A/N- I can't believe that I got this chapter done so quickly! The whole 'Famn Damily' has a terrible stomach bug that is running rampant through the schools! All the kids are sick including the baby and even hubby is flat on his back with it. Writing is my escape from the fun of life. I actually wrote this chapter in small segments. Fifteen minutes here, an twenty minutes there, ten minutes a little later... You get the idea. That may not have been very good for continuity. If it seems a bit choppy that is why.

Chapter Fifteen

The ED doctor had a different nurse come in and perform the EKG on Charlie while he pulled Don and Alan aside to talk to them.

"The injuries that your son received were not that serious…"

Alan's eyebrows shot up at this statement. Having someone use a staple gun on his son's chest and strangling him with something that left a cut around his neck deep enough to warrant extensive bandaging sounded like a fairly serious injuries to him.

"… but the use of Pentobarbital in a high dose has me somewhat concerned, not to mention the fact that he has been deeply traumatized by this experience. I want to admit him for overnight observation and when he has recovered enough from the barbiturate, I strongly recommend a physiological consult. I understand why the use of restraints in his case could be even more damaging to his emotional state, but I can not allow him to harm either himself or any of the staff here."

"My father and I will stay with him and make sure that he doesn't have any more problems. There will be no need to restrain him."

The doctor nodded and said that he would get the admission paper work under way then left the trauma room. By this time the EKG had been done and the nurse assured both Don and Alan that Charlie was doing just fine. The study was normal and it appeared that his heart had not suffered any adverse effects from the barbiturate overdose.

By the time they were ready to transport Charlie up to a room David and Megan had arrived at the hospital after escorting the medical examiner and Jon's body to the county morgue. They were escorted into the treatment room as they were getting ready to wheel Charlie's bed out to the elevator.

"How's he doing?" Megan asked.

"He has a long road ahead of him, but he's doing all right for now. Dad, I need to brief David and Megan. Can you go up with Charlie, I'll be along shortly." Don looked at the transport orderly. "It's room 4752, right?"

The man nodded to the agent and started pushing Charlie's bed toward the door when Charlie woke up again and grabbed the side rails in a white knuckled grip.

"What's happening? Don!"

Don moved over to Charlie's beside quickly. "Hey, it's ok, Buddy. You're going up o a room where it's a little quieter. I have to talk to David for a few minutes, and Dad's right here."

Charlie's eyes were shooting back and forth. "Where is she? Is she here?"

"No, Charlie she's not here. You're safe now."

Charlie seemed to accept this answer as his eyes slid closed yet again. Don exchanged an uncertain look with his father.

"Go on, Donnie; I'll make sure he gets upstairs ok. You need to bring your people up to speed. I'll see you in a bit."

Don led the other agents out of the Emergency Department and down the corridor toward the main lobby of the hospital. There were several lounge areas along this corridor and they found one that was unoccupied.

"What was Charlie saying just then? What did he mean by 'Is she here?'" Megan started without preamble.

"It appears that the FBI Killer is a woman."

This statement was met by stunned silence from both agents. David was the first to speak.

"Are you sure about this Don? I mean Charlie seemed pretty out of it just now."

"He is confused because of the effects of the barbiturate used on him, but I still believe him. It was how he acted that convinced me. Look I'll know more when he really comes out of it and I can ask him about what happened in that print room. Until then we need to get the files of all female instructors, employees and trainees from Quantico during the time frame that we have been working off of."

Don glanced at his watch then at David before continuing. "Did Colby get that surveillance tape?"

"Yeah, he's taken it into the tech guys. Hopefully video enhancement will give us a face or at least a partial face."

"Ok, it will take until tomorrow to get all the files from Quantico so in the mean time we need to start re-interviewing all of the friends and family members again." Don turned to Megan. "We are going to need a whole new profile for this killer. Go over all of the victim files and let me know what you come up with. I'm going to be here until Charlie comes out of the effects of the drug."

