Series: Numb3rs
Season: 2
Part: 2/7
Rating: K+

Disclaimer: Numb3rs and its lovely characters don't belong to me. They do to CBS. Unknown OC belongs to me. We all know the drill…

A/N: Hi, First, I'd like to mentioned that English is not my primary language, French is. Please be nice about my English and join me in THANKING EFF for helping me with the plot, grammar, and finding some of those words I keep forgetting to write in.

Summary: During some down time, Don comes home to L.A.

Don't Stay Away From Home For Too Long

Chapter 2: Coming and Going

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23 days later.

Charlie ran into the house and answered the phone in the kitchen before the call went to voicemail. "Hello!"

"Hey, Chuck!" his brother greeted him. "Did I wake you?"

"Don! Hey. No, that's fine. I was in the garage. I assumed that Dad would be around to pick up the phone. How are you doing?"

"I'm a bit tired, but I'm fine. You?"

"I can't complain," Charlie replied. "Where are you?"

"My apartment here in L.A. I got here about an hour ago so I could grab a shower before heading to the office. I just wanted to let you and Dad know that I'll be in town for a few days."

Charlie glanced at his watch. The time was precisely 10:37:22 P.M. "It's a bit late for the office. Not that you usually keep normal hours…" he remarked. Hearing footsteps, Charlie looked up to his father as he walked into the kitchen. "It's Don," he whispered to Alan.

"What was that, Buddy?"

"Just telling Dad that I'm talking with you," he said. "What were you saying?"

"Nothing important. I've got some shut eye on the plane earlier. Trying to get some sleep right now would be a waste of time."

Don had mentioned he would be in town for a few days. Charlie was aware that his brother's agenda would most likely be very busy during that time, as he would be catching up with his team at the L.A Field Office. Charlie feared they might not have the time to get together. He quickly evaluated his options. There was no time like the present, he decided.

"Do you really have to go to work?" he asked. "It's not too late for a beer. Dad and I could meet you at Churchill's in about half an hour. The time to get there."

There was a pause on the other side of the line as Don considered his proposition. Charlie could 'see' him rubbing his forehead as he thought.

"I guess I don't really have to go tonight. Churchill's sounds good," Don finally agreed.

"Great! We'll see you there."

"Alright."

"Why didn't you ask him to come here?" Alan inquired as his youngest son hung up the phone.

"Chances are he would've already been here had he wanted to come by," Charlie explained.

Alan nodded. "You are starting to know your brother really well."

"I was able to observe him closely for some time. I guess I can finally make useful decisions based on the data I collected."

Alan gave Charlie a knowing smile as he recognized his son's approach to life. "Let's hurry up before some phone call steels your brother away from us. That's a pattern I observed."

Twenty five minutes later, Charlie and Alan walked into Churchill's, an English style pub located not too far away form Don's apartment. The eyes of the trained FBI agent fell on them the moment they walked in. Charlie even suspected that Don had spotted them while they were still on the street.

Don was sitting at the bar, a beer in front of him. He was dressed casually, wearing a dark red shirt and a pair of jeans. He was still wearing his black jacket, which was efficiently hiding his gun. He was neatly shaven and combed. He looked ready to go to work at any moment if needed. He would have no more than one beer, Charlie concluded.

"Dad," Don greeted. He nodded to Charlie. "Glad you could make it."

"Donnie, it's good to finally see you, Son," Alan said pleasantly.

"How about you two order some beer and we move over there?" Don suggested, waving a hand to the right.

Soon, Charlie and Alan were sitting across from Don in a booth along side the far wall.

Charlie could better see his brother's face, now. Don looked more than just tired. He had dark circles under his eyes. The lines on his forehead and around his month appeared more pronounced.

Alan had noticed too for he commented on it indirectly. "Long day?"

"Long week. How are things with you? Are you still working on that downtown project you told me about last week?"

"That was more like two weeks ago," Alan pointed out. He was clearly letting Don know that he was not calling as often as his father would have liked. "Yes, I'm still consulting on it. It's turning to be fairly interesting." He went on explaining a few of the details. "I'm also keeping busy with the book club. We'll have our annual assembly at the end of the month."

"That's good," Don said. He took a sip of his beer. "What about you, Chuck?"

"Don't call me, Chuck." Don grinned, relaxing his features, which pleased Charlie. "You know. Same old, same old: Classes and grading papers. It's been fairly quiet ever since I helped your team close that fraud case early this week."

Don nodded, knowingly. "You did well on that, Buddy."

Charlie gave his brother a nod of his own in response to his bother's praise.

"Quiet's good," Don went on. "I'm enjoying the slack we finally have. We're waiting for some forensic reports and I don't want us to make any move before we have all the information we need. So, I figured it would be a good time for me to come home."

"We were expecting you sooner," Alan remarked.

"Dad, what do you want from me?" Don was suddenly annoyed. "I'm doing the best I can."

"I know you are, Donnie. I'm sorry," Alan apologized.

Charlie met Don's dark eyes. He gave his brother a sympathetic smile. He suspected that Don had not come to the house earlier in order to avoid that very part of the conversation. It had been a recurring theme over the years. One that Don was clearly tired of.

"So, how's Terry?" Charlie asked, effectively changing the subject.

"She's doing great. I had dinner with both her and her husband last night. She sends her love."

