Disclaimer: I do not own the Numb3rs characters.

A/N: I want to let everyone know that there is a part in this chapter that involves a bet. It's a little drawn out. If you want to skip that entire section, you don't lost any story details. All repeated from earlier in the story. Section is marked with 5's to make it easier to find. It's based on a true life occurance spruced up by the Eppes family.

Thanks everyone for some very nice reviews.

Chapter 28

When Charlie awoke it was dark out. He was surprised to see that it was 1:30 am. He could vaguely remember that his dad had been in to try and wake him a few times. But Charlie had barely opened his eyes each time. He shouldn't have gone to bed so sweaty. He felt grimy.

Charlie wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep now and there were some files that he needed to transfer to the computer in his office. He got up showered and shaved. Before he left Charlie needed his sports bag. He had not seen it since the last time he was in the NSA building. The Tae Kwon Do uniform was clean and he had not thought to empty it. He searched the bedroom and his closet before he headed out to search the rest of the apartment.

The only light he left on was the bathroom light and it did not help very much in his search. Being as quiet as he could he found the bag under the end table. When he dragged the bag out from under the table, he turned around to see that Don was awake and watching him.

"Where are you going at this hour?"

"Sh, please don't wake Dad. I need to go into the office and I'll be back early afternoon."

Don motioned Charlie to follow him to the kitchen.

Charlie set the sports bag on the counter to make sure the uniform was still inside.

"Charlie, I want to apologize for the way I reacted to the news yesterday. I was floored when Derek told me. I overreacted."

"That's okay. I probably should have told you myself. I meant it when I said that I didn't do it to hurt you." Charlie unzipped the bag. "Listen if you can avoid it, please don't tell Dad that I left this early. I think if you just tell him early, he may think it was more like five or something. He's already going to be mad that I went in at all."

While Charlie was talking he reached into the bag and found that his uniform was there. There was also a change of clothes. Charlie reached for the bottle of pain meds and when he started to drop them into the inside pocket, he reached in and pulled out a computer disk. It was the standard office type that was commonly used at the NSA. Charlie was always careful that the disks he copied at work were in a case and rarely would he just leave it in his sports bag. He set it on the counter.

"I'm really sorry that you had to find out that way. Could you put that disk on the night stand in the bedroom for me please? I'll have to check later to see what I put on it."

"No problem. You better take it easy at those classes. You get another injury and Dad will probably drag you back to LA."

"I think I've reached my quota on injuries for the year. Statistically speaking, I should be safe until spring 2011 at the very least."

Don laughed. "Okay, I'll tell him that on the next drive we have to make to the hospital."

"Hey, you and Dad have fun today. Bye."

Charlie drove to the NSA building. He was admitted by the night guard and went to his office. He started right to work uploading the program into the office computer system. Since he was not expected to be in at all today, his team would not be showing up. The morning went by pretty fast. He worked on the program and when the pain pill kicked in he took a nap in the recliner. Just to have some leverage with his dad today he even stopped in the cafeteria for a large container of soup.

Before leaving Charlie headed down to see Vic, his Tae Kwon Do instructor. He had missed the class and hoped to catch him. Vic was there alone. He said that if Charlie wanted they would work on some moves right now.

Vic loaded both himself and Charlie up with protective gear so that they could work on more complicated kicks than he had learned. He told him that he could benefit from more individual instruction rather than a class.

Vic said that with permission from the director he could give Charlie private tutoring on their own time. Charlie thought that sound like a good idea. He told Vic that he would insist on paying at least the going rate for normal tutors and that he should tell the Director no freebies on this.

They spent two hours going over the kicks that Charlie had already learned and he was taught the spinning kick. It was usually a kick learned by the more advanced students but Vic assured Charlie that his best Tae Kwon Do talents lay in his legs and he should concentrate on the kicking.

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Early afternoon Derek called Don and they discussed his assisting with this case this week. There were plenty of "desk duty" things that Don could assist on. He would not be stuck with reports. This case was complicated and there was a lot of calls and research needed. He assured Don that the apartment building was not too far out of his way and that he would drive Don to and from work.