Megan touched Don's forearm to get his full attention. In a gentle voice she said, "Don, you're tired and it's obvious that you won't be getting any sleep soon. You are too close to this situation to interview Charlie. I'm the forensic psychologist and Charlie isn't my brother. I should do the interview."

Don stared at her not really knowing how to feel about her statement. Charlie was his brother and what he had been through was beyond horrifying. He knew perfectly well that there was no way in hell he could be objective as his thoughts from earlier reemerged in his mind.

'I'm going to kill this bastard, if it's the last thing I ever do, that son of a bitch is going to die!'

Megan was right; she should be the one to conduct the debriefing. If any other agent were in his position that is the decision that he would make.

"All right Megan, but I want to be present. After what happened in the treatment room, I want to be there to calm him down if he looses it."

David looked startled by this statement. "Did he have another anxiety attack?"

"No, I don't think so. Well sort of actually, but that was after he flipped out. The nurse who was helping him was wearing lavender and that is apparently what the killer was wearing. He panicked and tried to get away from her and ended up hitting her, so they tried to restrain him. When I came into the treatment room he was fighting like a Tasmanian devil trying to get away from everyone near him. The doctor said that if he gets violent again they won't have any choice but to restrain him, but I won't let that happen."

David and Megan told Don to try and get some rest and headed back to the office. Don wearily made his way to the elevators and up to the room that Charlie was in. During the course of the day and evening Charlie woke several times usually disoriented and agitated but would fall quickly into a fitful slumber after Don or Alan spoke reassuring words to him.

By evening Don was so exhausted that he just sat in the chair next to Charlie's bed staring off into space. Alan brought him a cup of coffee and had to shake him slightly to get his attention after calling his name at least four times with no response.

"Don you have to get some sleep or you will be the next person to wind up in the hospital. When was the last time you slept anyway?"

Don took the coffee gratefully from his father's outstretched hand and thought about it. "What time is it?"

"It's 7:45 Sunday evening."

Don scrubbed his hand down his face and sat back in the chair. "I'm not sure; I think it was Friday night; for a few hours anyway."

"That is exactly my point. You need to sleep. Go home for a while. I'll stay here with him."

Don took a sip of the coffee and shook his head. He knew that his father was right and that he desperately needed at least a couple of hours of sleep, but there was no way in hell he was going home until Charlie woke up and could speak coherently.

"There's a small lounge down the hall. I'll go stretch out on the couch for a few hours. Why don't you wake me around midnight so that you can take a turn?"

Alan understood Don's desire to stay in the hospital and truthfully he thought that it was wise to have Don close by if Charlie had another bad episode as he shook off the effects of the drug.

By morning both Don and his father had gotten some spotty sleep. Larry came by the hospital in the early morning and brought fresh coffee and bagels for the Eppes men.

Larry had left the campus Saturday evening shortly before Charlie and Jon. Later he too had seen the news broadcast and Don's reaction to some phone call. The fact that Alan was not answering the phone or Charlie his cell, boded ill for a good report. He couldn't even get through to Megan so unable to contact anyone for information he spent a restless night filled with bad dreams about Charlie and the agent who was watching over him.

Late on Sunday afternoon Megan called Larry. She met him at his place and told him of Charlie's kidnapping and the fact that yet another agent had been killed. Larry was very upset to learn that Charlie had been injured by this killer but was overwhelmingly relieved that he had survived the encounter. She advised him to wait until morning to go to the hospital to give the Eppes family time to adjust.

Megan had kept much of the details of Charlie's abduction to herself, which was just fine with Larry, but it did not prepare him to see his young friend with a bandage surrounding his neck and on his chest and a black and blue bruise across his right cheekbone.

"Has he woken up yet?" Larry whispered as he set the coffee and bagels down on the tray table.

Don thankfully took one of the coffees and two packets of Splenda that Larry had also brought. "He wakes up for moments, some longer than others but he is usually kind of out of it when he does. A large dose of Pentobarbital was used to drug him and the effects should wear off soon. The doctor seemed to think that he should start becoming more aware some time later this morning."

