Disclaimer: I don't own Charlie or the other Numb3rs characters.

Chapter 12

When Charlie got home with the groceries, and walked up to the apartment main door, he suddenly got the feeling that someone was watching him. Charlie swung around for a look. He didn't see anyone. He continued onto the main door. While Charlie was searching for the right key, Leslie came out the door.

"Hey Charlie"

"Hi Leslie, where are you off to?"

"I just have to run out for some soy milk. I'd ask if you need anything but you look like you were just shopping. You going to the gym tonight?

"I'm on my way just as soon as I put this stuff away."

"Good, then I will probably see you there." She held the door for Charlie and once he was through he went to the elevator and then to the sixth floor.

He had put away the groceries and changed into shorts and a t-shirt for his run. He took along his ipod this time. Again Charlie had planned to just run for a short while, but he had been overwhelmed by thinking about home today and once Charlie was on the treadmill and he felt himself relaxing, he just kept on running. As Bon Jovi sang on, Charlie ran.

When he did stop, he stepped off and noticed that Leslie was working on the stair climber. Charlie had already became aware that when he was running he was in his own world similar to when he was working with numbers but this time, it was his body and not his brain that was working nonstop and that was a welcome exchange.

When Charlie started his cool downs, Leslie came over to him. She said down on a nearby bench and asked "What is it you run from Charlie?"

The question caught Charlie off guard. He had not thought he was running from anything as much as he was relaxing his mind.

"Running relaxes my mind and body, I'm not running from anything. It's always been very hard for me to turn off my mind and this works miracles for me".

"Charlie when you run, you look so driven, determined even. You have the look of a man one the run from something or someone."

"That's an illusion, my only purpose really is to relax my mind. There was a time when the only way for me to relax my mind was to use it more, thinking and writing nearly non stop for a long time, days even. I found in running, I can turn my mind off for a while. I wish I'd of discovered how it could help me years ago."

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Don pulled into the driveway of Charlie's house. "Dad?" Don said loudly as he came in.

"In the kitchen" Alan yelled back at him.

"Hey Dad, okay if I stay for dinner?"

"You never have to ask to stay for dinner Donnie. I am only making a meat loaf though, so don't expect fancy."

"That sounds great. I'm sorry I've been a little busy with work. We just finished up a case. How are you doing?"

"Good, the house is too quiet lately. Pauline has been taking care of two of her grandchildren and I have barely seen her but she is coming over for dinner this evening ."

Don got a beer from the refrigerator and headed to the living room. He turned on the TV and turned it to a baseball game.

Don had let Pauline in when she rang the bell. "Hi Don, I didn't expect you here tonight."

"Hey Pauline. I dropped in pretty unexpectedly. I'll let Dad know you're here.

"Not necessary. I know the way."

As Pauline walked past him and into the kitchen Don wondered why he just did not like her.

'Not my problem' he thought as he headed back to his seat and the game.

A few minutes later Pauline came back out of the kitchen. She was standing looking at the TV and looked at Don. "Are you really interested in this game. My game shows are about to start."

"Tthat's okay, go ahead and change it."

He got up and took his beer into the kitchen.

"Need any help Dad?"

"No, everything is under control. You just relax a while."

Don was surprised when his dad said "Have you heard anything from Charlie?"

Don knew he would be the last person Charlie would call. "Not a word Dad."

"That's just not like him to not call when he's out of town."

"Probably been a little busy. I'm sure you'll be hearing from him soon."

"I know Charlie doesn't like Pauline and I'm pretty sure that was him that hung up on her but he could have called back. I've been here just waiting for him to call. Maybe I should use that phone number that he gave me and see what I can find out from Director Thompkins."

"I don't think you should do that yet. Just give Charlie some time. He'll come around."

"Come around? Is there something I should know Donnie?"

"Dad you know how Charlie gets. He doesn't think about anything but numbers when he's doing a project."

"I'm worried about him. He's probably not taking care of himself again. He was already too thin when he left."

"Charlie will contact you soon. I know he will."

During dinner, Alan and Don were thinking of Charlie and Pauline rambled on about her grandchildren.

After Don left Pauline asked, "Does he always drop by unannounced that way?"

"Pauline, I want Don to feel at home here. He is my family and is welcome here any time."

"I understand that, but I enjoy being alone with you."

"We've been alone many nights. Don's been too busy to stop over and I do like spending time with my son. If Charlie were in town, he would've been here most every night. This is Charlie's house and those boys are my family. Don and Charlie are the most important people in my life and I enjoy their company."

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Friday morning, the van load of agent recruits went a little further than the day before. Charlie found that he was surrounded by running trails, hills, fields and very few trees. This looked like the perfect place to run. Agent Belmont told him they could expect to be here for at least ninety minutes and that about that time Charlie should listen for the whistle and try not to be too far away at that time.

