Charlie felt alone when he went to school. Larry had the day off and Amita was giving a lecture. It was rare that he was alone. Trying to get away from his lonely office, Charlie went outside.
There he sat on the brick wall and ate his lunch. He'd nod and smile to those who would walk by him, but rarely anyone stopped to talk. Soon everything calmed down and he was one of the only ones out there.
After finishing his turkey sandwich, Charlie felt a strange feeling, like he was being watched. He looked around, but never saw anyone. He took a nervous sip from his bottle of water and kept alert. He looked around across the street and noticed a familiar looking man. The man saw him watching and their gazes locked.
Feeling a sudden panic, Charlie stood and turned around toward the building. Trying to act casual, he walked at a normal pace for him. He turned around and saw the man running toward him, and he shot forward, moving faster than before.
Once inside the school, Charlie ran. No one was in the halls as he ran to his office. He threw himself inside and then screamed when someone was inside.
"Hey, whoa! Calm down, man!" Colby said as he saw Charlie's face, full of fear.
"Colby!" Charlie gasped, relieved it was him.
"What's going on? Why were you running?"
"There... someone was-was following me." Charlie turned around to look behind him, but his view was blocked by the door.
"Stay here." Colby's protective side toward the younger man came out. He kept his hand near his gun and he stepped out into the hallway.
Returning a moment later, he was shaking his head. "There wasn't anyone out there. Are you sure someone was following you?"
"I-I'm not sure. I was eating lunch when I felt like someone was watching me. Then I saw this guy across the street. He looked at me when he knew I was watching him and then he came running toward me. So I came inside."
"Be careful, Charlie. Okay?" Colby figured it was just an overactive mind talking. But considering what Charlie had been through, he wouldn't cast the concern aside.
"I-I will, thanks." Charlie went to his desk and sat down. He felt scared out of his mind, but he wouldn't let this agent see it. Colby had to deal with worse things during his day.
"So, um, what do you need?" he asked, knowing Colby had come for a reason.
"Don wanted to know if you had those files we gave you for the Donaldson case."
"I'll have to see." Charlie went through some files in his cabinet and pulled out the case. "Why this one?"
"He wants you to look over it again and see if you can make any connections to Raymond Clarks."
"Why?"
"Raymond had the same tattoo as James Porter, who was involved in that case."
"Okay. I-I'll give it a look."
Colby frowned, studying Charlie's movements. "You okay?"
"I'll be all right."
Colby nodded, respecting the younger man's strength. "Okay. Well, I'll get going then. Anything you want me to tell Don?"
"N-no. Not that I know of." To make himself more believably okay, Charlie gave Colby a smile before the agent left.
After the door was closed, Charlie sank into his chair and sighed. He rubbed his temples, fighting away a headache. He shivered at the thought of the man who'd followed him. Was he becoming paranoid, or was there a real reason to fear?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What?" Don exclaimed when the agent walked into his office and talked to him.
"Charlie... he said he was being followed. I checked myself, but there wasn't anyone there. But..."
"But what? What?"
"Charlie was definitely scared. I don't think he was imagining it."
Don sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "Is... is he okay?"
Colby smiled with pride. "Yeah. He's pretty tough."
Don nodded. He knew his brother was strong like that, but still. Something like this would definitely have some effects to his day.
"What time is it?"
Colby looked at his watch. "1:15. Why?"
"I'm taking a lunch break."
Colby looked at Megan, who was listening to the conversation. They smiled at each other, both knowing exactly where the agent was going.
Don drove calmly to his brother's office, knowing that it wouldn't look good if he came rushing to him. He didn't want Charlie to think he thought he was too weak to take care of himself. Don just knew that his brother would need a little help, maybe just to calm his nerves. He wouldn't push it. He'd just be there if Charlie needed to talk.
Don even stopped and picked up a couple cheeseburgers for him and his brother, though the meal wasn't something Charlie would normally eat. It was more of a prop for Don, something to show that he was coming out for lunch. It wouldn't make sense to his observant brother. He had just sent Colby to see him and less than an hour later he was coming over for lunch.
But Don didn't care.
He looked into the cluttered office space before entering, hoping to see more of the truth before Charlie saw him coming. However, Charlie was watching the door like a hawk and knew the moment his brother stepped into the doorway.
"Hey, Buddy. I brought lunch." Don held up the bag and smiled. He didn't realize how poor of an actor he was.
"I'm okay, Don. You don't have to come check up on me." There was an underlining to Charlie's words. Don couldn't decide if it was anger, hurt, fear, or all of the above.