Alan also took a cup of the coffee and sat in the chair on the far side of Charlie's bed leaving the chair next to Don empty for Larry. "Have a seat Larry. Thanks for the coffee. We could both use it; it's been a long night."

Larry declined with a shake of his head as he scratched his chin nervously, never taking his eyes off of Charlie. "I'm afraid I can't stay. I did want to check on you and Charles. Do you have any idea how long he will be in the hospital?"

Alan smiled for the first time that morning. "Actually he might be able to come home today. His physical injuries are not that serious. The problem lies with how well he handles the other…
…damage once he wakes up."

Larry did not press for an explanation to Alan's hesitation or choice of words. Megan had not told him exactly what had happened but he suspected that Charles had witnessed the death of this other agent. From what he had not heard from David, Megan and Charlie about these murders he was certain that the man's death was gruesome and therefore emotionally traumatic to witness.

"If there is anything at all that I can do, please call me. Right now I have to meet with the Dean and there is a faculty meeting that I must attend."

Don left the room to call into the office for an update on how the new leads were going. Colby had indeed gotten the video surveillance but it yielded no results for the killer was wearing a long sleeved hooded poncho.

The camera did show the driver's side of Jon's car as it pulled up and came to a stop. There was no movement for at least five minutes then the camera picked up the hooded figure pushing a wheelchair up the ramp of the loading dock with a slumped Charlie hanging listlessly to one side as they disappeared from view upon entering the building.

After another fifteen minutes you saw the figure reemerge with the now empty wheelchair and approach Jon's car on the driver side. The killer opened Jon's door and pulled the chair right up to the open driver's side then locked the chair in position at an angle to the open door. Then the figure reached into the car and pulled out the tall form of Agent O'Donnell. His arms were draped loosely around the killer's neck while she held the agent by his waist band. Once the two figures were standing the killer pivoted Jon and allowed him to fall into the wheelchair.

The face of the killer was completely covered so no amount of video enhancement would help to identify her. The files that the team had requested from Quantico had arrived and the team all began going through them. Megan had completely revised her profile of the killer based on the new information given by Charlie. By 9:30 in the morning the office was buzzing with activity as every agent took a stack of files.

Don asked Megan to come to the hospital so that she could interview Charlie when he woke up which by the way he was acting seemed like it would be soon. He had begun to move his head a little and mumbled in his sleep.

As Don walked back into Charlie's room he was relieved to see his brother slowly open his eyes and blink a few times to clear his vision. Don stepped right up to the side of Charlie's bed as he looked around in confusion. When Charlie turned his head and saw Don and his father standing there looking both worried and relieved he knew that what he had experienced was real.

"It wasn't just a bad dream." He said in a voice that was almost a whisper.

Don took a hold of Charlie's hand and gave it a little squeeze. "It wasn't a dream."

"Jon… he's dead." This was a statement rather than a question and the pain in Charlie's eyes nearly broke Don's heart.

"I'm sorry, Buddy."

Charlie turned his face away from his family. He had a mixture of emotions boiling inside of him and didn't know what to do or what to say. After a few moments he said, "Why… Why am I here? Why didn't she kill me too?"

Don was about to say something to his brother when Charlie turned his face toward them again. "It's a woman you know. This killer is a woman."

"A woman who wears lavender."

Charlie looked startled by what Don had just said. "How… How did you know that?
Did you catch her?...
Did you kill her?"

Even though Charlie's voice was a little scratchy from being strangled the change in his tone and the look in his eyes when he had asked if Don had killed her shocked them. There was a cold hatred in Charlie's voice that was so out of character that neither of them could say anything immediately. They exchanged a very concerned look before Don mastered his expression.

"Charlie you were drugged with a high dose of a barbiturate called Pentobarbital. You woke up a few times but you were pretty out of it. You did say that the killer was a woman and that she had been wearing lavender."

