Chapter Four: Just between you and me

Don took his eyes off the road to glance at his brother. Charlie sat slumped in the seat, staring out the window, looking pallid and a little like he was going to be sick again. He hadn't spoken since they'd left the morgue. Don wanted to give him a few minutes to pull himself together, but he also wanted some answers. His impatience was starting to get the best of him when Charlie finally lifted his head to look at his older brother. Silently and hesitantly, he raised his eyes to Don, giving him permission to start his own interrogation.

"How well did you know this kid, Charlie?"

"He was on the Metro."

"The night of the quake? He was there?"

"Yeah."

"That was it…that's the only time you've ever met him?"

"Yeah."

"And he stole your backpack?"

"No…it….."

Don slammed his hands against the steering wheel, making Charlie flinch.

"If a bunch of gang bangers ripped you off, why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"They didn't, Don. It wasn't like that."

"Charlie, you can't lie worth a damn."

Charlie looked dejected.

"I…I didn't lie. I just failed to disclose all the facts and…………"

Don cut him off, recognizing the tentativeness in his brothers voice.

"Something else happened down there besides what you told me, besides what you said in your statement to those detectives. What was it, Charlie?"

Charlie shook his head. Stopping at a red light, Don turned to look at his brother.

"If they didn't help themselves to your stuff, then how did they get it? What happened?"

The light turned and Don hit the gas, steering his SUV onto the exit that would take them to Pasadena. Trying to soften the imposing quality in his voice, he threw Charlie a concerned glance as he checked is mirrors and merged into traffic.

"Charlie, come on. I need to know what's going on."

After an extended silence, Charlie cleared his throat.

"One of the older kids. He had a gun. He shot out the window. That's how we got off the train. One of them had a gun and he shot out the glass."

"A gun, Charlie?"

He nodded.

"That's how we got out, yeah."

"You were afraid to tell me that he fired a gun to break the glass?"
Don shook his head doubtfully. He knew Charlie was telling the truth, but there had to be more to it than that. Like he had said…he wasn't disclosing the facts. Charlie had never been good at hiding a lie and even worse at telling one…at least to him.

Maybe that was why he usually chose to tell him nothing at all.

Don exhaled loudly. Only one way to find out.

"Well, I guess as long as he wasn't pointing it at you, or smacking you around with it, we don't have a problem."

Out of the corner of his eye, Don saw a shadow pass over his brother's face and his heart dropped.

"Did they threaten you?"

Charlie turned his head to look out the window again.

"Don't worry about it, Don. That has nothing to do with this."

"Don't worry about it! Charlie? Damn it! I'm worried about it!"

Charlie continued to look out the window without acknowledging his questions. Don took one hand off the wheel and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Did he hurt you? Is that what happened to your head? Charlie?"

Charlie jerked away from him and turned in indignation.

"NO! God. Do you just think the worst of everybody? The kid got himself shot. He's dead! That doesn't mean he was a monster. That doesn't make him a bad kid."

Don gave an exaggerated sigh and took his eyes off the road to glance at his brother.

"No. He was just an innocent gang banger with a rap sheet a mile long."

"He saw four people he cared about get gunned down and then got a matching bullet hole of his very own. GOD! Don…."

Charlie leaned back into his seat.

"He just……I just don't think he deserved to die that way."

"They seldom do, Charlie. But that's the price he paid for the life he chose."

Charlie shook his head. He'd seen the research. He knew the statistics.

"Do you really think he chose it, Don? Or did it choose him? He was only seventeen."

As Don pulled into the driveway and put the SUV in park, he turned to face his brother.

"You make your own future, Charlie. You choose your own fate. He always had a choice."

Charlie looked overwrought and rapidly shook his head in disbelief.

"Really, Don. How many options do you think he had?"

Don jerked the keys out of the ignition, getting more and more exasperated at his younger brother.

"Well, Charlie. I guess once his brains were splattered all over the wall, yeah….He kinda ran out of options. Maybe if you'd told me the truth from the beginning, I could have done something about this. Maybe he would have been in Juvi instead of the morgue."

Don saw the hurt look pass over his brothers face and without responding, Charlie hopped out of the truck and slammed his door. He didn't even look over his shoulder, as he headed for the house.

When he opened the front door and walked into the entryway, Alan jumped up from his chair like he had been shot out of a cannon.

"Charlie? Are you ok? Son? What happened?"

Don followed Charlie through the front door and slammed it hard behind him to demonstrate his irritation. Charlie jerked at the sound, but didn't turn to face his brother.

Don glanced at Alan, trying to neutralize his desire to grab Charlie by the shoulders and spin him around.

