I don't own the Numb3rs characters.

Chapter 21

The next day, Charlie was up just a few minutes after his Dad had started making breakfast. Charlie hobbled out to the living room on his own. When he saw Don was sleeping, it was all he could do not to scream his name in his ear, but decided he had a definite handicap when it came to getting away from an angry brother while on crutches. Charlie went into the kitchen.

"Good morning Dad." Charlie said, reaching for his muscle meds.

"Morning Charlie, how do you feel today?"

"A lot better than yesterday." Charlie took a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and walked back toward the living room.

He was just watching Don sleep at the same time that he was contemplating that the air mattress was waterproof. Charlie took the medicine and tipped his head back and took a long drink of the water. He was holding the bottle and trying to make a decision when Don opened his eyes and took in the situation. With a warning in his eyes he said "I wouldn't."

"What? I was just going to inform you that breakfast is nearly ready."

"Uh huh, well, I'm awake. Thanks for the notice."

Don got up and headed into the bathroom. "Tell Dad I'm going to take a quick shower would you?"

Alan came out of the kitchen. "Don't be long Don." Alan turned toward Charlie. "Aren't you under doctor orders to stay off your feet as much as possible?"

"I'm deciding if I should sit in the dining room since I'm half way there or to sit in the living room and then have to move again."

"Tough decision Charlie. Let me know what you come up with." He turned and went back to the kitchen.

Once he was sitting at the dining room table, Alan brought him a glass of orange juice. Don joined Charlie at the table just as Alan was coming out of the kitchen with plates of omelets in his hand.

"He set a plate in front of Charlie. "Veggie omelet for you. Alan moved around the table "And cheese omelet for you" and set the plate in front of Don. "I'll be right back with toast and juice."

"Thanks Dad." Alan returned with his own plate, juice and toast.

"Charlie, after you eat could you call Diane and make sure she is still coming this evening?"

"I'm fairly certain Diane would come even if I called to say that it was cancelled. If she didn't know the two of you were here to look out for me, she'd of been bunking here last night as it is. Might have been a good idea anyway. Diane at least knows that injured people need lots of rest. You two on the other hand, have no clue how to treat a patient. I'll see to it that she gives some pointers."

"Please call her anyway."

After eating Charlie got his phone. "Hey Diane"

"Hi Charlie, How are you feeling? You know if Bob had told me about your injury I would have come to see you yesterday after the van returned. He did that on purpose you know, said I would embarrass you in front of the recruits. He and Agent Belmont are both in some trouble with me. I didn't find out until Bob returned to the office where he'd run off to."

"I was fine really, just a little problem with leg cramping."

"Do not even start that with me Charlie because I can promise you that I've got the full story by now. You were overdoing it and just not taking care of yourself again."

"I guess that part's true, but I am taking care of my leg correctly. I'm not taking chances. I promise that. Except they don't let me sleep around here. I will have to spend half of next week catching up." Charlie looked up and saw the twin looks on his father and brother's face and he started laughing. "Okay, Diane, let me rephrase, they did not let me sleep enough during the day yesterday, but I'm fine now. They even let me sleep all the way through the night."

"Charlie, your teasing them will come back to you, I hope you know that."

"Yeah, but I did tell them you would give them pointers on how to care for the ailing. Hey, Dad wanted me to call and make sure that you're still coming for dinner tonight."

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away now Charlie."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, I told him that too. Okay, come over any time you are ready. I'm grounded and I'll be here."

Charlie got his laptop and started working on the security program. About an hour later, Alan came in and said he needed to run to the store for some fresh lettuce for dinner and some spices he had forgotten. Charlie told him he should also get fresh cut flowers for the table and a bottle of wine.

Don was up on the roof at the pool and this is the first time that Charlie had really been alone since his family arrived. He felt lonely. The apartment felt lonely. He knew in the past he would head out to the gym. Charlie struggled into his shoes and took the elevator to the roof.

Don was swimming laps and did not see Charlie right away. He sat in one of the poolside chairs and waited. Once Don finished, he looked up and saw Charlie. He got out of the pool and got the towel to throw over his shoulders. "Does Dad know you escaped?"

