Waking up for the second time, Charlie had no idea where he was. A loud noise screamed in his ears and he wished it would shut up. He had the strange feeling he was dreaming, and in his dream he was one of the dead frogs that the biology lab cut open. People looked down at him and poked and prodded areas that already hurt enough without them touching it.

He didn't recognize anyone around him and that made him feel all the more afraid. His side was killing him and breathing seemed to make the pain worse.

"Sir, can you hear me? We're almost to the hospital. You're going to be fine."

Charlie managed a nod. He must be in ambulance. It only made sense after...

Jake!

The thought came screaming at him, and he began to panic. He was after him! He was going to get hurt! Jake would kill him. But if he hadn't today, what did he have in store? it was obvious that he could have just killed him and gotten it over with. Then what did he want, if not to kill him?

Charlie wanted his family with him. Only then did he feel safe. How did he know these were people who would help him? What if they were in on it?

"His pulse is racing. We need to calm him down. Sir, you need to breathe. Calm down for me, okay?"

Charlie just kept fighting. He needed to see Don! Don would tell him he was okay. He would protect him.

"Donnie!" Charlie cried out.

"Don is in another car. He'll be here. He's right behind us."

"Don!"

Charlie tried to turn around to see if they were telling the truth.

"He can't keep thrashing around like that. We need to sedate him."

At that statement, Charlie whirled around. At the sight of the needle, a needle that looked so huge, he passed out. The return to darkened bliss was welcomed.

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

Don called his team in to the scene. He should have done it to begin with.

"What? Don, why would the FBI need to investigate a hit and run?" Megan asked.

"Because the man who hit Charlie is the same guy we brought in for assisting Carl Waits."

"Jake?" Megan nearly whispered.

"Yeah."

Don hung up, knowing his point was made. He'd let them handle it. He had to go get his father.

He shook his head as he drove to the home his brother and father shared. It didn't seem right that he was coming there this way. It should be something else. He should be the one hurt. Don would never want his brother to have the responsibility of telling their father he was injured, so Charlie shouldn't even be involved. It should be Colby, or Megan, or David making the drive. They'd tell Alan and Charlie that he was hurt, and together the two would go to the hospital. It shouldn't be this way.

Don hated not being with Charlie. He hoped his brother was okay. He had to hope that he was, because that was what he was planning on telling their father when he walked through the front door.

Alan knew something was wrong. He had waited anxiously for some word. He could feel it in his gut, feel it in the pain in his heart. Something was wrong with one of his boys. The only question was who it was. He had tried calling both their cells and didn't get through to either. So he waited by the phone, then would walk over to the window to see if one of their cars would pull into the driveway.

And it was Don who pulled into the drive way, who came to the door. Something was wrong with Charlie. That didn't seem right to Alan, but he didn't want either of his sons to be hurt, so no matter who it was it wouldn't be right to him. He was their father. Of course he didn't think it was right. It was never right.

"Take me to him," Alan said when he met his oldest son at the door. Don stared into his eyes a second, momentarily thrown off by his father's statement. He didn't know how his father knew something had happened, but he didn't say anything. He just nodded and led the way back to his car.

Once they'd backed out of the driveway, Don stole a glance at his father. "What do you know?"

"Other than something happened to Charlie? Nothing."

"Then how-"

Alan chuckled. "I'm a parent, Donnie. We know. You'll understand if you ever give me any grandchildren."

Don rolled his eyes, though he enjoyed the lightness of the conversation. Only his father would bring up grandchildren in a situation like this.

"How bad is it, Donnie?" Alan asked now.

Don waited a moment before speaking. How could he phrase it? There was no nice way of putting it. Charlie had been hit by a car, plain and simple. Did he tell his father that it was probably done by the man who had assisted the man who had kidnapped and planned to murder him? He decided he should so Alan would be on his guard.

"Charlie was... he was hit by a car."

Alan took it in with wide eyes, waiting for the whole story. His pulse raced, but he tried not to show his distress.

