A/N: I know, it's taken me a little while to get this up. Sorry. Hope it's worth it. So, I've done my thing, now you do yours and review!
Chapter Seven: Charlie
Watching the door close, Charlie started counting the seconds. Normally it relaxed him, like running through number sequences in his head. Prime numbers, Fibonacci's sequence, binary code, different bases, they were relaxing to his overworked brain. Letting him wind down after a long day, but now, right now, they came so slowly. His heart beat faster than these numbers came.
It was fifteen seconds after the door closed that Derick called to him.
"Dr. Eppes? I'm stuck," he said, Charlie could hear the confusion in his voice. When Charlie looked over at Derick, the boy was staring at the blackboard, chalk in his right hand, eraser in his left.
Charlie stared at the boy for a moment, watching the setting sun turn Derick's whole face into a shadow. He wondered how often he was watched in this position, had they ever stood there wondering what he was wondering?
Probably not.
They didn't have to wonder about parents kidnapping him.
"Call me Charlie," he said, smiling at Derick as he walked, taking a look at his work. The problem was easy to spot, and he explained while another portion of his mind kept wondering. Alice was hiding something; he'd seen it in her eyes. He knew her well enough to know when she held something back.
What didn't she tell him?
Why?
Probably because of Derick. If he'd tried, Derick would have been able to hear their conversation. But he'd been so engrossed in the proof, he hadn't so much as looked up when she left the room, leaving him with a total stranger.
How had she known the police couldn't arrest Derick's father? Had she talked to the police? Alice probably called Don. She wouldn't have to explain as much to him, Don would understand and he'd help. It was a logical choice. She'd do that, especially if she was as worried as she seemed to be.
How had Derick's father known where he'd be? Alice wouldn't have told him. Neither would Derick's mother, if things were as bad they must be. Derick? Maybe a brother or sister? He knew Derick had a brother, anyone else? Stepfather? Stepmother, maybe. Did he follow them?
There were too many unknowns. He should have asked more questions.
Charlie glanced at the clock, it'd been only forty second.
He walked over to the windows, the math now looked uninteresting. Charlie tried to imagine what Don would think if he'd heard that thought. Math, uninteresting, Charlie shook his head, amused at the thought. He wouldn't believe it. Larry would probably stammer until he passed out.
No one understood that. Charlie had only realized that lately, since he'd started working with Don again. Well, maybe before that, when Don came back to LA, and they started getting closer. But especially since Don got hurt in the bank shoot out. That was when he realized it: the math was always going to be there, it's people who weren't.
The math was a constant. Eternal. Even if Charlie solved every problem he could ever solve, there would still be more left to uncover. If he had a hundred lifetimes, he'd still only have figured out a fraction of it all. And for a long time, it had been the search which drove him. But he learned it wasn't everything in his life; it couldn't be anymore. He wouldn't let it be.
Maybe he should have realized it when his mother died, understood that math shouldn't be everything in his life; it was certainly when this whole gradual realization started. But, he supposed, it didn't really hit him because parents are supposed to die before their children. It wasn't pleasant, but it's a fact of life.
And then there was Don.
In the back of an ambulance, bleeding.
And yes, big brothers were supposed to die before little brothers, but not so soon. Not so young.
It scared him, and so he reverted to the math, to P vs. NP, but it taught him something. That P vs. NP was always going to be there. Math was always going to be there But people, people like his mother, and Don, and every other person on the planet was only going to be here once. Now.
Which is why this situation scared him. Charlie didn't know what Alice was facing, he didn't even know who she was facing. Charlie hadn't asked what Derick's father looked like, hell, not even his name. Alice was out there, alone, and Charlie couldn't help her in any way other than watching the kid.
How many times had she helped him?
And with that thought the memories came back...
When she called Charlie over to sit at her table, with her friends, giving up her place so he could sit towards the middle of their group, away from Kevin Wilcox, an upper classmen who had a grudge against Charlie.
When the first french fry hit Caroline's face, Charlie started to pack up his bag. The first people who were nice to him since school began and it was over.
"Where are you going?" Ali asked.
"You're going to get hit if I stay.
"It's just food," Ryan said. "Besides, I have better aim."
And he remembered smiling in amazement as Kevin Wilcox had to go through the rest of the day smelling like the tuna fish sandwich smeared on his shirt.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
Ali skipping class for the third time that month in order to find Charlie after the fight. It'd been between Geometry and Spanish, one of the only times when he didn't have any friends to walk with.
He was hiding in the boy's bathroom, but when she heard Charlie crying in the stalls, she walked in without fanfare. She swung each of the stalls open until he found Charlie's locked.
"Come on, Charlie, open the door."
"No. Just go back to class."
"Too late, Mr. Pimental locks the door when the bell rings. Now come on, I'll wait with you in the office until your mom and dad come."
"No."
"We've been looking for you."
Charlie didn't have to wonder who she was talking about, and it wasn't the principles. "So?"
"Charlie when you get monosyllabic, I get worried."
"So don't."
She sighed. "Fine, you want to sit in this reeking bathroom for the rest of the day, that's your choice. Either way, when I leave here, I'm calling your parents and telling them where they can find you."
Charlie sighed and unlocked the door. It was bad enough that he'd been beaten up and he'd hidden in the bathroom, but for his parents to find him there...
Ali walked with him down to the office, and when he didn't want to explain to his parents, she made the call. And when Mrs. Ronquillo, the secretary, asked if Alice would like to go back to class, Alice responded no, she was fine right here.
"I'd like you to go back to class."
"And I'm certain you'd also like a pay raise and a few extra weeks vacation, but it ain't gonna happen."