When Charlie got to the apartment it was quiet. His dad and Don were not there. He took his other medications and set the pain pills back in their place. He did not want to get to bed too early tonight and would have to take that one later. He looked in the mirror. His swollen nose was nearly back to the right size, the bruise on his forehead was a light purple now, and his lip injury was fading to a less bright shade of pink. His jaw and eye were still a deep black. Vic had told him that it just didn't look good having a student in his class that looked as battered as Charlie did.

Charlie changed and headed to the roof for some laps. Don was sitting in a poolside chair. He looked comfortable and was wearing his sunglasses. He looked to be dozing. Charlie dived in the pool and did some laps, it had been awhile but he found that fifteen of them were still reachable.

When Charlie finished he sat on the side with his legs in the water. Don had still looked like he was asleep with Charlie got out of the water so it was unexpected when he heard him talk while standing right behind him. "You know Charlie, Dad is really upset with you."

Charlie jumped and put his hand to his chest. "Don you are going to have to stop doing that. I'm going to die of heart failure before I'm thirty at this rate. And lately I wouldn't know Dad if he wasn't irritated at me for one thing or another. Where is he by the way?"

"He walked down to that bookstore you told him about. He should be back anytime. How's your leg, any pain today?"

"I really wouldn't know since I've been pumped with pain pills for two days. Think I better get it over with and see what Dad has to say."

When they went downstairs their dad was sitting in a living room chair reading a book.

"Charlie?" He was looking at Charlie over the top of his glasses.

"Yeah Dad?" How could he still make Charlie feel like he was seven years old?

"Everything go okay today?"

"Everything was fine."

"You eat anything?"

"I ate a huge bowl of soup for lunch."

"What time did you le…?"

"I had lunch about noon or so."

"I meant to say what time did you leave."

Charlie looked toward the ceiling. "Hmm…It's at least a half hour drive each way and traffic was pretty mild so I guess it would have been about two or so and then I sat up on the roof and had a very nice talk with Don. The weather is great out there. I'm glad I got home so early. Hey Dad, I'm really tired from that last pain pill." Charlie disappeared into the bedroom. He yelled back to his dad. "Make sure you wake me for dinner. I have a feeling I'm going to be ready for a good meal."

Don looked at Alan to see his reaction. Alan was sitting with his mouth hanging open and disbelief all over his face.

"Can you believe that Donnie?"

Don just shook his head. It had been a long-shot that Charlie could get away with it.

"A good meal, Charlie's ready for a good meal. I have to get started; I'm not sure what soft foods we have in there."

Don was impressed. Charlie had never even batted an eye and he managed to say all of the things that his dad would want to hear. While it was true that Charlie left about 2 am, he never actually said that. He would never have gotten away with that.

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Don had once again been nominated to be the one to wake Charlie. It was never a pleasant task to begin with but his brother was under the influence of narcotics now and had been up for hours when he slept. "Charlie wake up. Dinners ready." He shook Charlie's shoulder. Charlie cracked open his eyes. He rolled over away from Don.

"Ten more minutes and I'm good to go. I'm not hungry."

"You know, I don't know why, but ever since you left LA, Dad has it in his head that you're starving."

"How about five more minutes and I'll get up? You know it was a really huge bowl of soup."

"Can't do it Buddy. Dad's putting dinner on the table now. I have to warn you he's been cooking for three hours and I've seen less food at a buffet bar. There is no way you'll get out of this one."

Charlie groaned, rolled back over and raised up on one elbow. "Don, you would be surprised what I can do when I set my mind to it."

"Well that's a true statement but not when it comes to Dad, you and food."

"Five bucks says I get out of there with no more than four bites and he won't even notice. Twenty minute time limit. But you can't do anything to tip Dad off."

"You're on, one condition. Do not do anything that will make me loose my appetite."

Charlie laughed. "I hadn't even thought of going that route. I'll keep that in mind for the next time."

"That includes math."

"You wound me Don. Check your watch, its 6:20."

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Charlie trailed behind Don to the dining room. "Hey Dad, smells great in here."

"Well hello. Look who woke up in a good mood."