"He must have taken a short cut because of the traffic. And when he went through an alley, his car stopped because he was out of gas... but he had just filled it up yesterday."

Alan didn't understand that, but he trusted his son would explain.

"He called me, and I talked to him for a minute, and then... he got hit." Alan placed a comforting hand on his son's hand before Don continued. "I went there, and I saw them take him in the ambulance. He was unconscious, but I didn't see any injury to his head, which is good. Before I came here, I called my team in to the scene... because I found a note that said, 'Until next time.'"

Alan got chills. He searched his son's face as Don parked the car in the hospital parking lot. What did that mean? Why would he find that note?

Don stared ahead of him for a while as he prepared himself to tell his father the final blow.

He turned to look his father in the eyes and said, "Dad, I think it was Jake."

Alan gasped and turned away from Don. He couldn't let his son see the horror that must be written so clearly across his face. He felt goose-bumps rise on his arms and he shivered. This couldn't be happening.

"Dad, I promise you I'll fix this. I'll-I'll take care of him in whatever way I need to. I'll hire twenty agents to watch him if I have to. He can move to Tahiti, or Antarctica if he has to! Please, don't be mad at me."

That caught Alan's attention so well that he whirled his head around to look at his oldest son. Don's eyes were pleading for him to understand that it wasn't his fault, for him not to be mad at him. But what made him think that he would be? Don wasn't the one who hit Charlie.

"Oh, Donnie." Alan reached across and took his oldest son in his arms as he hugged him close.

"I'm not mad at you. How could I be? You didn't run over Charlie."

"But I didn't protect him," Don replied, his voice muffled since his face was pressed so tightly against his father's chest.

Alan pushed Don back lightly so he could see his face. "No one expected you to. you do enough for your brother. It's okay that you weren't there this time. He'll be okay, right?"

Don nodded, though he wasn't sure that it was true. It had to be, though.

"Let's go find out, okay?"

The two went inside the hospital and were directed to a waiting room. Don hoped that they'd get news soon.

"Charles Eppes?" A tall doctor called.

Don and Alan both stood and went to the doctor, though the man was heading toward them already.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Jack Lawrence."

"Hello. I'm Alan, his father," Alan said as he shook the man's hand, and then Don did the same.

"I'm Don, his brother."

Dr. Lawrence smiled. "So you're the famous Don, huh?"

Don looked between the doctor and his father, confusedly. "What are you talking about?"

"Your brother was asking for you in the ambulance. Well, screaming for you is more like it."

Don felt his heart swell. Charlie had asked for him? Had he been scared? Had he needed him? Maybe he should have gone in the ambulance...

"He passed out in the ambulance, though. He started panicking, so one of the paramedics tried to sedate him. When he saw the needle, he passed out."

Alan gave a small chuckle. "He never did like needles."

"I suppose not, " Dr. Lawrence said with a smile. "Your son's left arm was fractured in two places and he has four broken ribs. We will set and cast the arm. Hopefully with physical therapy, he will regain full movement back in the arm. We don't want to have to use pins or plates with the fractures because of the chance of infection. You see, your son's spleen was torn and he's bleeding internally. We're hope that it will clot itself, so we'll wait a few hours to see if it does or not. If it hasn't clotted in the next few hours, we'll have to remove Charles' spleen."

"He can live without it, right?"

"Of course. He'll just have to be more careful about infections. He'll be more prone to diseases because the spleen helps fight off infections."

"Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine. He was extremely lucky with such an injury. Not many people who get hit by a car turn out this lucky. You two should be very thankful."

"We are. When can see him?" Don said snappishly.

"Right now if you like. Keep in mind that he will be in pain and may not be very aware of his surroundings."

Don was happy when he and his father were left alone with Charlie. His brother looked weak and defenseless. Don always liked to think that Charlie was at least a little weak, but this went beyond what he ever thought. It made him wonder how in the world his brother could have survived getting hit by a car. The only thing that made sense to him was that Jake didn't want to kill Charlie.

And that was it.

If Jake wanted to finish him off, he would have. So what did he have planned instead? That was what scared Don. Because if this was just the beginning, what could be next?

