Charlie smiled as he passed various orderlies, nurses and patients in the hallway. He was in a wonderful mood for such an early hour of the morning – and why not? After keeping Don one more night for observation, the doctor had declared him fit enough to go home, albeit not to his apartment and still with orders to rest and take it easy. It would be difficult for them to keep Don resting but any challenge beat the past three days of worry and waiting to see if his brother would fully recover. He stepped onto the elevator and politely asked the elderly woman inside to press the button for the fourth floor. The cab jerked into motion and Charlie braced himself against the wall to keep from spilling his father's coffee or his orange juice.

He smiled patiently as his fellow passenger got off on the third floor, waving good-bye and wishing him luck with his day. He returned the smile and watched her hobble along the hallway until the elevator doors slid shut and took him to the next floor where his father and brother were no doubt eagerly awaiting his arrival. Alan, because he came bearing his father's morning coffee and Don because he knew Charlie was his ride out of 'the joint', as Don had taken to calling it.

As a faint ding sounded, the doors opened and the professor made his way past the nurse's station, hanging a right down a short hallway. As he reached the end he started to turn left, knowing his brother's door was only a few feet past the turn, but froze as he heard two hushed, angry and very familiar voices bickering back and forth. He slowly peered around the bend in the hallway and frowned when he saw Coop and his father standing practically nose to nose, neither man willing to give ground to the other.

"He's my friend," Coop was angrily stating. "I have a right to see him."

"He's my son," Alan shot back. "And I don't think he needs to see the likes of you right now."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You're no good for him, Agent Cooper. Never have been and never will be. Why can't you just leave him be?"

"I'm his friend," Coop repeated. "I've saved his butt on several occasions in the past… this time, too."

"Charlie told me about that and I am grateful that you were there."

Coop raised an eyebrow as Alan let the words hang in the air. "But not grateful enough to let me see him?"

"Look, I'm sure you're a nice enough young man but bad things happen to my son when he's around you."

"I didn't do this to him."

"No?" Alan challenged. "I suppose my son randomly decided to go after a fugitive even though he's been out of fugitive recovery for years?"

Coop sighed and shook his head. "Of course not, but he would have gotten involved because your other son was going to get dragged into this one way or the other."

"From what I've figured out, if you had just talked to Charlie in the first place you could have wrapped everything up nice and neat a few days ago." Alan drew himself up to his fullest height and took a step into Coop's personal space as he growled, "Then my youngest son wouldn't have had to witness his big brother in such an awful state because Don never would have been hurt."

Charlie watched in awe as his father's protective nature of both him and Don asserted itself and, much to the younger man's amazement, even made tough-as-nails Billy Cooper back up a step. I'm glad I'm his son, Charlie thought with a proud smile. I sure wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that look.

Don's old friend sighed quietly and held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I know you've never cared for me and I've always figured it had to do with Don's fugitive recovery days. I know he didn't keep in touch as much as you would have liked back then and I know a couple of times he was hurt badly enough to give you and his mother quite a scare but that wasn't my doing. And I'm telling you – I would never hurt Don or willingly allow harm to come to him."

"Willingly, no," Alan agreed, though his posture didn't relax in the least. "But it still happens. Please understand, Agent Cooper… Billy… Don has a good life now – one he enjoys with his family and friends. He's ready to put roots down and having you show up and stir up trouble in his life isn't going to help him accomplish that. Twice in three years you've shown up and both times Don's been physically hurt to some degree but also mentally thrown into a tailspin. If you really are his friend – which I think you are – you'll let him be from now on."

"He's learned a lot from you, Mister Eppes." Coop gave the older man a slight smile as a look of surprise formed on Alan's face. "We did some talking and catching up… he told me he was 'growing up'. He sounded so wise and certain of himself and now, after talking to you, I can see how he got that way."

"Thank you," Alan nodded grudgingly. "It's always nice to hear that my children might actually listen to me once in a while."

"I'll respect your wishes, Mister Eppes, mainly because I think they're the same as Don's. But I do think I deserve the right to tell him goodbye."

Alan crossed his arms and studied the agent. "I guess I can agree to that. I'll be waiting right here."

"Thank you." Coop moved to step around Alan, pausing when the old man spoke once again.

"I know I didn't say it in so many words but thank you for saving both of my sons' lives."

The redhead just nodded and disappeared into Don's room.

--

"Look at you, you lazy bum."

Don dragged his eyes open and gave his old friend a lazy smile. "What can I say? I needed a vacation."

"Well if you had to get hit somewhere, that rock hard head of yours was the right choice."

"You come to kick a guy when he's down?"

"I came to say thank you and to apologize."

Don's eyebrows shot skyward. "Billy Cooper using the 'a-word'? Should I be calling for Auntie Em?"

"Can it, Dorothy – I'm serious." Coop perched on the edge of the recliner and studied his old friend. "You and me – we made a hell of a team back in the day."

"That we did," Don agreed, sensing he knew what was coming.

"I even trained you well enough that some fool went out and gave you your own team."

