[Y/N] stood in front of her closet and looked through her outfits. Her eyes scanned over the different coloured dresses lined up before her. Eventually, her eyes landed on a [F/C], knee-length dress. She picked the dress out of the closet and held it up in front of her. She smiled at her reflection, closed the closet, and went to the bathroom to put on the dress.

Once she had put on the dress, she went back to her room. She went back over to the closet and picked up the pair of [C/C] heels that sat beside it. She took the shoes back to her bed where she sat down and began putting them on. She adjusted the straps on her heels, made sure they and the dress were comfortable, and went back into the bathroom to fix her hair.

She picked up the brush and looked in the mirror. She debated what to do with her [H/L], [H/C] hair. She ran the brush through her hair until it was soft and manageable and looked in the mirror. She loved how she looked and decided to leave it as it was. She put the brush back, left the bathroom, and headed down the stairs.

Her heels tapped out sharp, staccato clicks against the polished, hard-wood floor. She smiled at the thought of going out tonight. Charlie Eppes, the brother of her coworker, Don, had invited her out on a date. She was surprised when he asked her because she thought that he was still with Amita. Without thinking, she asked about the other woman.

"We… didn't quite work out." He paused for a moment and began to gesture with his hands. "She said that I spent too much time working and not enough time with her, so we broke it off."

[Y/N] mouthed "oh" and nodded. She looked away for a moment before saying that she would love to go out on a date with him. He had smiled, told her when he got off of work, and said that he might be a bit late because some students might have some questions about their new projects. She had smiled back at him, nodded, and said that she would see him then.

She checked her watch as she reached for the doorknob. It was now 30 minutes after the school had closed, and she had decided to go on over to the school to see if Charlie was still there. She left her house, locked the door, and walked over to her car. She opened the door to her car, got in, and started down the road towards CalSci.

After about a 15 minute drive, she had finally arrived at the college. The college track team was still there along with a few teachers and the coaches. She nodded and smiled at those who greeted her as she walked to Charlie's classroom. Her heels clacked against the cold hallway floors, echoing loudly around her. Eventually, she found his door, which was slightly opened.

She knocked lightly on the wooden door. She didn't hear a response, so she tried again. Like the first time, she got no response. She gently pushed the door open and went inside. She saw Charlie standing in front of his chalkboard, which was covered in equations that were probably for a case that Don asked him to help with. She shut the door behind her, leaving it slightly opened like it was before. She walked over to an empty chair and sat down, still looking at the equations that were scrawled across the board.

Charlie was focused on the numbers in front of him. He didn't notice the door open, and he hadn't noticed the girl who came into his room and sat down in his chair. He continued writing numbers and letters on the board. He stood back and read over what he just wrote, applying what he knew from the case to the equations. He turned back to the papers on his desk, which had more information he needed to go through. While looking through the papers, he noticed a shadow that he didn't think was there before. He glanced up to see [Y/N] reading over what he was writing and trying to make sense of it. He hadn't expected her to be early. He checked his watch. [Y/N] wasn't early, he was late.

"Don give you a new case?" [Y/N] asked. She stood up from the chair and walked over to his desk.

"Yeah. I didn't expect to be working on it for this long." He paused, tapping his chalk against his other hand. "Um, I could leave this here for now and finish it tomorrow, if you want."

"Oh, no, you don't have to. Are you close to being done with it, whatever 'it' is." Her eyes roamed across everything that he had written.

"Almost, I just have to run a few more of these locations through it to make sure it's right." He held up the papers in his hand.

[Y/N] nodded. "Can you show me how you run those through? I've never seen anything like this."

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Charlie motioned for her to join him on the other side of the desk.

He showed her how he plugged in the information he was given and how he identified the patterns that nobody at the FBI had picked up on. Every now and then [Y/N] would ask how he knew where something went and how it was connected, and he would answer to the best of his ability. Sometimes he would use one of his analogies, which helped make what he was saying easier to understand. She would nod and follow along as best as she could. It felt like she was attending another class or lecture from college except she actually understood what was being explained to her.

'It's no wonder all of his students love his classes,' she thought. Charlie was putting the finishing touches on the equations he had been explaining. [Y/N] smiled to herself and looked out the window. The track team, coaches, and teachers had left for home over half an hour ago. The sky was now a beautiful, peaceful shade of dark lavender. Before she could get too caught up in the beauty of the evening, Charlie's phone started ringing.

"Could you answer that for me? It's probably Don, or Dad."

"Sure." She picked up his phone and flipped it open. "Hello?"

"Hey, [Y/N], where are you and Charlie at?" Don asked.

"We're still at the school. We'll be leaving in a few minutes. Did you need something?"

"Nah, Dad and I were just wondering where you all were. Weren't you too supposed to go out on a date or something?"

"We were, but we started talking here and lost track of time."

"Ah. Well, you two be careful when you drive home. It's getting pretty dark."

"Yeah, will do. Bye, Don."

"Bye."

"Sorry we couldn't go out tonight," Charlie said. He sat beside [Y/N] in the passenger seat.

"Don't worry about it. I still had fun listening to you explain everything about those equations." She smiled.

"Maybe we could reschedule our date to a day when neither of us are working."

"I would like that. Maybe we could get dinner?"

"Sure, that sounds nice."

By the time they had arrived back at Charlie's house, it was pitch black outside. They parked in the driveway beside Don's car. [Y/N] was going to go on home, but Charlie insisted that she come inside and have something to eat since they hadn't gone out to eat like they had planned to. She agreed and followed him inside.

She greeted Alan and Don when she stepped through the door. They smiled at her and asked how she was. She told them that she was good and told them about the day that she had. Charlie greeted his father and brother and went to the kitchen to see what they could have. [Y/N] went over to the couch and sat down on the far end. She talked with the two elder Eppes men while Charlie looked around the kitchen. Eventually, he called her to come join him in the other room.

They sat together at the table and talked about whatever came to mind: shows they had watched, books they had read, plays they had seen, and stories from their childhood. A little while later, after they had finished their meal, they went back into the living room with the two others. They continued talking among each other for almost an hour. They recounted stories from their school days and from work and told jokes to each other.

[Y/N] looked down at her watch. "Wow, it's late. I have to get home."

"It's too dark for you to be driving now, especially on these roads." Don took a drink of the beer he had brought from the kitchen.

"Yeah," Charlie agreed, "it wouldn't be safe for you to drive. You can stay here if you want."

[Y/N] looked out the living room window. The road could barely be seen due to how dark it was outside. She sighed, "Yeah. Let me just go out to the car. I have an overnight bag in there just in case I can't get home for some reason."

She went out to the car and retrieved her overnight bag. Once she was back inside, she asked where she would be sleeping. Charlie showed her to the guest room on the second floor beside Don's room. He went back downstairs to talk to his father and brother while [Y/N] changed out of her dress and heels and put on her pajamas. She folded her dress and put it in the bottom of the bag along with her shoes. Once she was dressed and had her dress and shoes put away, she went back downstairs.

They sat and talked together for almost an hour and a half longer before they decided that it was time to go to bed. They wished each other a good night and headed off to their separate bedrooms. [Y/N] got in her bed and pulled the covers up around her shoulders. She was happy that they let her stay at their house. She was nervous about driving home in the dark and staying home alone, especially with the recent cases they had been investigating. She made a mental note to thank them again in the closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful, pleasant-dream-filled sleep.