Disclaimer: I do not own the Numb3rs characters

A/N: A friend called me and ask if Don was mad because Charlie was not going to eat his vegetables. Lol Did I turn Special Agent Don Eppes into Mr. Mom?

Thanks for the very nice reviews.

Chapter 27

Don stepped closer to his brother and Charlie faced him head on. Whatever he was angry about Charlie had no intention of running away from it or him. He may have been on crutches but he would not let himself show a weakness now. Not to Don, not in the face of his anger, ever again.

Charlie could see that Don was trying to control himself before he opened his mouth. Alan was watching it all and was surprised by the change in Don in such a short time. What could Charlie have done in that short space of time to make Don so angry?

Don's eyes were shining brightly when they centered on Charlie. "You wanted to make sure that you cut every tie that you had to me didn't you? I'm a little surprised you didn't change your name so that you couldn't be linked to me."

"If you have something to say Don, just say it. I'm really not in the mood for guessing games and I don't have any idea what you're talking about."

"I went to the suspect's apartment and there was a lot of information to be found down there. I told Derek that you could be of a lot of help on this case and told him that I would check with you and see if you could work it in with your other project."

"Only guess what, little brother? Derek had to check your clearance and credentials before he could allow that since he had never worked with you before. Do you want to tell me what he found out?"

Charlie looked Don in the eyes and said, "That I resigned."

Alan gasped. "Why would you do that Charlie?"

Don was making every effort not to yell. He leaned forward and was looking Charlie in the eyes. "Why Charlie? I'll tell you why. You did this to hurt me. There was no other reason for you to do it."

"I can assure you Don that hurting you was not my goal."

Don was losing his battle to control his voice level. "THEN WHY?"

Alan jumped at the unexpected volume of Don's voice but Charlie held steady. "If I was doing it to hurt you I would have done it while I was still in LA. I waited for a week after I got here. I wanted to be sure that I wasn't doing it out of anger."

"Why Charlie?" Don asked with a tightly controlled voice level.

"Because if you tracked me down using FBI access I wanted the reason to be because I was your brother, not because you needed a consultant."

Don straightened up. He took a step back and turned away from Charlie. He rubbed his left hand down his face. "So it was a game, a test."

"It was no game; I have more than enough to keep me busy without it and the FBI has other consultants."

Don nodded his head. He swayed and as if in a daze he walked slowly to the door. He stood at the door gripping onto the frame for a few seconds and then he walked out, closing it behind him.

Charlie stood looking at the door. He was fighting to keep the tears from his eyes. Why had it seemed so right before and he felt so bad now? Charlie hadn't lied when he said he had not resigned in anger. He had thought it through carefully. He was not trying to punish Don. It was not even a fear that something would happen like the last case he worked on. They had worked together on many cases before that one. Charlie had no intention of falling back into old patterns when he returned home. He had needed to take power from Don and not working with him and concentrating on other things would take that power.

Charlie had forgotten his father was there. "Are you proud of yourself? Have you ever seen your brother look so defeated?"

Charlie swung his head around. His eyes were watered. "I had to do this for me. I have to build my life back up again. Don had too much power to hurt me and I need to have fewer ties with him."

"So you hurt him before he could hurt you again."

"It's not about hurting him Dad. It's about what I have to do. I can't go back to what I was."

"Charlie, whatever Don and you fought about before you left, don't you think it's possible that you just hurt him more than he hurt you?"

"No, it is not possible. You don't know what happened."

"Maybe I don't. Maybe it's time that one of you told me. Don is your only brother and you just cut one major tie to him. That tie's an artery Charlie, right to the heart. It was the one that brought the two of you so close together in the first place, it's the one that nearly destroyed your relationship when you fought and it's the one that could end that relationship now.

You said Don has too much power to hurt you. What about you? Did you see your power Charlie? You, you are the only one with the power to bring Don to his knees and I just saw it happen."

Charlie couldn't stop his eyes from watering. Dad didn't understand. He had to do this. Charlie hobbled into the bedroom. He needed to calm himself down.

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Don only had to walk a block to find a small bar. He needed a drink and he needed to think.

Why did he feel so all alone right now? Why did he feel like he'd been kicked in the stomach? Surely his life only felt like it was over.

If Charlie didn't want to work with him, he could accept that. He would have to accept it.

Charlie was his brother; no matter what Charlie would always be his brother, but where would they go from here? He knew they had bonds outside of the FBI, but were they strong enough? They were he decided. He might see him less but they would still have a strong brother bond. Those bonds don't die just because you see a loved one less.

'I need you and nothing else in my life matters to me as much as you do.' If Charlie wanted to quit working for the FBI, Don would support that decision.

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He couldn't calm down. There was no chalkboard in his room. Charlie felt panic. He hurled his crutches at the wall. What right did his dad have to judge his actions? Why did he feel like he had let everyone down when he was only trying to take some charge of his own life? He had to get out of here and he had to do it now.

He grabbed a pair of sweatpants from the dresser and looked out the bedroom door. He didn't see anyone. Charlie went to the table near the door and got out the spare car key.