"Yeah," Don said with an exaggerated eye roll. "I learned everything from you. What not to do, at least."

Coop snorted and shook his head. "With friends like you…"

"Yeah, yeah." He cocked his head and gave the redhead a serious look. "You come to say good-bye?"

"I'm afraid so."

Both men regarded each other with a mixture of affection, acceptance and sorrow as they came to a silent understanding.

"I'm going to miss you, Coop. It's not always fun but it is always a pleasure."

"Don't go getting all mushy on me, Donny-boy."

"Don't flatter yourself – it's the pain meds talking."

Coop flashed a boyish grin. "Sure it is." He stood and walked to his friend's bedside, held out his hand and shared a firm handshake with the injured man. "You make sure that team of yours watches out for you."

"They always do."

"Okay, but if they slip up… well, you just give me a call."

"Will do." Don let go of his old partner's hand and watched as he headed for the door. Just as he was about to open it and slip out of his life, Don called out. "Hey, Coop."

The other man turned around and gave him a questioning look.

"Charlie… he meant well."

"I know."

"He's got an incredible sense of loyalty to the people he cares about."

"I saw that firsthand when I found him with you."

The comment caught Don off-guard and he struggled to compose himself. "He really thought Grayson was a good kid. This is going to tear him up."

Coop stared at Don for a full minute before giving a slight shrug. "You know how to protect him."

Don chewed his lip thoughtfully. "McDowd… on the roof…"

Coop nodded as he remembered his suggestion that they drop him off the side of the building. "You never change," he quoted Don's words from that incident.

"Grayson… he really pulled a gun on you?"

The redhead gave his old friend an intense look, one that despite their years of friendship Don couldn't interpret. "Maybe Charlie was right. Maybe Grayson Holloway was a good kid with bad brother."

Don scowled and shook his head in frustration. "I need to know, Coop."

"There's only one thing you need to know, Don, and it has nothing to do with what happened to that kid." Don stared at him, silently prodding him to continue. "You have a father and brother who care for you very much and would do anything to protect you – that's the only thing that matters, got it?"

Don felt a wave of gratitude wash over him as he realized the meaning behind his friend's words and what he was giving him permission to do. "Take care of yourself, Coop."

"I always do." With those words, Billy walked out of Don's room and left his friend to his new life.

--

When Billy Cooper emerged from Don's room a few minutes later, Charlie was still watching from around the corner. He saw Alan give the agent a final nod before disappearing inside. Cooper began walking down the hallway toward Charlie, who took a deep breath and waited until the agent had almost reached him before stepping around the corner and feigning surprise at running into him.

"Hey, uh…" It occurred to Charlie that he'd never had to address Don's old partner by name and he suddenly fumbled over what to call him. 'Coop' was his brother's name for him, 'Billy' seemed too personal and 'Agent Cooper' sounded too formal.

"What is it, Professor?"

Formal it is. "I wanted to say thank you, Agent Cooper. My brother and I owe you our lives."

"You're the one that got him out of the building, not me."

"Yeah, but there's no telling how long we would have sat in those trees waiting for help to arrive."

Coop smiled warmly. "Until you felt safe to move. Don't underestimate your instincts, Professor. They seem to serve you very well."

"Are we talking about my brother or my student now?"

The agent's expression became unreadable. "I don't know what you mean."

Charlie paused only a second before blurting out in a rush of air, "I don't believe Grayson would have ever shot anyone."

"Is that right?" Coop challenged. "Say, you never did answer the question I asked you on the way to the hospital."

"It's completely irrelevant to this situation."

"Is it?"

Truth be told, Charlie didn't know what he would do if he actually were in a situation where he had to kill to save Don. He wanted to think he could do it, but to take another human life… the whole question was unthinkable. Charlie decided to switch tactics. "Please, Agent Cooper. I need to know what happened. If… if I was mistaken in trusting my student… If I'm the reason Don almost got killed."

"You're not responsible for what happened to Don," the redhead replied, his voice surprisingly gentle. "As for your student, I've told you what happened but if you don't believe me… you have a high security clearance, right?"

The professor nodded.

"Then access the case file. My official report is in there."

But is it the truth? Charlie wondered silently.

"Look, right now you should be with your brother. You need him almost as much as he needs you and your father."

"What about you?"

The agent frowned in confusion. "What about me?"

Charlie realized he'd come dangerously close to letting the agent know he'd been eavesdropping on his conversation with Alan. "I mean," he said, trying to think of a way to play it off. "Are you going to stick around a while and visit? I know Don doesn't get to see you too often."

"I don't think your father would like that very much. Besides, I've got other fugitives to track down."

"Oh," Charlie nodded distractedly.

Coop surprised him by placing a hand on his shoulder and prodding him in the direction of Don's room. "Go to your brother. You might be surprised by how much good it does both of you."

As Charlie puzzled over his statement, Billy Cooper gave him a slight wave and disappeared around the corner. Shaking his head in bewilderment, he walked to his brother's room and slipped inside.

TBC