"Not yet, I'm sure he'll figure it out once he gets back from the store though. I wanted to bring smoothies but I couldn't think of a way to get them up here without spilling."

"Yeah, that would be a problem. How about we head back down there and you can blend them while I change? I was taking a better look at the gym and there's some of the equipment that you can try that won't require the use of your legs. It could help with restlessness. I didn't see a chalkboard anywhere in your apartment."

"I'm only using the chalkboard to train the agents now. I wanted to find a new outlet. It's a good idea if I do check into the other things I can do while I am restricted. I can use the treadmill for five minutes on Thursday and build back up from there."

Don and Charlie went back to the apartment. Alan was not back yet. Charlie blended up the smoothies.

After they drank the smoothies, Charlie suggested they head down to the gym before their father returned.

When the elevator door opened Alan was standing right in front of them with a bag in one arm. There was a vase of flowers in the other hand. His eyebrows rose. "Going somewhere?" For some reason Don was the one that looked the guiltiest.

"Just as far as the gym Dad." Charlie answered. Alan's eyebrows rose even further.

"I thought you were supposed to stay off your feet Charlie?"

"This is a pretty short walk and I'm just checking onto equipment that would be okay to use now. I've been to the gym a lot of times, but I haven't paid much attention to what else was there. I had tunnel vision on that treadmill."

"Okay, but you take it easy. Don't overdo it on anything."

"No problem."

Don pointed out a piece of equipment that was aimed at only upper body and did not require he use any leg muscles to do the exercise.

It was certainly better than free weights; it did not relax him though. It used chest muscles Charlie didn't know he had. But it was something to keep him occupied. They were ready to go back up to the apartment in forty-five minutes. Charlie was back again working on the program.

Don had borrowed the car and gone to the FBI office. Alan was busy the rest of the day preparing the meal and chopping veggies to freeze for Charlie. He managed a hot bath on his own to soak his painful muscle. It had hurt more this evening that it had all day.

Don got back to the apartment just a short time before Diane was buzzing to be let in. Charlie opened the door before Diane got to the sixth floor. It was at the same time that Leslie was just getting ready to knock on Charlie's door anyway.

Charlie was talking to Leslie about his muscle injury when Diane walked off of the elevator. Diane recognized Leslie and gave a tight smile. "Hello Leslie."

Charlie could feel the tension. "Hello Diane. I've got to run Charlie; I just stopped by because I hadn't seen you in the gym for so long. I work this weekend but I'll see you later. Take care of yourself."

Once Charlie had Diane in the apartment, he started to ask a question. "Don't ask Charlie. Leslie is a good agent and anything I say beyond that would be gossip."

Don and Alan came out of the kitchen to greet their dinner guest.

Dinner was a nice affair. It was a little embarrassing for Charlie since both Alan and Diane seemed to have so much of Charlie's past moments embedded in their mind that needed to escape tonight.

He took a pain med and went to bed soon after Diane left.

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Don woke Charlie up.

"Come on Buddy. It's time to get up."

Charlie looked at the clock. "It's 7:00 Don, on a Saturday morning."

"Yeah come on Charlie, the day's wasting. Dad's making pancakes." Don was rooting through Charlie's dresser drawers. He tossed jeans, t-shirt and socks on the bed.

"All the more reason to sleep in."

"You need any help?"

"No" Charlie answered with a loud yawn. "I'm fine."

When Charlie came out of the bedroom, he hobbled to the table and sat down in the chair that was already pulled out. He took a drink of the OJ and eyed the plate of pancakes. Just as Charlie decided he would have to eat them, his dad came out with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast for him.

"Why is he having eggs Dad?"

"Charlie informed me that he does not like pancakes."

Don looked at Charlie, clearly surprised. "Since when?"

Charlie really did not want to discuss the pancakes. He wished he had never mentioned them. "Game starts at 9:30."

Don and Charlie left the apartment as soon as they finished eating. They would be early for the game but they could hang out on bleachers and Don was hoping Charlie would want to talk. There were several players on the field warming up.

