A/N: Here is another chapter…I'm glad you think I'm portraying Charlie as very strong…he'll have to be from here on out and that is my goal…let me know what you think! Read on my faithful ones!

Amita sat on the floor of the bathroom. The room was a blur of tears. The knees of her jeans were wet with them. It had been nearly two weeks since he disappeared. It had been so sudden, there wasn't any warning. It had crushed her when she heard he'd disappeared, but she'd had faith in Don to find his brother quickly and unharmed. Now she knew that it'd been a dream to think Charlie was coming back. She knew he was never coming back, neither was Don most likely. Alan knew it too. She could see it in his eyes, he knew that he'd lost both of his sons this week. She had found it nearly unbearable just to be in Charlie's house, with Charlie's father, comforting him. She felt like a hypocrite, giving comforting words she never believed. It wouldn't be alright, none of this would turn out alright. Every one else was living in an illusion, they saw the situation through rose colored glasses. They were so determined to find Don and Charlie, not to fail, that they couldn't even see the reality, the other option that was more fact than option. But she wouldn't let herself do that, if she did, the crushing reality would kill her. No, it was much easier to just accept that Charlie was gone, and she would never see him again. She held the gift in her hand tightly, not looking at it, that was too painful, but it was a comfort to hold. It was the one thing of Charlie that wasn't gone.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Megan drained the bottle of beer. She rose to get another. She was determined. When someone came to take her place here, she would triple her efforts to find Don and Charlie. Even if she had to drive around and peek into people's windows she would find Don. She grabbed another cold beer and went upstairs to check on Amita. She was audibly sobbing in the bathroom. The door was locked. Megan left her alone. She understood her pain, they all did. That was when the phone rang. That was when the home phone rang. She hustled down stairs towards the phone; it must have been urgent or perhaps the perpetrator themselves, otherwise the phone call would have been to her cell phone.

"Reeves"

"If you want the professor you'll got to 2414 Lexington Rd. You have to hurry, they'll only be there long enough to drop off the agent. After that they'll disappear. You'll get your agent either way but if you want the professor you'll leave immediately." With that the caller hung up the phone. Megan stared at the phone for a moment, analyzing what she'd been told. Then it hit her, what had been said. She knew where Don was and possibly Charlie. She didn't waste another moment. She called Colby and David. Within minutes they were on their way to the address. She had barely taken time to scribble a note for Alan, Larry and Amita. A horde of F.B.I vehicles and even some police escort converged at a meeting point near the address. She was amazed at how many F.B.I teams had not only volunteered to come, but had insisted. She knew that Don and Charlie were like and well respected at the office, but this was more than even she had anticipated. Everyone had the weapon they were best with; no one wanted error on this mission. They even had a couple of snipers in the arsenal. Together, fully determined, they sped towards Don and Charlie.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Amita hadn't heard Megan leave; she hadn't heard the phone ring. She'd only heard the echo of her sobs. When she came down stairs still hiccupping from her break down, all she wanted was a cold hard beer to drown herself within. She'd gone to the fridge and opened one up, nearly draining it in the first swig. She walked back to the table, fully prepared to get and deep into drunkenness as she could. That was when she saw a note on the table. She set her beer down, trying desperately to read the quickly scrawled writing through her puffy eyes. Then everything seemed crystal clear.

We may have found Don and Charlie. I'll be back as soon as I can.

Megan

Amita felt the blood rush to her head. The ground came up fast and the world went black. She still held that fateful note in her hand.

Larry helped Alan carry in a few bags of groceries. He dropped the bags when he saw Amita collapsed to the floor. He felt for her pulse just to be sure even though he could see her deep, steady, even breaths. Fate could be down right cruel at times. She seemed to have simply fainted. Alan joined Larry, pulling the note from Amita's hand. His face drained of color and he collapsed next to Amita. Larry stared wide eyed at Alan and Amita. Now what was he going to do? He read the note without collapsing. He felt a glimmer of hope.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Charlie sat in the car, watching his brother worriedly. He had stretched his brother across the entire back seat and sat in front of the seat himself. His brother moaned at every bumped and jerk. Charlie tensed at every whisper of a sound Don made, that's all his brother was capable of. He wished the driver would speed up and get there faster so Don could get to the hospital sooner, and yet he hated how fast he drove at each bump. He pressed a towel he'd managed to grab, against his brother's abdomen. The towel was already completely soaked through and a small piece that hung over the edge dripped Don's blood onto his clothes. He nearly gagged at the quartz of blood flowing from his brother. It was a wonder that Don was even alive. He removed the towel quickly and wrung it out beside him and replaced it as fast as possible. He held one hand on Don's forehead, scowling at the fact that it felt warmer every moment. His brother took shallow breaths in quick raspy gasps that forced themselves out before he could hold the breath. About ten minutes out his brother began to tremble; the breaths came quicker and shorter. He began to gurgle, little rivulets of blood fountain from the edges of his mouth. He was choking on his own blood. Charlie turned him onto his side. Blood drained from his mouth in unbelievable amounts. Don coughed and hacked, blood spraying everywhere. After a while Don quieted, blood cleared enough from his lungs for him to breath, somewhat.

