Charlie hated the mess he'd gotten into with the lie about his appointment. Larry and Amita found out and they acted weird around him. He wasn't sick. He told them that, not that he had been in the first place. That was just the lie.

But Charlie didn't want everyone to know. Alan was the one who had ended up telling Larry, who then told Amita. He hadn't expected it to go so far. He could kick himself for not telling Don the truth. He didn't want to do that, but he hated lying even more.

Having not heard from Janet or been followed since the last incident, Charlie started feeling comfortable again. He found it easier to smile and laugh and the tension left his body. Sleep came easier and he found himself being able to walk down the sidewalk without looking over his shoulder every few minutes.

His comfort lasted about two weeks. His brother and father had both noticed the change and they just assumed it was relief over his "doctor's appointment." Charlie wished it could have been that easy, but it wasn't.

Because when his comfort ended, things went right back to the way they had been, except this time he had a lot more anger about it.

It began with just a phone call. Getting many during the day, Charlie didn't think much of this one. He answered it, and when her voice rang in his ears, he knew the peace was broken and he felt the comfort zone shatter from the earthquake that she'd just created.

"What do you want?" he said angrily into the phone.

"A chance. Please. I-I know that judging by what my son did you wouldn't want anything to do with me. But I promise you I'm not like him. I won't hurt you. I just... I just want to talk, to explain why he did that."

"He tried to kill me and my family. I have nothing to say to you." Charlie hung up, hoping that the woman would get the point.

But she didn't. Janet called again and again.

By the fourth time Charlie had hung up on her, he was ready to unplug his phone. He didn't want anything to do with this woman, but she was persistent.

The phone rang again before he had a chance to unplug it. So he picked up the phone and screamed into it.

"Can't you take a hint? Leave me alone!" Charlie screamed angrily.

Don jumped in his chair and held the phone away from his ear when his brother screamed at him. He was just expecting a simple "hello," or maybe even a gruff "yeah." He would have expected almost anything except for what he ended up getting. He was thankful he hadn't put it on speaker, like he had planned.

"Charlie?" Don said when the scream ended.

Charlie froze, dropping the phone in his hand. It couldn't be his brother. He thought that only happened in movies and books. This never really happened did it? But it had happened to him.

"Charlie? Charlie!" Don called over the phone when his brother didn't answer him.

Charlie bent down, regaining his composure. He picked up the phone and brought it back to his ear.

"Yeah, Don?"

"What the hell was that?" Don asked, thankful his brother had come back on the line, but still confused as to why he'd gotten yelled at for no reason.

"Um, it... well it was..."

"Is someone bothering you? What's going on?"

"It's nothing." Charlie got it out in one breath, knowing if he took too long he'd let Don know something was wrong... if his brother hadn't already figured that out.

"I'm coming down there." Don hung up and left his office.

Charlie felt sick to his stomach, not over Janet, but the fact that his brother was coming down to his office because of the phone call. He couldn't lie again, and he knew he wouldn't. There was no point. Maybe he wouldn't tell Don the whole truth, but he definitely wouldn't lie.

He had a good reign on his emotions by the time his older brother showed up. Don looked concerned but he had his tough, big brother face on to hide any fearful concern.

He sat down quickly in the chair in front of Charlie and leaned forward. "Talk."

Charlie took a deep, cleansing breath and complied. "This person kept calling me."

"Male or female?"

"F-female." Don raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

"I was expecting your call to be the fifth one, which is why I screamed."

"What did she want?"

"She... she wanted to talk to me."

"Do you know her?"

"Barely. We met once."

"Has this happened before?"

"No." Charlie impressed himself with how confident that answer came out sounding.

"If it happens again, call me. We can file a restraining order if necessary or I can take action against this."

Charlie didn't like the sound of that. "I-It's okay, Don. I don't expect it to happen again."

Don frowned as he concentrated hard on his little brother's appearance. He seemed out of place, frazzled. Something about those calls had bothered him, but Don could hear in Charlie's voice that he wasn't willing to give away more than he already had. Maybe he should calm down and stop looking for ways to save his brother.

"You're okay?"

Charlie nodded.

"Let me hear you say it."

Charlie smiled. "I'm okay."

"Good."

Don gave him a light smile in return, though the concern was still heavily there. That was the second person who showed stalker-like attributes toward his brother. It wasn't normal for this to be happening so close together. Don might take some action against this before anything else happened, whether his brother liked it or not.

"You coming over tonight?"

"Why? You miss me?" Don smiled teasingly at Charlie, happy to change the subject.

"You haven't been over in a while, and you know how Dad gets when that happens."

"Yeah. He's about ready to send out a search party for me."

Charlie could remember a time when that was exactly what it would take to find his brother, or at least when it seemed that way. He shook his head, clearing his mind of those thoughts. His brother was in his life now and that was all that mattered. You can't change the past. At that thought he could have kicked himself. Leave it to him to think of a quote from "The Lion King" at a time like this.

"So? Are you coming?"

Don smiled. "I'll be there, Buddy."

"That's good."

"Remember, if you need anything, call me, all right? Don't wait for me to call you."

"I will."

Charlie smiled as his brother pat him on the shoulder. "I'll see you later, Buddy."

