A/N: And here's the second half…I thought of it as 13b, but ffnet clearly does not agree, so let's call it 14 instead.

Chapter 14

Charlie flashed his ID badge at the security desk, barely acknowledging the nod as he was waved through, his thoughts in a tangle. He had been thinking about what he was going to say to Don all the way over - how he was going to explain - but now that he was actually in the building, all his explanations sounded hollow to his own ears. He ducked his head as he pushed the button to call the elevator. Oh, this was ridiculous - Don would be irritated, but that would be the end of it. It was a little - embarrassing - but hardly deadly.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid apart and Charlie stepped in, pressing the number of the correct floor. On the other hand, if he could come up with something really brilliant to help solve this case, that could go a long way to forgiving everything else. The elevator stopped and he took a determined breath and stepped onto the floor. After all, it wasn't like he was still eight - he was a grown man. He didn't need his big brother's approval anymore, and his displeasure shouldn't be anything more than a minor discomfort. He squared his shoulders and started down the corridor.

He caught the sound of familiar voices even before he turned the corner to the bullpen, his self assurance wilting a little. He stiffened his spine determinedly. The best thing to do would be to get it over with. It would all come spilling out eventually anyway.

"Hi, Megan," he began with resolute cheer, fixing his eyes on the first person he caught sight of.

"Hi, Charlie." Megan glanced at the clock. "You're early. We weren't expecting you until three."

"Yeah, well, I got done early, so I thought I'd just - come on over. Don here?" He glanced around a little nervously. He could see David and Colby, both in the middle of either leaving or arriving since they were busy with their jackets, but no sign of his brother.

"Not right now. He planned to be here to meet you at three, but - he's at his place. He was going to crash for a couple of hours until then. I could call him…" Megan trailed off.

Charlie raised his brows. "Don taking a nap on a case? That's different."

"Wasn't much else for him to do." Colby was evidently returning, because he was folding his coat over the back of his chair now. "And the FBI's a little like the Army - eat, sleep and go to the bathroom whenever you can, because you never know when you'll get another chance."

"We had a couple of things break - I think he wanted to be fresh for that," Megan explained. "If you don't mind waiting, I think he could really use the sleep."

Reprieve. "No, that's fine." Charlie was exasperated at how relieved he felt. "Why don't you guys catch me up in the meantime? What have you got so far?" He turned to look at the case board.

His heart stopped dead in his chest.

When it finally started up again an interminable amount of time later, it was beating in his ears, fast and loud. He swallowed carefully and tried to find his voice. It came out sounding like somebody else's, thin and insubstantial. "What is this…?" He cleared his throat and tried again. "…some kind of prank?"

He knew that gallows humor was popular with his brother's team. Amita had explained to him once that it was a way of coping with all the horror. He hadn't really needed the explanation - he understood it - intellectually. It was emotionally that he struggled with it: Wow! Eighty rounds of ammo, fired out of nowhere, ha ha ha! Hey, two feet closer and that bomb would have taken us all out, ho ho ho! No matter how hard he tried, none of that made him laugh. He had even snapped at Don once when he had tried to make light of things and Don had broken off immediately, looking surprised and a little hurt. It was the hurt look that had gotten to him - Don never looked hurt - darn it, that was his look - how dare Don use it on him?

It had gotten under his skin so much that he had promised himself to try and play along next time - no matter how disturbing he really found it. He just hadn't expected anything quite so disturbing as…this.

He was gritting his teeth so hard in an effort to remain nonchalant that it took him a full minute to realize that nobody was actually laughing. Or even smiling. Well, maybe they realized that the joke was in really terrible taste. He looked from Megan to David to Colby. Something about their faces made the heartbeat in his ears go a little faster.

Megan was trying out a smile. The result was wholly unconvincing. "Charlie…how much has Don had a chance to tell you about this case?"

Charlie stared at her, wondering what it was about her face that was making his stomach do flip flops. "Not - not a lot. I looked into some yearbooks for him, and, um, I - he wanted to know how hard it would be for someone to…to…" He turned back to the board. Oh. Oh, God. His eyes traveled down the line of photos, riveted. He felt Megan's light, firm touch on his shoulder.

"It's not a prank, Charlie," she said quietly. "This is the case we've been working on."

For a second, Charlie was sure Megan's touch was all that was holding him up. He tried to force his empty lungs back into motion. "But - that's - Don." For a man with a staggering intellect, he felt as though his mind was moving incredibly slow.

"They've been showing up at crime scenes - " David supplied in his steady, reassuring tone. "Photos from his past - "

"I know what they are!" Charlie was a little taken aback at how high and shrill his own voice came out. "It's not like I don't - recognize…"

Baseball card. High School yearbook. College yearbook…yearbooks! God damn him, God damn him, God damn him…he caught sight of his mother's image and it was all he could do to keep himself from tearing it down and stamping on it. Why didn't he…? Why wouldn't he…? Okay, this is why - because you're coming unglued. Because everybody is standing around here looking like they're getting ready to catch you, in case you faint. Which you're not going to do. You're going to pull it together and show them that you can function calmly…professionally.

Charlie swallowed hard, slowing the pounding in his ears. "Do you…do you know why…?"

"We think we got something, finally - " Colby, this time. "I mean, we haven't got the connection to Don yet, but we think we've tied a couple of the other murders together. We're closing in."

