Chapter Five

Day 4

Megan looked at the spider and had to smile. This was getting so ridiculous. There was no way he'd ever find her fear. Even if he did there was no way she'd ever let on as to how scared she really was.

Don had sat down at his desk. Still attempting to whistle innocently. Megan threw the spider at him which hit him square on the nose.

"Ow! What did ya do that for?"

"I didn't"

"Yes you did"

"You put the spider on my chair"

"No I didn't"

Megan looked around for something else to throw at him. It was amusing her that Don had roped Charlie in to help him. She found it even funnier when Colby had told her that he heard Charlie talking about a fear algorithm. Charlie could turn anything into math. All in all though she was impressed. They were spending so much time trying to scare her that both seemed visibly more relaxed than she'd seen them in…well they never had seemed this relaxed. One thing the brothers had in common was a sense of seriousness that was rarely lowered enough for them to simply goof off.

Boy was Don going to get a shock today. Megan felt it was her turn for some revenge.

She picked up her apple and slung that Don's way. He caught it easily and took a huge bite. Smiling at her as he began to chew. She was about to wipe that smug smile from his face.

"What did you call it?" he asked

"Call what?"

"The mouse"

Megan smiled and leaned on the glass partition above Don's desk.

"How do you know about the mouse?"

He simply smiled at her. She realised she'd never seen him smile as much as he had done the past week. That dog bite had resulted in a good thing. She almost felt guilty. Almost.

"Donnie"

"No you didn't "

"Oh yes I did"

Charlie arrived at noon; he was loving the routine of meeting his brother for lunch. Such a rare occasion for the two of them to spend easy time together. For the past week they'd fallen into this routine. Charlie missed using his math to help the Agents but he was willing to miss it for this, quality time with his brother.

The night before Alan had commented on how conspiratorial his sons seemed to be lately. Both had looked at each other and laughed. Perplexing Alan all the more. If he knew what they had both been devoting their time to: scaring Megan, he'd have quite a few things to say. Neither brother wanted to be lectured right now. Instead they were enjoying having fun. Both new this lull wouldn't last. Any time a phone call could come in and send Don back into the field with late nights and early mornings. Charlie would again have to juggle his time between classes and FBI work.

"Charlie"

Megan motioned for Charlie to join her in one of the interrogation rooms.

"Hey"

"Listen, I know you don't like dogs so maybe you should stay in here for the moment"

"Who told you that" Charlie knew his face was flushing even as he spoke.

"Well, just to warn you in case you don't like them"

"What's going on?"

"A little revenge"

"GET THAT DAMN THING OUT OF HERE .NOW!"

Charlie stood, instantly alerted by the tone in his brother's voice. Megan sedately walked from the room to Don, who was standing by the kitchen pointing toward the hallway. Charlie followed his brother's look and stopped in his tracks. Colby was standing by the door holding a leash attached to a large, white, fluffy poodle.

"I'M SERIOUS, GET THAT THING OUT OF HERE"

"What's wrong Don?"

"Don't 'what's wrong Don' me Megan, get it out of here, it hates me"

"Seems quite calm and peaceful to me" Colby patted the Dog's head. It was sitting by his leg panting happily while surveying the area. To Don it seemed to be searching for him. The dog looked his way and stopped panting. It stood and advanced. Held back only by the leash.

Don moved further into the kitchen.

"Seriously, get it out of here, that thing hates me and has a taste for blood"

Charlie was amused by the whole situation. Actually seeing the dog that had attacked his brother made his whole dream evaporate. It really was a huge cotton ball.

Charlie moved to stand next to Megan, between Don and the dog.

"I thought it would have been put down?"

"No Charlie, it was only defending its owner and Don never pressed charges."

Charlie looked questioningly at his brother, who was attempting to appear calm in the entrance to the kitchen.

"You never pressed charges?"

"Didn't seem fair, I figured the dog suffered enough what with having to be a poodle"

Colby walked further into the room. The dog had resumed its panting and was happily walking by his side. Don moved out of the kitchen and offered the animal a piece of leftover sausage. The dog gratefully took the meat and nuzzled Don's leg for more.

"You're not scared?"

"I gave it the sausage so it wouldn't want my hand"

Charlie smiled at his brother. He could see Don didn't want to show any weakness to the other agents in his command. His shock at seeing the dog seemed to have worn off. Although Don wasn't making any move out of the kitchen again. He'd taken up his position just inside the door and didn't seem willing to pet the dog. Charlie looked at the poodle. It didn't seem so bad. He'd managed to pet Mr Paterson's dog a few days ago, although that dog was a little Jack Russell. Time for Charles Edward Eppes to step up to the plate. Charlie stepped forward and held his hand out to the poodle who sniffed his fingers with intrigue. Charlie smiled over at Don, who beamed back at his brother with pride in his eyes, although made no step to join his brother by the poodle.

Charlie was about to pet the dog on its head when he felt a brush of fur and teeth attaching themselves to his right hand. He began to pull away. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. One minute his was holding his hand under the dog's nose. The next it had growled and lowered it's head, only to bring it's muzzle up to Charlie's hand, opening it's mouth and clamping down.

Charlie started to pull his hand away, aware that his skin had been broken. He felt Don's arms around him, Don had moved with lightening speed from his place in the kitchen and with one arm around each side of his brother he pried to dogs jaws open while Colby pulled it back by the leash. David clamped his own hands around the dogs muzzle and with the help of another agent wound the leash around the dog's nose.

Don turned Charlie around and led him into the kitchen. His brother was breathing heavily and looking extremely pale. He sat him down and took his hand; there were three puncture wounds and a very red patch that no doubt would turn into a lovely bruise by tomorrow.

"You ok?" Don searched his brother's eyes.

"It bit me!"

"Yeah"

"It bit me, why?"

"I don't know buddy, doesn't look too bad though but we should get you checked out at the emergency room"

"I was being nice to it"

"Is Charlie ok?" Megan came into the room looking very embarrassed and guilt ridden.

"He's ok, see, told you that Dog was evil"

"I'm so sorry Charlie"

"It's ok; you didn't make it bite me"

Megan looked at the paleness of Charlie; she turned her eyes to Don, seeking his forgiveness.

"Guess you couldn't find a plastic life-size poodle then?" he quizzed her.

"No" Megan smiled, "But I thought I could get revenge on you, not Charlie. Oh Charlie I'm so sorry"

"It's ok, honestly" Charlie's skin was covered with sweat; it was obvious that this situation was anything but ok.

"Wait" said Don "You wanted it to bite me?"

"No not bite you, just scare you a bit is all, give you a taste of your own medicine"

"I think that dog has had enough taste to last it a life time. That's funny though"

Both Charlie and Megan regarded Don with incredulous looks.

"What's funny?" demanded Charlie.

Don wound a towel around his little brother's hand and moved him toward the door.

"Megan was after me but got you instead, I was after Megan but got Colby instead. It's a little funny is all"

"We'll see how funny you find it when I tell Dad"

Megan laughed back at Don's warm smile. He winked at her and shook his head. Indicating it was all alright. No harm done, well, not to him anyways.