Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. Although I wouldn't mind...

A/N: Here comes another chapter... Took me forever to desribe some of the emotions, but I'm glad of it. Enjoy!

BROKEN INNOCENCE

Chapter seven

Nikki was never really motherly, and even if she thought about having a child, it certainly qualified as some abstract possibility in the far future. But now, as she was watching over Molly, she was startled to feel a warmness in her heart, something she haven't felt since she was a little kid. She observed the little girl as the doctors were taking care of her and she was now watching over the little girl who slept fitfully in the hospital bed, turning and whining.

Nikki smiled warmly – a sight that would cause her fellow agents to consider their sanity – and put her hand on Molly's forehead and cooed some comforting, senseless words. It visibly helped the girl, she calmed down and Nikki saw the peace on her face. The female agent smiled to herself again – this girl will be all right, she will take care of it.

Vaguely, Nikki wondered how Charlie was, she haven't heard anything from Don, or anyone else. In any other situation, she might have been offended by this lack of news, but when it came to this mathematician, she understood that people who she worked with cared for Charlie very much.

That was one thing that was the most visible to her, when she came from LAPD to FBI and started working with Don, David and Colby. At the beginning, she felt that the team was somehow incomplete. At first she thought it might have been the impact of loosing their profiler, Megan Revees, but as soon as she met Charlie and learned about his unusual way of soling crimes, she noticed the influence he had on the team. Once the mathematician could legally work with them, everything felt more complete and fluent. He was truly a part of the team, and having the possibility of turning to him for help made things easier in their group.

Of course, Don was the one who was most influenced by Charlie's return. He became more uninhibited, he often smiled and miraculously, the atmosphere in the Bureau seemed much more friendly to Nikki. Of course, it affected David and Colby too, although she would bet a hundred bucks that none of them would admit it.

Nikki got up and stretched a little. Her neck was stiff from sitting in one place. She walked around the room, peeked outside to see if anyone was walking to her, but there was no one. Worry about Charlie wormed it's way into her heart. She hoped someone would notify her about his state.

It startled her to feel like that. It seemed that after few months she became more attached to this guy than she thought. His smartness, his little metaphors became the part of Nikki's life and she couldn't imagine what would it do to her team to lose him – this time forever.

She sat back by Molly's bed, and silently, for the first time in years, she prayed.

Alan was more than grateful for Colby's and David's presence, as they waited in the corridor to be told where Charlie was. They were the only ones in their small group that preserved some presence of mind. He, Don and Amita were unable to comprehend what was going on. They knew what happened but somehow they couldn't, wouldn't understand. Each of them however reacted differently.

Alan was standing in place, nervously looking around himself, he clearly couldn't wait to see his son. His eyes traveled around the corridor, as he tried to recognize the doctor, who spoke with them earlier.

Amita was sitting in the chair, which conveniently was there. She had her knees up against her chest and she hugged them tightly. Her eyes were fixed at some point on the wall and she was visibly fighting tears. She didn't manage, though: a few drops were rolling down her cheeks, but she didn't seemed to notice that.

Don was pacing through the corridor, lost in his thoughts. He was obviously distressed, but he tried to conceal the main reason of it, his guilt. He didn't really know what he hoped for. He wanted to see his brother, sure, but all the while he was afraid of that. He wondered how he'll react too seeing his little brother on the hospital bed…

After some odd fifteen minutes they were directed to the room. Alan was the first who entered, then Amita came on, then Don and after him Colby and David.

Don sucked in his breath as he saw Charlie: lying still, unnaturally pale, his curls escaping from under the bandage on his head, spread on the pillow. He stepped closer and felt his legs shaking. Fortunately, the bed had a banister, which he used to support himself.

He looks just like mum.

The unwanted memories of losing his mother returned to Don with vengeance. He remembered how she was lying on hospital bed, equally unmoving and pale. She, who was so full of life: she couldn't sit still for a five minutes, there was always something to do, place to go, work that needed to be done… Just like Charlie.

Don for the first time acknowledged the similarities between Charlie and mum, and he wasn't the only one.

