That night Don was exhausted. He had hardly slept after he had found Charlie outside in the rain. He managed to get a shower and dried off and then sat in a chair beside Charlie the rest of the night.

When his brother remained so feverish, Don knew he had to change that fast. He was relieved when the fever began to lower once he had removed all blankets from his brother's bed. He knew Charlie had been cold, but he needed to break the fever.

Now he laid on his old bed and groaned when he found that one annoying spring that even now poked at his back. He moved to the area he had come to know didn't have any springs to poke him and settled there for the night.

"Don? Donny? Wake up."

Don peeled open his eyes, feeling still groggy. He looked up at his father, surprised to see him there.

"Dad? What are you doing here?" Don sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Your brother called me the day before yesterday. Considering how his incoherent he sounded, I figured I had better get back here. I'm glad you came over, though. Thank you for that."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. How is Charlie?"

"He's sitting at the table eating oatmeal at the moment. Anything I can get you?"

"No, I guess I better get to work," Don said as he read the clock.

"Are you sure? Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," Alan said cheerfully.

Don smiled. "I'm sure. I'll just get a quick shower and be out of your hair."

"Don't talk like that. You know you're welcome here."

"Good thing, too, or I would have been kicked out a few days ago."

Don went into the bathroom and cleaned up, wearing the same outfit he had on the night he found Charlie outside since he had washed it while he wore some of his Dad's clothes.

Charlie was still sitting at the table when Don came downstairs. He smiled when he saw his big brother.

"Hey, Don!" he called.

"Hey, Buddy. Feeling better?" Even though he could see by the natural color in Charlie's face, Don still placed the back of his hand on his brother's forehead for a moment to be sure that there was no fever there.

"Yeah, thanks to you apparently." Charlie smiled up at his brother.

Don lowered his voice. "We need to talk some time, okay? When you get feeling better, we can. No rush."

"Um, okay. Is everything all right?"

"That's what I want to find out. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay."

Charlie felt a knot of fear form in his stomach. Had he said something in his delirium that would let Don know about the letters?

The letters began a few months ago, shortly after he had killed Carl. They were sent by a woman named Janet Waits. Assuming it must be a relative of Carl, he didn't want to have anything to do with the woman. He hadn't opened the letters, just kept them in an old shoe box under his bed mixed in with some other miscellaneous items so they could be concealed.

With the first letter, Charlie had planned on opening it when he could, but he never did. He was never going to be ready to open those letters. He didn't want to hear from this person. He didn't want to go through it again, didn't want to relive it.

No one knew about the letters but him and the woman who sent them. That's the way he planned to keep it. If Don knew, he'd get too involved. Charlie didn't want this to become a big deal. Eventually the woman would leave him alone. She had to.

Charlie shivered, not knowing his father was coming into the dining room at that moment.

"You okay, kiddo?" Alan came up behind his son and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

Alan looked into his son's eyes, looking for any hint that he was lying.

"It's okay, Dad. I just was cold. I'm fine."

"You should probably go back to bed now that you have some food in you. It was nice of your brother to come over and take care of you."

Charlie smiled. "Yes it was. I wouldn't be better now if it wasn't for him."

"Oh? I guess I owe him an even bigger thank you. Think we should have him over for supper tonight? Are you up for that?"

Charlie slowly nodded, though he was afraid that if Don came over tonight he'd want to talk to him. What had he unknowingly done?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don wasn't sure what he could say to his brother. Charlie had been sick, delirious with fever when he had talked about Carl. It was just a cold talking, right? But Don knew better. The cold had just caused Charlie to be more honest. He knew that his little brother was still scared of Carl Waits, even though he was dead.

Don couldn't let Charlie be haunted by this man. It had been too long. He understood it took time to get over killing someone, but Charlie shouldn't still be afraid of the man he killed. He needed help, and that's where Don decided he came in.

He wasn't sure what he would tell their father. He didn't think Alan needed to know, but if Don needed his help, he wouldn't hesitate to ask for it.

Don came through the front door of Charlie's house and saw his Dad sitting on the couch.

"Hey, Dad. Supper ready yet?"

"No, not for a while. How are you?"

"I'm good. You?"

"Fine, fine. Your brother is upstairs in his room if you want to see him."

"Yeah, I was wondering where he was. Call us when supper is ready, okay?"

"I will."

Don jogged up the steps to his brother's room. Charlie was stretched out on his bed asleep. Don hated to wake him, but he needed to talk to him.

"I'm awake," Charlie whispered, startling Don.

"I thought you were asleep!"

Charlie opened his eyes as he pushed himself up on the bed. "No, I was just trying to go back to sleep."

"Oh, sorry."

Charlie looked away and licked his lips in a nervous gesture. "So, um, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Don walked over and sat on the edge of his brother's bed and sighed. "Charlie, are you... are you still afraid of Carl Waits?"

