Disclaimer: Characters etc belong to CBS and the show's creators.
Two
A couple of days later Don stopped by Charlie's office with some material for the case they were currently working on. He wandered the math department floor until he found his brother's cluttered office. Hoping to catch Charlie alone so he could casually question him on his feelings for Amita, he stopped in the doorway when he saw she was there in the office, alone.
"Amita, hi… I was looking for Charlie," Don stammered slightly.
She looked up from her laptop, a smile escaping her lips at the sight of the always cool agent looking perplexed. It was obvious he hadn't anticipated her presence there – he had barely stepped a foot inside the door.
"He's at a faculty meeting. He should be back in a half hour or so," Amita replied evenly, refusing to react to her unexpected, though not unwelcome, visitor.
"Oh." Don paused, unsure how to continue. He looked down at the folders in his hand. "I guess I should just leave these, then."
"I'll make sure he gets them," Amita said, rising to take the bundle. She turned her back on him and put them on Charlie's desk.
Don watched her from behind, and let out a long breath. He was definitely out of practice when it came to women. He was a skilled federal agent, an intelligent, worldly person. In high school and his twenties he had never had trouble attracting the opposite sex and relationships had come easily to him. But in more recent years he started experiencing a drought that was of his own doing, albeit without real intent.
Since leaving Albuquerque and Kim when his mother was diagnosed with cancer, Don had simply stopped dating. At first it was because his spare time was spent with his mother during her illness. Then after she died and he decided to stay in LA, his brief engagement to Kim over, he simply never rejoined the dating scene. He told himself he just didn't have time to meet anyone, didn't have the patience or desire to introduce anyone to his world and the baggage that came along with it. That only left women from that world, or one woman, namely Terry, but that was just another complex and difficult situation that he decided not to face.
Don realized he really had left it too long when simply being a room with a beautiful woman like Amita in a vaguely awkward situation left him tongue-tied. It was kind of pathetic, considering he had always been confident when it came to women. And baseball. Now he never even picked up a bat, and his tally with women was just as bleak.
Amita could feel his eyes on her but was in no real rush to turn around to face him. She pretended to straighten the items on Charlie's desk for several moments before she did.
"Did you want me to give him a message?" she said finally.
"Ah, yeah, just tell him these are some old field reports he might want to take a look at for the Phelps case… It's not urgent, I just thought they might help, you know… down the track."
Amita nodded, her face giving nothing away. She couldn't help but be secretly pleased that Don was acting so un-Don like. She had asked him to dinner on an impulse, before she had time to second guess herself and lose that split second of courage. While she had always liked Charlie's brother, and liked the fact he actually noticed her, unlike Charlie, Amita hadn't been planning to ask him out. It was not her standard M.O. – she usually wasn't the one who had to the asking. But Amita suspected that she would be waiting a long time for the older Eppes brother to make any sort of move, despite the fact she intuitively knew it was on his mind.
Don intrigued her, perhaps because he was so dissimilar from his brother. She couldn't help but be drawn to Charlie – his exceptional mind was awe-inspiring and he never failed to impress her on a daily basis. But despite being so passionate about numbers – perhaps a little too far on the obsessive scale sometimes – Charlie's emotions didn't translate to people as easily. There was a sense of disconnect there that Amita didn't get from Don. Logic and intellect were part of his make up too, but it was underpinned by his basic and seemingly effortless ability to connect with people. Amita was drawn to Don in a completely different way and lately it been hard to ignore.
She had even gone so far as to hint at it to Charlie. A few days previously when she had received an unfortunate dinner invitation from the docent of the railway museum they had visited, she told him she preferred it when men were upfront and asked her out if they were interested, instead of saying nothing so she had no idea if they were. She had been referring to Don and hoped to get some kind of clue from Charlie as to his interest in her, but her little fishing expedition had been cut short when she spied a depressed Larry in need of his friends' attention.
Except of course, when it came to Don she did have an idea about his interest in her, she had caught him looking at her on a number of occasions in a manner that made it pretty obvious he was attracted to her. But the frustrating part was that it appeared Don wasn't going to ask her out. Hence, her only recourse was to do the asking herself.
Amita hoped it was not going to make things weird between them. It was only an impulse, she reminded herself, to avoid any further embarrassment over the fact that he had not even answered her. That part was best forgotten.
Don was staring at a theorem outlined on one of Charlie's chalkboards, even though it made zero sense to him.
"Was there anything else I can help you with, Don?" Amita asked politely.
"Ah yeah, there is… I was thinking about the uh, thing, you asked me the other night…"
"'The Thing'?"
"Yeah, you know, dinner… with you. Dinner," he said, annoyed at his own inarticulateness.
"Mmm hmm?" Amita questioned nonchalantly.
"Is the invitation still there?"
She fixed him with a stare, her dark eyes twinkling. "Do you want it to be?"
Don rounded the table at the front of the room and leaned up against it, trying to act nonchalant. "Are you still interested in going out?"
"Do you think I would have asked if I wasn't?"
"What about Charlie?" Don crossed his arms.
"What about him?"
"Are you sure you weren't asking me to dinner because you can't date my brother?"
Amita raised her eyebrows as she gazed at him but her tone was light. "When someone is interested in you do you always assume they're just trying to make your brother jealous?"
"Is that a no, this has got nothing to do with Charlie?"
"Do you have to ask?"
Don pursed his lips, and narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. He felt like he was questioning a suspect, and being questioned in return. At least it was familiar territory. After a pause he said, "So, why did you ask me out?"
"Do you expect me to stand here and tell you why I like you, to flatter your ego?" she said, trying to sound incredulous.
"It's not like I knew you were going to ask me - what if I was surprised?"
Amita took a step closer to him, her eyes unwavering. "You think I never noticed the way you look at me?"
"When?"
"The briefing room every time I'm at your office, your brother's lecture last month, your father's house… ring any bells?"
Don couldn't exactly argue with that. He had found himself staring at Amita right in front of Charlie on several occasions. Luckily his little brother was oblivious to his interest in his mentee. A grin broke out on Don's face. It was a long time since he had flirted with anyone, and Amita definitely gave better than she got.
"Do you always answer a question with another question?" He had nowhere else to go.
Amita wasn't about to let him win. "Do you always take two days to say yes to a simple dinner invitation?"
Don broke eye contact before he started laughing. He ran a hand through his short dark hair, frustrated and at the same time uneasy about this verbal tennis match he didn't have to heart to terminate. There were things you just didn't do, and one of them was being interested in someone to whom your brother was also drawn. This particular scenario was complicated by the fact that not only was Charlie not allowed to become involved with his student, he would probably never act on any feelings he might have due to his own reluctance to date. Don knew this, he knew his brother. Don also knew what he himself wanted, even if Charlie didn't.
"How's Friday at 8? I'll pick you up?" he said, unable to hide is smile.
"Are you sure?" Amita asked coyly.
"Are you?"
"Didn't I already answer that?" She was smiling now too.
Don held her gaze a few moments longer, then nodded and headed for the door.
"So, I'll see you then?" he said over his shoulder.
"What do you think?"
Amita smothered her smile as she sat down in front of her laptop again, pretending to go back to work. Don let out a quiet chortle and left before either of them changed their minds.