Alan walked up to the bed and slowly, tentatively, he touched his son's good hand. Then he stroked the Charlie's curls, amazed at how they were alike to Margaret's. The sight of his youngest in hospital bed brought back the painful memories, but now he knew that Charlie was going to be all right. Now that he saw him, he knew what he had undergone, he felt better. He knew that there was a lot to come through, but he knew that they were going to be okay. All of them.

Alan took a look at his older son. The sight frightened him a little.

Don, who was always so calm and never showed his feelings had tears in his eyes. He was shaken by what he saw and… Alan wondered for a moment, what was that emotion he saw on Don's face? It took him a while to understand.

It was guilt.

Why Don was feeling guilty? He haven't done anything, he couldn't have. As far as Alan knew, the FBI was on the place as soon as they figured out which home was a target. It was just a bad luck, that Charlie was there. There was nothing he could do… Nothing to help his little brother.

Nothing at all.

Monica Dawson was never so shaken. She tried to comprehend what she and Matt found out, but everything was still unclear. The agent from the FBI called them and told that there was a break-in at their house and that their babysitter was dead. If that wasn't enough, their daughter was in hospital, although there was nothing wrong, she had just a few bruises. The agent insisted they came as fast as they could because of 'some things they had to discuss'.

"I wonder what really happened out there." Matt said when entering the hospital. "It's clear that agent wasn't telling all the truth."

"Yeah, I know… I wonder why, though…" She sighed resignedly.

They were directed to the room where their daughter was. When they entered, they saw a woman sitting beside the bed and watching over their daughter. She looked at them, surprised and got up to greet them.

"Hi, I'm agent Nikki Betancourt. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson, I suppose?" He extended her hand.

"Yeah, that's us." Matt said, shaking her hand, while his wife rushed to Molly. "Would you mind telling us what the hell happened?"

"Of course, let's take a seat." She indicated the chairs by the bed.

"How's she, agent Betancourt?" Monica asked with worry in her eyes.

"She's quite all right. Doctors aren't worried about her and right now she's just sleeping."

"But it's just five p.m." Matt said, looking at his watch. "Molly doesn't sleep when it's still bright, she's very stubborn that way…"

Nikki sighed.

"She's gone through quite a bit. I guess she may still be in shock… To tell you the truth, she's lucky she's alive."

"What!?" The Dawson's exclaimed in horror.

"Yes… " Nikki thought for a while, trying to organize her thoughts. "I guess I'll start from the beginning…"

She described the generals of the case, as well as the Bureau's inability to find the murderer. Then she mentioned that they had help of the greatest minds, professors from CalSci. That was when Monica broke from her reverie and interrupted her.

"Wait a second… Wasn't that Charlie Eppes that helped you? He mentioned something when we met that he was working on some awful case for his brother…"

"Yep, the very same Charlie Eppes, our resident genius." Nikki smiled a little, but her smile disappeared quickly. She remembered Charlie's whereabouts and understood suddenly that she'll have to break the news about Charlie's nearly dying to his close friend. She wasn't looking forward to it.

Nonetheless, she resumed her talking and described everything that happened that day. She observed how Monica's eyes became big when Nikki started describing the attack. When she was done, there was a minute of silence. Then Matt spoke up.

"So, you're saying… That Mon's friend actually saved our little girl's life? By killing that monster?"

"Yes." Nikki sighed. "He fought to save your daughter's life and innocence. And now, he's somewhere here in this hospital…"

"How's he?" Monica demanded, her eyes shining with tears.

"I have actually no idea… Don… I mean agent Eppes, Charlie's brother told me to stay with Molly and he haven't notified me about Charlie's state."

There were a few minutes of silence. And then they heard knocking at the door and Colby entered the room.

Nikki looked at him puzzled and jumped from her seat. She run to him.

"How's Charlie? Why the hell you left me in dark for so long?" She demanded fervently, completely surprising herself and Colby too.

"Hey, hey… Cool it, Nikki!"He placed his hands on her arms. "Charlie is okay, it'll take him some time to recover, but he's otherwise good."

Colby looked perplexed at Nikki's face, which was now full of relief. He never saw her that nervous and showing that she cared… About anything. It seemed that once someone got to know Charlie, they were quickly becoming very attached to this little mathematician.

