Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine.

A/N: Sorry for the terrible delay, the explanation is in the a/n under the story. For now, have a nice reading!

BROKEN INNOCENCE

Chapter eight

Charlie's second awakening was similar to the first one: Don was there, sitting beside the bed, reading something. He haven't noticed yet that his brother was awake, so Charlie took advantage of that situation and studied Don's face.

When they were kids, Charlie could almost always tell what his big brother was feeling. He wasn't a good actor back then and couldn't conceal what he felt: Don's face was an open book to Charlie, so he knew when he was welcomed and when Don wanted to be left alone. Of course after they lost touch with each other, there was no occasions to analyze him, but when they began to work together, Charlie slowly began to rediscover his childhood ability.

It was different now, though. Charlie was now more easily distracted with all his work and he sometimes was too focused on other things than reading subtle lines and noticing soft changes of expression that translated to particular feelings. On the other hand, Don wasn't a teenager anymore, he was a mature, dedicated FBI agent, fully capable of concealing almost all his feelings, able to fool everyone around him.

But now, Don visibly seemed to think that there was no one around him that he needed to fool. His usual mask of tough agent fell off, revealing the true face of Don Eppes: concerned big brother.

Charlie smiled a little, seeing this change in Don's face, that was an expression Don sometimes let him see: a bit of pride of his little brother, amusement, and a pinch of anger. All of that correlated to one undeniable feeling, which was concern for Charlie.

But there was something else, too. Charlie had some problems with deciphering that expression, but soon he realized what it was.

Don felt guilty.

Although his mind was still fuzzy from long sleep, Charlie almost immediately understood why Don felt like this. All those ever-existing big brother instincts always kicked in when he was in possible danger. And Charlie knew that Don wanted to protect him from bad side-effects of his working for the FBI.

Charlie sighed a little. It wasn't going to be easy, to convince Don that what happened, wasn't really his fault.

The sound must have captured Don's attention. He raised his head and saw Charlie, wide awake and smiling at him.

"Well, look, who's awake." He smiled back at his younger brother. "We're beginning to wonder if you're gonna sleep another twenty-four hours."

"Ho long was I out?" Charlie asked, pulling himself up. He discovered that his throat wasn't so achy as it was before, and he could speak almost normally.

"It's been almost full day since you've been awake."

"Don't tell me you've been here all the time." Charlie raised his eyebrow.

"Nope, we've been taking turns. Amita was here in the morning, Dad was in the afternoon, he left about an hour ago."

"Seems like you couldn't wait for me to be awake." Charlie smirked at unsure expression on Don's face, which soon cleared.

"You know, we just couldn't wait till you get out of here, so that you could work at CalSci… and Dad could pester you at home instead of here."

"Yeah, right."

They both chuckled. Then the friendly silence feel and Charlie sat back, closing his eyes, and Don returned to his paper. After few minutes, Charlie broke the silence.

"It's not your fault, you know."

The paper fell to the floor, as Don looked at his younger brother in bewilderment.

"How…"

"Did I know? C'mon, Donnie, you couldn't be more obvious that you feel guilty. But there's no need to."

"I should have done something, Charlie. Hell, if I were quicker… If I knew…"

"But you didn't know. There was no way for you to know. I tried to call you but there was simply no time." Charlie looked at his older brother. "I made a decision to go to this home and I suffered consequences…" His hand went to his throat, his eyes became foggy as he remembered what happened to him.

"Charlie…" Don's eyes were bright, too bright.

"Don, if it weren't for everything I learned from you during those years we worked together, I would have been dead right now. Thanks to you I knew how to defend myself, and when it came to making the hard decision, I made it. And I wouldn't make it any other way."

"I just wish you didn't have to." Don whispered.

"So do I. But, Donnie, what's done, is done. So let's don't worry about it anymore, okay? I don't think there was anything we could have done differently."

The silence fell again. But it was other kind of silence. The atmosphere was lighter, as if somehow the talk, filled with emotions was the breeze, which cleared the air. Don felt the weight of the burden he felt, disappear. He felt a lot better, although the guilt wasn't all gone yet. But he knew that he was going to overcome it. How could he not, having such a great little brother counting on him?

The next day Charlie was released from hospital. The same day, there was a party at Craftman house. There was the Eppes family, Amita, Larry, Don's team, and Dawson family.

Charlie, still a bit weak, sat in the comfy armchair with Molly cuddled to him, as they talked vigorously. Amita and Larry watched them, along with Monica and Matt, who declared his head hurt from only listening to all those mathematical concepts. The rest sat by table, but sometimes they would listen to the little girl who talked so lively.

Charlie felt really relaxed, sitting here with all the people he cared about. That was the only thing he needed right now to recover.

Suddenly, as they switched the topic to the three-dimensional geometry, Molly fell silent and her face clouded.

"What's up little math guy?" Charlie asked, concerned.

"You know… Pfessor Charlie…" Molly mumbled, but then her voice gained strength. "When we were there… I found in the box this different blocks… Cones, cubes, cylinders… I threw them at him… One must have hit him pretty hard, 'cause he yelled and hold his head…"

Charlie looked at Molly. He almost forgot that this little girl almost went through a hell. Of course she had help from a psychiatrist, but she needed a constant reassurance right now. A help.

He smiled a little. He had just a thing in mind.

"Listen to me, Molly. You did great. In fact… Attention, please!" He shouted to everyone and they looked at him. "I would like to make an announcement and honor this little lady right here." He smiled at Molly. "This brave girl is a real hero. She saved my life. And for that I would like to raise glass for her." He did just that. "For Molly, a hero."

"For Molly!" Everyone repeated, smiling. And Molly burst into tears and hugged Charlie. Amita came closer to them, kissed her on head and whispered a few words, which made Molly smile. Molly's parents sat close to them, smiling proudly.

The rest of guests observed them, resuming their talks.

"You see here, what I see, dad?" Don indicated the group of three, grouped on the chair.

"If you see a great possibility for me to become a grandfather…" Alan broke into a huge smile. "Yeah, I can see that."

Colby nudged David.

"I bet you fifty bucks, they're gonna have a kid before this year ends."

David ran a hand over his bald head, looked at Amita, Molly and Charlie.

"No way, man."

Don, Alan, Nikki, Colby and Larry looked at him as if he lost his mind. David smiled.

"There's no way I bet against a sure thing."

THE END

A/N: And here it is! The last part!

I'm terribly sorry I haven't updated for so long, I was busy with my end-of-term exams... But now, as a student of the fourth semester of Mathematics I've got plenty of free time. So I decided to end this fic, then I'll move to "Special Assignment".

Hope you liked this little story, considering it was my first one, I'm pretty proud that you were there. And thank you for all your comments, they kept me going! Thank you all!