Coming Home
Usually, Terry was the one to call Don and usually it was on his cell. Thus, when she heard the familiar chirp of her cell – ringing his tone that she hadn't reprogrammed yet – she was shocked. Excusing herself from the conversation she was in the middle of, she picked up.
"Hey," she greeted. There was silence on the line for a few minutes.
"Don?" She heard the heavy breath on the other end of the line signifying he was there. "What's up?"
"He's gone," he said after a few minutes. Terry was confused.
"Who?" Don was silent again.
"Talk to me, Don," she requested softly.
"Ch-Charlie." Terry felt her blood run cold. It was an unfamiliar, uncomfortable feeling and Terry didn't want to believe Charlie Eppes was missing. She dropped into the closest chair, coincidentally her own, and vaguely hoped no one saw. Don's breath was shaking over the line and Terry realized how silent she'd been. It was around the same time she realized Don, usually strong, was crying. She made a decision, shoving her own fears to the back of her mind in favour of being strong for him.
"Hey, you'll get him back," she tried, reassuringly. Don't took a few minutes to compose himself.
"How can you be so sure?" Terry smiled at his insecurity even if she thought about the best way to respond to the question.
Because I'm the queen of the world and I order it to be so, she thought, well aware of the how much she wished it was true.
"I have faith." She spent a few more minutes calming him down before she hung up. It was only then that Terry allowed herself a boneless slump in her chair.
"Terry?" She looked up to find her friend, and fellow agent, Heather Jordan.
"You good?"
"Yeah."
"Good. We've got a new one."
Terry called Don more frequently now, worried that he would do something drastic and/or ridiculous. However, his deterioration didn't prepare her for the call from David.
"Lake," she answered swiftly, again stepping away from a briefing session with her team. Heather would fill her in later.
"Terry, David Sinclair."
"David, hi. What can I do for you?" He took a deep breath that Terry heard. Now worried, she took another precautionary step away from the others.
"David… you're scaring me here."
"You've got to find some way to get here." Terry, in her confusion, switched the phone to her other ear.
"What?"
"He's a mess, Terr. He's thrown himself into his work, I really don't know the last time he slept or talked to his dad…"
"Who?" She knew her voice told of her trepidation.
"Don." Terry sighed. She'd denied the possibilities of this call if only because she kept in constant and close contact with Don.
"How bad?" she asked softly.
"He does nothing but work. I don't know if he goes home…" Terry didn't need to hear anymore. In fact, it was breaking her heart to listen.
"How can I help?" This was the part that baffled her.
"I don't know, Terry, but until we find Charlie…"
"How is that?"
"Slow. Amita's been trying to at least make a trail." Terry heard the unspoken end. It's not the same.
"No calls or anything?"
"No from any kidnappers. The best we can assume is it's in conjunction with another case."
"Any ideas?"
"A few, but the uses for a mathematician aren't that numerous." That was logical.
"I still don't see what I can do," she said, bringing them back to the original reason for the call.
"Neither do I, Terry, but I certainly hope it's something."
"I'm not making any guarantees," she said, eying the end of the conversation of her teammates.
"Fair. I'll talk to you," David responded.
"Yeah. Thanks David." They hung up.
"Heather," she called. The brunette agent turned as the rest of the team departed to run down whatever leads they had.
"You're taking over. I need to have a chat with the higher ups." Heather looked confused, but nodded.
"I'll fill you in later." Terry smiled her thanks as she left for the director's office.
Also, thanks so much for the reviews, especially since this story was one I felt was going to be sketchy from the beginning. It means the world to me. You guys are awesome.