Disclaimer: I do not own Charlie or any of the Numb3rs characters.
Chapter 15
Charlie just stood there staring at him and looking wildly confused. Don was pretty sure Charlie was in shock. Was that panic Don saw?
"Wh..What are you doing here?" Charlie's chocolate eyes were big and looked pained, like it hurt Charlie to look at him.
Don walked back toward their father with the cart. "Do you have them all Dad?" There was a rather large mound around Alan.
"I'm just waiting for the one with my clothes in it now."
"None of these others have clothes in them?"
"Of course they do, but those are Charlie's clothes. I'm waiting for mine now."
Charlie was frozen in place. People were walking by him, he could feel the rush of the air and he caught the occasional odor of perfume. The noises around him were all mixed together and sounded like a tornado bearing down on him. The bright red bag made yet another circle.
People were getting their luggage off the belt, but not the bright red bag, Don was loading up the rental cart with the luggage. Alan was watching for the missing bag and Charlie was wondering if he could make a mad dash out the door and just get out of there. Why had Don come? Why hadn't he been told so that he could prepare himself?
"Dad, the way this is going, I bet your clothes are on their way to Atlanta as we speak" Don told Alan.
Charlie looked at Don. 'Why did he have to come?' He felt his shock give way. 'Okay, Don is here, I deal with it or I leave them both here'. 'They wouldn't be stranded. They could just wait for the next return flight home'. 'Could I be disowned? It is my house after all'.
"The bags were all together and all marked with the same tags, now Charlie can probably tell me what the odds are of them losing the one bag that I need the most out of all of these bags that I brought with me."
Charlie finally found his footing. He realized he was tricked by his family and they would be discussing it later. He looked at the loaded cart, he looked at the belt still circling with just one bag, the bright red bag, he looked at the empty baggage claim standing area and he sized up the situation.
"Right now Dad, those odds are pretty good. Everyone's gone; I do believe they're not dropping any more bags out of there. Let's go fill out a claim and get out of here. They'll bring you your bag when they find it."
"I'm not leaving without that bag. If I don't have that bag that means I don't have anything else to wear."
"What you're wearing will be just fine for tomorrow; we have a mall and everything here in case the bag doesn't show up." Charlie told him.
"I can't understand how they could possibly lose one bag out of the seven that I checked. And why that one anyway?"
"Statically speaking, you threw the odds in your favor by checking so many bags on the flight and unless I miss my guess, you paid quite a bit extra to bring all of those bags. You could've asked me and I would have told you that the apartment was completely furnished right down to the pots and pans when I moved in and that I've been to the mall for whatever I've needed since then." Charlie looked around. "I see the claim office over there, let's go".
Don had been standing silently by and did not offer a word now. Charlie had obviously recovered from his shock and Don thought it best not to test his luck. Charlie may just leave him stranded at the airport.
The youngest Eppes was walking toward the claim office and turned to look back at his dad.
Alan was still standing near the loaded cart watching for another bag to be dropped onto the belt. "Dad? You need to file the claim; the ticket is in your name".
"I'll get the cart Dad, you go ahead" Don told Alan.
Alan had been in there for ten minutes when Charlie felt the rest of his patience flicker away. He moved close to where Alan was sitting and writing "Dad? Is there a problem?" He really did try to keep the irritation from his voice.
"The form asked what was in the bag and I am listing them, I'll probably need more paper."
Charlie closed his eyes and was determined that he would not make a scene here in this tiny office. "What you are supposed to write is MEN'S CLOTHES. They don't need to know the color of your socks." Charlie looked at the clerk behind the desk, "didn't you explain that he didn't need all that information?"
The young girl looked at Charlie, blinked and said "I did" and the look she gave him dared him to argue with her.
"Dad, just sign the form and let's go now, please." Charlie took the form from his father after it was signed and put in his home address and cell phone number.
As Don was pushing the cart Alan asked how they were getting to Charlie's apartment. He had hoped it was not by cab this time of the night.
"I bought a car and it's parked near the main entrance. Of course the main entrance is pretty far away from the Baggage Claim so that great spot doesn't mean anything now."
"You buy a driver too?"
Just then a woman hurried past them, and in her left hand was the bright red bag.
Charlie really could not help himself. He tried to stop it before it started. He just started laughing and he could not get himself to stop. He was not sure if he was releasing the tension that had been storing up ever since his morning run or if he was completely losing his mind, but he was standing in the middle of the deserted Baggage Claim section laughing. Alan and Don were looking at each other, somewhat concerned before Charlie managed to control himself.