"Thank God…" He heard the woman's voice. He looked at her and presented himself.

"I'm agent Colby Granger. You must be Monica Dawson? And you – Matt Dawson?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's us…" Monica sighed again. "You know, it's funny that everybody seems to know our name before we introduce ourselves."

"You can blame it on Charlie, Mrs. Dawson." Colby smiled a little. "If he haven't been bragging about your family being in possible danger…" He stopped for a moment, unsure, what to say. "Everything would have happened differently."

"That's true, agent." Matt intersected. "Our daughter would have been dead."

Colby nodded his head. There was nothing he could say to that statement, for it was the main and the most overwhelming – truth.

Don was sitting still by his brother bedside. He sometimes reached out to touch his hand, or hair, but he couldn't actually manage it. He observed Charlie's face and remembered all the good and bad times they had together. Sometimes, some particularly painful memory would hit him, and he tried his best to conceal his distress at those moments. He remembered all the times he pushed Charlie away in high school, the times when he would barely talk on phone with him while he was gone to Fugitive Recovery, the times when he was so mad at his little brother for abandoning their mom at her last moths of life…

This one was the worst of all. He didn't understood Charlie then, not really. Neither he could now, but he could admit he was now closer to it than then. He couldn't understand Charlie's retreating to his own, small world of numbers. Now he knew it was just his way of coping. He should have talked with him then, instead of yelling and accusing him of lack of heart…

Don hoped his little brother wasn't going to retreat now.

He looked around him. There were only three of them left: he, Amita and Dad. Amita was sitting with her head rested on Alan's shoulder, fast asleep. She was tired after all this work and recovering from shock that her beloved Charlie was nearly killed. When she finally gave up in her fight with tears, she cried for almost half an hour.

Dad comforted her, Don thought with smile, they both were very helpful to each other and it seems that Amita is now really part of the Eppes household…

Don's agents left a while ago, after Nikki came to see Charlie and brought Monica Dawson. The woman was quite shocked, Don remembered, to see Charlie lying still on the bed… As all of them were. When all four of them left, promising, they'll visit again tomorrow, Monica even mentioned she'll probably bring her family with her.

Don sighed quietly, getting up and walking up to his father and picking up the paper: Alan fell asleep too and the paper he's been reading, slid out of his hands.

Exactly in the moment when Don placed the paper on the table, he heard something from behind him. He spun quickly and walked back to the bed, delighted to see Charlie's opened eyes.

"Charlie… you woke up." He muttered, sitting by him and putting his hand on his brother's forehead. There was nothing o stop him now… He needed to take care of Chuck.

"Donnie…" Charlie whispered almost inaudibly. "You are here…"

Don felt the tears coming to his eyes. His brother didn't blamed him, he wanted him to be close.

"Shhh… Buddy, don't talk, okay? You must rest, you know?"

Charlie looked him straight into eyes, surely noticing the shining tears and the sorrow behind them. His own eyes were full of joy, but suddenly he must have remembered what happened, because the look in his eyes changed to remorseful and sad.

"Donnie… I…" He tried to speak, but he couldn't. The pain in his throat was almost unbearable when he tried to use his vocal chords.

"Yeah, Buddy, I know…" Don understood what Charlie meant to say. I killed a man. The pang of guilt hit him again, but he soon fought it back. His brother needed him, he needed to be reassured that what he did, wasn't bad, that it didn't made him a bad man. "I know how hard it must be for you, but if you haven't done what you did, you'd be dead, Buddy." Don's voice was now thick because of all the tears he fought. "And I couldn't take that, Charlie… I wouldn't stand loosing you…"

Charlie's eyes were full of tears too. He tried to speak again, but all he could do was moving his mouth: no sound was heard, but Don understood what his little brother meant to say.

"I love you too, Buddy. Go back to sleep."

For now, all was right in their world.

A/N: Well? How did you like it?

I'm trying to share the time evenly between all of the characters, but some of them are harder to understand, especially Nikki, who we don't really know yet. But well, I love challenges :D

I suppose we're nearing the end, this story's already took more chapters than I expected it too. Sometimes I wonder if it has its own life, because I feel like it's getting out of my control and words are just appearing on my screen... Funny, isn't it?