"Why didn't she kill me?"

Alan was getting very concerned now. He was afraid that Charlie was experiencing survivor's guilt but he was mistaken. Don sat down next to Charlie also extremely worried about his brother's mental state.

"We don't think that she ever meant to kill you, Charlie. She wanted to frighten you so that you wouldn't keep working on this case."

What ever Don and Alan had expected or prepared themselves for didn't lessen the shock that they felt seeing the cold hard stare from Charlie. "She should have."

"My God, Charlie! Don't say that. Your brother and I thought that we had lost you. You're upset right now, and who could blame you. What you need now is to rest and recover from this experience."

Just then the attending physician walked into the room. He approached the bed with a smile and a cheery voice. "Well it's good to see you awake and alert Mr. Eppes. How are you feeling?"

Charlie wanted to yell at his father for telling him that all he needed was rest. He wanted to scream at Don for not finding them soon enough to save Jon. He wanted to get up out of that damn hospital bed and shake some sense into the doctor for asking such a ridiculous question. Charlie had so much rage swirling around inside him that he just wanted to lash out at anyone near him, but his logical mind spoke louder than the rage. If he wanted to get out of this hospital he was going to have to play along with this man.

"I want to go home." he said in a quiet voice.

"Well then, I am going to need to do a full exam. I want to check the sutures in your chest and neck, and test your motor functions."

"Why do you need to check my motor functions?" Charlie asked in a nervous tone. He began moving his arms and legs to make sure that he could.

"Mr. Eppes, you were under the influence of a strong barbiturate which impaired your motor functions for a while. I just need to make sure that you have full command of yourself before I can sign a release. You have been through a tremendously traumatic experience and I would like you to have a psychological evaluation as well."

Don spoke up at this point. "Doctor what exactly would a psychological evaluation entail?"

The doctor addressed his response to Charlie rather than Don. "Do you remember anything that happened to you?"

Charlie looked from the doctor to his father then finally to Don. He stared into his brother's eyes and said, "I remember everything."

"You will need to talk about this experience with the Psychologist."

Again Don spoke up. "Um, that is going to be a problem. What Charlie experienced is part of an ongoing investigation and the information is classified. We have our own forensic psychologist coming in to talk to him about what happened. I understand that your person would be required to keep anything said confidential, but with the nature of this investigation we simply can not risk any kind of leak."

The doctor seemed somewhat affronted by the interruptions and he nodded curtly at Don. "I will need to consult with your Psychologist before I am willing to sign his release. Now if you gentlemen will excuse me. I need to examine Mr. Eppes. There is a lounge down the hall where you can wait. I'll send someone to inform you when I have finished."

When Megan arrived on the fourth floor Don flagged her down from the hallway outside the lounge which was near the elevators. They spoke briefly out in the hallway before joining Alan in the lounge.

"How are you holding up Mr. Eppes?"

"It's been one hell of a weekend; but I'm all right Megan. So you are going to talk to Charlie. Can I be there when you speak to him?"

Megan sat down next to Alan on the couch and put a gentle hand on his arm. "I'm sorry Mr. Eppes but I will need to speak to him alone. The emotional trauma of this experience is overwhelming and he will be able to speak more openly with me than with you… at first anyway. I'm not trying to say that Charlie wouldn't trust you enough to share what happened, but this is not going to be an easy interview and it would be better if it were just the two of us. I am sure that there is little need to worry about a drug induced outburst at this point."

Megan gave Don a pointed look as she finished. He looked as though he were about to argue with her so she fixed him with an unflinching gaze that clearly said 'Don't even try.'

"I'll be taping the interview so you will know everything that is said, but Charlie needs to be free to speak his mind and he may not feel comfortable doing that with either of you this soon."

Don sat down and opened his mouth to say something but stopped and closed it again. He seemed to be thinking hard and after another moment he seemed ready with an argument but Megan simply stared him down until he slumped back against the couch in defeat.

