie would gain them back. His little boy wasn't at all that big an eater. But even so, the view of the unappetizing jello made his own stomach gurgle and he believed that Don was hungry as well.

Charlie for his part was a good observer and since his ears weren't harmed, he heard the rumble of the stomachs around him.

"You know what guys," he addressed his family. " You both should go home now, eat, sleep or whatever."

"But Charlie," Don tried to contradict.

"No 'buts' Don," Charlie was determined to send them home, "I'm fine and I´m sure there´s an agent sitting outside my door. I'm safe."

To Charlie's and Don's surprise their father agreed immediately. "I think you're right Kiddo."

Don was stunned, 'No Jewish mom today? Dad must be more than tired.'

"I guess we need a break, but we'll be back early tomorrow and I´ll call again before bedtime."

Don grinned, at this hint of his father's familiar behavior.

"That's okay." Charlie accepted the arrangement. Soon after his family had left Charlie fell asleep feeling safe and protected. That was at least, what they believed was the case.

TBC