Don smiled sheepishly as he sat in front of Charlie's desk. "You know me too well."
Charlie nodded, looking away from his brother... because he knew all too well that his brother knew him, too.
"So. You want to talk about it?"
Charlie shook his head. "No. It... it was nothing, I'm sure. Don't worry about it."
Don leaned forward, surprised that Charlie would even say something like that. "Charlie, after what happened to you a few months ago... I don't think I've stopped worrying about you."
"Really?" That was something the brothers hadn't discussed before. Charlie worried for his family. Before Carl, he had never imagined that someone he knew would want to attack his family. He preferred it when he would be the target. Don's job had put him in the position, but Charlie was the one who had spent time with Carl. It wasn't Don's fault. Was there something he had said to Carl that would make him want to hurt Don and Alan? He didn't think so, but that didn't mean he'd stop thinking about it and blaming himself.
"Of course. Buddy, I always try to look after you. And I really messed up. I can't let that happen again, for you, Dad, or me. So of course I'm going to be worried about you, especially after what happened. Talk to me."
Talk to me. Don was starting to get tired of saying that line to his brother. He had been the one closed up, away from everyone. But his brother was a locked vault. It took some time to break into it. Don didn't think anyone had the key, so he had to fight to get inside.
"He... he was watching me. I could feel his eyes on me."
"Yeah? For how long?"
"A couple minutes, I don't know. I-I looked around, but didn't see him at first. Later I did and we made eye contact and... there was something familiar about him."
"Like you'd seen him before?"
"No, not exactly. He just... looked like someone I'd seen before."
Don frowned. He wanted to get as much information out of his brother that he could. He'd look into it if he needed to.
"I don't know. It just... startled me. I don't want to have a repeat of... Carl." He said Carl's name as a whisper.
Don stood and walked around the desk to where his brother was standing. He grasped his brother's shoulder and turned him so that they were facing.
"Charlie, you're not going to have to go through that again. I promise. I'll not allow it. You hear me?"
Charlie nodded, biting down on his lower lip to stop its shaking, the only shaking he could stop.
"You're okay," Don said as he pulled his brother into a hug.
Charlie allowed himself the comfort of his brother's arms. He gave into the trembles and his whole body shook. He pressed his face into his brother's chest, waiting for the trembling to stop before pushing back.
"I'm okay," Charlie said when he stepped out of his brother's embrace.
Don nodded and gave him a small smile. "I know you are." He reached out and gave his brother a short pat on the arm and then held up the bag of food.
"Hungry?"
"Yeah." Charlie smiled and took a burger from the bag and sat down in his desk chair. Don returned to the seat in front of Charlie's desk and ate his burger quietly, though he had just had a sandwich less than an hour before. He watched his brother, wondering if he'd find any sign of fear still there. It seemed that Charlie had pushed past it for now, and he was proud. Sometimes it amazed him how similar their traits were. There was no denying they were brothers.
Before Don left after lunch, he turned to his brother with a serious look on his face. "If you need anything, call me. Okay?"
Charlie nodded. "I'll be fine, Don."
Don smiled. "I know, but still. Anytime, all right?"
"Get outta here," Charlie said with a wave of his hands. Don smiled and left, resting easy with that statement from his brother.
Almost immediately after the door to his office had closed, his phone rang. He picked it up and answered with a friendly "hello."
"Hello, Charles." It wasn't Larry, the only person who normally called him "Charles."
"Who is this?" Charlie asked, feeling his pulse race, making his chest ache.
"Janet Waits."
Charlie's hand was frozen to the phone, otherwise he would have hung it up.
"Look, I'm tired of being ignored, no matter what my son did to you and your family."
His mother? Charlie hadn't expected that.
He turned when he saw movement at the door and Don came back in with a smile on his face. "I lost my keys," he mouthed.
Charlie panicked, not wanting to have this conversation in front of his brother. "Um, can I... can I call you back?"
"I suppose." She sounded confused.
"What's your number?"
Charlie jotted the numbers down in a hurry and hung up without a goodbye.
"Who was that?" Don asked as he searched the floor under the chair he'd been sitting in.
Charlie didn't answer. He didn't know how to explain, how to lie his way out.
"Charlie?" Don looked up and stared at his brother when he didn't get a response.
Charlie dared to look at his older brother, though he really didn't want to. He didn't want Don to be able to tell he was lying.
"Who was it?"
Charlie opened his mouth, but closed it when no sound would come.
