Summery: Charlie finds out that Don has a secret...

Charlie tilted his head to the left and then to the right, watching the small meter that told which floor he was on move to the floor that Don was currently on. At the small 'ding' he waited for the doors to open and let him out.

"Megan." David spoke up seeing Charlie exit the elevator. "Charlie is here."

Megan half winced. "Not the best timing in the world." She muttered moving quickly towards the mathematician. "Charlie!" She called gaining his attention.

"Oh hey Megan. Where's Don at?"

"Ah listen Charlie, Don's kinda busy right now so if you could come back a little later." Megan explained avoiding Charlie's question.

"I can wait." Charlie replied. "It's not a problem."

"Actually it's going to be a while so…" Megan elaborated.

"I've got my laptop." Charlie lifted an eyebrow, curious why Megan was blocking him to see his older brother.

"Well ummm." Megan looked at her watch. "You know what… It's lunchtime… How about you and I go down and grab some lunch somewhere. My treat."

"Oh well I supposed I could, if Don's going to take a while yet." Charlie looked at his own watch then remembered that he had left it on his dresser back at home.

"Trust me." Megan gave Charlie a small grin then grabbed his arm and half pulled him towards the elevator.

"What about your purse?" Charlie asked, not seeing any form of payment on the female FBI special agent.

"I have my card in my wallet in my back pocket Charlie." Megan smiled. "Being an FBI agent doesn't really let me carry around a purse when I'm trying to run down someone."

Charlie laughed at the mental image.

"And besides I would have to dig around the lipstick, and everything else in my purse before I would find my badge and flash it." Megan laughed.

The elevator doors closed. "What is really going on here Megan?" Charlie asked seriously.

"Not here." Megan said quietly. "I'll tell you over lunch."

Charlie frowned, but sighed knowing that Megan wouldn't budge. "So what are we eating?"

"Well when was the last time you had a Panini?" Megan asked.

"Panini?" Charlie shrugged. "It's been a while."

"There we go then."

Once ordered and seated, Charlie leaned across the table. "Now will you tell me what is going on?"

Megan hesitated. "This is top secret Charlie ok? I shouldn't really even be telling you this but…" She sighed. "I'd rather you hear this first hand that through a grape vine."

"Hear what?" Charlie pressed.

"Don has been accused of not being able to deal with any FBI problems without help from the outside." Megan explained quietly.

"Me." Charlie sat back.

"Yes." Megan confirmed. "This is higher than Merrick, so Merrick has to obey orders."

"But what does that mean for Don?" Charlie questioned

"We're not sure at this point. Don is meeting with Merrick right now, he actually has been all morning, but we are pretty sure that you won't be working any cases for a while." Megan said.

"Do you know who brought this up?" Charlie asked.

"Charlie you know I can't tell you that." Megan reproved quietly. "The best thing you can do for Don right now is to lay low. Don't come around the office and don't go digging into anything alright?"

Charlie nodded.

They sat quietly as they ate their Panini's.

"Can I ask how this all came about?" Charlie asked hesitantly.

Megan chewed, contemplating the question. "I don't know for sure, but I would have to say it has something to do with the award the office just got from the President."

"The President?" Charlie echoed.
"Yeah, Don flew out there to meet the President personally." Megan elaborated, a confused expression on her face. "Don didn't tell you?"

"I haven't heard anything of the sort." Charlie shrugged. "When did this happen?"

"Oh two, two and a half weeks ago."

Understanding dawned on Charlie's face.

"What?" Megan asked.

"I was at UCLA getting an award for some research I did." Charlie said hollowly.

"I see." Megan said quietly.

"Dad came with me." Charlie continued, shaking his head. "I was so mad at Don for not coming. He said he had to work and that he couldn't just drop anything for yet another award I would be getting." He sagged in his chair. "What a fool I am."

"I'm sure if Don wanted you to know…" Megan began.

"That's just it… Don is so used to me of always coming first that whenever he can go before me he never does." Charlie said. "Even Dad has said that he's never really gone to anything important to Don."

"What do you mean?" Megan asked.

"Well when Don graduated from Quantico, I was busy getting my doctorate so my parents went to my graduation. I think we only saw three of Don's games when he played for the Stockton Rangers and two of those were on T.V. during the college season." Charlie's guilt was all too apparent. "Mom was always focused on me that when we did go to Don's games in high school she was always watching me trying to get me away from my papers and really enjoy the game."

Megan listened quietly, knowing that Charlie needed to get the past off of his chest.

"You know… I don't really know much about Don. I know what he's done, where he's been but I've been gone for so much of Don's life…" Charlie said, looking rather lost and forlorn.

"Well most of what Don does, he can't really tell you. Even though you have higher clearance than Don does, there are things that you can't really possibly understand without being an Agent yourself." Megan consoled.

"You know Megan. I think I am coming to the strange reality of knowing what it's like to not be spoiled." Charlie said quietly. "And it kinda sucks."

Megan smiled hearing Don's vocabulary from his younger brother. "Charlie whatever happened during high school, college and Quantico Don is a better man for it. Just think of might have happened had those things not happened to Don."

Charlie sighed. "Can I at least talk to Don about all this?"

"Right now Don doesn't even know that I know Charlie." Megan replied gently. "I'm going to be talking it over with him before our shift ends and then I'll call you and let you know alright?"

"Alright." Charlie agreed.

"I should get back before Don realizes I'm gone and put two and two together." Megan smiled.

"Ok." Charlie nodded. "Thanks for lunch."

"Anytime Charlie." Megan waved. "Anytime."

Charlie sighed and sank back into his chair. It wasn't the first time that Don was in trouble because of him and it probably wouldn't be the last time either… But from what he was understanding… This problem could easily cost Don his job… A job he loved… A job that he excelled at…

His face set with determination Charlie set forward, he knew exactly what to do.