No matter how much he wanted to be there when Charlie relived this experience he knew that Megan was right. His emotions would adversely impact the interview. He considered telling Megan about what Charlie had said about wishing that this person had killed him too but stopped himself because he did not want to influence her judgment.

Nearly an hour had gone by since the doctor had asked them to leave so that he could examine Charlie. Don had started pacing impatiently and Alan picked up an old copy of Readers Digest to keep his mind off of Charlie and Don's pacing. Alan was about to ask Don to sit down when a young nurse stepped into the lounge and told them that the doctor had finished with Charlie and would be back to talk with them after the psychologist had conducted the interview and consulted with him.

Megan gave Alan's hand a squeeze then stood up. She put her hand on Don's shoulder as she walked past him and whispered "This will take a little while. Go get your dad some coffee and a sandwich ok."

Don trusted Megan completely but he couldn't stop himself from saying "Go easy on him."

Megan smiled and walked down the hall to Charlie's room. When she entered she found him sitting up in bed staring out the window at the early afternoon sunlight. She knew that he had heard her enter the room but he didn't turn to look at her.

"Hey, Charlie; how are you feeling?"

Charlie still didn't look at Megan but he could hear her sitting down next to him and heard the sound of her setting something on the tray table. He finally turned around and saw that what she had pulled out was a small tape recorder. "I know that there is no way out of this…
…interview." Charlie said in a quiet voice. "I…" He sighed in a resigned way and said, "Let's just get it over with so that I can go home."

Megan switched on the recorder and pulled out a small pad and pencil. "Charlie, how much do you remember about your kidnapping and Agent O'Donnell's murder?"

"I remember everything. I wish I didn't. I remember every sound, every smell…" Charlie's voice faded to a whisper. "…every touch." He looked up into Megan's face for the first time and his eyes held fear and something else that she couldn't discern just yet.

"All right, just go at your own pace. You told Don that the killer is a woman, but you were blindfolded. Did she speak to you?"

"No, she never said a word. It wasn't what I saw, it's what I heard. The footsteps were lighter than a man's would be. At one point she slapped me hard across the face and it was a smaller hand than my own. When she tore my shirt open I felt fingernails under the rubber gloves. Not like a man's, like a woman's and then there was the scent of lavender. Not perfume. It was faint, almost like she had bathed with scented soap. She started whistling and… I don't know it sounded… It didn't sound like a man to me."

"She was whistling?"

Suddenly that look in Charlie's eyes became very clear to Megan. It was pure fury. He looked up with such loathing in his expression that she had to quickly compose her own features to hide the shock that she felt.

"Yes, that bitch started whistling 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco'.

"Ok, Charlie. Can you tell me everything that you can remember from the time you and Agent O'Donnell left the computer lab?"

"His name is Jon!" Charlie didn't mean to sound so angry and regretted snapping at Megan instantly and that showed in his expressive eyes. He softened his tone and said, "His name was Jon."

For the next forty five minutes Charlie detailed everything that he experienced from the moment that the trash can exploded. As he spoke his voice became mechanical and flat. He retold the horrific events that had transpired as if he were reading a dull script but tears ran freely down his face as he spoke. Megan allowed him to speak without interruption, marking places in her notes where she wanted to ask him questions once he was finished.

An hour had passed before Megan reemerged from Charlie's room. She looked a little paler than she had when she went in and Alan was on his feet immediately as she walked into the lounge.

"How is he Megan? Does he need me to go in?"

Megan placed a hand on Alan's cheek and looked into his concerned face. "Give him a few minutes, Mr. Eppes. This is far from over for him. He is going to need a lot of support to recover from this experience."

Megan turned to Don. "After Charlie is settled in at home you will want to come in to the office and go over all of the new forensics. I'll have my report on Charlie's debriefing completed by then. Right now I'm going to go and find his doctor so that he can get the hell out of here. Home is where he needs to be right now."