Charlie wasn't expecting that question. What had he said about Carl? What had he gotten himself into?

Knowing there was no point in lying to his older brother, Charlie sighed. "Yes. Yes, I'm scared of him."

Don was pleased with his brother's honesty. "Okay. But why? Charlie, he's dead. He's not going to hurt you anymore."

Charlie looked down at his hands. "I-I know. It's just..."

"Just what, Buddy?" Don laid a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder.

Charlie looked up at his brother with tear-filled eyes. "He's every where. I know he's dead, but at the same time he isn't. He's in my dreams, in my head, even in my room. I can hardly go out to the garage anymore. He's out there, Don. He's always there."

Don's throat worked around the lump of emotion lodged there. How could he have not seen how haunted his brother was?

"Buddy, I'm... I'm so sorry."

Charlie shrugged. "I didn't want you to know. It's okay. I guess I was just good at hiding it."

"No, Charlie. Don't hide these things from me. Please. I need to know. You need help, Buddy. You can't do this all by yourself. That's why Dad and I are here."

Don hugged his brother tightly, feeling so guilty. He was the one who was supposed to be good at reading people. When it came to his family, did he just turn that ability off?

"Do you want to talk about it?" Don asked as he pushed back gently.

"No, I'm kinda tired still. Some other time maybe?"

Don smiled. "Sure, Buddy. Whenever you're ready, I am."

"Good."

Charlie laid back on the bed, feeling too tired to talk anymore. But then he heard his father call to them that it was time to eat.

"Sorry, Buddy. Supper time," Don said with a smile.

Charlie groaned, but pulled himself up.

Don put an arm on his brother's shoulder and led him out. "We'll be okay, Buddy. Don't worry."

Charlie nodded, but he wasn't sure he believed what his brother said. Don would be okay, sure. But what about the letters? Would he be okay?

Sitting around the table, the three Eppes men ate in silence until Don spoke.

"So, Dad, why did you leave without Charlie?"

Alan swallowed his bite of chicken before speaking. "Don't make it seem like I abandoned him. He wasn't feeling well so he decided to stay home. I would have stayed with him, but he convinced me to go without him."

"Oh. Did you have a good time?"

"Yes, thank you. Charlie, what did you do when I was away?"

Charlie blushed slightly, knowing his story wasn't a very pleasant one. He'd get yelled at for this. "The day you left I slept 15 hours in a row. The next day I managed to get downstairs and eat something and take some medicine. I crawled back to bed when my strength gave out. Then I wasn't really aware of the next day. After that I knew I needed help, so I tried to call Don but my legs gave out and I spent the rest of the day on the floor until Don came over."

"What?!" Don and Alan exclaimed together.

Charlie went back to eating, not bothering to even give excuses or defend himself. He knew what was coming, and it was coming whether he did anything about it or not.

"You do realize that only once in that story you mentioned eating?"

"And that it wasn't until you were barely aware of what was happening that you chose to call me?"

"What were you thinking?"

"Why weren't you thinking?"

"You could have gotten worse!"

"You could have called me!"

Charlie shook his head as they went back and forth badgering him. He realized he shouldn't have waited so long to call Don, but he hadn't wanted to bother Don. Besides, he had hardly realized what day it was anyway. For all he knew it could have been the day after Alan left. That wasn't his fault. That was the cold.

As if at the same time, Alan and Don softened toward Charlie, knowing that he had been too sick to know any better.

"Are you okay now, kiddo?" Alan asked.

Charlie nodded, glad that they had stopped going through the bickering mode. "I'm okay, thanks to Don. You know me. I don't get colds often, but when I do, they hit hard."

Alan nodded. "You've always been that way."

Don sighed. "I'm just glad you were okay and I came when I did. You scared the life out of me, though, when I heard you upstairs."

Charlie smiled. "Sorry. I had planned to call you to let you know I was staying home, but I fell asleep before I could."

"It's okay. You need to be careful, though, because I had my gun drawn."

The three laughed and ate their supper together. Now that that storm was over, calmness reigned, except for the storm that was brewing inside of Charlie.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Charlie was thankful he'd had his mail forwarded to his office at CalSci. When he was sick or away from home, someone else might have gotten the mail. What if Don had? He shuddered at the thought.

He flipped through the mail before he entered his home. He was tired after his first day back to school since the sudden cold. He was thankful that he had already planned the time off so his students had expected the change. Thankfully they hadn't seemed to miss a beat.

Charlie came through the front door. He could hear his father in his room, so he stayed down there. A suspicious letter with the word "urgent" stamped across it captured his attention.

What would anyone from the California State Penitentiary want from him?

Charlie opened it, not knowing what effect it would have on him.

Ooh, cliff hanger! Gotta hate them. I start school in two days. AH! I will have fairly decent breaks on M/Ws so I should be okay for a while. I'm taking Trig, though, so it's going to kill me. Wish me luck! I'll try to update asap!