Omi as always
The betas who helped get this fic out of development hell
Xanthia for turning my rough idea into a real draft
B for forcing me to insert much needed clarity
Lee Ann for making my Charlie and my ending more believable
Disclaimers:
"A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend" - Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I do not own the characters Charlie, Don or Larry nor do I have any rights
to anything related to the TV show Numb3rs. I plead fair use and claim only
my own writing and characters.
Chapter 1:
Complete and utter darkness.
Charlie's eyes took a moment to adjust to the sudden loss of light in his classroom; his heartbeat took a little longer. Consulting with the FBI had taught him that there were often things worse than childhood nightmare monsters lurking in the dark.
Charlie felt his way over to his filing cabinet and pulled out the nylon bag containing his Cal Sci provided emergency supplies. His anxiety level rose even higher when he discovered that the batteries in the flashlight were dead. He'd have words with the building's safety manager in the morning, but for now there was no light to be had.
Charlie closed up the bag and started putting it away, then belatedly remembered something. He pulled the bag back out and checked it; it did include a small cache of waterproof matches. Not many, but if it could get him out of the building there would certainly be enough moonlight to go from there.
Not wanting to be weighed down, he locked up his bag and laptop in the filing cabinet, rather than haul them home just for the few hours he needed to sleep and shower. He pulled on his jacket and stood just inside the doorway of his classroom for a few minutes, trying to amass enough courage to head out into the eerie pitch black hallway. After a moment, he lit up a match and quickly stepped into the hall...
...totally knocking over another person. Off balance, he tumbled to the floor himself. Charlie let out a startled yelp and simultaneously heard a woman scream. The match went out as he dropped it and they were in darkness again. He could hear the woman scrambling to get away, her panicked breath echoing through the empty space.
"Wait, wait... Please... I'm not going to hurt you," he called out to her reassuringly, and quickly lit another match.
The woman was crouched up against the wall, her eyes filled with terror.
"I'm a professor here. I just got caught in the blackout, same as you."
She did not look readily convinced.
"My name is Charlie Eppes. If you don't believe me, go into my classroom and take a look. My name is all over the place in there." He gestured to the doorway behind him but his match went out again.
"You're Charlie Eppes?" Her timid voice came through the dark.
"Yes, I am," he replied gently. She was obviously traumatized by the fright he had given her and he felt badly for it.
"You're Larry's friend. He's... he's talked about you often. I'm Deirdre. Actually, he was supposed to introduce us tonight, but I got lost looking for your classroom."
"Wait? Was that tonight? Then you must be Dr. Rydell, the new Comp Sci professor."
There was a pause, then the woman laughed. "I feel so stupid," she said. "Here I am with a 160 IQ and I try to answer your question by nodding when you obviously can't see me."
Charlie lit another match and held it up closer so he could see her face. "I can see you now."
In the flicker of the match's light, he could tell she was incredibly lovely, with dark hair and pale blue eyes that still showed the traces of fear.
"Ouch!" He'd held the match too long gazing at her and paid for it with burnt fingers.
"Are you okay?" he heard her ask.
"I'm fine," he mumbled, a little embarrassed. "These matches don't last very long and I've only got a few left."
"Well, now that we've figured out that neither of us is an ax murderer, why don't we use them to get out of this place?"
Charlie was about to nod and laughed instead, realizing that, despite his own IQ, he'd almost fallen into the same trap she had.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing." Charlie choked down his laughter and got up off the floor. He lit another match and offered Deirdre his hand. "Come on, we'll walk out holding on to each other so we don't get separated. I know the stairwells in this place and we're going to have to negotiate them since the elevators will be out."
Deirdre took his hand and rose just before the match went out again. She stood close to him and he could feel heat radiating off her body, smell the sweet scent of her shampoo and feel her breath on his neck. Suddenly the dark seemed more sensual than scary.
"You know, I can't believe I didn't hear you coming. Were you in stealth mode or something?" Charlie knew the computer in-joke would not be lost on someone with Deirdre's computer science background.
"Very funny," she scoffed good-naturedly. "I just came from giving a lecture and my feet are killing me. I figured since the place seemed close to empty that no one would hassle me if I took off my shoes and walked in my bare feet."
"You know Cal Sci has a very strict dress code. You could get in deep trouble if I turned you in," Charlie said in mock seriousness.
Deirdre groaned and struck him lightly on the chest in protest. Charlie chuckled, imagining her expression.
"Fine, make fun of me, just get me out of here. I... I don't like the dark."
As they turned to walk out of the building, the unmistakable sound of gunfire erupted from the other end of the hall.