Tears streamed silently, unchecked, down Charlie's face, he didn't care if they saw him cry, it didn't matter any more. How could his brother survive this? The simplest task of taking a single breath required more strength than his brother had, even with a hospital he couldn't possibly survive this. He was giving these criminals all they wanted in the hopes to save a brother who was as good as dead no matter what he did. He shook himself. He couldn't give up on Don, not yet; Don didn't give up on him. He didn't care anymore, if it would help give Don a chance to live, to beat the unbeatable odds, he would do whatever they asked. So he sat, watching his brother, blessing every moment that Don still lived.

After a time they pulled to a stop.

"Get out, bring the agent" Charlie obeyed, crawling out of the car and then grabbing his brother under the arms and pulling him out of the car. It scared him when all Don could manage was an almost inaudible cough accompanied by more rivulets of blood. He managed a few backward steps away from the car before his brother's dead weight pulled him to the ground.

"Just leave him there, they'll find him" Charlie looked down at his brother amazed to see Don looking back at him. His eyes were glazed, unfocused, and nearly vacant, yet Charlie could still see the immense fear and pain in his eyes. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly as if he were trying to form words. He turned his brother on his side hoping he wouldn't choke before he was found. He leaned forward and whispered in his brother's ear, tears escaping the corners of his eyes.

"Goodbye Don" Escort dragged Charlie to his feet joined by two other associates grabbing him at his elbows. He followed without a fight, that's what he had agreed to do in exchange for Don's life. They were almost at the new, identical car, when Charlie heard people yelling. He didn't hear the words, but he recognized the tone and voice. He looked up to find Megan, Colby, David, and an entire army behind him, running towards them full speed, guns raised. That was when he chose to fight.

:-:-:-:-:-:

Megan jumped out of the car before it came to a stop. There was a ring of cars and about twenty people most were in the cars waiting. For what? She charged toward the group daringly. There was nothing to hide behind so she didn't even bother for cover.

"F.B.I FREEZE!" That was when she saw Charlie being led away by three men. He had a black eye nearly swollen shut and was bent over slightly as unable to stand straight, his movements were slow. He looked up slowly, just realizing they weren't alone. He was crying. Suddenly he threw himself backwards against his captors knocking one of them off balance, the other only received a glancing blow and was able to maintain his grip on Charlie. Megan shot the man still holding onto Charlie, moving to a new target before he even hit the ground. The third man whirled behind Charlie, grabbing a fistful of hair and dragged him backwards towards the car, paying special attention to keeping him in front of him, the other hand holding a sawed off shotgun to the back of his head. The man knocked off balance scrambled behind a car and fired a shot before climbing inside. Megan dropped like a stone.

Colby ran past Megan towards the car. Charlie was thrown into the back seat followed by the man with the shotgun. Colby could see the man pull back his shotgun and slam it down onto Charlie, even though he couldn't see Charlie. He felt pure rage boil up inside him watching blow after blow hit their mark. He didn't even think of what to do. He raised his handgun and fired three shots. The rear window shattered beautifully only a few jagged pieces survived at the edges. The man dropped instantly. Come on Charlie, climb out. Get out of the car, this is your chance, you just have to climb out the window. He never did. Colby's arms dropped to his side, they were gone.

Colby turned to check on Megan, he knew she'd been shot but he didn't know how badly. David was already kneeling in front of her, her vest off, a plume of blood spreading across her shirt.

"They used armor piercing rounds" He held his over shirt against the wound to slow the bleeding. They had called for an army of ambulances to come that were about five minutes away. This hadn't gone well at all, four agents were dead and half a dozen injured with bullet wounds. Colby felt the frustration rise up again. He half turned and noticed a lone car identical to the criminal's, beside it laid a body in a heap. Don. Colby ran to him. The right side of his face looked to be crushed in and was near completely black and blue with swatches of red blood. Blood seeped from his right shoulder, and his entire torso was deep purples and sickly greens. There were slashes all down his torso. At one spot Colby could see two of Don's ribs because a large chunk of flesh had been sawed away completely, flaps of skin hung loosely all over his body. There were three gunshots, one to the right shoulder, one to the abdomen, and the third around the knee area on his left leg. What little skin was black, blue, or covered in blood was near transparent. With a trembling hand Colby checked for a pulse. The pulse was so faint he wasn't sure if he'd really felt it until he felt it again. It was weak and he could count to five before another came, each weaker than the one before it.

"Good gog Don, what's keeping you alive?" He could barely whisper. Abruptly the pulse was gone. Colby panicked. He rapidly began CPR and mouth to mouth.

"HELP, I NEED HELP OVER HERE!" Swarms of paramedics appeared instantly, pushing him out of their way. While the paramedics worked with Don, Colby fled behind the car and vomited before returning. David stood, staring at Don speechless.

"How's Megan?"

"She's on her way to the hospital." David answered monotone. Suddenly Don was loaded into the ambulance. Colby followed, sitting at Don's head. The ride seemed to last forever as time dragged by slowly. Somewhere along the way Don regained consciousness. Colby couldn't hold back his amazement. The paramedics told him to keep Don awake. Don was already drifting back towards the unconscious void.

"Don, Don. I need you to stay awake. Don, I need you to stay with me"

A/N: What'd you think?