"Who was on the phone, Charlie?" His voice rose as he demanded to know who it was. Don could see the effect it was having on his brother. Charlie didn't look the way he had left him only minutes before. Something wasn't right and Don had a feeling it had something to do with the man who had been watching him.
"Answer me, Charlie," Don said in a strict tone.
"I-It was the... doctor." Charlie could hardly believe how he had slipped out the lie. This wasn't something to lie about. If he was getting a call from a doctor, it would have to be serious. What was he thinking?
Immediately Don's face paled and concern shown as bright as the sun in his eyes. "What... why did the doctor call you? Are you all right?"
Charlie sighed, pulling out the acting he'd done in high school. "I am... for sure now."
"What's going on?" Don sat in the chair, unsure he could hold himself up any longer. What was wrong with his little brother? What hadn't he protected him from?
"It... it was no big deal. I just... a mole on my shoulder looked a little weird. I was concerned, so I went to the hospital. The doctors had to run some tests on it to make sure it wasn't cancerous... and it isn't."
Don sighed with relief, but his heart refused to calm. "Why didn't you tell me before? Does Dad even know?"
"No. I... I didn't want to worry you two until I knew for sure. I didn't want you two to have to repeat... last time."
Last time. It could have been as bad as last time. But it wasn't. Charlie was going to be okay. Don gave a sad laugh.
"The things you do to me, I swear."
Don circled around the desk and hugged his brother tightly, so thankful nothing had been wrong.
"It's okay, Don."
"It better be." Don wiped at the moisture in his eyes.
"Aren't those your keys right there?" Charlie pointed to a spot under the desk.
"There they are!"
Don picked them up and gave Charlie a smile, a smile that protected him from his brother's observant eyes.
"I'll get going then. You should tell Dad about this. He'll want to know."
"I will." Charlie smiled as his brother waved and left.
Damn it. Charlie hadn't planned on forming such a big lie, but there was no way he was going to tell Don that he was talking to the mother of the man he killed. Not after what had happened today.
He quickly called Janet back, wanting to get this conversation over as soon as possible.
She picked up where they left off a moment later.
"I-I know he put you through a lot, but all I want is for us to meet, face-to-face. I... I have to tell you about him. I can't let my baby be remembered as a tyrant. There... there were reasons for why he was that way."
Charlie could think of none. What could drive a man to kill so many people? He knew about Carl's brother, who hadn't been there to save him. Charlie didn't think that was enough to make a man do that, but he didn't know. He'd always had his brother there to save him.
"Please." The pleading in her voice held just sorrow, and Charlie could see Carl's death in a different light. He had affected someone else, he would be remembered, and he had been loved. Those things were hard to consider happening to such a villain, but Charlie supposed it had to be true.
He sighed. He really didn't want to hurt this woman, a woman he knew very little about. "I can't. Please... just... leave me alone."
"But-"
Charlie hung up before she could get another word in. It was the most he could do at the time. There was nothing else he could say to her, nothing he could give her when her son had taken away so much from him. He hoped she would listen to him and leave him alone.
He went home that afternoon after he was done teaching his classes. His father was reading the newspaper in the living room when he came in and stood when his son came inside.
"Are you okay?"
Charlie was surprised the word had reached his father so fast. He wasn't sure what his father was referring to, so he just replied, "I'm okay."
"Donny told me you got a call from the doctor and that I had to be sure to get the facts from you. What happened? Why were you being called by a doctor?"
Charlie had to conjure up the lie once more. He was thankful he had remembered most of the details so that the stories wouldn't seem so different should Alan and Don discuss it.
"Oh, my boy." Alan kissed his son on the head as he wrapped Charlie in an embrace.
"It's okay, Dad. It was nothing."
Alan hated that his son had kept it from him and had to bear it alone. Had he really wanted to know at the time though? Alan would have spent his days in fear, like he had with his wife. Only this had a much happier ending.
"I'm going to go upstairs, okay, Dad?"
"Sure, sure."
Alan watched his son walk away from him and felt tears come to his eyes. He hadn't lost him. He had a feeling a certain guardian angel had something to do with that.
I know, it's not very long again, but I have a feeling that's what's going to happen a lot. It'll probably mean there will be more chapters, though! I hope that makes you feel better.
I hope you're all enjoying it so far. Like I said, I'm open to any ideas. I do have a dilemma that could use some help with, if anyone doesn't mind any possible spoilers. So, write or review if you're willing to help with that.
See you next chapter!