"Wow! We expecting company, like the entire sixth floor?"

"Just the three of us. I can save some for leftovers tomorrow." Charlie would be sitting directly across from his father and Don would be on Charlie's right. Charlie sat down, Alan sat down, Don sat down, Charlie got up.

"Where are you going Charlie?"

"I need a straw."

"I got you a straw, where did it go?"

"You guys go on and eat, I'll look for it."

Charlie looked around the table, pulled his chair out and then crawled under the table.

"If it fell down there you're going to need a new one anyway."

"Nope, not here."

Charlie came out from under the table. "Did you find anything at that bookstore today?"

Charlie walked into the kitchen while Alan was talking about a book by Michael Prescott. A minute later, he returned without the straw. Charlie took a portion out of the bowl closest to him. It was mashed potatoes. He reached for another bowl close by and put some pasta salad on his plate. Alan was still talking about the book.

Charlie got up. "Be right back."

"What are you doing?" Alan was getting irritated.

"I told you, I need a straw."

"You already went in to get a straw."

"Yeah I know but I got sidetracked because I needed to wash my hands after crawling around the floor and forgot the straw. Be back in a second."

Charlie came back in with the straw.

He started to put the straw in the glass. "Is this soda Dad? I really don't want soda. Is there any iced tea?"

"No iced tea. There's lemonade though."

"Sounds good, I'll get that."

Don said, "Just pour that into my glass so you don't have to waste it."

Charlie poured the soda from his glass into Don's near empty glass. "Be right back."

A minute later Charlie came back out with the pitcher of lemonade. He started to pour some in his glass and then stopped. "I need to rinse this."

Another minute later Charlie returned with the glass. He set it on the table and started to pour it into the glass. "That café down by that bookstore is a great place for people watching. You should try to get in there while you're in town." Meanwhile Charlie had over poured just enough to need a quick paper towel clean up. "Sorry, be right back."

Charlie went in to get a paper towel and returned to the table. "Charlie you may need to wet that, the table's going to be sticky."

Don smilef over the fact that Alan probably just took one of Charlie's diversion tactics away.

"Oh yeah."

Charlie came back in with the now wet paper towel and wiped off the table. He set his glass back down. He left the room with the paper towel and the pitcher. He returned, sat down and picked up his fork. He moved the pasta salad around his plate.

"Don?"

"Yeah?" There was the slightest hint of hesitation in his voice.

"Don't you want Dad to cut that salisbury steak for you? Dad, it looks like Don is having a problem handling his food." Charlie reached for the largest bowl on the table and set it in front of his plate.

"No, I don't need any help."

"Sure you do. Dad did you see that it moved all over his potatoes when he tried to cut into it? Gravy is sloshing over the side Don."

Don shot Charlie a dirty look; he did not want to eat his dinner with a spoon.

"Do you want me to help him Dad?"

"No, I want you to eat." Alan got up and moved closer to Don's plate. While he was cutting Don's food, Charlie scraped his pasta salad into a napkin, wadded it and put it under the rim of his plate. Charlie waited for Alan to sit back down. Their dad had cut the meat into perfect adult bite size pieces.

"Pass the applesauce please."

Alan handed Charlie the applesauce. He spooned it onto his plate. Charlie took a bite of the applesauce. "Don, how did your day go?"

Charlie had his fork poised over his potatoes. When Don started talking, Charlie spread the potatoes around the plate.

"Derek asked me to work on the Atwood case while I'm in town this week."

"You going to be needing a ride in? It's not too far from the NSA building."

"No, Derek has already offered his driving services. But thanks."

"Pass the pepper please."

Don handed Charlie the pepper. He sprinkled some on his food. "Is Leslie the only suspect?" Charlie took a long drink from his straw.

"You know I can't discuss that Charlie. Do you know her?"

"Yeah, I know her. She's a nice girl."

"Yeah? When was the last time you saw her?"

"She stopped by on Friday evening to let me know that she wouldn't be around during the weekend and then we talked about my leg injury." Charlie moved some of the bowls around in front of him and reached for the spoon that was in the closest bowl.

