Don's POV

After spending the night at Charlie's house, I woke up to the smell of coffee and french toast. After cleaning up a bit, I went downstairs. Charlie wasn't up yet, I noted. I sank down in my chair where a cup of coffee was already waiting for me.

I leaned my head back on the back of the chair, breathing deeply. I hadn't slept the greatest last night. Thoughts of Charlie and the danger he could have been in plagued my mind. Why hadn't he come to me? Why hadn't he told me? I couldn't understand his reasoning behind it.

My thoughts were interrupted when Dad came in with a large plate full of french toast.

"Donnie, why don't you go wake up Charlie? He'll want to eat this while it's hot."

"Okay," I said as I got up from the table and ran up the stairs. Thoughts of how I used to wake Charlie up when we were kids came to me and I wondered how I'd decide to wake him today.

Deciding on the classic jump on his bed, I walked into his room. He was sound asleep, snoring lightly. I hoped my waking him would lighten the mood. Yesterday was scary. I figured we all need to return to some sort of normalcy.

With a running start, I went to the other side of his queen size bed and tossed myself on top of his bed, making Charlie jump a foot above his bed. Charlie groaned loudly.

"Go away, Don," he said, without even looking at me. I laughed at how he knew it was me.

"Come on, Charlie. It's time to get up. Dad made french toast. He wants you to join us."

"I'll eat it later. Need sleep."

"Come on!" I shook his shoulder.

"No!" he growled.

"Fine, grumpy pants."

I left his room with a glance over my shoulder. He looked like he was already asleep.

I quickly went down the stairs and found Dad sitting at the table, watching me as I came down.

"Where's Charlie?" he asked before I was seated.

"He's not coming down. He's too busy with his beauty rest."

Dad didn't seem to find any humor in what I said.

"Good. I wanted to talk to you about last night. I know you found out what was going on with Charlie. I want to know what it is."

I sighed. I should have known he'd ask. I shouldn't have told him what I suspected. I knew I'd regret it later.

"He didn't give me many details, Dad, but some guys named Jake has been threatening him."

Dad gasped.

"What?" I asked.

"Jake?"

"You know him?"

"Yes. I met him. He seemed nice enough. He said he was our new neighbor. I-I talked to him. And he's been threatening Charlie?"

I nodded. "Dad, do you know where he was living?"

"Across the street at the Johnson's old place." Dad was clearly shaken over Jake.

"I told Charlie I talked to him, even called him Charlie's friend. He reacted weirdly when I talked about him, but I thought nothing of it at the time."

"Don't worry, Dad. I sent Megan, David, and Colby out to get him. Charlie was supposed to meet Jake last night at midnight and they went and got him instead. Megan called me last night, or early this morning, rather, and said that they brought him in."

Dad sighed with relief.

"Why didn't he tell you about it before?" Dad asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I don't know," I said after I swallowed a bite of french toast.

"That's not like him, is it?"

"No."

We ate the rest of our breakfast in silence. Dad looked up at the stairs a few times, but Charlie never came down. I decided to call him in sick, knowing he'd not be up to working today.

Charlie's POV

I woke with a pounding head and a nauseous feeling in my stomach. I suddenly had the urge to throw up and I got up. I felt dizzy and had to wait a while before the room stopped spinning. The urge was stronger now, so I knew I had to hurry.

Forgetting I had a sprained ankle, I put both feet down on the floor and stood. I gasped with pain, immediately taking my left foot off the floor. I hobbled over to the bathroom, barely making it in time to empty my stomach into the toilet.

After flushing the toilet, I leaned my back against the bathtub. A few minutes later, I could faintly hear someone calling my name, then Dad knocked on the door before entering.

"Charlie! Are you okay?" he asked when he saw me leaning limply against the tub.

"I'm okay," I mumbled, but I didn't even believe it.

"Hey, Dad, I'm going to head out," Don said as he walked into my room. Seeing the door open and who was inside, he hurried over.

"What happened?" he asked.

Dad placed a hand to my forehead. I leaned into the coolness.

"He's burning up," Dad breathed.

"Well, he was out in the rain for a pretty long time last night," Don mused.

"Charlie? Can you stand?"

His voice sounded too far away. I tried to nod but the pressure in my head wouldn't allow it.

"Help me get him up," Dad said as he stood. Don came to stand beside him and each of them took hold of an arm.

I was pulled to my feet, but my legs had turned to jelly. They nearly had to drag my dead weight. Don lifted me so they could get me on the bed. Dad took my legs and Don took my upper body.

"Cold," I mumbled as I reached for the blankets.

Dad moved quickly to get the blankets out from under me and he pulled them over me. I sank into their warmth, but I was still cold.

"So, so cold." I felt my teeth begin to chatter.

Don rested his hand on my face. I couldn't understand how I could enjoy the coolness, yet still feel so cold.

"Damn. He's awfully hot," Don muttered.

"I'll go get some medicine." Dad rushed from the room.

I felt the bed sink a little and understood it as Don sitting down beside me.

"S-sorry," I mumbled.