Charlie left his water bottle on the bus, stuffed his cell phone in his pocket, checked the time, it was 7:30 and started his run.

Charlie was enjoying the run immensely. His mind felt completely free, the slopes were perfect and the constant change that was different from a treadmill helped free up his mind all the more. Charlie stuck to the trails and did pay attention to the direction he was running in, he did not think it look good to his new team if he was late and the NSA had to send out a search party to look for their wayward leader.

At about the ninety minutes that Agent Belmont had told him of Charlie was nearly back to where the van was parked. The class was not here yet and Charlie took the time to do the cool downs. He got his water out of the van and waited.

Pretty soon, he could hear a series of whistles. Charlie did not know if that was a signal for anything but he could tell they were not too far away and he stayed at the van where he was. A few minutes later he again heard the same series of whistles. After yet another series of the whistles, he headed toward the noise to see if there was a problem. When Charlie got to Agent Belmont, there were surprisingly fewer recruits around. He told Charlie he was missing most of the group and believes they had lost their way.

"So what do you normally do in cases like this one?"

Agent Belmont smiled, "I blow my whistle."

Charlie sat on the ground near the other agent recruits and waited. It took fifteen minutes more for the missing recruits to find their way back.

They all headed back to the van, Agent Belmont did a head count and started a lecture on the importance of paying attention to the direction you were running and landmarks.

Once back at the training grounds, Charlie changed into jeans and t-shirt and headed to the office. Even with the delay he was early. The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. After his weight training class finished up Charlie changed back into his jean and t-shirt, grabbed his bag and headed home. Charlie was thrilled with the way the day had gone. His training classes were going well. He, of course, aced his test on the gun safety, cleaning and parts of the weapon. He could begin target practice on Monday.
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"Eppes"

"Hi Don, it's Derek."

"Did you get anything?"

"I'm sending them over the wire right now so you might want to pick them up before they circulate around the office."

Don went to the pick up the photos. He did not want anyone to see them, especially Megan.

"There are three from yesterday and one from this morning."

"Got em Derek. Thanks, I owe you one."

Don returned to his desk. He had an open file from the last case he had been working on. It was the last report and the files would be put away.

Making sure there was no one around, Don took a look at the photos. The first one showed Charlie walking from a parking lot and he had two bags of groceries in his arms. The next one was Charlie walking toward an apartment building with the same bags and the third one was with Charlie at the door of the same building. There was an attractive young woman in the photo with Charlie and they were both smiling. The final photo was Charlie walking out of the same building and it was an early morning photo. Charlie was wearing sweatpants and had on a t-shirt. There was a sportsbag in his hand as well as keys.

In all of the photos Don had to admit, Charlie looked good, rested. He looked happy even. Well, at least he found a few answers. Charlie was eating and he looked like he was okay.

What had he expected? Maybe a stressed and overwork consultant that Charlie looked like when they were working on the last case. No, these photos showed a major improvement over that mental image.

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Later, after his laps a surprise was waiting when open his laptop. Charlie had not been using his school email. The only email that Charlie had kept active was the email that was NSA and FBI related. It was not an email address that Don would use, but Charlie suspected Don had already tried his main email address and the email probably bounced. He would have had to get the email address from Merrick since he was the only one at the FBI office he'd used this address for.

Charlie,

Dad wanted to use the phone number you had given for Director Thompkins. I talked him out of it and assured him that you would be calling soon to let him know you are still alive. Dad is very worried.

Don

Charlie knew his dad would be worried. He had been gone for nearly three weeks now. Maybe he should make one quick call. Trouble was his dad did not do well with quick simple phone calls. Charlie knew that since his father started working again, he did use email again, but he had no idea how often he checked it. Charlie decided that for sure he would call his father on Sunday. It would be Father's Day and his dad should have received the card in the mail today. He would be sure to find out Dad's current email address and just let him think he was too busy to call very often but that email was no problem.

He went to the gym and brought along his ipod again. As he was listening to classic rock, he started running and his mind felt completely free so he kept running. Charlie realized he had been running for a long time when he finally stepped off the treadmill and did his cool downs.

When Charlie returned to the apartment, he had a salad and sandwich. He then took out his notes and laptop and started working on the security program.

About an hour later, he received a ding telling him there was another email. Charlie opened the email and it was again from Don.

Charlie,

No bouncing email this time. I had to steal the address from the FBI files.

Don

Charlie did not want to start thinking about Don or home tonight but he had a feeling if he did not respond, Don would send another email.

Don,

Message received.

Charlie

Charlie got back to work on the program and ended up working until the early morning hours.