"G--, I needed that" Charlie said to no one in particular. Without looking at either of them, Charlie calmly started walking toward the main entrance leaving the two of them to hurry to catch up.
Don pushed the cart and followed his brother out to the car. Charlie popped the trunk and they put as much as they could in it and then Charlie put the rest in the backseat. He had purposely spread the bags over the seat and Don had to rearrange them to fit himself in.
Charlie got into the driver's seat and Alan was looking at him. He knew his father was afraid to ask in case his question started Charlie on another mental episode of laughter so he told him "I have my driver's license Dad, get in and let's get out of here."
After Charlie paid the parking attendant, he pulled out of the lot. Charlie decided that nothing had gone his way this evening and he was doing this his own way now. He pulled into the first fast food place he could find and pulled up to the drive thru. Charlie had seen his dad and Don just looking at each other as he placed his order. He then turned to them and asked if they wanted anything. After placing all of their food orders, Charlie drove to the window, paid, picked up the order and drove away.
"Charlie, wouldn't it have been easier to go in?" Alan asked as he took an item out of the bag in his hand and handed the bag back to Don.
"Not for me" Charlie responded. They ate in silence on the way to the apartment.
When they got to the apartment building, they unloaded the bags and carried them in. After the elevator ride, Charlie unlocked the apartment door and he took the bags into his bedroom and dropped them on the floor. His dad and Don followed. "You know this apartment is kind of small for three people. There is the bed in here and the living room has a sofa bed."
"You keep the bed Charlie. Your bother and I will take the sofa bed and tomorrow we'll see about an extra bed."
Charlie looked at his dad. "You know, a little warning would have been nice. I could have gotten an inflatable mattress." The irritation was back in Charlie's voice.
"Uh Charlie, he didn't give me any warning either. He just showed up on the plane." Charlie's eyes flew from his father to his brother. Of course, it made sense that his dad would not have tricked this way.
Don finally had something to say. "Charlie, would you have let me come if you had the option?"
"Well no, but I wouldn't have let Dad come either if I had a choice and yet here you both are. I'll be back in a little while." He brushed past Don and headed out of the bedroom.
"Charlie, where are you going at this time of night?" Alan asked as he followed Charlie out of the room.
"I am not leaving the building. Stop worrying about me Dad." Charlie went into the bathroom where his sweats were and closed the door.
"Okay, don't be gone too long."
Charlie changed and left the apartment. He headed down to the gym. He'd forgotten his ipod but knew there was no way he was going back for it.
Why now? Couldn't Don have given him more time? He ran for well over an hour and it calmed him down. He knew this was not his dad's fault and decided he would not take it out on him. He would just have to make the best of a bad situation.
After Charlie left, Alan looked at Don and said "you should have given Charlie some warning. This had better work out because six days with the two of you fighting in an apartment of this size and we will all be running to other ends of the country to get away from each other."
"I'm sorry Dad. I promise you that no matter what, I will not fight with Charlie. I know I haven't told you anything about the problem, but you can trust that it was my fault and I intend to fix it. Charlie has every right to be angry about my unexpected appearance and about the problems we were having."
"It was killing me to let this go on Dad; I HAD to see Charlie now. But, I will give him time and space. I have six days to work on this."
"Okay Donnie, I'm just going to have to trust you on this." Alan was thoughtful for a minute and then he said "Charlie looks good doesn't he?"
"Yeah he does, maybe just a little stressed out tonight but he does look much better than the last time I saw him."
"You know Don that laughing episode scared me. I think the stress was too much for him."
Don had to give a small laugh. "He scared me too, I really thought he was losing it. But I have to say he recovered pretty well and it seemed to have broke the tension in him."
-------------------------------------------
When Charlie was done with his run he headed back to the apartment, hoping his dad and Don were already asleep.
Alan was putting Charlie's clothes into the closet. It looked like he brought every item of clothing Charlie owned.
Don was unpacking another bag and putting things in Charlie's dresser.
Charlie went to his laptop and turned it on. The email beeped. He saw another opened bag on the kitchen floor; this one had some kitchen items in it. He blended up a smoothie and sat down to work on the program for a while. Charlie opened the email.
Charlie
Sorry for the surprise, but I really did need to talk to you. I tried to talk Dad out of all that luggage.
Don
It looked like Don had set the email up using delayed delivery. He must have known that if Charlie had forewarning, he would just leave them at the airport.
Charlie wrote Don back. His brother did not have a laptop and would probably not get the email until after he was gone anyway.
Don,
I am donating everything you guys brought to charity after you leave.
Charlie
Charlie only worked the program for twenty minutes. He ushered both his dad and Don out of his bedroom and went to bed.