"What are you sorry for, Buddy?" Don asked. Even though his voice seemed far away, I could hear the confusion in his voice.

"S-sorry I lied."

"What did you lie about?" Something was different about his voice. Something was added to it. Anger?

"Don't remember," I muttered. The words made my tongue seem heavy.

Dad came back inside.

"Hold his head up for me, Donnie," Dad ordered.

I felt my head go up and I winced. It was too bright in here.

"Sorry," Don said. I felt my hair brushed back and I assumed Don had done it.

"Charlie? Can you take this for me?" Dad asked.

I felt him place two pills in my mouth. I tried to swallow, but failed.

"Here." Dad placed a straw in between my lips. I drank greedily and I felt the pills go down my throat. The water went down funny and I began to cough.

Don propped me up higher and patted my back. Soon I was able to breathe normally and I fell limply against Don's chest.

"Do you want me to stay home?" Don asked Dad.

"No. You go ahead. I'll take care of him."

Don lightly pushed me off of him and I fell limply onto the bed. I groaned in misery. Someone patted me on the back, but I couldn't see who it was.

"Get better, Buddy," Don said and then I heard him leave the room.

Dad came around to the other side of my bed so he could see my face. He brushed at the curls that covered my face from how I laid down.

"My poor boy. You've had it awfully rough lately, huh?"

I whimpered when his hand left my face. He immediately brought it back, and said soothing things to me as he stroked my hair until I fell asleep.

Don's POV

I ended up coming right back toward home later that day to where Jake had been staying. My team found many weapons in the man's closet. He couldn't have been there long. The house was mainly empty except for a few pieces of furniture and the case full of knives and guns in his closet. I felt a chill run down my spine at the thought that he had used one of those knives on Charlie. It was obvious that he had cleaned whichever one he had used because none had blood on them. However, several of them matched crimes we had worked on months ago.

We found that Jake's full name was Jake Daniels. He didn't tell us much, which was expected. I knew Charlie would have to come in again for questioning. This time I'd be sure to know where Jake was so there'd be no surprises. I hated to think he'd have to go through something like this again.

Megan told me that Jake had a gun on him when they met him at the park, along with a length of rope and a pocket knife. I didn't want to know what he had planned to use on Charlie, or how he had planned to use them. It scared me to know he was so close to danger and I hadn't known anything about it.

After we finished at Jake's house, I decided to stop in at home to check on Charlie. His feverish state had surprised me, though it shouldn't have. Like I said, he'd been out in the rain for a while. It wasn't that surprising that he'd catch a cold because of it.

Dad was downstairs reading the paper, his reading glasses on, when I walked through the door.

"Hello, Donnie. Back so soon?"

"Yeah, we were just across the street checking up on Jake's house. How's Charlie?"

"His fever's gone down considerably. I couldn't get him to eat anything the last time I checked on him. He was sleeping, last I looked."

"I'll go check on him."

"Try to get him to eat!" Dad called as I went up the stairs.

Charlie wasn't sleeping, but his glassy eyes made me assume he wasn't clearly conscious.

"Hey, Buddy. How you feeling?" I asked as I came into his room and sat on his bed beside him.

He shrugged, but I could see even that bothered him.

"Megan, David, and Colby got Jake last night. You don't have to worry about him anymore. We've got enough on him to hold him. We'll have to look into it some more, but I have a feeling he had something to do with a murder case we worked on not too long ago. If that's the case, you'll never have to worry about him again."

Charlie nodded.

"Can I get something for you?"

"Water," Charlie choked out hoarsely.

I looked around the room. There wasn't any water.

"I'll go get you some, okay?"

I got up and went downstairs. Dad was already in the kitchen, preparing to cook anything for Charlie.

"Is he ready to eat?" Dad asked hopefully.

"No. He just wants something to drink."

Dad reached in the fridge and brought out a small bottle of orange juice. He took a straw out of the drawer by the sink and put it inside the bottle, as though I couldn't do it myself.

"Be gentle. He can barely keep his head up," Dad warned.

"Thanks, Pop."

I went up the stairs and Charlie was looking around the room. His eyes seemed more focused than before, which I took as a good sign.

"Dad gave me some juice for you."

Charlie struggled to sit up. When he wasn't able to, he gave a frustrated grunt.

"Here. Let me help."

I came around to his side and propped him up with some pillows. Though he sank into them, he still was up enough that he'd be able to drink without choking.

I held the bottle for him as he drank the juice. I was surprised when he downed the whole thing without stopping for a breath.

"Goodness. You were thirsty, huh, Buddy?" I laughed when he smiled sheepishly at me.

"Better?"

"Yeah."

Charlie sank back into the pillows. I moved them to a more comfortable position for him.

"I better get back to work. You need anything before I leave?"

"No."

"Is there anything you can tell me that will help our investigation of Jake?"

He shook his head, his eyes already closed.

"Okay. Sleep well, Bud."

"Bye, Donnie," Charlie said sleepily before he yawned.

Before I was out the door, he was already asleep.