Charlie had to bury a laugh as Mrs. Ronquillo gave up.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
When Don made the varsity baseball team, and Charlie went to every game. He asked Ali to come with him to the game. Ali saying she had a lot of homework. Every game, it was too much homework, a project, a test. And then his mom explain that Ali wanted him and Don to have something special they could do together.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
When her parents died, how she ran from the room when ever he came in, afraid of letting him see her cry. How Ali would lock herself in the guest room, away from him and from everyone.
How on the day of the wake, everyone stopped him when he went to knock on her door. How he went into the back yard and looked in her window, to see if she was okay. How she laughed after she caught him trying to sneak a look. The first time she'd laughed in days.
She opened her window, pulled him inside, and talked to him. How she cried, and made him promise to always tell his parents that he loves them, even when he's angry at them, because she didn't and now her parents were dead, and they didn't know.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
When he graduated from college, with a Ph. D. in mathematics, how she flew back to LA from New York. She had only that day to spend there, flying in at three in the morning, after she got off her shift at the NYU psych ward, and how she had to go back on a redeye in order to be back for work the next day.
How he was so scared as he was walking across the stage, but heard her screaming his name. How she was standing on her chair, pulling Don up to stand on his chair, grinning like a Cheshire cat.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
When she got married, how his dad walked her down the aisle and gave her away.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-
When his mother was sick and dying, and he was locked away in the garage working night and day on P vs. NP. How Ali came home to take care of them all, knowing that Don and Alan could take care of Mrs. Eppes, but Charlie needed her.
How every night she came into the garage and sit down, so quietly, a sandwich and glass of milk with her. She'd be so quiet sometimes that he wouldn't hear her come in, but then she'd talk. He remembered how tired she looked, how sad, but she still took care of him.
Every night she would convince him to eat the sandwich, drink the milk, and sit down next to her for a little while. And every night, when she got him to sit, he'd fall asleep; and when he woke up there would be a blanket around him, a pillow beneath his head, and another sandwich and and glass of milk on the table.
How one night as Ali was leaving he woke up and tried to explain why he couldn't go with her, why he couldn't leave this garage. That when he gets upset, his mind solves problems the best, it makes connections he never saw before. How if he stopped, they'd disappear and he'd have to start at the beginning again.
"I just wish I could read to her," he whispered. "Like she did when I was sick."
He hadn't thought Ali had been able to hear him,he'd spoken so softly, but then she asked,
"What did she read?"
"Through the Looking Glass," he said, glancing at the chalk board, his mind already starting to work.
"I'll read to her," Ali said simply.
"Thanks," he said, looking her in the eyes for only a moment before getting up to go to the chalkboard. "Alice?" he asked when she turned to leave.
"Yeah, Charlie?"
"Tell Mom I love her. Make sure she knows it's me. That I'm saying this to her."
"Okay," she whispers, turning to leave.
Charlie looks at the clock. It'd been less than a minute.
Damn it, Charlie thought, walking to the phone. She could be angry at him if she wanted, but he was calling now. Alice was hiding something, and if it was half as bad as Charlie could imagine, they couldn't waste any time.
"Be good for a minute, Derick, I need to make a phone call."
"Okay," the boy said. "Who're you calling?"
"My brother," Charlie said, stepping into his office. He left the door open and kept an eye on Derick as he dialed. He wasn't worried about Derick walking in, BBR takes time to work out, even if you know what you're doing.
"Yeah? Eppes," Don answered.
"Hi, Don, it's me. Um, I need your help. Actually, it's Ali, she needs your help."
"What's wrong, Charlie? Is it about Michael Seed?"
"Uh, yeah. She talked to you about it?"
"Called me last night, said the guy had threatened to kill her, kidnap his son."
"Wha... Wait," he shot a look over to Derick. Making certain he lowered his voice, Charlie hissed out, "Kill her? Um, where? When?"
"Yesterday, when she was at the kid's school, um, what's his name..."
"Derick," Charlie provided. His brain hadn't stopped moving since he heard those words. That's what she was hiding, that's what she didn't want me to know. I'd have never let her leave if I knew. Why'd she go out there?
"Yeah, she used to have a restraining order against him, but it lapsed a few years ago," Don said. "Charlie, what's going on?"
Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it. "He's here, Don. At Cal Sci. Alice went out to confront him. I didn't know everything. I didn't know he threaten to kill her!"
"Hold on, Michael Seed is there, now"
"Yeah. Alice brought Derick here today, and when she looked out the window, he was here."
"Okay, I'm coming over there. Keep an eye on Derick. He's as much a target as Alice is. I'll be there soon."
"Yeah," Charlie said, hanging up. He did the math in his head, Don's office was half an hour away by bike, twenty by car. If he put on the siren he might cut the time in half. But in ten minutes... what?
Everything, his mind screamed. Anything. Alice could be dead in ten minutes.
"Hey, Derick, how about we take a walk? So I can show you around?" Charlie asked, stepping out of his office.
Derick looked up from the proof to Charlie, then back, split between the two.
"Come on," Charlie said. "That'll be there when we get back. I have a few colleagues I want to introduce you to."
"Sure," Derick shrugged his shoulders, putting the chalk down. "Where are we going first?"
"Uh, I don't know," Charlie said, walking with him down the hallways. "How about we just see where we end up, okay?"
By the time they got outside, Derick was chattering next to Charlie, just throwing out odd statements and questions. Half the time Derick had to repeat what he said, Charlie's mind was not in the conversation, instead he was trying to figure where Alice would go... where Michael might take her.
After a few minutes of wandering, his stomach dropped as he spotted something on the wall at eye level.
Blood. Still wet. And a few pieces of hair.
He was still processing the sight of this when he heard Derick scream.