Charlie led the way to the empty bleachers. They were on the 3rd base line and he sat up four rows, he was on the edge and Don sat next to him. Charlie had brought several bottles of water in a carry insulated pack. He took one bottle out and set the pack on the seat in front of him and propped his leg right on top of the bag so his foot could lean over and not have pressure on the calf. The crutches were propped just behind Charlie's foot, in reaching distance.

It was going to be a warm day and Charlie wished he had brought the baseball cap that was in one of the many bags that is father brought. He decided he would probably keep the cap and that umbrella.

Don noticed that Charlie look nervous and was pretty sure he was working his way up to saying something. It didn't take long for Charlie to start talking.

"Don, I have something that I need to say and I'm sorry if it looked like I was just avoiding the issue."

Don nearly held his breath. He had hoped that Charlie would talk to him today but he did not think he would without more coaxing and he was also a little afraid that he may not be ready for what Charlie wanted to say.

"I told you that I wasn't ready; that I need more time. That's really true. This has been such a tough time for me. I don't know the answers because I haven't been able to address the real issue. I had hoped for more time to work things out in my head."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I rushed you Buddy. It was important to me. I had to talk to you now."

The teams were gathering now. The bleachers closer to home plate were beginning to fill.

"You know I was near panic when I saw you standing there in the airport. But I did accept that you were here and I was ready to get along as best we could and then let you go home with Dad this weekend. I've known you all my life; we could get along at the worst of times when we had to."

"I didn't think you were going to be all that happy with me Charlie, but you kept it together pretty good, let me rephrase; you handled it pretty good."

Charlie looked into Don's eyes and then started. "Don, those things you said, they meant a lot to me. I've never known you to open up like that. But…" Charlie hesitated "I feel like you have me backed into a corner and I have to make this okay now because you bared your soul. G-- Don, I've waited all my life to hear what you said to me the other night." There were tears in Charlie's eyes and he had to look away.

"Why now? Why now when I am trying to put myself back together? Because that's what happened, I lost it; I fell apart. I don't even know how I survived. I was more scared than I had ever been, hanging on by just the barest of threads, and…and then you turned on Don, when I needed you the most, you turned on me. I couldn't deal with your anger on top of everything else."

"I came here to get away. I had to do this for me, to save myself. If I hadn't had a place to run to, I don't think I would even be alive. Bob save my life Don. Bottom line, one way or another my life was over if I hadn't left." Charlie wiped his eyes and continued.

"I don't mean it to sound like I blame you for my downfall. I don't. It was my fault that I needed you so much. I need to learn how to depend on me more. I need this for myself."

Don had tears in his eyes too. "G--, I'm sorry Buddy."

Charlie looked at his brother. He had anger in his eyes. "No Don! Stop saying that. I did this! I'm not trying to put more guilt on you. Everything is not your fault. I need to be a stronger person. I need to find a life outside of math. I need to find a way to cope when things are bad."

"Before I left I couldn't even escape the one way I was used to, the garage. There was no time for the only thing that had ever been my outlet before. I couldn't take more time away from my students to make that escape."

"These recruit courses I'm taking, they're helping me. But I haven't had enough time. Running relaxes my mind, it's an outlet that I needed. I'm taking Tae Kwon Do, the instructor says I'm a natural but the training is something I have never learned before. It's self discipline and controlling your thoughts, I've never learned how to control my thoughts and I need this class, I need this time on my own. It's really about growing up."

"Don, I'm going to come back home. I going to teach again, but first I have to do this. It's too easy to fall into old patterns at home. I have the time now and I have the distance I need."

"You're a very strong person. You have a strong personality. You're the type that can light up a room by just being there. I have always wished I could be more like you. I love you Don, I'm sorry that I can't give you the answers that you're looking for because I don't know what they are."

"I can't even think of where we go from here, I can't think about anything but what I need right now. You and Dad are very important to me. You guys are my life, but I'm a grown man and I shouldn't have to depend on either of you for my emotional support."

Charlie wiped at his eyes again and he reached for a water bottle sitting by his feet. Don was deep in thought. Charlie took the cap off the water bottle and tipped his head back for a long drink. Just then came the loud crash of bat meeting ball and to Don's horror, it was a foul and fast ball and the ball was directed right at Charlie's unprotected throat. It was slow motion and Don was frozen in place.