"Talking about love, I don't suppose you met anyone to your liking up there?" Alan inquired.

"Nope, not in that sense," Don answered.

"Good." Alan responded. Both Don and Charlie looked at their father with incredulity. "I wouldn't want to see you move away for good."

"Even if it meant a possibility of having grand children?" Charlie asked.

"You're not the only one who observes your brother and comes up with conclusions, My Boy," Alan reminded his youngest son.

Don snorted.

Charlie and his dad ignored him.

Alan continued: "The probability of your brother ever having children is, as you say…"

"Not statistically significant," Charlie finished for him.

"Glad you guys finally reached a conclusion about that," Don told them with a knowing grin.

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31 days later.

Charlie sat down at the dinning table as Alan put down two plates in front of them. Father and son ate in silence for awhile. Charlie gave his dad another worried look. He had noticed, upon coming home from Cal Sci that afternoon that his father was bothered by something. Alan had been subdued and not much of a conversationalist.

"You miss Don, don't you?" Charlie finally asked his father after catching the older man looking towards the empty place across from his youngest son, for a third time.

He had not seen his dad do something like that since months following his mother's death. A knot formed in his throat.

"I do," Alan told him with a sad smile.

"Didn't he call you from Montreal, today?" Charlie inquired, remembering Don saying that he would do so, while they were waiting for other people to join them on a conference call.

"Yes. Your brother was finally gracious enough to give me a ring, today" Alan confirmed, trying to hide his sore feelings at his oldest son's lack of diligence in returning his calls behind a joking tone.

"He's been very busy and traveling a lot lately," Charlie pointed out. "He's doing the best he can to stay in touch."

"So he keeps telling me," Alan said "Ironically, ever since I talked to him, I find myself missing him even more."

Charlie nodded. He could relate to that feeling.

Alan sighed. "It seems that I'm damned if he calls and damned if he doesn't. I just wish your brother could come home every two weeks like he said he would."

"He'll be back before you know it," Charlie said, trying to sound cheerful.

"I hope so, Charlie. I certainly hope so. Meanwhile, I have to get use to his absence, again."

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37 days later.

Sixty eight days had gone by between the evening the Eppes men had passed together at Churchill's and Don's return to L.A. During his absence, Don had called his father six times. He had forwarded thirty-two e-mails to Charlie's account, which the content had been mainly work related. He had sent two postcards to the house; one from Quebec City and the other Milan. In addition, Charlie had participated on four conferences calls, with his brother present from either Washington or Montreal.

When Charlie had asked Megan about when she expected her team leader to come home, she had looked at him sympathetically.

"I just don't know, Charlie," she had said.

They had been standing in the young mathematician's office at Cal Sci.

"Are you sure about these findings?" she had asked, bringing their attention back to the case.

"I double checked everything. I am sure!" Charlie had replied, unable to take his anger out of his voice.

Megan had looked back at him, holding her ground.

His shoulders had sagged. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take my anger on you."

She had given him a sad smile. "It's okay, Charlie. I would be frustrated too if I were you. Well, I am! I'm worried about him. Don't take me the wrong way. Don knows what he's doing and he can take care of himself. It's just that whatever he's doing, it's taking over his life."

"And it's affecting ours… Dad…" Charlie had shook his head, as if the gesture could have erased the distraught look he had seen grow in his fathers eyes ever since his brother had left. "Dad isn't handling this well."

Megan had put a hand on his arm, supportively.

He had continued. "I knew both of them had become very close when Mom and I were in Princeton. They were doing all kind of stuff together." He sighed. "I think it's one of the reasons why the time Don was working Fugitive Recovery was so hard on Dad. Don wasn't keeping in touch then either. He would go without calling for weeks and months on end. Dad missed him. It was driving him crazy. Don knew that before he left."

"You're angry because Don's putting your Dad through this again, knowingly," Megan had said understandingly.

"He's keeping in touch better than he did in the past. I'll give him that. But, it's not like we're seeing him or hearing from him every week."

"You got used to having him around."

"Ever since Don came back from Albuquerque, we've been able to count on him. Especially Dad… And Mom, at the time…" Charlie drew in a breath as he collected himself. "When Mom was sick, I wasn't there for her, particularly at the end. I was no help for any of them. Not for Mom. Not for Dad. Not for Don. But, he was. Even for me! And, it stayed that way. Even when we didn't hear from Don for days, we knew he was never too far away."

"Don became your rock, the person you could turn to and lean on," Megan had soothed him "He stayed your constant until he had to go away."

"Does he really have to stay away for so long?" Charlie had asked, his words sounding childish to his ears.

"He does for now. Don has a job to do, Charlie," Megan had reminded him. She had met his eyes. "You know, this is as hard for your brother as it is for you and your father. This situation has been tearing him apart, too. He would rather be home."

"I know he would," he had sighed. "You don't know where he went after leaving London four days ago, do you?"

She had shaken her head. "I thought he was going back to Bulgaria, but don't quote me on this. All I know really is that he's still in Europe. He'll be back, Charlie. I know because he's still my boss and, most of all, he's my friend. I have faith in him."

Megan had turned out to be right. Don had finally come home. However, no one had been prepared to take in the reason motivating his return. Least of all, Charlie.

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TBC

A/N: I can sense some more anguish and drama lurking up. Can you?