A thought occurred to Charlie as his brother left. Was he denying Don his big brother rights by not letting him protect him? He never asked Don to help him and lately he'd been pretty independent. Was he making Don feel inferior in strength, like he would never call on his big brother because he was stronger?

He and Don had never talked about it after Carl died. Charlie had made it clear that he wanted to protect Don and Alan alone, and that's what he'd done. But from what Charlie could tell, Don was eager to find a way to take care of him, and he was denying Don that right by being self-sufficient.

Charlie never wanted Don to feel weak, or that he was taking care of himself because he didn't think his brother was capable of it.

So Charlie vowed that the next time he was in trouble, he would call on his Superman, his older brother Don.

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Don could hardly believe he'd done it. Charlie would probably be so mad at him if he found out. But he wasn't going to find out. He was too smart for that. He was trained not to be seen. That's why Don hired him.

Would Charlie feel someone watching him? Would he get scared? Don hoped not. He hoped his brother wouldn't be able to notice so easily. It was for his own good. He couldn't have anything happening to Charlie. He wouldn't stand for that. He wouldn't be able to let his father think he wasn't doing his job as a big brother. No, he'd do something about it to prevent Charlie from getting into harm's way.

That's why he hired an agent to watch Charlie for him.

It was only a nighttime deal. That was the more likely time for a predator to attack. In the daytime, Don figured enough people would be around Charlie so that no one would want to strike at him with so many witnesses around. So for those late nights that Charlie would work at CalSci, an agent would be there to protect him. He'd make sure no harm would come to him, or he'd have Don to answer to.

Don just hoped that it would work and that Charlie wouldn't catch on that he was being followed.

If Charlie wouldn't let him protect him, then he'd make sure someone else would.

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Don's hope that Charlie wouldn't catch on that someone was following him at night didn't last long. Only three weeks to be exact.

Charlie enjoyed working late at night. The campus was quiet and there were no distractions. At home his father would come out and check on him, as though he feared Charlie would go back to the his P vs. NP state. Here he could be alone and let the math surround his thoughts and attention.

He was in the middle of grading a student's thesis paper when he heard a squeaking noise on the floor of the hall outside, like a sneaker on the floor. His heart began to pound, knowing that no one should be out at this time, not even the cleaning crew.

He didn't hear the sound again, so he assumed he was okay. Nevertheless, Charlie decided this would be a good time to stop for the night. It was already eleven o'clock anyway.

Gathering his book bag close to him, as though some sort of protective shield, Charlie left his office.

He was mad at himself for deciding to ride his bike today, though the idea had been made with the purpose of getting more exercise. Now it just seemed like a way of asking to get mobbed.

He could call his brother, like he'd promised himself to do the next time he was in trouble. But he didn't know he was in trouble, did he? Besides, Don would probably be working hard. And if he wasn't, he would be getting much-needed rest. Who was he to interrupt?

Charlie got on his bike and peddled hard, hoping he could get home fast. When he had to stop at a cross walk, he looked behind him and noticed a particular car that seemed to be centered on him. Not wanting to waste any time, he peddled across the street before the sign said "walk."

His breathing quickened when the car was still behind him a block later. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't call Don now because he couldn't risk stopping. Charlie was scared and he didn't know what to do about it. He could kick himself for not calling Don because now that was who he wanted to see most.

He nearly screamed when the car was still behind him when he pulled into his driveway. He tossed his bike down and ran in the house, his eyes on the car that still trailed him.

"Charlie!" Don exclaimed as his brother ran right into him. He wrapped his arms around his brother to stop him, but Charlie's force pushed through.

"Charlie, what's going on?" Don saw the trapped animal look in his brother's eyes and he didn't like it. What happened?

"Charlie?" Alan now said. He had seen what happened and now stood from his place in the living room and came closer.

"Someone's out there." Charlie rushed to Don and grabbed the front of his brother's shirt. "Someone followed me!"

Don's eyes held a fire in them as he pushed his brother aside and walked out onto the front porch, hand hovering over his gun.

When Don left, Alan moved to Charlie and wrapped his arm around Charlie's shoulders.

"I-I wanted to call, but I didn't think it was anything. But-but he never let up. He's still out there."

Alan's grip tightened at his son's words. He could not let anything happen to Charlie again. His son had been through enough already.

Don could have kicked himself when he saw the familiar car. It was owned by Agent Derek Lawson, the agent he'd hired to follow Charlie.

"Damn it," he quietly cursed as he stepped off the porch and over to the man in the car.

He banged on the window when Derek didn't roll down the window right away. As soon as it was open a crack, Don let into him.

"What the hell was that? I hire you to protect my brother and now you're the one he's afraid of? My God, and you wanted to go into manhunting? They'd see you coming from a mile away."

"Sir, I-"

"We're done here. There's no use you sticking around. He's already seen you. How incompetent are you anyway?"

Don kicked the tire as he passed by it and stormed back to the house, not even giving the agent a chance to defend himself.

Now he had to explain what was going on to his brother. He sure didn't want to have to do that.

Well, I was hoping this week would turn out to be easier, but it wasn't. I have three tests to study for and just did homework that took me 3 hours to do. It's awful. Also, I haven't heard from my helpers. If you're reading, guys, write back, please!

Well, I hope you're enjoying it still. I'll try to keep up still, but you know how life is. Unpredictable.