Alan asked "When was this? I don't recall seeing her." Charlie took his hand off the spoon. He picked up his fork.

"It was just after Diane buzzed to be let in. I was waiting at the open door when Leslie got there." Charlie reached for the bowl of creamed corn that was sitting on the table near him. He put spoonful on his plate.

"Oh, we were both in the kitchen then Don."

Don asked "Did she say why she wouldn't be around?"

Charlie picked his fork back up and poised it over the corn. "She told me she had to work. She said she works one weekend out of the month." Charlie took a bite from his potatoes. "Great job on getting all of the lumps out of the potatoes Dad. They're perfect this way."

"Thanks Charlie. I mixed them extra long and added more milk than usual."

While his dad talked Charlie mixed the corn with the potatoes and moved them together around his plate until finally pushing them into tight up against the applesauce.

Don asked Charlie, "Did Leslie ever talk about her work?"

"Only that she was a CIA agent." Charlie finished the rest of the lemonade and sat the glass down. He picked up his fork. "Neither of us talked about our work."

Charlie got up. "I need another napkin. Anyone else need anything while I'm up?" After receiving negative replies, Charlie went to the kitchen with the old napkin in his hand. He returned with the new napkin and the pitcher of lemonade. He refilled his glass and returned the pitcher to the refrigerator.

Charlie sat down and took a long drink from the lemonade. He picked up his fork. "There is one thing that you may want to check on Don." Charlie took a large bite of his applesauce. "There is bound to be some rumors floating around out there."

Don put his own fork down. "What makes you say that?" Charlie moved his applesauce more firmly up against his potatoes.

"Let's just says it's a feeling I have."

"Couldn't be more specific could you Buddy?"

"Sorry Bro; no can do. Like I said it's just a feeling." Charlie made some scraping noises on his plate before once again spooning a forkful of applesauce into his mouth."

Charlie finished the lemonade in his glass and set it back down a little harder than was necessary. "Dad, I can't eat another bite. You should make the potatoes like that more often."

"I'm glad you like them Charlie."

"Let me help you clean up." Charlie got up and took his plate to the kitchen. He scraped it into the garbage disposal and set it in the sink.

When he got back to the dining room he had about thirty seconds to go. His dad and Don were just getting up from the table.

"I want you to know Charlie that I wasn't fooled for a second." Charlie froze, where had he gone wrong? Don had a triumphant smile on his face.

"I know that you talked around letting me know how early you left for work. But, I'll let it go this time since you did such a good job with your dinner."

Alan walked into the kitchen. Charlie beamed and shot Don a look. "Thanks Dad." he called after him.

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After collecting his winnings Charlie helped his dad clean the kitchen. Later he and Alan joined Don in the living room. Don was watching CNN. Alan listened to the news for a few minutes and reached for his crossword puzzle book. "Isn't there a game on tonight Donnie?"

"I don't feel like watching baseball tonight."

Charlie and Alan looked at each other. Don had never not wanted to watch a game that was on. Charlie got up to get his laptop. He just needed to put some finishing touches on the program and it would be ready to go tomorrow.

About ten minutes later a news report came on CNN. A member of the Supreme Court, William Jenkins had been found murdered in his home in a DC suburb just over the border in Maryland. There was no further information released.

"That's two in three days." Charlie said. "They have to be connected."

"Looks that way." Don got his cell phone and went into the kitchen to call Derek. He was on the phone for a long time and when he came back, he didn't say anything. Charlie was dying to hear some relating details. He didn't ask.

Charlie had purposely not taken the pain medication so that he could finish the program tonight and it was finally done. When he took the laptop back to his bedroom he noticed the disk on the nightstand. He put the disk to find out what on it was.

The information that flowed on the screen was not something Charlie had worked on. The data flashing before his eyes looked did not belong to any of the military security programs. How had this gotten into his sports bag?

The first thing at the top was a list of names. Senator Douglas Atwood, NY was the first name and William Jenkins, Supreme Court Justice was the second name. It was a shock that Charlie was not prepared for. But the next name on the list stopped him cold. It was Director Robert Thompkins, NSA.