Other murders. Charlie nodded, his mind wincing frantically away from that phrase. Okay, good. Maybe he could be a help there. "And you say Don's at his place…?"

Megan nodded. "Yeah - getting a little sleep. He could really use it. He was going to tell you about it, Charlie, today - "

Charlie nodded again. "Yeah. Okay. I get that. You've got a man on him, right?"

His eyes were glued to the board, no matter how hard he tried to pull them away, remembering the first time he'd seen Don's baseball card, his yearbook photos…trying not to notice the rusty pin dots decorating them that could only be…he had to swallow down a sudden wave of nausea, so it took him another minute to realize that no one had answered. He dragged his eyes away from the photos and looked from one to the other. "You've got a man on him." It wasn't a question this time.

They exchanged glances and Megan, seemingly elected the bearer of bad news, cleared her throat.

Charlie felt his hands curl into fists. "Oh, don't tell me."

"Charlie - "

"He puts a man on me if - I mean, if I sneeze - you're telling me - "

"It wasn't all his decision, Charlie. Merrick agreed. There's been no clear threat to Don himself - "

Charlie gave a short, hard laugh. "No?" he flung an arm at the board. "You don't think so?"

Megan took a deep breath. "We have protocols to follow, Charlie."

Charlie covered his mouth with one hand, pushing back an inadvisable retort, his eyes devouring the odd juxtaposition of the bloody images with the pictures from his brother's youth. "Yeah," he said at last, sarcasm edging the word. "Okay. Okay, you know what? You don't want to put a man on my brother, that's fine. That's great. Then I'll put a man on him. Me."

"Charlie - " Megan reached for him, but he dodged her. "Charlie!" She called after him as he ducked out of the bullpen. "Don't you think it would make more sense to stay here and try to help us figure out what's going on? You could help us solve this, Charlie - maybe even get a lead on something before Don gets back - if you could listen to what Colby and David found out - "

Charlie turned to look at her, breathing hard. "Oh, I'll be back. I guarantee that. And I'll comb through every scrap of information you've got. But right now, I want to see my brother. I want to know that somebody's looking out for him."

"Charlie - " David looked torn. "It's not like Don doesn't know how to take care of himself - "

"Yeah, c'mon, Charlie," Colby put in. "With all due respect - what exactly do you think you're gonna do if there's trouble? Scare the bad guy with a really - tough - algorithm?"

Charlie pressed his lips together in a tight smile. "I'll tell you what I'm going to do," he forced out at last. "I'm going to find my brother and stick to him like a shadow until this is solved and we have somebody in custody. Because I know him, and as long as I'm standing next to him, he's going to be really, really careful - because he'll be afraid of me getting caught in the crossfire. That's what I'm going to do." He turned on his heel.

There was a surprised pause. "That's not bad," Megan admitted.

The laugh Charlie returned was humorless. "Glad you approve!" He pounded the button for the elevator.

"Charlie - " It took him a second to realize that Megan had followed. He turned to face her defiantly, but she was smiling at him. "Charlie, if you're going to play FBI guy, then do it right - don't forget to call in regularly, okay?"

Gradually, Charlie felt himself smile back. "I can do that," he agreed, a little relieved at the thought of having somebody to back him up.

"Good." She gave his shoulder a final pat. "Don't be in such a hurry that you forget to drive safe. And stick with your plan - it's a good one."

Charlie nodded briefly, his shoulders relaxing some. "I intend to."

He'd murder Don with his bare hands later. Right now, he'd crawl into bed with him while he napped, if he had to. The elevator opened and he stepped inside.

It was just a bonus that that should really piss him off.

000

What…? Don sat up before he was really awake, his heart thundering against his breastbone. He blinked, his eyes squinting to block the seemingly blinding light pouring in from the hall.

Had he left that on? Maybe. Can't remember. What's the matter, Eppes, you need a nightlight now? In the middle of the day? He glanced at the clock. He'd only been asleep for twenty minutes or so. Damn.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, letting his head loll in his sound hand. He had time for another hour of sleep anyway, counting clean up and travel time, and he'd like to at least try for it. If it was nightmares waking him up, then he'd give it up and clean up and go back to work. But if it was just some kind of a weird power surge…he fought back a yawn, padding in his bare feet to the bedroom door. The wiring in this building is pretty old…could be something like that.

The hall light switch was halfway between the front door and the bedroom, and he leaned into the wall as he walked the few steps to it, fumbled for it, eyes still only half open. Even a half hour more sleep would help.

He felt the plastic switch plate under his hand, the nub of the switch poised under his fingers, his position made awkward by the need to turn to use his right hand, the left one dangling at his side. He stopped.

He wasn't quite sure why: what felt wrong, out of place; what started that preternatural itch that shivered from the back of his neck down his spine. Hand still on the switch plate, he turned his head to look.

There was a stirring in the air, a glimpse of something just out of sight, a blur of motion. His hand came up in the instinctive start of a defensive move, part of his brain automatically trying to locate his gun.

There was a horrible sound: a sharp, wet, thump, and a blinding explosion of noise and white light swallowed his vision. His hand slapped at the wall to catch his balance, missed purchase and stuttered downward.

Then the floor flew up and slammed him in the face.

TBC

A/N: Yeah, you knew it was coming. You've been very patient.