"I'm here now, Buddy. I'm sorry I wasn't in the ambulance with you," Don said as he squeezed the fingers on his brother's right hand.

Alan looked ready to fall apart, but Don could see him pulling himself together. He would definitely give his father some time alone later.

Charlie mumbled something inaudible.

"Hey, Buddy. You okay?" Don asked.

"Turn the TV off," Charlie muttered.

Alan and Don both looked at the turned-off TV and then at each other before focusing back on Charlie.

"Kiddo, the TV is off."

"Turn Letterman down. He talks to loud."

Don felt a grin spread across his face, the first one he'd felt in that day.

"Are you hurting, Charlie?"

"Tummy hurts, and my arm."

"Okay. You'll be fine, all right?"

"Be better if Letterman shut up."

Alan smiled that time, too. "Yes, I think a lot of us would be. That man needs to retire."

Don couldn't stifle a chuckle. He was familiar with Letterman. He'd spent many late nights watching him. He couldn't agree more.

Charlie soon fell asleep, mumbling something about Paul Shaffer.

Alan and Don waited around until a decision was made about Charlie's spleen. It turned out that Charlie did need his spleen to be removed, so Don and Alan went home for the time being. Don had the full intention of returning soon, with or without his father.

"Dad, you okay?" Don asked when they got inside from the silent drive home.

"Yeah. I'll fix it in the morning."

Don frowned. That wasn't a good sign.

"Dad?"

Alan just continued to stare and Don realized what was happening. He quickly reached his father's side and he took Alan's arm.

He led Alan to the couch and sat down beside him. "Dad, Charlie is going to be okay, I promise. Whatever happens, he'll come out okay. He's still Charlie. He's going to be fine."

"Whatever happens? What could happen?" It was something that Alan didn't know and it scared him. He didn't know what to expect with Jake, didn't know what he'd do to his son next. How could this be happening? How could Charlie be in danger again? He'd overcome so much after Carl. Not again. He couldn't handle it again.

"I can't take the uncertainty, Donnie. I don't like it one bit."

"I know. I don't either. But we have to trust Charlie. He showed tremendous strength these past months. He'll keep on doing that, I'm sure."

"I don't want him to go through it again. He may be able to take it, but I don't know if I can."

Don looked down at the floor for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He looked back up and met his father's eyes as he took both his father's hands in his.

"We have to trust Charlie. Charlie can do this. I'm going to be there every step of the way. I won't let anything happen to him. I have my team on this already. We'll get Jake, I swear. We won't let anything bad happen."

"You don't know that."

Don pondered that. "No, I don't know that, not for sure. But I have to believe that. Can you imagine if I went into every case knowing I couldn't catch the criminal, that I couldn't find a kidnapping victim? I wouldn't be able to do my job. That's why I have to believe, even when all odds are against me, that I'll do my job, that I'll succeed. It's as easy as that. You can't think that Charlie isn't going to make it out okay, or that Jake is going to get him. You have to believe that we'll get Jake before anything else happens. And if that's not the case, we'll catch him later. We can do this, Dad. Trust me. Trust us."

Alan was proud of his son. Don knew exactly what to tell him. He couldn't understand how his sons had gotten to be so much smarter and wiser than him. He was the parent, right?

He prayed that his sons would have the wisdom in the near future. They'd need it to stop Jake.

There are no ill intentions directed toward David Letterman and the Late Show. I actually enjoy that show a lot and watch it often. Please don't take offense! It was for humorous purposes only!

THANK YOU TO THE WONDERFUL FRAIDYCAT! She's done it again! She helped me with all the medical parts to this. Thank you to everyone else who helped, too! I appreciate it!

Well, this is earlier than usual, thankfully. I hope that helps since it was a cliff hanger. Dun, dun, duh! Don't you hate them? LOL Like I said, I'll try to avoid them if I can, but, again, it does bump the reviews up realllll quick.

Next week is probably going to be another poo-poo week, so don't expect a quick update. See you then!