Six floors did not seem like very much. When Charlie stepped onto the elevator his only thought was to get away to the trails and run to clear his mind. But by the time the elevator stopped on the first floor, he had come to his senses. He couldn't chance running on the rough terrain that he craved so bad. The pain medication would make the drive to the trails dangerous to everyone but mostly the pain medication would let him ignore the leg injury and the damage could be permanent. He knew that he needed to calm down but those risks were not worth it. So, when the elevator doors opened, Charlie headed for the gym. The treadmill was calling him but he continued past. He would use the safer outlet. He put the gloves on and Charlie approached the punching bag.

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Don had barely finished his first beer before his father sat on the bar stool next to him. His oldest son had a more determined look on his face than the last time Alan had seen him. The bartender asked what he wanted and Don waited for the water to be served for he spoke.

"I'm sorry that I got mad back there Dad. I never should have yelled like that. Derek really caught me off guard. I just needed to calm down and think and I can see Charlie's reasons more clearly now.

"Can you? Because I don't understand it at all. I think its past time that you told me what happened on that case." Don agreed and they took their drinks to a table at the back of the nearly deserted bar.

"I treated him bad during the case Dad. I expected Charlie to find the killer and find him fast so that we could stop it. Every time another child was killed, I would lay just a little more blame on Charlie. We never would have found the guy at all if he hadn't noticed a subtle pattern. It wasn't a pattern that any of us would have picked up on."

Don paused for another drink from his beer bottle. "So, armed with the information that Charlie gave us, we waited for the killer to make his next more. I had a dozen agents on the scene just waiting and watching, and we almost missed him Dad. He almost got away again with another child and right under the noses of all of us.

The witnesses who had seen and remembered details from the prior abductions had all said that the kids didn't seem to be in distress. They were right. I saw them together, we all saw that little girl with the killer and it never occurred to any of us that they hadn't been together when they got there. Looked like a little girl with her father. The absolutely only reason we even noticed anything at all was because that little girl wanted to run back and say good bye to her new friend and he wouldn't let her. That, all by itself still was not enough to draw much attention. It's not an uncommon occurrence that a parent is ready to leave and the child isn't. It was luck. It was nothing but luck that the vague description that we had for the killer turned out to be enough to grab my attention.

That little girl was so close to death that I couldn't see anything beyond that. She had almost been abducted right from under us; they were almost to the car. If she had been killed that would have been all my fault. I was in charge and I was there and it almost happened again anyway.

I knew it wasn't Charlie's fault that it took so long to catch the guy but I just couldn't stop blaming him. I mean he's the genius, he should've figured it all out. After the case I had to spend that weekend with my thoughts. A little girl that I almost let die.

When the interrogation was over, I sent the crew home. I was so deep in my own misery about my near miss that I walked out and left Charlie stranded in the conference room with not so much as a word. I had not even once stopped to think about Charlie. I didn't even remember that he had been there until the next day.

For more than a week, I stayed away from him. I was still blaming him. I didn't call him or see him until I needed help on another case." Don took another drink of his beer and gave a small humorless laugh. "Yeah, Charlie has a good reason to think that the only reason I would call him is for his help.

You know how bogged down he was this time for finals. He had to make up for the time away from teaching that he used working on the case. So when I asked him and he tried to tell me why he couldn't, I got mad. I wasn't listening to him. I just got mad. I went to see him at the school and we fought. I mean Dad that we really did fight. Charlie punched me in the mouth and I deserved it. It's not like I gave him much of a choice either, he tried to walk away from me and I wouldn't let him. And then I decked him. Right there in his empty classroom at the school, I decked him and gave him a black eye and when I tried to apologize he wouldn't listen. Of course I can't blame him. I was just trying to relieve my conscious at the time anyway."

"You gave Charlie that black eye? Why wouldn't he tell me that?" Alan was angry. There was confusion in his eyes just before he closed them. Charlie had said 'a brick wall.' Surely he had been their father long enough to know that Charlie would never betray Don to anyone.

"If Charlie had told you where he got it from, you would have wanted the whole story and I'm sure that he was feeling enough stress and hurt without dragging you into it. Strange as it seems, he might've been covering for me."

"With very good reason Don. How could you do that to him? He idolized you."

"I know he did Dad. Look, I know hurt him and I may never be able to make it up to him but I not giving up on Charlie. I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life by losing sight of how important he is to me. If Charlie doesn't want to want to be involved with the Bureau anymore, that's his choice and I accept it. His helping on cases is not nearly as important to me as what I really stand to lose and I will not let him walk out of my life without a fight."

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The punching bag really was not the instant relief that he would have thought it would be. It took working up a real sweat before Charlie felt the tension leave his body. He didn't want to think. Tomorrow, tomorrow he would think but today he had just needed to feel better. His body finally wore out. He thought he could have lasted longer if he had not taken that pain medicine. But with the jarring his body was taking he wouldn't have been able to last long enough to calm himself.

When he was done he was exhausted and not nearly as anxious. He went back to the apartment and thankfully he was alone. Charlie removed his sweat ridden shirt, threw it in the corner of the room and he collapsed across the bed. He was asleep instantly.