NUMB3RS
Chapter 1 Charlie's Problem"What's the problem?" Don Epps asked his younger brother
"Nothing" Charlie lied rewriting the problem he had scribbled through
Don worked for the FBI so he could tell when something bothered his brother so he acted like he already knew.
"Are you busy?" Don asked Charlie
"Extremely" Charlie lied
"Yeah I know that tone" Don said, "you look extremely busy" he teased
Charlie was writing out another thesis for a paper he started when Don had come in. Besides, Charlie thought he had bigger problems.
"Come on you're coming with me to headquarters" Don ordered
"Are you ordering me?" Charlie asked dumbfounded
Don just smiled.
Charlie had been to the FBI Headquarters countless times and even to the NSA to consult, but never when under alert.
"What's going on?" Charlie asked when they got inside
"We're under high alert" Don answered
"Why?" Charlie asked
"The US has been threatened" Don answered heading toward the briefing room
"By who?" Charlie asked running after him
Don didn't answer he just kept walking
"Hello, earth to Don" Charlie said, "I can help if you'd let me"
"Wait here" Don, ordered closing the door
2 Hours Later
Charlie waited outside for the door to open he began to pace when he walked into a female agent.
"Sorry" Charlie apologized picking up his papers he had dropped.
"It's alright," she said handing Charlie his thesis statement, their eyes met
"I'm Charlie Epps" Charlie said introducing himself
"Leah Asher" Leah said showing him the badge
"Nice to meet you" Charlie said putting the papers in his backpack
"Are you Don Epps' brother? The mathematician?" Leah asked
Charlie looked down he hadn't been flattered since Princeton, when he was 13.
"Thank you" Charlie said blushing then pretending to act cool and lean against the door to the briefing room when it opened, he fell through back onto the floor
Leah smiled and said "Hi" to Don
Charlie got back up and regained his attitude
"You missed the debriefing" Don told Leah
"I know" Leah said, "I caught it"
"Have you met my brother Charlie?" Don asked
"We just met" Charlie cut in
Charlie sat at the kitchen table the papers he had collected scattered all over the surface and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop thinking about Agent Leah Asher, one of his brother's agents.
Alan Epps watched his 35-year-old son write down numbers and letters but every 5 minutes he started to zone out then remembered he was supposed to be working.
"What are you thinking?" Alan asked
"Nothing" Charlie lied looking back down to the sheet of paper that had multiple equations written all over it
Just then Don walked in with Agent Leah Asher. Charlie's mouth went dry, his palms got sweaty, and his worst fear…he forgot the problem at hand! Don went upstairs to take a shower and to change his shirt.
"Hi" Leah said to Charlie
"Hi" Charlie said smiling shyly surprised he managed to speak at all
"What are you working on?" Leah asked curiously sitting beside Charlie
Charlie had never dated in his entire life and now when the moment presented itself he felt like he did the first day of school…in Princeton, nervous, excited, scared, happy, and extremely nervous all at once.
"Uh, it's an algorithm" Charlie started to explain to Leah "I'm just figuring this out the long way" he said knocking off the papers he had just graded
"What are you doing?" Don asked as Charlie gathered up his papers from the floor and Leah
"Nothing" Charlie lied hiding the blush that was creeping up on his face
"He knocked his papers off the table," Leah said protecting Charlie's embarecement
"Yeah, that's right" Charlie said going with it, he blushed again, he seemed to do it a lot lately
It was then Don had a revelation. Charlie had a crush on Leah. And Don wanted Charlie to be happy so he would secretly set out to hook up his little brother.
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