"He's fine Dad. Everything is fine."

Alan picked up on the tension between his sons, and raised his eyebrows questioningly.

Keeping his back to Don, Charlie gave his father a forced smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Dad. Don worked it all out, just like he always does. I'm sure he'd be glad to tell you all about it. I have work to do."

Charlie turned into the kitchen and headed out the back door toward the garage without another word.

Alan barely had time to give his older a son a questioning glance when Don stalked past him and followed Charlie out the back door. Alan followed, but remained on the back step and watched as Don caught up to Charlie halfway across the yard.

"Are you just going to walk away from me, Charlie?"

He grabbed his younger brother by the arm, but Charlie forcefully jerked his arm away and opened the door to the garage, disappearing inside.

"Donnie? What's going on?"

Looking back at his father, Don could see the anxiety etched on his face and he felt his own frustrations ebbing away.

"Dad….I….."

"Is Charlie in some sort of trouble? Donnie. What happened?"

Don shook his head and walked back across the yard.

"No. I just….I said something stupid, ok. Just give me a minute with him."

Alan looked hesitant.

"We'll explain in a minute, Dad. Just let me talk to him first."

With a silent nod, Alan turned and headed back into the kitchen, casting a doubtful glance over his shoulder as he passed through the door.

Don took a deep breath and walked slowly into the garage after his brother.

Charlie had headed straight for the chalk board in the center of the room and had already covered the right half of it with a series of numbers.

He never looked away from the board when Don walked up behind him.

"I wasn't saying it was your fault. I didn't mean it like that, Charlie."

"No Don, of course you didn't."

Moving to the left side of the board, Charlie started on an extended equation keeping his back to his brother.

"Charlie….They threatened you with a gun and you don't talk to me? How did you expect me to react to that information?"

Charlie kept writing.

Don felt himself getting frustrated again. Charlie's silence could always irritate him worse than anything else.

"The one person in your life who could do something about it,"

He bit his lip and tried to take the exasperation out of his voice.

"I would have done something about it and you chose not to tell me? Charlie?"

The younger Eppes circled his answer on the board, gave a resolute sigh, and then turned to face his brother.

"That's why I didn't tell you everything, Don….about the gang….about the gun. I knew you'd…..be Don. You'd get all…..you know and …well…."

Charlie tried to smile.

"It just didn't seem necessary."

"NECESSARY? They pointed a gun at you!"

The new surge of anger in Don's voice made Charlie cringe.

"Don, I don't …….……"

"You don't what, Charlie?"

Charlie stared at the floor and rubbed is forehead with a chalk covered hand.

"I…don't…..I don't…understand why I can talk back to a kid with a gun and stare him down, but I can't manage to look you in the eye when you're pissed off at me. That doesn't seem fair somehow."

Don stepped away from Charlie, relinquishing his animosity. Sitting down on the couch at the end of the garage, he leaned over with his elbows on his knees and stared at his brother.

"Charlie. I just wish you'd told me the truth."

Charlie nodded cautiously.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Don. I thought I handled it pretty well. We all walked away. They learned something, I learned something and everybody got to live….especially me. When the kid left with my backpack, it just didn't seem that important."

He paused waiting for Don to reemphasize the importance of talking to him…but his older brother remained silent. Just like that, he was done chewing him out.

Charlie let his own defenses down and brought his argument to a close.

"Besides, I needed a good excuse to get a new lap top. That seemed like just the thing."

Don tried to suppress a smile. He pulled himself to his feet.

"Dad's waiting in the kitchen. He's probably made a dozen different casseroles by now."

"He was pretty freaked out, huh?"

"Yeah, and the way you just marched through the house and straight out here didn't

exactly alleviate his concern."

"I suppose I owe him an explanation."

"It wouldn't hurt. You're the one who has to live with him."

Charlie tossed his chalk onto the table and headed for the door.

"Um, Charlie?"

"Yeah."

"Leave out the part about identifying the body. And don't tell him about the gun. And maybe….well….."

Charlie nodded, a smirk spreading across his face.

"The same reason why I didn't tell you everything?"

Don pulled his jacket straight and tried to look coy.

"I'm not too worried about him going on a gang busting rampage, but…….well…..just let me do all the talking, ok?"

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Authors Notes: Thanks again for the feedback. Please take the time to leave a comment if you aren't in the habit of doing so.

For those of you who comment faithfully - THANK YOU! I've tried to reply to as many comments as I could...if I missed you, know that I am glad to know you are still reading!

And just to keep you intrigued...I'm getting started on the cliffhangers here! Just you wait...I'm excited by the progression of the next chapter and I can't wait to post it!

Chapter Five: This can't be good.